My Boy!

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Français : Milla Jovovich au festival de Cannes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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HubSpot has published an eBook, “How to Use Pinterest for Business,” which offers some excellent ideas for business owners who want to channel the power of Pinterest. Pinterested? Some of HubSpot’s recommendations include:

• Pinning visuals from blogs
• Pinning infographics
• Pinning imagery of customers using and liking your service

You can download the entire 44-page eBook for FREE here.

Thanks, HubSpot!

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no spam! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you on the fence about blogging for your business? Here are ten super-fantastic reasons why you should go for it:

1. Blogging improves your website’s SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines (such as Google) prefer sites that are constantly being updated with new content as opposed to unchanging, “static” sites.
2. Blogging positions you as an expert in your industry.
3. Blogging will help you engage and grow a following, as opposed to advertising and spamming a not-so-eager audience.
4. Blogging helps you build credibility in the eyes of potential buyers. Imagine if you found two suppliers online: Supplier 1 has a loyal following and offers free information and tips on a regular basis, in addition to a description of their products of services and contact information. Supplier 2 has a static site offering only advertising and contact information. Which one would look more tantalizing to a potential buyer?
5. Blogging forces you to stay on top of your game. You’ll need to keep a lookout for new trends, new technologies and advancements in your industry. Experts become bloggers and bloggers become experts.
6. It’s fun! You’ll be surprised at how much you know about something you’re passionate about. And it will build confidence (if you don’t have enough already).
7. Blogging allows you to test drive content for seminars, classes, video tutorials, infographics and other materials you might be thinking of creating down the line. Think of your blog subscribers as a mini focus group. Pay attention to their reactions and comments.
8. Blogging is great for networking: you can feature guest bloggers, interviews, follow people who comment and share… you’ll be amazed at who you meet and how easy it is to stay in touch with industry pros.
9. Blogging gives your target demographic a real reason to keep coming back to you, so you’ll stay on top of their minds.
10. Blogging will get you more business. And it costs way less than advertising. It just takes some time and thought.

Can you think of any other reasons why blogging is good for you and your business? Comment below and share with the rest of us!

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Derecho (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Employees socializing on Facebook and other social media during office hours has been a legitimate concern since social media caught on. Lately, there’s been a growing trend where employers (and colleges for that matter) checking out public social media profiles when considering candidates. But the “need” to have full access to a personal social media account is a whole different ballgame.

Corinne Muccilli (known as @Friendlylawyer on Twitter) says  “Any employer who engages in this type of behaviour  is putting a prospective employee in an awkward position, to put it mildly.  Courts in Canada have recognized that there is, generally speaking, an imbalance of power between employers and employees and that the scales tip in favour of the employer.  Asking a prospective employee for this type of information preys on the vulnerability of an individual who’s either really keen, or really needs, that job.  It can be really difficult for a prospective employee to remember that the interview is as much about the candidate deciding whether he or she wants to work for the employer as it is about the employer deciding whether it wants to hire the candidate.”

I wouldn’t share my email password, I wouldn’t share my ATM pin number, heck I wouldn’t even share my gym locker combination with an employer (and yes, I’m self-employed). Why on Earth would sharing my social media passwords be any different?

According to Muccilli, “Canada has a history of protecting individual privacy.  There are various torts which have been used to defend one’s privacy and, more contemporarily, there are statutes at every level of government which specifically address how organizations collect, use and disseminate personal information.  If something as basic as a person’s name qualifies as information which needs to be protected, an individual’s Facebook password would easily fall in the category of “personal information.”  A case decided in Ontario described the family computer as, effectively, a filing cabinet.  Asking for a Facebook password would be akin to asking for the key to that filing cabinet, or at least a drawer in the cabinet.  It is interesting that that this issue emerged in  the US  just a couple of months after the Ontario Court of Appeal recognized the tort of the intrusion of seclusion which is, effectively, invasion of privacy. ”

As it turns out, at least here in Canada, it is completely illegal for an employer to make this request. Our neighbours in the United States aren’t quite so lucky: read the whole story here in the Globe and Mail.

According to Muccilli, “Employment law in Canada is quite different from that in the United States.  There are a lot more limits put on employers here in Canada, such as what they can ask in an interview, and how they can terminate an employee.  A Canadian employer would more likely to think twice about asking for a password than their American counterpart because of the rules we have placed on the employment relationship.  The really interesting thing is that most of the rules about how we, as a society, interact have already been established and social media nothing more than a different platform from which we interact.   The trick will be how to apply our existing rules on this new platform, which is where our courts step in to offer direction.  It will be interesting to watch the caselaw develop.”

Corinne Muccilli is a litigation lawyer with Baker & Company in Toronto and has a special interest in employment law.  Find out more about Corinne and the firm at www.bakerlawyers.com or contact Corinne directly at (Email) cmuccilli@bakerlawyers.com (Ph)416-777-0010 and twitter @Friendlylawyer. 

1. Show versus Tell

It’s one thing to tell people about how amazing your event was but it’s way more convincing  to be able to show people how amazing your event was: everything from the gorgeous venue, the beautiful decor, the fancy food, the impressive turnout, the riveting entertainment and enlightened speakers.

2. Testify!

You’ve got a room full of people who are loving your event… why not get them to say a few words on camera about their wonderful experience? Testimonials are an excellent sales tool and video testimonials are just wicked awesome.

3. Suck Up To Feature Your Sponsors

Where would you be without your event sponsors? Featuring them in your highlights video will make them look like the respected professionals they are. They’ll want to use your video as a marketing tool and share your video with their respective network spheres because you’ve taken the time to make them look like rockstars. They get some good publicity and you get more eyeballs on your event: it’s win-win.

4. Share and Share Alike

The great thing about video is that it is super easy to share on the web, thanks to various social media such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Ask everyone who sponsored or helped organize your event to share your video. Ask anyone who even appears in your video to share it. While you’re at it, use the video to promote your website, get new blog subscribers, gain new Twitter followers, more Facebook fans… see where I’m going with this?

One Last Piece of Advice

Events can be particularly difficult to shoot: you often have to deal with less than ideal lighting situations and challenging audio requirements (lots of background noise and loud music, for instance). So think seriously about hiring a professional crew who has experience in this sort of thing. It’s important that everyone look and sound their best. I’m not just saying this because I happen to produce videos for a living (well, maybe just a little… *smirk!*).

And now, here’s an event video we did for Define Events’ eventConnect, a fabulous networking event geared at event professionals that took place in the Greater Toronto Area not too long ago. Notice: the event highlights, the testimonials, and the fabulous sponsors. And yeah, that’s ME being interviewed just before the end credits. Thanks for watching!

While all this unprecedented attention has garnered some criticism (which you can read all about in the National Post) a couple of things are clear:

Kony 2012 - HBO (Photo credit: Avakian)

1. Video connects on an emotional level
2. Video moves people to action
3. Video is easy to share
4. Video is an increasingly effective way to broadcast a message
5. Video is a powerful sales tool

Invisible Children is reportedly planning on releasing a 10-minute follow-up video on Monday, to address the criticisms and concerns raised by the first video. Agree or disagree, count on the world to be watching and the discussion to be heated. Either way, mission accomplished: Kony is famous.

Facebook Timeline (Photo credit: GusF)

Heads up!

Remember when Facebook changed the look of your wall and profile by introducing Timeline a little while ago? Still shook up about it?

Well,  hold onto your apps because Facebook Timeline for Pages will soon be kicking in. For now, you have a choice to opt in for the new Timeline look. But if you don’t choose Timeline for your pages before March 30, Facebook will choose it for you.  So if you are marketing your business with a Facebook page, you need to prepare for this design shake-up, otherwise things might look a little wonky for your brand.

Fortunately, you can avoid any surprises by previewing what your page is going to look like in Timeline and try it out for a curation period before launching it for the whole world to see.

TechCrunch has written an excellent in-depth explanation of Facebook Timeline for Pages and its features. Click here to read it. 

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• this is a hashtag symbol: “#”
  

  Image via Wikipedia

• anyone can use the hashtag; all you have to do is type the “#” symbol in front of a key word in your tweet, and then that key word will automatically show up as a clickable link within your tweet
• use the hashtag when you’re tweeting about a specific topic, or a particular event
• the hashtag will categorize your tweet, so that your tweet shows up in relevant searches: when you click on the hashtag link, you will see a feed of all the most recent tweets in the Twitterverse (yes, “Twitterverse” is a word!) using that same hashtag… you are now part of a conversation!
• Twitter is all about what’s going on right now, so you’ll find the hashtag most useful when you’re discussing a hot topic: the most popular topics of the moment are called Trending Topics

Hashtags are awesome for promoting an event. For example, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been creating Oscar buzz on Twitter the last few weeks by designating #Oscars for discussion and hype surrounding tomorrow night’s Academy Awards broadcast. You can even post a question for a celebrity with #RedCarpetQA (talk about interaction!). This not only builds excitement leading up to the event, but during the ceremony, anyone will be able to witness or take part in a live conversation on Twitter. Fun!

Hashtags are not just for celebrities, though! Use the hashtag to promote your own business, blog, brand or event.