Campaign For Real Beauty

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is the first marketing campaign that I was aware of to use YouTube and viral marketing to get their message out. When their Evolution video landed in my inbox, I was compelled to send it to all the girls on my contact list.

 Evolution was followed up by a video called True Colors featuring young girls who all feel self conscious about their bodies. This video highlighted the awful truth that the portrayal of beauty in popular culture has a further reach then some might like to admit.

 Dove's use of YouTube to get their message out, was ingenious as it allowed two way feedback between company and consumer, as well as created a viral element to the message. Not to mention, the customers did the majority of the legwork, making the advertising appear to be subtle and uncalculated, a public relations dream.

*This post was written for MDIA 1045. Sorry for any confusion, or annoyance this may cause! 

What do Social Media and Teen Sex have in Common?

"Social Media is like teen sex. Everybody wants to do it, but nobody knows how." 

- Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist, Google

As mentioned in my previous blog,  I'm currently taking a class on Social Media Marketing at BCIT. I've already completed the Marketing Management- Public Relations Diploma, but felt that it was mainly paper based, and that I would do well to upgrade my education with a few multimedia courses. Looking at the current job market in Vancouver, solidified this decision. Most of the available jobs are currently for Online Marketing Specialists, fluent in all social media networks, with HTML, SEO and Adobe Indesign knowledge. 

The class started off by having us sign up for a variety of social media tools, some were a bit overwhelming at first, but most of them were quite straightforward. As with most things in life, social media follows the rule that you only really get what you put it. Up until now, I have had a Twitter account but never really used it, however, within the last few weeks, I've increased my Twitter usage and found the more I tweet, the more people tweet back at me or re-tweet something about my blog! The Law of Attraction at its best. 

Another tool I've found extremely useful (as well as ultra nerdy) is Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows me to see all my social media accounts on one deck, as well as update them all at once, and track how many people click the links I tweet. Not to mention Hootsuite does all my job searching for me. I add streams on Twitter such as "Marketing Jobs Vancouver" and I can see all the tweets about this subject! Before this class, I never knew services like this even existed, now Im hooked. Google Analytics is also amazing, and while I've been using it for a couple years already, I still feel like their is a ton to learn.

Through this class I've also been introduced to several interesting websites such as Digg and Technorati. Digg highlights the days most interesting news stories, while Technorati lists all the most popular blog posts. I particularly like Technorati Women. 

Some other tools we've been introduced to that I find less valuable are Flickr, LinkedIn (but just because I'm just starting to collect contacts) and Mail Chimp, as I'm not currently working for a business that needs email marketing, and am already quite familiar with how to use it.  

Apologies in advance for two school based posts in a row, Im trying to make this blog as popular as possible, so I'm currently using it as a guinea pig for all my school projects. Stay tuned for my next post on the harrowing tale of my move back to Vancouver...

Nerd-ing Curve

I feel a bit like this girl right now. A blonde girl with her head cut off. Im currently in the process of finishing up work in Whistler, packing up my life, packing up my boyfriends life ;), organizing a move in Vancouver, and also going to school at BCIT.

However, the good news is, that after this week, I'll have a shwanky new pad in Van City, and be almost half way through my Intro to Social Media Marketing class. Which believe me, will benefit anyone who reads this blog! I'm on a steep learning curve, finding out all about Twitter, TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Mashable, Bit.ly, and many many more super nerdy, yet ultimately fascinating technologies. Grow or Die as they say.

Can't wait to make this blog bigger and better then ever. Please feel free to use some of the new tools I've added: Retweet my posts on Twitter, Like a post on FB, Like the Small Town Girl Page on FB. This can all be done at the bottom of each blog post or via Facebook and Twitter.

I also just want to give a quick shout out to all the people who already read my blog and share it with others! Thanks especially to Amy Huddle, for sharing my work with Feet Banks and thus helping me to get an article published. This blog has gone from five hits a day to into the hundreds, with most of the growth happening these last couple months! Sharing is Caring.

XX

Laugh

Cleaning, Cooking, and Gardening

My beautiful friend Kelly. Check out her Blog.

I'm currently doing a 30 day yoga challenge. One of my own design however. My schedule with the impending move, and long distance boyfriend is a bit too hectic to commit to one studio. I currently do the majority of my classes at Loka in Whistler. If you haven't checked out this studio I suggest you do. It's in a super convenient location, right across from Brandy's and Earls, and the classes they offer are full of variety, and at times of the day, that make going to yoga effortless.

Loka classes are mainly Jivamukti in style, which for some reason really resonates with me. I feel like I spent years battling myself in hot or power classes. I remember several conversations with my best friends and expert yogis K & B wondering why it was such a challenge for me to make myself go to yoga, when I really believed in it and loved the benefits. I've finally come to the conclusion, that what makes me not only want to go to yoga, but crave it, is a combination of several factors:

1. Location, It needs to be close to where I work - If I go home and sit on the couch before an intended yoga class, I can guarantee you I ain't going.
2. A variety of class lengths - Sometimes I just can't handle 90 minutes of breathing and being in myself. Horrible, but true none the less.
3. A teacher that resonates with you. For anyone that has met Tina, it becomes fascinatingly obvious as to why she has such a loyal following of students. I literally want to talk to her forever or just be in her presence for as long as I can every time I go to yoga.

For me Loka has all of the above. However, YYoga hits the spot quite often too. Im currently obsessed with an Anusara Inspired class at North Shore Elements, taught by a good friend of my boyfriends. Her name is Alex Mazerolle and she teaches what I consider to be the perfect yoga class. Challenging, relaxing, inspiring, and insightful. I'm thinking of taking up Pilates as well, as she teaches the classes back to back. YYoga in Whistler (Neoalpine) is also fabulous. However, my favorite teacher Kristen, has just recently had a baby girl, so she has taken some time off.

Anyways, I digress. I intended to share with you a concept brought up to us in Jivamukti the other night. This concept is the focus for the month, and as simple-minded as it sounds, is actually quite inspiring. The focus is cleaning, cooking, and gardening. But in the most holistic sense.  Here is my take on the words.

Cleaning: You can't clear clutter from your mind, if you have clutter in your life. Every unnecessary mess, or object takes up space. In each yoga class your goal is to create space. So consider this yoga of the house. (I just did closet yoga, for my boyfriend and myself. I was ruthless, and it felt great. We gave away 6 garbage bags full of clothing.) I've also been practicing this idea, through my Happiness Project.

Cooking: Bring awareness to what you put into your body. This hits home for me, as I spent the first half of my life fueling my body to be a professional athlete, and the next portion starving myself in hopes those muscles would disappear. Where I'm at now varies from day to day, but I usually feel comfortable and confident in the food choices that I make. This concept has challenged me however, to take this knowledge of food to the next level. I'm going to learn to cook. Bye, bye takeout sushi, hello home made tabouleh. Poor boyfriend.

Gardening: This is the concept I struggle with the most. While the urban garden is an admirable goal, I just can't find any passion in it. Maybe because I've never even owned a real plant before. So step 1 in my our new place will be a small, yet effective window-sill herb garden. Wish me luck.
Side Note: This word could also be taken in a less literal sense of the word. Ala gardening of the mind. Weeding out the negative thoughts and replacing them with the positive. Planting the seeds of your dreams. Watching them grow.

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Temple Grandin

I just watched the movie Temple Grandin and felt compelled to share it with you. The movie stars Claire Danes, and follows the life of renowned animal welfare and autism activist Temple Grandin. Temple was born autistic and didn't speak until the age of four, however through the perseverance of her mother and several forward thinking teachers, she not only graduated from high school but went on to complete a Masters in Science, and a PhD. in Animal Science.

Early on in life, working on her aunts ranch, Temple took an interest to cattle. She felt that being a visual thinker (she sees things in pictures and connects them) and being able to relate to feeling anxious about her surroundings, fearful and stressed, gave her an unparalleled view into the minds of these animals. Which in turn motivated her to create humane livestock handling and slaughtering processes.

What's most interesting about this movie is that Temple never states that it is wrong or inhumane to slaughter cattle. In fact, she believes that nature is much worse to animals then we are, or should I say, then we have to be. Temple believes that if followed, her plans lead cattle, calmly to slaughter where they feel no stress, no anxiety, and no pain. This in turn saves us money, and prevents extra hormones like cortisol from entering the meat we eat.

For me, this movie was exhilarating in its proof that being a meat eater and an animal lover can be synonymous. "Animals are not Things," and even though we use them to fulfill  human purpose, we can treat them with the respect they deserve.  Furthermore, Temple acts as a constant reminder to us all, that "To be different, is not to be less."

Today, Temple is a professor at Colorado State University.



Click HERE to read a previous post of mine "The Omnivores Dilemma"
Click HERE for a Mega Video link to the movie Temple Grandin