Category Archives: Twitter

How To Succeed On Twitter

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…without really trying.

I’m not patient. I have a killer eyeroll some people hate. I’m snarky about those that don’t use common sense. So it pains me to have a new job where I’m given money to create content on the internet. Well, no, I like the creating part. The curating and reading and sharing gets to me. I sift through internet noise all day looking for quality to share. Hopefully soon I’ll weed out the junk. There’s so much junk.

If you are new to social media…you are so late to the party you are on clean up crew and the cool kids are smirking at you – so you better at least be wearing something blingy. But, you’ll find so many lists telling you that you need an app, or their help, or 34838677087346 best practices they’ve outlined in an infographic that they’ll send to your email.

Don’t listen.

I mean, if you suck, you suck. No app can help. So DON’T SUCK.

  •  Spell shit right.
    • Your grammar and spelling will be judged. Cut and paste in to something that has spell check. Reread. Take a breath. Social media flies by and gives you the impression people are out there WONDERING WHY YOU HAVEN’T POSTED YET. They’re not. It’s ok. Take the time to get it right.
  • Swear if you want.
    • The real point is be yourself. If I can’t get a sense of YOUness, I’m not interested. The most successful people online – you feel like you KNOW them. Whether that’s swearing or running around in short shorts taking booty pics, or talking about church, just DO you. Be authentic, not what you think people want to see. That never works.
  • Ignore all those ‘best practice’ ideas.
    • No one knows your business or goals like you. I see the irony of making a list telling you to ignore lists, but the real takeaway should be that a process of elimination will tell you what works for your audience. Maybe some nerds talking about gardening really want a pic of your flowers. Every. Single. Day.
  • Thank people.
    • Being nice and noticing other people will get you farther than cramming your crap down their throats and wondering why they don’t respond. A little effort goes a long way. My favorite group of people online are massage therapist friends of a girl I went to school with. Because they support each other and make the effort to share successes. It’s kinda the point.
How to respond to social media tips.

How to respond to social media tips.

Well, other than mine of course.

 

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? What else would you add that you are sick of seeing/hearing/being told?

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Girly Spice

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My hairdresser is wonderful.

I loved this sideways french braid that she (MB) showed me a while back.

Then today, I got to try this braid, that someone else found on the internet and tweeted. Look at all the social media work for a hairstyle!

I know some of you aren’t in love with my two tone hair – and I admit it even bugs me anywhere that isn’t Park City (SLC)…

but I think it looks great with this waterfall braid style!

Her husband has been calling me Sporty Spice – I’ve been out rock climbing and playing volleyball with them, and he is more used to me in heels and dresses.

I try to balance both, so there’s the girly stuff, stay tuned for the adventure blogs!

When You Put It Like That…

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Here’s the article that you must read, today.

Write Epic Sh*t.

Three little words. It makes it sound so easy right? You came to the internet, bought a domain, got a little space, and it was the same as a blank piece of paper and a pen in front of you.

With 1,000 people/day looking over your shoulder.

No pressure!

You’re a writer. So write. And write with an impact that will blow minds, save worlds, free countries, change lives.

Or post pictures of food you’re cooking and yoga you’re doing.

Not everyone can spend the time it takes to learn about and provide SEO tips (or explain to little people like me that SEO doesn’t even matter on a wordpress hosted blog).

But man is there a market. There are so many bloggers out there if you are looking for them, telling you tips, tricks, and ideas to grow your Twitter followers, your Facebook brand, and your website. It’s easy to get too caught up in it all.

For the most part, they have it all wrong. This article tells you to stop trying those little “tips”. No amount of strangers on Twitter are going to click a link they don’t care about. I’ve met some neat internet buddies, for example thank goodness for Gina Begin and Stephen Weiss (and HOW I MOUNTAIN!). People, internet people, who take action on your message. I just need to take that message from mediocre to epic. Got it. Working on it.

My tip would be don’t forget to return the favor! That interaction, with others who are writing and trying to make a site work, that matters! If someone reaches out to you, take the time to say thanks in the best way you can. Comment on my blog, and I’ll try to comment on yours. I’m not always coming up with something relevant, but it’s always at the back of my mind. I’ll hit refresh on your photos. I’ll forward something cute to my mom.

And you’d do the same for me. That’s a good way to grow!

UPDATED to add How I Mountain. Too funny to read her post today! 🙂

Spelling And Typos

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We all, from time to time, make mistakes. I have a sweet Momm and Dadd that will read my writing and let me know if I make a mistake. And husband. And brother. And Snippy. And anyone else I might ask for feedback. Here, Facebook, Twitter, Ski Utah. Doesn’t matter. It’s important to me that I express myself clearly and part of that is not being ignorant of something I may have overlooked.

You wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t be counted on to be consistent and professional, and writing well is part of that, even if it’s not the main focus of that person’s job. As an advertiser you’d quit giving a site money if it made mistakes too often.

Maybe not everyone has time for someone to help proofread their work. But it is starting to drive me totally crazy that so many people who have an online presence are simply terrible at spelling. Grammar and writing style are one thing. Sometimes I’m trying to convey something funny or snarky and write it a certain way that may not work for you. That’s allowed. I won’t pick on you for that. But if your ‘career’, no matter how serious, has you posting online, I think you should spell or have someone proofread your work.

Does it matter to you if you get a work email that is barely legible? Not a quick text from a friend written more to convey an idea than tell a story, but something that is supposed to be professional. I’ve been seeing some blogs, Facebook business pages, and Twitter accounts lately that have typos that hurt my brain. What would you do? I’m tempted to find the equivalent of the online ‘red pen’ and go around correcting people. But I’m betting it won’t make me many friends…

Blame Drew’s Cancer

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MKis not a giant fan of Twitter. He doesn’t see the point, or the theory of the movement – the possibilities. Check this story out, as I try to convince him otherwise.

@Drew got cancer. He started a website called Blame Drew’s Cancer where you can blame his cancer for anything – like how I lost my makeup bag (see last post). He partnered with LiveStrong.

Now Drew Careyis in on the action – and for every follower on Twitter will donate more money to LiveStrong – up to a million dollars for a million followers by the end of the year.

Pardon my rush to post, and be sure to read the links! What a great concept, I’m down with clicking ‘follow’ for that! I’m somewhere around 54,371. If you have a Twitter account, consider following @Drewfromtv. I think this is a great example of what Twitter can do.

SomeGoSoftly Stories Chapter Two: Relevance

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  • This week I’m going to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I’m not an expert, but I think that so many of you that visit here don’t have a blog, read many other blogs (at least not cheapo personal ones, but of course maybe you read news etc. similarly) or know some of the funny and interesting things that go into writing and publishing online. Like I said, there are ten thousand “How to write a Blog” experts out there and I’m not one of them. I just thought it’d be fun to share some stories with you.

One of the hardest things to deal with on a blog is time. You can throw on a lame outfit and I might tell you it’s “so last year”, but in this whole wide world of social media, things can be “so five seconds ago”. Especially with everyone wanting to be a world famous Twit (person on Twitter). To avoid that, I’m not a super huge “guess what just happened in the news” writer.

The concept I struggle with is how my audience uses my blog. Ironically today some friends of mine were using my blog to remember what we did or didn’t see at ACL in 2006. I was thrilled. I know that not everyone even looks at anything other than the first page. When I first started blogging I was told to keep a very few (5 or so) posts on the front page for you to peruse. I at the time had 10 or more, since I thought I could make you scroll down and maybe realize something that you’d missed. Or throw a comment my way, even if it was jsut because you were bored (I’d take it!).

I also assume you know that the sidebar on the right has a search option, with only-within-this-blog parameters. You can type “buttface” to see if I ever called anyone that here (I checked, I haven’t). I’ve been reading a great blog called Soapbox Included that is telling me to do a better job of pointing you in the right direction, but I am limited by using a free site (see previous post). If you want to see snow, you should know I have a category called “Photos” and one called “Park City” and by using that bar on the right you should be able to find me skiing down a mountain.

However, it did give me the great idea to include on my main “Who’s Going Softly” page -that’s a typical About Me if you didn’t check it out- some of my all time favorite or even most popular posts (coming soon). For the record, things about zombies, and the ones I did on Joe Rogan, tattoos, and pumpkin carving have the most hits of all time. Don’t say random doesn’t work.

I’ve been here for three years recapping events and telling you about places and things I’ve seen. I’ve stayed away for the most part from the “what I think about what just happened” kind of blog. There’s plenty of that out there.

Lesson Not Learned

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This post has to be a little cryptic. I was going to blab all about the little details – but there’s a story about a guy who was on Twitter, mentioned he was going on vacation, and someone found his flickr page and broke in to his house and stole all the stuff he’d posted pics of, his toys and computer and all that (HERE’S THAT LINK, Thanks SB).

So – all I can mention(other than we live in Arizona, wink wink) a general story. It bums me out – I was all prepared to put up pictures for you and tell you all about the excitement and sheer joy I’m running on with the little gifts from my husband for my anniversary. I got two very nice things, but for fear of someone coming and hunting me down – it’s seriously made me a little paranoid – I can’t tell you. You’ll have to call and ask. And I’ll have to believe that you’re the kind of friend that won’t come stealing from me! And we’ll all just have to hope that my cell phone isn’t stolen…again. I’m still a little bitter…

(Speaking of which, another friend got their sunglasses stolen from the same place my phone was taken, just saying.)

🙂

I’m having nightmares that this girl I know that put up Facebook pictures of her new car gets it stolen, that people are going to all come after other people’s things. Be careful on the internet people!

Overheard

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Updated to add:

As you see to the right, Worpress updated and added a Twitter widget! Now either click the link “Some Twitter” to see that page or view the updates in the sidebar. W00t!

There’s nothing like listening in. Maybe it’s not even on purpose, but someone speaks out so loudly you can’t help but hear. Especially in a big crowd. At SXSW last year, one of my moves was “That’d make a good band name” if we all heard a silly comment out of context. Or sharing with the group if it was worth repeating. A personal fave of mine would be LC’s eyes going mega wide if we heard the same hilarity.

One SXSW feature this year is a compiled site from PepsiCo called Twitter Visualizations. It lets you know what people are doing, where they are and even if there’s a line to get in the party you’re headed to.

My favorite part by far is the Overheard section. By putting OH in front of the Twitter message – you know someone couldn’t believe their ears and needed to share. There’s nothing funnier than hearing something that makes you wonder about the stranger standing next to you. Except maybe immediately writing it up and sharing it. 😉

I’ve enjoyed “Breakfast is the most important taco of the morning”

“Can we “crash” the Microsoft party?” (get it…?)

and

“How do you get BBQ sauce off your iPhone?”

twitter OH

Updated to add:

As you see to the right, there’s a link for you to find and follow me. Not much up yet but next week should be fun. Between Twitter,  Facebook and this blog, I’m so out there!

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