Social Media as the new technology boogeyman

As Social Media becomes a scapegoat in workplaces because “employees are spending too much time on it” or “they’re not representing us well with it” I love to tell this story about a scary new technology in the workplace

The new-fangled technology was not to be trusted … so much so that the boss set it on a desk in the middle of the office where he could see it through the window in his door. Now he was sure he could keep an eye on it and monitor its use by employees.
You see he just knew employees would be tempted to spend too much time on that contraption, would not use it for work purposes and, worse, would use it to give away company secrets. What possible good purpose could this technology be put to?

Well that “technology” was the telephone and the timeframe? The start of the 20th Century.

You see humans have always mistrusted the new and suspected it would lead to “no good.”

So how should organizations regulate Social Media in the workplace? They shouldn’t … at least not in ways different from the way they regulate computer and telephone usage.

3 Ways Businesses Can Erase Social Media Fears:

1. Explain: Tell your employees all about Social Media (including some of its pitfalls such as “Your tweets will live on forever … be careful”) and then explain to them that their use of company property (computers etc) to engage on Social Media is stealing unless they are doing the company’s business.

2. Train: Are there things they could legitimately do to help your business on Social Media? Absolutely! So train them in the types of messages around your company, your products and services that you strongly suggest they use when the opportunity is right. Show them how to use Social Media to monitor for mentions of your brand and/or product and then train again on how to direct those messages or respond to them.

3. Ingrain: Make sure every fiber in their body understands that Social Media is a public space. They should not say anything they would not be willing to shout from your rooftop in front of you or their mother (whoever carries the bigger stick in their minds).

If you, like me, believe that businesses blocking access to Social Media and other websites is wrong please consider checking out StopBlocking.org and supporting its work.

Remember, Social Media, like most things can not truly be suppressed or held back. Why not embrace the change and have smart employees acting as your eyes, ears and mouthpieces?

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Don’t Get Bogged Down in a Blog

Ideas for newbies about to jump off the lily pad and into the blogosphere

Blogging can be an excellent way to get started in Social Media (providing of course you allow comments and feedback).

It’s the way for a company, organization or individual can show off knowledge, build trust and gather a following.

Here are some blogging best practices to advance your standing in Social Media.

Your own blog:

Content: Pick a niche that you can “own” and always be helpful by offering analysis, tips and useful commentary

Length: Plan to always post between 250 and 750 words for the best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) results.

Headlines: The more intriguing, the better. Consider using numbers as part of your title and consider numbers that resonate with readers. (i.e. 3, 5, 7 and 10) So, for example: The 10 Signs Your Social Media Efforts Are Paying Off

Keywords: Using your top keywords is critical so that your blog post helps with your website’s overall Search Engine ranking. Therefore always try to include keywords in the headline, hyperlinked text and all the key tag fields.

Links: Always internally link (to your own Website content and to previous, related blog content. Also link to other blogs and news that is highly relevant. This cross-linking strategy helps your blog rise up in Search Engine results.

Schedule: Treat blog posting as a routine – no less than one post per week is good; two per week would be better. Create an editorial calendar built around topics that will be of high interest to readers, be timely and be able to carry your keywords.

Photos or Graphics: Including at least one with a post is recommended when possible. Use your keywords in the image "alt" attribute when possible

Review: Always have at least one set of extra eyes – a trusted colleague or friend – review the post before it goes live. It’s your reputation at stake here.

Sharing: Use Social Media platforms, email or other methods to let people know when a new post goes live. Allow visitors to click on an RSS feed so they automatically get notified of new posts.

Comments: Be sure to acknowledge comments left on your blog. Be positive – even when commenters aren’t.
 

Commenting on others’ blogs

Be thoughtful: Reference what helped you and try to add value to the original post.

Regularity: By commenting regularly on a few blogs you will establish a relationship with that blogger and their audience.

Linking: Add links in your commetns rarely and with great care so you don’t appear to be merely a self-promoter. If you are linking to content of your own, be sure it is very relevant to the topic at hand. Consider including linking to other blogs

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Questions Are a Recipe for Social Media Success

A Social Media Feast for Thanksgiving

Today is a day to give thanks to all the people who every day make learning about and keeping up with Social Media informative and interesting.

Presenting a Thanksgiving Day feast made up of the dishes I enjoy on a regular basis:

Turkey (white meat): At the center of the meal is of course the protein and without a doubt Mashable is the juicy white turkey. Every day the center of the plate has the meat to fill you up.

Turkey (dark meat): If you are a turkey connoisseur you know that white meat is great, but the dark meat can be a little more flavorful (let the debate begin). Social Media Today and its steady diet of thorough blogs on Social Media is sure to satisfy.

Mashed Potatoes The next most important part of the plate has to be the mashed potatoes and Alltop Social Media daily whips up a creamy and satisfying blend of bloggers on Social Media. Be careful here though, just as with the potatoes you can easily overindulge.

Stuffing: Still looking to load up on the carbs? Then the stuffing has to be the Social Media Insider from MediaPost. This key aggregator of blogs and news is filling and has just the right amount of seasoning to be interesting.

Gravy: What’s a Turkey Day feast without some juicy gravy to hold it all together? For my money Tech Crunch, although not just about Social Media, has enough great stuff that it is the perfect accompaniment on the dinner plate.

Sweet Potatoes: They’re not for everyone and they can be prepared in a host of different ways, but sweet potatoes do sweeten the meal. For a sweet touch turn to Wired News and its wildly eclectic content. Yes, Social Media is in there, but so is a whole lot more.

Cranberry Sauce: Not for everyone, cranberry sauce can be tart or sweet and compliments the meal. The Customer Collective serves up a tasty mix of content on sales and marketing, often with a Social Media twist.

Green Bean Casserole: Again, not for everyone, but a regular side dish for others The New York Times Technology section may be an acquired taste, but once you get it you’ll always want it. It has great content on all things tech including Social Media.

Rolls: Still don’t have a plateful? Then add some Online Media Daily for those extra carbs your body is craving. This site dishes up an eclectic mix of Internet developments.

So there you have it a Social Media Thanksgiving Feast. Before you dig in why not join me in offering thanks to all of these sites for the steady diet of great content? And if I missed a dish please add it here and help the feast grow.

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7 Tools to Find Who's ‘Big on Twitter’

Social Media can be an overwhelming place: so many people, so little time. So, on Twitter for example, how do you measure influence?

I was curious: Who are the BWOT (Big Women On Twitter) or BMOT (Big Men on Twitter)?

There are six influence graders I like (and yes, I know there are more – please share them) plus a bonus:


1. TweetLevel

This “nifty little service cooked up by Edelman” is still in Beta testing. But it is already my favorite. The composite Influence score is made up of Popularity (followers), Engagement (how much you talk to individuals) and Trust (how often you’re re-tweeted).

Under the About section Edelman’s formula is there for all to see (and isn’t transparency a wonderful thing?) Under Influence Tips there is some great advice on how to succeed on Twitter. And the “How you compare to a few of your friends” feature is a nice touch.


2. Twitalyzer

Probably the most comprehensive free Twitter influence analyzer – but be prepared to spend a lot of time if you want to go deep.

Here, a Tweep is measured in five areas: Influence (friends, followers, frequency of update and signal combined), Signal (the tendency for people to pass along information, as opposed to anecdote), Generosity (the propensity to retweet another), Velocity (your rate of tweeting) and Clout (the likelihood that other people will reference you).

The depth here is amazing: Want to see how you stack up over the past week, the past three months or “all time”? You can do that here. Want to calculate your Return on Influence, Conduct a Consolidated Account Analysis or Learn How to Increase Your Influence? It’s all here. Pack a lunch!

Recent updates (the new look-and-feel and analysis in real time – as opposed to 24-hour delay that had been the norm) make this one really useful tool.


3. Twitter Analyzer

This is a cool tool that slices and dices your time on Twitter for approximately the past 14 days. Here you can learn about your Popularity (total mentions and number of unique people mentioning you) and Reach (total number of people reached and percentage of messages retweeted). But that’s just the beginning. There’s also analysis of Friends, Mentions and Groups.

Want to know your most common hashtag or the person on Twitter who retweets you the most? It’s here. The Online Followers window is a cool minute-by-minute look at how many of your followers are currently online (helpful for timing tweets)

My favorite tool is the Followers Density Map. By mousing over the world map you can see where your followers are (big shout out to the six folks in Latvia who follow me at @mikefixs!) My quibble with this tool is that it seems to have a significant number of sub-tools “coming soon” (and has had them “coming soon” for some time).


4. TwitterGrader

This is, as the saying goes, “an oldy, but a goody.” This tool, from the fine folks at Hubspot is a solid standby. But, it doesn’t reveal how it measures people on Twitter and even changes the algorithm with barely an explanation. Transparency here would make for a much more useful tool.

And there are a couple of major annoyances keeping me from being a huge fan. First, being able to find the Twitter Elite by location is cool, but leave out a comma (in Rochester, N.Y., for example) and you will get a different set of results. Secondly, take any dive into the analytics and try to hit the “Back” button on your browser … you will get the “Webpage Expired” message and you have to start over. Yuck!

And here’s the thing: if a Twitter user has not submitted to being graded (or has not had someone else submit their Twitter name) they do not show up in TwitterGrader results. So it’s your influence among people who also use TwitterGrader – a subset of the Twittersphere.

5. Twitin

So this site does a whole lot of things, but for our purposes check out the Twitin Stats page. Here you’ll find rankings for Tweeter Efficiency (number of followers plus time between tweets), Influence Ratio (unexplained on the page), Retweet Count (how often you are retweeted) and Followers Rank (the number and influence of your followers).

An interesting feature is the “Profile Matches” that tells you who your profile most closely resembles. Will you be a Celebrity, a Web Developer or a Rocket Scientist?


6. Tweet Grade

Like you favorite teacher this grader is an easy grader – a lot of people get an A or an A+. Having said that it’s a good place to check up on people you might want to follow. And, yes, you can grade yourself and tweet the results to the world.


And the bonus:
7. Follower Wonk

And yes I know it’s not technically an influence grader … but it is addictive and will tell you how two or three Twitter accounts stack up. It is very useful when comparing accounts who are competitive or in the same geographic area and very quickly tells you who has the large (an d perhaps) more influential following.

I hope at least one or two of these Twitter influence tools proves useful to you.

In Social Media it’s not just about the numbers – it’s also about what you do with those numbers.

Related posts:

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Why Social Media? A Good vs. Evil Debate

Reasons you should (and should not) jump into the SoMedia pool party

If you’re struggling to get to the real motivation for your time in Social Media you may be like the character Pinto in the classic comedy Animal House.

Pinto, a virgin, has a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other giving him conflicting advice about whether he should “un-virgin” himself with an inebriated girl he just met. (For the record, the angel wins out).

Here, then, are some of the reasons you might consider entering Social Media and what your own internal Angel and Devil might say to you.


YOU: It’s where my customers are

Angel: You need to know your customers better and Social Media is a great place to listen and learn. Even potential customers have something to offer you. The more you listen and observe the better you will meet their needs. It will take a time commitment.

Devil: Oh c’mon! The real reason you need to be in Social Media is to sell more stuff, more cheaply. There’s a huge audience out there just waiting for you to sell to them. The best part? It’s free!


YOU: It’s where my employees are

Angel: You’re a good boss and you realize your best assets are your employees. By empowering them to use Social Media and showing the way you will have strong advocates out there. Your only policy on employee Social Media usage is borrowed from Google: “Don’t be evil.”

Devil: What fun is that? Now you can to check up on your employees. You can follow, friend or fan them and then see what they’re really up to. And just when your employees think you “get” the whole Social Media thing you can pull the rug out from underneath them by producing a 145-page Social Media Policy manual.


YOU: It’s where my competitors are

Angel: You can see what your competitors are doing and how they are helping people in Social Media. When a competitor is unable to help you can step in and offer help. Gosh, you might even form a Social Media alliance with a former competitor to better meet your joint customers’ needs.

Devil: No way! You’re gonna use Social Media to spy on your competitors and spread misinformation about them. You’ll use it steal customers and ideas away from the competition.


YOU: It’s where my neighbors are

Angel: In this busy world you can become better connected to the nearby community. You can connect with people, businesses and community groups that all have similar goals – making this place a better place to live. You can use Social Media to offer help where it is most needed.

Devil: But what’s in all this for you? Let me tell you: More networking, more connections and, duh, more money from sales. C’mon Angel all this kumbaya stuff is making me nauseous!

YOU: It’s where everyone else is

Angel: You know, you shouldn’t just go into Social Media to follow the herd. If it doesn’t make sense right now give it some time. A fake or half-hearted effort in Social Media will do you more harm than good.

Devil: Oh really? Don’t be a woos! Everyone else is in the pool, jump in. You don’t want to be last do you? It’s GMOOT (Get Me One of Those) time. Last one in is a …

Well that’s enough from the Devil.

Social Media and whether to jump in can be a tricky decision. Here’s hoping the Angel wins out in your internal debate.

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7 Ways to Tell How You’re Doing in Social Media