Day 18 Assignment, Bootcamp #4 - Blog Review & Social Media

[Fairy Cardmaker]

So in this particular case, it's better to incorporate less product links (1 or 2 out of those 3 that we wanted to mention) and add other products that fit the story better. Maybe I wasn't too clear in the instructions.... Roll Eyes  but anyway, we are all learning here and this is something you'll keep in mind for the next time, so it's all good!   Grin

I had to read the instructions multiple times.  I got that everyone was supposed to make a post that was somewhat related to the other person but we were allowed to make it broader and more from our own initative and point of view.  Except for me, you suggested:

Also, see if you can mention all 3 of Kat's products using either full product Titles or her primary Keywords.

It was indeed a challenge, but I quite like how it turned out - using your history suggestion too!  (I included one other iCrafter's photo with link only because it was taking too long to get to a photo with my long-windedness!)

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,

There are many benefits to having FB & Tw accounts, other than just reaching your direct customers.

FB and Twitter annoy the heck out of me and do not represent my target market anyway.

From SEO perspective, those sites are adding backlinks to your blog and your store. Backlinks matter in turms of raising your online rankings and getting more visibility on Google.  Backlinks have to be diverse and would preferably come from various social media sites too.

Google changed their algorithm in the last year or so to include social signals as part of evaluation your pages importance.

Another benefit from having links published on FB & especially Twitter is that Google almost immediately adds Tw updates to their index (and displays your pages in their replacement results pages). This means your new or recently updated pages will be crawled (found) by Google a lot faster, because Google robots will follow that link from FB or Tw, especially if your posts on those sites get a lot of Likes and Retweets.

Plus, there has to be someone interested in your products out of combined 1.5 billion people that use Twitter and FB.

Gosh, I don't have time to keep up with these things.

Lisa, if you don't have time to maintain FB & Tw accounts, I'd automate your updates to them, but I would still have those accounts for all those reasons.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Lisa, if you don't have time to maintain FB & Tw accounts, I'd automate your updates to them, but I would still have those accounts for all those reasons.

But isn't that rude?  To send updates but never log in and reciprocate?

[iCraft Admin]

But isn't that rude?  To send updates but never log in and reciprocate?

Well, most people don't stop to evaluate each tweet or each FB post, or have an idea of how to detect automatic vs. manual tweets. Things move very fast in the social media space!

Actually, if you check some celebrity sites, their tweets and FB posts are done by their marketing departments (some are automated too) and people think they are talking to their fav celebrity for real.  Or check Kanye West on Twitter, who loves to go into a one-way rants without responding to anyone : ) That's rude!  Social Media Fails & Triumphs.

Many companies automate their updates and there are a lot of tools you can get for free or to purchase, that do all that work for you. It's a big business now. Social media is booming, but who has the time to keep up with all of this, right? So don't feel bad about automating some of your updates!

I am only suggesting these things to you, as it's a small investment of time to get additional traffic to your pages. You are not losing much by doing this.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

 

I see those points.  Auto feed sounds attractive.  Missing out on the fad is career limiting.  I don't deny it.  I do accept it.  I am still disgusted by those sites and I have to cut time somewhere and that's what I'm picking.

I know we've had this discussion before.  Your points are valid and I don't mean to knock it as an effective marketing avenue and strategy.  I'm just not in to it and I believe that when you don't have your heart behind something, it shows.

I shall, at the least, do some reading.  (But I am over committed at the moment.  I may not be back until Sunday.)

[iCraft Admin]

I shall, at the least, do some reading.

That's the spirit! 
Ultimately, it's up to you Lisa how and where you promote your business.

I can totally relate to how you feel about those sites. If it was up to me, I'd probably never use as many social media sites, as I do now. I also find most of them confusing and a total waste of my time. But... I know how important they are for growing an online business and, unfortunately, I can't ignore them. 

[iCraft Admin]

(I *just* learned how to link my blog to my Google + for the post on Kat, so it appears there.)

Lisa, can you please share this knowledge with us too? Others might wight want to connect their blogs to their G+ accounts too. Thanks!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Uhm... actually, Google prompted me to do it when I made a new post.  It had prompted me once before, but I had said no because my profile was different on the blog (shop oriented) versus plus (more me oriented).

So... I'm didn't initiate it myself.  I'm sure blogger has a help article on it.

I forgot to mention, I do have a Flikr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77417594@N03/

[iCraft Admin]

Uhm... actually, Google prompted me to do it when I made a new post.

K, good to know. I guess Google + has additional features available to Blogger users.