Friday's Fancies

I love social media. As an aspiring digital marketer, I think it is especially cool because the internet offers so many opportunities for brands to experiment with new strategies and tactics. Which is why I am always interested when I find a brand that tries something fun and innovative using online platforms. In this case, the company that I am excited about is Lilly Pulitzer. If you don't know already, I love Lilly prints. In a perfect world where the clothes weren't quite as pricey and/or I had a full-time job already, there would be many more Lilly pieces in my closet. I am lucky that there are other ways I have been able to incorporate the brand into my life though. The company's blog offers a free print gallery, and that is where I got the cherry begonia imagery I used to design my own weblog. So thank you Lilly Pulitzer for helping me make my blog cute!

...but back to what the brand is doing right now that I think is really awesome. Teaming up with {AV} and her blog Long Distance Loving, Lilly has created an online campaign/contest of sorts that has not only increased online engagement, but that will reach audiences the brand might not have ever had access to before -- all with very little cost to the company. Essentially, people like me (bloggers) are doing all the work for them. Genius. 

This is how it works. Participants go to {AV}'s blog post to learn more about the "Jungle Glam Giveaway" as well as how to enter. The next step is to follow a series of actions that further connect users to the brand (i.e. follow Lilly and Long Distance Loving on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, etc.). One of the last steps is to create a "Friday's Fancies" blog post featuring (at least two) pieces from Lilly Pulitzer's new Jungle Glam Resort collection. As a social media geek and a blogging Lilly fan, I was excited to not only talk about the campaign but also to participate. Below you will find what my selections would be from the Resort collection :]

I live in the greater Chicago area, so yesterday was a very sad day for me because we got our first snow flurries :( I am definitely not ready for it to be winter! While the Jungle Glam Resort collection has me dreaming of warmer weather, the reality of the situation is that flowy fabrics  are not always the best choice on a cold, overcast day. Which is why when I was making my selections from the collection, I thought of what might add a little sunshine to my life without causing me to freeze to death. These are my choices.

1. The coral colored Vicki Dress. I love the sweet heart top and how the lace gives the dress subtle texture. 
2. Paired with a Paley Cardigan in "True Navy Reef Me Up." As I mentioned before, it's cold outside! I love how this cardigan is a way to add a Lilly Pulitzer print (and warmth!) to the outfit that brings out the coral color in the dress :]
3. Cute accessories to tie together the dress and sweater. I picked the "Pink Tomato Sea Coral" Critter Earrings with a couple Upscale Bangles.
4. A shimmery Glam it up Clutch.
5. And last, but certainly not least, some neutral peep-toe pumps! I think a nude shoe is really pretty but love how these have a tiny bit of gold on them also. Even though I already have shoes that are similar, I would still appreciate a pair of Resort Chic Wedge Button heels in "Sand."

There were so many pretty options that I had a really hard time picking mine. I could probably make two or three more combinations that I would be happy to wear out in the city. Even now I'm second guessing my choices (why didn't I add a thin, gold Coil Belt?). Regardless, I think this is a super cute outfit that I wish I had to wear out this weekend. We're celebrating my birthday and this would be the perfect ensemble to wear on my birthday dinner/date night.

So cross your fingers for me that my submission is worthy of $750 in Lilly merchandise (I am currently a poor post-grad and could really use the wardrobe update), or even just the dress and shoes! If you are also a Lilly Pulitzer fan like me, have fun browsing the new collection and maybe put your own outfits together :]

What do you think of Lilly Pulitzer's campaign? 

Are All Opinions Created Equal?

Sorry to be MIA for a bit, but the past week has been much busier than I anticipated. I currently have content in the pipeline now, so hopefully I won't have to disappear again for a while :]

The story I want to write about today may be dated, but this is something I have wanted to address for some time now. In one of my early entries, I touched on how crucial it is to know one's audience; then in my post The Importance of Being Transparent I spoke to how those participating in social media should be honest and upfront in their interactions. In this entry, I plan to marry the two aforementioned topics. 

It all started with a simple ad campaign. A couple weeks ago, ChapStick got itself into quite the pickle with the accompanying advertisement featuring a woman searching behind the couch for a lost ChapStick. A blogger wrote about how she deemed the picture offensive and degrading to women, which then triggered a social media disaster. When the same blogger left comments on ChapStick's Facebook fan page, the brand began deleting comments. Users continued to post, demanding to know why their comments had been deleted, and the interactions started to spiral out of control. The article I read about the issue suggested that ChapStick should simply issue an apology, remove the image, and move on. In accordance with my policy on transparency, I agree that ChapStick was wrong to delete user comments; however I disagree that the brand needed to cower, tail between its legs and apologize. Personally, when I first read the headline and then saw the picture, I was confused. I was thinking THAT'S the image that is so offensive? Really? Compared to many of the advertisements selling sex today, this picture seemed pretty tame to me. Additionally, it is an advertisement I can relate to. I absolutely LOVE strawberry ChapStick. I buy a three pack every time I go to Wal-Mart because I can't find that flavor anywhere else. I have one in my purse, on my desk, in various jacket pockets, you name it. Part of the reason why I have so many is because they are easy to lose! So for me, I look at this picture and think, Yep. I have definitely been that girl before. And apparently, based on some of the user comments to the blog post that started it all, I am not alone. 

Which makes me wonder, Are all opinions created equal? 

The originating blog post was from a feminist source which regularly speaks to women and sexuality in advertising. My guess is that this was one more way to keep fresh content on the site. Also, as I mentioned in my post Hooray for Cross-Promotion, posting links to other platforms such as Facebook is an important practice for bloggers, as it helps to drive traffic. The author was certainly smart to use ChapStick's Facebook fan page to draw a wider audience to her own blog. But did ChapStick respond appropriately? I think not.

I have not done the market research on who ChapStick's consumers are, but my guess is that there is a small intersection between those who buy the product and those who would be seriously offended by the advertisement. Social media is wonderful because it gives everyone a voice and can make anyone an expert. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and has the opportunity to be heard. However, I do not think that means everyone deserves to be listened to. There is no way that a brand can please every individual with an advertisement, and there will always be someone who wants to complain. I think that in this instance, ChapStick should have let the issue go. Leave the disgruntled user comments and recognize that they are probably in the minority. The brand could have perhaps joined the conversation by apologizing to the blogger for offending her lady like sensibilities and then letting her know that the advertisement was not meant to sell sex. I think removing the advertisement is a bit far though. I recognize that in some situations, a brand needs to backtrack when they have created an advertisement that offends a large group of people, but I do not think this was one of those situations. 

Which brings me to the biggest lessons that I think can be learned from ChapStick.

1. BE TRANSPARENT! I don't think I can say it enough. Be who you are and let your audience be who they will be. Don't delete comments. Instead, use them to build brand equity. Even complaints are an opportunity for interaction. 
2. Really work on identifying your audience. If you are speaking to a group of feminists, maybe an image of a woman with her butt in the air is not the best choice. But if those same feminists are only a handful of people who object to an advertisement that resonates with a majority of your consumers, then maybe there are other avenues you should explore rather than pulling the advertisement. Perhaps not all opinions are created equal...

What do you think about this issue? Was the advertisement so extreme that ChapStick needed to remove it?

Hooray for Cross-Promotion!

My last couple entries represented a fairly big step for me in the world of blogging - I made my first attempts at cross-promotion, and the results were much better than I expected. By posting two links on my own Facebook wall, I'm still only taking baby steps at this point, but that is an improvement, right? One thing I'm learning through this experience is why brands are often so hesitant to try something new. It is much easier to recommend to a team that they change their brand or execute a strategic modification than it is to do the same for your own. As this blog represents my personal brand, I was a bit afraid of what promoting it might do. The internet makes actions seem ultra permanent, because once you put something out there, you can never really take it back. What if no one liked my blog? That is why up until this point, I was happy writing in my blog even though virtually no one was reading it. However, through the experience I had the last few days, I can understand why cross-promoting is an essential on-line practice for brands.

Before I posted my first link to an entry on Facebook, this blog had achieved a total of maybe 20 views with no real signs of improvement. I had been sure to include keyword tags with each entry so that people searching those topics might find me, but my guess is that Google put me at the bottom of a LOOONG list of search results, so those alone were not driving traffic to the site. After I wrote about my experience making blue velvet cupcakes though, I was feeling brave enough to share the post with my social network of 900+ people. The change I saw was almost instant. I received 58 page views in just a few hours and I gained one follower who also texted me about how she planned to make an infinity scarf of her own (shout out to Helaina! :).

After seeing those results, I was feeling more comfortable sharing my posts, so I did the same thing with the Pumpkins and Power Tools post only with a small twist. I have to admit I did not do this consciously (I was just excited to share the cool pumpkin carving with my friends), but before I wrote and subsequently posted a Facebook link with the entry, I shared a picture of the Blackhawks pumpkin we had carved. Acting as a sort of teaser, I think that made more people interested in reading about how we had made the pumpkin. I was already getting more site views the second time around when something amazing happen - I got my first brand advocate! Yay!

With zero prompting from yours truly, my sister posted a link to my first entry on her own Facebook. Suddenly my audience had expanded from 900+ to include an additional 400+ (we have 80 friends in common) and I received my first comment and hit 154 page views in less than 24 hours! I think that is pretty good considering that came from two little links.

If I could generate that traffic with my own social network, I can only imagine the potential cross-promotion has for brands. Even though I had already learned as much through my undergraduate studies, this gave me some first hand experience with the power of strategically using social media.

My challenge for the next time is to do better than 154 views, and there are a few steps I plan to take in the future to accomplish that:

1. Include other sites - at this point, I posted the link on Facebook alone. Hopefully by including Twitter, I could reach another audience.
2. Encourage my brand advocates to post for me as well... If you liked this post, please share it with your friends! :)
3. Work on joining on-line communities - there are sites like Wanelo.com where users share projects like the ones I have blogged about. If I can participate in the right conversations, there is no limit to the audience I might reach. 

Now that I have overcome my reticence to cross-promote, perhaps it is time for me to think about monetizing the site...

I know that the possibilities of cross-promotion are endless and that I surely have not thought of them all... What other tactics do you think I could use to drive traffic?

What's With All the Pictures?

So you may have noticed that content on the internet seems to be changing. Websites in general are becoming less text based and more visual. I could go into some of the specifics about why humans react better to images than text, but I will save you the pain of reading through that.

Way back when I was a senior in high school and Facebook was becoming more popular, I was hesitant to use it more than Myspace (my previous social media platform of choice) because it seemed much more generic. I thought, why would anyone like this? It's so boring! Gone were the customized backgrounds and music playlists on each person's profile. What eventually changed my mind about Facebook were the pictures. Not only was the general community using Myspace changing, but Facebook made it much easier to share photos. It didn't take long for nearly my entire social network to join the site and since then, I have been hooked.

It is no secret that whenever Facebook makes noticeable changes to the platform, the users get mad. Just a few days or even hours later, no one can remember what the interface looked like before, but the initial changes are always quite irritating. Which is why I was a little concerned at first when I heard about the new "timeline" profile design Facebook planned to implement. After taking the steps to make the changes to my profile though, I wish that everyone would make the switch. The timeline is much more visual (and in my opinion, more fun and attractive as well).

This is a practice I will be incorporating into my own blog. If you read my last entry about how to knit an infinity scarf, I hope you also appreciated the number of pictures included with the entry. I wanted to add as many as possible, but I found that posting images with text can make an entry look very disjointed. What does this mean? Well, that there is a delicate balance between including visuals to enhance content and putting far too much into one entry. I am hoping that as I create more content, I will continue to strike a good balance between visuals and content.

If you are like me and appreciate images with your content, you should check out the site visual.ly. Be prepared to waste some time though because it is very easy to get hooked!

What are your thoughts on this topic? Are pictures really that important? Or would you rather get the content you want without the noise? Leave me a comment and let me know!

The Importance of Being Transparent

When it comes to managing an online personality, I believe one of the most (perhaps the most) important principles to follow is to be transparent. For a brand, that means not being gimmicky, and delivering messages consistent with the brand's promise. For a person, it means being honest. That does not mean that I am recommending posting intimate details online; however, it is important to be real with your audience if you want them to stick around. I have the following example to illustrate my point:

There is a girl I am Facebook friends with from high school. She consistently updates her profile picture to images of models. What bothers me about this practice is that she does it to suggest that she is actually the girl in the photos. She has long, dark hair, and she chooses pictures of girls whose faces are partially concealed or distorted so that they resemble her own features. But honey, there is a reason those photos have such a low resolution, and if I can google an image you have posted as your profile picture and find an advertisement for Urban Outfitters or some other indie inspired webpage, I know it isn't you. I think what irritates me most about her pictures is that she continues to promote that these images are of herself in the interactions she has with her friends. Someone will leave a comment such as: "You're so beautiful!" and she'll respond, "Thanks :)." Or in one case someone asked, "where is this?" and she wrote "the Ohio river." It makes me want to put my two cents in with a comment like "what?? How would you know? This picture is obviously not you, and it makes me a little bit sick that you would be so dishonest with the people you call your friends to try to mislead them into thinking that it is." I suppose at the end of the day, her profile pictures are really of no consequence to me, they just rub me the wrong way, and I think that this irritation is typical of my generation.

As a member of Generation Y (or the Millennials), I am in an age cohort that does not respond to marketing tactics the same way. Rapid technological advancement has caused my generation  to question marketers' messages. To reach us, the interaction needs to change. It needs to be personal and and it needs to be honest. That means less mass communication and more conversation. Which is what I hope to accomplish.

In this blog, I am essentially managing a part of my own brand. That means I am going to use the above values I have mentioned in my own writing. I can write professionally, but my entries will be informal. I am choosing to communicate with my audience like I would a friend rather than the way I would if I was writing a cover letter for a prospective job. Also, contrary to what I have been taught as an artist and as a business woman, I will be giving away all my trade secrets. I think Facebook is on to something by promising to always be free for members. Really, I think that is the way the internet should be. It is very frustrating for me when I find a project I want to work on, but I have to dig through hundreds of search results to find a source that will give me instructions for free. Therefore, I will be doing the opposite. When I create something I like, I will let you know how to make it too, with detailed instructions.

As I mentioned before, I will be working on generating conversations. That can only work with a little audience interaction though. So let me know what you think, and let's start talking!

Hello world!

Welcome to my newest blog! :] Now, I have tried the blogging thing in the past, but aside from a Xanga I am embarrassed to say I kept up regularly in middle school, my previous attempts have not gone very far. So, I am hoping to have better luck this time.

The biggest issue I have had when it comes to blogging is finding my voice. My problem is that I studied social media in college, and what I have learned about using blogging as a tool tends to conflict with what I really want to write about. Currently, I am a recent graduate of Miami University with a degree in Marketing whom is looking for full-time employment. The articles I have read about "using social media to enhance your job search" (or something along those lines) would recommend that I use this blog as a platform to share my knowledge about digital marketing. To make it a place where I post interesting articles I find with a witty accompanying paragraph or two. Then, hopefully my established online personality will be attractive enough to a company/brand that it will recruit me to manage its online presence. Unfortunately, social media is not the only thing I am interested in writing about.

I have always been a very creative person, and to be honest, the times I am most likely to read a blog are when I am researching a new artsy project I want to start. Those are the blogs that make me attracted to the platform. They inspire me to want to join those communities and conversations. To start my own blog about painting, various craft projects, baking, fashion, etc. But seriously, how am I supposed to pick just one of those topics to be interested in?

Most blogs today are extremely specialized. Authors make money writing blogs because they become experts in one specific area. So, for example, if I am interested in baking and art, and I want to be credible in those respective communities, I need to start two different blogs. Oh, and in order to keep my audience engaged, I need to write posts on a regular basis with new content. Well that is a LOT of work... not to mention, I am also supposed to be writing about social media, right? Now because I am interested in three topics, I need three blogs?? Holy cow. This whole blogging thing is starting to make me feel schizophrenic. If the point of being a blogger is to manage an online personality, then why can't my blog be multifaceted like a REAL person? Well I am hoping that it can be. Which brings me to what I aspire to accomplish with this blog.

In nearly every interview, I have been asked by a recruiter where I want to be in the next 5-10 years as well as about what I like to do in my free time. Well, I hope that through this blog, I can work on getting to where I want to be in the future while enjoying what I like to do today. I plan to share and apply the principles I have learned about blogging and establishing a personal brand online while also writing about the art projects I like to take on in my spare time. A sort-of combination of "how to" and "DIY" material. I am not sure if I will be successful, but I am sure going to try.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing this small part of the journey with me! Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions, and come back to see where this goes in the future :]