My older daughter came home the other day and asked me “What’s the B-word? I am the only one in the class know nothing about it”, needless to say she got laughed at.  A little background here, she WILL turn 10 in March 2012 (Yay for two digits!  Big milestone!!) and is the second youngest in her class, everyone else is 10 years old at this point.  Sure there are quite a few things she needs to catch up with but definitely not this one, which also got me thinking.

Why not? You ask. 

Well, my girls do have a list of words – the ones they know not appropriate to say in public; and if you haven’t noticed, we speak Mandarin at home so there’s little chance we’ll use any of those words.  Also, we say shoot instead of the other word, and only once had I dropped F-bomb because this dangerous drivers almost got us killed,

What’s the harm? You argue.

Yes, I understand and fully accept kids today are much more exposed to the world than we were, and they are going to learn and talk those words anyway, sooner or later; this is one thing I am not in the rush for.  I do believe we parents are still the biggest influencers to kids at this age, it’s also a good reminder for us, or for me personally; that the more we say it the more likely it’ll become second nature without realizing it, what’s the plus side of that, really?

My response to this curious, confused 9-year-old is “If it’s a good word your friend will tell you about it, and if not then you probably don’t need to know”.

Sure, you have sympathy for my poor girls, and I may have not prepared them well for the real world; quite possibly I am blindfolded in this issue, or being a b*tch or a b*stard, but what could I have done differently or what would you do if the world they is full of these sh*t?

A little help here please ??

It’s my birthday today, and OMG! I am turning 45!! Normally I won’t make it a big deal nor we celebrate with big feast (is the husband reading??), but half way into my life journey — yes I plan to live to 90 years old so I can see and be entertained by my grandchildren, what do I want for this special day?

Funny enough that sometime last week I got call from a company interested in my background and experience, asked if I would consider to role that has potential to grow, and well, you know those rosy things they tell you before bringing you on board.  It would be great if this happened years ago when I was really looking for jobs, I wrote it here and here; unfortunately the commute plus long hours in the office (minimum required 7am~7pm) plus the “being told what to do” for about $75K turned me off.  There is no way I am willing to trade half of my time just to fit into other people’s schedule, not even for money.

So what do I want? A title may.  Look at friends my age, Managing Director, Partner, or Chief Strategist, all sorts make me feel good.  Well, come to think about it, I do have some of these glamorous titles;

CEO = Control Education Office

I am responsible for my girls’ education, both academically and socially.  I need to know what they learn in regular day school, in Chinese school, in various sports and activities, without over scheduling or write them off because they are not performing well, or not showing talents.  I need to know the causes lead to results to worry less.

CFO = Control Feedings Officer

I am responsible for everything my family eat, I may not go out of my way to buy all organic but I am definitely conscious and pay close attention to what I buy (and hubby cooks) to put on the table.  To keep on top of being healthy, I need to know the nutrients and nutrition well to worry less. 

CMO = Control Media Officer

I am responsible for my girls’ media encounter experiences, including TV shows, movies and internet.  They only watch the shows I approved and my ears are always up for what’s been said in the conversation, I absolutely go to movies with them so we can discuss afterwards, I setup Gmail accounts AND the passwords for them so I can lurk when I sensed odd situations.  When it comes to internet gaming/surfing, we are VERY clear that (1) don’t give out parents email addresses unless you have permissions, (2) no downloading unless one of parents agrees, (3) never ever chat with people you don’t know in real life online, unless ahem, you are on social media.  Some of these rules may seem stringent and certainly will change when the girls get older, but for now I need to get it in their heads early to worry less. 

Yes, I am a Control-Freak, and not ashamed to admit it; I don’t thing there’s anything wrong if all I want to have control is for my family’s well being and protect them in this society.  Without my family, I am nothing.

You think I have it?  Do I have it all?  While I am working on it, I am also buying some cool stuff from Roots Canada, because it’s 25% off + free shipping and the cyber-weekend sale ends on my birthday.

ps–I am not affiliated with Roots Canada (although I wish!), they simply have good stuff!!

Why I say this is a once-in-a-life-time experience is easy to understand with the video below, not only the amazing exhibition was in Taipei just so happened when we were there, we also were able to score some sought after tickets and actually went to see it with our own eyes!!

Well, ok, mom’s brag here too My girls got to be in this short version animated film and it adds another layer of precious experience !

If you want to learn more about the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, go here

When it comes to research, a topic close to my heart; it seems these days the majority of us focus on “the activity of getting information about a subject”, where it really should be “careful study that is done to find and report new knowledge about something”

Given my profession, I have been preaching this for as long as I can remember; and even in today’s world we don’t say search or research but say “Google it” when really, quite possibly means doing a research and involves the most if not only of it.  This is one assumption I can not live by: Google equals internet equals search equals research equals free, voila! You have all the information you need.

I was at Social Media Masters Conference few days ago here in Toronto and so glad I attended this top notch social media conference, summary of the conference with links to presentations are available here; you can follow #smm2011 on twitter for conversation and more insights.

One particular session had me wowed and wooed was “The Future of Social Intelligence” by Scott Briggs, who is Sr. Director, Social Strategies and Insights at Alterian.  To me, social intelligence is no difference than business intelligence, it is essentially the management and analysis of customer data from social / business sources, used to activate and recalibrate marketing and business programs, to move business forward.

More and more businesses have come to realize that, having access to the tools or platforms is simply not the answer of it,  the goal is to use the insights they discover from dashboards (tracking) and act on it to reports ( updates) to improve offerings (customer segmentation, product development, potential market), and none of the task can be done via automated systems, or through technology along.

My wise dear friend, Judith Samuels sums up well in 140 characters above.

Few companies start to understand the power and really keen on gathering and forming the intelligence, but until they see it as an ongoing process, not just a stage and are willing to commit to the investment in the resources (talent and time), we still have a long way to go.

Just like search = research.

You want to be influencer, you look up and follow those influencers, so what is you do everyday online that can help increase your own Klout score, eventually be among the rank?

First, for those who is not familiar with Klout or hasn’t joined yet, Klout is a social influencemeter where your interactions on social media space are taken into account to end up with an influence score.  Klout gathers data from all your linked accounts and does this on a daily basis.

A very important feature here is, you score on the topics you are most influential about; so perhaps you tweet or share content about certain issue over and over again, Klout takes this and perceives that you are either an expert or an avid follower of that subject.   As of now, you can connect all your activities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger and Flicker to Klout, it’s a great way to integrate these social media channels into one place and also great opportunity to build up your own brand.

I’d like to specifically point out Foursquare here, the reason being in a recent Foursqare research report have found–more than 2/3 active Foursquare users post tips and these tips have a ready audience with each tip being done, or average, at least once; 80% of active users have “done” tips.  What this means is that, you can never underestimate the importance of tips for a venue, you may actually alter the consumer buying behaviour !!

I also like Twylah, a content marketing tool that extract maximum value from your tweets and let you own your brand, get discovered beyond Twitter with built-in SEO as well as give your audience what they want.  With Twylah, you can promote your topical tweets all at the same time, this is my Twylah page http://www.twylah.com/infosara and it really tells my twitter brand.

We all know Klout is not the only tool to measure influences nor it is flawless, however it’s the one being used most widely for now.  So, how to get high on Klout?  Retweet and share great content, try to respond to people who have questions for you, and most importantly, always thank people who have helped you in any shape of forms.

All these great speakers are either thought leaders in their respective fields giving inspiring speeches, or telling stories with overwhelmingly heart-pouring, quite often leave my brain dazzling for few days.  For that, I have decided I am not going to write the whole run down of conference I attend, there are many people do excellent job on this with great insights, so instead I will do one takeaway, just ONE that I take away with me.

Have you ever had that A-ha moment, that one thought strikes you like lightening,  one thought that stays inside your brain?  I have, one each from #140confONT and #TEDxToronto, conferences I have been to so far.

 Amber Mac said it at #140conONT, 

The responsibilities are not just to your followers, your fans or your readers in the community, the responsibilities are to people you surrounded by everyday, who has counted on you for helping them dream and achieve.

I also love this at #TEDxToronto, you can watch the video here “Derek Sivers: How to start a movement”

Come to think of it, a leader is not a leader without followers and only the first follower turns the lone nut into a true leader.  So many times you have great ideas and you start to move forward, whoever has the courage to follow you first means trust, for that you have responsibilities to the person because you influenced her/him.

It’s amazing how these two messages seems unrelated and yet they are interdependent.  The questions I would like to ask you are:

(1) Who are you influence to and have you take the steps being responsible?

(2) Do you remember who is your first follower for things you believed in?

(2) What would be your “Just One” takeaway from which conference?

Would love to learn more

Some of you know, this past summer I took my 9-year-old and 7-year-old girls back to Taiwan, we spent 7 weeks there and for the first time ever — away from home not as  whole family.  Now, to say this trip creates stronger bond among us is an understatement, let’s just say I yell less at the girls ever since

Taiwan is where I from so the whole trip felt like going home, not on vacation; I am glad I was able to explain many things in details to the girls should they spot things unusual and unfamiliar.  The following observations are not one time experience, we’ve watched and tested and it has been consistent throughout.

To make fair reasonable comparison, I waited a while so the girls have time to validate what they experienced in both places (here is another excuse for procrastination), also to not compareg apples and oranges, we’ve ruled out things like; Taiwanese Dollars are so small (foreign exchange and currency issue), or Canada should have night markets (regulation issue); true, there’s T&T Waterfront Night Market once a year, however it’s different when you can try and taste hundreds of food stands every. single. day.

The services differences my girls noticed are:

• At check out counter at 7-Eleven, other CVS (Convenient Stores), or any retail stores : The clerk always carefully put our merchandises in shopping bag and if we brought our own reusable ones, they even organize all merchandise to make sure they “sit” nicely; where here in Canada, or at least in Ontario where we live, whether it’s Longo’s, Loblaws or Walmart (which is the worst), they just throw and shuffle stuff in, not paying attention, not taking care of the goods I just paid for.

• Flyer distributors on the street : In Taiwan, quite often you get people handing out flyer or free Kleenex to you while walking on sidewalk, it can get annoying I know, but here is the thing; those distributors still say “Thank You” even when you don’t take what they are handing out.  Now I feel bad, cause it’s their job and probably they can go home ONLY when it’s all gone. Have you seen people handing out stuff or asking you to buy and say thank you when you refuse?  I haven’t, let me know if you see one.

With all the experience, maybe I am biased but people in Taiwan are really really nice, well they are famously known for warm hospitality; but people hold umbrella and accompanied us to our destination even they were heading to opposite direction.

The difference I see?  It’s the attitude, the heart and willingness to help, with respect in mind when doing it, really practice “Giving is more precious than getting”.

Do you have similar experience here to share?  Would love to hear.

Here you can view my tweets while I was in Taiwan if you are interested, thanks to Twylah for creating such powerful content that tells story.

http://www.twylah.com/InfoSara/topics/saraintaiwan

I had the opportunity to ask Andy Beal, CEO and Founder of Trackur, few “quick to the point” questions; below is his response — take note, he got back to me with 3 hours even though I told him it’s not urgent because he was going on vacation! Crazy nice guy

Tell us briefly about Trackur and your role

Andy: I founded Trackur in 2007 and in 2008 we launched the world’s easiest and most affordable tool for monitoring your reputation online. To date, 35,000+ users rely on us to keep track of conversations across news sites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

Why Trackur? What makes your product different, stand out from the rest?

Andy: Trackur is so easy to use, we guarantee you are up and running in less than 60 seconds. If you can use Gmail, then you can use Trackur to monitor conversations about your name, company, products, competition…absolutely anything!

Can you give any advice for SMBs wanting to DIYing the process?

Andy: This may come as a shock, but I believe most people are going to be just fine using Google Alerts. In fact, I want you to use Google Alerts before switching to a tool such as Trackur. That way, you can get to know your reputation needs and will better understand what you need in a paid monitoring tool. I shared some advice on this subject here: http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/09/6-steps-social-media-monitoring/

Tell us the wonderful thing about Trackur Three Dot OMG

Andy: It’s HUGE! We added Trackur Insights, which is basically analytics for your social media monitoring. With our Plus plan and up, you can quickly see what conversations are the most important, where they are happening, and discover new trends and topic.

So go ahead and try Trackur, they even offer 10-day money back guarantee, that’s the confidence in the valuable products.

Greatly appreciate Andy and the Trackur team support, you guys rock!

In less than two months, the one of a kind conference for all digitally connected women across Canada, ShesConnected, will be taking place at Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel on September 29^th for its second year.

I was fortunate enough to attend last year, you can read my takeaways here.  Admittedly, like going to any conference, like many people, I was nervous at first, not sure whether I came to the right place, or whether I would fit in.  During this one day conference, I learned from thought leaders, I networked with other digital women and I also engaged with few brands; the conference itself provides an effective platform if you really want to work with brands, IT DID FOR ME !  I first met James Clarke, Digital Marketing Manager at Maple Leaf Foods at the conference (psst,  just so you know he really loves gourmet food ) it was a result of attending, networking and following up.  I have been working with MLF for their social media metrics and analytics since January, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity if it weren’t for ShesConnected Conference.  THAT, is huge benefit of attending events — getting great client !!

Donna Marie Antoniadis has demonstrated the concept and her ideas are well received; brands ARE interested in working with women who has major purchasing power and absolute influences in their unique networks, there are so many potential opportunities out there, only Donna Marie successfully brings both sides together.  So why you want to go ?  The conference is aiming to bring digitally connected women who want to work with brands, and it delivers !  This year, it will be two days, which means more brands and opportunities !! I would encourage you to apply for  ShesConnected Conference if you haven’t done so, I certainly hope  I am one of the luckiest 200 digital women

After you apply, you can always follow @SCConference and @shesconnected for updates, and if you do get invited, (it’s OK I won’t turn green )I strongly recommend you do some research upfront and get familiar with sponsored brands, most importantly, know what unique value you can provide to help them.

Good luck and have a blast !

No matter what industry / which stage of the business you are in, the classic 5W+1H (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How) questions apply to every step of the way.  Before we continue, I am going to assume you already know the “Why“, if not, please go back to your business plan and find out why you started the business in the first place.

O.K., so here we go;

Who – you want to know who are/were your customers and who will most likely be your advocates for the products/services you are offering.  Have they always like it, or been referred by their family/friends to try it, or they are the gold mine — meaning they are haters-turned-lovers?

What — you want to know what people are mostly talking about; is it you as business owners, the products/services you offer, or they are talking with/about your competitors? What is the context, i.e. sentiment analysis?

Where — you know you have to start somewhere, you know you have to listen to your customers and clients and you know you have to do something if they say good/not so good thing about your business.  The question is, where (which channel)?  You should tailor your message to different channels depends on your market; only 13% of people online are on Twitter, most people won’t like/join Facebook Fan pages if asked to access their and their friends’ personal information, can be overwhelming sometimes, Tamara Littleton, CEO of eModeration, has a great post here which gives the reasons why Ten is the magic number.

When — this is not about the time of day, it is about when the event occurs that triggers people to talk.  Were they inquiring before making the decision? Did they have great experience and simply want to spread the words or they had unbearable encounter that maybe a better solution can be offered?  Can you avert the crisis and turn into opportunity?

And all the above goes back to the question of WHY, so does the cycle starts all over again.  WHY they want to talk about you and to continue the conversation?   WHY they buy your products/services and keep buying more?  WHY they prefer to talk on specific channels?  WHY they decide to talk at that moment?

So you ask, how do I start this listening?  What tools can I use?  Tool is just tool; you need a human mind to interpret the data and information you have collected.  But if you insist to know, given the cost of accessing legacy platforms providers (Radian6, Sysomos just to name a few) creates barrier for small business owners,  , I’d say DIY by using Google Alert and/or Social Mention;  the brilliant Jay Baer has great resource here , or a recent article from MarketingProfs “5 Free & Easy-to-Use Listening Tools for Monitoring Social Media” can also help you.

Here are some sobering numbers about the real use of social media, from @jasonfalls. EVERYONE should read this http://izmy.us/uF1 . The DIY tools are good enough until your brand gets about 300 mentions per month, and then you’ll want some more analytics.

So, are you listening? In the right place ??