Multiple Personalities in Social Media?

Last week I was asked about creating separate Twitter accounts based on the subject matter being discussed.

Here's the question:


@lifeasclouds: @ScLoHo should I use different twitter handles if I want to tweet about more than one topic (i.e. Personal stuff, Govt mngmnt and religion)?

I answered back in a couple of tweets, but want to explain my answer in more than 140 characters.

My opinion:

Social Media Identities should be Brands.

This applies to Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, and other Social Media platforms.

I am on Social Media as ScLoHo which is a personal brand. I do not speak on behalf of the radio stations I work for, however I will update my Facebook Wall, Tweet, and write on blogs about them on occasion.

In other words, I am me, not my employer when I write as ScLoHo.

I do have administrator privileges with a couple of Facebook accounts that represent other organizations. Anything that I post on those accounts are appropriate for that organization.

I pulled a couple others into the conversation I was having with Chris @LifeAsClouds.

Amber:


@arecker1704: @scloho @lifeasclouds- good question. I have 4 twitter accts- 1 for me, @fwderbygirls @fiveonfivemag @cancersvcsni. But those are all orgs.


and...


@arecker1704: @scloho @lifeasclouds if it's just various aspects of u, I'd say let them shine through as u :) But if you rep a company, set up a sep acct.


Heather:


@HSchoegler: @arecker1704 @ScLoHo @lifeasclouds Just be you & talk about all that's important to you. Add disclaimer on your bio that they're your words.


And then Andy asked:


@awelfle: @hschoegler @arecker1704 @ScLoHo @lifeasclouds Is a disclaimer rly necessary? It seems superfluous & jst clogs up ur profile. Y do u use it?


I believe I know the answer to that one. Heather is a public figure who is the communication director for a local non-profit, and she has been the president of a local leadership organization, plus her husband is a television sportscaster. She does it to cover her butt.

My Social Media activities are all branded ScLoHo. I started doing this after a couple of years and a couple of blogs. I added ScLoHo to the name of all my blogs along with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and nearly everything I do online that is mine.

I do have separate blogs because each has a different theme. That is to create consistency for the readers of each blogsite so they know what to expect when they visit.

But this is different from what Chris asked regarding Twitter.

Here are the links to many of the places that you will find me online:

My home page is ScLoHo.net. Click Here.

My personal blog is ScLoHo's Really? Click Here.

One of my Advertising, Marketing, Media & Sales blogs is ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom. Collective Wisdom because it features wisdom I've collected from others. Click Here.

The other Advertising, Marketing, Media & Sales blog only features stuff that I write. The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo. Click Here.

You are reading my newest blog, ScLoHo's Social Media Adventure. Click Here to go to the home page.

I mentioned LinkedIn. Click here.

My Facebook page. Click here.

And besides the blogs, I am most active on Twitter. Click here.

What are your thoughts on all of this?

Making Connections on #BlogChat

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my friend Kevin @KMullett would use the hashtag #blogchat on Sunday nights for about an hour on Twitter.

I asked him about it and it seems that one of the uses of Twitter is to create virtual Chat rooms.

A couple weeks ago I joined in on my first #blogchat and it was wild & crazy.

Imagine you are at a large gathering with a few hundred people and everyone is talking at once.

Every once in awhile someone asks a question and you can listen to the responses or add your own comment. Sometimes someone will ask you specifically a question about something you said and of course everyone who is in #blogchat can listen and respond too.

Last night I decided to join in the #blogchat which occurs every Sunday from 9 to 10pm Eastern time.

The topic of discussion last night was what can business bloggers learn from personal bloggers?

Since my blogs and social media brand is a hybrid of business and personal, I tossed a few comments out, and joined in the conversation.

Then this morning, I discovered that something I said caught the attention of Allison Boyer who wrote about it on the BlogWorld.com site:

Overheard on #Blogchat: Share People Stories (@ScLoHo)

By Alli on March 14, 2011

Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: What company blogs can learn from personal bloggers with @1680PR

This week, #blogchat was held LIVE at SXSW. Sad face that I couldn’t go, but happy face that there was still normal #blogchat at night for those of us stuck at home! Actually, I was so busy apartment-hunting that I didn’t get to the online version either, but moderator and host Mack Collier is nice enough to link to the transcript every week, so I was still able to pick out some awesome points to share with you all!

One that stood out to me just a few minutes into the chat:

@ScLoHo: Every business has people. Share people stories on your business blog

Business blogs are too often outlets for company press releases and nothing else. Think about your favorite brands in the world. I like Hershey’s chocolate. I like Gain laundry detergent. I like Dell computers (don’t judge me, that’s a debate for another day, haha). But really, I don’t like any of those companies enough to read announcements about their products every day – or worse, multiple times per day. It’s sometimes nice to know big changes that are coming, but I don’t need constant content that is little more than ads for your brand.

Corporate bloggers, write this down and post it by your computer: A blog is not a commercial.

Adding personality to your corporate blog is, in my opinion, the only way to go. But if you’re a major brand (like Hershey or Gain or Dell), doing that can be tricky, since you have a corporation to represent (not just yourself) and since you’re probably one of several people working on posts. Even as a small business owner, it can be tough to know how to go about adding personality to your blog.

That’s what I love so much about @ScLoHo’s tweet. Telling stories is something I do regularly on my own blog, After Graduation, and companies can definitely learn to do that as well.

• Share the story of how the company was founded and how the business owners helped it evolve into what it is today.
• Share awesome stories from people who work at your company. Feature everyone from board members to factory workers. Feel-good stories that fit your brand well are interesting and help promote your products.
• Share stories from your customers. Not only are you promoting your brand, but you’re starting to build a community by getting your readers involved.

I think that personal bloggers can take some value away from this idea as well. Don’t be afraid to share your story and the stories of readers if they are relevant to your topic. It’s one of the most basic ways we can connect as human beings. Between the press releases, some human interest stories go a long way for corporate blogs, and for personal bloggers, this is a way to spice up your content, doing something different and interesting for your readers.

Today, more and more people are discovering Alli's blog post as it is being shared with links on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN.

This is the power of participating in Social Media.

Thanks Allison! http://twitter.com/allison_boyer/

Be sure to visit the original post at Blogworld and add a comment or two. Click here.

Tuesday on ScLoHo's Social Media Adventure, I will share a recent conversation regarding personal vs. business accounts in social media.

The Death of ________ Media

Sunday's New York Times featured a story that made the rounds yesterday. The headline reads:

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter

Wow, I guess I should stop blogging, because no one is going to read it anymore.

Well, like many other death notices proclaiming the end of __________ media, this one is wrong too.

Last century it was predicted that radio would disappear because of television. (Radio with pictures).

Television was also supposed to kill the movie industry.

Cable television was supposed to kill the broadcast television industry.

The internet was supposed to kill the newspaper business and phone book industries.

That last one (phone books) might happen in the next 10 years.

What really determines if a media lives or dies is money.

Yep. Cash.

Radio, television, newspapers, generally speaking have survived by changing with the times and adjusting their operations to keep positive cash flow. Not all, but many.

But this particular newspaper story doesn't really support the attention getting headline.

Quotes from the story:

Like any aspiring filmmaker, Michael McDonald, a high school senior, used a blog to show off his videos. But discouraged by how few people bothered to visit, he instead started posting his clips on Facebook, where his friends were sure to see and comment on his editing skills...

“I don’t use my blog anymore,” said Mr. McDonald, who lives in San Francisco. “All the people I’m trying to reach are on Facebook.”

Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter, they are losing their allure for many people — particularly the younger generation.

Stop. The younger generation? Teens? Teenagers never dominated the blog world. Skip down a couple of paragraphs and the real story comes out...

...small talk shifted in large part to social networking, said Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder of BlogHer, a women’s blog network. Still, blogs remain a home of more meaty discussions, she said.

“If you’re looking for substantive conversation, you turn to blogs,” Ms. Camahort Page said. “You aren’t going to find it on Facebook, and you aren’t going to find it in 140 characters on Twitter.”

Lee Rainie, director of the Internet and American Life Project, says that blogging is not so much dying as shifting with the times. Entrepreneurs have taken some of the features popularized by blogging and weaved them into other kinds of services.

“The act of telling your story and sharing part of your life with somebody is alive and well — even more so than at the dawn of blogging,” Mr. Rainie said. “It’s just morphing onto other platforms.”

Toni Schneider, chief executive of Automattic, the company that commercializes the WordPress blogging software, explains that WordPress is mostly for serious bloggers, not the younger novices who are defecting to social networking.

In any case, he said bloggers often use Facebook and Twitter to promote their blog posts to a wider audience. Rather than being competitors, he said, they are complementary.

“There is a lot of fragmentation,” Mr. Schneider said. “But at this point, anyone who is taking blogging seriously — they’re using several mediums to get a large amount of their traffic.”

While the younger generation is losing interest in blogging, people approaching middle age and older are sticking with it. Among 34-to-45-year-olds who use the Internet, the percentage who blog increased six points, to 16 percent, in 2010 from two years earlier, the Pew survey found. Blogging by 46-to-55-year-olds increased five percentage points, to 11 percent, while blogging among 65-to-73-year-olds rose two percentage points, to 8 percent.

It takes a certain level of maturity to be a blogger and stick with it. It's not for everyone, but that's okay. You can always play your Farmville games on Facebook.

So, if you hear a prediction or "death notice" about social media, or some form of social media, read the whole story before you join the mourners. Click here to read the NYT story.

The Best 5 of 35?

Last year, a few folks suggested I write more about Social Media.

Some wanted me to teach Social Media.

Others wanted me to justify Social Media.

That last one was a doozy.

So after giving it some thought, I started preparing another website, which you are reading right now, that would share some of what I have learned over the past few years along with some guest posts from others.

Not every one of the previous 35 posts are note worthy, but some are worth checking out again, or if you didn't see them the first time, you can scan thru the list and see what captures your interest:


Here's a video that shows why we should care about Social Media. Pass this on to the skeptics. Click here.


Click here for an Illustrated guide to setting up a blog.

I also presented a weeks worth of Twitter information including this Illustrated guide to setting up your Twitter account, click here

Also regarding Twitter, click here for some Twitter Terms you should know.

And click here to see the application I use and recommend for managing LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

We will continue this journey online and in person.

As a matter of fact, Tuesday 2/22, I get to sit on a Social Media Breakfast panel with some friends and we'll be sharing our perspectives on keeping the social in social media. Click here for more details.

How Often? (Part 2)

Yesterday, I began answering the question How Often should you update your Facebook Status, Tweet, or post on your blog and I omitted why?

Why should you update on a regular basis? Easy answer: It shows that you are really using Social Media as a communication tool, not just experimenting with it. If you are sporadic and unreliable, then I am less likely to pay attention to you.

Facebook is still the most popular Social Media site and last year I started updating my personal Facebook page daily. The results are the more I communicate, the more conversations and feedback I receive.

Oh, and I don't mean updates on Mafia Wars, Farmville, or any of the other silly games.

Let's talk about updating your blog.

This blog was launched a month ago and has been visited over 700 times in the first 30 days. It is updated at the same time, 12 noon, weekdays.

I also have a blog that is updated once a week on Tuesdays and it gets around 300 visits per month. I'm comfortable with this number and it is the minimum I recommend to clients as they are learning and starting out.

On the other extreme, my most popular blog is updated 25 times a week and gets over 6000 visits per month.

So, the more often you update with content that people want to read, odds are in your favor that your blog will attract more readers.

Coming up Friday, a guest post for those of you who are still wondering about this whole social media thing.

The Illustrated Guide to Creating your Blog

I have 7 Blogs, 6 are on the Blogger platform, like this one. Today, I'll take you through the steps to set up your blog. Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Start by going to the Blogger home page. Click here.



If you have a Gmail account that you want to associate with your blog, just sign in. If you want to create a new Gmail account or if you don't have Gmail, click on the Get Started Link.

(Your Gmail account can be used for using most Google Services including Blogger.)



Fill out the required information, do the CAPTCHA and you've created both a Google Account and a Gmail address. You will need to confirm your account by clicking on the link that was sent to the email address you just used.



If you have done everything correctly this is what you should see. Now click on the CREATE YOUR BLOG NOW button and this is what comes up on your screen:



Step 2 is naming your blog. The first section, Blog title can be changed in the future, but the blog address cannot be changed. Pick an address you want to hang on to and check the availability. Once this is completed press CONTINUE.

Now you get to design your blog. There are several templates to choose from and each have options that you can play with. And if you don't care for the design in the future, you can change the design. For demonstration purposes, here's a basic blog I created that is ready to go:

At the top of your new blog is a toolbar. On the right side of the toolbar you can create posts, or customize the design.

Those are the basics of getting started, in the days and weeks ahead, I'll have some more tips on blogging.

Different Focus, Different Readers

We're wrapping up our first week of ScLoHo's Social Media Adventure with a closer look at why I have so many blogs.

First, the blog that gets the most readers, is ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom.

I started this blog in 2005 without a lot of thought or focus. Since then, I set a defined purpose and schedule for this blog and it is now being viewed over 6000 times each month.

Collective Wisdom's purpose is simple and focused...

News, Insight, Research and Training on the Subject of Advertising, Media, Marketing, and Sales. It's a collection from many experts, writers, and gurus, updated at least 3 times daily.

I start with a sales training tip at 6am, 7 days a week.

Monday thru Friday evenings at 6pm, I post Advertising and Marketing News that I receive in a daily email from Mediapost.

Then on most days, I have one mid-day update at noon, or I'll do two updates, one at 10am and another at 2pm. I always have at least 3 updates, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. The majority of the updates are from others. I post information from their emails or blogs with full accreditation, and a link back to the source if it is available.

I'll add my own two cents, but the success of Collective Wisdom is the ability to use the wisdom and resources of others instead of having to write everything myself.

I do have another marketing blog that is entirely my own words but first let's look at my second blog.



This blog was created in 2004 but was dormant for a year as I was deciding what to do with it.

In 2005, I decided to create a personal journal for my friends and family and named it Really?

A couple years later I started branding my blogs with the ScLoHo name and I also started to do some regular features on the Really? blog.

At 6am, 365 days a year, a feature a Fort Wayne site of the day. These are randomly selected websites and blogs that are based in my home town of Fort Wayne Indiana. At 4:08pm, I do an afternoon update of either something personal or something I've found online. Really? has been receiving between 3000 and 3500 views each month.

Now let's look at the other marketing blog that is entirely my own words.



In 2007, my wife thought I should write a book on marketing. Instead I decided to start another blog, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo. Each update would be another chapter and it would be never ending.

I publish a new chapter each Tuesday. As a newer blog with a fraction of the number of posts compared to the other two I've mentioned, it also gets less page views, under 1000 a month.

At the end of 2007, I decided to start writing down some of my political thoughts.
This was when there was a lot of heated debate with the upcoming 2008 Presidential campaign in full swing and I have friends and family who would freely express their thoughts.



I decided I wanted my family to understand my perspective and I started the Political Side of ScLoHo on the WordPress blogging platform.

I do not want my political beliefs to be a detriment in any of my business dealings as I have not let my Christian beliefs get in the way of developing friendships with those who have different beliefs. That is why I kept this blog away from the Blogger blogs that I write.

There are two more blogs to mention besides the one you are reading right now.

In 2007 I started a picture blog that is now updated 3 times a month with random photos.

And last year, I found a website that I could use to create a sort-of radio station. My musical tastes are pretty far ranging and I'm in the process of creating a 5000 song ScLoHo Soundtrack in my sparetime. So far I have about 700 songs saved and ready to play.

Next week I'll introduce you to Twitter; we'll include some guest posts and in the weeks ahead, LinkedIn and I'll also give you more details on how I can post 40 to 50 times a week on these blogs.

Your comments, thoughts and questions are always welcome!