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May 10, 2012
We added two more guys – yes, guys – to the HMA team. The women are nearly outnumbered! The digital world is evolving faster, and we want to not just keep pace, but lead. Our challenges in interactive design and development include merging the science of search engine optimization with multiple coding languages of our client’s large websites. From cultural differences to site architecture differences to security differences, we love the challenge of delivering our client’s message in this cyber jungle.
Jason and LeMaire will be dealing with international email law differences, site architecture done in everything from SharePoint to Cold Fusion to HTML5, content management systems that are all different, as well as our continuously changing best practices for search engine optimization. We welcome them, and are pleased that they were able to make it through our rigorous interview and testing process. Web developers are hard to come by — we are glad to get two of the smartest ones out there and to be blessed with enough work for them and our regular band of freelancers. Check back in six months to see if they agree that they have never worked harder and learned so much, and to see what they have taught us!
May 1, 2012
This past Sunday I participated in the March for Babies. The March of Dimes, with a goal of getting one step closer to help moms have full-term pregnancies, hosts this event every year.
This walk and cause really hit me in the heart. For me, this is personal, and it’s my duty to help in any way I can by raising money for research, to find a cure and to discover why babies are born prematurely.
When I was born, I was only 4 pounds and 6 ounces and arrived four to five weeks early. My mother and I were rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section. Both my life and my mom’s life were in danger. I spent the first weeks of my life in an incubator until my lungs were fully developed and I could breath on my own. Without the help of the March of Dimes, I just might not be here today to help other families.
As you can tell, this is very personal for me. On Sunday, when I looked around the Johnson & Johnson Facility, I saw tons of families with T-shirts featuring little angels that were not so lucky. I also saw many babies growing strong with the help of the March of Dimes and others with stories like mine. It was a day of both celebration and mourning. It made me very thankful to know there are families, friends, co-workers and employers helping this cause.
I encourage all of you to take a look at the March of Dimes website and learn more about the people working together for healthier, stronger babies.
On a personal note, I’m happy to see that the March of Dimes – Lancaster County, Pa. is so close to reaching their goal of $270,000. Thank you to everyone in Lancaster, Pa. for your hard work and for making our walk on Sunday a special one.
April 19, 2012
Churning out work. Multi-tasking. Chaos. We thrive on all of these things at HMA. But lately we’ve been so busy we haven’t even had time to acknowledge Innovation Day. It’s the day of the week where we all come to the table with the latest and greatest in technology and news regarding the many industries we work with every day. In case you can’t tell, it’s my favorite day of the week. Here’s what we discussed today:
Dan shared a story about the development of a revolutionary nanotechnological process that creates a waterproof, magnetic, antibacterial paper. We all agreed Forbes’ technology column is a must-follow.
If MacBook Pro and the iPad had a baby, this is what the end result would probably look like. Then the foodie in Sam drooled over this lickable wallpaper. The rest of us gagged over all the many things wrong with this concept.
Dianne and the rest of the team weighed in on Facebook’s recent purchase of Instagram for $1 billion. It may have been a smart business decision, but only time will tell what is truly in store for Instagram.
Aaron shared some interesting downloadable actions for Photoshop. They help ease your workflow and simplify certain advanced Photoshop techniques like creating maps for example.
Cliplets is a marriage of photos and videos, or in other words it’s the app that helps you create those Harry Potter-esque moving photos. The only downside, Zach said, was that it’s currently only available for Windows.
As usual, Drew had multiple fun things to share. Russia is upping their Internet security. Plus, two of the oldest libraries in Europe, the Vatican Library and the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are digitizing their collections of ancient texts from greats like Homer, Sophocles and Plato.
My innovation was Google’s announcement of Brand Activate. This initiative is working to help re-imagine online measurements. While Internet advertising industry does need to revamp and universalize the way it measures key metrics, but we’re not convinced Brand Activate is the best way to do this.
Amanda shared that researchers predict cell phones will possess x-ray capabilities at a distance of about four inches. We decided there are some things we’d rather just not see.
Rita shared Wavii, a fun new way to consume news feeds for any given topic. We wonder if Facebook’s news feed is up for the challenge.
What innovative news have you recently stumbled on? We’d love to hear about it!
April 16, 2012
There are so many resources out there today and to just to pick a few is a challenge. For me to stay in the groove of things, I find myself surfing the web and reading others’ posts on the weekends or after hours. I try to do the following things on a regular basis to help me maintain a creative mind. Maybe they will inspire you.
- Write it down! Carry a notebook wherever you go. You never know when creativity will strike.
- Brainstorm and bounce ideas off other people. This is a great way to see things from another perspective.
- Hike. Go for a walk. These are both ways to get your juices flowing and at the same time stay healthy. Your brain begins to function, blood is pumping and pretty soon the ideas will start to flow.
- Be a rule BREAKER! Don’t break the law, but think outside the box. Sometimes not following the rules of design can benefit you and what you’re creating.
- Shake your habits. This one is a challenge for me, but I do break the mold on some things and creativity is one. One thing we do here at HMA that I like: we try to have lunch with a different person AT LEAST once a week. Get out of the office and away from the computer. Your brain is the engine driving you.
- Find what works for you. If music helps you get in a creative mood, listen to the music that drives you. For me, I’m most creative when I’m in a room by myself and I tone everything out around me.
- Take a picture everyday and post it on Instagram, Flickr or another social network.
- Join a club, whether it’s a book club, photography club or bird watching club. Get out and meet new people with different backgrounds and styles.
What are other ways you like to stay creative?
April 11, 2012
178 is the number. According to an Altimeter Group study, this is the average number of social media accounts that exist across large companies. And that number is only expected to increase as more social media tools become available and individual business units, and even locations, clamor for their own personalized piece of the pie.
How can a social media manager balance the need to reach today’s customers in their preferred outlets with the importance of maintaining an organized, disciplined social media approach for the company? Now is the time for a spring cleaning. The process begins with cleaning out all of the ineffective tools in a company’s social media closet. As Rob Key from iMedia Connection notes, the sheer number of social media accounts can overwhelm the company and prevent useful tools from reaching their potential. Next, the essential accounts can be dusted off and spruced up. Focus on those that generate the most customer interaction, offer solid monitoring and feedback tools, or those where your competitors have a strong presence. Developing performance metrics based on the company’s needs is critical.
With attention now only on the most productive socia media tools, a company can better tailor their messaging for potential customers that don’t use the same channels as more traditional customers. These connected customers expect relevant and timely information. But, when a company gets it right, people are more likely to share that information with others. Do you want to reach the audience of your audience with fewer tools? A good social media spring cleaning can bring more than extra closet space.
What are some social media tools that your company should clean out this spring? Which ones are collecting dust that shouldn’t be?
April 4, 2012
Where do you weigh-in on collaboration vs. solitude? There are lots of articles and blogs that espouse the virtues of team brainstorming sessions vs. working on your own to accomplish goals. Susan Cain wrote a great article titled “The Rise of the New Groupthink.” One method shouldn’t be mutually exclusive of the other, so I agree with Ms. Cain that we actually need both collaboration and solitude. Otherwise, it’s like being on the teeter-totter. You’re mostly either heading upward or bottoming out, but you’re only in that balanced zone for a very brief time.
As with most things in life, it’s going to extremes that end up getting us in trouble. Like right now, as I type this, there’s so much commotion going on that I can barely hear myself think – but I wouldn’t want it to be so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. A balance seems to be what works best for me. When I’m under the pressure of time constraints, or when I’m working on something that has tons of details, I like to work alone so I can really focus. But I don’t think it’s healthy to be like that 24/7. You do need those times where creativity and solutions, and just plain old fun, comes from being around other people and feeding off the energy of the group.
I don’t think we were designed to be wholly solitary or to always have great chaos around us. In the article “Collaboration vs. Solitude” by Theresa DeFlitch, she talks about being an introvert, and yet wanting to open the door to the great ideas other people have. I also like her take that collaboration isn’t really the same thing as groupthink. She views collaboration as more three-dimensional. In addition, the website Creative Battlefield provides a good article titled “Solitude vs. Collaboration” with a link to creativeeveryday.com that’s very interesting.
Teeter-totters vs. balance beams. There are pros and cons for whichever side of this fence you’re on, but for me, I like to sit right on top of the fence. What do you think?
March 5, 2012
Surely by now, if you have experience with digital marketing, you’ve at least seen Google Analytics or already had extensive one-on-one time with its metrics. Analytics is a wonderful tool adapted to measure the ins and outs of your website’s traffic flow. However, one can argue Google provides almost too much data. To maximize your results it’s important to analyze the right data without over analyzing.
It’s always important to see how many visitors your site is netting along with how many pages are being viewed, but it’s also important to take other things into account. Bounce rate is one of the most important metrics you can follow, showing you how relevant your content is. How effective is your site? You might have 20,000 monthly visitors, but if 80% of these visitors immediately leave or bounce from your site, it’s obvious something is wrong. How long are visitors staying on each page? Internet users’ attention spans mimic that of a goldfish’s memory. It’s important your site is laid out using proper site architecture and is SEO friendly to guarantee visitors can get in and get the information they need without much distraction. If used wisely, analytics can be a remarkable and vital measurement tool.
What metrics do you find you follow the most?
February 27, 2012
If you do a Google search for “tips on getting more done in a day,” you’ll see page after page of links on this topic that you can spend hours reading. But, to keep things simple, here are my top 5 tips for getting more done:
- Think about your immediate and long-term projects and keep a running list of them.
- Prioritize your “to do” list for each day.
- Get organized – don’t just have everything stacked in piles. Sort things, use folders/binders, color coded things or whatever system works for you to know where things are. But then actually use that system.
- Don’t procrastinate on handling tasks you don’t enjoy doing – do them and be done.
- There’s a time and place for socializing at work, but keep it to a minimum. Stay focused on your work. Have a plan and work your plan to accomplish the tasks before you each day.
How do you make room in your day for fun projects? What tips do you use to accomplish your daily tasks?
February 22, 2012
When I first heard the news about Kodak filing for Chapter 11 on January 19, 2012, I was instantly brought back to the memory of a 5-year-old girl with pigtails running around crowds of family members taking maybe some of the worst photos ever. As a photographer, I had to start somewhere. I would steal my mother’s Kodak camera to take pictures of my pets, grandparents and strangers walking by our window as I looked out over the back of the couch. My first real memory, though, was at Christmas. Running around the house I tried to burn out all the bulbs on my mom’s camera, because I loved the flash and I knew I created a memory with it. Kodak was the start of a lifelong love of mine. I truly hope my first love and my first camera, a Kodak Polaroid Supercolor 635 CL, will live on a little longer though.
Kodak is looking for a fresh start with filing for Chapter 11. Its game plan is to reorganize the business and market Kodak’s website to consumers and small business owners with digital printers and software. A bigger part of their plan is to emerge as a leader in the global market for giant commercial ink jet printers. However, with a debt of $6.75 billion dollars, will Chapter 11 give them the fresh start? In reality, Kodak has not been on top of their game since 1997, which was the last year they were still competitive. Does filing for Chapter 11 give them a fresh start or are they trying to buy time and let the company be sold off into smaller pieces?
Now that business moves at such a fast pace and leans more toward digital, how can they compete? To be fair and honest, when the first digital camera came out, I moved to that medium and left film behind. I do use Kodak paper for my printing needs, but as much as I miss film and the instant film of a Polaroid, I find myself creating albums online, sharing photos online and starting to use less paper. Am I saying goodbye to a childhood memory, a photography icon and how I made my start as a photographer? I just might be, but I still have my Polaroids and, as nerdy as I am, I still carry them in my pocket because of the memories they hold.
February 15, 2012
Growth is absolutely inevitable – personal, professional, physical, emotional. How you deal with the changes that accompany that growth is critical. As we grow as an agency, we are keenly aware of the culture in which we want everyone to be a part.
There is something about the current HMA team that just works. We click. We get it. And we care. We have been lucky to find talented individuals that fit into the whole perfectly. We all have an intense desire to constantly learn new things and then share them with each other, discussing how they best fit in to our strategies and needs.
This trait also allows us to wear many hats within the agency. We all have our core responsibilities, but we all dabble in other areas as well. We don’t hide in our cubicles for eight hours and then go home. We collaborate, brainstorm, discuss, review and create.
Even though our full team may span the globe, we are still a close-knit family. We care about the success of each individual, but we also have a culture that is based on common goals and the passion to achieve them.
Do you want to be a part of the HMA team? We are currently looking for an Account Coordinator.
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