Last week, Toronto played host to Advertising Week Canada. I wrote an article for itbusiness.
All last week, the Canadian marketing and advertising world was busy showcasing the most popular campaigns and innovations at FFWD 2015, or Advertising and Marketing Week in Toronto.
Twitter Canada played host to a session titled, “140 Characters and Beyond: Exploring The Power of a Tweet.”
I was recently reminded of this short interview I did with Jon Sinden. Sinden is now the VP of Marketing for Beerlicious. His most recent gig before that was building the social and digital properties for Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).
This particular interview was conducted in the press box high above center ice at the Air Canada Centre which is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.
We chatted a bit about the role of digital and social in bringing fans closer to the action. I hope you enjoy!
This week Toronto is playing host to Advertising Week – Canada. And I’m excited that our company, Catalyst Canada, is producing 5 original articles this week. Here’s the one that I was tasked with writing:
“Over the past 10+ years we have witnessed the rise of social media and social networking. What once was the domain of individuals quickly became a hybrid of brand marketing and personal posts. Today we have come to expect zero organic reach for brands on Facebook. And while brands continue to see reach on Twitter, many have opined that Twitter may follow Facebook’s lead as it continues to monetize their platform.”
Read the entire article, The Legitimization of Social Platforms as Performance Channels.
Recently, Facebook announced changes to their News Feed algorithm. Again. They’re always making changes. Sometime users hate them. Most of the time, brands are left scratching their heads. Marketers see change as an opportunity. Here’s the piece I wrote for Catalyst Canada:
“According to the most recent numbers Facebook has made publicly available, more than 19 million Canadians are logging on at least once every month with 14 million of us checking our news feed every day. Add to that the brand updates from the hundreds of thousands of brands and companies on Facebook and the average user has more than 1000 status updates in their newsfeed when they login.”
Click through to read more on the 2015 Changes to Facebook.
I love Twitter. Ever since the days of sending and receiving tweets on my Motorola flip phone via SMS. I also happen to work with the platform on a daily basis. I teach Twitter Marketing at George Brown College here in Toronto. I also help brands understand how to use Twitter from both an organic and paid perspective. It’s really quite interesting. And my work is both fun and rewarding. To be able to help brands increase their reach and achieve goals on my favourite communications tool is very exciting!
There are times when I do use the product where I come away scratching my head. Why would a brand be on Twitter and stay quiet? It’s like having a store and never opening. Or a phone number but never answering a call. An email address but never replying. If you’re a brand and you’re on Twitter you better believe that your customers and potential customers expect you to reply and engage. Especially, if these people are asking for help. I present to you exhibit #1:
@petsmart we got a betta fish for Christmas. We have a 1.5 litre tank w/ filter. When filter is on the fish seems to struggle. #help
— karim kanji (@karimkanji) January 5, 2015
I’m still waiting for a response from Pet Smart.
Here is my closing remarks: Don’t be cute. Stay on brand. Be entertaining. And don’t play baseball if all you know is hockey. Make sense? Here’s my final exhibit. Exhibit #2:
John Oliver: Corporations on Twitter
If you grew up in the 1980s and listened to rap music from that time (or any top 40 radio station in North America – if not the world) then you probably heard artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, Run DMC, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. As the 1980s started to close out one Canadian rapper from Toronto hit the charts with a bang: Maestro Fresh Wes with his chart-topping single, Let Your Backbone Slide.
Since then, Wes has been known as the Godfather of Canadian Rap. He’s continued to release amazing music and now also spends his time mentoring kids around the country.
I recently ran into Wes in the city. We had a great 15-20 minute conversation. Just me and him. He actually motioned for me to come over when we passed. He was very generous with his time and was very polite and engaging.
When it was time for us to separate, he obliged me by taking a selfie. (Please don’t ask what I’m wearing…)
Check out his new single, I Can’t Breathe:
The beginning of any year (the calendar year, lunar year, school year, fiscal year, etc) usually brings with it its fair share of lists and predictions. Last year I wrote about the top 9 Canadians in digital technology to keep your eye on for 2014. I followed that up with a mid-year look at these same people.
This year, I’m planning to do the same thing. I’ve started things off with who I think are the top Canadians to watch in digital technology for this year. Thanks to Brian and Candice for continuing to allow me to contribute on Canada’s best business and technology site. If you’d like to read up on all my itbusiness submissions visit my itbusiness profile here.
Hiking in Toronto is fun.
I recently wrote about a portion of Highland Creek on the University of Toronto’s (Scarborough Campus) property. This weekend we visited Birkdale Ravine which is located in the watershed of Highland Creek. As we recently had snow and rain, the ravine was not only higher than normal but moving very fast.
Here are some photos I took of our visit.
If you’re interested in my hikes you can see them all here. So far.
The Ontario Science Centre continues to be one of the premier tourist destinations in Toronto. And there’s one main reason why: The Centre stimulates the mind and imagination of kids from ages 2-102. My family has gone here for years and we’ve now had a family membership for two years.
We’ve attended the Rock and Roll exhibit during the spring of 2014. And we continue to come on a regular basis. We’ve enjoyed many movies on the huge IMAX screen such as IMAX Hubble, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar, and Great White Shark.
Most recently we’ve enjoyed KidSpark and the Rowland Emett exhibit.
Here are photos from our most recent visit with the link to the photo album on Google Plus.
If you’ve attended the Ontario Science Centre I would love to hear what you’re enjoyed. Leave your comments below.
How will business owners and social media strategists refine the way they engage potential customers on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media channels in 2015?
“Overall, we see social media beginning to reach its potential as a marketing tool – businesses are finding they can use social media channels to sell their products or services while maintaining an authentic voice that social media is famous for,” says Bernard Perrine, CEO and co-founder of SocialCentiv, a Twitter marketing tool designed to help businesses find new customers on Twitter.
Perrine predicts businesses will find success with these top trends in 2015:
Targeting audiences. Instead of trying to reach the masses to find a handful of customers, the idea is to specifically target several small, tailored groups of people via the social media channel that you are most likely to reach them on. That way, companies are reaching more people who are relevant to their business and more likely to become customers.
Blending paid and owned content. As marketers have perfected their social media strategies, they have found that blending their paid and owned media together lets them get their content out to more people while keeping costs down and still maintaining an authentic voice. Striving to find the perfect blend of paid and owned media will be the challenge in 2015.
Enlisting employees to help share. When employees are sharing their company’s social media content on their own channels, businesses cash in with a higher organic reach and engaged employees who feel passionately about the company. How should a business organize this effort? Simply ask!
Laughing it up! Social media marketers have found that one of the best ways to resonate with their followers – many of which are Millennials – is to be silly and give them a good laugh. Businesses can achieve this through pictures, videos or even corny jokes. Humor has boundaries – make sure that jokes are within good taste, tied to the business and relevant.
