Social Drinking

I'm about to make a big, fat assumption about all of you.

You like to drink. You like to drink with friends. You like to drink with friends during the week.

To me, this is absolutely normal behavior. It is normal behavior I participate in. I participated in it yesterday.

I don't do this too regularly, but enough.

Recently, however, I've come across a couple articles that remind me that it isn't common, normal behavior among a lot of people.

I am in the camp that disagrees with complete Prohibition. I don't think it makes any sense in our culture, and it would be a problem in the practice of my faith. However, I see where specific people should limit their own consumption.

I'm not trying to give a long drawn out lecture on this topic. I just thought it was interesting to run into these few articles within the last couple days.

Your thoughts?

Consultation Station

Since today is Social Media Day*, I thought I'd tell you about last week, when I had the opportunity to partake in one of my first consulting gigs.

The nice and creative Jennifer Avedian at Gala Ink, who fashioned my wedding invitations, was looking to develop a bigger and better social media presence--and she called me! Since previously we'd spent the majority of our time together selecting the the right combination of cream and navy papers that would say "elegant, but not stuffy," I was surprised and honored that she asked to learn from my experience.

Overall, I think our consultation went very well. I'm not going to give away any of the oh-so-secret slew of tips, but I am going to share one thing: Don't neglect your pages.

If there is one Cardinal Rule not to break when developing a social media presence online, it is to not create channels that you will forget about, ignore or update once in a blue moon. We've all come across a cool-looking page for a business, only to find out the last time it was updated was November 2008. Anyone seriously sch-lacking like this has no hope to create a genuine brand that people can connect to.

However, I am not saying that you should constantly update your constituencies about lunch, your child's soccer practice, or what deodorant you bought on sale. Besides drifting into over-share territory, people are not interested in this. They're interested in the quality content you provide, which is a mix of original and shared information. That's what makes you a worthwhile association and brand.

I think that Jennifer is on her way to developing the Gala Ink site and social media into exactly that. Looking forward to seeing the progress!

What do you think, social media mavens? Is there a rule that tops this Cardinal Rule? Share your thoughts in the comments.


Full Disclosure: I did receive compensation for consulting services to Gala Ink.

*Today really is Social Media Day. Check it out!