all the news that's fit to blog, tweet & post

I’m pleased to have my 14th article on Social Media Examiner (SME) today!  If you’ve found your way here as a result of seeing the post on SME, welcome and thank you for visiting.

By Way of Background:
My first post was published on SME back on October 27, 2010 and since that time I’ve written a series of 26 tips, A-Z guides about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,blogs, lead generation, video, customer service, images, mobile apps, google+, pinterest, gamification, and now, location-based marketing.

I’ve been writing about social media for the past five years and have seen tremendous advances in that time. It’s always a challenge to keep up, but there’s something incredibly gratifying about continuing to learn something that feels very much like a moving target.

I also write regularly for GigCoin and you can check-out my latest post, How To: Extend Your Blogging Reach.

Other News:
This past week, I’ve also had the honor of being selected as a finalist in a short memoir contest on Biographile for my essay, Who Among Us. The contest is still going on and if you’re so inclined you can read the piece and vote for me by selecting the Facebook “like” widget on the page.

Non-fiction writing and memoir in particular has had a special place in my heart the past number of years, and I’m thrilled to have received recognition for this piece which is in memory of and a tribute to the ten women of the Tuesday, Writing for Wellness Group at Facing Cancer Together, who I had the distinct pleasure to know and write with.

I remember them.

My new post on GigCoin this week took me to Google+ where I explored the reasons why businesses have been turning to the platform and what they’ve found once they’ve landed there. For this post I heard from a number of small business contributors through HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Kevin Purdy, author of Google+ The Missing Manual.

The post also contains reference to resources: Google+ Magazine published by Andre, suggestions from Josh Lloyd, Cindy King, and getting started on Google+ help from Kristi Hines and Zach Bulygo.

One of the personal benefits I receive from writing a post like this is getting to meet and reach out to people whose paths I may not otherwise have crossed–the purely social and fun stuff that comes from social media and blogging!

Check-out the new post in its entirety.

This week I wrote about the new shot@life social media campaign for world immunization week via the United Nations Foundation. I’ve been writing about social media for a number of years now and this campaign was without a doubt the most thought out and planned one I’ve ever seen. In addition to the fact that this is an extremely important and good cause to support, people who are trying to understand how to leverage a social media campaign will learn a lot from the steps that the UN Foundation has taken to get the word out.

Take a moment to check out the post on GigCoin.

In a new post published today on GigCoin, I had an opportunity to reach out to a number of brands via HARO who have created presences on Pinterest to find out what has made the platform a good place for them to be. The post also includes a Q&A with Kelly Lieberman who has spent considerable time taking a look at brands and Pinterest.

Check out the full post on GigCoin.

We come in contact with landing pages all the time and it’s useful to see for ourselves when we’re willing to click on a link, enter our email address, etc.  in exchange for the promise of something we’ve deemed important to us. As a business it’s good to tap into the user’s experience and as you’ll see in my new post, there are several factors that help to construct successful pages.

This week I researched landing pages and wrote a post on the topic. Check out the full post on GigCoin.

My blog post on gamification was published on Social Media Examiner today. The article covers “26 Elements of a Gamification Marketing Strategy.”  It’s pretty amazing when you stop and notice all the different places where brands and businesses are trying to engage you in playing a game. And probably what’s even more striking is how successful they are at it.

Check out the post to learn more about gamification. (BTW, the term didn’t roll off my tongue easily in the beginning either!)

It’s hard to keep up these days with all of the changes social networks throw our way.  YouTube is no exception. They recently made some changes, aka YouTube Channels 3.5, with a redesigned homepage and channel layouts.

Check my new post on GigCoin, YouTube’s Brand Channels: What You Need to Know

My post for this week on GigCoin is about Google+ and what businesses can do to stand out in the crowd.  For this post I examined the pages of 10 brands who have large +following to see the various types of ways that they engage with their users. I point out different techniques that they’ve used to help give other businesses ideas.  Check out the full post on GigCoin.

This week I published an article about how to create memorable Facebook Timelines and Milestones on Facebook Pages. Photos are a great way to tell a brand’s story and of course some of the legacy brands have an edge on having loads of older material to work with but by taking a storytelling approach and a little bit of creativity, businesses can create memorable timelines.

Check out the post on GigCoin.

There has been a lot of discussion this past week regarding the new Facebook for Pages. I have a post this week on GigCoin’s blog where I’ve outlined the new features and have used Starbucks Facebook page as an example for how to implement timeline to tell your brand story.