Social Media Marketing Snafuu

It has come to my attention that Twitter itself is no longer supporting recurring tweets, as it constitutes SPAM.  So I'm deleting my existing recurring tweets from Hootsuite.

I may continue to use Hootsuite to cross post content, but I am deleting my recurring posts.

So, that's it.  If I tweet something and you miss it, tough luck, it's not getting tweeted again.

I'm getting Twitter followers without FAKE leads...

My Twitter account is growing at a rate of about 20 to 50 new followers a day.

I did not BUY them.

I did not use a service that promised to AUTOMATE them.

They grew ORGANICALLY!

Here's the reasons why:

1. I tweet responsibly
2. I follow responsibly

What?  You were expecting more than that?

Sorry.  That's all it freakin takes.  

Don't act like a robot and you're account won't be treated as a robot.

'nuff said.

Twips (Twitter Tips) episode 2, 3 things you might not know about Twitter...

1:  Tweets that start with @ can only be seen by mutual followers.

This is fine if you want to carry on a fairly private conversation via Twitter.  However, if you're using Twitter as a social networking tool, try rewording the tweet so that it doesn't open with the @{twithandle}.

2:  Responding to Direct Messages require a mutual follow.

Pretty straightforward info right?

Not if you're using BOTS (anything automated) to Direct Message your new followers with a direct question.  Seriously, there is nothing more annoying than being asked something, and then not being allowed to respond because the person asking the question isn't following the conversation.

It's like walking into a party and being asked a seemingly honest question by the host, right before they walk off without waiting for your response or even seeming to care.

3:  Bots are annoying.  Please stop using them.

I understand that you may have been promised a zillion followers if you just buy into someone's 'automated' program that swears it will free up your time while still expanding your social network.

Sorry,

You were lied to.

Oh, it might expand your network all right... with a bunch of other robots.

If you want quality, real, organic, home grown humanoids to follow you... try actually being one first.

Twips (Twitter Tips) episode 1, 3 things to consider before #following back

I get a lot of Twitter followers, and I take the rather controversial approach of not following absolutely EVERY one of them back.  (sorry, it's just the way I am).  

If you don't care about the quality of your twitter connections and you focus more on quantity, good for you.  It's your twitter, do what makes you happy.

Now, if you're more like me and you DO care about the quality of your overall twitter experience, then there are some things to consider before fostering a twitter relationship.

1. What does the short description say?

That tiny little profile can be choc full of some big information.  If there's nothing there, I don't follow back.  If there's nothing but hash tags and links, I don't follow back.  If there's a short message saying they don't respond to DM's or something like that, I don't follow back.  

If there's a thoughtfully written, short bio, that tells gives me some sense of who, what, how, when, where or why... oh yeah.  It's likely that one will get a follow.  

1. Is the header image pixelated?  

Maybe it's an aesthetics thing from my web design days, but if that header image is all pixelated to hell and gone, I'm not going to consider that person to be a professional.  I am, therefore, less than likely to follow for a professional connection.

If it's a personal twitter, yeah, fine, you're forgiven.  But if you're a professional who is serious about your social media, either learn how to make your header pretty or hire someone who can.

1. Read a few tweets, at least the first page...

If there's nothing but retweets... nope, not gonna follow.  If the tweets are original, but completely vapid... nope, not gonna follow.  If the tweets are nothing but an endless drivel of self promotion... yep, you guessed it, nope, not gonna follow.

If the tweets are full of quality, original content.  Much better.  Points if there's at least one hashtag in there.

If the tweets are links to blogs or news articles.  Fantastic, you have my attention.  Well done.

All in all, please tweet responsibly and there's a good chance you'll gain more followers for just being awesome.

Being "Friended" is not the same thing as having Friends...

... and having "Followers" is not the same thing as being Followed.

I'm really amused by the show Selfie.  If you're a social media junkie like I am, you probably are too.  While the show has been criticized as by some as being too annoying, it's a social media gold mine.

Our heroine is played by Karen Gillan, whom you might remember fondly as Doctor Who's Amy Pond.  Eliza Dooley, is a self obsessed girl who is never more than inches from her cell phone and her social networks.  She has an epiphany after a nasty bout of food poisoning in which she was left to suffer entirely alone because she had no actual friends.  During the course of her misery, she reaches out to several people connected to her across various social media channels, only to have them message back with unsupportive words or outright taunts over her circumstance.

Eliza learns the hard way that being Friended, is not the same as having Friends.

*sigh*

Recently I've been hit with a similar epiphany.

After getting serious about blogging again I started to fully integrate myself back into the wide world of social media.  I started communicating to the outside world in more than just Facebook status updates, but took to Twitter as well.  I'm on everything else now too, but Facebook and Twitter are basically the social media dynamic duo.  You get the social media holy trinity when you add in Google+.  I digress...

After tweeting to a new TV show, I was really surprised when the show itself started following me on Twitter.  I was all, 'Oh Cool, something famous FOLLOWS me'.

Time passes, and I aquire more followers.

I realize that I'm starting to get a lot of attention because I tweet about social media and social media marketing quite a bit.  Other social media enthusiasts begin to connect with me.  I'm elated.

Taking seriously the effect of one's social media reach in terms of actually gaining fans or professional contacts, I begin to look into the products and services that claim they will increase my twitter followers by the thousands, tens of thousands and even, oh yes, even by the HUNDREDS of thousands.  Curious, and having been offered free trials, I check them out.

I'm ... what's the word?  I'm usually so good with words.  I'm speechless?  I'm dumbfounded? I'm Offended?  I'm downright fucking pissed off?

Some of these sites, services, apps, whatever actually troll the internet looking for hashtags and keywords in peoples tweets, and automatically, yes I said AUTOMATICALLY, favorite, follow and even send direct messages via Twitter.

What

The

FUCK

People

?????????

At what point did social media completely cease to be, oh I don't know, actually SOCIAL!

After this I started going over the mental list of some of my own recent favorites and follows.  Like the TV show... Oh, and that community of runners (as in sports, as in running for sport, as in fun and EXERCISE) yeah, I'm talking to you!  I tweeted that I was watching a string of connected HORROR MOVIES.  You favorited my tweet only because it had the word 'marathon' in it.

And the rest of you bots that have been favoriting my tweet asking for actual HELP on something, and not offering a single shred of actual assistance.  Yeah, you're NOT impressing me!

I have learned the hard way that having Followers is not the same as being Followed.

I'm not resolving to do anything about this.  I'm not going to wage protests or boycotts or anything.  I may be irritated by my so called 'followers' who are actually just spam bots... but what the hell right?  Some people don't have my kind of free time and have to resort to bots to advertise.  *shrug* whatever.

I'm just disheartened is all.

And those of you who are actually Flesh and Blood and Real People.  I just want to take the time to say I love you, and to thank you for actually being there.

Updaty post is all updaty and shiz...

Um, yeah... I just said that.

Anyway, this is a general update post, but it also has some foreshadowing on my new project.

Up first, HEATH:

In the aftermath of my afternoon in the ER, whatever was up with my kidney's is done and over with.  My INR isn't 100% on track because I skipped several days of my meds trying to get it down from "oh my god, I could bleed out at any second."  I get it tested every Friday, so let's just hope that it all works out.

SKIN:

I don't know if it's hard water or what.  I know it's not allergies or detergent or anything like that.  But my skin is ITCHY!!!  I was scratching so often and so hard that I was leaving long, deep bleeding furrows in my flesh.  The Beloved One had a fear that I would either scratch myself bloody or contract some sort of weird staph infection if I didn't get it looked at.

As a result, I now have a dermatologist prescribed goo that I have to slime myself with regularly.  It's basically mineral oil and white petroleum jelly with a tiny bit of medicine in it to combat the itchy.

So far I don't think the medicine itself is strong enough because I'm still just as itchy if not more.  However, my skin is SO HYDRATED now!  Once the stuff absorbs, my skin feels wonderful.  So, this isn't so bad after all.

WEIGHT GAIN:

During the homeless crisis I gained a lot of weight.  I know I'm only making it worse by using TONS of real sugar in my coffee and basically living a sedentary life.  Don't worry... I'm working on it.  Baby steps.  First things first is tackling that sugar thing.  But, um, UGH!  The artificial stuff tastes SO nasty.  (shudder)

THE ARROW IN MY KNEE:

I blame my friend Brandy,   If it weren't for some random Facebook push about something awesome she did in the Game of Thrones Ascent game, I probably could have gone my whole life without descending back into the world of Facebook games again.  *le sigh*

As it stands, I'm at something like level 98 or so and climbing in the game.  And THEN I decided I needed something to do while my vassles were questing and such and I decided to look into simulation games.  I have no gaming budget, so I have to go with what's free, otherwise I'd just give in to the Beloved One's demands that I stop Facebook gaming and play The Sims.  Nevertheless, I did find a game called City Girl Life, where I play a recent college grad moving to New York City and making a name for herself.  I get to decorate an apartment, work a job and wear cute clothes.  It's mindless fun and I like it.

Now, I did also download a bunch of REAL games.  Free to play, via Steam.  BUT, I can't play any of them because my computer is falling apart.  The case is cracked.  The fan is broken.  It randomly overheats and shuts off.  If I try to game an actual game, the computer can only handle the extra strain on the processor for about twenty-minutes.

Getting a new computer is on the list.  But there are are a lot of other things that are going to have to come first.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

I'm getting good at this social media thing.  I'm getting retweeted by some pretty upscale entities.  I think that's pretty bad ass.  It's also a skill that is going to be seriously important in the upcoming months.

NEW PROJECT:

I'm still going to try to keep up with my project of building resource lists and posting about things that I'm passionate about, but this new project is very Little One-centric.  It's a new BIG THING that will operate with me in the background and allow her to serve as the public face.

Step One is having something to call it.  I've brainstormed a short list of names and I'm going to start a poll on Friday, October 3rd.  This will give the poll a full week to run and then the Little One and are going to announce the winning name/label/title/whatchmacallit on the evening of Friday, October 10th.  Hopefully I'll have the entire project off the ground by her birthday on the 16th.

Without going into too many details.  It's essentially going to be an awareness campaign / non-profit organization.  I hope it will eventually take on a life of it's own and become a movement.

In general it's just really cool to have a BIG project to work on again.  It's also a mommy thing and gives the Little One and I something to do together while introducing her to the value of non-traditional 'work' rolls.  She has a pretty niche brain.  I'm not sure that a normal 9-5 job is what's exactly in the cards for her.  Opening her up to a potential career path at an early age is just kinda bad ass.

#ThisIsWhyIRock

Reblogged: This Is What It’s Like To Watch “Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban” For The First Time - by Daniel Dalton

The Beloved One and I are watching TV while I diligently work on suckering my social media tentacles onto, well... everything!  Overheard (because I'm not really paying attention) "That was the worst live funeral I ever live tweeted," which made me LOL because, social media (bitches).  I went on the Google's to see if I could find out what that was from (my Google-Fu was not strong enough to find it, but) and found THIS instead.

I read the whole thing and LOL'd my ass off:

Read the whole thing HERE.

Social Media! (bitches)

I'm currently adding the array of my social media links to my Blogger.  I looked, and blogger didn't really have a widget that did this on it's own (to the extent of my liking).  However, my background in web design gives me some unique skills in creating a work-around to make my own.

Challenge.  I no longer own domain space to simply upload a cache of image files to the web.
Challenge.  I don't want to upload an album of social media icons that I didn't create into one of my online galleries (i.e. pinterest or flickr)

Solution:  (because I'm just this fucking good)

1. Get a free web page somewhere.
2. Create a space of social media links.
3. Open each little social media icon image in a new tab.
4. Copy the URL.
5. Custom edit a text/html widget on Blogger.