Soulati-’TUDE – Blog

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @Danny Brown I don't mind having it on there. I just don't want it on there TWICE!

 @Danny Brown  @ginidietrich I'm sure that was VERY sour grapes on my part, right? I was making whine.

They usually are helpful; they have helped me, too. You are right.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @ginidietrich Sorry to hear you're having issues, miss (though I disagree on the "help because of numbers" thing, seen lots of people be helped personally by them). :/

 @Danny Brown  @ginidietrich I think I'm practically done trying to figure out the complexity that is Feedblitz. They have no intuitive nothing; very challenging for someone who knows enough about backend to be dangerous. That's no good. Tutorials leave something to be desired too.

Like when someone wants to be on Oprah and then they are; the prep for that wasn't there...feedburner to feedblitz migration.

They try to be helpful and probably offer YOU a ton with all your subscribers. Meanwhile, the small fry well, uhh, we're just pan drippings.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @ginidietrich One of the cool things Feedblitz does is allow you to customize what your feed looks like. So, you can add Related Articles, Latest Articles, and HTML for call-to-actions (something I'm messing with currently), so there can be no doubt who the post belonged to and where it originated. :)

 @Danny Brown  @ginidietrich I love this feature; I'll be adding this to a future post...even though you didn't know it, Gini; smart!! And, Neal Schaffer of Windmill Networking always adds an archived post to his writings in the event he's scraped (which just happened and deterred the scraper).

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @ginidietrich I'm guessing it's similar to what I use, a little script that puts a Copyright on the feed to deter scrapers.

 @ginidietrich Just emailed a screen shot to you! It's what appears on email subscribe.

 @jonbuscall  @AnnHawkins I would really like to learn of examples of businesses that have seen good ROI from Facebook pages; especially smaller businesses. Can this happen with PPC to support a page?

 @AnnHawkins  @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Awesome comment Ann. I agree there's no one best platform for any aspect of digital marketing / communications. I think you have to identify your goals and then look at the tactics / channels you can use. And then evaluate, of course and reposition if necessary. I dropped Facebook after a year for my business because it didn't feel right. I've found Twitter and podcasting to work best for me. 

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall Thank you Jayme - I'm a great fan of Jon's podcasts! 

 @AnnHawkins  @jonbuscall Thank you again for your intelligence. Very much appreciate what you've offered up here.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall Interesting comparison between LinkedIn Groups and G+ Communities. When I started The Social Media Show I decided not to start a LinkedIn Group and chose a G+ Community instead. This is because its a different product and has a different audience.

I find this whole discussion slightly disturbing because there is no 'best' platform. There is only what works for you, your service or product and the aims you have. 

As far as I'm concerned anything that is just pushing marketing messages on whatever platform is bad. Its great to see Lego and Coke doing interesting things on Facebook but if small companies are encouraged to do "social media marketing" on G+ instead of creating innovative, original content, in the long run, it won't be any different to tragic Facebook Pages and spammed out LinkedIn Groups.

 @jonbuscall  @annhawkins Absolutely! LinkedIn Groups rock! I was thinking merely of company pages! Those are dead zones.  When you compare the opportunity for company pages on Google+ v. LinkedIn, I believe that would make it Apples to Apples, I see a huge expanse of negative comparison.

I hope someone else might weigh in to see if that makes any sense.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing OBVIOUSLY you cannot help me. Meaner.

 @jonbuscall  @AnnHawkins And, my tail is wagging low to ground meekly...no chastisement here, Jon...just know you, your product, your smarts and want to see you succeed where I know it can be done. Let's Skype tomorrow or Thursday?

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @AnnHawkins Thanks Ann, and Thanks Jayme. I guess I've not really embraced G+ enough. I feel duly chastised @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing :=) Any help would be gratefully appreciated. 

 @AnnHawkins  @jonbuscall You're correct. I blanketed a statement too broadly.  We do know Jon on Twitter; that's where we have a very solid relationship. The point I made poorly is that I'd like to see Jon's solid smarts all over G+ esp with his book and amazing podcasting skills.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall  I can't agree that people don't know Jon and that's the essential difference between Twitter and G+ . We know Jon on Twitter as himself and that's fun and interesting but on G+ its a different story. I think the two work well together and Twitter certainly suits people who are more prepared to stop marketing and start engaging. 

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jennwhinnem Because when G+ first came out, you could only use a Gmail account with it. So, that's what I did. But, later, they allowed you to set up G+ accounts through Google Apps emails, which is what my business email runs off of. Because all of my business connections know THAT address, I kept getting invites there...and still do. Now, I just need to combine them or delete one. But, Google doesn't make it really easy.

 @lauraclick  @jennwhinnem Why do yo have two personal G+ profiles?

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jennwhinnem Totally. And the two profiles I mentioned are my two PERSONAL ones. Remember how they didn't allow Google Apps accounts until much later? If you count my business page too, that makes three. Yikes!

 @Danny Brown  @AnnHawkins  @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall I totally did steal it. It's a monthly thing with us and it is super popular!

 @jonbuscall  @AnnHawkins  @Danny Brown http://annhawkins.com/2013/01/you-cant-grow-a-business-by-yourself/

And, here is Ann's url and a blog post as easy reference.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @Danny Brown  @jonbuscall  @ginidietrich Thanks Jayme. Its a weekly radio show  www.thesocialmediashow.co.uk . We're more interested in how people do business in the social era than in the platforms so if there are any good stories that people would like to share please let us know! 

 @AnnHawkins  @Danny Brown  @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @ginidietrich It's funny, Ann. I've been a Disqus kind of chap but I really like the way this Lifefyre conversation is working. 

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @AnnHawkins  @Danny Brown No problem! You should definitely follow Ann on Twitter and join her LInkedIn group. She's got wonderfully analytical eye. Do check out the podcast interview I did with Ann if you haven't heard it. It's one of my favourites. http://jontusmedia.com/why-linkedin-is-the-most-important-social-site-for-your-business/

 @AnnHawkins  @Danny Brown Part of the reason I love Twitter is the immediacy of it all. My heart sank when I started hearing all this SEO benefits about G+ recently. 

For me the bottom line is engagement and building relationships. RIght now it works on Twitter and through talking to people on my podcast. 

 @AnnHawkins  @Danny Brown  @jonbuscall  @ginidietrich And, if I may make it very easy for this community to find your Social Media Show blog, Ann...please do share your url...we'll come by to visit, absolute.

 @Danny Brown  @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall  @ginidietrich I really like Livefyre - you've just reminded me I haven't got it on The Social Media Show blog yet! *scurries off to install plugin* 

 @AnnHawkins  @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall The real-time discussion angle is an interesting one. I've used Livefyre before to host live Q&A sessions directly on my blog, and they've been a huge success, with people saying they were even better than tweetchats.  @ginidietrich even stole my idea, *cough cough* ;-)

The live streaming of G+ Hangouts is pretty cool too. We're definitely moving toward a more instantaneous feed future, and Twitter is going to have to work out how to combat this.

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall  @Danny Brown I should add that I think I made a mistake in starting a G+ Business Page and a G+ Community (I made the same mistake on Facebook). On reflection I should have stuck to the community but don't think it has the same SEO benefits. 

 @AnnHawkins  @jonbuscall  @Danny Brown Thank you so much for taking time to share your insight. Jon, you done good bringing Ann here!

 @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing  @jonbuscall  @Danny Brown LinkedIn Company pages have a different purpose to G+ Brand Pages and this reflects the LinkedIn pedigree and original purpose which was / is for high flyers in the corporate world to keep track of who is moving and where the talent is. If you're looking for you're next career move or head hunting the next addition to your team they're invaluable. If you want to market to those companies they're also useful to find the right people in the power positions but its just the start of a subtle networking process and certainly not the place to start pushing marketing messages. 

 @AnnHawkins  @jonbuscall  @Danny Brown Excellent point, Ann! What's your thought on LinkedIn company pages v. Google Brand Pages? Any insight you might share about your opinion?