Social Media: Everything You Need To Know To Launch A Beaver
Social Media. Blogging. Getting Likes. Getting comments. Getting followers…
Making connections. Attracting clients. Attracting customers. Building a network…
Is it possible to sum the whole thing up in just two illustrations?
More or less.
Besides this blog, I get my social media kicks on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
I use Twitter and Facebook to post single illustrations that aren’t a good fit for a blog post.
I also tweet links to posts I find interesting. Most of these involve art, design, illustration, freelancing, blogging, writing, business, marketing, and social media.
LinkedIn contains my business profile, and recommendations I’ve received from clients. It pays to create a LinkedIn account if you’re trying to build a professional network.
If any of that sounds appealing, click on the buttons below to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. I’d get a kick out of it.
Are you a blogger? Do you spend a lot of time on social media sites?
Do you use social media as a marketing tool? Has it brought in customers?
Have you ever booted a beaver? If so, how far exactly??
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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Liked! Very much!!! LOVE the illustrations! You’re brilliant at making them move!!
Can’t visit you on Twitter or FB bec I’m not using those, just tumblr, G+, and Instagram. I found you on tumblr, though, and left you a note. Instagram is a hoot.
Hard to believe these sites haven’t been around forever. I’m trying to remember what people used to do, to network/share/connect. Direct mailings, cold calls, ads, golf course confabs? BTW, hooray for those pencils!
Super post!!
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Thank you, my dear Robin! The illustrations move? Huh! I don’t remember creating animations– I’ll have to go back and look at them again… : )
Yes, lots of social media channels out there: Tumblr, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, many businesses have YouTube channels, and on and on. I find it challenging just to keep up with blogging and Twitter, FB, and LinkedIn! It does seem like social media’s been around forever– which probably explains all those cobwebs on the office water cooler… : (
Thanks for that wonderfully supportive comment– it means a lot coming from such a talented artist like yourself!! : )
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It’s easy getting carried away with social media and before long they can actually become anti-social media!
I appreciate blogging for many reasons. It’s a nice informal way of showing ones work and ‘meeting’ and seeing other people’s work too. It can be a good marketing tool but I wouldn’t quit my day job, so to speak.
As for the rest: LinkedIn I also use for professional reasons [as a virtual business card] but I can’t say I ‘mingle’ in there!
Twitter I like to use mainly to show my friends work & posts, animal welfare / petitions and share my posts – again, I don’t mingle in there either – nor notify the world of my whereabouts!
And finally the much disliked FB… I keep it strictly for publicity reasons [sharing my wp posts / products and again anything concerning animal welfare] but never upload images, as they will own it afterwards! I’m not very friendly over there either – instinct I guess. Sorry fb! 🙂
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Anti-social media… ha! There’s a good cartoon in there somewhere!! Thank you for all that feedback, my dear Marina. I didn’t realize they had social media up on Mt. Olympus, but I guess it makes sense– you must get excellent wi-fi reception up there!! : )
Good advice about not quitting one’s day job. Social media does seem badly overrated as a marketing tool, tho some businesses have had success with it. I get the impression it works best for retail stores and food vendors, e.g., Starbucks. I keep thinking LinkedIn has great potential for generating leads and attracting clients, but I’ve only had limited success with it. I suspect one has to devote serious time to it every day, contributing original content, interacting with groups, etc.
Time! There’s never enough of it, unless you’ve got a time machine!!– as Rip Van Winkle never said… : )
Thanks for coming down to visit and being your very sociable self, dear Marina!
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Sociable only with good friends, my dear Mark!! 😉
By the way, I am hoping you will let me know when you invent the time machine!!!! 🙂
Have a beautiful -rest of- Thursday, [for me Friday is here [just by an hour]. 🙂
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I loved this eager beaver and chewed up “posts”…. Har har har. 😀 Until I wrote this comment, now I realize what you meant.
Honest, I feel like writing a blog post to squatters on my blog who clearly have no interest (they’re interests are diametrically very different from mine and I don’t like the feel of their blog. Like slimy), don’t comment at all and make me a tad suspicious.. So maybe it’s gettin’ close to beaver kick-butt.
No I’m not on Facebook nor Twitter for my personal blog.
Twitter seems to work and bring in customers for my partner’s son’s sandwich and butcher shop. They tweet nearly daily –usually photo of today’s special/ handwritten daily menu choices of sandwiches: usually 3 different types.
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Ha! Posts, pencils– hey, they look pretty much the same. Especially the posts with erasers on ’em… : )
Hi, Jean! Glad you enjoyed The Adventures of Eager Beaver. Yup, the little guy gets around. Blog squatters– ha! I hadn’t heard that term, but I know what you mean. One of the odder manifestations of blogging culture, I guess. Yes, I just mentioned in another comment that Twitter seems to be a very effective marketing tool for retail and food shops. Tweeting a photo of a menu board with the day’s specials seems a brilliant stroke.
Thanks as always for your support– and watch out for flying beavers!! : )
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Heeheee. I love your beaver! Wonderful! Thank you for the smile! 🙂
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Ha! Not surprised to hear that Mr. Beaver scored a hit with the blogosphere’s Preeminent Canadian History Scholar! Glad you enjoyed it, Teri– many thanks!
P.S. You don’t sell fur hats on the side, do you?? : )
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Maybe [hat bowed low, shifty eyes] … why? You interested? LOL
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Haw!! I let out a beaver roar when I read that!! I had an image of a shady character in a fur fedora and a beaver pelt coat whispering to me from the mouth of an alley: “Psstt! Hey, mister– wanna buy a fur hat??”
Ha! Let me know if you get any with two tails, so I can use ’em for earflaps!! : )
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Ha, ha, ha! Illustrater seems to be a hard job! Do you get kicked every day after work? Hope you land smoothly!!!
May be somebody must come and kick you away from all that time absorbing social media 😉
Somehow I must admire you. I got tired of all that ‘networking’ which seems sometimes like a vanity fair. *Most evil grin*
Why does the pen look so grumpy?
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Illustration a hard job? Nonsense, my dear Tutti! You just sit around all day and draw pretty pictures, and every so often some thoughtful person gives you a nice kick so you can get out and breathe some fresh air. And you’re right: a kick is also a handy way to get away from the social media rat race!
Ha! Networking does seem like a “vanity fair” sometimes– well said. I’m not really vain myself, of course. That’s because all the wonderful things I say about me are just the plain simple truth… : )
The Big Pencil Guy? He’s grumpy and giving the beaver a kick because the little buck-toothed rodent chewed up some of his friends in the first illustration!! Always a delight to see you, dear Tutti!! : )
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I sense a vibe around “creative types” that there is an element of selling your soul by jumping on the social media train. But you got to play the game.
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Hi Scott, many thanks for your comment. Interesting– I’m familiar with the artistic “type” who thinks he’s selling out by taking an active interest in his (financial) success. I’ve heard it referred to as The Myth of The Starving Artist: I’m not a real artist unless I’m scorned and unappreciated and no one wants to buy my work. I reject that myth.
I think you’re saying that this same myth can extend to social media: I’m not going to blog or use any social media tools to build a fan base, and give people an opportunity to buy my work. I don’t know anyone personally who’s taken that stand, but I can see where it would be a natural extension of the “starving artist” mindset. That’s a shame. Artists deserve to succeed– and that means embracing the business side of one’s career, along with the artistic side.
Thanks for stopping by, and I enjoyed your satiric video about social media.
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Now, why would I give a cute beaver like that the boot? He’s not chewing up the scenery, just gnawing on a few discarded pencils.
I’m not Twitter and you are part of my FB “family.” Hi, Uncle Mark. I do post my WordPress stories on FB. Hey! Somebody’s gotta read them. 😉 I am on FB far too much and need to cut back … especially as the school year just got underway here.
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Thank you for your kind support of furry pencil chewers! The Beaver Benevolent Association is making you an honorary member, and we’re all slapping our tails with approval… : )
Always a pleasure to see my favorite, er, niece. Clearly our family tree is a strange one, with more than its share of beaver tooth-marks. Glad to hear you’re sharing your lovely WP posts on Facebook, Judy– ’cause they’re dam good, that’s the consensus here at the BBA. Well, time to go floss these wood chips outta my teeth– cheers! : )
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Bucky Beaver of new Ipana toothpaste may be able to help with that, Mark, I’m delighted to be an honorary member of the BBA. Big toothy grin. 😉
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Ipana! If it’s good enough for Bucky, it’s good enough for me– thanks for the tip!! : )
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Fee, fie fo, fum,
I hear the beat of a Social MEdia drum!
Some parrot-talk as I repeat…..your sketches are hilarious even when tackling a tacky (and tricky?) issue. Lead bites, eh?
I agree w/ Marina’s views.
Unlike the good ‘ol days (btw, when was this time really?), social media seems to work mostly for sales (work, self or soul!), attention and to quickly spread the word.
Facebook: Data-mine that gets data-mined.
Twitter: Make noise w/ 140 characters. Retweet: Echoes by fellow-tweetin’ birds.
LinkedIN: A wannabe FB in a business suit.
WordPress: Follow without the need to follow.
Tumblr: How Jack and Jill got the word out.
Google+: Go around in circles.
All jokes apart, it’s a neat way to encounter many interesting people. [Like say, Marcus Armstrongus…..no relation to you, of course.] Without it, I’d need too many incarnations to gain selfie perspective. 😉
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My dear, erudite Radhika… I read this comment, and I said the same thing Homer did when he finished writing The Iliad: “Epic!!” (I think he said the same thing after writing The Odyssey. He had a very robust self-image, did ol’ Homer…)
Your parrot-talk made me squawk with laughter and pleasure– my kinda lead-bites, absolutely!
The good ol’ days? They weren’t so good, because that was before you started leaving your wunnaful comments on my blog. Your Social Media Big 6 Summary was a classic– like a beautiful little blog post embedded in a comment! Your “data-mine that gets data-mined” is easily the wittiest and most telling definition of Facebook I’ve heard, and your take on LinkedIn made me guffaw with gusto!
If I run into this Marcus Armstrongus guy, looking spiffy, no doubt, in his tie-dye toga and laurel leaf ear clusters, I’m gonna tell him he’s a lucky chap to have a friend, honorary Roman, and countrywoman like you following his blogus. Thank thou, dear Lady Quipster!! : )
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Ave, Marcus, morituri te salutant! I, who am dying of laughter, salute you!
I must take you to task for your epic comments – they made me fall off my X99 Task chair……laughing! 😀
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You inspire me, LQ– or should I say LS, for Latin Scholar?? You’re a force pro bono, as the doorman at Caesar’s Palace used to say… : )
P.S. Buy a bunch of big fluffy pillows and arrange them around your Tisket A Task chair. Praeparabitur!! : )
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You’re so brilliant to attract bloggers like me to follow you because you irritate them with your enthusiastic comments that are full of funny mocking jokes, hehehe- leaving them laughing to themselves with smiles from ear to ear… Whew! You just get them addicted and couldn’t wait for your next unforgettable comments to strike them on their blogs… Whoaaaaaa! 😆
And then when they come to see your world, wow amazing illustrations… You just made them speechless… Because you just have IT …. 🙂
I enjoy all of your artworks! mmmwahh
And yes I will look on you at LinkedIn… to follow you! xoxo
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My dearest Toothsome!! Mocking jokes?? Me??? I’m sure you have me confused with someone else. I’m a very serious, dignified gentlemen, always kind and respectful in every way… except when I scrape the frosting off your donut, and replace it with toothpaste. But consider: when you eat it, you don’t have to brush your teeth afterwards!! Yes, I’m a very thoughtful, considerate person… : )
I have IT?? How did you find out?? The doctor says it’s only temporary, and should clear up soon… Oh, wait! I see, you’re referring to my artistic genius. Well, yes, I can’t deny it. And I’m afraid there’s no cure for that… : )
Thank you for that wonderful comment! It warmed my heart more than hot coffee and a bag of fresh donuts. Tears of happiness are rolling down my cheeks into my moustache. My lips are puckering up, and they’re about to make a certain sound: mmmmmmmmmmmwahhhh!!! : )
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Your drawing of the two Scots tossing a caber is really funny. Having watched a few tosses at the Scottish games, I recall the officials turning the cabers over to the audience to try their hand. One college student managed to pick up the caber, but an errant breeze began to blow, which caused him to backpedal to keep the caber aloft. You should have seen the spectators surrounding him scramble for safer ground! Great humor! Loved it!
Kim
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Hi, Kim! Nice to meet you, thanks so much for your visit and your very funny comment. Wish I’d been there. However, you described the situation so well, I felt I could see the whole spectacle in my mind’s eye– the frantic backpedaling, and the crowd’s sudden realization that it was time to vacate the premises!! If it were a movie scene, I suppose there’d’ve been one guy glued to his cell phone, totally oblivious to his impending doom!
Thanks for stopping by, and for sharing that great story! : )
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Wow! So funny and wonderful illustration! I enjoy all of your illustrations. 🙂
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Thanks for cooking and serving up that lovely comment– it sure went down easy!! : )
And I sincerely appreciate it!
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