Taking the TTC to Bay and Bloor is a lot cheaper than flying to Manhattan, so I’m glad Jennifer Weiner came to Toronto to dish about journalism, relationships and reality TV.
When I went to New York last spring, I carefully planned the trip around Lauren Graham and Jennifer Weiner’s book signings. Many tourists go to the New York Public Library branch where they filmed Sex and the City, but Jennifer’s panel with Sarah Pekkanen and Elizabeth LaBan was at the Yorkville branch, so I ventured north of FAO Schwarz and sat front row centre.
Once the panel ended, I approached Jennifer’s publicist to request a Toronto stop on her next book tour. Thankfully Indigo and Simon & Schuster made it happen!
I’m officially a university graduate now and the day after convocation, the celebration continues: today is my fourth anniversary on Twitter.
That means it’s been four years since I first tweeted “Jewellery is not a toy” after a beaded necklace that I made broke. I still have those grey beads in a ziploc bag. Today, the manager who worked at Toronto’s Bead Cafe is engaged to a family friend. As Twitter reminds us every day, it’s a small world!
To celebrate this exciting occasion, I’ve created a list of 4 reasons I love Twitter:
Twitter is responsible for helping me win many products and experiences. Contest prizes have included touchscreen gloves from Target Canada, an Aroma gift card, and a Rob Thomas concert DVD. More recently, I won a free hour of bowling from The Ballroom, which I have yet to redeem. The most amazing prize, however, came from MuchMusic, who gave me tickets to see Arcade Fire!
Arcade Fire
To apply for my current marketing role, I submitted links to my social media profiles, not a resume. And like the characters of The Internship, they hired me following an interview on Google+ Hangouts. Social media is a crucial part of the hiring process now and I’m curious to see how the relationship between social media and HR continues evolving. Twitter helps you showcase your industry knowledge and personality, so share your commentary and keep it clean!
It’s one thing to “Like” a store on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
It’s quite another to learn about how Zellers uses social media while in Liquidation mode.
Name: Jennifer Zedic
Position: Director of Marketing – In Store and Social Media
Employer: Zellers
Education: Fashion Marketing and Merchandising, Ryerson University
Favourite Zellers purchase: Pure by Alfred Sung knit scarf (I liked it so much I bought 5 different colours!)
Professional role model: Heather Reisman – Indigo: I love how she has taken the book store and made it a shopping experience and how she did not back away from technology when it threatens the business, but instead embraced it. She has built a strong and reliable brand and owns the market in Canada.
What makes Zellers a uniquely Canadian store?
History and memories only found in Canada make Zellers a uniquely Canadian store. The fans’ comments from our Facebook page talk about their experience with Zellers growing up in Canadian communities and how the great Canadians who work at those stores made a difference in a lot of their lives.
How has the marketing department’s role and responsibilities changed since learning that Zellers stores will close?
The marketing team is focused on continuing to build great flyer deals that our customers are expecting. We have pulled away from other forms of marketing, such as TV, radio and specialty print but maintained our flyer program and invested heavily in social media. For our Liquidation stores, we are using an extensive amount of ROP’s in local markets to highlight the weekly deals to the customer.
How does Zellers decide which social media channels are worth the investment?
Social media strategy for us is to provide information to the community on what they want to hear about as it relates to Zellers. We chose to invest in Facebook since it is the best way for us to communicate to our customer on a more personalized level and to the largest audience.
