If You Are Into Marketing You Should Be Reading AND Listening: Great Podcasts
Jan 6, 2009 PR, Podcasts, RSS, Social Media
My brother recently asked me to recommend some podcasts, instead of just emailing him a list I decided to share my favourite podcasts with you as well. I used to subscribe to about 30 but I had to cut back to the true essentials. Here are the seven I am currently listening to.
Marketing & PR Podcasts
Six Pixels of Separation
Host: Mitch Joel
This is my must listen to podcast! Mitch Joel’s enthusiasm is catching. He talks about all things digital with a flair for creating excitement. He provides the listener with incredible insight and the most up-to-date information on everything including: social media, culture, PR books and strategy. Only downside- sometimes the podcast can be longer than the commute.
Inside PR
Hosts: Terry Fallis, David Jones, Martin Waxman, Julie Rusciolelli
Weekly podcast about the world of Public Relations and Social Media. This is a very intelligent podcast with vibrant discussion about everything from Twitter to Client-Agency relations.
For Immediate Release
Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson
These guys have so much to say about PR and communication that they do a podcast twice a week!
Management
Manager Tools
Hosts: Mike Auzenne and Mark Horstman
Tools and techniques for managers. A great resource for professionals. Interviewing, decision making, conflict resolution and team building are just a few topics you will find on Manager Tools.
Technology Podcasts
TWiT
Host: Leo Laporte & Friends
Roundtable discussion on everything tech. I find this one can go a bit long, so I skip sections I am not interested in.
CBC Podcasts (yes, it needs its own section)
Search Engine
Host: Jesse Brown
Review of politics, culture through the net. Brilliant, thought provoking…can I say more. The latest podcast “Is throttling necessary?” – I can’t wait to listen to this one!
Spark
Host: Nora Young
I just started listening to this one based on a list on Dave Fleet’s blog but so far it is inline with my experience from other CBC podcasts – fantastic. Technology, culture, trends and ideas.
The Hour
Host: George Stroumboulopoulos
Seriously, I had to go back and forth to the web page to make sure I spelt his name right. I am still not sure I did. Short and sweet interviews Stroumbo style. Entertaining and smart. Perfect for short commutes because they are often less than 10 minutes.
If you are new to listening to podcasts:
You don’t need an iPod you can listen on your computer direct from the site, subscribe via RSS, or get iTunes and use from any MP3 player or computer.
Are you listening to any good ones?
Popularity: 12% [?]
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Tags: cbc, marketing & communication, podcasts, PR, technology
5 Tips to Organization in Google Reader or How to Avoid Information Overload
Nov 26, 2008 Blogs, RSS, Social Media
Information overload is easy when you start subscribing to feeds in a feed reader. It seems everything is possible to subscribe to: news, searches, alerts, blogs, content on websites…And, why not! It allows the user to get the content without the hassle of visiting multiple sites. It is supposed to save you time. But when it is so easy to subscribe, you often subscribe to too much!
In July 2007, I wrote a post on RSS for beginners where I discussed the benefits of subscribing to feeds such as blogs or content on news sites, and some of the tools you can use to organize them. [If you want some helpful hints on what you can use RSS for - check out Parker's post on the Blogcampaigning blog.]
Now, one year and 200 subscriptions later, I have found myself for the 25th time having thousands of unread articles, reluctantly pressing the “Mark all as Read” button. So I decided to do a reorganization of my feed reader. Here are my tips to organizing your feed reader:
1. Delete blogs you aren’t reading
Over time you will subscribe to a lot of feeds, some you will read regularly and others you will find you skip more often than not, and indeed some you won’t read at all! To get rid of many subscriptions go into the Manage Subscriptions and click the trash can next to the ones you are deleting. Or, one at a time – just click “Feed Settings” and unsubscribe.
2. Create a “Must Read” folder
Which blogs do you regularly read? Check out “Trends” in Google Reader, it will show you the percentage of read items over the last 30 days for the feeds you have been reading. Pick your top 20 and move them into the “Must Read” folder
3. Use Starred Items and Tags
Save yourself time and effort trying to find articles later on. I use “Stars” and tags to save posts I might want to refer to later on. I categorize using tags to indicate what the post is about (Twitter, WOM, Facebook, consumer marketing, etc). I also use tags to show what I want to do with the post, for example if I want to print it out I tag it “print”, or if I want to use it for a future blog post I tag it “blog” and star it so I can easily find it later on.
4. Create feeds for frequently updated sites or infrequently read sites using AideRSS.
If you have hundreds of blogs that you read, as I do, you need a way to sort through to find the most valuable posts. This is where AideRSS comes in handy. Some blogs have 30-40 posts a day which can be hard to get through to find the gems. Plug the feed URL into AideRSS and it will show you the Best Posts, Great Posts and Good Posts (based on PostRank and engagement). You can then decide which posts you want to read – the best, the great, or the good ones. You can also choose to subscribe to this feed that you have created – so that you will ONLY get the “Great” posts in your feed reader. You can do this for multiple feeds. For example, I put all the blogs I subscribe to, that don’t fall in my “Must Reads”, into AideRSS. I subscribe to that feed – so I decrease the number of feeds by about 30%. AideRSS has some helpful videos on the site that explain the process.
5. Read and enjoy!
Start with your “Must Reads”, and if the other feeds get to be too much – you can press the “Mark all as Read”.
Popularity: 8% [?]
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Tags: blogging, google, google reader, guide, information, RSS
My Top 15 Web 2.0 Sites
Nov 24, 2008 Blogs, Consumer Brands, Marketing & Communication, Microblogging, RSS, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, social networks
In no particular order, these are my favourite Web 2.0 site. These sites allow us to collaborate, share, and communicate with others.
Facebook: I never would have reconnected with so many people if it weren’t for Facebook (perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad thing!) How else would I know that a former co-worker I no longer keep in touch with has had a baby, that a high school friend is a terribly annoying Zombie, and someone I only know briefly from University has an incredible need to invite me to parties I will never ever go to. Of course I also wouldn’t have met up with a few old room mates for coffee and been able to catch up with some other friends who continue to have lots of common interests with me!
>LinkedIn: LinkedIn is another social network, but this one is unique as it appeals to people interested in professional networking. You won’t find Vampires or Scrabulous on LinkedIn, but you will find professional groups, job postings, and the ability to connect with people in your field of expertise or future employers! Post your profile including your career history and start finding your network.
Flickr: A great way to share photos with friends, family and the world. Tag anyway you like, and receive comments from people who view your work. You can of course create sets/albums, and share your “photostream” on many social networks beyond Flickr. Flickr also allows you to make your albums private.
Del.icio.us: Not only can I now take my bookmarks to any computer I happen to be on, I can easily share with family and friends the links I think they will find useful. As an added bonus I subscribe to key “tags” that interest me: “wordofmouth”, “socialmedia” etc. My bookmarks used to be a long list of random unorganized sites, now they are categorized under multiple groupings making them easy to find when I need them.
Slideshare: Looking for inspiration? Want to share your brilliant presentations? Share slideshows with friends, colleagues or the world. You can also add sound and create your own “webinar”. Post your presentations on Slideshare then embed on a website, or share on social networks easily. Slideshare is great for collaboration, and sharing knowledge at the workplace ond beyond. If you have attended a recent conference (especially on tech) – there is a good chance the slides are posted here.
Google Reader: Google Reader is the bane of my existence and the love of my life. A plethora of information, and a suck of my time. It makes it so easy to subscribe to wonderful content…that I keep subscribing to more and more. Leaving me little time to read them! I have just recently re-organized and I think I have found a way to master the information overload. Watch for a future post. If you love blogs – I recommend Google Reader as your aggregator.
YouTube: Hours wasted here! I love YouTube. I have posted videos (of my son – for the joy of his grandparents), and I have watched videos, and taken my favourites and embedded them in my blog. How great is that, watch, create and share!
Books: Living Social: Being a book lover I immediately added the Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook. (now called Living Social: Books), Books: Living Social allows you to see what friends are reading and reviewing, catalogue your own books (want to read, reading, and have already read!) A great “social” way to find new books to read. Living Social also has other interests you can add to your Facebook (Myspace and Bebo) profiles: Television Shows, Movies, Beer, Video Games, Restaurants, Albums. And, they just introduced a new widget for your blog or social network
Google Docs: Google Docs which includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Form creator, and Presentation program are perfect for collaborating at work or at school. Forget the messy “tracking” changes, or e-mails back and forth with suggestions for changes – make real time changes whenever you want in Google Docs. You can even work on the document at the same time as one of the other team members.
Wikipedia: Have you ever been at a party or a get-together and a random trivia question pops up. Invariably someone says “google it” and out pops a laptop or mobile device. Someone looks up Piranha eating habits, or the origin of the carnival, and likely one of the first search results is Wikipedia. The best example of the “wisdom of crowds” has to be the collaborative Wikipedia. Just look something up – or contribute.
Twitter: This is the social network / blogging platform I wish I had more time for. For the uninformed please read my Twitter 101 post. Twitter asks the question “what are you doing now?” and you “tweet” using 140 characters or less to share with your followers just what is on your mind. It can be as menial as what you are eating for breakfast, or as mind-blowing as breaking news. People share stories, news, links of interest, and opinions on everything from coffee makers to politics. Twitter has even become an avenue for businesses to offer customer service. Search for people in your neck of the woods or people that share common interests. I follow people all over the world!
Adium: I recently added Adium, a chat application for Macs to my computer. With Adium I can log into all my IM accounts with one program. I have it set up to log me in to MSN, ICQ, Gmail, and even Facebook chat.
Skype: My son would likely forget what Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kim looked like if it wasn’t for Skype. They live in another country and so it is rare that my three year old gets to see them in person. Skype allows them to see each other and chat for free! We also talk to his grandparents (and great grandmother) this way! His grandmother was able to read him a bedtime story from Nova Scotia. How neat is that! Hey, even Oprah is using Skype.
Friendfeed: Friendfeed allows you to bring all your “feeds” together. Create a newsfeed by sharing what you are doing on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and others Web 2.0 sites. Follow your friends activities and comment on any of them! There are also “Rooms” where members can share on a particular topic. You can subscribe to your Friendfeed in an aggregator so you never miss a beat.
Wordpress: Where would I be without Wordpress, the platform this blog is built on!
Popularity: 8% [?]
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Tags: delicious, facebook, flickr, living social, twitter, youtube
What’s Next in Marketing & Advertising (& Media)
Jun 19, 2008 Advertising, Blogs, Branding, Marketing & Communication, PR, RSS, Social Media, social networks
Ages ago I meant to share this great slideshow from Paul Isakson:
| View | Upload your own
I was reminded about it when Paul Isakson posted a note about a Neil Perkin slideshow on the social media impact on traditional media and content.
Technorati Tags: advertising,media,social media,paul isakson,neil perkin,marketing,technology,michelle kostya,mego
Popularity: 4% [?]
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Burning Questions about Feedburner
May 18, 2008 Blogs, Marketing & Communication, RSS, Search Marketing, Web Analytics, Web Tools & Applications
I am not sure if it is simply a symptom of being a junior blogger (I have been blogging for less than two years) or if all bloggers suffer from analytic-obsession-disorder.
On a semi-regular basis I check Google Analytics to see who is visiting my site. I look for the following information:
- View the map to see where my visitors come from (last month 29 different countries, majority from US)
- I love to look up Network Location to see if any interesting companies have been visiting, especially to see if any companies I may have written about came to see what I said.
- Traffic is fascinating (really it is!). How did people come to find me? Was I already on their list and they came direct? Did they search for MEGOAgain? Or for my name? Did they search for something truly bizarre and happen to locate my blog? (Most bizarre this month “cliff stoll by coats” and “animals that work well together”)
I also check Wordpress plugin “Wassup”, which gives me stats for the last 24 hours, 7 days, month or year. Most of the time these stats don’t match up with Google Analytics and vice versa. But it gives me an idea of traffic to my site.
Then there is Feedburner. Every couple weeks I will login to Feedburner. My understanding is that Feedburner should show me my subscribers. And, it will show me how they are subscribed (Bloglines, Google Reader etc). What I can’t figure out is why it fluctuates on a daily basis. If I had thousands of subscribers I could understand that frequently subscribers would add you or remove you..and you would see a drop or an increase everyday. However, I regularly see an increase or a decrease of 10-20% from one day to another. On days when I post it always increases…so then I begin to think perhaps it is showing me those subscribers that visit that day – rather than subscribers that exist on that particular day.
According to Feedburner help: “FeedBurner’s subscriber count is based on an approximation of how many times your feed has been requested in a 24-hour period.” – So does that mean that within the feed aggregator a person clicked on my blog to read it? Or does it mean that the feed aggregator tried to update or retrieve any new posts?
Can anybody out there shed some light on this for me?
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Get Active in the Digital Space
Mar 25, 2008 Blogs, Marketing & Communication, RSS, Social Media, social networks
One of the reasons I started this blog was to share the exciting tools I was learning about; RSS, Social Bookmarking, and Twitter – just to name a few. At work I talked non-stop about this new exciting digital space…but for the longest time I might as well have been talking to myself, and of course the other bloggers reading my blog!
That was until my colleague Janine attended the IAB’s Intensive One Day Course in Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0. Thankfully, Janine is the one taking over for me when I go on mat leave in four months! Which is actually why she was on the course in the first place. My job is Marketing Communications Manager for two small appliance brands, which means I plan and create our advertising campaigns, oversee the brand web sites, determine course of action for communication to retailers and consumers -amongst numerous other responsibilities. I have been pushing for the past year to dedicate more funds and resources to digital marketing, and in the last month or two it seems as though my constant blathering (and likely the blathering of others) has broken through. So to me, it was important that Janine understood the digital space – so that what I had started would be followed-through!
Last Wednesday she attended the course and she learned a lot. In fact, she came back and went over the book of slides with me – and I learned some more. She even made her first comment on my blog this weekend (and yes, Janine, I nearly fell of my chair!). In the comment she suggested reading a post on Mitch Joel’s Twist Image Blog: 12 Ways to Move the Social Media Conversation Past the Converted – exactly the dilemma I spoke about above! It was number 5 that converted Janine -in fact it was Mitch Joel teaching at the IAB Course. Many of the “12 Ways”, Joel mentions unfortunately are difficult for the average blogger (not so hard for the rock star of the Canadian digital space!). I don’t get too many requests as Marketing Communications Manager of my small appliance company or as a blogger to speak, or teach…although I did volunteer at the Talk is Cheap unconference.
I will continue to blog, and talk non-stop to my marketing friends and colleagues. It may take time but baby steps will get us there! Of course if the opportunity comes to talk, speak, be interviewed or write for traditional media – I am all over that too. That is what evangelizing is all about!
To those of you working, as I do, on client-side in marketing positions – if you are approving web sites, and new digital programs for your brands – don’t you think you should have hands-on knowledge of the field? You wouldn’t dream of approving anything in traditional marketing without having a full understanding of it as a communication tool – so why are you now just taking your agencies word for it? It isn’t too technical to get your hands dirty- that is the beauty of it all. Get active, get digital.
Welcome, Janine!
Popularity: 6% [?]
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Tags: IAB, MEGO, Michelle Kostya, Microblogging, RSS, Social Bookmarking, social media, work marketing
Google Reader (Labs) 1000+
I am so behind on reading the blogs I subscribe to that I believe it is disturbing my sleep. I was offline for a week, as I mentioned in the post Rehab for an Internet Addict. A break was required.
But now, I don’t have the heart to “Mark all Read” to my feeds. I admit I was forced to do that to Lifehacker and Boing Boing - who has time to search through 200+ postings for the “gem” that interests you.
I thank Google Reader for its optimism in saying I only have 1000+ unread posts. I suspect it doesn’t update this until you get to 5000+ because I have 1000+ posts in my Marketing Blog Feeds! Even this is probably a lowball estimate since I have 97 unread posts on Scobleizer alone!
I think I will have to pull the cord on Techmeme and Media 2.0 Workgroup. I can’t possibly scan through 500 plus posts on one blog feed.
It is only going to get worse, but I am not sure I can click that “Mark all Read” button…I mean I might miss something really important.
Popularity: 3% [?]
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iGoogle vs Netvibes
Oct 27, 2007 RSS, Social Media, Web Analytics, social networks
I have been an iGoogle fan for a while now. However, a few friends suggested Netvibes so I felt it was time to give it a try. For the last week I have been using Netvibes on my home computer, and iGoogle at work.
What are iGoogle and Netvibes?
I suppose you could say that these site are the successors of the portals from the 1990s. A new scripting technique called Ajax has shown that web applications don’t need to rely solely on pages being reloaded from the server to present changes to the user. Rather, everything seems to happen almost instantly. From Wikipedia:
“The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change.”
Ajax is what iGoogle and Netvibes are built on. Ajax start pages are easy-to-use, customizable web pages, allowing you to keep up with the latest news and add interactive content. You can add new RSS feeds and widgets, and move your content around the page.
What can you do with iGoogle and Netvibes?
Organize your web life on one page! There are widgets/gadgets/modules for just about anything; To Do Lists, International Clocks, E-mail, and various RSS Feeds. You choose what goes on the page and where it goes. You can stream the blogs you follow through individual modules placed on the page, or by using one specifically for your feed aggregator (I use Google Reader).
There are widgets for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Del.icio.us that update as new content is available. You can add additional tabs allowing you to organize your widgets if you like by category. On the left you can see my iGoogle page where I have added widgets for Facebook, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Google Reader and Google Analytics.
What is the difference between iGoogle and Netvibes?
iGoogle
Like other Google pages, the page is very functional but light on graphics and style.
Many modules on iGoogle force you to open an additional page in order to read, or compose anything. On Netvibes the Facebook module allows you to search within in your friends from the Netvibes page, and from the Flickr widget you can flip through your images or the images of friends.
Netvibes
Netvibes is much more pleasing to the eye than iGoogle. With Google the search header takes up a third of the page. This means your favourite widgets end up falling below the fold, or you have to use multiple tabs. Netvibes doesn’t have the search header which is just as well since search is built into Mozilla browser anyhow!
Another benefits of Netvibes is that it allows you to sign in to multiple Gmail accounts, whereas iGoogle makes you sign in and out to get to your other accounts. I write two blogs, this one and another one about my 2 year old. My other blog is also through Blogger, but with a different login – which means I must log out of iGoogle every time I want to post to that particular blog.
The downside for me with Netvibes is that there are no modules for Google Analytics or Google Reader. While it could be argued that you can subscribe to your RSS feeds through Netvibes – I prefer Google Reader as it allows me to share articles by emailing, my Shared Google Reader feed and Feedheads (Facebook Application). Google Reader also allows me to star, tag and file away my favourite articles. I found some suggestions online that to deal with this issue one could use a module called “Tiny Browser”. However, it is really tiny…
My Choice
After a week using both…I have decided to stick with Netvibes. To get over my issue with Google Reader and Analytics for the time being I have set my browser to open multiple windows upon opening. One with Google Reader, one with Netvibes and one with Analytics.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Google Analytics
Oct 3, 2007 RSS, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Web Analytics
MEGO: My Eyes Glaze Over Again has been live for almost 3 months now. Since the start I have used Google Analytics to track traffic to my site. I also use Feedburner to understand how my site is used through RSS aggregators such as Google Reader and Bloglines.
In the last three months in order to publicize my site I have:
- Shared my site through my Google Reader Shared Items (learn more about Google Reader from my previous post!)
- Posted my site to Del.ici.ous (Start Social Bookmarking – check out Social Bookmarking 101, and 201!)
- Added my URL to Facebook profile
- Added notes on Facebook about my new blog and new posts (3 times). Currently I only import my Mommy Blog to my Facebook profile
- Occasionally linked to my blog from Twitter (If you aren’t Twittering…why not?
- Had my IM message as http://www.megoagain.com/
- Added my blog to directories such a Blog Catalog, Blogorama and Technorati
- Talk about it constantly to anyone who will listen
I have not made a huge effort to publicize my site outside of my circle of friends and virtual acquaintances, but I am pleased with the traffic to my site! If anyone has other ideas of how to “share” my blog – please post a comment!
So the results so far: (for those of you who get thousands of hits a day…don’t laugh..I am just starting out!)
- Total visits 650
- 58% are returning visitors
- Visitors are from all over the world:
71% Canada
16% US
7% UK
6% includes Australia, Israel, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Germany, India, Lithuania, Malasia, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, Ukraine, United Arab Emigrates, South Korea, Finland and Mexico
- Based on the Network Location I have had visitors from:
Conair (since I work here that makes sense!)
General Mills
Loblaw Companies Inc
Canadian Bar Association ( I believe that is one of my friends)
Air Canada
Bank of Nova Scotia
Canadian House of Commons
Cargo Jet
Grace Maternity Hospital (Halifax)
Landscape Ontario
RIM
TD Bank
Playboy
Edelman PR Worldwide
and more…
Traffic has come from direct (41%) or referring sites (44%). Search made up 15%.
- Direct (41%)
- Blogger (17%)
- Google (15%) -
- Facebook (7%)
- Other referring sites 20%
Most popular posts:
- A Stock Issue
- New Concept Loblaws
- Productivity at the Workplace
If I look at my Feedburner stats (which honestly I don’t really understand…other than it should help me determine who has subscribed to my site through an RSS reader) – I have anywhere from between 11 and 21 subscribers – the majority who use Google Reader.
Popularity: 5% [?]
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I am not alone
Sep 27, 2007 RSS, Social Bookmarking
Last night was the first class in the E-marketing Certificate offered by the CMA (Canadian Marketing Association). In my new role as Marketing Manager, I am now responsible for the websites for the Kitchen Division. I am thrilled at this, because as my loyal readers will know I am slightly obsessed with anything to do with social media and the internet.
I have, since I started reading blogs, and playing with social media – been tirelessly promoting it to friends, colleagues and family members. I don’t do this because I like to hear myself talk. Nor do I enjoy the belittling remarks made by others – like yesterday “Michelle and her little forums or whatever…” I do it because I truly believe that as Marketers, or indeed anyone who works with products or services (or with the products/services of their clients) has a duty to at least understand new technology, what it enables us (aka consumers) to do, how it changes the way we communicate and blah blah blah. So my story to my friends, colleagues and family members has been:
- Learn to use RSS
- Play with Social Bookmarking
- Try Twitter
- Use Facebook…
- Read some good blogs (I have a list for you to start with on the side…)
Last night Michael Seaton – the teacher (from Client Side Blog and Podcast) said it best – he said that these are the tools of the trade, a toolkit so to speak. He talked about blogs and how you could learn a lot just by reading a few key blogs.
So now I know that I am not alone in how I feel about digital and social media. In fact, there was an entire class ready to learn and take it back to their respective companies – just as I hope to do with what I learn. Friends and colleagues, forgive me, but I must persist in my constant rambling about this “stuff” – as so many of you call it. Maybe one of these days I will convert someone…(other than my mother – mom you are just too much of tech-aholic)
That is why I started MEGO to begin with.
Popularity: 4% [?]
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