Sometimes, You Just Need A Reminder

The other week, my wife asked “why don’t you have more friends than you do on Facebook?” Granted, this question came from someone with 4,600+ friends, 1,000+ followers, and 1,200+ in her friend request queue (the latter isn’t far behind my total friend count), so any meaningful reply warranted some forethought. After some internal monologue deliberating pros and cons, I opened my mouth to reply but realized there wasn’t anything to say and retreated to the safety of a shoulder shrug.

FacebookSimply put, it wasn’t something I’ve thought about in some time but that’s no excuse for letting it slide.

And that’s really the point, sometimes we just need a reminder to help keep all of the plates spinning. Not only is it good standard operating procedure for personal and professional activities but when it comes to social media, you don’t want to let that field go unattended too long.

For example, Adaptistration’s twitter accounts (blog and jobs board) are maintained and frequently used; as a result, followers and engagement have steadily increased.

On Facebook, I’ve spent more time focusing on ArtsHacker and Venture; as a result, my personal profile (which in reality is my “Adaptistration” profile but enhanced with kitten pics) has been a comparative plateau.

But what about your organization or professional social media profiles? Would you benefit from a reminder?

Granted, you should only maintain profiles you intend to use but if you have one, be sure to use it and focus on reinforcing your follower base. Speaking of which…

Connect With Drew On Facebook

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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