Writing an engaging post in 280 characters is the newest form of poetry. It is an art form that is imperative to capturing your digital audience. 

Even though Twitter has allotted an additional 140 characters, per the change last year, there is still a struggle with having enough space.

How do you get to the point without coming off as blunt? How do you summarize your content coherently?

Below are a few steps that will help you overcome this challenging task.

Brainstorming can be a great way to come up with the best new idea, product or solution. But how often do you get stuck with “been there done that” or “it didn’t work in the past”? 

I know I get caught up in my own head and cannot get past an idea until it is a confirmed “No” – or I say it out loud to someone and then realize it was probably not the best idea.

Richard Tait knows this all too well. As a creative consultant, he has held brainstorm sessions for countless companies to help solve issues they were facing. He told us an old story about a major department store chain and how they were able to turn around sales with a simple sales conversation and a strategically designed piece of paper. Crazy, right?

During our monthly ‘Lunch with a Pro’ workshop, Richard returned to our office to help our team figure out the best way to brainstorm.

Continue reading to find out what can jumpstart your brainstorm and what not to say to any idea during a brainstorming session.

Technology is arguably the best invention to happen since sliced bread. It allows us to FaceTime with far away family members, watch our friends live their lives through social media, know the great things happening all around the world and show off our achievements for our friends and family to see.

On the other hand, being plugged in all the time is exhausting. As a society we are constantly distracted, not being present in real life situations, missing out on once in a lifetime moments. We are stressed out with the notifications popping up on our phones, the constant emails coming through and the strain our eyes experience staring at screen for hours on end.

As a result, our physical and mental wellness is suffering, yet we can’t break the pattern. It has become the norm so much so that we aren’t realizing how it affects our bodies on the day to day basis.

One by one, let’s work on taking a break from the demands of the internet and devices and have a digital detox.

Trust me, that Facebook post will still be funny later.

Continue reading for three ways to go on a digital detox – even if you are surrounded by technology.

Snapchat is once again changing the consumer marketing game, making it easier for users to send links

 to each other.

With Snapchat’s newest update, anyone can attach a link to a snap to send to their audiences. With the tap of the paperclip, enter in your website and anyone can enjoy it.

In the constant head-to-head battle between Snapchat and Instagram, this puts Snapchat back on top. Instagram has been using trends that work on Snapchat and vice versa. Currently, Instagram stories do not allow regular users to add links to their stories – only verified users or advertisements are allowed.

Continue reading to learn what is different and how your garden brand can take advantage of the changes.

You probably have a software program you’ve worked with for years and it still meets all your needs. You’ve used it so long you know all the shortcuts, or do you?

Recently, I took an online tutorial for MS Excel, a program I’ve used more than half my life. Before taking this course, I thought I knew the bulk of what the program could do l and that I was completing the processes in the best possible way. However, I learned so much in just one hour that will save me a significant amount of time in the long run.

We too often resort to the phrase, “Been there, done that.” When any system gets updated, we should take the time to learn what’s new.

Continue reading to learn why it’s important to improve your software use at work.

Creativity and innovation go hand-in-hand at thinking outside the box. It allows the brain to be used to create something out of nothing or even to fix something when it’s not working. But what happens when you get stuck in the box?

The Kirton Adaption-Innovation (KAI) is an evaluation tool that measures your style of creativity and problem solving based on your range of adapting or innovating. If you want to do things better, you probably would score higher on the adaptive range. Want to be different? You’d be on the innovative side. Thomas Edison was probably adaptive, while Albert Einstein was probably innovative.

Richard Tait invited Garden Media to try it for ourselves at our monthly ‘Lunch with a Pro’ workshop.

Richard, who has a Ph.D. in physics, co-founded the DuPont Company’s worldwide Creativity and Innovation Center. Today he is an international consultant in innovation and new corporate and product ventures.

GMG invited Richard for a lunch and learn to help our team brainstorm bigger and better ideas for our clients.

Read on to continue learning about Richard, KAI and what Garden Media learned.

Summer is the best time of the year to be outside — soaking up some sun, being in nature and enjoying the day. You may also find that it is the hardest part of the year to be stuck in an office, losing out on that summer glow and daydreaming about being anywhere but your desk.

While it may be hard to focus on what is in front of you, with some readjusting (and some motivation), you can get back on track to power through this season!

Continue reading for 5 tips on staying productive this summer.

Last week marked a major milestone for Instagram. The app passed 500 million users—and 300 million of those 500 million visit Instagram daily.

To put that into proportion, “500 million” equates to about seven percent of the world’s total population. It’s also larger than the population of the entire United States.

Instagram is proud to announce its users share “500 million windows to the world." The app is blossoming into a virtual space where everything from “the everyday and the epic, are always within reach.”

Instagram’s CEO has described Instagram as a “media destination,” a place where users can learn about what’s happening in the world as it happens. Although this perspective reflects the attitudes of many other platforms, too, Instagram’s growth is really soaring.

So, what can we learn from this?

Continue reading to discover some of the biggest takeaways from Instagram's milestone.

Anyone who works in an office knows the feeling. You’re halfway through the work day, your project isn’t anywhere close to being completed and time is quickly ticking away.

Productivity is a wonderful thing.

It’s also something that’s hard to come by when your mind would rather focus on anything else than emails.

According to The Muse, productivity won’t appear out of thin air, but there are things employees can do to get inspired and ready to work.

Continue reading for tips on how to stay productive during the workday.

It's the reality of everyday life, we wake up, get dressed and brave the cold (rain, snow, etc) to get into our cars and begin our journey to work.

Whether you have a five minute commute or an hour battle against angry beeping horns and tired fellow drivers, you can be more productive.

There are opportunities to improve your public relations skills with every push of the pedal.

Continue reading to learn how your morning commute can improve your public relations skills.