Digital Guru Shares His Best Tech Tips

April 9, 2013 by Cooper

As part of our involvement in the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, yesterday I had a chance to meet with vlogging and digital marketing guru, Chris Pirillo and wanted to share with you some of his favorite social media tools and tips.

Chris’s main message was that our phones are also now our computers and pretty much everything can be done anywhere for social media engagement and business through apps and by using the “cloud”.

We use some of these tools already and will definitely be checking the others out:

Social media measurement: Simply Measured

Team collaboration and brainstorming: Yammer, Evernote, Mind Meister (Chris spoke highly of mind-mapping as an effective brainstorming tool), Drop Box

Presentations: Haiku Deck (Chris is not a big PPT fan, and his Haiku Deck presentation looked really good.)

Customized management systems: Podio

For insight into the critical importance of social media for business, Chris recommends The Cluetrain Manifesto, which I keep hearing about and can’t wait to read.

Chris reiterated time and again to the room (all of us were entrepreneurs) how vital it is that businesses fully embrace social media (here, here!)

Some of my favorite quotes from Chris’s presentation:

And, for any vloggers out there, here’s one of Chris’s vlogs, which he creates daily. This one is on the subject of vlogging:

Some of The Motherhood’s go-to social media and business tools are Basecamp, Freshbooks and Prezi.

What are your favorite social media tips and tools? We’d love to hear yours!

AWESOME UPDATE: Chris put together a full list of the tools he referenced in his presentation on Monday. Fantastic stuff (he included his presentation and a short video too)! You can check the list out here.

Please check out the video Chris made of his presentation, really good information included:

Saving Moms’ Lives

April 8, 2013 by The Motherhood

The Motherhood knows that moms are the rock – that healthy moms mean healthy families, healthy communities, healthy nations.

Thankfully, there is good news to share. Since 2008, in only five years, the number of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth has dropped by 20% globally. That’s HUGE.

As we all know, though, there is much still to be done. Every day around the world, 800 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, and 90% of these deaths are preventable. And sadly, in the U.S., twice as many women are dying in pregnancy and childbirth than they did in 1990, and more than 50,000 women experience ‘near misses’ that can result in injuries that last a lifetime.

The Motherhood is proud to work with Merck for Mothers on their $500 million initiative to address one of the world’s oldest and most preventable health tragedies – women dying in pregnancy or childbirth. At the Women in the World Summit, Merck for Mothers sponsored and participated in a moving panel discussion on maternal health.

Christy Turlington Burns, supermodel and founder of Every Mother Counts, said, “I gave birth for the first time nine years ago. After delivering my daughter, I started to hemorrhage. The team worked seamlessly to make it stop, and I was okay. But ½ million women were dying every year because of this.

“15% of all pregnancies will have life threatening complications and we can’t always predict who will experience one,” said Turlington Burns. “We need to make sure women have access to care.”

Julie L. Gerberding, president of Merck Vaccines, said, “For Merck, what do we do best? We make drugs and vaccines. We asked ourselves, ‘Could we make products that would be useful in the field and don’t require refrigeration?’

“How do we make sure women know what is needed to save their lives?’ said Gerberding. “It’s tragic not to know what to do – and even more tragic not to do what you know.”

To raise awareness about the challenge, Merck for Mothers is asking people to share their birth stories and, every story shared triggers a donation by Merck for Mothers to Join my Village to support of women and girls.

At the Women in the World Summit, Merck for Mothers had a gorgeous lounge set up in the lobby of Jazz at Lincoln Center where hundreds of people shared their birth stories.

Please take a moment to support the Merck for Mothers campaign. Share your story to help honor the women who unfortunately are not here to share theirs

We’re not overstating things when we say that we believe the future of the globe hangs in the balance here. When moms are strong, healthy and given opportunities to thrive, they raise their kids to be productive members of society, and the world becomes a safer place, with stronger economies, more opportunities, and less terrorism and other global threats.

Thank you, Merck for Mothers, for the opportunity to work with you on this incredibly important and groundbreaking effort!

“Let’s keep telling the world that women’s rights are human rights.”

April 5, 2013 by The Motherhood

I’m at the Women at the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York today, and Hillary Clinton just wowed the packed concert hall with her keynote remarks.

From the moment she took the stage to a huge Standing O to her final hug from Tina Brown, the conference founder, she rocked the room.

Tina Brown introduced Hillary by saying, “Seventeen years ago, Hillary Clinton announced at the World Conference on Women in Beijing that women’s rights are human rights.

“When Hilary spoke those words nearly two decades ago, few were ready to hear them,” said Tina.

Today, Hillary made the case for women’s rights as human rights in the most persuasive way imaginable.

Following are quotes from Hillary’s remarks:

Too many women around the world are treated as, at best, second-class citizens and, at worst, as subhuman species.

Women are not victims. We are agents of changes. We are drivers of progress. We are makers of peace. All we need is a fighting chance.

We have to make the case to the whole world that supporting women advances security and prosperity for everyone. When women participate in peace keeping and peace making, we are more secure. When women participate in the political process, we all benefit.

Too many people continue to see empowering women and girls as somehow separate from what’s really going on. I have been kidded, challenged, ribbed in board rooms and official offices around the world.

Fighting to give women and girls a chance isn’t a “nice” thing to do.

It isn’t something we do when we have time on our hands.

It is something that is core to what we do.

It is not a coincidence that the countries doing the worst are the ones where girls and women have it hardest.

It is not a coincidence that in countries where the rule of law and democracy are struggling to take root, women don’t have a seat at the table.

It is not a coincidence that countries trying to make the leap from poverty to prosperity are grappling with what to do for women and girls.

We are meeting at a time of remarkable confluence.

There is a powerful new current – a grassroots activism stirring, galvanized by new technologies that give women and girls voices like never before. We need to seize this moment and we need to be savvy to decide what this moment really means to us.

Let’s recognize that much of our advocacy is rooted in 20^th Century top-down approach. It is time to bring a 21^st Century approach to advancing girls and women. We have satellite TV, cell phones, Twitter, Tumbler and are bringing the abuses front ant center. Think of six-year-old girl about to be sold into marriage to cover a debt.

As Malala says, “We live in the 21^st Century, how can I not have the right to be educated? I have the right to sing, to dance, to go to the market.”

The Taliban recognized that this girl, that Malala, was a serious threat. And you know what, they were right.

Malala says if this new generation is not given pens they will be given guns.

Millions of Pakistanis are inspired to say, “Enough is enough.” They marched in streets to say that boys and girls have a right to go to school.

It is impossible to imagine making real progress, especially against violent extremism, without giving girls and women a role and place.

The grassroots response to Malala’s shooting gives us hope.

The next time someone tells you that the fate of women and girls isn’t one of the “real issues” that really smart people deal with, remember that the extremists know the threat. Extremists know that when women are liberated, so are entire societies.

In the years ahead, a number of rapidly developing nations are poised to lift their people into the middle class, to join the global economy. No country can achieve its full economic potential when women are left out or left behind.

Challenges I’ve outlines aren’t just for the developing world. We need to face them here too if we want to continue to lead the world.

Our peace and prosperity is not a birthright, it needs to be earned with each generation.

The Economist published a “Glass Ceiling Index” based on opportunities for women in the work place and equal pay. The U.S. wasn’t even in the top 10. American women live shorter lives than women in other developed nations. This is a historic reversal. For many women, the American dream remains elusive. That’s just not the way it’s supposed to be.

I think of the extraordinary sacrifices my mother made to survive her own difficult childhood, to give me not only life, but opportunity along with love and inspiration. I’m proud of my own daughter, and all the women I know. It is hard to imagine turning the clock back on them. But in places across American large and small, the clock is turning back.

So, we have work to do. Renewing America’s vitality at home and strengthening our leadership abroad will take the energy and talents of all our people, women and men.

If America is going to lead, we need to learn from the women of the world who have blazed new paths and developed new solutions, on everything from economic development to education to environmental protection.

If America is going to lead, we need to stand by the women of Afghanistan after our combat troops come home, we need to speak up for all the women working to realize the promise of the Arab Spring, and do more to save the lives of the hundreds of thousands of mothers who die every year during childbirth from preventable causes and so much more.

We need to empower women here at home to fully participate economically and give equal pay for equal work.

We need to invest in our people, women and men, so they can live up to their own God-given potential.

That’s how America will lead in the world.

So, let’s learn from the wisdom of every mother and father all over the world who teach their daughters that there is no limit on how big she can dream and how much she can achieve.

The unfinished business of the world is the rights of women and girls.

Let’s keep telling the world over and over again that yes, women’s are human rights and human rights are women’s rights once and for all!

(Photo credits: Yahoo Shine, Roxxe Ireland/Marc Bryan-Brown)

Uncovering Consumer Insights on Personal Care Product Ingredients and Label Reading

April 5, 2013 by The Motherhood

Earlier in the year, The Motherhood conducted consumer research to determine mothers’ opinions, concerns and knowledge regarding the ingredients in the everyday bath and body products they purchase for their children.

Using a national survey, we learned that 90.1% of parents plan to pay closer attention to ingredient labels on their children’s bath and body products in 2013 than they did in 2012. Only 9.9% of respondents reported, “ingredients in bath and body care products don’t bother me.”

What exactly is the biggest concern regarding skin care products? Moms say they’re most worried about chemicals (96%), dyes (80.1%), preservatives (69.2%), fragrance (57.6%) and petroleum-based ingredients (55.4%).

But how much do they actually understand about these ingredients? In the survey, 78 percent of respondents reported that they trust mineral oil. However, mineral oil is a petroleum-based ingredient – and 55.4 percent of respondents say such ingredients concern them.

The results overall convinced us that there is a need for greater education on the subject.

“It’s hard to know what’s safe and what’s not,” said one survey participant. Another agreed, “I can’t even pronounce most of these ingredients.”

When unsure of a product or product ingredient, 78.5% of parents say they turn to Google for information. Others consulted friends and family (55%), blogs (53.1%), company websites (51.5%), news outlets (24.9%), government websites (24.6%), and Facebook (23.8%).

Although concerns about product ingredients run high, the survey showed that price still remains the number one factor when parents are purchasing personal care products for their children. Fifty-nine percent of parents cite price as the number one factor, with the second most important factor (for 49% of parents) being the products’ ingredients.

As one respondent admitted, “I would [read bath and body care product labels], but I can’t afford what I would LIKE to buy, so I can’t handle seeing what I don’t like in them. Makes me feel helplessly guilty.”

The Motherhood conducted this survey in partnership with Seventh Generation. As a company representative said, “The survey results provide us some insights on how we can better continue to help parents make healthier, mindful decisions through ingredient transparency and straightforward labels.”

S’mores and Family Bonding

April 5, 2013 by The Motherhood

We don’t know about you, but we’re looking forward to some quality marshmallow-roasting time around a crackling campfire this summer.

And, of course, most of those roasted marshmallows end up squished between two graham crackers and a square of Hershey’s chocolate to create delightfully messy S’mores.

So we ask – what better way to celebrate the age-old tradition of eating S’mores around a campfire than with a summer blog program called HERSHEY’S Camp Bondfire?

Over the period of an entire summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, The Motherhood partnered with Hershey’s and a team of more than 100 bloggers – who were enlisted either as “campers” or “camp counselors” – to create gorgeous content focused on the idea of bonding around the campfire with S’mores.

Each week, two bloggers designated as “counselors” were featured on the Hershey’s Facebook page with their own unique content on a particular theme, such as “Bash in a Bucket” for portable parties or “Red, White and S’mores” to celebrate Independence Day.

Blogger-created Facebook content included photos of their Camp Bondfire gatherings with friends and family, along with tips for creating events centered on S’mores. The counselors, plus five to six other camp bloggers, posted about the campaign and their own Camp Bondfire events on their blog throughout the week.

Heather of Home-Ec 101, one of the camp counselors, said in her post, “What do you get when you combine: a breezy Sunday afternoon, seven children eight and younger, a backyard, a fire-pit, marshmallows, graham crackers, and HERSHEY’s Milk Chocolate Bars? You get an afternoon of memories I’ll hold onto for years to come.”

Sara of Deal’icious Mom and Louise of MomStart featured on the Hershey’s Camp Bondfire Facebook page.

On National S’mores Day in August (yes, such a day really exists – how wonderful!), all of the bloggers came together for a Twitter party to celebrate the delicious combination of marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker and talk about their experience with the Camp Bondfire program, and it wrapped up shortly afterward.

We loved helping bloggers make fireside memories with their families throughout the summer, and we look forward to “s’more” magical, fun projects in the future.

Bringing Bloggers and Teachers Together to Help Art Education

April 4, 2013 by The Motherhood

The Motherhood recently had an incredible opportunity to impact communities across the country with Blick Art Room Aid. This program was begun by Blick Art Materials to give art educators the resources to equip their classrooms for success.

We enlisted 50 of our wonderful bloggers to work with their children’s art teachers to create wish lists for art project supplies online, which they were able to promote on their blogs, along with sharing their appreciation for art education. The results were phenomenal!

Melanie, from Melanie in the Middle told her readers, “We all know that schools are cutting back, if not eliminating, many programs that deal with the arts. This is a big concern for both myself and my son because the art program is a huge part of my son’s life.”

Fadra from All Things Fadra could relate to a child’s passion for art: “While [my son] complains three out of five school mornings about having to go to school (like his mother did), he actually gets excited when I remind him it’s Wednesday and he has art class.”

Picture by Fadra, All Things Fadra

Blick Art Room Aid is one way art teachers can find funding – through donations from generous community members who also care deeply about art education and believe it’s an important aspect of learning.

Alexis at The Exhausted Mom blog wrote, “I was so happy when The Motherhood approached me about helping a local art teacher make their art dreams come true! I couldn’t wait to help Ms. Martin make her wish list full of Blick Art Supplies that I knew would be helping my own kids create masterpieces.”

Brett from This Mama Loves reported: “I was very happy to be able to offer my son’s Kindergarten teacher the chance to work together on this so that she could create a project based on her ideas and not just on what was available due to budget constraints.”

Picture by Tésa, 2 Wired 2 Tired

Pictures by Christine, More Than Mommies

Pictures by Ilina, Dirt and Noise

When the program ended, we heard from a number of bloggers that they loved being part of such a meaningful program that could really make a difference in both their own kids’ lives and the lives of other children in the community. Their teacher partners were happy and excited to begin receiving art supplies to use in class.

Ilina, who blogs at Dirt and Noise, shared the particular success of her blog post with us: “I heard today from a long lost friend that she shared my Blick Art Materials post with her sons’ teacher. He orders from the company but didn’t know about the program. He was thrilled to hear about it and has started his own wish list. Look, blogging works!”