caughtintheflow

And the days go on.

May 7, 2011
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Incase you have forgotten what I look like: here is my shadow!

The CN tower in the distance of my daily walks. It’s my daily reminder that I’m not in Edmonton anymore even when I feel ‘at home’ here.

My never ending love for trains.

And we Edmontonians thought we had it bad… $121 (monthly) metro pass

I remember when I came to visit Spencer in March for my birthday I was so fascinated by this abandoned building. I immediately fell in love with it on my first walk alone in the big smoke. Spencer and I have decided that we’ll be living here one day.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some taco’s and beer! I might as well confess right now how much I love taco’s. SO GOOD!

So my office is in the basement of a men’s retail store (that isn’t open yet or might not ever open) but this is the view from outside those doors. The nearest avenue to my office is called Alberta Avenue, guess it’s a little reminder that I’m never too far from home.

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Welcome to the Big Smoke

May 4, 2011
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My goal is to keep my loves in Edmonton up-to-date about how my days are going in my summer home of Toronto.

So here we are:

This is the street view of the building I’m staying in with Spencer

This is the walk I go on everyday to and from the bus, I walk under the Gardiner ExpressWay. It usually smells like horse shit around here because some of the Toronto Police ride horses in the downtown area and the stable is in Liberty Village (where I walk by everyday).

The first morning on way to work (for the first time) it was drizzling and I was waiting at the bus stop and saw a train passing by. I don’t think anyone knows how content I feel when I watch a train pass by, I’m not really sure why it soothes my soul so much. I was too focused on watching the train that I missed the shot, but this was the view.

This little leaf was a happy little reminder to me on my first day of work that everything was going to be okay, everything IS going to be okay. Spencer reminds me of this everyday, perhaps that’s why I love him so much because he keeps me grounded.

Until next time stay safe my loves.

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The class comes to an end.

April 15, 2011
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The semester is over and this class will be missed. Not only did I have a wonderful prof to make every morning a good one, but the students in my class were all fun to be around and had great contributions to add.

Here is a shout out to my prof Ray Bilodeau

These are a few of my classmates with some interesting blogs:

Reese, TJ, Marissa, Morgz, Dennis

Well, now that this has been said and done. Let’s talk about my last view point on social media from this course’s perspective.

The last chapter in our Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day textbook talks about a recap of everything that is necessary in a social media marketing plan. It talks about objectives, audiences, metrics and so on. Throughout my blogs several areas of social media have been discussed. What I would like to leave you off with, for now, as I hope to be updating this blog beyond the realms of this course is this:

“No matter what I hear, read, or find on TV, radio, or in a magazine or newspaper, I can verify it on the Internet.”

More often than not, and more frequently these days we are finding all of our information online. There have been times where the possibility of information online is present there way before it is available to any other media channel. The online world is an evergrowing and everpowerful tool for businesses. Don’t be silly, stay on top.

Well, it’s clear how important it is to be involved online not necessarily on every social media channel because not every one will work for you. What IS important is that you are at least listening. A key thing to remember is that if you’re not online, someone else is and that someone else could be your competitor. Don’t let things go unnoticed, especially those things that others are saying about you. Be smart, be internet savvy. Also, on an end not, be committed to this. It’s like marriage, a long and winding road but oh so worth it at the end of each and every day.

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Tags: internet, listening, marriage, social media

The “FUTURE”, it’s a scary word.

April 12, 2011
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The future of social media is limitless in my eyes. It will be ever-changing, ever-growing. It will be near impossible to keep up with it all, it already is in many ways. Sometimes I get headaches from all the information I can’t keep up with.

All I can say, to leave you with my final words about the ‘groundswell’ notion:

Don’t forget that it will surround every aspect of your life one day, whether you love this idea or not it is inevitable. It will drown you if you don’t keep up. It will become so much so that “you breathe it like air and depend on it always.” As a business owner, you cannot function with out it. SO.. stay informed, up to date and keep up with it.

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Tags: future, groundswell

What does this mean in the real world?

April 9, 2011
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What are the fundamentals behind metrics?

measure what is visible
track it
derive the results based on what you see

So let’s bring it back to the real world and analyze how we can do this. According to Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day there are FIVE areas of interests we need to look at.

Audience - who is leading the conversations about your company or your products online vs. who is being led. It is no longer necessarily about what is being said but about who is saying it and who is listening. Metrics that can be analyzed under this area of interest: see what these audience members are doing once they are already on your site.
Influence – depends on two key factors. The first is relevance (chances that a conversation will lead someone to consider or reconsider your offer) and the second is impact (actual increase or decrease of the likelihood of someone purchasing based on social media efforts). Metrics for this area are time spent and bounce back rate. I think the names of these metrics are self explanatory.
Engagement - this is the overall feeling of attachment to a product, brand or service. This might be an elusive area of interest but it could be one of the most important. Possible metrics could be comment-to-post ratios on a blog perhaps. If more people are commenting on a specific blog post, the more engaged they are. Friend recommendations can be even more effective in measuring engagement levels. This is because someone went out of their way to become consciously aware of your product and how great it would be not only for themselves perhaps, but also for someone else.
Loyalty - this is evidence that your customers and audience are coming back as a result of consistently choosing you over your competition. A stronger loyalty is indicated through a higher number of people coming back to your website and purchasing or considering a purchase. Metrics to showcase loyalty include: ratings, recommendations and reviews.
Action – this is the bottom line, this is where the capital are most likely come from. Action is taking initiative to actively purchase your product, brand or service. The best metrics for this are looking at conversion rates and comparing them to the benchmarks you had without the implementation of social media.

Businesses are based on financials, everyone’s goal is to make a dollar. Although the underlying idea for social media is to engage in conversation with the people who appreciate and are loyal to you. But the end goal still boils down to improvements in sale and to your bottom line. For whatever social media initiative you do, make sure to incorporate some kind of metrics.

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Tags: action, audience, engagement, influence, loyalty, metrics, social media marketing

The Bacon Guy

April 3, 2011
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What do real-estate and bacon have to do with each other?

Jerry Aulenbach

I had the pleasure of meeting Jerry, the Bacon guy not too long ago. After hearing so many things about this ‘bacon’ guy, I just had to meet him. He’s not only a really nice guy, he has a kiss from god on his head. If you don’t know what that is, it’s when you just have a light spot of hair on dark hair, it’s not dyed. You’re born with it. I was told when I was really young that this was a kiss from God. Maybe he’s special?

Jerry is a realtor from Edmonton and obviously a marketing genius when it comes to branding himself.

Here is an idea of how social media (specifically twitter) has helped Jerry’s business in the last few years.

What can we learn from Jerry? Well probably a lot about Bacon, but mostly about how important social media can be for your business. The costs for using Twitter to promote yourself, is $0.00. I guess it takes time out of our day and time is money, but realistically it costs nothing.

Jerry does Twitter in a really cool way. He doesn’t use to it to push his properties. From what I can remember, I don’t think he has ever even mentioned them. Sometimes he will mention going to meet a client or something along those lines, but he never tries to push his products onto his followers. This is what works. Jerry isn’t the typical slime ball real-estate agent, he is a person that you can relate to. He’s got this witty but a little bit silly bacon thing, and for him it works. People know him for something, when it comes to real-estate, Jerry captures that top of mind awareness.

Jerry uses twitter to socialize, to be personable with his past, current and potential clients. He says he replies to almost every mention and follows back nearly everyone. He also does searches on a regular basis for anyone mentioning a move to Edmonton (or anything along those lines). This search is done through Twilert . Another really cool thing about Jerry are his business cards. They look like a strip of bacon and are smoked so they have a distinct bacon smell. Jerry once said in an interview:

“Instead of just giving them a “call me when you need to buy or sell” card, I was giving them a piece of creativity, art even. I was giving them an automatic conversation, which would quickly turn to me.”

If you’re looking for a new place now you know the man to call. (Follow Jer on Twitter )

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Tags: bacon, jerry aulenbach, real estate, twitter, zoomjer

Advice for Energizers.

April 1, 2011
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What does it mean to energize the Groundswell?

You want to find a customer that is going to be like a viral marketer who will spread the benefits of your brand with little to no cost to the company. This is the customer that initiates word of mouth on a larger scale.

Word of mouth works because it is:

BELIEVABLE
SELF-REINFORCING
SELF-SPREADING

So energizing the groundswell is an attempt to capture the power of word of mouth communication by connecting with your most committed customers.

The question now is how do we connect with these enthusiasts? How to be create a stronger relationship with them?

Ratings and reviews – this gives them a chance to show how they feel towards the brand, and let other people see what the products are ‘worth.’ (best for retail companies)
Create a community – this will work best if your customers are strongly passionate about your brand and products.
Participate and energize online communities – by communicating and interacting with your enthusiasts the closer they will feel to your company and the more enthusiastic they will be about spreading the message.

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Tags: communicating, energizing, groundswell, interacting, ratings, reviews

Participation Rather Than Eyeballs

March 30, 2011
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The MultiMedia Channels – Social Media Marketing An Hour a Day

Blogging – this is the best way to tell your customers what you’re doing and invite them to share their experiences & thoughts.
Microblogs – “twitter is the gateway drug to social media”
Photo & Video Sharing – By adding visual elements you are able to transform the conveyance of a message into a quick, scan-friendly experience
Audio & Video Podcasting – It is not what the clip itself is but rather how it is delivered. It is an extension of blogging but sound & sight focused.

The focus of this post will be on Podcasting because I am very UNfamiliar with it, we can both learn! Woohoo!

Podcast defined: “a sequenced, subscription-based delivery container for content, generally audio or video.”

Like blogs they have regular ‘posts’ but these are referred to as ‘episodes.’

What is interesting is that your audience has the absolute power of choice. They decide where to watch/listen, when and how to consumer your content. By giving them this control you empower them to set the terms of engagement. What does this mean to your audience and for you? It makes them feel that you are on ‘their side’ with this, they are more likely to trust you and your content.

Here are some interesting podcasts you can look at for ideas:

Ted Talks – Experts about ideas worth spreading
Slate Magazine – News, Politics, Culture
NPR – Tiny Desk Concerts – Music
Unknown Studio - Edmonton
The Sporkful – Food
Mysterious Universe – Out of the Ordinary

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Tags: npr, podcasting, slate magazine, sporkful, ted talks, tiny desk concerts, unknown studio

Riding Dirty.

March 30, 2011
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Let’s talk about wasting a shit tonne of money. Let’s talk about the federal election.

First and foremost, I think the government is just flushing money down the toilet. I also feel like they are going to be surely disappointed. One of two things are going to happen (in my opinion):

1) The lowest voter turnout in years.

2) The same party will be elected.

(or both!)

Now that I’ve finished with my negativity. I want to look at the candidates in my riding, Edmonton Centre and how they are using Social Media for the election.

Conservative: Laurie Hawn

Twitter
Youtube
Facebook
RSS

Laurie Hawn needs to make direct links to his youtube channel and his rss feed on his website. Overall I think he is doing well in covering many areas of social media.

Liberal: Mary MacDonald

I think she needs to contact Google Adwords because when you type in her name her website doesn’t show up, only her facebook page. You have to type in “Mary Macdonald Liberal.” Not good Mary, not good. I couldn’t find links on her website for any of the social media areas. The website also froze my computer both times I opened it. I had to search for each social media area on google separately. I couldn’t find her on LinkedIn either. Mary has a lot to learn from the boys.

NDP: Lewis Cardinal

I like how the links on his website for his social media outlets are visible and easy to navigate. He has also expanded his social media base effectively. I would like to see some videos of him speaking, so a youtube channel would be a smart choice and then post these videos on his website.