Category

Social Media

Jan 18
Love0

Albemarle Schools, Inclement Weather, and Social Media

By Communications, Social Media

Yesterday, snow was in the forecast. And yes, it snowed here in Albemarle County, Virginia, but it was too warm to stick. Preemptively, Albemarle County Schools decided it would be wise to cancel school, since the impending storm had a range of a few to several inches of snow. It’s always wise to play it safe when it comes to our kids. Some parents were frustrated, as they learned about the school closure. Albemarle is great about posting updates to Facebook and Twitter while e-mailing and calling parents’ contact numbers. I know I’m not alone when I say I learn of school closings from social media channels before any other media. In response to the questions, Josh Davis, chief operating officer for the school district and the voice of school closings in the county, created a video* (again, using social media to respond to social media; BRILLIANT!) to explain how Albemarle County Schools decides to cancel school for bad weather.

When any entity gets a flood of questions on a single topic, and that topic has the same answer, or set of answers that are given again and again, isn’t it smart to capture that response in video format and share it across platforms, so everyone can find that answer, before they even have to approach to ask? I think so.

Here’s the video:

*Thanks to my bud, @gingergermani for the inspiration for this post.

Jan 15
Love0

Excuses, Excuses

By Social Media

I made this grand gesture — I was going to blog every day until March 17.  And then, of course, I got sick. So sick that I could totally empathize with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s flu-fainting-concussion-blood clot on the brain journey recently. There have been times when I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to take a dive and bang my head on the bathtub over the last day or so. So yeah, I’m sick, and that prevented me from blogging. Excuses, excuses.

I’m still down for the count but trying to maintain some level of connected-ness to the outside world. There are many e-mails to which to respond, and I’ve been frantically canceling and rescheduling meetings. The blog, clearly, was at the bottom of the list. But I’m here right now to show you I mean it; I’m committed to this, germs be damned.

When it’s viruses that “go viral” there isn’t much we can do but slug down some NyQuil and sleep it off. But in this moment of feeling moderately OK, I am checking in to let you know that a) I’m human, too and b) business doesn’t stop moving forward for a little old virus.

Jan 11
Love0

Kickstarter and the Trend of Crowdsourcing Funding for Creative Projects

By Communications, Social Media

Kickstarter was big news last year — I mean, $272 MILLION raised for projects is incredibly significant. That trend should continue in 2013, and we’re seeing a lot of segmentation with other crowdsourced funding platforms popping up to serve specific niches.

I talked with Coy Barefoot on Newsradio WINA about the trend and three local projects that are using crowdsourced funding to get projects off the ground. One I want to send you to today — my young friend Victoria Tamberrino has launched a site to sell her artwork and photography — with the goal of raising $1,300 so she can participate in her church’s mission trip to Haiti. What a great, enterprising idea — and great, talented artwork, as well. Here’s her site:

http://tamberrinoartandphotography.weebly.com/

And here’s where you can listen to the radio broadcast: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=6193494

 

Jan 10
Love0

28 to 66 Days to Make a Habit

By Social Media

I’ve often read about 21 or 28 days to make an action a habit. A post from Psych Central suggests that shooting for 66 days is more likely to lead to success. It’s a big commitment of time, but if you intend to create a life-long habit, 66 days is a healthy start.

Since we’re all trying to start the new year off right (as evidenced by the crowding at my gym these days), a renewed commitment to social media and marketing activity on behalf of your business is another good resolution to make and keep.

Blogging, writing every day, posting to your company Facebook page, Twitter or Pinterest every day for 66 days should be manageable. I know that just thinking about 66 days in a row of content can be overwhelming, even to the most prolific. I’m trying to jump-start my social media presence, so embarking on this 66 day adventure is a personal exercise. I want to be able to report back to you whether I found it successful, to report the challenges, obstacles, and total road blocks I encounter. I want to lead by example (as I am frequently in the role of cheerleader and coach, encouraging clients to publish and engage online). If I’m successful, I will have published every day from today until March 17, 2013.

Let me know if you want to get on board and join me, and I’ll be happy to link to your blog or Facebook page here.

Jan 03
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Thinning the Herd: Getting Social Media Focused

By Social Media

January for many of us is a time for organization, de-cluttering and even cleaning. I look forward to the fresh start each year and spend time collecting donations around the house for Goodwill, fix, update and even paint.

I apply the same renewed energy to my virtual space as well. It’s a great time to review your RSS feeds or other methods of reading content and dump the feeds that no longer interest you. The same goes for those you follow on Twitter. Don’t hesitate to unfollow people. Furthermore, and to some this seems harsh, but really think about that circle of friends on Facebook. Sometimes in my Facebook newsfeed I see people I don’t even recall friending. Sorry, pal, but if I can’t remember you, we’re probably not really friends. LinkedIn should always be limited to professional contacts, but in the event that you find that a few outliers have slipped in, get rid of them! Another way to look at your contacts on LinkedIn includes seeing if somehow you have duplicates; sometimes users end up inadvertently creating a second profile. Figure out which one is current and delete the unused profile.

It’s NOT easy to figure out  how to de-friend or delete contacts — obviously these social networks are much more interested in you GROWING your circles, rather than shrinking them. If you need help, let me know.