Why social media shouldn't be banned from the office

It's a chilly Friday afternoon, and there's not much else on my mind that the countdown till the weekend! The clock seems to be ticking slower and slower the closer it gets.

A situation like this makes it easy to get distracted at work. So when it's Friday and you're board, what do you do? Get on social media of course!

This can become quite an annoyance to employers as their employees spend more and more time on social media and less at work. However, CNN came out with an article today in favor of the employees giving 5 reasons not to ban social media in the office. In summary it gave the following reasons:

1. It's self-defeating.
2. It's such an old idea.
3. Social media is the new coffee break.
4. Multitasking is beneficial.
5. It makes us more productive because it opens our minds.

The key takeaways from this article are:

• Bosses should be relaxed about employees going on social media at work.
• It increases creativity and benefits the company or organization.
• And anyway, you won't be able to stop it.

As an employee to a company, I must say that I agree with this. Social media is how I now take my "coffee" break. It's nice because I can take a break and feel rejuvenated to start work again. Now I will also say that I personally have to be careful that I don't go overboard and take too long of a break. The key here for employers is not banning, but teaching how to restrain.

Social Media- Just a Popularity Contest?

When it comes down to it, social media is really just a popularity contest. It can be thought of as a glorified version of "Mean Girls" or "Clueless". For the most part, individuals and companies care about being popular on social media. Here's my reasoning:
 
   [Companies use social media to generate more brand awareness]
   [People use social media to show off the cool things they do]
   [Companies get excited when they are the most popular on social media because that leads to more
   revenue for them]
   [People get excited the more likes they get because that means they are popular and people care
   enough about their life to give them a like]

Just like in junior high, there is a tactful and tacky way to be popular on social media. Some examples of tactful companies and people include: Charmin, Converse, Ellie Goulding, Coastal, & Blendtec. Some examples of companies that use social media in a tacky way all the time or just every so often are: Axe, GoDaddy, and Carls Jr.

So please be respectful of everyone out there as you try to gain popularity for yourself or for your company! Popularity is good and you should strive to achieve it, just don't be a punk about it. 

Email Marketing: Dead or Alive?

With the start of my new job, I decided to go on a quest to find out if email marketing was dead or alive in this current age of SMM.

With my previous knowledge of Social Media Marketing [SMM] and knowledge from the SMM class I am taking currently, there is a little minnion inside of me that says, " Yieks! That will turn off more potential clients than it will do good."

However, this is the approach that the company wishes to take, so before I completely disregard it I decided I wanted to do some research about email marketing.

I found a great article talking about email marketing tips and stats for 2014. Here are the most interesting facts & tips I found:

Stats

• According to eMarketer there will be around 236.8 million US email users by 2017.
• For every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment.
• 56% of businesses say they plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2013.

Mobile

• When planning content for a multi-device experience, your most important content should come first. Think back to the top-down hierarchy taught in basic journalism—what do you most want your readers to see?
• Know your audience—it’s the most basic of all marketing principles. If your brand’s mobile audience is at or above 10%, it’s time to start optimizing for mobile.
• Don’t focus solely on click-based interaction—instead, try to think in terms of swipes and taps. As with any good design, grid-based layouts ensure content is easy to read and digest.

Mastering the Inbox

• Do you want to help your bounce rate? Locate the emails that generated the high number of bounce backs and investigate the source of the list. 
• Comply with the guidelines in the federal CAN-SPAM legislation. Most importantly, make sure that all requests for removal from your mailing lists are honored. 
• 33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone.
• More people read emails that deal with their finances and travel than any other category. 
• Recipients often only read the subject line or the first few lines of an email. Include your CTA early on in your email. 
• Subject lines fewer than 10 characters long had an open rate of 58%.

Data.Data.Data

• 7 in 10 people say they made use of a coupon or discount from a marketing email in the prior week. (2012 Blue Kangaroo Study)
• If the addresses were acquired organically via form submissions, consider using a Confirmed Opt-In process. With Confirmed Opt-In, an individual is required to enter an email address to access your site or content. Upon registering their email address, a verification email will be sent to the address provided. This way, new subscribers can only submit valid, active email addresses. 

Social Media & Email

• It is important to include social sharing buttons at the top of your email. When the recipient clicks the share button, have the social post populated with interesting copy and a shortened link.

So the end result after this article? I'm more willing to give email campaigns a try! I think that as long as they are legit and well designed then they can be very effective. 

My verdict is that email marketing is still very much alive!

Social Media: Adults vs. Teens

I came across an interesting article/infographic a few weeks ago that compares how adults use social media compared to teens. It's widely assumed that adults no where near as tech savvy as teens, which in many cases is true.

This article from Entrepreneur argues, however, says that when it comes to a few social media outlets, adults actually use them more than teens!

They said that adults use Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr more than teens. It's an interesting argument. I have a hard time believing that adults use Instagram more than teens, even if it's just slightly. But maybe they consider anyone from 18+ as adults in this study and if that is the case, then I can believe that. Take a look at the infographic below and tell me what you think!

DATE JAR

Many different ideas have been floating around for making date jars. I really wanted to do one, but I didn't want to write them on popsicle sticks. I had an idea in one of my favorite places in the world, HOBBY LOBBY, that would allow me to keep reusing the "sticks" + I could keep a record of all the dates we go on! So here you are!

Write numbers on the balls. I started over for each different size.

Categorize dates into 3 types and associate them with different ball sizes & colors. [We really used silver, bronze, and gold permanent markers on the wooden balls and they look really cool!]

In a small notebook, write down all of your ideas into the different categories. Leave some room off to one side. [You'll find out why in a minute.] Here are some examples ones we did...

Each time you do a date, put a checkmark & write the date when you did it. This notebook will dual as a journal for you to keep of all the date's you have been on. You could even leave room to write different things you liked/didn't like about each date.

When you go on a date, write down another idea to replace that number.

If you want to, add some ribbon to your jar to give it some personality. Depending on what type of jar & notebook you get, your could attach your notebook to the jar. If not, just keep it close by!

If you need any ideas for dates, check out my post with different ideas or visit some of these other great blogs. Happy dating!

http://unveiledwife.com/at-home-date-night-ideas/

http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/sex-and-love/40-free-date-ideas-youll-both-love

http://emmalinebride.com/planning/50-best-cheap-date-ideas/

DATE IDEAS

Having trouble coming up with creative, fun, and not-the-norm date ideas? Here's a list that we have created to help get your juices flowing.

Lots of money & planning

1. Expensive restaurant
2. Weekend get aways to local sites & attractions [national forests, the beach, etc.]
3. Host a party [20's, murder mystery, 80's, western, etc]

At home

1. Build a fort & watch a movie
2. 1,000 piece puzzle & sushi
3. Favorite TV show [Chuck] marathon & Chinese
4. I teach you & you teach me activity
5. Art night & root beer
6. Dessert night
7. Learn a new game
8. Compare foods [which place in town has the best chocolate milk shakes?]
9. Make a wax seal
10. Make cookies for someone
11. Watch home videos
12. Make a bucket list
13. Creative service night
14. Water fight
15. Exotic meal cooking
16. Clean out the junk drawer & find stuff to donate
17. Paint balloon art
18. Wash the car
19. Experiment making different hot chocolate flavors.

Minimal planning & money

1. Frisbee golf
2. Laser night football
3. Jog & jump into canals
4. Mini golf
5. Hike
6. Local playhouse
7. Bike ride
8. Go for a test drive
9. Bowling
10. Cooking class
11. Visit a garage sale
12. Go fishing
13. Nickel arcade
14. Stargazing
15. Second "first date" [go get dinner, ask basic questions, act awkward]
16. Drive in movie
17. Volunteer somewhere
18. Fitness class
19. Go swimming
20. Run through sprinklers & get snow cones
21. Make snowmen of each other

If you have a hard time deciding which one you want to do, or if you have so many ideas that you want to write them down so you don't forget about them and do them all eventually, then check out my post on a fun date jar idea that will help you do both!