But I’ve had several aha moments to shed some light on the subject from several sources. The first was from Kyle Lacey who said a dozen times in one day, “Social media, as is 90% narcissism.”

WOW! That’s it. It’s all about me.

How many friends do I have?
How many “likes” do I have?
How many followers on Twitter or connections on LinkedIn?
How many people retweet my stuff?
And, OMG, what’s my Klout score? (And, secretly, wanting to know, is it higher than my friends?)

It’s enough to drive one to become obsessed! Or even possessed!

I must admit, when I first started “fishing for friends”, I made it a game. I’d zero in on someone I liked and admired and then made it my goal to get more friends, followers or connections than they had. It became a social obsession and ate up a lot of time and energy.

But apparently, I’m not alone.

According to The New York Times Insights, 68% of the people who share do so to make themselves “look better”!

And then today I read two great blog posts by Brian Solis, a big name in new media who has extensively studied the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. I’m pretty sure he coined the term “egosystem” several years ago, and I’ve probably been in the dark about it.

But I see the light now. Social media has opened up the floodgates and given everyone, from 5 year olds to grandmothers to revolutionaries, the ability to show off on a big stage and get lots of feedback. Or none at all. But either way, you keep “showing off”.

Today I want to share a post from Brian on how big Facebook’s reach is – bigger than the population of Europe, with Russia included. And only second behind China in the number of Internet users. It’s huge.

The relevance to business, Brian sums it up by saying, “In the face, pun intended, of an important migration from that of a destination web to that of a social egosystem, businesses must rethink their web strategy. No longer is having a centralized www presence enough to satisfy the needs of online consumers. Ive long maintained that businesses must augment their traditional web site with that of a social home page as well as a mobile experience. Catering to attention where it is focused is the only way to earn relevance in a new era of social consumerism. In doing so, businesses must also adopt a new mindset that doesnt simply market to consumers the same old way just in new networks, but instead fosters meaningful engagement and connections by providing valueas defined by the very consumers youre trying to reach.”

As Adam Kmiec, head of Walgreens social media said in a post in 2009, “The rise of social media has simply given everybody the ability to stroke their own ego in public. And lets be honest, its no fun stroking your ego in the comforts of your own home and without an audience.”

Brian goes on to say, “This is your time to not only earn Likes, but also make them count now and in the long term.”

WOW! It really is all about being popular!

Suzi
Garden Media Group

By Halloween, most stink bugs will have moved inside to hibernate. Experts say a good indoor stink bug trap with an LED light works best to attract stink bugs indoors.

To prevent stink bugs from taking over your home this winter, follow these tips from the pros:

* Seal up your castle. The first line of defense is to close your windows and doors, and seal up any openings where the bugs can enter. They can flatten out and slip through the cracks to hide in your house for winter.

* Create a barrier outdoors. Outdoors stink bugs are attracted to scent. Indoors they move to light. Place traps on porches, posts and trees around your home. New traps on the market catch both young and adult stink bugs with a pheromone attractant that lures them from up to 30 feet away.

* Check traps frequently. Make certain your traps are catching stink bugs. If not, move them to another spot. “Be vigilant,” says Doug Oster, author of Grow Organic. “You have to out-smart them.”

* Pick them off. When you see them on your plants, deck or curtains, pick them off with a tissue, drop in a cup of soapy water and flush down the toilet. Do not release outside. “These arent lady bugs,” says Oster. “A dead stink bug is the only good stink bug.”

* Seek and destroy them indoors. Once they migrate indoors, the bugs congregate in warm dark areas. Indoors they are attracted to light, not scent, so place your traps in attics, living areas and basements where the bugs gather to hibernate through the winter. ”Light is what works indoors,” Oster says. RESCUE! just introduced a new Stink Bug Light – an attachable LED proven to lure the bugs into the trap. The light easily snaps onto the Stink Bug Trap and plugs into either a wall outlet or battery pack.

* Dont vacuum. If you vacuum, youll scare them and they will emit a foul odor that will linger in your vacuum cleaner and home. If you do, change and dispose the bag immediately.

For more information and great tips on how to beat stink bugs, visit http://www.rescue.com/.

-Karen
GMG

Fall is a wondrous season. Flaming leaves, gourds and pumpkins, hayrides and harvest festivals, and my favorite…apple season. Loads of sweet, juicy, crunchy varieties are brimming over displays in supermarkets and farmers markets tempting us with their apple allure.

We eat them off the vine and transform them into heavenly apple torts, crisps, muffins, pies and pastries.
From Abermarle Pippin to Yellow Transparent there are well over 75 varieties to explore and experience, like ‘Jonagold’ – a cross of Jonathan and Golden Delicious.

I want to share his wisdom as I think it applies to marriage but to life in general and work in particular as well. These simple yet beautiful ideas can by the inspirational code for your life; personal development, behaviour, communications and relationships.

Here is how Don Miguel summarises ‘The Four Agreements’:

Agreement 1Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Agreement 2Dont take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you wont be the victim of needless suffering.

Agreement 3Dont make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Agreement 4Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

FYI, I’d never heard of Don Miguel so I looked him up. For many years he practiced as a surgeon. Following a car crash in the late 1970’s, Don Miguel reverted back to his Toltec roots. The Toltec view science and spirit as part of the same entity, believing that all energy – material or ethereal – is derived from and governed by the universe.

And thanks to my wonderful Katie for sharing her wisdom with me.

Suzi
Garden Media Group

The Fall Festivals are upon us. The next few weekends are usually filled with lots of great outdoor time enjoying the change in scenery and taking part in many family-oriented events.

I’ve gathered some of the TOP 10 lists of Fall Festivals below…(you can add some of your own below.)

• Top 10 Must-See Festivals
• Top Fall Festivals in the Washington, DC Area
• Fall Festivals & Pumpkin Patches in Southwestern Pennsylvania – 2011
• Fall Festivals, Pumpkin Patches, Harvest Fairs, Corn Mazes and Hay Rides Right Here in New York City 2011
• The Best Fall Food and Wine Events – October 2011
• Looking for a Music Festival? 
• Fall Festival and Country Fairs in New England
• North Carolina Festivals

Which ones will you be going to? I’m sure there are many I don’t know about and that means I am missing out on some great fall experiences. Please share the inside scoop on great festivals in your area by leaving a comment below! Who knows? I might just see you there!

-Karen
GMG

These two pictures from Laura Kuhn and Ann Rosmarin are just alive with color.  Do you see volcano mulching going on in your neighborhood?

I’m an English major, not a math wizard, but this makes sense to me. 1X1 equals what? One! That’s old media. No dialogue. No conversation. No engagement. Now let’s say you share some news with 100 of your closest friends . . . and they share your news with 100 of their closest friends. Now that 1X1 becomes 1X100X100 or 10,000! That’s why you want to put social media in your marketing tool box. You can reach incredible numbers with the click of a mouse.

If that’s not convincing you to ramp up your social marketing, check out these facts:

Fact: 50% of all US adults now use some form of social networking. 65% of adult Web users in the U.S use social tools. (Pew Research Center)

Fact: Boomers Internet usage of social networking on a typical day grew a whopping 60%. (Pew)

Fact: 3 Billion views a day on YouTube. 25 times more than the Super Bowl audience (20/20)

Fact: 48 hours of new video uploaded to YouTube every minute. More in a day than all the networks combined create in a year. (20/20)

Fact: QR Scanning has increased 1,200% from May to December of 2010.

Fact: The Marketing Trifecta has shifted from broadcast, print and direct mail to social, email and mobile.

Fact: 68% of people who share on the Internet, do so to make themselves look better. (New York Times Insights)

But social is not really “new” to public relation pros. After all, word of mouth is the essence of PR. Social media is really only a new tool in our PR tool box, based on the tried and true principals of any good PR program.

So how do you navigate the sea of content and tools to produce videos, blogs and business opportunities? Here’s is what we know from the 7 C’s of Social Media to Win Customers’ Hearts:

1. Create a Grand Goal. If you don’t know why you are doing social media and where you want it to take you, you are just wasting your time and resources. Get this one right from the beginning to save time and money.

2. Create a Clear Path. Once you decide where you want to go, make a plan. Decide who is going to drive social media and how long you plan on the trip to take and how much you plan to spend to get there.

3. Create a Valuable Why. Social Media is not Selling Media. This is a tool to make friends, build credibility and get people engaged in a conversation about you and your brands. The why needs to be what’s in it for the end user, not what’s in it for you.

4. Create an Engaging Personality. How do you make yourself popular? Ah, check out our secrets.

5. Create Magnetic Content. You don’t have to create new content every time you post. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Become a “curator of content” — repost content from people you respect that your audience will want to know about.

6. Create Customer Hubs. The Internet is all about community. Create an online family that you support and they support you. Give your customers a place to “brag” about their success.

7. Create the Buzz. Make the news happen. Don’t wait for it to happen. And then tell everyone about the news you just made happen. Just check out Costa Farms “Growing Style” digital magazine.

Not much has changed since junior high school. We all still want to be popular. The Internet is now making that possible for anyone . . . not just cheerleaders and football stars.

Suzi
Garden Media Group

Although the weather was a bit iffy, the cameras rolled as Kathleen Hassinger, a master gardener, was filmed making 11 How-To videos for the new RESCUE! Stink Big Traps. For the past three days the crew shot video and took great images demonstrating how to put the traps together and where you should place them to catch the beasties.

“One flew right at me while we were shooting outdoors at the home of Steve (Castorani),” said Kathleen. Steve is the co-founder of American Beauties and owner of North Creek Nursery in Delaware. “Stink bugs are airborne and looking to come indoors,” she said. ”Now there’s a trap that really works outdoors and indoors to stop them cold and we experienced that first-hand,” said Kathleen.

Folks from Sterling International were also on hand to lend them their stink bug expertise.

We’ll be sure to share the videos which will be helpful for everyone battling the bugs. Stay tuned.

Lynne
GMG

We are so excited to be involved with a wonderful cause marketing project from Costa Farms. They are teaming up with Lowe’s to offer consumers a beautiful pink Phalaenopsis orchid to help raise funds for the breast cancer movement during the month of October.

Through the Plant for a Cure program, Lowe’s will donate 10% of the purchase price of orchids bearing the Plant for a Cure tag to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

A special thanks to our friends at Better Homes & Gardens who featured this great plant pick in their October issue. I hope you’ll join me in supporting this worthwhile cause, while adding a touch of beauty to your home.

-Stacey
GMG