My Worst Client Ever

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 / shobavish / Leave a comment

Me!

While I have had some experiences worthy of Clients from Hell, here’s what qualifies me for worst client status. I am all about advocating for integrating all the social networking sites. Am I doing this? No! Well, not enough. I have a desultory approach to brand building and tend to stop short and I second-guess myself.

The truth is, it is hard to justify the time to sit down and work on my blog, promoting my FB page or expanding my twitter presence. Secondly, it is hard to do it in a focused or defined manner. My excuse is that mine is a diversified brand and since I am a service provider, I don’t want to focus on one and run the risk of losing out on a different customer base. And isn’t it more important to spend time on finding actual work than on secondary marketing efforts? I also have extreme squeamishness about overt promotion to friends and family, which can get in the way of marketing, as you can well imagine.

I’m very sympathetic to clients who are unwilling to spend the time on social media marketing or are unable to define one service because I understand that this is complicated business. Just because it is social and fun, and many people do it in their spare time, does not make it simple or easy. The truth is these clients, like me, are not committing to the project and, again like me, they are unwilling to prioritize. It is easier to see other things are real work.

I read this very interesting write-up by Betty Ming Liu called 5 Reasons Why You Need to Blog a while ago. Every one of the reasons she has mentioned applies to overall social media participation. I particularly like No. 3 and No. 5:

Reason #3: My blog functions as a living room for conversations that help me grow. Everyone tells me that my site looks good and the content is interesting. What often impresses them the most are the reader comments. People take time to write heartfelt, thoughtful things. And when I’m job hunting, y’all make me look good because prospective employers notice the company I keep.

Reason #5: Your blog can connect you with people, ideas and opportunities you would otherwise miss. This last reason is why I keep blogging. This blog — and you — have given me profound insight on my life. Sometimes, clarity comes from simply getting down the words that were rattling in my head. Add to that the comments, which get me looking at things in different ways. The interaction with you is 21st century magic-making. And couldn’t we all use a little more magic?

I believe that social media participation is fairly critical to becoming more defined for all my clients. Whether it is for the small business owner who wants an About Page or a corporate executive who needs a well-researched white paper or an author who is looking for a copy-edit, it helps when they can look me up and see my social networking context, content and company. How do I know this? I look up people I work with as a matter of course. I get a sense of the person or the business based on their web presence. (I look up a zillion other things like new authors, back stories of TV shows I like and reviews of local restaurants and salons – I am a key part of the high statistics of search marketing!)

So, this post is a reminder to myself:

Practice what you preach.
You don’t have to wait to get it all just right – there’s bound to be a learning curve.
Stay open to the new directions that may open up when trying the different paths.
It is okay to play favorites, as it may not be possible to participate in all of them equally.
Remember that commenting and engaging are as important as creating posts, tweets and status updates.
It is a social experience and it’s okay to have fun with it.
If thinking of it as self-promotion is stopping you, approach it as bringing people or ideas together.

Here’s hoping that I listen to all this great advice!

The One Third Social Media Rule (socialbusinesstoday.net)
“Demystifying Social Media” (danerwin.typepad.com)

Two Posts and Desiderata

Friday, May 25th, 2012 / shobavish / 15 Comments

Two things that I need to share from my blogosphere journeys this week:

Introverted Blogger’s post Follow On about the challenges of managing our time as bloggers in terms of commenting and following was spot on. She chose one of the universal themes of the social media age in asking the question about how much is enough time to spend on the liking and commenting. The post and the comments make it clear that many of us are grappling with this issue.

Tartx’s post blogging without obligation which absolutely resonated with me and made me add a badge to my blog. She has offered a solution to all my feelings of angst and guilt about blogging irregularly and being an itinerant visitor to blogs I follow. The deal is this personal blog was supposed to be fun, a hobby. Cant feel guilty about not eating chocolate or getting a chance to belt it out in the shower. When it happens, it is great; when it doesnt….

All this got me thinking about how people should be gentle with themselves, and then I remembered this poem Desiderata which I had up on my wall in in earnest teenage years. I went back to read it and found that portions of it applies to all social media engagement. I kid you not. The rest – you can decide applies to life at large!

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

I like the story behind this poem – it was purported for long that it was found in “Old St.Paul’s Church in 1692”; it has since been established that it was written by Max Ehrmann, an Indiana poet and lawyer, sometime in the 1920s.

So, my takeways:

Blog when you have something to share.
Follow those who intrigue you.
Comment when you can contribute to the conversation.
Like when you really want the writer to know that you appreciated their post – the idea, the language, the photo, the viewpoint etc.
Think before you do any of the above!

Books and Their Covers

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 / shobavish / 17 Comments

Yes, we are not supposed to judge books by their covers. And we are not supposed to snack before dinner or talk while eating. But we do. Not you perfect people, just the rest of us mere mortals. And what is more – it can be a joyful journey of discovery to move from the point of a cover catching your eye at the book store, through the browsing of the blurb and author bio, to a great read at your favorite reading spot at home. And how I date myself with that description of bookstores and physical browsing!

While I have been a life-long fan of good book covers, I got a whole new perspective on the aesthetics of book covers when I heard Chip Kidd talk about the topic of cover design:

This, of course, got me thinking about the possibility of doing a post about great book covers and, not surprisingly, Flavorwire has beaten me to the idea with a great collection called the 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever and followed it up with 10 best book covers of 2011. Given that they have covered the long and the short run, I continued my research. And in the way of the Internet, I stopped to read their quirky list of 10 Crazy and Unusual Book Designs – which by the way, includes a cook book that can be eaten – and also discovered Lovely Book Covers.

Here’s my personal angle: A book that I picked up purely because the cover caught my eye, before I knew it was by Amitav Ghosh, and one that I’d happily recommend to others now is The Calcutta Chromosome.