Capture The Moment

Live life to its fullest and embrace the adventure, appreciate the air and fall in love with your surroundings

[leahklugman]

My Juicing Journey

Generally, five days may not seem like a long time, but when your body attempts to withdraw from a life its been living forever, it becomes difficult and unnatural for it to suddenly have to change.

Juicing for five days was not just about losing the weight, or absorbing an abundance of micro nutrients - it was about gaining self-control.

Having to resist temptation was by far the greatest challenge I had to face. Realistically, the mission is never to accomplish your goal, it's to overcome the obstacles you encounter along the way. Conquering the phases that make you want to break is what feeds your willpower and prepares you for the next rock - and this is what I achieved.

My journey consisted of two outings with friends, one workout session, and living in a home with consistent aromas of wonderful food. It made me anxious and irritable, but mission accomplished! 

It is only human nature to want more than our physiological needs. The biggest tip I can offer is to simply ask yourself if you’re actually hungry before you choose to eat. Remember, dieting cannot be temporary. You should carry the things you learnt and gained during your journey to pursue a healthier lifestyle. After all, that's what your initial goal was to begin with, right?

Quantitative Results: 

My sources of direction: Book - “Reboot With Joe” and Netflix Documentary “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”

[leahklugman]

Prepare to Collect Your Birthday Freebies!

Have you ever wondered about the free things you could get on your birthday?

Several stores acknowledge their customers and celebrate their special day by offering freebies. From a marketing standpoint, it’s a ‘token of appreciation’, but you may just like to think of it as a free gift.  If you search the web for your birthday deals, many websites tell you where to go to collect them. However, too many of them never tell you the restrictions. Going to a store and finding out you had to register to a mailing list a month prior to earning your gift is almost like missing the “conditions” on a 50% sale at your favourite retail store.

So to get your birthday freebies, make sure you inform yourself of the steps you need to take BEFORE your birthday.

Here are the limitations that I experienced when collecting freebies on my big day.

What a Bagel

I can’t think of a store that offers better bagels than What a Bagel. On the day of my birthday, WAB was actually giving away free bagels that day- and no, not because it was my birthday.  I did get 6 free bagels after standing in a 10-minute line, but despite the fact that it was worth it, I would have never actually received any freebies unless I made a purchase first. You don’t have to be a member of the bagel community, but you have to buy ½ a dozen ($4) in order to receive 6 bagels for free.  

Booster Juice 

Obviously not everyone is adopting the use of technology; Booster Juice requires you print the coupon you receive via e-mail to redeem your free regular drink. Make sure you sign-up 24 hours in advance, or you’ll have to wait another year to get a free regular drink. Unfortunately, you also have to cash out your freebie at a particular location, so make sure when you fill out “My Favourite Location”, you choose one in which you intend of visiting. A location that’s otherwise specified on your print out will not accept the coupon, trust me, I tried.

Panera Bread

I never eat at Panera, but when I do, it’s to get my freebie on my birthday! For the sake of this blog, I immediately signed up for the mailing list. The slow Wi-Fi made it frustrating, but the carrot cupcake I had was to die for. Not to mention, shortly after, I received another e-mail for a free “baked-good”. Good deal, right?

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt

If you really like frozen yogurt, Menchie’s actually has a great point system for their loyalty program. To get credited with $5 on your account, you have to be a Smileage Club member. I’ve been one for a while, but it shouldn’t take longer than 48 hours to process your information and have your freebie loaded to your card. The advantage? Your freebie won’t expire until the end of the week, so you have time to collect.

Starbucks

Knock yourself out for this one, because you can literally customize your drink any which way you like – no limitations. Except, you have to sign up 3-5 days prior to your birthday. The drink will also last you 7 days! If you’re not ready to become an official Starbucks fan, then this isn’t worth it. Starbucks requires you to load your card with a minimum of $5 in order to activate it. This loyalty program is like a pre-paid visa. Although you can easily access it through your phone, you need to maintain your purchase pattern because your points can expire. If you reach the Gold Level (highest level with the most perks), you need to make 30 purchases (or accumulate 30 Stars) within the first 12 months of activating your card. If you don't, your points will reset, and you'll get thrown back to the Green Level. The point system is 1 star for each transaction. There is a also a “Welcome Level”, which benefits you to quite a few things. You can find more information in the Terms & Conditions, but I have yet to receive this welcome freebie.

Sephora 

When you sign up for Sephora’s subscription list, you qualify for yearly freebies, even if you don’t shop there. Once you’re a member, there are no restrictions! You can sign up the day of your birthday and still get your freebie! Perks: it doesn’t really expire. You can return months later and still get your free gift. But be reasonable, you can’t show up 3 years later and expect to collect three gifts. This year I celebrated with two free NARS lip pencils.

Davids Tea

24 hours is all it takes! You’ll get 2 freebies – 1 for signing up, and 1 for your birthday. You can get any tea you want, but it’s just one size.

[leahklugman]

Social Shysterism

If you’re thinking of paying your way into social fame, think again. 

Commenting, liking, sharing, up-voting, plus 1-ing, or re-tweeting, will make your current followers more likely to reencountered your profile more than once. Therefore, that sudden 10,000 jump in followers is not going to go unnoticed. And in the social world, unless you “break the Internet” like Kim Kardashian, you’re just killing your own real followers. 

It’s against some social media policies to carry fake profiles and it could get you suspended from your account. But that isn’t what you want, is it? 

The results can be brutal: 

If you paid for your followers with a credit card, there’s a Shyster with your information 

Your followers don’t look legitimate and can ruin that image you’re trying to obtain 

When people find out, they’ll think you’re a narcissistic Shyster 

Fake accounts are temporary and a waste of money 

But there are better ways: 

Post good content, frequently 

Respond to your comments

Pay your followers some respect and acknowledge their presence

Remember, don’t be an Abuser who pays a Dealer to buy a Fake Account. Don’t be that person!

Picture source

[leahklugman]

'cause if I were my own boyfriend, this is what I would do #loveyourself #valentine #happybelatedvalentinesday

[leahklugman]

Cooking is being able to turn your leftovers into a new creation

[leahklugman]

Today, I ate my vegetables

How do you finally manage to eat the one food you dislike the most? As a marketing student, I’m often immune to the appealing ads, the contrast commercials, and the convincing videos we stumble upon daily. But today, I have to admit; I was finally deceived into believing that my Brussels sprouts would taste good this time.   So what was it? Did my mother attempt to drench them in butter, cover them with sugar, or bury them in cheese? How did she actually manage to hide the fact that they were still Brussels sprouts? Ultimately, that’s what marketers do. They attempt to disguise the initial perceptions by marketing their products geared towards gaining a customer's approval through value creation. They analyze consumer behaviour, determine ways in which they will respond best, and then they expose them to their very own ability to implicitly learn about that very product.  To defeat your competitors, you must always be a step ahead. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be quicker; it means that you should determine the future needs of your consumers and develop an innovative concept that solves the problems not yet identified, before your competitors do. It’s about being first in line and that’s exactly what my mother was. 

The Brussels sprouts didn’t taste any better than usual – so I thought. They made me feel emotional. The vegetables were fried in a pan with glazed onions and basic seasoning, making their leaves shrink and blacken. But it wasn’t only the cooking method that made them seem delicious; it was the quality of the product, the way they were presented to me, and the way they looked. They were hand picked from a farm, off of its original stock. They were so tiny that they were cute. So cute, I couldn't resist. And that’s what got my attention. My brain was automatically triggered. I had to eat the small adorable green vegetables on my plate, because that was the only escape to venting my feelings. It’s truly a combination of culinary genius and marketing excellence.  So, if you ever plan on launching a product, try to tap into a part of the consumer that has never been tapped before. Use quality goods and an appeal that will attract your buyers. That’ll be your route to success. 

[leahklugman]

Yam sushi 🍣 #glutenfree #vegetarian #sushi #homemade #delicious

[leahklugman]

Social Media Dashboards

Keeping your social media channels updated with fresh content can get a little overwhelming. Ever wonder what it would be like if you could manage your posts on one interface? Have no fear; there are several platforms here: 

Hootsuite Known as the “Social Media Management System”, Hootsuite allows you to keep yourself updated with your social media networks, as it enables you to: 1. Manage workflow by organizing your social networks (Streams) all in one place               2. Track what people are saying and send new/pre-made messages to and from multiple or single accounts by schedule, or manually 3.  Allocate certain tasks/responses to employees on specific networks so a customer never receives multiply replies from different people.              4. Extend the number of “Team Members” – a.k.a. employees – within each stream so that they can send private messages to each other. A “Pro Plan” will cost $9.99 a month for 2 members.

5. Receive analytic reports via e-mail, summarizing your social network traffic (# of  clicks per day, location information on “click-throughs”, most popular links etc.) to measure the social impact on your business 6. Other features include: Geo-targeting, technical support, professional services, compliance integrations, Hootsuite training through HootUniversity etc. Compatibles Browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer              Mobile Devices: iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry Supported Platforms:  Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkeIn, Foursquare, WordPress, Mixi and over 116 Hootsuite apps (premium apps from $0.99 - $6.99 a month) Price Lowest package: This package is free, but limited, as you only have access to the 5 social media accounts and basic analytics. The Pro level is $9 a month, but you can use unlimited accounts, plus you’d have full access to the “support desk”. If you’re a larger company, prices vary, but H.S. allows more than 500,000 users on 1 package.

Source: https://hootsuite.com/

Sprout Social With a different interface, Sprout Social has similar features to Hootsuite: 1. Offers illustrative analytics that measures the engagement on your social media accounts, calculates the number of impressions on your posts and includes other features like CRM and brand monitoring 2. Gives assistance that helps you identify people you should get to know better, called “influencers” and which “silent accounts” aren’t benefiting you 3. Ability to draft messages that you can refer to later, or simply save ideas that need to be reviewed 4. For organization, there is a Team Content Calendar that lists scheduled messages for your team members 5. Choose keywords to monitor what people are saying about your brand 6. Identify key customer service issues, or trending topics by tracking Hashtags and other relevant issues with the use of statistics and relationships that are displayed in charts Compatibles Browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer              Mobile Devices: Android and iOS   Supported Platforms:  Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkeIn

Price S.S. has “three monthly subscription options—the standard, deluxe, and premium plans allow for up to 10, 20, and 50 different accounts, respectively”. Similar to H.S., only the higher plans

Source: http://sproutsocial.com/

Viralheat Features & Benefits 1. Offers 30 minute live web demonstrations to learn how enterprises manage, monitor, and measure their social business activities” 2. Amongst the basic monitoring features offered by the other two platforms, Viralheat allows you to analyze competition in terms of sentiment and mentions.

3. Key words can not only be created, but searched based on your campaigns, products, services and company’s name

4. Identify leads, and which ones are more likely to make a purchase, even through the app 5. “Viralheat crunches over 600 data points across the social web in real-time to provide thorough measurement and metrics” 6. Other features include, media integration, scheduled publishing, post preview, publishing history, group publishing, accounting filtering, application builder, template creator etc.

Compatibles Browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox              Mobile Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android Supported Platforms:  Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkeIn, Tumblr, Foursquare, Zendesk

Price Entry price is  $10 per month for a basic plan, whereas a more business-oriented level of pricing starts at $30 per month. For a  premium package, prices vary, but start at $90 per month.

[leahklugman]

'Tis the season #fall #october #squash #organic #market #naturelovers #foodart (at Sue's Fresh Market)

[leahklugman]

Leek soup - mom's imitation 🙅#vscocam #delicious #homemade #leeks #soup #instafood #healthy #easycooking

[leahklugman]

Happy Thanks Giving 🐓 Before you indulge, don't forget to let those you love know how thankful you are for them 💕 #papaslittlegirl #thankful #thanksgiving #love

[leahklugman]

Good morning 🙋#idressmyeggs #breakfast #hotsauce #foodlovers

[leahklugman]

Nothing beats mommy's soup 😌 #tasteofasia #lemongrasssoup #delicious #foodie

[leahklugman]

Appreciation for nature

[leahklugman]

Nothing starts a good day like breakfast before an 8AM class #breakfast#foodie#healthy#cleaneats

[leahklugman]

Try something different and explore with new flavours

[leahklugman]

Social Media is Like Peanut Butter

What happens when a business allocates their budget towards social media? Essentially, a lot could happen, but unless you were looking at that business’s objectives, you wouldn’t necessarily know if they were truly obtaining their goals, or not. The concerns in Mitchell Harper’s Blog “Social media versus SEO” depicts something all marketers aim to accomplish – ROI. However, the value of this return doesn’t always need to be measured in dollars. The perception of sales attained through social media by a quantifiable metric rather than KPI’s, isn’t reliable. So yes, these social platforms are not the answers to businesses “sales woes” – at least not for today. They are the answers to other long-term objectives “that take advantage of the distinctive characteristics of social media” (MITSloan), such as retaining feedback and converting them into desirable needs for consumers, or simply building a relationship that will generate rewarding customer lifetime value. These initiatives represent indirect sales. What about SEO? Isn’t it the rout to your message, or product? Of course it is, but who needs a route when you have thousands of people sending your message for you!? SEO on social media is like peanut butter and jelly; the two are perfect together. Nevertheless, if it were just peanut butter on its own, it would still be satisfying. You see, the objectives of social media are broad – you could use forums and polls for market research, launch campaigns to obtain brand awareness, or prolong word-of-mouth to gain positive brand equity, and all could be towards a specific clientele. On the other hand, SEO is a dependent factor in which a person must search something related to you, in order to find you.  Most consumers often aren’t aware of the things they want, or need until they are exposed to the idea of it. For this reason, social media is a better method to reach those customers and take advantage of all the tools to generate sales for today, tomorrow, or even a year from now.

Doing it Right Spending most of your budget on social media COULD go wrong. It almost rarely depends on what the product is; it just depends on how it's being sold. So if firms can exert their messages effectively, then positive results will follow.

The chart bellow represents ways in which social media can be measured and the direction your efforts will take you based on how you perform operational responsiveness. Source: MITSloan. "Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?." MitSloa Management Review. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. Final Thoughts By effectively becoming a reliable “friend” and a firm your followers consider “worthy of”, you may be considered over for your customers' BBQ event. So next time you want to promote your brand, ask yourself how you found out about the most recent news of the day. I definitely didn’t need to Google search for my friend so she could tell me what someone else found through their friend’s Facebook feed.