I spoke with a group of students today and a number of them told me they did not need my presentation on Texting Safely.  I asked them to please listen if only to be able to share with a friend.  But I know parents needs some help!  Here is the help and it is only a few clickx away.

Click here to learn what the latest text codes mean. But if you need the whole dictionary click here!

The text messages you should fear, click here.

Scare your kids from texting and driving by clicking on  the picture below!

Tip #101

This tip actually comes from Ivana Taylor of DIYMarketers

She suggest that you put your phone number in the “From” field in your email.

An insanely easy way to make it easy for people to contact you is by adjusting the settings in your email so that your name AND phone number show in the “From” field.

So if you get an email from me the “From” column reads, Strategic Online Networking 813-421-1292. With people reading email on their phone and many only scanning messages it is a way that some could call or text you back quickly about an issue.

Just an idea!

How to Tuesday,  it is back after a long stint.  We have been restructuring our business and plan to come back strong blogging to assist you to have a healthier online experience.

Enjoy this week’s list:

How to create better online video

How to make Geeks happy

How to send an Audio Tweet

How to be everyone’s friend on Social Media

How to get more comments on your blog post

Have a plan!

I cannot stress this enough.  Social Media works best when implemented with an overall marketing plan.  I know it doesn’t sound cool.  But even the most spontaneous artist must have very structured business sense, to be successful.

As you put together the methods (i.e. radio and newspaper ads, email and contest campaigns, street team marketing…) you will use to get the word out about your band, make sure you mention your social media presences using those tactics.  To reiterate, if you secure air time on CBS radio, be sure to mention that you are on FaceBook, Twitter and use those sites to promote your other marketing outlets.  It all should work together.

Persistence will become Power

Let’s face it as a start up band that hasn’t signed with a major label, you may not have a lot of followers or fans when you first begin your social media presence.  Social Media reveals influence when you initially use it.  I’m sure the first week Mick Jagger started a Fan Page on FaceBook he drew thousands of followers in a few days.  He probably had a number of pages others had started about him and community page status.  He was already famous before FaceBook!

But you can use Social Media to affect your level of influence.  Over time with persistence you can extend the brand of your band and build influence and power.  You just need to be consistent and clever.

Don’t feel clever just look at what others are doing.  Get ideas by checking out blogs written on this topic and modify those ideas to meet your needs.  Also don’t be afraid to speak with a Social Media Consultant.  Get three fee quotes and check referrals before choosing one.

Use the full ability of your platforms

There are a lot of great features that FaceBook and other Social Media platforms support, which can help your band, sell tickets or other promotional materials and promote your brand.  Payvment, Ustream, iLike, hyper-linked graphics and icons to your website are just some of the applications you can add to your FaceBook Fan Page.  Twitter can be used for extensive searches and they have Twiturm that helps you share your music on Twitter.  Other platforms can help you auto post to a number of sites with one click.  Find out what features would be of best use for you.

Listen to your town

Use Social media as a venue to listen to your current and potential fans in your town.  Bookmark RSS feeds of key words or phrases that are pertinent to your band.  You can see if your band or sound type is being mentioned online.  You can response to these; by thanking those that liked your sound or people looking for a venue with your type band in your area.  Whatever you do don’t get too creepy, in approaching people you meet on line.

Start somewhere!

I used to advise people that if they were not going to do Social Media well don’t do it at all.  I still believe that to a degree, but the crowding of the field has made me encourage people to go ahead and try.  Usernames and opportunities are being snatched up, therefore, get started to secure your band name and brand before some other entity.

There are sites that you can use to check brand and username availability.   Knowem and Usernamz are two of these such sites.

Honorable Mentions – FaceBook Ads

FaceBook Ads are very easy and affordable to use.  You can really hone in on towns and people’s music interest to which to advertise.  I have found ad campaigns costing as little as $50 to be effective.  You can use ads to bring clicks, attention or brand recognition to your FaceBook fan page, website or event.  It is too easy and reasonable not to give it at least a try.

If you would like to connect or ask questions please leave a comment here or email Chandra@StrateStrategicOnlineNetworking

Chandra Lee

Social Media Strategist

How to Tuesday, April 13, 2010!

We have searched the internet high and low, so you don’t have to, to find the best “How to…” blog posts.  You remember how this started we were getting ready to write a “How to …” post and found all these great already written how to blogs.  We here at Strategic Online Networking are all about working smarter, so here is what we found this week:

For the business people:

How to show Trustworthiness Online?

How to drive traffic to your blog?

How to sell online?

Non-profits:

How to use Social Media like Livestrong

Job seekers:

How to look for a job using online methods

Twitter Folks:

How to look smart on Twitter

How to make Twitter productive

Animal Folks:

How strange can these Animal videos get?

Educational Games:

How kids can learn in a fun way

FaceBook Lovers:

How to Wish People a Happy Birthday BIG on FaceBook

That’s it for this week!

Have you heard of spokeo.com ?  Well it has heard of you.  It may not know everything about you but it knows enough to spook you out!  (Much of the wrong information you see on the site under your name are standard answers for people that do not have membership)

This information source which gives anyone with the nominal fee of $2.95 a month access to tons of “personal” details about you or anyone for that matter, including a picture of your home!  Even particulars down to your hobbies, your spending habits and  how much people in your neighborhood make is included in the divulged details!

Don’t want to be on the search engine Spoke.com?  Go to the site type in your name, go to the state you reside, see if your name and address is there, click on it, scroll down to the bottom right hand corner, hit privacy and follow the instructions to remove your information. They do ask for an email address to complete the process.  I used a ” junk” email address.  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why! 

But that is just the beginning.  Spokeo.com has reverse email and phone number look ups.  Don’t forget to go in and remove all that also!  Receive more insight on Snopes , the famous Wikipedia and the video below (you will see it is as clear as mud).   Let us know if you removed your information.

A short time ago I wrote a blog, FaceBook Friend List Sham! It was about a profile that I assumed had to be fake, Michelle Fox.  I do not know if it is but I do know that there is another similar profile on FaceBook  that is currently circulating through many people I know, Earnest Hobson, that is completely FAKE!

Earnest Hobson had the same similar vague profile features as Michelle Fox

• Unnatural profile picture (looks like the back has been Photoshop-ed out)

• The person never comments, contributes content  or returns messages
• They have one picture that actually shows them and that is the Photoshop-ed profile picture.  The other pictures are nil or  too small for anyone to see who or what is on them
• A narrow subject of interest in fan pages, information and groups.  Often focused on a type of business.
• And lastly but most loudly is “friends” with the oddest combination of your friends!

Earnest Hobson an Asian man from Montana, is an experiment, but not mine:).  In less than a week he has 345+ friends from around the world, has people commenting on his fake pictures, and posting on his fake wall. Click here to see his quick addition of friends (Click on the picture to enlarge it)

What is the ultimate harm?

Since my last blog I have thought about this issue further and I now believe that fake profiles could become a real menace for FaceBook in the future.

• Email Harvest- yeah that is right.  Most people know by now that through a very popular network site you can pull up every one of your FaceBook Friend’s emails even if they are hidden or private.  It takes less than five minutes. So you could be friend-ing a person that is into grabbing emails and adding them to email campaigns.
• Fans for sale?-  Just this week as I look through the fan pages of Social Media Consultants, I noticed an odd trend of companies selling packages with a guaranteed number of fans.  What?  How do you guarantee a number of fans for a fan page, unless you have a pool of ready “fans” you can control?  And why would someone want to buy fans, when a business should want fans that will buy FROM it (that is another blog)
• Trust sabotaged – This is one of the many issues with  MySpace.  People grew tired of the fake profiles and the spam that ensued because of them.  Trust was lost  in building relationships on the network.
• Suggesting Fan Pages to friends – Similar to the first issue, but different.  The nature on FaceBook is that we will at least check out Fan Pages that our friends suggest to us.  These fake profiles suggesting Fan Pages that  you may end up fanning.  Thus, seeing how a farm of these fake profiles can be used by a company to cause false return on investments (ROI) or benchmark achievements to unsuspecting clients.   I know that Earnest has been suggesting a lot of pages:)

There are probably more issues, but FaceBook is going to have to address this issue eventually.  There may not be a profile for a Fork or Smiling Jesus on FaceBook as there is on MySpace, but I consider the FAKE profiles like Earnest Hobson to be more detrimental.  I can realize that “Fork” and “Smiling Jesus” on MySpace  are not real.

To stay up to date on security on FaceBook I suggest you fan the FaceBook Security Fan Page.  and make sure you keep your profile as safe as possible

How to Tuesday Wednesday!

As stated last time we were about to do this “How to…” blog and found all these great already written how to blogs.  I am all about working smarter so here is what we found this week:

For the business people:

How to use LinkedIn for Business?.

How to get blocked by FaceBook?

Job seekers:

How to get a job blogging for a celebrity?

Twitter Folks:

How to use Twitter List?

Animal Folks:

How to get your dog a date?

That’s it for this week!