The Pac

February 2, 2010 Nic Smith Leave a comment
Digital art from Mamala Photography

from Mamala Photography

Categories: digital art Tags: ,

The Original iPad

January 27, 2010 Nic Smith Leave a comment

The Original iPad from MAD TV

Categories: Viral Marketing Tags: , ,

Bill Gates on Twitter

January 20, 2010 Nic Smith 1 comment


In just over 24 hours, with 8 tweets, Bill Gates  went from 0 to 240,000 followers on Twitter (and climbing). Tweet that.

Categories: social media Tags: ,

Checklist for getting 30,000 + fans on your facebook fan page

January 10, 2010 Nic Smith Leave a comment

1. Wear a green body suit

2. Sit behind the penalty box of National Hockey League game

3. Post pics to facebook of opposing player being distracted by crazy dance moves and gestures

Check out the The Green Guys Behind The Canucks Penalty Box Facebook Fan page.

Ultimate Ski Bum Blow Your Mind Contest

January 10, 2010 Nic Smith Leave a comment

Ever dream of giving it all up to live the life of a powder hunting ski bum? That’s exactly what the folks at Kootenay Rockies Tourism have promised in their recent social media contest titled “The Ultimate Ski Bum Blow Your Mind Contest. The contest urges hardcore ski bums to submit a 90 second video that outlines why they should be considered the ultimate powder junkie and have a chance to spend 3 months in an all expenses paid trip through the Powder Highway, a stretch of Kootenay mountains in British Columbia with the most cat and heli ski operations in the world.

Check out the promotional video:

Don’t get too excited the winner has already been announced but part of duties of being the ultimate powder hound to document all ski adventures on the Powder Highways ski blog.  The contest is an example of social media marketing at its finest. Videos that are submitted become the driving force behind the campaign, generating thousands of views for the contest and the Power Highway website.  

Contests like this can be a tremendous way of gaining awareness for your product at very little cost as it leverages the marketing power of the community. These types of social media activities tend to also reach target audiences in more impactful ways, just take a look at a few of video submissions and you’ll get an idea of the length these would-be ski bums go to get the gig.

Here is the winning video:

Males vs. Females in Social Networks

November 30, 2009 Nic Smith Leave a comment

Some interesting stats on male vs female use on social network sites from Royal Pingdom

Top 50 Companies Using Facebook

November 30, 2009 Nic Smith Leave a comment

Check out this article from thebigmoney.com on the top 50 companies using Facebook to do social media marketing. Two of my favs are mentioned in the top 20 (Starbucks and the NBA).

Steve Jobs Presentation Secrets

November 4, 2009 Nic Smith Leave a comment

There’s a new book out there for all you marketing, sales, and product folks who do a lot of presentations.  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience, In the book author Carmine Gallo reveals the techniques that Jobs uses to create and deliver mind-blowing keynote presentations. Here’s a quick recap of the key elements:

1. Always have a headline. Steve Jobs positions every product with a headline that fits well within a 140-character Twitter post.

2. Always have a villain. The idea of conquering a shared enemy is a powerful motivator and turns customers into evangelists.

3. Keep the slides simple. Less is more, Steve Jobs has a total of seven words in 10 slides. Stay away from cluttering up your presentation with wordy and complex slides that the audience won’t be able to digest.

4. Keep them engaged with a demo. Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain gets bored easily. Steve Jobs doesn’t give you time to lose interest, ten minutes into a presentation he’s demoing a new product or feature.

5. Have a “holy smokes moment.” Every Steve Jobs presentation has one moment described as an “emotionally charged event.” The emotionally charged event is the equivalent of a mental post-it note that tells the brain, Remember this!

6. Sell dreams. Charismatic speakers like Steve Jobs are driven by a nearly messianic zeal to create new experiences. When he launched the iPod in 2001, Jobs said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place.” Where most people saw the iPod as a music player, Jobs recognized its potential as a tool to enrich people’s lives.

Read the full article here, check out this slide show and watch a video interview with Carmine Gallo about how he researched his book. And have fun with it!

Checkin the Surf, Digitally

November 3, 2009 Nic Smith Leave a comment


I had a message come through from a friend the other day about some 25-foot waves hitting a shores of Tofino, BC.  Tofino is a spectacular surf spot on the west coast of Vancouver Island, yes they do have surfing in Canada.  The surf report was sent over via a popular surf watcher website called magic seaweed. The site pulls together information on swell, wind, and wave height from buoys that measure ocean data for surf breaks all over the world, letting surfers from coast to coast find where the break will be as if they were checking the weather.

To go one step further surfers can also check web cams to see real time video of the break, gives a new meaning to couch surfing. The 25 foot waves should be hitting Cox bay in Tofino Saturday Nov. 7 you can watch it happen here.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: ,

Social Media Revolution

November 3, 2009 Nic Smith Leave a comment

Think social media is a fad? Guess again! Check out some of the amazing facts about social media in this video.