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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

I may not have come to New Media with an open heart, but I tried to keep an open mind. Our intrepid MEIER Media Team (Leah and Evelyn, Tara and Ben) were proving themselves in front of my eyes with brilliant Tweeting ideas for Frank – like: A Writing Tip a Day. Frank took to it like a duck to water, and the Twitter followers dove right in after him and followed @FDByTheWord. Within weeks he had a thousand followers, and many of them engaged in conversation more provocative and interesting than I would have believed 140 characters could have allowed. The point was further driven home with contests -– “Twallenges,” that built community and shared some v clever fun. I was beginning to see a glimmer of light. Frank’s Re:Joyce podcasts, on their own, are brilliant. I’ll write about them soon, because they deserve their own spotlight.

So okay! Bring on the Twitterers! My Twitter Name is - @dianemeiernyc. Not very creative, but unmistakably (I hope) me. I tossed around a number of themes, and last week, launched the first of a series of my very own Tweets! I've based them around a few platforms:

Marketing: Ideas for and about promotion – from “how-to’s” to “how-not’s”, to my comments on things we see waving in front of us everyday that, as a consumer make me pause, but as a marketer either make great sense, or completely bewilder or horrify me. And since I don’t think the creation of a persona is all that different than the creation of a brand, you don’t need a product to find it useful. In a bow to my early (v early) beginnings in The Trade, I'm calling this Twitterline, #MadGirl.

Style - or more specifically, Authentic Style: It’s something our office really identified in our first non-fiction book, The New American Wedding, and, I hope, reinforced with the novel, The Season of Second Chances – the idea that Fashion is definitely not Style and that finding ways to communicate your own unique position in this world is an exercise in self-discovery and creative expression, open to everyone – and very much worth the effort. I hope to help a bit by presenting an expanded deck of options, tools, contacts, examples – and a little cheerleading. This tag is called #AuthenticStyle.

Practical Magic: The third is a little more amorphous, but even closer to home. In our office, Evelyn Frison may be the kind of young woman I believe I probably was – always asking – Why do you do this that way? Where did this come from? How did you make this? And I’ve been tossing off answers – some of which go back, in my house, for generations – without much thought. But in doing so, it’s just occurred to me that in our house, we did a lot of things other people never thought to do! We didn’t shy away from using a 19C spittoon as a planter, or dressing a kid’s party with the Sunday funny papers. Once my father got a handle on the proportions of “wet to dry to meat”, he made up his own meatloaf recipes at will. Learn the thinking behind something, and then just go to it – was their creed. Our creative parents were far more interested in style than cost. And so, Evelyn has lobbied for: “Things no one ever tells you---” like how to paint your sofa, turn an extra bathtub into a closet, cook a fillet of beef perfectly every time, or recondition a pair of vintage leather boots (or jacket or handbag) with olive oil. It’s a unique blend of style, process and common sense - and some of it, not so common, all under the banner of #NoOneEverTellsYou.

I hope you “tune in” – or whatever one says about Twitter –. In other words, I hope you catch and enjoy the Tweets. And if you do, please comment, Re-Tweet, or come back here and leave a longer message! If I’m reading Ben, Tara, Leah and Evelyn right, the point is communication. And long or short, I’m very much for that!