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Blab! Media Is Movin' Into the House!
Making the transition from home office to real office has been an adventure so far! As of August 1st, Blab! Media will be an official tenant at The House on the corner of Elliott and Pelissier downtown! We’re really excited that we finally have a place to call home! If you’ve never heard of The House before, it’s a social experiment that was originally launched by four local entrepreneurs. Over the past year it’s grown to be an innovation and collaboration hub that is quickly becoming a popular spot for creative-minded individuals.
Owners Rino Bortolin of Rino’s Kitchen and Shane Potvin of Spotvin Design are inviting the community to come out today between 2pm and 8pm. Chef Bortolin is celebrating the opening of a pub component to his restaurant, Rino’s Kitchen, and designer Shane Potvin (Spotvin) has completed two years in business. Blab! Media will be at The House all day mingling with old friends and making some new friends along the way and we’d love for you to join us! There will be live music in the garden, food, and some great local art on the walls featuring Sandi Wheaton’s recent Art Gallery of Windsor photography show: Promised Water / Promised Land. Coincidentally, The House is also looking for tenants to fill two hardwood-floored offices, and if you’re interested, you could be our new neighbours!
Be sure to stay tuned for more office updates and don’t miss your chance to catch a sneak-peek of Blab! Media’s new home! We love visitors so come on out and celebrate with us!
What Is Google+ And What Does It Do?
Just this week we started using Google+ to see what all the hype was about. At first we were unimpressed with the simple profiles and the lack of customization options but soon after we remembered a time when Facebook was the same way. There is no doubt that over time Google+ will grow and develop into a more diversified and detailed social network but in the meantime, it’s a nice reminder that sometimes less is more. Whether you haven’t been able to wrangle up an invite yet, you have no interest in trying it out, you hate Google, love Google or are obsessed with Facebook, this post will give you some insight into Google+ features and help you make that tough decision; to use or not to use?
Circles
Google+ places a strong emphasis on privacy features and tends to shy away from universal openness exhibited by other social networks like Twitter. Everything you do and share on Google+ revolves around your circles. These circles represent different acquaintances in your life. They are personalized and organized by you into groups such as friends, family, professional etc. Whenever you upload new content or update your status on Google+, you have the option to specify which circles can see your content.
Sparks
We all like certain things and it’s no surprise that we want to follow topics online, share information and start a conversation with people who share the same interests. Sparks is a feature offered by Google+ that allows users to do just that. Just enter your interests in the Sparks search bar and Google immediately delivers a feed of content from across the internet on any topic you want in over 40 languages. You can even bookmark topics for quick future access. Sparks is well organized, visually appealing and easy to navigate making it a must-use feature that’s bound to take up a lot of your time!
Hangouts
Everyone loves to socialize so it’s no surprise that Google+ has managed to incorporate Hangouts as a unique feature on it’s network. Hangouts allows up to ten people to participate in a group video chat. The best part about this feature is that anyone can launch it and when you do so, it shows up in your activity stream so any of your circle contacts that are online can join in at any time. I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a Google+ favourite!
Mobile Apps
Almost everyone has a smartphone these days so mobile applications are growing in popularity. Instant Upload is a photo sharing app that lets you add photos directly from your phone into a private album that you can share with anyone in just one click. As of yet, there is no limit on the file size, the number of albums or the number of photos. When it comes to video uploading, Google+ has restrictions that limit each video to 15 minutes but they allow up to 1080p resolution.
Have you ever tried texting four of your friends at once to try and plan a movie date? With Huddle, a group messaging app, you can let all your friends within a certain circle know what’s going on and you can all chat together in one place at the same time. It’s essentially like Blackberry messenger for Android devices.
Unfortunately these mobile apps are geared towards Android devices for the time being and there’s no telling if mobile apps will ever be available for Blackberry or iPhone users. Based on Google’s relationship with Apple, I doubt the apps will ever be compatible with Apple products but only time will tell.
Google+ is definitely a work in progress. There are no doubt bugs that need to be fixed and kinks that need to be worked out but it seems like the foundation has been set and from what we can tell, it’s solid this time. Long gone are the days of Orkut, Wave and Buzz. Hopefully this time Google hits a home run and gives Facebook a run for their money. With a sleek user-interface that makes excellent use of white space, new innovative features and simple functionality, Google+ is positioned to make it’s mark on social networking. Have you tried it yet? Let us know what you think!
Windsor Star Reader Report: Social Media Day in Windsor
The Windsor Star
BY JASON VIAU/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
June 30th 2011
WINDSOR, Ont. — Social media has increasingly become a necessity for businesses in Windsor to achieve optimal client engagement.
Many local entrepreneurs are utilizing free online tools — such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn — to attract clientele, connect with consumers and stay competitive in both the local and global markets. Social Media Day marks its second annual event Thursday and encourages social media gurus all over the world to celebrate and interact with other likeminded web enthusiasts.
Known on Twitter as hashtag, #SMDay, the concept was created by Mashable — a news, technology and web culture source — and designed to foster the use of advanced technology and promote the ability to send real-time information around the globe. Last year’s event encouraged more than 12,000 tech fanatics to celebrate social media technologies at over 600 venues in 93 countries. The success of the gathering lead Victoria, B.C. to declare Social Media Day an official holiday. Human beings aren’t the only ones to attend communal events — an alpaca, the most social animal on the planet, pranced into the Social Media Day party in Cleveland last year.
Last minute efforts to assemble Windsor’s first Social Media Day came to fruition after Daryna Kulya, a business and computer science graduate from the University of Windsor and a local tech-savvy social networking advocate, supplied a location and promoted the event. Prior to this, the nearest location to celebrate the occasion was at Motor City Casino in Detroit, which is expected to attract 1,000 techies.
“I thought it would be good to increase awareness, have people connect and put Windsor on the map,” said Kulya.
Social media is one component of a business’s success and many seasoned entrepreneurs strongly encourage new startup ventures to integrate this marketing strategy into their business plan.
“I think with social media we are starting to see a lot more startup (businesses) and entrepreneurs especially in the younger generation,” said Jessica Apolloni, co-founder of Blab!Media, a Windsor-based company that assists other businesses with social media development.
Katie Stokes, co-founder and CEO of Blab, said companies who don’t take advantage of social tools to market their business on the World Wide Web are “missing out.”
Ali Al-Aasm, co-founder of Red Piston, a company specializing in building applications for mobile devices in Windsor, said he surmises social media to be a new advertising concept, one where others advertise for you even though they may not realize it.
“People will push products to succeed if they feel a connection with the company,” said Al-Aasm.
The amount of time spent on social media websites will dictate the return on your investment and Pina Ciotoli, co-founder of WindsorEats, a company which showcases local eateries, refers to social sites as an “invaluable” resource. Although they are free, she says, you’re essentially paying with the amount of time spent socializing and interacting with your followers.
“I definitely don’t say that having a social media account for your business is free. Sure, the application is free for you to use but you have to input the time and the energy to keep it going. It’s not something that you just create and leave on its own and think ‘I’m done with that,’” said Ciotoli.
Ciotoli’s brother, Adriano Ciotoli, is the co-founder and has been the “face” of WindsorEats since its inception in 2004. He said applications such as Facebook and Twitter have been essential to achieving truthful and honest feedback from his patrons but cautioned that if used improperly it can lead to a loss of traffic to any business.
“A lot of the things we do is through feedback that we’ve gotten from people through social media.” said Adriano
“If you use (social media) as a one-way communication it’s almost certain you will fail. You really have to leave it open for dialogue. It has to be a two-way street and you have to give as much as your taking but you can’t think of it as traditional advertisement where your just pushing a message,” he added.
When selecting specific tools, social media whiz Stokes says companies shouldn’t spread themselves thin and attempt to use every platform but instead track down an audience, seek out competition and assess which programs best suit the businesses’ needs.
“I think it’s important to note that just because there are hundreds of social media networks does not mean that every business needs to go out and open an account on every single one of those,” said Stokes.
“Social media is not the be-all (and) end-all. You can’t just have social media accounts and expect your business to have sales through the roof. It’s more so apart of a successful marketing strategy … if you choose to ignore it you’re ignoring a place where you can interact with your customers.”
Large corporations such as Kodak are taking note of the growing trend and realizing the importance of social media as it has become more prevalent in recent years by employing a chief listening officer (CLO). Beth LaPierre is Eastman Kodak’s first CLO and compares herself to an air traffic controller as they are responsible for safe and efficient flow of air traffic; she is at the helm of ensuring the efficient flow of social media data.
“As far as importance goes you’re seeing large corporations now creating positions called CLOs … it just goes to show how serious that businesses are taking it and rightly they should be,” said Adriano
Social media use amongst small businesses has doubled over the past year from 12 per cent to 24 per cent and one-fifth actively used social media as a snippet of their marketing strategy according to a study sponsored by Network Solutions, a company with the sole objective of providing resources to small businesses, and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The study also revealed that 75 per cent of small businesses surveyed have a company page on a social networking site. Firms in the education, health and social services sectors rely more heavily on social media to convey their message.
“It’s really neat to see the kind of scope that social media does bring to a small business who can’t afford to pay the regular prices for advertising. It’s hard for me personally to front that cost until my business gets to a point where I can really really justify it. Social media is my primary source to get out there,” said Shane Potvin, founder of a locally-based web design, branding and illustration company.
He added that the vast majority of his business comes through referrals, whether it be word-of-mouth — which he describes as “old school media” — or social networking sites.
Potvin said he utilizes his iPhone as a mobile social tool and interacts with clients via Twitter and Facebook and responds to emails, all while waiting at the dentist’s office. He said he believes the future of social media will be a lot more automated and hopes it will promote more entrepreneurship.
We’re still dealing with the old way of things and the new way of things. I’m tired of not being able to do everything in one place. I hope it moves towards a world where business people can latch on in a certain way and personal can latch on and there is some division,” said Potvin.
“Moving forward we’re going to get so heavily connected …”
To see the original article click here
Windsor-Essex Celebrates Social Media Day!
All around the world people are coming together to celebrate social media. Today is a celebration of how social media has shaped our communities and created a fundamental shift in communication. It’s a day to celebrate our connectivity and to honour the platforms that have changed the way the world shares information. To get in on the action, Daryna Kulya, a business and computer science graduate from the University of Windsor and a local tech-savvy social networking advocate, supplied a location and began promoting the event. Local business, citizens and social media advocates such as ourselves have stepped up to help promote the event and organize a fun gathering for like-minded individuals.
As part of Social Media Day, WEtech Alliance, an organization focused on helping Windsor-Essex technology-centric companies succeed, spoke to multiple entrepreneurs who rely on social media services every day. The article mentions local businesses such as Spry, Spotvin, WindsorEats, Red Piston and of course, Blab! Media. Conducting our interview via Skype, we spoke with WEtech Intern Jason Viau, and had a chance to discuss how social media impacts our business and why it’s so important for other businesses to utilize its services. To read more and see what other local businesses have to say, click here for the full article.
While social media is alive and well in Windsor, there are still naysayers and traditional marketing professionals who are hesitant to explore this vast medium of possibilities. Education and a general knowledge of how social media works and what it offers could greatly benefit many Windsor-Essex businesses. In the future, Blab! Media will strive to provide the information these businesses so desperately need but for the time being, social media day is about sharing ideas and inspiration to help Windsor-Essex move forward.
The meetup will take place tonight (June 30th) at 6:00pm. It’s being held at Vermouth (333 Ouellette Ave) and anyone who wishes to attend is welcome! Please click here for more details.
Can I Be Your Friend? Viral Video Promotes English Opera
Every once and a while a viral video on Youtube makes a big impact. Just last week I came across this promotional video for The English National Opera. The video is being used to promote a new opera entitled Two Boys and the performance is said to “lift the lid on the risks of life online.” To spread their message, they created an entertaining video that features one man roaming around and approaching strangers in public to ask them questions. The video is intended to open our eyes so, as social media users, we become aware that the way we’ve been conditioned to act online isn’t necessarily normal or safe. Sometimes it takes a video to make us realize that online interaction does not translate to human interaction as seamlessly as we’d like to think. Watch the video below and let us know what you think.
MobManager Helps Business Organize, Track and Analyze Daily Deals
When we wrote about Groupon a few weeks ago, we were happy to pass along the concept of preparedness to ensure that any group buying transaction pushes your business forward. In the process of researching, we’ve come across an online tool directed at businesses participating in group buying deals and it’s definitely worth a closer look.
As expected, the group buying industry has seen its fair share of growth recently. It’s no secret that consumers love a good deal and that more people are jumping on the bandwagon to save money. What fails to make news, however, is the industry’s downside. Businesses worldwide are beginning to open up to the concept of group buying and many have already begun experimenting by launching deals in their local area. The problem is that many of these businesses are slowly loosing what seems like a hopeless fight. In order for this industry to survive and continue to thrive in the future, merchants need tools and support to succeed. If the businesses can’t make it work, then there are no deals to be had! Cue the solution.
In June 2010, small business owner David Wachtendonk decided to take Groupon for a spin. At the time, there were no tools available to merchants so they could manage their own deals online. In search of more substance, David pulled together his own team and created some tools to solve his problems.
“I wanted to have more control and these new tools helped me achieve my goals,” said David, “Later on I realized that what I’d created to make my life easier could help other people as well!”
Frustrated with the lack of concern exhibited by popular group buying sites, David and business partner Christopher Lee set out to offer their services to other struggling merchants. And just like that, MobManager was born! Finally, merchants offering group buying discounts had a place to evaluate, analyze and plan for the future to ensure success for their business.
MobManager allows merchants to manage redemption, track ROI and even offers a loyalty feature that lets them follow-up with deal participants. The loyalty feature utilizes permission-based marketing, creating automated, opt-in, drip marketing campaigns. In addition, business managers can get a better understanding of their daily deal campaigns by using MobManager’s dashboards and reporting capabilities to answer questions like, “How much revenue is being generated per customer?” or “Is this daily deal campaign profitable?”
In the future, MobManager hopes to become part of a standard redemption process that will provide customers and merchants with a better experience and, in turn, positively impact the industry itself. Only time will tell if group buying is here to stay but in the meantime, services like MobManager are making the process a lot more painless for merchants that are interested in exploring new territory. To learn more about what services MobManager offers and how they can help your business, be sure to visit their website.
5 Tips To Avoid A Social Media Scandal
In the past week, Republican Anthony Weiner has taught the world some very valuable lessons. Last Friday a lewd photo was sent via his twitter feed to a college student in Seattle. The photo managed to stir up some controversy as Weiner publicly denied posting it, stating that his accounts had been hacked and he was in the process of hiring a lawyer to investigate. At one point, when asked by multiple reporters if the man in the photo was him, he responded saying he wasn’t sure. Throughout this media frenzy, many people began to doubt his sincerity as he dodged questions and denied all claims with a straight face.
Yesterday, during a public press conference, Weiner admitted to sending the photo and confirmed that the man in the photo was him. The congressman said, “Last Friday night I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I had posted to Twitter, I panicked, I took it down and said I had been hacked. I then continued to stick to that story which was a hugely regrettable mistake.”
Surprisingly enough, this is a very common mistake on Twitter. As you may remember, other high profile organizations have been embarrassed by Twitter mistakes before. Earlier this year, a Chrysler employee was terminated after dropping the f-bomb on the automaker’s Twitter account, and a Red Cross social media specialist tweeted drunk on the organization’s behalf after a HootSuite slip up.
In honor of these brand-abolishing mistakes, we’ve put together a list of the top five tips to avoid a social media scandal. After all, a wise man named George Santayana once said, “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
1) Remember that everything you post online is public whether you set it as “private” or not.
2) The only sure-fire way to ensure that your information, photos etc stay private, is to avoid posting them online.
3) If you know you’ll be out on the town and there’s a possibility that you could use your device while intoxicated, leave it at home. It’s too easy to lose control of inhibitions and internal censors when your judgement is impaired.
4) Always think before you post. No amount of security can protect you from your own thoughts. If you wouldn’t say this in front of a customer, you shouldn’t be tweeting it.
5) If you slip up and make a mistake, admit it, apologize and move on. Lying to cover up an issue just delays the inevitable.
Is Groupon The Right Fit For Your Business?
Coupons are not a new concept. Chances are your family has been saving money for years by cutting out coupons from flyers and as the times changed, printing them from the internet. The truth is, everyone loves to save money and Groupon’s business is built around the public’s desire for a good deal. Group buying has recently become a growing phenomenon. As consumers begin to realize the benefits, businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to offer whatever deals they can.
Each day, Groupon offers a new deal on food, retail merchandise, or experiences in your city. As a user you can purchase these deals online or through their mobile app. Each deal requires a certain number of users to purchase before it “tips” and becomes active. This ensures that businesses participating get the desired minimum amount of users to purchase. Businesses can also set limits in terms of how many coupons are available for purchase, when they expire, how they can be used etc.
The important thing to remember is that while Groupon is a great business with a great concept, it may not be the best fit for you. There are many factors that come into play when organizing a deal through Groupon and as a business, it’s vital that you’re prepared in advanced.
Can You Afford To Offer The Discount?
The first step in determining if Groupon will work for your business is to start crunching some numbers and learning more about how the process works. Upon investigation, businesses will learn that Groupon typically takes 50% of sales. If your business sells 1000 Groupons for $15 each that’s $15,000 in total so Groupon gets $7,500 and you get the other $7,500. If those 1000 people all come into your business and spend exactly $15, you’re left with no other profit whereas those who come in and spend more than the allotted $15, put that money directly into your pocket. It’s very important to figure out how much your business can sacrifice financially in order to really leverage a group buying deal.
How Will You Handle The Traffic?
Imagine that you sold 1000 Groupons that, according to the terms of use you provided, expire in three months. You have to assume that in the next 90 days, these 1000 people will be waling through your doors and significantly increasing your traffic. This is an important factor for smaller businesses who have a very desirable product or service. Often times businesses forget that once the deal is over, they’re now responsible for how it plays out. If they can’t handle the traffic because they have very few employees, a small storefront, or few resources, it could jeopardize the customers experience. The smartest way to eliminate this issue and avoid it from the start is to set a limit on how many Groupons can be sold for your business. This is a great example of how planning ahead can save you a lot of grief!
Are You Prepared To Track Redemptions?
Once your business has made its appearance on Groupon and customers have purchased the deal, it’s your turn to take over the reins. Each Groupon is only redeemable once, so when the barcode is scanned, the customer forfeits the coupon to the business. The process of tracking redemptions can prove very useful. As a business owner it ensures that you’re aware of how many Groupons have been redeemed so you can plan ahead. Tracking Groupon redemptions helps you stay on top of things and ensure the process runs smoothly. What many businesses fail to realize is that tracking these coupons can provide them with loads of interesting information in terms of buying habits. How much did these Groupon customers spend? When did they redeem the coupons? Did they buy any additional as gifts?
Have You Educated Your Staff and Created a Game Plan?
You’re potentially bringing in new customers with Groupon and you want their first impression to be amazing so they’re enticed to return without a coupon in the future. Ensuring that your staff is educated and prepared to handle Groupons can make all the difference. Do you know how the staff will ring up the deal on the cash register? Do your employees know how to properly track the incoming Groupons? There are many bases that beed to be covered to provide the best user experience possible but preparing things in advance and staying organized can help the process run smoothly.
Have You Done Your Research?
Researching Groupon’s services and reading business case studies can really help steer you in the right direction. It’s important to remember that there are many responsibilities and risks involved with group buying deals, as there are with almost any aspect of marketing. At the end of the day, it all comes down to making an informed decision so you can ensure that your business will be prepared to take advantage of everything Groupon has to offer.
Calculating The ROI Of Your Mom
Infographics can be very valuable tools and can help you learn more about a specific topic by displaying statistics and important information visually. But sometimes they can be funny too! Everyone is asking us about the ROI of social media when in fact, we should be asking you, “What is the ROI of your mom?”
Transforming The URL Shortener Into A Serious Marketing Tool
At some point in our lives, chances are, we’ve all used the services provided by a URL shortener. They’re a great tool to utilize, especially when posting content to a micro-blogging platform like Twitter where every single character counts! Now it may seem that a URL shortener can’t really get much better, but a new startup called Bre.ad is seeking to change that mindset.
Bre.ad is, as expected, a URL shortener. It shortens links, has the ability to sync to Twitter and Facebook and it provides link analytics. What makes this new startup so unique is that it helps users promote brands, interests and charities through a full-page interface. The difference becomes apparent when you click on the Bre.ad link. You aren’t taken directly to the content, but instead, are re-directed to a webpage that was created by the person who originally shortened the link. These pages display messages left by the person who created them as well as 720 pixel by 300 pixel billboards. The user stays on the page for five seconds before being re-directed to the link he/she originally clicked on.
These pages are delightfully referred to as “Toasts” and they can be used to promote anything from a personal Twitter account, to a charity that you support. As a user, you can upload multiple “Toasts” and when you generate Bre.ad links, they will be chosen from at random.
Bre.ad founder Alan Chan believes that people are always willing to promote causes whether they’re personal or business related so his goal was to find a simple, classy way for them to display their passion. While Bre.ad hasn’t gone public yet, its Beta version will be launched in the next few weeks. In the meantime, Lady Gaga, North Face and many other brands already have Toast pages. The site even features an explore option that lets you see which brands, causes and profiles are the most popular.
It’s difficult to judge public reaction to Bre.ad as it’s yet to be released. The service was designed not to feel like advertising but users could avoid clicking on Bre.ad links because they know they’ll be forced to watch an ad. It’ll be interesting to see if people adopt the technology with open arms and if users can find creative ways to convey their messages through “Toasts”. Who knew URL shorteners had so much to offer?!