Yup, I quit the best job I’ve ever had. For one of the best agencies in Grand Rapids. My last day as an official employee of ddm will be October 15, next Friday. And no I did not quit with a whiteboard and a mass email like Jenny ;)
I have heard a lot of people give lip service to having their family as a priority. I have been watching myself fall into the same trap, (more…)
Don’t know the full story yet, but on multiple Facebook pages our team has visited today we’ve noticed that you cannot comment on the wall postings.
An example from Social Media Examiner:
Older post made to wall, you can comment on it
Versus the recent comments:
Recent Wall Posts with no ability to Comment
For reference here’s more of the page in context:
Older posts (9 hours ago) can be commented on
Update: This does not affect walls of personal profiles. Just Pages, no word yet if this affects community pages yet.
Update 10:09 am Target’s Wall: http://www.facebook.com/target?v=wall documents this quite well
Note the comment on Target's wall about Facebook comments being broken, and then comments on a later post
Target users desiring it to be fixed.
Update 10pm: Known issue, Social Media Examiner has a thread explaining that its the posts made by fans to the walls of business pages. However fans can still comment on posts by the page admins. AllFacebook.com is also covering it.
This is a tip or a technique I use everyday to monitor keywords about me and my clients. There are tools which do actual sentiment analysis and all kinds of other listening, but I just want to be reminded to read the conversations.
I also like to keep my inbox small. So I trick myself and have content by keywords delivered to my inbox, that way I’m forced to read it or make a conscious effort to ignore it. Not signing into a listening application can cause problems… unless it delivers emails of conversations.
This technique will focus on listening to twitter, however there are plenty of RSS feeds out there to use this method of “subscribing”
Simply head over to twitter search and type in a query, I’ll use “elephants” as mine… however I recommend you visit the Advanced Search page to develop a better query like “elephants -peanuts -from:Elleph” This will give you this page as a result http://twitter.com/search?q=elephants (or http://twitter.com/search?q=elephants+-peanuts+-from:Elleph) And in reality you can use these URLs in most RSS to Email tools, however I recommend going one step further and locating the actual RSS feed.
In the Twitter Search Results page you should see a link saying “Feed for this query” (as seen in the image below) right click on this link and choose copy link address or link URL. This is the actual RSS feed url that we’ll use in the next step.
There are a few options, and some have come and gone over the years, so I’ll recommend two searches, and two currently functioning tools. First off, searches:
One of the current tools I use shows up in spot number one for both of those searches… Feed my Inbox. The next sections will explain what to do with each of these tools
Arguably the best tool out there for taking an RSS feed and dumping the results to email, Feed my Inbox makes it quite simple, when you arrive it asks for a feed url (which we got from step one) and your email address, that’s all it needs to start emailing you the tweets you care about. (or blog postings youtube videos etc). You can also login to customize more settings, but the basics are here for you.
Taking the RSS to inbox one step further Notify.me allows you to have it send an SMS, IM or Email. Which is very handy for the more important keywords you want to pay attention to. Once signed in you can turn on and off notifications with a simple click and add feeds by pasting the URL (from above) to add new feeds.
These are two tools, and one technique that I use on a daily basis to keep me informed of conversations around my keywords… this is how I can appear to be online all day long while actually enjoying a life offline.
Remember, Automate the simple stuff, do the conversations and relationship manually.
The following are the 60 or so tweets I had as my presentation material for a recent talk at GRSM on Twitter Strategy for Business. I would love to post the slideshare of this presentation however it was designed as a presentation via twitter. Many of you have asked how I did it. I could not have done it with out the help of two staff members of ddm marketing & communications who posted each point as I hit it. These tweets are my content, I prewrote them and my staff only filled in 3 or so tweets where I strayed from my pre written notes. I’ve also embedded the video for your viewing pleasure.
GRSM – Aug. 26th 2010 Paul Kortman Twitter Strategy from Grand Rapids Social Marketing on Vimeo.
Were you there? What did you think? Discuss your thoughts in the comments section below
Getting setup for #GRSM, follow along at home or from your own laptop at @grcommfound by going here: http://bit.ly/dbXy3K
Just a couple more minutes until we start the Twitter talk at #grsm, we will be Ustreaming this for those at home, follow @grsm for link
If you don’t care about live tweeting events, or learning about #twitter use a tool to mute me: http://bit.ly/ahN902 #grsm
– @joelleo and @imaclurg from @grsm should be thanked (or bought a few beers) for creating #grsm and giving back to the community
The house is packed! Great Turnout. #grsm
For those who didn’t get the link earlier, what you see on the big screen can be seen on your screen here: http://bit.ly/dbXy3K #grsm
Paul Kortman @namtrok is starting an non-traditional presentation, using #twitter as the presentation tool #grsm http://bit.ly/dbXy3K
This is an experiment in action, we’ve taken the proper safety precautions, but this whole presentation could blow up :) #grsm
Tweet Grid Link: http://bit.ly/dbXy3K
I work for @teamddm as dir of Search & Social: We help companies navigate twitter & more on a daily basis #grsm
Gratuitous plug for @teamddm, did you know we’re hiring? http://bit.ly/1q7JX Search & Social, CSS, Proj Mgmt & more #grsm (plz RT)
I believe that #twitter is an infrastructure like the power grid. You can use it for whatever purpose. Thus, twitter as a preso tool #grsm
Pyramid of Strategy: top= Marketing Strategy, second tier includes Advertising Strategy, PR, Sales, Trad Media, Web Strategy #grsm
Everything you do should be driven by objectives which come from a strategy, this includes all SocMed, but especially Twitter #grsm
Pyramid of Strategy: Whiteboard pic, Marketing Strategy http://twitpic.com/2i1cls #grsm
Under Web strategy (Tier 3 of Pyramid of Strategy) is Conversion Strategy, Content Strategy, and Social Media Strategy #grsm
Ever thought about a conversion strategy for your website? What are you trying to get your users to do? How does it help your biz? #grsm
Pyramid of Strategy: Tier 4 under SocMed Strat: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, 4Sq, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, <–All are Strategies #grsm
Question for you to ponder: What are you doing with your web presence? #GRSM
Pyramid of Strategy: Whiteboard pic, Web/Social Strategy http://twitpic.com/2i1co3 #grsm
And finally Tier 5 under Twitter Strategy – Listen, Objectives, Voice, Content Strat, Follower Strategy, Integration Strat, & Tools #grsm
Pyramid of Strategy: Whiteboard pic, Twitter Strategy http://twitpic.com/2i1cql #grsm
Pyramid of Strategy: Whiteboard pic, Whole Pyramid: http://twitpic.com/2i1cjm #grsm
I’m going to skip over Listen as a strategy, all I’ll say is you’ve got to listen first. I’m assuming you are or have done this. #grsm
Objectives flow from Marketing Strategy all the way down to Twitter Strategy, are you selling hammers? or pimping a non-profit #grsm
Example Objectives for Twitter Strategy: Sell Tickets, brand awareness, buzz generation, Publicity prep, customer support and more #grsm
Example Objective: Product Awareness, focus around a topic like better eyesight, this drives content and follower strategy too. #grsm
Easter Egg: http://bit.ly/bCHsxF #grsm
Voice was covered last year http://bit.ly/936nOi Personal/Person, Person behind the brand, & the brand #grsm What is your voice on Twitter?
New thoughts or ideas on voice for twitter strategy? #grsm Are you going to be hip, stale, conversational, self-focused or what?
How many retweets, original content, replies, and marketing are you going to post? #grsm
I recommend: 40% original content, 40% other’s content and 20% (or less) ads/marketing speak #grsm
Social Media is a multidirectional platform. DO NOT be 100% marketing, or 100% one-way. Dialog, Dialog, Dialog. #grsm
Want to know how to create content that will “go viral” or at a minimum get retweeted? checkout @danzarrella now working for @hubspot #grsm
Questions to ask in a content strategy: ratios, do you RT? Content scheduled? Editorial Calendar? What value are you offering? #grsm
So many brands get it so wrong with 90% marketing speak 10% “hey i’m going to talk to someone” #grsm
Editorial calendars help plan what you’re going to say on Twitter… it’s not bad to plan #grsm
We all want Followers, but you’ve got to have the right followers, total numbers mean nothing if they are not in your target market #grsm
Tools to help in building follower base: @followerwonk, @socialoomph, @tweepsearch, @PeopleBrowsr, @twittersearch, & more #grsm
Automation can only do so much, the old school methods still work the best, hand following, @ replying and unfollowing non followers #grsm
It is really hard to follow 100 people manually…. use tools #grsm
Some clients have taken > year to break the 1,000 follower mark, others have broken 2,000 in 6 months. Depends on target Audience #grsm
Easter Egg: http://bit.ly/crDDGm #grsm
It’s not about the follower number, it’s about reach, dialog, and engagement of followers. Success is not measured in follower count #grsm
If success were measured by follower count @ladygaga should be today’s speaker, > 5 Million followers and less than 500 tweets #grsm
Key in Follower Strategy: find the right accounts to follow through keyword/topic/geo-based searches, like “Venture Capitalist” #grsm
Also possible to do a contest, give-aways based on hashtag, dialog, or following. <– These are more difficult to gain adoption #grsm
Contests to gain followers work well if you have a large base of engaged followers already or can engage influencers #grsm
Short and Simple what other social networks are you going to integrate to your twitter presence? #grsm – this is your integration strategy
Example integrations: YouTube, Blog, RSS feed, Delicious, Feed Reader, Facebook, Tumblr, Posterous, 4sq, flickr, linkedin, etc #grsm
Choose your integration wisely #grsm
Be careful with Integration of other SocMed content as they can be annoying, and they can mess up, automation is not always best #grsm
You have to have a strategy with what tools you are going to use. Don’t use a tool just cause the twitterati use it. #grsm
Too many tools to mention, but @oneforty from @pistachio has the best collection and review, I often find new tools there. #grsm
I use @tweetgrid @tweetdeck @tweetie @twitter (iPhone) @echophone @cotweet @hootsuite @friendorfollow @klout @twitterfeed & others #grsm
Don’t forget listening tools: @scoutlabs @radian6, @AlterianSM2, @socialmention Automate the easy stuff, spend your time on dialog #grsm
New Features: Followed by http://twitpic.com/2i0qm9 U both Follow http://twitpic.com/2i0qri Suggestions 4U http://twitpic.com/2i0qws #grsm
For important topics, create an RSS feed and drop it in your email so you’re notified when your topic comes up #grsm
Take an afternoon once a quarter and evaluate your strategy #grsm
Can you remember twitter without replies?? #grsm
Freebie: Twitter Lists: http://bit.ly/bXY76B #grsm
Because of Twitter and sms people’s lives were saved in last years Chilean earthquake. ISPs/web access down but sms was up #grsm
Thanks for listening, reading, tweeting, asking questions and all, please feel free to ask questions here #grsm or on #twitter!
Thanks to @danielbkimball and @imeghanp from @teamddm for being the wizards behind the curtain! #grsm
And thanks to @GRCommFound for making space for #grsm and other learning/non-profit events.
Sorry there will be no slidedeck to download :) but you can search for #grsm and find all of these tweets (for a week) https://twitter.com/search?q=from:namtrok+grsm
Thanks for participating!! Did you enjoy the experiment? Lets carry on the conversation on #twitter #grsm
There is a lot to say about twitter and business!
Were you there? What did you think? Discuss your thoughts in the comments section below
Skittles.com
Social Media sharing icons are becoming ubiquitious, Clients ask for better social media integration on their website and they generally mean they would like these social media icons on their page/site/content. In my oponion there are two types of social media icons by function. The first, which I’m not going to spend too much time on in this post, is the “We have a presence here” Icons
levi.com
These Icons are in a consistant place on a website, typically in a header or a footer, and simply communicate to the user that we have a presence on these social networks. These icons used to say Find us on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter, or Fan us on Facebook, or even Like us on Facebook. (There is so much wrong with the last one, but thats for another day!)
techcrunch.com
I have no problem with these Icons, they do what Icons do best, effectively communicate a larger concept, and frankly the larger concept (we have a presence on this network or that network) belongs on these sites.
getonboard.com - Transit blog
These Icons have their place and are not for debate in this post, however the other Social Media Icons are.
mashable.com
These are the icons you most often see at the bottom or top of a blog post, an individual piece of content that can be shared on one of these social networks. sometimes they are labeled “Share and Enjoy” othertimes they are not labeled. And even in this category there could be two different sub-categories, but for today’s arguments I’m going to lump them into one. It is my attempt in this post to show how these social media icons are over used, unnecessary, and an old concept rehashed.
getonboard.org - Transit Blog
We are starting to see these Icons everywhere, and I’m not referring to the Facebook “Like” button that will grow to ubiquity as well. Any site that is current is or has already applied these to their content. The ones that make me laugh the most are contact us pages with the sharing icons. Who would want to have a discussion about your contact page? Do you really think that’ll go viral? I mean your phone number is sexy and all but I doubt I want to share that with my grandma on Facebook ;)
nytimes.com
And why have these Icons? Anyone who is savvy enough to use these networks, who would really make something spread/go viral is going to know how to copy/paste the URL in the network they want to and with the options/content/context that they want to set.
techcrunch.com
Most of my target audience with this blog is similar in skill set as I am, I rarely find a need to use these, I much prefer to put my own title, my own bit.ly account information and my own privacy settings on something I share, why then wouldn’t I just copy/paste the URL?
lifehacker.com
Yeah you remember those… where it had a little email envelope, may have used the word share, but most often said tell a friend. You could then type in their email addy, and yours, a subject and a message. Ironically Email is still the best social network to make content go viral. But we can’t access the analytics on that. (Note the lifehacker image to the right, still has an “Email this” link.)
Wordpress plugin, sexy bookmarks
Email and Tell a Friend also prove the previous point of being unnecessary, most people copy and paste urls into emails, they don’t use tell a friend, why do we think they will use the sharing icons?
cnn.com
The long and short of it: If you create good (remarkable) content people will discuss and share it, no matter what tool set you provide, or don’t provide for them. So if you are adding these icons to then label your site as integrated with social media you are missing the boat. It’s about the substance of your content, not the icons.
Before you get all crazy on me in the comments for slamming icons you love, realize that some of what is written here may be from me playing devil’s advocate. I’m trying to argue for the oponent’s side to see if they are right. With that said, what parts of this article do I agree with? Good luck.