#its the only thing about their relationship that has ever made zer question if it was a good idea to marry him.

[bitchfitch]

[a drawing of a wet and miserable looking Toi'uhla clinging to Lordakai's arm after a failed attempt at Lordakai trying to teach zer to swim]

[margaretbeagle]

Selling on Social 101: How Blume Markets and Sells to a Gen Z Audience

As the buying power of Gen Z grows, marketers at businesses of all sizes are searching for novel ways to connect with this audience and build lasting customer relationships.

It'll come as no surprise that social media platforms are of the best ways to connect with this generation — which includes today's teenagers and those in their early 20's. But marketing to Gen Zers means much more than simply posting pretty pictures and memes.

So what does it take to stand out and connect with this valuable audience in 2021?

One brand that has mastered the art of marketing to Gen Z is Blume, a fast-growing skin, body, and period care brand on a mission to break boundaries and smash taboos.

In this interview, you'll hear directly from Janice Cheng, Brand and Community Manager at Blume, and you'll learn:

How to build a brand that connects with Gen Z

How to market and sell on social media

The key to understanding Gen Z's preferences on social media

Successful strategies to use when marketing to Gen Z

This post is part of the #BufferBrandSpotlight, a Buffer Social Media series that shines a spotlight on the people that are helping build remarkable brands through social media, community building, content creation, and brand storytelling.

This series was born on Instagram stories, which means you can watch the original interview in our Highlights found on our @buffer Instagram profile.

Tell us more about you! What's Blume all about and what's your role there?

My name is Janice and I’m based in Vancouver! I’m the Brand Manager at Blume—a fast-growing skin, body, and period care brand on a mission to break boundaries and smash taboos. I joined the team back in June 2019 as the 3rd hire and EA to our founders Taran & Bunny. Now, I’ve been in this Brand role for almost 9 months.

Why do you think your Gen Z audience connects with your brand?

Gen Zers are conscious (smart) consumers and the most connected generation ever. Growing up with social media, they want transparency, community, and look for brands that align with their values. I think Blume checks off all those boxes in a really genuine way! Since day one, we’ve been more than just our products. Blume is breaking stigma by having conversations about extremely normal, yet still taboo topics, like acne, puberty, periods, and sex ed. As I’m sure most of us know, these are “issues” that carry well into adulthood, so a lot of our audience are millennials as well.

Gen Zers are conscious (smart) consumers and the most connected generation ever. Growing up with social media, they want transparency, community, and look for brands that align with their values.

We’re also a brand that cares. We launched the thestatesofsexed.com, Future World Shapers Award (created for Gen Z change-makers), and generally produce engaging and shareable content. More importantly, we prioritize using our platform to amplify the voices of our community and speak up on issues important to us; this includes climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, and even our pandemic response. Our audience teaches us a lot, and more than anything, they’re our friends! This is all translated through our brand voice cohesively across all channels.

Tell us about a recent social media campaign. What made it so successful?

We’re only about 2.5 years old but one of my fave moments was our in-house Blume Celebrates Skin campaign (a campaign focused on being confident in our own skin is undefined and unrestricted by our physical appearances or the bumps and blemishes on our skin). We were only about five people then (half of our team now) and it was so much fun because it came from our hearts. Quickly and organically, it grabbed the attention of Allure and Daily Mail UK. Sometimes metrics are tricky with these kinds of campaigns. Say someone comes across this campaign and finds new strength and bravery in their natural skin. Although can’t quantify feelings, the reviews and customer testimonials are invaluable to our team.

Instagram post found here.

BUT! Meltdown (our best-selling acne treatment) continues to be our top community favorite and campaigns like Celebrate Skin reinforce that. Ultimately, our social media goal is to increase engagement, and this campaign accomplished that for us. We’re about to have some of our biggest campaigns this new year! So stay tuned.

Where do you find inspiration for Blume’s social media content?

Recently, a lot on TikTok (obviously), community pages like Girlboss, and also meme pages. We have an #inspo Slack channel where we share things we see on our feeds and Explore pages and what’s circulating in our own friend's groups! Pro tip: start an #inspo channel whether just for yourself or with your team.

How does Blume leverage user-generated content to connect with its Gen Z audience?

Community is core to all we do. Beyond our products, for us, it’s about adding value to Gen Z, and user-generated content (UGC) is a huge part of that. Using UGC is more impactful than using traditional models or lifestyle images because UGC is by actual people in our community—reflecting a range of real skin. It's the best way to relate to this audience!

Using UGC is more impactful than using traditional models or lifestyle images because UGC is by actual people in our community—reflecting a range of real skin.

Also, Gen Zers are so creative because producing content is second nature to them so partnerships together are so fun. I love looking through our tagged posts every week and seeing people embrace their shelfies and natural skin. We give them full creative freedom! So rather than believing what we have to say about our products, you should believe our community through UGC, their captions, reviews, and experiences.

Instagram post found here.

How does Blume embed UGC, customer testimonials, and reviews across all its marketing channels?

We have an incredible tiny team of two that keeps the rest of the team, especially marketing, up to date with all inquiries, trends, and themes of the week. For example, our Meltdown before & after shave has always been highly effective for us because a photo equals a thousand words.

In skincare, especially clean beauty care, it's really important for us to spotlight the effectiveness of the product and how our products actually work. We’ll use before/after photos and other UGC in ads, Instagram story features, and email newsletters. With permission, of course.

On a regular week, we try to post UGC and/or testimonials about 3-4x on our social media channels.

In skincare, especially clean beauty care, it's really important for us to spotlight the effectiveness of the product and how our products actually work.

What are Blume’s most successful social platforms for selling and why?

Definitely Instagram—still cracking the code for TikTok. Ultimately, Gen Zers are the trendsetters and determine what’s next. Something can come and go overnight so we have to be quick to pivot, adapt and execute. We can plan all we want but our best performing posts often tend to be non-product focused ones. If we had a Meltdown post planned on a day where the world actually needs more empathy and love, we’ll swap it for a journal prompt post or check-in.

What advice do you have for brands that want to start selling on social media?

Make a list of brands that you love and dig deep into the “why.” For Blume, the core criterion for selling on social is based on value; we focus our marketing on educational content about our products and brand, community building through UGC campaigns and partnerships, and aesthetic shareable graphics.

Also, GET. ON. TIKTOK. Whether to start your brand page or just to get in touch with Gen Z culture, it’s worthwhile I promise you. Here are three easy things you can start right away: write copy like a human (not a robot), have fun with emojis, and start following people to bring eyes to your page!

Fllow Blume on TikTok here.

For Blume, the core criterion for selling on social is based on value; we focus our marketing on educational content about our products and brand, community building through UGC campaigns and partnerships, and aesthetic shareable graphics.

How do you stay up to date on Gen Z trends?

Personally, I follow Gen Z brands that I admire, read lots of Glossy and Beauty Independent, and ask our awesome Influencer, Lead Eman, for the 411 on what’s cool and what’s not. I also used to scroll TikTok for 4 hours a day (lol) for simultaneous entertainment and market research.

What's your favorite Blume product and why?

I’d like to say Meltdown because that’s everyone's #1 and I’ve had a lot of stress acne through 2020, BUT my runner-up is definitely Hug Me, our natural deodorant. Random fact: the probiotics, our secret ingredient, has adapted to my body so well I hardly need deodorant anymore. It’s also unscented so I recommend it to EVERYONE. I might be biased but these two are also my faves because their names are so fun to play with when copywriting. 👋

Thanks for Bluming with us, Buffer friends! ❤️

We hope this interview with Janice helps you get started with or double down on your social media efforts. You can follow Blume on Instagram here!

Have any questions for Janice? Feel free to reply with your questions to the Twitter post below and Janice or someone from the Buffer team will get to them as soon as possible.

Selling on Social 101: How Blume Markets and Sells to a Gen Z Audience published first on https://improfitninja.weebly.com/

[mrlnsfrt]

Upward, Inward, Outward

Our local church school Valdosta Christian Academy is celebrating its 50 anniversary and this got me thinking about the importance of good Christian education and also got me thinking about how much things have changed in 50 years.

I did a quick search to find out some of the things that happened in 1968, the year our Christian school was founded, originally in Lakeland (a city roughly 15 miles from Valdosta). I discovered all kinds of interesting things took place that year. One website had several interesting facts including that in 1968 McDonald's first began to sell Big Macs nationwide for 49 cents. It was also around that time that the Boeing 747 made its maiden flight and forever changed air travel. 1968 was also a year of terrible turmoil, it was the year that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. There were many more major events that took place and you can read about them here.

As I read about what life was like in 1968 and how the average cost of new house was $14,950.00 and the average income per year $7,850.00. Back then the average monthly rent was $130.00 and gas cost 34 cents per gallon. Those were different times when the average cost of a new car was $2,822.00 and the federal hourly minimum wage was $1.60 an hour (source).

Life has changed a lot here in the United States from 1968 to 2018. I was recently startled by some data about the generation currently attending our school. Our students are members of Generation Z. Gen-Z is the most diverse generation ever. Nearly half of Gen-Z workers will come from Hispanic and non-white backgrounds. The breadth of Gen-Z’s diversity extends beyond ethnicity. A study by the Innovation Group finds Gen-Zers are less likely to identify as heterosexual (48% compared to 65% of Millennials). 82% agree gender doesn’t define a person as much as it used to. Facebook even now allows more than 50 different gender identities. (source)

There is a lot of information about Generation Z out there, some of it is even contradictory so I won't dedicate too much time to it. But I do want to highlight how different things are, and they keep changing at a pace that seems to continue to speed up. So the question that comes to my mind is, "Do we still need Christian Education?"

I believe we do, more than ever. But can a Christian school, especially a small one, really prepare our children for the modern world?

I strongly believe so. I say this fully aware that we are preparing them for a world that will be, in all likelihood, vastly different from ours. We are trying to equip them, in many cases, to work in jobs that don't even exist yet. Science and technology are advancing at such a pace that what you learn seems to quickly become obsolete or at least outdated. 

In my personal life, I remember having to take a mandatory class in college that included a long section on how to use Microsoft Word. The very next year a new version of Microsoft Word came out, and what I had learned became outdated. 

So how do we prepare the children? If you are a parent where do you send your kids? To the new big public school? To the fancy charter school? There are so many options nowadays, should you homeschool? These are not easy questions and I do not claim to have all the answers. But I would like to share how I have approached this issue personally.

I have attended public schools and Adventist schools. I attended and Adventist University and my wife attended a state university. Both of us had positive and negative experiences both in public and private schools. Because I want to refrain as much as possible from sharing just my opinions let's talk about some principles.

Principles

When everything around us is changing we need an anchor point, a way of getting our bearings. This generation coming up now will face even greater difficulties than my generation, the Millenials, are facing. It is impossible for us to know exactly what the world will be like for them, or even for us. So how do you prepare for the unknown? Since it is impossible to know the details we focus on the principles. When you have good, solid, principles, you can apply them to varying circumstances. 

This summer while on vacation and stuck in traffic during a thunderstorm, while my wife and kids slept, I was listening to an interview with Ray Dalio. For those who may not be familiar with him, Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs. During his interview, he made several references to his book Principles, where he shares the unconventional principles that helped him create unique results in life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to better achieve their goals.

His book is a #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER as well as a #1 AMAZON BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR. To give you an idea, Bill Gates said that Ray Dalio has provided him with invaluable guidance (source). 

Ray Dalio says the following about himself:

Whatever success I’ve had in life hasn’t been because of anything unique about me—it’s because of principles that I believe anyone can adopt. - Ray Dalio

 I agree with Ray Dalio that the right principles can shape a life for success. If you are searching for success in the world of business and investing, I would say you should check out Dalio's principles. But I have an even stronger suggestion for you. If your desire is for eternal life and success that goes much beyond our sinful world, check out the Bible.

In the Bible, we find God's principles for life here on earth that will ultimately lead to eternal life with Him. When I say eternal, I mean without end, it goes on and on and on forever! Whatever finite thing that can be given up for something that is infinite is worth giving up.

The biblical principles can be found throughout scriptures and can be expressed in many different ways. The principles themselves do not change, though their application takes on different forms as we apply them in different ways and under different circumstances.

Upward

The first principle or the top priority found throughout the Holy Scriptures is that God must be first. The Bible tells us that everything begins with God (Genesis 1, John 1,) and God tells us to put Him first, God must not only be first, He cannot share that place with anything else. In Exodus 20 we find the words of God Himself recorded, and He said:

You shall have no other gods before Me. - God (Genesis 20:3)

So the first principle is put God first. I like to think of this as the upward dimension of life. Our relationship with God will significantly shape all other areas of our life. Isaiah 6 illustrates this well. There we read of the prophet's experience when he, in vision, found himself in the very presence of God!

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. - Isaiah 6:1-4 NKJV

Isaiah finds himself in the presence of God! He witnesses God's power and greatness and holiness. In the presence of God, Isaiah does not only better understand God, but Isaiah also gains insights about himself. Isaiah better understands himself when He draws closer to God.

Inward

Our relationship with God does not only lead us to a better understanding of God but also a better understanding of ourselves. What is Isaiah's response to being in the presence of God?

So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” - Isaiah 6:5 NKJV

Isaiah does not become proud of boastful for being in the presence of God. Isaiah does not consider himself superior to others because of his privilege of being in the presence of God. Perhaps surprisingly Isaiah feels the opposite. He is humbled and made aware of how unworthy he is to be in Gods presence. Isaiah recognizes that he does not always speak the way he ought to and that his environment is not any better. Isaiah, being a prophet, chosen by God, is not proud but humbled by the vision of God in His Holy Temple. Isaiah is overwhelmed by who God is, by God's power and Holiness. 

Instead of being proud, Isaiah fears for his life for he knows that He is not worthy to stand before a Holy and Awesome God. Oh if more of us could have that experience. So many are proud of how close to God they are. They look down on others considering them inferior. At church sometimes it seems like that closer people come to God, the prouder they become, the more judgmental they become, and the more they point fingers. When I read about Isaiah's experience, as recorded in Isaiah 6, I see a holy man who feels unworthy, who is humbled and fears for his life.

If you are reading this and you feel proud of your holiness, and godliness, I am sorry to tell you that chances are you are not as close to God as you would like to think. As we advance upward, we also delve inward and recognize we are not worthy to receive the blessings we receive daily. Upward mobility translates into humility and never pride.

In recognizing his unworthiness Isaiah is overcome by fear. Then something happens,

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” - Isaiah 6:6-7 NKJV

One of the seraphim comes to Isaiah's rescue. The angel himself is not able to save Isaiah but he brings a live coal taken from the altar. It is thanks to the sacrifice offered at the altar that Isaiah's iniquity is taken away and that his sin is purged. Isaiah now experiences salvation from God, he is now able to stand not because of anything he did but because of the offering from the altar. Isaiah has been saved by grace. 

Outward 

 Once Isaiah experiences salvation something changed, he now heard God’s voice, Isaiah became aware of a need.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” - Isaiah 6:8 NKJV

After experiencing salvation the prophet became aware of God’s desire for someone to go for Him, Isaiah was willing and in God’s calling, he found his mission. Isaiah, after being in the presence of God and receiving salvation now wanted to go and do God’s will. Isaiah was willing to go for God and deliver His message.

When we seek God, we find God, we are humbled by Him, saved by Him, and sent by Him into all the world.

Conclusion

Learning math, science, reading, and history is great. But even more important is learning to connect with God on a personal level and learning from Him how to apply everything that we learn for the growth of His kingdom. Most school will give you the tools, a good Christian school gives you also a purpose and goal that is other focused. Science and math can provide you with how, and God will provide you with a why. And that is why we support our local Christian school, because it not only teaches our children math and science and English, etc. but also Biblical values for a meaningful life.

Our life is made up of three dimensions, upward, inward, and outward. God is the key, the focus, to figuring it all out. As we reach upward to something greater than ourselves we find God who helps us discover who we truly are. In the process of finding ourselves, we realize our need of God, our need to be saved. As we experience that salvation and a loving relationship with God we find our purpose, we discover our earthly mission, to go as God’s ambassadors revealing His character to the world and sharing the good news of Salvation in Christ Jesus.