Wrapping up MacEwan BlogCamp: Success!
Friday April 3 was the culmination of a big project for fusedlogic: MacEwan BlogCamp. It was Edmonton’s and, as far as we know, Alberta’s first blog contest. It was a unique opportunity to combine business, social media and education in one cool package.
We’d like to congratulate the top three MacEwan bloggers:
1. Carla Putnam
2. Patrick Finegan
3. Peter Jaffray
The prize for first place was an Apple MacBook. In addition to the contest winners, we’d like to congratulate everyone who participated. Blogging for nine hours is not easy under the best of circumstances and blogging for nine hours in a busy cafeteria would be even tougher.
But, our bloggers persevered and we had a lot of interesting posts. We gave them a variety of topics to blog about and we were impressed with the results.
Judging
The winners of the blogging contest were chosen based on a number of factors. We had a voting system in place that ranked posts based on the cumulative net difference between a thumbs up and a thumbs down rating given by blog post viewers. In addition, we also judged the blog posts based on originality and quality of content.
Sponsors
Our sponsors came through for MacEwan BlogCamp in a big way. We can’t say enough about how happy we are that they sponsored our contest and made a huge contribution to the success of BlogCamp.
The team
We would also like to thank Jana Clarke, Sarah Parker, Laura England, Joseph DiFabio and the rest of the Grant MacEwan College team for giving us the opportunity to help put on this event. It was a lot of work but it was a blast! Grant MacEwan College really put on a good show for everyone involved.
And to the fusedlogic team, thank you as well: Walter did a great job hosting BlogCamp and all the other tasks he had; without Evan and Paul we wouldn’t have had the website or the video running virtually glitch-free; Genoa did a great job keeping everyone organized; Doug kept everyone on track with his project management skills; Krysta did a great job with her video as well.
Ultimately I think we succeeded in our goal of helping to raise the profile of the MacEwan School of Business and we’re confident that will result in more inquiries about the School of Business. MacEwan School of Business really is a good choice for a business degree in Edmonton, Alberta and beyond. We’re looking forward to the next BlogCamp!
MacEwan BlogCamp photos
If you’re interested in having a look at some great photos of MacEwan BlogCamp, have a look at Bruce Clarke’s Flickr photos. He has 166 photos there to look at. Bruce made my job tough to decide on the best photos to post here because they were all good.
Alain Saffel
Social contract vs. investment
A brand’s ability to reach consumers on an emotional level is obviously critical. However, as consumers continue to empower themselves through education and increased participation within various technological platforms, down goes the attention span and patience for 20th century marketing tactics. The downside of this trend suggests that the threshold required to first grab attention and then hold it seems to have evolved into that of the ridiculous spectacle.
When I speak to a client and use the word “bravery” in part I’m referring to this trend as a barrier of entry into the consumer’s psyche. Emotional engagement can only happen if both parties are willing and accepting participants, some feel that to get there a spectacle is required and there is definitely truth to that.
Social contract or social investment?
Some refer to this engagement between brand and consumer as the beginning of a “social contract,” I’d like to make the case for the use of the word “investment.” I recently expressed my opinion on well-known Forrester researcher Jeremiah Owyang’s blog and referred to a portion of our recent work with MacEwan School of Business as the example.
Owyang’s post was a higher level discussion about how consumers information was given out via various social network platforms and the ability of an agency such as ours to scrape that data, turning it into meaningful intelligence as the basis for the “contract.”
My point of view is that reaching an emotional level of discussion with prospective clients, consumers or partners is a key event in the relationship and can only happen with certain conditions present. Many efforts within the social web and across many industries do not accomplish this at all, at any level. Others do reach that level but unfortunately the emotion is anger on behalf of the consumer.
So which brands are more likely to embrace the concept of emotional centric “social investment?” I believe those who’s cultures are built on a foundation of mutual respect, giving and caring. More specifically, I think brands with women involved in key leadership positions are more likely to take these sensitivity and psychological issues into consideration when building out their marketing campaigns. This habit should serve them well when engaging the rest of us within the social web.
My personal social media journey started in 2004 and I’ve been studying these types of aspects ever since as well as participating. Certainly, I’ve made mistakes in the past; sometimes I can be a bit forward and offer an opinion when silence should have been my course of action. Having said that, I think that my grasp of the social web, and more importantly people, is stronger for these interactions, good and bad. This I feel, translates into a stronger customer experience here at fusedlogic.
Out of curiosity, a quick tally of all projects past has the number of ones with women as the key stakeholder in the lead. Further, fusedlogic’s best client experience ever (from our perspective at least and I hope theirs too) on all accounts is MacEwan and it was led by Jana Clarke, Marketing Manager for the School of Business.
We’ve been fortunate to have many great clients and this project was a ton of fun, very productive and went off with little to no issues. The organization was phenomenal to work with, as was her team, the majority of them women. Please don’t read anything into this discussion that isn’t there, I’m simply stating statistics. fusedlogic doesn’t specifically target women entrepreneurs or executives; it just seems to have progressed that way. For example, we have recently been asked to supply 3 proposals and 2 of the three are to organizations led by women.
Am I being stereotypical throughout this discussion? Probably. The more important question should be whether I’m off base with what I’m saying. Is my assumption that men are more likely to gravitate towards the term “social contract” vs. “social investment” in terms of general approach correct?
What about the flip side and my belief that in the above context women are more likely to approach business as an emotional “investment,” which I believe then provides them with an advantage over men regarding their social media marketing efforts? Do you think men are more likely to laugh at this E-Trade commercial and even go around calling their friends “shank-a-potumus” afterwards? I know I have, I think it’s hilarious, if you have research to the contrary I’d love to see it.
Ultimately, my experience has shown that the social web is an “investment.” If I forget that fact I’m promptly given my hat and shown the door. What about you?
Written by Walter Schwabe, have a wonderful Easter long-weekend everyone.
Social media experts
You can’t fault companies for being a little leery when it seems like everyone is calling themselves a “social media expert.” According to CNET, social media has a bubble of experts right now.
No doubt this recession will cause a shakeout of so-called social media experts and we’ll be left with a core group of people who are skilled in the field and committed to it for the long term. That’s always the problem when you have a field with low barriers to entry: a computer, internet connection and a business card.
Some people have said to “fake it ‘til you make it” but we’re not fond of that advice. If we are going to give someone advice on social media strategy, it’s because we know it’s the right advice for them at that time. Our team works hard to stay on top of social media trends and we do extensive research, for our clients and for our company. This runs counter to the “fake it” crowd.
What to look for in a social media strategist
In one year there will likely be many fewer social media experts if the recession has anything to do with it, so how do you sort out the wheat from the chaff, or to put it another way, those who are making it from those who are faking it?
Track record – how much experience do they have with social media? Are they actually using social media effectively? Are they walking the walk?
Who are their clients – and how long have those clients been with them? It’s probably a good sign if they’ve got several longer term clients, but they may do a lot of project work too.
What have their successes been – it’s not always possible to boil successes down into hard numbers. It’s nice when you can, but sometimes success is nebulous. Successfully getting a company into the social media space and using it regularly might be a spectacular success though there are no numbers associated with it. It’s even better when you can show hard numbers. Ultimately it’s about successfully engaging their audience or community.
Social media campaigns, like regular marketing campaigns, do fail. But why do they fail? A good part of it is because many companies don’t understand web 2.0 and social media. They want to use old-style push marketing in social media and it just doesn’t resonate with the web community.
Companies fail to see that they really are part of a community and the most important aspect of the community is conversation and listening. They just see the web as another marketing vehicle with more customers.
It requires a cultural and attitudinal shift to really succeed in web 2.0. That doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed at all without it, but if you want to be the best, you have to change cultures and attitudes.
As the recession shakes out the makers from the fakers, one thing is clear, fusedlogic will still be making it in social media one year from now and for years to come.
2009 even busier & better than 2008!
Here we are at the start of 2009 and what promises to be an exciting new year, for the world and for fusedlogic.
First of all, we would like to thank all fusedlogic’s clients for a great year. We appreciate your support and are looking forward to continuing our work with you in 2009.
2008 was a growth year for fusedlogic and we have a number of initiatives on the go for 2009. It might be doom and gloom out there in the economy, but we don’t seem to feel it in the social media strategy field.
I think that part of the reason for that is because people know this economic downturn, despite the non-stop negativity in the media, is just a blip on the radar. Smart companies know that they have to continue to keep on top of business trends and ground-shifts. Social media is not simply a trend and many organizations realize that they’re ill-equipped to deal with this new paradigm.
Some of the highlights of 2008 include launching the fusedlogic Food Bank Challenge. In support of Edmonton’s Food Bank we’re attempting to get one million photos of one million food bank donations in one year. Our deadline is the end of 2009 and we’re already off to a good start with many people adding photos to our Facebook food bank group and our Flickr food bank group.
If you haven’t added your photo yet, please get out there and make your donation. Food banks are in need of food year round, so let’s keep the spirit of giving throughout the year.
It was also a big year for Twitter in 2008, one of our favourite social media tools. It went from complete obscurity to prominence on networks like CNN. A quick search of Google News for “Twitter” reveals just how much it’s being talked about.
2009: an exciting year ahead
There are a number of new faces at fusedlogic and we will be adding more in 2009. Many of the team members at fusedlogic will be working out of our new office that we’re moving into in February. Stay tuned for a grand opening celebration soon to follow. Our office will be located in Sherwood Park, on the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2009 the fusedlogic team will continue to grow its social media intelligence capabilities. We’ve been working on a number of interesting projects that have helped expand our clients’ social media intelligence and knowledge, but have also helped our team’s knowledge base grow too.
FusedlogicTV will also make its appearance this year. At fusedlogic we’ve always had an affinity for video and we’re not slowing down. Expect to see more interviews, testimonials and fusedlogic social media presentations in the new year.
We’re positive about the new year and we hope that you are too. We’ll finish this post with a little wisdom that we hope will help guide you through the coming year.
“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
William James
Social media: debating Canadian politics
Canadian politics has become rather interesting in the last week. Everyone’s been talking about it and it’s the topic of choice in social media circles. With the possibility of Canada’s minority government being replaced by a coalition government, bloggers, Twitterers and other social media types have been busy weighing in with their opinion on what’s happening.
You have to wonder if governments are paying attention to what’s happening in social media these days, and if they are, how seriously do they take it? Today, participating in social media is like sitting in the proverbial coffee shop. This is grassroots politics at its best.
“If you’re within the federal government or any provincial government without a social media plan and, despite that, are actively engaged in social media at the moment, you’re playing with fire in a room full of gun powder,” said Walter Schwabe, fusedlogic’s chief evolution officer.
That’s usually the way it is when you don’t have a plan. It’s one thing to be listening to the conversation, but it’s another thing to know how to engage with people in social media, especially if you’re in government.
It’s a good way to listen to what people are saying. Governments of all stripes have been accused of not listening to the public and they’ve got a great opportunity to do just that in social media.
What’s happening in the blogosphere?
It’s been interesting to hear all the differing perspectives on what’s happening with the Canadian political situation. NowPublic, the Vancouver-based citizen journalism site, had an interesting article with comment on the “black swan effect.” Hadn’t heard about that before
At the right leaning Small Dead Animals blog there’s been plenty of vitriol on both sides of the issue. If you’re interested in getting in a political debate/argument, then this is probably a good place to do it. There are a huge number of comments on the Stephane Dion video.
This popular Liberal blog, from Calgary as it happens, also has a great deal of debate about what’s been happening. Calgary’s not normally thought of as a location of any Liberals, or Alberta for that matter.
Canadian Parliament prorogued
The conversation has been pretty busy on Twitter too. If you do a search on Twitter for phrases like Dion, Harper, coalition or prorogue, you’ll find a lot of Tweets. It’s like political Nirvana right now. The fall has been great: Canadian election, U.S. election and now the Canadian crisis. What’s next?
The banter about Canadian politics is likely to slow down by the time the budget is read in Parliament in late January, but it ought to pick right up again. I’ll be curious to watch how the conversations change up to that time.
And who says Canadian politics is boring?
