Why An RSS Reader Is The Most Important Tool For Your Social Media

Photo by TEIA MG via Flickr.

Content, content, content. It's what every blog post you ever read about how to run social media for a business will include. You need content, but it can't all be about your business. Following other social media Pages that are related to your business will certainly help in this regard, but your fans and followers are going to get really bored with seeing the same items shared over and over. Memes are fun, but you don't want to overdo that either. What you need is relevant content that will keep people reading your page, and sharing what you post with others.

The very best way I have found to do this is with an RSS reader. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, but it is also known as Real Simple Syndication. This makes more sense because that's exactly what it is. Every blog or website you read (news, blogs, podcasts, photo) has an RSS feed. A reader allows you to put your favorite things to read in one place for easy access and... reading!

I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. I am usually flipping through feeds anyway just to catch up on news and my favorite blogs, but now I add on more time to go through feeds I've picked to help me generate content for the social media sites I manage- as well as for my own sites. It's a simple and convenient way to find content and keep your followers engaged!

There are many readers out there, and more have popped up since Google Reader recently shut down. I use two readers. One is Feedly, and the other is Flipboard (which I use on the iPad). Feedly also has phone and tablet apps, but I find I get useful information from both.

It takes a little time up front to set up your account and subscribe to the feeds you want to follow, but once you are up and running, staying on top of the latest information for all of your social media sites is, well, really simple!





Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!

Size Means Nothing If No One Sees It!

I see a lot of posts on Facebook pages patting themselves on the back for reaching milestone followers: 100, 1,000, 10,000, etc. When I first look at a Facebook page, I don't look at how many likes, but the number next to it. I want to see how many are talking about a page. What exactly does that mean? Well, here's how Facebook describes it:

People Talking About This: Number of people who have created a story about your page. Story is created when someone likes page; posts to wall; likes, comments, or shares page post; answers a question; mentions page; tags page in a photo; checks in at location or recommends.

Basically the point is this: A million people can like a page, but if no one is sharing or talking about the content, it doesn't matter. 

 Now don't get me wrong. Likes are a good thing, and they will increase stats- temporarily. It gives the page potential when people are interacting.  The more likes, the more people see content. If only 10 people like a page, then sure, if 5 are talking about it, that's a great percentage! Yes, having people like the page is very important.

Think about your News Feed for a minute. What are the things you see when scrolling? You see a mixture of posts from your friends, pages you follow, the same photo shared 10 times. What else? You see what friends comment on. You see what statuses friends like. You also see what PAGES friends like, as well as comments on pages. I've found many a page to like because of someone else liking it. 

Businesses- if you want more people to see your page, you have to create the content to make interaction possible. Sometimes a few "likes" are all you need to get that ball rolling. Encourage interaction. Ask questions, have a "call to action" in the post. People love photos and video. Links are less likely to be seen. Don't slam your page with posts, either. If you start going over 5 or 6 in a day, people might not like that in their feed. Then again, it all depends on your business and what you are posting.

It's important to know your audience. As you see, some pages have more talking about them than likes!

Casual Users- A simple "like" can go a long way. If you believe in a business, or want to support one, all you have to do is like a status occasionally. Leave a quick comment. Share something they have posted. You all ready know it doesn't take any time to do it. Now you also know that you could be helping that business increase their presence, and in turn helping them grow and become successful.

PS- all the pages here in my examples are great pages, and should be given a look- and a like. Look them up!

Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!