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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: Farewell to #InternJaylene!

#InternJaylene shared a bit about what she's learned this summer, and gave us her thoughts on inbound marketing (spoiler alert: inbound marketing is awesome).
 

I'm so sad to have to bid farewell to my intern, Jaylene! In our time together this summer, Jay earned her Inbound Marketing certification from HubSpot, researched and set up CRM systems, social media scheduling tools, and other business programs, learned about the latest social media trends, helped with some content creation & distribution, and got hands-on experience dealing with the real-life digital marketing needs of small business owners. I got significant help organizing my business, learned how letting go and finally delegating some things can make me MUCH better at my job, and got my feet wet as a manager (I'd never managed anyone before Jay). I'm sad that our time together is at an end, but I'll be happy to recommend Jay for her first post-collegiate job when she graduates in December, and I'm looking forward to getting some things accomplished with my next intern this fall!

Once we got past the technical difficulties, Jay shared a bit about what she's learned this summer, and gave us her thoughts on inbound marketing (spoiler alert: inbound marketing is awesome).

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute

A new $99 Twitter ad subscription plan, Facebook's mysterious touch screen speaker device, LinkedIn website demographics, and your very own Snapchat drone.

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: How To Make Great Videos!

My friends The Nerdy Duo Productions - aka Melissa & Erin - know how to make great videos.
They also know why other people keep making crappy videos.
In this weeks episode of Social they share some basic tips on making your social media videos better.

My friends The Nerdy Duo Productions - aka Melissa & Erin - know how to make great videos.
They also know why other people keep making crappy videos. They gave us some of their best tips on today's #cgsocial.

PLANNING

Whether you're using professional equipment or doing a basic Facebook Live with your iPhone, know where your video's going (and the best aspect ratio for it) and what you're using to film it. You can also manually adjust the settings on your phone or computer camera in advance of your broadcast.

If you can't plan beforehand, plan afterwards: take stock of what you did, what worked, and what you can improve for next time.

LIGHTING

From cheap clamp lights from Home Depot bounced off a dollar store car windshield shade, to a full lighting setup, remember: in video, if they can't see you, what's the point?

SOUND

Don't trust the microphone on your phone or computer. Better microphones are cheap and easy.

SUPPORT

Don't hold your camera; your hands aren't as steady as you think they are. Tripods are inexpensive, and some can even fit in your purse!

I put together a whole wonderful, juicy set of equipment links - and then Squarespace decided to delete it. So... that sounds like a new post for Monday! I will post about it, I promise!

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Spark, more Groups, REAL NEWS, and a not-phone

Are you using Amazon Spark? Have you joined a "group" for a page yet? Will you pay Facebook for news? And, last but not least: is Facebook developing a modular smartphone?

Last week, I caught the news about Amazon developing Anytime, but somehow missed the big Spark announcement...
Facebook, in the meantime, has a few updates: groups for pages, development of a subscription option for news, and a mysterious patent application for a modular device that may or may not be a smartphone (my money's on "not").

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: Why your company should be using Facebook Canvas!

Facebook Canvas is a very cool ad format. Different content blocks - containing any combination of photos, video, text, links, and other content formats - combine to form a unique, immersive brand experience. But what are the best ways to use it? And how can you use it to increase conversion?
Mallorie Rosenbluth, head of social media for Grubhub & Seamless, will discuss her successful use of Canvas, including the ability to retarget ads based on which parts of a Canvas ad a user interacted with (ooh, creepy! And useful!).

Today on Social I got to speak with the lovely Mallory Rosenbluth from GrubHub & Seamless! We discussed how to use Facebook Canvas to promote your business, and why you should be using it. Mallory talked about how you need to go by the cliche "content is king," because it is! In todays social media chaos, sometimes its hard to stand out from the crowd and be "thumb stoppingly creative." By using Facebook Canvas, Mallory explains how they use this amazing tool to really connect and engage with their customers. Grub hub found that the tilt to pan option gave them the most customer engagement rates, and the carousel option is where they generated the highest click-through-rates. Being able to use these creative tools for customer engagement is amazing, but its even better to use these by adding in a call to action option directly after the Canvas advertisement is finished. 

Mallorie talked about how easy it is for anyone to create one of these advertisements, stating "It's drag and drop, its just so easy!" She also pointed out that, "businesses large and small can succeed with canvas... it looks like it costs a million bucks, but it didn't!" 

If you're interested in learning more about Facebook Canvas, which you TOTALLY should be, tune in below! 

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 7/19/17: Alexa, let's chat

Three major players are dipping their toes into new formats.

In this week's social media headlines, three major players are dipping their toes into new formats:
Amazon is entering the messaging arena with development of a new app called Anytime.
Facebook takes the popularity of its new GIF feature to the natural next step: enabling users to create their own looping videos.
And LinkedIn is releasing auto-play video posts (FINALLY!).

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: A Family that Means Business! Special Guest Robin Hayes and Eva Hayes of Lucky Bug Clothing!

Today on Social - Special guest Robin Hayes and Eva Hayes of Lucky Bug Clothing! 

This family truly means business, and today on Social we got to discuss their marketing efforts, how they established their adorable brand, as well as how they implement ethical and sustainable business practices! 

Today on Social - Special guest Robin Hayes and Eva Hayes of Lucky Bug Clothing! 

This family truly means business, and today on Social we got to discuss their marketing efforts, how they established their adorable brand, as well as how they implement ethical and sustainable business practices! 

Lucky Bug clothing is a transparent brand who cares about your family, and knows how their customers minds work! From 75% of their sales being gifts, they have to know how to directly target every form of consumer, not just mothers! I can't wait for you to watch this weeks Social and learn about how this small business strategizes Facebook, Instagram, and even their Pinterest!

Watch it below! 

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 7/12/17: Everyone's copying everyone else...

Today's #MidweekMinute reminds us that everything is just racing to become everything else

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: Gameify Your Email List!

Email is still the best way to communicate directly with prospects, offer value, and guide fans through the process of becoming customers. Rob Simakovsky's new product, Puzel, encourages social media followers to give you their email addresses & encourages those followers to bring others into the fold.

Social's where it's at. Email's dead.

Not so fast there, marketer.

Email is still the best way to communicate directly with prospects, offer value, and guide fans through the process of becoming customers. Plus, unlike social media followers, your email list is your own; a platform can't suddenly yank that away from you on a whim.

Rob Simakovsky's new product, Puzel, encourages social media followers to give you their email addresses in order to unlock special deals. Furthermore, they encourage those followers to bring others into the fold. Check out our conversation:

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

I wonder if they can accurately graph how much I miss Jon Stewart...

Sadly, the Comedy Central presentation involved no comedy. It involved charts, and data, and how to chart data. It was really interesting though! (And I won a prize!)

First things first: Comedy Central is indeed a fun place to work, according to Claire Joyce.

Despite the fun (and, ultimately, irrelevant) images of various Comedy Central stars peppered throughout the PowerPoint, this presentation had nothing to do with comedy. It did, however, have highly useful information for anyone involved in trying to measure & impact fan engagement (which should be pretty much everyone).

“Getting Smarter On Social: A “how-to” for social media analytics & insights
Claire Joyce, Manager of Social Media Analytics & Insights, Comedy Central

Are you in over your head in data and analytics? We Got YOU! In this talk, Joyce will share her favorite tools and best practices she uses at Comedy Central. Learn how to spend less time on the platforms and get better results. She will show specific tactics and analytics behind Comedy Central’s social platforms. Not only do they make you laugh, but there is BIG data behind every move. If you love graphs, stats and social media, this session is for you.”

A lot of the best insights from this presentation aren't below, simply because they got into the nitty-gritty of audience analytics, which tends not to make for great Tweeting. I loved it, though - geeking out on data is something I enjoy, and intend to obtain a lot more training in. Check out this amazing Chart of Charts for some data-geekery goodness:

I also enjoyed seeing the parallels between newsroom analytics (I used to be a journalist) and broadcast analytics: both are all about monitoring who's consuming what media, when, how, and trying to increase not only consumption but also engagement. Very interesting stuff.

Plus, I won a set of South Park figurines for being the first to correctly identify one of Comedy Central's fellow Viacom properties (MTV). Sweet!

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

What can we learn from mall management? Plenty.

Sometimes it's good to let the people managing your property within a given community handle communications with their customers. Sometimes, however, it's best to just let corporate run it. How one company learned this lesson...while improving responsiveness and community engagement.

I'll admit that I was highly distracted during this presentation, and probably didn't do my very best Tweeting. It was right after lunch and I had just recorded my episode of Social with the CEO of the organization putting on the event... and was thus posting my broadcast all over creation while also listening to Anne speak. I did listen, though!

“Integrating online customer feedback with offline customer experiences
Anne McKnight, Manager, Paid Media, GGP

Based on its mission to provide outstanding experiences, GGP, a leading owner and operator of high quality retail real estate in the U.S., transformed its marketing technology ecosystem. GGP streamlined 300+ social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for 118 properties), to ensure responses to customer comments/inquiries fell within the set SLA and feedback was aggregated in an actionable format.”

GGP, like our hosts The Content Funnel, is in the real estate world, so I wasn't sure how relevant the talk would be. Turns out it was a customer service tale that contained applicable lessons for any business that deals with the public:

  • Ensure you're responsive, both online and in terms of real-life action on feedback.
  • Maintain a consistent procedure and brand voice.
  • Constantly learn from mistakes and use them to improve processes moving forward.
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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 7/5/17

In today's Midweek Minute: bad news for #FakeNews; global WiFi in sight; Snapchat gets creepy

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Finally understanding Agile: making adaptation part of the plan

 "Planning" doesn't have to mean you're locked in to a rigid structure. Sometimes, you can plan to be flexible.

I'd heard of Agile (my husband is a senior product manager for a tech company, so it's a process he uses), but I assumed it only related to software development. Marketer Lisa Wieting's presentation showed me what Agile really is: a project management system that integrates flexibility, testing, and shifting of resources into the plan from the get-go.

“Planning for change. Why the “annual” plan needs to be interrupted
Lisa Wieting, Vice President Of Planning + Integration, COHN Marketing

Remember those days when you could count on an annual media plan to spread your message in a linear, methodical and effective way. Remember when United dragged a guy off their airline and social media melted their entire reputation in hours. That’s the world we live in now and planning needs to catch up with the times. We will take you through our planning process that goes underneath the surface and helps identify the themes that ultimately drive the ideas and not only encourages flexibility but thrives on it.”

I've never been much of a planner (despite spending many years as a project manager - a pretty good one, at that). I fly by the seat of my pants way more than I really should. The fact that it always seems to work out for me in the end is actually a negative, because it reinforces those habits via a lack of consequence. However, Lisa has now inspired me to learn how to use Agile processes to create an actual plan that works the way my brain does, but in a much more efficient and results-oriented way. (And I happen to know someone very close to me who's just itching to teach me all about it!)

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

"If you love going to Costco, but hate going to Costco..."

I never knew a video taken in a toilet paper warehouse could make me cry, but here we are. Boxed has heart.

Had I heard of Boxed? Sure. I'm a suburban mom who is also a heavy online shopper; if I hadn't heard of them, it would mean that something was seriously wrong with their audience targeting.

But had I purchased from Boxed? No. But I'm going to now.

From the talk description, I thought Boxed CMO Jackson Jeyanayagam might be giving tips on how to create interesting, "sexy" marketing content for a potentially bland category:

“Disrupting an utterly boring category: A look into how Boxed is changing the way toilet paper is bought
Jackson Jeyanayagam, CMO Boxed

CPG and grocery shopping online has had a slow adoption rate despite the surge of higher-consideration categories like cars, diamonds and real estate. For whatever reason, consumers have been reluctant to buy paper towels and cereal online...but that’s changing...and at a rapid pace. Boxed, an e-commerce wholesale club has become a popular alternative to Costco and Sam’s and their CMO, Jackson Jeyanayagam, will discuss how they have disrupted a stale category and why their approach has made such a significant impact. From customer experience to CSR to technology innovation, Jackson will highlight why they believe Boxed is the new bulk.”

Jeyanayagam's presentation was less about content (though he did show some ads I found greatly amusing!) and more about creating a point of difference - an important lesson for anyone doing anything, no matter what you're trying to sell. It was a great insight into how a new startup company can create sufficient disruption in an existing category to become an industry leader. It was also a lesson on how your most important point of difference can be your company's heart, soul, and values. I learned from this presentation as a business owner, a marketer, and a shopper (brb, ordering 10,000 rolls toilet paper right now!).

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

She had me at "Zack Morris"

The story Mallorie told about retargeting consumers based on which part of a Facebook Canvas they interacted with the most was just a stroke of absolute brilliance.

Not gonna lie: I was the most psyched for Mallorie's presentation. In addition to the fact that, like myself, she's got awesomely vibrant-colored hair, take a look at this description of her talk:

“Be Like Zack Morris: Using the power of storytelling to sell via social media
Mallorie Rosenbluth, Sr. Manager, Social Media, Grubhub / Seamless

Ever wonder how Zack Morris (yes, that Zack Morris) gets every girl during Saved by the Bell and Screech can’t score one date with Lisa? Watching Zack’s techniques won’t just entertain you and indulge your desire for nostalgia; it will also unlock insights and strategies to apply towards driving ROI via your social media channels. In this session, you’ll learn about the Zack Morris approach and hear real examples of how this technique has worked in practice for both Grubhub and Seamless.”

 

Beyond the "Saved by the Bell" retro goodness, this actually sounded like a really useful presentation. And it was!

(In short: Screech's persuasion technique to get Lisa is like shouting, "Buy me!" at your audience; Zack gets all the ladies via understanding his target and wooing them via suave storytelling)

I'm planning to have Mallorie on Social sometime soon to discuss Facebook Canvas, since I think a lot of us could use a little more understanding of this great new feature. The story she told about retargeting consumers based on which part of a Canvas they interacted with the most was just a stroke of absolute brilliance - one which I'm dying to try!

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

My favorite insights from #SMDay

Highlights from The Content Funnel's #SMDay meetup in NYC

I was all psyched to celebrate #SocialMediaDay (yes, internet holidays always get a hashtag) this year - and was shocked to discover only ONE #SMDay meetup planned for NYC! The Content Funnel is primarily real-estate based, so I wasn't sure if this particular event would be super-relevant to me... but with speakers from Seamless/Grubhub, Boxed, Comedy Central & more, I decided to go for it. I had a phenomenal time, learned a ton, and even got to record a surprise pop-up episode of Social with the CEO of The Content Funnel, Michael Beckerman!

As usual, I Tweeted... as usual, I'll be sharing my Storify threads in blog posts all week. Check out my episode of Social here, and see below for a collection of my favorite random tweets. Threads of the full presentations will be released one per day throughout the week.

7/3: Be Like Zack Morris: Using the power of storytelling to sell via social media

7/4: Disrupting an utterly boring category: A look into how Boxed is changing the way toilet paper is bought

7/5: Planning for change. Why the “annual” plan needs to be interrupted

7/6: Integrating online customer feedback with offline customer experiences

Posting 7/7: Getting Smarter On Social: A “how-to” for social media analytics & insights



*Kate McKnight's presentation was great, but a) it was more of a journey through a process her company went through than something specifically relevant to my business, and b) I was super-distracted at that time since I was busily posting & promoting the livestream I had just recorded... but don't worry, you'll see way more of her insights on Thursday when I share my tweets from the whole presentation!

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Surprise POP-UP Social episode at #SMDay

I didn't expect to do my livestream today. I had, in fact, announced that I was not doing it, since I'd be spending the day (Social Media Day, as it happens) at The Content Funnel's #SMDay Meetup in NYC. I figured all the live-tweeting I'd be doing would be plenty, and that perhaps I'd do a few short livestreams of the presentations.

And then I met Michael.

I didn't expect to do my livestream today. I had, in fact, announced that I was not doing it, since I'd be spending the day (Social Media Day, as it happens) at The Content Funnel's #SMDay Meetup in NYC. I figured all the live-tweeting I'd be doing would be plenty, and that perhaps I'd do a few short livestreams of the presentations.

And then I met Michael.

Michael is the founder and CEO of The Content Funnel, parent company The News Funnel, and a few other companies - and previously headed up leading real estate PR firm Beckerman PR. He gladly agreed to our livestreamed conversation, where we discussed content, blogging, influence, expertise - and of course the importance of personality, authenticity, and giving.

I also got him to give out some tips for my real estate peeps (you know who you are!), and even gave one of them a shoutout. Check it out below!

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

My girly tech recommendations!

I've recommended several products to several people; here's how to get a few of my faves. (Contains Amazon Affiliate links) 

I've recommended several products to several people; here's how to get a few of my faves.

NOTE: These are Amazon Affiliate links. Nobody asked me to recommend any of this stuff, but if you do buy something via one of the links below, I will get a small commission from Amazon. If you want a different variant of one of them that isn't on that link, LMK and I'll send you a special link for the one you want.

The recommendations themselves are 100% pure and legit; no bought opinions here!

 

Bellabeat Leaf Activity & Wellness Tracker

I found out about Bellabeat Leaf when their ads kept showing up incessantly on all my social media channels; clearly I was in their target demographic! I like Leaf because it's cute. I also like that it tells me how well I'm sleeping; the times that I go to bed & get up are only part of the story. This thing knows if I wake briefly during the night, if I'm tossing and turning, etc. It also connects to the Health app on my phone. It even tracks my stress levels, my period, and warns me when the two might interact! Craziness. And did I mention that it's cute? People who don't even know about Leaf have complemented me on my necklace/bracelet (depending on how I'm wearing it). I clip it directly onto my pajamas for sleep.

 

Ringly Smart Ring

I had read about Ringly in pieces about the rise of smart jewelry & wearable tech, but it always looked clunkier than anything I'd actually wear (it sits much higher off the finger than this picture implies). I came around when I realized how handy it would be to be able to, say, go to the movies and literally ONLY be notified if the babysitter texted... or ONLY hear from my husband... or ONLY know when a certain client emailed me. Wouldn't we all like to put down the damn phone sometimes, knowing that if any important communication is coming our way, we'll find out about it without having to check? You can program LOTS of different kinds of notifications to receive, with customized alerts (number of vibrations, color of light) for each. Also, it's cuter than I thought (mine is white but I like this black one on Amazon too). As with the Leaf, I've received compliments from people who thought it was just regular jewelry. Always a plus.

 

Lumee Selfie Case

My husband HATES it when I tell people that this is the case Kim Kardashian uses, but it's highly relevant information. If anyone knows how to properly #selfie, it's her. This isn't the one I have - the one I have only lights up on the selfie side - but this one, which lights on BOTH sides, is the one I'm getting when I upgrade my phone later this year. I go to a lot of events that are poorly lit and I need to get my #selfieparade on. This does the job. (Plus, when people always look good in pics with you, they're more inclined to take more pics with you. Win win!)

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

NEW! #MidweekMinute on Facebook

A one-minute rundown of the latest social media news

I'm doing something new on Facebook Live: I'll be doing a one-minute (yes, just one minute!) rundown of the latest social media news on Wednesdays. Here's today's effort, in which I totally blanked my chosen title/hashtag at the beginning:

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social - with the retail queen of Nyack!

Maria Luisa's business continues to thrive 30 years on, in part because she's always been an early adapter of growth tools such as online commerce and, of course, social media. I discussed that with Maria, and found that her success in all things truly comes down to one word: relationships.

Maria Luisa Whittingham opened her eponymous boutique in Nyack 30 years ago. In that time, Maria Luisa (and now ML by Maria Luisa, right next door) has become a key thread in the fabric of Nyack's business district. Maria herself has also focused on making a difference, not only in our local community via involvements with various non-profit organizations and her own ML by Maria Luisa Scholarship Fund, but also in the world, by sourcing exclusively from suppliers whose business practices are socially/globally responsible. Her hand-selected inventory doesn't just look good - it does good.

Maria's business continues to thrive 30 years on, in part because she's always been an early adapter of growth tools such as online commerce and, of course, social media. I discussed that with Maria, and found that her success in all things truly comes down to one word: relationships.

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