Today is International Women’s Day, marking the 101st anniversary of the day men and women in Europe rallied for women’s rights to vote, work, and more.  It’s a good opportunity to mark such progress with a look at women in the workplace and how we can be the best we can be as we celebrate ourselves.

More than 100 years ago, women began to fight for the freedoms we have today and we’re lucky to be able to have a seat at the proverbial table and move our way up the corporate ladders and in the business world.  But there still are some things we can be doing to progress.

Be nice to one another. Women tend to be our own worst enemies. Rather than be catty, gossipy, and mean, work together, find common interests, and support one another.

Know the difference between business and personal. Men have this down yet we struggle with it. When things happen at work, they’re business. Don’t ever take it personally.  Don’t show our weakness and emotions in the workplace – if you have a weak moment step outside, or to the bathroom.

Don’t be afraid to take calculated risk. Change while often hard – it good and necessity to stay relevant and keep yourself relevant and at the top of your game. Remember the gifts are to be honed in the journey – not the destination.  Stay flexible attuned to each environment and ready to take a complete 180 if need be!

Stay the course. When a mountain appears in the path – climb it..its often in these unexpected roadblocks that the best course to take is revealed and the gift garnered.

Find Balance. As women, we need to step back, evaluate our priorities and decide what is really important from both a business and a personal perspective. Ask yourself at the beginning of each day what the five most important things are that you need to do that day and do those first. And make sure they are not all business focused. A well-balanced outlook and life tends to lead to a stronger and more successful business.

Accentuate your positives. Use the gifts you’ve been given.  Be it your boundless enthusiasm, your tenacity, your quick fire wit, your zest for organization – use your gift as a starting point for making your mark.

Stop saying your sorry. Why do women  always apologize for everything? Only say sorry when you have truly made a major mistake.

Become fearless. Let go of any fear of failure and jump!  Your must go out on the limb if you want to taste the fruit!  Instead of “why – think why not”. Be  tough when you need to be but show compassion for people.  Strike a balance, you will be appreciated for your strategic and critical thinking, and also for your ability to stay human and build great relationships with your employees and/or your peers.

Follow your passion. Work for a company or a cause or in a career that you believe in.  Your must define and feel success for yourself.  As women in the workforce we’ll come across those who’ll try to intimidate us simply by trying to show us how powerful they are, or how ‘successful’ they are. Do not, for one moment, let these people—men and women included—get you down or deter your from your passion.

Be true to yourself. Realize that just because someone looks successful or powerful, doesn’t mean they really are. As long as you are giving it your all, doing everything you can, truly, honestly, deeply, you will be successful. It might not be someone else’s definition of success, but you’ll be ‘the best that you can be.  And that is pretty darn good.

Happy International Woman’s Day Goddesses!

The prefix Super has a basic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super provide a sense of being placed above or over. The Super Bowl, Superman, Superhuman, Supermodel, Supernatural…Super Tuesday.

Referring to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to send to the national convention, Super Tuesday traditionally welcomes each party’s presidential nomination. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and, accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination. Today is that day! Tomorrow morning the news will be full of political pundits spinning the story and placing their bets on who will get the Republican Party’s nomination and face off against President Obama in the Fall.

I don’t personally know one die-hard republican who is feeling so Super about tonight – wishing instead for a Reaganish dark horse to steal the nomination and ride to victory against President Obama in the fall was the general consensus. Democrats I polled are sitting back humming the opening bars of Katie’s Perry SELF INFLICTED…

President Obama in his first 2012 news conference this afternoon discussed new housing policies, Iran, gasoline prices, the war in Afghanistan, the economic recovery, contraception and of course Super Tuesday. When asked by a reporter What would he like to say to Mr. Romney, who calls him the most “feckless” president since Jimmy Carter?

He replied, “Good luck tonight,” referring to the Super Tuesday primaries. “Really.” He got a good laugh. I can just hear Katy Perry now…”I can’t stop, Don’t care that I lose. these wounds are self inflicted…ohh I’m going out in flames…”

Good luck Mr. Romney, put the dog in the car on your next vacation…

WARNING! Today’s post requires viewer discretion and an open mind as we stray from my more subdued musings and talk about SEX, and not your “vanilla” variety but the kind that comes along with role play, hand cuffs, a secret red room and mind shattering orgasms – sorry I don’t have a SAFE word to use and I just had to let it out!

It all started last week in the office on the large flat screen positioned strategically like those in so many other public relations agencies that we use to view and tout our clients latest headline making publicity placements and which serves – in the C.I. Visions office anyway, as our 2012 version of the water fountain. I was reeled into (in daylight hours mind you) a news story with women sharing their intense passion for a erotic romance novel making headlines around the world called 50 Shades of Grey –a book so addicting that autographed copies signed by London-based author E.L. James were selling online for THOUSANDS for dollars! And I had not yet heard of it!

Hold the phone bat woman…an avid fiction reader and certainly an “in the know” publicist wading through hundreds of different media vehicles every week… and already their were millions of (my word in homage to title character Christian Grey) Grey-Hards lining up and meeting in public to discuss their new found feelings about mega-billionaires and bondage…what dark room had I been hiding out in, how could I have not been tied upin this new sexual awakening? I suddenly had a When Harry Met Sally, Billy Crystal/Meg Ryan, “I want what she’s having” mixed up with a Nine ½ Weeks Mickey Rourke/Kim Basinger moment! And I wanted in!

As luck would have it, the book, sold out at many booksellers (as well as the two others which are part of the XXX Trilogy) was available instantly on my IPAD. I downloaded and set to task to find out what these women were panting about…72 hours later mirroring the sleep deprived main characters (well over 1200 pages) I emerged with my sexual curiosity sated desiring even more of these tortured character’s love story.

The Today Show, Fox TV, the Huffington Post, the NY Post, television affiliates nationwide, social media and of course the internet is suddenly catching Grey Fever – the PR machine has been “whipped” (I just can’t help myself) into a frenzy about this book and its sexually explicit (think Karma Sutra) romantic plot. The truth is – women are reading this book and wanting more. Is this book an example of great writing? About at much as the blockbuster Twilight series is – so why are smart, savvy, sophisticated women salivating for more? Why are twi-hards suddenly tossing Edward Cullen out with the bath water (who knew baths could be so exotic) and reigning in a new romantic hero – albeit one without paranormal vampires and werewolves hulking in the shadows. Shades of Grey is just an old-fashioned love story wrapped in a new 2012 version complete with an old school romance hero who is believable – and desirable by so many different types of women and age groups on so many different levels.

You are introduced to your hero, handsome main character Christian Grey, a breathlessly beautiful, chiseled fictional billionaire tormented by childhood demons and consumed by both his need to control and his desire for Anastasia Steele, a freshly college-graduated literature major with a bright mind, independent spirit, understated in her unwrapped beauty, and with plenty of pages to grow, define herself and taste from the tree of life (among other delicacies) It’s the power play between men and women brought to light in a very real and positive way. Women (and men) today are searching for a truly balanced, equal romantic relationship that trades off and shares the responsible for the giving and receiving, the nurturing, and yes, the control – and it all comes together perfectly here as readers explore preconceived and limited notions of good and evil, light and dark and the limits in which they are willing to go to get their needs and desires met as they open up and learn to communicate not just what they are thinking but what they are feeling.

The novels, like the Twilight saga are narrated from the female heroine’s first person point-of-view. Anastasia speaks and thinks deeply, just like real women do and comes from the heart as she reveals the raw, emotional parts of herself, including both her strong “inner goddess” as well as her own clearly admitted self-doubts. Whether you like them or not, accept their willingness to go out on the limb and test the boundaries of both pleasure and pain – these characters are believable! James takes you into their “secret” and powerful relationship with a series of email exchanges interspersed through the text, borrowing from our social media obsessed popular culture and providing a modern spin to the story.
You won’t have trouble finding the climax err, arch of this love story – there are several in every chapter!

After reading this trilogy the sleep masks I keep accruing on transatlantic flights, and the sight of a man’s simple grey tie will never again hold the same meaning for me! The power of communication – be it between two “bonded” lovers – or through the use of powerful PR – every thought, words, action and deed delivers exactly what we desire when we are willing…

Or a least 140 tweeted characters! Welcome to the world of Pinterest – the social networking website that is providing visual inspiration to double digit millions (11 million hits a week at last count) and growing. For those of you not already “pinned” in, Pinterest lets users “pin” digital photos and images they find on the web to virtual bulletin boards, then share their vision with the rest of the online world. Themes can be as simple and prosaic as decorating ideas and recipes to the esoteric where the images stretch as far and wide as the individual “pinning” them.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests and its a lot more interesting than some of the oversharing that passes for conversation on Facebook these days!

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Pinterest is proving good for business too! Pinterest’s ease of use for visually bookmarking, organizing and sharing things has made it a hit among businesses whose online imaging “pinners” are using to create their pages and promote items they like.

Companies can add a Pinterest button to their websites to encourage visitors to pin and share their products. Pinterest provides several button choices available on their goodies page for a company to add this. Follow buttons are a great way to let users know you’re on Pinterest. One great way to speed the message is by asking fans of your brand to pin pictures of themselves with their favorite product of yours and tag you, then you can repin those photos onto a VIP board. “It’ll give a shout-out to these fans and show potential customers that your current users really like using your product.”

One thing is certain – Pinterest is growing and adding yet another element to Social Marketing and the way Companies and brands interact with their customers and potential customers… for more info check out this article…”

Manners. A lost artform? Yes according to Henry Alford author of WOULD IT KILL YOU TO STOP DOING THAT? A MODERN GUIDE TO MANNERS. Day to day we see examples of bad manners and especially so in our daily business life. Take under consideration your e-mail tone. I am a horrible typer and many times accidentally hit the caps lock key resulting in an email message that is read by the recipient as YELLING at them. Sorry, about that! Establishing a affable tone in both email and text messaging is a business communications must. Alford notes in his book, “the two main impediments to good online manners are the medium’s incredible ease and its blankness of tone.”

How about R.S.V.P.-ing? Alford says we should R.S.V.P. even if we are not planning on attending. Events are often kept to a particular number of guests and by not R.S.V.P.-ing we may actually keep another person from being invited. (I like this one especially since it makes me feel like I can be part of the giving)

How about the the hierarchy in which we respond to phone calls, emails, texts and social networking – yes there is one! Alford believes we want to match the level of the incoming communication or move up in hierarchy – not down…”Answering a phone call with an e-mail can look like you’re trying to avoid something or someone.”

What happened to the simple responses “you’re welcome”, or “my pleasure”? Alford says, “No problem” is not a good substitute. It’s probably only valid in situations where they may actually be a problem.”

Cell phones going off in the middle of a staff meeting. Having to endear private snippets of a co-workers private life during a business commute, a potential client reading and god forbid answering a text during your stellar presentation…How is it that people have such blatant disregard for others? Where have all the manners gone? Are we so self-absorbed that we can not see how rude we have become? According to Alford “The essence of good manners is not exclusivity, nor exclusion of any kind, but sensitivity. To practice good manners is to confer upon others not just consideration but esteem – respect. One of my most highly valued commodities is R-E-S-P-E-C-T-!!! Having regard for other’s feeling is highly valued by all and costs us nothing to practice in our everyday lives –business and personal….

Dear Potential New Client:

Recharging yourself and understanding where your brand fits into your overall communications is one step towards clearly envisioning your goals and deciding just how PR will fit into your marketing plan.  Here are 5 steps towards making your strategy a success.

1. LEARN from your consumer. By using your social media vehicles to gather information about your consumer, you can fast track the evolution of your brand, keeping it current and top-of-mind.  Make sure you have a dedicated team working social media.

2. PARTICIPATE in the conversation.  The communications mix has shifted from static to participatory.  By engaging with your consumers on all levels in an authentic and transparent manner, you seamlessly integrate your brand into their lifestyle.  Be real – engage, ask for help, opinions, these are your best brand ambassadors.

3.  RETURN to your roots.  Take a look at your original mission and vision statements and see if you are on track.  Sometimes reinventing yourself is less important than taking your brand essence and framing it in a modern fresh way that resonates with consumers today.

4.  SHOWCASE your brand where your consumer can see it.  While traditional advertising previously was the mainstay of reaching your consumer, brands now need to be innovative to drive their message.  Using creative delivery systems such as product integration and viral guerrilla marketing can breathe new life into your brand and engage the consumer in new ways.  Product publicity and public relations strategies are more valuable and important than ever before. Layer activities to meet each specific audience.

5.  REVIEW current chatter.  Instead of being a silo, stay aware of trends and inflection points so that your brand can adapt to the changing landscape.  By identifying emerging shifts, competitor positioning  and consumer variations, you can have your brand fluidly respond the market, while remaining true to its core.

We launched a new website two years ago and this week we hired someone to come in and do some tweaking.  One of the things we need immediately are tabs linking visitors to our site to our social media pages (Facebook & Twitter).  Why?   Because those destinations are where we daily update Agency and Client news and can share up to the minute successes with our audiences.  Here is a great article – the one that motivated me to get moving and get an expert to implement these changes – stay tuned – we are in the design process and should be finished within the month…

9 Tips for Integrating Social Media on Your Website

By Mallory Woodrow
Published January 25, 2012 

Are you leveraging the power of social media on your site?

Together, social media channels and your website should work seamlessly to promote your online brand.

However, if you’re like most businesses, you’re probably missing out on potential interactions, impressions and ultimately sales.

In this article, I’ll dive into a quick how-to guide to ensure your business website and social media platforms are working together to maximize your online exposure.

I’ve included examples from small- to medium-sized businesses that specialize in a whole host of fields to illustrate that you don’t have to be one of the big players to take advantage of these simple tips.

#1: Include Visible Social Media Buttons

This seems like a no-brainer, but double-check. Best practices suggest that social media buttons be displayed on the top, bottom or along the side of your home page. Links or buttons that remain in your navigation as the user moves from page to page are optimal.

To ensure that users don’t exit your web page altogether, you may want to create the buttons or links so that they open your social media pages in new windows.

Also, do not feel obligated to link out to all social media channels you’ve created or dabbled in. If you’re fonder of Twitter and have completely abandoned your Facebook page, there’s no reason to link to any outlet that is not being actively managed. In fact, linking out to inactive channels can ultimately cause more harm than good.

There are several ways in which to display your buttons or links and none of them are wrong. In this case, it is more of a design preference focused on how the user will be interacting with the site.

Below are some examples of ways in which websites have successfully displayed their social media outlet(s).

Big and bold button catches your eye.

This eCommerce site specializing in alternatives to dog and horse supplements only links out to Facebook and chooses to do so in a big and bold manner.

Subtle buttons suit some sites well.

This farm credit services business subtly displays their social media buttons at the bottom of their page.

Front-and-center buttons ensure visibility.

This artist decides to feature his along the top.

#2: Integrate Social Where it Makes Sense

If you use social media to keep your customers or clients apprised of your recent happenings and are actively managing your outlets on a daily or bi-weekly basis, it might be wise to showcase your Twitter feed or Facebook posts directly on your website.

Linking out or displaying inactive social media channels will only cripple your online efforts. If you choose to go this route, it is important that you maintain your presence.

Below are two examples of how vastly different businesses (a web design firmand an online gift card site) have integrated their social media feeds into their websites.

On this site, tweets are visible along the right-hand side throughout the website. Tweets vary from deals and contests to interactions with followers and customer service responses.

On this B2B site, recent tweets are found at the bottom of the homepage and are mostly comprised of industry-related blogs, recent events and projects in which they’ve participated.

These businesses vary significantly in what they do and the way they make use of social media, but both have found a logical method of incorporating social media into their sites.

#3: Include Up-to-Date Buttons

Social media changes fast—dare we say in real time? So if you added your buttons a year ago, they are probably palling around with the dinosaurs. Facebook fans morphed into Likes, group pages died, +1 is spanking new and LinkedIn improved significantly. Do research to find the most current social media terminology so you don’t get caught mumbling about “The Facebook” and “The Twitter.”

Social Media Examiner stays up to date.

In order to maintain credibility within this ever-changing realm, it is important to stay with the times. However, staying up to date with your terminology does not mean that you need to jump on every platform that springs up. It is important to be tactful with your social media choices and do your research before blindly forging into unknown territory.

#4: Include Share Buttons

If you sell a product or run a full-fledged eCommerce site and you haven’t added share buttons to your product pages, you are missing out on a whole host of potential social impressions.

Share buttons should enable website-goers to seamlessly share or recommend a product.

If you find yourself hard up for a broad solution for this, check out AddThis orShareThis. Both provide efficient and easy-to-use solutions for social media sharing across eCommerce sites with the added benefit of analytics to see how the content is getting shared.

As illustrated below, these buttons are easy to see.

The easier you make it for customers to share your product, the better.

Similar to eCommerce sites, if you have resources, articles, a blog or other valuable content on your site, you should attempt to make it as simple as possible for readers to share it with others. Social media share buttons should be displayed somewhere easy to see. Nicholas Creative does a decent job with this, as seen on their blog below.

If you enjoy an article, you won’t want to keep it to yourself.

#5: Use Analytics

Pay attention to the way in which individuals are using your social media buttons by tapping into Google Analytics. How many people are actually clicking on your outbound social media links?

An easy way to explore this is by setting up Event Tracking in Google Analytics. If you’re unfamiliar with Event Tracking, Google provides a step-by-step guide on how to incorporate the correct codes into your site.

Google Analytics allows you to track the number of individuals who click on outbound links by setting up Event Tracking.

If you find that few individuals explore your social media outlets once landing on your page, perhaps your social media buttons aren’t in a convenient location. It’s always best to have actual numbers to back up your choices.

#6: Pay Attention to Terms and Conditions

This goes hand in hand with staying up to date and knowledgeable, but I continue to see major brands using social media in ways that violate platforms’ terms and conditions.

You cannot use Google+ for contest entries, a personal Facebook page shouldn’t be used to operate a brand and there are certain rules to adhere to when running a promotion on Facebook.

The way you use social media reflects on your website, as well as your brand as a whole. If you’ve accidentally violated some terms and conditions in the past, delete those pages and do not link out to them even in the interim.

I’m not sure what Pita Pit is doing with this personal Facebook page or if it was created by an unaffiliated party. Whatever the case may be, steer clear of using a personal page as a brand page.

#7: Don’t Over-Do It

You want to make sure that compelling information is easily shareable, but littering social media share buttons all over your webpage isn’t the way to go. Before adding share buttons to a page, ask yourself, “Is there information here that people would find worth sharing?”

If you find yourself on your “About Us” page and don’t see any added value to website-goers being able to share your administrative assistant’s contact information, then forgoing buttons in this instance is totally acceptable.

#8: Stay Knowledgeable

Don’t get it twisted. With the changing social media landscape and array of rollouts these days, it is easy to confuse social media features. Keep in mind:

• You won’t be directing individuals to your Facebook page by installing a Facebook “Like” button on a specific website page. Instead, you are allowing individuals to “Like”/share the information, content or product that is found on that specific website page. There is no correlation between Liking a specific website page and directing users to “Like” your branded Facebook page.
• Similarly, directing individuals to your Google+ brand page is different than adding a +1 button to a page. At this time, there is no correlation between the two.

As illustrated below on this pool supplies website, social media pages and social media share buttons can be found on the same page. Verbs such as “Tweet” and “Share” often help distinguish between share buttons and social media pages.

Be sure you know the difference.

#9: Use Social Media Insights Alongside Google Analytics

Many types of software allow you to see your social media insights alongside your web analytics in order to pick up on trends and to better understand the successes or failures of campaigns.

SproutSocial allows users to compare web analytics and social media reporting information from specific timeframes side by side. Being able to see the way in which your social media and website analytics relate proves useful in establishing goals, measuring successes and identifying areas in which you can improve.

Here’s an example of the correlation between website traffic and a social media campaign via a SproutSocial report.

There you have it—a quick-and-dirty guide on immediate steps you can take to make your social media an

Google is an important search engine and has replaced the Yellow Pages for most people when looking for information via their smartphone or computer.  When was the last time you used a phone book?  Or called 411?   We use Google all day long at C.I. Visions in accessing a myriad of information. Its perfect for all of my blonde moments!  When I am searching for the perfect word for a press release, need to know if a celebrity wore one of our clients on the red carpet last night, or what more information about a potential client’s product category…  It is essential that information about your business is available to anyone using Google.  An important way to do this is to make sure that your website is up to snuff in terms of SEO.  What’s SEO?  Simply –  Search Engine Optimization which makes the content and HTML code of your site search engine friendly.  Google also offers ADWords Express – locally targeted paid advertising on google you can utilize to build your brand.  (those sidebars you see when you open Google.  These ads ensure that you site appears in the box at the top of side of the computer screen when someone types in a key word. For example, when someone  is searching in your area for something you sell or a service you provide (“pr agencies in NYC”), or if they are already in NYC just (“pr agencies”)the listing for your business will appear above or beside the regular search results.  Your located will be marked with a blue pin on Google Maps.

A great article filled with insight what it takes to secure great business press with the leading media insiders… http://blog.prnewswire.com/2012/01/04/pitching-business-editors/

Blah, blah, blah, this blonde has not had much to say recently (hard to believe) and to establish your voice in the blog-o-spere…well you must communicate more often.  So, here on the 11th day of the New Year – I set a new intention (forget those over emphasized and broken new year resolutions) to reach out and touch you more with my musings, business savvy, agency news, trends and other written words to inspire each of you and most importantly myself – to be the change we want to see in the world!