Scheduling Tweets - How, Why and Where?

I'm now juggling three Instagram accounts, two Twitters and two Pinterests and that's before I take on any clients through Strange Marketing. I'm working hard to become more organised, trying to make sure that some content goes out on each platform, each and every day - no easy task!

Although I've written before about automation and why I think it's killing Instagram (click here for that cheerful piece!) there are certain situations where using an automated posting platform is beneficial and can keep your content flowing smoothly allowing you to focus on other things.

It's well documented that one of the curses of the modern world is the amount of time we spend bent looking at our phones. Obviously, many of us have chosen to work in the digital space and with that comes a requirement to be connected the majority of the time. However, I can't be alone in facing that awkward 'you spend more time on your phone than anything else' conversation with relatives or friends.  It sounds pretty frivolous to explain that if you aren't there, posting content at certain times you won't gain the traction that you need to launch a project, or grow as an influencer. Automation means you gain a tiny bit of your life back, bundling the time spent tweeting into one handy segment - I do it on a Monday morning.

That's not to say that as a small business or Influencer you won't need to pop on and check reactions and reply to engagements - but it does mean that when you want to focus on your real life, your social channels are ticking along nicely, looking active and gaining interest.

In addition, automating your tweets means you aren't creating it on the fly. You aren't trying to type it out on your phone scrunched into a wet bus seat where you might not have access to all your file directories (please tell me I'm not the only ones whose iCloud hasn't updated in 134 days?) this ultimately means you have more control, as you'll have everything to hand when you create your posting schedule.

The type of content that works best is direct links to your blog or other promotional tweets, general questions to the twitter community or cross-platform promotion of your other social profiles. Here is an example of one of my recent tweets that I created through Buffer and posted out automatically to my profile at an optimum time.

By using automation in this way, I'm making sure that my blog is being promoted throughout the week. I'll add to this with tweets of my own ad hoc, but knowing that my profile is looking active, sharing my blog links and generating engagement without me having to spend the time hooked up to my mobile.

Over the week, I'll mix things up, sharing blog posts from my back catalogue that haven't got a lot of love recently as well as questions that I hope will get engagement - when I was blogging festivals during the summer, for example, I threw a few questions about favourite gigs and live music events into the schedule.

In order to answer this question, I tried out three platforms. I'll include some thoughts on each below but I think it's pretty clear which one I would recommend!

• Hootsuite - I've got a premium Hootsuite account because I plan to use it when managing my clients social media. It's a market-standard platform with a lot of useful features and the ability to review and engage with multiple social platforms through it's interface. You can schedule tweets quite simply, just type what you want to say into a box, add a link or image and then select a time that you want it to go out - their Autoschedule features will post the content at a peak time for you. You can have 30 scheduled posts per month if you are a free user. One of the great benefits if you are using Hootsuite for business is bulk uploading, you type all your updates into a spreadsheet and mass upload them to be posted at optimum times!

• Recurpost - Oh Recurpost, I had such high hopes for you! Recurpost is a scheduler that works in a different way, you create Libraries around a certain theme (so, blog posts, jokes, memes, whatever you want to share) and then for each Library you create tweets. For each tweet, you then create several variations. You add the Library into a schedule which is optimised for your timezone and Recurpost will post out your tweets and variations until your library is empty and you need to start again. Main issues for me were that it didn't post images as part of the variations, just links, and when the Libraries were empty it was a real faff taking everything off the schedule and starting again! I can see this being really useful if you want certain content going out on certain days but for me there was a lot of unnessecary messing around.

• Buffer - The dream. Super easy to work, free users can add up to ten updates to their queue at a time, you can select what times they go out or Buffer will optimise it for you. It's really easy to add images to each update and to make it even easier, if you include a link, Buffer will pull images from the site for you to select which for many of us Pinterest-optimised bloggers means not sitting around waiting for images to upload, just type in the text, copy the link, chose the image and it's a go. I wish I'd known about Buffer before paying for a premium Hootsuite membership because it's so much simpler, the interface is nice and it works like a charm.

I hope this has helped! I would love to here your reviews of platforms that perform a similiar task - I'm always looking for ways to streamline managing several social accounts and still growing on all of them.

What is an Echo Chamber and Am I In One?

An Echo Chamber, when referring to the online community describes how you will hear your own views validated, amplified and reinforced. It leads to a dangerous thought process – “everyone feels the same as me” – to put it bluntly, they don’t.

Think about the people you follow and interact with online. If you are in a metaphorical Echo Chamber, most of the individuals that you interact and engage with on a regular basis fall into the follow categories. People you admire. People who inspire you. People who have similar jobs, social economic backgrounds and lives as you. People who have similar views. These people probably feel the same as you about the big issues of the day. Feminism, Terrorism, Racism, Equality, Global Warming. All big issues and most people have a strong enough view that they will openly admit they come down on one side of the fence. I haven’t met anyone who is ‘on the fence’ about global warming. I have met people who think it doesn’t exist and people who dedicate their lives to protecting the environment. These issues encourage strong views.

The problem is, the current climate on the internet is building to one of an almost fanatical intolerance towards any sort of debate or disagreement. I was recently blocked from a popular feminist’s Twitter feed because I stated (and I still believe, rightly) that it was ridiculous to try and ban the word ‘Feminine’ in relation to feminine hygiene products. Personally, I’d rather spend the time campaigning for girls who have to skip school because of their period in this county (this happens – google it) than trying to get yet another part of our standard lexicon banned – I don’t agree that seeing the word should ‘trigger’ anyone and I personally think that if it does, they should grow a fucking backbone – don’t worry, I know this is a #unpopularopinion but I’m still entitled to it. I’m #sorrynotsorry if that triggers you.

Deleting and blocking people who have different views to you isn’t going to help you accept and be tolerate of the world around you. It paints a false picture, that everyone feels the same way and you are on some sort of crusade together against the trolls that disagree.

If all of your friends are super-liberal, middle class white people around the same age, how are you ever going to be able to understand and interact with anyone not in that socio-economic group? If you are blazing through your life thinking that you are right and that’s it, because the group you surround yourself with completely agrees with you and anyone who doesn’t is triggering some sort of anxiety in you so deep that you feel the need to erase their terrible opinion completely from your mind and vision, you need to branch out. Not everyone is the same and not everyone will always agree with you and that is a beautiful thing that the most intelligent, successful and happy people in the world are able to understand.

Beware the Echo Chamber. It can convince you that everyone is in the same boat, that everyone thinks the same. It can encourage normalisation of behaviours that are not accepted in wider society. If every single person you know smokes Cannabis and talks about smoking Cannabis and treats it very normally, does this mean society as a whole is accepting legalisation? Nope, it just means you have surrounded yourself with people whose moral compass points the same way on this factor. Try going to a Woman’s Institute tea party and having a discussion about using CDB oil to treat rheumatoid arthritis. You won’t get very far.

This isn’t a dig to anyone who does delete people who disagree with them. You might want you online space to be all fairies and rainbows and happiness and butt-licking, but it’s vital to be aware that in doing so, you are creating a false and fragile community that doesn’t offer a real reflection of the world, in the wider scheme of things, you are doing something even more dangerous to your own mind – convincing yourself of a false reality and closing yourself off the a diverse and beautiful world of opinion, debate and disagreements.

I want your opinion on this post – negative, positive, on the fence, you don’t like my hair, whatever. All opinions are valid here – I don’t want to be in an Echo Chamber. 

How Do I Get Instagram Insights & How Do I Work Out My Engagement Rate?

Recently Instagram made it possible to access, for free, the kind of information about your following and engagement that had previously only been available by paying a third-party application. Do you have access to Instagram Insights? This guide will tell you how to get it and I'll also be publishing a guide to exactly how you can use the information that it provides to grow your Instagram following. I hope you find it helpful, if so, please do leave a comment.

I'll answer any questions in the comments too, don't be shy!

To access the special icon that takes you to your Insights, you need to have set up a Facebook Page. I don't mean, you need to have an account, you actually have to be the administrator of a Facebook Page. Go here for a description of the difference between a Page and a Group.

You can click the menu option along the navigation bar on Facebook to find out what pages you have created and are an admin of. If you haven't created a Page yet, you'll need to. You can set up a Page about anything, but if you are serious about promoting yourself as a blogger or Influencer, it won't hurt to have one dedicated to you. You can invite your real life friends to like the Page and drive more traffic to where you want it, Instagram or your blog or wherever. Facebook Pages can be a little slow to grow - but you don't need to have any followers to access Instagram Insights.

Once you've got the Page set up, head back over to Instagram and connect your Facebook and Instagram accounts. Click the three little dots on the top right of your profile page and scroll down to Account - the option to hook up Facebook to Instagram, turn your account into a 'Business' account and access Insights should be there.

You'll now have a little icon available to you that wasn't there before...

I have no idea why I am a 'Government Official', that clearly needs to change! The other thing that you'll notice is you will now have a little 'Contact' button under your public stats, this is connected to your email and allows brands and fans to get in touch with you on the email you signed up to Instagram with. It's worth making sure it's your current address.

Here are some extra facts about Insights that might help you get started:

• Insights are only available for images that you post after switching your account over to a business one, you won't be able to access stats from posts prior to that
• Each section has more information, swipe right to view more on each stat.
• Insights are also available for individual posts and you'll see a little 'Insights' link under your newly posted photos. What is the difference between Reach and Impressions? It's pretty simple - Reach is how many individuals your image has been seen by, impressions is how many times the image has been seen.

I'll leave you with a little formula you can use to work out your engagement rate. You can use this to work out whether you engagement is going up or down, whether you get more engagement on certain types of posts and you can also use it to pitch yourself to brands, who will be looking for the highest percentage possible!

Engagement (divided by) Reach = %

Here's an example from one of my posts this month -

66 (divided by) 343 = 0.192

0.192 x 100 = 19.2

This shows that 19.2% of the people that saw my post chose to interact with it.

These are really valuable statistics when it comes to brand endorsements. Brands will be looking for you to have an engagement rate of at least 20% to consider you for paid collaborations. Test the water by posting a few images tagging some of your favourite brands and seeing what your engagement rate is like. You'll need to leave the post up a day or so to get a balanced picture.

Pop back sometime, because I've got a post that delves much deeper into using your Insights to grow and develop your following lined up later this week - follow me on Twitter to stay updated :)

Katy x

Create Quote Memes & Images For Instagram and Beyond!

In recent years, when I've wanted to create an image for the blog or as a background to a slide, or whatever, I've gone straight to Picmonkey and it's done the job perfectly, as well as speedily (I'm not sponsored by them, promise! In fact all my tutorials utilise the free features only, but I do upgrade my membership when I have a few pennies because the font selection is on point)

If you haven't tried it yet, do! Today I want to share my favourite way of making fun quote images for my Instagram feed. I've started trying to curate my Instagram feed a little more, and it's really paying off.

Here's a little tutorial on how I make my cosmic quote images - for more, come over to my Instagram feed ---> here

1. Find your quote - I picked one that reflected by aspiration for the year, to live more in the moment! Don't forget, if you use a quote by someone else, which many will be, it's ethical to give a little credit.

2. Head over to www.picmonkey.com and select 'Design' followed by 'Blank Canvas'

3. Choose a font, either from Picmonkey's library or one of your own. The font works better with a plenty of black space-  and write your quote in big  lettering in the centre (or, at a quirky angle!)

4. Now, you need a background. I like to use royalty-free images by NASA for a cosmic feel but you could use anything at all. Busy patterns work best. Select the little butterfly icon and then chose 'Add Your Own' - you can then select any image from your computer. It'll plonk it over the top like this:

5. Super simple - use the Overlay toolbox that pops up to select the Blend Mode 'Add' This will fill all the black space in your writing with your image. You can move it around using the little arrows to get the best placement. Then save and BAM, you have a tailored, original quote image to share.

I don't bother with this at the moment, but you could pop your name in tiny writing at the bottom and apply the same technique, if you are worried people will reshare your work and not credit you for it.

I can think of SO many uses for this snazzy trick - blog headers, infographics, cover photos...I'd love to see what you do with it so please do tag me in your images if you use my tutorial.

Keep an eye out, I'll be sharing how you can get access to, and then use, Instagram insights to boost your following and start earning money through your Instagram later in the week. Have a great day!

The Mutual Love Club

I'm excited to launch a new personal project of mine today, The Mutual Love Club.

The idea behind the Mutual Love Club has been sitting around idly in my brain for a few months now, as I continue to promote my blog on social media and try to find new ways of sharing my content. I've recently discovered a raft of twitter accounts dedicated to sharing content created by bloggers - you tag them in your post, they retweet it to a huge following, often in the tens of thousands. It's a great idea, but I've spotted a few problems with the plan - there's very little two-way engagement and the tag takes up a lot of space in your tweet. When space is already at a premium, that's not idea - What determined tweeter hasn't spent an extra minute rearranging my words so they can use 'a' instead of 'an'...Or is that just me?

So what's my answer? Fuelled by the slight frustration at fighting to getting my content shared to a wider audience, I came up with a plan to create a mutually-beneficial sharing community that interacts with it's audience, not just blindly retweets them. This isn't just about retweeting, but engaging with like-minded individuals on a daily basis - the type of people who WANT to see and share your blog posts, vlogs or opinions.

I hope you'll come over to twitter and give us a follow. My goal is for the stream to be FILLED with inspirational, motivational, positive links and video from around the web, being mutually shared across a wide community of viewers - boosting everyone involved's stats and introducing 'members' (read: followers) to new and exciting content!

I have no idea if this will work or not, I've never done anything like it at all, but I hope you'll follow my journey as I try and create my little love club ♥

3 Cross Platform Promotion Ideas

One of the things I love  most about the internet is just how many different ways there are to access content about things I am interested in.

Cross promotion is all about using one platform or social network to promote another, and back again. The benefits being, if you can get fans or followers to promote you by retweeting/posting/sharing your content on more than one platform, you are instantly increasing your audience and reach.

Here are three easy ways you can cross-promote your small business, brand or product. Please don't forget to leave a comment if you found these tips useful.

I have a problem with my twitter username. When I decided to change my internet name to Katy Clouds, I was pretty confident I had found a name that noone else was using in the way I wanted to use it. I left twitter to last because it was the only one that was going to allow me to change my username rather than setting up a new account or profile.

The username I wanted was taken, so I am @katyclouds on instagram and @katy_clouds on twitter.

It doesn't matter much, and I don't think it's lost me any followers. However, it's important you are cohesive across all platforms if you are trying to build a brand.

Having the same profile picture helps, and similiar cover photos for twitter & Facebook also give a strong branded image and let potential followers coming over from one platform know that they have found the right you.

Here's an example from The Turner Brothers Facebook and Twitter pages.

You can find dimensions out for all the social networks profile images here.

(I'd be interested in linking a smaller blog here, if you have provided this information in some way on your blog or webpage, please let me know, I would prefer to support a small blogger!)

You could also use Picmonkey if you want to create your own cover photo collages or make sure your images are sized right with their templates. It's free, and possibly the best image editor available online for free at the moment,

So, you want your Instagram followers to check out your brand's Facebook page. You are putting the link in your photo descriptions and in your bio but you don't seem to be picking up many followers.

Think about it. How often do YOU bother looking at peoples bios to find their links and follow them? The internet is making us increasingly lazy, and the shorter number of clicks the better to gain followers, fact.

So I use a little tactic that has proved really successful. It involves creating an image to share your information. An image which can then be posted across ALL platforms, including instagram. I'd like to share a quick tutorial for doing this using Picmonkey (I just can't get enough, it really does rock)

1. Select a suitable image.

I'm going to use Picmonkey's collage option to create a 3 x 3 collage of images for my sharable picture. You can skip this and just use one but I want a high impact, exciting image as my backdrop and I have enough pictures stored to do this super easily.

2. Turn it into a backdrop

Chose 'Edit' at the top to convert your collage into one image and make it available for editing. You can skip making it black and white if you want. In this case, because some of the photos I chose are not full colour, I thought it would look better if they were all black and white. The option to do this is under the little wand symbol on the far left of the Edit screen.

Now we are going to put a screen over the image to make the text stand out against it.

Use the 'overlays' option to cover your whole picture in a big black square.

Then, change Colour 1 to white (in fact, it doesn't have to be white, if a pink or blue screen would work for your brand, give it a shot!) and turn the fade slider up to 50.

The result should look something like this:

3. Add info.

The aim of this image I am creating is to tell the bands growing instagram following how they can find The Turner Brothers on facebook. You could easily use the same tactic on twitter to tell followers how to find you on Pinterest, or even include multiple ways to get in contact.

And it's ready to share :) I'll be posting this on the band's instagram feed later today. This only took me ten minutes and I was writing this tutorial at the same time. Let me know if you give this idea a go.

So you've got your cohesive branding sorted and you've been creating images to share across multiple platforms. How can you keep the momentum going? 

Make sure you save everything you create to post. The image above obviously wouldn't be useful to post on twitter, but as well as instagram it could be used to promote the band on Facebook as a post on it's own and a photo comment, Pinterest, Google+....

Some other ways you could recycle content in this way to increase your content cross promotion:

• Whilst editing images, create a few variations. Change the text to promote your insta feed and use the image a few weeks later on Twitter.
• Repost/retweet previously posted content on a different social network with a cheeky "Did you see this shot of our studio/performance/merchandise yet?"
• Create a collage as an image to post using images you have already shared (a great tactic for dull weeks when you haven't got much new content to share, and creating collages takes only a few seconds in most image editing programs) Save them to use as a backdrop for future info sharing posts too, now that's multi-tasking!

DON'T FORGET:

• Spread things out. Don't post the same image on three networks in the same day. 
• Don't over saturate your followers. Most people won't want to see seven or eight posts a day of the same sort of thing.
• Make cross-promotion only 10% of your content. The industry standard is 70% lifestyle, 20% direct promotion (this would encompass the types of posts we have discussed here as well as direct links to products) and 10% promotion of similar or aligned products or brands.

Let me know if you have any questions, I hope this was helpful!

Katy x

5 Tips For Promoting Your Blog On Social Media Sites

Promoting your blog used to be a simple case of posting the link on twitter, and maybe on Facebook too. Things have sure changed!

I like to follow a certain pattern, which I have developed over the last few months and has led to an increase in my page views of 150%. I would like to share this pattern with you today in the hope that utilising it, or something similar might be of use to you.

* Note: This may seem like much more work than you were originally putting into promoting your blog posts each time you made an entry. Fact is, it does take time and effort to get the word out there about your blog but the rewards are highly increased page views and post interaction! So worth it :-)

1. I've spoken before about getting twitterfeed to automatically post the link to your blog once you have written and published a new post. I would bet you an ice cream sundae that this is usually around the same times of day. That means that people who are following you from different time zones are probably not getting to see your link. You are missing out on these people, who have already expressed an interest in you, seeing your link and potentially visiting your blog!

Between 6 and 12 hours after you publish your blog post, tweet your link again. Maybe something like "Have you seen my post on taking photographs at night?" with a short link. You've just doubled the audience of your promotion :-)

I would strongly recommend against doing this more than twice, or too soon after your initial publishing/tweeting. It'll look spammy.

2. Pinterest is massively overlooked as a promotional tool. Have a look at my board here. For every article that I write for my blog, be it a nail tutorial or a social media advice post, I create a image with similar characteristics. The three things I usually make sure are cohesive are rounded corners, bold text and an instagram picture that belongs to me. I make the image in Picmonkey and then I use it at the top of the post.

Create a header image for each post with bold, informative text, signposting your article. Pin to Pinterest and repin at intervals you feel comfortable with.

When I've published the article or tutorial, I'll then go to Pinterest and add the image as a pin to the board. Simple right? Followers of that board often repin the image. It serves as a sort of flag for what the blog article is about, and quite often people will pin things they want to read later. Every repin is a huge truckload of extra exposure for me! I will even 'repin' the image myself after a few weeks, and then again a few months later. This means that all my articles are being seen by new people on a regular basis.

3. If you are not using LinkedIn to promote your business to like-minded individuals or potential customers, you are missing a trick. It's an engagement-heavy platform with the added bonus of being more credible that most social media sites. You do have to put time and effort into building up a following though.(I'll talk about how you can do that in my upcoming Brand Awareness E-Course) Regardless, even with under 100 connections, it's more than worth posting a link to your article on the site. All it takes for your article to be seen by potential hundreds of interested people is a few 'likes'.

The key to LinkedIn is mutual engagement. If you read and like articles that posts that other people are posting, tell them! They will be much more likely to do the same for you, and every comment, share or like on LinkedIn exposes you and your blog to all of that individuals connections too.

4. Next in the promotional round for me is Google+. I wrote here some beginners tips to using Google+ but I have an awful lot more to learn. If you don't have an account yet, do it right now. Set one up, add a photo and start looking for interesting and relevant people to follow. If you provide business consulting services, you'll want to find small local business owners. If you sell handmade jewellery worldwide, you will want to be adding people that fit into the demographic of your business. There's a real knack to finding the right type of people and you'll need to put significant effort in at the start, but the rewards are evident when your blog articles are shooting up the search pages. Your popularity and ability to engage people on Google+ is going to have a significant affect on your SEO in the future, as Google search pays more attention to what people are liking and sharing.

Share your blog article from the main page of Google+. Add a short description where you have space to, don't repeat the title of the post though, that's a waste of valuable SEO opportunity. Describe the post in a different way, keeping it short and sweet. Don't forget to thank everyone who +1's your post on there. I do this by name, shouting out each individual by putting a plus before their name (like with twitter's '@')


5. The final tip is common sense, but it's kind of worth saying because sometimes people miss this valuable step.

Tell people in real life about your blog!

I know it's hard. I know you may feel that people won't be interested. I know these things because I felt them too. But once you bite the bullet and just do it, you'll see that actually people can be extremely supportive of your writing. Obviously, if your blog is about a controversial topic, or particulally liberal or right-wing, then you may encounter some negativity, but in general, as long as your blog is inoffensive, I think you'll be surprised at the positive reception you get from sharing your blog in real life. Start by posting the link on facebook. I do away with the preamble and just title the post 'Blog.' I've had some lovely messages from people who I haven't spoken to in a while - definetely worth getting over the shyness :-)

You are probably exhausted just reading all of this but once you get into the swing of it, this method of non-spammy self-promotion really does work, and give you the bext chance of your posts being seen by others. Of course, keeping people reading, coming back for more and ultimately following you is a totally different story altogether.

Look out later in the week for my Beginners Guide to your Bounce Rate (how long people stay on your pages once you finally manage to get them there!)

Katy x

Recent SEO & Blogging Articles - A Catch Up

You may have noticed I went on an unexplained hiatus. Two major life events happened at the same time. The second, spilling coffee onto the open and turned on keyboard of my brand new ultrabook laptop, was a pretty damning reason not to be able to be able to blog.

I have been distraught. So much so that a lovely friend has lent me her laptop. And I love her even though she has set up her cursor in the shape of a ballpoint pen and has about 97 toolbars installed.

Regardless of these minor issues, I would like to resume writing here. So I thought a good way to start myself off would be with a sum up of recent posts on SEO and blogging matters. As always, I welcome you comments and constructive critisism, and you can talk to me on twitter, instagram (@katyclouds) or via email. You can also follow my boards on Pinterest.

 

 

 

 

Being Nice Online Helps & 5 Ways To Pay-It-Forward

Building a positive reputation online will draw people towards you, fact. If you are trying to increase your professional recognition, offering to help others is one of the very best ways to get people looking at your content, following you on social networking sites and engaging with you and your brand. A simple 'thanks!' can start a conversation and could lead to opportunities for your blog or small business that you wouldn't even have known about.

Here's an example that might make you believe me when I say that however happy-clappy it sounds, being nice online works.

How many people can you name that follow you on twitter who have never engaged with you? By engage I mean,  comment on one of your tweets, started a conversation or retweeted  one of your links?

 

How many people can you name who you've seen being snarky to either you or others? Can you remember their username? Their blog? What they do? Chances are, you've not bothered storing that information because they didn't strike you as the type of people you would like to work with or read articles from in the future.

And then, how many can you name that HAVE engaged with you in a positive way? I bet it's quite a few more.

What is pay-it-forward?

Getting something nice for free and then doing something nice for free for someone else. Simple. It's an easy premise to understand. Say you retweet a link for someone that you haven't spoken to in a while. You've done something to help someone out, right? They should pay-it-forward by doing an out of the blue retweet for someone else :-) The whole thing is a bit of an honesty-box excerise, because obviously, noone is checking up on you. Noone will know if you don't do it. But, you could be missing out on a great opportunity to increase your client or customer engagement.

Here are 5 ways you can pay-it-forward, and don't forget to keep a look out for anyone at all doing these things for you!

1. Mention someone's business or job-search on your blog. As long as it's relevant to your regular content, why not give someone whose handmade crafts or blog articles you like a mention on your blog? It doesn't cost anything, and you may even find that they return the favour. Don't be afraid to leave them a comment or drop an email if you do this, I don't know anyone who doesn't appreciate this kind of recognition.

2. Drop into one of your forums or LinkedIn groups, and answer a question from a newbie. I'm a member of so many forums that most of the time I forget about them until I have a question that needs answering. Every week, I try and swing by one group or forum and find an unanswered post with a question that I know the answer to. I then spend a few minutes typing out a detailed reply.

3. Retweet a link from someone you haven't spoken to in a while - since you last spoke, you've probably both gained (and lost!) followers. Why not help someone else out with a single click, exposing their link to all your followers? You'll usually get a thank you in response (but don't expect one) which could be the start of a new conversation as well as strengthen your online relationships.

4. Comment on & repin someone who follows you on Pinterest - hands down the best way to gain new Pinterest followers is to comment & repin rather than just repin. It shows that you aren't just collecting images but interested in engaging with fellow pinners.

5. Comment on a blog you read daily - I often comment on blogs that are new to me. But the ones I read daily, I kind of just presume they know that I am reading. Which obviously, they don't. Getting people to comment on your blog posts is one of the big blogging challenges, and I speak from experience when I say that every single comment, whether it's a one-liner or a longer one, is really, genuinely appreciated. You'll often find the blogger will come and have a nose round your own blog and maybe comment too. You may even gain a few new readers. You can also leave your own link the comment too.

Here s a simple challenge that is guarenteed to improve your online presence, reputation and 'brand' engagement. If one of these five things happens to you, i.e a question you asked gets an unexpectedly detailed response, you get a totally random retweet from someone you almost forgot about or you get even the tiniest mention in the smallest blog - chose something else from the list (or make up your own - how about +1'ing a post on Google+? Or instagramming a pic of a DIY you tried to the person who inspired you?) and do it for some other person.

I hope this post has inspired you to spread the love - I'd be very interested to know your thoughts (and I always pay-it-forward ❤ )

5 Tips For Retweeting

This morning I deleted a large portion of the people that I follow on twitter. As I stated in this post, I am quite ruthless as a follower anyway, so that's not unusual. What IS unusual is what caused the sudden cull.

I noticed that the ENTIRE screen on my phone was filled with retweets. That's 14 retweets and not one bit of gossip, news or snark from any of the people I was actually interested in, and none of the retweets were of any interest to me at all. So I did a bit of research and I've discovered that boring retweeting is one of the top 10 reasons that people will unfollow you on twitter.

Here's how to avoid losing followers whilst still supporting your favourite brands/tweeters.

1. Don't retweet more than once in a row. Many users simply scroll over multiple retweets. Do you? If you are anything like me, you see someone retweeting something that doesn't interested you so you just scroll on down. 

 One careful retweet should be enough to engage your followers with another member. If it is, they can follow them if they want to and see all of their tweets. If it isn't, they probably don't want to read 5 more things from that individual. Fact.

2. Mix your retweets up with regular tweets. Of course, you might want to retweet more than one tweet from an indie business that you love, or have some other reason or wanting to retweet more than one link/advert/picture at one time. My prime advice in this situation would be to stick to my previously suggested formula:

1 personal tweet / 1 business tweet / 1 retweet

The only thing that you should consider doing more than once in a row is a personal tweet. There are lots of reasons why this is great advice, read more about mixing up your tweets here.

3. Don't retweet the same person mentioning you. Okay, we get it. Someone tweeted you. Maybe they are your friend in real life. Maybe they are a customer of your home business. Maybe they are a weird internet stalker. Who cares? Not your followers. I follow some brands (a particular Essex-based reality show's stars are notorious for this) that retweet every single mention they get.. Which is a lot. Well, they were unfollowed today because I don't want to see every gushing, grovelling, badly spelled message they get. Boring! My recommendation would be to retweet one tweet of this kind a day, and never from the same person (unless its hilarious!)

4. Celebrity retweets - you might love One Direction so much that every single thing that they say seems worthy of shouting from the rooftops. Face facts. Not everyone feels that way. If they did, they would be following them themselves, same as before, but it's even more true with celebrities. Everyone knows they exist. Everyone knows they are on twitter. If you have a number of followers with similiar interests, they have probably already seen the gem of a tweet you wanted to share anyway. Save your retweeting for indie brands/musicians who really need and want the exposure, and who your followers may not have heard of before.

5. Don't retweet personal responses. Bear in mind that most followers won't have seen the original tweet (unless they are following both you and the person you are addressing) and therefore retweeting a response is kind of like walking up to a buffet table, picking up a cake and throwing it in the face of someone you don't know. It might be fun and silly, but they will probably be highly confused. And need a wash.

Those are my tips :-) I compiled them from the internet and from my personal experience. You can read a little about why I am qualified to give Social Media advice (or why I *think* I am) here. You can read all of my posts on getting and keeping followers here.

What are your tips for keeping followers interested? I'd love to hear them.

I have an idea...

..sometimes you are lying on your mattress in the front watching Lost on Netflix when you have a pinging idea pop into your brain that stays with you all the next day. When you can't shake the idea away, it's time for action. It's the best feeling. And now, I have a plan. And I am going to implement my plan in just a few short days.

I'd love for you to come with me on a journey...follow me on twitter here.

source

Quickie

I've been super busy at work, the next section of my Twitter course will be posted tomorrow evening. In the meantime, why not catch up on the two sessions so far?

Twitter Redux - Free E-Course - Class 2 - Content

Welcome back :-)

Please see my previous post, Class 1 in my free Twitter course, Followers.

Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on the last post, which was about followers. I love hearing that something I am doing is a little bit useful, it really makes me happy. Please don't be afraid to leave your twitter username in the comments section. I'll follow you, and you might even gain a few other followers too.

Exciting stuff!

This post is focused on:

Content is important because it's what keep people from losing interest. It helps, with social networking, to think of yourself as a brand, whether or not you are actually selling anything. 

You need to keep the people who have already bought into your brand interested by creating content that makes them want to interact with you. The basic fact is, you want them to trust you enough to click on your links. Eventually, you might want them to like you enough to try products that you might endorse. (Okay, I know, it's a long shot, but it *does* happen to bloggers, and has probably happened your favourite ones. Companies are itching for the credit from bloggers and tweeters with clout)

There are lots of ways to do that. Posting links to things or pictures you like, pimping out other tweeters and bloggers:
 

It's nice to link other people. You never know, people might return the favour. Plus it will help your followers build up a picture of what to expect from you as a tweeter. I like clicking links that my followers recommend. I use it as a way to interact with people. I always let people know I've followed their link and make (positive!) comment about what I thought.

I've made an infographic. Infographics are a bit of  trend at the moment, and are all about conveying information about a specific subject through a textual image.

It may not have fancy-schmancy drop shadows or handdrawn illustrations of birds singing in trees about the future of social media, but I think it gets my message across.

Finally, you can share photos on twitter too. I use the ubersocial app on my Blackberry, and I take photos with the very mediocre camera on it and upload them directly to twitter using the 'share' option on my Blackberry. I don't use Instagram because I am still clinging desperately to my Blackberry even though the screen has totally come apart.

Here are some pics I have posted over the last year on my stream, that I wouldn't otherwise have at all if it weren't for Twitter. Including such gems as 'Me eating a giant bag of crisps' and 'Me getting my hideous tattoo'

Pictures help your followers to see what you look like, obviously, but they serve a higher order. Every time you show someone a piece of yourself, you are letting them a little further into your life. And it's a personal connection, if they know what you look like, what your house is like. You wouldn't have a blog with no pictures, that would be dull. People can 'imagine' you talking if they know what your face looks like. People can imagine you doing things. It gives you a whole other dimension. 

If you aren't happy sharing pictures of your face, but still want to offer your followers a personal insight into your life, here is a list of things that you could photograph and post:

• The shoes you are wearing
• A pretty drink you are about to have
• The view from your window
• A shot of your make-up spread out
• Your dinner, post-eating
• Your wrist with your watch/bracelets
• The back of your head with an interesting hairstyle
• A shot of your wardrobe
• Picture of your with sunglasses - hies a multitude of sins!
• Shots of tattoos/piercings  that you have
• Your pet in a funny position
• A picture of some writing in your handwriting

I can't wait to hear if something that I have said is useful to you. Please post a comment :-)

Next class: Working on your layout, picture and 'branding'

Follow me on twitter here

Twitter Redux - Free E-Course - Class 1 - Followers

Hii! Thank you for joining me! My name is Katie and I love social media, it's my favourite thing. After my son. And cake.

The next week will be packed full of posts about twitter, how to use it successfully for personal and (small) business purposes, and how to make money, connections and friends.

This is a beginners course. I won't be dealing with complex SEO queries relating to backlinking or metadata, so if you have questions about that you can email me and I'll endeavor to answer them to the best of my ability.

This was a really nice biscuit. I was walking around the supermarket, thinking...now what sort of image shall I use for my first post? And where is the granola? I don't normally buy myself giant biscuits with sugar sheep, but it was a lovely treat...so I hope you like my picture.

So, followers.

I have, as of right now, 1,157 followers. I'm not a particularly prolific internet personality, I don't tweet about anything especially exciting for the average follower, but for some reason those people have all decided to stay with me, reading my tweets for the last two years.

We can safely say that some of them are no longer active (say, 20%?), but the rest are reading my tweets on a daily basis. Following my links, listening to me complain etc. I follow just over 200 people. I try to keep it below 200 because I don't have the time or inclination to stay connected to more than that amount of peoples lives - sometimes I slip over but I also keep track of who I am following and delete them is they become inactive.

I started off by choosing three or four companies whose image, products, ethos and personality I liked. I chose Etsy, Folksy and a few others. I also follow five or six celebrities who I have a genuine interest in, primarily ones that don't endorse products or only post links to their ticket-sales websites.

Then I looked at their followers, and I clicked down the list and followed the most recent 100 people of each of them. It only took about 60 seconds, because twitter makes it SUPER RIDICULOUSLY easy to mass-follow people by offering a one-click-no-page-reload button.

I know. It was crazy, right? Boy, was my feed filled with some crap. I even debated giving up, such was the rubbish that I was seeing every time I logged in to twitter. 90% of them followed me back, giving me a swift 400 followers in the space of a few days. This original number rapidly dropped as the individuals realised that I didn't tweet much/wasn't a hot guy/wasn't interesting to them. But a few stuck with me.

Over the course of the next week I deleted anyone who even slightly irritated me. I was ruthless. I still am now, if I follow someone, and they don't interest me or post things that annoy me (only promotional links, constant negativity, explicit content, loads of ads or spammy virus links, an irritating profile picture - I told you, I'm ruthless)

Some points to consider:

• The best way to GET followers is to engage with people. 
• The only way you can ENGAGE with people is by FOLLOWING people.
• Interact with people - this will increase your exposure to others.

Here are some other ways I gain followers that might or might not be effective to you:

Facebook is a great way to connect with people who you already engage with daily. They should at least be mildly interesting to you, and probably won't unfollow you as quickly as random followers will if you aren't immediately interesting.

I like to keep my posts like this rare and a little tongue-in-cheek.

You could also try LinkedIn if you use it for personal use, creating a fun image that relates to your twitter name (so I might do a fun cloud picture) and posting it on Pintrest or any other social media site you can think of. The key is to come up with an idea that makes you seem totally engaging and like you have more to offer.

Blog Links Try linking your twitter from your blog posts. A little note on the end of each post saying something like, tomorrow I'll be tweeting live from the dentist - follow me *here* with a link to your twitter profile is more engaging and interesting that a static button that the eyes of your readers may skim over.

Next, a very important note...

I could write a whole blog post on why I HATE seeing people begging for people to follow them. But I won't. Because that would be even more boring than seeing these tweets come up on a daily basis. Instead, I'll condense my reasons into three succinct points.

• 100% of the people who will see your tweet initially are already following you
• The first time you do it, 1% of your followers might take pity on you and retweet
• The 27th time, people are deleting you. They'll realise you aren't interesting enough for other people to follow, and therefore won't want to follow you.

HOMEWORK

Make it your mission to find 20 new people to follow. Over the next two days, engage with every single one of them at least once. Either by tweeting them direct using the '@username' tag, or by retweeting (The little square arrow button) a tweet you dislike.

Feel free to put your twitter name below, and I will follow you, and put a tweet out to all my followers to follow you to :-)

<3

Tomorrow: Content.

Oh yes...follow me on twitter ;-)