I have one question to go with my afternoon of popcorn and blackberry lemonade in the backyard. Why I am completely turned off by all music with synthesizers except for Beck?
He’s just that good, I guess.
The Definition of Adventure
A new path in life. A new hope. A new adventure. You think lots of things when you set out on a new adventure. I would apologize for the inelegant language, but in all of its awkward glory, “You think lots of things,” is true. Especially if you’re me.
Whatever that adventure may be, you have all sorts of expectations about this adventure from the get-go. No matter how hard you try to keep yourself from forming these ridiculous notions, assumptions, possibilities, they happen. Positive and negative alike, they run around your brain until you feel like an elephant has been chasing a mouse across every upended, disheveled lobe. They also didn’t mind taking a jaunt down to your swiftly beating heart to run a few laps. Now that I’ve painted you a current status picture, I’ll move on.
I like to play with words. Literally, play with them, like they are puzzle pieces. I’m not sure why. I remember my parents commending me on the use of “big” words as a kid. (“Vociferous” is one of my favorites. It really is widely underused.) For some unknown reason, I looked up the definition of an “adventure” recently. One of the main definitions states: a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome. Oh, ok. I thought an adventure meant, “Let’s go have some fun on an adventure!” e.g., See definition of adventure part 1: an exciting or very unusual experience. Whether you set out on an adventure to find an unusual experience, take a risk, or to find some excitement, there’s a good chance you might run into all three during the course of your journey. Count on it. Expect it. Relish it like a string quartet enveloping you in its climactic notes. This adventure is once in a lifetime.
(I had this Phillip Glass piece in mind.)
Stifling
I had a realization yesterday morning. I hate to be stifled. I’m sure most of us feel the same way. Or…maybe not? I really don’t know. Maybe for some, being stifled actually feels comforting?
I had this awe-inspiring realization as I was thinking about haircuts. Yes, haircuts. A few months ago I got my hair cut for the first time in almost three years. I hate it. Yes, it looks “better”—well, let’s just hope all haircuts look better, and you don’t ever come home to a mushroom head staring you in the face (this happened to me once). I digress. The ends aren’t split anymore. It’s what you do to have healthy hair. You trim it. It grows more. Your hair breaks less. This is how it works.
Yes, haircuts they may look nice. Yes, people comment on them—”You’re haircut looks great!” But regardless… I really don’t like those stifling haircuts. I don’t like the sharp edges. I don’t like the fact that my hair fits into this “mold,” and it isn’t doing its own thing anymore. Now that it’s been a few months since I got my last hair cut, my hair is starting to feel normal again. It’s telling me… “Ok. *collective sigh of relief* I’m still subscribing to this mold-thing to some extent, but I’ve branched out just a little bit. Just a wee bit. That feels better.” This hair is a tad longer than that hair. This guy over here, I don’t know what he’s doing at all.
My sense of hating to be stifled even transfers to my hair. Huh. I’m definitely not getting it cut before the wedding. It’s decided.
Love,
Amanda Dawn
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” -Flannery O’Connor
The lack of motivation I possess to do the things that I must do as a person who inhabits the Earth sometimes astonishes me. I am most certainly not lazy. Not that I need to prove it to you, but my absurd and uncanny knack for procrastination in my personal life is ridiculous.
When I say personal life, I don’t mean the kind of personal life most people are referring to when they talk about their lives outside of work that include family and friends. I’m not usually lazy in that department. I also dont mean cleaning my house or my cat’s litter box, either. What I’m referring to would be things that are solely beneficial to me. I can look at my blog over the last year and count over twenty posts that I began to write, but never finished. What is that but lazy? As much as I love to write, I don’t make, take, find (take your pick) the time to do it as much as I should, and I’m really perplexed as to why this is.
Something that would incline me to believe my personal, personal laziness is not really laziness at all, would be my propensity for searching for the right book to read, rather than just beginning to read a book. I have almost wasted an entire day searching for the right book, when I could have finished an entire book, plus part of another, in that length of time. The pitiful part is, when I choose a book to start reading, it is usually none other than the one that was on my mind to read in the first place.
I’m not one to make resolutions. New Year’s resolutions, that is. I guess the rebellious part of myself still doesn’t like to follow the norm. But as I continue down the path to year 31, I regularly surprise myself. I bucked at the change of being off on weekends/nights and having a “normal” job at first. It just plain made me feel odd, out of place, and lonely. Now, if I don’t make plans on the weekends, I find myself content with reading by candlelight, spending hours looking at recipes, or cooking. How fast life can change.
I am not restless, and I am not unhappy. I am loved, and I am grateful, so don’t get the wrong idea. I do believe I am a perfectionist in many ways, and I have a tendency to over think things. My lack of personal, personal motivation is a long time companion that I am hoping to kick to the curb, because work/school deadlines and the loyalty we share with family and friends are undoubtedly of paramount importance, but sometimes in those quiet moments alone, I must do more than daydream of what I want to become. I must really live.
On that note, I’m going to do some yoga.
Yours Truly,
Amanda Dawn
I rose. I roared. I will. I am.
Sunrise Over J-Town
Unfortunately there are times in life where we feel completely out of place. Ok, I won’t assume, so let’s just say I. I feel out of place sometimes. Disoriented, frightened, and overwhelmed by life, each day is significant, culminating in a lifetime that is incredibly short, but also longer than I can possibly imagine at this 30 year juncture (and that’s not even including what lies beyond my last breath).
I will be cliché here, but it’s true. Take a gigantic puzzle for instance. You sort all of the pieces out, place them face up, find the corners, and begin building the framework for the big picture. It gets a little trickier when you start filling in the inner parts. It may be frustrating when the puzzle pieces don’t fit the first, second, or tenth time, but eventually, with patience, it starts coming together.
Maybe coming to terms with yourself really does take a lifetime. I have surprised myself lately with strength I didn’t know I could muster. Strength to go after my dreams and finally be “okay” with the intensity that makes me, me.
My favorite musician and lyricist wrote a song called Rose that has spoken to me for years. It’s about overcoming adversity, being resiliant, and rising above anything and everything that holds you back from being who you are. I have finally decided (been thinking about getting another tatoo constantly lately) to mark this period of my life with some of Maynard’s lyrics.
I rose. I roared. I will. I am.
Sunset Over J-town
Love you guys,
Amanda Dawn
The Next Decade
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed my particular affinity for it. Getting older, I mean. It’s kind of a weird sentiment from what I can tell. How many times have you heard a friend fervently wish, “Oh, if I could just go back to being 21 again!”
Bah, I say. I’m not going to lie and tell my youngin friends that things get easier as the years roll by. You just get more used to living. More comfortable in your own skin.
Last night. 11:59 p.m. One minute til I turn 30. One long minute. I don’t know what I expected, but this was the first time I’d had any reservations about this whole new decade thing. Thirty. Whoa. Ok. But the moment passed.
Maybe we make such a big deal about the decade bdays, because it’s like a New Year’s Resolution x 10. Lose the weight, find the right career path, read more, spend more time with family, or more time communing with nature. All are quite respectable resolutions for any new year/decade, but I think I found the best one for me.
I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to force myself into the right body shape, demeanor, or personality (insert personal issue here). I’ve questioned myself, my intensity, passion, exhuberance, loyalty, but sometimes my quiet introversion. Pretty much, I’ve just worried too much for too long.
I think I’m done. This decade is for being myself and being proud of it. I am always willing to learn, to reflect, and be a better person, but all the little things that make me, me, are just fine. And that’s why I am glad to be 30.
Love Always,
Amanda Dawn
P.S. My phone inadvertently took this picture of me. I thought it was kind of perfect to sum this post up. Cheers.
Bios and Hope
This is the fifth time I have sat down in the last five months to write to you. Inundated with school, work, and writing for my LocalView internship, I unfortunately let the most important part of my writing journey fall by the wayside- my personal creative outlet. It’s a shame, but I will try to make up for lost time.
It is highly probable that my thoughts on, “Are Writers Narcissistic? ” and “The Proverbial Sadness” (two of my blogs that just didn’t make it out of the gate) will never be published. It’s interesting to see what an incomplete Amanda train of thought looks like months later. When I let the train chug away, the spark disappears, and I was never truly able to figure out what point I was trying to make after the fact.
I am close to embarking on a new chapter of my life. I have two more classes this fall before I will finally graduate. Only eight years after the projected date. Not too bad, huh? 😉 Next week I will start my first paid position in my chosen field. I am obviously a little bit excited, coupled with some intense anxiety.
The people I have met so far at my new job have totally impressed me. I literally couldn’t have felt more comfortable in my own skin during my two hour interview with Julia and Brian. Do I even need to say how ridiculously amazing (though abnormal) that is?
Last week I was asked to write a short bio for myself before my first day of work. I was asked to check out the bios of my soon to be co-workers, then choose whether I wanted to go the more serious route or be completely silly. The choice was up to me. Have you ever tried this? It’s not an easy task to say the least. Though I, nor anyone else for that matter, could possibly sum up their creative, professional, and/or personal lives in a few sentences, this was my shot at it.
Amanda is very passionate about writing creatively. She loves to learn something new every day and would definitely rather get lost in a book than play video games. She is also a bit obsessed with the color green, Harry Potter, pandas, ice cream, and sushi. “Hope” is her mantra, and she tries to spread the word on its benefits.
Cheers,
Amanda Dawn
Holiday Traditions: Wrapping Paper Roll Sword Fights and Ugly Christmas Stockings
My Mom grew up on a dairy farm, so her family opened their Christmas presents every Christmas Eve. Apparently the cows didn’t care that it was Christmas morning. They still wanted to be milked. Go figure.
I always loved telling this story when I was a kid. Somehow this story made it okay that our family never participated in the traditional Christmas morning depicted in movies; i.e., children wake up early on Christmas morning, shake Mom and Dad awake, then run down the steps and scramble to open their presents. I liked it this way though. We had our own traditions.
We successfully carried on Mom’s Christmas Eve tradition every year that I’ve been alive until last year. Which I have to say I have no complaints with, since 27 years is a pretty good run to keep a tradition going.
All families grow and change, so those childhood traditions tend to change in turn. Many of us will always hold those favorite memories of holiday traditions close to our hearts as we get older and hope to pass these traditions on to our own children. Here are a few of my fondest memories of holiday traditions with my family.
Christmas 2012
We always had an open table at Thanksgiving. Our immediate family is pretty small, so we would always invite any friends that didn’t have their own family gatherings to attend to join us for the day. The more the merrier I say– it was fun to have a full house. Anyone was welcome to come give thanks with us and this made me realize at a young age how blessed I am to have such a great family, but also how much it means to others when you reach out and include them on a day where they otherwise may have been lonely.
Dad and I would always go pick out the Christmas tree together at one of those tree farms where you pick out your tree and then saw it down yourself. Well, Dad was the one using the saw for the most part I’d say. We’d bring the tree home and decorate it with Mom. He would help with the ornaments to some extent, but what he really liked doing was putting on the tinsel. Mom would always have to tell him not to put it on in gobs. “One string at a time, Dad.”
My brother is 11 years older than me. Every Christmas Eve he would come home before our family dinner and use Mom’s wrapping paper. (Who hasn’t done this?) We would always save the cardboard tubes from the wrapping paper, tape them up with almost an entire roll of strapping tape (much to Mom’s dismay), and then go outside to duel. I guess you could say whoever’s “sword” stayed in tact the longest won. The cardboard was usually shredded to pieces by the time we were finished though, so it was hard to tell.
I remember Mom making a birthday cake for Jesus when I was four, and we would always talk about the real reason for Christmas being Jesus’ birth before opening presents. I’m pretty sure I understood there was no Santa by the time I was two, but I tried not to ruin it for all of my friends until they got a little older. 🙂 After we opened presents, I always liked to lay underneath the tree and look at the lights through the branches. Sometimes Mom would lay and look up at the lights with me. I never wanted to get up. I could stare at the Christmas tree all night, and sometimes I did.
My nephew, Brayden, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus
My memories from the holiday’s aren’t of favorite Christmas presents, they are of times spent with my family. I had the ugliest stocking that had my name written on it in black magic marker. Every year I refused to get rid of it, no matter how many times Mom tried to buy me a new, pretty stocking. The ugly red stocking was mine, and always had been, so there was no replacing it.
Happy Holidays,
Amanda
Social Media Meets Destiny
New opportunities are incredibly exciting. You work hard to get that new position or promotion, but when you’ve finally made it through the trials and are on the starting line, jumping that first hurtle is sometimes a lot harder than you thought it would be. The grass is always greener on the other side, right? Butterflies are fluttering in your stomach. What if I don’t live up to the new boss’ expectations? What if I’m not as good as I thought I was?
I returned to U of L last fall to finish my degree mostly out of boredom. I had been a server for ten years and no matter how much I love to meet new people and talk to them about food and wine, I began to realize that my brain needed some exercise. I used to be the student looking for an “easy A”, but since I’ve been back, I want to soak up as much information as I possibly can to prepare myself for entering the real world. I enjoy pushing myself, and though I miss spending more time with my family and friends, I’d be lying if I said small moments of wanting to pull my hair out weren’t 100 times better than letting complacency set in.
Too bad getting rid of writer’s block isn’t this easy.
When it comes to almost everything, practice makes perfect. I have always enjoyed writing, but much of my life I have either lacked the motivation to commit to writing on a regular basis, or I was afraid that I wasn’t good enough (whatever that means), so I would give up. I’ve taken many writing classes throughout college, literally “forcing” myself to write, because I did have a strong desire to improve. Though I knew I had potential, I wasn’t sure if there was a perfect niche for me.
You wouldn’t think that failing a class would come by the hand of destiny, but I’m beginning to believe that maybe that was the case for me. I hit a rough spot six years ago, questioning what I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately I failed a few classes before I decided to take a break from college. Obviously, retaking these classes was at the top of my list when I returned to U of L.
Imagine a class centered on strategic communications writing six years ago. Now imagine how much that class would have changed over the course of the last six years while I was on “hiatus.” Many of the concepts I was introduced to in strategic communications writing have changed so drastically in the last ten years since I was a college freshman. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn most of the concepts we touched on if I had graduated on schedule in 2006. The more traditional public relations side of communications has evolved in tandem with our society that is ever becoming more mobile and saturated with social media. I enjoyed my introduction to public relations so much, that I decided to take my remaining 400 level credits in a class completely dedicated to all things social media. PR is becoming more intertwined with social media by the second, so I am grateful that the stars aligned, and I am completing my degree now.
Blogging twice a week this semester has shown me that I can be dedicated to writing– I just had to find the right avenue. No matter how painstaking the process can be at times, one of the most satisfactory feelings I have ever had is spending an inordinate amount of time writing a piece, but when all is said and done, I can sit back and be proud of my work.
Thanks Professor Freberg for showing me the way!
– Amanda
How Hashtags Created the New Rules of Crisis Communications
Who hasn’t wondered who posted the first hashtag? The story of the first hashtag isn’t particularly glamorous, but it is a story of persistence paying off.
The above tweet was the first post on Twitter to include a hashtag. As a co-founder of BarCamp, an annual conference for hackers, Chris Messina had been looking for the best way to create a group connection on Twitter for what had seemed like ages. Using the # sign before a topic made it easier for workshop goers to connect with each other.
The concept didn’t go over so well at first. Messina even approached the co-founders of Twitter with his hashtag idea, but was quickly sent away with not much more than a comment stating, “Hashtags are for nerds.”
Messina didn’t give up though. A few months after his first hashtag post, wildfires broke out in San Diego, California. When Messina suggested the use of the hashtag #sandiegofires to his friend who was reporting on the fires through Twitter, many people in the area started using the #sandiegofires hashtag to acquire important information about evacuation sites in the area. This was the first time that a large audience was able to actually see and be a part of using a hashtag to respond to a crisis situation.
Much to everyone’s surprise, six years later hashtags are central to the Twitter universe. Hashtags have also become an important part of every crisis communications situation, just as they were an integral part of dealing with the first #sandiegofires crisis.
Let’s take a look at an infographic that puts planning and managing a social media crisis in to perspective.
Planning for a social media crisis is just a important as learning how to respond to one. Melissa Agnes is the president of Melissa Agnes Crisis Management. She prepares national/global organizations and brands for crisis situations, as well as helping organizations reign in crisis situations that have already materialized.
Making sure your brand understands the differences between an issue and a crisis is the beginning of being able to remedy both. Issues within a company can quickly expand into a crisis situation if not handled in a timely fashion. Issues may hurt your company in that specific moment, like pulling off a band-aid, but a crisis can wound your brand for life.
Remember:
- Have a crisis communication strategy that includes hashtags.
- Monitor the conversation around your brand, using Hootsuite or other social media monitoring tools to stay in the loop.
- If a problem arises, identify that your crisis is in fact a crisis and not just an issue.
- Respond quickly. Ignoring the issue is not an option.
- Let people explain their side of the story, but try to stay in control of the situation by having it on your turf, i.e., your Facebook/Twitter page.
- Never get into a public tiff with users.
- Take responsibility for your actions if your brand made a mistake. Users will respect your brand much more for being honest.
Best Wishes,
Amanda
Musical Interpretation: Black + White = Gray
I grew up Pentecostal. Not long hair and long skirts Pentecostal. More like loud music with drums and guitars, where blue jeans were appropriate, and fire and brimstone frequently came from the pulpit. I am completely aware that this is not what comes to mind when most people think about church. Let’s just say a lot of my friends growing up didn’t like to spend the night on Saturdays. Don’t misunderstand me, I have no problem with it. We are all just used to certain things, and I understand why my upbringing confuses some people. Let me give you a perfect example. When I was ten years old, a lady at the Bible bookstore told me she’d heard a rumor that my church handled snakes and bit the heads of chickens, and she wanted to know if it was true. I had no idea what she was talking about. I was 10! Of course I told her that it wasn’t true, but that moment will forever be seared into my brain. What was she talking about?
I know everyone goes through the whole “question everything” phase at some point in their growing up process. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, so I took everything I was taught growing up pretty literally. I remember the exact moment that I felt like I finally had it all figured out being directly tied to music. Specifically, an indie band called Pedro the Lion and a man named David Bazan. I will openly admit that I was naive, but I somehow learned a very poignant lesson from listening to Bazan’s lyrics and meeting him in person quite a few times. White is not always good. Black is not always bad. There is a gray area.
David Bazaan Living Room Show
Bazan never categorized his band as a Christian band, but he is a Christian, and something inside of me believed that his faith was real. Even though every fiber of my being didn’t understand how this could be possible if he drank beer and said four letter words starting with f. Ten years later, the fact that I used to look at life this way seems ludicrous. I could totally be wrong, but I believe that living a life riddled with guilt for every little mistake you make is not what God intended for us.
My favorite musical artist is Maynard James Keenan from Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. Many people debate on whether he is an atheist, or on the other side, is he sharing his own ideas on the nature of God? No one really knows, because it’s not something he speaks openly about. I don’t really care either way. I find his music inspirational in a multifaceted way, and that’s all that matters to me. What does a poem, a work of art, or a song mean to you? I think that many artists express their creativity, share their ideas with the world, and then leave the interpretation up to us. They aspire to be catalysts and spur us to think for ourselves.
Yours Truly,
Amanda
LocalView: A Louisvillian’s Best Friend
While scrolling through my Twitter feed a few weeks ago, I ran across a tweet for a new local app called LocalView. I’m kind of a foodie, and I’m also pretty frugal, so within the first five minutes I was in love.
Whether you’re a Louisvillian by birth or you’re just visiting for Derby weekend, LocalView has everything you need to know about what’s happening around town and how to keep your wallet a little thicker while you’re out and about in the city.
Local View Deals
LocalView is available for both iPhone and Android devices. Currently there are LocalView applications centering around Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky. The app has deals for restaurants and retail stores, as well as events and activities. The best part is you don’t have to hassle with buying anything before you go out. No printouts or waiting 24 hours before you can use a deal like with Groupon or Living Social. With your cell phone or iPad, the vendor will take care of everything else from the deal page that you see above. The app uses GPS to check that you are in the business’ location before allowing you to redeem the deal.
Restaurants, happy hours, delivery places, events and attractions are a few things you will see as you maneuver through the application’s tabs. You have the option of searching for specific businesses and events, but the app uses your device’s GPS to list the spots closest to you. LocalView gives you a sneak peak of the places you’ve been thinking about checking out, or it might just introduce you to your new favorite spot for girls night out or a lunch date with your favorite book. If you want to make yourself hungry, there is a section of the app called “Feast Your Eyes” where you can upload recent pictures of your night out on the town, or check out where other foodies have been dining.
If you would like to follow LocalView for daily updates on events around the city, check out LocalView Louisville on Facebook or @LocalViewLou on Twitter.
Best Wishes,
Amanda
Creating Viral Content: Are Some People Just Really Lucky?
I feel like I’m getting mixed messages on whether actually trying to create viral content is a good thing or if it really is just a moment where the stars align and the nyan cat pops out. 🙂
I know she’s old news now, but how does a little grey pixelated cat who’s running through the sky get over 100 million views on YouTube? I love cats. I still don’t get it.
Our social media class at the University of Louisville discussed viral content and real time marketing today. Emotional triggers can be a key part of spreading viral content– and when I say “emotional triggers,” in this instance, I don’t mean something that brings tears to your eyes or makes you burst out laughing. For example, a consumer enjoys the sense of being the first to know about exclusive content. They also like the feeling of being an “insider” or one of the “cool people”. I found myself recalling Adam Lefkoe‘s guest talk to our class last month.
Being in on the joke, that’s what the internet is about…. –Adam Lefkoe, WHAS 11
Lefkoe also reminded us that we should focus on the purpose of creating different, meaningful content, not just content that we want to go viral. So, this brings me back my original question: should we try to create viral content or just let it happen organically?
As with most things in life, I believe there should be a delicate balance of the two. A few years ago, Google believed that viral content no more than just plain luck. That opinion has changed pretty drastically over the past few years.
Potentially Creating a Viral Story:
- Plan: determine the specific interests and behaviors of your target audience
- Create an Original Story: include emotional triggers and engage audience in conversation
- Distribution: find the right social media channels to create a buzz around your content that may spark the interest of traditional media outlets
- Momentum: push your content through multiple platforms to build momentum
This may be a little disheartening to many of us who love to write, but the average reader only consumes about 20% of the content on a web page . Hours of creative brainstorming and editing for your blog post down the drain? Not necessarily.
Not all content is going to go viral. Sometimes you may just be in the proverbial “right place at the right time,” but nevertheless, there is a science behind creating viral content. If “skimability” helps you catch the eye of your audience, “sharability” allows your audience to easily share content with their personal followers over multiple social media platforms.
Cheers,
Amanda
“The Devil’s Holiday”
When I was a child I was told that Halloween was “the Devil’s holiday”. To this day, I really don’t know what that means. I was given books and pamphlets about why I wasn’t allowed to participate in Halloween activities, but I think maybe I blocked the information out. 🙂 My friends at school would always ask me every year why I couldn’t go trick or treating with them. That was my go to answer, mostly because I didn’t know any better. “Halloween is “the Devil’s holiday.”
A book I had as a kid
Usually when people find out that I’ve never been trick or treating they freak out a little bit. What do you mean you’ve never been trick or treating?!? I’ve come to realize over the years that their childhood memories of dressing up like Cinderella, Batman, Rainbow Bright, or the Lone Ranger (I’m trying to span a few generations here) come flooding back to them at this moment and they feel kind of sorry for me. You never got to dress up? EVER? Really? Not even as a fairy or something harmless?
I am not trying to bash my parents. (Love you all, because I know you are reading this!) My parents are very strong Christians, a fact that I am eternally grateful for and has definitely helped shape me into the woman that I am today, so I am not complaining. I had a great childhood, and if not getting to celebrate Halloween was the worst thing that came out of it, I would be the luckiest person alive for sure. Still, it’s still a bit of a sore spot.
I don’t want to get into a religious debate in this post, or really even go in that direction at all. What bothers me most about the whole thing is that for whatever reason I feel like I’ve missed out on some integral childhood experience that almost everyone else I know has had at some point. Some adults still get really excited about Halloween, which further fuels my irritation. Without the foundation of childhood memories related to Halloween, it’s really no fun as an adult now that I can dress up and go to Halloween parties if I want to. I have never really had the desire to mess with the whole thing, even though I wish I wanted to. I haven’t yet, but I vow that someday I am truly am going to go all out and dress up from head to toe!
I know my parents had my best interests in mind when they made their decision to not allow me to go trick-or-treating or carve Jack-O-Lanterns, etc. Children are impressionable, and I’ve found that since I’ve grown up they’ve loosened up a bit on things that they used to be sticklers about. I’m pretty sure I was in my 20’s before my Mom wrote “from Santa” on one of my Christmas presents. I was definitely made aware at an early age that I was receiving presents on Christmas because we were celebrating Jesus’ birth, not because I had been a good girl that year and Santa had stuffed his jolly self down our chimney. I have no problem with this, because I believe Jesus’ birth is the real reason we buy presents for our loved ones on Christmas. Santa Clause embodies the spirit of giving and generosity too, so I don’t really see what’s wrong with that either.
As I’ve found my own path through life, I don’t really see what the difference is between going trick-or-treating and having an Easter basket or setting out cookies and milk for Santa. They’re all traditions passed down from generation to generation. They’re all moments for family and friends to come together and make memories. When I have children, I may decide to explain to them the reason that Halloween came about, and why I didn’t celebrate the holiday when I was a child. On the other hand, I may not. I might just let my children be children; have fun, eat candy, play dress up, and then worry about the grown-up reasons behind everything when they get old enough to really understand them.
Yours Truly,
Amanda
Hootlet: Hootsuite’s Newest Gem
As one of the newest Hootsuite University Certified Professionals, I give the program two thumbs way up! Hootsuite has a free version as well as paid one, and even if your business is small, I believe checking out Hootsuite’s dashboard at the very least could make a real difference in the efficiency of your company’s time spent on social media marketing.
As if this dashboard that helps you organize, schedule, track, and monitor your content across multiple social media platforms wasn’t already the best “right hand man” around, earlier this month Hootsuite released the Hootlet app. No more toggling from window to window or tab to tab when you are searching the web for the best way to share your content with the world. Hootlet takes out all of the hassle and makes sharing content to your followers one step, instead of a few.
For example, let’s just say you want to share my awesome chili recipe with your followers on Twitter and Facebook. All you have to do is click the Hootlet icon in the right hand, upper corner of the screen, and you can send my recipe to all of your followers on multiple platforms at once.
Click here to see how easy it is to share any webpage with Hootlet!
You can also share YouTube videos across multiple platforms by clicking the “Share with Hootlet” icon.
Click here to see how easy it is to share YouTube videos on multiple social media platforms with Hootlet!
Here are a few other features that Hootlet has to offer:
- The option to schedule a post at a later date.
- If you aren’t sure when is the best time to schedule your posts, an auto schedule option is available that chooses the optimal time to post your content.
- When you search the web with keywords on Google, Hootlet shows tweets that are relevant to your search on the right hand side of the screen. highlighting your search’s social media relevance.
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- Hootlet also allows you to pull up tweets from around the location of a business listing or from Google maps. You can then reply to a tweet right from the browser or add this search as a stream to your Hootsuite dashboard for further monitoring.
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- Highlighting a section of text and then right clicking on it will give you the option to directly quote the highlighted area with Hootlet. You can then send it out to whichever social networks you choose.
If you want to see what we’ve talked about in action, here’s a short one minute walk through of how Hootlet works.
Sincerely,
Amanda
Social Gaming: A New Venue for Marketing
I have to admit, I’m kind of a nerd. I didn’t grow up on video games, but somewhere in my early 20’s I stumbled upon World of Warcraft and I totally became a big nerd for a while. If you are unfamiliar with W.O.W. it is a MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Roll-Playing Game. With over 11 million subscribers, you could call it the epitome of social gaming. Inevitably I eventually realized that I needed to find a more productive way to spend my time rather than riding around on an over-sized ostrich in a fantasy world killing things and trying to get better gear for my Blood Elf Paladin. ( If you’re clueless, it’s alright. Just don’t ask.) I’ll just say it was fun while it lasted.
There are many facets to social gaming, which centers around competitors who interact in an online community that has predetermined rules and goals. If you’re starting to wonder what any of this has to do with social media marketing, let me give you an example.
In-Game Static/Display Advertising
Have you ever been playing Call of Duty and upon running in to an advertisement for a Big Mac you had to run out to the 24 hour McDonald’s down the street? The subconscious can be a powerful motivator. A study by Nielsen Entertainment found that brand familiarity rose 64 percent in study participants after exposure to in-game ads. Purchase consideration also increased by 41 percent in this study.
Social games offer a very specific targeted audience for your brand marketing. A “hardcore gamer” (a gamer who has highly advanced skills and must invest extended periods of time into each game-play session) is so immersed within a game, that real world venues and advertisements are necessary to make the game environment believable. Display ads like the one above are a simple way to place your product into a game. You can also use script placements/verbal mentions. These work best in games like Madden NFL who has partnered with Old Spice and Snickers.
On the other hand, casual gamers play games like Words With Friends while riding the bus or waiting at the laundromat. Casual gamers also enjoy games like Candy Crush and Farmville that are connected to Facebook. These games don’t require a lot of time to play and are easy to learn.
I feel it is an oversight on my part that up to this point I’ve overlooked the marketing potential social gaming has to offer. With games offering small target audiences and ads being relatively inexpensive, there may be a spot for your brand. Gaming isn’t just for teenage boys anymore. The average gamer has 12 years of gaming experience under their belt and is 34 years old. Games within the context of social media platforms opened up a whole new breed of casual gamers that includes more women and older consumers, not just younger males
Yours Truly,
Amanda
Six-Word Memoirs: Not Quite What I Was Planning
Sitting in my lit class last week with a smirk on my face, I was feeling skeptical. The topic was “six-word memoirs,” and I was unsure I was going to be able to write one. Well, one that wasn’t terrible anyway. How in the world are you supposed to tell your life story in six words?
As our professor started reading a few aloud from the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, I was pretty amazed at the funny, emotional, sarcastic, and thoughtful content the authors were able to pack into six short words.
- What the hell, might as well.
- Most successful accomplishments based on spite.
- Forgot to say I loved her.
- Oklahoma girl meets world. Regrets it.
- Time to start over again, again.
- Foreign, even to my home country.
- Hard beginning. Harder middle. Happy ending.
- Expected prime rib, ended with hamburger.
“Literary legend” states that Ernest Hemingway was once tasked with writing a short story in only six words. Hemingway’s short story read, “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” This one sentence has the ability to send your mind in many different directions. Makes you think, doesn’t it? SMITH Magazine took Hemingway’s accomplishment and ran with it. Today, over 700,000 people have submitted their own short memoirs on SMITH Magazine’s website, Six Word Memoirs. Some of the memoirs on the site are even accompanied by pictures.
This is what I really love about all creative writing. It has the ability to make us think and spark our imaginations– whether we’re writing or reading it. I may take away something that is completely different than the person sitting next to me when we both read the six-word memoir, I don’t nibble, I bite hard. What if this memoir was written a bit differently? I don’t nibble, I bite. Hard. Do you interpret the author’s meaning with a different connotation?
My first try at a six-word memoir went something like this: hope and passion, always a necessity. If you know me personally, this may make sense to you. If you don’t, you may take my thoughts in a completely different direction than the one I was going for. I love that!
I will leave you with a charge to reply and post your own six-word memoir in the comment section below. Here is one of the more thought provoking six-word memoirs that I have read so far to get you going.
I will never be quite finished.
Yours Truly,
Amanda
Social Media Monitoring: Learning to Handle the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
A study done by The Social Habit revealed that 42% of customers expect a response within 60 minutes when in contact with a brand, product, or company on social media. What’s even more shocking is that 32% of respondents reveled they expect a response within 30 minutes of posting a complaint on social media. Talk about impatient customers! The infographic below breaks down the time expectancy of consumers even further.
Now more than ever, companies large and small need to jump on-board with the many social media monitoring tools (SMM) that are ready and waiting to aid in responding to customers, monitoring feedback, streamlining posts between platforms, and analyzing data. These include dashboards that help monitor content across multiple social media platforms in real-time like Hootsuite, as well as other SMM that monitor social media influence, analytics, and marketing like Klout.
The fact is your customers are screaming, and creating their own dialogue about your business via the internet and social media. Customer mentions, reviews or criticisms about your products and services, whether good, bad or ugly, need to be responded to personally and professionally, and immediately. –Newtrep Media
The infographic below gives insights on what some businesses are already doing with SMM and some of the best free and paid tools that you should give a whirl.
The gap between social media monitoring for personal and professional use is large. Let’s take a look at a simple and free site that can help demonstrate this difference. Kred is a website that gives an influence score from 0-1000 mainly focusing on interaction with your posts from other users who have also signed up for Kred. The next score measures outreach shown as a ratio, with 12 being the cap. For example, my influence score is 492/1000, and my outreach score is 4/12. When signed in to your Kred account, charts are available showing the location of users that are interacting with your profiles, your most popular mentions and posts, top communities you are involved in, as as well as other useful graphs on social media influence.
Here are the most mentioned words about me in the last month on Kred. I find it interesting that the first word is awesome! 🙂 Imagine If these mentions were about your business. You can track the most popular topics and trends that your fans are using in relation to your business from month to month. This could be very helpful to lead you in the right direction for all of your business’ marketing and advertising campaigns.
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Whether you’re spending zero to 100 dollars per month on social media monitoring or over 10,000, you have to start somewhere! Give a free platform a try today, and move your way up! You will literally be able to see your business’ growth with analytical charts and graphs provided by these SMM tools. Good luck!
Best Wishes,
Amanda
Related articles
- How to choose the right social media monitoring platform (prdaily.com)
- 50 Top Tools for Social Media Monitoring, Analytics, and Management (socialmediatoday.com)
- Social Media Monitoring (zedrington.wordpress.com)
Comfort Cooking
When I first tried my hand at cooking when I was around the age of 10 or 11, my favorite thing to do was put in the spices. I liked to crush the dried leaves between my fingers. I liked to stir the pot, sample, and then add more spices (and then more…). I hated measuring anything! I liked the experience of adding different spices until I decided that everything was just right. I grew up in the country, so most of these dishes were pretty simple. Spaghetti sauce is what sticks out in my mind as being my favorite “guinea pig” as a kid. For whatever reason, when I look back at my first experiences with cooking, this is what I remember: spices.
I moved out on my own to Louisville when I was 20. I started to seek out new types of cuisine, watch cooking shows, and experiment in the kitchen. I wont say I’ve become a master chef by any means, but I have learned that cooking relaxes me. I know there are some people who probably think I am absolutely insane for saying this, but sometimes after a long day at work or school, all I want to do is go home and cook. I zone out! Every other worry goes out the window– except for maybe deciding on what I’m going to chop next. Whether I’m actually in the kitchen cooking, or I’m just brainstorming for my next trip to the grocery by looking up recipes on Pinterest when I can’t sleep at 3 A.M, time flies by when I’m thinking about food.
Here are a few surefire tips I’ve learned over the years when it comes to cooking. Some of these may be a refresher course if you already know your way around the kitchen, but I have to make sure everyone has the basics down. 🙂 (I’ve also included a few awesome recipes!)
- When you’re cooking any type of meat, in any dish, from African Peanut Stew to Emeril’s White Bean Turkey Chili, don’t forget to season your meat with salt and pepper. It makes all the difference in the world!
- Always go light on the rosemary. It can overpower any dish!
- If you like heat in your dishes like I do (and I mean heat in scoville units, not temperature), use fresh ingredients like jalapenos or serrano peppers without removing the inner white part of the pepper (a.k.a. capsaicin). This is where all the “heat” is, and your food will have a lot more kick if you use fresh ingredients during the cooking process, rather than just adding hot sauce after the fact.
- Fresh basil makes everything Italian ten times better!
- A few dashes of liquid smoke make green beans amazing (or anything else you want to add a hint of smokiness to).
- Chili is an exercise in throwing everything but the kitchen sink into a pot. I’m sure you all have your own methods for the basic pot of chili. Next time don’t forget to throw in a few squirts of your favorite mustard, ketchup, bbq sauce, a couple pinches of brown sugar, a splash of vinegar, a few clips of cilantro stems (or ground cardamum), and a dash of cinnamon. Most importantly, instead of adding water before you let your chili reduce down, add a dark beer or a large cup of coffee to the mix. Do NOT do this if you don’t have time to let the chili meld together. This requires AT LEAST two hours and I prefer four or more for the best fusion of flavors.
This was dinner tonight. Might not be the prettiest Instagram shot ever, but it’s my favorite way to kick off some fall weather, unwind after a long school day, and warm up my insides!
Thanks,
Amanda
Indiana Caverns: Some Dreams Do Come True
My Dad’s First Book
I grew up in southern Indiana. I’m definitely a country girl at heart (this by no means includes country music), although I’ve become used to what you could call “city life,” since I’ve lived in Louisville for the last ten years.
Besides seeing my family more often, the only thing I miss about living in the country is being surrounded by nature. I miss being able to see the stars at night, fields of grass (not just patches), creeks that are clean enough to swim in, climbing trees, walking in the woods, and caves. When most of you think of nature, caves may be the farthest thing from your mind. There is definitely a reason that I do think of caves.
Since the first time my Dad went into a cave as a Boy Scout when he was 11 years old, his passion in life has been caving. He’s the type of person you’re sort of jealous of because they found a hobby that they were able to turn into a career, and then make all their dreams come true.
Soon after my Dad graduated from Vanderbilt University, he and a few of his friends were hired to develop (entailing, digging, blasting, and building trails inside a cave so it can be opened for public tours) Squire Boone Caverns. This took the team three years of slogging through the mud on weekends and resulted in a great opportunity for my Dad.
A few months after they finished the project in 1973, he became a part owner and general manager of Marengo Cave. This is where I spent most of my childhood. I ran around in the woods, went horseback riding, and followed cave tours until I was old enough to be a tour guide myself. It was an awesome way to grow up. I was a lucky kid, plus having the experience of working in public relations at such a young age was a great asset for my future.
The cave and above ground property were completely redeveloped in the 27 years my family owned it. Unfortunately my Dad’s vision for Marengo began to diverge from his partner’s over the years, and my Mom and Dad made the decision to sell their half in 2001.
Our story doesn’t end here though. This past June my Dad was able to complete his dream of developing a third cave from the ground up. My Dad began surveying in Binkley’s Cave with his buddies back in the late 60’s, and after almost 50 years, a section of this cave is finally open to the public. Development was a rough year of grueling 12 hour days for my Dad and his crew. I was eternally glad to see the project completed. You know there are always a few hiccups with an undertaking this large. Apparently developing a cave at the age of 66 is a little different from when you are in your early 20’s. You think?!
Boat Ride in Indiana Caverns
When Indiana Caverns opened June 15, 2013, it was the 11th largest cave in the United States. Exploration of new passages has been ongoing, and a few weeks ago, Indiana Caverns moved up to the 9th longest cave in the U.S.
We can all learn about true passion and commitment from my Dad. If you want to check out his dream come true, Indiana Caverns is located about 35 minutes from Louisville in Corydon, Indiana.
Best Wishes,
Amanda
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live... 
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