Everything seems to pile on at once, you know? But fight though, and things will improve. The payoff will be extraordinary.
22 May 2009
I want to sit in my room and not have to be anything anymore.
Everything seems to pile on at once, you know? But fight though, and things will improve. The payoff will be extraordinary.
06 February 2009
New Post on Shouldn't But Do: Being Star Struck
If you live in New York, you are expected to remain somewhat ambivalent when you run into a celebrity. That’s an Olsen over there? Meh. Is that Leonardo DiCaprio? Whatever. Celebrities walk among us like “musicians” in Brooklyn, cowboys in Dallas, or fake tits in LA. Asking for an autograph is a complete faux pas. Don’t even look at them. In fact, the only acceptable celebrity to get worked up over is Barack Obama. “Our savior.”
[Read more at Shouldn't But Do.]
[Read more at Shouldn't But Do.]
04 February 2009
New Post on Should But Don't: Vegans
I don’t have a problem with what they eat—just as I don’t with the eating habits of omnivores or regular, run-of-the-mill vegetarians (like me). But I hate vegans’ smug, condescending approach to people who want to have their animals, and eat them too.
[Read more at Should But Don't.]
[Read more at Should But Don't.]
02 February 2009
What OK Cupid Can Teach You about Marketing
For the past month I’ve been on the popular dating site OK Cupid. It began as an experiment in social media: I wanted to examine how people used the 2.0 web for dating—how they communicated on this platform versus others, with which I am already comfortable, like Facebook and Twitter. It turned into a research project on best practices in personal marketing. What I took away from these profiles I think teaches a lot about advertising in general.
1. Set realistic expectations
If you join looking for the love of your life, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want to meet a few people and have good conversations, you’ll be happy. I’m not a fan of the “shoot for the moon; you’ll end up in the stars” philosophy, especially when it comes to dating. If things turn out to be something special, I’ll just be pleasantly surprised.
2. Brevity
You’re not Faulkner. I don’t want to read your 100-page autobiography. The longer the profile, the less likely it is I’ll finish it. If no one reads the content, you won’t receive any results.
3. Mystery
If your profile details every aspect of your life, you leave no opening for conversation. Without room to engage, your audience won’t be interested. The most common opening line I received was, “What kind of experiment is this?” Let the quirks garner interest, not your resume.
4. Clean content
If ur riting makes me LOL (or vomit), im nto gonna message u.
5. Personalized messaging
I received a few generic messages, like the following: “Hi, I noticed your profile and you seem really interesting. I'm Matt, 26 years old, living in Park Slope and in real estate. If you’re interested, message me back.” That doesn’t make me feel special. You have to realize that your audience isn’t a homogenized group; we’re all individuals who want to think you’re speaking directly to each of us.
6. Confidence
Don’t say it’s hard to sum yourself up in a paragraph. It’s not. Or another way to look at this is that it's not a summary, but an introduction. You want engagement. You don’t want to detail what you do, where you live, your history, your passions, et cetera upfront. You want to give me a reason to care. Tell me why I should be interested.
7. Paying attention
Read my profile before you message me. For example, I state, clearly, that I don’t use the site’s instant message system. If you IM me, I’ll know you didn’t read my profile. Your audience isn’t stupid. We know when you just looked at the pictures.
Also, being undeniably handsome never hurt anyone.
1. Set realistic expectations
If you join looking for the love of your life, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want to meet a few people and have good conversations, you’ll be happy. I’m not a fan of the “shoot for the moon; you’ll end up in the stars” philosophy, especially when it comes to dating. If things turn out to be something special, I’ll just be pleasantly surprised.
2. Brevity
You’re not Faulkner. I don’t want to read your 100-page autobiography. The longer the profile, the less likely it is I’ll finish it. If no one reads the content, you won’t receive any results.
3. Mystery
If your profile details every aspect of your life, you leave no opening for conversation. Without room to engage, your audience won’t be interested. The most common opening line I received was, “What kind of experiment is this?” Let the quirks garner interest, not your resume.
4. Clean content
If ur riting makes me LOL (or vomit), im nto gonna message u.
5. Personalized messaging
I received a few generic messages, like the following: “Hi, I noticed your profile and you seem really interesting. I'm Matt, 26 years old, living in Park Slope and in real estate. If you’re interested, message me back.” That doesn’t make me feel special. You have to realize that your audience isn’t a homogenized group; we’re all individuals who want to think you’re speaking directly to each of us.
6. Confidence
Don’t say it’s hard to sum yourself up in a paragraph. It’s not. Or another way to look at this is that it's not a summary, but an introduction. You want engagement. You don’t want to detail what you do, where you live, your history, your passions, et cetera upfront. You want to give me a reason to care. Tell me why I should be interested.
7. Paying attention
Read my profile before you message me. For example, I state, clearly, that I don’t use the site’s instant message system. If you IM me, I’ll know you didn’t read my profile. Your audience isn’t stupid. We know when you just looked at the pictures.
Also, being undeniably handsome never hurt anyone.
30 January 2009
A 23-Year-Old's Advice on Running a Better Company
Yesterday, my company held a agency-wide meeting to kick off the year. The idea was simple: get our two East Coast offices together to meet each other and discuss our brand and future. We spent all afternoon in the Brewhouse discussing who we are, what we do, and how we can do it better. Plus, everyone loves lunch on the boss.
At the end of the presentations, each employee gave a way we could improve as a company. Many were predictable (raises, beer cart), and some of the insights from people who have been working far longer than I got me thinking about best practices in running a business. I’m not exactly a savvy businesswoman (yet), but let’s see if I can outline a few of my own.
1. Less hierarchy
While structure is vital to efficient company management, the more rigid it is, the more employees are confined to their roles. This means that if someone is sick or otherwise unexpectedly out of commission, fewer people are able to fill in. A project comes to a standstill. Or worse, it falls apart.
I think a company is most secure when multiple people can wear multiple hats. In my experience, it also improves creativity. People thinking outside of their roles approach projects and problems differently than those trained in the subject. It’s forced “thinking outside the box.”
2. Let us do what we want
We understand ourselves better than we’re credited. We know our strengths and our passions. If we’re not given adequate opportunity to pursue them on a professional level, we’re going to be less motivated and less efficient, which produces a negative work environment overall. And there will be no black clouds in my office!
For example, I was hired as a strategist, but I come from an editorial background. I work with words. I love them. So I am allocated sixteen hours a week to work with the editorial department: I contribute to the company blog, copy edit, write short articles, and get pulled in on creative brainstorming sessions. This side of things invigorates my other work. This is the difference between "job" and "career."
3. Tear down boundaries
People separated physically are separated emotionally. Creatively. Professionally. I am a firm believer in the idea that low cubicle walls lowers inhibitions—in terms of befriending your colleagues. You should form the kind of relationships where you want to grab a beer together after work, not get the hell out as soon as the clock ticks five. Or six. Or nine.
Which leads me to my fourth point…
4. Let there be…noise
I once read an article about surrounding yourself with inspiring people as the best way to improve creativity and increase your productivity. Lively banter around the office turns into a healthy exchange of ideas, which turns into action. Colleagues should be conspirators and collaborators, too.
Because we’re always conspiring. We want to create the next new thing. We want to get famous.
At the end of the presentations, each employee gave a way we could improve as a company. Many were predictable (raises, beer cart), and some of the insights from people who have been working far longer than I got me thinking about best practices in running a business. I’m not exactly a savvy businesswoman (yet), but let’s see if I can outline a few of my own.
1. Less hierarchy
While structure is vital to efficient company management, the more rigid it is, the more employees are confined to their roles. This means that if someone is sick or otherwise unexpectedly out of commission, fewer people are able to fill in. A project comes to a standstill. Or worse, it falls apart.
I think a company is most secure when multiple people can wear multiple hats. In my experience, it also improves creativity. People thinking outside of their roles approach projects and problems differently than those trained in the subject. It’s forced “thinking outside the box.”
2. Let us do what we want
We understand ourselves better than we’re credited. We know our strengths and our passions. If we’re not given adequate opportunity to pursue them on a professional level, we’re going to be less motivated and less efficient, which produces a negative work environment overall. And there will be no black clouds in my office!
For example, I was hired as a strategist, but I come from an editorial background. I work with words. I love them. So I am allocated sixteen hours a week to work with the editorial department: I contribute to the company blog, copy edit, write short articles, and get pulled in on creative brainstorming sessions. This side of things invigorates my other work. This is the difference between "job" and "career."
3. Tear down boundaries
People separated physically are separated emotionally. Creatively. Professionally. I am a firm believer in the idea that low cubicle walls lowers inhibitions—in terms of befriending your colleagues. You should form the kind of relationships where you want to grab a beer together after work, not get the hell out as soon as the clock ticks five. Or six. Or nine.
Which leads me to my fourth point…
4. Let there be…noise
I once read an article about surrounding yourself with inspiring people as the best way to improve creativity and increase your productivity. Lively banter around the office turns into a healthy exchange of ideas, which turns into action. Colleagues should be conspirators and collaborators, too.
Because we’re always conspiring. We want to create the next new thing. We want to get famous.
Have you heard about Should But Don't?
I should mention the two newest additions to my life. No, I didn't have a kid or anything stupid like that. Jeff and I started Shouldn't But Do and Should But Don't as forums to admit all the things we're slightly guilty about liking...or not. It's fun for us and obviously entertaining some people out there: in three weeks we've had about 4,000 hits. Not bad, considering we only advertise it through Facebook and Twitter. Everyone's a marketer!
My favorite thing is to look through the stats and see how people stumbled upon it. Recently searched terms: "indie plaid wear," "how dare you show respect," "my friends have started treating me badly," and "TV affects brain." This should be an interesting project.
My favorite thing is to look through the stats and see how people stumbled upon it. Recently searched terms: "indie plaid wear," "how dare you show respect," "my friends have started treating me badly," and "TV affects brain." This should be an interesting project.
23 November 2008
Surrendering
I lied. I'm surrendering to the Blogspot world. I've tried many times to establish a blog unsuccessfully of course, mainly because I have a tendency to reveal too much on the internet. Basically, who cares? However, after reading Chris Brogan's recent post about diving into social media, I realize that it's important to contribute to the dialogue more than microblogging nonsense and Facebook updates. As the future of PostAdvertising.com and my role there are uncertain, I want to keep creating some "noise" in the digital world. Let's see if anyone will listen.
While I haven't given much thought to the direction this blog will take, expect me to talk about music, advertising, social media, art, fashion, drinking, love, and trying to make it in this big, bad city. And, of course, random "webcomics" I create. I expect the purpose and personality will become clearer the more engaged I am.
While I haven't given much thought to the direction this blog will take, expect me to talk about music, advertising, social media, art, fashion, drinking, love, and trying to make it in this big, bad city. And, of course, random "webcomics" I create. I expect the purpose and personality will become clearer the more engaged I am.
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