First, let me say right off, that my daughter is fine.  She has severe food allergies, and always has an EpiPen with her for an adult to use if needed. Soon she will be old enough to have to do it herself. But for now, she relies on other people to not panic, and act in the face of fear when they have to.

We’ve never had to use the EpiPen before. My wife, on the phone with a 911 operator, asks “Do you want me to do it? Do you know what you’re doing?!” I have this.  But do I? It’s pretty amazing how many questions and thoughts the human brain can process in a moment. An instant.

I’ve practiced this moment. We have the practice injector, and I’ve gone through the motions of popping off the cap, and jamming it into my leg. In this moment it occurs to me that I don’t remember practicing on my daughter.  That was a miss. She’s a small kid and I’m a grown man hopped up on adrenaline. I need to jab it hard enough to do it’s thing, but in this moment it feels like I can put it through a concrete wall. I know this is going to hurt her.

Those EpiPens are amazing devices. I jabbed it into her leg, she screamed, and within seconds, she was fine. She was crying, and breathing well, and distraught, and healthy. She was fine.  A few minutes later the Fire Trucks arrived, and minutes after that, the paramedics.  One of the paramedics said something I can’t get out of my head. “You used the EpiPen?  Good for you. You’re the first parent I’ve come across that actually used it.”

What?! She’d been on many calls for allergic reactions, and in all the other cases, she had to administer the EpiPen.  All the other parents waited for help to arrive. I completely understand this. Most people don’t act in the face of fear. They just don’t.  They stand around looking at each other, waiting for the other to act.

Which way will you turn?

You can train yourself to overcome fear. All fear. You can. You have to. I promise you that in this life, you will find yourself at the crossroads of action, and letting fear turn into panic. Which way will you turn?

It doesn’t have to be life or death. Will you confront your co-worker on that thing? Will you take that public speaking opportunity? Will you go on that ride with your excited child? Or will you let fear rob you?

I grew up afraid of my own shadow. I was bullied, had no confidence, the whole thing. There is no single event I can point to where I decided to never again let fear win, but somewhere in my adulthood, I made that conscience decision.

Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to act when you’re afraid.

That quote has been said in many ways by a lot of people, but I think Nelson Mandela sums it up nicely-  “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

I teach this to my children. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to act when you’re afraid.

How To Never Lose To Fear

You don’t just wake up one day with the ability to overcome fear. You do it in steps.  First you have to start to be aware of when you’re feeling fear, and when it’s stopping you from doing something you want to do. I think being afraid is different than being scared, like being hurt is different than being injured. Being scared is a natural biological reaction. Being afraid is a decision that scared is how you will stay.

You wouldn’t want your body to stop being scared when you’re presented with a dangerous situation. It’s good to be be scared at the edge of a cliff. Scared is a warning of danger. That’s a good thing. Overcoming fear starts with doing things when you are scared.

I made a decision to never let fear keep me from doing something I wanted to do. I started by seeking out scary things and doing them. I jumped out of a plane, I bungee jumped, I took public speaking opportunities.  Whenever I was afraid of something I tried to just do that thing.

You have to train yourself to overcome fear. Take baby steps at first. Kill a spider, confront an uncomfortable situation, start a conversation with a stranger.

Some friends of mine have started to talk about fitness and weight struggles in a very public way. Amber even started a blog about it. If you don’t think it’s scary for a woman to talk about being overweight in today’s world, you’re crazy.

You don’t have to be afraid. You can LEARN to face your fear.  Almost every story about someone making a heroic act, starts with , “My training just kicked in.”

My work with The Mikey Network has exposed me to many stories of people overcoming fear and taking action to save a life with a defibrillator. There are lots of these life saving stories including  the dad who saved his 2 year old’s life, the High School teacher who saved a student’s life, the GO Transit employee who saved a passenger’s life. Heroes.

Julien Smith wrote a great book, The Flinch, about this very thing.  Get it. He actually made it free, so you have no excuses.

Start taking steps to put yourself in scary situations. Learn to overcome your fear. I promise you that in this life, you will find yourself at the crossroads of taking action, and letting fear turn into panic. Which way will you turn? 

While I was giving our lawn it’s first mow of season, I had a thought as I caught myself doing something I often do- doing something differently, just for the sake of being different.  Most people seem to mow their lawn in straight lines. When you do this, it leaves a pattern of those neat, straight rows. Not me. When I realized that when you mow it leaves lines, I started to mow my lawn in a curved pattern.

I don’t do this because I think it looks better, just different.  No other reason. Do you know how much extra work this is? Zero. It does take a little more thought, but it takes no more work than it would to do it like everyone else. It also makes it a little more interesting to me.

Think about this with your business, your personal life, your anything. How many things are you doing just like everyone else? From the way you answer the phone, your email signature, the way you dress, your business cards,  the way you make your offering or your pitch, what are you doing to stand out?

Of course there are times when you should absolutely do things just like everyone else. But how often do you let your personality show through? If you do creative work for clients, like I do, how often do you let their personality show through?  When we see companies let a little personality show, we tend to love it.  Did you see the twitter exchange between AMC theaters and Oreo Cookies?  A win for both companies for sure.

Are you just like everyone else, or are you different? I like different. People remember different. It usually doesn’t take any more work to be different, or any more money. It usually just takes a little thought.  It also takes a little courage. It’s easy to toe the line. We’re taught to conform from an early age.

Standing out means drawing attention. It opens you up to criticism. If you do it a lot, you’re going to miss the mark some too. No one gets a hit every time they bat. No one. I think you have to take that chance though. Wayne Gretzky famously said, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.  I love that quote.

We need an interesting world. Be a little different. Please.

Professional golfers play 4 day tournaments.  Thursday and Friday the group gets whittled down to the final group that “makes the cut,” and gets to play Saturday and Sunday. Traditionally, Saturday is called “moving day.” This is the day the players get a bit more aggressive as they try to move up the leader board for a win on Sunday. As a result, you’ll see players make huge moves up in the standings. You’ll also see some that initially played very well, seem to whither under the pressure dropping way back to the middle of the pack or worse, knowing that just making the cut assures them a pretty good pay day.

This is the same pattern businesses in every industry follow as competition heats up. Whether it’s new competition or a shrinking market, or a bad economy, some will rise the the occasion, some will drop back to the middle of the pack and make enough money to get by, and others will fail to make the cut.

Is the middle of the pack so bad?

In golf, the top money earners make between $6-10 million.  In 2011, the player right in the middle of the money list – Angel Cabrera, won $628,079. (Incidentally, just now, Angel came in second at the 2013 Masters, earning an estimated $864,000).  So let’s bring this to business because those numbers translate well.

If you’re operating a small business with $628,079 in gross revenue, you’re probably making a decent living. Profit margins vary, but you’re probably not struggling to pay the bills, you don’t sweat payroll, you’re doing pretty well. You may be doing very well. Easy to be content there.

Let’s say the leaders in your industry are earning $6-$8 mill. They’re playing on a much higher level. But they probably have budget meetings, and HR issues, and marketing campaigns, and really have to work at it.  If you’re just starting out, you may not even think you’re capable of playing at that level. And you may not be.

But how do you find out where you belong?

You do the work. You put in your practice time and learn as much as you can. You try as much as you can in as many different ways as you can think of, to gain a competitive advantage.  You constantly ask if your product or service is as good as it can be, and work at making sure it is. You work with people (coaches, partners, mentors) who push you and teach you things you’re smart enough to realize you don’t know. When opportunities come (and they always do if you’re doing the work) you get to find out where you stack up.

You’ll fail. Big time. When you do, will you wither and die, or work hard and triumph next time? Another quick golf story- In April 2011, 21 year old Rory McIlroy had a 4 stroke lead going into the final day of the Masters.  He still had a 1 stroke lead going into the last half of the round, then he fell apart.  He completely imploded, and finished 15th. This 21 year old kid “choked” in front of millions on a worldwide stage with EVERYONE in his industry watching. Can you imagine? So how did this 21 year old handle it? Just 2 months later the then 22 year old won the US Open (another major by the way).  He didn’t  just win, he led from start to finish, and won shattering records. Now that’s a comeback.

So as you build your businesses, give some thought to where you want to be in the pack.  Maybe it’s the middle. Let’s not knock the middle! The middle is usually pretty safe. It’s a great place to get by. Until moving day when the competition gets stiff and your market shrinks, and the economy takes a bad turn.

Moving up the leader board on moving day takes work. I hope you’ll keep training, keep learning, pitch companies you think are just a bit out of your reach, and take on projects that push the limits of what you think you’re good at so you get better. I hope when you fall flat on your face you’ll turn inward to find the confidence to come back hard. I hope you’ll find yourself on the top of the leader board.

Photo by UK in Canada

I earn a living as a digital marketing consultant doing work that mostly interests me. I also volunteer with The Mikey Network, which is infinitely more rewarding.  The Mikey Network is a non-profit you have not likely heard of.  They work to promote heart healthy lifestyles and are committed to placing Automatic External Defibrillators,  in high-risk locations to help people affected by sudden cardiac arrest. We call the AEDs “MIKEYs” because no one except for actors on medical dramas can say defibrillator.

I have a personal connection to the Mikey Network. It was founded by my wife’s uncle and his partners after they lost a dear friend and partner Mike, to sudden cardiac arrest.  They’ve been doing amazing work for the last 10 years.  They have a smart advisory board with talented PR and Marketing Agency partners that have helped them establish themselves and grow.  What the team did not have was a digital marketing professional.  That’s where I came in.

After moving to Toronto five years ago, I started volunteering some time.  I started sitting in on meetings, and offering advice and direction on their website strategy.  When it got to the point where their website was in need of updating, I was able to build them a new one.  When I started my consultancy, I was able to dedicate even more time and develop a digital marketing strategy to work in concert with their traditional marketing and PR efforts. This has made those efforts better.  I have helped them become more of what we call in the biz, a social organization.

Here’s where it gets good. 

The Mikey Network has placed over 1300 MIKEYs (AEDs) and trained over 11,000 people in CPR / AED.   More incredible, 14 lives have been saved by a MIKEY including a police officer, 2 high school students (at Weston Collegiate and Silverhorn Collegiate) and a two year old boy.  I did not help with any of that.

What I have done, is to create a way for their supporters and the people they have helped, to connect with them more easily. Making the website more social and easier to share, has helped people connect to the organization on a more personal level. I am able to post good news quickly which makes a huge difference energizing both the donor base and the volunteer staff that runs the organization.

On two occasions since making the site more interactive, after posting about someone that was saved by a MIKEY defibrillator, the actual person helped replied with a comment.  A  high school student who was still in the hospital and a father who had just saved his two year old son the day before.  They both had obviously been on the web (because that’s what we do now), found our website, found a story about them, and dropped us a note. In the case of the Father, the story had not been made public yet so I mentioned no names out of respect for the family’s privacy.  He was one only a handful of people that could have read the post and known who we were talking about. And he found it. And he told his story in the comments. Take a guess at the impact those occasions had on the organization. Take a guess at the impact on me!

It’s not just the website either.  We are starting to use online tools and technology to get better at the operations side of things too.  Using CRM and email marketing tools we will get better at communicating and be able to make more data driven decisions. Business intelligence is not just helpful to the Fortune 500.

Be selfish. Do some good.

If you are in the digital space in any way, you know things that most non-profits don’t.  Sure the big ones do. The Red Crosses, the Heart & Strokes, the Komens, all understand the benefit and have the budget to follow the new rules of marketing.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of small non-profits, many right in your city, that don’t.

Help them.  No matter what stage of your digital career you find yourself, you have the opportunity to help some amazing organization do good things. Find a non-profit that is doing something you can get passionate about, and help them.  If your biggest concern with the last blog post you wrote for yourself or a client was how many Facebook likes and tweets you got, help yourself.

You don’t even have to spend a lot of time volunteering to make a real difference. As a digital marketing or social media professional, the things you find easy and obvious can be transformational to a small non-profit.  The little baseline things like setting up Google Analytics, and a Google Places account can make a real impact right away.  Explain that adding social sharing buttons to their website even if they don’t have profiles on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest, will help them, and why.  You can put up a WordPress site in an hour, in your sleep.  There are thousands of non-profits, many rights in your town that don’t even have a website.  That right out of the can WordPress site with a decent free theme, will make a huge difference.

And guess what? It will lead to more paying business for you.  If you are just starting out, this a great way to put your knowledge to good use and get some wins on your resume.  Big agencies know the benefits of working with non-profits. They all work with one or more, pro bono.  Guess what? Most non-profits have successful business people involved with them. You want to make some strong connections? Volunteer. Leverage your good work to get more business.  There is nothing wrong with that! It is perfectly acceptable.  After all … we are not Communists.

So if you’re tired of the Social Media Echo Chamber, or using your dark arts to help dark lords, volunteer!  Are you a blogger? Can you think of your favorite posts? Can you think of your favorite comments? I can- no question. By far, of any comments on any post I’ve written for myself or a client, my two favorites are:

… The Mikey Network saved my life.  and … You guys gave us a second chance with our son …

I’m such a lucky man.  You could be lucky too. If you haven’t, find a non-profit doing something you could get behind, and help them. If you have helped out a non profit, please join me in encouraging others to do it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Photo by Michael Kalus

It’s been a little over a year since I took that familiar leap and struck out on my own again.  Part of my plans to move my business forward this year includes going to a couple conferences. I  figured a conference for bloggers, podcasters video producers would attract the crowd I was looking for and I was right.

The great thing about a conference like NMX for me, is being around so many people who work in the same field. For three days I meet, talked and laughed with digital marketing consultants, social media community managers, web entrepreneurs and online content creators of all kinds.  I had the opportunity to speak with so many of the people I admire.  The thing all of these really smart and accomplished people had in common is their generosity.  Each spent time talking with everyone that approached them.  Each showed a genuine interest in our conversation.

Some of the my favorite sessions included a refreshingly candid  Keynote interview where Guy Kawasaki shared his views of the current Apple, book publishing- especially self publishing, and his personal social media strategy.  You can watch that here.

Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford, gave a Keynote that talked about how when Ford coordinated their traditional PR, advertising, and online efforts, it provided their biggest wins. The talk spoke to how the best strategies integrate all of a company’s communications. You can watch that here.  I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Scott and he is one of the nicest people you’ll meet.

The online world is getting more and more visual.  Using good pictures in your content is more important that ever and C.C. Chapman presented some helpful ways to make your pictures better.  You can see more about his presentation on his blog.

I saw a great interview with Mitch Joel and Robert Scoble, by Dorie Clark, about where things are heading online.  In the echo chamber of social media, you rarely get to see two people who really know what they’re talking about present sometimes opposing views. Different approaches that can both be right? I’d like to hear a lot more of that online.  Their conversation included the future of social marketing when our devises will know where we are, who we’re with and what our preferences are.  This is exciting to me. You can listen to the conversation here.

Tom Webster is Vice President of Strategy for Edison Research, who provided all of the exit polling data for all  the major news networks for U.S. Presidential Election.  He gave a fascinating talk about the lessons marketers can learn from the last election and current state of social media.  My favorite quote from his talk- “If you’re a marketer and you’re not good at math, get good at math!”  With all of the data available to us today, if you are still letting opinion or per-conceived assumptions drive your marketing, you are missing a huge opportunity to win more.

Rand Fishkin, the CEO of SEOMoz shared some insights I will definitely be incorporating into my conversion rate optimization strategies. His presentation was called The Mighty Nudge: The Future of SEO, Social Media, & Content Marketing, and you can see the slides here.

The Best Part

The best part of my trip by far was meeting and talking with so many great people.  A highlight for me was meeting Steve and Diane Brogan.  I had seen Diane from time to time in my twitter feed, talking with people I know or follow like my friend Susan, always with some pleasant greeting or other happy back and forth. I tend to notice and follow the happy people I see online. So when I saw Diane, I introduced myself.  Boy, I’m glad I did.

Diane and Steve are two of the happiest, nicest most adventurous people you’ll ever meet. Diane is a dynamo (if I had half her energy I would be able to give up coffee) and Steve is a great story teller.  If you were there, you could not have missed them. Every time you saw them they were hugging and taking pictures with friends.  They’re great connectors too. I met so many more people because Diane would just ask if I knew so and so, and if I didn’t, she’d grab me by the arm and take me over to them.

I learned a lot by the way Diane would introduce people to each other.  More than just using names, she would recall some detail garnered from an earlier conversation that would put the introduction into context or at the least provide a starting point for a conversation.  I’m going to try to remember to do that myself. It makes such a difference.

Among the many, many great people Diane introduced me to, was Mark Horvath, who does such amazing work advocating for the homeless. I’ve admired Mark’s work for a long time and if you don’t know about Invisible People, please check it out. Mark is amazing.

I won’t list all the people I got to know because it would come off as name dropping, but am I glad I went to NMX13? You bet I am. I learned some things, made some friends, met some people I may work with in the near future, and did I mention I was in Vegas for 4 days? Were you there? If not, did you see any of the Livestream sessions?  What were your highlights?

Tomorrow I’ll be heading to New Media Expo (formerly Blog World) where bloggers, podcasters and online content creators of all kinds get together to share ideas.  The reason I go to conferences like this is more for the networking than the content.  Don’t get me wrong, there are A LOT of really smart speakers and presentations, but if that were all I were interested in, I would save a lot of money and just buy the virtual pass. No, I’m a huge believer in taking things offline and meeting people face to face.  Almost every great business opportunity I’ve had, started with a conversation.  So I make it my business to have as many conversations with smart people as I can.  But big conferences like NMX are only great networking opportunities, IF you can remember the names of the people you meet!

A few years ago I was in a venture developing iPhone apps that helped people learn and memorize things.  In the process I did a lot of research about the science of memory and learning.  People much smarter than me have figured out how the brain takes in data, and developed methods and techniques that help you learn and memorize things quicker, and retain what you learn. I thought it would be helpful to review my old research before heading to NMX, and share the techniques here to help you remember the names of people you meet.

How To Remember Names

Generally speaking, the reason you forget someone’s name moments after you hear it is because you do not link it in your mind with enough associations.  Here are some things you can do to fix that:

1. Really listen and pay attention when the person says their name. If you miss it or forget it a few seconds later, say “I’m sorry I missed your name. Could you tell me again?” Doing this early on is never embarrassing.  If you have trouble understanding the name, say, “I’m sorry, could you spell that for me?”
2. Repeat the name immediately, and incorporate it into your conversation as early and often as possible without over doing it. Some great openers are:  It’s nice to meet you, Jane.  So Jane,…  or  Tell me, Jane,…
3. Every time someone is introduced to you, look around you. Who’s there? Take in as many and wide a variety of surrounding facts and circumstances as possible.
4. Think of the person’s name, and take a good look at their face. Observe how they are dressed, their physique, their voice and manner.
5. Think of their name in conjunction with the name and personality of the friend who may have introduced you.
6. Use mnemonic devices or alliteration to help you remember names- Tony from Toronto,  Bob who may give me a job, …
7. If your name is hard to remember or pronounce for others, help them out. For example I pronounce my name Ian, as {eye-in}.  Most people pronounce it {ee-in}. So I often say ,”it’s like Ryan, without the R.”
8. Try to make as much of your conversation about them as possible. This is good for a lot of reasons, not just remembering the other person’s name,  but the more you get to know about them the more you will be able to associate with their name.
9. Introduce them to someone else you know.  This is not only a great way to repeat their name, but it gives you a safety net if you forget to do all of the other things on the list.
10. Write the name down after your conversation.  Make note of the name and something about your conversation that you will remember later.  If you exchange business cards, write something memorable about your conversation on the back.

In general,  memory is not some feature of the mind where some of us are more generously endowed than others.  It’s just a matter of developing good habits.  Your memory is like a muscle. You can develop and grow it through exercise, or you can neglect it and let it atrophy.  I want to be one of those people who remember names.  It’s important and it makes the people you meet feel important.

What about you?  Do you have any tricks you use to help you remember names?  Please share them in the comments.

My Three words for 2013 are:
Do, Teach, Breathe

DO is my first word, and the one that will carry the most weight for me this year.  It is very easy to get bogged down learning and reading and planning and honing and refining, and … well you get the point. All of that is important and worthy of time, energy and effort. For me though, I pretty much know what I need to do and this year is about doing it.  I plan to execute a few projects that have been milling about in my mind, write a whole lot more, and focus my energy on tasks. Yoda famously said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” For me, this year is all about the DO.

TEACH is my second word.  I can’t express how many good things have happened to me as a result of sharing what I know with others. Whether I’m helping my clients navigate the interwebs, helping people start businesses over at Startup Daddy or just showing a friend a cool thing they didn’t know their iPhone could do, I really enjoy teaching.  This year in addition to writing more on this blog and podcasting more over at Startup Daddy, I plan to start doing some public speaking.  The secret that all teachers, speakers and writers know is that there is no better way to learn than by teaching.

BREATHE is my final word for 2013.  I like this word for both the literal and figurative meanings. Honestly, I spend way too much time stressed out.  I sweat the small stuff.  While this serves me very well professionally, it’s definitely something I’d like to change. I can (and will) be able to maintain high standards without as much stress.  It is so helpful to just stop and take a deep breath now and then.  I’ll be doing that more.  I’m not delusional- I’m a capital TYPE A kind of guy.  Nothing is going to change that.  I’m just going to try to channel that energy in a positive direction.  So more counting to three for me.  I’m also going to be literally paying more attention to breath. I’ve recently started practicing Yoga, and this is the year that I stop planning to start meditating, and start sitting down to do it.

So those are my three words- Do, Teach, Breathe.  I’ve written them down. They will be in my work space so I can see them every day while I work.  Everything I do will hopefully be framed by that theme.

Have you chosen three words?  Please share them in the comments and if you blogged about it, please share the link.

Photo:  Gwyn Michael

As a digital marketing consultant, social media is one of the biggest tools on my toolbox.  Yes, I’m still calling it “social media“, even though many of my peers have started to use other terms. I’m sticking to social media for now.  I look at social media as a tool-  a means to an end.  If  you want more website traffic, to know what your customers are saying about you, access to people you would never have otherwise, or a thousand other great things, then social media is a tool you need to learn how to use.

Social media is nothing more than a way to communicate.   The way we communicate with each other has changed forever.  If you’re like me and most people I know, the “phone” part of your cell phone is the feature you use least.  How crazy is that?  We text, or Facebook (yes it’s a verb now), or tweet, way more than we talk to each other.  Me and many of the people I know have started turning to Twitter before Google to find certain things, recommendations or information.  We are posting jobs and ads to sell our stuff on Craig’s List, LinkedIn and Facebook, not the local newspaper.

So are social media consultants the new buggy whip makers? I think they are.  One hundred short years ago people were getting rich making and selling buggy whips.  Henry Ford changed that forever.   A few years from now you won’t see any social media consultants just like you don’t see any telephone consultants.  It’s a tool that most people will just know how to use.  You hire a carpenter, not a hammer consultant.  At a conference I went to recently, Gary Vaynerchuk said, “If you’re betting against social media you’re betting against the internet.” He was saying that social media is basically synonymous with the internet now.  I believe he’s right.

The people who make a living showing people how to use the new telephones- showing people how to use Twitter or post a Facebook status update, had better expand their product line. Those things are destined for the clearance rack. Start showing businesses how to use these tools to increase brand awareness, or sales, or improve the customer experience.  To do that you have to go beyond just social media consulting.  You need to fit it into the overall website strategy and the “traditional” (analog) marketing strategy.  It’s a bit harder, but it’s got a future.  That’s my 2 cents, but what do I know?  I’m just a consultant.

I really use this blog as a place to hash out new ideas and experiment with tools and plugins, so I can recommend them (or not) to my clients and implement them (or not) on my clients’ blogs and websites.  So I am writing this as a way to review all of the many things I learned at Mesh Marketing, and share them with you.  Here goes.

I approach digital marketing and social media (or social business, or whatever it’s being called now) a little differently than a lot of my colleagues. I look at these tools in relation to how they can be used to make my clients more money. I don’t know why that is frowned upon as much as it is, but that’s a topic for another post. So in my Mesh Marketing wrap-up here, I’m going to stay with that theme and talk about the things I learned, that if you implement them, will make you and/or your clients, more money.

Social Media For Business

The day started out with a conversation with Greg Hounslow, who is in charge of social media for West Jet Airlines. Greg was a part of a small team of people (including the CEO) that got West Jet involved in social media in the first place. In the beginning, he was the single person responsible for managing their online accounts. The @WestJet Twitter account currently has over 100,000 followers, and their FaceBook Page is just shy of that number.  He has a team now, and I don’t know how big the accounts were when he was on his own, but that’s pretty impressive.   Westjet makes a lot of personal connections via Twitter DM, and on their Facebook page.  Never forget that making that personal connection with you customers (fans and detractors alike) is what this is about.  Because they do that, the promotions they push through their social channels are successful.  Westjet realized they can very effectively measure these promotions which allows them to concentrate more on the things that work.

Money Making Take-aways:
First, if one guy can manage the social profiles for a huge corporation, you can do it for your business. “I don’t have time” is not a valid excuse.  Make a plan, schedule the time, execute plan. Period.  Second, measure stuff!  Measure what posts are getting the conversation going.  Measure who is spreading your message the farthest.  Measure what promotions are actually converting.  It turns out that being a good writer is only a part of the equation for success in social media.  Math is important too.  Choosing the right metrics, and measuring and analyzing them will make you more money.  I promise.

Content Marketing

The Content Marketing conversation between Marcus Wilson from Idea Paint and Marcus Sheridan (@TheSalesLion) from River Pools and Spas was full of great ideas.  Content Marketing is not only the keystone to any search engine optimization/website traffic strategy, but it sells.  Great content will convert traffic to sales both on and offline.  So you think your business doesn’t have anything interesting to write about, or you don’t know where to start?

Money Making Take-aways:
Idea Paint is a paint that turns any surface into a white board.  While this is very cool, it’s still paint.  Not the most exciting thing, right?  Idea Paint uses video to showcase their product and takes “user generated content” to another level.  People really get into it.  Customers make and post videos about how they are using the product and Idea Paint promotes these videos on their site.  They let their customers do the selling for them.  Never under estimate the power of testimonials and third party content.  Get them on your website and it will make you more money.

Marcus Sheridan is @TheSalesLion on twitter, and his blog is here.  His funny, no BS speaking style made him a crowd favorite at Mesh Marketing this year.  This one’s easy. You want to start making more money online? Read his blog.  More specific takeaways are  to get started blogging for your business, write down all the questions your customers ask.  Get this from your sales people, your managers, the person who answers your phone, everyone.  After you do this, you should have a ton of topics to write about.  Your corporate website and blog should answer all of your customers’ questions.  If done right, it can be the greatest pre-qualifying sales tool you have.  Also, Marcus owns the pool building category online.  The potential for Blue Collar service businesses to dominate their online niche is huge.  Is this you? Start. Now.

Klout

This biggest name at the conference was probably Joe Fernandez, founder and CEO of Klout.  Klout is a startup that attempts to measure the influence each of us has online, so they can help brands target influencers to make them more money. (Seeing a theme here?)   I’ve written about Klout and the concept of measuring influence  before, and despite the the recent problems they’ve had with privacy issues, I still admire the startup.

Klout recently changed their algorithm.  To put it in very simple terms, people were doing things to raise their scores (gaming Klout) and Klout responded.  This resulted in a lot of honest people’s score dropping, which really upset a lot of these people.  Further, they got into trouble when the NY Times wrote an article that exposed a privacy flaw.  Overall, I found Joe very humble as he acknowledged they are not perfect.  What they are doing is hard- they analyze 20 Terabytes of data per day!  They’ve made mistakes, tried to respond, and will definitely make more mistakes in the future.

Money Making Take-aways:
Don’t depend too much on third-party tools or endorsements for your income.  They can change at any time.
When your company runs into trouble, stick to your core values and don’t try to please everyone.  Trying to make everyone happy is a sure recipe for failure.

Search & Search Engine Optimization

I attended a very informative conversation about Online Search between Kunal Das, the search evangelist at Bing (who has captured 30% of the search market, by the way), and Krista LaRiviere from gShift.  Kunal and Krista were incredibly knowledgable about the current factors impacting search rank.  As Google and Bing incorporate social signals into their algorithms, the art of ranking in their organic search results is shifting from Search Engine Optimization to Web Presence Optimization.  Your “outposts” are more important than ever.

Money Making Take-aways:
Everything about search rank is about making money.  Honestly, if you don’t care about making or raising money, I can’t imagine why you would be concerned with your search engine rank.  So the key take aways from this session for me, were:

SoLoMo  Social, Local, Mobile, are the key drivers in search rank.

Social–  having content that easily sharable, and people actually sharing it, is the biggest factor right now.
Local– Both Google and Bing are factoring in location data more than ever before.  Having a search optimized  Google Places AND Bing Business Portal page for your business is more important than ever.  You may have a Google Places page, but chances are you’ve ignored Bing.  30%?! Make sure you have both. Go. Now.
Mobile-  Mobile search experienced 100% growth this year.  The interesting thing is that PC search has remained flat.  This means mobile search is ADDITIVE.  Keep in mind that more than half of search on a mobile has local intent.  Ignore mobile at your own peril.

Two Thumbs Up

I was lucky to have won a free ticket to the conference on Twitter, but I will be keeping Mesh on my list of conferences to attend.  The networking for those in the digital marketing and communications fields is second to none.  The speakers were first rate, and the conference was a lot of fun.  A good indicator of  whether to attend a conference is if you have hard decisions choosing the sessions you will attend.  The decisions at Mesh Marketing were very hard.  I missed a few sessions I really wanted to see and really look forward the the video posts when they are up.  So did you attend Mesh Marketing?  What did you get out of it?

Introducing Real Digital,  a consultancy focused on creating innovative Internet Marketing Strategies that deliver real results that can be measured.

So what is Real Digital?

At Real Digital, I will be helping small and medium-sized businesses leverage technology and the Internet to achieve their business goals.  I will focus on digital marketing strategies, including business website project management, website traffic strategies and implementation, social media integration and training, and strategic content development.

In the spirit of doing things differently, I’m also going to keep this announcement short.  I am working with great clients on some exciting new projects and I look forward to sharing more details, but today I am just happy to announce I am in business.

You’ve  heard the proverb, If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.  For the last bit I have been serving up a lot of fish, and teaching a lot of people how to fish.  I’m just excited to go fishing again myself.

If you want to talk about how Real Digital can help your business, shoot me an email: ian@realdigital.ca