Category Archives: Quick Tips

I’m pretty happy about this new file-sharing service I stumbled upon today called Castle. It looks great, it doesn’t have overbearing ads or scam-y payment options, and it’s about as easy to use as a URL shortening service. You just drag files into your browser and it generates a download URL and social media sharing…
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I think I can speak for all of us at MediaStyle when I say we’re Apple nerds. While some people might be sad about Steve Jobs’ recent resignation from chief executive at Apple his, I think communicators can learn some important ideas from Steve Jobs. Like thinking of user experience, audience and customers first when…
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Like a lot of people, the MediaStyle team has been poking around Google+ the last couple of weeks. The interface is a lot cleaner, and the integration with other Google products is convenient without being creepy like Google Buzz. While it’s still a little early to share our full impressions, I thought I’d highlight the…
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One of my favourite tips from Northern Voice this year came from presenter Morten Rand-Hendriksen. Quick, effective, and widely overlooked: Your WordPress media naming field is meaningless, and your alt text is super important. Wordpress isn’t helpful this this, as only the name field is mandatory and the alt text field has a pretty unhelpful…
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Enough is enough! Stop sending me Facebook invites to events that are not in my city. Stop asking me to be part of your local group unless you are in my town and the group is local to me, too! You know who you are. Everyone knows who you are because your messages on Facebook…
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Organizations are rightly concerned about investing too many dollars in technology that might not be around tomorrow. I know of at least one “early mover” in the social media agency world who nearly lost the farm betting on Second Life as a platform. And another invested heavily in MySpace only to find their work slowly becoming less…
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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the preview of the decor and food for the fast approaching Black and White Opera Soiree at the National Arts Centre. The Black & White night at the NAC has become a political must-be-seen-at-affair of the fundraising season, and it now rivals to the Venetian Ball…
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A provincial-level, non-governmental organization recently asked me to weigh in on using media kits as a method of introducing an organization to the media. I couldn’t attend the session in person, but I thought it was an amazing topic and offered to contribute via the blog. A couple of points to help set up the…
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I often ask about adoption of certain technologies in my workshops. It’s nice to know which tools are being used; I can often tailor my advice to make the session more relevant. Of all the online tools I ask about, the uptake is always largest for Google Alerts. People love their Google Alerts. In fact,…
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I recently joined the team behind TEDxOttawa and thought I’d share one of my favourite recent TED talks with you. This is Rory Sutherland with Life Lessons from an Ad Man. More details about the Ottawa event can be found at www.tedxott.com