Patio :-)

Patio is a Vancouver-based full service digital marketing & web development agency, offering clients an integrated mix of strategy based on real marketing analytics & insights. Patio brings a unique perspective that combines traditional business insights with the continuous evolution of emerging digital trends and technologies.

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Social Media: Travel back in Twitter time with Union Metrics Echo

Until now, searching for patterns, hashtag history or social trends on Twitter has been fairly difficult to do, especially when a user wants to examine tweets from the channel’s almost 10-year database. But Union Metrics has unveiled a new search engine that can delve deep into the file cabinet that stores tweets from users all over the world, no matter how long they have been online. Echo, a Twitter archive analysis and reporting tool, is the first of its kind to offer the ability to explore billions of Tweets to create better marketing campaigns.

Union-Metrics-Echo-Top-NFL-Teams-Game-Day-Detail

How does it work? Simply sign up, and search away. Users are able to search by hashtag, keyword, or handle, and can search any specific time period they choose, be it last month, last year or the entire ten-year period that Twitter has been online. The search results appear almost instantly, with a visual graph displaying mentions over time. Use the search function to immediately spot spikes in tweet volume and see how relevant conversation changes over time.

You can then more closely examine a particular time period within your search dates, compare your search results with up to five other search terms (i.e. “#cometogether” vs “@bluejays” vs “bat flip”), and, if needed, export the information into a formatted report, complete with analytics and data that will provide more insight. Echo also can identify the most notable tweets relevant to that conversation, in any time frame. Bonus: with this ‘backlog’ access, there’s no need to remember to set up a tracker before a campaign begins, because the tracker is always on.

UnionMetricsEchoSearch_2What does this mean? When conceptualizing a new online Twitter campaign, be it advertising, contesting or simply increasing engagement, brands now have the ability to learn from past fan behaviour. Analyzing what works and what doesn’t, not only with their own campaigns but also with competitors’, allows users to make better marketing decisions and improve their social media strategy in the future.

Echo has its faults, of course; there is a fairly high price tag for any search going back more than 30 days ($1000 and up). It also lacks a sentiment analysis tool, so while brands can see how often they were brought up in Twitter conversation, there is no quick way to see whether that was largely positive or negative. But the fact that a third-party reporting tool has such an in-depth access to Twitter’s history makes us confident that these cons will be addressed sooner rather than later.

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Patio Hosts Mobile & Digital Marketing Panel | Patio - Digital Marketing in Vancouver

The Patio team hosted a breakfast event at the beautiful restored ‘Permanent’ building, shortly after rebranding as Patio. In addition to a detailed presentation by our Tapped Mobile partner Jed Schneiderman, and an agency and brand panel discussing mobile vs. digital marketing efforts, Patio was pleased to present the West Coast launch of Shazam’s new Visual Recognition program.

Patio has partnered with Tapped Mobile to offer mobile advertising services to our clients in Western Canada. Jed Schneiderman, President, provided an overview of Tapped Mobile’s completely unique approach to mobile marketing and displayed several examples of vibrant, successful campaigns using Shazam’s Visual Recognition ability with brands such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

Our brand and agency panels were comprised of several esteemed communications and marketing experts in the industry. We’d like to acknowledge & thank them again for sharing their knowledge & insights!

The brand panel consisted of: Jacqueline Simpson, Director, North America Consumer Marketing Programs - Destination BC Marc Bitanga, Senior Manager, Demand Generation – Hootsuite.

They discussed brand perspective on digital vs. mobile advertising and how they plan to approach future marketing plans based on an ever-changing advertising and marketing landscape.

Agency perspective on how - and why - to evaluate a mobile spend against all digital options was provided by: Josee Thibault, Director, Digital Solutions - Media Experts Bryan Mitten, Digital Media Strategist - Cossette Media Kevin Curtis, Senior Manager of Digital Sales, Western Canada - Rogers Communications Diana Walter, Associate Director Digital Strategy – OMD

Some great takeaways from both panel discussions included:

• Review your traffic sources for your site monthly and see the split between mobile, tablet and desktop • Review your organic search traffic by device to see how your consumers are using them • Look at your website on all devices and ensure each traffic source has a great site experience (and if they don’t, weigh your ad budgets accordingly or make updates to the site a priority) • Review past campaigns or campaigns currently in market and adjust based on new learnings and insights • Consider reaching your target audience based on their physical location history and ensure you are reaching them during in-store searches where purchase decisions can change. • With digital, nothing is stopping you. Use testing and research to change/improve campaigns daily.

With this successful breakfast information sessions and panel – and with future events – we at Patio hope to provide a relaxed forum where Vancouver marketers can learn & share best practices for success in today’s rapidly evolving digital marketing environment.

If you missed the event and are interested in the information presented, you can search #PatioMobile on Twitter for a live account of the panel. And, if you have any questions about the media opportunities that were presented, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us here at Patio.

Digital Marketing in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Patio. What's in a Name? | Patio - Social Media in Vancouver

Patio – Social Media in Vancouver, Digital & Communications re-branded at the end of August 2015. After an incredibly successful five years operating as Patio Social Inc (launched by Managing Director, Megan Halkett) the re-brand was necessary as we've expanded our services since opening our doors in June 2010. The company has evolved dramatically in the last five years - as anything related to tech and digital must evolve to survive, remain relevant and grow.

When Megan founded the company, most corporations did not have any in-house social media staff, let alone teams of people. Pinterest & Instagram also launched the same year as Patio Social in 2010. What a different five years makes!

Although Megan is still one of the leading communications and expert in social media in Vancouver, she has expanded the companies services by bringing on new team members over the last five years. Patio now has leading experts in all digital & tech services and has been operating as a full service digital agency for the last two years.

It was time to update the company brand/name to reflect all the services the Patio team provided for every client each day. No longer a boutique social media house but a full web design, development and everything digital marketing and communications agency. The Patio brand was launched.

2015 has also been a big year of exciting change for Patio as Becky McMillan partnered in the company with Megan this spring. Becky has been working with the EMEA head offices of exciting & interesting companies such as the Financial Times, Dell, Microsoft, & Xbox over recent years before returning back to her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. To learn more about Becky and all the Patio team, click on ‘The Team’ section of our site.

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Social Advertising vs. Search Advertising: What is Right for You? | Patio -  Digital Marketing in Vancouver

When launching a digital marketing campaign, many of our clients are unsure as to whether they should focus on search advertising (such as Google AdWords) or social advertising (social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter ads). Our advice is always the same: both forms offer benefits and disadvantages, so take a look at what you want to promote and your target demographic, and select the service that’s right for your brand.

Confused? Let us break those pros and cons down for you:

Immediate traffic and sales vs. long-term value search ads, when done well, have a history of successfully driving traffic and increasing conversions for brands – this is great for those who are looking to hit their target audience fast and furiously, such as small retail stores. A potential customer is looking to pick up a six-pack on the way home from work? No problem: if you’ve set up your search ads for your liquor store correctly, you’ve instantly made a sales conversion.

However, social ads have been starting to edge out search ads for those who are looking for long-term brand champions, when emotional connection is just as important as reviews when it comes to conversions. This is because it is difficult to create personal connection to the stark, concise words of search ads; with social ads, brands can use visuals to trigger memories or feelings from the consumer, inviting the potential customer to subconsciously connect the brand with those positive emotions, thus increasing the potential for a long-term relationship with that end user. This doesn’t mean that social advertising doesn’t convert into sales – quite the opposite, in fact. Sharing images of your product in ways that will inspire consumers to purchase (again, using emotions to connect with users) can also convert to immediate sales when done well.

Guaranteed Impressions vs. Organic Engagement

When spending marketing budget on paid search ads, it’s quite clear where your money is going. Every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay. It’s quite cut-and-dry, and if you have to report back to prove your budget is well-deserved (and well-spent), it’s a succinct way to show that your digital ads are getting users to your website. However, when you use that same amount of money on social ads, you get those clicks as well as any organic engagement your ad generated. For example, when your ad is served to someone interested in your brand, and they click on it, your goal is achieved. However, if they then turn around and share that ad on their social networks (ie. shares or likes on Facebook which are in turn seen in that user’s friends’ news feeds), you are essentially getting free additional impressions. And, as we all know, social content that is organically shared by users is by far more trusted than paid content. The bang for your buck becomes much higher.

Keywords vs. Targeted Impressions

The use of keywords in search ads allows you to really hit an exact target demographic: those who are searching for what you’re offering. And because of that, it’s likely to convert in to sales or other end goals quite well. For example, someone searches “boat rental Vancouver”, your company that does just that is almost guaranteed a click. However, this can also backfire: if you aren’t getting into the mindset of your customer and using keywords you would use instead of keywords they are actually using, you may not get any results at all. Conversely, if you are using keywords that are also being used by people that don’t actually want what you’re offering, you may be paying for clicks with an extremely low conversion rate (i.e. ads with zero return).

With social ads, you are targeting general or specific demographics. You can start with a category as general as “females in Ontario”, and, with certain social channels, get as specific as “females aged 19-25 in Sudbury, Ontario who like yoga, eat kale, have at least one dog and drive a Prius”. By employing these targeted categories, you can hit as wide or narrow a target audience as your  brand or product requires. Unlike search ads, you are able to reach an audience before they’ve decided exactly what they want to buy, because they aren’t having to type in exact words to see your ad. Similar to ads in a magazine, you can reach users that are receptive to what you are offering because you have used their expressed interests to align your product with them. While these may or may not convert to immediate purchase, they will keep your brand front-of-mind much longer than a search ad.

In summary, it is clear that social and search ads both have advantages to reaching digital consumers. Consider whether your overall strategy requires immediate short-term sales or long-term brand affinity and choose the appropriate method; or, devote portions of your budget to each tactic to benefit from the pros of both!

Digital Marketing in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Broadcasting Events to the World with Periscope | Patio - Social Media Marketing in Vancouver

Taking the essence of social media marketing to the next level, Periscope (and its closest competitor, Meerkat) is simply a live video streaming app that allows users to essentially treat their smartphones as mobile webcams. Free to use and extremely intuitive, this Twitter-owned app is becoming increasingly popular with Generations Y and Z. It may also very well be one of the most quickly-adopted social media apps by brands worldwide.

Patio Social used Periscope recently at the Banff World Media Festival for client Cinecoup, which provides money for up and coming filmmakers. The event livestreamed five teams pitching an industry panel in the hopes of securing $1 million in production financing. CineCoup’s entire studio model is heavily reliant on social media, and so it had amassed a large audience hungry to be involved in this final event. The expectation for the event to be shared in video format and live was high.

Previously, Patio Social used Livestream at a CineCoup interview and launch announcement to bring fans into a room unable to accommodate a live audience. While the Livestream broadcast achieved its endgoal, it was clunky to operate, and required excessive planning and expensive equipment. For the Banff Festival event, Patio Social simply downloaded the app on an iPhone, set up a CineCoup profile and pressed the record button. By alerting fans in advance via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, the event broadcast was able to attain 66 followers, just under 400 live viewers and 1,134 ‘hearts’ (a way for viewers to show they like what is being broadcasted). Sharing the link on these channels once the event was live also enabled those without a smartphone to watch the event on a desktop browser. Patio Social was also able to read live comments from viewers, allowing us to adjust the broadcast as needed, making those not in attendance feel as though they were able to participate. A final bonus? The entire broadcast was saved for future viewing, for those unable to catch the live video.

First with static image apps like Instagram, then with short video apps like Vine and now with live broadcasting long video apps like Periscope and Meerkat, social media consistently proves that brand evangelists and potential fans are desperate for more unmediated access to the people and companies to which they feel connected.

Periscope is extremely simple and better connects your brand with its audience, so what are you waiting for? After all, the majority of Periscope users are not brands or celebrities, they are simply individuals with a smartphone, and it’s likely your event will be shared by a someone in the audience if you’re not on top of it. Why not be in control of any outgoing broadcast to better managewhat content is being seen and in what manner? Jump on the livestreaming bandwagon before it leaves you in its dust!

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Add a Call-to-Action to Your Facebook Page| Patio - Social Media in Vancouver

Call To ActionYou may have noticed a small addition to your business’ Facebook page recently, amongst other changes. This new feature, when used correctly, can put more eyes on your brand’s primary objective and help create more conversions.

A new social media feature just come out. The Call-to-Action button is featured at the top of your Page, laid over top of the header image. The seven options available are:

Book Now Contact Us Use App Play Game Shop Now Sign Up Watch Video While Page admins are unable to edit the text further, these options give ample opportunity for businesses to increase the amount of fans that use their services. For example, Facebook illustrates the efficacy by quoting a 2.5x higher conversion rate after Dollar Shave Club activated the ‘Sign Up’ call-to-action.

The button is visible on both desktop and mobile and has rolled out on all Pages worldwide. Despite missing obvious options such as ‘Donate Now’ for non-profit organizations, ‘Listen Now’ for podcasters or radio, or ‘Subscribe Now’ for print media, the new feature is a great addition to the tools available for business on Facebook. Ensure you are using your business’ Page to its full potential by activating your call-to-action button immediately.

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Time to Consider a Monthly Spend?| Patio - Social Media Advertising

How do you decide where to spend advertising dollars? Do you do a 50/50 split with online and offline? Do you put more money into online ads to extend your ad budget? The answers on what to do vary as vastly as the advertising opportunities themselves, but the question you should really ask yourself is: “Is this channel frequented by my target audience?”

Social media advertising opportunities - such as Facebook ads, Facebook promoted posts, and Twitter advertising - face the same skepticism that online advertising received 5-10 years ago. However, there is a time and a place for all advertising channels, and social media opportunities are no different. If your company is active on Facebook, setting aside a monthly budget for event promotion as well as promoting posts on your wall is now a must - as only around 10% of your current fans will see your posts without a financial boost. Should you promote your post? Easy answer: Why post anything if you don’t care if anyone sees it?

What is Standard Facebook Advertising?

• They are targeted ads shown down the right-hand side of Facebook.

• They include a headline, text, and image.

• Ad budgets can be set to daily limits or overall campaign budgets, and can be set to CPC or CPM, or can be optimized for page likes.

• Ads can send users to your Facebook wall, a Facebook event, or highlight your latest post. They can also drive users directly to an external website.

• Ads can be targeted to your desired audience by location, education, age, sex, keyword, or general interest (e.g. If you are hosting a UFC fight, you can  target people in your area over 19 who like UFC/GSP/MMA etc.)

• There is no minimum spend and no minimum ad period - you can do an ad for two days or two months leading up to an event.

Pros: They offer a very reasonable price point and great reach.

Cons: You must take the time to choose targeting/keywords wisely; a blanket approach will not be effective.

What is a Facebook “Promoted Post”?

• This is a small on-page ad spend made to boost a wall post (text, image and text, poll, or offer).

• You can choose the number of people you would like to reach with your post (half or all of your fanbase, your fans and their friends, or the general public).

• Promoted post costs vary according to the size of your fanbase. A typical spend can be anywhere from $10 to $75+ if you want to reach the general public.

• Images must be kept within Facebook’s guidelines (20% limit for text/logos).

Pros: These offer a reasonable price point and great reach.

Cons: They cannot target by keyword, however, they can target by city. Facebook’s text-on-photo rules can be frustrating.

What is Twitter Advertising?

• The no minimum spend self-serve ad dashboard option is relatively new to Canada.

• You can promote specific tweets, latest tweets,  or promote your account.

• Targeting can be done by keyword, or by targeting followers of specific accounts.

Pros: It’s a great way to raise awareness of your brand to online influencers.

Cons: Targeting on the ad dashboard is clunky. You need to request an invitation to use the ads dashboard. Twitter is still not as widely used as Facebook.

When considering Facebook or Twitter ads that drive traffic to social media channels, it is important to ensure that the channels you are driving them to reflect your brand, are updated regularly, and are interesting to your target audience. (Facebook ads can drive to external websites; however, you will lose a fan acquisition opportunity.)

Storytelling

Before you start using social media ads, you should develop the content on your social media channels and ensure your staff is empowered to use the channels to build your brand’s online voice. At its core, social media is about storytelling. What are you sharing with your target audience? How and why are you communicating your story? Take a page out of Journalism 101 and employ the Five Ws and one H of storytelling: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. By using these tactics, you will keep your content informative, concise, and targeted.

There are other ways you can share content and tell your story. Use Facebook’s “Questions” feature to do a poll to engage and learn more about your audience. For example, you could create a poll asking fans which new appetizer they’d like to see on your menu. List a few examples and watch what feedback you get. Facebook polls can be promoted in order to reach a larger audience and drive new fans to your page. By doing a promoted poll, you’ll encourage engagement of your Facebook page and gain insight into what your customers want.

Don’t forget that social media is a visual medium - by sharing photos on Facebook’s newsfeed your business will get the most traction. These images can (and should) be promoted if they fall within Facebook’s image guidelines (text/logos overlaid on the image must be less than 20% of the total image). Tell a story with your cover photo - such as a unique menu item or loyal customers in the venue - and switch it out periodically to keep it fresh. Keep track of the types of posts or images that resonate with your fans, and try to focus your efforts on producing similar content.

#Hashtags

In order to build a fanbase and followers on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, include appropriate hashtags in your tweets, photos, and posts. Hashtags are a tool to aggregate the conversation surrounding a topic, theme, or event. They’re created by combining a # with a word, acronym, or phrase (#word). Research whether there is a broader discussion going on about a specific topic online, and search various hashtags that tie into your story, service, products, and goals. For example, #WineWednesday and #BCWine are two top hashtags relating to wine. If you have a wine promotion or wine tasting, use these hashtags in your tweets, posts, and photos. You’ll reach and connect with the broader audience that is using and searching these terms.

Who to Follow and Why

A key step in engaging on social media is following other folks. Think of it as a virtual handshake, and the first step in creating long-lasting relationships and fans for life. Consider who your target audiences are, and start looking for them online. Begin by following local media, nearby businesses and associations, liquor brands, and sports teams. Use geo-location searches to find people tweeting and mentioning your city.

For pubs, liquor stores and restaurants, the online “foodie” community is a major target audience and opportunity. Take some time to do a bit of research to identify influencers in the food and beverage community and follow them. By building these valuable relationships, you’ll create brand awareness, find new customers, and potential new brand champions over time.

Patio Social was recently invited to write an article for The Publican’s Fall 2013 issue.  The following is available to read in the digital issue here.

Social Media Advertising in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Prepare for a dip in your Facebook Business Page likes | Patio - Digital Agency in Vancouver

Our digital agency in Vancouver has discovered that Facebook quietly announced that they are updating the way that businesses’ Page likes are counted. While this change will contribute to a more accurate analysis of audience demographics and interests, businesses need to understand that they may see a small dip in their number of Page likes as a result.

Here’s what’s happening:

Users who have previously liked your page but now have deactivated or memorialized accounts will be removed from Pages’ like counts. Likes and comments by these accounts are already filtered out – this means the update will make data analysis more consistently accurate. The benefit to this update is that you will now see a more precise representation of your actual fans; irrelevant demographics from outdated users will be excluded.

And so, if you notice that your business’ Page likes decrease slightly in the next week or two, it is important to remember that this is a good thing. Obtaining more accurate information about your audience means your business can target consumers more effectively and, in turn, increase the likelihood of turning your Facebook audience into actively engaged customers.

Digital Agency in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Instagram Advertising Comes to Canada | Patio -  Mobile Advertising in Vancouver

As is the way with most changes in technology and digital communications, mobile advertising in Vancouver has finally come to Canada with Instagram after being rolled out in the US  much earlier this year. While usersMcDonaldsInstagramAd may not be too upset about the delay in this new feature, Canadian brands have been itching to have their content seen by more eyes within this popular social media app.  However, one thing is for sure: these same brands north of the border will benefit from seeing what American companies did right, and what tactics fell flat.

Creating ads with a natural feel

Because the Instagram ads will appear sandwiched in between selfies and #foodporn images, brands will do well to reflect these concepts. Standing out too much from a regular feed will startle the user – in a negative way. Integrated content with subtle nods to the brand, logo or feel of your organization will succeed.

Using theLevisIntagamAd appeal of adventure and stunning landscapes

Many Instagrammers don’t just follow their friends and family.  Since it is a highly-visual channel, users tend to seek out photographers, adventurers and explorers who showcase activities and places that the user cannot access in their daily life. As a brand, surrounding your brand or product with these same things will encourage a positive response to your ad.

Write clever captionsBenandJerrysIntagramAd

Yes, Instagram is all about the image… but copywriting skills can still come in handy. A few catchy words, funny hashtags or witty references can win over a user. Use this small space to demonstrate your knowledge of pop culture or current memes – even a few hashtag puns can work well in increasing engagement.

Because Instagram ads will be directly integrated into users’ feeds, brands should sidestep traditional ad tactics, and never break the ‘flow’ of a traditional user experience. If advertisers avoid an in-your-face approach, and acknowledge the aspects that make the image-sharing platform such a successful social media channel in the first place, brand campaigns should see a high value level in Canada.

Mobile Advertising in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Pictures May Be Worth A Thousand Words - That's Not Enough For Pinterest | Patio -  Digital Marketing in Vancouver

SEO  - search engine optimization – is quite a buzzword in this day and age of digital marketing in Vancouver. Despite what many SEO companies may lead you to believe, it’s not simply hiding a few hot-ticket keywords in the text of your organization’s website. To have a successful online presence, businesses need to expand their view to include substantial searchability through social media.

Pinterest, the image-based platform popular with a broad range of age and interest groups, allows businesses to optimize their pins by editing the descriptions to include common search terms or phrases. Businesses can also edit their board names and descriptions, providing another way to get their business in front of purchase-ready consumers.

Even better, Pinterest has announced a new feature that allows businesses to have their content seen by more people. Rolling out over the next short while, the social media channel is introducing specialized interest categories, or sub-topics, that will run at the top of each category page. For example, visiting the Outdoors category may bring up outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing or camping. Users can then click these sub-interests, browse pins from other like-minded pinners and even follow the specialized interest category to have those pins appear directly in their home page feeds.

This means that businesses now have a new avenue within the site for brand exposure, if they are using keywords appropriately. By using similar terms to these specialized interests, brands can ensure that images that they’ve pinned are now included on these pages. As users begin to follow these feeds, appropriately-captioned images will ensure increased impressions. Most importantly, this means even users who weren’t previously using the same search terms as businesses were, will be more likely to discover or stumble upon images in the same interest category.

The new feature was introduced last week and will be rolled out for both the website and Android & iPhone apps soon, so ensure your brand’s pins, board and board descriptions are optimized to take advantage!

Digital Marketing in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Is your e-marketing ready for Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation - CASL? | Patio -  Digital Marketing Agency in Vancouver

If your organization uses email, text messaging or social networks to promote products and services, it’s time to take a close look at Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), one of the most stringent anti-spam regimes in the world, coming into effect on July 1, 2014. Once in force, compliance with the law will be mandatory and failure to follow the rules will result in some costly fines. Patio (digital marketing agency in Vancouver) will do it as soon as possible.

So what do you need to know?

CASL applies to everyone who sends electronic messages for commercial purposes, including individuals, incorporated and unincorporated businesses, not-for-profit organizations, etc. Common commercial electronic messages (CEMs) include advertisements and information about promotions, offers, business opportunities, events, etc. Social media sites that send email updates to their membership will also need to comply with these new regulations.

Under the new law, consent is required before sending a CEM. As of July 1, sending an electronic message to obtain consent to send a message for commercial purposes is also considered a CEM. Consent can either be express or implied and you must be able to prove you have it.

Express consent means someone actively gave you permission to send the message. Implied consent means it would be reasonable to conclude you have someone’s permission to send a CEM based on an existing relationship.  This could be a business relationship, where the sender and recipient have engaged in certain specified types of business together in the two years prior to sending the CEM (a purchase or lease of a product, or entering into or continuing a written contract, etc.) or where the recipient of the CEM has made an inquiry to the sender in the previous six months.   This could also apply to someone who has conspicuously published his/her email address, say on a website. Or, a non-business relationship where an individual has made a donation or gift in the last two years, or performed volunteer work in the last two years, to or for a registered charity or political party, organization or candidate or where the individual is a member of certain clubs, associations or voluntary organizations. To get consent, you need to:

Clearly describe the purposes for requesting consent; Provide the name of the person seeking consent and identify on whose behalf consent is sought, if different; Provide contact information (mailing address and either a phone number or an email address) of those parties seeking consent (do not reply emails are no longer allowed) and, Indicate the recipient can unsubscribe at any time at no cost. As of July 1, 2014, you need to include the following in every message you send:

The name of the person sending the message, and identify on whose behalf the message is sent, if different; Contact information (mailing addressing and either a phone number or an email address) of the senders; and, A mechanism that allows the recipient to easily unsubscribe at no cost. There are a number of excluded CEMs under CASL. View the exemptions.

How should you prepare for CASL?

Get the consent from all of  your CEM recipients. Ensure you understand the consent you have received and keep detailed records (dates, names, emails) in case you are ever asked to prove you have consent. Learn about the law at www.fightspam.gc.ca. The federal government has posted information about the law along with news, updates and valuable tips. Ask a legal professional if you’re in the clear. Brief your teams and make sure all outgoing messages comply with CASL requirements as of July 1. Helpful links

www.fightspam.gc.ca

Government of Canada CASL Fast Facts

Government of Canada CASL FAQs

Canadian Chamber of Commerce CASL Resources

Digital Marketing in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Social Media Spring Cleaning For Brands: Part 2 | Patio - Social Media in Vancouver

In our previous Spring Cleaning post, we offered our top tips for cleaning up your accounts and staying on top of your social media game. Here we have a few more things to keep in mind for a social channel refresh:

Unlink your Facebook & Twitter accounts

You may often see Facebook status updates in a tweet format, or tweets in your news feed that are cut off mid-sentence by a link that leads to the remainder of the information. This is because the Facebook & Twitter accounts are linked via the settings on either channel. While it may seem convenient to kill two birds with one stone, it actually ends up being a detriment to effectively communicating with your audiences. Your brand will seem lazy, and it’s often confusing or irritating for those you follow both of your accounts.

If it’s been a while since you hooked your accounts together, here’s a bit of a reminder on how to flip the switch off:

Facebook:

-       After making sure you are signed into your personal account that has Admin access to your business page, go to www.facebook.com/twitter

-       A list of pages you manage will appear. Click “Unlink from Twitter” under any or all pages.

Twitter:

-       Go to www.twitter.com and sign in to your account

-       Click the gear icon in the top right hand corner, and choose the Settings option

-       Click Profile from the list on the left side

-       Scroll down to where it says “Your account is connected to Facebook.” And click “Disconnect it.”

Update your Twitter lists & accounts followed

It’s often the case that a company’s social media messaging has changed direction from the point of conception – either because the company itself has evolved or the social media in Vancouver has become a more widely used tool to communicate with target audiences. If this is the case for your brand, consider cleaning up the accounts you are following. It might not be appropriate for you to still be following a reporter that has left the job, or an ex-client, or perhaps celebrities that provide no value to your brand (admit it, you followed Justin Beiber when he popped on your Recommended sidebar).

Similarly, you may have once taken the time to curate Twitter lists for a specific event that has passed, or for a reason that is no longer relevant. Either update the list name with a current title, or delete it entirely. This will prevent anyone who looks at your lists from perceiving your brand as out-of-touch and clueless.

Check your Google+ business page

Is your company a business-to-consumer model? Then you should absolutely have a Google+ Places for Business page. If your target audience is searching for your business online – which they are – then having a Google+ page for your company will not only ensure that they are receiving the correct information, but that they will see your listing in the top two or three results.

Do you already have a Google+ page for your business? Check that your business hours, description, address and contact information are all up-to-date. Consider refreshing the profile background photo, or adding new photos of your location to the listing. Take the time to respond to customer feedback and reviews – you may gain back a customer that you would have otherwise lost.

Delete idle accounts

When you forayed into the world of social media, did you sprint in head first and open up a whole bunch of accounts, then soon realize that you didn’t have the time or effort to maintain them and conserve your energy to a few main accounts like Twitter and Facebook? Don’t worry, so did many of our clients. We often recommend that brands only bite off as much as they can chew – while it’s great to have a social media in Vancouver presence on various channels, it’s not so great to open those channels and have them sit empty with no new content being produced.

Clean up your social activity! Delete any social media channels that are sitting idle. If you don’t have the ability to regularly post on these channels, then it is better to erase them completely. Choose which accounts to keep by defining your target audiences and analyzing which channels are being used the most by those audiences.

…

As with traditional spring-cleaning, this process can be time-consuming and frankly, quite boring. However, it’s a necessity in this ever-changing online communications world. Do you have any other annual social media tidying tips? Let us know – tweet us your favourites @patiosocial!

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Some Social Media Spring Cleaning For Brands: Part 1| Patio -  Vancouver Website Design

While many people are using the warmer weather and clearer skies as an excuse to start getting rid of the accumulated junk in the house and in the office, we’re using it as a reminder to clean up our social media accounts. It’s not good enough to schedule content and casually interact with your fans and followers; a business’ social media channels need regular maintenance to keep them running like a well-oiled machine. Here we offer our best practices for annual upkeep:

Update profile photos and descriptions

While we generally recommend to keep your profile photo pretty static, it’s nice to change it up if you have an alternate version of your logo – for example, a reversed white-on-black, or a glyph. However, make sure you keep the profile photo completely recognizable for those who are searching for you. You can use the header, timeline or background photo as an opportunity to refresh your profile in a more unique way. The views from your office, a staff photo, or a photo of your brand’s work in action are all great examples of visuals you can regularly switch up in these spots on your social channels.

In the same vein, your profile description may need a refresh if your brand’s mandate has narrowed or broadened. Has your tone or position changed in the last year; do you now use your social channels for fun campaigns or serious public relations with the community? Make sure your brand description accurately reflects your position in the industry and how you appear to your target audience(s). Also, make sure you have relevant keywords and #hashtags in your description.

Change your passwords & double-check your account emails

To prevent your social channels from being hacked a la Burger King, it’s a good idea to regularly switch up your passwords. With the many DIY hacking videos available on YouTube, this is a must. You may want to consider doing this more often than once a year – especially if you might have disgruntled ex-staff with the power to control your brand’s channels.

Has the email associated with your social media channels changed in the last year? Double-check that you still have access to this account, or update it if need be. There’s nothing worse than losing the password and being unable to reset it because the default reset email no longer exists or is associated with a colleague who has moved on.

Another surefire way to open your door wide to Twitter hackers is to click on suspicious links in a tweet or direct message. We remind our clients regularly that these links – even if they appear to be from a friend or a trusted source – are most likely spam or a hacker phishing for your account password. If you receive a message or direct tweet along the lines of “lol I thought you would like this {insert suspicious link here]”, DO NOT CLICK. If you are unsure, just tweet or send a message back asking if they did, indeed, write that message. Better to be safe than sorry!

Ensure your website design has accurate and clear social media links

One of our biggest pet peeves is when we visit a website and the social media icons and links are either difficult to find, or not listed at all. Your website design should be the main source of information about your business, and potential customers should not have to go on a treasure hunt to find what they are looking for. Because it is common for brands to have social media handles other than their complete brand name – and often it is difficult to search for this on the social channel itself – this information should be clearly visible to the average website visitor. Also, because the average length of time spent on a website is less than a minute, the social media icons should be displayed on the home page, and again on the ‘Contact’ page. Remember, things may not be as obvious to the consumer as they are to someone who lives and breathes the brand or website everyday.

Social Media in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Make your WordPress Website Accessible | Patio -  Vancouver Website Development

You would never build an office tower today that wasn’t accessible for all, but often the accessibility of website content does not get the same consideration.  Since many websites are created using website development WordPress, we looked into the best WordPress plugins available for increased accessibility. Our top two finds address the needs for increased font size and text-to-speech capabilities.

SoundGecko

While mainly developed to be used as a text-to-speech tool – whether it be for websites, apps or RSS feeds – SoundGecko has also created a way to convert website content to an audio format from the back end of the website. This means that website developers can give visitors the option to listen to the content without having to install an app or tool.

Developers have two options with SoundGecko: the first is to install a WordPress widget that automatically adds a Listen button at the end or beginning of each blog post; the second is to input the Listen Button code in any text section of the website. Either way, you are quickly and easily making your site more accessible and therefore expanding your audience.

wpTextResize

Sometimes the simplest change to your website is also the most necessary for viewers. Allowing visitors to change the preset font size of your website copy is one of the easiest ways to improve user experience. There are many plugins that have been developed for WordPress website development sites, however many only work with text within your blog posts. The WordPress plugin wpTextResize allows users to increase or decrease the size of the majority of text on your site, including headers, sidebars and footers. It also works with responsive website templates – meaning it will work with a user’s mobile phone, tablet or desktop.

Other than installing tools like these plugins for your website, you can also take simple steps that go a long way. Providing thorough alt text and descriptions for all images, using strong contrast between text and background, avoiding the use of CAPTCHAs, and avoiding the use of blinking images all help to remove barriers for people with vision loss or cognitive disabilities.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking your website doesn’t need to be optimized for accessibility – make the effort and reach more people.

Have a great plugin you have used on your site? Let us know!

Website Development in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Twubs: Follow the Conversation | Patio -  Internet Marketing Services

Internet marketing services and social media are changing: hashtags are becoming more and more commonplace - not only online but on television and print materials as well. They are an extremely powerful way to bring a conversation into a focused area and dedicated space, while still allowing people to participate from all over the world in real-time. Hashtags allow people and brands to track information, share movements and spread messages.

It only follows, then, that tools to make hashtags more useful would emerge, whether it’s to find, follow or add context to a particular word or phrase. While there are a number out there, only a few are user-friendly, have a clean interface, and most importantly, are free. Twubs (shortened from Twitter hubs) meets all of these requirements. Recently, it has released a free, Twitter API-compliant Twitter chat tool that allows tweets, pics and videos to be streamed into a single branded page.

The features created by Twubs makes it an ideal tool for brands and businesses. Not only can you create a branded landing page for the conversation surrounding a particular hashtag, with your logo and branding, the interface also separates the host’s tweets from the other participants’ tweets, meaning that the voice of the brand will always be highlighted (literally and figuratively). This handy tool also aggregates tweets from Twitter in real-time, meaning you have a much more effective hand in moderating and performing damage control if needed. However, moderation may not even be necessary since Twubs also blocks spam and abuse. And for all the marketing minds out there, Twubs is SEO-friendly – meaning taking a few minutes to set up a chat page can only add to your online presence.

Ever considered hosting a Twitter Chat? These online meetings can feature a Q&A with a particular personality (ie. an author, a CEO or an employee who can provide a behind-the-scenes point-of-view), or a discussion around a particular topic, or a conversation in anticipation of an event. Twitter Chats can be a great way to make use of hashtags, but are often difficult to follow because of extraneous chatter. This is where Twubs can step in. You can use the site to create a branded page for a specific chat event. Add your chat to Twubs’ global calendar, and you can make it easier for other Twubs users to discover your chat and join in. Promote the event on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels, and you instantly have a great online space for you to concentrate your interactions with fans and followers surrounding a particular topic or event.

Because Twubs uses an API that follows Twitter guidelines, we can be sure that Twubs will be around for the long haul, and the CEO Tony Ferraro promises that they will continuously add new features to improve the user and organizer experience. More than 20,000 companies already use the tool worldwide, making it the next go-to service for professionals on Twitter. Why not try to schedule a chat today?

Internet Marketing in Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Topsy – Social Analytics for Your Online Marketing Campaign | Patio -  Digital Marketing Vancouver

You can add as much content as you can to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels, but without analyzing the response and engagement from your target audience, you can never be sure that you are reaching your marketing goals. There are many social media analytics tools out there, but after trying out a number of others, we’ve narrowed down our favourite stand-alone tool as Topsy, a social search and social analytics tool with several levels of features.

At its most basic level, Topsy is a kind of social media search engine that allows users to get a better glimpse of the conversations taking place about a particular topic. Users can enter a search term (usually a hashtag) and instantly see tweets from the past hour, day, week, month or years past. Wondering how many people were talking about your campaign during its launch? Use the Advanced Search tool to narrow down the dates – and see the results immediately. Topsy promises to provide exact counts for any date range and any term.

Topsy search results for “#vancouver” between July 1-4, 2013: 7,945 tweets.

The database that Topsy collects from extends back in time quite a ways, and is therefore extremely large – the website claims that the tool has used several technologies to index “over 100 billion items.” (about.topsy.com/technology/overview). This means that you can compare past campaigns to ones that you are currently running – and allows you to adjust accordingly. Users can also create email alerts for certain search terms if they are trying to track conversations in real-time.

Another feature in the basic offerings is a free search comparison, allowing users to compare mentions of up to three different queries during a specific time period. Want to know how your brand’s social media reach is fairing when put up against your competitor? Enter in both brand names and a comprehensive chart will appear detailing the number of mentions. Topsy will count the number of times tweets, terms, topics, slogans, hashtags or Twitter handles (the @-name) appear.

Topsy’s analytics tool shows the # of mentions of up to three terms for a certain time period.

Topsy also offers a number of extremely useful tools in their premium versions. Users can discover who their top influencer is, what content is resonating with their followers, additional related terms, what the general sentiment about the term is, and where the conversation is happening. One of the best analytics tools is Exposure, where you can view both total & cumulative potential impressions for a term in a specific time frame – even down to the minute. Not sure if these features are helpful for your brand? You can try them all for free for a 14-day trial period before committing. And best of all, Topsy is a Twitter-certified product. In fact, Twitter is even listed on their Customer page.

Want some insight into your brand’s online marketing Vancouver performance? Topsy’s basic features are free and easy to use, and provide results instantly. While Topsy isn’t a be-all end-all tool, it definitely can give you a better look at your social media reach.

Online Marketing Vancouver | Phone, email or tweet Becky to discuss Patio’s services 604.428.4999 | [email protected] | @wearepatio

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Social Media Advertising: Time to Consider a Monthly Spend?

Patio Social was recently invited to write an article for The Publican's Fall 2013 issue. The following is available to read in the digital issue here.

by Megan Halkett

How do you decide where to spend advertising dollars? Do you do a 50/50 split with online and offline? Do you put more money into online ads to extend your ad budget? The answers on what to do vary as vastly as the advertising opportunities themselves, but the question you should really ask yourself is: “Is this channel frequented by my target audience?”

Social media advertising opportunities - such as Facebook ads, Facebook promoted posts, and Twitter advertising - face the same skepticism that online advertising received 5-10 years ago. However, there is a time and a place for all advertising channels, and social media opportunities are no different. If your company is active on Facebook, setting aside a monthly budget for event promotion as well as promoting posts on your wall is now a must - as only around 10% of your current fans will see your posts without a financial boost. Should you promote your post? Easy answer: Why post anything if you don’t care if anyone sees it?

What is Standard Facebook Advertising?

• They are targeted ads shown down the right-hand side of Facebook.

• They include a headline, text, and image.

• Ad budgets can be set to daily limits or overall campaign budgets, and can be set to CPC or CPM, or can be optimized for page likes.

• Ads can send users to your Facebook wall, a Facebook event, or highlight your latest post. They can also drive users directly to an external website.

• Ads can be targeted to your desired audience by location, education, age, sex, keyword, or general interest (e.g. If you are hosting a UFC fight, you can  target people in your area over 19 who like UFC/GSP/MMA etc.)

• There is no minimum spend and no minimum ad period - you can do an ad for two days or two months leading up to an event.

Pros: They offer a very reasonable price point and great reach.

Cons: You must take the time to choose targeting/keywords wisely; a blanket approach will not be effective.

  What is a Facebook “Promoted Post”?

• This is a small on-page ad spend made to boost a wall post (text, image and text, poll, or offer).

• You can choose the number of people you would like to reach with your post (half or all of your fanbase, your fans and their friends, or the general public).

• Promoted post costs vary according to the size of your fanbase. A typical spend can be anywhere from $10 to $75+ if you want to reach the general public.

• Images must be kept within Facebook’s guidelines (20% limit for text/logos).

Pros: These offer a reasonable price point and great reach.

Cons: They cannot target by keyword, however, they can target by city. Facebook’s text-on-photo rules can be frustrating.

  What is Twitter Advertising?

• The no minimum spend self-serve ad dashboard option is relatively new to Canada.

• You can promote specific tweets, latest tweets,  or promote your account.

• Targeting can be done by keyword, or by targeting followers of specific accounts.

Pros: It’s a great way to raise awareness of your brand to online influencers.

Cons: Targeting on the ad dashboard is clunky. You need to request an invitation to use the ads dashboard. Twitter is still not as widely used as Facebook.

When considering Facebook or Twitter ads that drive traffic to social media channels, it is important to ensure that the channels you are driving them to reflect your brand, are updated regularly, and are interesting to your target audience. (Facebook ads can drive to external websites; however, you will lose a fan acquisition opportunity.)

  Storytelling

Before you start using social media ads, you should develop the content on your social media channels and ensure your staff is empowered to use the channels to build your brand’s online voice. At its core, social media is about storytelling. What are you sharing with your target audience? How and why are you communicating your story? Take a page out of Journalism 101 and employ the Five Ws and one H of storytelling: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. By using these tactics, you will keep your content informative, concise, and targeted. 

There are other ways you can share content and tell your story. Use Facebook’s “Questions” feature to do a poll to engage and learn more about your audience. For example, you could create a poll asking fans which new appetizer they’d like to see on your menu. List a few examples and watch what feedback you get. Facebook polls can be promoted in order to reach a larger audience and drive new fans to your page. By doing a promoted poll, you’ll encourage engagement of your Facebook page and gain insight into what your customers want. 

Don’t forget that social media is a visual medium - by sharing photos on Facebook’s newsfeed your business will get the most traction. These images can (and should) be promoted if they fall within Facebook’s image guidelines (text/logos overlaid on the image must be less than 20% of the total image). Tell a story with your cover photo - such as a unique menu item or loyal customers in the venue - and switch it out periodically to keep it fresh. Keep track of the types of posts or images that resonate with your fans, and try to focus your efforts on producing similar content. 

  #Hashtags 

In order to build a fanbase and followers on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, include appropriate hashtags in your tweets, photos, and posts. Hashtags are a tool to aggregate the conversation surrounding a topic, theme, or event. They’re created by combining a # with a word, acronym, or phrase (#word). Research whether there is a broader discussion going on about a specific topic online, and search various hashtags that tie into your story, service, products, and goals. For example, #WineWednesday and #BCWine are two top hashtags relating to wine. If you have a wine promotion or wine tasting, use these hashtags in your tweets, posts, and photos. You’ll reach and connect with the broader audience that is using and searching these terms.

  Who to Follow and Why 

A key step in engaging on social media is following other folks. Think of it as a virtual handshake, and the first step in creating long-lasting relationships and fans for life. Consider who your target audiences are, and start looking for them online. Begin by following local media, nearby businesses and associations, liquor brands, and sports teams. Use geo-location searches to find people tweeting and mentioning your city. 

For pubs, liquor stores and restaurants, the online “foodie” community is a major target audience and opportunity. Take some time to do a bit of research to identify influencers in the food and beverage community and follow them. By building these valuable relationships, you’ll create brand awareness, find new customers, and potential new brand champions over time.