Social Media Presence: Choose your WURDZ Carefully
by: Papa (Guest Columnist)
If you’re anyone doing online business in this New
Year, you are more than likely using some form of ‘Social Media’ to promote
your business and up your SEO. After all, who among us doesn’t take advantage
of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,
and the plethora of other online outlets to reach out to prospective customers
and network fellow craftspersons.
This is all well and good, even to a self-professed
‘Luddite’ such as myself. I must confess that I use FB and Twitter on a daily
basis to promote my craft and reach out through the ether to potential
customers and exchange ideas and pleasantries with others.
But, just like the REAL world, you must choose the
words you use to describe your craft very
carefully. There are certain WURDZ being overused, and due to the insane
ideas of the Madison Avenue crowd, these wurdz are being plastered onto damned
near anything. Things that they have no
business being attached to!
Let’s take the wurd ‘Artisanal.’ It was once used to
describe one whose craft exceeded others in the relevant field, setting them
above the others, because the person’s work was more of an ‘art’ than mere
craft. ‘Artisanal’ became THE buzzword of the day a couple years ago, and, at
first, it remained true to its roots.
Then the ‘Trendies’ got ahold of it and began to
attach it to everything they could think of. Artisanal Clothing, Artisanal
salads, Artisanal Pet Grooming, Artisanal Lawn Services. Hell, I’m certain that
there’s even an Artisanal Hole-digger out there somewhere who wanders the
suburbs with his Artisanal shovel, seeking out those who feel the need to have
a hole dug by a true ‘Artisan’ in the front yard, just to show that they are
current on the trends of today.
Because of examples such as this, that once
wonderful word, ‘Artisanal’, has become banal. It has lost its ‘oomph’, and we
have only the ‘Trendies’ and unconscionable advertising execs to blame.
Another current (read ‘Trendy’) wurd being overused
is ‘Bespoke.’ I confess to having used it a time or two myself, but the way it
is being used currently in some circles has nothing whatsoever to do with its
original meaning and intent.
‘Bespoke’ was originally intended for use in
tailoring, to describe that a suit or piece of clothing was specifically made
to the exact requirements of the customer, or ‘Made to Measure.’ And while
bespoke can be used to describe anything ‘Made to Order’, it loses its meaning
when attached to things like haircuts, software, flooring, ice cream, and butt
implants (unless you’re a Kardashian).
I fully realize that the use of these wurdz conforms
to our current ‘I have to describe this in 140 characters or less’ mentality,
brought upon by the prevalence of Social Media in almost every aspect of our
personal and professional lives. We have to be unique. We have to stand out
from the others. We have to show that our offerings are better than the others.
Understandable. After all, isn’t that why we lay it out there in the ether and
tweet until our fingers are bleeding?
Okay, by now, some of you are thinking “Who is this
old-fashioned geezer who’s so out of touch with the world that he’s attacking
the words that TRULY describe the things I make? My work is unique! My work is
better than anything out there! How dare
he?!!!”
To answer that, let me offer this challenge. Go onto
Etsy, or any of the other online outlets, and type either of those wurdz I
mentioned into search and look at the myriad of results. After having done so,
reflect on where your shop or site appears.
I’m not saying that these examples don’t truly
reflect your craft. I’m simply saying that these wurdz are being used outside
of their original meaning and context, and are beginning to overshadow the true
Artisanal, Bespoke crafts that each of you have worked so hard on.
You put a bit of you into each piece you make. Your
heart and soul went into everything you created. So, do you really want that
Artisanal Hole-digger who offers Bespoke holes having his shop or site ranking
above yours in the SEO?
For myself, I’m going to start using the wurd ‘Kurginisimal.’ Let’s see how long it
takes for that to become overused by the ‘Trendies.’
QED,
Papa
(Note: ‘Papa’ is a traditional woodworker with more
than 35 years of experience)
