#the way the collector was used to really dig into/emphasize some of the most important parts of both luz and king's arcs

[astriiformes]

Friend groupchat has been doing TOH finale analysis all afternoon and @thesixthstar made the comment "Luz is the Collector's Azura" and I am going to be rotating that one in my mind for. A long time. Forever maybe.

[allbeendonebefore]

An Incomplete List of Hapo’s Vic Picks

I took some books out of the library over the summer to read up and supplement my Victoria Knowledge (tm) while i was here working here - now that I’m leaving the island again I’ve begun to compile them for your viewing pleasure.

Here in no particular order are my vic headcanons for @orcanadian to do with as she pleases xD I provide no citations but can clarify which things come from books and which things come from experience etc etc. Again the bias here is I pick things that are interesting/funny to me and things which I believe fit with her character as has been presented. Also remember that my default for comparison tends to be Ed first, Cal second, and then my impressions of other cities.

CHILDHOOD STUFF

- the number one thing that sticks out to me after reading edmonton/calgary history is how absurdly aristocratic Victoria is. In a north american sense she’s outrageously sure of herself and confident in her supposed god-given blessings and natural talents and has been so since she was young - in a european sense she’s ridiculously quaint in a kind of muddy, low class way. 

- so on the one hand while she is a Lady (tm) and will only settle for the best things, she’s also the sort of kid who will appall her guardians by digging in the dirt and doing the gardening Herself. 

- I get the feeling that despite beginning as an HBC fort (read: HBC retirement home), HBC had less the interior/mainland understanding (”here before christ”) and a little more of the American understanding (”hated british company”). Not that she would Ever stoop to allowing herself to be called an American, and it took her a Very long time to warm up to the idea of being called a Canadian as the people she met from Ontario and Nova Scotia during the gold rushes didn’t quite suit her idea of decent companions. Islander first, through and through.

- as a kid she spent so much time trying to help create a place she hadn’t really any actual concept of and for the longest time was heavily resistant to anything that didn’t fit her vision. Now as an adult, while the remnants of that particular brand of colonialism and imported class divides are still present, she’s making a very particular effort to present herself as an international and conscious person. (She’s not, exactly, and is still very Basic White Girl (tm) in a lot of things, but she really is trying, especially where indigenous relationships are concerned) 

RELATIONSHIPS

- her relationship with the rest of the island and the mainland as a kid was nothing short of princess to peasant. Her attitude pushed New Westminster (Vancouver’s predecessor) to become adamantly pro-US annexation first and then adamantly pro-Confederation second only a little spitefully, and Victoria’s dependence on Nanaimo’s coal ended up radicalizing the workers. After the turn of the century, she seems to have settled down and mellowed in her relationships, more or less happy with her hold on the political reigns of the province.

- While her relationship with Van Man had quite a rough start, she’s sort of come to accept their respective roles. In the beginning she seemed to be more pissed that he had taken the name of *her* island than she was annoyed by his economic dominance of the province, and her prior relationship with New Westminister seems to have briefly been directed at Vancouver, reaching peak intensity when Canada revealed that maybe building a railway across the Georgia Strait to the island wasn’t feasible after all. 

- Upon acquiring the capital status, Vic started to settle into the idea that /maybe/ they were finally being treated *fairly* and while Van Man wasn’t her *equal* so to speak he could at least learn a thing or two from her guidance. Van Man just accepts this because he knows he can physically lift her, tuck her in, and lock her in her house if she gets sick. 

- Will not let you forget that she is /technically/ the oldest city in Western Canada. Absolutely acts like it and is always ready to dispense Wisdom (tm) even if she doesn’t actually have the experience or knowledge to back it up.

- Despite being closer to the Edge of all things, she’s not a particularly outward looking person even when she pretends to be. Most of her contact with the outside world is actually through Vancouver or through gossip, she remains quite isolated and she’s quite alright with that. Also had more of a historical aversion to Seattle/California than perhaps Vancouver did (since she viewed Washington, Oregon etc. as belonging to her and because she wasn’t particularly fond of all the sketchy flannel-wearing Californians turning up in the mid 19th century rushes) 

- Victoria is actually a committee of 17 separate municipalities, 4 of which are perhaps particularly important to take note of. The ‘four towns in a city’s trench coat’ are as follows:

- VICTORIA: the vic chick herself, seat of power in the province, the mastermind of Vancouver Island, and the hip and trendy downtown.

- OAK BAY: the heart of old British culture and class divides, highly resistant to development of any sort, and self proclaimed “original” hollywood north, Oak Bay is a state of mind more than a place who’s gender is tweed and mostly goes downtown for the Irish Linen store.

- ESQUIMALT: was going to be Victoria’s original location but had crap farmland and no fresh water, so became the military and naval base instead. Vic had a romanticized view of a sailor who would come and sweep her away from the island in her youth but...

- SAANICH: i suppose the chill and friendly popular neighbour of the four and perhaps the most tenuous sense of identity, but loves hiking and stargazing and being outside in general. Shares the university and a local cryptid with Oak Bay.

- Quebec City is kind of her secret senpai - she essentially demanded the CPR build her a hotel on par with Chateau Frontenac (which they did, begrudgingly) and she’s the only one so far this side of Canada to be able to enjoy a tin of Samuel’s chocolate fondue with her fresh garden produce.

- Cal is a CONSTANT visitor to the island to the point that it’s even more common to see Calgary Flames or Stamps junk than it is to see Vancouver or Seattle teams. Vic is “a playground for rich Calgarians”. They may be on opposite ends of many political debates, but they are both similar in personality in a traditional/romantic/conservative way. 

- She also has a bit of an interesting (if mildly condescending) relationship with Hally - polar opposite in attitudes and class backgrounds, but share historical, cultural and geographical similarities enough to at least be able to work together and chat a fair bit.  

- “Hey Whitehorse, remember that ship I sent you?” “Ahh... about that...”

CURRENT QUIRKS

- Old lady at heart. Uses facebook to share pictures of visitors to her yard, post old memes directly to people’s walls, and like Every Selfie before inquiring after the person depicted on the public comments. Thinks she’s the wine mom when she’s actually the tea granny, and her big social excursions are usually with her bridge group/the Greater Vic Committee. 

- Loves to cook with stuff she grows herself and always has herbs at the ready, though she’s quite particular about who she cooks for or takes out for dinner. Also has a serious sweet tooth when it comes to tea time and candy/chocolates.

- She can actually be a little reserved when it comes to hospitality at times even though she’s extremely friendly and outgoing. Doesn’t actually like people staying in her house for extended periods free of charge... remember that BC stands for Bring Cash. That said, she will absolutely be over-generous with weed and offer a complete stranger a joint five minutes after chatting with them.

- Will talk with you, unsolicited, about anything. Friendly to the point that a quiet brusque prairie person like me will be totally caught off guard. Will continue talking as you’re trying to bike up a 45 degree angle. 

- Her manner in some cases can come across as overly blunt or even imperious in that I’m Old So Of Course I Know Better Way and condescending without actually realizing it (”I was cleaning out my attic and found these old photographs I took- they are not the best photos but I’m sure they’ll be adequate to decorate your house”).

- Despite maturity beyond her years, she’s actually got a really good grasp on cool/retro trends and interesting food. While she does tie into the generic maple-washed Canadiana that tourists expect, she’s also very good at putting her own flair on things and emphasizing her own interests (ex. especially comics and games).

- Really into old cars and trucks. Like it’s kind of worrying but considering all the retired people she lives with and the cost of driving to the mainland via BC Ferries (which she h a t e s), it kind of makes sense. A collector.

- Staying out past 9 pm on a weekend is kind of a big deal for her. Also never goes Anywhere in a hurry. So chill and laid back about Everything (but will launch into a passionate rant about how invasive species are actually Necessary Okay or When Will The Deer Stop Eating My Plants?!) no matter how high she is.

- Regardless of how she identifies herself, Vic is extremely queer friendly. Romance of any orientation absolutely warms her heart and she has a particularly strong trans community and archive. She can perhaps be a little nosy about things, but can be really accepting despite her old/conservative stereotype.

- Her favourite holiday (perhaps next to Victoria Day) is Christmas. She goes ALL OUT on lights and decorations every year. 

- While she might be more famous for her penchant for yoga and paddleboarding or sailing and other such individual and relaxed recreational activities, she did beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup before the NHL even formed. Not that she brags, but she does carry a lot of smugness around with her and that’s just one more thing to be smug about.

- Has an umbrella and KNOWS how to use it as both shield and sword. Have at thee, weather and disreputable politicians! Also will absolutely defend an oak tree in her yard with firearms.

Perhaps more will be added later but that’s what I think of. 

[goldeagleprice]

Putting Coin Customers First Can Mean Long-Term Profitability

By Patrick A. Heller

In my experience as a coin dealer since 1981, putting customers first results in long-term customer patronage. Long-term customers are far more profitable over time than a larger number of one-shot patrons. As I have shared with the staff at the company where I work, “If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of you.” This is probably great advice for every kind of business.

Coin dealers can make a profit by selling merchandise at a higher price than what it would cost to replace it. Collectors, above and beyond the enjoyment of being able to own fascinating and historic treasures, have a different time frame than dealers. Therefore, the collector can potentially make a profit in the longer term. This makes it possible, but does not guarantee, that both the dealer who sells it and the collector who buys an item could end up making a profit on the same piece.

Coin dealers, like all businesses, seek additional ways to sell more merchandise in order to increase their profitability. Last week, I was discussing with a long-term customer three sales tactics used by some coin dealers that are fully legal and, handled ethically, might also benefit the customer. Yet, I have seen multiple instances where these upselling strategies seemed to be used more for the dealer’s benefit than for the best interests of the customer.

All three of these following tactics enable a dealer to sell more merchandise to a customer than might otherwise occur.

The most common of these involves the push to use funds in their individual retirement accounts (IRA) to set up a precious metals IRA. This enables the customer to acquire some precious metals and some coins without having to dig into their everyday bank accounts. However, precious metals IRAs have several downsides, which I have discussed in previous columns.

Generally, it does not make sense to place tax-deferred assets into tax-deferred accounts. Instead, tax-deferred accounts are most suitable for assets that pay periodic taxable income such as interest and dividends in order to defer the applicable income taxes to the account’s owner. Precious metals IRAs are also costly to set up and maintain with the fees for a trustee and storage facility compared to having direct custody of the items. Third, the selection of items allowed in a precious metals IRA is limited, where a number of better options to own precious metals (such as for a lower cost per ounce) may not be acquired. Another concern is the additional government reporting and lack of privacy involved with a precious metals IRA versus making such purchases personally.

The second practice is leveraging. This involves paying out of pocket only part of the cost of an investment, then borrowing the rest to make it possible to make a larger purchase. Many investment funds leverage their holdings as it magnifies their profitability if the market moves as anticipated. The same applies for individuals where it is possible to gain greater profits for the amount of personal funds tied up. As an example, a purchaser may invest $10,000 and borrow $40,000 to make a $50,000 purchase. If the asset’s price rises 5 percent, a $10,000 investment would yield 5 percent, while a leveraged $50,000 purchase would yield a gain of 25 percent less the cost of the interest on the loan.

The problem arises if the price of leveraged assets is volatile. In the example above, a 5 percent price decline would result in a 5 percent loss on a $10,000 investment or 25 percent loss (plus the interest costs) on a leveraged $50,000 acquisition. Further, a 5 percent decline in value would almost certainly result in a margin call where the investor would have to immediately provide another $4,000 in funds (to reduce the loan balance to $36,000, 80 percent of current asset value) or risk having part of the leveraged investment liquidated at a loss. Over the years I have heard from many customers who were disappointed with their experience with leveraged purchases of precious metals. They did not fully understand the downside risks of using leverage.

The last tactic is for a dealer to offer to review a customer’s holdings to make suggestions for items to swap for other merchandise that may have better future appreciation prospects. This can be a valuable service, where a dealer may have a lot more market savvy and fresher information than the collector.

However, collectors need to keep in mind that if they do engage in a swap, the merchandise they receive will have a lower immediate liquidation value than the items they turned in. In order to work out from the customer’s perspective, the future performance of the items received will not only have to be higher than what was traded in, they it will have to be even higher to cover the effective buy/sell spread reflected in the swap.

Sometimes a swap can yield a better future return. But there are many items where a swap does not make economic sense. For instance, many pre-1934 U.S. gold coins are now selling at premiums far closer to their metal value than in the past 40 years. A swap of these items for bullion-priced gold coins and ingots are unlikely to result in better results than simply keeping the original items. However, in this scenario, some dealers may be tempted to recommend swaps of items that don’t really have an economic benefit for the customer.

I need to emphasize that all of these services could be valuable for customers in the appropriate circumstances and handled with the best interests of the collector as the standard. The company where I work handles occasional transactions of the first and third strategy discussed in this column (although alerting customers to potential pitfalls). We do not have arrangements to offer leveraged transactions.

From my 56 years as a collector and 39 years as a dealer, the “collector” in me would tend to patronize dealers who listen and help their customers achieve their goals rather than those who focus on promoting precious metals IRAs, leveraged transactions, or an initial evaluation of holdings for possible swap. Dealers who put the interests of their customers first will almost certainly enjoy better long-term profitability.

  Patrick A. Heller was honored as a 2019 FUN Numismatic Ambassador. He is also the recipient of the American Numismatic Association 2018 Glenn Smedley Memorial Service Award, 2017 Exemplary Service Award 2012 Harry Forman National Dealer of the Year Award, and 2008 Presidential Award winner. Over the years, he has also been honored by the Numismatic Literary Guild (including twice in 2019), Professional Numismatists Guild, Industry Council for Tangible Assets, and the Michigan State Numismatic Society. He is the communications officer of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., and writes Liberty’s Outlook, a monthly newsletter on rare coins and precious metals subjects. Past newsletter issues can be viewed at www.libertycoinservice.com. Some of his radio commentaries titled “Things You ‘Know’ That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” can be heard at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday and Friday mornings on 1320-AM WILS in Lansing (which streams live and becomes part of the audio and text archives posted at www.1320wils.com).

The post Putting Coin Customers First Can Mean Long-Term Profitability appeared first on Numismatic News.

[jessette20]

How to build your social media marketing strategy for 2019

Do you have your social media marketing strategy squared away for 2019?

If not, we don’t blame you.

Because 2018 was a whirlwind year for social marketing to say the least.

Facebook was shrouded in controversy due to its algorithm changes and privacy concerns. Instagram finally came into its own by rolling out a whole slew of business features while also passing the one-billion user mark.

All the while brands got bolder, launching conscious and seemingly controversial campaigns as customers want to see brands get real.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

Last years happenings combined with this year’s emerging trends have left marketers with a sense of analysis paralysis. Where do you go from here?

Perhaps what matters most is that you have a strategy at all. To keep your brand from sitting on the sidelines, we’ve broken down the steps to developing a social media marketing plan to carry you through 2019 with a sense of purpose.

1. Set goals that address your biggest challenges

First things first: you need to figure out what you want out of social media at large.

Maybe it’s more social-savvy customers. Perhaps it’s a larger share of voice in your industry.

Either way, remember that social media planning is a marathon, not a sprint.

Brands should strive to set goals that are actually attainable. For example, shooting for a million new Instagram followers in 2019 isn’t going to happen. By tackling smaller, realistic goals, you can scale your social efforts in a way that’s both reasonable and affordable.

And on a related note, your goals will influence everything from your budget to which social networks you’ll tackle.

Sample Social Media Goals for 2019

Below are some actionable goals that brands of all shapes and sizes can divide and conquer.

Increase brand awareness. To create authentic and lasting brand awareness, avoid solely publishing promotional messages. Instead, focus on content emphasizes your personality and puts your followers ahead of the hard sell.

Public service announcement:

1. Pop-Tarts are not ravioli 2. Pop-Tarts are not sandwiches 3. There will never be a Tide Pod flavored Pop-Tart

Have a nice day

— Pop-Tarts (@PopTartsUS) March 6, 2018

Achieve a higher quality of sales. Digging through your social channels is nearly impossible without monitoring or listening to specific keywords, phrases or hashtags. Through more efficient social media targeting, you reach your core audience much faster.

Drive in-person sales. Many brick-and-mortar businesses are on the hunt for a social media marketing strategy that drives in-store sales. Is your brand promoting enough on social to entice folks to come see you? Are you about alerting customers to what’s going on in your stores, including promotions and action shots of your store?

View this post on Instagram

That Superdawg sure jumps off the menu 🤩🌭 #theone #theonly #chicagostyle #chicagosdawg #chicagosbest #chicagoeats #superyummy #eatme #chicagofood

A post shared by Superdawg Drive-in (@superdawgdrivein) on Jan 24, 2019 at 4:56pm PST

Improve ROI. Positive social media ROI doesn’t happen by accident. Taking the time to audit your social channels can help keep the cost of labor, ads and creatives down. The end-result is squeezing way more out of your social spending.

Create a loyal fanbase. Does your brand promote user-generated content? Do your followers react positively without any sort of initiation? Your customers can be your best cheerleaders and sources of fresh content, but only if you’re encouraging them to post on your behalf.

View this post on Instagram

We've been making Docs since the 1960s, both our icons and our collectors editions. How old is your first pair?

A post shared by Dr. Martens (@drmartensofficial) on Jan 22, 2019 at 9:03am PST

Better pulse on the industry. What are your competitors doing that seems to be working? What strategies are they using to drive engagement or sales? Such analysis can help you better understand how to position your own brand both on social media and off.

Any combination of these explicit goals is fair game and can help you better understand which networks to tackle, too. When in doubt, keep your social media marketing strategy simple rather than muddling it with too many objectives that’ll ultimately distract you.

2. Research your audience

Making assumptions is a dangerous game for marketers.

And thanks to the sheer wealth of demographic data and social media analytics tools out there, you really don’t have to anymore.

So much of what you need to know about your audience to influence your social media marketing strategy is already out in the open.

Take today’s social media demographics for example. Here’s a quick snapshot of data points from 2018 that are worth noting for today’s social networks:

This demographic data isn’t fluff, either. These numbers speak directly to which networks your brand should approach and what types of content to publish. Here are some takeaways:

Facebook and YouTube are both prime places for ads, perhaps due in part to their high-earning user bases

The majority of Instagram’s users are under the age of 30, signaling the strength of bold, eye-popping content that oozes with personality

Women vastly outnumber men on Pinterest, which is noted to boast the highest average order value for social shoppers

LinkedIn’s user base is well-educated, making it a hub for in-depth, industry-specific content that might be more complicated than what you see on Facebook or Twitter

See how that works?

And although the demographics data above gives you insight into each channel, what about your own customers? Further analysis needs to be done before you can truly know your customer demographics on social media.

That’s why many brands use a social media dashboard which can provide an overview of who’s following you and how they interact with you on each channel. Most brands today are using at least some sort of dashboard.

However, does your dashboard tie in your specific goals? Brands should be where their target audience is hanging out: that’s a no-brainer. A robust dashboard like the one Sprout offers can help you double-check that you’re spending time targeting the proper channels.

Whether you’re an agency providing insights for your clients or an enterprise company discovering your own demographics, an all-in-one dashboard solution is critical.

3. Establish your most important metrics

No matter what you’re selling, your social media marketing strategy should be data-driven.

That means focusing on the social media metrics that matter.

Because while “likes” and shares are nice to have, they amount to little more than vanity metrics if they aren’t resulting in meaningful engagement or sales. What good are your millions of followers if you can’t do anything with ’em?

View this post on Instagram

Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this 🙌 #LikeTheEgg #EggSoldiers #EggGang

A post shared by EGG GANG 🌍 (@world_record_egg) on Jan 4, 2019 at 9:05am PST

Engagement metrics are essential to building meaningful, lasting relationships with your followers. Large audiences and likable content is great, but here are some additional metrics to keep an eye on in 2019:

Reach. Post reach is the number of unique users who saw your post. How far is your content spreading across social? Is it actually reaching user’s feeds? In the face of ever-changing organic algorithms, tracking reach is arguably more important than ever.

Clicks. This is the number of clicks on your content, company name or logo. Link clicks are critical toward understanding how users move through your marketing funnel. Tracking clicks per campaign is essential to understand what drives curiosity or encourages people to buy.

Engagement. The total number of social interactions divided by the number of impressions. For engagement, it’s about seeing who interacted and if it was a good ratio out of your total reach. This sheds light on how well your audience perceives you and their willingness to interact.

Hashtag performance. What were your most used hashtags on your own side? Which hashtags were most associated with your brand? Or what hashtags created the most engagement?

Organic and paid likes: More than just standard Likes, these likes are defined from paid or organic content. For channels like Facebook, organic engagement is much harder to gain traction, which is why many brands turn to Facebook Ads. However, earning organic likes on Instagram isn’t quite as difficult.

Sentiment. This is the measurement of how users reacted to your content, brand or hashtag. Did customers find your recent campaign offensive? What type of sentiment are people associating with your campaign hashtag? It’s always better to dig deeper and find what people are saying.

An effective social media marketing strategy is rooted in numbers. That said, those numbers need to be put into a context that circles back around to your original goals.

4. Dig into what your competitors are doing

Before you start creating content, you should have a good idea of what your competitors are up to.

Doing so involves might just require some surface-level analysis. Some brands might also look into third-party competitor analysis tools to dig deeper into their competitors’ numbers.

Looking at your competition’s presence will directly inform your own social media marketing strategy. The goal here isn’t to copycat or steal your competitors’ ideas. Instead, it’s to determine what’s working for them and how you can adapt your own campaigns accordingly.

Same industry, different strategies

For example, let’s take a glance at how two brands in the same space can take two totally different approaches to their social media marketing strategy.

In this case, we’ll dip in the world of ice cream.

Halo Top Cream prioritizes their own eye-popping visuals and clever captions to show off their treats. Their posts score tons of engagement on a consistent basis.

View this post on Instagram

Is this how you do a smokey eye? Tag your go-to makeup tutorial friend and you might win more than just a flawless smokey eye.

A post shared by Halo Top Creamery (@halotopcreamery) on Jan 14, 2019 at 8:12am PST

On the flip side, Ben & Jerry’s takes a totally different approach to social.

In addition to their own in-house promotional photos, the brand pushes a lot of user-generated content. Perhaps most notable is the fact that Ben & Jerry’s does not shy away from activism and politically-charged posts. Some might argue that politics and ice cream don’t mix, but the brand has generated plenty of buzz by putting their values front-and-center.

View this post on Instagram

This Saturday, we march again. Join us for the 2019 #WomensWave in cities all over the country! Click the link in our bio to find a march near you. For 40 years we have stood against all forms of discrimination and bigotry including racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Our company and its employees remain deeply committed to these values. That’s why we support those marching in Washington, DC and in communities around the country, and encourage all those who believe in the rights of women to join us.

A post shared by Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) on Jan 17, 2019 at 12:42pm PST

The takeaway here is that brands have so much room to set themselves apart from their competitors in terms of content and voice.

Of course, you need to know who your competitors are before you start stressing over content creation.

How to spot your social competitors

The simplest way to find competitors is through a simple Google search. Look up your most valuable keywords, phrases and industry terms to see who shows up.

For example, if you sold various soaps, “handmade natural soaps” would be a great keyword to investigate. Excluding major retailers like Amazon and Bath & Body Works, take a look at who’s popping up in your space both organically and via ads.

Then, you’ll want to take a look at who’s active on social media. In this particular case, Wild Soap is a smaller operation with an active, thriving social presence. This means they’re a great candidate to track.

View this post on Instagram

Happy to announce one of our newest retailers, The Crunchy Bean! . . #wildsoap #awildsoapbar #AWSB #naturalsoap #organicsoap #plantbased #botanical #bodycare . Repost @thecrunchybean ・・・ New brand @awildsoapbar now in stock!! Organic, affordable, and oh so amazing!!

A post shared by A Wild Soap Bar, LLC (@awildsoapbar) on Jan 7, 2019 at 4:34am PST

After gathering a handful of industry competitors, it’s smart to use a social media competitive analysis tool like Sprout Social to track Facebook and Instagram content. This can clue you in on what tags they’re using and likewise what content they’re posting. Once you analyze an array of competitors, you’ll have a better idea of what your own audience wants.

5. Create and curate engaging social content

Your social media marketing strategy is obviously centered around content.

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what to publish based on your goal and brand identity. Similarly, you probably feel confident in which networks to cover.

Still overwhelmed by the specifics of what you should be posting?

Hey, we get it.

From picking the right creatives and captions to finding the balance between promotion and personality, there’s a lot to mull over. The pressure is certainly on brands in an era where 46% of users say they’ll unfollow a brand that’s overly promotional. Additionally, 41% of users say they’d unfollow a brand that shared too much irrelevant content.

To help narrow down the specifics of what you should be publishing, let’s start with 2019’s social trends and best practices. Consider any combination of the following as you put together the content piece of your social media marketing plan.

Video Content or Bust

The need for brands to produce video is greater than ever.

Across all networks, social video content is among the most viewed and shared hands-down. Facebook and Instagram, in particular, are pushing video hard right now which is notable given how their respective algorithms will continue to evolve in 2019.

Live? Long-form? Short looping video? There’s no shortage of options for brands to play the role of producer these days regardless of your budget.

Resolve to start your year with Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts this Friday, January 4th. pic.twitter.com/lgp28jpVB4

— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) January 1, 2019

User-generated content

Again, we can’t stress enough the importance of curating user-generated content from branded hashtags. Customers today absolutely love authentic content that doesn’t always have that sort of professional, polished touch. If nothing else, curating UGC means less work on your plate and less pressure to constantly be thinking of new ideas.

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#RepostDecember @theorlandogirl – – – – – – The Wa-Pho Fries @vietnomzfl are pho-nomenal. Waffle Cut Fries topped w/ pickled daikon, carrots + fresh herbs drizzled in house-made nom sauces.🍟💯 #vietnomz #waphofries #waterford #orlando

A post shared by Orlando Food Photos (@dafoodie) on Dec 22, 2018 at 5:07am PST

Build Content Themes

One of the toughest challenges to visual content is creating it on a day-to-day basis. A Venngage infographic showed 36.7% of marketers said their top struggle with creating visual content was doing so consistently.

This shows how important highly-visual content is to marketers and the people they want to reach. That’s why building content themes is a great approach to sectioning out your content. Instagram is one your premier channels to work off visual themes.

For example, Anthropologie does an amazing job at keeping their Instagram feed consistent, colorful and eye-popping.

Check out how Profetic uses collage-style content to tie their feed together for something totally different.

If consistency is a problem with your social media marketing strategy, think about how a theme can help.

6. Make timeliness a top priority

Timeliness is a two-way street.

Not only do customers expect speedier responses from brands in 2019, but also meaningful conversations on a regular basis.

Let’s start with the first point. Social media channels are built as networks. You know, a place to converse and share content.

Your brand can’t forget these core elements of “networking.” It takes effort to ensure conversations or engagement opportunities aren’t left unattended.

Through social media, you gain respect as a brand by just being present and talking to your audience. That’s why social customer care is so important to brands wanting to increase audience awareness. It’s all about engagement.

For example, Seamless does a wonderful job of not only responding but showing customer care is a high priority.

Through the right social media monitoring tools, you can find instances across all your channels to interact, respond and gauge customer service inquiries.

Designating teams to specific tasks can help your staff run like a well-oiled social media team, whether you’re a group of one or 100.

Post at the Best Times to Engage

When is your brand available to engage and interact with customers?

You might see some recommending times to post late in the evening, for example. But if your brand isn’t there to communicate, what’s the point of posting at the “preferred” time?

Instead, try to ensure your social media or community managers are available and ready to answer any product questions or concerns when you tweet or post. It’s smart to learn the best times to post on social media, but it’s just as critical to engage after posting.

According to our Index, a brand’s average response time is around 10 hours. But did you know that most users believe brands should respond to social media messages within four hours?

With all the updated algorithms, organic content has a tough time reaching the majority of your audience. The last thing you want to do is ignore those who engage and lose out on sending more down your marketing funnel.

7. Assess what’s working, what isn’t and how you can improve

By now you should have a big picture understanding of your social marketing strategy for 2019.

However, it’s important that you’re able to adapt your strategy as you progress through the year.

Without continuously analyzing your efforts, you’ll never know how one campaign did over another. Having a bird’s eye view of your social media activity helps put things into perspective. This means looking at your top-performing content and fine-tuning your campaigns accordingly.

There’s no denying that a lot of social media is a matter of trial-and-error. Monitoring the metrics behind your campaigns in real-time allows you to make small tweaks to your social media marketing strategy rather than sweeping, time-consuming changes. This dynamic approach to marketing makes perfect sense in a day and age where social media is constantly evolving.

And with that, we wrap up your social media marketing plan checklist for 2019!

Is your social media marketing strategy up to snuff?

Hopefully this breakdown served as some much-needed inspiration and guidance for reaching your social goals for this year.

We also wanted to give our readers a few resources to use moving forward. Check out our social media campaign plan template and editable reporting template to help put your ideas into action ASAP.

Good luck and happy 2019!

This post How to build your social media marketing strategy for 2019 originally appeared on Sprout Social.

from http://bit.ly/2DMJTkk

[minnievirizarry]

How to build your social media marketing strategy for 2019

Do you have your social media marketing strategy squared away for 2019?

If not, we don’t blame you.

Because 2018 was a whirlwind year for social marketing to say the least.

Facebook was shrouded in controversy due to its algorithm changes and privacy concerns. Instagram finally came into its own by rolling out a whole slew of business features while also passing the one-billion user mark.

All the while brands got bolder, launching conscious and seemingly controversial campaigns as customers want to see brands get real.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

Last years happenings combined with this year’s emerging trends have left marketers with a sense of analysis paralysis. Where do you go from here?

Perhaps what matters most is that you have a strategy at all. To keep your brand from sitting on the sidelines, we’ve broken down the steps to developing a social media marketing plan to carry you through 2019 with a sense of purpose.

1. Set goals that address your biggest challenges

First things first: you need to figure out what you want out of social media at large.

Maybe it’s more social-savvy customers. Perhaps it’s a larger share of voice in your industry.

Either way, remember that social media planning is a marathon, not a sprint.

Brands should strive to set goals that are actually attainable. For example, shooting for a million new Instagram followers in 2019 isn’t going to happen. By tackling smaller, realistic goals, you can scale your social efforts in a way that’s both reasonable and affordable.

And on a related note, your goals will influence everything from your budget to which social networks you’ll tackle.

Sample Social Media Goals for 2019

Below are some actionable goals that brands of all shapes and sizes can divide and conquer.

Increase brand awareness. To create authentic and lasting brand awareness, avoid solely publishing promotional messages. Instead, focus on content emphasizes your personality and puts your followers ahead of the hard sell.

Public service announcement:

1. Pop-Tarts are not ravioli 2. Pop-Tarts are not sandwiches 3. There will never be a Tide Pod flavored Pop-Tart

Have a nice day

— Pop-Tarts (@PopTartsUS) March 6, 2018

Achieve a higher quality of sales. Digging through your social channels is nearly impossible without monitoring or listening to specific keywords, phrases or hashtags. Through more efficient social media targeting, you reach your core audience much faster.

Drive in-person sales. Many brick-and-mortar businesses are on the hunt for a social media marketing strategy that drives in-store sales. Is your brand promoting enough on social to entice folks to come see you? Are you about alerting customers to what’s going on in your stores, including promotions and action shots of your store?

View this post on Instagram

That Superdawg sure jumps off the menu 🤩🌭 #theone #theonly #chicagostyle #chicagosdawg #chicagosbest #chicagoeats #superyummy #eatme #chicagofood

A post shared by Superdawg Drive-in (@superdawgdrivein) on Jan 24, 2019 at 4:56pm PST

Improve ROI. Positive social media ROI doesn’t happen by accident. Taking the time to audit your social channels can help keep the cost of labor, ads and creatives down. The end-result is squeezing way more out of your social spending.

Create a loyal fanbase. Does your brand promote user-generated content? Do your followers react positively without any sort of initiation? Your customers can be your best cheerleaders and sources of fresh content, but only if you’re encouraging them to post on your behalf.

View this post on Instagram

We've been making Docs since the 1960s, both our icons and our collectors editions. How old is your first pair?

A post shared by Dr. Martens (@drmartensofficial) on Jan 22, 2019 at 9:03am PST

Better pulse on the industry. What are your competitors doing that seems to be working? What strategies are they using to drive engagement or sales? Such analysis can help you better understand how to position your own brand both on social media and off.

Any combination of these explicit goals is fair game and can help you better understand which networks to tackle, too. When in doubt, keep your social media marketing strategy simple rather than muddling it with too many objectives that’ll ultimately distract you.

2. Research your audience

Making assumptions is a dangerous game for marketers.

And thanks to the sheer wealth of demographic data and social media analytics tools out there, you really don’t have to anymore.

So much of what you need to know about your audience to influence your social media marketing strategy is already out in the open.

Take today’s social media demographics for example. Here’s a quick snapshot of data points from 2018 that are worth noting for today’s social networks:

This demographic data isn’t fluff, either. These numbers speak directly to which networks your brand should approach and what types of content to publish. Here are some takeaways:

Facebook and YouTube are both prime places for ads, perhaps due in part to their high-earning user bases

The majority of Instagram’s users are under the age of 30, signaling the strength of bold, eye-popping content that oozes with personality

Women vastly outnumber men on Pinterest, which is noted to boast the highest average order value for social shoppers

LinkedIn’s user base is well-educated, making it a hub for in-depth, industry-specific content that might be more complicated than what you see on Facebook or Twitter

See how that works?

And although the demographics data above gives you insight into each channel, what about your own customers? Further analysis needs to be done before you can truly know your customer demographics on social media.

That’s why many brands use a social media dashboard which can provide an overview of who’s following you and how they interact with you on each channel. Most brands today are using at least some sort of dashboard.

However, does your dashboard tie in your specific goals? Brands should be where their target audience is hanging out: that’s a no-brainer. A robust dashboard like the one Sprout offers can help you double-check that you’re spending time targeting the proper channels.

Whether you’re an agency providing insights for your clients or an enterprise company discovering your own demographics, an all-in-one dashboard solution is critical.

3. Establish your most important metrics

No matter what you’re selling, your social media marketing strategy should be data-driven.

That means focusing on the social media metrics that matter.

Because while “likes” and shares are nice to have, they amount to little more than vanity metrics if they aren’t resulting in meaningful engagement or sales. What good are your millions of followers if you can’t do anything with ’em?

View this post on Instagram

Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this 🙌 #LikeTheEgg #EggSoldiers #EggGang

A post shared by EGG GANG 🌍 (@world_record_egg) on Jan 4, 2019 at 9:05am PST

Engagement metrics are essential to building meaningful, lasting relationships with your followers. Large audiences and likable content is great, but here are some additional metrics to keep an eye on in 2019:

Reach. Post reach is the number of unique users who saw your post. How far is your content spreading across social? Is it actually reaching user’s feeds? In the face of ever-changing organic algorithms, tracking reach is arguably more important than ever.

Clicks. This is the number of clicks on your content, company name or logo. Link clicks are critical toward understanding how users move through your marketing funnel. Tracking clicks per campaign is essential to understand what drives curiosity or encourages people to buy.

Engagement. The total number of social interactions divided by the number of impressions. For engagement, it’s about seeing who interacted and if it was a good ratio out of your total reach. This sheds light on how well your audience perceives you and their willingness to interact.

Hashtag performance. What were your most used hashtags on your own side? Which hashtags were most associated with your brand? Or what hashtags created the most engagement?

Organic and paid likes: More than just standard Likes, these likes are defined from paid or organic content. For channels like Facebook, organic engagement is much harder to gain traction, which is why many brands turn to Facebook Ads. However, earning organic likes on Instagram isn’t quite as difficult.

Sentiment. This is the measurement of how users reacted to your content, brand or hashtag. Did customers find your recent campaign offensive? What type of sentiment are people associating with your campaign hashtag? It’s always better to dig deeper and find what people are saying.

An effective social media marketing strategy is rooted in numbers. That said, those numbers need to be put into a context that circles back around to your original goals.

4. Dig into what your competitors are doing

Before you start creating content, you should have a good idea of what your competitors are up to.

Doing so involves might just require some surface-level analysis. Some brands might also look into third-party competitor analysis tools to dig deeper into their competitors’ numbers.

Looking at your competition’s presence will directly inform your own social media marketing strategy. The goal here isn’t to copycat or steal your competitors’ ideas. Instead, it’s to determine what’s working for them and how you can adapt your own campaigns accordingly.

Same industry, different strategies

For example, let’s take a glance at how two brands in the same space can take two totally different approaches to their social media marketing strategy.

In this case, we’ll dip in the world of ice cream.

Halo Top Cream prioritizes their own eye-popping visuals and clever captions to show off their treats. Their posts score tons of engagement on a consistent basis.

View this post on Instagram

Is this how you do a smokey eye? Tag your go-to makeup tutorial friend and you might win more than just a flawless smokey eye.

A post shared by Halo Top Creamery (@halotopcreamery) on Jan 14, 2019 at 8:12am PST

On the flip side, Ben & Jerry’s takes a totally different approach to social.

In addition to their own in-house promotional photos, the brand pushes a lot of user-generated content. Perhaps most notable is the fact that Ben & Jerry’s does not shy away from activism and politically-charged posts. Some might argue that politics and ice cream don’t mix, but the brand has generated plenty of buzz by putting their values front-and-center.

View this post on Instagram

This Saturday, we march again. Join us for the 2019 #WomensWave in cities all over the country! Click the link in our bio to find a march near you. For 40 years we have stood against all forms of discrimination and bigotry including racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Our company and its employees remain deeply committed to these values. That’s why we support those marching in Washington, DC and in communities around the country, and encourage all those who believe in the rights of women to join us.

A post shared by Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) on Jan 17, 2019 at 12:42pm PST

The takeaway here is that brands have so much room to set themselves apart from their competitors in terms of content and voice.

Of course, you need to know who your competitors are before you start stressing over content creation.

How to spot your social competitors

The simplest way to find competitors is through a simple Google search. Look up your most valuable keywords, phrases and industry terms to see who shows up.

For example, if you sold various soaps, “handmade natural soaps” would be a great keyword to investigate. Excluding major retailers like Amazon and Bath & Body Works, take a look at who’s popping up in your space both organically and via ads.

Then, you’ll want to take a look at who’s active on social media. In this particular case, Wild Soap is a smaller operation with an active, thriving social presence. This means they’re a great candidate to track.

View this post on Instagram

Happy to announce one of our newest retailers, The Crunchy Bean! . . #wildsoap #awildsoapbar #AWSB #naturalsoap #organicsoap #plantbased #botanical #bodycare . Repost @thecrunchybean ・・・ New brand @awildsoapbar now in stock!! Organic, affordable, and oh so amazing!!

A post shared by A Wild Soap Bar, LLC (@awildsoapbar) on Jan 7, 2019 at 4:34am PST

After gathering a handful of industry competitors, it’s smart to use a social media competitive analysis tool like Sprout Social to track Facebook and Instagram content. This can clue you in on what tags they’re using and likewise what content they’re posting. Once you analyze an array of competitors, you’ll have a better idea of what your own audience wants.

5. Create and curate engaging social content

Your social media marketing strategy is obviously centered around content.

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what to publish based on your goal and brand identity. Similarly, you probably feel confident in which networks to cover.

Still overwhelmed by the specifics of what you should be posting?

Hey, we get it.

From picking the right creatives and captions to finding the balance between promotion and personality, there’s a lot to mull over. The pressure is certainly on brands in an era where 46% of users say they’ll unfollow a brand that’s overly promotional. Additionally, 41% of users say they’d unfollow a brand that shared too much irrelevant content.

To help narrow down the specifics of what you should be publishing, let’s start with 2019’s social trends and best practices. Consider any combination of the following as you put together the content piece of your social media marketing plan.

Video Content or Bust

The need for brands to produce video is greater than ever.

Across all networks, social video content is among the most viewed and shared hands-down. Facebook and Instagram, in particular, are pushing video hard right now which is notable given how their respective algorithms will continue to evolve in 2019.

Live? Long-form? Short looping video? There’s no shortage of options for brands to play the role of producer these days regardless of your budget.

Resolve to start your year with Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts this Friday, January 4th. pic.twitter.com/lgp28jpVB4

— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) January 1, 2019

User-generated content

Again, we can’t stress enough the importance of curating user-generated content from branded hashtags. Customers today absolutely love authentic content that doesn’t always have that sort of professional, polished touch. If nothing else, curating UGC means less work on your plate and less pressure to constantly be thinking of new ideas.

View this post on Instagram

#RepostDecember @theorlandogirl – – – – – – The Wa-Pho Fries @vietnomzfl are pho-nomenal. Waffle Cut Fries topped w/ pickled daikon, carrots + fresh herbs drizzled in house-made nom sauces.🍟💯 #vietnomz #waphofries #waterford #orlando

A post shared by Orlando Food Photos (@dafoodie) on Dec 22, 2018 at 5:07am PST

Build Content Themes

One of the toughest challenges to visual content is creating it on a day-to-day basis. A Venngage infographic showed 36.7% of marketers said their top struggle with creating visual content was doing so consistently.

This shows how important highly-visual content is to marketers and the people they want to reach. That’s why building content themes is a great approach to sectioning out your content. Instagram is one your premier channels to work off visual themes.

For example, Anthropologie does an amazing job at keeping their Instagram feed consistent, colorful and eye-popping.

Check out how Profetic uses collage-style content to tie their feed together for something totally different.

If consistency is a problem with your social media marketing strategy, think about how a theme can help.

6. Make timeliness a top priority

Timeliness is a two-way street.

Not only do customers expect speedier responses from brands in 2019, but also meaningful conversations on a regular basis.

Let’s start with the first point. Social media channels are built as networks. You know, a place to converse and share content.

Your brand can’t forget these core elements of “networking.” It takes effort to ensure conversations or engagement opportunities aren’t left unattended.

Through social media, you gain respect as a brand by just being present and talking to your audience. That’s why social customer care is so important to brands wanting to increase audience awareness. It’s all about engagement.

For example, Seamless does a wonderful job of not only responding but showing customer care is a high priority.

Through the right social media monitoring tools, you can find instances across all your channels to interact, respond and gauge customer service inquiries.

Designating teams to specific tasks can help your staff run like a well-oiled social media team, whether you’re a group of one or 100.

Post at the Best Times to Engage

When is your brand available to engage and interact with customers?

You might see some recommending times to post late in the evening, for example. But if your brand isn’t there to communicate, what’s the point of posting at the “preferred” time?

Instead, try to ensure your social media or community managers are available and ready to answer any product questions or concerns when you tweet or post. It’s smart to learn the best times to post on social media, but it’s just as critical to engage after posting.

According to our Index, a brand’s average response time is around 10 hours. But did you know that most users believe brands should respond to social media messages within four hours?

With all the updated algorithms, organic content has a tough time reaching the majority of your audience. The last thing you want to do is ignore those who engage and lose out on sending more down your marketing funnel.

7. Assess what’s working, what isn’t and how you can improve

By now you should have a big picture understanding of your social marketing strategy for 2019.

However, it’s important that you’re able to adapt your strategy as you progress through the year.

Without continuously analyzing your efforts, you’ll never know how one campaign did over another. Having a bird’s eye view of your social media activity helps put things into perspective. This means looking at your top-performing content and fine-tuning your campaigns accordingly.

There’s no denying that a lot of social media is a matter of trial-and-error. Monitoring the metrics behind your campaigns in real-time allows you to make small tweaks to your social media marketing strategy rather than sweeping, time-consuming changes. This dynamic approach to marketing makes perfect sense in a day and age where social media is constantly evolving.

And with that, we wrap up your social media marketing plan checklist for 2019!

Is your social media marketing strategy up to snuff?

Hopefully this breakdown served as some much-needed inspiration and guidance for reaching your social goals for this year.

We also wanted to give our readers a few resources to use moving forward. Check out our social media campaign plan template and editable reporting template to help put your ideas into action ASAP.

Good luck and happy 2019!

This post How to build your social media marketing strategy for 2019 originally appeared on Sprout Social.

from SM Tips By Minnie https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-marketing-strategy/

[michaelfallcon]

The Very Best Of The 2018 Milan Coffee Festival

Italy is sometimes regarded as the final frontier for specialty coffee, and at the first Milan Coffee Festival all signs pointed to progress—and a promising way forward for coffee culture in the nation that helped create it. Italy’s decades-old espresso cultural laws and general unwillingness to change the flavor, preparation, and most restrictively the price of coffee are all directly under challenge by a new generation of entrepreneurs and globe-traveling coffee lovers. Contradicting this reputation, there is a rapidly growing group of coffee professionals of all ages and backgrounds dedicated to increasing quality and shaking up cultural coffee standards in Italy. It’s a really exciting time to be here to see it all unfold.

Change is in the air here, proliferating and circling throughout the industry for years, and now it’s been given a consumer-friendly platform in the form of this new festival. The consensus is that the Milan Coffee Festival was able to provide a capsule snapshot of today’s inspiring new movement and an opportunity for the public to explore the new Italian specialty coffee in an approachable format.

The event stayed busy across all three days, in a notably smaller space than, say, the juggernaut London Coffee Festival (also hosted by Allegra Events), yet there was plenty to explore and experience. Here are a few people and moments that left a strong impression.

Pasta, of course.

Mattia Angius and Martina Miccione of Milan’s slow food bistro and natural wine bar, Tipografia Alimentare, concocted one the most glorious surprises of the weekend with two of the greatest things on the planet: ravioli and broth. They were hand making delicious ravioli on the spot and cooking them in a bowl of salted water with an espresso machine steam wand. For the broth, Angius was dosing a tamping his dried vegetable mix into a portafilter, then pulling broth shots from the group. “It took a week to dial in the grind size particles of the vegetables for the perfect extraction,” he said. A splash of the wine they brought along to pair made it an ideal unexpected aperitivo.

Unique Brews

There were some funky and fruity beans in almost every booth at the festival. But one coffee that truly stood out was an Ugandan coffee roasted by World Roasting Champion, Rubens Gardelli of Gardelli Specialty Coffee in Emilia Romagna. The brew was crafted by Piemontese barista Serena Gentile.

Ugandans use the Bantu word “Mzungu” when referring to someone of European descent, and for whatever inspired reason—perhaps a bit of self-satire—Gardelli decided to name the coffee “Mzungu Project.” Besides the coffee being made with rare and indigenous coffee varieties, it is also processed in a proprietary “secret” fermentation technique called the “Gardelli Natural Process.” After some research, it’s not really clear what that actually implies, however one thing for sure: it made for a shocking and unusual cup! Think layers of freshly toasted cocoa nibs, tepache (fermented pineapple), marjoram, and cherry mostarda arriving one after the other in delirious deliberation.

Women In Coffee

A long overdue focus on the women in the Italian coffee industry as a major component of the Milan Coffee Festival. This came as some relief to the many festival participants that were actively raising awareness around the lack of diversity in the European Coffee Symposium.

On Saturday in “The Lab,” a full crowd was focused attentively on a panel of eight women, roles ranging from barista trainers to CEOs, who were speaking about their personal experiences and discussing the landscape, challenges, issues, and opportunities for women working in coffee in Italy. The panel was organized and led by Valentina Palange of Specialty Pal. “Times are changing in Italy,” Paling told the crowd. “The barista woman is no longer wanted at times for her physical appearance but rather for her professional skills.” She went onto explain that there are still huge obstacles in the workplace including not being trusted to handle technical aspects, employee training, and machine maintenance.  

A common discussion theme was dismissal of opinion or ability from customers or coworkers. Jessica Sartiani, panelist from Florence, emphasized this important point, “I have always felt that I had to fight for my place, unfortunately often having to be aggressive to avoid being walked on.” She concluded, “I would like to see skilled woman treated as they deserve and not forced into being some kind of warrior to prove your ability.”

Specialty Pal

Valentina Palange and Luca Rinaldi of Specialty Pal.

Being the first festival in Milan, it was especially important to involve the community in grassroots advertising and by involving social media influencers that are passionate about coffee. Two of the most active participants in the organization of the festival were the aforementioned Valentina Palange and Luca Rinaldi of the coffee culture blog, Specialty Pal. Coming from a background of personal coffee research and passion to learn more, they were able to rally the whole community together for this event. They spent weeks before the event visiting almost every cafe and participant to deliver flyers and spread the word with a personal touch. Rinaldi was also the official photographer of the festival, and Palange hosted the Latte Art Live booth throughout the weekend.

Fusillo Lab

Another huge contributor and activator of the festival was Michael Gardenia of Fusillo Lab. During the month leading up to the festival, Gardenia hosted a series of coffee awareness events featuring previous coffee champions and current educators like Francesco Sanapo and Matteo Beluffi. As content creators, the Fusillo Lab events were a collaboration with the festival that were geared towards bloggers and journalists to offer a hands-on experience in the world of specialty coffee.

On Sunday, Gardenia was present at the festival in a pop up Fusillo Cafe. He collaborated with local coffee roaster, Peacocks Coffee, to make a private label Fusillo Coffee bag with a blank frame in which guests could create their own label design for the coffee bag and submit it to a contest to win a lot of splendid swag.

New(ish) Equipment in the Wild

Any Italian coffee festival worth its salt should be awash with exciting coffee gear, and Milan Coffee Festival did not disappoint. It was good to meet face to face with a couple of unfamiliar pieces of equipment!

One machine that was exciting to play with was the Dalla Corte XT. Simone Guidi, coffee roaster at La Sosta in Florence, walked me through some of the wild features that really allow the barista to dig into extraction parameters. Since the machine has independent boiler for each group, there is an easy interface that allows to maintain three groups at three different temperatures.

It also comes equipped with a patented flowmeter technology that provides extremely accurate results. You press a button on a screen above the grouphead when the first droplet of espresso arrives on the portafilter spout, and that is when the flowmeter starts to count rotations. We pulled 10 shots and weighed them afterwards and they were all spot on.

Guidi then started unscrewing a mini allen wrench key from the DC tamper that you can use as a dial to adjust each group heads flow rate live during extraction.

The machine can also communicate with the DC grinder to adjust coffee grind size automatically if the machine detects fluctuations in a profile that you can program into the machine.

No doubt it demonstrates stunning technology, but I wonder if it underwent Paolo Dalla Cortes crowbar test.

Meanwhile, the Bugan Coffee Lab from the nearby city of Bergamo went all out on their booth that was stationed directly across from the CMx stage. Portafilter and gasket ring toss, Panettone from their wholesale customers at Bologna’s cafe and artisan bakery Forno Brisa, daring cold brew in a flask, and latte art throwdowns with Dritan Alsela were just some of the highlights during their residency. They were also seen enthusiastically slinging spro on a Modbar AV (or Ah-Voo as they say here), and grinding coffee for filter with a Ceado E37Z Hero grinder (roughly $6,500 USD). Through the lab and field trials that Bugan Coffee Lab has been conducting with Ceado, head roaster Gian Andrea Sala described it as being very versatile and a unique grinder.

50’s Throwback

One showstopper on the show floor was FAEMA’s completely functional Saturno lever machine. Only a few units of the machine were originally manufactured in 1950, and this one was brought into working order for the festival by espresso machine collector and curator of the MUMAC museum, Enrico Maltoni.

This was the first FAEMA that used the design of the double boiler to lower the machine body and to give the coffee machine a better aesthetic, and was the first coffee machine with patent “pistol taps.”

“Everybody loved it!” Maltoni said. “The Saturno represents a piece of history not only for FAEMA but also in the coffee machine industry.”

CMx Italia

Carlos Alvarado (left).

The groundbreaking competition series Coffee Masters debuted the CMx Italia contest at the Milan Coffee Festival. After passing through 7 disciplines during the competition, Matteo Pavoni of Peacocks Coffee Roasters came in second place to CMx champion, Carlos Alvarado of Checchi Downtown in Brescia. Carlos is originally from El Salvador and has been working in coffee since he arrived in Italy. From high paced traffic at a highway side Autogrill, to working at boutique specialty coffee shops in the center of Milan, there’s not much he can’t handle behind the bar. Carlos will be moving on to compete in the Coffee Masters at the 2019 London Coffee Festival. Bravo Carlos!

Alexander Gable (@mrgable) is a freelance journalist based in Milan. A regular contributor to Sprudge Wine, this is Alexander Gable’s first article for Sprudge.

The post The Very Best Of The 2018 Milan Coffee Festival appeared first on Sprudge.

The Very Best Of The 2018 Milan Coffee Festival published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

[epchapman89]

The Very Best Of The 2018 Milan Coffee Festival

Italy is sometimes regarded as the final frontier for specialty coffee, and at the first Milan Coffee Festival all signs pointed to progress—and a promising way forward for coffee culture in the nation that helped create it. Italy’s decades-old espresso cultural laws and general unwillingness to change the flavor, preparation, and most restrictively the price of coffee are all directly under challenge by a new generation of entrepreneurs and globe-traveling coffee lovers. Contradicting this reputation, there is a rapidly growing group of coffee professionals of all ages and backgrounds dedicated to increasing quality and shaking up cultural coffee standards in Italy. It’s a really exciting time to be here to see it all unfold.

Change is in the air here, proliferating and circling throughout the industry for years, and now it’s been given a consumer-friendly platform in the form of this new festival. The consensus is that the Milan Coffee Festival was able to provide a capsule snapshot of today’s inspiring new movement and an opportunity for the public to explore the new Italian specialty coffee in an approachable format.

The event stayed busy across all three days, in a notably smaller space than, say, the juggernaut London Coffee Festival (also hosted by Allegra Events), yet there was plenty to explore and experience. Here are a few people and moments that left a strong impression.

Pasta, of course.

Mattia Angius and Martina Miccione of Milan’s slow food bistro and natural wine bar, Tipografia Alimentare, concocted one the most glorious surprises of the weekend with two of the greatest things on the planet: ravioli and broth. They were hand making delicious ravioli on the spot and cooking them in a bowl of salted water with an espresso machine steam wand. For the broth, Angius was dosing a tamping his dried vegetable mix into a portafilter, then pulling broth shots from the group. “It took a week to dial in the grind size particles of the vegetables for the perfect extraction,” he said. A splash of the wine they brought along to pair made it an ideal unexpected aperitivo.

Unique Brews

There were some funky and fruity beans in almost every booth at the festival. But one coffee that truly stood out was an Ugandan coffee roasted by World Roasting Champion, Rubens Gardelli of Gardelli Specialty Coffee in Emilia Romagna. The brew was crafted by Piemontese barista Serena Gentile.

Ugandans use the Bantu word “Mzungu” when referring to someone of European descent, and for whatever inspired reason—perhaps a bit of self-satire—Gardelli decided to name the coffee “Mzungu Project.” Besides the coffee being made with rare and indigenous coffee varieties, it is also processed in a proprietary “secret” fermentation technique called the “Gardelli Natural Process.” After some research, it’s not really clear what that actually implies, however one thing for sure: it made for a shocking and unusual cup! Think layers of freshly toasted cocoa nibs, tepache (fermented pineapple), marjoram, and cherry mostarda arriving one after the other in delirious deliberation.

Women In Coffee

A long overdue focus on the women in the Italian coffee industry as a major component of the Milan Coffee Festival. This came as some relief to the many festival participants that were actively raising awareness around the lack of diversity in the European Coffee Symposium.

On Saturday in “The Lab,” a full crowd was focused attentively on a panel of eight women, roles ranging from barista trainers to CEOs, who were speaking about their personal experiences and discussing the landscape, challenges, issues, and opportunities for women working in coffee in Italy. The panel was organized and led by Valentina Palange of Specialty Pal. “Times are changing in Italy,” Paling told the crowd. “The barista woman is no longer wanted at times for her physical appearance but rather for her professional skills.” She went onto explain that there are still huge obstacles in the workplace including not being trusted to handle technical aspects, employee training, and machine maintenance.  

A common discussion theme was dismissal of opinion or ability from customers or coworkers. Jessica Sartiani, panelist from Florence, emphasized this important point, “I have always felt that I had to fight for my place, unfortunately often having to be aggressive to avoid being walked on.” She concluded, “I would like to see skilled woman treated as they deserve and not forced into being some kind of warrior to prove your ability.”

Specialty Pal

Valentina Palange and Luca Rinaldi of Specialty Pal.

Being the first festival in Milan, it was especially important to involve the community in grassroots advertising and by involving social media influencers that are passionate about coffee. Two of the most active participants in the organization of the festival were the aforementioned Valentina Palange and Luca Rinaldi of the coffee culture blog, Specialty Pal. Coming from a background of personal coffee research and passion to learn more, they were able to rally the whole community together for this event. They spent weeks before the event visiting almost every cafe and participant to deliver flyers and spread the word with a personal touch. Rinaldi was also the official photographer of the festival, and Palange hosted the Latte Art Live booth throughout the weekend.

Fusillo Lab

Another huge contributor and activator of the festival was Michael Gardenia of Fusillo Lab. During the month leading up to the festival, Gardenia hosted a series of coffee awareness events featuring previous coffee champions and current educators like Francesco Sanapo and Matteo Beluffi. As content creators, the Fusillo Lab events were a collaboration with the festival that were geared towards bloggers and journalists to offer a hands-on experience in the world of specialty coffee.

On Sunday, Gardenia was present at the festival in a pop up Fusillo Cafe. He collaborated with local coffee roaster, Peacocks Coffee, to make a private label Fusillo Coffee bag with a blank frame in which guests could create their own label design for the coffee bag and submit it to a contest to win a lot of splendid swag.

New(ish) Equipment in the Wild

Any Italian coffee festival worth its salt should be awash with exciting coffee gear, and Milan Coffee Festival did not disappoint. It was good to meet face to face with a couple of unfamiliar pieces of equipment!

One machine that was exciting to play with was the Dalla Corte XT. Simone Guidi, coffee roaster at La Sosta in Florence, walked me through some of the wild features that really allow the barista to dig into extraction parameters. Since the machine has independent boiler for each group, there is an easy interface that allows to maintain three groups at three different temperatures.

It also comes equipped with a patented flowmeter technology that provides extremely accurate results. You press a button on a screen above the grouphead when the first droplet of espresso arrives on the portafilter spout, and that is when the flowmeter starts to count rotations. We pulled 10 shots and weighed them afterwards and they were all spot on.

Guidi then started unscrewing a mini allen wrench key from the DC tamper that you can use as a dial to adjust each group heads flow rate live during extraction.

The machine can also communicate with the DC grinder to adjust coffee grind size automatically if the machine detects fluctuations in a profile that you can program into the machine.

No doubt it demonstrates stunning technology, but I wonder if it underwent Paolo Dalla Cortes crowbar test.

Meanwhile, the Bugan Coffee Lab from the nearby city of Bergamo went all out on their booth that was stationed directly across from the CMx stage. Portafilter and gasket ring toss, Panettone from their wholesale customers at Bologna’s cafe and artisan bakery Forno Brisa, daring cold brew in a flask, and latte art throwdowns with Dritan Alsela were just some of the highlights during their residency. They were also seen enthusiastically slinging spro on a Modbar AV (or Ah-Voo as they say here), and grinding coffee for filter with a Ceado E37Z Hero grinder (roughly $6,500 USD). Through the lab and field trials that Bugan Coffee Lab has been conducting with Ceado, head roaster Gian Andrea Sala described it as being very versatile and a unique grinder.

50’s Throwback

One showstopper on the show floor was FAEMA’s completely functional Saturno lever machine. Only a few units of the machine were originally manufactured in 1950, and this one was brought into working order for the festival by espresso machine collector and curator of the MUMAC museum, Enrico Maltoni.

This was the first FAEMA that used the design of the double boiler to lower the machine body and to give the coffee machine a better aesthetic, and was the first coffee machine with patent “pistol taps.”

“Everybody loved it!” Maltoni said. “The Saturno represents a piece of history not only for FAEMA but also in the coffee machine industry.”

CMx Italia

Carlos Alvarado (left).

The groundbreaking competition series Coffee Masters debuted the CMx Italia contest at the Milan Coffee Festival. After passing through 7 disciplines during the competition, Matteo Pavoni of Peacocks Coffee Roasters came in second place to CMx champion, Carlos Alvarado of Checchi Downtown in Brescia. Carlos is originally from El Salvador and has been working in coffee since he arrived in Italy. From high paced traffic at a highway side Autogrill, to working at boutique specialty coffee shops in the center of Milan, there’s not much he can’t handle behind the bar. Carlos will be moving on to compete in the Coffee Masters at the 2019 London Coffee Festival. Bravo Carlos!

Alexander Gable (@mrgable) is a freelance journalist based in Milan. A regular contributor to Sprudge Wine, this is Alexander Gable’s first article for Sprudge.

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