Humanizing Labour

As the keynote speaker at Social Media Camp 2011 in Victoria, Jay Baer touched on something pretty unique and thought provoking. Describing a case study with Heinz, he suggested that a new set of consumers is developing. People are tired with mass production, mass consumption and mechanization. We want to be acknowledged as humans, customized and unique.

"It's about people, not logos"

as Jay described it, marketing has changed, for the better. More people are connecting to social media to create human to human relationships. Not only with their friends, but with brands as well. Some clever brands are using social in all levels of their operations, to create a more natural, friendly, human impression.
"Grown in America", not made, was a subtle change created by a 4 person marketing agency in Stockholm, hired by Heinz. The tagline became so popular in Scandanavia, that Heinz now puts it on every bottle of ketchup sold.

People like the human touch, instead of calling into an automated call center with a question, consumers tweet a post to a company for a quick, humanized response. Companies realizing this are seeing real results in both social engagement and sales. And just when everyone thought we were mere decades away from robot-ification.

"Food for thought", I thought. And good on ya, social media, for making business a little more human.

Spontaneous Sasquatch Surprise

Searching twitter, blogs, news, Facebook and the internet in general is a big part of my internship at HootSuite University. So discovering new channels and methods of filtration makes my job easier: Enter, the HootSuite search bar. This tool searches the twittersphere for all results that contain your search keyword. So, on a break from reading blogs and articles containing "social media" I checked out what people were saying about this weekend's Sasquatch festival at the Gorge, Washington. Long had I heard legends from this Woodstock type reunion of people from the Pacific Northwest. Each May, my Facebook newsfeed clutters with photos of blue skies, GORGEous canyons, red dirt amphitheaters, tent cities and hipster clad festies. Once again it was Quatchie time, and once again I had lacked the planning and funds to be there. HootSuite's twitter search was littered with excitement and bargain tickets, among the posts was a link to a competition for tickets... Rarely entering contests like these, I clicked the tiny.url to find a Facebook contest hosted by a Honda Dealership in Tacoma. "Like our page and comment on our contest status for your chance to win Sasquatch tickets!" Skimming through the comments I read typical posts by eager fans expressing their love for the festival and hopeful wishes on winning, none of them mentioning Honda. Looking a little deeper into Honda's sponsorship I found out that they were hosting one out of the three stages and providing carbon credits for the entire operations on the festival. Putting my social media marketing skillz to work, I posted a shameless endorsement for the car company, promoting their support for an environmentally conscious live music event. Kind of what social media is all about: I scratch your back, you scratch mine. And it worked? 4pm on Thursday, Honda Facebook messaged me with the unbelievable news. I've never won something of this much personal gain since my Nimbus 3000 broom win at a Harry Potter party in grade 6. Happiness, stress and panic filled my mood as I tried to coordinate a ride to and from the event, a friend group to go with and whether leaving my new internship position for 3 days was really a good idea... Reading into the festival a bit more and realizing some of my all time favourite bands would be playing, I couldn't pass up the offer. Spontaneity and stress fueled one of the most beautiful weekends I've had in the recent years. A magical event spent with some of the best in this corner of the world. Still discovering wonderful things in the pacific northwest, this place will never cease to amaze. Conor Oberst closed his set telling the 15,000+ crowd that "We must stick together as a people and go out of our way to do things for people, especially the people that we don't know, which is the hardest part". Fortunately for me, HootSuite and Honda Fife had done just that to make this weekend possible.
Thanks guys.

Goals

Studying marketing at Bishop's is at times challenging. As it should be, if I were a marketing genius I wouldn't be there. My motivation is correlated directly to application and how I can use what I'm learning in the real world. Nothing has tied the two worlds of study and application as HootSuite has shown me. I've discovered the tight link between marketing and communications and makes me realize how important this skill is to have. Only 2 weeks in and I'm getting real exposure to real world business operations. I think I would really like to come out of this internship with a forward, progressive look at how social media is changing the future of marketing and business as a whole. I need to know how to prepare myself for the changing pace of communication and operations that new tools like HootSuite will bring to the table. I hope to get as much as HootSuite has to offer out of this internships in terms of hands on skills and tangible technique. At times I feel that marketing know how is subjective and difficult to prove. I acknowledge the need to improve my portfolio of skills in this field and whether that means learning the basics of coding, graphic design or content layout practice, I welcome the expertise. I realize the talent in the room everyday, and although overwhelming at times, I want to take as much as I can from the experience. How to prepare for a sales call? How to code an app? How to write a white paper? How to generate buzz for a new product? Yes, these are advanced techniques, but HootSuite is excelling at these operations, and I would gain limitless benefits from the in house expertise given the opportunity. Real, measurable accomplishments would help me realize an applicable process from start to finish, and also put a badge on my belt. Something to be proud of. While I tackle the day to day challenges I am already attacking, I see even more learning opportunities in the future, and am stoked to see where and what specifically I will accomplish.

Endless Summer: In Search for the Perfect Post

To sum up everything I've learned the past few weeks at HootSuite would fill up more than a blog. The information that has bombarded me for the first couple weeks is slowly starting to sink in and apply to what I'm doing at HSU. So instead of filling pages of random, yet related information that I have banked recently, I will profile and expand on an important point.


Finding relevant information related to HSU and posting it to different channels is a key factor in creating an engaged social community.
Keep it positive: I've realized people react well to positivity, and engage more confidently. Posting positive information about HootSuite University, and social media in general may seem like a no brainer, but some content can be interpreted differently through different eyes.
Push the package: There is a fine line between negative and controversial. I look for content that will strike a conversation or instill a reaction. I want HSU listeners to engage, feel and converse on a thought provoking topic. However all the while, keeping posts clean is a must, internet users can be easily offended and will speak their mind about it.
Promoting conversation: And sure, it's a good thing if people are posting and continuing the conversation, whether their opinions are positive or negative. Encouraging a free speech platform for users is my ultimate goal.
Acknowledge: Whether comments are negative or positive, I've discovered that its important to reciprocate by answering a comment or question quickly. Letting users know there is a human on the other end of the conversation is really important. If there is a negative comment, a well thought out answer is even more important. Dave suggests a quick, short, neutral reply, not ignoring the situation, but not encouraging it either.
Scanning content on the web is especially useful to me. As I search for the perfect post, I am constantly reading new material and learning lots as a side effect. Maybe there is no perfect post, but I am starting to realize the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly.

Geo-wutt?

Why Geo-tagging is so useful
Learning the ins and outs of HootSuite these last couple months has been really interesting, and kinda mind blowing. Signing up for the basic version of HootSuite a couple weeks before becoming a part of the family, I began experimenting with the different features of the product. Understanding the basic elements of the dashboard, I fiddled my way through the easier functions, exploring my new home. Walking into this new internship Monday morning I realizing I was only scratching the surface. Embedding streams? Pending tweets? DMing?

A really interesting, (and kinda creepy) feature of the tool is Geo-tagging. Sure, searching for your desired word is easy enough when typing in a place name/geographic location to your search title, but how accurate is it really? With automated spammers and common place names (London Ontario vs London England,Vancouver Washington vs Vancouver BC etc..) search streams often bring up inaccurate results. Searching for events or happenings on Saltspring Island this recent weekend further complicated my quest. With commonly used aliases such as SSI, saltspring, Salt springs, salty, gulf islands, Hippilandia, the rock, etc, I remembered the geo-tag tool. Altering the radius I could include the gulf islands or keep it as local as Ganges. Lucky for me, miss 604 graced us with her presence this weekend and broadcasted the latest news hourly. This got my mind going with all the different uses you could apply this to. Looking for the best place to eat in a foreign city? Looking for similarly interested people in your area? Ridesharing? Looking for last minute Sasquatch tickets in your area? Whats going on outside of your hermit abode? Man, endless possibilities.
The more I find out the less I know?

Padawan meets HootSuite

Spring 2011 has been a rollercoaster to say the least. My appetite for this summer grew in the muddy thaw of spring out in Quebec, and thanks to my close relationships with my profs at Bishop's, I pushed up my exam dates and winter came to an even quicker end. I was blown away by our small school's atmosphere and the opportunity they recognize in their students in letting them out early to hunt down the best summer internships/jobs. After 7 months of lectures and standardized testing... School free in early April!?

"Could this really happen?", I thought...

Home and on to new projects, 3 days after I land at YVR I get an interview with my cousin's friend Ryan Holmes, an energetic, charismatic CEO of a startup social media dashboard company, among other things. I considered social media as the new kid on the block. With huge potential and massive growth, the future is new and exciting and wow is there a lot to learn. Ryan offered up an internship at in a 'to be determined division', and I lept at the opportunity.

"Did that just happen!?", I thought...

A week into the internship my mind is streaming with social media. Blogging my mind with new terms and practices, my 2 day old twitter account is laughable compared to some of the social media gurus around the office. But I'm stoked to learn yet exhausted from the daily info puke of new material. Dogs at the office? A mecca for food carts? Foosball tourny breaks? Friday rooftop afternoons?

Is this really happening?

These guys know how to work, and I'm realizing how lucky I got. Stay tuned for new blogs about the fascinating animal that is social media.