EyeSee

I presented at the OCRI, Zone5ive event today and I focused on must have social media tools to engage your customers.  As I was preparing for this presentation I needed to figure out a starting point as customer engagement is as vague as being “green”. So I took a look at the websites of companies that typically attended these events to find a starting point.

To explain where I came from I used the analogy of social media being the invitation to the house party and the house being the company website. I went further to stress that if the house either did not exist nor was structurally strong then the party would fail.

So my starting point was reinforcing the house and creating the invitations.

Details are in the following presentation.

My goal was to let the people in the room leave with information that they could use to implement these basic social media tools into their websites and social media marketing mix.

The room was fairly silent with not a lot of questions however I did notice a fair bit of note taking. I guess it’s a very different dynamic from the interactive workshops that I am used to giving.

So if you were at the presentation today and have had time to digest this do you have any further questions? If you do, then drop me a line via this post and we can take it from there. Remember there is not such thing as a stupid question. Also there are other people out there that have the same questions in mind.

Summer is here, although it’s hard to believe due to all the rainy cold days we have been having lately. It’s also the time when most people take their vacations and the office is generally quite and things slow down a little.

So if you are looking for some excitement how about some personal development on the social media front. We have just launched our Social Media Summer Series.

Three great topics to inspire and enlighten you to embark on a social media adventure.

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

There has been a lot of hype around Twitter lately and most people sign up and don’t know what to do after that. They quickly loose interest. Twitter is a microblog and if used effectively can be very effective communication tool.

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Flickr is a photo sharing site and what has this got to do with anything? Images are interesting and entertaining so what better way to get your message across using an image.

YouTube is a video sharing site and too can be used very effectively from a business perspective. There are many ways and it’s not just about amateur videos but professional ones as well.

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

Blogs are getting increasingly popular today. Wordpress is a free open source content management tool that can be used both as a Blog and to design a website as well.

So why is social media becoming so popular these days? People do spend a fair bit of their time online whether it’s for work, their own personal use or entertainment. As a business it’s very important to have a presence in these places or be part of these communities and connect with them in a meaningful way.

It’s not about spamming them or telling them about your product or service. It’s about establishing a connection with them.

These seminars have been designed to show you the how to as well as the different ways these tools can be used.

Registration

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

So take advantage of this great learning opportunity and sign up for these sessions. See you there.

June 25th was an interesting day as there was a flurry of activity online especially Twitter. As the morning progressed RIP Farrah Fawcett and Farrah Fawcett replaced Iran on the top 10 trending topics on Twitter. However as the afternoon progressed there were a number of tweets stating that TMZ had confirmed that Michael Jackson was dead. Soon the trending changed to RIP Michael Jackson and other similar versions. This trend has continued since then.

My newsfeed on Facebook was filled with updates from my friends giving their thoughts on the mpact of his passing to their lives.

The Bloggosphere was filled with content where people expressed their opinions on the situation or the impact of his music to their lives.

So what is going on in Social Media during the Memorial Event.

A social media analysis during the Michael Jackson Memorial Event

From a technological perspective it has stretched most sites like Twitter, Facebook etc.. to the limits as people view, share and post updates from June 25th to the Memorial Event.

Blogs

Well what can I say, there are millions of Blogs out there with everyone giving their opinion since June 25th. Some spread gossip, speculation, rumours, defending their friend MJ, news outlets and finally the every day people giving their experience of MJ in their lives.

Facebook

The activity online has surpassed the inauguration of Barac Obama. His Facebook Page has topped over 7 Millions Fans!!! The most popular application being the free virtual MJ glove.

According to Mashable, there have been over 500k updates posted to Facebook. This is probably why I have managed to get onto Facebook only once today.

There are many discussions started on his Fan Page and it appears that this page is unmoderated. Do check it out, I do have to warn you that some of the content is very offensive.

Twitter

There are various trending topics on Twitter that has been changing at a record pace as the Memorial Event progresses today.

Some topics were M’s, We are the world, Gone too soon, KFC, MJs and much more. So what has KFC got to do with MJ? Majic Johnson shared a story of his dinner invite to MJ’s house where he was blown away that MJ ate KFC.

You Tube

The types of videos on YouTube vary from MJ Memorial Tickets for sale to scenes from outside the Staples Centre. Fans videos and much more. The news channels also posted their videos here as well.

Flickr

There were a lot of updates on Flickr. These images are by various people that were outside the Staples Centre. It gives great insight to what was going on outside.

MySpace

The live feed had a lot of updates

Other

MTV

Provided live streaming of the MJ Memorial Event.

Twitter updates….

Facebook Connect

Online News

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail used Coverit Live to provide live coverage of the MJ Memorial Event.

The comments were disabled due to the high volume of participants and offensive participants.

Macleans

Live blogging as well as aMacleans posted the moving video of Paris, Michael Jackson’s daughter.This video was posted on YouTube by CNN Live.

Live Streaming

CBS

CBS provided live coverage of the Memorial event. They used Facebook Connect.

CNN

Facebook Connect to follow the conversations on Facebook. Your Voice, the capability to email your comments.

The online news channels did a great job of quoting some of the comments from Facebook and Twitter.

So what does this all mean?

In the past our only source of news would have been the media outlets possibly with live TV/Radio coverage and the newspapers possibly creating special editions that evening or the next day.

Social Media has now changed all of this with the traditional news channels competing with every day citizens to provide the news. It has also given us the incredible ability to express ourselves, our emotions and connect with each other. It has also enabled us to break down geographic barriers and socioeconomic as well. We can now share information instantly via photos, videos, text and audio as well as give our feedback on what is going on or what we think or feel.

What’s important is not just what the media channels are saying but the news from the eyes of the everyday citizen. This certainly does not make traditional media obsolete but just provides a more balanced perspective.

What’s been great is the way these traditional media have now embraced social media and are finding their own flavor of incorporating them into their reporting.

Since June 25th Michael Jackson has been dominating the online channels and has given people the opportunity to express their sorrow and grief. The flip side is that this topic has overshadowed other news worth events.

Now that Michael Jackson can rest in peace these social media channels will be free to discuss the next big event.

Some further analysis

Michael Jackson’s Massive Impact (On Google, Facebook, and Yahoo)

Michael Jackson Dies: Twitter Tributes Now 30% of Tweets

The Canada Revenue Agency now has a You Tube channel and they are having a video contest.

The thems is “How the underground economy is bad for all Canadians”.

All contests have rules….

The deadline is May 1st 2009.

So budding movie stars get your teams together and have some fun.