Social Media Tips for Real Life

My Facebook Page

Most everyone has an online life even if you are not on “social networks”.  With Google stepping up search options and Bing, right behind them with their new mapping system you can search almost anyone’s name and find out some bit of personal information. 

For some this is a scary world we live in, for others (like me) we saw this change coming and prepared for it.  It is no secret that most of my life is public knowledge…I think of it as I have nothing to hide, so just make it public.  I am criticized daily for putting my life, my kids, and my personal information online well my response is if you don’t want to know then don’t read or look at it.  However, I also realize there is a danger to having everything public and years ago, I learned the hard way how just plain out ignorant people could be. 

When I first started blogging, I honestly thought no one actually read what I wrote, so I did not worry about referring to my family by name.  One day out of the blue, I received what I like to laugh about as “fan mail” somebody who read my blog actually took the time to find my mailing address and mail me a letter that basically said I was using my kids for popularity.  I have no intention of exploiting, using, or taking advantage of my kids…in fact if you look back over my blog, post they get a pretty good deals out of the work mommy does.  After the anger the letter caused passed, I started to think rationally and realized if one person could find me how many others could.  I had two options give up blogging (which I believe is what the “fan” wanted) or to learn how to protect the identity of my kids.    

Using Social Media in your neighborhood....

I hate to tell someone to ditch all the expert advice, because truly all social media specialist have good advice, but does that advice completely fit your needs. 

I was bombarded with questions last week by a fellow blogger that was asking how to get readers to their blog post.  To be brutally honest, I had no clue what to answer back, I have learned that I must process everything to have a true solution. 

To my fellow blogger, here is what might help….

It is not what you say, but how you say it!  Unless you are bitterly angry, person negativity is normally not, what you want to hear.  So watch your tone on your social media post! 

Do you have conversations with your readers?  I keep my both personal and business Facebook page public, so readers feel they can communicate with me.  The key to my success is being there for them, I get email, messages, and comments all the time asking for advice. 

Know your target area!  I cannot SCREAM this enough, know your target audience.  If you are local and are trying to reach local readers, understand that local readers do not always enjoy the same conversations as folks 1000 miles away.  This is where you have to be very careful about what “advice” you take from the experts.  I follow many social media and blogging experts; I read their post and many I agree with.  However, I also believe I have convert that advice to reach my readers…..I am local and must speak like a local.  (note…I love my local people).

Do you know how to tag people in your conversation?  I giggle at this, but I have seen so many post and think why didn't they tag the business they are talking about in their conversation?   On Facebook to tag a business page you must first LIKE the page and then use the @ symbol to tag the page.  Example you want to tag my page:  Go to my business page Adventures Among Us, LIKE my page, then in your status type @Adventures Among Us in the status and my page should be highlighted.  NOTE…this CANNOT be done through a scheduling app; you must do this on Facebook.  Business pages can tag other business pages, but must first LIKE the page as their business page. 

Facebook Revamps News Feed…..WHO CARES?

I have read about a billion plus post today talking about Facebook changes….Facebook does this; Facebook does that, Facebook….blah blah blah. 

By the time, all the post went up by USA Today, Fox, and every other social media expert, Facebook was already planning changes again. 

According to USA Today they quoted Mark Zuckerberg saying “We want to give the world the best personalized newspaper that we can”.  Well there you got it folks; you just learned what Facebook is truly meant to be.  

I am not an expert on Facebook, but I am a social media junkie, I probably check my social networks fifteen times a day.  Every day I see dozens of post, some humor me, some annoy me, and some well I really want to ask WHY THE HECK DID YOU JUST POST THIS?????

People ask me daily what is my best advice for Facebook.  I really cannot give them what the best tips are for them, but I can tell you what has worked for me.

Be HUMBLE – Have a piece of Facebook Humble Pie!  Seriously, who wants to see you constantly bragging about your success?  Are you that successful?  I cannot stand it when I see a business put their statistics up….really we can see how many people like your page and is commenting on your status! 

Be REAL – Computers are not reading your status.  If you want to reach, real people then talk to them as if they are real people!  Hello, how are you doing?  I am so glad you landed on my page, now what can I help you with and please do come back….well that is a good way to make them feel!

Have some HUMOR – I have seen some boring post…I often wonder if people are sleeping when they post.  I am known for crazy photos, often my tongue hanging out, or talking about the crazy things my kids do.  People find humor in my silliness, they connect with how I feel, and well they get a FREE LAUGH! 

What the Heck is Instagram?

Instagram Photo I took 

God love my Mom and Dad, but they are a total #Fail when it comes to online technology and Social Networking.  Of course this will probably be the only post they read and will be annoyed I mentioned them, but they will still love me!  

I was out shopping and running errands with my Mom and Dad the other day and I shot some photos with Instagram, well my old fashioned parents had no clue what Instagram is, and I later discovered neither did my sister, and a few other folks.

Instagram is a free photo-sharing program and social network that allows you edit and share your photos instantly.  It is available on a variety of smartphones through Itunes and Google Play, oh and it is FREE.

The perk to Instagram is that you can comment, instantly share, and connect with folks.  The downside is you MUST be either public or private; you cannot restrict photos individually, so beware of that if you shoot photos you don’t want everyone to see.  Now you can select how the app shares and if you share on Facebook you can set your Facebook setting to be private or public.    

via beckydavenport

Instagram will also allow you to mark location, use #hashtags, and comment and share others photos.  I personally think I rock Instagram, but I don’t have as many followers as others….mainly because we are in RURAL MISSOURI and a lot of folks aren’t on there yet. 

Instagram as I mentioned earlier allows you to instantly edit photos, you can make an awful photo look snazzy, as I did here in this photo just moments after running 5 miles…..trick of the trade my dear!

You can follow me on Instagram screen name is BECKYDAVEPORT, if you have any tips, ideas, or thoughts to share, would love to hear them! 

~Becky 

Why Your Business Should Instagram

Come on ride the @Dart..woot woot! #tmom #ftcdallas #dart via beckydavenport

A few weeks back I put up my post What the Heck is Instagram and days later I hopped on an Airplane and was off to Dallas Texas for theFamily Travel Conference only to learn more about Social Networking, and what it can do for you. 

I know we sitting here in the Midwest and Social Networking seems to be just too time consuming.  I get it, I just spent the last 20 minutes scheduling my Tweets, and Facebook status updates for the next week.

Back to Instagram and what it can do for you, Instagram is fabulous, or Facebook wouldn’t have just bought it out.  Now what can it do for you?  Well first make your photos look amazing, I discussed that earlier, share them promptly, but as a local business Instagram can really draw people into your business. 

Example (we are after all the “Show Me State”)  say you are running an Antique Store and you happen to have this fabulous whatever it is come in the store, you can snap a picture of this fabulous item, pick your famous #hashtag, and instantly bomb multiple Social Networks with one click!  Bam!  This makes you a Social Networking Diva or Rockstar!   Instagram marks the location, you can gain follower, and guess what you can carry on a conversation…..that is just too fabulous for me! 

Now what if you are not an amazing little Antique Store, well what if you were a clothing store, a jewelry store, a bakery…some of my most famous photos are food!  It does not matter who you are all it matters is that you get creative and you get out there to promote yourself. 

Happy Instagraming!  

~Becky 

Happy Halloween from Our House to Yours

So I got this crazy cool software this past week and decided I would mess around with it after shooting our family Halloween Photos.  About 2 minutes into this project I FELL IN LOVE with this software!  I am always making slide shows, layouts, and different junk with my photos, but My MemoriesSuite Digital Scrapbooking Software v3 turned this little project into something RAD without all the blasted headaches.

What is My Memories Scrapbooking Software; a program that helps you digitally creates scrapbooks and allows you to share them in multiple ways.  In a few days I will be offering more of a review of this cool software, but wanted to take the chance to share our Halloween Video we created with the help of My Memories Scrapbooking Softwarev3. 

~Becky



Use Savings Code STMMMS37102 to SAVE $$$$$

Disclosure:  I was given a free download of My Memories Scrapbooking Software in return for a review, however all thoughts, opinion, and photos are my own!  

Social Networking Tips for the Poor YET Famous

Okay so it is no lie that I am a Social Networking Diva in Southeast Missouri, in fact I am may be a bit addicted to Instagram and Facebook, or at least my Momma thinks I am. 

Over the past few weeks I have been more vocal about where I am, what I am doing, and what I find at all those locations.  Being vocal has brought up a lot of questions about how did you tag that page in that photo, how did you get that photo to look that way, and how the HECK ARE YOU ON TWITTER while you are in the middle of NO-Where?  Today while I am bumming around in my pajamas, studying for an online test (for college), and missing my kids like mad crazy, so I thought I would share a few good tips for us Rural Missouri Social Networkers! 

Facebook

Image via CrunchBase

I often refer to Facebook as my stalk all stalk easy place, because face it if I want to know what is really going on I just log on!  Everything from amazing photos to kidnappings at the tip of your hands….in just seconds! 

There is a million different ways to use Facebook; you have your standard computer versions, your online version, your apps that share for you, ways to schedule, and well the list goes on.  If you are a business, trying to promote yourself here is a few facebook tips to know. 

Online Survival Guide by Becky

Who needs an office? I have a coffee table! #workfromhome via beckydavenport

After the bazillionth time being asked by an 80-year-old farmer what the heck is a blogger and what do you do?  I have decided to start posting random questions that I get asked and tips that will help our community get social, get attention, and most importantly help bring in revenue to small businesses.

When I started Adventures Among Us, a thousand or so blog post ago, my original goal was to let people know what was going on in our area, where the cool places are, and fun things to do as a family.  I don’t claim success with that, but I do know it is working.  However, from the get go I saw a bigger need than just me telling people.  People need to be able to find the information, understand the information, and get to the source.  Well I live in the most rural area in the world….just kidding, but I do live in an area that is technology challenged.  Many of the areas around me have poor cell service, poor internet service, and just like myself struggle with keeping up on the online world. 

With that said I have expanded my mission, I have been told that it would be crazy to do this for free, but in reality giving a helping hand has a bigger reward in the end.

Now what the heck is my MISSION, I am going to periodically, randomly, sporadically share online tips for businesses, bloggers, readers, and anyone else that works via online world.

I will disclose I AM NOT AN EXPERT…I will be sharing how I screwed up, what I learned from my mistakes, advice I have received from others, why I dislike certain things, and how to’s on things I learned the hard way.   

I had thought about starting a new blog for this, but then that is just more work for me, and well I am LAZY, plus many of my readers are interested in blogging, social networking, and other things, beside my local travel adventures.   So here we go, you will randomly see post with a label Online Survival Guide by Becky this label will link you to other post that I have put up about living a life online. (there is also a link to the left of this post)  

With all that said, I am NOT an expert, so if you have a tip, question, advice, or criticism feel free to share with me….I am game to talk and learn to survive!

Have a good day,

Becky      

Connect with me:  Twitter = @BeckyAdventure Facebook = AdventuresAmongUs 

Instagram =beckydavenport  Google+ = Becky Davenport