I am a pretty organized person, but tasks of any project can weigh a one down.  In my full time job alone, I have a handful of different projects or tasks that I am procrastinating on, ‘saving’ them for later while I focus on the more fun projects- projects that are easy to complete quickly, strategy plans, tasks I feel good doing and are happy with the results.  Looking at those other projects, I can identify reasons why I am procrastinating on them, and ‘excuses’ about not tackling the work. I don’t know where to begin, it’s too small of a project, its tedious boring work…. And on and on and on.

And procrastination follows us into other areas of our lives as well- it does not just stem from our working/professional lives.  Who else has ever walked away from a sink or dishwasher full of clean dishes, because the newspaper was there to read, the phone was there to call a friend, etc.  And what about your fitness goals?  The oldest procrastination phrases in the book: I’ll start my diet tomorrow, I’ll go on that run next week.

Have our lives gotten too cluttered and overwhelming that it encourages procrastination?  Are we to excuse-driven to buck up and own in?

I will fully admit that I dabble in procrastination from time to time.  If you look at my project list at work, the to-dos around my house, the future projects in my personal life, you would see a laundry list of things I could be doing, but am procrastinating.  But sometimes, choosing the route that is more fun, rewarding, easier feels better.  Those other projects will be there another day for you to tackle, right?

Check out OneCoach’s suggestions for tackling those projects, and getting over the hump of procrastination.  I think you’ll find some interesting tactics to apply in your own life!

http://blog.onecoach.com/2010/05/20/feeling-stuck-how-to-overcome-procrastination/

1-    Why

2-    Shrink the task

3-    Know it

4-    Plan

5-    Set a goal

6-    Visualize

7-    Grit your teeth

8-    Reward yourself  -and-

9-    Understand consequences

Go for it, I dare you, to tackle one project or task per day that you’ve been procrastinating on.  I bet you’ll feel great once it is done!

Last week, Harvard Business Review had a guest blogger by the name of Ruth Stevens posted a guest post with the title of “B2Bs: Your Email Policy Could Be Hurting You.”  To read it, go to: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/03/b2bs_your_email_policy_could_b.html.  And boy did this cause a tizzy in the email marketing world.

First, I would like to point out that I applaud Ruth at pushing the envelope, and posting what seems to be a controversial topic.

Almost immediately, DJ Waldow of Blue Sky Factory (an Email Marketing Service Provider- ESP) posted on their blog, inviting comments about HBR’s post.  http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/email-marketing/harvard-business-review-is-dead-wrong-about-opt-out/.  And what an amazing discussion it encouraged!

Both authors make very good points.  I like how Ruth made the differentiation between B2C and B2B marketing, because there is a difference on how a marketer would position their service and product to these two categories.  I was very surprised at DJ’s post however, as I have followed him on Twitter the past few months, and have been looking at Blue Sky Factory as an ESP for my business.  Typically DJ provides good content through Twitter, and is in continual conversation with other well-known marketers on Twitter.  The post surprised me at how DJ didn’t offer solutions for the points the he disagreed with on the HBR post.  Instead, he pointed out what was wrong, made some loose references to why they were wrong, and left the discussion at that.  Luckily for all involved, the comments section on both posts provided great suggestions, conversations and content.  I posted the below comment on both blogs, and applauded those who joined the conversation.

I encourage everyone to review both posts again and the following comments- It is great how people have responded to these articles, postively or negatively.

What I like about the HBR article is that it pushed the envelope- and that is the way we form new best practices. I also agree in the sense that a B2C relationship is different than a B2B relationship. As John Whitehouse stated, I believe in most instances that we give out our business card, we believe that we will get communication from the individual or company- either through direct communication by that person or from the company at large. One suggestion that could be made would be to follow up with an email communication and mention that you will be sending a sample of your email newsletter (or include it in the original email). In that sample include a email marketing opt-in link and details. This gives the contact the chance to opt-in to your email marketing program in an efficient way. The key is to clearly state your intentions. It still follows the current best practice of an opt-in vs an opt-out policy, but the initial communication is a great way to enlighten the contact on the great email marketing program you may have.

On a side note- everyone who commented makes great points. This is why I love the ‘devil’s advocate’ type of articles, because it pushes us to look at our current practices and if there are ways to improve them. And DJ- I appreciate that you took the note to heart that you could’ve offered suggestions. I believe your blog post would’ve added more value this way, especially since you are so engrained in the email marketing space. Luckily, there have been so many passionate marketers out there that have offered all kinds of suggestions. Interesting discussion!

 What are your thoughts on opt-in versus opt-out policies for B2B marketers?  Should they go along the “normal” conventions, or should we continue to “toe the line” to figure out new ways to develop marketing practices?

This year was different than all the years before, because I watched the game and ads all the while having my nose in my computer, watching the chatter on Twitter.  It was great to watch the opinions fly around continuously.  I had four different streams going in my Seesmic Desktop Twitter app:

• My Home feed- watching those marketing professionals that I follow, interspersed by a few of my personal friends opinions.  I was actually surprised at how little chatter there was by some of the Marketing/Social media “gurus” that I choose to follow, but wasn’t disappointed by the tweets by those who did decide to contribute.
• The second stream was following hash tag of #SB44, which was the unofficial-official hash tag for Super Bowl 44. 
• The third stream was following hash tag #brandbowl, a continuous conversation on the Super Bowl advertisements, and the brands/companies that chose to spend the excessive amount of money for their few seconds of fame.
• And the final stream I followed was hash tag #superbowlads, one that I added about halfway through the game.  Similar to #brandbowl, but it did have some slightly different perspectives.

It was interesting watching the difference of opinions in the above twitter feeds- there were equal pros and cons for each ad, with often times a positive comment immediately followed by a negative comment.

Now onto the advertisements that were my favorites:

ETrade milkawhat? Ad:

This ad was true to form for the ETrade baby commercials.  It was comical to say the least, with the ETrade baby boy talking through web cam to his baby girlfriend.  There were a lot of positive comments- from people liking the ETrade commercials of past and present.  There were some comments about losing the original ETrade baby (where did he go?  He grew up too fast!).  You can watch the ETrade Milkawhat? Commercial on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5ITqcdEws

The second ETrade commercial, however, missed the mark.  I wasn’t as impressed with this one.  “His broker sent a picture of his new yacht.”  It didn’t have the same appeal as the Milkawhat  Ad.  To compare, view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYC23yL6KY8 .

Google Parisian Love Ad:

I think Google hit it out of the park with this one.  Not only did Google tug at peoples heart strings (the crew I was with let out an “ahhh” at the end of the commercial), they also did a great job at showing the value of their search engine, the different features, etc.  It came across as a personalized product demo.  I’ve included some great Twitter comments from my Home feed below.  All of those included are GREAT people to follow on Twitter!

• @chrisbrogan The Google ad was absolutely perfect. Illustrative, told a story, demonstrated features, and maintained simplicity. #brandbowl
• @copyblogger Wow. Google ad. Power of story. Damn nice.
• @EdBennett Best ad of the Super Bowl goes to Google. just watched it twice. #brandbowl
• @AmberCadabra Nice job on the add, Google. Well done. #brandbowl
• @mashable TOUCHDOWN: Google Runs Super Bowl Ad – http://bit.ly/9wiakF
• @isalara Ok. Everyone loved the Google ad. (Me included.) But does Google need ads? Don’t they already rule the world? #brandbowl
•  @google: Love & the Super Bowl: We decided to share it with a larger audience. http://bit.ly/9kPwxg #sb44

To see the ad for yourself, find it on Google’s YouTube page here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU&sns=em

Vizio Internet Apps Ad:

This ad confused me at first, but once it got going I understood it.  I actually said to a friend, “I bet this is a cell phone ad.”  It was exciting to see Twitter, Facebook and Flickr all appear in this, so prominently in a Super Bowl ad.  The Twitter reaction was mixed.  Again, a few tweets below, some positive, some negative:

• @chrisbrogan Well, we all just got woken up by the Vizio ad. #brandbowl
• @ elee821 Vizio ad was great! loved the social media…except the website is down! great ad…followup fail! #sb44 #superbowlads #brandbowl
• @copyblogger Dear Vizio, Weezer called, they want their idea back. #porkandbeans
• @RT @cklemke: Wow, vizio website slow after that awesome ad #superbowlads

Notice a few comments about the Vizio website being slow after the commercial aired.  This comment went on throughout the rest of the time I followed the feed- and the commercial lost its popularity in this small Twitter community because Vizio could not handle the website traffic following the ad.  A cautionary tale: if you are releasing a product, unveiling a big announcement, or have an ad during the Super Bowl, be sure that you can handle the amount of traffic to your website following this!

View the ad on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ILh_lncB0

Interestingly enough, before the Vizio Internet Apps commercial aired, @VIZIOtv tweeted the following:

@VIZIOtv: #ReTweetThisIf you are watching the Super Bowl on a Vizio HDTV – http://bit.ly/6jFMR3 #brandbowl

Which I retweeted- because I was watching on a Vizio HDTV.  Now after the Super Bowl was over, I did notice some negative comments about the commercial, Vizio TVs, etc.  I for one, have not had any problems with any of the Vizio’s I have purchased, but to each their own.

Those are just a few of the advertisements that I chose to discuss.  You can watch all the Super Bowl Ads on YouTube  here: http://www.youtube.com/superbowl  Watch the ads, formulate your thoughts, and tell me what you think! 

Cheers,

Jennifer

I had a rare day of “lounging” today- after a three hour workout of spin class and ballet- of course. It is a rare weekend day where I could sit down, do some reading, catch up on my shows, and basically do things with no strings attached. And I did just that- I ignored the pulls of work, other commitments, the mounds of marketing articles that I want to read. It was a nice relaxing afternoon, hearing the rain pound down on my roof, curled up on my couch, lounging.

And yet, it’s 11pm at night, and here I am on my computer, feeling guilty about not putting time into my work and personal projects. I’m sure this is a problem that many people struggle with- work hard on the weekends on the ever growing lists of projects (work and person), or allow your body and mind to rest, re-energize. I will inevitably walk into the office on Monday, feeling guilty that I didn’t spend more time on that powerpoint, more time reading and responding to emails. But every once in a while, you just need to take a “me” weekend- veg out, no travelling, no emails, and reconnect with the days when live was easier and less busy. Cheers to that!

Depending on the statistics you read, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging and YouTube are among the most popular sites in the US.  TWTRCon Stats and eMarketer even predicts 760.1 million mobile social media users by 2014. 

For example, I use my Facebook page for more of a “personal” use.  I have only a few colleagues linked to that page, and those are colleagues I also consider as friends.  My connections on Facebook span near and far- my current close friends and family, friends who live near and far, and old long lost friends.  I’m even more selective with my Facebook connections than with other social media site.  I post personal information on Facebook- comments about my day, the beauty of Santa Barbara, random thoughts I want to share.  And not a lick of work-related information is posted.  I view Facebook as my “weekend” social media venue- it’s the personal side of my life.

Whereas Twitter and LinkedIn I use more as a professional platform.  Most of my Twitter connections are Marketing and PR focused, as well as current news feeds, with a few personal friends interspersed.  Twitter is where I flex my “Marketing Muscle”- read up on the latest articles, forward and comment of articles of interest, etc.  I rarely post anything personal.  And I applaud the link between Twitter and LinkedIn that recently happened.  To me, those two sites are professional in nature and would be a good fit together.

One thing I haven’t caught onto as much as some of the other social media sites are videos or video blogging.  There is a blog/website that I check frequently, and I often don’t spend too much time on the video portion of that site.  Is it too much of a hassle to press play?  Do I prefer to skim the articles instead, rather than sit through a drawn out video?  And yet, NieslonWire reported recently that videos watched through social media is up 98% since last October.   I will sit through the occasional funny YouTube video, watch breaking news from live streaming video on the internet, and of course watch TV episodes through my computer.  Why I am resistant to educational/informational videos, I do not know.

On a side topic- I think it’s great that Twitter was the “Word of the Year” for 2009.  It says a lot about our culture, how we have evolved to a web-obsessed nation (for better or for worse).  Information is at our fingertips.  Have you ever tried to go a day without checking your Facebook page or Twitter feed?  How long did you last?  I recently went four days without a computer, but I had my trusty iPhone at the ready to check social media.  Can you believe that there will be a generation out there that will have no idea what it is like to be totally disconnected (no computer, no phone, no wireless) from the world.  Will they enjoy life the same?  Will they see beauty in the scenery around them?  I’m being only half- hypocritical- as I rarely go without those things.  But living in a beautiful place like Santa Barbara, it’s hard not to enjoy the beauty on daily basis.

What are your thoughts?  How do you use the different social media sites?

 http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/11/six_social_media_trends.html?cm_re=homepage-061609-_-body-middle-tert-_-voices

Here is my take on David Armano’s proposed trends:

1) Social Media begins to look less social- David Armano, the author of the article, describes that social media channels are offering more exclusive ways to use those mediums- such as Twitter lists and the Facebook hide feature. This may just be the evolution that some have been waiting for. One downfall I have heard personally from people I know, and have read a lot about, is how public some of the Social Media channels seem to be—such as how Twitter publishes all your posts for everyone to see- unless of course you opt out of this option- and request only your followers to see your posts- which has been said to defeat the purpose of this specific Social Media channel. My thoughts- features are going to continually be added so that each Social medial channel can keep up with one another. As with evolution, only the strongest (or in this case most popular) will survive… it’ll be interesting what the next couple years bring for Social Media.

2) Corporations look to scale- I am impressed by Best Buy’s use of Social Media for customer support (disclaimer to all- I’m originally from Minnesota, so I might be a little biased). They have turned an up and coming communication channel and turned it into a support system for their brand, for their products. It’s a great idea and use of Social Media. For all PR junkies out there- a great person to follow on Twitter is @KellyGroehler- she is a Senior Manager for Corporate Public Relations for Best Buy and has proven herself to be Social Media saavy- check her out!

3) Social business becomes serious play- the Social Media channels are expanding. Now you can find a channel for almost every interest across the board, but the big guns are still at the top- Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. Some of these networks offer a competitive environment (who has the most friends, the most posts), whereas others are more layed back. But this is true across the board- be an active participant in the conversation! I am too often guilty of checking my Facebook page to see others posts, but I am not as good as posting myself. I vow to change that, and become a more active consumer of Social Media- to be a part of the conversation

 4) Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)- I think this point is especially interesting. My company is behind the curve in Social Media implementation- we are still figuring out the strategy and ROI of joining the space. But many companies in town, and across the country, have full blown Social Media strategies, and are implementing it successfully (or not so successfully). Now companies are faced with a difficult decision- of enforcing a Social Media policy. This is an important factor for companies to incorporate into their Social Media strategies—because its not just what other people are saying about your brand/product, your employees may be on multiple Social Media channels as individuals, and what these posts can link back to your company. Sharlyn Lauby did a great post about Social Media policy back in April on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/. By the way- if you want to read some great posts, and learn more about Social Medica in general- Mashable is a great place to start. They can be found on the web at http://mashable.com, on Twitter @mashable, and on Facebook (search for Mashable).

5) Mobile becomes a Social Media lifeline- has your organization banned Social Media channels from your web browsing. I know quite a few that have, and let’s face it, it’s understandable with the amount of time people have been known to spend on Social Media! But Social Media channels are smart, and they are making it easier for people to constantly view and update their status- from their cell phones. I know personally I have a Facebook and Twitter app for my iPhone. Cigarette breaks have now turned into Social Media breaks… at least its healthier!

6) Sharing no longer means e-mail- remember email blasts of the past. Now the latest thing is to post an article, video, etc on your Social Media pages. I am guilty as charged—after I read this very Harvard Business Publication article, I posted it on Twitter (come to think of it, I found the article on Twitter!). Now instead of sending everyone a great article through e-mail, we know that its just as easy and quick to send it through Social Media. And news organizations and the like are catching on- they now are making it excessively easy by putting direct links to the Social Media channels on their sites- so sharing their article is just a click of a button- genius!

So what’s the takeaway? Social Media is here to stay, at least for a little while. If you’re not already jumping on board (although if you’re reading a blog, you are), you should. For your personal use, jump in and test out the water, no harm no foul. Just make sure to join the conversation once in a while, and get used to addictive nature social Media has become. If you are looking to try Social Media for your business, it is important to develop a strategy before you jump in. As with all Marketing or Public Relations activities you do, there is a plan and strategy behind them. Be sure to include this in that plan- plan first, implement second.

That being said- be an active participant!

Cheers,

JN