App Love: The Wunder of Wunderlist

One thing Jane and I couldn't live without is a to-do list, we love planning and being organised (geeks)! We were very good at doing this individually, but when it came to starting our own business we realised we needed a place to easily share a joint to-do list that we could add to on-the-go.

We experimented with a few apps, namely Astrid which was closed last year once it was acquired by Yahoo, so we quickly had to find an alternative which has to be our favourite to-do manager of the moment; Wunderlist.

Wunderlist is a shareable to-do app which lets you add multiple lists and to-dos that can be ticked off once completed. You can set items to be recurring each day, week, month or year and seamlessly move your items from list to list, easily adding subtasks to each item and you can pop any notes in too.

One really great feature in the app is the activity log, which notifies me when Jane has added or completed items, which is really handy to use so we can ensure we are not doubling up efforts, or spending too much time emailing each other about who’s doing what in our business. I also like the fact I can upload a file to an item such as a document or image as a reminder.

We both use the Lite version, which works well for us at the moment, but the Pro version has some really great additional features including being able to start a conversation about a to-do, assign certain tasks to another person, share files with a team and enter an unlimited amount of subtasks. It also gives you access to pre-loaded backgrounds so you can customise each list. These features would be particularly good for a larger remote team.

Having used Wunderlist for more than a year now, one of the most frequent ways we use it each day is to record ideas into different shared lists or categories. For example, we can note down in our shared lists ideas for apps, potential blog posts and social media toolkits we want to write. We even have one to-do list which is a very long list of chapters for the book we want to write together one day! We back up Wunderlist every so often so we know that we won’t lose anything forever too.

Wunderlist is a great to-do list app which teams (and individuals) can use to keep organised, manage projects and collect ideas in a simple and reliable way.

Score: 9.5/10

I love...

• The simple layout – it’s so simple to use, exactly what you want from a to-do manager
• Being able to share individual lists - so I can keep my personal lists as well as my business lists in the same app
• Profile picture – it really helps to distinguish between Jane & I in the app!

I'd like...

• For my activity log to pop up quicker – it’s quite slow on the Lite version

Find out more about the app and download it here – happy organising!

Katie x

Instagram Competitions Are Taking Over!

Along with Pinterest (of course!), Instagram is one of my favourite social networks, not only for keeping up-to-date with friends but for interacting with brands too. It's a truly visual platform, initially with stills and now with 3-15 second long videos and it's really interesting to follow brands and influential users to see their innovative ways of marketing through social media.

One marketing method on Instagram is to run a competition - something which brands don't use as frequently as Facebook and Twitter competitions, but I think, for the right brand, an Instagram competition is worth 1,000 Facebook competitions!

How to Create an Interesting Instagram Competition

Although Instagram competitions may not get you tonnes of new followers, your account's interaction rates will rise and you'll drive users to share you with their friends.

There are a number of different types of competitions on Instagram from 'like to win' to increase likes, to photo entry competitions to drive engagement. As usual, we know that planning is key here, as it is with any social media marketing activity. There's a few elements to cover when creating a successful competition...

Set Goals

Would you like more Instagram followers? Increased brand awareness? Gain further interaction on the platform? Or to up your reach? Before you start to develop a competition, think about your goals and how you're going to monitor them to track results.

Entry Method

Depending on your goals you need to consider what users need to do to enter the competition. Perhaps it's submitting a photo, liking one of your photos (lowest effort), sharing your Instagram account to their followers or simply following you.

After you've decided on your entry method, you'll need an entry page where users can see how to enter the competition. A simple and Instagram-friendly way of doing this is to create an image detailing the prize, entry information and any rules and regulations (length, eligibility, limits and how the winner will be selected, etc) then post this on your account. 

Don't forget to include an attention-grabbing title to increase interest and a unique hashtag to up your reach and enable easy monitoring. Read more about using hashtags on all the major social networking in our recent blog post here.

Promotion

Have a think about how you're going to promote your competition to new Instagrammers. You could send details in a newsletter, promote the competition on all your other social networks, think about social media advertising and also promote it on your website.

Once your competition is up-and-running make sure you promote it frequently and once it's over, learn from the results and decide whether you'd like to make it a regular, perhaps weekly, thing.

If planned and created correctly, an Instagram competition can be really beneficial for increasing reach and engagement and fantastic at generating a buzz.

Read our Instagram app review here where we talk about the basics of Instagram and give the app a score out of 10!

See you on Instagram at BYKATIEANDJANE

Jane x

Why Hangout on Google+ Hangouts?

Google+ Hangouts is a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to ten people at a time. You may be familiar with the likes of Skype and Apple’s FaceTime which both focus on one-to-one chats, with Skype requiring you to upgrade to premium to use the group video chat element. Google+ Hangouts is a great way to connect with groups of friends, learn online, hold meetings or join in on live broadcasts from your favourite people and brands!

Let's Hangout!

You can 'hangout' in a number of ways; by joining an existing hangout, heading into a 'Hangout on Air' (a live broadcast) or creating your own hangout. If you want to join an existing hangout a member of that hangout needs to invite you to join or you can browse hangouts happening as they are taking place by clicking ‘view all’ on the ‘Start a Video hangout’ button.

There is a difference between joining a hangout with your friends and joining a ’Hangout on Air’. The latter are live broadcasts which you can watch as they happen, it could for instance be a panel discussion with 10 people by a brand or charity, but you will remain hidden, in the audience. We hungout on air with Richard Branson from his beautiful Necker Island - have a look at our earlier blog posts here. 

Once you have made it into a Hangout chat room all people in the room are shown in the bottom row. Google+ seamlessly switches the focus to the person currently chatting so they are highlighted at the top and you can switch to view anyone by clicking their thumbnail at the bottom.

Last year I took part in Comic Relief’s Hangout Comedy Club, I applied for tickets to be in the front row (one of the nine spots available, leaving room for the comedian) but you could also choose to virtually ‘sit’ hidden so that you could watch the laughs from the comfort of your laptop, without getting picked on – I was foolish! See my earlier blog post here to find out how I got on!

If you'd like to start your own Hangout, begin by inviting up to nine friends into a video chat with you. In your chat room you can share documents, images and even watch YouTube videos with your guests. The great thing about Google+ Hangouts is that you can prepare your chat room before inviting others to join, testing the screen sharing options and making sure you can be heard – this is especially handy when you are using it for work purposes.

Seven Simple Reasons to Hangout…

#1 Interviews – Online interviews are the future and with Google+ Hangouts you can not only be virtually interviewed but you can share your CV or portfolio with your potential employer too

#2 Online Classes – Hangouts is a great way to teach or learn online, especially if you are training more than one person at a time, we've used it for our social media training with great success

#3 Meetings – Save your petrol! We know a face-to-face meeting is sometimes necessary but a hangout is a very time & cost-effective way to conduct a quick meeting

#4 Launch your news – If you are launching a new product, or some exciting news for your company, think about how a live broadcast of Google+ Hangout could engage the online community

#5 Monthly newsletter – Reinvent your email marketing by conducting a valuable Google+ Hangout each month with your subscribers instead, you could even select your most loyal supporters onto the ‘front row’ to connect with face-to-face

#6 Working with colleagues – Share presentations, spreadsheets, videos and notes with each other during the day, this is particularly useful if you have a network of freelancers or have employees working from home

#7 Catch up with friends & family – If your loved ones are all over the UK or further afield, get everyone talking together by organising a Hangout connecting you all wherever you are for free

And what of the future for Google+ Hangouts…

Google’s Head of Community Partnerships for Google+, Steve Grove 

Click here to find us on Google+ too (of course!)

Katie x

Ancestry App Review - Bring Out the Historian in You!

I am a little bit of a history geek (probably thanks to my history teacher mother); I love to find out stories behind places I visit and the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are is set to record on my TV!

I discovered the family tree creating app, Ancestry, after it was featured by Apple as a 'Best New' app last year, and, having tried to research my family tree online before, thought I'd give it a go.

The app is linked with ancestry.com's online database but you don't need to create an account on there, instead you can just use the app which I've found a lot easier for basic searches. I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of information that can be found. I love that you can actually see handwritten documents such as marriage certificates of family members one hundred years ago; it really brings the app to life. These records can be bought as an in-app-purchase if you'd like to save them.

The app is exactly what you'd expect and want from a family tree research app. Once you've added in as many details about yourself and family members as you can, Ancestry searches databases to generate 'hints' to help you find out more. These hints are my favourite feature of the app; they bring up a number of records that could be linked to your tree. You then need to go through these to check against what you've already found to see whether they are a match - it really helps you go back even further without too many headaches!

The colours are pretty dull but then Ancestry's branding is brown and green so they've brought that onto the app. To personalise it a little more there is an option for adding images but, as you go further back in history, it's very hard to find images to go with names so I've not used that function. A nice feature is that you can start more than one family tree within the app so if you'd like to do some research for someone else it's easy to do so.

I have a small family and unfortunately didn't have a lot of information about past family members on my father's side but the Ancestry app helped me go back over 220 years, across England, Scotland and Wales to find my great-great-great-great-grandmother (wait for it)... Jane! We didn't know we had quite so many Jane's in our family but it's nice to have that connection all the way back to 1791.

I would certainly recommend Ancestry as an easy way to research into your past on-the-go.

Score: 9/10

I love...

• The simple layout and seamless menu
• Being able to delve deep into the records to discover more than names and dates - occupation was my favourite to learn!

I'd like to...

• Share my tree with others, for example, my dad would like to join my tree and add relatives to discover more
• Get advice from Ancestry once there are no hints left (I'm at that point now)... it's disappointing to hit a wall!

Find out more about the app and download it here. Enjoy history hunting and I hope you find some interesting family members!

Jane x

Word! Our Favourite #katieandjane Words of Wisdom to Inspire...

Since I can remember, I've loved finding inspirational quotes that help me to stay positive and on the brighter side of life. Before taking the leap and starting our own business, Jane and I would send each other quotes we liked to motivate and inspire each other - words of wisdom that soon found their way onto a Pinterest board so that we could easily collect and share them.

More than a year later our ‘Feel Inspired’ board is pinned to almost every day and now has a thriving collection of quotes that will help us and fellow pinners feel inspired, creative, confident and positive.

Below I have selected a few of our favourites which are available on our Pinterest board to share with friends, family and work colleagues too. We have many more that we love, so there will be a part two to this blog post soon...we hope you like them!

Everybody can choose to do something different with their lives, no matter what you’re expected to do by other people. You have one life, so choose happily!

We learnt early on that you can never truly know whether you are making the right decision for your own business, no matter how much you weigh up the pros and cons! It's something you can’t learn by reading a book when it applies to you as an individual, so, when a new opportunity or adventure presents itself to us, we always ask ourselves ‘why not?’ if there’s nothing too damaging (or we're not going to die!), we are more as likely just to go for it. This quote is great in business and life in general!

Always give something a try and keep learning! Try to be bold and certain when taking opportunities, and remember, we are defined by the opportunities we miss as well as the ones we take.

We usually find we have ideas that we add to our Wunderlist app (review coming soon!) for projects, apps or products, and they stay there until we have the resources and focus to give to them. However there are always a few that niggle at you because you can’t wait to get started, and these are the ones you mustn't give up on!

This runs through the core of all of our Katie & Jane ideas, projects, adventures and work, and it’s harder than it looks! Some of our future projects will have a very complex thought process behind them, but will be delivered to the end user in a simple, but meaningful way, which is the most important thing.

If you have a favourite quote, perhaps one you go back to time and time again, leave us a comment below, tweet us with the hashtag #katieandjane and you'll be able to repin all of the images in this blog post by finding us on Pinterest too.

Katie x

Twitter Lingo or 'Twermingology'!

Katie and I are now avid Twitter fans after many years of being 'active'... it's very different to Facebook (phew!) so it does take a while to get used to the platform. Then, once you're used to using it, you then have to understand the Twitter lingo!

We've put together a simple list of key words to help you understand Twitter better followed by a list of abbreviations that you may find among all those tweets!

Di

Direct Message (DM) - Twitter's function allowing you to send a private message to a person on Twitter. It is a message only you and the person who sent it/received it can read

Fa

Favourites - you can 'favourite' a tweet you particularly like so that the tweeter who posted it can see it's one of your favourites. Another use of favourites is to bookmark or highlight a tweet to read later

Fo

Follower - someone who subscribes to and receives your updates

Following - someone that you are following and are able to see their updates in your personal Twitter timeline

Follow Friday or #ff or #followfriday - this is a popular trend that is used when you are recommending someone who your followers should follow (obviously used on a Friday!)

Ha

Hashtag # - a way of searching for and joining in on topics on Twitter. Include a word followed by the hashtag symbol # enabling others to search for relevant posts. Find out more in our Hashtag How To blog post 

Li

List - a list is a group of Tweeters. You can subscribe to other people's lists or create your own. Read our blog post on Twitter lists here

Me

Mention - a mention is a tweet that has @username anywhere in it. All those 'mentioned' in the tweet will see it on their Twitter account

Mi

Microblogging - the social media niche that includes Twitter

Pr

Profile Photo - this is the image that represents you and shows as a thumbnail next to all your tweets

Profile Header - this is the larger image that is displayed on your profile behind your profile photo

Re

Retweet/RT - used on Twitter to show you are tweeting something that was posted by another user, giving them credit. Twitter's quote equivalent

Reply/@reply - is a tweet that is directed to another user in reply to their post. Anyone can see them and get involved in the conversation

Tr

Trend - Twitter determines which topics are the most discussed at any given time, these trends are discoverable and displays on your timeline

Tw

Twitosphere or Twitterverse - used to describe the 'world of Twitter'

Tweet - a Twitter update or post using 140 characters or less. You can also say 'I tweeted'

Tweeter - refers to a person who sends tweets on Twitter

Us

Username (or Handle) - this is the word that defines you on Twitter. The @ sign usually comes before your username linking it to Twitter. Think of it as your Twitter identity

AFAIK: As Far as I Know

BFN: Bye for now

BR: Best regards

BTW: By the way

CX: Correction

EM/EML: Email

EMA: Email address

FB: Facebook

ICYMI: In case you missed it

IMO/IMHO: In my opinion or in my humble opinion

LI: LinkedIn

MT: Modified tweet

NSFW: Not safe for work

OH: Overheard
SFW: Safe for work

SM: Social media

SMM: Social media marketing

SN: Social network

TFTF: Thanks for the follow

TL: Timeline

TMB: Tweet me back

TT: Trending topic

TY: Thank you

W/: With

YT: YouTube

Hope that has helped you find your way around the Twitosphere (see above!). Understanding Twitter and the lingo can help you to find more people to connect with, keep to that 140 character limit and importantly make Twitter more enjoyable for you!

Jane x

The Best Things in Life in February

One of the best parts of creating a business is being able to inspire people especially through our blog. We were very pleased to see two of our 'Best Things in Life' posts feature in our top blog posts of 2013 according to views and so... the series continues!

Katie

Best things in life...

Feeling motivated! I recently had a very naughty appendix which had to be whipped out quite suddenly, and while I was lying in hospital I couldn’t wait to get back to working on Katie & Jane and our many projects. One of the first things I read when I came home was the draft of Jane’s fitness blog post and it instantly lifted my spirits, I can’t wait until I’m fully recovered to get back to running, spinning, yoga and our favourite workout The Tracy Anderson Method.

eBooks - I’m always on the lookout for new books to read, but looking at the current bestseller charts I couldn’t find something that appealed to me. So instead, I opted for searching through lots of ebooks on apps and business and I love the fact that they’re quick, inspiring and much less expensive!

Happier - At the risk of mentioning our favourite app once again, I’ve been making a conscious effort to add all the little things that make me Happier into this little app lately. If you are bored of your Facebook feed with the same moaners – give this app a try for yourself! You can read our earlier blog post on it here.

The one thing on my 2014 to-do list is...

Learn more! It can be so hard after a long week to make sure you have learnt something new to keep inspired, so I’m trying to fit in learning as I’m on the move! I find podcasts a great way to do this and each morning I’m enjoying listening to the likes of the new BBC World Service’s Tech Tent and the Tech Weekly Podcast from the Guardian while I’m getting ready!

The place I'd like to travel to most is...

South America… It’s the next place on my very long list of all the places I want to visit in my lifetime! I can’t wait to immerse myself in the energy of Brazil, specifically Rio de Janeiro, adventure along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and be surrounded by the power of nature at the Iguazo Falls on the border of Argentina. Have a look at my ‘Where To Next?’ board on Pinterest if you are a fellow adventurer!

Jane

Best things in life...

Social media - It's a bit cheesy but seeing people really benefit from our social media advice and getting great feedback from strangers! We recently did a short seminar on the basics of social media at Spring Fair and were so pleased to have a big crowd with lots of happy engaged faces! You can download our presentation featuring lots of social media tips for free here.

Running - I know I've mentioned it time and time again but I'm loving running even more now I am getting better at it. I think the key for my success is to stick to going out regularly to not lose momentum (even in the cold and rain!). Also reading 'Running Like a Girl' by Alexandra Heminsley makes me laugh and feel motivated!

Box Sets - I've been catching up on my favourite shows recently... Brothers & Sisters (please bring it back!), Winners & Losers (an Australian drama which instantly transports me to Melbourne) and Breaking Bad (six episodes in and I'm not hooked yet!). It's great to totally switch off and actually enjoy watching decent programmes!

The one thing on my 2014 to-do list is...

Learn to meditate - I have been saying it for years and tried a number of ways but can't find one that I commit to on a daily basis. I have decided to go to a few classes at Meditate in Birmingham as a way of learning the art of meditation and nail those 10 minutes a day I feel I'd really benefit from!

The place I'd like to travel to most is...

Greece - My Pinterest 'I'd Like to Be' board is packed with destination inspiration from all over the world and I love Pinterest's new Place Pins feature which Katie talks about in her blog post but the place I always long to return to every summer is Greece. We usually travel to one of the Greek Islands but this year we may try mainland Greece and visit the Halkidiki region. Greece is one of my favourite places on earth (aside from Melbourne) because of its gorgeous weather, beautiful beaches, genuinely friendly people and delicious food... how can I go a summer without a τυρóπιτα (cheese pie)!?

7 Simple Tips to a Successful Social Media Presence in 2014 by #katieandjane - Reblogged from She Owns It

A fresh new year is often the time to shake things up so why not do that with your social media presence!? We’re not only talking for your brand or business but also for your personal social accounts too. We’ve put together seven simple tips to get your 2014 presence off to a great start…

1. Set goals
Goals are a great way of focusing on what you want to achieve on social media in the next 12 months. Set just a few, maybe three or four reachable targets across the social channels you are active on. It could be ‘increase the social reach of my Facebook posts by 100 views per post’ or ‘increase my Twitter following each month by 150′ for example. You can break these goals down into manageable chunks and into aims for each platform.

2. Engage, engage, engage!
In order to have a successful social media presence, you can’t just post great content and be done with it, you need to engage with your audience too. Take ten minutes a day to reply to posts, retweet tweets and get pinning on Pinterest (we find a time limit helps especially with Pinterest – so addictive!). This daily activity will not only make your audience feel valued but will help to increase your reach online.

3. Plan your content carefully
If we’ve learnt anything from our years of managing the social media presences for large consumer brands it’s how important planning content is. Create a weekly schedule where you can plot potential content topics for all social media posts for that week. This puts your mind at rest knowing you’ve got lots of great content to talk about leaving room for spur-of-the-moment posts too. Collect content from awareness day calendars, your website or even think about creating a blog this year.

4. Monitor trends
Delivering insights into you, your company and your industry is one of the best ways to create an engaged social media presence; people want to learn things. Staying on top of the trends is a great way to keep up-to-date, enabling you to share valuable information with fans. Monitor your industry and competitors but also regularly read social media and technology news to discover what’s happening with your favourite platforms.

5. It’s all about the images
We know that posts on social media with images increase engagement and positivity enormously so make sure all your posts have a great image attached. Try to use your own images (think about copyrighting rules) and also use apps to create your own images with text if you are stuck for visuals. The winning social media platforms for 2014 will be Instagram and Pinterest showing the popularity of image-focused channels and the interest consumers have for images.

6. Evaluating is not a waste of time!
Many brands we’ve worked with (and individuals in fact!) don’t evaluate their social media presence and, although this isn’t the most interesting part of being active on social media, it’s very important. Back to point one; setting goals – if we don’t evaluate our presence how are we going to know when we have reached our goals? How will we know what is working and should do more of or what activity to give up? Simple evaluation techniques include keeping a note of the size of audience, engagement levels and content types on a weekly basis for comparison. We cover this and more in our SkillShare eCourse.

7. Explore other networks
Maybe you love Twitter and are finding it really works for you so you spend much of your time tweeting away but what happens if you put more effort into Pinterest for example and actually you get even better feedback?! Although it’s simple to stay on platforms that you can use easily, it’s a good idea to spend some time on other networks, increasing your knowledge-base and enabling you to reach more people online. In 2014 set a goal to try some of the emerging platforms; Google+, Vine and Snapchat are just a few!

See this post on the fabulous blog 'She Owns It'