Stuck on Start
Once I took a 3-day class to learn how to sell encyclopedias. We learned tactics, territories, and human nature. We were encouraged to make a plan before actually knocking on any doors.
Right before we “graduated”, our instructor told us to not overdo the planning. We should devise a reasonable strategy and then get out there and sell. He told us of a former student who wanted a perfect plan but was never able to get past this stage. After one whole year of preparing he finally “retired” without ever having knocked on a single customer’s door or selling a single book.
I’m having a “getting started” problem with Social Media. I want to understand everything before I make choices or incorporate new features but that isn’t proving to be practical. I probably pick up 3-4 new, major ideas every day from my reading. Yet, I’m lucky if I can find the time to explore and understand 1 or 2 of these each week.
I need to increase my available time and decrease the quantity of information that bombards me. Getting more time is hard. I need to stop volunteering and learn to say NO! Getting less information is easier. I don’t have to read about Mashable’s newest 39 things every single day, subscribe to every online newspaper, or wade through so many postings from so many people every day – especially those I barely know.
I’m going to attempt to finish my overall plan tomorrow and get started!
This is the fifth in a series from guest blogger, Judy Szewczyk. She will be exploring a variety of social media platforms, what they are and how to use them. Follow her at clearlyderby.blogspot.com.
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Confessions of a Technology POW
Have we reached technology saturation?
Last year I had to pick out a new TV, a new phone, a new laptop, a new car, and a bunch of smaller stuff. There were so many options and new concepts. It was frustrating. And as I use these new toys, I know I’m only using about 10% of their features. I don’t have time to fully figure them out.
Also last year, for a project, I had to learn the basics of Social Media: facebook, blogging, video editing, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, yada, yada, yada. All this in order to get into the mainstream.
The human mind has limits.
Some people give up and check out of the whole technology dream. Sadly they are going to become marginalized because they won’t know what’s going on around them.
Others seem to thrive on the pace and proliferation of technology but they will become creatures who have a tremendous breadth but little depth.
Some, like myself, are desperately trying to keep up because we love what we see but we are definitely POWs. We may be doomed to eternal catch-up mode.
Together I’m hoping we can demystify the Social Media side of all this and find a way to keep our heads above water. I just needed to step back a moment and vent. There – I feel better!
This is the fourth in a series from guest blogger, Judy Szewczyk. She will be exploring a variety of social media platforms, what they are and how to use them. Follow her at clearlyderby.blogspot.com.
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What’s the Plan?
We were thinking about some basic tools last time but they won’t be of much use unless we have a good plan.
I don’t want to reinvent any wheels here so I’m going with a tried and true plan. I’ll call it the “Hands On Plan” or “HOP”. So what’s a HOP? Very simple: you make a list of things you want to get done, put them in order of importance, and start on the first one. Whenever you get stumped you do research and ask questions. HOWEVER, you need to learn from each task, and keep track of how you solved it. I tend to write things down in a notebook as I go and then I make notes and save links in OneNote.
My first task (Task 1) is to spiff up another blog I author, Clearly Derby. I’ve been asked to share Clearly Derby on the New Haven Register in their Community Media Lab. I checked out some of the other blogs in there and mine is quite plain in comparison. I’m not going for over-the-top elaborate but I need some improvement.
The Clearly Derby blog tracks my progress with the development of a Facebook page of the same name. I’ve spent so much time developing the page content that I’ve neglected the blog. For sub-task 1A, I want to include a tab on my Clearly Derby Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ClearlyDerby) that links to my blog.
Next time I’ll tell you how I did it!
This is the third in a series from guest blogger, Judy Szewczyk. She will be exploring a variety of social media platforms, what they are and how to use them. Follow her at clearlyderby.blogspot.com.
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Social Meddling
Ha. This morning my husband asked me if I was going out or if I was going to work on my Social Meddling! So funny, and he may have a point.
I’m wondering if I have everything I’ll need for the Social Media Quest. Let’s see …
I have something to keep me organized. I use MS OneNote 2010 to keep track of everything. I have lists like you wouldn’t believe, links, pictures, and stuff I’ve clipped from the Web. I have appointments, contacts, and all that too. You have to have something to keep track of your new discoveries and your bright ideas - even if it’s just a plain notebook and a pen.
I have tools that I’m relatively comfortable with. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 for pics, MS Word & Excel for everything, and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 for videos. All good enough so far. I should take some time to learn how to use the Adobe apps better though. It will save me time in the long run.
I have a browser that works well with my MS Windows 7 – I use Google Chrome and I love it!
I have an iPhone 3g and I’m getting a new one, 4s or better, shortly.
I have a computer that is in decent shape. You can’t do a serious quest with a slow, virus infested, full of junk computer that is still running an ancient o/s. Get a real computer!
For next time – the plan!
This is the second in a series from guest blogger, Judy Szewczyk. She will be exploring a variety of social media platforms, what they are and how to use them.
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Off We Go
I love Social Media (SM). I love the concept and the opportunities. I love the energy and creativity that largely define it. I can’t wait to jump on in the morning and plug in.
I’m probably a typical SM user but there are lots of types.
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Clueless: They don’t like SM and they have no interest in learning it.
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Newbie: Just getting their feet wet. They like what they are seeing but are a little overwhelmed.
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User: They can get around pretty good but are only using a few of the most popular elements.
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Pro: They know quite a lot, enough to do some consulting or work in the industry.
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Guru: They know everything. My definition of a guru is if you have to ask – you aren’t a guru.
Right now I would put myself in the lower end of the User category, but I want to be a Pro. I’m determined to be at the higher end of the Pro category by the end of 2012. But, holy cow, there are so many platforms, apps, widgets, websites, blogs, newsletters, and so forth! I’ve heard say that learning SM is not a sprint or a marathon but a journey. I say, it’s a quest! You can’t dawdle or be meek - or by the time you reach the next step in your journey, the destination has already changed! Look how fast Pinterest came on the scene, for example. Was that on your road map?
With this blog I want to fuel my quest and keep myself going. I’ll share my discoveries, shortcuts, and mistakes as I go. If you want to come along, suit up!
This is the first in a series from guest blogger, Judy Szewczyk. She will be exploring a variety of social media platforms, what they are and how to use them. Questions? Items you want to learn about first? Please submit a comment or contact us at info@alwaysvisiblesigns.com.
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The demise of newspapers and print publications in the United States has been greatly exaggerated. While the number of newspaper subscribers continue to decline, paid newspaper circulation in the United States is 116 million for daily papers and 134 million on Sundays. Those are difficult numbers to ignore. And, those numbers don't even count the extra readers that might pick up and read that same paper. In addition, according to National Advertising Association (NAA) research, the vast majority of people--96 percent--still read newspapers in print, rather than online.
Reasons to Use Newspaper AdvertisingPolitical newspaper ads offer some distinct advantages for political campaigns.
1.
Demographics. In 2009, 62 percent of Americans over 65 reported that they read the previous day's paper as well as 54 percent of those ages 55-64 and 46 percent of those ages 45-54. Political newspaper ads give you access to nearly half of the population.
2.
Affordability. When you look at newspaper advertising on a per reader basis, it becomes much more affordable than other forms of advertising, such as direct mail or television advertising. In addition, with political newspaper ads, you have more time and space to make the case for your candidate.
3.
Stickiness. To use an Internet term, stickiness refers to how much time a reader spends on a particular site. According to the
NAA, the average online newspaper reader spends less than two minutes reading the entire paper each day. That compares to around 25 minutes for print readers. Political newspaper ads give you more time with each reader to get your message across than television or Internet ads.
Newspaper Advertising with Always Visible SignsIf you'd like to pursue placing
political newspaper ads for your candidate, Always Visible Signs can help you create and place affordable and effective ads to voice your message. We can also help you build a powerful marketing campaign. One print ad is rarely effective, no matter how well-written. Let us show you how to integrate political newspaper ads with social media marketing, direct mail and other marketing tools to make sure that your candidate is heard.
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Like many of you, I have a number of Google Alerts set to keep track of what's being said about my clients around the internet. In addition, using Google Alerts can be a great way to keep track of when pages of a website are indexed by Google! When a new page goes live, with the keywords you set when you established the alert, you will receive an alert that those keywords appeared. By the web address listed, you can track when different pages of your site have actually been indexed by Google.
It's a nice extra tracking feature that can help you interpret your analytics and other activity.
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Always Visible Signs (tm) is a patent pending way to advertise at retail. You can run promotions without having to change packaging, allowing much more flexibility to customize per area, cut lead times and not have to worry about stale packaging on shelf.
Please watch to see for yourself!
Please contact us for a quote at 203-701-0990 or lynne@alwaysvisiblesigns.com.
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For those involved in political campaigns, September through November is your busiest time. Getting lawn signs ordered, lapel stickers, walking literature and palm cards, billboards, direct mail and newspaper ads - all of this has to be done while working on your Positive ID campaign (from door to door knocking and making phone calls), firming up your platform and talking points, organizing volunteers and preparing for your Get Out The Vote effort.
Staying organized is the key to an effect campaign. And part of that is having people behind the scenes whom free up time so that the candidate can be the candidate. If the candidate has to assemble their own lawn signs, or deal with the printer about their walking literature and direct mail - they are wasting valuable time better spent meeting voters.
So have an organized campaign manager. BUT, make sure that campaign manager is someone who delegates. The biggest problem (and I've seen it happen) is when a campaign manager tries to hoard information or claims 'they will do it,' whatever "it" is. Bad idea.
An effective campaign requires a lot of people, and a committment to having people whom excel at certain tasks being entrusted with doing what they do around that area. For example, I will work on the graphic design and direct mail programs, as I do this on a daily basis for other clients. One person on our team is really into lawn sign locations and has successfully been in charge of this aspect of the campaign effort for years.
Having designated people is key for the flow of information and accountability. The campaign manager should, absolutely, be kept abrest of every piece. They can advise you, usually after some experience of seeing how volunteers follow through on their committments, how much detail they want.
But the campaign manager should quickly traffic ideas and opportunities to trusted parties who will put the idea into action and take ownership from start to finish to evaluation to future recommendation.
Like war and taxes, elections are forever. Identifying peoples' strengths and interests and giving them work in those areas will improve the efforts and the Election Night result.
Contact me at info@alwaysvisiblesigns.com to learn about working with AVS on you political campaign or call 203-701-0990.
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If you watch South Park, you appreciate the necessity of reading the Ts&Cs (especially for iTunes...all 40 PAGES!). Everyone should read the Ts&Cs, especially for social networking and social media sites.
For example, I recently received an invitation to Talent.me. On the surface, it looks fine. But that key language I do NOT want to see is right there:
License and warrant your submissions: You do not have to submit anything to us, but if you choose to submit something (including any User generated content, ideas, concepts, techniques and data), you must grant, and you actually grant by concluding this Agreement, a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, unlimited, assignable, sublicenseable, fully paid up and royalty free right to us to copy, prepare derivative works of, improve, distribute, publish, remove, retain, add, and use and commercialize, in any way now known or in the future discovered, anything that you submit to us, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or to any third parties.
Now, they probably have a decent app. And certainly other sites I've joined have, if they didn't originally, changed their Terms & Conditions to incorporate aspects of this.
Hopefully, this company, along with others which include similar language, are just CYA-ing. From having worked on a Personal Branding service/ website, we researched this issue extensively and sought to avoid claiming ownership and/or via derivitive works.
Still, be careful out there folks. And READ!
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