Social Media – keeping it under control

August 10, 2009 By 3 Comments

It seems to be ironic writing this on the day that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, but I have to say, I’m feeling that social media has been taking up too much of my time.

To be honest my use of social networking sites is a lot less than many people, but I’m finding that 3 blogs, 2 Twitter accounts, 2 FriendFeed accounts, Posterous, Facebook etc is getting to be way too much. Of course this is without my full-time sales and marketing job and our part-time wedding business (trying to help out with 12for12k as well)! I have a feeling of being overwhelmed with the whole social media thing and it is time to make it fun again. The question is; how to deal with it before I turn into a whiny complainer!

So I have a plan that seems to be working. It is actually working because I’ve added two new tools to my already full toolbox:

Posterous – which I wrote about the other day.

Bit.ly – a great way to post to Twitter and to the Labeling News blog.

So here is how it all works:

Personal stuff.

I’m mainly interested in networking on Twitter with a little Facebook thrown in – mainly for family connections. I’m not quite as active on Twitter as before, mainly because of work pressures, but I’m still there quite often. Posterous is really helping with this because I can post one of my photos there and have it auto post to both my Twitter and Facebook accounts – very nice. Posting to Posterous is so fast (send image as an email attachment), that keeping up with my goal of one image per day is no problem. To be fair, the fact that my Posterous posts seem to be about one or two words long seems to help as well.

I’ve been slacking a bit with post to Totally Incorrect, which I need to work on getting back on track. When I do post here, I’ll often mention the fact on Twitter as well as post a link on Facebook.

I currently have Totally Incorrect and my Twitter account both post to FriendFeed as well so I have a presence there,  albeit in auto post only mode – I don’t do anything else on FriendFeed and rarely visit the site. It is worth noting that I can’t currently auto post from Facebook to FriendFeed after the Facebook guys messed about with the feeds. I’m sure this will change soon ;-)

My accounts on Linkin and Scribnia are pretty much dormant at the moment, although one or another of my blogs is updated in my profile there. Linkedin seems to be full of people either looking for a job or trying to sell me their schemes, I’m not interested in either. Scribnia I like a lot, but I feel it takes time to really get involved there. I plan to get back to it after the end of our wedding season here.

Winco ID Social Media

Our social media marketing efforts at Winco ID are built around the Labeling News blog. This has been working out very well and is well worth the time invested. I’m really lucky to have Kathy and Linda involved in this project which is only going to get better. One thing I try to do is to post at least 4 or 5 links of news about labeling or RFID to the Labeling News Twitter account everyday. These are also posted to the Labeling News FriendFeed account and from there to the FrendFeed widget in the Labeling News sidebar.

Because I’m blocked from Twitter at work (yes, really see my post about social media and the IT guy) I use Bit.ly to both shorten the links and to post to the Twitter account – brilliant move, it I say so myself! There isn’t really much conversation going on in the Labeling News Twitter account – I use my @_djh account for that – but it is getting a steady stream of new followers, even if most of them seem to want me to check out their nude profile!

I like to post the Labeling News blog stories in our business Facebook page too – currently this is a manual operation that I’ll automate soon. I’m really hoping that we will see more automation between Facebook and FriendFeed after the acquisition.

UniqueDay Blog

Currently this blog which I use for my wedding business is very much standalone. This is something that really needs a total refresh which I’m sure will happen this winter. I also have the @UniqueDay Twitter account which is really just a placeholder at this time.

So there it is – my complete social media strategy. Adding Posterous and Bit.ly to the mix has really helped, along with the easy integration that FriendFeed offers.  How does my plan compare compare to yours? Do you find time to get involved in a lot of networks or do you focus on just a couple?

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Totally Incorrect Podcast – July 2009

July 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Alright – I’ve finished the first edition of the Totally Incorrect Podcast!!!

You can listen in the little media player you should see below.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are links to some of the stories and people mentioned in the podcast:

Person of the Week: Brian Gardner

The 12for12k Challenge

Twitter for Business Guide

Fool of the Week: Doug Meacham’s post about BestBuy

England vs Australia at Lord’s – from the NY Times even!!

The fantastic theme tune is No-one to Blame by Lee Douglas

I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Any ideas on how to make it better? Feel free to leave me a comment!

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Social Media – Over Hyped?

July 12, 2009 By 16 Comments

You know what, I really like social media. I use some of the mainstream social media sites and I get a ton of value from them.

On Twitter, I’ve met a lot of really cool people, learned so much about many subjects and discovered 12for12k. I use Facebook mainly to keep in touch with my family and I also use some of the other sites such as Linkedin and FriendFeed.

For a while I’ve been reading how social media marketing makes all other marketing techniques obsolete and how the mainstream media might as well pack up and go home because social media is faster and more relevant.

I’m coming to the conclusion that most of this is just complete crap. In the marketing world, social media certainly has a big role to play in engaging customers and prospects in conversations. But let’s not kid ourselves here, any marketing person who is more away than Michael Jackson understands that social media tools are just one part of a balanced marketing plan – often not the most important part.

Ah, I hear you say – what about the news? It took the mainstream media 30 minutes to get to the Steve McNair story. Know what? I don’t care. The only people who I can imagine have any real interest in this (and others like the Jacko story) are family and friends – the people directly affected. And while we are on the subject of how great social media is for news, I was reading on Twitter just the other day how the Queen had died. As much as Prince Charles would love to take over the job, I think he has to wait a while yet.

Hey, I can live with all this stuff – whereever you go there is always some BS.

What really has me going is reading all over the Internet that Twitter should be awarded the Nobel Peace Price – mainly because of Iran.

Really, what has Twitter done to help Iran? To be honest not a lot. I know some people made their avatars green to show support for the opposition supporters in Iran who had adopted green as their colour. I must say, I’m at a loss to understand how this would affect anything. Even though a lot of people (in the comfort of their western home or office of course) had green avatars, all I’ve seen is dead people and the same government as before. I’m pretty sure that 90% of the green avatar people know little or nothing of the political and cultural life in Iran, I bet quite a few wouldn’t be able to locate the country on a map!

So Nobel Prize material? I don’t think so. But heck, Al Gore got one so maybe it is possible :-)

While all this is going on, I’ll continue to look at social media as a great way to network with interesting people and as a learning tool.

What do you think? Should Twitter be a Nobel laureate? Is the social media hype getting too much for you as well?

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Why Support Eye Care for Kids?

July 10, 2009 By 5 Comments

A few days ago I wrote about Eye Care for Kids being the July charity for 12for12k.

As the first charity of the second half of the year, this is quite a contrast to the June charity, UNICEF. Whereas UNICEF operates on a global scale, Eye Care for Kids works on a much smaller scale, covering the US state of Utah.

This is one of the great things about being a 12for12k supporter, the opportunity to make a difference to a diverse range of people, all of whom could certainly use our help.

Based in Salt Lake City, Eye Care for Kids concentrates on the poorer areas of the state, including the Native American reservations. So far they have helped nearly 20,000 visually impaired, low income children – not bad hey?

One of the good things with these smaller charities is that every single donation can be seen to make a real difference. For example, a donation of $25.00 is enough to provide an eye exam and eye glasses to a deserving child. Giving a child the gift of good vision can have a fantastic effect on their life.

For most of my life, I’ve done very little to help charities. I’ve been too busy, too broke, too lazy or thought that the small amount I could give would make no difference. That’s the idea of 12for12k, if we join together and each donate a small amount, the result will indeed make a difference.

If you are like me and enjoy all the things that social media gives us for free, you might feel it is time to contribute just a little back. Bring vision to America’s kids!

Want to lean more about 12for12k? Head over to the site.

I’m in – are you?

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My Social Media Avatar

July 6, 2009 By 6 Comments

I was inspired to write this story after reading this great article by Gina LaGuardia on her blog.

In it Gina explains (much better than I could) what the 12for12k charity means to her and how important using the special avatar is for her. I strongly suggest you read what Gina has to say.

It got me thinking because people often ask me about my social media avatar and I don’t think I’ve ever done a very good job of explaining it. So here is an attempt to do so.

There are two parts to my avatar – the 12for12k design and the picture of me; both of these are important parts of what I do.

The 12for12k charity is something I really relate to. I’ve never really been involved in any charitable organizations before so this is all quite new to me. I’ve always used the excuse that I’m too busy or too broke to make contributions to anything – of course neither is really true.

Like many people I heard of 12for12k by coming across Danny Brown on Twitter. It seemed that everywhere I went, the guy in the cap was already there and (despite of the damage he does to the English language) I found I often related to what he had to say. As the founder of the movement, what Danny often had to say was that through 12for12k, a lot of ordinary each making a small contribution could really make a difference. Sounds good to me.

So since then, I’ve become an enthusiastic supporter of 12for12k which supports a different worthy charity each month. Sure, some appeal to me more than others but I think the movement is really important. We all get so much (a lot of it for free) from social media so there’s really no excuse at all not to give a bit back.

The photo of me is special to me as well. Our family has a wedding business. Photography for my daughter and I, hair and beauty for my wife.

Last year we shot a sunrise wedding at the summit of Mount Washington – the highest point in the north eastern United States. We were at the summit of the mountain at about 5.00 AM hoping for an outdoor ceremony. Of course, Mount Washington is famous for its bad weather so we were forced inside. The image of me was taken by my daughter on the steps of the Tip-Top House, a small building right on the summit where the wedding took place.

After the wedding we hiked down the mountain with the couple and their friends, an unforgettable experience.

So Gina is right – an avatar can be very important. Here are some images from the wedding.





Thanks for the inspiration Gina!

Oh, if you’d like to learn more about our wedding photography and beauty services, head on over to our UniqueDay Events site.

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Blog of the Week – SEOMoz

July 2, 2009 By 4 Comments

If you are anything like me, you probably find the whole Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a bit of a mystery. Let’s face it, how many of us could claim to know our link juice from our Page Rank? Not too many I bet!

It seems to me that getting one of my lame sites to actually show in Google (or other search engine) results is as much black magic as technique. What makes the whole thing even more frustrating is that for a business, getting good search engine placement is pretty much essential for success. What is a sad marketing person to do?

Funny you should ask that because I have a solution.

For a while now I’ve been reading the blog over at SEOMoz and it is one of the best places I’ve found to learn about the basics of SEO. If you hang out in Social Media at all you’ll have come across Rand Fishkin, the inspiration behind SEOMoz.

I’ve not met Rand in person, but I have a lot of time for what he has to say. He is one of a small core of people who seem to love sharing their knowledge and I find myself reading his blog just about everyday.

Rand not only shares his thoughts on how to be successful with your SEO, he also writes about his business, raising venture capital and is an all around interesting guy – someone you know would be good to chat with over a beer or two!

Even better, SEOMoz isn’t a one-man band. A number of people from their team write on the blog or take part in the videos – serious geek factor sometimes, but always done in an accessible way. While SEOMoz clearly has the mission of selling their consulting and SEO products, there is just so much great info that they make freely available for anyone.

So here’s my thought – getting our websites found is vital for success so part of my strategy is to make sure I read the SEOMoz blog. That’s why it’s Blog of the Week!

How do you get found in search? Do you use a company like SEOMoz to help? Do you read Rand’s blog?

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12for12k Special 12 hour video-a thon

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This is short notice, but very important.

As you’ll have noticed, I’m a supporter of The 12for12k Challenge, a great team of social media enthusiasts looking to bring people together to help worthwhile causes.

The end of June marks the half way point of this year’s challenge and we want to mark this in spectacular style.

As a result there is going to be a 24 hour video-a-thon, tweetathon starting at 10.00 AM EST on Monday.

There is going to be a fantastic lineup of entertainment and some great prizes and giveaways – including a special one from me.

To find out more head over the the 12for12k site without delay.  You can also follow 12for12k or me at Twitter.

12for12k is a great community of really cool people. Why not join in with us in helping ordinary people do great things. Let’s get the June UNICEF campaign finished on a high and build some momentum for next month.

Want to get involved with hleping other? Join us in 12for12k!!

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Social Media Icons

June 19, 2009 By 1 Comment

No self respecting blog is properly dressed without a nice set of Social Media icons. Totally Incorrect is no exception and I’ve been looking for a set of icons that would fit in with the design of my site. Not being able to find anything I really liked, I decided to make a set for myself.

As you can see from the image above, my icons are designed to fit in with the thumbnail iamges I use on the homepage.

The set consists of icons for Twitter, Facebook, Technorati, FriendFeed, Scribnia, Delicious, Linkedin, Stumbleupon, WordPress and RSS.

If you’d like to use any of these on your own blog, you are most welcome to do so. You can download them in a zip file from my LiveDrive site.

Let me know if you like them.

Do you use Social Media icons on your site? Do you know of any good resources for this kind of thing?

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Blog of the Week – Kids are Heroes

June 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

OK, so Kids are Heroes might not strictly speaking be a blog, but I want to recognize it anyway.

Kids are Heroes was set up my Gabe O’Neil and his daughter Mary Margaret and it strives to help young people do great things – become heroes!

As I understand it, the idea for Kids are Heroes came from Mary Margaret and she was able to get her dad on board – I think she was 9 at the time so this is pretty cool. It was also rather fortunate that Gabe just happens to be a web designer so he was able to put the whole thing together.

Check out the Kids are Heroes site to see some of the cool things Mary Margaret and Gabe have been able to set in motion – really impressive.

Kids are Heroes was recently chosen to be featured on PitchTV, on Virgin Atlantic flights. Watch the video, introduced by Richard Branson.

And, as if this family isn’t amazing enough already, Gabe’s brother Greg is heavily involved with another children’s charity Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW). Gabe himself also finds time to be an enthusiastic supporter of 12for12k which I really appreciate. I’m really hoping that we can somehow get Kids are Heroes to be a 12for12k charity one month.

Oh, since this is supposed to be about blogging, you can check out Gabe’s blog as well as follow him on Twitter where he is @kidsareheroes.

Quite a family and a worthy Totally Incorrect Blog of the Week!

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Blog of the Week: Vlad Dolezal

June 2, 2009 By 1 Comment

According to Wikipedia, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş), or simply in Romainian Dracula (November/December 1431 – December 1476), was a Wallachian (present-day southern Romania) Voivode.

Um, excuse me a second …… what’s that? Oh, wrong Vlad!

Sorry about that; let’s start again.

Vlad Dolezal is a blogger who lives in Leeds – life there is just as exciting as that led by the other Vlad. Now, it so happens that my Dad is from Leeds and I’ve spent a lot a time there. This leads (no pun intended) me to believe that our friend Mr. Dolezal isn’t really a Leeds native, but I’m a sporting guy so I’ll let it go.

Vlad Dolezal is a great blogger. His blog shows up in my Google Reader as “An Amazing Mind” although he has recently changed the name to “Fun Life Development.” Whatever it’s called, you’ll find Vlad’s blog at http://vladdolezal.com/blog. I prefer the original title because this guy’s mind is indeed amazing.

Read any of his stories and you’d swear it is written by an older guy, someone who’s been around and experience a lot. You’d think the stories were were written by someone who has been studying for many years at the highest levels of philosophy. When you realise that the blog is written by a bloke studying mathematics at college you’ll be – well, amazed.

I’ve been reading Vlad’s work for quite a while and often thought that he needs to be Blog of the Week sometime. Two of his recent posts have ensured that he gets this unique accoclaid. The first one was where Vlad announced that since he is a huge open source fan, he felt it was only right to change the copywrite licence for his blog. So now Fun Life Development blog is licensed under the WTFPL Licence. Go and read his post about it right now.

The other post is the one about his “Free Hugs” session. Vlad actually went out onto the mean streets of Leeds with a big sign offering free hugs. Crazy or what – I mean no one in their right mind would do this; least of all in Leeds. His story of the day is just so funny and inspirational.

No question, Vlad Dolezal is an inspirational guy. That’s why he is the writer of this weeks Blog of the Week!!

Sorry about all the Vlad the Impaler references Vlad. I know I’m hardly being original – just couldn’t help it :-)

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