Here’s my keynote presentation from Infopresse I gave last month “Social Media and the Food Industry” .

The toplines:

- 16 insights

- 6 reasons why your company should lead this effort

- 9 Essentials to get this world right

- 20 great food examples

Let me know your thoughts and and other great industry examples or insight.

Plans for 2010 include 27 events and 4 private executive events across 5 cities – Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa - with membership climbing to 7,000 invited or referred members.

the big idea:
“What would happen if we gathered together the most interesting people across the Canadian business world?” You know those people – the intelligent and crazy smart, the passionate and opinionated, the mavericks and the mavens, the change agents and titans of commerce, with some undefinable trait that makes them extraordinarily interesting.

The League of Kickass (LOK) is that group; a key influencer network of Canadian business people slightly ahead of their time.

elements:
Communing Online – LOK members access a community-based site of their peers, customizing their profile to include videos and photos to share with other members, participating in writing blog posts and discussion forums and inviting other friends and colleagues to join the league

Connecting Live - members are invited to full group events held once every one-four months in their respective cities for inspiring talks and panel discussions by fascinating people at one-of-a-kind venues – Toronto and Vancouver and soon to be Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary.

Exclusive VIP Sessions – intimate dinners/lunches every three months of leading executives of 24-48 people where they can network, collaborate, converse and get inspired in the company of their peers who share their passion.

External Blog, Video and Social Extensions – breaking LOK news, meeting wrap-ups, surveys and interviews with Canada’s top business leaders and guest thought leaders on our dedicated blog & extended out on key social networks.

Industry Segments of Members
- Senior business visionaries and CEOs
- Marketing leaders
- Media newsmakers
- Digital and technology experts
- Communications professionals, agency heads and creative directors
- Designers & architects
- Entrepreneurs and startup founders
- Leading university academics and deans
- Culture and entertainment celebrities
- Strategists and consultants
- Not for profit leaders and government
- Plus an Under 30 sub-community of young talent

the benefits:
- The LOK is one of the only professional networks in Canada to pull leading talent across a wide range of business and creative disciplines to provide sponsor-friendly reach
- The LOK meets regularly offline and online to deliver sponsor-friendly touchpoints:
- The LOK affiliates with the best of the best people, exposes the best ideas and elevates debate and new perspectives to generate sponsor-friendly perception and exposure via:
-Unique venues and event formats
-Great, inspiring speakers and rainmakers
-Passionate, talented members
-Relevant themes and ideas
-And now top sponsors

scope:
- Geography - Canada - Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Montreal
- Timing - All year - 25 full member events, 2 under 30 events and 4 private exec. events
- Scale - 7,000 approved and/or referred members

the right partners:
- a forward thinking, innovative or ideas-driven firm
- a business-to-business firm
- a company targeting a business/creative audience
- single event partners -for topic-interested clients
- companies looking for HR enhancement/talent acquisition effort
- a company with an ongoing stream of industry news
- a media company
- launch products/startup companies

urls:
The League of Kickass Content/Blog Site - http://theleagueofkickass.com/
LOKBP Community Site - http://theleagueofkickassbusinesspeople.ning.com/
LOKU30 Community Site - http://theleagueofkickassunder30.ning.com/

contact:
Agent Wildfire - Canada’s Word of Mouth Experts www.agentwildfire.com 416-255-4500

Before jumping on the bandwagon by creating a Facebook page or group for your organization or brand, consider some of the strengths and weaknesses.  In word of mouth and viral marketing these key details can make a difference in how an organization or product is perceived by onlookers, potential fans and group members.

THE PROS & CONS

Facebook Page

• More inviting to add posts/feels more interactive
• More corporate, less personalized
• Good SEO
• Need constant update on feed as stream is clearly visible
• Fan pages are visible to unregistered people
• Pages allow for rich applications such as video, photos, RSS feeds
• Members can subscribe to SMS
• Can house more diverse information through page feed
• Option for posting social ads
• Viewed as “new” and current
• Page icons get added to individual profiles once they become a member (more noticeable and visually appealing than being part of a Facebook Group)
• Unlimited amount of fans to send messages but message goes to “Update” which is a feed separate from the Facebook message inbox (may be less noticeable)
• Page has visitor statistics

Example of great Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=dna&init=quick#/dnaart?ref=ts

Facebook Group

• More personal, participating in a “group”
• Groups allow bulk invite (members can invite friends and they can invite their friends)
• Perhaps more trusted because users are comfortable/familiar with applications
• Ability to host an open, closed or secret group
• Minimal customization
• Description/contact/profile on top left corner, making the group easy to identify
• Not as visual as the Facebook Page
• Too much written text creates, “seawall of gray”
  
• You can see admins clearly – more transparent. Easy to contact them for information
• Message up to 5,000 group members and message will go straight into Facebook inbox

Example of active Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=49839014647

]]> http://www.spreadslikewildfire.com/2009/09/25/showdown-facebook-page-vs-facebook-group-pros-and-cons/feed/ http://www.spreadslikewildfire.com/2009/06/04/sports-based-social-networks/ http://www.spreadslikewildfire.com/2009/06/04/sports-based-social-networks/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:28:39 +0000 Jasmine Graham http://www.spreadslikewildfire.com/?p=110 As one of my first tasks as a summer intern at Agent Wildfire, I’ve been researching sports based social networks. I try to rate the sites based on look, functionality, performance, level of complexity and overall user experience. My favourite networks have something fresh and innovative. They jump outside the standard mould of user profiles, adding friends, posting photos and joining groups. The following is a list of my favourite features of sports based social networks.

A Sexy Look
Nike+
This network is likely one of the best looking social networks going. Not to mention, it is any runner’s dream. Nike+ is the perfect spot for training tips, tracking kilometres, mapping a run, setting goals, and finding the best tunes for sprinting up the final hill. A visit to the homepage reveals a running total of the community’s collective kilometres – one of my favourite features. Create a challenge for yourself or another user and partake in the Trash Talk to encourage friends. It is super easy to use, looks great and works like it should.

A Challenge
FanNation.com
FanNation might not be one of the best looking sites I’ve ever seen it is definitely one of the most entertaining. Check out the Throwdown tab. Users create challenges for other each other and then debate using short 150 character throwdown statements. Each user gets three throwdowns to make their case and then any member of FanNation can vote on the winner of the debate. What an interesting way to engage the troops.

Speculations
Footbo.com
What sports fan doesn’t love predicting the final score or guessing which player will be named MVP? As we all know, the range of guessing games and gambling in sports is endless. Of course a predictions page on this soccer network would be in my top favourite features. I like this one most because it’s easy and it’s not a money gambling operation. Users gain points for correct predictions and get ranked based on their points. It’s very competitive and keeps users engaged. I should also mention that I like this site for a variety of other reasons. It is simple to navigate, easy to interact with other players, has tons of information about every level of soccer and it has many enthused users participating regularly.

Recognition
FanVoice.com
The creators of this NBA social network should take a pat on the back for knowing their target audience. This network is aimed at hardcore NBA enthusiasts who love competition. Why not challenge the users to be the biggest fan and win awards like Fan of the Week or Fan of the Year. There is no doubt in my mind that these users love competition and love a little success. NBA Insiders get to choose and vote for their favourite fan profiles. Users are eligible to win based on the detail in their profile and their contributions to blogs and message boards. What a great way to engage users and recognize their vital role in the network.

Connections
ILoveToPlay.com
A cornerstone of social networks is their ability to connect users from around the world and around the corner. The ILoveToPlay network does just this. For example, if you are playing hockey in Toronto and you need a goalie for Saturday’s game, just post it. If you want to start kayaking and you need some direction, just post it. I love this network because it offers athletes an easy way to hook up with each other and play sports. The design is nothing special and the level of complexity is quite low. But it does the job it should.

Of course there are dozens of great sports based social networks out there but these are my favourite features. Can you think of anything I missed out on?

Cheers!

Jasmine

One of the first initiatives out of the gate is Generation Go (www.generationgo.ca)  - designed to be an online local community hub, daily blog inspiration and event bulletin board for anybody that likes to get off the couch with some frequency.

The plan is to launch in Toronto for January’09 and continue to build national presence by expanding to Vancouver in Sept’09 (before the Olympics) and Montreal and other cities  in early ‘10.

What’s the need for this, particularly in an economy that is in the tank?

Here are the five reasons:

1) Rabid participation - 27% pursue active leisure regularly and 13% of us do it more than 100 days of the year, the rest of us are trying to do more - the people that do participate are passionate, curious and super-zealous about their interest - we are creating a community around their existing passions across the 7 channels of activity and hundreds of individual pursuits they find interesting - adventure, fitness, health, outdoors, play, sports and style and unlike other high profile discretionary spends - automotive, travel, dining out - these activities do not go down during recessionary times

2) A Valuable Customer - averagely, the people who do - run, jump, bike, climb, pose, chill out, board, sail, grind, bounce, play - make more money, are more educated, spend more on key product categories, surf online more and are a tough-to-access media target given their on-the-go lifestyle - we become an attractive one-stop solution for them

3) A Multi-Pronged Approach - most ad-supported models for communities like this fail - you cannot easily rely on ad revenues alone to sustain a social ‘net - with Generation Go - the avenues of opportunity are endless - we plan to build the web side of things first but quickly support with offline presence, word of mouth programs with partners and a slate of interesting events that will all provide revenue to the bottom line. Down the road, a loyalty and gift card program, ecommerce site and city expansion become two further appetizing options.

4) The Future is Local - as we’ve seen with the success of sites like Yelp and more locally Blog T.O. - community building, word of mouth and consequently marketing in 2009 has become more about engagement - engagement is tough to build globally (even Facebook is reconciling on that) but locally, its considerably easy to build pockets of influencers and for our clients, brand ambassadors

5) An Attractive Gap - taking Toronto for example - if you want to learn about what’s new in restaurants, you’ll read Toronto Life, or entertainment - Now Magazine, or music - Exclaim - ironically most local media operations don’t have great online presence and for all the ones that do, they do not have a focus on the “active audience” - having talked to a tonne of prospective clients over the last 3 years, this is a need of theirs and consistently the reason why they feel their media dollars are being wasted, Generation Go fills that vacuum up very tidily.

We are planning our blog up for February, a slate of events for March, an offline presence in April and a kickoff event in May.

In the interim, we will be approaching sponsors, media partners and potential contributors.

As well, since we are going to live and die based on grassroots participation, we have set up a Facebook page and Twitter profile to support a seed group of interested advocates and hardcore influencers.

So please get up and GO - join us on these two seed forums if so inclined, see more details and contact us about first dibs on potential sponsorship.