In Social Media Platforms--as in Other Things We Love--Variety is the Spice of Life!

I’ve been having a great time building content for a new Facebook page I started about a month ago—one actually under my name: Ingra Winkler Anderson! I’ve actually been managing a Facebook account for my a cappella quartet Firelight for quite some time—avoiding a personal account because of unwanted attention in my past I refer to as My Five Stalkings. I’m not a Luddite—I love the internet, researching all kinds of interests, seeing the latest trends and music videos, exploring apps, playing with gadgets, cataloging past work, e-marketing, etc. I was just in a job where I could plan, write content and design promos, then delegate the uploading and tracking pieces to others. However, my position as a marketing, public relations and resource development director was eliminated following a subsidiary merger last year, so I’ve more actively embraced a more personal hands-on approach to social media ever since. I'm choosing to find it freeing to have no choice!

If you Google Ingra Winkler Anderson or iWiNK Randoms, you’ll find many pages of content I’ve built—some over the past 8-10 years, but most in just the past couple. This, along with searching for a public relations media spokesperson role for an education, entertainment or chamber type entity have occupied most of my waking hours this past year. I currently manage the following accounts:

- Twitter.com/iWiNKRandoms
- Twitter.com/AcappellaOmaha
- Ingra Winkler Anderson on LinkedIn
- Ingra Winkler Anderson on Google Sites
- iWiNK Productions on YouTube
- iWiNK Randoms on Vine
- iWiNK Randoms on Magisto
- iWiNK Randoms on Tumblr
- Creative Solutions by iWiNK on Pinterest
- ReelPeopleOnline.com/IngraAnderson
- Facebook.com/Ingra.Winkler.Anderson
- Facebook.com/ Firelight.Quartet

My mission has been able to find out what makes the top social media sites unique and to find ways to maximize their use, gaining in-depth experience as well as creating online content I can use as examples of my work! What I’ve found is variety is truly the spice of life in this area. With each new platform I explore, I find new ways to communicate, connect and engage, and continue to learn how best to use each one to build best practices. For example, those who have DIY-er, scrapbooking, crafting or collecting tendencies, Pinterest is a great outlet for such. I use it for both personal and business cataloging, and continue to find it also a great way to more acurately pinpoint what I like and in what subjects I'm most interested. I wrote a blog solely on these side perks of the Pinterest platform earlier this year (see January 31st post: Want to Know Yourself Better? Try Pinterest!). 

I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned in case of help to someone else--and love learning new things as well--so please feel free to ask questions or offer any new/improved social media best practices in the space below, and maybe we can help each other grow!

Today's Quote:

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?” 

― John C. Maxwell

Micro-Movies a Great Way to Spice Up Your Social Media Posts

My husband Bret and I attended a lovely wedding celebration this past weekend for our step nephew Justin Shaw and his bride Natalie Suhr. They chose The Fountains West for their event, and I had fun capturing Vines throughout the evening. I ended up with 32 all together! If you're not familiar with it, the Vine app (available free for both Apple and Android devices) records six-second looping videos by touching the screen to begin recording and releasing it to end recording. It's great fun and the looping feature helps spark creative micro-movie-making ideas.

When I first started playing with Vine, I was trying to think of fun ways to maximize the looping feature. Here are a couple of my first Vines: Another Knock Knock Joke and Happy Birthday (shown). While admittedly obnoxious, they show how the looping feature can play creatively into your video.

I've also had a lot of fun doing mini how-to videos on Vine, such as Need a Quick Hat?, Dress Too Small? (shown) and Puppy Gone Loopy? (find these and more at Creative Solutions by iWiNK on Pinterest).

More recently, I've been exploring the Magisto Magical Video Editor app (also available free for both Apple and Android devices). Since I have a broadcasting degree and have made several promotional videos over the years (some of which are on my YouTube channel at iWiNK Productions) I wasn't sure how I'd like an automatic video-editing format. However, my inner control freak is learning to work with it, and take the randomness which sometimes creeps into the finished product with a sense of humor! 

Magisto will do things like show only parts of the picture and if that part doesn't happen to be the part you wanted featured, you're out of luck, but most of the time, it's pretty fun. An example of some of the interesting choices can be found in one of my first videos: Flat Stantley's Adventures at BRIN Cottage.

The video's clipped in places and there are parts where Flat Stanley is almost cut out of the shot, but it almost gives the feeling he's hiding, so it kind of works!

Here's an example using some of those wedding Vines I mentioned and a few photos: Justin & Natalie 9.27.2014. You can see where parts are edited a bit different from what a person might choose, but I'm not sure any actual people are involved in this process!

All in all, both Vine and Magisto are great tools for spicing up your digital publishing, and if you haven't tried them or any similar tools, why not choose one and try it today? They're really pretty easy to learn (if you need help, there's a How-to on YouTube for just about everything), plus everyone who views it will appreciate the effort! Good luck and happy posting!

Today's Quote:

“Social media is your platform to build a unique fan base while you express yourself exactly how you see yourself. Build wisely.” 

― Germany Kent