Archive for the ‘Social Media How To’ Category
August 31, 2009
If you’re one of the few remaining that hasn’t ventured into the world of social media yet, this post is for you. Here’s a ranked list of the easiest to most time consuming methods of getting involved with social media, based on my experience.
- Facebook/Linked In (create a profile, import your contacts and you are good to go. These sites require very little maintenance going forward other than, perhaps, accepting friend requests. Facebook in particular makes it extremely easy to participate with myriad games, apps and activities that don’t place any effort on actually creating content, which makes it easy. Take it to the next level by adding photos to your FB or asking for recommendations from colleagues on Linked In.)
- Twitter (as a microblogging service, it’s great for those who may have the desire to blog, but are a little gun-shy in their ability to write wordy/frequent blog posts. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Social Media How To | Tagged christopher boynton, how to, social media | Leave a Comment »
July 18, 2009
The constant barrage of Twitter spam promising tens of thousands of quick and easy followers as a sure fire way to make money online is becoming a little much. Couple of thoughts on this:
First, since when did Twitter become a quick and easy marketing tactic to build a business? If you are using Twitter beyond tracking your movements you know there is nothing really quick or easy about Twitter. Providing value to others in the form of interesting links and thoughts takes effort. So does providing customer service or tactfully constructed promotional content. And I think we all know that once someone agrees to follow you, that you simply have their permission to share your thoughts with them in the future, for as long as THEY decide to hear your thoughts (permission revocable at any time). To me, the idea that a follower = immediate money in the bank is a bit delusional because of this, and my second point. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Social Media How To, The Real Deal | Tagged christopher boynton, farming, followers, hunting, marketing, NaBloPoMo09, social media, twitter | 18 Comments »
July 16, 2009
While I have been on Twitter since Dec 2007, I have only been active on Twitter since March 2009, averaging between 3-4 tweets per day. However, in just the last 2.5 months, my daily tweet average has increased +262%! from 1.3 avg. tweets/day in March & April 2009 to 4.7 avg. tweets/day in May, June & half of July 2009. I believe this rapid increase in activity stems from “finding my twitter voice”.
What exactly does that mean? Well, I think it boils down to having confidence that your tweets are actually of interest/benefit to people. After all, if you simply answer Twitter’s famous question “what are you doing?” you wind up talking about yourself all day long, and unless you are a big celebrity, there’s a very good chance no one will really care. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Social Media How To | Tagged christopher boynton, finding your voice, how to, NaBloPoMo09, social media, tweeting, twiiter, twitter | Leave a Comment »
July 12, 2009
Sometimes a tweet is straightforward enough or says it all and you can just drop a basic ‘RT’ (re-tweet) in front of it, share with your followers and move on. I do this semi-frequently for re-tweets. But, I think a better way to send a re-tweet (and something I am trying to get more disciplined about) is to add value with your own line or two of commentary/analysis to the original link/tweet. Twitter is an incredible information sharing service, but mindlessly RT’ing headlines or other peoples content doesn’t give me what I signed up for when I chose to follow you. You are the interesting one in my eyes and I’d like to know what you thought about the article, aside from it just being an interesting read. Most of us already follow news sources on Twitter like Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company and many others. So go ahead and add your value to a re-tweet, your followers will thank you for it.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine
Posted in Social Media How To | Tagged christopher boynton, NaBloPoMo09, re-tweet, re-tweeting, RT, twitter | 4 Comments »
July 3, 2009
Aside from first hand experience, Mashable is my (and many other folks) primary resource for getting social media news and information. They are a blog that is primarily focused on Web 2.0 and social media and will be a common source that I cite in this social media how to section. Truth is, if you check out their site on a regular basis, or follow them on twitter @mashable you probably don’t need to come here to learn what is going on with social media (note – my added value will the culling down the incredible amount of information they and others produce on a daily basis, providing selected articles on topics that I think will be of interest to people who want to understand social media but who are short on time). If you are interested in social media though, I highly recommend spending some time on Mashable’s site.
About Mashable (from their About Us page)
Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. With more than 7 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what’s new on the web and offering social media resources and guides. Mashable’s audience includes early adopters, social media enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, influencers, brands and corporations, marketing, PR and advertising agencies, Web 2.0 aficionados and technology journalists. Mashable is also popular with bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users — an increasingly influential demographic.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine
Posted in Social Media How To | Tagged christopher boynton, how to, mashable, NaBloPoMo09, social media | Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2009
I’ve been using my blog lately to talk about marketing with social media, but I’m not overlooking the fact that readers may not be completely familiar with some of the platforms out there due to time constraints. As a result, I’m starting a new series of posts called social media how to which I will add to over time to give you background on what some of the latest trends, buzzwords and topics are and point you in the right direction for more information.
My first post into this area covered #hashtags on Twitter and I have ideas for several more posts. So, I hope you find this new blog topic helpful and stand-by for more.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine
Posted in Social Media How To | Tagged christopher boynton, how to, NaBloPoMo09, social media | Leave a Comment »
June 19, 2009
As a digital marketer (agency side) I’ve been lucky enough to work and push the digital gauntlet forward on many consumer products brands. Without exception, these brands have all wondered and asked, “is Social Media right for my brand”? This is a fair question because most of them don’t sell online. Quiet honestly, I am hard pressed to think of a business which could not benefit from Social Media. Here are 4 reasons to consider Social Media for your brand:
“Where the fish are“. The reigning king of US social networks, Facebook, now boasts over 200 million registered users and is rapidly approaching the elite company in terms of monthly reach as measured against Google & Yahoo.
And as mainstream consumers learn what Twitter has to offer Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Detailed Analysis, Social Media How To | Tagged brand marketing, christopher boynton, marketing, social media, social media marketing | Leave a Comment »
June 3, 2009
Which is better? MY short answer is Twitter.
The longer answer, and more objectively, I’d say it depends on your goals and maybe even your life stage. If you want to share the intimate details of your personal life with your network of friends in a multi–media fashion, go with Facebook. If you want to briefly share what you are thinking, or reading, or doing, and no more, then Twitter is the way to go.
I’ve been on Twitter about 6 months now and was pleasantly surprised to discover that’s it’s not simply a place where users share that they’re now on a coffee break or on their way to the restroom. No. While some of that still happens, more advanced and community minded members are using the Twitter for information sharing. It turns out when people you follow shared links, Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Detailed Analysis, Social Media How To, Uncategorized | Tagged christopher boynton, Critique of Twitter and Facebook, Facebook, twitter | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2009
This post comes straight from an email typed into and sent from my iPhone. The idea from WordPress (the provider of my blog) is to de-tether bloggers from their PC’s, giving bloggers access and control to create blog posts from anywhere at anytime using mobile devices.
If WordPress can deliver as promised then I think this is bound to catch on in the blogger community. Hey mobile tweeting is more fun (in my opinion) than desktop based tweeting
Posted in Social Media How To, Uncategorized | Tagged christopher boynton, email blog post, mobile devices, wordpress | Leave a Comment »
May 26, 2009
Once you get past the “Ok, I’m on twitter, now what do I do/say” phase you’ll probably find one of the interesting tangents of tweeting is the hashtag “#” . There are varying opinions in the twitterverse on how to use them , but they essentially exist to categorize tweet topics. Check out the blog of Mr. Tweet for a great 101 tutorial on hashtags. Check out hashtags.org to see what’s # conversations are trending up.
Thanks to @flytip for surfacing this one in my twitter stream this morning.
Posted in Social Media How To, Uncategorized | Tagged @crboynton, @flytip, christopher boynton, hashtag 101, twitter, twitter hashtags | 1 Comment »
