In an effort to educate and entertain, the Nestat Brothers’ YouTube Channel posted this Facebook Movie. It’s not the one that everyone’s talking about coming out soon…
… or is it?
http://soshable.com
On July 23, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by JD Rucker
In an effort to educate and entertain, the Nestat Brothers’ YouTube Channel posted this Facebook Movie. It’s not the one that everyone’s talking about coming out soon…
… or is it?
On July 20, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by Luis Oliveros
As fun as social media is, between all the conversations you engage in online and the behind-the-scenes planning, work can really get tedious. And then stress ensues which dropkicks your office productivity even further. For this, it’s best to have applications and tools you commonly use and site locations organized to help lessen the stress.
So [...]
As fun as social media is, between all the conversations you engage in online and the behind-the-scenes planning, work can really get tedious. And then stress ensues which dropkicks your office productivity even further. For this, it’s best to have applications and tools you commonly use and site locations organized to help lessen the stress.
So here, we’ve gathered a handful of addons or extensions for the Google Chrome browser to help ensure that stress does not end up getting entwined with your daily workload.
Symtica
If you’re using many of Google’s Web applications, Symtica provides a good way to access them with a single click. It integrates the icons for each application into a single bar and even includes access to some of their settings and sub-apps. With a click, you can create new documents with any of the word processors on Google Docs , send SMS through Google Voice and compose new e-mail on Gmail among many other functions.
Shareaholic for Google Chrome
Shareaholic for Google Chrome offers a quick and easy way to keep you finger on the social network link-sharing pulse. This Chrome Extension lets you share the Web page you’re currently on by automatically generating a shortened goog.ly URL for it and shares it to more than a hundred social networking sites, e-mail clients, bookmarking services and blogs.
Split Screen
Split Screen does, well, exactly that. It vertically splits your browser window into two sections which helps a lot to de-clutter your open Chrome browser especially if you’re kind of the tab-happy Web surfer (like yours truly). With it, you can do side-by-side comparisons with open Web documents, sites and tools which can obviously improve efficiency.
Pixlr Grabber
While screen capture apps usually take chunks out of your storage, the rudimentary Print Screen button on your keyboard can only take you so far in terms of image quality. Pixlr Grabber aims to solve both issues by capturing comparably good quality screen caps while, being a mere browser extension, taking up very minimal space in your hard drive. It’ll let you capture entire pages, visible parts of a page or define a capture area and ports the screen caps over to the clipboard for pasting and uploads them to imm.io for easy sharing online.
TwitterWatch
TwitterWatch is a simple tool for monitoring keywords on Twitter . All you have to do is enter a keyword and hit Search and it’ll present you with the tweets carrying that keyword. It can perform multiple keyword monitoring as well. Aside from these, you can also send tweets, retweet and reply without having to leave the extension.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On July 12, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
Image by lazebeamz
We’ve always said that in order for a brand to succeed in the social media marketing space, it needs constant presence online. An integral part of any marketing campaign involves having to consistently develop content for your brand’s site or blog on a regular basis. While you’d find the ideas merely fermenting at the [...]
Image by lazebeamz
We’ve always said that in order for a brand to succeed in the social media marketing space, it needs constant presence online. An integral part of any marketing campaign involves having to consistently develop content for your brand’s site or blog on a regular basis. While you’d find the ideas merely fermenting at the back of your mind waiting to be fleshed out, you’ll encounter moments when the creative juices simply fail to jettison out into the online space and you find yourself staring into nothingness.
Failure to follow a publishing schedule means letting down your existing demographic and a great disservice to both the overall campaign and the brand. To prevent this from happening, we’ve listed down some proven cures to alleviate that funk—and a few tips I personally follow when my head just won’t cooperate.
Take a Break
Just when deadlines abound and time refuses to halt, writer’s block conveniently strikes. When this happens, simply take a breather. Lean back on that comfy chair, close your eyes for a few minutes and clear your head. But if that doesn’t work, your mind may need a little more substantial rest. Sleep it off of if you really can’t work out the blogging schedule, perhaps a power nap would do wonders.
Personal note:
The idea here is that the mind and the body are in a bad, unproductive fatigue and rest is sorely needed. Unfortunately even a caffeine boost won’t help. Dr. Michael Breus, aka the Sleep Doctor , recommends something he calls a Nap-a-latte which combines the benefits of sleep and coffee. What you do is chug down a cup of Joe and then take a 15-minute nap. The nap flushes down the sleep pressure and the caffeine picks you up when you eventually wake up. I do this when in the funk and it really does works for me, try it out and maybe it’ll also work for you.
Entertainment
Consuming some other forms of media other than those required for work can help jog the mind. Whip out your MP3 player and hit Shuffle, grab a really compelling book you’ve been meaning to read for some time, go to the movies or watch something truly engaging on TV. These can be burnout killers and you can also pick up some ideas for the content you’re working on. In any case, make sure that you have a pen and paper handy so you can scribble down ideas as they come.
Personal note:
Seeking refuge in other forms of entertainment can surely help. For instance, listening to discussions and inherent humor on podcasts like The 404 , Buzz Out Loud and Tech New Today helped me a lot in the past, the debates and issues helping me back on my feet. Also, in a recent bout of writer’s block, I re-read some old comic books collecting dust in my study and as I was reading each panel, a nice idea struck me which I later wrote about as the blog post What Comic Books Taught Me About Social Media .
Break Out
Sometimes, taking a break means stepping away from the computer and your cubicle and getting out of the office for a few minutes. The eyes need something else to look at instead of the menacing glow of the computer screen and then perhaps your head can start producing creative juices again. You can go to the local park, stare at the horizon on your building’s rooftop or you can even drive around the city for a few minutes. A change in scenery and the fresh air can really help, as long as you won’t take too long and too distracted to even go back to the office.
Personal note:
There are times when you can feel a burnout approaching your week. You can find a way to wind down a bit on Fridays like hanging out with your buddies in a bar for a drink or two, watch a local band play or maybe sweat it out on the gym or a basketball court. You can also use your weekends for out-of-town trips; fishing in the city’s outskirts, a camping trip—anything to get your mind off work. Also, if you can, try staying away from any technology that will remind you of your computer and work which means no TV, mobile phones and MP3 players. These can help freshen you up for the coming week.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On July 7, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
Image by greyweed
From helping that nice lady next door bring in the groceries to having to deal with that homeless person hanging around the curb outside your building and spewing obscenities at you, we all have social etiquette in the background prompting our every reaction. These are mostly ruled by both our social skills and [...]
Image by greyweed
From helping that nice lady next door bring in the groceries to having to deal with that homeless person hanging around the curb outside your building and spewing obscenities at you, we all have social etiquette in the background prompting our every reaction. These are mostly ruled by both our social skills and good ole basic morality.
We follow social etiquette in our daily lives with regards to relating and communicating with people. Interacting with people on the online realm shouldn’t be any different. Today, we look at a rather infuriating practice some online marketers have gotten comfortable doing: spamming.
Spam, by definition, is unsolicited messages sent out in bulk to random or targeted recipients. And whether they’re occupying your e-mail inbox, piling in as instant messages or flooding your social networks’ feed, nothing’s as pissy annoying as having to go through them.
Spamming is frowned upon. While some merely raise the ire of every recipient with their incessant arrival, some are even harmful, with malicious activities brewing in the background.
Having said that, there is absolutely no need for you to join the ranks of spammers; it’s usually a one-way expressway ticket to the trash bin for you and your brand. Totally devoid of valuable information your followers can benefit from, it defeats the purpose of developing your online presence. Sure the brand awareness is there, but it’s swarmed with infamy that can repel potential clients.
Even if we only have a few people we follow on Twitter, we still tend to overlook or miss some tweets. And if a specific account continuously pumps you with tweets that are repetitive and excessively flood your Twitterstream with contexts that are purely link-happy promotional blah, we ignore them completely. Even more so if you have a hefty follow list or it’s done on Facebook where there’s an option to hide users’ status updates.
Because their posts merely occupy space and do nothing to help or solve anything online, these people are, more often than not, dropped off our follow list. Unfriend. Now say hello to potential obscurity and additional unnecessary reputation management work.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On July 4, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
Image by TevK
For some of us, comic books have always been a personal staple reading material ever since childhood. Fortunately for us, our self-fashioned definition of “growing up” still involves reading comic books albeit in a slightly lesser degree. Now that we’ve been a part of the rat race, we can say with conviction what [...]
Image by TevK
For some of us, comic books have always been a personal staple reading material ever since childhood. Fortunately for us, our self-fashioned definition of “growing up” still involves reading comic books albeit in a slightly lesser degree. Now that we’ve been a part of the rat race, we can say with conviction what many of us comic book geeks have always believed in: comic books aren’t just for kids. What’s more, they’ve helped me a lot in my travails around social media marketing.
Yes, the funny books actually show good parallels with marketing through the online social spectrum. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Retcon.
Both Marvel and DC have rebooted titles for many reasons, sometimes changing characters’ origins in an act creators and fans have come to call retconning . The Legion of Superheroes , Spider-Man and, just recently, Wonder Woman , among many others, have gone under the pen with their stories updated and retconned. This is mostly to keep up with the modern times and, more importantly, to easily reintroduce the title and make the character more appealing to new readers.
Similarly, when maintaining a blog for your brand, you are tasked to come up with original content which you can repurpose in various ways. Perhaps you can craft a new post out of a how-to from a different standpoint, or you can provider you own take on a study you shared a week ago, or maybe even start a podcast by compiling a week’s worth of blog posts.
While repurposing content is an effective way to drive a point across while customizing your content to various formats different readers can find easily digestable, it can also be tastelessly overdone. Hakwman is an example of a fine mess an abundance of continuity reboots can do to a character- a bedlam of confusion you really don’t need in your business where there is an actual overhead and the race for the ROI.
Depending on your message, an overly repurposed bit of news can end up sounding like a shameless advertising. This can lead to a loss of interest for your site and can leave a bad taste in your readers’ mouth.
Multiverse.
Modern adventure comic books have gotten into the habit of dishing out titles outside their own fictionalized worlds or continuity. And the result is a dizzying multitude of alternate realities usually called the Multiverse . Here, each parallel universe has its own variants of the same characters from the main universe with slight differences. As a result, we have different versions of Superman , the X-Men and other characters taking place in different time periods and random galaxies.
With these characters’ presence in different universes come endless story possibilities, each with their own unique adventures and trials, giving their respective titles great mileage as far as readership is concerned. The same concept along with the aforementioned benefits can be applied to social media by giving your brand a multi-platform presence online—a practice being implemented by most companies nowadays.
Aside from your brand’s official Web site, it’ll help a lot if you’ve also set roots on the popular social networking since most Web users spend a considerable amount of their day on sites like Facebook , Twitter and YouTube . This can keep your present demographic in the loop with regards to the products and services you offer while giving your more opportunities to redistribute your content and spread brand awareness.
Fan Mail.
During the 80s, Batman introduced a second Robin after the first boy wonder retired from his Bat-sidekickdom. Readers hated the new Robin that DC Comics opted to have a poll to determine the character’s fate. The popular response was to have him die in-panel. As you can imagine, DC received a lot of negative press and swarms of angry letters over the verdict. However, in the end, Robin’s death became the single moment that heavily defined Batman’s subsequent decisions, enriching a very popular character for years to come.
Given the ensuing debacle, this showed a great amount of faith in your followers and the importance of listening to your readers. Sure, this may seem like basic social media blah right now, but it’s one that’s often overlooked. These make it even easier to engage in meaningful conversations with your followers and respond accordingly to every query while giving you the opportunity to learn more about them. And if you play your cards right, you’ll end up with actual relationships online built on trust and brand loyalty.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On May 13, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
With an estimated 50 million tweets generated across different platforms on a daily basis since its inception in 2006, Twitter remains to be one of the most dominant mass messaging service built on a social networking architecture today. And it keeps on getting stronger in terms of popularity and user registration given its [...]
With an estimated 50 million tweets generated across different platforms on a daily basis since its inception in 2006, Twitter remains to be one of the most dominant mass messaging service built on a social networking architecture today. And it keeps on getting stronger in terms of popularity and user registration given its rather limiting 140-character structure.
As revealed during its recent Chirp developer conference , the company revealed that it has a rated 300,000 number of new users signing up per day in addition to the approximate 105,779,710 currently registered. These are facts not lost among marketers, so we’ve established for their respective brands a venerable network of followers to easily broadcast their messages to the consumer, establish relationships at a much deeper level and boost SEO efforts.
The problem with keeping such a bevy of followers is the near constant need to organize your connections to make sure you are properly targeting the right people. While there are a handful of services online that would prove useful (and we’ve actually recommended some of them on this blog), Tweepi offers a handful of features to get the job done in a “geekier, faster way.”
 Tweepi offers a straightforward interface and several “geeky” utilities to help you manage your network of Twitter contacts. Click for a Closer look. |
Developed by Thoughtpick , a social media developing company based in Amman, Jordan, Tweepi pushes for the “geeky” nomenclature with four utilities for organizing your Twitter network. Rows of information are presented with tables and figures for each user along with their location, number of followers, people they’re following, retweets sent and when they last tweeted, among others. So if you’re one of those spreadsheet-happy geeky types, this is just the tool for you.
While Geeky Follow lets enter a specific @username to discover Twitter users with the same field of interest based on their tweet activity patters and gives you the option to follow them, Geeky Flush lists the users you are following who are not following you back. Geeky Reciprocate, on the other hand, shows a table of users who are following you but you have yet to follow yourself. Finally, Geeky Cleanup filters out the profiles that offer no valuable content or don’t engage in actual Twitter conversations so you can easily unfollow them as you see fit.
In each utility, you can filter out the Twitter profiles through several presets like the number of tweets within the last seven days, influencers, high followers to following ratio and those who simply dispense linkless ramblings.
Tweepi is ostensibly in its beta stage and it’s pretty upfront about it, saying that continuous updates and the constant bug zapping are being conducted by its development team.
In essence, Tweepi looks to be the outcome when you put Friend or Follow and Untweeps in a blender and set it to “smoothie.” Not that Tweepi’s interface offers a gaudy candy-coated look and feel like these other tools, but its different features are seamlessly reconciled into a simple interface; straightforward enough for new users to utilize without having to leave its single domain.
To use Tweepi, like most third-party Twitter apps and services, it uses Twitter’s OAuth implementation so you can sign in using your Twitter login credentials.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On May 3, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
Mobile has truly become an essential platform for Twitter , bolstered by the convenience afforded by the ubiquity of wireless connectivity and the steadily dropping prices of mobile phones. As such, many third-party Twitter clients and apps have sprouted from this side of the Twitterverse, carrying varying functionalities and value added services on top of [...]
Mobile has truly become an essential platform for Twitter , bolstered by the convenience afforded by the ubiquity of wireless connectivity and the steadily dropping prices of mobile phones. As such, many third-party Twitter clients and apps have sprouted from this side of the Twitterverse, carrying varying functionalities and value added services on top of the 140-character architecture.
To further push mobile Twitter use, the microblogging and messaging tool launched its official app for the Blackberry and acquired Atebits to retcon Tweetie as Twitter for iPhone within the same week last month. Now, hot off the heels of its obvious thrust to dominate the mobile space, Twitter has let out another in-house developed app and this time, it’s all set to target Google ’s developer-friendly mobile operating system, the Android .
This was announced by Twitter’s Leland Rechis this week on the official Twitter blog . He stated that sharing becomes second nature on machines as it does in person when apps work well with each other and that Android performs optimally in that regard.
As you can see from the screenshots we’ve included, usage is as straightforward as it can get, with Twitter capabilities implemented across other apps. Rechis further explains that sharing links and photos with your Twitter contacts are simple—by finding the share button in your favorite app and then tapping on Twitter on the menu list.
“Reading tweets is easy in a bunch of places on your phone.” Rechis likewise adds. “Quickly access your timeline with the home screen widget, view a tweet location on a map, and see your friend’s latest tweet in your phonebook, GoogleTalk list or any application that uses Android’s QuickContact bar.”
As with most Google-hinged product or feature roll outs, the code behind Twitter for Android will also be open sourced so we’ll probably see new independent developer-prompted feature tweaks and enhancements even before 2.0 comes out. Similarly, different variations of the Twitter API implemented on third-party apps for the Android are also definitely expected.
The Twitter for Android app is now available at the Android Market for mobile phones with Android 2.1 (aka Éclair) at the helm which pretty much covers anyone using the Motorola Droid , Google’s own Nexus One and the latest slew of HTC smartphones. No word though whether the app will be developed further to also support the other Android phones with version 1.6 (Donut) or 1.5 (Cupcake), however, their owners can instead use Twitter’s rudimentary mobile site by heading on over to http://mobile.twitter.com for the meantime.
| Screenshots. Click on each for a closer look. |
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http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
On April 24, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by Erin Ryan
Last week, the Facebook F8 Conference took place; which is a conference intended for Facebook developers and for those who love to know what’s going on with this heart stopping social network. Even underneath all the geek talk, you could understand the brilliance that was about to be unleashed unto the book of all faces. [...]
Last week, the Facebook F8 Conference took place; which is a conference intended for Facebook developers and for those who love to know what’s going on with this heart stopping social network. Even underneath all the geek talk, you could understand the brilliance that was about to be unleashed unto the book of all faces. However, with all good changes come some bad, some that you may not be aware of and if not, here’s what you need to know.
As of April 24th, Facebook has added a new Privacy feature under your accounts setting; this feature is called “Applications and Websites”. Since Facebook is looking to have your favorite websites connect to its platform, this also means that your information will be shared across the Internet. For those who don’t mind, this won’t matter, but for those of you who do care, you will need to check your Account Settings immediately and apply changes of any unwanted information sharing. Since this new feature was rolled out yesterday, Facebook made sure to leave the default setting to reveal your information.
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Sign into Facebook > Account Settings>Applications and Websites
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Start from the top click on all 6 settings and read the information provided by Facebook carefully to than make your decision.
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Uncheck all that you do not want shared and click save
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Choose “only friends” on the drop down to keep you information within the friends you have chosen to have on Facebook.
As Facebook expands it is crucial for you to keep up-to-date on your privacy settings, whether you use Facebook for Personal or Professional gain. Although spending time on the Internet does open up your privacy, it does not mean that you can’t still be knowledgeable to where your information is being sent, and further more, you should be entitled to make sound decisions on what information is being used as well as owning your online reputation. Always remember that being savvier won’t make you less social.
Did you know about this new feature and will you make any changes to your Privacy settings?
Erin Ryan has a passion for Social Media and is currently working within the industry as a Social Media Specialist. Contact Erin on Twitter @4u2wear2
* * *
Read more on this social media blog.
http://soshable.com
On April 23, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by JD Rucker
As if you needed to know, but just in case you didn’t, our friends over at Flowtown put together this awesome infographic.
Enjoy!
* * *
Read more about Social Media Marketing on this blog.
As if you needed to know, but just in case you didn’t, our friends over at Flowtown put together this awesome infographic.
Enjoy!
* * *
Read more about Social Media Marketing on this blog.
http://soshable.com
On April 18, 2010, In SEO, Social Media Marketing, by LuisOliveros
Image by akanesio
We all grew up listening to FM radio with all its genre bending music, morning and rush hour talk shows, varied programming, frequent advertisements and, of course, on-air contests. All these obviously entertained us listeners as they pushed brand promotions that deliver both the radio and their sponsors’ messages.
This type of varying pattern [...]
Image by akanesio
We all grew up listening to FM radio with all its genre bending music, morning and rush hour talk shows, varied programming, frequent advertisements and, of course, on-air contests. All these obviously entertained us listeners as they pushed brand promotions that deliver both the radio and their sponsors’ messages.
This type of varying pattern has always been proven effective from a marketing standpoint as it also rewarded listeners not only with the hourly dishing of current top rating music, but also allowed the station and its sponsors a platform to thank their patrons and potential followers as well as rewarding us with chances of actually winning something in return for our loyalty.
Proven as it is for traditional media like radio (and television and publishing as well, for that matter), it has also made a crossover to the Internet, as you may have noticed from tech and lifestyle portals. Marketers have effectively utilized it for their companies’ own Web site’s SEO strategy which. We’ll pick apart elements to plan a good contest to properly employ them over to our social media campaign through Twitter . We’ll start off with the planning stage.
Planning Carefully
Running a successful contest or game on Twitter entails sitting down and thoughtfully mapping out a clever set of steps and detailing them one by one. The top of the list should always be your objective; why are running such a promo and what do intend to achieve by doing so? Now, the answer to these can vary from simply getting more Twitter followers or gaining a significant boost to your site traffic, to simply improving on your brand awareness campaign while spreading the word about your brand’s new products or services.
While your intended contest can obviously hit more of these in one go, make sure to detail which one your prioritize is. This will definitely help keep you focused on your goal and you can craft a good contest aligned with it.
The Reward
From your followers’ vantage point, the prize you’re rewarding them for their efforts should be…well, rewarding. Needless to say, something that can easily be bought from the neighborhood dollar store, no matter how useful it is, just isn’t as attractive as the latest mouse launched recently by a well-known IT manufacturer, for instance.
Depending on the budget you, your clients or sponsors are willing to shell out, you can get valuable items or services up for grabs. “Valuable” is such a subjective term; it doesn’t mean you have to go all-out, sometimes, little tokens like a signed baseball, gift cards for an online store like iTunes , Amazon or Audible and items carrying your brand’s logo would also prove attractive.
As an option, a quick way to choose a prize is by aligning it with your brand. Needless to say, it would be logical to give away copies of an album from the band, tickets to a ballgame or a concert being sponsored by your company or services to create a personalized blog or site from a Web developer you’re representing.
The Mechanics
As with most games, there has to be a set of mechanics your followers need to follow to successfully win and these should tie directly to your game’s objective and the prize you’re giving away. A common practice on Twitter would have people to simply follow your tweets, another is by having them retweet a specific tweet you’ve sent out. These easily grows your Twitter followers which, in turn, gives you a boost in the site traffic and comments on your actual site, amplifies repeat visits and increases potential clients.
One way of going about it on Twitter is by running a sweepstakes type of contest by employing a simple randomizing application for drawing out a winner. Another is by actually giving your followers a fun activity, like providing a funny photo or drawing and then asking them to supply a funny caption or title. Maybe you can even target specific groups in your followers by setting a theme and then asking them to Photoshop a certain graphic to follow it. However, as mentioned, your prize’s value should also determine the mechanics of your contest and gauge the lengths at which your audience would go to attain them.
On Your Own Site
To integrate both the contest details and its mechanics while aiming to drive more traffic to your own domain, it’s best to set aside a specific landing page on your Web site. As the contest’s home on your domain, make sure that the page’s layout is clean and easy to navigate through for your readers. Since it is on your own site or blog, , it will not only allow your readers to read up on what else you have to offer, but it also affords them the security that what they are engaging in is a legitimate promotion and not some scam aiming to sponge off their details and links.
While this makes your readers focused and engaged on the contest details, it also catches the attention of your other readers and those who have stumbled upon your site who don’t necessarily follow you on Twitter. As a good measure, also include a small but easily seen splash graphic on your site’s homepage and a smaller one at the top of your sidebar announcing the contest with the necessary links.
Should the contest revolve around submissions, provide a separate tab on the same page where your users and others can view them. This works great if you’ve also allowed your readers to vote for the winner as this also increases social mentions across Twitterverse.
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog