What I am reading:
- Nice. ➡️ Slack’s new tool for developers lets people do more work without leaving Slack Read the article.
- WIRED’s predictions for bots, Blockchain’s, Crispr, and more. Read the article.
- Great read ➡️ ‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended Silicon Valley. Read the article.
- You can now download a copy of everything Apple knows about you. Read the article (and then go do it).
- Why your growth depends on taking risks with your hiring strategy. Read the article.
- 26 companies were asked about the state of manufacturing in America. Here’s what we learned about what it takes to be “Made in the USA.”
What I’m Watching:
Black Panther. Decent flick – should have watched it when it was in theaters b/c watching it, it feels that it falls short of my expectations.
and yeah I am still binging away on Shameless
Purchase I’m Enjoying:
Still on a shopping Hiatus this week. No fantastic purchases to speak of – although I’ve been doing a bunch of browsing, and plan on setting up a new home office.
What have I been looking at? Ikea’s Kallax line of bookshelves (and all the fancy accessories that fit them).
What I’m Listening to:
Keeping it easy this week and just tuning into top 40 hits (but geez has it been touch… don’t ❤️ this stuff.)
What’s “in” in social:
It’s time for people to just be *themselves* on social. Authenticity. Knowing your audience. Trust.
It literally can be that simple, and it should be.
It’s the first thing I say to anyone that is relatively likable when it comes to social: “Be yourself – people like you”. Many in the industry have distilled and boiled down authentic experiences with your friends and brands to some “formula” of success (or loss). It’s time to get a little less full of ourselves.
There are things and people in life that are interesting, and ANYONE has the ability to be interesting or command attention at some point in your life – JUST GO OUT AND BE YOU and start here:
Authenticity: In today’s social climate, it’s what consumers value most. With countless viral marketing efforts that hit quickly and then are easily forgotten when the next trend comes along, regular communication with your following is a key differentiator for anyone. And cultivating a loyal base is a reliable and sustainable way to succeed on social media.
Know your Audience:To create content that resonates with your customers, you’ll need to genuinely know who the audience is and communicate with them on a regular basis. Explore who your followers are and why they are interested in your product or service or simply you. When possible, have one-on-one conversations with them. Once you know what your audience cares about, it’s easier to create value for them and keep them coming back.
Trust: I don’t need to expand further here. Trust it’s yours to make or break – go out, tread lightly, speak truth.
Strategy Corner:
Is video part of your content strategy? I hope so, but “good” video can be expensive, and even then…. great videos get lost in today’s digital world. I’m not going to go into a massive amount of detail here re: video strategy, and the reason being: video should be closely tied to your brand and how you can use video can vary widely.
Today I came across this post from the guys and gals over at Sumo. Read it up b/c the examples in the post are simply amaZing. Check out how brands are using one-of-a-kind product commercials.
Weekly Hack:
Start using emojis more
You know your MacBook has an emoji keyboard right? By hitting Command + Control + Spacebar, you can access emoji keys on your keyboard. This doesn’t work in every text entry field, but when texting and emailing it tends to work seamlessly.
Quote of the week:
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. – Lao Tzu