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Peace & love,

Briana

I’ve been using this strategy for social media management for a few months now, and have found it to be extremely helpful. It has proven to be effective with all of the companies I’ve used it for. I call it 3-2-1. It’s quick, easy, and can all be set up in advance as to allow more time for other strategies.

3 Tweets

Set up 3 tweet updates to go out during the most high volume traffic times. I usually prefer 9am, 12pm, and 5pm, which are good times because it’s when people are usually checking their Twitter; as soon as they get to work, during lunch, and when they’re off from work. Schedule these tweets using programs like Hootsuite, Cotweet, or Socialoomph. You can set them to go out daily, which is what I suggest.

2 Facebook Updates

Plan to post some links, photos, or other types of multimedia content on Facebook twice a day. Some people check their Facebook less often than their Twitter because it’s not exactly real time, even with the live feed. People update their Facebook status less often than Twitter. Try to position these posts around 10am and 4pm. Make it worthy of being on someone’s news feed. I suggest clickable/shareable content like videos, but it’s not necessary.

1 Blog Post

Yes, daily. People tend to forget about you when you don’t update regularly. Try to have engaging content rolling out on a regular basis. You can have a major brainstorm session weekly and set up your blog posts for the week to roll out when you’d like, which I suggest. Don’t forget to include valuable SEO in your posts. I like WordPress because you can also schedule your blog posts in advance.

These are basic steps that I suggest doing daily. WARNING: this should not be the only strategy in your social media game plan. This is simply to keep your customers and visitors engaged on a daily basis. Try it out. It’s a little less time consuming if you do it all at once in the beginning of the week. Take a chunk out of your Sunday evening to get these things rolling for the week ahead. Don’t be a robot about it though. Ask engaging questions, and follow up with the answers at a later time during the day. This does not substitute true engagement with your customers.

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I have been pondering over this since Mashable posted about Entrustet, a service that legally protects your digital assets. It got me with the title: Plan What Happens to Your Online Accounts Post-Mortem with Entrustet. I don’t know why it got me thinking about Michael Jackson, but it did. I was thinking “what do I want to happen to my digital assets?

I have had several friends who have passed away who were active on social networking accounts like MySpace and Facebook, and I keep thinking “does anyone have access to their accounts?” It’s nice for people to post on their wall and leave comments about the good times, but with no one there to monitor the account, is it inappropriate? Or is it more inappropriate to have the account deleted?

I’ve been active online for 10 long years (actually my anniversary of internet obsession is approaching soon). Since then, I have had scores of e-mail addresses, screen names, and online accounts on various websites. Obviously I only maintain my most recent ones, especially since passwords have come and gone. From what I heard from a previous acquaintance, one of my websites from Angelfire is still up and running. He asked me to remove a file from it, or possibly shut it down, but since I don’t remember the password I used (I was 12, of course I won’t remember) and have no access to the e-mail address I registered it with (nor do I remember what e-mail that could have even been), the site will remain up until Angelfire takes it down. I don’t even remember the URL, but I’d love to take a trip down (embarrassing) memory lane.

My point is, my digital estate is probably pretty expansive. Even if you just take into account my current accounts, it’s enough to make a non-social media enthusiast call it quits. Who would bother keeping up my accounts?

• My MySpace page (which I have no idea why I still have it; I should close it soon)
• My Facebook account
• My personal Twitter
• LGMM Twitter
• My LinkedIn
• My Foursquare
• My numerous e-mail accounts (I keep up about 5)
• My new website (coming soon by the way)
• My online banking accounts
• The list goes on

I’m pretty sure none of my parents, if I go before they do, will want the bother of managing the accounts, so if I was to leave it to them, I’m sure they’d just go through it (depending on the circumstances of my death), and delete them. My siblings are the same. My best friend barely knows how to work her MacBook; I doubt she’d want to keep up my accounts. My boyfriend would probably be too devastated to maintain it….okay maybe not. I asked him already and he said he wants nothing to do with it. Breach of privacy or something.

Nobody would bother! I keep saying “maintain” because I think my digital footprint is like a permanent legacy. Sure, people outrank you on websites. People obviously can’t continue to fan you, and no additional people would be able to follow me on my personal Twitter because it’s private (not that there’d be any updates to follow anyways). I guess I’d like to think of my accounts as a memorial of sorts. Keeping part of me immortal. Everyone wants to leave a legacy. No one wants to be forgotten. I think that’s why I’d like mine maintained.

The fact of the matter is, I don’t trust anyone else to maintain my accounts, and the people I do trust have no interest in it. What I’ll probably end up doing is leaving my digital estate to my younger sister to delete at will, or to my children, depending on when my untimely demise will be. I know I’m only 19 but at this age, my digital life is really all I have to my name assets wise. No investments, no liquid assets, no serious bank breaking money. This is what I have. What would you do with yours?

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As a social media coordinator, it’s usually my job to manage multiple social media accounts across different networks. Of course, you can always use your web browser to access the different sites, but you’d have to keep multiple tabs open unless you subscribe to your own RSS feed. In some cases, this isn’t an issue, but can definitely reduce your efficiency.

I have used multiple programs to make my job easier. Let’s review 3: TweetDeck, CoTweet, and HootSuite:

TweetDeck

I honestly use TweetDeck for my own personal use as opposed to managing accounts I work on. I love TweetDeck because it’s a software that you download on your computer. You have the option of multiple columns, making it easier to see everything you want to monitor. I use TweetDeck for my personal Twitter account, but it also allows you to manage your Facebook, MySpace (you know, if you still have one), and your LinkedIn accounts. There are also applications for the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch.  Here’s some great features:

• Manage multiple Twitter accounts
• Twitter list integration
• Keyword tracking
• Share/view videos and pictures via TwitVid, TwitVid, YouTube, Flickr, and more
• URL shortener
• Full screen mode & more

CoTweet

I use CoTweet strictly for Twitter, because that’s what it’s made for. I like it because it allows you to assign tweets to your social media team to respond to. It’s a great customer interaction tool, and has an “inbox” for tweets that @mention you or that are DMed to you. You can also track keywords in CoTweet. Other features:

• Scheduling tweets in advance
• URL shortener
• List integration
• Monitoring up to 5 Twitter accounts under 1 log in

HootSuite

Another favorite of mine, HootSuite merges the above 2 into 1 platform. Accessed via your internet browser, HootSuite allows you to manage multiple accounts including Twitter, Facebook (including fan pages), MySpace, LinkedIn, WordPress, Foursquare, and Ping. Features include:

• Scheduling tweets in advance
• Column views with tabs
• URL shortener (2 actually)
• RSS integration (including scheduling automatic updates when your RSS feed is updated)
• Statistics
• Assignments to team members

I love all of these programs. They each have their amazing qualities, and allow you to reduce clutter by putting everything in one spot. These programs make your social media team’s life a lot easier.

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“What’s all this Twitter hype about?”

That’s what your friends and family are asking you. They don’t know what you or the news is talking about, but now they want in. How can an advance user explain to beginners how Twitter works? Here’s some basic terminology and steps for first timers, quick and easy.

Twitter: Social networking site where people share their thoughts, ideas, and happenings in 140 characters or less

Twitter handle: Screen name

@ or @mention: How you direct a tweet to someone else’s Twitter handle

DM: Direct message; a private message between 1 user and another

Followers: People who want to receive your updates

Following: People who you’re interested in receiving updates from

Timeline: Where the updates of the people you’re following appear

RT: Re-tweet; “forwarding” someone else’s update to your followers

#hashtag: A method of tracking keywords or trending topics

#TT: Trending topics; 10 topics that a lot of people are tweeting about simultaneously

Twitter jail: When you’ve tweeted too much, exceeding the limit available in an hour

Fail whale: A graphic of a Twitter whale when the site is experiencing technical difficulties

Twitpic: Tweeting a photo

Twitvid: Tweeting a video

Verified: Confirmation that a celebrity’s Twitter handle is truly them and not a fraud

Unfollow: When you stop receiving someone’s updates

Twitlonger: For long winded folks who can’t fit it all in with a 140 character limit

Those are the basics. Get your friends and family involved and show them tweeting isn’t that hard.

*WARNING/DISCLAIMER: Twitter is possibly addicting and can consume waking moments

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This is something I’m experimenting with and I’m noticing it’s working. Disclaimer: time consuming so spend a weekend establishing it and do it daily for at least 2 hours/day thereafter.

1. Establish your presence: Create a branded user profile on sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Yahoo Buzz, etc.
2. Be supportive: Don’t submit anything your first week on these websites. Begin your loyalty by friending power users and people who are constantly active. Vote on their content religiously, and comment occasionally so they don’t think you’re some robot.
3. Introduce yourself: Be there for the people. Let them know you’re there to spread the word about their content. In turn, once you prove yourself, they’ll do the same for you.
4. Get your stats up: This is what’s the time consumer part. Make yourself known early on. Add at least 100 friends and vote on their last 10 submissions. That’s at 1,000 votes. You don’t necessarily have to take time to read them all, but you should. Comment on at least 1 out of every 10 pieces of content you vote on.
5. Find the ol’ ye faithfuls: Like I said, friend the active power users. Once you introduce yourself and establish a relationship with them, you’ll know who to send your stuff to.
6. DON’T SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT: There’s not necessarily anything wrong with it. You can submit your own content about once a week, but ask the power users to submit on your behalf. They’re the ones with the friends and can push your blog to the front page of these sites.
7. Submit good content: Since you’re not submitting your own content, find some good news stories that haven’t been submitted yet, or have only been submitted by people and managed not even a handful of votes, and ask your friends to vote it up.
8. Track and repeat: Track your numbers weekly and continue to set goals for yourself. The social web is a tough crowd, so people reward others with loyalty.

Set some time aside this weekend to establish your presence on the heavy hitters (Digg, StumbleUpon, Yahoo Buzz) and find smaller social news sites that are within your niche to submit your content to. Good luck!

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Marketing has changed drastically over the past few years. Less outbound, more inbound. Less paper, more digital. Businesses are constantly looking for new ways to turn leads into customers or clients in the most time and cost effective way. Here are some simple steps on how businesses can get the attention of their prospects.

1. Identify your target demographic: Seems basic enough, but a lot of companies don’t know who they are trying to attract. In some cases, “anyone” is a typical answer. Once you figure out who your product/service will benefit most, you’ll narrow your focus.
2. Find where your demographic is in the social web: Where are your potential customers online? There’s a lot of social networks out there. Don’t utilize all of them immediately. See where your target demographic hangs out online and start there. No need to have 30 social networks if most of them aren’t garnering results.
3. Connect with the people: Don’t become Dr. Robotnik (oh the good ol’ days); show that you’re a real person. Even if you schedule status updates to roll out automatically, tailor them to be personable. Make a real connection.
4. Questions, comments, concerns: Address them all. If your customers are mentioning your company or your field, be the knight in shining armor. Come to their rescue and get them answers..
5. Guiding light: Lead them to your user friendly website. Don’t use social networks as your base; you want traffic coming to your site. Be sure there are links to your website and double check that your website answers FAQs and makes it easy to execute an action plan.

There should be a designated person (or people) to execute these tasks, but it should be a company-wide plan. Don’t exclude anyone who wants to participate. Encourage participation, and delegate when necessary.

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Courtesy of CrunchGear.com

The iPad homicide investigation continues as we try to uncover who or what will eliminate Apple in the tablet game. Sony Dash has been named the latest tablet of interest.

Suspect Profile

Name: Dash
Manufacturer: Sony
Type of tablet: Personal Internet Viewer

Things the Sony Dash Brings to the table:

• Entertainment apps: Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Slacker
• Social networking at your fingertips: Facebook, Twitter, Gmail
• Perfect for moms: access to Cozi calendar app to manage varying family schedules, traffic and weather reports before the kids head off to school, and recipes from the Martha Stewart app
• The coolest alarm clock ever: waking up to internet radio, online video, or whatever else will put you in a good mood that day.
• Other apps that you may need like getting your daily news and sports fix
• Also acts as a digital picture frame, accessing your Photobucket
• 7″ LCD screen
• Built in speakers & headphone jacket
• All for the low price of $199.99

Investigators are interviewing those close to the suspect.

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I love it, you love it, your mom loves it, your boss should love it. Social media is somewhat of a gift from above to a lot of us. However, nothing is ever 100% perfect, as we all know. Social media can rear an ugly head if treated the wrong way. Here are 7 ways social media can negatively affect your life.

1. Theft: Since people love giving up to the second information about where they are and what they’re doing, they are also giving out info to potential thieves about when their house may be unoccupied. GPS can disclose the location of your home, if you haven’t told everyone yourself, leaving you at risk to come up to an empty abode, courtesy of your status update.
2. Stalking: I mention it often because social media really is a stalker’s fantasy. People now know where you work, where you have worked, who your friends are, what places you frequent, etc. It gives people a way to find you everywhere you are.
3. You’re fired: Or in some cases, not hired. If you weren’t savvy enough to hide your drunken nights photo album, there’s a good chance you have put yourself out of the running for a job, including your current one. Employers are turning to social media profiles to find out about the real you.
4. Identity theft: This was huge back in the MySpace days. People impersonating others. I would always find “fake” pages of my friends, which were really strange, insecure people who used my friends’ photos, pretending to be them. It’s the new version of identity theft.
5. Break up season: Social media is somewhat of a taboo with relationships. When the MySpace era came to be, relationships were started and ended with just a few clicks. Things like “Why aren’t I #1 on your top 8?”, “Why does it say you’re single?”, “Who is that girl/guy you’re friends with?”, etc. got a lot of couples heading for splitsville. Facebook is no different, especially with the “looking for” and relationship status elements of a profile. Also, be careful what photos you’re tagged in.
6. Documented evidence against you: Since Congress decided to preserve public tweets, those who speak their mind often can find themselves in a world of trouble with compelling and damning evidence against them thanks to their own fingers and thumbs. People have shotty memories in court, but the Internet doesn’t lie (well, you know what I mean).
7. Are you where you’re supposed to be? If you’re telling your boss or your parents you’re going to be at one place, and you update that you’re at another (heaven forbid you check-in via Foursquare) you might find yourself in a bit of a pickle.

Be cautious, update those privacy settings, and look over your cyber shoulder as creepers are always watching.

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I’m noticing a new trend: start-ups popping up literally overnight. First it started off when I read about Start-Up Weekend. I was going to attend but definitely felt intimidated. Yes, I have ideas. I’m literally like a magician pulling rabbits out of my hat; I have ideas to keep a business afloat for decades (subliminal message: HIRE ME). I thought it was a cool idea, and wondered how many people could start a business in a weekend. The next mention was that of 48 Hour Magazine, started by 14 awesome editors, launching a full fledged magazine in 48 hour’s time via crowd sourcing (I considered submitting for Issue 0 but was intimidated once again.)

Now I just read about Vitrue‘s Social Page Evaluator, another product of a short span of time to launch a full throttle project. I’m starting to think if all of my “how to start a business” guides lead me astray. All I’ve read and heard was “research research research”, “take your time”, etc. Now that I’m seeing these companies appearing, and functioning, out of the blue, I’m wondering if I should jump on the same bandwagon.

As cool as it sounds to be a Founder/CEO in 72 hours, I have a few concerns that hold me back:

1. Lack of resources: I have zero design skills as far as a web development, so I’m looking for someone else to get that going. It takes time to find the right person and get the job done.
2. Too legit to quit: Not the beloved song, but I would love to be a true blue company, recognized by a city as an active running business, rather than a kid who bought a domain and offered services. I rather not have the IRS after me.
3. Friends (or coworkers), how many of us have them: When it comes down to it, I’m really doing this on my own. My friends have different interests and other priorities. I’m the one who’s super passionate about this. I would love some additional support and partnerships before going in.
4. Clients: I would love to have some people lined up already to work with/for. I have a list of people I could add to a “past clients” list but I would also like to verify them before adding them.
5. Time is money: Working at my internship is pretty much a full time gig. I don’t want to commit to this with only half of my attention. I want to give it 110%.

There’s other reasons, but those are the main ones. In conclusion, I’m going to stick to the books and continue to do more research, get my ducks in a row, and launch the company officially when I’m ready. I’ve never been much of a follower (Twitter excluded); even though this is an awesome idea, it may come at a later date. As for this weekend, no start-up plans, just plans with friends, like a normal 19 year old for once.

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