MollyKillien.com - marketing & social media associate at Strategies 360 in Seattle.

26 Mar 2013

The Marriage Equality Graphic Blitz

I’m going to keep this simple.

If there ever were a day to discuss social media as an effective medium, today is the day.

Yes, social media is a tool to help create online communities and conversations, but this morning, Tuesday, March 26th, a social movement brought tears to my eyes. The United States Supreme Court hears the first of two cases on same-sex marriage today and my Facebook news feed is flooded with this image. FLOODED. Is yours?

The simple, bright red Human Rights Campaign graphic for Marriage Equality has exploded on Facebook and for good reason.

“The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Their logo is a yellow equal sign set on a blue background. The current incarnation is meant to bring awareness to the cause for marriage equality in light of the Supreme Court hearing arguments for two groundbreaking cases in the fight for marriage equality. For the next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, proponents of marriage equality are also encouraged to wear red to show their support. Also, using popular Twitter hash tags like #Equality, #UnitedforMarriage, #SupremeCourt, and #Love will help your tweets launch into the discussion taking place on social media.” via PolicyMic (their awesome blog is here.)

Talk about a visual, social impact – wow!

I’ll admit that “viral” is one of my least favorite terms as a social media manager. No one knows what will and what wont be “viral.”

But in the case of this Marriage Equality Graphic Blitz I am fascinated to see if this campaign, this “viral” act of solidarity, will help move the political needle.

TIME Magazine: What Is the Red Equal Sign All Over Facebook and Twitter?

PolicyMIC: Rights Campaign Graphic For Marriage Equality Explodes On Facebook

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Molly K | No comments

30 Jan 2013

Community • ShowPony • Social Media • Strategies 360 • Tips • Twitter • Work

Five tips for effective “Live Tweeting”

Does this sound familiar?

You find out about a cool, interesting, educational, industry related local event.
You check your schedule and are free – yay!
You RSVP to the event.
You show up at the event.
You have a great time and learn a lot of great information at the event.

So, who gets to hear about it? Who gets to learn from it?

Only the people at the event? (Noooooo….)

“Live Tweeting” has always seemed to be a worthwhile use of my neglected, Instagram-heavy twitter account. Yes, I’ve “Live Tweeted” in the past but never to the level or caliber I believed was necessary.

I think this is because I am always busy at industry events, feverishly taking notes in my spiral notebook with my trusty ball point pen (gasp!). I guess I’m old school and I have had so many questions about how, why, where and when to “Live Tweet.” I needed a set of rules, tips, tricks and insider information on how to do it.

Remember, we all start somewhere and asking questions, observing and taking a risk and doing new things is what makes social media fun. So, in that spirit I’m writing my own “Live Tweeting” rules.

What does “Live Tweeting” even mean? Does a quick status update count or do I need to relay every fact and figure I learn into a perfectly executed 140 character snippet?

Alert: Social Media users of all kinds – you too can “Live Tweet.”

In fact, by following a few simple guidelines it can turn your old school note taking habits into a networking tool that shows you are “with it” and care about the subject matter. You might even make some great industry connections, meet potential clients and have fun along the way. (eeek!)

Here are my five simple “Live Tweeting” rules:

1. Location, Location, Location
Like with real estate, your location (especially when “Live Tweeting”) is key

- Don’t be in the back of the room (bad for Twitter photo ops) but don’t be in the front of the room as it may look like you could be texting, which appears disrespectful
- I like sitting near the front, seated at the outside of a side table – #idontmessaround

2. What tweeting platform should you use?
What app helps propel you from handwritten notes to ReTweet glory?

- It goes without saying that a smartphone or a device that you can Tweet from is a must
- At work I use HootSuite to manage Twitter conversations for multiple clients but when live tweeting I like to tweet right from the Twitter app
- Make sure that if you are managing multiple accounts you have access to the account you want BEFORE the event. You don’t want to spend precious “Live Tweeting” time looking for a password or logging onto an account. #yourtimeismoney

: A picture (especially in a tweet) is worth a thousand words. They’re helpful when you are limited to 140 characters.

3. Set the Stage
A little Twitter love ahead of time goes a long, long way

- The day before you “Live Tweet” an event make an announcement on your Twitter feed Something like“Don’t miss my live tweeting adventure tomorrow morning at ________ with _________.
- It might seem like a no brainer but set the stage with times, dates, @mention who will be there, where it will be held, sponsors, etc.
- This way people can expect it the live tweeting in their stream and folks will appreciate the twitter love in advance. #BuzzBuzzBuzz

4. Introduction and Conclusion
Tweetiquette is important so don’t forget to say “hello,” “goodbye” and “thank you”

- Like any good communications stream, a simple introduction and conclusion helps as a guideline. In the world of twitter with so many voices it is nice to have an official beginning and end of your live tweeting session.
- Introduction: “Hey Friends: In 10 minutes I’ll be Live Tweeting the _______________ . Thanks for your RTs!”
- Let people know you are done, “That was fun! My poor fingers hurt – too much great info. Did you learn anything new from ___________? #HNGhiandgoodbye

5. “Live Tweet”
This is your time to shine – make a splash in your Twitter feed!

- With all the build up to you “Live Tweeting” now is the time to deliver the goods
- Share facts, figures, quotes, photos and more! This is your time to shine; you have an audience so play to your crowd!
- DO NOT FORGET to use hastags (#)and @mentions in every post– super important.
- Figure out how many tweets you are comfortable with for a live tweet session. I think anywhere between 5 and 20 tweets is a great place to start.
- Tip: You can even prewrite some tweets to use during the session. Cut and paste from your “notes” in your phone. Being prepared will pay off in spades. #livetweetinglikeimkatiecouric

BONUS: Go the extra mile
You go the extra mile at your job, why not go the extra mile with your live tweeting?

- Introduce yourself to your table and say you are live tweeting, not texting – I repeat live tweeting, not texting
- Hand out your business card to new contacts and make sure your twitter handle is on there. Remember to highlight your twitter handle or physically write it on the card.
- I’ve started to wear a “I’m not texting , I’m tweeting button” at events so there is no mistake about what I am doing. I’m present and I care about the speaker and their information. It is funny and wearing the button makes me accountable for my tweets. #besttwittericebreakerever

I’ll be the first to admit that “Live Tweeting” used to intimidate me. Use these steps to make “Live Tweeting” easy, interactive and fun.

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Molly K | No comments

25 Oct 2012

Community • Facebook • Facebook Safety • Social Media • Tips

Safety First: It is okay to Unfriend or Block someone on Facebook

I’m here to tell you – it is OKAY to “unfriend” or “block” someone on Facebook. Not only is it okay, at times it may be necessary.
“Unfriending” or “Blocking” someone isn’t exactly a fun thing to do or even talk about. Also, it might seem a bit taboo for me to be writing about “unfriending or blocking” as a social media professional. Most of the time I am encouraging people, brands and others to build and expand their networks. But in this role I feel it is my duty to touch on all aspects of interacting via online platforms – including some of the darker sides of communicating behind a keyboard.

As your mom and my mom have told us many times, “safety first.”

Feeling comfortable online is extremely important! Cyber-bullying and being contacted in inappropriate ways is a real thing. You have the power within your Facebook account to keep yourself safe and create a space where you want to be.

Please remember – you have power when you are on Facebook.

When it comes to representing companies and brands online, it is certain that there will be trolls and naysayers who will engage in negative, inappropriate and sometimes over the top ways. I’m here to tell you that your PERSONAL profile does not need to be subjected to material or actions that make you feel uncomfortable.

Here are simple, effective yet commonly misunderstood actions you can take to protect yourself and your space:

When you “unsubscribe” someone on Facebook:
-You are ONLY hiding updates from that person in YOUR Facebook News Feed
-They still have access to you and what you are posting
-Anything you post can still show up in THEIR news feed
-That person can still private message you

When you “unfriend” someone on Facebook:
-You are ONLY preventing them from seeing posts on your timeline
-They still have access to you and what you are posting
-Anything you post can still show up in THEIR news feed
-That person can still private message you
WARNING: If you “unfriend” someone they can still contact you!

When you “block” someone on Facebook:
-You are inhibiting any contact on Facebook
-No Facebook News Feed updates (you don’t see theirs and they don’t see yours)
-No private messages
-They cannot search for you and you cannot search for them

When interacting in online platform such as Facebook you need to create boundaries. Boundaries may change over time, but having the know how to make changes and feel comfortable within Facebook is critical to your happiness and well-being.

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Molly K | No comments

18 Oct 2012

Blogging • Facebook • Social Media • Tips • Twitter • Work

Valuable social media business tips (from my desk to yours)

In my experience, social media professionals come in three forms. You either (please self-identify):

a) Work at an agency managing multiple social media clients with various channels for each client
b) Work in-house at a company/organization or campaign focusing heavily on one brand across all channels
c) Work as a communications/public relations professional and social media is now a part of your jam

Regardless of what kind of social media professional you are – you are busy! Take a look at these social media business tips to get you organized.

socialmediacanadastickman via www.socialmedia-canada.com

Our field can be misleading as the platforms we use are free, and used by almost everyone we know. It is important to remember that your time (my time) is not free. You have a lot to say but you also have lots to do.

Social media professionals want to share their knowledge, thoughts, best practices and tools but sometimes we get so busy doing them for others that we don’t have time to blog, post, pin, tweet for ourselves.

So, how do you get organized? Here are some tips that have helped me.

Use timers in the work place
I don’t care if you use your iPhone, your Outlook calendar or the second hand on your wrist watch – make the most of your time by giving yourself limits. Want to blog? Great – you’ve got the next 30 minutes to focus solely on your blog. Want to pin for a brand? Wonderful – limit yourself to the next 20 minutes to cruise Pinterest for great, shareable idea.

Social media is social and therefore can be distracting. Limit distractions by sticking to a timer and remember you can always go back or continue if you are on a roll.

Editorial Calendars
My friends, if you are not using calendars to plan and implement your social media strategy – HAULT! Calendars are your friend and are not just for organizing social, after work activities (but they are great for that too). I encourage clients to print out an actual paper calendar and use it as a blueprint for all social media content. Use pencil, nothing is set in stone.

Want to do three Facebook and Twitter posts a week with one blog and multiple questions and answers posts? Great idea – map it out on a calendar. Like the idea of a Monday question or Thursday trivia bit? Get it on your calendar. What events, deadlines, photos, videos, do you want to share? Get them on a calendar before you do anything.

Good social media content doesn’t just come on a whim – it’s planned.

Content Management tools
If you don’t do anything else after reading this blog except sign up for a content management tool, I will be happy. Here you are setting timers, using a calendar to schedule your content but you aren’t using a link shortener to track your posts? Preposterous!

Seriously though, using a content management tool like Bitly, TweetDeck or HootSuite (check out my colleague Emily Owens’ HootSuite blog here) to track all links you put out into the world helps you see what content your audience is reading and NOT reading.

Through these platforms you can track the most clicked on posts (ROI potential here), schedule posts for when you are not in front of your computer (weekends!), easily displays Mentions, Home Feed, Sent Tweets and Direct Messages on one screen and allows you to manage multiple social media avatars at once.

Whether or not you are a social media professional, you owe it to yourself and your clients to maximize your time online and timers, calendars and content management systems are a great place to start.

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Molly K | One comment

11 Oct 2012

Facebook • Inspiration • ShowPony • Social Media • Tips • Work

Organic Growth: 6-Steps to get more Facebook page likes

FYI: Organic Growth: 6-Steps to get more Facebook page likes was originally posted on the ShowPony blog. Be sure to LIKE us on Facebook and FOLLOW us on Twitter.

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me for easy, quick tips on how to build their Facebook page audience, I would be a very rich woman. Listen up folks! Generating buzz is not rocket science, but it is a skill.

A good Facebook page should be about generating GREAT CONTENT first and generating LIKES second. Here at ShowPony, we use a “party” analogy frequently. You want to make sure your house is clean, presentable and in order before you invite guests over. Same goes for social media channels– don’t invite folks to your page until you have a solid stream of content, blog posts, photos, etc. When new potential LIKES (people) come to your page, you want it to be warm, inviting and on brand.

STEP ONE: Ask yourself –“Is my Facebook page ready for a party?”
Many of us get stuck thinking that there is only one way to grow a Facebook audience – through Facebook ads. While targeted ads with great messaging, imagery and demographics are a sure fire way to make an impact, don’t pull out your wallet just yet. There are no quick fixes when trying to grow a Facebook audience. I encourage you to have the mindset of quality over quantity. Keep the following in mind: “Start small. Earn trust.”

STEP TWO: Ask your personal network to LIKE the page.
This might seem like a no brainer, but one of the initial steps in growing an audience is making a plea to your trusted network. Tap the audience you already have connections to.

The ShowPony social media team (go us!) is using Organic Growth Tactics to grow our Facebook audience. This push for 200 LIKES on Facebook help us not only reach our goal - we surpassed it by more than 50 LIKES.

STEP THREE: SHARE the page with your personal network
Follow the simple inforgraphic below to SHARE your page (or the page you are wishing to promote) with your personal network. This simple tactic gets a link to the page in front of your peeps in a simple Facebook post format.

STEP FOUR: Ask professional work colleagues, coworkers and trusted community partners to LIKE and SHARE the page
Here’s where it gets more complicated. Once you’ve presented the page to your networks, ask others to do the same – teamwork! Reach out to your professional colleagues and see if they will vouch for your page. Remember, with organic growth tactics the key is to leave no stone unturned.

To make this step easier on your colleagues I recommend drafting a post for them to make the barrier to entry for that party minimal. “Facebook Friends! Please check out (insert Facebook page you are trying to grow).”

STEP FIVE: Tag other companies in messages to share the love
I always tell my clients, the best way to get people to step up for you is if you step up for them first. I make clients create a short list of Facebook pages that they would want a “@mention” from and then we go about giving those targeted pages some Facebook love. I suggest starting with 2-3 Facebook pages, preferably of trusted Facebook partners. Again, make sure you LIKE the page you want to @mention on Facebook first and then post something that includes them for your whole audience to see.

“The @ShowPony team would like to give some Facebook love to @__________ for their support. We’re lucky to have great business partners!”

Have you ever used a @mention on a Facebook page? There’s no time like the present! Make sure to LIKE the page you want to mention first, then follow this great infographic.

STEP SIX: Start a grassroots @Mention campaign
Once you’ve given love to other pages via @mentions on your page, now is the time to ask for a favor in return. All a “@Mention” campaign is is having your Facebook partners do a post on Facebook that mentions your Facebook page/brand in a positive light – hopefully including a call to action of either to LIKE or SHARE your page.

As I see it there is no exact formula for organically growing reach, but these methods do help. Read, learn, apply and then repeat – try these Organic Growth Tactics for your page. Some will work, some won’t. Test them, try them and eventually if need be, pull out your wallet and start a targeted Facebook Ad campaign (…a blog with tips on THAT will be coming soon!)
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Bonus! Two more things to keep in mind:

Set goals: The ShowPony team is actively setting goals for our social media growth. Right now, we are letting our audience know that we are trying to reach 200 likes by Monday, October 1^st. By making it public we are holding ourselves to a standard and there is a sense of urgency for our followers to help us.

Track numbers: You won’t know what is and what isn’t working with an Organic Growth campaign unless you keep careful track of your LIKES. Be sure to take a daily audit of LIKES and SHARES and compare them to what tactic you are using. You might be surprised which step works best for you!

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Molly K | No comments

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