8 Social Media Related Gifts You Can (Probably) Get In Time For Christmas

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Here at Metter Media, we know busy schedules can sometimes lead to putting off non-work-related tasks to the last minute. This holds true for family birthdays (overnighting your mom’s card), doctor’s appointments, and yes, holiday shopping.Continue reading

10 Holiday e-Cards for Social Media Fanatics

Being the social media fanatic you are, e-cards are probably on your list of things to share. Actually, you probably send them out randomly for no reason at all, just because they’re fun and you can. Now it’s the holiday season and there’s a valid occasion to do so! But don’t worry if you’re not the most creative one in the bunch. Digging around someecards to find the most relatable notes you and your like-minded friends will understand and love turned up these results (click each one to send it via email directly from the site):

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Metter Media Social Report, Dec. 12, 2014

Facebook is open in one window, Feedly in another, with TweetDeck crankin’ away and LinkedIn somewhere in your 47 tabs. You’re busy and probably don’t catch every social-related blog post that went out this week. So, here’s our weekly roundup of useful posts you may have missed, including links to valuable content or insight for your social media needs.

1. How to Improve Your Tweets Using Twitter Analytics

by Greg Miller via @smexaminer

Twitter

This simple how-to will help you understand what your Twitter audience wants and when they want it, and allow you to craft effective updates to be scheduled for the best times. It’s all broken into four sections: gathering activity, exporting data, discovering times, and finding the most engaging tweets.

2. 9 Skills to Look for When Hiring a Social Media Specialist

by @annrodriguez021 via @b2community

Hiring a social media specialist? Just because someone is active on Facebook and Twitter, it doesn’t mean he or she is fit for the role, as there is A LOT more to it than just posting and following people. Read through this post to learn more about nine key traits – social media listener, relationship expert, effective writer, image specialist, viral specialist, social media mathematics, risk manager, strategic thinker, social innovator – and what they mean.

3. Facebook Launches Call-to-Action Buttons on Business Pages

by @lkolo25 via @HubSpot

 

FB CTA example

Yes, this is a thing now; however, the feature isn’t available to everyone just yet. It will roll out in the U.S. over the next few weeks and worldwide starting in 2015, but is something you should keep an eye out for. The seven pre-made options for page admins are: Sign Up, Shop Now, Contact Us, Book Now, Use App, Watch Video, and Play Game.

4. 3 Key takeaways from Facebook’s Privacy Update

by @JaneSusskind via @socialmedia2day

Facebook has updated privacy settings… again. If you haven’t read through it yet, or you have but don’t know what has changed, here are the three main parts to make sure you’re aware of.

5. The Evolution of Social Media 2004-2014: The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of It!

article by @AmbikaWrites via @Dazeinfo

Infographic by MediaVision

Evolution of social media

This is a really cool breakdown of social media over the last 10 years. Do you know or remember what was big in 2004? I surely don’t. Between charts, quotes, and stats, this article talks about highlights and impact of social media through the time frame. A great weekend read!

Metter Media LLC is a Boston-based social media management company that implements community-based, localized social engagement strategies for small businesses and corporations alike. Need help with your social media? Email Lauren today.

 

AMC’s The Walking Dead Spoils it for Everyone

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, EFF AMC ARE YOU SERIOUS. Being able to react with and respond to your fans is important as a brand, but sometimes it comes at a price. While The Walking Dead does a great job of live-tweeting their show, it seems they have forgotten that not everyone is watching live (especially west coast fans).

The team running The Walking Dead’s social media unleashed a horde of walking spoilers upon its unsuspecting fans when they posted a MAJOR spoiler immediately following the east coast showing of its mid-season finale (post not included here to save the rest of you).

The first time the post was sent was at 9:59pm EST but was deleted quickly enough – but not before damage was done, of course. But then they posted it again and, this time, there was a wee bit of…what’s the word…outrage. Fans on the west coast or not at a television were heartbroken to learn of the death of a major character before getting a chance to watch the finale themselves.

While AMC has since apologized, the effects are long-lasting. With memes popping up all over AMC and The Walking Dead’s official social accounts from disgruntled fans, the spoilers are hard to miss. In fact, in a MM email thread, one of our very own fell victim:

Walking Dead

Here are some of our favorite memes in response to this weekend’s big spoiler:

*POSSIBLE (minor) SPOILERS AHEAD*
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11 Social Media Features We WISH Existed

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As professional social media fanatics, we at Metter Media spend a LOT of time online. Because of that, it should come as no surprise we have plenty of ideas that could make our (and everyone else’s) experiences better on social networking.

Sometimes that article about the new iPhone could really use a Macarena baby GIF — that Facebook won’t allow. Or you get a Twitter notification on your phone that you can’t read because someone sharing the account already opened it and it disappeared before your very eyes. And it’s beyond frustrating.

In the midst of scheduling posts, sharing cat pictures, and lightheartedly making fun of each other, the MM team came up with our top social media gripes that we’d love to see solutions to — soon.

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Social Media Tips From @MidEastClub + @ZuZuBar

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Clay Fernald (@claynferno) is the brains behind the Midde East and Zuzu’s social media. From running the actual venue to running the venue’s social media (which includes keeping guests, artists, and followers constantly informed), we bet Clay had a lot of advice for businesses looking to get their big toe wet in the somewhat murky waters of social media. And we were right.

 

1. Music Monday! #mm
Even if you aren’t in the music business, put your favorite artist in the spotlight on Monday! Have you Heard Aretha Franklin sing Adele? Wooooo! Hashtag #mm means “Music Monday.” Everyone likes music!

2. Follow Back! #ff

In 2012, we got the blue checkmark next to our @MidEastClub Twitter handle? What does that mean, we’re clear for smallpox? No! We’re a recognized professional entity by the almighty Twitter herself! Thanks, birdie!

Anyhoot, we got there by slowly building a great ratio of followers to people we followed. And also we made sure not to follow jerks. Us the #FF hashtag on Friday to engage with your peers, your friends, your competitors and see how fast your list can grow. If you get a #FF notification, follow them back (after checking out their profile, of course!)

3. Report Spammers!
Are you followed on Twitter by a lot of egg icons, or is someone spamming one-of-a-kind Marty McFly sneaker sales on your Facebook Page? Unless it’s Doc Brown himself, use the appropriate buttons to report to Twitter and Facebook that these are spam accounts! Keep the B.S. to a minimum and those news feeds clean for all. It feels like a citizens arrest!

4. Meme it up!
Bored on a Thursday? Send your intern to MemeGenerator to make a clever joke about what you and your team are working on.

See, look what my intern did! She’s a card.

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5. Speak in your own voice!
There are lots of conflicting words of advice about this, but as a brand, you are still a person, or hopefully, a team! Sign your tweets if you need to express who you are.

For example. nerd musicians @PaulandStorm share a Twitter account and they simply sign tweets this way: [P] = Paul, [S] = Storm.

In the MidEastClub Twitter bio, we are a collective team, but we post as “The Box Office, Jill&Steph&Jamie&Clay.” This puts at least a name to the company (four names, in fact!) that people can relate to!

6. Acknowledge your mistakes.
If we make a mistake or update set times, we say “oops” or “updated set times.”

BACK TO THE PROS!



Social Media Tips From @Lyft

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Catching a Lyft may be as easy as opening an app on your phone, but Zach Cole, Lyft’s social media manager, doesn’t have an easy job. From mastering Lyft’s “cool dude next door” voice on Twitter to handling Lyft’s responses to the numerous red-tape it faces in many states across the country – Cole has a lot to handle, but he makes it look effortless! We asked him for some advice for businesses looking to emulate that kind of organic presence.

 

 

1. Find out what your audience likes.
Brands that don’t constantly talk about themselves often find great success. Knowing what your audience is truly interested in can help inform your content strategy, so that you’re able to share more content that isn’t centered around your brand, but still communicates your brand values.

2. Create a content calendar.
Brands with strong content calendars do two things really well: they have a regular posting frequency per social channel, which helps brands understand when they can best reach their audience, and they post a variety of content. Content calendars are great tools for bucketing content into categories so that brands can share a balanced variety of content.

3. Set goals.
Talk with your marketing and brand teams to determine your brand’s goals for social media. This way, you can have an idea of what matters most when working to improve your social strategy. Goals vary from one brand to the next — some brands (media and e-commerce) will often measure website traffic from social, while others may want to focus on reaching a target demographic with a specific message.

4. Experiment.
Try new things! The world of social media is still relatively new, so there’s always room to experiment. Try sharing new types of content, playing with copy, working with influencers, etc. You sometimes never know just where you’re going to find the most success until you give it a go — and generally social media lets brands do this at minimal cost.

BACK TO THE PROS!