Carol Stephen, Author at

Simple Answers to Crazy Social Media Questions You Need to Know

December 21, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

Simple Answers to Crazy Social Media Questions You Need to Know

Clients are often embarrassed to ask certain questions about social media. And often, what they do ask is surprising. So I’ll answer a few actual questions from clients.

If I Follow Someone, Am I Advertising for Them?

No. People can usually see who you’re following, unless you have a private account, but you’re not advertising for those you follow. However, you will see the posts of those you follow in your stream unless you do something to silence them. And you can tailor what you see. For instance, you can mute someone on Twitter and still be following them. If you feel obligated to follow someone, muting is a good option.

What is a Hashtag?

A hashtag is the pound sign (#), followed by a word or series of words. It is used to organize posts, and you can measure them by following (usually just clicking on) a hashtag. For more about hashtags, see this article: Hashtag Wins and #Fails.

Why Do I Need a Hashtag?

You don’t. That is, they’re optional. But hashtags do help you find and organize posts about similar topics, so they’re very helpful. And you can have your own custom hashtag, too. Anything that saves you time on social media, is a win for you! For instance, if you have a conference or business event, you could ask everyone to use the same hashtag. Be sure to check that your proposed hashtag isn’t being used for something shady, though.

Do I Have to Pay to Play on Social Media?

No, it’s not mandatory. But it’s more and more difficult to get actual engagement (eyes on your ads or posts) if you don’t pay. You can pay as little as $3 to boost a post on Facebook, though. My suggestion is to smart with a small budget and measure, so you don’t lose a lot of money.

If you don’t want to pay, you can also engage more with others (that is, comment on their posts), and that will drive your engagement up, as my friend Robert Nissenbaum suggests.

Have you ever considered that your comments are a form of content? That they have the same ability to develop and nurture relationships, to establish authority, and to drive action? #tsomedia https://t.co/WYyYT5Rnh7 #contentmarketing

— Robert Nissenbaum (@rnissenbaum) December 19, 2017

You might like this article Pay to Play is the Future of Social Media?

Can I Like My Own Posts?

You most certainly can, but you might have better luck on social media if you let your followers like your posts instead. After all, you put the post up, so by default you already like it, right?

Do I Have to Be on ALL the Social Networks?

Not at all. There are so many, that I’d just choose the top social networks for your followers. For instance, your followers might not be on Snapchat or Pinterest, but they probably are on Facebook. Some people just choose one platform and stick with that one. You might want to choose two to start with. And usually I recommend that you at least squat on those that you won’t actively use, so you can reserve the name.

Where Can I Find Good Content to Post?

Search for things your audience might be interested in reading. And you can always recycle content, too. Don’t forget about their lifestyle!

Have Questions?

Don’t be embarrassed to ask! Leave a comment and/or question, and I promise to get back to you! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: hashtags, pay to play on social media, simple answers to crazy social media questions

How to Make the Most of Your Time on Social Media: Seven Easy Ways

December 14, 2017 By Carol Stephen 8 Comments

How to Make the Most of Your Time on Social Media: Seven Easy Ways

Social media is no longer an option for any sized business. And it’s not optional for people of any age range, either. Everyone and their grandma is on social media these days. So how do you create posts that are easy to share, quick to read, and how do you maximize your time? Read on!

Photo by JSmith Photo

Have a System and Measure

Having a system is probably the most important part of managing your time. My dad used to say “Do something, even if it’s wrong.” While that’s probably not the best approach, in a way he was right. You can tweak your system later. So decide where you’ll be on the internet (Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest?), and most important–pick the places that you love to be! For instance, I don’t enjoy Google Plus much, so I don’t spend much time there. But you, on the other hand, might love Google Plus!

As Katie Lance write in this article from the Huffington Post, “The right question should be, “What social networks should I focus on that will build my community and build my business?” Also, what platforms do you enjoy the most?”

Measure your efforts. These days, I prefer the analytics within social media platforms. You may prefer to use Google analytics. And most business accounts have built-in analytics, so you can see which posts are getting the most traction.

Curate the Best

Here are some ideas for curation. The important thing is to batch and use blocks of time when you’re curating, to get the best results.

Twitter Lists. You can make them public or private. Set them up in columns in your scheduler.
Saved Searches. Save these in Twitter, so next time you can go to your topic easily.
Secret Pinterest Boards. Think of this as a vision board. You can use secret boards to share things with your clients or save pins that you want to check out later.

For more details, you might want to read:

Content Curation: 5 Killer Reasons It’s Your New BFF

Photo by Gruenewiese86

Keep Tinkering

Once you have a system, improve on it. If you’ve measured your progress and success, and figured out what you really like to do, challenge yourself to make your system more streamlined. My friend Bridget Willard likes to gamify her time to see how fast she can respond to mentions. Could you do something similar?

Since we’re discussing time here, do you think you can do your social media in an hour a day? Would you believe you can create a wonderful blog post in an hour? You definitely can! Of course, it might take a little practice.

Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse

Once you’ve written something, find ways to use it again. And again. Don’t use it just once! My friend Randy Clark suggests 6 Ways to Reuse Old Blog Posts. I must admit, I’m considering the idea of creating some e-books. At the very least, reusing content on your other social channels helps you save time.

Mention Others and Engage

Mentioning others in your article or on your social media can be a good tactic. If your audience is engaged, that makes your job so much easier. You may need to post fewer times if you have an engaged audience.

Interviews

Interview influencers. Then go back to them and let them know that you’ve written about them or published an article or put up a video. Again, you can reuse your articles or videos over and over.

Photo by pedrosimoes7

Power Partners

Sharing from others with a similar audience to yours saves you time and effort. You can share people in the same field if they’re not in competition, too. For example, a plumber and a tile setter might have a similar target audience, and can refer work to each other. Who do you refer to?

Hire Someone

Why not hire someone who’s an expert to handle the social media for you? If you’re too busy to do your own, why not a done-for-you approach?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: content curation, repurposing content, Social Media, time management, Twitter lists

Pay to Play is the Future of Social Media?

December 7, 2017 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

Pay to Play is the Future of Social Media?

Clients often do not want to pay to boost, sponsor, or create ads on their social media. For many of them, the very idea of paying to play is an emotional issue, whether the amount we’re discussing is a $3 boost on Facebook, or a sponsored tweet. What’s a social media manager to do? Here are some ideas, not that any of them have worked for me, but you never know. The future is a big, bright place, or so I’m told. Do I need to say I’m joking here?

Soothe the Emotional Client

You could say something like: “There, there. Even though that post we put up of the rotten lemon got a million views, that was a long time ago.” And explain that it’s almost 2018, and things have changed. Get them some Kleenex® (the good kind with aloe vera), and dry their tears. No, I’m not an affiliate.

Use Humor

Without making fun of your client, you could gently explain how quickly things change. Or not. You could also show them this article: What Happened to Quality Versus Quantity on Social Media? And see if they stop frowning and/or start laughing. If not, don’t despair. There are plenty of jokes on the Internet. All you need is a laptop and Google! But back to the topic at hand: Yes, you or your client do need to pay a little for at least some posts if you want them to be seen by the proper audience.

Photo by blag jet

Explain with Facts

Believe it or not, some people respond to facts. For those, a good article with lots of factoids or an infographic could do the trick.

“When you log onto Facebook or Twitter, you don’t see the most recent content. You see a stream of content served to you by an algorithm. Instagram has recently jumped onto the bandwagon, as well.

~ Blaise Lucey, Want real results from social? Start paying. on MarketingLand

You could also explain that boosting a post on Facebook can cost as little as $3 (more info here: About boosting posts from your Facebook Business Page. And that Instagram ads may get you more bang for your buck, according to this post: How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost?

Storytelling Wins

Those who know how to tell stories make time stand still. And on social media, time is very, very important. So here are some questions to ask:

What stories can you tell?
What stories will influence your customers?
Which stories are the most important ones?

For more questions to ask yourself about you and your business, this post might help: Which Story Do You Need to Tell? Of course, a combination of storytelling and paying for a post could be the best of all.

Recent Convert of Paid Posts?

What has been your experience with boosting or promoting posts? Good, bad, or ugly? Let me know in the comments! And thank you!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: pay to play and social media, social media and pay to play, the future of social media

The Best Reasons Baby Boomers Must Start Using Social Media

November 30, 2017 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

The Best Reasons Baby Boomers Must Start Using Social Media

So you’re a baby boomer. And you’ve been avoiding social media despite having a website, and spending inordinate amounts of time online, especially on Facebook. You want to continue using printed documents, but you’d also like to learn something about social media. But where can you start? Where should you start? And do you really have to use social media? In my opinion, yes. You should. And here’s why.

Your Peers Are Online

Not everyone is online, but more and more of your peers are. They’re sharing photos and stories on Facebook, for instance. They’re doing research online, making larger purchases from Amazon, and selling things on EBay. They may not be using Snapchat or Twitter, but you’d be surprised how many of them are on LinkedIn. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that Boomers spend more time than 16-32 year-olds on social media, according to this article on How Baby Boomers Use Social Media.

Photo by iTux

Your Peers Are Active Yet Use Social Media Differently

Boomers are becoming increasingly active online, but how they use social media differs from Millennials and others online. Their identity isn’t tied up with how many followers they have (or other vanity metrics), as much as some younger internet users are, according to this Forbes article: How The Boomers Differ From Everybody In Their Approach To Online Privacy And Security.

In addition, you might like these articles about Boomers and social media:

Social Media Isn’t a Trend

Remember back when everyone got a cell phone “just for emergencies”? And then slowly, parents were forced to use their phones to keep in touch with their kids? Me, too. Those were the same people who said that social media was a trend. Guess what? It’s not a trend. That was over ten years ago. Social media is here to stay. Here’s a handy infographic: How Baby Boomers Use Social Media that you might like. Hint: Take a look at how people 50+ have increased their usage of social media during the past 12 years.

Don’t Get Left Behind

Do you need some coaching on how to use social media? I’d be happy to talk to you about it. Or take over research, posting, and engagement for your business. Because it’s about time to take a leap and start using social media to connect and engage with others or for yourself or your business! Really.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: baby boomers, getting started with social media, Silver Surfers on Social Media, Social Media

Twitter: Four Best Things to Do with Your Extra 140 Characters

November 23, 2017 By Carol Stephen 8 Comments

Twitter: Four Best Things to Do with Your Extra 140 Characters

Recently, Twitter doubled the number of characters users could have in a tweet. Previously, we had to use clever ways to get around the 140-character limit. With 280 characters, people don’t need to resort to screenshots with extra words. And the larger character limit allows new Twitter users to join, as outlined in this article Twitter officially expands its character count to 280 starting today by Tech Crunch.

Here, then are some ideas for what to do with your extra 140.

Hashtags

Usually, only 1-2 hashtags (maximum) were thought to be the best number for a tweet. So if you really love hashtags, you can now add another one. I wouldn’t go too far overboard, though. They still seem messy, and all the studies indicate that 1-2 hashtags are the correct number. Any more than that, and you’ll lose reach. By the way, here’s an article about hashtags you might like: How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag.

Photo by seefit

Give Credit

This one is my favorite. Give credit to the author of an article or to the photographer if you share a picture with your tweet. Often, you can find the photographer’s name in an article, immediately under a photo. The writer would also appreciate being mentioned. Sometimes people retweet my work, and I don’t realize unless I search on the exact title of an article! After all, being social and paying it forward is the thing to do on social media, isn’t it?

Just because you have the space doesn't mean you have to use all of it. The key is to know when to stop talking and start listening. #tsomedia https://t.co/bBmd8U9MO2

— Robert Nissenbaum (@rnissenbaum) November 13, 2017

Leave it!

As my friend Robert Nissenbaum says, you can stop talking and start listening! White space is a great concept. Like the silence between notes in a song, silence is useful. You don’t have to use every single space.

Photo by faungg’s photos

Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should

Having a limited number of characters can make us better writers. Although, to be fair, we still have a limit. Will we see bloated tweets on Twitter, as this article that 280 Characters Ruins Twitter from Lance Ulunoff states? Or will people opt for shorter tweets, despite having the longer limit?

Is Less More?

Personally, I’m a fan of the shorter tweet. How about you?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Twitter and 280 characters, Twitter extra characters

The Best Social Media Managers Are Like Octopi

November 16, 2017 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

The Best Social Media Managers Are Like Octopi

What the heck, you’re thinking to yourself: doesn’t she mean octopuses? Well, no, although I’ve seen a lot of people use that word. And why an octopus? Because they have eight arms, they’re exceedingly clever, and they can do a million things at once. Octopi are the original multitaskers!

Flexibility

Your social media manager (“SMM”) needs to have the flexibility of an octopus. They sometimes have to be able to squeeze their entire body through a small keyhole in a locked door. Metaphorically, that is.

Shifting Focus

Your SMM needs to be able to move from research, to writing headlines, to engagement within the space of a few moments. She needs to be able to do all of this and remember all of it. By the way, here’s a post about writing headlines that you might like: Headline Writing: 10 Reasons it’s a Pain in the Asterisk.

Big Picture

Having an idea of where your company is headed is one of the tasks an SMM needs to always have in mind. Without a destination…aww, you know that saying already, don’t you? Thought so.

Small Picture

There are a lot of details in social media. Engaging with people requires diligence to those details. Everyone wants to feel appreciated! And you never know who’s behind an account! Speaking of which, here’s a post about appreciation and paying it forward that might interest you.

Engagement

Speaking of engagement, that’s of utmost importance to you and your account. So your SMM needs to be friendly and engaged on your company’s behalf. That means she needs to know what to say when, and to whom. And that engagement matters more than follower growth, as outlined in this article: How to Sell the Importance of Engagement Over Fan Growth on Social Media.

Fast Moving

Social media moves quickly. You can practically watch the trending topics as they change from one to the next! And if there’s an emergency, you want your SMM to be on top of it. If you’d like to learn how to use trending topics, you might like to read more: How to Use Trending Topics for Your Business: Twitter.

Good Humor

Have grace and a sense of humor are critical. Sometimes people just need someone to listen to them so they feel that they were heard.

Photo by eriwst

Intelligence

On top of everything else, your SMM needs to be intelligent, able to compile reports when needed, and have the willingness to show you possible strategies and new tools as well. So she needs to be able to show you new platforms or strategies for your accounts.

Photo by Wibble_Roisin

Need An Octopus?

I have space for a new client, so please let me know if you want someone to work with your business!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, multitasking, Social Media, social media manager, social media managers are like octopi, traits a social media manager needs

Social Media: Quick and Easy Ways to Pay it Forward

November 9, 2017 By Carol Stephen 10 Comments

Social Media: Quick and Easy Ways to Pay it Forward

We’ve all heard the phrase pay it forward by now. And during November, when we’re thinking about Thanksgiving, it’s an easy one to consider. There are lots of simple ways to pay it forward. Here are just a few. By the way, you might like last week’s post: How to Keep a Gratitude Journal and Why.

Be Generous First

Give to others first. Giving first makes you feel good, whether or not others give back to you. Although it’s tempting to only give to others who can give back, the biggest need is those who can’t. Being generous on social media doesn’t always mean a retweet, it can mean connecting two people who might have something in common, as this article Beat Generosity Burnout outlines. However, you might want to have some boundaries around how much you give. Selflessness and generosity aren’t synonymous.

Money in the Bank

Having some “money in the bank” means that sometimes you can withdraw a little, too. But you’ve got to put money in before you can take a withdrawal. A lot of people seem to start out by getting a credit card, so to speak, and withdrawing as much as possible. You’ve seen those people: “retweet this!” “Join me!” And the pervasive problem of direct messages asking for business before there’s a relationship. Also, there is a Science of Generosity, with generous people feeling happier and less depressed.

Share, Share, Share

So here are some things you can do quickly and easily. Generosity doesn’t have to mean a huge price tag or a lot of time. Obviously, you can do more, but you can also give a little.

Retweet articles
Comment on other people’s posts
Repost requests with no thought of your own gain
Offer to help
Give financial assistance

Generosity and Your Gratitude Muscle

One interesting from the finding of a study on generosity was that you must have a regular practice, and not give to something just once in order to be happier. So developing a gratitude muscle is tremendously important.

How Do You Pay it Forward on Social Media?

Do you have a plan? I’d love to know! And I’d love if you left a comment!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: gratitude, paying it forward, social media gratitude

How to Keep a Gratitude Journal and Why

November 2, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

How to Keep a Gratitude Journal and Why

The practice of gratitude has gotten a lot of press lately, and with good reason. Simply put, having a sense of gratitude makes you feel good. And sometimes it seems like there’s too much bad news in the world.

Reframing

When my brother was very ill recently, I went to see him. My house was in danger of flooding, and I complained to him that I was afraid of what could happen with the rising river. And he said “I wish I had that problem.” And just like that, I felt very differently, and very grateful to have my health.

Gratitude and Serenity

Listing the things you’re grateful for gives you a sense of serenity, and reframes some of the not-so-good things, too. And those little every day miracles have a chance to surface, when they might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. If you’d like to read some other thoughts on gratitude, here are a few that I’ve written:

Extend That Thanksgiving Feeling

Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving? Brussels spouts, pumpkin pie, and time with friends and family? And showing gratitude in whatever way you please? Thanksgiving is definitely a feel-good moment, and so why not extend that feeling year-round?

Photo by Kansas Poetry (Patrick)

Simple Things Matter, Too

Here are a few people (and things) that make me happy:

Friends. A couple in particular that I feel thankful for this week are fellow bloggers Patricia AZ Phillips and Dyane Harwood.
Parks. How fabulous is it that you find a park nearly anywhere you go, and unwind a little or a lot?
The Garbage Guys. These guys back up all the way down my narrow, road. I don’t know why, but it’s really cool that they show up every week. If someone from the Middle Ages time traveled to 2017, they’d say it was a miracle!
Indoor plumbing. And there are lots of ways that indoor plumbing has had an impact on us. Read about it at The Impact of Modern Plumbing.

Finding the Perfect Notebook

My perfect notebook came from this year’s WordCamp Orange County. The lovely people from Dreamhost were giving them away, and they’re just gorgeous! Mine is smallish and is lined, which is perfect. Your perfect notebook doesn’t need to be made of leather, but you might like a beautiful picture, or maybe something customized, like this Steampunk Leather Journal with Brass Lock and Key // Hardback Artist Sketchbook. Or maybe just a regular ole notebook from the grocery store.

Photo by plofiz

Find a Good Place to Write

Call me old-fashioned, but I like to write at a desk. Unless I’m recording dreams, a desk is the way to go.

Start Writing

You may want to create regular paragraphs, but to make it even easier, how about creating a list? Lists are simple, and you can try to find ten things daily that you’re thankful for. The wonderful thing about writing is that you never really know where you’ll end up.

Thank You!

Let me know if you have a gratitude practice, and how you express thanks. I’d be very grateful if you left a comment.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: gratitude and serenity, gratitude and thanksgiving, gratitude journal

How to Outsource Your Social Media, Protect Your Valuable Time

October 26, 2017 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

How to Outsource Your Social Media, Protect Your Valuable Time

Outsourcing. Among some circles, it has a bad connotation. But for those of you whose most valuable asset is time, it can save your time, your family life, and your money. Because unless doing social media is something you truly enjoy, giving it to an expert makes more sense than doing it yourself. I like this article: 10 Reasons You Should Outsource Social Media Marketing To Someone Else and its emphasis on the warning signs for botched social media management, by the way.

Do You Do Your Own Plumbing?

Unless you’re a plumber, construction guy, or handyman, probably not. So why do you do your own social media? When you first launch your business, you may want to save money. But then you realize that your main job is staying healthy so that you can stay in business longer. And social media isn’t usually seamlessly integrated into a business, but an add-on that people think of at the last minute (usually).

Photo by iamkory

A Few Things to Look For in a Social Media Manager

Besides the big ones, such as sanity and strong communications skills, there are other things to look for. Personally, I like people I work with to be flexible and to have good people skills. Since your SMM has to deal with clients, they ought to be friendly and personable. There are tons of examples of people ruining their reputations with bad customer service, so why not have someone who might actually make you look better? Gasp!

Make Sure the Social Media Manager Has Experience

How long have they been bouncing around the internet? Can they give you a few examples of people they’ve worked with? Do they have good testimonials from customers, for instance?

You may like some of these previous posts about social media managers:

Photo by twm1340

Avoid Worst Practices

Sure, there are best practices, but there seem to be so many more ways to fail. People seem to find more and more creative ways to fail all the time. For instance, here are The 10 All-Time Worst Customer Service Practices from Forbes. Now consider if those worst practices happen publicly, on social media, and you can imagine how much one mistake can be magnified! Everyone has a smart phone these days, and they’re all snapping pictures and putting them on Facebook.

Flexibility is Key

Employers are becoming more flexible, so entrepreneurs need to be more flexible, too. Here’s an article I like about How to Make Your Workplace More Flexible, from Fortune. So if you thought early on that you didn’t want to outsource your social media, perhaps now that your company is up and running, it’s time to revisit that idea!

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

If you love love love social media, and you can optimize your post better than a manager, then perhaps you don’t need to hire someone. But if the entire process takes too much time (time you’d rather spend at the park or with your kids), then it might be time to hire someone!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: outsourcing social media, social media manager, worst practices

Be More Personal

Be More Interactive

Don’t Post as Much

Slow Down for Winter

If I Follow Someone, Am I Advertising for Them?

What is a Hashtag?

Why Do I Need a Hashtag?

Do I Have to Pay to Play on Social Media?

Can I Like My Own Posts?

Do I Have to Be on ALL the Social Networks?

Where Can I Find Good Content to Post?

Have Questions?

Have a System and Measure

Curate the Best

Keep Tinkering

Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse

Mention Others and Engage

Interviews

Power Partners

Hire Someone

Soothe the Emotional Client

Use Humor

Explain with Facts

Storytelling Wins

Recent Convert of Paid Posts?

Your Peers Are Online

Your Peers Are Active Yet Use Social Media Differently

Social Media Isn’t a Trend

Don’t Get Left Behind

Hashtags

Give Credit

Leave it!

Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should

Is Less More?

Flexibility

Shifting Focus

Big Picture

Small Picture

Engagement

Fast Moving

Good Humor

Intelligence

Need An Octopus?

Be Generous First

Money in the Bank

Share, Share, Share

Generosity and Your Gratitude Muscle

How Do You Pay it Forward on Social Media?

Reframing

Gratitude and Serenity

Extend That Thanksgiving Feeling

Simple Things Matter, Too

Finding the Perfect Notebook

Find a Good Place to Write

Start Writing

Thank You!

Do You Do Your Own Plumbing?

A Few Things to Look For in a Social Media Manager

Make Sure the Social Media Manager Has Experience

Avoid Worst Practices

Flexibility is Key

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

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