Twitter and Facebook: Should you link them?

 

Hello my fellow social media gods and goddesses. Are you ready to explore, once again, this fascinating world of Social Media??? Well go grab your favorite beverage or perhaps a sweet treat or two and get ready for your next adventure.

Today we are going to explore the question should I link my Facebook and Twitter accounts??? There are some things you may want to consider before you make your choice and if you already have these accounts linked, you may want to rethink that choice.

You can link your Facebook so that the posts there will go to twitter and you can link it so that your twitter posts show up on Facebook. The most common reason people link the accounts is so that they only have to create posts for one account and it will be posted in both places. 

However, Twitter and Facebook are 2 different worlds. Chances are you have very few who are following you on both.  Your market on each is very different and as such your posts need to reflect the difference. Facebook is more conducive to having conversations than Twitter is and you want to be sure what you post there are about building relationships. Twitter on the other hand is like speed dating. You have a very short period of time to gets someone’s attention.  On Twitter you can post many more times during the day before you annoy somebody. Facebook is much more fickle when it comes to this. Those that use Facebook do not necessarily tolerate 10-20 posts in a day but Twitter users will. The lifespan of a tweet is very short compared to the life span of a Facebook post. 

The reasons for using Facebook and Twitter are very different. As Facebook allows for more characters in your posts it is better for sharing more of your perspective. Twitter is about sharing little sounds bites…little bits of information. So what works on Twitter will not necessarily work on Facebook and vice versa. The content you post on each should therefore be reflective of the differences between these 2 worlds. 

If you are considering linking these 2 accounts you may want to really think it through. Is it really worth it just to save time if you are not going to get the desired results? If you already have these 2 accounts linked, you just may want to rethink your choice. While linking them may seem at first blush a great option…chances are it is not going to be as effective as you think it might be.

If time is a issue then consider using something like Hootsuite which allows you to schedule posts on either or both accounts.

Until the next time…Happy posting!  

Facebook "Poke" Ponderings

Greetings my fellow social media god and goddesses.Today we are going to explore the Facebook Poke? Have you ever been poked on facebook and wonder why? What is the point? Yet you find yourself "poking" people back???  To poke or not to poke that is the question!!!!   

Would you believe that there is a group page on facebook devoted to divulging the meaning of the poke?? It has 115 members...serious! Facebook Poke Group is where you can this group.

So here is the thing about the "poke".  It means whatever you want it to mean. Some of the more common meanings people give it are: saying hello, to get someone's attention or to flirt.

So poke who want to, poke when you want to and poke for whatever reason and above all....do not take it so seriously...it is just a fun thing to do!

Facebooks Land of Interaction

Greetings fellow social media gods and goddesses. Are you ready for yet another adventure as we explore the World of Facebook? Today’s tour takes us to the important Land of Interaction. This is a wild and truly unexplored land. Like so many adventurers before us, this is where you get to carve out your own path…charting your own waters so to speak. 

Facebook is designed with communication in mind. This is where you get to apply your conversational skills. Ahh the art of conversation! The most important factor here is listening. When someone is speaking are you just hearing them or are you listening to them? The same idea can be applied to facebook. Just hearing someone is when you scroll through your feeds, casually liking everything you see or commenting with posts that do not invite further conversation. You are just hearing when you share someone else’s video, picture, event or link without adding your own comment. When you do those things you are just going through the motions because someone told you should be doing those things.

When you are really listening then you can add value to the conversation. Even if you only have time to use the “like” button, then only “like” those posts you really do like. People do place value on this and take it to mean you really do like it. If you just go through and like everything it is not adding value and decreases your creditability. Better yet though add a comment if you can. Your comments should be conversational. Write what you would say if that person was sitting across the table from you. 

The other important part here is talking…..Do you converse with people you know or do you reach out to those you do not know? If someone you do not know very well or at all why not comment on their posts? What a great way to get to know somebody. Why not send a private message and start a conversation if you want to get to know them better or know more about their business.
When you post something are you talking to people or at them? Who are you talking to, just the people you know well? Your personal friends may get a kick out of a picture of some dish you are enjoying at a local eatery but why not add a comment that invites others to respond? 

These ideas are just some food for thought so to speak. The more you use facebook the better the feel for it you will get and the better you will be at expressing yourself and what your business offers. Facebook is an opportunity to foster relationships and can be very effective in allowing people to know you, like you and trust you. So have fun and enjoy the conversations!

Our next adventure will take us to the land of Business Pages. Where the rules are slightly different or are they?

The Land of Facebook:Tips on the Do’s and Dont's

Greetings my fellow social media gods and goddesses. I hope you are enjoying your stay in the World of Facebook…. Before we embark into the Land of Interaction I would like to take you on a wee bit of a side tour to explore the fascinating land of do's and don'ts
                                                 

There are no real rules as to what is guaranteed to work but there are some things you want to be sure to do and some things you want to step away from….

1. Be sure to: complete your profile and be sure to include what your profession or business is, a brief description of what you do, contact information, your website and some of your interests: not all of them but some of them so others have a way of relating to you. Be sure if you have a brick and mortar business you include your address. You want people to be able to find you.
2. Be sure to: share your content of information related to your business, promotions, specials, newsletters, pictures,videos etc
3. Be sure to: share your content in a warm, inviting, creative and authentic manner.
4. Be sure to: be consistent.
5. Be sure to: build your friends through people you know, have met or may want to establish a relationship with.
6. Be sure to: thank those who asked you to be friends and who accept your friend requests.
7. Be sure to: use applications that link your facebook , twitter, blog, newsletter etc.
8. Be sure to: use programs that allow you to schedule your posts.
9. Be sure to: comment on posts that you authentically can even if you do not know that person, it is a great conversation starter.
10. Be sure to: read the profiles of new friends so you can get to know them better.
11. Be sure to: share posts of others that you think your friends/followers would be interested in.
12. Step away from: games, poking, cute little requests applications.
13. Step away from: posting too frequently, space them out throughout the day.
14. Step away from: creating posts geared for those you are familiar with and already know you.
15. Step away from: the newest and latest applications until you check it out to see what value it has for you.
16. Step away from using a fan page: When you first get started, don’t start a fan page until you have built a following for you and what you do.
17. Step away from: liking everything under the sun. This does not give you creditability.
18. Step away from: posting information that is too personal. Ask yourself if this is adding value before you post.
19. Step away from: posting your dramas. This is too personal and detracts from your credibility.
20. Step away from: the selling mindset. Facebook is about relationships and interactions. 


Our next adventure will be to explore the Land of Interactions in the World of Facebook. So enjoy your visit to this fascinating and uncharted world! 

The Facebook Adventure Begins

Greetings my fellow social media gods and goddesses. The Social Networking Express is now arriving at our next destination: The World of Facebook. We are going to be visiting this world for awhile so unpack your bags for day 1 of our visit. Today’s tour takes us to the Land of Posting on Facebook so that you can be familiar with what to post or not to post there.

The World of Facebook, where there is a thin line between personal and business, is perhaps the best social networking site so far. It has so many bells and whistles that one can get overwhelmed easily with what to do with it all.

So many got into Facebook to just keep in touch with family and friends and it is understandable when it comes to personal pages you would want to keep it that way. However, when it comes to your professional life you may not want to mix the two and this is where the fine line is drawn. The rule of thumb is personal page for you, business page (aka fan page) for your business but as your business page is linked to your personal page it is easy for that line to get blurred and fuzzy. What is best to remember here is that you are your business, the face of and the person behind it. You can use your personal page as a way for not only people to get to know you but for you to reach out to others. Here are some things to remember when posting.

Keep your personal page posts personable but not personal. Do not share anything on there you would not want to read in a newspaper if your posts were to be published there. Think about what it is you are posting for you are not only sharing a piece of you but it also gives people reading it something to relate to. People do business with others they know and trust. So post things of interest to you. Do you really want to post that you and your spouse are fighting? If you are posting a picture of your dinner, then say something about it. If it is something you made then talk about that. If the picture is from your favorite dining spot, then post information about that. Remember you are talking to people when you post and not at them. Would you email a friend a picture of a dish you just made without telling them more about it? Probably not, then don’t do that on facebook. When people read your posts they are listening to you. What are you saying to them?

When posting about such things as the news, weather etc make it inevitable so as to engage in a conversation with those listening to you. Negative posts end a conversation. If you post something like “I hate the rain”, where is the conversation in that? If you were instead post….Wow look at all that rain, how is it effecting your day? That invites people to respond. While you will want to express your own personality in your post, I am sure you get the idea.

The key to successful posts is to remember that you are conversing with your readers. This also applies when posting about your business, products or services. Would you post “Lunch Special 5.99 today” or would you post something more like. “You are invited to (insert business name here) for our lunch special of the best hamburger in town with fries and choice of drink all for 5.99” and then post a picture of your special. Another way would be to post “Are you going to be in Cape Coral for lunch today? Well you are cordially invited to join us for our 5.99 lunch special of and then talk about your lunch special. Think of it as inviting a friend to lunch. You can apply this technique to just about any business you may have. Think about how you talk to your friends about what you do and then apply that to your posts.

Your posts either personal or business should have value, should be conversational and invite responses. This is a skill set that you will develop and get better at the more you do it. Have fun with it. Enjoy it as you do when you socialize with friends or network your business.

Day 2 of our tour of The World of Facebook will take us to the destination of the Land of Interaction. So till then you are free to tour The World of Facebook on your own. Enjoy your stay!