Tod Maffin .com

Landing the Perfect Pitch: Availability Ailments (Part 4/5)

Tod — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:51:53 +0000

This one might sound like a no?brainer, but it’s stunning how hard some companies make it to reach a spokesperson. There are two most common ailments.

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Landing the Perfect Pitch: The Story (Part 3/5)

Tod — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:51:53 +0000

Need to pitch a reporter for your company? Here are the hard truths about learning which reporter to connect with — there are no shortcuts!

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Landing the Perfect Pitch: The Reporter (Part 2/5)

Tod — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:51:53 +0000

Need to pitch a reporter for your company? Here are the hard truths about learning which reporter to connect with — there are no shortcuts!

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Landing the Perfect Pitch: The Medium (Part 1/5)

Tod — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:51:53 +0000

Ever tried to pitch someone in the media and struck out? Here's part one of my series on Landing the Perfect Pitch.

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Six Secret Nerd Tips for Life Control

Tod — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:28:25 +0000

Everyone knows the big digital marketing tools like Mailchimp, Hootsuite, and Buffer. But I use a bunch of amazing tools and sites that it seems nobody's heard of. Here are my secret weapons.

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Blogging for Dollars

Tod — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:00:03 +0000

Most people think of blogs as hobby web sites where people talk about their kids, hobbies, or local restaurants. And while that's certainly true of a lot of blogs, some Canadian bloggers are actually making some reasonably decent money from their writing.

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Don’t get tricked by Facebook’s geo-targeting bug

Tod — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:02:54 +0000

There's a bug in Facebook which will prevent you from geotargeting your posts. Here's the workaround.

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Why Bono and I are basically the same person.

Tod — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:57:42 +0000

They say if you want to sleep better, you shouldn't use your tablet or watch TV. Nonsense. Here's how to do both.

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The Secret of the Red-Bold Email

Tod — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:37:16 +0000

Trying to get someone to pay attention to your email? Here's a little trick I use for long emails that works amaaaaaazingly well.

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Can Alternative Health Cure My Crappy Lungs?

Tod — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:11:28 +0000

I have a lung condition — it's called chronic pleurisy. It makes me cough lots. Doctors can't seem to fix it, so I decided to go to an alternative-health fair to see if anyone there could help me.

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Ticketmaster Fees (and other evil presences in the world)

Tod — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:40:08 +0000

Ever use Ticketmaster to buy seats at a show? Here's a breakdown of their multiple fees.

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Your Television Is Watching You

Tod — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:32:03 +0000

Now that everything is digital in television, you're able to get great new services like video-on-demand. But are you giving away more information than you think?

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Taking Crazy Back (2012)

Tod — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:08:55 +0000

In the fall of 2012, I produced and hosted a four-part radio series about mental health and addictions. You can listen to the shows on this page.

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CBC Radio “Real Life Chronicles” Shows

Tod — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:03:45 +0000

Years ago, I produced a documentary series for CBC Radio called Real Life Chronicles. Here are some of the episodes.

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Switching from WordPress.com to the Self-Hosted WordPress

Tod — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:23:06 +0000

Switching from Wordpress.com to the self-hosted version? Mason James from The WP Valet has great tips.

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YouTube’s Secret Link That Will Boost Your Channel Subscribers

Tod — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:28:36 +0000

Do you have a YouTube channel? Here's the secret URL that will dramatically boost the number of subscriptions to your channel you get.

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The M in Swarm — Make Friends

Tod — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:30:29 +0000

The final, and perhaps most important, part of the SWARM Methodology is to turn your combatants into advocates. Here's how.

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Facebook Edgerank: Are Images On The Way Out?

Tod — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:01:05 +0000

Used to be that posting images would almost certainly get you to the news feed. Now, it seems that plain-old Status Updates are Facebook's new post de jour.

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The R in Swarm — Right the Wrongs

Tod — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:12:16 +0000

You can indeed resolve an online crisis politely, convert the combatant, AND correct mistakes they made. Here's how.

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Lorem Ipsum — What the Text Actually Means

Tod — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:25:34 +0000

Ever wondered if Lorem Ipsum dummy text is real? It is — and here's what it actually says.

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My Twitter Account Got Hacked?! Now What?

Tod — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 01:28:03 +0000

Yes, I'm afraid it did. But don't panic. Here's how to fix it.

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What To Do When You Bomb On Stage

Tod — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:51:27 +0000

Listen, it's going to happen. At some point while delivering a presentation, you're going to bomb while giving a speech. Here are some tips for recovering.

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Don’t ever try to tag Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook

Tod — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 03:31:29 +0000

Everything's fine in Facebook-land. Until you try tagging its founder. Then, all hell breaks loose.

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Why My Mom is a Better Community Manager Than You Will Ever Be

Tod — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:37:32 +0000

Think you're doing a good job running your Facebook Page? Compared to my mom — yes, my MOM — you're not. Here's how she's blowing away engagement rates online.

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How to Keep From Being Hacked (Like Burger King Was Today)

Tod — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:54:42 +0000

Think you're safe from someone breaking into your web account? Think again. Take my LaRD test to inoculate yourself from attacks.

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My 12 Most-Read Articles

Tod — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:43:53 +0000

Hey, we're all busy. Maybe you missed these? My 12 most-read popular articles on this web site.

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The New Blackberry — Will It Save the Company?

Tod — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:53:42 +0000

It’s only been available in Canada since Tuesday — and already, the tech world can’t decide if the new Blackberry smartphone is doomed or will spark biggest comeback in business history.

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The New Blackberry: Will It Save the Company?

Tod — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:57:19 +0000

It’s only been available in Canada since Tuesday — and already, the tech world can’t decide if the new Blackberry smartphone is doomed or will spark biggest comeback in business history.

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Great new feature for Facebook Page Admins

Tod — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:15:08 +0000

Facebook seems to have quietly added a great new feature for Page Admins. Here's how to use it.

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The A in Swarm — Avoid a Public Fight

Tod — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:49:52 +0000

The third step in my negative response strategy is to move any discussion of the issue offline.

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The W in SWARM — Win/Win

Tod — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:18:23 +0000

One key to handling negative feedback is to think how you can give the "combatants" some kind of Win.

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The S in SWARM — Speak Like a Human

Tod — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:15:28 +0000

The first step in responding to negative feedback online is often the hardest for organizations — to speak in a human tone.

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Editing a Status Update on Facebook — The Best Tip You’ll See All Month

Tod — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:02:38 +0000

This is the best Facebook tip you'll get all month — change your Facebook status update AFTER you have published it. This is something you can do easily on Google+; here's how to do it on Facebook.

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Hospitals, Social Media, and Mobile: Full Keynote Presentation

Tod — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:09:26 +0000

Tod Maffin's FULL keynote presentation covering hospitals' use of social media and mobile apps.

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Want a free copy of my new book “Bashtagged”?

Tod — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:52:57 +0000

Would you like a free copy of my upcoming book? All I ask is that, after reading, you give it a fair review on Amazon. Here are the details. :-) Thanks!

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Tod Maffin on Mental Health in the Workplace

Tod — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:19:14 +0000

Tod Maffin's keynote presentation on worklife balance, mental health, and addictions in the workplace received rave reviews in Toronto last month.

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How to Add a Twitter Cover Image

Tod — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:30:38 +0000

Just hours ago, Twitter launched a new design option for accounts, and I strongly recommend you take a moment to update your own Twitter account to take advantage of it. Now, at the top of every page, you can add a larger header image. If it looks familiar, it should — Twitter basically copied Facebook’s “Timeline cover image” idea. Here’s ours: To add yours: Log into your Twitter account Click the Gear icon in the top-right (1) and select Settings Click Design (2), then the Change Header button (3) Upload any large image, then Twitter will let you size it. Click okay, and you’re done! Click the “Me” link at the top of the page to see your work. Here are the main areas to click:

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Beyond Tweets and Likes: How to Boost Conference Registrations Using Social Media

Tod — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 05:01:37 +0000

Let’s face it — technology which could completely displace in-person conferences has been available for years. From Skype to conference calling to virtual worlds, business can easily be done without meeting in person — and, considering hotel rates and airfares these days, a lot cheaper too. Conferences still exist because we are social creatures. We want to look potential vendors in the eyes, size people up by the way they play golf, and see how they conduct themselves generally. Conferences are social first and business second. That’s why it’s always baffled me that even some the biggest conferences either ignore social media or make the weakest of efforts at using this powerful technology. You may have heard the usual advice — make a Facebook page, tweet some links — and that’s all good. But if you really want to increase actual registrations, here are three tactics you should be using right now. Use Instant-Tweet Buttons Of course, you want your attendees to spread the word of your meeting, right? Asking them to tweet probably won’t work because, well, people are lazy. But by using an Instant-Tweet button, you can pre-load a tweet for them to review and tweet to their followers. Here’s what it might look like: Try using a live Instant Tweet button right now (you’ll have a chance to review and edit the text first): Tweet You can create your own customized conference tweet button here. Be sure to include your conference’s hashtag so you can easily track the spread of this free promotion! Insist that Speakers Engage With Attendees Before the Event I’ve been giving keynote presentations on digital communications topics like handling online crises, creating a viral marketing campaign, and leading Generation Y. One of the reasons conference organizers tell me they have me back is that I really love to engage with the conference attendees before, during and after the event. Once I find out the event’s hashtag (you do have a hashtag, right?…), I tweet a hello and ask people what issues concern them in their industry or what questions they think I should answer on-stage. I answer every single tweet (go ahead — try me!), and even after my keynote I thank people for their comments or answer more questions. A LinkedIn group might prove even more helpful, in that it’s a better forum for longer discussions, rather than just short tweets (which are limited to 140 characters per tweet). Your speakers don’t have to be in the group every day — I often will post a question or ask for a local example (as I did here) and then monitor the group periodically for new comments. Once your speakers begin doing this, word will quickly spread that your event is accessible, friendly, and open, and they’ll get far more value than just sitting in a big hotel ballroom. Targeted Social Advertising: Tips from the Pros Facebook and LinkedIn both have incredible targeting power — you can have your ad displayed only to people who work for certain companies and/or have certain job titles. (On LinkedIn, you can even target by seniority in the industry.) Here are some expert tips on getting the best bang for your buck: Don’t make the mistake many conferences make when they use social ads, which is to advertise the conference as a whole. Remember — people will attend primarily because of the knowledge they’ll gain, not because you have a pretty logo. Make your ads about your speakers and their specific topics instead. Run multiple versions of the same ad (slightly different images, or a little bit different text) for a few thousand impressions, then remove the ads that are underperforming against the better ones. Use a photo with a thin (2 pt) red or yellow line around it (Photoshop calls this a “stroke”) to attract the eye more.

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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Tod — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:41:39 +0000

A brief break from the business-oriented stuff I usually blog about for this — some words I think we should all remember from time-to-time. I turn to this when things get tough and I hope it brings you peace when you need it. I encourage you to read it out loud, or have someone read it to you. Really. There are two days in every week we should not worry about. Two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension: Yesterday One is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We can not we erase a single word we’ve said. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow The other day we shouldn’t worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our control. Tomorrow, the sun will rise either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds. But it will rise. And until it does,we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn. Today This leaves only one day: Today. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives people mad. It is the remorse of bitterness for something that happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, live one day at a time.

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Destination Marketing in the Social Space: An Interview with Tod Maffin

Tod — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 18:21:52 +0000

Tourism marketers are missing some of the key elements that make destination campaigns successful. Here's an interview with Tod about how to fix that.

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Lessons from Fido and Santa Claus: Customer Service and the New “Shock and Awe”

Tod — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:43:13 +0000

Is your company making the right calculation "is it worth it" calculation in customer service issues? Here's a lesson in what NOT to do.

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Finally, Research-Based Twitter Tactics

Tod — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:10:51 +0000

Some critical new research about Twitter engagement emerged this week that could dramatically boost your results there. Here's how to get more people asking questions, talking to your brand, or retweeting your content.

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How to Speed-Rate Songs in Your iTunes Library

Tod — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 23:59:57 +0000

Here's a super-quick way to rate the songs in your iTunes library — and auto-group them in Action SmartLists.

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The London 2012 Olympics are Stupid and Its Officials Smell Bad.

Tod — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:16:26 +0000

The Olympics don't want you to say bad things about them. They don't even want you to link to them with bad words. Nonsense.

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Why You Should Never Ban Anyone From Your Facebook Brand Page

Tod — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 19:22:49 +0000

Run a Facebook Page? You can delete comments and ban the commenter if someone's rude. But I think there's a better option.

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Infectious Kindness: Three Reasons Karen Klein Campaign Went Viral

Tod — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:38:19 +0000

Bus monitor Karen Klein did not plan on becoming the focal point of a seriously viral video when a handful of boys harassed her to the point of tears on a school bus. But her story did go viral, and fast. Here's how it happened.

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How to Bypass Edgerank on Facebook (Sort Of)

Tod — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:30:33 +0000

Sometimes Facebook can be a real pain. Even though you've signed up to receive posts from your favourite companies or brands, Facebook's "Edgerank" algorithm weeds out the updates it thinks you don't want to see. But turns out there is a way to bypass Edgerank and see all the updates from brands you have already Liked. Here's how to do it.

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Keeping Custom Colours Handy. (Best Mac trick. Ever.)

Tod — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:36:51 +0000

If you ever use any Mac program where you have to change the colour of text or elements to a specific colour, this trick will dramatically cut the time it takes to do that.

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Are Your Facebook Photos All Screwed Up? Here’s How to Fix Them.

Tod — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:05:44 +0000

Are your Facebook photos cropped really strangely when you upload them? Here's a quick fix.

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Retargeting and Microtargeting: My Two Killer Online Ad Tactics

Tod — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:05:11 +0000

Here are my two top secrets for online advertising — for almost no cost, you can make yourself "everywhere" online.

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One Click Away: Protecting Brand Loyalty in the Digital-Consumer Economy

Tod — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:12:49 +0000

It won't be long before smartphones become the single biggest threat to a brand's customer loyalty. It's already started. Is your business prepared?

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How to Earn Standing Ovations Using the 3L Technique

Tod — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 20:30:26 +0000

Everyone who speaks wants to go out on a standing ovation. By learning the 3L technique, you may improve your odds of earning your well-deserved praise.

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Why I Have No Goals (and What Software Design Taught Me About Life)

Tod — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:20:12 +0000

I don't believe in setting goals. I have no ordered to-do list. Instead, I have some mental fallbacks. It makes life easier to live. Here's how you can do it.

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Recruiting on Facebook: Six Secrets the Pros Use

Tod — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:18:12 +0000

LinkedIn remains the kingpin of online recruitment, but Facebook is a bigger network, with five times the users. Here’s how to maximize Facebook’s potential to recruit top-notch talent.

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Why You Should Always Include a “1″ In Your Phone Number

Tod — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:40:24 +0000

You've got your phone number on your business web site. That's great. But did you know the RIGHT format to use? Turns out, using the wrong format could make calling your business impossible from a mobile phone!

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50 Things That Make Me Happy

Tod — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:13:19 +0000

Popcorn Luxurious hotel rooms The purr of my fat, slightly stupid cat Taiko Giving my bulimic cat Pepper a big stretch Mid-day, drooley naps My iPad Pajamas Sporty, sciencey girls Sporty, sciencey girls in pajamas Eggnog in coffee The smell of burning cedar My annual Las Vegas trip Risotto Crispy bacon Documentaries Discovering a new JFK assassination book (yes, I have a problem) When the Canadian border guards smile and say “Welcome home.” Thick, heavy duvets Musicals Good-quality instant coffee Cereal for dinner Cruise ship vacations Feeling of sand between my toes The sound of the ocean Corned beef from a can Being debt-free Listening to really good radio documentaries Being able to write My massive PVR Staying up late and geeking Receiving a call out of the blue from an old friend Freshly laundered sheets Being inside when there’s a thunder storm outside Ice cream Having a tidy and clean condo Family Guy and South Park The Tonys (and, by extension, Neil Patrick Harris) New windshield wipers Spreadsheets Jon Stewart Gummy vitamins Wood-burning fireplaces Smoothies Having an audience totally “with me” Good quality incense Baby-powder scented bath oil My scooter Being upgraded to business class with the lie-flat seats Napping in the sun the expression “OMGWTFBBQ!”

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Four Things Pornstar Ron Jeremy Taught Me About Social Media — A Decade Ago

Tod — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:43:25 +0000

Ron Jeremy has truly built a personal brand that could easily be the envy of social marketers everywhere. Here are some lessons that, despite their origin, still hold true today.

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How to Protect Your Business Against Negative Reviews

Tod — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:30:46 +0000

Learn how to respond when you or your organization is attacked on social review sites like Yelp.

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Uber Sedan Service — A Review (Vancouver)

Tod — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:48:42 +0000

This new service of iPhone-bookable sedan cars is a look at the future of taxis. At least I hope.

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Keep Your Likes Private on Facebook

Tod — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:49:14 +0000

Facebook exposes the pages you Like to your Facebook friends. Here's how to turn that off and keep your Likes private!

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“The education system is broken,” Maffin tells teachers

Tod — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:40:13 +0000

Is the school system working? No, according to Tod Maffin of Vancouver, a leading communications expert, and keynote speaker at the Mighty Peace Teachers’ Convention last Thursday. Although Maffin said he doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of school systems, he spoke as an employer, and said the current system is killing the future of education. He compares it to the Rock Tumbler educational toy. The toy creates polished, rounded rocks from jagged stones. He believes through this process, the rocks lose their uniqueness. He said the school system in its current form doesn’t cater to independent learning.

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Why Consumer Reviews Will Change the Web Forever

Tod — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:08:22 +0000

The web will be forever changed by consumer review sites. Is your business ready?

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Why I’ve Stopped Searching the Internet with Google

Tod — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:17:11 +0000

I've stopped using Google for web searches. And if you care about your privacy, you should too.

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Social Media Complaints: Do We All Owe Major Corporations an Apology?

Tod — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:53:27 +0000

It used to be that complaining to a company would get you a form letter in reply. If you were lucky. In today's social media era, though, are they any better at responding to customers? I'd argue — much better.

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How to Crowdsource Your Next Social Media Avatar

Tod — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:08:45 +0000

Trying to decide which headshot photo of you to use on your Facebook or Twitter page? This clever trick can help you crowd-source a decision.

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A Requiem for the Social Past

Tod — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:08:47 +0000

Sometimes, I don't want to be reminded of the past. Social networks don't help. This "bubbling up" of the past seems to be happening more often these days, and we have sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter to blame. Conversations are meant to end at some point. But social sites want to keep a "conversation" going, long after it should have stopped.

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How to Get Your Site to #1 in Google (Sort Of)

Tod — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:57:48 +0000

Here's how to get your web site ready for Google's Direct Connect and become one of the first sites to use it. It'll help your Google rank!

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How to Make Twitter Less Overwhelming

Tod — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:30:07 +0000

Are you finding Twitter to be overwhelming? Too many spammy people chattering up your Twitter stream? There IS a way to make Twitter less overwhelming, and in this post I'll show you how to improve the signal-to-noise ratio on Twitter.

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BufferApp — Schedule Your Updates Quicker

Tod — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:08:06 +0000

Buffer is a great tool to schedule tweets and Facebook posts quickly. I speak with the co-founder from their offices in San Francisco. Add Tweets and Facebook posts to your Buffer from anywhere and Buffer automagically shares them for you through the day.

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Free worksheet: Facebook Page Effectiveness

Tod — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:41:07 +0000

Here’s a quick one-page checklist I’ve put together for those of you who administer brand/fan pages on Facebook. I hope this helps your page become more effective and safe from trolls!

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Why Won’t Your Company Just Speak English?

Tod — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:23:41 +0000

It was hard to hear at first, what with all the usual acoustical clutter of a busy U.S. airport, but when I strained to listen I was able to make it out. “We’d like to welcome our SkyLine First, StarAlliance Gold, SkyPRO Elite and Super-Elite Passengers, Fly Higher club members, Fly Higher Gold and Silver, SuperClub, SuperClub Platinum, Diamond-Level GlobalSkies and NationalSkies members, and SunBrand Super Happy Lucky Fortune Golden Dragon passengers. ((I’m exaggerating. But not by much.) Youch. Sometimes, I wish all the airlines would get together and agree on a single, common term. Bronze, Silver, and Gold would be so much simpler — heck, it worked for Participaction. We’re Over-Branding Stupid Things I get why executives and branding experts prefer “SuperSkies Platinum Members” to something simpler — when you can make it your own, it’s easier to make clear the difference in service quality. If everyone called their top level “Gold,” then the crappy Gold service would ruin it for the good Gold service. But companies are taking it too far. And, in doing so, making it difficult for their customers to connect with them. I called my cell company the other day. To their credit, their response tree has just two branches: Self-sevice and Human Operator. But that’s not what the latter was called. My choice was “Or to speak to a real person using Fido Answers, press 2.” I have no idea what Fido Answers is, but it sounds like some kind of automated system to me. Why can’t it just say “To manage your account using your touch-tone keypad, press 1. To speak to a real person right now, press 2.” I couldn’t care less what your Fido Answers is. It’s confusing. My cable company does it too. “For Shaw Phone using Shaw Plan Personalizer, press 1. For Shaw Internet using Shaw Plan Personalizer, press 2. For Shaw Cablevision using Shaw Plan Personalizer, press 3. Why do companies think we care about their special little brand names for everything? We don’t. I want clarity. Something like: “To order a home phone, press 1. To get Internet service……” Is that too much to ask?

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Webinar: The Seven Critical Keys to Marketing Your Brand on Google+

Tod — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:33:09 +0000

Google+, the search engine’s quickly growing social network, is poised to become a huge force in marketing your brand. In direct competition with Facebook, G+ has one major leg up on Zuckerberg’s creation: Search Engine Visbility. If you expect your brand to be found online a year from now, you must attend this fast-paced, information-packed online webinar. Date/Time: November 23, 2011 — 11am Pacific (2pm Eastern) To be covered on the webinar: A Five Minute “Beginner’s Guide” to Doing Business on Google+ Creating Your Brand’s Page on Google+ Migrating Your Facebook “Fans” to Your New G+ Page Moderating Your G+ Brand Page Using Live Video Hangouts to Engage With Your Fans Integrating Your Google+ Marketing Efforts Into Your Existing Web Site Adding Compelling Media (Photos/Videos) to Your Page Automating Content Publishing to Google+ The Seven Critical Keys to Marketing Your Brand on Google+ Plus, a live Q&A session, and more… BONUS: If you register today, you’ll receive a detailed Negative Response Strategy flowchart card which you can print out and know how to respond if your brand is attacked online. 100% money-back guarantee. Start your brand page on Google+. If you don’t see results, you’ll get a 100% no-questions-asked refund. Online Ticketing for The Seven Critical Keys to Marketing Your Brand on Google+ powered by Eventbrite Subscribe to receive notifications of future events by Tod Tod Maffin is one of North America’s leading experts on effective social media strategies for business. He speaks at more than 40 conferences around the world each year, is a published author, and was once called “one of Canada’s most influential futurists” by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business.

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Hootsuite vs. Direct Facebook — The Experiment

Tod — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:02:10 +0000

There’s been some research and opinion that fewer people will see your posts on their Facebook News Feeds when you use a third-party tool like Hootsuite than when you post directly to the page. I recently asked a Facebook rep if there were truth that Facebook favours content published via its own platform over other applications which post via Facebook’s partner API. She said probably not, and that the results were likely because people tend to post on multiple platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and thus use the lowest common denominating type of content — a simple, short message with no or limited multimedia. I decided to try a little experiment to see if the research proved true. I run a fan page on Facebook with nearly 70,000 fans. Such a large pool of fans gives me a pretty solid base upon which to run tests. So first, I posted a status update right on the Facebook web site. Then, I posted nearly the exact same update via Hootsuite. Both updates asked people to simply click “Like” if they saw the update on their news feed. Here is a screen shot of the results: If you accept that people clicked “Like” on either or both updates, it’s obvious that after just 40 minutes on the page, considerably more people saw the update that was posted directly on Facebook. Roughly 23% fewer people saw the post that went out via Hootsuite — not an insignificant number. There are, of course, many caveats to this, including that Facebook’s algorithm of what makes it to the news feed is complex and is largely based on your social graph. That said, the posts were nearly identical and so the social graph wouldn’t come into play here. Conclusion: I’m still going to post manually on Facebook pages, because it appears that it simply reaches more people to do it that way than any third-party provider. Note: I’m a huge fan of Hootsuite, know some of the team there personally, and still recommend it to clients for monitoring, scheduling, reporting, and much more. Posting on Facebook pages is really only a part of what Hootsuite does.

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Viral Marketing — The First Key: ACC Matching

Tod — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:21:52 +0000

One of the most popular keynote presentations I give — Deconstructing Viral: How to Build a Killer Viral Marketing Campaign — comes from about a year’s worth of research into the 50 most successful viral marketing campaigns out there. In that research, I discovered that there are six elements common to nearly all successful viral campaigns. Against the advice of a lot of “experts” in the professional speaking business, I’ve decided to let you see that material in its entirety — to watch the full presentation, just sign up for my free 30 Days to Social Media Marketing Awesomeness video course. It’s free. Always. There are ten lessons — a new video to watch comes just every three days At the end, you’ll get a Certificate of Completion Unsubscribe any time with a single click Not convinced to sign up? Here’s a preview of the first key to viral marketing — ACC Matching. Want to watch the whole presentation? Sign up for my free 30 Days to Social Media Marketing Awesomeness video course.

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How to Remove Facebook’s Timeline beta (“Profile” replacement)

Tod — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:33:21 +0000

[box color="yellow" icon="box_down"]Sign up now for free to TODBITS e-newsletter to get a copy of the ebook How to Lock Down Your Facebook Timeline. [/box] If you, like me, are one of those “It’s new! It must be better” people, then chances are you’ve already enabled Facebook’s replacement of the Personal Profile page, which it calls Timeline. Timeline, it turns out, sucks. It lets anyone dive way deep into your past online history much, much easier than before. Plus, it breaks many perfectly good browser extensions which help you control your privacy on Facebook — extensions like Better Facebook (soon to be called, thanks to a Facebook cease-and-desist letter, Social Fixer). So, if you want to go back to the old profile, here’s how. First, you need to have a Facebook developer account (which you do, because that’s how you enabled the Timeline in the first place). Go to the Facebook Apps page. Click on the app you have created where you have enabled Open Graph from the left hand side navigation menu. Click on Edit Open Graph then delete all three Open Graph settings by clicking on the buttons shown in the below pictures (courtesy of dreamsrain.org) Now, go back to your profile page and you’ll see the Timeline is gone! If only it were that easy to get rid of Mac OS X Lion…

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Free Video Course: “30 Days to Social Media Marketing Awesomeness”

Tod — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:14:28 +0000

One of the things I get asked a lot at my presentations is if I have a course or video that helps people really excel at digital and social media marketing. Until now, I’ve had to sheepishly admit I didn’t. Can you see where this is going? I’ve just finished putting together a free video series called 30 Days to Social Media Marketing Awesomeness (hey, I never said I was good at naming things). You can sign up free right now at http://eepurl.com/gAF8H. There is no catch. It will never cost you money. The course ( a new video every three days) will cover such things as: Identifying and reaching high social influencers Moderating your Facebook brand page Ninja secrets to getting to the News Feed of your Facebook fans How to respond when your brand is attacked online Effective Twitter marketing Measuring the effectiveness of your social media efforts Understanding YouTube’s powerful Insights panel How to geo-target your brand’s postings on Facebook ….and a bunch more Here’s how it works: When you sign up, every three days for a month I’ll send you a new short video to watch that walks you that day’s lesson. (it’s free, and you can unsubscribe any time with a single click.) There’s no catch here — just something lots of people have been asking me for, so here it is! You can sign up free right now at http://eepurl.com/gAF8H Enjoy!

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Taking Crazy Back Radio – Episode 1

Tod — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:04:29 +0000

In the fall of 2012, I produced and hosted a radio series about mental health and addictions. It aired Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. on Great Talk AM 1110 KWDB. This is episode one. Show runs 55 minutes. Links from the show: “Booked for Safekeeping” police training film, 1960 Brian Wilson, Barenaked Ladies (rare live version) Next to Normal musical Song: Who’s Crazy / My Psychopharmacologist and I, Next to Normal soundtrack Song: What Sarah Said, Death Cab for Cutie Stand Up for Mental Health Jonathan Granirer, 12-year-old stand-up comic’s full performance

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What the new Facebook “Like Page” policy means to you

Tod — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:34:16 +0000

I wanted to let you know about an important change that Facebook made yesterday to all Facebook brand/fan pages. Previously, people needed to “Like” your page in order to post on your wall or add a comment. This requirement has been lifted. Any Facebook member now may post on your brand page without first clicking Like. Wait, what?! This means anyone can put whatever they want on my brand page? Not quite. You still have absolute control over if people are allowed to post something directly on your wall. You’ll find that control under the Edit Page button on your page. If you want to prevent people from posting on your wall (regardless of if they Like your page or not), just find the Manage Permissions tab and make sure that all four checkboxes below are unchecked: I also recommend you change the Profanity Blocklist to Strong and add some terms specific to your industry to block. For instance: Hotel industry: Bed bugs, thief, stolen, party, loud, cold, hot, thin walls, rude Paint store: Thin, slipped, streaky, cheap, miscolored Software company: Crashed, crash, erased, error, bug, buggy Putting terms in your blocklist won’t prevent anyone from posting them on your wall, but they will hold their comments for you to approve or delete. So, should I stop encouraging people to click Like? Not at all! Having people indicate they Like your brand is important for a number of reasons — you get a rough measure of the number of fans you have online and your content is more likely to make it to the news feed of people who Like your page. As far as I’ve been able to tell, the way Facebook prioritizes content (they call this “Edgerank”) hasn’t changed substantially. How does this change the way I run my Page? It’s going to be even more important to create compelling content — content that invites engagement. Ask questions, do “question” polls, post videos and photos (we know that will increase the likelihood of you appearing on your followers’ news feeds). But above all, don’t overdo it. The number one reason people Unlike a brand is because they post too frequently. How do I monitor my Page for inappropriate content? Facebook does a pretty good job of screening for profanity (if you set it up to, see above) and spam links so that filtering will continue. I also recommend you add a second level of alerts. I use hyperalerts.no. It’s free and will alert you when anybody posts on your company’s wall — even if it’s another administrator of your page. Oh and by the way, if you’re interested in more information about how you can get your brand (or that of your association members) to become more visible on Facebook’s all-important News Feed, have a look at my presentation: EdgeRank: Exploiting Facebook’s Secret Sauce.

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Review of Via Rail train, Jasper to Vancouver

Tod — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:06:18 +0000

This weekend, I was in Jasper AB giving a speech. I had a couple of days back home in Vancouver before heading back out again on the circuit, so I chose to take the Via Rail train from Jasper to Vancouver. Here’s a review of the trip. AT THE STATION I didn’t have any paper tickets (this IS 2011, after all) — I only had a confirmation number. The station is charming, but it’s not particularly clear where you go to “check in.” The only booth that was open read “Tickets” (which, at least to me, implied that they SOLD tickets there). I stood in line and, indeed, that was the right line. They weren’t able to pull my reservation up by my last name (um, huh?) but were able to with the confirmation number. That seemed odd. I mean, how many “Maffin”s do they have in their system? BOARDING THE TRAIN The process of getting on the train is a bit of a clusterfuck. Everyone stands around outside in a pen, then a nice man yells: “Okay, if you’re economy class go right; if you’re sleeper class go left.” (Then, he repeats it in Canada’s other official language: Louder-for-the-Old-People.) And they open the gates. And I mean that literally. It’s one big gate and everyone en masse pours out of it. Don’t get me wrong, people are well behaved and all, but I guess I was expecting people to go by car number or something? There wasn’t even a snooty gate agent checking my ID. (Now that I think of it, I haven’t ONCE been asked for my ID yet. I guess there’s not a lot of business crashing trains into skyscrapers.) My car was second to the end. These are long trains. It took me five minutes to walk to the end. The train left at 2:30 p.m., more or less on time. It’s scheduled to pull into Vancouver about 9:45 a.m. the next day, but we were about an hour early. THERE’S WI-FI OR 3G, RIGHT? It’s very, very spotty. And if you’re with Rogers or Fido, it’s non-existent except for Kamloops (that’s about eight hours after you leave). If you’re with Telus or Bell, you get these small windows of about ten minutes each every 90 minutes or so as you pass through little townships. I’m not on either network, so I can’t vouch for data ability or speed. They may be analog networks for all I know. So basically, be sure you sync up all your devices before you leave. I wish I’d have printed out a Fido wireless coverage map so I wasn’t guessing when I’d come into range. There is no wi-fi, obviously. There is, for the record, two AC outlets. DID YOU MISS THE WIRELESS DATA ACCESS? I suppose it was probably a good thing that there wasn’t any wireless. I got some writing done for my Professional Speaking Tips newsletter, and I use the Interwebz too much as it is. But, that said, I do wish it were an option. A satellite link distributed train-wide via wifi would have been great. It’s funny, you don’t know how much your computer as a whole just assumes you’re connected. There’s no help in applications, for one thing, if you’re offline. Crazy. WHAT’S THE LITTLE CABIN LIKE? I booked a private one-bedroom cabin. It’s totally cute any tiny. But it’s really all the space you need — and designed very efficiently. It’s literally as small as they could make it and still give you a daytime sitting bench, a toilet (a second smaller bench acts as the cover), your own sink (with a little plastic thing that sits over it to act as a shelf, and the bed pulls down like a Murphy Bed. It was obvious that Swedes were somehow behind the design. There was a curtain that you could pin back or zip together so nobody could see in, and there was a thick door you could close and lock as well. (Each car has its own attendant. Mine was a very nice young woman. It looked like a kind of summer job that they all just stuck around for after the summer. There is an “Attendant Call” button in my cabin, but I’m too Canadian to want to bug her. I mean, what if she’s on a break?) SOUNDS A LITTLE DARK AND STUFFY Actually, it’s neither. Remember, you have a huge window, and three big lights: One in the ceiling, one above the mirror on a wall up high, and one mounted by the bed which you can make dim like a reading light or bright like a regular light. The window itself doesn’t open, but you have a knob that lets outside air pump through AND a small fan you can turn on and off. I was totally comfortable the whole way. (That said, if you want to make your cabin totally pitch dark, you can — even in the day. Your big door is air-tight and you have a thick blackout blind that totally covers the window.) WAIT, THERE’S NO SHOWER? There is. A shared one in every car. It’s a little change room in front then a shower. You get it to yourself — you lock the door behind you. There was plenty of hot water and to get the water you push a button which then autostops after about 45 seconds, so you have to keep pushing it. I actually thought it was a smart way to conserve water and prevent floods. They supply each cabin with two bathtowels, a couple of handtowels and a facecloth, a bar of soap and shampoo. I brought my own shampoo because, well, I’m a bit of a bath/shower princess. SO THAT’S IT? YOUR ROOM, THE DINING CAR, AND A SHOWER? No, at the very back of the train (one car away from where I was) there was a fun little lounge car. (Well, as much “fun” as watching chain-smoking [...]

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I hate Mac OS X Lion. Here’s why.

Tod — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:49:51 +0000

Okay, I’m just going to say it. I hate Lion, Apple’s latest operating system for the Mac. Yesterday, I completely erased my hard disk and reinstalled Lion’s predecessor, Snow Leopard. I hate Lion so bad that I wish it were still shipped in a box so I could punch it right in its grinning, cardboardy box. And I’m not the only one. When I said on Twitter that I thought Lion was Apple’s version of Windows Vista (a much-maligned OS by Microsoft), I got tweets and DMs back that bordered on hate mail. “How could you possibly hate Lion?!?!” one said. So, I’ll tell you. Versions never worked. Ever. There was never a pull-down menu in the title bar like all those pretty screenshots. They took away Save As… as a menu item. They took away Save As! This meant you either had to guess where Resume: I thought I’d liked being able to just quit an application without any prompts and have launch next time with the documents you had on the screen, it actually turned out to be a pain in the ass. Preview, especially. If you had a number of PDFs, you’d need to manually close each file or else it would show up as an open document. Elastics: Like Apple’s iOS for iPhones and iPads, when you scroll beyond the boundary of a page, Lion would give you an elastic “snap.” It’s a minor point, but when I get to the end of a document, I want it to end. Not jump around. Scrollbars: They took scrollbars away! Yes, I know you can turn them back on, but sometimes that just didn’t work — depending on the application, your scrollbars were gone forever. I like being able to see where, relatively, my position in a document without having to jiggle my mouse. UI Bugs Changed: For no real reason at all, they removed the “chicklet” — the long oval button in the top-right which collapsed the toolbar and sidebar on demand. They buried the functionality under a right-click, then a second click. Why? No real reason. Just to change things. On the other side of the window, those Red/Orange/Green buttons on the top-left shrunk, making them a little harder to click. Again, for no real good reason. I predict they’ll be entirely gone in the next OS. Multitouch was too multi-touchy! If my little finger so much as barely touched my magic mouse, my entire desktop would get swept off the screen, revealing the Dashboard. Then, just a quickly, it would come back. <sigh> Full-Screen: The new full-screen mode of apps is pointless. You were always able to make an an app full-screen if you wanted. In fact, going full screen with Quicktime took twice as long because it, too, swept your desktop out of the way. A little overboard on the UI. Launchpad. Why would you bring a menuing system that was designed for a finger-operated, small-screened device to a full desktop OS? It was harder to use and any apps you picked up from the App Store would tantalizingly drop there then disappear just as quickly. Why not just drop them in the Dock like before? Sluggishness. Things are just slower. Try opening TextEdit, then trying to save it. It’ll take a few seconds for Lion to even drag its sorry ass together to show you the Save dialog box. On Snow Leopard, it’s nearly instantaneous. The overall sluggishness means that Lion also gets caught up on itself. There were so many times I would type before a window was ready and it would empty that buffer with characters completely out of order. On Snow Leopard when you were typing into the buffer, it least it emptied out properly. There were some things I did like: Being able to have the Mac restore all your windows in the same place they were in when you shut down is a nice touch. I liked that you could change the size of a window from any corner. Seriously, that should have been in the first version of Mac OS X. I know there are tweaks, but I don’t want a flawed operating system that I have to “patch up” with little TSRs and applets. Hell, I left Windows for that version reason. Related articles What do you think? Should I dump MacOS Lion? (zdnet.com) How Apple’s Lion won’t let you trash documents (go.theregister.com) Report: One in six Macs run OS X Lion (macworld.com)

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It’s Time the Media Starts Reporting Suicides

Tod — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:15:00 +0000

My first job in radio was for a small radio network in the B.C. interior. Within weeks of starting, the local newspaper reporter told me that a death we’d reported on a few days previous was, in fact, a suicide. I called my News Editor. “We don’t report suicides,” he sternly told me. “No media do.” He was right. Even today, you’d be hard-pressed to find the media report that a death was a suicide, unless the individual was famous or the suicide was undeniably public. In the days following Rick Rypien‘s suicide, reporters bent themselves into etymological pretzels trying to come as close as saying as much, without actually using “the S word”: “died suddenly, and lived with depression” “his family was stunned by the news, but police don’t suspect foul play” “unexpected, but non-violent death” There is some logic to not reporting suicides — studies show that people with existing suicidal ideations are at higher risk of killing themselves when exposed to news about the suicides of “others, such as family members, peers, or media figures.”1 But I wonder if, in our attempt to protect those at higher risk of suicide, we do a disservice to the wider community in making it seem that suicides are not common. They are — a lot more than you think. Ask any police officer. The media, for better or worse, are the glasses through which we understand what happens around us and what it means. If we continue to pretend suicides don’t happen as frequently as they do, then how can we blame governments for underfunding research and services for people with mental illness? Worse, the stigma will live on and be reinforced. (It is changing, slowly — just this month, Australia media lifted the self-imposed veil of secrecy, saying people are finding out about suicides through social media anyway.) We keep things on the hush-hush when we’re embarrassed about them. Mental illness should not be one of those things. 1 http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml UPDATE: As I was writing this post, the CBC reported that it had confirmed from multiple sources that Wade Belak, who died today in Toronto, did so at his own hand. He was the sixth hockey player to do so since 1978.

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My Secret Business Card Corner-Fold Hack

Tod — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:50:04 +0000

While most of my time is spent working at my digital marketing firm engageQ digital, I also give presentations about social media to lots of groups. Like many speakers, people come up to me after and will ask me to follow up with them on some issue or another. I used to try to remember (a lost cause, in my case) or write down what they wanted but often I’d end up with something like “Send b-dop. Tue smed?” and I wouldn’t have a clue what it meant. Then I stumbled upon this idea which has worked flawlessly since I started it. I realized that, in most cases, people wanted me to follow up with them about one of three topics: “Send me a copy of your slides.” “We want to work with engageQ.” (formerly “tMedia”) “We might want to hire you as a speaker.” So I assigned each corner of my business card to one of these three reasons, then added a fourth “Other.” So, if you give me your business card and you ask me to get back to you about having engageQ (formerly tMedia) help you with your online digital marketing strategy, you might notice me surreptitiously folding back the bottom-right corner. There’s actually a second-level on this — all folded corners go to the back of the card, unless it’s an urgent request, in which case I fold the corner to the front of their card.

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New Presentation: “Exploiting Facebook’s Secret Sauce”

Tod — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:21:56 +0000

Format: Workshop/Seminar or Concurrent Session Length: 45 minutes to two hours including optional Q&A [other time formats] Inquire About a Date Now Information for Meeting Planners Triple Your Brand’s Facebook Visibility Using Edgerank — Without Spending a Dime So you’ve got a Facebook page for your brand, but it’s just not getting the traction you keep hearing about. You post something to your fan page and, a minute later, it’s already dropped off the bottom of your fans’ News Feeds. There’s a reason for that. And it looks like this: E=uewede That is the algorithm behind Facebook’s most viewed page — the News Feed. And once you decode and understand this remarkably simple equation, your brand will become immediately more visible and will stay on your fans’ news feed longer. This algorithm — called EdgeRank — is based on three factors: the relationship between the creator and user, engagement with the post (likes, comments, etc.), and timeliness. In this fast-paced seminar, Tod reveal how social media pros use Edgerank to keep their brand much more visible on Facebook’s all-important News Feed. Content will include: Which day has the strongest engagement for your specific industry? What is the best time of day to post for maximum visibility (and why 90% of brands are doing it wrong) What content generates the strongest engagement? Photos? Videos? Status updates? Tod’s highly effective PEDB (Praise/Escalate/Delete/Ban) flow-strategy for managing your brand’s social media presence How to improve your Facebook brand page’s Edgerank How to check your Edgerank online What types of statistics you should check to ensure an improved Edgerank Examples of highly relevant content that will boost your Edgerank Using Facebook’s Question to dramatically increase your visibility on the News Feed Best practices in encouraging your fans to create content for you This presentation can run from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on your agenda, and can include a full Q&A session and interactive demonstration with Internet access.

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Five Uses of QR Codes That Don’t Completely Suck

Tod — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:05:10 +0000

Mark my words. QR Codes will be the MySpace of 2012.1 QR Codes, for the uninitiated, look like that strange dot thing on the right. When you scan it with an app on your mobile phone, it will show you some text or send you to a web site. (Leading me to wonder why the company didn’t just use that space to print the URL of their web site!) My favourite QR screw-up was the company who used QR Codes on their billboards that were displayed in the New York subway system. Underground. Where their phone couldn’t pull up the QR Code’s information. Awesome. QR Codes do seem to be this year’s shiny object, though — even Facebook is playing around with them — and at many of my digital marketing workshops, I’m asked what I think of them. So while most implementations of QR Codes are a waste of space, there are some uses of these things which have impressed me. The T-Shirt Twitter Search At this year’s Northern Voice (Vancouver-based blogger conference), the back of conference t-shirts had a QR Code on them, dead centre in the middle of the sponsor logos. Sitting in the audience with lots of people in front of you, it was easy to scan the code surreptitiously. The URL, cleverly, went to a live Twitter search with references to the event. Sure, something like bit.ly/nv2011search might have worked just as well, but given the audience’s makeup (a lot of nerds and lots of smartphones), this was a smart call. Tracking Food Buying local is a well-established trend in the produce retail business, and the growing number of farmers’ markets shows that. In Japan, some supermarkets have already started to use QR codes on the label of fresh produce. Shoppers snap a picture of the head of lettuce’s code, for instance, and then is shown sent to a site with all the supplier’s details. An example of the label is to the right. Connecting With Conference Attendees Okay, I’ll admit this has the possibility of being a little creepy. (“Excuse me, may I scan your chest?”) But having a QR code on your nametag might be a quick way to add connections to your LinkedIn account. (That said, adding people on LinkedIn you’ve never actually worked with isn’t a great idea. My LinkedIn B2B workshop has more on this.) Remember that most QR Code apps will store a history of your scans, so you can end up with a healthy list of Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles, web pages, and so on. That said, Bump is a way, way cooler option. Selling Houses It’s been a while since I saw the old-fashioned brochures stapled to a realtor’s sign outside a house.2 But I’ve seen more and more QR Codes printed on those signs. Scanning the codes will send you to a detailed web page about the property — this makes more sense than relying on realtor’s domain name to stick in someone’s brain. Once scanned, the URL of the property also stays in the app’s history, letting the potential home buyer get back to the page easily. Promotions to the Tech Elite Unless you live in Japan, chances are you’re not going to have a QR Reader app on your smartphone unless you’re an early tech adopting nerd. And that group is probably the only that’ll scan a “blind code” — a QR Code that’s printed by itself with no other explanatory notes. Sadly, if I saw a code just up on a building, like the one to the right, with no explanation as to where the code would send me, I would probably scan it. I can also pretty much guaranteed I’d be disappointed with the destination. The end result has to be interesting as well, remember, or people just won’t bother scanning any more. Don’t mark those words too carefully; I once infamously debated Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake on CBC Radio with the position that blogs were just a fad and would blow over. Ahem.I guess they’re getting ripped off for the underground paper market?…

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New Presentation: Generating Real B2B Leads Using LinkedIn (Half-Day MasterClass)

Tod — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:30:35 +0000

Format: Half-Day Workshop (Pre-, Post-, or Intra-Conference) Length: Four hours [other time formats] Inquire About a Date Now Information for Meeting Planners Companies working in the B2B space are already using LinkedIn as a key driver of solid leads to reach business targets. Why aren’t you exploiting this incredibly effective, yet under-used tool? Your competitors are! In this information-packed and interactive half-day MasterClass session, digital marketing strategist Tod Maffin will show you everything you need to know to start generating measurably profitable B2B leads entirely within LinkedIn. This is a roll-up-your-sleeves, half-day session (length can be altered to fit your agenda) where Tod will walk you how to generate, actionable real leads. Here’s how a sample half-day will flow: 9:00 a.m. Everything You Need to Know About LinkedIn in 108 Seconds Building Your Profile to Attract Prospects The Eight Top Mistakes People Make On Their LinkedIn Profile Finding Out Who’s Stalking Your Profile Three Examples of Perfect Profiles From Your Industry Reaching Out: Getting Strategic Testimonials to Gain Traction 9:45 a.m. Interactive Q&A session (live demo on screen) In-Room Stretch Break 10:00 a.m. The Right Way to Connect People to Your Network Adding Leads to Your Network Even If You Don’t Know Them Qualifying Leads: Reaching Out to the Right People Reaching Buyers Through Your Network Reaching Buyers Using LinkedIn InMail 10:45 a.m. Interactive Q&A session (live demo on screen) Regular Break 11:15 a.m. Measuring Profitability of Leads Captured on LinkedIn Micro-Targeting B2B Leads Using LinkedIn Ads Monitoring Companies for News You Can Use LinkedIn Groups As Lead Generation Tools: The Right and Wrong Way 11:55 a.m. Interactive Q&A session (live demo on screen) In-Room Stretch Break 12:10 p.m. Starting and Curating Your Own LinkedIn Group to Generate Leads Secret Ninja Tips Only the LinkedIn Pros Know Going Pro and Paying for More Access: Pros and Cons 12:40 p.m. Interactive Q&A session (live demo on screen) In-Room Stretch Break 1:00 p.m. — MasterClass ends; Tod is available the rest of the day for informal “hallway questions” But it’s not over when the four hours ends — your attendees will walk away with: a full copy of Tod’s slides with room for notes worksheets to connect and calculate LinkedIn activity to lead profitability a ten-page special report about finding and closing B2B on LinkedIn access to Tod’s library of LinkedIn tutorial videos If you’re interested in having Tod present this MasterClass to your company, association conference, or corporate meeting, just fill in the form below:

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Keeping Your Email Address Away From Facebook Apps

Tod — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:31:19 +0000

Seems every time you see an interesting app on Facebook and you click it, the app wants all your information — your friends’ names, your birthday, and more. In nearly all cases, it’s a take-it-or-leave-it deal. You can’t parse out individual pieces of your online identity. Except in one case. Most people don’t know this secret little trick in that Facebook “Approve App” window — one that can keep your email address away from the app developers!

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What to Wear When Giving an Important Presentation

Tod — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:41:23 +0000

[I]n talking to my keynote speech clients, I always ask them what the dress code is they expect for their presenters. Then, I dress one “notch” above. For a short time, I was trying to go for the look that my friend and fellow keynoter Jeremy Gutsche (pictured right) is totally able to pull it off. I’m just not as cool. Still, there are so many types of dress styles out there on the speaking circuit. I finally did a little research into the different styles of everything from business casual to resort casual. Let’s go from best-dressed to least-dressed. No, wait, least-formally dressed. NOTE: I am no expert in women’s clothing, so this post only applies to men. If you know of a similar post for women, let me know and I’ll link it here. “Full Business Attire” Sometimes this is referred to as “Suit and Tie” and it means exactly what it says — something you’d expect a high-end lawyer to wear. Clients aren’t expecting you to wear expensive brands necessarily, just fit in with, say, a bunch of accountants at a banking convention (pre-cocktail reception, of course). Go for a dark-blue or black suit jacket. You do have one of those, right? If not, get a good one. Spend some money to get it tailored properly then wear it for the next 20 years. (We guys have it so good when it comes to hair and clothing.) Wear a simple tie — one colour or a simple pattern. And a white or light-coloured shirt. For slacks, make sure it matches your suit colour exactly and add a very sharp crease. “Shirt and Tie” If you’re asked to speak in Shirt and Tie attire, never, ever, roll up the sleeves of your shirt. Wear a suit jacket into the room and take it off when you sit down at a table or are about to present. Don’t take it off on-stage. Arrive on-stage with your jacket off. Leave it at the head table, behind the black curtain, or whatever. Same shirt, tie, and slacks as above. “Business Casual” This is probably the most common attire request I get from clients — it’s also the least understood by most people. Business Casual does not mean casual. It does not mean jeans, even if they’re nice. Here’s the secret: It still means Shirt and Tie for you! The main difference between Shirt-and-Tie attire and Business Casual attire is what the audience will be wearing. They might indeed be wearing dress shirts with no tie or a golf shirt, but you should still dress up. In your role as the presenter, Shirt-and-Tie and Business Casual should mean the same thing. The only other differences here is that I’d say it’s okay to roll your sleeves up (only to the elbow and never past) and here you can wear beige- or light-coloured khakis. “Smart Casual” Okay, back to the jacket for a moment — this is the time you’d want to wear a blazer or a sports jacket. It still needs a collared shirt and dress trousers. Depending on the industry and country you’re in, a tie is usually optional. I usually don’t wear one if the attire is Smart Casual. Here, you can use less formal shoes like clean loafers but never sandals or running shoes. “Resort Casual” Often, I’m asked to speak at nice resorts — especially if I’m helping a group of senior leaders and CEOs understand how to manage a social media crisis. Many times, the client will request Resort Casual attire for speakers. This is code for “You don’t need a tie.” Here, aim for the ‘well-dressed golf player’ look. Nice slacks and a casual but professional shirt. It does not mean you can wear shorts (never wear shorts on-stage) or a busy Hawaiian shirt. “Cool, You Know, Like Young Looking” Seriously, I get asked this from time to time. I really have nothing to offer here. Like every guy, my wardrobe consists of about eight items that I wear until they require duct tape to keep together.1 The only time you should even consider wearing something other than the above is if your speech topic or your personal brand lends itself to something less formal. But think very carefully before doing it. Try it out at pro-bono speaking events and ask the client for honest feedback. In short, always dress one level up from what the client asks of you. If they say shirt-and-tie only, wear a suit jacket. If they say business-casual, wear a shirt-and-tie. Sadly, I am actually serious about that. When I went camping this past weekend, I wore jeans that needed a duct tape patch to keep them together at the knee.

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Why Addicts Like Amy Winehouse and I Can’t “Just Quit”

Tod — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:03:43 +0000

It was a slow, summer news week, so Amy Winehouse’s death was covered non-stop, with cable news pundits lining up to ask incessantly “Why didn’t she just quit?” I used to wonder that about addicts and alcoholics too. And then, I became one. A lot of heartache and destruction occurred as a direct result of my addiction to alcohol and over-the-counter sleeping pills: I lost the two jobs I loved the most. I nearly lost all my income. I lost my serene Port Moody house that backed onto a salmon spawning creek. I lost most of my savings. I lost my three cats. I lost a lot of friends. I lost a lot of respect in the local tech community. I was beginning to lose my health, quite seriously. And, worst of all, I lost the woman I loved, my wife. I’m sober now — have been for about two and a half years — and I sometimes share my story in a speech about mental health and addictions in the workplace. When people learn I’m a recovering alcoholic, I’m often asked why I didn’t “just quit” before. It’s sometimes phrased something like “But when *I* go out for dinner, I just don’t order more than two drinks. Did you try doing that?” Of course I did. It didn’t work. In the interests of perhaps helping you “normies” (alcoholics’ affectionate nickname for non-addicts) understand a bit better about why people like Amy Winehouse and I “couldn’t just stop” drinking, here are a few questions answered. . Why didn’t you just quit? The simple answer is this: When you are physiologically addicted to a substance (or, for that matter, a compulsion or behaviour), all you think about is that substance. It is a loud and endless stream of non-sensical chatter in your mind that fills your head with all-consuming thoughts about the drug or alcohol to which you are addicted. In the course of just 30 seconds, my mind would loop non-stop with thoughts like (read this out loud really fast to get an idea of what it sounds like in the mind of an addict): How much wine do I still have? Is my wife going to find that empty bottle? Can she smell the vodka on my breath? Is that why she’s grimacing instead of smiling? Seriously, how much wine do I have left? Damnit. I’m running out. What excuse can I make for sneaking out? What time does the liquor store close? If it’s closed, where can I buy offsales. What’s that law about driving with open alcohol in the car again? Do the liquor store clerks wonder why I come in every morning at 10am to buy a litre and a half of wine? Do they know I drink too much too? Can they smell the vodka on my breath? Will they refuse to let me buy this wine if they think I’m addicted? Am I addicted? No, I can’t be. Alcoholics sleep in the streets and drink out of paper bags. Shit! My wife is going to find that bottle I hid under the bed. What will I say if she confronts me? I am not exaggerating that stream of chatter. That would run through my head in just 30 seconds. And then, like the devil’s möbius strip, it would start again. That is all I could think about, day and night. It became an obsession so strong that I could not finish sentences because my mind would pick up the chatter again where it left off. . Couldn’t you see what it was doing in your life? Yes and no. I knew there was conflict in our marriage and I knew it was affecting the quality of my work, but that’s really all I was able to put together. The addicted brain develops a defence mechanism so strong that it simply won’t connect the dots. Conflict in the marriage? Must be just because I didn’t take the garbage out. Trouble focusing at work? I probably just need a vacation. Remember, addiction is a brain disease; it is not a “lifestyle choice.” The medical community now recognizes that addiction primarily interferes with the brain’s survival instinct. So, at my sickest, my brain had re-wired itself so that the only thing it believed it needed for absolute survival was alcohol. Near the end, alcohol was all my mind believed I needed — not my house, not an income, not friends — just a cheap $10 bottle of lousy merlot. And when anything got in the way of my being able to get alcohol — anything — I experienced a panic entirely out of proportion to the situation. My brain had tricked me into thinking that the removal of alcohol would, quite literally, kill me. That is what addiction feels like. And that is why it is so hard for addicts like Amy Winehouse and I to quit. Because, at our sickest, our brain tells us that quitting will kill us. So a massive panic sets in, and the most reliable way we know to quiet down the panic is… our addictive substance. And the loop repeats. . How did it start? While many addicts begin their addiction in their youth, mine didn’t kick in until my late 20s. And it wasn’t with booze or drugs or anything like that. My addiction began with Neo Citran. I had a cold one day and took some Neo Citran — and it made me feel nothing short of amazing. I felt lighter than air. I physically felt all my worries and stresses slide off me like I was coated in a warm teflon. For the first time in my life, I felt invincible. Normies, I gather, don’t feel that way when they drink Neo Citran, so I thought I had stumbled upon a great secret. I started to drink it daily. In short order, I needed it to go to sleep. Then I needed it to wake up. And, at the height of [...]

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My Apology for My Role in the Great Cereal Riot of 2011

Tod — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:38:03 +0000

Dear City of Vancouver and all its residents, Yes, this is me in the picture above. I am not proud of my actions and have made a visit to the Vancouver Police Department over the weekend to turn myself in. This blog will serve as a public apology to those that I have offended with my actions, to clarify certain issues, and to address a few peripheral issues that I take as a concern. My Apologies I apologize to all Shreddies lovers around the world I apologize to the City of Vancouver for participating in this riot and stealing cereal. I apologize to The Bay for smashing their lovely cereal display. It was, really, quite lovely. I apologize to the Canucks for not eating their official cereal supplier My Story I know a lot of you don’t believe me, but the truth is that I take full responsibility for my cereal thieving actions and am sincerely apologetic for what I did. What I did was completely out of character for me, but I did it because I was influenced by the huge cereal mob that descended on downtown. Why don’t I think I deserve all this treatment? Because for one, I’ve admitted to my mistakes, two, I am ready to deal with the consequences in a judicial manner, and three, because (may I remind you that) I am responsible for cereal theft – a fairly minor action compared to things like pasta theft or soy milk abuse. I mean, I’m not a soy milk abuser!!!!! I did not vandalize any cereal ads on bus shelters I did not set fire to that huge Raisin Bran billboard on Georgia I did not break any laws (other than those applying to cereal theft) I did not physically harm any boxes of cereals I did not jump on any cereal distribution bans I did not even plan on being in the cereal riot. On any regular day I would not condone looting of cereal. However, at the time of the riot everything just seemed so right. At the time, being a part of the cereal riot was simply to fulfill the adrenaline rush I was looking and hoping for since they removed the caffeine from All Jumped Up On Coffee cereal – hugging random cereal mascots (I was cleared of those Bran Bear assault charges, just to be clear), doing the Captain Crunch dance on the streets, honking car horns non-stop in the tone and cadence of Tony the Tiger’s change, and high-fiving just about everybody. I had no intentions of defiling that cereal display. I love cereal as much as you do – I’ve been eating it since I was an infant. But in my immature, intoxicated perspective all I saw was that the riot was happening, and would continue happening with or without me, so I might as well get some extra cereal. And what was going on my head about the cereal? I started the day with Shredded Wheat, which I think says everything. Shredded Wheat is no fucking substitute for Shreddies. I thought it would be close, but it wasn’t. Then I couldn’t stop eating it. I think they must put something in it because before I know it, I was into my fourth box. My friends were telling me to stop, but I really just wanted to get my Shred on. As bad as it sounds, the stealing was purely fun for me. I had no intentions with the product. I just wanted to get a souvenir at the time. I took of those giant sized Shreddies box and a Shreddies poster from The Bay. I don’t have any brothers, cousins, boyfriends, fathers, grandfathers or anything else of the like who eat Shreddies. My whole family are a bunch of Corn Pop heads. *FYI: The cereal will be returned, minus about three cups which I ate but am happy to vomit to return, but are not yet returned because the cops want to schedule an appropriate time and date to do so. I’m a student, and an adult. Shouldn’t I know the difference between wrong and right? Well yes, I should… but in certain circumstances our perspectives get seriously skewed. It was extremely hard to see the consequences in taking a couple of boxes of cereal, when around me people were lighting up boxes of Alpen (who eats that shit anyway?!), smashing windows with granola displays, and inflicting physical pain on one another by grinding those Bran Buds into their faces. Have you ever tried those? They’re like rocks, man. Rocks, I tell you. My train of thought at this point was that “the Shreddies have already been compromised and someone even ripped off the head of Tony the Tiger, so what difference does it make if I take a couple things?” Not convinced? Maybe Dave Schniderhead, assistant professor of cereal sociology at UBC, can convince you. In his recent quote, he states: “She said what? Bran Buds?! That’s so not true! You’ve got to soak those things…” Wait, that wasn’t the right quote. Oh, here it is: “When the cereal riot started unfolding …you have a lot of law-abiding citizens hanging around downtown who otherwise would’ve got out of Dodge… But when they started throwing Shreddies around, that’s when individual accountability tends to go out the window. People see other people throwing cereal, and they think, ‘I’m going to throw some cereal too, and I won’t get caught.’ These types of people typically wouldn’t throw cereal on their own.” And that’s really what it was for me. I was immature, intoxicated by that fucking Shredded Wheat imitation-Shreddies crap, full of adrenaline, disappointed in the lack of Shreddies in Safeway, filled with young rage, and have a “go-out-and-do-it” kind of personality. It had nothing to do with anarchy because I am definitely not a a cereal anarchist. As soon as I left the riot I knew that what I did was wrong. As soon as I left the riot, Shreddies in hand, I knew that what I did was [...]

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Another Vancouver rioter “apologizes”

Tod — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:19:39 +0000

UPDATE: With all the #riot apologies going on, I do feel it necessary to come clean and make my own apology: http://www.todbits.com/cerealriot __________________________________________________ Yet another one of a growing number of rioting criminals who have posted “I’m so sorry” blog posts in the last couple of days. It’s pretty obvious they post these only when pretty much everyone knows they were involved. In her blog post, she first apologizes, then spends the vast majority of the post defending her actions. I posted the following on her blog, but my guess is she won’t publish my comment, so here’s what I wrote: Thanks for the post. I’m sorry that you received hate tweets/email. I hope, in the interests of honest dialogue, you’ll elect to keep this comment on your site. Fact is, I find it hard to believe an apology from someone who first apologizes, then spends the next 4/5ths of her essay defending her actions. It was alcohol. It was the mob. It was adrenaline. No, I’m sorry, but it was just you. You drank too much (by your own admission) and that made you do stupid things. Agreed. But don’t blame the alcohol as if it were controlling you mindlessly. You chose to drink. You chose to keep drinking past the point of logical reason and thought. YOU made these decisions, not alcohol. YOU chose to run into a store and steal, not “the mob.” “It was only theft,” you say. I think that speaks for itself as to the veracity of your “apology.” And your line that “On any regular day I would not condone looting” is perhaps the most ludicrous of all. By extension of this logic, and your pages and pages of defence, it’s clear you believe there are certain days and certain conditions where looting is appropriate. Let me speak on behalf of EVERYONE ELSE IN VANCOUVER when I tell you that, no, there are no conditions — no “other days” — in which what you did was appropriate. Are there certain days when murder is appropriate? If you were a judge, would you accept a defence of “On any regular day, I would not condone murdering her.” No. You wouldn’t. I’m glad you took this step toward reconciliation. I think perhaps you should re-consider your relationship with alcohol. And I’m afraid I do hope you get the book thrown at you.

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The Best Business Advice You’ve Ever Heard

Tod — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:57:17 +0000

I asked my Twitter followers the other day “What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?” Here are their responses: ricepoint1 “Be patient, wait for the buyer to change, die or finally give in and buy from you.” williamvavrek “Start small.” wtoddkeller “Don’t give up.” sparks_on “Never think you’ve made it. Continue to improve your skills.” suzemuse “Quit whining and keep working. It will pay off.” mvboronowski “Unless you’re an accountant, get an accountant.” jenarbo “Pay yourself first. And do free (donated) or full-price; don’t do discounts.” dr_suze911 “Baby steps.” RobboMills “Run away screaming.” Paulnixey “Double-nothing is still nothing.” TheSpitter “Work for yourself.”

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Why Tweeting the Live Election Results is a Stupid Idea

Tod — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:59:41 +0000

Canada has a law on its books which, each election, gets more media attention. Simply put, you’re not allowed to “broadcast” live election results until the polls have closed across the country. This wasn’t a big deal before the Internet came along, because broadcasters obeyed the law. But when the web, Facebook, and Twitter showed up, everyone seemed to jump on this law saying it was outdated and silly in the reality of today’s communications universe. Despite what much of the Twitterverse would have you believe, the rationale for the law is actually quite sound. Let’s say you live on the west coast and plan to vote around 6pm after work. You’re in your car driving to the polling station and you hear the radio announcer say that — so far in poll results — it’s looking like a landslide for a particular party. And it’s the party you wanted to vote for. So, you don’t bother to vote. Heck, you have kids to feed and a lawn to cut, and it looks like you’re going to win anyway, so why make the effort? That decision of yours could cost the party that landslide. Or even a majority government. Besides, only people west of the Atlantic have this benefit. It’s unfair to those for whom the polls close first. It’s tempting to live-tweet results before polls close, but only in an immature, sophomoric way. In attempting to “stick it to The Man” (i.e., Elections Canada), those who will do this end up sticking it to each other. Really: What actual benefit is there in broadcasting the results early? How will that actually help democracy? It won’t. The closest thing to logic that proponents of breaking the ban have is “We should, because… uh… we can.” Just because we have the technology does not mean we are compelled to use it in every circumstance. The Flying Spaghetti Monster gave you free will. There is a better idea, of course. And that’s to have all the polls close at the same time across the country — for instance, 7:00 p.m. in Vancouver and 11:00 p.m. in St. John. Then we wouldn’t have this conundrum. But until then, resist the urge to publish the election results as they come in until all your fellow citizens have had a chance to vote, unencumbered by exit polls, predictions, and media forecasts. Our common welfare depends on it.

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The Secret of My Sanity: Sedentary Saturdays

Tod — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:49:08 +0000

I watched the pilot of Happy Endings — a surprisingly good new sitcom — last night. In the show, one of the characters is dumped at the altar and spends a few days at home, on a couch, depressed, and wrapped up in a robe. I know I was supposed to feel sorry for the character. But honestly? I kind of felt jealous. Balance has always been an issue for me. Until the last couple of years, I’d always prided myself on being a work-hard-play-hard kind of individual. But at some point, that strategy stopped working for me. I got sick as a result, and it nearly killed me. But over the last few months, I’ve stumbled onto a new routine that has really helped my overall happiness and sanity. And from outward appearances, it looks remarkably like that sitcom scene. Here is my new sanity-restoring system: I have a commitment Saturday mornings, so I get up and go do that. Then, on my way back from that, I pick up a frozen pizza or some other kind of easy-to-make dinner. Then, starting around noon, I do nothing productive. Nothing. All day. I change into the comfiest set of pajamas I own, take my duvet and move it to the living room couch, gather my cats and some ice cream, and watch bad reality TV shows all day long. And since Sundays are the only day in the week I can sleep in, I stay up as late as I like — sometimes to 4:00 a.m. I don’t answer the phone. I don’t send or check emails. And I rarely use the computer. If you were to see me on Saturday afternoons, you’d swear I was seriously depressed. I have, in fact, experienced real deep, dark depression more than once, and it’s miserable. In those true depressions, I don’t feel sad or down — I just don’t feel anything. But my Sedentary Saturdays are something entirely different. I’m not depressed — in fact, during these days, I feel ridiculously content, relaxed, and spoiled. I swear I can feel disconnected neurons re-attaching and my beaten-down nervous system healing. The secret is learning how to accept love from yourself. When you think about it, the only time we every truly treat ourselves well is when we’re sick. We eat ice cream, stay on the couch, and watch bad TV. And admit it — it kind of feels good. So now, once a week, I “play sick.” I going to eat what I want, nap at 2:30 in the afternoon if I feel like it, give myself permission to watch all the bad reality TV I want, surf gossip web sites, and not once check my work email or think about what I should be doing. Amazingly, I get tired of it and come most Sundays, I’m back up to full levels of productivity and energy. And on those rare Sundays where I still need TLC, I simply extend Sedentary Saturdays to Sundays as well. And life, not only on those lazy weekends, really is better as a result.

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What is Speed Dating Like? I’ll Tell You.

Tod — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:43:19 +0000

I went speed-dating for the first time ever tonight. Partly because it was on my bucket list of things to do, and partly because I thought it might be nice to meet people from outside my usual circle of social media friends. In that respect, I’m glad I went. Being a nerd, of course, prior to going I tried researching it to see what to expect and couldn’t find many people’s experiences. So, I thought I’d write one! (Which explains the blatantly obvious search-engine bait of this post’s headline.) The Night I’d originally planned to do this last month — signed up, paid ($50), got all dressed up, and showed up — only to find that the speed-dating company (Fastlife) and the venue had a miscommunication and the place was locked. So tonight I basically spent the comp they gave me. Because I’m a masochist, I scheduled a couple of heavy-duty teeth fillings on the same day as speed-dating. I’m SMRT that way. <sigh> I thought it might make something funny to bring up in conversation, but then thought “Oh, god, they’ll think my mouth is fully of rotten teeth!” That’s sort of what my brain was doing the whole time — drawing on my old skills as a radio host, I thought it might be good to have a few things to say in my back pocket in case the conversation crept to a lull. But every time I thought of one, it went immediately to The Worst Thing Ever. Some examples: “I’d been meaning to try this for a while now.” (Read: “Oh god, he’s been single for decades!”) “It’s funny; it’s been a while since I’ve even been in a bar!” (Read: “Oh god, he’s an alcoholic.” — which, if you know me well, will know why this made me chuckle a bit) “Why did you decide to do speed-dating?” (Read: “You look like the kind of girl who’s tried everything else, and this is your last shot.” Somehow, I mustered up the courage and went in. It was held in some Yaletown lounge/restaurant. The group had the entire upstairs to itself, which was nice. Clothing “Dress to impress” said the reminder email. This had me more nervous than the whole thing, I think. I have, essentially, two outfits: Business and Casual. And when I say I only have two outfits, I don’t mean that I have two “looks” which are made up of a variety of clothing options — I have two outfits. That’s all. Business: Blue Oxford shirt and beige kakhis (both from The Gap). Casual: Red striped t-shirt under a soft red long-sleeved shirt, and beige cargo pants. I guarantee that when you next see me, I will be wearing one of two of these outfits. (I do have other clothing, of course, but rarely wear it. I’m becoming a creature of habit, routine, and structure these days.) So needless to say, I didn’t know what “dress to impress” meant. In the end, I comprimised: Casual outfit on top, black slacks, and black shoes (and matching socks — matching! I know!). Since it was in Yaletown, I’d normally have taken my scooter over, but considering I’d managed to get my hair in a not-totally-embarrassing condition (and locked it in place with eight pounds of hair spray), I didn’t want a helmet to jumble it up. I took a cab and only then did I realize my black pants were completely covered with cat fur, courtesy of my two kitties! I mean covered — making the pants nearly look grey. By total luck, I had one of those lint tape-roller things in my jacket pocket from when I wanted to use it on the way to a speech. Amazing serendipity. And good fortune, because the lighting in the place was good enough that it would have revealed the true me — a crazy cat lady. How It Worked There were about 15 women and 15 men. The women had “their” tables, from which they didn’t move; the men circulated every time a glass was tinked — every eight minutes. Each table had a number on it, which, while perhaps a little dehumanizing, proved helpful for us guys to know which direction to go to. At the end of the first five rounds, there was a trivia question to answer. Fastlife seems to really pump up how much fun you’ll have, that it’s not just speed-dating, there are games involved!!! But really, it was five fairly boring trivia questions (what date is the election, and who is the leader of the Bloc Québequois were two of them). The prize was apparently a bottle of wine, but we never heard who won. You’re given a card on which you write your date’s name, then tick Yes or No to indicate if you’d like to see them again. If, on their card, they’ve put a checkmark by your name, you’re both told about it by email the next day. I failed to see until it was too late that there’s a part of the card I could keep where I should have been taking notes on the women I wanted to see again. I’m really bad with names, so I fear if I get matched up, my first words will be “Which one were you again?” — which will likely kill any chance of a second date. The Men I didn’t talk to any of the other guys there — to be honest, in the 25 minute wait for it to start, I buried my head in my iPhone. I know, not exactly a great first impression, but there it is. Turns out I needn’t have worried about my clothing, since most of the men were wearing the Vancouver “Hey, I’m a casual guy” outfit — worn-in jeans, a shirt, and a blazer. “You’re an engineer, I’ll bet,” said the last of my ‘dates.’ “All the guys here tonight are engineers,” she yawned. “Engineers and one doctor.” The Women With one exception, [...]

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Beyond Tweeting and Poking: The Science of Social Media ROI

Tod — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:11:13 +0000

If you’ve ever planned a social media campaign and then had to justify its cost, this is the presentation you need to see. engageQ digital‘s president Tod Maffin will walk you through his seven-step methodology — Assured ROI™ — for ensuring your next Twitter, Facebook, or email marketing campaign is set up for its best chance to return its investment. Tod will illustrate how to set measurement ROI “markers” up using free Internet tools, tie those metrics directly into your campaign, and how to report a campaign’s return-on-investment to senior management. “Tod Maffin is one of the most dynamic and insightful social media and technology visionaries of his time. His natural charm and witty humor had the audience in stitches. Many people said they liked his presentation better than our other keynote speaker (Malcolm Gladwell!), which speaks for itself. Tod’s approach guarantees that your audience will walk away feeling inspired and ready to take action.” Lindsay Smith, F5 Expo

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Why making fun of Charlie Sheen isn’t funny

Tod — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:37:30 +0000

These are actual, verbatim quotes from Charlie Sheen on Monday night’s Piers Morgan Tonight (CNN). “Can’t we just be in a pink cloud all our lives, and just be be super bitchin’ and be focused like cross-rays into the universe?” “I feel more alive. I feel more focused. I feel more energetic. My workouts are really intense.” “I’m on a quest to claim absolute victory across the board on every front…” “I have a 10,000-year-old brain.” “I’ve been riding on a mercury surfboard…” “I’m on a mission. It’s an operation, actually…” “I’m at the dead epicentre of every single moment…” “I’m on a rocketship to the moon…” “I heal really fast…” [Did you get out of control?] “Well yeah! I don’t have another gear!” “We live in an evil world.” “I’m fighting a war. There’s no room for sensitivity.” “Every great movement begins with one man, and that’s me.” If you know someone who lives with bi-polar disorder and you hear phrases like the ones above (grandiose, paranoid, “Suddenly everything is clear” statements, or other out-of-touch phrases), they are in trouble. Find a way to get them to medical attention immediately. It’s not a joke. And it’s nothing to make fun of. UPDATE: A couple of additional quotes — these aren’t harmless, everyday “metaphors,” as some have claimed. These are pathological statements. He may not be bi-polar, but he’s clearly manic: “You borrow my brain for five seconds and just be, like, Dude, can’t handle it, unplug this bastard because, yeah, it fires in a way that is maybe not from this particular terrestrial realm.”— Charlie Sheen on ABC “I am on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it once you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”— Charlie Sheen on ABC “Newsflash, I am special and I will never be one of you.“— Charlie Sheen on the Infowars radio show NOTE: ABC Television gave Charlie Sheen a urine test for drugs, including cocaine and amphetamines — he came up clean for at least the last week. This isn’t drug-induced, at least not short-term use. “Most individuals with bipolar disorder do not perceive their manic episodes as needing treatment, and they resist entering treatment. In fact, most people report feeling very good during the beginning of a manic episode, and don’t want it to stop. This is a serious judgment problem. As the manic episode progresses, concentration becomes difficult, thinking becomes more grandiose, and problems develop.” — PsychologyInfo.com Features of a Manic Episode Extreme irritability & distractibility Excessive “high” or euphoric feelings Sustained periods of unusual, even bizarre, behavior with significant risk-taking Increased energy, activity, rapid talking & thinking, agitation Decreased sleep Unrealistic belief in one’s own abilities Poor judgment Increased sex drive Substance abuse Provocative or obnoxious behavior Denial of problem If you wouldn’t make fun of someone with cancer, you shouldn’t be poking fun at Charlie Sheen. Addictions doctor Drew Pinksy on Charlie Sheen’s mania:

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Facebook iFrame Development: Sample HTML/CSS Code

Tod — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:45:12 +0000

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13-Year-Old Young Radio Tod :-)

Tod — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:22:30 +0000

Press the yellow Play button below. NOTE: There is no audio for the first ten seconds.

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Using YouTube Insights for Demographics and Statistics Discovery

Tod — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:17:56 +0000

Now that you’ve got your YouTube video uploaded and live, it’s time to learn more about who’s watching your video, where they’re coming from, and what parts of your video they’re most interested in.

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Finding Trial Versions in the Mac App Store

Tod — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:07:59 +0000

Apple doesn’t permit application developers to put trial versions of their software in the Mac App Store. This means that you have to take a risk on an app without getting a chance to test it first. But there IS a workaround. In this video, I show you how to find trial versions of most software in the Mac App Store. Note: This doesn’t work for all applications — some developers may choose to not make a trial version available — but most seem to. Related articles Apple: No demo, trial, or beta software on Mac App Store (venturebeat.com) Apple Confirms no Trial Software or Demos in Mac App Store (slashgear.com) Ten changes we’d like to see at the Mac App Store (macworld.com)

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