Zen and the @garyvee keynote



Excuse his profanity, but this is a good keynote from Gary Vaynerchuk on the importance of marketing in the time we live. I suppose it's a little ZEN. Be here now.. and here now... and, well, you know. And by marketing, we know a lot of that is social media.  

Are you more focused than a goldfish?



This entertaining and powerful video is by Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.

 This is the fifth version of the most watched video series on Social Media.

And, to answer the question, if you watch this for more than 7 seconds, you are doing better than a goldfish.

Social media is about relationships: That's forever

It sure is hard to tell how old something is on the web sometimes.

This Quickstarter Social Media tutorial from Constant Contact looks like a great place to dip into when you have questions about social media use for business.

Tools change. Facebook frequently updates how it works. Twitter often comes up with new ways users interact. So some social media information becomes dated quickly.

But tips about how social media (and the Internet as a whole) is all about conversations and is about the relationships we establish and grow there will be valuable always.

I discovered this Quickstarter Social Media looking for ways to coach you on what to say.  This looks like a good place to dig in to it.  What Should You Say?  |  And here's the beginning of the tutorial:  Why Social Media Marketing?  

Twitter. Facebook. Signed up, now what?!

It's true that social media sites aren't necessarily the best places to learn about how to use those very sites.  Once you sign up and log on, you've got to figure it out.

Asking friends, family and colleagues for help is a great start.  But, honestly, if you dig around, there are a lot of people out there talking about best practices and social conventions on social media tools.  Don't be afraid to ask.


Here are a few good starting places.

I asked Mark S. Luckie, manager of journalism and news at Twitter, where to send you for basics on his favorite social site.  He says the various resources on Support/Twitter are very helpful.  I also find the official Twitter Blog interesting.

Facebook used to have an official blog, but they now direct us to their Facebook Newsroom.  Facebook's Help Center  can give you directions for specific problems -- resetting a password or adding a profile photo.  Try it.

But sometimes the best way to learn a web tool (and all these social media sites are tools), is to practice, try things out.  Figure out what works for you and what doesn't.  Maybe you'll pave a new path.






Cracking the code of teens online

Where social media has been a formative influence on the lives of many adults, that is not true for many teens.   
Author Dana Boyd, who has just written a book titled "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens," found that children today are reacting online largely to social changes that have taken place offline. They roam online in part because they cannot roam outside anymore. 
Here's an interview with Dana Boyd by Nick Bilton of The New York Times' Bits column after she wrote the book.  And an earlier interview which she was doing her research: Cracking Teenagers' Online Codes. 

Social Media for Teachers

This presentation was part of a session given to high school journalism teachers, part of the ASNE Reynolds Fellowship in Phoenix in the summer 2012. For more presentations from me on social media, personal and professional branding, organizing the clutter and more, check out my Slideshare page: Slideshare.net/RobinJPhillips

Is a tagged Instagram more than just a photo?

Talk to the Hand: Or catching the attention of young TV viewers


The growth of online video and digital tools together means that news organizations and advertisers have a lot of video competition for the attention of today's millennials.

From Adweek:

Videology Breaks Down How Millennials Consume TV 


Pam Dyer Super Blogger!


Pam Dyer is a social media consultant -- her blog is in the Social Media Blogs to Watch list over there.  She is marketing manager for a company called SolutionsIQ.

Her blog - Pamorama - is great.  Very full.  I have no idea when she sleeps, but she sure can string some thoughts together.  Her blog is pretty timely, but it is also searchable and would be helpful if you have a specific problem or issue you are trying to overcome.  

Pam also shares a lot of Twitter (a typical example). You should follow her:


One odd, but endearing, thing she does is collect infographics about social media and marketing and share them on Pinterest. You know those super long infographics with a little bit of data and a lot of colorful graphics? Some are useful. And she's got 'em.
Take a look:  Pinterest: Social Media and Marketing.

All about the Benjamins



For those of you wanting to move beyond reputation, relationship and response, you'll want to start counting how social media converts to dollars.

This report, by AddShoppers, attempts to put a value (real monetary value) on social media.  Their pool of 10,000 plus merchants reported turning 1.2 billion pageviews into 212 million unique shoppers in 2013.

It's a little confusing and lacks a little context, but this 2013 Social Commerce Breakdown is worth a look to get a sense of which social media platforms may be more valuable in turning relationships made on social media into customers.

2013 Social Commerce Breakdown 

comScore white papers


Just because you don't have enough money to pay for high-priced business consultant, doesn't keep you from seeing some of the best insights of digital and social media advisers out there.

Most companies that are looking for new business have their own blogs to promote their work and share their data.

Here's an example of a report you can download from comScore.

Marketing to Millennials: 5 things every marketer should know

comScore will ask you for details about your business, but don't let that frighten you if you don't have a big research budget.  Talk with them. They may have a price for a small or non-profit company that works for you.

And if not, you can always keep reading their comScore Insights blog for free.


Navigating Facebook brand page waters



NextWeb:   Facebook eases up on brand Page promotions by removing third-party app requirement

Facebook's blog post about this issue: Easier to Administer Promotions on Facebook


Horses Mouth - Keep tabs on this Facebook blog for more information about using brands on the social network. This blog is full of great case studies: Facebook for Business | News


5 Social Media Tools That Can Make You Really Efficient



5 Social Media Tools That Can Make You Really Efficient



Tools.  The right tool for the right job.  This idea works in social media as well as home maintenance.  This blog post caught my eye because the author, Ron Sela, talks about tools I've never heard of.

I don't stand by any of them, but it's worth your while to take a look at these web-based sites designed to manage your social media platforms and make your activities more efficient.

Here's the post.

These are the 5 tools:


  1. Swayy
  2. Roojoom
  3. EverPost 
  4. Commun.it 
  5. Twtrland


Dull brands with nice looking social profiles


People love photos and it's best to optimize your social media platforms with great visuals.  This HubSpot blog post shares what it calls 25 Boring companies with Brilliant social media cover photos.  

 When you're done with that, look around the HubSpot blog.  Hubspot is a marketing software company. They have a lot to say about social media.

Follow them on Twitter: HubSpot.  They share all sorts of goodies there.

Survey: Content may be King, but sharable is definitely Queen



For the fourth year, TekGroup International has conducted a Social Media News Survey, asking social media users how they discover, share and create news.

The survey was conducted over a 6-week period during June and July 2013.

No surprise, they found that people are consistently finding news, sharing news with friends and colleagues and posting newsworthy content using social media sites.  

Some corporations and organizations are starting to use social media tools as a primary way to share news and leverage engagement opportunities.

TEKGROUP generously offers the results of this survey free and I'm sharing it with you:


If you're interested in more of their surveys and services, check out their site:
TEKGROUP: Market Your Message





The beginner's guide to social media

Our session focused primarily on using social media tools in a work setting, representing your organization, establishing goals and tracking analytics.

For those of you who still have a hunger for some social media basics, Mashable has a great starting point.  Here you go:  

Mashable:  The Beginner's Guide to Social Media 

1. Beginner's guide to Tumblr  - a micro-blogging platform.

2. The Beginner's guide to LinkedIn - an online professional network and a good place to keep track of your resume.

3. The beginner's guide to Reddit -  big message board that has been breaking news lately.

4. The beginner's guide to Facebook - you've got to know what this is...   the world's largest social network.

5. The beginner's guide to Twitter - everything you need to know to get tweeting.


How big, you ask?

We're here today because social media has become sooo big.


Thiiiiiis big.



Way too big to ignore.  

Social Media can help you score in business too

Slideshare.net is a great place to learn all sorts of things.  Slideshare itself is a social media tool - one on which people share presentations, documents, PDFs, videos and webinars.  It's a good place to dig around and find what experts are saying about something you're interested in.

As you can imagine, a lot of people share training about social media.
Slideshare: Social Media slides













What should you say and when should you say it?




That sounds pretty academic for a tool that's pretty much about fun and gossip, right?  Well, take a look.  Strategies for Effective Tweeting. 

The report points out that it's not enough to simply publish content and hope for the best.  
The results of a study into of more than 320 of the world's biggest brands will give you an insight into when to tweet, what to tweet and how often.  




Beyond @ replies and retweets


"A short time ago, a good social media campaign meant letting people know you were on Facebook. Over the past few years, that’s changed dramatically, to the point where social campaigns meet and sometimes even exceed their traditional advertising counterparts in terms of creativity and innovation."...    READ more on Memeburn and check out these incredible examples of social media campaigns. 

 24 absolutely incredible examples of social media marketing.  
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