Social Media Archives - Making Time for Mommy

Join The Flash Flood For Good

September 5, 2013 by Alicia Marie 1 Comment

Everyone should have access to clean, drinkable water but they don’t. Unsafe drinking water is a struggle for 1 billion people worldwide. Water supplies are often contaminated with parasites and diseases, making diarrhea a leading cause of death among infants and children in the developing world. In fact, more than 2,000 children die every day from dirty water, more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.

World Vision is working to change this and there is a super easy FREE way you can help this month. I’m posting to urge you all to join me in the Flash Flood For Good. Through Flash Flood For Good we’re going to turn social currency into real currency to help clean water and save lives.

For 72 hours, starting September 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, World Vision will focus the world on clean water. If you add your Facebook and Twitter feeds to Flash Flood For Good, you’ll post together with World Vision and millions of others around the world. Hundreds of millions of people will see our message and can donate instantly. A $10 donation will give one child a year of clean water.

I hope you will join me! Find out more at https://www.flashfloodforgood.org/.

(Images and information courtesy of World Vision and Flash Flood For Good.)

Filed Under: Causes/ Charities, Social Media Tagged With: Causes, charity, clean water, Social media, World Vision

It’s All About Relationships In Business

January 27, 2013 by Alicia Marie 4 Comments

You may have heard the term “ROI” or “Return On Investment” which has been used a lot in business over the years but today I’m going to talk about another return- “ROR” and the new book out about it called Return on Relationship.

Here’s a little more about the book from the back cover:

Social Media drives engagement, engagement drives loyalty, and loyalty correlates directly to increased sales. Is your company currently focused on gaining brand advocates and building its social media credibility? Do you question whether or not using Facebook, Twitter, or blogs is a worthwhile investment of your time and resources? In Return on Relationship, Ted Rubin and Kathryn Rose present real world, practical ideas that will help businesses maximize their potential through using community-focused tools on the Internet. You’ll discover why ‘That’s the way it’s always been done’ will leave you without any customers. In this book you will also discover:

How to Maximize your potential by using the right community- focused tools on the Internet
The importance of moving from convince and convert to converse and convert
What main problems will keep you from seeing dramatic results
How building engaged and responsive communities around your brand will signiﬁcantly impact your bottom line

Whether your business is just starting out or if you’ve been a leader in your ﬁeld for years, in Return on Relationship, Ted Rubin and Kathryn Rose give you a guided tour to taking your company to the next level.

***

The book is available for sale on Amazon {find it here}. I am excited to read the book because Ted, one of the authors, is one of my bosses at Collective Bias. I’m so blessed to learn from him and watch him develop relationships using Social Media. It’s amazing to me that he has 100,000+ followers and has built relationships with so many of them. He truly practices ROR in his daily life and knows what he is talking about when it comes to marketing and social media.

About the Authors:

Ted Rubin knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Marketing and Social Media. He has been the Chief Marketing Officer of ELF cosmetics and Open Sky and is currently the Chief Social Marketing Officer of Collective Bias. Collective Bias is a content marketing company that weaves organic social content into real-life stories for brands and retailers. Ted is the #1 followed Chief Marketing Officer on Twitter. Follow him at @TedRubin and follow his hashtag #RonR.

Kathryn Rose is an award-winning, best-selling author, speaker and social media strategist and trainer with clients ranging from multi-million dollar corporations, to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Kathryn has a 20+ year career in sales and marketing that includes successful track record of using a collaborative mindset to increase sales. Follow Kathryn on Twitter at @katkrose.

(Disclosure: I am receiving a copy of Return on Relationship but all thoughts in this post are my own.)

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Collective Bias, Small Business, Social Media, Social Media & Business, Twitter Tagged With: #CBias, #RonR, Return on Relationship, ROR, Ted Rubin

Introducing Evzdrop, A Location-Based Interest Network

October 30, 2012 by Alicia Marie Leave a Comment

Sinisa and I have spent the past couple days trying out a new iPhone app for a location-based interest network called Evzdrop. Evzdrop lets people stay connected to what’s happening at places in real time. The free mobile app and Web platform allow users to “evzdrop” to get an inside look at any place they’re interested in through the people who are present and posting about what’s going on at any given moment.

Here’s what makes Evzdrop different from other location-based networks:

Evzdrop lets users “listen in” from nearby or afar. Was the referee correct on that controversial call? Use Evzdrop to see what people at the game have to say. How does the band sound from the front row? Check out the comments and photos on Evzdrop, either via the mobile app or Web platform. Thinking about visiting a certain bar on your business trip next month? See what people at the venue right now are saying about their experience on Evzdrop.

Evzdrop gives consumers a voice. Even if you have 10,000 Twitter followers, chances are they are only interested in a small portion of your tweets because the content can vary so widely. Evzdrop gives people a large network with a targeted following by providing them a microphone through which to broadcast their experience at that point in time. The platform allows you to be heard where and when it matters most: in the moment

Evzdrop’s geo-fencing technology allows users to Drop anonymously while still maintaining credibility. Mobile users often want to be heard but don’t necessarily want to be found, and Evzdrop’s Stealth mode lets users contribute while still protecting individual privacy. By design, all Drops are location-verified, but consumers are able to use the Stealth function to post anonymously if they choose, and location makes their insights valid.

Evzdrop allows consumers to influence change. When a user Drops, it sends a ripple effect through the app, reaching other users who are tuned in to Radar or that particular place. Evzdrop’s common connection – location – means that users are able to reach a constantly changing set of people who share similar interests. But consumers aren’t the only people listening; businesses are too. In many ways, Evzdrop serves as a digital comment box that’s open to the public.

Evzdrop brings focus and relevance to the overwhelming amount of content being created on social media. Evzdrop employs the interest graph as the thread that ties its network together, letting you listen in to the places you care about. The app provides a collective snapshot of a location at any given time and opens up a lens of insight well beyond one’s social network.

We’ve been asked to use the app as we go about the week so we can give my readers and followers and the members of the Chicago Blogger Network a peek into the lives of a busy mom and dad on the go. You can follow us as we “drop” our locations around the suburbs of Chicago by following us on Twitter. My handle is @aliciamarie112 and Sinisa’s is @DADofJAKEnLUKE :)

We will be back this weekend with a full review of the app and the network!

(Disclosure: I am being compensated for being an Evzdrop Ambassador for the week.)

Filed Under: Chicago, Smartphone applications, Social Media, Social Media & Business Tagged With: Chicago, Evzdrop, Location-based service

5 Tips To Protect Your Online Identity

September 1, 2012 by Alicia Marie Leave a Comment

Think about all of the things you do online. You email, you save and share pictures, you connect with family and friends on social networks, you bookmark recipes and ideas you want to do in the future…now imagine if one day you logged in and everything was GONE. How would you feel? This is what happened to Mat Honan. Within one hour hackers were able to destroy Mat’s digital life, including erasing everything on his iPhone, iPad and Macbook. He shared the whole story, including his mistakes and Apple’s huge security flaws, over at Wired. Mat eventually got 75% of his hard drive back but it cost him over $1600 to do so and he still lost some important documents and emotionally valuable photos.

Trend Micro brought this story to my attention and asked me, as one of their Digital Joneses bloggers, to share Mat’s story with you all and how we can make sure it doesn’t happen to us. They also sent our family tablets and stressed the importance of securing our tablets like we do our laptops. Trend Micro shared 5 things we can do to secure our tablets {and really our digital life in general}:

Tip #1:

Tip #2:

Tip #3:

Tip #4:

Tip #5:

I thought these were great tips. Some I use already, like receiving emails when someone signs into my Facebook account from a location I never have used before and not saving my credit card info on sites. Some were things I had never considered before, like leaving my social media pages open on my computer and linking sites together. Those things that make it easy for me to quickly get things done online also make it easy for hackers to access personal details.

Do you follow all of the tips above? If not, which ones do you struggle with following?

Past Challenges:

Are you {Digitally} Smarter Than a 5th Grader

Talking About Online Safety With My Preschooler

Spring Clean Your Digital Life

Mobile Security

Online Gaming Safety Tips For Children & Teens

The Olympics, Scams & You

(Disclosure: This post is part of a study sponsored by Trend Micro that I am participating in. As a Digital Joneses family we are receiving assets to complete our challenges but all thoughts are my own.)

Filed Under: Brand Ambassador, Digital Joneses, Social Media, Technology, Twitter Tagged With: Digital Joneses, online security, Trend Micro

Talking About Online Safety With My Preschooler

April 3, 2012 by Alicia Marie Leave a Comment

I shared previously that my family is part of a year long study with Trend Micro called The Digital Joneses. Each month we are given internet security related challenges. Last month Sinisa and I had to take a quiz to see how technologically savvy we were and this month we have to have “the talk” with our kids {no, not the one about the birds and the bees… the other important talk- the one about internet safety}.

Out of the seven bloggers in the study, I have the youngest children so I wasn’t sure how to approach the subject of online safety since Jacob is not on social networks and he doesn’t go online without my supervision. One thing he does do though is go on YouTube to watch videos. He is three so he is watching video clips from kid shows but occasionally a video will come up that was made by an adult. A lot of times it’s just the same clip of the cartoon with inappropriate music playing in the background but it’s still something I don’t want him watching. And if something like that can show up in search results for his favorite shows, it makes me wonder what other things can pop up.

In preparing for “the talk” I checked out the Trend Micro website and looked over the questions they had put together for parents to use as conversation starters. {You can find the questionnaire with questions for children of all ages here.} I knew that I would have to keep the questions really basic but they gave me good ideas on what to talk about.

The first question that I asked my preschooler was what he liked to do on daddy’s phone. {We don’t call it the internet and he usually uses his dad’s phone to go on the internet so that’s why I worded it the way I did.}

Jacob’s reply- “Watch Videos. Thomas game. Cars game.”

The next question I asked him was what he would do if something came up on the screen that wasn’t Cars or Thomas?

His reply- “Click it.”

Umm. That’s a problem. I explained to him that if something came up on the screen that wasn’t Cars or Thomas or anything he watches on television it was important that he show it to mommy or daddy right away. I also told him he should not click on anything but one of his shows.

The last question I asked him was why he thought that mommy and daddy needed to watch him while he watched his movies and played his games on daddy’s phone.

His reply- “Cause I want dad be happy.”

Well that was a good answer. I also added that there could be bad things on there so mommy and daddy needed to watch him so he didn’t see bad things.

He said- “bad things?”, paused for a second, and then said “I go upstairs now?” I breathed a sigh of relief that further explanation of all the bad things he could find online was a conversation that could wait till he was older. And honestly? It’s one that I wish I never had to have in the first place!

***

Keep up with the Digital Joneses here.

(Disclosure: I am receiving technology and software as a member of the Digital Joneses blogger study but all thoughts are my own.)

Filed Under: Brand Ambassador, Digital Joneses, Social Media, Technology Tagged With: Digital Joneses, Internet safety, Trend Micro

Social Media Masters Summit (For Bloggers!)

October 13, 2011 by Alicia Marie Leave a Comment

The 3rd Annual Social Media Masters Summit is coming to Chicago October 25th and 26th! This is one event that you do NOT want to miss since it is a fantastic way to learn about the best practices in the industry as well as meet other fabulous bloggers and brand/agency reps. They wanted to make sure the event was easy for you to afford, so a VIP blogger ticket to the event is only $99 (corporate people are paying $349 for the same ticket!!)

Your VIP Ticket includes all events on October 25th and 26th…

Bonus Sessions on the 25th include:

7 Day Video Challenge: V-log guru, Danielle Smith (@DanielleSmithTV), will be leading a session that will help you take your v-logs to the next level. This session will be very interactive as Danielle helps YOU become more comfortable in front of the webcam in addition to helping you create v-logs that will draw more viewers!

Driving Traffic with Community Building, SEO & Beyond: Sean McGinnis and Dan Newman started 12most just a few months ago, but their site already receives hundreds of thousands of unique visitors regularly. Joining Sean & Dan on this panel is Emerson Spartz of Spartz Media, which generates over one hundred million unique page views across their three websites. How did they do it? Let them tell you first hand!

Community Management on the FLY with Southwest Airlines: Southwest Airlines is hands down the leader when it comes to the airline industry and social media. Brooks Thomas from the Emerging Media team at SWA will lead a Power Session on how they leverage Twitter, Facebook and blog to interact with customers and increase customer satisfaction and will also share about their new blog that uses customer generated content.

Dress to Impress Red Carpet and Avatar/ Headshot Photo Session: Come to this event looking your best! We’re going to have professional photographers on hand to take head shots that can be used as your default picture across all your social media networks. Remember – this is often the first thing someone sees when visiting your various networking pages. First impressions count!

And of Course, First Class Networking… Bring your business cards, a firm handshake, and a smile! You’ll be mingling with the speakers, bloggers, your peers, and of course, our wonderful sponsor – Critical Mass!

Don’t Forget The Full-Day Summit on the 26th featuring Walgreens, Kellogg’s, Jockey, Pepsi, Domino’s and more…

As if it couldn’t get any better, they just added two VERY cool sessions – Just for you!!

Blogger/Influencer Breakfast sponsored by Jockey and Calumet Photo

Meet with brand representatives from Jockey and Calumet while you enjoy breakfast with other bloggers and social influencers. After breakfast and mingling you’ll have the option of going on a power walk lead by a fitness expert or a Photo tour lead by Teresa Peek who will show you how to enhance your photography skills by taking photos from a different perspective.

Danielle Smith / Aliza Sherman – Mom, Incorporated Book Signing

Meet Entrepreneurs Aliza Sherman (founder of Cybergrrl, Inc., Webgrrls International and Mediaegg) and Danielle Smith (founder Danielle Smith Media and ExtraordinaryMommy.com) who have joined forces to write a book that helps women who are already moms (or are thinking about becoming moms in the future) learn how to take charge of the family/work balance by starting their own businesses. Mom, Incorporated is a holistic, user-friendly book that draws on Aliza and Danielle’s own experiences as well as the experiences of other moms who’ve started their own successful businesses.

If you can’t make it to the summit you can still come to the Breakfast and/or the Book Signing which are free. If you can make it to the summit you’ll get a free copy of Mom Incorporated with the paid $99 VIP Blogger Ticket!

A HUGE shout out to the breakfast and book signing hostesses @SassyMomChicago and @selfmademom!

How do YOU go VIP?

Just pick the VIP Blogger Ticket option when you register!

***

Are you a business that wants to attend the Summit?

Full event details are at: http://smmsblogger.eventbee.com

EARLY BIRD PRICING ENDS THIS MONDAY, OCTOBER 17TH AT 2PM.

***

(Disclosure: I am receiving a ticket to the Summit in exchange for spreading the word about this awesome event. All thoughts are my own.)

Filed Under: Brand events, Chicago, Social Media Tagged With: Blogger, brands and bloggers, Chicago, Jockey, Social media, Social Media Masters Summit, Southwest Airlines, Walgreens

Bullying: Words Can Kill

September 12, 2011 by Alicia Marie Leave a Comment

I normally don’t publish press releases but the preview for this 48 hours special brought tears to my eyes. Please share this with all the parents of tweens and teens that you know and please tune in on September 16th to learn more and potentially save your child’s life.

CBS NEWS PRESENTS A 48 HOURS SPECIAL ON BULLYING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

“BULLYING: WORDS CAN KILL,” TO BE BROADCAST ON FRIDAY, SEPT. 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT)

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As a new school year begins across the country, more than 160,000 children will stay home every day because they are afraid of being bullied. That is just one of the startling facts in the CBS News/ 48 HOURS presentation “Bullying: Words Can Kill.” Reported by correspondent Tracy Smith, the program airing Friday, Sept. 16 (8:00 PM, ET/PT) reveals how the explosion in technology is only making bullying worse, as victims cannot find relief from their tormentors in a 24/7 digital world. The report will have important new information for parents, educators and legislators about how bullying affects children and how to address it.

–

For six months, producers and camera crews were allowed in-depth access to the classrooms, cafeteria and gym at a Rhode Island middle school that is one of the few in theUnited States that has openly acknowledged it has a bullying problem and has taken action to address it. The 48 HOURS special documents the real lives of students at that particular school, and has the powerful stories of other young people and their families from around the country who have felt the impact of bullying firsthand.One constantly harassed 13-year-old told Smith, “They got inside my head. They did it because they knew it would hurt.” His mother said dropping him off at school was like “sending him off to war.” Tragically, more than 150 children have taken their own lives in recent years because they were victims of harassment in school and online. Among those featured in the broadcast:

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Dara Genovese, 13, bullying victim: “If you have ever been bullied, harassed, tortured, which I hope you haven’t, let me tell you, it is the worst. I mean, worst feeling ever. You’re laying in bed and you’re just thinking, like… what would it be like if you’re not here? Like… would it be better? Or, like, would people be happier – or just – just you wonder, you think a lot of questions.”

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Johnny Cagno, victim of bullying who attempted suicide at age 14: “When you’re tortured every single day, it gets to you. I was very, very scared to go to school every day.”

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Lisa Cagno, Johnny’s mother: “He was hurting himself. He was cutting himself, and he would just (say), ‘I hate myself, I don’t want to live anymore. I hate my life. Nobody likes me, no one cares about me.’ And I just – I would just have to constantly just reassure him. I couldn’t get those feelings out of his head.”

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Cynthia Logan, a parent who lost her daughter because of bullying: “We have principals in our schools and superintendents who don’t want to acknowledge the problem. They don’t want it to be their problem. I did as much as I could do as a parent, knowing as little as I did.”

–

This broadcast is produced by Deborah Grau and Judy Rybak. The senior producers are Kathleen O’Connell and Paul Ryan, and Al Briganti is the executive editor. Susan Zirinsky is the executive producer.

Filed Under: Parenting, Social Media Tagged With: 48 Hours (TV series), Bullying, CBS News, Parenting teens, tweens and teens

Ten Things NOT To Do On Twitter

July 12, 2011 by Alicia Marie 18 Comments

Having joined Twitter back in 2007, before most people had even heard of it, I think I’ve had enough experience with it to share my list of the ten things you should NOT do on Twitter. In other words, these are ten things that drive me crazy :

1) Auto DM’s. I hate them. Sending me an auto dm to tell me you are happy I am following you is very impersonal considering you sent it to every one of your other followers. Instead I’d rather you just start a conversation with me than just send a tweet to thank me and then never tweet with me again.

2) Using hashtags that have nothing to do with your tweet. Hashtags (#) are to used to connect with other people who are tweeting about what you are tweeting about. For instance, when I went to the Type A Parent Conference I used the #TypeACon hashtag to tweet about the conference and connect with others who were there as well. If you are tweeting about say, interior design, and you want more people to see your tweet use “#interiordesign” or something that has to do with your tweet, not “#nature”, “#moms”, etc… just so people will see the tweet.

3) Asking someone to vote for you that you have never tweeted with. I’m happy to vote for you if I know you (or even if we’ve only tweeted once before) but please don’t make that your first ever tweet to me. (Even worse are dm’s from people I have never tweeted with asking me to vote for them.)

4) Not answering tweets directed towards you. I realize everyone can’t answer everything tweeted to them. Sometimes people get really busy or miss a tweet. Or sometimes people have hundreds of thousands of people they follow. I’m not talking about those situations, nor do I get upset if I don’t get a tweet back. But if you have less than 10,000 followers and you don’t respond multiple times? That’s what I’m talking about…

5) No profile picture. If you have an egg as a picture I think you are a spam account. It takes less than a minute to add a picture of yourself but helps me relate to you much more.

6) No bio. This goes along with the profile picture. Tell me something about yourself. Who are you and why should I follow you?

7) Only talking about yourself. Twitter is all about conversations. If you walk up to someone offline (aka “in real life”) and only talk about yourself I’m guessing they will find a way to exit the conversation as quickly as possible.

8) Only posting links. Unless you are a newspaper or news source you shouldn’t be posting only links. Tell me about yourself. Ask questions. Reply to people.

9) Constantly complain. Not saying don’t complain at all as Twitter can be a great tool to get problems solved and connect with businesses (I saved myself $500 in insurance costs and also got a cable situation solved) BUT also make sure you are sharing about great service, great people, and great experiences as well.

10) Not follow me! Ok, so I needed a tenth one for my Top Ten Tuesday post but if you aren’t following me I’d love to connect on Twitter :)

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Living Your Moment, Social media, twitter

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