Welcome Main Street Newnan!

We are thrilled to bring another Destination Marketing Organization on board! Saffire welcomes Main Street Newnan to the family! We are so excited to release a great new design that will celebrate the local culture and heritage of the Newnan community.  Newnan’s downtown is full of unique locally owned businesses & retail establishments, unique locally owned … Continue reading “Welcome Main Street Newnan!”

We are thrilled to bring another Destination Marketing Organization on board! Saffire welcomes Main Street Newnan to the family! We are so excited to release a great new design that will celebrate the local culture and heritage of the Newnan community.  Newnan’s downtown is full of unique locally owned businesses & retail establishments, unique locally owned restaurants & night life, a thriving art culture, an array of services and the heart of their local government & religious services.  From the settlement of the town in 1828, to the new millennium, Newnan has kept the heart of Downtown beating with a firm grasp on its rich and colorful history, while looking forward and embracing the future.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a beautiful, unique website!

Meet Facebook’s New Emojis

What’s your take on Facebook’s new Reactions? This week, the social media giant went beyond the long requested “dislike” button when adding to their current “like” button. These new Facebook Reactions show a user’s “reaction” to a specific post. Users are now able to select Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry to express their … Continue reading “Meet Facebook’s New Emojis”

What’s your take on Facebook’s new Reactions? This week, the social media giant went beyond the long requested “dislike” button when adding to their current “like” button. These new Facebook Reactions show a user’s “reaction” to a specific post. Users are now able to select Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry to express their opinion in response to the post. So what happened to the user requested “dislike” button?

Well, as it stood, the Like Button was an amazing data source for crafting a user’s newsfeed by providing Facebook with 6 billion Likes per day. The Like button was able to tell Facebook algorithms on how to distribute content unique to each user. In looking at a dislike button, it just didn’t cut it. In normal Facebook fashion, they took a request to the next level. Facebook hired a team of 5 data and behavioral scientists to figure out what emojis should be added to Facebook. At first it appeared that they would need hundreds of emojis to accurately show what users wanted to express, but the typical Emoji bank of 100 emojis just wouldn’t work for Facebook. They then set out to find the 5 basic emotions of Facebook comments, which resulted in their current offerings of reactions.

So, now that Facebook is a public company, you can usually follow every decision to the money… the ads. What do these “reactions” do for advertisers? Well, it provides instant feedback on posts, which will allow advertisers to craft their content and messages appropriately. For example, if a Political Action Committee (PAC) posts negative content and articles about their opposing views, an “angry reaction” is the desired outcome. If that same PAC then posts something supporting their views and they get lots of “likes”, “wows” and “loves”, they are then validated in their content choice.

With all of this new data, Facebook will soon be rolling out tools for advertisers to evaluate the new “reaction” data and improve (then hopefully increase) their marketing efforts on the platform.

Get ready for a wild ride folks, because Facebook just made it even easier for marketers to consider the site their number 1 marketing platform.

 

 

 

Welcome to the Saffire Team, Jodi Buresh!

  The Saffire Team is proud to announce a new team member! Jodi Buresh is the latest rock-star to don the Saffire Blue. As a Director of Partnerships, Jodi will be spreading the Saffire love across the Midwest and Northeast United States! Jodi has extensive experience in event planning and venue management at her role … Continue reading “Welcome to the Saffire Team, Jodi Buresh!”

 
The Saffire Team is proud to announce a new team member! Jodi Buresh is the latest rock-star to don the Saffire Blue. As a Director of Partnerships, Jodi will be spreading the Saffire love across the Midwest and Northeast United States!

Jodi has extensive experience in event planning and venue management at her role at North Dakota State University and the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce. Jodi has served as the President of the Red River Area Attractions Association and has worked closely with the Fargo Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau in bringing large tourism generated events to her community. In her most recent role as the Assistant General Manager at the Red River Valley Fair, Jodi worked with volunteers, sponsors, promotions and social media.

Jodi absolutely loves coffee, bacon and cheese curds…specifically garlic flavored cheese curds. She is a self-described “slightly obsessive compulsive organizer and cleaner.”

Jodi has a bachelor’s degree in Facility Management from North Dakota State University (Go Bison!), is a graduate of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions Institute of Fair Management and received her Certified Fair Executive recognition in 2015.

She speaks to numerous non-profit and for-profit organizations annually by helping them find their marketing niche and recharge their creative thinking.

Jodi lives in West Fargo, North Dakota with her husband, Bob, and their two sons Carson and Connor.
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Welcome Consumer Direct Events!

Before Saffire began expanding our offerings, we were focused on Events only…but as we have grown, we have never lost sight of our roots and truly love the events industry. That is why we are so excited to have partnered with Consumer Direct Events, which produces MANY events of all shapes, sizes and scope in cities … Continue reading “Welcome Consumer Direct Events!”

Before Saffire began expanding our offerings, we were focused on Events only…but as we have grown, we have never lost sight of our roots and truly love the events industry. That is why we are so excited to have partnered with Consumer Direct Events, which produces MANY events of all shapes, sizes and scope in cities across the United States. Some of their specialties include Festivals, Trade Shows, Conventions, Expos and Consumer Shows though they are not limited to those. They also produce charity events, city functions, car shows, barbecue cook-offs, concerts, galas, July 4th and New Years celebrations, holiday markets, craft shows, meetings, 5k / 10k runs, and just about any type or size event you can imagine.
When their site is launched, you will find information for some of the many events they produce nationwide.
Be sure and check “The Dirt” Newsletter for when this site goes live!

 

InstaChanges & Upgrades

  Have you been overwhelmed with Millennial Marketing Trends and Statistics? Well, let’s talk about Generation Z (aka Post-Millennials, iGens or Plurals). Generation Z is shifting away from Facebook at an alarming rate! Generation Z says, “I can’t be myself on Facebook because it is full of MOMS…that’s why I like to use Instagram and … Continue reading “InstaChanges & Upgrades”

 

Have you been overwhelmed with Millennial Marketing Trends and Statistics? Well, let’s talk about Generation Z (aka Post-Millennials, iGens or Plurals). Generation Z is shifting away from Facebook at an alarming rate! Generation Z says, “I can’t be myself on Facebook because it is full of MOMS…that’s why I like to use Instagram and Snapchat.”

Instagram has 400 million worldwide users. There have been over 40 billion photos shared at a rate of 80 million per day and with an average 3.5 billion daily “likes.”

So now what are marketers going to do? How can we be on so many platforms and still not reach who we need to?

Well, Facebook has had you covered since 2012. Facebook saw the trends and heard the feedback and knew they needed to do something drastic. In April of 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion, which many thought was a bad move for a product with no business model. However, after years of growing Instagram, Facebook has integrated their advertising platform into the app. This allows marketers to catch the “Moms”, Generation Z, Millennials and Boomers, all in one integrated platform!  

To get setup, all you need to do is go into your Facebook settings and connect your Instagram account so that the ads can be pushed over to the app.

Then you will create your Facebook ad as usual, except you’ll also need to select Instagram Ads… it’s THAT easy!

For those of you that fully utilize Instagram already, a common complaint has been that you cannot switch between your personal Instagram account and your Business Account, requiring you to sign in and out every time. However, now Instagram lets users switch between several different accounts within the app. You can even switch between FIVE different accounts!

With these new changes, expect the number of Instagram users and accounts to continue to climb.

 

 

 

Welcome Boulder County Fair!

  Boulder County Fair is happy to be on board and part of the Saffire Family! Over the years and at various conferences, we have really got to know the fair team! The fair is located in Longmont, Colorado and has some beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains! We can’t wait to help the fair … Continue reading “Welcome Boulder County Fair!”

 

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Boulder County Fair is happy to be on board and part of the Saffire Family! Over the years and at various conferences, we have really got to know the fair team!

The fair is located in Longmont, Colorado and has some beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains!

We can’t wait to help the fair team showcase their fair to the world wide web! Stay tuned for their updated design!

Welcome Experience Fountain Hills!

  We are thrilled to announce another destination client to the Saffire Family!  The Town of Fountain Hills Office of Tourism acts as the official destination marketing organization (DMO). The Tourism Office is dedicated to advocating and marketing the Town of Fountain Hills as a premier destination in Arizona; striving to meet the cultural, intellectual … Continue reading “Welcome Experience Fountain Hills!”

 

We are thrilled to announce another destination client to the Saffire Family!  The Town of Fountain Hills Office of Tourism acts as the official destination marketing organization (DMO). The Tourism Office is dedicated to advocating and marketing the Town of Fountain Hills as a premier destination in Arizona; striving to meet the cultural, intellectual social and leisure needs of our visitors and residents.

Adventure isn’t one size fits all! Come find yours in Fountain Hills and gain a fresh perspective on what it means to live for the weekend. Whether you are interested in hiking, gourmet dining, outdoor adventure, golf or any of their 40 special events you need to Experience Fountain Hills!

IAFE was a Blast!

It was great to seeing everyone at the IAFE Annual Convention & Trade Show! As always, the Saffire Team had such a wonderful time hanging out with everyone and truly appreciate the kind words from many of you on our presentations. We also loved making new friends at the booth and at our Blue Christmas … Continue reading “IAFE was a Blast!”

It was great to seeing everyone at the IAFE Annual Convention & Trade Show! As always, the Saffire Team had such a wonderful time hanging out with everyone and truly appreciate the kind words from many of you on our presentations. We also loved making new friends at the booth and at our Blue Christmas Party!

As promised, below are the slides to our presentations, tech workbench sessions and the product showcase!

 

Presentations


 

Tech Workbench Sessions


Like us on Facebook! 

Click below to check out our convention photos on Facebook. While you’re there, like our page!

Click here to see our IAFE Facebook pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saffire’s Holiday Meatballs

Many of you have asked for the meatball recipe from our Blue Christmas Party at IAFE last week. We know you will love this delicious recipe! Just don’t drink all of the whiskey while preparing these!   Ingredients 1 pound Bag Frozen Meatballs ½ cups Ketchup (Heaping) ½ cups Brown Sugar, Packed ¼ cups Bourbon Whiskey 1 teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice … Continue reading “Saffire’s Holiday Meatballs”

Many of you have asked for the meatball recipe from our Blue Christmas Party at IAFE last week. We know you will love this delicious recipe! Just don’t drink all of the whiskey while preparing these!

 

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Bag Frozen Meatballs
  • ½ cups Ketchup (Heaping)
  • ½ cups Brown Sugar, Packed
  • ¼ cups Bourbon Whiskey
  • 1 teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Preparation

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except your meatballs. Mix up really well.

Place your frozen meatballs into your crock pot, and pour the whiskey sauce in on top. Mix it up all around so each meatball is coated with the whiskey sauce.

Now turn up the heat to high. Leave it on high for about an hour, stirring a couple times.

Once it appears that the meatballs have somewhat thawed, go ahead and turn your crockpot down to low for about 2 hours.