Limbo & the Social Media Game
or "how I learned to limbo low"
LIMBO
The period after the last newsletter and today’s newsletter has felt like “in-between time,” a period of limbo within a larger period of limbo that we have all been living in, but that some of us are tentatively emerging from. Anyway, I finally received my second Covid-19 vaccination! This is great, of course, and yet I’ll still go out masked, as usual, except when I’m with family and friends who have also received their second vax. Fact is, Covid-19 numbers are rising again in the U.S. and there are those scary variants—so we continue with our wait-and-see game.
ART
I made no art during this period. Nothing. Zero—until today, that is, because today is newsletter day and that provided the impetus for a new Geomancy piece. I threw the dice and came up with 1) Acquisitio (cups), 2) Puer (boy = red), 3) Rubius (red= red square), and 4) Tristitia (sorrow = diagonal line). My descriptions here are simplifications (to say the least) of much more complex readings. But in any case, they determine the elements of the image. And just for the hell of it, I added them up to produce the final figure: Puer (not the tea!), which is the name of this piece. This figure relates to youthful, firey, and active energy.
For me, waiting for “inspiration” is a frightful approach to making art. Just the word, “inspiration,” makes me freeze up. In the art world it’s kind of a catch-all word people use to justify the success of an artist. But just like anything else in this world, the art you make is the result of so many different elements, including class, the color of your skin, timing, and luck. I think it’s much more interesting to throw some dice, toss the sticks or pebbles, count the eyes on a potato, or read the wrinkled face of this old earth, its folds and bumps. They tell you a lot, and offer some challenges, too.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA GAME
In the meantime, my nonprofit work has required me to do ever increasing amounts of social media posting for a big project we are working on—essentially to purchase two historically designated buildings by the end of this year, and then start an even LARGER project to raise funds to renovate those buildings and create an AAPI Cultural Center and Museum.
I’m passionate about this project, but both my freelance contract work and my art practice sometimes make it difficult to parse my time. My usual “strategy” for social media posting has been hit and miss.
Basically I post when I have extra time—which is not often. And when I do have time, I post a big batch all at once, and kind of flood the media. Then I disappear, to return again—whenever. This is better than nothing, but this “non-strategy” could be a lot more effective.
I met with our intern, Lotus, the other day, who has had actual training in how to strategize social media posting. I learned from her the following, which I’ve narrowed down to 8 steps, more or less:
Study the social media tactics of people or organizations with similar goals
Set overall goals for your project, and objectives for posting in support of those goals
Post consistently; assign tasks and set up a schedule for posting
Include more visuals and video
Keep posts brief
Establish “success metrics” and benchmarks; track numbers of followers and what attracts them; do periodical reviews of your strategy; change when necessary
Follow people/organizations with interest in your message; engage with both the online and local community
Include a budget for promoting posts (yes!), including a post management tool, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, or Constant Contact.
So we’re looking at our goals, and setting up a daily schedule, with optimum times for posting on all our social media. We’ll decide on what our “success metrics” will be, keeping track of followers and responses, etc. No lie, it’s a little daunting, especially combined with all the other tasks involved in fundraising. But it’s definitely better than my previous “plan.” A plus for this is that a social media plan, goals, consistency, and scheduling will also make it easier to assign social media tasks to volunteers. Here are two sites that expand on some of these ideas:
Hootsuite provides 8 easy steps for creating a social media marketing plan.
Sprout Social’s 6 steps on “Building Your Social Media Strategy for 2021.”
In my social circles, I’m one of seemingly very few people who crosses over between centralized and decentralized social media, since I have accounts on both Diaspora (diasp.org) and MeWe (actually the MeWe is centralized, but not as commercially manipulative as other centralized social media), and I’ve tried out a few others, too.
But as I survey sites online that are addressing social media strategy, I notice a distinct lack of articles on creating social media strategies for decentralized networks. Perhaps it’s too early, and the numbers are still too small for these networks to “matter.” Yet, Twitter is now building a decentralized social media in its Bluesky Project. And recently, an article in Forbes, 12 Benefits of a Decentralized Marketing Structure, stated that “recent studies have indicated that more than half of the industry is expecting to work with a decentralized model in the near future.”
So I’m wondering what a social media strategy for decentralized networks would look like? Maybe something for a future post.
5 COOL THINGS (all video!)
“I just need some space” by Audrey Nuna, on one of my favorite art sites and communities (of which I’m a member), BOOOOOOOM!
Local artists Mai Ryuno and Linda Lay talk about their RfCC “Fashion to Connect” project, which has allowed them to connect, share, and stayed inspired during the Pandemic. They are now also collaborating with SlowFiber in Monterey.
,
Firelei Baez: An Open Horizon (or the Stillness of A Wound):
(Art21)
Loie Hollowell’s Transcendent Bodies (Art21):
Finally, something to keep your spirits up. An acoustic cover of “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey), performed by David Simmons, Jr.:
Brought to you by Scary Pockets (one of my favorite funk groups—but they’re so much more)!