Quick testing tips from traditional direct response marketing

In my previous life as an associate account executive at an advertising agency, my days were filled with performance metrics. I spent hours in Excel, even the most creative of team brainstorming sessions included discussions of analytics, and I dreamed in test-control scenarios. Our agency was a bit unique, in that we had a sister…

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Facebook test: posting later in the day

I’ve been managing the social media accounts for an upcoming documentary (Seriously! a movie about play) for about six months now, and in February my client and I noticed that a few Facebook posts really flopped (reach in the 10-30 range, when our average was in the 350s). The type and quality of posts didn’t seem…

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Social media analytics

I think in another life I could have been an economist. Data makes me feel safe and happy. Luckily, marketing is full of data, and if you treat social media as one of your marketing channels, it, too can provide a delicious data-splosion for you. What metrics to track is up to you, and should…

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Know your (social media) audience

One of my biggest mottos of social media is: do not annoy your friends. Or your “Friends.” It’s kind of like do no harm, and I think the fastest way to break the motto is to inundate your followers with the same message. That inlcudes repeating the same tweet nine times in six days, “In…

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Social ties

In my graduate program a few years ago, I took a course on Social Network Sites. For our final paper and presentation, we were asked to keep a social network site diary–recording which sites we used, how often, and how. Yes, this was a graduate-level course. I didn’t learn any great truths about my social…

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Time planning tools

Time management is your best friend. Your savior. Your money-maker. Especially in creative projects, and doubly-especially for freelancers–because where you spend your hours will literally define how much money you’ll have at the end of the month (or the project, or whatever your billing schedule is). Even if no one but you will ever see…

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