15 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- How to Take Advantage of The Latest Facebook Updates
- What is Places on Facebook: A Definitive Guide
- Brian Vickery’s Social Media Heroes
- Penalty On the NFL – Poor Social Media Use of #ProBowl and Twitter
- Get Visitors To Your Old Posts
- Too Many Social Media Marketers Still Believe Size Matters
- 3 Tools to Help You With Social Media Outreach
- Twitter To Censor Tweets
- The Psychology Behind Status Updates
- New TIMELINE Feature: 6 Tips for Updating Your Facebook Page
- 5 Tricks To Make Your Blog Popular In 2012
- The #Social46, Social Media, and the Indianapolis Super Bowl
- Social Media Writing And You – Literally “You”
- Facebook Timeline: Will It Hurt The Popularity Of Facebook?
- Pinterest Drives Enormous Blog and Business Success
| How to Take Advantage of The Latest Facebook Updates Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:40 PM PST Facebook is changing and evolving all the time. Outdated features are being removed and new and more exciting features are added regularly. These updates are added to make Facebook better and more convenient for its users. If you want to succeed with using Facebook, you need to evolve along with it and learn how to manage it better. If you can use it better you will be able to take advantage of these changes and promote yourself better with it. Three of the most important Facebook changes and how to make the most of them have been listed below. Update 1: SubscriptionsBefore, the only way users could get the latest updates from you or your company was through your Facebook page. People needed to like your page to get your latest updates. But now with the subscribe feature, people can just subscribe to your facebook profile. It's like your profile has been made into a page. With this feature, your subscribers can check out all the public updates you post. People actually like subscribing to public updates because a profile has a face and a personality, which is different from a page which sounds too official and salesy. When they subscribe to a profile it feels like they're making contact with a proper human and not a brand. You need to take advantage of this and use your profile accordingly to form closer relationships with your subscribers. So How do you use your Profile Effectively?1. Promote your ProfilePromote your profile and encourage people to subscribe to your updates. Try and get as many subscribers as you can and increase your reach.
A good place to promote your profiles is on your website or blog. Facebook has introduced the subscribe button which can be placed on websites and blogs. This button displays the number of subscribes you have got too – all people have to do is click on the button to subscribe.
Another way to promote your profile is by displaying the owner of the Facebook page at the bottom of the facebook page. This will make it easy for people to locate the profile and subscribe to it. This can instantly increase the number of subscribers you have got, especially if your page has got a lot of "likes" already and is well managed.
The page owner can be displayed on the page by clicking on edit page which is located on the top right hand corner of your page.
Then visiting the "Featured" section and clicking on "Edit featured page owners."
Here you can choose the page owners you would like to display on your Facebook page – choose the owners and save your changes. You could also actively take part on Facebook to get more subscriptions – this can be done by "liking" or commenting on popular pages or on the updates of people you have subscribed to. 2. Share Different Kinds of Content:When people "Like" a page they usually do it because they like something about it or because they want to receive updates from that page. Normally on your page, you share relevant content from your own blog and from other blogs. It's the same with profiles you have to share useful content too, as people expect to see these updates – this is one of the main reasons why they subscribe to your profile, and when someone comments on these updates make sure you respond to them with comments and "Likes". Another important point you need to keep in mind, is to share anything interesting you come across. This could be funny pictures, interesting articles, etc. Your profile is different from your page and as it's on Facebook, people will want some insight into your personal life. So make it a point to share some personal pictures, views, articles and images you come across.
Always make sure you use the public option when you want your subscribers to see what you share, as they can only see it when you share it with the public.
A great example of someone who uses their profile effectively is Mari Smith. If you visit her profile you will see that she not only shares her content and other's content relating to facebook and social media marketing, which she is an expert in, but also all other kinds of interesting articles and pictures. She also subscribes to other users and pages and actively "Likes" and comments on their updates. This is one of the reasons why she has more than 124,000 subscribers who actively "Like" and comment on her updates. Update 2: Posting Facebook UpdatesBefore the posts that appeared in your news feed were the popular updates. These were the ones which received the most number of shares, "likes" and comments. The more the number of "likes," shares and comments the updates received; the higher the updates were positioned, in your feed. This meant that the popular updates received the most attention. So if your post received many accolades it stayed at the top and received more and more attention. But with the recent facebook updates only the latest updates stay on top. It doesn't matter how many likes, shares or comments your updates get, they will still be moved down, as more new updates are posted. So how can you take advantage of this new feature? The best way to take advantage of this feature is to post more often. Normally people post updates only one or two times a day, but with this new feature you can actually post more often, maybe three to five times a day. You shouldn't worry about people unsubscribing, as people will unlike your page only if your content isn't helpful. If you share good, helpful content, more often, everyday, more and more people will subscribe to your profile or your page. The best thing to do would be to share content from your blog once, content from another blog another time and ask your followers one or more questions which don't lead to any link. People like being asked about their life and when you share an update which doesn't lead to a link people will love commenting on it or liking it, it's just like tweeting something without a link. When you tweet something like a quote or question which has no links, on Twitter, you will notice that many people will either retweet it or reply to it.
An e.g. of a Facebook page that does this right is the Social Media Examiner Facebook page. If you observe their Facebook page you will find that they not only share content from their blog every day, but also content from other blogs. They also post one or two questions each day. Questions like asking fans; how their day was, how effective is their social media campaign, etc. These questions receive responses through many comments and likes. All these updates by Social Media Examiner are interspaced by comments from their fans who appreciate all the great content they produce and asking more questions about Social Media which Social Media Examiner happily clear, making this a really good and interactive Facebook page. So if you want to take advantage of the new feature, make it a point to post several updates each day. Update 3: Tagging People
Now on Facebook you can tag your friends. When you type in@ and follow it with the name of the user they are automatically tagged. When you do this the person you have tagged is informed and they can check out why their name has been mentioned. This might seem like something that's not important and redundant, but it's actually more important than you think. In the first webinar of Mari Smith's latest webinar series, she mentions that relationship marketing is all about making people feel special. When you tag someone and write their name in full, people will feel special about it and will treat you better or want to work with you. They will know that you took the extra effort to tag their name. Even Leo Widrich of Buffer mentions this in his post "7 Twitter Habits to Adopt in 2012 to Double Your Followers". In this post, he writes that on twitter when you tweet someone else's post make sure you mention them and add a comment along with it – this will not only help you make a special connection with the user you mentioned, but will also help you get many twitter followers. This could apply to facebook too – when you mention someone's name on facebook along with a good comment, you will not only make a special connection, but also increase your page's likes or the number of subscribers you have got. So at every opportunity you get make sure you mention your friend's or your subscriber's facebook name. If you follow the above tips you will evolve along with Facebook and use it better to get more subscribers and build stronger relationships, which will prove helpful in the long run. Also make an effort to find out more and more about the latest facebook updates and use them to your advantage. How About You?What do you think about the latest Facebook updates? Are there any other ways you can use these features effectively? What are your favourite updates? Please leave your comments in the comments box below. Author: Mitt Ray is an inbound marketer and white paper writer. He blogs about Social Media on Social Marketing Writing. He blogs about white papers on The White Paper Blog and is the author of the book White Paper Marketing. |
| What is Places on Facebook: A Definitive Guide Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:30 PM PST Facebook Places is a powerful and highly interactive feature on Facebook for mobile users. This feature can be used exclusively as a very effective mobile marketing tool for small businesses or anyone who has a physical business location that they would like to drive customers to. How to use Places on Facebook for usersUsing the Places on Facebook feature of the Facebook mobile app is easy. A user simply needs to open the Facebook app or Facebook mobile website when at a specific Physical location (e.g. A store or retail location) that exists on Facebook and "check in". Here are the steps to do so: 1. Open the Facebook mobile app and go to "Nearby"
2. Go to the "CheckIn" Button
3. Select a place from those available GPS must be On
4. Add Who you are with or Message or Photo in the Check in Screen
5. Choose who to Share it With and hit Post
Now you have shared your location and post with the world or whomever you desired. The post will show up in their status stream and potentially drive business to that store or physical location that you "Checked In" at. How to use Places on Facebook for BusinessFacebook places is ideal for retail businesses who want to generate foot traffic in their stores. People who see status updates from their friends saying they are at your location can drive business and act as a form of social proof that your business is worth their time. This is also good because friends generally trust friends more than advertising and we generally surround ourselves with people of similar tastes. How do you get people to Check In at your location for Places on Facebook?The simplest way to get people to check in at your location is to Create an incentive. Place a message at the counter asking them to check in and offering a free treat or discount to do so. Have them show you the CheckIn on their phone and you will take 15% off the purchase price for doing so. Th immediate incentive will be automatic and you will get a much higher ROI this way. For more tips on how to create and implement a places on Facebook campaign, signup for the blog below. |
| Brian Vickery’s Social Media Heroes Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:20 PM PST
Cheri Allbritton recently did a Social Media Heroes post, and she challenged her readers to come up with their own list. I see that as a worthy exercise for all of my readers, so I will kickstart the process by listing some of my own social media heroes. If you enjoy this piece, perhaps I can entice some of these heroes to do interviews to provide us better insight on why they are exceptional…and do not even realize it in some cases.
I hope you enjoyed this list of social media heroes. Let me know your social media heroes in the comments! |
| Penalty On the NFL – Poor Social Media Use of #ProBowl and Twitter Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:15 PM PST
In case you missed it, NFL players were encouraged to tweet during the Pro Bowl using #ProBowl on computer stations that were set up opposing sidelines. I applaud the NFL’s experimentation with social media, but in my opinion, there are many lessons to be learned from what I consider a failed experiment. Here are some things the NFL should have considered before using Twitter during a game: Be Natural and Have a Great ProductFirstly, the Pro Bowl isn’t a real game. And yesterday’s game was akin to a badly choreographed WWF match without fake blood and broken chairs. It was painful to watch. Why tweet during a fake game when so many great real games took place this year. The NFL has an amazing, authentic product – engage your fans via Twitter about your real games. Secondly, most NFL players don’t tweet from computers, they use their smartphones to share specific moments and thoughts in a just-in-time fashion. Setting up “tweeting” stations is the ultimate in forced fun. If you’re looking for authenticity, take a look and Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker James Harrison’s Facebook and Twitter streams. Using videos, pictures and tweets, James took us behind the scenes of the Pro Bowl and gave us a true sense of being on his Pro Bowl trip with him. If that’s what Roger Goodell intended with his sideline tweeting mandate – he may consider taking some tips from James. Interestingly, and maybe sensing a lack of authenticity in sideline tweeting, James Harrison chose not to tweet during the ProBowl.
Add an NFL Twitter Zone to the NFL Red ZoneInstead of encouraging sideline tweets, the NFL might consider aggregating and curating the already valuable content NFL players are tweeting into an NFL Twitter Ticker (see Business 2 Community for a nice example of this) or even an NFL Twitter Zone. These are real and authentic tweets from NFL “employees” that fans would pay attention to. What’s your take on tweeting at the Pro Bowl? Do you think the NFL is behind the times with its social media policy? pic: James Harrison |
| Get Visitors To Your Old Posts Posted: 30 Jan 2012 12:30 PM PST
Should you build backlinks to old posts? Yes, this would be the ideal thing to do but if you don't have the time then there are other things that will work just as well. My advice would be to use BuildMyRank to do this because all you have to do is write a few short articles and then add a link to an older post. Anyway, lets get started with how you can get visitors to your old blog posts. Repost Your Most Popular PostsDo you have certain posts that continue to get more and more traffic each month? This is common with a lot of blogs because every once in a while you will write something called a "Pillar post" and these always work to get more backlinks which in turn get more traffic. Am I saying that you need to write more pillar posts? Well, you can but this is something that most people are not capable of doing because these posts require a lot of time and expertise in a lot of fields. The great thing about reposting your most popular posts is that you can use this time to update that post and add anything new that may not be in it. A lot of bloggers don't realize that they can do this but if you have a post that people like, then you know they won't mind getting more out of it sometime in the future. Just make it known that you are reposting an article and there is more content inside because sometimes readers will click off your site the second they see a post they have already read. Note: If you repost an article make sure you don't change the URL of it or else you will lose all the links to that older article and the traffic might not be there anymore. Use Related Post PluginsThere are a lot of related posts plugins that you can use with WordPress so why not use them. This is something that many people do but often times they are not using the plugin the right way. If you are going to be using related post plugins, then you need to make sure that it stands out. I know you may not know much about html or coding and if that is the case, then find somebody that does. Trust me, using a related post plugin that stands out will really make it worth your while. Share Your Old PostsDo you have a Facebook or Twitter account? If you don't, then it is about time that you get them both. If you do have a Facebook and Twitter account, then I would recommend sharing some of your older posts every once in a while. If you are follow PLRInternetMarketing.com on Twitter, then you know I already do this and that is why I get a lot of traffic to some of my older posts. Just know that the more posts you have the more links you will be able to share. Do you have an email list? If you have a decent sized email list, then maybe they want to see what you have to offer them. A lot of times the people that read your posts are the people that are on your email list so send them an email filled with some of your most visited blog posts of the past few months. I know this might seem weird but it really does work. Top Ten PostsHave you ever created or seen a top ten post? These are simply posts that compile a list of the top ten best posts of the month, year or whatever you decide. Sometimes these posts will be the top ten posts of a certain category. What you need to understand is that all that matters in this post is that you will get people to click through to some of your older posts. Being that this is not the type of post that you can create all the time, you should create a plan in order to do it. There are a lot of things that you can do to get more visitors to your old post but the key is to stick to it. A lot of bloggers will say that they are going to do more to get traffic to their older posts but then they don't do it. If you are going to try and get more traffic to your posts, then create a plan and see it through. One other thing that I want to leave you with that isn't a secret or anything is to just interlink to your older posts in your new articles. This is something that a lot of A-list bloggers do really well and if you can take a page out of their book, then I would recommend this to be it. |
| Too Many Social Media Marketers Still Believe Size Matters Posted: 30 Jan 2012 12:25 PM PST A recent study revealed that social media marketers are still hung up on size; still worried about quantity over quality when it comes to social media marketing measurement. As anyone who knows me or has been around me for more than thirty seconds knows I am a somewhat of a pop culture savant. I love to combine my knowledge of inane, otherwise useless information with my knowledge of social media and marketing and advertising. Exhibit A can be found in an article I wrote last year for Marketing Profs titled: "Baby, We Were Born to Market: Springsteen on Social Media Marketing," in which I used lyrics from Springsteen songs and applied them to social media marketing.
Yes, that Foghorn Leghorn for after reading the results of a survey conducted by Awareness called the "State Of Social Media Marketing" the first thing that came to mind upon seeing one finding in particular was Mr. Leghorn's classic lament… “No, no, no! You’re doin’ it all wrong!” This is the finding in question:
It was quite disheartening to say the least to see over 75% of the respondents still worried about size. This is not the porn industry here, kids and this is not about buying a house… SIZE DOESN'T MATTER! Sure, it would look great and would surely pump up your social media marketing ego to be able to tout that your client has 50,000 followers on Twitter and their Facebook page has 120,000 Likes. But instead of rolling out useless numbers as you wait your cup of coffee to finish brewing in the company break room, why not roll out how many leads and sales you're efforts have led to. And absolutely why not puff your chest out and tell the world how much traffic to the client's website your efforts have resulted in. At least 67% of the responders identified that as being an important metric to measure and brag about, presumably. But likes and followers? As my 7-year old son would say, 'really?' We're not talking about the early days of social media where it was ALL about the size; it was ALL about who had the most followers, fans, likes and on and on and on. Nowadays with the practice of buying followers and likes so prevalent how can anyone put any stock in numbers? To me my goal would be to drive as many people to a website as possible who in turn become viable leads and hopefully, sales. Of course there is one caveat to all of this. One minor little detail every social media marketing and company, brand and business should know. And that is if your product, your service, your ware sucks… social media won't do a damn thing to help your bottom line. I call it "Social Media's Dirty Little Secret" and I wrote all about it and I invite you to learn more about it by reading the article by clicking here. Ok, so let me know what you think… What are, as a social media marketer, focused on when it comes to metrics? How are you helping your clients or even your own company via social media? And hey, if you're one of those unfortunate souls who has to social media market an inferior product, service or ware, I want to hear from you, too. You don't have to leave your name, I will understand. Sources: Awareness Networks, Vitrue, Google Images Steve Olenski is a freelance writer/blogger currently looking for full-time work. He has over 20 years experience in advertising and marketing. He lives in Philly and can be reached via email, Twitter ,LinkedIn or his website. |
| 3 Tools to Help You With Social Media Outreach Posted: 30 Jan 2012 12:20 PM PST In my previous Business 2 Community blog post, I wrote about seeing success in 2012 through the utilization of a content marketing strategy and social media. In this follow-up post, I am going to share with you some tools you can use to help with social media outreach. For the purpose of this post, social media outreach is defined as manual outreach to your audience via social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.). Why is it important to interact with your audience?How many times have you reached out to a business or brand via Twitter, Facebook or Google+ only to find that your questions or comments are going unnoticed and unanswered? When this is the case, I can guarantee that you will think twice about using that company again in the future. From a simple "thank you" to a detailed response to an inquiry, showing your audience that you value their opinion(s) will go a long way and will positively influence customer retention rates. If you have ever read any of my Business 2 Community posts and have took the time to share them via Twitter, there is a good chance that you got a "thank you" Tweet back from me personally. I do this because I understand the value of engaging with your audience and more simply put, I appreciate the fact that you find my writing share-worthy. What are some tools to help you with social media outreach?TweetDeck – if you have read any of my previous posts or follow me elsewhere on the web, you are probably aware that I stand strongly behind TweetDeck. When it comes to social media outreach, I don't know if there is a tool better than TweetDeck. From social listening across multiple social networks to actual outreach and interaction, TweetDeck is an "all inclusive" application in my opinion. What's cool about TweetDeck is that it lets you monitor multiple Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare and Myspace accounts (I have a feeling Google+ will be coming soon). This eliminates time spent manually visiting each of these websites and seeking out your desired information. In addition to syncing TweetDeck with your social network accounts, you can setup custom searches. This is primarily what I use to see who is sharing my blog posts via Twitter. As you can see with the screenshot below, I can setup a custom search column with the title of my blog post or the URL being shared:
What I will get in return is something like this (each column represents a different post):
From here, it is easy to see who is sharing my posts via Twitter which makes it easy to reach out to these individuals thanking them or to further engage with them. SocialBro – I am a new SocialBro user and will not claim to know all the ins and outs of their application but will share with you what I have found useful thus far. Back in the beginning of January, I wrote an informal review of their Google Chrome application — you can see that here. When it comes to social media outreach, SocialBro has a couple of really useful features: Real Time Analytics: The first is their real time analytics. The below screenshot will show me my Twitter followers and those that I follow who have Tweeted within the last 5 minutes followed by their followers who have also Tweeted within the last 5 minutes:
Something like this would come in handy right after publishing a blog post or other piece of content and am looking for influential Twitter users to share my work. By knowing who is currently active on Twitter, there is a better chance that my content is shared directly after being published. Monitor a Hashtag: The next SocialBro tool that can help with social media outreach is their monitor a hashtag search tool. Simply enter a search query and SocialBro will find you members who have Tweeted that query. This will come in handy when you are looking to reach out to Twitter users who are Tweeting about specific topics. Example: let's say you are preparing to launch an infographic that shows the importance of social media outreach. You can use SocialBro's hashtag search to find users that have recently Tweeted about social media and outreach and then interact with them personally with your content. Below is a screenshot of the hashtag search "social media":
In the above screenshot, I am provided with Twitter users that have recently Tweeted about social media, which of those users follow me and which of those that I follow. These are just two of SocialBro's features that can help you with your social media outreach. If you are a SocialBro user, what are some of your favorite features? Follwerwonk – the last tool I am going to share with you is Follwerwonk. Followerwonk allows you to search Twitter bios, compare Twitter users, analyze your followers and track your followers. In my opinion, their Twitter bio search is their most useful tool to assist you with social media outreach. If I want to find Twitter users who show interest in social media outreach, I can do a Twitter bio search for the term "social media" or "social media outreach" and I will be presented with the following:
These are all Twitters users that I can reach out to for engagement and for content sharing purposes. Remember, you don't want to jump right into "hey, I see you are interested in social media, share my content!" Start a genuine conversation and get the user's attention. Explain to them how you feel your content will interest them and then share. ConclusionSocial media outreach is an important element to any digital marketing campaign. The more involved you are in building relationships via the various social networks, the more likely these users are to share your content and promote your brand. I encourage you to experiment with the tools and applications I discussed above and to also share some tools that you use to help with your own social media outreach! |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2012 12:15 PM PST
How do you feel about this? CNN quoted Twitter spokesperson, Jodi Olson, as saying, "We hold freedom of expression in high esteem and work hard not to remove tweets. And just to be clear, this is not a change in philosophy and there are still countries to which we will not go." The CNN article went on to say, "As examples of countries where tweets may have to be restricted, Twitter mentioned Germany and France, which ban pro-Nazi content. Twitter will operate in those countries while censoring pro-Nazi tweets, for example." If you're wondering whatever happened to free speech, Jillian York, the director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and privacy online, explains, "Twitter has two options in the event of a request: fail to comply, and risk being blocked by the government in question, or comply (read: censor). And if they have ‘boots on the ground,’ so to speak, in the country in question? No choice. [The company] is simply doing its best in a tough situation." We want to know: How do you feel about Twitter's decision to censor tweets? Do they have any other choice? |
| The Psychology Behind Status Updates Posted: 30 Jan 2012 10:15 AM PST
By Jennifer A. Powell-Lunder, Psy.D., GalTime.com A few days ago a guy I was friendly with in college changed his status from 'single' to 'in a relationship.' The flurry of speculative phone calls that followed reached epic proportions. "I didn't even know he was divorced," cried one friend. "Who would marry him?," asked his ex-girlfriend from college. There were a couple of real ironic things about this surge of interest; first, it reconnected me with college friends I had not spoken to in a while. As you can imagine, the conjecture-laden conversation turned from hypothesis about him, to catch-up about us. Secondly, while this gentleman was a good friend in college, time and distance weakened the bond between us. In reality, none of my friends really spoke with him except through Facebook and even then contact was indirect (i.e. an occasional 'Like' regarding a posting he'd made). "So," I wondered, "why all the interest?" I mean it was very unlikely that any of us even knew his new love! I think the answer lies in part in human nature. We are biologically programmed to be a curious bunch. Perhaps boredom contributes to our interest as well. We are all looking for a way to connect, to interact interpersonally. Status updates can break the hum-drum routine of daily living. They offer us an excuse, an opportunity to reconnect and refocus. They may even provide us with an opportunity to live vicariously through other's life experiences and events. For some reason, the lives of others can often sound more exciting and thrilling than our own. Status updates can however generate gossip, rumors and out right raucous lies. This can happen quickly. Posted comments can contribute to creating rumors as well. I remember not too long ago a friend of mine posted a sarcastic comment in response to one of my postings. I thought it was hilarious because it related to an inside joke we have. What was surprising to me however, were the host of direct messages, and even a few phone calls assuming the posting was true. One friend suggested I was the victim of bullying! While I understood where she was coming from, the thought had never crossed my mind as I knew the comment was not meant to be mean spirited. One seemingly innocent comment however, was enough to generate various reactions and assumptions. I think it was in that moment that I truly began to understand the power and potential of social networking. Another thing to keep in mind is that research indicates that neutral comments are often interpreted as hostile. What does that say about human nature? Some final thoughts:
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| New TIMELINE Feature: 6 Tips for Updating Your Facebook Page Posted: 30 Jan 2012 09:15 AM PST Facebook has announced that users have until Feb 2 to make mandatory changes to their personal profile before the existing format is converted over to a new "Timeline" format. While most of the changes are purely cosmetic, a main change in functionality is occurring. Previously Facebook pages showed the entries and postings made from the last week. Facebook has stored all the entries you ever made since you created your account. Now your past postings, entries, pictures and comments will be fully viewable to any of your current subscribers or viewers. You can edit your profile in advance of this change to ensure you are showing your best possible online image.
Listed below are 6 tips to prepare for the new changes with the addition of Timeline: Tip #1 – Update in AdvanceUpdate your personal Facebook profile page in advance of the mandatory conversion next week to remove embarrassing pictures & posts or simply manage/clean up the look & feel of your profile. Your new timeline will replace your profile, but all your stories and photos will still be there. If you want to see how your timeline appears to other people, click the gear menu at the top of your timeline, and select "View As." You can choose to see how your timeline appears to a specific friend or the public.
Tip #2 – Insert a New "Cover" PhotoSelect a photo for the new "Cover" for your Facebook profile. The cover is the new larger rectangular shaped graphic positioned as a footer at the top of the page. Your existing profile picture will appear in the lower left hand corner partially covering part of the larger graphic. Just like profile pictures, your cover photos are public. Tip #3 – Edit Old Posts, FirstStart with the oldest Facebook posts first, since it will take a long time for all the posts to load, and during this process it is hard to edit them since the page keeps scrolling and moving. My own profile took 20 minutes to fully load postings dating back to 2009. Tip #4 – Change DatesYou can change the date of when pictures are posted to match the actual event (great for photos that were added later such as vacation pictures. Tip #5 – Set Aside TimeLeave plenty of time to work on this. It took an hour and a half to make all the changes to clean up my profile. You have the ability to hide or delete the previous posts. Tip #6 – Business PagesUpdating a personal profile does not update any Business pages that are linked to it. Facebook has hinted at plans to update business pages with the Timeline feature, but has yet to announce a date. To get timeline, simply go to the Introducing Timeline page and click "Get Timeline." Or you can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your profile. Check out this Timeline Guide from Mashable.
Do any of these tips apply to you? Can you offer any additional tips? |
| 5 Tricks To Make Your Blog Popular In 2012 Posted: 30 Jan 2012 08:05 AM PST
So, how do you make your blog popular. There are several things that you can do to make your blog popular but one thing is to just keep blogging. A lot of people fail because they don't see traffic coming to their blog as fast as they would like and therefore they just stop writing. Do yourself a huge favor and make sure you set a blogging schedule for yourself and stick to it. Trust me, a blogging schedule will work better than you think. Ok, lets get right to it. 5 Tricks To Make Your Blog PopularWeekend BloggingSomething that I am currently contemplating is doing a little weekend blogging. Whether this would mean publishing posts on this blog or on other blogs for guest posts doesn't matter, all that matters is that I am doing something to help build my community. I love publishing posts here but the fact of the matter is that doing a guest post will bring in more traffic. If getting your blog the popularity that it deserves is something that you really want to do, then guest posting is what you should be doing. Just know that with guest posts there really isn't a way get penalized because Google loves to see authoritative links back to your blog. Email Other BloggersHave you ever email another blogger to let them know about your blog? If you have never done this, then it is about time. The entire point of doing this is to get the gurus and other big name bloggers to come and check out your site so that they mention it in a post of their own. Where the bigger bloggers benefit the most is from people reading a post they just wrote and then mentioning it on their blog. Think about it, how easy is this if all you have to do is write a post and the other bloggers do everything for you? My advice is not to just spam the bloggers though, you should read their latest blog post and then comment on it before you send them an email. I know it might seem like a little more work but the bigger bloggers will like this much better. Increase Your Social Media FollowingHow many fans and followers do you have on Facebook and Twitter? Are you starting to grow your circle on Google+? I ask this because in order to become more popular you will need the help of other people. One of the best ways to make your blog popular in 2012 is going to be with social media. With Facebook and Google+ on the rise there is no reason as to why you should not be using them to get more traffic and spread the word about your blog posts. Tip: I would highly recommend setting a goal for yourself as to how many more followers you would like to get each month. I did this last year and the results really paid off. The trick is to do everything you can to ensure that your following keeps growing no matter if you get 50 new followers or 500 each month. Information Is The KeyAre you creating epic blog posts? Do you write posts that people have to come back and read more later because there is just so much information? In order to make your blog popular in 2012 you will need to spend a lot more time working on your content. I am not saying that you need to spend a week writing one blog post but it should take you longer than 20 minutes. Where a lot of bloggers make the mistake is they just try to get the most information on their blog as opposed to the best information. Check out Problogger.net and see how Darren write his posts, some of them are short and some are a little longer. He does this because it doesn't always require 2,000 words to get his point across. Tip: In my experience a good post length is between 800-1500 words. If you are trying to do more of a pillar style post, then I would recommend writing one that is at least 1,500. Establish YourselfWhen I say establish yourself, I mean you need to establish yourself as an expert in your field. The reason I highly recommend doing this is because once you become an expert in your field then people will start to notice you even more. Not only that but you could make the pages of local newspapers, national magazines and possibly be seen on T.V. There are a lot of bloggers out there that have been on T.V. talking about what they do and why they do it. Just think, this could be you at some point. Do you see how these 5 tricks can help you make your blog popular in 2012? There are a lot of things that you can do to make your blog popular but I would start right here with these. The last thing I want you to know is that the best thing you can do is guest posting and if you can fill up your weekends with these, then you will see a huge jump in this years popularity. |
| The #Social46, Social Media, and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Posted: 30 Jan 2012 06:35 AM PST
For those of you not tuned into the conversation here is the basic outline around the #social46. I decided to borrow from Jay Baer's post - Klout, the Super Bowl and Our Addiction to Shooting the Messenger because frankly… Jay is the better writer. :) Two weeks ago, I received a Klout Perk to be part of the Social 46, a gathering of Indiana's top social media influencers. According to the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee, Klout was used to help identify the participants, and the list was augmented manually with known local bloggers, gadflies, and connectors. The goal set by the Super Bowl Host Committee was (and still is) to help make Super Bowl XLVI the most connected Super Bowl ever. The committee decided to build a group of people to help initially push the social momentum. There has been much debate on the validity of the scoring, picking, and segmenting of the #Social46. Honestly, I'm not even going to discuss it. I find it completely ridiculous. I'm going to revert back to the Host Committee's goal in the first place: Our goal is to make the Indianapolis Super Bowl XLVI the most connected Super Bowl of all time. Could there have been more planning? A better roll out? Better scoring? More people initially folded into the #social46 mix? Less feelings hurt? Probably. Do people make mistakes when shooting for the stars? Of course. Does the host committee have more to worry about than hurt feelings of self-important social media users? Absolutely. The committee was tasked to take a (relatively) small city and transform it into the epicenter of one of the largest sporting events in the world. In my opinion, they deserve a standing ovation for what they have accomplished over the past year. The #social46 is not meant to be a group of people but a hashtag used to show the world how proud we are of this city. I love Indianapolis and I love that the majority of social media users have stepped up and shared their insight, excitement, and networks. Tips to Helping the Host Committee:
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| Social Media Writing And You – Literally “You” Posted: 30 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST
Or at least, no investment money-wise. The reality of it is that social media can have terrible ROI in terms of time investment, if you don't know what you're doing. Even the most experienced web writers can be left tongue-tied when they realize there's only 140 characters to work with. If you're looking for your social media writing to really take your business to the next level, and you'd like your ROI to be flawless in terms of both money and time (and as we've been told for years – time is actually money), follow these tips. Put Your Face in Facebook And Get Ready to Be SharedFirst of all, keep in mind that social media writing is purely to individuals. Many of us get used to writing for the machine in terms of SEO content – keywords, specialized headings, the whole nine yards of text. However, social media writing has none of that. Instead, you want your social media posts to actually start facilitating a conversation. Social media is written to be shared, and shared immediately – the entire point of Tweeting is to be "retweeted," and the entire point of Facebook is to be "liked" and ultimately "shared." When you're writing content for social media, you need to be concise, relevant, and varied. You can't put 140 characters worth of keyword-logged text out there and expect social media to get you anywhere. You want to be the company with the Twitter account that makes people think "share," rather than making them think "buy." Or, more succinctly, you're not going to be able to get a good sales pitch across in those 140 characters, anyhow. Focus more on what social media is really trying to sell – conversation. To this mind, be innovative with your Tweets. Don't just Facebook-share about yourself all day long – nobody particularly likes hearing narcissistic people take up the airwaves – narcissistic companies don't fare too well, either. Share good news, share bad news – you know, like you would if you were having a real conversation. Talk with your customers using social media writing, not at them. |
| Facebook Timeline: Will It Hurt The Popularity Of Facebook? Posted: 30 Jan 2012 05:57 AM PST
The feedback from a poll asking 620 Facebook users if the implementation is too drastic and too sudden (despite all the online hype) is approximately 70% against the timeline. "Half the stuff on my wall has disappeared. I have no idea how to customize it and I really don't have the time or energy to figure it out" stated Philip Fletcher. Philip decided to change over to timeline in advance of the compulsory switch, but has been disappointed. "It's just not what I'm used to. I've had a Facebook account for nearly five years. Even though there have been changes in the past, nothing has changed as suddenly and with so much impact as the timeline. Right now, there are only two things keeping me on Facebook. Five years of pictures and the fact that it's an easy way to stay in touch with most of my friends." Asked if he would consider changing to another social network such as Google plus Philip answered "Up until now I would never have considered it. But with all the changes to Facebook, and if Google plus has a way of keeping my pictures and network of friends in a familiar manner, I probably wouldn't hesitate right now." But logistically speaking how easy is it for a mass migration from Facebook to Google plus? Technically speaking it's very possible. There are many applications currently plugging into Facebook's API for many different features and functionality. If Google were to create a 'migration' APi, in theory any Facebook user could automatically transfer all of their photo albums over to Google plus. And it wouldn't just stop there. All profile information currently held in Facebook could also be transferred automatically to Google plus. The only thing holding people back would be the connection to existing friends and the initial change to a different network. However, if the majority of people, like Philip Fletcher, feel that Facebook's timeline changes are so drastic that it no longer resembles the 'old' Facebook, now would be the ideal time for Google to push hard with their Google plus social network. From a business perspective it wouldn't be such a bad thing either. Facebook hasn't really made any changes which assist businesses promote themselves or easily sell products inside Facebook. The predictions for commerce on Facebook have still yet to come to fruition. Google already has the infrastructure for Google checkout, organic search and paid advertising from both the advertiser and publisher perspective. Facebook ads, although currently still cheaper than Google's adwords, still do not offer the kind of ROI enjoyed by adwords customers. Social gamers still using Facebook will also find that all their favorite games can also be found on Google plus. And that these games do not rely on being played within Facebook in order to continue playing with existing networks of friends. In short, the introduction of timeline could go either way, but it could just be the start of a major decrease of Facebook users. Will Google take advantage of this and push hard with an automatic migration for existing Facebook users? Or will Facebook realize their potential mistake before it's too late and amend the way timeline automatically displays user information? With approximately 50 million users, Google plus is already starting to show early signs that the battle for social network dominance is well underway. |
| Pinterest Drives Enormous Blog and Business Success Posted: 30 Jan 2012 04:00 AM PST
This is Kate. She's a hairstylist, jewelry maker, and all-around crafter based in North Carolina. Kate started her blog (thesmallthingsblog.com) exactly one year ago. And like most of us, it was a labor of love without a whole lot of "community." In fact, for the first eight months, she had a grand total of seven readers. But between August of 2011 and today Kate has had over 10 million page views! How did she achieve this amazing success in just five months? Pinterest! Pinterest is the hottest social media platform around right now. Created in March 2010, it's still only available by signing up for a waiting list. Pinterest is probably best described as a "virtual pinboard." Based on the idea that many people have magazine clippings of their dream vacations, weight loss goals, or perfect weddings, Pinterest allows users to create "boards" and share content by uploading images, "pin" from other sites, or "re-pin" from other user boards. And there is an important social element too as you can comment, like, share, email content, and search based off of your customized interests. If you snoop around Pinterest, for a little while, chances are you'll run into a high-quality image of a beautifully coiffed hairstyle from Kate. "My whole goal behind the blog was to share my ideas and information," she said, "so I thought Pinterest would be a great way to share video tutorials of my hairstyles."
"Almost daily I get a comment or email saying 'I found you on Pinterest!'," she said. "My top 10 traffic referring URLs are all Pinterest." Kate believes her success comes down to a careful balance between her original content and self-promotion for her blog and business. "I think there is a fine line between self-promotion and obnoxious self-promotion. I decided to only pin hair photos to my own boards [from her blog], and a maximum of two per week. The rest of the week, if any blog readers want to pin things from my blog, it's up to them." "What I don't want is for my 14,000 Pinterest followers to log on to Pinterest and see all the photos from my blog. I think that would be obnoxious," she continued. "I had one instance where I was following a blogger on Pinterest and she would pin things from her posts multiple times a day. I stopped following her." Beyond the blog numbers, Kate is also obtaining new business due to her Pinterest success. In September, she took on her first blog sponsor. She also has had interest in her private hairstyling business. "It's brought so many people to my blog who now want to be my clients!" One of the reasons for Kate's Pinterest success is that her hairstyling photos create intrigue. If you pin an image of a dog, you know it is a dog. But with a hairstyle, a recipe, or a DIY project, there is a backstory. You need to keep digging if you want to know how to do it. That "intrigue" is an opportunity to drive people back to your blog or website. How about you? Do you have an opportunity to create intrigue for your blog or business through Pinterest? |
Perhaps Roger Goodell might consider downloading our 
How many blog posts do you have on your site? If you have hundreds of posts like I do, then you are not getting visitors to all of those posts and this is a real shame. If you find it tough to get visitors to your old posts, then don't worry because I have a few tricks to get more visitors to your posts without actually building backlinks to them and pushing them up the search engines.
Today I want to quote another fine American, Foghorn Leghorn.
Have you heard the recent rumor that Twitter is going to start censoring tweets? According to CNN, the rumors are actually true. But the only way a tweet would actually be censored is if a country requires it. Either way, the tweet would only be removed from the view of the country in question and would remain visible to the rest of the world.
Every blogger wants to have the most popular blog but it doesn't always happen for them. This year needs to be different, you need to do all you can to make your blog more popular now than ever before.
I actually laid awake last night thinking about this post. I knew I needed to write this post. I also knew that I didn't want to rehash the negative conversation revolving the #social46 and the game. Better late than never… right?
Social media writing is blogged and webinar'd and commented on often these days – and for good reason. There's a 
The new and widely spoken about Facebook timeline will imminently replace all users' current Facebook home page. The look and feel of the timeline is a drastic change to the current layout. But is this change for the best? So far, the feedback that we've seen here at 
"I pinned a photo of a completed style, which directed Pinterest users back to my blog to watch the tutorial video. And then I sat back and watched as the numbers rolled in. I was stunned as I watched my blog quickly approach the first 100,000 page views! My husband and I sat at the computer, hitting refresh over and over until it hit 100,001. We were amazed." Since then, Kate's success with Pinterest has continued to skyrocket. Thanks to Pinterest, Kate has now gained 16,000 blog subscribers and 14,000 Pinterest followers in just a few months.| You are subscribed to email updates from Social | Business 2 Community To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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