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Eden Spodek
Eden Spodek is a digital communications strategist with a unique perspective on emerging media. Client-side, agency-side and high profile blogger and community builder, she’s seen the digital world from all sides.
Most recently, Eden added curriculum developer/instructor to her role with the launch a new Digital Strategy & Communications Management certificate program at
University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies.
She’s happiest helping colleagues and clients to be a little disruptive, challenging the
status quo and how people think about brands.
Eden is also outspoken about the importance of building online engagement and
targeted relationships, one influencer at a time.
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- Internet | Toronto, Canada Area, CAAdditional Information
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Interests:community engagement, content strategy, blogging, podcasting, social media, shopping, movies and television, music, reading, cycling
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Tweets
- @TOcoldstone Hi!
- @RFongTea I was surprised how much I enjoyed @startrekmovie. Did you see Iron Man 3 too? Another fun spring/summer action film.
- Good morning and Happy Victoria Day! Enjoy the sunshine.
- I unlocked the Mad Men: The Crash sticker on #GetGlue! http://t.co/DAiVI01rOh
- Another Sunday night, another flashback to agency life in the '60s. http://t.co/DD83npI5gy #GetGlue @MadMen_AMC
- I unlocked the Star Trek Into Darkness Opening Weekend sticker on #GetGlue! http://t.co/qyfVELkxpl
- Well done crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise and J.J. Abrams! http://t.co/YLOYBu6Apr #GetGlue @startrekmovie
- @lttlewys Couldn't agree with you more. There are as many myths as facts and judgements circling the internet, even from mainstream media.
- @lttlewys Me too, particularly as someone with the BRCA mutation. Some of the cynicism around it is disgusting though.
- @mpricemitchell Thanks for the RT and it was nice bumping into you last week too.
- @LaurenRosenblum Beyond embarrassing and some voters still support our mayor. #WTF
- @lttlewys Good luck with your shopping. What did you think of the Angelina story last week?
- @lttlewys I'm good thanks! And you?
- @lttlewys Hi! Which level of government are you referring to? We've got a buffoon mayor and expense issues in the senate. :(
- People ask my why I didn't go into politics as a polisci major. At least one of my classmates is in the news this weekend. Enough said.
- These scandals in all levels #cdnpoli last week/this weekend are getting tiresome. We deserve better!
- @DavidPylyp Is it a busy day for you or are home owners/buyers at the cottage?
- Good morning!
- Like may Toronto residents, I love this city. How the majority elected a buffoon for mayor is beyond me.
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Posts
- May 20, 13
Tonight I was pleasantly surprised when the latest trailer for Anchorman 2 played before Star Trek Into Darkness. Ron Burgundy has a message for Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto. I hope he’ll listen and stop embarrassing the residents of our wonderful city.
Recent articles - May 11, 13
Social Capital Conference is taking place in Ottawa May 31 and June 1. It’s an event I’ve always oogled over but never been able to attend due to a recurring scheduling conflict. Three times lucky they say because this year they moved it up a month. I’ll be there, not only as an attendee but also as a speaker. Diane Bégin, Susan Murphy, Martin Waxman and yours truly are presenting “Social Media Goes to College” – a panel discussion based on the session we tested out at PodCamp Toronto last February.
Day One consists of a choice of two half-day workshops and Day Two there are several sessions and roundtable discussions to choose from. The day will bookended with two keynote presentations – the first with the one and only Gini Dietrich kicking things off in the with “Blogging, Community, and Making it Work,” and the second from Danny Brown discussing “Blogging, Community, and Making it Work” will bring the conference to a close.
Big thanks to conference co-chairs and business partners Lara Wellman and Karen Wilson, and the rest of the organizing team for all the hard work they’ve been doing ensuring the weekend will be a phenomenal success.
I hope to see you there but if you can’t make it, you can follow along on Twitter by searching for the #SoCapOtt hashtag.
Recent articles
- May 04, 13Welcome to the seventh in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.In the early days of blogging and social media adoption, there was this idea that everyone publishing online and surfing the web was an anti-social nerd who hung out in his basement. Today we know nothing could be further from the truth as people connect with like-minded online friends, their desire to meet in real life grows. And as powerful as the web is for establishing relationships, nothing beats getting out from behind your screen and meeting people in person.“Don’t be shy. Introduce yourself and your blog. Let us know what type of news/information you’re interested in and what your readers like to see,” suggests Mary Pretotto, Senior Manager, Social Media Community at Rogers Communications.Alanna Glicksman, lifestyle blogger and Digital Marketing & Community Manager at MasterCard Canada, says “Have a firm understanding of the company/brand they rep and provide partnership ideas to show how you (and your blog) are an asset for the company.”Take advantage of opportunities to network with brands and agencies at conferences or events.Alanna suggests you ask the PR rep or community manager out for coffee, “Once you’ve formed a bond in real life, it will be difficult for them to forget you when they are looking to partner with bloggers on initiatives.”What are your tips for getting to know bloggers or brands better?
Photo credit: Eden SpodekRecent articles - Apr 24, 13Calgary Zoo, Instagram and Annual Reports
What do these three things have in common? Not much until now. Believe it or not, the Calgary Zoo ditched a more traditional annual report format for their 2012 Annual Report and produced an Instagram-only version, including financial statements. Yes, you read that correctly. It looks like they posted the report over a four-day period with 55 photos, each one includes a detailed description.
Here’s the Balance Sheet
and here’s the Statement of Revenue and Expenses and Changes in Fund Balance
This isn’t the first time the Calgary Zoo opted for a less traditional format. Last year, they released their 2011 annual report on a double-sided single sheet of newsprint and printed it in only 28 minutes. Remember the days when an annual report print run took several weeks to print and days to build an online version? Have a look at the video case study from their communications agency, Trigger Communications:
Whether you agree with the approach or not, it’s anything but dull and boring. It’s innovative and probably garnering far more attention for the Calgary Zoo than a more traditional print or online report. I wonder what they’re doing about archiving their report, especially since they’ve essentially given content ownership over to a third-party. Perhaps they’re measuring results of in terms of first-time zoo visits, Instagram likes, comments and shares in addition to project costs and duration. Let’s hope Trigger will publish a case study again this year.
What do you think about designing an annual report for Instagram or another social platform? Would you advise your organization or client to produce an annual report on Instagram? To be honest, I’m not sure and it’s not an option for publicly traded companies but it’s pretty darn cool.
Kudos to the Calgary Zoo and Trigger Communications for creativity and a hat tip to my former colleague, Ian Buck for sharing.
Recent articles - Apr 18, 13
Like many people, I’ve been feeling kind of melancholy this week. I haven’t felt like blogging or sharing much content. It’s been a time of reflection. Moments ago, an email showed up in my inbox from C.C. Chapman with a link to a video called “A Minute of Peace”. Although C.C. lives outside of Boston, he shot the video in the White Mountains of New Hampshire yesterday. I hope you’ll find it comforting.
A Minute of Peace from C.C. Chapman on Vimeo.
Thanks C.C.!
What’s helped you deal with difficult news this week?
Recent articles
- Apr 13, 13
Welcome to the sixth in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.
One of the highlights of being part of the team of instructors for the Digital Strategy certificate program at U of Toronto SCS is the opportunity to meet with many interesting and talented students. Martin Waxman does a great job of summing up his experience with the class.
For the Foundations course, each student is required to blog at least twice a week. In the first semester, some had a personal blog when they started the course; others started a personal blog in class. Either way, they’re all worthy of an audience. Have a look and see for yourself:
Adam Owen Sucks
Bay Street Hoops
Unsolicited Advice
20-something
A Two-Way Street
Design. Charity. Life
Cybject
STRATG
Fire on the west side
Shared Voices
James Bigg
Gluten-Free Gluttony
Across the Divide
Integrated Candor
mygijourney
Spotting Trends
Routine Examinations
Making Smarter Choices?
Melanie Simons
Spinblogging
Adventures in Tealand
Urban Artivism
Shannon Kelly
C2G
On Crawford St.
Let us know which ones you’ll add to your reading list and why.
Photo credit: kakisky
Recent articles
- Apr 08, 13
How a rebranded company found its name by starting with a domain search
One thing you probably don’t know about me is that I’m a bit of a domain name geek hog. I own 24, most of which aren’t in current use. So, when I heard about how the newly rebranded Atom Agency (formerly known as Sequentia Environics and the consulting arm of Sequentia Communications Inc.) got its new name, not only did it appeal to my geeky side I thought it was also pretty darn smart.How many companies do you know that decide on a name and maybe go as far registering it, only to find the domain name is already in use by another company and/or costs a small fortune to obtain? Probably most of them today as domain names using commonly used words are scarce and in high demand.
Leona Hobbs, Head of Agency Services at Sequentia, had one month to find a “memorable” new name for the social and digital agency, and secure the .com domain name on a budget. She’s a smart cookie and a former employee of Tucows. So she called upon her former colleague, Bill Sweetman, General Manager at YummyNames, a domain name consulting service from Tucows that helps customers find domain names for their new business or product.Leona Hobbs In mid-December, they held a meeting to discuss their approach and best
practices. The project kick-off was two weeks later. Parties agreed to goals, scope, timing and Sequentia provided a creative brief to YummyNames.Bill Sweetman According to Hobbs, “The best practices strategy was as follows: rather than brainstorming company names and then seeing if the .com domain name was available, we worked in reverse, choosing the new brand name from a list of available .com domain names. And by available we mean domains that may already have been registered but were available for purchase from the secondary market.”The following week, YummyNames had a list of 8,000+ domain names meeting Sequentia’s criteria then reviewed half the list and shortened it down to 188 choices within budget before presenting them to Sequentia on January 11, 2013. YummyNames didn’t want price to influence the decision so prices were excluded from the list. The next day, Sequentia provided feedback and started making a shortlist. On January 16, after reviewing the other half of the original list, YummyNames produced another 100 names to review and Sequentia gave same-day feedback.Whittling down the listBy January 24, the shortlist was down to nine names! But the possibilities didn’t stop there. YummyNames identified another 21 names to review based on newly available or potentially available names and client feedback. Sequentia was able to distill the list down to 11 names and began their due diligence, which included checking the availability of matching social media account names, trademark searches, and more.The final shortlistOn January 29, YummyNames sent Sequentia an updated and further shortened list of nine domains along with availability, pricing details and the likelihood of acquiring each of the domains within budget and the necessary timeframe.“Interestingly, most of the final candidates were available for instant purchase under $5,000. One of the domains was available for new registration and we registered the domain anonymously for safekeeping in case Sequentia ended up choosing it,” said Sweetman.In early February, Sequentia did its due diligence and after one last brainstorm to come up with its final short list, followed by a “safety check” by YummyNames to confirm final availability and pricing.On February 6, Sequentia chose its new name: Atom Agency and its new domain name atomagents.com. Coincidently, atomagents.com was the domain name YummyNames registered the week before. Guess what? The cost to acquire the domain was only $10!The following week, in keeping with domain name best practices, YummyNames secured the following most common typo versions and alternative top level domain variations of the atomagents.com domain including: atom-agents.com, atomagents.net, theatomagency.com, atomagents.ca, etc.
Why Atom Agency vs. Atom Agents?
Here’s what Hobbs had to say, “We opted to call the company Atom Agency and to use atomagents.com as our primary domain. Our employees are called Atom Agents, so that domain worked for us and is shorter than “theatomagency.com” which was our next best choice. With Bill’s counsel and support we registered a number of variations of the name.”We have lift offApproximately one month later, on March 15, 2013, Sequentia officially relaunched as Atom Agency with www.atomagents.com as its primary domain.In Hobbs own words, “Mission accomplished … on time and under budget.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Congratulations!What tips do you have when choosing a name for your company or blog? Have you thought of starting with a domain name consultant first? - Apr 06, 13Welcome to the fifth in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.
As blogging and influencer relations evolve so does the acceptance of sponsored content. I’m still a big fan of earned media and that will never change. It’s value may diminish once money exchanges hands. However, I recognize the value of sponsored content when it makes sense for a brand and relationships are clearly disclosed.From time-to-time, a request for sponsorship makes its way to my inbox. The quality varies considerably and lately I’ve seen the amount of sponsorship dollars requested increase while the effort that’s gone into the request has decrease and so have my clients’ willingness to entertain unprofessional pitches. Lo and behold, I decided it would be an interesting topic for a Food Bloggers of Canada guest post and they agreed.How to create a sponsorship pitch like a pro
These days, sponsored content is becoming more popular especially as contextual (or more targeted advertising) becomes a more effective means for brands to reach consumers in a less disruptive manner.Often brands will look for blogs to sponsor but there are other times when you may want to be proactive and propose a sponsorship idea to them instead. Where do you start and how do you put your best foot forward? Let’s say you love a new free-trade chocolate or non-stick baking pans and have a great idea of how to feature it on your blog (and social networks) but don’t want to wait for the brand to approach you. Have you ever thought of reaching out and asking them to sponsor you but weren’t sure how? ... moreDo you have any thoughts or tips to share? - Apr 05, 13
I'm a huge Starbucks fan. I’m not entirely brand loyal but I do need my decaf Starbucks every morning whether it’s VIA or freshly brewed. Sometimes I’ll even splurge for skinny lattes with one-pump sugar-free vanilla syrup. No snickering!
I love their mobile app and other retailers would follow suit instead having their plastic loyalty cards weighing down my wallet.
Thank you. I don’t want to seem ungrateful for a “special handcraft drink” but Starbucks, I got this 10 minutes ago and my birthday was yesterday. So yes, you kind of missed it after all.
Recent articles
- Mar 29, 13
There are certain basics bricks and mortar businesses, such shops and restaurants, need to get right before they consider incorporating social media into their marketing mix. Face-to-face customer service, competitive pricing and signage are but a few.
Do you think the new Hero Burger in our neighbourhood considered what customers would see as they walked by their window?Maybe it’s Hero Burger’s way of standing out among the proliferation of hamburger joints. Would you eat here?photo credit: David Spodek - Apr 06, 13Welcome to the fourth in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.I hope you’ll enjoy these tips I’ve assembled with the help of other bloggers, brands, PR consultants, marketing pros, community managers.*Tip 4: Display your contact information prominentlyMake it easy for others to find you. This sounds like a no-brainer but you’d be surprised how many bloggers make it difficult to contact them… unintentionally.Publish your email address and social channels in a prominent location such as the header or top of the side bar and/or have a dedicated “Contact” page (it’s okay to use a contact form) on your website or blog and make it easy for other people to find.Don’t make them work too hard or they may move on and give a wonderful opportunity to someone else. Let people know the turnaround time they can expect to hear from you and if there are specific requests you’re receptive to and others you’ll ignore.How do you make it easier for brands to contact and connect with you? Please share your tips in the comments.*Based on an blog post originally appearing at Food Bloggers of Canada.Image credit: Eden Spodek
Recent articles - Mar 23, 13Dear hair salon,
I’ve been a regular customer of yours for more than two years now. I love that you’re with in walking distance from my home. The colour tech team is awesome, especially Sabrina. She does a great job of keeping my colour in check and making sure everyone else takes good care of me when I visit.
As much as you hold yourself up as a salon excelling in customer service and charge clients a premium for that privilege, here are some tips:- Adopt a competitive pricing model for products. Charging at least $4 more per bottle of shampoo than other distributors encourages your customers to shop elsewhere.
- Please don’t post your email address on the “Salons & Services” contact page of your website. How else will customers and prospects know you “don’t reply to emails” when they’re trying to book an appointment?
- When I call to book an appointment, I often get voicemail. Presumably this is because customers who are at your front desk are your first priority and getting the attention they deserve. If that’s the case, when I show up to book an appointment in person, please don’t ask me to “please wait a minute” while your consierge answers the phone – five times, including internal phone calls(!) – and there’s a lineup.
Thank you,
Eden
Reception (Photo credit: austinevan)
Related articles
- Mar 21, 13According to his bio, “Neil Gazmen is a retail people manager with over 9 years experience in managing high volume, complex stores in the Toronto area. He is a strong supporter of relationship based selling and grassroots type marketing that targets building a community of loyal followers, one customer at a time.” The last sentence is quite telling.
I met Neil on Twitter several months ago and recently in real life. He’s always bright, friendly and busy making everyday conversation with his Twitter community. Although he’s always quick to answer customer questions, he makes a point of being himself and not overtly promoting west elm or its Toronto store – the first Canadian location – where he is Associate Store Manager. A of couple weeks ago we had a chance to chat and in a few minutes shared each of our “how we got into social media” stories. I was fascinated by how he’s been helping west elm build relationships with customers one tweet at a time and asked if I could share some of his story with you.How long have you been working for west elm and where have you traveled?
I have been with west elm since September 2008, a month before our first Canadian store opened in Toronto’s Liberty Village in October 2008. I have had the pleasure of traveling to New York City and Brooklyn (west elm’s headquarters), Boston, and Scottsdale, in July of 2012 for Williams-Sonoma Inc’s General Managers’ Conference. I have also traveled to Seattle and Vancouver to help setup and train staff in these two new stores. Most recently, I was in Dubai this February to help setup and train the staff in the Middle East’s second west elm store with our franchise partner, M.H. Alshaya Co.How long have you been using Twitter and Instagram to connect interior designers and other customers?
I started using Twitter a little over two years ago and Instagram for about a year.Why did you decide to use Twitter to connect with West Elm customers?
When I personally started using Twitter, for my own enjoyment. I found it interesting that users were able to connect with each other via a #tweetup. I thought that this was such a great way to get users together, who had a common interest and meet. I also saw that companies were creating corporate accounts to communicate with customers but very few had local accounts.
At that point, I started to think about how I could connect with our local customers at west elm through social media. I began searching for tweets with the hashtag #westelm and found quite a few customers tweeting about their experience in our store or posting photos of some of their favourite things while shopping. I tried to do the same type of search on Facebook but found it much more difficult and noticed that there were more of our customers active on Twitter. So it was just natural to use Twitter to connect with our customers.
At first, it started with just thanking customers who came into the store and inviting them to connect in person when they came back. Then it turned into customers doing stock checks and asking for my opinion on products. What was really amazing was that I had a better chance of getting in contact with a customer via Twitter than I would if I tried to call or send an email. There’s something about the allure of Twitter and the short, to the point, conversations that you can have, that makes it a great vehicle to build a relationship between our brand and our customers. It became clear, after just a few months, that customers (including interior designers, stylists, and bloggers) really appreciated being able to ask a question about west elm, at any time of the day, and get a response. I think what they also appreciated was that as much as they were able to connect online, if they chose to come by the store, they would be able to connect in person, too.How are you demonstrating the value to your employer?
What has been great is that my employer already sees the value of connecting with customers through social media. west elm’s corporate public relations and social media teams have been amazing to work with and encourage me to continue to discover new ways to develop customer relationships online.
I have tracked sales in the past, for my own curiosity, and was amazed at how much volume was produced. For example, a simple tweet about a bedding sale can bring a customer into the store who wasn’t planning on coming in, but when they leave the store, they didn’t just buy new bedding, but a whole new set of bedroom furniture. The tweet initially brought the customer to the store, however, our customer service team was able to uncover other needs and add onto the sale. This is key to online relationship building and making it personal – creating a seamless service experience both in store and online.
Apart from measuring sales and customer satisfaction, there’s something to be said about the overall engagement of customers or potential customers mentioning the brand and creating brand awareness. As a smaller organization (at the time when I started, we were the only store in Canada and now there are three) I found that social media, and Twitter specifically, was a great way to create brand awareness that would reach farther than our community of Toronto. This was also a great opportunity to see where we have a large following of customers in cities where we haven’t opened up shop and see what they were interested in but also reach out once we opened up a store in their neighbourhood.If you could share one piece of advice to other retailers about using social media, what would it be?
Engage. It’s way too easy to just communicate with followers when they mention your brand or comment on a tweet you’ve posted. Building online relationships with followers is much more than that. It’s replying to followers’ posts that don’t necessarily have to do with the brand or commenting on what they’re doing. Taking that one step further to engage beyond the brand, keeps you in the know with what your followers are up to but also keeps your brand top of mind the next time they have a need that you may be able to fulfill. The other half to this, is engaging in your local community. If your brand is fortunate to have a brand and service ambassador in a market, encourage them to engage with their local customers to nurture and build online relationships. Engaging with customers outside the store, online, completely transforms the dynamic of the relationship from a transactional customer/brand relationship to a personal connection between the customer and the brand where you can grow and develop the relationship together.
Photo credit: Eden Spodek
- Mar 18, 13
Welcome to the third in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.photo: Eden Spodek I hope you’ll enjoy these tips I’ve assembled with the help of other bloggers, brands, PR consultants, marketing pros, community managers.*Tip 3: be brand loyalMichèle Bosc, Director of Marketing at Chateau des Charmes says, “Don’t be afraid to endorse a brand you love. Stay loyal to that brand within a category… Be professional and true to your voice.”Promoting multiple products for competing brands may lead readers to question whether or not they can trust your product reviews, endorsements or anything you have to say. You don’t want to be that blogger who will do anything for attention or a quick buck.There’s nothing worse than being a spokesperson of brand ambassador who gets caught online, in a photo or video using a competitor’s product. It’s a sure way to lose credibility for you and the company helping to pay your bills. Although it’s flattering being asked to represent a brand, make sure you know what you’re getting into from the start and recognize the need for consistency in all your online channels.Recently I spoke with a blogger about why it wasn’t cool for her to be sharing photos of herself enjoying a delicious burger from one midtown Toronto burger joint because she was being paid to post on social networks on behalf of one of their competitors. Appearances matter. If I were her client, I would have been disappointed and if I were looking for someone’s recommendations to trust it wouldn’t have been hers.Here are some resources you may find helpful:- What makes a blogger credible
- I won’t accept money for writing reviews. Period.
- The value of disclosure in social media
How do you decide which products to review and endorse on your blog or other social networks? Do you trust someone’s recommendation who isn’t always brand loyal? Please share your tips in the comments.*Based on an blog post originally appearing at Food Bloggers of Canada. - Mar 16, 13This has been a week of firsts.
Last night, I gave my first lecture to our amazing students in U of T School of Continuing Studies Digital Strategy and Communications Management Certificate program or #digitaledu for short.This morning, I used the Twitter backchannel discussion from last night’s class to create my first Storify.And this afternoon, I’m honoured to be the guest contributor to one of my favourite blogs, Spin Sucks. Thanks for Arment Dietrich’s content director extraordinaire, Lindsay Bell for inviting me.Here’s a taste...Online Relationship Building and Offline Sales
Research shows retailers that use Twitter drive online sales, and have a competitive advantage during the holiday season.But what is the effect of online relationship building by employees of retail brands, and eventual offline sales?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a firm believer that online relationship building has a direct correlation to offline behavior and retails sales are no different.
And here’s why… read more
I’ll have more to share about Neil Gazmen and the wonderful work he’s doing at West Elm’s Toronto store in an upcoming interview. Stay tuned.photo credit: Eden Spodek on Instagram What have you done this week? Anything new and exciting to share?
Recent articles - Mar 16, 13Welcome to the second in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.
I hope you’ll enjoy these tips I’ve assembled with the help of other bloggers, brands, PR consultants, marketing pros, community managers.*
Tip 2: Develop a publishing schedule
Brands, and those representing them, want to know that your blog is being updated regularly and that you’re publishing new posts frequently. You don’t need to blog every day but they will want to see that your blog is up-to-date before they approach you with opportunities. If you’ve published 800 posts but haven’t blogged in more than a year, no matter how high your search rankings, a brand worth its salt won’t be interested in what you have to say, except perhaps if you've blogged about them a lot in the past.
Here are some resources you may find helpful:
• I’ve been using Evernote to help plan my blog posts. I keep an ongoing list of ideas that I can access from my laptop, smartphone or tablet as long as they’re connected to the Internet.
• You can also prepare your blog posts in advance and schedule when they go live. I use Google Calendar and WordPress has a built-in editorial calendar.
• Looking for blogging ideas? Portent developed the Content Idea Generator. Hat tip to Gini Ditrich for sharing her thoughts.
Do you have a publishing schedule? What helps you stay on track? Please share your tips in the comments.
*Based on an blog post originally appearing at Food Bloggers of Canada.
Photo credit: Jade
- Mar 16, 13If my math is correct, today marks the 104th International Women’s Day.
I’ve spent a good chunk of the morning thinking about how I’d like to honour women doing amazing things who inspire me. One recurring theme throughout my life has been how so many women are catty and bring each other down, unlike men who tend to be less threatened by their male peers and support them, particularly in business.
Coincidentally, this week, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting separately with several very bright, talented women entrepreneurs whose companies are helping to make life easier for others. All of them are working in web-based businesses, an area typically dominated by men.
Without prompting, one of the first things out of each of their mouths is that they didn’t have patience for cattiness. As another entrepreneur and someone who has never liked cliques, it was comforting that we were all on the same page. The amount of mutual respect, support and reciprocity that transpired in those discussions was incredible and beneficial for everyone.
In addition to hard work, there are several traits these women have in common. Perhaps that’s the secret of their success:
• Infectious passion
• Desire to help others
• Leadership without bossiness
• Ability to make informed decisions quickly and move forward
• Solicit feedback and use it to make their businesses better
This afternoon, I came across this video. It seemed to sum up a lot of what I’ve been feeling about the importance of women’s contributions to modern day society.
Except for one thing... Kronos, the company that produced the video, has only one women on its 12-person leadership team. Ugh!
What traits do you admire in successful women and why? How are you honouring women today?
Recent articles
- Mar 16, 13Rarely do I talk about clients in this space. But today is my husband’s birthday and there is always room for exceptions.
For the past three years, I’ve been fortunate to work with the S. Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef Competition – the Canadian Regionals to be exact. It marries two of my passions, education and food.
Each year, student chefs from top culinary schools across North America compete for the title of S. Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef. The winner will be selected in Napa this weekend. Jean-Christophe Comptois from École hôtelière de la Capitale in Quebec City, won title at the Canadian Regionals with his signature dish, “Tomme des Joyeux Fromagers,” more commonly known as Milk Veal tenderloin, Matsutake and flavored polenta.
This year we created S.Pellegrino presents: Recipes from Almost Famous Chefs, a free eBook of recipes from the 2012 and 2011 Canadian competitors adapted for the home chef.
On Monday, a groups of talented young boys known as “Les Petits Chefs,” prepared Honey SearedBisonBeef Tenderloin and Apple Parsnip purée, under the direction of their talented cooking teacher, Mardi Michels of eat. live. travel. write. Their work is most impressive. The recipe was created by the 2011 Canadian regional award winner, Jean-François D’Aigle, George Brown Chef’s School (Toronto), who originally used bison instead of beef.
This morning as I was figuring out what to make the birthday boy for dinner, Mardi sent me her blog post describing Les Petits Chefs’ latest adventure in the kitchen. The light bulb went off. I figured if they could make the dish in an hour, I could attempt to do the same. Beef tenderloin is one of the few cuts of beef I can cook – not kill – without a barbecue.
According to the birthday boy, dinner was delicious although my plating wasn’t quite as pretty.
- Mar 16, 13Welcome to the first in a series of tips to help bloggers build communities, find an audience and get the most out of working with brands.
Despite an extended on Bargainista vacation last year, I’ve been working behind the scenes helping clients with their blogs and writing the occasional guest post or two. Friends, family, colleagues and students often ask how they can become better bloggers.
I hope you’ll enjoy these tips I’ve assembled with the help of other bloggers, brands, PR consultants, marketing pros, community managers.*
Tip 1: Engage your audience
The saying “content is king (or queen)” holds true. In order to have a successful blog, there’s no way of getting around this one. Blog posts must be well written and edited. Be sure to include beautiful visuals. Seize the opportunity to tell your story in pictures and videos too. If your writing or photography skills are lacking, consider exchanging tips with a friend, taking some courses or search for online tutorials.
Here are some resources you may find helpful:- 7 Editing Tips to Improve your Blog-Writing Skills
- 15 Photo Blogging Tips From the Pros
- Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media) by Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman, here’s a free preview
- Copyblogger
What helps you engage your readers? Please share your tips in the comments.
*Based on an blog post originally appearing at Food Bloggers of Canada.
Photo credit: Flying Pete
Recent articles
- Feb 25, 13
I wasn’t planning to write another blog post about blogger relations so soon and then this showed up in my inbox this morning.
It pretty much sums up why it’s critical for PR people to stay current, build relationships with bloggers and do their research.
What’s wrong?
Lots.
I won’t get into all the details but here’s a taste:- No relationship. He has no prior relationship with me, nor does he appear to be making an effort to have one.
- Spray and pray. How many other people are included in his list of “undisclosed recipients”?
- Lack of passion. He isn’t telling me why I should be interested in his client’s product but rather that I should read about it then decide if I’m interested in doing a story or review. As their publicist, shouldn’t he be sharing their story and passion for the product in a more interesting way than flipping me a couple press releases?
“If you are interested [sic], please send me all of your social media stats to review and then I will let you know if the company approves your qualifications. Thanks very much”
Ouch!
For the record, I don’t make a habit of outing PR people who send me bad pitches. Heck, I sometimes help PR agencies and other clients with their influencer relations. But I don’t have a lot of patience for people who keep trying to bring an entire industry down.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share.
Recent articles
- Feb 22, 13After five wonderful years and having the pleasure of working with a stellar and dedicated group of volunteers and supportive sponsor partners, I’ve stepped down from the organizing team. I’ve remained a contributing member of the PodCamp Toronto community.
For those of you who don’t know, PodCamp Toronto – is a free unconference for content creators and other digital media enthusiasts – taking place February 23 and 24.
There are always interesting sessions with something for everyone and plenty of opportunities to meet like-minded people. Tomorrow, I’ll be part of a panel discussion entitled “Social Media Goes to College,” with Martin Waxman, Diane Bégin, Marcus Daniels and Cyrus Mavalwala. I hope you’ll join us at 3 p.m. and share your perspective.
What?
PodCamp Toronto 2013
It’s the largest unconference of its kind in Canada.
Have something to share?
Consider presenting and/or volunteering.
When?
February 23-24, 2013
You can register by signing up here.
Where?
Rogers Communications Centre
Ryerson University (map)
Toronto, ON
How much?
FREE!
Stay informed:
• Check out the website
• Follow @PodCampToronto on Twitter, hashtag #PCTO13 - Feb 19, 13
While I consider myself a communicator and I’ve worked for and with many PR agencies over the years, I don’t consider myself a PR person. So PR people, if you’re going to hate me for what I'm about to say, I can live with that.(Photo credit: edenspodek)
As some of you know, I’ve been blogging since 2006. I blogged steadily for three years then things slowed down a bit as my interests went in other directions. (Misguided, I know but it’s the truth.) Last year, I published one blog post here and handful of guest posts elsewhere.
Is this really influence?
For some unbeknownst reason – call it SEO karma – traffic here doubled. I hadn’t been paying attention to my Google analytics until recently when I decided to get back in to the swing of things.
In the good old days, Bargainista was getting 6K visitors a month. Today, that number has more than doubled. Yes, you read that right, 12K monthly visitors still come to this humble little space on the web. After seven years, 800+ posts, 200K+ inbound links (combining Bargainista.ca and Bargainsta.blogspot.com) and activity in several social networks, perhaps I've built up a little traction (just ask Klout and Kred.)
Despite these impressive metrics, you may want to be sure Bargainista is the right place for your client's product before you reach out and try to touch me.
So tell me, where did we go wrong?
The email pitches didn't go away. They slowed down a bit but everyday I still get at least half a dozen emails mostly from strangers, asking me to pimp their product. Please introduce yourself and make it personal. I promise I won’t bite.
Before you send me an email, please do me the courtesy of visiting my blog. If you’d done so, you'd have noticed I took a 13-month vacation. Asking me to post your $5 coupons for U.S. customers won't bring me out of hibernation.
If you didn’t read my blog, at least you should have received the auto-response thanking you for your email, letting you know I write with a local audience in mind and I’ll get back to you if I’m interested.
If you’d been monitoring my blog, you’d also know I haven’t blogged about one of your products.
If you’re monitoring tools aren’t picking up posts from Canadian bloggers, maybe it’s time to get new ones. There are plenty of online listening tools to choose from. Google has a couple of free ones that work wonders. Yes, they may take a little more time than whatever you’re currently using but they'll save you lots of embarrassment. Besides, clients won’t start asking why your company’s firewall doesn't allow you to surf beyond U.S. borders.
Lack of professional development
Agencies: your staff needs to be nurtured and mentored. If you can’t help them, there are experienced consultants for hire who can; or enroll them in a course or two. Interns and co-ordinators: if you’re not getting the support you need, maybe it’s time to look for a job at a firm that will help foster your growth.
Reciprocity helps
We’re all busy. Collaboration and cooperation only makes us stronger but if you’re going to ask for favours on a regular basis, please acknowledge my emails/tweets/FB comments once and a while. I’m happy to help where I can. I don’t keep score, but please remember relationships are a two-way street.
Don’t ask me to do your job
My relationships aren’t something I give away, especially not for free. Just like you, I’ve worked hard at developing my network and social capital. If you need help identifying appropriate bloggers and/or other influencers for your clients, let’s discuss ways I can work with your team.
Here’s a little secret
Blogger relations take work but it’s not rocket science. The secret of success can usually be pinned down to common sense. Don’t be afraid. Do your homework. A little research, sincerity and human kindness can go a long way.
*The examples in this rant we extracted from real communication I received from PR practitioners engaging in blogger outreach over the past week. I swear I couldn’t make this stuff up.
Recent articles
- Feb 15, 13
It’s never too late to talk about disclosure in social media so I thought I’d share a post I wrote back in October for Food Bloggers of Canada.
The value of disclosure in social media
When I first started blogging in 2006, we were all learning to navigate this new world together. Social media culture was in its infancy. There were few rules and we were a long way from any talk about government regulation. Best practices started evolving and were ever changing... more
Do you feel you gain more credibility and trust with you readers when disclose relationships you have with bloggers or brands?
Image credit: Melissa Hartfiel for Food Bloggers of Canada
- Feb 14, 13
Amy Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York City at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) “Be okay with writing really bad stuff for a long time––just keep doing it. The act of doing it, the muscle memory of it, is more important for me, because you would do shows every night, and they would suck every night, and one night they’d be okay, and it would sustain you for another year.”
–Amy Poehler, Entertainment Weekly, February, 8, 2013
If you’ve read my bio you’ll I recently joined a bright team of professionals to help U of T’s School of Continuing Studies launch a certificate in Digital Strategy and Communications Management.
Whether they’ve blogged before or are just starting out, all students must have their own blog and publish at least two new posts per week through the duration of their studies. Tonight about half of them presented their blogs to the class. Each one was impressive and as unique as the individuals themselves.
We’re often our harshest critics. Blogging can be intimidating at first, especially when you have your classmates as a built-in audience. So, I thought I’d share this little inspiration in the form of an excerpt from Amy Poehler’s advice for making it in show business. By no means is it meant as a critique of anyone’s writing abilities. Except well, perhaps my own.
What advice would you share with a new blogger?
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