Blog Post: Instagram Direct Brings New Life to Leading Photo Sharing App – At an event this morning in New York City, Instagram, the wildly popular photo-sharing app, introduced Instagram Direct. This new feature allows users to send text, photos and videos to each other privately.
To use the new feature, you still shoot and edit a photo just like you’ve done in the past, only now you can choose to send your photo to up to 15 people directly. Unlike other messaging apps, you cannot start a conversation with text, but must initiate the interaction with a photo. If the person or people you’re sending a message to are signed into their Instagram account, their avatar will light up in real-time inside a chat window to show that they’ve liked or viewed your message. With this feature integration, there has also been an update to the overall layout, which includes a new inbox button that sits in the upper right-hand corner of your home screen. This allows you easy access into recent messages to review and respond.
Additionally, if someone sends a direct message while you’re using the app, a notification appears at the top of the Inbox button. Similar to Twitter, the only people that can send you photos and videos directly are people you follow. For more insight into how the feature works, check out the overview video below…
Blog Post: Pros and Cons Of The Facebook Reviews Feature – We all know that it’s getting harder to be seen on Facebook with every passing day. Last week, Facebook even conceded that engagement numbers are lower than expected in the news feed, and is encouraging brands to buy ads and promoted posts for increased exposure. I guess we knew this day would come. But Facebook has a little-used feature that might help university brand pages get more traction—the Facebook Reviews Feature. The downside is that the feature has some functions that may hurt as much as they help.
The Facebook Review Feature was designed to be a Yelp knock-off. When check-in is enabled by listing your address on a brand page, the Review Feature is also enabled.According to the Facebook Help Center, to disable the Review Feature, you must remove your address. If the Review Feature is enabled, you will have a “star rating” under your page’s name (see screen below). The ratings are based on a five-star system.
Blog Post: A Beginner’s Guide to Measuring Content Marketing – One critical aspect of content marketing is tracking and analyzing your results. The reality is that your content marketing program isn’t going to be perfect from the moment you build it. At first, you may struggle to consistently maintain your desired content rhythm and to get every piece of content out through all of the possible vehicles and programs that you would like. And, even after you master these things, your results will vary in terms of the impact your content has. The important thing is to hold yourself accountable to your goals, to measure the impact of your efforts, and to make ongoing adjustments along the way based on what you learn so that you are continuously able to improve.
That’s where metrics come in. Initially you should track them across four areas…
Blog Post: How to Use Pinterest for Dull, Academic or Yucky Topics – Adventures in Visibility with Joan Stewart – In this episode of Adventures in Visibility, Joan Stewart aka The Publicity Hound shares how you can get new followers and traffic to your blog from Pinterest, even if you don’t have a business that lends itself to sexy images.
In fact, you don’t need stunning photos or a sexy topic to attract followers on Pinterest. Joan goes through the steps she uses to create images of helpful how-to tips, even for the most boring topics, using nothing more than PowerPoint, and then cross-promotes each tip to her blog, website, or a social media site.
Joan Stewart’s Pinterest board of free publicity tips has had the number 1 ranking on Google search for her primary keyword phrase for several months. She explains what she does, how she does it, and how you can too…
SchneiderB Bloc Facebook Group
Latest Question – Anyone have successful tactics for driving word of mouth for open house *without* having an up-and-running parent ambassador group?We're looking to update the section of our personnel handbook re: social media usage by employees (for example, is it OK to “friend” a student on FB or “follow” a student on Instagram (or let them follow you)) — I know it's a little off topic for this group but if you have updated language that you can share via link, please post below. Thanks!
Tool: Speechpad – If you are ever in need of having an audio or video recording transcribed this the service for you. I recently used them for a project and I was very happy with the results.
Your Turn
I'm always on the look out for great content so I need your help! Please share the links to great articles that you found this week by posting them in the comments section below.
