Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
Guest Post by Ronda Payne – Social Media & Sanity
Ronda Payne
Social Media & Sanity
I’m a writer. Let me rephrase that: I’m a writer and an extrovert. See the problem? I’m an extrovert, passionate about my introverted occupation. So, I built a network through social media to keep me sane.
Not long before taking the freelancing plunge, I created a profile on FaceBook. Friends said it was great to stay in touch, but I mostly used it for games. I’d heard of Twitter but, I couldn’t understand the point. Who cared that I’d just had sushi for lunch?
Within a few months of going out on my own, I began feeling isolated. I missed the ability to shout out my office door and get a reply more significant than the dog poking her head in.
I embraced Twitter. I started ‘following’ local ‘Tweeps’ and other writers. I began to see the point. It was a shout out the office door, a connection with others who were shouting out their office doors. I dropped the games on FaceBook and began status updates and interacting with my ‘friends’.
FaceBook is primarily personal, but sometimes I share with work contacts – it’s relaxed and less tactical. Twitter is more work-related, but I do occasionally mention that I’m going out for sushi for lunch!
Sure, I fell into the ‘time-suck’ trap, then, I got a grip – I check FaceBook in the morning when I start my day, or I’ll pop in if someone sends a note. Twitter, I limit to browsing recent tweets and ‘tweeting back’. I do this only when I take a break to avoid constantly checking in. I don’t scan through pages of tweets – because, like the office door, it’s a moment. It’s okay to miss what someone has shouted out.
Social media has become a manageable, necessary part of my business life and, although I’m on other sites, Twitter and FaceBook are my mainstays. There are people there I look forward to seeing and if I’m facing a challenge, or want to share, I shout out my office door to them.
Sometimes I get an answer, sometimes I don’t. The point is that I can seek out advice from the network I’ve built and know that there are people on Twitter and FaceBook who respond when they can.
While social media is a business tool that allows me to connect with others and discuss work issues, for this extrovert, being able to shout out my office door is a tool to staying sane.
Ronda Payne
The World Is Coming – Will You Be Ready?
Back in 1994 the world was on fire for the World Wide Web, thinking then that we have finally found something that was going to change the way we worked and lived. Well, that’s partly true, we can do things we couldn’t do before, but it also didn’t save us time on a personal level. Technology merely allowed us to get more done in a day, we’re still working ridiculous hours each week. What happened, we didn’t see the crash that was coming. Today everyone is embracing Social Media as if it was 1994 all over again, bragging about those organizations that have embraced this environment and are having success. Many think that they have figured it out and will be the example for the rest of us. I believe we are wrong yet once again.
I’m 52 years old, allot has changed in my lifetime alone, Microsoft was birthed the year I graduated, 1975. I remember the introduction of Texas Instruments first handheld calculator, it was clunky and huge just like the first cell phones. Tape recording machines were as big as a suit case, 10 1/2 inch reels of tape spun forever. In the last 5 years, we have almost connected every person in North America via the Internet, 340 Million people use the Internet on this Continent. It’s amazing isn’t it, and yet we still don’t see what’s coming.
In the past 5 years Social Media has made it’s presence known, early adopters tried to tell us about it but we didn’t have time for it. Now we live on FaceBook and others like it, we can connect and talk with anyone who shows up. This phenomenon is also creating challenges for the Corporate world, we are moving away from a business model of control, that scares the daylights out of them. Control implies order, out of control means KAOS!
Today there are 1.7 Billion people on the Internet, that’s 25.6 % of the worlds population. Google is planning to send up 16 Satellites to provide free Internet access to parts of the world not connected today. Imagine if you will, if in the next 3 – 5 years, we were to have 5 Billion people connected on the Internet. How will the Internet look to you then, how are you using it now, will you change what you are doing, and how will we handle the problem of bandwidth? Imagine a day when Internet access is free, or covered in your property taxes. Have you spent time looking ahead, I do, and I can tell you, The world is coming, are you ready, will you be ready?
The Internet is moving away from computers as we know them, everything is going mobile, wireless handheld devices, and in the near future you will spend most of your time in Virtual Reality. The way we do business is changing yet once again, where a conversation is the sell, not the product or service. We are moving into a way of work where collaboration is required to build anything, we will coordinate and cultivate, we will change the way we organize our work. This broadband culture, click to get, access will come before ownership, the value of money will have to be re-determined and so on. We are slowly moving to an Open & Free Business Model, this will be a painful shift, it means the opposite of what we are doing now for the most part. Attention will be the new currency. Trust will be everything.
The World is Coming, Will You Be ready?
The Media Has You – We Are All Sheep!
I know you sit in front of the TV shaking your head over some of what you see and hear, the media has you, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. You know something isn’t right but you can’t stop yourself from wondering what’s so terribly wrong. You know you’re being sold but you can’t help but think everything that is presented before you is a good idea and you must have it. It baffles the mind how easily lead we are as a people, how we just bite the cheese in the trap like the mouse.
We wait for and anticipate the big announcements from some of these huge companies as if they were the Messiah! Silicon Valley can’t wait to tease you with another great technology company making the leap from nobody to something larger than life. It’s everywhere, you can’t escape it, the media has us in the palm of their hands. The Media has you, we are all sheep!
The much anticipated announcement by Apple is a prime example of how the whole world stopped, stood up and paid attention to the moment Apple unvieled the iPad. And now we are inundated with reviews, critics, a bazillion blog posts about what’s good and what’s bad about the iPad. Yes, Apple has developed a new product but why are we so hooked on what happens when the rest of the world is struggling, trying to recover from earth quakes and famine. How is it that we can be distracted by something as trivial as an iPad over these other disasters? I’m already tired of hearing about Apple’s iPad, everyone is trying to break the stories.
It’s simple realy, the Media has us all, the chain around the neck being yanked when they need your attention. It’s attention space selling here on the Internet, TV and what have you. That’s the future of who we will be come, attention freaks trying to make a name for ourselves, building a brand, but we still don’t get it, we can’t keep marketing on the Internet by yelling. We pay attention to Apple because we trust their products and services, we pay attention to Microsoft because we trust their products. The challenge is that it’s not free, it’s time consuming and it distracts us from whats important, the tools are not more important than our lives.
What I’m learning from all of this is, there are fewer visionaries and leaders than there are followers, everyone wants to be out front. The 15 minutes of fame the world is selling you is misleading and unhealthy for most of us. This probably won’t change but, the visionaries will see you and take advantage of your vanity as they do today. I know I’m coming off synical, I’m just trying spread some sanity and help you stay focused on what’s truly important.
The world is changing faster than we can possible imagine, we can’t keep up, some of us sheep will slaughtered in the progress and some of us will become famous sheep. The world of free content, freedom of speach, the freedom to be who we are not will transform business, transform the way we do business and how we continue to function in a connected world. We must move into a place where we are not trapped by the media and big business, we must begin to believe in the impossible, what we can not see yet. Look past the iPad, look past Social Media, look past how to make money blogging, stop and look at how we are moving to an unlimited world.
We must become truly revolutionary, revolution is adopting new behaviour. The things we focus on today must change that behaviour, we must break away from old thinking, we must break away from media as we know it or we will continue to be sheep lead astray. Those who figure out that paying with attention is the new advertising will find themselves out in front of the masses. It’s advertising not @vertising!
The Cloud is where the money is, free content is the new content model, we have to figure out how to monetize around it no matter what the media tells you. Break from old methodology, learn to unlearn, look at new trends that are hard to adopt, look at Social Networking, Content Services, Communication, Money and eLearning. But look with fresh eyes and new thinking. Think about who controls what, who the gate keepers are and which ones we have to remove in the world of free. We are entiring into a world where we all will be mobile, everything will be in handheld devices and everything is and will be on the Cloud.
We are constantly being sold down the river, told a story, distracted by what’s important in life, media must change and you must help re-shape it, re-write the books on copyright to usage rights, develop new ways to monetize around your brand, product or service. What will the world look like when more than 6% of the worlds population is on the Internet, what happens when countries like China breakout from behind the wall? The winds of change are blowing, are you building a shelter or a windmill?
Media comes to us in many forms, it’s the music industry, it’s newspapers, it’s books, it’s radio, it’s television and now it’s blogs & people. In the end, nothing happens without people, the power is shifting back to the people, the problem is also with the people, how we think and how we act. The new media will be built on trust, are we trustworthy? The Media’s would have you think you are not smart enough to figure out what they are doing, they talk to you and expect you to follow like sheep. That’s because they are in a state of protectionism, so beware.
The Media has you, we are all sheep!
The Power of FREE
The Internet is filled with places to get free information, free software, free content, it’s all there for the taking. We can click and get whatever we want right? The Internet is a giant copy machine, we copy everything, imagine what would happen if you took the copy function away, you would lose the the listening function. What would happen then, revolt, maybe the hackers would be the politicians? Pirates would rule the Internet world, how would you stop them or should I say us?
Personally, I think most content should and will end up being free on the Internet, we will figure out how to monetize around that free content, we have no choice, it’s going to happen. There will be wars over intellectual rights, copyrights and royalty fights before it’s all said and done. Access will come before ownership. When we see a threat, we default to protectionism, we should be asking the question, how do we go from copyright to usage rights?
There is so much confusion as to where Social Media is taking us, it’s really reshaping Media to where the new sell is the conversation, the non tangible things matter now more than ever, this is a drastic disruption to old thinking. Why is Social Media so powerful, it’s FREE! You can join any number of Social Networks at no cost, build a following, a brand, and hopefully trust. The best thing is to sell something different like, convenience, experience and trust, generate demand, create new innovation and maybe even add value to the orginal.
Most Blogs provide free content, some have communities attached to them where you pay a small fee to be part of, they add value to a need, that’s one way of monetizing around your content. If you are going to be in this space, you have to decide if you’re going to compete.
Linus Torvalds released Linux back in 1991, Slackware was the first distro to be released, it’s a free operating system that has spawned a number companies that have figured out how to monetize something around the Open Source code. Open is good, it stirs the creative juices, it brings about innovation, and takes creativity far beyond any closed system has ever dreamed of going.
The power of free is far reaching, provides a platform to build something far greater than any one person, we must collaborate to build anything of true value in this attention space. Do you think FaceBook won’t make money from the free to join social network? Where you can be connected to thousands of people, business contacts, business owners at no charge. They will, and it will be astounding how much that will be.
Think of all the things you can get it for free, then think of all the content you can’t get for free, what’s important to you in this circle, that’s what you will pay for. But I can promise you this, if you can get for free, you will, even if it means you have to hunt for it. If you create content of any kind, offer it for free, you will harness the power of your audience. You can’t put content behind walls and generate new money, only in the open can you generate new money, and only then you will see the power of free.
How To – 3 Core Traffic Drivers
After almost two years of blogging and learning the ropes so to speak, I have come down to three core traffic builders that have worked for me here on my Blog. Let me state up front, Blogging is not easy, getting traffic through free (not buying traffic) methods still costs you something in time. In fact, all three of these Core Traffic Drivers require planning and time.
Before I get into my big three, one thing you should do is study the traffic you already have, look for when they are coming to your Blog, time of day and which days of the week. That will help you determine a good posting schedule, which days to post and what time of day to do so. The busiest times on this blog are between 5PM – Midnight Pacific Time, so I post a few hours before 5 PM, I may do a late night post around 10 PM too. I can only share with you what I have done, I use WordPress with Headway Themes,(affiliate link) it has great SEO support within the theme, so I highly recommend it. The big 3 have sub-sets of things you will have to do as well, nothing is truly simple.
OK, let me share with you the 3 core traffic drivers that are working for me.
3 Core Traffic Drivers
1.) Social Media Networks – I have to tell you this is where most of my traffic comes from, not because I’m there, but because I’m always there and you will see me participating with a few people. Thats the hot tip with this Core Driver, openning up an account and then hoping it will just happen will fail you time & time again. Now I realize not all of you will have the same amount of time I invested in Social Media Networks so bare with me for a bit. When I started using these networks I learned alot about what not to do, I’m not going to get into those things in this post but may do so at a later time. In fact, I did write a post here on Owen Greaves Consulting called, ” 10 Days To a 1000 Followers ” , this tells of how I started with Twitter.
One of the key secrets to using these networks is to centralize, make your Blog your home base. Use plug-ins to send your blog posts to your out-posts. Out-posts are these networks, FriendFeed, FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and so on, there are so many of them out there I won’t list how many I use.
The best way to use these networks is to promote other people, promote other peoples products 9 times out of ten, promote your site, products and services at a 1 in 10 or 1 in 12 ratio. Edify others always, help others always,and build powerful relationships with those who are likeminded with you and your blog. Share, Share and share information you find useful for others, things that are interesting and helpful, information that teaches and directs. You need to become a TRUST AGENT,(affiliate link) someone who connects with others and connects business with others, make a positive impact on society. Maximize Social Media Networks, it’s word of mouth that can put you on the map or take you off it.
2.) Consistant Blog Posting – There’s not much to say on this topic because it plain works, post regularly to your blog and the search engines go nuts! This means a couple things, I won’t go into detail but there are a couple of other things you need to pay attention to while here.
a) SEO – I’m not especially strong on this topic but I have learned how to make it work for me. There is a science here that baffles most people, it can be learned so expect to spend some time here. You may need to get help, so don’t feel bad if you don’t grasp it.
b) Study your sites traffic numbers for the purposes of scheduling your regular blog posting strategies.
I have found that posting to your blog regularly builds traffic better than anything, especially if your posts are teaching something of value. This post will be useful to many and should generate considerable traffic, why, because everyone, and I mean everyone is trying to find the silver bullet to getting traffic to their blog.
Again, I won’t go into details on SEO & traffic numbers but they are important. My secret weapon is Headway Themes. (affiliate link)
3.) Commenting on other Blogs /Forums – I fought this hard for along time, I just didn’t want to spend time on other blogs, it felt like I was wasting time. I was WRONG! I think this item is a true weapon for Bloggers, especially high profile blogs & forums that have large followings. I mentioned earlier that this traffic thing takes time, lots of time, and lots of your time.
So what do you do at these Blogs & forums? Answer questions, help those looking for answers, ask a question you need answered, promote someone else’s product or service, strongly disagree on a post, you will get noticed for sure. I can’t stress enough how good this works, I challenge you to spend some time on this and see what happens.
So there ya have it, 3 Core Traffic Drivers that I do and have been working for me, I have not paid for any traffic, I have paid for Affiliate products which you will find in this post and on my blog. Someday I’ll spend money for traffic, but I haven’t as of this writing.
I hope these help you, I’m here helping you make sense of Social Media, Blogging and I.T. Strategies, let me know how it goes for you, please leave comments and suggestions below, I really would love to hear what’s working for you.