irrelevant. As it is, these traditional platforms should be only used by the biggest of companies who can afford the scale.
Television, newspapers, and radio used to be the global platforms. Through these channels, companies and a few lucky, connected individuals could distribute their content to the world within a few days. Now, though, all of those platforms have been overshadowed by the biggest global platform ever, the Internet. Within this global platform are social marketing subplatforms, and these are the tools you’re going to use to distribute your killer content and your personal brand to the masses, not in days, but in seconds.
The difference between promoting your brand via traditional marketing and advertising mediums and doing it via social networking platforms is like the difference between sending a message by Pony Express and chatting on Instant Messenger. Sure, you could use the former, but there’s a good chance the recipient will have moved on and forgotten about you by the time the message arrives at its destination.
We’re bordering on social network platform overload. There are fifty or sixty platforms that people are currently using to distribute business content, and by the time this book comes out there will be more, but there are only a few major players with which you need to familiarize yourself. Some have funny names, but otherwise they are no different from the hammers and buckets of paint and fax machines and telephones that people have used for generations to build businesses and spread the word about what they have to offer. The rest of this chapter offers an overview of the leading social marketing platforms and the optimal way to use them.
wordpress and tumblr
All other platforms lead to this one—your home, your destination, your blog. Wordpress and Tumblr are the best and most popular blogging platforms currently available. There are others of course—Blogger and especially Six Apart products are good (and there is smoke at Six Apart, so by the time this book comes out they may be in the game)—but these are two that I have used and liked. Wordpress is the established leader with the most users. Its design is a little busy, it requires a few more steps to get your content up and shared, but it’s not difficult to learn. With some practice, in fact, there are some really interesting options available to skilled users, although to my mind there’s no reason to bother becoming that skilled. One of its nicest features is an excellent and easy archive system with a search capability, so people can find anything you’ve ever posted. And Wordpress allows for some sophisticated customization to your page. I’m a big fan of the “themes,” too. These are the design options you get to choose from when you create your page, and I think they’re really elegant.
Tumblr, on the other hand, is a very simply designed site that is supereasy to use. You can post video and photos on Wordpress, but Tumblr directs you to a template designed specifically for the kind of content you wish to create, whether text, photo, link, video, or music. Hit “Create Post” and you’re good to go.
It’s a little known fact, too, that Tumblr is the only blogging platform that will host your domain name for free, which can save you hundreds of dollars a year. What this means is thatyou can identify yourself as Sallydressdesigner.com (you have to buy your name from GoDaddy.com first) instead of Sallydressdesigner.tumblr.com. You have that option on Wordpress, too—sallydressdesigner.com or Sallydressdesigner.wordpress.com—but if you forgo the company name, you have to pay hosting fees.
Another advantage to Tumblr is the reblog function. On Wordpress you have to write a new post about a story you read in order to tell others about it. When account users see somebody post something that they like on Tumblr, they can hit a button above the story that says “reblog,” which allows them to “tumble”
Television, newspapers, and radio used to be the global platforms. Through these channels, companies and a few lucky, connected individuals could distribute their content to the world within a few days. Now, though, all of those platforms have been overshadowed by the biggest global platform ever, the Internet. Within this global platform are social marketing subplatforms, and these are the tools you’re going to use to distribute your killer content and your personal brand to the masses, not in days, but in seconds.
The difference between promoting your brand via traditional marketing and advertising mediums and doing it via social networking platforms is like the difference between sending a message by Pony Express and chatting on Instant Messenger. Sure, you could use the former, but there’s a good chance the recipient will have moved on and forgotten about you by the time the message arrives at its destination.
We’re bordering on social network platform overload. There are fifty or sixty platforms that people are currently using to distribute business content, and by the time this book comes out there will be more, but there are only a few major players with which you need to familiarize yourself. Some have funny names, but otherwise they are no different from the hammers and buckets of paint and fax machines and telephones that people have used for generations to build businesses and spread the word about what they have to offer. The rest of this chapter offers an overview of the leading social marketing platforms and the optimal way to use them.
wordpress and tumblr
All other platforms lead to this one—your home, your destination, your blog. Wordpress and Tumblr are the best and most popular blogging platforms currently available. There are others of course—Blogger and especially Six Apart products are good (and there is smoke at Six Apart, so by the time this book comes out they may be in the game)—but these are two that I have used and liked. Wordpress is the established leader with the most users. Its design is a little busy, it requires a few more steps to get your content up and shared, but it’s not difficult to learn. With some practice, in fact, there are some really interesting options available to skilled users, although to my mind there’s no reason to bother becoming that skilled. One of its nicest features is an excellent and easy archive system with a search capability, so people can find anything you’ve ever posted. And Wordpress allows for some sophisticated customization to your page. I’m a big fan of the “themes,” too. These are the design options you get to choose from when you create your page, and I think they’re really elegant.
Tumblr, on the other hand, is a very simply designed site that is supereasy to use. You can post video and photos on Wordpress, but Tumblr directs you to a template designed specifically for the kind of content you wish to create, whether text, photo, link, video, or music. Hit “Create Post” and you’re good to go.
It’s a little known fact, too, that Tumblr is the only blogging platform that will host your domain name for free, which can save you hundreds of dollars a year. What this means is thatyou can identify yourself as Sallydressdesigner.com (you have to buy your name from GoDaddy.com first) instead of Sallydressdesigner.tumblr.com. You have that option on Wordpress, too—sallydressdesigner.com or Sallydressdesigner.wordpress.com—but if you forgo the company name, you have to pay hosting fees.
Another advantage to Tumblr is the reblog function. On Wordpress you have to write a new post about a story you read in order to tell others about it. When account users see somebody post something that they like on Tumblr, they can hit a button above the story that says “reblog,” which allows them to “tumble”
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