We’re sitting at the Oshawa train station, barely outside of Toronto and it’s been a little over an hour since I checked-in on Foursquare, broadcasting to those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook that I was heading to Ottawa. Thanks to such modern conveniences as free Wi-Fi, I’ve been able to check my email and get a bit of work done. When I logged into Facebook, I noticed a couple of messages linked to my original post. One, from an old college friend who warned me that it’s only 13ºC and rainy in Ottawa, hoping I’d brought a jacket. Another from a friend who asked if I was visiting for business or pleasure.
I explained I was in town to help out family and wouldn’t have time to get out. It was then that he asked what time my train was arriving and offered to pick me up. Here we are again, serendipity, much as I discussed in my last post that was oh, so long ago. A few minutes later I got a call from my Mum, telling me someone would be picking me up. I told her not to bother; that was already taken care of.
Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’
When Will It All End?
That’s a common question we get from people entering the social fray. “Facebook. Twitter. Foursquare. When does it end?”
It doesn’t. And that’s a good thing.
The latest social network I’ve looked into is called Stickybits. Where Facebook connects you to a network of friends and Foursquare connects you to a location, Stickybits does this with both and a brand. How does it work? First, you download an application to your mobile device (only Android and iPhones thus far), then scan anything that has a barcode–a granola bar, a box of Band-Aids, a bottle of Coke. Stickybits then asks you to attach a note, photo, video or audio clip which it then sends (with your location) to a stream where others from around the world can share.
What’s the point?
Well, I could scan a can of Guinness and send like-minded drinkers a cheers from Toronto. I could scan a food product and send along a recipe for others to try out. As David Berkowitz from Inside the Marketer’s Studio explains: “People are already experimenting with Stickybits in cases such as scavenger hunts and business cards. Soon enough, brands will get to take control of their own bits and share their own messages with consumers. Right now, it’s all about having fun, and with any luck it will largely stay that way.”
But what about the numbers? Exactly how many people are doing this and do I really need to be there? The answers: not many and probably not yet. Maybe never. But with all things social, you should be less concerned with how many people you’re hitting and working toward conversing with those that matter to you and your brand. Will Stickybits work for you and your business? Perhaps. The key is to keep yourself open to these new opportunities and decide for yourself if you should embrace them or not.
Are you ready for the next thing?
Kicking into High Gear
Unveiling the Audi R8 Spyder
Yesterday was quite an enjoyable—albeit busy—day at the Canadian International AutoShow’s Media Day. Both Kyle and I met early before making our way to the South Metro Toronto Convention Centre for Chrysler’s presentation. I was there to take photos, tweet and help out Kyle with our wee Flip videocamera. We managed to catch the majority of the presentations and interview half a dozen manufacturers for an episode of AutoShow WebTV which we’ll produce and post on YouTube (which you can check out here). It was quite the job juggling cameras and tweeting more than 20 updates (with pictures) but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a whole lot of fun.
It was a great event that added yet another layer to our experience in both social and experiential marketing. The trip down naturally increased our engagement with the AutoShow’s website community, Twitter followers and Facebook fans. In addition, it helped create even more patron excitement before the Show opened.
Case Study: Google Wave+DropBox+Twitter
Catching a new wave.
Welcome to what we expect will be an exciting new year, filled with opportunity and prosperity. Everyone at One On One is up for new challenges and eager to forge ahead. And we’re already kicking into high gear with this year’s Canadian International AutoShow. The AutoShow is a client that has given us much flexibilty and many opportunities to try out different techniques and technologies.
In point of fact, while we were off, a group of us were busy maintaining the website (autoshow.ca) plus two daily contests. The first is a Daily Ticket Giveaway whereby entrants visit a link (here) and provide some personal details which enters them into a daily draw to win a pair of tickets to this year’s AutoShow. Upon completing the entry, they are presented with a thank-you page which encourages them to tweet the hashtag #autoshowtees on Twitter, thereby entering them in a daily draw to win an AutoShow t-shirt.
As each one of us was in charge of a different aspect of the contests, we turned to Google Wave to help make the process simpler. If you’re unfamiliar with Google Wave, it’s an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. You create a “wave” which can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. It was perfectly suited for this project and was much more efficient than simply using e-mail.
And so, I would receive word of the day’s Ticket Giveaway winner in Google Wave, then create a PDF claim form from existing files in my DropBox. If you’re not using DropBox and find yourself ferrying files on a USB stick, you might want to check it out. DropBox is a cross-platform, cloud-based storage application and service which lets you store and sync files between different computers and various users. I find it indispensable.
Once the winners were picked and the forms sent out, we would turn to the AutoShow’s Twitter account (@autoshowcanada) to let everyone know who had won the day’s tickets and to pick a t-shirt winner. While this may all sound long and complicated, it would only take up 15 to 20 minutes a day. In the end, it enabled us the opportunity to enjoy our holidays from home—or wherever we were—without having to come in to the office every day. We experienced no glitches and all technologies–Google Wave, DropBox and Twitter–worked flawlessly.
