Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook

Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook

Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook

Facebook

This is the third in my series of four on the ten ways to fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms. You can go back and read the ones on Pinterest or Twitter if you’d like. By the way, here’s an excellent article about Five of the Biggest Facebook Mistakes and how to Fix Them.

1. Crosspost from Twitter using hashtags.

Use tons and boatloads of hashtags. People love them! Make up your own private jokes using hashtags. For extra points, use random words. For instance, #SuperCaliFragilisticalSpaceShip. See how random that is? And how long, too?!

2. Steal content

Pretend that the cool article you just found is yours. Steal the post and don’t say where you got it! Deny everything if accused. Don’t forget to remove the artist’s signature off that artwork, too! (This has happened to me more than once, by the way.) After all, if it’s on the Internet, it’s meant to be taken and used!

3. Post when no one’s there

Can’t sleep in the middle of the night? That’s a great time to post! Don’t take advantage of Facebook’s native scheduler. Don’t save that post for later, either.

4. Don’t post at all

Don’t have any opinions ever and don’t “like” or comment on any one else’s posts. That’s a good strategy.

5. Never use images

Plain text rocks! Especially when you’re ranting. Use a lot of run-on sentences so you can go on. And on. In fact, a whole paragraph with no line breaks is the best of all.

6. Don’t reply

When people comment, ignore them. Be mysterious. Be cryptic. But don’t answer any questions or comments.

Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook

Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook

7. Post and run

Like a hit-and-run accident, a post and run works best when your friends and fans feel like they’ve witnessed a car crash. Post when you only have five minutes left and you’re about to go on vacation. That’s how you appear to be even more mysterious. If you do reply, wait until you’re back from vacation (in two or three weeks).

8. Don’t invite your friends to like your page

They probably wouldn’t like it anyway. Would they? And if you don’t tell them about it, they won’t ever have to know! That will save a lot of work.

9. Don’t have a business page

Post all your business stuff on your personal page. Your friends won’t mind. That’s what friends are for!

10. Make your posts private.

Don’t let anyone see what you’re talking about. You can also have posts where you address just one person.

What failures have you seen on Facebook?

I really do love failures. Here are a few more, in this article from Business to Community, 7 Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes. Without calling anyone out, let me know what really great failures, mistakes, and belly flops you’ve seen on Facebook!

 

Ten Ways to Fail with the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Pinterest

Ten Ways to Fail with the Biggest Social Media Platforms Pinterest

Ten Ways to Fail with the Biggest Social Media Platforms Pinterest

Pinterest

This is the second in a four-part series on ten ways to fail on social media platforms. If you missed the first one on Twitter, read it here.

You’ve had a presence on Pinterest for a few months or years, yet nothing seems to happen. The pins seem to languish on abandoned boards, with no one liking or repinning any of them. Your three followers don’t pay any attention to what you pin. If you set out to fail, you’re in luck! Here are more ideas about ways to fail!

Don’t pin anything

Why doesn’t anyone follow you even if you have no pins or boards? Aren’t they your friends? Don’t people owe you that much at least?

Fix: Get pinning!

Ugly pins

Some of the ugliest pins, to me, are the failed Do it Yourself projects. So if you have something that doesn’t look quite right, why not take a picture of that and pin it? Better still, make it the board cover! No adorable, beautiful, or funny pictures for you!

Fix: Make your pins beautiful, useful, funny and adorable. Here are some thoughts on making beautiful board covers, by the way.

Put everything on one board

Why do you need so many boards, anyway? Why not have one humongous board called “Stuff I like a lot for many different reasons!!!!” and put everything there? Why not, indeed?

Fix: Create a few different boards to organize your pins.

All your pins look the same

Variety is so overrated. You can easily pin the same pin over and over. And over.

Fix: Think about the person coming to your account. Then act accordingly.

Steal pins and identities

Ten Ways to Fail with Pinterest

Ten Ways to Fail with Pinterest

If you find an account you like, pin everything from that account. Don’t change the descriptions of the pins, and use the same names for the boards, too. Better still, create accounts with other people’s names and pretend you’re them. Celebs like having “fans.”

Fix: Nobody likes a thief, so don’t be one. Here’s a great article (see number six on his list, “Don’t Steal Someone Else’s Board.”

100 pins, then nothing

When you can’t sleep, get on Pinterest and pin. A lot. Nobody who follows you will be annoyed by all those pins of cute hedgehogs, right?

Fix: If you must pin, pin to a secret board. Then, when you’re more awake, move those pins a little at a time, to other boards.

No descriptions

A period (“.”) is the best description. Or you could also use a slash (“/”). Both are equally descriptive.

Fix: Tell us what we’re seeing. And don’t say something like, “Jeff would like this.” Unless we’re a close friend, we don’t know who Jeff is!

No fun

Make sure everyone knows your opinion. Repeat it many times and use a lot of exclamation marks!!!

Fix: Modulate your voice a little bit. Unless you’re a celebrity, people don’t like ranting.

Pins that link to Spam or Malware

Nobody’s going to actually click on that pin. Are they?

Fix: Click all the way through the pin to see where it goes. There are some not-very-nice people on the Internet. Here is Andrea Eldridge’s Article about 12 Mistakes You Are Probably Making On Pinterest.

Seen any good fails lately?

Have any made you laugh? Have any made you cry? Have any made you shout? Leave me your opinion, please! Thank you!

When Posts Go Viral: Four Lessons

 

When Posts Go Viral: Four Lessons

When Posts Go Viral: Four Lessons

You’ve been writing your fingers to the bone for years now, writing about everything you could think of for your business blog. You’ve covered all the major topics and included photos of cats, hedgehogs, fancy race cars, and pictures from other viral posts. So maybe by now you’ve given up on anything going viral. By the way, I wrote about pins on Pinterest going viral, which you might like, too.

Recently, a post of mine went viral, and I can now tell you how random it seemed at the time. And my thoughts on it now.

First of All, Transparency

A client of mine could not post a photo on LinkedIn, and asked me to see if I could post a photo. So I took an old blog post from April, “Is it Time to Quit Facebook?, and republished it on LinkedIn, around 11 pm, along with the image and went to sleep, with the thought that maybe one or two people might see it.

The Next Morning

Before I got on LinkedIn, a friend of mine texted me that there were quite a few comments and shares on the post. I went to check, and there were already 45 comments. Since I was at a workshop, I didn’t have much time to reply.

The Next 24 Hours

The next day I tried to keep up with the comments, angry replies, thumbs up, thumbs down, replies to angry replies from other angry people, etc. It was a whole big thing. It really was. Also, LinkedIn picked it up and promoted it under “LinkedIn Pulse.”

Gold-Plated Problem

My business mentor, Caterina Rando, would say this was a “gold-plated problem.” You never expect anything to go viral, but when it does, you think about what you could’ve done differently.

Lesson One

My post could’ve been written better. Well, I always think that. It could’ve been longer, more thorough, and could’ve had better images. Doesn’t every blogger think this about every single post? And yet, there are deadlines, so posts get published. You don’t know what’s going viral.

Lesson Two

You can’t complain about a post going viral. Seriously. You might as well complain that your house is too big for one maid to clean. Or it takes you ALL DAY to shine your gold watches. Nobody wants to hear that. Or, at least, if that’s your biggest complaint, then your life is pretty cushy. It would be all the way at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Social Media Needs.

Lesson Three

You can’t really prepare any more than you’re already prepared. Well, I guess I wouldn’t post right before going on vacation or a long weekend. You always leave a little time to comment back to people, but probably not 48 hours worth of free time for a single post.

Lesson Four

Forgive yourself for not answering all the comments and move on. You can post something along the lines of “thank you for commenting and sorry I can’t reply to all of you.”

When Your Social Media Post Goes Viral

When Your Social Media Post Goes Viral

OutComes

Here’s a screenshot from that one post on LinkedIn. In addition, I got about 45 new people wanting to connect, a couple of hundred shares of the article on Twitter, new connections on Pinterest (not too many), and around 25 new followers on Facebook. And of course, the usual spam. Oh, and a job offer. So that was nice.

And Another Thing

I’m not sure why this post went viral. It could be that LinkedIn likes posts about Facebook not having good reach, since Facebook and LinkedIn do compete for some of our time, in a way. Maybe it was late at night and there was a quota (self-deprecating humor for the win!). Most probably, the article was selected by the secret magic LinkedIn algorithm.

Has One of Your Posts Gone Viral?

Were you prepared for it? How did you handle it? I really do want to know!

 

Discover Pinterest: Behind The Scenes

PIN_2

Recently, I had the chance to attend Pinterest’s first tech meetup launch and talk hosted at Pinterest HQ, Discover Pinterest. While I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I was excited to peer inside their headquarters and to possibly hear about upcoming features.

At Headquarters, I was surprised to see how many of the participants were men. There were hardly any women in the crowd. I met one of Pinterest’s technical recruiters, and asked him about the men:women ratio. He shook his head and said they’re “working on it,” and that many of the interns were women, which didn’t sound that equitable to me.

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Outside Pinterest Headquarters

Outside Pinterest Headquarters

Unsurprisingly, everything at Pinterest is branded with the red-and-white Pinterest logo, from the sidewalk signboard welcoming people to the pillows on the sofas, with a homemade, DIY feel that is part cozy homespun and part nerdy SOMA. This article from Fast Company says “the handmade feel to Pinterest’s offices is actually the expression of something deeper…a core value that is likely key to the company’s success.” At any rate, I love that their HQ decor echoes what you see on many Pinterest boards.

Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon

Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon

On to the presentations. Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com explained how old-world constraints no longer apply. And how a system like Netflix must be able to withstand a single failure without the entire system going down. Several nerdy guys whispered to me that they were here to hear Vogels, and that he’s “kind of a superstar.”

Michael Lopp, Pinterest’s Head of Engineering, explained how pinners  (Pinterest users) repin and add context to a pin through their own experiences. Each pinner’s experience creates a unique context.

Lopp asked how many pinners were in the room; only about three hands went up–mine included. If there had been more pinners, would he need to explain about context? I don’t think so! Helloooo, Pinterest–how about hiring some more women? (Ahem. I am available.)

 

Pinterest Logo Made of Rubik's Cubes

Pinterest Logo Made of Rubik’s Cubes

This Pinterest logo is made entirely out of Rubik’s cubes. Cool.

Besides the awesome DIY decor, the food was great (including the wine and beer bar–thank you, Pinterest), the people super friendly, and we got to know a little more about the people behind the brand.

By the way, if you’d like to hear some the top ten Pinterest tips (for both newbies and more advanced pinners), here they are.

 

Discover Pinterest: Behind The Scenes

 

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Social Media: Time Management for Busy Entrepreneurs

Social Media: Time Management for Busy Entrepreneurs

Social Media: Time Management for Busy Entrepreneurs

One of the top ten questions (maybe top five questions) I get from entrepreneurs is “How do I make time for social media?” You’re busy running your business–making your widgets, preparing for your next class, or creating a new menu. How the heck do you have time for social media on top of everything else? I’m not going to say it’s magic, because it’s certainly work, but there are some ways to minimize the work and maximize your efforts. After all, you want to keep some balance in your daily life, right?

Create a Daily Strategy

Before you ever open Twitter, set foot on Pinterest, or enter the halls of Facebook, make sure you know what you’re going to do. One thing I do as a daily strategy is spend fourteen minutes planning each day. Writing everything down with an old-school pen or pencil on paper is the most helpful for me. After the brain dump, I go back and prioritize everything. Do this before everything else, and I promise your day will be much smoother.

Decide Which Platform Will Be Your Starting Point

For me, I usually start on Twitter, but your starting point might be different. Click on notifications, and see who’s mentioned, retweeted, or tagged you. Then I go to Facebook, post something, engage with people for a bit, then head over to Pinterest. Of course, your social media posts and engagement have to fit in between all your other work.

See How Much Time You Have

If you only have an hour, total, for social media, divide that hour up accordingly. So maybe 20 minutes for each of three platforms for the day. Use a timer–I like an old-school egg timer because the ticking sound keeps me on track, but you could use the timer on your smart phone, too. If you don’t like the one you have, here’s a good article from the New York Times about timers. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you know you only have 15 or 20 minutes.

Engage, but Don’t Dive Down Any Rabbit Holes

By this, I mean, don’t get distracted by “Top Ten Best Mojito Recipes for a Rainy Day” or that DIY article on how to turn a pallet into an actual working car that you see on Pinterest. Because the road to social media hell is definitely paved with pallets and mason jars. Be especially vigilant of “friendly fire.” That is, friends posting pretty videos of cats being rescued by dogs. A little personal stuff is fine, but don’t spend hours watching those videos. You know the drill.

When You’re Done, Get Out!

Social Media Time Management

Social Media Time Management

Here’s the important part. When the clock rings or beeps, get out. You don’t have to respond in depth to everyone who writes to you. Sometimes a one-word answer is fine. Thank people who retweeted you, say something quickly, and then move on. That clock is still ticking! Leave some time in your day so you can take a hike or go for a walk.

Is Your Social Media Overwhelming?

Hire somebody to help! You might want to read about the top ten questions to ask a Social Media Manager. And of course (ahem!) I know someone who might be able to help you.

 

 

Eight Things I Miss About Working in an Office (and Their Replacements)

Eight Things I Miss About Working in an Office

Eight Things I Miss About Working in an Office

Maybe you love working in an office. The long commute, the jostling with fellow worker bees in the elevators, and the lunches at your desk all contribute to your feeling of being a productive and upstanding citizen. There are so many things about working in an office that are fabulously fun, aren’t there? But since you’re working from home, like the other 10 gajillion people in the U.S. of A, here are some things you can replace those missing items with. And if working from home makes you feel distracted, here are some tips for time management for baby boomers (but they could apply to anyone). By the way, thank you to my blogging buddy Bridget Willard for this topic idea.

Ye Olde Water Cooler

The water cooler is a place to vent, to hear a quick joke, and to see who’s wearing what. You might get lonely if you don’t have something to replace your water cooler. For me, I’ve used Facebook secret groups as a place to connect with fellow social media managers. Gather a few of your friends there and you can leave your Facebook open and run back to the water cooler whenever you like. Or, if you get too distracted while answering email, close it for awhile.

The Commute

A few of the people I know put on clothes–remember those?–and drive a few blocks and come back home. Others like to have an office outside in the yard so they can take their coffee outside. Even the few steps to cross the yard and get to the “office,” helps set the business tone for the day. I like to go outside, have breakfast when the weather is nice, and come back inside and work. Even a few minutes is pretty nice.

Long Lunches

Homemade Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Homemade Grilled Cheese Sandwich

For me, having lunch is more about the quality of the food. So I buy really good bread, salami, cheese, etc., and make my own. Having the best ingredients is pretty satisfying. Here is a real toasted cheese sandwich (my boyfriend made for me).

Companionship

Since I’m on social media a lot, I like Google Hangouts (these can be private or public). You can see your friends, and sometimes their kids, spouses, or pets walk through. You can also send notes or links, put on funny hats and mustaches, take photos of your friends for blackmail purposes, and more.

Brainstorm Meetings

A tweetchat is a way to set a topic and hear from a lot of different folks. You can set the topic and the questions, and everybody goes crazy chatting. It’s usually for a limited time, and is different than a Facebook group. It’s a terrific way to get a lot of ideas in a short amount of time.

The Elevators

I don’t really miss elevators, but I really miss the elevator music! Not really. Having white noise (Relax Melodies is my favorite) helps me stay focused on my work. Some people can work with loud music, but for me that’s not possible.

The IT Department

Having someone come by when you call them to fix your computer, check your connections, or repair the phone system is valuable. So you’ll need someone to make sure your system is running smoothly. And did I mention it’s a lot easier to find someone before you need them?

Structure

Sometimes having structure enforced upon you can make you feel secure. I don’t know. I really like to set my own hours. If I want to take a long break in the middle of the day, go to the gym, or for a walk, the work is still there. As long as it gets done, you can generally do most chores any time, especially since some things can be scheduled ahead of time.

Do You Miss Working in An Office?

Why? Is that a constant feeling? Or just something that bothers you every once in a while?

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content to Be Seen

You might have read my recent post about Facebook “stealing my cheese” a few days ago. And you might have also heard that you should be more social on social media. A post that my friend Bridget Willard created gave me this idea. Why not share posts from people similar to you once or twice a day? It’s an easy way to be social, plus you get the added benefit of posting more often and (possibly) getting better numbers on Facebook. And by the way, here’s a terrific article about how to determine what works on your Facebook posting frequency, via Social Media Examiner.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

That’s what happens with social media. Things change. And also: there is no one size fits all. What worked last year, last month, or even last week may not be the same this week. And that’s especially true with Facebook and its changing landscape.

Form Alliances By Sharing Content

Sharing other people’s content is a super easy way to get your post seen by more people, plus it’s an excellent way to form alliances.

An Easy Idea

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content

Facebook Twofer: Sharing Content

Just like when you’re in the grocery store and you get a twofer coupon that is doubled at the checkstand, sharing gives you two for the price of one! It’s a happy surprise. And, it’s such an easy idea, that you might not even consider it. And like me, you might be in favor of easy.

Not convinced? Here are more reasons to share content

  1. Building relationships. The main reason people share is to build relationships. They’re looking for community. If you share someone else’s content, you help build community.
  2. Creating social capital. By sharing, you build social capital. When you need something shared, people are more likely to share your content.
  3. Finding others with similar interests. By sharing something you find interesting, you let others know what’s interesting to you. People may not know of your newfound interest in vegetable gardening or roller derby. And you may discover a new friend–or rediscover an old friend.

 Try Sharing More Content

Let me know if this idea resonates with you. Try sharing more content, maybe once or twice a week, and let me know how it goes!

 

Facebook Stole My Cheese!

 

Facebook Stole My Cheese!

Facebook Stole My Cheese!

By now you’ve read multiple articles and heard countless complaints about the changes in Facebook’s algorithm. In fact, maybe by now you’re sick and tired of hearing about how Facebook lied, how they should’ve kept things the way they were, etc.  You know that you can’t get the same reach any more, and on a personal level, you can’t see the stuff your friends post, either. And you’re thinking about jumping ship, but where would you go? You’ve invested so much time into Facebook, how can you possibly leave now?

Facebook Won’t Go Away Any Time Soon

Maybe you’ve read my previous post asking if it’s time to leave Facebook. But maybe you haven’t taken the leap yet. With 1.19 billion users (see the Next Web article), Facebook is the behemoth that won’t go away. People love Facebook, and it’s a great way to share content, post embarrassing family pictures, and find videos of goats climbing in trees set to hip-hop music. Oh, wait. That’s my life.

Let’s Say You’re a Mouse…

So let’s pretend for a minute that you’re a mouse–because in a way you are a mouse. And Facebook? They have the cheese. So how do you get some of that precious cheese that keeps disappearing because there are too many mice and they’re all squealing at once for more cheese but there just isn’t as much anymore? Well, maybe this metaphor has run its course through that maze (did you see what I did there?).

How Do You Make Your Posts More Visible?

How to Get Back Some of the Cheese

How to Get Back Some of the Cheese

Here are a few ways to make your posts more visible. And get some more of that precious cheese.

Create Unique Content

Your own content, preferably in the form of blog posts, can benefit by being adorned with your own images. Bigger images are always better on Facebook. You can also use video or a simple picture, one that you took yourself.

Post More Often

Post a little more often. Most business owners don’t have time to post multiple times a day, but the posts don’t have to be big deal posts. You could ask a question, thank your new fans for following you, or pick a small quote from a blog post. Yes or no questions are often very successful. Don’t ask people to recite a poem or do an interpretive dance because it’s not gonna happen.

Post At Different Times

The analytics on your business page might say that your fans are online at noon. But probably so are everyone else’s fans, too. Why not experiment with posting at a few different times? And remember that scheduling your posts ahead of time is really easy on Facebook.

Look for Surprises

One thing I like to do is search for the surprises within my posted content. By that, I mean to scroll back through the posts and see what kind of content got shared, liked, commented on, etc. What time did you post? What day of the week? Then rinse and repeat: use the same types of posts, and the times you posted, too. How have you readjusted to the change in Facebook’s reach? Or did you quit?

 

TweetChats: How to Participate

TweetChats: How to Participate

TweetChats: How to Participate

Getting the Most from a TweetChat

You’ve been invited to a tweetchat and, full of enthusiasm, you say yes without fully realizing what you’ve committed yourself to. After all, how difficult could it be, right? Actually, this is one of those times when you can do a Happy Twitter Dance because TweetChats are fun and easy to learn! You can easily participate in a TweetChat, with the help of a few tools (not necessarily a Weedwacker). As my ol’ granpappy used to say “Never bring more than one Weedwacker to a TweetChat. But I digress.

Each TweetChat Has Its Own Hashtag

For instance #DogFriendlyChat or my friend Amy Donohue’s #KidneyChat. Hashtags help to organize chats. If you need to know how not to use hashtags, here you go!

The Day or Week Before the Chat

A chat’s creator will often create and post questions so that you can prepare for that chat. For instance, Bridget Willard holds #ConstChat for Riggins Construction, and tells people the questions ahead of time. In last week’s #ConstChat, we chatted about insulation. This gave everyone lots of time to study the questions about insulation and prepare ahead of time if they wanted to. Bridget has created a really neat Tagboard for #ConstChat.

Prepare Ahead…or Not!

You can prepare answers to the questions ahead of time and for extra super-duper bonus points, you can even put your answers into a file which you can then cut and paste during the chat itself. But for the most fun during a chat, why not be spontaneous and interact with the others in the chat? When it’s your first chat, or maybe any time, maybe it’s fun to just be spontaneous.

Whether you decide to be spontaneous or prepare ahead of time, so long as you follow some basic etiquette, you’ll be fine. Don’t talk about the heartbreak of psoriasis, unless you’re on #PsoriasisChat, for instance.

Five Minutes Before a TweetChat

Log into TweetChat.com using your Twitter account. Get a cup of coffee or water, and take a deep breath. TweetChat.com automagically adds in the hashtag for you, so you don’t have to think about. It aggregates all the tweets with the hashtag for you, making the chat extra easy. Another benefit is that you can slow down the stream using TweetChat.com. It’s really a great tool. There are other third-party apps to help you, but TweetChat has been the most reliable for me.

During the Chat

The most important tools you’ll need during a TweetChat are your ears and eyes. Watch what everyone else is saying and have a discussion, be engaging, be funny, or entertaining. Everyone will have a much better time if you’re not too serious. Retweet others, have fun, and talk to everyone.

Follow Others

Follow Others After a TweetChat

Follow Others After a TweetChat

One of the biggest benefits of being in a TweetChat is to gain high-quality followers. So join TweetChats that are important to you as a brand and that will help you grow your business. If you have a new interest or your business is growing, seek out a TweetChat related to your new interests. You’ll meet other like-minded people to follow and connect with.

After the Chat

I like to add people to a list if the chat is one I regularly attend. For instance, Larry Mount (and me will be starting #DigiBlogChat today, Tuesday August 5th at 1:00 pm pdt. So I’ll start a list called DigiBlogChat within Twitter. You can read my previous post about how to use Twitter lists (for the power user). You can create a list even if you’re a participant. Or, subscribe to someone else’s list (why reinvent the wheel?).

Keep track of those you’ve met virtually in the chat through your own or others’ lists. Engage with them, retweet them, and check up on them regularly.

Please Participate in #DigiBlogChat!

Please drop in some Tuesday and visit! It will be loads of fun!

 

 

Caterina Rando

Caterina Rando

1000 thank yous for bringing so much value to the women in our community with your social media expertise. You have made a significant contribution to all of them and to me. I have been hearing great things.

Caterina Rando

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