How to create a strategic content calendar you can stick to

If you’re serious about content marketing, start thinking like a publisher and develop a strategy. And then, to make sure you stay engaging, relevant and on track, create an editorial calendar. Writing, editing and publishing all take time, energy, attention to...

The retail value of a like

I wonder if it first started a long time ago at the Academy Awards when Sally Field measured her Oscar win by how much people liked her. It’s certainly a question many brands wonder about. What’s a like mean and what is it worth? For individuals, it’s a bit easier. A...

The difference between writing, editing and publishing

It wasn’t so long ago when those were all separate functions. You wrote something, sent it around and if you were fortunate enough to be accepted, your work was edited and then published. That changed with social media. The roles blurred and in many cases if you’re a...

The link between mobile and old time car radios

One of my first jobs was working as a junior copywriter for a large ad agency. And my favourite part was writing the radio ads because I got to be part of both the creation and production. I’d find myself in a state-of the art recording studio with a seasoned...
Time for millennials to teach boomers a thing or five

Time for millennials to teach boomers a thing or five

I was talking to a neighbour not too long ago. She’s a first or second year lawyer with a big corporate firm. She asked me what I did and when I told her said she doesn’t use social media at all – not even LinkedIn. I tried to explain the benefits of...

Inbound or outbound PR

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Because PR, and specifically media relations/publicity, seems perched on the edge of the inbound-outbound marketing fence. Neither on one side nor the other. And that’s a challenge for the industry trying to find...

Social studies at PodCamp Toronto

PodCamp Toronto, the city’s annual social media unconference extraordinaire, happened on the weekend. This year, Eden Spodek, Marcus Daniels, Diane Begin, Cyrus Mavalwala and I took part in a panel called Social Media Goes to College, about the state of social...

Are we outsourcing our memory?

And is that a bad thing? It is if it diminishes the quality of our relationships. And it feels like we may be heading in that direction. Let me explain what I mean. It wasn’t that long ago when I knew tons of phone numbers. And that helped me in my job as a...

My birthday Klout bump

Remember when you were a kid and it was your birthday and you’d get the bumps?  Well, that happened to me this year too. Except virtually. It was my birthday earlier in the week and I got a little present from Klout – my score increased from 66 to 68. I...

Are you socially insecure, part two

Last week I wrote about online security and how important it is to change passwords in order to safeguard your accounts and privacy. Now I want to talk about that other type of insecurity – the psychological kind. As individuals who are otherwise perfectly well...