Courtesy of griffanza.com

Upcoming Changes To Your Strategy:

• Facebook: The latest news from Facebook is that they have improved their on-site analytics for ad customers, which is excellent if you are a small business that needs to split test posts based on accurate (small budget) amounts. Plus they are adding hashtag suggestions to posts, so you can streamline the use of your new indexing tools.

• LinkedIn: There are 2 new features from LinkedIn right now, which the business network says will help people personalize their networks. If you land on your LinkedIn homepage, you will see that you can access ‘who’s viewed your updates’ and ‘you recently visited’ features, on the right hand side of the page. All activity in the past 14 days can be seen there. Use it to follow up on important connections!

Courtesy of reputation.com

• Pinterest: On the image-sharing network this month we have a new feature, that allows you to find items that you have pinned in the past. Improving their search functionality is great for your marketing ‘how-to’ posts, which have a higher chance of being used, shared and interacted with again and again.

• YouTube: The video sharing network has released an update that now adds video overlays that recommend what you should watch next. This feature is accessible on the app, which is great news for YouTube advertisers and marketers.

In other general social media news today, experts are arguing about RSS feeds, and if they will even exist in the next few years due to Facebook and Twitter dominating the world of real time information. Personally, I don’t think the humble RSS feed is going anywhere.

There is too much value for content creators, publishers and producers to use RSS feeds for curation and convenience. Perhaps an app will come along that will streamline and revive the RSS feed, that’s my hope. In the meantime, you can continue asking your social fans to subscribe to your feeds, as they are very much alive.

Twitter has also been playing with ‘hundreds’ of new potential features for the site. The latest one, is a proposed section at the bottom of a single tweet, that details which sites have linked to that tweet, or used a shortcode of that tweet. It’s actually another form of visible linkbuilding that could be very useful for marketers in the future. I hope it makes the cut!

That’s all for updating your strategy this week, but you can bet that tomorrow there will be more subtle changes and alterations that will affect the way YOUR fans engage with your brand. Keep reading SMMU, and I’ll keep posting about the updates that matter to your overall content strategy.

Did I miss anything this week?

Courtesy of twitter.com

What is Twitter For Business?

Twitter is a very large, very prominent social site, but they are also acutely aware that many of the business people on their platform, have no idea how to use it properly. As a result of this inability to adequately market on Twitter – bounce rates are higher, and owners are choosing to market more on the ‘easier’ platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.

Twitter for business is their solution to this concern. It will function like the Facebook blog, and Allfacebook.com, which is the total resource site for all things to do with the social network. Business owners will be pleased to find simple-to-use tutorials that provide powerful tips and advice, which will help them gain followings and sell on Twitter.

The Homepage Structure

Twitter’s slogan ‘grow your business, 140 characters at a time’ is splashed across their homepage, with a button that invites you to begin advertising right away. This is clearly part of Twitters strategy to increase the reach of their advertising networks. Twitter for business is therefore a learning resource and a promotional step up for Twitter.

• The site will improve Twitter’s ad revenue, as it teaches people how to effectively use their advertising options.

On the homepage, Twitter promises that they’ll help you master the basics, build your community and market on Twitter. They don’t
disappoint.

Courtesy of Twitter.com

The Basics Area on Twitter For Business

The basics area on the site introduces you to Twitter and why you should be using it. Twitter cites the main reasons as, growth, learning, listening and connection. There are several other Twitter for business areas in this basics section that teach you:

• Twitter glossary of terms and functions (tweet, mention, hashtag etc)
• It tells you who is on Twitter and what they talk about
• According to Twitter, 94% of Twitter users want to hear about your discounts
• This section discusses Twitter mobile, and how 60% of fans use it
• You’ll learn how to establish your brand personality
• How to tweet daily in an organized fashion
• How to write star-quality tweets that work
• How to use photos, videos and other content on Twitter for business
• The best practices to use, how to measure them and how to secure your account
• Click on what kind of business you are for more in-depth tutorials

The Build Your Community Area on Twitter For Business

This section shows you, the business owners, how to make the right impression with your profile, and how to engage your initial audience. From creating a stunning profile, to building your fan base, attracting followers and integrating your efforts – there’s a practical section for you to read on this powerful new learning resource.

Twitter also recommends that you work with others, and educate your employees to work with Twitter to increase your reach. On nearly every page, there is a small section pushing the Twitter for business advertising options.

Courtesy of Twitter.com

The Marketing With Twitter Section

On Twitter for business, you’ll find the ‘marketing with Twitter’ section that takes a closer look at more advanced Twitter strategies and practices. From targeting, to working with analytics, running promotions and executing marketing techniques – you can figure out how to do it all here on the platform.

The most interesting section here was about scaling. I find that in business, companies always find it difficult to grow after they have reached a certain number on their social networks. This section introduces some fresh ideas about TV and Twitter, and how 95% of conversations about TV happen on the platform. It’s well worth reading.

You can also move onto the promotional section, where Twitter will teach you how to engage your audience with events, launch products on Twitter, how to use incentives, and finally – how to create exclusive deals that will drive your overall results. It’s all very clever, and very nicely done. I would recommend sifting through this resource, even if you’re a pro.

The Ad Products Section

There is a section that explains their advertising products in more detail, though the entire site really pushes businesses to use this service that they offer. I find myself feeling like Twitter for business is half about learning and half about selling.
This section will take you through each form of advertising (promoted accounts, promoted tweets etc) along with the analytics potential and pricing for each service.

Courtesy of Twitter.com

The Success Tab and Blog

Twitter for business has also included a success section, as social proof that their ads and platform can really help business owners earn more money and gain more social reach. They haven’t really touched on using Twitter Vine yet, as it’s still so new – so watch out for an addition on this at a later point.

If Twitter can figure out how to integrate advertising and Twitter Vine on their platform, they just might be able to break through the glass ceiling and really skyrocket their ad revenue. Search the Twitter for business success section to hear all about brands making Twitter work for them. Otherwise check in at the blog for the latest news and updates.

The Final Say on Twitter For Business

All in all, the videos are great, the content good and the experience is worth a go. Advanced users will find these resources interesting but shallow, as they are geared towards a novice market. However, I would suggest checking it out anyway. Don’t let the pitch fool you though, this is Twitter trying to push advertising on their users. It’s not a bad thing, but be prepared to see it for what it is.

What did you think of the new Twitter for business page? Is it useful?

Courtesy of admixsocial.com

Latest Facebook News

In the latest social media news on Facebook, the prolific social team is going to be introducing hashtags to the platform. Like their competitor Twitter, Facebook is desperately searching for easier ways of indexing huge amounts of content. Luckily, the hashtag is used in several other places, and doesn’t uniquely belong to Twitter.

Courtesy of facebook.com

This social media news has delighted some Facebook fans, and outraged others. A Facebook spokesperson mentioned that these hashtags would be used to group conversations. So look forward to many Facebook conversations in the future, with added hashtags in there for emotional meaning. #Justanotherfacebookfail?

What’s Going on With Pinterest?

Finally, a shiny new analytics tool was released on Pinterest recently, which is definitely a positive improvement for business page owners. Social media news like this is always good, as it’s important to keep track of your daily marketing stats and data. You’ll be able to see how many people have pinned your content, clicks, impressions, views and more.

Business owners will be scrambling to integrate this new on-page tool into their weekly data analyses, so that they can get more followers and leads.

LinkedIn Changes to Note

LinkedIn has made a bold move to buy a new app, called Pulse. It’s a news reading app that already has 20 million users – no small amount. Social media news sites were brimming with speculation about this unconfirmed rumor – and LinkedIn is staying tight-lipped about it. The app recommends certain content to you based on your activity and likes.

Courtesy of venturebeat.com

If LinkedIn is looking to extend the media side of their business, then Pulse would be a great buy. We’ll have to wait and see if the business network giant closes the deal.

Twitter Updates of Importance

Twitter Vine continues to be the leader in the field of 6 second looping video clips. While competitors like Cinemagram, Viddy and Socialcam have started to decline – Vine continues to grow thanks to Twitter’s social context. Social media news like this proves that certain apps can only survive in the long term market, when they have a solid user base.

Courtesy of mashable.com

Google Evolves a Little More

Google decided to kill the Google reader this past week, which has caused an absolute uproar with the social community. People seem to like the reader that Google has decided to shut down, they’ve even signed a petition to save it. It doesn’t seem as though this social media news has made Google change their minds. They’re still going to stop the service.

Do you have an opinion to express about the latest social media news, you’ve read here on SMMU? Tell me about it!

Courtesy of mashable.com

The Google+ Updating System

Many will say that it’s about time that Google+ updates and streamlines their stark, social media platform – and it is! I’m glad that Google has given up on trying to compete with Facebook and the other networks, and instead is evolving into their own unique service. They are mainly doing this to be more practical – for the average business user.

Here is a list of the recent Google updates:

• Google+ makes it easier for you to edit your profile information. The ‘about’ section has changed dramatically, and now has separate sections for you to enjoy. The privacy control is still tight (perhaps too tight) so you don’t have to worry about any of your information getting seen by the wrong circles.


Courtesy of engadget.com

• Another one of the latest Google updates – is in the local reviews section. As you know, this is a great place for SEO, where you can now add local reviews to the same area that contains your photos, Youtube videos and +1’s. You can leave reviews for your favorite businesses, and get your fans to do the same for yours here.
• There are now striking, large cover images on the Google+ platform. This is to keep up with the growing trend in visual design online right now. Larger images means more interaction, which is important. Cover photos are now 16×9, and up to 2120px x 1192 pixels – that’s pretty huge! Google+ updates like this will help the site move forward with its competitors.
• New cropping and profile avatar features means that you will now have an attractive top banner on your page that resizes itself automatically.

These new Google+ updates will be rolling out for quite some time, and more changes are on the way. These changes were directly inspired by feedback given to Google+ on the platform, says Google+ product manager, Sara McKinley.

Courtesy of cnet.com

What Do The New Images Sizes Mean For Google+ Users?

The good news is that this new image size upgrade is prime real estate for your business. I would suggest having your business profile images professionally done, and using them as part of your marketing tools – when you do product launches or promotions.

Like Facebook, this real estate is immediately noticeable on the search engines, so it’s valuable space. Use it to help support your many online sales funnels, or to send traffic to your business website from your Google+ page.

If you want something to add to Twitter, create links leading to the testimonials and local reviews on your Google+ page. Google+ updates like these give me faith that although Google+ began on shaky ground, the Google team has plans to make it something unique, offering more or something different than the Facebook’s of the world.

What do you think of the new Google+ changes?

Courtesy of marketingtechblog.com

The Internet is Ruled By Bloggers

In Chris’s social media news post, he begins by detailing how many business owners are afraid of actually approaching bloggers for help. It’s true that many horror stories exist on the subject, but in my opinion, there are far more success stories online.

If you want a social media news blogger to blog for you, on your blog – then you have to learn about the three ‘E’s’ of blogging.

Bloggers can’t resist the 3 E’s, and if you can provide this for them – they’ll quickly contribute to your monthly blog posts.

The 3 E’s are: Equality, Exposure and Equity.

Equality: Bloggers don’t want to be treated like employees. They want to be treated like friends, or colleagues. That means being honest with them, being fair and not taking it for granted when they contribute to your blog.

Exposure: Bloggers definitely look for blogs that will help them extend their own personal reputation and reach. In the social media news niche for example, there are always bloggers waiting for a good partner site to publish on. Make sure your site is worthy and busy.

Equity: Perhaps above all, bloggers want to be treated as professionals, or like the experts they are. Give them an author’s credit, and go above and beyond to include them in your other articles. All of it will help you build a successful relationship with them.

Chris Abraham on What NOT To Do

On the other hand, if you’re looking to get your post published on a top blog – Chris has some great advice for you. This is hot social media news so listen up!

Courtesy of publicrelationsblogger.com

• Never incorrectly address the blogger. Chris often gets people calling him ‘blogger’ or ‘Abraham’ which tells Chris one of 2 things – a) They can’t be bothered finding out who he is, and b) They don’t really care about his blog. DENIED.
• The ‘I read your blog all the time’ LIE. It’s easy to tell who is sucking up, because they complement you in a really general way, or about something very recent. This proves they are only out to flatter. Avoid it says social media news buff, Chris.
• Don’t forget bloggers are REAL people. They can tell that your formatting is wrong, and that you are copying and pasting your requests to hundreds of blogs – in the hopes of landing just one. DENIED.

Chris Abraham goes on to remind us that bloggers can see through people that aren’t sincere in their pitch. If you’re going to truly approach a blogger for social media news for example, to ask to have your post published on their blog, do yourself a favor and DO the homework!

Courtesy of socialmedia.biz

• Find out who they are, and what they do
• Read more than 10 of their blog posts
• Link to their blog, so that they know your name before you ask
• Follow their social pages, and share for them
• Don’t beg, flatter or be insincere
• Bloggers usually have above-average intelligence and they HATE spammers

Use this excellent social media news from Chris Abraham to improve your chances of getting your posts published. Blog outreach programs can be tricky, but if you do them right, there’s no limit to how many influential friends you can make!

Read Chris’s original post here!

Are your blog pitches turned down often? Do you turn many pitches down? Tell me why!

Courtesy of jobsnhire.com

The Facebook Marketing Fail That is Turning Heads

Facebook has always had privacy problems, since the very first moment it went live. You’ll often see fake spam from your friends every now and then, warning you that Facebook has once again changed its privacy functions, and now the world can see you drunk at that party – if you don’t rush to change the settings.

But what has really happened to this giant social network, since it went public last year? The Facebook marketing team is clearly taking a lot of strain from large investors, as advertising and testing of ad processes has shot up since that time.

Right now, all it takes for a small number of test users on Facebook to inbox you, is a measly buck. They don’t have to be your friend, or know you at all. Facebook real estate is plummeting, and everyone is starting to notice.

The Facebook marketing team needs to be careful how many spaces they fill with ads. Email was one of those hallow areas that were spam free. Facebook first released new policy guidelines that made it impossible for you to block messages from people you aren’t friends with. Now they’re testing this MASSIVE Facebook marketing fail.

Courtesy of empowernetwork.com

Here’s why I don’t think people are going to love this idea, and why businesses won’t benefit from it at all.

• People are unnaturally paranoid about stranger interaction on Facebook – they hate it. Hence the many Facebook marketing spam and privacy problem warnings that go viral.
• People don’t like companies’ cold emailing their daily email addresses, why would Facebook make it so that people can do this to their social networking accounts?
• Small businesses won’t be able to afford too many emails anyway, so there is no value here for them. The Facebook marketing team is targeting big spenders that spam A LOT.
• It’s another ‘bad’ solution to a non-existent problem like the $7 it costs to send status updates directly to the top of friends feeds.
• It comes in the wake of Facebook’s recent privacy policy reform that caused negative backlash, not to mention their privacy issues on Instagram.

It seems to me like this is a ploy by The Facebook marketing team to open yet another revenue stream, even though experts say it won’t earn them a lot of money. While the intended uses for this ‘innovation’ may be to allow a stranger to inbox you, because they met you at a conference or something relevant, it’s a hollow reason.

Courtesy of lifehacker.com

The Real Reason Facebook Allows $1 Emails

The real reason that The Facebook marketing team is testing this $1 email system is of course – money. Investors are nipping at the heels of the marketing team to earn more money, to find new paths that can be money spinners to boost their share value.

If a large corporation wants to directly reach 100,000 people with an advert, they could choose to do it on Facebook as part of their own Facebook marketing campaign. It would only cost them $100,000, and its extra functionality for the business. Everyone wins – oh, except the user.

If this moves past the testing phase, expect to see a whole lot more rubbish in your inbox. More proof that Facebook is going the same way as the old Myspace. Soon there won’t be any place for friend interaction, because of all the ad space!

How do you feel about getting ads direct to your Facebook inbox from strangers?

Courtesy of theverge.com

The Interactive Gun Map Situation

On December 22nd The Journal News published a detailed, interactive gun map online that showed the names and addresses of gun owners in the Rocklands area and surrounds. While technically this information is available to the public, the outcry was fierce and unrelenting.

Today, The Journal News and its employees are being guarded by a private security company, due to the negative backlash that they’ve incited. Not only have they made it easier for home invaders to do their job – they’ve also given them a method of knowing whether the home owners have guns or not.

This information can be used to either steal the weapons, or avoid them for basic B&E’s. The Journal decided this interactive gun map would be a good idea, in light of the recent shootings that have rocked the US. People should have a right to know if their neighbors own weapons. Of course, people have seen it as a gross violation of privacy.

Christopher Fountain’s Revenge

A blogger by the name of Christopher Fountain who runs a blog called “For What It’s Worth” – is a gun owner and was outraged by the audacity of the paper. In response to their blatant interactive gun map publication that in his opinion, has put many Americans in danger – he in turn published the personal details of the Journal’s editor and staff members.

The Journal is still trying to get hold of MORE details that would seriously put these innocent Americans at risk – including how many guns someone owns, what type of guns they are, and which are registered to the owners.

Mr. Fountain is working tirelessly to stop this invasion of privacy, that would make gun owners serious targets for thieves and violent crimes. The interactive gun map must be stopped!

People have been so outraged that a suspicious white powder was sent to the offices of The Journal News, an anthrax scare that turned out to be a threat and not the real thing. The whole interactive gun map publication has become a nightmare.

The Official Statement Released By The Journal News

“One of our roles is to report publicly available information on timely issues, even when unpopular. We knew publication of the database (as well as the accompanying article providing context) would be controversial, but we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings,” Janet Hasson said, referring to the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.

Janet Hasson is the President of The Journal News Media Group.

Courtesy of now.msn.com

News From The Twitterverse

People on Twitter have expressed dark opinions about The Journal New’s decision to publish the names and personal details of innocent Rockland citizens. It seems that now, a whole can of worms has been opened thanks to the interactive gun map. Should the paper be held accountable? Here’s what people have been saying:

@Chester3424 says, “The inmates are taking over the asylum. #JournalNews #Gunmap Being used by #Prisoninmates to Threaten Guards. (Link)”

@InfoStuffinder says, “Ex-Burglars Say Newspaper’s Gun Map Would’ve Made the Job Easier, Safer | Fox News http://ow.ly/gz9rT #GunMap #Crime”

@blackdawgg says, “Here’s one of those #journalnews bastards info…please share!!! RT“@April_MG: No guns at this house, America! pic.twitter.com/LVhOpmFN”

Courtesy of twitter.com

@Lizardstomp says, “#JournalNews is wanting to post more gun owners names, I say its time to post the names and addresses of every creep at that paper”

@zapeters says “Let’s publicly condemn and exploit private gun owners, then add armed guards to our building for personal protection.”#JournalNews”

There has also been much outcry against the way The Journal News has compared gun owners to child sex offenders. How are they alike?

Social Media as a Media Accountability Mechanism

It’s been great to see how bloggers, and sites like Facebook and Twitter have responded to the interactive gun map published by The Journal News. If the majority is right, then it seems as though the Journal News has made a terrible mistake, and they didn’t truly consider the ramifications of their actions.

The online social community has said this of the interactive gun map:

• You have made it easier for robbers and thieves to target gun-free homes
• You have made it easier for robbers and thieves to steal certain guns
• You have exposed innocent Americans to violent physical and sexual crimes
• You have attempted to turn people against gun owners in the US
• You have compared gun owners to child molesters
• You are hypocrites to hire gun toting guards to protect yourselves
• You are cowards to not want to give an interview about your gun map
• You have exposed law enforcement personnel to threats, violence and harassment
• You have violated the nations trust and the privacy that we are entitled too

This is the sentiment coming from the online social community about the interactive gun map. Surely with this kind of backlash on their hands, The Journal News will step up and allow themselves to be held accountable for this serious lapse in judgement. It is a contentious issue.

One could argue that this entire interactive gun map issue was trumped up in order to rectify their ailing sales. There’s nothing like controversy to jump start newspaper sales again. Though this time, they may have gone too far.

How do you feel about the interactive gun map publication – right or wrong? Does the social internet have a right to be outraged about this move by the corporate-owned media? Have your say!

Courtesy of fstoppers.com

Instagram Is Selling Your Photos, Your Children and Your Soul!

Okay, so maybe not your children or soul – but the online reaction would have you believe otherwise. How DARE Instragram sell photos that are yours? Facebook has made them evil! Suddenly this ‘quit’ Instagram campaign – oops – I mean rumor was everywhere.

It began with a few well connected people wondering about Instagrams terms of service, and the wording therein. Then suddenly, a dam of knowledge burst on Twitter – every second person was saying ‘quit Instagram’ or ‘stop using it’ and ‘go back to Flickr.’

Courtesy of ibnlive.in.com

Some of the more entertaining #Quitinstagram Tweets:

@KJ_Bedford – How To Download Your Instagram Photos and Kill Your Account #quitinstagram

@Jfjellner – F*ck you Facebook!! You ruined instagram!! #quitinstagram

Courtesy of Twitter.com

What The Terms of Service Really Says

Poor Instagram in an attempt to earn some money from its users, placed some language in their terms of service and privacy policy that indicated that they could sell users photos if they wanted to. Or use them in advertisements – which is really an invasion of privacy.

Imagine seeing your half naked body splashed all over the internet on an Instagram ad? There was a debacle over paying for the use of Instagram. I mean come on people – why can’t we pay a little to use a great service? The Instagram people insisted it was a mistake and they changed it immediately.

INSTAGRAM will never sell your photos without your consent or without compensation – in short they will never just take and use your photos!

Your personal info will be used to help them target you for ads though. But who cares? Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the entire social media world do this already! You have to as a social media app or site if you want to make money and stay successful.

If you want to delete your Instagram account click here.

The Sneaky Twitter Fueled Quit Instagram Campaign

I’m not saying Instagram didn’t publish those terms of service or policy changes. But I think Twitter fanned the flames – A LOT. Interestingly enough Twitter has been working on a secret photo editing app for themselves lately, and a LOT of tweeters
mentioned going back to Flickr because it’s just been revamped.

Courtesy of macworld.co.uk

Is Twitter aligning itself or even buying Flickr? I can definitely see that match up, and the new Flickr app, many are saying it beats Instagram hands down. It’s guerrilla marketing and every app for themselves out there.

Plus it would make sense as Flickr has lost many of their fan base to Pinterest and are going the same way as the old MySpace. A Twitter-Flickr alliance could definitely put them both back on the playing field, giving Facebook and Instagram a run for their money.

The Moral of The Story

Be suspicious when you haven’t read the terms of service yourself, or investigated news like this on your own. Twitter’s terms of service and privacy policy says almost the exact same thing – but no-one is tooting on about their Twitter images. Always take online gossip with a pinch of salt, and find out the truth right here on SMMU.

For the official Instagram response click here.

Don’t stop using Instagram! They won’t steal your images!

Did you love today’s post on Twitter and Instagram? Then share it please!

Do you think Twitter ensured the viral outbreak of this negative publicity for Instagram? Their loss is Twitter’s gain!

Courtesy of socialimplications.com

Social Media as a Career

When programming was new and simple – the internet became overloaded with coders, and a LOT of poor, tacky, substandard code. The same thing has happened to social media. When programming eventually evolved and became a colossal undertaking to study and become great at – that’s when innovation rose up to replace ‘posers.’

Now, we’re seeing social media and the many complexities of marketing, content marketing and creation, analytics, syndication, software and management on such a complex level – it has become worthy of study. This is fantastic! Finally, social media students will look to become educated in this practical subject, instead of ‘claiming’ to be experts.

Why SMMU Are Not Happy With ‘Experts’ Today

An expert is someone who knows pretty much everything there is to know about their niche, but they never stop learning – or that status will go away. In social media, we’ve seen people who have Facebook profiles claim to be ‘experts.’ It’s made it really hard on the rest of us who paid our dues since the days of Friendster, Myspace and Bebo.

Courtesy of socialgeekster.com

More than 5 years practical (not theoretical) knowledge makes you something of an expert. This new major or degree will finally ensure that people know that. After all, financial advisors with a fresh degree in finance are not EXPERTS. They are novices.
We’ve always said education is the key to becoming an expert, but it is one step on the social media ladder.

The Newberry College Degree in Social Media

I’m proud to see how far social media has come. Newberry College is trailblazing, with an undergraduate degree dedicated to social media. Interestingly, this degree blends the ‘social media expert’ into a ‘media specialist’ something I’ve always said would happen.

They will have to learn about:

• Graphic design
• Statistics
• Psychology
• Business
• Marketing
• Communications

SMMU Take on Social Media Education

These are great subjects to begin with, but they by no means make someone a social media strategist. To become that, you need to be a strategist, an analyst, a HR person, a social media platform expert, a social media process expert, someone who never stops learning, a trend spotter and a risk taker.

Where are these in the degree? I’m worried Newberry is going to approach social media studies like many colleges do – with little practical know-how and all theoretical BS.

Courtesy of socialmediajobsecrets.com

Here’s an example: “On Twitter you should use hashtags to help index your point, so others can read it.” Great advice, which tells you nothing about using hashtags.

Better would be: Create twenty tweets, using different actions words and hashtags. Use tracking URL’s in each of them and compare the stats after 1 month.

The difference in education here is this: The first social media strategist will be able to tell you how to do something for your business, but they won’t know how to do it, if it will work, or even if what he is doing can be improved.

The second social media guy will be able to map out a plan for you, follow through, test their tweets and hashtag potential, then
redraft the campaign for a fresh one that does better next time. That’s what social media expertise is all about!

If you’re looking to gain some real social media expertise why not enroll at one of our many practical, useful and valuable classes? Get certified here.

Did you like todays social media news? Then share it, do it now!

Otherwise – how do you think people should structure their social media ‘degrees?’

Courtesy of blog.socialmaximizer.com

What’s Happening With Facebook Newsfeed?

Since the company went public, it’s been experimenting with new and exciting ways to make more money for its many stock holders. We predicted this may happen some months before the public sale of Facebook shares, and here it is.

Marketers are getting a little bit frustrated over the recent changes to the Facebook newsfeed, which has essentially made showing your posts to your fans very difficult without advertising. You may have noticed your own ‘x people saw this post’ stats on the decline.

It all began with the Facebook newsfeed fake fan account purge that happened a few months ago. Legitimate businesses that paid marketing companies for Facebook fans (which we don’t endorse, but it is a marketing tactic) suddenly lost all of their fans, after Facebook deleted thousands of fake accounts.

1. Losing a large amount of fans is never a good thing, and to people that don’t understand why – it could trigger a mass unliking of real people.

2. Businesses that pay for Facebook management were outraged. How could their pages drop from 26,000 fans to 3,400 fans in 1 day?

Marketers began to lose money because buying fans was no longer a reliable option. This made a lot of business and marketers angry.

Courtesy of techcrunch.com

More Facebook Newsfeed Issues

I can’t confirm if this is true or not – but I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from people saying that they have been noticing a LOT more business page posts in their feed than usual. Sometimes it’s quite disproportionate – like 10 posts in a row from 1 page.

Perhaps Facebook is trying to correct the rumors going around that they have made it impossible to get exposure on your Facebook newsfeed or pages now, without significant financial investment. That means advertising!

Have you noticed those ‘recommended pages’ that keep popping up in your newsfeed? Suddenly there will be a big post, sprawled out in front of you from a page you have never even seen before. I don’t know about you but I haven’t liked any yet. It feels like a violation! Until now, advertising was neatly confined to the edges of your screen.

Now it’s slap bang in your Facebook newsfeed. I’m loathe to say this but it FEELS like Facebook is going the same way as the old Myspace. Overindulgence in advertising, marketers upset, people complaining, a large and ridiculous selection of ad options…all sounds too familiar. Be careful Facebook, be careful.

Courtesy of jonloomer.com

The Facebook Newsfeed Response

In an attempt to squash the negative sentiment floating around Twitter and in social media forums and marketing blogs, Facebook has rolled out ‘pages only’ which allows a user to switch the newsfeed to only see the business pages you’ve liked. It’s a nice touch, but I’m not sure that people will use it that often.

Techcrunch reported that the entire debacle accusing Facebook of forcing people to buy ads to get more exposure is false. While this may be true, there’s no doubt that Facebook is removing spam pages, while spamming its users with recommended Facebook newsfeed posts. I’m just not sure this whole thing will work in Facebook’s favor. Stay tuned.

Did you like todays post on the Facebook newsfeed issues? Then please share it!

Otherwise – have you noticed anything hinky going on with your newsfeed? Does there seem to be more advertising than usual?