Overview: Social Media Strategy

ontent from my EuroPCom session on online communities, plus some takeaways and extra links.

how do you tell the difference between a "ninja" and a "guru"? A "maven" and a "marketing expert"? For that, we've created a helpful guide so you can hire the social media bullshit artist that best fits your company's needs: - Pando: How to tell the difference between a social media maven, a ninja, and a guru

So, how did this local come by his expertise? Years of work in developing, implementing and managing integrated offline/online marketing strategies... Far-ranging, diverse experience in marketing? Extensive education in social media technologies and how/when/why to use them? Nope. He’s an expert because he has a popular Facebook page, which is …

With the release of its new Polls feature... you can now create super-simple polls directly on Twitter with just the click or a button or a tap on your phone... the ins and outs of Twitter polls, how to set them up, and nine engaging ways you can use polls today. - The Complete Guide to New Twitter Polls: What They Are, How They Work and 9 …

showing people what’s going on is much more important than being present in that moment ... What you fail to understand, what you’ve never thought about understanding is why you do it... Every stupid video is a waste of 3 minutes you’ll never get back, and every picture is there to show the 1% of your life where you can smile for the camera…

We form imaginary islands as safe spaces for our freak flags to fly free. Imaginary islands are unbounded by physical distance, as we unite with others of mutual interest and shared spirit across geographies. We form archipelagos of fellowship across expanses. Our imaginary islands can be open to everyone or hidden to all but insiders. - Imagin…

The hip but not trendy City Room launched on June 14, 2007, a year when “blogs were the wave of the future.”... The difference between a blog and a news site is no longer a meaningful distinction: all news is posted as soon as it breaks and is then updated. Just think: when was the last time someone used the word “bloggy” to describe the tone o…

Social media marketing software team admits they’re failing at social media marketing...The bottom seems to be falling out across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+... The Buffer team is running some experiments to try to determine the cause of this huge loss in social referral traffic, but I have a few ideas of my own ... - OMG. Buffer…

the next phase of Medium is about linking writers with brands, with Medium acting as the go-between, vetting creators. Meaning, in part, a native advertising hub filled with long-tail content.... There’s going to be sponsorships and branded dollars on the platform. Our vision is to connect quality creators with brands who may want to work with the…

the value of curation combined with a second, algorithmic step: personalization. Fill a barrel with the best of the best. Now when I walk in, based on insights about my taste and what I’ve selected in the past, choose *for me* from the barrel. Wow! Thanks! - Why I Unfollowed You on Instagram — Medium

I’ve been experimenting with online communities since 2002, and thought I’d seen every useful idea already implemented. Knowledge Hub (“K-Hub”) has a lot of features common to Community of Practice platforms, and have an interesting take on Blogs, which I’ve not seen anywhere else. And it’s almost excellent...

you don’t have to be overwhelmed by social media change, espcially if you can get your head around some fundamental truths about how the web works... if you’re spending all your time learning the shiny new thing, are you taking energy and resources away from the stuff that is really impacting your business? - Five ways to calm down and not …

I recently had a great live Hangout with Ezri Carlebach and Charlelie Jourdan to discuss visual communications, taking risks and creating energy in conferences.

… because in the past I used marginal notes to provide additional info, remarks and links without breaking the flow of my main text… Now it looks like I’m having a massively narcissistic conversation with myself & my Profile is a total mess

... because in the past I used marginal notes to provide additional info, remarks and links without breaking the flow of my main text.... I’ve just gone through one of my longest posts to turn all of my suddenly-set-to-Private notes into Responses. Now it looks like I’m having a massively narcissistic conversation with myself & my Profile is a…

on top of Twitter, you can now create images with the perfect size and format for Facebook, Instagram, and even Pinterest. You can create the visuals, share them across all platforms and then analyze them with Buffer’s analytics to know how well they’re performing. - Pablo 2.0: Create Social Media Images, Perfect for Everywhere

We'll probably never get a true "dislike" button on Facebook, but the social network just started to roll out the closest thing we've seen yet. Reactions, a new feature for Facebook's ubiquitous Like button that allows you to respond to posts with emoji...: "like," followed by "love," "haha," "yay," "wow," "sad" and "anger." - Facebook React…

Do people really want to have a conversation with brands, or their government?

In this week’s edition, two new social media products in one week; a few good longreads for the weekend; and more stuff for your online toolbox.

Medium is supposed to be a new kind of social network, one that makes it easy to find stuff you want to see as well as stuff you didn’t know you wanted to see. But by the company’s own admission, it hasn’t figured that part out yet... for now Medium is closer to Blogger, Williams’ first company, than Twitter, his second effort. Some of that cou…

... it’s fantastic... there is a lot to nitpick, but it is fantastic from a strategic perspective.... Twitter just reinvented the newspaper. It’s not just any newspaper though — it has the potential to be the best newspaper in the world... imagine a tweet-based newspaper drawn not only from the best sources in a mobile-friendly format, but one …

There are a number of effective strategies for overcoming the harm caused by a personal attack on social media. And your response can be a democratic one that includes fighting bad speech with more (good) speech. If someone’s attacked you on social media, here are four steps for responding: - How to handle personal attacks on social media | …

While many businesses use Carousel Ads solely to promote products, the ads also provide an excellent opportunity to showcase your brand’s unique narrative. In this article, I’ll share how to use storytelling in carousel ads - How to Tell Stories With Facebook and Instagram Carousel Ads Social Media Examiner

“moments” are mini news digests of tweets across a range of topics... with splashy full-screen photos and videos. Each individual moment is made up of about 10 tweets... allows users to follow stories they’re interested in for a limited period of time... clearly targeted at curious or casual users... a “catch-me-up” type of news digest, using t…

Moments surface the best of what’s happening on Twitter... What you see on Twitter is what’s happening in the world. What follows are the standards and guidelines for creating Moments that we as a Twitter curation team follow. - Twitter Moments: Content Guidelines | About

Moments helps you find the best of Twitter as easily as tapping an icon – regardless of who you follow. Just visit the new tab called Moments, where you will discover stories unfolding on Twitter. - Moments, the best of Twitter in an instant | Twitter Blogs

"Why don't we just build our community on Facebook?" Some thoughts after a month playing with Knowledge Hub

Here we look at five superb Instagram tools featuring functions ranging from time-saving scheduling to in-depth analytics, along with comments from Instagram experts: - 5 outstanding Instagram analytics tools | Articles | Home

the skills gap is an education problem .. we’re not preparing our future workforce ... although millennials collectively hold more college degrees than any preceding generation, they face record unemployment rates - The (Free) Crash Course in Social Media You Need to Land Your Next Job | Ryan Holmes | LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the third-fastest-growing social network... several stats and tidbits that can help you improve your LinkedIn marketing and engage with your followers: - 7 Key LinkedIn Stats: When to Post, What to Post & How to Improve