JitterJam® Social CRM

We’ve all been there. The social newbie. “What’s this Twitter thing?” “Do you Facebook?”

I’m addicted to social media. Seriously. I love Twitter and Facebook. I love to see what people are doing. I love it when a long-lost friend discovers me and sends me a friend request. I love just having a glimpse into a long-distance friend’s daily life with the ability to participate. It’s brilliant.

It’s really interesting and fun to watch someone new to social media go through the stages of adoption. For instance, my husband wasn’t particularly interested in joining any social network until he found out that his family was quickly adopting Facebook. Once he got on, he discovered old friends and acquaintances. He even reconnected with some long-lost relatives that found him through his family network. A couple of weeks ago, one of his distant cousins posted a very old picture of his father and his father’s siblings in their youth. We downloaded the picture, uploaded it to a local drugstore’s photo portal, printed it, framed it on the spot and delivered it to his father that day. I’d say that the value of the social network proved itself in just that one act of discovery and sharing.

While he was a Facebook convert, Twitter was this elusive THING that he just didn’t get. I tweet. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. I keep track of a ton of topics from social media to Dachshunds, and I find new people that are as passionate about these interests as I am. He didn’t get why I would do all of this. Do I really care that someone I don’t know posted a picture of their dog? Why, yes I do. But just the other day, he was at an industry conference where a speaker related a story about the power of Twitter and the “loose” connection of people. The speaker gave an example of the need to reference a presentation and paper for one of his upcoming talks. He was unable to find the information after numerous Google searches. He then tweeted about it. Within minutes, he had the reference link. He explained that the loose connections of people led to someone who had the answer. His close connections (friends, colleagues) were unable to supply him what he needed, but their very loose, unstructured connections (within their extended and unknown community) picked up on the conversation and found the data.

That one example lit the bulb over my husband’s head. And I think this happens many many times a day. One thing or another may draw someone into joining a social network, but a concrete example of personal value turns a newbie into a convert.

Life, as we know it, has changed for good.

Happy Fun Stuff Friday, everyone.

Sometimes business travel can be fun.

Take, for example, my trip to San Francisco this week. It has been a blast. I’ve eaten every ethnicity of food that I have been missing since moving to New Hampshire. I’ve had the Ginger and Scallion Crab at R & G Lounge. I savored the Hotate (scallop) sushi at two restaurants, including one of my old favorites, Sushi Sam’s. I devoured the “world famous” Swedish pancakes at Sears Fine Foods, but I couldn’t finish an incredibly tasty and large Broiled Sea Bass with Roasted Garlic Beurre Blanc at John’s Grill (it was written in as one of the settings in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon). I’ve ridden a Cable Car (the first time since I was a teenager in the Bay Area), strolled through Fisherman’s Wharf and sipped the original Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista.

Strolling through downtown San Francisco is a treat. From the boutiques around Union Square to the smells and sights of North Beach, from the beauty of the Bay from the Embarcadero to the view from Nob Hill…I carved out a little bit of time to enjoy the city of my childhood on this particular business trip. While there were intense and productive days of meetings and discussions, I was very surprised to find that this trip has been a bit of a recharge for me; I haven’t been back to the area since I moved to New Hampshire two years ago. It hasn’t hurt that today was a quite balmy 69 degrees. After the cold and snowy winter in New Hampshire, shedding my L.L. Bean coat has been a true pleasure.

Now why did I move to New Hampshire again?

Thanks for the Fun Stuff Friday, San Francisco. I hope to be back soon!

I can’t believe it. It is 57 degrees outside right now. In New Hampshire. In February.

From the peanut gallery: “We need fresh powder.”

Um. Not me. I love the melt.

It makes me so happy to see the melt water flow across the parking lot. It has been a hard-fought winter, complete with 5-foot icicles cascading off of the eaves of my home. Now, we have a clear sign (outside of Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction) that Spring is just around the corner. And I couldn’t be happier.

I hope this is the end of our cold, snowy winter. My California bones are aching for some warm sunshine!

Happy Friday everyone!

This is our 50th Fun Stuff Friday post!

One year ago (tomorrow, in fact) we posted our first Fun Stuff Friday blog post. It seems like ages ago to me rather than just one year.

Milestones are fun. I like having places along the way where I can stop, look back, evaluate where I’ve been and review where I’m going. Goals should have milestones to ensure you’re on track. Personal milestones can be the hallmarks of success and satisfaction. But milestones don’t need to be tied to a measure of success; they can just be a stop along our way, a time to reflect, or a really good excuse for a party.

We use milestones at work to measure progress, to motivate people and reward them for their accomplishments, and to mark significant change. I think that whenever possible, we need to celebrate what we’ve done and thank those around us that helped us get here. We’ve written 50 blog posts about Fun Stuff in the office and in our lives. I think that’s a great milestone, and I look forward to the next 50!

So to mark my 50th post, I’d like to thank Dave (yes, you Dave!) for his ever-patient support as I grumble about html and CSS, drive him crazy about Java script and PHP errors, and generally become a pain in the…you know…when I post to and update this blog and this site. (Don’t kill me Dave. Please?)

Is it time for our official Fun Stuff Friday beer bash yet? I hope so. We certainly have a lot to celebrate!
 
“Fifty” Photo Credit: Berkeley

I love it when I discover something new. And I’m thankful that there are others out there that are sharing what they have learned and discovered.

I’m a tech junkie. I love new gadgets, new apps, new services…anything that can help me to save time, to learn something, to get more information to make good decisions or to keep me entertained. So when someone shares out something cool and new, I have to try it. I want to figure out what intrigued this person and if it’s right for ME.

This morning, I attended a Social Media Breakfast in Manchester, NH. If you haven’t been to one, it’s all about education and networking (and a bit of food and coffee) as a start to your day. This month’s topic was about Location Based Services (LBS). As you might know, LBS is starting to take hold due to the convergence of LBS and social media through applications like Foursquare and Gowalla. As these applications are beginning to gain attention in the mass market, new and innovative applications are also emerging.

What’s great about speaking to different people, going to networking and educational events and just monitoring the chatter of your contacts across social networks is that you always learn something new. Among the many “new to ME” discoveries this morning was the stand-out application ShopKick. This is an application that enables you to earn “kickbucks” (points) each time you “check in” or even “walk in” to participating retail outlets. And you can even earn more kickbucks for scanning specific advertised items using your smartphone! These kickbucks can be redeemed for rewards (primarily gift cards) or even donated to charities! How great is that?!!

As a marketer, I’m intrigued by the ability to really get a true indication of who is shopping at your store and notification of when they’re physically at a location, what they’re looking at, which aisles they go down, whether they look at and purchase an advertised item, etc. Part of the point made today by the speakers is that people WILL provide brands with lots of data IF the brand provides value for that information. For me, attending today’s event introduced me to some really intriguing new apps. It was a dose of new that fired me up.

I encourage you to find YOUR new every day, whatever that new might be.

Thanks to @njdeluca, @walterelly and @ericleist for today’s discoveries. I appreciate your taking the time out of your busy schedules (and trudging through the snow) to help spread your knowledge.

And now I’m passing the torch onto you, and I’m hoping you’ll share your knowledge with others. What cool “thing” have you discovered recently?

Have a happy and safe weekend, everyone.

I’m not a fan of snow.

As a person with a disheartening lack of ability to propel myself using anything strapped to my feet, I can’t ski, snowboard, ice skate, snowshoe or do anything remotely related to winter sports. Coupled with the fact that I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and rarely visited the Sierra Nevadas, I was, shall we say, snow averse. Even living for seven years in the Midwest snow belt didn’t change my attitude towards gobs of frozen flakes.

Imagine the surprise of my friends and family when I moved to New Hampshire. Now I’m knee-deep in it. And given my first encounter with driving a snow blower this past week during the first blizzard of 2011, I’m still not enamored with snow.

As one of the driving forces behind JitterJam being a Pet Friendly office, dogs are one of my core pathways to fun (I would imagine you have already determined this by some of my previous Fun Stuff Friday blog posts!). And I think seeing a dog bounding through the snow is pushing me closer to the tipping point of accepting snow as FUN.

Brewster the Snow Dog

Snow Fun Links

• Skiing. New Hampshire has a number of ski resorts, and most of the locals have their favorites. I’ve noticed that many flock to the smaller resorts due to their family-friendly attitude. So in that spirit, here’s a link to a list of the Top 5 Mom & Pop Ski Resorts.
• Hot Tubbing. I do have to say that this appeals to me MUCH more than skiing. But what do you do when you have to get out? Midwest Weekends–Seeking an Outdoor Hot Tub.
• Dog-Friendly Resorts. When planning travel to any of these resorts, don’t forget to make sure you can bring your snow-loving furry friend. Search the DogFriendly.com to find your ultimate destination.
• Sledding. Not looking to travel? When I was plowing out my driveway the other day, the neighbor kid slid by on the street with a cool plastic sled. (Of course, this 6’4″, 240 lb. “kid” didn’t stop and help me man-handle the giant driveway full of white stuff, but that’s another story.) After browsing some cool sleds online, this one caught my fancy–mainly because of the name.
• Ice Fishing. Okay. I’m not sure of the point here. Fishing? On a frozen lake? Someone told me it’s about the two B’s–Beer and Bonding. Um, I think I’ll stick with outdoor hot tubbing. But just in case, here’s a plausible site for you to learn all about how to get started in Ice Fishing.

Any other suggestions for a snow-challenged Californian?

Happy Friday to you and yours. Stay warm!

This totally fluffy and fun video is just my way of wishing you joy this holiday season. Sometimes Fun Stuff Friday is just about simple fun, so I decided to share my favorite YouTube video with you.

Happy Holidays to you. May you share the joy of the season with the people (including the four-legged kind) that you love.

Sometimes, you just have to have fun.

As a marketer, “fun” to me can be…um…a little different than most people. I read blogs like others read People magazine. I love spinny graphs and charts. KPI’s make me dizzy with excitement. Well, maybe not dizzy. ‘A little lightheaded’ might be a better description.

So, to me, trying out something like Xtranormal‘s Text-to-Movie is fun. And here’s the result entitled “JitterJam is Like a Chocolate Sandwich Cookie with a Creamy Vanilla Filling.”

I guess Xtranormal is a wholly appropriate name. It’s silly and fun. With the right context, it can enable anyone to create a “viral” video.

Have a happy Fun Stuff Friday.

My work companion, Jasmine

Is Your Office Pet Friendly?

Companies like Petco that cater to the pet trade have also embraced the notion of allowing their human counterparts to accompany them into the office. They also use the pet stories from their employees (and their experiences in the office environment) with the animals as great material for their blog!

For those of us who aren’t catering to the pet industry, how can we convince our employers to allow—and even welcome—pets in the office?

From a USA Today Article:

Dog-friendly policies that allow employees to bring well-behaved pets to work are popping up in many offices and, by all accounts, the downsides are minimal. “We always say around here that dogs have never broken anything. People have, but dogs, never,” says Jeanine Falcon of Replacements Ltd., the Greensboro, N.C., company that warehouses more than 13 million pieces of china, crystal and silver and ships out thousands of items every day.

Benefits of Dogs in the Workplace

(from DogFriendly.com)

• Staff morale and worker productivity increased by bringing pets to work
• Increased camaraderie among employees
• Happier employees result in enhanced job performance
• Increase in sales reported by store owners who take their dogs to work
• Dogs can serve as a crime deterrent

According to a national poll of working Americans 18 years of age and over, nearly one in five U.S. companies allows pets at work. And a majority of those polled believe there are benefits to having pets at work, such as relieving stress, improving relationships with co-workers, making for a happier workforce and creating a happier work environment.

According to the survey:

• 55 million Americans believe having pets in the workplace leads to a more creative environment
• 53 million believe having pets in the workplace decreases absenteeism
• 50 million believe having pets in the workplace helps co-workers get along better
• 38 million believe having pets in the workplace creates a more productive work environment
• 32 million believe having pets in the workplace decreases smoking in the workplace
• 37 million believe having pets in the workplace helps improve the relationship between managers and their employees
• And 46 million people who bring their pets to the workplace work longer hours!

Rumba at Altimeter Group's HQ

There’s plenty of proof that pets provide significant health benefits to their owners. Dr. Meredith Wells, an assistant professor of psychology at Eastern Kentucky University, surveyed businesses that allow pets in the workplace and found that employees believe that the animals reduce stress and improve their mental and physical health. Other studies cite specific physical and emotional benefits of pets (see the article on Discovery Health summarizing these benefits and studies).

And yes, this is an unashamedly blatant shot over the bow of the good ship JitterJam. Altimeter Group has a resident dog, Rumba. His person, Jeremiah Owyang, has made Rumba a member of his team. Ric and Jim, are you listening?

Is your office pet-friendly? What benefits have you seen from having pets in your place of employment?

When I went out to dinner last night, I found that the restaurant I visited was fully decorated for Halloween and all the wait staff were in full costume. The menu had new “limited time” items for me to try, and they had fun activities and specials planned for this coming weekend. It was fun to see the restaurant get into the Halloween spirit, and it made me think about how businesses can utilize holidays to drive sales and customer engagement as well as provide a fun environment for their employees.

Do you encourage your office or business to get into the holiday spirit? Do you look upon holidays as a chance to have fun with your customers and employees? If not, you should consider doing both! Holidays are a great way to bring spirit, goodwill and fun into your business and share that with your customers and employees. While it’s an “excuse” to have fun, it’s also a great way to draw your customers back to your business as well as engage your employees in a more informal way. Here are a few ideas to help you integrate the holiday spirit into your business.

• Decorate! Put up Halloween decorations, Valentine’s Day hearts, Christmas and Hanukkah trinkets, Easter eggs, St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks and more. Get into the spirit and let your employees have fun as well.
• Contests, Promotions and Specials. Use the opportunities to drive more awareness and sales for your business. Create contests and promotions around holiday themes, and let the prizes relate to the theme. Make the contest entries public (post pictures, videos, etc.) and viral (encourage others to spread the word to get more chances of winning) to help drive engagement and publicity. Utilize the special promotions, events and “rewards” to drive traffic in the business for that holiday season. Provide value and fun, and you’ll be able to make the season special for your business, your employees and your customers!
• Reach Out. Use holidays to show your customers that you appreciate them. Send out greeting cards or hand-written notes. Pack a little something special in an order or the retail bag. Let customers know that you’re thankful for their business. Tie that outreach to the promotions that you’re running for the season, or just foster goodwill and get your customers to think about your business…again!
• Do Good. Does a holiday have special meaning to your business? Do you have special causes that you’d like to support? Use holidays or special occasions to highlight your causes. Do you have employees that have battled cancer? Do something company-wide to support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Is your company eco-aware? Get your company involved in some Earth Day activities and create a way for employees and customers to participate.

 
Remember to be aware of individual preferences and differences when you’re encouraging participation in holiday events with your employees. Participation in “fun” activities should always be optional!

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!