Blue Helm

What is your target audience? Cater your posts to your niche.

Why do you use Twitter, Facebook or a blog? Are you trying to reach a specific niche, like business people, moms, teenagers or social media experts? Who do you want reading what you post? These are questions I recommend you ask yourself often to keep the correct perspective before posting different social messages.

Sometimes, as a social media professional, I find myself tweeting less of the things I find interesting (articles, videos, etc) because they’ve already been shared online by millions of people. For example, just look at the Mashable home page and you’ll see that hundreds and sometimes thousands of people tweet Mashable’s content regularly. I find myself less motivated to tweet this popular content because it seems like everyone has seen it already. But this is false! Just because I’ve read or seen a piece of content doesn’t mean the people who follow me have encountered it too.

In reality, it doesn’t matter if you post a piece of content someone may have already seen. The point is to post content that is interesting to you, and what you believe your audience will appreciate. I don’t care if some social media person sees my profile and thinks, “I’ve already read that.” Why? Because they’re not my target audience. My target audience includes the people who don’t read all of the social media blogs. They don’t have time to read the hundreds of interesting posts out there, so they come to me to read the ones I feel are the best. Why do they care? Because I consistently post things they like.

The moral of the story: no matter what industry you’re in, don’t forget that your target audience comes to you for updates. They’re not visiting all of the sites you’re visiting. They rely on you to sift through what’s good and what’s not.

A few weeks ago I wrote about four useful ways to use social media over Thanksgiving. In the spirit of consistency I decided to write a similar post about Christmas.

This post is more for personal rather than for business use. You can modify most of the ideas to apply to a business if you want. You can also modify most of the ideas in this post to apply to other religious beliefs or nonreligious holiday practices.

Christmas has always been a wonderful time for me. I love family, the traditions, the music, the movies, the decorations, the spirit of giving and love, and all the other elements associated with the Christmas season.

So how should you be using social media this Christmas? Here a few suggestions:

1. Share some of your favorite traditions with your Facebook friends or Twitter readers. As you hear of great traditions, make a list and post it on your blog or as a note on your Facebook profile.
2. I used this idea for Thanksgiving, but it fits well for Christmas too: Share your favorite recipes! We all love the delicious foods that accompany Christmas. Stop hoarding your favorite dish and share it with the world! (My favorite Christmas treat is my mother’s delicious cinnamon rolls.) After you’ve posted your recipe, ask for other people’s favorite recipes and try one of them this year.
3. Make and share a list of your top ten favorite Christmas movies, songs or T.V. specials. Here’s a link from one of my favorite holiday T.V. specials…I still can’t believe that ever aired.
4. Ask people to post pictures of their decorations on your Facebook wall. You could even get people to post pictures of the craziest decorations they’ve seen this year.
5. Share heartwarming Christmas stories you’ve heard. Here’s a link to a story I like.
6. If you have the courage, in this ever-politically correct world, share your gratitude for the birth of Jesus Christ. After all, that’s what Christmas is all about. Linus explains it well.

These are just a few of my ideas. What are some ways you’re using social media this Christmas season?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I’ve always loved Thanksgiving, a holiday that combines the four essential F groups: family, friends, food and football.

So what’s the best way to use social media this upcoming Thanksgiving week? Here are a few ideas:

1. Tell your family and friends (employees and clients if you’re a business) why you’re thankful for them. Write on their Facebook wall or tweet something nice about them. Expressing your gratitude for them will not only brighten this person’s day, it will make you feel great too.
2. Share your favorite recipes. We all love the delicious foods that accompany Thanksgiving dinner. Stop hoarding your favorite dish and share it with the world! Maybe someone else will love your stuffing, cranberry sauce or homemade apple pie. When you’ve posted the recipe, ask for other people’s favorite recipes and try one of them this year. If you’re a business, start a conversation about great recipes on your Facebook page, blog or on Twitter.
3. Make a list of things you’re thankful for and share it with everyone. It could be a list of the weirdest things you’re thankful for or even the top YouTube videos you’re thankful for. Just be thankful. That’s the idea of this holiday, right?
4. Share the best Black Friday deals! Not only is Thanksgiving Day awesome, but the day after is awesome too. Let people know where the best deals are. If you’re a business, let your followers know you’re having a killer deal. But don’t just share your own deals. Share deals for products from other businesses that will complement the items you sell. Karma pays dividends.

These are just a few of my ideas. How are you using social media to brighten your Thanksgiving?

I’m in Phoenix this week for a U2 concert and I couldn’t be happier. U2 is my most beloved band and I pretty much consider Bono my personal life guru. But what do Bono’s many mysterious philosophies have to do with social media? Probably nothing, but I still took some of his great quotes and reinterpreted them for a social media lesson. So pay attention. This may be the greatest blog post you ever read.

“Celebrity is currency, so I [want] to use mine effectively.”

Social media can be a powerful marketing tool for any business, but only if it’s used effectively. Do you have a Facebook page or Twitter account? They must be sources of good content. Do you have a blog? It must be genuine. Are you incorporating social media into your traditional PR or marketing strategies? You must engage, converse and monitor. Do you measure social media ROI? You must set intelligent goals beforehand. Effectiveness, effectiveness, effectiveness!

“I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep s***. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace.”

But Bono won’t find grace in social media, and neither will you. Karma is everything here! If you aren’t retweeting, commenting on other blog posts, answering LinkedIn questions or engaging with your fans/followers, you will hardly attract new converts to your business through social media. Reach out to others online and they will reach out to you.

“We’ve got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are….The culture of idealism is under siege, beset by materialism and narcissism and all the other ‘isms’ of indifference.”

I often see this with other bloggers and tweeters, and I hope I’m not too guilty of it myself. When we use social media, it’s so easy to think about our own needs and wants and forget about the necessities or even the reality of others. When you post a tweet, for instance, are you doing it for you? Or do you really believe it contains beneficial information for your customers and followers? The same goes for a blog post, a YouTube video or a bookmark. Don’t use social media as a display case for your personal brand or business. It’s meant to be a conversation, not just a money-making monologue.

“There are many side roads and back streets to rock ‘n’ roll, and most of us get lost down them at times.”

I believe Bono is referring to MySpace here, but I could be wrong.

In conclusion, U2 is awesome. Maybe one day there will be social media theory classes in college. But for now, we have to rely on the wisdom and acumen of The Great Bono.

In the last Brain Storm I highlighted some social media content ideas for a jeweler. A friend of mine that runs an online wedding resource website read the post and asked me to write another one with content ideas for wedding planners.

Being the manly man that I am, I don’t really understand the whole wedding thing. I have four sisters and still don’t get why women like the things they do. My idea of a perfect wedding includes the following: family, friends, water balloons, fighting robots, football, American Gladiator events and medium-rare steaks. Alas, what I want at a wedding doesn’t really matter. In an effort to understand what a woman thinks about in planning her wedding, I turned to my Facebook friends. I asked what was important to a woman in planning a wedding. The responses I got were all fairly similar. It seems the number one thing that is important in planning a wedding is keeping the event as inexpensive as possible without sacrificing quality or elegance. After cost, important elements in planning a wedding are location, food, flowers, music and a myriad of other things.

Keeping these insights from my Facebook friends in mind, here are nine social media content ideas for a wedding planner:

1. Promote your vendors – Write a blog post explaining who your favorite vendors are and why. Tweet or post Facebook links to their sites. Not only will these links strengthen relationships with your vendors, but they will be very helpful for your customers.
2. Guest posts – Have an expert from another related industry write a guest post. For example, you could invite a jeweler to write a post about different diamond cuts or what the most popular metals are. This will help strengthen relationships with local shops that can refer business to you, plus it provides useful information for people who may need your services soon.
3. Cost reduction advice – Give tips on how to reduce the cost of a wedding without sacrificing too much elegance. These can be short Twitter-like tips or complete blog posts.
4. General tips – Give advice on what colors are best during which seasons. What types of food do most wedding guests like? Are photos always better than videos, or are they both important? Give tips that your readers will value.
5. Finding a sponsor – According to my sister (who is planning her own wedding right now) there exist people or businesses that will sponsor weddings. Give advice on how to procure a sponsor. How-to posts are great; they provide helpful information to people who are searching for answers.
6. Share pictures – Some wedding blogs I looked over do a great job of this. It helps to show genuine examples of successful and beautiful weddings. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are other great ways to share pictures. Ask your Twitter followers to send you their favorite wedding pictures and have your Facebook fans post pictures on your page. Remember, getting people to interact is key.
7. The Honeymoon – Share links to great honeymoon spots.
8. Weddings gone wrong – Ask fans or followers to share stories of weddings they’ve attended where something funny, embarrassing or unusual happened. Share your own experiences.
9. Tell a story – Tell a story from start to finish of a customer who planned a wedding. Get quotes from your customers and put what they say in the story. Make your pages, posts and tweets as human as possible. The more your readers identify with what you post, the more they will return.