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#Digiblogchat November 21 2023 Holiday Traditions

November 19, 2023 By Leave a Comment
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#DigiBlogChat topic November 21, 2023: Holiday Traditions| Image Sabrina Ripke from Pixabay

The topic for #DigiBlogChat on November 21, 2023: Holiday Traditions with all of you! So bring your favorite ideas and holiday recipes for a fun hour.

Join us on Twitter each Tuesday from 1:00 through 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time for #DigiBlogChat. My partner for these chats is @LazBlazter.  If you need to know how to participate, click here: How to Join #DigiBlogChat. P.S. Don’t forget to add the #digiblogchat hashtag!

No matter whether your holiday traditions are conventional or unconventional, we’d love to see you!

Here are the questions:

Q1. How do you like your holiday potatoes (jackets, roasted, boiled, mashed, etc.)? #digiblogchat

Q2. What’s your favorite easy recipe–and it could be one that just includes boiling water! #digiblogchat

Q3. Share an adult beverage recipe with us! #digiblogchat

Q4. Is there a traditional dessert that you’d like to tell us about? #digiblogchat

Q5. Tell us about your favorite holiday main dish? #digiblogchat

Q6. What does your family expect from you during the holidays? For instance, do you have a job to do, such as putting up the lights? #digiblogchat

Q7. What mocktail recipes have you wanted to try, but haven’t yet? #digiblogchat

Q8. What’s the wackiest thing your family has done over the holidays? #digiblogchat

Q9. Name a side dish that you could have year round? #digiblogchat

Q10.  How has technology and AI changed the way you celebrate the holidays? #digiblogchat

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#DigiBlogChat September 12: X and X Pro

September 10, 2023 By Leave a Comment
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We’re chatting about X and X Pro on #DigiBlogChat | Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

We’re talking about X and X Pro (previously called Tweetdeck) Tuesday! Do join us on Twitter (now “X”) on Tuesday, September 12th at 1:00 pm Pacific for #Digiblogchat! X and X Pro, what do we need now that API access is limited? with @LazBlazter! 

TweetDeck, now called X Pro, allows users to view and customize multiple feeds that update in real time. The platform was acquired by Twitter in 2011 after it became one of the most popular ways for people to access the site. via CNBC.

Tweetdeck now requires a subscription and costs $84 a year. Those users who pay for the subscription will automatically receive a blue checkmark.

Join us each Tuesday from 1:00 through 2:00 p.m. PDT, 10pm CEST (most of W. Europe), 9pm BST + WEST (UK + Portugal), 4pm EDT (Eastern). My partner for these chats is @LazBlazter.  If you need to know how to participate, click here: How to Join #DigiBlogChat. P.S. Don’t forget to add the #digiblogchat hashtag!

Here are the questions:

Q1. What apps did you rely on that have had access to the X (Twitter) API removed? #digiblogchat 

Q2. Have you identified any effective replacements that are free of charges? #digiblogchat 

Q3. Why is the Blue Tick verification worth the money, does X Pro (Tweetdeck) work like it used to? #digiblogchat 

Q4. Is the @elonmusk vision for X moving at a quick enough pace to retain hardcore users? #digiblogchat 

Q5.What one app that you used for X (Twitter) content do you miss the most and why? #digiblogchat 

Q6.Why does X pricing appear to differentiate between user devices and is this fair? #digiblogchat 

Q7. Will you consider alternatives to X and what will trigger the loss of your loyalty? #digiblogchat 

Q8. What features would you like X Pro (Tweetdeck) to develop? #digiblogchat 

Q9. Which social media app is your favourite alternative to X Pro and why? #digiblogchat 

Q10. Would X benefit more from free access to X Pro or by restoring API access? #digiblogchat

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#DigiBlogChat July 11 2023 Twitter: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

July 10, 2023 By Leave a Comment
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Twitter: Three Business-Friendly Tools

May 8, 2020 By 4 Comments

pencils smaller

In doing social media professionally for over 10 years, I kick the tires of any tools that I use so that you don’t have. That said, here are some favorites that you can use for Twitter.

Have you ever wondered who your competitors are friends with? Would you like to see whether they’re listed anywhere? How about where in the world an account’s followers are from? All of the following tools have specific uses for businesses, listed after the descriptions.

FollowerWonk

FollowerWonk

 

With FollowerWonk, you can compare your social graph to competitors, friends, or industry leaders. Statistics include the number of years on Twitter, social authority, engagement rate, and average tweets/week. There is a free version that you can use for one account.

Retweet Rank

Retweet Rank

Retweet Rank

Retweet Rank

RetweetRank shows you your recent retweets and who has been retweeting you, along with where you’re ranked as a percentile. You can also see whose tweets are getting the most retweets (similar to trending topics). This is a good way of seeing what people are talking about on Twitter at a glance. From this dashboard (above), you can also check how many people have listed an account. And if an account is not listed, that’s a good sign that the account bought fake followers. If you sign in using Twitter, you can see even more. However, to get the best times to tweet or rank history, among other features, you have to get a paid account.

Business Use: A good use of Retweet Rank for business would be to see how effective your competitors are at getting retweets, and if there’s room for improvement in your own social media strategy through the adoption or avoidance of your competitors’ practices. There are many ways to make your tweets more retweetable, which will help your retweet rank in the long run. You might also want to check when your competitors tweet to see if you could adjust your own schedule to be more successful.

Tweepsmap

Tweepsmap

Tweepsmap shows you where in the world your followers are, with markers showing the percentages of who is where. The local view is particularly interesting. The zoom is just like a Google map–using the scroll bar on the left side.

Business Use: A good use of Tweepsmap for business would be to ensure that the account is following enough local businesses. Those in the service industry (plumbers, electricians) could benefit. For example, if I was really dependent upon local business, I might decide to focus on following more locals, since I’m in the South Bay and have more local followers in San Francisco.

Need Help with Your Twitter?

If you need to get some traction on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you! Contact me today.

 

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#Digiblogchat Questions April 14, 2020

April 13, 2020 By Leave a Comment

 

mental health photo

The topic for April 14, 2020 is Mental health and well-being during difficult times! 

Q1. How do you think an extended quarantine will affect your mental health? 

Q2. Does having the data and facts about #Covid19 make you feel calmer?  How so? 

Q3. How does self-care change your psychological outlook?  

Q4. How does a feeling of gratitude change your outlook? 

Q5.  What effect does exercise have on your mental health? 

Q6. How do you feel about virtual mental health care?  

Q7. Has listening to the news about #Covid19 changed your sleep habits, and if so how? 

Q8. What are you looking for in other people’s behavior? Are you observing and reaching out to others? 

Q9. How has the stress of sharing your personal space affected you?   

Q10. What suggestions do you have for someone who just found out about #Covid19? 

 

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What Happens When a Twitter Zero Becomes a Twitter Hero?

July 18, 2019 By Leave a Comment
What Happens When a Twitter Zero Becomes a Twitter Hero?

What Happens When a Twitter Zero Becomes a Twitter Hero?

It’s amazing to me that so many people still find Twitter so mysterious. Twitter might have a slightly longer learning curve than other social media platforms, but it’s still the friendliest social media platform, in my opinion. Are you ready to go from Twitter Zero to Twitter Hero? Here are some ideas for you.

WARFARE photo

Photo by DVIDSHUB

Stop Sending DMs

Unless you’re just saying hello (and not in an automated way), just stop it. Don’t tell us how we’re “free to follow you on LinkedIn.” Don’t tell us about the thingamabob you’re selling. And please, please, please don’t send a video of your product. Because if you do, you’re surely a zero. Instead, read some of our tweets. See what we’re talking about and what interests us. Then jump into the conversation. You know: engage with us. This will help you become more of a Twitter Hero. By the way, if you’re completely lost on the topic of social media engagement, you might the book I co-wrote with Eric Lofholm: 21 Ways to Total Social Media Engagement: That Will Make You Look Like a Pro.

FISHING photo

Don’t Blast Us with Your Content

We literally just met you. And if we have thousands of followers, we really won’t see your stuff above all the noise. If you want to get our attention, you could retweet something of ours, and add a comment, too! Now that would take you from zero to hero quickly. Blasting someone with and telling us to buy something is beyond rude. It doesn’t work, and makes people angry. And it’s a good way to get unfollowed. You don’t want to come off as spammy–that’s one of the reasons you’re not gaining followers, according to 10 Reasons Why You’re Not Gaining Social Media Followers and how to Fix it.

LIGHT SHOW photo

We Don’t Care That You’re Three Followers Short of 2,000

We really don’t. You’re the only one that does. Keep that kind of stuff on the down low. Have your fancy cupcake and champagne offline, at home, and share it with someone who cares. That is, unless you’re giving away a brand new car (the new Tesla, for instance) when you reach your 2,000th follower. In that case, we really do care! Don’t know how to engage? Read this: How to Engage Social Media: Twitter .

LAB photo

Change up the Stuff You Tweet

Don’t tweet the same tweet 10,000 times in a row. Nobody likes that. Instead, give us some variety. And make sure your images are good quality, too. There are tons of places to find free images if you’re not artistic. Personally, I really like Pixabay. Just make sure the images you choose are ok for commercial use.

FISHING photo

Ask Questions of the Seasoned Professionals

If you’re really, really new on Twitter. just ask others what to do. We’re really a pretty friendly crowd. Find the people who are engaging and do some of what they do. You’ll see how awesome Twitter is.

LIGHT SHOW photo

 

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How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

March 16, 2017 By 4 Comments
How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

Recently, I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing happen. When you work in the social media realm, people expect certain things. They expect you to share. And yet, although some of my best friends knew about the terrible event, I did not share it widely.

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Being “friends” on Facebook does not mean that someone is truly friends, despite the saying that a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met. If you are squinting at someone’s image, wondering where you met them (or if you met them at all), maybe it’s time to cut them loose if Facebook is your “safe place.”

 office photo

Being a Private Person

Are you a private person? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about being an introvert because that’s different. But are you private in your communications online? Would you be ready to share something and then have a relative stranger come up and say “oh, hey, I heard that you fell off the roof while on vacation!” If not, then you might consider not sharing that tidbit, although it’s easy to forget that 100s or 1000s of people could potentially see what you post.

rock concert photo

How to Decide What to Share

Here are a few questions you could ask yourself before you share something:

  • Will this hurt me later?
  • Will this expose a friend?
  • Will sharing this get back to the person I’m sharing about?
  • Could this have any negative impacts?

And here are 9 things you should never share on Facebook, from Post Planner.

social media photo

Where to Share

Certain people have places that are more private than others on social media. For instance, I consider Twitter to be the most filled with strangers of all of my platforms. Yours could be Facebook. Or LinkedIn. At any rate, there’s a hierarchy of places for all of us. I might share something in a closed Facebook group before I share it on Twitter.

Some would say that you could share more safely on Twitter, since it doesn’t ask you to share your own or your friends’ information as much. See Facebook vs Twittter: Privacy Issues.

social media photo

Photo by ijclark

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Social Sharing

There are many good aspects of sharing. For instance, you could share a picture that you want all your friends to see. It beats emailing it to everyone! And you can create an album on Facebook or a secret board on Pinterest for those images. By the way, here are Ten Ways to Be Social, from the archive.

media channel photo

Photo by ZZ Bottom

The Bad and the Ugly

There are also many, many ways to fail on social media. For instance:

waffles photo

Photo by Dvortygirl

What’s Something You’d Never Share?

I promise not to tell! Leave me a comment. Thank you.

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How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag!

January 19, 2017 By 10 Comments
How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag!

How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag!

What if I told you there was a free way to give your tweet wings, and let it travel farther and last longer? Would you want to join that club? I know would! Hashtags have entered popular culture these days, with TV shows, baseball teams, and just about everyone using them to organize searches. If you’ve never used a hashtag before, you might want to check out the basics.

Hashtags are Easy

Hashtags are Easy

Hashtags are Easy

Here’s the skinny: Tweets with hashtags receive twice the engagement of tweets without hashtags. So if you’re considering whether to hashtag or not, that should help you make up your mind! Not only will people follow others who use similar hashtags (for instance, I have #startups in my Twitter profile, and many startups find me that way), but you can reach out to those with the same hashtags as you. Win-win!

Use One or Two: More is Not Better!

Use One or Two: More is Not Better!

Use One or Two: More is Not Better!

If you use too many hashtags, your engagement will go down. One or two hashtags is fine. More than that, and a tweet is looked upon as spammy.

#203K Hashtag for Mortgage Loans via Hashtagify

#203K Hashtag for Mortgage Loans via Hashtagify

Neat Tools to Help with Hashtags

  • Hashtagify – tells you hashtags related to your hashtags. For instance, if you’re a loan broker, and wanted to use the hashtag #203K, you could see what other hashtags you could use along with that hashtag.
  • TweetReach – tells you how far your hashtag has traveled. For instance, I use it during my tweet chat, #DigiBlogChat, and then tell everyone the numbers during the chat (and later on Facebook as well). If you don’t know what a tweet chat is, you might want to check out this post on 101 tips for success with tweet chats.
  • Hashtags.org – tells you what hashtags are trending on Twitter right now. So theoretically, you could catch a trend before it gets big and ride the wave all the way in.

Hashtags As Snark

Hashtags used to be used to sort, group, and categorize tweets. But then one day, not too long ago, people started using hashtags to self-identify, and add an Element of Snark to posts. Now people are using “air hashtags,” and according to some, ruining the English language. So if the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems doesn’t get your metadata all up in a knot, then you might like using hashtags in a snarky manner. #JustTryingToKeepItFun

Click Through

One very effective way to use a hashtag is to see who else is using it. For instance, if you’re using a location-based hashtag, click on it and see who else is nearby! For instance, this weekend is the inauguration. Heck, you could even go to Top Hashtags (dot com), type “inauguration” and see what the top hashtags are if you’re going. Or use the hashtag of your city, county, or state, and see who else is out there.

How Do You Hashtag?

Do you use hashtags? Or do you think they’re ruining the English language? Leave me a comment! And thank you.

 

 

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How to Engage on Social Media: Twitter

December 8, 2016 By 9 Comments
How to engage on social media: Twitter

How to engage on social media: Twitter

There is a bias in the business world against Twitter that I don’t comprehend. To me it is the friendliest and easiest place to engage in of all the platforms. Of course, that’s once you understand a few things about Twitter. The blog post you’re reading right now is part of How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide.

Create Moments

Create Moments

Creating Moments on Twitter

Creating Moments on Twitter

Creating Moments

A relatively new addition to Twitter is called Moments. You can create your own Moments or look at other people’s moments. Anyone can create a moment. From Twitter Home ==>>Go to Moments ==>> Click Create Moments (upper right corner). Upload your own photos or add tweets — I called mine San Francisco Lights. Choose your tweets or photos, choose a cover and title and publish! It took me about 15 minutes.

The Number One Mistake People Make on Twitter

The Number One Mistake People Make on Twitter

The Number One Mistake People Make on Twitter

Don’t start your tweet with the “@” sign if you want everyone to see it. Add a “.” in front of the “@” sign so that everyone can see it. Yes, that issue’s been around forever. If you need to know more, head over to Gary Vee’s slideshare (it’s only a minute, trust me!).

Leave Some Space

Leave Some Space

Leave Some Space

Don’t use up all 140 characters. Use something like 100-130 if you want retweets. Your real estate is limited.

Add images for more retweets.

Add images for more retweets.

Add Images for more Retweets

Images and videos are gaining momentum on Twitter. In fact, you’ll get 313% more engagement if you tweet with images, according to Twitter. So do use images for more engagement.

Audience

Audience

Audience

According to Pew Research

Some 23% of online adults currently use Twitter, a statistically significant increase compared with the 18% who did so in August 2013. Twitter is particularly popular among those under 50 and the college-educated.

Is that your demographic? If so, then you’re in the right place.

The Language

The Language

The Language

Twitter is the land of hashtags (not too many–one or two is fine!), and abbreviations. Also, emojis are popular on Twitter. Here are some abbreviations.

@ sign = a user’s name. For instance, I’m @Carol_Stephen on Twitter.

RT = Retweet. Means you’re repeating something and giving credit to that person as well.

OH = Overhead.

MT = Modified tweet. Sometimes you have to remove/change a tweet and this is how you alert people that you’ve changed it.

# = hashtag. Hashtags help you organize your tweets. For instance, #cheese will organize tweets about cheese.

Hashtags

Hashtags

Hashtags

Don’t be afraid to use hashtags, especially if the hashtag can help others see the content of a tweet. A hashtag helps others to identify a tweet. For instance, if you’re tweeting about an article on autism, you could add #asd (autism spectrum disorder) to the tweet. If you’re tweeting about an event, you can add the hashtag event, such as #wcoc (WordCamp Orange County). Some brands have their own hashtags. For instance, the San Francisco Giants use #sfgiants and if you tag your tweet that way, you may be featured or retweeted by the Giants!

Emojis

Emojis

Emojis

If you’re on mobile, which most people are now, you have access to many emojis. Hearts and smiley faces can let people know the feeling behind a tweet, in case there’s any doubt–or if you want to add more sentiment.

Formality

Formality

Formality

Twitter is one of the most easygoing, informal of all platforms. Think of it as a backyard bbq. It’s easy to talk to people, and there’s a laidback feeling to it.

How to Engage?

How to Engage?

How to Engage?

Say hello to people. If you’re just getting started, this is the easiest way to begin. Above is one real example. You can start with asking about the weather, telling people to have a nice weekend, and so on.  Notice that my tweet begins with the “@” sign. So only those who follow both @ToyotaEquipment and myself will see that tweet. @ToyotaEquipment’s reply to me starts with text, so that tweet is more public. See the difference?

Here are a few other ideas:

  • Ask a new follower a question about their profile.
  • Ask someone you’re connected with for advice for a topic they’re an expert at.
  • Comment on someone else’s tweet and retweet it.
  • Tell others to follow someone whose account you enjoy.
  • Introduce two people who have something in common.
Lists

Lists

Lists

Once you have found a few people who like to engage, you can add them to a list. Here’s a post about using lists on Twitter. For instance, you could create a list called Engagers or Friendly People.

Sharing

Sharing

Sharing

How much of your personal life will you share on Twitter? It’s a good idea to decide beforehand. My rules are to avoid sex, politics, and disasters. And when I’ve broken my own rules, I’ve had to pay. For instance, during the divisive election recently, I wrote about politics and lost followers. If you have to talk about something divisive, you may want to set up a separate account for that. As a business, I’d avoid those topics, though.

Tagging

Tagging

Tagging

Just because you can tag, doesn’t mean you should tag. If a conversation doesn’t really involve someone else, for the love of all that is holy, please remove them! It’s like being on a long bench of people and everyone between you and the person you’re talking to has to listen. Don’t force everyone to listen. On the other hand, if the people are actively involved in a conversation, then yes, keep adding them!

How Do You Engage on Twitter?

Leave me a comment! And of course send me a tweet!

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