What is Social Media?

Why Should I be Involved in Social Media?

• Facebook has more than 150 million active users (more than half of which are outside college).
• Between 2006 and 2007, Facebook gained over 38 million active users.
• LinkedIn saw record traffic in September 2008 with 11.9M unique visitors, up more than 10% from August (10.8M) and a gain of 193% since 2007.
  

Those are your potential customers, and getting involved is so easy that there is virtually no excuse to not hop on the wagon. -- But what if you don’t think it’s easy? Don’t know where to begin? I’d like to give a few basic tips and instructions on how to get going:

Aside from Obama's inauguration, today kicked off the beginning of the Spring Semester for the University of Houston, which means my first day of classes is tomorrow. I'd love to say I'm excited, but the classes I'm up for are looking pretty tedious this time around (this would include Statistical Analysis for Business Applications and Service and Manufacturing Operations).

On a completely separate note, I've been learning Adobe Photoshop Lightroom's ins and outs and that's been fun. There's definitely a lot more to this photography thing than one might initially think. I'll be looking to add my Flickr photo stream soon.

And Something Halfway Useful

I've also been doing a lot of thinking and having a few conversations about the concept of copy on websites. One would assume most wouldn't think to hire for copy writing, but the more I talk with people about their clients, the more of an issue it seems to be. Few understand that even an in-house writer for a company won't usually understand the concept of optimization or the "mind" of a search engine.

Web designers are producing empty websites while their clients are never getting around to producing content. That or the content is useless from an optimizing perspective. I would urge those looking to invest in new websites to not shove copy to the side, and instead truly evaluate the order of importance of aspects in a website. It should go:

Functionality - How does my site work? Is it clean and easy to use?
Content - Is my site useful? Is it informative?
Aesthetics - Is my site visually appealing?

Refer to Facebook and Google as perfect, working examples. They function before they dazzle with color and graphics. This is actually a part of their charm; they just work.

That isn't to say that certain people don't need pizzazz. Artists of all sorts work off of their ability to sway people with vision and sometimes sound (a whole different issue in web design). In those cases, I would encourage creativity.

In summation, consider the order of importance of things. Your ways will be much more efficient in doing so.

Twitter's worth can be a controversial subject for some... or probably many. I am aware that there are many dedicated tweeties out there, but I must say that I do get the confusion and skepticism. I can respect that it is a useful tool for conveying information, and even just a great cure for boredom, but I don't yet believe Twitter alone will make a significant dent in anyone's profit (unless you make a career out of tweeting, which a few have).

Fine. Say it can build up hype. Maybe it can and maybe it has. Not to be negative, but I just can't get too excited about it. I'm honestly actually a little offended that "Twittering Your Way Through the Economic Storm" was the entire subject for the Houston Interactive Marketing Association's January Luncheon. It's hard to believe that traditional (or just other kinds of) networking and other sources couldn't "save" your business in the same amount and way if not better. I definitely use Twitter, but it will probably be one of the last things I'm worried about when my business is in trouble - and I'll just have to disagree if you're thinking "little does she know."

I've weighed the facts and have given it time. Honestly. I would actually love to hear some success stories. However, if Twitter gets to be something like what this guy outlines, well, who's going to want to log on to a giant spam and advertisement channel? On the flip-side, some of the comments on Mr. Kamal's post are worthwhile thoughts. I love the idea of online community. For those who want to do it, creativity will absolutely have to be the end-all be-all on whether you make money off of your Twitter-induced traffic.

At this moment, even Twitter admits they don't have any definite answers. I'm skeptical, but I won't enjoy having my foot in my mouth later, either. At the very least, I absolutely believe it's wrong for consultants to promise their clients the world in their hands for using Twitter.

I have done this before... actually just a few months ago, so I'm only adding a few edits. I'd like to touch on writing effectively and well for the web (more specifically blogging, but a lot of this can be applied to copy writing). Clients often struggle with using a blog, but you shouldn't really blame them for it. Someone might have told them it's good for them and given them one, but who said everyone knows how to write or what to write about or why they're writing in the first place? I hope to point a few of the lost in the right direction.

What to Blog About?

What moves you? Or what do you think will move other people? What is useful? What is relevant? What is interesting? If you don't know the answer to any of those questions, then don't try. Fitting any of those categories can be enough to qualify, but without that qualification, you have made your post a burden and an annoyance to readers. News, tips, and personal thoughts are all perfectly acceptable as long as they fit with one of those questions.

What Format?

Aside from a few exceptions, begin with some sort of introductory paragraph or sentence. This keeps readers from wasting their time, so they know if they've found exactly what they're looking for. Whether you make it epic or to-the-point is completely up to you. Either is fine.

The rest all depends on the content, but just be logical. If you are sharing a short story you came up with, write in traditional format. Most posts, like news, will be similar. Break sections and use headings properly. Before you begin think about what pieces of the post go together well and clump them accordingly. If you list features, use bullets. Number instructions. If you have a big quote, block it out.

Closing is also completely up to the content and writer. Most choose to take a final summarizing stand, in a way bringing the post all together. Some choose not to waste their time closing at all. No one will rebuke you either way.

Welcome to DaphneHager.com.  For the past six months, my sense of purpose has been developing.  People need me now, and for good reasons.  I have learned that I have some talents that others do not, and that these talents are assets.  This may sound very familiar to you or people like my clients, who run or are attempting to run their own businesses.

I work with my husband as a manager of a web design company and work with my brother as an editor of a Katy, TX news source.  I am a student, I am a writer, I know my share about search engines, I love everything about making a business work, I study people, and I like to think I have good taste.  Those are just a few of the reasons why I am putting up this little resumé of a site.

I intend to add a few useful things eventually, so enjoy, please, and email me if you like.