Rebecca Vaughan Communications

Oh god. I know I said I’d be around far more often in my last post, but with all the work I’ve been doing I didn’t have much energy left for the blog. I know – bad. But I’m committing to spending one evening a week writing up a few blog posts to share throughout the week so I can share more about what I’m doing and my thoughts on communications and marketing topics.

I have to be honest – I’ve been cheating on this blog a little bit. I launched another blog, Designfraud, where I am documenting my home design and decorating loves and projects I’ve been doing in my own home. It’s been really fun, because it’s a different side of my creativity that I have been playing with, so I’m looking forward to keeping that blog up too.

Lori, aka SavvyChick, leads the discussion about Twitter

The Social Chicks did another workshop, this time for local environmental partners in preparation for Earth Day celebrations. It was hosted by the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society, and the Chicks worked with 10 people from different community organizations to talk about how they can use social media to promote their activities around Earth Day, but also how they can all connect and network online to support one another’s initiatives. Most of them were familiar with Facebook, but Twitter was new to many of them, and we had lots of discussion about hashtags, using third party applications, and how to use lists to “block out the noise.” They were a great group to work with and I look forward to seeing what kinds of connections they make and the success they have with social media!

Today I had a fantastic time talking to the graduating class of my alma mater, the Print Futures: Professional Writing program at Douglas College. It was hard to believe I have been finished for two years! I told them a bit about the communications work I’ve been doing since I graduated, and offered some tips on job hunting and being a “star” employee. I know how nerve-wracking it can be to graduate, thinking you don’t know enough to get a job as a writer, but having been through that intense program, I know without a doubt that those students have excellent chances of doing great things, whether they are writers, editors, communicators or some similar field.

I thought later I should have taken a picture of their smiling faces to share, but I didn’t think of it at the time. Oh well. but they will be presenting their work at the annual Print Futures: Professional Writing Portfolio Show on April 14. If you want to see how “the medical school of writing” can turn regular people into amazing writers, check it out.

That’s about it for now! More to come soon!

Back in November, my “alter-ego,” Hip Chick, as part of the Social Chicks, participated in facilitating a workshop for businesses on social media. We had a sold-out crowd, and enjoyed some great discussion about social media and engaging online. Unfortunately, the meeting room’s wi-fi couldn’t handle our group’s needs and a few participants had trouble logging on and staying logged in. We’ve been doing follow-up visits with them to help them get their pages and accounts set up and running. Most have now gotten their Facebook and Twitter identities active and are now busy connecting and communicating. Interested in attending a Social Chicks workshop? We’re planning a few more in the next few months, so stay tuned!

I just got back from meeting with a participant of the Social Chicks workshop and helping them get their Facebook and Twitter up and running. Throughout the process it gave us an opportunity to talk about social media ettiquette and how to get the best value out of each tool. It got me thinking about ways to connect and engage through social media, so I have jotted down a list. Feel free to comment and add more if you like!

1. Offer valuable content. Re-tweeting other people’s content is good, but be a producer too. Offering a perspective, sharing a link on a relevant topic, and being generally interesting are important if you want people to engage with you.

2. Like or follow others, and they will like or follow you back. It’s Twitter ettiquette, but you can meet really interesting people this way.

3. Comment. If someone shares something you find interesting, let them know you’re listening. Start a conversation. Just recently, I commented to someone on Twitter that I appreciated her use of a hashtag for a diploma program I took, and once we got talking we realized we had both graduated from the program. Now we’re planning a get-together for program grads.

4. Link and Tag. Make sure you credit the originator of the content you’re sharing. People appreciate that, and it can be a great conversation starter.

5. Don’t be afraid to be transparent and “real.” You can find tons of stories online about people who said or did stupid things on social media, but that doesn’t mean you need to be all business, either. Social media is the human side of your online communication; don’t be afraid to chat, share opinions, and be authentic.

6. Be consistent. It’s great to have variety (we’re not one-sided beings, are we?) but if you have expertise in a specific area, why not share it? It doesn’t have to be what you do for work, it could be a hobby. Some of the first conversations I had on Twitter were with some car enthusiasts who responded when I tweeted that I was looking for a new car. They had great tips that figured into my final purchasing decision.

7. Be supportive. If someone is hosting an event in your area, share it, even if you can’t attend. If there’s a great deal being offered at your favourite business, pass it on!

8. Share and Retweet. Need I say more? But one word of caution – don’t do it for the sake of doing it. Read the article before re-tweeting it. Don’t share something if you aren’t that interested. Remember to be authentic.

9. Be local, even if your business isn’t. Get involved with the local scene on social media. When I started using Twitter, I didn’t think there were that many people in my area. But once I started following people from my city and general region, I ended up meeting some pretty fantastic locals. And even better, we all support each other’s businesses and events.

10. Get offline, too. If there’s a Tweet-up in your area, go! It’s a great business and personal networking opportunity. Social media allows you to meet people that you may not have otherwise, and you never know what benefits will come to your business by connecting with people behind the profile photos!

Yes, it has been a while. Since my last post, I have celebrated my two kids’ birthdays, decorated for Christmas, done my Christmas shopping, celebrated Christmas, undecorated from Christmas, relaxed a bit, then went to the Dominican Republic to celebrate the new year and relax some more. I returned just this past weekend, and with the busiest time of the year over with, you’ll see more of me! 

During my holiday I was reading my husband’s copy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, a fantastic tome of stories, history and interesting facts. My mom gives him one every Christmas and we usually spend the rest of the holidays taking turns reading it (not necessarily in the bathroom, I might add). This year’s version includes a history of type fonts, one of my favourite topics to dig into. (I already knew a bit about the background of Garamond, but I didn’t know about Times New Roman, and my most recent favourite serif type, Trajan.)

What many people don’t know is that the type you use in your design – whether it is your website, blog, print ads, logo, etc. – communicates a message as well. Look at these two examples:

You’ll notice that the second example doesn’t seem to have the impact that the first does. The second version (the type is called “Giddyup Std”) sends a much more casual, almost juvenile message, one that a customer is not going to take as seriously. Look at this comparison:

You won’t come across as progressive if your type font says “we are using a 1980s Commodore 64 computer to produce our work!” Remember, the type font you choose is an important part of your company’s image and design – type can “speak,” too.

There are so many choices out there that it can be hard to choose one. (This is why every business should employ or contract a knowledgeable, talented and competent designer!) And the fancier, fun, creative fonts aren’t the ones that are going to be the easiest to read. Those can be used in logos and headings, but never for body copy in your communication pieces. For readability, you need to consider whether you are planning a web-based piece or print – readability is different for each medium. And finally, never, ever, use Comic Sans for ANYTHING. Period.

My favourite fonts

In the graphic design projects I’ve done, (I don’t specialize in graphic design, but I have done small projects here and there when appropriate) I have developed a list of some go-to fonts that I love to use. Some are good for headings and “fun” stuff only, and some are good for body copy as well, but these are fonts that I love to use when I can:

Of course, your standard Times New Roman or Arial are always reliable standbys too – they aren’t my favourites because they have been used so much over the past decade that to be honest, I’m pretty sick of them!

Also, I’m an Android user – and I think one of the reasons I love Android is the type fonts used in the operating system. They are custom for Android, and I absolutely love them. They are clean, modern and have a touch of down-to-earth-ness. (If you want a little more information on Android type fonts, check here.)

If you are a type font lover like me, you might be interested in checking out Ascender Fonts – great site for checking out different types, and you can buy from the site too!

Do you have a corporate font? If so, let me know what it is and why it was chosen. What do you think it says to your audience?

Yesterday, Metro Vancouver woke up to the destruction of the previous night’s wind storm. We were one of the unfortunate areas that had lost power, and we weren’t expected to have our power restored until the afternoon. My kids’ school was open, so we got ready to go and then I realized my car was trapped in the garage with no power to the garage door opener. My husband and I used our phones to Google how to manually open a garage door (pull the red tab hanging from the metal arm to loosen the lock and pull up from the bottom of the door) and off we went.

Having no power clearly made working on client projects difficult from my home office, so I sent out a tweet on Twitter asking if anyone knew the status of the local library, thinking I’d set up office there for the day. I got several responses within a few minutes letting me know the library was all good, (and this was before the library was even open and answering their phone,) so I grabbed my laptop and phone and headed out.

As I drove up to the library, I spotted the Blenz coffee shop across the street and decided I would rather work somewhere where I could enjoy a snack too, and pulled in there instead. I set myself up with a bran muffin and a green tea, plugged in my phone and laptop and settled in to work.

Except that when I tried to connect to their network, the laptop refused to do anything. I tried a few settings and fiddled with networks, but nothing worked. So I picked up my phone and made a few phone calls and used my Gmail app (I use a Gmail account to manage my regular email account) to answer a few emails. I spoke to a client who sent me some revisions on a project, and requested the revisions by 3pm. No problem, I assured him, I would be able to complete them pretty quickly and have them over well before the deadline. I had to run an errand, so I took off to do that, and returned this time to the library to use their desktop computers, since my laptop was not cooperating.

I arrived at the library well before my submission deadline, and tried to log on. Error. Denied. I asked the clerk at the desk, and she looked up my account. Oops, I had $30 in late fees and the computers won’t log you on if you owe more than $25. I paid up, and proceeded to log in, starting to sweat a little as time was ticking.

I opened my Gmail account and realized the client had not attached the project copy, and the file was saved on my desktop computer at home, where the power had not been restored yet. Thinking fast, I went into my sent files, found my email I had sent to my client when I submitted the first draft of copy, and tried to open the Word attachment. Denied again. I asked the clerk about this issue, and she said that the library computers do not allow people to open attachments or use office programs like Word. I could open the file in HTML, but I needed the ability to make revisions, save, and send them back to my client. And it was getting closer to this deadline I had happily agreed to earlier.

By this time I was starting to panic a little, and sent out a message on Twitter asking if any of my local contacts would let me use their computer for a bit, and got a reply from Dan at Bean Around Books, telling me I’m always welcome over there! (Love that place!)

I was wishing I’d saved the document in Google Docs, and then realized I could copy the text from the HTML file and paste it into Google Docs, then make my revisions, save, and email my client from there. Unfortunately, the library’s computers are total bunk and I sat there sweating and staring at a “Loading….” message for what seemed like an eternity. Tick-tock, I was an hour away from deadline.

Finally I grabbed my phone and opened the Word document attachment from the sent email, copied the text, opened Google Docs (thank god I had downloaded the Google Docs app a few weeks before) and pasted it into a document. I made the revisions there (even though the type was small and I was sure I was going to get a headache.) About this time, the library computer finally loaded Google Docs, and there was the document I had just created on my phone, in real time. Google Docs let me email the copy to my client, with the option to paste it directly into the email (which I opted to do in case he’d never used Google Docs before and didn’t want the hassle) and sent it off, 30 minutes before the deadline.

Whew.

I didn’t make it to Bean Around Books, as I spent the rest of the afternoon stopping in at the laptop repair place, and taking my children out for dinner since the power wasn’t expected to be restored until 6:30pm (which I was able to find out from the handy map provided on www.bchydro.com.)

At the end of it all, I couldn’t quite decide if it had been a technology win or fail day, but as a friend of mine on Facebook said, “Sounds like technology DID love you today. 5 years ago you couldn’t have done that.” So true!

(PS – If you are wondering, I have an HTC EVO 3D phone with an Android operating system. I LOVE Android!)

One of the things I love working on with clients is creating a plan for their journey into social media. Social media has become a pretty standard part of communicating with customers and other stakeholders, and many people jump into it without thinking about what they want to get out of it and how they will “do” their social media.

The benefit of social media is that it allows you to create a voice and a personality for your business that print ads and even broadcast doesn’t allow. All those types of marketing don’t have a function for feedback and interaction with your audience; you are just broadcasting a message out there. But tools like Facebook and Twitter let you have conversations in real time, so you can answer those questions from potential customers, give product or service information, or even just share the latest news.

Creating a plan for how you will use social media is a great exercise because not only do you plan how you will use the tools, but you should also look at what you want to get out of it. Are you looking for word of mouth advertising? Sales leads? Create alliances with other businesses in your community? There are lots of opportunities, but you need to define what you want to achieve in order to measure your success.

Some things to consider when putting together your plan are:

• What do you want to accomplish by using social media for your business? Are your goals realistic?
• What tools will help you reach your goals?
• How will you integrate social media into your current communication or marketing?
• How will your social media be managed?
• How do you expect your staff to be involved?
• How do you expect your staff to behave on their personal social media sites in relation to their work with you?
• What is your company’s “voice?”
• Who are you speaking to? Who is your audience?
• What kind of content will you be sharing, and what will be most valuable to your audience?

There’s a lot to consider, and it’s a lot more than just throwing up a Facebook page and posting! One of the most useful pieces of advice I’ve received was from Kemp Edmonds, who gave a talk at a social media workshop I attended through the Ridge Meadows Chamber. He suggested you think about your target audience, your best customers. Think about their lifestyles and what they are interested in, and share content that will match those interests.

For example, when I was working at my husband’s renovation company, we started posting links to information about other renovation projects like painting, window dressings, easy furniture upholstery, and other home improvement ideas. It got a great response and it addressed the interests of our target audience - which was not just renovating their homes, but home improvement in general.

Creating a social media plan can even be fun – it’s a look at the personality of your business and it can give you the opportunity to personalize your product or service. People are much more likely to do business with someone they know and trust, and are less likely to do so just because of an ad they saw. So what part of your company’s personality will draw your best customers?

Think it’s time to create a social media plan? If you need help, I’m happy to work with you – just send me an email through my Contact page.

Interested in learning a little more? I found this great article on Social Media Examiner (a great site - bookmark it or add it to your feed,) with 5 Easy Steps to a Winning Social Media Plan.