MY MEDIA MAGNET

My Media Magnet’s Favourite Social Media Sites – Wordpress (10 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

We saved the biggest and best for last with this social media site post! Wordpress is a content management system most often associated with hosting blogs. What a lot of people don't know about Wordpress is its seemingly endless possibilities. Currently, we build of our sites in Wordpress because it allows us to give our users control over updating their content with a simple interface. We haven't had to say no to a functionality request yet and here are some examples of sites we've built in Wordpress:

Bundles of Energy

Don't Hit Send

The Wolfwind Group

My Media Magnet

Notice that they look and standard like any other site, however what you can't see is how amazing things are behind the scenes. Each one of our users is able to change the content on their whole site and we include a blog with training so our users are encouraged to get active in social media and help create their own search engine optimization with fresh, relevant content.

Some of the highlights of using Wordpress include its integration with other social media platforms. We suggest using your blog as your social media hub. It's a place to direct traffic and saturate with keywords. It's also a great opportunity to talk to your audience about what you are interested in and know to establish yourself as an expert in the community.

There are some tough competitors out there for Wordpress with similar functionality. We don't mean to say Wordpress is necessarily better but we are comfortable there and can ensure quality results. Also, Wordpress just released their new version – TODAY! So, you know it's a system that is maintained and evolving. here are some other reasons we love Wordpress:

• Wordpress was started in 2003 and has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world

• 4 out of 5 users prefer Wordpress to other services like Blogger

• Wordpress just added themes that are optimized for mobile phones

• Used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of users everyday

• Open-sourced project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it

• Committed to making the latest blogging technologies available to their users

• Fully Customizable Interfaces allow for well-branded blogs

• Utilizes robust tools such as an integrated blacklist and an open proxy checker, as well as additional plug-ins, to protect you from spam

• Allows visitors to your site to leave comments on individual entries; you can enable/disable comments on a per post basis

• Allows for easy importing

• Intelligent text formatting and typographical niceties give blogs a nicer look and feel

• Wordpress links allow you to create, maintain and update any number of blogrolls through your administration interface, which is quicker than external blogroll managers

Keep your eyes out for lots more Wordpress posts on specific plug-ins and site functionality! Contact us today for more information on your own site or blog development!

Tags: blog, content management system, development, interface, plug-ins, site, tools, users, website, Wordpress
Posted in My Media Magnet, Social Media News, Social Media Tools| No Comments »

My Media Magnet’s Favourite 10 Social Media Sites – Digg (9 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

Social bookmarking at it's best, that's Digg! If you are looking for information Digg is great at paying attention to what you like and suggesting related sites. The articles submitted to them are very informative and helpful and you have some great bookmarking options to help organize your sites. If you are a company looking to get your message out then you better start submitting!

Reasons we love Digg:

• Digg is working to democratize digital media by surfacing the best stuff as voted on by their users

• Promotes conversation around content and provides tools for the community to discuss the topics that they’re passionate about

• Committed to giving every piece of content on the web an equal shot of being the next big thing

• Digg offers a variety of ad packages and custom marketing opportunities

If you are curious about some of the further workings of Digg and how to put it to work for your company please Contact us! We have some great options to help you get started in Digg and other sites.

Tags: articles, Digg, digital media, marketing, opportunities, SMO, Social Bookmarking, social media optimization
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My Media Magnet’s Favourite Social Media Sites – Google Profile (8 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

Have you Googled yourself lately? Getting to the top of Google has and continues to be a main goal for most websites. It should also be a concern for you personally to see what comes up when you Google yourself. Many job recruiters Google all of their applicants to check them out. If you want to know what they're finding, it's an easy test to try yourself. Google offers more than just search though, for personal use you can do so much more. Use Google maps, get a Gmail email for professional use, create a personal profile, utilize Google Calendar for organization, etc. This list of products continues to grow, especially in the States. 

If you're a business owner and you haven't submitted a Google profile, here are some reasons to go do it right now:

• Allows you to control how you appear on Google
• Allows you to tell others a bit more about your company
• Allows people to find you easily by enabling your profile to be searched by your name
• Receive messages from anyone with a Google Account without revealing your email address
• Make your contact information available
• Create a listing on Google Maps for your business to be found easily
• Simple way to manage contacts
• Shows your location on Google Maps

If you don't have the time or energy to invest in creating consistent profiles to represent your personal or corporate identity, we can help. Contact us today to relieve some social media start-up stress or to do some social media management and maintenance. 

Tags: business, calendar, Google, maps, personal, professional, profile, SMO, social media optimization
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My Media Magnet’s Favourite 10 Social Media Sites – YouTube (7 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

At this point in time even if you haven't taken the time to visit YouTube and look around their extensive library, you've most likely still seen a YouTube video somewhere. YouTube has tons of videos in the way of entertainment, but they also have a wealth of educational and informative videos. It's a great place to do research or find a 'How To'. If you have a blog, YouTube makes it super easy to put a video right into your post!

Here are a few more reasons we love YouTube:

• Founded in 2005, YouTube is a leader in online video
• Every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded from the site
• A premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a web experience
• YouTube‘s user base is 18-55 years of age, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies
• Allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and email
• Provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and act as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers regardless of size
• Community is truly in control on YouTube and they determine what is popular on the site
• Allows you to record from a mobile or webcam
• Wholesale access to YouTube‘s extensive video library, worldwide audience and the underlying video hosting and streaming infrastructure that powers the site; giving users another way to engage in the world of video

YouTube is being increasingly used by businesses as a marketing platform and as a Social Media Optimization tool. I was at a marketing workshop today where claims were made that one day all websites will be video so get involved in this future wave now! 

If you are in job search having a professional video resume done may be something to consider. It will give you an edge in your application and a video to put on YouTube that is very professional. Generate those keywords around your name so that when someone puts you into Google you have a better chance of them finding the information about you that you want them to find. We have some great resources if you're interested in a video resume and My Media Magnet would love to help you get started on YouTube and social media in general so contact us with any and all of your social media questions!

Tags: blog, marketing, SMO, social media optimization, video library, YouTube
Posted in My Media Magnet, Social Media News, Social Media Tools| No Comments »

My Media Magnet’s Favourite 10 Social Media Sites – Flickr (6 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

I think the real question for anyone reading this is how could you not love Flickr? Photo sharing made easy is enough to make anyone smile. I can't be the only one who has watched the Facebook image uploading bar with fingers crossed in anticipation of a successful 5 picture upload, beads of sweat collecting on my forehead as the load reading changes from 98% Complete to Error! Fear no more! You can share those images with friends and have access to more options with Flickr!

Why we love it:

• Leading image and video hosting website, web services suite and online community platform

• Service is widely used for bloggers and as a photo repository and source for photographic content

• As of June 2009 Flickr was reported to host more that 3.6 billion images

• Employs "Tagging" which alerts search engines about what’s there

• Flickr is community based technology

• Exposes core functionality with a documented API(Integrates well with 3rd party websites and applications

If you're wondering how you can use Flickr for your business I can't say enough good things about it. Currently we are working on a website and because our client is somewhat inconvenient to meet, we are sharing images over Flickr. This method is convenient, easy and saves us some communication time. It allows us to organize the folders, tag the images for search optimization and set privacy settings for the album. As well, My Media Magnet creates all their sites on Wordpress and Flickr has some great integration options so that your images can work for you across several platforms. 

The old saying a picture is worth a 1000 words still rings true today. If you have some striking images to show the world, or need a convenient way to upload product or business photos, we strongly suggest using Flickr. If you need some tips and tricks for using Flickr, image sizing, tagging and Wordpress integration please visit our Contact page!

Tags: Flickr, functionality, image uploading, images, integration, photo, photo sharing, platform, SMO, social media optimization
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My Media Magnet’s Favourite 10 Social Media Sites – Yelp (5 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

Have you heard? Nobody uses The Yellow Pages anymore, they just Google it. And now, if they can't find what they want on Google they localize their search on Yelp. Yelp doesn't just stop at finding what you want either. It's a review site so you leave knowing where you're going, why you're going there and what you can expect to experience while you're there. It's free to submit your company so that people can find you so get on there!

Here are a few reasons you may want to use Yelp over your what you currently visit for reviews:

• Yelp is the only review site that lets reviewees talk back

• Yelp combines local reviews and social networking functionality to create a local online community

• The site allows consumers to share the experiences they have had with local businesses and lets business owners share information about their business with their customers both publicly and privately

• Yelp is word of mouth – amplified; allowing for quicker communication between consumers and business owners alike

• Over 25 million people visited Yelp in August 2009 to make spending decisions

• Yelp applies a "First to Review" reward system to create a competition among contributing members, further motivating the creation of reviews and adding to the site’s business coverage

• Site visitors can see which contributing users are the most popular, respected, and prolific, how long each has been a member, and which have interests similar to their own

• You can Yelp on your phone allowing for accessibility and ease of use

If you are concerned about transparency or receiving a bad review, it's time to get over it. People are going to find a place online to voice their opinions whether you provide and monitor the platform or not. Get your name on Yelp, let your network know you're there, attain valuable reviews and testimonials from your network and ask them to post them on Yelp and suddenly you've nullified any negatives by saturating your review pool with positives! 

If you are just looking for cool social media tools, Yelp fulfills that specification too. I found an amazing restaurant to take my hubby to for his birthday and the reviews made me feel confident and know how much to budget. I always check Yelp now before trying a new place because I hate being disappointed. Join the fun and learn from others on Yelp, start contributing your own reviews to help out and build a personal network.

For more information on Yelp or other social media services please contact My Media Magnet.

Tags: functionality, Google, localize, negative, positive, review, search, SMO, social media optimization, social networking, Yellow Pages, Yelp
Posted in Social Media News, Social Media Tools| No Comments »

My Media Magnet’s Favourite 10 Social Media Sites – LinkedIn (4 of 10)

June 18th, 2010

LinkedIn is one of what we refer to as 'The Big 3' of social media. It is an amazing tool for professional networking and enables you to go beyond traditional networking. It's another one of those sites that if you aren't on it you should be. I often Google people and the first search results for their name is their LinkedIn profile. You want to ensure that when someone does a Google search on your name it's your LinkedIn profile that pops up and gives them information.

Some of the major reasons we love LinkedIn are: 

• LinkedIn is a network of experienced professionals from around the world representing 170 industries and 200 countries

• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second

• They have over 50 million users as of October 14th, 2009; a jump from 45 million users since August 12th, 2009.

• Linkedin saw a 5.68% growth in traffic for the month of September alone

• Executives from all Fortune500 companies are LinkedIn members

• LinkedIn truly is international with 50% of their users being from outside the U.S.

• They won two Webby awards in 2007 for services and social networking

All of these statistics can work for you if you use LinkedIn as a tool in the most effective way for you and/or your business. When you first get on LinkedIn, work on getting your profile to completion. The system will more or less guide you through this process of uploading an image (important for establishing your online identity!), uploading your resume, filling out profile information, adding relevant applications, etc. When you get to adding applications, choose carefully. Showcase only your strengths on your profile as recruiters are now using LinkedIn more than ever to find potential job candidates.

Your next step and level of involvement goes beyond status updates on LinkedIn. I've found the true value of LinkedIn and the place to get networking done is in Groups. Groups on LinkedIn are AMAZING resources! Try searching your interests and find out who is saying what and where they are saying it about the interest of your choice. This is a great way to get involved in conversations with like-minded individuals and start networking! You can also start your own Group on an interest and establish yourself as an expert through vigilant maintenance and innovative discussion topics.

As with all social media, the possibilities with LinkedIn are literally endless. The bottom line is to get online and get active! Each time you make a post to LinkedIn or participate in a group, not only are you growing your network but growing your Social Media Optimization (SMO). The more active you are, the more ways you direct people to your name and your site, the more successful your overall social media campaign will be. If you need help getting started or just want some more information on social media in general please visit our Contact Us page.

Tags: business, Fortune500, Google, LinkedIn, members, networking, personal, professional, profile, search, services, SMO, social media, social media optimization, The Big 3, tools
Posted in My Media Magnet, Social Media News, Social Media Tools| No Comments »

Steps to Leverage Social Media for Career Success

June 17th, 2010

Social Media in personal lives has been going on for years. While Social Media in personal lives is still at a high, Social Media is taking over the business world by storm and has no signs of slowing down anytime soon.   It seems that everywhere you look someone is telling you to follow them on Twitter, or check out their Facebook page and this is not going to stop.  This is a perfect way to get information out that you want to send to your consumer through multiple Social Media accounts while linking them all together!  Social Media is an easy way to find individuals and companies that will be relevant and benefit your own company.  That is just one of a long list of amazing reasons why Social Media can leverage career success.

 Check out steps to successfully use Social Media to help out your career.

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Sportscaster Len Berman: His Move from Old Media to New Media

June 11th, 2010

Len Berman is a perfect example of how and why everyone, even people 35+ should be using Social Media.  The calm, classic sportscaster, Len Berman has been around baseball for many years now and has seen all sorts of media tools used in that time.  Berman is known for his calm, formally called ball games and has been known for that his whole career.  Now in 2010 with the Social Media age continuing to soar, Berman speaks about how important and efficient the switch from Old Media to New Media really is.  

Check out the interview with Berman as he speaks about how he utilizes Social Media simply and how it is beneficial even to an "old fart" like him. (As he calls himself in the video)

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How To Use Facebooks New Privacy Settings

May 26th, 2010

There has been some concerns in the past few weeks with some changes to Facebooks privacy settings.  The CEO of Facebook talked a little bit about the changes when making an announcement the other day.  Mark Zuckerberg (CEO) says that the new Facebook privacy settings are "dead simple".

This is how the privacy settings now look.  Take a look at some explanation and further details about new privacy settings here. 

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