10 months ago, I had the misfortune of being one of many Microsoft casualties in their rounds of layoffs.  It was a pretty jarring experience losing your job and all.  Especially when the reason you moved across the country was to work for the company.  While I was certainly impacted from a financial perspective along with the worry of what’s next, I actually felt more disappointed that they were letting someone go that had done quite well up to that point and had been a huge advocate for many things Microsoft.  Bottom line, my feelings were hurt.  However, wounds heal.

Now, 10 months later, and what I had predicted the day I walked out has come true.  They would want me back some day.  That day will be March 15th when I start my new role as a Senior MVP Lead for Microsoft Office.  Very much a community management type of role managing the relationships with Microsoft Office MVPs.  It’s an exciting and challenging opportunity that I’m thrilled about.  I always loved working in the halls of Microsoft, and I couldn’t be happier to be aligned with what I can no doubt say is an industry leading product that I love using.  Microsoft certainly has it’s work cut out in many areas, but I do feel like Microsoft Office is and always has been a winner.

A lot of people that were let go were angry, upset, and let their frustrations get in the way for a long time.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this whole process, is that it was never personal.  Yes, I think it was a foolish decision really only meant to appease stockholders, because let’s face it, the money never mattered.  But that’s one of the risks of working for a company of that size.  I truly believe that if you work hard, are smart, and treat people well personally and professionally, good things will find there way to you.  My patience and approach paid off for me, and I’m ecstatic to be back.

And to celebrate my new found career, I decided that it was time for me to enjoy my commute a bit more.  So I went and ordered this guy:

New job, new car.  Now I just need a new haircut….oh wait…

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I felt compelled to share how to go about synching your Gmail contacts without burning your allotted ONE Exchange account on the iPhone.  Not entirely sure why this limitation is in place, but for the longest time I simply used Google’s simple instructions to use Exchange to sync my email, calendar and contacts in one simple step.  Works like a charm, and never really had any issues.

But after returning to Corporate America, I quickly found that not being able to check my work email easily on my phone became a pain in the butt since I already was using the Exchange account for my personal stuff.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out a way to do both, and today I stumbled across a very simple process to accomplish just this.  Quite simply, there’s an app for that.

Sync In A Blink.  Simply put, this $4.99 app does exactly what it says.  It allows you to sync your Gmail contacts with your iPhone using their simple to use app to do such.  Plenty of options to sync in exactly the way that works for you, and after entering your Gmail credentials, it’s a snap to get your contacts on your phone seamlessly.  By using this program, and CALDAV for my calender sync (see here for how to do just this), I can now simply use the Gmail account adder in the mail setup, and free up my Exchange option for my business email.

Yes, it was $4.99, but it was so simple, I feel sometimes it’s worth a few extra bucks to accomplish what it is you need on your devices.  Should Apple just allow for multiple Exchange accounts on the iPhone?  I think so, but for now, my needs are met.

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Over the past year I’ve learned quite a bit about building traffic and driving awareness of my personal blog.  I haven’t done very well from a search perspective.  There are certainly some improvements I could make that would make my blog a little more search friendly, but I just haven’t made it a priority. 

What I have done well however is utilizing social media.  It’s pretty much the sole source of all my blog traffic, and in my opinion, much more fun to manage.  The following are the steps I’ve taken that I use and have found success in using social media to drive traffic to my blog.

Enable your readers. Make it as easy as possible for your readers to share your content.  Utilize above the fold share buttons like Tweetmeme & Facebook Share.  Also add more robust sharing options below the fold.  My personal fav is the Sexy Bookmarks plugin for Wordpress.

Write effectively. Most people are not interested in reading long winded blog posts.  Getting to the point quickly and concisely is the way to go.  Even better is using lists.  Anything that allows people to scan and move through your blog posts effectively makes for a better read.

Titles are everything. When you share your blog posts on social media channels, in most cases you have one chance to entice someone to actually click through.  Your title is the key.  Be clever and descriptive, and once again, lists have a much higher click thru rate.

Share Share Share! It goes without saying that after you post, to share your content everywhere.  Don’t just stop with Twitter or Facebook.  Linked In Groups are a great way to drive additional traffic, and don’t forget secondary channels like Reddit, Digg and Stumbleupon.  It only takes a few extra clicks on your part for the extra eyeballs.

Be vain. It’s OK to toot your own horn on your blog, within reason of course.  If you begin to build a nice following on Twitter or with your RSS subscribers, let your readers know.  By displaying your following, you build instant credibility, and your new visitors will be more likely to want to stick around and come back for more.

Eye catching image. While it may not seem very important, I’ve found that associating a relevant, eye catching image to my blog posts go a long way towards driving more people to my posts.  Not all channels use a preview image, but ones such as Facebook and Digg do, and if you choose smart, they can contribute to higher click-thrus.

I’ve found all of the above to help contribute to growing my blog’s readership and traffic.  I’d love to hear what has worked for you.

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As if spending countless hours on the computer with social media wasn’t enough, there’s a quite a few excellent apps out there that help you manage, monitor and communicate through your social media channels on the go. While some of these are quite obvious, perhaps a few in here are new to you. Regardless, here are my 9 favorite social media iPhone apps.

1. Facebook – Really if you don’t have this one on your phone, you really aren’t interested in this article to begin with right?

2. LinkedIn – Their first version was pretty lame, but the most recent update brings the app into usable form.

3. Tweetie 2 – In my opinion, the crown jewel of Twitter iPhone apps. Slick interface, easy to use, and a front pager for me.

4. Meebo – Recently launched, a free IM client that is terrific. Works like a charm, and practically supports every IM client there is including Facebook.

5. Yelp – Perhaps a social media reach, but the fact is, Yelp has many social media aspects to their site, and I use this app quite a bit. My fav app to find everything on the go, and read reviews from the community.

6. Wordpress – Again, another example of the 2nd version of the app breaking through.  I don’t really blog with the app, but monitoring comments is very useful on the fly.

7. Mashable – Recently just launched, a slick little app to stay on top of social media and technology stories quickly and easily.

8. Byline – There are quite a few RSS iPhone apps, but I’ve found Byline to fill my needs quite nicely.  Synchs with Google Reader seamlessly, and I can easily stay up to date on my fav blogs.

9. Ustream Live Broadcaster – Maybe not for everyone, but it’s still pretty amazing to be able to stream live video straight from your phone…for free!

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This year’s Macworld 2010 was my first Macworld and it was definitely a different tradeshow experience then I am used to.  For years, I’ve attended the Search Engine Strategies and SMX events and the biggest difference by far is in the audience.  The search shows I’ve attended are much more B2B, with Macworld having a much more consumer feel.  This was very evident in my attempts at doing video recaps like I had done in the past.  At the search shows, EVERYONE wants to be on camera.  At Macworld, not so much.  It was like pulling teeth actually.  We did the best we could, and I’ve embedded our two daily recaps below.  The Day 2 video is a bit more interesting as you actually get some insight into some cool apps and software that were at the show.

What’s been most interesting is seeing the social media plan that I’ve been working on for quite a while go into action.  As of this blog post, the Office for Mac twitter account is closing in on 8,000 followers after a few weeks of going live.  My hope is that they would hit 10,000 by the end of the Mac Office Loves You campaign which wraps up 2/25.  I think they’ll get there.

What suprised me the most though was the Facebook adoption.  Well over 3,300 fans after just a few weeks.  I wasn’t expecting that many that quickly.  Obviously a good thing, and part of that success is certainly the group’s ability to be in the conversations.  So many companies have good intentions and launch, but never back it up with real people and responses.  As long as they keep it up, I anticipate they will continue to build momentum and be able to drive real value through their social media efforts.

It’s been a great run, and I’m wrapping up my time with the group.  I’ve got big news to share in terms of my next move that I hope to share in the next few days.  In the meantime, enjoy the Macworld video goodness below.

And don’t forget you can still enter to win one of two fancy Macbook Pros just by following Office for Mac.

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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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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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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.

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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?

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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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