Social Media
51 posts on Social Media.
For years my job was running social channels, for a satirical political party, a media platform, a how-to site and a string of small businesses. I lived through Facebook forcing every Page onto Timeline, watched organic reach fall month after month, tested native video against YouTube links, and talked clients into trying Periscope and Snapchat when nobody knew whether either would matter. The client work taught me the most: a boutique given a reason to post, a gym that stopped wasting money, and Instagram for a business that swore it was not visual. Here are the articles from that.
- What a Satirical Party's Ending Taught Me May 20, 2019
Partia e Fortë dissolved in 2019. On why a joke that worked so well eventually stopped and why that ending may be its most honest part.
- What a Local Gym Taught Me About Targeted Ads February 9, 2016
A neighborhood gym wasting money on a broad audience. How tighter targeting and a real offer turned Facebook ads into steady memberships.
- My Take on the Attack on the Prime Minister's Facebook Page October 20, 2015
A Kosovo news outlet asked how a verified Facebook Page like the Prime Minister's could get compromised. Quoted as a 'social media expert' on the mechanics.
- How an Article Out-Likes the Whole Page September 5, 2015
Emirates Air's free-flights giveaway on Facebook outperformed the page's own like count, a result that beat simply boosting a post.
- Snapchat for a Brand? I Talked a Client Into Testing It August 19, 2015
Posts that vanish in 24 hours sound insane for a business. So I talked a client into testing whether that is a bug or the whole point.
- I Talked a Client Into Trying Periscope May 30, 2015
Live streaming from a phone is suddenly a thing. I convinced a nervous client to go live. The unpolished realness is exactly what worked.
- PunPun: A Show Made for the Internet, Not for TV April 14, 2015
Producing PunPun at Ripost meant unlearning television. On short formats, cutting for the phone and losing the broadcast slot.
- 100,000 Facebook Likes: Qysh Me's First Big Milestone March 5, 2015
Four years after launching Qysh Me, our Facebook page crossed 100,000 likes. What that number really meant and the slow, unglamorous work that got us there.
- I Tested Facebook Video Against YouTube Links February 12, 2015
Facebook is pushing its own player hard. I ran the same video two ways to see how much it favors native uploads. It was not close.
- The Drone That Flew Across Zeri October 24, 2014
When a drone stopped a Serbia vs Albania match, we had one on Zeri's pages within minutes: what a fast team and a willing partner can do while a story is alive.
- Giving a Boutique a Reason to Post: Social Media That Worked September 30, 2014
An early social project for a small fashion boutique. How a consistent content rhythm grew a real audience and what I still recommend.
- How We Grew Qysh Me's Facebook Page August 19, 2014
Facebook was where our audience already lived. How Qysh Me turned useful how-to content into a growing, engaged page and why we shared value instead of links.
- What Happens When a Celebrity Features You on Instagram July 15, 2014
Cara Delevingne posted a friend to her 5.8 million Instagram followers. A quick look at what that spike actually looked like on the other end.
- What Partia e Fortë Taught Me About Social Media Strategy June 16, 2014
No one handed us a manual. In the middle of this strange experiment, here is what I think I am learning about how attention actually works.
- 71 Votes: What Running as a Satirical Candidate Taught Me June 11, 2014
When the June 2014 results came in, my name had 71 votes next to it. A small number with a lot to say about audience versus electorate.
- Instagram for a Business That Swears It Is Not Visual June 10, 2014
A client swore their business was boring with nothing to photograph. Here is the Instagram experiment we ran to prove there is always something.
- Sometimes You Have to Step In Front of the Camera June 2, 2014
Years running a party's social media from behind the feed, then a live national TV debate: what changes when the person doing the work is suddenly on screen.
- My 454-Person Facebook Survey Before the 2014 Election June 2, 2014
Before Kosovo's June 2014 vote I surveyed my own network on where the parties stood. What it found and what it honestly could not tell us.
- Manual për Burra: When the Satire Had a Sharp Point May 25, 2014
Not all of Partia e Fortë's work was light. How 'Manual për Burra' used an absurdist voice to poke hard at gender roles in Kosovo.
- The Poster Campaign: My Own Face on the Billboard May 20, 2014
For 2014, Partia e Fortë turned its candidates into the ad. I was number 28. My poster made a joke at my own expense.
- Candidate Number 10: Standing for Partia e Fortë in 2014 May 16, 2014
In May 2014 Partia e Fortë registered 64 candidates for parliament and I was number ten. On putting your real name behind the joke.
- When the World Noticed Partia e Fortë January 22, 2014
A satirical party from a small Balkan country ended up in the international press. On watching a local joke become a story told abroad.
- Facebook Reach Is Falling and I Am Testing What Is Left January 17, 2014
Organic reach on my Facebook Pages drops every month and Facebook clearly wants us to pay. What I am testing to hold on to my audience.
- Why a Joke Party Was Serious Civic Work December 10, 2013
Partia e Fortë was funny on purpose but never only a joke. On what it meant that young Kosovars found their political voice through satire.
- Instagram and Its First Ads November 27, 2013
A look at Instagram's first wave of ads, from Michael Kors to Lexus and Ben & Jerry's, broken down by follower counts, likes and comments.
- From Likes to Votes: The 2013 Local Elections November 5, 2013
An online following is not the same as a result. How Partia e Fortë turned an internet audience into an actual seat in the Pristina municipal assembly.
- Baklava, Millionaires and the Art of the Satirical Spot October 30, 2013
Partia e Fortë did not just post, it produced: campaign songs, absurd video spots, a plate of baklava as a political broadcast.
- 'Do të bëhem milioner': The Song That Became Our Anthem October 28, 2013
In October 2013 Partia e Fortë launched a campaign song, 'I Will Become a Millionaire.' I helped present it. It still holds up.
- Measuring What Mattered on Partia e Fortë's Channels October 15, 2013
Vanity metrics are a trap. A satirical party is easy to fool with them. How I decided what was worth measuring when the goal was impact.
- Candidate 28: My First Run for Partia e Fortë October 3, 2013
Before candidate ten in 2014, there was candidate 28 in 2013: my first campaign bio for Partia e Fortë, in the party's deadpan voice, for the race we won.
- Building the Digital Team Behind Partia e Fortë September 24, 2013
A satirical party with no budget cannot buy reach. It has to be built by volunteers who find the work fun. On organizing the people who made the campaign run.
- Let's Eat Together, Tweeting With Coca-Cola September 10, 2013
A Coca-Cola Romania campaign wove live tweets into TV ad breaks under the hashtag #LetsEatTogether, chasing the lunch-alone crowd with a soda on the table.
- The Youngest List in Prishtina Was the Argument September 4, 2013
For the 2013 Pristina assembly election, Partia e Fortë fielded the city's youngest candidate list, average age 25.9. That was the point.
- Design as a Weapon: The Look of Partia e Fortë August 13, 2013
The satire lived in the writing but traveled on the design. On Trembelat's identity and why a joke party had to look more serious than real ones.
- YouTube 301+ July 12, 2013
Explaining YouTube's then-new "301+" view-count badge, why counters stall near round numbers and a short detour into how CDNs work.
- Opposing Kosovo's Amnesty Bill July 3, 2013
Not every post from that period was satire. In July 2013 I wrote and signed a real petition against a proposed amnesty law in Kosovo, asking others to sign too.
- Timing the Jokes: Reacting to Kosovo's Politics in Real Time July 2, 2013
The difference between a satirical page that grows and one that dies is timing. How I ran Partia e Fortë's channels as a real-time operation.
- Better Both, Vine and Instagram Video June 21, 2013
Gary Vaynerchuk's take on running Vine and Instagram Video side by side instead of forcing a winner between them, since each does something the other doesn't.
- Let's Work on YouTube June 20, 2013
A profile of a Kosovo child YouTuber pulling in millions of views and a rough back-of-envelope look at what those numbers might actually be worth.
- Digg Overtakes Facebook, a Social Shift May 17, 2013
A look back at 2007 stats showing Digg briefly out-drawing Facebook in unique visits and what that says about how fast online power can change hands.
- We Always Promise: Turning a Slogan Into a Movement May 7, 2013
Every campaign wants a slogan that sticks. Ours worked because it was also an accusation. A look at how 'We always promise' carried Partia e Fortë.
- The Voice: Writing Satire People Actually Shared March 19, 2013
The hardest part of running social for Partia e Fortë was keeping a voice so consistent people knew a line was ours before they saw the name.
- Why We Built Partia e Fortë on Facebook First February 11, 2013
Before we had an office, a recognizable logo, or a single vote, we had a Facebook page. Why the platform choice was the strategy.
- Burrat me Musteqe: A Moustache March for the Centenary November 26, 2012
A 2012 poster calling Prishtina to a moustache walk two days before Albania's independence centenary and why the print run mattered.
- How We Started Partia e Fortë November 20, 2012
In November 2012 a group of us in Pristina started a party that promised everything and meant none of it. This is how it began.
- Felix Baumgartner Breaks Social Media October 15, 2012
Watching the Red Bull Stratos space jump go viral in real time across YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, from a work desk in Pristina.
- The Google Doodle Albania Never Got, So I Made One September 11, 2012
Google redraws its logo for occasions that matter. Ahead of Albania's independence centenary, I petitioned for one and built the mockup: 14,000+ signatures.
- Pinterest Is Quietly Sending Me Traffic I Did Not Expect June 19, 2012
I signed up for Pinterest as an afterthought. A few weeks later it is in my top referrers. Here is what I am testing to figure out why and whether it lasts.
- Facebook Timeline for Pages: I Redid Ours All Weekend March 4, 2012
Facebook is forcing every Page onto Timeline. I spent the weekend testing what the big cover photo and pinned posts can do for a brand.
- I Got a Google Plus Invite and I Cannot Stop Playing With It July 14, 2011
Google finally made a social network that is not a Facebook clone. Circles are clever. I am testing whether any of it helps a brand.
- A Month Chasing My Klout Score Made Me a Worse Marketer May 9, 2011
Klout claims to measure your influence with one number. Getting obsessed with pushing mine up taught me more about vanity than influence.