Welcome to 2011.

Remember 2 years ago when the world economy was at it’s lowest point, and businesses were just happy to say ‘Welcome to 2009′ with a roof over their MacBook Pro’s? We do – therefor we are even more excited to see 2011 come down the pipe.

Over here at Hoopla we’ve had a great past 4 years, and we are eager to see what 2011 brings.

The gents over at Socialnomics.net have made a great list of 21 social media predictions for 2011 – there are a few that we think might be a bit of stretch – nevertheless, here they are: Read More

Foursquare has been gathering some serious momentum as of late, working hard to establish themselves as the industry leader among location services clients.

First off, they just gathered another 20 million in funding – a large sum for a Web 2.0 startup. According to Horowitz, the investor, Foursquare is showing more growth than Twitter right now. As we’ve seen with Twitter’s server issues lately, funding is necessary for positive publicity for any 24/7 service.

Moreover, Foursquare has also hit 1 million check-ins per day. That means that it is becoming increasingly hard to ignore Twitter as a user, but more importantly, business owners can no longer ignore Foursquare either. If a business has not set themselves up on Foursquare, they are probably there anyways. If people are checking-in at your business, you should know about it!

Where will Foursquare go next? Nobody knows for sure, but it is already moving in the direction of mobile coupons. When checking-in at a restaurant or cafe, you will receive a coupon on your phone that you can redeem either at that moment or at a later date. Just recently I tried the new Rogue Kitchen and Wet Bar in Waterfront Station. When I checked-in, Foursquare told me to email the restaurant with my name, favourite dish, and server’s name in exchange for a gift card. A few days later I received a $5 gift card in the mail, personally signed by a staff member at Rogue.

While many argue that Foursquare is a very impersonal interaction with clients and customers, when used correctly, it can be the complete opposite. I will definitely return to Roque, mostly to use my gift card, but also because I appreciate the effort Rogue put in to interact with their customers.

Source: PC Mag

It’s official. June 30th is now “Social Media Day” in Victoria. What does this mean for social media in our province? In terms of changes, not a whole ton. Of course, changes were not the goal of this proclamation.

This day establishes a sense of recognition and forward-thinking in terms of the future of social media from the local government in Victoria. It means that we will see a lot of celebrations (mostly virtual, of course) of social networking, and more importantly, tweet-ups and gatherings surrounding various initiatives. On twitter, the hashtag #smday is expected to be trending on June 30th, if not earlier.

This is a compelling step forward on the online front from the Mayor of Victoria as he joins 400 cities worldwide celebrating #smday. While declaring a “day” is great, it will be important for those endorsing this initiative to embrace the technologies themselves as well. It is only with holistic support from all parties involved will Social Media Day really catch on.

For more information, check out this article on Mashable.

UPDATE: Vancouver’s main Social Media Day event will be at LUX on Granville. You can RSVP here.

Source: Mashable

We’ve all heard this one before. To succeed in business, you have to be the best, be the first, or be different. While this is still relevant, the recent uprising of social media applications to business has changed this sentence a bit. Now, with companies connecting with customers on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and hundreds of other online services, it is not good enough to just be one of the above. In other words, it is completely possible to be more than just one of the above.

When thinking about implementing a social media strategy, it is important to look at your competitors. Have they implemented social marketing tools? If not, you can be the first. And you should be the first – just because your competitors are not doing it does not mean you do not need to.

Next, as your competitors begin to implement, you need to be the best at what you’re doing. Just because you had an online presence before them does not mean they will not utilize the same tools more effectively. The online environment is conducive to sudden changes and shifts. Thus, to prevent losing your position you must continue to innovate.

Finally, your use of social networking must be different than your competitors, as well as other industries. Your target market must be clear and you must understand how to attract their attention most effectively. The internet is incredibly saturated with useless and ineffective marketing – it is not hard to differentiate and rise up above the chaos.

10 years ago, shooting for 1 of the 3 differentiating factors was good enough to achieve success. But in today’s dynamic, online environment, companies must (and most importantly, can) be the first, best and different when implementing social marketing.

I am asked this question a lot: “How do I get more followers on Twitter?”

Anyone involved in social media will quickly tell you (or at least, should tell you) that the number of followers/friends/connections you have is essentially not at all an indicator of your “success” with social media sites. And it is exactly that – “social” media. The point is to interact with other people. It is easy to get 10,000 followers on Twitter by using automated services, but none of them will be reading your tweets nor will you be contributing to anything bigger. Plus, everyone on Twitter knows about those automated systems and pointedly avoids anyone that has used those systems on their accounts. Moreover, it is very difficult to eliminate such a viral follower base from your account once it has established itself.

It is about interaction, first and foremost. The best way to generate the highest ‘ROI’ from your Twitter experience is to meet cool people in your areas of interest and tweet about interesting topics and link compelling articles that you truly care about. That is what will generate, not necessarily followers in terms of quantity, but followers in terms of quality. You’ll start getting followers with whom you have mutual vested interest and can actually interact with. You’ll start conversations and develop lasting connections. And most importantly, you will meet people you actually want to know personally. At that point, the online relationship will become a tangible ‘social’ relationship.

Of course, it’s not just about waiting for those awesome people to find you. Find people in your area of interest, follow them, and ask them questions! Start a conversation. After all, that’s what Twitter is all about.