Approaching the three-month mark of incorporation and feeling kind of…sentimental about it. I have a habit of getting excited about things and then quickly moving onto the next thing (ask my accordion, which I haven’t taken out of the closet in a year). But I’ve honestly enjoyed every moment that I’ve put into PsychoBabbleLLC and it hasn’t shown any signs of dissipating. I know that it’s time to start to invest in the company.
I’ve been asking for, and thankfully receiving, critical feedback from students, colleagues, and strangers. I learned to deal with criticism in grad school. A lot of it. I learned that critiques are about making the work better, and not a reflection of my personal value or worth. By far, the harshest critiques are about the state of the website. It needs some polish. It’s probably time to hire a professional, and I’d welcome any suggestions about freelance people that you know who could do a good job.
Got some interesting feedback yesterday that is still on my mind: “It reads like it was written by a child.” My dude, this site is geared for transitional-age youth who may be as young as 14. It should be simple, straightforward, readable, and above all else, accessible.
“Accessible language is communication that includes everyone (For example, people with visual impairments, lower reading levels, distractions or different language needs). Writing content that is accessible helps remove barriers, so users, regardless of ability or circumstance, can get the information they need”
That sounds pretty good to me.
As a geriatric Millennial, social media has really been a cultural blind spot for me. I decided to learn by doing, and this has been a really fun way to discover which platforms to target and the level of information to provide. Here’s the current state of things:
Instagram (@PsychoBabbleLLC): 56 followers, mostly Zoomers. Targets the younger generation. Very visual medium, and memes do well here. Inexpensive to boost posts strategically to attract users. It’s fun to experiment with hashtags. Ideal post frequency is 1-2x daily.
Facebook (@PsychoBabbleLLC): 39 followers, mostly friends and professional colleagues. This is, by far, the platform that I understand best (member since 2004!). Targets a more mature demographic. As this one may reach more established professionals and people in the field, I’m gearing it towards content creation. Collects very detailed data on user demographics. Ideal post frequency is 2-3x a week.
LinkedIn: I haven’t done anything with this yet.
Reddit (r/PsychoBabbleLLC): 152 members that I know nothing about. With no demographic information to predict engagement, I’ve been using this to “test” material before posting to the website. This is also where I’m putting submissions that are hilarious or interesting, but that “miss the mark” for the website either because they don’t fit cleanly with the core brand narrative or because they’re too edgy or dark for youth. I have not determined the ideal posting frequency, and the most popular post came unpredictably through a shot-in-the-dark crossposting.
TikTok: Still not sure what this is, what it does, why it works, or whether I want to get into it. I do know that it targets younger generations, so logistically-speaking, it should be in my future. Maybe I could hire a student to do this?
Data is beautiful.
