Transitioning from hotmail to Gmail – Next up, Buzz please!
By Sarah Shehata | March 2, 2010
Exporting my contacts from hotmail was completed in 5 clicks. If you think that sounds easy, read on!
I went over to my Gmail account to see how I could import these contacts. To my surprise, it had its own set of steps that were much easier to say the least! One thing that really impressed me are the options it presented me with to further facilitate my transition. It allowed me to import my contacts, import my mail AND import any new mail I receive from my hotmail account for the next 30 days! In addition, once the import started, it let me know that I can close the window and keep using Gmail, or even log out and close my browser. It would still keep working in the background.
Now, I am one of those people who has been using hotmail for the past ten years. Being in the social media and marketing community has proven me otherwise. A few reasons I have decided to switch over to Gmail:
Google Calendar
Is web based and really easy to synch with your mobile phone. You can also create different calendars and color code them to your needs.
Labs
There are so many features that are being developed by the community everyday that further simplify your life. Two examples I found to be helpful are the Undo Send & The Title Tweaks features. The latter isn’t as clear so I’ll further explain it. It basically changes the order of the elements in the browser title bar from “Gmail – Inbox (10)” to “Inbox (10) – Gmail” which allows you to see if new mail has arrived even if the Gmail window is minimized!
Labels
I don’t know about you, but I like keeping my emails organized. You know those emails you get, the ones that have a tendency to fall into numerous categories? With the label feature, you don’t need to assign it in ONE folder! You can have multiple labels for it which is easier to search for should you want to refer back to it.
Archive
If you don’t want to delete the email, yet it is something you have already read, archiving it is the way to go. All archived mail remains in the archived folder and you can use the search bar to find it later.
Reader
Reader allows you to subscribe to websites you frequently visit and brings you their latest updates right to your email! You can also share your entire list with friends.
Documents
With this feature, you can create a word document, excel file, presentation and/or form all within your account! Not only does it allow you to do that, but also, you can share specific documents with friends and co-workers.
Go on, give it a try and let me know what you think!
Now that’s taken care of, I’m starting to buzz! – add me to your buzz environment!
Topics: Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Who should be blogging?
By Mitchell Hislop | February 22, 2010
I have had several chats with people recently about blogging, and want to share some thoughts on it. There are several groups of people who should be blogging:
Students:
As a student myself, I see blogging as the #1 way to set yourself apart. It does not matter what industry you are in, you should be blogging. Accounts can talk about and show their knowledge, marketing people can show off their chops, political science majors can show their opinions, report the news, and give analysis, and artists can use it as a portfolio. I challenge you to give me a major where it would not help to blog.
Business owners:
If you have a business, take one hour a week to blog. It can be from a teaching perspective or a company news perspective, whatever it might be, make sure you are getting it out there and sharing your knowledge and expertise.
Moms/Dads/Parents:
This is a perfect way to document your kid’s childhood, to share your child with everyone, and to share (and gain) tips and tricks with other parents, or soon-to-be parents.
Job Seekers:
Basically the same as students. You can use this to show your potential and what you have done. It is a great way to share what you would want to do with your current employer, without mentioning names, without the risk of confrontation.
So yes, this basically covers everyone. One thing I tell everyone is that others are blogging about it, you should be too. This applies especially to students and job seekers-for instance, I am a student, and I blog. This will help put me over students who dont blog, putting them at a disadvantage.
I will blog next week about the benefits of blogging-the less obvious ones, not the “you can get exposure” ones.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Using Hashtags
By Joel Feder | February 15, 2010
If you don’t use Twitter on a regular basis you might be wondering why certain words in tweets have the # in front of them. This is called a hashtag and it is used to help ease the search of a topic or keyword. When people on Twitter search for things or try to keep track of a topic, they search for a word with a hashtag in front of it.
A good example is a conference such as social media breakfast. The Minneapolis social media breakfast uses the hashtag #smbmsp. Most of us Minneapolis social medialites have a search column on our Tweetdeck and of course we use the hashtag.
When I tweet about an auto-manufacturer or any company, I always use the hashtag in front of the name. These companies are searching for their names using the hashtag. You can even make a hashtag out of nothing. For example, I have made a hashtag out of #GoodDay simply because I was having a good day.
Something to keep in mind, you have to make it all connected with no spaces in the words. People are used to reading the hashtags and figuring out the words. It is usually not hard. Overall majority of the people you follow are likely using hashtags in tweets and you can view them as examples.
Topics: Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
LinkedIn Answers & Earning Expertise
By Sarah Shehata | February 15, 2010
If you have specific questions and are looking for various answers, why not use LinkedIn Answers? With this feature, you can ask questions within different industries and be sure to find an answer that will satisfy you! Thought-provoking questions that relate to others sharing knowledge they have is always great. This also gives SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) a chance to share their knowledge and will improve the quality of others’ answers.
How do I earn expertise when answering questions on LinkedIn?
This is what LinkedIn has to say:
When you see a green box with a white star on a Profile, you know that person has proven their expertise by answering questions posed in the Answers forum. They have had answers selected as the ‘Best’ answer and are given expert status. Answer experts can be found at the bottom of the Answer home page. To earn expertise:
- Find questions in the areas you know.
- Browse questions to find categories familiar to you and answer those questions.
- Every time the questioner picks your answer as the ‘Best’ answer, you gain a point of expertise in the category of the question. The more points of expertise, the higher you appear on lists of experts. Private answers don’t count toward expertise.
Once the question is closed the member can rate the answers that came in. Answers is a good way to share and exchange information.
What do I benefit if I am listed as an expert?
It is a great way to add value to your Profile by displaying your writing style, personality, organizational abilities and subject matter expertise to those viewing your Profile. If your answer is voted ‘Best’ it is hoped that it was because you provided the best information in a way that helped the member to resolve their query.
This will help you stand out amongst the crowd and will also draw attention to your business. People will keep you in their mind and will know who to not only go to for answers but for services!
Still not sure?
Start by trying to ask a question, yes, you are entitled to ask up to 10 questions per month and see what/how people respond back. And note the amount of time it takes! You will be surprised by the amount of people who are offering their knowledge.
Depending on how specific your question is, you will receive responses. One question I asked received 5 different answers within an hour time span while another received 10 within half an hour!
Keep in mind that questions you ask can also be flagged, reported and removed if they are inappropriate which might lead you to become blocked by LinkedIn from asking any more questions.
Best Practice- Make sure to thank the person who’s answer you ranked as best.
Topics: LinkedIn, Social Media | No Comments »
Why You Should Love Wordpress
By Mitchell Hislop | February 15, 2010
It is no secret that I have something similar to a love affair with the open source content management system Wordpress. I have stickers all over my laptop and notebooks, and even on a lamp in the office.
People often ask me why I love it so much, or why they should use it themselves. I have finally written down my answer:
Some of the things I love about Wordpress:
- Ease of use:
- Wordpress has a very nice back-end, which allows anyone to be able to add or edit content site-wide.
- It is also very easy to add functionality using plug-ins.
- Design is handled by themes, allowing you to either use one you like or create/modify an existing one.
- Reliability:
- Wordpress is one of the top content management systems, and has a vibrant community around it. This allows it to be updated constantly, making sure there are no bugs.
- It is also really easy to get support for because of this community.
- Power:
- Wordpress can handle anything from a simple one page blog to a massive website, and anything from no traffic to 100,000 unique visits a day.
- Wordpress can be completely customized, allowing people of every level of expertise to leverage it
Why you should use Wordpress:
- It’s free
- It’s easy
- It’s powerful
- It’s supported
- The community behind it is there for you
- Any business can benefit from having a blog.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Unplugging
By Joel Feder | February 11, 2010
It was recently brought to my attention that I have consumed my life in the online world and everything that goes around it. When I was in college my major was marketing. Social Media as a marketing tool was not fully being embraced in school, yet students were using it as case studies for projects. Like every other college student, I used Facebook but it was not the same as it is today.
My life recently has been consumed by tweeting on Twitter, checking in on Foursquare, messaging and chatting on Facebook and the list goes on. Some of the important people in my life started taking a back seat. It suddenly hit me one day (after multiple people telling me multiple times) that there was a problem. Now that I have acknowledged that there is a problem (after all that’s half the battle and the first step) I realized I needed to fix this immediately.
I am working harder at unplugging. This goes to all aspects of my life. Further than social media. Writing blog posts, surfing other blogs, chatting on Facebook, these are all part of the problem. It is all being connected. Taking time to just go for a drive with a loved one. Cuddling up and watching tv with your significant other. These are examples of how to unplug.
Lately I am trying to embrace the concept of unplugging a little more often. When I am with ones that matter most, I do not necessarily need to check the text the minute it comes in. The truth is, if someone is dying they will most likely call not text. Before you say how can Joel be saying this, hear me out. Spending a few hours with no Twitter or any real connections for that matter, turns out is nice.
This is not to say you should not be on Twitter and other platforms. I have made invaluable connections and relationships which I would not trade for anything. With all that said, I am enjoying unplugging more often. The point is make sure there is a balance, make sure one thing does not consume all your time.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
The Buzz about Buzz
By Mitchell Hislop | February 10, 2010
Yesterday, Google made another move in the direction of owning the Internet with their announcement about Buzz, their new social platform built into GMail.
This platform leverages your existing social graph that you have built up while using GMail. Much the same as it remembers the contact information of people you email often with, it will add these people as your friends in Buzz. You can also direct people to your Google profile, which will allow them to follow you on Buzz.
There are also location based features built in. You can Buzz from your iPhone or Android phone (running 2.0), and it will tag your location.
It feels a lot like FriendFeed to me, which was a place to aggregate content and comment on or discuss things. It is akin to a long form of Twitter, with comments and likes similar to Facebook. Facebook recently purchased FriendFeed, and some think that Buzz is because of that.
Currently, Buzz is mostly early adopters talking about how cool it is. It will be interesting to see over the next month which direction it will take: will it be the geeky-cool place for the tech people to chat (like Friendfeed), or will it be a platform everyone can leverage (like Twitter).
Buzz seems to be best for times when you want to create more long-form content, yet you don’t want to do it as a blog post (either it doesn’t fit, is not valuable enough, or it is directed at people). You can direct your messages to people while still having them be public. It is the interesting niche between a blog, Twitter, and chat.
It can also import content from other sites, such as Twitter, Flickr, and blogs.
It is currently being rolled out to everyone, and should be active completely by early next week.
Topics: Social Media | No Comments »
Facebook’s Facelift – Give it a chance!
By Sarah Shehata | February 8, 2010
Facebook’s recent changes have finally rolled out to me just today. Most of us almost always dislike new changes first time round. Having explored the new re-design however, I feel that it is much more user-friendly and has a cleaner feel to it. How do you feel about these new changes?
I like what they have done with the top menu and think it’s a great idea to have those icons up there for easier navigation. Even more, the concept of having the icon light up when a new notification/ message is received is a splendid way to grasp one’s attention.
Explore it and give it time, we only need to adjust to the modifications before being able to accept them!
Topics: Facebook, Social Media | 2 Comments »
Super Bowl Ads Should Reference Social Media
By Adam Maikkula | February 7, 2010
While you watch tonight’s Super Bowl game, keep an eye on your favorite television ads. I bet you will see many of them mention Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn, and FourSquare within the ads. This is a great way for companies to direct a lot of consumers to quickly connect with them through social media. I’d also keep your eyes peeled for actual sites being used or poked fun at in commercial parodies. With this many people around the world watching television tonight, you can bet those who are social media savvy will be chomping at the bit to let the world know they have Fan Pages and Twitter accounts.
…Go Colts!
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Are you being LOUD enough?
By Sarah Shehata | February 5, 2010
Chances are you probably have several potential target customer groups. Have you stopped to think about how you are coming across to your audience? Are you being too sales-y? How well are you interacting with your audience?
A great way to start would be to set your tone to the audience as well as objective. Whether you prefer to be more professional, casual or a mix of both depends on what you are offering and to which target customer group.
Choose which to focus on by considering the 4 Ps.
Which audience will you be able to offer an eye-catching product to while also charging a competitive price and earning acceptable margins? Will one audience respond better to promotions than another? Are you able to reach some more easily with existing distribution channels such as Social Media than others? Which tone would be most heard within that target group?
By answering these as well as other questions related to the 4 Ps you will be better able to make marketing decisions and choose effective Social Media sites for your marketing plan.
Speak up loud and clear and reach out to your audience!
Topics: Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
