Social Media Do's and Don'ts: An Un-Official List

In the world of social media there are a bevvy of unspoken (or oft-spoken, in some cases) rules. Some are designated for users en masse and some are specifically for brands.

Just like the rules we were taught as children (always hold the door open for strangers, don't put your elbows on the table, say "excuse me" after your sneeze) these rules exemplify that we, as social networkers, recognize that other people inhabit these planes and we should be respectful of them.

Here's a list of the big Do's and Don'ts you should keep in mind:

What is Klout and how does it work?

You may have been perusing Twitter and noticed that people are acknowledging something called their "Klout Score" and thought to yourself, what is this exactly? Or maybe you're a business and you're considering putting a perk online to get the word out about your services. Either way, if you're wondering about Klout, you've come to the right place!

Klout is an online start up that takes all of your social media activity and determines your online influence based on how many people follow you, friend you or fan you, and how well your posts do based on those numbers. The algorithm is a bit more complicated than that, but suffice it to say that your Klout Score is a number that indicates what your overall influence is online. The more you create impressions and engage, the higher your Klout Score.

Teaching Your Kids How to Use Social Media

It's safe to say that when it comes to kids, Monkey See Monkey Do is a realistic approach to parenting. We try hard to limit them seeing our "bad behaviours" because we know they will most certainly mimic them. When it comes to Social Media it's hard to determine as a parent when is an appropriate time to start phasing your kids into using it.

I hear many parents talking about limiting their kids' screen time, or not allowing them to use computers or technology at all, because they're worried about the toll it takes on their development. My approach, as a parent and as a social media strategist, is slightly different. Although I do limit my kids' screen time, I don't think that restricting their access to the technologies is the best approach. In fact, I think that could have a negative impact on their capacity to learn alongside new technologies later in life.

What I Learned from #AutoBootCamp

I spent the better part of last week at #autobootcamp in Philadelphia, networking and doing workshops focusing on digital technology in the automotive industry.

I met quite a few great people, and got up close and personal with some great new technologies for advertising, marketing and creating content on social media. One of the best things I learned was that I'm not so far behind the curve. That's a pretty good feeling!

I've only been involved in the digital marketing field in the automotive industry for a few months, but I'm already loving it! There's never a dull moment, that's for sure! Automotive dealerships and manufacturers are always finding new, great ways to participate in new fields of marketing. Although many are afraid to take the leap into the digital realm, many are also leading the stride when it comes to advertising, google adwords, facebook marketing, twitter marketing and advertising and much much more.

Leading The Pack: Responding to the Consumers Needs in Web and Social

Although mobile integration has long since been an important aspect of all things social, only recently has it become so painfully obvious how without mobile, the social media we know today wouldn't exist. We are constantly on the go, managing multiple tasks at once and with the advances in mobile technology creating a seamless blend of work life and social life has never been so easy.

The use of social media is consistently growing and changing, but what is also changing is how we use social media as consumers and as brands. As you can see in the infographic below, Facebook's mobile usage has climbed significantly in the past year, with 68% of its users now using Facebook on Mobile Only or in a combination of Mobile and Desktop.

As brands we have to be aware of these ever-changing behaviors, filling the gaps with little to no downtime. Being aware of how your target audience consumes your content allows you to effectively market to them.

This is as simple as creating a responsive website that has code that can be manipulated depending on the size in which the site is being explored, allowing the same look and feel across a variety of devices and platforms.

The other day I saw a contest run by a local organization float through my news feed, their call to action was "visit our website and enter" and being on my desktop I simply entered the URL into my browser. Once the website loaded it was plain to see that the website was built for "mobile" use. I actually went so far as to go back to the facebook page it was posted on and say "this website is not desktop-friendly!" which is a rare occurrence for me.

In most instances the opposite situation generally happens, we click on a link on our mobile app/browsers and it takes us to a wide format, bulky website that is text heavy and far too small to read when live on our smart phones. With a bit of pinching and tilting you might be able to get it to work, but generally in our current "technologically consumptive society" we're more interested in having things just work right the first time. Hence, responsive web technology.

Obviously this goes both ways. We want the same site to work as effortlessly on a mobile phone as on our google chrome browser. By not having a desktop-friendly website, that organization has lost countless lead-gen opportunities due to probably significantly higher bounce rates than normal. Why? Because they're not catering to an audience, however mobile-friendly they might be, who are at work, at home, at a hotel conference, using a PC instead of their smart phone. When something isn't appealing generally people aren't going to stick around long enough to figure out how it works these days.

So my advice? Be on the leading edge. Adopt responsive technology on your website, so no matter HOW someone gets there, they're more likely to stay there.