• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Marjorie Clayman’s Writing PortfolioMarjorie Clayman’s Writing Portfolio

Professional writing profile of Marjorie Clayman

  • About Me
  • Content Categories
    • Articles/Papers
    • Social Media and Blogs
    • Video Scripts and Concepts
    • Print Ads and Collateral
  • Contact Me

Archives for April 2011

The Tao of Twitter: A Review

by Margie Clayman

Over the last 9 months or so, I have been visiting Mark Schaefer’s blog pretty regularly. You’ve seen his name on a few lists I’ve put together over the last little while. Mostly, that’s because his blog posts are pretty super duper!

So, in my going back and forth with Mark, I found out that he had written a book called The Tao of Twitter (not an affiliate link). Mark, being the generous dude that he is, sent me a copy to review!

Dr. Spock, Mr. Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer, Dr. Spock.

I’m afraid this is my second review this weekend where I will note that I really feel like I wrote the words I was reading. As I had gleaned from Mark’s posts, he and I come from a pretty similar philosophy when it comes to Twitter, and the Tao of Twitter pretty much mushes that all together and puts it in a lovely package.

When you have a baby, you turn to Dr. Spock. When you have a car, you turn to the instruction manual (unless you’re me – then you just use the instruction manual when there’s a problem). When you dive into Twitter, there is not a similar instruction guide. Or at least there didn’t used to be. Knowing what I know of Twitter now, I think having Mark’s Tao of Twitter by your side is as close as you can get to a “new to Twitter” buddy.

Beginning with the three points of the Tao – Attracting Targeted Followers, Providing Meaningful Content, and Offering Authentic Helpfulness, the Tao of Twitter walks you through everything from how to get started on Twitter to the more complex issues of who to follow, what to use for your avatar, and the up and downsides of auto-messaging and auto-tweeting. Everything is treated with an even hand so that if you have done some of the things Mark doesn’t think are good ideas, you don’t feel like jumping out a window.

Mark even provides a 20-minute regimen plan, a lot of which overlaps with some of the ideas I put together (without knowing about this chapter) in my post called 1 month, 40 Twitter Action items. Great minds, right? 🙂

Nobody’s perfect

OK, so there are a couple of little things that bothered me, though they do not detract from the value of the book. Item 1 – there were a few more typos than I like to see in a book. And item 2 – there were a couple of places where stories that had already been recounted were retold as if for the first time. Not huge deals, but things I noticed.

So that’s my review of Mark Schaefer’s Tao of Twitter. I wish it had been around when I was starting on Twitter. If you’re new, take advantage of this great resource!

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Making My Lists and Remaking Them Twice

by Margie Clayman

This post is by Kat Caverly. In 2005 photographer/graphic designer Kat Caverly founded NoEvil Productions with her husband Thomas Hudson Reeve, a filmmaker. Together they have created over 1000 ecard designs, also producing the voice, sound effects and music. In 2009 Kat proudly gave birth to Greetums.com, her very first own greeting card company.

A few days ago, I wrote a post called The Case Against Twitter Lists and Facebook Filters. A few people agreed with me, but several other people said, “Are you crazy? I use lists all of the time!” One of those people was Ms. Caverly. So I asked her to write up why she likes lists for engagement. Here is what she wrote!

I came to Twitter to meet and greet people. Striking up conversations and engaging strangers is one of the things I did best when I was photographing people on the streets of Manhattan, and this skill translated quite well online, particularly on Twitter.

But my main timeline became a nightmare when I reached over 300 accounts I was following. By the time I surpassed 500 I was no longer able to keep track of anyone in particular. Fortunately I hit this milestone around the same time as the introduction of Twitter Lists.

I had already started to use TweetDeck, one of the most popular 3rd party apps for tweeting and I soon learned that I could use it to display List columns, as well as mentions and direct messages. But it took me a few months to grasp a subtler tool —private versus public lists.

[Read more…] about Making My Lists and Remaking Them Twice

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Are you wondering how to integrate social media into your direct marketing?

by Margie Clayman

Sometimes, you sit down to read a book, and instantaneously you think, “Oh man. This person wrote a book that encapsulates everything I’ve been thinking about!”

Such was my experience when I sat down to read Social Media 4 Direct Marketers, by Debra Ellis (not an affiliate link). Debra honored me by giving me an opportunity to review this book, and let me tell you, it’s right up my alley.

[Read more…] about Are you wondering how to integrate social media into your direct marketing?

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Pick yourself up and dust yourself off

by Margie Clayman

At the ripe old age of 3 or 4 months (in Twitter time), I decided that I had learned enough to start a chat of my own. Attending #blogchat had opened my mind to everything that was possible on Twitter. I had met tons of great people, I had gotten hooked on other chats, and I was pretty certain that enough people knew me that I’d be able to get my own chat off the ground. I called the chat #twit4biz (I think), and the idea was to talk about how you were using Twitter for business. I thought it was a pretty fertile area of conversation. I was planning on having chats on everything from your “voice” to the avatar choice (your logo or your face?).

I tried to do the chat for 3 or 4 weeks, and my only attendees each time were the lovely Linda Machado and Lisa Alexander. I so appreciated them coming, but it just didn’t seem like anyone else was interested in what we were saying. So, I decided to call the chat off.

I was horrifically confused and disappointed. I had gotten so many nice comments from people. I had gotten good feedback on the idea. I had gotten coaching from people I really respected. Where had I gone wrong?

[Read more…] about Pick yourself up and dust yourself off

Filed Under: Marketing Talk, Musings

Why bother helping Japan?

by Margie Clayman

Three weeks ago, a conversation happened during #Tweetdiner, the weekly chat that I started with Stan Smith. The conversation focused on what we could do to help Japan. Three weeks later, we have a website, a Facebook page, and a registered Twitter hashtag at #care4Japan, and tomorrow begins a week-long Twitter chat that will hopefully raise awareness and drive donations to the American Red Cross.

Some people say, in response to these efforts, that Japan doesn’t really need our help. They’re a wealthy country. They can self-sustain.

[Read more…] about Why bother helping Japan?

Filed Under: Crafts and Charity

Something can work and still not be right

by Margie Clayman

Every month this year, I’ve decided to take on a new eating challenge. In January, I (mostly) gave up chocolate. In February, I gave up all microwave food. This past month, I gave up my beloved Pepsi. For April, I’m trying to eat raw, which is proving highly interesting and a bit scary.

There are a lot of reasons why I’m challenging myself in these ways. I want to get healthier. That’s one thing. But also, I think that we all take for granted how EASY it is to get food and stuff it into our mouths. I love enjoying flavors. I love cooking, in fact. But because there is so much easy food, I just kind of, well, eat. It works. It keeps me nourished. But is it the best way? I am not convinced 100% that it is.

[Read more…] about Something can work and still not be right

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to page 8
  • Go to page 9

Footer

marjorie.clayman@gmail.com

   

Margie Clayman © 2023