Will Interests Lists Kill Engagement?

I’m sure we’ve all seen the viral post by now. If not, let me refresh your memory:

Hi Friends,

Facebook now requires page admins to pay to promote their updates if we want our content to be seen by folks who have already liked our page. If we do not pay to promote our posts, you will only see a portion of our posts on your news feed

To keep RECEIVING ALL POSTS FROM US go to the “Like” button near our name and hover your mouse over the like thumb. In the drop-down menu select “ADD TO INTEREST LISTS”. Then create an interest list (and make a name for your favorite sites). When you select that interest list you will again get all of our posts and not 10% of them.

We recommend that you follow the above instructions for ANY Facebook page you care about, so you can continue seeing all the posts from the pages you already like.

Before I go any farther, let me say this is my opinion.

My opinion.

That means you can disagree with me … or not. It’s up to you. It’s just my perspective.

Let me tell you a little story.

Picture this: Texas. It was yesterday.

A Social Media Manager was trying to get all of the new pages she had ‘liked’ into interest lists.

She also talks to herself – it’s okay; she only answers the voices in her head.

“Oh, look!” she says. “Here’s a good one!”:

“That’s a really nice one”, she says.

See where she hovered over the ‘Like’ button? ”

Oh, yummy! There’s a link to add it to an interest list! I wonder why there is a checkmark next to the ‘Show in News Feed’ link? Oh, well! Let me just get this done!”

Our erstwhile Social Media Manager clicks the link to add to an interest list and gets this:

“Since this is fairly local and I want to see ALL their posts, I’ll put them in my interest list for Local Business!”, she exclaims, feeling rather proud of herself.

“Wow, that’s a bunch of lists I already have!”, she thinks out loud to herself.

Hey, I warned ya.

She chooses her list and clicks the ‘go back’ link.

All is fine in the world.

Now she’s back at the very same place she started and she notices that checkmark again.

“Hmmm….”

“What’s the point of having the posts I *will* get cluttering up that news feed? How nice of Facebook to give me the choice! Awesome!” And she clicks the link and downs another Red Bull.

And now she has this:

Liking what she sees and feeling pretty proud of herself she goes about her day. She reads. She writes. She drools over Shep Smith.

Little does she realize that her  news feed page now looks like this:

“Wow, there’s a lot there on that left side.”

And, on top of that, she needs to scroll down some more!

“Look at that!”, she blurts. “I would need to take THREE shots to get that whole favorites list in!”

That isn’t even all of them!!

Now she realizes that, if she wants to see the lists she has created, she’ll need to scroll down to ‘interests’ and hover, then click ‘more’ to get to the page that show all of her lists.

“This is crazy”, she says to absolutely nobody. She decides to continue on course and hover over ‘interests’ and click on ‘more’, just to see what she’s dealing with EVERY SINGLE TIME SHE WANTS TO CHECK HER LISTS.

Do you think she’ll remember to do that every time?

I don’t. Red Bull gave her wings but she needs some Gingko to clear that brain.

Her next page looks like this:

And that’s just s FEW of those lists. OY.

“I’m trying to make it EASIER, not more time consuming!”, she wails.

Let’s help her out, shall we?

Suddenly her brain clears and inspiration hits.

“Hmmmm… let’s check out that little pencil to the left of those lists….”, she thinks, as she clicks the pencil.

“Oh, my goodness!”, she squeals. “If I click on ‘Add to Favorites’ I can keep it ALWAYS on the left side of my feed! I can tame my news feed and STILL see more posts from my favorite pages!”

And that’s the end of THAT story. However, we need to think about a few other things.

Think about this:

That viral post only goes so far in telling them what they need to do. It takes them right to the point where they can make a choice to click that ‘show in news fee’ link or not – doesn’t mention it or give them any direction for it.

Do you really want to leave it to chance? If you feel like you MUST share that viral post, add to it! If nothing else, tell them to check out this blog post before they set up the lists.

On my personal profile I have asked my friends about interest lists. Most have no clue what I’m talking about because they are here to play games and check out what their buds are up to.

Who really sees my stuff anyway?

If you have a fan base of 1000, you’re reaching anywhere from 100 to 200 fans with a normal post.  Facebook’s algorithm only shows your posts to that many organically (unpaid). If the fan doesn’t interact with your page they will see it less frequently until they see no more at all.

Did you catch that?

If a fan does not interact with your page – and that means clicking ‘like’ or ‘share’ or commenting on a post – they are already dead to you.

And, of course, if they aren’t seeing your regular posts THEY WON’T SEE THE ONE YOU POST ABOUT INTEREST LISTS EITHER!

Even the 10-20% that DO see your post DON’T SEE THEM ALL! There is no guarantee they’ll even see this one.

 What can I do?

You can always choose to do a promoted post (if you have over 400 fans) and target JUST current fans if you want to be sure that MOST will see it. There is no way they will ALL see it because of that pesky little ‘show in news feed’ link. It’s a guarantee that a few of your fans will remove that checkmark without choosing an interest list for your page. It just happens.

Or you can let those fans go bye-bye without a fight and just beat the bushes to find more. Wasn’t that fun the first time? Goody! I can hardly wait!

Yeah, I know the viral post says Facebook ‘requires’ you to pay so your fans see your posts. Facebook doesn’t require you to pay jackspit. You can pay a little (have you compared it to print, radio and TV lately?) and target fans … or not. It’s always up to you.

Your choices:

• ante up and pay the fee

• grow more fans and do it right.

What would you do, Beck?

Well, since you asked nicely and I can tell you’re concerned, here is what I would do:

• post something that most people cannot bear to see without commenting, liking or sharing

• And then promote it to fans and friends of fans. And then THANK THEM for their interaction so you get some engagement going.

•  And keep talking to them!

And by the way …

… if all you are posting is promotional or selling  (like your daily specials) — they’ve already tuned you out. Mix it up – you need a STRATEGY. But we can talk about that when we get together. Call me.

As for me, I’m going to post something that will make engagement go through the roof AND promote it! Go check it out on my Page

What are your plans? Let me know below.

The post Will Interest Lists Kill Engagement? appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

Are you Pro or Con? It Makes a Difference!!

There are days that I just wish it were not an election year. I don’t like the divisiveness, the negativity, and the feeling that I must choose sides with my friends and maybe lose some along the way. The negativity just seeps into the rest of my life and, face it, it’s a real downer. It’s easier to retreat from TV and radio but it’s still online. When your business is online it’s really hard to get away from it. It’s not only because it’s an election year – I think it’s just more pronounced and noticeable right now and it’s harder to stay positive. It’s like a big tug of war!

Everything is Pro and Con!

It comes at us from all directions. Even the prefixes Pro and Con are divisive by nature!

Con is Anti-. I really don’t like that prefix at all!

Negative = Con = Contrary

I don’t want to be contrary!

I don’t want to be anti-ANYTHING. I don’t want to be anti-this candidate or that one. Anti-this legislation or that. That’s so negative and being bombarded with negative just makes people – well – NEGATIVE.  

I want to be PRO. Stay Positive. Uplifting.

I want to be positive. I want to influence people to be their best and have their best. I want to lift people UP!

Here’s a partial list of my Pro’s: 

• Pro-Business because I believe that strengthens America and the economy.

• Pro-Constitution because I believe it’s the the most beautiful man-inspired document ever written.

• Pro-Child because I still believe in miracles and magic.

• Pro-Family because we all need to feel safe and loved.

• Pro-Small Government because we don’t need Big Brother peeking into our bedrooms.

• Pro-Work because it gives people a sense of purpose.

• Pro-Chocolate because it makes me happy.

• Pro-Social Media because it connects us and builds relationships. 

You can change how you see the world! It’s your choice!

For every action (and thought) there is an equal and opposing reaction (and change of thought). You have the power to change that thought! But you have to be intentional – after being intentional for a while it just comes naturally

For every Anti- there is, there is a Pro that can change your outlook and way of thinking.

• Anti-War? Try Pro-Peace.

• Anti-Soda? Try Pro-Water.

• Anti-Saggy Butt? Try Pro-Gravity.

See what I mean? We may be in for negative thoughts, feelings, and actions just by being part of humanity but how we see them is OUR CHOICE. 

Maybe I’m really just anti-prefix.

Thoughts? Stick ‘em in that box below. Tell me how you strive to stay positive!

The post Are you Pro or Con? Stay Positive – It Makes a Difference!! appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

How to Group Klout and FINISH in ONE Day!

OK, I want a show of hands – how many of you are in groups who have a ‘group Klout’ project every week?

Awesome!

And how many of you finish the Klout group all in one day?

Uh oh.

I belong to a few groups who do this but I really only join in a couple of times a month. If I happen to miss the post to add my link and not see it until 10 folks are already signed up I just leave it be for that week. I’ll Klout next week. Maybe.

Why is that?

I like being #7 on the list, even #6 will do in most cases. I rarely go any higher than #8  And here is why:

• I can finish all in one day.

• I maximize my time spent on the project.

Pinky swear?

And yet one more thing …

 
 
If, for some reason, I’m early (rarely happens due to time zone stuff!) I add my name to the post and go over to my Klout topics and give a few of the group ‘regulars’ and other random folks some +K Luv. Why? So I have room for replenishment right away. If you’ve been in a group long enough you know what topics the regulars are going to be requesting or you can search the group for the post from the previous week to get a general idea.

How about you?

Any pointers? I’d love to hear! See that box below? Yeah, that’s it. Put letters in it

The post How to Group Klout and FINISH in ONE Day! appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

 The Great Airport Tour 2012

Last weekend was a doozie!

I used to fly several times every year but stopped when we moved to Florida in 2006. I hadn’t flown in about 18 months until last week when I went to an awesome Social Media event in Tampa. Let’s just say that Social Boom 2012 (#socialboom2012) was much better than I had anticipated.

The travel, on the other hand, was real work.

Apparently it isn’t easy to get a direct flight these days while still retaining all your limbs. Had I an extra heart, it may have had to be sacrificed. Having just the one, though, relegated me to getting connecting flights.

Okay, so I had to get up at 3:30 AM. I knew I had time for a nap upon arrival so I wasn’t to concerned. That was the plan when I booked the flight in July, at least. I had no idea that the day before leaving I’d be in bed with a killer migraine for most of the day and it would want to make the trip, too. Luckily, I was already packed. Besides making the trip with me, it also decided to just stay by side the whole weekend which led me to be more subdued than normal. Disappointing for those who expected dancing on the tables but probably a good thing for networking

My departure from Austin was eventful, to say the least. It was the first time I’d been in one of those machines where I needed to raise my arms. Let’s just say they frown upon doing the Grab That Cash dance when you are inside one. Make a mental not of that, okay?

As I suspected, my carry-on got pulled. Not a big, deal; I figured it was my tiara setting it off.

It was. And it was also my Pop Tarts. See, I refuse to pay high breakfast prices at hotels. And I need something with a quick cup of tea first thing. And I’m cheap.

I arrived in Memphis right on time. Leaving Memphis on time was another question.

We boarded just a little late due the plane arriving late. All strapped in and ready to go — the Captain says that there is a problem with one of our tires and the maintenance crew needs to take a look at it. In the meantime, a Ghostbusters cloud settles itself right over the plane. This, apparently, causes the ground crew to wimp out and run back inside like little girls.

Meanwhile, we wait.

As the cloud moved on to another unsuspecting plane – or so I assume –  I expected we’d be underway. I never saw the giant Marshmallow Man so that’s the only conclusion I can safely presume.

Ready? Not gonna happen.

The Captain addresses us, once again, with the news that the flight log is missing and it will take another 45 minutes to recreate it.

Recreate it?

Now I’m a little nervous, wondering why the pilots are up front cooking the books.

About 10 minutes later they announce we’re headed out. Maybe they found the flight log? Or did they say, “Oh, heck with it. Let’s ride, Clyde.”

It was a fairly quick flight to Tampa. Of course, I was changing time zones so my math was messed up but the little hand was on the 1 and the big hand was on the 2 when I landed.

For those of you keeping track at home, that’s the third airport of the day. 8.5 hours from door to door.

The event was fantastic – they even gave us breakfast on Sunday and lunch on Saturday — and let me tell ya – it weren’t no Lunchables lunch either! I’ve never been at an event that was run so on-time before. Gary Vaynerchuk was the keynote and he killed it! All the other speakers were very informative and just right for the event. I can’t wait for the next one!

The event wound down about 12:30 on Sunday. I was all packed and Pop Tart free so I was ready to go whenever the mood struck me. I only had to catch my shuttle to the airport and I was golden. I had a leisurely lunch with a great bunch of friends from my coaching group and then headed off to meet my plane and wing it on home to hubby. Or so I thought.

My plane was leaving at 6:30 PM and I decided to wait at the airport rather than the hotel lobby – I was about 3 hours early. I wanted get some victuals and a water and connect the WiFi to have a couple hours of catching up. I wasn’t in my room much so I didn’t spring for the hotel WiFi at $10 a day – I just used my phone. It was nice to have a slightly larger screen, since I brought my mini netbook.

I’m sitting there surfing and realize that my plane departure time had just changed by almost two hours and I’d miss my connection which was the last flight out of the next airport. I was the only person at the gate and the counter wasn’t open yet so I checked the flights and made my plan for the next day while I was on hold with the airline. Did I mention there was nobody else around? I didn’t have to fight for flights with anyone!

At first the agent wanted to put me on the 6AM flight to Detroit – no, thanks! I’ll take the noon plan to Atlanta, thank you very much! I’d been worried because I only had 45 minutes to get my connection as well. She gave me the noon flight I wanted with 90 minutes between the connection and told me to wait for the gate counter to open and they’d put me up in a hotel.

AWESOME!

Since there was still very few folks there when the gate opened, I was in line quick to get my hotel voucher. They even gave me a voucher for dinner and breakfast PLUS a $50 voucher on my next flight! This was great! I knew hubby was fine at home so I just rolled with it. 

When my new shuttle arrived to take me to the Doubletree, it was a quick ride. Amazingly enough, my new airport was right across the street from the one I just left and where a bunch of my friends were still staying overnight.

I was checked in by a sweet front desk agent named Carel and he gave me a COOKIE!

This was GREAT!

I was back at my new hotel before my departure time!

I was posting on Facebook the whole time so my friends said ‘Come on over!’, so I did! We had a great dinner and wonderful conversation and I got back to my hotel at 1 AM. It was exactly what I needed!

On Monday I decided to be a little early to the airport, just in case. After all, it served me well on Sunday! I was there by 10 for a 12:15 flight and it was super smooth. My tiara didn’t even ding and I made sure to be still in the capsule.

My concern was the Atlanta airport – every time I’ve been through there I felt like OJ Simpson (pre-1994) and I was worried I’d have to sprint through. I was fortunate enough to come in at Gate B15 and leave from B30 so I had more than enough time to call home and get a bite to eat. 

Still counting? That was the fourth airport.

We had a bumpy ride into San Antonio (Airport #5!) Seated next to me was a mother and her about-8 year old son and he was loud. And bouncing. I blew $2 on headphones so I could drown him out with Big Bang Theory reruns. Funny thing, though; I put some Young Living Peace and Calming Essential Oil Blend on my wrists and neck (still had low grade migraine) and he settled down in about 15 minutes.

I had checked my luggage (for free because I waited until the last minute) so I waited for the bag for about 10 minutes. Hubby pulled up a few minutes later and we were on our way. I wanted the later flight on Sunday due to rush hour traffic but 5PM traffic from San Antonio to San Marcos was great! SO much better than Austin. Another reason to like SA better  

I arrive home a day late and a dollar short but I made it.

And I got a cookie!!!!

And that was one GOOD cookie

So tell me — any travel adventures? I’d love to hear them – shoot me a note below

The post The Great Airport Tour 2012 #socialboom2012 #deltaairlines appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

Do I really need to create a test page?

You put a lot of time into your blog and you’re thinking it looks mighty fine. You’re getting plenty of traffic (lucky you! Don’t take it for granted!) but you feel the need to do some tweaks. Before you start tinkering under the hood you need to do something else– you need to create a test page.

“It’s all good, Beck. I don’t want to take the time to create a test page.”

That’s fine by me. It’s your time. If you don’t mind wasting it there’s no skin off my back. Go ahead with your bad self.

“That’s bit harsh, dontchathink?”

Nope. I’m not speakin’ with a forked tongue here and I’m not saying it to waste my breath.

You need to create a test page.

Here’s why:

• It’s easy to screw up.

I’ve done it. At 2 AM you think there’s just ONE more thing you want to tweak so you do it. And you get the dreaded white screen of death after you zapped your site into outer space. I’ve been there.

Maybe you forget to back up the site (that you’ve been updating faithfully for 3 years) and you switched WordPress themes. Or put in some CSS code that’s going to wow your visitors and make you a household name.

It doesn’t have to be something complex the does it. It usually isn’t.

• It’s cheap.

All it costs is a domain name. That’s what — $10? A measly 10 bucks a year to protect the baby you’ve poured yourself into. Tell me this — would you toss your kid in the bathtub without testing the water? Give your baby a bottle without testing the temperature?

If you don’t want to spring for the domain you could make a subdomain or a subdirectory off of your main site, install a fresh version of WordPress in it and test there. A clean separate domain is preferable, though, just to protect your main site. If you’re with Hostgator or one of those unlimited hosting companies it won’t cost you one red cent to create a test page beyond the domain cost. And remember that conversation we just had about your hosting and domain name companies being kept apart?

And, just because I think bullet points look better in groups of three, it’ll save you some:

• time

• energy

• money

Unless, of course, you have tons of time, don’t mind stress, own stock in Red Bull and have deep pockets.

In which case, you don’t need to be reading my stuff. You need to be on a beach somewhere. Go ahead – it’s okay. Bake like a lobster. I’ll still be here on my soapbox telling folks who want to be serious that they need to create a test page. I mean it – hit the road; you’re off the hook. We’re good.

So tell me — how do you test? Or do you wing it?

The post Really – Should You Create a Test Page? appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

Shredded chicken breasts are just about the easiest way to get a meal on the table fast and eliminate some clean-up time, too! I’ve been a bit remiss lately with easy and simple recipes and I was pinning a bit this morning over on Pinterest  (<– shameless link to my boards! Follow me and I’ll follow back!) and saw a pin regarding shredded chicken breasts and recipes to use them so I decided to pop over here and share it with you!

I almost always have poached shredded chicken breasts in my fridge – I do four or five at a time.  I don’t add any seasonings but I do poach them in chicken broth. I bring the chicken and broth to a boil, turn down the burner and simmer for about 10 minutes. I leave the lid on the pot and let the pot sit for about an hour to cool down while the breasts continue to cook gently. My meat turns out perfectly juicy.

Sometimes I take the breasts out and stick them in a large zipper bag for the week and shred as needed; sometimes I put the whole cool pot in the fridge if I’m pressed for time. I also sometimes put them in individual quart sized zipper bags and they go straight into the freezer and get shredded when they come out of the freezer and are thawed. Shredding before freezing will make them thaw quicker or you can just pop the frozen chicken right into a broth if you’re making a soup. Really, you can do it whatever way suits you and your time constraints!

Here is a great recipe to make them in the slow cooker using seasonings but no broth: Shredded Chicken Breast.

The website that generated the pin is www.MomsByHeart.net and the link to her article is ‘Meal Planning: 40 Recipes for Shredded Chicken’. Lori has some great posts over there — check her out and let her know I sent you!

Comment below and let me know what you think!

The post Easy Shredded Chicken Breast Ideas! appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called ‘Follow You on Twitter? Here’s Why I Won’t Do It – Part Uno de mucho’. It got great response and I had super fun writing it!

Guess what?

Yep, there’s more. Maybe it’s just me (I’m a nut magnet) or maybe I have the crazy gene and can spot these folks easy. Whatever it is, I get a giggle, too.

People who are confused:

• Picture is Jabba the Hut but the bio says I’m sexy and I know it. — I wonder what else you don’t know?

• Any bio that says ‘I’m lovin’ life!’ — You’re delusional. Get help. Quickly. Or let me have some of what you’re taking.
  

• Anyone who teaches online ballroom dancing.— I can’t do that, sorry. Two left keyboards.

People who are creepy:

• If your profile pic is a skull — it may be too late. Eat a burger, will ya?

• Your bio says you are a massage parlor that employs one ethnic group. — You probably aren’t. Massaging just backs, that is.

• Your profile pic is of your pecs or any other body part I shouldn’t be seeing. — Need I say more?

Signs you need a real job:

• Any woman who’s picture could possibly be of her naked.

• Anyone who IS naked.

• Anyone who should never BE naked. Even in the shower.

• Bonus: The bio says ‘If it weren’t for date rape drugs I’d never get laid’. — Do I need to elaborate? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Those who insult my intelligence:

• Any bio that insinuates I am stupid if I don’t follow back.
  

• The bio says, ‘I can get you 78000 likes’.

• The word ‘guru’ or ‘expert’ appears anywhere in the bio.

Just plain funny:

• Your profile picture is Captain America. — Why aren’t you out saving the world instead of waiting for my tweets?

• Your bio says ‘currently out of his mind but please feel free to leave a message‘. — Where’s the beep, Dude?

• Your bio identifies you as a ‘gangsta napper’ — now that’s just plain funny.

Hey, I’ve got more.

And, like I said before, I will OUT you. In a New York minute.

Seen any good ones lately? Comment below and let me know!

The post Follow You on Twitter? Here’s Why I Won’t Do It – Part Deux appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

I’m going to illustrate for you the power of ONE.

One decision, that is.

Picture this:

Life is good.

Business is thriving.

You’re rolling in dough and don’t even open a pizza shop.

You have a spouse, 3 kids, a dog and a camel.

You have your domain and hosting through www.dontlooknowbutyouregoingtogetscrewed.com and everything has been fine.

Again, life is good.

Years go by. Kids grow, you get a bigger house.

One day your hosting company contracts the latest deadliest virus — the Put You Out of Business You Human Worm.

Uh oh.

Apparently aliens created this virus in retaliation after Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum uploaded the virus to their Mother Ship. We can’t figure it out and Randy Quaid has already sacrificed his sanity to the cause.

Big Trouble. Big BIG TROUBLE.

Quickly things start to snowball.

Your spouse leaves you for Justin Bieber.

Your kids are hungry and need new Air Jordans.

You dog runs away.

Your camel ceases to spit.

The mortgage company comes to pump up the tires on your house and they roll it away.

This is getting serious.

Besides finding an alien fighter ship and uploading another virus to the Mother Ship AGAIN — and they are expecting it this time, dontchaknow? — what can you do?

Think WAY back — before the camel and before the dough.

Ah. I see you’re getting it now.

Exactly.

You bought your domain AND hosting from the same company.

That’s it!

Yeah, I know they only charge you $5 a month.

See, it’s like this:

If you have your domain and hosting at the same company and their servers go down for some reason — alien invasion, super virus — any reason at all … you have a problem. Who knows how long the host will be down? And you got a camel to feed back home.

However, you are the savvy businessperson who thought ahead! You bought a domain from www.domainsRus.com and purchased hosting from www.idwalkamileforacamel.com and you back up your website. Daily. As a matter of fact, you even bought an extra domain just for testing. Smart move!

You DO back up your website, right?

Do it. Right now.

I’ll wait.

If you bought them separately, you wouldn’t be worried about the Alien Worm right now. So what if your host gets hit? You have backups, choose another host, repoint your domain and upload your files. Back in Business. Water the camel.

Easy Peasy. Maybe not easy, but better than the alternative.

Have them at the same company? You’re stuck. No website.

You are OOB — Out Of Business. Can you afford for the host to be down for 2 weeks – a month, maybe?

Think about it.

And another thing ….

Why did you buy that camel in the first place?

Update: 9/10/12

Far be it from me to say “I told you so” but, well ……..

GoDaddy Outage Takes Down Millions Of Sites, Anonymous Member Claims Responsibility

GoDaddy Goes Down, Taking Countless Websites Offline, Anonymous Claims Responsibility

The post Not so much a Heavenly Host? appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

Who owns your content?

I’d put money on it that you say YOU do. But do you?

Let’s take this apart before we come up with an answer to that, shall we?

To start with:

• Who develops an idea for a post?

• Who does the research for the post?

• Who writes the post?

• Who formats the post?

• Who pushes the button to publish that rascal?

• Who sits back and waits for the comments from adoring fans to roll in?

Unless I’ve been too long on the planet Uranus, I’d venture to say that the answer to every one of those questions is YOU DO.

YOU get the bright idea for The Best Post In The History Of The World. YOU research and write it, knowing it’s going to bring you the Pulitzer Prize for being The Most Intelligent Person In The Universe. You are so confident in this post that The Committee has even made the new Pulitzer category JUST FOR YOU.

YOU format it, agonize over every participle, load it into your post editor and then MOVE THAT BUS. No, I mean… PUSH THAT  BUTTON!

You pour a glass of wine and relax, awaiting the calls from dignitaries, the Telegram From The President, and the choir of Angels to herald your brilliance. (cue Angelic Choir HERE)

Okay, maybe that was the wine talking …. but hey! You’re pretty proud of your masterpiece. Maybe it won’t change The World but it might change somebody’s world. It might be that little thing that nudges them to make a change.

It’s okay — be proud.

BUT……

Did you know that if you publish your blog on a free host — ie: WordPress.COM or Blogger –

YOU don’t own that content?

Remember that content? We talked about it already. A lot. You love it.

The COLD HARD FACT is this:

Unless you:

• Own the domain AND

• Are self-hosted

YOU DON’T OWN IT.

Your blog service does.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Your blog service owns what you poured your heart and soul into — your blog.

Every word of it.

And they can do WHATEVER they want with it.

They can shut you down quicker than you can blink.

• Did you use a graphic without permission? (This happens a lot!)

• Did they go out of business?

• Did they decide one of your posts violated their Terms of Service? (You DO read that, right?)

• Are you selling something from your blog or using it for commercial purposes? That may not be allowed! Again — read your TOS!

The fact is this:

You need to get your own domain name — you need it to be self-hosted and besides, if you are blogging for business, a free blogging service screams, “I’m not sure if this is going to work so I’m not putting MY money behind it!” That may not be the case in all instances but having your own domain name and hosting reeks of confidence in yourself and that YOU MEAN BUSINESS.

You need self hosting (HostGator, BlueHost etc) so YOU OWN THE CONTENT. Yes, it costs money. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a lot of money when you consider that you can be shut down as an innocent party and have to start all over from scratch.

Does that sound appealing?

I hope you heed this advice. I’d hate to see the heartache that can come from not knowing this. And while we’re at it — if you DO listen to me and go get a domain name and hosting — DON’T GET THEM FROM THE SAME COMPANY. Buy them from separate companies. I’ll blog about that in another post, later.

If you notice, there isn’t one link in this post to any website. I’m not selling anything or sneaking in an affiliate link JUST IN CASE you follow my advice. There isn’t a thing in it for me other than knowing that, in some small way, I may have changed your world a little!

I’ll get my wine and await my Presidential Telegram now.

Remember:

When you don’t own your content, you can lose it. And when you lose it you can pull your hair out. And when you pull your hair out people may think you’re a Howie Mandel fan.

Don’t be a Howie Mandel fan. (insert fist bump here)

(I apologize to Howie Mandel fans everywhere. Used as an analogy only — I’m a fan,too!)

The post Who owns your content? appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.

Do you ever have days you just want to hide?

I sure do! Right there under the bed! Unfortunately, that is no longer an option since I saw a wolf spider run under there at 2AM the other night.

Thank goodness this article isn’t about hiding OR spiders!!!

As a Social Media Manager, I have a process that I use to set clients up in our systems.  The first thing I do it set them up with a Gmail address for all the email that I’ll be getting from the various platforms — they certainly don’t need to see every person that is following them on Twitter or other platforms or get any of the spammy  messages — that’s MY job as their first line of defense in assisting them to be able to concentrate on their income-producing activities.

To that end, I need to be organized and efficient or I’ll be online 24/7!

I don’t need to spend ALL day logging in and out of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Gmail and HootSuite for each and every client! It’s plain crazy!!!

A great tool to handle multiple clients — and all the processes that come with it! — is a simple browser. Google Chrome!

Simple BROWSER, you say?  How can that BE?

Ah, Grasshopper, let me expound!

You know about cookies, right? No, not the cute little Keebler Elf type, although Ernie really is a chick magnet. Cookies in your COMPUTER.

Cookies are these little snippets of information that websites leave behind … like little breadcrumbs. I don’t mind cookies on trustworthy sites but they can be bothersome on sites that require log-ins because it means you can only have ONE of that website open at a time.

One Twitter.

One Facebook.

One Gmail.

One HootSuite.

You get the picture. Log in. Log out. Log in. Log out. Lather, rinse, repeat. ALL STINKIN’ DAY.

The previous option was to use different browsers. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, yada yada yada. Still a pain if you have more clients than browsers!

Ready for some magic? Let’s say the secret words …

Presto Change-o! Google Chrome to the rescue!

Google Chrome has a great feature called ‘Incognito’. Sounds rather James Bond-y, eh? EVEN BETTER!

If you don’t have Chrome, you can go to your Google account and download it.

Once you have it, open it — you’ll see:

Click ‘Tools’ (the wrench) in the upper right corner:

Choose ‘New Incognito Window’ and this opens:

You can open an incognito window  for each client and have tabs open for each platform/page you’d like!

Since it doesn’t utilize cookies you can have everything open that you need throughout the day and be more productive! Google Chrome can make your day all bright and shiny again.

How awesome is that?

Now take some of that time I just saved you by looking to the right sidebar and making sure you ‘like’ my Facebook Page, follow me on the Tweety Box and sign up for my feed so you don’t miss anything!

The post Let’s Go Incognito!! Google Chrome to the Rescue! appeared first on Simple & Sane | Simple Social Media Solutions | Simple Solutions for Everyday Life |.