Tag: social media

Shaming The Trolls

Dealing with trolls and bots
is part of the social media experience.

Some people try to shame them.
They share the troll response
and ridicule it.

And that is exactly
what the trolls and bots want.

They don’t care
about the ridicule.
They drop a comment
and run.

They care about reach.
And by shaming the troll or bot,
that reach is expanded.

Instead,
I block the trolls and bots.

I’m not going to change
the mind
of a computer
or of a human
paid to cause chaos.

There’s no point
in arguing with them.

I simply sever their reach
and remove them
from my feed completely.

Block the trolls and bots
and move on.

Keeping A Needed Job In The Era Of Social Media

A buddy got fired
from a much needed job
because she posted
under her own name
on social media
about Gaza.

This happens.
Quite often.

Most companies
have slipped
into their employment contracts
clauses stating
if you portray them
in a bad light
that can be grounds
for being fired.

This can impact you
before you’re hired.

Many managers
scour social media
for their job candidates’ accounts
looking for a reason
to disqualify them
from the job search.

They’re looking for stances or beliefs
they don’t agree with,
for photos
they don’t want representing
their companies,
for, heck, any mention
of the job search,
and many other things.

I don’t have a social media account
under my real name
for this and other reasons.
I also don’t have photos of me
attached to my social media accounts
(due to facial recognition software).

If you do have a social media account
under your real name,
know that you can be fired
or targeted for anything
you post.

Weigh the risks
before you post.

Going Viral Isn’t Always The Solution

I had a social media post
go viral recently.
It received many, MANY thousands
of likes.

I didn’t receive
any new followers
due to that post.
Not one.

Sales
didn’t increase
due to it.

I gained no additional satisfaction
from the post
being seen by so many people.

All it did
was suck a lot of my time
as I had to manage the responses.

Going viral isn’t always
the solution
to your marketing woes.

Look into
a variety of possible solutions
and hope
one of those
works for you.

Female Facing

In yesterday’s post,
I used the term
‘female facing.’

Being female facing
AS A BUSINESS
is a choice.

Our businesses
can be any gender
we wish them to be,
including genderless.

In the Romance Novel writing business,
for example,
I might wish my branding
to be genderless
to appeal to a certain
target market.

I might use initials
instead of a first name
in my pen name
(company name)
and I might use
genderless avatars
on social media.

I would be female
but I wouldn’t be female facing.

Being female facing
AS A BUSINESS
is a choice.

Make that decision
consciously.

The Sweetie Block

If you’re female facing
and a male facing person
uses ‘sweetie’
when posting to your message
online,
block that person.

Hell, save yourself
future trouble
and
block anyone
who uses ‘sweetie’ in that way
with any female facing person.

‘Sweetie’ is not only
condescending
and patronizing,
a means of belittling
you and your views,
but it is also
a dog whistle
to women haters everywhere.

By using it,
the person
is intentionally sending
a wave of hate
your way.
They are deliberately
trying to harm you.

The use of ‘sweetie’
is meant
to attract
more of those awful people
to your account
and to you.

You’ll be swamped
by hate
and you’ll have to manage that.

No one has time
for that sh*t.

View ‘sweetie’
as an automatic block.

Fast Tasks

When I have a couple spare minutes,
I schedule a promotional post
for a book (product)
or
I shred some documents
or
I take some photos
of interesting textures
for backgrounds
or…

I have a list of
tasks
that need to be done
yet don’t take much time.

And I used them
as filler
in my schedule.

A call got cancelled?
I do one of these tasks.

I finish a chapter early?
I do one of these tasks.

I have to wait for something
or someone?
I do one of these tasks.

I don’t waste these short durations
of time.
And the little tasks
all add up.

Keep a list
of fast tasks.

Complete tasks on that list
when you have a snippet
of extra time.

If They Don’t Ask Me Directly…

A writer posted a question
about my specific niche.

I thought about answering it
but then I realized
if they had explored the niche
at all,
they know I write in it.

It would have been
super easy
for them
to ask me that question.

They didn’t.
Which likely meant
they didn’t want my input.

So I saved myself
some time and frustration
and went back to work
on my projects.

If you’re not asked
a question
directly,
think hard
about whether or not
you want to expend energy
answering that question.
Especially on social media.

Your time is precious.
Protect it.

The Alternatives To Twitter

The alternatives to Twitter
(or X
or whatever he’s calling the site
today)
all currently suck.

They’re new.
They have bugs.
They don’t yet have
the customer base
to make it
worth a big company’s while
to invest time into.

And I suspect
only one of them
will survive.

I’m investing a bit
of time into them,
however.

Why?

Because some of
the big influencers
in my industry are doing the same.

And because
there aren’t many people
using the sites right now,
they are willing to follow
and promote…
me
and my books (products).

That is exposing my books (products)
to huge new-to-me readerships (customers).
And I’m building relationships
with these influencers.

Consider joining
the Twitter alternatives.

One Social Media Company

I’ve seen quite a few posts
from people
thrilled to have
all their social media platforms
owned by one company.

Speaking as someone
who has lost
one of her social media platforms
for no valid reason
(and yes, that social media platform
was owned by that one company),
you don’t want one company
to own all your social media platforms.

When you give banned
from one platform,
you’ll be banned
from all of them.

And, if you are running a business,
there is a good chance
you WILL be banned
from one of your social media platforms.

You could get hacked.
You could receive a complaint.
You could be selling
a product/service
that social media platform owner
doesn’t approve of.
Heck, you could be a person
that social media platform owner
doesn’t like.

Poof.
All your contacts
on all your social media platforms
are gone.

Ensure all of your social media platforms
aren’t owned by one big company.

Mitigate your risk.

And ensure you own
at least one online contact point.

If You’re Arguing On Social Media…

Yesterday,
I was a heartbeat away
from arguing with a stranger
on social media
about something non-business related.

I caught myself
in time.
And I realized…

I should be funneling
that energy
into my business.

Arguing with a stranger
wouldn’t accomplish
anything.

I was unlikely
to change his mind.
He was unlikely
to educate me
in any way.

All it would be
was a time suck
and an energy drain.

I closed social media
for the day
and I worked on my business.

When you find yourself
arguing
with strangers
on social media,
that’s a sign.

It is time
to get back to work.