Jill Perlberg

I recently participated in a case study without really knowing about it.  We hear so much about the power of social media, and we are equally asked what the results we see. This short case study will give you insight into the power of social media, but more importantly what your campaigns really need in order to convert into theh dollars or actions you are expecting. . Overview: An acquaintance from college posted a request on Facebook for blood donors.  A friend of hers -- a father of two young children-- was recently diagnosed with leukemia and is requiring numerous blood transfusions (specifically white blood cells and a certain blood type). I saw the post on Facebook and although my blood type didn't match, I thought how hard could it be to share the request with my network. "Sue" was a person I knew pretty well and I respected her.  I posted a request for blood donors (of the certain blood type) with some information about the person in need. My post gave a spec...

I've being doing quite a bit of research lately on content strategy and what content types, channels, and resources are the most effective for companies to reach their target audience.  As you read the research and my summary, I'd be interested to hear if you come to the same conclusion, sounds like common sense, right? But, as we see in so many situations, common sense takes a back seat to politics, resource constraints, and fear of new technologies.  Detailed below are what I see as the most common mistakes companies are making and the key characteristics of successful firms. Mistakes: No Content Marketing Strategy.   According to a Pennypacker survey , only 46% of firms responding had a content marketing strategy. I find this extraordinary.  Producing content is not cheap.  It's like selling a house without doing any staging.  You might get a buyer, but are you getting the maximum result for your efforts? Content marketing is not an integrated cross...

Over the last two years, I have been the co-moderator of #careerchat on Twitter.  We originally started the chat to help professional manage their career better.  Like any involvement in an online community, you can go in with one idea but you have to be open to the community driving what they are really looking for.  Over time, the community of users participating evolved more to industry experts and other career coaches. Is this a failure or just the community driving their needs? By reaching career coaches, university career services departments, and other career services companies, aren't we ultimately reaching our target population.  It's very hard to quantify brand growth through the use of social media tools, but the latest numbers from TweetReach.com provide a compelling argument that the exposure may be worth the investment of one hour over lunch. Reached 29,052 people via 50 tweets  Exposure: 57,442 Impressions

Lately, I've been getting restless at work. Am I in the right place? Are the things that challenge me the right things? Over the last week or so, I spent some time evaluating where I am and where I want to go. The process, which I have to say has been a surprise to me, has re-energized me and helped me completely appreciate everything where I am. I'm not a sappy person who "found the light." But, I did find that I'm where I'm supposed to be, at least for now. Here's My 5 Step Process To "Enlightenment": Inventory. Think about what your happy with and more importantly what's driving you crazy. Identify what you can change and what you can't. Sounds easy right? But this is actually the hardest part. You need to make sure that if you are attempting change within your job and company that it will be accepted and appreciated by your manager and your coworkers. If you're making change at home and you're married; you better be talki...

You work at home, but your neighbors who work out at an office see you as their personal assistants. Sound familiar? You're not alone. Jeffrey Zaslow of the WSJ recently covered the topic in, " At-Home Workers Say Enough is Enough ". According to Zaslow, "the assumption is that working at home means that you have the flexibility...at-homers are torn between their willingness to help and their resentment about the way their help is sought." From someone who has worked at home, I can tell you that the assumption about flexibility if WRONG. You know what I mean. We've all looked at the clock, realized it was 4:00 in the afternoon and couldn't believe we were still in our p.j.s? Our days fly by and all of the things you had planned to do are still waiting for you. I can see why the women featured in this story feel the way they do. They are "easy marks." Why couldn't they pick up the kids, run some errands, right? Read the rest on MyPath...

Welcome to MyPath: 28 Hours: Work life balance tools Part 3: Tripadvisor.com

I was flying solo last weekend. My hubby was trying to win, or more importantly, not lose our retirement in vegas. So what's a girl to do? Do what I did, catch up with family and friends and enjoy the great city we live it. Itinerary for the weekend: Friday: Worked out with the trainer at the Brickyard. If you haven't been to this gym, you're missing out on our very own version of Average Joe's (from Dodge ball if you didn't get the connection). There's always something ridiculous going on there. Following the Brickyard, visit friends at Sugar Maple . A great bar in Bay View:smoke free, awesome beer selection, and not at all pretentious (but also not dingy). A ride home from a friend and a good night sleep. Saturday: Kate and I explored Bay View alla a 5 mile walk. Starting in the deep south of Bay View (Clement and Morgan), we trecked our way to Groppi's and were delighted to find a free cheese, bread, salami and beer sampling. God, I love this ci...

As some might know, I recently got married. My new name is Jill Perlberg (married to Tom Perlberg). Well, we just got back from our honeymoon and decided to give one of our wedding gifts a try. We received a HUGE 4-burner Kenmore grill from Tommy's cousins. So I put together some fantastic Chicken Kabobs (chicken, pineapple, onion, red pepper, green pepper, tomato) and got them ready for Tommy to cook. I headed out to the nail salon for a quick fill and told him I'd be back in 45 min. Upon returning, Tommy asks, "Do you think the kabobs are done?", I didn't realize it was a rhetorical question. There on our brand new stainless steel grill were the most burnt pieces of chicken and veges I'd ever seen. I guess the old saying that men will be nice and compliment a wife's cooking as she learns to be a good cook needs to be modified. Since Tommy and I have been together for over 7 years, we've had our share errible meals and joked about them, but I ...

I'm on my quest to get back into shape to look great on my wedding day. Since I'm working a ton of hours and planning the final details of my wedding, eating healthy tends to be a struggle (there's just no time). So when I discover a great find, I just have to tell you about it. Everyone knows jello is low in calories and fat and overall a pretty good snack. My problem with jello: -I don't take the time to make it and use multiple Tupperware containers that will then have to be washed -The jello cups that you can purchase aren't enough sometimes and then I ended up eating 2-3. That gets expensive. My new solution: Winky's Gel Bites . At just $1.65/bag(which is resealable), you get three one-half cup servings of jello bites. They taste great, are convenient, and you can eat the whole bag for only 45 calories. And eating the whole bag won't be hard, I'm eating them as I write. For those on Weight Watchers, that's only 1 point. Check t...

It's been a while and there are definitely a few reasons...Let's see. I'm working on launching my company's first social networking site, getting married and trying to keep the pounds from creeping on. So I'm going to start writing here about what's happening at work, home, etc. and hopefully you'll find it entertaining, informative, or worthwhile to read when you need a few minutes break from the daily grind. I'd love to hear your thoughts on everything....If you have an idea of what I can do better, by all means tell me! Thanks for following and I'll be in touch.

Three weeks before Christmas, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. His options were do nothing or try chemo in an attempt to shrink the tumors vs. cure him. To add to the stress of the situation, my aunt and uncle did not have the best insurance and the cost of doing chemo could wipe out thier retirement savings. After long talks, they decided to try chemo and see if my uncle's time with us could be extended. My family felt a bit helpless as we live in Milwaukee and my aunt&uncle are in Phoenix. So we decided to organize a fundraiser to help offset some of the incoming medical bills. Between scheduling the fundraiser and having it yesterday, my uncle had passed away. But we decided to have it anyway, my aunt was going to need all the help she could get. On a cold Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, I saw selflessness of people that we rarely see anymore. Through donations at the door, raffles, and silent auction items we raised nearly $5,000 in a four-hour period. Nothing was be...

2009 is here and although we have said "Do More with Less" in the past, 2009 couldn't more true. This is true for many people including myself. Example being: -Like many of you, I work where some colleagues have been laid off, budgets were tightened, but it seems the work hasn't decreased either, in fact, its growing. -I'm getting married this year. Not only that, my tax escrow was short, Christmas just passed and it seems that everything costs a bit more, well at least gas isn't $4/gallon. -Because of the two items above, I feel like I don't have any time or money. I spent a number of days from my year end vacation, cleaning, paying bills, doing laundry, running errands, all the things you don't have time for now because you are working harder (do more with less). What's a girl to do? At work, we all had to write down everything we do. Then we had to identify anything that wasn't strategic, imperative, etc. This allows you to really evaluate i...

Working in a diverse environment has never been any clearer than this week. As a Catholic, we celebrate Christmas. But I work with colleagues from 10 countries and 6 continents. You don't want to offend anyone, but at sometimes, being politically correct is not at the forefront on your mind. I said Merry Christmas the other day to a friend at work and she was standing next to an Indian Colleague, he said, "don't you mean, Happy Holidays". Agreed, we need to be cognizant of other people's backgrounds, but in the same breath, we so worried about offending people that we can't be ourselves anymore. My boss is Jewish, but shipped Christmas presents to her family the other day, my cousin is agnostic but gives Christmas presents. What's a girl to do? Well, one way to embrace it, celebrate the differences! My first post in the blog talked about how food helps people connect, that couldn't more true during the holidays. When I was 21 and doing a semester in Ho...

Its that time of the year when vacations begin and people start winding down for the year,or so you think. Why is it that each year you think year end will be easy, slow moving ,everyone else is off and then BAM! it hits you, the craziness of year-end. I was sitting in a management meeting today and we were talking about Holiday coverage, how are we going to get everything done. The conversation goes, what is the highest priority, should we have so and so do it, but that person is already swamped and scheduled to be off the next two weeks. Can anyone else do it? nope it has to be that person. Then my boss in her straight from the hip style brought us back to reality....guys, we are building a website, the world isn't going to end. But how do you know that????? Yes, the world is not going to end, but my work life could really be out of wack and then I'm a pain in the ass to be around. Which is worse? Given the current economic situation and how we are all lucky to have jobs and ...

Is that time of the year, holidays are coming and what does that mean, my family (well, the women in my family) gets together for a day to show our own side of domestic godessness. I have come to accept that I should never decorate a sugar cookie-there was and still is a reason I was not an arts major. However, I am a damn good dough maker and baker. One way I know this is that only 3 days after making Mexican Wedding Cakes, the entire bucket is gone. I think its a good sign, my fiance devoured them. All good karma. So at least he'll love my baking and the fact they are called Wedding Cakes is just the added bonus.

Many of us today work in an environment with team members who are so dramatically different from you. Different cultures, career stage, and age all contribute to those age old comments of "I have nothing in common with him/her?", "We have nothing to talk about". Over the last few months of working on a truly global project, 14 countries and 6 continents represented, the one underlying commonality that brings a group together is...FOOD. Everyone eats and most people have grown up with certain traditions/preparations of food that are near and dear to them who love to talk about it, its nostalgic! Just this week, food was the catalyst for me and an Indian colleague to have a great conversation on his favorite Indian restaurant that actually is near my house and after visiting it for dinner last week another reason for us to catch up for a few minutes over a cup of coffee. Which, by the way, Royal India in Milwaukee is a great find. The service was fabulous and the foo...