One time I went to a speed dating event and I promised myself then and there – never again. See, here’s my problem… I’m actually pretty shy, so putting me in a room full of people who I’ve never met and then having me talk to them for a few minutes… naturally my first impression is the worst thing ever. Honestly, I don’t think I had one match that night (but if we’re being honest, none of them really appealed to me much either besides this one brunette… but I’m pretty sure I asked what she does for work 4 times in 3 minutes, so there goes that one.)
I am better under two conditions… either I have to know them a bit first (thus why I like social media), or the atmosphere has to be fun/involve a drink or two. Dating events are typically pretty tense in my experience, so when a friend told me about an event his friend was organizing through her new company, Clinton Paul, I was eager to learn more about what it was and if it would appeal to me. I like doing favours for friends (Yes, my blog is nepotism friendly!), so I was happy to provide them with some blog coverage, but then I learned about them some more and a favour turned into a desire to blog about it! There’s enough lonely hearts in Toronto, and in the social media world especially to warrant some upscale dating opportunities! They touch on a bunch of things I like – entrepreneurship, social media, dating AND, best of all, they answered the questions that might help get me laid!
What makes your dating events different than other ones?
6 simple points of difference:
- We are not speed dating. Our events are based on activities that are fun, non-threatening and interactive. This allows for guests to relax, flirt and have real conversations with each other without the formality of “dating in a hurry”. The pressure is off.
- Our marketing strategy is geared towards professionals, with the intent to establish a client base with similar interests and ambitions.
- We are making a commitment to having as much of an equal number of females to males for each event. (At this time are only offering heterosexual events, with a keen interest in expanding).
- We have a suggested age range for each event so that it is loose enough for those interested in meeting above or below their age but is also restrictive enough so that our match-ups are not way off base. Our research shows that the majority of females date 5 years below or above their age, and that the majority of males date 8 years below and 3 years above their age.
- Easy registration! We do not ask for a laundry list of characteristics and traits from our guests. We believe relationships of any level are built from a foundation beyond looks, body type and interests. It’s nice to have something in common, but opposites also attract. Relationships and romance cannot be quantified.
- The awkward standing around ritual that exists at other singles events is eliminated. Our events are planned such that our guests rotate through the room and meet everyone else at the event. They bond and form relationships over light competitions and activities, so you are in no way required to catalyze your own mingling.
Will the numbers balance out – by that I mean, in a perfect world, would every person be able to pair off at the event?
In a perfect world, yes! Though we cannot guarantee an exact balance of numbers, we are committed to acquiring a close ratio of males to females for each event. Moreover, our events work best when our numbers balance out, so we make it a priority to try to ensure they do!
How are you marketing your dating events?
Social media all the way! Through facebook, twitter, foursquare, meetup and youtube we aim to provide our fans with poll questions, interesting facts and statistics about dating, married life and lifestyle in general as well as give them an update on our event listings. Through our blogs and vlogs we hope to put a face to our company and make a stand for a human approach to dating. Moreover, we have and will continue to do face-to-face campaigning throughout the GTA.
Can you explain more about how social media is helping?
Through social media we have been able to get the word out about our company and our events. We are able to learn about who would be interested in what type of events and focus our advertising. Our friends have been more than happy to repost links and garner interest and attention on our behalf. Social media is our key outreach strategy and will continue to be!
Are you single/dating/married? If so, how did you and he(she?) meet?
Sheila – dating. Good old Canadian story. Our brothers played hockey on the same team for 3 years, and on the last game we both came to watch. 2 beers, a trip to see Ninja Turtles and a smooch or two later, we were set.
Melanie – single and loving every minute of it! I date with the intention of finding the right guy but have not found a anyone who can hold my attention…yet.
Had/have you been to a lot of dating events?
Before we started our business we didn’t feel as though there was any need. We’ve since scoped out a few of our competitors to be sure we had a clear point of difference. We thought it was a great idea in theory but found the execution of them to be awkward and didn’t reach the potential it could be…hence the birth of Clinton Paul!!
What is the BEST advice you have for a single guy who’s basically undateable? Should I be going for girls with bad faces, but great bodies and personalities? Should I not be so picky?
Alright, seriously. Confidence. We are of the “Hitch” philosophy, anyone can date anyone. If any kind of guy came up to us with a little bit of swagger, we would definitely give him the time of day… and maybe more than that ;) It’s all in the approach.
What’s a good number of *belt notches* that a guy should have by the time he’s 25? As a scientist, what number is best?
From where we are sitting, it doesn’t matter as long as he’s got the goods when its crunch time. All jokes aside though, a guy with little experience is easier to shape into your perfect lover and an experienced gentlemen may show you a thing or two.
Is it true that women decide within the first 30 second whether or not they are interested in a guy?
Melanie – yes. 10 seconds actually. Might be why I’m single. ;)
Sheila – I think if anything it’s the other way around. Common misconception – ladies can be won over.
Your event, how many people will be there?
Each event has a different amount of people. Generally somewhere between 40 – 60 per event.
Where and when is it?
Our first event is September 22, 2011 at 7:00pm. It’s taking place at the BartenderOne training facility at Empire Lounge at 50 Cumberland Street (Cumberland and Bay). With the closest metro being either Yonge or Bay.
And what does it cost?
This event is $80 + HST. Included is 4 cocktail creations, 3 flare lessons, a cocktail trivia station, 8 professional mixologists, lip-smacking hors d’oeuvres and an opportunity to meet friends and potential lovers.
Anything else?
We currently host 1 event per week that vary in price, activity and suggested age groupings. Some of our events include a Beerology Mixer being held at the Bier Markt, a Casino night taking place at Fallsview Casino and an Indoor Beach Volleyball Mixer for more active singles.
We take suggestions of events and offer free tickets to those who came up with the concept, so anyone can create their ideal mixer. Email us at info@clintonpaul.ca anytime! We also specialize in event concept and creations for private and corporate events.
Check them out at: ClintonPaul.ca, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
The Social Media Influencer is a new concept that has only recently become a term to describe a group of people that marketers and/or public relations people can attempt to exploit to their perceived advantage. The problem with this, and what marketing and public relations firms will realize very quickly is that – Social media influencers suck.
I’m about to let you into the mind of a typical social media influencer, the patterns they exhibit, the reason they exist in the social media world and what their general beliefs are towards brands, marketers and public relations pitches. I’m going to lay everything out on the table for you and let you make up your own mind. I can speak with some certainty though because, well, I’ve been considered a social media influncer for a while now. I also know many people in marketing and PR and have heard their nightmare stories about failed campaigns or ones gone wrong. Not only that, I also know essentially ALL the other social media influencers within the Toronto market and have had long conversations with most about this topic.
These same people are bound to disagree with what I’m about to lay out for you, and it’s due to self preservation – we don’t want it to end. It’s also why there has been a ton of hyperbole in blogs lately.
1. The Mind of a Social Media Influencer
The mindset of a typical influencer is pretty basic: we want invites, products and services. We feel we deserve it because of what we do after receiving it – we blog, tweet and share it on Facebook. Our blog readers read it, our thousands of followers on Twitter see it and our close friends on Facebook listen to what we say. Simply stated, we give you access to the people we know, and we’re giving it to you rather cheaply.
The Problem? The more we get, the more entitled we become. The more we demand. The more we expect. With little to no oversight as to what we do after the fact, we can blog/tweet/facebook and our end of the deal is done. Oh, you didn’t see any results, sales, visits to your site? Not our problem.
2. The Patterns
The patterns of a typical social media influencer are pretty apparent – whoever can hook us up is who matters until 24 hours or less after the event or product is received. We’re only interested in one thing – FREE! Most of us don’t actually care about your product, event or service. We hold no loyalties to your brand. You are the flavour of the day and as soon as our ‘contract’ is done, you’re out the door. (I’ve only recently broken this pattern – I’m loyal to my friends at @FordCanada and my beer buds at @CarlsbergCanada. Other imported beers and truck companies need not apply) This is why you’ll see us blog about the car Toyota lent us one day, the one that Honda lent us the next, the one that GM lent us a week later, and the one that Ford lent us. Each of them has the best cars ever – and we love them so much (as long as they are willing to give us another one soon?)
3. Our Raison D’Etre
We exist for a reason, and it matches the pattern – FREE! Sure, we’re more than willing to tweet about your event as long as you have free foods and booze – oh and it sure as hell better be open bar! If it’s only two drink tickets, we’re going to bitch and moan about that. We like to drink… on your buck! We swear to god, if we show up at your event and you make us pay? We’re going to be PISSED about how cheap you are! You want us to write about your stupid product and pay for it?! What the hell do we look like? Normal suckers who buy that stuff in stores? Gimme a break. If you want us to write about you, you better be compensating our buzz, our stomachs, our tech gear or our wardrobe, otherwise you’re no good to us.
4. Beliefs about Brands, Marketers + PR Pitches
Generally, we know you guys have a whole bunch of money and you’re just looking for some people with influence to talk about you. We know you’re not going to ask us to actually deliver any minimum results – as long as we try, that’s good enough for you. Thank god, because to be honest, we’re not sure if we could actually drive traffic to your site. We also know you don’t really do much research into us, because if you did, you’d know we just blogged about your competitor last month, and another 6 weeks ago, and another 2 months ago.
Heh, switchers like us aren’t really the best spokespeople for your product because after two or three competitors – people just don’t listen to us like they first did. BUT, we should be able to get you a dozen or so followers on Twitter, maybe some Likes on Facebook. But as influencers, we’re just here to try out your product! Ironically, if you just gave out the cellphones, tickets, freebies and products yourself to the people who actually buy it, it would probably spread more online and with better results – one’s you can actually gauge well. But please, keep em coming – we love it!
5. Why We Suck
We’re social media influencers and we influence people. But, the people we typically influence are other social media influencers. We all go to the same parties to hang out, we all tweet the same things at these same parties, and we all blog the same things (just with different pictures of ourselves).
We suck though because people who aren’t invited… the jerks who are just social media people and have no influence who you hope will listen to us and buy the product, service or attend the event… well they dislike us because we get all the invites while they get nothing. We sometimes extend the invites to those people and let them be in our awesome company at the super mega awesome events… but most of the time, they have to sit at home and live vicariously… and vicarious is losing the ‘ar’ and now they are just vicious.
Basically, we would never buy your product. You’re giving it to us for free, so why would we? And if we run out, we’ll just ask you for more OR a competitor will come in and give us theirs and that will be our new favourite. We only go to your events if there’s free food, but especially if there’s free booze! Open bar! If there isn’t, fat chance we stick around longer than it takes to consume those two drinks. But don’t worry, we’ll blog it all… someone might read it and be jealous about the good time we had – but they likely won’t buy either. And those who we do influence? They got the same invite and the same products, so there goes that one… Leaving us with the inferior non-influencers… Well, they’re getting more and more bitter because it’s the same 4 dozen of us invited everywhere, while they are forced to just watch from the sidelines. We suck. It’s pretty obvious. We just can’t believe you haven’t realized it yet.
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The question, “why would I bite the hand that feeds?” is bound to come up. It has nothing to do with resentment or my own bitterness. I’m getting more invites and offers than ever. The reason is simple - I think we can do better! For too long we’ve been given a silver spoon for which we could base careers on. The problem is, I, formerly, (we collectively) are just looking for a handout. Bloggers talk about a product once, and never remember them again. We can, and SHOULD do better.
As a new media, if we as bloggers and influencers want to be treated and taken seriously with bigger and better offers to get our ‘influence’ on the public, we need to act, behave and perform seriously. We can’t keep the status quo! We need to deliver results. Deliver return on the investment put into us. We should not be a roll of the dice, a gamble. We may not always succeed, but we need to be held accountable, both for our great successes (so we can learn what works) and our failures (so we can learn what doesn’t). If we don’t… like all media, whether it’s TV, Radio, Print or Web – we’ll be canceled. We suck… let’s be better!
To the Brands, Marketers and PR folks… this is also a request to you to break the mold. Deal with new people. Invite everyone. VIP should be VIP. Work with people who care. Develop long term relationships with bloggers rather than short term – zero/low return one offs. Develop brand loyalty with actual buyers rather than switchers/deal/freebie seekers. Give feedback to bloggers about the success or failure of their posts. You’re the initial gatekeepers, so start using that to your advantage. We need to work together – for our benefits and yours. The path to success isn’t a one time event, it’s ongoing and long term – why should marketing/PR be any different? We suck… we can be better!