Tag Archives: Online Communities

Taking the pulse of the planet: How Twitter erases geography

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Summary:
A study that looked at more than a billion tweets and the geographic connections between 71 million users across the globe shows how Twitter has changed the way we communicate and helped erase geographical barriers.

Twitter is a very interesting tool that connects us all in so many ways. We can have real time conversations in the blink of an eye with anyone around the world. We can converse on topics and find people with similar interests in a heartbeat. News has changed as a result and society is changing as well. Marketing is no different. What a great way to find people who are like minded and connect with them.

 

Read the full article here:  http://gigaom.com/2013/06/18/taking-the-pulse-of-the-planet-how-twitter-erases-geography/

 

 

 

Twitter Advice From a Twitter Expert

Posted by: Nadine and Bob Johnston

Many use different ways of building their Twitter Accounts. Some pay money to get new followers, but felt that did not suit me, as it is a one time expense for each group, and there are no additional benefits. Stumbled across this link, and decided to try it. Spent the same money Id probably have used to buy followers, but have an ongoing advantage. So bought a copy of TweetAdder with multiple accounts up to five.

At the time had less than 800 followers, and it took me a time investment, but beginning in August 2012, by January 1st 2013 had in our two accounts totalling over 25,000 followers. In the program, you can search for users who follow others, as I have a LOT of Grand Canyon Photos on FAA, began searching followers of GrandCanyonNPS on twitter. It gave me thousand of followers who were interested in goings on in the Grand Canyon as well as those who go there. Figuring my photos might be better than theirs, even they may make purchases. So built an enthusiastic group of followers using my Twitter name @GrandCanyonPics … and Nadines @Nadine1939
(If this were the only benefit, Id have bought it.)

It also automatically follows, anyone who follows you. So, when others retweet our tweets, and they have followers who click to follow us as they like the pics, it follows them. This can go on, and on, and on, sometimes I get a dozen new followers, from some of the ReTweets my followers send.

Another great feature, You add Tweets into the program, and they get automatically sent out, the number per day you choose. In the beginning set to keep the tweets in the program and kept adding interesting ones that I found. Humor, Quotes, helpful info, etc… then interspersing tweets with our work. Id click Tweet in FAA, then instead of sending it, copy it into TweetAdder. That built a list of over 500 reoccuring tweets that kept repeating, so began saving a copy to the drive. Over time it has built up to 2000 tweets, and I have them sent in order, set so it removes each one. Then, when it runs out, load the copy of the list again. As it takes time to run through the list, they are not repeating the same ones as often as it would, if were set to Random Order.
(This saves so much of my time, if this were the only benefit, Id have bought it.)

It will also Re-Tweet or resend Tweets of others automatically, like added the GrandCanyonNPS to it, and it re-sends all GC tweets. Have added some others of interest also.

There are a lot of other features in TweetAdder, and am using all of them, too many to explain all here.
But, here is a link where you can check it out further: http://bit.ly/18HOVcU

Auto Sharing Buttons on FAA

When we use the buttons to share work, modify the text that is default. Any time we see the words sell or sale in these posts I think it puts people off a bit. They know we sell our work. Sharing our work is how I try to come across.
For example when you use the Facebook button it adds the “prints and posters for sale” into the box. I delete these words so that people want to click the link to look at the work not click it because they feel like they have to Buy. They are more likely to click.
On the Twitter button it says “I uploaded new artwork for sale”. I delete this line. use this many characters to say What a great green capture, or Daily find for Green art. etc. Then add tags at the end of the post that are #green #art #etc…
The less generic any of these postings look the more likely people will be engaged by them.

Omaste Witkowski

Promotion Fatigue Syndrome

Ok…I have been learning a lot in the last 2 weeks on FAA and Etsy and everywhere else….based on what I am seeing…I believe we will all encounter “promotion fatigue” soon if we do not do certain things to prevent it.
What is “promotion fatigue”? It is when we promote the same people and/or images over and over to the same people on social media. It includes over-pinning and over-tweeting.
Once it sets in….your hits will start going down and that means less sales potential.

Solutions:

  1. You MUST be actively gaining more followers…I am getting about 25 a day on Pinterest now and about 20 on Twitter…you need “fresh people” daily….you will lose followers if they get tired of seeing the same stuff all the time….and if you aren’t actively acquiring more….no hits.
  2. Promoting 6 images at a time is too much and will lead to “promotion fatigue” very soon.
  3. Throw in pins/tweets NOT about art throughout the day…quotes on Twitter….room designs on Pinterest. People have a short attention span…a zillion images of art and photography and guess what…they unfollow you…they are bored. So we need to only re-pin and re-tweet non art/photography stuff MOST of the time…throw in some of ours now and again.
  4. Space your pinning and tweeting out…do some at say 8 am…then some more at 10 am….12 am…2 pm….never more than 4 – 5 pins/tweets at a time. (I am screwing up here too and changing my strategy)….so if the threads stay as is…promote 6..I will do 2 at 8 am…2 at 10 am…2 at 2 pm…you get the picture. I may change the times up as needed…but the will be SPACED out!
  5. Take a day off every week from promoting ….for me it will be Sunday….

Gaining Relevant & Qualified Twitter Followers

On Twitter…I find a big hitter artist…like Matt LeBlanc for instance…who has thousands of followers…I then hand pick people from his list that look like average folks and not other artists or big businesses…I look for people who are FOLLOWING more than they have followers…numbers under 1000….regular looking folks…not artists or businesses…and I follow them…then every 48 hours, I go to http://www.justunfollow.com and I get rid of anyone who didn’t follow me back. So on a Thursday night I will go and follow 100 people and then Saturday night I go to http://www.justunfollow.com and remove dead weight. I don’t do any following in the interim. After I unfollow on that Saturday night, I go and follow 100 more people from a big hitter…then Monday night I unfollow again…You can unfollow 25 for free…but that wasn’t enough for me…so I am paying the 10 a month for unlimited……you can have 2 accounts for that 10.00 a months…so it’s super cheap for me at 5.00 a month.- Sharon Cummings

Pinterest Tips

  1. BIG TIP: When you go to the main Pinterest board..upper left sign that looks like a 3 lined equal sign…there is a drop down menu….select “art”, “design” or “home decor” and repin and like people’s stuff where YOUR art would look good…or art that is anything similar to yours in color…style..subject matter because guess what? People are actively looking for stuff for their homes there…it’s a site for the engaged, newly married and new home owners…if they like a room that your art would look good in…repin that! If someone likes a painting with similar colors as some as yours…repin it!! They WILL look at your stuff too and they just might like YOURS better! AND…Designers are in those sections too trolling for art for their projects…You will start THINKING this way…it will come second nature soon!
  2. REMEMBER: Spend at least 5 minutes a day repinning other people’s stuff…this brings new traffic to us all…this is KEY!
    Just go to a section like ART or DESIGN and “like” and “repin” things you like..it’s fun!
  3. DONT FORGET TO PROMOTE YOURSELF TOO!! I increased my sales by promoting myself to Pinterest, Stumble and Twitter….just space it out….I do like 5 in the a.m…..5 pieces mid day sometime and 5 pieces at night along with Pinning non-FAA and re-tweeting non FAA people each time…this is what has worked! Will all of us promoting each other on top of ourselves the results should be even greater!
  4. TIP: Make sure your Pinterest portfolio is something that people will WANT to follow...if all you have in there is one board with this groups artwork…no one is going to want to follow you except maybe your Aunt and your Grandma…
    What do people like on Pinterest…cute animals, beautiful art, flowers, fashion, home decor….food/recipes….make boards specifically for what people like and get pinning filling those board with BEAUTIFUL images….so when people check you out…they actually want to follow you.
  5. Also when you are in the Art, Design and Home Decor categories liking and repinning ….go to some people’s boards and follow a few of their boards…you dont have to follow all…just some like their art boards or home decor boards…this is how you increase FOLLOWERS…

By Sharon Cummings

Twitter Limits on Following

A quote directly from twitter: Following (account-based): Once an account is following 2,000 other users, additional follow attempts are limited by account-specific ratios.

I couldn’t follow more then one or two a day for over a year and it happened as soon as I hit 2000, I took someone’s advice and had my followers and following almost the same number but that didn’t help. BUT recently I went back and unfollowed alot of old or inactive ones and so far I’ve been able to keep going. It’s gets harder at the 2000 mark. I won’t follow more then about 50 a day because I am nervous to be restricted again. What sucked about it was I wasn’t able to follow back people so I would get these notifications saying someone followed me and had to look like a jerk and never follow back. – Laura Carter