Freelance writer, hockey lover. Follow me on twitter: @KMaximick
where social media, journalism and @canucksgirl44 collide
By KATIE MAXIMICK
Behind the black goatee and white smile of Karm Sumal is a brilliant entrepreneur with a heart of gold, and it was this heart of gold (and his longing for Canada to win it) that launched his blog, vancitybuzz.com, into local prominence.
“At first, Vancity Buzz was started for pure fun,” Karm said. “Then the momentum built and we continued to get inspired.”
“The negativity that surrounded the Vancouver Olympics fueled our fire, so we began highlighting the positives, as we felt they far outweighed the negatives. And here we are today.”
When Karm began to write positively on the Olympics, traffic to his website doubled and ultimately established Vancity Buzz as a go-to site for Vancouver events. Unlike some businesses around Vancouver and Whistler, Vancity Buzz’s success continued to grow once the Olympics were over, and a lot of that has to do with the man behind the website.
Karm uses his site and social media accounts to connect to his audience, rather than post strictly self-promotional content as some prominent bloggers tend to do. This means Karm’s audience is as unique and as personable as the man behind the website, and if you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting Karm (perhaps at a Canucks Tweetup) you know he’s pretty charming, not to mention humble.
“In terms of popularity, that’s subjective,” he said about his rising fame. “The blog and Twitter are pretty much an extension of my personality, and I think it shows in my reach and demographics.”
And I’m sure a lot of Karm’s demographics must be male after the popularity of his weekly (and sexy) Humpday Hotties posts.
By the way, Karm’s Twitter account now boasts close to 12,000 followers, and has 2,400 connections on his Facebook page.
Vancity Buzz and charitable promotions
Rising popularity has its price. Because Vancity Buzz is so successful in terms of garnering attention for local events, Karm has to filter through a lot of emails on a daily basis.
“We get pitched, a lot,” he said. “Honestly if I said yes to everyone I’d have six postings a day on events alone. However, one thing we don't say not to are charity events."
And there are many small charitable organizations that get lost in the blinding limelight of big fundraisers and well-funded galas. Karm believes that it’s those little events that deserve the promotion on his website.
“It’s our way of giving back to the community. We can’t always donate financially or donate our time, but spreading the word is our way of giving a little back.”
"That’s what we provide – free exposure for charity-related events.”
(The quarterly Buzz Entrepreneur Event, March 24, 2011 at the Joseph Richard Lounge.)
On social media's ability to raise awareness
To gain exposure for deserving events, Vancity Buzz takes to Twitter, Facebook and their website to Tweet, link-out and profile them.
“I think social media has expanded the reach of [charitable] events,” Karm said. “Tweetups for charity are an amazing tool to raise funds or awareness for causes. I think the most recent example of that is the sled dog tragedy.”
Vancity Buzz uses all aspects of social media to promote its own quarterly charity event called The Buzz Entrepreneur Event where partial proceeds go to a chosen organization. The last event raised donations for Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver.
The next Buzz Event is on March 24th at the Joseph Richard Lounge on Granville, hosted by VanCity Buzz and Reach Magazine. Partial proceeds will go to the Sunset Community Centre Daycamp for Kids.
So aside from a great smile, a humble personality and a big heart, what else makes Karm Sumal stand out above the Vancouver crowd?
How about drive?
“Our success is quite amazing thus far,” he said.
“However we aren’t satisfied yet, and don’t think we’ll ever be.”
By KATIE MAXIMICK
(Harrison Mooney - the Canucks Scrabble master. Mooney holds his trophy next to a defeated Tanner Glass at Canuck Place Children's Hospice, Feb. 23, 2011. Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick/Vancouver Canucks.)
The seed that sprung a Scrabble match
“Fantastic. Absolutely surreal. Unlike anything else I’ve been a part of.”
That's how blogger Harrison Mooney sums up his Scrabble battle with Vancouver Canucks forward Tanner Glass that took place on Feb. 23.
The always-grinning writer for the popular blog site called Pass It To Bulis never thought the match would happen, let alone that he would help raise $9,000 for charity.
“I decided to challenge Tanner Glass to a game of Scrabble," Mooney said. "I figured he’d say no, or just never respond because who reads our blog? [ he laughs]. But a week later a reader named Annie made some shirts. The shirts were cool and we put them up on the blog."
Despite the courtship, Glass wasn't swooning from Mooney's advances right away.
"I guess he told us, ‘No, I won't do it,’ then [his sister] convinced him that we could sell the shirts for charity and it could be a really good event, so he said yes.”
The epic Scrabble Battle took place at Canuck Place Children's Hospice, a fitting location since all proceeds from the charity match went to the Canucks for Kids Fund.
Many kids surrounded the Scrabble table, pitching in to help Glass with possible solutions whenever the big fourth liner struggled with his letters.
"Initially I just thought it would be kind of a fun thing. We’re always looking for different and original things we can do involving the Canucks on Pass It to Bulis," Mooney said. "That was the plan originally, then once the charity angle came into it, it was just a way better idea."
"It wasn’t even so much that I started it as I felt privileged to be involved.”
(Mooney gives Glass a cheeky smile from across the Scrabble board as they wait to make their first plays. Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick/Vancouver Canucks.)
The role of social media in the Scrabble Battle's success
Like Richard Loat's Five Hole for Food inception, Mooney's charity event would not have been possible without social media. Mooney originally heard Glass gloating about his Scrabble skills on Team 1040 radio when the blogger decided to take it to his website to challenge Glass to a match on Nov. 22, 2010.
Canucks fans on Twitter went wild with the idea, calling out the official Vancouver Canucks account to pass the message to Glass and get him to accept the challenge.
For weeks a popular Canucks hashtag was #ScrabbleMeTanner.
"It played a huge part," Mooney said about social media. "It’s hard to get in to talk to any of the players, so for us all we did was put it out there on the internet and somebody else jumps on, then more people jump on. Before we know it we’re Tweeting with Tanner Glass’ sister. From there it just sort of took off."
It was through social media that the Canucks caught wind of Mooney's challenge and from it raised significant donations for the Canucks for Kids Fund.
Bloggers are often snubbed in the world of media, but Mooney's use of social media (as well as some of his delightful cockiness) got the right kind of attention and has ultimately given some credibility to his kind.
Who else can say they played Scrabble against a Vancouver Canuck, all in the name of charity?
No local sports reporters are coming to mind.
"I think personally this is one of those things where [the Canucks] were able to actually see how much power social media can have,” said Mooney. "We’re looking forward to doing the same thing again next year with the same means – Twitter, the blog, emailing back and forth. I think there’s a lot of power to generate things that way.”
(Mooney secures his victory with a handshake. Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick/Vancouver Canucks)
The Canucks Scrabble Battle: an annual event?
Predictions for next year are bright as Mooney looks forward to defending his title as Scrabble master.
He even has his sights set on other players.
“There were a lot of Canucks who were chirping Tanner and saying that they were better than him at Scrabble. I heard Jannik Hansen say that Tanner Glass was third or fourth best, and Daniel Sedin said that he was the best," Mooney said.
"If that's the case then there are a lot of Canucks who are gonna need to step up and show the cojones that Tanner showed.”
If it's all for charity, let's hope the rest of the Canucks read Mooney's last sentence and say, "Scrabble challenge accepted."
By KATIE MAXIMICK
Whether it's breast cancer awareness, Movember, the Vancouver Sun Run or the leg-hair-growing campaign known as Februhairy, social media has enabled fundraisers of all colours to gain momentum and hit the web running.
As mentioned in last week's blog post on Richard Loat and Five Hole for Food, networking sites and tools have dramatically changed the face of charity campaigns.
Right now I am working with Justine Galo of Tiger Lotus Media as well as the Canucks for Kids Fund to organize my own charity event. Although things are still in the initial phases, I am already seeing the benefits of using social media to my advantage.
For example, last week I posted a message on Twitter, asking female Canucks fans how many would be interested in my event (a Canucks "Tweetup" for charity).
The response was both immediate and very encouraging. Women all over the west coast were enthusiastically replying, reTweeting and asking their friends to join them.
In only a few moments, my little idea had reached thousands of people.
By posting advancers via Twitter or Facebook, you are laying the groundwork of your idea to your audience while planting a seed of the event in the minds of people interested. The earlier you post, the more people you will reach.
Social media junkies won't forget to remember your event if you don't let them. Post, Tweet and reTweet.
And don't worry about annoying people - it's for a good cause, right?
But there are countless ways to use social media for charities ranging from worldwide campaign drives to local fundraising auctions. There are many online articles with tips for organizing or supporting charities via social media.
An article I found interesting by George Guildford touches on five ways charities will use social media this year:
If you're thinking about organizing a charity event, or just supporting one, do some research and find out what your options are, because really these days, they're endless.
By KATIE MAXIMICK
(2011 Five Hole for Food team from left: Jonathan Buyco, Richard Loat (founder) and Vic Lo. Photo by Dixon Tam).
When it comes to social media, SFU student Richard Loat could be considered one of Vancouver's youngest trailblazers.
With over 3,600 Twitter followers and 1,500 Facebook friends, Loat is undoubtedly one of the city's most popular Canucks bloggers and social-media celebrities.
What you wouldn’t expect out of a 21-year-old swimmer is that Loat created a registered not-for-profit society called Five Hole for Food when he was only 20.
Five Hole for Food takes Canada's love for hockey and uses this to raise donations for local food banks across the country. Last summer Loat and partner Vic Lo travelled across Canada to play high-profile street hockey games in nine cities, all the while raising donations for each city's food bank.
By using his popular social-media presence, Loat has been able to channel attention and attendance to his charity events.
"As a not for profit we have had to rely on social media to get the word out," Loat said. "It's been great because Five Hole for Food started, and continues to be driven, by social media and it is the network of hockey bloggers that came together to start this organization which continue to drive its success."
"Were it not for social media this organization wouldn't even exist."
Start-up ideas for an endless audience
Social media has given smaller charities like FHFF access to mass audiences, whereas before the invention of Twitter and Facebook, the only organizations that could reach a big audience were large ones with established funds.
"Apart from the networking aspect this year we've procured two of our sponsors just through social media," Loat added." We reached out to them on Twitter, and it resulted in the start of partnerships we hope will last a long time. It started by tweeting a corporate company about who to contact, and has lead to things that cold calling hasn't."
Of course using social media to raise awareness for a charity can have its limitations, seeing as your online audience is mostly under the age of 35 and lacks the monetary security of the 50+ demographic, but as Rich Crosby the director of UK’s Greenfield Communications puts it, “the best advertising always has been and always will be word of mouth.”
In his blog on social media and charity, Crosby writes:
“Don't underestimate the power of social media to reach a wide audience. Your charity will benefit by gaining new, young supporters who are full of energy while still reaching older supporters who are more likely to be able to support your charity financially because they aren't living off pasta and Red Bull.”
Regardless of social media’s popularity with young people, older web users are slowly discovering the benefits of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, hopefully meaning the gap between young and old users decreases and the amount of donations increases.
What's important for now is there are various social media tools out there to help people like Loat get their charities off the ground and network with an endless audience to benefit those in need.
Social media and the community
On Feb. 12, Loat and his FHFF team were the organizers behind the Olympic anniversary hockey games on Granville Street. A lot of those who came to play street hockey with donations to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank had heard about the event on Twitter.
(Vic Lo and Richard Loat pose with Mayor Gregor Robertson on Feb. 12 after the VIP "Relive it" hockey game. Photo by Dixon Tam)
"Saturday's event was great because it allowed us to really leverage social media," Loat said. "We had a VIP game and a Celebrity game and those two games had some fairly influential people on Twitter involved in our games. It was great to be able to share that with them and then walk away and tweet about the good times that were had."
The distance between community, business and charity has shrunk with the far-reaching abillities of social media. No matter how far away, platforms like Twitter have made both organizing and donating as easy as the click of a mouse.
To sum things up nicely, social media has radically changed how not-for-profit organizations and charities get the word out.
"You can't say that social media has replaced traditional media, but it got us the buzz we needed to get noticed by those with some serious pull," Loat said. "It's helped make our events a huge success and ultimately it's the closest to an online version of "word of mouth" marketing."
"It's been great as well because it's allowed us to engage with people before we get to each city, after we've left and it has allowed us to keep relationships going despite distance."
Loat and Five Hole for Food kick off the 2011 cross-Canada tour June 23 in St. John's, Newfoundland. You can follow FHFF's tour activity on their Twitter account.
Freelance writer, hockey lover. Follow me on twitter: @KMaximick
Freelance writer, hockey lover. Follow me on twitter: @KMaximick
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