Irish Social Media Awards finalists announced

The finalists of the Bord Gáis sponsored Social Media Awards have been announced. Over one hundred Irish companies and organisations in seventeen categories will descend upon the Mansion House on Dublin’s Dawson Street this Thursday, May 26, for the inaugural awards event.

The awards are largely bore out of the previous Irish Blog Awards and symbolise a progression in the web itself. Where the importance of blogging has been highlighted greatly over the past number of years, organiser Damien Mulley turns his attention to honouring social media and its increasingly important role in online interactive business and organisational public communications and marketing. Once again, Mulley has employed the services of RTÉ 2FM DJ Rick O’Shea to MC on the night.

We’ll be live tweeting from the event (with the hashtag #smedwards11) so follow @thesociable for updates. The finalists and respective categories are as follows,

Facebook page for a business

• A|wear
• The Secret Garden
• What’s On NI
• TodayFM
• Newstalk
• Blacknight
• Toyota Ireland
• Spin 1038

Facebook page for a non-profit organisation

• Defence Forces
• Science Gallery
• Concern Worldwide
• Tourism Ireland
• Dublin Zoo
• IT Sligo
• FOTA Wildlife Park
• Barnardos Ireland

Facebook page for a business (Owner managed)

• Vodafone Ireland
• My Lunch IE
• Glenisk Organic
• My Kids’ Time
• Tour America
• Meteor Mobile
• Cork Independent
• Puddle Ducks
• 3 Ireland

Integrated Facebook campaign (Page, app and ads)

• Jelly Bean Factory
• Glenisk Organic
• MummyPages
• eMobile Ireland
• Pizza Hut Ireland
• Tourism Ireland
• Lidl Ireland
• Maltesers Ireland
• ABSOLUT Ireland
• Toyota Ireland

Best business Twitter account (Marketing, sales)

• Grace App – @graceapp
• La Cucina – @italianfoodie
• My Lunch IE – @mylunchie
• Realex Payments – @realexpayments
• Silicon Ireland – @siliconireland
• Newstalk 106-108 – @newstalkfm
• TV3 Xpose – @TV3Xpose
• Blacknight – @Blacknight
• Curious Wines – @curiouswines

Best business Twitter account (Support, CRM)

• Wheelworx – @wheelworx
• What’s On NI – @whatsonni
• Tourism Ireland – @discoverireland, @gotoirelandgb, @gotoirelandus
• Eircom – @eircom
• Irish Weather Online – @iweatheronline
• Blacknight – @blacknight
• We Are UPC – @UPC_HelpsYou_IE
• Vodafone Ireland – @vodafoneireland

Blog of a business – Sponsored by Frontline LED

• Simply Zesty
• Garrendenny Lane
• La Cucina
• Neworld
• RABODirect
• Blacknight
• Curious Wines

Video/video campaign (non-broadcast) – Sponsored by Publicis QMP

• Grace App for Autism
• Wicklow TV
• The Science Gallery
• Flowers Made Easy
• Event Junkies
• Laughing Kookaburra
• Wedding Dates

Online PR campaign – Sponsored by ESOF 2012, Dublin City of Science

• Sandtex Ireland
• Pizza Hut Delivery
• Flowers Made Easy
• Making Things Look Better
• Vodafone Ireland
• Wedding Dates

Use of social media by state body/organisation – Sponsored by pTools

• Defence Forces
• Irish Rail
• Bord Bia
• Tourism Ireland
• Enterprise Ireland
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Western Development Commission

Best mobile app

• Grace App
• Today FM
• Eco Appz
• Oxegen 2010
• Heineken Cup iPhone App
• Leinster Legends
• Spin 1038

Customer care using social media (Integrated) – Sponsored by DoneDeal

• Grace App
• ESB Electric Ireland
• Tourism Ireland
• Eircom, eMobile, Meteor
• Blacknight
• Vodafone Ireland

Best use of social media for a sponsorship campaign

• Bank of Ireland Leinster Blue Magic
• Toyota Ireland
• Wedding Dates
• Bank of Ireland – Dragon’s Den
• Betfair – ElectionPredict.com
• 98FM

Innovative use of social media – Sponsored by Arekibo

• Today FM – Ray D’Arcy Show
• Harry’s Bar and Restaurant
• Tourism Ireland
• Morning Ireland, RTE
• Meteor
• Belfast Telegraph True Colours App
• Action Breast Cancer
• RTE’s The Rumour Room

Social media effectiveness (Conversions, metrics etc) – Sponsored by Kantar Media

• Buyers Broker
• Morning Ireland, RTE
• Irish Premature Babies
• Action Breast Cancer
• Toyota Ireland
• Bank of Ireland – Dragon’s Den
• Lucozade

Integrated social media campaign – Sponsored by GrabOne.ie

• Defence Forces
• Currys/PC World
• eMobile
• Morning Ireland, RTE
• Meteor
• Barnardos
• Vodafone

Agency for use of social media – Sponsored by Newsletter.ie

• Rothco
• CKSK
• Radical
• Bua Marketing
• ICAN
• Irish International
• Simply Zesty
• Eighty Twenty
• Neworld
• Pembroke
• Bluecube Interactive

The awards ceremony takes place this Thursday, May 26, in the Mansion House, Dublin with doors open at 7pm. Tickets are still available for purchase at €50.