How To: Automatically Publish Your Blog To Google+ Page

On August 9, 2012, in social media, by Rob

A few days back, Hootsuite announced the addition of Google+ support to their platform. Now, in addition to Facebook & Twitter, Hootsuite users can conveniently post to Google’s widely loved, but rarely used social media network.

HootSuite Now Supports Google+ Page Integration – bit.ly/ObdNfK

— delegator (@delegator) July 24, 2012

This is certainly handy, although not remarkable. However, with this new feature, Hootsuite has become a powerful tool for auto-posting blog posts, via an RSS feed, directly to Google+ (a feature many have desired for sometime). With the growing importance and weight of Google+ in the SEO/SEM world, it is more important than ever to populate your Google+ page with great content, especially from your website.

Here we will walk you though the steps for setting up the RSS-Google+ auto-importing:

Connect your Hootsuite account to your Google+ page. This can be accomplished in a similar manner to the way you added Twitter & Facebook.
In the left-hand sidebar, choose ‘Settings’ and ‘RSS/Atom’.
Choose the ‘+’ button at the top
In the ‘Add RSS/Atom Feed’ panel, you’ll fill out the form with the appropriate information, including your RSS feed address, the profile you’d like to publish to (in this case, Google+, possibly amongst others), how often to check the feed (I would recommend the most frequent option), how many posts to send (most likely ’1 post at a time’), and which URL shortener you prefer.
Once you have your settings in place, click ‘Save’ and you’re all done. Now you can conveniently publish your blog posts to Google+, reaping the benefits with virtually no additional hassle.

Tagged with: google • social media

New Facebook Timeline: 5 Things Your Business Must Pay Attention To

On April 5, 2012, in social media, by Bijan

Facebook switched company pages to the newer timeline format on March 30th. Chances are you aren’t jumping for joy.

Although many users have expressed much disappointment over this non-optional transition, history has shown that the controversial changes made by Facebook to its interface end up being accepted by Facebook’s enthusiastic user base, and we think that this transition will be no different.

Here are 5 areas that you must pay attention to for your brand to thrive within the new timeline:

1. Cover Photo

This is the most visible and important part of your new brand profile. This image will be the first thing that users see when they visit your site. The sheer size and proportion of the page that your cover photo represents means that it will be a major contributor to users’ first impressions.

Tips:

Use a high resolution image for your cover photo. A pixelated cover photo is extremely unprofessional and detrimental to your brand. Pictures taken with a smart phone will appear pixelated in this shot.
The ideal cover image shot will be 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall.

2. Landing Tab (or lack thereof)

The most obvious change to typical business pages is the elimination of custom landing tabs. Before, many businesses would set up their page so that new visitors had to click ‘like’ on a custom landing tab before they had access to the rest of that businesses’ content. With the new format, your company’s timeline will be the default landing page, with no other options.

Tips:

Tabs are now located towards the right of the profile, under the cover image, and look like small thumbnail photos. Get creative with these thumbnails! You can use any image you’d like for your tabs, and also can arrange them in any order.
The ideal tab image size will be 111 pixels wide by 74 pixels tall

3. ‘Pinning’ Important Content To The Top Of Your Timeline

Facebook has never been known for subtle inclusion of competitors’ features, and the ability to pin content to the top of your profile is another example of a trendy addition. Playing off of the wildly popular Pinterest, Facebook now allows brands to pin featured content to the top of their timeline for seven days.

Tips:

Details on exactly how to pin important information can be found here

4. Private Messaging

A new and welcomed addition to the Facebook timeline is the ability to send private messages with users. This feature must be turned on in your page settings, and once that’s done, you may communicate with people who have liked your page. This feature makes it easier and more private to resolve conflicts with customers and users. An interesting note is that you can ONLY respond to a message that has been sent to you. You cannot initiate a private conversation.

Tips:

If your business has the resources to respond quickly to all incoming inquiries, then enable this feature. If your page is only being checked by an admin once in awhile, disable this feature as to not upset users that become impatient from a non-response.
Details on exactly how to enable this function can be found here

5. Milestones

With Facebook Milestones, you can add important events in your company’s history to your timeline. This is an excellent way of better telling your story. Please note that these milestones can date back to before Facebook even existed, so start from your ribbon cutting and add signature events that make your company special.

Tips:

Milestones are best relayed using multiple forms of media. Name your event and add a location, date, text description, and photo to best communicate these company milestones.

We hope everyone has a smooth transition. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below!

Tagged with: cover photo • facebook • landing tab • media • milestones • profile • social • timeline • timelines

The Top Ten Ways to Optimize Your WordPress Blog and Make It More Powerful Than Ever – Part I

On September 16, 2011, in Blogging, Intermediate: 201, SEO, social media, by Wes

1. Top Ten Lists

You see what we did there? Top ten lists are enduringly popular. They present a lot of information in quick, easy to read bits, they give the reader a reason to keep reading, they show off expertise and a depth of knowledge, and they create arguments. And that’s what blogging is all about. Not many people know this, but the Ten Commandments are considered to be the very first blog post.

2. Infographics

In an increasingly visual society infographics are a fantastic way to draw the eye, impart information, and get your blog linked. A lot. Make it good, make it useful, make it colorful (literally and figuratively) and put it out there to get noticed.

3. Keyword-Rich, Compelling, Unique Headlines

This is an SEO recommendation combined with an interest-grabbing tactic. Most people read blogs in compressions (think Google Reader, RSS, etc.) and the headline is often the only chance you have to get them to read what you wrote. Moreover, headlines are a great way to get the attention of the google-bots crawling the internet looking for relevant, useful content. Make your headlines attention grabbers, but also fill them with keywords. For instance, “Optimize WordPress Blog.” See what we did there?

4. Unique Content

For SEO purposes this is absolutely essential. Never take content from another source and present it as your own (unless you’re quoting), and don’t repeat yourself. The bots don’t like it. And you won’t like the bots when they’re angry. Besides, who wants to spend their time reading an un-orginal blog?

5. Reader Participation

Blogs need communities of readers to really thrive. And the best way to build that community is to engage with them. That doesn’t just mean good content, headlines and graphics. That means literally inviting them in, listening to their thoughts and airing their opinions. Keep and cultivate a vibrant comments section (don’t let it get abusive), post reader polls, ask questions, and post worthy thoughts on your main pages as blogs. Involve your readers and they’ll keep you in their life.

Check back in with us in the next few weeks, when we’ll reveal the rest of the top 10 list. We want to give you some time to start working on the first five. See you then!

Tagged with: 201 • blogging • content writing • keywords • seo • social media • writing

Little Debbie Finds The Sweet Spot With Social Media

On May 19, 2011, in social media, by Heather

Yesterday the Social Media Alliance of Chattanooga hosted Emily Barnett, Social Media Coordinator for Little Debbie, to discuss the brand’s strategy. It’s clear that the company values social media as an integral part of their marketing plan. Emily, along with a team of four others, helps manage the Little Debbie brand on Twitter and Facebook. In less than two years, Little Debbie’s Facebook page has gone from a few thousand fans to close to 1 Million. As I’m writing this post, the page has 937,484 “Likes,” and it seems likely that Little Debbie will reach their goal of having a 1 Millionth fan by the end of June.

I’ve listed some of the highlights from Emily’s presentation in hopes that you or your business might be able to learn something from their success:

Engagement

Little Debbie does a great job of engaging their consumers. Whether it’s through contests, national promotions, or the content they create, the brand has had tremendous success getting their consumers to engage with them. The social media team uses HolidayInsights.com to find holidays that they can tie in to their products. Consumers also provide great ideas for content. See this recent photo that was submitted for graduation season – “Swiss Roll Diplomas:”

Photo from the Little Debbie Facebook page

Emily recommends allowing your Facebook fans to sign up for newsletters and your other social media channels from your Facebook page. This will not only help you gain subscribers but will allow your audience to connect with you in their preferred platform.

It was interesting to hear that Little Debbie keeps all comments on their Facebook page, including the negative ones (unless they’re offensive). Companies need a policy in place to know how they’ll handle both the good and the bad. Emily explained Little Debbie has chosen to show the full spectrum of comments and the brand’s openness to criticism and opinions.

Cross-Branding

Little Debbie recently decided to start partnering with other company Facebook pages. The Little Debbie page showcases these partners in the Featured “Likes” section, and they occasionally may post something and tag the company in their wall post.

Emily Barnett, Social Media Coordinator for McKee Foods and the Little Debbie brand. Photo courtesy of the Social Media Alliance of Chattanooga.

For example, Little Debbie partnered with the Bristol Motor Speedway for an event and gave away Little Debbie snacks to everyone in the crowd. They then used social media to promote this partnership further and engage both their customers and fans along with those of the Speedway.

Outreach

Little Debbie has cultivated relationships with bloggers who can become advocates for the brand, Emily says. The social media team at Little Debbie attends blogger conferences that relate to their target demographic and looks for ways to partner with bloggers across the country.

While Little Debbie is a national brand that has had major success with their social media strategy, small and large businesses alike can learn from their efforts. As we can see with Little Debbie, it isn’t about the hard sales pitch. Instead we see how engagement, brand awareness, and outreach go a long way.

If you have any observations about what works for your business or what doesn’t, I’d love to hear your feedback! And if you attended the Social Media Alliance Luncheon yesterday and have other takeaways you’d like to share, please do!

Tagged with: facebook • social media • twitter

How the Community Used Twitter During The Storms

On April 29, 2011, in social media, by Heather

The storms and tornadoes that passed through Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and several other states on Wednesday created a path of destruction that is still hard to comprehend. In some areas rescue efforts are still underway, and the cleanup and grieving for the loss of life is just beginning.

The remains of a home in Ringgold, GA. Photo by Dan Henry of the Chattanooga Times Free Press

I’ve never seen anything like it. When the power went out Wednesday, the phone lines were down, and I couldn’t make any outgoing calls on my cell phone, I had one source of information. I was constantly refreshing my Twitter stream on my phone to get the latest updates on the storm and following hashtags like #CHAwx.

Based on the tweets from our local Chattanooga reporters, The Weather Channel, and citizens reporting what they were seeing, I was getting real-time updates every second. The fact that local news organizations (@WRCB, @NoogaNews, @newschannelnine and others) and their individual reporters embraced the hashtag, gave the community a place to follow and track what was happening as the news rolled in. Since tens of thousands of us were without power (and still are), it was imperative that we were able to receive updates and communicate quickly what was happening.

Speaking of power, EPB (Electric Power Board) continues to do a great job of working as fast as they can around the clock to restore power, repair downed power lines, and remove trees. After the first round of storms passed through, my grandmother called saying there were lines laying across her backyard. She was having trouble getting calls through to EPB. After I unsuccessfully tried calling, I noticed they were taking information on their Twitter page (@EPB_Chattanooga) and replying as best they could to people who were reporting lines down.

Once Thursday morning arrived, hashtags like #CHAhelp for the Chattanooga metro area and #CLEhelp for Cleveland, TN began carrying information about where volunteers and supplies were needed. As the cleanup continues, I’m continuing to see updates today. Thanks to the United Way (@UnitedWayChatt) I have been able to look at their web page of resources, requests, and needs that are being updated frequently.

If you know of other resources or needs in our area, please leave them in the comments below. And if you used Twitter as a resource during the storms, I’d love to hear your story.

Tagged with: chattanooga • social media • twitter

This Month in Social Media: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

On March 22, 2011, in social media, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, by Heather

A lot has happened this month in the world of social media, so read on for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

First up, there have been some major milestones this March:

Twitter turned 5 years old, and March 21st marked the anniversary of the first tweet. Since that day in 2006, Twitter’s numbers have been pretty impressive.

It took 3 years, 2 months, and 1 day from that first tweet to the billionth tweet on Twitter. It now takes only 1 week for users to send a billion tweets.
There has been an average of 460,000 new accounts per day over the last month.
Over the last month, people sent an average of 140 million tweets per day

LinkedIn also hit a major milestone this month by surpassing 100 million members. The company announced their success on the blog:

The Bad

Chrysler

Earlier this month, a tweet from Chrysler, via their social media agency, New Media Strategies (NMS), created the type of publicity the auto manufacturer wasn’t hoping for. The NMS employee who sent the tweet, says he thought he was using his personal account when he sent the following:

Following the tweet, Chrysler issued a statement on their blog stating they do not tolerate inappropriate language, and within an hour, the NMS employee was fired. Chrysler later annoucned they will not renew their contract with New Media Strategies.

The Ugly

Aflac

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of the Aflac Duck, sent several offensive tweets following the Japanese Tsunami. The insurance company was quick to act and fired Gottfried, issuing this statement:

“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac. There is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.”

This month we’ve seen the good in social media, and how important it is for your business to have a presence on networks like LinkedIn and Twitter. As these networks continue to grow, it is increasingly important for businesses to be utilizing these marketing tools as best they can. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen the bad and the ugly this month, more of a guide on “what not to do.” It’s important to remember that social media is an extension of your company, your brand, and your other marketing efforts. Make sure you have a solid social media strategy in place, whether you’re managing your company’s social media efforts in house or through another agency. Your online marketing efforts should complement each other, get the results your working toward, and positively represent your company at all times.

Tagged with: linkedin • social media • twitter

Social Media and Your Business: Twitter 101

On February 8, 2011, in Basic: 101, social media, by Heather

If you’re new to Twitter or you’re setting up your business’ Twitter account for the first time, you may be wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into. Twitter can be a confusing thing at first if you’re not familiar with how to use the “@” symbol, the hashtag (#) or what it means to “retweet.” This post is designed to give you the very basics in Twitter 101 for your business.

Usernames

First things first, if you don’t have a Twitter account and username for your business – get one! Every username is unique, and your business’ name may already be taken. This might require you to get creative (Tip: You can use an underscore in your username which may help. Try Acme_Business if AcmeBusiness is already taken.)

Profile

Complete your profile. You’ll need to create a short bio (160 characters or less), add an avatar (your profile image), add your website, and add your location if you choose. You can customize your profile further, but like I said – we’re just going over the basics here.

The Language

Learn the Twitter language. I won’t leave you hanging – if you want to learn more about the “@” symbol, hashtag, and retweet, see the Twitter Glossary. It may take some getting used to, but the more you use Twitter, the more you’ll get the hang of it.

Tweets

If you’ve read the glossary, you know that a “tweet” is a message posted on Twitter with 140 characters or less. You need to start tweeting for a few reasons:

You need content on your profile. If you want people to pay attention to what you and your business have to say, you need to be saying something.
You need to engage your audience.
You’ll get the hang of things. Learning the Twitter language and how things work takes you actually using it.

Followers and Following

Again, if you’ve read the glossary, you know that there is a difference between followers and following. (Twitter does a good job of explaining the difference between the two.) Most people on Twitter want to increase the number of people following them. When you’re starting out though, you start at zero just like everyone else did. There are several ways to devise your business’ Twitter strategy, which could be another post by itself. Since we’re keeping this brief, I would suggest starting with these two:

Follow other respected people in your industry.
Make people aware that you have a Twitter profile. (Link to your Twitter account from your website, etc.)

Hopefully this post will serve as a good starting point for launching your business’ Twitter account successfully. Once you’re underway, you can begin tracking your success and building upon your efforts. If you have any questions about this post or how Twitter could benefit your business, let me know! Feel free to leave a comment or email me directly at heather.e@delegator.com.

Tagged with: 101 • social media • twitter

The World Series of E-Commerce

On October 1, 2010, in Content Writing, Google AdWords, SEO, social media, by Jake

Well, it’s October, and that means the baseball playoffs are at the forefront of many people’s minds. To pay homage to one of our favorite sports, we decided to create a hypothetical starting lineup of Delegator’s services.

Starting Lineup, Part I

Yes, it may seem like a stretch, but we’ve noticed some patterns in the course of our work that (loosely) resemble the starting nine in a baseball lineup. In this post, I’ll introduce the first half of our services lineup. If we ever make it to the World Series of E-Commerce, these would be our go-to players:

Google Analytics
- Any team needs a reliable leadoff hitter, and Google Analytics is the consummate leadoff service. It gets the ball rolling for everything else on your website. Without this crucial data collection in place, you will be formulating your marketing goals and objectives blindly. Google Analytics gives a sleek, user-friendly framework to tell you who is coming to your site, how they get there, and what they do once they are there.
SEO (site review)
- After Analytics is in place and collecting data, we like to proceed with our #2 hitter, an SEO review of the website. This background review will, like Analytics, give us the information we need to take action on a poorly optimized site. The process includes analysis of the site structure, design, and keyword optimization, among other things. And in line with a typical 2-hole hitter, it isn’t the flashiest service, but it lays an important foundation for the heavy hitters to deliver.

SEO + PPC = Power

Content Writing
- Now we’re starting to get to the heart of the lineup. Content, written for search engines and site users, unique, and keyword-targeted, is a cornerstone of Delegator’s business and fit for the #3 spot on our card. You’ll want your third hitter to be versatile – able to hit the game-winning home run or just a sacrifice fly when necessary. SEO copy can create large gains in organic rankings and boost your traffic or just convince that one extra person to buy your product with a persuasive tagline or call-to-action.
Google AdWords
- Google AdWords, along with other pay-per-click advertising, finds its way into the Cleanup spot of the order. AdWords can drive the most immediate and targeted traffic and conversions to your website. To contend for a title in baseball, you need the power that comes with a cleanup bat (just ask the Mets). And to become a force in the online marketplace, it is imperative to be competitive in paid search. This just so happens to be a core Delegator service – we were the first company certified by Google in our state.
Social Media
- In the constantly morphing e-marketplace, social media engagement is becoming increasingly important as a supplement to the traditionally dominant search platform. In other words, you can’t score enough runs with SEO and AdWords alone. You need a #5 hitter (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) that can pick up a few runs here and there. A solid and diversified social media strategy can be the difference between an average team, and a championship contender.

Part II of this post will introduce the rest of our lineup and our pitching staff, so stay tuned. If you’re interested in learning more about any of the aforementioned services, you can always contact the blog or simply subscribe to our feed.

Tagged with: adwords • analytics • content writing • delegator • google • seo • social media

Social Media: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

On September 24, 2010, in Basic: 101, social media, by Heather

“The world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites. This equates to 22 percent of all time online or one in every four and a half minutes.”

- The Nielsen Company, NielsenWire

Social media has become a world-wide phenomenon – one that businesses have learned they cannot afford to ignore. However, as businesses enter this new territory, there’s bound to be some examples we can learn from. This week’s blog post will focus on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as it relates to social media:

The Good

The following companies make sure their social media efforts reward loyalty, encourage interaction with their audience, and mimic their brand or business.

iTunes: If you want to reward loyalty and increase your fan base, take a look at iTunes Featured tab. If you “Like” this page, you get 10 free songs on iTunes and you have access to other special offers. Give your fans a reason to “Like” your page.

Cranium: The Cranium Facebook page encourages interaction through quizzes and games, while promoting their brand and product at the same time.

The Bad

We know audience engagement is key (see my last post on the Rules of Engagement), but there are thousands of companies out there showing us all what not to do.

Wealth_Formula: This Twitter profile (http://twitter.com/Wealth_Formula) completely lacks the human element.

While tools like TweetDeck and HootSuite make it possible for us to schedule Tweets in advance, this user goes about it the wrong way. Instead of engaging the audience, Wealth_Forumula “yells” at them and tweets identical posts time after time.

Nestle: Below you will find some of the negative criticism on Nestle’s Facebook page over its use of palm oil in products. Things went from bad to worse when the employees behind Nestle’s Facebook and Twitter pages fired back at their critics. Eventually, a Nestle representative apologized to fans for being rude.

The Ugly

United Airlines learned the hard way that social media can have a significant impact on your business.

United Airlines: This company had a customer-service nightmare on their hands after a passenger made a YouTube video about how the customer service department ignored his complaints that his Taylor guitar was broken during his travels. The story was picked up by the LA Times and now has over 9 million views on YouTube.

In response to this customer’s video, Taylor responded in a YouTube video of their own, offering to help the guy out. The video now has over 489,000 views. Taylor properly used social media to capitalize on this oversight by United Airlines.

How to Stay in the “Good” Category
Make sure your company doesn’t make these same mistakes. An effective social media campaign requires thought, planning, and time. At Delegator we understand that time may not be something you have to put toward a social media campaign. From general consulting hours to comprehensive monthly plans covering any number of social networks, we tailor our services to fit your needs. If you’re interested in learning how Delegator can help you manage your social media efforts, contact us.

Tagged with: 101 • facebook • social media • twitter • youtube

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1. Cover Photo

2. Landing Tab (or lack thereof)

3. ‘Pinning’ Important Content To The Top Of Your Timeline

4. Private Messaging

5. Milestones

1. Top Ten Lists

2. Infographics

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