Social Media

I have always been an early adopter when it comes to technology. For example, I learned how to write computer programs back in the late 70s, and was among the first of my generation to embrace the nascent world of social media, create a blog, and develop my own websites.

Social media (often a mix of owned and shared media) is an integral part of any modern communications solution (unless, of course, you are selling something like stool softeners). And I provide social media support for some of my clients, creating an editorial calendar and then mining and posting content relevant to their needs.

It also helps that I have a sharp wit and good sense of humor, as funny posts are the most likely to be forwarded and go viral. How do I know this? I was subcontracted by Sohmer Associates to help generate publicity for a digital advertising agency. We recommended and developed a study to determine what attributes of content are most likely to be shared online, which resulted in significant publicity for the client.

At Asphalt Green, I led the organization’s digital marketing transformation, employing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, Google Analytics, SEO, and other tools and channels for the first time. As a freelancer, I have handled the social media for a number of different clients, though primarily Facebook and YouTube. I also used social media – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – to build an audience for a digital soccer magazine I had created.

At WE ACT for Environmental Justice, I have been populating the nonprofit’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram channels. In addition these primary channels, I also populate the Medium channel, which we use primarily to share posts from the blog; LinkedIn, which we use to share select media coverage, job listings, and blog posts; and the YouTube channel, where we host our videos. I have managed to steadily increase the following and engagement on all of these channels and have earned praise for my work from both inside and outside the organization.

While I use social media on a daily basis as a professional, mining content and developing campaigns to regularly populate Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Medium channels, I am no longer very active on a personal level. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from the increasingly polarized society we live in to the negative impact that some of these sites have on both society as a whole as well as the individual user (as noted here and here). But I have been active on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Yelp, Pinterest, Manterest, Ello, Goodreads, Google+, Medium, and a few other niche-market social networking sites over the years. And I still remain marginally active on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Flickr on a personal level.