Hashtags have come a long way since they were first used on Twitter six years ago. From an unofficial way of giving context to a tweet, to a feature used by Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Flickr and more, the humble # sign is now a vital feature of social media marketing.
Offerpop have created an infographic all about the hashtag and its usage by individuals and businesses on various social media platforms.
I have been studying an Open University short course in film making. For my final assignment I created a tutorial video about how to use Pinterest to showcase your own photography and artwork, rather than just sharing other people’s all the time.
If you are interested, I also had to create a Behind the Scenes video for the assessment.
As somebody who sometimes uses speech recognition software, keyboard shortcuts are an important part of my life! Even when I’m not using SRS, I still frequently choose to use my keyboard rather than my mouse to make my way through my Gmail messages and Google Reader, amongst other things.
It had never occurred to me that Facebook might have a set of keyboard shortcuts available, so once I found this infographic from mycleveragency, I just had to share it.
Facebook Shortcuts Cheat Sheet is an infographic that was produced by mycleveragency
I made this video for GaggleAmp, all about how to use Twitter lists to manage your contacts and your marketing. It was quite a challenge, to fit the info into 30 seconds and not be able to edit anything afterwards!
LinkedIn is unusual amongst social networking websites in that it is primarily focused on careers and B2B networking. We discussed some of its idiosyncrasies in the latest episode of the A Little Bird Told Me podcast and we will continue the discussion in episode 3 (subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss it).
Power Formula have created the following infographic about LinkedIn usage, and it contains some really useful information about how to get the best out of the site.
Connect with me on LinkedIn here.
Via: PowerFormula for Linkedin Success
**Actual people, ignore this line, it’s a technorati claim code! : EJXAM8HYKW7K **
The more involved a person gets in social media, the more they will aim to work out the optimal times to transmit their messages. This is particularly true for those using it as a promotional tool, but anybody who enjoys a lot of engagement and many retweets and ‘likes’ will have noticed that there are certain times of the day or week when their followers are more likely to click their links and share them with their own followers.
The increase in popularity of services such as BufferApp is additional proof that people are aware of the power of timing in their social media posting. Using this service, a person can add tweets to be sent to their Buffer, and Buffer will spread them out and post them with strategic timing.
Dan Zarrella is a ‘social media scientist’, and while that might sound like one of those meaningless new job titles, it is one that he actually merits. His studies into the very specific factors which make a tweet retweetable, or a pin repinnable, are mind-blowing, not least in their detail. KISSmetrics got hold of some data by Dan, from a webinar he ran and turned it into three fascinating infographics.
It is worth noting that they are somewhat US-centric, as indeed is much of the web. Not only that, but while the information is incredibly well-researched and valuable, it should mainly be used to give you an idea of where to start with your own social media marketing, rather than as a set-in-stone blueprint. There is no substitute for observing and testing your own results and altering your social media promotions based on those observations – your target audience may well have different characteristics, and getting to know, and fully understand, those is what you need to do for the ultimate results in your own social media marketing.
However, that said, a lot can be learned from the following infographics, so use them as a springboard for streamlining your own social media, email marketing and blogging promotional efforts.
Pinterest is creating buzz all over the internet. This relatively new social networking site is based around its users sharing (“pinning”) images and videos from all over the internet. These images are pinned with a link to the source website embedded within them, so when a Pinterest user clicks on the image, they are taken to the website the image came from. Fellow users can then reshare (“repin”), comment upon, or “like” what has been posted, creating yet more backlinks to the original website.
Pinterest’s use as a source of backlinks is clear, yet many webmasters do not know how best to harness the power of this social media site. They are missing out! Pinterest is driving immense amounts of traffic, moreso even than Twitter, and its user numbers are expanding at an impressive rate. Ignoring this network means you are missing out on traffic, visitors to your site and potential customers.
There are actually two stages in Pinterest self-promotion. The first is to create a Pinterest account for your business. The site is still invite-only, but invitations are relatively easy to come by. Once you have an account, create “boards” (like folders, themed and personalized) for different aspects of your business or website. Some examples might include:
The second stage is to make your website “pinterestable”, by which I mean encourage your site visitors to pin your images or videos.
If you already have links on each page of your website to “tweet this”, “like this on Facebook”, “+1” etc. (and you should have!), then add a “Pin this!” button too. Making it as easy as possible for your site visitors will increase the likelihood of them sharing your page. The “Pin this!” button can act like a call to action, reminding readers that they can share your page.
Additionally, make your images compelling. Whereas some users might pin a page purely for the quality of the writing, Pinterest’s focus being so strongly on the visual means that many users pin images purely for what they look like, regardless of the rest of the page. Making sure that every page of your site, and every blog post, has an image that people are likely to adore, and want to share with their friends, vastly increases your chances of getting “pinned”. If the image is really great, then it will be repinned numerous times, creating multiple backlinks to your website.
Having a website which users want to share on Pinterest presents you with a wonderful opportunity. Easy, good quality backlinks, as well as new visitors to your website, are within reach with just a little thought and planning. Ignoring Pinterest’s potential, on the other hand, will mean you are missing out. Early adopters always do the best on social networking sites, and although latecomers can still make an impact, the sooner a business owner can learn how to take advantage of a new form of social media, the better they tend to fare.
Check out my Writing Pinterest board and my Social Media Pinterest board.
From Zone Alarm, based on some research by Pew Internet comes this rather lovely infographic about the complex issues of privacy in social media, and how to take steps to protect your accounts better.
(Ignore this bit. I need to create a link to set up my Google Authorship profile!)
