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Building Your Brand and Influencer Marketing

Of the many hot topics in Online Marketing, Hafsa from @happilyhafsa and myself discussed ‘Building Your Brand and Influencer Marketing’ on Instagram Live. I’ve been following Hafsa on Instagram for a while now and watching her grow her community (notice how I didn’t say followers) has been exciting to watch. She is a motivational Muslim mom who helps moms feel happy and has created an outstanding business by doing that.

Influencer marketing will continue to grow and where we are now is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much room for it to evolve into the digital age of authentic advertising. Those who will stay on top are definitely those who create REAL content and content that has VALUE. Word of mouth has always come on top before any other marketing. Building that trust with your community, your audience is what makes you an awesome influencer. Keep in mind the emphasis on being authentic. It’s the best feeling ever when I get messages from people telling me they tried what I recommended and they love it. As a viewer/follower, engage and learn. Ask questions. A great influencer/blogger/content creator will try their best to respond to you. Whether it’s a reply in DM, a story or a full on blog post.

HumJK

In case you missed our Instagram live, here’s what we talked about. Not including the side conversations that were extremely entertaining.
You snooze, you lose. 😉

Tell me about Happily Hafsa?

Hafsa first started with the mindful glutton. She was sharing recipes, specifically instant pot and talked about her weight loss journey. At the same time when she started talking about mom life and body positivity, her audience resonated with that content a lot more. In Feb 2017 Hafsa and her husband who is a consultant; worked on new branding and HappilyHafsa was born.

She is very clear about what her brand represents. Helping moms, be happy. Hafsa also does blog coaching and makes sure that she coaches those who fit into her niche of happiness.

Video, IGTV and Experiential Marketing is going to be huge for 2019.

HumJK


Let’s talk about a time you discussed a topic and the positive impact it had on someone?

Hafsa did an Instagram Live where she discussed her trip to Toronto after 6 months and she got hammered with comments about her weight gain. It was a challenging experience, and she was told by her husband “no one can make you feel bad about yourself unless you let them”. Months later a viewer contacted Hafsa and told her how that live made a positive impact on her life. This live got 1800+ views and helped so many with being body positive.

Celebrate yourself, regardless of how you look.

HappilyHafsa

For those who are trying to build a brand, what is something they can start doing to determine what their personal brand is?

Your brand needs to be an experience. That includes your brand values, your voice, colours and images. Be clear on what that is and your experience will become consistent and will resonate with your audience.

If you’re struggling with building a presence, get on Instagram stories. Hafsa’s first story she recorded 30 times before she felt comfortable with it.

Things change and the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

HappilyHafsa



Hafsa suggests if you’re not comfortable showing your face then show what you see. Or share your experience, like if you’re walking in the mall. Also, if they turn out to be amazing then add them to your highlights. 4

A community is the foundation to building a brand and being an influencer. What do you recommend people do to create a community?

Hafsa did a research project on Instagram stories. She asked her viewers why they like the bloggers they follow. 70% of the words that were used, pointed to REAL. They love people who express the reality of life.
Be real, be yourself and be authentic. People relate to people who are showing the reality of life. Be true to your values.

You don’t have to have everyone like you.

You just need the right people to like you.

HappilyHafsa

For brands who sell products, show behind the scenes. Allow your customers to see how your product came about. Even as an influencer, there’s a huge opportunity on Instagram stories to show the other side of your life outside of your curated content.

When you’re trying to grow and find your niche, focus on your audience vs. your competitors. Focusing on your ideal audience is very important. Do research on hashtags that your audience is using and engage with those people.

Don’t focus on the numbers, your community is what matters.

HumJK

Your community could be like minded individuals who are under the same category as you are. Having a good balance of following those who are in your community, who inspire you and then those who fall under your own personal or brand interests is very important in building your community. Hafsa mentions to have a balance so that you’re not being influenced by your competition to create the same content that they’re creating.

You’re never too big to connect with your audience.

HappilyHafsa

I had so much fun doing this Instagram Live with Hafsa, and I’m positive I didn’t cover everything we talked about. Stay tuned on Instagram for my next IG live and make sure to follow @happilyhafsa.

Influencer Marketing trends 2019 - This is an image to call out how to build a brand and influencer marketing. Tips and trends for 2019.

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bogle seeds farm
Marketing

How To Prepare For Social Media Fame For Businesses

bogle seeds farm

How can a business prepare for social media fame? Last night I found out that Bogle Seeds Farm is closed forever. This makes me really sad because we had such a great time when we were there. The way I found out was actually a rude comment under my Instagram picture. The person had written something along the lines as “Are you happy now? And a link to a Globe and Mail article. Which you can read here. 

How To Prepare For Social Media Fame For Businesses

First of all, that is a very big assumption to make from one picture. Pooling everyone into one bucket without any proof of whether that is my stance of what happened, it is not fair. But I get it, the internet has a lot of trolls out there and being an influencer you have to be ready for it. I deleted the comment because I don’t put up with any kind of negativity on my accounts. I don’t reply to negative comments and leave them on my platforms for people to view and hold that negativity in their minds.

If someone has a problem, the direct messaging or email option is there for them, and I will always reply back. P.S This person had left the same comment on all geotagged images on Instagram from Bogle Seeds Farm. Having said that, I thought about what happened to Bogle Seeds Farm and feel really bad for them. I was actually there with my family on Saturday when everything happened.

We left right away when we noticed it was getting too crazy.  And also didn’t stay long to get “the perfect shot”. We took a total of 10 pictures, which out of the 10, 3 pictures came out beautiful. So that should give you an idea of how long we were there. We also didn’t go into the field, to avoid disturbing the flowers. I’ve grown sunflowers in our yard, and have three growing right now, so I know how sensitive they can be.

bogle seeds farm

I had posted in my first image that people were cheating and going through the sidelines and not paying the entrance fee. I also suggested the smaller farm beside Bogle Seeds that was taking donations for ALS as an entrance fee to take pictures. In my comments, I went even further to suggest other places that my followers had suggested. When we had found out the farm was “temporarily closed”.  See both posts here:


As a Social Media Marketing professional, I have some suggestions so that this doesn’t happen again to anyone else:

  1. SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are a business opening to the public, have a social media presence so you can keep track of the amount of coverage your business is getting. This will prepare you for busier than normal days. Ex. If you see 3-4 influencers who have posted about your business who have a total reach of 60k following, that should be an alarm that the coming days could get busy. Also, if you cannot create an account, then simply watching geotags will also give you as a business owner some insight. I noticed there were quite a few posts as well on large media outlets about the farm before Saturday. Doing a google search would also give business owners an idea of any websites referencing your business. Social media fame can sneak up on you really fast! Sometimes there is no time to be prepared, but thinking ahead of your social media presence can help for the long term as well.

    “Experts predict that by 2018, the number of worldwide smartphone users will exceed 2.5 billion. There is no denying it: much of our lives are now mobile! In fact, the average person spends more than 4 hours per day on a mobile device texting, browsing social media, checking email, and more.” – Forbes Magazine

  2. SELL TICKETS: For locations that are smaller or you have sensitive products, it’s best to sell tickets ahead of time. Even sell them in time slots. Online, or at the door.
  3. MANPOWER AND SIGNAGE: All hands on deck or on standby. When we were at the farm, we walked from one end of the farm to the entrance to get to it. I didn’t see any no trespassing signs, no yellow tape, or fencing to stop people from going into the fields without paying the entrance fee. No people either to give any direction. I understand it can be costly for smaller businesses to organize that, but there are volunteer options and simple signage can help as well.

We can all learn a lot from what happened and going forward even social media etiquette on our ends as bloggers/influencers/photographers. Check out La Petite Noob’s blog post for more information on that. Social Media Fame can come as a surprise to some businesses, especially those who don’t follow along with Marketing trends. Every business has a learning curve, trials, and errors. For a successful business, it’s best to learn from these trials and errors and have great plans set ahead for the future. There are lots of benefits to social fame as well. I can share a post in regards to that for another time.

social media fame

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Style

What Happens During Brunch With Bloggers

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

bloggers brunch

During my early years as a blogger, I wondered what it would be like to sit among other like-minded individuals in the blogging world. So here I am, this year, with lots of breakfast, lunch/brunch and dinners with other bloggers and I gotta say, what an awesome experience! Some bloggers are very different in person from what I actually thought they’d be like according to their posts and online voice. And others, like the below crew, are exactly the same offline as they present themselves online. When they’re exactly the same, I have to admit I get such a feel-good feeling. It’s wonderful to see that realness and authenticity come to life. So here’s what happens during brunch with bloggers:

Bloggers – Left to right: YesMissy – Cat Forsley – Dianas Healthy Living –
Maggie Adhami – ME – Shoeteasetoronto bloggers

What Happens During Brunch With Bloggers

Last month I met up with some amazing bloggers for brunch, in downtown Toronto. You might recognize them(see above). First, there are the quick intros and then the “omg that’s you!” chit-chat. And then lots of talk about blogging. Everything from how to editing, favourites applications, google analytics and SEO – (I’m drooling!) brands and events. I love talking tech! Plugins and what works for us and what doesn’t. If there is one takeaway you should get from this post, it would be “together we are stronger”. As similar as we may seem for content creation and voices; we all still have our own style, community, and our own niche experiences/opinions.

blogger brunch toronto

I love how bloggers bounce ideas off each other and the best part is when the food comes out, it comes out altogether so we can take flat lays, single shots and just pictures galore without anyone getting upset. Because we all get it! It’s a no judge zone and at that moment while taking pictures we are all pulling in the same energy and are alike. That is the very moment everyone really comes together. When we’re in our natural blogging element. Brunch with bloggers is not only about food, but getting to know the beautiful individuals I love to follow online and getting to know them at a much more realistic level.

outfit of the day toronto
Leather crop top – Zara
outfit of the day toronto
Bomber Jacket – Dynamite/Garage Clothing Outlet at Dixie Mall

 

 

Breakfast of champions!🤤 @joebirdto also does take out. What did you have for breakfast today? 😊

A post shared by Lifestyle • Fashion • Beauty (@humjk) on

Here’s what I wore to the brunch. I have been looking for a pleated winter skirt for so long! Now that I’ve found it, I want to wear it as much as possible! I found this skirt online at Aritizia and it was on sale for $80. Linked it and some others:

ONE – TWO – THREE

aritzia jude skirt

Matched the grey tone with a color block grey purse from Zara. Sorta similar: ONE – TWO – THREE

BRUNCH WITH BLOGGERS
Boots – Steve Madden

brunch with bloggers

 

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Marketing

How To Deal With And Catch Social Media Trolls

social media trolls

What is a Social Media Troll?

Someone who creates conflict on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs by posting messages that are particularly controversial or inflammatory with the sole intent of provoking an emotional (read: angry) response from other users. – Google

These social media trolls are lurking everywhere on the web and most are full of anger and jonzing to discourage people from just about anything they love. So according to google’s translation of a social media troll, these trolls create conflict with messages, but the trolls have upgraded to trolling a few more ways.

[Tweet “What is a #socialmedia troll? Here’s how you can catch/deal with these trolls:”]

Types of Social media trolls:

Comment trolls – They leave negative unnecessary comments anywhere they see the option to comment.

Post trolls – These trolls probably have subscribed to your blog just so they can be the first to comment under your post with links to their own websites, viruses etc.

Stalker trolls – They stalk your social media accounts everyday but never like or comment on any of your posts.

 

How do you catch/deal with trolls?

 

  1. Don’t feed the comment trolls. On Twitter if someone is being Negative+Sarcastic, then you can reply in a Sarcastic+Funny tone to make light of the situation. If it’s on Instagram just delete their comment (you don’t need to see that comment again) and then do your IG fam a favour and block them.
  2. Why do you post your site links when most commenting platforms allow you to make your name link-able after you’ve commented? It won’t help your SEO situation, so stop. Set yourself up with a spam blocker and a commenting system that allows you to approve the comment before it goes live.
  3. Your like or comment won’t make that person insta-famous. Collectively maybe. I’ll be honest. I’ve seen some blurry IG pics or where the image should have been rotated to be right side up, but I still liked it. But then again I go a little like crazy and go on liking sprees. If you really want to know your stalker trolls, you can try to catch them by putting your account on private and see who sends you a follow request. Chances are your stalker trolls don’t follow you and will now try too. For those who do follow you and don’t like, favourite, re-tweet etc…relax, they either didn’t see your post or it sucks and you need to re-think your approach. Trial and error my friends.

 

Trollers gonna troll, so do you and carry on.

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Social Media

5 Reasons To Mute People On Twitter

Did you know there’s a mute button on Twitter?

I know it’s old news. But have you used it?

Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Re-tweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline. (They won’t know.)

tweet
Thank you Twitter for creating the Mute button. This is a great alternative to un-following someone. So when should you use it? 

  1. Ranters/Complainers

    Your typical ranter or complainer on twitter is someone who ONLY rants/complains. You can usually tell when you visit their page and all you see is text. No links, no hashtags, no images… As a matter of fact they may be using Twitter as an output to blow off steam. In most cases I would recommend to just un-follow them, but if it’s a friend/family/co-worker then the mute button will do. Also, if the person you follow usually doesn’t rant and all of a sudden your timeline is full of this person tweeting about their recent break-up, muting them until they’re over it may come in handy.

  2. 80% Sales 20% Cool Facts

    Tempted to name a few but nahh. These accounts are companies selling products or services. Usually they’re newbs to Social Media and they try to get followers by tweeting cool related facts or news. But when they start filling up your timeline with ads and sales pitches then it’s probably best to mute them. You can always head back to their page to scroll through to find the re-tweet worthy tweets. Here are some tips for bloggers on how they can navigate through twitter.

  3. Avoid Live-Tweeters

    These tweeters love to tweet about anything live. Truth be told I’m guilty of this as well. But I do consider my followers when live tweeting and spread my tweets out to at least 5-15 min intervals. You can catch a live tweeter before they get crazy and mute them by spotting the hashtag their using. Also great way to avoid a tv/movie spoiler.

  4. Love you, but your tweets suck

    It’s simple. Your good friend, co-worker or relative whom you love really sucks at tweeting. They use hashtags that no one uses (full sentence tags), broken web links and tweet about what they ate 4 times a day. So don’t un-follow them which these days translates to “I’m not your friend anymore” or “it’s over”, just mute them and remember to visit their page once in a blue moon. Maybe even reply to a tweet or favourite something. 

  5. Contest/Giveaway lovers

    There is a known type of twitter user who hunts down for contests and giveaways and tweets them all. Trying to win anything and maybe everything hehe. Which is totally fine! But some people might find it annoying and some informative. I have a few friends who do this to different degrees. I don’t mind at all. For me it’s informative and I try re-tweeting some of those giveaways as well. If you find it getting out of hand, this is a time to use the mute button.

 

So, have you used the mute button on Twitter? Why did you use it?

 

 

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SOCIAL MEDIA COPY CATS
Marketing

Social Media: Is it plagiarism or is it innovative?

SOCIAL MEDIA COPY CATS

 

The digital age where social media has become a huge part of our generation, the opportunity curve is going through the roof for the guy/girl next door becoming famous overnight over an uploaded video, tweet or instagram post.

My Facebook feed had this one article that was being shared over and over again by different people and even made it to a few of my whatsapp group conversations. A YouTuber becomes famous and some of the videos have a word for word resemblance with another YouTubers videos. Some viewers feel cheated and have shown their outrage via YouTube comments, twitter and other social platforms. Everyone has their opinion on whether this is unethical or not. If you ask me, before judging someone online for copying another persons content and resorting to cyber bullying take these points into consideration:

  • If you believe someone has done something unethical, being unethical back (ex. cyber bulling) does not make things right
  • The person copying others online content may not be aware that this is even wrong (or not allowed) and may not know that they should be giving any kind of credit to the person they were inspired by or copying (if that’s the case)
  • Person may have seen creating the copy of the video as their own variation of it

[Tweet “Fame = many responsibilities & few understand these responsibilities right away..”]

You can learn from making mistakes and either correct or continue to do the same and ignore all negative feedback from your fans and only take the good. Although if you ask me, any kind of criticism, especially bad, can be really good for you if you take it with a grain of salt and use it to build your online image into something even better. After all, if you win all of your fans hearts, it only feeds into your popularity even more. It can even be inspiring to other content makers and they may even follow suit.

Here are some guidelines to follow when sharing or creating content on social media platforms:

Twitter

On Twitter when you share someone’s tweet it’s called a Re-Tweet. Click on the Re-Tweet button under the Tweet.

You can also start a new tweet and start the copied tweet with ‘RT’ which is short form for Re-Tweet. When you tweet this way don’t forget to also add the person’s Twitter name. Should look something like this:

tweet example

This is a great way to give the other person credit on Twitter and also you’re engaging with the user. That user might even appreciate you giving them credit and mentioning them in the tweet that they may even Re-Tweet your tweet. Especially if you added your own comments to the tweet.

Facebook

We are able to easily ‘share’ a post on Facebook by clicking on the share button. When you share a post, viewers of the post can see where that post derived from. (Facebook page, Facebook user, outside Facebook source)

Instagram

There are a lot of ways you can give credit to Instagram users you’ve either been inspired by or just want to copy the exact image and post it on your account.

  • Download a reposting instagram app (Ex. App called Repost for Instagram on Androids) Apps like this will automatically add a side bar with the repost symbol along with the original content creators name.
  • You can tag the person in the image before posting when in edit mode
  • You can also mention the original image post-er in the edit mode: #regram @piperlime

Vine

Vine has a one button share option or just like Instagram you can use a hashtag like #revine.

Tumblr

This microblogging platform and social networking website also allows you to press a button to share or use hashtag #reblog.

YouTube

On YouTube it’s a bit more tricky because there are no share buttons and most YouTubers videos are not their own original content. YouTube doesn’t have the processes in place like other social platforms to encourage users to give credit. It’s kind of like a free for all. Built up of so many videos that tell the same story by different people/characters. It’s evident in beauty channels with similar looks being created by different beauty experts, comedians with the same punch lines, tutorials teaching the same technique and more. It really comes down to the YouTuber. Do you want to give credit to the content that was created by another that inspired you to re-create? Or would you rather just create the video and put it out there because it’s different enough that you’re in it? How about the fact that the video you created is different in your eyes because you had a different approach, a slight change in the story, different technique…innovative?

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

With a platform that doesn’t give you the option to tag, share or promote to give shout outs to those who inspired you to create your content, it’s no wonder why there are so many copy cats. Not everyone has come to accept YouTube for what it is. Some viewers demand and criticize YouTubers to admit or share who they copied or were inspired by. However you will rarely read or see a YouTuber mention where they got their content from or who they were inspired by. Everyone wants to be an original, some with little to no effort. To each their own.

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Friday Faves

Friday Faves: Feel the love!

friday faves

What a beautiful Friday! The weather is amazing. It’s sweltering hot outside and I’m 5 days away from being in Bermuda! I have some pretty awesome videos and posts coming up, so don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and Like my Facebook page to be the first to know. ;”)

Here are my Friday Faves that really made me feel the love for education, fashion, life and Coca-Cola.

Fave App & Website:

How many of you remember Reading Rainbow? It went off air a few years ago but now it’s back in a new way! Now there’s a Reading Rainbow application that you can download to your phone and tablet. Levar Burton is advancing with the new generation and bringing his love of books to life through technology today.

Check out the website here and here’s the video:

Fave YouTube Video:

Watching some YouTube videos and I found this one! Who doesn’t love parody videos? The babies are so cute and kudos to the parents for putting all of this together. After watching this one, I went over to the comments and saw RIP Connie and found a video about one of the mom’s in the parody video passed away due to giving birth to her second child. My heart and prayers go out to that family.

Fave pin:

I love Denis Gagnon’s designs.

denis gagnon 2013
One of my favourite Canadian designers, Denis Gagnon.

Fave Movie:

Found out about this movie this week and I can’t wait to watch it! The story of YSL.

Fave Marketing Strategy:

I love what Coca-Cola did here. They’re filling a want by helping people connect with their loved ones. In return they’re affiliating that love and gratitude for their service into a long term love for the Coca-Cola brand. You know they’ll be reaching for a Coca-cola as opposed to Pepsi because of this added on benefit.

 

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Twitter Whats New
Marketing

Twitter: What’s NEW

Twitter Whats New

Just as soon as people started thinking Twitter was behind in its game, news sprouted up from social media channels about Twitter growing. At the moment Twitter has 241 million active users and it hasn’t been growing as fast as Facebook, Vine and YouTube. Time to play catch up?

Here’s a run down of what to expect and what has already popped up in Twitter News:

Last week Twitter rolled out a new platform for hosting video that gives iPhone and Android phone users previews of video clips in their feeds. With a single click you’re able to play the clip. This new feature on Twitter is called in-line video. You can see this feature being used on Vines. Twitter was behind in the video category and it was about time they started focusing on it.

It has been reported that Twitter is experimenting with the capability to see how many people have viewed your tweets, which at the moment only advertisers can see. The view count would be shown underneath each tweet, similar to how Facebook shows the amount of views underneath each Page post. How exciting is that?!

Tweet views will measure the reach of your tweets and help individuals and companies to recognize what they need to do or keep doing in order to get Re-Tweets and Favourites. Lots of views but no engagement says a whole lot to Social Media Managers. Fingers crossed this ‘experiment’ pulls through and every Twitter user can start benefiting from the data.

Twitter has also announced an update to its mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. Many people on Twitter have already called Twitter out as copying Facebook because they changed the famous ‘Re-Tweet’ lingo to ‘Share’. I’m not a fan of changing the Twitter language, especially when so many users have gotten the hang of using RT. It’s one thing to expand, but changing something that isn’t broken. Not cool.

 

There was another update to twitter mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. One being the ability to tag up to 10 people in photos without lowering the character count within your tweet. Also, users will be able to post up to four photos in a single tweet and join them together like a small collage. Sounds like Instagram to me.

In-line videos, with one click view like Vines, yay or nay? How can ‘tweet views’ help you or your business? Will you use the new picture features?

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Facebook+Whatsapp sitting in a tree…

facebook_whatsapp

Have you heard? Facebook and Whatsapp are getting married

 

When I first heard about this I wasn’t surprised. I was attending Social Media Week in New York as the SMW Reporter and had been in a seminar with BuzzFeed’s CEO & Founder Jonah Peretti. He was being interviewed by Toby Daniels Founder & Executive Director of Social Media Week.

When Toby asked Jonah about the future of sharing, that was when my ears perked up. Jonah went on to explain that he was starting to notice that their very popular BuzzFeed articles and quizzes were being dark shared and that people were starting to share less on Facebook and more across messaging platforms. Now, when he said this I got excited. It’s so very true. I have numerous amounts of Whatsapp chat groups and know that almost each group has a few shares a day with me. As a matter of fact, I’ve received BuzzFeed quizzes from friends in groups on Whatsapp too. There’s a steady shift between people wanting to share with articles, images etc with the masses to personalized and grouped sharing. Maybe Google was onto something with their Google+ selective group sharing capabilities.

Buzzfeed smw

It was all coming together in my head. When Jonah mentioned dark sharing. Many people in the audience at Social Media Week were boggled by the term. Had no idea what it meant. Thank you Toby! He jumped on it and asked Jonah to explain it further.

Dark sharing is a referral source that you see but has no exact source of where that traffic came from. So people who share via Whatsapp, BBM or other messaging services – their shares are not shown to BuzzFeeds analytics team. Right now BuzzFeed see’s that 20% of traffic is dark.

fbwhatsapp

Marketers, advertisers and social media people of the world are thinking the acquisition will bring ads, change the platform, increase the cost of using the service, but no one has thought about behind the scenes benefits for Facebook. It’s the information of sharing that really matters to digital companies right now. That is where the future is.

Did Jonah know something before everyone else? Does he have a crystal ball that showed him the future Facebook acquisition? Or was it possibly an intelligent guess?

Let me know what you think with your comments below.

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Events

SMW NYC Official VIP Opening Party – Hosted by Nokia

To kick off Social Media Week (SMW) in NYC all insiders were invited to attend the opening party. The SMW reporters and I picked up our insider passes ahead of time and had the privilege of getting a glimpse of the venue, Highline Stages. The venue is so fitting for SMW NYC. It has this loft like layout, with exposed brick and wood features. (The interior designer in me wants to elaborate but I’ll stay on topic.)

7pm and the line-up of people to get into the opening party were already getting antsy. So glad the weather wasn’t too bad. I can’t say the same for the reporters who came all the way from Singapore, India and even New Mexico which at this time is 16°! I have way too many -30° wind chill warnings to compare too.

The SMW NYC Reporters & I:

9418cea990eec7f5768ffd1c7269f433

As soon as you enter Highline Stages you’re welcomed by SMW representatives to sign in and then have your picture taken, emailed, shared to social platforms via 3 available tablets and printed! Picture taking couldn’t have been any more interactive.

Okay, where should I start?! There was an abundance of food everywhere. Vendors like Chipotle had tortilla chips with guacamole, other stations had pretzels, Whole Foods had bread with different spreads, candy and Kyotofu Bakery had lots of gluten free desserts. My favourite was the rich and smooth Miso Brownie. It was an open bar for those who wanted to drink. As some of you know I do own a turn table and enjoy mixing beats here and there. Not to brag or anything, but I can definitely recognize a great DJ. We had DJ Mick turning beats for us.

Poppin’ stationary had set up booth there and were giving away bright colored notebooks a long with pens. They set up a colorful photo booth area with some pretty awesome props! Additionally they had a twitter contest for those who tweeted an image of the freebies a long with their hashtag #Workhappypink (depending on which color of stationary you wanted you’d change pink for blue in the hashtag etc) The winner received a full desktop set from poppin’. Then there was Yelp giving out red sunglasses and sweat bands to spread the social cheer along with other brands that gave out freebies as well.

poppin
yelp

One of my favourites were the #NokiaPods! Brilliant idea of creating these hideaways from noise to charge your phone or take notes from the events. They worked great as working stations during the week.

Nokia Pod
If you haven’t checked out SMW NYC, you should make your way there tomorrow and catch the last day!

smwny

 

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