Who has ever sat back and thought what social media may offer in the near future or what other new platforms may exist in the coming future. Well I have, have you? Now consider this, dating websites are known as a totally different platform for many years now where specific websites are designed and developed just for dating purposes. Whereas the social media platform of Facebook was designed for the purpose of users connecting with one another throughout the world. However, Facebook has now announced that they are integrating a dating feature into its social media platform where users from around the world will be able to view compatible matches who are making use of the dating feature. This is a great stepping stone towards future growth of the company as it is something that is outstanding and Facebook is the first to offer this feature compared to other social media platforms, giving Facebook a competitive advantage.

Looking for a house used to begin by circling classifieds in the house section of the newspaper but now, buyers are looking on social media to help them on their search. In fact, according to one study, 94% of millennials and 84% baby boomers are looking online for their future homes.  It’s without a doubt that realtors need to have an online presence to succeed. One-way realtors can succeed at social media is paying attention to their metrics. According to Forbes, measuring social media metrics is one of the top ten marketing musts for realtors. By checking and understanding some simple metrics they can learn what is working and what isn’t working for their audience. This will guide their activity to better improve their performance.

Magna International Inc. is known as North America’s largest global automotive supplier. Magna’s headquarters are located in Aurora, Ontario. “The Magna’s unique Fair Enterprise culture, based on fairness and concern for people, recognizes that your engagement and commitment is fundamental to our business success.”

Who are they? Dell is a multinational computer technology company based in Texas, United States. It is known for developing, selling, repairing, and supporting computers and related products and services. It started off as a pure hardware vendor but with acquisition of Perot System in 2009, the company ventured into IT services market. Since then it has been expanding its portfolio to include not only computers but also delivering complete solutions for enterprise customers. Working for DELL The company employs more than 103,000 individuals worldwide and was listed at number 51 in Fortune 500 list of the companies until 2014. DELL operates in over 180 different countries around the world. Very few companies have the resources available to them that we have. Jeremy Burton, Chief Marketing Officer

Would you have thought for a moment that you could use an integrated social media strategy to promote local food? It is possible and the Taste of Huron (TOH) program is doing just that. Taste of Huron is a program that has been around for over 10 years. It has encountered it’s up and downs over the years, but not because of lack of interest. It is more about lack of funding and lack staff resources to dedicate to program development and administration. The program started out being managed by Huron Tourism Association (HTA) and Huron County Economic Development. Over the years the program has made some remarkable gains in the marketplace. The lack of resources and the closure of the Huron Tourism Association could have been the death of the program, but thankfully with the insight of the Huron Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) and the final board of HTA, the Taste of Huron program was not to fall through the cracks and be forgotten. “It’s not surprising that Community Futures Huron continues to invest in our local food system. It’s one of the fastest growing components of the Huron County economy, with great prospects for business and job growth”. – Paul Nichol General Manager Community Futures Huron Taste Of Huron was resurrected in 2017 through government grants and the sheer desire to make the program work. You might ask yourself why not let it end with a painless death; the simple truth is there is too much to lose. Huron County is one of the most agricultural productive counties in Ontario.  The work that has been done in the past has proven that with the proper social media tactics and a strong, event-driven, marketing plan, the brand can prosper and grow.

With well-represented brands like Axe, Dove, and Ben and Jerry’s, each of which has a strong online following, Unilever has proven itself to be a social media veteran. With so many strong sub-brands residing under the Unilever umbrella, a certain level of consistency and organization is necessary to maintain order, eliminate waste, and create a cohesive vision. Unilever uses social media for a variety of purposes across the entire organization to support several important functions.  

Ten trees planted for every item purchased seems like an unobtainable goal selling clothes, but Tentree has made it their mission. At Tentree, their goal is to become the most environmentally progressive brand on the planet. They don’t want to just reduce the negative impact of the apparel industry, they want to use it as a vehicle for change. Their purpose is to revitalize our environment and inspire a generation to believe that they can do the same. Their current goal is to plant 1 billion trees by 2030. (Tentree.com, 2017) TenTree’s a socially oriented company, that is already on track to have over 17 million trees planted by the end of 2017. This significant achievement showcases the level of success that the company’s current high-cost business model enjoys. As a start-up business that is already making profits in the early stages of its life, TenTree’s is a great example of social entrepreneurs that employed a premium differentiation strategy and succeeded. In addition to this, TenTree’s has accomplished putting their products onto the shelves of 300 Canadian stores; doing so indicates the level of demand for their product in the market despite the high pricing. A last example of this is the company’s ability to garner strong internet sales; proving their marketing strategy’s impact in action is a force that can be relied on throughout its future. (Ho, 2017)

Born in 1981, I am an in-betweener, or a Xennial;  I am able to identify with members of both Gen X and Gen Y.  As a Xennial, I have the unique experience of living in both realities of the X’s and Y’s – the advantage is that I have lived, experienced and functioned in a world without internet and instant communication. I understand the need for the occasional digital detox, and often miss life without a smart phone.  Additionally, I have the advantage that I belong to one of the first generations to be taught “computers” in school.  As a result, I am comfortable working on a computer. In this blog post, I will examine the link between Slack, a social media and collaboration tool used in businesses, and higher levels of performance in the workplace.    

TELUS Corporation, is one of world’s largest telecommunications companies that offer services to individuals, small businesses, and large corporations. As a leader in the telecommunications industry, the company employs around 39,000 people. In 2007, the company was realizing that they were suffering with employee engagement. The results of survey that participated 4,000 employees, only 58% were only engaged with the work environment (So, C., 2013, October). The lack of engagement was starting to show amongst all sectors of the company. Now today in 2017, TELUS was awarded as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and Achiever’s 50 Most Engaged Workplaces  . By modernizing their leadership philosophy, TELUS has increased engagement and remaining high level interest.

Health Sciences North (HSN), a Northern Ontario hospital, is shining a light on the human side of healthcare as it reaching patients, hospital visitors, and the community at large. Located in Sudbury, Ontario, HSN has garnered Northern Ontario’s attention after the launch of their blog, Humans of HSN. Humans of HSN is an online blog modelled after the infamous Humans of New York, where pictures, videos and stories of HSN staff, volunteers and patients are shared. Each week, the blog features new stories of the many faces at HSN which are then shared across HSN’s social media networks. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals alike are sharing details of their lives outside of their hospital life. Whether talking about their personal passions, such as curling, or a once-in-a-lifetime family trip, patients and visitors of the hospital are given the opportunity to see beyond the person treating them.

In the midst of this Social/Mobile Marketing Era, business has changed its focus from being all about maximising a company’s financial return, to real-time connections, and social exchanged based on relationships driven by the consumers. An industry that understands and uses customer engagement as a tool is the beauty industry.

Tone It Up was started by Katrina Dawn and Karena Scott with a $3,000 start-up investment in 2009 (Lepore, 2017). They began by self-shooting and editing beach workout videos targeted to women, that they put on YouTube. Fast-forward to 2017, Tone It Up is a multi-billion dollar fitness/nutrition/lifestyle company, boasting a community of over 5 million women (Lepore, 2017). What is in the secret sauce for their success? Tone It Up has tapped into one of the most successful tactics to propel businesses in this highly social and digital age – engagement.

Social media content developers and strategists are often tasked with the seemingly ambiguous task of increasing brand awareness. While ambiguous, this task is not impossible, and many large firms rely on in-house metrics tracking to determine their success. Smaller businesses typically turn to social media companies to manage their strategy and analytics. When determining which metrics are worth tracking, it’s imperative to have a clear business goal or objective. Call it the observer effect – you don’t know what you’re going to get until you measure it.

At times we can all become the victims of a good trend.  The next big things is always around the corner and can often times seem like the answer that we have been looking for.  But is the appeal the concept itself or the popularity of the solution ?  Will the solution work within the  operating reality?  In the world of social media the only true predictor is Social Media Metrics.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum opened in 1967 as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations. The idea for the Canada Science and Technology Museum was born out of the Massey Commission. In 1951, the report recommended that the Canadian Government do more to support the arts and sciences in Canada; further emphasizing the need for a Canadian Museum of Science. Between the time the Massey Report was issued and Canada’s Centennial year, many proposals were submitted for this new national institution of science; many of which were costly in a very uncertain funding environment. Finally, at the beginning of 1967, Dr. David Baird was appointed as Director for this proposed national museum; set to open at the end of the Centennial year. Due to time constraints and funding uncertainty, Baird decided to house the Canada Science and Technology Museum in a former bakery and distribution centre in Ottawa. The bakery was meant to temporarily house the Museum; however it remained in the same location until 2014 when it was forced to close due to the discovery of mould. As unfortunate as this reality was for the museum, it finally received the funding it initially deserved. The Canada Science and Technology Museum’s facility will be renewed to ensure the continued education of ‘Canadian innovation and to inspire the next generation of great innovators’, as stated in their mission. The renewed Canada Science and Technology museum is slated to open in November of 2017; and appropriately so, as it is Canada’s Sesquicentennial year!

When you’re a global company with employees stationed around the world it’s easy to assume employees in one country know little to nothing about employees or happenings in other offices, but at Unitron, it’s quite the opposite. According to their global LinkedIn profile, it’s “a great thing to be a part of a culture that thrives on making the unexpected happen, and where team members’ work together to go the extra mile for customers.” The “company that designs and manufactures really great hearing instruments” has more than 20 offices around the world with their corporate headquarters located in Kitchener, Ontario.

In 2013, comedian Bryan Callen, asked UFC heavyweight fighter Brendan Schaub to do a podcast with him in his garage. The two were good friends, and Bryan noticed that Brendan had a natural comedic instinct, that could crack up a whole room. While both were moderately successful in their profession, nothing could prepare them for the heights their new show would soon reach. In three short years, the podcast has grown into one of the top 10 sports podcasts on Itunes. Podcasting has allowed the pair to have a stable income, while they pursue other interests. Acting and fighting are no longer their main source of income, and they can rely on income generated from their podcast. The podcast generates revenue from ad reads on the show, with many companies relying on podcasts to generate new customers. Bryan Callen had this to say about the future of social media. What’s really cool about the whole business of internet is it makes it easier and easier to have your own autonomy. The show has produced over 200 episodes, and spun off into various other side projects. Other businesses can look at The Fighter and The Kid, as inspiration to step into the future of social media.

How does a graduate in Software Engineering with an established career in his field, all of a sudden tell his parents that he no longer wants to continue doing that, and instead wants to get into the sporting events business? Burhan Ehsan who is founder and president of theFanchize had to experience just that. Being born to South Asian parents, that was probably his toughest hurdle in life. But with a venture that has reaped the rewards by getting into the Toronto Raptors-ticket selling game early, being called on by many media outlets due to the craze amongst Toronto sports fanatics, and now boasting over 4,000 clients – which most of them are recurring – breaking the news to his parents went fairly smoothly. Back in 2004, Burhan already a rabid Toronto Raptors fan, decided with a friend to purchase season tickets in the upper bowl of the Air Canada Centre (ACC). Something the Toronto Raptors organization wholeheartedly welcomed as the NBA team just wasn’t performing well on the hardcourt, nor in ticket sales at the time. Burhan utilized his time wisely while at these games and during ho-hum affairs, or breaks in between games, he would coolly network and schmooze with anyone affiliated with Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment – owners of the Raptors – such as Ushers, Security and also ticket sales representatives that worked directly under management. The sales reps took a liking to Burhan and made him a deal to try and attract more visitors and put bodies into the empty seats at games. He took up the challenge. With no social media outlets at the time, he did use what he was good at: Word of mouth. Talking to his family members and friends, Burhan showcased the Raptor ticket as valuable as a Toronto Maple Leafs ticket. When he needed to get more exposure, he resorted to an obscure mass texting application as the growing use of cellphones was apparent at that time. The phone calls then started to come in. Perks were given directly to Burhan from the Raptors such as playing time on an NBA floor at the ACC, meet & greet with players and also receive gifts such as jerseys and t-shirts using this as leverage to bring in more customers. With the client base growing and time becoming more and more scarce, people had to be hired to man the phones, the former website Raptorfan.com had to be designed… Read more »

Starting out in a 1 room unit back in 1999, Saysons Web Design & Printing has grown to be the go-to hub for small to medium businesses in Brampton, Ontario to help with their marketing and technological needs. The team of Shafia Hussaini and Ilyas Yazdani combine to use their respective skills in a joint proprietorship that would allow for them to run their own organization and at the same time, provide the expertise and creativity needed for other businesses to stand out among a crowded and competitive environment. Saysons has developed a unique team that spans worldwide and not just offers graphic design services, but also IT solutions, web design, hosting options, and valuable marketing & consulting help.

When it comes to purchasing makeup products today, the first company that typically comes to mind – and even conversation – is Sephora.  Approach most women and men who have carefully applied a swipe of indigo eyeliner or a dusting of rose-gold eyeshadow where they bought the product from, and you’ll almost always hear, “Sephora!”  In a world that is so obssessed with image and beauty, Sephora continues to build their customer relationship based on a simple ideology – understanding customer wants and needs, and connecting that customer with the right product.  

Even though Ford has been around for over a century, it is still creating great content to engage present and possible future customers. It has been engaging with customers using a multi platform content strategy and creating authentic social interactions.  There is a big difference between marketing and posting advertisements on social media, compared to engaging with the customers and using social media as a line of communication. After a closer look at Ford’s online social presence, it is clear they have it all figured out!

Today’s marketing landscape is ever changing, and with it, the way we engage with our customers.  It is no longer about selling a service or a product; now it is all about the customer experience.  Companies like T by Daniel, a Brampton based tea house, strive to provide a genuinely exceptional experience for each and every person they meet.  Lovers of tea, fashion and especially people, Daniela and Renata Lewis had a vision to start something that could speak to all generations and could bring people together 1. It began when Daniel Lewis overcame a tragedy and used his new found passion for life to follow his dream with his loving wife by his side.  “From the moment a person walks into our store, our immediate goal is to wow them” says Renata Lewis, co-founder.  Their friendly staff focus on getting to know their customers, whether in person or online.

Social media is often perceived in the business world only as a marketing tool that bolsters customer satisfaction and engagement. This client-centric approach limits the ways in which social media can be utilized as a positive tool in the workplace. Social media has many business applications that are not related to marketing, including strengthening employee engagement by improving internal communications.

In North America, many employees are disconnected and disengaged from their work, making them less productive. When an employee is engaged in their work, they are more focused and motivated, allowing companies to stay ahead of their competition. Internal social media platforms for employees to stay up to speed have become increasingly favoured in organizations and this will only continue to increase.  

When you go out for dinner with family or visit friends, it’s easy to see the obligatory question of the night creeping up: “So how is work?” For some, this question is followed by a very short answer, which, in turn, is followed quickly by the introduction of a new, more likable topic. But for others, that question is answered with great pride and joy in the work they are doing. So why don’t we all look forward to that question? Well there could be many reasons but in general terms it all boils down to company culture and employee engagement. A company’s culture is evident in how people get work done, how they communicate, and in the stories they tell their friends, family and followers. Culture and engagement are impacted by everything you do and start with the core of any company: it’s employees.