Getting Your Facebook Page Updates Noticed

Found some great tips from Social Media Examiner about how to get your Facebook Page posts to rise above the others and get seen on your fan pages.  In an effort to keep you connected to simple but effective content to help guide you through the “noise” of social media, 2Degrees will often direct you to other sites that you can use in your Social Media efforts.  This is a good video and think you’ll find it helpful!  Happy Posting.

Committing Social Media Suicide or “All I Ever Need is Me”


Though hundreds of millions of people are streaming into online engagement (aka Social Media), one of the most common mistakes they still make is they talk way more than they listen.  It’s an easy trap to fall into.  Let’s face it, we find ourselves pretty interesting and important most of the time, don’t we.  We might not make that statement outright (though some might)  but inside we feel we have something to say.  And, for the most part, that’s what makes online engagement interesting…interesting people making interesting observations or sharing interesting perspectives or facts.  However, have you ever been in a place where everyone is talking at once.  NOISE.  Pure and simple noise.  And, no one leaves that environment better than he entered.  Isn’t the real gem of social media in the ability to ENGAGE with others?  That word connotes two way communication.  Someone sharing, someone listening.  Active listening is critical in relationships and pretty key in successful online engagement as well.

One of the guys I “listen” to is Brian Barela.  Brian is a social media expert who focuses on using social media in ministry.  In his blogpost entitled, Using Social Media to Listen and Build Influence, he gives some practical tips on how to engage more, and shout less.

I encourage clients to spend at least twice as much time listening and engaging with what others are doing than just shouting out what they are doing or why everyone should “check out their latest money-making, opinion shaping, can’t lose proposition, product or event.  In other words, as you scan the online content for what others are saying in your particular sphere of interest (city, hobby, affinity group, church, ministry, job, friends, family, et al) engage twice as much as you shout.  You may want to even start journaling to see how effective you are at listening and engaging.  If every Facebook entry you share (quotes, locations, dinner contents, etc.) isn’t offset by at least two likes, comments or sharing of someone else’s content, you might be the social party bully (and find no one is really listening).  Engage more…shout less.

That’s today’s 2Degree Top Of The Morning Tuesday Tip.

Do you live up to the Hype?

Have you taken time to read any online comments or recommendations of you and/or your organization? I just went to read some of the references people have written about me on LinkedIn. It was humbling but a good reminder of two things.

First, like it or not, you are often who others say you are when it comes to online identity. It might be the only thing that others see before making a decision on hiring, buying from or engaging with you.

Second, if your online presence doesn’t reflect who you really are it’s time to make some changes. One of the keys of using online engagement well is how you interact and respond with others. When the “real you” shines through your updates, interests, and comments people will engage with you. If you have to be someone you’re not online, it will eventually be exposed and because of the nature of the medium, your reputation will go down much faster than what it took to build. In other words BE YOU in all of your online activity.

I just bought an item on eBay that was advertised as being a name brand and it was about $15 cheaper than any of the same item out there. I’ve trafficked enough in online auctions to know that this seemed a bit strange. The seller was also new. All of the perfect conditions for a bad purchase. But, I thought “I was once a new seller and hoped someone wouldn’t hold that against me.”. So I pulled the trigger. This morning I got this email:

i need let you known the keyboards have not any [namebrand] case on it,if the products with a logo is difficult to ship,please kindly understand.
Thank you too much

I knew immediately that I bought a knockoff. And, when I went back online today, I saw that the sellers items now had the word “similar” in the description (I didn’t get that version).

Online presence and being in this for the long haul requires you to be real. I will be able to get this transaction reversed and I’ll buy another one. But, I’ll never buy another one from this seller. That’s tragic. I may have intentionally purchased a knockoff if I had known.

So, online, be yourself. Don’t be a knockoff because the ripple is not worth it. Reality doesn’t mean rudeness. But it does mean being up front, honest and truthful. Don’t be anyone online that you wouldn’t be if we met in person. You will have to live up to the hype, one way or the other.

That’s our 2degree difference maker today. Thoughts?

Chasing The Audience for news…

One of the key elements of Social Media is the instantaneous reporting of what’s going on around us.  News is no longer just received but it is now broadcast, real time.  It’s become a participatory sport.  And, things that would never have made the paper or through the lips of Walter Cronkite are now available for you and I to consume.  Twitter, Facebook and other social networking applications make it possible for you and I to contribute to the news.

The Economist just put out an interesting article, “The people formerly known as the audience:Social-media technologies allow a far wider range of people to take part in gathering, filtering and distributing news” and included this:

Rather than thinking of themselves as setting the agenda and managing the conversation, news organisations need to recognise that journalism is now just part of a conversation that is going on anyway, argues Jeff Jarvis, a media guru at the City University of New York. The role of journalists in this new world is to add value to the conversation by providing reporting, context, analysis, verification and debunking, and by making available tools and platforms that allow people to participate. All this requires journalists to admit that they do not have a monopoly on wisdom. “Ten years ago that was a terribly threatening idea, and it still is to some people,” says Mr Rusbridger. “But in the real world the aggregate of what people know is going to be, in most cases, more than we know inside the building.”

A Pew Research Centre survey published in March 2010 found that 37% of American internet users, or 29% of the population, had “contributed to the creation of news, commented about it or disseminated it via postings on social-media sites like Facebook or Twitter”. The figure is probably much higher today, because the Pew survey predates the introduction in April 2010 of the Facebook “Like” button, which makes sharing a news story (or anything else) as simple as clicking a mouse. Only a small proportion of these people provide content as well as commenting and sharing. But, as Mr Rosen points out, even if just 1% of the audience is now involved in the news system, that’s millions of new people. “It isn’t true that everyone is a journalist,” he says. “But a lot more people are involved.”

How are you using social media to get your news?  And, do you find yourself contributing more to news items you find online and sharing them with your friends?  We may not all be journalists but we are now “carrier pigeons” with a voice as to what gets shared.

Welcome to 2 Degrees

Welcome to 2 Degrees Media Strategies. 2 Degrees Media is focused on helping smaller organizations use social media to get their message heard amidst the noise of online chatter. Part of that is helping demystify the world of social media.

We mostly help faith-based organizations (churches, ministries) and small businesses and those engaged in the entertainment and related industries (film, radio, authors, etc). How can we help?

We offer the following services:

> training sessions ( 1/2 day, day long or customized) that focus on the basics of the major tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, video, podcasting and webinars) and how to develop a hub & outpost strategy to use the right tools for your organization.

> individual coaching sessions (by hour or for fixed periods) to help key influencers develop a strategy to utilize appropriate tools to help grow a fan base and increase online exposure (namely authors, leaders and content producers).

Call us at 501-766-0522 or email us at [email protected] to ask us about our services and how we can help you–because your message is too important not to be heard.