The exclusive, exceptional event featured an elegant, eclectic vibe – wrapped up in an iconic comic book enigma. Intrigued so far?

So were the more than 300 folks in attendance at The Smirnoff Experience Graphic Party that happened July 19th at the snazzy Andrew Richard Designs Building.

All guests had received cryptically mysterious invitations embracing an iconic comic book theme – with super secret instructions to call ‘Scarlett’ and RSVP weeks before the event date – so the hype and expectations were high.

It’s safe to say that the event was an exclusive and truly unique experience.

Add a funky four-colour comics motif, endless Smirnoff-infused cocktails, a fun photo booth and a surprise appearance by the enigmatic progressive house and electro house producer Deadmau5 – and you had a crowd thirsty for their next Smirnoff Experience.

Check out some of the blogger buzz from Casie Stewart: This is My Life, Erin Bury’s Random Musings and Unbrelievable. And experience it for yourself, by checking out our video:

This recent study makes the claim that using Facebook at work just might make you a better employee. And for many of us, this survey validates the time we spend secretly lurking on Facebook at work – while nervously glancing over our shoulders to make sure the boss isn’t watching.

But it seems that increasingly, companies are putting measures in place to block employees from viewing social networking sites at the office.   This is often the result of misconceptions and negative connotations around the ramifications of using social networking sites.  Organizations need to stop being afraid of keywords like “blogging” and “twittering” and learn how to develop a strong online presence and visibility for the company.  There is so much opportunity and apparent business benefits of social networking online – your audience is already there and so are your competitors.

Today’s customers expect some level of online communication with companies beyond just a website.  Interacting with customers through online forums provides a sense of loyalty, support and a positive experience for the customer.  Social networking sites are also an easy way for companies to sidestep expensive forms of communication, like advertising and marketing, to reach customers.   Bottom line: it’s a win-win situation for both the customer and company. 

When the Internet initially took off and companies began creating corporate websites, these same negative perceptions existed.   People were intimidated by the vast capabilities of the Internet and its freewheeling ability to disseminate messages to a large audience.  Similar misconceptions exist with corporate blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts – the fear of the unknown.  But if you were slow to trust the Internet and make the jump to a corporate website then, you probably can’t afford to miss on the opportunity to get involved in the social media network now. Although the future of social media remains to be seen, you won’t get anywhere by sitting around and waiting for others to try it first.

We’re seeing more journalists and even CIOs tapped into online sites like Facebook and Twitter and actively contributing to these forums.  Companies are cluing in to the fact that their audiences are online, and in order to reach these audiences, they need to increase their presence in the online space.

So instead of worrying about employees “playing around” on Facebook, companies should be more concerned about engaging their online audience.  

Yesterday, my colleague Martin Hofmann and I had the opportunity to speak at the Canadian Marketing Association conference. The buzz at the conference: making web marketing & online communications effective. Martin and I talked about connecting with customers online through Web 2.0 tools and the keys to doing it right. (If you would like a copy of the deck, e-mail me and I will send it to you). My takeaway is that marketers on the B2C side recognize the need to integrate the Web into their overall marketing plans, while B2B marketers are still dipping their toes in the 2.0 ocean, wondering how to incorporate social networking, videos, and blogs, etc.   

After our talk I was able to stick around and check out Avinash Kaushik. Avinash is a web analytics guy, who writes an excellent blog and just put out a book. (He says the book is based on his “free” blog content, so you could save the $19.99…). Avinash really hit home the message: Web analytics tools now are easier to use than ever before and cost next to nothing. If companies are skipping the step of doing solid analytics work on their online properties, they are choosing to make decisions based on intuition rather than facts. The case studies and data he presented were compelling. The ease with which web marketers can test and then make changes based on the results of those tests means bounce rates can be cut dramatically simply by listening to the what the customer wants.