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+. 

Love, Social Media, and You.

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Why don’t we all get a day off to pause, reflect, and hug the ones we love? Isn’t February 14th important enough?

Not going to dwell on the origins of Valentine’s Day; there’s plenty of information out there about it. Sadly, in this day and age, this lovely day of celebration seems more like a manufactured event. Products and promotions seem to overshadow the meaning of it.

Do we have to buy cards, candy, roses, stuffed animals and blow a $100 on a dinner?

No. However, we all feel pressured to do so, don’t we?

Today’s promotions go far beyond traditional methods. If you want to read about some of the more out-of-box ideas, click here. For our purposes today, let’s just take a look at social media:

Surprisingly, Hallmark’s Facebook page, with close to 442,000 fans, is pretty quiet on the subject. They can afford to be because the page is driven by questions posed by the fans; one gent asked an intelligent question about same-sex valentine cards, and Hallmark replied with a broad-scoped but smart answer that stated they have cards for all consumers.

I haven’t been to a Hallmark Crown store but assume that they are well stocked with cards and tchotchkes to suit everyone’s needs. This is likely one of their most profitable times of the year and perhaps they don’t need to aggressively promote it.

Next stop. Big box stores. Target posted about Valentine’s Day on February 8th. Missed opportunity there! Their post WAS great though; here’s part of it: “Treat every day like Valentine's Day and show some love.” About 1,400 likes on that post but no shares. Their Facebook page, for the most part, is a complaint board, rather than a promotional one.

Walmart is doing better than Target on the Valentine’s Day front. Yesterday they posted about gifts under $10 and had a photo with four items. And over 50 shares for that post signifies that it was most compelling one. While their page is also a place to express complaints, there’s more of a blend of value-oriented posts happening there, but not much action for Valentine’s Day.

And shame on you Walmart; no posts on Google+ since December 19th?  Target has a limited presence there as well; are these stores so huge that they don’t think this audience would like to hear from them?

Kmart is doing the best job on Facebook with plenty of promotional posts for Valentine’s Day.
Too bad their audience is about a tenth of what Target and Walmart’s are. And their posts on Google+ are current too! Thumbs up!

Where are the photos of tempting boxes of candy?  Russell Stover, Whitman’s Sampler, where are you? See’s Candies Facebook page is offering coupons and a poetry writing contest on Facebook. Great!

So, are you overwhelmed by it all? As long as you’re not stepping into retail stores, Valentine’s Day appears to be out of sight, out of mind. It seems that there could be more creativity and volume as far as promotion via social media; bring on the contests, coupons, and conversation.

Have you seen any promotion for Valentine’s Day via social media? From what brands and what were they saying? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.