Women Bloggers and Social Media

Online marketers - take notice!

A 2009 Social Media Study summarized by eMarketer and conducted by iVillage, BlogHer and Compass Partners, showed that women like social media and blogging. Me being a woman myself, I wasn't surprised that 53% of the female online population said they were engaged in social media. After all, women tend to be very social and expressive beings. Here are some interesting facts from the study:

• 75% of the women studied said they took part in social networking sites and 55% said they used blogs
• Time spent on blogs and social sites, replaced time spent with other online and traditional sources of information.
• Participants spent equal amounts of time reading and writing on blogs

Why do women participate in social media?

• For fun (68%)
• Get information (64%)
• For entertainment (56%)
• Share opinion (55%)
• Seed advice and recommendations (43%)
• For professional purposes (14%)

What To Look for in an Email Management Software

The process of finding and selecting an email management solution (or any web-based software) should be similar to how a business might hire an employee. The company would search for prospects, group interesting candidates together, interview the candidates, check references and make a selection. When "interviewing" possible web software solutions, keep these questions in mind:

• Is the software easy-to-use and to setup?
• How long has the company been in business (they are, after all, managing your data)?
• Is secure access available?
• Do you do back-ups of the stored data?
• How is their customer support? Do they provide only an email or is there a phone number with a live person on the other end?
• What is their up-time?

Get answers to these questions, and you'll be better prepared to select the best and most reliable web-based solution.

Managing Business Outside of the Box

Susan Boyle, a very ordinary, plain woman from Britain, landed a chance to show the world her incredible gift, and became an overnight singing sensation despite the odds stacked against her. The reason was not a lack of opportunities, a lack of education or a lack of motivation, it was the way she looked. When she walked out onto the world stage, everyone expected a voice that matched her appearance - plain, almost homely - and before she opened her mouth, the audience had already written her off. She proved them wrong, and to the shock of the world, belted out an intensely beautiful song.

There is a huge lesson here, right?

Peter Bregman, from Harvard Business Publishing thought so too. In April 2009, he published a blog post titled "Susan Boyle: A Lesson in Talent Management" in which he reviewed a study conducted by a couple of graduates from the University of Pennsylvania's Applied Positive Psychology Program. The study analyzed the effects of positive re-enforcement management techniques in business and found that managers who provided frequent recognition and encouragement to employees had a 31% increase in productivity. Pretty significant.

Harvard Business Publishing took the idea of positive re-enforcement a bit further by suggesting that the difference between good and great managers, is their ability to recognize the unique talents and abilities of an employee and harnessing it by creating a specific role for them to use it. Peter wrote, "Great managers remove the obstacles that prevent their employees from unleashing their talent. And they make sure each employee has the right opportunities, the right stage, the right audience, to be fully appreciated." In other words, they think outside of the box.

The Lesson? Don't judge a book by its cover and take the time to notice and encourage the talents of your employees, even if it doesn't fall within their "job description." Think outside of the box, and you may end up with a star-studded team.

How does this apply to email management? It doesn't - not really - but we were so inspired by the concept, we felt it necessary to share. How do you think outside the box?