Five years ago still seems like yesterday for me, although a lot has changed in my life. Five years ago I was single but now I’m engaged. Half a decade ago I was struggling to get through community college but I recently graduated with honors from a great university. In 2005, I had no clue how to effectively use social media and now I can’t get enough.
A lot has changed but that’s just how it goes. Don’t worry–it’ll continue to go that way.
Five years ago, MySpace was all of the rage. The social networking platform was peaking and it seemed like everyone had a profile. I don’t know about you but if I came across someone who wasn’t on MySpace, I was at a loss for words.
Fast forward to 2010. Facebook and Twitter are constantly fighting for the the prestigious title of Social Networking King. YouTube has a monopoly serving online videos to billions and Foursquare is becoming increasingly popular with every age bracket.
So, that brings me to my question:
Where will social networking be in five years? Will location-based networks be the rage? Will our social networking profiles become linked to our credit cards and key rings? Is it safe to say that Twitter and Facebook will be ancient websites with a small user community?
What do you think? What direction is social networking going to take in five years?
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
At Folk Media, we want to think about you first. Because, in the end, without you we would be nothing. So, everything we do here is meant to be focused on you and your understanding of social media and business.
That said, we know that you don’t have much time. In fact, you probably only have about 15 to 20 minutes a day to browse the Internet while you’re not working, paying bills, running a family, or having a social life.
See? We get it.
In order to give you the social media nuggets that you want, we’re going to occasionally post some social media one-liners, quick hits of what is going on in the realm of social media.
We want to focus on good content, too, so we will include some food for thought, too.
Here are today’s quick hits:
The Internet has over 26 million “mommy bloggers” and they play a pretty big role in the advancement of social media.
If you think that Twitter cannot be integrated into business and personal careers, think again. Here are 10 professions that actively use Twitter for marketing and communication.
Where are you on the ambition flowchart? What can you do to improve your life?
Stay tuned for more social media one-liners next week.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
Content is king. You’ve heard me say it before and I’ll say it again and again.
Content is king.
Without content, what is your website or Twitter profile or Facebook fan page? Nothing. Content drives and inspires your readers and visitors. Solid content leads to solid partnerships and reader dedication, which then converts into paid membership and consumer loyalty. So, if you had lackluster content, how would that model function to your advantage?
It wouldn’t.
The key to any successful blog or social media campaign is to create life-changing content that keeps your viewers coming back for more. Great content, not publicity or promotion campaigns, should be a main focus when publishing online.
Some would say life-changing content is nearly impossible to produce but I’d say it can be done in a matter of minutes. It isn’t hard to develop. In fact, it only consists of two elements – the why and the how. Once your deliver the why and the how to your readers, you’ve inspired them with a passion to do something, and oftentimes, there is no stopping a person with a mission.
The “Why?” Factor
It’s natural for humans to ask why something is the way that it appears. We start early, at around two years of age. We’re naturally curious and want answers. This basic fact of life doesn’t change when we graduate college, get married, start a family, or work our way up the food chain of corporate America.
People want – and need – a why.
If you’re going to create life-changing content, you need to first focus on they why. People, whether its bird enthusiasts or business people, won’t implement your words unless you tell them why they should. It’s the law of the land and you need to give this information in order to create change and to drive productivity.
Without explaining the “Why?” factor, your efforts will be wasted.
Explaining “The How”
There is another truth about human nature – we want to do something immediately. If we can’t do it right away, we don’t want to have any part of it. Some people can hold off and wait for results to happen but in a world where information is accessible instantaneously, waiting is not part of our personality profile.
Explaining the how is ridiculously important and doing it in a succinct manner is just as crucial.
You’ll notice that the content you read on this site isn’t excruciatingly long or wordy. Sure, some articles and content require a bit more time but for the most part, you can come and read a blog post in five minutes or less. How long is five minutes? A portion of your lunch break? The moments before driving your child to school? The time you have while your mate uses the restroom before you go on a date? Five minutes and it’s over. That’s what we like.
Also, sharing how to do something, whether its create a birdhouse or implement an SEO strategy, is what really gets the job done. You can dissect the “Why?” all day long but without explaining the process, your content is useless.
Down-to-earth, life-changing content is only a few minutes away once you understand the process. It’s simple:
Why + How = Action
Your words will carry greater meaning once you can meet the needs, both why and how, of your readers. Whatever you do, don’t think that you can’t make a difference because simple and powerful content is within your grasp.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
Yesterday was the first day of summer and it’s already been a hot one. It was only five months ago that the East Coast was covered in 20+ inches of snow and now some people are craving the white stuff again. Summer heat can be relentless. Even simple tasks, like going to the grocery store, can make you sweat.
As you find relief from the heat in your comfortably air conditioned home or office, you should seriously consider taking part in a few of these activities. The five tasks I’ve highlighted below will keep you cool and productive while everyone else manages to get through another scorching day.
1. Upgrade to WordPress 3.0 – The newest version of the WordPress blogging platform is finally available and word on the street says that it’s awesome. We haven’t had the chance to upgrade our Folk Media backend yet but we’ll get there. Check out more information about WordPress 3.0 from the official WordPress site. If you’re new to the WordPress world and want an all-in-one guide for your learning pleasure, check out Aaron Brazell’s WordPress Bible.
2. Track BP and their failures – I feel bad for always knocking BP but they really aren’t doing anything to help themselves. Well, their lack of action is your gain. Using hashtags and Twitter keywords, you can track their ineptitude real-time. How awesome is that? Some things to look for on Twitter would be #BP #oilspill #GulfCoast or (my favorite) #BPFail. Honestly, there is a lot to learn from the oil spill and BP’s lack of response.
3. Create a Facebook fan page – Everyone is on Facebook now and even with the new privacy controversies, Facebook is still growing. If you haven’t considered making a Facebook fan page, I would seriously recommend making it one of your top priorities. Having a fan page on Facebook can increase your business exposure and it can re-educate current clients and customers.
4. Keep tabs on your favorite sports stars – Since summer is a time where baseball is in full swing and football is gearing up, you might want to follow a few of your favorite sports stars on Twitter. WeFollow has a comprehensive list of players who use Twitter. Check them out if you want to cool off with your favorite players this summer.
5. Update your LinkedIn profile – Even though it’s nice to often update you LinkedIn profile, we forget. Since it’s summer time and you likely have some vacation planned or are shipping the kids off for a weekend at grandma and grandpa’s, you might have some little extra time to sit down and update your qualifications. Don’t forget to recommend a few people; those are critical in the eyes of potential employers.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
If you’ve ever watched Napoleon Dynamite, you know that Uncle Rico is famous for his ideas. In 1982, Uncle Rico planned to play pro football (and he would have had the coach put him in during the fourth quarter of the state championship) but he also thinks he can sell nylon polymer and female enhancement drugs for some hefty profits. Without a doubt, Uncle Rico doesn’t put all of his eggs in one basket. Well, neither should you.
[If you've never had a chance to check out the movie, watch the clip below to get a taste of Uncle Rico.]
Some companies take only one approach to social media, whether it’s blogging, Facebook, or Twitter. Sure, having a Twitter or Facebook account is better than nothing but it’s not the desired plan. It’s important to diversify your strategy. If you want to have a solid plan for the future, be sure to invest your time into a diverse social media strategy, including blogs, social networking sites, and email marketing.
Why Diversify?
Good question and the quick answer is that it will meet the needs of your potential customers. Normally I’m not the type of person to recommend doing many things at once but when it comes to managing social media profiles, it’s good to have a few.
Not every potential customer is going to be on Twitter or Facebook. If you have a profile on each site, you can theoretically reach double the amount of customers. Who doesn’t want to do that?
Instead of attempting to have a client create a Twitter account just to follow your updates, why don’t you meet them on Facebook?
Meet your customers where they are and they will listen to what you have to say.
Do It Well
Although he had a good idea to diversify, one of Uncle Rico’s many faults was the fact that he didn’t do anything well. Take note; this is not what you want to do with your social media profiles. Don’t become complacent with your Facebook or Twitter account. If you’re going to be present on Facebook, make it known that you’re there. If you’re going to tweet, distribute content that is worth following.
No one wants to know an Uncle Rico so make sure that you “do” social networking like the best of ‘em.
Displacing Your Doubt
If you’re about to jump into social media or only have one active profile, you’re probably thinking that I’m crazy. And you have every right to think that. In all honesty, I don’t have any solid proof or numbers to show you. I can’t convince you with tangible data that says, “You need to have multiple social media profiles to be successful.” And, to tell you the truth, I would think I’m crazy, too.
Fortunately for you, I’m not crazy.
The doubt that you’re feeling is natural. You’ve been ingrained to resist change and new ideas. You’re constantly bombarded with messages telling you that change is bad, safety is the way to go, and risks should be minimal. However, that’s not the case and in life and it’s not the case with social media.
In order to keep up with today’s shifting culture – a culture that is focused on individuals and not corporations – you need to make an impact with your clients and customers. Where are your clients and customers? The Internet. How do you capture their attention and make them lifelong consumers of your goods? Meet them where they are and do it well. That’s it. If you meet a need, they’ll come back for more and right now, there are millions of people on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube that need your product. You just need to find them.
My challenge to you is to subside your doubt and implement multiple social media profiles and to do them well. If you aren’t effective with your profiles, take a step back, re-order, and try again.
Don’t be like Uncle Rico. Don’t be a living-in-the-past, doubtful, and selfish social media manager. Serve your customers and meet them where they are. If you try it, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
Have you heard the big news? Yes, it’s really true – social media is tough to understand and grasp. In fact, it’s even difficult for the “experts” to keep up with the advancements, new applications, and theories that are popping up around us.
What can I say? Social media is confusing.
Well, I’m here to help you in your journey to understand social media a little better. I’ve found five articles that have been published in the past few days that will help you grasp the concept of social media on a more fundamental level. Sure, it might take some time to fully put these concepts into practice, and to grasp their power, but your exposure to them will help you exponentially in the long run.
One of the toughest things to understand about social media is the classic “Pro vs. Con” argument. You’ve probably heard it before. It goes something like this…
“Social media creates a better connection with my customers but it also makes me vulnerable to critics and negative publicity.”
Yes, that’s true. The key isn’t weighing the positive benefits over the negative implications that social media can bring. It’s choosing which one you’re going to have for your business – positive PR or negative consequences – and getting there.
The article above states both sides of the argument but the author is quite bias toward the positive end of things. Even still, it gives great information and allows for any one to understand the argument pressing between businesses and social media experts.
If you’ve ever researched social media strategy or what kind of actions to take to develop a high quality social media profile, you’ve probably been overwhelmed at your findings. Most “experts” advise that a person needs to make social media presence their full-time job.
Unless you were hired as a social media marketer, that most likely isn’t going to be the case. You aren’t going to have the time or resources to spend all day behind Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You probably wouldn’t mind it but you’ve got a laundry list of other tasks to get done throughout the day.
If you’ve looking for a quick and effective approach to social media, the 3-2-1 social media strategy is a great place to start. It lays a foundatoin for understanding social media presence and it gives you solid action steps developing a good name for your company or brand.
Trust is important no matter what you’re doing in life but it is especially important as you engage your social media followers and friends. If your potential customers don’t trust you, they won’t buy your product, visit your website, or pass your information on to friends. See? Trust is super important in the social media world.
Believe it or not, trust is easier to build than you think. Using the 25 ways outlined in the article, you should be able to build trust almost immediately with the people you encounter both online and offline.
Trust is the key to social media success. It is the foundation of everything – conversation, action, connections, purchases – and needs to be a priority for you and your company.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
It is certainly true that organizations can, and do, revive dead products. Case in point – Nintendo. Before the Wii, Nintendo struggled to compete with Microsoft and Sony in the Game Console Race. Microsoft and Sony burned Nintendo every year in sales, game production, and user satisfaction. Until the Wii.
Once Nintendo’s revolutionary gaming console hit the market, the Nintendo empire regained its dignity and was finally able to complete with its rivals again. Products that have gone by the way side or that have an associated stigma can be renewed but most product revitalization initiatives fail big time. Most companies don’t get it right. Most dead products don’t come back to life.
And Hotmail is one of them.
Hotmail, Microsoft’s web-based email system, emerged during the .com boom and was widely popular. But then, something happened. Somewhere during the late 1990s to early 2000s, Microsoft stopped caring about Hotmail. They became static in their approach to email. When Gmail hit the scene, Microsoft remained uncompetitive. When Yahoo! revamped their web-based email client, Microsoft did nothing. Sure, maybe Microsoft jacked up the storage space limit or added a small feature here or there but they did nothing to compete with the likes of Google or Yahoo!. In fact, most Hotmail customers have stopped using the service as their primary email and, instead, use it as a spam box for online offers, newsletters, and junk email.
Basically, Hotmail is the trash can of web-based email.
Now, after the success of Bing, Microsoft has integrated a boat-load of features into Hotmail, ranging from social networking tools to email filtering. The email service now can complete with Google and Yahoo! in the web-based email race. Will Microsoft be the next Nintendo? No.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, saving Hotmail is a worthless move that won’t pan out. Fortunately for you, a few things can be learned from this last-ditch effort to save a dead product.
First, the lines have been drawn. Internet users already have stereotyped Hotmail to be a tool for spam, hacking, and anonymity on the Web. This isn’t going to change. The Hotmail brand is forever regarded as the inferior product to Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.
This teaches us that once a customer or potential customer has a perception about your product, whether its real or not, its tough to get them to think anything else. Sure, it’s possible but not common. Take pride in the perceptions your brand sows and make sure that you address them in a timely manner – not a decade after the fact.
In addition, Microsoft’s attempt to revamp Hotmail shows that when the going gets tough, the mediocre join everyone else. Microsoft isn’t doing anything revolutionary; they’re pretty much recreating the efforts of Google and other web-based services. Instead of going along with the crowd, Microsoft should have reinvented web-based email, much like Nintendo did with gaming.
If you’ve fallen behind the competition, don’t join them to compete – outdo them. Want to win back some of the market share? Change the market. Revolutionize your industry and exploit the weaknesses of your rivals. Don’t just rebrand their product.
I could be wrong about this whole thing. Microsoft might be able to regain some of the web-based email market with its new Hotmail. But, I have feeling it won’t. I have a feeling that Hotmail will continue to lie dead in cyberspace. Why? Because Microsoft isn’t offering anything new and Internet users have moved on from Hotmail. That was so late 90s.
If you want to succeed in revamping your industry, go big and go different. Don’t follow the crowd and make sure that they’re working for you, not against you. No one else is going to make your brand successful.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
We are taking all your social media questions live. Now is your chance to ask about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and more.
Have you ever wished you could just ask someone a specific question you have about Facebook? Or do you feel like you could get somewhere with Twitter if someone could help you work through a specific problem you are having?
This week we are answering all your social media questions. We’ll spend a few minutes reviewing all the topics from previous teleseminars and then simply open up for questions.
On this call we have only 100 spots and expect to fill up fast. It is critical that you register for this free teleseminar now.
[This teleseminar has ended. Be sure to subscribe to the Folk Media newsletter to get alerts of coming events.]
It’s no secret that time is critical. In fact, it’s one part of life we never get back. To date, no one has successfully created a time machine to take us back to the future. When this second, minute, or hour is over, it’s gone.
With that said, we know that your time with Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites is limited; therefore, you need to maximize your time when working with social media. To help you do that, we’ve compiled a list of 20 social media activities you can do in five minutes or less. Whether it is in between projects or at the end of the work day, these activities will help you maximize your time and remain productive.
1. Change your Twitter background.
2. Upload and change your profile picture.
3. Check your Twitter or Facebook stream and comment on interesting posts.
4. Give a #FollowFriday shout out to one, two, or five of your Twitter pals.
5. Join a few LinkedIn Groups.
6. Set up your Google Buzz account.
7. Create a Facebook event for your next tweetup or office party.
8. Find and watch an interesting YouTube clip. (Be sure to comment!)
9. Change all of your social networking website passwords.
10. Invite your team members to Google Wave.
11. Update your profile information.
12. Add your current project to your LinkedIn profile.
13. Subscribe to a YouTube channel.
14. Add a time-saving plugin to your blog.
15. Check your Google Alerts.
16. Clean up your Google Documents.
17. Join a geolocation-based social networking site (foursquare, Gowalla, etc.).
18. Browse useful images on Flickr.
19. Reply to everyone who commented on your blog posts.
20. Sort through your @replies and Direct Messages on Twitter.
As you can see, there are many social media activities that don’t take long to accomplish. If you did all of the tasks listed above back-to-back, you would have only used up an hour of your day.
Time is critical but it can be managed. Find what works for you and fill in your downtime with productivity.
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
It’s a new week and once again, Facebook has made some changes to its site. Believe it or not, it’s not solely about privacy settings or feed information. Facebook has revamped its Page and “fan” process. Before this week, a user would find a brand or business they enjoyed, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, and they could “become a fan” of that establishment. In turn, any updates to that fan page would show up in a user’s news stream, thus giving them more information about the brand or company.
However, things have changed.
In addition to the typical fan pages, Facebook has developed Community Pages. Community Pages are less invasive, static pages that don’t update information on a user’s news stream. They don’t even have a wall. Instead, a Community Page will pull related information from a user’s status updates and display it in the main section of the page. For example, if I “like” the Community Page for cooking, any updates that I post with the word “cooking” in them will display on the Community Page. Think of Twitter’s Trending Topics and apply a Facebook twist – that is a Community Page.
Community Pages don’t need to be about brands or organizations. They can be about anything, from a style of music to a painter. Once a user “likes” a particular topic, it is automatically placed into their profile under the appropriate category of interest. For example, if I “like” cooking, “cooking” will display in my hobbies or interests section with a link back to that Community Page.
It wouldn’t be a Facebook update if there weren’t any privacy setting modifications. Yes, even with this update, your privacy settings are affected. You can choose what Community Pages you want to display on your profile and you can hide them from certain users within your network. These settings can be easily managed through your profile editing tool.
It’s too early to tell if Community Pages will work out for Facebook or its users. Personally, I don’t think its a powerful addition to the Facebook experience. I think one of the main reasons Facebook developed Community Pages is to foster relationships between people with related interests even if they don’t personally know one another. Although I’m a social media junkie, I’m not Facebook friends with many people that I don’t know. My Facebook account is personal and private; my Twitter profile is public and professional. I know a lot of people who run the same kind of ship. So I don’t think Community Pages are going to make the Facebook experience better. But, then again, that’s just my take.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that Facebook has hit a gold mine with Community Pages or do you think its too similar to Trending Topics? Share with us what you think!
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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.
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