Since When Are Blogs Not Social Media?

by Brian Clark founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Twitter and Google+.

"...At least once a year, various pundits declare ponderously that blogs are dead … usually killed by some platform that we label as “social media.” One year it’s Facebook, another it’s Twitter, then it’s Google+. The platforms seem to change a lot more quickly than the arguments. 

Those declarations are built, at least in part, on the mistaken notion that blogging and social media are different and distinct things...."  Read Brian's blog here

Which Social Sharing Button is Right for Your Brand

Originally posted on The Search Agents by Heather Sundell

There are just so many darn social sharing buttons these days, and content marketing is more important than ever. As a user, it has created a moment of decision of choosing which channel  to share a particular news story, or cute video. The goal is to have as many network peers see the content, enjoy it, and re-share. There’s no shame in admitting gratification in people liking something you share.

As a marketer, its important to help users make this decision easily, and also ensure that your content is shared with the appropriate audience on the right channels. The best way to help users along the content sharing path is social sharing buttons. There are so many buttons to choose from, but highlighting them all can cause confusion the open the possibility of sharing to the wrong demographic.

Next time you want to share a piece of content, whether it be an article, blog post, video, or image, think about who you’d like to see it. Take a look at our infographic to learn about which buttons play well with girls, boys, nerds, jocks, and class clowns alike.

Your Time To Tweet

Content may be King [or Queen], but timing your tweets plays a big part. 

Great article by Matthew Royse - a marketing communications manager for a global IT firm in metropolitan Chicago. Read more from Royse at his blog Knowledge Enthusiast. Follow him on Twitter @MattRoyse.

According to data compiled by the marketing firm Lemon.ly, the most traffic on Twitter occurs from 9 to 11 a.m. ET and 1 to 3 p.m. ET. Research from HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella found that the best time to tweet is 5 p.m. ET. 

The takeaway: Spread your tweets out throughout the day with an emphasis on late afternoon.

KISSMetrics pulled data compiled by Zarrella to show the breakdown of tweets in the United States:

• 48 percent of tweets are from the East Coast;
• 33 percent of tweets are from the Central time zone;
• 14 percent are from the West Coast.
• Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population is located in the Central and Eastern Time zones. 

The takeaway: Think East Coast time.

Day of the week

According to Zarrella’s report “How to Get More Clicks on Twitter,” your Twitter links will get the most attention from your followers toward the end of the week and on weekends. 

The takeaway: Don’t forget Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Tools

Tailoring your tweeting schedule is essential to reaching the greatest number of followers. Here are 13 tools to help you. An asterisk next to the description indicates it's not free. 

1. WhenToTweet helps you determine when most of your followers are online.*

2. TweetWhen shows you the best times to tweet based on your last 1,000 tweets.

3. Tweriod looks at tweets that you and your followers have sent and provides times on when you should tweet.

4. TweetStats  offers a detailed analysis of your best tweeting time.

5. Timely creates a schedule based on your last 199 tweets.

6. Tweue is basically a Twitter queue that will evenly space up to 10 tweets, from 15 minutes to eight hours apart.

7. TweetReports gathers the stats from your top 25 influential followers and analyzes the times when keywords are most discussed, and when you might want to participate in these conversations.

8. Lookacross identifies the best time to reach people.*

9. 14Blocks analyzes your followers’ activities to find out the best times to tweet each day.*

10. Socialflow publishes your content when it will resonate the most with your Twitter followers.*

11. Hootsuite is a Web-based social media dashboard in which you queue up and post updates in a timely fashion.

12. Buffer is an app that enables you to add articles, photos, and videos, and it automatically shares them throughout the day.

13. TweetDeck enables you to schedule tweets and can help you manage your social media platforms.

Frequency is a key part of timing

Timing based on tools and metrics goes just so far, of course. Clumping all your tweets in the 4–5 p.m. hour won’t do much good. To reach your wide array of followers, post at least five times a day, spaced throughout the day according to the analytics above, and your tweets will achieve their maximum impact.

When do you tweet?

6 Tips on What Your Social Media Marketing Specialist Should Be Doing for You

Often I am asked "What should my Social Media VA be doing for me?"

Here is a short and I hope useful answer to that question

The classic social media responsibilities are:

1. Creating a voice that represents the brand

2. Monitoring trends and competitors

3. Participating in Twitter conversations

4. Maintain client social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and key platforms.

5. Write and post regular updates to the social media accounts. (Client and VA need to determine what regular means!)

6. Work with client to determine optimal content to post.

In any event, be sure to agree on the duties, actions and reports you want your VA to provide.

Hope this helps!

Like to hear what your tips are!

Don’t Fear the Feedback: Social Media Can be Powerful PR Tool

I welcome Terrie's insights and share them with you. Terrie Mavros is electronic marketing specialist at the $332 million Bellwether Community Credit Union in Manchester, N.H.

Don’t Fear the Feedback: Social Media Can be Powerful PR Tool

BY TERRIE MAVROS

Is the fear of negative comments keeping you from social media endeavors? Are you concerned that if you put your brand “out there”, you might have feedback that is less than stellar, for all to see? If you already have a page or two, are you quick to delete anything that could be perceived as negative, because you are worried that others will see it?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn? Fear not! Look at these as opportunities to not only tout your brand, but to engage in conversation with members, embrace opportunities to serve, and show the world how you make your members a priority and solve their problems.

Here’s an example of how a negative comment could actually work in your favor. We recently encountered a member post on our Facebook page. The member had waited for what he perceived to be too long for a new ATM card. He posted his displeasure on our Facebook page on Thanksgiving Day, and I (thankfully!) happened to check the page that afternoon.

I immediately responded that I understood and would be lost without my own card, and that I'd have someone from our contact center get in touch with him first thing Friday a.m. I made sure that happened, and they got him a new card right away. Well, he came back and re-posted on the page how great we took care of him and that he was “all set”. So- every single person that "likes" our page got to see how we made a member a top priority and solved his problem to his satisfaction. PRICELESS PR!

Social media is about having conversations, establishing your business as “the” expert in its field, and getting yourself in front of new, potential customers. But it can also be an opportunity to show how much you care about your current members. It is not only a marketing tool, it is a chance for you to learn what is important to those members and perhaps even learn about areas in which you can improve.