Browsing Tag Twitter

In October 2012, Twitter acquired the video sharing application Vine, and the short, six-second videos are becoming a popular way to share content on social media.

The iOS application (not yet on Android) lets iPhone and iPad users to record and embed videos to Twitter and share on other social media sites. Users can check out the best videos on the app by looking at the Editor’s Picks (generally awesome) and what’s Popular Now. But with only six seconds to showcase the content, what’s the best way to use Vine?

- Hashtag your videos to show up in “Explore.” When you login to Vine, there is an option to explore other videos submitted by users. Collections like “#favthings,” “#vineportraits,” and “#pets,” are searchable categorized by their tags, but users can search tags, much like Twitter, to find out what’s popular.

- Make sure you don’t mind sharing with the world. As there is no private option for Vine videos, they are viewable by anyone that has the Vine app, or views them on Facebook and Twitter.

- Most people take multiple shots by pressing on the screen to record. However, it’s possible to record all six seconds in one shot by swiping across the screen.

-  Embedding videos isn’t just limited to Twitter. Much like YouTube videos, you can pop your Vine into an iFrame just about anywhere. Check out a tutorial here.

- Some of the coolest videos are ones that use Vine for stop-motion animation. Use Vine to take quick, still videos and use it to tell a story. Some of the best ones use LEGO bricks – watch them here.

I’d love to see how you’re using Vine! Tweet me a video and I’ll post the best ones on my blog.

I sucked at blogging for the past few months. There I said it. I have been so overwhelmed with writing a book and working with clients that I just let it slide. In addition, I found myself tweeting my thoughts, where I should have blogged them. One of those thoughts was how companies can use social media in their B2B efforts. So, I took those thoughts and put them into list form, because people like lists.

- Share lots of photos, and ask your fans to share photos on your different networks. Facebook’s photos are some of the most powerful tools out there.

-Be strategic and pay attention to signal vs. noise. There is nothing worse to a consumer than having businesses shout at them.

-Create content that can go mainstream (outside your industry bubble) and monitor which posts attract the most “Likes” and feedback.

-Share your industry’s articles and blog posts on your social networks.

-Write your updates/posts to have a call to action – give the user something to do after they are finished reading. Ask questions that do not have a simple answer like “Yes” or “No.”

-Use tagging strategically when you can. Try to engage businesses by their location and even language as well. Oh and don’t forget the mobile users.

-Make sure to let your company show its human side and show the diversity and uniqueness of your team.

-Share exclusive and simple behind-the-scenes information.

-Make it easy to share your calls to action and offer incentives.

-Note your post frequency and timing. Find out what time they do best.

-Know your audience well, and when you make a mistake, quickly own up, do right by your audience and fix the problem.

-Integrate your website broadly with Facebook Connect.

-Find the resources to respond to your fans’ questions and inquiries.

-Make sure to hold real-world events.

-Try to always respond to comments. Yes, even the negative ones.

-Find synergy with other organizations and entities, and then work together to promote each other’s content so that everyone benefits.

What are some of tips and tricks you use in your B2B marketing?

You may know her from her countless appearances on such TV shows as Melrose Place, Matlock and The Sentinel, as well as her series regular roles on Dark Skies and Shark. There is no doubt that you know her best for her role as Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager!

That’s right — actress Jeri Ryan is my guest this week!

Jeri and I discuss how she got into acting, what it is like being on Star Trek, what she thinks about using Twitter, how she likes interacting with fans and her thoughts on her upcoming show Body of Proof on ABC.

Listen Now!

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How thrilled was I when I got the chance to interview Kathy Ireland this week? Yes, the former model and actress Kathy Ireland, who is now also a wife, mother, Sunday school teacher, Chief Designer and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide. The Wall Street Journal recently acknowledged her company as a $1.4 billion design empire. Pretty incredible!

In the audio posting below, Kathy and I discuss how she went from supermodel to CEO, how her company works and the very cool Chef Andre. Of course we discuss her use of social media and   I also ask her some of the questions you asked via Twitter and Facebook.

Listen Now!

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Dear Pizza Hut,

I like Pizza. My 5 kids like Pizza. Pizza is good.  Getting the right experience is good. That being said, you have really let me and my kids down recently.

Let me back up and tell you the story.

Recently, my twins had their 5th birthday party.  We had about a dozen 5 year olds over for a party with a bounce house. Oh how they loved the bounce house.  Per my kids request I ordered Pizza Hut, not my choice of Domino’s ,because they like the stuffed crust. (Hey I like the crust to, but feel loyal to Dominos, plus they have a great social marking)

Being the tech savvy guy I am, I ordered my pies via your website, it was a very easy experience. So, far so good right? Well then the pizzas arrived. They were wrong., well 2 of them were. The other 4 were fine. We quickly adapted to the problem and moved on.

Then the following week my family wanted more Pizza Hut. One look from those kids and I gave in. Ordering pizza again via your Iphone app.  I went to pick up the pizzas and again, they were wrong. I worked it out with the person at the counter.

Now, being the calm cool guy I am I posted this:

To your credit your responded with:

and this:

I was impressed! I had thought, wow you really care! You listen! You monitor conversations on twitter. Also, I figured you must of saw these tweets:

So, I quickly sent you a direct message as you requested. Yes, I follow directions well. So that is where I think you really dropped the ball with the @pizzahut. See, I have not heard back from you in 2 days. Are you done with me? What was the point in having me contact you directly? I am just wondering. I would think you would want to respond to me, have me write a blog post about how you hit a home run with your use of social media. I would tweet about it and others would Retweet it. There would be great buzz on twitter about it.

Sincerely,
Dave (the guy whose family likes stuffed crust)

Why yes it was an add. Did you notice?

Yep, I got paid to have this ad run in my Twitter feed one time.

A company called Ad.ly approached me about signing up to have these ads run in my feed. After reading an article in Time Magazine about “Sponsored Tweets” about what Ted Murphy at Izea was doing, I thought why not?

Am I sell out? Am I going against everything that Twitter is about? Will you stop following people who do it? I  am very curious what you guys think about it. I have already been approached to do it again.

Here is the Ad:

Oh and it seems celebrities are doing it as well. Here look:

Now you might have noticed the (ad) at the end of the tweet. That is so people, who pay attention notice that it is an ad, not my tweet. Though I wonder how many people notice.

These are the celebs that have signed up to be part of it with Ad.ly:

Is this the sign of things to come?

Oh and Steve Coulson, remember about 2 years ago for an April Fools Joke, you pranked everyone with a company that would pay for tweets? It has become a reality….

Someone somewhere once said, “Don’t forget about the little guy.” I guess I could Google the answer, but I am to lazy to bother. It just sounded like a good opening line for this post.

Yesterday, a friend of mine who owns a local main street business here in lovely San Carlos, California. I was preaching, evangelizing , chatting about the benefits of Social Media and how it can help brands gain awareness. He quickly looked at me and said “What about the regular folks? You know the guys like me without a big budget?”  After the shock of having him finally engage me in a conversation about what I do wore off, I told him I would write a blog post with my answer. (Hey anything to get traffic.. right?” So here you go Ed. This one is for you. I would like to share with you my thoughts, in list form, cause people like lists. Here are 5 ways a local business can use social media to gain awareness.

-Have a website and a blog. Simple right? One mistake I see is that companies create the website but not the blog. You need to have a blog. It allows your clients to get more insight into what you do, your background, your history and more. If you make sure to tag your articles, use keywords, etc this will help people stumble across you on google.

-Get on Twitter. Yep, here comes Twitter again, its power can not be denied. You need to get on there and start “Tweeting” posting information, insight, background..(wait it is just like a blog! Yes it is, it is called micro-blogging!) Here is the key for success, make sure to comment back to others and engage in conversation. Shhh, this will be our secret.

-Get a Facebook page. Like you did not see this one coming right? You need to have a fanpage. Are you going to get 100,000 fans? No. Do you need a 100,000 fans? No. Will having conversations with some local people and having local people join help with awareness of you in your community? You bet. The key here is when people comment on your fanpage and you comment back, their friends will see it. It is worth its weight in gold.

-You are the expert.  So what I like to tell people is setup you are website like your the expert. So if you are my friend Ed, you are Ed The Real Estate agent. You are Ed, the most knowledgeable Real Estate Agent in San Carlos. Make sure to blog about Real Estate in our area. Your a local guy, talking about homes in New York is not going to make you money. Talking about Homes here in San Carlos, will make you  money. When that family who needs an agent thinks ” We need a bigger home, Who is that online guy from Facebook?” they think of you. You get the idea, right

-Link Love. Make sure to link to other local businesses on your website. They will return the favor. Plus it helps with your Google Page Rank

-Find ways to use online tools in a different way. Try things out. Maybe take orders via Twitter.  Offer to send pictures of products via email.  Give out coupon codes on Facebook. The possibilities are endless. I am talking about taking chances and thinking outside the box.

Bonus tip: Go to Meetups, Tweetups, mixtures or whatever they are called these days. They are all over the place and local. Get out there.

So what are some of the tips I forgot? There must be a ton.

So I have noticed a change in the request for interviews and speaking engagements over the past few months. I am getting a lot of requests for tips/tricks on using social networking to find a job. Now, with the economy is I totally can see why people are turning to this medium.  In the past 2 weeks  I have been interviewed for:

-How Facebook Can Help Job Seekers Find Employment

-Tweet, Tweet: How to Incorporate Twitter Into Your Job Search

Asked to on using Social Networking  & Linkedin to find a job at:

-International Association of Administrative Professionals

-NeCon East

So I thought it would be a good idea to share some tips and tricks that you can use to help find a job. I think I should do it in list form, as people like lists!

Using Twitter

-Post to your Twitter profile, I am looking for a job! So simple, I know some people do not event think to do that.

-Use Twitter Search to find a job based on keywords. Example: CSR Wanted, Denver got me this:

The key here is to play around with the search terms to narrow it down better to what you are looking for.

Also in regards to Twitter Search, use it to find people in your field of work and add them! You need to Network and build your community.

-Follow accounts like: @jobangels, @freelancejobs @manpower

-Use Twitterjobsearch.com

Using Linkedin
-Complete your profile, amazing how many people do not do that.

-Use SEO. Put in keywords your profile, play around with it to increase your visibility.  It is a good idea to find just the right words to describe what you do.  You will know you are on the right track when you see this box:

So lets say you are in website development, use keywords like HTML, MySQl, etc. These are words people may use to find someone with your skills.

The more times you come up in search, well..the better!!

-Save business cards. When your meeting people, chatting folks up, make sure to get their business cards. Then go back to your linkedin profile and add them.  Yes, simple.

-Put a picture up. This goes for both Twitter and Linkedin, it ads something when you can see what a person looks like.

-The Answers Section!! The most underused, yet powerful tool on the site! It is where the magic happens. This is where people in your field post questions they need help with. They are reaching out for “An Expert”. That expert is you! Get on it, respond, refer, engage, chat it up, etc. This is where networking happens. Questions in my area look like this:

Hope some of these tips help. What are some tools /tricks you use to find a job?

I have noticed a trend lately in the social media space. Well there are several trends right now in the space.

Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable pointed out the top 5 for Twitter. Such things as:

-Real Time Search Engines

-Verified Accounts

-Sponsored Tweets

-Well you can just read Jennifer’s great post…

One trend I see picking up is what I am going to call “Social Media For Good”. Now before you say, “Dave using Social Media to do good things has been around for every.” True, but with all these different social networking sites and instant communication tools, things are changing.

Let me share with you a few different sort of ways people are using these tools to do good things. By good I don’t mean “helping me get 16,000 friends in 90 days on Twitter”.  Nor will I ask you to join a Facebook Cause. I will share this with you in list form. People like lists:

Drew, who I have known for several years was diagnosed with cancer in May and.. , instead of me explaining I will post what he wrote on the page:

“Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer.  Ever since that day, Drew has blamed everything on his cancer. Losing his keys, misplacing his wallet, Twitter being slow, the Phillies losing, etc. Why? Because you have to beat up on Cancer to win… and you can help out. Blame Drew’s Cancer for anything you want by tweeting with the hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer and it’ll come here. We’ll keep a tally and when Drew beats Cancer, our sponsors will donate a dollar for every participant to the American Cancer Society and the Make a Wish Foundation.”

Sophie Azouaou is “the interior designer who gives back” as well as the 7X7′s Community Impact contributor where she gives tips on giving back that “put your mind and your wallet at east”. She is what Change Starts At Home calls a “Change Maker”.  Currently she is working on “Touching Hearts” a TV show that will look at philanthropy and The Real Stories for NBC Bay Area. They have just started a donation campaign  to help their show get off the ground and make a difference. It will air right after Monday Night Football in the fall. If you want to get involved or donate, which gets you a credit on the show, contact Sophie direct or go the the Touching Hearts site. Her goal is to use all aspects of Social Media to get the show off the ground!

The Twestival. In February 2009 about 200+ cities around the world held these events. All with one cause, to help let people know about Charity:Water. When all was said and done they raised about $250,000. The key here is that thanks to Twitter it from a local event, to a global event. Come on, that’s pretty cool…

In January of this year David Armano asked people to help a woman and her children who wanted to get out of a domestic abuse situation. He simply reached out and asked people to donate. No big party. No big event. Just do what you can. Well that request raised almost $17,000 for Daniella’s Apartment Fund!

So there you are people using the Internet, social networking and sites for good. To do good things.

I like it!

First, about 2 hours ago Facebook announced they will be giving vanity urls starting his Friday June 12, 2009 at 9:01 am. This is a great thing for branding, marketing and companies. This got me thinking. There are several features I would like to see on some social networking sites. So let us step into……

In a world where I get what I want. In an imaginary place where companies listen to their customers/users.. there is one man who hopes that the: CEO, President, Community Manager, Guy Who Makes Sure Everyone Is Happy Manager listens.. ME! So listen up Facebook, Twitter and  all you others.

This is a list of things I want. Okay maybe it is more of a, wouldn’t be nice if? Kind of thing. I will share it with you in list form as people like lists!

- Facebook I want a little button at the bottom of a persons profile where I can click “Add them to a friend list?” You click it, a drop down menu lets you pick the friend list they are added to. Its easy, quick and will make my life easier. (cause its all about me!)

-How about a mouse over feature that says “Did you know?” or “Other ways to do this!” Look if you reading this post, more than likely you are pretty familiar with the “Online World, Social Media, etc (insert hot buzz term here). Great, but we are the minority here. Most people do not know you can send pictures to Facebook via email or text. Nor do they know they can update their status the same way. After they do an upload, update, etc. give them a “Hey non power user did you know?” Heck all the parents at my kids school would thank you!

-Hey Twitter. I’m talking to you. I want a friend list option on your site. It needs to work like the facebook one I listed above. Get on that.. please and thank you.

-oh, how about the option to post hyperlinks with text? That way I have a better idea what they are about!

-Since I got on the subject of the whole mouse over thing. Sure would be nice..no make that GREAT if I could put my mouse over a persons pic and see their important stats. Oh, Oh, Oh… I know let’s do that with the whole “@joeblow” thing too. I want to mouse over that and see stats in the text box.

-Linkedin, here is what I want. Now follow me on this. Every now and then I will use the “check your email” feature. I email a lot.  What happens I will do a lot of group emails with people. Some I do no know that well.  So it would be great if you could find a way to display the emails to pick from by “email a lot all the way down to emailed once”. Then I can pick if I should add them. Also, find lets have a filter/fuzzy logic on emails with words like “support, craigslist, etc” I dont want to add Support@huggies.com”

So what features would you like to see on some of these sites?