Looking at Regular Things in Different Ways Through Social Media

Big chunks of sea glass... in an ornamental bowl.  Beautiful.  Two rather ordinary things, but putting the glass in the bowl makes it somehow... better.  Much better.  I've been getting subtle hints like this for the last few weeks all around me.  

Like these baseballs in the cage.  I don't know what kind of cage it is... but I like it. I like the small squares mixed with the spheres in the rectangle box.  There's something in the psyche that tells my brain, it's a WIN.

A Christmas tinsel tree as a Valentine tree.  Since my Christmas tree is still up (yes... it really is) I'm thinking this might be more possible this year than ever before.  LOL!

A grey bowl with tarnished silver.  It works... it's beautiful. The combination is pleasing and the colors are calming.  Seperate though, I'm not sure I would have noticed either.

The photos above came from a recent antique show I attended with my crafting maven friend, Amy Barickman.  I enjoyed the show immensly because the vendors are extremely savvy in how they merchandise their products.  Using them in different ways and in different combinations and forcing you to take a second look and recognize the beauty.  Social media kind of does the same thing with regular businesses using branding and marketing in new and different ways.

So... I had one of my clients use social media to play ordinary games on a social network.  A guessing game and a trivia question. Two types of games that have been around since dirt.  @johnnystavernpv asked on Twitter, "For a $25 gift card to us, what year was Johnny's Tavern in Lawrence, established?"    Winner... @Chrissa21 with 1953. Second question... "For a $10 gift card, how many fingers am I holding up?"   Yes... I really asked that. LOL! My children were with me as credible witnesses and @mvanbaale won with his guess of "2". The responses and participation was much better than expected.  37 Players, total of 54 tweets by followers and non followers using @johnnystavernpv name, 12 new followers gained, $35 spent... all within 14 minutes of playing time.   Simply because we took something average and by using it via social media, made it shiny and new again. 

Try it in your business... or in your decor'.  Tell me how that works for you.

4 Businesses Using at Least One New Social Media Strategy in 2010

I want you to pick one... one thing about social media that will help you promote your business, yourself,  the not for profit you volunteer for, your child's school, your... whatever during 2010!   Just pick one new social media startegy that you can get excited about, sink your teeth into and implement.  Here are some movers and shakers and what they are planning on or all ready doing now that it's 2010.

Tom Babb's  Video Home Tours of Kansas City, is creating home video tours for realtors to get an edge on the sluggish and hopefully changing real estate market.  Brilliant! So much better than the single shots per room that give you little to no depth perception or the 360 cam that was confusing and completely distorting depth.  Tom's video tours will put you there... in the home... on the property.  It'll be ideal for those of us who are busy working all week and little time to physically visit several homes.  Perfect for those out of towners, pre-choosing homes to tour while their time in town is limited.  Furthermore, it's yet another tool for realtors to recognize buying signals from prospective clients.  If a client has taken the time to view a home and has gone another step to actually contact the realtor... well game on because they are ready!  I love this video option!


Anne Williams of  Professional Resume' out of San Francisco, will be creating online resume pages for clients along with an option for a personal video message to future employers,  in the near future. The video is "an absolute MUST" according to Anne. Anne also says she's currently utilizing social media for brand awareness and plans to blog and post relevant job descriptions from around the country, as well as information on interviewing skills and targeting the right position.  Amazing how a simple piece of paper we once brought in to an interview with us, has changed.  I really like the option of a personal branding video message.  Financially savvy employers are also interviewing via Skype, to avoid large travel expenses.  To me these steps really hammer home our "universal identity" and how we brand ourselves.  It's getting so interesting... isn't it?

Amy Barickman of The Vintage Workshop and Indygo Junction is preparing to create simple 1 to 2 minute "How To" videos for the crafting world.  Amy has a lot of experience in front of the camera (The Martha Stewart Show, Sewing With Nancy and many many expos and conferences throughout the U.S.) so this seems like a natural progression for her companies.  She will be able to personalize herself even more by letting viewers in on projects currently in progress. She can show the viewer how to create a simple craft or a portion of a craft project as an educational tool.  I even smell a live podcast, once a week with the same bat time and same bat place in her future.  She can bring in special guests or SKYPE with them via webcam and let the viewers ask questions too.  Her industry is all visual and these changes will She's also looking into making her many books, e-books.  For the first time ever, 2009 saw more books bought digitally than in paper. 




Roger Smith Hotel in NYC, has started the year by playing games with their followers via Twitter.  Today they announced their 1st winner of the #RogerRooms suite give-a-way.  All anyone had to do was tweet their guess as to which card, from a regular playing deck, was in the promoter's hand.  The winner is @alieter who celebrated by Re-Tweeting (called RT) the winner tweet announcement...  "Woo Hoo! RT @RSHotel Winner of #RogersRooms, with the 8 of Clubs is @aleiter free suite in Jan!!"    What a fun way to create buzz and excitement amongst your followers.  Better yet they tell their friends to play too and Roger Smith Hotels didn't even have to encourage them to do so!  Truly a word of mouth campaign success. At the time of this blog, I wasn't sure how often, if at all, they would be doing this particular game.  I can't wait to see what they come up with next! 


What social media tool are you thinking of using?

(Amy Barickman's Indygo Junction purses photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine)

Urban Mining, Amy Barickman and Christmas Stuff... Yea!

Last Thursday, I had the pleasant task of going with Amy Barickman (Vintage Workshop, Indgyo Junction and many many books!) to one of our favorite antiquing digs in town... Urban Mining Homewares.  It's only open one weekend a month, and this was a preview of the Holiday treasures for sale.   Check 'em out.

Confession Time...

It would appear I'm getting "old".

I like bird watching.

What is up with that? I would not have considered myself a fan of birds (Hitchcock's, The Birds, ruined them for me at an early age) until the last 7 - 10 years or so. I find myself perched on the wicker chair in my kitchen, feet propped up on the low window sill, watching out of one of the three side by side windows... waiting. There's a decent show at about any given daylight hour.

Cardinals. I adore cardinals. The beautiful bright red males fly fast, low and can manuever on a dime! They are fierce about their loyalty to their woman. The males will persistently drive away other males from their lovely ladies... all ... day... long. I kind of like that.

Our neighborhood is a happy little home to about two dozen yellow finches. I'm not sure how they came to our area ... but I'm so glad! They are very chatty and frequently congrugate together in my cutting garden to perch upon and eat the dead Black Eye'd Susan seeds. They are gorgeous and social... again, what's not to like about that?

Hummingbirds. Oh boy do I love hummingbirds! They are about the size of my thumb and can fly like a helicopter! They are the only bird able to fly backwards! We really only see them here in the 'hood from July through August, during their migration. You gotta like that they even stop by so we can see them.

Red Tail Hawks are so big, fat and healthy here in Round Hill. I saw one sitting high up on a limb in our backyard this summer and for just a moment, I thought it was a turkey. All plump and happy up there... looking for an easy snack. They have taken our ground squirrel population down to about 3. All of whom seem to be living under my house. Sadly though... the squirrel population is almost zero in my neighborhood this year. The hawks can easily pick up full grown squirrels and rabbits and carry them off ... clearly the mother lode of carry out meals.

The only wildlife I like watching more than a cool bird, is a funny squirrel... or 3. The only thing better than the squirrels... are watching mine and the neighborhood kids. Either way... you can find me at my kitchen window, watching... like some freaky old lady.

(vintage bird photo courtesy of The Vintage Workshop The squirrels are from a tree near my second story window in my backyard. So cute!! Probably hawk chow by now.)

Confession Time...

I have a confession to make.... I want a webcam.

I didn't want one for a long time. The stigma behind it was too related to porn. But I heard about a application coming out now, that will allow you to do video email. I think I'm liking that idea more every second.

My friend, Amy Barickman, has a few companies that involve a lot of crafting and working with designers. She could literally hold a project up and say "move this piece over here..." as she emails a designer... or hold up a different fabric and say "I want this one". I get chills at thinking how this could help her and her business partners.

Another friend of mine, Mark Sudermann, is an interior designer. Imagine what he could do! Not only could he send a photo of a piece he found for a homeowner, but with this application he could video it... walking around the table... or a couch... sitting on it... talking and video'ing. I think it would create a ton of excitement with a client... I love it!!!!!!!

If you remember my other blog where the Southeastern Conference is not allowing social media to be used during their college games ... so I wonder, is email social media? Maybe... it's on the fence. Or not. It just seems so "old" compared to the newer technology. But think about this... you could video a great play and email it out. Awww, it's probably frowned upon too at the SEC, but it's going to happen. A lot.

I'll keep you posted if I make this webcam and software purchase. The application will be available on an iPhone. Which I don't have... but want. hmmmm... yet another purchase.

Social Media... changing every day I tell ya! EXCITING!