Being able to call yourself a blogger is great. It does not matter whether you post many times each day like Chris Brogan or if you post every few months like the folks over at Where is Bob?
When you do post though, how do people find your posts? Even if you are a personal blogger like Paolo Jr, you at least have a small group of dedicated readers… be it your immediate family, circle of friends, or Second Life buddies. But, how do new people find your posts?
In your blog design, you need to make it very clear how people can subscribe. Look at the big RSS button with “subscribe” next to it there on the right. You could be doing that. I have to like your site a lot in order to check back frequently without simply using a subscription option to tell me when something new has been posted. If people are not subscribed to your blog, it is easy for them to forget about it and stop checking in. Continue reading »
15 Comments- Mar 09
- 24
Taking advantage of Social Media ? Taking part in Social Media
- Posted by Eric Pratum
- Published in Social Media Marketing
If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you take more advantage of social media than your average internet user. You’re likely on Facebook and maybe even Twitter. You might have a blog or check out Reddit and Digg once a day.
Do you simply use those tools? Or, do you participate with their communities?
- Mar 09
- 11
Social Media Analytics
- Posted by Eric Pratum
- Published in Online Reputation Management, Social Media Marketing
I once sat in on a presentation given by Andru Edwards of Gearlive.com. Someone asked about the value of Twitter, and he responded something to the effect of, “It’s here and people are using it. You’re gonna have to get used to that.”
If you are working as a marketer, PR person, advertiser, or any other related job-type, you might have a hard time making the case to your superiors that your company should create a Facebook fan page or its own Ning group. Why? It is so difficult to measure the effectiveness of social media campaigns, because while they have the ability to create better public perception or increase share of voice, they do a poor job creating sales when they are not managed correctly. And, your managers do not even know those things yet. They likely just have the impression that it is an untested medium largely populated by people talking about how drunk they got last weekend or why they hate Britney Spears. Continue reading »
11 Comments- Feb 09
- 24
What did your social media consultant do before social media?
- Posted by Eric Pratum
- Published in Social Media Marketing
You lost your job? You have some experience marketing? Thinking about becoming a new media marketing consultant? You have a Twitter or Facebook account? Social media is big right now, is it not? You could be a social media consultant! Continue reading »
11 Comments- Feb 09
- 6
When you automate Twitter, respect your audience
- Posted by Eric Pratum
- Published in Advice and Tips, Social Media
Technology should make our lives easier, and the internet, in part, should bring us information faster and allow us to communicate better. Many of these benefits result due to automation of previously manual tasks. For example, do you remember AIM’s news ticker? Who needed to check news websites when you could just have that open and click on the headlines you liked?
Okay, maybe that’s a bit old for some of us. How about RSS feeds for news sites? Who needs to check CNN.com when you can just grab the RSS feed and be alerted about new stories?
One of the nice things about RSS is that it automatically brings news to me. New post on your blog? I don’t have to remember to check every day. RSS tells me when there’s something new.
Similar to this, we’ve seen the emergence of auto-tweeting in the last year. For those of you who don’t know, services like Twitterfeed allow twitterers to auto-tweet any RSS feed. Mostly, that takes the form of, for example, “New blog post: Day 46 of the Mayonnaise Diet http://nondescriptURL.com.”
As well, services like Tweetlater and SocialToo allow twitterers to automatically direct message or @ reply new followers. Sometimes, that takes the form of, “Just wanted to say hi and thanks for following. Looking forward to tweeting with you.”
These are great tools when used politely, but too many people have gotten lazy with these things and are obnoxiously taking advantage of them.
The problem that many of us have is the blatant, over-the-top advertising that is done. Personally, I think Twitterfeed is really useful. I like knowing when my tweeple post something new. I won’t always read their stuff, but at least, I have the option. The problem comes when you auto-tweet things like, “If I suggested you read one thing today, it’d be this http://URLshorteningservice.com.” To me, that sounds like you found something interesting, and you’re not just shamelessly promoting yourself.
Have a new blog post? Think it’s spectacular? Set your auto-tweet to begin with something like, “My new blog post,” not, “Let me mislead you just to increase my pageviews.”
Now, a lot of so called Twitter experts will complain about auto-tweets for hellos. Truth be told, I think they’re great. I simply cannot send a personal hello to everyone that follows me within a short time of them doing so. Sometimes, I’m too busy. Other times, I’m just not on Twitter. So, what do I do? I auto-direct message a polite hello and then follow up later with a personal hello to anyone that has responded.
This has two benefits. One, it’s simple for me to welcome people, and two, it cuts down the number of people I have to say hi to because there are so many twitterers that follow just to see if you will follow back, but they have no genuine interest in you. So, I figure that, if they message me back with a hello, I should take the time to check out their profiles, maybe their blogs too, and then tweet them a genuine greeting.
The followers that I ignore are the ones that direct message me something like, “Your the coolest person ever! So, I’m giving you access to my new top-secret post on making money the easy way http://ShameShameShame.com.” Notice the confusion between your and you’re, as well as the person just assuming I’m interested in that sort of post, and saying I’m the coolest person ever when s/he likely has never met, or even heard about, me? That’s just poor and annoying salesmanship there.
Chris Brogan would say, “I offered to shake your hand, and you stuck your tongue down my throat. Yuck.” Wait until you’ve built a relationship with me before you assume I’m even interested in your moneymaking tips. If I am, you’ll get lots of pageviews from me instead of just an immediate unfollow due to the uncouth hello you just sent.
What does this all mean? Automation services are great when used correctly. When they’re used incorrectly, they burn bridges that you’ve barely begun to build. Go ahead and auto direct message me a hello and maybe even your URL. Go ahead and auto-tweet your new blog post. Just don’t make any assumptions about what your new followers are interested in, and definitely, do not mislead them. This way, you can join the ranks of Twitter for Smart People and not Twitter for the Socially Inept.
5 Comments