I'm not the kind of guy who spends a lot of time futzing with social media. This, of course, renders me a dinosaur within my field and among the carmakers to which I must appeal. Despite the fact that a fair amount of it is more activity than accomplishment, companies like to see themselves mentioned as often as possible whether that really translates into sales or not. At this point, no one actually knows. But this narcissism on the part of auto manufacturers has created a sea change in my industry to which I have been slow to adapt.
I do have auto-media peers who
successfully navigate the sea of social media, but the investment of
time and treasure it requires is staggering. So, I muddle along doing
a few Instagram posts (Which allows me to also share those posts on
Twitter and Facebook.) each month on my iPhone 6, and call it a day.
My seven followers seem to appreciate my effort.
My lack of social-media skills,
however, does have some negative consequences for me. Whenever I do
wade into a social-media project, what would take someone familiar
with the various platforms an hour to do, takes me days. It's just
another reason I basically avoid social media.
I am in the process of launching a
second video project. I will continue expanding content on
just3thingsvideo.com, but I will now also be producing videos for
BEER2WHISKEY. These will be videos dedicated to introducing viewers
to various delicious adult beverages, craft breweries and
distilleries. To date, I've shot six B2W segments and edited three of
them. The two craft breweries I videoed in Islamorada, however, may
be history. Hurricane Irma is crashing through the Keys as I write
this. The fate of Islamorada Beer Co and the Florida Keys Brewing Co
is uncertain at this writing. Fingers crossed!
In terms of how I make these
videos available, the big difference between j3t and B2W is, j3t
videos are posted on a dedicated Website, but I am hosting the B2W
videos on a YouTube channel. At least I'll be hosting those videos on
YouTube if I can ever get the damn channel set up and operational.
I was supposed to be in South Florida
much of this week and all weekend. The Miami International Auto Show was
to kick off this weekend with Saturday designated as media day. The
show invited me to attend. I was to fly down early and stay late to
spend some time with friends. Tuesday I was in the midst of packing
for my Wednesday morning flight when I received an e-mail that the
show was postponed due to Irma, and all the media flights had been
canceled. Suddenly I found myself with a few unexpected, unbudgeted days at home.
With only a couple of assignments due,
I had some extra time to devote to creating my new YouTube channel. I
thought I'd have the channel up and running with at least the three
already edited videos posted by now. I crack myself up.
I have spent roughly eight or nine
hours attempting to set up the channel. “Frustrating” doesn't
begin to describe the experience so far. I am ready to body slam an
orphan. Every inch of ground gained has been met with stubborn
resistance at a level equal to the Japanese defending Iwo Jima. It
has been a slugfest of Biblical proportions.
Sure, there are videos posted on
YouTube supposedly engineered to help the feeble, ignorant newbie
create a channel, but half the time what they show in the tutorial
isn't what I see on my channel as I vainly attempt to follow along.
Just setting up the banner art was an exercise in patience, restraint
and uber research. If I possessed my father's temper, I'd be typing
this post on my trusty iPhone because my home laptop workstation
would be a pile of bits and pieces in the corner of my office. Should
my left arm feel this numb?
I will walk away from this challenge
for few days. The Steelers play their first game of the season this
afternoon, after all. I need to knock out an assignment for a client
on Monday. Then I'm gone for three days for a Lexus event in San
Francisco. The earliest I will get back to working on the YouTube
channel is next weekend. I have revised the B2W channel
up-and-running date from today to December 1. And that's not a shoe
in.
I need a beer.
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