Social Media Tips for Your Business

Andrew Durrett, Dell Computer Co.

Amanda Evans
September 4, 2018

Are you a business blogger? Do you have social media accounts?  Recently I interviewed Andrew Durrett at Dell Computer Co. about these timely topics.

Andrew Durrett started working with social media at Dell in 2005—back when the phenomenon was just getting started. He created the first online customer outreach team for a major corporation, providing Dell with the means to get the jump on customer needs through online conversations, world-wide. 

Amanda: Hi Andrew. Thank you for taking time to talk with me today.

Andrew: Thank you Amanda. I am glad to share my insights. Oh there is so much that has happened since 2005!

First let me be upfront and say I have worked for Dell for a long time so my opinions are of course tilted in my work family's favor. I cannot say enough good things about Dell and recommend it highly as a great place to work. That being said, everything I share with you are just my personal insights. I am not speaking on behalf of Dell. Also, as candid and transparent as I will try to be, please know there are some proprietary areas I cannot discuss so that Dell's interests and areas of confidentiality are protected.

What’s the Best Writing Style for Social Media Posting?

Amanda: What is the best approach for business social media posts—short and sweet, personal, topic-driven, interactive?

Andrew: It is almost always good to post in a sharing, open way with less formality. We want to give some of who we are and connect with our own who already have relationships established as well as readers beyond our customer base.

Often we can open with a few sentences relaying a personal experience which relates to what we want to talk about. We need to temper this though by who in our audience of readers will have the most interest as well as who we most want to reach.

If your key readers are already engaged and ready for specific information, cut to the chase quickly and give them what they really need. If it is something new like a product innovation or new type of service, you can share more; but be sure to use hyperlinks to more details elsewhere as well as embedded videos of experts. This lets your readers choose how much content they wish to experience.

Most posts are better with some questions out to your readers. After all, what they have to say in response is, in a way, much more relevant than most of what we may share in business posts.

Blogging: Outdated or Useful?

Amanda:  Are blogs becoming a thing of the past, or are they taking a new direction?

Andrew:  Blogs do not have the popularity they had in their heyday, but it is an ideal form of interaction. I hope it continues on and eventually returns to a higher level of use--the sooner the better. I do not think they will ever go away.

Picture or video based forms of media are all well and good, but a greater depth is possible in sharing where interactive written word is the unhindered focus. Twitter is too limited and lends itself to a more sporadic simple style of communication--far from ideal. Forums are good for less formal interaction and are close to ideal along with blogs but the medium and relationship is better in a blog for sharing something a bit more in depth.

Should We Be Diplomatic in Our Posts?

Amanda:  How should we approach diplomacy in our online writing? Do you advise tact and avoiding incendiary topics, or "letting it rip"?

Andrew:  There is something to be said for telling it like it is and speaking boldly--but only if what you want to say is going to add value, be heard and understood, incite change, and give more comfort and benefit than anger and detrimental reaction.

There have been places and times which have needed that boldness for society to move forward. Today we should still talk about places where we need to grow and solve problems more effectively, but the terrain is different now.

Most all of us experience life from group perspectives--facing special challenges and forms of oppression. We often see the flames of upset fanned until the polarities of our uniquenesses and struggles play out in visceral emotional reaction. Because of this volatile climate, we need to look more closely at what we write.

We have to ask ourselves today:

• What do my readers and the world need?
• Is my message easy for all to understand?
• Am I alienating sets of people, leaving a group out in the cold?
• Do my words trigger anger or something else negative?
• What is the outcome of my message?
• Does what I have written move us to solutions or further away?

This applies to all topics, not just social issues. When we communicate anything to our customers (or potential customers), it is always necessary to look at where the communication will lead.

How Do We Create the Best Experience?

Amanda:  What advice do you have for those of us looking to create the best customer experience with our social media accounts?

Andrew:  The most important thing we do with our customers online is listen. The more we hear, the better. When you post, it is important to have fun, be transparent, and be yourself. It is also important to achieve goals in communication like selling the product or service we have to offer.

It is easy though to get lost in ourselves as we talk about what we think we know; but whatever we choose to share, it is not about us. It is about those who read, those who respond.

The real beauty of social media is in what everyone shares interactively. You may learn more about your product or topic by reading all the resulting comments.

Always encourage interaction:

• Ask questions.
• Watch the resulting dialogue closely.
• Set time aside and commit to responding to your readers right there in the comments and, even then, encourage them to share more.

Once it is all said and done, take all the responses to the bank. Treat it as valuable feedback which can reshape what you think and change tomorrow’s products and services. We want to inform, share, educate, even establish ourselves as thought leaders; but the best thing for us to become is Listening Leaders.


Thanks Andrew, for sharing your knowledge and insights with us.

Amanda Evans has been editing and writing in a wide variety of fields for over thirty years. During that time, she authored numerous technical manuals and articles, as well as a children's fantasy novel. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief at a publishing house in Austin, Texas.
http://amandaevansediting.blogspot.com/

What About the Visuals?

RuthAnn Rafiq, brand & website designer at R Artspace

Amanda Evans
August 19, 2018

Let’s talk about visuals--images, colors, photos, graphics, and the like. Today I’m sharing an interview with my friend, RuthAnn Rafiq, who let me pick her brain about the visual side of things on the Internet.

RuthAnn Rafiq is a photographer and graphic artist, and the brand and website designer behind R Artspace, a multi-faceted branding studio serving women entrepreneurs. 
 

The Current Trend

Amanda: What do you think of the current use of pastels and soft images on websites and in social media posts?

RuthAnn: I think the pastels and soft images are definitely becoming overused. It's not very unique to have the soft and bright images anymore, so now people's Instagram feeds and websites are looking pretty similar–which is NOT what you want. You want your business to stand out and make a memorable impression!

Amanda: Is the light-and-airy look going to become a standard, or will it decline?

RuthAnn: The light and airy images ARE beautiful, and there's a reason so many people are using them. But I do think that other trends will come around and perhaps the editing style will swing the other way to a more realistic, darker or more moody look for photos in the near future.

The Next Big Trend

Amanda: What do you see as the next visual trend coming up?

RuthAnn: Right now we're still into the overly styled and pretty images, which are beautiful, but I can see that the next visual trend will be more realistic images, less styled, and more candid.

Amanda: How important is it to follow these big trends?

RuthAnn: As a brand designer I never want to create a "trendy" brand or website. Because, like we said earlier, trends come and go. I would prefer to keep things more classic so the life-span is longer. So I think, while it's easy to want to follow a trend, I think it's more beneficial if you stick to your own unique style, and keep the imagery more classic.

Tips for Getting Started

Here are RuthAnn’s tips for those of us who want an attractive and unique look, but don't know where to start.

• Find images that represent your business and don't look overly styled or outlandish.
• You can find photos from free photo websites or you can purchase images from a stock shop or you can take your own.
• Keep your images looking realistic and relatable.
• For Instagram, I recommend using an app called Preview that can help you organize your grid, and there are also a lot of features for editing photos so you can get a cohesive-looking feed.
• When you find an editing style you like, stick with it. This will help keep your images looking consistent.

Thanks, RuthAnn, for generously sharing your expertise with us.

You can find more about RuthAnn Rafiq and R Artspace on her website and on Instagram.

www.rartspace.com www.rartspace.com/
www.instagram.com/r_artspace

Amanda Evans has been editing and writing in a wide variety of fields for over thirty years. During that time, she authored numerous technical manuals and articles, as well as a children's fantasy novel. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief at a publishing house in Austin, Texas.
http://amandaevansediting.blogspot.com/

Sometimes You Have to Add Some Schmaltz

Amanda Evans
June 21, 2018


So you've written your first draft, and it isn't quite getting the job done.
Maybe it hasn't turned out to be --

• Expressive
• Attention-grabbing
• Detailed
• Just plain interesting 

Here's what you can do to make it shine. 

Evaluate Your Draft

Once you've got the structure and basic language down on paper or into your computer, it's time to make sure it clearly conveys what you want the reader to walk away with.  Ask yourself some questions:

• Can the reader "see" what I'm describing?
• Are there enough details to support the premise and conclusions?
• Will the reader remain interested to the end?
• Is this going to evoke any emotions?
• Is my message coming across clearly?
• Are the action-items laid out in a compelling way?

If your answer is "no" to any of these questions, then you've got a little work to do.

Lay on the Schmaltz

You know what I'm talking about.  When you were a kid and trying to impress your school teacher with how innocent you really were, you would pile on the adjectives that they wanted to hear--things like "studious, devoted, upstanding, motivated," and on and on. That, my friend, is schmaltz.

There are several classes of schmaltz, which you can use to punch-up your work:

• Descriptive words
• Descriptive narrative
• Details, details, details
• Exciting narrative
• Emotional hooks
• Building to a climax
• Going in for the kill

Let's take a look at them one by one.

Descriptive Words

You can sprinkle-in descriptive words or phrases wherever you want.  And they can be used for more than just describing objects.  Here are some examples:

• Describe the way something is said.
  

  "'Where are we?' asked Michael, out of breath." *
  "'Silence!' he hissed."

• Describe the look or feel of the setting.
  

  "The sky was hard blue, with no clouds."

• Describe an emotion.
  

  "Michael's face slowly lost its color as he looked around the room."

• Add a technical description.
  

  "The crystal turned to smoky blue. She held it in both hands."

Descriptive Narrative

There are instances in which you can't just throw in a few adjectives and make things clear enough.  That's when descriptive narrative can be helpful.

• Add a paragraph to set the scene.
  

  "In the dark forest, deep in the night, a fair-haired man lay sleeping on the ground.  Next to him stood a gray, speckled pony, the man's trusted companion.  Both man and pony breathed together in heavy slumber."

• Insert an "aside" statement to clarify or present an alternate point.
  

  "Even with bumps and bruises, they were enjoying their fight with this human."

• Finish up a section with a description of resultant thoughts or emotions.
  

  "Alix looked at Michael, and she knew that it was all right to go."

• Use description to transition from one scene to the next.
  

  "'It's going to be cold,' said Michael as they stepped through the crystal window."

  
  

Details, Details, Details

The best way to describe something is to provide a multitude of details.  It's also a good way to win an argument.  This technique can be overused though, so only do it a few times in a book or maybe once in a short story.  Here's an example:

"In one corner of the room, Alix saw child-sized musical instruments--a little wooden flute, a harp, a cello with a bow, a silver drum, and a brass horn.  There was a beautiful doll that was as big as a small child, a baby doll, and a tiny family that lived in a dollhouse.  A large bookcase held rows of books with gold letters on them."

Exciting Narrative

When I wrote Pentalia, a children's fantasy novel, I tested it on a group of willing elementary school students.  The girls loved it, and the boys stopped reading after a chapter or two.  My brother, the fantasy-guy, advised me to add some scenes. "Spill some blood, break some bones."  Needless to say, the boys loved my next draft.

"The man grappled with the tireless trolls, fending off an onslaught of bites and blows.  The little men whooped and hollered their battle cries and yelped in pain as they were hurled against trees and rocks."

Emotional Hooks

If you want to write engaging text, then you're going to have to elicit some emotions from the reader.  It's pretty easy to add emotional "hooks" to your narrative.  All you have to do is put yourself in the reader's shoes and consider the following questions:

• What are they concerned about?
• What makes them mad?
• How's the best way to make 'em cry? 

For the following hook, it was easy to think of something that would make a twelve-year-old girl mad.  Here's what the bad guy says:

"What an angry little girl.  In a few years, she'll make a good plaything for us."

Building to a Climax

In most scenes or even essays, you can lay out your arguments or describe events so that you build the reader up to a climax, and then "wham"--you hit them with the point.

"Sitting high in a nearby tree, one of the trolls prepared a final blow for the man.  He dipped a small quill into a leather bag filled with thick liquid. Then he pulled a long, hollow tube from his shirt.  He slid the quill into the tube, lifted it to his mouth, and blew."

Going in for the Kill

There's nothing so powerful as a well-built, intensely delivered message.  This is an indispensible tool for both fiction and nonfiction.  To improve your first draft, usually you'll have to pump it up a bit.

"By this time, Alix's face was hot with rage.  She had heard enough.  'You brainless, slimy slug.  You are fit for nothing more than crawling upon the ground, dousing your stench in rancid mud.'"

Don't Overdo It

Nobody likes to read a sloppy, gushy, overly detailed description--especially when there's no point at the end, or it has no bearing on the story.  But there is a very fine line between too little and too much, and it is different for each individual situation.

By the time you're ready to decide if you have gone too far or not far enough, you've probably read over your drafts too many times.  After about the third reading, your discrimination days are over for that piece of writing.  You just can't experience it as the reader anymore.  That's when an editor is very helpful.

Or at least get your brother, the fantasy-guy to read it.

Remember, everyone needs an extra brain.

*  All of the writing examples in this article are from Pentalia by Amanda Evans.

Amanda Evans has been editing and writing in a wide variety of fields for over thirty years. During that time, she authored numerous technical manuals and articles, as well as a children's fantasy novel. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief at a publishing house in Austin, Texas.
http://amandaevansediting.blogspot.com/

What Does It All Mean?

Amanda Evans
June 12, 2018

Everyone knows what an editor does.
But if you look around the Internet, you'll find a host of confusing terms, like --

Here's the Skinny
on the Most Common Contemporary Editing Buzzwords

By and large, the majority of editors offer varying levels of editing to their clients. Here's a quick rundown to help you choose what's right for you.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the most basic edit, which involves correcting all of the flat-out mistakes.  This includes grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

 

Copyediting

Copyediting corrects mistakes, as does proofreading, but in addition, a copyedit corrects problems such as inconsistencies, redundancies, and omissions.  Copyeditors also fact-check, to be sure all the details are accurate.

Line Editing

Line editing is a big-picture edit.  The structure of the piece, clarity of language, and tone are considered by a line editor, who provides the author with suggested improvements.  Line editing does not include proofreading for typos and other text mistakes.

Developmental Editing

Developmental editing is more like writers’ coaching. Its super-big-picture perspective includes vision, outline, writing plan, style, structure, and efficacy.  Developmental editors often come on board during the conceptual phase of a writing project.

Technical Editing

Technical editing is for nonfiction and non-journalistic writing.  A tech editor evaluates language, content, understandability, factual accuracy, structure, and completeness.

Critiquing

A critique involves the analysis of a piece, with suggestions made regarding plot, characters, pacing, structure, and marketability.

My Take on It

As an editor, I like to offer my clients two choices:

• Proofreading, or
• Full Edit - a combination of line editing, copyediting, and a final proofreading.

Editing Isn’t Just for Words Anymore

I would venture to say that there are far more photo or image editors operating professionally, than text editors these days.  When you search the Internet or a social media platform for “editors,” you’ll find mostly references to photo editors.

And when a text editor is asked what they do for a living, “I’m an editor,” is no longer an adequate answer. I like to say,

A text editor is the writer’s best friend.

Amanda Evans has been editing and writing in a wide variety of fields for over thirty years. During that time, she authored numerous technical manuals and articles, as well as a children's fantasy novel. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief at a publishing house in Austin, Texas.
http://amandaevansediting.blogspot.com/

If You Can Talk, You Can Write

Amanda Evans
June 3, 2018

I've been a professional writer and editor for most of my life, and I know a secret about how to write good copy.

All you have to do is start talking.

Tell the story.  Tell what happened.  Tell how to do it.  Write down the words, and you're on your way to an easy, engaging style as a writer.

A Conversational Style

When you use casual, conversational writing, you vastly increase the amount of time a reader will spend with you.  This is an easy-to-read use of language, and it's the best way to get your message across--short of drawing a picture.

Conversational style works well for many types of writing, like

• Blogging
• Fiction
• How-to
• Marketing

Here's an example of science fiction written in a chatty, down-home manner:

When the cellphone video went viral, somebody in my town recognized me as the guy in the video and pretty soon I was a sort of celebrity, and the government showed up and asked me a lot of questions and told me to write down what I know, but I'm not much of a writer-down, so I just made a tape on my old cassette recorder.  -Walter Moseley, The Saucer 

How Not to Do It

A few years ago, I edited a newspaper article written by one of the most knowledgeable and experienced landscape professionals in our town.  It was her first time to write anything that would be published, and it took her several painful months to produce a first draft.

She began with the the movie- and television-stereotypical writing process, in which the writer makes a start, wads up the draft, and starts again--and again, and again, and again.  It didn't work.

Her next procedure was to write on index cards.  Finally she set down some anecdotes on paper and turned in several handwritten pages.

That final process she employed--anecdotes--actually worked quite well.  This brilliant landscaper told some amusing stories based on her experience and threw in some facts that she had in her head.  Then she confirmed the facts online, since science knowledge tends to change quickly.

Here's a bit of her conversational horticulture writing:

The easiest way to discourage gophers is to flatten any mounds you see as soon as possible--they get tired of rebuilding and move on!  The method I use whenever I can is the "rolling Detroit."  Line your truck tires up and run over the mounds and the tunnels between.  Bye bye gopher!  -Teri Goldsby, "Pocket Gophers" in The Rockport Pilot

How To Write, Easy-Peasy

The best way to produce fresh, interesting writing is to just let it flow right out of your head.

Imagine you're talking to your best friend.

First Draft

Write, type, or record what you say to that best friend.  It can be

• Typed stream-of-consciousness style
• Hand-written on paper
• Spoken into an audio recording device
• Or scribbled on napkins

Then one way or another, get it transcribed into a typed, digital format.  But don't try to fix anything.  Just get it on a computer using something like MS Word or Google Docs.  You can hire people to transcribe audio, hand-written pages, and even napkins.

Second Draft

If you're not ready to send the first draft off to an editor (the extra pair of eyes), then copy the file and rename it as your second draft.  Clean up the mistakes, but keep as much of your original wording as possible.

Warning: The more you go over your writing, the less fresh and spontaneous the final product will be.

That's because what was clever or funny or brilliant when you first wrote it, will lose its luster the third or fourth time you read it.  Then you may find yourself revising it or replacing it with something that's dry and boring without realizing you've just sucked the life out of your text.

The Three-Year-Old Approach

A very dear young lady at the tender age of three, taught me a lot about writing.

One day, while riding in the back seat of the car, she created a perfect synopsis of Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.  She just threw back her head and started singing.

This is a song about Star Wars and Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.  Darth Vader cut Luke's hand off, and Luke fell down an air conditioner pipe and fell outside there.  And the metal robot got broken, and he was Chewie's friend.  And Princess Leia came back with her guys and pulled Luke down from there.  And that guy got frozen, but not Luke Skywalker. -Elizabeth (transcribed by her mother)

I'll tell you right now: the best way to write is to pretend you're a three-year-old talking to your mom.

Remember, if you can talk, you can write.

Amanda Evans has been editing and writing in a wide variety of fields for over thirty years. During that time, she authored numerous technical manuals and articles, as well as a children's fantasy novel. In addition, she served as editor-in-chief at a publishing house in Austin, Texas.
http://amandaevansediting.blogspot.com/