Wednesday Words: Photoblog

Today's word covers another type of blog - Photoblog.

A photoblog is a blog that tells a story, shares experiences or just shares gorgeous scenery via photos - normally taken by the blogger.

WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr are all commonly used platforms to photoblog with.

Companies engaging in social media may find running a photo blog might be useful to their endeavors - especially if they can share things via photos with little to no text.

A great photoblog, which includes text, is Humans of New York.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Audience selector

Today's word isn't strictly to do with Facebook Pages or Social Media Marketing, but it does have to do with social media and I think it would be a useful word to talk about and that's Audience Selector.

On your personal profile on Facebook (and Google +) you can choose who you want to share your posts with. You can set a default status for this under security and privacy options, but you also have the options to do this on each individual post.  With Facebook, for example, everyone has the same standard three options of Public, Friends Only, Only Me, but then individuals can create groups or lists that they can selectively share things to.

Keep in mind, selectively sharing things doesn't mean that stuff you want to keep private will be kept private. People can be jerks and have a tendency to share what they aren't supposed to share - so if you don't want other people to see it, the best bet is to still not post it on social media.

For many people, it's a good idea to default to Friends only. I use the Public option myself because of the various sites I post for and interactions with others. Just remember there are benefits and disadvantages to using Public option.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Social Media Revolution

In many ways, Social Media can be considered a revolution in the terms that it has changed the world in a way that cannot be reversed. Looking at it from that definition, there definitely has been a Social Media Revolution and it continues to grow - changing and revolutionizing the way people interact with brands, books, authors, stars, etc., as well as with each other.

Social Media has taken the world by storm. One of the radio stations locally has a quip about it. "Sharing your thoughts out loud all day every day would have marked you as crazy. Now, it's called social media."

And in many ways, this is an accurate description of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and Instagram - you can share your thoughts instantaneously all day on whatever subject you feel like. You can express your like/dislike for a brand. You can talk about how someone/something offended you and more. And you're a target for branding by all forms of social media - notice the ads?

Many people get their news, not always accurate news but still news, from social media. You learn about the latest celebrity deaths (and death hoaxes) through social media. Even though social media isn't the most reliable form of news, it's still that - news.

Social Media is here to stay. Learn more about the Social Media Revolution by checking out these additional articles on Social Media Revolution:

• If You Doubt That Social Media Has Changed The World, Take A Look At Ukraine
• How Mad Men Missed The Social Media Revolution
• Small Change - The New Yorker
• Social Media Revolution - Facebook Facts and Social Media Statistics
• The Social Media Revolution in Remarkable Facts & Figures [VIDEO]

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Source: http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-marketing/buzzwords-decoded-32-social-media-marketing-terms-explained-in-plain-english/

Wednesday Words: Conversions

A few weeks ago we talked about Clickthrough Rate (CTR). Today's term, conversions, is a similar term to CTR that is used by social media marketing folks. A conversion is an action that demonstrates a visitor is "converting" to a customer. That means the person has taken an action, such as liking your page, clicking on an "action" item to purchase, etc.

Keep in mind, sales aren't the only thing that counts in conversions. Your action item could be getting people to sign up for a webinar or newsletter, download a free ebook or other content, sign up for a forum, fill out a form for a contest etc.

Tracking conversions is important for analyzing social media and allowing revenue to be properly attributed to social media campaigns and social media in general.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Cover photo

Every page and profile on Facebook has a top banner image. This large, horizontal image is called a Cover Photo.  Every cover photo, whether on a page or profile, is public and can be seen by everyone.  The cover photo is a great place for fanpages, especially brands and organizations, to use unique images to represent who they are, what their business is about, what they care about etc. Cover images can attract attention and make people more interested in a page and more inclined to see what the page is about.

Cover images display at 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall on your Page on computers and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall on smartphones. They must be  at least 399 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall.

Facebook provides a great tool to show you dimensions, which includes the distances for the profile image that fits into the cover photo.  https://www.facebook.com/help/125379114252045

Facebook's suggestion to fanpages regarding images is this: "For your Page's cover photo, use a unique image that represents your Page. This might be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product. Be creative and experiment with images to see what your audience responds to best."

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

While today's term, Clickthrough Rate (CTR), isn't strictly limited to social media, it is still a part of social media as well as website performance data.

Clickthrough Rate is a metric which shows the number of people who clicked on an ad or link in a campaign after viewing a message, video or image. Basically, it called them to action and they took that action you wanted - whether it be buying a book, signing up for an email newsletter, visiting your website, etc.  The metric is calculated by comparing the number of clicks to impressions.

So, for example, if 1,000 people saw your add in google and 10 people clicked on the ad, the clickthrough rate would be 1%. The theory is, the higher your CTR, the more effective your marketing campaign has been.

So if you are driving campaigns through social media to your website and you have Google Analytics or other Analytic tools set up, you should be able to see how many hits came from that marketing campaign and via social media stats you can see how many people viewed it and figure out your CTR from there.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Trending Topic

Late last year we had a Tuesday Tip regarding paying attention to Trending Topics, but failed to actually define Trending Topics (though the article, found here, kind of makes it clear). So we're rectifying that today and will define trending topics.

Trending topics are topics on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.,  being discussed more than any others. A great example of this would be when there were all the stories about Caitlyn Jenner or, more recently, the death of James Horner.

Trending topics are located to the left of the main Twitterfeed and to the right top of Facebook's news feed. Trending topics are updated in real time. If you click on any of the Trending topics in any of the social networks, you will be taken to a page containing all the posts on that subject. This feature makes it useful to those with Facebook and Twitter accounts as it can draw attention to your page without paying for advertising. Simply talk about the subject - if it applies to your brand and social media - and use the correct hashtags to be seen by others in the Trending Topics pages.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Tweetdeck

If you use Twitter a lot and haven't heard of Tweetdeck yet, then today's post is going to be extremely useful to you.

Tweetdeck is a product created by Twitter that allows you to customize your Twitter experience as well as make managing a company Twitter account easier by sharing the Tweetdeck account with the team without sharing the password.

Tweetdeck can be accessed via http://tweetdeck.twitter.com and you can login with your Twitter account name and password to set it up. From there, you can customize it by creating timelines which allows you to track certain topics, events and hashtags.

It also allows you to better filter searches and schedule Tweets, similar to what hootsuite does.

So if you're looking for a way to super-power your Twitter account, learn more about TweetDeck and its features here: https://about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck and then get started here: http://tweetdeck.twitter.com

Good luck!

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Content Marketing

Today's word is relevant to all social media platforms and that term is Content Marketing. Content marketings is a marketing technique of creating and then distributing relevant and useful online content in order to attract and engage a defined target audience.

So, for example, this blog is technically content marketing as I'm writing on topics targeted at an audience that is new but interested in learning more about social media marketing. I market that the blog is useful for everyone from total beginner to advanced, which I think it is useful for everyone.

Content marketing is a valuable resource for brands and is something your social media marketer or PR manager can handle easily.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Viral Marketing

We've all seen the ad that gets shared by all of our friends, our friends' friends and our friends' friends' mom (if she's on Facebook/Twitter/Whatever Social media).  They shared the video because it's cute or "you have to see this, it's great" and that becomes the next thing that has been viral marketed.

That's what today's word is: Viral Marketing.  Viral Marketing is a risky technique where marketers hope that users share the information to each other repeatedly leading to wide coverage and interest.

Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to create a "viral video or "make something go viral."  How viral something will be is impossible to predict. Basically it comes down to something that strikes a chord with someone and it gets shared, it strikes a chord with others, shared and goes from there.

It is definitely a risky marketing technique, especially if you invest thousands of dollars into creating a video that you expect to go viral and it doesn't.

So if you're looking into viral marketing, just remember, it's not a guarantee of marketing success.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Clickbait

Today's word is Clickbait, or as I love to put it "Bad headlines that don't tell you jack about the story." Which is pretty much what Clickbaiting is.  Clickbaiting is writing a headline that encourages readers to click on it to find out the whole story.  They are designed to pique your curiosity and are often headlines like "You Won't Beleive What Happens Next" or "This One Weird Trick Works".  Then you find that you actually do belive what happens next or duh, of course that trick works.

As of this year (2015) Facebook is actively working against Clickbait articles, trying to have an algorithm to where they don't appear as high in feeds when shared by folks and the origial poster. I applaud Facebook for taking steps to exterminate clickbaiting.

If you are considering sharing clickbait articles, please don't.  It's annoying and only makes people distrust you and your brand. Create unique, intriguing article headlines that attract people rather than creating a lie to draw them to your page and website.

Good luck!

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Social Influencer

Today's term is a term that pops up quite frequently whether a part of Klout or not and that term is social influencer.

Social influencers are individuals who have acquired a loyal audience of social media followers who respect and trust their opinions.  These influencers often spend time creating and sharing content on subjects they are knowledgeable about with their followers.  Some of the Twitch streamers have become social influencers because of the content they put out - whether it be game reviews, Let's Play or whatever - and then brands use them to spread messages.

Social influencers are important to brands because people trust influencers over brands because of their authenticity.  Most social influencers are very effective at spreading online messages to their followers who then share them with others.

Social influencers often share posts from others, helping them to become influencers as well, which is great in the social media networking web.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Social Media Manager

 This is a term that comes up regularly in the job postings we share on Mondays.  The term can be fairly varied, ranging from social media manager to social media diva to social media director (or director of social media) to social media coordinator, but they all ultimately end up being the same job (unless they end up being in charge of a team of people).  A Social Media Manager is, ultimately, the person in charge of planning, developing and implementing a social media plan and content strategies for a brand, cause, celebrity or topic.

Keep in mind, companies often have different expectations of what they want their social media manager to do - including marketing at times.  Be sure to read what the responsibilities of the job are before applying as different companies do expect different things - for example some may require you to be on Reddit or Tumblr a lot as part of the job, others may only require Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Happy New Year!  We will be skipping Thursday Tutorials this week because of the holiday.  Enjoy the time off, if you have it.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Social Media Monitoring

So today's word is a bit of a giggle because I didn't really think there was a term for it other than "keeping up with social media", but apparently there is a phrase for it and it's Social Media Monitoring.

Social Media Monitoring is the process of keeping an eye on (in other words monitoring) your brand's social media accounts and responding to any mentions related to your business as they occur on social media.

This falls in line with our other advice of being sure to respond to people who post on your Facebook wall or tweet you, etc.  Not only do you want to keep up with those things, but you also want to see where people are talking about you and what they're saying.  It's all part of being a brand with social media.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media.  These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media.   You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.