Heyo, Sassafras.

Last week, my girl Kerry Gorgone and I gave a talk at the Social Pulse Summit titled Blending the Personal and Professional on Instagram (Without Getting Into Trouble or Being a Jackhole).

Kerry is the Amy Poehler to my Tina Fey. Kerry also has a JD, so her part was mostly about how Not to Get Into Trouble.

I am not a lawyer. So my part was mostly about Avoiding Jackholish-ness. I shared about how I blend the personal and professional on the 'gram—my favorite social network.

Have you ever committed to something and then had immediate regrets? That was me with this talk. In that process, I moved through these stages:

Seven Stages of a Creative Project

1. Excitement/Enthusiasm/Happy to Be Asked

2. Brainstorm of The Fantastic Ideas ("Wouldn't it be awesome if we filmed this live! In a theater! With puppets!")

3. Realization/Regret (Ideas in #2 Ultimately Prove Ridiculous/Impossible to Execute Anyway It's Too Expensive to Rent a Theater and Don't Even Get Me Started on the Theater's COVID Protocols)

4. Why-Me Pity Party: Burdened by the Ask/Task

5. Acceptance (FINE. Adhere Derriere to Chair)

6. Give This Idea a Big Think

7. YAY! DONE! Pride at the Outcome! That was FUN! Let's do it AGAIN!

 

 * * *

It wasn't that I didn't want to speak—I love sharing and educating and helping.

It was more that I'd never framed my Instagram presence as a "strategy," exactly. So that Big Think felt a little Bigger than it probably needed to feel.

But of course… my Instagram approach IS a strategy. I realized it like duh! at the Big Think stage.

Instagram is a great branding tool. But for me it's provided direct dollars. I don't sell anything there (more on that in a second). But I do tell the story of who I am.

In our talk at the Social Pulse Summit, I shared my fundamental belief in the Instagram opportunity, along with my advice to you if you're looking to grow your business on the platform.

>>> Watch the talk here. <<<

You'll need to register for the whole event, and then navigate to our opening keynote. Or here's the CliffsNotes version:

1. Personable, not personal. Instagram is not a visual LinkedIn. But it's not your Morning Pages journal, either, so you do need to show up with some aforethought:

👉 What's the story you're telling in support of your business that shows who you are?

👉 And (this is important): What are you like to deal with?

2. Captions give critical context. Don't tell me what's in the photo, tell me why I should care.

Writing matters here, so here are 4 questions to prompt better Instagram captions:

 

 

3. Write your audience into your story. Who do you sell to? Think 1-1-1: One idea to one person at one time.

👉 What will resonate the most with your ideal customer?

👉 What signals to your prospect/customer: "I get you. You belong in here"?

* * *

Here are a few things I wanted to share with you this week.

WARREN POLICY

Warren Buffett published his much-celebrated annual Letter to Shareholders yesterday.

 

Warren's letter gets its own hype squad. I saw it was coming just after I stepped off stage Friday (virtually), where I had just talked about email newsletter inspiration from Warren and his sister, Doris.

By the time I woke up yesterday, analysts and commentators and journalists were all over Warren's letter. Even Trucking News had something to say about it. The analysis wasn't all glowing: Some say Warren's letter didn't go far enough to acknowledge the challenges of 2020.

You and I can learn a lot from how Warren writes. Here are my 4 writing lessons from Warren's annual Letter to Shareholders.

 

QUICKIES

TikTok Coming in Hot with the Best Writing Advice. A TikTok challenge inspires the Best Writing Advice for you, me, and anyone... whether you're on TikTok or not.

Beyond [HELLO f-name]: 5 Tips for a More Personalized B2B Content Strategy in 2021 I like this approach to making your B2B content waaaay less creepy and buttoned up and faaaar more accessible.

35 Words You're Probably Getting Wrong. #TheMoreYouKnow!

 

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS: New CX Research [SPONSORED]

 

 

Customer engagement is next-level customer experience, according to my friends at Braze.

Braze asked 1,300 VP-plus marketers about their CX hopes, dreams, wishes. Then Braze distilled, ground, and shaped all the responses into one useful research report that backs with data what we suspected instinctively: Excellent customer engagement directly results in higher customer lifetime value and lower acquisition costs. It makes everyone more attractive, too. (Just kidding about that last one.) (Or am I?)

 

REWRITE-CHALLENGE RESULTS!

So much marketing copy and content I read Tells Me too much, and doesn't Tell Me Without Telling Me. Last week, I challenged you to a Rewrite Party: Rewrite a piece of marketing copy to show, not tell.

Here are some fave submissions.

Dean Shaw:

 

 

 

 

Janet Armstrong rewrites the subject line for a bra seller.
Tod Cordill reframes direct mail.

 

TOOLS

Two content tools I used this week.

Someone in a Clubhouse room last week asked me about tools that detect plagiarism. Google works. But sometimes you need to call in the big guns. This is for you, Simon.

Plagium is a tool that lets you check whether and where text might appear on the Web. (It gets a shout in Part 6 of Everybody Writes.)

Copyscape plagiarism checker lets you check who might be copying you. (And you can do it without registering or setting up an account.) Enter your website's URL, and you'll see a list of websites that have filched your stuff.

 

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

 

 

Thanks for reading this far. Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

 

Stay safe. Stay sane. Wear a mask.

 

I'll be back on March 13.