I Absolutely Love Social Media. And This Is Why

I Absolutely Love Social Media. And This Is Why

Being a Hater is Easy

While it might be a lot easier to discuss all the reasons I despise social media, many people have already covered that ground. Being a hater is easy. Defending social media is not so easy. We have more and more choices as far as where we land on social media, which platforms we use, and which part of our audience we follow and where.

Find Your Friends

With the pandemic, making new friends hasn’t been easy. But with social media, you can not only make new friends, you can reconnect with those you haven’t seen recently, and deepen your already-existing relationships. Although I dislike the word tribe, it’s very nice to have a circle of friends who talk to you when you’re online. And searching for old friends is easier than ever using Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Here’s a WikiHow you might like: How to Find Old Friends Online. You can also do searches for professional friends on LinkedIn or military friends using military records. Speaking of friends, you might like this article: Friend Sourcing: the New Way to Content Creation?

Share Common Experiences

Not only can you share photos, but it’s fairly easy to discover platforms now where you can share your experiences. Whether you’re concerned about disabilities, special hobbies, or A/I, you’re sure to find a Facebook group for your specific interests. Not only that, but there will be someone nerdier than you who’s been involved in your interest for years or decades! For instance, two of my interests are knitting (a new hobby) and Pan American Airlines (because my father was an employee for many years). These groups and many more are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as other places online. Also: following and searching on the hashtags of your interests is also easy-peasy. If you want to know more about hashtags, try this: How to Discover a Wealth of Friends with Social Media Hashtags.

Share Your Personal Background

There’s a wonderful Hafu page on Facebook that I just love. This page is for people who are half Japanese (like I am). I enjoy seeing people share their victories or recently, share their issues because of discrimination. And there’s always a good recipe or two for tonkatsu! There are groups for social media managers, differing age groups, bird watchers, and just about anything you can think of.

Delve Into Topics…or Just Absorb the Good Vibes

If you’re unsure whether you want to post within your newly-found group, you can lurk in the background for a while. This way, you can check out what others are saying as well as how many posts go out daily. There’s no need to jump into any conversation right away until you’re comfortable. Just scroll to your heart’s content.

 

#DigiBlogChat Questions March 23, 2021

Crisis communications

Crisis communications

The topic for #DigiBlogChat on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 is crisis communications with @Interprosepr. CEO of InterprosePR @VivianLKelly will be with us to discuss this hot topic! Join us for a lively and friendly chat! 

Q1. Yikes – our brand or organization is suddenly going viral on social media for all the wrong reasons. What do we do first?

Q2. Okay, it’s not a fire drill – it’s the real thing. Now what?!

Q3. What does a good social media crisis communications team look like?

Q4. What kinds of tools and resources do we need for social media crisis communications?

Q5. What elements should a social media crisis communications plan include?

Q6. Okay, we’ve got our team, tools, and plan in place. What’s next?

Q7. What’s step number two in a good social media crisis communications plan?

Q8. What’s the final step?

Q9. What are the worst things a brand can do during a social media crisis?

Q10. What are the best things a brand can do during a social media crisis?

Friend Sourcing: the New Way to Content Creation?

the New Way to Content Creation?

Friend sourcing. I just made it up, so you’re not missing out on something new. Yet. It’s like crowdsourcing, but among people you already know, even if you’ve only met them online. After all, don’t we all have more and more friends online? Especially during this past year, when the pandemic influenced how many people we could socialize with.

Here’s How it Works

Ask your friends what they think of a topic, then take what they say and create content with that. It’s like when you attend #DigiBlogChat and then create a blog post about it, like Jim Katzaman (@JKatzaman) often does. You’ll get more eyes on your piece because people love to hear about themselves. It’s easy, fun, and clever!

Don’t Believe Me?

If you need to see how friend sourcing works, take a look around the interwebs. Check out who’s retweeting whom, who’s sharing whose pictures, and which posts get shared the most. Friend sourcing posts may not always be the most popular (animal posts are very popular, too), but they do get shared. A lot.

Friend Sourcing Is Social

Remember when social media was actually social? No, neither do I. But these days, you really need to be social more than ever. Engagement counts for a lot, and I predict it’ll count for even more in the future. Need to know more about engagement? Check out For Better Social Media Results, Focus on Engagement.

Get Started

Attend a chat (#DigiBlogChat is a pretty good one!) or start a conversation on social media. Ask a question or create a poll. Collect ideas from your friends. Ask if they’d like to be included in your piece if you want. Or tell them later. Or apologize later. Your choice! There are no wrong answers here.

Collaborations Are Gold

Collaborate with someone to create something, write something, or do something together. You could be in a challenge together, too, like the 46-mile Mt. Fujii Virtual Conqueror Challenge that @MistressPrime and I were in together. We both walked the miles, checked in, and got our (real metal!) medals. But the walk was all done virtually, so anyone can participate.

Write or Vlog About it!

Now create your piece! You could write a blog post, talk about it on your YouTube channel, make an art piece to share later, etc. You might want to take pictures of whatever it is you did, said, or created together. Make sure you tag your friends when you do share the piece. People usually love being mentioned!

Share and Share Again

If your piece is evergreen (for more information about evergreen posts, see: How Long Is Evergreen Content Actually Good for?) then share it more than once! After all, you’ve put in the work, right?

 

 

#DigiBlogChat Questions March 16, 2021

The topic for #DigiBlogChat on Twitter March 16th, 2021 is: Emerging from Lockdown and Finding a New Normal with @LazBlazter! Join us every Tuesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time.

Q1. Are you preparing to emerge from some form of #COVID19 related constraint on personal and business freedoms?

Q2. What are your positive /negative experiences that directly stem from changes in how you can work through the pandemic?

Q3. Who or what has inspired you to persevere, be innovative or to reinvent your business and services that define your enterprise?

Q4. How quickly have you adapted to your current mode of operation and was it worth the effort?

Q5. How much of what you now do is temporary against what you believe will be retained ways of working? (E.g. Remote working vs on premise working)

Q6. How will you determine cost benefits for extending remote working or adapting your premises for virtual customer engagement in future?

Q7. Which organisations or entities will you look to for advice and evidence that supports your digital investments?

Q8. Who will lead on your communications strategy setting out what customers and investors can expect as we all emerge to greater freedoms?

Q9. What is your timeline for moving into a steady operational business model as economies and people resume habits that go with moving freely?

Q10.  How well did your Business Resilience plan work and have you re-drafted it for various scenarios using lessons from the COVID pandemic?

 

Why Gamification in Sales is Dangerous and Why You Should Care

Why Gamification in Sales is Dangerous and Why You Should Care

Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more sales gimmicks. Sites where I’d normally shop anyway are now regaling me with Spin the Wheel! and Mystery Discounts, along with cute fuzzy animals. I might have shopped there anyway, but does the focus on games make me trust them more? No! Quite the opposite.

Does There Always Need to Be a Game?

Why does shopping have to be made more fun? Haven’t we been told to plan ahead, make a list, shop online, get in and get out as quickly as possible when shopping in person, shop around the edges for the best dietary choices, etc.? Do we have to go on a Treasure Hunt and make our online shopping trip more amusing? You’ll probably guess what my answer is to these questions. By the way, you might like this article about the Gamification of Social Media.

Budgets and the National Debt

Ok, maybe I’m ranting now, but as Americans don’t we already have a problem with overspending? According to CNBC, “The average American has $90,460 in debt. Meanwhile, millennials have seen the largest increase in debt in the last five years.” So gamification probably makes the debt problem even worse. Maybe there’s some sort of moral obligation to make sales as boring as possible to help bring down the national debt! Yes, people want to sell more, but how about a little mercy for everyone during these panicky, pandemicky times?

Just Say No

Maybe our collectively ginormous credit issue stems in part from our difficulty in saying no. Setting boundaries is hard work and depends upon knowing what we want and don’t want. And what about that darn pandemic? Gosh, maybe if we spent less to begin with we wouldn’t even need as much darn money from the government in the form of stimulus checks. Maybe we could even–gasp!–spend within our means! Not to say that some need the stimulus checks–they do. It’s just that right now we need to be budgeting our money so it stretches farther, not looking for excuses to spend more money. And certainly not making a fun game out of overspending. Oh, and get off my lawn, you darn kids!!! By the way, I talk about boundaries in Best Time Management Hacks for Your Online Life.

Scams and Rabbit Holes

Maybe people are more sophisticated than I give them credit for. Somehow, I don’t think so. Tons of my friends fall for scams. When people with unknown numbers call, they often pick up and talk to the callers. And give away their bank account information. So this emphasis on games doesn’t bode well for many. At the very least, it’s a waste of time heading down that rabbit hole of online shopping and games. I know we’re all bored. But why make it easier for someone else to get into debt? Leave me a comment if you feel like it, but only if you aren’t procrastinating on doing your budget.

#DigiBlogChat Questions March 9, 2021

MEETINGS: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

Tuesday, March 9th, 2021’s Topic is Meetings: Past, Present, and Future with special guest Justine Pretorious! Join us on Twitter at 1:00 p.m. PST.

Q1. When was the last time you attended a conference? Why did you attend it?

Q2. What is the most important objective to attending a conference for you?

Q3. What are your expectations for a virtual event versus an in-person event?

Q4. What do you want out of a conference when you are attending for educational purposes?

Q5. What do you want out of a conference when attending for networking opportunities?

Q6. Since Covid-19 have you attended a virtual conference?

Q7. What was your last virtual conference experience like?

Q8. What was your favorite and least favorite part about attending a virtual event?

Q9. In the future do you plan on attending conferences in-person or virtually?

Q10. What can a conference do to make you feel comfortable attending an in-person conference?

You Don’t Need Fairy Dust to Improve Your Social Media Engagement

Some people seem to think that there’s some kind of magic involved in improving your engagement on social media. There’s no magic involved, but you can use some science. Don’t worry–it’s nothing that costs a bundle. But having some science and just talking to people will help a lot.

The Science behind Tweepsmap

This week on #DigiBlogChat, a chat on Twitter, our special guests were Samir Al-Brattan of @Connexinet and Tweepsmap and Jayna (@JTweepsmap). We discussed how to increase engagement. Here are a few ideas from that chat. By the way, Tweepsmap has a terrific YouTube channel, if you prefer to listen to tips. Don’t forget to subscribe! 

Hashtags and Topics

If you want to supercharge your time on Twitter, you can find out which hashtags and topics will get you the most oomph. Yes, oomph isn’t exactly a scientific word, but you know what I mean. This is not to say that you’re going to be broadcasting. You’ll still be interacting, but in a smart way. If you’re already tweeting about one of the topics mentioned in your Tweepsmap, why not add a hashtag to your post? Did you know there’s a the hashtag suggestions tool embedded into the Tweepsmap scheduler? Not too many hashtags, though! Just one or two.

How Do I Talk to People?

Start by saying hello. Do you know how to make small talk? If you still go to the grocery store, or walk your dog past your neighbor’s house, you’ve been forced to say hello before. Then ask about them. How are they doing? You can also retweet with a quote. Simply click on the retweet and then you’ll get the quote retweet choice. That way, you can add a remark to the original tweet.

©Przemek Pietrak2013

Don’t Just Broadcast

Gone are the days when you could post an out-of-focus picture of a lemon and get a thousand comments. Comment on what other people are doing and saying. People love to hear about themselves. Some people may even say something back to you. You can use some of the suggested topics and hashtags within Tweepsmap if you get stuck for ideas, too.

©GotCredit2015

Add Value

Sometimes value includes encouragement. You can also post educational material, humorous things, or resourceful ideas. As Melissa Drozdowski, director of social media at marketing and brand-builder company Interprose mentioned during the latest #Digiblogchat “Repeat after us: it’s all about adding value. People engage for a reason. You have to provide something of value for their time – a new perspective, something followers can learn from, a resource they didn’t have before. Add value and they will come (and stay).”

©Adam Bautz2015

Don’t Get Discouraged

If someone doesn’t want to have a conversation, move on. There are plenty of people who will want to talk to you.

#Digiblogchat Questions March 2, 2021

The topic for March 2nd, 2021’s #DigiBlogChat is: How to Increase Engagement with Samir of @Connexinet and @Tweepsmap!  Join us Tuesdays on Twitter at 1:00 pm Pacific Time for our chat!

Q1. How often do you measure engagement on your social channels?

Q2. Do you know the demographics of your engaged audience? Do tell! 

Q3. How do you ensure your tweets are fresh and not always talking about the same topics? 

Q4. Which of your tweets got the most traction in the last 3 months?

Q5. Which words or hashtags in your tweets generate the highest engagements?

Q6. Do you measure engagements separately by demographics/location? If so, how? 

Q7. How do you ensure that you are reaching your audiences in all different time zones? 

Q8. How would you measure follower engagement of other accounts (prospects, competitors etc.)? 

Q9. What strategies do you use to generate/ maintain high engagement? 

Q10. Please share your tips to get higher engagement! 

Best Time Management Hacks for Your Online Life

Best Time Management Hacks for Your Online Life

We are all spending more and more time online. We wake up with an app on our phone, use our Fitbits for exercise and step counts, and belong to oodles of social media platforms. But how do you manage your time? Do you need another app? Short answer: maybe. Here are some ideas.

Time Spent Online is Different

You might think you could apply time management to your time spent online just as you would to any other chore, but it isn’t true. It’s so easy to be distracted by the newest video of a camel whose best friend is a cow. Just to get another animal into the list, we can all disappear down rabbit holes because they are plentiful. And time disappears when you’re distracted, doesn’t it? Now where was I going with that idea? Oh, yes.

Interrupt Yourself

You need stronger boundaries if you’re going to survive working online. So decide before you get online what you want to do and how much time you want to spend. Before you dive into Instagram, set a time limit. Set an alarm so that you know when your time is up. And then get out! You might like Time Management for the Tired and Frazzled. The point is, make an executive decision about how much time you want to spend online. And then guard your precious time.

Online Tools That Can Help

One of my favorite tools is Nokotime. Why? Not only can you track your time, you can create reports, which is very helpful. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s easy to use and gives you an accurate pie chart of where your time is going. (I’m not an affiliate, by the way.) Another tool that I love is Dashlane, for password management. Dashlane is free, but there’s also a premium version, which helps you sync passwords across platforms. Another one is Google Drive for sharing documents and images.

Create an Old-School to Do List

Writing down what you want to get done the night before has been known to ease anxiety. Instead of worrying about your tasks for the next day, write them all down. Some suggest writing how much time you might use on a particular task, too. One idea I really like is decluttering your to-do list, as Teodora Pirciu writes. By the way, she has a snazzy Daily Planner for business growth that you might like, too. I’ve ordered it myself and it’s a nice, three-month organizer with plenty of space to write (yes, the old-fashioned way, with a pen).

Have a Favorite Way to Manage Your Time?

Do tell! Let me know with a comment. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

#Digiblogchat Questions February 23, 2021

The topic for February 23rd’s #DigiBlogChat is: Keys to Manage Your Finances with @JKatzaman. Join us Tuesdays on Twitter at 1:00 pm Pacific Time for our chat! 

Q1. What kind of classes or conversations about managing money stick in your mind?

Q2. What kind of investments should you make in particular decades of your life — 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s?

Q3. How do life, health and long-term care insurance factor into your overall financial plan?

Q4. How does homeownership affect your financial plans? Bonus question: Do you really need to own a home?

Q5 How do you save money during difficult times?

Q6 What is the first step to set up a budget and save money?

Q7 What is the hardest part about budgeting?

Q8 Where do you go for financial information?

Q9 What is your overall financial goal in life?

Q10 Does money buy happiness?

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