Klout is one of those polarizing forces on the Internet.  Some people swear by it -others think it is a joke.  If you are unfamiliar with Klout, it is basically a website that tracks your social media interactions and calculates a score showing how “influential” you are.  The exact formula they use is about as secret as Google’s ranking algorithms.  In other words- who know!???

Any Benefits?

When I started with Klout, I saw two potential benefits.  One was a way to benchmark my social media efforts.  Even though I don’t understand WHY my score goes up and down, it is an interesting way to track your overall progress.  After all, if your Klout score is going up, you are interacting with more and more people online and doing a better job of getting your message out there.  For as little time as it takes, I think it is worth monitoring your Klout score.  The key is to just not get obsessed with raising your score.  Just monitor it like you do anything else.

Perks?

The other interesting potential benefit for me was Klout Perks.  The concept is that your Klout score qualifies you to participate in various perks – which range from access to events or free products.

To be honest, I always considered the Perks part to be kind of a scam.  Most of the “perks” were things that people didn’t really want or else they were in super-limited supply and never available.  I always read the perk alerts, but never really pursued them.  A while back, however, I saw a perk from Sony.  They were touting their new cordless Walkman and offered me a free one.  I took the time to fill out the perk claim form, but really wasn’t expecting to get anything.

To my surprise, this beauty showed up in the mail last week.  Now this isn’t some crappy, throw-away type of item.  It was a brand new, $70 Walkman.  I was shocked.

The Walkman

For the record, I really like the Walkman.  It is super-easy to load songs and sounds pretty good.  Its weird not having to deal with a cord dangling from your neck, but once you get used to it- you will never want to go back.  If you like to run or workout at the gym, this thing is awesome.

Back To Klout

Sorry… I digress….

So the long and the short of it is – Klout just might be worth your time.  I can’t guarantee your mailbox will be filled with cool electronic gadgets, but you will at least have some way of charting your social media growth.

What about you?

Do you use Klout?  What has your experience been?  Any cool perks???

I’ll be honest- when I first heard about GooglePlus, I wasn’t that excited.  I already had plenty of social media outlets to occupy my time and effort.   Did I really need another?  Wasn’t this just Google’s version of Facebook?  My enthusiasm was further reduced by the fact that you had to be invited to even use the service at first.  Seemed like a lot of hoops to jump through for something I already have with Facebook.

For some reason- and I can’t tell you why- I decided to give it a try.  Maybe I was just bored that day or had become frustrated with one of Facebook’s famous updates.  I setup an account, filled out some profile info and sat back to enjoy the show.  Unfortunately, nothing happened.  I found a few friends who had Google+ accounts and followed a few other interesting folks, but that was about it.  I logged out and didn’t return for months.

Let’s Try Again!

Recently, I decided to give it another chance.  I had read a few blog posts by people who were truly sold on the concept and seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I got back online, gave my profile page a complete overhaul and started interacting with people.  What a difference this time around!  Basically, Google+ is Facebook without the pictures of people’s grandkids and Mafia Wars requests.

The Basics

One of the key elements of G+ is “Circles” which are kind of like “Friends” in Facebook.  Basically you can have a bunch of circles and use them to sort your contacts.  You can have family in one, friends in one, coworkers in one, etc.  Then when you post something, you decide if it is viewable to the Public (where everyone can see it) or only to certain circles.  This is great for people who want to send out the occasional item they don’t want business associates to see.  (You know who you are)

The first step for me was to setup a circle for photographers, then I did a search for #Photography.  I browsed through tons of great images and when I saw something that caught my eye, I added that photographer to my photographer circle.  It has developed into a really great place to browse through other people’s images and get ideas or inspiration.  You can do the same thing with everything from cars to computers to sports.  Whatever your interests are, you can find others who are the same way on Google+.

For The Photographer

I think it is really a no-brainer for the modern photographer.  In addition to networking with other photogs all over the world, it is also a chance for potential clients to see your work.  While Google+ is second fiddle to Facebook right now, it stands to reason that Google won’t give up without a fight.  With Google controlling the biggest search engine, as well as the massively-popular YouTube, it is a safe bet to think that it will only continue to rise in popularity.

Go For It!

Give it a try and see what you think.  I’m not saying spend hours at a time exploring the thing.  That’s a waste of time in ANY area of social media.  Just dedicate 10 minutes a day for a week or two and see what you come across.  I think you will find it to be a great resource for expanding your creative horizons.   Be sure to look me up ( or just click here ) so we can connect on Google+.

Also, feel free to leave YOUR google ID in the comments so other photographers can find you.  We are all in this together!

As a photographer – or any business owner – it is important that you understand how Twitter followers work.  You want to find a way to add quantity, while still maintaining quality.  Otherwise, you are just spinning your wheels.  A strong Twitter following will be a great way to promote your brand, while meeting interesting people in your industry.  It is truly a win-win proposition if you do it correctly.

Why Even Use Twitter?

I used to ask the same question.  Twitter is probably the most misunderstood piece of the social media puzzle.  Most people think of Twitter as a bunch of people texting about what they are buying at the grocery store or how they are caught in traffic.  Sure- it CAN be that – but it can also be a whole lot more.

The Problem With Followers

For Twitter to work properly, you need to have people following you.  Otherwise, you are just talking to yourself.  When I first started out, I made the mistake of trying to get as many followers as possible.  My trials and tribulations are well-documented on my infamous Twitip post from a few years back.  If you have people following you who don’t share your interests – or are only trying to promote themselves – then you are once again wasting your time.  Trust me on this one.

How To Find Quality Twitter Followers

There is only one good method for adding followers:  slowly.  If you are friendly and a good Twitter citizen, you will slowly build a following of people interested in the things you like to talk about.  There are ways to maximize this, however.  By following these simple rules, you will ensure the fastest growth possible and more importantly- the best quality possible.  Sound good?  Here goes…

1.  Fill Out Your Bio – So many people have not filled out their bio screen.  Take some time to craft something interesting and be sure to include keywords that interest you.  If you are a photographer, you obviously want “photographer” and/or “photography” in there somewhere.

2.  Don’t Be An EggHead – I’m always shocked at how many photographers (including photo enthusiasts) who still have the Twitter “egg” as their profile picture.  Find a picture of you and upload it.  I’m not a big fan of using a picture of your kids or a celebrity – but either of those are better than the egg.  Twitter is all about personal relationships and the egg just isn’t personal.  Please don’t do this – I’m begging you.

3.  Add Twitter Info To Your Email Signature – I started doing this a while back and it really has helped me find more people.  We don’t realize how many emails we send in a typical day- why not stay in contact with those people via Twitter?  If you don’t know how to setup an email signature, ask one of your computer friends or just look for a YouTube tutorial.  Its pretty easy to do.

4.  Keep Your Tweets to “RT Length” – Everyone loves to get re-tweeted, but if you use all 140 characters, it makes it difficult for people to RT you.  You need to leave enough room for “RT @username”.  In my case, it would be as follows:  RT @larryphoto – 14 characters.  140-14 = 126.   Therefore, I should try to keep my tweets under 126 characters.  I know, I know…. 140 is tough enough.

5.  ReTweet Others – While we are on the subject of retweeting – make sure you retweet other people.  If YOU love getting things retweeted, it is safe to assume others like it as well.  When you see something funny or interesting, pass it along to your own followers.  If it is good stuff, your followers will be happy and the original poster will be happy.  Its win-win.

6.  Don’t Flood People – Its important to keep a balance on Twitter.  You need to be active, but nobody likes getting flooded with messages.  I don’t have any limit or formula for you here – there is no right or wrong.  Just be aware of it.  Don’t be the guy with no filter…

7.  Curate Content – Always be on the lookout for interesting things on the web.  When you find them, pass them along to your followers.  The easiest way to do this is with a Twitter utility like Buffer.   Honestly, I would never survive without Buffer.  Basically it adds a little icon to your browser and when you find something you like, you just add it to the buffer.  The software schedules your tweets and sends them out at optimal times and intervals.  You just find the info and let Buffer decide how to distribute it.  I can’t stress how much time this saves.  Get signed up now while it is still FREE!

8. Don’t Use Auto-DM – Basically, you can set up your account to automatically send a DM to anyone who follows you.  I certainly understand the theory, but it is just so impersonal.  Everyone knows that it is an automatically generated message, so many view it as spam.  This isn’t a make-or-break rule- just giving you my 2 cents…

9.  Don’t Use TrueTwit Validation – or any other validation service.  The concept is to keep your Twitter stream clean by forcing people to jump through a hoop if they want to follow you.  Validation services don’t stop spammers-just people too busy to bother, which are normally the ones you want to know.  Personally, I’m always really insulted when I try to follow someone, then get a message saying that I have to go through a validation process first.  Its just an unneeded step.  I can tell you this for sure… if you use TrueTwit, I won’t be following you.

10.  Leave A Comment Here – Yep- that’s an easy one.  Leave your Twitter handle in a comment below – along with a Hello and a few words about how much you love my blog – and I will follow you.  Hopefully others will too!  How easy is that?

With the huge popularity of Twitter and Facebook, poor LinkedIn has kind of fallen to the wayside.  The question is… are you making a big mistake my not including LinkedIn in your social medial strategy?

Last week, I wrote a post comparing Google Plus and Facebook.  Facebook is the king of the mountain, but Google is gaining ground.  Last time I checked, Facebook had over 750 million users.  Think about that for a second.  There are only 312 million people in the entire U.S.  If Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world!   Everyone is on Facebook, but not too many are on LinkedIn – so why bother?

The biggest reason is the audience.  LinkedIn has a very different audience than Facebook.   Facebook is much more personal.  First day of school pictures, birthday announcements, divorce updates – whatever.  LinkedIn is more geared towards businesses.  You won’t find too many people playing Farmville on LinkedIn.   With over 100 million users, that makes LinkedIn a pretty big group of potential contacts for your business – so why not add them to your marketing efforts.  With programs like Tweetdeck, you can update Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all at the same time – so it is really zero extra effort.

Take the photography business as an example.  If your clients are stay at home moms with small children, Facebook is obviously the place to be.  That is where you will find them in droves.  However, what if you want to promote business headshots?  You would be better served trying to reach those types of clients via LinkedIn.

There is no perfect social media platform – they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.  The great part is – you don’t have to choose.  Incorporate all of them and then track the results.  You might be surprised how many people locate you through the other channels.  Like I said before, it is only a minimal amount of extra effort – so why not?

Has LinkedIn worked for you?  Let me know what you think!

You’ve written the perfect blog post… now what?

You publish it to your blog, cross your fingers and sit back to wait for the traffic to roll in, right?  The problem is- where do you get all the traffic?  I asked some of the best in the business to give me a few of their secrets of publicizing a blog post.  Basically, after they publish a post – what do they do next to promote it?  Here is what I came up with…

1.  FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

According to Marian Schembari (Marian’s Blog) she will post to her Facebook profile and tweet to her Twitter followers.  However, she depends a lot on subscribers, “My readers come from their subscription. Building up those subscribers involved a lot of guest posting on other blogs and lots and lots of commenting.”

2.  PING!

Ana Hoffman has an incredible blog and did an article on blog promotion a while back (check out Ana’s blog post).  The first technique she mentions is to ping your post.  Pinging is basically notifying different services that you have posted new content.  On many blogs, this is done automatically, but Ana likes to do a manual ping as well.  She writes, “The more services know about your content, the better!  I usually use Pingomatic.com, Pingler.net, and sometimes Pingoat.net – although the last one annoys me quite a bit, so it’s not my favorite.”

3.  IM AUTOMATOR

Ana also recommends using IMAutomator – a free bookmarking service.  I use this one myself and it is very easy to use.

4.  TIMING

According to Trevor Current of Current Photographer, timing is everything!  “I always try to schedule new posts to go live between the hours of 9:00 – 10:00 am EDT. The reason is that seems to be the best time to catch people during the week day. The busy New York crowd is already up and at work checking email, RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook.”

But he doesn’t stop there…

“To go along with the post release, I also send out tweets to the articles to help drive that morning traffic. I follow up posting the first article that went live to Facebook and then a little later with the next and so on. The Twitter stream moves so fast you can get away with multiple posts closer together but Facebook is a different story. Most Facebook users don’t follow enough friends and pages for the stream to move quickly so your posts will stay visible for a much longer time. To many Facebook posts to close together is a good way to lose fans.

I usually ReTweet the days articles 1 or 2 more times during the day, usually at 1:00 pm and 4:30 pm. These seem to be good times to reach the lunch crowds and those wrapping up their day.”

5.  RETWEET OLD ARTICLES

While you are promoting your new post, why not take a second to promote an older post?  After all, one day this new post will be an old post – so show it some love!
Trevor explains it like this, “I try to keep the popular “evergreen” articles alive by ReTweeting them on an ongoing basis but not to close to their original release date. We’re getting new Twitter followers all the time and there are many followers who may not have seen them the first time around. ReTweeting them brings in a whole new audience to enjoy the content.”

6.  COMMENT ON A FEW BLOGS

An oldie but a goodie.  Take a few minutes to visit a few blogs and leave a comment or two.  If they are using CommentLuv or similar plugin, your blog title will appear under your name and may catch someone’s attention.  Its also a great way to build relationships with other bloggers.   Look into adding the CommentLuv Plugin to your WP site!

7.  SHARE ON ONLYWIRE and PING.FM

Ok well technically this is #7 and #8 – so you are getting a bonus.  These are both suggestions from Ana.
She adds, “These are 2 more free bookmarking services I use. They both offer quite a few sites to choose from and they are different from each other. I made sure to create as many social profiles as I can, using TrafficGenerationCafe as my ID of course to brand my blog.”  Check them out here:    Onlywire        Ping.FM

Start using some of these powerful online tools and watch your traffic go through the roof!

Did I miss anything?  What is your best post promotion technique?  Leave a comment and let me know what works for you!

It seems hard to believe there is any possibility of someone trying to compete with Facebook.  Google, however, has decided to give it a go.

If you haven’t heard of Google Plus (or Google+) it is basically the company’s attempt at creating a newer, better Facebook.  I wasn’t too interested in another Facebook, but got curious and decided to check it out.  As you can see, the basic page looks a lot like the familiar Facebook page.

The biggest difference comes into play when you start adding friends.  GooglePlus has a system called Circles where you create subgroups of all your contacts.  This was always a tricky part with Facebook.  You had 100 friends, but only 6 or 7 were actually friends.  The rest were co-workers, acquaintances, old high school chums, long-lost family members – and even just strangers that you didn’t want to hurt their feelings.  With G+ you create groups (called Circles) like Friends, Family, whatever you want.  When you add a new person to your network, you decide which groups they belong to and you add them to those Circles.

Now when you post pictures from the party you attended last weekend, you can decide who sees the pictures and who doesn’t.  It brings a little bit of organization to all the chaos – but it also requires a little more work to do all the sorting.  It also connects with other Google features, so if you use things like Google calendar there is supposed to be some advantage.  Honestly, not sure what it is…. but I’m told there is an advantage.

The big downside is that there aren’t as many people on G+ right now.  Everyone has a Facebook account, so it is easy to track down all your best buddies.  At this point, G+ is still invitation only.  It doesn’t take much digging to get an invite.  Just check with all your Twitter pals and one will probably materialize.

The biggest benefit I see is that it will probably force Facebook to get better.  They’ve been without a real competitor ever since they knocked MySpace off the mountain, so there hasn’t been a lot of incentive for them to really make improvements.  With Google knocking at the door, they will have to start trying a little harder.

So have you tried GooglePlus?  How has your experience been so far?  Let me know what you think!