Being a mum, holidays and weddings


My mum brought me a great book for my birthday – Just Like Mum Says.  It’s full of quotes about being a mummy, I cannot believe Scarlett is nearly two – our lives have changed so much in those two years.  If you are a new mum I highly recommend this book.

One of the biggest things I have noticed since becoming a mum is how tech savvy we really are. There must be a million plus mummy bloggers, millions of mums online to answer questions you pose or review the new must have baby thing. I found them all a great source of comfort and practical help from when Scarlett was born. It seems now that marketers are catching up to how “online” mums are.

The IMoms summit seemed a great place to visit – shame it was in the US.  Here is a few links to some great articles:

I recently read a great story about a courageous mum, who turned her family’s stressful events into a business, in-turn helping other families.   After her son was born early and she struggled to find clothes that fit him, she started a clothing line for premie babies – she helped families by adding humor to the clothes. She found humor helped her & husband through the tough times and it looks like her clothes are helping other families.

Scarlett & I are very lucky, we have a great husband/dad – he is Scarlett’s full-time carer and I think he should write a blog/book for other dads about how to do it! Found a great infograph following dadsummit.com (another great US event).

One of the greatest articles I found was 71 things your child needs to know – I have started a new post (will publish soon) to track what Scarlett does know, what she is learning and what is far off!

on 29 April this year it was our 1st Wedding anniversary – we were on holiday celebrating. This was Scarlett’s 1st holiday and she loved it! From the drive to their airport to the final coach home she loved HOLIDAY.  For anyone interested I have reviewed our holiday and our favourite restaurant (which we went to for our anniversary dinner).

As I had never been aboard with Scarlett before I wasnt sure what to take – I found a great list online that helped me pack & prepare. It seemed like I had everything but the kitchen sink, but I think my husband, mum & daughter will agree I had everything we needed………..

 

 

Facebook & Conferences


Facebook shares go on the market today

For weeks there has been news about the Facebook IPO (initial public offering) and today investors can start buying stock. Reading many articles I have summarised some of the interesting stats:

  • Expected to sale at $38 a share – raising $16 billion
  • This would be the largest tech IPO in history
  • It would make Facebook worth more than Disney!
  • Facebook will retain 57% of the company

What does this mean for Facebook – the money will allow them to make more strategic acquisitions but will also mean they will need to extend how they make revenue. Stats about their current revenue are:

  • Made $5 billion last year
  • 85% from advertising
  • $2.4 from mobile advertising

Two ways to add revenue are gaming, which is popular via Facebook but not a huge revenue generator and the selling of data – not something anyone is keen on.

If you want to read more, the USA today article is great.

Guardian covered the key players.

I also found a great infograph on everything you need to know:

Infograph showing key stats about Facebook IPO

Everything You Need to know about Facebook IPO

Missed a couple of great conference whilst I was away. Luckily found some great summaries:

Making Mobile Marketing Work

Internet World 2012

Really interested to see that another US bill is being looked at – CISPA

Infograph explaining what is CISPA

WTF is CISPA

Recently read some great articles following on from topics I have talked about:

Finally rather than a stat to sign off I have found some great Facebook stats

UPDATE – Since the shares went on sale, many things have happened:

What happens next? I will update this post when I know!

Digital Engage Conference


I was looking forward to the digital engagement conference, there was some great content and new insight. I was tweeting all day and updated this blog with the key highlights. #LCDconf

Unlocking power of social media – Action on Hearing Loss Are people ready to hear the message?

  • Segment your audience
  •  Great opps – ability to respond to external environment, evolving, ability to target
  • How to migrate from one Facebook page to another -activity
  • Build up relevant and interesting content
  • Curate content of interest from blogs
  • Engage with detractors but only correct inaccurate facts
  • Use of Storify create stories of conversation put on website
  • Content strategy include user generated content i.e. social media supporters and service users
  • Service user Facebook pages engage with other service users
  • Survey in why interested and what else would like to see

Social Media ROI Big Lottery

  • Use your plan to look at where/what we should be listening too
  • What does success look like
  • Return on engagement – reputation building, better customer satisfaction & brand awareness
  • Help people tell their own stories – video is a great channel

 Online advocacy Action Aid

  • Interactive map of research, engaging and shareable
  • Invest in content
  • Plan responses to campaigns allow time to react
  • Making content work for different platforms, google docs
  • Facebook petitions
  • Split testing content
  • Strong email and action sequence
  • Measuring impacts by measuring change of conversation tone

Optimising your website HSE

  1. Make things easy to find
  2. SEO keyword objectives and strategy
  3. News blog in wordpress feed RSS and website
  4. Keep it tidy
  5. Redirects or customer friendly error pages
  6. 2. Accessible
  7. Site morse to review website
  8. Developer guidelines
  9. 3. Easy to use
  10. Page objectives
  11. Formats other than text
  12.  Keep in touch
  13. Measure and improve

Day in Life of a Journalists

  • Use twitter to contact journo as starting point and way to sharpen pitch
  • Balance between personal and professional
  • Local radio and press use twitter highly to break stories
  • Check what people say on twitter etc before hiring, each employee should be google searched
  • Allow freedom plus guidelines if you allow them to be a pr spokesperson you should allow them social media freedom
  • Content and relationship is king
  • Staking online claim to stories even if you don’t have a mention, build keyword ownership too.
  • Have content ready for your “oh shit” moments
  • Use twitter and live blogs together
  • Hash tags are the best ways to reach out in social media campaigns

Power of the smartphone Breakthrough Breast Cancer

  • 60% mobile phones used for Internet surfing
  • 50% UK smart phone
  • 13% of all web pages are accessed from mobile
  • Reasons for struggle and success, mobile users low attention spam
  • Dialogue, mobile web or on device apps
  • Engagement, data and money
  • How we do we operationalise digital?
  • Buy in from senior management
  • Social media guidelines are common sense not an environment of fear

Bigger Budget Campaigns Amnesty International

  • Societal, technology used to help or solve social problems i.e app development
  • Social change encourages an engaged consumer S
  • ociety campaigning, part of a cause
  • Failure is a necessity fail early, fail fast, fail often for innovation

Digital Presence

  • Diversify across right channels, focus on results and understand user behaviour
  • Consider sustainability, once built how will you maintain
  • Sliding scale of quality matched back to user
  • Up skill all workers on elements on digital

 

Thanks to twitter I get to keep up to date with conferences even when I cannot attend, the recent Social Media Marketing Conference is an example. I was unable to attend but was able to track the conference via Twitter, here is a saved search showing a selection of Tweets from the day.

Also, last nights #socialskills from the @theidm

So Facebook has brought Instagram, as a android phone user I hadn’t experienced Instagram but with a new app on the store and a Facebook purchase I wanted to see what it was all about. Ive installed it on the IPad and will try to link my phone.

Links to some great articles about the purchase:

The numbers

To challenge Apple?

Instagram – the timeline

Wrap Up

I have also joined Tumblr and will see whether this is much different to wordpress as a blogging tool.

Last Wednesday afternoon I started noticing updates on G+ about a new design,  I opened my profile page and there it was!. The new G+ profile page, bit like Facebook timeline + white space.  I was interested to see what else they had changed and what that would mean. Below is a list of the changes and some key articles about the changes:

  • Header Image and Profile Photo Changes
  • Customize Your Navigation for Business Communication
  • Page Promotion on the Right-Hand Sidebar
  • Trending Topics and Explore Section
  • New Hangouts Page
  • Enhanced Photo Albums and Videos
  • Easily See Who’s Engaging With Your Page
  • Easily Switch Between Page Admin and Personal Account

Google Blog announcmenet

Major design overhull

Love or Hate?

The numbers

I read a really good book -What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us by Guy Kawasaki – wondering whether he will amend his book with the new changes?

I’m loving the Ipad at the moment & using it more and more. A certain drawing app may have something to do with it.

Draw something stats

Showing the popularity of draw something

 

Recently read a great article on innovators and how we are all innovators just what type I am. I think I am an experimentalist!

Had a great Easter, the kids enjoyed their Easter hunt, just wish I had taken some photos!

Social media intresting facts


Reading an interview by NMA with Twitter UK boss Tony Wang, I was interested that he believed Twitter content had to be immediately incredibly interesting or valuable where as on Facebook people can interact & dwell on your brand.  Are these two still the most important social networks for brands? What about new things, Pinterest, Tumblr, 4Square, with all these new ones no wonder there is questions about fatigue & spreading yourself too thin.

I was interested to read articles about employees asking for your Facebook password – is this really happening in the USA? It makes me worry that employers that are asking for this really dont understand social media.

Did you know that more men check in on Foursquare and women spend more time on facebook. I think the competitiveness of Foursquare appeals to men and the social aspect of Facebook to women. Read more here. One man didnt really understand facebook or the tool “people you may know” after it caught him out as a bigamist!

I have recently joined storify – not used it yet! I will be getting fatigue as noticed more & more people using Tumblr which I will be looking into! And with Facebook buying Instagram, do I need to start using that on the Android phone??

 

 

New digital ideas


I like gadgets and there is so much new stuff, here is a few that have caught my eye:

Opening a trunk with your foot!

Car DVD/Tablet

Order a pizza via a refrigerator magnet

 

 

Being a mummy in spring


I love being a mum and as Scarlett gets older I am loving it more & more. Since she started nursery she likes to be doing stuff and as I spend my week at work and away from her I like to do stuff too!

I found a great article about 10 things to do in Spring and I am trying to do them all:

  1. Plant some seeds, bulbs, plants – we have some that we are hoping to plant at my moms or we will do some cress heads  – if that counts
  2. Go for a walk – she likes to walk with her daddy to see the horses
  3. Go to a Farm – my friend at work has invited us to his farm to see the animals which we are looking forward to
  4. Attract wildlife to your garden – not sure how we could do this in our small garden?
  5. Make a sundial – Scarlett may be too young for this
  6. Go for a bike ride – soon we will be taking the harness of her smart trike making it more like a bike!
  7. Go for a picnic – she loved the picnic she had with her Nanny on Sunday
  8. Do some Spring Crafts – today she made loads of easter crafts for our Easter Egg Hunt on Friday….watch this space
  9. Bird watching – on Sunday we saw a lovely Swan on the canal by our house – Scarlett seemed mesmerised by it
  10. Spring Clean – we are still hoping to move so a spring clean is on the books

NSPCC are launching a new campaign based on the success of many viral videos S$&t kids say.  It is a very powerful video and a great way to use a trend for the right campaign.

If you are like me you will be a family on a budget, most of the people I follow on Twitter give me great tips about being a family on a budget. Recently I found a great blog – family budgeting – described as creative ideas for raising a family on a budget. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Wanted to share a great tip with you about an emergency kit for your car – it inspired me to update mine! And I found this tip on Pinterest

The independent did a great article on the 7 ages of motherhood – I am the First Time Mother wondering if I will ever be the experienced hand!

10 apps for motherhood – I am not sure I will use any of these but I do think the iPad is great for moms, kids and families alike.

One of my favourite blogs – beingamummy – back on mother’s day she answered some questions on motherhood. I loved the article so much I wanted to answer them for myself:

Describe motherhood in three words
Rewarding, amazing and exhausting.

Does your experience differ from your mother’s? How?
I had my little one at the same age my mum had me but I think things have changed so much. Also I went back to work when my little girl was 5 weeks, my mum stayed at home until I was in school – I think that makes our experiences very different.

What’s the hardest thing about being a mum?
Lack of a decent night sleep and when she is ill.

What’s the best thing?
When your little one first says Mummy, when they smile and how everything she does she does with a smile.

How has it changed you?
Lots and lots.

What do you hope for your children?

Health & to be happy.

What do you fear for them?

The riots last year made me really worry what world will be there when Scarlett is older.

What makes it all worthwhile?

Scarlett’s smile when I get home from work or the kiss I get 1st thing in the morning.

Something I have learnt being a mum is limit your chores! This may be a surprise to people who know me but I am trying to worry less and less about the chores and spending more quality time with my family.

 

PSFK…..social tech


Every day I get a great email from PSFK. It has loads of great stories of how people are using digital to make better products/services.  I was therefore intrested in their conference held last week.

This conference is about exploring the latest trends, inspirations and ideas. Themes running across talks this year include creativity-in-action, innovation-at-scale and building-better-business.

There is a great link to all the keynotes from the sessions.  The ones I found interesting are:

- brands are people

- internet disruption

- transactional storytelling

- technology more neutral

- how powerful is data

Was disappointed to not pick up many tweets – perhaps I was looking at the wrong hashtag #PSFK

Social Tech #mptech had lots more content!

SMWF


What is Social Media World Forum – they describe it as:

Top-level strategic advice and insight around how to engage customers, manage brand perceptions, empower employees and open new un-tapped audiences through diverse social media channels.

They have a few key topics:

-    Social Media Marketing
-    Social TV
-    Enterprise B2B and Social Marketing
-    Social Shopping and e-commerce
   Marketing Tech Toolbox
-    Mobile Marketing

Their website includes summaries of what happened this year and live Tweets from the event.

Great summary on Storify from Nerd Insider

 

SESNY


Great conference in New York with great speakers looking at SEO, PPC, Mobile, Local, as well as both Earned and Paid Social Media.

The key sessions during the conference were:

Business Optimization

Duplicate Content

Video Marketing Tactics

LinkBuilding like a nerd

Found two great articles that gave a round-up of the two days:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

I was intrested to find the following Tweet Reach report:

Tweet reach report for #SESNY

Tweet reach report for #SESNY

 

SXSW – interactive


I finally got round to reading all my articles, tweets & inforgraphs on SXSW – a great interactive conferenceine the USA.

To summarise,  the top new things (and winners of awards are:

Highlight – a social location service you can use with your Iphone, allowing you to connect with people in the same place. Another worthy mention is Glancee

Take this Lollipop – a interactive live action facebook connect experience. Uses your Facebook content in video/animation to tailor to you!

Pinterest – a great new site where you can create boards of things that interest you

Screwed - a really innovative way to sell your business. Craftsman wanted to show off their products, so they took a novice DIYer and taught him DIY – they filmed all their efforts, added tips from tweeter & shared content on all social networks.

Storify – helps users tell stories by using social media.  I have only just joined!

Eyefi Ipad App – the best thing about this is you can have a EyeFi card in your camera and directly update images to your Ipad! I am going to get the card & test it on my next holiday!

There seems quite a few things being talked about; frictionless payments; voice activation and tv/social media.

As I didnt follow the conference on Twitter, I have found the following summaries really interesting:

Interactive Marketing Insights from SXSW 2012

Battling Bad WiFi, Battery Drain & The Silicon Valley Mafia

2012 SXSW Interactive Roundup

Here is a few of the cool infographs:

Infograph showing social media chatter at SXSW

Social Media Chatter @ SXSW

Infograph show the the SXSW buzz and aftermath

Using social media to show the buzz of SXSW

 

Stat of the post:

80% of Brits are simultaneous media users (use at least 2 different forms of media at the same time).

European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) as cited by eMarketer, December 2010
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