Firsts of Vihan…

21st. July’12 : First addressed rakhi and letter in Vihan’s name came from his ‘lil sister in Mumbai Aanya Dhingra (Rakhi’s daughter)

10th. Sept’12 : Vihan got his first band-aid below his knee for bleeding due to excessive scratching of his soon to be healed bruises.

11th. Sept’12 : Vihan started saying “Doodh” for milk when he felt hungry around dinner time.

11th. Sept’12 : Vihan danced with his hands up in the air on an ad in the TV.

First words of Vihan

Vihan – as some of you may know is my 1.5 yrs. old son. He started speaking first few words around his first birthday. First few words that he now utter very frequently in order of their origination are:

Mum: no, not for his mother but for water.

Tum: for all dogs (his favourite animal), birds, horses or any other animal.

Gum: for hot things like milk, tea, food etc.

Khum: means finished.

Baba: for his grand father.

Papa: for me.

Recently, when we started aksing him to call his dadi and mummy, he tweaked ‘mum’ and says Mum-ae instead of mummy. His dadi however, is still waiting to hear him call her by some word.

Will try to come back more often now and post more…

Twitter basics…

I feel amazed sometimes on why people are on twitter at all. they create ids, tweet twice or thrice and then disappear for good. I wonder if they created their ids for just being there or for listening or for business. If you are there because your friends are there or it’s the in-thing now, If that’s the only reason you’re on Twitter you can do whatever you like – just think seriously about protecting your tweets so that only people you know and trust can see them!

If it’s for the business, Twitter allows you to build connections with interesting and relevant people around the world who are working and talking about topics related to your interests. If its really for latter reason, I would like to give following tips:

1. Make your profile public: You want to connect with people so keep your account open because you are going to be professional on this account, right?

2. Choose a Twitter name that is your entire name or at least your first name and last initial or a variation of your name. Be sure your real name is somewhere on your public profile.

3. Fill in your location with your real location: This will connect you with others in your area with whom you can network in real life.

4. Work on your bio so that it not only says something about your professional activities and aspirations but also displays a little of your personality. You’ve got 160 characters – choose them wisely.

5. Choose an avatar photo that is more face than anything else: Avoid the temptation to try to be too cute. Your genuine face shot is part of who you are.

6. Choose your URL wisely: If you have a complete Linkedin page, link to that. If you have your own name as a URL and you use that website to highlight your skills and talents – even better – link to that.

7. Start following others slowly: Find relevant people in your business or with related interests and follow just a very few at a time. There is no science to this but if your “Following” number is more than five times higher than your number of “Followers” you may seem desperate for followers.

8. Don’t just follow anyone: Following people just because they follow you is not a requirement in Twitter. Following back should be reserved for people you are genuinely interested in learning from and about.

9. Pay attention to others’ tweets: You will learn a lot by just “listening.” When the time is right (you see something you want to comment on or you want to thank someone for sharing something send them an “@” message. These tweets are the beginnings of real conversations with people who may one day become part of your professional network.

10. Retweet judiciously: When you read something that really means something to you or you think some of your followers might appreciate, retweet (RT) it. If there is room add a comment and explain why you like it.

What do you think? Will this help a social media newbie?

Quote of the Day

Action cures fear

Quote of the Day

Rise, Awake, Sleep Not, till the Goal is Reached…

4 P’s for Marketing…How about Social Media???

All MBA programs around the world teach 4 or maximum 5 Ps of Marketing i.e.

• Product
• Place
• Price
• Promotion &
• People

However, social media is different as earlier it was one way transfer of information in web 1.0 then came dialog in web 2.0 generation but now the world is talking about “Communities, Engagement of customers” etc” in web 3.0 generation. Thus, it can’t be just 4 or 5Ps that will rule the world, there’s got to be more than 5, so here I am putting 25 of them which I picked up from here…

Provide: Something of value…

Petition: Demand innovation, make folks, platforms, messages better!

Productize:  Yes, new word!  Make your offer easy to understand!

Promote: Your product, service, business, events, news (don’t overdo).

Personalize: Let them see the “real” you.

Participate: Interact and engage (your audience)

Play: Take it easy, it’s not all strategy… 🙂

Pace: Take it easy, don’t over do it.  Just don’t!

Protect: Protect your brand, industry, service, peers

Plan: Yes, plan –don’t just do it!

Propel: Initiate discussions, bring the best out in people.

Pamper: Recognize players, collaborate, give credit where credit is due.

Partake: Answer questions, participate in discussions/chats.

Peer: Do not underestimate players based on their followers, community

Penetrate: Cover all aspects

Patrol: Entire landspace –correct & clarify statements and behaviors

Perform: Do it!  Just do it!

Persist: Don’t give up!

Predict: Think what’s next…

Pioneer: Don’t hold back, try different things (white hat rule though!)

Practice: Don’t be afraid, practice makes perfect; learnings await you!

Propose: Propose ideas, solicit business (humbly), ask for collaboration.

Punctuate: Don’t be afraid of repeating your point, though not bot-like.

Pursue: Follow up; be persistent to engage: to get answers, be heard.

Pay Attention: To influencers, trends, competition, customers.

Finally, be Positive about what you do and do it with sincerity…

(Source: Social Media Today)

The Essential Startup Reader

The Essential Startup Reader: 10 Lessons in Entrepreneurship

Sales

Did you know that according to the most recent studies that 72% of all sales are made only after the 5^th attempt while 95% of all sales people give up after the 4^th? Sadly ironic. Is’nt it…

Quote of the day

Hope as faith, is nothing if it’s not courageous,if it’s not ridiculous.

5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love

Lynn Terry has explained the five types of content that attract readers. They are how-tos, reviews, quick tips, lists, and interviews. She does a great job of explaining each type including links to resources for each type of content, so have a look at her posting…which can go a long way in kick starting you start-up, venture and online promotions…