Nathan Eide

The joy of fatherhood, according to Ron Swanson.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:30:00 +0000

Speak the truth Ron.

Social Media SNAFUs: The Home Depot Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 02:36:00 +0000

So, who sees something wrong with this photo?

When are corporations and their agency partners going to learn?

THD has terminated their agency and the agency terminated the individual who posted the image. HOWEVER, the lessons we can learn remain true.

An editorial process by which another individual (preferably on the client side) approves all posts through a social media management platform (like Spredfast or Sprinklr) before they go live allows for a quick reality check of the content to be published as well as allows the team to still be nimble through the automated workflows in place.

I cannot imagine that the individual who framed the image, took the photo, and posted it to Twitter fully understood the optics of the image and I'm sure they had no ill intent, however, another set of eyes would have likely prevented this social media SNAFU.

It's important to be thoughtful, but even so, the right system in place will mitigate social media disasters and allow brands to be nimble, smart and still allow their personality to shine.

Help my sister by answering some social media questions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:47:00 +0000

My little sister is in an organizational communications program and is currently working on a project to find how corporations are using social media both within their organizations and to market themselves to the greater public. She reached out to me to help her get some operational insight to companies using social media as part of their marketing/advertising strategy.

I'd really appreciate it if you would help her out by answering these questions in the comments.

Thanks so much, and please share with your networks.

How does this type of marketing better a business or the marketing plan?

How do you explain to a client that social media platforms are the best marketing for their business or product?

Why advertise using social media? What is the benefit?

Do you find that a certain age group or culture is influenced more? Who do you gear the advertising to?

Do some of the companies exclusivly use social media?

Do you have studies or test that give you information about who you are marketing to?

Personal Branding or Personal Hell?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:06:00 +0000

A peer and former vendor recently asked for my thoughts on personal branding as he looked to establish himself further in the social world. Honestly, the guy is really good at what he does and is well-respected and it always surprised me that he wasn't more active in social. But I understand establishing priorities and the work-life balance and completely respect his position.

I answered him in a series of DMs on Twitter, but as I went on I realized that I was onto something. People who get carried away with their personal brand do so because they aren't comfortable with the public perception of who they really are because they aren't comfortable with themselves, hence ... THEY LIE ONLINE.

Tyler Durden is right. You aren't your job, you aren't the contents of your wallet and you aren't your ... well you get the point. Nor, however, are you the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. You are who you are and if you aren't happy with it and need to write happy-happy joy-joy tweets so as not to offend the lily-white sensibilities of our current society, then maybe, just maybe you should re-evaluate your own priorities and whether you really care if your thousands of followers would want to have lunch/coffee/cocktails with you if they knew deep down who you were.

My personal brand? Honestly, I have a very strange personal brand. Between the social marketing stuff (which is less & less what I do on Twitter or Facebook) it's mainly about life, my kid, my wife, hockey, current events or pop culture. You know, REAL STUFF THAT MATTERS TO ME.

I want to be the Anthony Bourdain of the MSP marketing world. I'm the misanthrope with whom people want to drink (or so I've been told.) Ok, maybe that's not accurate though in a way it would be awesome. The truth is that I do seem that way from time to time because I am honest about myself, my life, my hopes, dreams, fears and the crap that happens on a daily basis. The problem is that too many people have become accustomed to the cause du jour or not offending or not wanting to be a Negative Nelly.

Screw it.

Sometimes the world needs to see some negativity. Know why? Look outside.

Sometimes life sucks and it's ok to bitch about it. I can't sell my house because it isn't worth anything. The Wild have missed four playoffs in a row. My body attacks my joints. My father has a leaky mitral valve and a fluttering ventricular something or another.

THIS STUFF SUCKS.

It's ok to say that. It doesn't change the fact that my life is fucking awesome. I love it. I'm happier now than I have been in 20 years, seriously. I have a wife and child who love me, I have a job I thoroughly enjoy and have hobbies that bring a smile to my face and I don't take stupid stuff too seriously. Yet, because I dare to pull back the curtain on the seedy underbelly or potentially rain on someone's parade, I'm a misanthrope. Fine. Whatever makes you sleep at night as you continue to lie to yourself and all of your Social Media "friends". Yawn.

For me, I try to make Twitter or Facebook as much like a real conversation with me as possible. But ... I'm so brutally "me" that it's easy. Too many people here are fake and/or one-dimensional, usually because they are focused on their personal brand rather than focusing on authenticity, vulnerability and personal relationships. The world is filled with sycophants and hangers-on, but they don't help you become a more true and honest version of you.

It's sad, it's sterile, it's fake and ultimately the facade will crumble. That's my take.

Facebook Marketing's New Product Offerings: An overview

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:27:00 +0000

A large amount of the early discussion on the changes announced at the Facebook Marketing Conference has been around the redesigned Pages. However, the new product offerings announced may in fact have a larger impact on engagement with and reach of branded content on Facebook.

We understand that the Page is where brands publish content, but now that content can become ads and sponsored stories. You are no longer limited by Marketplace Ads or Sponsored Stories in the right sidebar with a call to action of “Liking” the content.

One of the biggest concerns to overcome on Facebook is the “Field of Dreams” strategy. If you build it, they won’t necessarily come. A very, very small percentage of highly “viral” and engaged content is truly organically viral. The vast majority of what people perceive as “viral marketing” has a large paid media component behind it. Facebook just made it easier to get your content in front of a larger audience than ever before.

Reach Generator

A small percentage of your fans continue coming back to your Page. That doesn’t mean that they don’t see or engage with your content on Facebook, but it means that they likely see it in their News Feed. What appears in your News Feed is based upon an algorithm called Edge Rank. The Edge Rank is a tricky beast. It uses a variety of factors such as relevancy of subject, your personal engagement with (likes, shares, comments) the content, the engagement of your friends with the content and how frequently you visit Facebook (among many other things). As a result, Facebook estimates that brands reach, on average, 16% of fans each week. That’s right. 16%.

With Reach Generator, Facebook guarantees that you reach 75% of your fans each month and an estimated 50% of fans each week in a simple, always-on way. Your fans will see your content as a sponsored story on the right-hand side of their homepage or in their news feed on desktop or mobile. In early studies, Facebook has seen engagement with brands and content (likes, comments, and shares) increase by up to 2x. In addition, Facebook reports that sponsored stories in the news feed receive a 5-10x higher click-through rate than standard Marketplace Ads. This is interruptive marketing at its most effective. At fMC, they noted that Dr. Pepper saw 140% increase in PTAT (People Talking About This) when adding a sponsored story and Ben & Jerry's reached 98% of their total audience in one month & increased ROI on sales 3-to-1 by "featuring" their best fans stories on their Timeline. Yes, Ben & Jerry’s turned user generated content into an advertisement activation to increase engagement on Facebook. They paid money to get the voice of their community in front of as many people as possible and it helped them increase their sales ROI to 3:1.

From what we can tell very early on in investigation, Reach Generator utilizes real-time Facebook Page Insights (more on that later) to help select the post with the highest potential for “virality”, and utilizes the new ad placement offerings to amplify its reach to your audience. These new placements finally include mobile. As more and more people access Facebook on their mobile device, it only makes sense that marketers put their content in front of users where they live.

Premium on Facebook

The biggest spenders will have access to the newest and widest range of sponsored stories and ad placements. The Brand Page becomes “mission control” for all marketing on Facebook, including Sponsored Stories in the right sidebar to non-fans, in the News Feed to fans, on mobile devices, on the logout page and includes the ability to turn any post into an ad. Yes, you can use Premium on Facebook to deliver events, questions, videos, photos, status updates and links to fans and non-fans alike on any of the Facebook ad placements. Status posts will be limited to 150 characters and are text only, Questions will display no more than four answers or three answers plus a “see more” link, otherwise there will be a limit of 90 characters for text associated with video, photo, event or link posts.

There was a question as to whether or not Premium was going to eliminate the traditional ad offerings on Facebook, but Standard Premium Ads, Premium Ads for Applications and Marketplace ads remain unchanged.

You have quality content, share it where it is most likely to be seen and shared. Use your content to maximum effect by engaging your audience in influencing their networks. Premium on Facebook delivers your content to as many people as possible to get people interacting with your brand and talking about you, while showcasing that engagement to the friends of your fans.

Facebook has four tips for the best way to integrate your content with their newest product offerings.

Have Reach Generator always on so that you can continuously reach and engage 75% of your fans.

Use Premium on Facebook to drive awareness for events and activities. For example, you should deliver your stories using Premium on Facebook for a product launch, movie premier or sales event.

Use bold visuals. Grab your audience’s attention by using simple images with highly-saturated colors to stand out against the site’s white/blue background.

Photos and videos drive 2x engagement. Engaging content is an effective way to drive more stories into news feed. Photos should be uploaded to a Facebook album for best quality and should not contain text overlays.

All this said, we are in no way saying that money = engagement here. You still need a carefully planned approach and highly relevant and engaging content, but these tools can help widen your scope, putting your best content in front of the people with whom your brands wants to communicate.

Real-Time Insights

Finally, marketers will have the ability to monitor engagement with their Page and content in real time. This means that you can make a post, see how well it is performing with regards to engagement and reach, then either edit, pin or even promote it through Reach Generator and Premium on Facebook. Real time insights allows marketers to be much more nimble in their editorial planning when they see the kinds of posts that are or are not performing and alter their tactics as a result.

Measuring Reach

It’s always imperative to know how many people are seeing your branded content. And (with money) it just got easier. Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings (OCR) utilizes Facebook as a source of data. You can now measure the accuracy of online campaigns in delivering content to the targets across platforms. Paired with Facebook Insights, you have visibility to the breakdown of paid, organic and viral reach on your Page and can evaluate reach, engagement and people talking about your content.

Gathering Customer Insights

Social media professionals always extol the virtues of utilizing social channels as a way of gathering insight into your brand reputation and capturing the voice of the consumer. Facebook is now offering opt-in audience polls to allow brands to learn from their fans, friends of fans, and non-fans. Advertisers have the ability to run ads to target segments and test for engagement with creative and messaging within Facebook.

Brand Tracking

Nielsen’s Brand Effect product provides the opportunity to conduct opt-in polls on Facebook to evaluate performance of campaigns on high-level awareness metrics like brand recall, message awareness and purchase consideration.

As we see more and more money moved to social marketing as part of a larger digital strategy, the ability to measure performance of campaigns and advertisements on a granular level as well as a higher brand awareness level is paramount to securing budget. These new products must be evaluated for your digital mix. You have (hopefully) spent resources on planning and creating engaging content. Deliver it to as many fans as possible with Reach Generator. Increase engagement and create new fans with Premium on Facebook. Gather more insight about the efficacy of your content marketing with real-time insights, opt-in polling and the new Nielsen products then include all of this into your overall digital dashboards to see the impact your social strategy has on your business objectives to increase your budgets!

Facebook Fan Pages Overhauled: What does this mean for brands?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:53:00 +0000

By now, most brands and brand marketers understand the power of Facebook, and that the hub of their Facebook marketing strategy resides on Fan Pages. The Pages are where businesses build connections with people. They are where brands deliver relevant content, connect with customers and brand devotees, announce new product offerings and poll their fans to gather valuable customer insights.

Facebook extols the virtues of their redesigned Pages in three distinct ways.

Pages allow brands to:

Express brand identity with features like cover photo and Page timeline.

Reach and engage brand audience on the web and on mobile.

Respond to people in a quick, more personal way.

That’s all well and good and we would love nothing more than to get into a deep discussion about how these changes may alter the Facebook component of your social/digital strategy, but let’s cut to the chase. The new Pages are available now, but everyone will be forced to adopt the new Page by March 30, 2012 so it’s important to understand what you need to do tactically.

What is the impact of the new Pages on day to day operations?

Cover Photo and Profile Picture

The first thing to understand is that the Cover Photo and Profile Picture are two completely different things serving different purposes. The Profile Picture is the image that is displayed as a thumbnail in news feed stories, ads, sponsored stories and comments. Choose an image that is branded, easily identifiable and looks good at both 180x180 pixels and 32x32 pixels.

The Cover Photo is the top image visible on your Page and will establish the experience on your Page. The photo can be up to 850x315 pixels. Size, however, is not the only limitation. There can be no call to action indicated (this includes “Like us” or “Share” or “Sale!”, “25% off now”), nor contact information (information like url, email, phone, etc belong in the “About” section).

Landing or Welcome tabs

The ability to direct a new visitor to a welcome tab is gone. It’s really that simple. Everyone who visits your page will see the Timeline and your Cover Photo. The key is now to use Timeline to tell a compelling story and utilize creative to capture the attention then use relevant and engaging content to keep people coming back. Apps will continue to exist and we will talk about those a little later in this post.

Pinning Posts

Much like the new Twitter brand pages, you have the ability to pin Wall posts to the top of your Timeline. Stories will have a star icon when you hover over them. Click on that star to widen the post and click the pencil icon to pin it to the top, hide or delete. This makes calls to action, custom apps or featured content able to garner more attention.

Historical Timeline

Just like your personal Timeline, you now have the ability to capture the history of the brand on Facebook. Utilizing Timeline, you can upload archival photos, feature milestones of the brand and showcase the brand narrative. Starbucks, for example, has photos of their first store. Ben & Jerry’s includes early advertisements and English soccer powerhouse Manchester United highlights photo albums of each trophy ceremony in club history; a very cool way to educate the public on the history of the brand. While this will likely require a content strategy and some creative development many brands have a compendium of assets in their archives. Timeline gives those brands a great way to utilize those assets.

Apps, Photos, Videos, Likes

A series of panels housing custom apps, photo albums, videos, Pages your Page like and the People who Like your page appears directly under the Cover Photo and above the Timeline. Here is where you can highlight your custom apps, and you have the ability to choose the order of everything other than Photos (which will always be first), but you only have a total of 12 panels so choose wisely.

Administration and Messaging

All activity is now managed from the Administrator Panel. The activity log is where you review all of your posts and stories as well as where you access Insights and are notified when people post to your Timeline or message you directly. Oh yeah, that’s new also. All people can now send private messages to Pages, which should make taking customer service or other sensitive matters offline. In addition to the Administrator Panel, brands can finally change the name of the Fan Page! If you happened to misspell your brand name or the brand name has changed, you can request a change.

What is the big picture?

Ultimately, the Fan Page is all about engagement. So how do brands increase engagement?

Be interesting. Use your creative. Yes, it’s important to have a variety of types of posts, but the numbers don’t lie. Using visuals in Wall posts generate twice the engagement of a text-only post (on average). This will likely only increase with Timeline and Premium on Facebook (more on that later). Timeline’s tile format means that images are larger and the ability to engage with photos is much improved. Yes, there will be more creative resources required, but the flexibility to create an on-brand experience is much improved and will create lasting relationships with consumers.

Your Facebook content strategy will likely require evaluation. How will you ensure that your content is visually engaging? How does the brand narrative flow on the new Timeline? When posting, what milestones will you feature? Which posts should be pinned to the top? How will you work with your colleagues in various business groups to ensure that calls to action and featured campaigns receive the attention they deserve? A well-defined editorial calendar in coordination with Facebook Insights, Premium on Facebook and your overall digital dashboards will go a long way to assist you in making your Facebook Page a strong performer in your digital mix.

Links of the week: January 16, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:24:00 +0000

As part of my effort to blog on my own site more regularly, I'll be starting each week with a recap of the articles I found most interesting from the previous week. Most of these will be geared toward the marketing/emerging media crowd, but not exclusively. Essentially, it'll be a compendium of things I found interesting or articles that made me think, laugh, weep for our future, etc.

Gizmodo: Google just made Bing the best search engine

Did Google's overhaul of search results to add "Your World" (essentially including Google+ further into the algorithm) sufficiently alter the results enough to no longer provide the most relevant information about a topic? Does it give too much weight to content sources engaging on Google+? What about content your social networks and circles promote? Do you care if your friends have "+1-ed" an article? One guy thinks Google has gone too far this time and the Twitter leadership tends to agree. This article even goes so far as to argue that Google violates anti-trust legislation and offers Microsoft's Bing as the best option. Ironic, no?

Forbes: CES Wrap: The end of the editorial, commercial divide is here

As another Consumer Electronics Show ends, Forbes looks at how brands are utilizing events and their own products as channels to serve up content, beyond traditional product placement. As editorial content and product offerings continue to evolve new ways to provide revenue streams, is the separation between "church" and "state" becoming blurred? As smart TVs and content served on computers, tablets & mobile device increases, the ability for marketers to deliver branded commercial content alongside editorial content becomes seamless. How long until the average consumer is no longer able to delineate the paid from the unpaid?

Pinterest, out for a little over a year, the upstart social product tagging aggregator is taking off, now reaching over 3 million users. Mashable looks at the Top Brand on Pinterest and evaluates 5 Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest to Boost Customer Engagement. These are interesting because I've been trying to find ways to promote the use of the site for a year, but now that I have a different type of client base, I can take these examples as a springboard to a larger conversation. Of course, it helps that the Pinterest numbers are growing. What brands do you follow on Pinterest? What do you like about them? Is it about personality? A way to find new product offerings?

In a Gorilla Costume delivers a great infographic (which still continue to drive huge traffic. People like their facts delivered in this format. I think it says something about our attention span) on The Real Cost of Social Media. Many of us already understand this concept, but this graphic will be helpful for taking to the client and saying "free isn't really free."

That's what I read last week. How about you?

Facebook changes impact on brand Fan Pages

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:58:00 +0000

Facebook has done it again. And we can certainly see that they aren't terribly worried about preparing their users for change. They like to just jump into it. And this is not the end of the changes. The f8 developers conference starts on Thursday, and more changes will likely be announced.

"All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, the first things you'll see are top photos and statuses posted while you've been away. If you check Facebook more frequently, you'll see the most recent stories first. Photos will also be bigger and easier to enjoy while you're scrolling through." - A Facebook spokesperson

News Feed

Curates friends’ posts

Uses number of factors to decide whether they deserve top billing in News Feed

More prominently display pictures

New settings to give users post-by-post control over the feed

Ticker

Real-time updates

Fewer email notifications

Facebook is deciding what's important for you to see.

“Just as we aim to show you the most relevant updates in your News Feed today, we use a variety of signals to decide whether a story might be interesting or important. For example, this may include changes about your employer, school, relationship status or city, as well as things like the number of likes or comments on a post. For example, if a friend's post gets dozens of comments or likes, it’s likely to be a top story.” - A Facebook spokesperson

Users can control what becomes a top story by interacting with their own feeds.

“You can click on a top story and tell Facebook that it’s not relevant to you, or you can mark a post a top story,”

Likely future changes

A media platform

More e-commerce integration

More visibility to Facebook Credits

May also include an HTML5-based mobile platform (access to video on iOS)

What does this mean for brands?

Honestly it's a little early to determine the overall impact, however, early analysis is that prominent appearance in the News Feed of fans will rely more and more on engagement with content. The more frequently fans Like or Comment, the more likely it is that more of fans and friends of fans will see content in their News Feed. This isn't new. What is new, however, is the placement. Will content be in the Top Stories or in the Recent Stories (below the Top Stories)? The change to Recent Stories is important because early indications are that everything to which a user is subscribed will appear, whereas prior to the change it users needed to update settings from the default, otherwise all they ever saw was Top Stories.

How can brands help push content to the Top Stories?

Ask for the "Like" or comment.

Post compelling calls to action or engage in conversation

Load more photos & videos

Don't over-post on a daily basis.

Post seven days a week

More information as it becomes available and as we see the impact of the Top Stories on brand pages.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 25

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:19:00 +0000

Day 25: A picture of your favorite day

I've told this story over and over again, but my favorite day started as the scariest day of my life. January 31, 2010, the day Ingrid Arabella Eide entered the world and changed our lives. Every single day since then has been better than the day before because I've been able to have one more day with my girls.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 24

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:04:00 +0000

Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change

In case you don't know, during her Junior year of college, Michelle was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Previously, on Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, I've written my story of loving someone with FMS. Every day, I wish I could take her pain as my own. Every day I wish I could remove this struggle from her life. No, it isn't something that causes her to be on disability or eliminates her ability to enjoy life, but when she's having a flare-up, even having the bedsheets covering her is agony. My biggest fear during her pregnancy is the affect it would have on her Fibro. I was afraid she would be bed-ridden, in so much pain that she wouldn't be able to overcome. I should've known better. My wife is the strongest, toughest and most determined person I know, but it doesn't make things any easier on her or us.

I wish I could change things to remove Fibromyalgia from my wife's life. I wish she never had to worry about not being able to sleep or that the weight of her clothing would cause her to be in agony or that she wouldn't be able to play with our daughter because getting down to Ingrid's level was simply too painful and exhausting.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 23

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:02:00 +0000

Day 23: A picture of your favorite book

This one is very easy for some people. Many folks have a book that changed their lives, a book to which they can go back over and over again and in which they can find meaning. I know someone who reads the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy every fall. Michelle can read Catcher in the Rye over and over again. I honestly cannot think of a book that has had a profound impact on me.

Honestly, as someone who loves to read, it make me sad that I can't come up with one book that I can go to as my favorite book. I mean, I've read a high percentage of the "greatest 100 books" list the BBC put together, but can't come up with one that sticks in my head.

So, I'm asking you, the public, to give me your favorite book in comments, and I'll begin my reading list from there. Help me out?

30 Days of Pictures: Day 22

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 20:54:00 +0000

Day 22: A picture of something you wish you were better at

I have no willpower when it comes to exercising and living a healthy life. Sure, I have the greatest of intentions, I start a "diet" and I begin working out or going to the gym, but allow life to get in the way.

I hate what I have allowed my body and my health to become, but I give up all too easily. I say "I'll just take today off" or "I'll go after Ingrid goes to bed" or "I'll cheat today and get back on the diet tomorrow" but what I'm really saying is "it's too hard and I don't see results right away so I'm going to give up because I'm pathetic and lazy."

I know I need to live healthily for Ingrid. I need to set a good example and I need to live a long life to be around for her and for Michelle, but honestly, I just have so much trouble sticking with it. I need someone to kick me in the ass and force me to take care of myself. It's just too easy to give up and buy fat pants and bigger shirts. I hate it. I have such great clothes that I can't wear and I miss being able to hit Theo Wirth and ride the singletrack for hours, but I'm just too lazy to get into good enough shape.

I need help. Badly.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 21

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Day 21: A picture of something you wish you could forget

Fall of 1992. I was a preparing for my junior year at Anoka High School.

I was a singer, but not just any singer, I saw myself as the next generation of the East Coast Family. I listened to Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD and the rest. I was a fan of tight harmonies, four or six part a cappella R&B and my favorite groups and the seniors to whom I looked up were all firmly entrenched in the culture and lifestyle. That included wearing matching outfits with the rest of the members of the group. We took our cue from the groups we saw on MTV and frankly as a bunch of suburban kids we looked incredibly stupid.

I took it to a whole different level. I loved my cross colours. I had huge, baggy purple jeans, brightly colored Reebok Pumps, t-shirts and button-down emblazoned with the Cross Colours logo, and honestly, I looked ridiculous.

Fashion for fashion's sake was my ethos. I didn't realize until the next summer exactly what I looked like, and for some reason my parents went along with it. They enabled my poor fashion sense and never made a peep as to how dumb I looked.

However, the meaning behind the clothes was positive. It was about racial harmony and education and pride. Yeah, we were suburban white kids who wanted to be Boyz II Men, but we didn't deserve what we received. Catcalls at the mall, people calling us unprintable names, chasing us into parking lots trying to get us to fight. Yes, I looked foolish, but what I wish I could forget was how easily I allowed those idiots to change my behavior and quickly give up my look.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 20

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:05:00 +0000

Day 20: A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

How can you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?

After my sister graduated from high school in 2001 my aunt took her for two weeks to travel across Norway, visiting the land of our ancestors. She traveled from Oslo to Bergen to Solund (one side of the family's side) to Eide, the area of Norway from which my father's father's family emigrated. Meeting relatives, experiencing life of a rock in the North Sea, walking the lands our family left around the turn of the century, learning what drew the Norwegians to the Upper Midwest and feeling a connection to a land not our own.

It's the one thing in life about which I am envious of my little sister. She was able to experience all of this and has that connection that I lack.

I want that for Ingrid. I want her to know from where she comes. I want to take her to experience life in "the old country", visit the family, see the sights, get grounded. I want to be the one to help her see life, experience the past so she can learn and build her future.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 18

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Day 18: A picture of your biggest insecurity

This is really hard for me. Not necessarily because I fear being open and vulnerable in a public forum, but rather because I try to be open and vulnerable that it's tough to really find something that makes me uncomfortable.

That said, my biggest insecurity is one that I have been working on for a while. I have this deep-seeded need to make everyone around me happy and get everyone to like me. I know I shouldn't care if people like me or not. It shouldn't matter to me what others think, but let's be honest, it does matter. I'm weak, I know, but it matters to me. I just want people to like me. I don't want to be an outcast or the butt of jokes. It bothers me when people I know unfollow me on Twitter. It shouldn't. I shouldn't care, but I do. I wonder what I did wrong. Who did I offend? What can I do to make things right? Then I realize that it's not likely my issue at all. I shouldn't try to change who I am or censor myself (more than I already do) or put myself out just for the approval of others.

I have a set of people whose opinion of me matters. I know that aside from those people, I shouldn't concern myself. I mean, I'm not the kind of guy who goes out on social channels with a boorish, self-aggrandizing stream of crap being spewed (don't lie, you all know those people) and is pandering to people, sucking up just to get a follow or a retweet and sends passive-aggressive tweets if they don't get their way. I don't live and die by retweets or comments or replies or inclusion on lists or pats on the back and sulk if I don't get them. Instead I just internalize things, wondering what went wrong, when in reality, nothing went wrong. Sometimes you can't make everyone like you. So there's your mantra for the day.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 17

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Day 17: A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

For 10 years, Michelle and I debated whether or not we wanted to have a child. Cost, change to our comfortable little life, the stress of raising a child, the impact it would have on our relationship, fear of failure, uncertainty of the kind of father I would be. I had so many concerns and insecurities, it was almost debilitating. Finally we decided to let fate play a role and stop trying not to have a baby. Sure enough, it happened almost immediately. Michelle came down the stairs while I was making dinner and simply stated "so, we're going to have a baby". I stopped, looked at her and said "ok", smiled at her, gave her a big hug and went back to dinner, talking with her about everything we needed to do, what the next steps were and not letting on that inside I was both excited and terrified.

But that's the way it is with any big change, both fear and excitement, right?

I burst into tears of joy the first time I saw Ingrid's heartbeat on the ultrasound. I was awash in this desire to take care of my wife and make sure everything went smoothly. There were times during her pregnancy that Michelle and I thought something was wrong, that this wasn't going to happen, but Ingrid's a tough kid. She made sure that she would take care of us as much as we could take care of her. Until ...

Five weeks early, Michelle woke me up and said "I think my water broke. It's too early. I don't know what to do." I immediately went into crisis management mode (as well as I could, considering that I was startled awake and don't really do well in the morning, let alone at 2:00), I tried to calm my wife, asking her if she was certain, then had her call the on-call midwife to make arrangements while I furiously packed everything. We weren't close to ready. We were going to pack and make our delivery list that very Sunday!

Arrangements were made and I packed the car while Michelle got ready. We then sped down 35W to St. Joseph's hospital, hoping that they wouldn't send us to St. John's where the emergency and high-risk births were held. Pulling into the hospital and getting into the maternity ward was otherworldly, but we finally got settled and I fell asleep in the chair while Michelle tried to sleep in the bed. Nurses came in and out, getting Michelle's and Ingrid's vitals, and our midwife was scheduled to see us in a few hours.

Finally it was actually day time and since we didn't have any preemie clothes or diapers, I rushed out to Babies R Us to pick up some essentials. I mean, we were prepared for an infant, but not a preemie. Not yet. I was close to finishing my list when Michelle called and said that I needed to come back now, she was getting close to active labor. I rushed back to the hospital just as things were heating up. This was all moving way too fast and Michelle needed me to be strong. Neither of us were actually prepared for the event. Before our midwife even arrived, Michelle started active labor and was ready to start pushing. We were expecting a waterbirth and a calm arrival for our little girl, but that entire plan went out the window. A resident was scrubbing in just as our midwife arrived and helped Michelle get through the pushing. My wife is a freaking rockstar. She pushed and pushed and without any drugs at all brought our baby into the world. I was simply amazed at what she went through and how strong she was.

Then little Ingrid Arabella Eide joined the world. I looked at her, picked her up and said "welcome to the world Ingrid. I'm your daddy and I'm going to always be here for you. No matter what." Michelle and I then cried and held our little girl for the first time. It was simply magical.

Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough yet to eat on her own or regulate her temp, so she spent two weeks in the special care nursery, getting bigger and stronger and learning how to eat. Ingrid and Michelle couldn't nurse, so she was fed with a tube, then bottle. Small victories were celebrated and I somehow was able to instinctively care for this little girl. I was fearless. I'm still amazed at how easy everything seemed for me, especially in retrospect. I shouldn't have been that calm, but there I was.

Over the next year, watching life through Ingrid's eyes, I was amazed at how quickly she grew and learned and developed. I know that kids go through a lot in their first year, but when you experience it, it's truly remarkable. She went from not being able to eat to rolling over, crawling, standing, cruising, talking, gesturing, signing, walking and seemingly eating until she bursts.

To say that Ingrid has had a big impact on my life recently would be an understatement. The first time I held her, I knew my life would never be the same. Every time she gives me a sloppy, open-mouth kiss or hugs my knee or reaches out for me I melt. I want nothing more than for her to be happy, feel safe and loved and supported. Everything I do, I ask myself what the impact will be on her, but I realize that she has an even bigger impact on me.

I didn't know if my heart could stand another thing to love, but Michelle was right, I'm like the Grinch. On January 31, 2010 my heart grew two sizes.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 16

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you

I was lucky to have been raised by two incredibly loving, caring, strong, intelligent, passionate, bright, witty, persistent, warm and deep parents.

I adore my father. He shaped me, pushed me, taught me how to grow to be a good man; a man who would do good works, be caring and strong and love my family.

But let's be honest. I'm a mama's boy.

My mother is the most intelligent, loving, driven, caring and interesting person I have ever known.

She was a senior at the University of Minnesota when I was born, finishing her degree while caring for an infant couldn't have been easy, but that was the plan. When she graduated, my dad was working for the YMCA and my mom was raising me. Dad was offered the executive director job at the North Miami Beach YMCA shortly after and we headed to Florida. Mom was the aquatics director there and I was raised at the Y, surrounded by a community who cared. My parents lived by this ethos, and still do.

My parents eventually moved us all back home and Dad continued his life of service in the non-profit field. Mom joined him, but this time at the Red Cross. I have to admit, it was my fault. I told her "go to work like the other mommy's so I can go to school" not realizing that even in 1980 it wasn't the norm. I was always fascinated by my mom's job. I mean, she was surrounded by these creepy half-bodies (Resusci-Annie), managed blood drives and the coolest thing ever was that my mom helped people during natural disasters. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, it didn't matter. My mom was important because she helped take care of people when they needed it. Eventually becoming the branch manager, I thought it was so cool that my mom was the boss (sure, my dad was too, and his job was also cool, but Mom's dealt with blood drives and emergency kits) and I was proud of her.

Mom then took a job with the State of Minnesota in nuclear emergency preparedness. This was such a cool gig. I got to help out with the exercises, pretending to be hurt or contaminated by radiation, playing out my role but always keeping an eye on Mom and watching people take orders and listen to her. Even the National Guard had to listen to what my mom said. Eventually she moved into an assistant director role with Emergency Management and helped staff the Emergency Operations Center, doing conferences with FEMA and teaching classes and holding meetings and press conferences with the Governor. Going to her office was amazing for me. She taught me about public policy, emergency management, how government agencies work together and because of her, I wanted to work in public policy, helping those who need their government's assistance.

In fact, we worked together briefly when I interned as a hazard mitigation specialist during the summer and fall of 2000. I was in the EOC during 9/11, and watching my mom in action was powerful and moving. I saw her in a whole different light. Everything was chaos, but my mom was a rock, just like she'd always been for me.

Now she's the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, leading Minnesota's emergency preparedness. I still get excited and proud when she's on the radio or TV or in the paper. In fact, Ingrid even noticed Grandma on the TV and reached out for her when she did a Sunday morning interview on the flood situation in the Red River Valley. I love that Ingrid has such strong female role-models in her mom and grandma. It means so much to me to see people to whom she can look up able to be driven at work and caring and soft at home.

That's the most inspiring thing to me about my mother. Sure, she's an incredibly important person and has to have the needs of the population of the state in mind, but she's more than that. My mom is an incredible chef, a foodie before being one was fashionable. She has an exceptional voice; a first soprano who was always at the center of any musical performance. She loves to travel and golf and read and always knows exactly what to say to help me with any situation. She was always supportive without being enabling. I knew she always ha my back, but wouldn't sugar-coat anything.

If I can be the kind of parent to Ingrid that my mother was to me, I will consider it a job very well done.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 15

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:45:00 +0000

Day 15: A picture of something you want to do before you die

Ahh, the "bucket list" post. Sure, there a dozens of things I would like to see, do, achieve before I die and this past weekend, I was lucky enough to cross one off the list.

I was in Las Vegas from April 6-8 participating in Inc. Magazine's GrowCo Small Business Conference. While watching a concert in the Cosmopolitan's Book & Stage lounge I was introduced to a person who would make it possible for me to cross a major "must-do" off my bucket list.

That individual was Frank Wall, the publisher of Sports Illustrated. He and I had unknowingly worked together while he was in his previous role and we got to talking about his new job, my position and the strange circumstances that brought us together. At the end of the evening he mentioned to me that he had an extra pass to The Masters that Saturday and Sunday, and asked if I was interested in being his guest. Now, I had planned to fly back home Friday night, spend Saturday with my girls, then fly to Charleston, SC via Atlanta on Sunday for a meeting I had scheduled in Kiawah Island, SC. So ... I was heading to the Southeast anyway, and SI would help me rearrange my flights as well as put me up in the extra room in the house they were renting in Augusta.

I called Michelle, and lucky for me I have an incredible wife who said "this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, you can't not go." I immediately emailed Frank and he got me in touch with his assistant who handled the arrangements for me (thank you so much Lee!). She sent me my new itinerary, and at the end of the conference on Friday I was on a plane en route to Atlanta to then be driven to Augusta. I was absolutely over the moon. Pulling into the driveway at 2:30 AM on Saturday, I was exhausted but ready to go in a few hours to step foot on the course at Augusta National and watch the legend that is The Masters.

Saturday was a blur. We walked the front nine, following Ian Poulter, Ricky Barnes, Matt Kuchar and Martin Laird until we got to the tenth green where our folding chairs were waiting for us. This is one of many traditions that makes The Masters so special. If you set down a folding chair with your business card in the pocket, nobody will sit in it or move it. Your place is secure. I've never experienced anything like that. We then watched the rest of the field come in on ten before following Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy in through 18. It was hot, I was exhausted and sweaty, but I didn't even care.

Sunday I had to leave the grounds by 2:00 in order to catch my flight to Charleston, but we spent the morning having lunch and cocktails in the clubhouse (did I mention that it was a clubhouse pass? Unreal), talked with some of the golfers waiting to take the first tee, walked the grounds around the clubhouse, did a bit of shopping then headed to watch Phil Mickelson tee-off on the first and a few groups come in on the seventh green before heading out of town.

The whole experience was unreal. The grounds were pristine. The crowd, knowledgable and polite. There were no hospitality tents or corporate branding. Even the sandwiches, chips and beer were labeled "The Masters". If you brought in seats or umbrellas or water bottles with corporate labels, they had to be checked at the gate or the label removed. No cell phones or cameras allowed (which I found disappointing, simply because I wanted to capture this experience for eternity). Everything was like stepping back in time. The people we met were as nice as can be. No drama, no rudeness, everyone was polite and just reveling in the fact that they too were at The Masters. Like No Other.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 14

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Day 14: A picture of something you can never imagine your life without

EDIT: It was supposed to be "someone" not "something" but I'm not changing it.

Last weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to attend The Masters. It was one of the more memorable weekends of my life. Rubbing shoulders with the elite, glad-handing with celebrities, athletes and professional golfers. Simply amazing. I will never forget it.

All weekend, I was surrounded with opportunities to take incredible photos of Augusta National and the people I met. However, mobile phones and cameras are not allowed within the grounds of Augusta National. Imagine, a place on planet Earth where tens of thousands of people have no mobile devices. It's like a technology dead-zone. No tweets, no Facebook posts, no SMS or MMS messages, nothing.

I felt naked without my trusted iPhone. I was missing an appendage. I felt the phantom vibrating in my pocket all weekend. I wanted to call, text and take pictures and videos of the sights and sounds of The Masters, yet here I was without my iPhone.

To say that I cannot imagine life without my iPhone is putting it lightly. It's my work, my life, my connection to my family and the world around me.

Another Reason Why I Hate Political Pundits

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:54:00 +0000

You may recall my Day 11 post: A picture of something you hate.

This clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is an exemplary reason why it is that I detest the political pundits and what has become of the American political process.

When analyzing the impending government shutdown and the ramifications on the American public of the bickering over 0.19% of the total budget, did our nations journalists concentrate on the spending cuts and how they would affect day-to-day life of Americans? Did they look at the potential job losses or services that would be cut and how those affected would deal? No, of course not, that would take actual brain power. Instead, we get this ...

Yes Jon. I too hate them. Each and every one of them.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 13

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:03:00 +0000

Day 13: A picture of your favorite band or artist

This is one of the easiest posts of the 30. In 1995, this sound entered my life and has never left. I was walking the halls of Dieseth Hall at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa when I heard the most glorious music eminating from one of the open rooms. I was so taken aback by the melody and the heartfelt lyrics that I had to pop my head in and ask who was creating the symphony echoing throughout the halls. The girl swung her head around and said "Oasis, they're English. Pretty good, huh?"

Pretty good? PRETTY GOOD? Oasis' Wonderwall changed my life. It was funny, I was certain that it was another Beatles track off the newly released Anthology. So raw, so emotional, so unabashedly inspired by the Fab Four, it was as if the hands of Lennon and McCartney imbued the brothers Gallagher with divine inspiration and an otherwordly talent.

I immediately sought out "(What's the Story) Morning Glory", purchased it and played it non-stop for a week. Then on this new thing called "The Internet" (thank you ISCA BBS) discovered their first album, "Definitely Maybe" and heard the single most gripping, raw, emotional, moving, angsty, dirty and powerful album of all time. While others in the dorm were rocking out to Hootie & The Blowfish, Rusted Root or Dave Matthews Band, I was immersed in all things Oasis.

Rock n Roll Star became my anthem. Up in the Sky would be pouring from my open windows, Cigarettes and Alcohol became a permanent member of our party mix, Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova would calm my inner anxiety and emotional turmoil. I was an addict and my drug was Oasis.

Over the next 15 years, the sound would change, but the feeling never did. Every album would be in rotation, and Oasis still holds a place of permanence on my playlist. When I want to get up for something, I simply put their entire catalog on shuffle.

My one regret was never being able to see them live, then Michelle and I heard they were coming to town in December, 2008. She, being an amazing wife, snapped up two tickets as close as we could get, and we were in business! I was counting down the days until I could see my musical icons in person. I was simply holding out hope that neither Liam nor Noel would kill the other before the show date. The day of the concert was (until the following week) the worst day in my professional life, and I had absolutely no desire to do anything but wallow and pout and skip the show. Lucky for me, Michelle knows me better than I know myself and forced me out of the house. Right up until they hit the first note of Rock n Roll Star, I was bitter, angry and hated the world.

With that first chord, everything changed.

The next two hours were magical. They went from one song to the next, each like an old friend returning for a visit, picking right up where we left off. The memories and emotions all came flooding back and I was blissfully unaware of all the crap that happened previously that day. I was there, with my girl and the Gallaghers. It was perfect.

That show was a moment, frozen in time, which it appears will never be reproduced. The brothers have again split. Liam took the other members of the band and spun off a new group, Beady Eye, which is solid but lacks the one thing that made Oasis magical. Noel's words and tunes with Liam's piercing vocals and rock star swagger. I'm just glad they were around long enough to have an impact on my life and I was able to see them live and in person, larger than life and hold that with me. Oasis will Live Forever.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 12

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Day 12: A picture of something you love

Anyone who knows me knows that there are two things in this world I adore: my family and Mountain Dew.

Ahhh, sweet nectar of the gods. Sure, it's not exactly healthy and tastes nothing like a fresh morning dew sprinkled over a mountain glade, but damn if it isn't exactly what hits the spot time and again. The invigorating citrus-inspired flavor of Mountain Dew never fails to perk me up.

Mello Yello and other impostors cannot hold a candle to the truth that is the official, one of a kind taste, of Mountain Dew.

The absolute biggest problem with international travel? No Mountain Dew anywhere to be found. I have known to go a week to 10 days without the refreshment of an ice cold Mountain Dew while venturing abroad. While I truly enjoy my experiences travailing the back alleys of Europe's grand cities and basking on a beach overlooking crystal waters of the Caribbean sea, I am yearning for an old friend.

I love you Mountain Dew. You are my rock, my solace after a hard day, and the best part of any 15 minute refreshment break.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 11

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:52:00 +0000

Day 11: A picture of something you hate

While many people consider me to be a curmudgeon, I have to continually convince them that this is not the case. I'm not a cranky, bitter old man. In fact, I'm actually pretty easy-going and jovial. As such, it's really hard for me to answer this question. What do I hate? Sure, the Wisconsin Badgers (and frankly, most Wisconsin sports fans) irritate me to no end, but it's not really that I hate them. Nor do I hate the TSA lines at the airport. In fact, I am more bothered by people who can't seem to comprehend how to easily breeze through security checkpoints than I am the concept of airport security.

No, what I hate more than anything on the planet is the bloviation of political discourse prevalent in American society today. As a political science graduate, and someone who worked in the Minnesota Senate and wanted nothing more than to work on campaigns and take an active role in our political process, I detest what it has become. A series of soundbites and talking points, reducing the level of discourse to screaming matches and vitriolic hyperbole is no way to engage in political conversation.

Billions of dollars have been made on the backs of these "pundits" yelling at each other and pandering to the lowest common denominator. It's patently offensive to the tens of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives to provide the freedom for these idiots to spew their drivel. I hate it and I hate what our political process has become. The new media and technology should have made it easier to become an educated voter and active member of society but these people have dumbed the process down, making us a society of hateful, spiteful, malicious idiots.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 10

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Day 10: A picture of the person with whom you do the most effed up things

Seriously? This one is stupid, and honestly I don’t do any “effed up” things. I don’t do drama, I don’t do parties. I don’t do late and crazy nights. I suppose this whole weekend was an effed up event, but in a “I can’t believe this is actually happening. This is one of the most amazing things ever” kind of way. But yeah, I’m boycotting it.

30 Days of Pictures: Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Day 9: A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Michelle and I have been together for 11 years. I have done a HUGE amount of growing and changing and have overcome life crises and teachable moments in those 11 years. When we met, I was adrift. She helped me find focus, realize my potential, showed me the world, then turned it on its ear. When something happens, either good or bad, she’s the first one I want to tell. She’s the first person I want to see every morning and the last person I want to see every night. She is my rock, my love, my best friend and my partner.

Michelle, I love you, you know.