WanderingSalsero

Travel restrictions to Cuba further eased....He finally did something right!

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Well, it looks like our illustrious Deceiver-in-Chief, Mr. "Real Change For the Worse" Obama, has finally does something right.  Him and his bunch of otherwise worthless impediments to freedom have eased travel restrictions to Cuba.

iPhone movie....I'm so prescient it's almost scary

pre·science

noun
\ˈpre-sh(ē-)ən(t)s, ˈprē-, -s(ē-)ən(t)s\

Definition of PRESCIENCE

: foreknowledge of events: a : divine omniscience b : human anticipation of the course of events : foresight

— pre·scient \-sh(ē-)ənt, -s(ē-)ənt\ adjective

— pre·scient·ly adverb

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Many of you will remember that I've written often that there's a huge unfullfilled opportunity for Salsa dancers to generate dance videos for commercial intent.  You'll remember that I have many times said that dance instructors and dance team leaders should explore and develop the idea of making commercially oriented vidoes of their team's work.

You'll remember that the two reasons I thought this was inevetible was because (1) the equipment and technology is more affordable, simpler and readily available than ever, and (2) as 'the net' has grown also has grown it's appetite for quality content...such as online entertainment.  

And what could be more entertaining than watching some sweet little salsa honeys strutting their stuff on your  iTV, internet connected super screen home theater, or lap-top?  Actually...there are some things that would be more fun to watch but......you get the point.

Point is, just recently a movie director in Korea has made a full length movie using nothing but an iPhone (actually...several iPhones).

Gee.......what a novel idea!!!

Read about it here:

Director shoots first major movie solely with iPhone

 

Related articles

• Salsa-dancing dog video becomes an online hit (newslite.tv)
• Director Shoots Movie with iPhone (pcworld.com)
• Best Ranked College Dance Teams in the USA (brighthub.com)
• iPad publishing: Why the real challenge is the competition for attention (guardian.co.uk)

What could a Social Media/Public Relations Manager do for you?

Image via CrunchBase

I've been trying to crystallize the answer to that question in my mind lately.  It's of concern to me first of all ...'just because' I'm a naturally curious kind of guy.  But secondly, because I'm kinda getting 'ants in my pants' to get outta the English teaching business and start using some of the skills I've developed (some more fully than others) since I've been over here in Korea.

As I've said several time before, I because aware several months ago about this field called 'social media management'.  As you'll recall, "social media" refers simply to user generated content shared with other....e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkeIn, Digg, Posterous, et.al.

I read that more and more companies, from big to small, are spending money and lots of it on social media.  It's spent in a variety of ways that are sometimes pretty simple and other times very sophisticated.  But what I wanted to know was, "What exactly do these 'Social Media Managers' do?"

Well, how 'bout things like these?

• Set up any important social media platforms you don't have yet...e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkIn and possible others.
• Clean up social media sites that you have which might be perhaps kinda neglected and junky by now.
• Help you with growing your follower list through selective targeting and inviting...and maintaining those relation ships through constant communication....e.g. 2 status posts/tweets a day on each of your major platforms.
• Help with reputation management....e.g. monitor the 'net' to immediately catch anytime somebody says something good or bad about you/your company/your brand.  And respond accordingly.
• Function as a first-line of customer service(especially valuable if you have actuall products to sell)
• Function as your eye on the market...e.g. monitor your industry and keep you advised of any new developments you need to be aware of.
• Function as the publics eye on you.....e.g. as you become better know, people are curious about what you're doing.  You might not be comfortable with the task of telling people what you're doing......you might be reluctant to toot your own horn.  So let somebody do it's who's presumably better at it that you are.
• As you get more successful and your goals get larger, you can use your social media/PR manager to actually generate more extensive 'content' for you....blog post, reports,  make appointments, etc.

Undoubtedly there's other things that go on too but these things listed above should serve to illustrate that there's more to it than maybe you realized.

So let's go to the dance business that I know a little bit about because I've been a serious 'social dancer' for a long time. 

There's no doubt that the dance business is just as competitive as anything else.  There's still a lot of money to be made.  But I don't see much, if any, high powered 'social media' in it. 

What I do see is inward oriented....i.e. to the people who already dance.  They're 'preaching to the choir.  In my opinion, very few of the major players in it think as big as they could and use social media to expand their market.

Should you be thinking bigger?

Well, I don't know for sure.  But ask yourself this question:  "Is there anybody else out there who doesn't know how to dance but would probably like to learn?"

Related articles

• Why a Social Media policy is imperative for any company (globalthoughtz.com)
• What Companies Want in a Social Media Intern (mashable.com)
• Social Media Kiosks - The Public Twitter Booth Lets the Smartphone-Free Tweet On the Go (GALLERY) (trendhunter.com)
• How Executives Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC] (penn-olson.com)
• Top five social media destinations (gadling.com)
• How to Integrate Social Media With Traditional Media (socialmediaexaminer.com)
• Professionalism and Social Media (e1evation.com)
• What do Social Media Managers do? Part 1 (econsultancy.com)
• Why Social Media Is Reinventing Activism (mashable.com)
• Is Facebook Suffocating the Rest of Social Media? (e1evation.com)
• Three ways to use social media for cheap travel (gadling.com)
• Social Media Programs: The Sweet Spot Between Strategic Planning and Tactical Implementation (gauravonomics.com)
• Why Media Agencies Can 'Do Social Media' (adrants.com)
• Communications, Social Media Marketing and PR Manager for AppCircus (m-trends.org)

New way to generate customers for dance studios

I'm not gonna spill all the beans because this is something I'm starting to do myself, but I will share a bit of the idea that I think is so cool.  Lemme give you some preliminary facts first.

Did you know that more people surf the net on smart phones than PC or laptops?  True.

And 5 times more people have smart phones than have PC and/or laptops.  True.

And People are rarely ever more than a few feet from their smartphones.  True.

So, that should give you a clue that if you can reach those people with the right message at the right time, you've got a good chance of getting them in for some lessons....or whatever.  Right?

Well, here's the cool part.

Did you know it's possible to set up an ad campaign, kinda like PPC (but a little different) wherein you can actually target people at certain times of the day, in certain geographical locations, certain age groups, and even with certain kinds of cell phones.

See the connection?

New music source on the 'block'?

I'm always iterested in finding new sources of music online both live streaming and for download.  And I also remembered hearing in the past that Salsa Eddy (AKA: Eddy Deynes) was doing some DJing in the Houston local salsa scene.

So today I was reminded that most websites are not optimized for convenient viewing over smart phone.  Smart phone screens are simply too small thus requiring the viewer (and potential customer) to do a hell of a lot of scrolling to find the info they're looking for.

There's no way all that stuff on a regular website could be crammed into the comparatively small screen of a smart phone.  

Sure, you can scroll around and eventually get what you're looking for.   But who's gonna get more views in the long run.....(a) somebody with a site designed to display everything with a minimum of scrolling and distraction or a site that's like looking at the Milky Way at night through a straw?

You also need to remember, and carefully consider that the viewer looking at your site on a PC or laptop is often looking for more, or different, information than the person looking for you on his/her smart phone.  Whereas the PC user might even be looking for entertainment and have lots of time to search for and enjoy it, the smart phone user very often is looking for very specific who, what, where, and when type information.  And doesn't have a lot of time.

Anybody on the web today who isn't maximizing the viewer experience for smart phone users is missing a significant opportunity right now and one that's only going to get bigger real soon.

So anyway....I'm checking some sites out and I decide to look at some of the sites Salsa Eddy has (he's got several).  I first tried www.salsaeddy.com and, for some reason, it wouldn't display on the tool I was using.  http://salsaeddy.com wouldn't come up either.  But http://salsaeddy.org did.  And it turned out to be playing streaming music. 

The music was very good. 

I was also surprised at the variety.  I don't know if Eddy always had that diverse a taste in music or if it's something he's just grown into lately.  Either way, it was good stuff.  He even had some bachata.  And some more 'pop'-ish tunes too.  But all good.

I'm sure there might be other DJ's who dance.  For example, Antony Parsaud, AKA: www.addicted2salsa.com (as I recall) used to have a podcast of salsa music.  But I haven't seen it around in a long time.

So it's nice for salsa dancers to have somebody who really knows how to dance spinning some tunes for them.  Salsa Eddy, of course, has been around for a long time and not only has one of the most successful studios in Houston and, in recent years, has done some successful competition too although 'competition' hasn't been his primary focus  over the years.

I also notice that his websites currently use the www.wix.com platform.  I'd say that's pretty good validation for Wix too.  Actually, you can do even more with Wix than Eddy has.  Check it out if you've been considereing a site.  Or if you're looking for some kind of supplemenary site.

Last but not least, if you've got a website that you'd like to have optimized for better smart phone viewing, let me know and I'll tell you what I can do for you.  If you'd like to see what your site looks like now in a smart phone, go to http://iphonetester.com .  You'll see what I'm talking about.

Meet Don Baarns.....The Unlikely Salsero

Another expedition into the 'early-adopter' stratosphere with me, Don Baarns (AKA: The Unlikely Salsero) and www.wetoku.com .  Here's the deal!

I've mentioned Don Baarns before, right?  I've known Don for a year or two over the internet because he's commented on my blog and I've commented on his (www.unlikelysalsero.com ). 

His blog is very, very nice and has gobs and gobs of totally excellent content.  But what makes Don especially interesting is that in addition to being a darn good salsa dancer he's also a professional musician. 

Don's 'day job is in the compouter and tech industry but for fun and extra bucks he's also a professional  drummer.  And..........he's a salsa dancer.  Matter of fact, he's a good friend of America's Salsa Instructor, Edie the Salsa Freak.

Anyway.......so, I know Don.  And I asked him if we could get together and do an interview on www.wetoku.com .  Don's a cool dude so.....he said, "Sure!" 

And that's what you see here:

Troy and Jorjet dance well together

Here's a nice video that appeared up top on my YouTube page.  There's lots of good dancers but Troy and Jorjet are probably my favorite 'salsa couple'.  And they're damn good too......on this video they both positively 'nail' the music to the wall.

Thriving Houston studio needs qualified instructors

Do you know any good dance instructors who are looking for work?

If so, have them contact Sonias World of Dance in Houston, TX.  I've been told that they've got almost more students than they can handle and they're looking for a few more good (and I stress....."good") instructors.

Sonias World of Dance has been around for several years and probably has one of the better social programs in Houston too.  They actually built their business mostly around the ballroom type dances and a C&W dancing but a few years ago (back when I lived in Houston) they started doing salsa and other latin dances and that part of their business has expanded a lot.

Part of the reason has been their excellent location in the dynamic and prosperous SW Houston/Galleria area.  But part of it also has been that Sonia(Sonia Farr, the proprietor) has attracted some of the best instructors in town and been successful in integrating an excellent social program into her product mix.

Their website is www.soniasworldofdance.com .  Give'em a call if you'd like to get more information about opportunities there.  If you're not from Houston but are looking for 'greener fields' than where you are now, I suspect Houston should be on your short list because the economy is relatively good there. 

There's several other reasons for moving to Houston.  Especially if you're a salsa dancer.  

• The climate is relatively nice (mostly warm)
• The salsa talent there is good
• There's 4 or 5 pretty good to OK salsa clubs
• The Texas salsa community is pretty 'tight'
• There's a salsa congress almost every other week somewhere in Texas (it seems)
• You're near three other Texas cities (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio) with lots of salsa talent.
• Living costs are fairly low compared to other US areas
• The people in Houston are generally pretty nice.

Check it out!

Casino Rueda 101 starts Saturday at Candela in Yangjae, Seoul

Major dance stuio in Houston needs professional instructor(s)

I'm originally from Houston, Texas and I still have a lot of friends and contacts back there.  One of them is a person who owns one of the major dance studios and he/she is looking for a professional level dance instructor.

This studio teaches all the well known dances.  My association with them was in regards to salsa so that's what I know about.  And I can tell you that this studio has excellent connections withing the salsa community.  If salsa is your bag, then you'll meet a lot of the right people.  Texas is one of the most dynamic salsa states in the US.

The studio also teaches a lot of tango, swing, ballroom and C&W too.  And many of their dancers compete professionally.  It really is a very reputable studio...but not stuffy.  They have a once-a-month salsa social that's very well attended.  It was one of the my favorite monthly events back when I lived there.

Would I recommend the gig?

Yeah.  I was told, by the owner, that they're looking for someone either temporary or permanent.  The owner himself/herself is originally from abroad so I'm assuming he/she would assist with the necessary visa sponsorship.

I have no idea what the compensation and benefit package is but I can tell you that Houston is the 5th largest city in the US and Texas in general is doing a lot better economically than other parts of the US.  Point is.......it sounds like they've got plenty of people wanting to learn to dance.

I lived there from 1980 until 2007 when I came over here to Korea to teach English.  It's a big place.  You'll need a car because their public transportation sucks.  It's nothing like Seoul or Korea.  But......cars are cheap there too, so........

Send me an email if you want to get in touch with the specific studio/studio owner.

Regards,

Art Williams