The Daily Grind of a Work @ Home Mom...

#McDonald's is foiled by its own plan #McDStories

Everyone's favorite burger and fry guy made lots of news last week.  First, there was that egregiously vile image of what is allegedly "chicken nugget batter" (aka, mechanically separated chicken) that went viral. Whether McDonald's actually makes food using this crap is still unclear. What is clear is that my children will never have to endure another chicken McNugget again.

Then, McDonald's went on the offense and created a hashtag campaign using #McDStories as the hashtag. The expectation was that supporters would share their warm and fuzzy stories of enjoying grease and fat with their families, maybe playing in the filthy, dirty playground as a child, perhaps of enjoying a birthday party in an unsanitary McD's basement.

But that's not what actually happened.  What did occur is that haters of the brand began utilizing the hashtag to spew venomous tweets at them.  Tweets like:

and

and

To be clear, this post is not a commentary on McDonald's per se.  I've been known to make a person or two late for a train as a result of a near-insane craving for chicken strips while pregnant.  And for some reason nothing hits the spot quite like a quarter pounder (no onions, extra pickles) while on a road trip.  I never feel well after indulging (the sodium?) and I always regret it, but short-term memory and all that jazz seems to prevail when I see those golden arches under the right circumstances.

But I've always believed McDonald's to be a leader in their industry (whatever you may think of said industry) since it's my understanding that they're the king of burgers (king of burgers... get it?;).  It appears I was wrong. 

In light of this latest PR fail, I'm seriously wondering who is in charge of social media over there.  I mean, ask any recently graduated intern at any agency what the number one rule is if you're a brand utilizing social and they'll all tell you - understand brand sentiment.  Never ask a question you don't know the answer to unless you're in the mood for a good, old fashioned massacring.  Because just like in real life, anything a brand says in "public" is there for the taking.  And in the case of the #McDStories incident, take they did.

Here's the thing.  This isn't a lesson on what McDonald's might have done differently or what brands can take away from this debacle.  I'll leave that to the Mashables and HuffPos of the world.  But I will say this - why does McDonald's insist on reaching into a space they don't belong in?  I've seen the brand talk about their salads, I've heard them advertise white meat.  I've read the words "well-balanced" and "nutrition" on their website and think, why?  Why try and be something that you're not?  No one goes to McDonald's for a salad unless they're with someone who's having a Big Mac attack.  And while I'm glad to see the smaller portion of fries and the apples in the Happy Meal (that we grab while on the road a couple of times a year), I'm not thinking McDonald's is any good for my kids.  I'm thinking it's convenient.  It's fast.  It's food.

So McDonald's, there you have it.  You can't fool us consumers.  Even if we eat your pink slime once in a while and your over-fried fries, we don't feel good about it.  We know it's crap.  Just ask anyone.  Oops - you already did.

 

How social media influences, well, everything

Social media here, social media there, social media everywhere.  Even as a person who loves, adores, and was an early adopter (Twitter since early 2008, yo!), the constant barrage of new sites! New apps! New social tools! even gets to me sometimes.

I don't get excited about every new popular domain name.  I'm not the first to set up an account of the latest and greatest.  I've been burned before (Google+ anyone?) and there just aren't enough hours in the day to devote time to every site Twitter says is cool.  Cuz now it's not 2008 anymore and everyone and their mother is giving opinions on Twitter (not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as you know how to properly manage your own account).   

As I write this post, I just clicked a friend's Pin and took in an inforgraphic that appeared on Mashable titled Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC]. This article which appeared today, pretty much sums up what I'm about to talk about here, except I was going to apologize to Foursquare for being an early adopter-hater and then tell you how much I love Foursquare for its "Specials Nearby" feature and how I utilized it yesterday and felt soooo good about myself afterwards.

But wait.

In March of 2010. I wrote a post that I called To Foursquare or Not to Foursquare: A Cynic's View.  I was wholly unconvinced.  I even quit the location-based social networking site for a while.  Can't recall what brought me back but it was probably some little voice inside my head whispering, "go back, you've made a mistake. Second chances are for winners."

So I did.  While I don't "check-in" everywhere I go and I don't double-dip by posting my Foursquare check-ins to Facebook (which has its own check-in capes), I do use it sometimes to take advantage of retail deals.

Aaaaah.  There. I said it.  If you are an avid Foursquare'er, you've undoubtedly noticed the little box "Specials Nearby" feature at the top of your "places" page - and if you click over, you'll be privy to some retailers who are taking a chance on an unknown kid as yet unproven tactic for increasing sales.  Yesterday, I "checked-in at a large shopping complex and checked my specials.  I noticed that the kids store across the way was offering 40% off any purchase just for checking in.

SCORE.  Foursquare's stock just skyrocketed in my book.  If you have to outfit children, you know that it's a constant drain on the bank account and if you have two budding fashionistas like I do, hand-me-downs are not going to cut it.  So, Justice - nice job.  I hope others catch on to your genius.  Because yesterday, for the cost of 40% of a size 4 skirt and a size 8 dress, you got a mention on Twitter that may or may not have reached any of my 3400+ followers.  Worth it?  I can't say how it was for them but I felt like I needed a smoke after heading out the door.

Same seems to be true of Pinterest.  I only recently signed-up for the newish online pinboard.  The idea is to "pin" things that appeal to you in visual format to your board.  Of course, you have followers who see your pins and they may or may not be swayed by your influence.  Each pin, btw, automatically links back to its origins (etsy shop, online retailer, etc).  For me, I love to look at the pretty pictures and of course, one more spot to share my ideas - yay!  But in seriousness, I'm considering actually making a purchase from a pin I saw on the site.

So.  Where does this leave us.  We're moving beyond bloggers to real people.  And based on what I've seen coming out of the blogosphere lately, we're all the better for it.

One more thought - anyone have any ideas on how Pinterest might affect the B to B world?  (Not that anyone at work has tasked me to find out...)

From the archives: When Worlds Collide

This post first appeared on TDG on May 26, 2011.  I still think about this all the time, mostly because people often identify me as a blogger (which inevitably leads to the what's your blog? question), and as a result of the rise of social media, where I proudly list my URL and new posts.  So people read. I know that. And I'm almost ok with it.  Almost.

When I first started this blog, it coincided with the launch of my webstore.  Not a coincidence though; I had been advised to try to create buzz about my new venture utilizing blogs.  It was the beginning of review blogging and a time when bloggers actually responded to small businesses looking for reviews in exchange for nothing more than a sample and sometimes a giveaway item. 

Being a writer at heart, the natural progression was to start a blog myself at that time.  I had a good reason (my store), lots of opinions to share (cuz everyone cares), and I was staying home with my new baby leaving plenty of time to stir up the creative juices.

What I couldn't anticipate on that day in April of 2007 (wow was I green) was that four years later, not only would I still be blogging on this platform, but I'd be considered a "blogger".  That I would have parlayed my experience in the blogosphere into a day job.  That people would be reading. 

That people I KNEW would be reading.

And the worlds collide. 

I didn't talk much about my blog to my "real-life" people very much for the first few years.  I mean, they may have known I had one, but I never publicized it outside of that crazy underbelly world of blogosphere.  I had my fellow blog people, and my real-life people.  And I was good with that.

Lately though, as I move forward and meet people and stuff, Google has become a better friend.  I've gotten so good at manipulating it that I can find out the most basic to totally random stuff about people with almost no information.  And I know that the opposite is true too.

But mostly, I come up with Facebook pages, blank Twitter streams, maybe some weird article or random resume.  Not fair!  I put a lot of stuff here.  While there's a hugely gigantic part of me that is reserved for my IRL friends (you know, the personal stuff I don't talk about here), there's lots of stuff here!  Stuff about how I parent, my opinions, my style of doing things - just... stuff.

So when my worlds collide, when someone I sort of know says "OMG, I read in your blog that blahblahblah..." it makes me a little nervous. Takes me totally out of my comfort zone.  Weird, right?  I mean I singlehandedly am responsible for putting it here!  But you know, it's not because there is so much stuff here, but mainly because there's so much stuff NOT here.  I'm often surprised when I meet a blogger I read regularly.  I'm typically struck either by the fact that they're edgier than they put out there, or  they're a little more reserved IRL than they portray publicly. 

It goes with the territory.  I know that.  But if you want to know me, I mean, really know me?  Call me, let's get a drink. :)

Facebook is changing and it's fine with me

Over the next few weeks I expect to see a lot of status updates along the lines of "no more changes!" and "Facebook sucks."  I'm also sure #FacebookSucks will trend on Twitter for a day or two before people are done moaning about the changes that are about to be rolled out.

It's called Timeline and it actually looks really cool.  It essentially takes all the data that FB has been collecting since the day we joined the social network and puts it out there for better or for worse.  I know that when I signed up for the virtually unknown social site in, say, 2007'ish, my life looked VASTLY different than it does now.  As a person who still has old letters from 1985 and boxes of journals and diaries filled with tales of teen angst, I know looking through my old stuff will be fun.  For me.  Maybe not for you, but for me Facebook's new timeline equals one more cardboard box filled with my memories.  Of which I love to hoard (save for a few that I could live without, but whatever).

The new layout is more visually (over)stimulating, with pictures and true to its name, a timeline.  It includes "highlights" from the year (how it knows what to label a "highlight", I'm not sure) and makes a sort of collage of your life/page.  To the right is a literal timeline that allows visitors to your page to see what you were up to in July of 2009, should they be curious.

To be honest, it's just a different way of presenting info that was already there.  As it stands, you can scroll pretty far through someones FB history if you have the time, this new feature just saves you hours of clicking through and is prettier.  It's been proven that people are more compelled to stick around for visual stimulation rather than written text and of course the folks at FB are no dummies.  After all, Mark Zuckerberg is the king of the world, right?

So there's also another reason why Facebook has been collecting info on us all these years even if it has been tucked away on some virtual shelf somewhere in the Cloud.  It's a thing called big data and it's basically the idea that little bits of info about us are being collected every day based on where we are (our mobile phones), where we shop (credit card companies/online shops), where we eat (again), and just about everything else we do.  Ever wonder how the scanner at the grocery store knows what coupons to offer you?  It follows how you shop, what aisle you're in and what you've bought previously.  That little scanner isn't just a nifty time-saver.  It's got a brain.

Virtually nothing we do goes undetected by something, somewhere.  This may scare you, it may sound creepy, but it's the way it is. 

So with the roll-out of Facebook's new look and amplified content, expects ads in the sidebar that you might actually click on.  And other things that I'm not smart enough to anticipate.  Because that Zuckerberg has been watching and listeing to every move you've made.  And now he's cashing in on it.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing cuz, hey!  I love those pics of myself that yopu posted of me in November of 2009 at that place that night...

Come to a 3 MUSKETEERS Like-Up at the W Hotel in Boston!

It's very appropriate that I've been invited to co-host a "Like-Up" on behalf of 3 Musketeers, because my name is Jill and I'm a chocoholic. 

The event, to unveil 3 Musketeers' reformulated chocolate bar, will be a couple of hours of chocolate tasting and other fun, all at the beautiful W Hotel, located in the heart of Boston's Theatre District. 

• When: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Where: W Boston, 100 Stuart Street , Boston, MA 02116
• Why: Over 90% of Americans surveyed wanted more sleep, vacation and chocolate.  This event will definitely satisfy one of those needs, and raffle off chances to indulge in the others.
  

And I'll be there!

To RSVP, click here (and let me know you're going!).  And be sure to Like 3 Musketeers on facebook, too!

Still undecided?  Check it out...

Disclosure: I’m an official co-host of this event, and will be compensated for my participation.

 

Sometimes NO social media customer service beats bad social media customer service

This post is a long time coming.  I can't believe I'm just getting around to writing it now since I myself am a self-proclaimed online customer service junkie.  And by that I mean I hit Twitter before picking up the phone when I have an issue with a brand that needs addressing.

I've written about specific experiences here before.  I had an issue with a hard-up Toys 'r Us employee who used a credit card she created with my personal info for her Christmas shopping.  I posted about it - more than once - and finally received attention from the company.

I've utilized Twitter for customer service more times than I can count.  @ComcastBill and I are BFF's.  He has set-up appointments for me, reset my cable box for me without having to spend even one second on hold, and even sent me a new remote control - on the house - when I lost mine.  Comcast is one of the finest examples of the best of social media customer service. 

@Lexus is another example of a company that came to my rescue.  Long story short, I was facing a very expensive repair on my car (that I shouldn't have needed at all) and after letting me know that it would be $5,000 and there was nothing I could do about it and that they were "very busy", I tweeted for some help and the situation was rectified within hours.  I'm still not sure if this was a result of timing - it came on the heels of the Toyota PR Fail that garnered LOTS of attention - or if they decided to cover my repair as a result of an error on their part (as they said).  Bottom line is, I was taken care of and spent not a moment on the phone with the company.

Seems airlines are not as adept at responding to customer complaints.  Could it be because people are constantly cranky when traveling?  I have beared witness to insane people barraging agents with questions, comments and complaints when a flight is delayed or whatever. 

"WELL, WHEN WILL IT STOP SNOWING????"

You know, it's my contention that if your plane isn't taking off because it's not safe to fly, it might be annoying, but hey, at the end of the day you're not a story at the top of the hour.  Right?  Alive beats dead.

But anyhow.

Recently I tweeted @SpiritAirlines because I was annoyed by a charge I saw on my credit card.  They never responded.  When I checked out what was up with other people using Twitter to talk to Spirit, I saw a lot of angry tweets like these:

But when I checked Spirit's timeline, I see not one @.  They tweet out their sales and their news, but they don't respond to customer queries, positive or negative.  This is just TERRIBLE customer service.

Spirit Airlines either has a very dumb or very annoyed PR team. 

Spirit isn't alone in their Twitter fail.  Many brands take to Twitter simply to use it as a platform for screaming their latest news but what they don't get is that Twitter actually functions as a conversation.  When used correctly, Twitter is meant to engage with others, whether you're a blogger, a brand, a PR agency, or a regular person.  If you don't engage, you will not have Twitter success.

My advice, quick and dirty style: if you're not going to do it right, just don't do it at all.

So even though Twitter is all the rage right now, if you're going to ignore me when I talk to you, I'm taking my ball and going home.

 

Anonymous

I've always wanted to write a book.  A storyteller from a very young age, it seemed natural that a dream of mine would be to publish a collection of words so that they could be shared with whomever cared to read them.

About a decade ago, I decided that I'd start with a children's book.  That goal seemed more attainable to the younger me.  So I signed up for a children's book writing class at the Center for Continuing Education at the local high school.  But while the other students were interested in creating board books or story books for the sandbox set, I found myself getting into writing a chapter book for kids of middle school age.  So obviously, I was drawn to the idea of a story that was more in-depth than a children's book. 

I still have the skeletal beginnings of it saved somewhere on my hard drive.  But it's been collecting proverbial dust for a very long time.

Then life happened.  Work, kids, family... and the idea of becoming an author was all but forgotten in the craziness of the day-to-day. 

In 2007 I discovered blogging and while it doesn't necessarily quell my desire to put together a story that has a beginning, middle, and ending, it does keep my creative juices flowing and allows me an outlet for my thoughts.

Well, most of them.

I avoid posting about the vast majority of my personal life here.  I've steered clear of telling some of my more delicate stories because a) I'm not big on screaming my personal business from the virtual rooftop and b) the internet endures and I do respect the other people in my life with whom I share these private issues.

So having been inspired by none other than Steve Dublanica, I started an anonymous blog a few days ago so that I could get it all out without hurting anyone.  I had no idea how I would promote my new blog or even how to reach the modest success I've had here without revealing myself, but I was willing to take the chance.  My goals were to be able to be honest about some of my more recent life experiences (remember, a writer writes!) without hurting or revealing any of the involved parties. And, the other goal was to maybe help others who could relate by letting them know that they weren't alone.  And based on the few posts I got up and the emails and comments in just a few days, it looked like I was going to succeed.

But that was not to be.

In what was a stupid mistake on my part, I revealed myself.  I was testing the sharing buttons on the blog and hit the Like button which posted the blog to my Facebook profile for all of about 20 seconds before I deleted it.  But that's all it took.  Someone (who is clearly not on my team) followed the link in those 20 seconds and within an hour, I was busted.  I started seeing the IP address of very visitor I was trying to avoid.  And I knew I could never write honestly knowing that I was being watched.

Sucks for me. 

There is no such thing as anonymous on the internet.  Not as a reader, and not as a writer.  It's scary actually, to know just how much information is circulating, ready to fall into just anyone's hands. 

So after giving it some thought, I decided I didn't want to be anonymous after all.  That dream of writing a book someday?  Getting closer by the hour...

Escaping the Madness, AKA Going Back to Work

This post was originally published at The Parenting Connection on 6/25/11.

About a year ago, I made the leap from being a work-at-home-mom who blogged, maintained my webstore, and freelanced, to going back to work outside of my house in an actual office. For the preceding three years, most of my work had happened within the confines of my home office, with the exception of events and the occasional meeting.  Often, it happened with a small child in my lap.

I was the quintessential work-at-home-mom.

Going back to work didn’t happen overnight.  For months I was restless.  Don’t get me wrong – my schedule was a dream.  I had the privilege of doing drop-off and pick-up, carpooling between play-dates, attending mommy and me classes, and I had my own thing on the side.  It was any mom’s dream job.

Except it wasn’t my dream job.

During my down time between shuttling back and forth from ballet and music class, I came to the conclusion that I was – dare I say it – bored.  I was enjoying my days, but I wanted more.  And in order to achieve my personal goals, I knew I had to get out of my yoga pants, and back into my work clothes.

I needed to be clever.  I had been out of the work force for a while, but it hadn’t been all diapers and wipes.  In that time, I had become a member of the blogger community and I’d also learned a little HTML code by way of my webstore.  But what’s more is that I had been paying attention.  I knew social media was becoming less of a sub-culture and more of a force to be reckoned with.  I was intrigued by this new platform and I had the unique experience of being both a blogger and a former PR person.  And I’d been to journalism school.   This combination, I quickly learned, made me marketable.  So I forged ahead and landed a gig that suited my goals and my Mom needs. Flexibility was paramount since I wasn’t interested in being that mom who introduced herself to the other parents at graduation.  I wanted to attend pediatrician appointments yet still be included in business development meetings at work.  I wanted a lot, but luckily, I was able to find it.

Finally, I was back.  Doing a job, getting paid by someone else.  Talking with other human beings (over three feet tall), attending meetings, eating lunch without tiny voices making demands and without little bodies who wouldn’t sit still even after being warned one, two, three times that a time-out is imminent if they didn’t stay in their seats.

Here’s the part where you’re expecting me to admit how much I missed the tiny voices, the little bodies, the counting.  But the thing is, I didn’t.  And still, most days, I don’t.  I don’t because I know that my absence during the day makes me a better mom the rest of the time.  I’ve learned the alchemy of quality over quantity.  My working outside of the house brings me a sense of accomplishment that I was missing before.  It fills the intellectual void that is crucial to my, and therefore my family’s well-being.

Working moms vs. stay-at-home moms.  The debate endures with interesting points of view for both teams.  But for this Mama the choice is clear, and one year later I’m more sure than ever.

Facebook or BUST

I remember first joining Facebook in May of 2007.  I was all, what the eff is this dumb thing and why do I need it?  So, fast-forward four years.  If we're friends on FB, then you know that I've not only embraced it, but I've adopted it as one of my major means of communication.  I am a fan.  Forget eyes - Facebook is the window to the soul.  K, maybe not but in this very jam-packed social-media space, FB is the king of the world.  But I wasn't always convinced.  Read on for my original post about FB - written four years ago, before I knew.

______________________________________________

Mirror, mirror on the wall... Who's the most popular of them all?

About 6 weeks ago I received an invitation from a friend to join Facebook (http://www.facebook.com).  Having never heard of Facebook, I followed the link provided in the invite.  I ended up quickly understanding that Facebook, while an online network, is in no way a results-oriented group, but more of a social "utility".  An "online nightclub" as I like to call it.  But I joined anyway just to see what would happen.

How it works is you invite people to be your friends, hope they accept, and once they do, you are able peruse their Facebook profile page and see who their network is comprised of.  And from their network, you can invite others to be your friends and hope others invite you as well.  And so on.  Make sense so far? 

If I were a different person, this could go one of two ways for me: A) I could spend every free minute I have re-connecting with old "friends" and "like, oh-my-God"ing for hours every day, or B) I could create my profile, stay under the radar, and be angry and bitter at all those people who have 561 friends in their network, while I have under 60.  But seeing as I am neither of those people, I am truly at a loss as to how this technology, around since 2004, can be an efficient use of my time.  Sure, I've gotten back in touch with a few old friends, some of whom I haven't seen in 10 years and had no idea I was married or had a kid, but truly, out of every 10 people with whom I've re-connected, how many really give two craps about my life and how many are just looking to add me as their "friend" so they can make it to 200 friends before the guy next to them does?

My girlfriend in NY said it best, "I feel like I'm back in High School hoping I'm popular, thinking I might be popular, but always maintaining that small bit of insecurity I truly thought I'd rid myself of when I graduated medical school, got married and had kids."  So today's question for all you readers (and I know you're out there): Facebook, evil wrapped in a package of innocence or, as the Facebook people say, "a social utility that enables people to understand the world around them."  Talk amongst yourselves.

Oh, and feel free to use the Comments button below to let me know what you're thinking. 

(Originally posted on May 4, 2007)

 

When Worlds Collide

When I first started this blog, it coincided with the launch of my webstore.  Not a coincidence though; I had been advised to try to create buzz about my new venture utilizing blogs.  It was the beginning of review blogging and a time when bloggers actually responded to small businesses looking for reviews in exchange for nothing more than a sample and sometimes a giveaway item. 

Being a writer at heart, the natural progression was to start a blog myself at that time.  I had a good reason (my store), lots of opinions to share (cuz everyone cares), and I was staying home with my new baby leaving plenty of time to stir up the creative juices.

What I couldn't anticipate on that day in April of 2007 (wow was I green) was that four years later, not only would I still be blogging on this platform, but I'd be considered a "blogger".  That I would have parlayed my experience in the blogosphere into a day job.  That people would be reading. 

That people I KNEW would be reading.

And the worlds collide. 

I didn't talk much about my blog to my "real-life" people very much for the first few years.  I mean, they may have known I had one, but I never publicized it outside of that crazy underbelly world of blogosphere.  I had my fellow blog people, and my real-life people.  And I was good with that.

Lately though, as I move forward and meet people and stuff, Google has become a better friend.  I've gotten so good at manipulating it that I can find out the most basic to totally random stuff about people with almost no information.  And I know that the opposite is true too.

But mostly, I come up with Facebook pages, blank Twitter streams, maybe some weird article or random resume.  Not fair!  I put a lot of stuff here.  While there's a hugely gigantic part of me that is reserved for my IRL friends (you know, the personal stuff I don't talk about here), there's lots of stuff here!  Stuff about how I parent, my opinions, my style of doing things - just... stuff.

So when my worlds collide, when someone I sort of know says "OMG, I read in your blog that blahblahblah..." it makes me a little nervous. Takes me totally out of my comfort zone.  Weird, right?  I mean I singlehandedly am responsible for putting it here!  But you know, it's not because there is so much stuff here, but mainly because there's so much stuff NOT here.  I'm often surprised when I meet a blogger I read regularly.  I'm typically struck either by the fact that they're edgier than they put out there, or  they're a little more reserved IRL than they portray publicly. 

It goes with the territory.  I know that.  But if you want to know me, I mean, really know me?  Call me, let's get a drink. :)