middle child marketing inc.: Publicist Sandra Garcia, Event Publicity, Lifestyle PR, Public Relations, Media coverage, Vancouver BC

The new(s) era of mobile and new media

Two articles published in this week’s Business in Vancouver got me thinking about how rapidly the media world is changing.

1) After 15 years, PR firm Wilcox Group is closing its doors. This follows an announcement from another PR firm Quay Strategies, which was also open for 15 years. In BIV, Mat Wilcox announced that she would dissolve her company to become a private social media consultant, given the way that social media has changed the way that businesses (and consumers) announce their news and communicate in real time.

2) Vancouver company Mobify, a developer of websites for mobile devices, is one of three companies that closed a deal in Japan to convert Japanese websites into mobile ones for Western phones. Mobify sites can be recognized with the .me suffix at the end.

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F5 Expo 3 & 4: Stories & Mobile Marketing

My third session was entitled Stories from the Trenches and wasn’t as hot of a topic as the others, but got me interested. I left during the session to catch some lunch before the next session, but the panel (Brad Lever of eCrypt Technologies, Mark Fancourt-Smith of Fasken-Martineau, Tom Ellis of the RCMP) had some great stories and tips about protecting your business and customers.

If you create something at work, it is property of the company, UNLESS you’re an independent contractor and can prove it was your idea. One tip was to make sure that only the people who need to see your documents see it – all too often people are sending to the wrong email address. One key issue to prevent a breach of security is to ensure that you have proper policies, training, and enforcement in your organization. Employees should sign a contract that states that they can’t use information upon leaving a company. This is highly important at a company such as Computershare. They do a great job of implementing systems to protect client information and hold employees responsible for their actions. They’ve also started to put a social media policy in place, even though it’s inaccessible at our office. 77% of companies currently have no social media policy.

Email disclaimers can be enforceable, if it gets to the point where it can be used as evidence in a court case. Office banter can’t be used if it’s just an idea – it must be written down.

Remember that how severe your risk is depends on your level of concern for your security.

Session 4: Mobile Marketing

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F5 Expo Session 2: Search Marketing

The next F5 Session I attended was on a hot topic: Search Marketing.

Panelists included:
- Martin Stoddard – Bing USA
- Vanessa W. Williams – Yahoo! Canada (also in attendance at last year’s SOHO Conference)
- Ryan Kelly – Pear Analytics (USA)

I’ve been to quite a few events on this topic already, but it was a good refresher, and there was some news announced: Yahoo! and Bing’s impending combined marketplace. You can learn more about it at SearchAlliance.com, and it’s obviously been done to compete with Google.

For the newbies, here are the acronyms you need to know:
SEM = Search Engine Marketing. The subsets of search marketing include:
SEO = Search Engine Optimization (optimizing your site for good search results)
PPC = Pay Per Click Marketing, where you bid on keywords and pay when someone clicks on the sponsored link/ad
SMO = Social Media Optimization. Similar to SEO, but pertains to Social Media networks.
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F5 Expo Session 1: Cloud Computing

Yesterday I went to the revitalized Massive Media Technology show, called the F5 Expo. A jam-packed day of sessions, a trade show, and keynote with author Malcolm Gladwell, F5 was an overall success (once you got in…), attended by a good 1000+ crowd in various industries. There were quite a few sessions, and mini-workshops in the trade show area, all of which I couldn’t go to. But I did take in a good 4 hours of sessions, which was enough for me for one day.

My first session was on Cloud Computing. Panelists included Howie Wu - Co-Founder and CEO of LayerBoom Systems, Mark Cunningham - Co-Founder & CEO of Indicee, Ryan Storgaard - Director of Cloud Services Strategy for Microsoft Canada (also exhibiting in the trade show) and were moderated by Rajan Sodhi - VP Marketing of Peer 1 Hosting.

Howie explained Cloud Computing as the 3rd generation computer. There is still much debate even in the IT world about what the definition of a cloud is, but my definition can be explained by MobileMe, which is a service I use to sync my iPhone and desktop computer contacts. My contacts are stored in an online database “cloud” so that both devices always have the correct info.
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.TEL of the day at One Vancouver

I didn’t know of One Vancouver until they tweeted me today and let me know that my .TEL address (SandraGarcia.tel) was the .TEL of the day.

For those of you who don’t know what .tel is or what it’s for, it’s said to be the new .com, where anyone around the world can access your info at a click and on any mobile device.

I was convinced that I needed one when I met the people at Webnames.ca, who I think are so ahead of their time… I dream of the day when our devices will someday make it much easier for us to store each other’s info using our phones (like some sort of .TEL app) rather than exchanging business cards, which take a toll on trees.

Webnames’s interface is super easy to use, and I see now that the .TEL appearance has also streamlined. Nice touch with the icons as well.

One Vancouver is a growing community of .TEL owners in Vancouver. I always wondered when people would catch on – this is a great site that will speed up the process!

Check them out on Twitter @onevancouver.