Ryan Anderson dot ca

Let’s face it – we all know there’s a lot of it out there.  The important question is how we advance beyond the advice of self-proclaimed experts and integrate social media into our marketing in a way that moves the needle for our clients or our businesses.

To answer (at least some of) that question, Chris Greenfield, product strategist and Founder & CEO of clever communications will be speaking at the next Social Media Breakfast on the topic Social Media Hype: Getting past the BS and making it work.

From the description:

When ROI means everything, businesses need to focus their social media efforts on their core business goals, with a realistic look at the resources and commitment required to execute well a social media program.

I’ve worked with Chris many times in the past and I can vouch for him being one of the good ones.  He’s also an excellent speaker, so don’t miss the opportunity to see him in Ottawa.  Book your ticket today – http://smbottawa8.eventbrite.com

When

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 from 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM (ET)

Where

Gowlings
160 Elgin Street
Suite 2600
Ottawa, K1P 1C3
Canada

As many of you know, I’ve always been involved with the local arts community.  Sadly, with the demands of a day job being what they are, I’ve not had as much time to devote as I would like – but the one piece of involvement that I have held onto is being on the board of the Ottawa Fringe Festival.

The Fringe, for the uninitiated, is a theatre festival where local, national and international performers converge, and over 10 days, put on over 300 performances (many, many more in some markets) and 100% of their box office takings go to the artists themselves.  The festival itself serves to organize venues, schedules and publicity, but the actual content of the shows is left completely up to the groups that are lucky enough to be selected.

Now, you may think that a not-for-profit theatre festival taking place in Ottawa where all of the box office proceeds go to the artists must be rolling around in thousand-dollar bills and diving into silos of gold boullion.  The reality, however, is that any charitable organization needs to squeeze every last cent they can out of a dollar, and reaching new audiences by buying full page newspaper ads is not even a consideration.

That’s why this year, the festival will be making a major change in focus to include a number of social media marketing initiatives to reach new communities, make new friends, and build the visibility of the festival both locally and on the international circuit.

Blogging. It’s a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many organizations don’t blog about what they’re doing.  We made the conscious decision this year to hire a community manager who would blog not only about what we’re doing, but about what our performers are doing, what our sponsors are doing, and what our audience thinks of the shows.  We have two community managers manning the blog this year, and no doubt other staff and volunteers will get involved as the festival kicks off.

Commenting & Feedback. We started allowing comments on individual show pages last year with some trepidation.  We were afraid of companies trying to sabotage one another, performers complaining about bad reviews… and there was not one issue.  This year, audience members are free to review shows directly on the site, for all the world to see.

Facebook. We’ve had a Facebook group and fan page for a while, but this year, thanks to Refresh Partners, we also have an application that allows users to search for shows they want to see, share it with their friends, and buy tickets directly.  When you select a show you want to see, it sends a notice to your newsfeed, letting friends know the shows you’re attending and when.

Flickr. When you’re dealing with an event that is fairly hard to explain in words, photos are a powerful way of conveying emotion.  As always, we have an official Fringe photographer, but this year, we’re lucky enough to have a photographer who is doubling as community manager and reaching out to local photography enthusiasts to set up a public photography contest for the Festival.  Every day, a winner is chosen from the public Flickr pool, their photo printed and posted at the Fringe tent, and linked online – and the photographer submitting the best photo of the festival, as chosen by our judges, is awarded a gift certificate for dinner at a local restaurant.

Video. A few years ago, wrestling with the idea of video was next to impossible.  Connection speeds, technology, processing tools and know-how was far out of reach, but now that it’s trivial to take a video on a cell phone and upload it to Youtube, there’s no reason for organizations NOT to integrate video into their web strategy.  This year, in addition to gonzo interviews from the festival we’re partnering with local startup Eventbots to place a speaker’s corner-style video booth at the Fringe Courtyard.  Videos are going to be posted on the Ottawa Fringe site, on Facebook and on Youtube to give people a first-hand account of what the Fringe is about.

Real Life – the ultimate social network. At the end of the day, the festival is about art and people – and that’s something that can ultimately only be experienced in person.  Our goal this year was to put ourselves out there, and make some friends.  To solidify those friendships, we’re holding a Social Media Wine and Cheese on the first Saturday of the festival (June 21), where we can meet with members of the community, discuss ways that we can better engage with local communities and improve visibility for the upcoming years.  If you’re an Ottawa blogger, and want to attend, just shoot me an email to ryan (at) ryananderson dot ca, and I’ll give you some more details.

In theatre terms, what we’re doing is a bit of a social media dress rehearsal.  Some parts have been sloppy, some have been surprisingly polished, but the organization has learned every step of the way and sometimes, that’s the way you have to do things.  At the end of this festival, we’re hoping to have a block of clay that we can shape into something that will last for years to come.

If you’re in Ottawa, I hope you’ll join us at the Festival, running June 19 – 21 in the heart of Downtown Ottawa.

After a far-too-long winter in Ottawa, we’ve finally emerged from our igloos and thawed our Molson Canadians just in time for the return of Third Tuesday Ottawa, which will be held on Monday, May 5.  That’s right – it’s about topics so ahead of their time, it’s being held the day before.

If you happen to live in Ottawa, be sure to head down to the Clocktower at 575 Bank Street (downstairs), and see yours truly debating shiny new objects in public relations and which ones we should be paying attention to along with the distinguished Colin McKay and Brendan Hodgson.  Here’s the official blurb:

“It seems that almost every day, we hear an announcement of a new social media tool, social network or open standard that the inventors tell us we soon won’t be able to live without. At this month’s Third Tuesday Ottawa, we have a panel of Colin McKay, Ryan Anderson and Brendan Hodgson to lead a discussion of which social media tools are most useful and which are just code looking for a reason to be.”

So, we’re going to try to acheive the optimal level of drunkenness (obnoxious, but not quite beligerent) and try to get to the bottom of all those new and fun toys to see what’s fierce and what’s a hot mess.

The full details are on the Meetup site at http://publicrelations.meetup.com/84/calendar/7816548/.  It should be a fun time, and you might even learn something… I hope you can join us.

Thanks to Joe Thornley for continuing to bring us all together for a great event!