Social Media Etiquette – Know the Rules!

Don’t

Forget

To Mind

Your Manners…  

‘Crash, Bang,’ went the screen door as Giselle came bursting in.  “Madame,” she shouted.  “I have some awesome news!”

“Un moment, Giselle, I am busy with an important guest right now, and I.…”

“Pardon moi, Madame,” replied Giselle, peeking into the office and seeing that the black desk chair was indeed occupied, but from the angle at which she stood, she could not discern by whom.

“You and I will speak later. In the meantime, you might what to read up on polite manners.  We are running a business here, mademoiselle.”

“Qui, Madame,” Giselle said, as she turned on her heel to ascend the stairs.

Behind her a stifled laugh came from the occupied chair, followed by a suppressed titter from Madame Le Tron.

                                                                     

‘Well, speaking of rude,’ Giselle thought to herself. ‘Oh, never mind, nothing is going to spoil this day!’ And, she bounded up the stairs.

“Shall we continue? It appears from the look of things that our partnership has been a success,” Madame went on.

“I do not think we could have been more successful,” replied Madame’s guest delightedly.

Above stairs, Giselle turned to the old library on her left and opened the door. Cobwebs hung on just about everything.  She made her way over to the larger bookcase on her right. It had been ever so long since she had been in this dusty old room.

“I think we put my books over here somewhere,” she whispered aloud. “Yes, there they are. Manners, I know she gave me a book on manners before she…”

Giselle had not thought about her parents in a very long time.  Not that she didn’t think of them often, it was just that she didn’t come here to think about them anymore.

As she paused to gaze about the room, her eyes began to fog a bit. All of their things were now her things. Madame had placed them for her in this room after the crash.  It was such a kind and loving gesture. Giselle brushed a tear from her eye.

This old library had been her sanctuary.  She came here to be close to them.  Giselle removed a dust cover from her mother’s red velvet settee and sat down.  Before she knew it, she fell fast asleep.

Below stairs, Madame Le Tron slowly strolled with her guest through the screen door and onto the porch.

“I leave the rest to you! I did tell you that her dress color is coral, qui?”

“Yes, Madame,” said the guest.

“Very well. Just let me know if there is anything else I can do.”

“I will. Thank you very much for all of your help, Madame Le Tron.” And with a nod of his head, Madame’s guest extended his right hand to her. Madame extended hers as well, and they shook hands ‘good-bye.’

‘What a nice young man,’ she thought, ‘and what nice manners. Oh, Mon Dieu! Manners – Giselle! I am sure she thought me rude.’ And with that, Madame hurried back inside to find her young charge.

All was quiet as she climbed the stairs. To her left, the old library’s door stood ajar. ‘Odd,’ she thought. ‘No one has used this room in years.  I suppose we would rather just station ourselves in front of our computer screens. Guilty as charged!’ She smiled to herself.

The old floorboards creaked as she stepped inside the familiar space. Suddenly it all came rushing back. The car accident in France….  It was a wonder that Giselle had survived.  What a nightmare for a four-year-old child. The loss of Pierre and Simone….

A ‘sigh” came from the direction of the settee in the corner of the room, and Madame could just make out Giselle’ s ever-present beret atop her golden hair.  Would she ever take that hat off?  So much like her father; so much like Pierre. Madame could not remember him without that hat. ‘I wonder if she will wear it to the prom?’

‘The prom…manners -- of course,’ thought Madame. She made her way over to the large bookcase to the left of the great bay window, knocking down cobwebs as she went.

“Ah, here it is -- Etiquette Pour Une Petite Fille, by Simone Montiner,” said Madame aloud.

“My ma’ mere wrote that book?” asked Giselle sleepily.

“Qui, Mon Cherie, for you, just after you were born,” answered Madame crossing the  room to sit down beside her on the red velvet settee.

“Regardez.”  Madame opened the front cover of the tiny book , Je t'aimerai toujours mon petite enfant …

“She loved you so, as did your father. It seems long ago now, Mon Cherie, but they are here with us now, as they will be with you always.”

Madame handed the small leather-bound book to Giselle. She put her arm round the young woman’s shoulder as they leaned back into the corner of the settee.

“When you were just une petite fille, you would often come into this old library at bedtime, with a favorite book, cuddle up on this settee, and fall asleep. I would then call on one of the re-cycletron’s to

fetch you and carry you back to your own room, sound asleep.”

Giselle sighed deeply.

“You are a fine young lady, Giselle. Your parents would be vey proud of you, as am I, Mon Cherie.”

Giselle held up her mother’s book and, pushing back a lock of her golden blonde hair, teasingly said, “Despite my manners?”

“It never hurts to review the rules. After all, your prom date, Nate, has exceptional manners, and when you rudely burst in on us today, I didn’t want him to change his mind about asking you,” winked Madame Le Tron.

“Wait!  That was Nate in your office this afternoon?”

“Qui, Giselle, with awesome News!  You are going to the prom!”

“But, I don’t understand. How did you know? I mean, why was he here?”

“Well, let’s just say a well-mannered gentlemen knows the rules and what color corsage might be just right.”

“Touché, Madame!” giggled Giselle, as she snuggled a bit closer.

‘Well played, Nate,’ thought Madame Le Tron.

Ah, yes, all will be well in the Wonderful World of Le Tron!

Au Revoir, See you next Friday at 3pm Central,

Madame Le Tron

Note: Etiquette, understanding the rules, and a little research go along way.  We, at Le Tron, learned this past week that each of the groups we belong to on Linked-in have a different set of rules for postings through discussions. 

We are grateful to one of our favorite role models, Sue Mongeon, for her gentle reminder –

On 04/15/13 7:10 PM, Sue Mongeon wrote:

--------------------

 For those of us in the Etsy Professional Shop Owners group, Stevie Sacks frequently (I think monthly) puts out discussion titles, things like, "Post all your Blog links here," and "Post all your Treasuries here," in order to give us a unified location for these and to keep from having a gazillion different discussions going, or even having to post your own promotions threads. Anytime you want to see what discussions are out there, or you want to find one of these threads to jump on, click the GROUPS link on the Linked In homepage or any page of LI, and select a group you belong to. When you are on their page, you will see the DISCUSSIONS link. Click on that and a list of Discussions that are active will show up.

You can find any of these posting opportunities that way.

Sorry if there has been confusion. I realize that not all groups have the same rules that this one does, so it can be confusing when one group lets you promote under DISCUSSIONS and another says it is taboo.

Sue M

As always, please share with us below discussion, etiquette and gentle reminders from which we all might benefit:

Dealing With The Social Media “Distraction” Factor – Who’s Minding the Store?

Inside Le Tron Studios...

The Ghosts MUST Go Up…

“Incroyable!” exclaimed Madame Le Tron. “Just what have I been thinking?”  She continued to review the items in her shop.

“No one, in their right mind, is going to go into a shop that has nine items for sale, with any notion of making a purchase.”

Down the long, dark hallway with the creaking, old floorboards, things seemed even more glum.

‘Beep, buzz, buzzer,’ thought the recyletron, Managing Mike ‘ C’est impossible! We have been working on the goal of increasing inventory for the past month and a half, and not one item has been added to our shop!’

‘When was it that we began in earnest to work toward our goal of 100 Items For Sale?  A month, perhaps a month and a half?’ pondered Madame Le Tron. ‘I have been spending way too much time managing social media and not enough time managing the store,’ she thought.

Back in the studio, down the hall --

“Bizz-bizz-bizz, buzz-buzz-buzz, beep! This requires some investigation,” determined Mike, wheeling round with his wrench-like arms waving in the air.

“This requires some investigation,” stated Madame rising from her computer screen, as she headed toward the office door.

Down the hall, the studio door flew open as Managing Mike trumpeted, “GISELLE….”

From the office doorway, “GISELLE…,” came loud and clear with overtones of Madame’s very French accent.

‘What now?’ thought Giselle, as she closed her biology book, a subject on which she would be tested the very next morning.

“Tout de suite,” called Madame.

“Right now,” echoed the robot.

‘”Really?” Giselle said under her breath, as she prepared to descend the stairs.

“I’m studying!” she called.

“It’s not working!” stated Madame.

“I am simply confused,” added Mike.

“What’s not working?” asked Giselle.

“What are you studying?” queried Madame.

“Confused…,” restated Mike.

“Our shop,” answered Madame.

“Biology,” answered Giselle

Smoke began to rise from the recyletron’s box-like frame as ‘VERY CONFUSED’ flashed across the computer screen embedded in his chest.

Giselle reached out her right hand and pushed Managing Mike’s reset button.  The robot began to shut down, as Giselle and Madame took their places in front of the computer screen.

“What’s not working, Madame?”

“Our shop, Giselle.  It is nearing the end of the first quarter, and I feel as though we are no closer to making more sales than when the year began.”

“Let’s check our road map and see where we are,” suggested Giselle. “We have our brand, Le Tron ~ “Toys With A Twist!” consistently appearing in all we do: shop, website, Facebook, Blog -- and gaining recognition, I might add.”

“Qui,” agreed Madame Le Tron.

“Speaking of our Blog, we have seen some solid movement there, with over 400 page views in a very short time. Now, we just have to figure out how to turn our page viewers into followers and investigate Google Ad Sense to see if we can generate a bit of income.”

“It’s always something,” murmured Madame Le Tron.

“Finding our ‘Niche Market’ is on-going and we are planning to explore Pinterest, as well as attend that Mystic Fair on Saturday, qui?”

 A soft ‘whirr’ could be heard as Managing Mike came back on-line.

“So that leaves inventory,” concluded Giselle.

“Which is non-existent,” added Madame.  “We have only eight items for sale in our shop, and I know I have processed orders for a line of ghosts and fairies. I don’t know, Giselle.  With only eight items in the shop, perhaps we should put the shop on ‘Vacation’ until we have more inventory.”

“Where did you get that idea, Madame?”

“It’s been a running thread on Linked-in this past week, and I thought perhaps….”

“No, Madame. I do not think that is in our best interest.  With all we have done with social media, we need to keep our shop open so that, when people search it, there is something there!  No, Madame, our problem is lack of inventory.”

“Exactly!” interjected Managing Mike amidst a flurry of buzzers, bells, and whistles, signifying that the robot was back on-line. “Thus, ladies, let me reiterate my confusion in the fact that, in the last month and a half, all of the staff has been a buzz with creation.   In fact, the reports indicate that several ghosts were completed, but not one item had been placed in the shop.”  ‘CONFUSION, WARNING, WARNING, CONFUSION!’ printed across the robot’s screen.

Madame held up her black-gloved hand. “Let us not go there again, Mike. Let us go instead to the studio and try to figure out just what is happening!”

Madame Le Tron, Giselle, and Mike proceeded down the long, dark hallway with the creaking, old floorboards and entered Le Tron Studios.

The staff of recyletrons seemed fast at work.

“Hey!” pointed out Giselle. “When it comes to problems with ghosts, Ghoulish Gordon is the man to ask!”

“You mean ‘robot’,” winked Madame Le Tron.

“Ghoulish Gordon, front and center!” commanded Managing Mike.

Gordon wheeled forward.

“Ghoulish, we are in search of the ghostly inventory that has been reported as complete, but has yet to be placed in our shop.”

Ghoulish Gordon raised a wrench-like arm in the air.

“I am afraid I do not understand your meaning.  Why are you pointing up?” asked Mike.

Gordon continued his stance.

“ I think he means ‘Up’,” offered Madame.

“Je comprend, Madame, but, ‘Up’?”  the confused robot replied.

“QUI!” shouted Giselle happily. “I get it! Look up! Ghosts go up!”

“Mais qui! Regardez!”  rejoined Madame Le Tron, pointing to the ceiling above.

Over their heads hung a series of magnificently up-cycled toys looking very much like ghostly, if not  heavenly, bodies afloat in mid-air.

“Je comprend! Tres magnifique!” Giselle whispered in amazement.  “These ghosts must go up! On-line that is!”

“Increasing what we offer for sale in our shop,” smiled Madame Le Tron. “After all, is it not a ‘BIOLOGICAL FACT’ that Ghosts go up, Giselle?”

“But of course, Madame, if you say so,” giggled Giselle. “ And I’ll let you know the minute I come across it in my studies, to which I now return!”

“Very well. Bon chance, Mon Cherie!”

“Merci, Madame!”

“Merci, Giselle!”

And, "Merci!"  to each and every one of you for your continuing support! See you next Friday at 3pm!

Au Revoir,

Madame

Note:  Many things can become a distraction, and many Blogs have been written about the same.  We at Le Tron were quite taken aback when we reviewed our shop’s listings in earnest this week, only to find we had eight items for sale. It really made our other efforts pale.

Once we talked it through, we realized that we have been doing a very good job of building our social media presence, but to what end if we really have nothing for sale?

The balancing act never ends.

How do you keep up with it all?  We’d love to add your tips to our Blog, and so please post below!

Understanding the Back and Forth of Backlinks...

"Off With Her Head" by Le Tron ~ "Toys With A Twist!"

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore…

“Giselle, enough is enough! ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE!” stated Madame Le Tron in no uncertain terms.

“Je comprend, Madame, but she can’t go back to the ‘other realm’ now,’’ retorted Giselle.

“And just why is that, Mon Cherie?”

“She has unfinished business, and everyone knows a ghost with unfinished business can’t go back,” Giselle replied tartly.

“That has nothing to do with going back, Giselle, and everything to do with ‘crossing over.’  Alice ‘crossed over’ rather nicely, I might say, when she drowned in the bath at the age of three.  That was over 103 years ago.”  The sound of running water could be heard above stairs as childlike laughter came tittering into the room.

“Nice touch, Alice,” continued Madame Le Tron, pulling her lab coat collar up around her neck. “Why can’t you be one of those ghosts that heat up a room whenever they enter, not chill it down?”

Madame’s black-wool shawl slowly made its way from the back of Madame’s desk chair and up over her shoulders, seemingly by itself. “ I hope this is ‘service with a smile,’” quipped Madame. “Merci, Alice.”

 “But Madame,” pleaded Giselle.

“No, no, no, Mon Cherie, enough is enough! Alice is going BACK,” Madame Le Tron repeated yet again.  With that, doors started to bang, lights started to flash, and Madame was spun round wildly in her desk chair!

“Stop!” commanded Giselle.

“Arretter!” cried Madame.

“Buzz-Buzz, Beep-Beep!” added Ghoulish Gordon as he entered the room.

“Gordon, you must send her back!” commanded Madame Le Tron, her desk chair coming to a sudden stop.

“Gordon, you can’t send her back!” cried Giselle, pushing her beret back upon her pretty blonde head.”

“Beep-Buzz, Beep, Buzz, Beep-Beep!” offered the robot in his own defense.

“Alice has unfinished business to attend to, and I promised I would help. I can’t help her if she leaves now,” frowned Giselle, barely able to hold back her tears.

Ghoulish Gordon turned to Madame, raising a wrench-like hand to his left eyebolt.

“No tears maintenant, Gordon or you will rust. And dear, sweet Giselle, what is troubling you so?”

Down the hallway came a timid tapping, and as the tapping grew louder and nearer, Giselle’s frown slowly turned upside down.

      “Tip-tap, tip, tip.  Tip-tip, tip, tap.”

“Oh, Madame, they came!  They‘re here!  Oh Alice, entrez s’il tu plait!” squealed an excited Giselle.

Two tiny tap shoes and a small pink striped tutu, fit for a three-year old, floated into the room.  First one shoe tapped, and then the other.

“Oh, tres adorable,” exclaimed Madame Le Tron.  “Might I assume that this is the unfinished business you have been referring to?”

“Qui, Madame, we have been waiting ever-so-long for Alice's tap shoes to arrive and now they are here,” beamed Giselle.

“Tip-Tap, “ echoed little Alice.

“Beep-Buzz,” added Ghoulish Gordon.

“So, now we can send our little ghost back to where she belongs.  Gordon, since you were the one to conjure little Alice up, please kindly ask Alice to leave now,” said Madame Le Tron.

“Un moment, Madame,” interrupted Giselle, as she made her way to Madame’s computer followed by the floating tap shoes and tutu. “I need to set up a backlink.  You know Madame, a connection for coming and going back.”

“Well, after reading Debbi ‘s article on the Handmade Artists’ Blog  (see link below),  I now have a solid understanding of backlinks, Giselle.  However, I am not certain I understand how backlinks come into play in our current situation with little Alice here.”

http://handmadeartists.com/blog/backlinks-diy-for-seo/?goback=%2Egde_2092040_member_227485337

“To tell the truth, Madame, I am not sure that I completely understand it either, but, as with any new technology, one must experiment with it and then simply trust that it will work. Ghoulish Gordon has assured me it is only a matter of time before technology catches up with the ‘other realm’ or vice-a-versa. And at this point, the ‘other realm’ is using ‘backlinking technology’ to move back and forth between here and there.”

Giselle typed furiously upon the computer keys while copying code that flashed across the monitor embedded in Ghoulish Gordon’s chest.

“Voila!” cheered Giselle, as she pressed “enter,” and the tiny tap shoes and tutu began to fade away.  “I’ll see you next week for your lesson, Alice!  Oh, and don’t forget your new shoes!”

“TIP–TAP J,” printed slowly across the computer screen.

“Tip – Tap little one,” whispered Giselle.

Au revoir!  See you next Friday at 3 pm for another adventure from the Wonderful World of Le Tron.

Madame

Note: Backlinks were a bit of a challenge for us.  One thing we did learn is that you have to have your blogspot blog settings, set-up to allow them.  You can do this by following the instructions below and then having a little trust!

 For Blogger the backlinks setting can be found under the Settings | Posts and Comments tab, and consists of a single, simple option to turn it on or off:

The default templates are already set up with the necessary code for backlinks. However, if you have a custom template, or one of our templates from before this feature was launched, you will need to add the code yourself. Instructions for that are here.

Once everything is set up, you'll see a new link marked "Links to this post" next to the comment link for each post. If you click that link you'll be taken to the post page, where the backlinks are all listed beneath the comments. Clicking the triangles next to each link will display a snippet of text from the page linking to you, as well as some author and date information.

We would love any advice or tips you might share! 

Please post them below!

Please review our archives to enjoy our past adventures including – SIMPLE HOW TO ORGANIZE THE UNEXPECTED WORKLOAD and learn just how Ghoulish Gordon did “conjure-up” Alice! J