This is our last She Said, He Said blog post series of 2011. Jim and I thought it would be fun to go back through our posts and each pick three topics that we thought brought the best discussions this year. This week, our #shehechat on Twitter will be an open mic night. We’ll discuss anything and everything in this special year-end chat. Join us at 8 p.m. CST tomorrow!
The She Said, He Said project has certainly grown and transformed since we began it in early March. Back then, I thought Jim and I would just be writing occasional dueling blog posts as topics came up in conversation. I also thought we’d only be tackling topics that we vehemently disagreed upon. I think we thought it would be fun and entertaining for us and, if we happened to attract some readers, that would be a big plus.
What I didn’t count on when we launched She Said, He Said is that our blog posts – and eventually our weekly Twitter chat and speaking engagements – would evolve into a community that thrives on communication and education. Before long, it was evident that this was less about Jim and me taking pokes at each other and more about the people with whom we were engaging with the controversial and timely topics we chose to discuss.
As we look forward to 2012, our primary goal with She Said, He Said is to continue along the path of communication and education through engagement with the community. Below are three discussions that I thought were successful this year.
Affiliate marketing pays our way
This may not be one of my favorite topics, but there’s no denying that it’s been a popular one with our readers, Twitter followers and event attendees. I think it gets mentioned at least once in each #shehechat whether it’s related to the chosen topics or not. Jim has never been bashful about being an affiliate marketer, while I’ve admitted that it makes me feel a little bit dirty. However, I’m glad Jim conducts his affiliate marketing business honestly. During our first live presentation at WordCamp Chicago, Jim got a big laugh from the audience when he pointed out to me that affiliate marketing paid for our trip.
Talking Twitter and trade shows
This past fall, I accompanied Jim’s ColorMetrix team to two big trade shows: GraphExpo in Chicago and SGIA in New Orleans. The two shows were about a month apart and we spent a lot of time preparing demos, videos and other visuals for our presentations. Before, during and after, I manned the ColorMetrix Twitter account daily and kept followers up to date on how the events were progressing. After the two events, Jim and I each shared our experiences of using Twitter for trade shows in blog posts. I loved covering the trade shows because it allowed me to use my journalism background. Jim was able to compare his strategy in the past with this year’s strategy. These posts were retweeted for days afterward in the Twitter-sphere and referred to on other sites. I loved the educational value of both of these posts.
Swearing the Marcia Brady way
Back in March, I swore by my social media strategy of not swearing in the public space. I should have kept my mouth shut because this just provoked Jim to swear at almost every opportunity he found. As his editor, I could edit out superfluous swearing in his blog posts, but I was unable to stop him during our Twitter chats or on stage. To make matters worse, if I complained about his colorful language, he’d just turn around and call me Marcia Brady. I’ve since revised my stance on this subject and I’ve used a colorful word now and then. (I’ll never use an f-bomb though. I still have my lines.) FYI: I haven’t yet been able to get rid of the Marcia Brady stereotype. Thanks, Jim.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for Jim’s top three in our blog post series. If you want to review our posts from the beginning to let us know which are your favorites, you can find the complete series here.