Note: While I share great blog posts from fellow community pros and bloggers on a fairly routine basis, it’s been awhile since I’ve shared a book list of many of the books that I have been reading. So, I thought I would share some of my faves in this post. To spice things up, I’m also doing my first giveaway on this blog. I’m going to give one lucky reader the full book...
The One Question You Should Ask Before You Rush to Create Your Next Periscope Campaign
Snapchat and Periscope (and a lesser extent Meerkat) are the new social media darlings of the moment. All the social media marketing types are writing their endless listicles, blog posts, news articles and podcast episodes about why your company should be paying attention and jumping on them. Or else, you are going to be left behind. They lead with how Snapchat has 100 million users, and that 1...
5 Tips For WDS Newbies
Last year, I went to the World Domination Summit (a.k.a. WDS) on a whim. A few of my friends were going. I heard really cool things about previous years. What can I say? FOMO is real. That said, I didn’t have many expectations. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I just knew it wasn’t your typical boring, stuffy conference (it’s more of an unconference IMO). I came away...
Embracing Our Collective Fear Of Mediocrity
It’s perfectly okay to be average. This is the sentiment shared in many blog posts recently, including from two of my favorite bloggers, Jay Baer and Mark Manson. While their blog posts couldn’t be further apart, the same general theme held true. It’s about our collective fear of being average. [quote]“Being “average” has become the new standard of failure. The worst...
Why Your Company’s Instagram Account Is Not A Community (And Why That’s Okay!)
Many companies – and social media managers- are quick to call their social media accounts their community. In 99% of cases, this simply isn’t the case. Social media sites – like Instagram- are networks not communities. That’s perfectly okay. Both networks and communities serve super useful purposes. It’s when you confuse one for the other that’s where you can...
5 Tips For Building Strong, Branded Communities
All the right vibes. // Photo via @sarawassphoto at @cielonyc. A photo posted by DAYBREAKER (@dybrkr) on Mar 26, 2015 at 7:43am PDT Community isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s been around for centuries, well even since the caveman days. Our ancestors relied on community building to hunt, eat, and survive. I think sometimes as community managers we get so bogged down on the day to day...
3 Tips For Creating A Custom Editorial Calendar That Works For Your Business
If you are anything like me, one of the toughest parts about blogging is showing up to write when you are feeling uninspired or suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. One way to keep yourself accountable is to create an editorial calendar. I know for many of you this probably sounds scary and intimidating. But, I promise it really isn’t. Most of us think about meetings and...
What Community Managers Can Learn From Being In The Kitchen
As a community manager, it’s really easy to get stuck in a bubble of living and breathing the communities that you manage. It can be a good idea to step outside of that bubble every once in awhile to seek out other perspectives. As someone who is a voracious reader, I do this most often by reading all kinds of books and blog posts in a variety of industries with varying perspectives. I...
Is Slack Unintentionally Becoming The New Online Community Platform We Have All Been Waiting For?
On the surface, Slack is just another workplace communication channel. It directly competes with Campfire, Hipchat, and even to a lesser degree Google Hangouts and email. It’s tagline is to change the way companies communicate and make work life easier. There’s no doubt Slack is revolutionizing how many companies are communicating these days. Due to a great UX, site stickiness and an...
The Single Biggest Lesson Learned From 5 Years Of Blogging
On my five year blog anniversary (on this domain and a few of weeks after launching my very first course), I can’t help but think about how far I have come and how excited I am for some of the goals I am setting my sights on. I’m even hungrier to blog than on day 1 because I have seen firsthand the huge impact it’s had on my life. I say often that Twitter changed my life...