Posts Tagged "Social Media"

Brand & Message Essentials for Creatives on Social Media

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Nov 23, 2011 in Facebook, How-To, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter | 0 comments

I had the honor of speaking yesterday at Ottawa’s Make Art Work! conference put on by OCRI and I spoke on the topic of, “Brand and Message Essentials for Creatives on Social Media.”

The presentation was designed to highlight the ways that creatives and artists could use social media and maintain an authentic expression of selves.

Here is the slide deck from that session:

A Retweet Changed How I Use Twitter

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Sep 22, 2011 in Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter | 10 comments

It took me a few weeks to finally write this blog post and I held off on blogging about it because I didn’t want it to contain angst or snark.  I wanted it to have a few really great lessons and a-ha moments based on what I experienced.  Some people may just sweep a story like this under the rug and pretend that it never happened (or never happens ever) but the truth of the matter is, people are going to do things and say things that you may not particularly enjoy and it is up to you to decide how you want to handle it.  I hope this story allows you to see that mistakes will happen regardless of how social media proficient you are.

The Backstory

Let me back up a wee bit to one gorgeous, sunny afternoon a few weeks ago.  I was walking down the road, enjoying the warmth and the nature and all of the goodness that was surrounding me, and decided to pull out my iPhone to check my Twitter feed.  I read through the Tweets, laughing in response to some of the replies from friends when suddenly, I was punched in the gut.  Hard.

A colleague of mine, from the same city I live in, retweeted one of my Tweets and added “puke” to the front of my Tweet.  That was it, just a simple “puke” but the idea that my Tweet was vomit inducing was enough to stop me dead in my tracks.  I replied to the person with a bit of humor and the response I received was even more gut punching than the first one.  This person, that I had never met in person, told me that my over the top social media nonsense was what had induced this vomiting fit.

State of the Internet [Infographic]

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 21, 2011 in blog | 0 comments

Online Schools has compiled a really awesome look at the Internet by using an interactive infographic.

To quote Online Schools,

“The Internet has changed the way we live—that’s obvious. But what we think people forget is how big and important the worldwide web really is. Do you know how much time people spend on the Internet every day? Do you keep track of how many times you tweeted last month? Do you know how many people bought Uggs from Amazon (shame on them!)? No? You don’t?

That’s okay—we’ve done that for you. But beware: what you have before you isn’t just any old infographic. The content might shock you. If you thought that the Internet was just “really big,” you are sadly mistaken. The Internet is colossal. The Internet is a giant elephant that is trampling all across the globe leaving its enormous footprints.”

If you’d like to view the infographic, click the image below.  You will be taken to another website but I promise, it’s well worth it.

Comment below — what do you think of it?  Is it helpful / useful to you as a user of the Internet?

Created by: Online Schools

Reader Question: How to Get More Facebook Fans

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Mar 15, 2011 in Facebook, How-To, Social Media | 11 comments

Reader question:

I have 270 people on my Facebook Fan Page, how do I get more to follow me?

I’ve already done the suggest to friends button to invite the people on my profile page. I have some new friends on my profile page but I was waiting to establish a relationship with them since I have spoken to these people in years.

I was thinking of having a contest/draw for a complimentary service by asking people to invite their friends when I reach a certain amount of people and then have another contest later to continue increasing the number until I reach at least 500.

What do you think?

Response:

The process of gaining new friends, fans, followers, etc. is an interesting one and one that I get asked about a lot.  The truth is, there is no real magic formula to getting your number of fans to go up.

Think of it this way… if you walked into a networking event and just stood in the corner or at the bar, you wouldn’t get to know very many people, right?  Or, if you were delivering a seminar but you were dry, boring and the information you shared was regurgitated, you aren’t going to necessarily walk away with people who loved what you did.  People want authenticity and they want interesting.

Making friends, fans or followers on social media comes from having interesting things to say, interesting resources to share and forging relationships with the people you meet.  It also comes from the value you give to the community.

There is this perception on social media that more followers / friends / fans = success.  It’s just not the truth.  You could have 100,000 fans on your Facebook page but the real value is in knowing how many of those people listen to what you have to say, interact with you and interact with the other people you’ve attracted.

However, that being said, there are some ways that you can attract more people to you.

• Start a blog. If you aren’t blogging yet, do so!  You can utilize the blog as a feeder system into your other outlets.  For example, you could start a blog post on your blog but have the rest of it posted as a note on your Facebook fan page which will drive people there.  Blogs allow you to give the ultimate amount of value and they never disappear so you benefit from them for a long time to come.
• Interact in groups, pages, etc. to find other similar people. Sometimes the “if you build it, they will come” idea just doesn’t work.  Instead, you have to go out and find people to friend, fan or follow.  Once those relationships are being built, you’ll naturally find people who are ideal for your world.
• Contests are a great idea – when done correctly (see examples at bottom of post). There is something to be said about a good Facebook fan page contest but there is even more to be said about the bad contests.  The goal here is to create something of interest that will want people to come to your site but you also don’t want to come across as saying, “I just want MORE fans!”  Yes, that is the end result but saying so might make your current “fans” think, “Well… I wonder what’s wrong with the lot of us that is here!”

After you gain new “fans”, building the relationship and having them stay a long-time “fan” is something you’ll have to work on personally and that will just take time, authenticity and a little effort.

Do you have an interesting way that you, or someone you know, has used to gain more fans on Facebook? If so, leave it as a comment so we can continue the discussion!

***

Here are some examples of Facebook fan page contests that have worked.  Thank you to my friends on Twitter for providing the references!

• From @DLPhotography – a contest to drive people to the Facebook fan page: http://www.daniellelynnphotography.com/all-posts/firstbirthday-ottawa-photographer/
• From @NtQtSouthSurrey – @Klutchphoto is hosting a contest for her photography business as well: http://klutchphotography.com/blog/?p=280

Also, before you do a contest, be sure to read the Facebook Promotion Guidelines!  There are some distinct rules you need to follow.  If you prefer a short cut, this blog post sums up the rules nicely.

Podcast: Growing Your Social Media Following (Ep. 10)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Dec 2, 2010 in Facebook, Podcast, Social Media, Twitter | 0 comments