✍️ Thoughts 📸

Sarcastic Or Punny: 5-Minute Brand Voice Audit

[BYLINE] Take one minute right now and think to yourself: if your brand was a celebrity or fictional character, who would it be? If you’re not great at recalling names, think in terms of personality traits; for example, sarcastic, serious, or nerdy.

Write these things down somewhere and we’ll come back to the words later.

Inconsistent Brand Voice Can Cause People to Unfollow

Have you followed a brand before and you thought maybe they were trying too hard to be cool? Or that they kept bouncing from one personality to the next? This inconsistency in brand voice can lead to unfollows and confused customers.

The Q3 2016 Sprout Social Index unearthed a number of annoying actions that brands take. Three of the five reasons involve some sort of brand voice disconnect.

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A template for investor/founder sexual harassment policy

On my mind lately has been the outpouring of first-person accounts from women entrepreneurs who had to deal with harassment from venture capitalists. It started with one story, blew up to more stories, and even led to several well-known names stepping down. Power can corrupt.

💁 Social Media👨‍💻

Is Facebook Messenger the New Email? 3 Experiments to Find Out

Email isn’t nearly as effective a channel as it used to be. We tested Facebook Messenger as a replacement – and the results were astounding.

Facebook Adds Instagram Retargeting Options to Custom Audience

A feature that marketers have long been waiting for on Instagram is finally rolling out to the public.

Instagram Food Is a Sad, Sparkly Lie

The easiest way to create context for an over-the-top food purchase is to show it next to a body that has not succumbed to fatness, the prospect of which is regarded with as much horror on influencer Instagram as it is in the rest of celebrity culture. Indulgence as spectator sport is only marketable if you also demonstrate that it requires repentance.

💻 Digital Strategy 📤

How Participation Builds Brands

Consumers don’t consume advertising. They participate in brands. Participation is the X factor in marketing.

7 Emails Your eCommerce Store Needs to Send Out on an Automated Basis [Infographic]

This infographic outlines some of the key considerations of an effective eCommerce email marketing process, along with examples.

Five Customer Service Jerk Moves, And The Five Best Practices That Can Prevent Them

Are you committing any of these five customer service “worst practices”? Find the solutions–“best practices"–that can provide better results for your customers and your company.

✨ Other Interesting Links ✨

A Smarter Way to Manage “Pick Your Brain” Requests

A genius solution to the “pick your brian” email.

Want to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills? There's an App For That

I love this concept and am going to try this app out if only to improve my speaking during in-person conversations.

How ‘Wellness’ Became an Epidemic

Why are so many privileged people feeling so sick? Luckily, there’s no shortage of cures.

🌱Plant Update 🍃