Which wagon? Oh, the blog writing wagon. I enjoy writing blogs and sharing information with all of you. Sometimes I dig in and write one with just one little idea that suddenly pops into my head. Other times, I struggle with them. One thing that really bogs me down with blogging though is the editing. I spend way too much time “polishing” them. And this past week during my travels, the last thing on my mind was blogging! And perhaps there is some meaning behind all that.
Maybe it’s time to stop blogging. Maybe it’s time to write that book on blogging I've been thinking about crafting for the past two years. Maybe it’s time to concentrate more on Groovy Reflections and give it more of my attention. The radio station and creating my show already takes up a LOT of time besides all the the other tasks related to it. Oh, and marketing clients get in the way too. Uh, NOT! I enjoy growing my client’s businesses very much! For the past few months I've been thinking of shutting down my MODern Marketing 4 U / ModlandUSA Facebook page. Facebook doesn't share my posts with anyone so what’s the point of having it? On the other hand, the page on Google+ is doing very well! And I continue to find myself drifting more and more towards tasks that utilize my right brain. Have I really fallen off the wagon? Or am I at a fork in the road?
Would love to hear from some of you when you've had to take a hard look at the all the things that mean most to you and when to shift priorities. Perhaps I'll take Yogi Berra's advice.
Hadn't really poked around much to see what kind of tools there are out there to assist you with your Instagram account. So I googled away and found the “InstaTrain” that promised tons of followers in seconds! Suspecting that this was a setup similar to “Seed” for Twitter (is that even still around?), I investigated: Board the train! Become a VIP! Do not miss out on our summer discount! You know the old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” Uh huh.
So here’s how it works. You can get on the train for free by tweeting or posting kudos for Instatrain or you can pay to be a VIP and get “hundreds/thousands” of followers after going through a few easy steps. Then, you “board the train”. You may have to wait a couple minutes and the countdown builds up the excitement. Then it happens…All Aboard! And it’s true! For free, you WILL get “instant” followers. Wow, huh? Ah wait a minute; there’s a punchline, right? Yep. My feed was immediately filled with: Young girls snapping photos of themselves, phone in hand, messages in Arabic, photos that weren’t exactly high quality, “colorful” language, poor use of English, and need I go on? I also noticed that a majority of my new follower’s handles had a “_” in it @iam_kayy is one example. Then there were a bunch that boasted their intelligence by their names: @wakyweirdo @xogeniuss @butburnasinner. My followers went up rapidly. Now, I only had about 190 followers and suddenly it was 230! Wow! Then, as soon as the followers built up, the number started going down again; deflating by half within minutes. Folks, if you've ever checked out Seed, it works the same way. The question is: Do you really need these people? Big thumbs down here. My suggestion is that you build your followers by finding people who post photos that you enjoy. Simple as that! You can find them through your friends, through hashtags, or as links from other social networks. Now, back to the mini-mess I made for myself: Luckily, you can clean up very easily with the Friend or Follow for Instagram! Didn't know it existed; had used the version for Twitter in the past! They give you three views:
Following: The ones you follow that don't follow you back. Was surprised that several of my friends were not following me back (well okay, some appear to not be active on Instagram!).
Fans: They follow you and you aren't following back.
Friends: The feeling is mutual.
Sigh of relief: Was able to clean up my account in a jiffy! I highly recommend this tool! Wish they had a version for Pinterest! In the early 90's The Farm sang about a train that we really like; a groovy train! If you need groovy strategy for your business, visit us at ourwebsite, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Yes! It's that time of year again when we visit boardwalks, beaches, and county fairs! Along with all that sunny fun, splashing, and dizziness from too many high in the sky rides comes tasty wonders to try; for many of those just once is enough! I've already visited my local county fair twice. Couldn't help noticing that deep fried Kool-aid wasn't among the current lineup. Looked for it everywhere. Guess it didn't catch on.
Chocolate covered bacon is still hanging in there! Read more about that delight, which is served frozen, here. The same graphic with the nurse ready to revive you in the unlucky event you go into "cholesterol arrest" is still in use!
And there's a new bacon delight! Courtesy of Chicken Charlie, who has a reputation for introducing new delights. Note: Bacon Wrapped Pickles are for salt lovers only! It's delicious and will make your mouth pucker just like when you intake too much salted popcorn!
Had never noticed this dish before at a fair. It's nothing new; however, Frog Legs has a certain "gross factor" for American audiences so I can imagine that the food marketers are hoping that's enough of a draw to get people to try it and say they've had. Interestingly enough, Frog Legs are served with tartar and lemon though the taste is more along the lines of fried chicken. Are frogs considered to be a seafood delicacy? Now Paula Deen would be thrilled to know that a dish possibly influenced by one of her ideas is still going strong. And speaking of buns, this sign was spied though the actual food didn't appear to be anywhere in sight. Nutella has become entwined in the American diet over the past few years and isn't a tasty secret limited to Europeans anymore. Can't imagine what 10 pounds of bun with Nutella on it could be like; it may be good to share this one with a dozen or so of your friends!
Overall, the new offerings were rather disappointing. In addition to those mentioned above, fried avocado was available at a few stands. Nothing like mixing good and bad fats together at the same time! Of course, washing it all down was easy with this more traditional beverage. Especially if those Texas sized turkey legs were a bit on the dry side! Attention food marketers! Are you experimenting in your kitchens right now? Looking forward to some more creative fair fare for 2014! For more culinary reading, click here for the 2011 edition of "Fair Food". This is the third year we've been writing about this, not to mention tasting some of the offerings! For all your delectable marketing needs, visit us at ourwebsite, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
The other day I saw an article about “extra items” sneaking into your computer via downloads from CNET. While I have downloaded from them in the past, I've never had any issues like that. Apparently now if you download from them you'll get a "bundle" of other things you didn't want along with what you DO want. Sigh. They are not the only ones doing this. This morning I received a prompt to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. Well, okay; I need that. With it came an assault on my computer! The attack was two-fisted:
Google searches were hijacked by another search engine
A new toolbar appeared and took up some valuable real estate
The toolbar looked like this:
Rather crude and elementary looking, isn't it? Love that tacky "Speed Up Your Download" button; that's sure to create even more mess by clicking on it! Oh, what to do? I appealed to the public on Google+. While receiving an avalanche of responses, none seemed to help. The suggestions presented were mainly the more obvious solutions. One person mentioned to search on the word "toolbar", however, I already knew that the name of the toolbar wouldn't be that obvious. Yes, this has happened to me before! I thought I was being clever when sorting by date in the uninstall feature in the control panel. There was indeed some “garbage” that had today’s date on it. Unfortunately, none of those three, which were called “Trusted Saver”, “Less Tabs” or “Default Tabs” appeared to be the culprit. Perhaps they were going wreak havoc on my computer on a future date? In any case, they were annihilated. Each time I rebooted I hoped to see that toolbar gone. Nope. During all this confusion I also uninstalled something from a company called Conduit. Wham! Pretty sure they were causing the Google hijack issue. In the end, I attributed the toolbar to these two evils:
Internet Helper 3.1
DVDvideosofttb
Hey, don’t even ask me what they are! I am not a techie. I will tell you that neither of them had a current date on them making them even harder to catch when they land in your computer. Lessons learned: Even if it’s a reputable company, other downloads do get attached to legitimate downloads. Just giving you the heads up on this; sadly, this could be a growing trend. No idea how to prevent it from happening! The Beatles never sang about downloads, however they did sing about being down in this early tune of theirs (see below). Marketing got you down? Visit us and move it on up! Stop by ourwebsite, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Some people are pissed off. And they're making themselves heard. I couldn't help noticing an avalanche of protest posts on Facebook yesterday surrounding the recent cover of the Rolling Stone. If you haven't heard, the man accused of causing the tragedy during the Boston Marathon is being glorified by the magazine. Musical acts long for the chance to make the cover; Dr. Hook sang about the cover. But this guy? He killed and maimed people in a brutal, terrorist act. Is this any way to sell a magazine that is supposed to be about music? Oh, wait a minute; Rolling Stone used to be a magazine about music. Granted, I have read some eye-opening journalism there that was not about music. Well researched and well presented. So I'm sure the article within is well done. However, no matter how good the writing within may be, there’s simply no good reason to put a cruel, pathetic, twisted 19 year old teen’s face on the cover. Rolling Stone replied that their demographic was the same age as this suspected bomber. Are you trying to tell us that 19 year olds would identify with him? Do you think they see him as a hero? Will teenage girls think his curls are cute? What an insult to the victims. What an insult to the people of Boston. What an insult to all of us.
This was intentional. It was meant to shock. It was meant to be discussed and turned into a massive word-of-mouth promotion. Yay, you win Jann Wenner. Since this issue won’t be appearing on the shelves of several mass retailer outlets, thus establishing scarcity, there could be resellers on Ebay making a quick buck. You've created commerce: A chance for some folks who don't care how insulting this all is will prosper from this. What’s next Jann? Discussions with President Obama on how to rebound our crappy economy? Yes, some of the national chains aren't stooping to their level and they’re pulling the magazine. It’s their right. It’s also Rolling Stone Magazine’s right to publish what they want. That’s our freedom. Freedom can come at a price though…hello! Whatever happened to common sense? When is it time to voluntarily restrain use of that freedom? We DO have choices. Marketing involves customization; it’s not cookie cutter. Some brain work and educated decisions are involved. One has to question the driving factor for the decision to put a terrorist on the cover of a music magazine. Could it be the greed of selling magazines? Perhaps another irony: This will blow over in mere seconds, unlike the purgatory that Paula Deen is still going through. What’s up with that? I’ve seen many statements, in articles and posts suggesting that the victims and the good people of Boston should be on the cover. I can’t agree with that more! Boston, you are strong. You are proud. Here’s yet another crisis for you to get through. And you will stand tall. The Dropkick Murphys from nearby Quincy recorded this Woody Guthrie song that’s popular at Boston sporting events. If you are feeling sporty, kick (or click) that mouse and visit our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
I don't expect the good folks at Facebook and Google+ to start communicating, let alone coordinating ANYTHING, anytime soon. They are responsible for every hair on my head that I've pulled out lately, namely for their ability to create “double work” when it comes to artwork for a personal profile, pages, or events. So many sizes! Google+ sizes are longer than Facebook’s and not quite as tall. Here’s an example from one of the shows on Groovy Reflections Radio. I created the Facebook event art first (714 X 264):
Then I just elongated the artwork by adding some yellow on either side and sliced the bottom off a bit (this took me all of 5 minutes). Not the best solution but it works in a pinch (1200 X 300):
And here’s an example where I spent a bit more time trying to make it all fit, first Facebook (again, this is event art):
And here is the Google+ version. I find it a challenge to have less height to work with and had to slice some heads (poor Marcia Marcia)! The area for copy was a bit leaner too:
Could never remember the sizes I needed to work with I found myself looking up on the internet the correct sizes over and over. Finally wised up and created this handy little chart:
Feel free to print it the chart above and stick it on your refrigerator (just kidding). How ‘bout your bulletin board or maybe tape it to your desk instead? Hope you find it helpful. I've found myself creating more and more cover arts and event art pieces so having this handy is a big help! It would be even better of course if Facebook and Google+ could choose some universal sizes. Ha! Not going to happen anytime soon (if ever).
Ah, yes, shapes of things. The Yardbirds sang about them back in the 60's (see below). Luckily, we're only dealing with rectangles here! If your social media efforts are too square, contact us viaour website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Subtitle 1: Transportation and the Morning Glory Vigilante. Subtitle 2: DC’s Metro Transit System Kills Their Brand by Ripping out Plants I've always said that it’s those small things, those “little slices of life” that make all the difference and make our world a bit more special. Sadly, obstacles get in the way and good and evil are confused. Case in point: Call him a plant slinger. Or renegade gardener. Or even a "secret" horticulturist. Call him whatever you like. Has he gone too far? Oh the shock! The horror! Imagine someone planting morning glories in a public place! Here is but one of the many articles on the subject. In short, a man has been spending his own money and secretly planting flowers in the DC area for the last thirty years. And that’s been okay. Until now.
Does this make any sense to you? Law abiding citizen, Henry Docter, wants to make the world a prettier place. He plants flowers that he has paid for in a public place owned by the local transit company. He has been secretly doing these acts of kindness for over thirty years. End result? The plants were ripped out, making the area ugly and barren once again. Several hard to believe reasons were given for this action. One was that the plants were dying. 1,000 plants! Every single one of them dying at once despite plenty of rain within 48 hours of digging them out? Hello Metro transit! Civil communication with Mr. Docter would have been a plus. At the very least, speak with him without the threat of arrest and cries of “cease and desist”. It’s not too late to do so and turn this mess around! Look what this debacle is doing to your brand reputation as public outcry grows. Not a word about it on your website, either. How come it was “okay” for the past thirty years and now it’s suddenly NOT okay? Did you even know that Henry Docter planted tulip bulbs in the same location several months ago? Would you like to regain your solid reputation and make it shine? Why not strike a partnership with Mr. Docter? Bring him on staff if need be and let him organize volunteers to beautify other areas of the Metro transit system that need this. The public will look up to you in awe. You'll get more riders. It’s called giving back!
I have to say that I am most thankful for a trail near my home where train tracks used to be. Private Citizens do some of the upkeep there; once in awhile I see a very fit woman in her 70’s with an aging pickup truck that’s filled with large containers of water and sometimes plants. She helps keep that trail a beautiful place! No one has stopped her. I've said hello a few times. Next time I see her I'd love to talk to her about the joy she brings to those of us walking the trail there. The morning glory photos here are from that beautiful trail Now, back to our “vigilante”. Let Henry Docter continue to plant flowers. Perhaps his gallant efforts will spur on others to beautify other areas. For more on his story in his own words, click here. Henry Docter is spot on. His words of wisdom alone make our world a better place: “The world is not as bad as it is often portrayed in the news. This is an opportunity for all of us to make something beautiful.” – Henry Docter
So let's do it! And kudos to you sir! Oasis asked the musical question "What's the Story, Morning Glory?" in the mid-nineties (see below) Perhaps Metro transit is asking themselves that same question right now. If you need your marketing garden properly pruned, contact us via our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Food Network started the rope tightening. A popular chef/celebrity is swiftly shown the door, probably the one at the back where the mudroom is. Don't slam the door on the way out. Wham! Let’s take a step back. I've seen Paula Deen’s plight compared to two other recent events:
A rapper stomping on the American flag.
Alec Baldwin mouthing off in regards to the orientation of a journalist while using extremely foul words and phrases.
These actions appear to be acceptable in our society however a woman using the “N” word over twenty years ago is not despite her admittance and pleas for forgiveness.
I’ve witnessed the hanging of Paula Deen on a journalistic level and from opinionated friends. Hung before the jury had a chance to judge and gather all the facts. Food Network didn’t even think twice! Most of the big boxes followed that lead (Lowe’s would be an exception) and tossed ropes around her neck. The true believers remaining with Paula Deen are companies you've likely never heard of; what are their chances of finding another celebrity of her stature? And what about the lawsuit filed by a former employee who has changed her tale? Oh sure; you couldn’t remember the story correctly when you originally filed the suit? Doesn't matter; you've added another knot to the noose whether you’re telling the truth or not. Paula Deen’s latest book was #1 on Amazon until Ballantine Books pulled it. And the book wasn't scheduled for release until October! Sensationalism sells. Journalism can swiftly make the cookies crumble on an empire. Many remarks made on articles about Paula Deen come to her defense. One commenter, assuming he or she did their homework correctly, cited numerous other notorious celebrities who are currently gainfully employed by Food Network. Their crimes include various lawsuits against them, DUIs, use of profanities, false claims regarding their backgrounds, withholding tips and wages from employees, bankruptcy filings, and premeditated murder! None of these appear to be grounds for firing.
What will ultimately happen? Paula Deen will relax in a glider on her front porch while sipping sweet tea and waiting it out. Food Network has now made the Paula Deen haters happy. Once they simmer down, the network will likely bring Paula Deen back. Then her fans will be pleased and they'll start watching Food Network again. Win win for Food Network.
Oh, let’s not forget Martha Stewart’s plight for her "crafting" with insider trading. The media hung her too; probably from a grand oak tree at her expansive Bedford, New York home. So how come it’s okay for the media to hang prominent, well-established, successful women? Is it unladylike to be a “bad boy”? Society says yes. Women are expected to behave in a certain way that is different from men. Heck, women are still fighting for better wages! Where’s the equality here? What if it was a man...maybe Alec Baldwin? What if we were to learn HE used the “N” word in the Eighties? Would American Express drop him? He has proven more than once that anger management classes would be helpful to him. Famous ladies, who’s next? Step right up and see the show! Watch a woman get moved to tears! Witness the abandonment! See a brand crushed right before your very eyes. Journalism is power. It is abusive and mean at times. It bites, chews and spits it all out. Forget swallowing! On the other hand, people at large should chew slowly, explore, fact find, and stop chomping down on the first thing they read or see as truth. Lessons to be learned here.
Note: I don't know all that much about Paula Deen. Have watched her show twice and own an iron cooking pot with her name on it, purchased at Kohl's. She's not perfect; none of us are. Forgive her and let's move on from this episode. Paula Deen, here’s a song for you (see below). If you'd like to see your marketing efforts taste mighty fine stop by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Have you ever created an event in Facebook? Sure, I've been invited to events hundreds of times, however, this was something new for me and I couldn't wait to finally test out that feature! Case in point: For my other endeavor, Groovy Reflections Radio I've been creating events for the first original show rolled out, My Front Porch. It's a show about folk music that has lots of humor (and song of course!). Since there are 16,000+ fans on the Groovy Reflections Facebook page, I thought that having an "event" for the radio program would make sense since there's an instant audience with fans who would be interested in the show!
Boy, was I wrong. While a page can create an event, a page cannot directly invite people to the event! Interesting huh? It has to do with spammers taking advantage of that feature. Well, okay. So I need to "join" and then invite my friends! That feels spammy to me so I try not to invite the same people all the time. The show is broadcast three times a week, thus three events a week.
However, over the past few weeks of observing the response to the events, I noticed something interesting. Very few people actually SEE the posts made on the page about the event. Facebook is holding out on us; they want us to pay! For the most part, I've been including the URL to the event in those posts to make it easy for people to join the event which could be the trigger for Facebook to "slam on the brakes" as far as sharing the post goes.
Here's a recent invite. The snip is from about one hour after the post. A total of 249 people saw the post (out of 16,500 fans on the page). That's not many eyeballs!
About 45 minutes later I made another post. No URL, no invite. Just copy. In a very short time frame (in this case under a half hour), the post was seen by well over 1,000 people, more than four times as many that saw the previous post!
What's up with THAT, Facebook?
For the record: This little experiment has been conducted several times, all with the same results. And what have we learned?
DO post about your events without links as well as with them to get the word out.
Post about your events several times! Only a small percentage of fans will see the information about your event at any given time; they may be offline when you post and/or Facebook is sharing your post to just a few of your fans via the newsfeed. Post during different times of the day as well.
Don't be discouraged if only a handful of people reply. We're all getting bombarded with information nowadays; and you may get tuned out.
Facebook should not be your only source for announcing events. Utilize other social networks such as Twitter and Google+.
Create eye catching artwork for your event and a great name for your event! In my example above I used the theme of the show rather than the actual name of the show: "Viagra, Bananas, and Knees" sounds more intriguing compared to "My Front Porch"! Speaking of that fine fruit, Harry Belafonte sang about bananas long ago. Peel back those social media layers and create a smooth, tasty strategy! No need to go bananas! Stop by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Move over Tweet-up; there’s a new IRL meeting in town! And why not? Since Vine opened up the app to android users, they're exploding with fresh activity. Thrilled to say I attended what could very well be the first Vine-up in my little corner of the world. Oh, just a handful of us in attendance. Okay by me; this made it easy to converse and exchange ideas.
The app is so simple which makes it difficult. I had to ask someone how to begin making a video! After pressing the little movie camera icon, I couldn't find anything to press to get the video started; where IS that button?
Turns out there isn't one. Put your finger on the pic and Vine takes off! Keep it there for six seconds or try stop motion by lifting your finger up and putting it down again. The hosts for this vine-up were promoting the shopping center where the Vine-up was held. We all made Vine vids about the center and added the shopping center’s hashtag cinematic creations before posting. Towards the end of the meeting we all reviewed each other’s videos and had some really good laughs! What a fun concept, right? There were prizes too. Our hosts also provided beverages (they brought them) and appetizers from one of the local restaurants. Nice! Some of the folks there were already following each other on Twitter so it made the in real life experience all the more special. A couple of things I've learned. The android app and the IOS app are not exactly the same. Therefore, friends of android, much of what is already written in blogs and articles on how to use Vine may not apply to you. Suggestion to those who have blogged about Vine prior to the android release; go back and make it clear that you are discussing IOS. Was trying to figure out how to share a Vine post to Twitter after you've already shared the post only to Vine. For IOS, it’s crystal clear; tap on the three dots under the post and there is a share option. For android, that option isn't there! Sigh. Since I deleted my posts to Twitter that I made yesterday during the Vine-up I’m not able to share them here on the blog at the moment! However, in the meantime, here’s some flax blowing in the wind:
Explore people and have fun with Vine! Lene Lovich sang about new toys in this song over 30 years ago. We don’t play games with your social media strategy! Stop by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
There used to be an easier way. You could go to a section of your profile where they were all listed without icons or any additional information and rapid fire zap them away. That option appears to be gone now; possibly because of all of the other changes with the newsfeed and everything else. The developers at Facebook have turned their attention elsewhere for now. Oh, the times they are a changin’! What to do? You could go to every single page, one by one, and unlike them that way. Oh, what a pain! The good news (hey, you knew I had to put a positive spin on this, right?) is that there is a slightly easier way. Here we go: Click on activity log on the wall of your personal profile (it's near the bottom of your cover art) Using mine as an example here.
Click "like" on the left side of the page. Then click pages and interests. Directly to the right you'll get a list, starting with the most recent page you liked and going back in time. And you thought I was going to show you all my likes, right? Nope! If you hover over the name on the left side a pop-up appears with the icon and cover art of the page.
See near the bottom where it says "liked"? Hovering over that word gives you lots of options: Get Notifications, Show in News Feed, Settings, Add to Interest Lists, and Unlike. This is where you make the big choice! Note: In this example I'm hovering over the name of my sister page, Groovy Reflections. Rest assured that I won't be unliking that page! DO think about the implications of unliking a page: Does it belong to a friend of yours? Was it a "like for like" therefore you risk losing a "fan"?
And yes, this is a time consuming endeavor. If you have hundreds of pages to rummage through, go through a small chunk to unlike or keep per day (maybe choose to show in news feed?). Spend about five to ten minutes so it's not too painful. Maybe Facebook will introduce a new way to maintain your liked pages eventually. One can only hope. On a brighter note, The Romantics "liked" you in their big hit tune (see below). Feel free to "like" us and drop by our by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Which wagon? Oh, the blog writing wagon. I enjoy writing blogs and sharing information with all of you. Sometimes I dig in and write one with just one little idea that suddenly pops into my head. Other times, I struggle with them.
