It’s been a while since I’ve been in the office long enough on a Friday to compile my best reads. It’s a shame as there’s been some fantastic stuff appearing over the last few weeks, I may try and squeeze some of it in over the next couple of weeks.
In this weeks roundup I’ve chosen the good news about Twitter privacy, a great list of ways to contact social networks including Facebook. A really interesting read on encouraging your employees to become brand ambassadors and some great PicMonkey tips. It’s a bank holiday here this weekend, I hope you are all getting this sun and will be able to make the most of it.
How To Contact Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & Google+
I’m often asked if there is a way to contact Facebook? Is there a customer service email or phone number? Sadly the answer to direct contact is no but there are ways of reporting stuff to them. This post from Kikolani covers all the forms that you will need to report an issue or to get in touch with Facebook. It also covers LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest but it’s the Facebook list that occupies the most space. This is one to bookmark, you never know when you may need this info.
Twitter Earns Top Spot For Protecting User Privacy
When we think about privacy on social media we generally think about who can see pictures of our children and our updates. But privacy is more than that. Twitter is leading the way in protecting our information not just from people we don’t want to see it but also from governments. They earned a full score card on the latest study from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Not only will they kick up a fuss when a government comes looking for your data but they will tell you and fight for you in court.
In comparison to Twitter’s 6 stars Facebook only got 5 and MySpace a big fat 0. I’d love to see Facebook making inroads in this area too. I’m sure everyone would be more comfortable with transparency and protection of this kind. Find out more on this study on the All Twitter blog.
Very Clever Use Of Vine
It’s only a few months old but it looks like it’s here to say. This week saw an update to the app that supports the front facing camera, at last we’re going to be able to shoot selfies, and the announcement that an Android app is on the way. Here’s a Vine from the Lowe’s hardware store. It’s part of a series offering six second useful tips, this one shows you how to clean rust from your knives.
How To Get Employees To Share
Your employees could be a huge asset to your social media campaign, most people use one social media site or another so it makes sense to encourage them to engage and share your content. They could be your best brand ambassadors if you just give them a push in the right direction.
This excellent post on the Jeff Bullas blog walks you through the benefits and the how tos of putting an employee engagement strategy together.
Cool Pic Monkey Secrets Revealed
I’m a massive fan of Pic Monkey, although I have GIMP on my big computer for editing images I use PicMonkey all the time when I’m on the move. It’s easy to use and has a lovely interface. If you want to put text on your images or even put Instagram style filters on them PicMonkey is the place to look. I discovered this article from their blog via Google+ this week, it’s full of tips for using the app and I’ve even put one of them into action already. Give it a read and if you haven’t used PicMonkey yet give that a try too.
18 Fresh Stats About The State Of Social Media Marketing
I love a good stat and a good graph. This post from Social Media Today is full of quick fun statistics. Here’s a few to whet your appetite:
- 52% of all marketers have found a customer via Facebook in 2013
- Women are more likely than men to regularly check out a brand’s social page (48% vs. 43%)
- 59% of Twitter users have visited B2B tech brand sites, compared to 40% for the average internet population.
18 Sweet Tips For Facebook Page Posts
And my favorite Infographic of the week has to be this one from Post Rocket. It’s simple no nonsense tips that will help your Facebook marketing.
And From Spiderworking.com This Week
Get Alerted About Trouble On Your Facebook Page With ShitStormAlerts
This weeks cool tool is one for those of you who worry about customer complaints getting out of hand on your Facebook page. ShitStormAlarms monitors your page and drops you an email and text message if it sees unusual activity. So in theory if someone posts a complaint and it is jumped on by a number of other people it will let you know. It’s a handy one to have but one I hope I never have to use.
Have You Made Your First Vine Yet?
Last week I worked with a really creative group on a digital marketing course. As part of the course we cover online video and of course no discussion about video these days can neglect Vine. Here are some of their first attempts at making a Vine. I think they even helped me improve my own Vines.
6 Ways To Capture Leads From Facebook
I was lucky enough to guest post for Jon Loomer again this week. This time I looked at the different ways we can capture leads from Facebook. We tend to obsess about the number of Likes we get and the number of people talking about our page but ignore the most important stat, sales leads. Here’s my six top ideas.
How To Create A Social Media Policy For Small Business
When we think about social media policy we tend to think that it’s just for big business. I’m a big believer that every business, whatever the size should consider a policy. This week I put together a list of the different types of policy we should consider and some tips on putting them together.
What Is Social Media And What Is It For
I’ve been playing with SlideShare again. This presentation is the basis for a guest blog I’ve just written and looks at the different ways that businesses use social media.
Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back in the hot-seat on Tuesday
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