FOMA - What are you looking at today?
I am seeing this "Fear of Missing Out" growing and emerging as a new stress point. With everyone watching social networks, where people only post the "great things",
This phenomenal has become so common that it was placed in the dictionary in 2013. FOMO is defined as the "anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website."
So that you do not get caught up in this new theme, here's some tips:
- Stay focused on what's important to focus on in your life. Set your goals and where you want to go. Don't go with a goal just because someone else has.
- Remind yourself that what's posted is only part of life. Most people most the signature moments of their life, not everything. Your mundane moments are part of life -- maybe just not tweetable!
- Enjoy and focus on what you have -- not just what others have! This is true in life overall! But in particular in Social Media.
IBM Partners with Girls Who Code to Build Women in Tech Pipeline
On Monday, we kicked-off of our summer immersion program with Girls Who Code – an amazing national non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, educate, and equip girls with computing skills for the 21st century!
IBM will host female high-school students in New York City for an intense, 7 week summer immersion program. These students will experience a robust curriculum of daily classroom instruction, workshops, demos, and talks by a team of remarkable female IBM leaders and more. We’re empowering these girls with hands-on training on the latest and greatest IBM Cloud has to offer! That means instruction on Bluemix, our premier PaaS solution, and a host of other Cloud technologies. They’ll receive more than 250 hours of superb training in a variety of computer science disciplines, including:
· Robotics
· Graphic design
· Mobile apps
· Data structures and algorithms
We’re also providing these girls with career advice, along with help developing their presentation skills, and inspiring their entrepreneurial pursuits. We’ve also lined up some technical experiences through field trips, including, a tour of Astor Place — home to some of our coolest IBM Cloud technologies.
This partnership demonstrates IBM's commitment to helping close the gender gap for women in technology. Currently, women hold 25% of jobs in technical fields. When deciding a college major, 0.3% of girls choose computer science.
We’re so excited to teach these young women using the latest tech from IBM Cloud -- especially Bluemix. Our goal is to enable women around the world across a variety of STEM fields and I can’t think of a greater first step than this partnership with the amazing people of Girls Who Code.
“The gender gap isn’t just a Silicon Valley issue anymore,” said Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. “The shortage of women in technical roles, whether it’s retail or entertainment, is a massive crisis both in terms of innovation and socioeconomic equality throughout the United States. Girls Who Code has established a successful track record of empowering girls to pursue majors and careers in computer science, and we’re inspired that so many diverse companies have invested in taking our movement to the next level this year.” IBM hopes that along with Girls Who Code, we can see a reverse in this trend, and a move toward balance in the future.
In 2015, Girls Who Code will host 57 programs reaching close to 1,200 girls in nine cities nationwide throughout the summer, representing a significant increase from the 19 programs serving 375 girls in 2014. We’re proud to join this critical effort to close the gender gap in the computing and technology sector!
Effective Social Media Communications - 3 Tips For Friday!
I am riding in the car today with my 16 year old daughter. She was looking for a specific song on the radio. While constantly switching stations she was listening carefully but selectively scanning out the 'wrong' songs. Station after station was rejected until she heard the familiar song she was seeking.
This experience made me think of social media communications. How do you break through all the other "stations" out there and have your audience search for yours?
Here's 3 tips for our Friday!
- Make it noticeable. The song my daughter was searching for had a certain beat. Does your message have the characteristics that will help it to break through the barrage of messages that bombards everyone every day. Should you use video? a Podcast or a blog? How do you express yourself? Make sure you have listened to the right influencers and plan purposefully the message.
- Make it targeted. If you use channels creatively and mix them well, you're much more likely to get your message to those for whom it's intended. The channels have to be ones that your target audience is exposed to. My daughter's song was on her favorite rock station, not my jazz station. Make sure you are where your audience is.
- Make it crowd sourced. Testing your messaging can help you really ensure that you nailed it. I heard that Taylor Swift gets many bits of feedback on her songs from focus groups, family, and informally with fans. Sometimes you think you got it, but you missed something of importance!
Top 3 Factoids for Social Selling
1. Leads developed through employee social marketing convert 7x more frequently than other leads (Source: IBM)
Wow! Employees are becoming the new sellers!
2. Sales reps using social media as part of their sales techniques outsell 78% of their peers (Source: Forbes)
Developing a relationship online makes a big difference!
3. 77% of buyers are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses social media (Source: MSLGroup)
It starts Top Down!
Cloud and IOT: Making it real at the Imperial College of London
[youtube=http://youtu.be/OSe_h1-X1H8]
Your Secret Weapon: Video is about engagement and retention!
I love video blogs! Video is so trusted and engaging! Now I know that retention is also stronger!
Use video whenever you can !
