By Alexandra Reid
At Social Media Breakfast Ottawa yesterday, Sam Ladner presented her research on the mobile work life, which seeks to add to our current understanding of the smartphone and its impact on work/life balance, practically, culturally and symbolically.
According to Ladner, smartphones fundamentally transform the way we communicate at work, at home and in between. We are now contacting people as they move through multiple social contexts through an array of channels, including voice, text, email, calendaring and other applications. In her opinion, the complexity of the mobile space has been swept under the rug. Mobile phones are reconfiguring our habitual social interactions, yet we know little about how and in what ways those interactions are changing. Ladner’s presentation brought to light a number of important findings.
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By Alexandra Reid
Social media has transformed the way we communicate online, but creating content for the social web does not require a revolution in the way that we have traditionally produced content. News value and proper writing style still apply; what has changed is the environment, which provides us with new tools that require a more conversational approach and faster pace to producing content.
New media still favours content that is newsworthy and concise. The core components of newsworthy content a hundred years ago maintain relevancy in today’s social web, which are timing, proximity, significance, prominence and humanity. The same rules for good writing are also valued today. Brevity is still regarded by many as the soul of wit. Grammar, spelling and proper sentence style are still integral to demonstrating professionalism and authority.
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By Alexandra Reid
It’s still the summer and the New Year seems a long way off, but while we’ve all been enjoying these nice manageable months, strenuous September has crept up and now lurks around the corner. This may be your best time to start thinking ahead about how to realign your social media strategy to stay competitive in the coming year.
It’s prep time, and for us social media professionals, that means looking at research and trends to predict where the social media engine will go and ensure we all stay on board. To make the most accurate predictions, I have taken into account projections made in the past as well as the most recent information I can find on the subject, adding my own interpretations based, in some cases, on my own experiences.
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By Alexandra Reid
I’ll come out honestly and say that I’ve been using automation software for a long time now. Social media purists, go ahead and hiss at me if you will. I only ask that you hear me out.
For the last year or so, I’ve used automation software to schedule posts for this blog and tweets for Twitter. Just last week, I went a bit farther and purchased an automation tool to help me grow Twitter communities. And you know what? I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it. As a social media enthusiast and community manager for multiple accounts, I find it a necessary time saver.
Let me be quick to say that I do not use automation software for everything. In fact, I only use it for those menial, repetitive tasks like hitting the “post” and “follow” buttons. All the important work, including crafting messages and direct messages, engaging with others, searching for quality articles to share and locating those key industry influencers is done manually by me. In no way does the automation software deplete the quality of my accounts. It’s because of the automation software that I have time to engage with good people, which, while essential and the most fun, is often the most time consuming part of social media.
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By Alexandra Reid
This is the last installment of my three-part series on tactical methods companies can use to carry out rebranding across multiple social media accounts. In the last two weeks, I have discussed common pitfalls companies face during the process of changing their names and images on a variety of social channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs and how to overcome them. Today, I’ll focus on how to change your company’s social media voice during the rebranding process, and how to know if changing your voice is even necessary.
A strong social media company voice
In our every day social interactions, many of us naturally seek out others who are centered and grounded. These qualities are expressed through consistency and stability of personality and are integral to maintaining healthy, long-term relationships, whether they are personal or business.
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