So, what did I learn today?

Well, I was watching a recorded webinar with Mari Smith (you know THE top authority when it comes to anything to do with Facebook) and Mari mentioned that having Networked Blogs installed on your Facebook Page is really beneficial for getting more SEO from Facebook.

That’s when my ears perked up. Really?

Well, it totally makes sense as Facebook has an Alexa ranking of 2 and is the second most trafficked website in the world after Google.  It is also ranked #1 in the world for site visits for the length of session time.

So why not piggy-back on Facebook to get some SEO juice?

I had” Networked Blogs” set up for a while, but if you haven’t yet definitely, definitely do install the app on your Facebook Page. You will be glad you did for several reasons as you are about to find out.

How to set up Networked Blogs on
your Facebook Page

Registering your blog at Networked Blogs is very easy. Just go to http://facebook.com/networkedblogs and click on “Go to App.” Then click on “Register a Blog” and follow the prompts.

Next click on “Syndication” and publish your blog posts to Facebook and Twitter.  This is really an excellent feature as it publishes your blog posts automatically* to your different Twitter accounts as well as your Facebook Profile, your Facebook Page (or multiple pages) and Facebook Groups.

When you click on the “Profile” tab you can add a little bio of yourself as well as links to other websites. You also have the option to invite your Facebook friends to follow you blog. Pretty cool, huh?

Last but not least you can add a “Widget” to your blog so people can follow you directly from there. It’s a bit tricky to find the widget on Networked Blogs. The easiest way I have found it is to click on the picture of my blog when I am in my “Profile.”

You can customize your widget any way you want to make it fit in with the layout of your blog. You can see mine in the sidebar to the right. ===>

What are the benefits of installing the Networked Blogs app on your Facebook Page?

Well, the obvious one is you will get more eyeballs to your blog. For one, directly from your Facebook Page as a link will show up in the sidebar underneath your profile picture. And two, directly from your blog if you have the widget installed.

But…as I mentioned above, it’s also fantastic for SEO because Facebook has such great indexing.

*One thing that Mari mentioned and I kind of had heard that before…As far as Facebook is concerned do not set up your Networked Blogs feed to post automatically to your wall. The reason being is that “manual” posts do receive a higher weight…which is great for your EdgeRank.

The way you can change the settings is by going to “Edit Page” (top right on your Facebook Page) and then to “Apps” in the left sidebar. Find Networked Blogs and then click on “Edit Settings” (underneath the description) and then “Additional Permission.” Just uncheck “Publish content to my Wall.”

Now, I personally have it set to publish automatically which publishes my blog posts automatically to my Facebook Page wall but for some reason not to my Profile wall. I don’t really mind though because I would rather publish it there manually anyway. Once I get more fans, I will change my settings to manually publish there as well.

So, I hope this all is not too confusing as I know finding your way around Networked Blogs is not the easiest thing to do. But I hope the screenshots help.

Oh, before I forget it, Mari also mentioned that you can do the same thing with “Notes” at Facebook. Just pull in your blog feed into the Notes app. Mari has a tremendous world of knowledge where Facebook is concerned. No wonder she’s the #1 go to person. By the way, I’m signed up for her “Extreme Facebook Fan Growth” course that starts February 14th. Are you?

As always, please share your feedback in the comments below and if you have any questions I encourage you to share them as well.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Make the New Facebook Ticker Work for Your Business
2. New Directory for DoFollow Blogs Sweeping the Blogoshere
3. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
4. Where to Get the Coolest Facebook Timeline Cover
5. Don’t Give Your Friends Reason to Use Facebook’s Unsubscribe Option

Personally, I haven’t been too concerned about this, because I rarely use the Facebook unfriend option. But it seems to be a very popular question because it often shows up as a search query on my blog. Just today I had several people ask, …

“Will friend know if I unsubscribe them — unsubscribe facebook find out – does facebook tell friend if you unsubscribe – does someone know if I unsubscribe them”

And I get those queries on a regular basis.

So I went to Facebook and did a search for it in the “Help” section but couldn’t come up with an answer. Guess Facebook isn’t too eager to volunteer answers to questions about how to unfriend someone.

Then the funniest thing happened. As I was updating my Buffer app with more great information for my Twitter Followers the answer popped right up in form of a great article on Mashable.

There is actually a browser extension called “Unfriend Finder.” Wouldn’t you know?

How does “Unfriend Finder” work?

Unfriend Finder will alert you when people you have previously been friends with deactivated their account or have removed you from their friends lists.

But first of course, you need to install the script. You can find it at Userscripts.org. If you are using Google Chrome all you need to do is click the green “Install” button and you are ready to go. If you are using Firefox then you will have to install the Greasemonkey add-on first.

As you can see from the screenshots below I am using Google Chrome.

Step one: Get the “Unfriend Finder” extension and install it on your browser.

Step two: Go to Facebook and check it out.

As you can see from the image below, once you have the script installed your Facebook account will show these two changes immediately.

1) You will see an additional tab in the top right-hand corner called “Unfriends.”

2) You will also see and additional link in your “Favorites” right underneath your profile picture on your home page.

Oh, by the way, if you hover your mouse over the tab you will see more useful info. For example the total number of your friends, how many pending friend requests you have and the number of “Unfriends” the Unfriend Finder extension detected.

You will receive a notification when someone unfriends you and a red number appears above the “Unfriends” tab. (Since I just installed the add-on there are no red numbers yet.)

By the way, you will also be notified trough your main notifications. (You know the ones that appear next to your message notifications and friend requests in the top menu bar on Facebook.)

When you click on the “Unfriends” option in your “Favorites” list you will also be able to see who unfriended you, together with the date and time they decided they didn’t want to be friends with you any longer.

As I mentioned earlier above, not only will this script let you know when someone unfriends you, but it also tells you when someone you were friends with deactivates (or re-activates) their profile. I think that can be very helpful as two of my sons just deactivated and reactivated their profiles recently. (Of course they neglected to tell me about it and I was wondering why we were no longer friends, haha.)

Another Helpful Feature of Unfriend Finder:
Pending Friend Requests

This great feature helps you keep track of your “Pending Friend Requests” on Facebook. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes forget whom I sent a friend request to, because I just get so busy. So, now I can check what friends requests are still pending, who ignored them and who cancelled my friend requests. (Although I can’t think of anyone who would ever do such a thing.)

So, there you have it. Check it out for yourself!

Unfriend Finder is compatible with Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer and translated into 65 languages.

If you already have this great add-on installed on your browser go ahead and share your experience with us in the comments below.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Please also read the original article about Unfriend Finder on Mashable. Thanks!

P.P.S For more Facebook Insider Tips I invite you to check out Amy Porterfield’s incredible Facebook Influence Course

Related posts:

1. Make the New Facebook Ticker Work for Your Business
2. Where to Get the Coolest Facebook Timeline Cover
3. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO
4. Don’t Give Your Friends Reason to Use Facebook’s Unsubscribe Option
5. Facebook Timeline – Introducing the New Facebook Interface

Writer’s block, arrgghh!  Not a single usable blog post idea comes to mind. Nothing! Zilch! Nada!

If you are anything like me, you are starting to get pretty nervous right about now. You know that your readers are waiting for your blog post. You don’t want to disappoint them, yet for the life of you you can’t think of anything that would provide the value your readers are used to.

Pretty horrible feeling, isn’t it?

What happened to last night when the juices were flowing, well, bubbling over actually and keeping you awake? Where are those great ideas now and why in the world did you not get up and write them down?

Because you thought they would still be there in the morning, right?  But they’re not. They’re gone. Gone forever.

Darn!

But all that “shoulda, coulda, woulda” doesn’t help you now, does it?

Writer’s block is a terrible thing and it gets the best of us.

Yes, you could try to go for a walk. Or, you could take a shower and wash that frustration right out of your hair. You could try some uplifting music.

Or, …you could try any of these…

21 Sure-Fire Blog Post Ideas

1. Lists – People love lists. So you could write a blog post about…
   “Top 10____,” “Best of_____,” “Recommended Reading List,” “Top Recommended Business Tools,” or whatever really.
2. Reviews – Have you read a great book lately? Write a review about it. Or how about a product review? Or a company review? Reviews are great to give people inside information about something.
3. How To Tutorials – I personally am a great fan of these. I love step-by-step tutorials on how to do something. (I even found a tutorial video about knitting on YouTube recently. Can you imagine teaching someone how to knit on YouTube? Crazy! )
4. Awards – I have been nominated for several of these in the past.  Let’s see there is the “Blog Mastery Award” and the “Versatile Blogger Award.” They are a lot of fun. You should try it some time.
5. Tips and Tricks – These are always welcome. Maybe you’ve learned a new skill recently that you could share with your audience.  My friend Adrienne Smith just shared how to install Facebook Timeline for example.
6. Quotes – Oh I love quotes and I imagine (at least that’s what I see around Facebook and Twitter) so do many other people. Quotes can be very motivating or inspiring. At times they can even make us laugh. And who doesn’t welcome a good laugh every once in a while.
7. Guest Posts – Why not invite another blogger in your niche to write a guest post for you? This is really a win-win situation for both you and the person who guest posts on your blog. You get a break and he or she gets more exposure.
8. Share a Video – Maybe you found a great video on YouTube about a topic related to your niche. Why not share it on your blog?
9. Things you don’t know about me – This could really be fun! Write a post about a few things your audience doesn’t know about you. Blogging is all about building that personal relationship. Here’s your chance to be” really up close and personal.”
10. Highlight a person that you look up to and maybe learned a great deal from – I wrote this post about Mavis Nong, a young lady whom I really admire and who taught me a lot about blogging. When I grow up I want to be just like Mavis.
11. Visit a forum in your niche and look for problems/questions people are posting – Pick one and answer it on your blog. (And then link back to it from the forum for extra traffic.)
12. Make a list of your favorite blogs – Share the blogs you visit on a regular basis with your readers. If you find value in the information shared by other people in your niche, so will your audience. I just did that kind of in my last post.
13. Share an inspiring story that relates to your niche – People like uplifting stories they can relate to.
14. Google Alerts – This is a great one too! Set up Google Alerts in your niche to get ideas on what to write about.
15. Pain or pleasure – Wouldn’t you agree that we as human beings respond best to either pain or pleasure? So, what’s the biggest problem people in your industry face? Write about solutions that could ease their pain.
16. Share your biggest goof offs – You will find that other people are really not so different from you. So go ahead, share your mistakes, your mishaps, your goof offs. I bet you’ll find people that can relate.
17. Comments – Read through your comments. Often the comments people leave you provide excellent topics to expand on.
18. Point out common mistakes in your industry – You’ve been there and done it. Or maybe you were lucky enough and someone took you under their wing. Now it’s your turn to pay it forward and prevent someone who may just be starting out from making those common mistakes.
19. Re-purpose existing content – Re-write an old blog post and give it whole new view point. Or better yet, turn it into a SlideShare presentation or a video.
20. Expand on someone else’s blog post – Maybe you have come about a great post by someone else, but there is something they left out or something you could expand on further.  Go for it!
21. Share your Top Posts – There’s a reason these are your top posts. People searched for them, they like them. So share them – again— because your new readers may have missed them.

So there you have them 21 ideas for blog posts if writer’s block should hit you one day. I don’t know of anyone that hasn’t happened to before. If it hasn’t happened to you yet …trust me, your time will come. But now at least you are prepared.

Oh, and please,  I would so appreciate your feedback. So if you have any other “blog post ideas” please feel free to share them with us in the comments below. Thank you so much!

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Enlightened Networker Taking a Break | Guest Post on Attraction Marketing Online

While I am genuinely flattered that somebody values my opinion about them enough to ask me for a recommendation and I love giving them, sometimes that request leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Such was the case just this past week and this particular one was a double no-no.

Out of the blue a person I don’t even know send me a “recommendation request”.  Unfortunately, this has happened before and it really makes me very uncomfortable. What made this request even worse was the fact that this person included a shameless promotion for his business.

What was he thinking?

Was he expecting me to just make something up and write a fake recommendation?

Ehm, sorry, but I don’t do that. I don’t make things up. If I don’t know you I won’t recommend you.  I have too much to lose. I am not going to put my credibility and my good name on the line just to make you look good. Uhuh!

Yes, recommendations are extremely powerful because they add credibility and social proof and they give you a lot more validity in what you do. So the more you have the better, right?

Well yes probably. But wouldn’t you rather have someone recommending you who really knows you and can give their honest opinion about you than getting a bunch of generic recommendations that could fit just about anybody?

Before you ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn (or any other place) consider this…

• Use the system within LinkedIn to send your recommendation request rather than sending your own email.
• Only ask people who know you well enough to recommend you. Maybe you’ve done some work for them, been to company events together or helped them out in some way. You don’t want to make someone feel uncomfortable. Or, and that may be just as bad or worse, receive a recommendation that totally misrepresents you.
• If you have never worked together and only know each other online, make sure the person you ask to recommend you knows your personality, your character, your work ethics, what makes you different and stand out. You want to have had some kind of interaction with them where they remember you from so they can genuinely endorse you.
• The best way to get a recommendation is to give one first. Lewis Howes recommends doing just that in his Linked Influence course.  But be genuine and sincere. People can “smell” if your intentions are honorable or if you “just want something in return.”
• Apropos, talking about “return.” Be kind, return the favor and reciprocate!

You kind of get my drift, don’t you? What I am getting at is….

Don’t ask a complete stranger out of the blue…
”Can You Recommend Me?”

That makes that person very uncomfortable and quite frankly, doesn’t say very much about you either.

By the way, getting a recommendation request from a complete stranger really makes me think twice about adding just anyone who sends me a request to join their network on LinkedIn. I will be much more selective in the future as to whom I will add to my network and whom I’m just going to ignore.

Especially on a professional social network like LinkedIn it is more about quality than quantity. With more than 101 million members LinkedIn is the 3^rd largest social network and growing at a steady pace. You want to make sure you conduct yourself in a professional manner.

So, what has been your experience with getting a recommendation request? I always love your feedback so make sure you share it in the comment section below.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

No related posts.

So now that you have all that space available  just what in the world are you going to choose as your Facebook Timeline Cover?

Well, by default, Facebook will choose a photo you have already uploaded.  But if you don’t want that, you can get really creative and make your own.

For example, I love quotes, so I created a cover sharing one of my favorites. (That was before I knew of the places I will share with you below.) I also created some others that I had a blast making and I probably continue just for fun and giggles. If you want to make your own using PhotoShop or Gimp the specs are 840 wide by 310 high.

But, if you have better things to do with your time (unlike some people on this planet, haha) then you can get really cool looking Facebook Timeline Covers from these places….

Creating your own Killer “Facebook Timeline Cover”
is as easy as 1-2-3…

…using these great resources…

1. Pic Scatter
2. Timeline Cover Banner
3. Face It Pages
4. Cover Canvas
5. FirstCovers
   
6. Cover Junction

This last one is my favorite. So when the day comes and I get tired of making my own Facebook Timeline Cover that’s probably what I will use.

So, there you have them 5 incredible easy to use resources to get creative with your Facebook Timeline image.

Please also read the original article on this:
“Facebook Timeline Customization: 5 Tools for Killer Cover Photos”

The possibilities are endless. You can be as creative as you want to be. Just take a look at these jaw-dropping designs from very talented people: “10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away.”

Let your imagination go wild, make sure your Facebook Timeline Cover reflects your personality,  but most of all…have fun!

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Facebook Timeline – Introducing the New Facebook Interface
2. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO
3. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
4. Don’t Give Your Friends Reason to Use Facebook’s Unsubscribe Option
5. Make the New Facebook Ticker Work for Your Business

Last week I was invited to a webinar about FBinfluence an All in One Facebook Marketing course.

Right away I knew two things…

I knew I had to be on this webinar and I knew I was going to buy this product ….even BEFORE I attended the webinar.

Why was I so confident about FBinfluence?

Because I was very familiar with the young lady who created the course. Her name is Amy Porterfield. I had run across her a couple of times before and knew she always over delivers on value.

The first time I was introduced to Amy was earlier this spring, when I purchased a product from Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey about Social Media called “500 Million Strong.” One of the bonuses was a Facebook training done by Amy.

Then I ran into her again just a little while ago talking about the new Facebook changes. Besides those changes which I talked about in previous blog posts I also learned a cool little Twitter trick from her.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a very competitive person and I hate to miss out. I want to be in “the know” and up-to-date with what’s going on in Social Media because I use it to market my business.

So of course I was very interested to find out what was going to be presented in this webinar.

So what is “FBinfluence” all about?

FBinfluence is….

“Your COMPLETE Roadmap for Creating And Leveraging Facebook
to Drive Traffic And Build Your Brand!

There are way too many benefits of FBinfluence and I know I wouldn’t do the product justice trying to list them all here. (You can get the full scope on the sales page.)

However, let me just quickly share the content of the modules and bonuses here. As I already said, Amy is known for over-delivering on value…

With your investment of FBinfluence you get INSTANT ACCESS
to everything you need
to create a powerful Facebook Marketing Strategy including…

• Module 1: The Foundation for Facebook Success ($197)
• Module 2: Growing a Lucrative Fan Base ($197)
• Module 3: Creating Massive Engagement ($197)
• Module 4: Fans Into SUPER FANS ($197)
• Bonus #1: How to Create Your Social Media Strategy to Rapidly Increase Exposure ($197)
• Bonus #2: The Three Step Lead Generating Facebook Blueprint ($47)
• Bonus #3: “Change Is Good” – Exploring Facebook’s New Features ($97)
• Bonus #4: How to Cash in on Facebook Places and Deals ($197)
• Bonus #5: Turning Fans Into Super Fans ($47)
• Bonus #6: FULL ACCESS SUPPORT with our Private Group ($397)

To tell you the truth, I am not a person who whips out her credit card easily but I was ready to pay just about any price for that great information …even before watching the webinar and getting the full scoop about what Facebook Influence was all about.

But then I was totally floored by the low price Amy came up with.

It’s definitely a steal! Check FBinfluence out here! (I could tell you the final price right here, but I don’t want to deny you the experience of your jaw dropping to the floor  just like mine did when I found out what it was.)

If you have known me for a while you know I don’t recommend rubbish. I only recommend products I have either purchased myself and/or products I stand 100% behind.

FBInfluence is a great buy I know you won’t regret!

If you are marketing your business on Facebook you need to keep up with the constant changes as well as stay up-to-date on all the top techniques and strategies. You owe it to yourself!

I know I will be posting bits and pieces of what I have learned from Amy in the future, but if you don’t want to wait and want the whole enchilada now I encourage you to buy this product for yourself.

Still not convinced…then join us for a Special Webinar
Hurry, space is extremely limited!

===> Just click HERE! <===

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Where to Get the Coolest Facebook Timeline Cover
2. Facebook Timeline – Introducing the New Facebook Interface
3. Make the New Facebook Ticker Work for Your Business
4. Don’t Give Your Friends Reason to Use Facebook’s Unsubscribe Option
5. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO

My answer was simple…”Once you’ve set it up, it’s pretty much on autopilot.”

You can read about how to set up your own Twitter Newspaper here…

It is really THAT easy!

I published my first issue back at the end of May and have enjoyed sharing the stories of my friends and followers ever since. If you come across great content and valuable information why wouldn’t you want to share it with your followers?  Paper.li provides the perfect platform for this with its visually appealing magazine-style layout. Statistics say that people are much more likely to read a story with pictures than one with text alone.

So how do I find that great content I share
in my “Twitter Newspaper” every day?

Well, most of it is generated by the tweets of the people I have added to one of my Twitter lists. Paper.li monitors your content sources and then updates your newspaper automatically.

Whenever the people in the Twitter list I have connected to my Paper.li send out a tweet, Paper.li picks it up and puts it in a matching category. For example, if the tweet is about technology then it goes into “Technology.” If it is health related, then it will be filed under “Health” and so on.

Note: You can also add Facebook and Google+ keywords and add an RSS feed.

There’s really not that much I have to do.

However, lately I started to use great resources such as Mashable, Social Media Examiner and Google News to add even more valuable stories.

Google News is a great source of valuable content.  As you can see in the image below you can choose from a variety of categories and find the top stories to post. (This works also well on Facebook.)

To spread the articles out over the course of the day I use Buffer. Every time I find great content I drop it into Buffer which then automatically shares it for me on Twitter (and is then picked up by Paper.li.) By the way, Buffer has recently integrated with Facebook so you can also use it there now.

There you have it … plain and simple and pretty much on autopilot.

Thinking about publishing your own Twitter Newspaper?

Why not? It’s easy to set up. You can publish it daily, twice a day or weekly. You can also publish a paper for different niches you might be interested in. (Just set up different Twitter lists for different papers.)

Paper.li is a great way to give
your content more exposure.

Since I have started “The Ilka Flood Daily” I have seen an increase of re-tweets, more (targeted)Twitter  followers and also more traffic to my blog.  People  have the option to subscribe to your newspaper,  +1, tweet and/or like it on Facebook, which I think is really cool. And just think about the reciprocity factor. You share mine, I share yours. If you publish great content that people love to read your little Paper.li can go viral.

So, go ahead and have some fun with it!

Oh, and by the way, if you are publishing your own Twitter Newspaper already let us know in the comments below so we can subscribe to it.

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

A BIG P.S….

I had to add this comment by Kelly Hungerford of Paper.li here to make sure you don’t  miss it…Thank you so much Kelly for leaving your great feedback! ….

Hi Ilka, Hi all,

Ilka, thank you for sharing your experience with Paper.li I work for Paper.li and am always truly excited when I see that our service is providing value to community members.

Shared content adds value in so many ways and helps to build and, or, strengthen new communities around topics and interests.

I have a couple of useful tips that publishers often overlook:

1. The editor’s note. This is such a great feature that allows publishers to say something about themselves. You can add hyperlinks to your own site or blog and to add a word about what, or why you are publishing. Great value for the reader!

2. Edit the title to reflect what you are publishing about. The title is searchable on the newsstand. So if you have a paper about fly fishing, but your title is the Burt Beeber Daily, your Paper.li will not come to the surface as quickly when someone performs a search on the newsstand.

3. Promo tweet: take the time to personalize your Promo Tweet by using the Tweet button at the top of your Daily. Many publishers don’t realize that this “manual” tweet is available! It is such a great way to personalize your tweet or add your own @mentions. ( Just be sure you turn off your auto-tweet so you don’t double tweet!)

Will be launching some cool new features in the near future such as embedded Paper.lis and preview before publishing. I hope that you enjoy them!

Kelly

No related posts.

Did you know that over 50 million active users log in to Twitter every single day? That’s a lot of eyeballs that potentially could turn in to a lot of traffic for you.

I have been on Twitter for a couple of years now, but I still don’t know all the little tricks, but here’s a cool one I just learned about …

A cool little Twitter trick I learned
from Amy Porterfield recently
can drive even more traffic to your website.

As you may already know you can add your website link to your profile. But did you know, that you can also add another hotlink right in your bio? I sure didn’t.

So, I spend some time today to edit my profile to implement this Twitter trick as you can see from the picture below.

Here’s how you do it…

Once you are logged in to your account click on “Edit your profile“ and then under your “Settings” scroll down to “Bio” and make the necessary changes.

It’s pretty easy!

Just make sure you start your link with the http:// or it won’t be a click-able hotlink.

What do you think? Pretty cool little Twitter trick isn’t it? (This works best if you link to an opt-in or squeeze page.)

Here’s a couple of more Twitter tricks you may or may not know about…

Send a Tweet to a Specific Person Using
the @ Symbol.

If you want to tweet to someone specific you would start your message by putting the @ symbol in front of their username. So for example, if you wanted to tweet something just to me than you would do it like this — @ilkaflood and then type your message — that way that message only goes to me and nobody else.

Use Hashtags # to Start or Follow
a Certain Conversation.

You can use hashtags to start or follow a certain conversation. Have you ever seen a hashtag (#) with a certain word behind it? For example, I often use it when I tweet quotes.  So if you do a search for #quote or click on the hashtag related tweets will pop up.

These are all the little “Twitter tricks” I’m going to share with you today. Didn’t want to overload you with too much information.  Now as you may know knowledge is only powerful if you use and implement it. So, put what I just shared with you to good use.

Your turn… Did you know about these Twitter tricks or do you know of any you would like to share,  then it would be awesome if you could share them with us in the comments below. Thanks so much!

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Twitter Bird curtesy of http://www.chethstudios.net/

Related posts:

1. Busted For Breaking the Twitter Rules!

As we well know by now, Facebook keeps life interesting with its constant changes. Some of them we like others not so much. You may have noticed the new Facebook “Subscribed” button in the top right corner when you are at a friend’s Profile Page. You can use this button to either subscribe to or unsubscribe from their updates. Provided of course they have turned that option on.

If a person is your Friend they are automatically subscribed to your Profile Page and vice versa. But you also have the option to subscribe to the updates of somebody you find interesting without having to add them to your Friends.

That’s a pretty cool option, I think, especially for someone who chooses their Friends wisely.

How Does This Facebook Unsubscribe Option
Affect Your Updates?

Well, now more than ever before it is extremely important to post content your Friends and Subscribers want to know about. Keep an eye out for what they “like,” what they comment on and what they “share” and give them more of the same. This is also important for your Facebook EdgeRank.

If you use your Personal Profile for business make sure it is clean and professional looking. No Mafia Wars or Farmville udates.

As you can see from the picture below, Facebook members can now filter which updates of yours they want to receive and which ones they don’t. It has become extremely easy for them to tune you out completely if they want to.

The same applies if you regularly post pictures. Ensure that they are in tune with the overall message you want to convey about yourself. If people don’t care for the pictures you post they can unsubscribe from them as well. So be really careful what you post, especially if you post pictures about your business.  That “Facebook Unsubscribe” option is just a click away!

Facebook Unsubscribe Option and
3rd Party Services Like Hootsuite or SocialOomph.

Now this was a real shocker to me. I regularly use(d) HootSuite and SocialOomph to post updates on Facebook. I mean come on we’re all very busy, right? So every tool that helps us leverage our time comes in very handy. Don’t you agree?

However, now that I know how easy it is for Facebook members to hide your 3rd party updates I have become a lot more careful.

Here’s the reason why and it is a BIG one…

Let’s say I post an update using HootSuite. If someone hovers over the little arrow in the right corner a pop up pops out that gives them the option to hide my updates from HootSuite.

BUT… and this is extremely important so pay close attention…

They will be hiding not only MY updates… NO, I’m talking about blocking updates from the Hootsuite application altogether and therefore they are not only blocking MINE but the updates from EVERYONE else who uses this application. I wanted to make that perfectly clear!

Carla is a very good friend of mine and I would never hide her HootSuite updates. But just look how easy it would be to do so.

That’s frightening and that’s why I don’t post to Facebook from 3rd party applications such as HootSuite, SocialOomph, Twitter, Ping.fm, etc. any longer.

I now spend a few minutes here and there during the day to post manual updates. There may be fewer updates from me until I get used to it, but at least I know they won’t be blocked. (Wee, that’s what I hope anyway.)

So, can you see why it is now more important than ever before to pay attention to what you post and how you post it on Facebook? Don’t give your audience any reason to use that Facebook Unsubscribe option.

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Make the New Facebook Ticker Work for Your Business
2. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
3. Facebook Timeline – Introducing the New Facebook Interface
4. Facebook Influence – Why I Highly Recommend FBinfluence
5. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO

Here is what I learned and why I will be paying closer attention from now on to the updates rolling by in the Ticker while I go about my business on Facebook.

First off, what is the Facebook News Ticker?

When you look to the top right after logging in to Facebook you will see the activities of your Friends roll by. These are LIVE updates of what your Friends are liking, sharing, commenting on or doing.

What’s really cool is, if you hover your mouse over any of those updates a pop out will (well) pop out.

For example, if someone posted a video you can watch it right from there without having to leave the page you currently are on or having to go to the page the video is located on. You also can like, comment and share that content right from that pop out. Pretty cool, huh?

Likewise if you were to share a video, (or a picture or other great content) it would also end up in the “Facebook Ticker Feed” and your friends or anyone who is subscribed to you could like, comment on or share it with their friends as well.

This is huge because, a bunch of other people who normally would never get to see your content now will get to see it because YOUR Friends commented on it and it is shared in their Facebook Ticker as well.

Two Major Benefits of the Facebook Ticker

1) Posts that were made hours or even days earlier (by Friends or Pages) now live longer and therefore get MORE EXPOSURE.

It could happen actually that a post you made a while back and maybe only a handful of people saw back then are getting revived because someone found it and commented on it and it ended up in the Facebook Ticker.

2) No matter how old a post is, if someone finds it, replies to or comments on it, the story of that comment shows up in the Ticker! And, if you click on the story you can see the entire conversation.

Gosh, I had no idea what I missed. Did you?

Another great benefit I found out about the Facebook Ticker.

As you probably know, you can post as your Profile or as your Page on Facebook. (You can switch your preferences in the top right corner of your Profile Page “Use Facebook as Page.”) However, maybe you are somewhat like me and forget to switch.

Do to the recent changes on Facebook that has changed you don’t necessarily have to switch back and forth anymore.  Now, if your Friends who are also connected to your Page reply on a post on your Page and it shows up in the Facebook Ticker you can reply to that post as your Page and not as your Profile. I hope this makes sense to you.

Attention: This only works if you have your “Posting Preferences” set to “Always Comment as Your Page.” You can do this in your Page Dashboard under “Your Settings.” No more switching back and forth from your Profile to your Page or if you have several Pages.

Oh, by the way, you need to set the settings for each individual Page. But when you see a post of yours in the Facebook News Ticker where someone has commented on and you want to reply, as long as your settings are correct you will always reply as THAT Page.

But that’s not all. Let’s say one of your friends just added a friend and it shows up in your Ticker. When you hover over that update a pop up pops out and gives you the option to add that person as well if you like. See image below…

Is that cool or what?!

I still have much more to share with you, but I’ll share this in another post as this one is already getting quite long.

Now, can you see the power the Facebook Ticker can have on marketing your business? As long as you share engaging content your Friends and Fans are interested in this can really be huge. And as I mentioned before sharing great content also increases your EdgeRank.

Your thoughts?

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Don’t Give Your Friends Reason to Use Facebook’s Unsubscribe Option
2. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO
3. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
4. Facebook Influence – Why I Highly Recommend FBinfluence
5. Facebook Timeline – Introducing the New Facebook Interface