Mandy Jenkins, Social Media Editor for TBD.com, presented this overview of social media for bloggers at American University in Washington, DC October 2, 2010.
Social Media for Bloggers American University October 2, 2010 Mandy Jenkins, TBD.com
Transcript
Social Media for Bloggers
American University
October 2, 2010
Mandy Jenkins, TBD.com
Why you want to be good at this
You can get more traffic to your site
People will make return visits
Become known as an expert in your area
Youll get more dates*
* May not work for everyone
Overall lessons
Participation is key to social media success
Overall lessons
Participation is key to social media success
You cant just send out your links
Overall lessons
Participation is key to social media success
You cant just send out your links
It isnt easy & it wont happen overnight
Overall lessons
Participation is key to social media success
You cant just send out your links
It isnt easy & it wont happen overnight
Be personable but it isnt JUST about you
Overall lessons
Participation is key to social media success
You cant just send out your links
It isnt easy & it wont happen overnight
Be personable but it isnt JUST about you
Have some damn sense
Todays Topics
Seriously though
Its better to use one or two social media tools well & often
than do a crappy job at a bunch of them
Twitter
It isnt just for telling people what you ate for breakfast
anymore.
Powered by followers
They follow
You follow
Powered by followers
They follow
You follow
Made better with re-tweets
Who you should follow
Other bloggers
People in your field of interest
Local journalists and news orgs
Popular people in your local Twittersphere
Those who reply to you
Those who re-tweet, share your links
Finding who to follow
By subject/location: Twellow.com, Wefollow.com
Muckrack.com (for finding journalists)
Look at others follows/followers
Spy on Twitter lists
Listorious.com
Making sense of it all
Make Twitter lists to organize who you follow
Basic etiquette
Dont use Twitterfeed alone for links
ALWAYS shorten long links
Say what the link is
Re-tweet, dont re-write
Answer your replies
Dont tweet like a robot
Tweeters Block?
Ask for info/feedback from followers
Re-tweet tweets you like
Tweet links you like, what youre reading
Jump in on other conversations
Its OK to tweet it twice for a new crowd
Think news on-the-go
On Hashtags
Hashtags are keywords that tie tweets together by subject
Theyre also largely unnecessary
See if theres a hashtag out there already by searching
search.twitter.com
Dont overdo it
Questions?
Facebook
You might want to get rid of those panty shots
Facebook Options
Use your personal account
Start a Facebook Fan Page (recommended)
** Dont set up multiple personal accounts
Split Your Account
One account: Both personal & business
Create lists of friends. Group them by the kind of permissions
youll want them to have.
Split Your Account
Set viewing permissions overall or by post
Fan Pages R Cool
Separate from personal account
Customizable
You can get insights on your fans
Use it to manage events, photos, etc.
An extension of the blog
Set up a Fan Page
Set up your page as an organization/website.
Apps you might want to try out:
FMBL make new textboxes
Selective Tweets
RSS
Other ways to use FB
Add a Like button, other features to your site
At http://developers.facebook.com/plugins
Share your posts on Facebook, encourage readers to do the same with
sharing tools.
ShareThis is an easy button to add
Questions?
Location-Based Tools
Its more than mayorships, people
Foursquare For Blogs
Tips matter more than check-ins
Share your expertise on a venue
Link back to your site when you can
Add Insider Tips
Food blogs: Where to sit, what to order, etc.
Neighborhoods: Hidden features, history of the place
Put something useful in here
Add a link to your post about this venue
On Your Blog
Embed your tips in a post for people to add to their to-do lists on
Foursquare.
On Your Blog
Link to your Foursquare account and tips
On Your Blog
Map check-ins
Check out weeplaces.com
Or build your own at Google Maps with your feed at
foursquare.com/feeds
Gowalla Trips
Create a list of places to visit that shows your expertise
Link to your trip from the blog
Shout out in a post to those who complete it
Questions?
Online Communities
Caution: This stuff aint easy
Overview
Digg: Shared links, voting up and down, comments and
diggs
Overview
Digg: Shared links, voting up and down, comments and diggs
Reddit: Shared links, comments
Overview
Digg: Shared links, voting up and down, comments and diggs
Reddit: Shared links, comments
StumbleUpon shared links viastumbling
Overview
Digg: Shared links, voting up and down, comments and diggs
Reddit: Shared links, comments
StumbleUpon shared links viastumbling
Fark.com Shared links and community only for funny stuff
Be a Participant, not a Spammer
Dont just share links to your own stuff
Vote on other entries
Comment on what interests you
ButButNo, Seriously
Add buttons to your site to encourage readers to share your
links
Use toolbars and browser add-ons to make this easier
For dining bloggers
UrbanSpoon is a great site for dining bloggers
Embed their tag into your blog post and itll link your review
Custom blog pages & embed tools
Bloggers Toolbox
Social media tools that do some of the work for you.
Bookmarking
Show your expertise with curated links based in your topic
area
Subscribe to others you find interesting
Examples: Delicious, Publish2
Bookmarking
Bonus! Use a bookmarking site like to organize & embed your
shared link roundups.
Photo Services
Upload your photos online with proper tagging to have them grouped
by subject
Start or join a group for photos of your topic area or city
Pull in a tag for photos to certain posts
Examples: Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket
Photo Services
Pull photos by tag into your blog via slideshow widgets.
Do this with your photos, reader photos or public photos on your
topic
Create a map of your photos
YouTube
Store your videos here they take up lots of space on your
server.
Share your videos with the world, you never know when itll go
viral.
Find other videos to use in your posts via embed code.
TwtApp Tools
Create free polls, surveys, invites
Powered by Twitter, though not required
Easily shared, retweeted
Embeddable
Network On and Offline
Consider hosting meetups for readers.
Attend meetups in your city
Use Meetup.com or Facebook to help.
Comment on other blogs as your blog rep and interlink with
them.
Questions?
Seriously. Were almost done.
Social Media Search
Youll never want to share again.
Search.Twitter.Com
Search by keywords, location, time
All public tweets
Also can be done in desktop, mobile apps
Ideas
Find photos: Searchtwitpic OR yfrog OR flickr OR tweetphoto OR
plixi (plus a location or keyword)
Find a person at a location: Search for the name of the location
and 4sq OR gowal.la
Find news: Search fire OR crash near:"Washington DC"
within:15mi
Trending Topics
Your home page on Twitter.com will show you whats trending right
now.
See trends on a map at Trendsmap.com
Check out local trends w/context at
trendsmap.com/local/us/washington
See other trends at TrendsBuzz
Mapped Tweets/Check-ins
Check out BingsTwitter and Foursquare maps to see searchable tweets
and check-ins
For a new map, go to bing.com/maps/explore and select the map app
you want
See mapped tips at fourwhere.com