Social Media Marketing

It's a pretty interesting job if you're good at it.

I prefer to physically write, with a pen, usually black. But today we type. We tweet.
Today we have individual teams that curate and create and update and refresh Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest and Google accounts.

Today we have Social Media Management Tools and other helpful sites like Tweriod and GIMP to show you when your followers are online, when best to post, and how to easily Photoshop an image.

Videos and Blogs (Vlogs) are huge.
if you publish great content, people will follow.
make-up tutorials like you've never seen before.

so

here's the reason I'm writing about social media marketing in the first place: it's a job I fell into.
Curating content and developing sales promotions, writing scripts for video, dealing with customer concerns. I had to reply if it was 11 PM because I was responsible for the brand's online reputation.

this is a role you have a hard time leaving at the office.
or maybe it was just me; but online business hours don't exist

I love being responsible for a brand. I think it's because i love to sell; tell stories. I get this from my grandfather he told us this story one time about how he "fell down" when we asked why he was limping.

he said,

"...the Christmas were falling down yesterday and so I went up. On the ladder, I was ... I had to go on the roof to fix it uh?" with his eyebrows up, eyes wide;

"You know, your grandmother she had to go out, she called me, and..well, I fix the light but there were some tiles looz so I try to fix it too, and she say, 'John I'm leaving, don't forget. keep an eye on the pot', and .. it was so. bloody. windy."

And here i'm thinking, holy shit gramps, you blew off the roof???

"...and the wind TOOK the ladder right down... I thought, maybe Brian, the neighbour will be home if I yell, no..I waited THREE quarter of an hour not one person...nobody home next door, not one car drive by!.............

and Teresa told me about the pot on the stove, I thought, holy shit I'm gonna burn the house down, so...

then, I had to jump."

THAT WAS THE STORY.
Gramps, you could have told us you jumped off the roof to save the house from burning down.

It's all about the special elements. IN marketing I've learned that providing value to someone will be the most powerful tool. As a social media marketer I've learned to question companies like Shoppers Drug Mart for sending out an e-blast every 2-3 days. How many sales do you need?

Prices should always be fair, it is ultimately the "experience" you offer as a brand, that sets you apart from your competition.

I didn't learn this, it's all common sense. but then again, isn't it something they say, "common sense is the least common of the senses"?

The first time I wrote a story was grade 1 when we were putting our first sentences together on paper, learning about proper grammar; (a word I spell incorrectly the first time to this day) and I've been writing ever since.

I've probably started writing thirty, forty stories. I finished one and I still wonder whether it's enough to be told. and the other thirty-nine are still up there in the head waves and THC.

so I'm a writer and you're a writer, too.

and we can write things together.

Shaw Holiday Log

i started this blog shortly after my life changed. when we lost our dad, my brother and I lost a part of ourselves and i remember every piece of what i can recollect that day so vividly...even 9 years later

back then my favourite thing to do was listen to music, read, write.
Picture your whole world suddenly falling down a rabbit hole and you're standing on the ceiling, walking, but barely; crying mostly.

the biggest thing i remember that week after dad died was watching the fireplace channel.

shocking. not really, it was pretty traumatic to learn your parent has died.
my brother was a child, he couldn't process it - I could barely process it at fifteen.

and forever after, to this day we wonder how things could have been. my dad was 41 years old.

when you lose your parent as a child i think you become fragile inside. i think you are more emotional and therefore, more likely to act on emotion. i find that i worry more, and by worry i mean when something can go wrong with a situation my mind turns to the utmost horrifying outcome.

there is still so much to learn.

my dad died and nobody really had any idea. mom found him but only after trying without success to reach him all day and it was terrifying for her. to feel that the love of her life was not OK.

the doctors confirmed what's called a terminal seizure and when they found him it had been hours

nine years is a long time. and it never get easier to know they're gone.

trihs-T a dna snaeJ

you grab a t-shirt from the dresser or the closet or the floor and you pop your head through the neck hole. you lock eyes with a fuzzy mane and quickly smooth out a few strands. grabbing the hem with your right hand you snake your way till your left arm is through the arm hole and then pull down the left side, repeating the same with your right arm. pants next - laying over your bed like a deflated floaty on a beach chair - the beach and pants never belonging in the same sentence. sliding one leg through until toes reach the light at the end of the tunnel and find their balance on the carpet. the other leg follows suit and then as if by natural force of habit, two index fingers hook into belt loops and lift your ass into position. with one more twist and a tiny zip we have a winner folks! looks to kill. that's putting on jeans and a t-shirt.