Boxing Match: Blog vs. Social Media
It seems that all my blog posts lately have been inspired by events that I’ve attended. I guess that means I’ve been listening to a lot of intelligent, thought-provoking people!
So, in keeping with the theme… This week, I attended the IABC-SC’s luncheon on “Pay Attention in Advertising,” presented by Matthew Ipsan of The State Media Company. I thoroughly enjoyed Ipsan’s presentation (it’s always great to find out I know more than I think I do!), and a comment he made in response to a question got me thinking. I don’t have the transcript to quote him directly, but in general, Ipsan recommended using social media above blogs.
I can certainly understand his point. While you should spend as much time planning a social media campaign as you do a blog post, blogs are generally more time consuming. It takes longer to write a decent blog post than it does a 140 character Tweet (even if you rewrite that Tweet a few times). I’ve definitely had times when I thought The Pink Pen Blog was more trouble than it’s worth!
But some topics demand a more in-depth treatment. Some aims are better suited to a longer format. As with all forms of communication, some messages are better suited to specific media.
So no, I’m not giving up The Pink Pen Blog any time soon. You’ll continue to find random reflections on the state of communications, social media and whatever strikes my fancy here for the foreseeable future!
Posted in Blogging, Communications, SZC Communications, Social Media, Writing.
Tagged with blogs, Communications, Social Media.
By Sarah Z. Cordell
– February 5, 2010
I recently read an excellent post by Peter Bregman over at the Harvard Business Review about the message silence sends. While I enjoyed Bregman’s post, I think I enjoyed the comments even more. One comment in particular, made by Andrew Martin, resonated with me: “Learning to deal with what appears to be a lack of courtesy is one of the greatest challenges posed by today’s world of communication and information overload…”
I confess to being a little bit of an etiquette nerd. I do own and love a copy of Emily Post’s “Etiquette.” But I also freely admit that these so valuable common courtesies are often the first things to go when I’m in a rush. Those lapses are short-sighted, because these courtesies — so easily overlooked — are even more powerful for their rarity.
Sadly, this forgetfulness has followed us into the social-media sphere. Tweeting a “thanks for the retweet!” or “thanks for the mention!” should be simplicity itself. But, again, these courtesies are often overlooked. Online, this frequent oversight turns courtesies into a potent tool, where these simple sentiments have the potential to reach a much wider audience than a traditional thank-you.
Posted in Communications, SZC Communications, Social Media.
Tagged with courtesy, Social Media, thank you.
By Sarah Z. Cordell
– February 1, 2010
I was going to do a post inspired by a post I read over at the Harvard Business Review, but I came across something far funnier and appropriate on Twitter: Tales of a Wayward Classicist’s Latin Tattoos. What I know about Latin could fit on my big toe, but I still laughed out loud reading his post about people who scribe Latin bastardizations permanently on their skin.
And I took away a really simply but profound thought: know what you’re trying to say. Don’t rely on fancy phrases (did you like “scribe Latin bastardizations permanently on their skin”?), numbers, corporate speak, text-speak or anything else to get your message across. Plain and simple works wonders.
Posted in Communications, SZC Communications.
Tagged with Communications, Latin, tattoos.
By Sarah Z. Cordell
– January 29, 2010
Today is Better Business Communication Day! Sadly, BBCD is another one of those obscure holidays that 97 percent of America doesn’t celebrate (FYI, I made that statistic up!). And that’s too bad, because Better Business Communications Day is a great opportunity to sit down and review the message you’re sending.
Yes, you should be doing this review every time you make content available. But we’re all human, often busy and sometimes scrambling.
So in honor of Better Business Communications Day, I’m asking you to do something for me. In five seconds or less, jot down your message. (Go!) Hopefully, this message is something that trips easily off your pen. Now grab three examples of your message at random: an e-mail, your Web copy, a brochure, whatever you have handy. Spend five minutes skimming these examples, and jot down the key words and phrases that pop out at you.
Now, compare your message notes to your five-second message. How do the two relate? Do they? Or are they addressing something similar, but slightly different?
This snapshot exercise is a good way to see how closely your daily messages support your overall mission. It may show that you’re right on target, or it may show that you need to do some fine-tuning. Either way, it’s five minutes and five seconds of time well spent!
Posted in Communications, SZC Communications.
Tagged with Better Business Communication Day.
By Sarah Z. Cordell
– January 25, 2010
Today’s post was inspired by my husband, who recently launched an impassioned tirade against the contractions in my writing. Right on top of his contraction criticism followed these rules: you should never begin a sentence with a conjunction and you should never end a sentence with a preposition.
Wow. I have, on occasion, broken every single one of those rules. And I’m sure that, at some point, I’ve broken every single one of them in one sentence.
That’s one of the great things about writing. Breaking the rules is sometimes the right thing to do. But that’s also one of the hard things about writing. When is it right to be wrong?
Some rules, like subject-verb disagreements, are easy. Unless you’re trying to make a point, mimic a vernacular or jar your reader, deliberately making a subject-verb disagreement is a bad idea. But beyond those clear scenarios, you have to rely on your instincts.
Fortunately, knowing your audience can go a long way toward helping you find your way. Using a phrase like “impassioned tirade” (or something similarly stuffy) in a piece that’s targeting a younger audience might turn off some of your readers. But contractions in a business proposal may sound too casual and tarnish your credibility in a prospect’s eyes. So let your readers be your guide!
Posted in Communications, SZC Communications, The Basics, Writing.
By Sarah Z. Cordell
– January 19, 2010
