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The Bait and Switch

By Amanda Smyth Connorbait and switch

I love writing about the subject of client relations because they are just so darn intricate. Balancing client relations takes a certain finesse…a cross between ballet and tap dancing with some jazz fingers thrown in for good measure.

This week, let’s discuss the “Bait and Switch.” Let’s say you meet with a new client. They seem fantastic! They are excited to hire you and to get the ball rolling on the project and everything is coming up roses! And then things turn a corner. This next part may happen suddenly or it may happen gradually but long story short,  you realize that your handsome Dr. Jekyll has become a hulking, demonic Mr. Hyde.

Ah, the old “bait and switch.” You did your due diligence on this client. You met with them, you interviewed them as thoroughly as they interviewed you, maybe they even came to you on recommendation. But all of a sudden you find yourself faced with a client who has unrealistic expectations, last minute requests that are just ridiculous or worse, they ask you to engage in bad practices (keyword stuffing, use of misspelled words in your content, fudging factual info about products…the list of possible bad scenarios goes on and on.) Continue reading The Bait and Switch

The Perfect Questionnaire

541349_spreadsheet_1By Amanda Smyth Connor

Before ever putting pen to paper, you will have met with your client several times to discuss the scope of the project before you. Presumably, you will have had a preliminary interview, followed by several formal (or informal) meetings to nail down all of the details so that there are no surprises along the way. How you go about these meetings is entirely up to you, but if I may, I’d like to pass along some advice.

Do yourself a favor and come up with whatever you consider to be “The Perfect Questionnaire.” Come up with a list of top questions that must be answered in order to quickly and efficiently complete any project. I would recommend including the following:

  • What tone/style specifically are you looking for and please provide an example of writing that exemplifies this tone/style. (Feel free to add some options regarding tone/style that a client might choose from to help guide them.)
  • Who is your key demographic (specifically – age, gender, etc)
  • What specific key points need to be called out in this project?
  • Would you like a call to action included in this project and if so, please clarify what this/these call(s) to action might be.
  • What is the end goal of this project? (Include examples, such as “to drive readers to your site”, “to increase traffic”, “to educate/inform”, “to entertain”, etc.)
  • Who are your direct/top competitors?
  • Is there anything specific that I may not be aware of that should NOT be mentioned?
  • What are your top keywords? Do you have an SEO strategy that I need to follow?
  • When does the final version of this project need to be delivered?

The client may be in charge during the interviewing and preliminary stages of any project, but once you begin discussing the details of the project, it is up to you to drive the meeting and to make sure you ask the right questions and gather as much info as you can. Do your homework and create a great questionnaire for yourself and your future clients – it will save you loads of time and will make your job that much easier.

Amanda Smyth Connor is a community manager for a major publishing company, owns her own wedding planning business, and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

The Importance of Referrals

By Amanda Smyth Connor616726_handshake

I’m meeting a fellow editor for lunch later today. She’s buying. It’s a nice gesture of thanks that she’s extending to me for sending a few jobs her way, and while this is a simple gesture on both our parts, its effect is far reaching for both of us.

I’ll admit that I am the first person to overbook and overextend myself. I struggle every day to learn how to say “no” to new jobs and projects, because once that steady stream (or tidal wave) of business hits, you never know when your next dry season might pop up. However, when business hits critical mass and I know I’m in over my head, I’m happy to make referrals to other editors who I know and trust.

Not only will I happily send business to other editors/writers, but I know that they will do the same for me, thus building a small safety net for ourselves for down the road. During my next dry season, when I’ve got plenty of time on my hands and not enough projects, with any luck, one of these referrals will find its way back and I’ll be back in business and happy as a clam.

This is not the time to hoard clients or to be selfish about business. Casting that net of referrals will certainly help you down the line. And making friends in the business, even if these friends are your freelance competition, will pay off when that bit of unexpected business lands on your doorstep courtesy of a friendly resource.

It seems like obvious advice: Make friends. Be nice. Share.  But in any business industry, you find friendly supporters and cutthroat individuals. I would much rather be counted among those who are attracting business with honey than with vinegar.

Amanda Smyth Connor is a community manager for a major publishing company, owns her own wedding planning business, and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

LinkedIn – On Notice

Amanda Smyth Connor1343803_rusty_chain_2

I’ll admit it. I don’t really “get” LinkedIn.

I’ve worked in social media  for about six years. During that time, I have grown to love and understand the intricacies of Facebook and Twitter. But when it comes to LinkedIn, we just never formed a connection. Our synergies never synergized.  We just didn’t click.

Dear LinkedIn. It’s not you…it’s me. Well, maybe it’s you.

Don’t get me wrong. I check LinkedIn frequently. I keep my profile up-to-date and active. I respond to requests for recommendations and connections very quickly. I have my Twitter feed hooked up and running and I obviously use LinkedIn to track what colleagues and clients are up to professionally. However, it feels like so many people are using LinkedIn for the wrong reasons.

I get spammy messages from people looking to rent out office space. I get jerky self-promotional mass emails from connections looking for new projects, and worst of all, I get requests for recommendations from people I have never worked with or have not worked with directly, which just feels really slimy. “Please recommend me even though you have no frame of reference for my work and have no idea what my work ethic is really like.”

So the question remains – is LinkedIn really just a glorified resume platform that occasionally yields a job connection, or is it a highly valuable professional social media tool that I have unfortunately not experienced in the best capacity? From a social media and professional standpoint, I just don’t understand how best to use LinkedIn – which begs the question – how user friendly is LinkedIn if someone like me is asking this question?

Until someone explains how LinkedIn should best be utilized beyond what I’ve stated above, as Colbert says: “LinkedIn – you’re on notice!”

Amanda Smyth Connor is a community manager for a major publishing company, owns her own wedding planning business, and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

#EpicFail

facepalm
Because expressing how dumb that was in words just doesn't work.

By Amanda Smyth Connor

The past few weeks in social media have been exciting for a number of reasons. SXSWi took over Twitter in full force while social media nerds the world over descended upon Austin for a week of tech updates and business networking. And in other parts of the country, both the American Red Cross and Chrysler posted tweets that were, in all honesty, epic failures.

The ARC social media specialist, Gloria Huang, posted the following tweet on the ARC Twitter account:

“Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head Midas Touch beer…when we drink we do it right. #gettngslizzerd”

The tweet stayed on the ARC twitter page for an hour before anyone from the company noticed – enough time for everyone else to notice. The ARC recovered, pulled the tweet and tweeted the following:

“We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.”

From this, Dogfish Head Brewery then started a campaign asking people to donate to the Red Cross using the hashtag #gettngslizzerd. Huang was not fired, but did lose her Twitter privileges and at the end of the day, the ARC got a nice new wave of donations from the snafu.

In another part of the country, another rogue tweet was sent out from a Chrysler social media specialist.

“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #MotorCity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive.”

Within 24-hours, the employee had been very publicly fired and Chrysler had issued a statement saying the employee’s actions had harmed the company’s brand positioning and management.

My question for you, FZers, is: Based on how each company handled these mess-ups, how would you have handled this situation? Have you ever made a mistake like this? How did you handle it?

Amanda Smyth Connor is a community manager for a major publishing company, owns her own wedding planning business, and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies. She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

A Job Opp You May Not Have Considered

By Amanda Smyth Connor1151807_to_do

Being a freelance writer means staying on the ball regarding finding new job opportunities and clients. It also means staying flexible in your job search. One job opportunity you may not have considered is within the community management and social media realm.

Many major corporations are outsourcing their community management needs and many of these job skills encompass what you are already good at: writing, planning and coming up with creative ideas.

What does this role call for specifically? Community managers are in charge of developing and maintaining the style and tone of content that is posted within a community. They develop editorial calendars and make recommendations for specific content. They gather feedback from the community and make decisions about how best to engage the community. They suggest various means of revenue. They control most of the social media channels and messaging, and they develop content – from marketing messaging to blog posts. Community managers straddle the marketing departments, member services departments and editorial departments. They may even have a say in product development. For being a relatively new field, community managers are in greater need now that major companies are realizing the need for such a diverse position.

While networking and job hunting, keep this position hot on your radar!