Three years ago, a handful of Wentworth regulars decided to create an event to honour the memory of friends and family who had lost the battle with colon cancer. During the course of organizing that first event in 2008, they discovered the alarming statistic that 90% of Colon Cancer is preventable if detected early. Unfortunately, over 1,000 Nova Scotians are still diagnosed with colon cancer each year and over 350 die from the disease. Their mission seemed simple: raise the awareness of colorectal screening and save lives. Since Get Up There’s inception, Trampoline has been a proud sponsor of the event. [...]
Socially awkward, part III
You can build yourself a community of followers so crucial to success in social media if you give them something for hopping on board. It seems like such a 1990s way to get attention in a hyper-digital age, but people continue to respond to being given the chance to win something, or to get a discount on something. Once the lure convinces consumers to “like” you or follow you, the brand can begin to communicate with them in the way only social media will allow. In other words, we create the community, then we can talk to that community. [...]
Socially awkward, part I
The unspoken truth about branding using social media in a smaller market.
This summer, Old Spice made a social media powerhouse out of their “I’m on a horse” guy campaign. The TV spots were already a massive hit, and the brand was successfully competing for consumer dollars with the likes of Axe across North America and the world. When they spent a day addressing fans’ tweets by video, using the actor from the spots, they got more attention for the Old Spice brand than most brands could dream of. It was brilliant, it was funny, it was a great use of social media. So what can we in smaller, regional markets learn from it? Not a whole lot. [...]
Web type nerd blurb
When choosing a size for your site’s body text, make sure its large enough to read, while not becoming overbearing. The most commonly used text size is set between 12 and 16 pixels. Exceptions are made for headers, sub-headings and menus, which of course might be slightly larger. The most important thing to remember about text size is hierarchy and consistency. Make sure all of your headings, sub-headings and body text are consistently sized throughout your site. Try to refrain from having lengthly lines [...]
And the award goes to…
Well, Mark warned you we’d be taking liberties at our inaugural Trampoline Social Media Awards and I suppose this takes the cake: guilty of becoming a little too hung up in the, uh, socializing at our client party last week we didn’t actually make it to the awards. Though, perhaps the alternative—via this online forum—is indeed more suiting.
And so, without further ado, the awards:
With this award, we recognize two clients who have best demonstrated their understanding that the social media wheel has indeed already been invented: tools and sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo, and blogging capabilities made available through open source CMS like Wordpress and Drupal, make it easy to leverage the benefits of social media without much groundbreaking upfront work. What comes next is taking those tools and making them your own. And so we congratulate the Winery Association of Nova Scotia and Snow Recruit for maintaining a stellar Twitter feed and Facebook wall, establishing a consistent and engaging presence in the social media sphere. [...]
Socially awkward, part II
In order to make any marketing or branding initiative cost-effective, you need mass. I’m not talking about the one-on-one interaction you might have with your customers by monitoring your Twitter feed. I’m talking about the grand social media marketing campaign one embarks on to build a brand. You need enough people to see or get your message to make it worthwhile spending the money. The same goes for social media. No company is going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a creative, engaging social media campaign to reach a hundred people. [...]
A contrarian take on pitching
Since when is pitching such a bad thing?
Recently I came across a posting from a friend in the business repeating the advice of David Drogba of Drogba5 in New York, “Don’t pitch unless you get paid.”
Really? Is that the message we as an industry want to be sending? That we’re too good to make an effort to win our clients’ business?
For years now I’ve listened to agencies complain about the time and effort they feel are ‘wasted’ in pitches. That we have to work our butts off just for a ‘chance’ to win their business. But here’s the thing: a pitch is a job interview. Complaining that you have to put effort into it is like complaining that you have to put on a jacket and tie to meet a prospective employer. As a client, if I had a few hundred thousand in business to give away, I’d think I’d like it go to someone who cares enough to make the effort too. [...]
And the award goes to (cont.)
From embracing change to recognizing the relevance of the ol’ faithfuls, read on for the final installment of this year’s Trampoline Social Media Awards:
When trying your hand at social media, the toolbox at your disposal is brimming, in particular when it comes to measurement. Analytics software like Google Analytics, especially when equipped with a social media metrics plugin, allow you to measure your brand’s online social presence, and the simple due-diligence of keeping your eye on reactions to the content you’re putting out there, such as replies on tweets and comments on videos or posts, can be just as effective a metric. [...]
Three Hundred and Sixty Five Days of Social Media
This time last year we hatched the idea of the Twelve Days of Social Media http://trampolinebranding.com/news/tip-12-embrace-change/ and had a lot of fun with it. Way back in 2009, very few of our clients had jumped on the social media band wagon. The jury was still out as to whether there was a business application for most organizations. Sure, if you need to rally a group of students organizing a demonstration against higher tuition you can’t argue the power of social media. But when it comes to sustainable marketing of most products or brand, is social media a legitimate tool.
Well, last December we got on our e-soap box and shouted YES! And a year later, we are very pleased to report that many of our clients have successfully incorporated social media tools into their advertising. In fact we are so impressed that later this week we are hosting our first (hopefully annual) Trampoline Social Media Awards. The twelve categories will be loosely based on our twelve tips from last year but will be taking many liberties as after all…it is our award show. Stay tuned.
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