december 19, 2011 11:45am
What is your social media strategy?
I'm not sure why, but I am always a little irked when someone asks "What is your social media strategy?" I often reply by asking what is the communication strategy for your phone?
So instead of sounding like a jerk I now reply, rather passive aggressively, with three words: Engagement. Retention. Awareness.
Think about being at a party and talking to someone. You exchange introductions. Unfortunately, because you have lived in your parents basmenet for the past 28 years you have nothing to talk about Shurikens (nija throwing stars). Amazingly the person you are talking to did not laugh in your face, and seems ever so slightly engaged. Clearly, it's due to the way you styled your hair this morning, but nonetheless you ask them a question, listen to their response and then they ask a question and you respond. You are now engaged in a conversation, most people are not aware of how this works. So then you want to prove that no other human can have as much knowledge as you do about shurikens so you show them some sweet photos of shurikens, a crazy video of a nija master throwing these bad boys with crazy accuracy, and then you show them one of the five throwing stars you always carry. At no time during your 10 minute word vomit did you acknowledge, or care, if the person showed any interest - and now they are on to the next person with well sculpted hair.
Here is what I have found works very well for companies & organizations big and small.
1) Watch & Listen.
See what others in your field are doing, and use social searching sites to find out what people are already saying about your product or service.
2) Create a conversation calendar.
Notice I said "conversation." It's not a monologue it's a dialogue. Get a general idea of what you will post each day, each week and each month. Clearly breaking news & events will trump this list, but it's nice for you and your audience to know every tuesday is two for one tacos, or best user submitted photo is every monday... you get the idea. This is also great on those slow days when you have no idea what to post or can't remember if you already wrote a post about a cat chasing a bee.
3) Review Analytics & Insights Regularly.
These are very important. See what posts get the most interaction, see if you lost followers when you posted about homemade fudge. Do more people share posts if they contain a video?
4) Advertise.
Plug your social media sites on and offline. In your email footer, on your business card, in the foam on your latte. If you have good engagement your followers will likely increase. If you have the budget try to get more followers via facebook or google ads. I recommend building your followers, then doing more targeted messages to individuals that are already following you. Your return will be much better.
december 13, 2011 06:15am
Adagio Tea - Oriental Spice
This tea is the bomb. There was a long haired ginger kid I knew a while back that did a little dance every time he said something was "the bomb". It consisted of kicking his legs out side to side while keeping his torso stationary. Think of it as a bizaro Axel Rose sway. This black tea has chai, cinnamon, ginger cloves and cardamom, and orange peels. Definitely worthy of "the bomb" dance.
