Courting social media groups - very smart marketing

I took a couple of days off following Veteran’s day. Not for anything important just for the pleasure of having a couple of beautiful San Antonio fall days at home, some time to take care of a few administrative details of life and to work on a couple of writing projects.

I opened the house up and aired it out and wrote some on my National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWrimo, project, went out to the Roy Maas Youth Alternatives facility in Boerne, Texas for a tour and some interviews for an upcoming article and went to a tweetup at Patty Lou’s Restaurant where Jalepeno Pancakes and friends involved in communicating were the special draw. I really enjoyed the food and the company. If you get a chance, I’d recommend a breakfast there sometime. The prices are great and the place reminds me of a small-town cafe in almost any town, including my own hometown of Chehalis, Wash. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is on the corner of McCullough and Hildebrand.

If you have a small business and social media group in your home town, I recommend joining it. It usually is free and you will be surprised at how many like-minded people you will meet. There will be techies, journalists, bloggers and people who just enjoy telling great stories through social and traditional media outlets. They are generous with their ideas and really work to help people get in tune with the best uses for social media. I learn something from the great group here in San Antonio every time I get a chance to meet up, or tweetup, with them.


One of the things we talked about was how smart businesses were currently courting the active social media set with great results. These people are in touch with their communities and come with their own built-in networks. When they join those networks together, they create a powerful communication tool. Courting your local social media group is very smart marketing. If you are a small business, or a start-up and you want to create a buzz about your services, invite the local social media club to come and see what you do. Make an event out of it so that there is value added for attending. Ask them to “report” the event. Most of the time you won’t have to ask them to report, they will just do it because that is what they are all about. Instant buzz for the cost of a few refreshments, some entertainment or a discount.

We also talked about bad examples of social media use. We looked at citizen journalists who “reported” on the shootings at Ft. Hood. Not all of the comments were good because, contrary to popular belief, reporters don’t want all the gory details. The folks I sat with brought up some really bad examples of citizen journalism that violated some very basic rules of privacy, namely the HIPA rights patients have -- no matter who they are. The one citizen journalist that made the “I’ll never follow a person like that” list was someone at the hospital where the shooter was taken. They were tweeting about how the patient looked and how they couldn’t believe that he was brought there at all - and a few other unsavory comments. Lesson learned, even though - and probably because - twitter is instant, some things are still better left unsaid.

If ou live here in San Antonio, check out the Social media club visit http://smc-sa.ning.com/

How to eat a 50,000 word elephant

Ok so I had one of those defining moments today. Not a define my life one but just for the morning. Unfortunately it came about an hour and a half before the alarm was to sound off. Dogs. My dogs. Yup, they decided they had to get up early just like we did on my Air Force Reserve recent weekend. And, they stinkers waited until Tuesday to pull this one. They wanted to get up, go out, play, snack and now, still an hour before it is time to get up, they are asleep on the foot of my recliner. I am defined as tired and under caffeinated. The only way to fix that is to start my day and caffeinate, one sip at a time.

I’m also using this time to write. I need every second these days. I’m embroiled in the National Novel Writing Month event. The goal is 50,000 words written during the month of November. That’s doable. Until I started doing it, I didn’t think I could write that much. Thats only 1,667 words a day. And they don’t have to be great. Meaning, do your best to tell a story but don’t dwell on producing publisher-ready copy every time you sit down with your paper or computer. I love the concept of NaNoWriMo because it gives you permission to mess up and press on. Because of that permission, the pressure is off. Getting to 50,000 should be pretty easy. I’ve been able to keep up in just an hour or two a day. But, I planned, plotted, made characters, drew little maps and daydreamed a bit about this story.

That same concept can be applied to any kind of writing. Many times the thought of doing a class paper, writing an article that is longer than normal or writing their first one is an overwhelming task. You know the questions, how many pages or how many words does it have to be. The same thought holds many people back until right before deadline and causes writers to just put something down on the paper to fill the block. We are all guilty of days like that but it shouldn’t be the normal way of doing our business. Writing may be an art, but it is also business.

The trick, the real trick, is to just start writing the story. No matter what you are writing, news, feature or a first novel, plan for it, tell yourself about the story information while driving or pacing , plot it and then attack it one word at a time, treat it like the business it is and get to work. Once you’ve thrown it all on the paper then edit. if you write down what you’ve told yourself about the subject, you’ll be at the end before you know it. The cool thing about that...is you can start the next one.

Now, a refill for my cup and back to work on those 50,000 words. I'll make it, one sip and one word at a time.