A Definition of Social Media

If you can believe this,today I actually took a step I never wanted to take. I looked up the exact definition of Social Media.

I had one of those experiences where I was reading along, nodding in agreement and then suddenly I became glazed over. As if a car mechanic had suddenly lost me somewhere between the carburetor and the fuel pump and I’d never wanted to be shown in the first place.

I enjoyed what I read and I’m glad I took a look under the hood. But frankly I’m having more fun now that I’m beginning to form my own opinions, put into practice what I’m learning as I go along and separate the men from the boys when it comes to “the experts”

Actually I should say women from the boys as there are a huge number of women “rocking” social media that I’m enjoying learning from.

More to follow.

BlogTalkRadio Evens the Playing Field

I’ve had the most spectacular few months reconnecting with my sister. Our entire lives our relationship has been strained at best and horrifying at worst.

But for a few reasons I won’t disclose on this blog, we rediscovered each other a few months ago and she is now one of my all-time favorite people on the planet. What happened yesterday evolved out of thin air and was a miracle and a joyful surprise. My sister stopped by around 2pm to inform me that she wanted to do stand-up comedy again and would I write all her material for her. I said…uh..yeah…NO! But I reminded her how fun I thought it would be to do a radio show.

Of course neither of us could remember the brilliant concept I’d come up with a few weeks ago but with at least five minutes thought we came up with another one…the Self-Helpless Sisters. This is of course based on the many years we have spent indulging in self-help and both still being colossal screw-ups.

By the time the door hit her on the ass on the way out I’d regstered us for BlogTalkRadio, scheduled our first online radio show, designed our stupid logo, set up our twitter and blog and was hounding her for topics. And in true “fools rush in” fashion I scheduled our first show for the very same night. For once in my life, I will never regret that I did that. We had the most amazing time and I think we even had a few listeners.

Once again the web evens the playing field. Allowing me to blog and pretend I’m a big-time columnist, get coverage for my clients and pretend I’m a big-time publicist, and now have a radio show and pretend I’m Howard Stern. My love affair with all things online is growing.

Have a listen. Maiden Voyage show by The Self-Helpless Sisters on #BlogTalkRadio – http://t.co/u8t2hEv

In Search of the Elements of A Good Blog

It’s like having a TV remote with an infinite number of channels to surf. And the more time I spend online the more I realize I have to learn about blogging, social media etc. I’m a broadcast PR person. I’m used to 210 TV markets with finite number of TV stations in each market a handful of nationals and the cable outlets. This is taking me some time to navigate. I can use the various lists to find out what the “top” blogs are but what I really want to know is what it takes to become a “top” blog.

What are the elements of a really good blog. A successful blog. A popular blog. A profitable blog.

So I’ve been skimming hundreds of articles with the supposed key tips and tricks and I’m starting to get some clarity. Yeah yeah, lengths of posts and schedules of posts and layouts and SEO and multi-media and blah blah blah.

What I’ve realized is that just like a broadcast PR or really any other media endeavor, there are a variety of elements that will make a successful blog and the more elements you have in place the more successful your blog will be.

But here’s what I love about the internet. To have a successful blog you DON’T have to appeal to the masses. Anyone who has a message and the desire to communicate that message can have a successful blog. It is the ultimate leveling of the media playing field.

My research continues as does my analysis but I thought I’d bring you this newsflash.

If Anyone is interested…

To Anyone Who May Still Have Any Interest In Anything I Have to Say:

I recently “lost” my job and have given myself pause to re-evaluate. The problem is that in this rapidly changing world if you re-evaluate too long there is no question that you quickly
become irrelevant and take on the stench of loserdom.

That is what I fought much off today. However thanks to Statcounter I found that a couple of creepers keep revisiting my site – not to gain from my vast wisdom -but just to get a sneaky peak at what I’m up to.

Here you go whoever is interested. NOTHING!

Well not nothing. I’m spending time trying to devour as much information as I can about Social Media, Blogging, Online Marketing and then pushing it through the filter of what I already know about humans and their behavior. I’m then putting what I think I’ve learned into practice to see if it works. Very fun. Like teaching a dog tricks.

What’s stinky is that I hate to read fast and by the time I get one article read I feel like I’ve been directed to fifty more and I become more and more aware of how much I don’t know about what I don’t know. Makes me miss being a “go to” expert.

So while I get into the habit of blogging I hope that nobody’s paying much attention to what I write because I just don’t have the wherewithal to go back and reread it.

Mostly I’m trying to entertain the creepers and get something down on…well..screen really.

What is wrong with me?

Today my husband and I are going to a party we have been really looking forward to. We are looking forward to the people we will see there, to being outside and having fun. But the party started 15 minutes ago and we’re both still on our laptops!  Blogging, tweeting, tweaking…at least I think that’s what he’s doing.

This is my cry for help.

My public admission that I need to change (who am I kidding I just don’t feel like moving yet).  I can’t stand that I’m constantly late.  And besides the fact that it’s rude, I never really look nice because I do most of my “toileting” on the fly.  I once left the house to go to a wedding and had a melt-down in the car because the a/c adapter in the car wouldn’t run my hair straightener…oh yeah!  That’s right.

So here’s my makeover promise to myself.  After today, I am never doing this to myself again.  

I now have to do the “mad dash”.  Get up, take a shower and get out the door in what Fred is telling me is 11 minutes.  I will have to settle for the “curly do” again instead of the nice blow out I was planning and I will have to wear my old jeans instead of something lovely.  Who am I kidding? I don’t have something lovely to wear because I’m a compulsive “nopper” (nonshopper – see my self-revealing post on that).  I’ll slap on some makeup while driving of course and apply a layer of clear nail polish right before we walk in – which of course makes shaking hands awkward.  Seriously, it’s in writing now, I’m NEVER doing this to myself again!

A moment of pause…I’m also not sure if blogging is dangerous for me because I don’t take enough time to reread my posts.  I actually close my when I press “publish post.”  I have a vision of all of this coming back to haunt me if Fred decides to run for office one day (hahahhaheeehehehehehohohoho).  I guess this post will come second to my college shennanigans.

OK engines ready…and…she’s OFF!!!!

TV Girl Gone Google

I’m a TV girl from way back. Besides being a hairdresser the only thing I ever wanted to do was work in TV. I thought and still do think that it’s the coolest field in all of the
world. So I’ve worked in TV for most of my adult life. But now I’m falling in love with Blogging, Social Media, online marketing. I can’t get enough. The idea of creating web
influence is captivating me. Figuring out who has it – how they got it – how they use it and who wants it.

For those who have been at this for a while – you “early adopters” I’m sure it’s all very passe and I’m the equivalent of an out-of-towner with my fanny pack looking up at the Empire State Building with my mouth hanging open while my husband in his socks and sandals looks nervously around.

In fact we are both smitten. We don’t sleep. We race to figure things out online and we are having a more than slightly friendly rivalry. “How many hits did you get? Well how many of them were yours?”

I’m excited to be here. But don’t count out the old TV yet. She still gets the eyeballs you know. They’re just a little more glazed over these days.

The Enemy

The enemy of the good is not the bad. The enemy of the good is the best.