GDays Mandaue 2014: Secrets of Gmail

Overview of GDays Mandaue here.

Participants of GDays were required to select a category upon registering. Google for Management, Business or Marketing. I, obviously, wanted to join all of them but that option wasn't available so I had to choose a topic that I was most interested in. At the time, I had been mulling over studying business on the side but the more specific aspect of business I was slightly obsessing over from a distance was Management.

Our segment was facilitated by Jane Vestil, a Google for Educators partner and Cheer Garciano, owner of Cebu Web Services and Digital marketing.

Jane Vestil talks about Google Collaboration and Productivity Tools

The talk started out with an overview of the basic Google tools we're all currently using such as Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar. As it progressed, they started talking about a Google Apps Account. How is that different from a regular Google account when you sign up for Gmail? The features are basically the same, being able to use Google tools and whatnot, the difference is just that a Google Apps Account will enable you to use tools powered by Google, like plug-ins submitted by developers for example.

The first Google tool they delved into was Gmail and this feature was such a surprise to me when they first introduced it. Google Advanced Search uses a set of queries that perform specific functions in Gmail Search. For example, you want to look for an email sent by thatperson@gmail.com to you with a file named testfile attached. Among the hundreds of mail you receive daily, it would be time consuming for you to browse through all the possible mails containing that person's e-mail. So, with the specifics in mind, you type:

from : thatperson@gmail.com filename: testfile

And boom! The mail that you were specifically looking for is presented. More keywords are listed in this documentation conveniently compiled by Google. Next up was something called E-mail Delegation, whose concept wasn't that new to me but setting it up was still quite hazy. Basically its being able to let someone view your inbox and reply to messages on your behalf. It's pretty convenient if you're a founder and have a business trip out of town with limited internet. You can give your co-founder or a trusted employee to keep you and your company updated by replying to important e-mails for you. Learn more about E-mail Delegation through this link ma'am Jane sent me after all my annoying questioning hehe.

A similar feature is forwarding where you can automatically forward your e-mails received from your website e-mail to your personal Gmail address for convenience:

e-mail sent to contact@me.com >> forwarded to >> me@gmail.com

After running through Gmail's built-in features, we then moved to Google Labs - experimental features created by Google Developers. A lot of them may have some bugs and imperfect features but you always have the option to disable them after you've installed them. Some labs ma'am Jane uses herself are Canned Responses, which enables her to create and use a preset response to a specific type of mail, and Quick Links, a lab that allows you to save and create a link of a frequent search result in your inbox. You can look through more Labs by going to Settings >> Labs in your Gmail page.

Cheer Garciano gives a short presentation about The Internet

I personally don't use this feature but maybe when I'm more embedded into my career, I see a future use for this feature. Google Tasks help you keep track of the things you need to do, set deadlines and even use e-mail messages as the reminder itself in Gmail Tasks. I raised my hand and being the kiss-ass, thick-faced chick that I am, I asked a few questions along with a few others in the room. Apparently, Google Labs won't work on mobile _{(unless some genius codes something for it)} and Google Apps aren't free either. To create an account, there's a $5 monthly subscription fee.

"Don't be impressed with technology. Be amazed by what you can do with it."

In between ma'am Cheer's talk, she mentioned something called Internet Penetration which basically just means how many people in an area have access or are using the Internet. This data is considerably important to digital marketers, with their efforts revolving around how many people they can reach.

"Think. Create. Engage. Optimize." Strategy of doing Digital Marketing.

Ma'am Cheer shared the general steps of using Digital marketing to gain customers.

1) Generate Traffic - get people interested in what you're doing and basically, have an audience.
2) Convert Traffic to Leads - Make this audience interested enough that they are willing to pay for your service.
3) Nurture Leads into Customers - Turn this willingness into action. Baby your prospective customers into actual customers.
4) After the cycle is done, Analyze the Process to look at what you did wrong, what you did right, and how to engage the next batch of customers.

Google Analytics is a great tool to monitor activity in your site. It shows you the number of viewers currently in the site, what they are doing, what category they belong to, their location and more. Consider signing up for Google Analytics to keep a better eye on your users and possible customers.

After the session, I was literally mind blown about all the things you can do with Google Apps and Tools. And to think what we discussed that day was just a fraction of the Management features Google has. I guess my overall reaction to everything I learned was that there really is no excuse for you to not build a kick-ass product/business. Every resource is available to you through the Internet. It's just a matter of being motivated, persistent and smart with your resources and decisions in life and/or in your career.

GDays Mandaue 2014: How Social Media Can Affect Your Business

Overview of GDays Mandaue here.

GDays Mandaue 2014: How Social Media can affect your Business by Fleire Castro 

What made me enjoy ma'am Fleire Castro's segment of the event was that she presented her inputs, thoughts and advice in situations where the audience can clearly relate or empathize with as if they were in her shoes. 

" Try to mention other things then pitch your own brand."

As the story goes, ma'am Fleire was in Manila and was looking for a nearby cafe in the area. She posted her problem in Facebook and, to her surprise, she received several responses for her friends. Most were simply suggestions of which cafe her friends have personally tried but there was this one comment she highlighted during the presentation. It went something like "There's Cafe X, Cafe Y and Cafe Z just around the corner. But if you're willing to take this extra route, you'll come across Cafe A"

Now, despite us doing it subconsciously, we are given the impression that the last suggestion is probably the best, so you are more compelled to try that suggestion out first. She later on discovered that the person who commented that suggestion was actually the owner of "Cafe A". This, according to her, was a great marketing technique. By scouring posts in social media that relate to the field of your business or any topic relating to it, you come across possible customers and/or opportunities. The owner's tactic of "leaving the best for last" and not shoving the thought of "GO TO MY SHOP" down the possible customer's throat, was a great example of social media marketing.

Social Networks where most businesses set up accounts are Facebook, Twitter, Google+ _{(with it, all other networks of Google such as YouTube)}, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Using Social Media to spread news is now commonly done by YOU, the users and now, the major news channels as well. They set up Twitter accounts, YouTube accounts and even receive footage from viewers/witnesses on site through social media . That power being said, ma'am Fleire reached out to those frequent on the web to, during a time of crisis in any area, help those affected. I also experienced this during the 7.2 earthquake in my area. Many of those I know that are capable in the city weren't allowed to step foot outside their home even two weeks after the major quake, me included. The city wasn't as affected as those towns near the epicenter so I looked for a way to help. Power wasn't out until Yolanda and so I became tech support to various non-government relief groups. That was the first time I had used Facebook to actually DO something useful. We reached out to other people, contacted our friends outside of the country and those within who were willing to help. We delivered truckloads (and even an airplane) of water, food and other essentials to the affected within three weeks all because of social media.

If you cannot go out and help them yourself, you can let other people, who can, know. Leave a Like or better yet a Share, to boosted posts or announcements, list of areas affected or what the people need and so on. As long as you have internet and at least a smartphone, you CAN make a difference.

"Social media is empowering."

TIP: 80% of your business' social media posts should be topics you believe in/ advocate in. Sales pitches and calls to action should only be 20%

Another story from her segment that I really appreciated in was her "lost but apparently stolen island souvenirs shirt"

Post by Fleire Castro.

The summary is, she lost her customized Island Souvenir shirt that was part of a family set, found the culprit, couldn't get it back and upon hearing of her distress through social media, Island Souvenirs brought her a new one exactly like it! Full story in her blog here.

Ma'am Fleire with her new customized Island Souvenir shirt

Paying close attention to how your customers see your business, your service, products or generally what they feel about you and what they do with your services, will definitely payoff with their satisfaction and brand loyalty. It'll make them want to go back, appreciate your brand and recommend you to their peers which is the best type of advertising any business could have, in my opinion.

To close this post, here are Three Things you can start doing on Social Media by Fleire Castro, owner of Third Team Media:

1.  Verbalize gratitude for your customers
2.  Invite Advocates to explore your products
3.  Offer gifts so your customer can "finish their stories"

GDays Mandaue 2014: Getting your business out there

Overview of GDays Mandaue here.

Bernardo Arellano III, GBG Iloilo Founder, went up as the second speaker . I remember getting updates from him and the GDG Crisis Mappers when the earthquake and Yolanda relief operations were happening. They came to Bohol and went out to map the areas where the roads were too damaged to pass through, where the most help is needed and where the nearest evac stations were. You can find the map here. They really helped out a lot of NGOs and made the relief process faster and more efficient. Hats off to them for making such a difference.

Bernardo Arellano III talks about Google Places

Why is mapping your business such a big deal? Most traditional brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs rely on the word of mouth within the community and fliers and whatnot to attract attention to their store. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing but, let's say, you're a hotel owner for example and you rely on the word of mouth. What good will it do if the people who know about your great services and amenities are the people that don't really NEED a place to stay since, well, they live there. What if you're offering a specialized service? Wouldn't it be great if not only the people around your area, that, give or take,  may only use your special service once a year, but also people that are actually looking for your service, use your service?

I made a foreign friend at a local event one time and she said "You can't look anything up in Google about the shops in Bohol". She was planning her trip here and turned to good 'ol Google to help her with her plan since she's new to the area. She wanted to look for a nearby convenience store near the hotel she was staying in, a auto shop or service center nearby her area to get her motor checked if anything happened, the nitty gritty details that she needed weren't there and in turn, these businesses just lost a fine customer. She could have just looked for them when she got to the hotel, of course, but my point in giving that example was visibility. You're running a business and you want as many people to know about it as possible. What better way to do it that using Google Places and Google Maps? With the right optimization, you could have a global audience! What also makes most Google services the best is that it's for FREE. A good chunk of these features are, which is great!

Here's a great video on what is so important about getting your business out there.

"Each small business is different but they all need one thing to make them successful. Customers."

So how exactly do you "get it out there"? I'm sure a lot of people are already familiar with Google Maps but there is this other service from Google that isn't as popular, _{(according to me that is because before the event, I had no idea that this service was available)} Google Places. Here's a quick video on what Google Places is all about:

So I'm not any Google Places expert and I've never even used the thing before since I don't have a business to market BUT I want people to know that a service like this with huge traffic, I might add is just there. For free. Just sitting there. USE IT. 

Creating a Google Places Business Listing

Calling out to business people in Bohol!! This exists! I will join your ranks soon but while I'm not there yet, give more power to small businesses!! Please, so all the smart Pinoys will STAY in Pinas!

Oh and on a  further note, I know this such a late announcement but whatever. Google Street View is coming to the Philippines!! Yeeey! So stop bathing naked in the street near the drain because you'll never know when your naked ass will be up live on the internet for everyone to see :D

Right now, only Intramuros has been captured properly. They'll be partnering with the Department of Tourism and will be starting at Metropolitan Manila and will hopefully work their way down to other historic places of the Philippines. A more detailed report from Rappler here.

GDays Mandaue 2014: My First Major Google Event

My Musings on Innovation.
Why I think Getting your business out there is important.
How Social Media Can Affect Your Business.
The mind-blowing Secrets of Gmail.

As the event opened with models strutting their stuff on the stage, fancy dresses and large John Lennon sunglasses, I was thinking dafaq? It was really cool and all _{(the designs were so fab but I could never think of being able to bring it if I ever get the chance of wearing them)} and after watching the fashion designer's, Bree Esplanada, video about being able to use Google to build his online presence, I thought sure, great for him but at the back of my mind was this is weird.

I'm sure everyone in the audience thought the same thing so, after the GBG Mandaue organizers caught on, Bjorn _{(thanks so much for helping me get in, I had so much fun!)} came up on stage after a few segments and explained why they had the fashion show. Erica and Lindsey _(sp?) from Google talked, through a video, to the GDays Mandaue attendees about a Google Transformation Challenge. To use Google in businesses, no matter how small or big, to enhance, it, digitize it and make it grow. If you lack the knowhow, GBG Mandaue will help you do just that. They assist businesses and professionals, like Bree's fashion designing, and take it to the next level. Contact GBG Mandaue and let them know what they can do for your business.

Photobooth manned by Ryan Orcullo

Right outside the venue was a photobooth with really cute cutouts of the different Google Apps which was really great and fun to mess around with. I took my turn on it, of course, but I couldn't find my pic on the GBG Mandaue Facebook Fan Page. Instead, I found this:

close enough

I ran into Ryan and Rey, friends who I got acquainted with during my StartupWeekend experiences, and got to talk about the new FabLab in Bohol _{(Hardware junkies in Bohol, leave me a message! We should schedule a meetup!)} and StartupWeeken Bohol among other things. I learned a lot from my short conversation with them by the door as we densely stood by the entryway as busy organizers who obviously had to be somewhere important were squeezing through. It's conversations like this, with like-minded people willing to give and take information on topics you are passionate about, that you get to appreciate and enjoy your field of interest.

The entryway we stood by

I ended up sharing a table with them and a few more awesome people like Jan, who I met at SWC2, and Giovanni, who I met while riding up the elevator _{(with weird buttons)}  going up to Lakwatsa Resto Lounge.

I later met Jhanis at the event proper during an ice-breaker activity the second speaker made us do _{(say hi to the person beside you and ask them what fruit they'd be and why. She's a pretty banana)}. She's an amazing blogger with really funny entries about her life as a mom of two kids. I really enjoy reading her work, and it really helps me relate to what my own mom thinks, too.

The event overall was so much fun with so many learnings. I'll meet even more people in the afternoon session in our Google for Management group, which I will be blogging separately about, and I even got to talk to the event hostess, Issa _{(who I thought, and still think, would make a great model)} after the event ended and got to splurge about each of our family businesses and frustrations.

Again, thank you Bjorn and Ruben for helping me attend! It was an awesome experience :D

Google MapUp-Tagbilaran: Niceness of Boholanos

DTI Office, 2nd floor, FCB building near Cogon

Attended my first Google Mapup Evenat last September 3, 2013 which was held at the above mentioned office. It was really fun with Ruben and Dal  facilitating it all. Most of us were able to map out 20 or so places within the city. We also got some free shirts and stickers. Yey!

We also got to eat out at Gerarda's, a small restaurant by the roadside with awesome food, great service and a very relaxing and homey atmosphere. Definitely worth checking out.

Gerarda's, Torralba St., Tagbilaran City

We also had a little drama on the way there. Ruben forgot his trolley bag _{(with a laptop and some money in it)} at the back of the tricycle _{(three-wheeled public transpo common here in Bohol)} he was on. It already drove away by the time he realized it. The table was so tense within the first hour with everyone breaking into teams and left to try and track down the vehicle. We reported it to the local radio station and authorities but nothing. The guys who left came back empty-handed too so all we could do was sit down and eat the food that was served. Ruben was so chill about everything saying,

"There's always a reason why you lose something. It's either somebody else needs that thing more than you do, or it will be returned to you tenfold."

Coincidentally, the tricycle driver himself came knocking on the restaurant door to return the bag! We were all "Yeeeeeey" and continued lunch on a happier note. Ruben and Dal got the driver's details while I didn't. I'm sure they'll post around about it somehow. All I got was his vehicle's serial number: 0829. Kudos to you, good sir! Hopefully, MapUp events in the future will still be this pleasantly thrilling.