Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
OK, you created an account on Twitter, you (hopefully) completed your profile, added a short but interesting bio, entered your website URL, and are now ready to start Tweeting. But you are still confused about how to use it.
If that describes you, then you’re not alone. The most common question I get from friends and clients when I talk about Twitter, is “How do I manage this constant stream of information?”
Well, we are so lucky that there are many, many tools that have been developed to help us use Twitter better, faster and more efficiently. Every day I discover more and I try to test most of them, but here’s a list of my three favorites. (and they are all FREE).
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Tags: Social Media, SocialOomph, TweetDeck, TweetLater, Twitter, Twitter tools, Twollo
Posted in Social Media, Twitter | 2 Comments »
August 31st, 2009
I attended the Cool Twitter Conference in NYC today. It was a really great group of people in a small venue that allowed a lot of sharing of ideas and getting to know each other. The speakers included a writer, a music exec, a mobile cupcake shop entrepreneur, the social media director of a popcorn manufacturer, and more (see link below for list of speakers). Each one of the speakers had a great story about how Twitter is an integral part of their growth.
Here are 15 “take-aways” that I think are worth sharing especially for any of you “newbies” who are just getting started.
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Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
August 27th, 2009
As promised, here are more definitions of Twitter supplied by my friends, my network, and my followers. It seems as if the fastest growing social media phenomenon of our day is incredibly hard for people to describe. Possibly because Twitter serves so many different kinds of purposes to so many different people.
What surprised me most about this survey is that I received some really negative definitions of Twitter…from marketing people! I didn’t reprint them fearing that out of context it would seem as if they came from me (plus there were some four letter words in many of them!) I certainly can understand people who, because they don’t understand Twitter, are skeptical about it. But marketing people…get real!
That being said, I would love to hear YOUR definition. Here are some more definitions that people sent to me. Any of them ring true to you?
What is Twitter (Again)?
- An extremely powerful Internet marketing tool when you have an effective Twitter strategy consistent with your overall brand.
- A filtered real-time human thought custom RSS feed.
- Both a megaphone and microscope. Just don’t put an avatar with a beautiful bikini model, don’t sell Amway and don’t talk about yourself all damn day.
- A micro-blogging platform primarily used to provide status updates as to our whereabouts and activities of interest
- The laziest method of blogging possible.
- Centralized live news feed, offering followers snippets of information of current information, news, trends, topics, etc.
- A short-form messaging platform that allows you to publish messages in less than 140 characters through different mediums like desktop applications, cell-phones, and the web.
- A broadcast medium that is like reading and writing headlines.  It is a great way to get to know people and people get to know you – as in all the social communities. I like how fast paced Twitter is and it works with my attention span – getting snippets of news and choosing what you would like to read into more as many people give you links to more detailed information.
- AÂ micro-blog that has enabled the formation of a new breed of online communities to grow and exchange information at a faster than ever pace, approaching real time.
- Twitter transmits twaddle.
- Broadcasting to the world.
- The vain of our existence.
- Electronic stalking for the hyperactive individual.
- The question should be, how do you, personally, use Twitter?
- A great line of communication between companies & clients.
- A way to learn what’s happening and who’s talking right now worldwide. It’s a way to search for and join conversations.
- A little green ego machine.
Tags: Social Media, Twitter, Twitter Definition
Posted in Local Business, Social Media, Twitter | 1 Comment »
August 20th, 2009
I was honored to be part of a panel discussion about Social Media for the event planning industry yesterday at the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel. So many people want to know more about how to use Blogs, LinkedIn, and Twitter for business. My close friend Elizabeth Beskin and I were the presenters. Here are slides from the presentation. Video will also be available soon!
Tags: Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
August 13th, 2009
I spend a lot of time these days talking to local businesses about Social Media and discussing how they can use Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other channels. And that can be challenging because in many cases people have a hard time seeing the connection between online social activities and their businesses. Sometimes even in spite of the fact that they are familiar with one or more social channels already for their personal use.
I have discovered that telling stories about how other businesses are using Social Media to be the best way to get to that “AHA!” moment where the possiblities are suddenly staring them right in the face.
I came across this article in the New York Times that I think successfully illustrates the opportunities for local business to successfully use Twitter. Take a look and let me know your thoughts!
Click here:
Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media, The New York Times
Tags: Blog, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
July 23rd, 2009
Question: A patient of mine who is pretty web-savvy has been repeatedly telling me I should start a blog. Should I? What would it consist of, given my profession as psychotherapist and marriage and family therapist and trauma specialist? Dr. Barbara Nadel, D.C.S.W., Ph.D. www.drbarbaranadel.com
Your patient may be right. She could be urging you to start a blog because she believes that you have something to say that would be valuable to people. I can imagine that you could help a lot of people by sharing what you learn in your practice.
Your blog can be your place to voice opinions, give advice, answer questions, post videos, and anything else you can think of. But blogging is mostly sharing information.
Don’t know if you have anything to share? Then ask yourself a couple of questions:
1. Who is your audience? Is it your current patients, your colleagues, your friends, all of the above?
2. What are the benefits of having a blog?
There can be a lot of benefits to writing a blog, and many of them are incidental. Here are just a few:
- Credibility: your blog gives you a platform from which to set yourself apart from others in your field.
- Visibility: your blog can help you become more visible when people are looking for you online because search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) love fresh content and look for websites that are regularly updated.
- Supports Word of Mouth: For me, this is a biggie. Let’s say someone refers you to a new patient. Your blog, more than even your website, allows that prospective new patient to find out who you are before he or she calls.
- Fun: Your blog gives you the opportunity to share your successes and tell stories that are meaningful to you. And, that’s a lot of fun! (see my post about co-writing a blog http://tinyurl.com/mdv7lr)
Once you identify who your audience is and what the purpose of your blog will be, it will be a lot easier to figure out what the content should be. Get your inspiration from reading other blogs (this is a list of blogs about psychology for you to peruse: “40 Superb Psychology Blogs” http://tinyurl.com/kmgp8u)
Plus, I recommend that you write some blog posts even before your blog is setup. Just to get a feel of it and see if blogging is something that you want to do. Then when your blog is ready (or when you are ready to publish) you will already have some content to upload. I recommend this wonderful eBook: 31 Days to a Better Blog to help you find your “blog voice”. http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/
In Social Media, a blog is often where everything else revolves: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many other social network channels can be set-up so that your blog posts are automatically fed into them and that people who are your followers, friends and fans, can see what you are saying.
Want to know more about blogging? Just ask me a Question!
Tags: Blogging, Blogs, Social Media
Posted in Blogging, Social Media | 2 Comments »
July 21st, 2009
After experiencing some embarrassing moments myself, I have wondered the same thing. This is an issue that so many people are concerned about that Paul Boutin who writes Gadgetwise, a technology blog for The New York Times, recently devoted at least one blog post to this topic.
Bottom line, you can’t stop anyone from posting a picture of you on Facebook. That’s a nightmare for those of us who are not real keen on how we look on film. However, there are a few things you can do to reduce the visibility of those pesky pictures where you are tagged:
If a photo of you has already been posted and tagged on Facebook:
1. Find the photo. Underneath it you will see In this photo
2. Your name will have a link next to it, click remove tag
3. Voila! The tag is gone.
What if you want to keep the whole world from finding pictures of you on other people’s profile pages?
1. Go to Settings on the upper right hand corner of your Profile page, you’ll see a drop-down menu, click on Privacy Settings.
2. Click on Profile
3. In the list, you’ll see Photos Tagged of You, Click on Custom
4. Where you see Who Can See This? Click on Only Me
This will prevent people from searching for you in photos and keep them from seeing other photos where you are tagged.
If this is all too complicated, you could ask your teenaged son or daughter do it for you (although they probably wouldn’t understand why you would want to do it in the first place!)
To read more go to: Â http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/how-to-block-facebook-photos-of-yourself/
Tags: Facebook, Pictures on Facebook, Remove Tags, Tagged Pictures
Posted in Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »
July 10th, 2009
Question: I am an interior designer and I have a friend and colleague who is a real estate agent. We each would like to start a blog. Would it be effective for us to do a blog together since our two areas are related?
One of the first things to ask yourself when conceiving your blog is: “Who is my audience?” “Who is going to get benefit from the information I can share?” In this case, a combined interior design and real estate bIog may not be a very good idea. Are the people who are interested in interior design the same people as those who are interested in real estate? Not necessarily.
For instance, if your friend the real estate agent posts a blog about, say, the perils of buying a home in foreclosure, the person who is interested in buying vintage furniture for their living room will probably think “this blog doesn’t give me the info I’m looking for” and not come back.
However, that doesn’t mean that you should never co-write a blog. Many bloggers invite guest authors to post on their blogs if the content is valuable to the audience. For instance, I recently co-wrote a blog with Elizabeth Beskin of Fifth Avenue Digital. We attended the O’Reilly Twitter Boot Camp together and wrote “10 Things I Learned at Twitter Boot Camp” (see blog from June 18th) and posted it on our blogs. The subscribers to both of our blogs found the information very useful.
I recommend “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” which is a terrific e-Book published by ProBlogger.net. It will really help you identify what you bring to the table in Social Media and get you on track.
Tags: Blog, Blogging, Social Media
Posted in Blogging, Social Media | No Comments »
June 26th, 2009
Question #1: What is Google PageRank?
Google PageRank (PR) is a number that represents the importance of an individual web page in the eyes of Google. So, when lots of web pages link to a specific web page, it shows Google that the page is popular. That means good stuff to Google because their ultimate goal is to always deliver the most relevant, quality content to their users.In other words, if a page has a PR of 9 or 10 (10 being the highest), that page has won a popularity contest!
Question #2:Is Google PageRank Important for SEO?
Well, that’s a really good question. There was and still is a lot of speculation as to whether a high PageRank benefits a web page’s ranking in organic listings (SEO). However, it is ALWAYS good to have as many quality inbound links a possible directing people to your web pages.
If you have the Google Toolbar installed in your browser, you can see the PageRank of each page as you browse the web. Don’t know if you have the Google toolbar, or want to install it? Let me know and I’ll be happy to help!
Tags: Google PageRank, Google PR, SEO
Posted in Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media | No Comments »
June 25th, 2009
On Monday I had the pleasure of being able to spend the entire day at Tim O’Reilly’s Twitter Boot Camp at the New World Stages in Manhattan. There were wonderful speakers and wonderful advice on the use of Twitter for your brand. Here are a few pearls of wisdom I took away about this exciting new communication tool. (more…)
Tags: O'Reilly Twitter Boot Camp, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter Boot Camp
Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
June 18th, 2009
Just Ask Betsy....The Be Visible Blog
