#NLEDNoviceNelly: Social Media fo-paws—wait, is that spelled right?

#NLEDNoviceNelly: Social Media fo-paws—wait, is that spelled right?

1024 535 Next Level Event Design

Novice Nelly: She’s our witty, fun, yet fictitious, team member that takes us on her journey of #epicfails and reminds us we are all in this together. Enjoy!

HAPPY MARCH YA’LL—I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaack, although am still working off a #NastyHangover from St. Patrick’s Day ‘cause I do love me some #GreenBeer and #Whiskey. Don’t hate; I was celebrating Irish history. It is officially spring and the nice weather isn’t far behind. Break out your razors, ladies: shaving season is almost here.

Speaking of history, rumor has it that there was once a time before computers #ICanNotEven. I don’t know how people survived then—can you image having to like wear a corset and not even being able to blog about it? Luckily, I’ll never know such a primitive life because I could not live without my phone—it’s pretty much a direct extension of my hand. #TrueLifeConfessions: “Hello world, my name is Nelly, and I’m #AddictedToMyiPhone.”

People always say we have more technology in our hands than #NASA had for the first moon landing aka #ImaRocketScientist #NewAge #WorldAtMyFingertips. Soooooo crazy to think about, right?! As always, though, with great power comes great responsibility. Here are some of the major “Don’ts” I wish I hadn’t done on #SocialMedia during my time here at Next Level.

You guys know all about me, my ups and downs, but sometimes it’s just better for me to keep my mouth #OrLips to myself. One time, on New Year’s Day, I posted a pic of me and my kiss at midnight with a #CompleteRando I met at the bar #DrunkGoggles #ThoughtHeWasANine #TurnedOutHeWasASix. The caption aptly described the situation: Mistakes Happen but I Got My Kiss @ Midnight #DrinkDrankDrunk. What was less appropriate was the fact that I accidently posted the pic to the NLED account, not my personal account. I didn’t learn this until I heard from an enraged client who didn’t like her son being referred to as a mistake #CarefulWhoYouKissFor. Luckily, I was able to play it off as an inside joke, but I learned my lesson when posting—always double check to make sure you post to the proper account, and more importantly, don’t post inappropriate, sloppy pictures on the internet because #OnceIt’sOutThere #ItWon’tJustGoAway #ThanksMom.

Another #EpicFail or #Nellyism as my coworkers like to say, occurred when I tweeted a cute #Selfie from our office because it was #BusySeason and I was #StayingLate and #WorkingHard. Little did I know that my pic had an invoice in the background displaying our credit card digits #SorryAmericanExpress. Even though I deleted the pic, we had to order new cards and, #LetMeTellYou, changing our account information on all of our autopays was a #HASSLE.

I’m not ashamed to say it: Social Media is one of my best friends. I love connecting with people and having access to news around the world, but #Let’sBeHonest, I love having the ability to #Creep on my #Crushes 24 hours a day. We no longer get our news from television broadcasts or the newspaper the following day. Because of SM, we can live-tweet, Facebook live video, or post photos in real time. My mantra in life, and especially in crunch time on-site: do your job first, post later #Oscars2017 #TaleOfTwoEnvelopes #EnvelopeGate2017.

#WrapItUpNelly – Social Media is #trending, and it’s not going away, especially for #eventprofs. As my #FearlessMentors here at NLED say, the #EventWorld is continually navigating the #SocialMedia landscape to find ways of leveraging this platform in the work we do, while also using it to stay on top of trends and the digital conversation. #SocialMediaMishaps are going to happen, not just for us #newbies, and we need to be more cautious of when and what we are posting. I don’t know who is writing handbook #SocMedRulesOfTheRoad, but I know that I have now totally been #Busted by the proverbial #NeigborhoodWatch. It only takes a few #SlapsOfTheHand to learn that there are #InsideVoices and #OutsideVoices in Social Media; and the difference between the two are becoming seriously #BlurredLines! #CountTo3BeforePressingSend #LessonsLearned #BeBetterThanNelly.

 

 

Photo by American Mark Kens / CC BY