Neulife and Natural Wayz Beverage Close their doors

It’s with a heavy heart that I pass along that Neulife Aloe Drink and Natural Wayz Beverages have been closed for business due to the passing of owner Chuck McCormick. Chuck was an amazing person to work with, always something positive to say, never casting judgment and extremely patient. You will be missed…
Screen Shot 2015-03-09 at 3.07.47 PM
naturalwayz logo2 (1) neulife logo

Twitter put out an amazing #NBA interactive map

If you think you know where NBA fans of each team live, you may be surprised. The new NBA Twitter fan map shows the followers of all 30 teams in the U.S. and Canada.
In October, Twitter posted a map showing where @NFL team fans on Twitter are located. They built this @NBA map in the same way, by looking at the official Twitter accounts for each team, using their followers as an indicator of allegiance (as opposed to, say, instances in which people mention a team while watching an interesting matchup or talking about a team’s rival). Fans of basketball may be interested in using FanDuel’s nba and wnba fantasy platforms to increase their enjoyment of their favorite sport.
Explore this new interactive map, which was built by Twitter data visualisation scientist Krist Wongsuphasawat, that reveals which teams dominate each U.S. county, and how their reach can spread across North America.
Here’s the full map:

The primary view shows you which team is followed most in every U.S. county or Canadian regional district:
Click image to explore map
Click image to explore interactive map
The map illustrates where one team’s fan base ends and another’s begins, and how it varies across the continent.
Here are several more ways to view and explore the map:

  • U.S. and Canada: View a snapshot of where each team’s followers come from at one glance. Because the teams are spread across both countries, we added Canadian regional districts to the map, which include large swathes of northern provinces that have low populations.
  • By team: Pick your favorite team to see where their followers come from.
  • By county: Enter the name of any county/district to see which teams are the most followed there.
  • Compare teams: Pick any two teams and compare where they have their biggest density of followers. You can compare local rivals like the @nyknicksand @BrooklynNets, or teams facing off for a big game on any given day.
  • Second place view: Many locales have divided loyalties, so you can view which teams have the second-highest number of followers in each county or district (which you can explore by clicking the ‘which team has the most followers in each area’ button).

Each view of the interactive visualization has its own unique URL for you to share. For example, look at this map for the San Antonio @Spurs, the winners of last year’s @NBAfinals.
Here are a few (of the many) trends they noticed during our own exploration of this visualization:

Texas showdown

Click image to explore map
Click image to explore map
The San Antonio @Spurs may be the reigning champions, but they have to share Texas with four other teams showing strong support in the area. The @dallasmavs own the counties around Dallas (up to the Oklahoma border where it turns into @OKCThunderterritory), while the @HoustonRockets are the top team in the eastern counties surrounding Houston. Other portions of the state see loyalties divided between the@Lakers and the @OKCThunder.

@KingJames’s teams past and present

Click image to explore map
Click image to explore map
When LeBron James (@KingJames) announced he was leaving the @MiamiHeat and returning to the Cleveland @Cavs back in July, it caused a storm of conversation on Twitter and certainly helped boost the national Twitter following of the Cavaliers. However, as it stands now, he has moved from a team with national support on Twitter to a team which mainly dominates Ohio, almost within state lines.

#WeTheNorth

Click image to explore map
Click image to explore map
From Montreal to Vancouver to the wilderness of Nunavut, there’s one team ruling northernmost North America: the Toronto @Raptors, the only Canadian team to play in the NBA. While that support is concentrated around Toronto, the whole country appears to be rooting for the Raptors – except, that is, for British Columbia. B.C. is split almost evenly between the Raptors and (the LA) @Lakers, which has also made inroads into Manitoba.

The battle for California

Click image to explore map
Click image to explore map
The @Lakers dominate the state of California (a state with a league-high four @NBAteams), to the extent that the city’s other team, the @LAClippers, do not top a single county in the U.S. The patterns for Twitter followers mostly follow regional lines around the team’s home – with the Golden State @Warriors having the most followers in the strip east, north and south of San Francisco and the @SacramentoKings leading in the counties around the state capital.
The story of the @Lakers in California is replicated across the whole of the United States: the team is no.1 in more counties than any other team in the @NBA.

Shots for Tots a Great Success!

First and foremost I would like to thank all of the bars for jumping on board for this! I know that giving away alcohol was a lot to ask but all of the bars that participated followed through with the agreement which resulted in a LOT of toys being donated just in time for Christmas. I would like to give a very special shout out to Gunner’s Run, JD McGillicuddys Manayunk, JD McGillicuddys Roxborough, Flat Iron and Tashan for going above and beyond in their collection efforts and contributing over 80% of the total toys collected. We look forward making Shots for Tots bigger and better next year by adding more locations throughout the entire Delaware valley!
Here’s a few pics from Shots for Tots:

I filled my SUV with toys, Twice!

I filled my SUV with toys, Twice!


4 of the boxes filled

4 of the boxes filled


Some little lady will be riding in style in the Spring

Some little lady will be riding in style in the Spring


They do 2,000 toys in and out of this warehouse everyday in December

They do 2,000 toys in and out of this warehouse everyday in December


Our poster in the window at Crow and the Pitcher

Our poster in the window at Crow and the Pitcher


 
Cavs Rittenhouse doing their part with a flyer on every table

Cavs Rittenhouse doing their part with a flyer on every table


 
 
 

Spotlight: The 2014 Philadelphia Toy Run Motorcycle Rally

We’re excited to be working directly with Hartzell Insurance to make the Philadelphia Toy Run “for the kids” bigger and better than ever before. This event has been around for 34 years with it almost coming to an end last year after some push back from the city. Now with a great team onboard and lead sponsor Hartzell insurance putting up a $50,000 prize to the person who can guess the number of registrants it promises to be a BIG year for the Toy Run!

Click Here to Register and Enter to WIN the $50k


Here’s the full press release which includes all event info:

Local Insurance Company Seeks & Secures The

Future of The Legendary Motorcycle Charity Event

34th Annual Toy Run “For The Kids”

Sunday, November 2, 2014 9AM Columbus Boulevard & Spring Garden Street

Delaware Valley A.B.A.T.E. Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education

Hartzell Insurance Associates Presents

$50,000 Grand Prize For Online Registration

HATFIELD, PA 09/17/14 — The legendary Delaware Valley A.B.A.T.E. TOY RUN “For The Kids” holds the record as the largest one day assembly of motorcyclists in America! If you’re a motorcyclist and have an interest in buying and selling such vehicles, see options here.

The TOY RUN “For The Kids” is a phenomenal charity success, delivering mountains of new unwrapped toys to hospitalized kids battling for their lives over three decades. The event is supported by the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots program which helps distribute the enormous volume of toys collected.

For this year’s TOY RUN “For The Kids” motorcyclists from around the region are encouraged to again show their support and take a shot at winning $50,000 just by registering for the event FREE online at www.hartzellinsurance.com/toyrun.

For the last 34 years an army of motorcyclists have assembled in Philadelphia for a Sunday ride in early November. Not just a last hurrah before putting the bikes away for the long cold winter, the driving force behind the TOY RUN “For The Kids” event has always been a mission to help the kids!

To say that the Delaware Valley A.B.A.T.E. TOY RUN “For The Kids” has been successful would be an understatement. At its height over 90,000 motorcycles showed up for the TOY RUN “For The Kids” — each participant carrying a new unwrapped toy — creating a thundering parade from the Delaware River waterfront through the city to bring joy and smiles to kids in need.

This year, due to traffic control limitations required by Philadelphia Police and City officials, the TOY RUN “For The Kids” will begin at Columbus Boulevard and Spring Garden Street and take an abbreviated parade route to the ELECTRIC FACTORY at 421 N 7th St, Philadelphia, PA.

To pump up the excitement level up for TOY RUN “For The Kids” local insurance and real estate entrepreneur Scott Hartzell of HARTZELL INSURANCE ASSOCIATES of Hatfield PA has created a $50,000 Grand Prize Contest for the event.

Though in the past TOY RUN “For The Kids” has been a spontaneous event with no formal sign-up or registration process, the HARTZELL Group has set up a FREE online registration page offering a $50,000 Grand Prize for the person who guesses the total number of motorcyclists who register online for the 2014 event.

The Grand Prize drawing will be held at the ELECTRIC FACTORY at 421 N 7th St, Philadelphia, PA at the Special Toy Run “For The Kids” FREE Concert with Allman Brothers tribute band Live At The Fillmore.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Contest Details

Toy Run participants will register online www.hartzellinsurance.com/ToyRun providing all requested information. A dialog box will request a guess of how many individual names will be registered online on this site by Saturday October 31st 12 Noon.

The guesses will be stored and tabulated by computer which will generate the results, providing an electronic record for verification.

In the event that no one selects the exact total number of online registrants, the computer program will give us the registrant with the closest numerical guess to the actual number.

That registrant will be notified and given an opportunity at the ELECTRIC FACTORY Event on Sunday November 1st to choose from one of 100 envelopes, one of which contains a $50,000 Prize!

Delaware Valley A.B.A.T.E.

Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education

34th Toy Run “For The Kids”

Day/Date: Sunday, November 2, 2014

Meet: 9 AM Parade: 12:00 NOON

Location: Columbus Blvd. & Spring Garden St. Philadelphia, Pa

Destination: Electric Factory

Philadelphia ABATE Toy Run for the kids motorcycle rally 2014

Restaurant with an Incredible New Concept

Truly amazing, a restauranteur in Toronto has opened a new restaurant apply named “Signs“. This new concept doesn’t specialize in burgers with tasty cake buns or have an entire menu under 500 calories, instead it’s the staff that makes this restaurant unique.


Upon entering Signs you won’t be greeted by a hostess that says, “How many people in your party” instead you’ll be waived at by a deaf hostess with an ear to ear smile. That’s right, the entire staff is deaf and the only way to communicate with them is through sign language. As I’m sure you know, it’s hard for people who are def to find work. This is a great new way for them to work a full time job in an environment where they’re surrounded by people are also deaf and diners that are interested in their culture.

The owner says in the video below that he’s been very busy since opening and that he just keeps getting busier and busier. I personally hope this catches on. I would love a place like this in Philly where I could grab dinner and learn a little sign language at the same time.

Cheers,
Rob Wright

Visit Signs

New Website: Crow and the Pitcher

Crow and the Pitcher is a brand new restaurant just one block off of Rittenhouse Square on 19th street in Philadelphia. For those of you not familiar with Philadelphia, the Rittenhouse neighborhood is very affluent. Other restaurants in the area have the highest prices and some of the best cuisine in the city. The last thing the neighborhood needed was another BYOB or Stephen Starr restaurant, enter Crow and the Pitcher. Crow and the Pitcher has created a unique vibe that pairs excellent food and drinks with a rustic decor and relaxed vibe.
As their newly hired bar, restaurant marketing firm the first order of business was a great website. I knew that the food had to be front and center as their image would depend on it in a neighborhood with so much competition. I wanted a site that is built on the WordPress CMS, is completely image based, has social media integrated, has a built in reservation system and is very simple to use. Below are some screenshots of what we came up with. So far the traffic has been constantly growing and I can see that google is now reading the site more often resulting in better SEO.
For a quote on your next website or even just some project management tips please contact us.

Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency

Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency


Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency

Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency


Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency

Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency


Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency

Crow and the Pitcher Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Marketing Agency


 

A few things you didn’t know about Google Drive

This is a great article originally from Mashable. Easily one of my favorite sites.
Google Drive is here to make your life easy, but we’re here to make it even easier.
The multifaceted feature that allows you to create documents, photos, spreadsheets, drawings and more has boundless abilities. However, with Drive’s constant updates and added hacks, we’re only scratching the surface of what it can really do. You can learn how to improve your workflow with Google Drive, I bet you didn’t know that!

Here are eight tip and tricks to maximize your Google usage.

  • Googlepuppy

    1. Crop photos

    There are several kinds of photo cropping options in Google Drive. Aside from the typical square or rectangle, you can also crop your pics into different shapes, such as hearts and smiley faces.
    Open an image, then click on it and select the Crop icon in the toolbar to mess around with the feature.
    IMAGE: GOOGLE
  • 2. Experiment with add-ons

    For documents and spreadsheets, try out one of the many available add-ons. They include EasyBib (which creates a quick bibliography), Twitter curator (which lets you search and save tweets to your doc) or Translate (which translates text into other languages).
    You can find add-ons in the toolbar when you open a doc or spreadsheet.
    VIDEO: YOUTUBE, GOOGLE
  • Drive-activity

    3. Check out your Drive activity

    Want to track all of the changes you or someone else has made to your Drive? Open Drive and click on the small “i” icon in the righthand corner. All of your activity will pop up.
    IMAGE: GOOGLE
  • Testing

    4. Look at your revision history

    Speaking of activity, here’s a tip that’s hiding in plain sight. You can see up to 100 revisions made on any of your documents by clicking “File” and “See revision history.”
    IMAGE: GOOGLE
  • 5. Use spreadsheets offline

    If you’re a spreadsheet fanatic, this feature is going to change your life. It received a number of upgrades last December, such as new functions like averageif (which gives you the average of specified cells), and unlimited cells, formulas and columns.
    You can also use it without an Internet connection. Any spreadsheet you edit while you’re offline will simply update once you’re connected to the web.
    VIDEO: YOUTUBE, GOOGLE
  • Shortcut

    6. Shortcut to keyboard shortcuts

    There are loads of keyboard shortcuts that I use all the time to make life easier. For example, “CTRL-Shift-T” to bring back a tab you accidentally close or “F11” to view your program in full screen mode. Want to know all the keyboard shortcuts for super fast access to everything? Hit “shift” and “?” and Drive will pull up a list of all keyboard shortcuts – a shortcut for your shortcuts.
    IMAGE: GOOGLE
  • 7. Customize who sees what

    If you’re sharing something on Drive with someone else, you can customize the settings for what type of access each person gets. For example, you can allow or forbid someone from making comments or edits.
    VIDEO: YOUTUBE, GOOGLE HELP
  • Attachments

    8. Make your email life easier

    Gmail limits the size of email attachments to 25MB, but you can bypass that by sending an attachment via your Drive. When you compose an email, click on the small Drive icon, and from there pick what you want to add.
    When someone sends you any attachment via email, you can save it straight to your Drive. Hover over the attachment and you’ll see the Drive icon. Click on it and place it where you like.

Facebook has become the biggest brother // Person Tracking

Facebook recently introduced the discretionary “Nearby Friends” feature that allows you to track friends, proving that the company has not shifted from their fundamental competency of essentially enabling stalking. Facebook users can whether their precise location is revealed. This can mean that you will be able to track friends down to the half mile.

Facebook tracking through iPhone

Facebook tracking through iPhone


 
Unlike most Facebook services which request users to opt-out, “Nearby Friends” is a voluntary opt-in service. Other such opt-in features have proven problematic, such as the feature allowing for the automatic uploading of iPhone photos to Facebook.  “Nearby Friends” only works when two parties each turn on the service and if you choose to share the information regarding your location with them. According to Business Insider:
 
To prevent stalking, the function comes with a timer that switches off Nearby Friends after a certain time, for instance one hour. And only friends can see you in Nearby Friends — not friends of friends or members of the public you have not confirmed as friends.
Nearby Friends also produces an activity log, which you can delete at will. The log also produces maps of your whereabouts over time, which you can also delete if you want.
 
Facebook tracking through iPhone

Facebook tracking through iPhone


 
Facebook has attempted to get users to reveal where they are in the past, but they have not been successful in their efforts. The conception of Facebook Places, a feature similar to Foursquare, did not gain popularity. It was slightly more popular than Facebook Poke, which was a feature similar to Snapchat. Instagram has been experimenting with the use of Facebook Places:
 
When Nearby Friends is on, you can see when your friends are traveling if they’re also using this feature and sharing with you. You’ll be able to see the city or neighborhood they are in, including on their profile. When you see a friend visiting a place you’ve been, it’s the perfect opportunity to send a recommendation for a great restaurant. You can also make last-minute plans to meet up with a friend who happens to be in the same place you’re headed to.
 
This new feature is the result of an acquisition, much like Instagram, Oculus Rift, and WhatsApp. Facebook is attempting to become the next Google.  Andrea Vaccari, the former Glancee CEO who now works at Facebook, promises Business Insider that all of the information gathered through the “Nearby Friends” feature about exactly where you’ve been will not be sold for to generate revenue for Facebook.
 
Facebook tracking through iPhone

Facebook tracking through iPhone


 
Obviously, the new feature has the potential to produce a lot of new data on users. Facebook product manager Andrea Vaccari says that, currently, none of that data will be used for purposes outside the app. It will not be used to help target advertising, for instance. And Nearby Friends will not be usable by business Pages that you’re fans of — so local restaurants and stores won’t be pinging you with offers when you walk by. (Of course, given Facebook’s track record, it would seem natural that such a useful new trove of location data might eventually be monetized in some way in the future.)
 
The operative word there is “currently.”

Newsletter Samples

We’re constantly managing each of our clients databases and putting out great newsletters and dedicated emails. Here’s a few that we’ve done recently. If you’d like a quote please contact us.
Here’s a dedicated email that we sent out for our client The Royal in New York City. This was short and to the point trying to get past customers to make a reservation for an upcoming boxing event.

The Royal NYC Pacquiao vs Bradley dedicated email

The Royal NYC Pacquiao vs Bradley dedicated email


Here’s a weekly newsletter that we used to put out for one of Philadelphia’s hottest nightclubs, G Lounge. You’ll see that we really emphasize guestlist and social sharing to try and maximize the results of the campaign.
G Lounge Newsletter

G Lounge Newsletter


This is the top portion of our own One Up Events newsletter. 25,000 people read this email each week.
One  Up Events Newsletter

One Up Events Newsletter

Small Talk Messaging vs. Hootsuite

smalltalk-vs-hootOne of the most common questions we get here at Smalltalkmessaging is “How does it compare to HootSuite?” HootSuite is a great tool, but it does have limited capabilities for someone who really wants to dive deep into social media as well as online marketing or manage several clients. HootSuite is used primarily as a Twitter tool (although it does more than just Twitter), whereas Smalltalkmessaging is an all-around online marketing tool.
I have put together a list of the features and services that Smalltalkmessaging supports as well as those that HootSuite supports below.

Small Talk Messaging HootSuite
Social Streams
Facebook Fan Page Stream x x
Facebook Group Stream x
Facebook Stream x x
LinkedIn Stream x x
Twitter List x
Twitter Search x x
Twitter Stream x x
Status Updates and Microblogging
Bebo x
Brightkite Status x
Facebook Fan Page x x
Facebook Group x
Facebook Note x
Facebook Page Note x
Facebook Post x
Facebook Status x x
FriendFeed x
Google Buzz x
LinkedIn Status x x
Myspace Status x x
Ping.fm x
Plurk x
Twitter x x
Autoresponders
Email Auto Responder x
Facebook Auto Responder x
LinkedIn Auto Responder x
Twitter Auto Follower x
Twitter Auto Replies x
Twitter Welcome Messages x
Blogs
Blogspot x
MetaWeblog x
MovableType x
Ning x
Posterous x
Sendiblog x
SquareSpace x
Tumblr x
TypePad x
WordPress (self-hosted) x
WordPress.com x x
Photo and File Sharing
Facebook Page Album x
Facebook Photo Album x
Flickr x
MobyPicture x
Scribd x
SlideShare x
Link Sharing and Bookmarking
Delicious x
Diigo x
Identi.ca x
Instapaper x
Read It Later x
Location-based Services
Foursquare x x
Brand Monitoring
Brand and Keyword Monitoring x
Reviews x
Social Media Messaging
Facebook Wall Post x x
LinkedIn x x
CSV Importers
Contact Importer x
Message Importer x
SMS Messaging
Sms Auto Responder x
RSS
OPML Importer x
RSS Auto Poster x
Email
AOL x
Gmail x
Hotmail x
Mail.com x
Yahoo Mail x
Social Media Monitoring
Backtype x
Bizcommunity x
Blip.tv x
Brightkite x
Citysearch x
Complaints Board x
Delicious x
Digg x
Facebook x x
Flickr x
FriendFeed x
Google Blogs x
Google News x
Hello Peter x
Identi.ca x
lol x
LinkedIn x x
News24 x
Photobucket x
Picasa x
Plurk x
Pressbox x
Quora x
Reddit x
Tripadvisor x
Truveo x
Tweet Photo x
Twitter x x
WordPress x
Wordpronline x
Yahoo Answers x
Yahoo News x
Yelp x
YouTube x

In summation, HootSuite is a very useful social media tool, but if you are looking to do more than just basic social media and want to delve into online marketing, Small Talk Messaging will be your best bet.

If you’d like to submit your own review comparing Sendible with other products, please send an email to rob@smalltalkmedia.com and we’ll be sure to link to your site from this post.