Stop Tweeting. Start Engaging.

I don’t remember when I joined Twitter.  I don’t remember why, either.  I know my first account was @Nixie, which now enjoys a 1% Kred badge.  That lets me know that I was likely testing the network for a brand I was working with at the time.  If you Google my name (or my handle) I’m sure you will find abandoned profiles on MySpace, Bebo, and a host of other social networks.  You see, I was never comfortable recommending a brand join a social network until I knew how it worked and how we could succeed.  I know a lot of people who like the “jump on the bandwagon” approach to new technology, but since it was usually up to me to execute these ideas I wanted to know everything I could before offering it as part of my content strategy.

I fell in love with Twitter almost immediately.  It propelled me down the rabbit hole to learn about every form of social media that was available.  After a month I no longer cared if these networks could bring me unique visitors.  All I wanted was to be a part of them.

Why I Don’t Blog More Often

Two weeks ago I had the strangest phone call with an HR recruiter. I had applied for a Director of Social Media position and she was screening me before passing my resume on to the hiring manager. Fairly typical, except for the fact that she spent nearly 20 minutes scolding me about my resume. I didn’t necessarily agree with her, but I thanked her for her feedback and continued to answer her questions. That is until she let out a big sigh and said, “You don’t even have a blog!”

“Oh,” I thought, “I didn’t remember seeing in the job description that I needed a blog in order to apply.”

If you are reading this, then you can see I definitely have a blog. I also have 3 Twitter accounts, one of which is where you can read about how much my dog hates me. Do you think I include that information on my resume? Hell no! I try to put my most “professional” persona forward when applying for jobs, and I can’t think of anything more unprofessional that a blog from a “social media devotee” that hasn’t been updated in almost a year.

This Week’s Most Clicked Social Media Stories

I am a fan of scheduling posts via Twitter.  This does not mean that I’m not active on the site in real time, but I read a lot of articles.  Quickly.  What I found was that a lot of my friends and followers were overwhelmed at the frequency of links. First I used Hootsuite to schedule a link every hour, and then I moved over to Bufferapp.  In addition to the scheduling, both of these apps offer analytics about what links performed the best.  This week, my followers loved these links.  Hope you do too.

Women Dominate Digital

Great article from Beneath The Red Hood concerning the increasing dominance of women as users and consumers in the digital space.  Found these stats particularly interesting.

Social Media Is Not Your Journal

Dear Twitter,
Today I came in to work seriously late. I didn’t get the response I wanted on a project so I took a long lunch at the local bar where I had 3 DRINKS! OMFG I FEEL SO DRUNK RIGHT NOW AND I HAVE A MEETING TO ATTEND!

There’s so much wrong with that tweet, besides the fact that’s it’s over 140 characters. Lately I have noticed that my streams on Facebook and Twitter have been an invasion of TMI and deeply personal thoughts.  There are a number of individuals that I expect this from, but when you take to Twitter to announce your health status or what really happened during your day, you open yourself to significant damage.