engaging educators in your edtech startup- v3
DESCRIPTION
Slides from my 3rd time giving this talk at ImagineK12TRANSCRIPT
Engaging EducatorsBuilding Your Community
About.me
@Jessie_AroraTeacherSquare.org
edcrunch.org
“Utility drives adoption, community drives retention”
Caterina Fake, Founder- Flickr & Hunch
Education is a long game. Resist the urge to chase short-term buzz (like getting written up in TechCrunch) and focus
on building relationships with your early evangelists.
K12 is Incredibly Fragmented
Show Me the Money (USA)
$600B
$50B
What’s Driving the Dysfunction
- Stakeholders and users are typically not the purchasers/customers
- Longer sales cycles (12-18 months)
- Cultural aversion to change
- Time is a huge constraint
Center for Learning with Technology
Hacker/Maker space to connect educators and
edtech
When you connect with people, they want to help you
Teacherpreneur Networks
Highlander Institute’s:Digital Harbor
Foundation
Conferences & EventsBe selective.
Track your target audience
Getting Started
- Establish your story and set your social media tone
- Refine your message with engaged beta testers
- Design broader marketing plan
Low Budget Storytelling
#esinstruct
- Comment on blogsComment on blogs
- - Leverage message boards
- Leverage social networks
- Become a guest author
- Case studies
- Speak at events
- Start blogging yourself
Early Adopters <3 Twitter
List of Top Edu Tweeters on edcrunch.org
EdgeRank = affinity * weight* time decay
Its not about how much information you can push out to your audience, its about the relationship you can build and the trust that you can create in
order to grow your business.
Battling through Beta
“Make sure your product doesn’t suck”
- Dave McClure, 500 Startups
Did you really solve a problem?Did you discover a bigger problem to solve?
Empowering Evangelists
Director of Teacher HappinessVirtual Interns
Beyond Beta
The story continues...
- Establish your story and set your social media tone
- Refine your message with engaged beta testers
- Design broader marketing plan
Appendix
- @CybraryMan1 resources (Get ready... this is a crazy site)- edu hashtags- edu chats
PLCs: Professional Learning Networks
Also referred to as PLNs - Professional/Personal Learning Communities
Community GroupsCreate a space to foster ongoing
communication between your early users