I am old enough to remember the days before the Internet and social media. Back then, PR was mainly local. You wrote a press release, sent it out to the local media and saved the interview or newspaper clipping. National companies were usually in Washington, D.C or New York where national media outlets were also headquartered.
Fast forward to 26 (gulp) years later and because of technology, I have worked with clients in England, Australia and of course the United States. I can do most of my work in my pajamas if I chose. A couple of years ago I thought I was doing pretty good keeping up with the social media trends until my teenage son asked me if I had an Instagram account. Because of my day job covering crime my mind immediately pictured an app where child predators would try to get hold of my child until I added it to my phone. Of course like millions of others, I found Instagram to be addicting.
It wasn’t too long after that when my son asked me if I had a Snapchat account. I had heard some negative stories about it but I got on there just to make sure I was monitoring my son. And again, I became addicted. One of my daily tasks is seeing the new things I can do to my face with the app. See?
What is really neat is that these two apps are becoming marketing tools for this new generation. As a crafter, I follow Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and JoAnn along with other brands I like. I also follow places I have been like Gatlinburg and many places I want to go.
My son recently shared some Instagram photos from two indie coffee shops. Both companies shared his photo. That was pretty cool for my teenager.
I don’t know exactly when Snapchat began doing their stories but what a brilliant idea. Looking on my opening page I see People, ESPN and CNN. I haven’t really used Snapchat to see what is there in marketing but I know millennials are.
For the older crowd, this means we have to do a lot of reading and take a lot of webinars and classes to keep up. While I am primarily a writer, I like to help my clients with all everything.
Oh, and I understand writers are using all of these other social media apps for their own marketing. So look for my Instagram and Snapchat accounts soon!
P.S. If you haven’t found me on Twitter or Facebook, here are the links:
KSJ Media 