How to Use The Twitter Facebook Application

 

twitter-bird-blue-on-whiteTwitter makes it easy for you to share your tweets on Facebook, too. This guide shows you how to set up and customize your application.

To get started, navigate to: https://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets/facebook

Install Application

To activate the application, you need to start by installing it. Click “Install” as shown below:

1-install

 

Facebook will automatically open in a new window and you have to give the Twitter application permission to access your account. Click “Allow” to continue the process.

 2-permission

 

Next, you’ll be asked if you want to connect your Twitter and Facebook account. Click “Allow” to proceed.

 3-connect

  Connect to Profile & Pages

You can connect your Twitter updates to your profile and any Facebook Pages you have set up. You can also transfer your avatar from one account to the other, if you’d like.  We are going to connect Twitter to our Facebook Page in the example below.

 4-choose-profile-page

 We have clicked our Facebook Page and now, once again, have to give permission for Twitter to post to our Page. Click “Allow” to continue.

 5-twitter-permission

 

 How it Looks

We go to Twitter and write our tweet. It appears in the timeline:

6-twitter-tweet

 

And the tweet will then appear on Facebook, with the note that it came “via Twitter” as shown below:

7-via-twitter

 

All-in-One Social Media Checklist

socialmediachecklistThough the term “social media” groups social networks like LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook all in one bucket, in reality they’re all quite different. Each one has a different kind of communication style and each one has different tools you can use to promote your business.

Here’s a list of the various different kinds of activities you can do on each site.

Facebook Activity List

Post a PhotoWhenever you have an in person event, post a photo. If you’re launching a new product, you can also post photos of the product. Photos are inherently more eye catching than text.

1-Facebook-Photo

Add a MilestoneYour timeline plays a big role in how people view your overall Facebook presence. Use milestones to make important things in your timeline stand out.

Create a Group – Facebook groups are powerful community building tools. You can create a very vibrant community of people who share ideas with one another using a Facebook group.

Create a PageA Facebook page is a great place to host your brand’s social media presence. It’s the ideal way to relate to social media fans as a brand. Unlike a personal account that has a cap on the number of friends you can have, with a page you have no such cap.

2-Create-Page

Invite People to Your PageYou can “suggest” a page to your entire network of contacts. If your friends like what you’re up to, there’s a good chance they’ll join your page.

 

Google+ Activity List

Have a Quality Profile PhotoThis is more important than on any other social network, because your profile photo will actually show up in Google searches. People will see the picture you put up actually displayed on the search results page for your name when they Google you.

Check Your DescriptionYour Google+ profile shows up in search engines as a combination of your tagline, your occupation, your employment information and your introduction, in that order. Make sure you have a stellar tagline and complete job information filled out to maximize your brand impact.

3-Google-Plus-Profile

Separate People into Circles – One of Google+’s most important features is the ability to separate people into different circles. Take advantage of this feature to group your followers into categories that make sense. Tailor your updates to different groups of people according to their interests.

Encourage Google +1s – Google +1s influence your search rankings more than any other social media vote. It’s more influential than Facebook likes or Twitter retweets. Get as many +1s as you can by actively asking readers and followers to +1 you.

Get Your Account VerifiedOnce you have 1,000 followers, get your account verified. You’ll get a “Verified” badge on your Google+ page, which helps build credibility.

4-Verified

Twitter Activity List

Setup Your BioSetup your bio or tagline to catch people’s attention to moment they land on your Twitter page.

Customize Your Background – Having a strong background can really change the first impression of your Twitter page. A well crafted custom background that matches your brand can really “wow” your audience.

5-Background

Tweet Often – Twitter has a culture of high frequency posts. Use tools like Seesmic or TweetDeck to schedule your tweets.

Post Your #FFsFollow Fridays is your chance to recommend people to follow. If you think there’s an expert people in your space should really know about, recommend them on Follow Fridays with the #FF hashtag.

Use @Mentions wisely – When someone says something you’re interested in, @reply them. If someone @mentions you, @mention them back. Build communication loops.

LinkedIn Activity List

Add Keywords to Your LinkedIn ProfilePotential employers and partners will often look for contacts by doing keyword searches. Look at other people in your industry and see what kind of keywords they’re using and make sure you’ve got the same keywords in your profile.

Join and Participate in GroupsGroups are a fantastic place to meet other people who’re in the same field as you. Join groups and be an active participant. Offer advice where you can and network.

7-Groups

Complete Your Work HistoryThe more comprehensive you are with your work experience, the easier you make it for other people to get a sense for who you are. Many employers won’t even consider candidates who don’t have their career information fully filled out.

Get as Many Recommendations as Possible – Comb through your network and look for people who harbor goodwill towards you. Ask them to give you a recommendation.

8-Recommendations

Actively Seek Out Connections –  Look for people who’re one degree of separation away from you whom you want to meet. Don’t be shy about asking people in your network for connections. As long as you make it clear that you’re someone who gives valuable advice, people will generally be more than happy to make a referral for you.

 

As you can tell, each social network works a bit differently than other networks. Each network has participants interact with one another in slightly different ways. Tailor your daily activity lists to the specific social network you’re working on.

How to Use FriendFeed – a Social Media Aggregator Tool

social_media

FriendFeed is a social network that aggregates contacts from all your other networks. It can automatically search your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Hotmail accounts for other people who have FriendFeed accounts.

Unfortunately, after being acquired by Facebook in 2009, FriendFeed has more or less stopped being updated and no longer has its feed aggregating capabilities. That said, it still gets over 250,000 unique visitors per month in the United States and over 1.5 million worldwide, making it still one of the largest social bookmarking sites around.

Here’s how to use FriendFeed.

Joining FriendFeed

 

The best way to join FriendFeed is to use either your Facebook or Twitter account. Yes, you can join with just an email address, but in order for FriendFeed to find your friends, you should use a social media account instead.

Start by selecting what account you want to use to join.

 1-Choose-Join-Method

Then grant it permission to link your account.

 2-Grant-Permission

Import Addresses

 

You can import friends and addresses from a number of different accounts. Click the account to scan your address book in that system for other friends on FriendFeed.

 3-Import-Address-Book

Browsing the Feed

 

Using FriendFeed’s feed is much like using feeds on Twitter or Facebook. You have a list of posts in chronological order from all your other friends who’ve posted to their feed.

Posting to Your Feed

 

Posting to your feed is done at the top of the page. Just type in your message, then click “Post.” To attach photos or files, click the respective button next to “Add.” To also post it to a social media account, click the checkbox next to the account under “Cc.”

 5-Post-to-Feed

Using Groups

 

If you’re subscribed to a group, posts from all its members can appear in your feed. This allows you to stay in touch with what’s going on within entire topics and industries.

To join a group, click the “Browse/create groups” button in the right sidebar.

 6-Browse-Create-Groups

Choose a group. By default FriendFeed will display all the groups your friends are. You can also search for groups by keyword.

To subscribe to a group, click on its name to go to its profile page. Then click “Subscribe.”

8-Subscribe

You can choose whether to add the group subscription to your main feed, or to a specific feed.

9-Different-Feeds

You can access specific feeds in the right sidebar.

Direct Messages

 

To send a direct message to someone else on FriendFeed, click “Direct Messages” in the right sidebar.

 10-Direct-Messages

Enter the person’s username and the message you want to send.

 11-Send-Message

Notifications

 

Want to get updates of your feeds in an email, an instant message, or a popup? You can. Just click the Email / IM button at the top of your feed.

 12-Notifications

Those are the most essential features of FriendFeed. You’ve now learned how to setup your account, import contacts from a number of different features, browse your feed, post to your feed, use groups, send direct messages and receive notifications.

Twitter for Businesses: DOs and DON’Ts

Social_mediaTwitter allows business owners to interact with customers in a very unique, spontaneous and quick way. With Twitter, you can market to other business owners as often as you’d like. If you “spammed” Facebook status updates or email messages, you’d get penalized. On Twitter however, you could make a new post every hour and be commended for it.

Using Twitter for business? Here are a few tips for building your readership and improving the relationship with customers.

DOs: Add a catchy bio and not just a list of keywords. Remember to include the website URL and your location.

DOs: Use outside tools. Twitter’s default interface is great for the casual user, but is missing many features for business users. For example, you can’t schedule a tweet to be sent later. Use outside applications that add functionality to Twitter.

DOs: Pay attention to your avatar & background. Having an avatar and background that resonates with your brand can work wonders. The moment someone lands on your site, they should immediately “feel” like they’re interacting with your brand.

DOs: Make it easy to follow you. Place a Twitter button on your main website, on your posts, on your pages and generally anywhere that people can find you.

DOs: Search for related keywords and answer questions. For example, if you run a travel website, search for tweets like “going to Hawaii” or “flying to New York” and send people tips about the places they’re going.

DOs: Use RT @name to retweet. The new retweet format won’t get you noticed, because it lacks the @tweet inclusion. If you’re retweeting something, make sure to use the “RT @name” format so you show up on their @ Connect tab.

DOs: Tweet regularly. Get people in the habit of seeing your content. The more often you tweet, the more your content will be exposed to people. On Twitter, it’s very hard to tweet too often.

DON’Ts: It is difficult to read tweets that include more than 2 hashtags. Don’t add a hashtag just for the sake of including one.

DON’Ts: Avoid sending only tweets with a link. Twitter is not a bookmarking site, but a great tool to start a conversation.

If you are new to social media and need guidance to create a Twitter account, here’s how to do it:

 

Step 1: Create a New Account

 

To create a new account, go to http://www.Twitter.com. Fill out the new account form.

1-Create-Account

Step 2: Startup Wizard

 

Go through the startup wizard if it’s your first time using Twitter. You’ll be invited to add people based on categories.

2-Startup-Wizard

You’ll also be invited to search for and add contacts based on your email.

3-Search-Contacts

Use the categories feature and the search contacts feature to populate your initial follow list.

Step 3: Posting New Tweets

 

To post a Tweet to anyone who’s following you, type your message into the box on the left. Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters. This will be sent out to all your followers.

 4-New-Tweet

Step 4: See Who’s Talking to You

 

When someone wants to talk to you on Twitter, what they do is use a mention. They do this by putting the @ symbol in front of your name. For example, if your username was Jacob123, they would tweet something and put @Jacob123 in the beginning.

To see who’s been talking about you with this feature, just go to @ Connect along the top.

5-Connects

Note: If you and another tweeter are mutually following one another, you can communicate with direct messages. Otherwise, you have to use @ connects.

Step 5: Discover More People to Follow

 

To discover more people to follow, just click “Discover” along the top navigation bar. You can browse by category, by stories, by level of activity, by recommendations and by finding friends.

 6-Discover

Step 6: Using the Feed

 

Once you’ve followed a handful of people, you’ll be able to see their tweets in your feed. To reply to a tweet, retweet a tweet or favorite a tweet, just hover your mouse over the tweet and click the corresponding button.

Optimizing Your Twitter Background

In business, the name of the game is recognition. Business cards carry a logo or image that piques interest and makes you the one people remember. Today, instead of merely exchanging cards and numbers with peers, people are turning to the mega success of social media to make business connections and gain an audience.

At this point, there is no need to tout the benefits of Twitter. If you’re not using it yet, get on board now and start tweeting your thoughts, your ideas, your favorite quotes, and maybe a coupon or two for your business. But don’t just do it; do it with style.

Think of your twitter background as your business card design. Under Twitter Settings, there are template designs that can be used to spruce up your profile. But why stick with status quo when you can outdo the competition. On Twitter, you are building a following. Those who follow your tweets may visit your page a time or two. And when they do, why not give them a glimpse into what your business is all about? Using photographs, patterns or a business card style background, your profile can stand out when others will be forgotten.

There are a few ways you can add photos to your Twitter background. One, you can use a background generator like Twilk. This online generator takes your friends’ profile photos and turns them into a collage background for your profile. While this can be fun, it doesn’t do much for branding your own business.

To really do up a profile that you can customize to your business, all you need is a little help from Photoshop and a bit of imagination. Using a Photoshop image, the left hand side of your Twitter profile can be set up with your logo, business card image, or custom graphic that changes right along with any special deal you may be running at the moment.

Filling the entire background with one large image is a possibility if you have Photoshop. Filling the background is best done with an image sized at least 1280×1024 pixels in size, preferably larger. Depending on the background and whether or not it can be nicely blended into a solid background color or not, sizes from 1600×1200 and even up to 2048×1600 for some backgrounds is recommended.

Not up to speed with Photoshop? That’s ok. You can still create an eye-catching Twitter background by uploading any image that you have taken, it just might take some resizing to get it to show up just the right way. Another option using photos is to Google search “tile background”; doing this will result in thousands of downloadable background options. You can show off the nature lover lurking inside of you, or display an image that compliments your business.
Your Twitter background has the ability to work for you just like a business card or brochure does. Utilize the space on the left side, and even a bit of the top of the page, to promote something, anything pertaining to your business or service. Creating a professional-looking Twitter background makes a stellar first impression and will help you pick up followers simply because you have caught their attention when so many other profiles failed to create interest.
Your profile may only be seen by one person one time, but the result could very well be worth any time and effort you have put into your profile creation. Now multiply that by all of the “one persons” who may view your profile only one time and consider the possibilities! Get creative, have fun, and start tweeting!

All About Hashtags

twthashtags

 

One thing is certain: the internet world is constantly changing. This is the challenge for those of us who make a living utilizing its power. But as we keep up with the latest trends, we can come across interesting ways to capitalize on the social media front.

One example of change on the web is Twitter. Seemingly, this social site came out of nowhere and jetted right to the top of the popularity list. There are all sorts of people on Twitter, tweeting about anything and everything that comes to their minds. While many Tweeters are there strictly for social purposes, there seems to be a strong emergence of business people treading their way through the Twitterdom.

Hashtags were created to create groupings within the site; an organizational tool of sorts. They are a popular way of getting focused attention to your Tweets. Additionally, you can search hashtags to find tweets that are relevant to research you may be conducting, or just relevant to what you want to know about. For instance, if one would like to find tweets relating to article marketing, you can perform a twitter search for all tweets specific to that by searching “#article marketing”.

If you look further into the use of hashtags, you will discover that they have somewhat of a limited fan base at the moment. While their was a surge in popularity for a time, as well as a usefulness, overuse by some has caused popularity to wane. During the 2007 San Diego wildfires, hashtag use was instrumental in alerting the public to current events. They also were used as a call to action on the part of emergency services. This shows just how useful hashtags can be.

seoWhen considering the use of hashtags in your Tweets, it may be worth the time to perform a bit of research to see if your particular keyword is already being used in a hashtag thread. As you use hashtags, the key is to use them sparingly and to use them when you really want something to be followed. By looking around a little bit on Twitter, it is easy to find users who hashtag just about every Tweet they type. Really, nobody wants to read “I had the most amazing #chocolate #milkshake from #Carl’s Jr. today!”
Remember, Twitter asks a simple question: “What are you doing?” Answer the question; use natural keywords, use hashtags sparingly when you really want to drive home a point or call attention to something. Some of the things that hashtags are good for are emergency situations or natural disasters, as proved in 2007. Hashtags can also be used when tweeting quotes from others. “Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.”~Albert Einstein #quote
Hashtags may have their place, but Twitter IS a social media site directed at fulfilling peoples’ curiosity about one another in the here and now. Part of using social media in your business is to gain visibility…and familiarity. Overuse of hashtags can make your posts seem aimed not at the individual, but at the inner workings of the site itself.

Don’t lose sight of the other benefits of social media marketing. Pairing high touch with high tech is the way to build an enormous following. Hashtags, used sparingly, can be a part of your Twitter life, but shouldn’t take over the personal touch.

Optimizing Your Twitter Background

In business, the name of the game is recognition. Business cards carry a logo or image that piques interest and makes you the one people remember. Today, instead of merely exchanging cards and numbers with peers, people are turning to the mega success of social media to make business connections and gain an audience.

At this point, there is no need to tout the benefits of Twitter. If you’re not using it yet, get on board now and start tweeting your thoughts, your ideas, your favorite quotes, and maybe a coupon or two for your business. But don’t just do it; do it with style.

Think of your twitter background as your business card design. Under Twitter Settings, there are template designs that can be used to spruce up your profile. But why stick with status quo when you can outdo the competition. On Twitter, you are building a following. Those who follow your tweets may visit your page a time or two. And when they do, why not give them a glimpse into what your business is all about? Using photographs, patterns or a business card style background, your profile can stand out when others will be forgotten.

There are a few ways you can add photos to your Twitter background. One, you can use a background generator like Twilk. This online generator takes your friends’ profile photos and turns them into a collage background for your profile. While this can be fun, it doesn’t do much for branding your own business.

To really do up a profile that you can customize to your business, all you need is a little help from Photoshop and a bit of imagination. Using a Photoshop image, the left hand side of your Twitter profile can be set up with your logo, business card image, or custom graphic that changes right along with any special deal you may be running at the moment.

Filling the entire background with one large image is a possibility if you have Photoshop. Filling the background is best done with an image sized at least 1280×1024 pixels in size, preferably larger. Depending on the background and whether or not it can be nicely blended into a solid background color or not, sizes from 1600×1200 and even up to 2048×1600 for some backgrounds is recommended.

Not up to speed with Photoshop? That’s ok. You can still create an eye-catching Twitter background by uploading any image that you have taken, it just might take some resizing to get it to show up just the right way. Another option using photos is to Google search “tile background”; doing this will result in thousands of downloadable background options. You can show off the nature lover lurking inside of you, or display an image that compliments your business.
Your Twitter background has the ability to work for you just like a business card or brochure does. Utilize the space on the left side, and even a bit of the top of the page, to promote something, anything pertaining to your business or service. Creating a professional-looking Twitter background makes a stellar first impression and will help you pick up followers simply because you have caught their attention when so many other profiles failed to create interest.
Your profile may only be seen by one person one time, but the result could very well be worth any time and effort you have put into your profile creation. Now multiply that by all of the “one persons” who may view your profile only one time and consider the possibilities! Get creative, have fun, and start tweeting!

All About Hashtags

twthashtags

One thing is certain: the internet world is constantly changing. This is the challenge for those of us who make a living utilizing its power. But as we keep up with the latest trends, we can come across interesting ways to capitalize on the social media front.

One example of change on the web is Twitter. Seemingly, this social site came out of nowhere and jetted right to the top of the popularity list. There are all sorts of people on Twitter, tweeting about anything and everything that comes to their minds. While many Tweeters are there strictly for social purposes, there seems to be a strong emergence of business people treading their way through the Twitterdom.

Hashtags were created to create groupings within the site; an organizational tool of sorts. They are a popular way of getting focused attention to your Tweets. Additionally, you can search hashtags to find tweets that are relevant to research you may be conducting, or just relevant to what you want to know about. For instance, if one would like to find tweets relating to article marketing, you can perform a twitter search for all tweets specific to that by searching “#article marketing”.

If you look further into the use of hashtags, you will discover that they have somewhat of a limited fan base at the moment. While their was a surge in popularity for a time, as well as a usefulness, overuse by some has caused popularity to wane. During the 2007 San Diego wildfires, hashtag use was instrumental in alerting the public to current events. They also were used as a call to action on the part of emergency services. This shows just how useful hashtags can be.

seoWhen considering the use of hashtags in your Tweets, it may be worth the time to perform a bit of research to see if your particular keyword is already being used in a hashtag thread. As you use hashtags, the key is to use them sparingly and to use them when you really want something to be followed. By looking around a little bit on Twitter, it is easy to find users who hashtag just about every Tweet they type. Really, nobody wants to read “I had the most amazing #chocolate #milkshake from #Carl’s Jr. today!”
Remember, Twitter asks a simple question: “What are you doing?” Answer the question; use natural keywords, use hashtags sparingly when you really want to drive home a point or call attention to something. Some of the things that hashtags are good for are emergency situations or natural disasters, as proved in 2007. Hashtags can also be used when tweeting quotes from others. “Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.”~Albert Einstein #quote
Hashtags may have their place, but Twitter IS a social media site directed at fulfilling peoples’ curiosity about one another in the here and now. Part of using social media in your business is to gain visibility…and familiarity. Overuse of hashtags can make your posts seem aimed not at the individual, but at the inner workings of the site itself.

Don’t lose sight of the other benefits of social media marketing. Pairing high touch with high tech is the way to build an enormous following. Hashtags, used sparingly, can be a part of your Twitter life, but shouldn’t take over the personal touch.