The Idea Farm's Blog

Nothing is what happens when you go through the motions instead of utilizing social media to advance the goals of your product or organization. Below are the most essential actions and the most common mistakes organizations make. 1. Do Make a Social Media Plan. You need to decide first what you’ll post (both words and images), how often to schedule your posts, what “brand voice” and “brand design or look” you’ll use and who’ll keep your profiles up to date. 2. Don’t Let your accounts fall by the wayside . The fundamental sin of social media is not keeping to a routine schedule of updates. 3. Do broadcast and Do not chat . Your presence on social media is about conversation and visibility. If you’re blasting messages into either the wrong venue or target, you’re missing the benefits of engagement. 4. Do respond quickly . One recent survey showed that a third of customers who contacted businesses through social channels expected a response within half an hour, regardless of the hour. 5. ...

Boost your career with a ‘skip-level’ meeting. What are skip-level meetings? They are meetings with your boss’s boss without your boss present. This interaction should not be perceived as going over your boss’s head. Personal interaction with a higher power in the business can improve your career, especially if you’re a new hire. The goal is to increase communication so that all parties learn more about what’s happening in the organization from each perspective. Also, skip-level meetings offer opportunities to develop professional relationships and connect with top management, especially if you don’t have regular interactions with your boss’s boss. How do I schedule a skip-level? If skip-level meetings are not already part of your organization, think about reaching out to senior managers on your own (but do inform your boss and explain the purpose). Justify such a meeting to your boss by stressing it’s helpful for: • Building relationships within the organization with someone you don’t...

Employment in advertising, public relations and related services rose by 2,200 jobs in October, according to the monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also showed the biggest monthly job drop on record for internet media. Ad agency employment also slumped. For the overall economy, U.S. employers in October added 531,000 jobs as the labor market gained strength. U.S. employment in the BLS classification of advertising, public relations and related services increased to 453,100 jobs in October. The ad business banked its ninth consecutive month of growth since ad jobs hit a pandemic period low of 432,100 in January. The October increase in advertising employment came in above September's gain of 1,200 ad jobs. BLS upwardly revised the September figure from the preliminary 1,000 jobs increase it reported last month.This BLS bucket includes ad agencies, PR agencies and related services such as m...