Facebook will Eat You ALIVE!

Everywhere you turn online, you'll find a blog posting about the "best times to post on Social Media."

Every expert out there has a formula for when to post to have "maximum impact," like social media is some sort of war game. For the social media marketing person, getting your message in front of your followers, when they are receptive to it, is a major concern. And rightly so, since screwing it up is $$$ out of their pockets.

But what about the average blogger, who just has a story to tell? Oh, and doesn't have 5,000,000 followers all over the world.

• Well, who are your followers?
• Where do they live?
• What do they do?
• When are they active online?

Pretty easy, right.  Yeah, sure.

There are lots of options out there for figuring out when to post on Twitter. Most experts recommend posting several times a 24hr day, taking into effect that your message is not limited to one geographic area. There are websites out there that will evaluate your Twitter accounts and tell you when your followers are active, who is active, and when the best times are to reach them. FollowerWonk is one of these sites.

Facebook

There isn't anything similar for Facebook, though. On Facebook, you have to dig out the pencil and paper, and figure out the best times to post on your own. Post often enough to keep people engaged, but don't post TOO often, or you'll drive people away.

LOLcats live on Facebook. Grumpy Cat reigns supreme. Recipes, family photos, and memes will scroll your news feed faster than you ever thought possible.

Take a look at your FB news feed, spinning like a slot machine wheel, and see when your target audience is active online. Mid-day for stay-at-home types, and early/late evenings for people who work all day? And this is only during the week.

Belle Beth Cooper (@bellebcooper), over at the Buffer Blog, found that the most interaction was seen in the later part of the week, and weekend.  Sorta makes sense, when you think about it. The weekend is in sight!

Weekend postings on Facebook can be a bit elusive to pin down. The data shows that there is a spike in Facebook "Sharing" on Saturdays. But that may not hold true for you.  A lot depends on weekend schedules. Sports, family events, and yard work play a roll in messing up any sort of matrix for weekend postings.  Your target audience might not be there one weekend, but will be for the next two weekends. Or not at all. And your "Shares" may come later in the night than during the week.

So...?

I use Buffer to schedule most of my postings on Social Media. But I space them apart enough so that I can post topically current stuff in between the scheduled posts, and not overwhelm the average follower.

The folks over at the Buffer Blog have put a LOT of thought into posting schedules. For more insight into Facebook postings, check out this article from July, 2013. While it is targeted toward the Facebook Page user (normally businesses), the data holds true for the average user, also.

"While the best time to post is definitely important, there are some other things to keep in mind. I had a look at what kind of updates work best for Facebook pages to increase interaction and found 7 interesting statistics that you’ll probably find useful if you’re trying to make your page more engaging."

They base their recommendations on statistics, science, and psychology. And with over a three million posts processed per week (on average), they have the statistical data to back it up.

Scheduling posts for Facebook was/is a challenge. But I spent a couple of weeks studying the posting habits of others, and set my schedule based on their usage.  I work nights, so I would set up my laptop beside me at work, and leave FB up to scroll.  After a couple of days, I had an idea of when my friends are active.  This might not work for a business page, though.

If I want something to be seen, I post it early in the evening, or right around lunchtime.  Or post the same thing at both times, but a day apart. (Wednesday noon and Thursday evening, for example.)

Make It Work, or adjust it until it does

OK, you set up scheduled post times for Facebook, but they don't seem to be hitting the mark. Um, play with them? This is not "Set in Stone" scheduling.

Feel free to play with your posting times, and let me know if your personal experience differs from what the "recommended times" are.


Photos courtesy of ePublicist(CC) & Buffer(Used with permission).

Cyber Kids, Cyber Pranks & CyberBullying

Three blog posts crossed my desk this week, almost back to back. All three were from McAfee.com, and were related to family safety.

In the first blog posting, titled "So Are You ‘Hot or Not?’ App Rates Appearance," author Toni Birdsong talks about the plethora of Apps that are of questionable virtue. It seems there is a app out there called "Hot or Not." This app allows girls (or guys) to upload their photos and have thousands of other users rate their physical appearance. Now that's a wonderful idea.

Blue Lights Flashing

There are really only three times you gather a lot of First Responders in one location.  The first is when there is a major incident (terrorist attack).

A "Line of Duty Death" is the second event that brings the First Responder family together.

We in Phoenix are dealing with the loss of another officer, killed in the line of duty.

It started with a simple Tweet from the Phoenix Police account at 4:11pm on March 3rd: "43rd Ave and Bethany shut down by #PhxPD. It will be shut down for several hours for police incident. Please choose alternate route."

Reporting Live from the Red Tape.

Are you a user, or a reporter?

That all depends. Do you just consume social media content, or do you contribute?  And what do you contribute?

The Smart Phone has made each one of us a reporter.  Gone are the days of Jimmy Olsen running around with a camera slung around his neck and a duffle-bag of lenses, looking for the next big story.

Every user of Social Media is now a potential reporter. We influence news on a daily basis. In fact, this aspect of the social media game has been embraced by the average user, as well as media outlets around the world.

How not to write a blog post

Generate original content!

It'll be easy!

Everybody does it!

Blah, blah, blah.  Everywhere you go online, there is a self-styled Social Media Guru telling you how to write the perfect blog posting, or twitter post, or (fill in the blank) link.

Great, I can do this!  When I'm not at the computer, I feel like Harvey Korman's character in Blazing Saddles.

Clarity and Continuity

I have been reading a lot about Social Media lately.  Most of it is directed toward making your business presence on SM more noticeable.

One particular blog posting has focused my attention on my Social Media presence.  Courtney Seiter (@CourtneySeiter), a Content Creator with Buffer, wrote about creating a professional bio for your four major Social Media platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & Google+). She packs a lot of excellent info into her article.

Some of the tips do not translate well to the casual user's personal profile pages, unfortunately.  However, the one thing that most social media sites have in common is the usage of profile pictures, or header/background pictures.

Grammatically Correct Confusion

I read a lot of blog articles about Social Media in Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, First Response, etc.

Lately, there have been conflicting lines of thought regarding grammar in Social Media posts.

The Advanced Public Information Officer training, at FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, stresses "Flawless Grammar" in Social Media releases.

However, Cheryl Bledsoe (@CherylBle), at the SM4EM Blog responds with,

"...The Twitter community will ask you to provide timely, relevant and interesting information. Accuracy is good, too, although in dynamic situations may be a little tricky. I've heard it said that you can be timely or accurate, but rarely both at the same time. Your community will forgive you for inaccuracies as long as you quickly correct misinformation and communicate regularly."