Sep 9, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68
What’s your social media identity? Are you popular on Instagram but not Twitter? Does your Facebook feed look a little hungry?
One way to keep your numbers up across the board is to maintain consistency.
WHO you are is as important as WHERE you are, and these are both as important HOW OFTEN you make your presence known.
I’ve seen people have a different user name for each platform they use. That’s not a good idea, unless you’re creating multiple personalities. You want your followers to be able to find you easily, like the neon Denny’s signs for late-night travelers.
Now, I’m not advocating cookie-cutter posts. You don’t want your feeds to be a Xerox copy of each other all the time. But you do want to share your same message through different venues.
You are the cake, and your media is the icing. The icing doesn’t change the cake, it makes it more appealing.
Frankly, My Dear . . . Icing on the cake!
Some sites may want a small piece, others require something bigger. A third requests a chunk of frosting the size of your fist. You’re the chef. This is your restaurant, your bakery, your tail gate party. You know what you’re good at, so don’t be afraid to serve it up with a smile.
And be sure to include the whole meal. Your followers will, well, follow you more if the breadcrumbs you leave are flavorful, lead to better foods, and invite others to the table. By that I mean, well, now I mean I’m hungry. But in the social media world, I mean give your peeps a buffet to choose from. There are nine gajillion ways to cook foods. Surely you know more than just one meal’s worth.
Your garden, your fridge, your pantry all work together to make a great meal. Your media sites should do the same. Add a little of this, a side of that. My, that’s a lovely four-course plate you’re serving up.
Bring your people back to the table with a variety that will garner their taste buds. And if you experiment with the recipe now and then, great. How else will you know what you can add to your plate?
Just make sure your meals are going out three times a day, every day. Don’t leave ’em hungry and eating elsewhere. Like picky eaters, your audience will let you know what works and what doesn’t.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some cupcakes I need to bake. And eat. Share. I mean, share.
TWEET THIS: #SocialMedia Saturday: What Are You Feeding Your Followers? @RealMojo68 #cake
With a cool apron in a hot kitchen,
Bake those posts!
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
Jul 31, 2012 |
Well, we did it. We finished our Wilton Cake Decorating Course. As has been the standard for the last four weeks, Dot’s cake, well, took the cake. She always has the other students and the instructor oohing and ahhing over her gifted artistry.
In the four-week course, we learned
How to properly bake a cake and how to level a cake
How to fill cupcakes and how to fill a layer cake
How to make out own icing in stiff, medium, and thin consistencies and when to use each one. We learned how to color icing
How to ice a cake and how to later smooth it
And we learned how to decorate. Did you see me smile when you read that? Try again:
We learned how to decorate!
We learned tips and icing bags and angled spatulas and piping gel and color and consistencies and flowers and leaves and pom poms and writing and roses and more.
And these are our Final Projects.
Dot had a plan, but when we got to class she scrapped it and went freestyle. Have I mentioned how gifted she is? I couldn’t toss out a plan and come up with something this gorgeous on the spur of the moment!
I thought up a Summer Garden. I’m disappointed that I didn’t color enough icing for the cake; it’s a bit thin in places. But I forgave myself: I’m a beginner. And it turned out well for a beginner.
Dot’s cake was German Chocolate with a coconut-pecan filling
Mine was a lemon cake with a raspberry preserve filling
And we’re not sorry we cut into them.
Not.
One.
Bite.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Jul 17, 2012 |
As some of you know, Dot and I are in the middle of the Wilton Cake Decorating Basics Class.
Last week we learned how to level a cake, and how to cut, fill, and frost it.
You’ll recall that for as much as I love being in the kitchen, I’d never baked a cake until a few months ago. It turned out all right for my first attempt.
This week, our homework was to bake and ice a cake before coming to class. My first two cake attempts failed miserably. I neglected to let the first cake cool before trying to remove it from the pan. I think needing the hot pads before turning it over onto the cooling rack should have been a clue. The second cake decided it wanted to stay in the pan as well… or at least, half of it did.
Finally, with Cake Round No. 3, I was greeted with near-perfect, 8-inch, round French Vanilla cakes. We iced them the day before and took them to class with us.
After a little instruction and demonstration from the instructor, we were basically told to do our own thing.
The icing colorant I brought was unusable. Apparently, when the directions say “use a clean toothpick each time” to pull the gel from the tiny jar, they mean it! Also apparently, the last time I used my reds and greens, I didn’t pay attention. Because my colorant was unusable. So I was relegated to using the coloring that Dot chose.
I’m proud of my efforts:
I intentionally left part of the outline transfer showing. I liked the red gel underneath. I also intentionally blended the blue and white icings to look like a Frost-ee or Icee.
I’ve no intentions of eating the cake; as we have enough in the house with just Dot’s cake. So I promised this one to my friend’s son whom I affectionately refer to as my Un-Son Number One. His sister is taking the class with us. When we took her home, we showed the family all our cakes, and USNO said he liked mine so I told him after I show it to my family, he can have it. Hey, at least I know it won’t go to waste!
Dot has never decorated a cake before (other than the cupcakes we practiced on last year). The instructor was ah-mazed! Dot has a gift for artistry. Instead of family photos in my house, I hang some of her artwork. So it was no surprise when, at the end of class, everyone ~ and yes, I do mean everyone ~ gaped and gasped and questioned whether she’d actually taken a decorating class before.
Her cake, as you see, was the Piece de Resistance.
Which is just one more reason I’m so proud of her. This Girl’s Got Talent!
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Aug 25, 2011
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
I finished reading the Book of Exodus today. I lost count of how many times I read the phrase, “it was done just as the LORD commanded Moses”, or a close semblance.
What really stood out to me was that the LORD ordered Moses to lead the people, to construct the Tabernacle, and to even decorate the Priest’s outfits with filigree surrounding the engraved stones. God commanded Moses and the people to add filigrees, not just hooks. Hooks and clasps would have fastened the ephod to the breastplate to the shoulders just fine. But God wanted more. He wanted not just functionality and purpose; but beauty.
I got to thinking about what it could mean… Our God doesn’t need us for anything. He can do all things Himself. He began all things. He doesn’t need us for anything.
But He wants us.
I was hit with a picture of God being a Master Chef. There He is in the kitchen, preparing a most wonderful feast. Now, the feast itself is nourishing, it sustains us the way food is supposed to. But He adds little touches. He bakes a cake, and then He decorates it. Does He need to? No. He doesn’t need to decorate the cake. He didn’t even have to make it! But there He is, taking His time, scrolling delicate designs all over it. Why? Does it make the cake taste better? Of course not. Does it add nutritional value? Not unless it’s purely organic frosting spiced with extra minerals. No. God decorates His cake because He wants to.
Now picture this: the cake is the world. And we are the filigree frosting. We are the icing on the Cake. God didn’t create us because He had to. He created us because He wanted to. Because He wants to enjoy us. Because we add that little extra touch to this world.
He doesn’t leave a void. Every filigree is placed by His hand. Every inch of icing is part of His plan. And He doesn’t let someone else come by and drag their finger through the icing just to smear it. If someone comes along to mess things up, God’s right there in the kitchen, ready to fix whatever “mistakes” may happen. Sometimes He makes it better than the original. But He never, ever just lets them go. Sometimes it feels like it. Sometimes it feels like we’re either on display for the whole world to stare at, or worse, invisible. But that’s not the case. God knows right where you belong. He curved you, He colored you, He designed you, He set you in place.
Because He thinks you’re deliciously beautiful. And He wants to share you with the World.
Chew on that.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
