The Armadillo Studios Blog

Are You There Social Media? It's Me Conflict! | Aug 12, 06:54 AM

Last year around this time, I was luckily enough to be asked by Alex Lemanski, of bitfyre fame, to partake in a panel proposal for SXSW 2010 on the meat and bones of freelancing called Leave Your Job, Start An Agency. A year later and after a very well received SXSW panel, I am fortunate enough once again to be asked to partake in another panel proposal for SXSW 2010 called Are You There Social Media? It’s Me Conflict!

Are You There Social Media? It’s Me Conflict is going to be a no holds barred discussion on Social Media and it’s current role in Global Conflict. Everyone knows that social media is the golden child of marketing and it’s impact on local and international business have been beaten to death, but what, if anything, is Social Media doing in the realm of International Conflict? What are the positive changes that have been implemented? Or are we looking at it’s role with rose-coloured industry glasses and maybe everything isn’t turning up as sunshine and lollipops as it seems.

It’s going to be an incredibly interesting panel conversation and it’ll bring together a pretty interesting team. Including, (obviously myself):

• Caitlin Currie – A rogue academic, a Masters Candidate at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), George Mason University and a contributing member of Techchange.org.
• Lyndsie Bourgon – A freelance journalist who has been published in King’s Journalism Review, The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and Canadian Business.
• Nick Martin – Who is the co-founder and president of TechChange and is a visiting professor at the United Nations University for Peace (UPEACE).

It’s going to be quite the heated and diverse conversation, but this is where we need your help! if you’ve got a second and do plan on attending SXSW’11 in Austin, please log on to the panel picker and give our panel a big thumbs-up. Voting closes on August 27th, so be quick.

Topic: sxswi-2011 || Fresh-Ideas

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The Music-Critic Podcast | May 4, 07:55 AM

If you’re a lover of new music, one of our long-standing clients Music-critic.ca, is probably one of the best places to find out the latest bands. Over the past five years, Armadillo Studios has been constantly working with Nathan Atnikov (the owner and editor) to improve the web site and help spread the word about their fantastic reviews.

This week, Music-critic took another giant leap into the digital realm with the launch of it’s own weekly Podcast.

Hosted by Nathan, this new weekly podcast will highlight some of the best new tracks being released from well known and undiscovered artists. So if you’re looking for some new music to fill your iPods and iPhones, make sure you go to iTunes and subscribe to the new and a 100% fresh Music-critic.ca podcast.

Topic: Client-Releases || Fresh-Ideas

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Free Social Media Advice for Local Politicians | Feb 24, 08:45 AM

News of Bronco Dave’s decision to not run in the next round of civic elections has sent a bit of a political shockwave through the circles of political pundits and social media networks in our fair city.

While this buzz grows, plans will be formed and serious candidates will start to come out of the woodwork. So as they do, they will inevitably turn to the growing local Social Media communities to get their voice heard. So in anticipation of that, your friendly friends at Armadillo have some free advice on how to best get your message heard and better yet, not have it backfire.

Join Twitter And Learn The Vocabulary

First and foremost, join Twitter and set-up a clear and interactive Facebook page. We have an intro on Twitter for the Calgary Market that has some nice advice.

Second, covet and understand the hashtags of Twitter. The yyc hash tag has grown into an unstoppable beast that many Calgarians use for a variety of information. While this aspect of the Twitter lexicon is invaluable be sure you don’t abuse it, as it can quickly turn on you. Using the yyc tag is a great way to reach many Calgairans, but if you start overloading the stream of information, it may tarnish your image. So don’t SPAM! Be engaging in the community.

Even better start using the yyccc hash tag (yyc City Council). Many users who follow city council have adopted it and it would be best to broadcast your message through that channel rather than through yyc. People who are interested and invested in City Council spend much of their time following this hash tag. They are the people you want to reach.

Casual voters also follow it too, so seeing an involved presence in that area of the Calgary Twitter community will be a good first step.

Interact, Don’t Broadcast

It might seem simple, but you need to interact with the online communities in the City. Don’t just broadcast your message, as it may quickly comeback to haunt you.

Facebook and Twitter are engaging tools; in the months leading up to November people will have many questions and concerns. They will be looking for your ideas. You will need to be able to answer them through these networks. Social networks, especially Twitter, have levelled the communications playing field for everyone. Citizens are now able to directly and publicly connect with your campaign. There could be a discussion brewing about your platform that you might not even know about, so it’s best to get involved and get involved early.

Know Your Audience

Nobody likes to admit this, but there is a unwritten hierarchy within these social media circles that you may not get a chance to learn about before you dive in. Treat all responders with respect and try not to air your dirty grievances in public. You may involuntarily aggravate a local political maven, who has more clout and influence within the local community than you think. So be careful in how you engage on these sites. Treat everyone with respect and dignity.

Don’t Use Foursquare

Although, it would be incredibly cheeky and witty, declaring yourself Mayor of City hall on Foursquare before November rolls around, is probably going to look bad on you.

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to scare you off of using these Networks. In all honestly, this is an exciting time for municipal politics and these growing social media networks have the power to make these elections the most interactive and exciting elections we’ve seen in a long time. We just want to give you some free advice, as we’ve seen companies miss opportunities before and we’d hate to see a great candidate get sandbagged by a small slip up.

So to all those would be city councillors and mayors, best of luck in November 2010.

Topic: twitter-for-businesses || Fresh-Ideas

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Foursquare Starts To Make Waves In Calgary & Edmonton | Jan 26, 08:32 AM

Much has been made of the Geo-locational social application Foursquare since it’s launch into the Calgary and Edmonton markets in November of last year. The application has been garnishing a bit of buzz in the local tech communities and it is now poised for it’s big breakout role within our cities. Because of which local businesses should really start taking note.

The application, which allows users to notify friends about their whereabouts through instant notifications and an addictive reward system, has been heralded as the next big thing by the Tech community since the 2009 SXSW interactive conference. But now Foursquare is making great inroads to become more than just a nifty competitive game.

News from Techvibes has revealed a groundbreaking partnership between Metro Newspapers and Foursquare to deliver local content to nearby users.

As part of the partnership, Metro will add their location-specific editorial content to the Foursquare service. People who choose to follow Metro on Foursquare will then receive alerts when they’re close to one of those locations. For example, someone close to a restaurant that Metro has reviewed would receive a “tip” about that restaurant and the have ability to link through to the full Metro review on metronews.ca. – Courtesy of Techvibes

This partnership with one of Canada’s largest media outlets will connect Foursquare with a daily audience and will inject it’s brand into the mainstream consciousness. In the short-term, this will add more users to the growing audience in Calgary and Edmonton

Now on the flip side of this, Foursquare is also allowing 3rd party developers to create apps to make the service that much better. One of the first Third party Applications for Foursquare is called PlaceWidget.com. Placewidget allows businesses (or organizations) with an already established Foursquare presence to promote user activity on their own web sites with a simple HTML widget … So for example if a small business like Calgary’s own little Apple Store wanted to promote their Foursquare activity it would look like this:

Or maybe a more local competitor like Westworld Computers wanted to get in on the action, it would look like this:

While PlaceWidget might seem like a simple and remedial integration of Foursquare’s information, it really is the tip of the iceberg. As the service grows the need for businesses to leverage this information will evolve with it. Similar to how Twitter and Facebook streams now appear on the web sites of many organizations and businesses, Foursquare will be next in line.

These are just two small examples of how Foursquare is slowly fulfilling it’s tech prophesy as the next major social network. The next question is when will local Calgary and Edmonton businesses start to incorporate this extremely business friendly social network into their own marketing practices?

The clientèle is growing, so who is going to be first?

Topic: Fresh-Ideas || Trends-in-The-Industry

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Shel Israel's Twitterville | Nov 4, 04:52 PM

A month ago Shel Israel swung through Calgary on a promotional stop for his latest book, Twitterville. Intrigued by his previous work, Naked Conversations with Robert Scroble, Half of the Armadillo team attended his talk to see what Shel had to say about on twitter. Shel spent the evening doing what he does best; regaling the audience with anecdote after anecdote about the growing importance of Twitter for business (and to a lesser extent society). Needless to say, very few attendees of that event left without a copy of twitterville under their arm.

Shel is a gifted story teller and Twitterville is nothing short of enthralling and inspiring. From a business perspective if you are looking to properly explore the world of Social Marketing, in particular Twitter, consider picking up a copy.

See Twitterville easily overshadows the plethora of other Twitter books, because it is an honest look at the evolving community, from the viewpoint of someone who truly cares. Shel enthusiasm clearly demonstrates his appreciation for the subject material. His business anecdotes have an intimate feel to them, due to the relationships he has built with the major protagonists in each story. Within each chapter he is promoting and championing businesses that understand Twitterville and are pushing it in a positive direction. More importantly, he showcases the people behind these successful accounts, who are leverage their own generosity and compassion to further the community and their own bottom-line.

In a sense, the basic take-away from Twitterville, revolves around the divide between the personal and impersonal. As Shel notes throughout the book, the downfall of many business strategies on Twitter are routed in the impersonal and archaic broadcast tactics many companies are familiar with. Where businesses are seeing favourable results on Twitter, is when they shift their focus towards a more involved and open two-way communication strategy. Shel’s philosophy is that Businesses will succeed on Twitter only when they are personable. And he leverages many examples throughout Twitterville; from the success story of comcastcares to scottymonty and his ability to suppress Ford Ranger Fan-club backlash to the small business success of Houston’s coffegroundz.

That is not to say that Twitterville is only for the novice twitter user. Rather Twitterville is an important read even for the most seasoned of power users. From his own personal ideal That Twitter is the Place where People Act The Most Honest to the concept of Lethal Generosity, Shel is able to show Twitter’s evolving ability in a different light. In addition, Shel’s business cases and anecdotes are well researched and provide even experienced marketers with ideas and concepts to work with or bring to their clients. That is not to say that there aren’t any remedial chapters intended for the novice users (the Last Chapter is dedicated to the basics of Twitter and there is a detailed chapter geared towards the darker side of twitter).

It’s easy to be sceptical of the magnitude of literature popping up regarding the business opportunities within the Twitter community; the technology is far too young for anyone to truly comprehend the future ramifications of the tool. But Twitterville is a fantastic first step in that direction. It is a book which is chalkful of insightful ideas and positive concepts, that showcase ideas that promote the community rather than exploit it.

If you are small business looking to engage with your clients on Twitter, take the time to seek out Twitterville.

Topic: twitter-for-businesses || Fresh-Ideas

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