Jennifer Kelly

Sep 27 2015

50 Motivational Quotes From Extraordinary Women

Well said, ladies!

What is it about a motivational quote said by an inspiring woman?

Entrepreneur magazine compiled a great list, check this out: 50 Motivational Quotes From Disruptive, Trailblazing, Inspiring Women Leaders

I’m on a quest to find the answer to the question why are inspirational quotes so popular?

Why do we love them? What about them makes us feel good, inspired, motivated, comforted? Is it because of the author – the person who said or wrote the quote? Is it because it is such a well-crafted medley of words that some how shoots straight to the heart and connects with us emotionally? Is it a way to feel comforted? Is it that these quotes are gems of wisdom from others who have been down the path before and are beckoning for us to try, fly, to go for it?

I’m still searching for the answer. Do you know?I’d welcome your thoughts on this topic.

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Sep 25 2015

How can I use Events as Twitter Content?

Last week I mentioned that I had the fortune of helping out at a local TED event. It was an awesome experience, and if you play your cards right you can get a lot of social media mileage from hosting an event. But you can also get a lot of Twitter content even if you’re only attending an event. In fact, events are one of the richest sources of genuine, timely and relevant Twitter content.

Below I’m going to suggest various things you can tweet before, during and after an event, which you can use to beef up your twitter feed.

Tweet Before the Event

You can start tweeting about an event long before the actual date. In fact, you probably should. The event organizers want you to spread the word. Doing so will build up buzz and help make the event more successful.

The way it benefits you is that it shows your followers that you know what’s going on in your industry and puts your name in front of other like-minded individuals going to the same event, and also helps you be known among the people running the event, who may be good connections themselves.

If you’re stumped on what to tweet, then try:

Sharing the excitement. Dying of anticipation? Then tell people about it! Being excited on Twitter will make others curious as to what’s going on and may encourage others to be curious, too.

Finding out who’s going. Wonder who else is going? There are easy ways to find out. Most events nowadays have a dedicated hashtag. Just tweet a quick question with the hashtag included, and wait for the affirmatives to pour in. You can even use it as an ice breaker if you want to interact with your followers.

Checking out the agenda. Most events post an agenda online so people know what to expect. If you have any questions or comments about the agenda, then tweet them to the organizers. They’ll be more than happy to respond (they want to build buzz, remember).

Sounds good, right? But the twitter content doesn’t end there. Let’s cover what happens during an event.

Tweet During the Event

If you’ve never heard of livetweeting before, then you’re in for a treat. In essence, livetweeting is sharing what people are saying at an event, as it happens. You basically take a great line or quote that one of the speakers mentioned, and then tweet it to your followers using the event hashtag. This could also include pictures of the event, like so:

Livetweeting has many benefits, such as:

It promotes the event you’re attending, especially if you include the event hashtag in your tweet.
Puts your name in front of other attendees, the organizers and interested people. It’s a great way to create some personal brand recall.
Gives you lots of shareable twitter content that you can reuse later on. You can share inspiring or informational tips that you learned days after the event.

Livetweeting can be a bit of a challenge, especially if it’s your first time, but just focus on the best quotes and you should be fine. Remember, practice makes perfect.

What to Tweet After the Event

Just because the event is over, doesn’t mean your tweeting is. There are plenty of event-related tweets you can post long after the doors close and everyone’s gone home.

Connect with the people you met. If you made new contacts at the event (or met up with old ones), Twitter is a great way to keep that connection going. Follow your new friends on Twitter and send them a follow-up tweet. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated; just mention that it was a pleasure meeting them.

Reactions. Did the speaker blow your mind? Did you learn something new and awesome? Mention the speaker and tell them how much of an impact they made. It’ll put your name in front of them and could maybe act as an ice breaker to get to know them better.

If you do it right, one single event can easily generate dozens of unique tweets—some of which can be reused for days after the fact. Tweeting can be a great way to ease in to meeting new people and establishing your brand name among a new crowd. The more visible you are, the more people will know about you even before you shake hands with them. So get tweeting!

Share inspiring quotes in your Twitter feed as if you tweeted them yourself. Choose from 30+ categories. Try the Nimble Quotes 30-day trial today. No credit card required. Sign up for the Nimble Quotes newsletter to learn how to get Twitter working for you.

Sep 22 2015

5 Tweetable quotes about life from the TED stage

I was recently blessed with the opportunity to participate at the recent TEDxDistillery District Women event in Toronto. It was a great event, with insightful and educational speakers.

For those of you haven’t heard of it, TED is a great non-profit organization dedicated to spreading ideas in the form of short, powerful talks. Their presentations cover a number of topics ranging from technological to environmental. But some of the best talks are purely inspirational, where people from different backgrounds share hard-earned wisdom and quotes about life, living and relationships.

If you’re looking for great quotes about life to fill your Twitter stream, then feast your eyes on these:

1. We’re all hiding something. Let’s find the courage to open up

Speaker: Ash Beckham
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/ash_beckham_we_re_all_hiding_something_let_s_find_the_courage_to_open_up/

Ash Beckham is an equality advocate who has often encountered many hardships since coming out as a lesbian. In her talk, she speaks about the difficulty of opening up to people around you, and how to have hard conversations about your inner conflicts.

I like this talk a lot because she doesn’t just apply this to gender issues, but to any hard issues that people face that cause them to bottle up their emotions or feelings. I’m a big fan of anyone that tells me to be myself (and not care what other people think)!

Tweetable quotes:

“A closet is no place for a person to live.”

“There is no harder. There’s just hard.”

“Show the world we are bigger than our closets.”

2. 5 ways to kill your dreams

Speaker: Bel Pesce
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/bel_pesce_5_ways_to_kill_your_dreams/

Originally from Brazil, Bel Pesce is an entrepreneur and author who understands what it takes to achieve your dreams. In this hilariously ironic talk, she takes the opposite stance and tells you what not to do to make your dreams come true.

This talk is short, punchy, and funny as it exposes the myths that hold people back from achieving what they’ve always wanted to do—whether it’s in your career or in your personal life.

Tweetable quotes:

“Achieving your dream is a momentary sensation. Your life is not.”

“Be responsible for your dreams.”

3. Smash fear, learn anything

Speaker: Tim Ferris
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_ferriss_smash_fear_learn_anything/

Productivity guru Tim Ferris, author of the bestselling book, The 4-Hour Workweek is probably one of the best authorities in breaking barriers and getting things done. And the most important thing to smash? Fear.

Tim’s advice resonated with me a lot, because as an entrepreneur I experience fear on a regular basis. What if this idea doesn’t work? What if this strategy fails? What if, what if, what if? But Tim’s talk gave me one of the best quotes about life I’ve ever heard. Watch it and see for yourself!

Tweetable quotes:

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Fear is your friend.”

“It’s what you do, not how you do it.”

4. Why you will fail to have a great career

Speaker: Larry Smith
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/larry smith why you will fail to have a great career/

Larry Smith teaches Economics at the University of Waterloo and mentors students on career management and building startups. His most notable startup mentee is Research in Motion (RIM). In this talk, he uses tough love to call people out on their absurd excuses on their failures to establish great careers.

I love how irreverent and blunt he is. It’s just what people need to hear, and he does it in such a funny and witty way that it really sticks in your memory.

Tweetable quotes:

“Go for it, kid. Just like I did.”

“Saying ‘you’re competent’ is damning yourself with the faintest of praise.”

“Great friend. Great spouse. Great parent. Great career. Is that not a package?”

5. Want to be happy? Be grateful

Speaker: Brother David Steindl-Rast
Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/david steindl rest want to be happy be grateful/

Who better to teach about happiness than an actual Benedictine monk? David gives a compelling and inspirational talk about gratitude, and how happiness stems from it instead of the other way around.

This talk was an important lesson to me, and I think all of us, as we run through our busy lives and are constantly asking the “happiness” question.

Tweetable quotes:

“Opportunity is the gift within every gift.”

“Grateful people are joyful people.”

What are your favorite TED talks? What great quotes about life have you learned from these wonderful people? Share them with me in the comments or on my Twitter feed!

Sep 20 2015

Inspirational Quotes About Leadership

Inspiration for us to rise to leadership

In my quest to find out why quotes are so powerful for us, I landed on this list of 38 quotes about leadership compiled in a LinkedIn article by Dr. Travis Bradberry.

His bio at the end of the article says: Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book,Emotional Intelligence 2.0,. He is the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world’s leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, andThe Harvard Business Review.

Perhaps quotes appeal to those of us with high emotional intelligence? Still I strive for my answer.

I’m on a search to find the answer to the question why are inspirational quotes so popular? Why do we love them? What about them makes us feel good, inspired, motivated, comforted? Is it because of the author – the person who said or wrote the quote? Is it because it is such a well-crafted medley of words that some how shoots straight to the heart and connects with us emotionally? I’ll be on this quest for the answer, so do let me know if you have any thoughts on this topic…or answers.Why do you think inspirational quotes are so powerful?

Stay in touch, sign up for the Nimble Quotes newsletter and sign up for our 30-day trial of inspirational leadership quotes tweeted from your Twitter account automatically. It’s fun and a delightful way to connect with your Twitter audience.

Sep 18 2015

What is a Hashtag Contest and How do I Set One Up?

In previous posts, I’ve covered how Twitter hashtags help you reach more audiences and connect with them. But there’s another great method I haven’t yet mentioned: Twitter hashtag contests!

What is a hashtag contest?

A contest on Twitter is a lot like the contests you find anywhere else. Someone (a brand, an organization, or you) puts up a prize, sets up a condition for winning, and other people try to win. The biggest difference is that, on Twitter, you need set up a hashtag to announce the contest and keep track of the entries.

How does that work?

Well the first thing you do is decide on your hashtag. Let’s say you’re XYZ beauty salon, and you want followers to submit pictures of funny faces. Our hashtag will therefore be “#XYZFunnyFace”.

Note: Remember to check whether or not this hashtag is already being used! If it is, try to find something else.

Then send out your tweet announcing the contest, and showing the hashtag that people need to use to participate. Don’t forget to promote your hashtag contest in other social media platforms, too! Get the word out any way you can!

If people want to participate, they will then tweet pictures of their funny faces while including the hashtag #XYZFunnyFace. You can then keep track of all contest tweets using this hashtag and judge the winner!

What kind of hashtag contests can I run?

Anything you want! Creativity is one of the keys to an engaging hashtag contest. Either come up with your own creative idea, or ask followers to be as creative as possible with their own entries! You can also create very simple hashtag contests that don’t require much effort on the part of the user.

Here are some basic ideas to get you started:

Raffle.Any tweet that uses your hashtag is immediately entered into a raffle, and winners are picked randomly. Just remember to limit participants to one tweet per person!
Photo contest. Users submit photographs of themselves doing funny things, or use products in creative and funny ways.
Q&A. Pose a question to the Twitterverse, and the best answer wins!

Hashtag contests are really easy to set up and run. You just have to come up with a creative idea that will grab your followers’ interests, and maybe offer a prize that will appeal to a large number of people. But remember to keep it relevant to your business! Just offering cash or something may get people tweeting, but it won’t do anything to build your brand!

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