There was a heavy snowfall outside Duggan’s Brewery and all over downtown Toronto on Jan 6th, 2011. Unfortunately the inclement weather negatively affected attendance at the Greater Toronto Business Network Meet-Up being held inside the brew pub. All the same, a dozen or more knowledge hungry, independent thinkers joined in conversation downstairs in ‘The Cellar’ opposite the steamy Plexiglas walls of the bottling room which accommodates a giant beer vat in this special event facility. Food and drink was served up alongside hot ideas. Hosted by Mark Bauche of RBC Dominion Securities, the group was composed of medium sized business owners and digital marketing executives. Special thanks to Michael E V the manager on shift at Duggans Brewery that night; he is excellent at his job. Inside the pub, starting at seven pm downstairs, I, Rob Campbell CEO of Smojoe delivered a forty minute seminar on how we use social… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Friends of Smojoe, online business, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Social Media
Taged with: David MacLean, Design Clinic, Duggans Brewery, Guy Matorin, Living in the GTA, Marc Bauche, Meet-Up, Michael Cloke, Randolph Mabaquiao, The Cellar, Volkmar Volzke, Wolf21
Once again City Events steps up and builds a better mousetrap – a networking event that’s also a competition! Deb Lewis consistently designs and presents world class events that are extraordinary. And she’s even better when she teams up with other events industry veterans. Jeffrey Musson is President of three Information Technology (IT) companies, including a wireless product “start up” and an accomplished entrepreneur with 10 years experience in achieving corporate goals through operational excellence and solid financial performance. . Jeff is well known for his ability to effect change through simplifying complex challenges and by motivating staff, along with peers, to meet desired business outcomes. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated success in directing business development with progressive responsibilities, strategic business planning, marketing and contract negotiations with affiliated partners. Jeff received his LL.M. in ADR, at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, in 2007, but he was friends with… Read more »
Posted in: Friends of Smojoe, Future Technology, Mobile software, online business, Personal Blog, Smojoe Events, Social Media, Toronto
Taged with: Adam Ben-Aron, Adil Dhalla, Alex Mackay, City Events, Deb Lewis, Epixome, Gary Puppa, Jeff Musson, My City Lives, Pushlife, Ray Reddy, Social Media, social technology, Vayyoo Connect
I’ve been real busy laying down the bricks and mortar part of Smojoe’s unique social media marketing business – I’ve set up shop inside another, larger and more established web marketing company located in building 58 of the historic distillery complex south of Eastern Ave and Parliament. Last month I bought two new computers for a new office space inside Jib.ca. I hired two new staff members, and have launched eight photo contests on Lenzr.com in less than sixty days. Smojoe recently merged minds with Jib.ca to offer a much wider spectrum of web marketing services. Now we have the capacity for more advanced strategy and execution. The planning is the fun part for me. I love dreaming up the story funnels that are relevance volcanoes from which the multimedia lava rock of photos, videos and hot script will spew forth as memes that compel social interaction. This is the… Read more »
Posted in: Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Personal Blog, Social innovation, Social Media, Web Marketing
Taged with: Age of Earned Media, business to business, buzz marketing, David Shephard, Deb Lewis, Innate Media Group, Jib, Lenzr, Will Webb
Earlier this summer, Smojoe whitened his smile with advanced cosmetic dental surgery. BEFORE & AFTER Dr. Natalie Archer DDS, the Toronto dentist that sponsored the Kids in Action photo contest on Lenzr generously offered to fix my yellow smile using all her wisdom and expensive machinery. It wasn’t entirely free, but I didn’t have to pay full freight either. Seven anterior all ceramic crowns for my teeth 1-4 (upper right first premolar) to 2-3 (upper left canine) across top front of mouth cost $6800, before taxes, but of course I didn’t pay that much… Complete with six YouTube videos and seventeen original pictures, Smojoe’s dental make-over is a detailed chronological account of what exactly happened inside Rob Campbell’s mouth at Rosedale Family Dental Care on June 12th to June 30th, 2010.
Posted in: article marketing, Friends of Smojoe, Personal Blog, Smojoe Clients, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing
Taged with: cosmetic dentist, dental surgery, Dr Natalie Archer, Sherbourne Medical Center, Toronto dentist
Are you looking for an SEO expert to bring search traffic to your website? So is Deb Lewis of TorontoCityEvents.ca, and on Oct 12th she needs your help deciding who to hire. As more and more people shop online, and more and more businesses compete for their dollars, Search Engine Optimization experts are now an essential part of mercantile success. But just who are these guys? Why are these web geeks getting out of limousines in front of bank towers, and taking the elevator to the 65th floor to meet the executives of Fortune 500 companies? Why are these otherwise nerdy smelly socially awkward guys suddenly so special? Maybe it’s cause they’re each rather unique, self taught web wizards – that’s right, they sure didn’t go to school for this lore. No college or university can teach Search Engine Optimization, although some may try. The craft is a strange mix… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Toronto, User Submitted Content, workshop
Taged with: 9th Sphere, Innate Media Group, internet marketing, Michael Cloke, Paul Coulter, Rob Campbell, Romanz, search engine optimization, SEO, Spoke Club, Will Webb, Wolf21
Smojoe is helping promote SPOTLIGHT Unplugged this month, the Up Close and Personal music event fundraiser at the Berkeley Church, 315 Queen St E is to benefit Fife House and support their efforts to provide secure and affordable housing for those living with HIV/AIDS. This is good cause and the event promises to be memorable as it features ‘candid’ acoustic and piano performances by notable Canadian talents. Spotlight Unplugged. Up Close and Personal Thursday September 30th at Berkeley Church, 315 Queen St. East, Toronto The musical line up includes, Hayley Sales, Mark Masri, Kellylee Evans and Micah Barnes. There’s a silent auction and some very small portions of fancy food is also provided. Tickets are $75 each. For more information, or you can get tickets to SPOTLIGHT here. For even more reading on this subject, Tina Rogers has authored an excellent article about the upcoming SPOTLIGHT charity event for Fife… Read more »
Posted in: Charity Event, Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Smojoe Clients, Social Media, Toronto
Taged with: Cheryl at Chocolicks, Fife House, Hayley Sales, Kellylee Evans, Lenzr photo contest winners, Mark Masri, Micah Barnes, Mommakoala, Tempo Toronto, Tina Rogers
On July 1st 2010 the Lenzr serial photo contest website was officially one year old. Today it’s stronger and more popular than ever before as each session helps mature the site into a more effective web marketing tool. In the last year there were seventeen successful contests that collected just over five hundred pictures with headlines, tags and comments from about three hundred and seventy registered members. You can see all seventeen challenges in the Lenzr category on Toronto-Forums. Each sixty day contest period attracts about 4000 visits to Lenzr, with just over half of them unique. The average visit to Lenzr spans seven pages, and lasts over three minutes. Usability of Lenzr is continuously being improved On August 1st 2010 four new photography challenges were launched inside newly fashioned countdown-mechanism-equipped contest pages . Four Lenzr photo contests end Oct1st, 2010 and there’s more good information about all four August… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Analytics Software, Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing
Taged with: conflict photo contest, Lenzr, Rob Campbell, social media marketing Toronto, social relevance producer, upgrade
Channing Smendziuk is Miss Teen Canada 2010 Miss Teen Canada World Winners press release gives insight into the action-packed week of activities, events and experiences that culminated in a dazzling night, the Grand Finale on July 17th. Congratulations to 17 year old Channing Smendziuk from Brandon, Manitoba. She’s the 2010 Miss Teen Canada-World. The girl is tall and beautiful, and smart and funny; she’s a very good blogger who finished with a score over 8.0 in the blog component of the pageant. Be sure to check the MTC-W facebook group for more news and updates about Channing’s most recent adventures, and her follow her challenges at the Miss Teen World pageant in Houston Texas. After that climactic event, and in company with all of the agents and producers choreographers photographers and web storytellers that she meets abroad, Channing will be traveling all across Canada as part of the pageant next… Read more »
Posted in: Charity Event, Fashion Blog, Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Personal Blog, Photography, Smojoe Clients, Social Media, Toronto, Web Resource
Taged with: beauty pageant, Blog Army, bloggers, Cynthia Loewen, Jaya Pham, Michelle Weswaldi, Miss Teen Canada, Shelby Gobbo, Social Media, Thrinh Theresa Do, Twitter and Facebook, world
One of the brightest stars graduating from HumberPR this year is Zack Sandor Kerr. He’s tied with Kyle the Keener in awesomeness, which is a wholesome combination of attitude and aptitude. Because of his unique skill set, Zack got a cool new job blogging for Gio Bikes about how he’s spending his summer having nomadic adventures on their latest model electric scooter, or ebike as they hope to be called. Zack tweets his experience @GioinTO Gio in To is about a guy and his electric bike in Toronto and that sets the stage for many countless stories in hundreds of local niches; he could tackle Toronto pedestrian affairs or municipal bike path issues, or chronicle cultural events, ie document Portuguese parades in the Toronto’s west end. He could report on World Cup street scenes and G20 protests – all from atop his ebike. Zack is a good storyteller who really… Read more »
Posted in: Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Search Engine Marketing, Social innovation, Social Media, Web Marketing
Taged with: electric bike, Faith Seekings, full service marketing, Gio in To, Kyle the Keener, Ontario, Rapport, scooter blog, Toronto, Zack Sandor Kerr
Let’s start this journal update with good news… As an online storytelling service, Smojoe likes to hand craft happy endings, and we’re especially fond of documenting Lenzr photo contests, especially when prize winners send in proud photography of themselves with their winnings. Slimmswitch won the Neuton CE6 battery powered lawnmower courtesy of a Toronto area grass cutting service. That’s a happy ending. The sponsor was thrilled too; they used the Lenzr platform to promote their solar powered organic lawn care business and used contest messaging to get their name passed around in social networks. Slimmswitch reports that the high technology lawnmower is flawless. It’s good, fast and really quiet. He’s been tweeting about it @LOCOHIPPO. So have I, and in keeping with my tradition of packaging top shelf ideas as fragmented stories, I’ve been putting a lot more resources on Fotki, and webshots. You can find more details there and… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, article marketing, Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Photography, Toronto, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: battery powered, grass cutting, lawyers, Lenzr, Ontario private school, Order of Canada, PEZ, photo contest, prize, Wikipedia