As you know, we here at All Things E love infographics. They are a fantastic way to deliver digestible facts and statistics to your audience. Taking it up a notch, Thought Café, a not-for-profit motion graphic studio, creates motion graphic shorts called “Thought Bubbles” to explain and deliver messages for organizations. The thought bubbles can then be shared through social media networks. The bubbles are short, direct and bring life to infographics images.
What I love about Baltimore is the weird. For example, one day while walking to work I saw a man with a bow tie and a huge smile riding a Segway to work. The moment I posted about it on Facebook, others commented with other sighting of this guy, even a news story of his exploits. Now you may see that in other cities, but in Baltimore he’s a cultural icon. That got of thinking of other weird and crazy icons in Baltimore, the things that define us, and that’s how the Charm City Instagram Challenge was born.
The rules are simple:
Each time you complete an item on the list, snap a photo on Instagram using the hashtag: #Baltimorescavengerhunt
When you’ve completed the entire hunt, be sure to comment below so that we can go through and confirm you as the winner.
Involve your friends and neighbors – this is a community wide effort
Creativity, hilarity, and artistic genius strongly encouraged
The deadline for completing the scavenger hunt is Labor Day.
As we’ve written before images help tell our stories and through our hunt we will be able to tell a story of the icons that create Baltimore and the people that love them.
What’s In it For You: Glory. Fame. Lifetime bragging rights. Plus you’ll get a coveted badge for your social media pages. It’s going to be the hit of the season! Every respectable Baltimorian will want one! All Things E will also be giving out the following prizes:
Speedier than the Prix: For the first person to finish the challenge
Charm City Mad Man: For the photo that we feel defines Baltimore
Odder than Poe: For the weirdest photo
So Over Instagram: For the most hipster shot
Social Star: For the competitor or photo that receives the most buzz
Must be Photoshop: For the most awe inspiring photo
Stoop Sage: For the best story of how they got the photo
True Champion: For the competitor with the best overall images
Stay tuned to All Things E for regular up dates on the Challenge as well as our regular posts on the intersection of technology and social change.
Now, you’re ready to begin. Go on, rally your friends and get hunting:
Feast on crabs at LP Steamers
Ride the Urban Pirates boat
Night out at Lithuanian Dance Hall
Buy fruit from Arabbers
Spot either Michael Phelps or John Waters
Feast at Lexington Market with UTZ, Berger Cookies and a crab cake from Faidley’s
Shop at the Farmers Market under Route 83
High-five the Natty Boh man or a Hon
Go Duckpin Bowling
Have a picnic at Sherwood Gardens
Pose next to Fifi the Giant Poodle at AVAM
Sample a Crosstown Burger at Hamilton Tavern or their fried pickles if you’re a vegetarian
Hang out at Artscape
Participate in free yoga at the Washington Monument
Eat lake trout next to a LOVE mural
Attend a movie on the hill at Fed Hill
Kiss someone on a Charm City bench
Participate in Bikeparty
Volunteer at a community event
Paddle a dragon boat or take a tour on a water taxi
Visit Edgar Allan Poe’s grave
Attend an Orioles Game
Grab a brew at Union Craft Brewery or Brewer’s Art
Throw a disc at Druid Hill Disc Gold Course
Shake your hips at one of Baltimore’s free salsa lessons
Find this painting of Richard Carton Woodville
Happy hunting my friends! Also don’t forget to check out our sister blog WellPower who are co-sponsoring this challenge.
What’s Next DC isn’t your average conference. In fact, it’s not even your average unconference. Now in its third year, What’s Next DC brings together speakers who are boots-on-the ground pros from areas across the country working in the field of communications. With panel topics like “Competing in the Instant Era”, “Facebook and the Power of Mobile”, and “Stop Drowning in Data”, it was clear that the topic of “digital” was the common theme among the presenters.
What’s Next Organizer and Host, Tod Plotkin, talks about this year’s What’s Next Conference and the changes from years past:
Zac Moffatt, the former Digital Director for the Romney Campaign and the Co-founder of Targeted Victory, shares his insights on “social” and data sharing:
Liana Pistell, Social Media Strategist for The World Bank and Tarq Khokhar, Open Data Evangelist at the The World Bank gave a lively discussion and kept the crowd both engaged and in stitches during their “Tumblr for Nerds: How the World Bank Does Data Viz” panel. Here Liana gives us one take away from that entertaining panel:
Angela Hayes, Director, Division Communications, Corporate Communications at the American Cancer Society summed it up best when she spoke very simply about the role social media plays for her company:
One thing is for sure, social, digital and data visualization should be a part of any effective communications and industry engagement strategy in order to remain competitive in today’s market.
What ways are you engaging online? Do you need help developing a strategy? We at Campaign Consultation are here to help you.
The Seven Deadly sins are the classification of objectionable vices, meant to educate humanity against its own tendency to sin.
Unfortunately, the pure truth and wisdom that we should draw from these simple vices is often absent in the management decisions we make when it comes to social media … until now.
Behold the power of the Seven Deadly Sins of Facebook Administration, straight from some expert Facebook page administrators into your Social Media Conscience:
Wrath
Avoid: Engaging ragers imposing their wrath on your page. You know, the folks from the Internet who comment and vent openly about unrelated topics on forums and social networks. Ragers generally want to vent regardless of how politely you comment in response as a page admin, so remember that any dialogue with a rager will likely be counter-productive.
Instead: Take action in accordance with your comment policy. If the person is being negative, but is not violating your comment policy, consider leaving the comment alone and monitoring only. If your comment policy says ‘racist, sexist or explicit comments are prohibited and such posts may be subject for removal’ — and this description matches your rager’s commentary — consider removing the comment. Don’t have a comment policy? Seek legal advice to write one ASAP to protect you from the wrath of ragers!
Greed
Avoid: Stealing another social media poster’s thoughts or comments on a particular link or article.
Instead: Sure, when you read that article you might have thought of the same thing, but instead take the news article or trending report and put your own spin on it. How will this impact your life or work? Do you have any tips or advice to give that would help the reader who is coming to you as the expert? Remember, it’s not funny (and you may lose some fans) if the joke was told before.
Gluttony
Avoid: Over-posting the exact same thing about any one topic, event, or idea. Over-sharing the same content is annoying and will work against you in the long-run. Do it enough, and your followers might just delete you from their news feed.
Instead: Be creative, find exciting ways to spin the same concept with different types of media i.e. pictures, videos, interactive questions, memes, etc. It’s all about the content (but not too much of it). For example, here are 3 different ways to promote eating beets:
Avoid: Lusting after something you’re not. I can’t tell you how many times people have said “We want to have 10,000 followers like our competitor” or “We want a Facebook page like Coca-Cola.” It’s always good to look at examples but spend a little less time drooling at other people’s pages and focus on creating something that is going to make your page the next big thing.
Instead: Make people lust after you. Get in touch with your creative and quirky self and focus on what makes you unique. Then, showcase your desirables with photos, witty posts, and videos. If you make your content compelling, folks will come running like 60s school girls at a Beatles concert.
Pride
Avoid:Being too proud to post other people’s stuff (and attributing it to them) or too pleased with your own to check out what’s out there.
Instead: Don’t be afraid to fail. As they say “Pride goeth before the fall.” Celebrate with a “Pride Fall,” laugh at your failures front in center like a hilarious America’s Funniest Home Videos submission. Embrace your failure out in the open; it drives innovation. How many also-rans have died out in the tech world while the Googles and Apples went on to scale a revolution? Or how many neat ideas didn’t work out as stand-alone ventures but were instrumental once acquired and integrated? Do a big fail of the year award or feature and make a success of failure.
Sloth
Avoid: posting a link or re-sharing a link without adding any commentary to it. It’s lazy. I want to know what your organization thinks about the link and why I should take the time to read it. If I just wanted the link, I’d Google it.
Instead: Post cute pictures of a sloth and ask your fans to name the sloth as part of a contest (he will be the new mascot of your page.) Obviously, any cute animal works here.
Envy
Avoid: The shiny object syndrome. You see another brand execute an awesome campaign on social and you want to do exactly as they do – and of course expect the same level of success.
Instead: Figure out why it worked and how it can be best tailored to your specific brand. Just because one of your competitors tried something and saw it work, that doesn’t mean you should jump on the bandwagon before doing your homework.
Career strategist, Nicolette Pizzitola (a former Tips of the Trade featured guest) speed-coached three women on the Today Show this morning, giving them advice to get their career back on track:
Nicolette also hosted a live chat on the Today Show website after the show to answer viewer questions. She gave some advice on how to apply for a job:
When applying for a job, don’t forget about your social media sites as a place to network and potentially land you next job:
Want more? Check out the full LIVE chat transcript here . Special thanks to Women Grow Business for keeping us informed about Nicolette’s Today Show Appearance.
She was our most recent guest for our “Tips of The Trade” feature, sharing her insights and advise on effective ways to use social media. Now Nicollett Pizzitola will be featured on the Today Show! Please set your TV, DVR or Tivo TOMORROW, May 1st, for her live appearance on the Today Show during the 8:00 AM ET hour. She’ll be hosting a segment designed to help women who are stuck in their careers find their way out of a professional rut.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Compass Point Associates, Nicolette leads a coaching and consulting firm which helps business owners and executives alike define what success means to them, and carve out a satisfying professional identity.
According to the Women Grow Business Blog, you’ll be able to stay connected and ask questions of Nicoletter after the show. Here’s how:
After her live appearance, you’ll be able to ask her questions about where you’re stuck in your career as a small business owner or professional woman in any kind of career. To do this, you’ll want to head over to the Today Show website, and scroll down to the middle of the “ask an expert” section of Today Money, until you see a block that looks like this:
(Click for a larger image.)
If you need a reminder, there’s a form you can fill out right under the Today Money logo in that same area. Otherwise, join the nation and the Women Grow Business community on the site tomorrow, May 1, 2013 at 9:30 am Eastern.
Please be sure to check Nicolette Pizzitola’s All Things E“Tips of The Trade” post where she shares some of her best social media insignts and follow her on Twitter at @nicpiz.
Whether your non-profit or organization is large or small, I’d venture a guess that when a position opens up or you’re looking to expand, you post on idealist.org or a more generic jobs site, and keep your fingers crossed for a diverse set of quality applicants.
If you get the applicant pool you’re looking for, your next move is to conduct dozens of screening calls for the applicants you are interested in. Then, you invite some into your offices for interviews (perhaps multiple rounds). During this process you are losing time, money, and patience.
Even with today’s job friendly Internet tools, employer/employee seeking and searching sites only cut so much time out of the hiring process. It’s enough to make your organization revert back to the retired ways of finding qualified applicants, through networking events or job fairs.
What if you could have the price and reach of the virtual space while exercising the efficiency of participating in targeted events like job fairs when searching for applicants?
Virtual job fairs are going live across the country, offering booths to organizations interested in reaching a wide geographic range of individuals very quickly. Universities, like Georgia Institute of Technology, and Federal and State governments, like Michigan state, are offering comprehensive exhibitor lists and flexible dates/times for virtual job conversations. Even the previous static job sites, like Monster.com, are organizing virtual fairs complete with real-time manned booths and virtual informational pamphlets. Monster.com is planning to maximize its virtual reach at an event in May of this year to specifically employ veterans.
Along with the more obvious benefits of saving your hiring team’s time and travel costs, virtual career fairs typically reach individuals who might not be actively searching for a new job, but are curious about what your company has to offer. Your organization may gain valuable, yet more introverted types of people who wouldn’t typically walk up to a booth at an in-person job fair. Additional tools associated with virtual job fair software, like automatic applicant screening and personality matching can accelerate the narrowing of an applicant pool.
While plenty of large companies, like the Home Depot and Proctor and Gamble are participating in these virtual fairs, the spaces could have tremendous benefits for non-profits who don’t have a lot of money to spend on extensive recruitment, but are still looking to reach the right candidates.
I’ve seen first-hand how virtual events can effectively replace in-person conferences and training for employees. Why not enter the virtual world before a potential employee even gets to your organization’s front door? Read more about how virtual career fairs work and how to adjust your hiring strategy accordingly.
Twitter’s Vine app is a popular video-sharing service that recently topped the U.S. App Store’s list of free iPhone apps. Vine creates short looping videos in a simple and fun way that you can share with your friends, family, and followers. Organizations are using Vine to promote new products and gain excitement about upcoming music albums.
Have you thought about how you can bring it into your organization? The General Services Administration has recently blogged that Vine videos can be created without breaking any GSA rules. Organizations such as NASA, U.S. Health Data and the Department of the Interior have created videos to highlight the work that they do in a more interesting way.
Non-profits can use Vine to thank their funders, show service work being done, as well as ask for donations or funds. Does your organizations have any events coming up to promote or new homes built to showcase?
Here are some resources to check out to help you maximize Vine’s impact for your organization:
Companies need to protect themselves and their employees. An easy way to do that is to create a social media policy. Policy Tool for Social Media helps you create customized policies for your organization.
Grumpy Cat, real name Tardar Sauce, has become an internet sensation. Her owners have quit their jobs to manage her stardom and all the merchandising that comes from it. This angry cat has stolen the internet’s heart and we’re happy she’s taken the time to give her insights to All Things E.
How do you use social media in your work?
Social media is about engaging with others. I’m not one for caring about others. I leave all of that to my managers. All I have to do is be me and offer them occasional support.
What trends do you see in the upcoming year for social media?
I could care less about trends. I hate people. Why would I want to mimic them?
What’s your best social media tip?
People try to hard to please their fans and following. I say: no!
