jasonyormark.com

The Office For Mac Social Media Extravaganza!

Three months ago I accepted a contract position that would have me help build the social media and community plan for Mac Office.  Now, after 3 months of discussing, planning, revising, and who knows how many meetings, the curtain has been pulled away and the excitement begins.  It’s been an amazing experience getting to experience building and executing on a plan for a large brand, and certainly challenging to say the least.  The group is very unique in that it’s a Mac product within the halls of Microsoft.  I’ve grown to love the platform (don’t fret, I enjoy both), and I look forward to now getting to interact with the Mac community a bit more now that we are launched.

I’ll be attending Macworld next week which I’m pretty excited about.  We have a fairly large booth presence, and I’ll be spearheading some daily video recaps that I will post here in addition to the Mactopia blog.

In addition a custom website was built to celebrate the social media launch and Macworld experience.  Be sure to check out all the fun at www.macofficelovesyou.com.

In addition to all the hoopla, Mac Office is also giving away 2 sweet Macbook Pros as part of the social media launch.  All you have to do to be eligible is to follow the officeformac twitter account and you are entered to win.  You can earn a second entry by tweeting anything (preferably something clever of course) using the #officeformac hashtag.  The contest is open through 2/25.

I can’t take all the credit.  Tons of thanks to some great agencies and individuals I’ve gotten to work with throughout the project.  Zaaz is a tremendous group of smart, talented people that I’ve had a blast working with.  And don’t even get me started about how cool it was to work with Wexley School For Girls.  I never thought I’d get the opportunity to work with them on a project, and I’m glad I did.  Super creative folks, and the craziest offices you’ve ever seen.

So now I ask all my friends, family, readers and visitors to spread the love!  Follow Office for Mac on twitter, fan ‘em on Facebook, and win yourself a cool new Mac in the process.

More to come!

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2. 9 Great Social Media, Digital Marketing & Productivity Tools
3. You Are Not A Social Media Guru, Ninja, Expert, Master, (Enter Title Here)
4. Making Dough(nuts): A Real World Example of Using Social Media Effectively

Digital Printing Done Right: PrintingForLess.com

This week’s post is not my normal fare, but while on the surface it may not seem social media focused, it does have a social media spin.  Let me explain. 

I was in a coffee shop a few days ago and was listening to a local artist and as I sat there, I started thinking to myself how I don’t promote myself as much as I probably should.  I thought, boy, if I had some slick business cards with my personal brand, it sure would be nice to leave one with this artist and even the coffee shop in case they ever wanted to have some social media or digital marketing consulting done.  Something so simple, yet I was not armed with “ammo” I needed to leave my lasting impression with two potential clients.

I immediately raced home and started my plans to re-think my blog design, but more importantly, creating a compelling business card that I could always have at my disposal.  That’s where Printingforless.com came in.

I’ve used Printingforless.com in the past and have always been very satisfied with the entire experience.  The bottom line is that Printingforless.com GETS IT.  They get service, they get price, they get quality of product.  They nail just about everything, and they do it VERY well.  I’m thoroughly impressed with their operation, and they easily get my vote for best digital printer EVER.

For a mere $85, I’m getting 500 business cards, 2 sided, 4 color print delivered.  That’s a great deal.  Not to mention that they have worked with me to get the file I provided right despite my own errors in formatting.  They are patient, responsive, and a delight to work with.  They have a great team based approach to projects (I got to work with Team Big Sky this time around), and I’m still amazed at how quickly they work, how responsive they are, and no matter the roadblocks I have created in getting it right, they don’t charge anything additional to get it right.

They’re website is easy to use, and you can quickly and easily see what your projects will cost in real time as you change/update your selections.  The only feedback I have is that they consider spicing up their web design a bit.  The site looks a little 90’s and could use a fresh Web 2.0 update to bring it up with the times.  I’d also infuse social media a bit more into their site and service (wink, I’m here if you need me PFL!).  But hey, nitpicking here.  I’ll take the experience as is any day.

Take my word for it, they are the real deal, and an absolute must for any printing project you have today or in the future.

Click here to check out Printingforless.com.

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1. 9 Great Social Media, Digital Marketing & Productivity Tools

9 Great Social Media, Digital Marketing & Productivity Tools

I absolutely love it when I find incredible tools online that help enable your productivity, efficiency & marketability.  They can often be hard to come by, but there are some great ones out there and the following list are the ones that come to mind recently that you may or may not have heard of or used.

1. Search Status Firefox Extension – This is my new favorite plug in.  So simple and unobtrusive, yet highly addicting and very informative.  Quite simply, this plug-in shows you any website is performing in the far right bottom of the Firefox web browser.  Quickly and easily you can see Google Pagerank, Alexa, Compete, and a variety of other data points.  If you are a serious blogger or a digital marketer, it’s a must have.

2. Xmarks – Managing bookmarks can be tedious, but Xmarks is a great little piece of software.  You create an account, and install the software on all your machines, and whalla, you can ensure that your browser bookmarks are synced up across all your computers.  You can also access your bookmarks on their site if you are ever on a public computer.

3. bit.ly Sidebar – URL shortening is all the rave, and bit.ly has certainly put their stake in the ground as the industry leader.  What makes their offering so great is the statistical analysis and easy of use.  Sign up for an account, and make sure you use their bit.ly Sidebar bookmarklet.  It makes sharing extremely easy, and will automatically track all your URL shortening so you can see how much activity results from what you share.

4. SocialMention.com – What a great free tool.  It’s one of the few resources that is free that allows you to monitor keywords across the web.  A great way to test it out is to simply search your name and you can a nice little dashboard of information including measurements of sentiment, passion, reach and a variety of other data points.  It’s certainly not professional grade, but for a free tool, it’s a great starting point for social media/digital marketers.

5. Dropbox – I heart Dropbox.  So easy to use, great UI, and of course free (they do have paid upgrades).  Who can’t use 2GB of cloud storage at there disposal.  There are countless times where I find the perfect situation to be able to drop a file on a desktop folder, and know that I can get to it on one of my other machines.  So good.  The iPhone app is the icing on the cake.

6. Tweetdeck – I know most of those reading will know of Tweetdeck, but I have to add this to my list as I’ve tried practically all of the different Twitter apps, and in my opinion Tweetdeck just seems to work out the best.  Logically everything is laid out well, and it fulfills my needs perfectly.  However when it comes to a mobile Twitter app see #7.

7. Tweetie – Best iPhone Twitter app hands down.  Clean, easy to use, and just works.  I don’t use it for anything heavy, but it’s a perfect mobile Twitter experience anytime I need to post, read or just check in.

8. Tweetadder – I’ve written about Tweetadder before, but it bears repeating.  It’s a great piece of software if you are serious about managing your Twitter account and want to build a strong, relevant following.  I started at 500, and I’m closing in on 30,000 in just 6 months or so of casual use.

9. FriendFeed – Most people of heard of FriendFeed, but not as many use it.  Here’s my #1 reason for you to consider; increasing your blog subscribers.  Of course this only really works if you use Feedburner (which many bloggers do), but my blog subscribers skyrocketed once I started using FriendFeed.

Related posts:

1. My 9 Favorite Wordpress Social Media Plugins
2. The Office For Mac Social Media Extravaganza!
3. You Are Not A Social Media Guru, Ninja, Expert, Master, (Enter Title Here)
4. Digital Printing Done Right: PrintingForLess.com

You Are Not A Social Media Guru, Ninja, Expert, Master, (Enter Title Here)

Let me preface this blog post with saying that nor am I, nor have I ever claimed to be, however I do know enough to be able to implement workable, results driven social media plans and have had some success doing so.  However there are thousands of individuals across the interweb claiming they are.  From old school marketers simply updating their titles to stay with the times, to recent graduates who know how to use Twitter or Facebook.  Just take a look at how many Twitter users “claim” their authority on the subject.

I’m not saying that there aren’t any very knowledgeable people on the subject, but this has gotten so out of hand, that it’s hurting the credibility of those that can actually provide real value with social media consulting and marketing services.  I’ve talked with many small businesses that are so out of the loop, that I could easily see them being “wowed” by anyone armed with just basic knowledge of how to get around the major social network channels.

So how can we filter out all the pretenders?  Social media marketing certainly could use some certification to start with.  But really, it falls on those that really want to make a career out of social media marketing through learning the craft, and getting familiar with as many tools as possible.  Dive deep into each channel and understand their differences so that you can make informed decisions about what makes the most sense for a particular business or cause.

I’ve found getting familiar with reporting tools such as Radian 6 and Social Radar a good start.  However those can be expensive tools to get access to.  An alternative to start with is simply using free tools like SocialMention.com or Google Analytics.  Dig in and try to really understand social media metrics and how that data can be leveraged to help businesses understand the value of a strong social media plan.

Social Media is not a new concept.  People have been connecting, sharing, and communicating since the beginning of time.  What’s changed is HOW we do these things.  The Facebooks and Twitters of the world are simply giving us new technologies to do these things more easily then ever and at enormous scale.

Quite frankly, I would steer clear of anyone that ever uses words like “guru” or “ninja” when describing themselves.  Chances are they are quite the opposite.

What do you think?  Too many unqualified cooks in the kitchen?

Related posts:

1. My 9 Favorite Wordpress Social Media Plugins
2. The Office For Mac Social Media Extravaganza!
3. 9 Great Social Media, Digital Marketing & Productivity Tools
4. Making Dough(nuts): A Real World Example of Using Social Media Effectively

9 Twitter Directories You Should Be Listed On

There are a variety of ways that you can build a strong following on Twitter, and one of those ways that is to take advantage of a few key Twitter directories that have established themselves quite well. For a few minutes of your time, you can have yourself listed on these directories, and while in many cases it may not drive droves of users to your Twitter profile, there’s no reason not to list yourself. By listing yourself on these directories, other users can find you if they are looking for like minded individuals. As I’ve always said in my consulting, it’s not important what you personally think of a channel. You may think certain sites are poorly designed, under featured, or unreliable, but if the audience exists there, it’s important that you are there as well if you truly care about reach.

Here’s my top 9 Twitter Directories to make sure you are listed on:

1. 1. Twellow – Right now the crown jewel of Twitter directories.  If you only bother with one on this list, choose Twellow.
2. 2. Wefollow – My personal favorite for the simple design and usability.  Built by Digg co-founder Kevin Rose.
3. 3. Twittercounter – My 2nd favorite as it acts as a statistical tool as well.
4. 4. Twitterholic – Another one of those directories that ranks users by followers.  Kind of fun to see where you rank based on filters.
5. 5. JustTweetIt – A directory of Twitter users sorted by categories. Nothing groundbreaking here, but just another large directory to list yourself to be found.
6. 6. Geofollow – GeoFollow allows you to list yourself geographically and categorically.
7. 7. Tweetfind – Free Twitter yellow and white pages directory.  Not the best looking directory, but front page on Google for “twitter directories”, so worth the listing.
8. 8. Twibs – Only really applicable to businesses, but everyone is selling something right?
9. 9. Hashtags – This is simply a directory of hashtag users on Twitter.

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Video: Toshiba Netbook NB205 Review

I finally got around to start video blogging.  What better way then to review one of my new favorite gadgets, the Toshiba Netbook NB205.  Enjoy! First time around so be gentle. I’m hoping to make this a 2-3 times per month thing, but who knows.

I’ve had the machine for about a week or so and I have to say it’s definitely impressive for a netbook. If you’re in the market or considering, have a watch as I’m sure it will help with your buying decision.

Purchase the Toshiba Mini NB205-N325BL 10.1-Inch Royal Blue Netbook – 9 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

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Booked: Facebook Disabled My Account

I feel so alone.  I didn’t quite realize how much I used Facebook until it was taken away from me.  Between Twitter and Facebook, I had built a nice little social network.  Twitter has turned into a nice, strong following that I leverage for professional and social sharing, while Facebook really had become my way to stay connected to the people I actually have or had relationships with.  I’d spent a good 3 years building a nice little corner of the ‘net and the Facebook gods have spoken.  Why I have no idea.

And there lies my problem.  Facebook just shut me down for no reason what so ever.  They simply slapped me with a “your account is disabled” and threw me a nice little generic FAQ.  No warning, no nothing.  Sure, they have an email address where you can submit your argument, but based on what I’ve found online, it will be quite some time before I get a response, if I even get one ever.

Sure, I get it.  Facebook has 300+ million users, and it’s a free service.  I don’t expect to get the same level of customer service that I would for something I pay for.  But I have a real problem with a company that thinks so little of their users to make broad sweeping account shut downs like this.  I’ve spent countless hours over the past few years using the service, investing my time and providing my trust to Facebook with a lot of contact and content.  I’ve evangelized and certainly contributed to bringing users to the platform.  And all of that does not matter one bit.

It’s a good learning experience for me to realize that using social networks like this can be a risky proposition.  Especially if you are a business.  Imagine investing the same kind of time into building your fan page only to have Facebook give you the smack down with no explanation, or little to no resolution paths.  A few months ago I wrote about how a local donut shop has used Facebook to tremendous success.  They are up to over 2500 followers and have made Facebook a critical part of their marketing plan.  So much so that they haven’t even bothered to create their own website yet.  They don’t have to.  Can you imagine if Facebook decided to just shut them down?  Perhaps they should rethink that whole website thing.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get my account back, which means I’d probably have to start over.  I’m not so sure I’d even bother.  Regardless, it’s an eye-opener, and if you are a business owner thinking about using social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, always ensure that you combine those efforts with your own home grown web presence.  It’s important to have some level of control when the gods decide to wreck havoc.

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Google Wave Invites: Grab Your Board

I’ve been playing around with Google Wave for a month or so, and while I think it’s definitely a cool way to manage your communication, the fact is, I don’t know many people that are actually using it yet.  Lucky for me, I’ve got some invites to give out.

As of now, I have 16 to give out.  Want one?  Leave a comment on this blog post with your email address and either a guilty pleasure or pet peeve.  First 16 comments get the invites.  If I happen to score more, I’ll send them in order of comments left.

And once you’re in, be sure to track me down at jasonyormark@googlewave.com.

Enjoy!

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Apple Magic Mouse Review

It’s no secret I have formed a deep, passionate love for all things Apple over the past 6 months. After a 2 month learning curve getting used to the differences in operating systems, I am fully assimilated. Of course with Windows 7 now out, I’m much more likely to boot up in Windows once I get around to installing the new system.

My latest love is the new Apple Magic Mouse. I was in an Apple Store the other day and played around with their most recent mouse offering. As with all things Apple, it definitely looked and felt like an impressive piece of hardware. After having the store employee demonstrate a bit, and playing with it, I couldn’t resist. Even despite the $69 price tag.

First things first. $69 is a lot to pay for a mouse. Especially when you can walk into a Best Buy and get a decent one for roughly $25. But when you decide to go Apple, you know you are going to pay more. So was the purchase worth it?

So far, I’d say yes. Like I mentioned, the build quality is far superior to any mouse I’ve ever handled. Even Logitech’s top offering doesn’t even come close to comparing (I know, I’ve had this one). This mouse feels like you could drop it a few stories and it would still survive. It is a very narrow design, so those used to a bulkier mouse design will probably find issue with the comfort factor. This wasn’t as much of an issue for me as I had been using the Microsoft Arc mouse for awhile which also has a low profile design.

There’s also a bit of a learning curve using this mouse with the multi-touch functionality. Most users are used to using buttons on a mouse, so using finger gestures to accomplish similar tasks takes a bit getting used to. For users of the newer Macbook Pros with the glass touchpads, this learning curve is much less.

I absolutely love being able to scroll using finger gestures on the mouse. The new glass touchpads on the Macbooks are revolutionary, and I always found myself missing the finger gesture functionality when using whatever mouse I had paired with my laptop. Now I don’t have to. Holding control and finger swiping allows you to zoom in and out which is also a nice touch.

The bottom line is this; if you are a newer Macbook Pro owner, the magic mouse is a no brainer. You’ll be used to the functionality and it pairs very well. However if the new trackpad functionality doesn’t matter much to you, I doubt this mouse will either. Also, one frustration point is that the mouse doesn’t function entirely out of the box when paired with your laptop. It requires a software update that automatically appears once paired.

Expensive? Yes. But I would anticipate that like other Apple products, the lifespan of this piece of hardware will eventually warrant the price tag.  Time will tell.

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Turning Good Intentions Into Action

When I changed focus on my blog towards a professional approach my traffic went up considerably.  Makes sense considering most people are more interested in issues and discussion regarding social media rather then my life.  But every once in awhile, I experience something that warrants the occasional life reflection post.

My wonderful wife has always been about the most generous and genuinely caring person I’ve ever met.  She’s very passionate about helping others, and demonstrates this repeatedly through donating time, money and efforts towards numerous causes.

Jen asked me a few weeks ago if I was interested in a date night while her parents were here.  Of course I was down for it.  Two words….Olive Garden.  Oh yea, romantic feast here we come (jealous????).  However my wife had other plans.  This date night involved actually serving dinner.

The Interfaith Association of Northwest Washington is a homeless shelter that provides emergency shelter and other services to homeless families.  What makes them unique is that they are one of the very few shelters that actually keep families together rather then separate them.  You see, most homeless shelters are forced to separate parents and children for a variety of reasons.  The fact that this one actually fights to keep them together I thought was extra special.

My wife had been participating in a monthly event where she joined a few others to serve dinner to the families and I had always been meaning to go as well.  I think for many people it can be much easier to ignore or set aside the challenges and unfortunate situations that exist in our communities.  This time however I wanted to see it first hand, and help out as best I could.  And it ended up being exactly what I needed.

Go to a homeless shelter, or any worthwhile cause, and it humbles you.  It makes you put your trivial “problems” into perspective.  And for me, it left me asking myself the same question my wife told me she asks herself when she leaves.  What else can I do to help?

The fact is, Jen nor I are going to solve the homeless problem in our community.  But for this one night, we put smiles on the faces of moms, dads and children that are suffering.  The things we can take for granted like a special cooked meal go such a long way.

For the past 6 months I’ve been trying to find the best ways to make use of my time; trying to find a job, trying to start a business.  But for a few hours on a Monday night, I finally felt like I was making really good use of my time.

I guess Olive Garden will have to wait.

For more information about this very special homeless shelter you can visit their website here, or their Facebook page here.

And if you are so inspired to do so, you can donate to the shelter.  Believe me, they can need and appreciate it.

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