This week we had a visit from a 15 year old girl named Tess, she was meant to do some job shadowing for the week as a part of her Gr. 10 curriculum. So we had her write a blog post, below you will find the opinions of a 15 year old on Facebook advertising.
I am a big Facebook fan for multiple reasons. First of all, I moved to Toronto but all of the friends I grew up with still live in London. Moreover, all my family lives in France. For me, Facebook is a great way to communicate and keep contact with those family and friends that I'm missing. I can see what they do, how they change and send them messages.
Another reason I love Facebook is that it’s easy to communicate with your local friends. For example, each year, my class creates a private group so we can post the homework, help each other and meet up. Another really cool thing about Facebook is that you can find people. Recently I founded a primary school mate I hadn’t spoken to for at least seven years and I learned, via Facebook, that she lives in Toronto now. It’s absolutely crazy!
I might use Facebook a lot but I absolutely never pay attention to their ads. For me, internet is not a place to look at ads.
Sometimes I look up ads on YouTube when I’ve seen something that interested me in a store or on TV. I will also look up an ad if a cute guy is in it; I love ads for mens cologne, they are guys are always so handsome! Then, if YouTube suggests some other similar ads that draw my attention, I will look at them too.
Some other places where I pay attention to ads are on the bus, the subway, in magazines, on TV and in movies. However, most of the time, I’ll just look at it and that’s it. Nevertheless, if after seeing an ad I feel I would like to have the product, I am going to look it up. Once I have more information on it, I’ll see if I would like to buy it.
The Becel Ride for Heart is a favourite pastime for the CapC crew. Becel is a great client to work with and there's nothing that makes us
happier than helping them with the Ride for Heart. We enlist a lot of
cheerleaders and create a team of cyclists to hit the DVP, raising money for
the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Despite the early Sunday morning wake up, it's a highly
enjoyable day.
There's a great sense of peace found riding the empty DVP
and there's opportunity to network with other agencies and corporate teams.
Taking pictures on the iPhone, using Camera+ to
manipulate them into something cooler and Instagram to share them across
networks kept me busy (I'm a seasoned no-hands rider). The shot that accompanies this post was taken as I
approached a CapC team member deep in conversation with a Becel rider. They
were likely discussing how badly they wanted those little muffins made with
Becel available at the the finish line, little muffins almost always taste better than big muffins.
In early April Google announced Project Glass,the creation of augmented reality glasses. Although Project Glass isn't exactly stylish in a category dominated by apple the technology is both forward thinking and incredibly exciting.
The augmented reality glasses are multi-functional allowing hands free interactions through the glasses and Google promises eventually contact lenses. The lofty concept video demonstrates functions that are currently not official applications of the glasses: answering e-mails, displaying reminders and GPS mapping. Despite the fact that these unofficial apps are not currently part of the project, knowing Google we can expect that at least some of this functionality will be fully blown out in future.
Currently, Google has confirmed that the first model of glasses will enable the user to take photos. Although this appears to be a minor progression; the difference between the augmented photos and regular camera photos is what makes Google such a leader in the tech segment. The glasses will not only be able to take photos, but take them and share them from our OWN perspective and point of view.
Twitter and Facebook have given us the ability to share our lives but to literally be able to share our view point, now that is a revelation. And if the 250 million photos uploaded daily to Facebook are any indication our voyeuristic side will win out over any qualms we may have at sharing something as intimate as our view of the world.
As Google announced their 'Project Glass' in April, Facebook, almost simultaneously, announced the acquisition of Instagram. Google and Facebook seem to have competing, but similar photo apps.
The difference between Google's Project Glass and Facebook's new photo platform is the interest of the user. While Project Glass takes photos from one's personal perspective, Facebook's picture apps allow the user to alter their photos to suit their perception of the image.
Every day more and more users take photos to upload on their social channels, both private and public. But what drives this behaviour? Is it the desire to share photos that are perfected and altered to suit our perception or do we simply want people to see the world through our eyes? While there is no obvious, or forthcoming, answer to this question it is worth thinking about. What is it that makes people want to share so much of themselves so often.
When Google releases Project Glass I think that we will see a split between those users who choose to share raw images from their view point and those who prefer to lend artistic license to their vision.
- Erica - Erica is currently an intern with the Cap C team and we are delighted to have her input on our blog.
There are but a few positives to spin out of Facebook's release of the Camera app. It's no Instagram and the consensus around the web
seems to be that Instagram is to Facebook what YouTube is to Google Video: Most
users will stick to the service that has a focus on one area and does it best.
The all-photo newsfeed on the app is a quick way to see
your friends' pictures at a glance. All photos, even those added to
Facebook through Instagram are displayed in the camera app's newsfeed. But unlike
the Instagram newsfeed, a lot of these pictures are uninteresting and dull.
Instagram strives on the notion that most people have a
little artist in them. Instagram exploits this theory by making it easier to
express the artist's eye. While Facebook is a dumping ground for photo
collections, Instagram lends to a subtler, more expressive one off and a
creative expression.
I had this conversation over twitter with a friend
when she joined Instagram (late). Her inclination was to update tons of pictures
of an event. I said: "Instagram aint Twitter, just take one photo of the
cute Australian guys and leave it at that". I believe that Instagram is meant for users
to pick one photo and make it as nice as possible for display. Her response to
my complaint: "If you don't like all my updates in your newsfeed, follow
more people." But that's not Instagram's mandate. I'll follow people doing
interesting things as I do on Twitter, but I'm content with the small community
I follow and actually hope to catch most of what they post. I prefer to have a
relationship with most of the people I follow on Instagram and keep that
community smaller and more intimate, never bombarding or being bombarded by
tons of updates (of the Australians my friend digs so much).
All in all, a few positives to the Camera app include the
all-photo newsfeed (even better if more of your friends take better photos or
use Instagram). Also the ability to upload multiple photos from your
mobile device is a plus. However as I haven't tried it I imagine the wait time
is intense.
All in all I'm not sure it matters what Facebook does to
create a better experience for their Camera app, I don't believe it will be
widely adopted.
Perhaps some the reasoning behind the $1Billion purchase
of Instagram was to avoid the negativity undoubtedly expressed when releasing a
copy-cat app, but my hope was that Facebook was planning to develop the
Instagram experience further, not divide users between apps.
Imagine if the world’s most inspiring visionaries and greatest brands did not exist. Their ideas and inventions trapped and suffocated by six factors that could turn even the greatest of thinkers into a ball of mush or a quivering coward. The six enemies that after reading this article I am now aware and cautious of are; Availability, Ignorance, Committees, Comfort, Momentum and Passivity.
Availability - We often settle for what’s available and what’s available isn’t always great. Imagine if a brand decided to settle when it came to quality in their products. Resulting in an average or OK brand identity, instead of striving for and achieving greatness. Where would our favourite brands be today if they all just said, "Good works, we don't need to be great."
Ignorance - If we don’t know how to make something great, we simply won’t. If we don’t know that greatness is possible, we won’t bother attempting it. All too often, we literally do not know any better than good enough. Giving up, reaching for the mediocrity instead of greatness. Consider this when sitting down to create something; the scent of confidence and pride in ones work speaks volumes and can be the needed edge.
Committees - Nothing destroys a good idea faster than a mandatory consensus. The lowest common denominator is never a high standard. A slight rebellion is good for the soul. Sometimes the consensus of others can make a person second guess something brilliant and force them into a place of ease. The willingness to take a risk and the desire to be different, be better, be great; that is what separates the strong from the weak.
Comfort - Why pursue greatness when you’ve already got 324 channels and a recliner? Pass the dip and forget about your grand designs. This enemy is by far the worst. So often people fear change and rocking the boat worried that a rough current could lead to a sunken ship or an over dipped chip. I say dip that chip as much as you want layer things on and create something entirely new. The greatest designs come from the unforeseen.
Momentum - If you’ve been doing what you’re doing for years and its not-so-great, you are in a rut. Many people refer to these ruts as careers. A career is a fraction of a person but not their defining characteristic. With that said one must enjoy what they are doing. To produce the best work you need to have zest and a thirst for knowledge. Don’t get stuck between the areas of sure, fine and whatever. That is how you end up doing things you hate well into your retirement.
Passivity - There’s a difference between being agreeable and agreeing to everything. Trust the little internal voice that tells you, “This is a bad idea" Many people suffer from being a lemming, so scared to separate from the pack that they let themselves be lead willingly to their death. Because I greatly enjoy all of you who read this blog I caution you; DON’T EVER BE A LEMMING! Voice your own opinion and have faith in your ideas.
What do you think your biggest obstacle in achieving greatness? Sound off in the comments below.
Last year YouTube launched the Merch Store to help indie musicians with the sale of music, concert tickets and merch by partnering with Amazon, iTunes, Topppin, Songkick and Google Play. Today YouTube announced through the Creator Blog that they would be expanding on the Merch Store concept by allowing any YouTube account holder in good standing to add a store to their channel.
Image courtesy of YouTube Creator Blog.
The evolution of the Merch Store includes a partnership with CafePress, a promotional merchandise company that boasts 11 million unique visitors to their site each month, that will help account holders to create the merchandise they wish to sell on their YouTube channel.
Well I'm sure this evolution was designed for YouTube channel owners like Jenna Marbles, whose nyan cat costume I need to steal for Halloween this year, or Epic Meal Time; I can't help but see the value in the Merch Store for brands.
More and more often community managers and digital strategists sit in on a brief only to be told by the client that, "We need a viral video." Which, as we've said before, is a very difficult task to accomplish but if you succeed at creating an incredible video that miraculously goes viral then what does the brand get in return? We can't directly correlate a rise in Skittle sales after the launch of their award winning cat video. Until now.
What if after watching the strange cat video, admittedly more than just the 1 time, I could purchase Skittles merch? What if I could buy some weird cat ears and a bag of Skittles? What if I could purchase a light that looks like the broken Skittles rainbow? Wouldn't that be fantastic?!
By adding a Merch Store to all accounts YouTube has opened the door for endless merchandising opportunities both for brands and vloggers.
I for one can't wait to see what some of my favourite channels produce... seriously Jenna, I want that nyan cat costume.
Last week, Facebook announced forthcoming plans to launch
an App Centre. App anything, no matter how you phrase it, associates with Apple
and iTunes; the App Store which revolutionized the phone and developers' career
paths. But Facebook makes no ploy to outdo Apple's model. Facebook's app centre
doesn't claim to be anything revolutionary, instead it appears it will serve to
showcase apps, making them easier to find as well as understand, with a
dedicated info page for each.
For apps built on Facebook, those viewed and used within
the Facebook site such as the massively popular Farmville, a new option to
charge for the app itself will be introduced. This might not be a successful
model but time will tell if users will pay to install a Facebook app. What is undoubtedly
the case and most likely why Facebook had gone this route, is that with a
payment mechanism attached, developers will dedicate more time to creating
engaging apps in hopes of turning a greater profit, so look for cool new apps
coming down the line.
With the success of apps using Facebook integration, this
is a natural step to push already popular apps like instagram and pinterest to
the 900 million users on Facebook, ensuring Facebook stays relevant and
integrated ongoing.
Facebook is looking to be at the forefront of a user's
mind when dedicating time to an app. If it wasn't already, shareability through
Facebook should be the most important aspect of an app whether viewed as a
developer or a user.
Earlier this week we were lucky enough to attend the launch party for Toronto start-up, My Event Suite, and was it ever a blast.
My Event Suite (MES), is dynamic website that provides users with the ability to plan their event all from one easy digital hub. MES allows top of the line caterers, venues, florists etc. access to their service for a fee which means that when you're planning an event you can do it all in one place, no muss, no fuss.
The launch was focused on providing the over 500 attendees with the best possible event, it left everyone feeling as though by using MES they could have an event just as impressive. With a mechanical bull, beautiful cocktails, exceptional food, an ice cream truck and massage tables there was something for everyone in attendance.
It has become common practice for major brands to throw events for the social media crowd and often we receive push back from clients when we present them with an elaborate strategy for a launch party; what we need to remember is that online communications need to continue offline and that is why these events are so successful.
In one night co-founders Shawn and Jon were able to convince a crowd of the most influential people in Toronto that their service could exceed all expectations with minimal effort. Planning a wedding, a branded event or a birthday party they've got you covered with connections to the best caterers, event spaces and party accessories (the bull) in the business.
When planning an event for a brand we need to focus first on what we're trying to communicate to our fans and then on what kind of experience we want to provide. If we can't accomplish both those objectives expertly then the event is dead before we even send out the invitations.
It was wonderful to see all of my favourite bloggers in one space but it was even more exciting to see the expertise with which these two young men pulled off this event, no detail was overlooked in the planning process and as a result I walked away knowing that the next time I need to plan an event there is only one service I'll be using and that is MES.
I don't know when the internet became a repository for cat videos, cute kitten pictures and Lolcats but it happened and as a result it is nearly impossible to go on Facebook without seeing a cuddly kitteh or a cat themed meme.
Until this point no brand has successfully used our fascination with cute kittens saying or doing ridiculous things for a campaign; although Toronto agency John St. give us Catvertising we were up until recently missing a truly cat centric digital campaign.
This week Proximity brought us the inspired KittyCat Hijack plug-in and never again will ANY website lack in the necessary kitten quotient to please the likes of Reddit and 4Chan.
KittyCat Hijack is an easy to use plug-in that anyone can add to their bookmark bar from the Temptations Canada Facebook page. By adding the plug-in users can hijack ANY page with cute, cuddly, meowing kittens by clicking on a bag of Temptations that appears on the left hand side of the page, the bag begins to shake and the more you shake it the more the cats take over the page.
I took over my friend Casie'sblog and shared the picture with all of our mutual friends on Facebook - which speaks to the viral nature this plug-in. It's simple, easy to use and most importantly speaks directly to heavy social media users.
This is the kind of creative we at Cap C like to build - digital execution inspired by insight. We don't just look to the latest viral video to inspire TV spots, as Jon explained in his blog about The Pitch. We bring insight, product and execution together in a way that seems effortless and natural.
As digital continues to grow faster than we can keep up it is important that we help our clients stay relevant - don't try and make digital executions work on TV, don't turn TV spots into YouTube videos and don't throw QR codes on every piece of creative because it makes you look hip. Focus on creating digital solutions that are first and foremost DIGITAL - the results will speak for themselves.
"Viral" is my absolute least favourite word to hear in a meeting with clients, "We want a viral video." is an almost impossible request to satisfy.
It's not that we can't make you a viral video; we can if you give us a couple kittens, a kid singing impossibly well and a double rainbow we'll have you at a million hits within 24 hours. But does viral matter if there is no staying power? If your video goes viral and a month later is forgotten about did you invest your funds wisely?
Truly viral videos may disappear from our cache but they don't ever leave our hearts.
Yesterday a friend of mine shared an article by The Onion. The article claimed that United Airlines, "[had] in its ongoing effort to cut transportation costs and boost
profits, announced Tuesday that it was exploring the
feasibility of herding them into planes and stacking them like cordwood
from floor to ceiling." While the idea of stacking passengers like cordwood is both amusing and oddly accurate my first action upon reading the satirical piece was to head to YouTube and re-watch the very REAL story of Sons of Maxwell lead singer, Dave Carroll and his poor guitar.
United Breaks Guitars was uploaded more than 2 years ago, has over 11 million views and when I think of United Airlines this song ALWAYS comes to mind.
While I may not remember that kitten video I watched last week or the latest viral effort from the "hottest" digital shop in town, I do remember the first time I saw Harley Morenstein and his band of foodies combine bacon, 5 birds and a pig to create the TURBACONEPIC!
Harley and his team have turned their wildly popular videos into a real business; forming partnerships with companies like Netflix and Gamefly. But stories like this aren't as rare as they seem; Jenna Marbles and countless others have led the way for anyone who wants to turn viral success into a legitimate career.
Real viral videos, viral ads and viral efforts have a kind of staying power that is invaluable; when I'm bored or having a bad day I go back to one of Jenna's oldest videos (linked above) and I smile. Because she isn't a trend or a fad, she's funny and unique and even though I've seen all of her Wednesday videos I go back to my favourites the way I go back to my favourite movies.
Before embarking on a quest to create viral video content, brands should remember that YouTube isn't just for amateurs, there are people that are making a career from their exceptional content. If you want to invest your money wisely make sure that the video you're putting so much effort into isn't just about cheap laughs, make it worthy of return visits.
Your video should be my favourite movie in 3 minutes or less, something I never get tired of and always want to see again.
Ever wonder how true leaders and people of influence become successful? No, it’s not by joining The Church of Scientology or the Illuminati. It’s simply by reading one of the greatest books of all time, the holy grail of social interaction and understanding people. I’m talking about ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ a book suggested to me by a dear friend.
It was Christmas holidays and I was looking for an enjoyable book to read on my journey back to Toronto from Antarctica a.k.a Ottawa. I sent a text to my friend Brian who had suggested this book to me many times in the past and constantly raved about its author Dale Carneige. I was slightly skeptical about the relevance of a book written in 1937 to today’s social media driven audience. With nothing to lose I decided to purchase the book and since then have re-read it several times. From start to finish it covers the fundamentals of human interaction and learning to truly enjoy the art of conversation.
The most memorable message and theme can be summarized with the quote “to be interesting, be interested”. Human beings are self indulgent creatures, they love nothing more than sharing their own story and having others listen to them. I know many of you may think that when you listen to your dear aunt Dorothy go on about her cats, you’re truly being engaged and present with her. But how many times do you ACTUALLY listen and allow her to feel important? Showing genuine interest in a person can open up a wonder of opportunities and allow for a sense of ease and trust to be established. These teachings apply to our daily interactions but are especially relevant in a professional setting; getting to know our clients and their behavior can help bridge gaps and allow for more meaningful and pleasant interactions.
With 75 years of relevant lessons I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone in marketing, or for those who want to polish up their social skills. I leave you with this quote, “If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.”-Dale Carniege
This show would be a whole lot cooler if it was a fake show about advertising. But because no agency is going to let camera crews in on what really happens behind the scenes, it's not that cool. And though agency life in 2012 isn't as glamorous as Mad Men, it's a whole lot more awesome than this show makes it seem. Where are the way-too-out-there ideas that client would never sign off on? The ones that make a meeting howl but need to stay within the walls of the agency? Creative teams are the lifeblood of any agency. These are the people that could have stand up comedy careers or write screenplays but have a love for constant competition (and a pay cheque). The show only displayed creatives during their worst moments, getting shut down by their CD's (who were surprisingly lamely depicted in the show) for not being out there enough. But take a camera into the creative team's office at 10PM and you'd have a better story to expose.
The show misses the mark in the campaign it features. Where is the digital strategy? Where is the social media integration? Perhaps later episodes will touch on more integrative campaign ideas but this one is so inapplicable to today's creative campaign necessities it was baffling. Strangely, the winning agency's big idea stems from a YouTube video with millions of views. Which displays their knowledge that content sharing online is this decade's most powerful way to reach consumers. But they don't apply this knowledge in a fresh way at all, turning a YouTube viral video into a less cool television spot. TV. Pssh. Maybe there will be tie in to digital once the business is won, but to leave it completely out of the pilot episode lends to the lackluster, dinosaur feel this show carries.
In a day when advertising is struggling to find its foothold in this newly evolved, consumer powered, brands personified, full disclosure ecosystem, why does AMC focus on such an outdated aspect of our business? Yes, the Pitch is still relevant. But there are so many more parts of the wheel to include. Will consumers care about the end product? Will they share it? Television ads are for the most part, no longer entertaining. The best advertising comes from the shops that take risks to find what will touch the consumer’s heart enough to pass the content along. Subway should not have been the client to focus on, nor were the agencies that prepared safe ideas to appease them. In the end, nobody will care about this campaign. And thus nobody will likely care about how it came to be, or the Pitch, as it is.
Remember the days of ICQ? It was the late 1990’s, we would sit at our computers writing reports and chatting with the friends we had left behind at school less than an hour ago. Well, it looks like ICQ might have a place in our hearts again. Now owned by Russian web giant, Mail.ru Group, the company is set to launch its latest app for the Android platform.
The refreshed app, which already exists for iOS and the new Windows Phone, will combine old school IM with the more modern desire to have all-in-one applications. Users of the app can already integrate with existing IM technology including Facebook, AIM and GTalk, but now they will be able to share photos and location, combined with better offline functions like reading and composing IMs without a connection - this new app has the potential to be a massive hit with GenY and hipsters everywhere.
GenY lives in the social space more than any other but they also seem to long for a simpler time, or in the case of the Hipsters a more ironic time, so aside from the cross platform functionality and offline capabilities ICQ has one big thing going for it; the “UH-OH”. That iconic sound that so many of the GenY crowd associate with their first digital memories.
From a marketing standpoint, we know that playing on a person’s nostalgia is a powerful method of connecting with your target market.
Pepsi’s Throwback campaign took advantage of this in 2011 when they launched a can and recipe that was a throwback to the Pepsi we had all known up until 1981 when the recipe changed from real sugar to high fructose corn syrup. Following the success of the U.S. execution, Pepsi Throwback was brought to Canada. Pepsi threw a massive party at Toronto's Revival on College, attendees were invited to put on their retro attire, drink some Pepsi and throw back to a simpler time. The campaign received mass media coverage from the National Post and #PepsiThrowback was trending globally by the end of the party. Even today, almost a year later, fans of the product are begging for its return.
Frito Lay did something similar for Doritos by bringing back their 1980’s Doritos Taco flavour. To accompany the old-is-new-again bag the brand launched a “Time Machine” Facebook app that brought users back to their favourite pop culture moments of yesterday. Thousands of fans engaged with the new app.
The key message is simple, although consumers are product-focused and price-oriented, as people, we’re very sentimental. Play to our past and it might earn you consideration in our future. Will it work for ICQ? I’ll text you about it later.
7 years ago today the first ever video was uploaded to YouTube.
Me at the Zoo is a 19 second film featuring YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim; while the film is nothing revolutionary in and of itself it does mark the beginning of something incredible... and with an elephant no less.
7 years ago, 19 seconds of film changed the way we share content forever.
According to the most recent stats we upload 60 hours of video every single minute, over 4 billion videos are viewed every day all seen by the more than 8 million unique visitors a month.
While YouTube is often mocked for being home to a seemingly unbelievable number of cat videos the real truth is that 7 years ago, YouTube gave voice to a silent web.
With YouTube we found a place to be creative, informative, strange and honest. We found a content creation tool and all that was needed to start sharing was a free account and a camera.
So thank you YouTube, for all that you've done for us as people, brands and creators.
Now, I don't know about you but I'm going to go watch some badgers do their thing.
Facebook's acquisition of Instagram makes way for some interesting possibilities to reach a new audience. The 30Million users on Instagram are a different target than other social platforms like Twitter or FourSquare, but Instagram does encompass similar features. While the primary intent of Instagram is to share photography, users can also tag a location and write a brief message. It's a visually driven sharing tool for those who believe a picture speaks way more to an event than 140 characters and if we're checking in, we should see what the location looks like, too.
While adding new possibilities to Facebook's social sharing capabilities is important, we're more concerned with how a brand can use Instagram to enhance the brand-consumer relationship by delivering engaging content.
The shift to page-post advertising (using a page's post as an ad), points to Facebook's goal of creating symbiotic relationships between brand and consumer. There is pressure on brands to be creative in enhancing the quality of their page's content, spending money to get their best content in front of more users. With the ability to connect Instagram to Facebook, a brand could set a budget to advertising the "most recent eligible post" and then feed in new pictures and comments live from an event. Instagram pictures will look sharp in ads and with the proper target set, the reach and awareness of an event could significantly increase.
Facebook's move to acquire a popular content sharing network brings to light the apparent mission of blending more visual content into everyone's newsfeeds. Look out for the potential integration of Facebook Check Ins with Instagram Posts as well.
This past New York Fashion Week the brilliant and beloved Oscar de la Renta treated his cyber fans to the utmost industry V.I.P access. Cyber guests were treated via Pinterest to a real-time runway show viewing photos of his collection as it made its way down the runway. His team ‘live-pinned’ show preparation and backstage access to his branded account the evening before the event.
With Pinterest being the latest social media outlet du jur brands are now even more able to share their merchandise and have fans coveting items. Companies using this platform show their connection to all things social and increase their advertising potential. The consumer now becomes engaged on various levels and is left with a virtual take-away that they are able to refer when purchase desire kicks in.
This form of expression and lifestyle engagement would work perfectly for clients such as Holt Renfrew and Nissan. Holt Renfrew could use Pinterest to showcase their consumer’s lifestyle and have boards devoted to labels which they carry, updating them as shipments arrive and expressing their trend forecasts for each season. To make shopping fun and interactive they could even devote boards to various stages in a person’s life helping them to transition their wardrobe. Their biggest opportunity lies within the male consumer, Holt Renfrew could create Pinterest boards outlining the season’s must have items making their trip into the store that much easier and more pleasant. Men have hesitation when it comes to shopping and trying new looks, if they were to see an outfit or items laid out that fit their lifestyle purchasing would be that much easier.
With Nissan Pinterest could tell the story of the companies past and also highlight their present and future vehicles. Inspiration boards could be created for individual models showcasing their features and benefits. They could then help to target vehicles demographic by pinpointing the followers who share the images.
Using Pinterest as a social outlet is another way of giving your brand a voice. Companies are able to create moments and inspire their consumers, leaving them with a virtual take-away and references to items they would like to purchase. This sharing would help to increase purchase desire and help eliminate the guess work in finding that perfect item.
Welcome to Social Stream a blog dedicated to all things interweb-y, digital and tweet-worthy.
Collectively we make up the community management team at the Toronto ad agency Capital C but separately we are Jon Nelson, Eric Omikunle, Matthew Naftolin (Nafty) and me Shannon Hunter (Shan).
In the spirit of introductions we've compiled our official-sounding bios below; we promise this is the only time we'll refer to ourselves in the third person.
Jon
Jon Nelson has a love for communication and the tools people use to share their interests. His BA in theatre blended into his penchant for advertising and after a post-grad diploma in copywriting, he found himself working as a community manager before Facebook had likes and before Twitter was popular. As Consumer Engagement Manager at Capital C, he oversees content creation, community management and social outreach for brands with diverse voices and creates new personalities for clients not yet playing in the online social world. He loves riding his bike, live music and being outdoors too.
Eric
Eric Omikunle has taken his love for conversation/debating and fascination for what makes people tick to a social level. A self-proclaimed pop culture junky he’s first to download the latest ‘it’ singing sensations music track and dining at Toronto Life’s noted restaurants. While living life he always remembers to capture the moments by tweeting and instragraming his every move.
Nafty
Ever find yourself reading up on the latest marketing tactic of a brand and asking yourself “What were they thinking??!!”. It was those moments that pushed Matt Naftolin into the marketing realm, and with Social Media taking over, it’s only becoming more fun. When he’s not analyzing the field, you’ll most likely find him kicking-back on a patio, shooting a basketball with friends, or searching the web for the latest and greatest.
Shan
Shannon Hunter has been active in the Toronto social media scene since early 2009; she has worked as a social media lead and community manager on several brands including Toyota Canada and Infiniti Canada.
Working as social media lead at her previous agency Shannon ran the first geo-targeted promoted trend on twitter in Canada.
She maintains an active presence online and writes as a relationship columnist for several popular online magazines including Women's Post and DailyXY. Her knowledge of relationships, love of social media and desire to give back to charity led her to create "Love A Heart", an annual bachelor/bachelorette auction that is promoted entirely through social media; since then the auction has raised $21,000.00 for the Heart & Stroke Foundation.
So that's us, feel free to tell us all about yourself in the comments below - we'll definitely read them.
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