Social Media Marketing and U.

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Back in the fourth grade, I wrote a poem. It may have been my first one ever. It contained words that were easily comprehended by nine year olds. Except for one.


Ubiquitous.


Don’t remember where I found the word. The line in the poem read “ubiquitous is this season”; the only line I recall from it. 


Guess I was really proud to find such a big word. I even pronounced it wrong. Instead of u-biq-ui-tous I spoke it as u-bi-quit-ous when we had to stand up in front of the class and read our poems. Hey, I was a kid!


Little used, under loved, ubiquitous, an adjective that’s really so big. Dictionary.com defines it as “existing or being everywhere”. Another source cites is as “having or seeming to have the ability to be everywhere at once; omnipresent”.

It’s really a word that more of us should use. Especially with social media.
Simply put, you and your business really do have to be “everywhere” as far as the major social networks. On Twitter. On Facebook. On LinkedIn. On Google+. On Pinterest. Rudolph, let your nose shine bright. 


You DO have to know what level of participation works best for your branding and company. There is no “one size fits all.” DO be experimental and play on all of them and have a good understanding of the nuances of each. It’s not “one post fits all either” and you’ll see over time how your fits in to a particular social network. It WILL take time. Have patience and do not expect immediate results.


Social media marketing is a long-term commitment; you have to stick with it and be involved for the long haul. 


And Social Media is ubiquitous. And since roses are pretty much everywhere, I posted  one. Here's a song from the ubiquitous Johnny Cash:

This is U in the Blogging A to Z challenge. Here's S and T.
Stop by and say hello!   Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. 

Social Networking: Time to Go Cold Turkey?

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Okay, I’m certain that this is not the first article on this subject and no I haven’t searched to find out. The thought just popped into my head the other day.

Quickly, I documented several of the bullet points below and the rest flowed in piece meal.

And lo and behold, an article just came out regarding a study on social media addiction, spurring me on!

And some of you know that sometimes I make light of things. We all need to cut loose from time to time, right?

Therefore, I present to you my list of criteria with tell-tale signs that a social networking addiction is taking hold. The list is not complete by any means. If anything, it’s meant to give you a chuckle. It’s likely we’re all guilty of at least one or two of the items cited here. If you identify with at least ten of them, call a doctor or a social media specialist. Please.

You know you’re addicted to social networking when you:

• Share silly kitten photos without even thinking about it.







• Inform your friends about every airport meal you’re having.

• Think the terms “facebooking” and “friending” are verbs.

• Post and/or tweet five times in four minutes.

• Refer to people on Google+ as “plusers” or “plussers”.

• Are so busy posting that there's no time to respond to comments on your own posts.

• The 47 inch TV in your living room is usually dark.

• Have YouTube always queued up.

• Get excited when you see a white number inside a red rectangle.








• Learn the latest gossip about your childhood friends via Facebook.

• Program your tweets so you can spend more time on other social networks.

• Are already on Pinterest.

• Watched the Super Bowl with a beer on the left, buffalo wings on the right, and a laptop in the middle.








• Have Firefox and Chrome both in full swing with your multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts open.

• Someone makes a joke about “crackbook” and you think it’s funny.

• Check your Facebook messages and notifications before your email.

So, how did you do? And what else would you add to this list?



John Lennon reminded us how painful withdrawal from an addiction can be with this moving song.

How Much Time Do YOU Spend Social Networking?

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Are you spending too much time on social networks?  Sounds like we all are; a recent study stated that we spend 16% of our time on Facebook. Is that too much? Does that include us poor folks who have small businesses or is that figure about everybody?

I see a lot of people that tend to "babble about nothing" all day, posting constantly. Lots of games being played too. Do they work? Maybe not. Maybe they’re looking for work? Facebook can serve as a networking tool but isn’t the place to find a job. And no, I’m not knocking anyone for having fun on Facebook. I enjoy reading posts and making posts. In fact, I comment on others posts far more than post myself. Personally, I may do a fresh post on my personal profile on average, once a day.

But what about those of us with small businesses that are vying for the attention of a potential 750 million people? Oh, okay, maybe there’s merely 10 million that have the potential to be my audience among my two endeavors. That’s not small potatoes. Yes, this is where my time is going; reaching those folks with my offerings and create an awareness. But 16% of my time? I’m not so sure about that.

I spend time on LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, and Google+ too. I’m probably spending the least amount on time on LinkedIn, yet this is THE professional social network. And LinkedIn just announced that they will be creating a whole new aspect of their services that will place more emphasis on businesses. Google+ is also swiftly moving towards bringing businesses on board. So which playing field is THE one to throwing the ball?

Who knows how all of these social networks are going and where your company’s place is with them. It’s exciting to be a part of it and learning more about social media nearly every minute of the waking day. It’s exciting because jobs have been created through social media and IN social media as it has become a whole new profession. Meanwhile, there’s many of us wanting to be trendsetters within social media and a few rising stars will write books that grab them enough attention to catapult themselves into fame and fortune.

So is it all worth it? If you enjoy being a part of social media as much as I do, absolutely! If you find a new twist on some social networking ideas and you can write a book about it, great. But in order to do that, you need to spend the time and get as tied in to social media as much as possible. So that 16% is starting to sound like a low figure.

My guess is that I’m spending about 25% of my time on Facebook between maintaining my own pages, have a little fun personally, training clients and maintaining client’s pages.

Thinking of conducting an experiment; next week, starting Monday, October 3, I will track my time on social networks for five days. And I'll report back to you as far as where the time goes. If you want to join me in the experiment, by all means do and let me know how it goes.