FLASH- a Young man, a hero, standing up for someone on a bus was brutally murdered, the alleged perpetrator was described as black, 6’2”, with curly black hair, hardly a great description. One man, a father of 2 young children, was immediately identified as the ‘murderer’ and people threatened him on Facebook then suggested others should ‘viral’ this guy’s face and stats. He lost his job, threatened with death and vilified.

The problem? – The police immediately ruled him out as a suspect. He was playing cards miles away with friends.

The point? In a heartbeat this innocent man’s reputation and life was destroyed by social media vigilantes. Once something about you hits the web it is impossible to retrieve it and delete that which has been said to the world. Yikes!

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• Set Goals for your Social Media marketing
• Know who you want to target and understand them
• Actively engage people every day in a two way conversation on Twitter for 10 minutes
• Join a social media site once a week and develop it completely
• Follow stats programs to know where you are, Klout, Dashboard on Blog, etc
• Monitor what is being said about you and your business on Google Alerts
• Check email several times a day on SmartPhone
• Answer Email ASAP
• Pay for one professional photo for all of your Social media and keep it current Read the rest of this entry

Some see me as blunt, others think I ‘m opinionated. I think people feel I’m competent and honest and I think people like me. I’ve been self employed for more than 30 years and have been involved in the community most of them. I don’t suffer fools and am quick to make people as accountable as I am with myself.

I’ve been running for the Vancity Credit Union’s Board of Directors for the past 5 years. I originally ran because I felt it was a progressive organization under the leadership of legendary Dave Mowat the former CEO. Well I ‘m still running and he’s gone!

It’s tough to hold yourself open to public (sort of) office and I always wonder what makes people seek to put their name and face up for an election. I’ve never had a problem ever since high school running for election. I always felt I could do a good job, often better than others and I wasn’t afraid to be accountable.

I’ve been told in the past I am a Maverick Read the rest of this entry

150,000+ Twitter Followers, an influence rate of 70%, number 2 Social media networker in Vancouver,  hundreds of LinkedIn and hundreds more of Facebook followers reaching 18 million people daily.  Just numbers?  Sort of, but they are MY social media numbers.

In the beginning I got caught up in the trend like everyone. Wow, what a great way to sell people things on the internet. What if I didn’t want to sell anything but wanted to engage people in dialogue, sometimes funny, sometimes irreverent but always heartfelt?

As my numbers grew an interesting thing happened, masses of people started coming to my blog and actually read it. Then something else happened, people started hiring for my expertise. Read the rest of this entry