mark evans

The ME Consulting “Empire”

By Mark Evans in Media, Social Media No Comments Tags: , , , ,

In the wake of my strategic partnership with Media Profile, I thought it might be interesting to provide a snapshot of the ME Consulting “empire” (as much as you want to call a one-person show an empire!)

At the top of the pile is ME Consulting, which offers two “buckets” of services: marketing, communications and messaging services to start-ups and fast-growing companies; and social media strategy and tactics.

I’m also the director of communications for Sysomos, one of the world’s leading social media monitoring and analytics companies. I handle Sysomos’ social media activities, media/blogger relations, and help create its popular social media reports.

I have a partnership with Media Profile in which I provide it with strategic social media services as part of a new division called MP Thread. I’m not a Media Profile employee but play an active role in the MP Thread business

Then, there’s the mesh conference, along with meshU and meshmarketing in which I handle a lot of behind-the-scenes activity. mesh, by the way, is happening May 18/19 and meshU is May 17.

I’m also doing a lot of writing. I have two personal blogs – Mark Evans Tech and Twitterrati – along with writing the Sysomos blog. I also write a regular column for the Globe & Mail, and occasionally contribute to MSN.ca.

Finally, I have a partnership with my friend, Seth Singer (aka Think33). We work to provide clients with a wide range of services, including social media strategy and tactics, content, Web site development, videos and marketing collateral.

If variety is the spice of life, then my professional world is very spicy! It’s also an exciting way to make a living.

A New, Bold Partnership for ME Consulting

By Mark Evans in Social Media 4 Comments Tags: , , ,

Since launching ME Consulting in January 2009, social media has been a key part of the business, particularly over the past six months as more Canadian companies start to embrace it.

It’s been great to be sitting in the eye of the social media hurricane as all the action whirls around you. The part that I’ve enjoyed the most has been providing strategic counsel to companies looking to establish a strong social media presence but need insight, advice and information about the best options and how they align with the marketing and sales strategies. While six years of hands-on experience with social media also lets me provide tactical services, it’s not where I offer the most value.

When Media Profile’s Alison King and John Thibodeau approached me a few months ago about an opportunity to help them with social media, my first reaction was “I’m not looking for a job”. Their response was “We’re not looking to hire you”, which made the rest of the conversation intriguing because after escaping the cubicle farm, there’s no going back.

What transpired is a unique and strategic partnership with Media Profile, one of Canada’s leading public relations agencies. I’m part a new unit called MP Thread that will be offering a full range of social media services. My role will be to provide strategic counsel, while Media Profile will deliver tactical and creative services.

For me, it’s a eat your cake and have it too opportunity.

By being part of MP Thread, I get the opportunity to with some of Media Profile’s major clients – and, hopefully, new clients – while continuing to do my own thing with ME Consulting. This means I will continue to work with my existing clients, which mostly consist of start-ups and fast-growing companies looking for digital marketing and social media services.

When I was a newspaper reporter, I joked that working for a PR agency was going over to the “dark side”. Now that I’m here, I can see the light!

Here’s the official press release announcing MP Thread.

A Weekly Content Recap

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Social Media No Comments Tags: , ,

I spend a lot of time writing and reading so figured it might be a good idea to share of the more interesting things that I’ve written and come across:

My posts:
- A Pragmatic Approach to Social Media, which suggests that companies should be strategic when it comes to social media.
- Is There a Limit to Our Public-Ness? – an exploration of how much information people happily share on the Web.
- Google’s Biggest Challenge: Capturing Digital Turf, which looks at how Google Buzz may find it difficult to get people to leave or spend less time with Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, etc.
- The Mysteries of the Viral Video, a look at why some videos go viral (Sysomos blog)

Interesting posts from other bloggers:
- eMarketer: Why You Need a Social Media Strategy
- Evolving in Social Media Monitoring (Engaging Times)
- Measuring Return on Social Engagement (eMarketer)
- How to test if your startup idea will succeed (Untemplar)

Other interesting stuff:
- I started using Dropbox for the first time with a client this week. Excellent tool.
- W3 Total Cache, a plug-in that promises to offer WordPress performance optimization
- GoPetition, a free and user-friendly online petition service. Check out the petition I created to save programming at the arena in my community.

A New Business Writing Project

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Media 3 Comments Tags: , , ,

A few months ago, I was approached by Globe & Mail editor Noel Hulsman about a new Web site the newspaper was going to launch focused on serving the needs of entrepreneurs and small business owners. The idea was to deliver relevant and valuable content that people could use to operate their businesses better, or successfully launch a business.

After a lot of hard work behind the scenes, “Your Business” launched today. It features three themes – Start, Grow and Exit – as well as extensive contents that includes a team of columnists, including myself.

My column, will appear times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), will focus providing new business owners and entrepreneurs with everything from tips and tools and guidance from experts on how to run your business better.

Given that my business, ME Consulting, is focused on providing strategic and tactical content and social media services to start-ups and fast-growing companies, I’m really excited about writing the column, and sharing my insight and experiences. If there are topics or areas that you would like to me to cover, drop me a line at mark@markevans.ca

Note: Just in case there’s any confusion, this is a freelance gig so I’m still happily running ME Consulting.

Best of the Holidays: Social Media Posts

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , , ,

With the holiday season lasting a solid two weeks, there was lots of time to think, ruminate and write blog posts. Here are some of the social media-related posts that I did:

- Reality Check: Blogs Haven’t Lost their Mojo
- The Community Manager Emerges in 2010
- 2010: The Year of Quantity, Not Quality
- 2010: The Spotlight on Social Media ROI
- Eight Thoughts on Social Media in ’10
- What’s Ahead for Social Media in 2010 (Sysomos blog)
- The Social Media Workforce in 2010 (Sysomos blog)
- TwitSweeper Sweeps Spam Away (Twitterrati)
- Five Predictions for Twitter in ’10 (Twitterrati)

New Look for MET

By Mark Evans in Blogs 5 Comments Tags: , , ,

For a long time, I’ve been thinking about creating a “personal portal” that would tie together all of my digital activity – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, as well as my business, ME Consulting.

There never seemed to be enough time to actually make it happen until a casual conversation with a friend, Seth Singer, who told me all that really needed to happen was a redesign that provide a consistent look for all of blogs/Web site, and make it easy to showcase everything.

What Seth, who runs Think Thirty Three Inc., created is impressive. The design has a great look and feel that’s really user-friendly. What I’ve noticed in particular is how much traffic is now being driven between each Web site.

My popular Nortel blog, All About Nortel, for example, is attracting a lot of visitors to Mark Evans Tech, Twitterrati and ME Consulting.

So, what do you think? Any suggestions and/or feedback on the new design?

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