Archive for 'Social Media Tools'

Organizing LinkedIn Connections via Tags

LinkedIn is in beta with a new connections page that makes it easier to find, organize and stay in touch with your business contacts. The update adds a panel that makes it much nicer to browse contacts quickly, enabling you to find what you need with a few clicks. You now are able to browse contacts by their companies, industries or locations. Selecting the recent activity filter, you can see who has added new connections.

When you click on one of your connections, a mini profile appears in the right panel, showing you contact information, photo, current position and number of connections.

One feature that caught my attention is the ability to tag your connections. Similar to friend lists on Facebook and lists on Twitter, you now can segment your connections so you can send specific communications depending on which list they are on. It’s no longer an all or nothing selection! This is a feature many have been waiting for with LinkedIn and is a welcome addition. Read more on Organizing LinkedIn Connections via Tags…

LinkedIn Works With Twitter

I think we’ve all been waiting for this (I know I have!). We now have the ability to send our LinkedIn status updates to Twitter to reach a broader audience and updating our status from Twitter to keep your LinkedIn community up to date. This new feature is just being rolled out now so if you don’t see the Twitter icon under your status area, you will!

To get started, click the checkbox next to the Twitter icon next to your LinkedIn status area. You will automatically asked to allow LinkedIn to access your Twitter information. You can always update that information by clicking on the down arrown next to the Twitter icon. They also give you the ability to list multiple Twitter accounts if that makes sense for you.
Read more on LinkedIn Works With Twitter…

Facebook Business Accounts

Recently, a lot of people have asked me about using a Facebook Business Account rather than a Facebook Personal Account to create a Facebook Page for their business. Please note that a Business Account is not the same as a Business Page. People are totally confusing the two and generating a LOT of misinformation about this topic.

Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Facebook Pages and their ad campaigns. They have limited access to information on the site and they cannot be found in search, cannot send or receive friend requests.

Having read this information, I had assumed a business account would enable businesses to create Pages that were disassociated from current employees. Once the Page was created, they could then get employees to become fans, which would make them eligible to be Page administrators. This would be logical as employees come and go and using a business account to be the creator of the Page would provide a way for the Facebook Page to remain associated with the business and not some former employee.
Read more on Facebook Business Accounts…

TwInbox: A Twitter Tool for Outlook

Found out about a nice plugin for Microsoft Outlook that gives you an integrated Twitter client while helping you manage your Twitter followers. From TechHit, it’s called TwInbox. Thanks to Olinda Services for the pointer to this useful tool. Any tool that helps me eliminate the need to click and open a new window to get more information gets my attention.
Read more on TwInbox: A Twitter Tool for Outlook…

Hackers are Everywhere

Unfortunately, nothing on the Internet is immune from unscrupulous hackers, including Facebook.

I received an innocent looking message in Facebook chat from Denise Wakeman (@DeniseWakeman on Twitter). The message raised my suspicion since I don’t know Denise very well, but I saw a Facebook status update in the news feed from her saying ”I’m stuck in London” so I said hello. After a bit of small talk, the person said “I was mugged at gun point and could you help me?” Help was them asking for me to wire them some money so they could get home.

This scam was written up in Techcrunch in January and is still being used to con people into wiring money. Read more on Hackers are Everywhere…

High Five to Facebook

This week I was pleasantly surprised twice by Facebook!

Pleasant Surprise Number 1

The first surprise was a credit to my Facebook account for my Ad that I ran for the Get Connected, Get Found tele-clinics in May and June.

Recently, we have detected an increase in invalid clicks on Facebook. Your account was impacted and as a result, we are crediting your account. Your credit has been automatically deposited into your Facebook account and will apply toward future advertising campaigns. Your credits expire December 15, 2009.

Not only does Facebook give you a PPC capability with very targeted demographics, they also monitor click activity and provide credits if they deem the clicks are invalid. Their help files say that determining what makes up an invalid click is a combination of your daily budget and your target audience with their “secret recipe” applied to the mix.

Now I’m even a bigger fan of advertising on Facebook. I will be starting up the ad again shortly for the tele-clinic that I have scheduled for August. If you are thinking of advertising on Facebook, I highly recommend that you try it out. Take it slow to see how it works, but it does work.
Read more on High Five to Facebook…

WordPress, Not Just for Blogs

Small businesses need a Web presence. It’s the central hub of your social media strategy – the place where you send everyone to find out more about what you do or provide.

The challenge for many small businesses is to obtain a high quality, professional Web presence that is affordable and easy to keep fresh with new content. On top of that, business owners are hearing that if they blog, tell stories and keep people aprised of what they are up to, they will help increase their chance of being found through search engines.
Read more on WordPress, Not Just for Blogs…

6 Twitter Types to Avoid

Let’s face it. If there’s a way to exploit a new service for monetary gain, folks will figure it out. Some of us, however, still find that building relationships and meeting new people is more valuable for our personal and professional lives. Because of this, I like Twitter. I love to follow smart people. I find meeting them in person is twice as nice. And I review (or vet) each new follower before I follow back. I don’t auto-follow, follow everyone and will often unfollow those who break a few of my Twitter guidelines. The following is a visual illustration of my Twitter rules . I have edited out the names to protect the not so innocent.
Read more on 6 Twitter Types to Avoid…