Category Archives: social media
#NestWarming: A tour of @TwitterCanada’s new Toronto office
Last night I was invited to visit Twitter Canada’s new Toronto office: #nestwarming. It’s a great space on King Street West just east of trendy Liberty Village. and about a 45 minute walk from my office.
Brendan Canning or alt-rock band Broken Social Scene was spinning the tunes at #nestwarming
Oh Sara!
After capsizing last weekend during #PaddleTheDon I’m back on the saddle/paddle/canoe.
My girlfriend. 🙂
Me with the Captain.
#MayTheForceBeWithYou
This gum ball lasts for 140 chews. Seriously. 🙂
Top Ten Things To Know About Twitter
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I am a huge user and fan of Twitter. I compiled a list for friend and former Welcome! guest Mark Farmer. Here is that list:
- Twitter is an open and accessible public network. Users can search for content that is meaningful to them and follow users that provide this content. At any time on almost any connected device.
- People follow three distinct types of people: those that they know, people they want to know, and people that are in the know.
Click Webheresies for more of this list!
Twitter’s Mobile App now has simple analytics
By now you’re probably very familiar with Twitter’s new analytics. For those who haven’t seen this you can now see analytics on a post basis from your Twitter mobile app.
Previously we had to login to ads.Twitter.com to see our analytics. However, with more than 75% of users (Canadians) of Twitter on mobile, Twitter was bound to offer users the ability to view their analytics on mobile.
Here’s what we see on the web:
When we clicked on the tweet we would see analytics that included:
Now on our Twitter mobile app, here is what we see:
You can see from the above image that we now have the ability to “view tweet activity”. And here’s what that looks like:
We are shown impressions (how many people saw the tweet), engagements (how many people clicked the tweet) and details on engagement (here we can see how many people expanded the Tweet, clicked on the hashtag, and clicked to see the profile).
According to Twitter here is what we will be able to see:
So what does this all mean?
Most importantly, you will be better able to understand the performance of your tweets. Are people seeing them? And if so, how many of them are actually taking any sort of action? Again, this information has been available for some time via Twitter web. But now that we all have access to the metrics on mobile, we should all be able to better understand the success of our tweets (business or otherwise).
Twitter at Advertising Week Canada
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.”
The Day I Interviewed a Big Thinker
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!
The Legitimization of Social Platforms as Performance Channels
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.
The latest Facebook changes
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.
Corporations on Twitter
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 TwitterÂ
How Will Businesses Use Social Media in 2015?
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.