Author: spacelabdetroit

5 Reasons Why YouTube Is an Incredibly Powerful Tool for Your Business

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by Karen A.D. Burton

If you’re looking for ways to expand your business’s online presence, you can’t afford to overlook the power of video. And when it comes to video, there’s no better platform than YouTube. Here are five reasons why YouTube is an incredibly powerful tool for reaching potential customers and growing your business.

  1. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, after Google. This means that when people are searching for information about products or services you offer, they’re likely to turn to YouTube for answers. By creating informative and engaging videos that address common questions and pain points, you can reach potential customers when they’re actively looking for solutions.
  2. With over 2.5 billion monthly active users1, YouTube is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. This presents a huge opportunity for you to reach a massive and engaged audience. Whether you’re a small business owner or a multinational corporation, YouTube can help you connect with potential customers on a global scale.
  3. More than 68% of YouTube users say they watch videos on the platform to learn about a product or service before making a purchase2. Creating informative and engaging videos can be an effective way to convert potential customers into buyers. By showcasing your products or services in action, you can demonstrate their value and benefits in a way that’s difficult to do through text or images alone.
  4. Video is an excellent medium for showcasing your expertise and building credibility with your audience. By creating videos that educate and inform your viewers, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry. This can help you build trust with potential customers, making it more likely that they’ll choose to do business with you over your competitors.
  5. YouTube videos can be embedded on other websites and shared on social media platforms, making them an excellent way to drive traffic to your website and expand your online presence. By including calls to action in your videos and optimizing your video titles and descriptions for search, you can attract more viewers to your content and ultimately, to your business.

YouTube is an incredibly powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. By creating informative and engaging videos, you can reach potential customers at the moment they’re actively looking for solutions, showcase your expertise and build credibility, and expand your online presence. If you’re not already using YouTube as part of your marketing strategy, it’s time to start.

Don’t miss “Use YouTube to Grow Your Business,” the third event in our Grow with Google series. Google Digital Coach Katrina Turnbow will teach attendees how to use YouTube and the power of video to promote a business or a brand.

This event is in-person, and it will be live-streamed. Don’t miss out! Reserve your spot today.

Sign up on Eventbrite

1 Statista. Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2023, ranked by number of monthly active users.

2 Zippia. 35+ YouTube statistics [2023]: How popular is YouTube in 2023?

Show Love: City Walls Detroit Calls for Artists

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City Walls Detroit has released the first wave of open calls for this summer with over $650,000 available for the Detroit arts community! Visit the City Walls website and download the artist packet for the project or projects you’re interested in. Pay close attention to the Vision Statement as developed by the community to inspire your vision for these spaces.

4 Calls Open Now

Godfrey Hotel
Deadline to apply: March 19, 2023
City Walls Detroit together with the Godfrey Hotel, is seeking artists (or collaborative teams) to create two new murals on the Godfrey Hotel.  

Community Vision Statement: The Godfrey Hotel and The Corktown Community have collaborated to discover common themes and inspiration for the upcoming mural(s) that will be placed on The Godfrey Hotel in Spring/Summer 2023. According to the Detroit Historical Society, Corktown is the oldest existing neighborhood in The City of Detroit and was a welcoming point for waves of immigrants who have generations of families… Download the Artist Packet and Apply >

DTE Corktown Substation Mural Project                                           
Deadline to apply: March 19, 2023

Community Vision Statement: The Corktown Community and City Walls Detroit have collaborated to discover common themes and inspiration for the upcoming mural. According to the Detroit Historical Society, Corktown is the oldest existing neighborhood in The City of The DTE Mural project seeks to highlight the tightknit Corktown Community bonds. Residents of the oldest neighborhood in Detroit share a familiarity with each other, with baseball, with parades… Download the Artist Packet and Apply >

Stein Park Mural Project
Deadline to apply: March 19, 2023

City Walls Detroit together with the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance CDC (CRCAA), is seeking artists (or collaborative teams) to create a new mural in Stein Park in the Warrendale/Cody Rouge area on the West Warren corridor.  This project will be executed in the service of promoting the City of Detroit as a vibrant community. The murals theme is based and derived from a place of civic pride and it strives to have a deep connection with residents. Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance CDC has been serving this area for over ten years… Download the Artist Packet and Apply >

Show Love: The Detroit Way
Deadline to apply: March 19, 2023  
The City of Detroit has a vision for neighbors to feel connected to each other, to foster a sense of belonging, and have a collective say for what happens in their neighborhoods.  

Vision Statement: As we have learned through the pandemic outdoor public spaces are our most important spaces. Even when we couldn’t be with each other we could be outside. It’s now more important than ever to ensure our public spaces are healthy, safe, inviting, and empowering… Download the Artist Packet and Apply >
Learn More About City Walls

Mural at header by Muralmatics

Webinar Replay: Reach Customers Online with Google

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We went live on Facebook with Google to show how your business can be found online. Click on the video to learn how Google Search works and how you can improve your website’s visibility with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Also, find out more about Google Business Profile, Google Trends, Search Console, Google Ads, and more.

If webinar replay does not appear, click here to watch on Facebook. (You do not need a Facebook account.)

This workshop explains best practices for:

  • Improving your website’s visibility in Google’s organic search results on all devices;
  • Creating a free Google Business Profile; and
  • Advertising your business on Google.

SpaceLab is a Grow With Google Partner.

Lunch and Learn: Interactive Building Code Education

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Allegion invites you to participate in one of their most popular programs, Code Jeopardy. The course is delivered in an interactive game format, and discusses ADA requirements, occupancy classification codes, Fire and Life Safety codes, and the hardware that can provide for the needs of an owner while also complying with applicable codes. Course Objectives:
– Identify requirements for accessible openings according to the ADA
– State code requirements for means of egress
– Specify opening products that meet fire code requirements
– Discuss code requirements for electrical hardware products
(1 HSW Continuing Education Hour)

Date: Jan. 31, 2023

Time: 12 noon – 1 pm

Audience: Architects, contractors, builders, interior designers, specifiers, property and facility managers, building owners

Complete 3 short questions to let us know your role in the design and construction industry to get an invitation. Tell us your role in the industry for an invitation >

See more events here >

6 ways to Observe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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  1. Spend the day in service to others. Volunteer with your favorite community organization or non-profit.
  2. Read some of Dr. King’s writings, like his Call for Economic Justice in The Nation magazine (includes the quote above), or the works mentioned on an episode of WDET’s Detroit Today last week. 
  3. Visit The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit and experience “And Still We Rise,” an exhibit that “offers a comprehensive look at the history of African-American resilience.” Not in Detroit? Check out these lists of museums from Essence magazine and Wikipedia focused on the African American experience.
  4. Check out these podcast: Hidden in Plain Site, Architecture Is Political, and Code Switch.
  5. Read about I-375 in Detroit, Bruce Beach in Manhattan Beach, California and other efforts toward social justice. Ponder whether these moves are restorative, reparative, and can close the racial wealth gap.
  6. Watch Selma (on Hulu), 13TH (on Netflix), and Eyes on the Prize (on HBOMax).

18 Detroit City Walls Artists Exhibit Work in 2-Day Showcase

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The City of Detroit General Services Department – Parks and Recreation Division and SpaceLab Detroit (with partner H&P Protection Services) celebrated Detroit City Walls Artists and the work they created to beautify the city’s neighborhoods and rec centers.

The City Walls program launched in the Summer of 2017. The initiative integrates a multifaceted approach to enhancing public space by focusing on an essential urban element: the city wall. The goals of the program are to highlight the values and the identity of the communities where art work is being created, empower Detroit artists, and to provide a positive cost benefit to the public via art versus the cost of blight remediation.

At the showcase, artists exhibited and offered additional work for sale at the former workspace of late artist, muralist, and sculptor Charles McGee November 18th and 19th. Now named Design Studio 6, the studio, creative event space, gallery and retail shop is owned by April McGee Flournoy, McGee’s daughter. Mr. McGee was a pioneer of Detroit’s Black art culture from the 1950s through 2021. In 2017 Marygrove College designated the area as the Charles McGee Community Commons.

See work below and click through to see additional art available for purchase and contact information for each artist. Art makes perfect holiday gifts!

Exhibiting artists by column, top to bottom:

  • Waleed Johnson (2021 Artists-in-Residence)
  • Zachary Arrington
  • Fel’le
  • Trae Isaac
  • Aaron Mickens
  • Andrea Slomczenski
  • Miranda Kyle (2021 Artists-in-Residence)
  • Marlo Broughton
  • Jason Garcia
  • Torrence Jayye
  • Chris Pizana
  • Richard Wilson
  • Brandon Marshall (2021 Artists-in-Residence)
  • Donald Calloway
  • Erica Husted
  • Jesse Kassel
  • Nick Pizana
  • Caleb Foerg

Meet Mari Byrd

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Mail Coordinator and Office Assistant at SpaceLab | Owner of Accessories by Gigi

In November, Mari Byrd joined the team at SpaceLab Detroit to assist with our growing virtual office and mail service. She has quickly become a valuable part of our entire community, helping to nurture our welcoming atmosphere.

Mari Byrd

Mari is an entrepreneur; she owns Accessories by Gigi and is designing and developing a line of high-end handbags. The company’s new website will be live soon. (Ask her about “Full Circle.”). See her discussion with NextOpp Social on Embracing Small Beginnings on the Way to Merchandising Success.

Previously, Mari was Business Liaison for Detroit’s District 2, working with Councilman Roy McCalister, Jr., connecting with and assisting business owners in problem solving, identifying opportunities for capital, talent resources, and business support from various City Departments. Her professional experience also includes managing art galleries at Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion and consulting as an event planner.

New! Content Creation Rooms

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All new! Content Creation Spaces are available in downtown Detroit. Reserve rooms for: podcasting, video interviews, training and online course videos, photo shoots, social media content and more.

Special Introductory Rate for Non-Members of SpaceLab: $50/hour.

SpaceLab Members can include content studios as part of their monthly meeting room booking.

HD webcams, microphones, lighting, black and white backdrops, and green and blue screens are available for use with rental. Camera equipment not yet available for rent.

Contact us at info@spacelabdetroit.com or 313-379-7000 for more information, for a tour, or to book space.

SpaceLab at Work: Meet Madison

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Who’s the new face at SpaceLab. Madison joined us about 6 months ago as a high school intern and Mail Associate. She makes sure all of the mail we receive is sorted and distributed professionally. Madison is organized and very meticulous is her work and is a great addition to the SpaceLab team.

A rising senior in Detroit, Madison says math is her favorite subject, and she is an integral member of her school’s robotics team. Madison joined the team because she wanted to build something. “I wanted (my) creativity to flow on a physical project.” She wasn’t able to participate in robotics when she was in middle school, but was persistent in joining the high school team. She proudly reports that her Renaissance team has participated in state competition and world competitions.

Madison plans to combine her love for robotics and engineering with architecture. Since working at SpaceLab, she’s been introduced to many architects, real estate professionals, and others who’ve given advice and shared experiences that can help her along her career journey. Madison hopes to attend college in California or Florida, and one personal and professional goal is to have a hand in making her parent’s dream come true by designing a new home for them.