Exactly one month ago, I created the "Karl Ribas Consulting" Facebook Fan-Page as a way to connect with my industry followers and friends outside the confines of my personal Facebook profile - you can actually read more about this here. In any event, I thought today would be a great day to recap my experience thus far, and share with you the little bit that I’ve learned.

My experience with managing my own Facebook Fan-Page has been absolutely great. I’ve managed to build up a following of 200+ very supportive fans, and have been able to contribute at least once every day. The best part about this whole experience, however, is that I am no longer annoying my audiences with content that isn’t meant for them. Before my fan-page, I found that I was annoying personal friends with posts pertaining to work, as well as annoying work friends with updates pertaining to my personal life. This new arrangement works so much better for me, and the people I connect with.

Moving forward, another perk to having a Facebook Fan-Page is that I can actually get to know my industry followers a bit better. Facebook provides Fan-Page owners with what is called "Facebook Insights" - a series of analytics and graphs that highlight useful details pertaining to one’s fans, and how they interact with the information that is being published. With this information, I can see the number of fans that I have, the age and sex of my fans, how my fans have grown over time, the number of interactions my page has encountered over time, and a multitude of other general stats that are specific to my page and fans.

How does knowing these kinds things help me, exactly? Well, on the surface this information doesn’t tell me a whole lot. However, if I put my marketing cap on and dig a little deeper, I can find a few tid-bits of information that will help me to better manage my page. For example, one thing I noticed when reviewing these stats is that I get a much better response from fans when I post questions or highly opinionated statements. Therefore, if my goal is to create interactions and engage my fans with conversation, which it is, then I should post more questions and opinions as opposed to facts, tips, or links to articles. It makes sense really.

In closing, the following are a few snap-shots taken over the weekend which highlight some of the data that I am given access too. Enjoy.

Labels: karl-ribas-consulting, social-marketing

Hootsuite, for those that may not be familiar with it, is a free, kickass social networking web application that provides social media users with a way to send updates to their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ping.FM and WordPress accounts with just one publish. However, while publishing to multiple social channels is certainly a wonderful perk, in my opinion, it is not what makes this application amazing. What makes Hootsuite so amazing is the suite of secondary tools that accompany one's free account - tools that make managing multiple social media channels across multiple client campaigns very easy to do.

What are some of these tools? Some of my favorite features include the ability to create personalized Twitter and Facebook streams for monitoring updates (created using columns like TweetDeck), the ability to create and then schedule tweets to be published in the future, the ability to track click-data and see how people are interacting with your messaging, and the ability to auto-publish using RSS feeds. For a complete list of other tools and features, I encourage you to visit the Hootsuite site.

I am proud user of Hootsuite, and have been for nearly a year now. Hootsuite is a platform that I highly recommend using if you're a person using Twitter or Facebook for marketing purposes - as a way to engage customers or build a bigger, better brand for yourself or your company. I personally use Hootsuite multiple times each and every day (including weekends) as an easy way to manage and maintain control over my personal social marketing initiatives, as well as those of my clients. Using Hootsuite will make your social marketing life so much easier.

With that being, as is the case with any tool, program, or application, there is always room for improvements; there is always something that can be tweaked or added that will greatly improve the overall user-experience. The following are 6 ideas and suggestions that I'd like to offer to the @Hootsuite team, as I believe these would make fine additions to an already superb product.

1. Automatic Private Message to New Followers
I would love the ability to send an automatic direct message (private message) to each new Twitter follower I receive. This feature would come in handy as I could create and automatically send semi-personalized messages to my new followers - something like "thanks for following me" or "I'm an Internet marketer and post on these topics". I could also use this option to engage them with direct marketing messaging. Currently, I have to enlist the services of a platform called SocialOomph to do this, but would much rather keep all my activity under one roof... the Hootsuite roof.

2. Allow for more than 10 RSS/Atom Feeds
Hootsuite has this amazing feature that allows users to link RSS feeds to their account and create custom messaging so that when an RSS feed is updated a tweet or update is automatically generated and published to selected social networks. This is a great tool for syndicating a company blog and/or an industry news site directly into one's twitter or Facebook stream.

However, the problem that I have with this feature is that Hootsuite limits users to only 10 feeds. Obviously, having an unlimited number of feeds is probably out of the question, but I strongly feel that 10 feeds is too limiting, especially when considering that their platform was built to help social marketers manage multiple campaigns at the same time. I would love to see Hootsuite extend this limit to something like 20 or 30 feeds per account. Currently, I am using TwitterFeed to manage my overflow of RSS messaging, but, as I previously said, I'd much rather keep such activity under one roof.

3. Provide a Post After or Post-fix Option for RSS/Atom Feeds
When customizing RSS syndication for your account, Hootsuite allows users to enter a 20 character prefix that will be added to each of their auto tweets/updates. What I'd like to see provided is an option that will allow users the ability to also add a 20 character post-fix to each tweet/update. This option is currently available with TwitterFeed, and I love using it. I use this feature to better customize my auto-messaging by appending a "call to action" or a closing statement to each of my RSS updates.

4. Create a Full Version iPhone App
Yes, Hootsuite has a downloadable iPhone app and yes it is extremely cool. The app syncs directly with the main web application, and provides users with the ability to manage their Hootsuite account via an iPhone. However, the problem that I have with the Hootsuite iPhone app and one I'd like to see addressed is that it is very limiting in that it only works with Twitter, and none of the other social networking channels the main platform works with. I'd gladly pay for a full version iPhone app - one that allowed me to access all my tabs and publish to multiple social networks - and I'm fairly certain many others would as well.

5. Side-ways Keyboard compatibility with iPhone
This would seem like a no-brainer, but for whatever reason Hootsuite doesn't utilize the iPhone's side-ways keyboard compatibility - where if the phone is turned on its side the keyboard and message area also turn and become wider. This feature would make it easier for fat-thumbed individuals, like myself, to enter updates.

6. Spreadsheet Upload for Future Tweets
One of the coolest features, if not the coolest, that Hootsuite offers is the ability to create tweets / updates and schedule them to be posted at any day and time in the future. This is great tool for say small businesses that wish to participate on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, but are very limited in the amount of time they can allocate to doing so. Small business can create their Twitter and Facebook messaging when time allows, and schedule them to be posted during those times that aren't convenient to do so.

One addition to this great tool that I'd personally like to see made available is the ability to create and upload future tweets/updates via a spreadsheet. I currently use a spreadsheet now to manage my messaging (as I imagine most people do when planning social marketing campaigns using Twitter and Facebook), and it would be amazing if users had the option to simply upload their excel file directly to Hootsuite. This would eliminate having to copy and paste each update separately, which would make me and other users extremely happy.

What do you think? If you're a current Hootsuite user, which ideas and features do you have or want to see implemented?

Labels: social-marketing, tools

I've been a fan of Tamar Weinberg for quite a while now. I enjoy reading her blog, tweets, facebook updates, and the little bit of what I've been able to read thus far from her new book, The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. She is an expert in every sense of the word, and is a big part of the reason why I now have a "Karl Ribas Consulting" fan-page on Facebook. Let me explain.

In our industry, "friend requests" and "follows" from colleagues, conference buds, or even from people you've never heard of before but share the same job description as is quite common. I've learned to accept this. I understand that building up social profiles is a big part of what it is we do for ourselves and our clients, and therefore I play ball. However, I've always felt that Facebook was a different animal altogether.

In a recent blog post, Tamar touched on a topic that was, coincidently, something I too had been dealing with for quite some time - handling work-related friend requests on Facebook. Tamar writes:

"One of the questions I get asked very often is how employees are supposed to cope with incoming friend requests from their clients, bosses, and individuals they have a working relationship with through their place of employ. While there's no clearly defined rule (it's a question of personal preference), I usually urge the person not to be resentful or offended if the relationship gets ported over to a professional network or other public space (such as a Facebook Fan page)."

For me personally, Facebook isn't a social media platform where I feel that numbers even matter - at least when it comes to personal pages. I would much rather have a smaller, more relevant list of friends that know me, interact with me on regular basis, and understand my need for privacy, than to have my personal life syndicated to individuals that don't, or otherwise became my friend to learn and share work-related information. My problem, up until a few days ago, was determining where to draw the line. I didn't want to snub my fellow marketers by ignoring their friend requests, but at the same time I knew my personal Facebook page was not the appropriate medium to share "work-related" updates. This is where the Fan Page comes in.

As Tamar outlined in her post, I created a Facebook Fan Page for the following reasons:

1. A Fan Page allows me to engage my business contacts on a professional level, thereby providing website design and marketing related tips, tricks, ideas, and updates, without annoying my family and friends.

2. A Fan Page provides business contacts with a way to connect with me through Facebook that doesn't otherwise subject them to updates regarding my personal life, such as which video games I'm playing, TV shows I'm watching, movies I'm renting, food I'm cooking, or restaurants I'm dining out at. These contacts are only interested in my life as it pertains to work and through a Fan Page they can get that information, and only it.

3. A Fan Page allows me the freedom of being both personal and professional on Facebook. I am no longer having to second guess my updates wondering if they were too personal, or too business related for my stream.

With that being said, if you'd like to connect with me on Facebook and engage in some true geek-speak from a website design and marketing point-of-view, then I certainly encourage you to check out my new business Fan Page, and become a fan today.

Labels: karl-ribas-consulting, social-marketing

I just finished creating my NEW Google Profile - because I am a Google / social tool like that - and just wanted to share some of my thoughts about it.

First off, a Google profile is a new "service / project" offering from Google where users can create their very own online profile featuring their picture, bio, contact information, photos, likes, dislikes, etc. ... essentially everything that you'd expect from an online profile. The cool thing about having one of these profiles is that Google will include them in their search results for whenever someone searches your name.

So, let's say that you have a classmate, co-worker, or significant other from the past that wants to see what you've been up to lately or wants to get in contact with you. Now, pending a Google search for your name they'll be able to do just that. In fact, in my opinion, this service becomes extremely valuable for those people who are without a website and/or personal blog as chances are they have very little exposure within the search results to begin with... even for their own name. A Google profile also provides another option for those people who choose not to be apart of social communities such as MySpace or Facebook, but yet still want to be found.

You can view my Google Profile here:

http://www.google.com/profiles/karl.ribas

And, let's not forget about small businesses. I mean really, really tiny businesses where there is little need nor desire nor income to create an actual website. A Google profile could be used to create a 1-page reference that highlights the details of their products, services and contact information. This page can then be listed on business cards and other offline marketing.

Another idea just came to me (thought: maybe I should filter these ideas before publishing). A Google profile could easily be used as a way to push "negative" search listings further down in the results. For instance, let's say a search for your name or company brings up negative exposure such as a rip-off report or complaint to the BBB... one way to minimize this sort of PR nightmare is to flood the search engines with profile pages and other relevant pages in hopes that over time they actually outrank these negative instances and bump them to page 2 or beyond. Being that a Google Profile is likely to be listed on page 1 of Google automatically, that only leaves 9 other positions to worry about.

Just my $0.02.

Labels: social-marketing

So, this past weekend while riding shotgun - returning home from my bud's college graduation - I started to think about how I could use Twitter to build a bigger, better brand for myself. I know, I know. What brand, right? But seriously, "Karl Ribas" may not be a Nike, Ford, or an Oprah by any means, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't do everything I can to get my name out there. And, that goes for you too.

Regardless if you're trying to sell a product, service, or in my case oneself, branding is a huge part of any marketing campaign and should be incorporated whenever possible.

My biggest problem when it comes to branding using Twitter is that Twitter does very little to actually help you. Aside from a basic template and a few color options, there really is no way to incorporate a logo, detailed description, or other online references - major components of a branding campaign. Well, that is until now.

Check it out. My NEW twitter profile: http://twitter.com/Karl_Ribas

Using Twitter's background-image upload feature, I was able to upload a single graphic that incorporated my name, photo, contact information, and online references of where others could gather more information about me.

Mission accomplished.

Labels: social-marketing

Just now, while trying to access my Twitter account, I was interrupted with a weird login session (for employees only) as well as another screen prompting a 401 Authorization Error. Weird. Maybe Twitter has had its last Tweet.

Here are a couple of screen shots.

Hat tip to Peter.

UPDATE: Twitter is up and Running Again.

Labels: commentary-rants, social-marketing

So here I am at home messing around with Google Chrome - the jury is still out on whether or not I like the new browser - when I decided to place a couple of vanity searches in order to monitor organic positions and listings. I do this every once and while - check to see where my web site and blog rank in regards to specific queries - and to my surprise I came across something new... at least for me anyway.

I placed a search on Yahoo! For "Karl Ribas" and came across this pretty cool profile listing courtesy of LinkedIn:

Pretty cool, right? The listing shows my photo, my location, which industry I work in, where I'm currently employed, and my special talents relating to my work. How exciting.

Again, I'm not sure if these types of listings are new or old, but it's the first time I've ever seen it and so I thought I would share. Do you have a LinkedIn account? Do you have a similar profile listing that shows up for when your name is searched?

Labels: social-marketing

As if I didn't already have enough things currently wasting my time, a few weeks ago I decided to start messing around with Twitter - a newer social networking website that allows you to make 140 character comments to the world about what's going on in your life at that exact moment - and since then I've become somewhat hooked. I'm not exactly "twitter-happy" or twittering every second of my day, but I do chime in every now and then with my thoughts and happenings. Aside from some serious lag-time that occurs mid-day (mostly attributed to Twitter's growing pains), Twitter is easy, fun, and some-what relevant.

Currently I've arranged it so that I'm only following individuals within the search marketing space, as well as my some of my personal friends. However, if you're one of the millions who also has a Twitter account, than hit me up. I'd love to follow those with something interesting to say... especially search related. Twitter offers more than just an interesting way to communicate with friends and colleagues... it has its education advantages too. I'm constantly receiving relevant search news as it breaks from many of the best sources in the industry.

In any event, if you find yourself dying to know more about the man, the myth, and the legend that is Karl Ribas, first off you should seek psychiatric help. But, if that fails, and you still can't rid the urges, then by all means... I welcome you to follow me on Twitter. I can't promise a bunch of search talk, but if you want to know which game I'm watching, cigar I'm smoking, or what my crazy dog is up to, then this is the ticket for you.

My twitter URL is: http://twitter.com/karl_ribas/. Happy stalking!

Labels: karl-ribas, social-marketing

So I know I've never mentioned this before, but I really, really, and I mean REALLY love the Del.icio.us bookmarking website. Aside from leveraging it in association with a well-rounded social bookmarking campaign, the site is essentially very useful and easy-to-use.

Del.icio.us, for those of you who may not know, is an online bookmarking tool where users can record all their favorite websites, tools, and other online resources... essentially, one can record any web address that they want to remember for future use. What I believe makes this tool so much better than say the standard "favorites" feature on your browser is that with Del.icio.us, your bookmarks are saved into an online account, and accessible from everywhere. This is a huge plus if you're geek like myself and happen to work from multiple locations such as an office and at home.

How I use Del.icio.us
I happen to use Del.icio.us daily... yeah man, seriously... that often. And, it's so easy. I spend anywhere from a half-an-hour to an hour each day reading through my collection of industry news, gossip, and happenings... aka industry blogs and newsletters. During this time, if I come across anything of importance, say like a new tool, theory, or SEM strategy, I'll bookmark it. To make things even easier, I've downloaded the "My Del.icio.us" and "post to Dec.icio.us" browser buttons (for IE and FireFox). These buttons make bookmarking so much easier as one does not have to actually visit the Del.icio.us website to add a listing. Instead, with one quick click of the "post to Del.icio.us" button (followed by a login and password session - one per day) I can bookmark any page instantly, and move on.

What I tend to do is bookmark all of the things I want to bookmark each day, and then designate some time at the end of each month to editing, tagging, and organizing my listings into their appropriate category. For example, I have a "search engine optimization" tag that houses all of my search engine optimization bookmarks. And, the same for when it comes to Pay Per Click bookmarks... and so on, and so on. Categorizing and labeling bookmarks is a big part of what makes this tool so valuable. How relevant would your list of bookmarks be if they were buried within your account? You'd never be able to find and use them.

Here is a screen-shot of the how I tag and categorize my bookmarks. As you'll see, I go into great detail when it comes to labeling my listings as locating them quickly is something that is important to me. To do this efficiently, I have utilized the "bundles" option and separate my labels into categories such as "Graphic Design", "Internet Marketing", and "Website Design".

How you can use Del.icio.us

1) One way to use Del.icio.us is to use it exactly how I do... bookmark everything that you feel is important to know or remember, and then later spend some time sorting it into their appropriate categories. As you're doing so, you'll essentially be compiling a library full of online tools, references, and resources relating to your specific industry. For example, in my online travels, I had found and bookmarked several guides pertaining to local search marketing. As it turns out, I currently have no use for such information, but nonetheless I have it and can reference it should I ever need to.

2) Another interesting way to use Del.icio.us is as a means for researching specific topics. Let's take the Internet marketing industry for example. If you were someone that was new to website design, development, and marketing and wanted to get a better understanding of how to improve your website's search engine placement, Del.icio.us makes for a good starting point. Here's my thought... because Del.icio.us accounts are available to the public - meaning you can view what others have bookmarked - you could simply find a well-known search marketer's Del.icio.us account, say mine, Matt McGee's, or even Tamar Weinberg's, and view everything that they've found to be important on a variety of topics. Instantly, you would have access to many of the same tools and guides that we use and find valuable. That to me sounds like a short-cut if I ever knew one.

3) Last, but certainly not least, Del.icio.us is one of those tools that can be leveraged to promote one's own website or cause. Bookmarking your own website, blog, press releases, or tools can increase the chances that they are not only found by Del.icio.us users with similar interests, but by search engines as well. Simply put, search engines crawl and index Del.icio.us accounts on a regular basis - just as they would with any other website - and their findings (aka links to your website) could in fact be used to influence search engine rankings... regardless of their use of the "no follow" tag. Hey, a link is a link.

Labels: social-marketing

Just a quick FYI to anyone into Social Networking / Marketing... I finally got around to creating a "LinkedIn" profile this past week and am looking to build up my network. I know, I know... I'm like a million years behind the rest of the SEM world when it comes to social mediums, but that's just how I am I guess... a late adapter.

If you're interested, hit up my profile and link up with me.

Labels: karl-ribas, social-marketing

I just came across a relatively new blog today that I feel is worth plugging. The blog is titled "Social Media Marketing" and, as you can guess, it promises to deliver regular news, updates, and commentary that is specific to Social Media Optimization and Marketing.

This blog is authored by Joe Williams (whom also blogs at SEM Consultancy) and Kevin Gibbons (whom also blogs at SEOptimise), and is written to gather the attentions of current Social Media marketers as well as those looking for more information on using social media platforms as a basis for promoting their websites.

If you're among those who'd like to keep updated on SMO/M, this blog is for you! Be sure to check it out!

Labels: shout-outs, social-marketing

In light of KidDisco's post, I've decided it was time for me to jump aboard the "MyBlogLog" bandwagon and create an account. Actually, the truth is that I've planned on creating a MyBlogLog account for some time now, but, as with most things, it's really hard to set aside the time needed to explore many of these social media avenues. Disco did however persuade me to act now as opposed to later. Thanks bud!

You can check out my profile and blog's community here:

Karl Ribas' Profile on MyBlogLog
The Klog Blog MyBlog Community

Now comes the task of getting community members. I mean that's whole purpose of these social media inventions... to share information with a community of friends, colleagues, or people of similar mindsets... not to mention sell them off when they get popular ($10 million is great. It's no YouTube deal... but not bad at all). So, how does one build a community? I could just sit back and let a community build itself, but that doesn't seem like much fun. Let me take another approach.

As you may recall, late last week Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim opened up a contest where he is giving away a free Microsoft Zune to one lucky member of his MyBlogLog community. Pure bribery is his strategy, but a pretty sweet offer nonetheless. I of course was persuaded to join.

Shortly after Andy's announcement, ShoeMoney being the contest extraordinaire that he is, fired back with his own campaign. Jeremy claims that he could gather more members to his community than Andy could by simply using an avatar photo of Nicole, a sexy blonde in a tight white "ShoeMoney" shirt. Obviously, his theory is that sex out-sells technology (and just about everything else), and frankly I'd have to agree with him. I joined his community too.

I've decided if I'm going build up my community as quickly as these guys are, I'm going to offer something cooler than a Microsoft Zune and sexier than Nicole... and I have! Here's my offer:

Simply join my community on or before February 16th (when the Andy's and Jeremy's contest ends) and you'll be eligible to win 1 of 5 signature Karl Ribas.com wooden Klogs. That's right! I'm giving away a total of 5 Klogs to 5 randomly chosen members. All you have to do to win... is join!

Alright... so my offering isn't as arousing (no pun intended... ok it was intended) as Jeremy's or as expensive as Andy's, but a Klog is still a worth-while prize. Just ask these guys:

Mr. SEO: Joe Balestrino
Michael Roebuck
Rob Snell

FYI: I've also added the traditional "MyBlogLog" widget to the bottom of the right navigation. Feel free to check that out too!

What are you waiting for... join my The Klog community.

Labels: karl-ribas-consulting, social-marketing