Which wagon? Oh, the blog writing wagon. I enjoy writing blogs and sharing information with all of you. Sometimes I dig in and write one with just one little idea that suddenly pops into my head. Other times, I struggle with them. One thing that really bogs me down with blogging though is the editing. I spend way too much time “polishing” them. And this past week during my travels, the last thing on my mind was blogging! And perhaps there is some meaning behind all that.
Maybe it’s time to stop blogging. Maybe it’s time to write that book on blogging I've been thinking about crafting for the past two years. Maybe it’s time to concentrate more on Groovy Reflections and give it more of my attention. The radio station and creating my show already takes up a LOT of time besides all the the other tasks related to it. Oh, and marketing clients get in the way too. Uh, NOT! I enjoy growing my client’s businesses very much! For the past few months I've been thinking of shutting down my MODern Marketing 4 U / ModlandUSA Facebook page. Facebook doesn't share my posts with anyone so what’s the point of having it? On the other hand, the page on Google+ is doing very well! And I continue to find myself drifting more and more towards tasks that utilize my right brain. Have I really fallen off the wagon? Or am I at a fork in the road?
Would love to hear from some of you when you've had to take a hard look at the all the things that mean most to you and when to shift priorities. Perhaps I'll take Yogi Berra's advice.
I don't expect the good folks at Facebook and Google+ to start communicating, let alone coordinating ANYTHING, anytime soon. They are responsible for every hair on my head that I've pulled out lately, namely for their ability to create “double work” when it comes to artwork for a personal profile, pages, or events. So many sizes! Google+ sizes are longer than Facebook’s and not quite as tall. Here’s an example from one of the shows on Groovy Reflections Radio. I created the Facebook event art first (714 X 264):
Then I just elongated the artwork by adding some yellow on either side and sliced the bottom off a bit (this took me all of 5 minutes). Not the best solution but it works in a pinch (1200 X 300):
And here’s an example where I spent a bit more time trying to make it all fit, first Facebook (again, this is event art):
And here is the Google+ version. I find it a challenge to have less height to work with and had to slice some heads (poor Marcia Marcia)! The area for copy was a bit leaner too:
Could never remember the sizes I needed to work with I found myself looking up on the internet the correct sizes over and over. Finally wised up and created this handy little chart:
Feel free to print it the chart above and stick it on your refrigerator (just kidding). How ‘bout your bulletin board or maybe tape it to your desk instead? Hope you find it helpful. I've found myself creating more and more cover arts and event art pieces so having this handy is a big help! It would be even better of course if Facebook and Google+ could choose some universal sizes. Ha! Not going to happen anytime soon (if ever).
Ah, yes, shapes of things. The Yardbirds sang about them back in the 60's (see below). Luckily, we're only dealing with rectangles here! If your social media efforts are too square, contact us viaour website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Have you ever created an event in Facebook? Sure, I've been invited to events hundreds of times, however, this was something new for me and I couldn't wait to finally test out that feature! Case in point: For my other endeavor, Groovy Reflections Radio I've been creating events for the first original show rolled out, My Front Porch. It's a show about folk music that has lots of humor (and song of course!). Since there are 16,000+ fans on the Groovy Reflections Facebook page, I thought that having an "event" for the radio program would make sense since there's an instant audience with fans who would be interested in the show!
Boy, was I wrong. While a page can create an event, a page cannot directly invite people to the event! Interesting huh? It has to do with spammers taking advantage of that feature. Well, okay. So I need to "join" and then invite my friends! That feels spammy to me so I try not to invite the same people all the time. The show is broadcast three times a week, thus three events a week.
However, over the past few weeks of observing the response to the events, I noticed something interesting. Very few people actually SEE the posts made on the page about the event. Facebook is holding out on us; they want us to pay! For the most part, I've been including the URL to the event in those posts to make it easy for people to join the event which could be the trigger for Facebook to "slam on the brakes" as far as sharing the post goes.
Here's a recent invite. The snip is from about one hour after the post. A total of 249 people saw the post (out of 16,500 fans on the page). That's not many eyeballs!
About 45 minutes later I made another post. No URL, no invite. Just copy. In a very short time frame (in this case under a half hour), the post was seen by well over 1,000 people, more than four times as many that saw the previous post!
What's up with THAT, Facebook?
For the record: This little experiment has been conducted several times, all with the same results. And what have we learned?
DO post about your events without links as well as with them to get the word out.
Post about your events several times! Only a small percentage of fans will see the information about your event at any given time; they may be offline when you post and/or Facebook is sharing your post to just a few of your fans via the newsfeed. Post during different times of the day as well.
Don't be discouraged if only a handful of people reply. We're all getting bombarded with information nowadays; and you may get tuned out.
Facebook should not be your only source for announcing events. Utilize other social networks such as Twitter and Google+.
Create eye catching artwork for your event and a great name for your event! In my example above I used the theme of the show rather than the actual name of the show: "Viagra, Bananas, and Knees" sounds more intriguing compared to "My Front Porch"! Speaking of that fine fruit, Harry Belafonte sang about bananas long ago. Peel back those social media layers and create a smooth, tasty strategy! No need to go bananas! Stop by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
There used to be an easier way. You could go to a section of your profile where they were all listed without icons or any additional information and rapid fire zap them away. That option appears to be gone now; possibly because of all of the other changes with the newsfeed and everything else. The developers at Facebook have turned their attention elsewhere for now. Oh, the times they are a changin’! What to do? You could go to every single page, one by one, and unlike them that way. Oh, what a pain! The good news (hey, you knew I had to put a positive spin on this, right?) is that there is a slightly easier way. Here we go: Click on activity log on the wall of your personal profile (it's near the bottom of your cover art) Using mine as an example here.
Click "like" on the left side of the page. Then click pages and interests. Directly to the right you'll get a list, starting with the most recent page you liked and going back in time. And you thought I was going to show you all my likes, right? Nope! If you hover over the name on the left side a pop-up appears with the icon and cover art of the page.
See near the bottom where it says "liked"? Hovering over that word gives you lots of options: Get Notifications, Show in News Feed, Settings, Add to Interest Lists, and Unlike. This is where you make the big choice! Note: In this example I'm hovering over the name of my sister page, Groovy Reflections. Rest assured that I won't be unliking that page! DO think about the implications of unliking a page: Does it belong to a friend of yours? Was it a "like for like" therefore you risk losing a "fan"?
And yes, this is a time consuming endeavor. If you have hundreds of pages to rummage through, go through a small chunk to unlike or keep per day (maybe choose to show in news feed?). Spend about five to ten minutes so it's not too painful. Maybe Facebook will introduce a new way to maintain your liked pages eventually. One can only hope. On a brighter note, The Romantics "liked" you in their big hit tune (see below). Feel free to "like" us and drop by our by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Do you sometimes feel that you're over promoting your product or service on various social networks to the point that you're putting your fan base at risk? I've felt that ever since the launch of a new service, an internet radio station from my other endeavor, Groovy Reflections, since the get go. I needn’t be worrying though. Oh sure, I posted about it on my personal profile on Facebook and Google+ a few times, maybe three times on Facebook and about ten times on Google+. No one unfriended or uncircled me. I even got a few likes on it; perhaps because I included fun artwork with it. Of course, I've been promoting relentlessly (or so I thought) on the Groovy Reflections Facebook and Google+ pages. The radio station launched on May 6. It’s been well over a month since we've been broadcasting already! Surprisingly, most of the fans aren't aware of the radio station! Here I am thinking I may be overdoing it, yet comments like in the example below keep coming up:
And this was after the radio station had been around for about five weeks! Have dozens more examples like this one. Lesson learned: Don't be afraid of letting your fans know about your product or service. If it’s too much for them, they'll leave (thus they weren’t true fans in the first place) or they'll complain (hopefully it won't come to that; hasn’t happened to me yet). As it stands now, promos on the pages go out about three times a day. That feels comfortable to me. On average, the Groovy Reflections page has about thirty-two posts a day on Facebook (yes, it is a very busy page!), thus making the promotional posts just under 10%. On Google+, it’s a little higher since there’s about half the number of posts there compared to Facebook. The audiences on the two social networks differ; the Facebook is U.S. centric, while Google+ is more global. Take that into consideration when posting as well; who do you want to respond to your promotional posts? Where are they physically located and is that relevant to your business? Another element to ponder is the timing of the posts. You do want to catch “the morning crowd”; the ones who are breezing their timeline before running off to work, the lunch crowd taking a peek before or after catching a meal, and the evening crowd. Which raises yet another point; these people are busy! They are scanning quickly to catch relevant posts, perhaps eating while doing so, and doing other things like watching TV. The likelihood of their catching your promotional posts goes way down when your fans are multi-tasking their lives away! Do use some eye catching artwork that will slow their scanning down!
In 1978, The Sports asked the musical question “Who Listens to the Radio?” (See below). Hope you do! If you dig everything 60’s and 70’s, tune in here. And if your social media efforts need a "tune-up", stop by our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Facebook has offered the rather limiting Page Insights tool for about three years now. In a recent blog Facebook stated that they have been paying attention to what we, the customer, want! The news: They're rolling out a newly revised Page Insight tool to just a few page administrators (more to follow soon?). In a nutshell: “People talking about this”, or PTAT, data will be further broken down; more data for you! Page Likes, People Engaged (likes, comments and share), Page tags and mentions, check-ins (great if you are a physical location) and “other” (no idea what that may be). And there’s a new metric, Engagement Rate, based on the already existing Virality measure. Facebook believes that the current metric wasn't a true indicator of positive post engagement in the past and they are now including clicks; does this mean clicking on a link associated with a post but not liking or commenting on the post will now be counted. If so…hurray! I've often wondered about those folks who go “under the radar”. For the record, Virality is defined by Facebook as “the percentage of people who have created a story from your page post out of the total number of unique people who have seen it.” Creating a story happens in a number of ways: Likes, Comments, and Shares. The last paragraph of the blog discusses how Facebook “rewards quality posts with greater reach”. Funny then how every time I create an event invite that it seems to be withheld from the majority of fans from the page (more on this in a separate blog). Perhaps the above is true, however, Facebook would certainly like to see the post promoted (and therefore see me PAY); no? The very last point discusses “positives” and “negatives” and Facebook says that metrics will now be available on a post by post basis via a score card. Sounds good indeed if Facebook data can be put together in a way so that any user (or rather admin or owner of a page) can understand it easily, quickly summarize it, and take action based on their findings. We all want to increase engagement on our pages without paying for the privilege. So, yes, any free data is welcomed, especially if it’s better than what was available previously. However, we're still looking for the more visual experience that you toted months ago, so based on your past promises, when are we actually going to receive something that we can start working with? Dishwalla was onto something when they were counting blue cars (see video below). Count on us! Visit our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Okay, there are many things that could be classified as a no no when posting or tweeting. If I listed them all in one neat place, maybe you'd spend five seconds looking at the list and perhaps you'd absorb one or two on the list. Makes more sense to give you just ONE instead. So, here we go. If you are the proud owner or administrator of multiple accounts, don't do this:
Yes, it’s not one, not two, but THREE tweets at the same time. And yes, I heard your question: “Why not?” While I could give you a lengthy boring list, here are just a few items that come to mind:
It’s spammy.
It looks bad, plain and simple.
You run the risk of being unfollowed because you look bad!
It’s confusing to your tweeps.
It doesn't demonstrate professionalism thus potentially harming your reputation.
Enough. You get the idea. And for the record, I had no desire to click on the link on these tweets! If you MUST tweet your message out several times using several different accounts (note this surely applies to two accounts and multiple posting on any given social network), DO use a tool such as HootSuite so that you can easily space out the tweets or posts! Ironically, the example above shows an incorrect way to use HootSuite!
Or, use your egg timer to post or tweet “live” at different intervals! Just kidding. In the 70’s Grand Frank Railroad sang about bad timing (see below). Okay, they were singing about romance, however we think you’ll just love our offerings and you’re welcome to visit our website, or say hello on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
A friend posted today on Facebook. He was rather perturbed. Someone, a “friend” of his on Facebook was reaching out and attempting to friend a bunch of his friends! This happened to me a while back, both on Facebook and also LinkedIn, where a former co-worker thought it was “okay” to start connecting to folks I know at market research companies that I have had a long standing relationship with. One connection contacted me and said “Who IS this guy?”, then I heard from another with a similar inquiry. I put a stop to that right away. And another funny occurrence. I noticed a Facebook friend, Ellen (not her real name), had broken off with her fiancé. I had never met her X nor was I friends with him. About a week after the breakup I received a friend request and later found that the X was reaching out to many of Ellen’s female friends. He was going through Ellen's friend list! Needless to say, I didn’t friend back. Creepy! Once thing is certain; there’s lots of good reasons to hide your friend list from your friends. Facebook’s default is to show all your friends. Perhaps this is an effort in good faith to let people that know each other connect, and hey, that may be perfectly okay for you if your desire is to max out at 5,000 friends as soon as possible! Some of us prefer staying under the radar though. So here’s how you can make that change:
Go to your wall, or profile page, or whatever you want to call it.
Click on “Friends” just under your cover art, in that row of options in blue.
Click the edit button (see pic below)
Select Edit Privacy (we'll get to Edit Sections later). Two options in there.
The first section is Friend Lists. Click on the drop down on the right.
Now you get to choose an option! Public, Friends, Only Me, Custom, or any lists you’ve created. Setting to Only Me will hide your friend’s list with the exception of the mutual friends you have in common; they’ll still be visible.
The second section is Following. This is where you control whether or not you want people to see that you are following a particular person (if they are a more “public” person you can follow instead of friend) or any lists that you’re following. Edit Sections will bring a long list of items; these are the things you can choose to show or not to show on your wall, including Instagram pics, Pinterest pins, and likes in catagories such as books, games, TV show, movies. It may be a great time to hide all those old “notes”, like the 25 songs chosen at random from your ipod or how many states you visited; remember those? Now that your friends are “secret” we know that The Go-Go’s won’t tell a soul (see video below). And our lips are sealed when we conduct custom marketing for your business; being ethical is a given. Stop by our our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
I was recently pulled into a group on Facebook; the primary intention is to get more “likes” for the pages of small business owners. We'll all “like” each other’s pages and then we'll have lots of fans! Would you believe that I don't want your “likes”? It’s true. I don't need fans that are never going to pay any attention to what I have to say. What’s the point? So go ahead and “like” a bunch of pages that you have no interest in and get back a lot of empty “likes” in return. The ratio between “likes” and “talking about this” for your page will deteriorate even further. Is that what you want? A long time ago I read that the average “talking about this” was around 3% to 4%. That’s pitiful! Facebook doesn't make it easier since they only show your page to a very low percentage of fans. Who do you really want to “like” your page? Think about it:
People who have a genuine interest in your product or service
People who will engage with your posts
People that fit your demographic target
Of course you know all that already; it’s in your marketing plan! What? No marketing plan. Okay perhaps it is time to write one! Oh and for the record I'll stick with the Facebook group. It was created by a friend. I'm hoping to turn things around in there a bit and have people share their social media issues, frustrations, and questions and have intelligent discussions instead. Sadly, it appears to have turned into a sales bulletin board "buy my cupcakes!" "I make handicrafts" etc. No people, this is not what it's all about about! Dan Fogelberg sang about plans back in the 70’s (see below); how are your plans going? If you need any assistance with your strategic plans and marketing needs, stop by our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. There's no obligation to "like", "follow", or "+1".
Recently saw an article about DKNY using photos without permission. Perhaps it was an honest mistake; who knows? They offered a street photographer $15,000 for use of 300 photos. The offer was turned down in hopes for more money. However, DKNY had been using the photos internally "for inspiration". A few leaked out and wound up in a display at a store in Bangkok. DKNY made a public statement and pledged $25,000 to the YMCA. A noble gesture. However, if they would have offered the photographer a more reasonable price for the photos in the first place, this never would have happened! On my Facebook Groovy Reflections page some time ago, we posted a picture of teen girls at a high school gym class in the early 1960's. This photo brought a lot of discussion because of the uniforms the girls wore. So much so, that several months later, we decided to post the photo again. We used a viewer, Jeffrey’s Exif, to check the copyright of the photo before using it. There was none. However, this time when the photo was posted we heard from the photographer and he was not happy! He told us that he does put a copyright in the photo information. And yes, it’s possible to strip that information from a photo. We provided our source to him so that he could inform them of the misuse. About a year ago, I was contacted by Huffington Post; they wanted to use one of my photos showing advertising on a banana that they found in a blog I wrote. They ultimately decided not to use the photo; however, I was happy to grant them permission. I had used that photo for an article about finding advertising in odd places. For the record, I rarely use photos I find on the web and if I do, I credit them if there is any manner of copyright, though it’s unlikely I would use them at all in that case. My photo library of original material has thousands of photos in it and there’s no issues there. Most of the time, I put a watermark on them; it’s highly unlikely that someone will crop it or remove it. From time to time I take photos of pictures that are in out of print books. A favorite is a Vogue 1960’s coffee table book. Besides my watermark I add the source of the photo; just to play it safe! Likewise with catalogs; I own several vintage Sears catalogs. You know, the "bricks" with hundreds of pages that shows how we lived in the Sixties, what we wore, what our appliance looked like, and the furniture in our homes. Interestingly enough, Sears started following the Groovy Reflections Pinterest board on Sears fashions! If I'm misusing those photos in any way Sears, let me know, okay? I certainly hope you feel that this is a positive extension to your brand! In closing, take caution when using photos. As you read in my personal example, it’s easy to make a mistake! And to the corporations: Give the photographer what he or she deserves! Photography is an art and capturing that moment in the highest quality and at the best angle involves hard work and talent! The Clash had a successful cover version of a reggae tune back in the late 70's that spoke of authority and those who steal (see below). Don't get robbed by an "expert" marketer; for honest, experienced marketing visit our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Note: Click here for Part one. Randy’s still not having a good time on Facebook; he can’t find his friends! Facebook uses an algorithm called “Edge Rank” where they decide what you will see from your friends. Is it fair? Certainly not. However, there’s ways you can get around it before your friends start thinking you are ignoring them. If you want to see a particular friend's posts there's a few ways to do it:
Go to your BFF’s wall and hover over "friends", then select "close friend". They’ve now earned a gold star from you (however they won’t know that). You will receive notifications when they post and they’ll also be part of a group of friends that you can custom post too (like a list).
Hovering over “friends” again you’ll see lots of other options as well:
Click on “Get Notifications”. Then you’ll know when that friend posts via a notification. Note: If you don't click on the notifications for a friend for a while, Facebook may send you a message to let you know they're shutting off those notifications!
Who needs the newsfeed, anyway? Well some folks do rely on newsfeed, so here’s how you can make changes to reflect what you want to see from your friends. DO keep in mind that you'll have to go to each friend’s wall to make the changes. If you have a lot of friends, maybe just make changes for a few per day. And if you don’t want to go crazy with notifications; just below “Get Notifications” there’s “Show in Newsfeed”. That can be clicked on or off. More importantly is what’s below it, “Settings”. Click on that and choose the options for what you’d like to see from that friend in your newsfeed; the level of posts you want to see as well as the type of posts you’d like to see. Of course, emphasizing some people means that Facebook will show you less from your other friends. Choose wisely and don’t forget anyone! One has to wonder: Why can’t Facebook just let us see ALL the posts from all our friends? Anyway, Randy’s happier on Facebook now. He put himself in control of his Facebook experience and is now busy engaging with all his friends that he missed! Conclusion: Facebook does not have to be boring! Long before Randy lamented about where his friends might have gone, Chicago was searching for something as well in this hit from the 1970’s (see below). Search no more for your marketing needs! Visit us on our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
A friend posted this on Facebook: “It seems that I find myself going to bed earlier each night. It's not from being tired, it is from being bored. Ciao people, be good, play nice.” I immediately commented to him: “You are bored?” His reply: “…FB at times does get repetitive in so far as it’s the same thing different day.” Randy (not his real name) hops on Facebook after work. He sees post after post of cute kittens, music videos, excessive whining, and pretty scenery. The bulk of the photo and video posts are unoriginal and many of his friends don't even include any commentary to personalize it. Oh! And the pages that Randy is a fan of? What about the posts there? Well, first of all, he only sees a small percentage of posts from pages. Why? Because that’s the way Facebook works; they want businesses to pay to reach people who have liked their page! You knew that already. Randy needs to take more control of his Facebook experience. We'll discuss friends in part 2. This go round we'll focus on pages. If Randy wants to see posts from his favorite pages there are two ways to do so.
Go to that page and like and comment on a few posts. Facebook will recognize the interest (hopefully) and will start showing posts from that page to him in his newsfeed. As long as he keeps interacting, he’ll see the posts. Of course, it’s unclear as to how much interaction is required to make this happen. Here’s what I found: There’s several pages that show up in my newsfeeds currently. I like posts for any particular page maybe once or twice a day and sometimes add a comment as well.
The second option: Go to that page and click on the little blue down arrow to the right of the cog (which is to the right of the message button in the upper right of the page below the cover art). From there you can create an interest list.
It’s an underutilized tool. In a nutshell, you can create a list of what you'd like to keep tabs on based on an interest (perhaps you are a foodie and dig chocolate desserts?) or you could create a list of your favorite pages! The majority of posts from that page will show up in your newsfeed; easy! Viewing this from another angle, those businesses that are trying to reach you through the wall that Facebook has put up between you and them will truly appreciate your engagement on their page, especially those small businesses that really don't stand a chance with Facebook’s algorithms. And a note to the small businesses who are trying to find an audience on Facebook. Google+ comes with no shenanigans. John Mellencamp sang about crumbling walls (see below). One can only hope that Facebook will let those walls come a tumblin’ and a crumblin’! Don't tumble while juggling social media! stop by our website, or visit us on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
The temperature is climbing; it hit 99 here yesterday and felt like a blast from a furnace. The norm is between 57 and 76 for May. Some ice cold root beer could be refreshing, however, I'll opt for water; lots of it! Some good news: As the temperature climbed, so did the level of creativity! It’s in all of us; it’s playful, fun and insightful. You gain insight into yourself and reveal your expressive self when you share that creativity with others. For us folks that were mainly utilizing the left brain assets for many years there’s a feeling of guilt that pangs up now and again, along the lines of “this is too much fun so it can't possibly be work.” Bah! Well, I've got right brain fever. It started last night when I remembered a photo I had taken a few days ago of a Victorian house; actually just the roofline of the house. I turned the camera so that the photo would be angled in an unusual way. Then I thought of the word spired …kind of like inspired. Here was the result:
And that was just the warm up. Took a short walk this morning in the warm sunshine just before the temps rose to where you could fry an egg on the concrete! And what did I see? Lots of things: Peaches, gardens, a house being tented for termites, interesting cracks in the sidewalk, and a low wall with flowers growing beneath it.
I even took some photos of grass, freshly wet from sprinklers doing their daily job.
And for nearly every photo taken I thought of a use for it! Many will wind up on Facebook; some will wind up on my personal profile, others on Groovy Reflections, and others on ModlandUSA. A portion of them will be on Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest too. Fever pitch: The possibilities are endless! It is okay to be creative. Incorporate what you see into your everyday work. Share it; it’s a part of you and a part of how people see you both professionally and personally. No doubt Southside Johnny had a fever when he sang this tune and Bruce Springsteen might have been feverish when he wrote it (see below)! If you need to have your marketing heated up, stop by our website, or visit us on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Which wagon? Oh, the blog writing wagon. I enjoy writing blogs and sharing information with all of you. Sometimes I dig in and write one with just one little idea that suddenly pops into my head. Other times, I struggle with them.
