Fri 11 May 2012

#SMBHou May: Measure This! How Almost Anyone Can Measure Social Media

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Tweets, Updates and other resources from the May 2012 Houston Social Media Breakfast.

Having trouble seeing this storify story? Check it out at http://storify.com/SandraSays/smbhou-may-measurement.

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Thu 26 Apr 2012

Notes for my class “Powerful Ways to Increase Your Online Presence”

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Below are notes, tips and samples from today’s “Powerful Ways to Increase Your Online Presence” class for the University of Houston Small Business Development Center. I’m posting this info because it was requested.

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com

Pros

  • 10M+ unique visitors a month
  • Fastest-growing social network
  • Refers more traffic than Twitter and most other social networks
  • Easy to “pin” and “re-pin”
  • Can create collaborative boards
  • Can automate to include in other personal social networks

Cons

  • All “pins” must have a large image attached
  • There are some concerns over copyright

Tips

  • Keywords
  • Hashtags
  • Link back to your own sites
  • Credit your sources
  • Create boards with multiple contributors
  • Comment, like and re-pin
  • Use quality photos on your website
  • See what’s being pinned from your site
  • Pin videos
  • Avoid self-promotion
  • Promote through other channels
  • Upload new images
  • Host a contest
  • Add links in the descriptions of your pins

Examples

Tumblr — www.tumblr.com

“With more than 10 billion posts and 30 million blogs, Tumblr is quickly becoming a force in the world of social media. It combines the social sharing of Twitter and Facebook with a clean, easy-to-use blogging platform.”

Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/should-you-be-on-tumblr-seven-business-case-examples/

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Resharing is encouraged and easy
  • Allows sharing of almost any kind of content, media
  • Very Visual
  • Tumblr users can also open their blogs to submissions from readers, which has led to some very creative Tumblr sites
  • The simplicity makes it a good choice for those who want to get a blog up and running right now

Cons

  • Commenting is not part of the site, you have to add it in
  • Customization is harder than with some other blogging platforms

Tips

  • Keywords
  • Hashtags
  • Link back to your own sites
  • Comment and re-blog
  • Use quality photos on your website
  • Don’t forget multimedia!

Examples

Storify – www.storify.com

Pros

  • Storytelling at its best
  • Can create “social stories” from curating content from other sources
  • Can add your own narrative and headers
  • Can embed the stories on your website or blog
  • Can update the stories, add more sources, and it’ll update all the embeds

Cons

  • You have to be logged in for Commenting
  • There is no customization

Tips

  • Add headers
  • Add your words – explain what’s going on
  • Don’t forget it’s multimedia

Examples

Google+ — http://plus.google.com

Pros

  • Absolutely will improve your Search Engine rankings
  • Websites using Google’s +1 button get 3.5x the Google+ visits
  • Google is integrating all their products, so there is a lot of room for growth with this network in the future
  • Video chat “hangouts”

Cons

  • Very new, minimal adoption currently
  • Pages don’t receive notifications via email, text, etc.

Pros

  • Absolutely will improve your Search Engine rankings
  • Websites using Google’s +1 button get 3.5x the Google+ visits
  • Google is integrating all their products, so there is a lot of room for growth with this network in the future
  • Video chat “hangouts”

Cons

  • Very new, minimal adoption currently
  • Pages don’t receive notifications via email, text, etc.

Tips

  • Add a +1 button to your site
  • Share unique content
  • Share photos
  • Add recommendation links
  • Promote your Google+ page on your site
  • Ask for the re-share!

Examples

Foursquare — www.foursquare.com

Pros

  • Customers/users check in, letting you know how often they visit, what their experiences were, and leave recommendations for others
  • You can reward your “best” customers or give rewards for “first” experiences

Cons

  • Security concerns
  • Whether you “claim” your business or not, they are still checking in

Tips

  • Claim your venue or create a page
  • Create a special – reward new customers, reward your best customers, provide a discount on a special day
  • Leave tips & “to do’s”
  • Use the To Do lists to give customers tasks to complete
  • Cross-promote offline and online
  • Encourage your customers to check in and post reviews
  • Use the “mayor” status as a perk

Examples

  • Radio Shack – foursquare users spent 350% more than average customers
  • GranataPet – sales increased by 28% in the month following billboard ads encouraging Foursquare check-ins, w customer specials
  • Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse – estimated ROI $18K from campaign; 400 people unlocked the check-in special, 60% were first-time customers
  • The Ritz Carlton – increased use of online tips
  • Livestrong – strong messages

Instagram — http://instagr.am/

Pros

  • Lets people/brands share photos
  • Lets friends and followers like, comment and reshare photos

Cons

  • Exclusively a mobile interface, with plug-ins and postings for other sites
  • Minimal control over usage of images, minimal tracking of where it went

Tips

  • Show “behind the scene” photos of how your product is made or how your prepare for an event
  • Share vintage photos
  • Show real-time photos of customers being served
  • Spotlight one thing a day – one product, one feature, one benefit, one location, one customer, one staff member
  • Use hashtags
  • Give sneak peeks
  • Ask customers to submit photos they’ve taken

Examples

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Fri 20 Apr 2012

Managing Your Library’s Online Reputation

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Today’s I’m speaking at the 2012 Texas Library Association Annual Conference. As I normally do, I will announce to attendees of my session that they can find the slidedeck on my blog. This is me posting it, so I’m actually ahead of the announcement for once.

My topic is “Managing Your Library’s Online Reputation.” You can check out the mini-preview (audio) at the TLA site. 

Managing Your Library’s Online Reputation

Having trouble seeing this presentation? Check it out on SlideShare.

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Fri 13 Apr 2012

#SMBHou April: Visual Storytelling in Social Media Channels

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Tweets, Updates and other resources from the April 2012 Houston Social Media Breakfast.

Having trouble seeing this storify story? Check it out at http://storify.com/SandraSays/smbhou-april-visual-storytelling-in-social-media.

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Sun 8 Apr 2012

Upcoming Houston social media events — Social Media Breakfast #smbhou, Social Media Club #smchou, #LATISM Houston

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under Calendar
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The next Social Media Breakfast will be held on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 8:30am at Canopy Houston. The speakers will be the fabulous Karen Walrond and Kelsey Ruger:

To get attention and cut through the clutter, you have to become a visual storyteller. Posts that use visual elements like photos, video, and graphics consistently perform better than those that don’t. At the Social Media Breakfast of Houston (#SMBHOU) this month we will be exploring the different facets of visual storytelling. We will hear from some brilliant visual storytellers about how to develop visuals that work across multiple channels and how to develop materials that moves pass the pedestrian to a inspire the people who see it.

We will be sharing several examples of impactful visual media and will ask you to share some of the visuals that have caught YOUR attention.

SPEAKERS

Kelsey Ruger, Vice President, Design & Innovation at ChaiONE. With over a decade’s worth of experience in building web and interactive solutions, Kelsey brings a unique perspective that merges design, creativity, strategy, and digital solutions.

Karen Walrond is a well-known speaker, writer, blogger, and photographer. In addition to being lead blogger for BlogHer’s “Own Your Beauty” initiative, making appearances on both local and national media (such as PBS, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and The Oprah Winfrey Show), author of the award-winning Chookooloonks photoblog, Karen’s book “The Beauty of Different” has become a bestseller.

The Social Media Club Houston is hosting a fundraising event on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 6pm at Smash Burger on Buffalo Speedway. Seating is limited, so reserve your spot.

Spring Smashing Tweet-up #SMCHou
April 17th Tues 6-9
RSVP Required Limited Space

Celebrate

Celebrating Spring with our fellow colleagues in Houston, we will be treated to great food at SmashBurger.

We partnered with Smashburger to bring in Spring with good food, fun and companionship.

Donate

One of our goals is to raise money for SMCHouston Chapter so we can bring great speakers to teach us new and upcoming strategies.

We are asking for donations in no specific amount-we want you to tell us the value you want us to drive for you in 2012. Whether you choose to donate 10.00 25.00 100.00 is up to you!

We have given all our meetings for free since 2011 and we have a couple more great get togethers in planning for 2012.

Tell Us Your Desires

Tonight the leadership team will be all ears, learning how we can serve you the business community. So tell us what would you like to participate in for 2012?

  • Do you want more hands on workshops?
  • Do you want more panels discussing specific issues or industries?
  • Do you want a full day workshop with speakers here, to save your confernece & travel dollars?

You get to custom make your solutions in 2012.

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Wed 21 Mar 2012

You want me to do what?

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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When I go into a job interview you can’t ask me my age. You can’t ask me if I’m married. You can’t ask me if I have kids. You can’t ask me what religion I am. You can’t ask me… well, pretty much anything personal other than what’s on my resume or directly related to the jobs I’ve had. What makes you think it’s OK to ask me for my Facebook password???!!!!

No, this didn’t happen to me. 

I started seeing online rumors and the odd story about this a few months ago: prospective employees or current employees being asked to hand over their Facebook passwords during an interview for a new job or a promoted position. And I scoffed. No way, I thought, no way would this become the norm. Was I wrong? I don’t know. What I do know is that there has been a deluge of news stories in recent days/weeks about this new practice.

There isn’t a consensus on whether it’s legal. And, honestly, the best that everyone can agree on is that you have to decide for yourself whether you want the job badly enough to hand them the keys to the castle (to give them your password).

From the safety of my employed life I say: don’t do it! I can’t imagine wanting any job badly enough to hand over a look into all my photos, my messages, the private conversations I’ve had with friends and family (which in many many cases are PERSONAL and no one’s business!). This would be basically like letting them into my home, opening all the doors and the drawers and the boxes, and letting them thumb through every inch of my life and loves and likes and hates. 

No. That’s not OK.

What I share with the world, I decide to share. And if I keep some things behind a door… well, it’s my door and my decision. You don’t get to pick through my personal thoughts and conversations and friendships and family gatherings to decide whether this fits with your image of what you want in an employee. You have to decide that based on my work history, my work product, and do your homework from there.

But, I know, it’s easy for me to be self-righteous about this from the comfort of my full-time with benefits life. Would I still feel the same way if I’d been out of work for 18 months? or if I’d graduated and couldn’t find that all-important first job? or if I just was convinced this was the job that was going to open up the path to ultimate happiness? 

No, I still wouldn’t do it. Because, if they feel entitled to to this before you are even an employee, what happens next? Are they going to have random Facebook screenings? Are you going to be called in every three months (or so) to prove that nothing has changed on your personal profile? Do they get to ask for your personal cell phone to check out your text messages? Do they get to go through your gmail account to see what else you might have been hiding? 

What comes next?

So the question for you is: would you give an interviewer your Facebook password if asked?

News articles to check out (UPDATED):

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Wed 29 Feb 2012

Facebook rolls out timelines for pages

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Yesterday I lead a class about social media in which I kept reminding my students that Facebook is expected to roll out timelines for pages, and then all bets are off. Everyting I taught them, I told them, was up for grabs. Today I went to one of my pages as admin and I see the notice that it’s going to be converted by March 30, 2012.

All day I’ve seen articles, blog posts and resources posted for those of you who want to get ahead of the curve and start to prepare. I pulled together some on a storify page and will add more as I find them. Let me know if you have any you’d like to suggest

If you have problems viewing the embeded story, visit the page at storify.

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Fri 17 Feb 2012

How to use HARO

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Help A Reporter Out (known by most as HARO) is a free service (for PR pros) to lets reporters announce what they’re looking for (sources, interviews, etc), by when they need it, and lets everyone subscribed to the list submit a pitch. Of course, it works on the honor system. That is, it’s assumed (and, I’m told enforced) that you won’t respond unless you actually meet the requirements of the journalist when you respond.IN other words, don’t spam them, don’t try to convince them your toaster is a blender, and just be nice.

Peter Shankman is the creator of HARO (he started it as a Facebook group) and a vocal critic of Public Relations practitioners. He has provided three blog posts to help you use HARO better, or just get started:

If you’ve never tried HARO, it is a great opportunity to be matched up with reporters from across the country. I’ve heard some great success stories from small businesses and niche PR agencies. I personally have never had anything picked up, but I have to admit I haven’t tried in a while.

If you get something picked up or placed via HARO, let me know. 

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Wed 18 Jan 2012

#SOPA, or the day the Internet went black

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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I’m not writing a story on SOPA, but providing some links to help you understand what’s going on. I’ll update the Storify page throughout the day.

Can’t see the embed above, check out the page on Storify.

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Sat 31 Dec 2011

My 3 Words for 2012

Posted by Sandra Fernandez under General
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Simplify. Focus. Create.

Having trouble viewing the Storify embed, visit the page.

Sources:

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