Every year, Neil Gaiman encourages us all to “give someone a scary book” to celebrate Halloween. You can join Neil by sharing your favorite scary book and following #AllHallowsRead on all of the major social media platforms.

As someone who loves books – and loves creative projects that get people reading – I wanted to find a way the NISM team could join the fun. We put our heads together and came up with #AllHallowsReadNISM…a month of blog posts about the scary things we see on social media in our roles as marketing professionals. And, in keeping with the spirit of reading, the NISM board members, staff, and certified professionals contributing posts will also share – in addition to tips to help you avoid the scary mistakes that are out there – their favorite marketing books.

What keeps me up at night?

I suppose as an educator, you’ll guess that what scares me has something to do with training, learning, classrooms, etc.? Well, you’d be (mostly) right. More terrifying than werewolves and a bigger threat than small spaces (for real – I am NOT a fan) is when I see people who have access to great learning opportunities, but they don’t make the most of them.

I know we’ll see a lot of puns during this month, but I’m going to add a cliché as well: We all learn differently. Why is it that we tend to think there’s only way to get information? If you enjoy books, you should read. Like videos? There are plenty to choose from. If nothing makes your morning run go faster than a good podcast, listen to your heart’s content! But most importantly, if any of those things are less appealing to you than a zombie apocalypse, choose a different medium. Find a way to enjoy learning.

We live in exciting times! If you think there’s no way for you to enjoy getting better at social media, try a few of these techniques:

• Take a class – in person or online – and go the extra mile to participate by talking with others in the class.
• Read, write, watch videos, and listen to podcasts while you’re doing other activities. Want to know how I read so many books every year? I listen to Audible when I exercise. What do I do when I’m sick, tired, or just can’t get to my regular workload? I watch a YouTube video about something I’ve been meaning to learn more about.
• Volunteer and practice your skills. Nothing beats real world experience and there is no shortage of non-profits that could use your help. If accountability motivates you, this is a great way to get it.
• Participate in discussion boards! Don’t join and then ghost out. Engage!

 

Look at learning like Dracula looks at a blood bank. Learn to greater heights than the Bride of Frankenstein’s hair! Step out of your comfort zone and try something new – you might just enjoy the unknown!

What’s on my bookshelf?

My favorite book right now is How the World Changed Social Media – and the SMS professionals might be tired of hearing me talk about it. But I love research and social media provides us with such amazing opportunities to learn more about people – those we know and others who we’ve never met. Here’s a short description:

“How the World Changed Social Media is the first book in Why We Post, a book series that investigates the findings of anthropologists who each spent 15 months living in communities across the world. This book offers a comparative analysis summarising the results of the research and explores the impact of social media on politics and gender, education and commerce. What is the result of the increased emphasis on visual communication? Are we becoming more individual or more social? Why is public social media so conservative? Why does equality online fail to shift inequality offline? How did memes become the moral police of the internet?”

The anthropologists that contributed to the research each have such amazing stories to share. It inspires me as a marketer but also a teacher to share my own stories as well.

Would you like to participate?

Follow #AllHallowsReadNISM, share our blogs, and leave your comments! We’d love to hear from you. And as we talk about all of this scary marketing…don’t be afraid to sleep with the lights on.

 

Author: Dr. Amy Jauman

Dr. Amy Jauman, SMS, is the Chief Learning Officer at the National Institute for Social Media and author of the Comprehensive Field Guide for Social Media Strategists. Amy is also one of 58 members representing 12 countries in the inaugural class of the Prezi Educator Society. Previously she was the Social Media Director for Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota (WeMN) and she currently serves as the marketing director for the Minnesota Chapter of the National Speakers Association. She is also an adjunct professor in the St. Catherine University Business Department and the St. Mary’s University of Minnesota MBA program.