What are the sites and applications I visit most? With so many options these days I find myself often on Instagram and YouTube. I have five accounts on Instagram that I maintain. The first account is my personal and wine focused account where I share a lot of wine stuff but also more personal images of current events, things that grab my fancy, and cultural interest. I then have an account for writing, one for photography, another for family travel, and a business account that I started for marketing The Legends of The Swag apparel line. Each of these accounts connect to other applications like Facebook, Twitter, etc and I try to replicate the same setup for other applications in my social network, as well.

I have a positive view of Instagram because you can visually connect ideas you have with people with similar interest. Youtube I tend to use less frequently for my own account but watch a lot of YouTube’s for both entertainment and “how to” instruction. I love the fact that people have an expertise they are willing to share with others on YouTube. I always have a positive reaction to sites that have the ability to inform me.

I use to have a negative reaction to apps like Tik Tok and Snap Chat, because I was introduced to it by my kids and found they were wasting  a lot of time watching people fulfill their own interest. The negative aspect of watching others do things instead of getting out and doing themselves was a turnoff for me but I guess that could be said for any digital media, if used poorly. So I challenged my kids and myself to be creators not just passive watchers and have developed some unique marketing concepts in the process for myself. There is something satisfying when the digital media marketing leads us to our own creations or ideas. That’s why you’ll see I have a very active Instagram account  to help my followers and myself be creators.  

I don’t know about you but I sign up for a lot of company emails, only to find their emails are ineffective most of the time. Most of the time I am drawn in by a post they’ve created or product they have marketed but their follow up emails rarely provide the same investment in creation as their post. It is always a soft pitch and a hard sale. I’ve noted this for my own marketing and will concentrate more on an informative email to allow my customers to be even further invested in the identity my brand represents.

Unfortunately, I’ve noticed digital media marketing is mainly used to reinforce customer beliefs and interest. Based on your search queries and brands you follow you are most likely to be inundated with much of the same. I think there is a whole segment of people like myself, who could be served by being presented with marketing outside their identity they’ve formed and challenged to think outside the box.