Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 30th, 2009
Thanks to Willis Turner of SMEI who put together this great clip featuring the speakers and panelists from the SMEI Social Media Roadshow in Vancouver last week. Here they discuss whats next in the social media arena.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 26th, 2009
Whether you like the term social media or not (and many don’t), it looks like these tools are here to stay. In a few short years we’ve gone from getting blank looks and crazy stares when mentioning using social networks or blogs for business, to the current trend towards jumping on the SM bandwagon. Social media for business is at last becoming mainstream.
We’re not the only ones to notice this. The wonderful 6s Marketing Company based here in Vancouver just published the results of survey it conducted that shows that social media is becoming entrenched as a tool to help build Canadian businesses.
Here are some of the highlights taken from their report:
“Out of the respondents who filled out the survey:
* 69% use Facebook
* 47% use Twitter
* 38% use LinkedIn
* 38% use YouTube
* 29% use Flickr
And guess who gets control over Social Media Marketing efforts? 28% of companies rely on their marketing department to manage their SMM campaigns, while 18% leave it to the upper management.”
We will be podcasting with Chris Breikss of 6s Marketing next week and the survey will be our main topic of conversation so let me know if you have any questions you’d like me to ask Chris. It’s going to be a great podcast and will be even better with your input!
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 25th, 2009
Its social media crazy season in Vancouver and the surrounding areas with several different events happening back to back over the next few days.
Tomorrow, join us at the SMEI Social Media Roadshow (I’ll be moderating a panel with mega guest speakers including Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss 604), Rob Duncan (BCIT), Chris Breikss (6s Marketing), Jordan Willms (Sumolabs).
On Friday is the Dare to Thrive Conference out in Coquitlam where I will be holding a workshop on how to use social media effectively for business social media.
And last but not least on Monday is the Crave Business SHOP Symposium 09, a one day conference where, this time, I will be on a panel of social media experts discussing the virtues of social networking – moderated by the lovely Debbie Collins of SOYA and joined by Stephen Jagger of Reachd, Michael Kim of Grapevyn and Alexandra Samuel of Social Signal.
With any luck you can come to one or all of these events and learn how you can use social media effectively to benefit your business.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 20th, 2009
Here are some creative advertising can-paigns from Oddee:
This paper towel holder was used for the Save the Trees awareness campaign (Shanghai). They changed the covers on these holders every other day to show the damage begin done to trees by using paper towels.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 18th, 2009
With the current poor economic outlook and job losses mounting, this is an ideal time to polish your personal brand to prepare yourself just in case the unthinkablehappens.
Using social media is an ideal way to build your personal brand, to expand and reinforce your network but there are risks that you should be aware of. Here are 10 tips that will help you take advantage of social media to build your brand safely:
1. When networking on Facebook or other social forums always use the privacy controls to limit access to your information (usually you can find these by clicking on “account”).
2. Use Facebook, LinkedIn and other networks to make people aware of what you do or want to do.
3. Google yourself to see what’s being said about you and do the Granny test on the results – if Granny wouldn’t approve then perhaps the content isn’t appropriate to enhance your business profile.
4. Don’t put up any photos, videos or images that compromise your image.
5. Portray yourself professionally as appropriate to your industry in all forums.
6. Be true to who you are: transparency leads to trust – if you have a good reputation people are more likely to do business with you.
7. Remember that you have a valid and unique opinion. Don’t be afraid to voice it.
8. Always be respectful of others, its okay to disagree but be polite about it.
9. If you are young and looking for a job be aware that a party boy or girl image may seem cool to your peers but it won’t help you get a job or grow you professional network.
10. On-line networking is a vital tool for anyone trying to build a career but don’t get sidetracked or sucked in. Avoid this by scheduling time for on-line networking and sticking to it.
11. Don’t make friends with everyone and anyone. Be selective. It will help you manage the volume of information and will also expose you to less risk.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 16th, 2009
Louise Desmarais of Mud Creative posted a great blog article about online press releases. Its a very informative review of PRWeb so I thought I would share it with you. You should check out her new souped up social media ready website while you are at it.
Why I like to use PRWeb for online press releases
Ive been a fan of the press release distribution service, PRWeb, for several years now. The service has always been first rate. Its easy to use and I can reach a real person by phone whenever I need to.
PRWeb releases hit top sites like Google News and Yahoo News – the #1-ranked online news site – as well as industry-specific websites and blogs. Depending on the level of service purchased, you can choose to issue your release to a number of specific industry and regional newsfeeds. At the top level, your release will be distributed to the Associated Press top-circulation daily newspapers.
Like many of us in this business, PRWeb has had to evolve with the changing landscape of the Internet. Now you can add images, PDFs, videos and podcasts to create the multimedia release. To capture the attention of the social media crowd, you can link it to your Twitter account and add Technorati tags for the blogging community.
Then there are the reporting functions of PRWeb. Want to know how well your release did? Youll get a PDF report that indicates:
* The number of headline impressions
* The number of full page reads
* Percentage of visits by country
* Top 20 search terms used to find your release
* Comparisons of releases for your organization
* At the top level, your report will actually show you what city in the world your release readers are coming from
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 12th, 2009
Here are five important considerations you should take into account before embarking on your first social media project.
1. Who are your customers – are they online and where do are they most likely to hang out online. If you are selling zimmers to octogenarians, there might be better uses of your marketing dollar.
2. Does social media fit with your corporate brand? – Some companies like to control every client touch point as much as possible and as such social media with its interactive, social format might not be attractive.
3. Do you have the time and resources to do it right? – This is a big one. It takes time and effort to be effective when social media marketing and success doesn’t usually come overnight. If you don’t have time then you should consider getting an expert to help you social market effectively.
4. What are your goals? You social media goals should align with the overall goals of your company. If they don’t they could be counter effective. As always set goals that are achievable and applicable.
5. What differentiates you from the rest of the pack? – this is important in any marketing project and social media marketing is no exception. You will highlight these when building your presence.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 09th, 2009
At the end of last week I had the pleasure of a double whammy, back to back podcast and tele-seminar with Sue Clement of Success Coaching. Sue is a business coach extraordinaire: having built a successful employment agency, Sue now focuses on helping others build their business.
Listen to our podcast where we talk about the challenges to networking for business, referral marketing – what it is and why it works, and strategies for doing it effectively. Then listen to our tele-seminar too!
[audio:http://www.out-smarts.com/podcast22.mp3]
Podcast: Download
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, March 06th, 2009
I first heard about knit bombing from Tzaddi in our Northern Voice podcast. Today I witnessed this urban beautification phenomenon in action thanks to the beady eyes of my daughter Catriona who spotted knit bombs on the drive home from the aquarium this morning. Yes indeed, knit bombers have hit Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood. The knitted wonders adorn a fire hydrant and sign post on Arbutus St between 2nd and 3rd Ave to be exact.
Knit bombing (or craft bombing) is the latest form of urban graffiti. Knitters (or “craftivists”) express themselves and spiff up their community by adorning inanimate objects with their knitted or crafted creation (labeled with the artists name). It looks quite pretty and the phenomenon is intriguing but I have to ask: wouldn’t it be better to knit scarfs for some of the many homeless people we have here who feel the cold rather more than, lets say, a lampost. Perhaps I am missing the point.
