Events

Social Marketing Finds: Classes, Contests, and Partnerships Oh My!

General Assembly + OfAKind Partnership Contest
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

The week started off with a class themed overload, just forewarned, but these contests, partnerships, and content finds just couldn’t be ignored. However, there’s more than just classes, I promise.

Here’s a few examples of partnerships and contests from my favorite brands, in addition to extra goodies I wanted to share with you all. Enjoy!

Of A Kind + General Assembly: Get Schooled Giveaway

General Assembly + OfAKind Partnership ContestGeneral Assembly + OfAKind Facebook Contest

I was first introduced to Of A Kind a few weeks ago, when I found out they were having an event at their limited time only Pop-Up store. While checking out the company I fell in love with the concept. It felt exclusive, like buying something truly unique. I saw this back to school set on the site before, which I loved and seemed like the only reasonable thing I could afford. However, I’m also one of those indecisive buyers. That’s why I’m glad I found this, and this is such a great partnership.

General Assembly: Private Class Giveaway

General Assembly Private Classes Social Media Contest

I’m not sure what the reason is for so many giveaways with General Assembly but I’m not complaining. Who wouldn’t want a private class. Keep ’em coming. You have my attention. I’ve enter to win both. Pick Me Please!

3rd Ward Brooklyn: Creative Speed Networking

3rd Ward Speed Networking Class Facebook Post

Why must 3rd Ward be so far away. I’m in need of more class based companies in Astoria. This image instantly caught my attention first and then I looked at the description. Now that’s a creative event concept, especially since I don’t really like networking. This is a great solution; it’s quick, easy, and if it’s awkward you can move on in a few minutes.

Warby Parker Class Trip + American Express

Warby Parker Class Trip Facebook Post

This is simply well executed. More than anything, I love A.) A creative campaign or event and B.) Attention to detail. Check out the full site to get the whole experience. My personal faves: Their Facebook Class Rep Video Contest & the on the road blog. Now I’m super bummed I missed out on NYC- I’m due for a new pair of glasses. These old ones need to get off my face immediately!

ModCloth: Awe & Order Contest

ModCloth Facebook Contest Modcloth contest entries

This contest works because it makes me realize how much I need to spruce up my space and put more order in my life. These entries provide great visual examples of organizing your space while putting my apartment to shame. Then it hooks me into ModCloth– Could they be the answer to my clutter? Now I’m on their site…again. Brilliant. Just wish there was more buzz and promotion on it. As you can see I caught the tail end of the contest and I’m not the only one, they only had a handful of entries.

Seamless: It’s Raining

Seamless "It's Raining" Facebook Post

Clever, funny, simple, and doesn’t have to go too far on the design to get its message across.

Orbitz & 5 Gum Micro Pack – Freebies

Mini Gum Pack Samples from Orbit and 5

Hustler Tip: Stick around Midtown for awesome street promotions and marketing ops, like these free micro gum packs I scored. I tend to avoid Midtown (and Chinatown) like the plague but I forgot about the freebies. I may need to rethink this.

Enjoy the rest of your week! Share your favorite social media brand posts, contests, partnerships, freebies, anything at all, in the comments.

Creativity Comes In All Industries: My Love for Creative Mornings NY

Simon Sinek Creative Mornings
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Creative Mornings NY

NY Creative Mornings Nametag

Anyone who knows me at all knows I’m a regular at Creative Mornings NY. I have been going for almost a year now and have been to:

Now what is the reason for this post?

As I attended my regular monthly Creative Mornings today — or as the speaker today put it “The Breakfast Club”, which I love, (both Creative Mornings and the Movie of course.) I realized what I truly love about this community is the speakers. Recently I’ve noticed that I’ve been sticking to industry related meetups, talks, classes, and networking events. As much as I love social media and digital, it’s wearing on me. Back in high school and college I would attend at least one concert a week. I was a film major watching countless of movies from all genres and regions of the world, and when I first moved to NYC there was never an event or corner I wouldn’t explore — from cooking lessons to comedy shows to photography group scoutings. Life is full of culture and I wanted to taste it all.

Point being is I miss mixing it up. And frankly, that’s the best part about Creative Mornings, when it comes down to the event I simply don’t have to think. I am always guaranteed an amazing speaker that will be at the peak of creativity in their industry. Whether that industry be film, illustration, design, art, science, tech, business, inspiration, or imagination. These mornings force me out of my usual social/digital comfort zone to explore the creative approaches to so many different fields. This is what I truly love about it. 

Thanks SwissMiss!

P.S. If you know me at all, even when I can’t remember the date for the next Creative Morning, I always seem to have this six sense as to when the next one is coming. True Story. I also have a strategy when it comes to sign-up — which I can not reveal at this time.

Random Creative Mornings NY Photos:

Brand Alphabet Creative Mornings NY   Simon Sinek Creative Mornings  Inspiration NY Creative Mornings NY Quote from Creative Mornings NY

The Art and Science of Making Things with Seth Godin

How do you define making?
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Last weekend I made my way to the New York Hall of Science for the annual Maker Faire. Now with 2 years under my belt it is definitely an event worth checking out. This year I was particularly giddy to get the chance to see a presentation from one of my ideals Seth Godin.

Seth Godin

Here are a few of my key takeaways from his speech:

Learn by doing things wrong. 

The guy who invented the ship, also invented the shipwreck.

In schools, particularly in science classes, we are programmed to show that we know how to do the steps done by scientists 40 to 400 years ago. And when we try to test something new or do something different we get in trouble and get marked down.

Rembrandt had assistants, yet we don’t know who they are because they did exactly what Rembrandt wanted them to do.

If you’re doing something that might not work, you’re making — and that’s risky.

If you’re not willing to fail you’re not willing to innovate. 

Even at the Maker Faire you see people buying these science kits to do at home. We do this because we naturally want something to work. We’re programmed this way, otherwise it feels uneasy to us.

With the internet, social media, and technology, we now have the ability to connect. We also need to get better at connecting and not being afraid to share things we’re working on. Instead, what we should be saying is: “I made this, what do you think? How can I make this better?”

We naturally connect to those that are doing work that matters.

Start asking yourself:

  1. What is school for?
  2. If you are a maker, what have you made recently that you failed at?
  3. What have you made that was interesting, why haven’t you shared it? You should be sharing — it’s the connecting that helps you get better at it.

Visual interpretation of Seth Godin's Maker's Faire talk

This was a visual interpretation of Seth Godin’s speech. To hear the full version of his presentation — you can view the full talk here.

Curators Conference Recap: Curate your Life

Curators Conference 2012
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Curator's Conference Banners of Speakers

Last week I participated in the Curators Conference. As I did not want to pay $400 for admission, I decided to take what I like to call the “Hustler Approach” and volunteer for the event. To say the least it was a gruesome 12 hour day, but well worth not having to shell out the cash for the conference. Another positive was getting to experience the inner workings of running a conference, something I’ve always wanted to do.

While being a volunteer does face the disadvantage of being able to seeing every speaker, a few speakers I did manage to see stood out to me. Specifically Soraya Darabi, who is the co-founder of Foodspotting and was formerly in charge of NYTimes’ Social Media. As most speakers took the approach to talk about their company and what they do, Soraya instead, walked us through an hour by hour snapshot of her day with the apps and websites she uses daily– curating her life through social.

Her day consisted of this:

Cir.ca: News, re-imagined. (New app -not yet released.)

Path: Staying connected with family & close friends.

Reading websites: Portable, Brain Pickings, Cool Hunting

Work Flowy: Organize your brain. This tool helps organize personal to-dos, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write research papers, keep a journal, plan a wedding, and much more.

Sparrow:  Combining email and social at the same time.

BrandYourself: Curating SEO results, your personal brand, and Google results.

Foodspotting: Visual guide to good food and where to find it.

Spotify:  Digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs.

Google + Hangouts: Video chatting, face to face.

Vimeo Staff Picks: Online videos, handpicked by the staff at Vimeo.

Art Stack: Social platform for art – the best way to discover art is through people.

Highline Park + Think + Paper: She uses this hour to get offline. Reflecting on accomplishments you made today or want to make in the future.

Brewster: Your personal address book.

Highlight: Gives you a sixth sense about the world around you, showing you hidden connections and making your day more fun.

Svpply: Online shopping. Helps you find the products you love, from the people and stores you find interesting.

This break down left me wondering– is this even true? Does anyone have a breakdown hour by hour of applications they use? Probably not, even Soraya mentions she only uses specific apps and only the most productive ones that meets her own needs. Perhaps it isn’t possible, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have productivity in mind.

Continuing to thinking about this concept I asked myself —Is anyone this organized? What is my daily routine?

Looking at my past few days, weeks, even months I realized I honestly don’t have one. I love to stop what I’m doing to help others but I haven’t really helped myself. Feeling completely unorganized with managing my own priorities, this is something I need to start changing.

Last night I stumbled upon a few TED Talks for inspiration and came across Matt Cutts’ speech, “Try something new for 30 days.”

“Small sustainable changes are more likely to stick.” I may not have a solid play-by-play of every hour of my day, but I can start by making small sustainable changes.

Things I would like to try for 30 days:

Dedicate an hour a day to:

  • Writing
  • Reading
  • Learning Italian
  • Gym time
  • Personal time– Including everything I need to catch up on in life, from Twitter updates to planning my birthday trip.
  • Cooking one new recipe a week
  • Trying one new restaurant per week
  • Meet 5 new people per week

Like Matt says, “the next 30 days are going to happen whether you like it or not, why not do something you’ve always wanted to try.”

What is one thing you would try for 30 days?

Inbox Overload: A Weeks Worth of Email Marketing

Flavorpill Email Newsletter
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This is a look into a weeks worth of email newsletters.

I have had to do similiar competitor research at an internship for an online publication where emails are the core to their business. I used to look into everything from advertisers, contests, events, to even design work. Admittedly, I miss that weekly research report. It was so interesting to see what others are doing out there.

So naturally I let my emails pill up just to explore a weeks worth of newsletters.

Publications explored included: Flavorpill, DailyCandy, Urban Daddy, and Tasting Table.

An Email Subject Line:

First things first, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling or if you have the best peice of content you’ve ever written. If no one clicks to open your email, all that stuff doesn’t matter anymore.

Make it count by providing a subject line your readers will be sure to make the next move on.

Here are recent examples that have caught my attention lately.

DailyCandy’s:

  • Draw Men Naked

Any and all from UrbanDaddy my favorites are: 

  • There’s a Stranger Making Dumplings in your House
  • When You Think of Guacamole, Think of This
  • Murray Hill’s Best Hope Yet
  • 24-Hour Beer Delivery to Your Doorstep

Tip:

  • Be funny. Be creative. But most importantly know your audience and who you’re taking to.

Tip:

  • Try A/B split testing. This allows tracking such things as subject lines. Two different subject lines that you want to test out will be sent to a certain percent of your audience. The results of which subject line performed better, based on open rate will be sent back to you, go with the better one.

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