Real Fresh TV | Specialists in Social Commerce and Social Media Marketing » Announcements

Manchester Social Media Surgery welcomes Crain’s Manchester Business

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:52:19 +0000

Highly regarded weekly business newspaper for Greater Manchester

I’m really excited to share that Samrana Hussain, business reporter at Crain’s Manchester Business, the highly regarded weekly business newspaper for Greater Manchester will be attending the Social Media Surgery later this month.

Manchester Social Media Surgery events offer real life advice and case studies from an experienced panel of digital and social media marketers who discuss social media projects and issues presented by the audience.

As shared earlier in the week, Hussain reported on the free Social Media Surgery events on Crain’s Manchester Business and I’m delighted that the experienced journalist is joining us at the event on Tuesday April 13. Hussain recently joined Manchester Crain’s Business from ITV Granada.

Crain’s Manchester Business, behind the popular Crain’s Manchester Business Best Places to Work Awards launched in the North West in the 2007 as the first city business weekly of its kind in Western Europe and won the North West Newspaper Awards Weekly Newspaper Website of the Year award within two years.

The newspaper’s target audience at launch was Greater Manchester’s upper-level executives and business owners.

As reported by regional media and marketing portal, How-Do.co.uk:

“The title is modelled on the business weekly publications which exist in most sizeable US cities. Crain’s itself publishes four city business titles: New York, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. Crain’s also publishes Ad Age, the US equivalent of Campaign magazine in the UK.”

We’re delighted to welcome Samrana Hussain to the Social Media Surgery and hope our panel is up for any tough questions on Twitter being used as a tool for investigative journalism!

Taking place on the second Tuesday of every month at Innospace (Manchester Metropolitan University’s business incubator) on Chorlton Street between 5-7.30pm, Manchester Social Media Surgery events are free-to-attend, informal networking events that attempt to help Manchester businesses embrace the social media revolution in order to grow their company.

The events are run as an outreach of the Social Media Cafe Manchester network with everyone involved donating their time for free.

The April 13 event is employing a Dragons’ Den format with up to £5,000 worth of expertise and knowledge in the form of advice from the experienced panel.

The theme of the event is: ‘Is Twitter any good for marketing?’

Social Media Surgeons at the event include:

Simon Wharton of search engine specialists, PushON
Adrian Slatcher from Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA)
Louise Bolotin freelance journalist who has worked for the BBC among others
Bruce Thomas from social media agency Modern English

The evening will be chaired by Jon Clements from PR firm Staniforth.

You can also submit a question on using Twitter for marketing.

What do you think? Do you think Twitter is worth considering as a marketing tool?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

WordCamp UK 2010 is happening in Manchester… woot!!

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:27:46 +0000

You have to wait 10 weeks for a blog post and then two tumble out in two days!

As I shared in the last post, I’ve been pushing hard on a number of fronts over the last few weeks but this is one result I’m really pleased about.

I found out over the weekend that the bid I entered for Manchester to host WordCamp UK 2010 has been accepted, beating Portsmouth’s strong offer.

This can only mean one thing:

WordCamp UK 2010 is happening in Manchester!

WordCamp UK is the informal annual gathering of WordPress publishers, designers and developers based in the United Kingdom, held at a different location around the country each year.

Those of you tracking the #wordcampuk hashtag on Twitter will know this is old news but I thought I’d blog it anyway, a couple of days after the fact. Have been crazy busy this week, is all.

Why Did I try to bring WordCamp UK to Manchester?

Well, I attended my first WordCamp UK conference this year in Cardiff and was blown away by the passion, enthusiasm and support espoused by the WordPress community in the UK over 2 days in July.

This is actually my second attempt at bringing WordCamp UK to Manchester.

I joined the WordCamp UK mailing list in late 2008 because I heard about the opportunity to bid for Manchester to host the conference in 2009.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a venue arranged in time and settled instead for helping Cardiff organise the 2009 conference, helping to draft the Sponsor Pack for the event.

I’ve been a fan of WordPress for quite a while and consider it to be the de facto platform of choice for social media powered websites so I’m thrilled to be part of the team bringing WordCamp UK 2010 to Manchester. I can’t wait to make this third WordCamp UK the best yet.

Many thanks to the brilliant people who made Manchester’s successful bid possible.

Here come some ebullient thank-yous:

David Edmundson-Bird‘s kind and generous help in procuring use of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School‘s Aytoun Building for the UK WordPress community for the duration of WordCamp UK 2010: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 July 2010. Thanks again for all your help David.

Barbara Hunter of Visit Manchester (Greater Manchester Tourist Board) who was instrumental in putting together a beautiful bid document. Thank you Barbara.

Adrian Slatcher, Alan Holding and many others at the Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA) who supported our bid.

We couldn’t have done it without you.

It’s great to see all the great write-ups coming in about this exciting news.

Big thanks to Tony Scott for the excellent overview of the result.

Tony ‘herds’ the UK WordPress fan boys and girls on the WordCamp UK mailing list. Sign up here if you’re interested in all things WordCamp UK.

There was also a really cool article on How Do, the Greater Manchester online media and marketing magazine.

Would You Like to help Organise WordCamp UK 2010?

I’m going to be working with a group of people who kindly offered their support with organising the conference next July. Many of these individuals are on the WordCamp UK mailing list but a few are also from the wider digital community in Manchester.

If you’d like to be involved in the planning for WordCamp UK 2010 please pipe up in the comments and I’ll be in touch.

Bring on July 2010!

WordCamp UK 2010 happens in Manchester the week after the FIFA 2010 World Cup Final )

You can now flag your intent to attend on Upcoming.

Free WordCamp UK 2009 Ticket Giveaway: We have a winner!

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:25:57 +0000

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the WordCamp UK 2009 Free Ticket Giveaway.

We have a winner! Of the 7 comments left after the blog post since it was published on May 12th, 5 have been entries to the contest.

I ran the numbers 1 and 5 through the Random Number Generator at random.org and 5 was chosen!

That’s you Grace Long.

Here is Grace’s winning entry:

“Hi, I have just found out that this year’s Wordcamp will be held just down the road from where I live. I have been interested in using WordPress for some time now and would really love to be able to dip my feet into the world of WordPress and find out more about it. It would be a great opportunity to meet the Who’s Who of WordPress and its developers. I certainly would love to come to attend, meet and have a chat with everyone. It will be a bonus if the ticket will be free.”

Grace, I will email you the details you need to add yourself to the Attendees page on the WordCamp UK blog.

It’ll probably be later today or possibly some time tomorrow as I have to contact the WordCamp UK list to get it done.

See you in Cardiff in July!

Thanks again to everyone who entered. I’ll hopefully run some more WordPress and WordCamp related contests soon so you’ll all get another chance to win.

Image credit: Newsday.com

Real Fresh TV wins Manchester Evening News Blog of the Week award

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:01:53 +0000

Wow, I’m completely blown away by this.

Paul Robinson, seasoned tech blogger and contributor to the Manchester Evening News, the widely read regional newspaper that shares a venerable heritage with the Manchester-born Guardian newspaper has awarded this site ‘Blog of the Week’ on the site’s The Mancunian Way blog!

I’m familiar with Paul’s work having read his excellent coverage of local tech and media events, from the Tony Wilson Experience, an innovative 24 hour conversation that paid tribute to one of Manchester’s greatest sons, music industry mogul and broadcaster, the late Tony Wilson, to summer’s media and advertising extravaganza, the b.TWEEN conference, also covered on this site.

He is an avid social media practitioner in his own right and I can attest to that as one of the many subscribers to his Twitter stream.

All this makes his review of the Real Fresh TV combined website and blog all the more heartening.

I know first hand how difficult it is to explain to organisations who have only just embraced e-commerce why engaging with consumers online using ‘social media’ is so important so it helps that this award comes from someone understands that social media is more than just blogging about what you had for lunch.

This quote is particularly heartening:

“For those of you hoping to improve your own online presence, it’s a great local starting place to try and understand the local social media scene, and what is happening further afield.”

- Manchester Evening News ‘Mancunian Way’ blog on Real Fresh TV, November 2008

And getting involved in the local social media scene is certainly what I’m going to be doing more of over the coming months.

For too long I have gazed longingly at the much bigger ‘social media scene’ down in London, wishing I could attend regular industry events like Chinwag’s social media MeasurementCamp or the often talked about weekly London Social Media Café aka The Tuttle Club, curated by the illustrious Lloyd Davis.

And there’s the equally bustling scene in Brighton, championed by the smart folk at social media agencies like Nixon McInnes.

Paul’s article has reminded me of how important it is for us Northern social media practitioners to come together to empower, educate and encourage our huge, creative and potentially industry-changing customer base.

The much talked about historic election in the US this week shows just how much the world has woken up to the power of the internet.

It’s our job to show businesses, individuals and blogstars in the making how to use the tools of social media to change their worlds.

And, next Tuesday, by joining in the ~~‘blogging is dead’~~ ‘Is blogging dead?’ debate at Manchester’s inaugural Social Media Café, I intend to do just that.

Care to comment? Do you think Manchester’s social media scene is to be celebrated? Fire away in the comments.

UPDATE: for those interested in all things social media in the Manchester area, sign up to the Social Media Café Manchester Google Group to meet the great people behind the idea and learn more about ~~forth~~ upcoming events.

There’s certainly a lot of interest, at last count membership was up to 118! The Google Group has lots of info on Tuesday’s event including an agenda and running order. The venue is The Northern at 56 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LW. Tel: 0161 835 2548. Starts 6pm, ends 9pm. See this blog post for more details.

This update comes courtesy of MartinSFP’s comment below. The award winning blogger and musician behind 14sandwiches.com‘s post about starting a Social Media Café in Manchester kicked started everything early last month. Exciting times.

Real Fresh TV featured in the UK’s Top 100 Marketing Weblogs

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:12:27 +0000

Lovely to see we are getting even more widely read! We’re straight in at #75 which isn’t bad for a new entry.

Here’s the full list of the The UK’s Top Marketing Weblogs. It is managed by the splendidly named James Gordon-MacIntosh of Seventy Seven PR.

Excellent stuff.

Photo credit: Northxeast.com

Currently Experiencing Some Email Problems

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:06:32 +0000

I’m currently experiencing some problems receiving emails sent to @realfresh.tv accounts.

It is being looked into and should be resolved within the next 24 hours.

If you need to get a hold of me urgently, drop me a line at:

chichi at thisischichi dot com

Or shoot me a tweet or direct message via Twitter. You can always ring too! Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Real Fresh TV Founder Short Listed for a 4Talent Multi-Platform Award

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:35:08 +0000

Such brilliant news!

I’m really excited to announce that I have been short listed for a 4Talent Award, in the Multi-Platform category.

For those who are unaware, 4Talent acts as a talent spotter for the various arms of Channel 4.

The 4Talent 2008 Awards will be:

shining a spotlight on 20 highly creative individuals under the age of 30, who are tipped for the top across a broad range of genres including a special award for talent in the multiplatform world. Chinwag.com

The list of the 100 that made it this far is on the 4 Talent website:

It’s now over to the illustrious panel of judges to pick 20 winners, whittling the 5 people short listed in each category down to one eventual winner.

Winners will receive a trophy at a black tie awards ceremony in November and a national press push backed by Channel 4.

Winners will be notified by 31st October.

Wish me luck!

I’ll keep you posted!!

Putting On A Social Media Starter Course

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:11:22 +0000

I’m putting together our first Social Media Starter course.

The idea is to provide a practical forum for people to learn how to get started in social media.

It’s a two hour interactive seminar/workshop, packed full of insights into creating and executing social media and content marketing campaigns that work on the web.

Keeping with the classroom theme, I’m deliberately keeping it small with attendance limited to only 20 places.

The agenda so far:

an informal presentation on the benefits of using social media complete with brand case studies and examples
a hands-on introduction to some of the tools of the trade: blogging, online video, micro-blogging (Twitter) and more.
a practical, interactive session where attendees pair up to solve a real marketing problem using the knowledge already shared

As you can see, the plan is to arm attendees with actionable social media marketing tips that can be put to use straightaway.

There will also be opportunities for a one-to-one session at the end.

Who Is It For?
Like our very successful masterclass at Marketing’s MarketingTech:Tailor Made conference in March, this event is targeted at marketing and brand managers, media planners, account managers and anyone who needs to create social media as part of an integrated marketing campaign.

More news to come early next week. I’m very excited!

What do you think? Should anything else be on the agenda?

Photo Credit: Teachers In Space

Announcing The Winner of the 5 Day PUMA Manchester Giveaway

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:00:16 +0000

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Nathan Keller whose entry got the most votes in the 5 day ‘comment contest’ that was the 5 Day PUMA Manchester Giveaway.

Nathan wins 5 pairs of tickets to an exclusive Hadouken! gig at Manchester’s Moho Live on June 17th and a pair of USAN trainers from PUMA’s Runway Collection.

I’m looking forward to his review of the Hadouken! gig which will be published here on June 18th. Find out more about the gig at www.pumamanchester.com.

Many thanks to everyone who entered the 5 Day PUMA Manchester Giveaway. Now is the time to let me know how the contest can be improved.

I am already planning on engaging a web developer to improve the Comment Voting plugin we used; apologies to anyone this affected.

Any comments, queries or questions, leave them in the comments below.

Photo credit: programmation-python.org

Disqus Turned Off

Chi-chi Ekweozor — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:13:18 +0000

I’ve uninstalled Disqus, the third-party blog commenting system I installed a week ago on the Real Fresh TV website and blog whilst I investigate alternative Comment Voting systems.

Unfortunately, Disqus does not allow export of comments left on their system back onto the originating site, a major drawback and one reason why I’ve uninstalled it.

Here are all the 14+ comments the site received whilst Disqus was installed:

http://www.disqus.com/people/realfreshtv/

Stay tuned for more news on the 5 Day PUMA Manchester Giveaway…