Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Do You Measure Revenue from Social Media?

By now everyone is convinced that social media can drive web metrics (eg, visitors to a site) but how much MONEY does it MAKE?  If you don't know yet, you'll probably be finding out soon.

But even if you can't exactly pinpoint the dollar amount, making money is the point, isn't it? I mean, while a billion visitors is nice, a billion dollars is even nicer.

You know where this is going: writers drive decisions about where dollars go. Do you need a writer? Only if your business uses words.
  • web content
  • business blogs
  • client newsletters
  • sales letters
  • brochures
  • catalog copy
  • targeted e-mail marketing
  • product descriptions
  • press releases
  • employee newsletters
  • contracts
  • case studies
  • catalogs
  • employee training manuals
  • invoices & collection letters    
  Where don't you use words?

Friday, April 16, 2010

Good Grammar Shouldn't Slow Us Down!

Social media marketing concepts are important and yet they haven't made grammar obsolete, have they?

I don't think so, but then, I still favor complete sentences when I'm texting.

I was very glad to meet the alot earlier this week. (See my last post) The seemingly unassuming beast offers a lighter look at grammar gaffes, but however friendly alots might be, they scare me. I understand (and agree with) the argument "since social media moves fast, so we have to move faster." To that argument I add, we can move faster better with clear communication.

If I'm a grammar snob, I'm a low-level one. Improper use of its and it's and its' and apostrophes in general are my primary complaints. In fact, the rules governing the proper use of apostrophes are so simple, I'm amazed the basic spelling/grammar checker features in most word processing tools can't be programmed to highlight at least half of the potential culprits. It wouldn't be cheating! C'mon. Some of us grew up "cheating" with paper dictionaries before spell-check saved us from countless typos and our own ignorance.

What ignited my rant today: two misused apostrophes in a short blog post by a marketing professional. That is, two remaining AFTER a visitor to the site pointed out another, which the author then fixed. I repeat: we all make mistakes.

When a professional communicator makes a mistake in a blog post (or any other document that remains available 24/7) and can correct that mistake, he - or she - should.

A nifty little tool that catches apostrophe errors and other grammar goofs would make us all look better. Bored programmers? Are you listening?

Monday, April 5, 2010

YA Fiction Contest

Blooming Tree Press offers The Bloom Award for the winning YA fiction efforts of unpublished authors. To enter, submit your romance (suitable for young readers) between May 17 - October 31...and have your complete manuscript ready. If you make the first cut, you'll have to produce the entire work. Good luck!