 If there is something Tyler and I can get behind it's poutine. But seriously when Brady put out a call for Social Media Ambassadors for YXE Poutine Week in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters Saskatoon we jumped at the chance. A big part of what we do at T Squared Social is support our community and we felt this was a place we could really make a difference.  After meeting the team we quickly realized that YXE Poutine Week needed a plan for their Social Media. So we developed a strategy to make the most of the assets they had, build community and reduce the work load by inspiring user generated content.  Creating a few videos using some volunteers from the Mentor Program was not only super fun but gave us pre-launch content to help announce the main contest. Attaching a Like / Share contest to good content is critical to help it spread. It sounds basic, but if you want people to share something make it shareable. We built up a bank of images that Brady could use leading up to the event to mix into his already hilarious library of memes. We did photography at Hometown Diner, which was one of the participating restaurants, to strengthen the local vibe of the campaign. Stock photos can often times be swiped over, so we wanted to make sure the visuals were Saskatoon specific.  Meeting with the volunteer team to figure out who could handle what, we had to stop for a selfie. Let's get serious. A big concern the team had was last year the event started to lose momentum mid-week. Part of the plan to keep the party going this year was to do daily live videos on Facebook and to announce winners for the contest daily.  In the videos we made to explain the main photo contest we incorporated elements of the BBBS using an actual Mentor / Mentee. Real people make a real difference in producing content for Social Media. The more relatable it is the better it performs. Although no one can guarantee a viral video, that wasn't our focus. Having an intentional and well executed plan is a much smarter goal. Creating motivation and providing opportunities for engagement is where you really connect with people on Social Media. Plus it never hurts to make it fun and did we mention poutine yet?
A big challenge of running an event that spans several days with no specific location is making people feel included. Announcing winners daily was a critical part of motivating user generated content and also rewarding people in a timely manner. In addition having people post their own photos helped to reduce the amount of content creation we were responsible for as a committee. Less work, more engagement. Perfect. The Facebook Live video series was a place where we could control the conversation. In these segments we reminded people of key information, engaged with restaurants, congratulated winners and ate a tonne of poutine. It also helped to give a face to the event with many of the primary committee members joining us for their eloquent descriptions of the chef inspired poutines.
As a wrap to the event we were thrilled to see huge increases in engagement on all social platforms and most importantly more than double the total amount of funds raised over the previous year. For more info on YXE Poutine Week check the links below. Big THANK YOU to the all star YXE Poutine Week committee, all the participating restaurants and everyone who came out to eat guilt free poutine in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Saskatoon. See you next year. Author
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 Welcome to the wonderful world of Floating where 1000 pounds of Epsom salt can solve a lot of life’s problems. We met the owners at Float Now right after the new year. We quickly learned the basics of floating and got flipped upside down with a dose of authentic f*cking mindfulness. One of the awesome challenges we had with their service is that it’s done completely naked in total darkness. How do you promote something that can’t be lit or shown on social media because of rules around nudity? We started the conversation with some basic cues on what the process looked like. Helping to break down the barriers to entry regarding the physical space, lighting, mood and experience.  One of the core values of the company is floating as a practice. The analogy of working out at the gym was a great starting point for us and something they used in the Float Center to explain to clients about the benefits of a float practice. We enlisted the help of a Float Now Ambassador to speak on a more personal level about her experience with floating. Having Ash speak about the process and capturing strong visuals on the entrance to the Float Center helped us to create more familiarity. Since the service is highly personal and requires lots of education, we always make it a priority to showcase the physical space. Float Now makes it easy for clients to float often by having a float membership. Although this is a primary service we didn’t want to create content that felt like an advertisement. We made the choice to focus on floating as a lifestyle. Through videos and photos, we shared the owner’s experiences around stress, mindfulness and the benefits of floating.  One of the great things that we love doing with clients is collaboration videos. Float Now teamed up with Those Girls at the Market to create a special Kava chocolate bar, which has beneficial relaxation qualities and greatly enhances the float practice. Being involved in the community is always a great choice, making sure it’s well documented is an even better one.  Beyond the experience in the float tank we always look for ways to illustrate the entire experience. The before and after rituals of floating are just as important as the float itself. When they brought in Kombucha on tap, we had to give that some love.  As we grew with Float Now, they went through a rebrand to move to the next level. Helping to create visuals online and thoughtful messaging was important during this time of transition to keep clients informed.  One of the main questions we still wrestle with is how to visually represent a service that happens in total darkness. On many occasions, we chose to show floating as it “feels” not as it appears. We have played with inanimate objects, like the duck, to represent the experience in the tank. The biggest thing we have learned about working with Float Now on their incredible product is that it’s less about what happens inside the tank and more about how it affects you in the rest of your life. Being mindful, being present and being in the NOW is really what it’s all about.  Written by Tyler B.
 Vivek and Roshni were introduced to us by our friends at Unite Coop. They needed some help with their social media presence and some general brand awareness. As a new company visibility was key for them.
One of the first concerns we addressed was familiarity with their physical location. They felt that people didn’t know how to find them or what to expect. We began telling the story by visually documenting their café, both inside and outside. Creating content that illustrated the look and feel of the café was a great place to begin.
Their company is very involved in the community and donates 3% of their profits to a local charity. We provided live coverage for their charity switch over event and invited the public into the space to learn more. We did Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and curated a photo album of the event. Read more about Live Event Coverage.  Vivek and Roshni are the faces of the business and moving into our second month we began to engage them more in visual content. Using interview style videos was a good match for the couple and started a conversation with their followers around the philosophy of the business. We also addressed some housekeeping issues like their delivery service with Skip The Dishes. During the cold months, we wanted to highlight this service which was popular with downtown office crowd. As we moved into our third month of content creation everyone started to really open up. Transparency is something we really try to foster with clients. The more authentically we can represent the business the more engaged a social media following will be. It’s not always easy to find the balance with personal and professional online, but it’s something we work together with clients to find their comfort level.  The food however has remained the real star of the show. Each month we have highlighted new and popular menu items. Their vegan / vegetarian fusion menu is packed full of interesting things to educate, explore and inspire people with.
Most recently we sat down for our monthly strategy meeting and discussed their Nighttime Menu Launch and pulled together some inspiration to create a visual plan which included a Postcard Menu. We kept the menu on brand, while giving it a unique feel to match the diversity of their new offerings.
Since the new menu was so unique we made sure to not only document the food itself, but also the attitude of why it was created. We created a Facebook Event, an online contest and a complete visual story for the new menu.
One of the best parts of working with The Karma Café is the openness and honesty we have developed in our communications. Our content is only as good as the relationships we have with our clients. We are thankful to Vivek and Roshni for being so awesome to work with and making our job easy. Written by Tyler B  |
