New Post Category: How Dumb Was I?
New category today: How dumb was I?
Looking at what got my really got my blog going - the comments, the engagement – I’ve started revisiting some old posts.
Why? The game is changing almost daily. Marketing, public relations, social media are such dynamic fields, you can’t afford to become complacent or fall into any of the influence traps.
Observations.
- I lurked for a long time. I really waited to start writing my own posts.
- I didn’t stay quiet for very long. If the old BackType profiles were still active, you’d see a ton of blog comments.
- When I did start really writing, it did not take me long to identify my niche, my voice. I take more chances with the purple prose and poison pen, the snark and the sass, the funny pictures.
First up, my thoughts on embracing social media, how to represent myself as a professional.
What I said then:
On joining social networks: It can be easy (and dangerous) to think social networking can take the place of other means of marketing or relationship building.. social networks can help build relationships, helping you engage your customers and your community, not just talk at them. Or so I’m learning.
On personal vs. professional: I’ve been honing my strategy for using social networking tools. The more I do this, the more I know I’m right to keep a little healthy separation between my personal and professional social networks.
What I think now:
I still think real world networking matters, made it one of my 2011 goals. I still believe in the divide between personal and professional, that it’s right for me. I joke and comment about it all the time, that yes this is the REAL me but not the WHOLE me. There are things I don’t share as a professional:
- Private and/or Personal. I’m an introvert so there are things that even my BFFs don’t know, but anonymous Twitter “friends” do.
- Irrelevant, Boring, Mundane. AKA my life. It’s why I don’t bombard my FB or Twitter status with lunch updates.
- Mean, bitchy, inappropriate and ranty. That’s what secret Twitter accounts are for.
What you see: I’ve never hidden the fact that this is business, this is about networking, developing myself as a solo PR. What you get: Professional, with a side of boring. I drone on and on about PR and social media and marketing, and you’ve been warned.
How dumb was I? Not very. I was smart to finally, “officially” dive into social media. I’ve learned a lot, made some great friends and really grown as a professional communicator. FWIW.
Who’s Minding the Store? Vacation and the Solo Pro
You run a small business or are a solo practitioner, lawyer or PR pro like myself, there are times you’ll be out of the office. Happens.
Small business owners need breaks and vacations like anyone else, maybe even more. We all know the recooperative benefits of vacation: you unplug, unwind, let your hair down and do nekid keg stands with random strangers, and hope no one drunk and dials, slaps the photos on Facebook. Ahem. 
I’m going on vacation next week and have already thought about it, how I’ll disconnect from the world. I’ll go into technology withdrawal and hit DTs by the 2nd day, so a mid week email check is my standard M.O., but it’ll also be good to be off the Twitters and Interwebs for a while.
Fast Company has good advice for executives taking vacations, applies to anyone. Here’s my advice for a Solo PR taking much deserved vacation time:
Mind the Store
- Prepare. I’ve already let clients know my schedule, advanced projects to give them things to review while I’m gone so that nothing gets delayed. Double checked all the calendars and deadlines, making sure I am covered.
- Delegate. I have a design colleague who can step in for emergencies while I am gone. Maybe it is a virtual assistant or intern but assign a go-to person if you can, or give an employee a chance to shine.
- Email. Turned off a few subscriptions and alerts and set my auto responder, to reply only once per address (hopefully), so I’m not some idjit who does it wrong.
- Social Media. Should you maintain presence in social media in case the stalkers miss you? YMMV.
- Twitter. I’ve decided a placeholder tweet will do, a simple announcement that I’m off the Twitters.
- Blog. I’ve arranged for a guest post but if that didn’t work out, I’d have just announced a haitus a la John Stossel’s blog. Luckily for YOU dear readers, the fantabulous Jenn Whinnem will be stepping in for me. Look forward to reading what she has to share, as she brings the guest blogging awesomesauce. Play nice kids.
A little prior planning and preparation will make your vacation more relaxing, so you’re not worrying about things back at the store. That and lots of umbrella cocktails. Later!
Photo credit: National Lampoon’s Vacation. © 1983 Warner Bros. For a nice breakdown of the illustration, check out this post.
Think I’m full of it? Tell me. Blog Comments Are Open.
I rant and rave about what ticks me off in the marketing and public relations and social media arenas but it didn’t occur to me, the need for a blog comment policy. Yet a preemptive strike is best as I was told by Grant Griffiths, and I agree: it’s much harder to shove that cat back into the bag.
My Blog Comment Policy is: Comments are Open.
- Real comments: Welcome and approved. No registration required, just sign in. Do it already!
- Closed to crap. Spam and “great post” link bait can go for a long walk on short pier.
- Profanity. Won’t always ban or edit, as I’m saucy with the lingo myself. But a little goes a long way.
- Pimp thyself? Want to link back to your own posts in your comments? Sure but if that’s all you’ll ever do, your wasting the link love on my little read blog.
Disagree? Bring it.
Blog comments being open is about raising the level of debate, exchanging ideas and engaging with the readers. Comments is where it happens, or so I keep reading from folks like Lauren Gray. Totally agree (though I have future rant coming, as it’s not always the case).
Part of that #sbt10 chat a while back was a realization that there is the real possibility someone will think I am full of crap. At least it’ll make me an official blogger, right Dan?
Feel free to tell me you think I’m full of it, but tell me why you don’t like my post, my blog. Keep it professional and we’ll get along fine. Make it personal, we won’t.
Play nice with the other kids.
While I won’t pretend to throw down with the likes of Olivier Blanchard, I will ask for some basic rules of debate and civility. (Side note: his Twitter rules parody is freakin’ hilarious.)
If you post “Twitter sucks and is of the Devil,” that’s fine; I’ll just agree to disagree. But if you post that “People who like, use and write about Twitter are evil and should burn for all eternity,” NOT so fine.
- Say why you disagree with another person’s comment, but do not flame that guest.
- Argue the points, not the person. Debate the topic, not the debater.
Attacking someone for their personal and/or professional beliefs and opinions crosses a line, will get your comment deleted and IP blacklisted faster than if you try to sell me cheap porn or Canadian Viagra.
Props to Danny Brown and #sbt10 chat for inspiring this blog post.
Blog comment rules, what did I miss?
Automation: Faking It the Twitter Way
I’m as sick of some of the so-called “rules of engagement” when it comes to social media tools like Twitter as the next person, but let’s get real. You call tech support, customer service, hell anyone.. what do you want more, the automated unhelpful phone crap or a real person?
I think we can all agree that Auto DMs and follow backs are bad robots. IMHO automated tweeting is the unholy stepchild of real-time work pressures, ADD, narcissism and Al Gore’s Internet.
Here’s looking at YOU fakers: 
Tweeters who automate.. virtually every last tweet. Why bother? Twitter is real-time. If you’re not doing it LIVE, it’s drive-by tweeting. You’re fraking broadcasting, not embracing “the great conversation.”
Sync your Facebook, LinkedIn, blog and Twitter. Fine. But scheduling 20-50 tweets a day, when you’re only around 5 minutes for real conversations is lame.
A little automation may be okay, but if anything more than 20% of your tweets are preprogrammed, that’s bullshit.
Tweeters who RT crap at super (automated) speed:
- Dead links, so I know you aren’t really reading. DOH, busted!
- The same crap already retweeted by everyone else. You follow @Mashable. Joy, now find something else worth sharing.
- The next post by @BigName. Within 2 minutes of the initial tweet. Sure Brian Solis may know his stuff, but his posts are like graduate symposiums, don’t think you read it that fast. Enjoy your Kool-Aid.
Tweeters who just hype their own crap. If you’re scheduling half your tweets, odds are they’re mostly about you. Stick to an 80/20 rule: if more than 20% of your tweets are all about you, get over yourself.
Tweeters who are fakers. Unless you’re POTUS, you are NOT so important that you can’t type the occasional 140-character post. I cackle at the irony that @AndersonCooper is a verified account but at least there’s disclosure of the group effort.
Not saying he’s the devil but I don’t follow Guy Kawasaki. He doesn’t tweet himself, automates most of it, rarely replies. “His” stream shares the work of many others without the credit of a retweet, and even after coming out as not tweeting himself, the tweets and replied are not labeled by ghost writers via initials.
Not saying he’s doing it “wrong” either. He’s upfront that he’s all business and AllTop, gotta give him that. I just don’t care for his style, but then he has the bigger bank account so what the hell do I know?
Those Pesky Exceptions
You can’t watch or feed your Twitter stream all day long, you’ve got actual work to do. Automation is not a crime, but a little goes a long way.
A great example is Gini Dietrich, who does automate some of her tweets. She also makes the effort to follow in real-time, reply to her stream, retweet others and reply to comments on her blog. She engages, she participates, she “gets” it.
Then there are exceptions like @ShitMyDadSays and @ThisIsSethsBlog. The catch is that I know these “tweeters” are not out here pretending to be anything more than automated feeds.
Do you like automated DMs and RSS feed links, the “set it and forget it” style of Twitter? Fine, embrace your way of faking it.
You’ll just have one less follower.
Photo Credit: HubSpot via CC license.
Atlanta Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
Hey Stranger: Why I am not LinkedIn with You
I don’t know you.
You have to set your social media boundaries, and when it comes to my professional reputation I mean business.
I don’t know this user. I do not click that button; I think LI needs a better reject or decline option. But if we’ve never chatted on a message board, haven’t talked on Twitter, why would I?
- We are not in the same groups.
- We have not done business together.
- We did not go to school together.
- We don’t share the same connections.
Even if we are all of those things, it still doesn’t mean that I know you. Just because we read the same blog post, like wine and breathe air doesn’t mean we’re connected.
Networking (adding connections or friends) is not counting marbles, for me it’s about professional development. LinkedIn is your online resume, your “professional” face to the world.
Now I know some smart people not on LinkedIn. For the link juice to my own site and blog, IMO it’s worth maintaining a strong LinkedIn profile just for the SEO. YMMV.
The Business Side of Social Media
Sure there are virtual friends in my LinkedIn connections, people I know via Twitter, LI groups and blogs. While we may not have met “in real life,” very real relationships have been made.
LinkedIn can be a powerful networking and business development tool. I have answered questions, shared blog post and other articles with my groups. It’s helped me connect with smart people, increase my blog readership and grow as a professional.
Like anything else with social media, LinkedIn is not “set and forget.” You get back what you put in.
You’re a Diva, Rock Star, Maven? So big with the NOT caring
Random LinkedIn requests are just as odious as the “thanks for following, here’s the link to my useless FREE crap” Direct Messages (DM) on Twitter. Ugg. (I don’t do that, promise.) LinkedIn is a social network to be sure, but it’s still about making connections, not selling yourself (even if you are looking for a job).
I love meeting and connecting with new people, but I’m not going to help you pad your numbers.
Do you connect with anyone and everyone on LinkedIn? Please share why or why not.