Orginally posted 10/17 Re-posted 11/14
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There’s an App for That: Are Moblie Applications Necessary?
Posted: November 14, 2011 in BlogsTags: Mashable, Mobile applications, mobile websites
My dad is absolutely addicted to Angry Birds. The last time we spoke about it, he said he had unlocked every level and was going back through trying to improve his high scores. While I find it absolutely hilarious (until we are eating dinner and he isn’t paying attention to anything but his phone) I can’t help but recognize what the Angry Bird craze represents: the ever growing obsession with our smartphones.
A June post on Mashable reported that games are among the most popular of mobile applications downloaded by users. Nielsen reports that 64 percent of applications downloaded by smartphone users were games. Right behind games, weather applications were number 2 with 60 percent. Social networking navigation/location search apps were also very popular.
In September, Mashable also reported on a Pew Internet study that found that 0f the 82% of U.S. adults are active cellphone users. Of those with cellphones, 43% have mobile apps on their phones. Two-thirds of those who have mobile applications use the apps regularly. Basically, 24% of the U.S. adult population use applications. Necessary
So, what does this mean?
In regards to business it boils down to one question: Should you use a mobile application or a mobile website?
There’s no doubt that businesses need to make a mobile presence. However, there is a healthy debate as to whether you should use a mobile application or just a mobile website? Christina Warren of Mashable weighs in with a few questions organizations need to ask themselves before developing an app.
“Do you already have a full-featured website? If the answer is yes, how many of those features are you looking to integrate into the app? If your app is going to be largely a re-creation of your website, you may want to focus on creating a mobile site first.
Is this an app that can be used without an Internet connection? Some examples include note-taking or calculator apps. If so, a mobile application makes more sense.
Are you going to be integrating with other parts of the mobile operating system, like the dialer, the GPS and the mail client? If this is the case, consider building a native app.”
This makes a lot of sense. I know I’ve been frustrated when I’ve downloaded an app only to see that it is just a recreation of (or worse, a redirection to) the website. However, applications like Pandora do exactly what the website does (plays music) but is much more friendly for a mobile device. If more organizations kept this in mind while they were considering building an application, I think it would really help.
What do you think? Share your ideas in the comments below!
Do You Have Klout?
Posted: November 14, 2011 in BlogsTags: facebook, influence, Klout, social media, Twitter
Updated on 11/14/11. Originally posted on 11/13/11
I have a confession. I am obsessed with checking my Klout score. I check it almost daily. Perhaps it is my competitive nature, but when my score drops I get a little bit disappointed.
This was a 49 just the other day. I don't know what happened. I'm so upset.
Klout.com is a way to measure your online engagement. You can link it to several of your social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Blogger, LinkedIn, FourSquare and more. It uses an algorithm to calculate a score that expresses your online engagement by factoring in Tweets, reTweets, mentions, likes, comments and more. Klout will also tell you what areas you are influential in.
The topics I'm influential about.
So, what’s the point? Well, there is actually a lot of speculation as to whether or not your Klout score really means anything at all. Some people say that it should only be one way you measure influence while others argue that it is the only way. Recently, Klout changed the way they measured your influence. There was outrage over the changes as many people saw a drop in their score by over ten points or more.
Honestly, I may obsessively check my Klout score, but I don’t let it influence the way I use social media. I’m not going to go out and begin Tweeting constantly or begging for likes or comments just to increase my score. I use it as way to monitor my social media use and see when maybe I’m getting a little lazy in my engagement. I enjoy seeing which areas Klout thinks I’m influential in as well as checking the scores of my friends.
So, what about you? Do you check your Klout score? How do you feel about the changes?
Twitter Chats: Follow the #hashtag
Posted: October 30, 2011 in BlogsTags: hashtag, PRSSA, Tweet chat, Twitter
Tuesday night I participated in a Twitter Chat hosted by PRSSA National. It was focused on developing a relationship between PRSSA and PRSA chapters. It was the second time I’ve participated in a Twitter Chat and each time I seem to enjoy it more and more. It is a fantastic way to connect with other Twitter users who are interested in the same topics you are. It’s fast moving and before you know it all the questions have been asked and you’ve learned a lot of great information. Needless to say, it inspired a blog post! This post will hopefully cover all of the basics of participating in a Twitter chat.
What is a Twitter Chat?
Twitter Chat allows for many people to discuss a certain topic in real time. They are scheduled events (although there are some that are ongoing). A certain hashtag is used for the chat. For example, in the PRSSA chat I participated in #prssa was the hashtag used. Anyone who wished to participate in the chat would use that hashtag in their Tweets. Usually, there is a moderator or two that asks questions based on the topic. Participants answer then answer the question. Generally, only one question is asked at a time. Depending on the number of participants, the chat can often move very quickly. There are tools that can be used to help keep up with the chat. I’ll get to that later in the post.
Why Participate in a Twitter Chat?
Twitter Chats have many advantages. First of all, there is a good chance you will be chatting with Twitter users that are interested in the same topics you are but that you don’t already follow (and users who don’t follow you). It provides an excellent way to network with Twitter users that are interested in the same areas you are. In the #prssa Twitter Chat I was able to chat with PRSSA members from around the country (and in Argentina). PRSA professionals also participated in the chat which is another major benefit. Often, experts on the topic will participate and share some great insight. It is a great way to brainstrom, receive advice and ask questions.
Step One: Finding a Chat
There are Twitter Chats out there for tons of topics. Anything from being a new parent, to looking for a job, to writing poetry and more. Here is an editable Google Doc of over 500 Twitter chats: Twitter Chats. You can also find out about Twitter Chats by following Twitter users who you are interested in. Often they will post information about upcoming chats.
Step Two: Set Up Your Twitter Profile
If you want other users in a Twitter chat to follow you you should be sure your Twitter profile is filled out. A photo and information in your profile will help immensely with gaining more followers. If participants can know what sort of Tweets to expect from you outside of the chat, they will be more likely to follow you.
Step Three: Get Acquainted With TweetChat.com
It is a good idea to visit TweetChat.com before your Twitter Chat. When you first visit the website, you will see that you have to allow Tweet Chat access to your Twitter account. When you link the two, you’ll find the background you have set for your Twitter profile will become the background for Tweet Chat, too. The next step is to put in the hashtag that you want to follow. Try to put in the hashtag “prssa”. When you do, you’ll see any tweets containing the hashtag #prssa will show up – even if they didn’t take place during the chat. Try putting in a couple of hashtags that you are interested in following.
The really cool thing about Tweet Chat is that it will automatically add the hashtag you are following to any Tweets that you send from that platform. It also automatically removes however many characters the hashtag takes up from your count. It makes it easy to keep up with the chat and you don’t have to constantly remember to add the hashtag. It also has a ‘pause’ feature that will pause the chat while you scroll down to view Tweets.
Screen shot from my most recent PRSSA Twitter Chat
Step Four: Chat Away!
Once you find the next time for the Twitter Chat that you’re interested in, you are ready to chat. There are a few things you should know as you’re chatting. First of all, engage other participants. If you find a comment they made interesting, feel free to reply to them. You also are encouraged to Retweet any Tweets you find interesting. As you chat, remember users that you find particularly interesting or that you have engaged with and feel free to follow them if you want more insight.
Step Five: Follow Up With Connections You Made
It is a good idea to follow up with connections you made during your Twitter Chat. If someone retweeted or replied to a Tweet, shoot them a Tweet saying thank you. Follow anyone you found interesting and let them know you appreciated the information you shared. If a professional or expert participated in the chat, be sure to thank them for their time. Treat it as you would any other networking opportunity.
Have you participated in a Twitter Chat before? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Recently, I’ve been faced with an onslaught of spam messages on both Facebook and Twitter. Some are offering a free iPad with just one click, others claim that there is a bad blog about me that I need to see. No matter what the hook, it is obvious that people are clicking the links and spreading the spam.
Direct message spam on Twitter
I remember this being a problem with email (in fact it still is). However, the trend in social networks is moving towards sharing links which makes your friends and followers easy targets.
How can you avoid spamming everyone connected to you via social media?
First of all, always check permissions from applications that you use on Facebook. It is easy to just allow an application permissions if you are more interested in seeing what the application does. However, if you take a moment to read through the permissions you may find that you are allowing an application to not only post on your newsfeed but also your friends’ walls. If an application needs that sort of permission, there is a good chance it spam.
It can also be as simple as not clicking on links you are unsure of. Try to hover your mouse over the link. Often, the full URL will pop up. If it doesn’t look reputable, then it probably isn’t. You can also ask the sender of the message/post if they sent the post to you. It is always better to be safe than sorry!
Be aware of what scams or spams are popular in different social networks. For example, you can follow Tweet Smarter on Twitter and be updated on scams that are popular.
What do you do if you click on a spam link?
If you happen to click on a link that is spam, be sure to immediately change your password. You may also want to run a virus scan on your computer to confirm that the link didn’t infect your computer. Monitor your account closely for the next several days to be sure you aren’t still sending out spam. If you have allowed a Facebook application permissions to post on your friends’ walls you can go into your account settings and deny that application permissions.
What has been your experience with internet spam or scams? What do you do to avoid falling victim to them? Share your insight in the comments below!
5 Tips for Creating QR Codes
Posted: October 23, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: Generators, Mashable, QR Codes
There’s a good chance that you have seen a QR code before. However, it is less likely that you’ve scanned one. QR, or Quick Response, codes look like this:
QR Code
You can scan the code using a smartphone. Often, you can just use a basic bar code scanner application. Android and iPhone both offer QR scanner applications. If you have a smartphone, try scanning this code. It will direct you to a Mashable article about using QR codes for business.
QR codes are becoming more and more popular. However, there are a few things to remember when you are creating codes.
1) Be sure the QR code is linked to a mobile friendly website. You don’t want to link to a website that won’t show up easily on a smartphone.
2) Don’t link the QR code to a page containing the exact same information as the publication it is on. Add value to your QR codes by linking them to a page containing more information.
3) Always test your codes. Mistakes happen. Make sure you test your QR code to be sure it links to the correct page.
4) Track the number of scans. If you create your QR code on a website like bit.ly you can also track how many times your code has been scanned.
5) Make your QR code unique. As long as you have two contrasting colors and the majority of your code is able to be scanned, you can edit the colors and look of your QR code. This Mashable article gives more specifics.
Additional resources about QR codes:
Cluck-A-Palooza: Lessons on Creating a Facebook Contest
Posted: October 9, 2011 in BlogsTags: Chicken Strip Baskets, Cluck-A-Palooza, contests, Dairy Queen, facebook, social media
You may or may not know that I work at a Dairy Queen in Buffalo, Mo. I only work at the store one or two days a week, but I’ve been there for nearly four years. I’ve learned a lot from my job – how to manage employees, customer service, communication skills and how to make the best Blizzard you’ve ever tasted. However, I’ve also had the chance to learn about how to effectively administrate a small business Facebook page thanks to my wonderful bosses. They knew I was studying Public Relations at Missouri State University so when I asked if I could help with the social media they pretty much let me have free-rein. This hands-on experience has taught me a lot about Facebook and social media marketing on a small business level, so you will probably see more posts about it in the future. This post will be focused on developing and executing a Facebook contest.
I’m proud to say as of the time I posted this blog Buffalo Dairy Queen is only 9 likes away from 2,000. I think that is pretty good for a town of 2,700. Now, before you comment on how it is the quality of likes (or fans) your page have, not the quantity, I have to tell you that I agree 100 percent. But I think it is important to point out that in the small town of Buffalo, the Dairy Queen is the spot to go on your first date, to hang out after a football game or meet family on graduation night. The owners, Steve and Shelly, have kids in the Buffalo school system and are actively involved in the community. Everyone knows them, and everyone knows they own Dairy Queen. I remember in high school, you’d use DQ cups donated by Steve and Shelly to get water in. It’s a pretty big deal for a town with only three stoplights. So, if you’ve lived in Buffalo or know someone from Buffalo or you even drive through Buffalo there is a great chance that you’ve gone to the DQ. People have memories attached to the store (you should have heard the outrage when we remodeled and took away the playground). Liking the Buffalo DQ page on Facebook is a way for people to stay connected to those memories. So, our fans are not just current customers, but they are also life-long customers, supporters and friends.
We are always brainstorming ways to make the Buffalo DQ Facebook page a fun and interesting way to engage customers. When the Chicken Strip Basket (everyone’s favorite DQ product besides Blizzards) went on sale, the owners wanted to do something with Facebook that would generate some buzz. It’s autumn, and the colder it gets the slower business is for a store that is primarily known for ice cream. Thus, Cluck-A-Palooza was born.
I decided to hold a one-night event where customers could stop by and give us their best chicken impression. We’d record submissions at Dairy Queen and then post them to the Facebook page. Fans could then like the videos. The video with the most likes wins. The prize? A free Chicken Strip Basket a week for a whole year. I’m going to walk you through why we did things the way we did and what I’ve learned.
The problem
We had several fans, but our page was getting stagnant. We do Facebook specials every Friday, and people usually get them, but they weren’t engaging on Facebook. We wanted to reestablish our Facebook as not only a place to find good deals, but entertainment and an way to engage with us as well.
Technology learning curve
I knew when I began to develop the plan for Cluck-A-Palooza that it would take a lot of work on my part. I could have just said “Upload your chicken impressions to Facebook” but I know that we would have had maybe three or four submissions at the very most. Not everyone who would want to participate would have the equipment to record a video and if they did, they may not know how to get it from their device and onto our page. So, since I was the one to record all of the submissions, I could make sure there were no errors or technical difficulties. Basically, I made it easier for our customers to get involved. The fact that we were able to engage with them face-to-face and on Facebook was an added bonus.
Wednesday night church rush
If you work at DQ, you know all about the Wednesday night church rush. After Wed. night church services at a local church, we always get a huge rush. The dining room is full and people are lined up to the door. This church rush also happens to be from the church that Steve and Shelly attend. So, these are friends of the owners. This makes them much more likely to participate in something like this. We strategically picked Cluck-A-Palooza to take place on a Wed. night when we knew we would be busy of people who are already active on our Facebook page. These are people who know the employees at Buffalo DQ by name. Many of them worked at the store when they were in high school.
Creating buzz
We created a Facebook event for Cluck-A-Palooza (see it here). Only 18 people (including myself, the owner and my dad) said they were attending the event. We had a lot more people that that show up that night, but having an event page gave me a place where I could direct people for more information and link to in posts.
However, perhaps the best buzz was created by a good friend of Steve and Shelly who does a hilarious chicken impression (I had seen it and she was actually the inspiration for the event). Katie and her husband own an insurance office in Buffalo and are also very well known. I posted a video of Katie doing her chicken impression from a few months ago with posts about the event. People loved it. I think seeing someone else doing it really encouraged participation.
We also hung flyers up in the store. I created a QR code for the flyer that linked to the Facebook event page. It only had four scans according to bit.ly (I think two were from my dad) but it was a good first attempt at using a QR code on some of our materials.
Steve is actually quite artistic and created a fun backdrop for our participants which helped draw attention that night. We gave out free Blizzard coupons for those who participated, but we didn’t publicize that until the night of. We wanted people to participate because they wanted to engage on the Facebook page. The Blizzard coupon was just a way to say thank you.
Steve's hand-made Cluck-A-Palooza backdrop
We are also letting voting go on for a week. This way, fans will continually be engaged with the page. We hope they keep checking back to see how their favorite videos are ranking.
Goal setting
My goal was to get 20 videos and we got 22. However, it has really taken over on Facebook. Participants are linking to our page and harassing their friends to go vote for their video. People are commenting on videos and having a lot of fun with it. That was my main goal – to entertain people while still creating buzz about the Chicken Strip Basket.
Monitoring
I constantly check the page. Since these are videos that feature our customers, I want to be sure that there are no inappropriate comments on any of them. It is also a lot of fun to watch the insights as the week goes on. I do occasionally remind our fans to like their favorite videos, but I don’t want to post too much and knock the videos down lower on the page.
What I’ve learned
No matter what anyone says, social media is not free. And if it is, you aren’t doing it correctly. I have spent about 10 hours on this event. But, it is worth it. We have customers talking to us about it when they come into the store. People are once again engaged with the page. They will continue to look out for our next fun contest that they can participate in. I’ve learned that I can push and push a Facebook page to try to get likes. However, the best likes come when our fans are recruiting new fans.
Here’s one of my favorite submissions from my co-worker Sean.
Hopefully you will have a chance to check out the Buffalo DQ Facebook page. I encourage you to like it and vote for your favorite clucker! Do you have any advice on how to facilitate a Facebook contest?
I’ve recently become a member of (and also ridiculously addicted to) Pinterest. If you are reading this post you are probably one of two types of people. The first type is probably squinting at their computer screen, trying to discern if I have made a typo or if that really does say ‘interest’ with a ‘P’ in front of it. The second type probably only got through three or four words before clicking back over to the window with Pinterest opened to check if anyone had pinned anything new. This blog post is dedicated to the source of my strongest internet addiction since I became a member of Twitter: Pinterest. I’ll first give you a brief overview of what Pinterest is, then discuss its growing popularity and finally take a look at it from a PR/Social media perspective.
What is Pinterest?
There are two main components to Pinterest: “Pins” and “Pin Boards”. The concept is actually very simple. If you find a photo on a blog or website that you want to share you can ‘pin’ it via a browser extension. You can also browse other users pins (from people you follow, or other members of Pinterest based on categories) on the website. Once you find a photo you’d like to pin, you can create a ‘pin board’ to pin it to. For example, if I found a photo of a delicious casserole, I’d pin it to my “Food” pin board. Then, my followers would see my pin. If they liked it they could repin it to one of their pin boards.
My main Pinterest screen
My Pin Boards
If you find a pin you like, you can click on the photo to see it larger. If you click on it again, it will bring you to the webpage it was taken from. So, if I saw a photo of a do-it-yourself project that I wanted to try, I could follow it to its original source and find instructions on how to do it.
A Pin
Original source of my Pin
You can also like someone’s pin, comment on it or mention another Pinterest user. You can link you Facebook and Twitter accounts to your Pinterest account and post your pins on both social networks.
Why is Pinterest so popular?
So, so true
Pinterest has a very specific demographic of users right now. Mainly women 25-45 are users. They are pinning and repinning home projects, do-it-yourself projects, wedding ideas, recipes, etc. However, they are finding themselves more and more addicted and spending hours and hours on the site. The key to Pinterest is that there is always new content to browse. Much like Twitter, the users you follow dictate what content you see. If you are bored with what you are seeing, you could always browse pins from other Pinterest users by categories. There is literally always new content and it is the easiest and quickest way to find new ideas.
Pinterest from a PR standpoint
So far, I’ve only painted the picture of Pinterest from the standpoint of an admitted addict. However, it actually has a lot of potential to have PR implications to blogs. Remember how I said pins are linked to the website they come from? Well, many of these sites are actually blogs. So, if you can get a good photo of something from a blog post, pin it to Pinterest and generate a lot of repins, it will drive traffic back to your blog or website. You can share on Facebook or on Twitter, but the main point of Pinterest is sharing.
Right now Pinterest is still invitation only but I think as Pinterest grows, you will see the demographic change as well as the types of pins. Maybe as more people begin using Pinterest the focus will shift away from home decor, food and DIY to technology, gadgets, etc. Or maybe it will be a place where creative businesses can share their products. Photographers can promote their material by posting pins. Artists can post their work to the site. No matter what, it will bring traffic to the website.
Are you on Pinterest? If so, feel free to follow me (Sara McClendon). If you are interested in joining, go to www.pinterest.com and request an invitation. My invitation was sent within an hour of my request. Happy pinning!
