HootSuite – Making Life Easy
When it comes to social media, and using it to spread the word about your business, the one of the major pluses is that it is essentially free to use (unless you get into ads and promoting posts on Facebook). One of the minuses many of our clients find however, is the time and headspace it takes to keep track of activities across multiple platforms.
As it becomes increasingly important to maintain a presence in more than one social media outlet, it becomes more difficult to allot time and patience to providing and responding to content. This is where HootSuite comes in handy.
HootSuite is a social media management service, which allows users to publish and interact with content on a range of social media websites including Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Google+, LinkedIn, WordPress, MySpace and mixi. This means if you need to make an announcement to your followers and clients, rather than having to log in to your two or three relevant social media platforms, you can just pop on to HootSuite, write your post (including images, video and links as required) and then post it to multiple sites. You can even schedule posts to publish later.
If all this sounds a little tricky, then check out www.hootsuite.com and take a look around, there’s a handy ‘Learn the Basics’ video – this will visually explain how the service works and how you can use it in your business.
A few things to keep in mind:
- You can use HootSuite for free for up to 5 social media accounts. These can be all different, or a combination, like 2 Facebook profiles, 1 Twitter account and 2 Google+ pages. This means that you can have your personal and business pages all linked together on HootSuite.
- To use the service for more than 5, there is a fee.
- You can choose which content goes where – you don’t have to publish each post across all your social media outlets, which is ideal, because often material that is suitable for Twitter may not be appropriate for LinkedIn for example, and vice-versa.
Pop over to HootSuite and have a look and how to save yourself some time. It’s free to sign up, and you will be led through the simple step-by-step set up process – easy!
A look at the inner workings of Facebook
While many of our clients use Facebook – both personally and in their businesses – it seems that knowledge of how the hugely popular social network actually works is pretty scarce amongst most of them.
Often there seems little reason to ponder the inner workings of Facebook. You post what you need to, scan your newsfeed for anything of particular interest, and follow it up or engage with it once you discover it. But have you ever stopped to think about how that particular piece of content made it to your news feed, when bits from other friends or pages you follow didn’t?
What ends up on an individual’s newsfeed comes down to Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm. Sounds tricky and a bit too technical, we know, but it’s pretty interesting, and the good people at Postrocket have broken the whole thing down into a fabulous and easy-to-understand infographic, which you can check out here.
Basically, a post’s chances of appearing on your wall depend on certain things, such as whether you interact regularly with the page or profile it comes from, how much other interaction the post has garnered, whether you usually respond to that type of post (photo, status update, link etc.) and whether there has been much negative feedback to Facebook on the post.
And why does this matter to a business or organisation anyway? Because as Pamela Vaughn at Hubspot says, 40% of time spent on Facebook is spent on the newsfeed, and only 12% of time is spent on actual pages and profiles. So, our advice – take a look at the Batman-inspired infographic, and then get thinking about how you can make the most of this new knowledge. That might mean interacting more with your own followers, to build up more of a relationship online, or just sounding very smart when you explain the EdgeRank algorithm to someone else!
Happy Friday, everyone!
Going Mobile
This week, Facebook have launched a new and improved mobile design for business pages. Put simply, your business page on Facebook is now easier for your followers and clients to read and engage with when they do so using iPhone. The same will be true soon for Android users.
You can check out some screen shots of the new design (and its differences to the previous one) here on TechCrunch. Or just try it on your iPhone – we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Pamela Vaughn at Hubspot explains that the improvements come in response to recent data that shows half of the visitors to Facebook pages access them from mobile devices.
Here’s what Vaughn says the improvements are:
• Cleaner Look and Feel: The simplified layout is designed to give page visitors a much more mobile-friendly user experience.
• Easy Ways to Interact With the Page Overall: The new design features buttons for users to Like the page, check in, call the business, or click for more, which includes actions like sharing, sending a message, copying the page’s link, or reporting the page — right below the page’s cover photo and thumbnail.
• Most Useful, Relevant Information Featured Up Top: The new design aims to surface the important information closer to the top of the page so users don’t have to scroll to find critical info. This information includes a close-up map so users can quickly determine the business’ location in addition to the business’ address, distance from the user’s mobile location, hours of operation, price range, and a prominently featured average star rating.
Just in case you’re worried about what you need to do from your end to make the most of the recent developments – fear not! It all happens automatically, so just make sure details are up-to-date, and enjoy the increased traffic that’s bound to come as a result of Facebook responding to user trends.
While we’re talking about mobile, it’s worth taking a look at your site from your mobile device (smartphone or tablet), and seeing how it works and looks to you. The online audience is heading increasingly towards mobile web, and websites need to follow suit. Putting together a web-friendly version of your site doesn’t have to be a huge deal. Here at 3webfeet we’re doing more and more of this work – using the elements of current sites and distilling them to their essentials, and then designing easy-to-use sites which work beautifully on small screens.
If you’re keen to learn more about what a mobile site can offer your business, or how 3webfeet can make it happen, feel free to get in touch with us.
Written by Charlotte Orr
Images – they’re not so tricky, really.
Here at 3webfeet we often field calls and emails from clients (and even friends) struggling to understand the language behind dealing with images for the web – let alone actually optimising them and using them on their sites.
The good news is, it’s not rocket science. And also, there are countless helpful article and posts all over the internet to prove that. We’ve found a great little bunch of tips for optimising images here at Web Marketing Today (these experts often have really useful articles on subjects like social media, web design and much more).
Drew Coffin from Web Marketing Today identifies the following tips that can help optimise your website imagery, by upping the SEO capability and by decreasing load times.
1. Image Descriptions
Make sure you’re using image descriptions when you upload images to the internet. There are three ways to describe an image inside of the HTML tag: a file name, an “alt” attribute, and a “title” attribute. A file name should be brief, but should describe what the image represents, as this is what search engines use to understand what the image depicts. Remember – words need to be separated with hyphens. An “alt” is very important to search engines – especially Google. This is the description we see when we mouse over an image. This description is also used by a screen reader, and comes up when for whatever reason, an image doesn’t load properly. The last description type is title attribute text, and while the search engines don’t use this in searching for images and content, it is useful for providing supplementary info to viewers, and thus should be slightly different to your “alt” description.
2. Use the Right Dimensions
Keeping image dimensions exact is usually the best way of doing things, rather than leaving them to be automatically re-sized by your content management system (CMS). If you need to re-size image and you don’t have the software, we recommend getting to know www.pixlr.com – it’s free and easy to use and you don’t need to download anything onto your own computer. Remember, smaller files take less time to load, so it is worth taking the time to decrease an image’s size before popping it on your website.
3. Use the Right File Type
Web Marketing Today lays this out simply: “There are many image file types, but the most common on the web are JPEG and PNG. Choosing the proper image type can reduce file size and increase clarity. Both of these offer optimization benefits depending on the size and subject matter of the image. Generally, use JPEGs for large, photographic images. Use PNGs for smaller images or images with minimal photographic elements or for images that include text. Use 8-bit PNGs for simple images with only a few colors. To really optimize your images, it is best to compare the same image saved as a PNG and JPEG for quality and image size.”
For more info on this topic, check out Drew Coffin’s post at Web Marketing Today. We find that the best way to learn your way around the image optimisation process is to practice – so have a go, try out pixlr.com and enjoy the results!
Newsjacking – It’s not actually a negative.
SEO (search engine optimisation) trends and techniques are constantly developing and changing, and something newer we are starting to see in online marketing and content development is the increase of ‘newsjacking’.
While it may sound a bit cheeky, as if you might be stealing info to use yourself, in reality it is a perfectly acceptable and increasingly useful way of providing content that is already in demand, and riding that wave by contributing to a more universal discussion.
We’ve learnt more about newsjacking from Adam Stetzer who writes for Search Engine Watch, and he makes the point that newsjacking really only works if your content is timely, accurate, and relates to your business or organisation, or your industry as a whole. For example, there is no point in a clothing boutique newsjacking content relating to a spate of home break-ins, but this might be really useful for a security company. Remember, breaking or developing news stories don’t necessarily need to be bad news either. Here in Hawke’s Bay an example of useful newsjacking might be a winery joining the conversation about this drought finally breaking!
Here’s what Stetzer has to say about what newsjacking actually is:
What is newsjacking?
- Paying attention to breaking news.
- Understanding the keywords being searched for in a particular news cycle.
- Producing high-quality, well-researched content that serves a specific demand for information.
- Syndicating content very quickly to be found when other news organizations search for sources.
Newsjacking works because people are already searching for the content you are adding, and it also works because being part of a wider conversation, whether that’s through your website, blog or social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ makes you more visible, which can only be a good thing as you work to grow your audience.
You can read the full post from Adam Stetzer here, along with some other great tips and info on optimising your online content. Happy newsjacking, everyone!
Facebook Update – you can now put your cover photos to work!
We’ve talked about the use of social media platforms – and in particular, Facebook – here on our blog previously, and are big believers in the growing power of this type of marketing for businesses large and small.
Keeping abreast of the many changes the management of the various platforms are continually making can be a huge task – so we are keeping an eye on things for you! Like recently, Facebook have changed their guidelines around cover photos. In the past, there have been pretty strict rules about what you can and cannot include in your business’s Facebook page cover photos.
The current rules for cover photos are:
“All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.”
Previously, we’ve all had to also follow the following rules in Facebook’s cover photo policies which stated that cover photos were not allowed to contain:
- Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website.”
- Contact information of any sort, like a website address or email address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section.
- References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share,” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.
- Calls-to-action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
Now that these bullet-pointed rules have been quietly removed from Facebook’s policies, businesses are free to make the most of their valuable cover photo real estate by including calls to action (CTAs), hopefully leading in turn to increased engagement with pages and websites.
For the whole story, check out Hubspot’s Anum Hussain’s take on the changes here.
If you’re keen to make the most of this and need a little help, give 3webfeet a call and we can work with you on an effective new Facebook cover photo design, so you can keep getting the most out your Facebook page.
Have just enjoyed updating http://ow.ly/
Have just enjoyed updating http://ow.ly/6gYlh Fisher Funds wanted to make it easier for clients and potential clients to find relevant info.
Launch of Fridays at 5 Piano hour at MED
Launch of Fridays at 5 Piano hour at MED Wine bar & bistro at the Masonic Napier http://ow.ly/4WgvW 5.00 – 6:30 this Friday May 20. Should make a nice way to start the weekend, rather than thudding rock music
Spread The Word – Often and Far
We often talk about our ‘hub and spoke’ approach to integrated online marketing. That’s where your website is the centre of the wheel (the hub) and the various online communication tools are the spokes. By spokes we mean that they can be used to spread the word and keep sending the readers and viewers back to the hub – the website. Spokes these days take many forms – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, You Tube and your e-comms – to name a few.
The key to using these tools is to ensure that they all let your readers and viewers know about the others. For instance, you need to make sure that your website has clear icons for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn if you use them. There should be a feed to your blog, if you have one, on your home page. Your email signature also needs to have clickable links to the social media tools and clickable links to your website and blog. On Facebook your info tab should have links to all the other communication tools you use. And on Twitter and LinkedIn you can also link to other communication tools. All this ‘spoke activity’ makes the wheel go round at an ever increasing speed.
Remember that not everyone uses the same communication channels so, when you have something to say, say it loud and say it often. Update your news on your website, post on Facebook, send a tweet, update LinkedIn and write a brief blog post about it. Your blog should have an RSS feed so that your followers ar the first to know about your news through their email or RSS feeder. And don’t forget to tell your engaged clients, those on your database. If it’s appropriate you can always post a short video with the news too – put a face to the name.
There are automation tools available that can save you time in posting – you can schedule when you want messages to go and where you want them distributed. Whilst this is a great time saver it must be remembered that the followers of the different sites like to get their messages in different forms – some short, some chatty and others more formal – so you need to personalize every now and again.
And finally, remember the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Sir. We strongly recommend that you start small with communication tools and add to them as your confidence and consistency in spreading the words grows. These tools are a reality of online marketing – embrace them and you will find that they pay off.
Facebook Facelift for Businesses
Facebook – a company that just doesn’t like to stand still for too long – is about to make some changes to Business Pages. Facebook calls them improvements and, in some instances, those using Business Pages do agree. At long last you can choose to receive notification about fan activity on your Page, you can ‘Like’ and comment on other Pages as your Page and you can get a news feed from other Pages that you like. This improvement mirrors the functionality that a personal Facebook page has and is a welcome enhancement for Business Page administrators and owners.
Another feature, similar to that recently added to personal pages, is the ability to feature photos of your Page’s recent experiences at the top of your Page. You can also highlight other Pages you are connected with as well as those people who manage your Page. Facebook is becoming more and more visually orientated so it makes sense that Business Pages have the same opportunity to remain current.
However, there are two the “improvements” that the jury is still out on. In the upgraded version of Pages customized tab are no longer shown along the top of the page. These have been relegated to the left hand side bar along with other applications Page options. In our opinion the tabs lose some of their visibility being listed here. Facebook argues that this change brings Business Pages in line with personal Facebook Pages thereby making it easier for the fan to follow. Questionable!
More importantly Facebook have now introduced a filter on your Wall. There are two options for people to see posts – ‘Everyone’ or your Business Page posts . If you choose the ‘Everyone’ as the default setting this means that the wall will publish posts from you as well as other pages that you, as a Business Page, have now liked. Our advice is to set this default as your Business Page so that your own posts take precedence. However you will not be able to stop people from choosing the other view when they are on your Wall. The most irritating part of this change is that Google will now publish posts according to their ‘popularity’ and not in chronological order. This, again, is in line with how a personal page works by default. There is a lot of debate around this ‘improvement’ as many businesses, quite rightly, argue that their fans want to know the latest news not the most popular as voted by Google. Currently there is nothing that you can do to change this as a Business Page owner – but watch this space as the debate continues.
Unless you have clicked Upgrade Now on your Business Page these changes will come into effect on 10 March 2011. If you haven’t upgraded yet we strongly advise you preview the upgrade so that you can be familiar with the changes and respond accordingly. Like all things Facebook – it’s now or never!
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