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Update Your Profile Picture Across Multiple Websites All At Once

February 19th, 2010

I visited a social network this morning that I haven’t been to in almost three months. I wasn’t surprised to see that it still had an old picture of me on my profile. I thought I had updated my picture on all my social media networks a while ago, but this wasn’t a network that I go to a lot. It did get me curious, though, so I checked some of my other profiles. It turns out I only thought I updated all my online avatars with that new photo. More than half still had my old photo up.

Wouldn’t it be nice if I could update my photo in one place and have it updated everywhere? I think so, and the folks at Gravatar agree. They’ve created a central repository where you can upload photos of yourself.

Then any social network or other website that uses Gravatar doesn’t need to ask you to upload a photo. They can look at the email address you used to sign up and pull the image straight from Gravatar. So when you update your Gravatar photo, it automatically updates your photo on every site that uses Gravatar. Makes life a lot easier.

Who uses Gravatar?

I’d love to tell you that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN all use the Gravatar protocol. They don’t. If you want to update your photo on these sites, you have to go to each one individually and upload an image.

Most of the action that Gravatar gets is on blogs like this one. That’s right. If you create a Gravatar account (it’s free) and leave a comment on this post, your picture will show up right next to your comment. It will also show up on comments you leave on thousands (if not tens of thousands) of other blogs.

What if you leave a comment and you don’t have a Gravatar? Nothing breaks. You’ll just have a non-descript gray icon that looks vaguely like a human being. I find that when I’m reading a blog post with a long list of comments, the ones with a unique image next to them tend to catch my eye.

Why doesn’t every site use Gravatar?

My first guess is that they want to allow you to be unique on their site. You might put a casual photo of yourself on Facebook and a more professional photo of yourself on LinkedIN. I prefer to have one photo that works in a professional or casual context, but maybe I’m in the minority.

Clay Mabbitt

social media, web

blogging, facebook, linkedin, social media, social networks, twitter

2 Comments

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The Pope has spoken, and he says you should blog

January 24th, 2010

You probably think that headline is a joke, but it’s far from it. Mashable reported that Pope Benedict XVI has shared that the cultural shifts have come and it’s time to reach out in the social media world. The Pope himself has launch social media efforts and wants others to follow. Here is an expert from his original message:

“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

Social media is defintely here to stay. It can be a perfect outlet for your message, with one of the key phrases of the Pope’s message being: “exercising their proper role as leaders of communities.” Use these wonderful outlets to see how you can speak to and engage your community. If you want more on this topic, I’ve listed a few other posts as reference:

Do you need a Facebook fan page or a group?
How to get more readers to your blog
The facts and stats of the social media revolution – a must watch video
The networking benefits of Twitter
How to use Flickr in your business
Using LinkedIn for business

Raquel Richardson

marketing, social media

blogging, facebook, flickr, ideas, social media, social networks, tips, twitter, video, youtube

2 Comments

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How do I get people to read my blog?

December 7th, 2009

We recently released a post about the significant traffic builder a blog can be, and, in our December newsletter (sent only to newsletter subscribers) we talked about creating the right kind of content for your audience. This begged the question from a few of you: How do I get people to read my blog?

First, let me step back and say kudos to you for starting your blog. Keep it up! Now to get those readers… below are some tips for getting your work out and about. Give some a try and let me know how they work for you. I always like to hear real-world success stories! (or, the opposite of those stories; we all can learn from those!)

Make it a habit to update your status on Facebook and LinkedIn and wherever else you’re posting status updates to mention your blog. You can talk about that you’re writing your blog, put a link to the latest post, mention the headline and link to the rest, etc. Just keep it out there in front of people so they KNOW one actually exists.
Use Twitter to push your posts out on a daily basis. If you’ve been blogging for an extra long time, like us, then you have mounds of content you can push out on a regular basis. Use the archives! History has proven it’s relevance time and time again; don’t think because it’s older than a week it’s not good information to share.
Mention your blog on your business cards. Learn to bridge the gap between the real and virtual world and talk about your work when you’re talking to someone at networking events, grocery store lines, at your kid’s actvities. If it’s helpful, it won’t seem out of place. Figure out how to work it in.
Comment on other blogs (read: those blogs with lots of followers) and link to your post/blog as relevance to your comment. This is a proven tactic to get like-minded readers following you.
Get a little crafty on LinkedIn and join groups that want to know your info. Post your blog there and comment on other group posts. Share, share, share.
Be like us and post your blog front and center to your homepage. Visitor’s are sure to see your most recent posts and possibly keep coming back for more.

Get rolling on a few of these, be consistent and keep adding relevant and valuable content to your blog. You’re sure to get the readers you’re looking for.

Raquel Richardson

marketing

ask, blogging, facebook, ideas

no comments

Facebook Fan Pages Are Better Than Groups

November 18th, 2009

As Facebook’s popularity continues to grow (128+ million unique visitors in October 2009) it is worth your time to consider how you can represent your business on this social network. Facebook offers you two options: fan pages and groups. I sort of tipped my hand with the title of this post. I think fan pages are better in almost every case. Certainly I believe they are better when you are creating a home on Facebook for your business. But let’s start with the one area where groups shine before we move on.

Groups

Groups give you one important feature that a fan page doesn’t: a velvet rope. Just like a fancy night club, you get to decide who is allowed in. While fan pages allow you to set restrictions on the location or age of people who can become a fan, a group gives you total control. You can accept or reject everyone that asks to join. This makes it ideal for reunions, clubs, or other closed groups you are communicating with through Facebook.

If you have a business (or even a typical not-for-profit) you aren’t looking to exclude anyone who wants to support you, though.

Fan Pages

This is where fan pages come in. You create a page that operates in a very similar fashion to your personal Facebook page, but it is for your business instead of you.

Just like your personal page, when you have at least 100 25 fans/friends you can get a shorter, more attractive URL. Isn’t facebook.com/graybox easier to remember than facebook.com/pages/Fishers-IN/Silver-Square/3847892…
Your fan page content is visible to someone before they become a fan. That means you have a chance to make a good impression on a total stranger, but it also means search engines can index your page.
With a fan page you can add custom Facebook applications, so a simple example might be adding a tab that shows the RSS feed from your blog.
The insights section of your fan page lets you see demographic information about your fans like gender, age, and geographic location.

Have you seen any other advantages of fan pages? Or do you think I’m overlooking some benefits of groups? I’d love to hear other people’s experiences in the comments.

Clay Mabbitt

social media

branding, facebook, social media

8 Comments

3 Easy Ways to Add Readers to Your Blog

September 20th, 2009

This isn’t going to be rocket science, but it will be easy peasy. It will be so easy you’re possibly already doing it, but not realizing it’s a marketing activity that helps you build readership to your blog/site. I’m going to use the three most popular mediums I know this blog’s audience uses, but you can just about mix and match any medium to push content out and about.

Tweet It. Yes, get yourself a Twitter account if you don’t just yet, but it’s a great way to gather readers and build followers of your content and company. Use a service like Bitly to shorten your links and track how many people are visiting that link. I recently showed a client how one Tweet sent 121 people to his website; he had no idea you could track links like that. Be sure to send people to the link you’re talking about, though, not a homepage unless that information lives there or there is another reason people cannot get to that information, like a membership subscription.
Status Updates (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). If you’re working on a blog post, tell people about it and link to your blog. Maybe they didn’t even know you had a blog! Maybe the new topic you share is just the thing someone has been trying to learn more about. We often release how-tos on our blog (Thanks, Clay) and the Facebook icon for sharing links was just the information someone needed. You never know who you may reach.
Roundup. In your email newsletter (yes, you need to have one at least quarterly if not monthly), add links to your most popular blogs in a blog roundup. If you’re not sure what this is about, check out our newsletter. We often use this roundup feature to remind our newsletter readers of our blog and share our most clicked-on topics.

Raquel Richardson

branding, business smarts, marketing, social media, web

branding, email, facebook, ideas, linkedin, newsletter, social media, tips, twitter

no comments

Clay Mabbitt

branding, social media

facebook, seo, social media

1 Comment

Creating an Experience

September 11th, 2009

One of our services is the Market Snapshot. This service builds up to an hour presentation of recommendations our client should do to propel their business forward with marketing – to ultimately be the market leader. We did one of these presentations yesterday with Meridian Design Group, a 25 year old salon with locations in Carmel and in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Most of their main business IS an experience service that each client gets once they walk through the Meridian Design Group door. To hit home on this experience approach, we used two specific items in our presentation to bring home the idea.

First, we took a trip to Target and found little hair clips. These clips worked as the base to hold name tags for the six individuals coming to the presentation from their management team. On each of their name plates, we placed an experience we wanted each of them to individually embrace and work on each day of their job. That way, among the six of them, the full experience they want to ensure happens in their salons will take place. One will work on beauty, another laughter, and yet another relaxation. It was a nice way to bring home a big point, and, hopefully add to their experience.

Next, one of our presentations was to begin a Hair TV project where the stylist’s introduce their personalities and passion in to the history of hair. Typically people are a little hestitant when it comes to video, so we pulled out our Flip camera, took a minute video of each of them telling what they enjoyed most about Meridian Design Group, and then immediately showed them the result. They were suprised at the level of quality and realized, hey, this is doable and really fun.

So next time you’re thinking about what you want your clients to experience, try to go one extra step and make that experience happen for them. It will be noted and make the result much, much better.

Experience name tags for a market snapshot presentation.

Raquel Richardson

branding, business smarts, marketing, social media

branding, facebook, ideas, key message, local business, relationship building, social media, video

no comments

It’s Not All About Talk. It’s Actually About Listening.

September 3rd, 2009

They’re talking about you on Twitter. They’re talking about you on Facebook. They share an experience on a blog post. They use Flickr to post a gallery of photos from your event. It’s happening, and you need to listen.

So often marketing discussions lean toward what activity should be done next. What should be implemented? What tactics should launch next? What should we present this fall? How should we run our campaign for Q1? Sometimes, it’s simply better to listen.

As the marketing outlets available continue to grow at a remarkable pace, with albeit sometimes not as remarkable means, it gets overwhelming. I’ve noticed more often than not that our clients get caught up in what to do next. They read of the next new thing and they think and tell their marketing partner, we have to be here. Get us a plan for working this medium. Really, though, we need to put listening parallel to this push activity in order to really create value in our respective markets.

Step one in all marketing planning should include active listening. Monitor your brand, monitor your market’s activity and trends, monitor your competition, keep an ear to the ground on it all. There is so much value on understanding the needs in your market and then creating a specific plan, product or service to meeting those needs, that it rarely happens anymore. When Apple set out to create and market their iPod, they listened to the need in the market place. They knew there were people out there who wanted to have their 10,000 CDs with them to play on demand, but that they didn’t want to carry them around. They listened to the need and filled it.

We have to begin conditioning ourselves to recognize, account for an reach that need in each of our respective fields. Finding that need doesn’t happen from pushing your product and service more often or in a different way. It happens from listening.

Raquel Richardson

branding, business smarts, marketing & sales, social media

ask, facebook, flickr, relationship building, relationship management, search, social media, social networks, twitter

no comments

Decide what’s important. Decide if it’s personal.

August 16th, 2009

The bigger the news in social mediaville, the grander the assumptions for what social media is and isn’t. For example, there was a recent reporting saying 40 percent of the tweets on Twitter were pointless. Pointless for what audience? Who decides?

When it comes to your social media activity, or any marketing activity for that matter, your audience decides what’s pointless, what’s important, what’s fun to know and what’s unnecessary. You learn by the activity, comments and links generated from your efforts. That’s the bottom line and that’s what’s important to know and understand out of this whole social media hairball. You have to figure out what marketing activity is right for your mix, and how and what those right mixes are in your strategy.

Here are two areas of advice to get you started right. You figure out these two things and the rest will flow.

Decide what’s important. Take this opportunity to talk with your clients and prospects about what they would like to know about the area in which you are the expert. What is important for them to know? How can you help them filter all the information that’s out there and learn what they need the most? Now deliver the goods and keep asking regularly.
Decide if it’s personal. What voice does your marketing deliver? Is it funny? Is it uber serious? Don’t be something you’re not and don’t make your company’s marketing message something it’s not. If social media is forcing anything at the marketing table, it’s authenticity.

Raquel Richardson

branding, business smarts, marketing, social media

branding, facebook, flickr, ideas, key message, linkedin, relationship building, social bookmarking, social media, social networks, sticky, twitter

no comments

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