August « 2009 « Social Media Dynamics

Archive for August, 2009

Favicon – That cool itty bitty icon in the address bar

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

By Sharon Hill

Does your blog have the cool icon in the address bar or does it look more like this?

We have all seen the icons in the browser address bar.

Want to know how to create one for your own blog?

A favicon (short for favorites icon) is a 16 x16 pixel square that is created as a png file and then converted to an .ico file. Already lost you? Stay with me and I will attempt to give you all the steps in order.

Creating the image and the .ico file

If you have a logo you can make an favicon. It is best if you make it a square.

I started with the logo above, however when I created a favicon the text was unreadable. I created another one.

This logo is 30x 30 pixels and worked just fine.

When it was converted from a .png file to a .ico file I ended up with

To convert the .png file I used Icon Sushi. You can download it at cnet.com http://download.cnet.com/Icon-Sushi/3000-2195_4-10547564.html

When you go to the link, you will see other popular icon tools to choose from.

You can also go to the icon sushi site directly at http://www.towofu.net/soft/e-index.php

Once you convert the .png file to the .ico file you need to upload to your blog directory.

Upload to your blog site

You should know the directories and files for your blog. For example, if you are using Word Press and the default theme, you would upload to:

www.yourblog.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/favicon/yourfavicon.ico

Breaking this down under your main directory url address/blog you will open up the folder wp-content and then open the folder labeled themes then default then images then favicon. If you do not have a favicon folder you will need to make one. Then you upload the file into the folder you just created.

Insert filename into page

If you are using Word Press you will need to find the header.php page. On the dashboard, find Appearance on the left and click on Editor. The pages will be shown on the right side of the screen. Click on header.php

The header.php code will now show in the middle of the screen. Don’t worry too much what all this all means. What you are looking for is

After </title> add the following text:

Replace the text yourblog.com with your url address and yourfavicon.ico with your own saved .ico file.

Most browsers will be able to see the .ico file and include it in the address bar. Drop down your address bar and see all the other sites that you have recently visited that use a favicon. The favicon also appears in your bookmarks.

This worked for me.

As with everything when using code, there are some risks in changing/adding code and uploading files. Please do so at your own risk. Let me know if this works for you too.

@social_dynamics

Tags: address bar, bookmark, bookmarks, favicon, favorite icon, ico file, icon, word press
Posted in Articles, Blogging, Social Media and Social Networking, Technical, Websites | 2 Comments »

Social Media: Your Audience Is Choosing Their Killer App

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

By Jan Carroza

I find myself talking about Killer Apps a lot lately when it comes to Social Media. Each one of us will have our favorite: whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or any of the myriads of social networks here now or coming in our future.

If you haven’t read Tim Sanders’ book “Love is the Killer App,” do it: http://bit.ly/KillerApp. It’s a great read.

Folks will use what works for them. I talk about telling my mother we wanted her up on email back in ‘95. She was horrified because she thought I was going to quit calling her. Now she gets daily IMs, daily emails AND phone calls.

When we showed my mother-in-law a computer in ‘95, she wanted to know why we thought she’d use it. Once we showed her how to track the stocks she had been recording meticulously day-by-day, she got it. Then we showed her how to cut and paste in word processing software, and she got it. These were their Killer Apps. Well, I’d like to think that and emailing us. Today I greet her each morning on IM.

Now when I show a client how to use LinkedIn to get new WARM prospects with ridiculous ease compared to the old ways, and he gets it. Or when we see what a Facebook Fan Page can do for search results, and clients get it.

So this is how we find our business prospects today. No more monologues. We find our audience where they go to learn more, share knowledge, take webinars and connect with other professionals. We get their attention by thoughtful answers to questions, and with thought-provoking questions and discussions. Over time, we can be acknowledged as experts and build reputations for what we know and contribute. This makes our ENGAGEMENT in our Social Sphere of Influence meaningful to our prospects and to us.

@social_dynamics

Tags: Love is the Killer App, social media, social media apps, webinars
Posted in Articles, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media and Social Networking, Technical, Twitter, Video | No Comments »

Building out your LinkedIn profile

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Jan Carroza

Looking for a job? Improve your LinkedIn profile.

What do you want to convey? If you are looking for a job, job recruiters are using LinkedIn in a big way. Try to use a keyword for the job title you seek in your Current position description, such as Technical Architect.

Use the Status field: Seeking computer architecture management position (http://www.linkedin.com/in/johndoe).

Go into Edit Public Profile Settings and make sure Your Public Profile URL is customized (Edit) so your name is right after the linkedin.com/in/janedoe. Some folks recommend doing jane_doe for better search.

Make sure your Status can be viewed by Everyone by clicking on the Update link in Status. This will put make this viewable outside LinkedIn.

Start at Profile: Edit My Profile

Expand on your Basic Information: Take advantage of the Professional Headline to really say something about yourself. Mari Smith, noted Facebook diva, has a great one: “Social Media Consultant, Speaker & Trainer | Dubbed the “Pied Piper of the Online World” by FastCompany.com.”

Build out your Profile. You have 2000 characters to work with here. Don’t just bring your resume in. Use this as a place to engage future employers and prospective clients. Jason Alba (“I’m on LinkedIn, Now What?”) suggests telling 4-5 great stories about your accomplishments at your various positions.

Make Yourself Look Good

Get recommendations. After you build out your profile, find some folks you know or have worked with in LinkedIn that would give you a good recommendation. You might give them one first to encourage reciprocation. Try to get a 360 degree: folks who you worked for, folks who worked with you in and outside your company, and folks you have managed.

If you list websites or a blog, use the Edit link to rename the link with the name of your company, like AAA’s Site, or ZZZ’s Blog.

Join and Start Groups

Select a Group in a category that appeals to you. Engage other members. Look at the Members descriptions and decide who you would like to know. Or ask a general question or make a statement. Or comment on other discussions going on in the Group.

The trick is to engage. Like karma, whatever you throw out there is likely to come back to you.

@social_dynamics

Tags: job, LinkedIn, recruiting, social media, social networking
Posted in Articles, LinkedIn, Local business, Social Media and Social Networking, Technical | No Comments »

Don’t Try This At Home – Or Outsourcing Your Online Business Management

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

By Jan Carroza

Let’s review some of the demands to build and service your Social Sphere. You need graphics, writing, and technology talent to pull this off with aplomb. You need creative talent to develop the constant stream of ideas, design to make it look professional, technology to make it all work to perfection and labor and time to just implement everything.

You will need resources to write and respond to all the feedback. More than anything, you need a team that is steadfastly pumping out a steady stream of content to not only attract, but engage, enroll and retain (4 points from Nancy Marmalaho and Natasha Allrich). When 95% of blogs are abandoned (NYTimes) and 60% of Twitter members leave after a month (Nielsen), it takes work to build a “sticky” environment for your Social Sphere.

You also need a crew dedicated to the conversation they generate with your followers, consumers, and audience. Guiding you away from potholes and advising you of the wide variety of things to consider like: “We need a Blog policy. This is what we recommend to include in it. We need a Copyright version. We recommend this kind.”

Outsource staff should direct choices at you that are appropriate and guide you into a constantly improved situation with more and happier followers and a better experience for you. Your outsource staff will take away the concerns about is everything being saved and stored properly. Messages are all being managed in a timely fashion. Reporting includes statistics and interpretation with recommendations.

Your expectations should include time on your part to liaise: answering questions, approving copy and topics, making decisions from choices presented, and the like. It’s all manageable and can be done in increments. In fact, we recommend it. So start, enjoy and profit.

@social_dynamics

Tags: blog, Online business management, outsource, outsource facebook, outsource linkedin, outsource twitter, outsourcing social media
Posted in Articles, Blogging, Facebook, Industry Specific, LinkedIn, Social Media and Social Networking, Twitter, Video | No Comments »

What’s a Non-Profit To Do?

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

By Karen Miller

Lack of money? Lack of manpower? Does this sound familiar? What’s a non-profit to do? How can you stretch your marketing dollars to reach the most amount of people?A social networking presence can make your marketing budget go farther than you thought it could. A website and/or Facebook page can let people know what you are up to. A museum can promote their latest exhibition or anything special going on in the museum. A charity can talk about their latest goals or research or whatever their concerns are.

Adding twitter can give you instant communication with your followers. You can remind people to sign up for the latest charity race or whatever your current drive is. You can use twitter to give out the “fact of the day.” This can be about anything you specialize in.

A big component of your social media can be blogging. This is an optimum way to let everyone know more information about your non-profit. Blogging gives you “more space” to talk about yourself. If you are a museum, you can give more details on your special exhibitions, perhaps talking about the background of the exhibition and the special precautions of moving it from one place to another. You can have a weekly blog talking about the setting up of the new exhibition creating excitement. If you are a medical charity, blogging about the latest developments in your field can help bring awareness to what your charity has done and what still needs to be done.

Whatever social media you decide to use, make sure it all is synchronized and all of your information is the same – your look is the same, your message is the same – from one medium to the other. You want to have a cohesive message throughout.

Using social media will help your marketing dollars go further and expand your marketing base.

@social_dynamics

Tags: non-profit, non-profit blog, non-profit facebook, non-profit social networking, non-profit twitter, not for profit, social media
Posted in Articles, Blogging, Facebook, Industry Specific, Non-profits, Social Media and Social Networking, Twitter, Websites | 1 Comment »

Social Media Dynamics

Archive for August, 2009

Pages

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives