Social Media Content Marketing

Good news: you created a company page on Facebook for your new business! Bad news? The novelty is gone. Nobody cares anymore. No really. Well I certainly don't, and not  because I'm a cantankerous curmudgeon. It's because I know what will happen when I do. Liking one page means Facebook "thinks" you'd like similar pages, so it's algorithm bombards you with similar page suggestions. And the real reason we "Liked" most pages in the first place is "likely" out of guilt. Friends, exes, work associates, work friends who became exes -- oh who cares! Just click the button and help the person get free publicity and some mojo going. That's just my point: it doesn't help that either. Being social media savvy, I try to explain this to those in my life but it never ends well. (OK the cantankerous curmudgeon plays into it as well). The mistake companies make (be they large or small) is concentrate on sending the page to coworkers,...

I'd bet you can recite your parents home number as fast as your own cell number, but many don't know their spouse's or significant others cell number because it's programmed into their phone. There's no need to remember it, so we don't.   But we do recognize it. Do you answer your phone when you don't recognize the number? Most people don't - perhaps fearing it's an ex or something much worse: a telemarketer. But it might be the doctor's office, your kid's school, or another important caller? So it's not really that we don't recognize the number, it's we don't answer when we don't recognize the area code . I just changed my phone number to feel more part of my new community. OK it really had more to do with avoiding the increasing phone phobia. I was tired of hearing "Sorry. I didn't answer. I didn't recognize the area code. I didn't know it was you." We've reached an age where...

Everyone except writers hate writing. Correction : everyone - especially writers - hate writing. It's an arduous process. We often do it, well frankly, because often we can't find anything else we can do better. And are pleased with the end result. But no one, writer or otherwise, is ever pleased with a bio. Be it theirs or someone else's. Everyone's been there. You get the dreaded email from marketing or HR: "Can you write a few paragraphs about yourself?" Ugh. Great now you need to boil down an entire existence into three paragraphs (space permitting). You avoid it hoping the requester will forget but of course they don't. They pester (I mean politely remind you) so you spend hours on it. Hate it. Bring it home. Hate it more. Then finally you finish. And the results are always the same. "I've done nothing. The End." The reason process is so hard and the results so unrewarding is because most people go about bios the wro...

New England. Seattle. What a game that was! Yes I said was . No, this article wasn't posted a week early. It's in fact timed perfectly because it's not about the big game, it's about the social media game around scheduled events. Good luck getting your post noticed nonetheless your message received next Monday morning. The Web will be overflowing with Facebook posts, Tweets, Instagrams, blogs, and commentary on the successes, failures, bad calls, and great plays of Super Bowl 49 ( Sorry. English Major here. I don't do Roman Numerals ). But today, rather than my words getting lost in a sea of Monday morning social media mayhem, you're reading this Super Bowl themed article. I've got your attention and you'll listen to what I've got to offer. Touchdown, and the extra point is good. First rule in social media event strategy is say it first . You can run the risk of saying the wrong thing, but that can be avoided if you've got t...

Many people devoted some of this weekend to updating their resume and look for a new job. Back in prehistoric times, when resumés were printed on paper ( Admit it my fellow dinosaurs.You remember ), applying for jobs was a very different process. You'd check the local paper on Sunday, write targeted cover letters and address envelopes ( maybe on that typewriter thingy? ) carefully fold a copy of your resume, mail it out and hope for the best. And somehow it worked, and you got a call by Friday. But sometimes you didn't, despite the fact that you were perfect for the job. In pre-Internet days, I remember seeing two piles of resumés on my boss's desk. In the first pile were resumés of people who were referred word of mouth by coworkers, friends, and/or other departments. In the second pile were resumés collected from newspaper job postings all still in their unopened envelopes. Those resumés would be "kept on file" until the next ad was posted six months la...

Yes, I know she's "not like the others." Yes I know he's cute, kind, smart, and smiles like he can read your mind. But... There's often no better way to find a compatible match than at the office as a recent study has shown . You get to see how they work, deal with stress, and interact with others. You've chosen the same career path so you have built-in commonalities. And they're sitting right across the cubicle from you so how's that for a short commute? It's how Barrack met Michelle. How Ashton met Mila. How I met the mother of my daughter. So I can't knock it. But... You need to think about this one. Really think. Because an office romance is a risk to your career. (Notice I said it is and not can be ?) But like any great risk, in can bring great rewards so you just need to be smart about how you go about it. Mistake 1: Working together and not "working together" One of my first corporate jobs was for a l...

If your career path has taken extreme detours, will an accurate and honest LinkedIn profile actually hurt your career instead of help it? As much as people like those "3 Reasons Why.." and "The Top 10 Ways..." articles, this is not one of them. This is about only one topic. One message in fact that I received from an old friend the other day regarding LinkedIn. He reads my articles and posed what I thought was a rather interesting challenge: "You seem to have this whole LinkedIn thing figured out," he said. "But I don't. In fact, I think being on LinkedIn is actually hurting my career -- not helping it. I'm actually planning on deleting my account. I'm going to call you tomorrow and want to see if you can convince me otherwise." Challenge accepted. I see articles every week on LinkedIn about improving or enhancing your profile, to generate leads, to increase your network, to get hired, to avoid getting fired, but t...

New Year's Resolutions are most often pledges to rid our lives from nasty or unhealthy habits. A resolution is made when we choose to resolve a situation. As I started to make my list, I realized that the word "resolve" is re-solve and "resolution" is a re-solution. In other words, another try or a different solution. I like that better. It feels more like a step in the right direction rather than a self punishment or prevention. It's a new way to approach an old problem. I think in business we tend to spend too much time looking for new solutions, rather than rethinking the ones we have. Our vision gets clouded due to time constraints or pressures to perform. Many of the answers are already there in place and just need tweaking. (That's tweaking not twerking ). Sure we have budgets, and schedules, and marketing plans. But what about business resolutions? Where are they? Maybe we need to pledge to ourselves and our employees to take...

All ready for the holiday party: Ugly sweater? Check. Christmas tree tie with flashing lights? Check. Inappropriate behavior? Check. Wait. What? All one needs to do is watch an episode of MADMEN to learn how what we once thought was acceptable business practice is now at best horrifying, and at worst punishable by law. The business world has gotten wiser, more evolved, more sensitive but some believe the political correctness has it gone too far. Legal and its liabilities removed the libations. HR re-dubbed Christmas into Holiday. And the CFO changed the venue from cocktails at The Ritz to cocktail franks and Ritz crackers. It's often been my job to plan them, and I think most of the changes have been good for the Holiday Party (that is, if you're still lucky enough to have one). Ho, Ho, Hold on there a minute. Just because the Holiday Party is not what it used to be, people still need to check themselves before they wreck themselves . In 2014, inappropriate...

For retail businesses, now starts the biggest time of the year. In fact, many retail chains report doing about 90% of their sales from now through the New Year. But for the rest of us, the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving is pretty much the last day of the year any business will get done. Break out the bubbly, the year is as good as over. Though many like to deny it to the board, employee productivity drops significantly during this time. It's not just the Holidays to blame. Depleted budgets, holiday parties, "use it or lose it" vacations, associated family events, school closings, not to mention the flu season being in full bloom all add to making December the most infuriating month for upper management. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is for most of us who despite the temptation to slough off, procrastinate, and avoid, do the opposite during this time. We work harder in fact to meet those end of year deadlines. We have the reports ready,...

I've been thinking about an article on the importance of spontaneity or perhaps indecisiveness? I'll write it when I have more time, maybe. Instead, I'll point the mic towards business. I've had a lot of contracted consulting assignments over my career, but the ones in 2014 win a unique award. I am deeming 2014 "The Year of the Wishy Washy Business. The one thing these companies had in common was they all were in a rush to avoid a decision. I received urgent calls from referrals, past business associates, all in a different fields who "needed help ASAP." Sometimes it was me calling them. Sometimes it was the CEO or the CMO. But every time they claimed the monies were allocated in the budget. Everyone assured me they had to sign off and blessing from management, and everyone needed me to start "yesterday." But 9 times at 10 the deal fell through - not because of time or money or even won by another, but because of internal ...

I know you're busy... Maybe you're one of the "lucky" ones who got to keep their job after the recession hit and now get the "privilege" of also doing the work of the three others in your department who are no longer there? Or maybe you're the new hire getting paid peanuts - no I mean actual peanuts and other snacks that corporate has replaced in lieu of monetary rewards. Or maybe like me you do all things marketing because, well, no one else will do it? Regardless, not being able to see over the piles of files on your desk is not just cause for sharing, forwarding, liking, and tweeting, articles, emails, blogs, tweets, and posts that you haven't actually read. Everyone has a Top Sharing Offender in their lives. A friend, parent, acquaintance, or boss who needs to attend Repost Anonymous meetings ASAP.  But most of us are guilty of the occasional unaware share. I just did it today when I forwarded an article to my Harry Potter fanatic kid. Som...

"Tattoo? What Tattoo?"Regardless of whether you like them or not, does a visible tattoo influence your opinion of the person wearing it? Sure it does. It's why we wear a suit, shine our shoe and/or spend extra time on our hair for a job interview. Our appearance in the workplace says a lot. And tattoos can say much more. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, the percentage of U.S. adults age 26-40 who have at least one tattoo is 40%.  How people react to tattoos depends upon many different factors.  Your generation, your cultural background or religion, your views on self-expression - all of which has nothing to do with the subject matter of the tattoo, where on the body it's placed, and whose body it's on. But in business, there are a slew more of questions often going undiscussed as it's a slippery slope.  First, it depends on the visibility. Business people have had tattoos long before their recent po...

When did hand shakes and pats on the back get replaced by tight, long, two armed, bear hugs? A phenomenon happened in the past 20 years or so where now full on embraces have become quite customary in the most casual settings and public spaces. World leaders do it at summits. World Series winners do it preceded by a run and jump. Actors do it after each performance. So yes, it's more than okay when men hug. But to me, the platonic embrace seems like it's being overused and more from as a calculated tactic than a genuine display of emotion. Odder still to me is the opposite sex, platonic hug. Now, when I walk into my local Japanese restaurant or sports bar I am greeted by a long warm embrace by the hostess and/or waitress. Believe me, this divorced middle-aged man is not complaining. And there are no ulterior motives implied by these women, as I may tip well, but I don't tip with Lamborghinis. But in the single evening I can go from meeting the new bartender to...

Forget net neutrality, there's a bigger war taking place online today. It's the battle between search engine optimization (SEO) versus search engine marketing (SEM) to get to the top of the search engine result pages (SERP). And the most shocking thing about it is most business leaders don't realize that the two practices are working against each other. Wait a second? Did he just say SEO and SEM compete against each other? Yep. Most companies erroneously use the terms interchangeably which is at the crux of the problem. So let's first start with an explanation of terms. SEO is a practice of tailoring or "optimizing" the contents of your websites, landing pages, pdfs, videos, and social media posts so that your brand (product, service, company, or client) comes up at the top (or close to it) when someone performs a search. While SEM is the practice of bidding on placement of your brand in the designated marketing areas of a search engine and/or their part...