Category Archives: Gen Y Women
Use Social Media and Apps to Your Advantage to Stay Fit: Part I
Even though I absolutely love what I do, I hate that it requires me to sit for long periods of time. But, this is very common in today’s business world and well, it is what is. Mix that with grazing over high carb food left over from meetings, and donuts in the breakroom is an excellent mix for an Obesity Martini. To read more on how to change those eating habits check out this article: Occupational Hazard: Is Your Job Making You Fat?
My focus is on how you can use technology for your fitness goals. Being a busy professional, wife, and mother of kids that have their own active agendas as a woman it can be overwhelming to put yourself first. And by no means is that an excuse and it doesn’t have to be with all this technology at our finger tips, Literally.
The two biggest obstacles to overcome is:
- Motivation
- Eating RIGHT
Are you a FB junkie and just a social butterfly in general? Then use social networks to your advantage for motivation. It’s pretty much like having a workout partner, but you can have hundreds of them and can interact throughout the day. For Example:
Start a group or event on Facebook: This is a great way to get more engagement with your friends, and acquaintances. You can make your topics fun, like a No Fast Food challenge, or Goals for doing Exercises through out your day. Post to the event or group how you’re feeling or how you’re progressing and the great thing is that you will have tons of supporters to help you reach your goals.
Pin your motivators: Of course you have seen all the buzz about this cool social sharing network of pictures called Pinterest. But, have you used it yet or you are but haven’t found the point of it yet? It’s said that you can change your mood just by visualizing something that makes you happy. I remember having a picture of an Aston Martin Vanquish in my car taped the sun visor, it always motivated to work hard and yes one day have one. But I digress, Pinterest works the same way.
Create a pinboard just for your inspiration about getting fit. If your like me, I get overwhelmed with content jarble, so pinning a pic from a website is so much easier to recall the information. See my “I Work Out” Pinboard, now how could I possible think of eating a big mac looking at her awesome abs??
Join A Fitness Specific Network Or forum: In all honesty you can do a simple search for “fitness forums” and you will get tons of sites to choose from. To prevent information overload have an idea of what kind of information you’re wanting from these places such as, specific exercises, food plans, and supplement questions. There are tons of Fitness guru’s on these sites that can really get you on track. A good one to visit is Bodybuilding.com.
Hash All about it: If you’re a Twitter user then definitely use this for motivation. Create a hashtag and be sure to tweet it out to your audience and also spread the word in all your other networks. For example #beFit2012 could be hash that everyone wanting to get involved can tweet there activity. Now just save the search on hootsuite, boxcar, or any other platform and receive notifications on your tag throughout your day so you don’t miss a beat.
All the motivation is out there, no longer do you have to sulk because you can’t find a work out buddy. Before eating that french fry refer to these networks for advice or just an extra push. In part 2 I will share some mobile apps that can keep you on the right track to eating right so stay tuned!
Cia0~
@taneshawhite
The Gen Y Woman Brand Offline, But Did You see it Online?
You ever wonder what people say about you if your name is brought up in a conversation? Or wonder what kind of first impression you left after a business meeting? I’m sure you do, because it’s human nature. Although you may not know most of the time, you can assure to leave a positive impression by being consistent with your personal brand. I titled this for the women reader, only because it’s even more important and more challenging for a women in the workplace to maintain that positive consistency.
Let’s face it we just have more challenges to overcome- period! Really don’t need to make this the battle of the sexes.. On the bright side studies have shown that Gen Y women have a more positive out look on equality in the workplace, and that “glass ceiling” is a lot more fragile to break through.
Now, this sense of power and running things in the workplace has of course taken years of being consistent with your:
positive attitude for every person you encounter
under promising and over delivering what you say
getting things done and coining yourself as the go to person
Being the go-getter and asking for what you want and setting expectations
But, have you taken a look at your brand online? The internet brings great power, social media can bring devastation especially your choice of pictures! It’s kind of funny finding the inspiration to write this. It started with my husband showing me the profiles of recruiters that have contacted him on linked in. LOL, I couldn’t believe some of the pictures these women had as their profile. Finger in the mouth here, wind blowing through your hair there…. Too funny. Did these ladies not get the memo that Linkedin is not Myspace 01? 
So I would think this would be a no brainer, if you want to be taken seriously on the professional level present yourself that way in a professional network. Now when it comes to using Facebook and twitter have you ever searched for your name? Do you realize that your posting can rank in the search engines such as, google, Yahoo, and Bing? These are marketing techniques us digital marketers use to our advantage, but in the civilian world this could come back to bite you. Recruiters perform searches on potential candidates all the time, do you really want to leave a negative impression before getting a chance to speak with them? Even if you think you’ve got your privacy buttoned up on Facebook remember nothing is a 100%.
Have you come across some funny Linkedin pics?
Ciao~
Do you Feel like Superwoman Crashed and Burned?
I decided to take a spin on different topics to write about. I often get asked questions from younger women trying to embark on their
career paths on what they need to do, or what is most important. Like this picture I’m sure many women can relate to it. You’re feeling like superwoman and then all of a sudden you fall on your face!
Take these two points as a shot to start your week
- Be driven with your goals, and don’t settle even when you’ve reached a goal that you’re happy with.
Men are driven to want to be better by nature, you don’t have to be a psychologist to understand that one. For women it’s easy to get comfortable or to stay content with something, And often times you might find your waiting for that promotion, right? Does that sound familiar? Big Mistake!
- Ask for what you want and be tenacious about it. This may seem obvious but unfortunately many women feel uncomfortable doing this. I did a small write up on this and it’s worth revisiting, Women Need to Brag More. Although obvious it’s one of the most important steps. It’s a dog eat dog world and if you don’t ask for what you want or pursue aggressively then don’t surprised if that person next to you takes that spot.
If you don’t feel that you’re qualified then be sure to talk with your boss about your skills and explore the options of who you may be able to mentor with to gain those acquired skills.
There are countless books that you can read until the end of the next decade, but in reality we’re wired to focus on the few not the many and by sticking to these main points will get you going on the right start.
Feel free to comment
Ciao~
The Next Gen Mangers of Tomorrow
I read an interesting blog post written by the General Manager of Wireless Networking for the Cisco Business Unit. He obviously sees all of the insights and trends on how people like to connect. One of the biggest things he points out is that they love to connect. This is especially true in the Gen x and y. But, here’s the catch it’s not about calling people with these devices. It’s all about staying socially connected. 
Cisco backed this up by surveying 2800 young professionals and college in 14 countries. Not surprising that living without the internet for half of the participants couldn’t be an option, but if forced choose two-thirds would give up their cars to have the internet instead! There is definitely an intense desire to be around the clock connected. He says, “This intense desire to be connected leads to a demand for greater flexibility: Two out of five people said they’d accept a lower-paying job if the position offered greater flexibility on access to social media, the ability to work from where they chose, and choice on the mobile devices they could use on the job.”
“Choice on the mobile devices,” this hits home with me and I’m sure to all the digital marketing professionals. With needing to be socially connected in your day to day duties there is no way to efficiently do this without using a smartphone with the most up to date social apps available. Trust me I’ve had to take a break from my iphone and I feel my social world has been crippled. When you’re managing multiple social sites and fan pages you have to have the most sophisticated device to do so.
While on the subject of social media he goes on is his blog about how social media is overtaking phones and email and becoming the dominant form of communication. He says, “Young people are driving this change, with the one-to-one mode of interacting giving way to a one-to-many mind-set.” This is huge because social can be embraced by organizations, for project updates, feedback, and internal communication period. These new age thinkers want their voices heard and want to be able to shape a companies vision and strategy.
Everyday more and more companies are realizing that their old gen customers are going away and they have to discover how to engage this younger savvier market that is taking over. But, the important piece that solves this puzzle is how are they accepting this new generation into their company culture. The reality is, the internet has allowed positions to be more virtual and the old school way of needing to be face to face can still happen, but just in a virtual way. In order for companies to attract this new savvy leader that have got start in house changing their culture and embracing social media to help with recruiting. Old school saying, “fish where the fish are, duh.”
Read more from “the Days of “managers knows best” Is Ending”
~Tanesha White
The Growth of the Digital Marketing Professional
I can’t help but smile when I constantly get updates on Linkedin about jobs that may interest me because these array of digital, internet, community, social, and mobile management/ directing/ analyst positions did not exist even just a short year ago! It’s amazing how companies have made this paradigm shift and have accepted the importance of having a digital strategy is vital to the growth and staying power for their brands.
I remember when being an internet professional was just knowing about Google and how 
to manipulate your site in order to rank high, and then all of sudden that high ranking resulted in more traffic, to more sales, to a bigger database, to more growth etc… Awwh those were the good ol days when it was still the new “thing” to do and it was so easy to dominate your competition because everyone else was sleeping at the wheel!
As the evolution of the internet just kept growing and websites increased numbers to their websites, advertising became more attractive for b2b and b2c companies. The light bulb was finally turning instead of flickering. Wow it makes sense to be on these sites because, wow a lot of our target market is here! Look out now its serious because the internet grew at such an explosive rate and internet advertising platforms and agencies popped up like popcorn all over the place traditional marketing managers were just in way over their heads. Now the internet became this whole other segment which is now Digital Marketing that needed to handled as a department of its own.
What’s funny is that now leading the Digital Strategy forefront I find myself in over my head and now being able to relate to those traditional Marketing professionals because this too is growing at an alarmingly fast pace. Especially since Social Media Marketing is now out of the “do I need to be there” phase and is accepted as an important peace of an effective digital strategy this too has become a marketing niche of its own. And it’s even predicted this year that the position of “community manager” is going to be a priority position for many companies this year. Check out 4 Community Management Predictions for 2012 on Mashable. Com.
Not to mention the boom of mobile that I talked about in my last write up. Constantly staying up to speed on the new latest and greatest apps, or marketing techniques, and the analytic s alone! There’s an entirely different specialty or skill. The proof is easy to see because of all the different companies specializing in all of these niche areas.
All in all even when I’m feeling overwhelmed at times its such a fun and exciting space to be in because when it comes down to it you have to be sharp and educated in all facets that makes up a digital strategy because with all these moving pieces you need a point person to be able to put all the pieces together and effectively communicate the ROI and strategy throughout your organization, among a long list of other things:-\
I ❤ Digital!
Ciao~
My Certificate For the Facebook Summit 2011!
The Facebook Success Summit 2011 was such great seminar! I absolutely enjoyed all the speakers ranging from Marketing Directors from Nationwide companies to authors in the industry. If you didn’t have a chance to catch it you missed out on topics such as: 10 Ways to Bring the Power of Facebook to your website, and How to Measure Facebook Campaigns.
This was a great way to get insight on how larger companies are utilizing social networks. It would leave me brainstorming on how to scale it down to work for small businesses. Stay tuned for 2012, In this ever changing industry you’ve got to stay in “the know” and these seminars are such a convenient way of doing it!
Shopping Experience on Another Level
It’s funny because just a year ago I remember saying in sales pitches that you couldn’t really expect to sell cars from social sites. But, now it’s just the inevitable. When J.C.Penney made the big move earlier this year to putting their entire catalog on Facebook and then other major retailers following close behind. Yet again it has conditioned us “consumers” to become accustomed to not only shopping online, but now through our social network.
With the increasing popularity of all the location based checkin and coupon sites it comes as no surprise that a company would cross best of both worlds and create the optimum shopping experience.
American Express did just that! They are giving their card holders that top of the line shopping experience by using their social graph to determine what exactly they would be most interested in. But, not on that, actually giving out money from buying from these different retailers as a reward.
I personally love the direction that this is all going. It has made shopping less stressful, and yet still fun! It won’t be too long before consumers are really expecting to purchase a car through a dealerships Facebook!
You can read more about this here.
Cheers,
The A.D.
Women More Bragging Less Flaunting!
I often come across a lot of articles in magazines regarding topics about how women can be better braggers. You know how men can always throw in quick 1 minute bio of themselves in any conversation and lean the convo around just that. Yeah, they’re are major topics around, how women can better at that.
When I came across this article the other day, it really just came to me like a “Wow” moment. According to the research in almost every social networking you see Women outnumber men easily, but when it came to a more professional focused site like LinkedIn, we just didn’t cut it. Not to say Farmville, or obsessively posting pics of yourself isn’t a good use of your social time. but actually putting yourself out there, wanting to build a quality professional network isn’t bragging, it’s networking! And in today’s world it’s not what you know, it’s about who you know… and that’s real! So in my advice to all those column questions in those women mags, use the resources we’re given today that make getting your name out there to the masses. Before you know it you will be able to give that 1 minute bio of yourself like a self sponsored commecial!
Ciao!
Still Using a DumbPhone, Survival tips For the Busy Women Exec.
My intention is to reach out to the ladies in the auto space, because the internet not only has changed the way dealerships market and communicate with their customers, it has changed internal positions and added many within dealership organizations. Now with these non traditional positions that rarely attracted women to work in a dealership, now there are many taking the plunge, or already taking BDC Departments, Internet Managers, Sync Specialists, etc.. by the horns. I’ve been at conventions consistently for almost 10 years ranging from NADA, Digital Dealer, and PCG and let me tell you it’s exciting to see how the number of women in the business keep climbing. Since jumping out of the vendor space and taking on an E-Commerce Director and managing a personal life such as, being a wife, and mother. Which, I’m sure most of you agree that women hold more stress because of the family responsibilities that magically seem to always be in our court to handle! Balance has become a huge priority. Juggling that on top of a demanding career can be challenging especially in a position where you’re having to indulge yourself in the never ending trends of social media, internet marketing, SEO, mobile, etc…..So with something that seems to go on for 24 hrs and balancing that along with kids schedules and fun adult time, how could you manage it all without a smartphone? The technology is there, so use it!
A smartphone isn’t just a cool piece techno power in my purse, it’s the thing that keeps my life in sync. There are soooo many apps out there and I’ve tried a lot of them. But,the apps that are still keepers with me is my cute owl (hootesuite), Boxcar, Twitter, and FB.
Although I can use Dealer.com SRM to schedule to posts there’s still a limit. I can schedule hoots on top of SRM and be set for weeks. It’s also cool because of course you can manage several accounts and the Hoot app is really easy to use. Boxcar is a must have, how else are you going to keep up with discussions from #automarketing, blogs from #admcommunity, or new updates from #dd11, especially when you’re on the go? Well, Boxcar let’s me do that not to mention this app is my inbox for EVERYTHING, yeah email, FB, Twitter (incl, all lists, trends, and fav tweeters), 4square, RSS, Google Voice, and this list goes on.
But no matter how cool these apps are I still keep the basic Twitter and FB apps because the others are great at the convenient things it allows you to do, but sending messages or tweets from other apps always seem to load slow or the display of live feeds just isn’t as smooth as the originals.
Oh and don’t let me forget my favorite app of all. After doing all that hard work and you take a break from the kids make time for your Nike Training Club app. I know some days it’s hard hitting the gym, but this app is like a personal trainer and p90x in your hand. You can do the workouts at home or mix it in with your gym routine. There’s something for everyone from getting lean, getting strong, or getting focused. This is a must have if you want to spice up the boring cardio routine and most importantly to decompress from a long day or getting your day started.
Awwh I love my smartphone ;-D
Tanesha White
Social Nation
Hello All,
I just finished a great book and just wanted to share some things that I took away from it or perhaps may intice you to read it.
I’m sure you’ve seen a trend in the past few Blogs I’ve written. They have all been about Social Media. The biggest struggle that I’m up against in the automotive space is getting dealers to see a revolution that has happened in business that has really changed the way consumers want to do business.
I really enjoyed the book because Libert does a great job at taking things back to 200 years ago in the industrial business beginnings. It was all about just making money, and making business nonsocial was what organizations were all about,” he writes. “Businesses weren’t looking to create social communications with constituents at a personal or individual level. In fact, business was about making money at any and all costs, while dehumanizing the personal elements of our daily lives.
“But all that is changing,” he asserts. “Your employees and your customers want to be engaged on a very personal level, and not just through a yearly survey or at an annual conference.”
That evolution is probably the hardest thing to overcome in order for dealerships to accept this as part of their business model.
I’ll leave you with tips on how to Form your Social Nation below. The funny thing is before even reading the book this is what I’ve been preaching for the past two years!
Cheers!
•Leaders in a Social Nation need to follow as much as they lead, he notes. While providing structure and support for their colleagues, they need to collaborate with them as well.
•Model your office culture on your personal values, but allow your employees to define it.
•Mind your online manners. How something is said can be as important as what is said.
•Pay attention to what your nation’s constituencies are saying and adapt your business practices to what they need and want.
•Include your “fans,” aka “customers,” in everything you do.
•Rely on your communities for growth and innovation.
•Reward others if you want to be rewarded.
The Digital Diva 