As you all well know, I absolutely love social media. Despite working all day, I keep Twitter and Facebook opened in the background and I check my LinkedIN account roughly every other day. It's nice to easily keep in touch with friends and get all my sports scores when I can't be in front of the game. But lately, I've been getting slightly annoyed.
If anyone can explain the following phenomenons to me, I'd greatly appreciate it:
1) Posting the SAME thing to your FB, Twitter, and LinkedIN accounts... ALL of the time! Okay, I maybe get FB and Twitter, if you primarily use Twitter to talk to friends. But ultimately this floods my news feed with things I've already read and it doesn't always make a lot of sense in the context of FB. And last I checked, wasn't LinkedIN primarily about job networking? Yeah, that's what I thought.
2) The boyfriend/girlfriend who love to tweet each other. Haven't you heard of txting? It's the same 140 characters of puppy love dribble - only it's PRIVATE. You could also consider checking out the DM feature. Trust me, I'm happy for you, but I don't need your relationship playing out on my TweetDeck. That's not to say you shouldn't ever mention your significant other, I certainly do from time to time; all I'm saying is that you don't need to have a full length conversation via tweet.
3) Tweeting over 140 characters and then continuing in a second tweet. I like that Twitter forces me to be concise - that's actually a very difficult skill to master. If you can't keep it under the limit - try posting through a 3rd party application such as Tumblr or even Facebook. It's not that I don't love hearing from you, but when you are the ONLY person I can see on the screen, well, I just think that's a little crazy!
4) People who over-promote trending topics. Yes, they are obviously popular points but no, you don't need to talk about them all day! Just because you can think of 100 different things to say about #LadyGaGa doesn't mean you have to post them! I will make an exception for sports here, as I like getting updates.
5) Companies who post too often. I think social media is really key for businesses - it's a great way to reach a large (and young) audience all at once. I do this myself for my internship and the company I work for full time also uses Twitter and Facebook to promote. When it's done well, it's great! When it's done poorly, it's a disaster. Companies that send out the same Tweet over and over are just annoying - spice it up a bit! It feels a lot less personal and lot like spam, which I am sure is not their intent. I like to try to make as many personal connections with @STAConsignment followers as I can and I try not to spam them with facts. You don't want to beg for business, it looks desperate. Instead you want to build an audience and keep them up to date on what's going on in the company.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
12.01.2009
Twitter & Advertising
Something that I've realized this week is that a vast majority of my favorite tweeters are actually companies. So how is it that I can hate commercials so much, but can't get enough of advertisements in the form of 140 characters or less?
Simplicity. No fancy thrills or sexy, seductive models, straight-to-the-point text works for me (and a lot of other people too). Sure those flashy Sephora e-mails are full of millions of products I'd like but one simple tweet about free shipping actually brings in a sale.
Other companies like sports teams are equally effective. It's always nice to see a quick reminder from my beloved Bruins letting me know that they've released more tickets at student prices and even nicer to see that Blake Wheeler uses the account so I get the sense the players are real and that they care about the fans.
I myself am constantly trying to come up with new ways to use Twitter to connect to fans for my internship. We advertise sales, tweet about current merchandise, and post trendy fashion stories. It may sounds pretty simple, but it's hard work! Looking for news that is relevant and important is hard, narrowing down stories worth reading or that are likely to be read are also difficult. Something I find even stranger is that with an application that's all about being concise, for a company that's even more important. If I want our followers to retweet and comment, I need to make sure that tweets are less than 100 characters to allow for this.
But when done well, this hard work pays off. In fact, our tweets about our Black Friday sales were a huge hit and over the last few months we've done a great job of building our brand. For a second hand designer store, we're making a name for ourselves as a fashion expert- up on all the latest trends. This isn't a store for clothes that no one wanted, it's a mecca for bargain hunting fashionistas, and thanks to Twitter, we're getting the word out.
Meanwhile, my own wallet is falling for all of it- makeup, sports tickets, clothing, half-price burritos- I'm buying it all. In a world where everyone is talking about tight budgets at Christmas, advertisers need to be creative. And they certainly are. In 140 characters or less at that.
Simplicity. No fancy thrills or sexy, seductive models, straight-to-the-point text works for me (and a lot of other people too). Sure those flashy Sephora e-mails are full of millions of products I'd like but one simple tweet about free shipping actually brings in a sale.
Other companies like sports teams are equally effective. It's always nice to see a quick reminder from my beloved Bruins letting me know that they've released more tickets at student prices and even nicer to see that Blake Wheeler uses the account so I get the sense the players are real and that they care about the fans.
I myself am constantly trying to come up with new ways to use Twitter to connect to fans for my internship. We advertise sales, tweet about current merchandise, and post trendy fashion stories. It may sounds pretty simple, but it's hard work! Looking for news that is relevant and important is hard, narrowing down stories worth reading or that are likely to be read are also difficult. Something I find even stranger is that with an application that's all about being concise, for a company that's even more important. If I want our followers to retweet and comment, I need to make sure that tweets are less than 100 characters to allow for this.
But when done well, this hard work pays off. In fact, our tweets about our Black Friday sales were a huge hit and over the last few months we've done a great job of building our brand. For a second hand designer store, we're making a name for ourselves as a fashion expert- up on all the latest trends. This isn't a store for clothes that no one wanted, it's a mecca for bargain hunting fashionistas, and thanks to Twitter, we're getting the word out.
Meanwhile, my own wallet is falling for all of it- makeup, sports tickets, clothing, half-price burritos- I'm buying it all. In a world where everyone is talking about tight budgets at Christmas, advertisers need to be creative. And they certainly are. In 140 characters or less at that.
11.29.2009
Getting Ready for the Holidays
It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Tuesday marks the start of December, and my DVR is set to record about ten different holiday movies and specials in the coming week. There's no doubt about it, the holidays are here and let me tell you, I am ready.
For the last week or so, my iPod has continuously looped a playlist consisting only of the three Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas albums, Josh Groban's holiday CD, and that annoying Mariah Carrey version of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." I was no sooner done eating turkey and apple pie on Thursday when I just had to watch Love Actually on TV and today I went to see my little cousin dance as Fritz in Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker.
Growing up we had the best holiday traditions. We went to my aunt and uncle's house in NH in early December to select the perfect tree from their Christmas tree farm. On Christmas Eve the whole family would gather at my grandparents' house for seven courses of seafood and presents. On Christmas itself, my granny would make a pot roast and spoil us silly with presents.
But with time, traditions have changed. My parents don't go crazy with decorating now that my sister and I have moved out and my roommates think I'm crazy for wanting to buy a real tree (which I expect them to help set up in our third floor walk-up). We still have Christmas Eve dinner with all that fish, but people have moved and there are fewer of us. My grandmother has cut back to a sensible amount of gifts but the pot roast is still amazing.
And despite these changes, I am still looking forward to the holidays as much as ever. My daily gingerbread soy lattes and never-ending lists of people to send cards to really seem to help.
Meanwhile, this year I find myself getting ready for the holidays at work as well. At CSN I am busy making sure that all of the holiday requests are in and that we're finding coverage for them. This coming Monday is the infamous "Cyber Monday," the e-commerce equivalent of Black Friday. At Second Time Around we had a post-Thanksgiving sale all weekend and we're encouraging people to stop in for gifts as well as fabulous outfits for holiday parties.
Oddly enough, I think that Twitter is the source of much of my early holiday cheer, both work-wise and personal-wise. Using Twitter to advertise holiday sales and seeing the holidays under trending topics is helping me realize that I am not the only nutcase out there who starts celebrating over a month early!
11.28.2009
Today I discovered...
Today I discovered Orkut, Google's social networking service. I've been looking through the profile options and setting it up. Honestly, I think that Google is trying to get a little too personal if you ask me. These questions went way beyond Facebook. Yes I have a strategically placed tattoo, but does anyone need to know about it? I'm not so sure.
On the upside, there are some features that I wish the more popular Facebook had. Right off the bat you can tell this is a Google product- intuitive, easy to use, clean layout, and the familiar chat interface. There is also quite a bit more detail on the work and education section. There are more opportunities to showcase oneself in a professional sense which improves the business networking feature. I'm going to keep playing around with this to see what my thoughts are the more I use it.
This week I also got a Google Wave account, still not sure how much I like it. Unlike their other products, I'm not finding it as intuitive... I'm a little confused about where and how to begin. It doesn't help that my friends who are using it right now aren't the people I would generally use this program with- we talk socially, not collaboratively. I'd really like more opportunity to use it in the way it is intended.
In actuality, it's been a very Google-ish week for me between a few friends suddenly discovering how great g-chat is and me being in one of my organizational moods and going a little crazy with the calendar... A few weeks ago, The Metro highlighted the company as they are expanding their facilities in nearby Cambridge. It's the top company to work for according to pretty much everyone, so with graduation soon, it's nice to know that they are now right next door.
Orkut Update:
I'm having trouble figuring out how to tag pictures which is really very frustrating, starting to think it's a bug with Safari perhaps. Otherwise, I'm starting to like it. Yes, some of the questions seem a bit "high school" and very TMI, but for the most part I actually like the interface a lot. Now I guess I'll just have to convince all of my friends to try it out too. From the 94 contacts in my address book using GMail, only one had an Orkut account and it looks like he used it once and then abandoned it. But hey, maybe everyone will catch on.
On the upside, there are some features that I wish the more popular Facebook had. Right off the bat you can tell this is a Google product- intuitive, easy to use, clean layout, and the familiar chat interface. There is also quite a bit more detail on the work and education section. There are more opportunities to showcase oneself in a professional sense which improves the business networking feature. I'm going to keep playing around with this to see what my thoughts are the more I use it.
This week I also got a Google Wave account, still not sure how much I like it. Unlike their other products, I'm not finding it as intuitive... I'm a little confused about where and how to begin. It doesn't help that my friends who are using it right now aren't the people I would generally use this program with- we talk socially, not collaboratively. I'd really like more opportunity to use it in the way it is intended.
In actuality, it's been a very Google-ish week for me between a few friends suddenly discovering how great g-chat is and me being in one of my organizational moods and going a little crazy with the calendar... A few weeks ago, The Metro highlighted the company as they are expanding their facilities in nearby Cambridge. It's the top company to work for according to pretty much everyone, so with graduation soon, it's nice to know that they are now right next door.
Orkut Update:
I'm having trouble figuring out how to tag pictures which is really very frustrating, starting to think it's a bug with Safari perhaps. Otherwise, I'm starting to like it. Yes, some of the questions seem a bit "high school" and very TMI, but for the most part I actually like the interface a lot. Now I guess I'll just have to convince all of my friends to try it out too. From the 94 contacts in my address book using GMail, only one had an Orkut account and it looks like he used it once and then abandoned it. But hey, maybe everyone will catch on.
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