Bright ideas at Fresh Media Vancouver
Written by Smartt Team on October 27, 2009
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a fantastic event hosted by Fresh Media at Vancouver’s W2 Community Media Arts Centre. The day was jam-packed with workshops, panel discussions, and live art installations that blended seamlessly together to form an all-day, new media free-for-all. Speakers included open policy expert David Eaves, The Vancouver Sun’s Gillian Shaw, Ion Magazine’s Trevor Risk, and Now In Public’s Sudha Krishna, just to name a few.
As you might expect from an event with a focus on new media, the conference was extremely well documented on Twitter. Hundreds of posts from attendees sporting the #freshmedia and #freshmediame hashtags went up during the event and in the days following.
Among the day’s many highlights was local writer/producer Dave Olson’s interactive workshop on podcasting. Dave had the entire audience participate in the creation of an on the-spot podcast, where we recited Twitter-sized biographies of inspirational artists, musicians and historical figures. The final result is a funk-backed eight minutes of pure audience participation, with just the right amount of reverb.
Thanks again to everyone at Fresh Media for orchestrating this great event, and to all the speakers who took the time to share their knowledge.
More information about Fresh Media
Smart social media campaign by Sumac Ridge
Written by Smartt Team on October 20, 2009
It started with a morning jog in English Bay. A co-worker, out for his morning run, spotted a number of signs posted up on telephone poles and taped to walls, asking for help locating a lost diary. The posters offer a reward to any good Samaritan who finds the missing diary and contacts the owner on his Twitter or Facebook page. Taking note of the fact that the posters looked pretty slick for their purpose, he continued his jog until, lo and behold, he spotted two diaries sitting on a retaining wall not too far down the same trail. A closer look reveals that the diary is not your standard repository of personal thoughts and feelings, it’s actually a cleverly disguised promotional package for Sumac Ridge, a Summerland based BC winery.
The pages of the diary are filled with bits of local wisdom, gourmet recipes, a spattering of brand story and some very gentle plugs for featured varieties of Sumac Ridge wine.
Why it works
This campaign does a great job of tapping into the fascination with found objects that has swept the Web in recent years and leveraging it to drive traffic to the winery’s newly minted social media pages. The “lost diary” posters are just unusual enough to get people interested, and they get a quick payoff when they inevitably spot a well-placed diary nearby. The added prospect of a reward for the finder makes logging onto Twitter and posting about the discovery a no brainer – giving the campaign a viral element and growing the company’s online follower base. I have no doubt that this campaign will get good press and lead to a healthy influx of fans and followers for Sumac Ridge. As more companies start to recognize social media marketing as an integral component of their marketing mix, I have high hopes that we’ll be seeing more creative campaigns of this variety.
5 takeaways to apply to your own social media campaign
1. Make it fun
As marketers around the world are discovering , fun is a very effective call to action. Make the process fun and your customers will love you for it.
2. Make it worth talking about
They call it social media for a reason. No one cares to pass on a boring press release, but if you wrap your promotion in a story that’s worth sharing, you will see results.
3. Give people an incentive to find you online
Discounts, giveaways, draws and rewards are all good ways of enticing new fans and followers.
4. Don’t play hard to get
Make sure that your Twitter name, Facebook address, or URL is prominently displayed in your materials. This may seem obvious but we’ve seen countless examples of companies leaving out this crucial information.
5. Once they find you.. Engage!
Make sure to keep on top of what people are saying about your promotion online. Social media is all about two way communication, so join the conversation!
More information on the benefits of social media marketing
Taking your Business across Borders with your Website
Written by Smartt Team on October 20, 2009
Moving your company from the local to the national or international marketplace is a dream for many businesses. It’s much easier to tap into the local market, but the local market can only take you so far- there is a cap on how much you can grow. National and international markets, however, offer an abundance of opportunities that simply aren’t available in the local arena. But the problem, for most companies, is how to tap into this virtually unlimited market.
The solution lies with the World Wide Web. Since the invention of the Internet, the world has gotten much smaller and it’s gotten ever easier for companies to cross traditional borders. The process is simple, but it does require a bit of planning to effectively break into the larger world marketplace.
