25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- Where to Find Online & Offline Discussion Groups For Marketers
- LinkedIn Stands Out with Great Second Quarter
- 15 Answers About Google Analytics – Web Analytics Video
- Beyond ‘Engagement’ in the Social Media
- Nearly 80% of People Participate In Online Community to Help Others
- Leverage Browser Caching: How to Add Expires Headers
- Engaging Branded Content vs. Direct Response Content
- Thinking About Your Next PowerPoint
- 6 Tips for Writing a Facebook Post with the Perfect Call to Action
- Tutorial: Robots.txt – Your Guide for the Search Engines
- Hiring a Social Media Professional: It’s More Than Facebook, Followers & Frivolity
- 8 Reasons to Fight for Internal Collaboration in Your Customer Community
- 8 London 2012 Olympic Twitter Moments You Might Have Missed
- PR and Social Media: A Beautiful Relationship
- The Problem with Facebook Ads Might Be Bigger than Bots
- Why People Outsource SEO in the Philippines
- Log into Digg with Facebook… Without Letting Digg Auto-Post Crap!
- Making Google+ Worth Your Time
- Facebook’s 5 New Features and Product Updates
- Don’t Get Burned: Know What Your Customers Are Saying
- Twelve Angry Men (and Women): When Tweeters Can’t Control Themselves (pt. 2)
- LinkedIn Photos Speak Volumes, What Are Your Employees Saying?
- Social Media Software and Market Consolidation
- Seaspan Ship Management, Excellent B2B Engagement On Facebook
- How To Protect Yourself When Social Media Channels Become The Bully
| Where to Find Online & Offline Discussion Groups For Marketers Posted: 03 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT I recently read an article in one of my magazines I subscribe to about this goal-setting women's group that met once a week. They would bring their goal list, have a scone, and check up on everyone else to make sure they were completing their goals. The idea of a goal-setting, discussion, or mastermind group work on the same principle—that working with a group of like-minded people to share ideas, get feedback, and provide support can be invaluable to marketers and other working professionals. LinkedIn has tons of great, active groups to participate in. Many can give you feedback and advice within 24-48 hours, once you post a new discussion. There are groups that cover several different areas that may be of interest to marketers, including groups specific to your local area, Social Media Marketing, SEO, etc. MeetUp has several different options for meetings, especially if you are located in a larger area. Search by zip code and keyword to see if there are any meetups happening in your area. Mastermind Groups Mastermind groups usually cost over $1000 per year and have one or multiple meetings around the country each year. These meetings cover key discussion areas and allow for networking with other mastermind members in person and are often smaller and more specific than groups found on LinkedIn or MeetUp. Be sure to get reviews of a mastermind group before you join it—ask for testimonials or references of actual members to make sure you can get your money's worth. Create Your Own! If you can't find a marketer mastermind group that you feel would be beneficial, create your own! You can for free on LinkedIn and MeetUp, either with people you already know in your professional network, or as an open group, allowing anyone to join. Where else do you find valuable marketing discussion groups? Let us know in the comments.   |
| LinkedIn Stands Out with Great Second Quarter Posted: 03 Aug 2012 02:45 PM PDT Everyone and their mothers (okay, maybe not everyone's mother) know that there is money to be made in social media. We know that platforms like Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, GroupOn, and LinkedIn have access to hundreds of millions of consumers. I often daydream of what it would be like to run one of those companies. They are basically gold mines waiting to be tapped. But it turns out getting to that gold is a lot harder for some. If you've been following the CEM blog, Andrew wrote a great analysis a few weeks ago about Facebook, and the problems it faces after going public. "Facebook's outlook is not good compared to LinkedIn," he wrote. Andrew pretty much hit the nail on the head. Today's news proves it. LinkedIn Raises Outlook, Makes lots of MoneyAs Reuters reported early this morning, "LinkedIn Corp reported higher-than-expected revenue and raised its full-year outlook." This can be attributed to the company's services for businesses, advertisers, and from subscribers. They exceeded expectations, as their second-quarter revenue was $228.2 million Compared to Facebook, the social me Why do Investors Like LinkedIn?LinkedIn is more attractive to investors than a giant like Facebook for a few reasons. LinkedIn "'[has] a distinct value advantage. They own an identity in the professional user,'" Rick Summer, analyst, told Reuters. In addition to that, LinkedIn has three clear revenue sources: subscribers, advertising, and companies that hire through the platform. They are even showing signs of success with mobile advertisements, an area Facebook has been struggling with. What to Learn from LinkedInLinkedIn's story, since going public, is further proof that when it comes to social media, it's not about number of users; it's about conversions. LinkedIn has only a fraction of Facebook's 900 million users, but the company turns their modest 175 million user's conversions into revenue. LinkedIn understands its audience. They have a clear strategy to convert online users into revenue, and they execute it. Most importantly, they've created a brand that consumers identify with. This sort of success should be the goal of every business that operates online and in the "real world." The bottom line is that when it comes to the online world, the rules are different. You need competent content marketing teams to build your online presence. When executed properly, the conversions will come. Just like they do for LinkedIn. Are you utilizing the web for your business the way you should be?   |
| 15 Answers About Google Analytics – Web Analytics Video Posted: 03 Aug 2012 02:10 PM PDT Google Analytics is a crucial part of SEO. If you don't have tracking in place, you have no idea what's working or not. Most importantly, you have no way of showing your client how your work helped them increase sales, or other goals for their website. After working with Google Analytics for a while, you will have questions that goes beyond the basics. The best way to get answers is of course to Google it…but there are a few places you should keep an eye on to get answers before you have questions. One of those places is the Google Analytics YouTube channel. One of the latest videos, with web analytics ninjas Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski, is a must-watch for any Google Analytics fan. It's only 30 minutes, and well worth it, so make yourself a cup of coffee and get comfortable – these guys are fun to watch, and you might even get answers to questions you didn't know you had. Questions answered in the video
For the related blog post by the analytics ninjas, see Web Analytics TV #25 – The Silver Anniversary Show (on the official blog for Google Analytics tips, tricks and news).   |
| Beyond ‘Engagement’ in the Social Media Posted: 03 Aug 2012 01:45 PM PDT A new buzzword is hovering over the social media universe. It has been repeated mantra-like so many times (and one wonders whether with or without full awareness of its far-reaching implications) that 'engagement' has ceased to be a means to an end in the eyes of many and surprisingly become the 'raison d'être' of every social media (and according to some unsuspecting commentators and bloggers, personal branding) strategy. Posts and articles on how to improve engagement in social media ecosystems proliferate – Mike Stenger's recent (and otherwise helpful) take on Google + being an excellent example – and social media strategists busy themselves with techniques and tactics to drive up their engagement metrics. Social media engagementSo much so that the staunchest defenders of engagement as the new leitmotiv of the social media are boldly claiming that those metrics (which range from number of retweets to comments and/or replies) should be adopted as the standard ones to gauge the success of every social media strategy for people and brands alike. Engagement, we are told, is the new ROI (return on investment) of social media and any strategy that is not producing it in large quantities is faulty and failing in its objectives.
In a personal branding contextBut putting all the hype aside, let us analyze some of their specific proposals to improve our engagement – I will use Mike's good post as an example – in order to ascertain whether they are indeed helpful from a personal branding perspective and help us maximize our ROI and achieve our goals. First of all we are advised "to have a target audience or connection with people who could be interested in your product or service, which will eventually lead to sales" and offered a number of tactics to attain this worthy goal. Sensible advice, but: Which is the overall objective then? To drive up engagement or indeed sales and other conversion criterion (find a job most likely in our case)? Or has the personal brander who has found her dream job in the social media with minimal engagement not been decidely successful? Moreover, it should be noted that some products or services will have massive 'target audiences' with which it will be practically impossible to interact on a one-to-one basis but perfectly possible to sell to. Mike continues inviting us to "take time to comment" and "get into the trenches and interact" in order to "build an active and engaged audience." I believe I speak on behalf of many when I state that nothing would please me more than having the time and the leisure to comment on the contents of my followers (and what about the many who don't produce content?): sadly, and with the exception of those with a very reduced number of followers and employing most of their time to that effect, this is simply unrealistic (read impossible). Even big brands with substantial resources at their disposal cannot reply to every single comment they receive on Facebook or Twitter, as it is also the case with the already mentioned celebrities. It is much more helpful to zero in on those influencers and key elements of our audiences whose potential impact is vital for our goals. Time is money, and savvy time-management is a must if we are to concentrate on what constitutes the true priority for our goals. Summing up: good for engagement, potentially a waste of time for our ROI unless we are very selective. Sadly Mike's third recommendation is not one that is likely to help the ubiquitous ROI acronym: "participate in hangouts" or Google+ online meetings (usually videoconferences). Hypothetically (yet not necessarily, as anyone who has actually taken part in them knows first-hand) they might be instrumental in helping us to improve the engagement with those people who take part in them, but is this truly worth the time investment? Without doubt in some cases the answer could be in the affirmative, but – especially unless the hang-out in question includes the likes of our star-clients, influencers and other narrowly targeted groups – it could just as easily be a waste of time. To maximize our chances we must be ultra-selective not just with hangouts but with any other online or offline networking event, as companies who spend thousands on trade fairs to come back home with their coffers empty despite having apparently 'engaged' with hundreds in their stands know only too well. Our blogger's final recommendation is the commonsensical one of "publishing and sharing great quality content." And who could disagree with that? What we are not told is that following that sound advice is incredibly time-consuming and is likely to leave us little time for hangouts, chatting with our followers, replying to their comments or interacting with them as much as we would otherwise love: only those who use the social networks for purely personal reasons often enjoy the luxury of doing so for obvious reasons. The rest of us – bent as we are on achieving tangible goals such as increasing sales or attracting job opportunities – don't live in a parallel universe full of rainbows and unicorns where time is not a pressing matter (to paraphrase social media sicentist Dan Zarrella) and at times simply do not seek or need more engagement but brands that solve our problems, offer us the right information (whether we care to comment or not) and above all quality products and services. And as personal branders intent on improving our career prospects, engagement may be a means to an end but it is hardly ever the end in itself. 'Engagement' and its metrics (RTs, number of 'likes', comments and others) are useful to test the impact our online initiatives are having in certain contexts, but turning them into the cornerstones of our strategies is a costly mistake that may make us waste valuable time and resources while our attention is diverted from more sensible and rewarding foci. Finally, and for those who still want some advice to improve their engagement across the social media, let me humbly offer my own: add value with quality work that truly helps people – whether you have the chance of 'engaging' with them or not – and contributes to their success. Nothing else truly matters. Author: Oscar Del Santo is a lecturer, consultant, key speaker, blogger and populariser of online reputation and inbound marketing in Spain. He has been extensively featured in the Spanish and Latin American media and is included in the 'Top Social Media Influencers' and 'Best Marketing Tweeters in Spanish' lists @OscarDS. He is the author of 'Reputacion Online para Tod@s' and the co-author of 'Marketing de Atraccion 2.0'.   |
| Nearly 80% of People Participate In Online Community to Help Others Posted: 03 Aug 2012 01:30 PM PDT One of the most common questions people ask me is why do people participate in online communities. For some, the act of logging onto a computer network and having a conversation with someone you have never met seems utterly foreign to some, but these are often the same people who will happily chat up a stranger in the grocery line. Go figure. While I completely understand the value of online community exchanges, the question is persistent enough to warrant a bit-o-research. So as part of The Social Mind research project that my colleagues at the Society of New Communications Research and I have just completed, we focused on learning more about the questions who uses social networks and online communities, what drives them to participate and what do they hope to get out of the experience. Now that I have covered the high level findings in a previous post, I wanted to spend some time sharing some of the more detailed findings – especially those that pertain specifically to online community. My colleagues, Don Bulmer and Peter Auditore will cover some of the findings that don’t specifically relate to community so if this study is of interest to you, you may want to follow their analysis as well in their blogs. On to the data…. According to the research, people spend most of their time online with colleagues in professional networks (41%), followed by friends, family and experts. Only 13% report spending the most time online with their family. Seems the closer the relationship probability, the less time online is shared. In the survey, we had an “Other” category and it was interesting that the most common fill-ins pertained to business; most popular fill-ins included customers, prospects, and clients. Business use of social networking is definitely top-of mind for many users. We then poked around a bit to learn how, if at all people’s use of social media channels varied by relationship. There is a significant different in what channel people choose to reach others in their lives.
Clearly, people generally understand the nuances of the different communications channels and making judicious selections based on their communication needs. The finding that people use micro-blogging most frequently (45%) to reach an expert especially interesting to me. Perhaps it is the informal nature of the platform or perhaps the strength of relationships that are developed there, but it does seem logical that people would feel comfortable reaching out on Twitter and the like to experts to make a connection. I thought it was especially interesting (and reassuring!) that nearly 80% of respondents participate in online groups to help others by sharing information and experiences, and (66%) participate in a professional community to belong to a group of colleagues and peers. (41%) participate in groups to be seen as someone knowledgeable. Only a relatively small percentage use networks and community to persuade others to adopt their point of view or buy a product of service. It has long been known in the community world that community is no place for a vendor booth – it is for the exchange of ideas and not the waving of sales flags. Yes, direct and indirect sales can occur as a by-product of thought leadership shared in community exchanges, however, it is the content and ideas that yield value in professional communities.
This finding is especially exciting I have long ascribed to the idea that there are 4 types of community members and each deserves their own motivational triggers for participation. Here is the blog post that talks about my approach and now there is current data to further substantiate the method. Nearly all reported that they participate in online networks and communities for educational purposes and to learn about topics. Fantastic news! This demonstrates the growing importance of online community as an educational platform for experts to show what they know and for information seeking to find the insights they seek. (It is important to remember that people can be both experts in one topic and information seekers in another topic simultaneously.)
So, at the end of the day, what these data are suggesting include;
As the world is, literally, at our fingertips, we now can use social networking to find, learn from and connect with those peers and colleague that we value and not be limited to the person we share an office with or who happens to always be at the same conferences. We are what we give, online. Thank you for reading Building Online Communities for Business by Leader Networks. We are a research and strategy consulting company that helps organizations succeed in social business and B2B online community building.   |
| Leverage Browser Caching: How to Add Expires Headers Posted: 03 Aug 2012 01:10 PM PDT This tutorial explains how you add Expires headers to your .htaccess file. This will help you improve the performance of your website, based on Google's and Yahoo's recommended performance guidelines. You'll learn about:
Important! To make use of Expires headers the way it's explained in this blog post, your server must be Apache (and requires the module mod_expires) and you must have access to your .htaccess file. If you don't know what this means, talk with your hosting company first. What is browser caching and expires headers?The point of using browser caching and expiry headers is to reduce the number of HTTP requests, which improves the performance for your returning visitors. "…leveraging browser caching is a cross between giving your browser a better memory and a camera" (source: Distilled) The first time someone visits your site, their browser will fetch all your images, css files, javascript files, etc. Normally that happens every time the same visitor comes back to your site. With Expires headers you tell your website visitor's browser that the files you specify are not changing until after a certain time, for example a month. This means that the browser doesn't have to to re-fetch images, css, javascript etc every time your visitor comes back to your site. "If cached, the document may be fetched from the cache rather than from the source until this time has passed. After that, the cache copy is considered "expired" and invalid, and a new copy must be obtained from the source." (source: Apache) Check your current website performanceBefore you start, test your current status with Google Page Speed tool and Yahoo Yslow. I personally prefer using http://gtmetrix.com because it shows you both Google's and Yahoo's page speed tools. It also updates instantly, so you can get an updated result straight after you've implemented your changes. If you use GTmetrix, you should now see something like this (example of a website with no performance improvements done): Example of GTmetrix website performance result before implementing Expires headers Look under the (Google) Page Speed tab, and you see Leverage browser caching: "The following cacheable resources have a short freshness lifetime. Specify an expiration at least one week in the future for the following resources" Under the Yslow tab, you see Add Expires headers: "There are [x] static components without a far-future expiration date." Today, you are going to improve your result for both of the above. How to add Expires headersFirst, look at your results in GTmetrix – what type of files do you have listed under "Leverage browser caching" and "Add Expires headers"? I had the following types of files, and I think you might too:
Think about how often you change your different files, and then decide for how long they can be cached in your visitor's browser. Your options are:
Do not add anything in your htaccess file yet. First look at each file type below, and change the caching times to suit your website: Expires header for your favicon For files that very rarely change, like your favicon, you can set a very far future expiry date. The code for your favicon would look like this: ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access plus 1 year" This means it will be cached in your visitor's browser for 1 year from the day of the first visit. If your website visitor clears the browser cache, it will re-fetch the resources again. Expires header for your images The existing images on my sites are rarely updated, but it does occasionally happen, so 1 month works for me: ExpiresByType image/gif “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/png “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/jpg “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access plus 1 month” Expires header for your css I personally update my css once in a while, so I've chosen 1 month as a reasonable caching time: ExpiresByType text/css “access plus 1 month" Expires header for your javascript My javascript is something I rarely even look at, so the caching time is set to 1 year. ExpiresByType application/javascript “access plus 1 year” Warning!If you set a far future expiry date for something and then update one of those files, you must change the name of the file for the browser to re-fetch it. Example: if you set your javascript to 1 year, and you update one of your javascript files, you'd have to rename the actual file. A good way to do this is by versioning, i.e. myfile_v1.2.js, but the easier way is to be careful with your Expires headers (setting something to 10 years is never a good option IMO). What to add in your .htaccess fileOpen your .htaccess file. (be smart: make a copy of your original .htaccess file, in case you accidentally make a mistake and need to revert) Now it's time to enable the Expires headers module in Apache (set the 'ExpiresActive' to 'On'), so add this to your .htaccess file: # Enable expirations ExpiresActive On It might be useful to add a "Default directive" for a default expiry date, so that's the 2 rows you'll add now: # Enable expirations ExpiresActive On # Default directive ExpiresDefault “access plus 1 month” That's the base. Now add all the lines for each of your file types (you know, the ones you created earlier for your favicon, images, css and javascript). You'll end up with a code snippet that looks something like this: # Enable expirations ExpiresActive On # Default directive ExpiresDefault “access plus 1 month” # My favicon ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access plus 1 year" # Images ExpiresByType image/gif “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/png “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/jpg “access plus 1 month” ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access plus 1 month” # CSS ExpiresByType text/css “access 1 month" # Javascript ExpiresByType application/javascript “access plus 1 year” That's it. Now run another test with GTmetrix and compare the results. This is the result for my test site, after implementing Expires headers: GTmetrix performance improvement after adding Expires headers. Google: +16%. Yahoo: +3% Did you notice any improvements for your site? Did the above take care of all your files listed under "Leverage browser caching" and "Add Expires headers"? Let me know in the comments below. Expires headers resources
Did you find this tutorial useful? Do you have questions or feedback? Let me know in the comments below. Remember to share the knowledge: recommend this tutorial to your network on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, etc.   |
| Engaging Branded Content vs. Direct Response Content Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT Let's face it, social media isn't ALL business. It's fun & beneficial to mix up your content with posts that simply entertain your audience, but at some point you have to put the marketing back into your social media mix. Let's take a look at the difference between engaging branded content and direct response content so you'll have a clear idea of how to use both to your advantage. Direct Response content is meant to elicit its very namesake- meaning its purpose is to get a direct response from consumers. This can include coupons, discount codes, promotions, exclusive deals, early access to new inventory, and so on. A very large percentage of people "like" and follow brands on various social networks just so they can be privy to these sorts of deals, so it's to your absolute benefit to provide your fan base with the aforementioned items. Some of the benefits of Direct Response content can be a pronounced incline in network growth, generated media "buzz" around your brand and ROI in the form of increased sales. Now, let's break down the different ways you can present these it to people: A simple app like this one incentivizes people to enter their information in order to receive a discount on their next purchase. All you need to do is generate a coupon code for each applicant, and voila! You now have a plethora of email addresses to add to your email marketing list. Is your goal to expand your network? Opt for an app that incentives people to "like" your page in exchange for a discount, instead. Facebook ads & promoted posts Facebook now allows you to create ads, no matter how small your budget is. You have the option to either pay per click or per impression, and can create an ad out of a post or simply promote your page. If you've published a post that counts as Direct Response content, create an ad out of it and get even more visibility! If you're working with a very small budget and just want to achieve a quick boost in reach, you can also promote individual posts for either $5.00 or $10.00. Facebook tells you your estimated reach depending on what you'd like to pay, so you'll have a specific idea of how many people will see your post. Twitter Auto Direct Messages Twitter allows you to automatically message each one of your new followers, and because messages are private, this is a great way to give out coupon codes or access to discounts and increase traffic to your site. Another option would be to direct people to your Facebook app if you have one like Kukees' does above, so that way you can convert Twitter followers to Facebook "likes". Pinterest campaigns You can ask your fan base to get creative by running a Pinterest board contest. Tell them what they should title their board, and have them use a unique hashtag for every item they pin to it. Offer a prize for the best board(s), and be sure to cross promote the contest on your other social platforms, your email marketing pieces, your website, and in-store if possible. Here's an example of a fun campaign run by Kate Spade & Vespa: Engaging Branded Content is simply meant to engage your audience by prompting them to "like", share, comment, retweet, repin, etcetera. The value of this sort of content comes in the form of brand awareness, building meaningful consumer relationships, building authority, brand loyalty, organic SEO & network growth. These are all results that are more difficult to "monetize" in the form of ROI, but their benefits are unmistakable. Let's take a look at some examples of engaging branded content, shall we? Behind the scenes sneak peeks Traditional media allows consumers to get an in depth look at your branding, products & services. Social media is a unique opportunity in that it allows people to look at what goes on behind the scenes. Since this content is authentic and gives the impression that it's happening in real time, it's easy for people to feel connected to it! We snapped a photo of this 40 lb coffee delivery from Ruta Maya Organic Coffee, edited it using iPhone photo apps and posted it to our Facebook page, complete with a shout out to the company. Company culture features Because social media makes it so easy to share things with your audience, aligning your company culture with the rest of your branding efforts it simple. We like to boast the fact that we have a dog-friendly office, as our pooches add a lot of energy and personality to our work atmosphere. Employee-sourced content One of the things we constantly tell people who want to generate good branded content is to use their employees! Talk about what they do at work, but don't be afraid to highlight their hobbies and interests as well. This allows people to see the human side of your brand and limit the feeling that they are being blatantly marketed to by your page at all times. So there you have it- examples of two different types of content to accomplish your social media goals! Using both will ensure that your marketing tactics stay on point, and that you reap both the measurable and intangible benefits of doing social the right way. Cheers!   |
| Thinking About Your Next PowerPoint Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:25 PM PDT I've done a number of presentations this year and I'm asked the same question: "Will you have a PowerPoint to present?" My answer is usually "yes." But, it was a discussion with my wife about a PowerPoint presentation that really got me thinking. She asked after my most recent talk, "What if you DID NOT have one?" I shuddered and thought, "I can't just NOT have one. What would I refer to?" But, she made a great point: Do we really need to use PowerPoint during a talk and is it always effective? So, I was officially conflicted. I decided to reach out to trusted colleague Deirdre Breakenridge; she's done a few presentations (understatement). I wanted to get her opinion on which way to go. Deirdre stressed the importance of knowing the audience and to have the resources prepared that will get their attention.  "When I visit colleges and meet with groups of students, I usually don't use PowerPoint," she said. Instead, the discussion is interactive with questions about them, their interests and their needs. "I find the PowerPoint in the classroom setting can be distracting. There are instances, however, where I've embedded videos in a PPT during a classroom presentation, which are used to ignite passionate discussions." But, Deirdre stays away from the typical PPT with bulleted information.With larger groups such as professional associations and training session with businesses, the PowerPoint can be very helpful. "Once again, it's important for me to use visuals that I can speak to, rather than a lot of bulleted information," Deirdre said. "Sometimes large, colorful visuals or charts specifically calling out numbers are a great way to get attention and to get a point across." Deirdre made certain to stress that PowerPoint should not be the sole discussion, but rather a helpful reference (or jumping of point) to aid the speaker to deliver more compelling information. I think Deirdre's points are very valid, especially when it comes to understanding your audience. One of the things I've done is prior to any talk is to chat with the head of the group. What are the people like? What information are you looking to learn more about? Is it a big room or more intimate setting? All these things are important. Let me know your thoughts on PowerPoint and how you use it or don't.   |
| 6 Tips for Writing a Facebook Post with the Perfect Call to Action Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:20 PM PDT The phrasing and structure of a Facebook status update correlates strongly to how users will engage with a post. For the best post engagement, use a call to action (CTA). CTAs help inform and encourage users what to do next. For example, if the aim is to get users to watch a video your business posted on Youtube, an effective CTA will not only give information on how that can be done, it will inspire users to follow through with the action as well. When constructing a Facebook post with a call to action, here are six things to keep in mind: 1. Ask a question: The question you ask should speak directly to your target users' needs, wants or interests. The more specific and detailed the question is, the better. You want the question to grab the attention of Facebook users. So whether it's asking users if they've heard of an interesting statistic or if they prefer pancakes over waffles, the question should be quirky or bold enough to get users to pay attention. 2. Provide some information: Once you've asked a question, follow it up with some information. The most appealing of status updates are ones that offer the users something– it could be information or entertainment. Keep in mind though, if the objective is to direct users elsewhere (like your blog or website) don't fully disclose everything valuable that you have to offer. You want to be informative, but just enough so that the user is motivated to seek out more information– aka click on your link. 3. Always provide a link: While we're on the topic of links, be sure to provide one. Not all Facebook posts need a link, but the ones with CTAs often do–that is unless the purpose of your CTA is simply get users to Like or comment on a post. Use links in status updates when you want to direct Facebook users to other content. 4. Keep it positive: This is good rule of thumb for all Facebook posts. When a user reads a Facebook post with a CTA, s/he should feel inspired and excited. These positive feeling bread engagement and sharing. 5. Don't bother yourself with a word limit: It's good to be to-the-point in Facebook posts, but limiting yourself to a certain character limit doesn't always mean you're being direct or effective. Just posting "Click here!" or "Take our survey!" with a link is not a strong enough call to action– nor is it a strong Facebook post. 6. Provide an image: Visuals always help. With CTAs especially, images can really complement and spearhead the success of a CTA. For instance, you can ask a question that relates to the image or provide a graphic that provides some knowledge to the user. Now that you know the six rules for writing a Facebook post with a perfect call to action, here are two examples of how to rework a status update with a CTA. Hopefully these will spark some ideas for your next Facebook post. Enjoy! Examples Before: Great article with some good tips on Facebook fan-gating! Click her to read: (link) A stronger post would be: Looking for ways to increase your Facebook Page's Likes? Fan-gating apps works. Read here for some great fan-gating tips! (link)
Before: We just created a Pinterest account, click her to follow us! (link) A stronger post would be: Are you a DIYer? If yes, follow us on Pinterest! We just posted some great tutorials for some weekend DIY projects! (link)   |
| Tutorial: Robots.txt – Your Guide for the Search Engines Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:10 PM PDT It's amazing how one little text file can make or break your website. If you have a line or two wrong in your robots.txt file, you might actually be telling the search engine robots to not crawl and index your site…which means your web pages won't show up in the search engines. Luckily it's easy to check, and easy to solve. In this blog post you'll learn about what robots.txt is, how to check your own robots.txt, and how you can improve your instructions for the search engine robots. This blog post is part 1 of the series: how to do a Technical SEO Audit of your website. For a list of all blog posts in the same series, view the blog tag "technical seo audit". Today we'll talk about the following topics:
What is robots.txt?It's a file in the root of your website that can either allow or restrict search engine robots from crawling pages on your website. Think of the search engines as a big library of all the web pages in the world. Google, Yahoo, and others, send out their spiders (also known as crawlers or robots) to find new or updated pages to add to their index. First thing they look for when they arrive to your website is your robots.txt file. In your robots.txt file, you show the robots which of your pages you want (or don't want) them to read (crawl). Keep in mind that there is a difference between "crawl" and "index". The search engine can crawl (read) a page without indexing (listing in the search results), and the other way around. It all depends on what instructions you put in your robots.txt and robots meta tags. Do you need a robots.txt file?If the search engine spider doesn't find a robots.txt for your website, it will crawl and index all your pages (unless you've implemented robots meta tags with other instructions). "If you want search engines to index everything in your site, you don't need a robots.txt file (not even an empty one)." Source: Google Webmaster Tools Help However, if you don't have a robots.txt file, your server logs will return 404 errors whenever a robot tries to access your robots.txt file. …to prevent the "file not found" error messages in your web server log, you can create an empty file named robots.txt. Source: Googlebot This is not always ideal, and after reading this blog post I'm sure you can find at least one thing to improve in your own robots.txt file. What can you use robots.txt for?Among other things, your robots.txt file can help:
Something important to keep in mind is: "…a robots.txt file is something like putting a note "Please, do not enter" on an unlocked door – e.g. you cannot prevent thieves from coming in but the good guys will not open to door and enter." Source: What is robots.txt? How does it work?Before a search engine robot crawls your website, it will first look for your robots.txt file to find out where you want them to go. Did you know that…in your Google Analytics account, a visit from a robot gets added to your overall visitors stats. To see only the real (human) visitors stats, you can apply a filter to exclude the traffic from robots. But that's a topic for another blog post. There are 3 things you should keep in mind:
Now go to your website and check if you have a robots.txt file. Just add /robots.txt after your domain name. It will then look something like this: http://www.yourwebsite.com/robots.txt If your robots.txt says this, then you're in trouble: User-agent: * Disallow: / Keep on reading and you'll soon understand why. How to create a robots.txt fileIf you don't have a robots.txt file, your should quickly create one before you continue reading:
Note: if your use subdomains, you have to create a separate robots.txt file for each subdomain. What to put in your robots.txt fileMany website owners disagree about what you should and shouldn't put in the robots.txt file, and it's up to you what you think works best for your website and needs. WARNING: robots.txt is notintended to deal with the security of your website! It is recommended that the location of your admin area, and other private areas of your website, are not included in the robots.txt. Instead, you can for example use the robots meta tag to keep the major search engines from crawling/indexing it. If you really want to securely block robots from accessing private content, you should look at proper security measures for this (.htaccess and other ways). Use robots.txt as a guide for the robots, but know that it's up to each robot to honor the instructions. What directives can you use?First, open some robots.txt files and use them as references when you continue reading. Go ahead, open your competitor's robots.txt, or one for a website using the same CMS as you (just add /robots.txt after the domain). To help you, here are a few examples:
Now we'll take a look at the different lines you can have in your robots.txt file: User-agent:This is the line where you define which robot you're talking to. It's like saying hello to the robot: "Hi all robots" User-agent: * "Hi Google robot" User-agent: Googlebot "Hi Yahoo! robot" User-agent: Slurp For Google's different website crawlers, see this list. Robotstxt.org has a Robots Database, but I don't know when it was last updated. TIPS:You can find out which robots crawl your site by looking through your server logs, and then use the information to add user-agent specific guidelines in your robots.txt. Not all robots/user-agents understand all directives. In the original Robots Exclusion Protocol, the Disallow: directive was the only official option, and later came the inclusion of the Sitemap: directive. In the list below you will find some non-standard but useful directives. Google and Bing follows most of them, but unfortunately not all other robots will understand and follow them. For each of the following directives you must have the user-agent line first. It's like saying "Hi Google", and then follow with the specific instructions for Google. Now let's tell the robots what you want them to do… Disallow:This tells the robots what you don't want them to crawl on your site: "Hi all robots, do not crawl anything on my site" User-agent: * Disallow: / "Hi Google image robot, do not crawl my images folder (but you can crawl everything else)" User-agent: Googlebot-Image Disallow: /images/ Note: many website owners disallow their images directory, but this can be a good thing to allow (think Google image search). Just make sure you've named your images properly – as in, the file name should reflect what the picture is about (not picture1.jpg, picture2.jpg etc). If you want to remove your images from Google's index, read this info from Google. Allow:This tells the robots what you want them to crawl on your site. "Hi all robots, you can crawl everything on my site" User-agent: * Allow: / Note: If these are the only lines you have in your robots.txt you could delete the file instead. If there is no robots.txt, the search engines will assume anyway that you want them to crawl everything on your website. "Hi all robots, I don't want you to crawl anything in the /things/ folder, except the file /things/awesomestuff.html." User-agent: * Disallow: /things/ Allow: /things/awesomestuff.html Remember, specific instructions overrides general instructions: "Hi all robots, do not crawl anything on my site…but if you're the Google robot, then I have a special instruction for you: you are allowed to crawl all pages on my site" User-agent: * Disallow: / User-agent: Googlebot Allow: / Semetrical has done a good study and write-up about this: Google's Hidden Interpretation of Robots.txt * (Asterisk / wildcard)With the * symbol, you tell the robots to match any number of any characters. Very useful for example when you don't want your internal search result pages to be indexed: "Hi all robots, do not crawl my search result pages…which would be any urls containing /search.php? with something before and after it" User-agent: * Disallow: */search.php?* Theoretically, you don't need the * in the end, as the robots assume the url continues anyway (unless you have a $ symbol in the end). However, Google themselves use the * in the end, so better be safe than sorry. "Hi all robots, do not crawl any urls containing the word contact" User-agent: * Disallow: *contact* This would disallow for example:
$ (Dollar sign / ends with)The dollar sign tells the robots that it is the end of the url. "Hi Google robot, don't crawl any .pdf files on my website." User-agent: Google-bot Disallow: *.pdf$ "Hi all robots, in my /help/ category I have some files that end with .php. Don't crawl any of them. But you can crawl all other things in that category." User-agent: * Disallow: /help/*.php$ # (Hash / comments)You can add comments after the "#" symbol, either at the start of a line or after a directive. This is useful if you want to make it clear for yourself what each section is for: # Instructions for all robots User-agent: * Disallow: /archives/ # disallow crawling of the archives category Sitemap:Sitemap: http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml As you can see, the Sitemap: directive doesn't need the user-agent line. It doesn't matter where you place the Sitemap: line in your file, but I prefer it to be either the first or last line in the file. You can specify more than one XML sitemap file per robots.txt file, but if you have a sitemap index file you can link to only that one and will have the same effect. Crawl-Delay: and Request-rate: and Visit-time:These directives are not commonly used, but still worth mentioning. Crawl-Delay:This directive asks the robot to wait a certain amount of seconds after each time it's crawled a page on your website. Hi Yahoo! robot, please wait 5 seconds between your requests. User-agent: Slurp Crawl-delay: 5 Note: Google recommends you to set crawl speed via Google Webmaster Tools instead. Request-rate:Here you tell the robot how many pages you want it to crawl within a certain amount of seconds. The first number is pages, and the second number is seconds. Hi all robots, please only crawl 1 page per 5 seconds. User-agent: * Request-rate: 1/5 # load 1 page per 5 seconds Visit-time:It's like opening hours, i.e. when you want the robots to visit your website. This can be useful if you don't want the robots to visit your website during busy hours (when you have lots of human visitors). User-agent: * Visit-time: 2100-0500 # only visit between 21:00 (9PM) and 05:00 (5AM) UTC (GMT) Note: all times are set in UTC/GMT. The above isn't widely used (as far as I know). There are other, better ways to achieve what you want. For example: implementing LastModified, ETags, LastMod and ChangeFrequency. How to check and test your robots.txt fileThere are a few free tools out there, but I prefer to use Google's and Bing's Webmaster Tools for a health check of my websites. Google Webmaster ToolsGoogle Webmaster Tools is a place where you can check your website based on information from Google. It has plenty of tools and reports, and it's completely free. To help you create a robots.txt file, Google Webmaster Tools has a robots.txt generator tool (please note that it's only focused on Google's robots). You can check and test your existing robots.txt via Google Webmaster Tools > Site Configuration > Crawler access. You should also check the problems Googlebot find when it crawls your website. Go to Google webmaster tools > diagnostics > Web Crawl. There you will see the URLs restricted by robots.txt. You can also see your sitemap errors, HTTP errors, nofollowed URLs and URLs that time out, but we'll go into details for that in another blog post. The Fetch as Googlebot tool in Webmaster Tools helps you understand exactly how your site appears to Googlebot. This can be very useful when troubleshooting problems with your site's content or discoverability in search results. Source: Googlebot Bing Webmaster ToolsJust as Google Webmaster Tools, Bing's Webmaster Tools is free and incredibly useful for website owners. Go to Bing webmaster tools > crawl issues. Beside your robots.txt problems, it also identifies HTTP status code errors, pages infected with malware and many other things you should check regularly. Once you've got a good robots.txt file built and validated, don't just set it and forget it. Periodically audit the settings in the file, especially after you've gone through a site redesign. Source: Bing Webmaster Center Blog Other robots.txt resourcesDo you want to know more about robots.txt? These articles, guides and blog posts are a few of my favorites on the topic:
Funny and creative examples of robots.txtTo round this off, here are some funny and creative examples of robots.txt:
If you know of any other creative robots.txt files, please post a link to them in the comments below.   |
| Hiring a Social Media Professional: It’s More Than Facebook, Followers & Frivolity Posted: 03 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT Just like your mom when you came home with that first tattoo – I was shocked when I saw the blog post from Cathryn Sloane entitled “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25“ Shock is the only possible reaction to this story, which advocates that social-media professionals over the age of 25 can't possibly have a clear understanding of the medium. The interesting thing about the title of this young woman's blog post is that it could have caused a brand-killing fire storm if she dropped it in a different community. At this point, all the damage seems to center on her personal brand. That black mark will take a long time to heal. Articles such as this typically have some educational value. The author might define a body of metrics that could prove a particular point, or outline tools and the appropriate manner in which to use them. After sifting through the essay, however, I don't find any such value. The only reason I will not go through great pains to shred this article is that it would give the author too much credit. The fact is this is probably the most buzz she may ever create in her career. From that perspective, she effectively did her job as a social-media professional. The primary complaint from the author is that she, and apparently her contemporaries, cannot find social-media positions because so many gigs require five-plus years of experience. She claims that because social media is so new and dominated by young users, it's not possible for the most qualified users to have that much professional experience. Let's come at this from a different angle: Hiring a Social Media Professional: It’s more than Facebook, Followers and Frivolity We will start with three simple questions:
An advisor once told me, "Make great decisions for the company; lead with those decisions and we will all succeed.” That's great, simple advice. I continue to follow it every day. What I've learned along the way is that regardless of educational institution, GPA or major, no one can make great decisions without experience. It takes some bumps, bruises and scrapes. When looking for a social media professional, you want a well-rounded representative for your brand, products and services, messaging and overall company culture. If you hire someone fresh out of school because of budget, it may do more harm than good in the end. All brands have a very short shelf life now. Much like a musician who is only as good as the last song downloaded. It takes three key practices to maintain customer retention and loyalty: consistency, understanding your business models, and thoughtful, progressive optimization to your messaging. In the future, companies will literally live and die based on brand perception. So you’re not Coca-Cola? You’re not Apple? Oh, I see, you don’t have built-in authenticity, storytelling and trust factor in the sea of affiliate alignments. So should I assume you can make mistakes progressively with your brand’s reputation, and that you will come out at the far end of the rainbow? The world of the social media professional is a journeyman’s profession. We’ve all watched these tools develop progressively from our passion for integrated marketing, storytelling, advertising, and online content development. It’s fair to say that those of us who grew out of the past 20 years of digital evolution can quickly spot trends, and leverage strategies and techniques. We can rapidly dive deep into campaign granularity, and make more sense of an endless array of metrics, analytics and data. I will be the first one to tell you to hire young talent. You want smart, young, progressive thinkers within your integrated marketing. However, the machine now has too many cogs requiring true leaders who understand not only social media, but also advertising and storytelling. When it all comes right down to it, they should be willing to go to bat for your brand as if it were their own. The youth of today have not had an opportunity to make as many mistakes as we have. They haven’t started and failed at their own businesses. They haven't worked for miserable people and fantastic leaders. They haven’t been self-employed. Drop your arrogant sense of entitlement, roll up your sleeves and get a shovel, we’ve been fighting the good fight for a long time. They might just be able to learn a thing or two from us old geezers.   |
| 8 Reasons to Fight for Internal Collaboration in Your Customer Community Posted: 03 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT
Online customer communities bring customers, employees, and partners together to make customers more successful with a set of products or services. This, in turn, makes the company more successful. People are often the #1 expense in an organization. Their efficiency in helping customers, partners, and each other is critical to streamlined operations and profitability. Socious' podcast, ProCommunity, recently featured Jacob Morgan, author of the new book, The Collaborative Organization. He discussed why collaboration within and across stakeholder groups is important and how to implement online communities at your organization. Just as organizations that implement internal online communities are not capitalizing on the customer satisfaction, innovation, and brand advocacy opportunities presented by customer communities, companies that implement online customer communities without enabling employees to collaborate are missing the mark. Why Should Executives Care About Employee Collaboration in Online Customer Communities?Here are 8 reasons to build areas for employees to collaborate into your online customer community: Reason #1: Your Organization Can Solve Customer Problems FasterIf your teams are able to search archived discussions, utilize file libraries, and connect with each other to find answers more efficiently, they'll be able to get accurate answers and helpful resources in the hands of customers more quickly. Happy customers deliver dividends in the areas of sales, customer support costs, and marketing. Reason #2: You Can Be Proactive in Serving CustomersIf a group of customer-facing employees is collaborating to find a solution to a specific customer's problem, managers and other employees can listen in to spot familiar patterns in the discussion and offer additional value based on experiences with other customers that could prevent further problems or the next set of issues for the customer in question. Reason #3: Your Teams Will Produce Less Duplicate ContentUsing less open platforms to address the needs of customers, such as email, leads to several problems. Often the employees that need information are not aware that a document has already been created to resolve a specific issue. This results in one group recreating a series of documents that have already been created by another group. This also leads to inaccurate information, incomplete documentation, and content based on outdated information because someone did not have access to the latest version. Reason #4: You'll Retain More Industry, Institutional, and Customer KnowledgeIn many corporations, employees are trained to purge their email inboxes to keep storage costs down. With the purge goes important information that can assist employees in helping customers in the future. In addition, information that walks out the door when an employee leaves the company costs organizations billions each year in rework, training, and industry knowledge. Giving teams collaborative spaces in your online customer community creates knowledge repositories that enables businesses to more easily transfer knowledge from employees leaving your company to people joining your organization. Reason #5: Searching For Information Adds CostMultiple reputable studies conclude that employees spend about 20-25% of their week searching for information, and they are only successful about half the time. That's one entire work day each week. That's 1/5 of your payroll expense going toward looking for information. Connecting employees in your online customer community could lower your unnecessary information-hunting costs significantly. Reason #6: Using a Single System Reduces InefficienciesBy using a single online community system where customers, employees and partners can collaborate with each other and among themselves, employees don't need to copy and paste customer community information and discussions into a separate employee social network where employees can't access all of the information they need about the issue to develop a solution. It is all within one system with familiar tools. The security and segmentation are just set up to allow for collaborative employee-only groups. Reason #7: Leadership Can Support Employees More EffectivelyIf your company is collaborating to solve customer problems, senior managers can spot trends more quickly to provide the human, content, and training resources to support their front line teams. Reason #8: Employees Expect It.Employees are already connecting and collaborating in their non-work lives. More and more employees expect to be able to find and share information as easily as they do on the consumer web. Online Community TakeawayThere are two takeaways here. First of all, empowering employees to collaborate privately in your online customer community platform increases productivity, better serves customers, and reduces frustration. Secondly, an important point made by Jacob Morgan in the ProCommunity interview is that "collaboration makes the world a better place." If you can make it easier for your employees to get their jobs done and get home to their families or other outside of work activities, you'll have a more passionate, engaged, and motivated team supporting your products, strategies, and customers. Photo credit: ralphbijker   |
| 8 London 2012 Olympic Twitter Moments You Might Have Missed Posted: 03 Aug 2012 09:15 AM PDT It's an American tradition. Every four years, we sit for two weeks in front of the TV and soak in as much Olympic energy as we can get. Conan O'Brien even joked, "Olympics can inspire American kids to get active. Or it can inspire American kids to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics." C'mon, rooting from the couch is a lot of work! Yet, there's something different about the London 2012 Olympics (and no I'm not talking about the location). According to Reuters, the 2012 London Olympics have been dubbed the "first social media Games." It's hard to believe, but it's the first time there's been such a heavy activity from fans and athletes on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram during the Games. During the Beijing Olympics, Twitter was in its infancy and Facebook had a mere 100 million followers. Now, Twitter sees 400 million tweets daily and Facebook has 900 million users. This year's London 2012 Olympic fans don't just watch their favorite athletes win or lose; they root for them through social networks and engage with them by sending heartfelt congratulations tweets and support—and the Olympians reciprocate. This level of connection between athletes and their fans has never been seen at a worldwide level. So what's a better way to show this interaction than tweets? Here's a taste of some of the most inspirational, funny, awesome, and well, not so cool tweets from the Olympics so far. 1. Olympic Teams pose with their gold medals. Who knew winning tasted so good?Dreams do come true :) instagr.am/p/NxitfPPuQJ/ — Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) August 1, 2012 We Did It!!!!! Gold Medal+Olympic Record! So Proud! @franklinmissy @arschmitty @s_vreeland @alyssaloo930 @loperdue #fb twitter.com/danavollmer/st… — Dana Vollmer (@danavollmer) August 2, 2012 Dreams DO come true. @rickyberens @ryanlochte @michaelphelps twitter.com/conorjdwyer/st… — Conor Dwyer (@conorjdwyer) July 31, 2012 2. Celebrities go gaga about the Olympics.heard @franklinmissy is a fan of mine. now im a fan of hers too. CONGRATS on winning GOLD! #muchlove — Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) July 31, 2012 the olympics is the best ever. but i went through a whole pack of tissues last night. watching hard working athletes achieve their dreams — Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) July 31, 2012 WOW ! what a moment. The Fab Five!!!!! #TeamUSA Gymnastics! — Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) August 1, 2012 3. Hello, Mr. President. Yes we won another gold medal.Photo of the day: President Obama congratulates the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team on their big win. twitter.com/BarackObama/st… — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 2, 2012 Thank you Mr. President!! It's an honor representing the #USA !! The best country in the world!! RT @barackobama: … tmi.me/ux7k2 — Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) August 1, 2012 Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record. You've made your country proud. -bo — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 1, 2012 4. Paul McCartney's pre-Opening Ceremony picture gets more than 15,000 Retweets.Minutes away now! twitter.com/PaulMcCartney/… — Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) July 27, 2012 5. Candid cameras at the Olympic Arenas take snapshots of the action.Can the real @ryanlochte please stand up. I'm getting confused down here. #London2012 twitter.com/L2012PoolCam/s… — L2012 Pool Camera (@L2012PoolCam) August 1, 2012 Whoooah, fellas, take it easy. #London2012 twitter.com/l2012bballcam/… — L2012 Basketball Cam (@l2012bballcam) August 1, 2012 This #Judo shot needs no words. The best kind of picture. #London2012 twitter.com/L2012MatCam/st… — L2012 Mat Cam (@L2012MatCam) July 30, 2012 6. Athletes protest Rule 40, a rule that bans them from mentioning their sponsors on Twitter.Goodnight World… Can anyone guess what'll be in my dreams. #Rule40 twitter.com/DHarp100mH/sta… — Dawn Harper (@DHarp100mH) July 30, 2012 I am honored to be an Olympian, but #WeDemandChange of #rule40. I can't tweet about my only sponsor. — Kara Patterson (@karathrowsjav) July 29, 2012 7. Users and athletes get banned for hate comments.Rileyy_69 was arrested in Great Britain after this malicious comment about American diver Tom Daley. Daley's father died from cancer a year ago. Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper, was banned from Twitter and kicked off her Olympic team after posting a racist tweet before the Olympics even began. "So many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food," Papachristou tweeted. Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella also made a racist tweet after the team lost to South Korea. "South Koreans "can go burn," calling them "a bunch of mongoloids,"" Morganella tweeted. He was promptly kicked out of the team and sent home. 8. Viewers criticize NBC coverage by using #NBCfail.NBC's coverage of the Olympics has been increasingly criticized, due to their inability to keep up with the times and post events online, delaying their coverage to primetime for ratings, censoring a piece during the opening ceremony because "it was not appropriate to the American public" and slightly incompetent anchors commenting on events. British journalist Guy Adams was banned from Twitter for criticizing the NBC network. He was kicked off for posting an email of an NBC representative. Since then, Twitter has reinstated him, apologizing for the rash move. And Adams’ ban from Twitter hasn't shut anyone up. breaking news. The winner for the girls gymnastics is known everywhere in the world except the US. Find out who in 9 hours #nbcfail. — Matthew Kiniorski (@mkiniorski) August 2, 2012 Awesome. Six ways NBC blew Olympic coverage #nbcfail (via @storify) bit.ly/Ovi8fR — Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) July 28, 2012 What are you favorite tweets from #London2012? [image: samsungtomorrow]   |
| PR and Social Media: A Beautiful Relationship Posted: 03 Aug 2012 09:05 AM PDT As a soon-to-be graduate and consistent PR intern, I've noticed some trends in the ever-changing communication industry that are applicable to PR professionals at all levels and suggest social media is an integral part of public relations. As the lead for press outreach for Social Media Day Detroit (Mashable), I experienced first-hand the value of social media. I was able to interact with radio DJ's, TV anchors and print media reporters who weren't responding to my calls or emails, but responded to tweets within minutes. Through this experience, I noticed things about social media that have altered my outlook and approach to communication as a PR professional. 1. PR VS. SM. Once separate. Now equal. A few years ago, the line was drawn between public relations and social media. While different communication strategies apply to these different mediums, the line is certainly blurring between careers in social media and in PR. In many companies, the two positions are interchangeable and skills from both areas are necessary in each job, but often on job search sites the two are listed as entirely different jobs. Social media has become so integrated into the daily life of the public relations professional that it is natural for them to use it for promotion, networking and branding. From personal experience, I noticed that reporters don't just report for the standard media outlets. They are on social media sites sharing stories, commenting on issues and finding new angles. By interacting with them online, a relationship often forms that is mutually beneficial. 2. SM > Email (sometimes) Generation Y-ers are often associated with (and sometimes blamed for) the digital revolution and the shift in communication preferences from phone to email. The preference has changed again, but this time to social media. While both phone and email are still relevant, social media has become a more efficient means of communication and increasingly, the first place PR professionals are looking to connect with others and research industry professionals. When I meet someone that I would like to stay in contact with, see an article that relates to my work, or want to stay up on what a particular person is doing, the first place I search to connect with someone is Twitter. Then I search for them on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. 3. Personal Branding Thanks to the growth and understood added value social media provides, personal branding has become a necessary way to prove your credibility and proficiency in the professional world. Job Titles matter less and instead, Google search results are what set people apart. Search any professional on Twitter and you'll be able to discern what each specializes in, what they're passionate about and if they're a person you'd like to be connected with. For example, during my internship with Livio, I was able to distinguish myself as social media savvy and enthusiastic soon-to-be college grad through my tweets, check-ins and even my blog posts. How does this help me in my career in public relations? It turns out that recruiters and reporters are using social media to learn about and contact me as much as I'm using it to learn about and talk to them. The more information I can offer, the better. Conclusion Many industries use social media and find it extremely useful and beneficial. It is the PR industry, though, that will continue to integrate social media into its job descriptions. It is the PR professionals that will be the ones successfully progressing the brands they work for and the relationships that coincide. Follow me on Twitter @LSzatkowski and connect with me on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraszatkowski.   |
| The Problem with Facebook Ads Might Be Bigger than Bots Posted: 03 Aug 2012 08:25 AM PDT A recent startup called Limited Run has been generating substantial buzz recently on the topic of Facebook advertising. Limited Run claimed that 80% of the clicks they received from running Facebook ads came from bots rather than real people. The startup posted an update on their Facebook page explaining the situation:
Limited Run deleted their Facebook page within the next couple of weeks and ditched Facebook all together, because, "they’re scumbags and we just don’t have the patience for scumbags." Them's fightin' words! The company will still have a social media presence, but they will stick to Twitter, where according to them, they don't have to worry about bots and B.S. I did some investigating, and found out that Limited Run's run-in with sketchy Facebook advertising is not a one-time deal. Search Engine Journal published an article on July 16 (before the Limited Run story gained national attention) in which Jake Filan describes his Facebook-advertising experience. A Second Suspicious Fake-Click SituationFilan ran an ad campaign for a Facebook fan page that increased the number of page likes from 100 to 900. His first thought: Facebook advertising is working! These numbers are certainly impressive. Yet, after a week of posting content to engage these new fans and capture the attention of more new fans, Filan found that each individual post received around the same number of "likes" as before the ad campaign. The page's number of fans rose dramatically, but engagement and participation levels remained unchanged. Filan examined the individual profiles of these alleged new fans. What he found was shady and suspicious. The "people" who were liking the page had inactive Facebook profiles with no substantial information and had liked (in some cases) upwards of 11,000 pages. This is more than cause for suspicion. Filan found that some accounts liked pages at a rate of more than 500 per month. It's worth noting that the majority of people (75%) like between only two and ten brands on Facebook. He concluded that people use bots and compromised accounts to sell actions in Facebook. These accounts go on frequent, rampant liking sprees in an attempt to, as Filan says, "diversify their activity history" and "randomize any patterns." And, bottom line, to avoid getting kicked to the social media curb. They don't want these accounts banned from Facebook, so they like tens of thousands of pages. These two examples don't inspire any confidence in Facebook advertising. They're Facebook advertising horror stories. Companies who receive clicks from bots are not any further along as far as brand awareness, consumer base, and company growth, and they're out on time, money, and resources. Reading the accounts of Limited Run and Filan would shake anyone's faith in Facebook ads, and it might even inspire people to run far, far away from advertising on the largest social media site. Also, in May, General Motors, the third-largest advertiser in the country, scrapped its $10 million Facebook budget. These examples raise the question: do Facebook ads even work? Do Facebook Ads Work?For its 2011-2012 Search & Social Survey, Greenlight surveyed 500 people to discern how people use Facebook. The findings:
An AP-CNBC poll found that:
Reuters found that:
However, a Wall Street Journal article, "The Big Doubt Over Facebook," reports that when Ford used Facebook ads instead of Super Bowl ads to market the 2011 Explorer, shopping activity for the Explorer jumped 104%, as opposed to the average increase of 14% following a Super Bowl ad. I also discovered a story on Mashable about a Facebook ad success story. Brendan Irvine-Broque, Director of Growth for PageLever, wrote a post on his personal blog in which he states that Facebook ads helped him make $10,000 in a single day. Irvine-Broque states that he spent $150 on ads to publicize a vintage-vinyl-record sale he planned to hold at his home. After three weeks of running the event ads, 341 people had RSVP'd as "attending" and 104 people RSVP'd as "maybes." These real people actually showed up at Irvine-Broque's home, and he made $10,000 in cash. His point: Facebook ad clicks come from real people, not bots. Of course, Irvine-Broque admits he's biased, because he works for a company that derives its entire raison d'être from Facebook: PageLever is the leading provider of Facebook Analytics for global brands. There is a lot of evidence out there to suggest that Facebook ads don't work, but there are some success stories as well. The Limited Run story has generated a lot of discussion, and I think it's very easy to use this one instance (possibly coupled with GM's abandonment of Facebook ads) to conclude that ads don't work. And maybe they don't in the majority of cases. But, they do for some people. I think it's hard to reach a general consensus about Facebook ads, because it's hard to compare an ad run by a start-up music site like Limited Run to an ad promoting a vinyl-record sale. Yet, I think there is an underlying problem with Facebook ads in general. Ads and Facebook are not an obvious or natural combination. Ads and Facebook are conflicting more than they are complementary. Let me explain. Why FB Ads Don't (and Won't) WorkNumerous people have spoken out against Facebook ads, and I think they have very valid points. Joseph Perla wrote a much-talked-about article entitled "Facebook Is a Ponzi Scheme." In the article, he states:
This is a controversial, adamant statement, and many people would contest Perla's utter denunciation of Facebook ads. People spend money to advertise on the site because they believe it works. Contesting a sense of faith in the power of Facebook ads (which are inextricably linked to time and cash, two things people don't want to believe they are wasting) can get messy. Facebook-ad proponents will crawl out of the digital woodwork and emerge from behind their computer screens to say that dismissing ads is senseless. But, I think that Perla has an excellent point. Facebook is by nature social, not commercial. I don't log on to Facebook to be bombarded by ads; I log on to connect with my friends. If I search for a book or clothing item on Google, I may very well be in buying mode: I'm willing, and ready, to make a purchase. When I visit Facebook however, I'm not in a money-centric mindset; I want to get the latest updates on my friends and family, peruse photos, or write on someone's wall. Consumerism and cash are not on my mind. WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell echoes a very similar sentiment in an article published in The Guardian. He says:
Sorrell's statement reminds me of something I heard while recently watching a special on Mark Zuckerberg on MSNBC. Zuckerberg said that the purpose of Facebook is to connect people. He actually said something very similar to shareholders recently: he stated that “Facebook was originally not created to be a company…It was built to accomplish a social mission—to make the world more open and connected.” Zuckerberg's statement on the original purpose of Facebook surprised me. People talk about Facebook all the time: from a friend's recent status update to a family member's photo album to going offline to avoid an unexpected Facebook chat assault by that not-so-special someone, Facebook is part of our everyday dialogue. The site even has a unique jargon that has become part of contemporary vernacular. Facebook has seen tremendous growth, but to hear Zuckerberg cut through all of the millions and millions of users and zero in on the one idea behind the site's creation was interesting. It's not often that I hear Facebook boiled down to a single, specific purpose. Mo' Money, Mo' ProblemsIf Facebook is by nature a social site designed to foster a more connected world, what does this mean for advertising? Well, Facebook is in a tough spot, because the site has grown so much that it needs to employ programmers, designers, executives (oh hey, Sheryl Sandberg!), and various other staff. Therefore, the site needs to make money. That's where advertising comes in. Ads represent the main source of Facebook's revenue. According to the New York Times, Facebook generated $3.7 billion in 2011, 85% of which came from advertising. Yet, according to people like Perla and Sorrell, advertising conflicts with the fundamental nature of Facebook. Sorrell says the inserting commercial messages into an inherently social space is detrimental. Can Facebook stay true to its original purpose while simultaneously making money through advertisement? Is advertising muddling up the original purpose of Facebook? Can a social medium have commercial elements? Why Can't We All Just Get Along?Facebook certainly makes it seem that socialization and advertising can get along. Facebook is clearly trying its best to integrate the social aspect of the site with advertising as seamlessly as possible. It thinks social and commercial aspects can coexist rather than conflict. Facebook even features a page titled "Advertising on Facebook" that reads like a mini commercial on behalf of ads. Facebook first presents ad as a necessary evil: "from the beginning, the people who built Facebook wanted it to be free for everyone. It now costs over a billion dollars a year to run Facebook, and delivering ads is how Facebook pays for this." But, then they try to make ads not seem so bad. After all, they're personalized, and people can impact the ads they see: "Spot something that doesn't interest you? Click the X and it's gone." How bad can something that makes a free Facebook possible and that vanishes with the click of a mouse really be? (Oh, and in case you were wondering, the rumor that Facebook sells people's names and contact info to make money is false, according to Facebook's own version of Mythbusters.) Facebook tries to meld social and commercial elements together so that the ads we see aren't so random, nonsensical, and invasive. Hence, sponsored stories. If one of my Facebook friends likes a page or interacts with a brand by posting on its wall, that company can pay money so that I will see this like or this interaction. Here are a few examples from my Facebook page: Both of these posts showed up in my news feed, because Walmart and Subway have both paid for sponsored stories. The key here is that Walmart and Subway promote themselves through my friends. The theory is that I have faith in the opinions of my friends and I trust their recommendations, so if my friend likes a brand, I will be more inclined to like them as well. A random stranger liking the Subway page means nothing to me, but if my friends like the page, then this brand becomes relevant to me. Sponsored stories allow businesses to tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which research has proven is extremely powerful. They're (seemingly) beneficial for businesses, but also (seemingly) beneficial for consumers. If Facebook ads are necessary in order to keep the site free, at least I'm not bombarded with irrelevant, pointless ads. These ads connect to me in some way through my friends. This is a nice effort on Facebook's part to integrate the commercial aspect of Facebook into the social aspect, but ads are still ads, whether they're shrouded in sociability or not. Forecasting the FutureThe real question is: where does Facebook go from here? The Limited Run story is one more crack in the foundation of Facebook's credibility. And, there have been a lot of stories running recently about the erosion of Facebook integrity, the inability to trust ads, etc. I wanted to see if blasting Facebook ads is the equivalent of jumping on the bandwagon, or if all these anti-Facebook remarks are empty words. I looked at social media ad spending, but found conflicting reports, so it's hard to say if Facebook has something to worry about. One report predicted that global ad spending on social media platforms will increase tremendously over the next four years. Yet, Forbes ran an article last month that reported agencies and brands are devoting less attention to Facebook compared to just three months ago. Also, a report from IDC found Facebook's advertising growth fell by more than half to 30% in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, Facebook's stock price dropped to a new low. I think Facebook obviously needs to address the Limited Run situation; but I also think they need to speak to advertising on the site in general. And yes, I'm aware they already put out a statement, but I'm talking about something other than using a lame word like "miscommunication." Also, I think it's worth noting that Facebook became the wildly popular entity it is today due to people flocking to the site because of what Facebook offered them socially, not commercially. See, this tweet: I don't know how much Facebook can do about the nosey old women, though. (view original post via Mainstreethost)   |
| Why People Outsource SEO in the Philippines Posted: 03 Aug 2012 08:20 AM PDT SEO is a process that would require you to spend a lot of time with, and there are a lot of other things that you need to consider in order to be successful with it. This is the reason why there are some people who would prefer to simply get a company that can help them optimize their website for search engines. The question is why are there more businesses that prefer to outsource SEO in the Philippines instead of getting services from other countries? Outsourcing means that you are going to get a third party who will be working on something for your business. Either you get a group of people or you simply get someone who can do everything for you. SEO is one of the most popular fields where outsourcing is very advisable, because this will allow you to change your team whenever the results that you are expecting are not up to par. But why do you need to get SEO services in the Philippines and what are the advantages that you can expect from them? The main reason why more and more companies are getting SEO services in the Philippines is because they are known for high quality work and low pricing structure. If you are going to compare the prices that will be charged by other SEO experts in other countries with the service fees of SEO experts in the Philippines, the price will be lower by as much as 50%. This means that you can expect the same rate for the service, but you will be spending less than what you have allotted for your search engine optimization campaign. For example, if a company in other country charges $1,000 dollars for a month of SEO campaign, you will be able to find an SEO service in the Philippines that has the same offer for only $500 per month. If you have a budget of $10,000 for your SEO campaign, getting the service from other countries will only give you 10 months of service, whereas services in the Philippines can provide you with their services for 20 months with the same results and the same investment. This will allow you to get better value for the money that you will be spending and still be able to maintain the rank of your website for a longer period of time. The second reason is that most Filipinos are well versed and fluent in the English language. Well it's no surprise because English is one of the country's main languages. When outsourcing your SEO to the Philippines, it mostly includes article writing which can be easily done by most Filipinos who have a decent education. Communication is also another factor, a lot of foreigners doesn't have any problems interacting with their employees simply because they can speak English decently which is very important when outsourcing. So outsourcing your SEO in the Philippines won't just lessen your expenses, you also won't have problems with language barriers unlike most countries. The only thing that you need to do is to make sure that you are going to work with a company that is reliable and has proven that their services can really deliver great results. There are already a lot of people, who have suffered from a lot of problems, just because they weren't able to choose the one who can give them what they need. So if you are looking for SEO in the Philippines, it would be better if you are going to check the credentials, experience, and knowledge of the team before you even start working with them.   |
| Log into Digg with Facebook… Without Letting Digg Auto-Post Crap! Posted: 03 Aug 2012 08:05 AM PDT Stop The "Social Reader" Insanity!I strongly believe that auto-posting access should remain user controlled (and decided)… So Digg's recent move to not only require a Facebook login but to integrate their social reader into the permissions settings irks me. Many site readers are actively pushing back against the new Facebook Social Readers! Fortunately, there's a way to log into Digg with Facebook while keeping it on a very short leash! How To Sign Into Digg with Facebook (While Controlling The Permissions)Steps to sign into Digg with Limited Facebook authorization: 1. Click Sign In… and then "Sign in with Facebook" (Your only option…) 2. Set auto-posting visibility to a setting of your choice. As I don't want it spamming my profile friends, I selected "Only Me" in the dropdown. Click "Login With Facebook" 3. On the additional permissions page, click the "X" and remove the permission for it to write to your wall. Then click the "Skip" button. 4. Now that you have Digg on a short leash, in the upper right hand corner, in the drop-down menu, select "Settings" and adjust your email address to a preferred email address for communications from Digg. Decide that you need to adjust Digg's permissions or remove it altogether?You will find it under the tiny drop-down in your upper right corner… then click on "Account Settings" and then, on the left, click on "Apps"
Now, to the right, you will see an "X" which will give you a "Remove Digg?" dialog. Alternatively, you will see an edit which allows you to adjust the publishing permissions and notifications from this app. Thoughts: Digg's recent minimalistic redesign has a lot of changes including the mandatory Facebook login system. Even after carefully blocking their social reading app functionality… I find myself really annoyed that my old profile is not attached to my new one. Even though it's possible to request access to your old Digg data, it's just a layer of headache I wish were not involved. It really begs the question of whether they've finally killed Digg. Have you checked out the new Digg format yet? Do you use Digg?   |
| Making Google+ Worth Your Time Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:55 AM PDT This morning I had a conversation with a friend about Google+ and it's a conversation I used to have about Twitter. I used to say this to people about Twitter, and now I find people have exactly the same issue with Google+. They expect to sign up and immediately be inundated with vibrant, intelligent conversation! That's not how a social network works though. On these kinds of networks you have to find people who are engaging and interesting as sources of conversation and listen, then talk back to them. So here's how to do that for Google+. If you think about it for a moment you'll see it also applies to pretty much any social network, including Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin and many others. Get set Share Comment and share some more Get rhythm. 10 people to circle who will add value to your experience Stefan Svartling Is a wonderful curator of all things geeky and tech. He loves to test Mac apps too and being a Mac geek that appeals to me. Steve Farnsworth Has lots of good tips about social media, marketing, PR and business. He calls it "New School Marketing". Debra Askanase Is on top of what's going on in the non profit sector and online community building. Stephanie Wanamaker Always has an interesting tidbit of news about films and music. Louis Gray I can't say enough about Louis. He's super smart, his blog is a gold mine of knowledge and yesterday, it turns out, he shared his "top 99″ people circle. Go add that circle now and you're well on your way to having great stuff to talk about on Google+. Thomas Hawke Is an amazing photographer and his stream is full of beautiful shots that will brighten your day. Share them with your friends and brighten their days too. Corvida Raven Another technophobe and founder of SheGeeks.net, she's always ahead of the curve on the latest geek news and she posts thoughtful commentaries. Mahei Foliaki The "chief happiness officer" he is. Mahei shares great fun stuff and he is generous in sharing other people's posts and actually KQED Science What's not to love about this stream? I learn something new every day. Catherine Laplace-Builhe Speaking of science I'm fascinated with Physics and Astrophotography and Catherine posts some pretty cool stuff. Hey, and if none of these people float your particular boat, check out the Public Circles Database where you can find out who has circled you, share a circle with the world and browse for ready made circles of people who just might be interesting. Last but not least, if you're thinking of dipping your toe into Google Hangouts, go download my Google+ Hangout Cheat Sheet. It will give you the basics you need to know to get up to speed before the Fantasy Football draft starts.   |
| Facebook’s 5 New Features and Product Updates Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:50 AM PDT Earlier this summer, Facebook released a slew of new features, as well as update to several of its existing products. Now they've done it again. Since July 26th there have been several reports detailing Facebook's newest features and updates. Here's a roundup of them all: 1. Facebook photos: This week Facebook's Emily Grewal announced improvements the the photos section. This upgrade makes viewing photos more "enjoyable" because photos can now be selected and made bigger. Also, users can now customize the showcase of their photos through the "star button" option which allows starred photos to stand out. July 30th Facebook began rolling out this feature.
2. Recommendations bar: On Thursday of last week Facebook announced the launch of its new social-plugin: the Recommendations Bar. According to Jeffrey Spehar of Facebook, the new social-plugin "helps people find articles based on what their friends like and share from your site." For instance, when a person reads an article or post on your site, a small pop-up will appear at the bottom of the screen highlighting other recommended articles and prompting the reader to Like the page. Based on the content that a users' friends have Liked and shared in your app or website, recommendations are determined.
3. Enhanced Page post targeting: There's been a lot talk of a new Facebook feature that allows Page administrators to target their posts by various criteria. Reportedly only a selected number of Pages are trying out the new functionality. In the next couple of weeks when the feature becomes available for all Pages, Page administrators will be given the option to target their Facebook posts to certain fans in the news feed according to gender, age, location, language, interests, education, relationship status and more. 4. Comments can no longer be marked as spam: Although gone unnoticed by many Page administrators, the option to mark comments as spam is no longer available. Instead Page administrators only have the option to delete a comment, undo the deletion, report a comment, or ban a user. 5. "Save for Later": According to a source mentioned by AllFacebook.com Facebook is currently rolling out both a mobile and desktop feature that allows users to save friends' posts for later reading. The feature will allow users to press and hold onto a Facebook post to save it for later— users will also have the option to click a "save" button that will be featured at the bottom of each post. All saved stories will appear in users' favorites folder. Check out the new "save" button in the image below. Images courtesy of AllFacebook, iMore and The Verge. What is your favorite of Facebook's newly added features?   |
| Don’t Get Burned: Know What Your Customers Are Saying Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:45 AM PDT We've all seen it happen in social media. A brand makes a statement or change to a policy and suddenly–a viral onslaught of disapproval. It can begin anywhere online with just one disgruntled customer. It's important to monitor conversation about your brand so that if there is ever a problem, you can tackle it head-on. Now you may be thinking, "how do I know what my customers are saying online?" And that's a valid question. After all, you might not be getting everything you need just from a quick Twitter search (you're doing that, right?). But social plays a big part in finding out how customers feel about your services/products, customer service, policies and more. First, we'll discuss tools that can help you and secondly, we'll discuss tactics for online reputation management. Tools: 1. Set up a Google alert. Any time someone mentions your brand (and it's crawled by the search engine), it will show up in your alert. You can choose to get these alerts in real time or just once a day/week. 2. Look into social media management tools. These tools (like Hootsuite or Sprout Social) can help you monitor and better understand what people are saying about you via the social platforms. 3. Paid options (which will be discussed in more detail later in the series) like Radian 6 can also bring new depth to your understanding of customer conversation… as long as you can aggregate it properly. Tactics: You've found what your customers are saying; now what? 1. Every complaint is an opportunity. What is this person really upset about? Is it something you can fix? How might you be able to turn a bad situation into a beneficial one? Chobani's Facebook page is full of love from fans, but also occasionally gets peppered with complaints about a bad yogurt. What does Chobani do? Send the customer in question a shout-out and a coupon. It instantly turns the customer from unhappy to happy, maybe even brand advocate. 2. Every accolade is a chance to promote. Some brands will ignore a fan that celebrates them. But why not promote that compliment by using it in a Facebook ad campaign or [at least] re-tweeting? Word of mouth works both ways and can often lead to positive brand awareness. 3. Listen and refine. Listening to social conversation can often give your brand insight on how to improve customer satisfaction. It could be something small like offering free coffee in a waiting room. It could also be something big like product refinement or development. No longer do we have to wait for test groups. People are volunteering their opinions and information about your brand right now in online public forums. Shouldn't you be listening?   |
| Twelve Angry Men (and Women): When Tweeters Can’t Control Themselves (pt. 2) Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:30 AM PDT Yesterday we posted the first half of our countdown of the twelve angriest celebs on Twitter – those men and women who just can't keep their comments to themselves when they really should. Here are the final six, including the winner of the 'award' for angriest celeb tweeter. Enjoy. 6/ Kanye West and fashion Kanye West is not known for keeping his mouth shut at the best of times but he is normally fairly quiet on Twitter. However, when he does post, it is usually pretty entertaining. A prime example of this was his bizarre fashion rant back in May, which consisted of a series of tweets about clothing that he 'hates', such as "button up shirts with hoodies", "khaki trench coats with jeans" and "big ass striped scarves". All of which he saw within five blocks whilst driving, apparently. We're thinking Kanye was in a bad mood that day. Or maybe he just really does hate khaki cargo shorts. We'll never know. 5/ Professor Green and journalists Rap artist Professor Green has had several angry explosions on Twitter in the past few months, usually involving comments made about his girlfriend, Made in Chelsea 'star' Millie Mackintosh. Apparently, people (journalists) had been doubting his 'street cred' now he that he is dating Mackintosh, prompting Green to tweet a series of somewhat boastful and immature thoughts about it, which together formed this golden nugget: "i love hearing i've lost my 'street cred' for two reasons. 1. the people writing these stories work for the least credible sources of information in the world. 2. have you seen my mrs? i don't get told i'm losing my 'street cred' (who the f*** even says 'street cred'?), i get high fives. apologies for living a life that is, by all accounts, #sick. can't wait for the day i tie one of these journalists to a tree on northwold." Bragging in such a gentlemanly style about your true love to millions of people is definitely a good move. Or not. 4/ Tulisa Contostavlos and her fans It wouldn't be fair to just pick on the men – especially as female celebs seem just as inclined as the men to air their grievances on Twitter – so we thought we would include ex-N-Dubz singer Tulisa as our second woman on the list. Tulisa lost thousands of followers after tweeting a string of expletives in a state of drunken euphoria. The tweet in question said: "N as 4 all u fuckin haters…u can kiss my fuckin ass #gettingpaid #bothered? Gdsgdhdhdhdh hahaha" This was soon followed by another tweet acknowledging the loss of followers using the hashtag '#fuckem'. Classy lady. 3/ Ricky Gervais and the religious Ricky Gervais is somewhat addicted to Twitter. He often spends hours retweeting, replying to, arguing with and blocking followers who insult or disagree with him. Anyone is potentially in the firing line, but Gervais particularly likes to wind up his religious followers. As a staunch atheist, Gervais often discusses his view of religion in his tweets, and enjoys a giood debate with those who disagree. Back in December last year, Gervais took on some fundamentalists. More recently, Gervais continues to tweet sentiments such as "Everyone has the right to believe anything they want. And everyone else has the right to find it fucking ridiculous" and often retweets people complaining about his views. Gervais doesn't really care who he offends, often pointing out that people don't have to follow him. It seems he just enjoys being a wind-up merchant. Well, he is a comedian, after all. 2/ Boy George and the photographer Now, if you are a celebrity – say, a slightly eccentric '80s singer – you might expect to be photographed when performing, and for those photos to be published. Apparently not if you're Boy George. The singer had a bizarre moment of rage when he replied to a tweet by photographer Nicolas Chinardet promoting some photos of him performing at WorldPride in London. George complained that he did not give Chinardet 'permission to shoot' the photos and 'then put them online'. Chinardet asserted that he had a press pass to the event. Boy George proceeded to hurl abuse at the photographer in a series of tweets, such as "if you are shit photographer keep your work to yourself or get a fucking ladder". It seems that the angle of the photos was the main gripe, with George saying "I might be in full war paint with a big glittery hat cocked to one side but that don't mean I am ready for my close up! Fuck off!" He continued with the rant and then blocked the photographer. Nothing quite like having a hissy fit in public. The photos aren't even that bad in our opinion. 1/ Charlie Sheen and…well, everyone Well, it had to be didn't it … king of ranting Charlie Sheen is our top angry celeb tweeter. His infamous streams of nonsensical tweets have made the former Two and a half men star wildly popular on Twitter. The star joined the site in March last year, apparently acting on a suggestion by Piers Morgan, and gained 1.8 million followers within five days. Those followers witnessed the train wreck that was Sheen's self proclaimed 'breakdown'. In case you are unaware (i.e. living under a rock), Sheen's joining of Twitter came shortly after a round of bizarre TV interviews following his sacking from his TV show after criticising his bosses. In these interviews he claimed he was on a drug called 'Charlie Sheen' and somewhere along the way coined the catchphrases 'plan better', 'winning' and 'tiger blood'. His first tweet upon joining the twitterverse was a photo of him and girlfriend Bree Olson holding up some chocolate and fruit drinks with the caption "Winning! Choose your vice". There are far too many bizarre tweets for us to reproduce here, but good examples are time he accidently tweeted his own phone number, and this not particularly gentlemanly tweet. A moment of anger also resulted in a tweet directed at ex-wife Denise Richards that said "we must bombard with Warlock Napalm, that traitor and loser whore #DUH-needs POOR-ards. A vile kidnapper and now dog thief. hate. SBW c". Unfortunately, Sheen recently deleted his Twitter account, leaving his 8 million followers with a Charlie-Sheen-shaped hole in their Twitter feed. Perhaps they can soften the pain of the loss with this bizarre song by his girlfriend, which was recently released. In conclusion … celebrities really should know better than to take to Twitter to air their grievances, but it seems that many of them enjoy their little spats. Plus, they're entertaining the masses (and us), so we won't complain. A final note …we wish that this was a genuine tweet from Will Ferrell. He definitely would've got top marks from us.   |
| LinkedIn Photos Speak Volumes, What Are Your Employees Saying? Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:20 AM PDT LinkedIn profile photos: How do they reflect on your company? Social media is all about being social, right? However, as in many instances in life, there is a time and place for everything. Some photos are best left out social media profiles, and some photos should never be used as an avatar. Which became evidently clear today as I was browsing LinkedIn. LinkedIn proclaims to have "50 million+ members in their professional network" which encourages users to "manage (their) professional identity." The thing is, looking at many of the photos on LinkedIn, I am not certain some folks are doing that. That could certainly affect their professional appearance, but may also become a challenge for the company they work for. A picture says a thousand words, so how are your employees presenting themselves, and your company? If I were giving advice to someone new to LinkedIn, I would suggest that their profile picture represent how they might look and dress for a first interview. Careful consideration in choosing a photo should be taken. Individuals might consider:
Take for example, how you might expect a professional golfer to look. A golfer showing up at a tournament wearing jeans and a ratty tee would be looked at differently than the golfer sporting a certain green jacket or at least one that is wearing a coordinated golf ensemble. Now consider the LinkedIn profile photos of your employees. Do the photos they use reflect positively on your company? Now, I am not suggesting that a "photo" dictator is chosen for your company. No one necessarily needs to direct what your employees say and do, however policing your own brand is a smart idea. How would you like your company to be seen on LinkedIn? Is there anything that can be done to create a stronger, more professional company image? There sure is! When I was a blogging contributor for a local publication, I was asked to come into the office for a "photo shoot". The photo that was produced was then used for my by-line. Hiring a photographer afforded the company that I was representing a certain amount of conformity and also controlled their brand. Depending on what your company does may allow for a certain leniency toward what's "appropriate" (i.e. Like PWB using branded cartoon avatars) for profile photos. I wouldn't suggest an owner of a tattoo parlor identify themselves as an individual in a business suit, unless it made sense to do so. In fact showing off some of their body art may be appropriate. Managing photos that represent your company is food for thought and may offer additional benefits. Professional photos put a polished look on a company, and using these photos for marketing, directory listings, press releases or on your company website may be added benefits. Have you ever considered how your brand ambassadors are representing you on LinkedIn? You should.   |
| Social Media Software and Market Consolidation Posted: 03 Aug 2012 06:25 AM PDT
There is one area of social media that is still out of reach from a lot of customers: analytics You see, we're currently in state where social media is still hard to tie into the bottom line. Yet there are many social media analytics software services that can do the hard work, some better than others, but the price points are pretty much out of reach for many small businesses. That's the obvious challenge. The second challenge is that in order to tie social media to the bottom line, you have to connect social data to a customer relationship (CRM) software package. The CRM market is dominated by a few, but there are numerous products on the market that essentially do the same thing, not to mention all of the custom built solutions. What if these types of analytics were seamlessly integrated into a current web analytics service (cough cough Google Analytics). You could then tie all of the data into a CRM from a single source (clear throat..Google Analytics). Oh yea did I mention Google Analytics is free? If you're a small business, and you're not using a CRM, then I'm not sure how you're following through and reporting on sales. For small businesses that are, the acquisition of a social media analytics service would be the next logical step in the consolidation of a multi-billion dollar industry. I would love to see Google make another acquisition, just like they did with Wildfire. What do you think? Should Google buy a social media analytics company that integrates with its analytics service?   |
| Seaspan Ship Management, Excellent B2B Engagement On Facebook Posted: 03 Aug 2012 06:20 AM PDT Seaspan Ship Management Ltd., the largest independent containership owners in the world, is using Facebook to showcase its culture and influence youngsters to join them. The effectiveness of the world's largest social network, Facebook is defined by the way we use it. However, most of us have the notion that with Facebook being more of a personal space, it is a perfect platform for B2C engagement. But the truth is that B2B companies can use Facebook effectively as we have seen some brilliant examples earlier such as Aditi Technologies, Capegemini, etc. Seaspan Ship Management (SSM), with a community of more than 50K on Facebook, is the latest example to disprove the myth that Facebook is not the right platform for B2B. SSM, a global company having operations in Vancouver, Mumbai, etc. joined Facebook in October, 2011. The primary reason for its flourishing community can be attributed to its clear-cut objective on Facebook. Objective to be on FacebookSSM's Facebook page clearly states it's objective – the Facebook page focuses primarily on Seaspan seafarers and recruits. Welcome to Seaspan Ship Management Ltd.'s Facebook Page. Seaspan welcomes everyone to join us on Facebook, but keep in mind that most of the content on this page is for Seaspan seafarers and recruits. The company walks one step ahead stating clearly that most of the content would be aligned with its objective. Companies that are planning to jump onto social media should brainstorm on why they should be present on a particular network and simultaneously think what is their objective on it. Businesses need to be very clear in defining objectives first before thinking about strategies. If one understands this then one can drive a meaningful community like SSM is doing at present on Facebook. Strategy Implemented on Facebook1. Focused Content: From day one i.e. November 11, 2011, SSM has focused majorly on the content. The content shared is focused on revealing the company culture, achievements by employees and sharing the fun side along with major developments. In short, as a fan of SSM you would be reading content that was promised unlike random updates from Bollywood, Cricket, etc. that I come across regularly in most of the brand pages. Nevertheless, the secret to awesome content lies in your objective that I've highlighted before. In addition to this, SSM keeps mixing its content so that fans don't get bored, keeping in mind the objective. The below screen grab is one such example: SSM also makes sure to share content showing the achievements of its employees as seen in the below screen grab: This helps boost the morale of the employees leading to positive word of mouth since the employee will be sharing or talking about it with his friends or colleagues. In addition to this, it also highlights that the company respects and rewards its employees, thereby motivating others to join too. Social media is all about being transparent and real rather than emoting someone else. 2. Right choice of apps: Having Facebook apps is not a must but having the ones that either make sense only to the developers or are not tested properly will fail to have eyeballs. So if you want your fans to spend time on Facebook apps, then there is one more lesson to be learnt from SSM's Facebook apps. SSM has a set of simple Facebook apps that are quite essential. Apps like 'Contact Us', 'Community', 'Apply Now', etc. fulfills Seaspan's objective on Facebook. Apps like this help to bridge the gap between brand and its fans. Out of these apps, 'Our Culture' stands out since it talks about the culture of the company in the form of videos. The app which has two videos for now, is good way of showcasing the company's culture and I am sure SSM will add more with time. 3. Effective engagement: Simply having a presence is not the need of the hour but it is about responding to the community you have. At the same time, engagement doesn't mean responding to each and every comment posted by fans. The idea should be responding to the ones that are rational and need a look. SSM is well aware of this art of engagement. SSM definitely has raised the bar for effective engagement for a B2B company. I wish more B2B companies follow the footsteps of SSM and be open so that fans can reach out easily. These are still early days but I can sense that the intent is there for others too.   |
| How To Protect Yourself When Social Media Channels Become The Bully Posted: 03 Aug 2012 06:05 AM PDT
What am I talking about?I'm talking about Twitter's attempt to wrongfully silence journalist Guy Adams for voicing his discontent with NBC for their constant #fails in covering the 2012 Olympics. Adams tweeted about the lot of #NBCfails and included the corporate email address of Gary Zenkel, the NBC executive in charge of the network's Olympic coverage, asking his followers to send Zenkel an email. Shortly after this, Adams discovered that his Twitter account had been suspended on account of him violating Twitter's terms stating that tweets are not to contain the private information of other users, though what Adams tweeted was Zenkel's corporate information, which is easily accessible throughout the web. As the story unfolded further, we learned that NBC had not been the one to initially see Adams' tweet, that Twitter had in fact seen it first and contacted NBC's social media department asking them if they would like to submit a formal complaint against Adams, and guiding them through the process. "If what NBC is saying is true, it undermines everything that Twitter stands for and is an absolute disgrace and will aggravate many millions of its users," Adams told The Daily Telegraph. "Their whole corporate ethos is that they never interfere with the flow of tweets. Something has gone very very wrong here." It's a sad day when you discover that a social media platform is abusing its power and defeating the whole point behind social media, because they, as Adams put it, " are in some sort cahoots" with another brand. *Note: Yesterday evening, Twitter restored Adams' account and released an official statement and apology. See the bottom of this post for the full update. What is going on?Some big companies, organizations and now social media channels themselves are beginning to censor and bully on social media – and this is unacceptable behaviour. As many social media users do, I believe and advocate free speech, the voice of the people, open and honest communications and a network of platforms that enable every single person to those rights – not bully, censor or hypocritically attempt to erase the voices of those who contradict them. Social media crisis communications 101: Do not delete negative comments simply because they oppose you. Twitter has teamed up with NBC for the Olympic coverage and apparently their own rules and ethics had flown out the window…Which leads me to another question: Should social media platforms be permitted to team up with other companies or organizations in such a way, or should it fall under the category of the journalistic ethics that state that there should be a wall between the editorial and advertising departments? What if it happens to you?Considering for a moment that this type of behaviour will continue to happen, from time to time, down the road, what can you and I do to protect ourselves from falling victims to this sort of bullying – and not allow ourselves to lose our voice in the process?
Update on Guy Adams' Twitter suspension: Twitter unsuspended Adam's account yesterday, in the early evening and released this statement as their official statement to the issue. Within this statement they state that: "we do not proactively report or remove content on behalf of other users no matter who they are. This behavior is not acceptable and undermines the trust our users have in us. We should not and cannot be in the business of proactively monitoring and flagging content, no matter who the user is — whether a business partner, celebrity or friend. As of earlier today, the account has been unsuspended, and we will actively work to ensure this does not happen again." I, for one, was quite glad to read this and can only hope that they have learned their lesson and keep to their word. Either way, we're glad to have you back, Guy! What do you think of this whole issue / situation? I've posed a number of questions within this post, and I know you have some thoughts on the subject! I welcome you to share your thoughts with me below.   |
dia company everyone assumed would dominate Wall Street, LinkedIn is doing a fantastic job. CNBC shared an interesting statistic: "Facebook shares hit a low of $19.91 on Thursday, losing almost half of their value since the company's IPO at $38 in May." That's quite a slide in two months. In fact, the 
The basic premise behind enterprise online communities has two parts:
Once you're in Account Settings -> Apps, locate "Digg" in your list of apps in the center column.
Photo courtesy of Facebook's newsroom
Photo courtesy of Facebook's newsroom
Photo courtesy of Facebook's newsroom
You would think that the social media software industry's consolidation is done with all the 
Yesterday I wrote about the attempt some companies and organizations have been making at limiting and withholding whatever they can on social media. So imagine my shock and frustration when I learned that Twitter, an actual social media platform, has been doing the same thing!| 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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