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A chimpanzee brain at the Science Museum London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is human nature for our brain to be constantly in need of new information. Social media delivers just that. It is an excuse when you’re bored. An easy way to stalk your best friend. The leading cause of procrastination. But most importantly, it is an addiction. Read the rest of this entry »
Image via CrunchBase
If people ask you what kind of Social Media you are actively using, your answer may probably be Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But those are only part of my answers. Four years ago, I came to the U.S. for my college degree and that was when I started to know more about the most popular social media in the U.S. or probably around the world.
Facebook has more than 845 million active users around the world as of February 2012, while Twitter has 140 million and LinkedIn has 150 million. Read the rest of this entry »
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image via Kevin Anderson
Lacrosse and social media?
As part of the Wisconsin Men’s MCLA lacrosse team, I’ve seen first-hand the impact social media has on connecting teams with their fans. My lacrosse team has both an active Facebook fan page, as well as a twitter account (@badgerlacrosse). Read the rest of this entry »
Social Media Cafe (Photo credit: Cristiano Betta)
Guest post from Adam Moscherosch, one of our student interns:
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t always been the quickest to adopt new social media trends. I never had a MySpace, I didn’t join Facebook until the end of high school, and Twitter was just an afterthought. I had nothing against them but I had no real use for them either. That all changed when social media was adopted by the sports world. Read the rest of this entry »
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We are all herders.
I have a beautiful Samoyed named Birdie [Please, spare your jokes about the name]. If this was Siberia circa 1800 Birdie would be busy pulling sleds for her explorer master, keeping him warm during bedtime and herding reindeer all day long.
Fridtjof Nansen, a famous polar explorer, took the role of the Samoyed to a whole new level. Social history explains how Nansen fed his weaker dogs to the stronger ones as he plunged down the treacherous trails of the expedition. As you may imagine, few dogs remained as he arrived at his destination.
As we chart new territory in the social media landscape we have all done our share of herding. Herding people to our tweets. Herding people to like our FB post. Herding people to join our social media club. Herding people to come to our events and post blog entries. Herding [AWESOME] sponsors to put us up for the night and give us free cupcakes and such. Herding enough interested parties to help us achieve the goal of becoming a national chapter. Herding interns to help us do the herding…
Thankfully, our expedition comes with appropriate shelter from the elements.
#madisonsmc
Madison’s Very Own Social Media Club Hosts Jingle Mingle with Guest Social Media Breakfast
It’s time again for the annual Social Media Club Jingle Mingle! To make this year even brighter, we will be joining forces with Social Media Breakfast Madison for more jingling and mingling!
Join us on Tuesday, December 13th at the Madison Club for some Holiday Social Media Cheer from 6-8pm.
We will be providing appetizers and a cash bar will be available for some holiday imbibing. There is a small ticket fee to help cover our food costs.
Attire is business dress – better than jeans. This is, after all, the holidays and the Madison Club venue. It’s worth dressing up for.
What – Jingle Mingle 2011
When – December 13th, 2011 6-8 pm
Where - Madison Club: 5 East Wilson St. Madison, WI
Sponsored by - @engagingsocial
When – December 13th, 2011 6-8 pm
Where - Madison Club: 5 East Wilson St. Madison, WI
Sponsored by - @engagingsocial
Cost - $10 - Get tickets here
Twitter this event: @madisonSMC is holding another holiday #jinglemingle!If you’re in the #Madison area, you should come! http://bit.ly/vqSloz
Facebook-Email
Today, I got a message on Facebook from someone that wanted to use my services. Actually, I got an email on Facebook, then got a message to make sure to check my Facebook email. Only problem is – I don’t check my Facebook as much as I do email. It begs the question: do I need to be more attentive to my Facebook email over regular email? Will I miss an important message because they sent it via the social network?
I know what you’re thinking when I say email – junk, junk, junk, junk, nigerian email scam, junk, junk… But for me, email is my primary communication in this online world. The best part about email is I can keep important messages in one spot. Most people now have a email account, so contacting someone is not a problem.
But now with Social Network Direct Messaging – or as Facebook likes to believe “Facebook Email”, you can message someone in the social network over your conventional email. It does have advantage, like not having to know their email address. But is it a secure way to do business?
I get really concerned when it comes to conducting business over Facebook email. Not as much privacy (even though that is a big issue), more of the fact that I might forget about their email, or worse, if you need to pull that information later in life, will you find it?
Facebook is now on the kick of holding everything you can throw at it. If you post something in Facebook, expect it to stay in Facebook for years to come.
Connecting with someone on Facebook, or even LinkedIn is a great idea. It can even give you contact details that you can use to connect with this person. It’s always a good idea to make sure those details are populated so a person can get a hold of you.
Questions on this article? Feel free to twitter me @geekazine or email me directly at geekazine@gmail.com.Jeffrey Powers is a Content Creator, Videographer and Trainer over at Geekazine.com. He has been working in social media for over 5 years. He is also an IT Administrator for over 15 years and a Madison native. |
Cleanup You Website
This month is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). This is where you get a little more serious about your blog and put up content for the month. We at Social Media Club Madison are trying to do the same. But it’s not only about posting new blogs, it’s about realizing the blogs that keep people coming back and improving on them.
Yes. You can improve on an old blog post. I do it all the time. Just today, I was re-editing a post on Geekazine about Blockbuster. If something changes, or if a small addition is needed that doesn’t need a new post, then I’ll clean up my old posts and add content.
Watch your Stats for Trends
The first thing I do is go into my stats pages and see what people are reading on my website. If you do not have a stats page on your blog, you should really get one. I suggest JetPack for WordPress.
There are 3rd party site programs for those who are on other content management systems. Something like Woopra will give you an idea who’s coming to your site, where they are from and what pages they visit.
Read and Correct
I am not an English major. I make grammatical mistakes all the time. However, when I re-visit a post, I can see it with “fresh eyes”.
I like to read the post aloud. When I stumble on a point, I review it. If I see redundancy in the post (ex: if you see “…that the…” in your writing, you have redundancy. Take out one or the other. It will depend on the situation of which one, however, you will not need both.), I remove it.
A new reader will not know I had mistakes on my site for so many months (or even years). I can also add SEO and other links as they become relevant.
Turn Spellcheck into a Learning Tool.
Here’s a little trick: If you get a word you misspelled, don’t rely on the computer spellcheck right away. Delete the word and re-spell it. Try it a few times, then when you are stumped, let the spell checker do it’s magic. You might find that your spelling will start to improve because of your attentiveness to the words.
Adding Content – Adding Edit notes
Some people will add a footnote saying something was edited after the post was published. This is a great idea if there was a correction. It’s even better if someone calls it out and you correct, referencing that person’s Twitter, Website or Facebook profile. You never know if someone will re-tweet an article if their name shows up as an editor.
You never know when an old post can become new again. I have had posts re-surface because of a news article, or a special on a product (in which they read the review I put out months ago). Cleaning up the post grows your SEO and could gain fans to your site. It’s not cheating – it’s rectifying a situation.
 Jeffrey Powers Questions on this article? Feel free to twitter me @geekazine or email me directly at geekazine@gmail.com.Jeffrey Powers is a Video Content Creator, and Social Media Life Coach at Geekazine.com. He has been working in social media for over 5 years. He is also an IT Administrator for over 15 years and a Madison native. |
Online-Community-Manager
In this day and age, you might be hearing of this job title creeping into job roles. Although the “Online Community Manager” has been around for years, it is now needed by any business that has content online and wants interaction. From Facebook pages to iPhone applications, the Online Community Manger is your ambassador to the customers and developers.
What is an Online Community Manager?
Online Community Managers have been around since the days of the BBS. Their job was to watch and interact with the boards. They would look for threads that pertain to their business, then open up communication and hopefully gain a customer. The job has changed since those days, but the basic idea applies; gain fans and customers, then show how this creates a Return On Investment (ROI).
They find new ways to connect with people. A YouTube video, an online chat. Meetups, mixers, video chats, and more. They get creative to bring your companies name to the forefront, and possibly noticed by standard media like radio or TV.
Do you Need an Online Community Manager?
If you just have a Facebook or Twitter page and someone updates it regularly, and that is the only thing you want out of it, then you might not want an OCM. However, if you want to get interaction, gain awareness, build a rapport, and increase fans, then you might need the community manager.
Think of a OCM as a promoter to a band. When the promoter books a band in a venue, they need to get the word out to the fans, or the soon-to-be fans. They create and put up posters, get advertising set up and talk to the TV and radio stations for support. They might even contact other “Sponsors” to help them increase the word. In addition, they could get together contests or other promotions (like 2 for 1 deals) where people can win tickets or other swag.
An OCM does the same thing. They put together plans to increase interaction with the customers you want to reach. They also field questions and relay problems to teams that can fix said problems.
An OCM would bring ideas to the table – like driving up Twitter fans through running a contest. Maybe put something on Facebook (a picture or event) to elicit response. Once approved upon, they run the event. Finally, at the end of the event, the OCM will gauge the market to see how much increased response and retention was recieved.
The OCM also does a bit of help desk. For example, if you have a Facebook or iPhone game that has a glitch in it, the players would comment there is a problem. The OCM would then determine the severity of the issue and let the appropriate department know. Once fixed, the OCM would update people of the status. This doesn’t replace your help desk, but it can add to the customer support experience.
Finally, an OCM is a trainer or host to another trainer. For example, if you have a webinar, an OCM will most likely be the DM of this webinar. They would promote the online connections and then introduce the speakers, also shuttle questions and comments to the speaker.
What to Look for in an Online Community Manager?
To begin with, they have to know how to be online. They need to have a flair with what could bring response from the crowd. They have to work with online analytics to show their interaction.
The Online Community Manager has to be on top of the game. After all, they need to grow an organic customer fan base. It’s not an instant task, but if the OCM has the knowledge, they will create a consistent growth model for a company.
This role can really become a savior for companies. You never know who you get from the interactions created. It could be an investor looking for a new company to back. It could be a company that wants to sponsor or work with you. It could be a reporter that wants to talk to you and write an article. It could be a radio station that is going to give you a discount on your ads.
Then again, it could be a bunch of satisfied customers and friends with word of mouth. That could be the best advertising you ever did.
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Jeffrey Powers Questions on this article? Feel free to twitter me @geekazine or email me directly at geekazine@gmail.com.Jeffrey Powers is a Content Creator, Videographer and Trainer over at Geekazine.com. He has been working in social media for over 5 years. He is also an IT Administrator for over 15 years and a Madison native. |
QR-Code
So you’re walking down the street, you turn and look at a store front. On the window is this odd looking image – Black and white and looks like some kind of computer code. What is that?
It’s a QR code. Otherwise known as a bar code, the Quick Response (QR) code is a scannable image that lets you get more information. Originally created for scanning and inventory purpose, the population embraced this code as a means to convey everyday information. From websites to Facebook profiles – even to push text and images. Read the rest of this entry »
