Creating a Facebook Group
Facebook Groups are really growing in popularity, in my circles at least. In the past week I’ve joined and/or created at least four new groups! Some for clients, some for networking and some for personal use.
Read MoreTreat your Art like Crack on Pinterest
I’ve seen a lot of people discussing how amazingly awesome Pinterest is AND how totally awful Pinterest is as well.
If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, it is a site that allows you to create virtual cork boards where you can “pin” images. You can create different boards for different categories and share your pins with other Pinterest users. Pinterest has been around for months but now that Facebook has an app that allows you to publish your pins to your wall the Pinterest buzz has really started. [Oh and it's completely addictive...]
Source: cheezburger.com via Sara on Pinterest
Who’s right? Let’s break it down…
Read MoreSOPA and PIPA and Why You Should Care
Source: thisisnthappiness.com via Ben on Pinterest
Today several large websites including Wikipedia, Wired.com and Craigslist thousands more have blacked out their websites in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills that are making their way through congress right now.
In a nutshell, SOPA and PIPA are two bills that are trying to stop the piracy of copyrighted material (images, music, movies) which in theory is a good thing. You know what else works in theory, Communism…
Pirating music and movies is bad. We all know that, but with these two bills simple pictures, silly animated gifs and user created videos could put an entire site at risk of being blacklisted.
Read MoreSet It and Forget It
Source: shop.ilovetypography.com via Sara on Pinterest
I’m in the process of putting together some amazing things over at Your Chocolate Banana but I wanted to take a minute to share a cool tip I’ve picked up over the past few years that really makes marketing online SO much easier; a timer!
Once you start getting those big plans underway you don’t want to spend oodles of time marketing but you still want it to work. Here are a few ways that I’m able to keep up on my online marketing and still have time to eat each day!
Step one:
Set a timer. I know that most of you have a timer somewhere in your house, on your phone or implanted in your head… Go get it and set the timer for 10-15 minutes.
Step two:
Dedicate that time to the one type of online marketing you would like to focus on today.
Here are some idea on what you could use your 10-15 minutes on.
Choose one or more of the ideas listed below depending on how much time each takes you!
Twitter ideas:
- RT or reply to at least 5 people
- Schedule out tweets for the day using a site like Hootsuite
- Use an app like Buffer to help share fun or interesting content you find online.
Facebook ideas:
- Comment on at least 5 other pages to start a conversation
- Share some tips with your fans and ask them to join in
- Upload fun or educational images or graphics to your page to start a comment thread
LinkedIn ideas:
- Connect with 5 new people by sending them a personal message
- Write a recommendation for a connection
- Answer a question in the Q&A section
Email ideas:
- Respond to all those emails in your “Follow Up” section to get your email as close to Zero as possible
- Check in with past clients to see what you could help them with now
- Set up auto-responders to go out to your list with info on upcoming products or services
Blog ideas:
- Use a plugin like the WordPress Editorial Calendar to set up some posts in advance. You don’t need to finish writing them, just get some basic ideas out there for you to come back to later.
- Write a new blog post. Short and sweet posts are sometimes the best ones out there.
- Go out and comment on at least 5 other blogger’s sites. Build that community!
So there you go! Online marketing in as little as 10 minutes per day. You can choose to take these steps just once per day or opt for two sessions, 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at the end of the day. Try some ideas out and see what works best for you. Any little bit help!
- How did you do?
- Which activity did you get the most out of?
- Do you remember the Set It and Forget It commercials? It still makes me laugh when I think about it…
PS: Don’t forget to sign up for the Chocolate Banana updates to be sure you’re on the list to get special event invites and promotional pricing just for you!
(Don’t know what a Chocolate Banana is? Click HERE for all of my current Banana posts!)
Read MoreFacebook it is A-Changin’
I am pretty sure that Facebook will not bring upon the Apocalypse but if it does please feel free to lynch me.
So why is everyone up in arms about all of the new Facebook changes and the new profile organization that is going to launch called “Timeline“? Let’s walk through some statements that I’ve heard recently and try to calm some people down about the changes they’re going to be seeing.
“Facebook is changing everything and now I can’t find my Farm or how to poke my friends.”
Change is a GOOD thing but it’s hard to see that when we’re so used to doing things a specific way.
Login, go there, click this, post that….
Rather boring in my opinion, but this is coming from the girl who loved to rearrange her bedroom furniture once a week so I may not be the biggest fan of being static.
The new Timeline will be much more visual and much more user friendly when it comes to adding details and sharing information. I really like the idea of being about to go back and see what I was doing 5 years ago and adding in key moments that might be missing. It’ll also be a great way to learn more about your friends by looking through their Timeline! In the coming weeks we’ll get more info on how we’ll be able to update and such so I’m sure I’ll revisit and do a whole post on how to use the new profile set up.
“Don’t fix it if it’s not broken.”
This is a good point but I’m pretty sure that the inventor of the first cell phone thought it was pretty awesome until the smart phones came around. Evolution is a part of life and to expect everything to stay exactly the same forever is just silly. Sure there will be an adjustment period but that’s the fun part! “What happens when I click this? What is this part of the profile I didn’t have before? What new stuff can I add to my info page? ”
I agree with some people’s statements that Facebook is really bad at launching new options and changes because they change a lot of things all at once or they do it on a Monday when we all just want to get on with our day instead of learning a new system. Having an adjustment period would be nice but again, just roll with it if there isn’t that easy adjustment period. It’s not the end of the world.
“Facebook is trying to steal your identity.”
Being online always comes with risks. Anyone who has an email account has gotten at least one Viagra email in their lifetime so we all know that our email and info is out there for people to find. If you are seriously concerned about your privacy on Facebook make sure to visit your Account settings and Privacy settings sections of Facebook and really take some time to check out all the options you have there. If you are really confused, let me know and I can do a post just on these settings and how to configure them.
On the same note, don’t just click willy nilly all over Facebook or the internet in general without thinking! If someone posts something too good to be true, don’t click on that link! People’s accounts get hacked all the time (normally because of an unsecure password) so just be mindful of what links you are clicking and what apps you are allowing to have access to your account. I am very weary when it comes to allowing apps to have my profile info so I normally only allow apps that I know are reputable and that I know a lot of my friends are using. That and the Sims…it’s so addicting….
You know it’s Free right?
You are by no means required to use Facebook. There are SO many social media sites out there now that Facebook isn’t your only option. Yes, Facebook is very powerful because just about everyone has an account but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t switch over to Google+ and have just as rewarding an experience. As an entrepreneur it’s a little sticky because you want to make sure you have a presence in front of your audience but if you have a fan page you don’t have to worry about any of the personal information issues that we talked about because you can choose whether or not to link your page with your profile.
Facebook is NOT going to start charging.
I have read nothing that points to the idea that Facebook is going to start charging for their site. No, not even if you forget to run around outside naked and screaming “I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs!” at the top of your lungs while mowing the grass in a purple tutu. (But just to be sure you should go try that now…)
In sum, Keep Calm and Carry On.
If the change to Facebook is your biggest problem right now then congratulations, everyone is jealous of you!
Your Turn! Comment below and let me know what you think!
- What are your concerns about the new Facebook changes that have happened or will be happening soon?
- What is the craziest status update about the Facebook changes you have seen? (there are some awesome ones floating around the interwebs…)
- What are you looking forward to with the new Timeline feature?
Stats and Figures FTW*
My blog posts are first published in my Tuesday newsletter, Your Creative Buzz, so if you’d like to get these posts early with extra awesomeness be sure to sign up!
Learn more about this pie chart here. ; )
Yup, everyone wants to know how they are doing in the “stats”. That’s all you hear about in baseball and football and it’s something you should really try to spend some time looking at for your business as well!
The key to stats online is to be able to measure them and to not get overwhelmed with trying to increase every stat all at once.
“Oh my gosh I need to increase my followers and my feedback and my Klout score all at the same time or I’m a big social media loser!”
Ummmm, don’t be that guy….
Below I offer some tips on how to read those super confusing Facebook Insights as well as some great sites to check your Twitter stats, but make sure you don’t try ALL of them at once!
Decide if you want more interaction on your page, more followers/likes or more click through’s on your links. Then you can start tracking your growth and see how you can tweak your social media plan so that it works for you!
Facebook Insights broken down and in English…
Impressions= Views on Facebook (your fans, your fans fans and anytime your post shows up in a Facebook search)
Feedback= Comments and likes on a post
To view your page’s insights simply click on the “View Insights” link on the right hand side of your page when you are logged in as an admin.
In the Insights page you can view User data, Monthly activity and Daily Activity. Decide what you want to watch and try to grow and don’t worry about all the other gunk until you have to.
For example, if you see that your feedback is lacking on your posts try to make a plan to increase the comments and activity on your page and then go back next week or next month and see how your plan is working!
Fun Twitter Stat/Analytics sites for your profile:
Tweetstats - Gives you an overview of your general behavior on Twitter
TwitterCounter - This one is powered by Twitter itself and gives you the general stats as well as the option to compare yourself to another user
Klout - Measures your overall influence online
Twitalyzer - Gives you a score based on their categories (Influence, Generosity, Signal, Velocity and Clout)
TweetEffect - Lets you track when you are gaining and losing followers based on your tweets
The Archivist - Not necessarily used for profile stats but if you are using keywords it will be an awesome tool for you!
Try out one or more of these awesome tools but don’t get overwhelmed! You just need to focus on one site or one type of growth at a time and soon you’ll be the Lady Gaga or the Charlie Sheen of Twitter! (Ok so maybe you don’t want to be Charlie Sheen but you get the idea…)
*(FTW=For the Win for my non-World of Warcrafters out there)
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