Friday Facts: Reblog from Feb. 2014: Nifty Infographic with Sizes for Social Media Graphics

Working on a new social media account from a different computer, I had to find the dimensions needed for each social media platform again. Seeing that I originally posted this article more than a year ago, I figured today would be a good day to share the graphic again.

I strongly advise you to bookmark this article, or the article it links to or just save the graphic from the link to your desktop. It's a handy tool for when you are creating new graphics for social media platforms.

The most often thing I look up when creating a Facebook page for clients or for my projects or other pages for other projects within Twitter or LinkedIn is "what are the dimensions I need for this image again?"  And then either googling it or trying to find it on the site I'm working on so I can create an optimized image for it. 

Well this site has all the dimensions in one easy to find infographic.  Check it out here: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-image-dimensions_b44957

Bookmark it.  You'll thank me later.

Image above also links to the article and is used in promotion of the article and is in no way affiliated with this blog except to promote the article.

Just a Friendly Reminder - Be Skeptical Today!

Just a friendly reminder, even though the pranks seem to start earlier and earlier each year, that today is April Fool's Day. If it sounds too good to be true, or sounds like it's totally fake, it most likely is.

My advice for today, take everything with a grain of salt and if it's true, you'll know for certain a few days later - unless you have really cruel friends.

Everything we post today will be real - no pranks here.  Can't guarantee about elsewhere though.

Enjoy the day!

Saturday Sharing: 5 Social Media Studies That Can Make Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Better

Every so often someone shares a link with me via Twitter or Facebook that I think is worth sharing with everyone.  A couple weeks or so ago, someone linked me to this article on OPTIMIND DIGITAL MARKETING that talks about studies done in social media and pieces of advice from them that can be useful in making your social media marketing strategy better.

The article tells you not only something specific about each of the five studies, but then tells you why it's important and what information you should be taking away from it.

Check the article out here: http://www.optiminddigital.com/5-social-media-studies-that-can-make-your-social-media-marketing-strategy-better/

We're Back...just in time for the holidays

As mentioned in a previous post somewhere, we were moving and I got some of the posts I wanted done to post, but not all.  So here we are, in December with Christmas a few days away and I'm just now able to get back into the swing of things here.

We will have posts this week, but only generic posts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Keep in mind, we are also looking for guest bloggers so if you're interested, gimme a shout.

Thanks for checking out the blog the last month despite the limited number of posts.  We do appreciate it.

Fewer Posts Last Few Weeks - Picking Up This Week

The last month has been hectic with school starting with my son and a new project starting as well as work.  If anyone tells you writing for a living is awesome, they obviously don't write non-fiction as well as blogs and attempt to write fiction too.  It's crazy hectic and all to often time gets away from me and when I've intended to sit down and right ends up getting distracted with Facebook or Pinterest (note: both of those browser tabs were shut down so I could focus on writing and not Pinning or Facebooking).

The new project, SciTechNerds.com has been a bit behind as well due to work and other things.  If you like science and technology, check this new endeavor out.  We promise, no click baiting and no obnoxious advertisements.

That being said, I am writing and scheduling posts and should have daily posts (or often twice daily posts) for the rest of this month, except for the weekends and even then I should have a smattering of posts.  I may also, occasionally, post links to what I've been working one elsewhere in case you're interested in checking that stuff out.

I've also been invited to publish on LinkedIn, so you will see some of these articles pop up over there from time to time.

As always, I welcome questions and suggestions for articles and would love to have a guest author (or two) as well as another social media blogger to write with me as well.

Happy Monday!

Friday Post Hiatus - It's My Birthday

I scheduled this post early - almost a month ago - because I knew I would be busy focusing on other things with it being my birthday.  I turn 34 today and while I will be either at work, or off for the day (I haven't decided which), I think I will be too busy to really focus on sharing other articles on social media today.  That means First Friday posts will be delayed a week, much like last month since First Friday was the Fourth of July.

So that being said, no other post than this today and hope you have a great weekend.

Tuesday Tips: Attend Social Media Classes, Seminars

“Learn from the experts and never pass up a social media class or seminar.”  -- Charles River Running *Posted on Constant Contact Facebook Page

This piece of advice, from the Constant Contact Facebook Page, is really invaluable.  I had never really considered taking a social media training course until I recently saw one on Groupon (I purchased it two weeks ago for $99 and is supposedly valued near $1,400).  But when I saw it available, I figured there was no harm in taking it.  There was bound to be much more I can learn in the next year and this course may just help me to learn it.

Keep in mind, all the advice I've given here is self-learned.  I've had no formal training, which I am thinking a number of my readers are on the same page with.  Therefore, I totally agree with Mr. Running.  Don't pass up a social media class.

Keep an eye out for them on Groupon and Living Social or at your local community college's continuing education class.  You might learn something useful from them.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Remember, Company Page is Not The Same as Your Personal Page

Even though it seems pretty obvious that a page should be treated differently than a personal profile, it isn't surprising that many people don't think to treat them differently when they really should.

The Dinner Daily reminded folks of that simple fact when they posted the following on the Constant Contact Facebook page:  “Get professional advice on how to use it. It’s not the same as your personal page.”

While I think getting professional advice is a little far to go,  you should be reading social media experts blogs and twitter posts and learn more about how to use social media if you are using your Facebook page as you would your personal profile.  Follow by example.  Like and pay attention to similar brands Facebook pages and learn from them.

One mistake I've seen before is the "pity me" posts from a page where the owner is down on their luck and sharing their bad experiences either in their life, in their relationship with a customer or another business.  This is something you should never do as it reflects poorly on your business and on you.  Try to keep your personal life off of your business page - this will help you achieve more of your goals.

Good luck!

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Less Pushing, More Engaging

Sometimes it's hard to forget that social media should be used not just to push people to buy your product, attend an event, support a cause, etc. but should also be used to interact and engage with your followers.

Many social media marketers focus more on pushing their brand with a "Hey look at this awesome deal we have going, you need to buy now" and spend less time engaging with people who leave comments (sometimes not even responding at all) or responding to questions on their page.

Don't make this mistake!

Remember that you want to engage your customers.  Ask them questions, respond to their questions.  Like their comments and comment on their comments as appropriate.  Engagement is a two-way street and if you want your fans to buy what you push, you have to engage them.  If you want them to attend events or leave positive feedback, you have to engage them.

Keep that in mind as you schedule/make posts for this week.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Wednesday Words: Social Networks

This one is more of a fun word to define, because we are all part of social networks these days.  But the dictionary definitions are a lot of fun to look at, then realize how much further our social networks have grown beyond just the people we associate with day in and day out, to friends of friends and acquaintances and sometimes people we don't even know when we add them to our online social networks.

According to Dictionary.com:

social network

noun
1. a network of friends, colleagues, and other personal contacts: Strong social networks can encourage healthy behaviors.2. Computers.a. an online community of people with a common interest who use a website or other technologies to communicate with each other and share information, resources, etc.: a business-oriented social network.b. a website or online service that facilitates this communication.

Google defines it as:

so·cial net·worknoun1. a network of social interactions and personal relationships.
2. a dedicated website or other application that enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, etc.

I find that the changes in definitions over time to be quite interesting.

But it also serves as a good reminder.  Online social networks are great, but being a part of a social network in a social atmosphere is even better.  Don't forget that!

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.

Tuesday Tips: Don't Hashtag Every Word in Social Media Posts

We've all had a person, or two (or more) that we've followed on Twitter that has committed the social media sin of hashtagging every word in their post.

Not sure what I mean?  Let me give a fictional example.

#WOW #SocialMedia #issocool #Checkoutmyblog.  #writer #blogger #socialmediablog #blogging

Don't be one of -those- guys.  And if you're guilty of being one of those guys, especially when you didn't understand the purpose of hashtags, you're forgiven.  Just don't do it again.

Hashtag only important words or phrases.  Hashtag what pertains to your post.  And definitely don't hashtag every word.  That's a bad, BAD idea.

If you aren't sure what hashtags are out there, search for them.  if similar posts match what your tweet is about, use it.  This rule also applies to Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook.  Just because you can add hashtags to everything doesn't mean you should.  Go for quality over quantity.

Have fun!

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Wednesday Words: Favorite

Another Twitter word this week, and this is one people should be familiar with and use with a little bit more frequency and that's "Favorite."

Favorite for Twitter is like the "like" button on Facebook, except better in my opinion.  It allows you to show the poster that you like their content without spamming it to your account.  However, people can still see what you've favorited and be able to visit it.  It also lets you, just Favorite or just Retweet or both if that's what you want to do.

So if you like someone's Tweet, or find it useful, or anything else, Favorite it.  If you think it's something your followers would like, don't only Favorite it, Retweet it too.

Have fun Tweeting!

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.

Friday Facts: Fun Infographic on What it Takes to Be a Social Media Strategist

Mashable put together a really neat infographic on what it takes to be a social media strategist.  While the article is almost 4 years old and it would be interesting to see how some of the statistics have changed since it was published, a lot of the tips in there are invaluable to both new, and old, social media marketers alike.

For example:

1. Be ready to wear many hats.
2. Be able to lead.
3. Be willing, and able, to take risks.

But that's just a quick paraphrase.  Check out the full article and infographic here: http://mashable.com/2011/09/24/social-media-career/

Wednesday Words: HootSuite

If you've dabbled in social media at all, you've likely heard of HootSuite.  Hootsuite is a free app/Chrome Plugin which offers paid services that helps social media managers streamline campaigns across several social networks including Facebook, Google + Pages, LinkedIn and Twitter.  The app allows teams to collaboratively monitor, engage and measure results of social media campaigns in a secure, web-based dashboard.

Personally, I've used the free version of HootSuite to handle a few sites things.

The biggest advice I can offer is if you have Facebook connected to Twitter and it autoposts to Twitter, to be sure to schedule with HootSuite appropriately to where it won't post to Twitter.  I do suggest, however, that if you're going to use HootSuite, remove the option for Facebook pages to be connected to Twitter pages.

I have not used the paid version. If anyone who reads this has, I would love to host a blog post  by you about your experiences with it and how it can help with social media marketing.

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.

Back in the Saddle

April was a crazy month.  A lot of things happened that were unexpected or didn't go according to plan, which meant time I had intended to write and schedule posts out weeks in advance didn't happen.

That being said, I apologize for the lack of regular updates during April.  And seeing my travel schedule for June, I'm going to try to work ahead and get posts done.

Something that will help me - immensely - is if people who read offer comments or suggestions - especially when I have posts asking for questions of input.  That will encourage me to try and get these done ahead of time so they'll be on schedule.

We'll ignore the fact other projects and writing keeps intervening.

Thanks in advance!

Wednesday Words: Retweet

If you're new to social media, or new to Twitter, you may see people talking about "Retweet this" or "This has been retweeted by: Name".  Retweeting is when someone shares your post, via the retweet option on Twitter.  It shows as them retweeting your post.

Retweeting is a great way to share content of people you follow on Twitter that may be of interest to your followers.  It is also a way to get new followers - especially if you retweet someone who isn't already a follower.  Some folks will retweet things you post if you retweet things they post.  It's one big happy family at times with retweeting.

Most importantly, though, if you want people to retweet what you post, you need to retweet their posts from time to time as well.  Reciprocity is a good thing.

Retweeting is very easy and you have a couple options to do so.  You can just click the retweet button, which looks like a square with arrows around it, or you can retweet as a quote and comment on the retweet if there's enough characters to do so.

So if you haven't retweeted posts, you may look into starting to do so. It might just help you gain followers and increase your content output.

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.

Tuesday Tips: Remember to be Social with Social Media

While the whole purpose of having social media is to promote and support your brand, you also have to remember to be socialable with your brand's/individual's social media accounts.

All too often people posting with brands forget to be socialable and engaging with their users.  It's okay for a brand to have a bit of a personality.  It actually helps a bit, especially if someone is upset about something and you're trying to smooth things over as best you can via social media.  Having a positive social media personality can go a long way.

The important thing to remember, while you should talk about yourself, you should also ask questions that engage your viewers and fanbase as well - and it doesn't necessarily have to be questions related to your brand (but it can be).

Some ideas to help be social and engage your fanbase include:

• For local brands/businesses, talking about local things going on - whether it be the weather, a sale at the store, local news or something related to an upcoming public event.
• Ask people to share photos if they've been to your business.
• Try out the new Q&A feature Facebook has rolled out to select pages.
• Hold contests/give-aways.

Always remember to be polite.  Please and thank yous go a long way in this digital world.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Wednesday Words: Direct Messaging (DM)

DM, or Direct Message, is terminology associated with Twitter.  It's a way to send someone a private, direct message, that is only viewable by that person, instead of publicly viewable when you write a tweet with @Theirname in it.

Some people will accept direct messages from anyone, others require direct messages be from people they follow and follow them back.

Be careful with direct messages though.  Often times, when twitter accounts are hacked, they will direct message everyone that can accept direct messages with a fake message and a link.  The link will look like Twitter and want you to sign in again - don't do it.  This is how they get your password then use it to spam your account.

Direct messages are a great way to communicate briefly about projects.  If more in-depth explanations are needed, stick to Facebook chat, email or other methods.

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.

Tuesday Tips: Be Transparent, But Not Too Transparent

In this day and age, transparency seems to be the "in" and "good" thing, but there is also a problem of being -too- transparent.

Don't make the mistake of being too transparent and posting complaints about customers, about service providers or about how something/someone/anything sucks.  What you post on social media stays around forever - even after you edit it or delete it, it can - and most likely will - come back to haunt you.

Remember, as a company, your social media page should be positive.  Keep the negativity out of it, otherwise you will lose people you want to keep.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Friday Facts: Why Businesses Should Consider Pinterest

While looking through Pinterest to come up with some Friday Fact posts to share - yes I use Pinterest to find some of these articles - I came across this one which actually promotes the usage of Pinterest for businesses.

Personally, I have set up one of the businesses I work with (Video Game Scoreboard) on Pinterest and have seen some stuff from that.  What's nice about Pinterest - and we will eventually cover that here too - is that they will confirm your brand if you add code to your website for any site you're creating a Pinterest page for as a brand.  So if you're the one running social media for a brand, be sure to talk to the webdevelopers and get them the code needed to verify your account.

That being said, White Glove Social Media provides 7 good reasons as to why businesses should be using Pinterest as part of their social media strategy.  Check out the article here:  http://www.whiteglovesocialmedia.com/infographic-pinterest-social-media-marketing-7-reasons-why-businesses-should-use-pinterest/

Have you seen articles you think others would like to see on our blog?  Or do you have your own social media blog and want us to share some of your posts?  If so, leave a comment with information and a link and you may find your posts featured on a Friday!