by Robyn Wright on January 24, 2012
Each Sunday evening from 8:00 – 9:00 pm Central you can participate in #blogchat which is a Twitter chat event where we learn and share about a wide variety of topics related to blogging. These conversations started in 2009 and have been going strong since that time.
There is really something for everyone during #blogchat because the topics change weekly. Even if the topic seems to not have anything to do with your blogging style you will be amazed at what you can still learn that week. This is a great way to think outside the box. If your blog seems to have stalled you will find ideas here weekly to get things moving again.
Start by following the host @MackCollier. Then each Sunday evening start following #blogchat on Twitter via a search or use Tweetgrid or Tweetchat to more easily follow the conversation. Be sure to include #blogchat when you want to be included in the conversation as well. Mack will generally tweet a few times during the day on Sunday about who the guests will be, the topic of the day, and even a link to a blog post that will give you some background information before #blogchat starts that evening.
by Danyelle Little on January 20, 2012
Hello! Two Minds Interactive is excited to announce our first paid opportunity for bloggers. We want to share with you this awesome campaign which is perfect for those of you who do videos on your blogs and participate in Twitter chats and parties.
If you have an Android phone and are comfortable with doing videos on your blog, then this is the opportunity for you!
Click HERE for more info!
by Robyn Wright on December 30, 2011
We mentioned setting goals for social media along with your other resolutions for the new year. Now that you have set the goals you need to set actions to help you achieve those goals. We can all make as many resolutions as we want, but without actions they quickly become broken resolutions.
Let’s say one of your goals is to increase brand awareness in the new year. That is a great goal indeed, but what specific steps will you take to achieve this goal? Here are a few ideas that you might include on your action list:
- Create and use a single logo in all offline and online communications
- Sponsor a regularly held Twitter party
- Purchase targeted Facebook ads
- Offer your services as an expert in your field to local and national media
- Interact with others in the same field
Obviously your actions will be tailored to your own goals and for the field you are in, but try to think outside the box. Write your goals and action lists down and make notes when you take action, the goals achieved, and add new related actions as you think of them. These simple steps will help you to keep those resolutions and grow your business throughout the year.
by Danyelle Little on December 28, 2011
In a few days, the New Year will be upon us. Many of us are making resolutions and goals for 2012—losing weight, stop smoking, learning a new language. But have you thought about adding social media goals to your list? The New Year is a great time to write out your personal or business social media objectives.
You can write out these social media objectives with the following criteria in mind:
- How you want to be perceived online and offline
- New business, business endeavors, products, and services
- Brand identity and awareness
- Potential reach and influence
- New websites/blogs you may be working on or involved with
There are many avenues that you can use to reach your social media goals and objectives. The big three (3), Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are obvious places to go to online (as well as Google +). But there are also other sites such as StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Get Glue, Foursquare, etc. that may also come into play based on your needs, audience, and brand(s). These unique areas for social networking are called Niche Social Media sites, and we went into detail about them HERE in this post.
Do you want to expand your readership or audience? Or do you want to expand your product and services? Social media can be key in doing this. And with the New Year coming soon, it’s a great time to start!
What are your social media goals for the New Year?
by Danyelle Little on December 15, 2011
While I was perusing the Internet for a cleaning company to perform cleaning services in my home, I came across a well-known company that has been in business for years. After doing a little research on their fees and what they offer, I was led to their Facebook page via a link on their website. Once I got there, I was astounded at what I saw. There were many great compliments about the service, but there were also several complaints about the work that was done (or not done) in their homes. And what was worse was there wasn’t any response from the company at all.
Saying nothing when it comes to complaints or negative feedback about your business is not a good thing.
Some of the complaints I saw went back a few months. Here this company is, a huge name, and there is no one monitoring their Facebook page or responding to what is being written on their wall. Why have a social media presence if you plan on not responding to customers?
There are companies who would rather delete these comments and consider it “under rug swept”, but that is even worse. Erasing comments after they have been placed on your social media pages looks as if you have something to hide. And it doesn’t solve the problem at hand.
If you are a business and have social media pages, you should have someone monitoring the pages, as well as responding to comments or complaints—whether they are good or bad.
Here are some tips on how to respond to negative comments:
- Acknowledge- the first step you must take is to acknowledge the complaint. And not defensively. Get down to the problem at hand.
- Apologize- Apologizing doesn’t mean that you admit guilt. It means that you truly do apologize for what they feel has been poor customer service, etc.
- Restate- Make sure you know exactly what the problem is by restating it and making sure you are on the same page
- Research- Track down the parties involved in the complaint. If the party is within your company, do your best to handle it with the employee.
- Fix- Offer to discount of give a free service or item to the customer.
- Make it public- Make it public so that people know that you are doing whatever it takes to satisfy the customer.
If you are in need of social media help within your company, please contact us. We are here to help you!
What are your thoughts about lack of response to negative feedback on a business social media page and/or blog?
Photo credit: Bizibrand.com
by Robyn Wright on December 14, 2011
By default, a user name of “admin” is created when you install WordPress. It does this for everyone, which means hackers know this too and so they already have half of the information they need to get into your site. Considering some of the simple passwords people use (you know who you are) the hackers have some pretty easy work.
To solve this part of the problem, simply go into your WordPress administration page and in the toolbar on the left click Users and then create a new user with the role of administrator. Make sure you create a more secure password with this account. Now sign out and then log back in under your new account. Then delete the old admin user. When you click delete it will offer you the option to delete the posts attributed to admin or attribute them to another user – select to attribute them to the new user.
Many of us feel that our site will never be hacked, but it happens to so many each day. Taking small steps like this will give you an advantage of staying safe over the majority.
by Robyn Wright on December 12, 2011
Chances are you already have a blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account connected to your brand to utilize social media. Those are the big ones, but do not forget about the specialized social media networks available as well. By utilizing these specific networks you can connect with users who may have a higher interest in your brand. Here are five of our favorite networks you should consider.
- YouTube
This is specialized only that it deals in video only. It is huge, ranked as the second largest social networking site, and you should be creating a YouTube channel and videos for your brand.
- FoodSpotting
Do you have a restaurant, cooking items, food products? Connect with like-minded individuals on FoodSpotting to build your community
- Get Glue
Does your target audience watch a lot of TV or movies (or other media)? Find out who is watching what here
- FourSquare
If you have a brick & mortar location you need to create a Foursquare check-in for each location and give as much detail as possible. Reach out to those checking in also.
- Pinterest
For the fashion, artistic, and creative minds in particular, this is where you can build your community by pinning things to your own boards as well as visiting other boards in the same genre.
Again, this is just a small list. Find the networks that are out there where your customers and potential customers are already sharing. Join in and extend your community.
Two Minds Interactive can help you with set up and training of use of social media networks or even handle the ongoing social media management for you. Please contact us for more information.
by Danyelle Little on December 8, 2011
Twitter is an amazing place that allows people to connect to one another in real time. For bloggers, especially, it is a wonderland of opportunity to have your voice be heard. Before the invention of Twitter, there were very few blogs that were considered high traffic sites. Twitter has made it possible for “little ole me’s” to have their voice be heard because people can share their posts, links, and have their work RT’d to other people not in their stream. But somewhere along the way, someone thought of creating auto-follows and Auto DMs, mostly based on marketing techniques and strategies. Then the flood gates were let open and the inauthentic savvy markerters and marketing textbook approach began to run rampant on the social network.
The Auto DM was born.
Auto DMs did come from a good place—it gave the followee the opportunity to thank the follower with a snazzy and inventive opening remark. But it became obvious that it was a canned response not a true genuine introduction. And what was supposed to be a way to acknowledge a new follower became inauthentic and fake.
I have a question for you. If you were at a party and were introduced to someone, would you hold up a cue card and begin to spout a verbatim “pitch”? Would you, instead of shaking the hand of a person you just met, extend a fake, prosthetic hand for them to shake? Hopefully both of the answers to those questions are a “no”—so if you wouldn’t do that in person, why would you do that online on Twitter?
I get that people have to market themselves to get their name and business out there. But the people who are truly successful at marketing are people that don’t look like they are marketing themselves. It’s an organic, groovy kind of thing, not contrived, forced, or canned.
Sending Auto DMs are a complete fail because they scream that they are automatic responses. Even the best ones written cleverly and with thought in mind still aren’t authentic.
So please, I beg of you—just say NO to auto DMs. I promise, the world will thank you.
Photo credit: The Anti Social Media
by Robyn Wright on December 6, 2011
Today a tip that can help your business in two different ways. Consider letting your employees share their stories on your company blog.
By letting your employees share their experiences within your company on your blog it makes them feel more valued. It gives them a voice and confirms that their thoughts are important to the company. The benefits for your company are that you personalize yourself more for your customers. They can see that you care not only about your customers, but also about your employees.
To start this process, think about the goals of the blog and then set up general guidelines for your employees. Give them some ideas on the types of posts you are looking for and give some general guidelines about any company information that cannot be shared (like the secret recipe). We suggest that you do go over each post before it is published to your blog. Remember to keep the real voice and authenticity of your employee in the post though. If you edit it beyond recognition your employees will quickly give up on the project.
Talk with your in house social media professional or contact Two Minds Interactive if you would like us to provide consulting and training for you and your staff on employee blogging.
by Robyn Wright on November 30, 2011
At Two Minds Interactive we have the ability to host a Twitter party on your behalf and utilize the 15,000 Twitter contacts we have collectively to get your message out. With this being the holiday season we know many brands are looking to share special offers and sales to increase their earnings in December. We can help with that by hosting a Twitter party that shares those deals, drives traffic to your website, and gets people talking and sharing about your community. By adding some prizes from your company we can really get the enthusiasm building for your Twitter party too.
From now through December 31, 2011 we are offering a special price of just $500 for a 1-hour Twitter party. This is a significant savings over our regular pricing. We will work with you on creating the event theme, setting up RSVP sites, help you in selecting appropriate prizing, promote the event for 1-week prior, host the party, select the prize winners and collect their information, and provide you with a statistical report after the event.
To schedule your Twitter party with Two Minds Interactive email us at info@twomindsinteractive.com, call us at 877-576-3038, or contact us on Twitter @TwoMindsInterac, @RobynsWorld, or @TheCubicleChick
Each Sunday evening from 8:00 – 9:00 pm Central you can participate in #blogchat which is a Twitter chat event where we learn and share about a wide variety of topics related to blogging. These conversations started in 2009 and have been going strong since that time.
Should You Respond to Complaints on Your Business Social Media Pages?
by Danyelle Little on December 15, 2011
Saying nothing when it comes to complaints or negative feedback about your business is not a good thing.
Some of the complaints I saw went back a few months. Here this company is, a huge name, and there is no one monitoring their Facebook page or responding to what is being written on their wall. Why have a social media presence if you plan on not responding to customers?
There are companies who would rather delete these comments and consider it “under rug swept”, but that is even worse. Erasing comments after they have been placed on your social media pages looks as if you have something to hide. And it doesn’t solve the problem at hand.
If you are a business and have social media pages, you should have someone monitoring the pages, as well as responding to comments or complaints—whether they are good or bad.
Here are some tips on how to respond to negative comments:
If you are in need of social media help within your company, please contact us. We are here to help you!
What are your thoughts about lack of response to negative feedback on a business social media page and/or blog?
Photo credit: Bizibrand.com
{ 0 comments }