What makes an event trend locally?

Well, the simple answer is that the #hashtag or term needs to show up on the Twitter stream so often that it starts trending.  This past week #TIFF ( Toronto International Film Festival) was trending in Toronto (if not Canada) on Twitter.

Which brings me to a question I want to help answer:

How do you trend?

On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs opened their pre-season schedule against the Ottawa Senators.  This game at the Air Canada Centre was sponsored by Coca Cola’s Coke Zero brand.  But this story began a couple of months ago…

Earlier this summer I was invited to participate in a marketing promotion that the Toronto Maple Leafs were participating in.

Sponsored by Coca Cola’s Coke Zero brand, a number of Maple Leafs and coaches “assaulted” a men’s beer league.  This was the opening of the summer long promotion hyping up the “free” pre-season game between the Maple Leafs and hated Ottawa Senators.

On this evening, Joallore Alon (@clickflickca), Sean Ward (@seanward), myself and a few others descended on the Leafs practice facility in Etobicoke.  We met the “beer” hockey players, the Maple Leafs players and coaches and even a bunch of Coke Zero promotional personalities.

After tweeting 140 characters at a time, we found out that the term #CokeZeroFansFirst started trending in Toronto. No big deal, I thought.  Until I was told that Coke never trended (globally or in Toronto) during the entire World Cup.  It did not even trend during Coke’s World Cup Trophy tour.

Yet here was a local event that did trend.  Here are a few  reasons why I think it did:

1.       Concentration.  Although it was a small event, there were at least a dozen people who were tweeting at the event live.  Out of this, 4-5 people tweeted at least a half a dozen times.

2.       Inclusion.  Include people who are not at the live event.  A few of us decided (with the support of the Leafs) to give away a few free tickets if they tweeted with the hashtag #CokeZeroFansFirst.  And because Torontonians love the Leafs they tweeted like crazy to “win” those free tickets.

3.       Local.  Yes, Twitter is global.  Yes, social media allows a brand to have a global reach at a low-cost.  However, the power of social media is in the local aspect.  Keeping strategies local gives a brand the opportunity to be a “big fish in a small pond.”

Joallore may have said it best,  “I think it was the influencers snowballing the event that made the event.  A combination of an established property in the Maple Leafs, the new trades and Twitter personalities made it easy.  It’s all about timing.”

The next question that should be asked is…

Why do you want to trend?

The simple answer: To peek curiosity and create brand awareness.  Imagine taking a look at your twitter stream (whether it’s everyone you follow or a specific list you’ve created) and seeing a #hashtag appear throughout a part of the day (or even the whole day.)  You naturally become curious.

Then you start asking questions.  And then so does everyone else.

Tweets begin to spread and the hashtag starts to take on a life on its own.  If done properly (and tied to an online property where people can detailed information on the product/service/campaign) a brand can create a blanket of awareness in a city, country and even worldwide.

What value do you place on your brand being the talk of the town?  Especially if its positive? What value do you place on more people becoming fans of your brand and eventually purchasing from you?

All because you saw a value in using social media and the power of a community of brand ambassadors.

That’s the power of trending, the power of community and the power of social media.

Here are two videos I made from the ambush event and the first game.  I hope you enjoy.

#CokeZeroFansFirst Ambush Event:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfIolrqR3V0]

#CokeZeroFansFirst Pre-Season Game:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BP-GVJViyE]

Three great guests joined me this week as we discussed “the future of media.”  (You can listen/watch HERE.)

We had Sean Ward, Karen Schulman Dupuis and Kevin Keane.  All three of them more than added great content, expertise and knowledge to the conversation.

One topic that did come up was the recent completion of the Bell and CTV merger.  The conversation led to a discussion on the viability of closed wall gardens.  Then on Monday Michael Geist penned an article, Media mergers the latest stab at ‘walled garden’ strategy.

I highly encourage you to watch or listen to this podcast and also read Geist’s article.

Here’s my question to you:

What’s your opinion on walled gardens?  Are content providers serious about looking at this as a viable strategy?  Or will they offer everyone’s content?  And at what price?

Sometimes when you’re looking for something and can’t find it you have to create the very thing that you want. I recently asked if there was a list of community managers in Toronto.

I asked this after coming across three pieces of information:

1. Last week I asked on Twitter who would be considered Toronto’s (the city I presently live in) community manager and was surprised that there were only a few people mentioned.
2. Over the weekend I read a section in Amber Mac’s book Power Friending (not an affiliate link!) on how to be a community manager.
3. Jeremiah Owyang defines a community manager as a person within a company, or someone who works for a brand, who works within these 4 (at least) pillars:

1. community advocacy
2. brand ambassadorship
3. online communication
4. customer service and improvement

So, here is a list of community managers in the Toronto area (not including myself):

1. Erin Bury
2. Sheldon Levine
3. Melissa Smich
4. Stuart Thursby
5. Nafi Dhanani
6. Robb M.
7. Eric Floresca
8. Crystal Gibson
9. Dennis Logan
10. The Creative Type
11. Noorin Ladhani
12. Katharine Foster
13. Andrew F. Stewart
14. Mary Pretotto
15. Naomi Elise
16. Julie Tyios
17. Meghan Warby
18. Gary Hilson
19. Trina Boos
20. Melissa Feeney
21. Parth Shukla
22. Lindsey McInerney
23. Hardeep Gosal
24. Colin Smillie
25. Jared Golberg
26. Aerin Guy
27. Soniya Monga

Obviously, this is an incomplete list.  However, I hope that it is of use to you.  If you think anyone should be included, or even excluded from this list, please feel free to comment below.

Update (9/9/10):

1. Michael Nus
2. Sameer Vasta
3. @kathduffy
4. Dave Duncan
5. Mike Mahoney
6. @alexukie
7. Carolyn Van
8. Gloria Chic
9. @feartheweekend
10. @hambfeck
11. Jonathan Sinden