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2012
You are browsing the archive for 2012.
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
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
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
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
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 [...]
HootSuite University: A Case Study
Working at a higher education institution, I’m often aware of the challenges of keeping curriculum relevant and current. The college I work at offers various programs including trades, business, criminal justice, health, and more. Whatever the program, social media will affect students in their further studies and career path. It’s for this reason I was [...]
How and Why to Keep Customers Happy
This seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately a lot of companies just don’t get it. A few years ago I wrote a post entitled ‘Customer Service is the New Marketing‘ where I shared some thoughts on the importance of customer service and a great video interview with Lane Becker from Get Satisfaction. Three years later, [...]
Avoid the Social Media Shiny Object Syndrome
Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Dan Moran from Clutch Business Blueprint about social media (the video will be posted on Monday). One of the questions that Dan asked me during the interview was “What do you think we should be looking out for this year? What’s the next Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook?” [...]
Benefits of an Internal Social Media Marketing Team
The following is a guest blog post from Sam Mauzy. Sam is a contributing writer for Invesp. Social media initially began as a way for individuals to communicate with others through the expression of their personal thoughts, ideas, or suggestions on certain issues. While it was always an interactive tool used to communicate different types of information, [...]
A World Class Social Media Event in Your Backyard
Usually social media conferences with a stellar line-up that include Chris Brogan and Julien Smith are reserved for cities like New York or Las Vegas. On May 10th, Mount Royal University is hosting the 2nd annual Social Media Shift Conference. The focus this year is on bridging the gap between traditional marketing and social media. [...]
Organizational Success with Social Media
Earlier this week, Megan Leap shared an article called 24 Tips to get the CEO & Corner Office to Say Yes to Social Media! There are a number of great tips to encourage leadership in your organization to accept and support social media use. The post got me thinking. What if you work in an organization [...]
Give Your Brand a Personality on Social Media
We’ve often hear of brand voice. Melinda Flores from Interbrand indicates that your brand voice: best delivers the messages you’re trying to send and shapes the perception of your brand not only through what you say but how you say it. Social media requires you to not just focus on what you say and how you say it, but [...]
Six Benefits of Using Twitter at a Conference
When you attend an event, whatever the theme, you always have two goals: to learn and to network. In the past these goals were achieved by fervently writing notes and just as fervently handing out business cards. While these activities still happen, Twitter is a highly-effective tool for achieving those goals. More conferences are using hash tags as way for attendees [...]
Empower Your Staff
If you know me, you’ve probably heard me mention how “customer service is the new marketing.” In fact, I wrote a post about it three years ago. It was true then, it’s true today. I want to share an experience I had that reinforces the point. At The Real Canadian Superstore, I wanted to purchase a [...]
Get more exposure on LinkedIn
So you’ve been on LinkedIn for some time now and maybe you’re asking yourself, “why aren’t the offers flooding in?” Maybe the simple answer is: no one can find you? Just like its challenging to have your paper resume stick out in a pile of resumes, it’s difficult for people to find you on LinkedIn [...]
Building a Social Business
I’ve been thinking about this topic for a few days now and read a great post by Amber Naslund that talks about what businesses need to do to become a social business. In her post, Amber talks about how businesses want to become social and leverage the power of these tools, but are unwilling to [...]
I’m a Social Media Expert
How many times have you seen people call themselves a social media “expert”, “guru”, “maven”, etc? Really?!? Have you ever wondered how many hours someone has to put in before they’re an expert? How about before they’re a guru? The point is there is no standard. There is no credential or qualification that a person [...]
Customer Acquisition vs. Customer Retention
Advertisements, promotions, sales. These are all about increasing your client pool or customer acquisition. In 2009, it’s reported that companies spent 56% of their marketing budget on customer acquisition activities and only 33% on customer retention activities. Many companies are guilty of wooing in new customers, while disregarding the ones they already have. They dangle [...]
What You Need to Be a Community Manager
A role is continuing to emerge in organizations that are maturing in their use of social media. The role of a community manager is becoming critical for organizations desiring to find success. What is a Community Manager? Simply put, a community manager connects communities and brands. Jeremiah Owyang has written a number of posts on [...]
You Don’t Control the Medium
If you seen the news recently, you’ve probably heard about the Twitter campaign that McDonald’s launched using the hashtag #McDStories. You can see one of their promotional tweets to the right. They had great hopes to inspire stories about Happy Meals. The campaign took a horrible turn and made news headlines around the world. You [...]