7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Irish or Saint Patrick’s Day

We all love to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, don’t we? Even if we don’t have Irish roots, many pretend to be Irish for a day…usually to partake in green beer. But there are some things about Saint Patrick’s Day that you probably don’t know? Saint Patrick

1. It is estimated that there are one million Irish people living abroad.  

2. Following the Great Fire which levelled much of the city’s central peninsula on June 20th, 1877, Saint John was rebuilt almost exclusively by Irish labour.

3. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish, and he wasn’t born in Ireland. Patrick’s parents were Roman citizens living in modern-day England, or more precisely in Scotland or Wales (scholars cannot agree on which). He was born in 385 AD. By that time, most Romans were Christians and the Christian religion was spreading rapidly across Europe. So, maybe we should celebrating Tartan Day on April 6th with good ole Saint Patty. (Oh, and I did I mention that Saint Patrick’s Day only started in 1970 versus Tartan Day that started as a result of action in 1320?)

4.The original colour associated with St. Patrick is blue, not green as commonly believed. In several artworks depicting the saint, he is shown wearing blue vestments. King Henry VIII used the Irish harp in gold on a blue flag to represent the country. Since that time, and possibly before, blue has been a popular colour to represent the country on flags, coats-of-arms, and even sports jerseys.

Green was associated with the country later, presumably because of the greenness of the countryside, which is so because Ireland receives plentiful rainfall. Today, the country is also referred to as the “Emerald Isle.”  (source same as #3)

5. Corned beef and cabbage, Saint Patrick’s Day staple, doesn’t have anything to do with the grain corn. Instead, it’s a nod to the large grains of salt that were historically used to cure meats, which were also known as “corns.”

6. Did you know that the stainless steel DeLorean car was designed and built in Ireland? It was.

7. Did you know that nearly 19% of New Brunswickers have Irish roots? (Not me though…I am Scottish…could you tell?)

What’s your did you know? We would love to hear?

12 Proven Methods to Increase Your Traffic

Insider Secrets to Using Emotions to Influence Buyer Behaviour

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Aren’t we all looking for ways to increase our blog and website visits, with the ultimate goal to increase sales? Of course we are. Depending on how much effort you want to use, there are some really great ways to do just that. In this post I share 12 proven methods to increase your traffic. Let’s dig in!

Minimum Effort:

Take a fresh and objective look at your blog. Are you missing some key elements?

1. Add a call to action – this is a big opportunity for you. You definitely want to do this. Are you simply ending your blog asking for thoughts, comments, or ideas? While I applaud you for wanting to engage, let’s take this up a notch. What do you want? When applicable, ask them to go to your website to learn more? Maybe fill out a form to get the ebook. Put in specific calls to action. Don’t be afraid.

2. Improve your headlines – think about magazine headlines. What grabs your attention? For example, what would you read: Body Found in Topless Barr or 

• Lists: 8 Lives Impacted by Unexpected Change

• Social Proof: Why the Kiwanis Club of Fredericton Partners with the Stan Cassidy

      Headlines tied to current events

3. Add your Facebook follow button to your website and blog (and if you use Twitter, do the same)

Medium Effort:

4. As blog editor, there are things that need to be done to blogs to make them better for SEO. One such thing is adding links to other blogs, websites, etc. directly in your blog posts. If your blog is missing links, it’s an easy fix.

It could be done via a checklist box or some other sidebar. It can also be done by referencing similar blogs on your blog, or adding your contact us page. This is quite important to add to your blog as it will help with getting search engines pick you up.

5. Ask people to share. This can be done in your blog post, and definitely done in your Facebook posting of the blog post. Each blog post should be shared on your Facebook page and ask people outright to share. This is important for reach. It can be sharing did you knows or content of other similar types of organizations. Find content that matters to your audience.

6. Check to ensure that keywords are used consistently in posts to boost SEO. 

7. Leverage a Twitter account. That channel is great for sharing and promoting the blog as well as your events. Again, ask people to share your content.

Most Effort:

8. Create videos – the great thing about videos these days is that you don’t need high production. An iPhone and good external microphone and you (your staff or guest bloggers) can easily do a blog interview or highlight video. People love these. Also partner with community members. Share their videos. Have a contest to create videos and have high profile community members be the selection committee. This will generate buzz for you. (Remember videos should be short – two to three minutes is the golden number in terms of length)

9. Create evergreen content – Essentially evergreen content is content that you can repurpose and share over and over again. It could be something specific to an event, a product, etc. Having this content to fill voids is important and takes the pressure off of those involved.

10. Profile employees, volunteers or other key people – this is a great way for people to get to know you better and feel connected. 

11.  Use Facebook Insights to determine what posts are doing better. Insights will also help you determine what time of day and what day is the best for sharing content in order to get noticed. 

12. If you aren’t currently leveraging email to let your audience know that your blog is live, you should. This is also a key strategy to boost visits.

13. (bonus) Increase your blogging cadence. It is proven that blogging at least three times a week benefits organizations more in terms of conversations from calls to action.  

Want to learn more about using content strategies to generate leads, increase brand recognition and grow your business? Give us a call. We can help.

3 #Cybersecurity Must Reads for This Week

Cybersecurity is top of mind for a lot of people, and for good reason. Cyber risks and attacks are not only impacting individuals with identity theft, but they are also impacting hospitals and businesses.cyber security, cybersecurity

So, I thought I would compile my fav articles on this very subject that I discovered this week. Let’s take a look:

  1. Want Safer Passwords? Don’t Change Them So Often, by Brian Barrett

I say ‘hooray’ to this one. I can’t tell you how often I have forgotten passwords. Everything needs its own password and the love of God, I can’t remember them all!

2. A typo partially stopped hackers from stealing $1 billion from a Bangladesh bank, by Loren Grush

Maybe we should intentionally use typos as a protection tool?

3. Pay up or else: Ransomware is the hot hacking trend of 2016, by 

I think this one speaks or itself. Definitely a serious issue that is not going away.

Well, these were my top picks for the week. What would you add?

Why Words Matter When Building Organizational Culture

As a people manager, consultant and coach, I continue to be amazed by the fact that so many people fail to recognize the power of  their words. Maybe ‘amazed’ is not the right word. Disappointed might actually be the better word. Disappointed that so-called people managers and/or leaders disregard the power of the words that they choose when communicating with subordinates and/or even peers.Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 12.17.16 PM

Organizational culture has been on my mind a lot lately. Working closely with clients and organizations experiencing change can cause that to happen.

Unintentional  or Intentional Word Choice

Unintentional:

There is an argument that word choice is completely unintentional. In this case, people might not take the time to stop and think about the words they are selecting in the heat of the moment when sending an email, letter or even when having a face-to-face with someone.

People are busy and they really may not realize the words they are using result in people feeling embarrassed, demeaned, humiliated or even angry. Things of course are complicated further by who else sees/hears the conversation unfold and who actually uses the words.

For example, as a people manager I may realize that employee A is not as reliable as employee B in delivering and I need to get a project completed for an important deal to come to fruition. I could say:

“Employee A, I really need you to step aside and hand over your work on Project X to Employee B because he will get it done correctly and on time. Whereas you will need a lot of handholding and prodding just to get it done. I have something else I can get you to work on instead.” And of course I am saying this in a team meeting with everyone listening.

Or, I could say….

“Employee A, I really need your help with a new initiative because you are very strong in a, b, and c, which is essential for success. This overlaps with Project X so I was thinking that Employee A could take that on. Why don’t the three of us meet after this to discuss how we can make both priorities a success and support each other?”

See/hear the difference? Not only am I not embarrassing or diminishing the person, but I am actually focusing on what the person is good at. If you want to promote and develop a great work culture, you must have both: the right words and positive reinforcement. [Click to Tweet]

Intentional:

Of course there is also the intentional choice of using particular words. This can be both a positive, which is really the second example above, or a really negative. In the latter, a person is deliberately choosing words to hurt and diminish someone. In an organization that promotes its culture as being ideal, this would seem to not align. And, if in fact it was intentional, it is likely that the culture is not what management claims it to be. This is a red flag. Morale is likely low and people will not be as productive. Turnover will be high and internal cliques will be obvious.

Here is an example of someone deliberately intending to demoralize an employee:

“Donna, despite accomplishing everything that was set out for you to do last year and exceeding established KPIs, we don’t support your promotion. We think another person could do it better. We recognize your hard work though, so we expect you to continue to manage the projects until complete. This will give us time to train your new manager. Maybe next time!”

How would you feel as an employee hearing this? Probably not very good. Despite accomplishing everything and exceeding expectations in terms of results, you aren’t getting promoted. This does not match.

Or, how about this follow-up request two months later?

“Donna, since you managed this project until being replaced, attached are the vendor assessment forms that need to be completed. Fill them out and return to me by the date noted. Be sure to cc your new boss!

If your goal is to have people fully engaged and supporting the organization, this is not the best way to do that.

As a people manager or someone with influence such as HR or an executive assistant, your words can cut deeply. While frank and candidate conversations need to happen, there are better ways to do it, including the location and of course:  the right words. You are not doing anyone any favours bringing a person down. In addition to demeaning a person, this behaviour is also sending a signal to the rest of the team that:

  • it is acceptable to embarrass others
  • it is acceptable to make sure others know of the embarrassment
  • if you don’t deliver the way I want you to, then you might be next
  • working in fear is acceptable in our culture.

Something to Remember:

High-performing organizational cultures don’t just happen. Everyone from top to bottom and bottom to top have to live the goals and objectives. People need to be aware and coach each other to make it happen. Bad behaviour, including deliberately demeaning people should not be accepted. Good leaders get to the bottom of it. What is the root cause? Is it the real culture coming through, or is it simply that a person or person hasn’t really been coached on what the organization’s culture is to be. Word choices need to be deliberate to bring people up versus bringing them down.

High-performing organizational cultures don’t just happen. People make them happen. Words matter. [click to Tweet]

Remember, words matter. Be selective. Act with purpose and meaning. Bring people up rather than pushing them down!

Have thoughts on how words matter, I would love to hear.