Well, now my friend Dave Olson from Elastic Path has informed that they’re offering a free webinar on the subject of “social commerce.” Put simply, they’ll discuss the pros and cons of enabling user-generated reviews on your ecommerce site.
For folks doing business on the web, that is cool all on its own (sign up here), but it also affords me the opportunity to post another one of those funny videos they started publishing a while back:
Once again, the folks from the Common Craft Show have put together a great tutorial; this time on the subject of social bookmarking.
Lee LeFever lays out the concept of bookmarking using Del.icio.us, and along the way explains how tagging works, in just under three-and-a-half minutes:
A great resource for people getting their feet wet in the web marketing space. Remember, every time a site gets bookmarked in this nature, it raises that site’s (or page’s, or entry’s) SEO ranking as well.
With a simple idea and excellent execution, the boys over at StandOut Jobs have created a great little recruiting site that fits nicely into this world of “Web 2.0.”
Started by a partnership of Montreal-ers including friend and fellow entrepreneur/blogger Benjamin Yoskovitz, they’re “changing the face of recruiting.”
How? In a word, video. In their words:
The job market is broken.
Online job sites don’t work.
Hiring people should be an ongoing process.
Hiring people is about having conversations not bureaucracy.
Well if that’s true, then the best way to learn more about their company is to watch one of their own recruiting videos:
Full disclosure: I am an acquaintance of a few of the Elastic Pathers, and the firm that produced the spots as well. That being the case, it should be noted that the email I received containing the link was a terrific example of blogger relations. Here’s an excerpt from the email from Darren Barefoot:
Hi Jordan,
How goes the Barcamp organizing? If that date is secure, I’m optimistic that I’ll stick around for a week after Gnomedex to attend.
I’ll spare you the usual pitch, but I thought you might be interested in these videos we made for Elastic Path.
We’ve done our best to make ecommerce funny (a tall order, I think). There’s a nifty jingle, and the second video prominently features a turnip. I have a bit part as the search engine in the first video–I apologize in advance for my dodgy performance.
Doesn’t sound anything at all like the emails that one usually sees from PR companies pitching bloggers does it? Exactly.
Lee Lefever has done it again. Along with his wife, on the Common Craft Show, Lee has produced another great tutorial to explain a concept that internet newbies have yet to wrap their heads around: wikis.
The concept of an editable page, as Lee explains, is easy to use but a little tricky to explain. He puts in plain English, here:
Today I received an email from The Tyee, an independent news blog here in Vancouver, BC.
It was a pitch of sorts, asking me to check out their new video, and spread the word. It must have worked, because here I am posting about it, just minutes later. Watch the video, then check below for my postmortem of the campaign and pitch:
Pretty entertaining video, especially to those of us in Canada who recognize the antagonists depicted in the short, among them Izzy Asper and Conrad Black. Both are famous for making big bucks while doling out little or no credit (or pay!) to the dedicated folks creating their content. I didn’t laugh while watching the video, but I smiled and nodded up and down several times.
Breaking down the campaign and pitch
The Pitch: Although it was a form letter, the email alerting me to this campaign was addressed to me, and acknowledged the fact that I have commented at the Tyee in the past. The letter also indicated that there was incentive for forwarding it along; a number of different prizes, all in conjunction with the “green” theme, including carbon-neutral goodies and a pair of flip-flops made from recycled tire rubber.
Lastly, since this is to get the word out about The Tyee, the fact that the page containing the video also has a full explanation of The Tyee, its people and its message, one only has to follow this one link to find out everything they need to know.
Ideas for Improvement: A shorter post slug on the campaign page, so it looks cleaner. Plus, I suggest a more personal letter of approach for “blogger outreach,” even though the letter from Editor David Beers was quite good. While I’m at it…The Tyee could afford to cut the word count of most of their posts in half, and increase the number of characters that appear in one’s reader via the feed.
The Verdict
Whoever is responsible for the campaign should be proud of themselves.
Reader, If you’re an American, and the unabashed Canadian sensibility of both the video, the campaign and The Tyee itself has escaped you, then just trust me when I say that this is exactly what our country’s media landscape needed. Tyee, you are indeed “A Feisty One Online.”
*For the uninitiated: “Tyee” (wikipedia entry) is a reference to a large salmon, usually a Chinook, and doubles as a cry when said fish finds itself at the end of a lucky angler’s line. “Tyee! One on!”
I’ll get a chance to upload a lot more photos to the Flickr account (they’ll appear in the feed) upon my return; for now there’s just too much fun to be had, and too many sites to see.
Brace yourselves Canucks fans, because Game Seven goes tonight, and the fever will be at its frenzied peak. Let’s hope that the Canucks’ offense will also show signs of life.
One of the greatest brands in my neighborhood to embrace the social media concept is that of our beloved Vancouver Canucks.
Although I do follow the team throughout the year, I don’t post about them very much. I had the pleasure of attending three games this year, including Game One of the Western Conference Quarter Final against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night. For those who don’t already know, the game was a franchise-record 138 minutes long, and resulted in a 5-4 Canucks win. Big thanks to my darling wife for getting us the invite to Rod’s executive suite for the most exciting game I’ve ever watched.
Which, on its own is enough to want to write a blog post about. But the reason I’ve waited all this time to write about the Canucks is not merely because they could use the moral support as they continue after taking Game 3 in Dallas, (ahead 2-1 in the series) but because the Canucks have truly embraced social media, and it’s bringing the community of their fans closer together.
Case in point: The Fan Generated Content Challenge, which includes several categories with prize packs associated with each. View the “Round One” winners at that link, or just click one of the YouTube vids below.
In other “engaging social media” news, the Canucks almost treat podcasters like the media that they are; giving access to practices and interviews (and of course sidebar widgets) to the likes of the Crazy Canucks, who collectively host a Canucks podcast and blog, and severalother fan sites and podcasts as well. Hey, Canucks front office! Give these cats some tickets to sit amongst the fans, and bask in the glory of the customer evangelism that results.
(Canucks Ultimate Fan Search sidebar widget)
Between periods and during TV timeouts, the massive screens above the ice at GM Place display some of the videos photos that have been submitted by fans.
Or take the much-debated but undeniably community-minded slogan of the Canucks this year: “We are all Canucks.” They have certainly re-embraced the fans, in the wake of an assault lawsuit and an epic lockout.
And so it is with a warm heart and a healthy dose of Canucks nostalgia that I present you with the four winners of “Round One” of the Canucks’ Fan Generated Content Challenge, followed by my own submission, at the very bottom:
The Ultimate Canucks Sacrifice
Two-Year-Old Ultimate Canuck Fan
“Trapper’s Delight,” The Canuck’s Rap
Canucks Chase Flames
And The Crowd Goes Wild!
(Shot by Alex Lee Behan at Game One of the Western Conference Quarter Finals)
I guess you could say the theme here is "Marketing 2.0." I'm fascinated by the rapid changes happening on the web in the world of marketing and new media. Want to join the conversation? Leave a comment, or send me an email.
