Martins Ferry is my hometown - born and raised in the MF school district. In middle school I was NOT a band kid - I was uncool enough on my own, ha. My first taste of an arts class was music theatre, when I was in 8th grade. It was like a gateway drug (without the illegality or negative side effects.) I was smitten with performing, with being on stage, with learning a new skill, with my fellow thespians, and with the incredible teachers. This one class led to a spiral of additional music classes, so that, by my junior year of high school, five out of seven of my scheduled classes were music classes - music theatre, music theory, jazz band/percussion ensemble, band and choir. (Read: uberdork!)

Sadly, the people of Martins Ferry have never cared much about these programs. The town was featured on ESPN in the late 90’s for being through and through a football town. I support sports education just as strongly as I support the arts, so please don’t think I’m degrading the strong athletic program they do have, but support - and especially financial support - has always fallen to sports. There was no budget for sets or costumes or band uniforms - we bargained, thrifted, and fundraised our own way. When a brand new school complex was built 2 years ago, the first thing to get cut was a real stage (instead they put a sort-of stage in the cafeteria.)

But now, due to budget cuts, the Martins Ferry School Board is planning to cut the majority of these music programs - including the best, and my favorite, theatre.

My acting resume, bwahaha

I’m outraged. I strongly believe that these classes have made me the person I am today, and as a 21 year old influencer with more reach than the mayor of my Martins Ferry, I’m pretty proud of who I am. The music educators at Martins Ferry - Julia and Derek Wayne - are deeply invested in the studies and personal lives of their students. The music department is a family, and I can’t imagine how I would have got through high school without that family. But don’t take MY word for it:

• A recent Conference Board Report revealed that 74% of employers agree that creativity is increasingly important in U.S. workplaces. More than half of these employers stated that entrants exhibited deficiencies in these skills.
• A 2006 Harris Poll showed that Music Programs contribute to higher attendance and graduation rates
• A JRME study revealed that students involved in music programs scored 20% higher in math and english

Source: VH1’s Save the Music

You might not ever visit Martins Ferry, and you may have never taken an arts class yourself, but I know you can appreciate the importance of a diverse education. I implore you to become a fan of the Save the Arts at Martins Ferry page on Facebook and leave a comment about why you believe a diverse course offering is important to student’s education. Also, feel free to share your comments here. I will be e-mailing this post to the board of education.

The Jazz Band Mafia:

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Instead of trying to cram an answer into 140 characters for Mary (and others) I thought I’d take 5 minutes to weigh in here and hopefully start a discussion, with a written-in-10-minutes-stream-of-conscious blog post. Enjoy

Why these thingies matter, for regular ol’ people:

• Knowing where your friends are: This is the core concept behind all of these networks (and the reason that a network like Rally is taking the functionality back to basics.
• Discovering new places around town: Depending on which network you are using, this can be even more valuable - tips, reviews - but they all allow you to see a list of places in your geographic vicinity.
• Meeting new people: Before Twitter was as popular as it is now, it was a great tool for meeting people (it still is, with a little more work.) If I was downtown, I’d check the stream of people I followed, but hadn’t met, to see if anyone was nearby - which was a lot more work without geotagging. Now, when I check-into a place, I can see if anyone else is there, even if I don’t know them, and say hello!
• Discounts: This is something that hasn’t caught on much in Central Ohio yet (though I do know BalletMet and Impero Coffee are offering Foursquare discounts) but in larger, more tech-centric cities, a ton of businesses offer discounts for being the “Mayor” (Foursquare term), or just for visiting frequently.
• Just for fun. All of these networks have some sort of gaming element - leaderboards, titles, virtual goods. They’re fun.

Why these things matter, for businesses:

Any other reasons you can think of? What’s your take on these tools?

Hope you smiled

If you mean “me” or “I,” don’t say “us” or “we” on Twitter, or Facebook, or on your blog - or anywhere for that matter. So-called “Corporate” accounts always do this, even when they don’t mean “everyone here” or “this business.”

“We think that’s great!” Really? Did you take a quick office poll on that? Or do YOU just think it’s great?

There are times when you really ARE referring to the organization as a whole, and obviously can use third-person speak. “Our special today,” etc.

But nine times out of 10, even if you’re referring to something that will be shared with the entire organization or posting something that you were told by the higher-ups to post (”We want to hear your feedback,”) it’s YOU, whoever you are, behind the keyboard. And “We” know that you are a person, not a corporate robot. And hey, “we” like people.

A favorite local example - “We” didn’t fall in love with TehKu because of “their” updates. “We” fell in love because Inggrie, the owner, is a good, genuine person, and she talks to people online in a way that reflects her personality, and even when she is promoting her own business, “we” like her. So “we” buy her tea.

Really, It’s ok to tell us the name of the person behind your “official” online presence. Even if it ISN’T the owner or CEO. (Please don’t pretend it is.)

You with me? Who do you think is doing it right, and who’s off in “their” own world?

But few take the time to learn the best practices of each network they join, and instead post content that the community neither notices nor appreciates.

• If you create a Flickr account, but you don’t give your images tags and geotags, and organize them into sets and collections, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a Digg account, but the only things you Digg is your own content, which subsequently has nothing to do with the type of articles Digg is known for, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a Twitter account, but you don’t engage in conversation and talk about relevant current events, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a Yelp account, but you don’t engage in rating and complimenting other users, joining in the Talk boards, and generating useful lists, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a YouTube account but don’t post content that is interesting or informative, and don’t take the time to tag and describe it to make it searchable, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a LinkedIn account, but you’re using it solely as an online resume and not connecting, networking, learning or sharing, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a Foursquare account, but you don’t leave tips at establishments and friend people who you have no geographic or real-world connection to, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a Facebook account but leave all of your personal information and photos off of it, then why are YOU there? OR if it’s a page, and you’re not providing any specials or useful information, then why are YOU there?
• If you create a blog but disable comments and only repost press releases, then why are YOU there?

And If you don’t at least know what I mean in any of the above, you damn well better not be trying to pass yourself off as an active member of any of these communities.

All of these networks have many other uses and functionality. But aren’t these the core practices that people heavily invested in these communities engage in? What makes you think that your pictures on Flickr titled “_IMG_1000″ with no tags or context aren’t going to piss that community off? Or that your one-way communication Twitter stream isn’t going to piss that community off? Or that your Dugg articles about your new car dealership location aren’t going to piss that community off?



Trust me, I understand that you do not have enough time to be truly engaged with ALL of these platforms. I’m not saying you should. Pick the ones that will help you share your message the best, and stick with those. It’s not enough to just BE on these sites. If you’re not going to really get involved with them, you’re better off not clicking “sign up” to begin with. ‘

You with me?

]]> http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/why-are-you-there/feed/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/why-i-prefer-gowalla-to-foursquare-and-why-ill-continue-to-use-both/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/why-i-prefer-gowalla-to-foursquare-and-why-ill-continue-to-use-both/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:55:13 +0000 Cheryl http://beingcheryl.com/?p=3237

There’s been a new wave of buzz lately about location-based social networks. New networks are launching, existing networks are getting new funding. The two most compared services, though, still seems to be Gowalla and Foursquare.

Gowalla and Foursquare are both similar services in that they both have a “game” element to them, unlike location-based networks like Loopt and brightkite. But how they handle that “game” and the basic functionality of the networks is very different. I’ve been using both for a little over a month and find Gowalla far superior, but I’m going to keep using both - for now at least. Here’s why:

Reasons I prefer Gowalla to Foursquare:

• Gowalla is available everywhere. Town population of 156? Yeah, you can check in there. Well, if you can find 3g coverage. Foursquare? Still rolling out in major cities.
• Categories: With Gowalla, every venue is placed in a broad category (nightlife, food, etc.) and then given a specific sub-category (dive bar, dance club.) Foursquare does not allow users to indicate what TYPE of place they are checking into.
• Gowalla allows you to add a detailed description of the spot, too - Foursquare, not so much.
• Graphics: There’s no comparison here. The Gowalla app and web interface themselves are nicer on the eyes, but venues get their own snazzy icon depicting what type of establishment it is. I feed my Gowalla check-ins to Facebook, and having an image that catches attention in a cluttered news feed matters.
• The added element of items. They’re fun - it’s like a geocaching log. You can see where the items been, who’s had it. Is it an essential element for location-based network? No. Is it colorful and amusing? Yup.
• Trips: While there aren’t many of these currently, the idea of a trip is fantastic. Combine venus that have some kind of connection - location, type of business, theme, whatever - and create a cool stamp for people who visit all of them. In the future, they plan to have an easier way for users to create trips. In the meantime, you can e-mail them and ask nicely. I just submitted an Arena District Drinks trip - we’ll see if it shows up!
• I almost always have to refresh the location list on Foursquare. Gowalla has almost always automatically refreshed them.
• I can see where my friends are through the web interface. With foursquare, I have to use the mobile app.
• You can see everyone who’s checked into a particular venue, and how many times. On foursquare you can only see people who checked in “on the grid,” and you have no idea how many times they’ve been there.
• On foursquare, you can only see the last 10 places a person has checked in. With Gowalla, you can see every place they have ever checked in.

Reasons I’ll continue to use both:

• Gowalla doesn’t offer an Android application. The Gowalla mobile website is very good and functions almost identical to the iPhone app, but many Android (and Blackberry, Pre, etc.) users don’t realize they can use the service.
• Possibly for that reason, more of my friends are on Foursquare.
• I like being the “mayor” of a place. Anyone can drop an item and be a “founder” on Gowalla, but you have to earn your mayorships by being the person who has checked into a particular location the most. And to be honest, I don’t really get the “founder” thing at all.
• I love the ability to leave “tips” in a place. Even more, I love that when I check in somewhere, the tips my friends have left for that location or for nearby spots automatically pop up for me.
• I prefer the way Foursquare updates Twitter - with an actual address. Useful for my friends to quickly distinguish between venues with multiple locations (like an Applebees) without having to click the location link.
• While Gowalla’s venue descriptions and categories are, in theory, nice, only the person who created the venue and cool people like me have the power to change them. However, Foursquare’s location tags - which can serve as categorization and description - are editable by everyone.

Which do you prefer - Gowalla or Foursquare? Are you using both? Neither? Let me know in the comments.

]]> http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/why-i-prefer-gowalla-to-foursquare-and-why-ill-continue-to-use-both/feed/ http://beingcheryl.com/randomosity/what-happens-when-i-try-to-draw-two-popular-social-networking-icons-using-a-macbook-trackpad-and-paintbrush-or-happy-holidays/ http://beingcheryl.com/randomosity/what-happens-when-i-try-to-draw-two-popular-social-networking-icons-using-a-macbook-trackpad-and-paintbrush-or-happy-holidays/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:55:55 +0000 Cheryl http://beingcheryl.com/?p=3227

Happy Holidays!

- Cheryl

]]> http://beingcheryl.com/randomosity/what-happens-when-i-try-to-draw-two-popular-social-networking-icons-using-a-macbook-trackpad-and-paintbrush-or-happy-holidays/feed/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/creating-objectives-in-social-media/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/creating-objectives-in-social-media/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:50:57 +0000 Cheryl http://beingcheryl.com/?p=3216 This morning I had two articles appear in my RSS reader that fit together so perfectly I had to share them with you.

The first is a great post from Amber Naslund about establishing goals, objectives, strategies and tactics in the social media space. The article was spawned from a realization that a lot of people simply do not know how to create measurable objectives, and she does a great job of outlining the steps involved with examples.

Amber makes mention that ROI is not the ONLY metric to evaluate, and having had several discussions with business owners recently wanting to know dollars and dollars only related to social media, this is a point I think needs to be restated.

So if it’s not just ROI, what else ARE marketers measuring? Web traffic, followers on Twitter? eMarketer just posted a study of the objectives being targeted and measured by U.S. Marketers in three different phases: social media experimentation, transition into strategy and strategic social media.



As you can see, when strategy comes into play most marketers focus on measuring web traffic, leads and sales - in early social media phases, they are shooting for success across various objectives.

Have you established measurable social media objectives for your business? What are YOU measuring, and how?

]]> http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/creating-objectives-in-social-media/feed/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/you-cant-simplify-communication-by-cross-posting-content/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/you-cant-simplify-communication-by-cross-posting-content/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:44:19 +0000 Cheryl http://beingcheryl.com/?p=3179 I just learned that in a few days, you will be able to feed your Facebook profile updates to Twitter. You may already be feeding all of your Facebook page updates to Twitter. Or you may be feeding all of your Tweets to Facebook. You may also be feeding all of your Twitter updateds to LinkedIn. You’re probably feeding all of your blog articles to Twitter. You might be using Ping.FM to feed everything to everywhere.

And that is why you are failing: you can’t simplify communication.

Social media is not an assembly line that will allow you to turn large profits if you can just find the correct order to make the process take the least time and effort. If your idea of “doing social media” is to create a system that allows you to click one button every day and push your message everywhere on the interwebz, than keep Pinging your Tweets to YouFace. And I’ll be over here, ignoring you. Tim Walker said it best on Twitter: it comes down to being efficient versus effective.

Your contacts on LinkedIn don’t want to see the pictures from that party that you shared on Facebook. Your Facebook friends don’t want to see your 50+ daily Tweets equipped with @replies and #hashtags. (See: Jason Falls’ post today) A message that works on one network will almost never carry over well to another. The networks themselves are not the same, and people certainly do not use them the same.



I understand why you want to simplify the process. Time is a scarce and precious resource. But creating a web that feeds everything from every network to every other network is not an effective allocation of your resources. And it’s not going to work.

That being said, I have used Ping.fm, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, etc. to post an update to more than one social network simultaneously. BUT I only do this when the message translates seemlessly across all networks, would not be better if altered or shared in a different way, and is something I want to share with everyone to whom I am connected. I do this with about 5 posts in a given week. I Tweet an average of 32 times per day, so in a week I cross-post about 2% of my Tweets to Facebook, and less than 1% to LinkedIn.

After I published this post, I used HootSuite to post to all 3 networks that I had updated my blog. But I tweaked the copy for each network to make it relevant to the different audiences. Effective AND efficient.

But hey, that’s just me. What’s your take? What do you do to be effective and efficient?

]]> http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/you-cant-simplify-communication-by-cross-posting-content/feed/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/8-great-gifts-for-your-favorite-bloggers-and-social-media-addicts/ http://beingcheryl.com/social-media/8-great-gifts-for-your-favorite-bloggers-and-social-media-addicts/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:53:14 +0000 Cheryl http://beingcheryl.com/?p=3121 Do you have a friend who feels the need to update Twitter everytime he takes a breath? Or maybe she is CONSTANTLY telling you about the latest gadgets on the market, whether or not you are actually listening?

Have I got a gift list for you!

In order of costliness:

1. Amazon Gift Card


Whether they want the next great gadget or they want to buy books to fill their Kindle, an Amazon gift card has pretty much everyone on your gift list covered.
COST: $5 and up

2. iTunes Gift Card


Whether they’re an app crazy iPhone/touch user or just a music lover, an iTunes gift card has you covered. Bonus: If you purchase the card at a participating Kroger or Giant Eagle, you can earn points towards your next gas purchase.
COST: $10 and up

3. Custom Flash Drive


Everyone could use some portable storage space, and Pantone lets you customize the color and engraving on them.
COST: $12.99 (for 1GB) and up

4. Trust Agents


Definitely my favorite marketing book of 2009, because it’s not just smart, it’s also a very enjoyable read. I think I knocked this one out in two days. If you want to understand how human businesses work, and get some actionable plans to boot, check this out.
COST: $16.47

5. Flickr Pro Subscription


Media junkies can’t resist the urge to share, tag, and organize their photos. And now that Flickr feeds to Twitter, mobile media junkies have WAY too many pictures to be contained to Flickr Lite’s 200 photos and 3 sets limits. Pro is a must!
COST: $24.95 for one year, $47.99 for two.

6. Enthusem Mailers


I just adore this custom card company because of they’re commitment to combining print mail with social media. They’ve got a huge selection of social media-specific cards, including Tweetup and Facebook page invites. To give your friends free mailers from Enthusem, sign up for an account, add your friend as an additional user and transfer credits to their account!
COST: $27 (for 10 cards) and up

7. Flip UltraHD Camcorder


This tiny, high-quality video camera is still one of my favorite gadgets. My first experience with the Flip was during President Obama’s inaguration and I fell in love and got my own. BONUS: Throw in a Flip Tripod to avoid Blair Witch-esque shaky video syndrome.
COST: $150

8. Nikon Coolpix S1000pj 12.1MP Digital Camera with Projector


I was going to just make a generic “digital camera” suggestion, until I saw a commercial for this bad boy. I have not had a chance to play with this camera yet, but the idea of a built-in projector gets me a little excited. I’m ALWAYS trying to show off my photos - how cool would it be to show them on a wall instead of a tiny screen? Answer: VERY.
COST: $349

Note: Some of these are affiliate links, so if you decide to purchase these products you’ll be helping me with my OWN Holiday shopping. Thanks!

What do YOU want this year for Christmas? Have you been a good boy/girl?

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