Happy Valentine’s Day! – Love, Social Media

Valentine’s Day is a day to spend with that special person, eat chocolate, and of course, post photos on your Facebook of those dozen roses delivered to your office. My news feed is currently filled with these photos. As I scroll through and admire these beautiful bouquets,  I recall a day when, on Valentine’s Day, no one would really know if you received flowers! We couldn’t tweet, Facebook, pin, or even send a picture text message-GASP! Nowadays, it keeps us ‘in the know’…. “Did you see Ashley’s mobile upload of her flowers? I wonder who she is dating now. She’s still single on Facebook?”….”O-M-G, Erica posted a photo of flowers today, I wonder if her and Joey are back together?” I am sure the photos on your newsfeed have you wondering and this is the brilliance behind social media. We willingly let people into our lives and then choose how much information to release.

For now, let’s sign out of Facebook, get off Twitter, and enjoy Valentine’s Day sans social media. If you’re single, don’t let those photos get you down, call up a friend, open a bottle of wine, and it will be February 15th before you know it.

One more thing: This is the most heart-warming Valentine’s Day related Facebook post I’ve seen all day! Enjoy.

 

"So today I was in Hallmark buying my mom a Happy Birthday card when I noticed this old man standing in front of the Valentine's Day card section contemplating which one to get. I decide to go over and I ask him “Are you getting a Valentine’s Day for your wife?” in which he replies 'No my wife died 3 years ago from breast cancer but I still buy her roses and a card and bring them to her grave to prove to her that she was the only one that will ever have my heart' "

 

 

#LululemonWHUS

Lululemon, everyone’s favorite, over-priced yoga gear had a warehouse sale this past weekend. The brand is notorious for never marking their items down more than 20%, therefore a warehouse sale rumored to have mark-downs near 50% was a bargain-hunting lulu lover’s dream. To inform the public about their upcoming sale, Lululemon decided to create a Facebook event invite and communicate sale “teasers,” waiting times, merchandise pictures and FAQ’s via social media. The Facebook event invite went from 0 RSVPs to 5,000 in a matter of hours. As the questions started to flood the event wall on Facebook, it was clear this was not for the fair-weathered lulu fan. People flew in from Ohio, Minnesota and Detroit to attend this sale. I spent a good deal of time researching what this process would be like and decided to read the tweets from sale attendees the previous weekend in Ottawa. After learning that I could be waiting in line for up to 6 hours, my dedication to Groove Pants was questioned until my girlfriend, fellow attendee gave me a pep talk.

The next thing I knew, my alarm was beeping at 5:30am and I was awakened from an anxious dream about having missed the Lululemon sale. The first thing I did was pull up the #LululemonWHUS Twitter feed and tweeted to @LululemonWHUS and asked how the lines were -(no response, which I took as a good sign). By 6:30am we were 15th in line waiting for the doors to open at 7am just to wait another 2 hours indoors. The line:

Was it worth it? YES! I did quite well – my total purchase amounted to $341 and all the items I purchased are currently on sale full price in the store – had I purchased everything at the store, my total would have been $715

Check out what other people were saying on the  Lululemon Warehouse Sale Chicago 2012

William was just mugged BUT he still can’t get those sweatpants off of his mind…Clearly he is mocking the fanatics because

Not sure I would agree with Tanya but to each his own!

3:30 am wake-up call = dedication

People admitting to “flying in” for the sale, clearly Lauren is not a true Lulu fan (in her response to Mara) she suggests not checking bags at O’hare, obviously, Mara was talking about the Lulu sale!

Another male mocking the lulu fanatics 

Today – my arms are still sore from the pile of clothes I grabbed in an effort to give myself choices before committing. In the end – I went home with all of this:

$10,000 for 140 Characters or Less

If you are an a-list celebrity or a popular reality star, social media has provided you with yet another potential revenue stream. Forget about paid appearances, you can make just as much without ever leaving home or doing any work.  Celebs negotiate tweet-rates depending on their Twitter following.  It’s a simple equation; the more followers a celebrity has, the more company will pay them to tweet.  The likelihood of that celebrity actually typing out the sponsored tweet is slim but as long as it comes from the verified celebrity’s account, it’s money in the bank.

Everyone’s favorite recent divorcee,  Kim Kardashian, (@KimKardashian) receives $10,000 per every product endorsed in 140 characters. Kim’s happily married, younger sister Khloe, (@KhloeKardashian) earns $8,000 per product endorsed tweet. Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) is #winning with $9,500 per tweet, with over 6.3 million followers. When the former sitcom star was paid to tweet for Internships.com, the site received over 95,000 clicks in one hour!

Jersey Shore’s self-proclaimed, meatball, Snooki (@snooki)  earns $7,800 a tweet from advertisers.  Jillian Michaels (@jillianmichaels) from the Biggest Loser is paid $3,250 per sponsored tweet.

It can be difficult to decipher a paid celebrity tweet from an awareness tweet (celebrity promoting a charity) even though recent federal regulations require sponsored tweets to be identified as such. The majority of paid celebrity tweets are followed by the word #ad, using the hashtag to identify these tweets.

As the popularity of sponsored tweeting continues to rise, so do the bank accounts of our favorite stars!

 

3 Reasons Not to Watch This Season of The Bachelor

If the title of this blog post grabbed your attention because you agree with me, then I have already accomplished something today. This season of the Bachelor has been a big snooze fest in my opinion. There are a few factors that play into this.

1.) Two words: Reality Steve. If you haven’t already heard of him and you hate surprises, I am about to make your day. This guy receives all of the inside scoop on each season of the Bachelor/Bachelorette AS IT IS BEING FILMED. He will tell you all the nitty gritty details from each episode as well as the winner of the MOST DRAMATIC ROSE CEREMONY EVER. His posts are extremely witty and he does not hold back when making fun of the contestants; a guilty pleasure at the very least.

As usual, we can always find someone in the Twitterverse to agree with us!

2.) Ben is boring. All of those Ben lovers out there are going to find this hard to read but Ben is just not meant for reality television! I am sure he’s a very nice guy in person but as far as reality dating shows go, we all want to see a little more action. I have not figured out of it is his mono-toned voice or just the way the show has been edited but as each Monday night passes, I find myself zoning out into Pinterest land while the episode airs. All you pinners know what I’m talking about.

3. )  Pyscho girls. Is it the show that makes a young woman this insane or is it a requirement for the casting department? From blogger Jenna Burke’s meltdown to  Blakesley and Monica’s bizarre flirting scene, after 16 seasons of watching this dramatic show, I think I’ve had enough.

 

Who am I kidding…until next season.

Divorce (Irreconcilable Differences, HOLLYWOOD or FACEBOOK?)

As a newlywed, the thought of divorce makes me sick to my stomach.  My husband and I were on day 1 of our honeymoon when we heard about Kim Kardashian splitting from Kris Humphries. Despite the fact that we all saw it coming, I still felt a twinge of sadness because to me, marriage is so sacred and special.

Hollywood has really facilitated the deterioration of what marriage means. Hollywood is only partly to blame for the prevalence of divorce. Our beloved social network, Facebook, has been cited as the cause for one in five divorces according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

In Hollywood, the likelihood of your marriage last more than 3 years is slim.“The divorce rate among celebrities may be as high as 80 percent,” said celebrity divorce lawyer Raul Felder. This week in LA, divorce seems to be contagious! Katy Perry and Russell Brand and more shockingly, Heidi Klum and Seal (my go-to couple for beating the Hollywood odds) are trending on Twitter today because they are getting a divorce. I doubt the cause of their separation has anything to do with Facebook but it’s certainly fueled social conversations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook connects people, therefore, it’s great for businesses, it connects my clients to their customers. On the contrary, from a personal side Facebook can offer temptations that would not be present otherwise. People that have been married for 20 years join Facebook and reignite with old flames and this destroys their marriage. I believe that the people that succumb to Facebook temptations would find another outlet for their infidelity if Facebook did not exist.

The World’s Largest Virtual Popcorn Party

If you haven’t heard, Thursday is National Popcorn Day and our client, Kernel Season’s does not treat this holiday like any other day. They are doing it BIG!..with the World’s Largest Virtual Popcorn Party! Social media is a perfect way to bring all the popcorn lovers of the world together for this special day. The Twitter and Facebook fans of Kernel Season’s are some of the most enthusiastic fans I have seen and that is why we love them here at Gossip Genie. We created a Facebook event for the big day and within 10 minutes already had 100+ RSVP’s! We will also be using the hashtag #VirtualPopcornParty so feel free to give them a shout out this week. Not only do these people love their popcorn, they are huge supporters of the Kernel Season’s tag line “No More Naked Popcorn,” promoting the use of their exceptionally delicious sweet, salty (and sometimes both)  seasonings.

If  you want to join the “No More Naked Popcorn” Revolution and celebrate National Popcorn Day with Kernel Season’s, RSVP here. All day long they will be giving away some amazing prizes and up until the big day,  be sure to enter to win a Popcorn Cart! http://ow.ly/8vJtG

How NOT to Work at Gossip Genie

I can hardly contain my excitement at the thought of my company, Gossip Genie, turning 2 years old next month. I did freelance work from May of 2009 until January 2010, at which point, I formed an LLC. Therefore, the official birthday is next month. It has been an incredible journey with ups and downs, like everything else. I can honestly say that there is nothing else I would rather be doing than this. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful clients we have and the amazing referral sources. Gossip Genie would not be where it is today without a great team in place. With exciting new business opportunities on the horizon and marketing tactics in place, we are thrilled to announce that we are hiring. Here comes the fun part…after posting the job information on Craigslist, the applications came flooding in.

A couple of recommendations for those of you looking for jobs – PDF your resume, that adds a little bit of professionalism to your response.

Open Table – THE RESERVATIONS WEBSITE IS NOT A “SPECIAL SKILL”

Don’t include “Salary requirements” in your resume:

I would omit this previous work experience…

What you did almost 17 years ago on Saturdays does not interest me!

The best is when people try to adapt their resumes to include their “social media skills” – it’s always at the end of the resume making it all the more obvious:

 

 

 

So the search continues – if you or anyone you know is interested in working at Gossip Genie, please send a resume and cover letter to Jacqui@GossipGenie.com

 

‘Tis The Season For Client Gifts

Every year, I put a lot of thought into my client gifts. When October hits, I start exploring client gift options. Everything I do, I put a lot of time and effort into because I want to make an impact. If you have ever received a thank you note from me, you know what I am talking about. When it comes to my business I am even more meticulous about my decisions. Therefore, finding the perfect gift to thank my clients for utilizing my social media services, is a major task. Gossip Genie has amazing clients and we work hard to prove it to the public. However, this is difficult when trying to find a gift that represents Gossip Genie’s digital services and a client’s business. The Social Network on DVD was not an option nor was spray painting a dove blue and gifting a real-life “Twitter bird.”

Therefore, I put myself in the shoes of my clients and if you own a business, you know that some of your most coveted possessions are the ones with your logo on them. At Gossip Genie, part of our marketing goal is brand awareness so finding the right gift and branding it with my client’s logo, seemed like the perfect gift.

After scanning Pinterest for a long time, I happened upon this picture and I knew what my clients would be receiving this year – LOGO cookies!

I had to find the best company to handle my custom order and it was clear that Veronica’s Treats was the way to go. I sent the company my client’s logos and they helped me put together a grand basket for each one of my beloved clients. The entire time, I secretly wished I was my own client because these treats looked amazing.

This week was filled with rave reviews from my clients – “What a great idea, so cute and clever AND delicious!” One client even sent a picture of their half eaten basket – the goodies went so fast, a completely full basket picture was impossible to achieve!

As a thank from Veronica’s treats, my wish came true, I received a basked filled with my own logo cookies. I have to say the cookies, brownies and cake bites are some of the best I have ever had. You would assume that putting a logo on a treat would sacrifice the taste a bit, not the case with these. It’s also helpful to have your logo on the treats because I am savoring each bite because the treats are too adorable to scarf them all down right away.

Needless to say, I had a very happy holiday and I wish everyone else the same!

The Least Fascinating Person of 2011

 

What was Barbara Walters and the rest of the ABC staff thinking when they decided  the Kardashians would be a wise pick for the most fascinating people of 2011. Set aside the fact that they are famous for being …well famous, this family never seems to miss an opportunity for their name to be in the press. Whether that stems from making a sex tape with rapper, Ray J  or conjuring up a fake wedding, bad publicity is still publicity on Planet Kardashian.

In all seriousness,  I would have liked to see Kourtney’s 2 year old son, Mason make  the list. This little guy lived with Kim, Kris, Kourtney, AND Scott in one apartment.  Now that is fascinating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Movember to Remember

Now that I am a wife, it is my obligation to support my husband in his endeavors, regardless of how unattractive he may become as a result. As the queen of competition – especially when it comes to fundraising for a good cause – I am urging you to pay attention to this post. 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. Think about a groom with 5 groomsmen, one of those men will inevitably have to endure the harsh reality that is prostate cancer.  Therefore, the month formerly known as November, has become Movember, which is dedicated to growing mustaches and raising awareness and funds for men’s health. I was not too keen on the idea of my husband, Ron, having a full on, creepy, seventies looking, molester type mustache during our FIRST month of marriage but as long as I know it’s for a good cause, I will make do.  And yes, we are having Thanksgiving with my family this year.

I wanted to write this blog post because I have not seen the support through social media that this initiative deserves. The only other buzz I have read about for Movember is Mashable’s post –  “Mr. Clean to Grow a ‘Stache for Movember”

In an effort to support the cause, we encouraged our clients to grow mustaches – check out Kernel Season’s new stache (and like Kernel Season’s on Facebook while you’re at it!)

The Movember site – dedicated to the cause does not even have links to social sites. Take it from the Susan G. Komen site – social media links are a must when it comes to promoting awareness. People like to promote a social conscience also known as bragging about having made a donation. I must say, I was disappointed when I donated to Ron’s Movember effort and there was no prompt to post my donation to Facebook, let alone tweet about it. I will have to draft my own tweet – “I just donated $50 to the Movember  Foundation in support of changing the face of men’s health!” IF YOU want that socially responsible tweet in your own feed – DONATE NOW:  at http://mobro.co/Liberman. PLEASE CLICK “DONATE TO ME”

My hubby took it to the extreme with his trucker-esque mustache!

If you’re feeling like earning some year end Karma points, donate today, grow your own mustache (ladies, take a month off of waxing that upper lip) and spread the message by using this link.

OR if you just want to see how creepy Ron and his coworkers look during November – click here