Because today is such a momentous occasion, I think it’s necessary to look back on what has been accomplished since my first post. Without trying to sound like I’m to0ting my own horn, here are the top five things that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by and am proud of having experienced since my very first blog post.

1. Meeting and connecting with amazing people in the Canadian digital media industry who share the same passion and drive for entrepreneurship and a better digital world. Again, I don’t want to brag but Canada has a remarkably close-knit community of startups, freelancers and consultants who all want to see our nation become a global leader in the digital economy.

2. Either discovering or being discovered by new customers who also share the same interests as I do and using my blog and their blogging platforms to share that enthusiasm and knowledge.

3. Being inspired to go back to school to get a Certificate in Freelance Writing at U of T to continue my new-found passion for writing and discussing digital media trends and key issues that shape my world.

4. Working with creative and intelligent Canadian startups, small businesses and small business supporters in the digital space who seek to tear down walls/barriers and replace them with their own unique solutions.

5. Continuously being pleasantly surprised that where I initially thought I’d be at this point in the game is much different from where I thought I’d end up. However, I am ecstatic and optimistic that where I am is exactly where I should be.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog and for your encouragement via e-mail, Twitter/LinkedIn and in-person comments. I appreciate your support and will continue to share my thoughts, tips and ideas with you on this platform.

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Many critics and loyal Globe and Mail readers were obviously outraged by the proposed changes. Some argued that they “would not pay unless the content is unique and valuable.” This got me thinking about successful strategies where publishers have provided some of their in-depth research and objective analysis for free, while also charging a premium for deeper, extended coverage. The best example that came to mind was eMarketer which offers research and analysis on Digital Marketing and Media from 4,000 sources worldwide.

eMarketer content is distributed to its customer base for free through newsletters and blogs – both of which have high readership and subscription levels. These free stories provide objective, analytical perspectives from eMarketer consultants and writers who cover hot trending topics or breaking news stories in the online marketing world. The blogs and newsletters often use research snippets from eMarketer’s premium, pay-per-download reports to help support the story.

Not only do these channels inform eMarketer customers of  newsworthy trends and topics, they also spark the reader’s interest to then purchase reports which provide deeper coverage and context for the stories. The downloadable PDF reports can range in length from a few 8.5×11 printable pages to a mini e-book for which customers pay premium price.

The Globe and Mail is in a unique position to follow this model because of the popularity of their Report on Business (ROB) Magazine and Technology coverage. The heavy readership and quality content of these channels make The Globe and Mail a national resource for in-depth analysis on business and technology trends and issues in Canada. And the publication is already on its way to becoming an eMarketer-type service by hiring consultants, like Duncan Stewart from Deloitte Canada, to write about Canadian and global technology trends.

If The Globe and Mail was to provide even deeper analysis (i.e. custom research studies and eMarketer-style aggregated reports from partner consulting firms) on a particular tech or business trend, readers would very likely pay more money for access to that information.

Of course, the news must always be the news. And the Globe ROB and Tech (possibly even Politics) reports would have to be slightly more evergreen in style and content – providing context where needed for breaking news stories.

I do realize that my suggestion goes against traditional journalism values. But in a world where news breaks faster on Twitter and Facebook than the print publishers can cover the story, I think it’s time to re-think the news publication and reporting model all together. Perhaps the solution is not to charge your readers to pay to read a news story. Instead, consider opportunities to provide deeper insights and data that no one can truly get anywhere else.

This idea would ultimately transform a publication like The Globe and Mail into part consulting firm, part news resource. But the upside is that it could create a reporting service that business, technology and political analysts can use to do their jobs better. It also takes the burden away from relying solely on advertising and creates a product that The Globe’s already loyal readers might actually want to purchase.

I think that the pay wall model is a short term solution for an industry in serious distress. Long term, I think newspapers need to experiment with new business models that will provide a different kind of service to their readers – just like what eMarketer and GigaOm are already doing. Do you agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts on other ways that The Globe and Mail could charge their readers for content that is unique and valuable.

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The example that I enjoyed the most was a series of videos from Coca Cola, describing their goals for global content excellence by 2020. I loved the storyboards that Coca Cola used to illustrate, rather than just tell their story about digital storytelling and conversations. It’s so simple, yet so creative. I’ve re-embeded the videos below for your viewing pleasure.

What I love about their strategy is that even though Coca Cola is a big, global brand, even a small business can easily adopt some of the tools and tactics that they are using. I also dig that they are being completely transparent about their plans, letting the world know their intentions to use technology to enable consumer empowerment, build emotional connections and meet the needs of an on-demand culture.

Check-out 2:45 in the first video (Chapter 3) for Coke’s rendition of “The Evolution of Storytelling,” and the different types of storytelling that Coke will use to build their brand in the next 8 years. But it’s also worth taking the time to watch both videos in their entirety, if you can. Enjoy!

“The problem is that Facebook isn’t willing to do anything different for the client that wants to spend $10,000 versus $10 million,” said a NYC ad executive to CNET.

As a former Google sales employee, I think that Facebook is just at a place where Google was about five years ago. The company is growing so quickly and probably has to achieve a certain level of revenue to justify hiring more sales people to support their ads. So, I definitely feel for their growing pains. However, I still question whether advertising has a place in social media.

I don’t need to quote statistics to explain that people trust brand and product referrals from their friends and people they know and trust, over ads they see on a website. Facebook has been very careful so far to make sure the user experience is as “ad intrusive-free” as possible - knowing that users want to hear from the people in their lives, not advertisers, on their platform.

But if a brand is looking to engage in a dialogue with their customer on Facebook, that’s a different story. So far, the conversational approach has been somewhat successful as many people “like” their favourite brands and are willing to share feedback with companies when prompted on Facebook. But are all brands spending the advertising/marketing dollars they should to capitalize on that dialogue? Of course, that money wouldn’t currently go to Facebook but rather to people who manage those conversations. Still, those marketing dollars could be maximized by supporting the creation of engaging Facebook conversations all the same.

In a media world where niche targeting is everything, and algorithms are focused on helping people to refine the reach of those niches, it’s surprising that advertisers want to spend so much money on the website – just because it reaches 900 million people. Hasn’t the ad world been preaching targeted vs. mass reach advertising over the past 10 to 20 years anyhow?

Still, to make those mass reach advertisers happy, perhaps Facebook could offer more premium customization of their timeline profiles – similar to how YouTube provides advertisers with premium brand channel opportunities in exchange for a bigger ad spend. I also wouldn’t be surprised to soon see the opportunity for brands to pay for richer customer dialogue and analytics features in the near future. But when it comes to increasing big brand ad exposure alongside user-to-user dialogue, I think Facebook is wise to keep the user experience focused on the “social” rather than the “media.”

What do you think? I’d love to hear about your experience in advertising vs. engaging in customer dialogues on Facebook.

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• A Canadian indie rocker named Hannah Chapplain, who performed on the first night of the conference, competed in the Road to Banff startup pitch-off competition that was happening in tandem with Canada 3.0 2012. She was there because she considers herself a digital media entrepreneur. It makes sense since she is publishing and marketing her own content to promote her talents.

• A break-out session in the Content stream at Canada 3.0 2012, featuring GigaOm’s Sr. Writer, Mathew Ingram, and The Globe and Mail’s Editor-in-Chief, John Stackhouse, raised an important issue: just like with music, people might want to pay for access to certain writers in a newspaper. Apparently, the Globe and Mail has been researching the pay wall model – where people might be willing to pay on a per-article basis – just like a music download.

What this made me realize is that Canadian writers, musicians and artists should adopt a more entrepreneurial mindset. In the world of journalism, newspapers are struggling to develop a business model that attracts more viewership, and ultimately more premium advertising dollars. Right now, news publications are relying heavily on columnists and popular writers to help them do this. Whether they like it or not, journalists now need to learn how to market themselves online in order to attract a following.

The same is obviously happening in the music world. We already have great examples of Canadian musicians (think Justin Bieber) who have proven that this model works. Ms. Chapplain is very smart to be pitching herself like an entrepreneur as well.

This is the new world that we live in. Old business models, which relied heavily on distributors and corporate marketing to do the selling for musicians, writers and artists are slowly declining. The content marketing tools are there, at your disposal, for free. Your success lies in your own hands.

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