mesh conference, Author at mesh

Nov 15

Taking a Deep Dive into Facebook

By mesh conference meshmarketing

At the last mesh conference, one of the most engaging sessions was Janice Diner’s look at Facebook beyond the Wall. For many people, it was fascinating to see how a growing number of companies were using Facebook to do everything from sell shampoo and operate loyalty programs to run contests and provide compelling video.

With Facebook become a more interesting part of the social media landscape, we decided to have Janice come to meshmarketing to provide more insight into how Facebook continues to evolve and what companies are doing to leverage it.

Here’s a mini-Q&A with Janice, who pointed out there are more than 16 million Canadians on Facebook, 9 million Canadians visit Facebook on a given day and they spend five and a half hours a month in the social network.

1. Why do you think Facebook Pages have become so popular?

The popularity of Facebook Pages has become one of the extensions of the users social web experience. For some marketers, their Facebook fan bases have become their largest web presence, outstripping brand sites or e-mail programs. The power of social recommendations is one of the big drivers. Creating opportunities for recommendations from friends have proven to be a great kind of marketing. Facebook Pages is one of the ways that enable brands and businesses to make customers their best advocates.

2. Can you point to any companies that are doing a particularly good job with their Facebook Pages?

There are many companies engaging with their consumers through Facebook both on Pages and through the Facebook’s Open Graph.

Some examples are: With the Starbucks Card Facebook application, I can purchase a cup of coffee for my friends without ever leaving Facebook. This holiday season EBay GroupGifts, a Facebook open-graph gifting service, helps Facebook users get together and buy gifts. If I want to book a plane ticket with Delta Airlines, I can do so inside Facebook with their Delta Ticket Counter. I visit the New York Times and log in with Facebook and I can now see what articles my friends are reading and recommending. Soon, I will be checking in with Facebook Places to a new restaurant while I am travelling and see what my fellow Facebook foodies recommend last time they ate there.

3. What do you see over the horizon with Facebook Pages now that companies have embraced things such as custom tabs?

Businesses and brands now have a great opportunity to be innovative and create lasting connections with their consumers. But fasten your seat belt; it is going to get a bit disruptive out there.

Nov 08

Love0

A Chat with Pepsi Canada’s Nathania Dashner

By mesh conference meshmarketing

Ad Lounge’s Trina Boos connected recently with Nathania Dashner, Marketing Manager of Pepsi Canada, to get some more insight into the Pepsi Refresh project and what we can expect from her presentation at meshmarketing.

Can you sum up the Pepsi Refresh project for those who don’t know what it is?

In an effort to support those who generate innovative, optimistic ideas, the Pepsi Refresh Project (www.refresheverything.ca) will award more than $1 million to move communities forward in a positive way. Beginning on June 1, 2010 and continuing through 2011, individuals and organizations can apply for grants to benefit a variety of projects, and site visitors can vote for the best ideas for funding. The Pepsi Refresh Project is an evolution of the Joy It Forward initiative Pepsi launched in 2009, which showed the brand as an optimistic catalyst for idea creation. Pepsi is funding projects that make a difference in six categories: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education.

What are the objectives of the Refresh project?

The goal of the Pepsi Refresh Project is to empower people to move their communities forward. People submit the ideas and vote for the ones that they think should be funded. This is the people’s project; it’s in their hands.

What are some of the key ingredients that made this campaign such a success?

We are devoting our attention to helping move peoples’ ideas from wishful thinking to reality via the Pepsi Refresh Project. People’s passion for their own idea’s and the effort that they put into self campaigning has made this a success. We have enabled Canadians to take charge and create change in their own community. Consumers are always looking for new and interesting ways to empower themselves.

At meshmarketing, what can attendees look forward to as you go further in depth into this successful campaign?
My presentation at meshmarketing will include:
– step by step program mechanics on the program and what makes it work.
– Success drivers in this campaign.
– Learning’s and things we would do differently, looking back.
– Tips on engaging consumers in the social world.

Nov 05

Love0

Are You Ready for meshmarketing?

By mesh conference meshmarketing

It’s hard to believe but meshmarketing is just around the corner.

In just 12 days, you’ll be checking in to the registration desk at the AllStream Center. Danielle and her team of trusty volunteers will be offering you your badge and a few goodies. You will be grabbing a coffee so that you can be ready to talk about gamification, SocialTV, measurement, storytelling and, generally, what’s next in marketing. But maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

Over the past five months, we have been working on assigning rooms, selecting the menus, calling for volunteers and talking to presenters to make sure all their travel plans are in order.

Based on what we’re hearing, there is strong interest across the board. Earlier this week, for example, we ran a contest on Twitter about the speaker at meshmarketing that people really wanted to hear. There was a variety of responses. This is another reflection on the great job done by Trina Boos to program meshmarketing.

So all this said, we thought we’d share some more details about meshmarketing. We hope you have had the chance to look at the schedule to determine the sessions you want to attend.

meshmarketing is about the networking as much as it is about the content. We’d like to encourage you to participate in all of the networking opportunities— the breaks, the lunch and, of course, the after-party from 5 to 7 p.m. We look forward to sharing a cocktail to hear all about your day. And please remember: even though everyone is about the web, you’ll still need your business cards…and likely a lot of them.

But that’s not all. We have really great news for CIRA, contests, prizes, launches and more. We can’t wait to see you at meshmarketing. Be sure to say hi!

One more thing: here’s where you can purchase tickets to meshmarketing.