Tag: social networking

One on One: Facebook Apps Made Easy with WP4FB

Podcast interview with WP4FB founder, Wilco de KreijThis interview with Wilco de Kreij, Founder of WP4FB, is the second in an interviews of interviews with professionals who are doing amazing things with social media.

I am very honored to have the opportunity to interview the founder of WP4FB, Wilco de Kreij.  I first met Wilco in August when I was researching Facebook Landing Page tools and really thought his product was innovative and especially useful for business owners who use WordPress for their blogging platform and also maintain a Facebook Page.

There is quite an abundance of Facebook Landing Page tools available to users.  Most of them are either very expensive or require that you have some knowledge using HTML.  This is what I feel helps set WP4FB apart from most Facebook Landing Page tools.

I hope you enjoy this interview with the founder of WP4FB, Wilco de Kreij.
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Foibly and John Titus Aggregate Facebook Offers In One Place

John Titus - CEO of Foibly

Foibly and John Titus Bring All Facebook Offers To You

This interview with John Titus, CEO of Foibly is the first in an interviews of interviews with professionals who are doing amazing things with social media.  

I am very honored to have the opportunity to interview John Titus.  I first met John about five months ago when doing some research on Facebook Offers and instantly fell in love with his product, Foibly.

Right now, social media is an extremely crowded space and there is a lot of overlap when it comes to social media tools.  Everyone seems to be offering a similar solution.  What helps set Foibly apart is that they have gone off on their own path and created a social media tool that helps customers find the best offers on Facebook without having to sift through hundreds of Facebook Pages or be glued to their news feed 24/7 looking for the best deals on Facebook.

So enough about me telling you about Foibly, let’s have John Titus fill you in on his amazing social media tool.
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Facebook for business or Facebook for personal – a comparison

It doesn’t really matter who you ask – when you mention the term social media, everyone instantly thinks Facebook. That’s because not only does Facebook have over 1 billion users looking to connect with their friends and family, but the social network also works great for business owners as well.

So how effective is Facebook at driving personal and business interactions?

Consider these stats about Facebook for personal and business use:

  • 1 in 7 people use Facebook for personal use
  • 1 in 3 businesses are on Facebook
  • 79% of Facebook fans are more likely to make a purchase
  • 74% of Facebook fans are more likely to recommend a brand to their friends

Couple that with the fact technology research firm, Gartner feels that social commerce is the next big thing and suggests that by 2015, social commerce will generate $30 billion in sales, there are plenty of reasons as to why you should be using Facebook for both personal and business reasons.

So which way should Facebook be used primarily for?  Facebook for business or Facebook for personal? Check out this infographic on how Facebook is currently being used – and the impact that it is having for personal uses and in business.

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Facebook cover photo policy – changing yet again

Facebook Page cover photo

Just when you thought you were finished making changes to Facebook Pages in 2012, Facebook has gone and done it again – this time, they’re making their first change of 2013. This time, they’re changing the Facebook cover photo policy.

What changes in the Facebook cover photo policy?

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5 ways to grow your business with YouTube

Growing your business with YouTube

When you mention the terms, social media and business, a lot of people instantly conjure up images of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+ – along with a long list of questions.  What they often forget is that while these are social networks aimed at curating content from around the web, you have to have content to share on them to keep them growing.  Enter YouTube, an online video sharing community.

In addition to being the number two search engine (behind Google), YouTube is a tremendous social media tool where you can create your own online videos, build an audience, and drive traffic back to your business in a number of ways – by posting a video on your favorite social networks like Facebook or Twitter, encouraging visitors to check out your website, sign-up for your newsletter or as a way to leverage word of mouth marketing where viewers tell their friends about your video.

YouTube Beginnings

When I first got started making YouTube videos I’ll admit, I was pretty scared. Some of the questions I wondered about were if I could amass any considerable number of views – I also had a lot of questions about YouTube videos – will viewers like my content, will I even get viewers and how do I deal with comments and so on.

These are questions that anyone who is just getting started with online video might ask themselves.  But just two years later (and 750,000+ views), I’m happy to say that I enjoy making videos – almost more than blogging. And it’s not because I’m shy or anything. I just find they allow me to express my creativity through story-telling along with the creativity that goes into writing each video.

So to help you out, I’ve come up with 5 ways you can use YouTube to grow your small, medium, or large business.

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13 ways to spot a Yelp! user [Infographic]

If you’ve ever taken a photo of your food, read reviews about what others had to say about a new restaurant you’re thinking about trying, claimed an deal from Yelp! or read up on a new shop that opened in your area,  then you’re probably a Yelp! user.

In fact, Yelp! is a seriously powerful social network. For instance, if you’re using Apple Maps, you’re also using Yelp! as store information, photos and Yelp! reviews are integrated  into Apple Maps.

Let’s take a moment to check out 13 ways you can spot a Yelp! user – do any of these describe you? I can identify at least five items. How about you?

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The History of Photography [Infographic]

A Brief History on Photography

It’s hard to believe that photography has been around since 1826.  Over the past 100+ years, we have seen a number of technological advancements in photography.

For example, in 1878, high speed photography made its first appearance.   In 1960, film gave way to digital photos taken from the moon.  Then in the 80s, Polaroid introduced the instant camera, where you could take a photo and have an instant print-out within seconds.  Fast-forward and photography has taken another GIANT leap.  This time, courtesy of social media and mobile phones.

Past vs Present

In the past, cameras used to be expensive and required film.  Because of this, only professionals tended to own one.  Today, nearly anyone with a smartphone has a solid, quality camera at their disposal because the advancements in photography have helped to shrink the size of the camera, reduce the price, and reduce the need for film, replacing it with a hard drive instead.

Additionally, the proliferation of social networks that have popped up in recent years have encouraged users to share more of their daily lives – and because of that, they’re taking more and more photos.

Because we’re taking and sharing more and more photos, social media has helped us to expand the size of our networks as well as turn us into budding photographers, allowing us the opportunity to pay homage to cameras from decades past with the help of photo filters.

Take a moment to check out an infographic on the history of photography – it’s pretty remarkable how far we’ve come.

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How to find your YouTube channel RSS feed

Just like your blog, your YouTube channel has its own RSS feed. What this means is that you can now see updates as they’re happening from your favorite YouTube channels.

This is good news for anyone who uses an RSS feed reader such as Pulse to consume their favorite websites and blogs from their smartphone because now, instead of going to check out your favorite YouTube channel to see if they have uploaded any new videos, you can access the YouTube channels RSS feed to see any recent updates anytime.  Here’s an example of my YouTube channel RSS feed.

Example of YouTube channel RSS Feed

What’s included in a YouTube channel RSS feed

  • Video title
  • Date uploaded
  • Length of video
  • Video thumbnail
  • Video description
  • Number of views
  • Ratings

What’s not included in a YouTube channel RSS feed

  • Keywords
  • Playlists videos are added to
  • Number of subscribers

If you’ll notice, it is very important to fill-in as much descriptive information about your YouTube videos and to include a custom YouTube video thumbnail because this information is pulled into RSS feed aggregators such as Google News and Pulse. Without a custom YouTube video thumbnail your videos won’t be as eye-catching to readers. If you don’t include a description or title for your video, RSS feed readers might not pick-up your video so you’ll want to be sure include this in your YouTube videos.

Enough about what is and is not included in a YouTube channel RSS feed.  How do I find a YouTube channel RSS feed?

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5 last-minute ways to boost online shopping sales this holiday season

So you’re not exactly the best planner when it comes to social media. Everything is just off-the-cuff or when you get around to doing it.  Although the clock is ticking on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, there’s still time for you to leverage your network of friends, fans and followers this holiday season to help boost your online sales.

Instead of throwing in the towel on holiday shopping and missing out on online sales for your business, I’ve put together a collection of 5 last-minute ways you can give your online shopping sales a boost.

What’s great is that these are items you can start implementing today or even tomorrow (after you’ve had your fill of Turkey and stuffing).

Remember, if you have trouble implementing any of these items, don’t hesitate to contact me for help.

Let’s get started with 5 last-minute ways you can give your online store a boost in website traffic and online sales this holiday season.

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6 Useful Pinterest Tools to improve engagement and get more repins

In just 2 short years, Pinterest has rocketed to the top of many users favorite social networks.  Weekly visits to Pinterest jumped 2,183% – a staggering increase, given its short life. So how can you take advantage of this popular social network without spending all of your time doing it?

In this article we have compiled 6 useful tools for Pinterest to help you create engaging content, schedule pins, curate pins about your brand, and set Pinterest alerts for your website. Together, you now have a powerful toolbox full of userful Pinterest tools to help you grow your engagement, increase your influence with others and get more repins on Pinterest.

Check out these 6  Pinterest tools to help you create more engaging content and get more repins!

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