Social Ed

Employees Are Using Social Media At Work – Make the Most of It!

kyle — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:30:31 +0000

This is a guest post from Kyle Lagunas. You can read more about Kyle in his bio below.

Fact: Most employees occasionally use social media tools at work for personal reasons. The degree may also vary from one organization to the next – or even from department to department. Marketing professionals, for example, are often logged into Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pretty much all day – I know I am! Unsurprisingly, business leaders want guidelines in place for regulating employee use of social media outlets (and protecting against misuse) on personal and company accounts alike. Many 2012 corporate to-do lists include creating an official policy for regulating employees’ Tweets, Likes and Shares while at work.

One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that while regulation-focused policies protect an organization against any potential social media blunders, they cast a shadow over the shoulder of every employee who uses the internet on a daily basis (shudder). Well-intended though they are, this approach to establishing guidelines often prevent the company from seeing any benefits whatsoever from employee use of social media.

My suggestion: If your employees are already using social media while at work, why not make the most of it?

Though there’s certainly more than one way to skin this cat – i.e. there isn’t one universal social media policy that works for all, – there are a few things to consider when creating a more forward-thinking policy. You need a clear purpose, you need to be sure everyone is included, and you want your policy to offer more “dos” than “don’ts.”

With help from a few industry professionals, I’ve put together some pointers on how you can create a policy that does more than just regulate social media use while at work. It’s called Social Media Policies: Promoting vs. Policing Use and it offers some guidelines for developing an effective social media policy for managing your employees’ behaviour online. If you have any thoughts or questions, don’t be shy to leave a comment either here or on the original article.

Tech Media Predictions for 2012

CTMoore — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:16:39 +0000

For those of you that aren’t aware, I co-host a show called HipMojo that’s all about digital media and technology. This is show #22 (released last week) in which Ash and I make some predictions for 2012. I throw out a couple whimsical predictions about Amazon, Google and Facebook — but even I have trouble taking these completely seriously.

After that, Ash runs through a list of “anti-predictions”. What he’s doing with these “anti-predictions” poking fun at some very common digital media predictions that we hear year after year after year. Some of them include:

this/next year being “the year of mobile”
television finally declining
and whole bunch more…

If anything, our combined cynicism is food for thought in the sense of a reminder that it’s a little too easy to drink the kool-aid, pee out some snake-oil, and get carried away with just how much short-term promise some medium or technology has. Which isn’t to say that these media and technologies don’t have promise, but just that change, no matter how quick and disruptive as a force it can be, rarely happens over night. In any case, I hope you enjoy this episode…

Corporate Social Media Strategy Workshop at Ometz

CTMoore — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:17:03 +0000

This past Wednesday, I gave another workshop on “Corporate Social Media Strategy”. As always, the presentation evolved a bit since the last time because the world of social media evolves so fast, and there are always new tools.

In this workshop, we explored the different social media channels that business can leverage, and how these channels can support their business goals. Specifically, we looked at:

Blogging (for SEO)
Blogger Outreach (online PR)
Facebook Pages
Facebook Ads
LinkedIn (profiles, groups, and jobs)
and Twitter

Here are the slides from this workshop, and below are some links to additional resources that you can use to learn more about SEO and Social media.

Corporate Social Content Strategy

View more presentations from CT Moore

Additional Resources

Also, here are some links to some additional reading that explores some of these topics more in depth.

Social Media Basics

Corporate Social Media Policies Ebook – develop a Social Media policy for your business

SEO Basics

Beginner’s Guide to SEO — the most comprehensive (and readable) introduction to SEO, from the good folks at SEOmoz

Social Media & SEO

Leveraging Social Content for SEO — discover how a social content strategy can help your site also rank better on competitive terms
5 Tips for SEO & User-Friendly Copy – learn how to write content that both humans and search engines like
Using Social Media to Boost Search Rankings – discover how Social Media influences search engine rankings
Blended Search Optimization: Managing the Reputation of Your Brand – learn how SEO and content can help you manage your online reputation

Twitter Links

Twitter Cheat Sheet – download a PDF that explains the basic of Twitter
Twitter Dictionary – expand your Twitter vocabulary

Ometz Workshop – Corporate Social Media Strategy 2011

CTMoore — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:14:57 +0000

Today, I gave a workshop on corporate social media strategy at Agence Ometz. In it, we explored the different social media channels that business can leverage, and how they might align those channels with their business goals. Specifically, we covered:

Blogging (for SEO)
Blogger Outreach (online PR)
Facebook Pages
Facebook Ads
Facebook Connect Integration
LinkedIn (profiles, groups, and jobs)
and Twitter

Here are some links to some of the tools we discuss using for managing multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts:

And here are the slides from the session.

Corporate Social Content Strategy

View more presentations from CT Moore

Free SEO Advice

CTMoore — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:35:55 +0000

While I was working for NVI, and SEO and social media agency, I did some guest blogging to help get the word out about our expertise and build links back to the site. Many of those guest posts focused on SEO and social media, and had some pretty advanced and detailed advice on how to address some very specific SEO situation.

Well, they say that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there’s an exception to every rule, so today I’m posting links to (and synopses of) each of those article. They range in topic from SEO copywriting and web design tips, to leveraging social content to rank and how to rank in different countries.

I hope you enjoy…

SEO Copywriting

One of the reasons that they say that content is king is because content is one of the primary factors that will help you rank. Oftentimes, however, it can be tricky walking that balance between writing for search engines and writing for actual human beings.

Well, in this article called 5 Tips for SEO & User Friendly Copy, I explore 5 tips for writing content that appeals to both search engines and users. These include:

Length of Page Content
Writing Scanable Paragraphs
Using Header for SEO and Usability
Keyword Density
and How to Use Bullet Lists Properly

Social Content & SEO

There’s a lot of hype around how social media can help you “connect” with consumers, etc. But did you know that the right social content strategy can also help you boost your search engine rankings?

In an article titled Leveraging Social Content for SEO, I explore how you can leverage social content to build links and gain the trust of search engines by demonstrating that your site is relevant to actual human users. Specifically, I take a look at:

How Social Signals Boost SEO
The Basics of Shareable Content (i.e. has viral potential)
and How to Build a Social Content Strategy that will support your SEO

SEO & Web Design

It’s hard not to judge a book by its cover, and oftentimes, packaging is what sells us on a product or service. So it’s important that your website looks good. But there’s also no reason why it can’t be SEO friendly, as well.

In this post called 5 Simple SEO Web Design Hacks, I take a look at 5 SEO elements that web designers should keep in mind when building a site. These include:

Page Load Times
Using HTML5
Optimizing Images
Using Proper Page Copy Elements
and some Flash Hacks for those projects that just can’d do without Flash

International SEO

Many companies sell their products in more than one country. When it comes to search engine optimization, though, it can be challenging to rank high in the search index of more than one country at a time.

Well, in International SEO: The ABCs of Ranking Abroad, we take a look at how Google gages the geographic relevant of a site, and what brands can do to help increase their search ranking profiles in multiple counties. Specifically, we explore how the following factors impact your rankings in different countries:

Top Level Domains (TLDs)
IP Address Location
Onsite Content
Contact Info
Backlink Profile

SEO for Content Publishers

If your business model depends on publishing, then you’ve already bought into the axiom that “content is king.” But the more content you publish, the more challenging it can be to get each piece of content to rank. Indeed, you can get so swamped in producing content, that you don’t always have enough resources to effectively market it.

This is what I set out to address in SEO for Massive Content Sites & Enterprise Level Publishers. In this post, I explore some of the most common SEO pitfalls of having a large content publishing portal. I start with basic onsite page structure, and then move onto to address some tips to avoid duplication content issues/penalties, including:

Using Article Excerpts on the Index and Category Pages
Crafting Unique Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Implementing Unique Static Content on Dynamic Pages
Noindexing Duplicate Content
and Using Canonical Tags on Syndicated Content

SEO for Restricted Content

Last, but not least, there are the content sites that rely on some kind of subscription model for users to access their content. Maybe those subscriptions are paid, or maybe the content is behind a free registration wall, but either way, such sites face a challenge to making sure that Google can get in behind that registration wall, index that content, and then send the site new users.

Well, in How to Rank & Monetize Restricted Content, I address these issues specifically. I examine:

the business incentives to restrict content,
when it’s appropriate to do so,
and how to get restricted content into the search index so that it has a chance of ranking.

Optimizing Your Site for Mobile Search

CTMoore — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:20:24 +0000

Last friday I delivered a presentation at MobileCamp Montreal on how to optimized your site for mobile search. In this presentation, I explored:

how mobile search is growing (500% in 2 years!)
what verticals of mobile search have seen the most growth
how, where, and when mobile users search
how smartphone searches often result in high conversion rates
the basics of SEO
how local SEO affects mobile search
and how to optimize your site for mobile SEO

Several folks have asked that I share the slide, so here they are. If you have a questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact me.

Optimizing Your Site for Mobile Search

Social Media Strategy for Ecommerce – Salon Ecom Montreal 2011

CTMoore — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:15:39 +0000

Happening May 18, 2011

This Wednesday will mark the first annual Salon eCom Montreal, and I’m going to be delivering a presentation on Social Media Strategy for Ecommerce. Salon Ecom Montreal is an all day event that explore all aspects of ecommerce strategy and best practices. It will be held at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal on May 18, 2011.

I’ll be co-presenting my session with Thomas Langdale, and we’ll be looking at how different social channels can be used to (1) target qualified users and (2) drive sales online. First, we’ll address how social media can be used for SEO, paying specific attention to how a proper social content strategy can help brands rank on targeted keywords.

Then we’ll go on to explore the best practices of using Facebook for ecommerce, including how to integrate inventory onto Facebook Pages and drive direct sales. Finally, we’ll examine how brands can use Facebook Ads to “hyper target” users, grow their customer base, and collect user-data that they can then put toward optimizing conversions.

If you’re interested in attending, we can also offer you a 30% discount by using the coupon code RABAIS_NVI and registering through this link. Hope to see you there…

Technical SEO for Dynamic Websites – MWNW 2011

CTMoore — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:51:16 +0000

Last weekend (May 7th), I had the privilege of attending Make Web Not War (MWNW) in Vancouver. MWNW is an annual event sponsored by Microsoft that explores the power and flexibility of new web paradigms, from Microsoft web platforms and Open Source applications to cloud computing and mobile technologies. The goal of the event is basically to help developers build the ultimate web experience for their clients.

In any case, I was invited as a speaker, where I co-presented a session on “Technical SEO for Dynamic Websites.” Here’s a description of the session and the slideshow. If you have any questions regarding this topic or presentation, please feel free to leave a comment:

SEO is an essential part of making sure that your websites are found and fully indexed by Google. In this session, we will examine the technical factors that influence how search engines index a website, and audience members will learn how to optimize both websites and CMS for search engine visibility.

Specifically, this session will address issues such as:

Proper implementation of various HTML elements,

Effective use of AJAX and Flash,

Use of redirections (301 vs 302),

Proper URL structuring and rewriting,

Duplicate content and the canonical tag

SEO for Dynamic Websites – Make Web Not War 2011

View more presentations from NVI

Ometz Workshop – Corporate Social Media Strategy

CTMoore — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:56:07 +0000

Yesterday, I delivered a workshop at Agence Ometz on Corporate Social Media Strategy. The first part of the course consisted in a presentation where we explored 3 business applications of social media: (1) online reputation management & blended search optimization, (2) social media for SEO, and (3) enterprise social media API integration, such as Facebook Connect. Here are the slides from that part of the workshop.

Corporate Social Media Strategy

View more presentations from CT Moore.

Also, here are some links to some additional reading that explores some of these topics more in depth:

If you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.

Wordcamp Montreal

CTMoore — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:41:07 +0000

Today, I’m delivering a presentation at Wordcamp Montreal called Optimizing WordPress for Search and Social. The goal of this presentation is to explore how you can optimize WordPress blogs for both Search and Social Media.

After this session, audience members should (1) have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of onsite SEO, (2) understand the advantages of Facebook Connect, and (3) know what themes and plugins can help them implement these SEO and social features. Below is the slideshow, as well as all the link to the various WordPress themes and plugins that I will discuss.

View more presentations from CT Moore.

SEO Themes & Plugins for WordPress

Thesis Theme — I personally use this theme to power my personal blog. Although it is not free, it offers many user-friendly SEO and web design options, and might be the best $87 I’ve ever spent online.

Genesis Theme — I haven’t yet tried out this theme, but it’s used by Chris Brogan. Not only do I trust Chris, but he used to use Thesis, too, so if Genesis is good enough for Chris, it’s probably good enough for me, too. It also goes for only $60.

All in One SEO Pack — If you don’t want to spend a few bucks on a comprehensive SEO theme for WordPress, this plugin will get you 3/4 of the way there. I haven’t used it in a while, so I can’t remember everything that it does and doesn’t do, but it will help you craft optimized page title and meta descriptions.

MembersWing Plugin — This plugin will help you implement First-Click-Free so that Google can index your restricted content. I haven’t tested it, but there’s a free and a paid version, so you should be able to test it out before forking over any dough.

Facebook Connect Plugins for WordPress

And here are some plugins that you might want to try to integrate Facebook Connect with WordPress.

Simple Facebook Connect — I’ve actually tested this one. It offers pretty much everything you could want out of Facebook Connect, but doesn’t always play well with every theme.
Faux Facebook Connect — allows Facebook users to comment on a WordPress blog.
Gigya Socializer — helps increase your site registration and engagement by using a number of social ID APIs, including Facebook Connect, MySpaceID, Twitter and OpenID.

There are a bunch more, but they haven’t been tested with WordPress above 2.9. However, you might also want to check out this list of 12 Facebook Plugins for Bloggers.

Update

I also “live blogged” two of the other great sessions from Wordcamp Montreal. Of course, I couldn’t type quite fast enough to catch everything that was said, but you can still get a pretty good sense of the main take-aways.