Category Archives: Portfolio
The 12 Essential #WordPress Plugins That EVERY #BLOGGER NEEDS
I am truly a reformed WordPress basher and I fully admit that I was totally wrong. I use WordPress.com for this blog and WordPress.org for a few additional blogs that I write for. I have tried practically every blogging platform available, Posterous, Blogger and Tumblr ( I still use Tumblr and I love this platform as well). I have found WordPress to be an amazing platform and this is primarily due to the abundance of plugins available.
- Google Analyticator: Any an all online presences need analytics! If you create a blog or website you really need to have the ability to monitor the effectiveness of your work. The Google Analyticator does just that.
- Googlyzer: Is a plugin that I just started using and I really love it. This plugin allows you to pull Google Analytics from Google right into a WordPress Dashbord. This is a great time saver!
- My Category Order: As you know the listing for Category is in a default order but this plugin allows you to rearrange the order according to your needs.
- My Link Order: This is the same as My Category Order except it allows you to change the order of your links.
- My Page Order: I absolutely LOVE my page order because like the above two plug ins, My Page Order allows you to change the order of your WordPress Pages.
- Pinterest Pinboard Widget: Everyone loves Pinterest and we all want to show off our Pin Boards. This Plugin allows you to do just that. You can select how many columns and rows that you’d like to display.
- Trackable Social Share Icons: Everyone uses social media icons to share their content, but as a lover of Analytics I love this plugin because it allows you to attach analytics to social sharing icons.
- Ultimate TinyMCE: I absolutely LOVE this plugin! This tiny, yet very powerful plug in allows you to add an amazing editing ability to your blog posts. It’s like a little HTML Editor build right into WordPress and this is one plugin that I can’t do without!
- Tweet old post: Tweet Old Posts allows you to share previously created blog posts with your Twitter followers.
- Tumblrize: Allows you to autopost to Tumblr.
- wpSUBpages Redirect: This is another favorite! This plugin allows you to redirect WordPress Pages to other page, subpages or URL’s
- Twitter Badge Widget: This simple but wonderful plugin allows you to add your tweets to your blog.
One of the most powerful thing about a WordPress blog is its ability to create an easy avenue in which to add different functionality as needed. The plugins are on of the things that make this platform so attractive to bloggers. The amazing array of plugins created by these amazing developers have really propel this platform to the forefront and it’s what truly makes WordPress the ROCKSTAR of blogging platforms.
Related articles
- #SocialMedia Platforms And #EmpireAvenue: Different Strokes For Different Folks (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- Woman In The Workplace: What Have We Accomplished? [Infographic] (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- #Facebook IPO: It’s NOT A Double Rainbow But What Does It Mean [Infographic] (anisesmithmarketing.com)
Like this:
2012: How New Media Works, THE 12 Social Media Platforms Explained
I was having a discussion with Michael Q Todd about Social Media and platforms that are really rocking. It was a very informal, laid back but very informative discussion but these 12 platforms that have been rockin’ for me. After working to get my social media strategy where I want it, this is what i’ve come up with.
12 Platforms you should check out for 2012:
There are a lot of people that have issues with Facebook for whatever reason. STOP TRIPPIN’ people! Yeah I said it. Facebook, love it or hate it but they have around 800 million users and they are still growing. This is HUGE for your ability to build your brand. It’s not really about love or hate, frankly it’s about business, brand exposure and Cha-ching!
Facebook has now created an option to Subscribe. This is HUGE for people that use their personal Facebook page for networking, like me. This allows people that follow you on other channels to follow you on your Facebook personal page without becoming your friend. Remember if you opt to allow people to subscribe to your updates, remember to provide some information that would appeal to them and use the public option to post.
Facebook is a driving force behind social media and if you are smart you will take advantage of this to propel your brand. The new revamped Facebook Timeline with ability to offer people the opportunity to subscribe to your updates is HUGE for your brand. Add the power of the Facebook Business Page and that makes a power combination.
When you scoff at Facebook, think about which comparable platforms offer you the ability to reach up to 800 million people. So if you have jumped off the Facebook bandwagon, I suggest jumping back on. 800 million people, there’s nothing to think about, just do it.
Twitter
Twitter offers a HUGE opportunity to reach out to an unlimited amount of people, with 140 characters. Things to keep in mind, don’t spam, don’t shove your marketing message and or sales pitch down the throats of your followers. They don’t care what your selling. REALLY. Twitter is about sharing content that is of value to your followers, NOT about you, your message and what you’re selling. The plus is that providing great content and valuable information will put you in a position to be viewed as an authority within your subject area. This will increase your chances of turning followers into potential clients, clients and or people to collaborate with. Twitter is HUGE, use it.
Is the new kid on the block and is really being minimized by many. This is a platform that should be taken serious if nothing more than realizing that Google RAWKS. The Internet would NOT be the same if Google wasn’t a huge player. Google+ is not just a social media platform but a Game changer. Google + will change the Internet as we know it like they did with the introduction of Google and the domination of the Internet since then. Google will take every platform that they own or that they plan to own and add it to Google+ to make it ROCK. BELIEVE IT! Google+ is the Game changer because it is the beginning of Social Search. Grab a Google+ Page for your business as well. Pay attention peeps.
Curation is a huge part of the future of the Internet, primarily because there is an abundance or over abundance of information floating about on the millions of social media channels. People are quite literally overwhelmed by the amount of information that is being chucked at them. Curationallows the curator to compile topics of interest by weeding through the information, finding what’s of relevance to their demographic of followers and supply that information to their followers. This is what Scoop.it is all about and you need to check it out.
Is an extremely social media oriented blogging platform that is easy to share, easy to follow and extremely popular. I use my Tumblr account everyday. Tumblr is great for supplying small segments of information, pictures and quotes to people that are interested in grabbing quick information.
Is one of the most powerful blogging platforms available now. I am a reformed WordPress basher that really didn’t get the big hoopla about WordPress until I used it myself. I was using Posterous as my primary blog platform of choice, they changed their format and IMHO Jumped the Shark. So, I was almost forced to look at the only blogging platform that I hadn’t tried and that was WordPress. I like the functionality of the free platform and I really REALLY love the self hosted WordPress.org option. Since WordPress added the option to subscribe for most of the blogs, they are now the best in my book. I use the Free format for everyday, uncomplicated blogging and the self hosted format for my more involved blogging needs.
Is one of the most underutilized and underused formats in the social media game. Stumbleupon will give some serious juice to your content. I have included it as a sharing option on my blogs, I’ve added it to my Chrome Plugin and I Stumble every blog that I +1 and share. Use it!
Is one of the BEST Twitter management tools that I’ve ever used. I am usually not one for Twitter management tools; However, I really LOVE Commun.it. This platforms helps you to focus on people that are your most engaged members, supporters and influences. That’s huge because it allows you to know who is really in touch with your brand so you can actively engage with them. This is “For The Win” for creating an active and engaged Twitter following. Commun.it also gives you an indication of those that have unfollowed you and those that you should consider unfollowing based on lack of engagement. This is a must in your arsenal for 2012. It is still in Beta and by invite only so if you want, grab INVITES
Is first and foremost a great way to meet some really AMAZING people, not just any people but the Social Media Elite ( my opinion) There are so many people in technology and social media related fields playing this social media stock market game.
What’s good about Empire Avenue is that it numerically rates your social media activity by platform and assigns a dividend (div) amount based on how engaging your content is. The dividend is payed out daily to people that buy your shares, sort of like dividends in real stock market.
You can register as an individual or as a company. After you register, connect your social media channels and watch your share price and divs go up. There is a big drive to buy n00bs, because players have an opportunity to buy shares at a low price.
This game is not for the faint of heart. If you content sucks, your divs will suck and people unload your shares. The good thing is that share price and divs can give you an indication of things in your social media strategy that you may need to work on. What’s more important than the gaming aspect, is that Empire Avenue offers players the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the most amazing, tech savvy people that they will ever meet. Join, then chase down the Facebook Groups, Social Empire, Team Zen, XBar and Eav Winners. Join the groups, learn the game and meet the amazing people behind the game.
I am still learning a lot about Twyla but this is one of the platforms that I will be using more. One of the HUGE things about Twyla that I like is the POWER TWEET. It allows you to create the most powerful tweet ever. Twylah is still in Beta so you have to ask for invites.
Is Image driven Google juice. It is the “New” Hot Social Media Platform, although I hear it’s been around for a while. Either way everyone is jumping on it, primarily because people really love pics and that is the driving force behind Pinterest. It allows you to grab pics from online sources, Flickr, Urls and uploaded images and add to your boards. People can then share those images by repinning them. You can also embed the images, which is really cool. I just started using this and I really like it.
Is the ultimate source of Blog Juice! One of the things about blogging is the ability to get your content out there, shared, Tweeted etc. You can have the greatest blog out in the world with the most wonderful content but if no one reads it, the content is almost irrelevant. Triberr is the key to getting readers for your blog content.
Triberr allows a user to create a Tribe and add members to their tribe. All tribe members can add an RSS of their blog which then gives the tribe members an opportunity to share this content with their Twitter followers. This is huge for brand awareness, blog traffic, subscribers and potentially for meeting clients and collaborators.
When a person is invited to a Tribe they can then create a new Tribe of their own and invite members. Triberr is still in beta so you will need an invite, which are not really spread around like other Beta platforms. This is primarily because to offer an invite to Triberr is inviting that person into your Tribe.
The key to being successful with Triberr is being very selective about who you invite to your Tribe and careful about Tribes that you join. I find that it is best to have similar and or complementary content as the people in your Tribe. Also, make sure any Tribe that you join have members that are willing to share your content with their Twitter followers as you are willing to share with yours. I’ve learned these things the hard way so I am very selective about Tribes that I join. If you join a Tribe that does not meet your expectations there, just bounce. I would, I have and would do so again.
OK, those are my 12 things for 2012. Rock on!
Related articles
- But I Don’t Have Time For a New Social Media Platform (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- YOU may be a Social Media Guru but YOU DO NOT Have 10 years of Social Media Experience (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- That was Then, This Is NOW: #Facebook and #SocialMedia AS WE KNOW IT NOW… (anisesmithmarketing.com)
Like this:
@Kred Beyond Influence: What You NEED To Know @PBrowsrJoshua
Everyone that knows me really REALLY knows that my attention span when listening to webinars, during meetings and attending class is negative 100, if not lower. I must really have a strong interest if I sign up and a stronger interest if I actually DO NOT multitask through the entire experience. So when I was asked to meet with Joshua at PeopleBrowsr for a demo of Kred, I was initially like WTH and why would I need a demo. Then I took a look at the platform, realized that there was way more to it than I originally thought and scheduled the demo.
The first thing that I learned about Kred was that they are a part of PeopleBrowsr which is a very powerful Social Analytics Platform. I soon realized how much they rocked as the presentation went on. Another very important thing that I learned was that they are REALLY TRANSPARENT, not the blowing smoke up your ( cough cough) as some other platforms claim.
Kred demonstrates your social influence and displays exactly how the scores were compiled, how the numbers were calculated and all in real time. Kred has areas of focus, Communities in which a person can have influence, this is based on Twitter profiles. This area of influence is NOT necessarily based on YOUR Twitter profile but the profile, and keywords of your followers profile. For instance one of my influence areas is Sailing ( everyone that knows me is laughing Def Comedy Jam hard now because I have an extreme water phobia ) but this category is NOT what my interests are but the interests of a LOT of the people that I am engaged with.
So on a side money making note, this is HUGE for business because if there were companies interested in marketing to a Sailing demographic I would be the person that could be used to get to this audience.
Kred Scores are based on an Influence Score and an Outreach Score and focused in different Communities or areas of influence as stated above. So as I describe above I have an area of influence in Sailing so I would have an Influence and Outreach Score for this category.
The Influence Score:
Influence
Kred Influence is the measure of what others do because of you. Influence increases when others take action because of your content. Your Influence score increases when someone retweets, @replies or follows you.
The Outreach Score:
Outreach
Kred Outreach is the measure of your generosity. Outreach increases when you retweet, @reply, or follow a new person. As you accumulate Outreach Points, you move to a higher Outreach Level. Because Outreach Points are a reward for being active and benevolent, your Outreach Level never goes down.
Outreach Points are earned anytime you do something generous for someone else. Outreach can never go down because we believe that the capacity for generosity is infinite.
To read more about Influence and Outreach check out the rules
The above is just a small portion of what PeopleBrowser and Kred has to offer. I suggest you try to get an invite to Kred because, THIS is HUGE for individuals and businesses. Most importantly this is why Kred is going to rock the world of Influence in regard to Social Media, Social Analytics and More.
Related articles
- Social Media And Time Management (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- #SocialMedia Tools #Oprah Style Favorite Things: Prepare To Scream Like a Girl (anisesmithmarketing.com)
Like this:
Your #SocialMedia Sucks Because Your Intern Would Rather Play #BeerPong
Woot, woot, you just hired yourself an Intern for nothing and you saved a bunch of money. This is the first indication that you really don’t GET Social Media. I am not going to spout off my status of guru, maven or whatever the hell the so called experts are calling themselves these days, because I really don’t consider myself that at all. Anyone that takes themselves even remotely serious would never consider themselves as such either. However, my point here is that your perception of the importance of social media is non-existent if you hired a, pimply 20 year old to market your company from his/her fancy computer. Remember when you were a young pimply 20 year old college kid, as a guy it was beer pong, chicks and being cool. As a girl its beer pong, guys and being beautiful. Oh yeah and on a side note “I need a few dollars, so let go spam some crap on Twitter and Facebook for this old guys business so I can buy some more beer for, oh yeah..more beer pong tonight…” My point is, as a business owner you should understand that the value you place on your business and marketing strategies will not be the same as your friendly neighborhood pimply intern would place on your business. Its really a no brainer.
So ultimately either a person really does not care about their business or they do not really understand the importance of social media/Internet Marketing, the importance that it will play to their business in the present and very very near future. Social Media will replace at worse and evolve at best what you currently utilize as your marketing strategy. YES I said it. Think about what traditional marketing involved ( yes past tense ) and think about how many of those duties you or others participate in now. Marketing by way of print has evolved, flyers are not as effective, magazines are going online, yellow pages are scrambling to keep up and what the hell is a newspaper anymore. Websites are still somewhat relevant, but have been mostly replaced by blogs. So now that you KNOW your marketing options has, at best changed a tad ( major exaggeration ) you STILL think wow, let me grab pimply intern to rock my marketing world. Ummm FAIL.
It is time to really think about the importance of social media as it pertains to your business, how to create a strategy as you did with your played out traditional marketing campaign and act accordingly. I know personally, there is not a beer pong playing pimply college intern that I would trust with the future of my business, you shouldn’t either. I really REALLY wonder why anyone would.
So the future of your business could depend on how hung over your intern is when he pushes the spammy tweets while chucking Jello shots. Keep in mind that pimply intern may not be exactly focused on your brand, your company focus or your company message. How about this for a novel idea, how about you start to get real with social media marketing strategy. First gain an understanding of social media, figure out your goals and implement a plan that doesn’t include, beer pong, jello shots and pushing spammy tweets, by previously referenced pimply intern.
In parting I am going to leave you with a video and quote that made an amazing impact on my view of social media. The video is below and the quote is as follows:
We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it
Related articles
- Beer Pong’s Big Splash (time.com)
- 7 Reasons You’re Not Generating Leads From Social Media | HubSpot (scoop.it)
- Make The Most Of Social Media (Or Suffer the Consequences) ” RevMediaMarketing (scoop.it)
- 5 Kinds of Beer Pong Players (collegecandy.com)
- http://anisesmithmarketing.com/2011/09/14/the-importance-of-social-media-are-you-paying-attention/ (Anise Smith Marketing)
Like this:
#SocialMedia Tools #Oprah Style Favorite Things: Prepare To Scream Like a Girl
Social Media is evolving every day, or maybe even every minute of every day. It seems that new platforms are popping up all the time, so much so that it can actually be a tad overwhelming to say the least. I find that I am constantly tweaking the platforms that I use and honestly it has been an ongoing process. However I am so excited to say that I have found an amazing cocktail of social media tools recently that has really been working wonderfully for me.
Traditional Social Media allows an amazing avenue to share content. I consider it the vehicle to drive the content and can be a powerful thing if used properly. These channels are used to drive content based on particular demographics and I use each channel differently. The cocktail that I have compiled of traditional social media and the following channels has created the ultimate rocking social media tool kit for me!
Content Sharing
- Facebook Personal: The new Timeline layout allow me to share different content with different segments of followers/friends. I use my lists to allow different content to circulate to different demographics. The subscribe option allows me to share information that I find of value to people that have selected to subscribe to my updates and that are not on my friends list. I supply a wide range of content to subscribers and friends using a combination of lists and the underrated subscribe function.
- Facebook Pages: Allows me to share information that is business related to people following my business page. I am very in tuned to this page and constantly monitoring my insights to make sure I provide information that is of value to all friends and followers. I discovered early on that I have a HUGE foodie demographic on my Facebook Page so I also provide Recipes with QR codes which is a very popular segment.
- Google+ Profile: Offers an new but amazingly engaging platform to share your content.
- Google+ Pages: Is a growing avenue to share content and I’m sure will become as important to social media as Google is to Search. It has the makings of a very powerful social media tool.
- Stumble Upon: One of the most powerful, yet overlook social media tools available. I just started stumbling more although I’ve had an account for quite a while. UTILIZE this Tool!
- WordPress: At one time I was a bit of a WordPress basher but I am a total convert and I am embracing this very power format. I utilize WordPress.com and WordPress.org. I have 2 additional blogs with specific QR Code content, which I utilize WordPress, these two blogs allow me to focus on providing great content on QR Codes and Using QR Codes for Food. Gotta love anything that merges technology and food. For the Win for sure.
- Tumblr: I absolutely LOVE, LOVE Tumblr and I use it often. Tumblr is a great format to use for providing anything from little bits of information to full blown blog posts. I use my Tumblr blogs to push my curated content by way of Tech Blog and curated Food blog. Yes I love food, don’t judge me people.
- Scoop.it: I am very familiar with a few different tools used to curate content and I have used practically ALL of them, until recently. After the trial run of all of the curating tools that I’ve used I have really found that Scoop.it has every possible feature that I need in a Curation tool. Scoop.it allows you to create a variety of topics, the platform pulls data from all over the net based on your topic and compiles it in one area for your use. When you log in to your account, you find many many articles and posts for you to Scoop, by adding it to your Scoopit topic. You can share this content on Tumblr (which I do often) Twitter, WordPress, Linkedin and Facebook. After you Scoop the article a website of your topics is created based on these articles. Can you say AWESOME! The team at Scoop.it are constantly upgrading the site , they’ve recently added G+, the ability to re-scoop and the option to upgrade to Business Level which has analytics and additional powerful tools. I have divorced similar curation tools once I started using the bookmarklet which allows me to add even more content . Have you started screaming “Oprah Audience” style yet?
- Percolate: This is also a platform that is curation based but very different than Scoop.it. Percolate compiles a “Brew” of topics that are hot on the net from people that you are following, provides links that you can share on Twitter. Percolate is in Beta but I have invites, grab, grab , grab because I only have a few left. Invites are by email only, I have a few left so if you want in, contact me. I promise not to spam your inbox.
- ProSkore: After my amicable parting with Empire Avenue and nasty break up with Klout, I was honestly quite put off by any platform that assigned a numerical rating to anything I did online. Especially when it spit out a random Klout calculated arbitrary numbers that minimized my work ethic and business strategy. I’m not bitter. LOL. Anywayzzz, That was until I found ProSkore. What I really like about ProSkore is that it presents an opportunity to connect with Leads. Which means more business, which means more Cha-Ching. Did I make you scream yet?
- Commune.it: I will tell you, this platform is AWESOME Sauce! I am a bit against anything managing my Tweets but this is not really a tweet management platform. It is, however a very powerful tool that allows you to connect with the people that are most in tuned to you and your brand. Say WHAT? Oh yeah, that’s exactly what I said. Commun.it provides you a list of your most engaged members, supporters, influencers, and starred members to help you build better relationships with those people. Additionally it points out your new followers, who unfollowed you and who you should unfollow based on lack of engagement with you. The Commun.it team is on the move with improvements constantly. They just added an avenue to discover leads. Commun.it is still in Beta but I have invites, so get them while they’re hot.
- Zemanta: I am Loving it so far because is one of the most rocking tools I’ve ever found to help you rock your blog. Zemanta is a Chrome Plug in ( they have other browser plugins as well) that is used to make it easier to write that blog post, which can sometimes be a struggle. I am using it now, I’ve spread the word but I needed a bigger platform in which to spread the word, hence the inclusion in this favorite social media things blog. Zemanta adds a content recommendations plugin to your blogging platform that is used to help you easily add images, in-text links and related articles to your blog. What’s awesome about this is that you can use YOUR OWN CONTENT for the add ins. After you set up your preferences, the plugins will display your content from previous blog posts, Flickr and additional sources that you select. Zemanta literally just ROCKED THIS DAMN BLOG!!!
Related articles
- #Klout and Others: #Gamification and Scoring YOUR Social Media Worth (anisesmithmarketing.wordpress.com)
- Netflix’d: What Companies Should Learn From The New Socially Engaged World (anisesmithmarketing.wordpress.com)
- Peace Out #Klout (anisesmithmarketing.wordpress.com)
Like this:
Netflix’d: What Companies Should Learn From The New Socially Engaged World
I still don’t think companies are really grasping that Times are a’ Changin’ and that Social Media is playing a large role in the those changing times. It seems that even companies that do have a bit of a Internet focus still have old school marketing mentalities.
As consumers we are more in tuned, engaged and socially aware of the companies that we select to do business with. Notice I say SELECT because we have selected the company that we do business with and just as we select we can opt not to select. Social Media has substantially increased our awareness of the companies that we are doing business with, so companies now have to step their game up in order to be one of the companies that consumers select.
Netflix is just one casualty, of the more socially aware consumer and I am sure that there will be many to follow. Social Media allows us to, not only see and become aware of important changes that effect our lives and our wallets but it also allows us to spread our opinions in a very viral way to our friends, families and followers by way of social media.
The latest casualty of this growing phenomenon is Klout which I’m sure has felt better about their online reputation before the Kloutpocalypse. The fall out has continued and I’m sure it will continue until people move on to another FAIL.
These things should be a wake up call to companies that are still employing old school tactics without factoring in, the effects of social media on their choices. Most importantly companies “playing at” understanding social media then walking down the path of ingorance in their choices really need to look at the possible repercussions of their actions.
Gone are the days when companies could make choices that effect consumers, their client base and followers and have no fall out. Social Media is here to stay, the voices of the people will be heard and hopefully companies have learned from the Kloutpocalypse and will select NOT to be Netflix’d
Peace Out #Klout
Once Upon a Time there was a very new and exciting avenue which moved marketing away from boring guys spouting prepackaged messages at legions of people. The excitement in the villages was overwhelming, the people were excited and most importantly they moved from the perpetual state of WTH due to listening to those rehearsed depictions and blah blah blah marketing messages from old school marketers. The villagers, expressions went from Meh to yeah! They wanted to reach out, engage and meet the people behind the companies that they elected to do business with using this new communication method. This new phenomenon was called Social Media and the villagers were in a state of euphoria.
Uh oh and along comes boring market companies again, holding on to the old ways and spouting messages of eeeekk OMG..Social Media ROI. Along comes a knight in shining amour with a huge K on his chest. Klout to the rescue! They had the answers, they could measure everything and provide the numerical data to big, bad, boring old school marketing companies.
Charismatic Klout convinced all of the villagers including myself that they indeed were the answer and that we should pay attention to the numbers that they have supplied about our influence. We should wear these numbers proudly, supply them to all that would like to view them and offer a badge of honor on our blogs for all to see. We should further encourage our friends and followers to view this number and offer us encouragement with +K’s for all. The villagers were happy, for a while.
Then all of a sudden, one day out of the blue the lovely shininess of the Klout Armor started to tarnish. The scores that were touted left much to be desired. The raved about numbers started to diminish, dive and plummet. The villagers were none to please and started to revolt, I am one of them so I must say Peace Out to Klout.
Technology, Social Media and Higher Education
Higher Education as we know it has changed some over the years but not drastically. I cannot say the same for technology and the people using technology, both of which have change so much in such a short period of time. I am one that embraced the Internet wave in the 90′s and I am totally riding this new technology wave that we are experiencing currently. To even call it a technology wave is minimizing it’s impact on the world.
Social Media has literally taken us by storm and has changed how we communicate, engage with others and even how we do business. It has become such an essential part of our lives in such a short span of time. I love the changes and how its given us the ability to interact with so many people from all over the world. I have learned so much from some of the people that I interact with on a daily basis from so many different countries.
A huge part of Social Media has been learning, that’s why the natural progression of social media usage should move into education. The possibilities and benefits of Social Media usage in all classrooms are almost endless, but movement into a college and university setting is almost essential for the growth of student education.
So many Universities are recognizing the benefits of a more technology driven education system by adopting online education, but I have yet to hear of Social Media being used as a complement to the curriculum. I would love to see more Social Media use by professors to open the door of communication with students. New students are totally engrossed in technology, social media and most are constantly glued to their mobile device. This is why it is almost essential that colleges and universities start to embrace and integrate these technologies into their teaching methodologies. It could act to open the door of communication with students, extend the reach of the professor and ultimately to drag some higher education establishments out of the dark ages.
A few easy ways that college professors could integrate social media:
- Create a Facebook Page for your class: This could be used to post essential information about the class, the expectations etc. It would allow instant interaction between student and professor.
- Create a Facebook Group as well: This could act as an avenue for students to talk, engage and get to know one another. Students could also ask questions, gain feedback and hold discussions about coursework, projects and other expectations.
- Create a Blog for your class: The blog could have the class syllabus, course outline, grading procedures etc. This is great because students are mobile and this would be a great channel for students to log in and find out essential information about the class right from their mobile device. There could even be posts that include research tips, reading materials etc.
- Add QR Codes to the mix as well!
Social Media Marketing: Exposure, Brand Awareness & Increased Sales
As a small business owner and Internet Marketer with a Masters Degree in Internet Marketing the goals for the business is EXPOSURE, BRAND AWARENESS & INCREASED SALES. When starting the business after a few failed attempts at effective marketing I knew that there had to be a different route planned for this venture. So setting off in a different direction by taking the skills learned along the way in combination with the cutting edge Internet Marketing Strategies learned while in one of the most cutting edge technology focused Universities in the country, the journey started.
Any person in business now understands that things have changed drastically in terms of business exposure, advertising and marketing. Due to Social Media marketing, business will never be the same. The goals are still to increase exposure, brand awareness and sales. However the methodology behind accomplishing these goals have changed. Most importantly they have changed drastically within the last year due to the popularity of social media.
At one time, just a short while ago it was enough to have a website and apply SEO & SEM strategy. These methods are no longer enough. This is primary due to search and the integration of social media that have pushed its way into search. So now we are looking at a merging of sorts, which involves Search Engine Optimization and Social Media to create Social Media Optimization. SMO or Social Media Optimization is the art of taking aspects of traditional SEO and Social Media to optimize the entire online presence. This is my marketing strategy and it rocks for my company.
This strategy is very close to being perfect and it has done well by the company, in allowing amazing brand exposure for the business. Exposure continues to come up in conversation because that is the goal of any business. Companies can offer the most amazing services or products available and if there is no exposure it is considered a FAIL. This is especially important to a new business.
Social Media has opened the door to so many users, some recreational, some totally business and some a mixture of the two. Social Media goals for businesses and individuals vary drastically. Individuals involved with social media for recreation usage have very different needs, as there is nothing riding on the outcome of their social media exposure. This is a direct contrast to the goals of business social media exposure. If individuals do not get exposure for themselves, there is no issue; however, if businesses do not meet their goals of effective exposure this could lead to the demise of a business.
Should companies that have businesses driven upon a high level of exposure be judged the same as an individual? In Social Media oriented industries, companies that push their message are marketing their company, which is the goal of any organization that would like to enjoy any measure of success. On the other hand people that push a message of useless content, may be viewed differently. How can the usage of social media that drives a company with the goal of increasing sales be view the same as an individual pushing useless content to gain reward?
The Take away:
The ability for any business to grow is contingent upon many factors, none of which include minimizing brand exposure, strangling the social media optimization process or silencing brand evangelist. EXPOSURE, BRAND AWARENESS AND INCREASED SALES.
Like this:
Why You Should Host Your Own Blog
I have been a very strong and vocal advocate of utilizing different blogging formats and using the blogging format which best suits ones needs. I admit to being a bit of a WordPress Basher in the past. A friend always advised that once I really got into WordPress more that I would really love it. I must confess that Tami of Aries Graphic Design was indeed correct.
I currently have quite a few blogs and I am familiar with working with pretty much all of the popular blogging formats. I was very comfortable with my use of Posterous with as my company website, another Posterous blog used for QR Code Marketing and my Technology, focused blog used on Tumblr. Although I used these blogging formats I made sure I always attached my own domain. I had a pretty decent following on these blogs with pretty good post views as well. Ultimately, these formats worked well. Did you notice that I spoke in the past tense?
Recently Posterous decided to totally change their format from basic and easy to use blogging format to something that they described as Spaces. Umm #FAIL, yes I said it FAIL!!!!! My big question is Why? As owners of Posterous, do you wake up one day and think, ” OH wow, my blogging platform is really easy to use, because that’s what I based it on..so let me just screw everything up and make the user interface more difficult to use. ” Did I say FAIL?
Well, this created quite a dilemma for me as I had either try to figure out the ridiculous new interface from Posterous or kick some rocks on the entire platform. I went with the kick some rocks option and selected to move my blog to wordpress because quite frankly I just didn’t like the direction that Posterous was moving in. This may be fine for some but it just did not fit my needs for what I was using it for. I needed a blogging format not a whatever the hell they were doing format.
Right before this disruption with Posterous I realized that I needed to create a totally new blog that was a comprehensive and ecommerce driven blog on QR Codes. I immediately realized that I needed a blogging format that had more to offer than Posterous and Tumblr so I created a self hosted WordPress site. The web presence that I was going for really needed a powerful platform and WordPress was it. So through setting up, the hard way mind you, getting my template and adding my plugins I realized the benefits of this powerful format. Soon after Posterous changed and I fully realized the benefits of having my primary blog self hosted on WordPress.
Due to the changes of Posterous I was almost forced to delve deeper into WordPress.com in addition to WordPress.org. So for me both of these platforms, WordPress hosted and self hosted offered a great deal more flexibility than the new format of Posterous. So ultimately I learned the hard way the benefits of having control of my own content and going with a more stable blogging format.
Officially jumping on the WordPress Bandwagon.
