Generations X, Y, & Z

The Extreme Sticky Note Experiment

Bored at the office? Try this out!

(A genius marketing campaign, don't you think?)

Apply now for Next Generation Employer of Choice Awards -- Deadline to Apply is July 31st

posted by Dana Shapiro, Limelight Generations

The Next Generation Employer of Choice Awards is now accepting applications! This unique awards program will recognize organizations that are doing an exceptional job at recruiting and retaining the younger workforce. Applications are now available. The deadline to apply is July 31, so make sure to be included. A panel of judges will determine the winning companies and results will be announced on August 14.

 

Honorees of the Next Generation Employer of Choice will be acknowledged during the Grammy-style awards ceremony and sit-down lunch at our RockStars@Work Conference on October 20, 2009. Music videos and a light show will celebrate the winning companies. The day-long conference will take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

RockStars@Work is the first generation-themed business conference and awards program in the U.S. The conference will be a great opportunity to network with other business and organizations leaders from across the country. Participants will get the chance to walk on the Red Carpet, travel through the World Tour exhibits and learn about a variety of topics through the breakout sessions. 

 

Presenters for the day include DreamWorks Animation SKG, Fortune magazine, Jobing.com, Quicken Loans, Target, Cargill, Medtronic, When Work Works Institute, General Mills,  LifeTouch, Summit Brewing, Paydirt, United Way, and many more!  

 

The RockStars@Work Conference and Awards Show was created to address the generation gap in a trend-setting event for hundred of business executives representing Fortune 500 companies nationwide, as well as leaders in the for-profi, non-profit, and government sectors, small business and franchise owners, and media. 

 

In the mist of an economic slump, it is crucial to make certain that the younger generations have their needs met and are properly engaged at work. Forty percent of the U.S. workforce will be eligible to retire within the next two years and it is imperative that we prepare for the future. 

 

Don't miss out on your chance to receive nationwide recognition for your work engaging the younger generations! Apply now for the Next Generation Employer of Choice Awards.

 

For more information, contact Dana Shapiro, dana.shapiro@limelightgenerations.com.

Twitter Rediscovered: The Why, What, and When of Microblogging

A few months ago I started using Twitter. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. I created a profile and I tweeted a few times, but I really struggled to understand the concept or even really like it.

I decided that my journalism background was making it difficult for me to transition into the world of micro-blogging—and really validate any worth from 140-character updates. But as a generational expert, I knew I had to learn more about Twitter and why younger generations are using it.

So I delved into researching the Twitter phenomenon to answer for myself—and others—why tweet onTwitter? Yes, celebrities as diverse as Richard Branson and Britney Spears are using Twitter to tout their appearances and correspond with fans. But what’s in it for me besides access to lots of idle chitchat?

And I discovered that Twitter is SO much more than a microblogging platform. Twitter is actually a very complex tool that is changing the way we do business and companies can and are generating real ROI from it.

Here’s a quick guide to maximizing your tweeting time.

WHY TWITTER?
Twitter, the popular micromessaging service, launched in 2007 and is the fastest-growing social media service. Its user base grew by a whopping 1,841% in 2008, to 14 million.

Twitter is considered the most conversational medium in the world. It’s immediate, public, and searchable.

Twitter -- which can be used on any cell phone or computer -- has been a hit almost since its inception, but businesses have really delved into Twitter in the past year. For example, @Comcast has set up what has effectively become a help desk on Twitter, while @JetBlue, @Zappos, and @Starbucks interact with hundreds of thousands of their followers.

It's never been easier to communicate about your company or to know what others are saying about your company.

WHAT TO DO
Twitter doesn’t cost a dime. The only investment is time. Simply create a profile with a Twitter ID (all Twitter IDs start with "@") and subscribe to (or "follow") the 140-character updates (or "tweets") of anyone you can find who seems interested in your industry.

Here are the best practices for posting business tweets on Twitter:

Consider your brand.
Start by creating a branded company Twitter profile.  Assign a key person(s) to post news, job posts, articles, and other relevant business information.

Follow everyone on your staff who uses Twitter. Follow colleagues in related companies and in your industry. Follow relevant brands and journalists and pundits in your market, even those who compete with you. It’s polite to follow people. And by following people you are creating an ecosystem—people will see who you are following and consider those as suggestions for users they should follow as well.

The key is to share timely and relevant information and to be conversational and genuine. Use the service as an advertising channel or newswire for press releases, and you'll blow your chances with a lot of users.

Start tweeting.
Don’t be a Twitter wallflower. Engage in conversation with the people you are following and your followers. Then, when you need to speak with someone about an opportunity, you’ve already established rapport.

Be varied and creative in your tweets. To keep it real and not boring or spam-like, tweet on a variety of topics including industry-related items of interest and sprinkle in the occasional personal tweets.

Consider searchability.
First, follow @hashtags on Twitter. They will follow you back automatically, and your hashtags will be tracked. Next, start using hashtags (#)in your tweets, preceding key words. It can be helpful to do a little research first, to find out if the subject you're tweeting already has an established hashtag. Track other tweets on the subjects you're interested in (ie: those containing the appropriate hashtags) by browsing/searching at Hashtags.org, TwitterGroups, or Twemes, which provide real-time tracking of Twitter hashtags.

Help your searches by using a third-party tool such as TweetBeep, which alerts you to tweets relevant to your search. Or you may want to download Tweetdeckto organize tweets.

Twitter Search is an incredible tool that allows you to find virtually anything and anyone by adding the ability to search for key words, locations, phrases, and more!  Type in any word and you're guaranteed to get real-time results.  

Get retweeted.
If you say something interesting or useful on Twitter, other users can re-post the information using RT (which is short for retweet). This is a great way to get your information spread far and wide. A good rule of thumb is to retweet every 15 times for every one retweet you hope to receive.

Track every sale.
Sure, Twitter's relatively cheap, but you still want to know you're getting something for the human effort. Try Twitter promotions and see if it makes a difference in revenue.

@DellOutlethas been one of the biggest success stories amongst big companies using social media. This account owned by Dell tweets out major discounts for Dell computers and products. All of the deals on @DellOutlet are Twitter-exclusive. Twitter’s phenomenal growth and Dell’s social savvy have pushed sales from @DellOutlet to over $2 million after about 18 months of tweeting.

Sell last-minute inventory.
Twitter's immediacy is its biggest strength -- so use it to pump up business during lulls or discount last-minute unsold goods. Use LocalTweeps,a local Twitter directory, to find same-day deals via Twitter.

WHEN
Experts recommend tweeting between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. The West Coast is up and at work and the East Coast is eating lunch at their desks and checking Twitter.

Another rule of thumb: Limit Twitter usage to a maximum of 30 minutes a day. During that time, follow relevant industry peers and search for anyone mentioning your company or keywords and topics of interest. These are tweets that might lead to new business.

Other Tips
Twitter doesn't offer an official picture posting feature of its own, however, most people use a third party application called TwitPic. Just enter your Twitter user name and password to get an email address you can send pictures to.

Get Satisfactionis a great site that people use to help each other figure out problems on Twitter.  They call it "people powered customer service" because people are there, helping each other out.  If you're looking for help using Twitter from other Twitter users, this is a great resource. If you're looking for official Twitter Support, you'll find it by clicking on the Help link from twitter.com.

Mr. Tweet automatically generates lists of potential connections to take some of the hunting out of finding new Twitter contacts. All you have to do is follow @MrTweet, and he'll provide you with a link to a site where you can view a list of matches made based on your tweeting habits and profile.

Tweet O’Clock crunches the numbers for you so that you can quickly and easily find the time during which someone is most likely to respond to contact via Twitter. All you have to do is type in a user name, and it spits out the day of the week, and the time during that day when they are most likely to be monitoring and responding to tweets.

With millions of people using Twitter each and every day, Twitter is a constantly evolving tool that has become increasingly important for communicating with the world, finding new business leads, and even generating sales.

I never would have thought that was possible to achieve in just 140 characters! I thought wrong.

Follow me on Twitter!

@SarahSladek
@RockStarsatWork
@XYZUniversity

Generation Z, Brands, and Advertising

It’s time to move on from Gen Y. Gen Z are the new breed of consumers. They are in their teens, digital natives, lovers of advertising and most importantly, they know you are trying to sell them something.

The data behind this presentation is taken from a Habbo Australia online survey conducted in April 2009. Habbo is the world's largest virtual world for teens.

This slideshow takes a quick look at teenagers views around advertising and brands, then offers some simple advice for anyone trying to connect with Generation Z.

Gen Z, Brands And Advertising - 5 Lessons in Youth Marketing

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NAWBO installs Sarah Sladek to its national board of directors

(Minneapolis, Minnesota)—It’s said that an organization is only as effective as its leadership. That’s why the installation of NAWBO’s 2009-2010 Board of Directors is so significant. This year’s board members represent the best of the best of women business owners from across the country. As founders of successful businesses of all sizes and industries, they bring their success and insights to help NAWBO with its mission to propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide by:

 

·        Strengthening the wealth creating capacity of our members and promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial community

·        Creating innovative and effective change in the business culture

·        Building strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations

• Transforming public policy and influencing opinion makers

During their recent installation ceremony at the NAWBO Women’s Business Conference (WBC) in Chicago, National Chair Wendy Lopez shared her goals for the year: “I believe that we are entering a transformative year for NAWBO. I am very excited to lead us at this time, because I know the women on this board are active participants in our future success—and we are dedicated to making NAWBO the women’s business organization of choice."

 

In the United States, there are 10.1 million firms owned by women, employing more than 13 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in sales. NAWBO members own larger businesses than the average women-owned businesses. With 25 percent of members earning annual revenue of more than $1 million and 42 percent earning $250,000, NAWBO members represent a formidable portion of the business sector.

 

About NAWBO

Founded in 1975, NAWBO propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide. More than thirty years later, NAWBO is still the only organization that solely represents the interest of women entrepreneurs in all industries. The organization’s mission is to strengthen the wealth-creating capacity of its members and promote economic development; to create innovative and effective change in the business culture; to build strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations; and to transform public policy and influence opinion makers.  To learn more about NAWBO, visit www.nawbo.org.