5 Do's and Dont's of Facebook Status Updates

For beginners starting out on social media website like Facebook and Twitter, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what to say and when.  Maintaining an active brand or business Facebook page can be extremely easy to do if you follow a few simple rules for creating unique and interesting Facebook status updates.

How to Build Better Business Facebook Status

In order to engage your fans, it’s important that the content, photos and status updates that you share in your Facebook status are carefully thought out and have the potential for user engagement.  It’s great to share the occasionally promotional status update, but what your fans are really after is unique information, tips or content that they can only get from you.  If you want your fans to stick around, interact with you and promote your brand by sharing your updates, you need to be creating interesting status updates that encourage them to do so.



To help you clear that Facebook writers’ block and come up with Facebook status updates easily, follow these great tips:

1. Include an Image With Your Updates

Not only will sharing images with your status updates make your timeline look much more interesting to your fans, but it increases the chance that those people are going to share it.  Make sure the image that you choose to share is relevant to what you’re posting about, and if possible, unique enough that people will want to share it and show it to other people.

2. Don’t Resort to Asking Questions

I see this happen way too often, and all I can think to myself is “man, that person must feel really bad that nobody is commenting back to answer…”  Unless you already have a huge, engaged fan base, posting questions is more than likely going to end up with the sound of crickets chirping.  By no means do I mean never ask your fans a question, but don’t let your timeline become a long list of unanswered questions, it’s just a depressing when nobody bothers to answer.

3. Share Updates from Others with a Caption

You more than likely use Facebook for personal or business use and you probably have liked a few fan pages of your own.  Feel free to share interesting content in your Facebook status that you find from other places, but don’t forget to add your own spin to it.  Share content that you think your fans will find interesting, and throw a few words in to share how you felt about the article or what your take on the news happens to be.  You might actually get some feedback from it.  Fair Warning -  If you have a dissenting opinion on a popular article, be prepared that someone might just disagree with you publicly, after all, it is Facebook.

4. Share Your Expert Advice

This is especially important if you’re a business owner in the service industry.  Share your opinions all you want, but when it comes down to it, sometimes you just need to play the role of expert when posting a Facebook status.  Offer your fans insight that they can’t find anywhere else, whether it’s advice on fixing a busted drain line or tips on how to get better gas mileage from their vehicle.  If people see your advice and can use it in their own lives, you may end up with a reputation as an expert in your field and people will start to come to you for answers online.

5. Avoid Modifying Memes for Your Business

I’m sure you’ve seen it, and frankly it’s starting to get old.  Plenty of people out there (iFunny users in particular) have an awful tendency to take popular memes or funny trends and modify them for their own chance at internet fame.  Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.  The one piece of advice I can give you is share memes and funny internet trends if they’re relevant to your business in their original form.  If it’s funny the first time, don’t chop it down and add a “funny twist” to it to make it relevant to your brand.  If you’re really, really good at being funny, you might be able to pull it off, but other times, it just comes off as a blatant shot at self promotion.

(Featured Image from Christy Sheffield on Flickr)

What would you recommend that people do or don’t do when posting a Facebook status update on a brand page? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!

5 Do's and Dont's of Facebook Status Updates

How Twitter Conversations Might Improve Your Marketing

On August 28th, Twitter announced on their blog that they had updated their mobile apps and website with a new look and feel that would improve user interaction and make Twitter conversations easier.  I’ll be quite honest, trying to have an engaged conversation between more than two people on Twitter has been aggravating, if not down right annoying.  With all the anger from the Twitterverse over this latest update, the question we have to ask ourselves, is how can we take advantage of these new updates?

If you haven’t heard about this update yet, check out this video from Twitter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnRmayAuB4M

TweetChats Will Be Easy to Manage

If you’re like me, the idea of a TweetChat event seems really interesting when you hear about it, but the second it starts happening it becomes a giant mess of “refresh, refresh, refresh.”  I can only imagine what it’s like for those hosting the chat.  However, with this latest Twitter update, I have a strong feeling that we’re going to start seeing TweetChats more often as it would appear things will be much more organized now.  It seems as if using Twitter conversations would make a TweetChat more like a Reddit AMA than a jumbled mess of too many people using the same hashtag.

Conversations on Twitter Will Finally Be a Reality

When I first started using Twitter, I noticed immediately that it was a world of self promotion and selfies from instagram, which was one of the main reasons I stopped using it for so long.  Why would I want to be part of a network where the only interaction was the occasional retweet.  Until now, it’s always seemed to me that nobody actually holds conversations on Twitter and if they do, it’s done via DM.  I had seen so many people complain about this new feature, yet I hadn’t come across it once on my desktop or my mobile.  Will Oremus appeared to have the same sentiment when he first came across Twitter Conversations:

I had to scroll down relentlessly to find the first instance of a blue-vertical-line festoon marring my otherwise neatly chronological timeline…. The reason the festoons are few and far between is because hardly anyone holds actual conversations on Twitter.”

Twitter has always been a great place to get your content shared and promoted, and over the last month has increased my website traffic by almost 1,000 visitors, but it has always seemed to lack the sort of interaction that I love so much about Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.  While conversations will still be limited to 140 characters, the ability to group your messages together should greatly improve interactions.  For those who do hold up a good, informative conversation over Twitter, this need grouping ability seems to encourage those on the outside viewing your conversation to join in and share their two cents.

Conversations Can Be Shared in New Ways

Want to expose your interactions via Twitter to non-Twitter users?  Now you can!  With this latest update, Twitter is making it easier to share conversations, and this includes the ability to email conversations to friends, whether they use Twitter or not.  So what does this mean for marketers?  Did you happen to have a great chat with Bill Gates?  Share it!  Embed Tweets from your conversation in a blog post or email them to your email subscribers, show people how incredible your Twitter account is.

While many people are complaining about these latest updates, it’s important to look past the internet users’ resistance to change and see the potential that this update can provide for your marketing efforts.

What do you think about Twitter Conversations and the latest Twitter updates?  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!

How Twitter Conversations Might Improve Your Marketing

5 Tips to Improve Your Press Release Marketing

Believe it or not, there is still value in press release marketing.  You’ve probably seen or heard of press releases being used as part of an SEO strategy, but what you may not realize is that a strong press release marketing strategy can actually gain your business quite a bit of local media coverage if you handle it properly.

Press Release Marketing Actually Works

If you’re anything like me, you’re not willing to sit and wait for a reporter to contact you for an article he’s writing, you want to force the reporters to pay attention and encourage them to reach out to you.  Using these tips, I have been able to get the financial advisor I work for several TV interviews and news article interviews, with little to no real effort involved.  In some disappointing but useful instances, I’ve actually had newspaper editor’s use the entire press release as an actual article for their publication (I know, lazy right?).

If you’ve been interested in using press release marketing to promote your brand, consider the following 5 tips to help you improve your press releases.

Submit Your Press Releases to The Right Places

I find that a lot of people will recommend that you don’t bother submitting your press release manually, by emailing them directly to reporters and I have to disagree.  I have seen success by submitting them directly to editors and reporters; however, I would recommend before you do this you reach out and make a personal connection with the person you’re submitting your press releases to.  Unless the content in your press release is downright incredible, you’re going to need that personal connection to ensure they take time to read it.

Whether or not you’re comfortable submitting press releases by hand, it is 100% necessary that you submit them to the major PR websites.  For press release marketing on a budget, I recommend that you utilize PRLog.com, which allows you to submit press release for free with limited exposure.  The other big name press release marketing websites will require that you pay to play, but the potential you can from these payments is well worth it, just make sure what you’re submitting is newsworthy so you’re not wasting your money:

• Pitch Engine


• PR Web


• Business Wire

I have had great success using a combination of PRLog and PR Web’s press release distribution services along with manually submitting press releases to reporters that I’ve worked with in the past to gain great exposure and increase the chance of getting the advisor I work into the public eye.

Your Headline is Everything

This one applies in full force if you’re manually submitting press releases to new outlets, but rings true regardless.  If you spend time blogging, you know full and well that the right headline can make or break your article.  If your headline doesn’t get the reader interested you’re press release is most likely going to be looked over.

Keep SEO practices in mind when writing your press release headline so that it will show up in search engines and get your point across easily and of course make sure that you’ve included your target keyword.

Include Keywords in Your Press Release

If this thought hasn’t crossed your mind, you may want to seriously reconsider press release marketing until you have your goals in focus.  Press release marketing can be an effective tool if used properly and a major factor to successful press release distribution online is the use of keywords.

Of course, don’t overload your press releases with keywords, nobody benefits from keyword stuff.  Do include relevant keywords where they’re needed so that your press release can be found by the people you need to see it.  The most important factor in press release keywords, and blogging in general, is to write for readers not for search engines.  Your goal is to get your press release in front of people’s eyes, search engine rankings should be a secondary benefit.

Check out PR Web’s article on using keywords effectively in press releases here.

Include Real Quotes in Your Press Release Marketing

As I mentioned above, I have had editors use my press release as submitted as actual articles in their publications, with no modifications whatsoever.  While this may not ever happen to you, it makes it that much more important that you include direct quotes in the press releases you distribute.

Not only does a direct quote make your press release more engaging, but it allows you to further express your expertise in your field.  When writing your press release, use a quote that reinforces the point of your article and strengthens your image as an expert.  Don’t use a quotation as an opportunity to make a sales pitch or promote your business, keep it strictly informational so it adds value to the release.

Never, ever forget links and contact info!

The point of press release marketing is to gain exposure for your brand.  While including your business name is great, providing information on how to contact you is even better.  When submitting your press releases online, it’s extremely important to include links back to your website.  You paid for the distribution, take advantage of the benefits.  Use as many internal links as the website you’re using will allow, and link to various places on your website.

When your press release mentions a particular person, link their name to their bio page on your website.  If you’re discussing a new service you’re offering, link the description of that service to its respective page on your website.  Last, but most important, including a link to your homepage.  The SEO benefits of this are real, and can help you out greatly if you include them in your press release.

Have you used Press Release Marketing to improve your brand’s marketing strategy?  Share your tips and experiences by leaving a comment below!

 

5 Tips to Improve Your Press Release Marketing

5 Places to Find Free Images For Your Blog

Don’t want to get arrested? Great, me either.  You may have noticed there are a ton of articles floating around the web lately talking about “stealing images off of Google” and how you can get into some serious legal trouble by doing so.  I’ll admit, I’ve been guilty of snagging images and meme’s off of Google image search from time to time for blogs, websites or simply trolling on Facebook.  That being said, I’ve compiled a list of different places to get free use images that you can use for your website, blog or anywhere else without paying a dime.  Where else could you find incredible free images like the featured free image for this post by BrickArms from Flickr?

Any good blogger or SEO enthusiast will tell you that it’s critical to have images on your blog to spice up your articles, draw the reader’s attention in and to boost your chances of showing up in Google results.  All of that is great, but if the images you decided to use were obtained illegally, you may end up with a great looking blog that caused you several thousand dollars worth of fines.

5 Places to Get Free Images for Your Blogs

The websites that you’ll find below offer tons of great photos, many of which are professionally photographed and edited (depending on the site you use).  Some of these website you’ll have to sign up to use, and some even offer high-quality premium images with a price tag, but all have free photos available that you can use for whatever your heart desires.

Flickr

Photo by NIrelandeye on Flickr

Flickr may not be your first choice or even the best choice, but you can get free images for just about any category you could ever want.  Be careful though, they do give photo authors the option to turn off downloading.

http://www.flickr.com

Stock.xchng

Photo by ‘doc’ Sias van Schalkwyk on Stock.xchng

Stock.xchng requires that you register to use their photos, but once you do, you get plenty to choose from.  In addition to their free images they also have a wide range of premium paid images to choose from.

http://www.sxc.hu

Morgue File

Photo by BBoomerinDenial on Morgue File

Aside from it’s seemingly gruesome name, Morgue File has some incredible free images to choose from.  From the little bit of digging that I did, I found that some of this artwork is worth framing and hanging on your wall.

http://www.morguefile.com

Microsoft Images

Photo by Elenathewise on Microsoft Images (Original on Fotofolio)

Believe it or not, this website is more than just generic wallpapers for your Windows PC.  Microsoft’s image gallery has a great collection of free images that you can use for your blog or website that look awesome!

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images

RBG Stock

Photo by Scottsnyde on RGB Stock

When I came across this site, I immediately noticed the quality of the photography available and free images available for use.  While there are some “low skill” shots on this site as with others, there are some incredible pieces as well.  This site does require you to register in order to download.

http://www.rgbstock.com

What websites do you use to legally obtain free images to use on your website or blog?  Share your favorites by leaving a comment below!

5 Places to Find Free Images For Your Blog

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