This Is Harder Than It Looks

So when I started my blog, I thought I was set. I had a plan. I had three posts written and ready to go. I had more to say than I knew what to do with.

Then I used my three posts…without having written anything to replace them.

Then life seemed to get even busier than it had been, and my plan flew out the window.

When I got my new job, I thought, “OK! This is awesome! I’ll be working in social media every day. SURELY, now the blog posts will fall into place!” I mean, why wouldn’t they? I use social media every day. I’m reading blog posts every day – and we all know I have an opinion on things. Sadly, I wasn’t right on that account, either.

So I’ve learned this blogging thing is harder than it looks.

What I’ve noticed, though, is that no matter how far off course I’ve gone, no matter how I am/was “failing” my blog, the thought has never crossed my mind to give it up. My closets and shelves are littered with projects that ran their course – scarves half knitted, books half read, things that lost my interest and motivation to do.

But my blog isn’t in that category. My blog is like my true friends. The ones that I can pick up with, no matter how much time has passed since the last time we talked. (Yes, Kelly B, Kelly R and Heather, I’m looking at you!) And I know one of the key “to do” items with a blog is to be consistent. So maybe my consistency is being inconsistent. Totally surprise my readers when I actually post. Right? Then it’s kinda like Christmas! ha ha ha

I will continue to try and be better at blogging more often and on a more consistent basis. Who wouldn’t want to set goals and continually try to hit them? And as always, if you have suggestions, ideas, etc. on what I should blog about, send ’em my way! They’re always welcome!

‘Til next time…whenever that is. 🙂

Adversity? What’s That?

So this started out as a post about my experience changing jobs.  Then Ignite Charlotte happened.  Complete with disintegrating shoes and technical glitches.  It came to me that I could combine my job-changing post with my Ignite-experience post to give you… lessons learned from adversity.  Read on and you’ll understand.

Lesson 1: Be prepared.  And I mean for ANYTHING.  In the past few weeks, I’ve had to fight for the right to tell anyone that I was changing jobs.  (And I do mean FIGHT.)  I’ve had to McGyver my shoe together with strips from a lint roller before speaking in front of 500+ people.  I’ve had to ad lib the last portion of a speech because of a technical glitch.  The point is, you never know what life is going to throw at you next.  And what’s thrown at you may be someone’s fault, but it may not.  You just need to know your resources, whether they’re ones you possess or just ones you have access to through someone else, and use them.

Lesson 2: Keep your composure. Whether trying to leave a job on a good foot or having your slide show lock up and crash while you’re talking in front of 500+ people, losing your composure won’t do you any good.  Yes, I know this is oftentimes easier said than done.  Employers pushing your buttons left and right can make you want to walk out.  Having nothing left to say except, “don’t give up” when you’ve got 500+ sets of eyes on you can make you want to cry.  But what good would either of those do?  Walking out on an employer just gives you a bad rep; crying over something you had no control over just gives you puffy eyes.  Neither is attractive.

Lesson 3: Fight for what you know is right. After turning in my resignation at my last job, I was told that no one in the company could know.  I was perfectly ok with an internal e-mail not going out.  But a hefty portion of the company was connected to me through social media outlets and other friends.  So I was, in my eyes, being told I couldn’t tell anyone who might leak the news to coworkers.  When I questioned this, I got a lot of hemming and hawing from my manager.  He even had the nerve to tell me that he agreed with me and wanted me to be able to celebrate the news, but this was what upper management had told him.  I let him drag his feet for a day on answering why that was.  (The answer was that I’d be a distraction.)  Then the fact that he wasn’t fighting for what he knew was right – letting me share my news – had me undone.  No employee should EVER have to tell his or her manager to fight for what’s right.  And no company should attempt to violate an employee’s right to the freedom of speech.

Lesson 4: Friends will come out of nowhere when you least expect them…but when you need them most. Just when I thought I’d never get out of my old job, I mentioned to a friend (that I happened to run into while grabbing dinner) that I was in the market for a new job if he heard of anything.  That lead me to getting my current job, which I LOVE and which could not be more perfect for me!  In another instance, when I got off stage after my little technical glitch at Ignite Charlotte, I was wishing for a dollar for every hug I got from a friend – I’d be one rich woman.  But the support I felt from each and every one of them was AMAZING, and it helped me laugh through the experience instead of cry.  (Even as I write this, tweets are going around about my living every speaker’s nightmare.  ha ha ha)  People I didn’t even know were there or were planning to attend hunted me down to show me their support.  It was so awesome, I can’t even put it in to words.

So this has turned lengthier than I’d anticipated.  But I hope my little life lessons can help you, too.  Have some lessons you think I could use?  Share them with me!  I’ll be glad to hear from you, and I’m always up for learning!

My Little LBS Experiment

In what’s becoming some sort of odd obsession with me, yet another vacation became a social media experiment.  In this one, my trip to Walt Disney World in November became a test of check-ins – Gowalla vs. Foursquare.

First, let’s clear up why it became a test of those two.  Gowalla put themselves out there.  They announced that they were partnering with Disney, which is what gave me the idea to do this little experiment.  Choosing Foursquare as the “competitor” was a little more difficult.  I use a ton of
location based services.  And I’ve really only found one or two that I don’t like.  But should I have tried to check in on Foursquare, TriOut, Loopt,
Whrrl, SCVNGR, CauseWorld and Shopkick, along with Gowalla, I would’ve spent my entire vacation checking in and not really taking
advantage of my time off work.  Foursquare just kind of won out because I know it better – it was the first LBS I used, I’ve used it the longest and
right or wrong, it’s just kind of my “go to” at the moment.  (Yes, Wayne, that is changing as I play with TriOut more.  ha ha ha)

I have to say I was really disappointed in GoWalla.  For starters, as a “partner” of Disney’s, there were a lot of rides and areas of the park that
weren’t available for check-in.  Granted, I could’ve taken the time to add them myself, but (1) that would’ve eaten up my vacation that I was
supposed to be spending with my family, and (2) if you tell me you’re a partner of Disney’s, I expect that you’ve done that already.  And many of
the places I wanted to check-in WERE found in Foursquare, making it really easy and fast for me.

Secondly, it wasn’t until I got back home that I discovered GoWalla’s Disney-related trips.  None of the “we’re partnering with Disney” e-mails
that I saw mentioned these, that I saw.  Maybe I’m like every other e-mail reader and didn’t read every word, but still.  I’ll cut GoWalla some slack
and guess that maybe these trips weren’t loaded until after I got back.  But what an utter disappointment it was to me to find that I’d just done 90% (rough guesstimate) of the trips, but got no “credit” for them.  UGH!

Let me be clear.  I’m not hating on GoWalla.  And I’m not saying I’ve stopped using GoWalla or that I ever will.  What I am saying is that my little
experiment did affect my user experience with the app.  Maybe I just need to play with GoWalla more to find the things that I need to look at when I’m using it.  We’ll see.  Until then…

Excuses, Excuses…

So…since Thanksgiving, I’ve had several blog posts running around in my head.  My location-based experiment at Disney World.  What I’ve learned about interacting and engaging in 2010.  What I’d like to achieve in 2011.

But, as usual around the holidays, commitments and such kept me from getting to some of the things I intended to do.  Now that the holidays are over, I can get those ideas in my head into the computer and passed along to y’all.  I promise new blog posts coming soon!

Hope everyone had a great holiday season!  Happy new year!!

My Experiment in Disconnecting

So a few of weeks ago, I took a trip to Cancun with the hubby. Before I left, I found out that the resort where we were staying had WiFi, but it was at an additional charge. Me, being the cheapskate that I am, decided I would try to disconnect from the time we left the Atlanta airport on Monday until we got back to the Atlanta airport on Friday afternoon/evening. So how did I do?

Monday was awful. From the moment we landed in Cancun, I tried desperately to try and find free WiFi. In the airport, no luck. As we pulled up to other resorts during the transfer process, no luck. Even at our resort, I tried, desperately hoping the information on the website was outdated or somehow wrong. No luck.

I carried my phone around with me like some sort of security blanket. I could do it inconspicuously under the auspice of using it for the camera. But deep down, there was the eternal hope for free WiFi.

My husband, seeing my desperation and, I think, feeling a little disconnection desperation of his own, bought us a 1-hour Internet connection on Wednesday. We each spent about 20 minutes running through e-mails, updating our Facebook statuses and such. It was just the dose of social media I needed, but I also saw the world wasn’t burning down without me. And that was the only time I connected until we got back to Atlanta.

That being said, it was a little disappointing to see so many good tweets and Facebook update opportunites passing by. I wish I had been able to send a picture of the sunset AT sunset. Or say something sarcastic about the mariachi band strolling through Playa del Carmen in real time (while checking in on Foursquare or some other location-based service, naturally). But if that’s my biggest worry or let down during the whole week, I’ve got a pretty good life. 🙂

I learned about myself that I can disconnect when necessary, but I also learned I don’t like to. Thank goodness my next vacay is domestic. Expect pics and tweets and check-ins galore from WDW in a few weeks!

Whatever Happened to Journalism?

The recent election season made me ask myself: Whatever happened to journalism?!?!?

As I’m imagining it, there is a whole slew of professors in UNC’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication raising their fists to the sky, screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” When I was in the J-School, journalists were supposed to be non-partisan, non-biased individuals. The news was supposed to be just that – news. “Just the facts, ma’am” as it were. They were not to grimace when interviewing a politician with whom you did not agree. They were not to grill a democrat harder than a republican, or vice versa.

The “journalists” I saw during election coverage, and pretty much every day, if we’re honest, did not hold to the “just the facts” standard. They acted blatantly disappointed when Republicans won on certain news shows. Other stations all but physically attack Democrats on a regular basis. (Yes, Fox News, I’m looking at you.) Lest I be accused of showing bias as well (though this is MY blog, not a news outlet), MSNBC is just as guilty as Fox News, just at the other end of the political spectrum.

I’m not saying anyone’s perfect. I completely understand journalists losing their composure at certain points. Like Walter Kronkite announcing the death of President Kennedy. Or Soledad O’Brien on the day David Bloom’s passing was announced. But journalists showing their emotions, biases, etc. should be the exception, not the rule.

So journalists out there, especially those of you on tv…Stop embarrassing the rest of us that still try to uphold the profession. If you want to voice your opinions, get a freaking talk show and stop presenting your views as “news” or “the truth.” Step aside and let those of us who understand what journalism really is do it.

Julie & Julia Comes to Life

As I jetted to Cancun this past week, I was thinking back to the wonderful dinner I’d had the prior Saturday night. For me, it was one of the ultimate real-world-meets-social-media experiences I’ve had.

The theme of the evening was Julie & Julia. We were to watch the movie and make recipes from the book. The group was made up of ladies from my friend Kelly’s small group plus a few friends (including me). Before that evening, I’d heard most everyone’s names, but had never met any of the ladies in real life.

For those of you who don’t know…the movie Julie & Julia is based on a book by the same name. The premise is that Julie Powell commits to cooking all of the recipes in Julia Childs’ Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. That’s 524 recipes in 365 days. Julie then blogs about her experiences, feelings, etc as she moves through this undertaking. Thus, the part of the real world meets social media idea. 🙂

The plan turned out to be so much more fun than I’d anticipated! All of the ladies were assigned ingredients to bring. When all of the ingredients arrived, we were given a recipe, partnered up and set to cooking. My cake partner, Garrett, and I had a blast, even though we didn’t know what half of the instructions meant and left out one of the ingredients by accident. (Thank you again Kelly and Kelly for saving the cake!!)

We watched the movie together while the food was cooking. For me, social media geek that I am, seeing the dedication Julie had to putting her blog together and pouring herself into it (to the detriment of her marriage at times) spoke volumes. I blog when I can, or when an idea strikes me. Committing to blogging EVERY DAY – and sticking to it – takes amazing dedication. And I applaud Julie Powell for that.

But at the end of the day, beyond my renewed sense of blogging being a necessity for me these days, I came away with a renewed sense of needing to connect in real life. Don’t get me wrong – I love and appreciate my online connections, be they via Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, TriOut, Get Glue, etc. Those folks have an appreciation for a world I also appreciate. But to connect with 11 smart, lovely, driven women at one time – and to like every one of them – is not something I experience every day.

I am honored they accepted me into their fold so easily. And I truly hope I’ll be included in future get-togethers.

Thank you Kelly for hosting all of us in your amazing house.

Thank you small-group ladies for accepting me into your group that night and making me feel welcome.

And thank you Kelly Brunk for being an amazing friend and inviting me.

Not Everyone “Needs” Technology

Technology isn’t for everyone. You know it. I know it. There are some that would be best suited to learn this lesson, though.

Case in point…My mom was recently in the market to buy a new car. She had a Nissan, and was more than happy to buy another. During her car hunt, Nissan was running a promotion in which Altima buyers got an iPad with their purchase. My mother, bless her heart, is about as tech-savvy as my 2-year-old niece. She did not need or want an iPad. After her first visit to the lot, she asked me what she could do with an iPad. Knowing her tech skills, my response was, “You? Very little.” So she called the car salesman back and asked if he could take the price of the iPad off the car. His repsonse was that if she didn’t want the iPad, she should just sell it on eBay. The man might as well have asked her to perform heart surgery. Neither is going to happen.

But this man whose living is supposedly selling cars turned away this sale without even attempting to get a resolution that made everyone happy.

I’ve been in marketing a long time. I know how these promos work. Nissan PROBABLY went to Apple, or Best Buy, or AT&T, or some othe purveyor of the iPad and said some version of, “If we agree to buy x number of iPads, what kind of deal will you cut us?” Cutting a deal would work out well for this company because they could cut the price of the iPad to where they still made a profit, but they’d have an almost guaranteed x number of subscribers coming in the door. So if this salesman would have worked with my mom, he could have told her that they bought the iPads for $x, (I’m assuming it’d be much less than the $500 minimum price tag in the stores), taken that amount (even if it was just $100) off the car, made the sale with my mom and STILL had an iPad to use with another sale.

As it was, my mom went to Honda and paid more for another car because they weren’t trying to force, what was to her, a useless piece of technology on her.

So, note to all of you technology geeks out there, including me: Forcing the technology on others isn’t always in our best interest. Rather than trying to make someone “see the light” on using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Foursquare or any of the other bazillion apps that are popping up every day, we may be shooting ourselves in the foot, losing the sale. I’m all for singing the praises of the apps I use, but I’ve learned…technology isn’t for everyone.

Twitter 101

Recently, I had the great fortune of presenting a Twitter 101 training to our internal Twitter team at Yodle. I know many of you out there are in the same boat as some of our Twitter team members – you have an account, you WANT to use it, but you’re just not sure how or why or when.

Below is a link to my Twitter 101 presentation (just the Yodle-specific info removed). I hope those of you who aren’t Twitter pros find it helpful. For those of you who are Twitter pros and take a look at the presentation, I welcome any feedback you may have. Feel free to comment, e-mail me at sbnmarketing@yahoo.com or tweet me at @StephanieNelson!

http://www.slideshare.net/stepholeigh/twitter-101-ppt

#FF – Charlotte Restaurant Edition

I’ve recently started participating in Follow Friday on Twitter more often. But I’m finding my first concern for doing Follow Fridays was not unbased – 140 characters is not enough room to name everyone you want to fit in there! So I’m taking a cue from my Twitter friend Wayne Sutton (@WayneSutton). I’ll do a blog post to go along with my #FF tweet, and I’ll list my reasons for choosing those in the tweet, as well as maybe include a few more that wouldn’t fit. So without further adieu…

This week’s category for me is Charlotte Restaurants.

@RotelliCLT – Great food. Lots of meat-filled and veg selections, so it’s a good place for me to go with my husband or carnivore friends. I looooooooove this place!

@BigDaddysCLT – Awesome use of social media. I checked in there on Foursquare last weekend (linked to Twitter, for a change), which prompted a response from the company, asking about my favorite burger. This opened up a conversation between the company and me about menu items. It made me as a consumer feel like my opinion matters, which means I’ll go back more often than I already do!

@BlynkOrganic – Great to see a restaurant with organic and vegetarian/vegan options! On my list of must-try places, but I follow them on Twitter to keep up with their menu offerings.

@LunasKitchen – GREAT vegetarian restaurant. Love their food. Love the fact that I can eat anything on the menu. 🙂

@ChimaCharlotte – Awesome 2nd floor bar. Thanks to @GreenMarketGuy for the tip!

I wanted to add Osaka in Matthews/Mint Hill and Lenny’s on South Tryon to the list, but they didn’t have Twitter accounts that I could find. I love Osaka for their awesome vegetarian bento box for lunch on the weekends. And Lenny’s on South Tryon has the best customer service EVER! I go in, and the guys remember my name and my order. So even though there aren’t many veggie options, I go at least once a week because the customer service makes me feel like I stand out in the crowd.

If you’re in the Charlotte area, I hope you get the chance to try out some of these great places! Happy Friday!