In Every Living Thing There Is The Desire For Love ~ David Herbert Lawrence
Jen Canfield
8 AprBay Area native, Techie, Political Junkie, Social Media Enthusiast, Cinephile.
Lover of startups. Passionate about building companies, establishing brands, Digital Marketing, Policy, and leaving my impact on the world by working with awesome organizations and companies that are shaping the future.
Education: St. Mary’s College of California
Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Communication, 2011
Experience:
UpOut – Marketing Manager
San Francisco, October 2012 – March 2013
Seed-stage startup focused on local event discovery; I led all of UpOut’s marketing efforts until a company downsizing in March 2013.
My team and I at the UpOut end of the world party.
Revl – Senior Content Specialist
San Francisco, February 2012 – October 2012
Revl sought to revolutionize the resume and the job-hunting experience for both recruiters and job seekers. Unfortunately the company folded in late 2012.
Part of the Revl team revl-ing.
RocketSpace – Startup Accelerator Intern
San Francisco, October 2011 – February 2012
Where I fell in love with startups and growing early stage companies.
The RocketSpace crew at Achievers 50 Most Engaged Companies Awards Dinner.
Other Stuff I’ve Done:
Barack Obama for America – Digital Fellow
San Francisco, September 2012 – November 2012
I worked on a team of 8 in the state of CA strategizing and managing the campaign’s digital organizing efforts. I contributed to OFA CA’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and blogging strategy. I also trained volunteers on social media best practices and best ways to get out the campaign’s messaging on social media.
Phone banking to swing states days before victory.
Red Bull – Student Brand Manager
Emeryville, August 2008 – April 2009
I was Red Bull’s campus rep on my college campus. I planned strategic ways to make Red Bull a part of everyday student life at SMC. Through sponsored events, guerilla marketing, product placement, and collaboration with the Red Bull Bay Area Team I made Red Bull a known force on SMC’s campus.
Red Bull anyone?
Looking for something new. Interested in startups, technology, social media, and community management with an awesome and inspiring team. If I can find something that combines all 5 of those, I’ll be one happy camper!
Contact me: jen.canfield7@gmail.com
Quote
Now we’re ready…
13 MarNow we’re ready to look at something pretty special.
It’s a duck, riding in the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf…
Some sort of duck, and he cuddles in the swells…
There is a big heaving in the Atlantic and he is part of it.
He looks a bit like a mandarin, or the Lord Buddha meditating under the Bo tree.
He can rest while the Atlantic heaves,
Because he rests in the Atlantic.
Probably he doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you. But he realizes it.
And what does he do, I ask you?
He sits down in it!
He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity –
Which it is.
He has made himself part of the boundless
By easing himself into just where it touches him…
I was given this poem at a course I am currently taking at the Zen Center in San Francisco on Neurology and the teachings of Buddhism. It’s a fascinating course and I highly recommend exploring classes and meditations at the Zen Center if you are interested in Buddhism.
This quote reminds me that although the unknown is scary, it is not to be feared. Change is constant. And through change comes the greatest growth and development. Anticipate and encourage the possibility that anything can happen and welcome change into your life!
4 Surefire Ways to Boost Engagement on Facebook
13 Mar
Marketers and Social Media Managers will all tell you the challenges of engaging their fans on Facebook. People on Facebook today are bombarded with brand promotions, company product updates, contests, and paid advertising. It can be easy to lose your brand’s messaging in all the noise. The one critical piece of information that many marketers fail to understand is that Facebook is a place where people go to engage and stay up to date with their friends. If you can position your brand as a “friend” and a member of their community, the results on your brand page can be tremendous.
Here are 4 ways to show your fans that you are a member of their community and drive more engagement.
1. Be Relevant: If someone has liked your page, they are obviously interested in your brand and want to be kept up to date with your product or service, often times this isn’t enough. A great way to continue building the engagement is to post relevant content that relates to topical issues. Post content relating to specific holidays, days of the week, or current events. If your product is B2B, post a happy Friday picture meme on Friday morning. Tap into the emotions of what your customers are feeling. Another great example is Hurricane Sandy. Many brands posted well wishes to the East Coast, telling everyone to stay safe, even posting information about where to get help if needed. Show your customers the emotion behind the brand and that you relate to the everyday things they care about too.
2. Create and Curate content they will want to share: This is your biggest asset to gaining new Likes. Study the demographics of your users to understand what they like and what they are passionate about, and then get creative. Do your customers love technology and hardware? Post photos of a new Apple product release and ask them who’s planning to purchase it. Get creative in Photoshop. Share videos, infographics, or links that have gone viral and your customers will be more likely to share them with their own Facebook network, promoting your brand, and generating new likes.
3. Host contests and promotions: Everyone likes to win. Contests and promotions are a fun way to build hype. If you have a paid service, offer to give away something away for free. If your service is free, give away tickets, a weekend getaway, a dinner, something that fits with your brand. Ask your users to answer questions, trivia, submit pictures or stories. Dropbox recently posted a genius contest asking users to submit their best stories for how they use Dropbox for a chance to win 100GB of storage for life. After the contest ended, they compiled the best stories into a video that included real interviews with some of their users and posted it on their blog. They shared the post on Facebook afterwards and received hundreds of likes and dozens of comments and shares.
4. The Human Touch: Fans love to see the people behind their favorite brands. Post pictures of your team at the office, at happy hour on Fridays, and out in the field at events. If you host an event yourself, post pictures of the guests and encourage them to tag themselves. Another great way to showcase the personal touch of your brand is to profile some of your customers and have a featured customer of the week. Highlight something that makes them awesome and write up a short blog post with pictures with quotes about why they love your product.
5 Best Apps For Business Professionals
13 Mar
In the digital age we live in, there is an app for virtually everything. There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there that can simplify and organize our ever-increasing hectic lives. Although we like to believe we can do it all on our own, sometimes a little technology can be quite helpful.
Check out these 5 apps for business professionals that keep you organized, your team connected, and your business running smoothly.
Dropbox: Dropbox is a Web-based file hosting service that uses cloud computing to enable file storage and filing sharing. With Dropbox you get 2GB free and can be rewarded extra GB’s for referring friends. Upgraded accounts run at a reasonable price of 100GB for $9.99/month or 500GB for $49.99/month. Dropbox allows you to store all your photos, documents, and music in one place. However, the best part about Dropbox is it syncs to all your computers and devices, so no matter where you are, you can open Dropbox and access any file at any time. Dropbox also allows you to share files with other members, so it is a great tool for teams and departments to share important documents, edit, collaborate, and view other people’s changes instantly.
Due: Do you ever remember to do something, write it down somewhere and then never get around to doing it? Do you find a lost post it note reminder under a pile of paperwork on your desk? Well no more forgetting thanks to the Due app. Due is a simple task reminder and time management app that will keep you on task throughout the day. Just enter the task, set the reminder, and Due automatically reminds you when the timer expires. It’s a very simple app with a seamless interface that ensures you don’t forget the little things that need to get done! You can purchase Due for $2.99 in the app store.
HelloSign: HelloSign is the easiest way to sign a document right on your iPhone or iPad. As the CEO of HelloSign says, “Everyone has to sign documents, and it’s done in a really poor way right now, which is what we’re trying to fix”. With HelloSign you can take a picture of your document, drag-and-drop, upload it, or choose a file directly from Dropbox or Box. You sign the document using your finger on the screen and can add text boxes or check marks to indicate where someone else needs to sign. One great feature of HelloSign is the “team” feature, which allows you to add up to 50 members, where you can share and collaborate on documents. HelloSign is free in The Apple app store or Appstore for Android.
Locale: Ever had your phone ring in a meeting? With Locale, you never have to worry about your phone ringing in an unwanted place ever again. Locale combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular data to keep your phone silent depending on your geographical location. Simply set locations where you want your phone silent, and once you’re at that location, Locale automatically switches your phone to silent. Better yet, if you are worried about missing an important call from a family member or a coworker, you can set VIPs. A VIP will set off the ringer no matter what your location. The app costs $3.99 and is only available for Android phones.
Twist: In such a busy world, we are always on the go. So it is inevitable that sometimes you may be running late. You’re running out the door from one meeting to the next, catching a cab, and frantically sending texts that you are on your way. With Twist, your friends and family are automatically alerted that you are en route, and even given a time estimate as to when you will arrive. Using GPS and fancy algorithms, Twist app takes into account traffic, mode of transportation, and your own habits to estimate your time of arrival. Simply set your appointment time, location, and attendees in your phone and twist sends texts letting your friends and colleagues know where you are and when you will be arriving. You can download Twist free in the App Store.
Barack On
23 Sep
It’s been a great two weeks for President Obama since the Democrats were able to fire up their base in Charlotte at the DNC. Before the DNC, things seemed a bit glum. I felt that all I was reading about were attacks from the right, and Clint Eastwood and his chair. What amazed me about the DNC was the difference in discourse compared to the RNC. The RNC was a whole lot of criticism and attacks on the President. There was little talk of specific plans of how Romney would lead differently, and what his policies would be if elected. It was an all-out verbal assault on President Obama. The left took a much different approach, and I think it worked in their advantage. The left’s band together-we need to keep fighting-the President isn’t finished yet rhetoric seemed to get people really fired up.
Since the DNC, The President has surged in the polls. He is currently ahead in the Gallup, Reuters, FTI Consulting, NY Times, and Rasmussen polls. Obama also currently holds leads in 12 Swing States such as Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin and New Mexico.
The good news for Obama kept coming this week. On Thursday, the NY Times published an article stating that Obama raised twice as much as Mitt Romney in checks under $200 in September. Although the Romney campaign has more cash on hand, ($130.0m for the dems, $191.0m for repubs) Barack Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said Monday that 1.1 million donors had given an average of $58, with more than 317,00 donors giving for the first time.
It shinned a bright light on modern day politics, that despite Citizens United (which I believe is one of the most detrimental things to happen to 21st century politics) the voices of American’s are being heard. Are you listening Koch brothers? Can you hear that justice?
I hope Dems across the U.S. are as excited as I am. I feel ignited after the DNC. With only 45 days left until Election Day, it’s go time. I volunteer with my local Obama campaign office, and it is so inspiring to be surrounded by fellow Obama supporters, and be a part of the President’s reelection efforts. If you’re interested in getting involved check out http://www.barackobama.com/ to find out how you can help. And regardless of party, please make sure you, your friends, and family vote this November.
Four more years baby!!
With Radicalflow, Now Anyone Can Build an App
4 AugI was blown away by the idea of a brand new startup, Radicalflow when I first read about it on Mashable. It’s one of the most innovative startup ideas I’ve heard in a while. Imagine you have a great idea for an app, but realize you have no way of building it. You don’t know how to code, and you realize you will need developers, product designers, possible Facebook integration, GPS capability, approval from apple… the list goes on and on.
Introducing Radicalflow, the brilliant web based tool that allows you to build iPhone/iPad apps without knowing how to code. No technical skills required. Using a dashboard, users design the interface and the user experience of the entire app. Submit, and RadicalFlow handles all the backend heavy lifting. Radicalflow supports over 75 API’s allowing users to create their own content, host it ,and all of it’s data on Radicalflow’s servers. What’s even better? Once finished, RadicalFlow even has a platform to publish your product without having to obtain an Apple developers account.
The company says, “It is not a template where you make cookie cutter apps. Think of it like opening Photoshop or Powerpoint with a blank slate ready for your creative input.”
Unfortunately RadicalFlow only raised $20,171 of the pledged $75,000 needed to get their Kickstarter project off the ground. Their Twitter has also been pretty quiet since mid July. I hope these guys decide to raise a round of funding because Radicalflow is what technology is all about… Enabling and empowering people to do things they never dreamed they could do.
I’ll be keeping tabs.
