Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Social Media Storm

Just a quick post today, mostly bc I don't want this to turn into a rant. (read: me freaking out on my blog) 

I'm immerse in figuring out all things social media. I like it, I'm intrigued by it, I'd like to talk about it and brainstorm, buuuuut I'm a wee bit fuzzy on implementing it.

So, I'm home today with Andrew who is recovering from shoulder surgery. The kids have been with the grandparents for almost a full day, and honestly I've been enjoying the quiet time to read through everything I've been bookmarking for later, and attempting to really go through it and try it. It's dense to me. I'm not only learning how to do things, I'm learning the language as well. I'm just an simple artist and designer I guess. Never had the need or use for any of this, and now I'm slugging my way through it. sob. 

...aaaaand scene. I promise I'll quit with the drama. 

Just now I was reading up on pinterest. I ADORE it. Like crazy love. Deep. Crazy. Love. Borderline obsessive-weirdo love. My friend Kim of Design Thoughts first told me about it a good year ago. It had me at hello. Here's what is funny to me, I have friends who don't get it. I don't get that. It's visual bookmarking. If you ever kept a binder of print outs, a box of picture clippings, a pinboard of ideas, a travel folder, a mood board, or bookmarked a zillion websites...then you WILL love pinterest. However you see it best, you create a pinboard (or binder, or file cabinet, or folder...whatever makes the most sense for you as a container for the images), and then you add images that link back to their source (unless you upload off your iphone or computer). You add descriptions. You share. The applications for personal and professional use are endless. I have the iphone app. I've used it when getting my hair cut/colored. I've used it around the holidays. I've used it at the grocery store. I've used it visiting clients. All on my phone, on the go, easily accessible. I totally get all that. Here's what I don't get: how to link this all up properly?

I've over pinning to facebook bc my pinterest is linked to my facebook (both personal and biz page), and twitter. Twitter is linked up to my facebook page. So, if I pin one thing, it pins it immediately to: FB personal, FB biz, twitter... Then twitter does the same thing. If I remove the FB function from Pinterest, then followers can't access my FB page. Meanwhile, I cant get pinterest to link to my FB biz page, it will only link to my personal page. What's a girl to do?

This is just a microcosm of the larger social media storm I'm in. SEO is looming over me like a great big ripening thunderstorm. 

So, yeah, I'm sighing. I'm swearing (a bit). I'm learning

In other news, I made two updates to previous posts.
1) giving credit where credit is due: THANK YOU, Lisa Larson Kelley for inspiring My New Boat.
2) adding another suggestion to Diary of a Family Vacation: good, bad and ugly. UPDATE: Decide what a vacation means to you and do it.

As for the rest of business, I'm waiting to hear from factories, waiting to get samples in the mail, and headed to some tradeshows this weekend with my amazing creative dream team, to start brainstorming for belle&beanzer's first show this fall. More to come on that!




6 comments:

  1. Great to hear always something exciting from you. Awesome about your fall show. Love Pinterest, don't pin too much in fear of obsession;), but it's such a great business and personal tool!

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    1. Hi Maribel, Thanks! I'm really excited about the show in August. I have to awesomely talented friends who are going with me this weekend to walk the floor and then we're off for brainstorming drinks :) HA! Yes, I joke about pinterest obsession, but I'm pretty much okay with how much time I spend on it. I've been needing/wanting a site like this for a long time!

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  2. You wouldn't happen to be going to a baby expo outside of Boston on Sunday, would you? Because I'll be there. :-) Of course, with Andrew recovering from surgery, I guess you wouldn't be venturing too far from home.

    I know someone who does social media for Citrus Lane (http://www.citruslane.com/) if you'd like an introduction.

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    1. Hi! No, I"m not going to the baby expo outside of Boston this Sunday. Can you send me a link to the show and you? Would love to check it out! I'm checking out the ENK Kids show and Playtime in NYC this weekend. Yeah, Andrew is still recovering, although hoping by Sunday he's feeling much better. Would love an intro, definitely. Thank you!

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  3. It's a good thing you are exploring social media sites that you can use to help advertise your baby clothing line business. Why not try posting photos of your baby clothes in Pinterest? Consumers who find a liking to your brand or products will Like or Pin them on their boards, which will increase your brand’s visibility. Goodluck!

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    1. Hi Staci, I ADORE (AH-dore) Pinterest. I have a handful of boards specific to belle&beanzer business, but they are very inspirational driven. I haven't posted any actual photos of the line yetl bc it's all been in prototype phase, until right about now as my salesmen samples are being made. But, I fully intend to do so! Thanks for the suggestion and for reading the blog! MUCH appreciated!!

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