This past Thursday there was another AIGA “meet and drink” event in Cambridge, MA. These events are great opportunities to network and see some fellow designer buds. I was anticipating this one to be no different than any of the other countless “AFTA’s” I have attended, but I must say, this time the word FREE was buzzing in the air.
Usually when I talk about free things, its mainly Open Source software or great places to learn technology for free. But in this case, free refers to “Freelance”. Out of all the people I talked to (about 12 in 2.5hrs), five have either quit their job or got laid off, and are starting to freelance and independent contract regularly. Of course, Freelancing is not free, you will get paid, but what a connection.
This trend is just one of the clear examples I can see, that proves that the web is still in an infant stage, and efficient technology drives design. Freelancing and independent contracting gigs are out there, lots of them. Business’ still need designers, just with no strings (salary, benefits, etc.) attached. What is a pension anyway?
I am excited to see that designers are getting themselves out there. By using social media and Open Source technology, plus some smart branding, you can make a business for yourself. Set up your website to give the user instant gratification; the faster the better.
In this economic climate, if you can deliver good, efficient design, companies will hire you. They just want to know that you can make it work.
While browsing my daily New York Times (online) for tech news, I came across this feature about the reality for social networks and celebrities. The article focuses on transparency and “Ghost Writers”, emphasizing the need for social connectivity, and finding the time to create fresh content. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/technology/internet/27twitter.html
When clients ask us to “hook them up” to social networks, we work closely with the clients business model to find a proper strategy. It is also important to communicate that all situations require different strategies, as marketing across social media is not a cookie cutter method from business to business.
But you say, “I don’t have time to make fresh content for all these networks!”.
We understand that you can’t spend your entire day tweeting and updating your Facebook status. You have a business to run. This is where online “Ghost Writers” come in. The trick to marketing your business on social media is frequent, fresh, and relevant content. If you can, pay someone that knows your business type and function to do the updating. If you can’t pay some (thanks to the economic state), than find an intern that is studying online marketing or promotion. This way you can oversee someone, and use the day’s precious time to keep your business running.
The NYT article focuses on Twitter, and its 140 charecter punches, but the same ideas can be played across networks, blogs, and even email.
Advice? Social media is just communication. Yes, it is newer, but it’s the way your clients and friends communicate. Take a deep breath, and remember that its all about that defined strategy.
@themediaishuntn is a Twitter feed from the makers of @themediaisdying. Themediaishuntin however, focuses on regular people with media training, and their 140 character resumes. We feel that efficiency and clarity are king, so having to post your resume in 140 characters or less, is genius, and something that all people who are job seeking should have.
The latest post (March 24th) from @themediaishuntin is a resume from a Magazine/Freelance Journalist: “Mag/freelance journalist +5 years experience. UF and Columbia JSchool Grad. InDesign, Photoshop, Blogging Skills too! aginlock@gmail.com”.
Journalists are designers? Lets dissect this.
Journalists must craft a story based on collected facts and elements.
This resume in particular points out that skills include photoshop/indesign. This does not make them a designer, but it sure does make them more well rounded, and thus more valuable to an employer.
“Blogging Skills too!” – I don’t care what purists say about journalism and the printed word. Blogging is where millions of people spend time during the day. They are invested in it, which means huge, focused audiences. So knowing how, when, and why to blog, and having it in your journalism resume, is important. It says this person is trained not only in crafting tight paragraphs, but in methods and strategy of information delivery.
Are we talking about journalists? These sound like skills a designer has. What does this mean?
All this means is design in the 21st century has moved beyond objects, paper and logos. Clients expect more. Design is about creating and maintaining a strategy for a whole event, product or service from conception to death (life cycles are healthy). While graphic design is a part of this strategy, so is message, concept development, delivery and more. As a designer, the more you can familiarize yourself with what is happening in your clients lives, the more you can bring table, hence making your skill-set super valuable.
The 140 charecter resume is like defining a great marketing message: If it takes more than one breath or sentence, its too long and you have lost most (if not all) attention. “Shoot me straight, because if you don’t, I’ll know, I have seen your facebook page.
While reading my twitter feed today, I found a few interesting comments from one of my favorite reads from jaybaer. His comments talked about how your brand can really benefit from utilizing social networks to build brand recognition. There is a strategy of course.
Branding and marketing is about creating an image for your business. Before online social media, marketing and branding could easly make a false image because of the lack of transparency to the cold hard facts about the said business. Now, clients and consumers are expecting to know everything about a company they are conducting business with, thanks to the abundant use of online social media. So, the more transparent your business can be, the more clients you can attract and acquire.
Tools like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter have helped, and hurt, many companies because of the instant transparency they can provide to a maximized amount of people. When companies decide to frivolously use social media to promote their business by making profiles, adding some content, then letting them go dormant, the return on investment is usually dead on arrival. Just like a website, to get profile hits, you need fresh, relevant content. Updating is crucial to effective social network marketing. It does take a dedicated person usually to keep on it, but when updated frequently and with relevant content, social media can be an extremely useful tool and generate lots of new business.
The Key? Keep/Make your business as transparent as possible, and reach as many people as possible, for little or no cost. You can get this with Online Social Media, and we can help find solutions that best fit you.
Jason Baer is a social media guru, who we follow on Twitter. Each time he tweets, we know it is something exciting and insightful. We find that our clients, especially in this economic climate, are looking for online, social, and viral solutions for traditional marketing and promotion techniques. Using a selection (not all) of social media tools, combined with a custom website (home base), you can make your business more efficenet, and put your marketng dollars to better use.
