I’ve spent the last two years working with the best-damned marketing team at Sysomos, a Toronto-based enterprise software company that focuses on social data/analytics and conversation. But in an age where digital companies are always shifting to better position themselves in the market, my area was restructured and I was laid off.

I’ll sincerely miss the amazing friends and colleagues I developed in Toronto, Raleigh, London and San Francisco. However, I look at the progress my team and I made with great fondness.

In 22 short months, we:

1. Up-leveled the quality of Sysomos’ outgoing content marketing efforts, including:
   1. Launched 3 full scale campaigns around educating the market on our viewpoint of Influencer Marketing and two that aren’t publicly available yet
   2. Lowered bounce rate more than half, vastly increased click-throughs to .com properties and dramatically grew the number of leads driven in by social/blog content. We accomplished these feats by effectively highlighting our products, profiling our customers and establishing thought leadership
   3. Drove tens of thousands of highly qualified leads to the sales channels through online written content, speaking engagements and social campaigns, like our A To Z Influencer Marketing Guide
2. Renewed and refined a thriving relationship with our global communications agency. In this time, we earned a triple digit percentage increase in media hits, impressions of proactively attained stories and Tier-1 media stories secured. This includes a fantastic write up from Dan Patterson at CBS Interactive/TechRepublic.
   

   Story on Techrepublic.com

3. Launched the industry’s finest University Relations program that achieved stellar results in our pilot year with Ryerson University. In year 2, we scaled the program 10x to be globally inclusive.
   1. Gained fine industry partnerships with leading universities such as Boston University, UNC Charlotte, University and Louisville by partnering with  industry leading conferences including AEJMC in Seattle and the Social Media and Society conference in London, UK.
   2. I led a 3-day Immersion workshop at Syracuse University culminating in 17 fantastic digital marketing proposals for case study subject LG Electronics (More to come on that soon!)

"Don't use social for social's sake." @harrisja #SyrCommF2F

— Maggie (@MaggieBizz) October 1, 2016

"Grind, Grind and show up!" @harrisja I like it😉 #SyrCommF2F #OrangeUSocial

— Rory (@uptownbourgeois) October 1, 2016

Social is using audience data as a focus group- @harrisja #SyrCommF2F

— Bernie Mixon (@BernieMixon) September 30, 2016

In addition, I spoke and led interactive workshops at SXSW Interactive, PRSA, Converge Education, Social Media Club KC, Social Media Week in the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago and London. That also includes client events in the education, home improvement, entertainment and communications verticals.

Whew! It was a busy two years. I’m so glad to have been a part of it.

Now, onto what’s next!

But now, I’m not navel gazing or resting on any laurels. I’m actively searching for my next brand that needs a digital marketing communications pro to help tell their brand story. In essence, I’m a community builder who uses online and in-person tactics to drive actionable results.

I’ve worked in B2C for brands such as Nokia, Eli Lilly, Microsoft and BitDefender, startups such as Taptu, MyStrands and B2B companies like Sysomos, Intel and others. I’ve been on the agency side as well, working with Republic Publishing, Text100 and Kaplow.

My passions are integrated communications, digital and social marketing strategy and tactics, influencer marketing and community building.

So, if you’re reading this and you know of an opportunity that’s looking for a qualified candidate, please check out my LinkedIn profile, or my resume and let’s talk!

(Image credit: Flickr user lilivanili)