In the continuing battle for strong online presence, Twitter is by far the most important weapon in your social media arsenal. More than half the world uses the social media platform. To be able to successfully tap into that community can make all the difference for your brand or business. For this week’s Saturday Link [...]
In the continuing battle for strong online presence, Twitter is by far the most important weapon in your social media arsenal. More than half the world uses the social media platform. To be able to successfully tap into that community can make all the difference for your brand or business. For this week’s Saturday Link Round Up, we’ve assembled a list of great articles that can help your get Twitter working for you, from the best way to compose your tweets to proper use of hashtags.
Remember that Twitter is still considered more as a personal microblogging platform than as marketing medium. Send off the wrong vibes and you just might end up being ignored, even rejected, rather than followed. Twitterism provides some great advice on how to write the perfect tweet.
Retweets and @replies breathe life into your Twitter. They make your account more personal and approachable. In excess, however, they reflect the opposite image. AJ Vaynerchuk’s tips, though old are not outdated. Except maybe, “RT” is more practical to use than “Retweet:” as a label.
Mashable has always been one of our favorite sources for social media news and wisdom. Here, Mashable contributor Josh Catone sheds some light on the popular function known as hashtags and how they can be utilized to build your business.
One hashtag twitter trend that has turned into an entity all its own is #FollowFriday. Michaelé Harrington presents how participating in the cult trend can help boost your online presence.
There are pros and cons in scheduling tweets. The cons only show up when you exploit the function too much. Here, Kiesha Easley shares here solution for scheduling tweets without the risk of losing followers.
While there’s something that can be said about “size doesn’t matter” in social media, there is one case in which it definitely does. The larger companies of the world have always had an advantage in resources over their smaller competitors but are finding that social media is more about strategy and proper use of engagement [...]
While there’s something that can be said about “size doesn’t matter” in social media, there is one case in which it definitely does. The larger companies of the world have always had an advantage in resources over their smaller competitors but are finding that social media is more about strategy and proper use of engagement and conversation than sheer budget.
Now in 2010, many of the social media woes of the past are starting to be rectified. Larger companies are realizing that throwing a ton of money at social media without a strong strategy is foolish. As a result, they’ve learned their lessons and started getting stronger at it.
The infographic below from Flowtown tells a compelling visual story of how things are getting better in corporate America.
When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your goals met? No? Why not?
During training you experience pain, sore muscles and how some trainning is trial and error. Socail media is the same. [...]
When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your goals met? No? Why not?
During training you experience pain, sore muscles and how some trainning is trial and error. Socail media is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.
Before you start tweeting or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and ask yourself some questions:
1. Where do you want this to take you? This could mean your company, a product or service. Make sure to be specific. If you are a small business that is trying to promote a new service options, make sure that you have messaging that’s right for your audience.
2.What are your current resources?
3. How does/can social media efforts help me?
4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground, take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.If you have 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more is losing the point.
When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to
improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your
goals met? No? Why not?
During training you experience pain, sore muscles and even failure. Socail media
is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding
that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.Before you start tweeting
or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and think about some
things:
1. Why? That’s right, why? What are some solid reasons you are wanting to jump
into the social media landscape. Make a list, then do it again with other
members of the company. It helps you realize where you should start.
2. What are my goals? Meaning, where do I want to be in my training in 2 weeks, a month, six weeks. Make sure to be specific and realistic. If you are new to social media, don’t expect to have the fan page up and ‘fanning’ in 2 hours. That strategy takes time and effort. Take a peek at other companies in your field and your area. Anything you want to mirror?
3. Do you need a gym? In social media it’s important to know all of the
resources available. Do you need a Hootsuite account and Tweetdeck on your
desktop? Do your reasearch, know what’s available. Tryout some tools and see
what works with and for your needs (see what tools best align with your budget and goals-see above).
4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working
out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th
grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important
to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground,
take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.Remember that 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more all the time can get you clouded on the reason why you started in the first place (see #1).
5. Don’t be afraid to fail. This is the most important. Trial and error are equivalent to growing pains, they will be worse for some and not too bad for others. Embrace your failures and learn from them. Don’t bury them as if you were ashamed for trying. Social networks like facebook, myspace and the microblogging site Twitter take some time. Accept it and move on.
I remember the saying ‘if at first you don’t suceed, try and try again.’
What are you doing to gain endurance and a steady pace in the social media world?
When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your goals met? No? Why not?
During training you experience pain, sore muscles and even failure. Social media is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.Before you start tweeting or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and think about some things:
1. Why? That’s right, why? What are some solid reasons you are wanting to jump into the social media landscape? Make a list, then do it again with other members of the company- especially with other departments. It helps you realize where you should start and you see additional issues or problems that social media could address.
2. What are my goals? Meaning, where do I want to be in my training in 2 weeks, a month, six weeks. Make sure to be specific and realistic. If you are new to social media, don’t expect to have the fan page up and ‘fanning’ in 2 hours. That strategy takes time and effort. Take a peek at other companies in your field and your area. Anything you want to mirror?
3. Do you need a gym? In social media it’s important to know all of the resources available. Do you need a Hootsuite account and Tweetdeck on your desktop? Do your research, know what’s available. Tryout some tools and see what works with and for your needs (see what tools best align with your budget and goals-see above).
4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground, take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.Remember that 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more all the time can get you clouded on the reason why you started in the first place (see #1).
5. Don’t be afraid to fail. This is the most important. Trial and error are equivalent to growing pains, they will be worse for some and not too bad for others. Embrace your failures and learn from them. Don’t bury them as if you were ashamed for trying. Social networks like Facebook, MySpace and the microblogging site Twitter take some time. Accept it and move on.
When I was growing up I’d always hear:
‘If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.’
What are you doing to gain endurance and a steady pace in the social media world? What have you failures have you learned from? What have you done that’s really worked?
Kristina is based in the Twin Cities and eats and breathes social media. Her love for technology’s influence on culture can be foundhere.
Wadja.com, a unique social networking site that uses labels to create people-to-topic connections, has introduced a re-design of its homepage and logo.
Over the last half a year, Wadja has evolved and grown into a unique Social Network that features streamlined, topic-specific conversations based on labels, and messaging. To reflect Wadja’s progress, the company has decided [...]
Wadja.com, a unique social networking site that uses labels to create people-to-topic connections, has introduced a re-design of its homepage and logo.
Over the last half a year, Wadja has evolved and grown into a unique Social Network that features streamlined, topic-specific conversations based on labels, and messaging. To reflect Wadja’s progress, the company has decided to re-brand its homepage and logo.
Maria Papathomopoulou PR Manager at Wadja notes, “We are delighted with the introduction of our new logo and the redesign of our homepage. The new homepage depicts label topics that our users have created, as well as ideas for labels that users could create. It also allows newcomers to the site to test the system before they subscribe to Wadja’s free service. It’s pretty neat! Once you’re in of course, you can do more by inviting friends and contacts to follow your label and create a community to discuss that one specific topic you are all interested in.”
The new logo has been designed in the same vein as the homepage, with Wadja’s own font and style, fresh and forward-looking. Both the logo and the homepage symbolize the new look and feel of the site – simple, clear, bold and different – all standards that Wadja aspires to and represents.
Wadja’s homepage is the window to the social network with a difference; one based on the bold new premise of creating forums (labels) that simplify and streamline social content and the ‘noise’ of real-time information flow, with all the advantages of online messaging and SMS.
The value of labels is derived from enabling the creation of communities that come together through their common interests, hobbies and activities. Wadja creates personal, customized, label “tags” and opens up a whole new world of messaging.
Social Media 101 will tell you that listening is the number one thing you can and should be doing to get the most out of marketing in the Web 2.0 world. It’s all about listening to your clients, customers, and community – paying attention to what they’re talking about and where they are talking – [...]
Social Media 101 will tell you that listening is the number one thing you can and should be doing to get the most out of marketing in the Web 2.0 world. It’s all about listening to your clients, customers, and community – paying attention to what they’re talking about and where they are talking – then, after spending a lot of time lurking, listening, and waiting, figuring out the right time to jump onto the dance floor and start that whole “customer engagement” tango everyone talks so much about.
While listening is imperative, critical, and tremendously important to the process – the engagement point is where the rubber hits the road.
But what if you’re impatient, what if you have a product or service you want to share with the whole world. How do you proactively promote yourself, without coming across as a huge jerk? Here are three ways to self promote, without coming across as a jerk.
Get over the “it’s not cool to self-promote” mentality
It IS cool…or at least, a necessary part of the process. No one will know you’re talking if you aren’t talking. Sounds pretty obvious right? Content may very well be king, but content doesn’t get found unless someone – aka – you put it out there for people to find. Don’t be afraid to promote your own work, products, services, and ideas – if you believe in them, and believe that other will find value in them – there should be no guilt in promoting it.
Promote other people 3x as much as you promote yourself
The quickest way to come across as a jerk is if ALL your doing is promoting yourself. Promote yourself, sure – but promote the heck out of other people. Find the influential people in your “market” or community and promote their stuff. A RT, a link in a blog post…these things equal respect. At the end of the day, you may have your own personal goals in mind, but everyone responds well to positive promotion for others. Give credit where credit’s due.
Be aggressive, but not intrusive
Let people know you’re out there, but also know when to back off – when to hold back and when enough is enough. If you rub someone the wrong way – don’t keep pushing your stuff on them – explain to them what you are/were trying to do, but don’t attempt to force them to buy into whatever it is your “selling”. Promotion is important, but there is a fine line between too much and “just enough”.
There is a “right way” to self promote the good things you are doing – take some of these thoughts into consideration and get out there and let the world know who you are (and more importantly why they should care).
Matt Cheuvront is the mastermind behindLife Without Pants. Take the next step by saying hello on Twitterand subscribing to his blogtoday!
Meezoog, a dating network for professional individuals around the world, has integrated with popular social network, Facebook, through Facebook Connect. As a result, Meezoog’s users are now connected to more than 500,000 people on Facebook through Meezoog’s trust-based platform.
Meezoog uses Facebook Connect in a unique way, allowing its members to search tens of thousands of [...]
Meezoog, a dating network for professional individuals around the world, has integrated with popular social network, Facebook, through Facebook Connect. As a result, Meezoog’s users are now connected to more than 500,000 people on Facebook through Meezoog’s trust-based platform.
Meezoog uses Facebook Connect in a unique way, allowing its members to search tens of thousands of singles on Facebook who are all visibly connected to one another through Meezoog’s human paths. Connections of up to five degrees of separation can be viewed via Meezoog, mixing Facebook and Meezoog users. Meezoog adheres to Facebook privacy policy and only incorporates publically available information on users.
The highlights of the announcement released today are:
Meezoog will be using Facebook Connect in a unique way to give members access to 500,000 additional people
Meezoog users can now view Facebook singles through Meezoog’s trust-based platform, ensuring the person they are looking at is real and truthful
Meezoog has seen a 20% increase in users in past two months
Meezoog’s patent-pending technology allows users to communicate online with virtual strangers – whether they are Meezoog or Facebook subscribers – in a safe and trusted way. By utilizing Meezoog’s indicators of “Social Proximity” and “Social Trust,” users are able to ensure accuracy of information on profiles from both Facebook and Meezoog.
Through the Facebook integration, Meezoog users can search singles on both Meezoog and Facebook, view profiles and send messages. Unlike other sites and Facebook applications, Meezoog’s users enjoy trust measurements when viewing profiles of Facebook and Meezoog users, as well as the most “trusted” paths that connect them to each other. Social Proximity gauges the Social Trust between users, showing both the nature and depth of connection.
Twenga, the most comprehensive shopping search engine, has received the Red Herring 100 Global Award, awarded to the top 100 private technology companies worldwide.
In three years, Twenga has established itself in 14 countries, most recently the USA, Brazil, Australia and India. Twenga’s websites now display more than 180 million products from over 75,000 retailers and [...]
Twenga, the most comprehensive shopping search engine, has received the Red Herring 100 Global Award, awarded to the top 100 private technology companies worldwide.
In three years, Twenga has established itself in 14 countries, most recently the USA, Brazil, Australia and India. Twenga’s websites now display more than 180 million products from over 75,000 retailers and receive more than 25 million visits a month. Twenga’s key advantage remains its totally objective and neutral product results, ideal for shoppers, who are always looking for impartial price comparisons.
Twenga is able to display almost 10 times more product offers than other price comparison sites thanks to its proprietary technology automatically indexing retailer sites, and thus guaranteeing that users really find the best deal.
“We would like to thank the Red Herring Global Award judges for recognising the worldwide success of Twenga with this global award. Thanks to our pioneering technology, we have succeeded in establishing our shopping search engine in 14 countries across four continents in less than three years.” said Bastien Duclaux, CEO and co-founder of Twenga.
Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world’s best high-technology innovators, venture investors, and business decision-makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine, an online daily technology news service, technology newsletters, and major events for technology leaders around the globe.
XIHA Life, the world’s first truly multilingual and multicultural social network, received $1 million in seed funding. Veraventure led the round, joined by international angel investors and the company founders.
XIHA Life also announced that Jyri Engeström, former Google Product Manager and co-founder of Jaiku, is coming on as a new member of the board, joining [...]
XIHA Life also announced that Jyri Engeström, former Google Product Manager and co-founder of Jaiku, is coming on as a new member of the board, joining Jan Achrenius and chairman Ville Miettinen.
“New features like the unlimited HD video uploads and knowledge exchange have ratcheted up our organic growth to an astonishing rate, giving us over 700,000 members to date,” said Jani Penttinen, XIHA Life co-founder and CEO.
XIHA Life connects the people of the world through a multilingual, cross-cultural exchange. Simultaneous, real-time translation allows XIHA citizens to share travel tips, pictures, music, videos, games, knowledge and personal perspectives.
By transcending language barriers, XIHA allows users to make new friends from around the globe rather than reconnecting with high school friends. Users can create blogs and homepages-or link to other social media-to share their personal experiences. XIHA community members live in over 200 countries, with no country accounting for more than five percent of total traffic. XIHA is based in Sunnyvale, California, Switzerland and Finland.
Truphone announced a strategic MVNO partnership with Vodafone UK. The agreement will give Truphone access to Vodafone UK’s network to deliver voice and data services to its Truphone Local Anywhere customers.
The partnership is the first in a series of building blocks for the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere, a global SIM-based mobile service, launching today. [...]
Truphone announced a strategic MVNO partnership with Vodafone UK. The agreement will give Truphone access to Vodafone UK’s network to deliver voice and data services to its Truphone Local Anywhere customers.
The partnership is the first in a series of building blocks for the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere, a global SIM-based mobile service, launching today. Similar wholesale partnerships are being put together in other key travel destinations around the world in time for launch and rollout throughout 2010.
Truphone Local Anywhere is a ground breaking new global SIM-based service from Truphone that offers people with an international lifestyle an opportunity to save significant money on their mobile phone bills.
Under the agreement, Truphone will have access to Vodafone’s network meaning that calls made by Truphone customers in the UK, as well as Truphone Local Anywhere roaming calls originating and terminating in the UK, will be delivered via the Vodafone UK network.
Truphone Local Anywhere is a single-SIM, multi-country mobile service. Users can make and receive calls via a local number and at a local price, in any Truphone country. The service will also offer number portability, so customers will be able to transfer existing mobile numbers across to the Truphone Local Anywhere service.
