Daryna Kulya

Popular digital and social media news site Mashable declared June 30th as the global Social Media Day in 2010. Communities around the world responded positively by connecting offline and talking about what social media means to them.

Last week Windsor-Essex joined other Mashable communities by hosting the first celebration of the Social Media Day.

Local social media enthusiasts (Follow them all on Twitter here) gathered to start the discussion on how to use social media to make Windsor-Essex community better connected.

Before going into the details of our discussion would like to mention that when talking about social media a lot of times the conversation shifted to discussing solely Twitter and its impact. Thankfully, our group was reminded a couple of times to look beyond Twitter. Even though check-in services are gaining a lot of users these days and Facebook (and now Google with its Google+) is on the news everyday, Twitter seems to be the channel most commonly associated with social media. Well, at least in Windsor, Ontario as I am reporting on the results of the community discussion.

Here are several questions we covered:

1. What does social media mean to you and your organization?

• Opportunity to meet new people, discover the city, expand both social and professional networks and keep in touch
• Someone mentioned that social media was a channel that landed them a job, partnership, clients and even a new place to live in
• Social media is a way to start a two-way discussion with existing and potential customers and get insights on the market

2. How can we use Social Media to make Windsor-Essex a better connected community?

This question was one of the most important items for discussion and here are some of the items mentioned.

Windsor-Essex Twitter hashtag

A region-wide hashtag would make it easier to find interesting things going on, have a streamlined discussion and connect with fellow Windsorites.

#WErocks, #windsoron and #wearewindsor were among the suggested tags. #WErocks was selected as the favourite hashtag and it is already being used locally to promote events and initiatives.

#WErocks is helping us become a better connected community.

Join the discussion now!

Local businesses

Local business are great adopters of new trends and technologies and it is great to see them active on Twitter, connecting with fans on Facebook and offering rewards via foursquare check-ins.

We identified the following businesses as most active in Windsor :

@WindsorEats, @phogtom, @greenbeancoffee, @WETechAlliance, @BlabMedia

Tourism and entertainment

Another aspect the group looked into was tourism and entertainment. Using social media for increasing awareness of Windsor-Essex as a travel destination and for including visitors in the conversation with locals is what we are missing at this time.

3. How to engage your audience on different social media channels?

When thinking about presence on social media sites, it is important to both businesses and individuals to think about the conversations as a measure of effectiveness. Having sincere conversations with the audience is a key to success.

Think about what people expect from you, who your audience is and what they care about. Figure out what interests them and start a conversation. Keep it interesting!

Social Media Day Windsor-Essex went great- awesome to meet Windsor’s social media enthusiasts and collaborate to make our region better connected.

Thank you to all for coming and joining the discussion. Very grateful to @lubna_amin for great photos and of course thank you Vermouth for offering a great outdoor patio and awesome drinks! Special thanks to @greenbeancoffee for kindly providing a giftcard to the most active socialite during #SMDayWE – congratulations Lubna!

The global Social Media Week is on September 19 – 23rd, so let’s get together once again! Ideas and suggestions are most welcome :)