Category / Thinking & Musing

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Pregnancy by questions

No, I haven’t abandoned you. I’ve been blogging a bit about babies elsewhere, and drafting and redrafting a book review that I will publish soon, honest gov.

Of course, it’s babies on the brain around here, as I practice my relaxation and breathing, argue with doctors over prescribing me antibiotics that clearly state they’re not to be taken during pregnancy and battle to make sure all my ducks are in a row before I leave work in four weeks (gulp).

It’s going to be so strange not working, but I have good intentions to keep up with everything religiously so I’m well-informed and ready to bounce back when I return. Good intentions that might fall by the wayside with my sleeping patterns, but at least the determination is there! I enjoy my job, and want to make sure a long break won’t affect it.

In the meantime, I’m now fielding more and more of The Questions, since I’m showing quite prominently now. There’s also The Comments (“you don’t look big enough for nearly seven months!” – er, thanks), but The Questions are a lot more unsettling. They seem to fall into rough trimester categories too:

First trimester / just post-announcement:

“Was it planned? / Were your trying?” Two questions so personal that if anyone stopped to think what they meant they’d never, ever ask them again.

“Do you want a boy or a girl?” I dunno. I’m kinda hoping for a kitten.

Second trimester / starting to show:

“How do you feel? / Do you feel sick?” Not. Everyone. Gets. Morning. Sickness. Also, I’m now paranoid I look as tired as I feel…

“Do you know what it is yet?” A baby?

“Are you going to find out what it is?” You mean, am I going to tell you. Maybe.

“I suppose it’s easier to buy for them once you know what they are, isn’t it?” Only if you live for stereotypes…

Third trimester:

“How long do you have left?” In life? Who knows?

“Aren’t first babies always late?” *sigh* No. Also, ‘late’ and ‘early’ are faintly ridiculous terms when you consider that anything from 38 weeks to 42 weeks is a normal, full term pregnancy.

“Are you nervous?” Nah, not at all. Facing up to pushing a 7-10lb butterball out of myself for the first time, knowing that it’s a perfectly natural process but beset with negative impressions of childbirth from ridiculously inaccurate media portrayals doesn’t get to me in the slightest. *stare*

“Have you thought of a name?” Yes. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is.

In all seriousness, I sound much crankier than I actually feel, and I don’t really mind people asking me things; it’s nice that they care, or at least make a show of caring! Just once in a while it would be nice if the pattern varied, but hey, I’m sure I’ve done it myself in the past.

And once she’s out, I’ll probably default back to The Questions towards other people, too. Oops.

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Election 2010: Do Ealing’s candidates have a good online presence?

This is a very brief, and, I admit, not in-depth look at the way the candidates in my constituency (Ealing Central & Acton) belonging to the three largest parties are presenting themselves online in the run-up to the General Election, because I find it fascinating. Please let me reiterate that this is my blog and these are my words; my employer is not relevant to this post and the organisation is strictly non-partisan.

I’ve only included the main three because they’re the only ones with a hope in Hell of winning. Besides which, lovely as it is to have the widespread choices of a Libertarian, an independent, a Green and a UKIP representative, I was never going to vote for any of them anyway. The constituency is new, but is considered a Labour-held area as until recently it was partly Ealing North (under Stephen Pound) and mostly Ealing, Acton & Shepherd’s Bush (under Andrew Slaughter, who has gone with the White City / Shepherd’s Bush chunk).

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Labour: Bassam Mahfouz

His website is a bit DIY, but obviously I approve of his use of WordPress.  He’s obviously embraced the web in some way for some time as there are posts going back to 2008, but an awful lot of the monthly archives have just one post.  This picks up considerably at the beginning of this year, but is it too much to ask for someone who cares about the area to be updating on a regular basis all year round, and not just when election fever strikes?

The blog posts that are there, however, tend to stick to active campaigns in the area rather than relentless slagging off other parties (there’s a dig at the Conservative uncertainty over Crossrail, but given how big an impact that would have on Ealing I call that allowable), which is refreshing.

There’s no whiff of a Twitter feed, but there is a Facebook group. I await my request to join to be confirmed so that I can see if it’s particularly active or interesting; disappointing that it’s not a page as it suggests a rather closed style of communication. So close to an election, should I have to wait to communicate? There’s also a feed of general Labour news.

I’d probably characterise this approach as cautiously open, which is a start.

Liberal Democrats: Jon Ball

If I’m not mistaken, Jon’s blog has undergone a design change (mainly for the better, though it’s made the header unreadable) in recent days. Again he’s a bit of a fairweather blogger, but in fairness he does explain that he had let the blog lapse and is re-starting it after mainly spending his time on Facebook.  This time it’s a profile instead of a page, which again I find disappointing; I don’t want to be best mates with my MP, or to have them see any of my information, I just want to be able to access them easily online.

Jon does have a Twitter feed, though, which is properly streamed into his Blogger-based site. I would love to see more about him and more about Ealing on it; again I suspect this is a symptom of the election, but I’m tired about hearing why Labour and Conservative parties are wrong or old hat – there’s been enough of that from Saint Nick. I want to know about Jon Ball and his campaigns in Ealing. His blog is considerably better at communicating these, in between the press releases about Nick’s surge (which just makes me think of childbirth – ‘surges’ are what hypnobirthing practitioners call contractions) and what the Evening Standard said about the Lib Dems.

Given he works in TV and film, I would have expected Jon’s online offerings to be the most media-savvy and marketing-savvy and so, to give him credit, they are. It’s not always appealing, but it is always open.

Conservatives: Angie Bray

The only candidate for whom I haven’t received a leaflet in the post, so the only one I would judge entirely online, Angie goes for the middle ground with her website. It’s not a blog, but it’s not impersonal. Because it’s not a blog, it gets away with the irregularity of news additions, though it’s a shame they’re in stilted third person. She does get full marks for being the only one with a boundary map of the new constituency (the council’s own website still hasn’t been update to reflect the boundary changes, and there were no mailings of any sort to explain the changes to a perplexed electorate).

There’s a survey section, which is promising but sadly doesn’t deliver a great deal; one active poll has been running for a while and there’s only one previous one.  There are some personal areas, such as ‘How I See It’ and plenty of opportunities to get in contact, but aside from the polls no public spaces for doing so. There are no Twitter, Facebook, thread comments or similar.

It’s the most professional looking offering – and the least likely to snark at the other parties – but sadly the most distant (ironically enough, since locally I’ve been told by people in the area that Angie’s very approachable by email; it would be nice if she lived up to that online).

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I can’t say that online representation would ultimately sway my hand from one party to another in the polling booth. I’m also not nearly simplistic enough to believe this tells me much about the general parties. In hack’s hands, I could see the headlines: Labour “a bit DIY”, LibDems “media savvy”, Conservatives “a bit distant”. Chortle, chortle, and everyone returns to their preconceived tribe. But it does tell me a bit about how the candidates want to be seen, and that in itself is very interesting indeed.

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Hypnobirthing, nurseries and clothes

There’s no doubt about it; it’s been baby-on-the-brain around here quite a lot in the last few weeks. It’s inevitable, really, as you hit the mid-point of a pregnancy and have the scans that confirm the gender and the general health of the baby so far. It’s almost like you’re given carte blanche to finally enjoy your pregnancy; up until then it’s all “don’t tell anyone until 12 weeks!” (as if that magically protects you) and “do you know what it is?!” and “do you feel sick?” (for the record, no. I never got sick).

And I am quite enjoying it. I appreciate that this is because I’ve had a bit of a textbook pregnancy, with few strong symptoms and nothing that’s too tricky to handle. The worst part has been the restricted lung capacity, given I walk up stairs to work and was pretty unfit to begin with, but I’m not using it as an excuse not to exercise; now that I have my energy back – the first trimester was quite sleepy, tis true – I am swimming two or three times a week and walking as much as possible. Nothing earth shattering, but at least the minimum I can do to make sure Bumplet is getting her due.

I’ve also been doing a lot of relaxation practice, breathing, affirmations and visualisation as part of hypnobirthing preparation. You can read about what it is over at BitchBuzz but suffice to say I’ve already begun to feel a lot more confident about the birthing process in general.  Not that I would ever suggest for a second that bad pregnancy symptoms are caused by a stressed mother or anything, but I do wonder if my lack of stressing about it is contributing to the general positive, healthy feeling.

Funny thing is, after last year’s battery of gallstone removal, glandular fever and dreadful cold after fluey, dreadful cold, I feel completely and utterly healthy. Even though I’m immunosuppressed (pregnancy does that). Weird.

Anyway, the nursery is now almost ready; just a nursing chair and a single bed for me left to buy, and I’ll do that when I’m on leave as I can schedule the deliveries better. I can’t believe there’s only 9 weeks to go before I have a month’s holiday followed by a planned nine months maternity leave. I am having the odd panic about that; I’ve not taken this long a break from work since coming out of full time education, and it does seem strange. I worry about keeping myself relevant and involved in the industry when I don’t have time to follow and tweet, and can only hope that I plunge back into the social media world as swiftly and decisively as I plunged into it in the first place.

We seem to be up to our eyes in 0-3 months clothing too. I doubt my daughter will have time to wear it all before she outgrows it! And speaking of outgrowing clothes, I’m thrilled to find that I’m not doing so as quickly as I’d feared; I’m still getting by on:

1 x maternity jeans

1 x maternity black trousers

1 x maternity leggings

3 x maternity tops

1 x maternity smart dress

Today I’m wearing a pre-pregnancy dress and I even still fit in some of my zip-sided skirts, although I concede they no longer sit on the hip and therefore ride a lot higher than before. I’ve done the top-to-bottom tape measure bump thing and everything seems to be on course in terms of centimetres to weeks ratio. My weight is about what it should be (it rose suddenly and then plummeted again at one point but I can only assume that since that coincided with doing more exercise that doesn’t really mean anything. Especially as I do replace my exercise calories!).

I’d be amazed if anyone other than a curious pregnant woman or a reminiscing mother was still with me at this point, but if you are I appreciate your dedication. As a reward, I offer you a link to something I read yesterday which I found so honest, simple and truthful that it has stuck in my mind since I clicked on the link. If nothing else, it certainly proves – should anyone doubt it – that teenagers can be insightful and eloquent:

Steph Bowe: Body Image

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Easter memories, cats and kids

For the first time in ages, Greek Orthodox and Catholic Easter coincide; what’s more, they’ll do so again next year. I haven’t done my Holy Week fast this year on the grounds that I’m rubbish and also sort-of exempt. I’m not sure pregnancy counts as an illness, really, but it does mean that I’m a bit more aware of the things that need to be in my diet, like calcium and protein, and I don’t have a vegan’s – or even veggie’s – decent awareness of how to get them from plant matter. Oh yeah, surprise! If you didn’t already know, I’m having a baby this year.

I have been blogging about it; just not here. If you like rants about cats and toxoplasmosis, the myths surrounding morning sickness and the way gender stereotypes are reinforced before the womb has even been exited, you can find them in my other, oft-neglected, more personal blog.

Mum is currently brewing up some dyed eggs (the traditional red, but also some yellow and green) so we can introduce my in-laws to the concept of egg-smashing on Sunday. They, in turn, took my parents through the world’s most abridged Passover Seder night ever. The eggs were always my favourite part of the post-fast fun, but funnily enough it’s not the memories of obliterating eggshell that always come to mind when I see them, freshly coloured and polished with a little olive oil, heaped in an obliging pile on the table. No, those memories are upstaged by a cat.

One of my parents’ late cats, Zoey, was an absolutely brilliant footballer. No kitten ball, rolled up bit of foil or bottle cap was safe. And one pre-Easter morning, we awoke to find strange patches of blue on the carpet. Even more bewilderingly, we found strange patches of blue on Zoey. It was only after a few minutes, when we saw her leave the room and then heard a rhythmic ‘tock… tock… tock…’ down the corridor that we discovered she’d nicked a blue-dyed egg from the table and was enthusiastically dribbling it down the hallways. Luckily the dye was non-toxic, but we learned to always keep the eggs tucked away from the cats after that.

God willing, this is my last Pesach and Easter without a child. Next year, my daughter will still be too young to know the stories, but I’ll make sure she gets used to the sound of matzo cracking and eggs smashing, and the tastes of sweet haroset and rich roast lamb. I look forward to her developing her own memories of both, and telling me one day what Easter eggs make her think of. And I’ll tell her all about Zoey, too.

Happy celebrations, if you have them. And if you don’t, then just enjoy the time off!

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Pecha Kucha @ Hill & Knowlton’s Demystifying Digital | To pay to measure or not?

I know, I know. I abandon you for a month and then come back with two topics in one blog post! I offer an olive branch and promise my radio silence shall be explained soon.

This afternoon was spent catching the tail end of Hill & Knowlton‘s ‘private but open’ Demystifying Digital event which was planned by the EMEA team and meant a quite different audience to the ones I’m used to; that said, the familiar face of the WWF’s Ade was there, which was lovely. I was asked by EMEA Head of Planning Candace Kuss to come along and do a Pecha Kucha (aka Ignite) style presentation as part of five such quick-fire offerings.

For those unfamiliar with the format, it’s a strictly five-minute slot, with 20 slides – generally graphics-heavy and imaginative – which forward on regardless after 15 seconds. I was placed between two of Canada’s finest, Brendan Hodgson and David Jones – the latter of which I suspect I accidentally stalk at all H&K events – who made excellent points about crisis management and the make-up of the social media team respectively, and delivered a whistlestop tour of Dogs Trust’s journey into digital from some very traditional roots in traditional marketing back in the early days of Sponsor a Dog in the 1960s.

You can see tweets and updates from the event by searching the tag #HKD2.

There were also presentations from FIAT, about their foray into social media and partnership with Spotify over the launch of the modern retro (if that’s not too much of an oxymoron) Cinquecento, the BBC about the empowerment social media can lend oppressed communities and Facebook about the surge in popularity of online communities.

So, all in all, worth looking up and learning about. I was filmed waffling about social media during lunch as well, so sadly some clip (undoubtedly laboriously edited to make me look less daft) of me might well assail you at some point. I thank the very hard working team for a smoothly run event and for their kind invitation to speak; I’m just sorry I missed most of it as I was needed at Dogs Trust HQ.

And so to my other point, which is more of a call for information. I got chatting to Candace – whom I think is quite, quite brilliant, by the way, so prepare for more gushing in the future – about the monitoring software H&K uses to track social media for clients. They use a system provided by Sysomos, and we’ve taken a look at similar systems in the past. However, I’m still not entirely convinced we need to pay for a monitoring tool. Given the nature of what we do and what we measure, I think we can get buy perfectly well with free / cheap tools. Certainly it’s not as convenient (and there might be some financial value to be placed on the amount of time saved, but I don’t think that adds up to all that much), but there’s plenty of useful and valuable information to be had without spending a single pound.

So, I’d love to know your experiences. Do you use a comprehensive paid-for monitoring tool? Do you prefer free tools? Which are your favourites? What is the value of either? Is a paid for tool only really useful for a huge company that might need to do be on the alert for future crisis management?

I can think of copious excellent applications for an all-round system, but I’m wavering on the usefulness to the specific organisation I work with. Any feedback would help me chew through the issues all the better, so please, feel free.

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Dogs Trust at the 1st Annual JustGiving Awards

I won’t repeat myself here, but simply direct you over to the Dogs Trust Blog, where I gave my thoughts about the privilege of attending such a great celebration of people power in fundraising.

I know I can sound a bit sentimental at times, but if you can’t be moved by people worked so hard to help others then what on Earth will ever move you?

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Fundraising on Facebook, the ad hoc way

This week, we broke our own rules. We asked for money on a social network, and we did it without a particular goal in mind, because it seemed like a good idea.

The full story is on the Dogs Trust blog, but essentially it came down to trying to give our Facebook supporters a common goal, and a reason to engage with the page beyond getting answers to their questions and reading the odd blog post. Obviously, long term we have to offer more than that, and we plan to, but being just after Christmas – January is our busiest time of year – it seemed serendipity was on our side.

There are a few things I would do differently in hindsight (we had plans for a special Facebook thank you certificate that didn’t happen for a variety of reasons, which I think is a shame; wondering if there’s still time to do it), but for an unplanned ask, it really showed how very generous people can be if they feel they’re being appreciated.

“It’s more personal than an standing order from your bank”, commented on supporter, and she’s right. It is. Several people wanted us to remind them to give every month! But we are aware that just under 1% of the page ‘fans’ took part – that’s 99% who want to be engaged differently. Another suggested doing this every January, in the spirit of our slogan, “a dog is for life, not just for Christmas”. I thought that was a lovely idea.

I found myself very personally touched by each and every person who took part, and by the way they egged each other on and kept the message going. In the end, it was not about the total or the ask, but about watching the force of the community in action; something that does even the most jaded community manager’s heart good.

People will tell you how they would like to be approached, be it for fundraising, volunteering or just to spread the message. Sometimes you’ll be able to use their ideas and sometimes you won’t; either way it’s nice to have them, and easy to show appreciation for the time they’ve taken to share. The beauty of the social web – and this is no way unique to the tools we happened to use this time, Facebook and PayPal – is that it allows for quick assessment of ideas and, if they work, a quick turnaround. It took ten minutes from my musing on the community to Jacqui’s idea to the first fundraising message. If it had failed, it would have cost us nothing but an hour of our time, and given us untold valuable information about how our community likes to be spoken with (not to. Never to).

We’re not suddenly going to become fundraisers. We are still, primarily, a community-building digital marketing team. But digital is at its best when it can integrate itself across different areas, and it doesn’t hurt to have another metric by which to assess your objectives.

Our community placed their trust in us, and we have to make sure we keep earning it.

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Community management skills: growing a thick skin

At some point in every community manager’s / social media professional’s life, there will come the Thick Skin Moment.

Actually, if we’re honest, it’ll happen with a fair amount of regularity. I always think I’m more immune to it than most, since before being a community manager, I did my time as software technical support. There is potentially little that is more dispiriting than being a support officer, since every single person who calls, emails or writes to you is doing so because something (that you have little control over) has failed. But you learn some valuable lessons from it, since you have to remember the frustration of being in their shoes and keep reminding yourself that they don’t know you personally and that they think of you as a company entity.

Company entities are untouchable, after all, right? They’re not real people, they don’t have emotions, they can’t have had a bad day, too. Most of the time, I had little sympathy for these entities even when I was one. Good customer service means absolutely putting yourself in the customer’s shoes and understanding their position. It’s showing that the company is understanding, helpful and responsive.

If I say so myself, I’m generally good at that!

Of course, sometimes things go wrong. Short-staffing is often the main culprit – things slide down the agenda and in the ultra-time sensitive world of social media that’s a Very Bad Thing. It is; I know it, and I try to practice the constant monitoring and updating I preach, knowing it’s easier with a bigger team, etc etc. And also knowing excuses don’t cut it; you just have to do your job well and consistently. If you mess up, you apologise. End of.

For all of that, sometimes a barb that I don’t think is fully deserved gets through that toughened hide. The public complaint that comes out of the blue, without any attempt at a one-on-one resolution. The advice which is little more than an insult. The threat from the person who disagrees with your rules and regulations (despite the fact that they’re clearly stated).

What can you do? Aside from doing your absolute, honest, level best not to let it become a situation again if you can possibly avoid it, that is. Not a lot. Smile, take a deep breath, respond rationally and politely and remember that you, too, will have ranted at someone at some time, publicly, when you probably shouldn’t have. Social media make that kinda easy. If you can’t be polite, take some time out and let someone else do it. Have a cup of tea and repeat after me: “It ain’t personal, no matter how much it feels like it”.

Actually, maybe there is another thing. Maybe next time you’re a customer, you can remember a few things that would make the exchange so much more pleasant for everyone concerned. Maybe you can say to yourself:

I will try and deal with this politely before I start being critical, and I’ll name and shame only if I’m getting a genuinely bad experience that it’s really important to go public about.

Basically, I’ll use social media for a good, positive outcome.

Honestly, I’m not intending this post as a ‘woe-is-me’ complaint, nor a snark-fest. It’s more that realisation that, as I’m learning to be a better social media professional, I can also learn to be a better person who uses social media.

Huh. I should contact Jerry Springer with that. It must be Final Thought material, right?

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Fat Mokus wishes you Happy Holidays!

I haven’t blogged in an age, but who needs apologies for Internet slackness when picture of a fat squirrel* will do instead. This specimen was snapped by Ashley this lunchtime when he was out walking in the last of the London snow.

Happy Whatever You Do or Don’t Celebrate to you all.

A. x

*Mokus is the Hungarian word for squirrel. I am not Hungarian; however, I have Hungarian friends who in the past labelled Ashley “The Mokus”. This is why my Twitter name is @mokuska (“little squirrel”). Strange, and not that interesting, huh?

by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein

Brand Republic Twitter Event (#BR140)

I’m a little late writing this up as it happened on Tuesday, but luckily my mental age is not so advanced that I can’t think back two days (provided you’re not asking me what I had for dinner).

Brand Republic‘s Twitter Event: Winning Formulas (sic)* to Maximise the Potential of Twitter, was targetted as a workshop for people only just dipping a toe into Twitter, and involved the following:

  • An introduction to Twitter and examples of good and bad use by brands from Mark Palmer (@MaverickMark)
  • A case study from me about @dogstrust
  • An interview between Brand Republic’s outgoing editor Gordon MacMillan (@GordonMacMillan) and Dan from Innocent, the smoothie company (@innocentdrinks)
  • A panel involving me, my ex-Shiny colleague Stuart Waterman – now Web Editor of karaoke chain Lucky Voice (@luckyvoice) and Kerry Bridge, Head of Digital Communication at Dell (@KerryatDell)

I feel quite happy with the approach I’ve taken recently in analysing events not in terms of a step-by-step run through – you can get that by doing a hashtag search for #BR140 – but by doing a few positive and negative take-outs from the day.

The Good:

  • The interview format for Dan worked very well, and having someone there from a big, recognisable brand talking with absolute honesty about their failures as well as their successes was fantastic. His positive attitude towards Innocent’s followers and faith in transparency and honesty were refreshing. It helps that he’s an engaging speaker. Taking it away from the speaker and presentation format – which I’m not knocking, especially as it worked for me! – was timely and added more of a workshop feel.
  • Pitching was to the right level of audience, and the different items on the programme rolled fluidly from one to the other. Around 25% of the people there hadn’t used Twitter before, and most of them seemed a lot more confident and happy at the thought by the end of the day.
  • As a speaker, I appreciated the thoughtful organisation done by Mark beforehand, who invited questions from us that the panel could address (as a backup in case the audience was uncertain) and reminded us of the key areas to cover.
  • The balance of the panel and speakers was good. Agencies, start ups, charities and big corporations were all given their due which, to a mixed audience, was important. We all want to know we’re getting ideas from ‘people like us’ at the same time as opening our minds to behaving differently. I relentlessly tweeted quotes from Dan because it was nice to know that a big company has the same attitude to tweeting as us!
  • I have to give a heads-up to the lovely scones, jam, cream and tea. Mmm.

The Bad:

  • There wasn’t much really. We had a bit of a technology fail, which was mostly down to a Mac’s screen resolution getting pissy with the projector screen. It really could have been worse, though.

The Standout Take-Outs:

  • Mark’s exhortations to be honest – if there’s one thing worse than a fail, it’s a fail that’s blamed suspiciously on people unable to defend themselves *cough* Habitat intern *cough*.
  • Dan’s “just go and do it” advice. We operate on much the same principle. And I would advocate always trying out the tools under your own name first before trying to do it professionally; in fact I suggest it very strongly every time a new centre wants to tweet for us!
  • Kerry’s advice to deal with crises in the right space; if people are worrying on Twitter and YouTube, respond there, taking every step you reasonably can to offer good customer service.
  • Stuart’s reminder that it’s supposed to be fun, and that people following might not mind being sold to occasionally, but that’s not why they signed up. Be prepared to go off-topic and off-beat to get really engaged followers.

The Summary:

You probably won’t want to attend the next such event in February if you’re already confident and opinionated about Twitter, as it’ll probably be a touch too basic. But if you’re floundering, it’s a good, non-judgemental environment in which to air concerns and have your questions answered, from basic how-to (someone asked about hashtags, for example) to worries about time management.

Then again, even if you are pretty confident, you can never know it all about Twitter and you can always learn from someone else’s example.

 

*The actual plural is ‘formulae’. Given my wealth of typos, it’s probably wrong that this bothers me as much as it does.