Here are My Technology Boundaries for 2020

In a recent blog post I introduced the idea of creating a personal Technology Manifesto for 2020.

Backstory: I want to decide in advance how I’m going to utilize digital media and technology. I know I struggle with picking up my phone too much, scrolling through social media in excess, and generally letting technology be a distraction from the real world around me. So in an effort to continue to make my relationship with technology healthier, I have drafted my 2020 Technology Manifesto. 

Today I’m sharing how I filled out the Technology Manifesto Worksheet and what I am committing to for 2020. 

My Relationship with Technology in 2020

• My use of my phone will be strategic, measured, and thoughtful. I mentioned in this post that my word for the year is “strategic.” I want to maximize the tool that is my smartphone for helping me be productive, invest in relationships, and help others. But I don’t want to veer into territory that is not strategic. I don’t want to have addictive behavior. I want to be mindful of how and when and why I use my devices.

• I am going to take a break from social media for the month of July. I did this last year and it was the happiest month of 2019 for me. I love the experience of powering down in the summer and focusing more on my analog, IRL experiences. I think it is a great summer ritual that I want to continue.

• I will spend time without my phone entirely on a daily basis. I will plug it in, in my bedroom after putting Eloise to bed. Having it within arms length 24 hours per day is not healthy for me. This is by far the most challenging commitment in my manifesto. But I know that after 7 PM use of my phone has low ROI. This is a healthy practice that will likely be difficult for a while in the beginning but hopefully soon it will become another nice healthy habit. No phone pickups after 7!! (This should really help with the next item on my manifesto.) 

• An action I will take to increase my enjoyment of technology is to make a game out of lowering my average number of weekly pickups. Right now it is at an average of 7 pickups per waking hour. WHAT THE… That number is shockingly insane to me. (If you have an iPhone you can check your number of pickups by going to Settings>Screen Time>See All Activity.) I want to lower this over the course of 2020 to an average of 1.25 pickups per hour for a total of only 20 pickups her day. This seems like a realistic amount. There’s never more than 20 time sensitive reasons to pick up my phone in a day. Usually it’s under five... 

So there ya have it. I fleshed out my purpose and rationale for my approach to my handheld devices this year. And then I made commitments to not having free rein with my technology. Measured. Thoughtful. Strategic. That’s what I want. I want to know where my time is going. Where my energy is going. Where my focus is going. I want my daughter to rarely see me on my phone (not the other way around.) And this public commitment to healthier technology habits is a great step in reaching out for accountability to reach that goal. 

So tell me. What do you want to do differently in your relationship with technology this year? Do you want to check your email less? Be more intentional about the hours you spend on YouTube? What about your Instagram habit? I would love to know what you are going to do to increase your happiness with technology in 2020. 

Hilary's Social Media Tuesday Tip 002: Your 13-Second Hashtag Tutorial (Plus a Bonus!)

Hey guys! Back again with another Tuesday Tip! Today we're talking about hashtags and reach. If we're creating content for business we certainly want to reach as many people as possible. Are hashtags the way to go? Should you always slap on a hashtag just in case it helps expand your audience? It's important to know how hashtags work on each social platform. Here's a quick run-down of what you need to know.

1. Twitter. Hashtags can be very effective for growing your audience. I would encourage you to really only use them when they're highly appropriate for a certain audience. And more often than not add them on at the end. Because #nothing is more #annoying than a #tweet that looks like #this. #amiright?

2. Instagram. This is the place where you can really feel that hashtag freedom--especially if you put your hashtags in a comment below your caption rather than right in the caption. To each his own but I'm comfortable with seeing a good 9 or 10 hashtags if they are purposeful.

3. Linkedin. Leave your hashtags at home people because they don't do anything for you on this platform!

4. Facebook. This one is tricky guys. Hashtags do work on Facebook but they don't actually expand your reach. Facebook's algorithm actually punishes posts that include hashtags. So avoid, avoid!

And a bonus that didn't fit in my 13-second video:

5. Pinterest. Hashtags are only clickable in a pin description. Don't bother with them on boards or in your profile bio. Words without hashtags are just as searchable as words with hashtags on Pinterest. So unless you're creating a special hashtag just for your brand and you want consistency across Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, it may not be worth bothering.

I hope you've found this brief hashtag tutorial helpful. If you have any other hashtag questions feel free to throw them at me!

The 4 Measurements of Marketing

THE FOUR MEASUREMENTS OF

Several months ago I got to sit down with one of the brightest, most energetic marketing minds in technology, Elisa Steele. Steele's resume is nothing to sniff at. She has served as Corporate VP and CMO of all consumer applications and services at Microsoft, including brands such as Bing, Internet Explorer, Lync, MSN, Outlook.com and Skype, among others. She was also CMO at Skype, Executive VP and CMO at Yahoo!, and Senior VP of Corporate Marketing at NetApp. Since my article on Elisa went to print she has now graduated from CMO to CEO of Jive Software. Elisa is really inspiring. She got into marketing by way of sales by way of spending her summers scooping ice cream as a teen. It all started because she was just really excited about putting a smile on customers' faces.

Steele wrote a manifesto of her view on marketing called "Fast Forward: The Four R's That Matter in Marketing." I want to share her "4 R's" with you today.

The Four Measurements of Marketing

1. Reputation

How are people viewing your company in terms of giving back and doing the right thing in the world? What is your reputation as compared to that of your competitors? What specific aspect of your reputation is trending over time, and how can that trend be affected?

2. Relationship

How are partner relationships doing? Are they producing results? How can we make them better? Are customers garnering value from our product so they are inspired to tell the world about their success and help others learn from their experience?

3. Reach

How do you define your target market segments, and how much reach do you have within those? Of the reach you have today, what is your penetration rate? Is your penetration rate growing? What strategies are effective at increasing penetration and what strategies are not?

4. Revenue

How is marketing driving growth for the company? Are we supporting sales channels as effectively as possible? How is our database health? What are the conversion rates? How are we doing on sales leads?

Steele has used these marketing check points to ensure that her team is achieving the right goals. Do you have your own sign posts that you check in with regularly to make sure you're headed down the right path? 

Enjoy the full-length version of this article originally published in Forefront Magazine here.

Hilary is a freelance journalist, a bit of a marketing geek and blogger. Say hey on Twitter @hilarysutton.