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
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
On Thursday March 18th 2010, I journeyed to 156 Augusta Ave and paid cash to see three Toronto bloggers talk about themselves and their blogs. It was worth $20 cost of admission, and trust me I’d tell you if it wasn’t. Twenty bucks was a bargain actually; for me, listening to these people is pure inspiration. Yes they are self proclaimed blog stars, and no, it has nothing to do with their traffic or ecommerce sales, or even the quality of their information – it’s more about style and ‘state of mind’, and how well these self promoters can project their own identities on their readers. There’s an art and science = alchemy But today I failed them. My own pictures of the Blogstars are terrible, and I’m twenty hours too late with this post. How can I be a citizen journalist about something as important as this, and not… Read more »
Posted in: Canada Blog Friends, Friends of Smojoe, online business, workshop
Taged with: Blogstars, Carly-Anne Fairlie, Casie Stewart, Kerri the Canadian Explorer, Lisa Charleyboy, Raymi The Minx, Sean Ward, Toronto top bloggers
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
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
‘Anyone that watched Smojoe present Story Funnels to Buckstops came away with too much new information. Rob’s scatter gun approach gives audiences a glimpse into the mind of a madman.’ Anonymous attendant. That review is from a friend of mine who said he would publish it on his blog, if he had one. I laughed and copied it and now that document has evolved into this blog post. I’m publishing it on my blog because I’m my own worst critic, and clearly there’s a lesson to be learned. I’ve just got to get better at presenting thoughts and ideas in a linear progression. Perhaps I do need to lay it out on a boring old power point, and practice it alone at home in front of my pals? Rehearse the material, going slow and steady and explaining everything in great detail… Smojoe sprang in action this week at the Spoke… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: Bill Tibbles, Denise Breen, Faith Seekings, Keyword Sandwiches, National Yacht Club, Rapport, Smojoe, Story Funnels to Buckstops, what are buckstops, Will Webb
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