The Art of Social Media Power Tips for Po - Guy Kawasaki

Here is a summary of the “How to Optimize Your Profile” chapter:

• Pick a neutral screen name without cleverness or complexity to make it easy to find and remember you.

• Optimize your profile for the 5 seconds people will look at it. Include a good avatar, cover photo, bio text, and links.

• Make your avatar a close up of your face to show you are likable, trustworthy and competent. Go asymmetrical, face the light, and upload a big, crisp photo.

• Use the same avatar photo everywhere for consistency.

• Craft a short mantra of 2-4 words explaining you or your organization’s purpose.

• Write a bio summary of your background and qualifications. Be selective - highlight only relevant info.

• Provide links to your website, blog and other social media accounts.

• Customize your profile for each platform but keep key elements like avatar, mantra and bio consistent.

• Check your profile monthly and update elements like cover photos and bios as needed.

Here is a summary of the key points from the text:

Feeding the Content Monster

• Content creation (writing posts, taking photos, making videos) is hard to sustain more than 2x per week. Focus instead on content curation.

• Make a tactical plan to attract your target customers and understand what content they want to consume.

• Use an editorial calendar to plan and schedule social media posts. Tools like Google Docs, HubSpot, Buffer, Sprout Social, and StressLimit help with this.

• Content should pass the “reshare test” - will people reshare your content and put their reputations on the line? Resharing is the sincerest form of flattery.

• Repost content from people you follow that is high quality. If you don’t repost much of their stuff, you’re following the wrong people.

• Use curation services like Alltop, The Big Picture, Mashable, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Scoop.it to find shareable content.

• Share newsjacking opportunities - content about current events that you can tie back to your industry/expertise.

• Interview experts in your field and share the interviews. Summarize key insights from books related to your field.

• Share visual content - photos, videos, infographics. People love these.

• Vary your post types - not everything needs to be written content.

• Shorten/summarize content when sharing it. Share the key insights, not the whole thing.

• Source content from your company’s blog, SlideShare presentations, white papers, and webinars. Repurpose and reuse it.

• Ask customers for content ideas and sources they like. Crowdsource content.

• Use IFTTT recipes and Google Alerts to find new sources of content.

The key is to relentlessly feed the Content Monster a steady diet of helpful, interesting information for your followers. Curate, curate, curate.

Here are the key points for curating content to share on social media:

• Follow industry experts, influencers, and thought leaders to find high-quality content to share. Look for people who consistently post great content.

• Use RSS feeds and news aggregators like Feedly to collect content on topics of interest. Subscribe to blogs, news sites, etc. to automatically get new content.

• Check sites like Reddit, Hacker News, Product Hunt for trending stories and discussions. The crowdsourcing highlights good content.

• Search Google Scholar for academic research on topics you want to learn about. This provides in-depth, authoritative information.

• Subscribe to email newsletters, like SmartBrief, that curate and summarize high-quality content on specific topics.

• Share evergreen content that is always popular, like coffee, Star Wars, Lego, NASA. Mix this in occasionally to liven up your feed.

• Use lists, circles, communities, and groups on social platforms to find people posting about your interests. These are good content sources to follow.

• Collaborate with others by creating a shared Pinterest board to curate content on a common interest or theme.

• Don’t just retweet or reshare content - add your own perspective and commentary to personalize what you share.

The key is to create a diverse stream of high-quality content by leveraging many sources. Curate content that educates and inspires your followers.

• Pinterest boards curated by discerning users can be great sources of high-quality content. For example, Peg created a dedicated Google+ resources board and approved 12 knowledgeable members, making it a continual source of useful information.

• To manage content leads, use a system like Tumblr or a private Pinterest board. This lets you easily save share-worthy stories as you find them and then select the best ones later.

• Time posts to align with holidays, events, etc. for maximum impact. Content related to major happenings gets more attention.

• Add RSS feeds to tools like Buffer, Sprout Social, or Hootsuite to automatically queue up content for sharing. You can then manually approve each post.

• Share user-generated photos related to your product/service. It provides social proof and rewards the photographer.

• Provide valuable information, analysis, assistance, and entertainment to earn the right to promote yourself sometimes. Follow the NPR model.

• Interest people by sharing broadly, not just content narrowly tailored to your niche. Surprise followers with variety.

• Be bold in expressing your views. You’ll piss some people off, but authenticity works.

• Optimize for brevity in posts. Two to three sentences or ~100 characters is ideal for curated content.

• Thank sources by linking to them. This drives traffic, builds relationships, and boosts your visibility.

• Include visuals in every post. Photos and video outperform text-only content.

Here are the key points from the post:

• Include visual content like pictures, graphics, or videos in your posts. According to a study, posts with images get 94% more views on average.

• Take screenshots, save images from sources, or create your own graphics with tools like Canva. Use images that are at least 500px wide.

• Organize long posts into bulleted or numbered lists to make them more readable.

• Use irresistible titles like “How to…”, “Top Ten…”, or “The Ultimate…“.

• Add 2-3 relevant hashtags to connect your posts to shared topics. Don’t use hashtags on Pinterest.

• Post actively, about 3-20 times per day depending on the platform. More high-quality posts is better than fewer poor posts.

• Use scheduling tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, etc. to distribute posts automatically. Don’t manually post everything.

• Post repeatedly to increase reach. Repetition works, even if some complain about it. Focus on gaining followers and reshares.

Here are the key points on how to respond to comments on social media:

• Use the right tools like TweetDeck, Google Alerts, and social media management platforms to monitor mentions and comments.

• Use ”@” and ”+” mentions rather than hashtags when responding directly to someone. Hashtags are for sharing topics more broadly.

• Consider your total audience beyond just the original commenter. Many others may see your response.

• Assume good intent at first. It’s easy to misinterpret tone and sarcasm in written comments.

• Respond thoughtfully and politely, even to negative comments. Kill them with kindness.

• Be helpful and add value in your responses. Offer advice, resources, or insights.

• Know when not to respond. You don’t need to reply to every single comment. Ignore trolls.

• Have fun with it and show your personality. Responding builds engagement and connection.

• Apologize if you make a mistake. Admitting fault builds trust and credibility.

• Thank people for positive feedback. Appreciate those who take the time to comment.

• Integrate blogging and social media to complement each other - use your blog to provide long-form content and social media to promote it.

• Curate yourself - share your own best blog content on social media. Add drama with photos/videos to make the posts stand out.

• Add share buttons, links to your social accounts, and ClickToTweet links on your blog to make it easy for readers to share and follow you.

• Pin blog posts on Pinterest - they can continue circulating for a long time when repinned.

• Add your blog’s RSS feed to Alltop to get aggregated with other sites on topics of interest.

• Start an email list to directly reach engaged followers. Keep emails short, personalized, and avoid spamming.

• Leverage LinkedIn for high quality sharing with professionals.

• Write guest posts on popular sites to reach new audiences and demonstrate your expertise.

• Integrating blogging and social media creates a mutually beneficial cycle to grow your audience and traffic.

• Guest posts on popular blogs and websites are a great way to reach new audiences. Make sure your post is highly relevant and tailored to each site.

• Attach a draft copy so the site can easily review your proposed post. Don’t make the site do a lot of editing work.

• Use your own outreach instead of a PR firm to make it more personal.

• Leverage SlideShare by turning popular blog posts into presentations. SlideShare embeds beautifully on other sites.

• Join blogging networks like Triberr to get your content shared to new audiences.

• Embed your social media posts directly into your blog posts to cross-promote content.

• Allow social logins like Facebook and Twitter on your site for easier registration.

• Attend conferences and meetups to connect face-to-face with your online connections.

• Fully integrate your blog with social media sharing on sites like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

• Share great content consistently to gain more followers on social platforms.

• Join new social platforms early when it’s easier to gain followers.

Before the event:

• Share promotional posts to drive awareness and attendance.

During the event:

• Tweet live updates and take pictures of speakers and guests.
• Upload pictures during breaks and reshare other people’s posts.

After the event:

• Share articles about the event, as well as more pictures and videos.
• Encourage attendees to reshare their pictures.

Katie Clark suggests hiring a social media expert to handle this if you lack expertise internally. They can amplify exposure with their own accounts and connections.

Other tips include:

• Stream live video coverage to reach more people.
• Provide real-time text updates for those who can’t watch video.
• Display the event hashtag and tweets on a screen to encourage interaction.
• Ensure strong WiFi access.
• Take and share candid pictures.
• Have executives engage attendees for more shareable photos.
• Share event photos and videos widely afterwards.

Here are a few tips for avoiding looking clueless during a Twitter chat:

• Prepare in advance by reviewing potential questions and drafting sample responses. This will help you respond quickly and confidently during the chat.

• Use tools like Tchat or TweetDeck to easily include the hashtag and filter the tweet stream. This keeps you focused on the relevant conversation.

• Type fast or recruit someone to help type responses for you. Speed is critical in a Twitter chat. Practicing 140-character tweets can help.

• @mention the person you’re responding to so they and others see you addressed their question/comment.

• Stay focused on the audience’s interests and questions rather than overly promoting yourself. Provide value with your responses.

• Spread the word before the chat to bring in more participants. This helps the host and gives your followers a chance to engage.

• After the chat, summarize the best Q&As in a blog or social media post. This gives the chat more longevity.

The key is being prepared, focused on the audience, responsive, and providing value through your quick but thoughtful answers. With practice, you can master the art of a great Twitter chat.

Here are some tips for optimizing your experience on Facebook:

• Pay attention to EdgeRank. Not all of your followers see everything you post. Posts with more engagement (comments, likes, shares) are more likely to appear in followers’ feeds.

• Use Facebook Page Insights. This provides statistics on your posts so you can see what gets engagement. Use this data to target your posts and ads.

• Link your Instagram to auto-post photos to Facebook. But be aware this shares everything you post on Instagram.

• Embed videos in posts. They auto-play in feeds which catches people’s attention.

• Interact with other Pages by commenting, sharing, etc. This may increase how often your Page appears.

• Create Facebook Live videos. These get high engagement when done well.

• Use images in your posts whenever possible. Posts with images get more engagement.

• Schedule posts for optimal times. Use analytics to determine when your followers are most active.

• Target sponsored posts and ads using the available demographics and interest data.

• Respond to comments and messages quickly and thoroughly. Engage with your audience.

• Keep text brief, especially on image posts. But include enough to provide context.

• Ask questions to get comments. This increases post reach and engagement.

• Experiment with different types of posts on Facebook because it’s hard to figure out what works best. Try different images, videos, text lengths, etc.

• Think carefully before starting a Google+ community, as it requires long-term management.

• Check how Google+ autofills hashtags on your posts to see if they match your intent.

• Comment on Google News stories and use +1s to run polls on Google+.

• Use Instagram hashtags strategically by piggybacking on popular ones. Keep captions simple and don’t overshare.

• Personalize LinkedIn connection requests. Post serious professional content. Focus on a niche. Participate in Groups.

• The main themes are to experiment on Facebook, be strategic with hashtags and communities on Google+, keep Instagram simple, and act professionally on LinkedIn. The goal is to optimize content for each platform.

Here is a summary of the key tips for using social media platforms effectively:

LinkedIn:

• Join niche groups to find people with common interests.
• Use your profile headline and summary to showcase your expertise.
• Share articles and content to establish yourself as a thought leader.

SlideShare:

• Optimize title pages to draw people in.
• Repurpose blog posts into SlideShare presentations.
• Include a strong call to action on the final slide.

Twitter:

• Add graphics to make tweets more engaging.
• Repeat important tweets to increase reach.
• Be strategic with tweet addressing to control visibility.
• Activate notifications to monitor engagement.

Pinterest:

• Focus on high-quality, eye-catching pins.
• Create secret boards to organize projects.
• Update cover photos regularly.
• Share pins across other social platforms.

The key is optimizing each platform for its strengths - visuals for Pinterest and Twitter, thought leadership for LinkedIn and SlideShare, and engaging communities on all. Being strategic with addressing tweets is also important. Overall, creating high-quality, valuable content tailored to each platform is essential.

• Refresh and match all your profiles, avatars, bios, and email signatures across platforms. Create author pages on Amazon and Goodreads.

• Create a media kit with your book cover, blurbs, descriptions, bios, and author photos. Make a simple website for the book. Set up Google Alerts.

• Create short videos about the book and each chapter. Write blog posts and long-form posts summarizing the book. Make graphics with quotes. Give presentations.

• Share curated and created content consistently leading up to and after publication. Schedule posts, videos, quotes, chats, and interviews.

• The list provides examples of assets to create and steps to take for a book launch campaign. The concepts are applicable to other product and service launches as well.

• The main advice is to be consistent with creating and sharing content across platforms over time. Do your best and don’t take anything personally.

Here is a summary of the key points in 18 minutes or less:

Triberr - Blogging community that shares members’ posts Tumblr - Blogging platform TweetDeck - App for managing Twitter 22Social - Facebook app to run live Google+ Hangouts on Air through Facebook Twitter - Social media platform Twubs - Twitter chat client Wikimedia Commons - Collection of public domain images, audio, video Wikiquote - Online compendium of quotations
WiseStamp - Service to create custom email signatures YouTube - Video sharing site

The page numbers refer to the print version.

Key topics covered:

• Integrating blogging and social media
• Planning and creating engaging content
• Perfecting posts for each platform
• Distributing and promoting content
• Analytics and optimization
• Etiquette and best practices
• Using tools like Buffer, Hootsuite
• Leveraging events and user-generated content
• Hangouts on Air and podcasting tips
• Responding appropriately to comments

The book provides practical strategies and tips for using major social platforms effectively, engaging followers, creating shareable content, and integrating social media with blogging.

Here is a summary of the key points from the book excerpt:

• Creating strong social media profiles is important, including choosing a good avatar, cover image, mantra, and completing all profile fields.

• Content should be valuable, brief, bold, curiosity-inducing, helpful to others, well-organized, and visually appealing.

• Distribute posts using scheduling tools. Optimal timing is key.

• Engage your audience by responding thoughtfully to comments, asking questions, and monitoring discussions.

• Integrate social media with your blog through links and sharing blog content.

• Run live video events like Google+ Hangouts on Air to interact with your followers.

• Optimize each platform individually. For example, use hashtags on Twitter but not Pinterest.

• Put your strategy into action by planning content, getting followers, promoting posts, and analyzing what works.

• The book contains specific tips for improving each major platform like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more.