How Effective Is Your Blog?

1.  First of all, compare the natural growth of visits to your blog overall with regard to a similar period the previous year, and then the average visits for each post. Compare also the bounce rate, sources of traffic, social conversion, individual visitors, pages visited and average stay on your site and in each post.

2. Measure the number of people who unsubscribed to your newsletter, email or RSS subscriptions in the last month / quarter / semester / year. This way, you’ll understand whether your content is the right content for your community, if you have an interesting community and whether there is a connection with your readers. According to the measurements I carry out of my blogs and others I’m in contact with, the average rate is usually 2-3% per month at most.

3. Furthermore, check how many subscribers are RSS subscribers and how many are via email. If you have a newsletter subscription, how many subscribers do you have? Calculate this weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

3. Volume of comments in each post. The more comments you get, the more popular your blog is; the more popular it is, the more it’s read; the more read it is, the more it’s visited; the more visited it is, the more conversions you should be getting.

4. The number of “leads” you get every week / month. By “leads” I mean business opportunities. These will be different for every person depending on the type of blog you’re writing, the field and industry you’re in and the objective you seek. This could be a request for a quote regarding the interior decorating of a house in a home renovation blog; or, a question regarding the clothes you described in your fashion blog; it can also be a company contacting you for a PR activity through your advertising blog; or the proposal from an agency who wants to hire you as a speaker at a gastronomy fair through your food blog.

5. What is the reach of your posts without the use of social tools (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Menéame, etc.)? This will help you measure your blog’s true influence, how influential it is on its own.

6. Of the visits you receive for each post, how many actually carry out the action you’re looking for. That is, how many visitors click on the “call to action” that will take them to your online store, to purchase the theme you’re recommending, to make the donation for the NGO you collaborate with, etc. Sometimes, this “call to action” may simply be for them to answer in the comments section the question you set in your post, or signing up to an event, webinar or conference.

7. Analyse the number of links on other blogs, posts or sites that each of your posts gets. This isn’t only positive at SEO level, but if you get many links, then you know your post is valuable and others are using it as a resource.

8. Recommendations that your blog receives between users in the social web: Twitter, Facebook, Google + or LinkedIn. Count also the number of times that your blog (or each post) is bookmarked in a social bookmarking site such as Del.ici.ous or Diigo.

What other ways to measure your blog’s effectiveness and efficiency can you think of?

Facebook CFO David Ebersman Cashes in $43 Million in Shares

Facebook chief financial officer David Ebersman cashed in more than 900,000 shares of Facebook stock Wednesday, a transaction that netted the exec nearly $43 million, according todocuments filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The sale was pre-arranged as part of Ebersman's automatic trading plan, which means it does not necessarily reflect on the current status of Facebook, according to a company spokesperson. The 900,000-plus shares equated to roughly 8.5% of the CFO's total equity in the company.

Ebersman, who joined Facebook in 2009 after spending years as an exec at biotech giant Genentech, helped lead Facebook through its 2012 IPO. Investors took some time warming up to the social network, but seem to have changed their tune recently. Shares of Facebook ($FB) have more than doubled in the last year, closing Wednesday at $48.71.

The CFO has been cashing in small chunks of his ownership nearly every month alongside other Facebook execs, such as chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. In early August, Sandberg sold more than 2.3 million shares worth $91 million.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

26 Tips to Create Social Media Magic for Your Business

26 tips to create social media magic for your business

Have you found your brand’s social media is hitting a wall? Social media marketing takes time, talent, and a lot of creative brain power and it’s possible to get burned out. I’m going to share some easy, actionable items that you can do to put the social media magic back into your brand.

My colleague Rebekah Radice and I teamed up on this together to create a total of 52 tips and here is part one from her blog: How to Create Social Media Magic. Add in my 26 here and voila! You’re in business, baby!

I’m going to break down the tips by social media platform but many tips will work on any platform. Each platform has its own nuances for posting but many of the “common sense” guidelines for social media apply everywhere.


Google+

1. Create a weekly Google+ Hangout series to highlight your brand’s services, talk about industry updates, or to connect with customers. These will live on YouTube and be sharable on your blog and throughout all your social media platforms.

2. Use your super size cover photo to make an impact. At 2120 x 1192, you have no excuse for lacking visual impact. If you are design challenged, hire someone to create something memorable for you.

3. Use Friends + Meto connect your Google+ to other social channels. Use this for thoughtful sharing from Google+ to other social platforms.

4. Highlight your business’s accomplishments on your About page. There’s a lot of rich territory on Google+ so utilize it to boost your social SMO throughout the web.

5. Get your Google+ authorship set up. As Mark Traphagen says, “Google wants to pump you up in search.” Connect your Google+ account and receive a boost in Google search.
Pinterest

6. Tell your brand story with Pinterest boards.

7. Use secret boards to work with a team and build marketing campaigns.

8. Add a board with links to your other social networks and blog so people can find you everywhere.

9. Brand your images for Pinterest with your company watermark.

10. Use the #PinofTheDay hashtag to connect your content with other pinners and work across social media platforms.

More tips on my All Things Pinterest Board
Facebook Page

11. Host a Facebook Q & A on your Facebook page.

12. Make sure your Facebook page is attractive and optimized. You should change your cover photo occasionally for the seasons or for different marketing campaigns to keep your page fresh.

13. Customize your Facebook tabs.

14. Use square images for regular posts with a 1:1 ratio aspect or size them at 500 x 500 pixels. This is easy to do in PicMonkey or Photoshop.

15. Analyze your Facebook page on LikeAlyzer and keep making tweaks in your content to improve your page.

More resources on my Facebook Tips and Tricks board
Twitter

16. Set your profile up properly using all your visual assets and adding industry keywords with a link to your website.

Twitter Size Cheat Sheet

17. Participant or host Twitter chats to meet people in your industry or potential clients.

18. Use Social Bro or another third-party app to help grow your Twitter follow base the right way.

7 ways your business can gain more followers

19. Twitter is about interesting conversations. Make sure you say hello and talk with people. No broadcasting allowed.

20. Etiquette counts on Twitter. Tweet others the way that you want to be tweeted.

More resources on my Social Media Savoir Faire board
LinkedIn

21. Connect with influencers through the LinkedIn Influencer program. They are creating original content on LinkedIn and this is a rich resource of relevant LinkedIn content share for your updates.

22. Need to scope out the competition? Go stealth by becoming anonymous to do your research, then switch back to public for networking.

23. Customize the links to your websites for a more professional look.

24. Create great updates for more engagement. Link dropping isn’t effective.

25. Make sure that you add a custom message to each invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Remember that you can’t do this from the apps.

More resources on my A Little Love for LinkedIn board.
Biggest tip for last!

26. Be consistent in all your social media efforts. Pick one platform and learn to use it well before branching out to other platforms. Being really great on one platform is preferable to sucking on many platforms. Make sure that you are having fun and enjoying the social interaction. There is a trend in hiring agencies to handle social media for brands but I urge you to have people who are connected with your brand doing your social media. Farmed out social media can end up looking like farmed out social media. Bleck. If you feel like you don’t have time or the skills, please do hire someone to help you with your social media but make sure they know what they are doing and have active, solid social media platforms of their own. If they don’t have an active and vibrant social media platform themselves, how will they create one for you?

I hope that these tips will spark some new ideas and get your brain fired up for creating some social media magic of your own!

Disclosure: Social Bro provides me with a free pro version but I only use social media tools that I love and are helpful. It things don’t work, I don’t recommend them.

Photo credit: Big Stock Photos

The Beginner's Guide to TweetDeck

TweetDeck's development path might look more like a roller coaster than the typical incline, but it's for good reason. After Twitter bought the app in 2011, TweetDeck pulled support for various social networks — most recently Facebook — and dropped its mobile apps in order to focus on its core purpose in desktop form: Twitter.

Social media managers and casual tweeters alike can benefit from TweetDeck's organizational tools, such as customizable columns, multiple account toggling and scheduling. With a modern, clean design and automatically refreshing feeds, TweetDeck's utility comes in its simplicity and ease in setting up.


SEE ALSO: 6 Clever Tricks for Social Media Managers

Here's how to get started on TweetDeck. Soon your personal and professional Twitter troubles will be long gone.
Setting Up

Instead of connecting via Twitter.com, you'll need to download the app and create a separate TweetDeck account. You'll be able to connect Twitter accounts from there.

Then, decide if the Chrome web app or the Windows or Mac desktop apps suit your style.






Connect as many Twitter accounts as you'd like through Settings, located in the left sidebar. However, make sure you're aware of which account you set as your default to avoid accidentally brunch tweeting from your company's official account.

If you hate scrolling up your feed for the latest tweets, TweetDeck can do that for you. For an automatically updating feed, make sure to check the "Stream tweets in real time" setting under the General section.

Also in Settings, you can make TweetDeck even more easy on the eyes with appearance options: light and dark color schemes; larger or smaller font sizes; and wider or thinner columns.
Customizing Columns

TweetDeck's columns are key to getting what you want out of Twitter. Need to follow an event? There's a column for that. Use your DM inbox like a second iMessage account? There's a column for that.






Add separate feeds for your timeline, interactions, activity, scheduled tweets, messages, etc. through the "Add Column" button in the left sidebar. Once you've clicked on the type of column, select which account you'd like to see, and your column is ready.






Twitter is more than a timeline of users you follow. TweetDeck's columns make sense of Twitter's lists that have perplexed so many for so long. Out of sight, out of mind on Twitter.com, TweetDeck can pull lists you're on or subscribed to into their own columns, placed right next to your regular information feeds. Curate lists around your interests, office, events or things that generally get hidden on your main feed.


SEE ALSO: 3 Free Tools to Manage Who You Follow on Twitter



The arrow at the right of a column's header opens up column filtering options to maximize the quality of information. For example, narrowing a column or search (via the left sidebar) down to links and media-only tweets from verified users — parameters which may prove helpful during breaking news.



The search function also comes in handy during Twitter chats or other instances when you're closely following a hashtag, such as during conferences, TV shows and even weddings.

If you've tried any TweetDeck competitors, you will notice that TweetDeck is missing HootSuite'sstreams and tabs, which make it easy to separate multiple accounts. But with TweetDeck's easy and quick scrolling, switching between streams and creating columns make up for it.

Did you notice that the columns have tiny numbers in the top left of the header bar? Type those numbers to hop from column to column sans scrolling.





Tweeting and Scheduling

While column layout is important, there would be no point to an excellently curated layout if you couldn't jump in on the conversations you so cleanly organized.

TweetDeck's tweeting experience is as neatly and easily modified as its columns.



In the recently updated left sidebar, you can preview added images, get auto-fill suggestions for hashtags and handles, and automatically shorten links, no Bitly required.

Replying to tweets is simple, and will open up a box within the column you're in. If you'd like to reply to multiple users, even if they're not in the same conversation, click the reply arrow on the separate tweets and the handles will appear in the original compose field you have opened.



The scheduling field has a quick calendar view with timestamps, streamlining tweeting for the busy social media manager or normal user who wants to tweet jokes at more convenient times.


SEE ALSO: 9 TweetDeck Alternatives for Mobile

TweetDeck is a no-fuss web and desktop Twitter client, and it will make any tweeter's experience easier and more organized, for work and play.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Mashable composite, Twitter

Facebook's top 10 hidden features

Even if you check Facebook daily, you may not have picked up on a few of the social network's less well-known features. Here are 10 of the best Facebook features you've been missing out on.

Facebook has a number of hidden features on its site Photo: AP

By Sophie Curtis

11:30AM GMT 30 Oct 2013

1. Create an interest list

Interest lists are an optional way to organise the content you are interested in on Facebook. You can create your own interest lists based on the things you care about, or follow other people's lists. For example, you could create a 'Top Indie Bands' list that features bands' Pages and public updates from band members.

To create your own interest list, go to https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/interests and click the 'Add Interests' button. The click 'Create List' and search for the people or Pages you want to add to your list, or use the categories on the left to browse. After you've selected the things you want to include, you can pick a name for your list and select a privacy setting. Choose 'Public' if you want others to be able to subscribe to the list you've created.

When you follow a list, you'll be able to see updates from that list by clicking the arrow at the top right of your homepage and then clicking on the list name. You'll see a feed of the posts and activity from the people and Pages on that list. You may also see highlights from this list in your main news feed.

2. View Friendship history

Look back at all the Facebook interactions you've had with a particular friend by going to their profile page, clicking in the arrow in the top right corner and selecting 'See Friendship' from the dropdown menu. If you’ve added a relationship to your timeline, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/us to see the friendship page for you and the person you’re in a relationship with.

You can also see a friendship page for two of your friends by going to a friendship page, clicking 'More' (under the cover photo) and typing in the names of two of your friends. 

3. Check your 'Other' messages

Just as Facebook highlights stories in your news feed that it thinks are of greater importance to you, it also sorts your messages. The main Messages folder contains messages from your friends and their friends. All other messages will go into an 'Other' folder where you can look at them separately.

This Other folder isn't visible until you view your main Messages folder, and Facebook doesn't send you a notification when a new message arrives in this folder. You might therefore have hundreds of unread messages that Facebook has filed in your Other inbox. 

4. View Photos the old way

If you don't like the way that photos appear in a pop-out black box when you click on them, you can simply revert to the preview Facebook photo display by pressing F5 on your keyboard. This allows you to flick through the photos in an album in classic view.

5. Prevent tagged posts from automatically displaying on your Timeline

Facebook gives you the option to manually approve or dismiss tags that people add to your posts. When you turn it on, anytime someone tags a photo or post you made, that tag won't appear until you approve it.

To turn on tag review, click on the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and select 'Settings' In the left-hand column. Then click Timeline and Tagging and look for the setting 'Who can add things to my timeline?' and click 'Edit' next to the option 'Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline' to turn this on.

It should be noted that this only controls what's allowed on your timeline. Posts you're tagged in still appear in search, news feed and other places on Facebook 

6. Turn your profile upside down

When the Pirate English language option appeared on Facebook several years ago it attracted a fair bit of attention. It changes, for example, 'What's on your mind?' to 'What be troublin' ye?' and 'Share' to 'Divvy spoils t' all ye mateys'.

Now you can also choose 'Upside Down' as your version of English, which upends all your interface text. Just click on the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and change 'language' to 'English (Upside Down)'.

7. Download your Facebook data

There is a feature in the General Account Settings that allows you to download information available to you in your account such as your timeline info, posts you have shared, messages, photos and more. Additionally, it includes information that is not available simply by logging into your account, like the ads you have clicked on, data like the IP addresses that are logged when you log into or out of Facebook, and more.

Click the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and choose Settings. At the bottom of the General Account Settings in an option to "Download a copy of your Facebook data". Unfortunately, there is no way to individually select which data you would like to download when you download your Facebook info, so you will have to download your file in its entirety. 

8. Activity log

Your Facebook activity log is a list of your posts and activity, from today back to the very beginning. You’ll also see stories and photos you’ve been tagged in, as well as the connections you’ve made – like when you liked a Page or added someone as a friend. You can also use it to review and manage what you share on Facebook.

You can get to your activity log by clicking the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and choosing Settings, followed by 'Privacy'. Next to 'Who can see my stuff?' click 'Use Activity Log'.

This can be used to quickly review your photos, and photos you're tagged in, that are shared with Public, and also review photos that you have hidden on your timeline. 

9. Send a private message from a traditional email account

Send a message to someone on Facebook from your traditional email account (Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail etc) using their @facebook.com email address. This is in the format username@facebook.com. The emails will be delivered to your Facebook Messages folder

When you send messages to external email addresses, your emails will be formatted to look like Facebook messages, including your name, your profile picture and your message. 

10. Turn off mobile push notifications

Sometimes getting endless notifications on your mobile phone about Facebook updates is just irritating. Push notifications can be turned on or off from your Facebook app or the settings on your smartphone.

From your Android, iPhone or iPad go to Privacy Settings > Notifications > Mobile Push and un-tick the things you don't want to get notifications about. It is not currently possible to adjust push notifications from mobile browsers or from feature phones. 

More information here...