Social Shift Magazine by Angela Rotundo

DECEMBER

2010 — P R E M I E R E I S S U E

SOCIAL SHIFT

THE BUSINESS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

MAGAZINE

Santa’s Social Helper Christmas shopping made easy

MASTER OF HIS DOMAIN

Jay Perry’s social media success story

Choose Wisely

Pick the right social network for your business

If you don’t know

ONLINE

SOCIAL SHIFT

then you’re not in the know.

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>> editors’ notes Y

ou may think that social media is a waste of time, but the benefits it can have for your business will make the use of social media time well spent. We’re presenting you with a collection of stories designed to put you ahead of the curve in social media. We’ve contacted experts locally and globally to discover what’s new, interesting and of service to you - the leaders of the online-savvy business world. Our mission is to update you with the latest social networking information, as it continues to become a bigger part of business practices. When we set out to teach businesses all about social media, we thought we knew it all but really, we didn’t realize we would also be the ones learning. We knew social media was huge but what we didn’t know was that we were on the cusp of a communication revolution. As members of the digital generation we grew up knowing how to “friend”, tweet and link with the best of them. However, while we knew the basics of social media we were naïve to think that there were only a few social networks to join. We came to find that there were several social networks worth joining, with hundreds more being created daily, on a global scale. The world of social media is so much more than posting pictures or tweeting 140 characters or less of

what’s on your mind. It’s also useful for businesses looking to expand their client base, cross borders and perhaps branch out like never before. It’s an ambitious and wonderful tool, but there’s more to successfully marketing yourself using social media than setting up a website or creating a profile. Over the course of creating this first issue, we learned that the more interconnected within the realm of social networking a business is, the better their chances of social exposure are. In regards to social networks, an online marketer explained that the common misconception amongst web designers and businesses is that if you build it, ‘they’ will come. New clients will, in time, so long as your content stays fresh and you make the effort to connect with your audience. Social media, while basic and user friendly, requires that any business keep their online presence up-todate, so that your clientele knows you’re serious about staying in touch. Through this social media journey, we’ve realized, first hand, how easy it is to network. Once we taught ourselves the ins and outs of communicating via social media, we thought it only fitting to share our knowledge with those who would benefit from it the most. We hope that you learn as much from reading this magazine, as we did by creating it. - Sarina Adamo, Sarah Moore, Angela Rotundo

SOCIAL

SHIFT

Major: Journalism & Environmental Sciences Ambition: Let me travel the world with pen in hand

>> Sarina Adamo Major: Journalism, Sociology & Psychology Ambition: To change the world, one word at a time

>> Sarah Moore Major: Journalism & English Ambition: To journal through life with all the words I know and love

>> Angela Rotundo Editorial Advisor: Paul Grossinger

>> words from the wise: social media experts “Social media may be one of the most influential developments in communications, on par with the telephone or the computer. It’s important because it mimics face-to-face interaction but allows connection between people who could never meet in ‘real life’.” >> Gina Chen www.socialshiftmag.com

“Anyone who’s had a successful social media campaign didn’t think about social media first. They started with a real business problem and set goals to solve it while integrating social media as a tool to help.” >>Alex Blom

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>>search engine ‘Tis the Social Season:

Choose Wisely:

Latest and Greatest:

How social media is being used for holiday shopping

Discover the social network that’s best for your business

Learn all about the newest social media networks

Blinded by the Links: 10

How to advertise to the visually impaired via social media

It’s All About Location: 11

6 12

Why geotagging and location-based social media is on the rise

Cover Story: 12 Take a page out of Jay Perry’s book and find out how

he built a successful enterprise using social media, his camera, laptop and smartphone

Linked to Love: 15

Discover how social media has made dating digital

The Online Resume: 16

Know the risks of digging into an employee’s social profile

The Buyer’s Power: 19

How knowing your online brand community can increase profits

Shifty Stories: 22

Indulge in the strangest social media stories online

>> 4

Give them what they really want this Christmas using smartphone applications that put you back on their ‘nice’ list Story and Photos by Angela Rotundo

ven though it comes at the “most wonderful time of the year”, holiday shopping can be a nightmare. It has shoppers begging for an easier way, and wishing that that ease could extend all year. Yorkdale Shopping Centre, located on Dufferin St., in Toronto, Ont., is taking a step towards making that happen. The mall began to use social media in the fall of 2009 to boost sales following the wake of the 2009 recession. “It’s a great way for us to further engage people both on and offline – we are always looking for ways to connect with shoppers,” says Margaret Cooper, Yorkdale’s marketing director. To help jumpstart its social media campaign, the mall launched the ‘Yorkdale is Me’ competition where customers explained why they loved the mall, either on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Yorkdale’s website in a bid to be featured in the mall’s spring 2010 campaign. All votes were cast either online or via text messaging. Following the success of the campaign, Yorkdale launched the ‘App of Luxury’ for Blackberry and iPhone users. The app

Ron Cheung (left) and Desmond Leung, the creative minds behind ItSpot, hope that shoppers will use their app for tips this holiday season and throughout the year.

www.socialshiftmag.com

provides shoppers with a categorical store directory, favourites, promotions and an interactive map showing their location in the mall, as well as a gift-giving guide exclusive to iPhone users. Ron Cheung and Desmond Leung designed the ItSpot Toronto Social Shopping app to cater to today’s shoppers on a deeper level, making their shopping experience more enjoyable. “It’s designed to capture social shopping, and for us it’s about capturing the emotions people have when they have a great find in a mall, or when they make a great discovery and want to tell all their friends about it,” says Leung. “It’s not strictly a shopping application, which there seem to be quite a few of, but we’ve leaned towards the social side of things to allow the sharing of opinions, ideas and advice with friends.” The ItSpot app is innovative because it not only provides mall crawlers with promotions for a variety of shopping centres, but also has a ‘rave’ section that allows shoppers to know what other users have liked about a store or where they’ve found a great buy. They are also in the process of incorporating raves from expert shoppers, who ItSpot has dubbed as “shoppingistas”. Cheung and Leung say a second opinion

from another shoppers opinion adds trust and influences a shopper’s decision to buy, a new idea in terms of advertising. “It’s at the mall, in the store, at the point of purchase. In a way we’re influencing the consideration process, where traditional advertisers couldn’t do that before.” As someone who works with retail marketing agents on a regular basis, Mark Beazley, the director of communications for Retail Council of Canada, says that social media at its core simply provides another avenue for engagement. “No doubt social media allows retailers to enhance the shopping experience for their customers and engage in twoway communication, versus traditional marketing, which is typically only oneway,” says Beazley. Whether it’s to help with holiday shopping or advance in the retail market, it’s clear that consumers use social media. It’s important for retailers to understand that the real power behind social media lies in control; the control for customers to drive the industry on their terms once in a while. “Retail is about building your brand and fostering customer loyalty. Social media can make consumers feel more connected so it’s definitely a powerful new tool for retail marketers,” says Beazley. >> 5

>> shopping shift

Santa’s New Social Shopper

Name Your Network

From the largest to the smallest of companies, these social networks provide ways to connect your business with the right clients

Story by Angela Rotundo

ith the multitude of social media outlets available today, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which one is right for your business. Companies throughout Canada have looked to social networking experts for a hand in making this decision, using their expertise to help grasp this ever-changing medium. Successful use of social media depends on using the right outlet for your particular business, which requires a having a plan. “The first steps are simple - have a strategy, define who your audience is, and understand what the intention of a social media branch means for your business,” says Sushant Sahani, a web analyst and social media expert for Webucator Toronto. While businesses can’t exactly pick, package and send products via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, these social networks do provide a benefit for your company, to connect with your audience and building a brand. This advice sounds simple enough, but once you decide to use social media, be sure to consider the pros and cons of using one social network over another.

Facebook’s Friendly Features For those businesses interested in branching out via Facebook, they should keep in mind that while the site is primarily a social network used for friends to keep tabs on other friends, that doesn’t mean that it can’t also be beneficial on a professional level. With the creation of Facebook Groups, businesses can connect with each other because they share common interests. “Social media is really about connecting and conversing with various audiences so the main purpose for businesses should be to connect,” says Kennith C. Gray, director of business development for 3C Websites.com. Facebook’s power over society continues to increase, and as it grows, businesses can benefit from Facebook’s design by utilizing its many features. By adding links on a Facebook business page and posting topics for discussion, businesses can evolve from having a collection of online friends that resembles a digital yearbook to a professional and interactive catalogue of their company and clientele. Adding links will connect ‘friends’ to news, events or products relating to that business, and the wall post feature will keep followers engaged through participation and discussion. >> 6

Tweet Quickly and Tweet Often Twitter takes the discussion element of Facebook and amplifies and expedites it. Businesses such as spas, media and clothing lines understand that they need to get customers interested in their product. Twitter’s instant update style allows for these businesses to create interest through tweeting about product packages, news updates and savings on products. As the third-highest ranked social network, Twitter’s appeal is in its speed which is particularly effective for those retail and product-selling businesses out there, but it’s not always right for every business. “A tip? Take the time to decide whether or not it’s actually right for you. Just because everyone else is on Twitter doesn’t mean that you have to create a Twitter account. You, the business, should control what’s being posted and where,” says Richard Kemp, the owner of SEO Toronto Canada. However, for those businesses that find Twitter’s instant notification forum alluring, consider that this type of social media will not only promote the business, but provide a direct link to the product and/or service making social media users into consumers.

LinkedIn - The Professional Profile If you are looking for a social network that mainly targets business professionals, LinkedIn is a step in the right direction. Even though it’s only the fifth-highest ranked social network according to metrolic.com, LinkedIn has been around since 2003 and continues to maintain a dominant presence in those businesses belonging to the coveted Fortune 500 club. LinkedIn is distinct in that the profile you create is specific to your business and focuses on networking for professional reasons rather than personal ones. While Facebook and Twitter allow you to identify yourself in a professional and personal way, LinkedIn focuses your online profile on shoptalk, and attracts businesses and users with a similar mindset to your company. “Anyone who has a business should understand social media as their online identity,” says Juan Fanzio, a social media connoisseur and member of the online division for the Toronto SEO Team. With specific business-oriented services, like calculating your business’ median age with other well-affiliated companies, LinkedIn is great for businesses in the corporate world.

Create Online Photo Album with Flickr On the other side of the spectrum, companies who wish to take artistic liberties with social media should venture to social networks like Flickr and that give a visual advantage. follow us on

>> network shift

Art galleries, exhibitors and those that require demonstrational training should consider the several features and possibilities that social networks like Flickr have to offer. This social network is great for businesses that rely heavily on visual aids. For example, uploading images and photo galleries on Flickr can expand a business’ exposure tenfold. With the ability to edit, leave comments and tag photos, businesses can expect an instant drive in traffic to their homepages or professional websites.

FACEBOOK Founded: February 4, 2004 Creator: Mark Zuckerberg Members: More than 500 million active users

Create a Video Library with YouTube YouTube is a great social networking tool to teach the average person how to tackle the everyday challenges. As the second-highest rated social network, according to metrolic.com, those wishing to learn how to use state of the art products like Final Cut and Adobe often rush to YouTube for a visual lesson plan. For those who would rather leave instruction manuals in original packaging, YouTube has quickly become their own personal video library. With YouTube boasting 2 billion hits per day, businesses are sure to benefit from exposure that comes from such a large online following. For all of the businesses out there in search of a social network to use as a promotional, educational or service tool, here’s we at Social Shift Magazine want businesses to know. If you keep the following tips in mind, one should see success from a social network. Social media is without a doubt a key business tool in today’s economy. Businesses of all shapes and varieties should understand what it takes to stay connected, and how by doing so growth, expansion and success is sure to follow.

get too personal because while 1 Don’t it’s easy to overshare on social networks remember it is a business that is on the line, not votes for prom king and queen.

TWITTER Founded: August 2006 Creator: Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams Members: 145 million

LINKEDIN Founded: Fall 2002 Creator: Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly, and Konstantin Guericke. Members: 85 million members

FLICKR

is a key component to any 2 Networking successful business, thus be prepared to

Founded: February 2004 Creator: Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield Members: 7.5 million

networks are all about 3 Social connectedness – so stay connected and don’t

YOUTUBE

spend the time necessary to maintain a thoughtful and useful social network account.

set up a social network account just because everyone else has.

that all great business 4 Remember decisions are made through great research,

Founded: February 2005 Creator: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim Views: 2 billion per day

thus figure out target demographics, key audience needs, and how to communicate them.

www.socialshiftmag.com

>> 7

The Latest and Greatest New and efficient social networks now available for you to join

Story and Photo by Sarina Adamo

Founded In: August 2010 Founded By: Mark O’Neill and Steve Dukes Located In: Britain, United Kingdom This site connects you not by who you know but rather by what you know. Share knowledge about your career industry or comment and rate other people’s opinions. You can build a web base of contacts, and share advice and knowledge. >> 8

Social Shift: Why should people join your site? Mark O’Neill: As an individual, it pays to make your areas of strength visible to the business community. Having your thoughts validated and enhanced by your peers will push your career or company plans forward. It’s a shame not to share your insights to benefit others. Social Shift: What is the most popular feature on your site? Mark O’Neill: Users allocate each other ‘Karma’ for helping out, and we expose this within features like league tables. This tends to be a really popular way to compare yourself against others on any given post, comment, subject. Social Shift: What steps are you taking to market this site? Mark O’Neill: We’re not focusing on marketing as much as you might think, we’re working on the product. We are reached out to by a lot of people interested in knowledge sharing and we do make time to engage with them. We believe that investing in the product will make marketing a lot easier and cheaper down the line. Social Shift: What’s next for Deskarma ? Mark O’Neill: We have some interesting projects going on with professional service companies which may lead to an announcement soon.

Social Shift: How much does membership to your site cost? Simon Yates: It’s currently $75 per listing compared to the average of $300 on Monster or Workopolis. It doesn’t make economical sense for an employer to post an application that is half a months salary of an employee Social Shift: Where do expect your site to be by 2011? Simon Yates: It will be a complete tool to manage the hiring process for small businesses and a communication and brand reinforcement tool for professional recruiters. We expect to grow but we designed the site to be scalable so if it does expand, there is very little need for human integration.

Founded In: March 2010 Founded By: Mike Preshman, Daniel Matysiak and Boris Masis Located in: Boston, Massachusetts This site helps to get events promoted by creating a social network sharing incentive program. You are also able to manage who has seen, liked, and commented on your event, as well as your guest list and statistics www.socialshiftmag.com

Founded In: June 2010 Founded By: Simon Yates and Mina Nakamura

>> latest shift

Social Shift: What is your site’s largest selling feature for a small business owner? Simon Yates: It’s inexpensive compared to larger applications. It’s kept all online [within your account] so it’s extremely secure and since it is confidential information privacy is a big concern. We’ll have a feature that will allow us to automatically coordinate bookings of interviews. People will be able to choose what time listing they would like.

Located in: Toronto, Ontario The site takes the hiring process to a whole new level. Users post their resumés and cover letters to apply for various company positions. The site includes features like discussion boards, a rating system and chat rooms.

Social Shift: Other than event promotion, are there other ways you promote people’s sites? Mike Preshman: Yes and no. It is possible with the current product to venture out into different verticals and attack other business types in marketing. But if you don’t make your business niched enough, people don’t think you’re focused on them. We’ve tried to accommodate but we just realized that we would be spreading ourselves too thin. Social Shift: What does RippleFunction offer that other sites don’t? Mike Preshman: You’ll be able to integrate with the back-end point of sales and it provides this unique concept to drive people to share these events on Facebook and Twitter that’s not really available at the moment. There are potentially some larger companies that may be pursuing this market but they haven’t yet, so we’re trying to get it up and running as soon as possible. Social Shift: How would you like to see your brand expand short-term? Mike Preshman: We plan to expand by the money we raise from paying customers. We need certain things like office space and the ability to hire someone for sales and marketing. We are certainly trying to expand but were also trying to stay frugal for as long as we can. We think our company can grow up to six people in the next three to four months.

>> 9

>> access shift

Blind Sited Advertising for the visually impaired

Story and Photos by Sarina Adamo hat’s Facebook without faces or Twitter without tweets? The Internet, for the visually

impaired. The power of social media is increasing by the minute. As more visually impaired people sign up for these social networks, businesses should use strong accessibility companies to cater to this market. “In the last three months there has been significant uptake in interest for organizations to have their content accessible,” says Adam Spencer, an accessibility specialist with Accessibil-IT, a company that interprets PDF documents to be read by text-to-speech software. Companies like this are on the rise, as the demand for accessibility has now become law. According to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), all websites must be entirely accessible for people with all impairments by 2025. “With the new AODA laws coming into play websites will have no choice about being accessible, they will have to comply or be heavily fined,” says Dianne

Young adults learn the difficulties that the visually impaired face using text-to-speech software on websites that are not accessible for the blind. >> 10

Bennett, a technology specialist at Aroga, a supplier of assistive technology products. “Social media organizations are realizing they’re alienating a population that they really want involved.” Spencer says. In Canada alone, there are 4.4 million people living with disabilities. Visually impaired adults (15 and up) make up 3.2 per cent of that number. “It is a huge market that is untapped,” says Peter Ganza, director of product marketing at Xenos, a company Dianne Bennett displays the functionality of the aimimg to make Braille Sense Plus B32. PDF documents accessible. “Suddenly you may lose your Whereas Facebook’s pictures will be read as vision but that doesn’t mean that will long hyperlinks by text-to-speech software. stop you from going online and buying For now, business owners wishing to reach something or clicking on an advertisement this audience may want to focus their that’s applicable to you.” efforts on sites that are easily accessible. As a business owner, reaching “You can’t sell to this population if you a larger audience is beneficial. yourself are not accessible,” Ganza warns. “If advertisers As a business took a step back owner, check and realized “You can’t sell to this population if you out your own that if they website using a yourself are not accessible.” had accessible screen reading ads, they - Peter Ganza s o f t w a r e . would then Unaltered be reaching pages will be a a population that is very much based on minefield of links and long alternative text word of mouth advertising,” Spencer says. presenting frustrations for all. Also, refrain AccessibleTwitter.com, is one of the from flash and animations. many sites that have jumped onto the “If an organization makes an effort to accessibility bandwagon. This Twitter make their content accessible everyone’s spin off is extremely accessible using text- going to know about it, because it shows to-speech software since it refrains from that organization cares,” Spencer says. having any embedded links on its pages. follow us on

Location-based media tells you what your customers are buying and where so that you can make sure they bring their business to you

Story by Sarah Moore

Photo by Angela Rotundo

ow that Facebook has asked what’s on your mind, and Twitter has asked what you’re doing, location-based social media is now asking is where you are. Foursquare and Facebook Places report a user’s location to other users, then associate restaurants or events to that location. Some are incentive-based, rewarding users for “checking-in” to certain locations. The user can also become the “Mayor” of a location if they visit it more frequently than anyone else. People love to get deals and will continue to come spend money if they are getting a reward for doing so. “I [as a consumer] am going to give you my information, tell you who and where I am, when what you offer is valuable and relevant to me,” explained Asif Khan, president of the Location Based Marketing Association in Toronto. Starbucks uses Foursqaure to offer coffee-drinkers promotions to keep their java-levels filled to the brim. In a statement to Social Shift, Starbucks says that Fousquare offers customers a way to engage with Starbucks and their community while rewarding customer loyalty. Chili’s restaurant is also rewarding customers for using Foursquare and gives them free chips and salsa when they “check-in”. “It just made sense to use it because our guests are constantly connected to us and www.socialshiftmag.com

we wanted to find a way to stay connected with them,” says Danielle Smith, public relations for Brinker International, which represents Chili’s. News organization Metro Canada has also been experimenting with Foursquare to connect to their customers since early last year. Users can access news tips, events and deals that are relevant to where they are, and offers a “Metro Badge” to someone who visits a location three times. “By aligning ourselves with a social network that is progressive we are then amongst a demographic of social media users that are on the cutting edge of technology that we may not have reached before.” says Ajoy Pinto, marketing and promotional specialist for Metro. Metro offers existing readers special content while attracting new readers. Foursquare is not the only application using this technology. Facebook recently launched a Deals addition to its existing Places application and several big-ticket names, such as The Gap and McDonald’s, are now on board. While the deals are only

>> location shift

Check In Here

available in The United States, pairing an emerging technology that has a small user base with Facebook’s 500 million-plus users gives businesses a better insight into what customers are buying, when they are buying, and most importantly where they are buying. “Since I am able to see who is ‘checkingin’ where, I’m able to know that the same individual who bought a coffee from me then bought a croissant from someone else down the street,” Khan notes. “If enough people start doing that, then maybe it’s a cue to me to start selling croissants.” Location-based media offers businesses the ability to not only reward loyalty but also enables business owners to personalize and target their message to a specific consumer, by knowing what they want and where they want to get it. However, incorporating location-based technology into your platform should mean abandoning traditional marketing strategies. “It’s really about using the mobile platform as well as other platforms,” Khan advises, “When somebody “checks-in” on Foursquare, for example, you then need to ask how you then get them to look at your billboard across the street, and get the billboard company to connect with Foursquare to make that happen.” Issues regarding privacy and locationbased media will undoubtedly start to surface but it may be fair to say that once these applications mature, their privacy settings will mature with them, similar to how Facebook has continuously updated its privacy settings as issues have arisen. While there are positive rewards that a company can gain from these technologies, they will only increase when the number of users “checking-in” grows, according to Khan. The prediction for the future of social media use is in — and it’s all about location, location, location. >>11

Picture This How photographer Jay Perry attained his social media success in a snap Story by Sarah Moore | Photos by Angela Rotundo

e points, he shoots, and he freezes moments in time— then he Tweets about it. Stoney Creek-based photographer Jay Perry has begun to make a living taking photos and he credits a big part of his success to his intensive social media campaign. Perry has 1,245 people that “Like” his work on his two professional Facebook pages and 840 people following him on his two Twitter accounts. He is a frequent blogger, and updates his website, monstersvsme.com, on a regular basis. The numbers are fairly impressive given that Perry has only been in the photography game for a couple of years. Growing up in the small town of Stoney Creek, a suburb of Hamilton, Ont., the 28-year-old started to take a vested interest in photography after his band, Holiday, began to disperse. “We did some amazing things: toured all around Canada, played some huge shows and basically lived in a van for years,” Perry reminisces. “But five years later, the band was near its end, not to mention only making $100 a week, so we decided to call it quits and jump into the ‘adult’ world.” After the breakup was over, Perry began designing websites for various companies. The work left him unsatisfied and it did not take long before he had the itch to try something new. “After a couple months, I decided that I wanted to have more control over the content I was putting on these sites and purchased a mid-to-entry level DSLR camera. So began the great photography journey,” he says. “I love the ability to stop time and turn it into something people may look at for years because sometimes memories are all we have.

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Ask your Mom: if her house was on fire, knock on wood it doesn’t happen, I bet the first thing she would save are her photo albums.” Now that Perry had the itch, he needed to find a way to scratch it. He turned to Facebook, where he created a “Picture a Day” album in January of 2009, and posted a new photo everyday for two years. “I’m not gonna lie, it was tough. There were times where I would be pacing my house trying to find something to shoot,” he recalls. “But this project was good for two reasons: it forced me to practice photography and it slowly associated the name Jay Perry toward photographer and away from musician.” Perry used Facebook to slowly rebrand himself and present potential clients with his newly emerging skill-set. Jay Perry is now a house-hold name in both Stoney Creek and Hamilton, and has become synonymous with photography and the nightlife scene, where a great deal of his exposure stemmed from. With his brand now cemented into the minds of clients in his hometown, Perry is beginning to extend his talents to customers in other cities and even other countries. Social media has given Perry, and other entrepreneurs like him, the ability to reach clients that may not have been accessible in any other way. According to Alex Sevigny, a communications professor at McMaster University, the interconnected and personal nature of online social-based marketing has brought back the feel of the pre-industrial “market square;” reminiscent of the way that businesses would advertise their products to passersby when they ran into each other in the street. Shift to page 14 for more of Jay Perry’s story

>>success shift

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P Y A J

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“It used to be that people would be in the market and would cry out advertising their wares and there would be a human connection, you know, come check out my produce it’s the best on the block,” Sevigny says. “Social media has taken good old interpersonal communication and given it a megaphone. It’s taken the market square and the personal aspect of it and made it into a global market square.” The six-degrees of separation is also at work in Perry’s strategy. The potential for him, and others like him, to crowd-source increases as the success of the online campaign does, Sevigny says. Not only are people finding out about Perry’s work by dealing with him directly, but also through friends of friends of friends, from following someone on Twitter that may have worked with him, or by seeing that someone on Facebook may have “liked” something Perry, or one of his clients, posted. “Referrals, referrals, referrals,” Perry says. “I’ve been getting referrals from people I don’t even know. They see my work from a link on Facebook and the next thing I know, I’m flying around Canada [and the world] shooting.” Aside from shooting local events back home, Perry has recently photographed the openings of two playgrounds that The Dreamcatcher Fund opened for children in Winnipeg and Sault Ste. Marie, the rebuilding of a school in Haiti, and numerous other charity events. The use of social media has allowed him to make contact with new clients, and opened up the doors for new, exciting opportunities. He credits the fact that people are so eager to work with him to his dedication to establishing and maintaining a sincere rapport of communication with new clients. “Facebook and Twitter allow me to build a relationship with a client before even saying one word about photography,” Perry says. “Sometimes, I’ll send five or

>>14

six messages back and forth without even one mention of business. This establishes friendship and most importantly, trust. The client now knows I’m serious about working with them and not just out for their money.” Dennis McGuire, owner of FieldTweets, a blog dedicated to promoting a brand through social media, agreed that while social media allows for interpersonal connections to be made, the communication should not stop after that initial connection is established. “The most important aspect of using social media is listening to your audience and responding,” McGuire advised. “Every tweet or comment must have a response, even if the post is negative. It shows you care and that you are engaged.” While it may take a lot of time to stay in touch with the large number of followers that Perry is amassing, he says that the end result makes it all worth it. He believes marketing and communicating online keeps his name fresh in the heads of his followers and that makes the commitment time well spent. “Some people still say social media is a waste of time,” he says. “[But] those people can go back to their cold calling and Yellow Pages ads, ‘cause I already forget who they are.” The process of rebranding himself from a musician into a photographer has been a long one, but the results are finally starting to show. Perry says that he is successful but not yet rich. However, he believes that if keeps doing what he does, and enjoying the journey, his financial success will only continue to prosper. McGuire also emphasizes that financial success does not happen overnight. “Don’t give up after a month,” he advises, “It takes time, but eventually it will pay-off.” Jay Perry is a prime example of how the world of online social networking can help launch a successful career. Perry has always had the will put himself out there, and because of that will, social media has helped Perry find his way.

How social media has paired up with online dating services to find you that ideal catch Story by Angela Rotundo | Photo by Sarah Moore

Cameron Donaldson (left) and Holly Beckwick are just two people who looked for love online - and found it through social media.

oday’s digital age has completely revolutionized the way people date. While the words ‘online dating’ were once considered taboo, a last resort for singles desperately looking to find a life partner, notions of setting up mutual friends or having a chance encounter at a coffee shop are now passé. “Dating sites are, in some cases, as easy as checking your email and this makes it more convenient for people,” says Holly Beckwick, an online-love success story. “I think not just social media, but technology, has changed how people think about social interaction.” Beckwick and her boyfriend Cameron Donaldson have found great success with online dating. After trying Lavalife and eHarmony, the two connected on PlentyofFish, chatted for several years and finally met in-person in January 2010. For this couple, success was achieved because social media offered them instant connectedness and the ability to customize what they were looking for. While both are avid social networking www.socialshiftmag.com

“I think not just social media, but technology, has changed how people think about social interaction” - Holly Beckwick users they weren’t sure how social media would serve as a third wheel in their digital relationship. Amanda Tring-Stephen, online marketing manager for Lavalife’s Toronto office says it would be crazy for online dating sites not to use social media and has embraced Facebook and Twitter as a part of their buisness strategy. “While Lavalife is naturally a social network, social media has and is making a big impact on our industry...and we’re currently refining our social media strategy to take full advantage of this ever-changing medium,” says Tring-Stephen. Zoosk, another online dating service, quickly gained momentum from its Facebook, MySpace and Friendster applications, according to a Washington

>> relationship shift

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Post article. Lucinda Castro-Val is a consultant of the Toronto dating service It’s Just Lunch. This service joins serious individuals with life partners, without the use of social networking accounts but instead by selective interviews. Castro-Val doesn’t feel at all pressured to hop onto the social media bandwagon. “People join our services because they like the confidentiality – they don’t want to put their picture and information up online. We have a lot of people who have tried those sites before calling us, asking for a more filtered approach because our clients are very serious about finding that special somebody.” While it may seem strange to refuse a medium designed to connect people Castro-Val and those from It’s Just Lunch do not believe they are at a disadvantage. “We advertise in magazines, and we’ve been around for a really long time so people know about us by word of mouth, but I don’t think we’ll ever go that route – we want to stay away from social networking to remain a niche market because we want to keep our business very personalized,” says Castro-Val. While both spectrums of the dating service industry understand the advantages of social networking, is the ability to infuse online dating with social media something customers are looking for when they log online for love? While online dating sites have proven successful, the incoporation of social media isn’t right for every matchmaking businesses. For the millions of budding romances waiting to bloom, picking the right social network and/or online dating site may be just as important as looking for that special someone. >> 15

Think...

Before You Click The dangers of using social media in background checks

ith the number of users on human resources consulting firm HR social networks continuing Impact, has first-hand experience dealing to grow, accessing a potential with employers and human resource job candidate’s personal information is professionals that use social media to find merely a point and click away. out information about potential employees. The ability to find red flags about a “Companies are using it more and more potential employee before they are hired and maybe some don’t want to disclose is extremely alluring. Many companies that they are using it,” she says. “They have begun to use of social media in their are definitely going to the web and it is background checking and hiring practices becoming rapidly popular.” on top of traditional avenues of research. I also know companies that did not hire The abundance of information available an individual based on what they read or online about an individual may protect seen online, she adds. a company from making a bad hire, but “We want to minimize the risk of people companies need to be wary of how they use ‘BS-ing’,” she says. “We know that people the information that they do find. lie on resumes, lie about the degrees that The verdict is still out on whether or not they have, fudge their references. There are seeking an individual’s personal details more and more people that are going to use out online is these (social an invasion of networking) privacy, or at v e n u e s “We want to minimize the risk of very least, of because people ‘BS-ing’.” ethics. m a y b e An online - Fiorella Callocchia they’ve been survey conducted b u r n e d in 2009 by Harris Interactive, on behalf before or just want to get comfort in the of CareerBuilder.com, found that 45 per information they receive.” cent of the 2,667 hiring managers and HR The benefits of searching out a potential professionals surveyed in the United States employee online can minimize the chances use social networks to find information of hiring someone that may be a poor fit for about job candidates and 11 per cent plan a certain company. to start doing so. However, people are concerned that there The study also revealed that Facebook was are privacy issues associated with the ability the most commonly used site. While many to have access to their personal information of the companies that spoke to Social Shift online. To date, the law has not caught up say that they were not delving that deeply to social media advances and background into a candidate’s personal history through checking an employee online has no legal social media websites, there is evidence to reprecussions. suggest that many other hiring managers “I am not aware of any case or legislation and human resource professionals are. saying an employer can’t check publicly Fiorella Callocchia, president of available information about a job >> 16

Story and Photos by Sarah Moore

FACEBOOK FLUBS

candidate,” notes Ken Anderson, assistant privacy commissioner of Ontario. “[However] as social media evolves, they may create new privacy problems. If so, a legislative response can be expected in some cases to ensure protection of human rights and civil liberties.” follow us on

fact that it’s on the Internet doesn’t exclude it from the law.” While there is no law to prohibit employers from looking at a candidate’s online profile as of yet, there are laws thatdelegate what information an employer can use. The biggest danger to accessing information online comes from an employer finding information online they are prohibited from discussing during an interview. According to the Ontario Human Rights code, every person has a right to equal treatment with the respect to employment without discrimination. A person’s sexual orientation, marital

Some American states also offer protection to employees under what is known as legal off-duty conduct. If an employee is engaging in legal activities outside of working hours and work property, even if it is questionable, many American states offer the employee protection against discrimination for this conduct. Despite the potential benefits employers can gain from the use of social media and social networking sites, employers are certainly treading on dangerous ground. Rosen saya that his company advises against using these social media sites unless necessary, and if a company does pursue

Left: Employers have traditionally examined an employee’s background information with a fine tooth comb. Bottom: Social networking sites have made it easier to find out about an employee’s background than in the past, but just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean that you should.

“One would think that if you put something on the Internet and you failed to adjust your privacy settings then you have waived your privacy, but there’s a good argument that if you left the front door open does that then mean a robber has the right to walk in?” Rosen says. “The other analogy is that if you were to get drunk and pass out in your front yard, and your neighbours can see it, how much privacy do you have? It’s kind of the same with the Internet.” The Internet is a public domain to which individuals willingly post content that they are aware is visible to anyone who wishes to seek it out. However, online content is still protected under the same laws that off line information is. “There is a difference between what information is accessible and can be used, and what can be obtained and not used,” insists David Hager, partner at Lang Michener LLP and Howard Levitt Employment and Labour Lawyers. “The www.socialshiftmag.com

status, political affiliation or ancestry is not admissible in an interview and discriminating against an employee due to any of these, among other, factors is illegal. The issue is that individuals post all this information on their profiles and it is impossible for an employer to “un-know” something. “You’d hope the HR person would take the extraneous information out of their mind and hire the right person, so why cant they do that when they look on the Internet?” Hager says. Furthermore, having access to an individual’s personal information could also serve as a positive advantage. “You could find out things about them that they may not have put on the resumé that are worthwhile (and) you get a broader perspective of the person.”

that means of background checking there are certain safeguards they should enact to prevent any discrimination claims. “The most protection comes if you wait for consent or until you have given a condition of employment before you do a search,” he says. “Then the (candidate) has been considered on a level playing field and you are only looking for a reason to revoke an offer.” Social media can be a good tool, but should only be part of the screen process. “It’s cool to see people on Facebook because you can hear other people’s opinions (on them),” Santucci says, “but at the end of the day it’s the real person that’s working in there, not the profile version of the person.” >> 17

>> privacy shift

Callocchia disagrees that checking an employee out online is a violation of their privacy. She believes that if the information is publically available an employer should be using it. “It’s part of due diligence,” Callocchia says, of using social media for background checks. “It’s not an invasion of privacy. Not all HR people would agree but I think that most business people would — and I believe in doing good business.” Lester Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources, offered up two analogies regarding the state of privacy in an online world.

>> mobile shift

Get Smart and Get Mobile Smartphones connect businesses to on-the-go consumers putting convenience in the palm of their hand Story and Photos by Angela Rotundo

An iPhone

ime is a valuable thing. It’s perhaps the strongest driving force behind smartphone technology. Smartphones can do it all – check email, download photo albums, book dinner reservations, and offer instant news and weather reports. A recent study by ciphermedia.com shows 23 per cent of smartphone users receive automatic information updates on their cell phones. With a growing list of possibilities, is it any wonder that businesses are beginning to include smartphone technology into their strategic plans? Today’s digital generation has transformed the relationship between business owner and consumer. Smartphone technology provides an advertising branch for any business and also allows them to cater to their customers needs in a mobile way. Toronto radio station, Z103.5, knows what it takes to keep listeners tuned in by implementing a ‘Listen Live’ feature to download on smartphones. Ryan Daramsing, interactive coordinator for the station, knows the importance of this tool. “It’s really had a dramatic influence on our ratings right now. We’re using the smartphone app so users can listen live, purchase songs straight from iTunes, and get content from our site. So it’s a >> 18

An Android promotional and service tool,” he says. “Right now it’s a necessity. This technology brings mobility. We can always be at the tip of their fingers which is huge for us. We’re basically in their pocket at all times,” Daramsing says. As with any business tool the long-term effects of smartphones are ones that should be taken note of. Ameet Shah understands what innovative smartphone technology can do for a business. Shah is the managing partner of Five Mobile Inc., a company that designs apps and connects businesses via social media. “Smartphones are a promotional tool for one – the more people you can reach the more people will engage with your business,” Shah says. According to Shah, it also allows businesses to interact on a personal level. “Take the example of purchasing movie tickets,” he suggests. “By having the ability to purchase tickets on your phone, it can drive different consumer behaviours. It can really get people to act more impulsively. It allows businesses to reach a target audience at any point in time.” Shah understands that the advantages of smartphone technology as a social medium for businesses outweigh the disadvantages. Someone like Linda Allen, however, pairs

A BlackBerry that knowledge with first-hand experience. Allen, president of Linda Allen Inc., is a certified management consultant who specializes in behaviours in business. She says that employees play a huge part in how smartphone technology changes a business. “Young professionals are more apt to be on their smartphones a lot. They’re answering their emails rather quickly, but because they’re doing it on the fly they’re not completely answering that email. Companies are saying that’s very inefficient and counter-productive because that affects bottom-line profits,” Allen says. Allen believes that smartphone technology is a delicate art. “Businesses see smartphone technology as very productive, but in the wrong hands it becomes counter-productive. It’s a balancing act,” says Allen. Business owners should be aware of which businesses have adopted smartphone technology in a smart way. Some of the Canadian businesses who have designed apps to reach consumers on a mobile level include The Globe and Mail, Scotiabank, Air Canada and Tim Hortons. It’s safe to say that we’re now a mobile society, and smartphone technology has transformed a simple talking device into a personal assistant who conveniently fits within the palm of their hand. follow us on

>> brand shift

CROWD O Make the most of your online brand community N TB R O L

Story by Sarina Adamo

rand communities are as essential to a brand as communities are to a city. As the mayor of your online brand community, businesses need to ensure they know their residents and their needs. For without proper support your community will crumble, as will your brand. Online brand communities, not to be mistaken with online communities, are outlets where people can interact with a common enjoyment of a particular brand or product. Online communities have massive gauge as they are outlets for anyone to join. To create a brand community, you must first know your brand and who it caters to. “Companies shouldn’t start with a strictly social media campaign, the first step we recommend is identifying who is in your community,” says Jonathan Huth, partner at Conversion Marketing, Communication and Brand Publishing. Huth belives that doing so will keep your customer satisfaction rating at a high. Having a subscriber base of interested individuals that are curious about your brand is a good way to establish a small community. Challenges will ensue, however, when trying to drive traffic onto your website. “You may want to consider joining a community that ranks high in Google and start typing questions and maybe responding to some answers. Then you can direct people to your own site,” says Gustavo Natotschiev, founder of gnim Media, a marketing company based in Ottawa. However, as Jeff Pontes, director of digital strategy at Fuse Marketing group points out, you need to be wary when joining forums. “If you’re just popping into discussion forums and you’re not actually part of the community, you’re just a spammer,” Pontes says. “If you’re not giving back to community you will be called out for it.” Most experts agree that the larger your online presence, the greater your audience. Joining social media networks that can direct your audience to your website is vital. But even with 10,000 fans on Facebook there could could still only be 10 active members in your community. Those greatly interested in your brand will show their support in some way. So you’ve directed them to your website, now what? “I find that businesses fail because they’re putting too much information on their website,” says George Ioannou, a web marketer and founder of PennyPincherz.com, a site dedicated to sending daily coupons for local businesses to its subscribers. “You should keep it simple to exactly what your business does and keep it very visual. Businesses’ biggest mistake is doing something they think consumers want. You can ignore what consumers say and fail, or listen and succeed.”

www.socialshiftmag.com

Follow these steps:

Entertain your audience with a short video on the home page explaining the mission of your company.

Educate them with various “About Company X” features on your site.

Engage them with interesting topics on your discussion board to allow customer feedback.

i Enlighten them by listening to their challenges with your brand. Work to fix the issues.

i Ensure ultimate customer satisfaction by keeping your content fresh, offering incentives and granting praise to helpful consumers. >> 19

>>connection shift

Lighten Your Workload Integrating your networks may save you time but there is more to consider before you do so

Story and Photo by Sarah Moore

penly promoting your strongest competition may seem counterproductive—but for MySpace, promoting a movie about Facebook, made sense. Their decision to accept the seven-figure sum that Sony Pictures reportedly paid to advertise The Social Network on Myspace, and to integrate that campaign with other social media, was nothing short of genius. The beauty of it was that Myspace targeted visitors looking for news about Facebook and then directed them to Myspace to find it. Myspace also combined forces with other social media, such as Twitter, to draw in traffic that may not have visited the site otherwise. MySpace Sync, has taken this integration a step further by allowing users to simultaneously update content to MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. While it’s still too soon to tell whether MySpace has generated a worthwhile spike in web-traffic from the campaign, using multiple social media websites to promote a product may be a viable marketing strategy for other companies. “You aren’t always going to capture the bulk of your target audience using one social media site,” says Kennith Gray, director of operations with Search Engine Optimization and marketing firm 3C Websites. “You get more access to individuals that can possibly use your product or service by branching out.” Gina Chen, former journalist and blogger on savethemedia.com, agrees that being active in multiple social networking communities can increase company revenue. She also believes that integrating different social media outlets simplifies the act of both posting and accessing content online. Instead of updating content to all of your profles independently you can now update them simultaneously, which Chen believes

>>20

is essential to helping businesses keep all of their content updated quickly and with less effort. “We’d all go crazy if we had to check 10 things every day,” she argues. “If you save people time then they are going to use [your] product or information.” However, while it is less cumbersome to update all of the profiles that a company has simultaneously, Erica Swallow, assistant editor from the technology and social media website, Mashable, argues that it may not always be the best way to go. She warns that it can alienate certain audiences because each specific site caters to a certain community with its own rules of syntax and type of content. “The key is not to go and join everything but look at who you are trying to reach” she adds. “You need to know who your audience is, what sites they’re using and be on those.” Gray says that he gives similar advice to the clients he counsels. “You need to really hone your niche, identify your target markets and then communicate a specific message to those individuals,” he advises. Language used specifically on one site, such as the hash tags and at symbol used on Twitter, should not show up on all of the company’s social media profiles, and there should be a focus on providing content to the most relevant audience rather than just sending the same messages out across the

board. Rachal Shanahan, social media coordinator for The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, has successfully incorporated these strategies into the online branding and promotion of the foundation. She uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube extensively and has developed a system for integrating all three in an appropriate manner. “It’s about pacing yourself, making sure that you are not repeating yourself and that every post counts and is of value,” Shanahan says of her approach to using multiple social media in an integrated way. It is also important to remember that consumers are constantly being bombarded with content. Ensuring that each post made is unique and caters to the right audience is critical. “You don’t want to seem like you are screaming at your customers all day with stuff,” Chen stresses. Ultimately, the effort that is put into a social media marketing strategy will decide the rewards for doing so. No matter how many social media outlets are used, and whether they are updated individually or simultaneously, each customer or potential consumer still has to feel that their individual needs are being met.

>>top 10 social networks according to metrolic.com

It comes as no surprise that social networking giant, Facebook, launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, is the front-runner. With over 500 million active users, the ease by which the site allows people to connect has changed the traditional “call me” to “Facebook me”.

is a free videoTwitter is a micro-blogging MySpace was launched in 2 YouTube sharing web site which lets 3 service that allows people to 4 2003. It functions are similar users upload, view, and share video clips. It has virtually erased the need for instruction manuals and gives anyone with the ability to record video the chance to broadcast their “talent” to the world.

is a businessBebo is a social networking 5 LinkedIn oriented social networking 6 website launched in July 7 site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. LinkedIn has more than 60 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories.

2005. The website’s name is an acronym for Blog Early, Blog Often. Users receive a personal profile page where they can post blogs, photographs, music, videos and questionnaires to which other users may answer.

type in short messages or status updates, called Tweets. These can then be read by the people following them. The site is popular among celebrities and gives 140 character- or-less accounts of people’s daily lives, activies and random thoughts.

In Hi5, users create an online profile in order to show information such as interests, age and hometown and upload user pictures where users can post comments. Hi5 also allows the user to create personal photo albums, play online games, and set up a music player.

to Facebook, and at one point it was at the top of the pack. However, the increase in Facebook’s popularity seems to be slowly contributing to its decline and the site has since changed its platform to primarly focus on music.

allows users 8 Friendster to contact other members,

maintain those contacts, and also share online content and media with those contacts. Friendster was one of the first social networking sites created and was the inspiration for all the social networks that exist today.

The Next Big Things 9

www.socialshiftmag.com

Orkut is owned and operated by Google Inc. The service is designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. It’s named after creator, and Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. It isn’t a household name yet, but if Google is involved it may be one to watch.

is a social networking 10 Tagged.com site based in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 2004, Tagged members can play popular and exclusive social games, meet new people based on suggestions, and share tags and virtual gifts.

>>21

>>shifty stories A compilation of the most interesting, funny or just plain silly social media stories we’ve heard from around the globe... Port-a-iPod-dy Application

Baby Name Blunder? Recruit FabFind

They Are With You, Sire! To The Death!

For those that use their iPhones while using the facilities, you can now enjoy a new form of entertainment an app! Toss aside those newspapers and join the online pooping community that allows you to draw graffiti on a virtual stall, chat with others and find out who’s doing what and where.

If you’re having trouble picking a name for your baby, recruit your Facebook friends! One Toronto couple are working with FabFind to have people vote for a name for their expected baby girl. The winner will receive more than $600 in deals from FabFind. There have been more than 3,000 names submitted. The couple chose Melania with 2,800 votes. So much for narrowing it down.

Thousands have been showing their support for a convicted joker by hashtagging #IAmSpartacus. The 27 -year old accountant, Paul Chambers, has been charged with a £1,000 fine for a joke he made on Twitter about blowing up an airport. All airport related comments have been retweeted on this trend since.

[According to apple.com/itunes]

[According to Toronto Sun]

[According to Mashable.com]

Facebook Flirtation at a High

A Case of Mistaken Identity Gone Right

Facebook can potentially be the new Ashley Madison. Eighty percent of divorce lawyers have admitted an increase in cases that use social media for evidence. According to the survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 20 per cent of divorces involve Facebook. The craze has sparked the creation of ebookCheating.com, which provides tips on how to catch cheating spouses using social media. As people are easily reconnected with old friends, flames and lovers, the chances of easy flirtation and secret communication are high.

A woman from Massachusetts woman has now been offered a free trip to Austrailia for confusion over her Twitter name. The name @theashes belongs to a 22-year old woman who usually tweets about her toddler and knitting but was mistakenly confused for a cricket match competition between England and Austrailia. The woman now has 7,600 followers, when she used to have 300. The name was given to her by her boyfriend many years ago.Despite some agitation at first she is now appreciative of the popularity that will most likely land her in a seat at The Ashes in Austrailia and she is slowly learning from her followers all about the rules of cricket. [According to newslite.tv]

[According to cyncentral.com] >> 22

Shift ShiftShift on over to our website for more stories, pictures, videos and links to the latest and greatest in social media.