Collected knowledge: 5 Useful Posts About Snapchat for Business

Snapchat is apparently the social media platform to pay attention to in 2016 – for users and for business. 

According to an article in Business Insider Why Snapchat is 'the one to watch in 2016' - has offered many new features for users and has made it a more advertising-friendly place for business.

With 86 percent of Snapchat’s 100 million active daily users falling into the 13-37 age range it’s clearly a place to reach a younger audience.

If you’re still not understanding Snapchat or how to get into it for the sake of your business here are a few resources that may help.

5 Useful Posts About Snapchat for Business

But first, if you literally know little to nothing about Snapchat you might start with the basics at Snapchat Support 

Small businesses may find the list of tips from Brian Solomon (@Brian_Solomon) at Forbes useful: How To Use Snapchat: A Small Business Guide.

Kristi Hines (@kikolani) writing for Social Media Examiner offers a comprehensive guide to Snapchat for marketing purposes in Snapchat for Business: A Guide for Marketers

An AdWeek article by Lauren Johnson (@LaurenJohnson) has tips for all businesses using Snapchat with examples of brands who are already doing it very well. Read 5 Ways Brands Are Standing Out and Building Audiences on Snapchat. 

And for an update on features added recently see Snapchat Adds New Features, Allows Users to Re-View Snaps (for a Price) by Andrew Hutchinson (@adhutchinson) writing for Social Media Today.

And last, but not least, for a look at how Snapchat will become even more advertiser-friendly in 2016 see Snapchat is building an ad technology platform by Garett Sloane (@GarettSloane) of DigiDay.

So, if you haven’t explored Snapchat for business will you? In 2016 it seems like it will be the social media platform to work with.

10 Ideas to Help Business Navigate Social Media

Almost a year ago I wrote a post called 5 Reasons Social Media is Like Sailing that was well-perceived. It’s time to update that post.

Since then I’ve come up with more reasons sailors might just have the right approach to social media for business. Even if you aren’t into sailing you might try these approaches to see if they don’t make your time in social media more positive and more productive.

Here then are 10 Ideas to Keep Biz Sailing Smoothly in Social Media:

1. Pick your boat carefully: Not every craft is right for every sailor just as in social media not every platform is right for every individual. Pick a platform that suits you. Work with one at a time and see what works.

2. Start slowly: Nobody goes from pond sailing to open-ocean sailing in a day, weeks or even years. Learn your own capabilities, learn from others and be willing to get dunked a few times along the way.

3. Find an old-salt/mentor: Every top sailor was at some point helped along by an experience hand. So it should be in social media: Find someone who literally knows the ropes and can help you navigate your early days. They’ll also be there to stop you from drowning when you inevitably get wet a few times.

4. Learn to be ease in the environment: Just as being on the water can be a somewhat unnatural state for many beginning sailors, so can a newbie feel that their first days, weeks and months in social media can be slightly uncomfortable. Relax. Once you realize that the very worst that can happen is you may get a little wet once in a while then you’ll soon be loving every moment in social media.

5. The quickest route is NOT always a straight line: Like sailing, businesses in the social media space must navigate all kinds of challenges to get to their goals. Along the way there are likely to be winds (customer feedback) and currents (the business climate) that challenge a business trying to get to its port (goals). The best-laid social media plans include contingencies to deal with these. Although the course may be less than perfectly straight, the well-planned business will reach its goals ahead of its competitors.

6. You can’t control the wind: But you can control the trim of your sails and heading of your boat. The winds at the intersection of social media and business can be unpredictable and are constantly swirling. As a business you need to monitor the breezes of public opinion so that if they should suddenly turn into a squall of bad publicity you can react appropriately.

7. When bad weather hits: You, your vessel and your crew had better be prepared. Having a well-trained crew/staff and a solid social media plan will help a business react in its best interests. The plan allows the captain/boss to sleep well at night knowing that his boat is ready for anything.

8. An efficient sailboat is the sum of its working parts: A combination of hull shape, sails, masts and rigging keep a sailboat moving forward. A business operating in social media is also about the right combination of components to keep it moving forward. A social media plan will assess existing strengths, competitive threats and business goals to come up with the correct combination to keep you moving forward.

9. You WILL find yourself becalmed: It’s not something to fear. A thorough social media plan includes a list of “To Do” items that are not pressing, but certainly help make the enterprise if not stronger at least better able to make the most of the next breeze (opportunity). Remember that the “calm usually comes right before the storm.” Using it to get your business ready is just smart sailing!

10. Sail away from the safe harbor: You should take a few chances. This great quote from Mark Twain (sent to me by the helpful and smart Marita Roebkes) says it best: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

So, are you and your business ready to sail off and explore social media? I hope so. What other tips would you recommend for social media sailors?

Image is of The Man at the Wheel – the Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial Cenotaph, a tribute to local fishermen who have died at sea, in Gloucester, Mass. From FreePhoto

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Shorty: I hardly knew you

How a brief flirtation with fame ruined my Twitter world forever

I have a confession to make: The Shorty Awards and I have had a brief (10-day) flirtation. Now it looks as though I was dumped for a couple of Brazilian singers.

I can’t say I blame Shorty. They’re both pretty … and can sing. How can I compete with the likes of them? But there will always be my brief, sweet dethroning of American Idol’s David Archuletta. Ah, the sweet smell of victory.
But I get ahead of myself.

It all began about 10 days ago when Twitter users @ProROC and AnaRC were kind enough to nominate me for a Shorty Award in the category of customerservice.

I didn’t know what the Shortys were but I learned that they “honor the best people and organizations on Twitter. These unique awards are for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community.”

I was flattered, honored and, well, surprised.

It was time to check this thing out. After a bit of poking around I found that Archuletta, the 2008 American Idol runner-up, was in the same category as me! It turns out he had nominations across many of the Shorty’s 26 official categories.

Two days later I was in sixth place and David was in fourth. I could catch him!

I discreetly asked a couple of close Twitter friends if they would consider nominating me. They did and others spontaneously followed. Others were kind enough to retweet a nomination and cast their vote that way.

Within four days I was in third! David was behind me and we all know what the view from behind looks like.

Shorty and I were really getting along. But I somehow knew that I was destined to always play third fiddle to the two top dogs in my category at the time Neil Gaman and Team McLaren. But then along come Ivete Sangalo and Claudia Leitte - two Brazilian singers who, as of this writing are holding down positions 2 and 4 respectively. I was on my way down.

Just like Archuletta they are nominated across multiple categories. Leaving me to draw an obvious conclusion about you Shorty: You are easily swayed by a singer – especially an attractive female one.

I wish you well Shorty whoever you end up with, but we’ll always have 10 days in January. And … if you ever want me back you know where to find me and nominate me!

Update: Shorty Does the Right Thing