A Digital Marketing Company Supports the Written Word
October 17, 2011 by Martin Wong
On October 22, twenty-six emerging writers will take the stage at SFU Woodwards. These students, from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio program, have just published a student anthology, emerge 2011, and are launching the book with readings from their works of fiction, poetry and lyric prose, and creative non-fiction.
MarketingSmartt is proud to be a corporate sponsor of this event. We have a passion for communication. We help clients communicate their brand, benefits, and values. We communicate these messages through social media campaigns, email, or a great website. In an age of increased digital communication, the written word matters more than ever.
When any person with an opinion can publish online, quality content lifts worthwhile reading above the digital slush pile. While tweets and texts may dominate the airwaves, it is still the well-honed sentence that slices through our consciousness. Good writing will always find its audience.
TWS poetry and lyric prose student Meg Torwl agrees. With an established career in photography, video, radio, and new media, she still works hard to master the “old” medium of writing.
“It’s about finding the right medium for each story,” she says. “Whether a poem, photograph, video, radio, or live performance, the skills of narrative, pattern recognition, dissonance, editing are the same in each media. Writing is the backbone of all arts. I often include poetry in radio, video, live performance, and at exhibition openings. TWS teaches you everything – from creative and technical aspects, to trusting your instincts, ergonomics of writing, getting published, networking and readings.”
What draws students to TWS is the way the program addresses all the needs of a writer.
“I was attracted to the well-rounded blend of individual courses,” says fiction student Claire De Boer, ”from how to workshop your prose to navigating today’s publishing world. Few creative writing programs offer an opportunity to work in a one-one-one setting with a mentor. This feedback is invaluable. The program also places great emphasis on community and I knew this would be critical to my writing journey.”
The notion of community underscores The Writer’s Studio, which encourages participation in literary events and public readings.
“Writing is a solitary pursuit,” says Carol Tulpar, creative non-fiction. “We need to meet readers and hear what they have to say about our work. We also need the fellowship of other writers, who can articulate their sense of what needs work, regardless of their own genres. TWS founder Betsy Warland says ‘To write is to enter public space’. The opportunity to gauge audience response to my work has been priceless, both within the workshop setting and in our public readings.”
In the past, MarketingSmartt has supported charities, such as A Loving Spoonful and the Union Gospel Mission, which feed our community. We support The Writer’s Studio because the arts also feed our community.
Register to attend the emerge 2011 Student Anthology book launch and reading. Admission is by donation.
Copies of the anthology available for purchase at the event, the SFU Bookstore at Harbour Centre, or by contacting: twsinfo@sfu.ca
Tweet and post about the TWS emerge 2011 event
Chat about the event live on Twitter: #TWSEMERGE2011
Join the discussion on the TWS Facebook page
Find out more about The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University
TM Events case study summary
August 31, 2011 by Martin Wong
A Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™ Helps TM Events Trend in Canada
Event management company TM Events used social media during their 10th Anniversary Party to drive up awareness of their brand. This one campaign doubled Facebook page views and increased their fans and followers by more than 25%.
When TM Events decided to include social media as part of their 10th Anniversary Party, they turned to MarketingSmartt to create their social media campaign. They liked the philosophy behind MarketingSmartt’s Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™, which integrates social media activities with the physical venue to deliver measurable results.
TM Events CEO Traci Myles had two main goals behind adding social media to the party:
- To prove that social media built around an event can help companies gain Twitter followers and Facebook fans,
- To do it in a way that merged social media with an event in a fun, seamless, unique, and memorable way.
5 Step Guide to a Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™
July 15, 2011 by ray.silva
Social Media has been championed by some of the worlds greatest marketing companies. But while Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike have been exceedingly successful in this area, other similarly sized businesses have been struggling.
A lack of resources or Social Media know-how has caused some of the worlds greatest brands to be left in the dust, and not just by large competitors. Around the globe, smaller more tech-savvy businesses are gaining market share by developing strong online communities.
So how can your organization successfully start an effective online presence?
Your campaign has to be immersive and engaging. 9 out of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies actively engage in conversations on their Twitter feed.[1] A Social Media campaign or event that is not engaging is doomed to fail.
This 5 Step Guide will provide you with hundreds of new followers to engage with, tens of thousands of online brand impressions, and months worth of digital content to promote discussion around your brand online.
1. PLAN
Your plan will outline your Social Media goals and objectives and determine what your social event will include. Integrate Social Media into an event flow, time line, and theme. Determine whether awareness, new members, strengthening your brand, or increasing exposure is the most important and then craft your social event around that idea. Figuring this out will allow you to rifle your efforts in the appropriate direction and ultimately lead to Social Media success.
2. DEVELOP
The development phase is where you will build the sharing features of your event. It will outline how the event venue, collateral and other environmental elements will encourage attendees to share. In order to do this, select the platforms you will share on, determine what you want your attendees to do, and plan a simple yet direct way to get them to do so. Framing your social experience as a game by providing incentives and other fun elements will be extremely effective. If conducted in a simple and fun way, attendees will not only share while at the event, but will continue to share their brand experience for weeks if not months afterwards.
3. PROMOTE
Getting the social web excited about your event beforehand is essential in achieving Social Media success. This will provide increased reach, and awareness of your brand as well as develop important relationships. Find out which influencers and media sources would be most interested in your event and connect with them via Social Media. Set a hash-tag and get people talking. These messages can be used to understand individual’s perceptions, concerns, and interests. Positive conversation will then be collected as testimonial content for future use.
You should connect with invitees by sending email invitations that connect to an online registration system. This system should allow invitees to connect with various Social Media and share with their friends. This will help promote conversation online, and increase the number of brand impressions. Connecting with invitees and non-invitees will help your brand get noticed.
4. EXECUTE
Execution is where the make or break happens. A poor user experience can result in negative sharing. This means it is essential for the elements planned in previous stages to come to fruition effectively. Avoid problems by allotting enough time to set up and plan your social elements. Educate staff and attendees as much as possible before the event in order to reduce confusion. Lastly, encourage staff and volunteers to share their experiences online. Having the team develop conversation around the event will help attendees share more and in the desired direction. Depending on the amount of social communication, your event will have the potential to trend geographically.
5. FOLLOW UP
A lot of your event’s success will come from the conversations and connections that continue after the event. Supporting the conversation around your brand by interacting and engaging will increase your brand’s buzz, impressions, following and more. Follow up with an email, blog post, or other Social Media messages to keep your new relationships connected to you.
CONCLUSION
Social Media for some organizations is a growing mystery. If done incorrectly it can lead to negative effects. However, if done effectively, Social Media can lead to impressive business results. If you’re looking to start, grow or support an effective ongoing Social Media presence then this 5 Step Guide to a Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™ will help produce results.
For further explanation, professional consultation, or Social Media event services please contact the MarketingSmartt team at sales@smartt.com, twitter.com/smarttnet, or 604 473 9700
[1] http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/bloggingtwitterandfacebookusage/
