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Social Media Growth 2011

By Tom Guard on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 | No Comments

2011 Social Media Growth

This infographic, courtesy of the Search Engine Journal, depicts the growth of social media. It’s 2011 and social media is still picking up steam.

Growth in social media is increasing in all age groups. Even granny gets her Facebook on.

The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic
Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic
Tom Guard

Free Facebook Contest App

By Tom Guard on Monday, August 29th, 2011 | 1 Comment

If you use social media to promote your business or website, there is a free Facebook contest application that needs beta testers. This only for a short time so check it out.

In order to run a successful contest on Facebook, you need to have a good application. There are a lot of applications out there that actually cost much money, but  you can check this Facebook application out for free.  Most other solutions for running contests within social media are crazy expensive.

Contests on Facebook are a great way to take your company or website to the next level. All it takes is one person to share your contest and you have 1000′s of friends within days.  Contest marketing is one of the best ways to get the most fans or likes on your Facebook page. If you give something of value away as a prize more people are likely to join your contest and send it flying across in the internet virally.

This app is for your Facebook fan or like pages and not for your personal page. It will connect to your personal page if you become your own contestant in your Facebook Contest.

Don’t forget to check out this free Facebook Contest app right here.

Drop me a comment if you have tired it and liked it.

Check out the Facebook Contest App Video.

Facebook Contest App

Click To See Video

Related articles

How to have a contest on Facebook successfully
Tom Guard

Why Should Local Government Use Twitter.

By Tom Guard on Monday, August 29th, 2011 | No Comments

Why should cities use social media?

Why Should Local Government Use Twitter?

I know what you are thinking. Twitter is a big hype and it’s boring. Actually most people who think it’s a waste of time and money really need to get with the times.

How to use social media in government.

See, Twitter is real-time. By real-time I mean that I could post a road closure on my Twitter account and it could get to over 1500 people in a matter of seconds. Those people that have the text message feature turned on when I send a Tweet would get that road closure on their phone. (Are you getting the idea yet?)

How long and how costly would it take to send out a newsletter about a road closure or a festival going on in your city?

Every state and municipality should have an official Twitter profile. It saves time and money.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday I built a Twitter page where people can track hurricanes, get information about evacuations, find fuel stations that have gasoline for generators and learn about hurricane safety. That’s just a few things this new Twitter profile will do. I’m not even finished with it.

I know how to make a Twitter page post emergency information automatically without using a human to post it in case of an evacuation.

If you or your city would be interested in knowing more about Twitter comment below.

From the Cleveland Social Media Expert.

Jenny Holzer + twitter + text messaging
Image by gcbb via Flickr
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Tom Guard

WordPress Websites Vs. HTML Websites

By Tom Guard on Monday, June 6th, 2011 | No Comments

WordPress Websites Vs. HTML Websites

Conventional sites made using old webpage software such as Dreamweaver or Front Page need a lot of attention, time and money to update. (Have you ever seen how much these design programs cost?)

What do Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart, Discover Magazine, the NFL, and the White House have in common? They all use WordPress.

I’ll hear a client say, “Well, I don’t want a blog, I want a website.” I tell them, if it’s on the web…it’s a website.

There are two different types of WordPress. There is WordPress.com which is a blogging system that is hosted by WordPress. Then there is WordPress.org. WordPress.org is a blogging platform software that runs on your own server so you can control all the content with your own domain name.

Here are a few reasons why I recommend using WordPress to my clients.

  1. It’s free. You don’t need to use editing software just to update your content.
  2. It has an easy-to-use admin interface.
  3. Ready to use. You can use the default Template and still get ranked in the search engines.
  4. Customizable. There are thousands of free themes out there. You can find a look that suites your site and then customize it to your needs. You can also purchase premium themes or hire a designer to build a customized WordPress for real estate sites, business sites, ecommerce sites, etc.
  5. You can easily create, organize and update your own site, without knowing any coding.
  6. It automatically archives all your posts.
  7. It automatically creates RSS feeds, and pings the services of your choice when you update your blog.
  8. You can update and publish to your site via email, or your phone.
  9. You can use it for podcasting, videoblogging, photoblogging, or simply articles.
  10. You can easily get feedback from readers with comments.
  11. Twitter, Facebook and many other social networks can be integrated into your site.
  12. It can be quickly extended to perform many additional functions via hundreds of plugins.
  13. Comprehensive support and instruction, both written and video, is widely available at little or no cost.
  14. A site built on WordPress will get you ranked higher in the search engines.

Here’s a great example of a site that uses the WordPress blogging platform to run a site. Camacho Cigars uses WordPress don’t take my word for it. Check it out.

If you want to get your message across as well as your products or services, I highly recommend using WordPress. I wouldn’t recommend anything else.
Tom Guard

Powerful Social Media Tool for Small Businesses

By Tom Guard on Friday, February 25th, 2011 | No Comments

Jim Kukral, a fellow Clevelander, has been a powerhouse in helping small-businesses succeed via the social web. Jim knows that one of the most powerful tools on the web is video. After all YouTube is actually the second largest search engine. Yes! People search video because they want to be entertained or solve a problem.

If you are a small business owner, consider yourself lucky.

Jim has created another Video Tool Kit.

This isn’t his first one. I remember I subscribed to get his first video tool kit over 2 years ago. Within a day I had everything I needed to create a great video with very little cost. In fact, making a video for your small business not only increases your online presence but can actually get you more business.

If you want to know more about Jim Kukral’s, Video Tool Kit, you can check out this video.


Tom Guard

Watch A Video Get some Chipotle

By Tom Guard on Friday, February 25th, 2011 | 1 Comment

NBC is running a promo for their new show coming soon.

As part of a viral marketing campaign, NBC is giving out free Chipotle coupons just for watching the promo.

Check it out!

Burrrrppp

Tom Guard

A Free Gift Just for Subscribing

By Tom Guard on Friday, February 25th, 2011 | No Comments

I put together a free gift for my readers. It’s the FB Formula. Yours free just for subscribing to the Social Media Blogger Guy.

If you like this free book comment below. If you think I can improve on this book please let me know too.

Even negative comments are good comments.

Thanks,

Tom Guard

The Social Media Blogger Guy

Get the FB Formula Now!!!

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