“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!”
Dr. Seuss
Bullying Sucks!
We already know the horrifying stories of kids being bullied at school and have witnessed the tragic consequences. Now bullying has moved into the social and digital space in a BIG way, thanks to young peoples 24/7 engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and one of the biggest daily activities for teens, texting! This is both a lesson in awareness, how we can do something to help, and in seeing the HUGE shift the future generation has made towards the social and digital web.
While the stats below are disturbing, there are several organizations that are available to help kids hang on through the toughest and darkest of days. We love Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, Its Gets Better, The Trevor Project, and Boo2Bullying.org just to name a few. We can all help, by creating awareness and stepping up when and where we can to put a STOP to BULLYING, both online and off.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
YELP…Yikes or Yay?
“A happy customer is the greatest advertisement.”
Andy Sernovitz, Author of Word of Mouth Marketing
According to the US Census Bureau, 14% of Americans move every year (that’s close to 50 million last year alone). Every year, 12+ million move out of state and another 12 million move to another county in the same state. That’s a lot of people moving around and many will be in search of “happy customers” to help them find their next great haircut and more.
Enter YELP, “the fun and easy way to find and talk about great (and not so great) local businesses”.
With over 54 million unique visitors each month, it’s the place where savvy salons go to tap into online word of mouth and take advantage of this growing (and FREE) source of real world referrals and traffic. In fact, salons are the 4th most searched for business on YELP, after shopping, home services and restaurants. WOW.
Check out The Power of Yelp, our newest Social Beauty Intelligence Webinar on the Why’s, What, and How’s of YELP. Our hope is that you gain insight into this powerful referral platform and begin to use it to help attract new clients to your salon, YAY!
http://youtu.be/PCIXyhODf2w
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
The Promise, Kept
“One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises that one makes.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Brian Solis is one of our digital heroes. He speaks the truth. He understands the digital space like no other, and the opportunities it provides to businesses and people if its used in the right way. Brian Solis is the best selling author of Engage, and The End of Business as Usual, two books we highly recommend if you are seeking a deeper understanding of the social and digital revolution. He is a disruptor, and we heart disruptors that push to make things better.
While we read his blog daily, this one jumped out at both of us at the same time, without even knowing, and therefore, worth sharing. “Dear (insert business name here), what is Your Promise”. Many companies have mission statements and vision statements, many times written in a boardroom somewhere, but what is your Promise?
In today’s VERY NOISY social and digital space, people want to know you, what you stand for, what your promise to them is, and be ready, because today, you will, we all will, be held accountable thanks to Facebook, YELP, Foursquare, Twitter and all the other social spaces that people can speak their mind.
We hope you take the time to read this blog from Brian Solis, you will be very happy you did, as will your team and your customers.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
My Dad, My Hero.
The Final Analysis Prayer…Dad’s Favorite.
“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
Mother Teresa
This picture was taken in July 2011, Dad asked me to teach him how to use Twitter. He always had a passion for technology (and Starbucks). As a doctor, things such as pagers, cell phones (he had one of the first big clunky ones), and online medical research databases helped him save lives. He also believed so much in the power of social and digital platforms for connecting people and was part of creating one of the first online communities for people in addiction recovery.
