Dive into the archives.
- How To Fail At Using Twitter To Drum Up Business
Several times over the past few months I have received some ridiculous communications via Twitter from freelancers or small businesses who obviously are new to Twitter and have clearly decided to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon in an attempt to utilize the tool to find new clients. The reason I say these exchanges are ridiculous is because they have been asking me – a web designer – if I would like to hire them to do web design! Not asking if they can assist me or if I need an outsourcing contact, but flat out asking me to hire them to design a website!
Thanks to yet another misguided attempt at engaging me as a client for web design recently, I have written this post to help identify some critical steps that should not be overlooked if you are trying to use social media to drum up business. My hope is that it will provide some much-needed guidance for those that are new or considering diving in, while simultaneously aiming to rid current social media enthusiasts of the annoying, hard-sell marketing spam that is making its way onto our platforms.
- Are “Lists” The New Twitter Status Measurement?
Let me start this off by saying that I have not made use of Twitter’s new “List” feature because I don’t use the Twitter web interface nearly as much as I use Tweetdeck (here’s a great article explaining Lists). At first glance it seems that the new feature is very similar to Tweetdeck’s “Group” feature that enables me to create groupings of specific people who I wish to organize their tweets and perhaps watch them a little more closely than others or for particular reasons. After doing a little research there is one apparent difference: lists are public. My groups in Tweetdeck are not.
I believe this is not just a good expansion of the social networking capabilities of Twitter, but it is also very strategic. I would be willing to bet that the geniuses behind Twitter, while creating a very useful addition to their already powerful and revolutionary tool, have also taken into consideration one of the driving forces behind its popularity: the competitive human nature that pushes for social media status and measurable success.
- Behind The Avatar #1: Jack Franklin – 17-Year-Old Web Developer and Editor of The Web Squeeze
Today I will be starting a new feature here on the blog in which I will introduce you to people and blogs and websites who I have found to be of value to my education and life experience. Whether I follow them on Twitter or subscribe to their blog’s RSS feed or have interacted with them in some other way, these are people that I am getting to know and want to encourage you to do the same. In keeping with the spirit of previous posts on this blog, I want to try to bring to the forefront those that for one reason or another are not as well known as some of the more “popular” in their field.
This feature will appear at least once if not more per week. When I am recommending someone on Twitter it is a direct replacement of my previous #FollowFriday posts that I used to do each week, thanks to the bit I wrote a couple weeks ago about #FollowFridays Are Like Flowers At A Funeral. That got me to thinking I should recommend others as I am inspired by them, rather than waiting until Friday. Then I decided to expand outside of the Twitterverse and include many others that are becoming a part of my online life in some way.
The idea here is that there are countless avatars and websites and icons and blogs. But every single one of them has a person or people behind them. Get to know the person a little bit and you will be all the more interested and invested in what they have to say and share.
Jack Franklin’s AvatarSo today I am pleased to introduce you to Jack Franklin, a 17-year-old web developer who was born and raised in Falmouth, England.
- Influencers, Followers and Friends – Oh My!
Is social media unwittingly watering down the true meaning of these words and affecting our relationships in the offline, real world?
- Exploring The Oxymoron of Automated Social Media
In this post I want to focus on the oxymoron of automated social media. An oxymoron is the combination of two normally contradictory terms, in this case “automated” and “social”. Webster’s definitions pretty clearly demonstrate the contradiction of these two terms. Yet automation in social contexts is becoming more and more the norm.
- Monthly Mother Lode of MacDaddy Links: August 2009
This is it – you’ve struck the Mother Lode of MacDaddy links! All my Delicious bookmarks from August 2009 compiled and somewhat organized by subject matter. Not claiming to be the TOP links of the month (whatever that is) but these are links I have saved to my own personal bookmarks because I have found them valuable and useful.
- How To Build Your Online Presence On The Cheap – Step 2: Choose Your Name Wisely
As we look at how to choose a name – or how to promote your existing name with your online identity – it is important to rely on your answers to the questions from the previous installment. Be sure to have them in hand – especially your goals. If there is one golden rule I have learned in every occupation and endeavor I have undertaken, it is that you MUST hold everything up against your goals. Before you make a move or a decision, you need to ask the question: will this help me accomplish my goals? If the answer is yes, then go for it! But if the answer is no, don’t bother. I wouldn’t suggest completely trashing an idea or thought just because it doesn’t line up with your goals – save it just in case. You never know – your goals may shape into something that could benefit from the idea later, or the idea may help to birth something that does help your cause.
- How To Build Your Online Presence On The Cheap – Step 1: Start With A Good Brand
Today I am starting a series based on some of the many questions I am asked by clients, friends and others who are realizing they can no longer sit idly and watch the social media world pass them by, or they are already involved but aren’t clear about the best steps. My goal with this series is to give you the tools to inexpensively set up your own online presence from start to finish by using the insights and links and my own experiences as best as I can provide them. While this may seem counterproductive to building my own business as a freelance web and graphic designer, I assure you it’s not. The reality is that many individuals and small businesses cannot afford the services of a professional designer, developer and/or social media manager, so this is an attempt to help them out however I can. A lot of the information I can provide is available online anyway, so it’s not like I’m giving away secrets. I just hope to make it a little bit easier and to save you some time and money along the way.
- KAVANA: What Is The Aim of Your Design?
What I want to explore is the concept of “aiming” design. The depth of intention behind the design we produce. My hope is that by discussing this I might (and you might) rediscover the creative soul within that compels us to produce the artistic expression.
- How I Got 3500+ Twitter Followers In 90 Days (By Just Being Me!)
If the title of this article brought you here, it’s probably VERY important that we make a few things clear right away:
1. If you are reading this because you are thinking Twitter is possibly the next biggest marketing tool ever, and want to figure out the quickest method to gain the largest amount of ‘targeted’ followers in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of work, let me save you some time. Run far away from the rest of this article. Be afraid. Be very afraid. And please don’t send me your Twitter spam once you find the Twitter Traffic Machine or the Twitter Trick or whatever scam you think will get you rich with minimal effort.
2. I do not claim to be an “expert” or have a “system” that I am trying to push or sell or anything like that. I just want to share some of the things that have helped me to not only gain a large amount of followers but more importantly broaden and strengthen my Twitter experience.
3. This is not a step-by-step “how to” guide. This is just insight into what I’ve done. Maybe it will help others or maybe I’m the only one in the world that will have the relative success I have had. Either way, I think there are some general principles that are worthwhile and transferable to anyone’s Twitter approach.
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