Archive for the ‘Social Media Tools’ Category

Social networks are a great place for getting your content seen by many people who are getting to know you.  The best way to do this effectively is via RSS feeds.

So, What is an RSS feed?

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and this is exactly what it is!  Real Simple Syndication.  What does this mean for you?  RSS allows you to take on a simple URL feel and add it to another application and so every time you publish a post, ALL the applications you added e.g. Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter etc, to your RSS feed is automatically updated.

Why would I want to do this?

• It makes your content visible to that application’s audience
• It gives you a traffic boost i.e. More people looking at your content
• You are sharing content that readers in other places may find useful
• You can also share other bloggers RSS feeds in various places, this is a good thing to do

Now you may ask, “where is this so called RSS feed”?

Generally the RSS feed is a big orange button which looks very much like the image to my right.  When you click on that button it navigates to a page looking like the image below and you will find your  RSS feed in the address bar as shown below.

Ok so now that I know where my RSS feed URL is, what do I do with it?

Copy this RSS URL feed and go and add it to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.  This way you keep all your sites easily updated and you are providing your audience with interesting and useful content, (well at least I hope it is useful and interesting).

As mentioned earlier, you can also get other people’s RSS feeds off their sites and share add them to these applications.  It is a good thing to do because you are helping someone else to get their content infront of an audience and they will appreciate you for it and what you sow you will reap.  It also provides,as I mentioned previously, once again, your audience with interesting and varied content from a number of different sites.

Any questions on social media assistance, contact @romanythresher via Twitter.

It is definitely time to make sure that your site is ready to go mobile.  All the top dogs are making sure that there sites are stipped down to text only.  What does this mean really?  It means stripping a website from all images and making it text only and viewable for mobile phones.

Well in all truth its not rocket science to get your site to be mobile.  If you run your website or blog on a WordPress platform, guess what, WordPress are already a step ahead of you and has a plugin called Mobile Press which you just install and activate.

BBC News – Facebook launches “Zero”

Social networking is the ability to communicate with an extended contact group. You initially build a group of contacts that you know and add to this group using the contacts of your initial contacts. Businesses can use the extended contact network to target other businesses. The extended contact network is built using the internet. This means that you can talk in sound bytes directly to the contacts of your contacts which increases your overall reach and influence.

The social part of ’social networking’ describes how the relationships need to be based upon more than business. In the same way that you would not go to a face to face networking meeting and do nothing but sell, you don’t only sell in a social networking environment. Share information and contacts as well as personal things about yourself – allow people to get to know a part of you (remembering that it is a global environment).

There are a number of applications that assist in the social networking process. Popular examples are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Each site has its own use and allows you to reach your extended contacts in its own way. I use a combination of different social media sites in order to reach different audiences. There are a number of common themes between the sites however.

Strategy – Before you start social networking, work out your strategy. What do you want to get from the networking? Contacts, brand building, feedback from your customers, hits on your website, information or what?

Policy – You will need to check whether your company has a policy on social networking. If you are the owner, you can decide whether you want your employees to engage with the sites and if so, which ones and how.

Profile – You must register with a profile. This includes information about your business, a picture of you – probably not your business logo and a link to your website or blog. Your profile will be used to find you initially and once found, to promote your business and to encourage people to go to your website. Some sites only allow you 160 characters, others are limitless. It is worth crafting a number of different paragraphs containing your SEO keywords to use with different sites.

Etiquette – Your online presence should reflect your business, just like your face to face presence. If you would talk politely and thank your customers or contacts in a face to face environment, you should do the same online. I am amazed at the number of people that don’t thank me if I promote them through online media or in fact people who think it is OK to swear in an online environment.

Communication – Remember that you are talking to people – have conversations, share information and share contacts. Generally, I find “what goes around, comes around” is true for online networking as well as face to face networking.

Business versus Personal – There is definitely an overlap between personal and business networking. Some of your business colleagues may also be personal friends, but it is up to you to decide right up front how far you want that crossover to go. Some people share stories of their children and family – they will display pictures of their family on their Facebook page for example – that’s not what I choose to do. Do whatever you are comfortable with.

Global – Remember with all these sites that if you are using them for business, you need the world to be able to see them. There is no point using social networking to market your business, if you hide your profile so nobody can see it. But remember that everybody can see what you say – both positive, negative and personal!

There is no ‘right’ way to use Social Networking – just give it a go to benefit you and your business!

Author: Mary D Thomas
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker