As a social media coordinator for Matrix Group and some of our clients, I manage content and posts across a variety of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on a daily basis. When you consider multiple platforms for multiple clients on a daily basis, you can imagine the juggling act that it can become when trying to keep track of what to post, when to post, and what you’ve already posted on each platform. I’ve found that developing a content schedule and rock-solid workflow is crucial for success!

To start, I always tackle social media first thing in the morning. A lot can happen overnight, and if I can get the posts scheduled early, I can simply monitor and respond as needed throughout the day. Here’s my daily workflow that helps me to stay on top of my social media management responsibilities:

1. Check the Social Media Site(s) and Respond/Comment/Like

Before doing anything else, log into your social media profiles and check out your feeds. A lot can happen overnight, and you want to make sure you’re responding to and liking comments in a timely manner – interaction is everything on social media (not surprising, right?). I also use this time to like and repost content that popped up outside of business hours.

Once a week I also spend some of this time using the search function to see what others in our space are posting, and find new inspiring accounts to follow, and make new connections.

2. Check Feedly to Source Timely, Relevant Content

If you haven’t heard of Feedly, make an account right now! Feedly is an RSS feed aggregator that lets you collect and organize feeds from all over the web in one place. I use this to quickly and easily find fresh, relevant content to share across social media platforms. Remember, social media posts should follow the 80/20 rule (posting 80% content that informs, entertains, and educates, and 20% content that is self-promotional), and setting up an RSS feed aggregator like Feedly allows me to source quality content to share in record time.

Check out Feedly, but also know that there are lots of other RSS aggregators out there. Feedly is one of our favorites, but use whatever works best for you!

By the way, another tool we love is bit.ly, which allows you to shorten long links that otherwise clutter up your posts. This is especially helpful for Twitter posts. 

3. Review the Editorial Content Calendar

Creating an editorial calendar is hugely helpful for developing a thoughtful social media presence, and is a great way to organize what content, and which themes, you should be promoting on any given day/week/month/quarter. I always check our editorial calendar and pre-drafted posts to make sure I’m sticking to the plan, and promoting and sharing the right content at the right time.

4. Schedule Posts for the Day

Scheduling posts is a huge time-saver, and crucial to maintaining consistent social media updates. When you post multiple times a day to multiple accounts, it can be easy to forget about what you posted, when, or what you should be posting, AND signing in to post throughout the day manually can leave little to no time for other tasks. Scheduling posts helps to get the job done well, in a timely manner! It can also help you to get a birds eye view of what content you’re planning to post throughout the day or week, so you’re timing your promotional vs. non-promotional posts well.

Hootsuite is one of our favorite social media management tools for scheduling posts, but we also like scheduling directly in Facebook, too!

By developing a consistent routine that you practice daily, social media management will become second nature and less intimidating!

Have any favorite tools or tips that have helped with improve your social media management process? We’d love to hear from you!

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WordPress is set to revolutionize massive swathes of the internet with the introduction of its new editor called Gutenberg, coming soon in the 5.0 release. While change can be scary, this update has a lot of promise in terms of new design possibilities and time saved.

Named after Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, Gutenberg aims to provide an updated WordPress experience for its users by letting users create sophisticated design blocks for a drag-and drop website building experience.

Simply put, Gutenberg lets you customize design elements for your website that can be easily reused on any number of pages. The functionality is aimed at providing a simple low code/no code solution for getting websites with a custom feel without as many hours in the design phase. All that time spent on updating plugins, using shortcodes, and page editors may become a thing of the past with this update!

SiteOrigin, a popular plugin and theme creator, has put out a short video about how they are working tirelessly to ensure all of its plugins are Gutenberg compatible. This is good news for many of those that are using SiteOrigin! You can view the video here.

For those who aren’t ready to switch over to the Gutenberg editor just yet, there’s a classic WordPress plugin available that can set classic mode as the default. Wins all around!

Have any questions about Gutenberg or want us to help prepare your website for the Gutenberg update? Feel free to reach out!

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Comments

WordPress has always had the ability for users to leave comments (assuming that the site allows for it), and the ability for them to leave their information (name and email address) behind so that the site owners can contact them.

Previously, WordPress stored this value in a cookie in the commenter’s browser automatically, but now they’ve added a checkbox where a user must opt in to this functionality so that cookies are not stored unless the user consents to it.

Privacy Policy

WordPress now includes the ability to designate a page on your site as your Privacy Policy, which it will then include on your login and registration pages. However, it will not include it anywhere on the other pages of your site, so you’ll want to add a link to it somewhere, most likely in the footer of your website.

More importantly, it includes the ability to generate a template Privacy Policy that includes information about how WordPress uses cookies and stores information natively, and includes some empty sections that you can fill in yourself, as a starter template. We’ve created a version of this so you can see what this looks like here.

WordPress has also created a section of their plugin developer handbook that deals with privacy. They’ve added methods for plugin developers to add content to the Privacy Policy page to inform users of how their specific plugins collect and use information.

Data Handling Tools

In addition to the tools WordPress has added to inform users about privacy concerns, they’ve added tools for site owners to manage user data to comply with GDPR regulations. This includes two separate tools: Data Export and Data Erasure.

The Data Export tool allows site owners to export all of the data about a specific user by entering their email address into the admin interface in WordPress. When the site owner or manager does this, it will send the user an email confirming their request. Once they’ve confirmed the request, administrators can go back to this interface to send the user their data. You can also see past requests, and remove them if you’d like to do so. In the WordPress interface, you can find this tool in the left navigation menu as Tools » Export Personal Data.

The Data Erasure tool works in a similar fashion to the Data Export tool, where an administrator inputs an email address and an email is sent to the user. Once it’s confirmed, the administrator can then use the interface to erase all data about the user. You can find this tool in the left navigation as Tools » Erase Personal Data.

It’s very important to note that these tools will only affect core WordPress data unless plugins are updated to use the WordPress tools that export or erase personal data. Typically plugins update quickly, but as the owner of the website and data controller, it is your responsibility to make sure the plugins aren’t retaining data that isn’t being handled by this tool.

Summary

Overall, WordPress has included some very useful tools for both site owners and developers to help with the management of their GDPR burden. However, like anything GDPR-related, it’s going to take some extra effort to make sure you’re utilizing them to fully comply with new regulations.

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Moms love tech. Not sure what to get mom for mother’s day? Flowers are always nice, so are candles and perfume. However, moms want those cool tech gadgets that streamline their hectic, schedule driven lives. Here are my recommendations:

(And if you’re curious as to why I’m an expert, my almost three year old is proof that I’ve earned my mom card….)

1. The Tile Mate – WE CAN NEVER FIND OUR KEYS. This little Tile Mate is an affordable gift for any mom. If you can’t find the item, the bluetooth connection will alert you to it item’s location. It’s like deep-sea fishing radar. Just think of the entertainment (read: extra work) you can convince your children to do by playing, “who can find where the noise is coming from???” If only I could strap this to my Sunglasses, or my patience.
2. PopSockets – Show me a mother, and I’ll show you a family photographer. The PopSocket allows you to hold your phone easily and securely while you take 58 photos of your child’s silly lunchtime faces, or their last homecoming game. They come in a number of styles, and won’t break the piggy bank either.
3. Echo Dot – While I have some issues with this device, mostly Orwellian dystopian fiction induced issues, people swear by these little hockey pucks. Order paper towels, set timers, some up with answers for “why the sky is blue” and play Sufjan Stevens all with a gentle, “Hey Alexa…” Anything that makes life easier, eh?
4. https://www.borrowlenses.com – So you bought a DSLR when your wife was pregnant with your first child, and haven’t upgraded from the stock lense? This service within the Shutterfly, tinyprints, and wedding paper divas umbrella allows your to rent different lenses to try out before you make a hefty purchase. While this isn’t exactly a techy gadget gift, it’s a pretty great resource to have around. Going on a romantic vacation to Montreal? (You know, the poor man’s Paris?) This site gives you the tools to allow Mom to get her full Ansel Adams on.
5. Spotify.com – Just go ahead and bite the bullet. Give her a year of music. You’ve been listening to Frozen for four years now. Let her drive around blasting 90’s Hip Hop, remembering the times she thought she knew exactly what she was doing with her life. Nothing cooler than arriving to school pick up while listening to A Tribe Called Quest.
6. Hydroponic Herbs – No not that kind. We don’t have the time to keep anything else alive, but we need mint for our much deserved mojitos. Two words my friend: self watering
7. Philips Somneo – Who are we kidding, if we didn’t set the alarm, no one in the home would wake up to make the school bus in the morning. With built-in white noise, we can all sleep a little deeper and awake a little more refreshed to the simulated sunrise happening on our night stand.
8. FRENDS Headphone –While I cannot attest to the speaker quality, or to the longevity of these, THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL. When in doubt, choose rose gold for an on trend look. She’ll walk the dog in style with these luxury headphones. There are several styles, and colors as well. There are additional plates for purchase if she wants to coordinate looks. Feel free to email me if you need help deciding. (If my husband is reading this, I want the ones make in partnership with Dolce & Gabbana. I want to wear the headphone equivalent of a crown! Our daughter doesn’t need to go to college… )
9. Wireless Photo and Video Printer – Have you noticed how your image never comes out the way you thought it was when you use the pharmacy photo printing app? This printer takes all that guesswork out of the equation. Using some kind of Apple magic, you can print your photos from anywhere, like directly from your vacation in Bora Bora, or your bathroom when you remember that that birthday card needs to go in the mail today and you should include a picture of the kids in it.
10. ANYTHING SHE ASKED FOR IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS – The best gift is the gift she’s asked for. Does she need a night out with her girlfriends? Does she need a spa day? Does she just want you to replace your bald tires before you have a blowout on the interstate? Listen to her, she’s either been dropping hints, or has explicitly told you what she wants.

If the mother you’re honoring is no longer with us, we acknowledge that this might be a tough day for you. Perhaps donating to an organization that supports mothers in conflict areas would be a great way to participate in the holiday. Organizations like Nurture Project International who provide maternal care in places like Syria, Iraq, and Bangladesh,  Save the Children who help families in the US and abroad or the International Rescue Committee who helps to serve and resettle refugees fleeing war and famine.

I hope this little guide helps steer you in a direction. It might not be the right one depending on your circumstances but I thought I would get the ball rolling for you, because forgetting to acknowledge the work, sacrifice, and love mothers give every day is worse than getting the wrong gift.

Any other fun ideas you have for the mother(s) in your life? I’d love to hear!

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Close your eyes and picture your grandma’s house. Most of you are probably picturing a space that is warm, inviting, familiar, but most likely not a modern, cutting edge space. There’s probably a decent amount of tchotchkes, heirlooms and general “stuff” laying around.

Now think about your website. Your home page is much like an entryway to a house. If it’s warm, inviting, familiar, those are all good things. But if it’s starting to look dated like grandma’s house, cluttered with tons of old content, ahem “memories”, chances are it’s time to think about a refresh or redesign. There’s a high probability that technology has also advanced since your last refresh, you know, kind of like grandma’s continued use of a landline or flip-phone.

We’ve been stepping back and taking a look at our own surroundings recently – “eating our own dog food” as CEO Joanna Pineda would say – and we’ve seen glimpses of grandma’s house here and there.  Everything’s fine and familiar, but getting a bit dated.

Time to shake things up a bit!

We’ve started this process by recently revamping our office space. Like a website, interiors absolutely need refreshing every so often in order to not look stale. Our old pool table in the lobby, for instance, was so much fun when we got it! But since then it’s been sitting forlorn in the lobby taking up space and was rarely being used. We made the tough choice of donating it so we could open up the space and create a fresh new welcoming area. And we love it! 

We’re also wrapping up a long overdue refresh to our client extranet. If you’re a frequent Matrix Group Flyer you’ve probably already seen some big changes. We’re now responsive (!!finally!!) and MUCH more user friendly. We hope these changes will encourage our clients to interact with us more through that platform!

All of these changes are really making a big difference around here and we’re feeling less and less like grandma’s house. Next up on the books for us is an overhaul of our main site. We’re kicking all the tchotchkes to the curb and going for fresh and simple. It’s going to be great.

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There’s no doubt about it: finding good stock photography can be tough.  And when it isn’t tough, it’s expensive. When I scroll through images on the popular stock house websites looking for images for our blog posts or newsletters and see how much they’re charging for their stuffy, posed, man-in-suit photos I am always aghast. And annoyed. Very, very annoyed.

Thankfully, I’ve come across a few great stock photography websites recently that are completely free. While we still use many of the resources that Andi shared a few years back, the sites below have become my new go-tos. Most, if not all, of these sites are full of royalty and attribution-free photography, meaning you can use, copy, modify, and distribute these photos without the permission of, or reference to, the photographer. Yes, even for commercial use!

1. Pexels – Built to help designers, bloggers, and just about everyone else find high-quality, free images, Pexels is one of our absolute favorites. They recently launched a free stock video collection as well.
2. Unsplash – Started as a Tumblr blog where a photographer shared 10 photographs that were leftover from a photo shoot, Unsplash has grown to a collection of over 300,000 photos contributed from over 50,000 photographers. They are all simply stunning (and all free)!
3. Burst – Powered by Shopify, this free stock site was built to “empower designers, developers, bloggers and entrepreneurs to create stunning websites and marketing campaigns.” There are thousands of stunning stock photos, ripe for the choosing!
4. Pic Jumbo – When the large stock houses turned down freelance photographer Viktor Hanacek’s photos, he decided to use his coding skills to start his own free stock website. Almost all of the images were shot by him, and while he always welcomes attribution, it’s not required. The only thing you can’t do is redistribute the photos, but if you’d like to, there’s a paid plan available for that purpose.
5. Foodiesfeed – While this stock site may only be of interest to a limited audience, there are lots of high-res and drool-worthy free food photos on this site.

Remember that over time licensing agreements on these sites may change, so be sure to always, always read the fine print and abide by the rules!

Have you found any other great royalty-free stock photography websites? Please share!

The post 5 Favorite Free Stock Photography Resources, Part II appeared first on snack o'clock.

Cybercriminals are getting better…and a lot more sneaky.

Face it, I’m totally paranoid. I keep all my logins in a password manager. I use two-factor authentication wherever it’s available. And yet…

I totally almost fell for a phishing attempt a few days ago. At first, second and third views of this email, it seemed totally legit that it came from Apple support.

My first reaction was wracking my brain to remember when the last time I did any telephone support at Apple. The fact that I could not remember anything more recent than a year or so ago raised red flags.

So instead of taking the “survey,” I Googled and discovered that this was probably phishing. I forwarded the email to Apple’s reportphishing account.

Why this was such a good attempt:

• Apple branding was on point
• All the links at the bottom of the email seemed to be right

The sneaky thing that I should’ve checked right away: Hovering over the Survey Link showed that the URL went to c.apple.com. When I checked that domain name against WhoIs I found that it’s registered to a company called capple.com. So, yeah, not Apple.

Moral of the story: It might actually look real – no misspellings, no weird graphics. Be aware and be careful!

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Don’t begin a sentence with a “but” or “and”. Don’t ever write in passive voice. Never start a sentence with “because”. How many of you have ever heard these writing “rules” from a teacher or authority figure? My guess is all of you.

I recently attended a writing seminar hosted by Association Media & Publishing (AM&P) and the topic was “Back to the Basics: Writing for Associations.” Leslie O’Flahavan led this fun and interactive workshop, and she gave great insight on why it is okay to go ahead and BREAK all of those writing “rules” and get them out of your head.

Here are the 10 writing rules Leslie says can be broken:

1. Don’t begin a sentence with “but” or “and”.
2. Don’t end a sentence with a preposition.
3. Don’t begin a sentence with “because”.
4. Don’t write a one-sentence paragraph.
5. Don’t use contractions in business writing.
6. Don’t use “they” as a singular pronoun.
7. Don’t split an infinitive.
8. Don’t write a fragment.
9. Don’t begin a sentence with “however” or “therefore”.
10. Don’t write in passive voice. Ever.

When writing for your organization, all of these rules can be broken. Yes, all of them. Thanks to blogging and social media, a more casual and informal writing tone is now not only accepted but often expected. So live on the wild side and break rules a little bit! Just be careful that u don’t go 2 crazy w/ it. ;)

What other writing “rules” do you think need to be broken from time to time?

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As I write this, I’m currently watching the live event of Apple’s latest iPhone 8 event. They just announced an update to the Apple TV set top box, with support for 4K, because, according to Tim Cook, “

This made me ponder the implication of this term “inflection point”. By definition, in math terms, it’s “a point of a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs.”  In Tim Cook’s reference, it’s when a technology reaches a certain critical mass in terms of how many people use it, hence Apple’s new product.

In larger, cultural terms, an inflection point represents a fundamental change in how people live, do business, communicate.  On the NY Times website, there is a video of all the things the iPhone “destroyed”, in terms of how it disrupted whole industries, and changed how we interact with each other:

The list of disruptions engendered by the rise of mobile technology is enormous, including the taxi industry, alarm clocks, cameras, etc. Every organization is faced with the potential of disruption, with the inflection point. The key is to anticipate this disruption, and embrace it, to evolve, rather than die. History is littered with industries and companies that could not embrace change and fell by the wayside.

Since I’ve been with Matrix Group (1999), there have been a huge number of inflection points, both culturally and technologically. Every time there is a major fundamental change, we’ve had to adapt our design process, business practices, and offerings to clients. From desktop to mobile, cloud computing, content management systems, these new technologies have all had huge impacts on our business, and how we help our clients.

Some of the new potential inflection points include the internet of things, virtual reality, screen less experiences etc.  As a company that designs interactive experiences for our clients, it’s imperative that we stay on top of these changes, embrace these changes, and think about how we can apply these inflection points to help our clients evolve and thrive, and not die.

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Holding a training session can be tough. You have to give your audience all of the information they need in a limited time frame, without overwhelming them or, let’s be honest, putting them to sleep. It can be quite the task and balancing act.

At Matrix Group, we conduct a lot of training. Over the years I’ve held hundreds of trainings and MatrixMaxx product demos. While my sessions aren’t always 100% flawless, I like to think that I’ve gotten pretty good at holding a successful training session.

Recently, I gave some of our staff a training session on giving training sessions. Here are the 9 top tips that I shared with the Matrix Group staff on how to make your training sessions successful:

1. Know your material – This one may seem obvious, but be well prepared and don’t try to wing it. Make a quick bulleted list for yourself of the key points that you want to cover, and, if you do the same training regularly, it might be worth your time to create a standard presentation template that gets customized for each individual training.
2. Know the audience’s goals – Ask yourself: What are they trying to get out of this training or demo? What information is the most important and useful to them? Do they want an overview, or a deep dive into one or two areas?
3. Learn about the organization(s) you are talking to – Ask them questions about how they currently do certain things ahead of time, so you can better prepare. Also, be sure to know about any unique customizations the client(s) may have in place when holding a software training.
4. Prepare sample data – It often goes a long way for the client to see data like their own. Note a couple of examples that illustrate your points, and populate some sample data where necessary.
5. Slow down – Don’t be afraid of a little silence and don’t rush through the material. You may know the information like the back of your hand, but your audience doesn’t, so make sure you are giving them enough time to let things sink in.
6. Practice – A little practice makes a big impact, especially if you are conducting a training on or using new material. Formulate a plan for what information you are going to cover, go over your examples and illustrations and think about what you are going to say for each one, then practice, practice, practice.
7. Speak clearly – Try to avoid “ums” and “ahs”. The previous two tips will also help you to do this. Also, if you are giving a training remotely, keep in mind that conference phone lines tend to muddle things, so take extra care to enunciate.
8. Periodically prompt for questions – Before changing topics, ask if there are any questions. This gives the more shy audience members an opportunity to ask questions.
9. Be clear on who will be taking notes – It can be hard to take notes while also conducting a training, without breaking the flow of your presentation. If you have someone else from your organization helping out with the training, be clear about who will be responsible for note taking ahead of time.

As with anything, practice really does make perfect. But hopefully with these tips you’ll be able to knock any training session out of the park, whether it’s your first or your 50th.

Have any other tips for how to ensure that your training sessions are successful? I’m all ears!

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