Promotion and Marketing ideas

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

At the organisers' meeting, the subject of marketing, website and general vision of DoES was raised multiple times, so that's something that's now actively being looked in to.

If you have any input to add, please do so we can better guide the next steps. Please also mention how you use DoES so we can get better idea of how different "roles" (for want of better word) perceive things.

As a newbie maker, who might also be interested in hot-desking, here's my thoughts:

The hot-desking and maker aspects of DoES are blurred - it's confusing for newbies trying to work out what DoES does
- From a marketing perspective, I think the two should be considered as separate entities, so they can be more clearly defined and also illustrate how they benefit each other.
- The website homepage should probably reflect this
LoRaWAN - we have two gateways... invaluable to anyone wanting to develop LoRa based products / services
- DoES experience with microcontrollers and telemetry in general should be more visible
Machines - 3D printers, CNC, laser cutter, etc. - we need clearer information on what they are, what they do and examples of what people have done with them
- These are a major USP in themselves IMO, as is the community of makers who can assist with using them
Completed projects - it takes too long to wade through the weeknotes to find what's been made at DoES
- maybe we should have a page that highlights some of the successful projects?
There are loads of groups that meet at DoES that most of us don't know about
- At the very least, they should be listed on calendar (and also linked to something that provides more detail)
- Maybe a page for each on the website for each group?
There's obviously a wide range of skills within the community - but who has what skill?
- Maybe a few key people could be listed on website as initial points of contact for specific areas of expertise?

ajlennon commented 7 years ago

You had me at "cake garden"

ajlennon commented 7 years ago

btw. The Google calendar link is here. I have it plugged into Thunderbird and it seems to work well

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=doesliverpool.com_4f906tbj39irupt6crbjhi998k%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe/London

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

Many of the events on that calendar don't provide any additional detail about the event - for example, what is abstraction workshop? What is ScouseFP? Also, I was told recently that there are about 15 groups meeting at DoES - are some missing from calendar?

ajlennon commented 7 years ago

The abstraction workshop is to do with making better product designs, and ScouseFP is apparently a group of deviants who do things with LISP

martimorta commented 7 years ago

About communication, where is best to ask a question or share something? mail list, discourse, slack?

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

Depends what you're sharing. I usually use the google group or twitter (create a tweet containing @DoESLiverpool #weeknotes and it will end up in next weeks' week notes which are posted to the website and google group and probably other places too).

JackiePease commented 7 years ago

I actually went to that ScouseFP meetup after clicking on the link in Weeknotes, despite no previous interest in functional programming (really good talk on universal register machines). Obviously some info is getting through...

It would be great to have more information on the calendar, and I believe links are generally added where event organisers provide them. I think part of the problem is the dual role of the calendar in booking spaces and publicising events. To some extent, it should be up to event organisers to decide how much info/what links they want to provide to the general public.

(Edit: Removed duplicate of earlier comment that was part of email reply)

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

I've recently done some updates to the wearables group wiki page - what do you think of this format for group overview: https://github.com/DoESLiverpool/wiki/wiki/Liverpool-Wearable-Tech-Group

JackiePease commented 7 years ago

That’s great Guy – very clear and it’s good to include more photos.

I know Laura has plans to add extra content too.

I’ve taken out a reference to the sewing club on the wearables group page. Will need someone with access to events calendar to remove upcoming sewing club meetings, and there’s still a wiki page which probably should be removed or updated to say that they’ve moved on.

dazz-ling commented 7 years ago

A social media gallery of some of of the thing made in the workshop would make it easier to help spread the word.

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

[x] I'll find out where the sewing club went and update their page to point people in right direction.
[x] I don't have access to calendar so can't update that, but will find out who can.

As for social media gallery, Instagram and twitter are already used by DoES users, but it would be good to get a list of all the key social media outlets and work out some sort of strategy (even if it's just what hashtag to use) to help with discoverability.

johnmckerrell commented 7 years ago

I’ve removed the sewing club from the calendar, I’m not averse to adding the new date and venue once we find it out.

JimSparrow commented 7 years ago

@DoESsean is heading up some stuff looking at promotion of Does, and looking at the website stuff. Just flagging him into this, and mentioning it. This will all be really useful for him:)

amcewen commented 7 years ago

@aubergine10 The calendar does have a link to the event (or the general meetup page/website for the group) in the description, where we know it - Google Calendar just doesn't do a very good job of showing that :-/ That's where the weeknotes script expects it to be. I blogged about my issues with calendars recently, should anyone want to know more about calendars than is sensible... ;-) It's something I'd like to improve, but I don't think it's a quick fix (BICBW).

Curating a set of "cool things made in the space" for the website would be cool. The weeknotes should give a good starting point for finding suitable things (and will generally give you the details of who to talk to if you want to do something a bit more wordy around them - or someone to ask to write something more wordy about it). Could be a semi-regular feature with a blog post written for each item, and a page to show everything in that category? That'd give us something to promote each time there was a new item added, and a place that newcomers could find a subset of Epic Sh** made by the community.

SayBeano commented 7 years ago

I'd really like to see a cabinet of "Epics" in the hall or in the main space.

People, not including our community, don't always get a chance to go in the workshop or in Dinky. Granted the workshop shows more "aborts" than Epics.

I do like the idea of an online gallery, but these never properly display the scale nor are they tangible.

An further idea for a cabinet would be a sign saying "Ask for the key." and as Epics are theoretically reproducible, the could be sold if anyone sees something they like.

DefProc commented 7 years ago

On the events front, I've just changed the calendar page to show the agenda view for each calendar by default. IMO that's a bit easier to see the actual events, even if it does obscure the regular repetition.

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

@amcewen I have a license for a nifty calendar / events plugin for WP that I'm not using. Maybe something that can be investigated more when we take a look at website?

As for a bestiary of cool stuff, I think we should aim towards having a blog post for each cool thing and then we can display that category of posts Pinterest-style on a specific page. I have WP themes and plugins that can help with that sort of thing, but obviously the big task will be creating and correctly-dating the blog posts etc.

SayBeano commented 7 years ago

Avoid blogposts for this bestiary, IYAM, and use portfolios instead.

https://en.support.wordpress.com/portfolios/

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

Any specific reason to use portfolios over tagged/categorised blog posts?

SayBeano commented 7 years ago

They're more maliable from a data sense and easier to showcase within wordpress.

Create a page and add specific items to it. Less fidgiting with dates too. Multile ways to sort. Multiple ways to display. Create a page with multiple catergories and more than one shortcode. Create multiple pages displaying specific data. Blog catergories/tags presume a knowledge of existing tags. Users interacting with tags on a blog isn't very pinterest. Portfolios follow links/linked data so you can do a page of tags if you wanna.

They're just better for this sort of thing, IYAM.

originalfoo commented 7 years ago

Some related tickets: #383 and #306

goatchurchprime commented 6 years ago

I've noticed ads on city bikes to put on advertising. The deal is here https://liverpool.gov.uk/business/advertise-your-business/citybike-advertising/ minimum 50 bikes for £25/month for 6 months (ie £7500).

I think it would be a lot more fun if they allowed local businesses (or the local hack-space) to sponsor single bikes on one side. We can see if it's possible to plaster it over with a vinyl cut shape. We'd totally have people tweeting #doesliverpool whenever they spotted it in a different place.

ajlennon commented 5 years ago

I've been dipping a tentative toe into the Patreon model in recent months.

I love the theory of it, direct support to those people and projects you wish to see succeed, but I'm not yet entirely convinced this can succeed in the middle to long term. It seems quite fragile.

That aside, I've been starting to support stuff that interests me and most recently have decided to give the maintainer of OctoPrint / OctoPi $1 + fees a month. I think I can manage $12 + fees a year and today I really like what she's doing and want her to do more.

I was a little surprised to see on her Patreon page that she's pulling in $6K a month from this project.

ref: https://www.patreon.com/foosel/overview

I've heard some comments around the DoES community about Patreon - am I thinking of you @DoESsean - and this pushes me to think there's value in the channel.

In my limited understanding when you become a patron of a creator or project you get access to stuff, sometimes early access.

If the above is interesting are we in a position to provide early access to "something" or a feed or whatever to DoES supporters? Who would have the time and energy to build and maintain a supporter-community in this way?

It seems to me if a great project like OctoPrint can pull in $6K globally from supporters then there's something here that is worth looking into for DoES?

DoESsean commented 5 years ago

Yeah, I briefly raised Patreon before, and do think it's something that is worthwhile our looking into.

As I remember, there were some ethical issues around the people that run it, or something? I may be wrong, there's mostly some ethical issues around everything I bring up :D

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 1:08 AM Alex Lennon notifications@github.com wrote:

I've been dipping a tentative toe into the Patreon model in recent months.

I love the theory of it, direct support to those people and projects you wish to see succeed, but I'm not yet entirely convinced this can succeed in the middle to long term. It seems quite fragile.

That aside, I've been starting to support stuff that interests me and most recently have decided to give the maintainer of OctoPrint / OctoPi $1 + fees a month. I think I can manage $12 + fees a year and today I really like what she's doing and want her to do more.

I was a little surprised to see on her Patreon page that she's pulling in $6K a month from this project.

ref: https://www.patreon.com/foosel/overview

I've heard some comments around the DoES community about Patreon - am I thinking of you @DoESsean https://github.com/DoESsean - and this pushes me to think there's value in the channel.

When you become a patron of a creator or proejct you get access to stuff, sometimes early access.

If the above is interesting are we in a position to provide early access to "something" or a feed or whatever to DoES supporters? Who would have the time and energy to build and maintain a supporter-community in this way?

It seems to me if a great project like OctoPrint can pull in $6K globally from supporters then there's something here that is worth looking into for DoES?

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/DoESLiverpool/somebody-should/issues/480#issuecomment-466839009, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIp8MMwqLZ4Hi4N0bLxR9MRZw0PeolGNks5vQzelgaJpZM4NH9uc .

ajlennon commented 5 years ago

Yeah I remember and I remember commenting on the RealSexyCyborg ethical stuff.

I decided for now for me it's better to support people I like on a platform I'm not sure about than not support people I like.

Robotorium commented 5 years ago

I think probably we should finish the crowdfunding rewards before we try something like this? What needs to happen next for the bricks etc?

Op di 26 feb. 2019 om 13:41 schreef Alex Lennon notifications@github.com:

Yeah I remember and I remember commenting on the RealSexyCyborg ethical stuff.

I decided for now for me it's better to support people I like on a platform I'm not sure about than not support people I like.

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/DoESLiverpool/somebody-should/issues/480#issuecomment-467442067, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/Ac7H3vd8kkPoox5SFXZWr3OXN-kQQM5yks5vRTmbgaJpZM4NH9uc .

ajlennon commented 5 years ago

Oooh. Tom was thinking of running a casting workshop in the space at the back of the Tapestry Building.

If that was to work out I’m wondering if we could cast some brick fascias (no iPhone not cast some fascists)

amcewen commented 5 years ago

@ajlennon your enthusiasm for learning new things is wonderful. However, it would be great if you could work on your spotting-if-this-will-help-us-finish-things-or-if-it-will-distract-and-delay-things, because it looks to me like in this instance your suggestion falls into the second of those options...

ajlennon commented 5 years ago

Not at all. The brick issue has been sitting there waiting to be dealt with for too long.

I’m attempting to put a date on an event where we deal with it

DoESLiverpool / somebody-should

Promotion and Marketing ideas #480