Book Review: Likeable Social Media

March 01, 2016 by Dustin Ramsdell in Book Reviews, Social Media, Positivity

I finishing reading this book over weekend after it was sitting in my Amazon Wish List for the longest time. Likeable Social Media (I read the new, revised edition) is a book by Dave Kerpen, who works with Likeable Media and Likeable Local to help companies of all kinds maximize word-of-mouth marketing as well as inbound marketing via social media (as the title would imply). Kerpen covers an array of tips and stories on this broad topic, and the end result is a pretty easy read with some great actionable ideas.

I read another one of Kerpen's books, Likeable Leadership, which was a collection of his personal and professional blog posts. I liked that book, which turned me onto this other work of his. Some of the stories are the same but their helpful impact was only furthered through their inclusion here where they are put into a more thoughtful context. The body of the book focuses on 18 tips to help utilize social media in a "likeable" fashion. Kerpen includes advice on how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more. The advice can be summed up as being authentic, friendly, responsive, and relevant to your audience. Provide content they enjoy, can get value from, and want to share. This will help them have a positive impression of your business and want to be a paying customer. A lot of this stuff was familiar to me from the education I've gotten recently about inbound marketing from places like Hubspot.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to brush up on some baseline tips for social media use. Whether you're a nonprofit, small business, or higher ed institution; you can find something useful here. While to me, it started to get redundant at the end, it served to further emphasize the solid points made earlier.

Thanks for stopping by!

Organic VS Promoted Content: Which Reigns Supreme?

August 12, 2015 by Dustin Ramsdell in Social Media

* This post is edited from the original, which was featured on Socialnomics.

So I am personally all about all-natural, organic, and sustainable stuff. Whether it is the toothpaste I use, the food I eat, or how I buy pretty much anything in my life, having something feel real and not artificial is important to me. This combines with my respect for authenticity and transparency in relationships. My overall preference for the "real deal" even comes into social media with the curious question I’ve stumbled upon when it comes to social media marketing; should one pay to promote or not?

Within the past year, both Facebook and Twitter launched the capacity for users to pay to promote their posts and tweets respectively. Facebook already had their “Ads” that would show up on the side of users’ timelines, but these two new functions put your promoted content right in the personal feeds of your customers. It comes, understandably, from the need to monetize these popular sites, but the real question comes in as to what is the best use of an organization’s money when it comes to engaging your audience; are you really getting what you pay for? Obviously, ideally your content will make it’s way out into the world on it’s own but usually, customers aren’t just following you, they’re following all sorts of different pages, even your competitors for business.

So it seems logical, you want the edge so you pay for promotion and you squash out the competition. Right? Well, the jury is still out on that. Not to say that promoted posts are not useful, but they also aren’t shown to be the way to go for every business and for every post. Social media is about engagement, and using paid promotion for posts can come across as spammy and inauthentic. Facebook paid promotions can be useful to get the word out about a new offer you have for your business or for an upcoming event since they only go out to those who “like” your page, as opposed to Facebook ads that go out to anyone and everyone. The same goes for Twitter. Think about what you’re posting and what is worth it to pay to get out to everyone and sort of muscle your way into their feed.

Another consideration to make is where you are putting this content. Are your customers even on Facebook or are they on Pinterest? Does your content make sense for the social media site you are promoting on? Facebook is different from Twitter which is different from LinkedIn which is different from Instagram (which also now supports ads). It is important to be intentional about the core what, where, when and why of posts in order to get the greatest results. From my perspective, the general logic here should focus on a few points: moderation (as with all things), organic engagement & paid promotion, and lastly, cater to the medium. For this last bit, whether that means you cover your basis on every social networking site or hone in on one, you can save a lot of money and time by knowing where your audience is and creating content for that particular venue. Doing all this will create an authentic aura that avoids the negative connotations of spam ads and allows for you to get the word out on all the great things your organization is up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 07/31/15

July 31, 2015 by Dustin Ramsdell in Weekly Geek Outs

Greetings!

Here's what was going on in my world this week:

Ex Machina

I rented this movie from Redbox the other day and it was certainly worth it. I had heard a lot of good buzz from its initial release but just never got around to watching. Once I saw it available to rent, I put it on my list. It is a haunting, intriguing, original, disturbing, and entertaining sci-fi thriller that confronts the realities of artificial intelligence and human hubris. I really enjoyed the movie and it is definitely worth checking out for any sci-fi fans out there. It is easily the Snowpiercer of this year for me.

Twitter

There has been some interesting news lately about Twitter, it's revenues, possible changes, and overall the future of the site in the social media landscape. They have already made changes that make it feel more like Facebook, and it only seems to be wanting to go more in that direction if all goes according to the recent rumors. I love Twitter, and I don't think it needs to alter the core of the site too much. It has been my more preferred social media site for the past couple of years, and I hope it continues to be that way.

Live Maine

I happened upon this cool lifestyle company recently and ordered a few goodies from it. They have shirts, stickers, hats, and pint glasses with cool Maine logos on them. As someone who was born here, it always will have a soft spot in my heart, and getting stuff from local companies like this to represent my home state makes me happy. Buy local, people!

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 04/24/15

April 24, 2015 by Dustin Ramsdell in Weekly Geek Outs

Hey there! Good to see you!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

#SAChat

I moderated this past week's daytime chat about designing your environment to support productivity and student success. I hadn't moderated a daytime chat in some time, and it is always a lot of fun seeing all the professionals engage on a topic and facilitating the conversation. I moderate the chats every once in a while but it is usually an odd evening chat, which isn't as lively (yet). While there was an interesting (and fair) discussion surrounding a post about the value of the chats and their lack of "discussion", I still think it is one of the best ways for student affairs folks to interact and learn from each other.

Adulting Update

So I went to try to register my new car the other day and it was a frustrating bureaucratic nightmare. I ended up not being able to that day and needing to get more paperwork. It was not this hard to do the same thing in my home state of Delaware (obviously different beasts) but my main point is that this is one of the few things (so far) that I haven't enjoyed about my early adventures in adulthood. I wish things like this could be easier (and not as expensive) but alas, such is existing as a adult and doing the things you need to do.

Travel

I booked my next travel trip recently; I'm going to fly out to Illinois to visit a good friend of mine from graduate school that I haven't seen since about the same time last year. I'll be going in late June for the weekend to see him, his campus, and Chicago (which I've never been to before). I'm excited that each month this year has had a different trip and stay, even if it is just for a weekend. I've been able to explore new areas, see old friends, and spend quality time with my partner. It's great and big change from my earlier years where I did no travel whatsoever. I'm grateful for the opportunity now to travel and I hope it continues to be the trend.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 09/19/14

September 19, 2014 by Dustin Ramsdell in Nerdy Stuff, Social Media, Weekly Geek Outs

Come geek out with me!

Hey there! Thanks for checking out what I'm geeking out about this week. This has been a random week of awesome stuff that I want to share with you all so lets dive in!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 Trailer

This amazing trailer dropped this week and it is really getting me hyped for this movie. There isn't much else coming out this fall that I'm getting a lot of buzz for so I'm definitely going to look forward to seeing THG: Mockingjay P1 when it comes out November 21. I've warmed to this series of films, especially with Catching Fire being really great. The first movie didn't do too much for me and I was just left wanting basically what is happening in this movie to happen. Catching Fire was a solid bridge movie though and definitely worth a watch before Nov. 21!

Apple iOS 8

I upgraded my various Apple devices this week to the new operating system and have been loving all the new little features. I always appreciate that every year, with the new iOS updates, I feel more value coming into my pocket at no cost to me. Apple definitely does well by me with their continuous improvements. I can't wait to get OS X Yosemite on my laptop and desktop!

@midnight

I've been enjoying this late night comedy show hosted by my role model, Chris Hardwick, since it premiered earlier this year. They've been very consistent with the quality and the guests and I find myself watching it every day along with current episodes of The Daily Show. They crush it with their signature Hashtag Wars on Twitter (even when they're off the air for breaks!). I also can't complain with seeing Chris Hardwick more often on my television. He's so great, the show is great, check it out now!

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 06/20/14

June 20, 2014 by Dustin Ramsdell in Weekly Geek Outs

Hey there! Welcome to another week of geek! Here's what I've been into lately:

#SAChat Meetup

I had the privilege to be able to go to this great hang in NYC put on by my former internship, Swift Kick, who runs The Student Affairs Collective and facilitates #SAChat on Twitter. A nice crowd of professionals from around the area came to mingle and I had a lot of fun. Folks knew about me and knew about the blog so it was quite flattering and inspiring to keep this whole thing going! Also, be sure to connect at the title link to never miss any of the upcoming meetups that are sure to happen across the country.

Game of Thrones

I'm finally catching up on this show since I have time and I'm almost finished this past season that just wrapped up. I'm not as much into fantasy as sci-fi but this show has such a rich narrative with a great ensemble of characters, it keeps me coming back for more. I'm excited to see how this season ends so no spoilers!

Grounds for Sculpture

My partner and I went here this past week as we're both moving away from the area soon, so we wanted to check it out before we left. I really enjoyed it, since it was a serene park with amazing sculptures around that made it feel like you were walking into a painting. I really appreciate that something like this exists for families and the community to enjoy. There should be more places like this! If you're in Jersey sometime this summer, do yourself a favor and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Support for #YesAllWomen & The Real Issues Behind Elliot Rodger

May 26, 2014 by Dustin Ramsdell in Social Justice, Social Media

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPFcspwbrq8] I felt the urge to share this video* because I feel it is important as a male feminist ally. Laci Green sums up the issues very well behind why someone would do the terrible things Elliot Rodger did and how misogyny is literally killing people.

* Warning: Footage of Elliot Rodger is shown in this video, albeit a brief clip. I know some people may not want to see him/hear him, so I am including this caveat to the above video.

Support #YesAllWomen on Twitter with a retweet, favorite, or even just taking some time to read all of the messages. There is some great learning and catharsis happening on there.