It seems that whenever we are talking with new clients about the many, many benefits of social media, the biggest complaint we receive from EVERY one of them is “When am I supposed to find the time to update all that stuff?”

It’s as if we’re telling them they have to change professions and become writers!

Writing is definitely an essential aspect of social media (think about it : Blog posts, Facebook updates, Twitter… tweets, etc.) but it doesn’t have to be time consuming, or difficult. Here are a few tips to help you maintain a regular schedule :

1. Write A Blog Post once a week.
   Keep things casual. Don’t talk about yourself, instead, talk about the industry or recent relevant news and events. Also, if you already have a weekly or monthly newsletter, convert it into HTML, and boom…. you have a blog post.
   (Average time : 1.5-2.5 hours)

2. Promote Blog Post with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
   Using a service such as Bit.Ly, you can track viewer engagement with a link to your blog post, or virtually any other link you include in your Twitter post or Facebook post. Include a brief message describing what people should expect to see, and you’re off!
   (Average time : 0.5 hours)

3. Engage with community in any way you find relevant to your business.
   • Are you a retailer? Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, Wagjag, or Groupon would be very beneficial.
   • Are you B2B?  Connect with potential customers through LinkedIn or Meetup.
   • Are you a service provider? Answer some questions over at Quora, Getsatisfaction, or the hundreds of other support blogs & forums.

   (Average time : 1 hour or… as much time as you can spare)

4. Are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare too difficult to manage?
   Use an application like Tweetdeck. Bam… Problem solved.
   (Setup time : 5 minutes!)

Now, not just anyone can write social media content, as the writing process is much more effective when it acts as an extension of the client themselves. Who better to discuss their product or service, than the very individual who live and breathes the company message and objectives. Your SEO provider is there every step of the way to guide you through the process and make it as streamlined as possible.

Is no one reading your blog? No one following your Twitter account or Facebook page? You can’t wait for them to come to you. Go after your audience, and prove to them that you have something they want, or better yet, need.

Please view our other related posts :

• Get Your Social Media Under Control!
• No Time For Social Media? Think Again.

Search engines and SEO in general are changing on what seems like a daily basis. Algorithms are constantly being tweaked, and what worked like a charm 2 months ago, may be falling flat today. This presents an interesting mix of excitement and stress for most marketing companies, and I won’t lie… we are not exempt.

While I could talk all day long about what could help in the short or long term for a website’s online performance, it might be easier to list what NOT to do. We spend a lot of time researching, analyzing and scouring the web, and we’ve seen some questionable things, so here it goes…

What NOT to do with your website

• Make a site entirely comprised of Flash. Search engines don’t need to find your website.
• Rely on Javascript for all links. You should make it as hard as possible for a search engine to crawl your website.
• Ignore social media completely.  Facebook? LinkedIn? Pfft, they’re just fads.
• Stick with newspaper ads instead of a highly targeted PPC campaign. Proven results don’t mean anything.
• Keep content the same…… forever. Why do other companies waste time writing fresh content all the time?  So what if they are constantly ranking higher?
• Ignore analytics. You don’t need to know where visitors come from, or who is converting to a sales lead. That’s where those expensive newspaper ads come in handy…. right?
• If you DO end up optimizing your website, just do it once. 6 months later everything should hopefully be the same anyways.

Once the <sarcasm> HTML tag has been created, this entire list would surely be contained in it, so my apologies.  Also, sorry about the <sarcasm> joke.

Anyways, this is just scratching the service of BAD choices. It was a lot of fun to write surprisingly, so I will definitely be doing it again. In the meantime, have a look at some of our other related articles :

- SEO Rule #3 – It’s Never Too Late To Promote
- SEO Rule #2 – Focus On Website Goals
- SEO Rule #1 – Content Is King

One of the biggest social media concerns of every client is the management of the tools they use. Since the majority of work is performed by the client (blog posts, twitter posts, facebook page updates, etc.) it can all be a bit overwhelming.

It can take up to a few hours to write a good blog post, so you won’t want to spend another hour updating Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other tools manually, especially if you don’t need to.

There are a few tools available for making your life a lot easier, one of which, is called Tweetdeck. We use it extensively, and it has made updating a snap. You can link multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and LinkedIn accounts, allowing for one message to be broadcast across all networks simultaneously.

Tweetdeck

You can leave comments, manage your followers, create and manage Twitter lists, and more. We don’t officially endorse Tweetdeck in any way, but since the tool is so useful, why not spread the word? Download Tweetdeck here, for PC, Mac, Linux or iPhone.

As for blogs, there’s a great tool called Networked Blogs (which you will notice on this very page!). It publishes your blog on Facebook automatically, while allowing others to find it via Facebook search. We love it and it takes yet another unnecessary step out of our social media routine.

Are there other tools you use instead?  Or do you think there’s a better way to manage social media?  Let us know in the comments!

The world of online social media has exploded during the last few years, with good reason. People can connect with hundreds of thousands of others to discuss and share nearly anything. Whether it’s used to spread the word about a great new promotion or product, to inform customers of some relevant industry news, or if it’s to simply share a funny image you found while browsing, social media allows for a type of connection with customers and visitors in a way that traditional marketing cannot match.

The tools have become more user friendly and robust, allowing anyone with something to say, to have their message heard. Below you will find a list of some of the benefits of using these social media tools and which ones may not appeal to your business model. Have a look, think we’re missing something, let us know!

Blog

Examples : WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr

Pros

• Unlimited space to work with. (No 140 character limit here!)
• Ability to offer feature-rich content, such as video, flash, images, etc.
• Will work on anyone’s web browser and most mobile devices.
• Most blogs offer RSS feeds which can be used in RSS Readers, to populate other websites with content, etc.

Cons

• You’ll look at the clock and wonder where the last 2 hours went.
• Writers block exists, even when writing for a blog. Trust me.
• Some HTML knowledge is a must, especially if you want to add any advanced functionality.
• Set a schedule for your posts, because you will need to regularly update.

Facebook

Website : www.Facebook.com

Pros

• 400 million users.  ‘Nuff said.
• Word-of-mouth is the most effective form of advertising, and is a very large component of Facebook, with its ‘fan’ and sharing system.
• Ability to connect with potential customers on a more personal level, through the Discussion Boards, Wall and Comments.
• Integration of Facebook with a blog or website is becoming easier and easier.

Cons

• Frequent moderation is required.
• Don’t disappear for a few weeks, or you might find everyone else has as well.
• While not incredibly important, having a solid friend base will help grow your presence quickly, at least at first.

Twitter

Website : www.Twitter.com

Pros

• Updating your Twitter status from nearly any device imaginable makes it incredibly versatile.
• Analytic tools allow for very robust tracking.
• Integration with Facebook, among hundreds of other websites and tools.
• Nearly instant updates to your ‘Followers’.

Cons

• Limit of only 140 characters, which can be restrictive, especially when including URL’s.
• Fine line between not updating enough and being annoyingly persistent.
• Still regarded as a more tech-savvy tool.

Social Bookmarking

Examples : Digg, Stumbleupon, Fark, Delicious, Reddit, MANY more

Pros

• Potential to reach thousands of viewers instantly, and more through sharing. (Liking, Digging, etc.)
• Certain websites, such as Su.pr (via Stumbleupon) offer their own analytic tools allowing for more detailed information than other analytic packages.

Cons

• Potential time wasters. Spending 5 minutes ‘stumbling’ can turn into 30, VERY easily.
• There are well over 300 similar websites, linking to every one of them can obviously be very time consuming.
• Time spent keeping track of accounts, posts and comments can also add up, fast.
• Links can get overlooked easily.  Make sure you post with an interesting title, and in a relevant subject (if available).
• Unless your website or link can handle it, an influx of thousands of visitors can bring down a server.  This is a nice problem to have though!

LinkedIn

Pros

• The audience is very focused towards business.
• Ability to network with other local industry professionals.

Cons

• It’s very easy for your message to come across as spam. Keep conversation light.

Try it out, you are only denying yourself the potential for something great if you don’t.

The times have definitely changed. Long gone are the days when it could take days to spread the word regarding an event or breaking news. Today’s social networking tools allow for the near instant delivery of information; be that news, gossip, knee-jerk reaction or just-in-time JSON know-how.

Companies embracing social networking can strengthen long term relationships with clients, visitors and even employees. In fact, according to a very recent study, employee morale is increased when social networking is a part of their daily work routine.

Does this mean employee productivity will drop because of Facebook and Twitter? Maybe. Chances are employees will use social networks for their intended purposes. For instance, the resources available online are vast, as any developer or programmer will tell you (at Glacier-Digital, Google is our best friend whilst in development). I don’t know of a single person who hasn’t required the use of a forum post, or a quick IM or Tweet to a colleague in order to solve a problem, get some advise or glean some external knowledge while struggling with an issue. You can’t create in a vacuum.

I’m not suggesting that every company will benefit from adopting the lifestyle that is social networking. I’m just saying it may not necessarily hurt. Assess the needs of your customers and your audience, focus efforts on the most appropriate method of networking. This could be a profession-based network, such as LinkedIn ; a knowledge base network, such as a forum or discussion board; an information and opinion network, such as a blog or Twitter account; or even a casual, informative network with a more active, captive audience such as MySpace or Facebook.

Learning to embrace the tools that the internet has provided (almost all of them being completely free) can be an enormous boon! A socially connected world is already available we get to be a part of it and we get to shape it.