Social media, social web, marketing and Twitter hints, tips & advice – Liz Hover's Diary of a Web Gal

First, I’ll admit that this is pretty much a duplicate of a post I made today over on the National Screen Institute’s website.

But not entirely.

I don’t think much of Google Buzz, ok?

I love Google, for the record.

The basic premise: Google wants in on the social media thang. Google Buzz is their trump card.

Or something.

This is my comment on the proposition, not the product.

According to Google’s official blog:

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch.

If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

So far I’m not that impressed with it – largely because I only use my Gmail accounts to log in to Feedburner, YouTube and a bunch of other Google-operated sites.

I’m also a prolific Twitter and Facebook user and don’t see the sense in adding yet another network to the list.

Sure, I can add my Twitter account so my tweets appear on Buzz but I’d rather folks just follow me on Twitter.

I can see the benefit for regular users of Gmail. Send mail and chat with your pals all in one place. Which makes sense.

Are you using Google Buzz? Let me know what you think.

Thanks to my friend, the wonderful Erica Glasier, for the illustration at the top of this page available under a Creative Commons License.

This post was contributed by artist Vicki Boatright (aka BZTAT).

She specializes in contemporary artwork of dogs and cats. She is known worldwide for her unique and colorful pet portraits. I helped to create her website BZTAT Studios after meeting her in the Twitterverse.

The author of this blog is a British gal living in Canada. I live in Canton, OH in the USA. According to Google Maps, we are 1,254 miles and two countries apart.

How did we meet?

You guessed it. Social media.

The beauty of social media is that it knows no borders. It brings people together from all parts of the world and it allows us to develop relationships globally.

One year ago, I rarely communicated with people outside of my local geographical area that were not family or close friends. Now, I communicate with people from all over the United States, the United Kingdom and other European countries, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, etc. on a daily basis.

Through the use of Twitter, Facebook, my blog and other social media networks, I have been able to develop my “brand” as an animal artist, and I have a following from all over the world.

People not only know me, they enthusiastically support me and celebrate my artwork internationally.

Some of my best friends and fans are half a world away. How did that happen?

All I can say is, it just did.

It can happen for you, too, if you want it to.

My experience has been that people who do not feel successful with social media have somehow imposed limitations on themselves that restrict their networks. If you get too hung up on limiting things instead of allowing things to unfold and develop, you won’t have much success.

Twitter has changed my life, as that network more than any other has given me a global reach. It took awhile for me to understand it and to develop my niche with it, but once I gained some confidence, it opened up an infinite number of possibilities. Allowing those possibilities to develop, I believe, is what distinguishes me from others who have given up and said, “Twitter is too ADD for me!”

My suggestions for maximizing Twitter and other social media networks:

• Be yourself, be creative, and tell an interesting story. Share things about yourself that are unique and intriguing to others. For me, the story is told by my cat @BrewskieButt who lives with an artist @ in an emerging arts district in downtown Canton, OH. He shares about his life as the cat of an artist, connects with other pet oriented people, and he tweets about the Canton Arts District.




• Be social, friendly and helpful. No one likes a one sided conversation. Respond to the tweets of others and get to know people. Offer to help folks who have questions that you can answer. Ask questions when you need help. Twitter is a very Pay-It-Forward kind of community.




• Share interesting photos via Twitpic. People love pictures! I post photos of my artworks in progress, so that people can watch the piece develop. This, more than anything has “hooked” people on my artwork.




• When at a loss for words, post an interesting quote or link. We can’t always have a clever one liner in us to post, but followers love to find interesting quotes and informative links from others.




• Find people that you admire and learn from them. Watch what others do and see what works for them. You don’t have to copy them, but find ways to incorporate their ideas into your own personal style.




• Be real. Authenticity is important. The more genuine you are, the more closely people will want to follow you and your brand or ideas.




• Use an application that allows you to group your followers. I use Tweetdeck because it allows me to group followers that I want to follow more closely. With groups, I can be more liberal about who I follow back without getting overwhelmed by zillions of tweets that drown out the ones I want to follow the most.

Have fun! Enjoy the adventure that social media can bring you!

(Globe image by Horia Varlan on Flickr under a Creative Commons License)

I’m about to deliver my final social media seminar in a series that I’ve designed for the National Screen Institute.

We’ve looked at Twitter and Facebook and this Wednesday I’ll tackle some of the other stuff that makes up a social media toolkit including blogging, RSS, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon and LinkedIn.

One message I’ve carried through these seminars is that social media is hard work. Bloody hard work.

I’ve been asked by seminar participants, ‘How much time should I devote to this stuff?’

And I’ve not been able to put a number on it. All I can say is work hard at it, be patient, consistent and you will eventually see results.

I think there is still a perception that having Twitter and Facebook accounts along with a handful of others is enough to tick the social media marketing box.

It isn’t.

You can’t do the social media thing half-heartedly.

You almost have to live it which means making it an intrinsic part of your everyday life.

This reminds me of something I recently heard …

Once upon a time we all had radio and TV came along. We had tapes and vinyl and CDs came along. We had VHS and Beta cassettes and DVD came along. People derided the new way. Soon the new way was the way. I think the same is true of the social web. It takes time for these behaviours to weave themselves into your life.

But I’m quite serious when I say social media is hard freakin’ work.

Making connections on the web is hard work.

Writing regular blog posts is hard work.

Keeping up three Twitter accounts is hard work.

Maintaining two Facebook accounts is hard work.

Delivering social media seminars is hard work.

But wait.

For me, hard work doesn’t mean ‘unenjoyable.’ It means I have to put my heart and soul into all that I do (and consequently sleep a lot at weekends!)

The social web and many of its parts are my passions.

Which is why I think social media isn’t necessarily for everyone.

If you don’t care enough, you’ll do a poor job of representing your company online.

If you’re gonna dive into this social media thing, do it with both feet and prepare for deep water.

Photo courtesy of ittybittiesforyou via a Creative Commons Licence

At the end of 2009 I committed to Project52 – a year long challenge to post new content to your blog every week.

As part of that I asked what you’d like to read about in 2010.

This post is a direct response to one of the suggested topics I received from my online pal and fellow Canadian blogger, Heather whose blog The Unexpected Twists and Turns we worked on together to revamp during ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge.

Heather wanted to learn more about using Facebook and StumbleUpon to increase traffic to her own blog.

Using Facebook

My number one rule for using Facebook to promote your blog or business is that you must provide added value.

Merely repeating what readers would find if they visited to your blog or website, and nothing more, is a turn off.

First you have choices to make. Will you be using a Facebook group, fan page or your own profile to promote your blog?

Networked Blogs

To ensure your blog posts are promoted on Facebook you should look at an application called Networked Blogs which will push new content from your blog to your Facebook profile.

This means your new blog posts will automatically appear in your Facebook stream. Although Networked Blogs is an excellent tool, using it is not. You may have to fiddle around a lot before figuring out it works.

So, let’s assume you’ve done this and your blog posts are being added to your Facebook account. Now what?

Establish your Facebook page as a go-to destination

You must establish yourself (your Facebook account/fan page or group) as a go-to place for information about a specific topic. If, like Heather, you are writing about your local neighbourhood then you should subscribe to other blogs and websites which provide information about where you live and what is happening there.

Then you can decide what it is you wish to publish as status updates on Facebook.

As well as reading the stuff about your local neighbourhood (and replace the word ‘neighbourhood’ with whatever your chosen industry is) you should establish a relationship with those sites. Leave comments, follow those folks on Twitter and Facebook. Create links with them. Build and nuture a relationship.

This works to benefit everyone:

• You help promote and share information created by others
• You demonstrate to the author of those sites and its readers that you have a shared interest
• You begin to build credibility

Nuturing relationships

Eventually some wonderful things will happen.

You will receive new Facebook friend requests from folks that have discovered you because you grew your presence online. These are new eyeballs for your blog.

The authors of those sites begin to see you as a genuine force and will begin to promote you by commenting on your blog or by sharing your posts on their Facebook.

As this network grows, others that you have friended on Facebook will ‘like’ your updates and leave Facebook comments thus drawing attention to you and your blog.

Do you see a common theme emerging here? The one that’s central to all ’social media’ activity?

Relationships.

Building a following online, anywhere, is about give and take. You cannot expect to launch a blog and for hundreds or thousands of folks to flock to you overnight.

That recognition will only occur once you demonstrate to your peers that you a) exist; b) make yourself known; c) engage with like-minded folks online.

It’s hard work. It takes time.

Providing added value

At the start of this post I talked about ‘added value.’ This means publishing information on Facebook that your readers will not find you publishing elsewhere.

This is how I generally use the National Screen Institute Facebook fan page.

Of course, some information is repeated but I try to include links to cool stuff I’ve read and have not mentioned elsewhere.

Networking with others on Facebook

Connect with other like-minded folks on Facebook.

Find and join groups that cover similar topics to you. Contribute to those group pages by responding to their content and posting links to your own.

Ditto for fan pages.

Are there gurus and popular spokespeople in your industry? Find them on Facebook and establish a relationship.

Organising events, advertising

Heather, who is writing about a location, could use Facebook’s event feature to organise a get together in Montreal and have Facebook manage the RSVPs.

She could also use Facebook’s very targetted advertising feature to spread the word about her blog. You can build your ad on Facebook (thereby saving you the cost of hiring a designer) and set your own budget.

You can pinpoint your target audience down to the minutest detail.

These are just some of the ways Facebook can help create interest in you and your blog.

Now let’s look at StumbleUpon.

Using StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a website that recommends other sites for you to check out based on personal preferences you provide

I discovered Miss Britt through StumbleUpon.

While there are a number of different features on StumbleUpon, I primarily use it to do two things:

1) Click the ‘Stumble!’ button installed in my web browser in the hopes of discovering fabulous new sites to visit (see Miss Britt above).

2) Add my own recommended sites for others to ‘Stumble!’

The second action here has sent lots of traffic to my blog and the National Screen Institute’s website. The traffic comes in short bursts but it’s still significant. By adding my recommendations those sites then show up when others ‘Stumble!’

To do all this you must set up a StumbleUpon account.

Like Networked Blogs I didn’t find StumbleUpon particularly intuitive to use so it may take you a while to figure it all out.

Like most things on the internet, these strategies can take time to show results.

Be patient, sensible and give as well as take and you will soon see the benefits.

This post was contributed by Ari Herzog.

Ari Herzog is an online media strategist for organizational leaders, providing consulting, speaking, and writing services. He is also a first-term city councilor in the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Maybe you know Ari and read his blog. His posts usually cause a stir and he remains the blogger on whose posts I’ve commented the most.

Sales revenue forecasts are down, customers are jumping to your competition, and you were just charged by your boss with being the de facto social media manager because the company lacks the funds to hire someone new.

“Great!” you mumble to yourself, recognizing you know next to nil on what social media is, let alone how to use it to boost the company line.

But, you’ve put in 10 years with the firm, the management trusts you to get the work done, and you realize you have nothing to lose.

First things first, you create a Twitter account. It’s the talk of the town and everyone from Oprah to Ellen to Britney uses it, so it’s gotta mean something.

You start following your role models. You reply to them and their questions but they don’t reply to you. In time, you broadcast your own thoughts or products the company launches. You notice strangers with weird names like jonas556 and BigProductRevu follow you. You don’t know why, and they don’t message you, but you assume they are fans.

When someone does send you a message, you don’t know because you don’t know you are supposed to check that link called Replies. Twitter is a failure in the first week.

Then, you turn to Facebook. You don’t know Facebook from skydiving, but because your 14-year-old kid is on it, he shows you the ropes on creating a profile which you do in the name of the company. You don’t get that, either.

You watch some YouTube videos and add some comments. Nobody comments back.

The sarcasm level of the above is very high, but it could be a real situation.

Maybe you aren’t like the fictitious person above. Maybe you are engaging with your customers every day on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

Maybe you have a Ning-powered community in the name of your corporate brand. Maybe your company distributes audio-recorded press conferences on iTunes and video-recorded product launches on Blip.tv and uploads employee photos to Flickr. Maybe you’re using the web like the best of the best. But something’s not right. You have the passion but you’re getting tired and burned out.

You’re having a nervous breakdown.

Sorry to break it to you, but GOOD JOB! You are supposed to get burned out now and then. If you don’t question what you do and why you do it, you risk doing it for the wrong reasons.

Every optometrist will tell you to take a break from staring at computers or reading books to exercise your eyes. Every marathon trainer will tell you to not run every day because you need to relax your muscles. So, why do you write a status update on your favorite social networking service whenever you have something to say? If you don’t send that update, do you truly think your fans and customers will wonder where you are?

If you’re allowed to take a vacation with your family and leave your techno gadgets at home, surely you can take a vacation from tweeting, facebooking, and youtubing. If you don’t, I assure you that you will develop a mental illness. Your doctor would tell you to take care of your body before exerting physical pressure, so I suggest you similarly take a break, if even a deep breath, before sending that next update out.

Life will go on without that update.

And, if you can recognize life does go on without one social media marketing update, then imagine the repercussions if you take a week off from Twitter and Facebook. Continue your offline marketing instead, or focus on increasing the branding of that Ning community. Using social media does not mean using every tool every second of every day.

Unless they lose their funding, they’re not going away. So, take a break and protect your immunity.

After listing my most popular posts of 2009 it seemed only fair that I list my least popular posts of 2009.

These posts are basically the fat kid that got picked last in gym class (in England we say P.E. – physical education).

I’m hoping you’ll discover something in one of them that will help you or someone you know.

And if you feel so inclined you can check out my archives which list in a nice and simple format all past posts on Diary of a Web Gal.

So here are my blog posts most in need of a big hug.

• Jeremy Fisher’s super cool animated web series
• Learn by doing
• Keep jargon out of your news releases and your website
• 15 tools for monitoring the popularity of a website
• I love my iPhone
• Lunatic bloggers can keep the blogosphere
• 21 WordPress plugins you must use
• I am no longer a tweet up virgin
• Alternatives to Photoshop
• So who are the most prolific internet users?

There was a little rejoicing in the Web Gal household yesterday.

One of my blogs, Hi, I’m Sadie Shih Tzu has been nominated for a Canadian Weblog Award (Life category).

The Canadian Weblog Awards promote blogs from across Canada year-round with interviews, articles, and the nomination, judging, and award process. A jury then decides on a short list and winners are announced in January 2011.

The awards are something of a breath of fresh air: they’re designed to uncover good, but perhaps not mainstream or popular blogs.

Much of the judging criteria focuses on common sense stuff that all web designers would apply when creating a website. The same stuff I use in my job as website manager.

Design

• Usability — Is the website user-friendly and easy to navigate?
• Operability — Do all of its components function properly?
• Interactivity — Are a comments section and author contact information available? Are its interactive components (including comments, audio, video, etc.) effective, appropriate, and accessible?
• Aesthetics — Is the website pleasing to look at? Is its design original?

• Originality — Is the content original and creatively expressed?
• Intelligibility and clarity — Is the content well-written? Are the content’s messages clearly and effectively delivered?
• Currency — Is the content timely? Is the weblog updated on a regular basis?
• Transparency and authenticity — Is the author’s purpose and realness both trusted and apparent?
• Attention to detail — Has the content been edited for spelling and grammatical errors? Is the content arranged for ease of consumption?
• Engagingness — Is the content interesting? Does it contain broad appeal within its genre?

So we’ll have to be patient for a few months before we find out if Sadie’s blog progresses any further.

This is truly an honour to be recognised among my fellow Canadian bloggers. I’ve never envisioned making money from Sadie’s blog. It’s only ever an online space for her personality to come alive for others. Pure entertainment. And with the deluge of blogs available it’s a wonder anyone ever found Sadie’s.

We’ve no idea who nominated Hi, I’m Sadie Shih Tzu. If it was you, thank you.