YFrog December 16, 2009

If you are an avid Twitterer, you probably have been know to post photos sometimes.

I use Seesmic for my Twitter client, and it allows me to post photos simply. It will also connect to my webcam, so I can take photos and upload them through that.

But if you are not using this kind of a service, you are probably using something like TwitPic to upload photos to Twitter. Well, there’s a new Twitter-photo-sharing-kid-on-the-block, and his/her name is YFrog.

Here are some of the great things about YFrog:

1. The user interface is really easy, and it doesn’t require you to have an additional account. You simply use your already existing Twitter account.

2. It allows you to upload photos and video (which we all know is where it’s going!)

3. You can use YFrog to take a webcam photo, a 5-second-delayed webcam photo, or a video, and then immediately upload it. It will also post photos from a URL, like your Photobucket or Flikr account.

4. YFrog acts as an archive. In the same way that someone can look at your twitter stream and read your older tweets, people can look at your YFrog photo stream and see your older posted photos and videos.

5. They have developed clients for BlackBerry and IPhone. I have a BlackBerry, and use a service called TwitterBerry to tweet from it. However, the TwitPic option doesn’t work, because the camera is a 3.2 megapixel, and for whatever reason, TwitPic does not shrink down the image. So it takes too long to upload to the web. I am looking forward to testing the YFrog client for my BlackBerry.

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What are people saying about you? December 11, 2009

I just turned 40. I’m told that one of the best things about being 40 is that you stop caring about what other people think about you, and making decisions based on that. While that might be true for my personal life, it might not be good advice for your business.

One of the major resistances that I hear from people who are afraid to jump into social media is that they are afraid that they won’t be able to control their message, or brand. “People will talk about us,” they say, “and they might say things that are not in line with our company’s corporate message.” And they’re right. But the truth of the matter is, people are going to be talking about you, whether you give them the tools to do so or not.

I often will tweet about excellent customer service, or lack thereof. A couple months back, I went to buy a futon. I drove half-way across town to a futon shop, only to find it closed, even though I was there during the time that they were supposed to be open. What was the second thing I did after phoning the owner and telling him he just lost my business? I twittered it.

It is imperative that you keep an eye on what people are saying about you. That way, if it’s something negative, you can do damage control. If it’s something positive, you can use that person and their message to help spread the word.

Here are a couple of ways for you to monitor the airwaves:

Set up a Google Alert: go to http://www.google.ca/alerts. Create alerts for yourself for your name and the name of your business. Every time your name comes up, you will receive an email from Google.

Twitter Alerts: Go to search.twitter.com, and type in your name. It will tell you if anyone is talking about you right now. Do the same for your twitter user name, just in case someone mentioned you without @ing you. This can be time-consuming, so there are a couple of other options. One is monitter, which works like a Google Alert, only for Twitter. If you are using a Twitter platform like TweetDeck or Seesmic, create a column that continuously searches for your name.

Blog links: If you have a WordPress Blog, WordPress automatically monitors any incoming links. If anyone links to one of your posts, it will show up as a pingback in the “incoming links” section. When someone quotes or references me, I’ll often go and drop a comment thanking them in that blog post.

WordPress Ping

There is one other application to using these monitoring tools. If you’ve been doing keyword research on your blog or business (ie: you know what the top keywords are that people use when doing a Google search to find you), you can set up monitors for those key words. Then, let’s say someone posts a question to Twitter: “Thinking about buying X. Anyone know of a good one?” If you are in the business of selling X, and you receive an alert, you can immediately suggest yours.

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Arts Reach: Are you Ready for the Wave of Change? (guest post) November 9, 2009

A couple of weeks back, when I heard that Kristi Fuoco was going to Arts Reach in LA, I was insanely jealous. I immediately emailed her and asked her if she could take some notes and share some of her learning with us. She kindly agreed to do so.

So, without further ado, here’s Kristi…

From October 8^th to 10^th I attended Arts Reach (http://www.artsreach.com/conference.html), an annual National Arts Marketing and Fundraising conference that was held in Los Angeles this year. The theme of the conference was appropriately, Are you Ready for the Wave of Change? The first day of the conference was dedicated to Internet Marketing and I couldn’t wait to fill my mind with endless new ideas for social media marketing. The sessions on email marketing and websites were great, and inspired me to make sure that our website and our emails are relevant, interesting, engaging and capture the experience of what it is we’re trying to do whether we are a concert hall, theatre or dance troupe or a museum.

 

The social media session, “Fans, Friends and Followers: Facebook & Social Media”, was more basic than I’d hoped, but did bring up some ideas from other arts organizations in the US who are using social media in innovative ways.

 

Here are some of the most creative examples that I want to share:

 

The National Symphony Orchestra (http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/) experimented with tweeting programme notes during the Beethoven Pastoral Symphony. The notes were written in advance by the conductor and then sent out throughout the concert at the appropriate moments and included interesting, sometimes funny bits of information about the composition, composer and any other random facts. Apparently they had a certain section on the lawn designated for those interested in receiving the tweets, so that they wouldn’t distract the other non-tweeting audience members. Here is an article discussing how it went from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073100006.html)

 

Another phenomenon is the use of IPhone applications by arts organizations. They used the example of the LA Philharmonic (http://www.laphil.com/) and their new sensation, the Venezuelan 28-year-old conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. I was lucky enough to see one of his opening concerts with LA Phil that weekend, and with this new IPhone app you can actually conduct along with Dudamel and as you wave your arm in the air the music plays. They’ve launched an entire microsite (http://www.laphil.com/gustavo/bravo.html) in honour of Dudamel that allows you to download the IPhone app, play a Gustavo game where you can match your conducting skills with his, watch videos of him, listen to his music, and much more. It’s a whole new level of experience, and of feeling connected to a conductor. Is this the way of the future for orchestras? Can other arts organizations use these tools in similar ways?

 

The third example was the Brooklyn Museum (http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/), one of the first “socially networked” museums, who now have an IPhone app that allows you to visit the museum virtually, and to learn about different works as you move through the museum as well. Here are some interesting blog posts about it: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/bloggers/2009/05/31/brooklyn-museum-api-the-iphone-app-released-on-itunes/

The general trend from this session was for arts organizations to see social media for what it is: SOCIAL. We are moving back to connecting with people one on one, and arts organizations need to use their creativity and resources in order to keep up with this new way of connecting.

Kristi Fuoco currently works at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia as the Marketing and Communications Assistant Coordinator. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Mt. Allison University and a Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology from UBC. She is a lover and supporter of arts and culture and a social media enthusiast. You can find her on twitter @kristifuoco

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Twitter Lists November 6, 2009

As you probably now know, Twitter recently launched a list function. And, oh the brou-ha-ha in the blogosphere! Some people love it. Some people hate it. Whether you love it or hate it, I think it could be a useful tool.

I never actually use the Twitter interface. I use a tool called Seesmic Desktop for my Twitter interface, and I do so for a couple of reasons. First,  I am able to group all the people I follow into categories: “friends”, “theatre tweeps”, “business”, “media”. This way, I can see at a glance if the people that I follow whom I deem to be most important have said anything interesting. Secondly, it allows me to manage several twitter accounts at once.

The functionality of Twitter lists is similar to what I use Seesmic for. You can now create lists out of people that you follow, grouping them into categories. Here’s the caveat: you own the list, so only you can add/remove from it. Similarly, if you find someone who has a list you are interested in, you can follow it. This does not mean that every single person on the list will be added individually to the people you follow. Rather, you click on the “Lists you follow” tab, then click on the specific list. All the latest tweets of those people will be displayed.

What’s great about this feature is that it makes it easier to find people on Twitter. Not just people, but people with whom you have something in common. What’s not great about it is that it’s starting to make people feel like they are back in high school again, and feelings may be hurt if you unwittingly (or wittingly!) exclude someone from your list.

Here are some links to some more information about Twitter Lists. Check them out and decide for yourself.
Miss 604’s tutorial
Mashable’s Twitter List FAQ
Listorious ranks the top Twitter Lists
Twit Tip: 8 things to consider before using Twitter Lists

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I’m on a Teleclass! July 24, 2009

This week, I did an interview with Jason Drohn, who is an online small business coach. We met through Twitter, and he is an avid blogger. He does a series of teleclasses, and my interview with him is  one of them.

Our conversation includes the topics:

• How organizations who rely on promoting their through the newspaper should be marketing in new media.
• The secret of promoting video through social media
• How and why you should be engaging customers through all sorts of mediums – audio, video, text
• How to sell 1-to-1 through social media
• How to create ambassadors for your business
• How your blog should integrate with your social media stream
• The strategy behind developing a plan for social networking
• What you shouldn’t do to promote your business with social media
• What the true cost of social networking is
• What you need to be careful about concerning brand management
• The truth on what Twitter marketing is actually about
• How to find clients and business through Twitter
• How to cross promote everything – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.

And more!

Click here to listen to the MP3.

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Theatre Tweeple II July 17, 2009

In February, I put up a post of Theatre people that I follow. That was a few months ago, and I’ve acquired a few since then. In honour of #FollowFriday, here they are (in geographic order):

BRITISH COLUMBIA

@CTibbs: Camilla Tibbs, Vancouver

@AtomicVille: Atomic Vaudville Theatre Company, Victoria

@TUTSstanleypark: Theatre Under The Stars, Vancouver

@VancouverOpera: Vancouver Opera, Vancouver

@VanMusicals: An aggragator of musicals in Vancouver

@VanFitz: Michael Fitzpatrick, a theatre admin-type in Vancouver

@foyee: Artistic Associate at Theatre Conspiracy

@playenthusiast: Sally Bent, Vancouver

@solocollective: Solo Collective, Vancouver

@ashleywhillans: Ashley Whillans, actor, Vancouver

@Miss00V: Veronica Campbell, actor, Vancouver

@PraxisTheatre: Praxis Theatre, Vancouver

@Karess: Kaare Long, Administrator, Vancouver

@tentativeequinox: Vancouver

@lacovee: Janis La Covee, Theatre Patron, Victoria

@NicoleMcLuckie: Nicole McLuckie, Publicist, Arts Club Theatre, VAncouver

@powellstfest: Powell St Festival, Vancouver, BC

@Blue_Bridge: Blue Bridge Theatre, Victoria

@DreamRiderTheatre: Port Moody, BC

@TheArtsClub: The Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver

@ShiftArts: Shift Arts: performance art, Port Moody

@RentInVancouver: Rent, Fighting Chance Productions, Vancouver

@thezoocrew: Itsazoo Productions, Vancouver/Victoria

@GillianRFTH: Gillian Lockitch, Theatre blogger/reviewer, VAncouver

@THTReplacement: Theatre Replacement, Vancouver

@TheWriterlyLIfe: Andrea Warner, theatre reviewer/blogger, Vancouver

@NewWorldTheatre: New World Theatre, Vancouver

@ChanCentre: The Chan Centre, Vancouver

@BizBooks: Biz Books, Vancouver’s only theatre/film bookstore

@Audrey_Bee: Adriana Bucz, theatre admin, Vancouver

@vancouverfringe: The Vancouver Fringe festival

@broadus: Broadus, actor, Vancouver

@EmilyKindred: Emily Kindred, Vancouver

@Ryaninvancouver: Ryan Mooney, AD, Fighting Chance Productions, Vancouver

@RandiAndreychuk: Randi Andreychuck, Actor, Vancouver

@theatre_20, Sabrina Evertt, Twenty-something Theatre, Vancouver

@kennedyg: Kennedy Goodkey, actor, producer, Vancouver

@getrealtheatre: Get Real Theatre, Tswassen

CANADA

@CanadasNAC: The National Arts Centre in Ottawa

@sterlinglynch: Actor/writer, Ottawa

@YvetteDudley: Yvette Dudley Newman, Actor

@ottawafringe: The Ottawa Fringe Festival

@nestruck: Kelly Nestruck, Theatre reviewer, The Globe and Mail, Toronto

@canstageco: The Castage Company, Ottawa

US

@Theatresmart: Ann Sachs, NYC Theatre designer

@the_ahtist: Katherine Mills, South, Actor.

@TheNOLAProject: The NOLA Project, New Orleans

@BairdWilliamson: Baird Williamson, producer

@fishbowlmuse: Chloe Whitehorn, Actor

@KrisVire: Kris Vire, theatre editor, Time Out Chicago

@RyanNewYork: Ryan Davis, Musical director, NYC

@cindyoconnor: Cindy O’Connor, Actor, LA

@Gfiremark: Gordon Firemark, Theatre Producer, LA

@geoffshort: Geoff Short, Actor/Producer, Cleveland, OH

@TheatreStory

@sdrosenb: Scott Rosenblum, Theatre Producer, NYC

@ActorsandCrew: employment in theatre

@bilald: Bilal Dardai, Actor, NYC

@hidtal: HIdden Talent Theatre, Chicago

@DanielKuney: Daniel Kuney, GM, NYC

@TuttoTheatre: Tutto Theatre, Austin, TX

@CambiareProd: Cambiare Productions, Austin, TX

@thedavidbeach: David Beach, Actor, LA

@chriscasquilho: Depot Theatre, NY

@willactforfood: Will Act for Food, Chicago

@jodisc: Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, Producer, Westport, CT

@columbiajames: James Sims, Theatre writer, NYC

@dloehr: David Loehr, Riverrun Theatre Co

@happierman: Jeffery Cranor, Actor, Brooklyn

@NYneofuturists: NY Neofuturists, NYC

@fullcircletheat: Full Circle Theatre, NYC

@ivanvega: Ivan Vega, actor, Chicago

@millar: Millar, Actor

@starstrucklynna: Lynna, actor, Massachusetts

@aboutfacechi: About Face Theatre, Chicago

@floggingkatie: Katie Barry, NY

@AtlanticTheater: Atlantic Theater Co, NY

@eclipsetheatre: Eclipse Theatre Co, Chicago

@gglasstheatre: Lookingglass THeatre, Chicago

@halcyontony: Tony Adams, AD, Halcyon Theatre, Chicago

INTERNATIONAL

@pinteresque: Billy Hiscoke, SM out of London

@jordanmechano: Jordan Mechano, Actor, Tehran

@TMTPlayers: The Melbourn Town Players, Australia

@royalcourt: Royal Court Theatre, London

@bs10064: Brian Swann, actor, Belfast

@findo: Andrew Findo, Baritone, London

@musicthetresth: Music Theatre South, South of England

Please report errors and omissions in the comments section below! (apologies to you in advance if I forgot you!)

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Social Media updates July 6, 2009

Three new things have happened in the last couple of weeks that make life just a little bit easier for those of us that love and use social media.

Flickr to Twitter

Twitterberry doesn’t work for photos on my Blackberry, because it takes too long to upload the photos, which are too big (I could change my camera settings to a lower DPI, but I don’t want to), so what I do is upload the photo to Flickr, then copy the address, then paste it into Twitter. A long and circuitous route to get a photo on Twitter “instantly”.

Now, Flickr has integrated the ability to Twitter directly from Flickr. You upload your photos to Flickr, then click on the photo you want to Tweet. Click on the “blog this” button, and, after the first time where you have to authorize it and set it up, it will post your photos directly to Twitter. I even have my own email address, now, where, if I take a photo on my mobile phone, I can email it directly to  Flickr. A handy little app for those that like to use Flickr.

Read about it on Mashable.

Vanity URLs for Fan Pages on Facebook:

A few weeks back, Facebook allowed us to create vanity URLs for our personal profiles (ie: www.facebook.com/rebeccacoleman instead of the gobbledy-gook 400-character one before). Now, you can also create vanity URLs for your fan pages.

For me, this is just one more reason why I am now encouraging folks to create fan pages for thier business, instead of a group. You need to have more than 25 fans to get your shortened URL, however, so get cracking! To get your vanity URL for your personal profile or your fan page, go to: http://www.facebook.com/username/

UPDATE: JULY 8

Facebook just added another reason to like Fan pages. You can now create a widget for your website or blog that promotes your Facebook Fan page. All you do is click on the “Add Fan box to your site” link in the menu directly beneath your icon/avatar on your Facebook fan page, and it will take you through the steps to create a widget for your page.

Have a great week! Hope these tips make your ability to use social media to promote your business just a wee bit easier!

Please don’t Twitter like this June 29, 2009

I’m a nice person. My friends all think so. My sweetie tells me so on practically a daily basis.

So, just to warn you, this blog post is uncharacteristically, well, mean.

Please understand that my heart’s in the right place. I’m not writing this to be mean. I’m writing it so that you can learn from other people’s mistakes (and maybe just a little bit to vent).

As part of my Twitter routine, once a week or so, I go through all the email notifications I have gotten that week letting me know about all my new followers. I go through each one individually, and check them out, to decide if I’m going to follow them back, or not. I have pretty set criteria for who I’ll follow, and who I won’t.

Last week, while going through my new Twitter followers, I found one that had done so many things wrong, I just had to share. (personal details have blurred to protect the innocent).

Let’s start with what they’ve done right, because it’s not all bad:

• Personalized background
• Website URL, bio and avatar

The not-so-good:

• Every single tweet is in all caps (in case you were not aware, all caps on the ‘net is the equivalent of shouting in real life)
• Follower-to-followee ratio: They are following significantly more people than are following them. Not usually a great sign, because anyone can follow a great deal of people in a short amount of time, but you have to prove some worth to get people to follow you.
• They recycle the same 4 Tweets. I’m not even going to say why that’s bad.
• There are no personal Tweets. Everything is business. Now, I get that they are a business, and it’s their primary aim to get business in through the door, and that’s all okay. But people are interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes–maybe something is going on with one of the bartenders, the band–things that are a bit more personal in nature.
• Geographical location: I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. They are located in Ohio. Why are they following me? If I was traveling to Ohio, and wanted to go to a bar, I’d be looking for them. But otherwise, why? I’m not their market.

One last please don’t do this/rant: if I follow you, I don’t mind if you send me an auto response with your website. But please don’t send me an auto response with your website trying to sell me something. I hardly know you. Let’s get to know each other a little before you try to sell me something.

K.Thx.Bye!

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8 Types of Tweets June 19, 2009

Today, a third sample from my  e-book:

The eight types of Tweets

• Personal: this is where you answer the question “what am I doing right now?” These types of tweets are important, because they help your followers to get to know the ‘real’ you.

• Link tweets (direct business): Because space is limited to 140 characters, many people use Twitter to drive traffic to websites or blogs. Every time I publish a blog post, I drop the URL with a teaser into Twitter. 47% of the traffic to my blog comes from Twitter in that way. Note that, because you only have 140 characters, you need to use a link-shortening program for your links. These are readily available at sites like www.tinyurl.com or www.snipurl.com.

• Link tweets (tangential business): I also post links to interesting websites or blog posts (usually from blogs I subscribe to through Google Reader) that I think people who follow me might be interested in (because I was!). Some of these blogs may also link back to my own blog.

• Link tweets (fun): This is the latest silly YouTube video, etc.

• Re-Tweets: ReTweeting is great because each time something is re-tweeted, it reaches a different audience. In the world of Twitter, the retweet is the highest form of compliment.

• @Replies and Conversations: There is some controversy on Twitter about how conversations seem to be taking over, but I still do it all the time. This allows you to respond to something someone has said in their tweet, and begin a relationship with them.

• Help! or Ask Tweets: Asking people for help from a good restaurant for lunch to technical questions to questions about your product or service is a great way to create relationships.

• Photo Tweets: use http://www.twitpic.com to upload and share photos directly to Twitter.

The book contains one more (a bonus 9th!) and suggestions about what percentages to tweet each category.

Click to buy my e-book: Getting Started with Social Networking for Artists and Arts Organizations.

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Twittering from the Dragon’s Den June 3, 2009

I make no bones about it: I love The Dragon’s Den. Ever since my small business instructor/mentor, Scott Armstrong, introduced me to it a couple years back, I have faithfully watched this CBC show, “where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how make it happen.”

I was thrilled when my friend, Laurel Bailey, got flown to Toronto last year to pitch her Naked Soapworks business expansion plan to the Dragons (her pitch, sadly, didn’t make the final cut, but her business is doing well).

Last year, I wrote a blog post about the show, and at that time, none of the Dragons were on Twitter. Now, most of them are, and today, they tape the last day of the fourth season of the show. It has been lots of fun (and a sneak preview!) to read the tweets coming out of the Den.

@cbcdragon (the show)
@DianeBuckner (the host)
@WBrettWilson (the newest Dragon, Calgarian Wilson made his fortune as an investment banker, and since, has invested in energy, sports, entertainment, and real estate.)
@KevinOLearyTV (Kevin is the sarcastic one, possibly the toughest of all the Dragons. He made his millions in high-tech)
@ArleneDickinson (the lone female of the panel, Arlene is my favorite, because she is a woman, and because she made her fortune in marketing. She also really gets Twitter.)

As of yet, Robert Herjavec and Jim Treliving don’t seem to have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Season 4 is set to air early fall, and Season 3 repeats on CBC starting June 17.

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