What’s the point of Twitter #Hashtags?

Posted on February 25, 2012 by

I’ve noticed that many of my social media clients who are just starting out on Twitter are completely perplexed by hashtags: “What’s a hashtag and when do I use them?” Here’s a quick rundown:

  • this is a hashtag symbol: “#”

    Academy Award

    Image via Wikipedia

  • anyone can use the hashtag; all you have to do is type the “#” symbol in front of a key word in your tweet, and then that key word will automatically show up as a clickable link within your tweet
  • use the hashtag when you’re tweeting about a specific topic, or a particular event
  • the hashtag will categorize your tweet, so that your tweet shows up in relevant searches: when you click on the hashtag link, you will see a feed of all the most recent tweets in the Twitterverse (yes, “Twitterverse” is a word!) using that same hashtag… you are now part of a conversation!
  • Twitter is all about what’s going on right now, so you’ll find the hashtag most useful when you’re discussing a hot topic: the most popular topics of the moment are called Trending Topics

Hashtags are awesome for promoting an event. For example, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been creating Oscar buzz on Twitter the last few weeks by designating #Oscars for discussion and hype surrounding tomorrow night’s Academy Awards broadcast. You can even post a question for a celebrity with #RedCarpetQA (talk about interaction!). This not only builds excitement leading up to the event, but during the ceremony, anyone will be able to witness or take part in a live conversation on Twitter. Fun!

Hashtags are not just for celebrities, though! Use the hashtag to promote your own business, blog, brand or event.

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6 Reasons Your Site Needs Video

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

Anyone with a successful website knows that content is king. Posting articles is fantastic, but don’t forget photographs and audio links and especially don’t forget about video. What’s that, you say? Why complicate your life with web video? Here are just a couple of reasons why you need to add video to your website:

  • Search engines love video. Add video and improve your ranking with the proper use of tags and key words.
    Українська: Хіросімський паперовий журавлик
  • Video is the next best thing to being there. Imagine trying to teach someone how to fold an origami crane using only words. Photos would be more helpful. Video would be a lot more helpful. 
  • YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine (right behind Google). It gets one billion views a day. If you’re not on YouTube, you’re missing out on a lot of attentive eyeballs.
  • Video is engaging. It keeps your audience glued to your site longer than text.
  • Video is a cost-effective way to drive more traffic to your site: have you checked out the cost of print and radio ads lately?
  • Video is easy to share. Maximize your video’s reach with social media and you’ve got yourself a powerful and relatively cheap marketing strategy.
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Explaining Social Media With (Too Many?) Donuts

Posted on February 13, 2012 by

You’ve likely seen the “Social Media Explained With Donuts”  chart that’s been circulating around the web lately.

It's Funny 'cause it's True

Jokes aside, this gag is more than just hilarious. It also points out that there are a LOT of social media venues for you to explore. So many, that it can be very overwhelming. As a social media coach, I get a lot of new clients who are terrified of the prospect of having to familiarize themselves with so many social media outlets for business, and once they do (if they do), how on Earth are they going to have enough time to maintain all of their social media accounts?

What I advise is this: you do NOT have to work every angle when it comes to social media. Specialize in a couple (or even just one); focus on what feels natural to you, what fits your business, and what helps you reach your intended audience.  That’s it. For example, LinkedIn tends to appeal to more corporate types. Are you trying to attract more corporate types? If you are, get on LinkedIn.

English: An Entennmann's cake donut, bought fr...

Image via Wikipedia

P.S. Unfortunately, I don’t know who originally created the brilliant “Social Media Explained With Donuts” image but if someone out there does, please educate me so I can credit them properly.

P.P.S. Anyone else craving Tim Horton’s now?

Posted in Social Media Coaching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Difficulty Uploading to YouTube? Here’s a Troubleshooting List

Posted on February 6, 2012 by

YouTube has certainly made it easy for you to share video content with the rest of the world, but you may encounter technical difficulties while uploading your videos once in a while. Hey, we all do. Here’s a quick and handy troubleshoot list if you get stuck:

  • Is your file too large? Even if it is within the YouTube limits, it might be too heavy for your Internet connection.

    youtube-logo

    youtube-logo (Photo credit: www_ukberri_net)

  • Is your video too long? Try to keep your video to under 10 minutes as you may not be approved for longer videos.
  • Is there any copyrighted music or other material in your video? Your video may get pulled down, or your audio might get stripped… so you’re left with a silent movie!
  • How’s your connection? Have you updated your browser? Are your Firewall, browser privacy settings, or ad blockers possibly messing things up?
  • Are you using any fancy symbols in your filename? Be sure to only use standard characters.

For more YouTube help, follow this link.

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Calling all GTA event professionals…

Posted on January 30, 2012 by
Centerpiece

Image by Flower Factor via Flickr

We’re happy to announce that Night Day Productions will be sponsoring eventConnectGTA on February 23, 2012!

eventConnect is an event production created by Define Events and a team of ambitious, emerging event planners, bringing together more than 100 professionals from the events industry to provide them with a platform to network and build relationships.

eventConnect will host meeting, wedding & event planners, photographers, caterers, florists, entertainers, and more. Attendees will be treated to passed hors d’oeuvres and entertainment.

Hope to see you there (we’ll be the ones with video cameras!)

For more information on eventConnect and to purchase tickets, visit this link.

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Too Many Facebook Notifications? Here’s How to Manage Them

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

A colleague of mine recently complained about how he’s fed up with all the Facebook email notifications he’d been receiving. For example, every time someone “liked” a post he was tagged in, he would receive an email notification and his phone would vibrate. And no, turning off his cell wasn’t an option, because this particular individual is self-employed and takes pride in the fact that he’s always available to his clients.

Red phoneSo how do you turn off or rather, manage your Facebook email notifications? Here is a step-by-step guide:

  1. Log into your Facebook account.
  2. In the upper right-hand corner, next to where it says “Home”, you’ll see a triangle, indicating a pull-down menu. Click on it and select “Account Settings.”
  3. On the left side of the screen, locate “Notifications” and click on it.
  4. Scroll down a bit to “All Notifications.” At the top of this list, locate “Facebook” and click on “edit” at the far right.
  5. Now deselect which events you don’t want to receive email notifications for. You get to decide which notifications are okay: for example, you might not want to get notified every time someone pokes you, but maybe you do want to get notified when it’s someone’s birthday.

That’s it! Ta-Daaa! Please share this post if you found it useful.

(c) 2012 Night Day Productions

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What the heck is Social Media Coaching?

Posted on January 14, 2012 by
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, top slice ...

Image via Wikipedia

Like any good-hearted production company, we want to make sure our clients get the most out of their marketing videos. Which is why we offer Social Media Coaching, so that our corporate clients can make the most of their video marketing campaigns. After all, video and social media go together like peanut-butter and jelly, right?

Coaching can be as basic as starting you up on Facebook, educating you on Twitter terminology (RT? Hashtag? Trending?), customizing a YouTube channel, coming up with blog topics… it all depends on your needs and skill set.

Not sure if Social Media Coaching is for you? Get in touch with Nishi (Nishi@NightDay.ca) for a free consultation and find out for yourself!

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