Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Likeable Social Media -- A MUST READ for Businesses Large and Small

I've just finished reading LIKEABLE SOCIAL MEDIA by Dave Kerpen.  Boy, did I have a lot to learn in the social media realm. I "understood" that social media has to feel social--personal, friendly, one-on-one--and not come across as a giant "in-your-face" ad...that much I understood from reading other copywriting books...but I had no idea how many ways there are to find the people most interested in what I'm so passionate about (DeForest Kelley, critters, the books I've written, the job I love). NOW I do, after reading this insightful, amazing book! 

My only concern now is finding the time to implement what the author says needs to be done to make online social interaction worth the time I spend doing it... There are only so many hours in the day, and I spend most of them looking for copywriting work. (A little thing called "the cost of living" dictates how much "leisure" I can spend on social media, networking meetings, and the like. You know the drill, if you're in a business that's running just a wee bit better than "breaking even.") But he's right: the more I do it RIGHT (social media interaction) the more I'll develop "fond bonds" with others, and at some point down the road they'll need (or know someone who needs) a copywriter and they'll think of me when they do...not because I "sold" myself all the time, but because I've become a real human being to them and they trust me to do my best to hit their project out of the ball park for  them.

It makes perfect sense.  Get the book. It's worth its weight in gold. I downloaded it on my Kindle Fire and plan to read it at least once more right away... There's too much in it to grasp it all the first time around.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Why Are Post-ers so MEAN These Days?

I just read through some of the Whitney Houston "traffic" and was appalled by the number of people who went out of their way to trash her legacy because she was an insecure, wounded human being with an unhealthy way of dealing with it.

What has happened to the soul of America?  Is nothing sacred anymore?  Is another person's tragedy fodder for gloating like the Pharisees of old, whose "prayers to God" were self-serving propaganda meant for the ears of bystanders? 

Instead of "There but for the grace of God go I..." we get "She got what every addict deserves."

Really?  Really?!!!

I'm not an addict (except to too many calories) so I have no skin in this game. But I have known and loved addicts...and they are, for the most part, absolutely BEAUTIFUL wounded souls looking for  something to take away the pain, the loneliness, or something else that every other human being on the planet requires, too.

Anyone without compassion for them needs a heart transplant. 

OK. I feel better now.  I've had my say.

I am so sick and tired of people trashing each other politically, spiritually, and in every other way.  Have we forgotten what the term "civil-ized" means?

Seems we're becoming a nation of verbal barbarians...and I loathe it.

REPENT!  Unless we do, America is doomed.