Why I’m Not a Mommy Blogger

19 May

mommy bloggersI love mommy bloggers. As a new mom, their helpful posts are a go-to resource next to Dr. Google and my pediatrician Uncle. But as a new mom and a blogger, I’m often asked why I’m not blogging about my kid or about Mommy-hood. The reason? That spurred this blog post.

Reason #1: My blog already has a focus.

If I refocus this blog to be about my life as a mother, I’ll lose part of the audience that’s interested in my original content. A blog is set up with a certain topic or theme and your audience expects that. So whatever your topic, stick to it. Veering off will make the blog disjointed and could result in losing some of your readers.

Reason #2: It’s a saturated market.

There are 3.9 million mommy blogs. When choosing a blog topic, consider what’s already out there. In this case, there are plenty of mommy blogs, so why add to the noise? It’s harder to break through, find a unique point of view and become influencial in the space. Instead, find another topic of interest that hasn’t been tapped into yet and focus on that niche.

Reason #3: Write about what you know.

Since my college English courses I learned something that I’d keep with me forever: write about what you know. Creating content is so much easier when you don’t have to try so hard to be an expert. I know about my life experiences and how the media and communications world plays a role. But mommy-hood after a year? I think I need a bit more time.

For businesses, consider how these reasons could impact your blog. Are you focused on one theme, is it a niche topic and are you an expert in it?

I did mention that I love mommy blogs so I have to share my current favorite, Reasons my Son is Crying.

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How to Document Moments with Instagram

5 May

Yesterday was my son’s first birthday party. In March, I experienced SXSW for the first time. And later this month, I’m going camping. No matter if the event is personal or professional, I use Instagram to document it. Here are some examples and takeaways for making it work for you, whether you’ve got your brand or your birthday on your mind.

A major family milestone. The photo was taken by my friend, Jessica Blaha, while my son ate cake on his firth birthday. After she shared it, I shared it too. You can use apps like PicFrame to make collage-style images.

Instagram

A Company Conference. One of my favorite parts of the Salesforce Customer Company Tour in San Francisco was seeing my coworker, Jeff Cohen, speaking with Ron Vinson, Director of Media of the City and County of San Francisco. They talked social media and I snapped this picture for Instagram. I also live blogged, using this image in the post.
Instagram

Vacation. Traveling to Vegas with my family was a blast and we found this vintage horse-racing game. I mentioned my brother in the Instagram post since he’s a huge fan of games like these. It made for great conversation online and off.

Instagram

A Business Trip. Attending SXSW was amazing and one of the great finds was the Samsung Blogger Lounge, where I could charge up, talk to other bloggers and watch short interviews with celebs like Shaq. I included “#bloggerlounge,” “@shaq” and “#sxsw” to make the photo more sharable.

Instagram

Instagram Takeaways

Here are some ways to effectively use Instagram no matter where you are in your career or life.

  • Make your photos sharable. Connect your Instagram account with Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to spread it to other channels as well. Use hashtags and mention other users in your posts. It starts conversation, adds to sharing and makes for a more social experience.
  • Be creative. There are many ways to get creative with your photo after you’ve snapped it. Try the Instagram filters, collage apps, and photo editing apps such as Laminar,
  • Have a mix of work and personal photos. Your Instagram profile is a window into your world. It displays all your recent photos and your followers can get a sense of who you are. By mixing work pictures and personal ones, you’re giving a well-rounded view of yourself. Plus, oftentimes your followers are a blend of friends and colleagues. This mix will appeal to everyone.
  • Get to know the culture. There is an Instagram culture where hashtags like #dogsofinstagram and #nofilter rule and your Instagram filter choice says more about you than you think. As you use the platform, you’ll get a sense of who to follow and how to use it, but be open and aware of the Instagram trends. It will help you gain followers, make your photos more sharable and create conversation.

How do you use Instagram? Share your thoughts here and I’ll add them to the takeaways.

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How to Get Good Advice with Social Media

6 Apr

Social Media AdviceWhile social media enables you to connect across the globe on any and all topics, it also causes you to weed through more junk than ever before. It takes time to find the real, valuable conversations. As a new mom, I’m constantly consulting friends and family online and offline for ideas and advice. But I also seeks help on social media. Here’s how I meander through the social web to get the best content and what I avoid completely.

What to Use for Good Advice:

Tweets. Social-savvy brands and individuals will respond to your questions, so Tweet at them directly.

Forums. There are forums for anything and everything. And if your question isn’t there, you can join as a member and ask!

Messaging. Whether it’s an old friend on Facebook or a new connection on LinkedIn, reach out to them directly for questions and advice using messaging.

Videos. No matter how specific your topic, there’s a video on how to do to it. And if you can’t find it, make it!

Blogs. There are plenty of self-proclaimed experts blogging on topics that interest you. Comment on their blog if you have questions.

What to Avoid:

RSS. By signing up for RSS feeds of your favorite blogs and sites, you’ll get a constant stream of content directly related to your topic of interest. While Google Reader is going away, Feedly does a good job at this too. However, it’s a lot of content and getting a specific question answered will require a digging.

Facebook Pages. These are great for brands to share information and engage with fans, but you may not break through if you ask questions here, since there’s a lot of conversation happening.

Twitter Feeds. Depending on how many users you follow, your Twitter stream can become unmanageable. Contacting the users directly, as mentioned earlier, is the best way to seek information and advice.

Forums. These are a double-edge sword. On one hand, you can search the info you need, but on the other, it’s not always a place for top-notch advice. Ensure the advice you’re getting is legit and consult multiple sources before you move forward. That goes for any social platform.

What other tactics do you use to get the information you need on social media? And what do you purposely avoid?

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SXSW 2013: The People, Places and Experiences in Pictures

18 Mar SXSW

I can guarantee that SXSW is like no other conference you’ll ever experience. In a few days, you’ll establish connections, experiences and lessons you never thought possible; all painted against the eclectic backdrop of Austin, Texas. And there’s no amount of social media or Internet that can explain the vibe of walking down music-laden 6th Street or moving through a sea of convention center-goers. It’s tough to explain in words, even.

So here is my experience in pictures. And while it doesn’t cover everything (I missed the picture of Superman on a pedicab and the replica Mutt Cutts truck from Dumb and Dumber), it gives you a good sense of what recently went down in Austin, TX.

Sessions were packed. I enjoyed being in rooms with like-minded, excited attendees as we took notes on our various devices. Plus, networking between sessions was a no brainer.

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Ballroom G at the Austin Convention Center. Here we listened to Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association

Seeing the salesforce.com Cloud Lounge in person made all the prep time worth it. The spot stood out and was a great meeting ground throughout the show.

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salesforce.com Cloud Lounge on 5th and Brazos

One of my favorite spots was the Samsung Blogger Lounge at the Austin Convention Center. Between sessions I could plug in, meet other bloggers and watch great interviews. Here are a few of them.

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Watching Hannah Hart from My Drunk Kitchen at the Samsung Blogger Lounge

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The cast from Burning Love at the Samsung Blogger Lounge

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The one and only Shaq at the Samsung Blogger Lounge (he bench pressed the woman to the left)

In addition to the sessions, lounges and people, there’s technology. Some of the latest startups reside at SXSW letting anyone try out the tech. Here I experienced Leap Motion, a gesture-based controller that lets you interact with your computer in a whole new way (goodbye mouse).

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Experiencing Leap Motion

Back to sessions. I opted for many marketing and social media-focused topics, such as one from author Jason Lankow on infographics. And after feverishly Tweeting throughout the session, Jason Lankow and I took the conversation online shortly afterward.

SXSW

I also tried some non-marketing sessions to relax the brain of work-related topics and learn new things. I opted for a session on science and comedy, where the concept of humor was broken down into a Ven Diagram.

Ven Diagram of the science of comedy

Ven Diagram of the science of comedy

Food is another reason why I’m so glad SXSW is housed in Austin. You can’t experience the conference without some street meat and back-of-the-bar burgers. And yes, it is all amazing.

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My coworker, Jeff Cohen, picking up our burgers at the back of Casino el Camino, a bar on 6th Street

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My friend, Dan Weingrod and I shared BBQ fusion-covered fries from the Chi’lantro food truck in downtown Austin

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Known as one of the best BBQ joints in Texas, Dan Weingrod, Joe Ciarello and I had to try The Salt Lick (it was amazing)

While conferences are busy and time-consuming, I always try to make time for other things. My coworker, Jeff Cohen and I had a…weird experience.

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A trip to Museum of the Weird

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Only in Austin can I get caught in a giant King Kong (at Museum of the Weird)

SXSW is all about the people. I deepened relationships with those I see often, met the folks I only knew online and created new relationships with many amazing, talented marketers.

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Hanging out at the Samsung Blogger Lounge with Joselin Mane, author and organizer of Boston Tweetup.

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After years of Tweeting, I finally met Jason Konopinski at the salesforce.com Cloud Lounge

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Me and my coworker Ben Pruden (far left) having fun at the photo booth at the Cloud Lounge

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Me and Jason Boies (left) reuniting with our Twitter buddy, Eric Tung (right)

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Me and coworker, Jeff Cohen

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Our content team including Jason Boies (left) and Andrew Gothelf (right)

SXSWNo matter how much online and social media marketing and networking you do, be sure to get out there and experience some real life, in person events. Conferences like SXSW are invaluable. So get your cowboy boots on, pack those business cards and get out there. And have some fun. That helps too.

For more pics, check out my Instagram.

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SXSW Ideas for First Timers

2 Mar

SXSW Austin TXThis time next week I’ll be in the barbeque-eating, music-loving city of Austin, TX for the annual interactive conference, SXSWi. It’s my first time and I’ve followed the conversation since 2004, when I first learned about it from a fellow coworker at HUGE. This year is my turn to join and even lead the SXSW conversation and if you’re experiencing the conference for the first time like me, here are some approaches I’m taking starting now.

Reach Out to Your Community

Let your social media connections know that you’ll be at SXSW weeks before you head out. This can be specific @mentions on Twitter, a broad status update on Facebook, even pictures of your badge on Instagram. Use your social channels for sharing this information. This is an exciting opportunity to meet your online connections in real life, which can deepen relationships, enable you to meet their friends and put your mind at ease knowing there are friends at the conference waiting for you to say hello.

Sign Up for Sessions and Parties

SXSW is all about the sessions and parties. It’s a huge networking opportunity, educational playground and content-creation experience. To get into these events, you should register ahead of time or many of them won’t be available. Luckily, there are plenty of platforms for finding and signing up for these events including these websites and free apps:

Know How to Spend Your Time

There are tons of sessions and many happening at the exact same time. How do you pick the best sessions and parties to make the most of your short time in Austin? While I haven’t figured that out yet, I can tell you that based on the advice of SXSW veterans and my love for content marketing, it’s all about content and networking. What sessions can result in great content for you and even the company you work for? Content can be blog posts, Instagram pictures, Vine videos or even ebooks and webinars. What parties can you go to that will enable you to meet the people you admire on Twitter? Be goal-oriented and you’ll choose the best path.

What other advice and ideas can you share for me? Have you attended SXSW and used some of these ideas? Let’s start the conversation before we step foot in Austin.

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When A Big Storm Hits, Create Content

10 Feb
Instagram of Winter Storm Nemo

The view of my back deck.

Connecticut residents have been faced with hurricanes, floods, freak snow storms and now blizzards. Blizzard Charlotte (or Winter Storm Nemo) has once again claimed the power, lives, even bread and milk of those of us in the Nutmeg State. But this series of unfortunate events has not stopped us from creating great content with social media. And if there’s a silver lining to any cloud or any rainbow after a thunderstorm, I’d say content delivers just that. Here are some examples.

Helpful Updates/Tips

My First Selectman, Gregg Schuster and local weather meteorologist, Gil Simmons, are my go-to resource for Facebook and Twitter updates around the latest storms. They’re localizing content down to the street level making it easy for me and fellow residents to know the latest information. It encourages sharing, community and kind words. Plus it’s frequent, easy to access and accurate.

Local Storm Updates on Facebook

Photos

With three feet of snow, walking to a neighbor’s house isn’t even an option. So when you’re snowed in or without power, your cell phone and social media are the eye to the outside world. Photos make up one third of all content shared on social media according to Media Bistro. There’s no better storm aftermath source.

Instagram of my snowy dog

Video

Perhaps the recent storm was the perfect storm for up-and-coming Vine, the six-second looping video platform from Twitter. It was my go-to tool to showcase the waist-high snow in video format. But I wasn’t alone. My Vine stream was filled with great video snippets of the snowy aftermath.

Vine Video during Winter Storm

Consider how some of these content resources can be utilized for businesses as well. Provide helpful tips around the storm or discounted offerings targeted to the people that need it most. Always use the medium your audience prefers. If they’re getting their storm updates on Facebook, Twitter or other social platforms, you better be there.

What other ways have you seen content created and shared on social media during big storms? Share your ideas here, whether you have three feet of snow or not.

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Key Answers to Questions About Community Managers

27 Jan
The Tweet that started it all.

The Tweet that started it all.

I loved being a Community Manager and with tomorrow (1/28) being Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD), I had to write about my experience in this career-changing, business-critical role. But oftentimes when I shared my title or talked about my role, my friends, family, etc. didn’t understand it. What is a Community Manager? Why is it important? Hence the birth of this blog post.

What is a Community Manager?

A Community Manager spearheads the creation and growth of an online community for a brand. The community can include customers, prospects, employees, influencers, competitors, and more. These community members live on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, blogs, forums, etc. and they’re talking about brands, industries and/or competition…for better or worse.

What is a Community and how can Community Managers help?

By using social media listening tools, brands will discover the conversations mentioned above and with community managers, brands can foster and grow the relationships of these online voices. Benefits include:

  • Turn detractors (those who comment negatively about you) into advocates
  • Deepen relationships with customers to keep them coming back
  • Turn prospects into customers
  • Drive web traffic
  • Put a human voice/face on your brand
  • Ensure someone is monitoring and responding to your social channels (i.e. your Facebook page, Twitter handle, etc.) around the clock
  • Create content such as blog posts, ebooks, and webinars

How did I become a Community Manager?

I was hired as a Community Manager by Radian6 (now Salesforce Marketing Cloud) back in 2011. Prior to that, I worked in agencies as an account executive. I was also a writer and blogger in my spare time. This prior agency experience lent itself perfectly to the Community Manager role. In fact, if you work in a service-provider role in the communications or marketing industry, you are one step closer to becoming a community manager. In addition, my writing skills were ideal for blogging and creating content for the brand. This content kept community members coming back for more and gave a reason to Tweet and share.  Here are some Community Manager traits:

  • Strong communication skills
  • Organization, i.e. ability to manage multiple conversations/people at once
  • Strong writing skills to create content
  • Deep understanding of all social networks
  • Event planning
  • Understand the brand and its products/services to represent it well
  • Be energetic, outgoing and responsive

How do I learn more about Community Management?

To learn more about Community Managers, check out this post by Jeremiah Owyang. It may be an older post, but it still rings true. I also printed this infographic and framed it on my office wall. Here are some ongoing resources I use:

I may not be a Community Manager anymore (now Manager of Content for Salesforce Marketing Cloud), but I still support and love this role. So, cheers to Community Manager Appreciation Day. Make sure to send a note to your fellow Community Managers. They’ll appreciate it! In the spirit of that, here’s a shout out to a few of my favorite Community Managers:

Community Manager Appreciation Day was created by Jeremiah Owyang in 2010. The  goal is to thank community managers via Tweets, blog posts, and in-person meet ups,  for their hard work creating, building and growing their brands’ social media community.

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