I am constantly asked a question regarding copy and pasting social media posts from one platform to another, and the benefits of running a robot program that simply auto publishes your Facebook updates over a plethora of communities. Seems like it would be the easiest way to control all of the social realms without the hassle of having to go through each one. Well, if this is how you think, then you have yet to grasp the true concept of social media. Social media is an intense undertaking, and it should be ran by at least one full-time employee (someone inside the company that knows it well). It should never involve copy and pasting anything.

When you copy and paste your shouts, tweets, posts, etc. You are not only damaging your reputation (it is viewed as spam), you are also putting strain on your search engine results.

Duplicate content is becoming one of Google’s new pet peeves, and they are working tirelessly to find ways to get rid of the duplicated information that is already strewn haphazardly throughout the web.

The benefits of simply re-writing your sentences (posts) are tremendous. They create keyword rich content for search engines, and they will also drive more user comfort and connection.

I created a simple example of spreading the same information over different networks. As you see all of the content is talking about the same thing, but you end up with a ton of great entries.

You have the information to disseminate, and it’s easy to re-write it. “Keep it organic, keep it original.” The best way to go about a proper social media campaign.

College Majors designed for Social Media
This article will constantly be expanded upon. So if it looks a little different than the last time you read it. It probably is.

English

Being able to communicate effectively with everyone around you is a key part of social media. Back and forth dialogue is fundamental in any networking environment. In order to understand social media you have to understand basic human interaction, and know the importance of communicating on a positive level.

Any sort of client or customer within the confines of a conversation needs to be stimulated, cared for, listened to, and answered politely. In no way should communication over social media ever be hateful, defensive, offensive, or hurtful. This is why being educated in the process of communicating with others is so powerful within the realm of social networking.

English majors not only adopt the skills needed to complete an effective social media campaign, they are also one of the most qualified networking experts when working within literary prominence (basically, the deduction of word-structure/language and its multiple meanings).

English majors (the category of which hardly matters) have an access to language comprehension that allows them insight within the role that communication plays in the realm of social media. It is understanding the basics of communication through the English language that plays the supportive role within any living successful social media campaign.

Just as literary critiques will take apart a set of words to determine what they mean on a deeper level, English majors have the ability to decipher their own tweets, shouts, posts, and comments from others. It is easy to harbour the information collected from social networking sites, but apprehending what it all means, takes patience and practice.

Never underestimate the power of grammar, or the desire of an online audience to get their information from a user who speaks proper English. This is the easiest way to tell if someone is not worth listening to. The tone and spelling can make the same two messages look completely different. This is one of the problems with outsourcing social media to companies who are separated from the actual business, and target audience. Every social media campaign should be ran in-house.

Childish, is the word that usually comes to mind when you find simple spelling errors, even within a 140 character tweet. Small things, like not capitalizing the ‘I’ makes your information look amateur and half-hearted. This brings me to my final point; know the power of drafts and editing before submitting your work on any online network. Remember that what you put online today usually stays online for the rest of eternity. You don’t want to look back and find a mistake that isn’t correctable, and you don’t want to be put in the position of apologizing for something you said. No one understands this better then an English major.

Three reasons why ‘English Majors’ stand out as social media gurus.

1. Perfect grammar, and the ability to determine if a sentence or set of words can be interpreted to be something that could effect the company or service in a negative way.

2. Power to come up with different ways to say the same thing. Social Media is about diversifying your sentences throughout the social web. Staying away from duplicated content is a must.

3. Coherence and audience understanding. It’s important to speak your message as clearly and precisely as possible. This is done by structuring your words to mean exactly what you want your audience to view it as. It is also just as important to be able to recognize incoming messages from outside sources and directly answer them with precision.

Philosophy

When people think of social media, the last thing that usually comes to mind is philosophy. But if you have studied philosophy and have worked on any social network, you will find that ethics and human nature play a giant role in structuring how an efficient and rewarding social media campaign should be ran. Philosophical users place high importance on the value of interaction and addressing fundamental questions with rational answers. Social media needs this systematic approach; research, reporting, and a deeper understanding of the audience one is involved with.

I’ve came to the conclusion that philosophy might be the most important major when it comes to social media, more so than any other major out there (even English/Communications). Social media is a game of ethics and rationality. I know, I know, that is broad and says way too much. But the point I am trying to make is all social media deals with a philosophy of life and building healthy relationships within the confines of communicating through an international language..

“Philosophical users place high importance on the value of interaction and addressing fundamental questions with rational answers. Social media needs this systematic approach; research, reporting, and a deeper understanding of the audience one is involved with.”

Being able to judge the successfulness of any social media activity one produces is done by understanding the feelings and ethical nature of the reactions from each individual user. Then applying this to your future campaigns to drive ‘positive virility’ throughout an internationally based population. Exercising a rationality within every social diversion is the foundation of every proper social campaign.

These lessons need to be constantly built on and fine-tuned. Philosophy majors usually have the easiest time figuring out what they have been doing right, and what they have doing wrong. And the ability come up with acceptable ways to avoid the issue in the future. Compromise is usually the name of the game, and if you can resist the urge to let your emotions get into the way of social networking it always works to everyone’s advantage.

Three reasons ‘Philosophy Majors’ stand out as social media leaders.

1. Systematically approaching each social media task with human ethics and rationality. Studying, recognizing, caring for, achieving, and repeating.

2. Respecting other users and approaching each unique member of an audience in a way that suites their desires the best.

3. Dealing with every social media issue by mending each part of the campaign with the necessary tools to achieve the most symbiotic goal possible.

There is no end to how far social media can be stretched, twisted, and utilized; ones creativity holds the only boundaries.

Every past President has implemented strategies to engulf themselves within media in attempts to connect with the American Public as a whole. Some used newspapers, some used radios, others televisions. And now Presidents have found themselves forced to fully embrace the internet and social web.

You could say the standards of communication have changed, and frankly they have changed dramatically. “What do the American people want, and need?”, should be the most important question any President can attempt to answer. The only way to achieve this sort of symbiotic relationship of understanding within the confines of a large population, is to give everyone the tools necessary to make their voice heard. Social Networks not only build on this, but induce it by giving individuals of communities the power to make sure the right questions are asked, and the right answers are achieved. Radios and televisions are limited with their use and have become less important over the last decade (simply because it’s a one way communication tool).

The newscasters our parents grew up listening to have become less about information, and more about obsolete bias attachments they have grown fond of. We (the people) now each have the opportunity to be our own voice, to live the news, and to be our own newscasters. The social web has given the American people the freedom to believe in themselves, and the freedom and courage to stand up and say what they think is really important. Social networks allow anyone to become a leader; intelligence, ethics, philosophy and uniqueness are gifts we all have waiting to share; to share with the present populace, to share with future generations, to archive ourselves as historical visionaries of the future.

Don’t be afraid to take on the call. Send your local representatives a tweet that represents your aspirations. ‘Friend’ your favorite presidential candidate and tell them how you think they could make America better for everyone.

I’m always asked questions regarding bookmarking sites and how to use them.

So I figured it was time to write up an explanation of what a ‘bookmarking site’ actually is, and how to use them effectively in your own social media campaigns.

First off, what is a bookmarking website?

A bookmarking website is sort of a make-shift directory, dedicated to bringing the best of the internet up front for you to search through. It does this by allowing users to vote on a website/image/video etc. to determine if it is good or bad. The web links that are voted ‘bad’ end up being driven down in the results (and sometimes removed). The web links that are voted ‘good’ are constantly rotated to the top of the list (the causality being an amazing viral tool). This allows an audience to browse what others have found helpful or important, and not have to worry about spam or poorly created garbage. Think of it as an easy way to see the best of what the web has to offer.

How do you use it effectively in your social media campaigns?

There are many different ways to utilize bookmarking websites to generate a positive influence within the social web. One of the most important things to do when beginning a social media campaign within a bookmarking website is to forget about your own website for a while. I know this sounds counter-active when you first hear it, but it’s actually a fundamental ethic within most social networks. Start by creating your own user profile and bookmarking your own favorite websites. Begin discussions in the comment sections with users that have similar interests to you. Find other sites that have already been bookmarked and review them yourself. Search for like-minded users, friend them. Basically have fun.

You can begin bookmarking your own web pages after you have a good idea of what people are looking for. The web pages you submit should be full of great content, it should be entertaining, and it should look clean. You should share what you think will help people. And if you think it will help people, then most other people will too!

The HATCH Fest has once again arrived on the rainy feet of the yellowing Bridgers. Inspiring, creating, engaging and blossoming the relationship between arts and life. An incredible plethora of special guest musicians, writers, filmmakers and more. Main Street might be turning to fall, but downtown Bozeman lights up this week with the energy of a blooming lilac in June.

The city sits back and takes time to host a tradition that has been, and will be with your support, a rejuvenation and an enlightenment of artistry for years to come. Watch as the Ellen Theater shines back to life with performers that could fill stadiums. The Emerson Cultural Center digs in its past years as a school, teaching and entertaining the youth and adults (who might have at one time sat in those old classrooms).

If Bozeman could talk, it would tell us to put more importance in Creativity. It would tell us something that the ‘late and great’ Steve Jobs said “Have the courage to follow your heart, and intuition”. My heart is telling me, we need more events like the HATCH Fest.

Check out the Bozeman HATCH Fest Events!

http://hatchexperience.com/bozeman-schedule/

1. Never use more hashtags then you need to. How many is this, well a good rule of thumb is zero to one per tweet.

5. Don’t think too much, the more personalized the tweet sounds, the better off you are. Speak what you feel, and by all means don’t be afraid to listen.

One of our team members is writing a social media book of philosophy. We managed to get a ‘rough copy’ of part of the Introduction and thought it was great. We talked him into letting us publish this early version, in attempts to help him attract a future audience. Hope you enjoy!

The power of social media is truly starting to emerge, in the near future, most advertising campaigns will be social media related. The ‘greatest generation’ (and baby boomers), some are just starting to create Facebook accounts to connect with old friends, some have Twitter accounts with only one tweet. In a complete generalization I am going to say the majority don’t understand the fundamentals of the Internet, let alone a computer. And this inhibits their ability to grasp the principles of what social media truly is, and how to communicate over it effectively.

In contrary, the Nintendo generation and every generation since, has grown up using computers (forced to learn how to type 100 words a minute by the 10th grade) they are surrounded always by a computer, therefore they have adapted to live with them effectively. The start of the computer pseudo-man has created a new breed of mind, that works quicker, understands tone and rationality of text messages more accurately, and can create meaningful life-long relationships through online contexts which involve no actual physical human interaction.

This is the philosophy of the computer man, born into a world where the written word dies, and re-births into less words with more meaning. The 160 character Tweet, or Facebook wall post, or whatever social media context you would prefer, is becoming the new literature of acceptance. Being able to use social media tools effectively has created a new breed of poetical expression. The act of responding with, or commenting to a ‘giant’ idea with a few amount of words; sounds like both the definition of a ‘poem’ and a ‘tweet’.

Earth Costs Homepage

www.earthcosts.com

What’s your cost of living? That’s the question Earth Costs has been asking people from around the world for the last four years. From city to city, Earth Costs has stored thousands of entries from countries as far as Iraq, Moldova, and Australia. What sets Earth Costs apart from other cost of living websites, is the ability users have to hear local cost of living information directly from someone living in the city they are researching.

If you are a family of four, and you’re thinking about moving to China, Earth Costs allows you to actually read and talk to other families living in the area. This gives anyone the ability to receive up to date info and actual cost of living info on an international basis for free. While other cost of living websites show you an average number, Earth Costs delves into the details and gives users an insight to real costs associated with living in the area. Earth Costs is embracing social media, and using it’s ability to help educate others in order to make life a little easier. That’s why the Social Den will be working on a campaign for Earth Costs, and are looking forward to helping strengthen the community and spread the word about the unique experience they deliver.

You can help Earth Costs out by Registering at the website and sharing your Cost of Living information.

Earth Costs Homepage

www.earthcosts.com

UPDATE: Due to popularity of this article, I have decided to do an extended version and add more numbers, who says it has to stop at ten…

2nd UPDATE: Because of confusion surrounding the use of hashtags for social media posts I have deemed it necessary to write a disclaimer. Knowing how to use hashtags is just as important as actually using hashtags. http://www.thesocialden.com/2011/09/09/top-5-guide-to-using-hashtags/

On to the list! Top 10, 15, (whatever it ends up being) list of Social Media hashtags

1. The most popular social media hashtag is simply #socialmedia. It is used by most marketing and social media professionals when talking about social media, usually when citing a news source or article. However, it is also used widely in sentences such as “#socialmedia is a great way to build a community around your company”.

2. #sm Another popular social media hash tag (yet used less partly because of its heteronym) #sm is used usually with the #socialmedia tag or any tag that has to do with the idea of community and conversation.

3. #social is found most often simply to connect words using a social media tag, as in “#social media is”, or “#social communities can”, or even “#social #media”.

4. #scrm is used by customer relations managers and marketers. Social customer relationship and management, deals with communicating with your customers over social media networks.

5. #hcsm is based around the Healthcare Communication & Social Media community. This hash tag deals with healthcare communication through social media avenues.

6. #smm Just as it sounds, social media marketing; a small way to fit the three words in as a last 4 character shout.

7. #socialmarketing This tag is used mostly for tagging URLs, or referencing the idea of marketing through social media communities.

8. #socialnetworking is the idea of networking (meeting others and introducing yourself) personal and business accounts through social media. Such as “LinkedIn #socialnetworking”, or “check out the new tool that helps programmers with #socialnetworking”.

9. #seo, although not usually defined as social media, search engine optimization and social media have a lot in common. Good SEO is always used when dealing with good social media, the #seo tag often follows a #sem (search engine marketing) or a #socialmedia tag.

10.T ags for the actual social media communities, #twitter #facebook #googlebuzz #yahoo #bing #forum (as you know the list goes on). These simple tags go a long way, they sponsor very broad definitions but can be used with social media tags for effectiveness.

11. #smo Social Media Optimization, not to be confused with our previous #seo hash tag. It deals with only with driving traffic through social media networks. Usually used by companies trying to sell their marketing services.

12. #socialweb #socialweb has become a popular hash tag to tap into a lower niche of users who use the acronym to describe the social aspects of the internet. Also used as separate tags, “The #social #web is growing”

13. #sharing This hash tag can be used to describe other instances than social media, however it is found when dealing with social media, often following the #social tag as in #social #sharing, and can also be found (though on a smaller scale) combined with the #social tag, as in #socialsharing.

14. #campaign Campaign has many uses over Twitter, however, you can find it commonly used as an allusion to social media marketing campaigns. It is actually more prevalent within social media when it is used in its plural state, “Twitter #campaigns”. The non-plural version has the tendency to be used throughout the political community as in “The Obama Campaign for president”…

15. #socialgood A new emerging hashtag that literally defines as “something that is good for everybody, in every way”. This tag has started to follow the #socialmedia hashtag usually when pertaining to an initiative that works towards bettering humans with the help of social networks.

16. #blog Also takes the form of #blogs #blogging, and #blogger* (*usually when mentioning a blog created through blogger).

17. #socialchat I like this one. It envelopes all of the basic fundamentals of what social media should be through two words. Real social media is a constant positive chat over any social medium. #socialchat is about communicating over a social network between 2 or more people.

18. #hashtag Also used in its plural form. #hashtag can be found scattered in many different niches within Twitter. But I found it important enough, in respects to social media, that I include it within the list.

Spanish social media hashtags

19. #Comunicación While we’re on the Spanish kick (nor Twitter or social media is confined to one language) The Comunicación hashtag is often used with Spanish Tweets following #redsocial, #redessociales or the standard #socialmedia tweet.

20. #redsocial (also used as #redessociales) The Spanish equivalent to the #socialnetwork” hash-tag it simply portrays the idea of networking through any social context.


More coming, do you have any areas that you want me to cover (more languages, more marketing, more anything…)? Post a comment, I’ll be glad to delve into anything.

Oh, and remember. Hash tags can be spam if overused. 0 to 1, a tweet is usually a good rule of thumb

Social media isn’t Twitter or even Facebook, it is a conglomerate of millions of communities building upon each other. Understanding one is important, but understanding them all is so much more powerful, and tends to be more simple then provoked. From bookmarking services, to forums, to open blogs, to social networks, social media is a cornucopia of information and positive back-and-forth dialogue. Getting familiar with all of these communities can seem a daunting task, but as long as your remember some basic skills you will do fine no matter what new network you are researching. Here are some easy steps to take before starting your profile on any social media platform.

1. Figure out what you are trying to accomplish with this new social media website. Before anything you must understand why you are entering into another realm of social media. Is it going to be for personal uses, or are you going to use social media for business purposes. If you are going to set up a business account (which most are), you need to know what you are going to achieve from it. Will you have time to be an active member of this community? What will the ROI for this social media campaign be for your company? Will you be concentrating on a local city/state population or a worldwide audience? Is this community going to benefit your business in the long term? Questions like these are important for anyone launching a social media campaign in unfamiliar territory.

2. Go somewhere else and learn about the social media community you are researching; this will give you a better perspective of what others think about the particular website. Create a Google search for news, or blog articles that pertain to the URL of the site you are interested in. Read through the articles and posts; what are other people saying about the site? It’s usually better to hear an explanation of the website you are investigating through outside sources. Not only will this teach you whether or not it is a social network that will last, but it will introduce you to creative ways to best utilize the community.

3. Learn the site and listen to others, spend your first few hours watching how other people are using the website. Pay close attention to the ’seemingly’ most successful users; what are they doing that you might try to accomplish. Say you are a real estate agent, and you are trying to understand a real estate forum. First thing you should do is search for other real estate professionals and study their effectiveness. Learn the different ways you can use the features and tools of the website to help immerse yourself within the community. Read the FAQs and guidelines of the website, and educate yourself on what kind of marketing behavior is considered acceptable.

These are just a few steps to take when investigating any new social media platform, before you even set up a profile, it’s best practice to develop a plan and goals for your campaign. Social media can be used for endless possibilities; use your imagination and creativity, have fun, and simply try to better understand why you are doing what you are doing.