Snapchat 101: Q&A Style

 

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a free mobile app that lets you snap and send “disappearing”

photos to friends from your smartphone. This really popular among 13 -25

year olds, When you send a snap, you put a timer on it, anywhere from one

to 10 seconds. When the recipient opens the message, the countdown

begins, and the photo will disappear after the time runs out.

As of May 1 Snapchat has added chatting feature in their app, you simply

press and hold to share live video – and Chat face-to-face.

Really! Why is it so popular?

Snapchat lets you give a quick view what you are doing at that moments
from your smartphone, a short glimpse into your life.Why people like to use
it? My reasoning says, it releases you of the burden of creating proof that
you are here and you did that, which most social media sites have. 

Well, do the pictures really go away?

Good question. Your friends can take a snapshot of your picture and so can
you, but everytime your friend takes a snapshot, it will show up in your
activity log.The company says once a snap is opened and has disappeared,
they no longer has that data on its servers a snap might stay on is if it’s un-
opened, it will remain in queue, and on the company’s servers, for 30 days.

What platforms can this work on?
Snapchat runs on iOS and Android devices and it’s completely free. Right
now the app is not compatible with Windows phone.

Okay, I have downloaded the app, how do I send pictures to friends?

Three essential steps to follow, first, you click a photo from within the app; then, you set the timer in the lower left-hand corner of the screen; and finally, you tap on the arrow on the lower right-hand corner to send to a friend or group of friends. As of May, 2014, Snapchat introduced Chat, Swipe right on a friend’s name in your inbox to start chatting When you leave the chat screen, messages viewed by both you and your friend will be cleared.You can also use Snapchat for text messaging too.  

Really! is that it?

Snapchat is meant for fun, and share quick glimpse of your lives with your
friends, It really does’nt go more deeper than that You can add emojis,
filters, time weather features to your pictures.

 

Social Media Explained - Over a cup of Coffee

What is your Social Media Wardrobe?

The Secret Life Of Your Facebook Page...

Well, as I begin penning my thoughts, I am sure hundreds and even more have been already written read and published on how crack the code and increase your presence on Facebook.
Here is what I would like to say for once, I wish there was a trick! There are no shortcuts to making your presence felt in Facebook, but there are ways by which you can be very sure your Facebook page is going to shine.

Honesty, Honesty, Honesty!
 Social media is building relationships with your clients, and we all know for any relationships to work we have to be honest with each other. What your customers would like to see on their news feed is honest and clear information about the company and products. If there are freebies and prizes to win, there should actually be one! Don't do it to earn a like or page click. Remember, "The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty." - Zig Ziglar

Continuous Engagement
Social Media means to actually be Sociable, make connections with your customers and potential customers. There should be continuous engagements with your customers on current and relevant topics related to your product.  This will directly affect the number of likes for your page. Make your customers your family and create engaging conversations with them. Repeat your promotional messages, so it creates an impact in your customers mind. 'Repetition makes reputation and reputation makes customers.'

Page Growth
If you are creating great content and distributing it effectively, then page growth will happen, the next step is to distribute this content with paid boosting in News Feed to your relevant audience. If your targets the right people, then this will lead to increased engagement and growth in fans on the page.

 Not A Broadcast Platform!
Yes, and I repeat this again, your Facebook page is not a broadcast platform, if you have been guilty of doing that, I am sure you have realized it's not working, so stop doing it right now. Make relationships with your clients, tell them your story, people connect through stories and they will remember your story. Share your (company's) vision and passion with your readers, and they might just bond with you! Always remember the hero of your story is your audience and not you, focus on them and how your efforts can benefit them.

Lastly.... your Facebook page, is your baby, it demands consistent commitment, if you are sincere, your returns will be much higher in the long run!

Why I like Hootsuite...

Why I like Hootsuite...

Recently doing my own research of the popular “Social Media Management System” tools, I decided to make my own little list of them based on what I think I like in each of them.

Hootsuite, was launched in 2008 by Invoke Media, and ever since has been on top charts of social media tools.

One Place To Monitor Multiple Streams:

Hootsuite let's you to manage so many different social networks, in one place, currently they let you manage:

• Twitter
• Facebook Profiles, Events, Groups & Pages
• LinkedIn Profiles, Pages & Groups
• Google+ Pages (currently not personal profiles)
• Foursquare
• Myspace
• WordPress blogs
• Mixi (Japanese Social Network)
• Vimeo, via.me, reddit, StumbleUpon, Instagram, edocr, tumblr, evernote, flickr, get Satisfaction, mailchimp, slideshare, storify (via 3rd party apps)
• Many more!

It also lets you add more than one of the same network. This can be quite handy if you manage multiple Twitter channels, or Facebook pages.

One Post Across Multiple Platforms:

 Hootsuite allows you to post a quick update to multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook profile and page, Google+ page, LinkedIn profile, company page and groups and more! 

This is a great time saver if you want to get an flash message out to your customers quickly.

Free Weekly Email Reports:
Hootsuite sends you a weekly analytics report each week, in an email with a pdf attachment of your click summaries. It gives you graphs showing:

1. Number of clicks per day
2. Geographical information on the people clicking through
3. Top referrers
4. Most popular links 

I think it is useful to give you a brief overview as to how you are doing on a weekly basis. 

Your Own Customer Service:
Hootsuite is your own personal Customer Service in the digital world, especially for your Twitter account. Custom messages can be delegated through Hootsuite to different team members and these can be managed overall by an administrator. Hootsuite lets you to store draft FAQ messages that you can post when asked by your customers.