Win the new HTC One!

Win the new HTC One!

I wanted a more catchy or original name for this post, but I wanted something that would grab your attention. Now that I have your attention, listen up. The cool folks at Telus hooked me up with a red panda critter (thanks a lot ).  I got him just before our big California road trip [...]

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Replying on Twitter is worth the effort

Replying on Twitter is worth the effort

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me lately talk about the importance of having conversations with people on Twitter.  This is really a no-brainer and people always agree, but I don’t think it happens much.  There are a lot of tweets and retweets, but fewer replies and real conversations. Scott Stratten [...]

Global Screw-up, Personal Apology

Global Screw-up, Personal Apology

One, two, three… twenty-three. That’s how many tweets Fast Company’s Twitter account sent out in under a minute. Can you say SPAM? When I first saw this, I had the idea of writing a post about the downfalls of social media automation and what not to do (don’t get me wrong, I think social media [...]

Do You Want Fries With That?

Do You Want Fries With That?

If you’ve been to a fast food restaurant, you probably have been asked this question. This question is an example of a call-to-action. A call-to-action tells people what to do by inviting them to make a decision.  The invitation won’t always be responded to positively, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never get a yes. [...]

.eduSummit 2013 – An Amazing Opportunity

.eduSummit 2013 – An Amazing Opportunity

This story started over four years ago in St. Petersburg, Florida where I met a group of amazing higher education marketing and web professionals at the Stamats Integrated Marketing for Higher Education.  One of them was Kyle James. Over the years I’ve  interacted with Kyle and others through Twitter and even wrote a a guest [...]

Silent Tagging – Another Bad Social Media Tactic

Silent Tagging – Another Bad Social Media Tactic

Today I was exposed to a new low for social media – silent tagging. I try hard to stay current with social media trends and new strategies, but I have to admit, I had to research this one as I hadn’t heard of it before. The basic premise is a business page will post an [...]

High Engagement Content

High Engagement Content

A few years ago, I shared a video from Chris Brogan, where he referred to social media as a “serendipity engine.” In that video, Chris explains that tools like Twitter and LinkedIn allow us to “stumble” across great content and people. I’d like to spin the concept of serendipity to describe the type of content [...]

Losing Focus with Social Media

Losing Focus with Social Media

Social media is an amazing way to connect with your customers, colleagues, friends and make new friends as well. That requires work. Social media is free, but it takes attention. I’ve met too many people (online and in person) who’s social media activities consist of promoting something cool about them or their organization, failing to [...]

Awesome Book Giveaway

Awesome Book Giveaway

It started in January of this year.  I was watching this BBQ place screw up on Facebook.  I mean royally screw up.  I thought this would make a great case study some day on ‘how not to treat your customers,’ so I took a screenshot. Later on, Scott Stratten (a.k.a. @UnMarketing) asked if he could [...]

Web Strategy in Higher Education

Web Strategy in Higher Education

In my new role as the Manager, Marketing & Web Development at NorQuest College, one of my tasks is to work stakeholders to develop a web strategy document that will set the direction for our redesign project and future development. I’ve been doing a lot of research and have read many web strategy documents from [...]

How to Create a Viral Video

How to Create a Viral Video

I have to first off start by apologizing for not writing for a month. A lot has been going on for me.  I’m in the process of leaving my current position as the Social Media Strategist at Lethbridge College to start my new adventure as the Manager, Marketing & Web Development at NorQuest College.  Needless [...]