Category: Social Media and the Web

Social media presents huge opportunities to engage with all your stakeholders: customers, owners, and the larger community.

Food for Thought: Anil Dash’s “The Year I Didn’t Retweet Men”

Carl Setzer
Twitter's Megaphone

I’d forgotten about Anil’s post to Medium a “little ways back”, so I was able to look with fresh eyes.

“The Year I Didn’t Retweet Men”

I really appreciate his efforts to amplify responsibly. And have tried, over the years, to take the same idea to heart. I may not have Anil’s reach, but I have a significant online following. Significant enough that I feel a certain responsibility to use my platform justly.

I like how his efforts changed:

  1. the nature of his online interactions
  2. the flavor of his feed
  3. and how it changed his perceptions about the world
  4. made his experience on Twitter happier

Though not a fan of the whole “resolution” thing, and since it’s August, seems kinda silly anyway, I like the idea of making purposeful decisions.

I intend to be much more thoughtful about what I share. I have tried to avoid the meme-du-jour, and things everyone else is doing. I also have avoided any hate-retweeting. Our world has enough rage, including the things that drive me towards rage. I have been trying to focus on the positive, yet avoiding a Pollyannaish approach. Positive and effective efforts, change, thoughts: that’s what I try to amplify.

So, doubling down on this. Thanks, Anil, for the reminder and motivation.

Thinking about my place in the blogosphere

Carl Setzer

I’ve been exploring my work as a blogger. Remarkably unfocused, but I’ve had s lot of fun. For several years I was the blogger in residence for a real estate team. Otherwise, it’s been about fun.

Lately I’m hearing from folks who’ve managed to make their living blogging or vlogging. And that’s a vision that compels me.

I love writing my blogs. But my scattered interests have resulted in seceral poorly attended to projects and cluttered sites.

I know I need focus. Need refinement. So, that’s my work right now. Which elements to i want as my focus. Not sure it needs to be anything I’ve spent time with before. Poetry, though, has resonatined and performed well. My Seattle blog does reasonably well, too. Neither is really at a point regarding page views to help me even cover the expenses of the site, though. I’ve also written about business, real estate and technology. So many possibilities….

So, I’m building a business plan, figuring out my focus and will then launch my new initiative. It’s time for me to take blogging more seriously, and to the next level…whatever that means.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Please leave me a comment below!

Seattle Big Blog Meetup Reunion And Such

Carl Setzer

Several years ago Monica Guzman, then with the Seattle PI’s Big Blog, started hosting Big Blog meet ups. I stumbled upon one my posts from one, pinged the folks in the picture, and the discussion shifted to having a re-union.

So, we’ve launched the discussion. Part of the purpose for this post is to have the discussion in a single space, and not fill up our Twitter feeds.

Anyway, please comment below with ideas, suggestions, interests. Also, check back often. I’ll update this as it progresses.

Fan Engagement: Zoe Keating

Carl Setzer

I’ve been a fan of Zoe Keating for years. Besides enjoying her music greatly, I’ve also been very interested in the way she interacts with her fans. She’s used today’s social media landscape exceptionally well to build her brand, and a career as a musician within a very unique niche.

Her main tools for engagement are:

What’s a bit more surprising to me are the tools she doesn’t use. Her YouTube channel is pretty spare, and not recently updated. Considering how much I’ve heard about video being “the” thing, looks like she’s experimented with it and has moved along. Now, if you search for her music there, you’ll find tons of videos, but that’s mostly uploads from fans, interviews and such. Also, her music has been uploaded to Vimeo, but, again, not by her. So, she’s present in the world of video, but not deeply so.

I’m also surprised she doesn’t have any campaigns on Patreon nor on Kickstarter. Now, her music is available on iTunes, Spotify, and many other online services. So she might not feel the need to have these income streams. Other musicians and artists in similar styles and viewpoints use them quite heavily, like Amanda Palmer.

Considering all that, it’s important to look at which of these avenues is the most profitable to her. As the chart below shows (created by the folks at Business Insider), most of her income comes from iTunes, Bandcamp and Amazon.

Graph of Zoe Keating's income sources
A look at Zoe Keating’s income sources

 

* Some thoughts on Fanbridge: I imagine it’s a great tool, and it is competitively priced. But it’s important to point out that Mailchimp is quite a bit cheaper, at least at the start. I also wonder if it interacts with any specialized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools. That would certainly bump up the value of Fanbridge. Mailchimp plays well with several CRM tools. Also, some of the serious competitors, like Constant Contact or Salesforce have those tools fully baked in. With that, I’m unaware of Zoe using any CRM tools. Doesn’t mean she doesn’t, just don’t see anything.

Lastly, Ms. Keating speaks some to these point in the video below. Worth your while.

 

If you’ve liked what you read, please take a moment to let me know in the comments. And give it a share!

My Social Media Management Philosophy

Carl Setzer

I managed social media for several companies. My desire had always been organic growth. Most of my efforts are via thoughtful content and local engagement. My strategies do include the use of such tools as Google and Facebook ads, thatsbtgenlimit of paid reach. I never advise the buying of followers. 

I’ve known several folks that have done so. Now, ostensibly it looks great. Having thousands of followers looks like it grants you significant authority, makes you look like an influencer. More sophisticated eyes will see through it. When most of your followers are bots, for instance, the validity of your authority becomes suspect. 

With that, paid followers don’t provide meaningful engagement. We need to remember the why. Why did you start social media? Probably to gain customers. The likelihood any of those paid followers is going to turn into a client is pretty near zero. 

Don’t get wrapped up in the numbers. It’s better to have a few subscribers or followers who are fully engaged with you, than tens of thousands who don’t. Influencing is far more about engagement than about follower counts. 

Some thoughts on “Serious academics take the media seriously”

Carl Setzer

I found this post over at Small Pond Science fascinating. As a fan of science, if not a scientist, and deeply interested in social media’s presence in our society, Terry’s McGlynn’s post is very relevant. Terry calls out an anonymous article over at The Guardian basically dismissing efforts by scientists to engage with their work in the world of Facebook & Twitter.

I, for one, think there’s great value in the public debate. Not everything on social media is fluff. And, if it’s to be taken seriously, we need to encourage more, not less engagement by scholars online.

Bloody Small Screens

Carl Setzer

If you know anything about me, I LOVE the mobile revolution. However, I’m noticing that posting on the small screens increases the rate of small errors. Little autocorrect word substitutions, mainly. Ones small enough, and having enough of the right letters in a similar sequence as the desired word that they go live wrong.

Had such this morning. Posted an update to a Facebook page I manage with “create” in place of “great”. I read the post several times before hitting publish. Ugh!

I take my writing seriously, so even small grammatical errors bother me. So, with that, I have been trying to post more from a computer, something with a monitor. I notice that my erorr rate is much smaller that way. Plus, I feel more focused.

And I need to recognize I’m human and mistakes will happen. But I never intend to like it, and will be satisfied with any mistakes. Ever.

Friendship in the Digital Age

Carl Setzer

Lately I’ve pondered “connection”. With several hundred Facebook friends, LinkedIn connection, over a thousand Twitter followers….maintaining connection starts to feel easy. Too easy.

I’m noticing that I interact with a smallish group of the same people on those different channels. These are dear friends, but not  even close to the larger group of people I want to maintain relationship with. So many good folks that I keep thinking “why don’t we get together more often?” That bothers me.

I signed up for Plaxo ages ago, and I really haven’t done anything to maintain that list. But I get emails reminding me of birthdays and any other events (anniversaries) that I noted in my contact when I synced. These reminders are nice in that they trigger me to reach out. That’s a start.

So, I’m trying to “up my game”. Going to build a list of those contacts to, well, contact. I would like to start sending notecards out, too. That just seems nice.

Any of you feeling this lament? This disconnect from connection. What are you doing about it?