social media, twitter

Twitter and Starbucks team up for @TweetACoffee

As Twitter continues to prepare for their upcoming IPO we should expect announcements and program such as this one.

Starbucks has teamed up with Twitter for an initiative called @TweetACoffee. This program allows an individual to send a virtual Starbucks $5 eGift to anyone they want to. All the recipient has to do is print off the coupon or add the $5 to their Starbucks mobile card. Pretty simple and easy.

Tweet A Coffee
Tweet A Coffee

It will be interesting to watch how other retailers use Twitter to increase brand awareness, affinity and e-commerce sales.

As for Twitter, I’m sure more partnerships like this and even the earlier Comcast and NBCUniversal announcement will be forthcoming.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxPZj9x_Dsk&w=420&h=315]

social media

What we should learn from Buffer

This past weekend, Buffer suffered an unusual hacking incident that saw many people’s Facebook (and some Twitter) accounts post spam. You can read about the incident (and the updates including the solution) on the Buffer blog here.

There are many security and privacy lessons that can be learned from this incident.

However, the number 1 lesson that I hope every single brand that is active on social media gleans from this is:  Be open, honest and transparent. That’s exactly what Buffer did. And guess what? No one is shitting on them this morning.

buffer hack
buffer hack

The screenshot above shows the top results for a search on “buffer weekend hack”. Most focus on the tactical response from Buffer rather than any security issues.

Throughout the weekend, Buffer updated their social media accounts, blog and even sent out email updates. their goal was to let their community of users know what had happened, what they were doing to resolve the issue and what steps their users could take in the meantime.

buffer response
buffer response

One of the things they were also not afraid of doing was apologizing. They actually said sorry: Which is something everyone needs to do a little bit more of because none of us are perfect.

digital media

My latest on itbusiness

I continue to contribute to one of Canada’s top online destinations for business professionals: itbusiness.ca. My latest piece discusses the different types of businesses that I have had the pleasure of studying over the past few years in the digital space.

startup
startup

Please take a little trip on the interweb and read “Why Does Your Start-Up Exist?” I would love it if you could leave your thoughts, comments and share. Thanks!

digital media

#BBM: My article on BBM from Blackberry World (May 2013)

Back in May of this year I had the opportunity to travel to Orlando for BlackBerry’s Live conference. I wrote a number of articles from my trip on itbusiness.ca. You can read them here, over there, and also here.

Recently, BBM, Blackberry’s popular messaging service, became available for Android and iOS devices. Since then, over 10 million new people have downloaded the app.

BBM Channels
BBM Channels

I also wrote about BBM and BBM Channels in May. For those curious where Blackberry is going with BBM, Channels and monetization. It is well worth the read (if I do say so myself.) You can read that article over here.

digital media

My first post on Catalyst

I recently embarked on a new adventure with a really cool company called Catalyst here in Toronto. Catalyst is a successful and award-winning search marketing company. I’m helping to lead their content and social media products. After only 5 weeks, I’ve never been more excited in my professional career. I’m really stoked to see what happens in 2014 and beyond!

I’ve also recently written my first blog post on the topic of Real Time Marketing.

real time marketing
real time marketing

I would love it if you could take a moment to read it and leave your thoughts and comments.

Read Have Advertisers Figured Out Real Time Marketing?

books

Book Review: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

I will admit right now that Malcolm Gladwell is my favourite contemporary author.  So this book review may be a little bit biased. Although, I have grown  in not taking everything that Gladwell preaches at face value and being a little more critical when I read his work (or listen to his talks).

David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell’s latest battle is now of biblical proportions. Many people believe that David’s win over Goliath was one where the underdog beat the favourite. However, citing numerous studies, Gladwell, puts this “urban myth” to sleep. Thus starts the latest book by Gladwell.

The rest of the book sees Gladwell attack our notions of:

  • how to choose the best college,
  • the history of civil unrest in Northern Ireland,
  • how the success of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King was influenced,
  • how traumatic childhoods can actually be a good thing, and much more.

Later this week, I’m heading over to the University of Toronto to listen to Malcolm Gladwell talk about his latest book. And hopefully so much more!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGD7vQOwl8&w=420&h=315]