Saturday August 27 will see a great many blog friends and social media marketers gather behind CSI in the parking lot south of Honest Eds at Bloor St and Bathurst in Toronto. Word11 has been conceived as a 24hr blog media event, and hopes to be the first in a long series of annual 24hr events. It emerged from a minor kerfuffle between Cg6 and WordCamp, the details of which remain unclear. Some refunds were issued and are still the subject of excellent blog discussions and tweets. The event was preceded by something called Prefix which took us all by surprise. I ask you… Will WORD11 be the first occurrence of an annual social media festival? or will this be the only one? Whatever the case I’m sure we’ll make memories, and I reckon it will be rather historic day and night and day again. I intend to use this… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, business storytelling, Interactive, Lenzr, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, workshop
Taged with: itinerary, party rentals, portable toilet rentals, property maitenance, Rob Campbell, social media marketing Toronto, speakers, tickets, Word11
MILESTONE This blog now has 100 posts. I just crossed the line. I’m reminded of a conversation at WordCamp09 where a guy said ‘You’re not a blogger until you have 100 posts.’ I started this portal in June 2008 to help sell my intangible goodness. This 100th blog post affords me the perfect opportunity to reflect back on my own progress as a freelance writer, blogger, web content producer and thinker / organizer that specializes in helping others find a marketing path in the age of earned media. I taught myself and learned empirically the Smojoe Code of compound link building and ‘how to make keyword sandwiches’. Readers of every description have watched and read along as Smojoe gave birth to Lenzr and everyone can see what that business is becoming… This blog is one of the best places to glean rare inside looks at traffic stats and issues. Will… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, business storytelling, Friends of Smojoe, Lenzr, Personal Blog, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Clients, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Web Marketing
Taged with: A Counting Exercise, Bell Globe Media, Deb Lewis, Greenwashing, Jadac, LifeCapture Interactive, Nestle Pure Life, Peter Miskimmin
Here’s a long overdue update on the continued success of Lenzr.com from me, Rob Campbell the Prime Innovator sharing his insights into the hopes and dreams of this start-up which was ranked at #365 in the Techvibes May 2011 Toronto Start-Ups List, and now in the June 2011 Techvibes Canada Start-Ups list Lenzr is ranked #303, up 62 points, (and ahead of BNOTIONS). The websites listed there on TechVibes are ranked by volume of traffic I imagine? and if that’s the case our enterprise should keep skyrocketing up the charts as our model improves and we host more and more interactive challenges. Lenzr is a serial photo contest website that aims to be the World’s number one choice for providing custom photo contest solutions. It’s a delivery system designed to make user generated photo challenges easy to create and implement on sponsor business websites. The storytelling can occur in the… Read more »
Posted in: business storytelling, Lenzr, Toronto, Web Marketing
Taged with: BNOTIONS, business storytelling, IT staff Toronto, Lenzr, Ottawa roofing, start-ups in Toronto, sunrooms, Techvibes, Toronto accountants
Inside the 2011 Search for Miss Teen Canada World Saturday July 9th was a very special Registration Day for at least seventy five participants in the 2011 Search for Miss Teen Canada – World, as one by one teen girls age 14-18 from all across Canada checked their luggage into the sponsor hotel in downtown Toronto to start their week long adventure. One at a time they met each other in the lobby and corridors the massive historic hotel complex at the base of the city. In the antechamber of one of the enormous ballrooms, they found Michelle Weswaldi and lined up there to present her with their head shots, and CDs filled with pictures, videos and audio that they recorded at home in which they demonstrate their acting, singing and special skills for the upcoming talent show. After a brief question and answer with the Pageant Director they went… Read more »
Posted in: Friends of Smojoe, Interactive, Smojoe Clients, Social innovation, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Video, workshop
Taged with: 2011 Search, ballroom, banquet dinner, blog network, bloggers, doentown Toronto hotel, friends, July 15th Talent Show, Michelle Weswaldi, Miss Teen Canada World, particpants, Registration Day, Video, volunteers
Somebody put me on the list and I got invited to the YYZ LIVING magazine second issue launch party at Ultra Supper Club on Queen St West on Thursday 16 June 2011 evening 8pm. It wasn’t hard to get invited to this event, everyone was there. The evening started at 8pm upstairs on the white paint of the Ultra patio which had just come into shade cast by taller brick buildings west on Queen St. The food was tasty. The free drink was orange juice and champagne w strawberry The two bartenders on the south bar were overworked from the start. It was a nice night that actually got warmer when the sun went down. It was downright steamy later. This highly anticipated party did indeed bring out some interesting people from the world of fashion art and media, and this really was an almost perfect evening for an outdoor… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Canada Blog Friends, Fashion Blog, Friends of Smojoe, Personal Blog, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Clients, Social innovation, Toronto, Video
Taged with: bartenders, Lisa Charleyboy, Mario Miotti, patio, rooftop, The wine Ladies, Toronto, Ultra Supper Club, YYZ Magazine, “FREE”, “PB $TYL$”
Something unusual happened on Tuesday 31 May 2011 - I went out after work! I went out to see Keisha Chante and Casie Stewart rock the Pepsi Throwback Event at Revival, on College St. Casie Stewart does it again, and Keisha Chante was there too. They went on stage and spoke to the assembly at around 7pm. Keisha told everyone to get twittering. Casie Stewart thanked all her friends for coming out. Look in the picture, do you see how she’s looking directly at me. You can see that right? Do you follow me on Twitter? @roberrific This is someone else’s tweet and i show it here because its good storytelling – perfect use of twitter – ‘excited for the #PepsiThrowback Retro Party tonight! Looking forward to seeing @TheSpoons, @KeishaChante, and @CasieStewart!‘ Casie warned us about tonight in her blog, then she asked for input in What Do You Think… Read more »
Posted in: Friends of Smojoe, Personal Blog, Toronto, Video, workshop
Taged with: 80s music, Casie Stewart, College St, John Leschinski, Mark Pavlidis, Pepsi Throwback, Raymi The Minx, Revival, The Spoons, Tweetagora
As an interactive story engineer, I’m always interested in learning new ways to communicate business messages in digital media; I like to see companies doing exceptional things that ‘hook me’ and make me want to know more, and thereby bring attention to their products and services through story. There are many examples of how the magic of a good story has moved consumers, most famously, Ted Williams, the homeless man-with-a-golden-voice in Atlanta Georgia, the Old Spice guy, and Susan Boyle surprising Simon Cowell and everyone in Britain’s Got Talent. Susan didn’t win the competition, but her first moments on stage were so special that her fame will forever eclipse the names of the winners. She went on to sell millions of recordings and is living proof of the power of story. Business management consulting uses visual storytelling to communicate complex ideas. Each Lenzr Photo Contest is a Ready Made Story… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, business storytelling, Interactive, Lenzr, online business, Photography, Search Engine Marketing, Smojoe Events, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, Web Resource, workshop
Taged with: business storytelling, Click Clip Deals, free coupons, management consulting, printable coupons, social media marketing, Twitter and Facebook, video media
Lenzr is a serial photo contest website that lets business sponsor art. We started the website in August 2009, and have hosted over forty contests in two years. The average price of a photo contest is about five thousand dollars, with prizes and tax included. The companies that sponsor the photo contests get some buzz marketing, and notice some rise in traffic, but more importantly they get a shot-in-the-arm of social relevance that search engines can’t ignore. A photo contest is a catalyst to growing social capital. On February 1st 2011 nine different matches launched on Lenzr, with all manner of interesting and unusual theme challenges. For the first two days there were no photos entered into any of the categories… it was unnerving. But as of March 26th 2011, there were over 300 photos entered in all nine different challenges that compose the latest Lenzr offerings. In the ten… Read more »
Posted in: Analytics Software, Interactive, Lenzr, online business, Photography, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, User Submitted Content, Web Marketing, Web Resource
Taged with: creating social relevance, evolution of enterprise, Judges, Lenzr, photo contest, Web Marketing, winners
JWT stands for J. Walter Thompson and they bill themselves as the world’s most famous communications agency. It’s probably true, but I had never heard of them before Laurie Dillon Shaulk accepted a position there last fall. She invited me to attend #JWTslam last night, Feb 9th 2011. The swank event was held in the historic St. Paul’s Church venue at Bloor St E. This is the big leagues, home of the Big Ideas. JWT Canada’s Retail Slam – Showcasing the Major 2011 Trends Shaping Retail was set in the heart of social media week in Toronto or #smwTO on Twitter. And so I’ve been out every night because I feel obliged to attend these events despite the fact that I loath the cliché that social media is becoming, (has become) and I resent the dominance of Facebook and Twitter and the inevitability of the garden web becoming the most… Read more »
Posted in: Actually sharing secrets, Friends of Smojoe, Future Technology, Interactive, online business, Social innovation, Social Media, Toronto, Web Marketing
Taged with: Ann Mack, Bee Media, Benjamin De Castro, Crucial Interactive, Davi Bosch, David Peres, F-Commerce, Guy Gal, Horizon Studios, Janice Diner, JWT, Laurie Dillon-Schalk, Mark Campbell, Peter Bozinovski, QR codes, thebizmedia, VMG Cinematics
Hundreds of free thinkers and media makers gathered together on Monday Feb 7th 2011 at the Mill St Pub in the distillery district in Toronto. I went there as @Smojoe and took lots of photos. There were friends in the crowd, and I enjoyed publishing their pictures. Sean Moffitt spoke about Wikibrands, a book that he and Mike Dover wrote together that’s ‘…both visionary and pragmatic, delivering a framework for understanding the pervasively connected consumer.’ The subtitle reads, ‘Reinventing Your Company In A Customer-Driven Marketplace’ The book reviews are good, and include a common refrain, “a must read for business leaders’. It was an exciting event. Very well attended, there were people of all ages and from many parts of the industry , all united in an appreciation of ‘social business’, and of media making and marketing. Pretty much everyone has an interesting story – it was fun to mingle… Read more »
