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Three startups representing Lebanon in the Web Summit in Dublin!

General stage 2

The Web Summit is a global gathering of the world’s leading thinkers and doers in technology. It hosts over tens of thousands of the brightest minds every year and allows people to network, meet with journalists and connect with potential investors. The Summit is without a doubt the most awaited event of the year by entrepreneurs and anyone with a great tech idea or business will benefit from attending in many ways.

Among the 10,000 other attendees arriving from the four corners of the world, the Arab world – despite all the political tensions reigning the region – was still represented by several startups coming from the Gulf, Middle East, and North Africa. From Lebanon, six startups attended the event of which three had a stand in the exhibition area.

Sociatag, eTobb, and Lebtivity, three Lebanon-based startups, who launched between 2011 and 2013, were selected among thousands of worldwide applicants to exhibit as part of the Summit’s Alpha program. This program identified and invited a limited number of incredible early stage startups to exhibit for free! These three companies, along with et3arraf, Maze Solutions and Seeqnce who independently attended the conference, all packed their bags for Dublin this October 2013 to showcase their products and meet some of today’s most renowned tech companies such as Evernote, Google, Facebook, Box & many more.

All had different expectations, but for the most part, this was new ground. Thus, the main goal was to explore.

The Summit was divided into many sections, stages, and workshops which included the following:

  • Main stage
  • Digital Marketing stage
  • Developers’ stage
  • The Cloud stage
  • The Library stage
  • The Pitching stages
  • Roundtables
  • Exhibitor areas
  • Numerous workshops
  • Speed networking sessions between entrepreneurs & investors
  • Media Events

 

Many side activities were organized around the Web Summit to allow for specific groups of people to get together and discuss their projects and ideas in a more informal fashion. Some of these events included the Leaders’ Lunch for female entrepreneurs, The Food Summit, and the Night Summit.

Benefits of the Web Summit for all startups

  • Networking
  • Exposure
  • Media and investor relations
  • Partnerships
  • Exploring a new city
  • Discuss challenges of other startups in different countries

 

The Web Summit opened new doors for these startups and placed them under an international radar. The benefits of such a gathering are numerous! “We encourage all entrepreneurs to go next year because there is no way they won’t get something out of it” said CEO of Sociatag, Wassim Hakim.

In Lebanon, the opportunities for startups are still limited. Although this is slowly changing with new funds being created to help grow these businesses, the motivation and culture of starting your own tech business is not widely grasped and supported by our society and government. “Entrepreneurs must get out there and seize every opportunity that presents itself in order to represent Lebanon and learn from other countries in order to make Lebanon a better place”, stated co-founder of Lebtivity, Randa Farah. Paul Saber, CEO of eTobb added “Our testimonial today of the Web Summit is the exact message we are trying to deliver to the Lebanese people; and that message is: Get moving, do something! Don’t wait for things to come to you because they won’t”.

Brief description of each of the three startups:

Sociatag

Sociatag is a platform that allows people to connect with the online community and social platforms via smart tags that can be swiped over sociatag boxes. The platform includes various features such as loyalty programs, detailed insights/statistics and a user friendly promotion management tool.

Lebtivity

Lebtivity is Lebanon’s Social Calendar for Events. It is a crowd-sourced platform that offers event organizers the opportunity to promote their events to the Lebanese online community for free. The website covers all events ranging from sports & outdoors, cultural, artistic, musical, and culinary events to conferences, exhibitions and activities for everyone including families and youth. Check out more on www.lebtivity.com

eTobb

eTobb is an online medical Q&A platform that connects patients and doctors around the world. Our mission is to improve access to healthcare and empower people with medical know-how to help them make more informed decisions. People can read health Q&As and browse health topics, such as pregnancy and men’s health.

Lebanese Mix of Entrepreneurs

Lebanese Entrepreneurs in the Web Summit

Lebtivity

Lebtivity Team stand in the Web Summit

Sociatag 2

Sociatag

Sociatag Team stand in the Web Summit

Etobb

eTobb Team in a business networking event during

General stage 1

General stage 3

Panel 1

The Web Summit 2013 – Dublin, Ireland -  Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/websummit/sets/

For more information please contact:

Sociatag – The Products

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Want to know more about Sociatag products?

We will bring you the complete list of our products as a final stage of the whole Sociatag process discussed in earlier posts.

Sociatag links daily real-life experiences with the digital world. Sociatag will spice up your events, shops, and restaurants. It will make your place more entertaining, fun, attractive and appealing to customers. To be able to do so Sociatag uses a number of tools:

The Sociatag box is a device that allows users to directly connect with the online community by a simple tap. It can be utilized as a:

  • Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter check-in box
  • Like a Facebook page status, a Foursquare venue or a LinkedIn company box
  • Follow or Tweet box
  • Rating box
  • Photobooth unit (takes live pictures of you and uploads them automatically to your Facebook profile or Fan page).

and many other more..

The Sociatag Readers are devices that allow users to directly connect to the online community by a simple tap. Customers are given the opportunity to personalize and share their experiences with friends and family by registering their own tag, and by signing up to their sociatag account using Facebook, Twitter or their own email address. Users later have the opportunity to participate in different activities.

The Sociatag tags are QR codes that users scan using Sociatag mobile application to connect to the online community. They can be used as an identification card in big events and conferences. Based on your choice our tags come as either fully branded, semi-branded, or not branded. We have 3 different types of tags: Wristbands, Key chains and PVC cards.

The Sociatag cookies are NFC based tags that users link to their Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn or any other social media profile. (For more info check our NFC post). All what a user have to do is to choose his cookie, then directly link it to his profile. His friends then just have to tap their phones to the cookie and they’ve found his profile at ease.

Want to be part of the next big thing? Are you interested in having our products at your next event or at your store? Then please visit https://www.sociatag.com/store.

Sociatag – The Process

Let’s dig deeper in the Sociatag products. What are they? And how do they perform?

Have you read our previous post about RFID? The Sociatag boxes and tags both have the RFID technology installed. That’s how the card information is read by the box. When users log in to their Sociatag account, and activate a tag which holds a specific code, that code is then registered with their account. Hence, when swiping the tag on the box, they will perform an action of either check-in, like, or tweet. The below bullet points explain the process in a more simple way:

  1. Login using Facebook or Twitter
  2. Allow the Sociatag application to access your account
  3. Add a Tag (Sociatag card)
  4. Swipe the Sociatag card and it will directly perform the defined social action


Note: the Sociatag boxes are not only limited to liking a Facebook page, checking in at a venue, tweeting, or taking a photo at the photo booth. It can be linked to any other social media platform or customized to your needs.

What about the mobile application?

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We have recently released our mobile applications for Android and iOS systems. And below you can find the features of the apps.

  • Register and login using a valid email or your Facebook account
  • Connect to social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn
  • Sync your friends list from the social networks
  • Add and manage tags
  • Control Account Settings
  • Scan NFC enabled readers using NFC enabled phones
  • Check your activity and what your friends are up to

 

Sociatag and loyalty programs:

Loyalty programs offered by Sociatag cover all cases and possibilities. It is up to the business owners to configure the loyalty program that fits their needs.

  1. It could be about collecting points to win instant prizes or enter a draw.
  2. It could be a multiple level campaign with rewards for each level. Users can be defined to participate once or multiple times.

…and so on.

Sociatag – an Introduction

You’ve met us at several events, you’ve heard about us from here or there, you’ve read an article mentioning us, or most probably you’ve visited our website. In all cases, here’s a small introduction about who we are, what we do and how we do it.

In simple words, Sociatag brings the offline world online. Our main aim is to add value to offline events by connecting them with their online community, and allowing them to engage the users and attendees outside of the physical venue, thereby creating a viral buzz. So at events, conferences, concerts, malls, restaurants, hotels, etc. people will be able to like the targeted Facebook page, check-in, tweet, or even take a photo. All the above mentioned tasks happen with a simple click. Users can use the Sociatag app on their mobile phones; or by swiping their PVC cards, key chains, wrist bands or stickers. Every activity then is brought online, as the following screenshots shows.

promotion

 

The Website:

Users will have to register and connect their social networks. All events will have a page on the Sociatag website, where all activities concerning the event will show up. Moreover, the website also has the “store” page where businesses would choose their preferred products.

The app:

Via the app, especially if the handset has NFC built in, users can perform the desired tasks at any Sociatag box.

Meet us at our next blog post for more details about our products.

 

Loyalty Programs revisited

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We’ve already covered the loyalty programs subject. The history of these programs dates back to 1793 in USA, where a merchant gave out copper tokens to be collected by customers and exchanged for items in the store. And so this marketing plan moved on from generation to another, from business field to another.

Let’s examine a modern day loyalty program. How about we dig into the “Rd LOVER” program launched by Roadster Diner, Lebanon? What is it about? When you join the program, and buy from Roadster, every 1000LL earns you a star. After collecting the stars, draws will take place to select the winners. Why would people join such a program?
1- If more than 72,000 people like their Facebook page, it means one thing: people love Roadster.
2- Let’s put it this way: you love this restaurant, you always visit it and order delivery, you’re being rewarded for such behavior. Would you not register for the Rd LOVER card and claim your stars to get a reward?

Let’s discuss another local example, Spinneys supermarket. When you register for their program, you collect points upon every purchase from their stores. The prizes are a list of items from their store, each item has target points to collect.

Rewarding their loyal customers is what they aim for. The only difference between the above mentioned examples is that at Spinneys there’s no draw, once you collect your points you get your reward, or if your points are not enough you can pay the difference.

Loyalty programs are very popular, and one great marketing tool. And today’s expanding technology is making it easier and more fun to participate in. We are certain that all of our loyal readers, have benefited at least once from a loyalty program. Would you not enjoy signing up for a program that can be that is rewarding, easy and fun? If you had a business, would you not choose a program for your loyal customers, a program that is easily installed and managed by you?

With sociatag, you can do all the above and more. Now everyone can benefit from your loyalty programs and share their experience with their social networks at the same time.

Geek Express Opening Event

geekexpress-2012

 

Geek Express is a space for all the new happenings in technology and electronics where you can enjoy creative DIY experiences.

As part of its opening event, visitors were able to Like and Checkin at the venue. A Geeky photobooth was also set for everyone to take pictures and upload them directly on the fan page.

Sociatag released two new products at this event, the new wireless version of the boxes with a complete new design, and the new Sociatag cookies. Sociatag Cookies are NFC based tags that can be linked easily to ones Facebook or Twitter profile.

For more information, check out the Geek Expresss site and our photogallery.