Giggities

Views of an Abnormal Social Media World from an Abnormal Mind

[hosmersean]

Guide Fish

Fishermen drive me somewhat batty. Fly-fishermen are the strangest of beasts. In the soul of most hunters of fish there is a torment that rages in the sublime space that separates ego and humility. This battle will make the best of men lie while espousing with a pious leer about how every fisherman lies except themselves.

Tape measures and smart phones have become the truth serum of the 21st century for anglers. The phrase; “Did you tape it?” can make the most expert (according to himself) angler stop mid-sentence. When this sentence is paired with; “How about a picture?”in the same conversation will often cause a kyrptonic effect that can wilt the teller of the most ardent story. Time and again I have reveled in dropping these phrases like A-Bombs.

Unfortunately the biggest, blatant fibbers are guides. Shocker! Not really. I have worked with many different guides from Alaska to Chile over the years and I might know five who tell the truth about their clients catch. My favorite personal anecdote about a guide’s “bigger fish for a bigger tip” mentality happened while I was working in Alaska. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

The lodge where I worked prided itself on getting the clients out on the local water with in an hour or so of their arrival. This was a great custom that really got everyone revved up, particularly the new clients. On this one particular day the van rolled in with a bunch that looked like they just finished a L.L. Bean photo shoot. They stumbled out into the Alaskan sun from the van with one new client clutching a rod tube with the price tag still dangling from it. I knew that he would be mine for the afternoon. Oh, lucky me!

Bill was an optometrist from lower Manhattan. He was large, 260 pounds or so, with horned rimmed glasses and an endless monologue of fishing stories. He had insisted on using a 5 wt. rod which was too little of rod for most of our anglers, but he had assured me he had caught lots of 20 plus inch fish. I guessed correctly that it might have only been one.

Onto the beach we roared, him bailing out of the front of the sled like we were storming the beaches of Normandy. As was typical for those who didn’t follow instructions, he caught his foot on the boat’s gunnel and fell face first into six inches of water. Yes, I did laugh and I also called him a dumbass.

I was always blatantly honest and in control of my guests when I guided which is a must in place like Alaska where lurking behind every rock is something that will bite you, stab you, or sting you. That is why me telling Bill the way it is from the beginning garnered his respect. Luckily for him, it was a warm day and the water didn’t find its way inside his waders. After a little embarrassed laugh from Bill and a large one from myself, I tied on the fly. I call it the fly because it was the only one I used most of the time. My friends from those days can attest to my stubborn streak about using the same fly for everyone.

Anyway, Bill managed a cast while still jabbering away in my ear from above. He was a good 8 inches taller than me, his droning tone was leaving me zombie-fied. He was lucky enough to hook a trout on his very first cast, not that this is unusual in Alaska. Bill’s little 5 wt bent almost tip to tail. The wimpy reel screamed as the line turned into backing as the spool turned at such a rate that I swear I saw little wisps of smoke rise as he tried to palm the toy-like reel. Several times I jerked his hand away just as he was about to slap his palm onto the spinning metal. He leered sideways at me and told me his personal guide in Montana told him how to palm a reel. I lit a smoke, took a drag and told him he wasn’t in Montana. Silence ensued for a couple of minutes while he pondered the asshole standing next to him.

The trout was pretty average by Alaska standards. It was exactly 21 and 3/4 inches long (you will understand why I remember in a moment). Nice fish anywhere. To me it was another day wearing rubber, nothing I hadn’t seen a kazillion times before. However; to the Alaska newbie their first Alaska Rainbow is often times the largest fish they have ever seen on the end of their line. Bill was no different. I am pretty sure he peed himself a bit when I grabbed his leader and corralled his fish.

I am glad he wasn’t a bear or I would be dead at this moment. He charged me like a hungry boar in the spring time, grabbing the fish as he knelt beside me, his girth knocking me into the water. Saving myself from going over with a very soaked left arm, I smiled and let him have his moment. Bill’s camera strap was dropped over my head as I was still trying to right myself. Hurriedly, I got up and told him how to pose. The next words were priceless.

“How long is it? 27, maybe 28 inches?” he almost said with tears. Unfortunately; Bill had drawn the wrong guide. Mr. Reality was about to pay a visit to Bill within minutes of him landing his first trout in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

“Bill;” I tried to say gently, but didn’t have the ability to. “Bill it is about 21 and 1/2 inches long.” I left out the “only” in front of the 21 and 1/2 because it was his first trout at the lodge.

“No way!”; he almost yelled. “This is the biggest fish I ever caught. It is at least 6 inches bigger than any trout I have caught in Montana and I have caught 22 inch rainbows on the Madison. My guide told me so!” He was deflating faster than the Hindenberg did that fateful day in New Jersey.

“Bill;” I was really trying to be gentle now. “I am a pretty good judge and I am probably within a half and inch.”

“There is no way!” he said with a tone that was a tad condescending. I don’t like condescending.

“I will bet you a paycheck that the fish is within half and inch of what I say it is;” I took a drag on my Camel for effect.

“Ok! deal! I am holding you to it!” he was cashing my check in is mind as I pulled the tape from my wader pocket in the most dramatic fashion possible.

There are certain moments in a person’s life that they will always remember. He probably has slow-motion dreams of me bending down with my ten cent sewing tape. I felt him cringe while my left hand held the metal tab even with the nose of the fish as my right hand pulled the vinyl tape straight and tight. This vision probably replays in his cerebrum on cold winter nights over and over after a bad day of shifting lens in front of cranky old ladies’ eyes. I looked up and smiled, what I saw was a grin and a nod.

The fish was measured just under 21 and 3/4 of an inch. Bill had me take a picture of him holding the tape on his fish. He was emailing the photo his guide that night he told me. I told him to wait a day or two when he could send him a picture of a bigger fish with this one. He did, multiple times and requested me for the rest of the week.

[hosmersean]

Memories...Manliness..and Giggities is Changing

September is here. The kids went back to school this week. Football season is turning half of America into idiots, including myself. There is a omnipresent feeling of impending Autumn lingering in the late afternoon shadows. Hunting and fishing pull to the outdoorsman like the star over Bethlehem. Seasonal manliness is now the routine for the next few months.

My roots are grounded in the mountains of Eastern Oregon. A rural oasis that once was a thriving lumber and cattle economy. That time has long since disappeared largely due to the U.S Forest Service becoming an environ for preservationist extremists, but that is for another time. Now my homeland has lost population and all hope for those Gen Xers who would love nothing more than to go back to the community that holds the fond memories of their youth. The adage that; "There is no going home;" rings true for all of us who left there so long ago.

I am fortunate that I get to make the pilgrimage back home a few times to hunt and fish with my aging father. The valley has changed along with the names of the farmers, teachers, and loggers that we once lived amongst. The host of "No Trespassing" signs grows every year. Farms that were held by old friends have be sold off to people who have no ties to our family or traditions. Every year I lose another swamp or swathe of timber that I was able to roam through as a kid with a simple knock on the door.

This Fall will be no different than the last 25 for myself. I will head east with my brother two or three times to meet our father. There will be deer and elk hunting. There will be some waterfowl hunting and maybe even some steelhead fishing on one of those typically frozen November mornings that make one question his or her sanity. But the changes in a place I thought would never change will be more evident, sadly enough, then ever.

Memories do fade but the emotion associated with memory becomes stronger as the details blur in the haze of hanging wood smoke. I have now forgotten more things about slogging through the swamps of the valley then I remember. Dad and I argue about what happened when and who shot or caught what and how. These wispy vapors of memory are like the steam floating over a warm water swamp in January. They dance in the sunrise like a phoenix rising towards the top of the mountains as they dissipate into the blue to rise again the following morning. I fear someday that there will be no place for Dad and me to stand in the frozen morning with the call of ducks overhead and the white light of the sun through the swampy haze.

I have decided to change Giggities...It is now going to be about whatever I want it to be as I transition my life towards new experiences and changing goals. Expect posts on a lot of different subjects and topics. I value everyone who reads Giggities and I thank-you for the support.

[hosmersean]

Ice Bucket Challenge Shows the Gray Area of Social Media Marketing

The Ice Bucket Challenge results are what every social media marketer dreams of when their heads hit the pillow at night. Virality, a ginormously successful call to action, and engagement make this the perfect case study of why SMM campaigns work and why traction for media campaigns is so difficult to attain. Implementing the lessons that have been learned from this simplistic campaign shows the infinite abyss into which the SMMer stands on the edge of with quivering legs as he or she stares into the darkness.

Getting users to actually respond to a call for action is the Holy Grail of SMM. People don't want to feel manipulated but they do want to feel like they are a part of something special or exclusive(jargon insertion-ENGAGEMENT!). Evolution has created the most savvy web consumers that marketers have ever faced. The days of the 5% click through rate are gone forever and I surmise that eventually this model will disappear completely in lieu of a system that is simpler and more easy to comprehend for the average CEO. This is what this transparent and silly charitable campaign has demonstrated.

This wild success shows the power of SMM that has yet to be tapped by the guys who are smarter than myself, the ones with the Stanford or Wofford bona fides. Just look at the numerous product SMM campaigns on the web right now that are the predecessor to the IBC that the IBC copied. The difference is that the IBC ventures into a gray area that advertisers, marketers, and businesses almost as a whole have been totally ineffectual at broaching. Why?

The best answer for the IBC's triumph where most fail is simplicity of purpose and participation is readily comprehended by everyone from ages 2 to 100. That is a fairly significant demographic. Here are the components that have made the campaign roll.

Competition among friends. Not gamification (writer gags on term), but the inherent social bonding of trying to out-do ones peer group. Not a group so large or unknown that the person has no connection to. I predict this concept will be seen as an integral part of many SMM campaigns in the future.

Exponential participation. I am sure at the beginning there were many who thought the videos were cute. There was no way they were going to make some challenge themselves, but as participation increased the outliers felt the need to be a part of the campaign. Look at how many people say they were at some event, such as the Super Bowl, even though they were home on the couch. This psychology eventually reaches a point where there is an exponential participation rate.

Morality of the cause. There is not one person in the world that can say ALS shouldn't be cured. Yes, this is my third reason for this wildly successful campaign because I believe at least 30% of the people making the challenge still have no idea what ALS is.

The perception that there is no consumer(participant) manipulation. There is no sense of data collection or an overt "Buy Now" button.

Using the term "Donation" has a much different connotation than "Buy" but the reality is that the participants are purchasing a sense of belonging, moral purpose, and positive personal image. All things that product marketers strive to focus on for a target market or demographic.

Branding or selling via social media has to reach into the gray area that the Ice Bucket Challenge has conquered. Finding simplistic, inclusive methods to drive engagement and conversion are the lessons to be learned here. These elements are over-thought and over-analyzed by those trying to solve the equation of the SMM gray area.

[hosmersean]

I am Back.....So What?

Where have I been one might ask? The one word would describe where I have been is lost. I was lost in the abyss of old school business principles that made me question my own integrity and motivations. The world that I dabbled in made me appreciate from where I had come.

Five years of working in small start-ups had given me insight into the future of where business and innovation are headed. Being valued for skills that old business models see more superfluous than beneficial drove me to help those companies succeed. In turn; I felt pride in being a member of those companies. There was vision and excitement that made every day a special occasion. Unfortunately I forgot, as do many in the start-up world, how great my job was.

After the last company I worked for failed, I needed a job. Things weren't looking good, so I took a job that I should have never thought about accepting. Not that the job itself was difficult, I could perform the duties quite easily. The negatives were in the culture of the company and it's management.

The company was grounded in processes developed 25 years ago. Technology was untrusted and underutilized putting stress on the entire group of employees. Management was more a dictatorship than guidance  for team oriented problem solving that fosters teamwork and ownership. Competition between the employees was seen as a positive by the ownership. The only reinforcement was negative. In essence; I had taken a job for Willie Loman's company that drove him to despair.

Today I quit. I didn't go in. I sent an e-mail explaining my resignation. Of course management didn't check their emails in the morning (technology ignored once again), so I received a phone call and they called even my significant-other's work. The later being unacceptable and unprofessional. I am sure that I am being talked about and made fun of around the office and to the clients with whom I dealt. But then again why does one think I left that old school environment anyway?

[hosmersean]

A Facebook Question That Had A Real Answer…That No Marketer Wanted To Hear

Last week a friend of mine who specializes in e-mail marketing posed this question: “Email marketing??? What do you think about emails that come you which are geared to make you buy or ask about a product? I’m in an email marketing meeting.” The responses were broad and exceptionally insightful. This was most likely due to him asking this on his Facebook page.

The most important piece of information that I got from the 30+ answers was those who aren’t in the inbound marketing business loathe e-mail marketing- even if they had to signup to receive the marketing piece. Those who are in the profession had nothing but shining adjectives to pour out on the social media platform about how successful they have been with their campaigns. Some of the posters even tried to sell their CRM platform via this little forum. Granted, this microcosm isn’t scientific but it illustrates the conundrum of digital marketing on the web.

Several business people that I know that aren’t in digital advertising have questioned me on the validity of the metrics that they are shown by marketers trying to woo their ad dollars. One marketer that tried to get the business of the last company I worked for made baseless claims of his company’s effectiveness with a slick slide presentation with data that was entirely devoid of value. The presentation was loaded with acronyms and numbers that weren’t even applicable to the marketing of our product. When pressed, the salesman got somewhat indignant and tried to tell us that we didn’t understand his numbers and concepts. The unfortunate outcome of most of these presentations is a sale for marketing that will have no value for the buyer.

That was my perspective from the answers from that one simple Facebook post. Marketing, mainly digital marketing, benefits the marketers’ bank accounts much more than the sales of the products they have branded and marketed in many situations. Evaluation of goals is always difficult in the online world, but the easiest KPI is under the last line of the balance sheet.

[hosmersean]

Starting Up!!! (and not failing)

Start-ups fail. They just do. That is the nuts-and-bolts of the environment. Reducing the the reasons that your start-up might fail should be the first discussion that you and your partners should have right after you sign on the dotted line of your business formation paperwork. Identifying why your company might fail may save money, friendships, and wasted time. Here are some primary reasons that the start-ups I have been involved with have failed.

Concept was Great, but No One Really Wanted the Product

If your market research is based on the statement; “That’s cool!” you might want to re-think your strategic planning. The amount of retirement funds wasted on Junior’s brilliant idea are probably enough to save Social Security. Basing a business on what you think is a great product is like predicting the weather by looking out the window. Get real numbers for demographics, market size, and get the opinion of an expert. There are many examples of a great concept brought to market without there being shown a need or interest by the consumer. Beta or VHS?

Funding, Funding, Funding….

Bootstrapping is awesome! It makes good sense to run lean. However; even the start-up being ran out of the parent’s garage needs capital. Funding doesn’t mean a second mortgage or selling your baseball card collection. It means putting together a complete and concise business plan that will convince someone with more business savvy and money(DUH!) than yourself to invest in your dream. The dream is the frosting but you need to remember that the cake underneath holds it up.

Marketing and Sales Let You Play Mad Scientist Hipster

Remember that no sales means no money and no money means no dream business with an ice cream sundae bar in the breakroom. Plan for marketing and sales before you have a prototype of your whatchamacallit. Investors want to see a sales and marketing plan with goals and a budget. Employees need to see the “suits” with a plan that shows results, one with forethought and strategy. Companies that struggle with marketing and branding vision are the ones that had none in the beginning.

Execution Saves You From Dying

It is trite to say that as a business you need to execute. Execution separates the successful from the guys hanging-out in coffee shops with their laptops and skinny jeans. The need to make a plan and set time oriented goals for all facets of a start-up are paramount down to the molecular level. The company will eventually flounder in mediocrity if R and D, sales, marketing, strategic planning and even operations fail to execute in a timely and successful fashion. This implosion develops into infighting and mumbled accusations which I have seen in what should have been succeeding businesses.

Buying In!

I have worked in a place where the owner hasn’t believe in HIS business. Waffling should have been his last name. There has to be a solid, positive popular front from the founders and management. This isn’t for the employees, but for everyone outside in the investor and consumer world. The general public and investors are quick to pick up on the inner workings of companies with the advent of social media and real-time journalism. If there is the least bit of suspect behavior by the founders and the management team,the outside world will here about it. This is a certainty. So stay engaged and work harder than your best employee. No trips to Pamplona to run with the bulls or flying to China to find the best Moo Shu.

Don’t Count On Any Cash Until It Is In The Bank

Investors are fickle. Consumers and users are even more fickle. Combining the three and counting on money from them brings nothing but stress and joyless holidays. If you get a contract it means nothing until there is a deposit. A V.C. changes his mind mid-signing of the check. Never believe the V.C. is coming in on the deal until the check clears. So save every dollar you can from the beginning. Often times the first little bit of cash infusion in a start-up is seen by the founders, managers, and employees as a winning lottery ticket. I have been there. It is far from it. The money goes fast if not used to generate more capital. Remember: There is no such thing as a company having too much money!

Finally!

Don’t think you are the coolest, smartest, or most handsome person in the room. You aren’t. People will tell you what you want to hear, from investors to employees. Believe in only what is real and you can prove is real. This means research, sweat, and a lot of hard work. Don’t let the lows define your company or product. These are the three things that I have seen destroy visionary companies and it ends glumly like a funeral in the rain.

[hosmersean]

Build It and They Will Come - This Doesn't Work for Social Media Marketing

Lately I have thinking about the "build it and they will come" philosophy of product development. I have been directly involved with a start-up that was conceived on this idea - and it failed miserably. The postmortem of failed companies usually reveals one or two major factors that were overlooked or  understated. Failed social media marketing for a company usually mirrors the same reasons that the company or product they were attempting to market was unsuccessful.

Reasons for SMM Campaigns Failing

"Build it and they will come!" This is my personal demon in SMM(Social Media Marketing). There has to be research and planning months in advance of product release.

SMM campaigns that are knee jerk and thrown together.

Branding and message are ill-conceived and have to be continually changed, this never lets SMM create a congruent message.

SMM ability to drive sales and engagement is misunderstood by company execs.

People think they know more about SMM than they actually do. i.e. "My son says this is what we should do because he made a video that got 2,000 followers."

The expectation of immediate results

There are many more but these are the ones that I have experienced most recently.

[hosmersean]

My Personal Social Media and Content Marketing Rules

Tell the truth

If you don't like what it says don't publish or post it

Pick who you follow carefully

Engagement with your audience should be done quickly and pleasantly

Not everyone is going to like you

Content is your resume for the next job

Quality content drives engagement

There is always something to learn

Read things other than marketing material

Be happy! it shows in your work

Automation is a tool that helps manage SMM..it is not SMM

Make friends! They can bail you out in a pinch

Enjoy your job, not everyone can do it!

[hosmersean]

Social Media Marketing Sounds Easy but....

People continually ask me what I do to earn my keep. When I say that I am in social media marketing and content marketing, there are usually two responses. Either a blank stare or ;"My nephew is big into Facebook, he has 10,000 friends," rattles into my head next. Non-sequiturs like this face many of us everyday. This lack of understanding of what good SMM and CM is and what it takes to be good at delivering in a highly competitive environment is the windmill I joust daily-even with my significant other.

Most people think of SMM as a place where sponsored ads and random posts about services or products deliver value to the advertiser. Users of social media as a whole are more aware of the requirements placed up a doctor than the skills it takes to successfully plan and execute a compelling social media marketing campaign or content marketing idea. To most, these posts, blogs, or videos magically appear on their screens. Anyone with a keyboard could do the job. In a sense they are or I should say; "were" correct.

A few years previously, anyone could create enough of a web presence to drive customers to their site or business. A "Like" was perceived as the statement; "I have been there or used this and so should you!" The number of followers was the driving metric to judge whether a SMM campaign was successful. Then the bean counters got involved. Accountants had no idea about SM or CM, but they do know if money spent affects the bottom line. Guess what they found? Yup, the ROI was abysmal for most SMM campaigns.

The fundamental philosophical flaw was with the perception of simplicity. Social media and content marketing providers perpetuated, and to some extent still do, this devaluation of their field. I am not saying I could put a man on Mars, but I do know it takes skill and patience to be achieve benchmarks that most companies desire. With the accountants involved, decision makers suddenly demanded statistical analysis for their SMM campaigns. They didn't care about all the mumbo jumbo like time on sight or hot zones on the UI or even"Likes" all of a sudden. They wanted a ROI that warranted further investments in time and money.

The nephew with 10,000 followers was no longer the SMM guru. That is what the smart companies figured out. Social media was no longer seen as free but as a method to truly engage consumers - for a minimal cost if it is done properly.

[hosmersean]

Social Media Tools - Too Much Noise?

Social media marketing is becoming more and more automated with tools that schedule, post, and email users. Even marketer-user engagement is becoming robotized to the point that even savvy users have a difficult time knowing whether they are interacting with a human or not. Automation for many elements of social media and content driven marketing campaigns help cut costs, but there is a fine line between using automated media tools properly and over using them.

CRMs were the template for the first SMM tools. Hootsuite and Buffer are two of my favorite tools when used properly. There seems to be a pervasive "if a little is good, then more is better" mentality with the use of these social media organizational tools lately. Endless scheduled posts and re-posts from a myriad of people and companies on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social sites are making engagement more difficult and frustrating for the consumers that marketers are trying to reach. I have not even mentioned Email marketing tools that draw from user databases and scripts to formulate communications that try to gain the user's attention in ever growing noise of SMM.

I am sensing daily, that social media marketers are searching for a one size fits all formula to use with all products and businesses. The truth is there is no Holy Grail of SMM. In this quest to maximize exposure and minimize costs there has been a fundamental shift to automation and the philosophy of "quantity over quality"; or as I call it "Social spam".

Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn are becoming inundated with scheduled posts that beg for engagement. If the poster is engaged with by the user, often times there is an automated reply or no reply at all. This is an "us" problem because the users are becoming more sophisticated. They want to interact with a person, have a connection, and feel valued by the by the company that they have taken time to engage. If the user doesn't get a satisfying result then they are much less likely to engage with other posters or companies. This causes a negative snowball effect for all social media marketers.

Try limiting your scheduled social media posts to 4 times a day. Then check your media accounts at least every two hours if you can. I check mine every hour because I want to interact with people as quickly as possible to maintain their interest. I know this isn't possible for a lot of social media people, but the value in prompt engagement is amazing.

Email messages should be sent either early in the morning or overnight. The subject line should have a short message and the email itself should be no more than four sentences with the call to action in the first sentence. Weekly emails are discontinued far more regularly than weekly and bi-weekly email marketing messages.

Determine which users are engaging(clicking links, reposting, etc.) the most and try to engage them personally. The most engaged users tend to be huge social media influencers. If your smm campaign is based on automated everything then your campaign is losing out on many opportunities that make SMM a dynamic marketing channel.

Using social media and email marketing tools make our lives as social media marketers easier. They free us up to find or create better and more dynamic content that encourages engagement. But if SMM continues to go in the direction that it is going the noise will blast out the message.

[hosmersean]

Social Media Marketing and Fun

Social media marketing and fun should go hand-in-hand. Entertainment is the main reason that the environ has grown so quickly in such a short time. When MySpace and then Facebook emerged into the realm of tech savvy teens and twenty-somethings as a means to communicate hopes and fears and insecurities there is no one who could have guessed the far reaching marketing impact. Why did everyone join these built-to-order marketing platforms? Simply: Fun.

It is fun to connect with friends. Exchanging MEMEs and GIFs across the ether is fun. Waiting for the comment, the interaction is fun. Re-posting a YouTube video of a talking cat is fun but your friends re-actions are more fun. This is the realm of social media. Time wasting entertaining space that frees your brain from the world for a few seconds is the main draw of  social media.

[hosmersean]

The Big List of Dumb Social Media Marketing Mistakes I Have Made

Ok! Saturday is my no-brain day and I can't think of a word to write. So here is a list of some of the dumbest things I have done in the social media marketing world. This list is in no order of importance because there is no such thing as dumber than dumb!!

Keep a list of people who you engaged with from SM. They remember you, you should remember them.

No Snarkiness! If you are going to be snarky do it in a DM or E-mail after you have a good repoire with the person.

Read your guest bloggers' pieces before posting. I have gotten a couple that I had to nix because of content that I didn't want my product associated with (an F bomb that I didn't catch, for example). Also editing still might need to be done.

Check your links that you use in a post!!

Attribution is never good to forget.

Followed someone because HE says HE is an authority.

Check back links...Duh!

Check what is posted at least once a day to your social media accounts by users( I have been burned enough that I do it five times a day).

Do topical searches with key words that have negative connotations. It is good for engagement with trolls and you can do preemptive damage control if need be.

Don't rely on automation for everything.

Don't overreact to analytics the second day you look at the data.

Content marketing shouldn't sound like an infomercial

What can you add? Have a great day!!!!!

[hosmersean]

The Tone of Your Voice

Writing for people is so much different than writing for yourself. Ideally, I would like to hang-out and write fiction in my slippers. If I were to do that I would be writing in my slippers on a street corner. My concession is writing content about things that I know and subjects I enjoy. This in turn allows me to live a portion of my dream, which is more than most people can say.

When I began writing and posting on various SM sites I was a complete novice. If someone were to look back at my early projects they would assume that Multiple Personality Disorder runs in my family. There was no singular voice, no defined style that readers could recognize. I was flailing around miserably.

I was saved by someone who had made a comment on a Tweet that I had posted. He said something like this; "Great insight..Find your voice and stick with it. You are scattered." This person is respected in the SM world and a great writer. I read his stuff to this day, even if I don't think I care about the subject (I am usually glad I did!).  His comment changed how I viewed my writing immediately.

It took me awhile, but I finally settled on a style that I felt fit my personality. Ideas were flying out of my fingertips. Blog posts, SM posts, comments on articles - thousands of words rolled from my brain onto the screen. Still there was no traction or reader engagement, even the trolls wouldn't tell me that I sucked and should go die. That has since changed, for better or worse, because my brother told me my voice wasn't the problem. It was my tone.

My tone shifted with my moods I found after doing a short analysis of some of my stuff. Things that I wrote when the sun was shining and there were blue birds lighting on my shoulder were upbeat. Then there were the days that the coffee drive-through made my cappuccino extra wet, not extra dry. On those days I sounded like a condescending S.O.B. or a New York food critic. Both of those are not good if your goal is to build a following for a product or company.

My first few tries in setting a tone that readers would value, respect, and ultimately follow were tough. I started small-Tweets and FB posts. I didn't write more than three sentences in a row for a couple of weeks. Each post was edited and re-written until it had a positive tone to go along with my "new" voice.

I gained more followers on my SM accounts in a week and a half than I had gained in the previous three months. My first blog post received multiple comments that weren't wishing my mother ill will. The hill had been climbed.

[hosmersean]

What If Everyone Looked Alike?

I am a twin, a very identical twin. My brother and I have lived and worked together for along time in the same town. He is the technical wiz and I lean towards the esoteric realm of SMM and GH. We have been seen together at our office or out in the alley espousing views on business and the various elements that affect our business. Most of the time we have the same views but every once in awhile they differ. Yet, our friends and colleagues still have a hard time telling us apart after years of hearing us say differing things. The problem is that we look alike.

That is how I view the move by SM sites towards UI/UX changes that make them all begin to look alike. Confusion is bound to occur as the major players move towards changes that seem to make it harder for the user to identify with them independently. This lack of differentiation will cause SM sites to lose their branding identity that they have poured so much time and money into.

Twitter is the latest to experiment with profile redesign for the user. Surely the next step will be a total site re-design A/B test. Hopefully the brainiacs (they truly are) will realize their product is a trend setter not a follower. Twitter exists because of the specific branding, message, and simplicity of the UI/UX that everyone has grown accustomed. Their UX/UI should not be viewed in the vacuum of perceived stagnation, but in the entire biosphere of the SM world. Alienating users that identify Twitter with its interface and page layouts by changing them, particularly by mimicking other sites will cause confusion.

There is only so much that can be done by SM sites to preserve brand differentiation. Inherently they are all very similar. This makes maintaining site identity all the more important. User loyalty is aligned with the SM site identity much the same way Coke and Pepsi have their loyal consumers. This is why it is important not to look like the rest of the competitors in the space.

[hosmersean]

What It Takes

Full disclosure about myself. I am relatively new to the world of SMM(social media marketing) and GH(growth hacking). My perspective is from six intense years of living with the ebbs and flows of algorithms that at one point made me envision being retired by now. Instead, I have become addicted to learning new ideas and theories about marketing in the internet biosphere with relation to social media and growth hacking.

SEO/SEM were the initial battlegrounds that I stomped onto with the naivete that only a true novice could foster. I did a little of this and some of that and waited for the money to come spilling in - and it did. That ended in an invasion into the space that my company had carved a niche in by Google. Overnight the algorithms changed, search terms quadrupled in cost, and penalties were assessed by interns somewhere in California that had no idea of how to interpret our traffic or data. We died slowly on the vine from market and competition forces out of our control.

After that I rolled, by serendipity, into a Content Manager role for a small tech start-up. Unfortunately a great idea was hamstrung from the beginning by poor leadership on the business development side. There was no marketing plan and anything to build community within the SM world was wrought by hand wringing and indecisiveness. Branding and message were an afterthought, as was any sort of execution. Suddenly I was thrust into the "we need it now" and "why isn't it happening faster" worlds. These two phrases show how misunderstood SMM and GH are by those still entrenched in old school branding and marketing mores. The company was doomed to failure before the product even launched.

This time was the most exciting, frustrating, and beneficial of my life. It steered me towards a cohesive development for my love or marketing and branding. Drawing from my other corporate experiences in the craft brewing sector, recreation hospitality, and even my student days working in the university library, I fashioned a belief system that is fluid in its components but solid in its whole when it comes to SMM and GH.

How I See Things

Everyone has valid contributions within a company when it comes to SMM & GH

Branding and message can't be done on a cocktail napkin

There are many great products that died because no one every learned of their existence

Fiefdoms and hubris crush SMM and GH strategies before they can even be implemented

Planning is the most important element of SMM and GH

It is easy to become fixated on micro-data sets that obscure the bigger issues.

Identify with your target customer(Do they actually want your product? Why?)

Get good data that can be verified - demographics and analytics are the basis of most good decisions, they support all good "gut" feelings.

Be in the right place at the right time - no what ifs!!

Time is the enemy! Start your campaigns and build community well before launch.

There are many people out there who know far more than I do when it comes to SMM and GH. Their successes are well known, but they have all failed too. In this evolving marketplace, there are going to be failures. Minimizing the damage and learning from the failures makes the SMM and GH people what they are: innovators, evangelists, risk takers, and neurotic.

[hosmersean]

The Trees are Falling

Freezing rain has struck where I live!

The ice is thick and heavy. Cracking sounds from around the neighborhood echo in my living room as more limbs and trees fall. Winter has come fiercely again. The beauty of the previous days' snowfall has turned treacherously on all of us who loved watching the snow waft in fluttering waves to the ground. It is the story of winter.

Winter is the time of planning and reflection for the coming year. Towards the dour end of the season most of us start wanting for the warmth of the spring sun and the aural sensation of rebirth that is still months away. Trapped in circular pattern of hopes and dreams for the coming year I bask in the hope for what is to come. This year I have decided that hope will be defined by action. More trips with the family and learning skills that make myself even more valuable - to name just a few things that I want to change.

Action is a meaty word that brings blood to a boil, makes hearts beat, and minds churn endlessly. But action should truly be the culmination of planning because action without planning wastes time and energy. These two finite things are all each one of us really has in our possession.

Look at the average video game. The tasks are  usually timed and the need to maintain and gather energy for your playing avatar is paramount. So it goes for all of us. The timer started at birth. Energy can be food, intellectual growth, and physical endeavors. Coupled, these two factors should influence everything we do because there is only so much we have of either one.

Planning is the efficient use of time and energy at the minimal cost of both. With this simple concept business and personal lives can be maximized. Time and energy are the two things that when the proper amount of each is devoted to a project or life that has been planned out make either or both succeed.

[hosmersean]

Infographics...Ugh!

I am an observer. Watching, assimilating and interpreting are three things that I enjoy and pride myself on. Wading through the overwhelming amount of information that is released by the millisecond from the multitudes of sources(most of which I ignore because of their irrelevance or sheer ignorance) is daunting. Making decisions based on factual data is becoming more difficult. The latest trends to make data presentation more visual are turning the dispersal of information into a collection of Dr. Seuss books.

There are definite times for graphic information displays. Emphasizing the key data point of a presentation or article is the best use of charts, graphs, and the all to frequently used inforgraphic. However graphical representations of data are taking over the internet and boardrooms of the world. Interpretation of visual data tools, unless designed carefully, can be difficult; if not confusing.

My personal belief is that when developing content there should be one graphic to support the writer's thesis if one is used. After that, data interpretation should be in the Queen's English-old fashioned sentences. If the information is conveyed in a confusing mishmash of nonsensical representations of users, products, or whatever, the person who is interested in information grows tired and frustrated. Within seconds he has moved on to either another article or another data source.

Lately I have been looking at inforgraphics. The designs of most are well thought out and eye-catching. However; there times when they go on forever down the page with garbled print and cute images that confuse more than they educate. This is the fallacy of a lot of new popular tools - overuse. I love the simple infographic that has one message, a message that is easily supported with simplicity. That is what the infographic is for in my estimation. Simply put, if your infographic has tons of text than why not just put it in print?