We’re definitely not a selfish bunch. We love to share. No stapler, tape dispenser or even lunch (see: “What’s that You Ate?”) is off limits. If someone needs it, we share it. But, our sharing doesn’t end there. No. No. No.
We love to share our knowledge too.
So this week we gave everyone a chance to share their unique interests with you.
Here we go!
Which Test Won – This is a blog and a weekly email about split-testing email layouts and web page designs. The homepage and email shows you two versions of a webpage/email and asks you to vote which one you think gets more clicks-throughs, leads to more donations, email opt-ins, etc. I think this would be great for our clients because I’m not aware of anyone that is doing split testing and I consider it a “best practice.” I used to do this all the time at the nonprofit I worked for before SE2. (Courtesy of Jill Hamilton)
The weekly email from The Publication Coach (opt in here) – This is a great weekly email for writers. It always takes less than 3 minutes to read and is filled with tips about writing faster, better. Plus, Daphne Grey, the mind behind the tips, never sends out other emails. (Courtesy of Jill Hamilton)
A good friend of the firm, Tim Jackson, President of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, approaches social media with the same highly caffeinated energy that he brings to all his endeavors. New car dealers have embraced digital strategies and Tim serves as a social media maven for the industry. (The fact that he has 5,284 tweets gives one a sense of the passion he brings to that platform.) Follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook. (Courtesy of Eric Anderson)
Does your organization have a compelling story to tell? Do you want to connect with your supporters, volunteers, and donors but don't have the funds to launch expensive outreach campaigns? Apply for Google’s brand spanking new Non-Profit YouTube program. If accepted you’ll receive premium branding capabilities and the option to drive fundraising through a Google Checkout "Donate" button. (Courtesy of Brandon)
I think that sometimes it’s good to take your mind off of work and let your mind wander a bit (after all, there’s a gazillion research studies proving it), so I recommend www.zefrank.com. I spend HOURS on this site every day playing little interactive games, creating things and watching cool videos. Good thing I sit in the back corner where no one can see my computer screen! If only the head honchos knew! (Courtesy of yours truly, Megaphone Man)
So there you have it! Have any thoughts, opinions or recommendations? Share them in the comments below.
Yesterday was our once-monthly staff lunch. I think at most workplaces the words “staff lunch” sound like an absolute bore-fest but that’s certainly not the case here at SE2. In fact, yesterday’s staff lunch was almost certainly the most fun staff lunch in the history of staff lunches.
It’s always nice to see what other members of the SE2 team are working on and so our lunch started with a showcase of recent work from our Creative department.
The creative team shared recent video work we did for the Colorado Trust. We created videos showing accomplishments of the many remarkable people, organizations and communities The Colorado Trust has worked with towards their goal of improving the health and well-being of Coloradans. Check out one example of our work over at The Colorado Trust’s website:
The creative showcase wrapped up and we moved on to something that all of 770 Sherman street has been talking about for weeks – announcing the winner of the Get Your Blog On contest. The contest title pretty much sums up what the contest was about.
We wanted the team to “get their blog on.” SE2 employees were asked to write and submit a blog post to this very blog you’re reading right now. At the end of the entry period we’d ask our faithful online audience to pick the winner. The winner, in addition to receiving a $25 gift card to Starbucks, also won the title of Top Dog Blog.
So at yesterday’s lunch we announced the winners of the contest… but this wasn’t just any awards ceremony. Oh no. That’s not how we roll at SE2! Instead, our staff lunch transformed into the 2010 Top Dog Blog Award Ceremony. Watch the video of our hilarious awards ceremony below to see who the winners were:
Finally, we came to the main event (which everyone at SE2 knew about with the exception of Eric Anderson). It was the presentation of a tribute video that we produced called Death of a Murse - A Tribute to Eric Anderson's Man Bag.
Ok, so before I show you the video I guess you need a little background…
Eric Anderson has a very tragic murse (Murse = Man + Purse) that he brings with him to very important client meetings. (Perhaps some of you have seen it.) He gets all dressed up, looking quite dapper, and then just before he walks out the door he throws on this sloppy, old and tired bag.
Yesterday the inevitable happened. The murse died.
Our lunch wrapped by us playing our video tribute to Eric Anderson’s man bag. (Disclaimer: we are not responsible for injured cheeks or stomachs muscles as the result of laughing uncontrollably at this video):
So there it is. A brief summary of what will certainly go down in history as the best staff lunch ever.
Share your thoughts about our staff lunch in the comments section below!
In college, I was a poli sci major with a concentration on political theory. Political theory meant that I spent most of my time learning about systems of government. We read Nietzsche, Marx, Plato and the Federalist Papers and had philosophical debates about which theories would work best. I loved it.
But I know that most people find systems of government to be a pretty boring topic. For that reason, it’s especially important that our client, the Mayor Project, find simple, engaging and attention-grabbing ways to talk about why they want to change the system of government in Colorado Springs. SE2 helped them do that in the television ads that we created for them (in partnership with our colleagues at Robin Bond Media).
The main point we want to convey in our ads is that, although city government structure can be pretty complex, the need to change it in Colorado Springs is obvious. Having a full-time, elected mayor (instead of appointed city manager with all the power) will empower voters, increase accountability of the city’s leaders, and attract better candidates for the city of Colorado Springs. Check out our ads:
Smarter Than A Fifth Grader
Man On The Street
In an election season full of name-calling, mud-slinging and negative campaign ads, we think that ours stand out in a way that’s fun and memorable. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Finally, if you’re a Colorado Springs voter who supports the Mayor Project, be sure to fan us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and vote yes on Initiative 300!
Yesterday, some of the staff at SE2 took a cue from Facebook staffers by taking a long lunch and going out on the town to see the film, The Social Network.
While we didn’t learn the technical ins and outs of Facebook’s creation, we did learn a lot about personal relationships and their role in the launch of Facebook. And after all, isn’t relationship status what Facebook is all about?
After examining what makes Mark Zuckerburg tick, I returned to the office only to find that earlier this week a University of Colorado Denver business school student released a study on the interesting process of “unfriending” someone on Facebook – talk about perfect timing.
Among the top reasons for throwing away a perfectly good Facebook friendship are:
1. Frequent and boring posts on topics that no one really cares about. 2. Posts about controversial topics like politics or religion. 3. Posting inappropriate or offensive information. 4. If you are local social media expert Brandon Zelasko and you refuse to friend your awesome coworkers. (Note: Reason number four was not officially included in the UCD study.)
So, if you’re looking to win a Facebook popularity contest, it sounds like you need to be engaging, interesting and relevant. On top of that, try to keep the inappropriate comments to a minimum.
Need more information on how to properly friend and unfriend? Why just ask Emily Post. Social media has become such big business that even Ms. Post has included an entry about “online friending etiquette.”
Whenever I meet people and tell them what I do I always get asked the question, “Where do you find all this information?” Or I get asked, “How do you know about this?” It’s not because I am psychic… although there was that one time… no, I’ll save that for another blog… it’s because I have a good list of resources.
It’s taken a lot of time to cultivate a list of trusted resources that I go to for news, opinion and research on digital communications strategy. Here’s an excerpt from my Little Black Book of digital communications strategy:
www.mashable.com – pretty much everyone knows about Mashable, but if you don’t, you should. I don’t think there is any other digital media related news and opinion website as good as Mashable. They’ve really got their fingers on the pulse of what is happening in the world of digital communications and marketing.
www.socialmediaexaminer.com – so the website design is a little kid-friendly looking. Ignore that. This site has great content about social media strategy that’s written in an easily approachable and digestible format. I would advise against signing up for their newsletter though! http://nonprofit.alltop.com/ - Alltop aggregates news stories from all across the web. I pay particular attention to the social media and non-profit pages. I find that Alltop shares pretty good content and does a great job of siphoning out the junk. I like this site because it saves me TONS of time. Instead of having to go to each site and dig around to find the content I am interested in I just go here and ta-da, there's the content I am looking for! www.emarketer.com – I don’t think there is any more valuable digital research website than eMarketer. If you need a stat about pretty much anything in the digital media space, eMarketer has it.
www.socialmediatoday.com – the Web’s best thinkers in the social media space hang out here. The content is written for people who know social media strategy and the digital space more than the average Joe. Nevertheless I think anybody could find useful nuggets of information in any article. I love the content they post through their Facebook page – it’s the best of the best. I’d recommend you follow them there.
http://nearbytweets.com/ - ok, so this is a little niche but it’s a lot of fun. I like seeing what is trending and what people are talking about on Twitter in my area.
http://www.insidefacebook.com/ - this one is a little niche too but I have yet to find a better site that chronicles that changes that Facebook makes to the site, and how those changes will impact your social media strategy.
www.hunch.com – this is my new favorite website. Hunch creates an Internet that is tailored to me. It’s essentially a recommendation engine for anything and everything that I might be interested in. And I can tell you this, it’s a little freaky how accurate it is in predicting what I might like.
… and finally …
www.gawker.com – This website isn’t really digital media focused, but if you like to keep your finger on the pulse of what is interesting, this site has it. I find that fairly regularly Gawker posts content and commentary about an issue before some of the bigger news media outlets do. Plus, there is a fair amount of clever humor scattered throughout.
So there you have it - or at least part of it. I can’t give away all of my secrets! There will be more Link Potpourri posts to come!
Check out the sites andif you have others that you like, share your favorites in the comments below!
Since 2004, Sarah Kurz, now a principal at SE2, has provided outstanding services to her clients, helping guide many campaigns to victory in the ballot box or at the Capitol. She’s also established herself as an expert in communications for the health care and education fields.
But this year is proving to be her best year yet. In 2010, Sarah is celebrating:
Her alma matter, Duke, wining the NCAA basketball national championship
Joining the board of directors at The New America School, a system of publicly funded charter high schools
News that she and her husband are expecting their first baby in December 2010
And last, but not least… Last night, Sarah was honored by ColoradoBizMagazine as one of Colorado’s Top 25 Most Influential Young Professionals. We first announced this news about a month ago on this blog. But last night we took some time to celebrate with Sarah by attending the GenXYZ event where each of the award recipients was nominated.
Sarah and her husband, Brian, at the GenXYZ celebration on September 30th.
We couldn’t be more proud of her. In addition to her professional accomplishments, we appreciate Sarah’s leadership, intelligence and sense of humor and leadership in our office. She puts her logical mind to work by helping streamline our processes to increase productivity, leads clients to success and still makes time to encourage and invest in new associates to help them succeed.
