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She said, he said posts

by JimRaffel on March 2, 2011

Image of Shelby and ZekeJim RaffelStarting tomorrow, Shelby and I are going to introduce a new series of posts here. We’ll be calling them “she said, he said” (ladies first of course). Well, actually, I’m going first tomorrow with a post entitled “Strategy to work with others.” The post explores how Shelby and I work together from my perspective. At the end of the post, I challenge her to share how the relationship looks from her perspective.

She said, he said was born

Shelby is the editor here, so upon editing tomorrow’s post she took the challenge and wrote her own post in response to mine. So, those two posts are tomorrow and Friday. We certainly hope you’ll come back to read them and let us know what you think. You’ll get to see two sides of the same coin and I hope it’s as enlightening for you as it has been for me.

I originally thought we were pretty much in agreement on what it looks like to work together. The reality is we are not and that’s what makes the pair of posts so interesting. We work closely together and make a great team, but certainly don’t agree 100 percent on any topic. We also have a second set of posts about our personal social media policies in the works that promises to offer even a bit more disagreement. (Hint: I’ll swear every now and then in the social space and she won’t.)

Our goal is not to debate and have a winner and a loser (she always wins these type of arguments), but instead to provide two perspectives on the same issue. From a selfish point of view, I will get some additional insight into how Shelby thinks and forms arguments. What’s Shelby going to get out this? She’s the editor here so she can add a paragraph or two if she feels it’s appropriate.

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Continue Reading 2 comments }blogging, new media, she said he said, social media, Writing

How to manage multiple Twitter accounts effectively

by JimRaffel on February 11, 2011

image of multiple=Several times in the last year I’ve had to address the confusion that having two Twitter accounts with my name on them causes. The two accounts are @raffel and @JimRaffel. The two accounts serve different purposes and I have written the bio of each to reflect those differences. Nonetheless confusion occurs and I’m guessing I am not the only one dealing with this.

The bios are important when managing multiple accounts

On Twitter @raffel is me. The bio is short, sweet and to the point – “CEO of ColorMetrix.com, I’m with @hawtwife. #3T” Let’s break it down. The me most of you would be concerned with is the CEO of a small business, ColorMetrix. I added the dot com so that folks can easily find the site if they choose to. I’m married to Cheryl who you can find on Twitter @hawtwife. I’m a member of Third Tribe Marketing (#3T is a hash tag), so if you are a member, you know we have that in common. In short, I’m a real person and I’ve shared some basics about me.

@JimRaffel is the account of my blog. Again, let’s start with the bio – “This is me without the blather – new blog posts and other interesting links I find but no interaction that’s all found @raffel.” This account was set-up for two reasons. First, it’s my name and I’d prefer I have control of it and not someone else. Second, some people really just want to know when I publish a new post here. This is the account that automatically tweets that information at 4:30am CST time each morning. I also point folks to the @raffel account so they can engage and interact with me if that’s in their plans.

Another key point is that @JimRaffel only follow one person on Twitter, @raffel. @raffel on the other hand (me) follows close to 3,000. What I’m suggesting here is that you take 20 seconds or so to look at the bio and follower/follows stats of the accounts you choose to follow. There can be a great deal of valuable information there to help you understand who you have or are about to follow. Both these accounts represent my personal brand and should be owned and managed by me.

Your brand needs its own voice

What about a brand that’s not a personal brand? In my case that’s @ColorMetrix. I’ve struggled with what to do with this account for a while. Too much tweeting and re-tweeting between @raffel and @ColorMetrix just looks like me talking to myself and that, quite frankly, looks ridiculous.

Brand voices should not be a voice of one. If it’s not a personal brand then it’s a representation of the entire company and team behind the brand. How can one person possible embody and represent that? In our case the @ColorMetrix account is now the true voice of the company. I’ve hired @ShelMKE to help me manage the account. Before you ask how a hired gun can be the voice of the company let me explain. Shelby does more than just help manage the Twitter account.

She is a team member helping us with other marketing and project management related tasks at ColorMetrix. In addition, she’s known me almost a year. Over that year, she has asked lots of questions about us and our customers. She knows and is immersed in ColorMetrix. Together, we are able to put together a voice on Twitter that represents who we are and what we do.

This is what’s starting to work for me and the multiple accounts I manage on Twitter. How about you? Please jump into the comments and share your thoughts.

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