"Reporters often ask Carrie and I if we are friends, which I find interesting because you wouldn't ask two men that." - Marcia Cubitt of clients Essential Bodywear Facebook admitted to artificially inflating its video stats. It is a reminder that sometimes there is not much difference between a social media company report and the average online dating profile. Both have the kind of exaggerations normally only found in Greek mythology. "The social networking site PDQ announced that every post on its site is read by one million people. They also said that their CEO recently defeated a 20 foot tall cyclops using only his brute strength and a carrot peeler."
Most people put less thought into their social media posts than they do into the end-user license agreements they click through. "What do you mean the software company can now legally shoot my pets?!"
If you put a few minutes of care and thought into what you are posting, your social media content will be at a much higher level than most people's. - Cris Back when I worked in radio, an older DJ gave me the advice, "Start out like you can stay out."
That advice works for social media as well. You have to be able to endure over the long haul. So many bands and businesses create one great post and then have no idea what to say the other 364 days of the year. Anyone can post quotes from famous dead people. What can you personally contribute to the social media conversation?
Post reach and post engagement do not go hand in hand. This screen shot shows the stats for two posts that ran on the same Facebook page. The orange bar and corresponding number show the total reach of each post. The numbers in the column on the far right show the total number of post reactions, comments, and shares.
The first post was just text. The second was text with a photo and some tags of other pages. If you believe that social media is only about gimmicks and knowing the "tricks", then the second post should have gotten way more engagement. After all, it apparently made the Facebook algorithm happy and was thus shown to many more people. But it seems that what you post matters just as much as (if not more than) how you post it. Hence why the first post, which was shown to fewer people, had way more likes, comments, and shares than the second one. Despite the algorithms, hashtags, and boosting options, you are still communicating with people. We have a special needs child. He has multiple physical and mental disabilities. The arrival of teenage hormones made his disorders even more complex. On top of that our local school system does not know what to do with him, so right now we don't even have that help. I used to avoid mentioning any of this to current and potential clients, even when they asked about family. Not out of shame, but because I thought I needed to project the image of the perfect businessman, the guy who is so on top of things that his life is problem-free. But recently I decided to just say screw it. For one thing, any kind of façade is tiring to maintain and a waste of energy. Secondly, I am thinking that my experience with my child shows I have more than a little grit. I have been both figuratively and literally smacked around caring for him, but I am still moving forward. I have been calm and persistent even in the most difficult of times. And theoretically, those are traits you want from someone you work with. Because despite the best intentions, problems will happen. There will be bumps in the road. Meanwhile I've known business people who completely lose it when their beverage order is not right. Trust me. You don't want to work with those people. So yes, my wife and I have a special needs child. Yes, this has meant we've had some really challenging times. But this also means I can handle a challenge and keep moving forward. |
AuthorCris Cohen Archives
March 2021
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