Photos and Videos Soon To Show on Twitter

I was reading Mashable the other day and one of their articles caught my eye. Photos and Videos Soon To Show on Twitter.  I have always wondered why these features weren't originally implemented into Twitter but after using it I'm not sure that these features are necessary. 


It would be nice to share photos and videos directly into the Live Twitter Stream, however Twitter was not designed that way for a reason. It was meant to be actively updating short messages, and a tool to use in social media to drive to other platforms. Personally, I use Facebook and YouTube for uploading pictures and  video. I would have to get used to posting pictures and videos onto Twitter. Eventually I'm sure I'll have to learn to do this and even like it.


But according to Mashable these features are still in the testing period, and Twitter has recently taken down the Tweet Media Setting (to be able to upload photos and videos). 


Twitter's comment: “We’re constantly exploring features and settings. What you saw was a small test of a potential consumption setting for inline media. We show inline media on our own iPhone and Android apps.” (Compliments of Mashable)


I'm on the fence with this. What do you guys think?? I want to know!

Read the full Mashable Article Here

Just Two Clicks To Deposit Checks on Your Iphone

So I was riding home from work the other day, and jamming out to the radio and by no other choice listening to commercials. This Chase commercial came on started talking about depositing a check in TWO clicks. My attention immediately focused. What was this commercial talking about??

So here's the deal: Chase added some new features to their mobile banking application. One of these features is the ability to deposit a check by taking a picture. Just launch the application and take a clear shot of the front and back of the check. ( Be sure to sign the back!) It immediately confirms whether the check is valid and deposited!

Funny thing is Chase isn't the first bank to do come out with this application. USAA, a private bank for military personnel, came out with it about a year ago. However, since USAA isn't a public banking institution, it didn't have the ability to reach the masses.

Currently, I don't have a Chase account or an Iphone ...so my question is when is it coming out for Android or Blackberry? and when is Bank of America going to catch up in technology??

I definitely have Chase on my mind now..that's fore sure! What about you? Would you switch banks for this cool depositing mobile feature?

To Get your Chase iPhone App..Click Here!

Facebook is Adding More Features to the Like Button

I don't know about you guys, but I definitely enjoy "liking" other people's status's pictures, and generally anything of interest on Facebook. Now Facebook is adding on to this already great feature.

They are adding an iFrame version to the like button which means when you like something you can leave a comment or longer story for all to see. For example, if you see a dress online and you "like" the picture, now you can add a comment to your like and say "That's a really cute dress, does it come in blue?"

Facebook is also allowing you to send out messages to specific users who "liked" a certain product, brand story. For example if you "liked" an eyeshadow on Mac's website, they can send a special coupon, or just a personalized message to you and the others that liked that specific eyeshadow. This will work really well for targeted marketing. Looking forward to Smashyn implementing these new features into our sites.

Want to know where people are clicking on Facebook? Now you can. Facebook now allows a fb_parameter to be added to show you what kind of stream the click was, and where the click happened. It also filters out people's private information allowing you to see the anonymous URL.

To add the new Like Button Feature and learn more Click here...

Social Media Campaigns

While some of you are wondering, why does she keep posting about this SkinCare Blogger Wars presented by Natural Skin Shop.

Well the answer is simple: Natural Skin Shop is one of the clients I help represent. I work directly with my superior to manage their social media. SkinCare Blogger Wars is our newest social media game and the concept is fairly simple.

Natural Skin Shop would like YOU to blog about them(Natural Skin Shop) on YOUR personal blog and link to their website, (www.naturalskinshop.com). Whomever drives the most unique traffic to www.naturalskinshop.com wins 1st place, and 2nd and 3rd place accordingly. There are tons of other prizes to win, so there is a really good chance IF YOU ENTER YOU WILL WIN SOMETHING.

We decided to run this campaign because the rest of the team at Smashyn is working to optimize our websites and increase our SEO. We decided we would like to stick with the same goal in mind!We also know all you BLOGGERS love a good competition. So why not Blogger Wars?

So besides the CASH and Products you could win, why should you write about Natural Skin Shop. They will feature your blog(post) on their Facebook Page which has over 2600 fans and is CONTINUOUSLY growing. This is a great chance for new people to follow your blog.

Now WHAT are you waiting for?!? GO BLOG ABOUT NATURAL SKIN SHOP!!

*Don't have a blog?? : Subscribe (follow) Natural Skin Shop's blog and get a chance to win a skincare kit. **TODAY ONLY**

Click here to learn how to get started

Check back to learn how running this campaign went. I'll talk about having realistic goals, and really having a clear goal in mind when running social media campaigns. Check back later this week!

Blogging Contests: A Whole New World

As a newbie to social media I never realized there were so many blogs out there doing contests and giveaway..I mean at one point I had no idea what a blog was. Natural Skin Shop is hosting a Blogging contest on their blog called SkinCare Blogger Wars! The objective is to get bloggers to write something about Natural Skin Shop on their blog and link to their website. Whomever drives the most unique traffic to naturalskinshop.com, will win an array of great prizes including CASH and skin care products. They have already given out skin care kits like this one!

To learn how to participate in SkinCare Blogger Wars  Click Here. 

Other great contest blogs I have come across are Bloggin' Mamas Cruise , Lets Win!, The Giveaway Gallery

Blogging Contest: Skin Care Blogger Wars

Natural Skin Shop presents SkinCare Blogger Wars. 

For all of you who have blogs out there simply write a post about Natural Skin Shop and link to their website. Whoever drives the most unique traffic to www.naturalskinshop.com will win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place which includes a skincare kit and CASH! They are also giving away a MYSTERY prize to one lucky blogger daily for the 14 days of the competition.There is over $2300 in prizes so what are you waiting for? BLOG!

Learn how to get Started Here.

I'm back!...I've been swamped behind the Scenes of Social Media

Hey guys! It has definitely been a while since I wrote last. In the world of Social Media, things move extremely fast and I am learning how to keep up, which I am however that doesn't leave much time to write and keep myself sane at the same time. I check one thing off the list and add 5 more. Just to keep you up to date on what I am doing:

My job entails many things from knowing where my boss's phone is to handling 20 writers for the content that we are producing, for a lot of different websites. I work with them on a one-on-one basis, assigning topics, editing and giving constructive criticism about their articles, and even had to fire some too. (How cool is that?? How many interns do you know that get to fire someone? Awesome!!).

We are also looking to take on a potential client and going through the different aspects such as what are the benefits? What are the negatives? Will this client work well with our company? We are working on a proposal and knowing what we want out of it if Smashyn decides to go forward and work with the client.

Something that I think will definitely help our Social Media Team to be more productive: We just switched offices!! With this I have now learned how to use our flat screen tv to project what I am working on my computer onto the screen. We keep TweetDeck* up there to keep an eye on the many different accounts and it makes things much easier. Not to mention that our old office didn't have a window, and the new found sunlight =happiness.

*Tweetdeck is a useful tool to manage multiple Twitter accounts. This proves to be very useful when managing my personal Twitter @socialmediaintern, @Smashyn, and our other clients. (I'll touch more on Tweetdeck in another post).

Last week we attended Mashable's Social Media Day in South Florida where we were co-sponsoring the event with other local companies. Since our company works directly with a premier skincare line, we were able to create personalized Social Media Day moisturizer bottles to hand out. Very excited about this, as I did help design the layout of the bottle.

Also, finally getting my own business card!!This I have found to be extremely pertinent, since I am going to many different events and networking with many different contacts. It should be interesting, in the future if we will even need business cards? I have even seen business card barcodes, where people wear them as a sticker, and people can get all their information in one shot. Can't wait to see where technology will take us.

Promise the next time I write it will be sooner than a month. Check back to see what else I have been up to at Smashyn.

How Smashyn Uses Twitter & My First Tweetup

Find More Pics Here

How SMASHYN uses Twitter
At Smashyn we use Twitter to market for our beauty and skincare clients. Through Twitter we can easily access the (beauty and skincare) community and follow them, and have them follow us.

Tip: Go and follow not only those interested in your niche, but also follow your competition..this is a good way to keep an eye on them. No need to send your secret spies.

We also use Twitter to drive our followers to blog posts, contests, information that is relevant and what the company is doing. We provide content that people want to read (even if you only have 140 characters to write with) and allows them to interact with.

When using Twitter Smashyn Never:

• Uses Auto Tweet.. In order to brand our clients correctly, it is worth the time to go in to all our different accounts and tweet live. If you aren't actually on Twitter, you shouldn't be tweeting out messages.
• Auto Direct Messages..This function was made to contact people privately. Now users create automatic direct messages for when you follow them.

I don't know about you but this is probably my biggest frustration with Twitter. Why do I want to be notified that someone is basically sending me a spam Hey! Check me out, it is all about me Blah Blah Blah! Come on! Be ORIGINAL and put the effort into to it.

Smashyn Personally Uses Twitter:
To establish our presence in the world of social media, stay up to date and inform others what is going on in Social Media, and to connect with others in the Social Media. Like last night when we went to the Tweetup & tonight to the SFIMA event. Check back this weekend for a recap on the event.
My First Tweetup
I didn't really know what to expect..I mean I am just trying to get a hold of this Twitter thing, and now I am actually meeting up with people from Twitter. Weird? Kind of, but you get to meet a lot of great people, and really put a name to the face.

Unless you do hours of research on the people who are attending prior to the event, you can't necessarily tell who is who off the bat. This is a great blind way of meeting people, and really getting the chance to tell them what exactly it is that you do. You get the chance to actually have a conversation with someone who has similar interests (SOCIAL MEDIA DUH) and get to know the "man behind the internet".

 At the Tweetup I met some cool people like @mmwine, @mdl914, @witt_on_twit, and @ScholarAndAGent at @WildOlivesCafe..looking forward to my next Tweetup.:)

Twitter?--Tweedle? Twit? Oh Right: "Tweet"

First there was Myspace—TOM --gotta love Tom! Then Facebook surfaced. After first using Myspace I was VERY hesitant to start using Facebook. I mean why did I need ANOTHER site to talk to my friends on.

But I was going to college soon, and my friends convinced me it was necessary. Ended up being a great way to talk to people going to the same university. (Plus Myspace was getting way too spammy!)

Alright so I was with Facebook, loving it and THEN I heard about Twitter (from my DAD of all people). He started telling me: people were using this site to represent their companies. I didn't get it so I checked it out, got my own account and began my "attempt" to use it.

I think I tweeted about 4 times and I was done. What was the point of this “tweeting” I didn't know anyone that was using Twitter. Seemed just like updating status's on Facebook but without the rest of the good/fun stuff. So I stopped, and stuck to what I knew and liked: Facebook.

So when I got this internship, Twitter was/is my biggest hurdle. I needed to start using Twitter and understand it completely. After using it daily for the past couple of weeks, I am now  beginning to understand why it is useful.

While (to me) Facebook is more of a personal networking site, I find Twitter very useful to communicate with other people interested in specifically what I am interested in: Social Media!

I am still getting the hang of “tweeting” and “retweeting”, hashtags #, and mentions @smediaintern...but soon enough it will be just as familiar as Facebook (I'm hoping).

Why your company should use Twitter

• Twitter has the capability to reach an infinite amount of new consumers daily. So question is why wouldn't you do it?? Your consumers would be able to follow your business daily and have a personal connection with the company.
• Twitter is a great way to get your company name out there. You can do product giveaways, coupon codes, ask and answer questions. Really get your consumers involved with your company!
• Many large companies are using social media platforms such as Twitter to increase their following through Social Media. I know comparing small businesses to companies like Pepsi and Starbucks isn't fair or doesn't seem realistic. I mean Hey! they have all the resources to back them up. However they DO have to put a lot of time and effort into it as well. The only difference would be: Giving up.
• Don't give up too easily! You won't get 1,000 followers overnight or probably even in a week. Be willing to work at it, its worth it! Social Media is the new media and is constantly growing. Be Patient! Get in on it now before you are too far behind.

How Smashyn uses Twitter:

We're attending a Tweetup Tonight to network with others in South Florida.

I have never been to a Tweetup before...very excited to see what goes on. Check back to see how it goes how else Smashyn uses Twitter.

How are you or your company using Twitter? Leave a comment and let everyone know!

Social Media: My First Week

At first, I, like many others assumed social media was a piece of cake. I mean how hard could updating status's and tweeting be?

Man, was I wrong. I have so much to learn about social media. For starters, always remember these social media platforms are representing your company,they are your voice.

These are platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blog, FourSquare, etc..When using these platforms be sure to know the focus and goal of what your company wants social media to do for them.

Some tips about social media that I've learned so far:

Tip #1-Don't be generic

-Make sure you are keeping your audience entertained. Reusing the same status's and tweets shows you don't have anything unique to offer, and your audience becomes uninterested.

Tip #2-Get your audience to interact

-Ask for consumer's feedback. People love to share their thoughts, especially what they DON'T like.
-Ask questions and provide answers--Followers will continue to come back if they enjoy your page the first time around. So make it count.

Tip #3-Don't Be Afraid of Negative Feedback or "Constructive Criticism"

-This shows that you are honest, "human", and willing to listen to what consumers like and want.

Tip #4-Don't overtake your social media platforms  

-While you want to be active in your communities being too spammy or unoriginal can cause a negative reaction to your company.


----This week At Smashyn...

Smashyn has been building a client's Facebook Page. This included launching campaigns, which included giveaways, discounts, contests, questions, videos etc..The intention: Grab people's attention. However, the result of all the back-to-back promotions, the Page interaction decreased. So we learn...and we move forward.
Smashyn regrouped and remembered the focus. Decrease promotional giveaways and went back to basics. Ask questions, give answers and provide content people want.

Check back later this week to learn as I learn...more about social media! Remember to follow me @smediaintern or friend me on Facebook.

                                 

Becoming a Social Media Intern

Finding a job in the world of marketing, is no easy task especially when you are still in school. I have been diligently looking for the right job out there for me, or any job at that point.I stumbled across a job posting for a social media intern online.

The job posting was as follows:

-Work with the social media director
-Promote and interact with customers in several social media facets.
-Be active in Facebook/Twitter/blogging
-Manage Twitter/Facebook/blogging and other social media platforms for multiple accounts

So wait... This job basically entails me sitting at the computer, on websites that I am already using all day to market for beauty and skin care lines?? This is AMAZING!

For someone who has been very indecisive in school, starting as a pre-Business major—thinking this is not for me, I need to be more creative, and I want to write. So I then switched to Journalism which after one semester and many people in the profession giving one piece of advice--- RUN, GET OUT NOW!, I decided to change my major once again.

Okay. So if I am going to pay all this money to get a degree, but I still have NO IDEA what I want to do, what is going to be the most beneficial major? So it was back to Business, but with a twist lets go to the creative side of business, which is how I ended up majoring in Marketing and Advertising

So now that I have found this social media intern job, I now have a direction in which to use my degree which feels great! I get to take my marketing and advertising business degree, and market through the new world of social media, and bonus---I get to write (blog) too!

Check back later for more postings as I take you through learning the world of social media marketing. You can also check me out on Twitter @smediaintern or on Facebook.