Social Media Blunder: Cynicism

Don’t post when you’re pouting. Your attitude comes through!

Don't let your resentment come through in your post
Stock image Depositphotos

When is the last time you shared a post that said “Bet I Won’t Get One Share”? For me, that resentful attitude means I will never share it, no matter how cute.

There’s a fatal social media blunder that I think of as “chip-on-your-shoulder” posting. If you project any kind of negative attitude without reason, it’s the kiss-of-death. I believe it’s also a leading cause of what people perceive as a platform “full of negativity”.

Of course if you’re ranting and raving in every post, then your attitude and tone are not mine to fix. But if you are just trying to get through the day and share enough content to stay relevant in the world, check your tone.

I bet I won’t get one share. 🙁
Mainstream media won’t show this. 🙁
Facebook removed this – make it viral. 🙁

These are just examples of posts I see all day long, every day. What exactly did the “attitude” improve? I predict that if you take a hard look at what you’re about to post, and work on it until the attitude is not negative or pouty in any way, your likes and shares will improve.

Are These Mobile Ad Mistakes Costing You Money?

Are you paying for mobile ads? You might be paying too much for too little.

Mobile ad warnings
If your ads are showing up in games, watch for these issues that cost you money!

I’ll admit it; I spend too much time playing games on my phone. And I’ve noticed some disturbing things about the ads that pop up between every play. It’s not just the annoyance factor – I understand that’s what I get for being too frugal to go premium.
Most of the warnings below are from my experience with Words With Friends specifically. But the errors begin with the advertisier.

*Slow-loading ads create an annoyance that immediately transfers to the merchant ad that appears.
Fix: Optimize your images.

*Choose your ad platform wisely. If you’re trying a new platform, watch your charges and make absolutely sure the ad is linked correctly and the links actually work. Here’s the example that inspired this post. There’s a platform that as you try to x out, you are taken instead to the platform site and an error page “not found”. If you’re paying by the click you could be spending several times more than you should. I personally have clicked on the x multiple times trying to leave, only to land again on the platform 404. This happened repeatedly during the recent political season.
Fix: Test and then test again. Compare click data across multiple platforms, and investigate higher than usual spikes.

*This is entirely subjective, but then so is advertising in general. If you have a boring product, the ad should be shorter, not longer. It used to be that 30 seconds was a medium length ad with other choices being :10 and :60. Now, even 20 seconds feels like an eternity if I’ve seen the ad or have no need for the product.
Fix: Watch how Target does it. Splash image – here are the deals for you – Click here! And the X works. Alternative: Say what you do in one sentence with a very clear call to action and a working X.

How To Spark Dozens Of Creative Content Ideas A Week

Wouldn’t it be great if you could spin off great ideas at the drop of a hat? Effortlessly creates dozens of ideas a week for one or more sites, brands, or blogs?
I have no magic $47 package here to sell. This is how I generate ideas continuously as I go about my day.

My goal is 10 ideas or idea fragments a day
It’s not that hard to spin off content ideas as you enjoy your coffee.

1) Grab a fresh notebook, spiral, or spreadsheet that is available to you easily throughout your waking hours. Permission to use scraps if you religiously add them to the permanent file daily.
2) As you scroll through Facebook, Twitter, emails, news apps, and whatever else you pick up during the day, think about harvesting idea fragments you can repurpose into content.
3) Write them down, no matter how fragmented, date the entry, note which sites or which FB page you’re thinking of for the content. Make notes about articles to link, images to find, One-liners to format and save.
4) Aim for 10 a day.
5) Anytime you clean your desk or your pockets, check the scraps for old ideas that might still be relevant and add them to the list.
6) Every day that’s a creation day, peruse your list or sort by site. Bingo – there’s a useful starter thought.

CJU for 2020 is Digital and Free!

CJU 2020 is digital
I was never fortunate enough to attend a CJU. Travel expenses and registration fees put it out of my ballpark year after year. But in 2020, all that has changed. The year 2020 so far has had a really bad rap and I can’t say that it hasn’t been deserved. But one positive from the Covid pandemic is more and more events are held online!

CJU20 Digital Series begins September 9 with a keynote address from Mayuresh Kshetramade, CEO of CJ Affiliate.
That half-day of complementary sessions is shown as Series 1 on the Overview page of the registration site.

Series 2 will be September 23 and offers another half-day of content.

On September 30th, a series titled Encore for Europe has some of the above content repeated at a different time of day.

Learn more, see the entire agenda, and register here.

Rakuten Security Update For Publishers

Effective today, which is when I got the email, publishers have increased security hoops if they want to update information on their account.

Hopefully, your email is up to date. Log in, and go to your account information. If you need to make changes, a verification code will be sent to the email on file before that new info can be saved. I think it would be better to have a choice of where to send the code like many other sites do. A simple radio button with email or phone would do the trick.

I’m glad that the only change I needed to make was my phone number. The email on file was good and I got the verification code almost instantly.

Here’s the critical info from the email:

Rakuten Advertising dashboard. Beginning July 23rd, only the master user of an account will be able to open these sections:

Company Info
Master Contact & Account Info
Payment Settings
Edit Master User
On those pages, the Save button is being replaced by a ‘Send Verification Code’ button.

Ordering stamps – a lesson in patience

Love USPS stamp ordering, but delivery takes almost 2 weeks!
Love USPS stamp ordering, but delivery takes almost 2 weeks!
I think it’s crazy that it takes a couple of weeks to get stamps from the source – USPS. I love that I can browse the entire collection of stamps online instead of the limited variety at my local P.O. where the hours are not conducive to customer service anyway. I love that I can sort by “forever” or other denominations.
But I ordered enough stamps last week (or the week before) to get me through Christmas and the winter months and was reminded today that my order had shipped!
Someone needs to figure out a path from printer to mailbox that’s quicker than 2 weeks.

Miller Lite says Let’s just get together for a beer instead.

Today’s social media news: Miller Lite is asking the 118,000 followers on IG to unfollow them and instead have a beer with a few friends.
Here’s the YouTube version of the new commerical about the original social media:

Miller Lite commercial
Miller Lite asks 118k follower on IG to unfollow and have a beer with a few friends instead.

I think it’s a brilliant move, especially in light of the recent lite beer dust-up in Iowa that led to millions in donations to the Iowa City Children’s Hospital, a tarnished rep for a different beer company and an Iowa newspaper, and most recently, a breakup of the iconic RAGBRAI bike cult.

Ad creators – don’t do this

I love playing games on my phone. I have an allegiance (or is it an addiction?) to a handful of games and I have a similar problem with every one that contains ads.
Don’t get me wrong – I am an “ad person” and I love nothing more than a well-done :30. But if you’re buying space on game apps, please listen:
1. Make sure it works. No blank screens or warped sound.
2. Stop hiding the exit – This isn’t hide and seek.
3. Once I’ve seen the same ad 3 times in 5 minutes I hate you.
4. Make it easy to exit the ad. See #2.
5. If I want to close the ad, let me!!!!!

Obviously

Moving a site to a new host, reviewing all the old posts and filling up the trash can is harder than it sounds. We’re working on it, even though it’s Q4.
Also… if you’re seriously scrolling my accumulated wisdom, please realize that there were other posts in between the ones I chose to save. I didn’t really go 6 years without posting. 🙂 #patience