The Random Me blog post
Reading Michael Hyatt’s take on writing, the discipline to just sit down and do it, I thought: I must blog. Today!
About what I had no idea, but then it hit me. Last week I let folks put a voice to my Twitter picture via a video. Except that video was all about my business so in a way, it was less personal and less social.
The Random Me 
Work: I am a bad businesswoman, or at least there are times it feels that way. It’s the admin (accounting, billing, etc.) stuff I don’t like to do, as it takes away from the real marketing and PR work: writing, reading, pitching, designing.
Life: I don’t like putting away the laundry. Wash, dry, hang in the closet is fine, but fold and put in drawers seems to be an issue. And the fitted sheet gets rolled into a ball.
Mixology: I say “no” to mixing the personal and professional too much. Keeping Facebook for personal play and LinkedIn for professional networking helps me strike that balance. Twitter is where they sometimes collide.
Technology: I am a MAC user, but don’t consider myself a fangirl or geek, though family and friends do. When AT&T says I’m upgrade eligible, I’ll jettison my dumbphone for an iPhone.
Play: I don’t live to work, I work to live and play.
Entertainment: TV > Movies. Not sure why but each year, fewer movies seem worthy of $10 and a trip to the theater. Maybe it’s because I have overpriced cable, but I have bought fewer DVDs as most movies aren’t rewatch worthy.
Even with the DVR losing regulars like 24 and LOST, on TV I still can find plenty to really entertain. I still like vampires with True Blood and The Vampire Diaries — not that horrendous Twilight shit — replacing Buffy and Angel. Mad Men is on the Someday DVD marathon list.
Music: The strummy alt-rock noise that kinda all sounds the same dominates my iPod but it’s mixed with everything else: R&B, classic rock, soundtracks, cross-over country, hip-hop, oldies, classical, even showtunes like Wicked.
Hobbies: Time and money permitting, my go-to distractions are travel and food & wine.
Sports: Watching not playing. The Atlanta Braves, the Cotton Bowl bound LSU Tigers and by birth, the New Orleans Saints are my teams.
Dream Vacation: Paris. The one in France. Never been but it’s on the SOMEDAY Damnit! List.
That was a little attempt at walking the social talk. Do you know me better? Does reading about my human side make me seem more approachable, more hireable?
Photo credit: Despair.com gets the snarky side of social media. That Random t-shirt is on sale.
An EIEIO for Social Media
What we learn as kids sticks with us, right? Look both ways. It’s good to share. Old MacDonald had a farm.
Bill Seaver, who knows from blog content, posted over on Social Media Examiner that I could learn social media from Old MacDonald, and I have to agree. His five EIEIO benchmarks for compelling content that earns attention:
- E – Entertain.
- I – Inspire.
- E – Educate.
- I – Inform.
- O – Outrage.
Educate and inform may be a little redundant, but this is great advice for creating content. The more your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube content fit these criteria, the better it’ll be at earning attention of your community by offering real value.
I love stealing good ideas
Taking it beyond content creation, here’s my E-I-E-I-O of social media.
- E is for Engage. Without engagement, participation from others there isn’t much point. It’s static, it’s broadcasting not social. I comment on more blogs than my own, tweet, participate in LinkedIn groups and yet, it’s not enough. There are more opportunities out there, to connect and engage with others, potential clients and colleagues, other people.
- I as in Include. It’s a community, not a country club. Social media should not about excluding others but including different points of view, other perspectives. There are tons of great blogs and bloggers out there, so I’m grateful when a Redhead Writing crosses my path.
- E can also Encourage. We’re part of an online community and everyone needs a little motivation, support and encouragement now and then. Share, post, comment, retweet. Take the time to find and recognize a lesser known, but no less talented bloggers. I think my twitter feed reflects that, as I’m as likely to share something by a Neicole Crepeau as a Chris Brogan.
- I for Initiate. Don’t wait for others, start something. Ask a question, share it, start that blog or post that video. Seeing a need for a Small to Medium Business group, Jayme Soulati and others have launched SMB Collective, complete with Twitter chat and more.
- O for Open. Open APIs, open forums, open up to others, other ideas, open to your own crazy ideas, your own creations. Open the box, see what’s inside.
For my next trick I’ll put it all together, make it work and take over my corner of the social media and PR world.
Something I missed? Share it in comments.
My Evil Blogging Plan: Keep it Short and Sweet
Inspired … okay, guilt tripped by last week’s #SoloPR twitter chat, I am writing a short, sweet blog post.
Seth Godin has tons of readers and followers because he writes well, intelligently, and more often than not, concisely. But I am no Seth Godin and that’s fine.
Brevity is the soul of wit, right? It’s okay to have something quick to say, and I will add that to my small business marketing plan: shorter blog posts.
My evil plan is working!
I’ve been actively networking via social media for more than a year now. The key word in that sentence: Actively, an adverb describing the action word, networking.
I have connected with so many smart people in the social media, public relations, marketing game via Twitter, LinkedIn and my blog. Shameless self-promotion alert: I had one post make the front page of Social Media Today. For a week! And will be speaking at the 2010 Southern Public Relations Federation Conference this fall, based on this post.
My evil plan is failing!
I write what I know, what will give my audience something they can use, so my posts tend to be about PR, marketing and social media, geared for small business.
Yes I’ve brought value to this space, my readers.. but I haven’t signed new clients as a result of my plan. Yet! That’s a problem, that pesky ROI, one I plan to correct by stepping up my networking and blogging game.
Making the time
My new goal is make my blog a marketing and PR resource for Atlanta small business. I’ll do so by blogging more often, mixing it up and writing shorter, “easier” posts that speak to my target audience of potential clients.
Stay tuned to see if my plan is good, evil, or just dumb. 
You’re Just a Tool, Social Media
Twitter may be Gini Dietrich’s favorite social media tool, but she’s also seeing the power of video and YouTube. Unless you’ve been in hiding, chances are familiar with these Big Dogs including Facebook and LinkedIn.
What else is out there? A lot.
Tweet Better. Show someone the standard web interface, they don’t get Twitter. That’s why you need a client.
If you manage multiple Twitter accounts, and want to make sure to not accidentally tweet from the wrong account, use different Twitter clients. I use Seesmic and Twhirl for other accounts, makes it much easier.
After trying Twhirl, Seesmic and Echofon for Firefox, TweetDeck is probably still my favorite Twitter client. All of them work okay; I just like the organization and integration of TweetDeck.
Other Twitter gems:
- Twitter Grader: are you engaging enough or just bragging about yourself? Check your score here.
- Twitter Background Checker: Test how your personalized background looks at different resolutions.
- Need help creating a background? Here are 3 sources.
- For multiple Twitter searches, check out TweetGrid.
- Directories: WeFollow and Twellow and Listorious.
- Mr. Tweet: Updating as of this post, good tool to find new people.
- Want more? Augie Ray has 19 other Twitter tools and Mashable, these 10.
Google Knows. Sure Google is set to go self-aware, annihilate us all in a few years, but until then it offers great tools. Did I mention they were FREE?
- Google Profile. Vanity searching aside, the minute you set it up your profile is out there. Plus you can add links to your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Nice SEO.
- Google Alerts. Smart people like Gini and Sarah Evans have blogged about using alerts for monitoring, with good reason: quick, easy and free way to monitor the web.
- Google Docs. In case you hadn’t heard, there’s this Cloud thingy and you don’t even have to email files back and forth. Genius.
- Google Translate. Get a comment on a YouTube video in a different language, need a quick translation will traveling, this works. There’s also a website tool.
Blog Posting Power Ups: It’s Good to Share.
- Add to Any, Share This, TweetMeme are great services to let people forward your wonderful musings to their networks.
- Issuu. Time picked it as one of the best websites last year. It’s an easy way of sharing and publishing graphic, stylized documents like newsletters. Lots of potential a la SlideShare.
- Disqus. Even if you don’t use it to manage comments on your own blog, it’s worth registering and creating a Disqus profile since it will make it easier to share your two pennies.
- LinkedIn Applications. You take the time to blog or develop presentations; these apps can add your WordPress or Typepad blog automatically, make it easier to enhance your profile.
Former favorite. Somebody please save this!
BackType is a social media analytics firm, that helps track the conversation in real time and they used to offer one of my favorite social media tools, a blog commenter profile.
- It collected almost all of my comments on other blogs. Fab. Now my Disqus profile has saved those, but I don’t always use that tool to comment.
- Via WordPress plugins BackType Connect and My Comments Elsewhere, I could show my blog comments in a great sidebar widget. Better than a blogroll.
In April they retired collecting user comments on other blogs, which I really miss.
Overload Much. Too much of a good thing.
- FriendFeed. It’s linked to most folks Twitter feeds, so it’s redundant. Unless Twitter is down, of course.
- Plaxo. An electronic address book. I use LinkedIn more.
- Technorati. Could never join, technical issues. Fail.
- Yet to try: HootSuite, Digg, Delicious or StumbleUpon though I see them used quite a bit.
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There are plenty of lists like this one from Jay Baer. Anything great I must to check out, if I had to add just one to the arsenal, what would you pick? Share your tips here.
Atlanta Public Relations, Marketing and Social Media
Social Media, Public Relations, Marketing in 2010: Looking Back, to the Future
(aka The obligatory New Year’s blog)
Expecting a countdown of best Social Media moments or worst Public Relations goofs for 2009? A list of top SM or social marketing or PR trends for the past year? Not here. Marketing predictions or PR Trends for the future? Nope. A “touchy feely self-help yoga crap” blog full of introspection and optimistic BS. So not gonna happen.
I am closing out the year with a little recap. In 2009: 
- I committed to blogging about PR, social media, design and other things marketing. I watched out for The Blind Side, Sweated the Small Stuff and retired some Dead PR Tactics.
- I started tweeting. I came up with my own way to tweet, follow and join the conversation.
- I have invested time networking and connecting. And in many ways, it’s been one of my most productive years.
- I’ve read, shared, linked and retweeted countless blogs and stories. And I added my two pennies worth of comments quite a few times.
- I’ve taken control of my online identity via Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, and my Google profile. And locked down (as best I can) the crappy Facebook privacy settings.
- Like other public relations professionals, I studied and followed social media. And now I am applying what I’ve learned and continue to learn everyday, adapting and using it to help myself and my clients. I have embraced social media and social networks with both hands, and I am a better communications professional for it.
- Oh and I cleaned up my office a little this morning, reducing the clutter for 2010. That is all.
Now back to work.