Tag: Instagram
Blab Explores The 2017 Small Biz Expo
Last night was a blast! Shoutout to The Windsor-Essex Small Business Centre for putting on an awesome event. Over 70 exhibitors set up shop at The Caboto Club to sell food, alcohol, beauty products, apparel, giftware and more. Blab had a cocktail table in the B2B lounge and had a chance to chat with so many awesome individuals and entrepreneurs about social media marketing. Got to catch up with some good friends and even made some valuable new connections. Blab shared the lounge area with friendly neighbour Biz X Magazine and a handful of other local service based businesses.
The event was the perfect excuse to show off Blab’s new popup banner and print material (sell booklets and social postcards) courtesy of Imaginative Group. It was really great to see how consistently the brand was communicated across all pieces. There’s still something to be said about a nice and functional print piece. Definitely a solid investment!
While fitting everything on a small cocktail table was a challenge, it ended up being the perfect amount of space to showcase my print and add some personality to my display. It’s really important to stay true to your brand, no matter which customer touchpoint you’re exploring.
After a few hours of mingling in the lounge, I managed to escape and grab some food! I picked up some dinner from Cedar Valley Selections (seriously their fattoush salad is amazing) and I couldn’t leave without a few delicious treats from Licia Ruby, Ani & Fabi and Sweet Revenge Bakeshop. By the end of the night, over 500 attendees passed through the doors to shop, eat, drink and mingle. What a great way to support local!
St. Clair Features Blab’s Business Babe Spotlights
Super excited to be featured in an article recently published by the St Clair College Media Plex highlighting Blab’s Business Babe Spotlights on social media! A few months ago I decided to start using my audience on social media to help promote women who are running their own businesses in Windsor-Essex. I’m a big supporter of all things local and often find myself out and about exploring our wonderful city and making new connections with business owners. In my travels I’ve learned about countless incredible businesses that are run by women. Being a female entrepreneur myself, I knew all too well that it can be a struggle to build up a support network so I thought, why not have Blab step in to help these women promote their businesses while offering encouragement and positive reinforcement in an often stressful career path? I got lucky in the friends and family department. I’ve always been surrounded by support in all forms but not every woman has the same opportunities I did. Since I’m a firm believer that we rise by lifting others, that became my inspiration for the campaign which is still running today. Each week Blab features a new women-owned business in Windsor-Essex by showcasing what they do and how they make our community a better place. If you’d like to get involved, please feel free to reach out via email or social media to nominate a woman-owned business that you think deserves a feature! Better yet, go out and support these women. Whether it’s purchasing something from them, promoting them to your networks or offering support as a mentor, it’s amazing what a big difference you can make with such a little gesture of faith.
Big thanks to Ryan Jones for the kind words and the opportunity to chat about woman-owned small businesses in Windsor. You can check out the full article here: http://themediaplex.com/put-your-money-where-your-heart-is/
Proud Sponsor Of WEtech’s 2017 Nerd Olympics
Super excited to be a sponsor for WEtech Alliance’s 2nd annual Nerd Olympics. The event brings together the Windsor-Essex tech community in a fun, team-building competition to challenge the mind & body. It kicks off with the official Opening Ceremonies and Nerd Torch lighting ceremony before the first event on Tuesday September 5th.
Sixteen Tech Company teams will compete in a series of events spread out over the course of three months and just like the real Olympics, they’ll be able to win Gold, Silver & Bronze 3D printed “medals” for each event. The whole event will culminate with the Closing Ceremonies happening at the Tech Awards on Friday November 17th with a presentation of the coveted Nerd Cup.
As a social media challenge sponsor, Blab will be providing all teams with a unique social media challenge that they’ll need to complete for points. The best part? Blab will be at the closing ceremonies to present the challenge award to the team who did the best job. Stay tuned to Blab and WEtech Alliance’s social channels for updates and announcements as the event progresses and don’t forget to follow along during Blab’s challenge week from September 25 – October 1st to see the entries submitted in real time online. Let’s go nerds, you got this!
Neilson 2016 Social Media Report Highlights Interesting Stats
It’s that time of the year again and I’m super excited to be checking out Neilson’s 2016 Social Media Report! If you’ve never read it before, the document highlights the social landscape of the past year, looks at trends and outlines interesting facts/stats. It’s a goldmine for presentation content and also makes for an interesting read, especially when you compare it to reports from years prior. There’s something exciting about watching your industry thrive, grow and develop over time!
Just a few pages in and the stats speak for themselves. Computer usage/accessibility has dropped while smartphone and tablet usage grows. Additional stats further strengthening the notion that mobile is here to stay and smartphone usage is taking over. The bottom line and underlying message of this year’s report: if your content isn’t mobile friendly, you’re in for a rude awakening.
Every single demographic has shown significant growth when it comes to time spent using social media and that’s all contained within the first 6 pages! The document outlines internet purchases, content ratings, engagement, simultaneous usage, TV versus social and so much more. Dedicate some time this week to go through the document and pick out some key facts that pertain to your business or how you use social media. To view or download the full 2016 report, click here.
Have You Heard Of The Mannequin Challenge?
Forget about the Ice Bucket Challenge or the Harlem Shake, the Mannequin Challenge is the newest and hottest trend online. It started in late October with students in high schools across America, but since then, thousands of videos have been uploaded to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Still wondering what it’s all about? The videos feature groups of people – including the occasional celebrity – freezing in formation while someone else films. Some videos are silent while others are set to music but many feature a specific soundtrack: Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane.
Are you jumping on the bandwagon and filming your own video? Don’t forget to use the #MannequinChallenge hashtag!
Blab Celebrates Social Media Day
Each year on June 30th, the world comes together to acknowledge and celebrate the value of social media and how it’s impacted our lives for the better. Cities across the globe celebrate with concerts, events, panel discussions, tweetups and engaging activities that bring the community together as part of a larger discussion. Blab wanted to get involved on a larger scale this year so we’ll be facilitating a discussion about the history of social media on Twitter using the hashtag #WESMDAY2016 while also running a contest and giving away gift cards to four local business that are doing a fantastic job creating and growing their social presence. To enter our contest, click here. But don’t wait too long, it’s only open until midnight tonight!
Social Media Day is an important day of celebration for businesses of all sizes. The tools social platforms provide allow companies with 2 employees to compete on the same level as companies with 2000 employees and the medium in general does a great job of breaking down the barriers of traditional advertising, allowing interaction and engagement for all. As a small business, we know that it’s very important to promote and support other local businesses, especially when their digital presence helps push Windsor into the spotlight online. Regardless of size, industry or target market, the businesses chosen for our Social Media Giveaway have all demonstrated the importance of “finding your thing” online and working hard to do it better than anyone else. The following businesses that were selected for the giveaway each have a social strong-suit that’s worth highlighting and is something we can all learn from:
Cafe March 21st
A charming cafe in downtown Windsor that specializes in pour-over coffee, Cafe March 21st is bursting from the seams with personality. While small in size, the space is quirky, fun and completely unique and owner Henry does a fantastic job of transferring that personality online. The cafe’s social accounts are filled with fun photos, cool updates and customer-generated content that perfectly conveys the brand’s personality in the digital realm. Using social media as an extension of your brand while staying true to its personality can be a difficult task, but the crew at March 21st has nailed it!
Windsor Rock Gym
It can be difficult to generate excitement for a business before its even opened, but Windsor Rock Gym has done a fantastic job of getting the community involved with their launch months before it happens by creating a visual progress checklist and posting updates online as the project nears completion. Often times businesses will begin their social media journey months or years after opening their doors. Taking the plunge before they’ve even become operational would pose a serious challenge for most, but not Windsor Rock Gym! Thank you for setting a great example for other businesses and proving that social media success is about more than sales.
Carrots N’ Dates
In a city full of amazing restaurants, photography can not only help differentiate you, but it can set you far apart from the pack. Carrots N’ Dates, a cozy cafe specializing in wholesome, gluten free and 100% plant based food, has a habit of pumping out some seriously impressive food photography and we couldn’t help but notice. Since launching in 2012 they’ve done a fantastic job of using visuals to share the wholesome goodness they serve every day. Their Instagram photos are a sneak peak inside their well-crafted menu and give consumers a chance to better understand the amount of care and effort that goes into each dish they prepare.
Shop Eco
Ask any marketing expert and they’ll tell you that 2016 is the year of live video and while it offers incredible opportunities and value, a lot of businesses are shying away from it because they aren’t sure how to incorporate it and execute it properly. Shop Eco, a popular eco-friendly boutique in Walkerville, has embraced it on multiple platforms and continues to add value for their growing community with product reviews, updates, sneak peaks etc. It’s refreshing to see a small business dive right in and embrace technology, especially when it can sometimes be a scary transition. If you haven’t had a chance to check out their videos yet, you can visit them on Facebook or Instagram and see the value they provide firsthand!
Blab will also be heading out to Bull n Barrel at 4:30 for the Social Media Day Afterparty so if you’re a fan of social media or you just want to meet some like-minded individuals, come out and have some fun. Want to join in on the conversation online? Use the hashtag #WESMDAY2016 and let’s get chatting!
❤️?? Happy Social Media Day ??❤️
2016 Social Image Size Guide
Visual content is incredibly important in the digital realm but sometimes tracking down and updating image sizes for each social platform can be time consuming. We found this great infographic from Constant Contact that outlines image sizes for some of the most popular social platforms so the next time you need to create a branded graphic or refresh your current images, you can get it done in no time!
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!
