Don’t let social media overwhelm you

Marie Forleo has some great tips for you if you are feeling pressured about being on all social media platforms and posting constantly.

I particularly like her tip about finding one or two that you can be successful on, commit to those and get good at them. I would even take it a step further and say that once you feel confident with those, widen your circle and bring in another. You will need to evolve and find that sweet spot of where your audience responds and where you feel comfortable communicating.

How many social media platforms are you on?

I’d love to hear from you!

-Tina

How will you get your job?

Courtesy blog.enthosweb.com

This is a cool infographic that shows just how important social media has become in getting a job.

I’m shocked that Facebook has gotten more people their job than LinkedIn! The idea of getting a job via Twitter is so intriguing to me. I think I need to beef up my posts…

What do you think? Are you surprised that over 18 million people say they have their current job because of Facebook?

I’d love to hear from you!

-Tina

Take criticism. It’s a gift.

Courtesy CliveSimpkins.blogs.com

It takes practice to see criticism as the gift it is.

The first thing you need to do look at criticism from a little different perspective. This of it as an opportunity. It means that there has been miscommunication or there is a genuine screw up. Both of these things need to be rectified so if someone takes their precious time to let you know about the problem – be glad.

I think of it as someone telling me I have something green in my teeth. Someone who likes you will tell you while someone who doesn’t care about you won’t. Granted, you may not get called names or cussed at when they tell you that there’s something in your teeth, but the favor is still there.

Let me provide a recent example. I work on a fundraising event called Holiday Market. I’ve purchased advertising on Facebook to hit all the women in the area. One of the women in the area was kind enough to leave an unflattering post that was along the lines of “I haven’t supported you since you changed your name to Holiday Market.” Alluding to the fact that we went all PC and changed from Christmas Market to Holiday Market. It’s always been Holiday Market.

This is where charm and grace took over and I thanked her for the post. I didn’t correct her or get defensive. I simply explained the reason we have our name and that I hoped she would join us for the best shopping experience of her life.

I used the opportunity to explain who we were, why we did what we did, that we love her and her input and that we want her in our family. Will she come to our event? Who knows. I do know that she can’t honestly tell her friends and family that we are rude and hate Christmas. Other people who read the exchange will see our organization as kind, attentive and thoughtful. You never know who is watching on social media.

Even if someone cusses you and your mother, stay cool. This could be just the chance you’ve needed to change a broken process; to update outdated information; to find out the way you do things is totally jacked up and needs improvement.

Courtesy ios.wonderhowto.com

I’m not saying it doesn’t suck and sometimes people are mean and life isn’t fair, BUT if you try at some point in the criticism to find the nugget of gold in the pile of bullsh*t you could come out smelling like a rose.

How do you handle criticism?

I’d love to hear from you.

-Tina

Sorry sweetheart, your personal Facebook page isn’t social media experience

Courtesy ChadKaser.wordpress.com

This seems pretty obvious but I’m willing to bet that there are some knuckleheads who get into this because they are prolific personal social media posters. They think, “How hard can social media for a brand be? You just post stuff and get likes. I’ve got 862 friends on FB and 1637 followers on TW, I’m a freaking natural.”

So what’s the difference?

• You need a Strategy to reach communication goals. You don’t post just because the urge strikes. You don’t post just because you see something funny you want to share.
• You’ve got to Research your audience. What do they want to hear? When do they want to hear it? How do they like to hear it?
• You should be Crafting a message based on your strategy and research. Just throwing out slop loses the respect of your intended audience. When you lose the respect of your audience you lose their attention. When you lose their attention often enough, you lose your job.
• Posting comes back to strategy. Don’t post when your target won’t hear it. Don’t post where your audience won’t see it. Don’t post what will lose/alienate your audience.
• You’ve got to be Listening to your audience. It’s not just what they say, it’s what they do. Look at your metrics. What do people respond to the most? When are they responding and where?
• If you’ve been listening, you will certainly need to make Tactical Adjustments. That’s your life now: making adjustments – All.The.Time. Social & digital media move so fast that everything you do will be about adjusting to changing responses from your audience, changing conditions on the Interwebs, and changing technology.
• Revisit Strategy.
• Continually Research.
• Always Be Crafting new messages.
• Ad infinitum into this ouroboros thing where the head swallows the tail – no beginning or end. (look it up)

When was the last time you did research on your personal followers before you posted that picture of the ultimate ice cream sundae on Instagram? Do you know your strategy for your tweets about your displeasure at a college football game? What message are you consciously crafting for Pinterest?

See the difference?

Have I left out any considerations or steps in this social media cycle? Which step do you like best? In which step are you weakest?

I’d love to hear from you.

-Tina

So many resources…

Courtesy NerdyorCool.webs.com

I love marketing communications. I dig the data-driven strategy combined with the possibility of innovative tactical maneuvers. I thrive on thinking outside the box and project implementation to achieve measurable goals.

I’ve learned that just because you love something doesn’t make you good at it. You may have the best of intentions, but if you don’t have some knowledge to pull from you’re going make bad mistakes. (I’ll talk about good mistakes in a later blog.)

So where can you get marketing communications knowledge? I have some awesome resources that I pull from for my personal edification that you might want to check out.

1) Social Media Examiner  I recently discovered this one and I LURVE it! They have revived my enthusiasm for email newsletters. Their newsletters are short, heavy on links, and don’t employ “click bait.” I hate click bait. (hmmm that sounds like a blog subject.) These folks are also on Twitter and Facebook. They do podcasts and online summits. SME is pretty pimp if you dig this stuff.

2) Social Media Today  This is overall industry news. I like it because they have neato infographics (which I love), and they talk about developing technologies and other things I may not go looking for but will impact my work eventually. I’m usually the first to know about a lot of tech stuff because of these guys.

3) Mashable  I like how they integrate pop culture and social media/tech news. They are also rife with click bait. Mashable is worth it because that fusion of pop culture and social media keeps me on the ball and informed.

4) MarketingProfs  They are geared more towards larger businesses. I like keeping up with what the Big Boys are doing because I want to know what my potential employer is doing. They also offer a lot of VERY useful hints and primers. Unfortunately, most of the good stuff you have to be a PRO member and that is $$$$. I guess it costs a lot of money to be so big and slick…

Anyhoo, those are my big references, and they are in order of value to me. If you aren’t familiar with them you really ought to check them out. They are all in my Twitter and Facebook feeds so I have knowledge being pushed to me all the time. Of course, I’m a nerd and read this stuff for fun. Did I mention that I LOVE this stuff…..?

What resources do you rely on? What do you like about them?

I’d love to hear from you.

Tina