Author: Christian Karasiewicz

NEW Facebook News Feed: A Comprehensive Guide [video]

The new Facebook news feed

Today, Facebook rolled out the new Facebook news feed. It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s beautiful – AND it should really help you get a grasp on updates in your news feed.

For anyone who has used the old Facebook news feed, you’ll know how difficult it can be to navigate. A lot of times, you miss out on important updates because it either gets buried in your news feed or because it gets lost between posts you are not interested in. Today, things change…for the better with the new Facebook news feed.

In today’s announcement, I heard words like visual, engaging, choice, and consistency.  After seeing the new Facebook news feed, those words ring true.  Facebook looks amazing no matter which type of device you’re on – a desktop, tablet or smartphone.

So what all has changed in the new Facebook news feed? Here’s a rundown.

About the new Facebook news feed

Continue reading NEW Facebook News Feed: A Comprehensive Guide

LinkedIn Dimensions [Infographic]

If you’re looking to add your company to LinkedIn by building a LinkedIn company page, you want to make sure you have the right LinkedIn dimensions. LinkedIn dimensions are importabt because when you want to build a LinkedIn company page, they can help you decide which items you want to feature and where they best fit.

Before you get started building your company page, be sure you know the right LinkedIn dimensions.  We’re talking about the size of your company logo, cover photos, the careers page and most importantly, products and services.

To help you out, I’ve created an infographic with all of the LinkedIn dimensions that you’ll need to build a LinkedIn company page that not only looks great, but also helps you decide which images will help your content stand out to followers.

LinkedIn Dimensions

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TimeRabbit – Measure Your Time on Facebook

While there are a lot of social media tools that can tell you what kind of traffic you get to your website or blog and how engaged your fans are on your Facebook Page, there aren’t a lot of social media tools like TimeRabbit that can measure the amount of time you spend on Facebook.

Over the past few years, as social media has gained in popularity, the amount of time that we spend on social networks has increased significantly.  In particular, we spend a lot of our time on social media sites like Facebook.

This is important to know because as we spend more time using social media, we have to remember to not let it consume our daily lives.

According to TimeRabbit, the average user spends 7 hours, 45 minutes on Facebook per month.

While this doesn’t sound like a lot of time, just think about all of the other things you could be out doing instead of being glued to a computer. That’s why I recommend giving TimeRabbit a try so that you can do an assessment on how much time you spend on social media sites like Facebook.

How to use TimeRabbit to measure the time you spend on Facebook

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How to schedule and backdate Facebook posts

Do you need to backdate Facebook posts on your Facebook Page to fill in your companies history?

Are you going to be at a conference and need to schedule Facebook Page posts ahead of time?

This article will show you how to schedule and backdate Facebook posts on your Facebook Page.

Why backdate Facebook posts?

One of the most overlooked features on a Facebook Page is the ability to backdate Facebook posts.

Backdating Facebook posts can help fans share in your companies rich history. Here’s how to do it!

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With the backdating posts feature, this allows companies with a deep history to be able to share it on their Facebook Page.

For example, do you know the history of McDonald’s and how they got started?

You can also check out Time Magazine on Facebook. They have done a great job filling in the history of their magazine by adding in past covers and articles from old magazines.

Benefits of backdating Facebook Page posts

One thing I like about Facebook Pages that backdate their Facebook posts is that it gets them to focus on their true content.  Too many times do I see pages posting quotes and photos that are unrelated to their business.

In most cases, their current content is getting little engagement with fans, so they’re moving away from focusing on their business and filling up their page with content that won’t add much value in the long run.

The importance of scheduling Facebook posts

Besides backdating Facebook Page content, you can also schedule content to go out.

For example, you can’t be speaking at a week-long conference and expect to keep your Facebook fans updated.

In this situation, you may want to schedule a few Facebook posts ahead of time when you know you will be out.

This way there is some engagement happening on your Facebook Page.

To schedule and backdate posts on Facebook, follow these instructions.

How to backdate Facebook posts

Continue reading How to schedule and backdate Facebook posts

Pinterest Dimensions [Infographic]

If you’re looking to use Pinterest to improve engagement and get more repins, the first place you want to start is with your images.  It is important to have the right Pinterest dimensions – not just for your Pinterest account, but also for any images you include on your website or blog.

The reason why you should optimize your website and blog images in addition to having a completed profile on Pinterest is so that when readers pin your images, they look great on Pinterest.  This will benefit you, because if you have great images that people want to repin and they are sized properly, not only will they look great, but people will want to share them with others. This means more traffic back to your website or blog!

To help you out, I’ve created an infographic with all of the Pinterest dimensions you’ll need. 

Pinterest Dimensions

Continue reading Pinterest Dimensions [Infographic]

How Do You Get Followers on Twitter? [Infographic]

One of the questions I often get asked about is how do you get followers on Twitter? I’ll be honest, building and growing your network of followers on Twitter can be very challenging, especially if you’re new to Twitter.

Most Twitter newbies have grand plans to amass thousands of followers overnight.  The same can be said for people who have been using Twitter for years.  In most cases, you feel like you’re doing work, but not seeing the needle move.  Unfortunately, growing your followers on Twitter does not happen that quickly.

If you want to get followers on Twitter, you have to work at it. This means using Twitter search to find people you share a common interest with. In addition, one of the key things you can do to get followers on Twitter is to be interesting. This means tweeting about a specific topic, sharing an article you found interesting, or even a photograph you took.  There really is no wrong way to share content.  Basically, share what you think others might find interesting.

So how do you get followers on Twitter by sharing content? Sharing content is part of the equation. No one wants to follow an account that doesn’t tweet.

Once you have started tweeting, what you need to do next to get followers is to learn how to retweet.

For those of you who don’t know what a retweet is, it’s sharing someone’s tweet with your own network. There is also a science to sending a retweet.

How do you get followers on Twitter?

Take a moment to review this infographic on “The Art of Getting Retweets.”  By tweeting your own updates and retweeting others, it can help you get followers on Twitter at a much faster pace.

Continue reading How Do You Get Followers on Twitter? [Infographic]

Twitter SMS Commands

Twitter SMS

If you haven’t upgraded your mobile phone to a smartphone or you simply prefer text-messaging over mobile apps, did you know, you can use Twitter SMS to send out updates and to connect with other Twitter users.

Not only is Twitter SMS easy to use, but the SMS commands are not difficult to learn. I’ve compiled a list of Twitter SMS commands you can use to send tweets from your mobile phone.  This list of Twitter SMS commands isn’t just limited to sending tweets.  It can also be used to update your Twitter profile, change your location and more.

To start using Twitter SMS, be sure to first enable Twitter SMS by texting START to your shortcode. Example: Text START to 40404 (the US shortcode). If you’re outside the US, here’s the complete list of Twitter shortcodes.

Twitter SMS Commands

Below is a list of Twitter SMS commands and how to use them to update Twitter. Be sure to bookmark or share this list with other Twitter users.

Overall, I find it’s very easy to update Twitter via SMS. This is because I can focus on one task at a time. Try out Twitter SMS and let me know what you think.

Twitter SMS Command What It Does
message Posts message as a tweet.
@username message Sends a reply to a username. Example: ckroks nice profile!
D username message Sends a direct message to a Twitter user.
FOLLOW username Configures your Twitter profile to follow a Twitter user.
UNFOLLOW username Configures your Twitter profile to unfollow a Twitter user.
LEAVE or L username Let’s you stop receiving SMS updates from a specific user without having to unfollow them.
RETWEET username Retweets the last tweet from a user.
FAV or FAVE or FAVORITE or * username Favorites the most recent tweet from a user. Example: fav ckroks
WHOIS username Returns profile information about a specific username.
ON username Turns on device updates from a specific user.
OFF username Turns off device updates from a specific user.
GET username Shows the most recent tweet from a user.
SET LOCATION placename Updates the location in your Twitter profile. Example: set location Washington DC.
SET BIO someinformation Edits your Bio information on your Twitter profile. Example: set bio Social Business Manager. Apple fanatic.
SET LANGUAGE language name Selects the language you want to see updates in. Example: set language English.
SET NAME your name Sets the name field on your Twitter profile. Example: set name Christian Karasiewicz.
SET URL yoururl Sets the URL field on your Twitter profile. Example: set url http://www.christiankonline.com.
OFF Turns off device updates for all Twitter users. To turn off direct messages, send OFF a second time.
ON Turns on device updates for all Twitter users. To turn on direct messages, send ON a second time.
STOP or QUIT Immediately stops Twitter from sending messages to your phone.
STOP, QUIT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, ARRET Deactivates your Twitter account if you are using Twitter SMS only.
INVITE phone number Sends an invitation via SMS to your friend’s mobile phone number.
SUGGEST or SUG or S or WTF Returns a list of Twitter users that you might find want to follow.
HELP or INFO or AIDE If you need help with using Twitter SMS, this brings up texting tips or help.
STATS Returns the number of Twitter followers you have along with how many people you are following.

Question: What is your primary reason for using Twitter SMS? Is it because you find it easier to tweet with text messages, because you don’t like the Twitter mobile app? Click here to leave a comment.

Pinterest for Business – Is It Right for You? [Infographic]

Pinterest for Business – Is It Right For you?

Pinterest for business – it’s a topic I often hear a lot about.  It’s also an area where I see a lot of businesses mess up too. That’s because most businesses join Pinterest for the wrong reasons. 

Pinterest for business and why a strategy matters

While there are a number of successful businesses on Pinterest, not all businesses will achieve these levels.  Those that are successful often have a social media strategy in place and the following items defined.

  • A defined set of goals
  • An action plan to help achieve your goals
  • Performance indicators to help you measure if you were successful

Without a strategy in place, don’t expect just being on Pinterest to do very much for your business.  You can add a Pinterest social media icon to your website to let visitors know you’re on the site.  You can do the same with your email newsletter too.  While you may get a few people to follow you on Pinterest, don’t expect a ton of people.

The reason why you need a strategy in place is because people want to follow Pinterest users who are pinteresting.

If your business doesn’t have a lot of original content – your own images and videos – you may want to reconsider using Pinterest for business.  The same goes if you don’t have the time or the resources to dedicate to Pinterest.  As I mentioned, Pinterest for business is not for everyone. It’s a social media channel you have to work at in order to build up followers and fans.

If you’re still unsure if Pinterest for business is right for you, this infographic can help you decide if Pinterest for business is a good idea.

Continue reading Pinterest for Business – Is It Right for You? [Infographic]

Gaining followers with the Facebook follow button

Do you have content you want to share with people you are not friends with on Facebook? Instead of adding people you don’t know, you can add the Facebook follow button.

Why add the Facebook follow button?

The Facebook follow button is a great tool to use when you want to let people you don’t know see your updates without being Facebook friends.

This protects your Facebook Profile so that people who follow you cannot see your email address, date of birth, etc.

When you follow someone on Facebook, this also adds their status updates to your news feed.

According to Facebook, here’s why you should add the Facebook follow button,

You should only add someone as a friend when you know them personally. If you don’t know someone personally but want to hear what they have to say, following them is a good option. When you follow someone, you’ll only be able to see their public updates.

For people you are already friends with, you will see a Friends button. Use this button to unfollow their posts without unfriending them.

To turn on the Facebook follow button on your Facebook Profile, follow the instructions below.

How to add the Facebook follow button

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Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts To Save You Time

Twitter keyboard shortcutsTwitter keyboard shortcuts

Twitter keyboard shortcuts, they do exist.  In fact, they come in very handy when you’re navigating Twitter.  Twitter keyboard shortcuts can also save you valuable amounts of time during your day.

To use them, all you need to do is go to Twitter.com and hit one of the following keyboard shortcuts.

For example, if you hit the “N” key, it will start a new tweet.  If you want to send someone a direct message, all you need to do is press the “M” key and you’ll get a pop-up to send someone a direct message.  In addition to using these basic features with a Twitter keyboard shortcut, you can hit “G” and then the “U” key and you’ll get a prompt to take you right to a users profile.

Note: the letters are not case-sensitive so you can hit “n” or “N” to compose a new tweet.

Be sure to bookmark these Twitter keyboard shortcuts.

Continue reading Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts To Save You Time