Montreal Social Media

I went to the Montreal Marketing Association’s happy hour yesterday in order to have some information on the membership. I’m not yet a member but I’m looking to join the association. The annual membership is about 270$ and gives access to different activities all listed on the AMM website. The most valuable activity (according to me) is the possibility to join what they call a Think Tank. It seems to be a weekly discussion and networking meeting regrouping marketing people from non-competitive industries. I like the idea.

I was also pleased to chat with Aurelie Ponton about finding a way to protect our industry to define the internet marketing strategist profession (if there is one…). The discussion was based on the fact that anybody can advertise himself as an internet marketer (think about Wal Mart who is now offering SEO and SEM services !), so according to her, being member of the AMM could be a way to show our qualifications. The only thing is that I’m not sure if the AMM is doing any selection on their membership ?

I was a bit disappointed to refuse the invitation from Mathieu and Michelle to get something to eat after the event, but I wanted to attend Montreal StartUpCamp at La SAT. Startup Camp Montreal is an event dedicated to everything Startup. It is the forum where early stage companies, investors and on-lookers alike can share information and validate pitches live.

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I’m writing this quick post on last Yultour because I really enjoined the event. If you are not already familiar with Yultour, it can be described as a gathering of people into the tourism industry sharing this common interest on the impacts of the internet on their industry. The initiative comes from Pierre Bellerose of Tourisme Montreal and they describe themselves as a group of ‘blogueurs et gestionnaires adeptes du e-tourisme’. What brings truly a plus to this networking event is that there is a short presentation that comes with the meeting.

What can we learn from museums?

This edition’s presentation (sorry I didn’t catch the speaker’s name) has shown us how a conservative industry (mainly museums) has embraced the spirit of the social media marketing (or at least some of social media tools). For example:

• Podcasting: Museums already have audio-guides for exhibitions, why not making podcast with these tapes? For example, one my favorite museum,the MOMA, also offers recordings especially for teens or kids, what a nice way to reach a younger audience!

• Blogs: e.g.The Metropolitan Museum of Arts (MET) has a popular blog on fashion into arts.
• Tagging: There is even the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, that allows anybody to tag their collection with their own label. They have created an interactive database that contains thousands of zoomable images. Pretty impressive!

For more info on Yultour visit the Facebook Group ! + When I’ll get the chance I’ll try to check what museums in Montreal are doing with these social media tools.