More Facebook Changes and How They Affect Scheduling Programs

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

If you use a scheduling program, like Hootsuite or Buffer, you probably received a fairly technical email last week warning of Facebook changes. 

It went through the changes that Facebook has made regarding Facebook groups and to personal profiles.

These FB changes only affect scheduling posts for FB groups. This will NOT affect scheduling any posts for professional pages or your regular newsfeed.

But there are additional changes that will affect personal profiles.

Social Media Monday—Linking Your Social Media Accounts and Other Major Blogging and Social Media No-Nos

by Edie Melson

Successful social media is something of an art form—with lots of gray areas. Building a successful online presence takes a good amount of flexibility and a little bit of experimentation. But even though I encourage people to find their sweet spots, there are a few things you want to avoid. Today I’d to weigh in on linking your social media accounts and other major blogging and social media no-nos.

Social Media Monday—9 Reasons You’re Failing at Social Media AND How to Fix it

I wish I had a nickel for every one who’s told me that Social Media just doesn’t work for them.

Let me suggest, respectfully, that you’re just going about it the wrong way.

I know it sounds harsh, but hear me out. Today I’m going to give you nine reasons you’re failing at social media and I’m going to share how to fix each one.

Social Media Monday—A Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Schedule Social Media in Hootsuite

Over the last few days I promised you I'd publish a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Hootsuite. Today I'm delivering. One thing I've discovered, there's too much information to put in one single post. So this will be continued in at least one more post.

Now on to business at hand.

Here is step by step how I schedule Tweets and Facebook Posts in Hootsuite.

(Step one picture above)

Step One, I click on Compose message. (It's written in light gray, and a little hard to read against the white)

Step Two, the window expands and I now have access to everything I need. Across the bottom you see the Add a link... window. 

One the other side is a paper clip symbol for attaching something like a photo.
Next is the calendar icon, to schedule my updates.

Next is an upside down teardrop looking icon - this is to add a location.
Finally there is a lock icon - for privacy settings. 

In this window you see three of my social media profiles highlighted. With the free version of Hootsuite (all you need at first) you'll only have the option of setting up three profiles. The paid version (9.99 a month) gives you more platforms.

(Step two picture above)

Step Three, in this screen shot I have added the text for my tweet (complete with hashtags) and copy and pasted the appropriate URL into the link window. Next I will click the Shrink icon and this will shorten my link for Twitter. This is important because in Twitter I only have 140 characters and some links are 40 or 50 characters long.

(Step Three Picture above)

Step Four, in this screen shot (like others before it) you can see the  drop-down menu where I can choose which social media profiles I want this update to post to. In the free version of Hootsuite you are allowed 3 profiles. Also, after I shrunk my link, Hootsuite added it to the end of my tweet. Since I have a Facebook profile as one of the accounts I want updated it also shows me how it will look on Facebook. 

Special Note: There are two backward facing arrows where you have the option of Choosing a thumbnail. With this post, I only have one choice, but often times you can click those arrows and choose which picture accompanies your update.

(Step Four Picture above)

Step Five, now I’m ready to schedule my update. When I clicked on the calendar icon, the scheduling menu dropped down. It gives me today’s date and the option to change the time it goes out. 

After you choose a time, be sure to click the corresponding AM or PM box. If you forget that it won’t tell you, but it won’t schedule either. It will just sit there until you figure it out. (not helpful at all)

There is also a small box beside the Email me when message is sent. If you check this box you’ll get an email telling you the update went out. I used to do this, now I know it’s reliable, I don’t bother. Who needs more emails?

Finally, you can see to the right of the drop down menu, one of my Hootsuite columns titled, Scheduled Tweets. This is where all my Tweets for the day are listed. As you can see, they’ve all gone out for today already.

(Step Five Picture above)

Now it’s your turn...any questions?

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Social Media Monday—Social Media & the Law of Diminishing Returns

A hummingbird is hard to keep up with

At this time there are somewhere between 40 and 60 social media platforms and networks. I say approximately because counting them is about as hard as numbering a charm (flock) of humming birds. And they come and go almost as quickly.

Trying to chase down and join all the networks is not only impossible, it’s completely counterproductive. As writers, we need to remember the purpose of social networking, and it’s not to make a career as a marketer. It’s the means to an end—actually a couple of ends. We want to connect with our audience, and with other industry professionals.

Blogging, Facebook, & Twitter

To that end, there are three things I’ve found productive in almost one hundred percent of situations.

• Blogging.
• Facebook.
• Twitter.

In my opinion, those are the only three mandatory things a writer needs to do to have a valuable presence on the Internet. As you’ve read, I have a couple of other networks I enjoy hanging out on and find valuable, Google Plus and Pinterest. This doesn’t mean those will be valuable for you. I have several friends who find LinkedIn valuable and it has never been so for me.

Another thing I’ve found to be true is the fact that social networking is governed by the law of diminishing returns. I’ve found that spending more than 30 minutes a day ((after you’ve come up to speed and are familiar with social networking tools and platforms) is less effective. And the longer you spend the worse the numbers get.

I spend approximately 30-45 every morning scheduling my main social media updates. Here are some of the things I post:

• Links to blogs I think my followers will find helpful. 
• Shout-outs about successes of others have.
• Questions that start a conversation.
• Quotes I find funny, poignant, or inspiring. 

Social Media is critical for a successful
online presence

During this time I post about 30-40 updates, scheduled throughout the day on various networks. I always allow at least 10 minutes between scheduled updates, that way if I see something during the day I want to post, I'm not hogging the social media stream.

I also follow my five to one rule. For every one update about me, I schedule five about someone or something else. With this, my social media presence never becomes all about self-promotion.

I do all this through Hootsuite. Here's a post on Why I Use Hootsuite. After I finish scheduling everything, I minimize my Hootsuite window and begin work. Throughout the day I'll pull up my Hootsuite account and take a quick peek. Here's what I'm looking for:

• Mentions of my name or my blog (so I can thank the person who mentioned me).
• Interesting articles or blog posts that I can repost to my followers.
• Successes of friends and business associates so I can congratulate them and spread the good news.
• Other things I find interesting.

I just take quick looks all day long, spending maybe five to ten minutes at a stretch.

This method of handling social media has proved successful beyond what I ever imagined. When I do this every day, I can count on adding 15-25 new followers every day. And, even more importantly, I'm not cutting into my valuable writing time.

Now I'd like to hear from you. How do you handle social media? Do you have a plan or is it just hit and miss?

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Thursday Review—What is Your Most Favorite and Least Favorite Social Media Network & Why?

Today I want to go a different direction and propose a question rather than post my opinion. There are lots of things to like and social media, and lots of things that make us uncomfortable. We all have differing personality types and I think this is the perfect opportunity to learn how we can communicate better. By sharing what we like, and what we don't, I believe we'll be able to interact more efficiently.


Just to get the conversation started, I'll give you a few of my opinions.


My favorite network is Twitter. For me it's a no-brainer. I can interact with people in short bursts, connecting without losing large chunks of time. Also, I tend to like short, pithy statements, and Twitter is the perfect medium for that.


I also like Google Plus because I like the way it's set up. It works like my mind, grouping people into circles like friends, family and work associates. I also like that I have a lot of control over who I get updates from.

What I don't like about Google+ is that a lot of my contacts aren't active there. But the worst thing is that I can't access it from Hootsuite yet. I know the folks at Hootsuite are working toward that, but Google+ is the hold-up because they don't want to overload their network. I respect that, but it's still frustrating to have to hope back and forth between Google+ and Hootsuite all day.


Facebook is still frustrating for me, less than it used to be, but still a fairly significant irritant. I don't like the way professional pages are set up to only have large updates from the owner of the page. If someone goes on a page and posts something it shows up in a smaller feed on the right of the screen. To me, it makes a page look like, ME, ME, ME. And I really hate that!


I also don't like how I can't get everyone's updates in my Facebook feed on my profile page. I have to designate each person I want to get every post from. That's just not practical for me with the number of friends I have.


Okay, enough about me. Hopefully I've given you some things to jump start the conversation. Now it's your turn to chime in. Feel free to comment about any network, and ask questions, too.


Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Social Media Update—Why I've Switched from Tweetdeck to Hootsuite

For the past couple of years I’ve been singing the praises of Tweetdeck, an ancillary program to help you organize your Twitter stream. Well no more, I’ve spent the past few weeks switching to Hootsuite and I’m MUCH happier.

Why? Well, unfortunately, nothing stays the same in the changing climate of Social Networking! I know that’s the single most frustrating aspect of Social Media, but it’s one we all have to expect and learn to work around.

Last year Tweetdeck was bought by Twitter. Initially I thought that might be a good thing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Most of the things I liked about Tweetdeck have been eliminated and we’ve been left with a clunky program that’s mostly ineffective.

Luckily, Hootsuite is more than taking up the slack. Now, before you ask, Hootsuite does have a FREE option. That’s actually the account I’m using right now, although I do think I’ll be moving up to the lowest paid option before too long. But here’s what I get in the free account: 

• 5 social profiles.
• Basic analytics.
• 2 RSS feeds.

Best of all, Hootsuite does most of the things Tweetdeck used to do. Here’s a short list of what I like about it. 

• It’s easy to schedule Tweets and Facebook posts
• You can copy and paste tweets into the update window with ease.
• It has two options for URL shortening.
• It keeps track of your @contacts to make tagging easier.
• It has a GREAT get-acquainted video to help even the rawest beginner get started. 

Every morning I spend about thirty minutes scheduling my main Tweets and Facebook posts for the day. I usually line up at least 15-20 updates for the day. I try to schedule them evenly throughout the day so I can reach people in different time zones. Here are some of the things I try to include every day.

• I search my inbox for interesting articles from my favorite social media sites.
• I post updates from my regular writing related blogs, including My Book Therapy, the Blue Ridge Conference site, Novel Rocket and Chip MacGregor’s blog. There are many others, but these are some of my favorites.
• I look to see which of my friends’ blogs have sent me an email update and I try to highlight those.
• Most days I include something about my blog or books, but lately I haven’t Tweeted as much about myself. I haven’t really needed to. A lot of the people I interact with on Twitter are as diligent about posting info about others as I am.

During the day, while I’m working I check Hootsuite periodically to see who’s retweeted or mentioned me.

I do try to do an @reply to anyone who highlights something I’ve done. This accomplishes two things—it gives them a mention and it’s a public way to say thank you.

A lot of people ask me if my schedule has been beneficial? You better believe it! I’ve reached the magic 1000 follower mark on Twitter and I’ve been adding between 15 and 20 followers a day. And, I don’t spend much more than the 30 minutes every morning to schedule my Tweets and Facebook posts.

So I’m curious, how is Twitter working out for you? What are your frustrations and successes. Let’s learn from each other.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie