alstin communications

With new technology being developed every day, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends. While Twitter and many iPhone apps are useful, entertaining and handy, there are plenty of quirky applications out there too. I bet you never imagined these:

Tweeting Shoes

“ . tap . tap . . . . . . tap . . tap tap .” And so goes an example of a tweet from a pair of Rambler sneakers made by Popkalab that tweets as you as you walk. Yes. A pair of sneakers designed to tweet every…step…you…take. A sensor in the shoes detects when the wearer is walking…. along with the amount of pressure in their steps. But don’t worry, Popkalab is not serious about this product. It is more of a statement they want to make on the “massive amount of useless information that is spread…” by “posting literally every step you take in real life.” Maybe someone at Popkalab was getting tweets on the number of times a friend was taking the garbage out and decided to act.

However, Dvice.com comes back with this statement on the shoes, “You see, these things are meant to be some sort of commentary on Twitter and how dumb it is. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so dumb if you didn’t flood it with crap like Tweeting shoes! Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Whatever your opinion is, it definitely makes you stop and think. And maybe send a tweet.

Acne Treatment. Yes, there is an app for that.

If tweeting shoes do not fascinate you, maybe an iPhone app that may treat acne will. A dermatologist claims his $1.99 AcneApp could cure acne…and even treat wrinkles while users are talking on their iPhone. Dr. Greg Pearson developed this treatment to use a 420-nanometer blue light (which has antibacterial properties) and 550-nanometer red light (which is anti-inflammatory) to help a user’s complexion. He told The New York Times that the treatment would have to go through more extensive clinical study before he can “quantify its efficacy” but the concept fascinates him.

Reviews on iTunes have ranged from “just dumb” to “After three days of using this product my acne is almost completely gone!”

Bottom Line

No matter what the tech concept, it can be tough to determine what is a flash-in-the-pan and what may be a cutting edge idea that will change the lives of future generations…or even just be really really cool. Regardless, there is never a dull moment in Technology Land!

Traditionally, when most of us picture job searching, we do not imagine someone doing it while standing on a bus, sitting in a train or walking through a store. But with the ever-increasing number of individuals with mobile Internet access, people are using cell phones/Smartphones to go online more and more. This means if someone wants to search for job openings on a company website, they can do so while standing at the grocery check out. And employers can target potential applicants almost anywhere.

An April 2009 survey by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reveals that one third (32%) of Americans has used a “cell phone or Smartphone to access the Internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking.” This number is up by 73% from a previous study done 16 months prior. 46% of those in the more recent survey explained that mobile access is important to them for getting information on the go.

This has some major implications for employer branding and how campaigns should be executed.

InfoWorld recently examined recruitment efforts by Convergys when they decided to use text messaging and social networks to target the Millennial generation for call center jobs.

AT&T recently established a Jobs Application on the iPhone to allow one-step mobile access to www.att.jobs career portal. This enables them to keep in touch with job applicants on events, openings and company information in real-time. This portal was already accessed by thousands of job seekers each month. By making this application available on the iPhone, AT&T now can interface with more applicants with greater ease.

As job searching from mobile devices becomes more commonplace, this means your company may have to develop a mobile web site in addition to the regular website. Furthermore, in order for mobile web sites to have top rankings on Google’s mobile search, Google gives the following tips:

• Create a mobile sitemap and submit it to Google so Google knows it exists. This can be done using Google Webmaster Tools, just like with a regular sitemap.

• To make sure Googlebot-Mobile can access your site, allow any User-agent to access it. ”You should also be aware that Google may change its User-agent information at any time without notice, so it is not recommended that you check if the User-agent exactly matches ‘Googlebot-Mobile’ (which is the string used at present),” says Jun Mukai, a software engineer on Google’s mobile search team. “Instead, check whether the User-agent header contains the string ‘Googlebot-Mobile’. You can also use DNS Lookups to verify Googlebot.”

• Check that your mobile-friendly URLs’ DTD (Doc Type Definition) declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML. If you run both a regular site and a mobile version of it, there is a possibility that the wrong version will show up in the wrong search results.

None of us are strangers to the shifting trends in social recruitment this past year. Where job boards were once prevalent, companies are looking to other options such as creating Facebook Fan Pages or giving Twitter a try. Many times E-mail Blasts have replaced Direct Mail. More Blogs and Microsites are being implemented everyday to convey corporate culture to prospective employees.

It’s all about the wheel model: creating a hub and having multiple spokes leading to and from that hub. A spoke could be a job tweet, or a LinkedIn posting …both allowing for feedback with prospective applicants. Other spokes may be highly targeted PPC ads that drive people to a landing page. Still another spoke may be a good “old-fashioned” job posting on Monster. The spokes on the wheel will continue to change over time but one thing is certain, although we may always need to engage with people in varied ways, ongoing two-way communication between companies and potential employees is here to stay. Looking at your organization’s hub, are your spokes keeping your recruitment wheel turning?

It could happen again. The Phillies may win the World Series for the second year in a row! I would be up for another parade here on Broad Street. And as the first game begins on Wednesday, October 28, against the Yankees, life for many of us in and around Philadelphia will continue to pretty much revolve around the game schedule.

I was part of a string of e-mails with some friends last week trying to pick a time to catch up for dinner. We all live far apart from one another and after about five e-mails, we decided to just table plans until after the World Series.

Some other friends are planning a Halloween party. The first question on most of our minds wasn’t “What should I wear?” or “What should I bring food-wise?” The first question was, “The World Series will be on, right?” (Of course that answer is “yes” and clearly, the costumes will be Phillies jerseys while the food will involve peanuts and crackerjacks.)

And while there are different levels of fan-ship, these games can be downright magical…or nerve wracking…or gut wrenching…or all three. Even if you have little-to-no sports interest, you really should watch!

So as the World Series begins and many of us will have no choice but to give up regular sleep, proper nutrition and regular socializing, the memories of last year’s victory will make this year’s games all the more intense. Go Phils!

I recently came across a discussion on BusinessPresentation.Groupsite.com called the Importance of Internal Communication. Filled with some great tips, the discussion gets started by stating, “Most people think that external communication is more important than internal; but this thinking is extremely wrong. Internal communication is also a very important factor… successful organizations align their business and communications objectives.”

More often than not, the ongoing and pressing need for external communications overshadows internal communications. While there is no doubt, the latter is vitally important, effective internal dialogue is also essential for a successful and thriving company.

If your Internal Communication Strategic Plan continues to hover at the bottom of your to-do list, take a cue from this post and take-away these great tips from the discussion:

· Effective employee-directed communications must be led from the top

· Successful employee communications owe as much to consistency, careful planning and attention to detail as they do to charisma or natural gifts

· Employee communications are not optional extras, they are part of business as usual and should be planned and budgeted for as such

· Communication is a two-way process: capturing employee feedback is of critical importance

With that said, as you continue to explore viable options for building better internal employee communications – from Onboarding to ERPs to Training Materials and more – email me at blog@alstin.com to share some ideas on the subject and how Alstin’s “a-team” can help you get it done.

By now, we are familiar with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. And if you don’t yet have an account with one or all of these, I predict you will give in, sooner or later.  Meanwhile, it seems websites like Monster and Yahoo are offering the “Create-A-Profile” option. I have to admit, I signed up for a group called Plaxo about a year ago but never updated my profile. I always think about doing it when I get birthday reminders for friends who are also part of the group. (This is nothing against Plaxo, by the way… I have just been a Plaxo slacker). I do have updated profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, for the most part, I’ll have you know.

So with all of the options out there, it is interesting to see how recruitment is being incorporated. It gets tricky though. We have all heard the stories about people having compromising pictures on Facebook only to have the people they are networking with see them (not a brilliant idea). But there can also be a certain friendliness about networking on Facebook. So where do you draw the line?

Enter KODA.us, a startup that has $3 million in investments and is described by co-founder and CEO, Jeff Berger as “more professional than Facebook but more personal than LinkedIn, letting both sides of the hiring equation get to know each other.”

Click over to this article for a bit more on the target audience (Generation Y). Many in this group at the moment seem to have recent academic experience but little work experience.

Out of curiosity, I signed up last night.

So in addition to educational background, KODA has a section called A Deeper Look, which gives members a chance to talk about their skills, interests and trades in depth. Another section called Me In Three has members tell three unique things about themselves (kind of like a professional ice breaker?)

There is also a tab called Compatibility Criteria, which members fill out, describing their ideal company/work culture.

Sections on Companies and Opportunities are also available for organizations participating on KODA to help create a company profile.

And there is more, including sections that cover Suggestions, Opportunities, Messages, Bookmarks and Profile. My profile is 8% complete as of right now.

It’s always important to stay on top of recent developments like this Beta site. Will KODA “change the way new talent and smart companies find one another?” It’s promising alot, but it just might deliver.

A few weeks ago, Tony Rosato wrote a blog entry here about his ongoing love affair with Honest Tea. As a first hand witness of this love affair, I can tell you his commitment to Honest Tea does not waiver and is steadfast.

I, on the other hand, have an on again/off again love affair with coffee brands that go through a series of changes with no apparent warning. For example, there was a time last year, when I could not get through the morning without Dunkin Donuts coffee. It couldn’t be home brewed. It couldn’t be Starbucks, Wawa or McDonalds. It was all about DD. Specifically the DD at Suburban Station right by the stairs from the R5 platform (don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it). Prior to that I went through a La Colombe Cappuccino phase at this great place called Café Loftus, down the street from our office.

I know…I know. Some of you may ask how I went from potentially highbrow coffee to coffee that could be considered more common (though “common coffees” are loved by many). To this I say: there seems to be no rhyme or reason to my coffee cravings. Just accept it.

So now, in this summer of 2009, my morning thing has been Starbucks’ tall iced coffee unsweetened with room for a little half and half. (Combine it with their egg white/turkey bacon English muffin, toasted to perfection and it…is…pure…HEAVEN!)

And all of this in a recession! I know! I have made some major cut backs but don’t touch my coffee on the run! I don’t know why. Maybe it has to do with the rhythm of the commute and knowing I am not alone in it. That the people behind the coffee counters of Philadelphia understand. Or maybe I have an addiction. But just a small one. While Tony is on his second bottle of Honest Tea in the morning, I am still nursing my initial cup of coffee.

And like Mr. Rosato, I don’t really have any vices. But coffee is where I go a little nuts. Hmmm. On that note, maybe I will go through a hazelnut coffee phase once fall rolls around. It will probably be time for me to change things up.

I was in Portland, Oregon a few weeks ago and was impressed by how “green” a city it is. From the emphasis on local farmers and farmers’ markets to a collective commitment to renewable energy, Portland is city from which we can all learn. While they’ve been working on the “green” thing since the 1970’s, the rest of us seem to be catching up.  : )

Most individual businesses there are committed to this effort and apply a number of practices in order to accommplish this.

So what are some of these practices? We all know about recycling and stopping to view an email before deciding whether to print it out. But there are other ideas such as investing in energy saving office equipment, making certain your office is energy efficient, using soy based ink, sponsoring a car pooling program and forming alliances with other busineeses committed to going green, to name a few. Then there is also the question: is this the time to look into these options considering the recession?

Andrew Winston from HarvardBusiness.org seems to think this is the perfect time. He says, “I believe that these two questions – can we still go green and how do we revive the economy – are heavily intertwined.” He explains, “Not only should companies not put their green efforts on hold, they should accelerate them in targeted ways to save money quickly and prepare for the future. Those who navigate these tricky waters the best will emerge from the downturn in better shape than their competitors.”

Click here to learn more about his thoughts. And here is another article from the Sierra Club with a list of ten suggestions to make your company greener. Hopefully the practices of being “green” will shift from a trend to something that remains permanent.

Earlier today we had a college marketing class stop by our office for a Q & A session. When I was asked to give some examples of what I was working on, I told them about some online job postings I had in the works, noting that years ago many of these requests would have turned into newspaper ads. I also filled them in on a larger project that involved both a direct mail postcard and an e-mail blast. What kept coming up as I answered their questions about these projects was how knowledgeable I have to be when selecting the right media or vehicle for the project at hand, which I think is key.

There are still times when a good old-fashioned print ad in a local newspaper is the best thing for a certain opening. Other times, it is better to nix the traditional media and do things solely online whether it be a search engine marketing campaign, a web banner or an e-card just to name a few. And, regardless, it is always important to examine the latest options out there for branding. Today’s recruiters have more options than ever – microsites, Facebook Fan pages, blogs … and more. It can be overwhelming staying on top of all of the information. As an Account Executive, determining for my clients what is the wave of the future and what is a flash in the pan may also seem overwhelming.

Ultimately, it is in my clients’ best interest to stay updated on the latest recruiting trends and technologies and I do everything to make sure this happens. Plus I really enjoy the process. I stay updated and educated on the latest trends, and, to be honest, some of this information can be pretty interesting. By keeping my clients in the know, I also get to work on some cutting edge recruitment advertising projects.

Years ago, who would have thought a job referral could be given in an instant through a dynamic eCard on a website like LinkedIn? Or that I could bid on keywords and phrases for our clients to appear on the top of search results on Google? I can honestly say that recruitment advertising has come a long way. And I can’t wait to see what’s next.