Top 5 List of Twitter Need-to-Knows

Everyone has heard of Twitter. Not everyone knows how it works. Here is a list of the Top 5 things you need to know if you're a person who's curious about using Twitter.

1. Show Twitter the love. When I say love, I mean the real thing. No passive aggressiveness, no fighting, no complaining, no yelling, no hating. Think of you and Twitter in an endless honeymoon stage. Spend hours learning as much as you can about Twitter. Become enthralled. Enthusiastic. Excited. Enlightened. The more time you spend with Twitter the more you'll understand about Twitter. In return, Twitter will give love back to you. See how that works? Who said relationships are hard?

2. Show your profile some love. Spend an hour or so showering Twitter with presents. Presents that come in the form of designing your personal Twitter page. Make sure one of those presents is a profile picture because otherwise you'll just make Twitter seem sketchy to everyone else. If you have trouble drawing stick figures than maybe consult one of your artistic friends who could help you out. There's always the Internet as well for those questions. And, Twitter of course. That's a good Tweet right there--"Anyone know how to easily create your own profile for Twitter?" And speaking of Tweets...

3. Filter your Twitter thoughts. It might seem really easy to quickly type a 140 character Tweet that you've just thought of. Well, hold that thought. Make sure it's one of your "I should write that down somewhere" thoughts and not one of your "Um...good story..." thoughts. Food, for instance, falls in the "Um...good story..." category. Unless you did something AMAZING with it, like build a workable desk out of apples or write a press release for Frito Lay using only potato ships shaped into words, then chances are no one cares about your food intake.

4. Channel your frustration into Twitter success. Don't get overwhelmed by your Tweet Deck constantly telling you every other second that 375637856378563 people have just updated their Twitter and there's no way you can read every single one. Half of those updates probably aren't even worth your while anyway. So. Focus on the ones that are. Then go back to those OFTEN. ReTweet those people. If they have blog they reference, follow it. Become a Twitter companion. The more REAL friends you have, the better your life is, right? And when life gets tough, you lean against those friends. So don't take your frustration out on Twitter.

5. Never underestimate your Twitter knowledge. You don't know a lot about Twitter. "Yes I do!" you exclaim, "I spend 4 hours on Twitter every day!" Well, while you're on Twitter, Twitter headquarters, who, by the way, is the top social media company in Fortune 100 companies, have put their thinking caps on to come up with even better ways to use Twitter. Make sure to check their links, pages, whatever else they offer on their site to see what they're up to. And don't forget to keep up on the web outside of Twitter. You don't want to become a Twitter addict, just a Twitter genius.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Could middle school actually be fun??

Remember middle school? Try to dig it out of the drawer in your memory labeled "Let's Just Forget This Happened, ok?" Still foggy? Herein lies my point: middle school isn't much fun for most people. Awkward, acne, and attitude are a few words that come to mind on the subject.

However, there is at least ONE teacher, now published author, that tried to make it fun. More than just fun--a roller coaster ride of emotional fun.

Check out this interview in The Pittsburgh Examiner to get to know the coolest teacher around. Then, if you feel robbed of a middle school experience (the cool kind), check out his website for more info.

Happy schooling!

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

DEbranding to INcrease brand awareness

Someone in the marketing department at corporate Starbucks must be having a good month. Only someone feeling creative, innovative, and unrestricted would be able to come up with adding booze to the menu, free ice cream giveaways, free pastries (only this morning!!), and now trial DEbranding a few of their stores.

Well, we say debranding, but my opinion (and Starbucks' too most likely--we're similar in genius thought) is that they are actually branding their name even more. How so? You've heard about Twitter, facebook, and other insanely popular social networking sites, right? They're allll about connecting people. Connecting people in similar areas, interests, markets, industries, businesses, ideas, opinions, and pretty much anything else you can connect about. Starbucks is simply applying the same strategy to a few of their Seattle locations--connecting with the locals and the nearby community.

If all goes according to plan, we'll soon be hearing how Starbucks cares SO much about their customers that they want to adapt their locations to their customers likings. They'll be known for catering to their customers, being unafraid to think outside of the box, and paving this new marketing road for others to follow.

Think it will work? Time will only tell. We'll give you an update when we hear of anything!

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Free Ice Cream!

We love free stuff. We love free stuff even MORE when it's in conjunction with social media. (It's all the rage, you know.) So we've got to give props to Starbucks and Unilever for offering 280,000 free pints of its new ice cream to facebook users.

Through July 19, you can visit Apps.facebook.com/starbucksicecream and try your luck. At the top of every hour, you will have a chance to give a pint of Starbucks ice cream to a friend or family member. Here's a TIP, download the app only a few minutes after the hour, or all 800 pints will already be gone. (We know, we tried it.) Although the promotion encourages participants to send the treat to friends, if you don't feel like sharing you can send the coupon to yourself... yeah, we're greedy too.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

A Whopper of an Ad

All bloggers most likely know about famous celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. After all, he's the one that helped start the blogging phenomenon with his blunt comments, unsubtle remarks, and off the wall sayings (his latest favorite is "amazeballs"). He's one of a kind. So, being a blogger, we check his site every minute of every day--er, I mean every now and then.

Today we found his comments about this ad. Looks like the advertising and marketing team over at Burger King have taken the crown for the loud, sexual, over the top ad of the month. And hey, loud, sexual, and over the top works. Why is it fast food that always takes it up to the sexual notch? Fast food is definitely not sexy. Tasty, yes. Sexy, no.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

When in tough times...

If you don't know about Daily Candy by now then you must be living under a very large rock. I wake up every morning and gleefully check my Inbox where I have emails from Daily Candy Dallas (where I live), Daily Candy Atlanta (where I'm from), Daily Candy New York (because I like to be in the know), Daily Candy Travel Deals on Tuesdays, and last, but definitely not least, Daily Candy Weekend Guide on Thursdays. It's a fabulous way to stay informed about amazing deals, delicious treats and eats, and trendy hot spots around town. If you aren't signed up I suggest you do so now.

Sometimes, because I love Daily Candy so much, I peruse the website to make sure I haven't missed anything. Sure enough, I happened to miss the opening of a cute boutique store called I'm that Grrrl in the Bishop Arts District in Dallas. The catch? Nothing is over $100. Now that's what I call safe shopping.


In these depressing economic times it's important for any business, in any industry, to let their customers know they're taking extra steps to help them through the tough times. I'm That Grrl will appeal to Dallas shoppers because a.) It's in a trendy new spot, b.) It's swanky and chic, and c.) It's AFFORDABLE. Whether I'm That Grrl will keep prices under $100 forever doesn't matter, it's the fact that they're doing it NOW.

Another example? Across the pond, Mr. Jimmy Choo is lending his stylistic expertise to the fashionable and affordable H&M clothing store. H&M has teamed up with other well known designers before such as Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld. It just gives me warm fuzzies all over to know that I can shop Jimmy Choo at an affordable, reasonable price. Who knows if H&M will continue to pair up on collections in the future (I hope they do!), but again, it's the fact that they're doing it NOW, with an expensive, famous, couture designer, that makes H&M customers know they're shopping at the right place.

Lesson learned? Adjust for your target customers. They'll appreciate the effort and stay loyal.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

New light on Old media

I thought this was a billboard worth mentioning. Designed by Colenso BBDO for TV3, they incorporate and existing light into the design. An excellent use of a somewhat obtrusive lighting source.


Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea