Once again, all participants in the 2010 Search for Miss Teen Canada – World beauty pageant must start and maintain a personal blog. That one single innovation has completely changed the landscape. Now the pageant pretty much advertises itself, teaches valuable skills, and lets the public share the excitment in real time. The model also shares links from contestant blogs with sponsors. Yes indeed, things have changed backstage at the beauty pageant, there’s a new category now; to win this pageant girls not only have to be seven shades of beautiful, but also, the successful finalist will have to be an exceptional blogger as measured in style, technical skill and original prose. So far the 2010 MTCW Blog Army (that link is to the index page) has recruited over 52 contestant blogs from all across Canada, and the writing is fantastic. Each finalist has plugged in live Twitter feeds and… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, corporate social responsibility, Fashion Blog, Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Smojoe Clients, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing
Taged with: 2010, beauty pageant, Blog Army, blogging, case study, Casie Stewart, Miss Teen Canada World, Social Media
Dumpdiggers is something I used to write every week, but now I only update it once a season. I’ve stopped digging up old dumps in Toronto, and I don’t buy glass bottles or Canadian pottery anymore. I do however still collect knowledge. As Smojoe, I make my passion pay dividends by writing rich media articles that are ‘hero driven’ whenever I can get behind the subject. I make stories more compelling for humans by personalizing the text. Dumpdiggers is really an act of charity, and a character building exercise. That’s because collecting antiques is a niche that’s almost entirely without sponsors, and so my text adventures here are purely personal. I love the idea of using a life’s passion to accrue knowledge and grow wealthy in wisdom. Like the wise old man whom I admire, i too will someday be able to spot the rare and precious opportunities, and one-of-kind… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Interactive, Lenzr, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: IABC, iPhone application, Lenzr photo contest winners, May 10, May 12, Oakham House, PIC, search engine marketing strategies, Stabathon, storytelling
On Saturday March 13th 2010, The Wine Ladies traveled alongside some very fortunate Lenzr photo contest winners on a whirlwind Locaboire wine tour of Prince Edward County wineries. Without going into too much detail about the Lenzr photo contest website, and how and why all this happened, let me just say I had an opportunity to taste a dozen great wines and meet three of most knowledgeable winemakers that are shaping the region. Their wines are grown next to Lake Ontario, which has a moderating effect on the air temperatures. Indeed it was almost balmly this 13th day in March, 2010. Locaboire is all about drinking locally produced wines and beers As the white limo streaked through the muddy brown landscape of Prince Edward County in early spring The Wine Ladies thanked everyone for accompanying them on the Locaboire wine tour that was co sponsored by Dave Dingle of Shrinkray… Read more »
Posted in: Lenzr, Personal Blog, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, workshop
Taged with: Brighton Ontario, Caroline Granger, Closson Chase Vineyards, Dan Sullivan, Dave Dingle, Locaboire, Ontario, Prince Edward County, Rosehall Run, Shrinkray Mobile, The Grange Winery, The wine Ladies, Timberhouse, wine region, wine tour
Lenzr is packed full of photo contests for March and April 2010. They came out of the woodwork to be part of this series, and there’s more queuing for May. It seems local businesses like the buzz that a properly promoted photo contest can deliver, and the price is right. If you’re interested in promoting your business on Lenzr email rob at smojoe dot com, or you could message Lenzr admin but it all goes to the same place. The buckstop is here. Toronto Party Rentals Company seeks Backyard Party Events photos on Lenzr Backyard Party Events is a photo contest for the DIY party people who would rather host friends than be guests. The sponsor is a Toronto party rentals company that wants to see pictures of people who stay home and do it themselves, renting tables, chairs, tents, wet bars, stages and fences for their own world class… Read more »
Posted in: Future Technology, Lenzr, Photography, Smojoe Clients, Web Marketing
Taged with: business phones, Fire and Ice, Geoinstallers, geothermal, grass cutting, How Green Are You?, lawnmower, Lenzr, modern office, Neuton CE6, Obsolete Office Equipment, solar power, Steve Hamoen, sustainable lawn care, tent rentals, Toronto party rentals, ZoneLife
Yesterday I wrote two blog entries, back to back, two hours each, from 7am til 11am in the morning. Then I spent the rest of the day leisurely bookmarking and promoting the posts in a ritual that has evolved over the years to include Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Reddit and I tweet the links on @roberrific and have recently begun to use Zoomit. Toronto Dentist on the Lenzr Blog I started writing this piece by hammering out my recollections of the exact moment when Toronto dentist Dr Natalie Archer DDS of the Rosedale Family Dental Care office at 600 Sherbourne St unit #808 met a 22yr old female York University student named Seattle Dredge, the winner of the Lenzr Kids in Action photo contest, who already has lovely teeth btw; her smile is today far whiter whiter than my own teeth will ever be. While writing the blog I remembered… Read more »
Posted in: Canada Blog Friends, Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Photography, Smojoe Clients, Toronto
Taged with: Bariatric Medical Institute, Dr Natalie Archer DDS, Dr Yoni Freedhoff, Kids in Action, Lenzr, photo contest, Seattle Dredge, teeth whitening, Toronto dentist, Weighty Matters
Chris Binet has mass experience doing public relations for health and beauty companies in Toronto. He has helped improve media awareness for spas, skincare and soy products. Chris writes really strong press releases which are distributed through an expanding array of news media publishers and TV producers. Do you want to get your health /beauty product or service mentioned in the newspaper? or promoted on daytime television? or mentioned on the radio? Chris Binet is your fella. I met Chris Binet last summer in connection with the Miss Teen Canada – World pageant. Chris, accompanied by Ellen Smith of EnCourse, attended the very first web marketing seminar that Smojoe offered. The April 09 event was promoted by Deb Lewis of Toronto City Events, at the Spoke Club. Heath and Beauty Toronto is a Ning Community site that Chris created, and I have pledged to support and grow to prominence. Its… Read more »
Pro Bloggers know that some subjects are really hard to write about, and it takes mad skills to subtlety broach sensitive topics, especially in 3rd party social networks, blogs and discussion forums where you can’t completely control the reaction. Now let Smojoe show you two women who make it look easy… Enter two creative writers Skye Blue and Elizabeth Rose. These girls write good content on tough topics, like disease, bad sex and heartbreak. Believe it or not, there are lots of women out there who can’t talk about sex, even with their lovers, and they’re ashamed of getting personal and can’t communicate important emotions. Met Another Frog is a dating blog, a catharsis? an therapy with a feminine perspective that tackles tough questions and comforts readers. Unfortunately at this time the site is almost completely void of pictures, and my first piece of advice was to get images in… Read more »
Posted in: corporate social responsibility, Interactive, Lenzr, online business, Photography, Smojoe Clients, Social innovation, Toronto
Taged with: Lenzr, Locaboire, Mommakoala, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Orato, Phronk, single gender education, St. Andrew's College, The wine Ladies, Toronto Forums, wine blog
There really is no proper update on my Jan 20th presentation at the Centre for Social Innovation. Nobody took any pictures! All parties, including Deb Lewis of City Events totally forgot to get any images of Smojoe presenting ‘story funnels to buckstops’, and I blame Billie Mintz as he distracted me by pointing a video camera at me. When I asked Billie for screen grabs he politely postponed me, and so I guess he’s really busy too. Smojoe Speaks Again Feb 4th, 2010 On Feb 4th, Smojoe will be appearing alongside Faith Seekings in an event co-produced by Bill Tibbles and Terri Carson at the National Yacht Club. There’s details on Rapport Communications website, and the Rapport blog, and why not follow @FaithSeekings on Twitter. A blog is the cornerstone of good social media marketing because it’s the cheapest and best place to tell the whole story. Business bloggers, event… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Interactive, Lenzr, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: Dr Natalie Archer, Faith Seekings, NiteWhite, Rapport Inc, teeth whitening, Toronto, Toronto dentist
Its Christmas time, and Smojoe is busy. My weekdays have become a parade of sales meetings and training sessions. Evenings and weekends are when I work, completing the orders, writing proposals and reports, and generally keeping my promises. On Tuesday Dec 15th, Smojoe met Molson Ferg Ferg Devins is a master storyteller on Twitter; @MolsonFerg is the real time hero of a three adventures a week. That’s how we happened to come together, again. I was sitting at my desk on a hot afternoon and spotted a tweet from @MolsonFerg in which he described himself ‘enjoying a cold Molson Canadian while watching the air show from a boat in the Toronto harbour’. It sounded divine, and when I messaged him back we chatted about our mutual friend Billie Mintz, and his corporate social responsibility expertise, and then how Smojoe markets Canadian charities, and finally how to promote and reward contributors… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Interactive, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, Toronto, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: Dave Dingle, dr. kathryn nobrega porter, Ferg Devins, Melani Chong, mobile app developer, Molson, Richard Carmichael, richard porter, Shrinkray, Soycult, Tonia Hammer, Wellpath
Last week, Smojoe built a beautiful WordPress blog for TellOscar.com. If you haven’t heard about this place yet, let me explain Canada’s first user driven complaints website. This web destination might be better described as a customer service reports index, and by that I mean a place that lists both good and bad stories; both compliments and complaints can be recorded. But very few people bother to write nice things or record pleasant observations here. No, this site runs on complaints and preserves warnings to consumers researching specific goods and services. How does TellOscar work? If you owned a business, and suddenly found your beloved establishment written up in TellOscar’s archives, you’d do whatever possible to get the problem resolved. Am I Right? You’d pay whatever fees necessary to access the forum and respond to the complainer, personally one on one. I’m certain you’d pay money to make them happy… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, corporate social responsibility, Interactive, online business, Smojoe Clients, Social innovation, User Submitted Content, workshop
Taged with: bad customer service, Canada, complaints website, consumer advocacy, stories, TellOscar, Wordpress blog