River Cottage eNews Love

Although I am a self confessed unsubscriber of eNews. I still get excited when I receive a thought out and well designed eNewsletter. This month I am praising the River Cottage newsletter for their content and multi channel integration.

View the River Cottage eNews online here:
My top five loves of this eNewsletter include:

1. Brand style
2. Calls to site/action
3. Content
4. Related social media links
5. And I especially like the fact that they are using the eNewsletter to promote/drive others with their community section (see photo).

One thing River Cottage 'could do better' is to consider the timing of the content rich eNews. I received this one (link mentioned above) at around 2pm. Open rate of the newsletter would work more effectively (re readership & engagement) if dispatch times were further considered.

Thoughts: The content rich e-news would better suit an evening slot, for those social media 'night time browsers' and 'midnight social media link delvers' like me. I would suggest a short bullet enews around breakfast time and follow it up with the meaty content after 6pm.

It's all about the timing ;)

Best Big Sister Ever Ode

Happy Birthday to my Big Sister Maxine,
If I was to rate her against a Pedicure she would be pristine,
She is the best Big Sister a Little Sister could ever need,
She talks a lot of sense and has a passion to succeed,
A fantastic role model and fabulous friend,
Although her OCD can sometimes drive you round the bend,
I love her so much and so pleased to have given her nephew Mason Tate,
He's such a lucky little man as she's simply great,
I am looking forward to holidays together when we are grey and old,
There will be lots of funny stories to be told,
Before this though, a happy birthday message needs to be displayed,
Well done Maxine for being you and for you I have hip hip hip horrayed x

Calpol launch iPhone App

Late last night / early morning, after I has rubbed a Nelsons teething sachet into Masons gums, I noted that I had received an email from the Baby Centre website letting me know about the new Calpol App. First thought that was a well timed email (teething hour).

The App was super quick to download and on launch had a lovely feel to it. Very on brand too. I love the dial on the app allowing you to easily select what you want help with. The app also has some very gentle noises as you navigate to new information. More than one child can be registered on the app, which is useful if you use it to monitor dosages.

Calpol have done a great job at keeping an app focused on customer needs and also relating to their key products. A great job well done. (see edit note at base of blog for latest update).

Key features of the Calpol iPhone App are listed below:

Dosage diary – Enabling you to record does given and when you to repeat, with optional timer.

Find my nearest pharmacy or hospital – Uses your location to track the nearest places

Symptom checker – Providing a range of symptoms and conditions to help you find a suitable treatment

Temperature tracker – To help monitor temperatures over the course of an illness

Soothing lullabies – 4 tunes to help soothe your baby

History – To track doses and monitor temperatures

Information on immunisation – A guide to when you should immunise your children, which includes automated immunisation reminders

The new CALPOL® app for the iPhone is free and available for download now from the App Store.

Check it out. This is not a promoted post.

Edit note Feb 18th 2013: Wish the App had ability to add a dose for Calpol and a dose for another drug like Nurofen, also would be useful to monitor how much sleep the parent has actually had, before the poorly or teething baby strikes. Reason for parent sleep tracking, is so we don't have to have a conversation in the morning about the lack of sleep we have both had.  Nothing is achieved by discussing lack of sleep ;)

Big Welcome to my little boy Mason Tate

In June 2011 we found out that we were expecting. After the 12 week mark was passed, I let my employer know. It was rather tricky to announce as it was at a time when we were expanding the Search Marketing division and I was recruiting for a new Search Marketing Executive (potentially two) due to increased wins in the field of Search Marketing (interviews already lined up). Thankfully we found a new graduate in online marketing to join and head up our team. Along with getting ready for the new recruit, giving our clients and partners the confidence that they were in good hands, processes were streamlined to assist the team and I provided several master classes in the field of white hat SEO, PPC and Social Media. As you can imagine from August to February it was very busy indeed and from about October to February, Pregnancy left me exhausted and five days a week life was very much "Work, Tea, Bed".     Marissa Mayer who joined Yahoo as CEO at 6 months pregnant may wish to note that fact, you may want to work, but your body says 'BED'.

I worked right up to a week before my due date. Thankfully little Mason was 2 weeks late, so this gave me time to consider the fact that "I was soon to be a mummy" and listen to my 'Effective Birth Preparation" Podcasts by Maggie Howell.

When Mason arrived on the 25th of February 2012, the lead up time to the arrival day became a distant memory.  I discharged myself the same day (I honestly thought I had been there longer) as we couldn't wait to get him home and settle him in to family life.  I had thought that I would be on call from work and blogging while baby Mason slept, alas Mason had other ideas. He was on a growth spurt for the first 3 months and wanted to be fed around the clock. When he did sleep you find yourself reading up about development milestones, sleeping patterns etc. Your life is very much baby, baby, baby along with making sure you find the time to let your partner know how much you love and appreciate them.

My employer has been fantastic and they have just got on with everything. Although I mentioned that, I would be accepting of phone calls whilst on Maternity leave, I haven't been contacted at all. This is greatly appreciated as the time with your baby from birth is so very very special. As you parade your baby around the streets for the first time, so many people say "awww they aren't that little for long, enjoy it".  As Mason reaches 6 months on Saturday, I am becoming one of those people who say that phrase to new parents.

At around 3 months into mummyhood, you do start to find time for yourself as you start to understand more about your babies cues that they are tired, hungry etc. But then you are then on catch up to do the paperwork you didn't do in your final months. Booking weigh ins, booking jabs, looking for nurseries, reading on the internet about sleeping patterns.  It's all go and I have loved it all.

At 6 months, I am now returning to work from the start of September. A childminder has been found from recommendation for a couple days a week and nurseries have been vetted by me and Mason and the winner will soon be announced. Mason is a real socialable baby so will love the interaction in the day with the other children. Most of the nurseries I took him to, he screamed with delight, so I won't have the guilty feeling of leaving him that some mothers struggle with. Although I will almost certainly miss him. The love that you have for your little baby is so different to anything I have every experienced before, it is much more than awesomely amazing. After sourcing on twitter, before returning to work, I have had support from a life coach, specialising in 'empowering mums', she talks to you about your core values and future aspirations. The initial talk with Tracy has helped loads, I will profile her some more on this blog, as it is something that I will be taking up again once the salary starts coming in (again). If you would like to find out more about it engage with Tracy on Twitter, or visit the Empowering Mums website and sign up to the inspiring newsletter.

Now I have written the above, about what I have been up to in the past year, I don't feel so guilty for not updating my blog. Priorities changed.
I am now back in the blogging game, pleased to return, feeling very ambitious as I look to provide support for the amazing little man in my life Mason.

I need to mention here too that I wouldn't be feeling as positive or ambitious if I didn't have the support from my amazing husband to be, Wayne (Aka Burb). He has been more supportive than I could ever imagined, he is the most amazing partner, Dad, friend that I could have wished for. I love him soooo much, and can't wait for our wedding day.

I am a very lucky mummy indeed.

Talking about how great my life is: I also have to mention that I have the bestest friends in the world and the most fantastic 'on call' parents. Not surprisingly my mum and dad are regular visitors and love their Grandson to bits, having already had two lovely Granddaughters, pleased that Mason can be their special boy.

See you very soon,

Sarah xx

Web Lab at the Science Museum London

Google has teamed up with the Science Museum to create Web Lab, a year-long free exhibition which never sleeps. The exhibition opened
in July 2012. It looks so up my street, will be scheduling a visit for the new year.

The web lab exhibition features a series of interactive Chrome Experiments intended to inspire a new generation of computer scientists and enthusiasts.

To interact with the exhibition in realtime visitors can log on to www.chromeweblab.com where you will be invited to interact with the below five unique experiments.

My favourite Google Web Lab experiment is the 'Lab tab explorer'.

The Google Web Lab experiments:

Universal Orchestra: An Internet-powered eight-piece robotic orchestra.

Sketchbots: Custom-built robots able to take photographs and then sketch them in sand.

Data Tracer: A map that traces where the world’s online information is physically stored.

Teleporter: A series of web-enabled periscopes through which you can instantly access the world happenings.

Lab Tag Explorer: A real-time visualisation of all Web Lab visitors from around the world that groups and categorises participants in a clever way.

Google's Steve Vranakis, creative director of Web Lab, said: "The internet is incredible. It powers our lives everyday, allows us to explore the globe and lets us communicate with friends the world over. Until now, all this magic has remained locked behind our screens"

Web Lab opened - both in London and online on Thursday 19 July and is scheduled to run until Summer 2013. Entry to Web Lab is free.

More information can be found at the links below:

http://sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/weblab.aspx

http://www.chromeweblab.com/

Blog Update July 2011

Quick post, I haven't blogged in a while, over here. But I have been very busy over at the Rocktime Social Blog talking about Channel Optimisation, Local Targeted Campaigns and Social Commerce.

We have had an influx of new Search Marketing wins and are growing the Flashlight Search Marketing team at Rocktime, if you would like to work with me, find out more at the link below. Good luck ;)

Fab digital marketing vacancy Search Marketing Assistant @rocktimesocial in Poole http://t.co/0NPyAjcCloses 25th July.

Rocktime Blogs in March 2011

As I manage the Rocktime Blog, sharing the blogs I wrote this month. Interestingly the goal posts changed on the blog post plan; alot Twitter posts this month. What I really wanted to blog about was the Google Panda update, if I get round to blogging that this month, will edit this post. Simples...

Next month is all going to be about local targeting, local search campaigns. Already have the material, just finalising some research on local deal sites that the team at Rocktime use.

Fiona is also writing a blog about "How easy it is to get a mobile site" - as this seems to be the question on all our clients lips at the moment, so she is talking to Tech and putting pen to paper and emailing the steps out.

On a personal side of things, I am relaunching a cookery blog which hasn't had any activity for a year. Also on this blog, will be heading down blockbusters at the weekend, to try out one of the Games I haven't played yet, that were nominated at the Game Baftas last week, so will post up a game review. Think I might go for Alan Wake, as I love a thriller.

My March Rocktime Blogs

Twitter Security Feature
Very short post mentioning about the HTTPS Only feature in security settings that recently popped up.

Why you should mobilise your website
Following a meeting with the sales team, this post discusses the latest UK Statistics relating to mobile that we believe will help our clients and propects make the move to mobile website development.

Twitter Promotions explained
Following a conversation with a client on increasing social media reach. Wrote a blog about Twitter promotions, outlining the pros and the cons.

TwitRelief campaign: Bid for a celebrity follower
We got tweeted by Suzi Perry from the Gadget Show, and receive a Direct Message with a Kiss too, so had to blog about it, and also help support a good cause.

Feel free to comment ;)