Lenzr is a social media marketing masterpiece that’s tragically flawed, and that’s what makes it so interesting. The serial photo contest website is basic and clunky, and the rules and voting mechanisms are easily bent by human avarice, but at the end of each session, it works. With very few exceptions, every business that sponsors an imaginative photo contest on Lenzr enjoys an inexpensive boost in their business URL’s search engine findability. The last session received over 4000 visitors, over half of them unique. The average visitor reviews seven pages and spends four minutes on the website. On July 1st 2010 the May June Lenzr photo contests came to an extraordinarily dramatic conclusion, resulting in scandal. In the Portable Luxury photo contest, the winning picture was removed by admin (because of ‘voting irregularities’) a mere 15 minutes before the contest was scheduled to end. Debbie Watson felt like she had… Read more »
Posted in: article marketing, corporate social responsibility, Interactive, Lenzr, Search Engine Marketing, Social innovation, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing
Taged with: aerial photography, Bill Watson, Debbie watson, Lenzr, Mommakoala, photo contest, portable toilet rentals, Rockton Worlds Fair, Ve3bnw
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
Thank you Jane Reeves wherever you are… It’s an honour to know Jane. Not only did she write a very flattering feature article about Smojoe at IABC PIC presents on May 12th for the IABC website, but she also truncated the bytes and put more pictures and links on her own blog. She fragmented her message and put another relevant segment of the story about Smojoe on the Jane Reeves Writes blog. Now add some discussion forum posts and a bookmarking service or two, and she will have assembled a powerful Story Funnel (with this Smojoe blog as the buckstop). Judy Lewis is another IABC member that Smojoe follows Smojoe will be attending attending Judy Lewis’s panel on Tuesday June 8th in the morning, at the IABC 2010 World Conference between June 6th and 9th. The event showcases the best of the best business communicators from around the globe right… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, article marketing, Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Lenzr, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: article, IABC, Jane Reeves, Ontario, portable toilet rentals, pr agency, seminar, Toronto
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
The 2010 Innovators Ball at the Ontario Science Center was a very exciting evening. I went hogwarts in there. There were young beautiful people in costumes playing characters from all the different Harry Potter movies. I love this picture of me and some girl I’m not even sure who she is no kidding I lifted this from a Deb Lewis Facebook photo album wherein I received notice I was tagged. Wow. Thanks. This is actually not what I look like, which is why I like it so much. May 6th 2010 was a mild evening outside, and a steamy hot night inside the cavernous spaces of the Ontario Science Centre at Eglinton and Don Mills. The event timeline started soft with quiet music, brighter lights and there was a commercial facet to the experience as several companies dispensed free fantasy genre products. Innovative ideas like a plant bi-product that removes… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Charity Event, Interactive, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: 2010 Innovators Ball, Alan Mckenzie, Deb Lewis, exempt market dealer, Gary Schlee, Harry Potter, Innovators Ball, Lisa Charleyboy, Matthew White, Smojoe, Story Funnels to Buckstops, web developer Toronto, White Capital
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 Weds 22 April 2010 @roberrific and @geoffness sat in the back row of the downstairs gallery at The Spoke Club on King St W in Toronto, to attend the Toronto chapter of the American Marketing Association (or AMA) networking event. Sponsored by Environics Analytics, three speakers were asked how to prove ROI in Social Media Marketing – is it even possible? Twitter #SMROI Laurie Dillon-Schalk made me fell extra welcome when I arrived as she announced to the staff that I was on her list. Minutes later she presented me with 450 gram jar of mulberry jam. (Why?…it’s a long story that relates to a past Smojoe presentation in which I discussed my ‘Where are the Mulberry trees in Toronto?’ discussion forum thread on UrbanToronto .ca which I’m not even going to link to here because I’m sure I have already somewhere earlier on this blog) Laurie is the… Read more »
Posted in: Analytics Software, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: 8020 solutions, Bryan Segal, ComScore, Geoff Whitlock, Laurie Dillon-Schalk, North Star Research Partners, Patrick Gladney, social currency, Social Wisdom, Steve Irvine, Tupperware parties
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
Sunday Feb 28th, minutes ago Canada won the gold medal in Men’s Ice Hockey and my Twitter feed erupted with mostly one word tweets. Truly amazing – no other event could so singularly dominate that space except perhaps an alien invasion. I follow two hundred souls @Roberrific and fifty more and mostly different folks @Lenzr but it would seem that everyone who matters in my Twitterverse is 100% Canadian. Speaking of Lenzr, tonight, the international ice hockey event was just the opening act. Tonight all three photo contests will end at midnight! Who will win the Locaboire wine tour? The automated scoring system leaves no doubts about the prize winners. I’m very curious to see who will win the Best Gourmet Food photo contest because that person will share a Locaboire escapade through eastern Ontario with The Wine Ladies (and myself) in the middle of March. Last week Smojoe had… Read more »
Posted in: Charity Event, Friends of Smojoe, Personal Blog, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: Brain Possibilities, Brainwave Optimization, Deb Weinstein, Dermalogica, Elizabeth Verge, Humber PR, Memetic Brand, Michael Cayley, Personal Brand Camp 2, Strategic Objectives