Category: Blog
Blab Wins Biz X Magazine Award
Last night Blab Media accepted the Biz X Magazine Award for Social Media Leader Who’s A Tough Act To Follow! It was an absolute honour to share the stage with so many amazing local businesses who truly make our city unique. It was truly inspiring to hear the words and stories of other business owners and humbling to share mine as well. The food was delicious, the company was superb and the theme was just out of this world! I’d like to thank every single person who voted for Blab Media and made this night possible, every client who believed in my skills, every professional connection who helped me along the way, every friend who supported me and my parents for always believing in me. I’d also like to send a big thank you out to the whole team at Biz X Magazine and everyone who made the awards gala possible. Without you and this event, so many small businesses would go unnoticed and unappreciated.
Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and award winners and thank you for doing your part to make Windsor an amazing place to live, work and play. Cheers!
Want More Likes On Instagram? Take Photos Of People [INFOGRAPHIC]
Instagram can be a difficult platform to master. Everyone loves looking at photos but when it comes to real interaction and engagement between brands and users, things can get tricky. Thankfully, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot took it upon himself to gather a datatset of 1.5 million, randomly selected photos from over half a million different Instagram users in order to analyze what works and what doesn’t when it comes to filters, colours, subjects and more. Take a look at the infographic below and see if your brand is on the path to success!
Is Video The Future Of Social Media?
An interesting infographic from the folks at HighQ was featured on Social Media Today recently so I thought I’d share it. Some people have called 2015 the year of video marketing and as predicted, video has started to play a vital role in social marketing. Email blasts featuring videos, the rise of apps like SnapChat, Vine and Periscope and the fact that major social players like Facebook and Twitter are making it easier to integrate video into their platforms speaks volumes.
The question everyone wants to see answered: Are people actually watching?
What about you? Do you prefer to interact with a video over a photo or text post?
Boost Your City Celebrates First Successful Event
The first-ever two day Boost Your City event was a whirlwind of creative ideas, strategic execution and a whole lot of fun! Day one was fast-paced and incredibly productive with our web development, photography, graphic design and marketing teams brainstorming, strategizing and delegating tasks. The Sweet Revenge girls contributed to the final outcome through mini meetings and sessions with each individual team. By the end of the day, everyone involved had a firm grasp on the direction and began executing individual elements. Day two was a lot more task-oriented, focused and efficient with team members editing, sculpting and finalizing elements. Each team was responsible for rationalizing and reviewing their aspect of the project as part of a group presentation. The Sweet Revenge girls were given an overview of everything the group accomplished over the course of the event and were later provided with a full booklet outlining all strategies, recommendations, and necessary information.
Our team of volunteers was unstoppable! A combination of St Clair College students and industry professionals made up our web development, graphic design, marketing and photography teams. They all demonstrated impressive time management skills, produced inspiring content and kept their cool all while working seamlessly together in a group! We couldn’t have accomplished anything without them and we owe them a big thank you for their time, dedication, insight, skills and contributions to the event.
All of our volunteers worked so well together and it was great seeing each of them contribute their unique skill set and ideas to the final product. We all had a great time despite the strict deadline and could not be happier with the outcome! The Sweet Revenge team was involved throughout the whole process and was able to work with each group to help sculpt the end result. They left with a rolodex full of professional contacts, new branding, print materials, a fully functioning website, custom icons and a full marketing and promotions strategy to help them plan for the future.
On behalf of the whole crew, we wish Saskia and the Sweet Revenge team nothing but the best! Your passion is so evident in everything that you produce and your delicious sweets were no exception. We’re so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with such a talented and motivated young entrepreneur whose passion and positive outlook are contagious. All we ask is that you don’t forget about us little people when you get your own baking show on TLC!
First Boost Your City Business Chosen
We’ve finally chosen the first ever Boost Your City business and we’re incredibly excited to get this project started! We’d like to send a big congratulations out to Saskia Scott and the whole team at Sweet Revenge Bakery in Olde Riverside. Young, fun and motivated to the max, Saskia sees big potential for her bakery to expand in size to start taking on my orders and expanding services. We can’t wait to learn more about her inspiration and her goals so we can give Sweet Revenge the boost it needs to succeed! Stay tuned to our social channels for event teasers and post-event updates as we progress!
Boost Your City Announces Partnership & Launches Applications
We’re very excited to announce that our project, Boost Your City, is officially launching today! We’re also very happy to share our partnership with St Clair College School of Media Art and Design and Genesis Entrepreneurship & Innovation Centre! The first ever Boost Your City event will be held on Saturday June 13th & Sunday June 14th 2015 and it will take place from 9am-4pm both days at the St Clair College Centre for the Arts downtown campus. As a partner, St Clair College and the Genesis Centre will also be generously providing food and beverages for the hard working team of industry professionals and students during this two day project.
Part of the team will include junior positions and we’re excited to announce that these positions will be filled with qualified second year St Clair College students. These students will have the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals in their field of study and will gain valuable real-life working experience they can highlight on their resumes.
Boost Your City is now accepting business and team member applications so small businesses, students and industry professionals who are interested in getting involved can learn more by visiting the website at www.boostyourcity.com and fill out a business application here or a team member application here.
Let’s do this Windsor! We’re counting down the days until we can Boost Your City!
Startup Canada's Day on the Hill 2014
This month was one of our most anticipated events of the year – Startup Canada’s Day on the Hill. An annual event that brings together government leaders and the entrepreneurial community to create dialogue and advance Canadian entrepreneurship. As a Media Sponsor, Blab Media was responsible for creating content, taking photos/videos, managing social channels and generating conversation online throughout the event. Our goals were to lead the conversation online, generate excitement for attendees and keep the rest of the Startup community informed online. While it was a very busy job, working with Startup Canada makes me proud to be an entrepreneur and after attending Day on the Hill in Ottawa, I definitely felt the growing passion other Canadians have for it too.
This one day event brought together nearly 1,000 attendees – a mix of seasoned entrepreneurs willing to share their insight and young startups trying to make meaningful connections. It featured some of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, inspiring Startup Community leaders, media personalities, and government decision makers. The day program was fast paced and fed off of all the positive energy from the attendees. I’ve been to a lot of business events (surprise right?) and sometimes I feel like the networking gets impersonal and well… boring. This didn’t happen for a second and it honestly shocked me. There was a sense of camaraderie – everyone was there with the same goals and it was a collective effort to get to know each other. Where else am I going to hear Frank O’Dea (Founder & CEO of Second Cup) tell the most inspiring rags to riches journey of starting a business, meet Kellie Leitch (Minister of Labour and Status of Women) and Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Minister of National Revenue), laugh along with Dr. Sean Wise (consultant to CBC’s Dragon’s Den), and still get the opportunity to have real conversations with them? I was in entrepreneurial heaven. Packed bootcamps, free mentorship clinics, meaningful government roundtables, an evening soiree, and a bbq after party – it was tough to see it come to an end but I came home inspired and motivated to be a better entrepreneur.
Between all the tweeting, hand shaking, note taking (old school pen and pencil style), device charges, and awkward photo bombs I put together a highlight of my most loved moments from Day on the Hill 2014.
– Jessica
Greetings From The Canada Building!
It’s official, we have a new office and we’re absolutely geeked about the space! We’ve been a bit secretive the past few weeks as we renovated the space, painted the walls, organized our things and adjusted to our new high-rise location but we’re finally ready to show the world! Our office hours are staying the same but our address is now 374 Ouellette Ave suite 609. Stop in and say hi!
Blab Media and Startup Canada Partner Up To Spread Entrepreneurial Message Across Canada
In May 2012, Startup Canada, Canada’s first-ever, entrepreneurial-led national movement, visited Windsor as it toured through the country. Focused on encouraging and supporting the entrepreneurial culture, Startup Canada provided entrepreneurs all across the country with a strong voice. Now in its final weeks of the tour, Startup Canada is proud to welcome Blab Media as a national sponsor! We’ll be offering our social media expertise to help Startup Canada engage and empower their online community.
It’s a great feeling knowing that the services we offer can help give entrepreneurs just like us a voice. We’re honored to be working alongside Startup Canada and representing Windsor on a national scale!
Since launching its National Tour in March 2012, the Startup Canada team has visited more than 30 cities and met with nearly 14,000 entrepreneurs through Town Halls and Fringe Events. Recaps of these events have been captured and shared on the Startup Canada website. The tour’s remaining stops in Ontario and British Columbia will take place in September, with a grand finale event in Vancouver on September 21.
“One of the goals of this tour is to engage 25,000 Canadians in a conversation that fuels a vibrant entrepreneurial culture from coast to coast, says Victoria Lennox, Co-Founder of Startup Canada. “I’m very excited to work with Blab Media to expand our reach through social media and enable Canadian startup communities from all sectors, regions and demographics to participate in this unique national movement.”
The social media campaign will cover a two week span and will roll out August 20th. To get involved, share your ideas and enter to win prizes, you can follow @startupcanada on Twitter, join the Startup Canada Campaign group on Linkedin, and find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StartupCanada. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Social Media Changing How Businesses Recruit Talent
Every single day thousands of businesses are using social media to recruit talent online. Linkedin still rules the web as the place to be for employers, but more companies are now starting to use Facebook and Twitter to find employees as well. Check out this infographic below to see how social media has changed the way businesses recruit talent. As a business do you use social media to find employees? Which platforms do you find most effective?
