Happy Thanksgiving, Folks!
What are your favorite memories of Thanksgiving?
Some of my favorite Thanksgiving celebrations were spent at our family’s cabin in the Black Hills. Mom would cook up a turkey, Grandma baked fresh strawberry rhubarb pie, and I’d make the Buckland salad. The smell of Rhodes rolls would waft from the kitchen into the living room, and the bun snatchers would snatch a roll from under the dishtowel, keeping them warm.
The photo above might seem a little gross, but the wishbones that used to decorate that chain each represent a Thanksgiving I spent with my grandma, parents, brother, and sometimes cousins. I miss the community of those big family gatherings as we all get older, start to slow down, and family passes on.
Which is why this month, I’m focusing on building communities in person and in the digital realms. Stuffed in this edition is:
- Building a Thriving Social Media Community
- A Constant Contact Black Friday Deal
- Mattel’s Wicked Mistake
- 11 Tips to Improve Your Website’s UX
- How Creative Collaboration Can Help Strengthen Relationships
Plus, learn about the Read, Want, Need, Do gifting strategy, along with a few ideas for gifting this season.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
Sincerely,
Sarah
#1 Building a Thriving Social Media Community
How do you build a thriving social media community? Social media isn’t about you. It’s about your community. Whether you’re on YouTube, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat, or Instagram, it’s where your people live and come together. Learn how to create engaging, entertaining and educational content that sparks growth and a place where people thrive.
#2 Black Friday Deal!
Usually I don’t include this kind of stuff in my emails but I do love a good deal and wanted to pass along the savings. Take 40% off email and digital marketing plans for 3 months from Constant Contact. Act fast, this deal ends December 4. Use code: CYBERWEEK24
#3 A Wicked Mistake
Mattel’s wicked mistake, eek! The toy company accidentally printed an adult website link on its packaging for the Wicked dolls, sending folks into a buying frenzy and an uproar. The correct website is wickedmovie.com. Remember to test those links on the packaging when you’re proofing!
#4 11 Tips to Improve Your Website’s UX
Are you looking to make some improvements to your website? Here are 11 Tips from Monster Insights to encourage visitors to linger longer and improve their user experience (UX).
#5 Creative Collaboration Can Strengthen Relationships
We know that creativity can lead to better products or services. But can it also help us get along with each other at work? A research study by the Harvard Business Review set out to answer this question. What they found was that “creativity is a social process.” It turns out that sharing ideas, riffing off each other’s suggestions, giving feedback, and collaborating to solve problems can make us closer.
🎁 Giving Season Ideas 🎁
If you’re looking for some ideas on gifting but want to be more intentional and mindful, try the need, want, wear, read, and do gifting strategy. We started this a couple of years ago to stop the madness of mindless junk.
No affiliate links here, just ideas to get your creative juices flowing…
Want
This is your big ticket gift! What’s your special someone into? This is where listening really pays off. Spend the big bucks here.
Need
What do they need?
- Portable battery jumper from Amazon. My dad got me this for my birthday, and I’ve used it twice already.
- Upgraded Yeti Lunchbox, or something they use daily that could be enhanced.
- Something that needs replacing.
Wear
Something to wear—
- Bombas socks: They donate a pair for every pair you buy.
- A family-matching pajama set.
- Gift cards to their favorite store are always a hit at my house.
Read
Something to read, paper or digital—
- The Artist’s Way, Juila Cameron.a spiritual take about reclaiming your inner artist.
- Every Tool is a Hammer, Adam Savage (Mythbusters). One of my favorite books ever. Adam chronicles his career and shares productivity tips.
- A magazine or newspaper subscription, I don’t know about you, but I miss holding a newspaper sometimes.
Do
Something they can do or experience, either together or apart—
- A board or card game, or a deck of cards from Bicycle, they have designs from Back to the Future to Donald Duck.
- Special event tickets to a concert, museum, or artistic performance.
- A trip to Disneyland, just kidding, but maybe something travel-related or a weekend away at a cozy cabin.
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