Blog Spring 2016

It’s our last day as interns! We wanted to leave you with some last words and thoughts from yours truly. We are so happy to have been able to share our posts with you – be sure to check out our internship positions as they become available. It’s a great way to gain more exposure and experience while learning a lot!

Thanks for joining us – we are definitely looking forward to even more exciting things coming our way.

Cheers!

Carolyn:

What a super fast 3 months it’s been – y’all I can’t believe it’s time to say good-bye. I’ve loved sharing my blog posts with you; it’s been a blast. Of course I can go into the whole shpeel of how I’ve learned so much and awesome the people are here, but I won’t since I did that in a past post.

But, what I can tell you are the top 5 additional things that I have love(d) most as an Online Marketing Intern here (in no particular order):

-When LanNhi brought in cronuts and I literally just didn’t know what to do with myself. #shareornotshare #lemonorblueberry #cronutsforlife

-Winning our kickball games at the great Maddox park. Sarcasm intended with the park part. A lil sketchy.

-The kegerator.

-Blog writing / writing in general.

-Giphys on Slack.

I’ve enjoyed every moment and I’m truly grateful to all those at Radius that have not only welcomed me but taught me so much more about marketing, setting goals, and continuing to move onward and upward. Thank you!!!!!!

It’s been real. Catch ya later, folks!

Sully:

Today is the last official day of my RadiusOnline internship. This week has been kind of a big week as it is also my last week of college. I turned in my final group project yesterday, and I immediately felt all of the stress of the past semester float away. After I had turned in the project, I noticed that I was feeling especially adult-like, which is exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Although things are changing very fast, I am very excited about the direction my life is heading.

I was very fortunate to receive a job offer from Vu a few weeks ago, so come the end of May, I will be an official full-time employee! I am excited to continue working on the PPC and SEO here at Radius, and I look forward to pushing my limits in digital marketing. There are some exciting things on the horizon for PPC, and it is going to be really awesome to see the results once we finish.

I have learned so much since the start of the internship in January, and I got to meet some awesome people along the way. I would like to give a shout out to Nancy for being awesome and answering all of my questions on a daily basis. Thank you to the entire Radius team, you all have been awesome. For any future Radius interns that may be reading this- I look forward to meeting you, and I hope your internship is as valuable of an experience as mine was.

The words you speak and the messages you convey can make the difference between losing a lead or closing a deal. You can either grab someone’s attention within seconds or lose them because you said the wrong thing. A big part of online marketing is writing content – creating email campaigns, blog posts, and essentially collaborating with the Sales team to increase interest and convert these leads to commit to your product / solution.

When your audience reads your message, it’s critical for them to realize that you make their success is priority as well. Here are a few ways to optimize your messages – keep these in mind as you market to your targeted customers:

Keep it simple and casual

That means talk as if you’re talking to a friend and keep it short. Long paragraphs and complex sentences can be overwhelming to read. This is a sure way to keep the reader from even reading the rest of your email.

Add value first

Make sure to keep it all about the customer – help them understand why what you have to offer is beneficial for them. When they can see that you’re on the same page with them, they’ll be more willing to trust you.

Create eye-catching subject lines

This is the initial text that will help get your foot through the door. Again, it’s important to keep these short, but don’t be afraid to get creative. I’ve seen many subject lines that really got me to open an email because it was relatable, funny, or had a play on words. Examples below!

-The Muse: We Like Being Used

-Movember: Growing a Moustache Can Change the World

-Groupon: There are no deals in this email

-Warby Parker: Pairs nicely with spreadsheets

-Uber:  Since we can’t all win the lottery…

Personalize 

Address them on a first-name basis, tell them a funny story or joke, mention something that puts you in their shoes. Relating to them on another level builds trust, and they’ll feel comforted that someone is on their side.

There you go! It takes some time to tweak but it’s worth it in the end to see that more people are catching on and engaging with your emails. Plenty of resources out there to check out, here’s a few other tips to consider.

If you’re reading this, congratulations – you’re either done with school or one step closer to flipping that tassle over. It’s such a huge achievement, so be proud of yourself. A ton of opportunities are about to open up, and it’s super exciting. College life is awesome, but so is everything after it.

The transition takes some time to get used to, but it’s not that much different from how school life was. Some things have stayed the same, but other things have definitely changed. Welcome to the real world, champ – only bigger and better things to come!

It’s not always serious, and yes – sometimes you feel overwhelmed. But other times you’re just like HECK FREAKIN YEAH.

Moments when you couldn’t escape the tears…

When your alarm clock goes off and you realize your weekend is over (nothing new here).

When you get your paycheck but still broke anyway.

When your parents decide to take you off their health insurance…

the family plan, and car insurance, etc. etc. CAN’T LET GO.

Basically, looking at all your bills.

Moments when you feel like Leo winning an Oscar…

When you go out for Happy Hour…all expenses paid.

When you finally have time to put your luggage or passport to good use.

When you give ramen a break and make a bomb dish…well sometimes.

When you make it to the gym on purpose.

When you still get student discounts because you look foreva young.

When you beat the rush of Atlanta traffic after leaving work.

So much to look forward to – there’s a lot more perks, y’all. ENJOY IT!!

For those of you that haven’t had the experience of traveling to Asia yet, you should definitely make it over to Vietnam at some point. Not only does it serve as our additional office location with our other awesome team members, but it’s a super amazing country to explore. I haven’t been there for a long time, but from what I remember, so many things made the trip worthwhile. I’m that much more grateful of where I come from, what my family’s done for me, and the importance of not taking anything for granted. This is my PSA to go and thank your parents right now. We don’t do it enough.

Anyways, onto my other points. Once you have successfully booked your ticket(s) take some time to see or do the following:

Eat what the locals eat. And don’t try just the phở…try the weird stuff too. Sometimes, they’re more delicious than attractive.

According to Buzzfeed, these are must-haves…20 Vietnamese Foods You Need to Try Now

Visit a temple. Giant Buddhas are so cool to see up close. Just don’t go climbing on top of one like a mountain.

Check out a beach. Unlike most of the beaches here in the U.S., it’s so pretty to see these cool mountains out of the water. The beaches aren’t always crowded with tourists either so it’s nice to have some sand to yourself.

Ride that moto. Almost like the Italians and their Vespas, this is the way to go!

Explore them street markets. Again, more food but a ton of other goodies as well. Pick up a souvenir if you can. My parents did (they came back from their trip this week) – check out this piece of art below. My dad keeps saying it’s by Picasso, but I know that’s not right. #lovemydad #hiswordsnotmine

There’s a ton more to do! Once you experience it, you won’t regret it.

Memories in ink. That’s basically what a photograph is. I started getting interested in photography when I saw these super cool cover shots for Vanity Fair by Annie Leibovitz, just like the one below. The idea of meeting and collaborating with different subjects is awesome, but ultimately creating relationships and listening to stories is what interests me most. In the last couple of years, the work of Brandon Stanton has caught my eye. Heard of him?

You’ve seen his work all over Facebook. He’s the creator of Humans of New York. I started following him in college and have been into his work ever since. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s also a UGA alum. He started off studying history in school, moved on to trade bonds in Chicago, and then left his job to start photographing. And then HONY came about. Now, he’s selling over a million books and telling the stories of thousands just through images and captions. He tells stories of the human condition, stories of happiness and sadness, and sometimes overall witty snippets of what goes on in life. These stories teach. They’re entirely relatable and represent the life of those that have struggled and those that have succeeded. But, it’s not always serious. You’ll find the occasional shots of silliness and weirdness too.

The reason why I wanted to put some spotlight on Brandon for this post is because of the work he does and how he does it. He just wants to tell stories and help shed light on some special people. This just goes to show you that following your passion goes a long way but so does taking the time to listen and learn. This is an important life skill to have and something important to remember when you’re interacting with those around you. So in other words, sometimes you gotta drop everything and listen because you’ll learn a lot more than you ever expected.

“You’re taking my picture!”

“Not sure that I’ve ever been so honored to introduce someone as I am right now. Gac Filipaj is a refugee from the former Yugoslavia. For the past twelve years, he has worked as a janitor for Columbia University. His job title is “heavy cleaner,” which includes emptying the trash and cleaning the toilets.

During this time, he has worked until 11pm every night during the week. After his shift concluded, he would start studying. This weekend, after twelve years of study, Gac graduated from Columbia University with a Classics degree. Rarely have so many qualities I admire been wrapped up in a single person.” -Brandon Stanton

Just in case you’re new to this whole HONY thing, click here to check out the blog. It’s also available on Facebook to follow if you haven’t done so already! It’s a nice and refreshing addition to have in your news feed.

If your weekdays are anything like mine, you spend far too much time sitting down in front of a computer. Now don’t get me wrong, computers allow us to achieve awesome things that would simply be impossible to do without them. However, spending 8+ hours a day looking at a screen at work, school, and home takes a toll on your mind and your body. Taking time to reconnect with nature can be just the cure you need after a long work week. Here are some benefits of going outside and leaving technology behind:

It’s a mental reset

When you go outside and truly leave all your worries all behind, you are giving your brain a much-needed rest. Daily routines of work, errands, and other obligations can sometimes require constant focus from sun-up to sun-down. Going outside is a great way to recharge all the mental energy spent doing attentive activities throughout the week.

Cloudland Canyon State Park, Lookout Mountain GA

Nature is a venue to enjoy life sans-technology

Going outside is a great place to disconnect with technology and reconnect with yourself. Try enjoying nature without a smartphone. Focus less on documenting the experience of going outside and instead focus on being present. Your followers can wait!

Providence Canyon, Lumpkin GA

Being outside reduces stress

When you go outside, you can forget the daily stressors of city life. There is no hectic rush-hour traffic to navigate when you are hiking in the woods, just the smell of fresh air. Not having a time-sensitive agenda full of meetings and appointments allows you to forget about time, and just enjoy the day ahead.

Chattooga River Headwaters, Cashiers NC

If you don’t already have a routine of going outside and exploring, I urge you to try it out. Georgia has an abundance of outdoor recreation areas. Some of these areas are ITP, but other gems may require a full day to explore and a couple hours of driving. Whether you have a full weekend or just a few hours after work, outdoor recreation isn’t far away.

Great work. That’s awesome to hear, isn’t it? What I’ve noticed at RadiusOnline is that we celebrate achievements and accomplishments often. Employees are recognized for fantastic things that are happening in the office. Whether it’s honoring an employee with the MVP award for going above and beyond or throwing a baby shower to celebrate an incoming Radius baby, we celebrate often and have fun while doing it.

Showing gratitude and appreciation can be motivational and encourages us to work harder, set bigger goals, and keep improving. There are so many benefits to showing gratitude; it even contributes to our happiness. Take a look at this video, and try not to shed a tear or two.

Did you expect this? I never really thought about it, but it makes sense.

A couple of takeaways for me from this video are:

– However you choose to express gratitude (e.g. phone call vs. thank you note), it’s meaningful no matter what.

– I see this happen more often in job / careers, but I don’t do this nearly enough in my personal life with those significant to me.

It’s really simple. So simple that we should definitely take action to do it more in our lives. There’s nothing better than knowing that the work you do or milestones you achieve are appreciated and celebrated. Who are the real MVPs in your life? Go on – reach out to them. Celebrate them. I dare you.

Hey all – my name’s Carolyn, and I just started at RadiusOnline as their Online Marketing Intern a few weeks ago. Welcome to my very first blog post!

It’s been a few weeks, and I’ve already gotten the chance to work on a couple of projects. I can’t believe how quickly these weeks have gone by. Every day I learn something new, and it’s great having my team to help me out when I need it. Right now, I’m familiarizing myself with an email application called ToutApp and learning more about drip campaigns as well as different email marketing tactics. It’s amazing to see how quickly I became involved with the team. You jump right into the work. No worries about any coffee runs or printing stacks of papers.

Just to keep things light for this post, I want to drop a few notes on a few eye-catching moments that have made my intro to RadiusOnline that much more enjoyable.

The Music.

Wow! I’ve never worked in a professional environment where music is constantly playing in the background, and I definitely dig it. I believe the first song I heard when I walked into the office was by Celine Dion. Man, did those memories come flooding back. Other songs are played too, like my guilty pleasure called Justin Bieber. Don’t ask me what do you mean…that’s just the way it is. (Did you catch that…these are song titles by the Biebs and Celine.) I’m here all day, folks.

The Food.

Last week, we had cake. A lot of it. Due to job anniversaries and birthday celebrations, nothing delighted me more than to have multiple slices of dessert from Piece of Cake. The Carrot Cake was my favorite! And the week before, the intern lunch was at JCT Kitchen. The fried chicken sandwich was so, so good. Food is definitely a hot topic at the office and so are the bags of ramen in the kitchen.

The Office.

I’m talking about the show. I love getting to watch it on Friday’s with the team.

The Power Hour(s).

On The Jungle side. This happens every hour. Sometimes consistently, sometimes not. Lately, the ladies have been getting into planks, and I’m not talking about routines that just last for 30 seconds. This is like planks where you have to lift a leg, get on your side, get on your elbows, etc. All I can say is, I’d rather do this than have Jillian Michaels in my ear. Thanks ladies, for keeping me in shape!

That’s all for now. Thanks everyone for making my first few weeks fantastic!

Starting a new internship is kind of like going on a blind date. Both situations involve me juggling feelings of both nervousness and excitement. Lucky for me, the work environment at Radius is very welcoming and accepting. From day one I felt like part of the Radius community. I love the relaxed environment; the dress is casual, and the music is lively. Don’t let this fool you into believing that relaxed equals slow-paced. Everyone here is very driven and quick on their feet.

After my initial nervousness had resided, I dove into SEO head first! I started working on projects within my first few hours of being in the office, quickly learning as I was going along. Thankfully I came to work my first day with a notepad because I filled up pages writing about online directories, acquisition channels, and landing pages- which were all foreign to me. I left the office on my first day having learned more about SEO than I anticipated I would, and I was eager to learn more. Since my first day in the office, I have continued to learn more about SEO each day, which I believe is crucial for a successful internship.

During my time here, I have been doing a lot of learning-by-doing. Instead of merely talking about SEO, I have been diving deep into Google Analytics and Webmasters to solve problems. More than once have I found myself in a position where I was asked to do a challenging task, and my first thought was “I don’t know how to do that.” Initially, I was concerned about completing such tasks, but I quickly learned that I was capable of more than I gave myself credit for. I am excellent at using the internet as the great resource it is; and when that doesn’t avail, I have incredibly talented co-workers that I can always turn to.

My first month here has been awesome. (Free!) Friday lunches, impromptu talent shows, and good coffee are just some of the things I have experienced that make Radius more than just an office. RadiusOnline is an exceptional place, and I am looking forward to everything this internship has in store for me.