“You will be upgraded.” the chilling call of the The Cybermen of Doctor Who, ‘upgrade’ humans by converting us into shiny metal robots with no emotions and a hive brain.

As a community manager, you need to be sure that you do not assimilate too much into being one with your corporation. There are so many ways the future can turn out, you want to keep your personal brand intact.

Many social media managers and community managers are looked upon as an extension of a corporate brand. Our name and reputation is entwined with that company. This is why I personally do not believe in the classic “these tweets are my own” mentions in people’s Twitter bios. I equate that to wearing a shirt with a company logo on it and getting smashed at a local happy hour, people are judgey. They will judge. but I digress… .

I think that managers need to take the time to get out and away from the community, show yourself off in another way.

Be the brand of you. Keep your personal brand alive and well, don’t hide your light under a social media bushel. There are a few ways to easily show the non-corporate side of you and still showcase your abilities and talents.

Share other things: We all know this one. Share more than just your brand’s content and information. Curate down interesting content from multiple sources.

Show yourself: You need to showcase yourself as you are and not just representing your brand. What is one of the best ways for people to really “meet” each other online? Video.

Start up a vlog, tell your story, showcase your accomplishments, have a conversation with yourself. Vlogging brings out a side of you that you may not know. Talking to your computer becomes easier the more you do it. Signing up for something like VEDA (vlog every day in April/August) is a great help to get you started out.

Google Hangouts are an amazing way to get to know other people online. Having those conversations takes relationships to a more personal level and the more people know the real you, the more you build your personal brand.

Write, write, write: Do you manage a corporate blog? Where else do you write?

Creating a blog of your own gives you the freedom to get out what only you can say. No matter if that blog is a full bells and whistles website or something as easy to set up and maintain as a Tumblr page, it is pure you.

The more you write the more you will get opportunities to write. You may start to make connections that get you guest posting regularly or even further, you may be part of an author group on a site like we have here at Steamfeed.

Face to face: Take every opportunity you can to get out and meet people face to face. Attend meet ups and tweet ups, go to educational events or join a club. Through these groups and associations, you will have the chance to step out and keep growing your personal brand. You may get the chance to speak at events or do something completely off-topic to your everyday work load.

Get personal: Share a little bit about yourself, get personal – share you quirks. If anyone who reads my articles or follows me on Twitter does not know that I’m a geek – well, I’m obviously doing something wrong. When you let people in and let them see the real you, it helps your community understand better.

Taking the time and effort to showcase the brand of you, will help keep you from being permanently entwined with the brand you work for. You never know what experience or opportunity will come your way.

Bio

Twitter

Carrie Keenan is the Social Media Community Manager for Thill Logistics, Inc.out of Neenah, WI (@ThillLogistics). As a professional whose primary responsibility is working in digital media and audience building, Carrie has a lot of insight and information to share about how to professionally represent your organization online. Carrie is also actively involved in the Wisconsin Irish community as the chair of social media for Oshkosh Irish Fest, a member of the Shamrock Club of the Fox Cities and enjoys assisting these Irish business owners and groups (@OSKIrishFest @McGuinness_Pub) with social media.

It is no longer all fun and games. A few years back it used to be a lot easier to build and manage a social following or maintain a brand’s online presence. A good old portfolio website and a Facebook brand page with a few hundred fans was all you needed.  Now, you need a strategy, a plan, a manager and of course an ‘oh, crap what just happened’ plan.

While on the surface it might seem easier than ever to manage a brand, I want you to consider the contrarian take that it is in fact more difficult to manage a brand in the age of new media. Why? Ponder and please comment on these 4 points:

Too many channels to manage and of course you now have to monitor the entire internet.

The control has shifted to individuals, influencers have their own built-in audience. Hello, Nutella anyone?

You can no longer cover your tracks. A brand used to be able to pull a TV spot or stop running print creative if it was offensive or damaging to a brand. One little mistake could stick with your brand indefinitely.

Managing a brand is now a 24/7 job, one that you can’t just walk away from or decide to take a week off like you might with a paid media schedule.

Am I trying to scare you? Yes. I want to educate and inform you of the flip side of new media and make you aware of the dangers and pitfalls that exist. Does this mean you should not invest in digital? Of course not! I am merely suggesting that you need to change the way you go about managing your brand’s digital communication. With that being said, it is advised to include flexibility in your marketing plan.

Every once in a while an example comes around that makes marketers perk up and re-think what they are doing. Recently in the United States we have been unlucky to have tragedy play out in the public eye, from the recent Tornado in Oklahoma that was shared in real-time to the Boston Marathon that turned social media users into detectives and investigators.

On a positive note, more people have discovered the power and speed of social media, especially Twitter who has changed the landscape of news. However, we saw media companies trying to compete with the speed of Twitter and trying to break stories that were unconfirmed. Sorry FOX and CNN but your days of breaking news are over. Deservedly these brands were racked over the coals for their poor reporting practices, including this article from USA Today: On Boston bombing, media are wrong – again

What does tragedy have to do with how you manage your brand?

Decisions need to be made before an incident occurs, where does your brand stand on Auto Tweets and Tragedy? You need to decide if you’re going to cancel auto-posts to social networks, something you don’t have to worry about when all of your marketing utilizes old school media. Public Relations teams used to have days to respond, now every minute that goes by just adds fuel to the fire.

I don’t know about you but I played sports growing, and my coaches used to talk about learning more from our failures than from our successes. Want to learn what not to do? Have you heard about the Amy’s Baking Company Epic Fail that played out almost exclusively online? The Greatest Example of How a Restaurant Should Not React on Social Media, thanks to Amy and Samy, we all know what not to do.

What should you be doing when managing a brand in the age of new media?

Start slow. Digital and social media is a marathon and not a race. Your goal should be to create relationships with your audience while sharing great content that showcases your brand in the best possible light. Therefore, when someone searches, they find all the good content that helps make your brand look like a rock star.

Think of new media like dating, do you highlight your positives or your negatives when you first meet someone? We all want to lead with our best and for that reason alone you need to proactively share content that demonstrates your value to the consumer. Some tips to consider while getting started or if you are wise enough to go back and re-evaluate your current marketing communication strategy:

 Spend time researching your competitors. See what’s working and where they spend their time and dollars.

Look at industry leaders outside of your business for best practices. Who’s leading the way?

Conduct a digital brand audit – do this from an “Incognito mode” that’s offered on the Chrome browser so you appear the way customers might see you.

How do you plan to monitor your brand online? A few options besides Google Alerts

Integrate your anchor marketing strategy so that ALL of your marketing efforts are supporting each other.

Talk to all departments to gauge their activity, interest and the opportunity that exists through new media. Gather content from all departments to help humanize your brand voice.

How can you better service your customers? For both B2B and B2C – Using Social Media as a Customer Service Tool

Managing a Brand in the Age of New Media requires you to think, strategize, game plan and be ready to react quickly, change directions or even apologize. So before jumping right into producing digital content you might find this helpful, 6 Rules of Marketing Strategy for the Digital Age.

Now its your turn, share in the comments below your thoughts on the challenges of managing a brand in today’s digital environment.

David is a Brand Strategist focused on building relevant brands, while creating valuable consumer relationships to promote engagement. By utilizing the popularity of digital and mobile media, along with the social web he helps companies understand the power of controlling their content. David started his career working for MTV in New York, he then proceeded to Atlanta to work with the likes of Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A and the Home Depot. From his time working with companies of all sizes he has learned that a strong brand is the key to long term success by turning customers into brand advocates. Now living in Nashville with his wife and two children, David works with companies of all sizes teaching and consulting on best practices for building a brand in the digital age.

Video Annotations are text commentary that you add to your videos. You can use them to add background information, link to related videos, create an interactive element, or add call-to-action to your videos.

Strictly speaking, Annotations are NOT a direct SEO strategy – the words that you add to your video are not indexed by the search engines. However, viewer engagement or interactions are measured by the search engines, and Annotations can be used to increase those interactions.

There are currently 5 types of annotations that you can use:

 Speech Bubble: creates pop-up speech bubble

Spotlight: highlights specific areas of video. Hovering a mouse over a spotlight area reveals the text that is there.

Note: creates a pop-up box containing text

Title: creates a text overlay to title your video

Label: creates a label to bring attention to a specific part of your video

2. Choose which video you want to add the annotation to, and select “Annotation” from the dropdown menu.

3. Click “Add Annotation”, and select the type of annotation you’d like to add.

 7. Set the starting and ending time for the annotation to show

8. Do you want to add a link?

9. Use your mouse to adjust the size of your message box,  and to drag the annotation to where you want it placed.

10. Click “Submit”

You can actually get quite creative with annotations. What innovative annotations have you found or used?

Thanks for reading. Tune in on June 9th for the final segment in this series on Video SEO.

I am an Search Engine Marketing specialist and speaker, former teacher and basketball coach, married with 2 children (Daniel & Ashley), a wanna be author, avid reader, an out of shape cyclist, and a Canadian ex-pat. I hope to add a voice of reason, understanding, and professionalism to the SEO industry.

Husband, father of 2 teens, Inbound #marketing specialist & speaker, former teacher & basketball coach, avid reader, wanna be writer, & out of shape cyclist.

Are your blog readers getting bored of you? http://t.co/8uodz4kL2u via @lilachbullock - 32 mins ago

Content marketing has become a popular strategy for businesses that want to increase their online presences. Writing blogs, updating social networks and uploading videos are all great strategies for bolstering a brand with content. However, linking may be the most essential component of advertising on the web.

Creating a comprehensive network that redirects consumers to different landing pages on your site can help you find new customers. Marketing your business with content marketing and link building is an effective strategy. Consider the follow tips to strengthen your plans.

Write a blog

Entrepreneur Magazine notes that every business needs a blog. The feature should include informative and entertaining articles that create a personality for your company and brand. The news source also points out that creating a blog helps build links within your website so readers can easily find new content. You should link to old posts to engage readers and keep them on your site.

Additionally, you should include hyperlinks to landing pages. This ensures that users can easily find information about your merchandise or services. There are many different places you can link to other content, but keywords might be the right options. If a writer uses product names or descriptions, he or she should direct readers to the proper page with further information.

Externally linking on your blog is also critical for search engine optimization. Google and its ilk reward posts that cite sources and direct readers to other websites. You should never link directly to another site’s name because that won’t increase your SEO value. The URL should be embedded in a key phrase or term. For instance, if you’re referencing a survey, the link should be on the percentage of respondents who felt a certain way.

Get inbound links

A great way to get new readers and customers is to get inbound links. This is when other sites and blogs direct users to your page through hyperlinks. Of course, this can be a bit difficult because you don’t control what someone puts on their page. The Social Media Examiner recommends writing guest articles for other sites so they’ll link back to you. Even if the blog doesn’t regularly direct readers to your articles, some audience members may follow you if they enjoy what you wrote.

Inbound and outbound links are both essential for improving your content marketing strategy and improving your SEO value. What are some tips you have for linking strategies?

Bio

Martin Jones is Social Media Marketing Manager with the corporate Cox Communications social media team where he assists in leading strategy, campaign ideation and marketing execution across each of the company’s social media platforms. Today, over 500k fans engage with Cox Communications content, campaigns and Customer Care on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, You Tube and Google+. His career has been characterized by his ability to work with groups, individuals and businesses to uncover, optimize and implement digital marketing strategies and tactics that propel them past their competition. Thoughts expressed here are his own.

It seems that almost every week, there is a new social media “scandal.” And boy are we ever quick to lynch the poor sap who made the mistake that created the said scandal in the first place…

Thanks to my friend Sam Fiorella (@samfiorella) for posting the following on Facebook: “Our social community or social graph is a product of how we view ourselves. If you don’t like what’s happening around you in the social space, time to re-think how you view yourself.” It helped me verbalize my thoughts & feelings about what I had been thinking about social media in the last few weeks.

Everyone is so quick to write a blog post criticizing how such and such a brand is conducting themselves, how often another brand tweets/posts (or doesn’t) or what processes they automate (or don’t). Social media seems like one of the few industries where the goal is to point out someone else’s ineptitude instead of demonstrating one’s successes to show competence.

What Sam said should apply to your personal account and corporate accounts. Whether you seek personal or business relationships with people who are smart, caring and engaged, then connect with people who share openly, give as much (if not more) as they take, and contribute selflessly to their community.

I was lamenting to a friend recently that I missed the good old days of social media – think twitter circa 2010. When you knew everyone in your feed, had meaningful conversations on a daily basis, no one was too cool to talk to you (yet – never mind telling you that you didn’t have enough followers to share your opinion with them) and no sponsored tweets. I miss those days.

You Get What You Give

The funny thing is that if I really think about it, I have become so busy & disenchanted that I haven’t been nurturing my community as much. I haven’t been giving as much or as present & active – I haven’t been using the various channels like I did in 2010. So maybe I helped cultivate this new reality.

So thanks for the reminder Sam, I will be using social media a little more like it was 2010 and hoping.

You reap what you sow. You are what you tweet. Your network is a reflection of your thinking and beliefs. If it’s not, then it’s time to act and correct your course. It’s always healthy to check in and validate that you are being true to your beliefs. And it’s probably good to step back and regroup once in a while.

So if you aren’t happy with your social media experience and your social media ROI, you only have on person to blame. You. And for the love of unicorns, please stop blaming everyone else and pointing fingers, trust me, it’s definitely not making you look any better.

Be the change and create the experience you want. Lead, don’t follow. And for the love of unicorns, stop blaming everyone else and pointing fingers.

Ghandi was on to something! What say you?

Bio

Latest Posts

Stephanie Montreuil

If you’re like most Canadians, you’re anxiously waiting for 2015 to witness another national election. The contenders are Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair. In 2012, many of us enjoyed watching the spectacle of  Romney and Obama from both an entertainment and political point of view. For marketers, it was refreshing to watch both teams make strides in the social media and digital marketing realm as they competed for digital dominance.

While Obama’s 2008 campaign has been praised as the first election to demonstrate the real-world power of social media, his operation in 2012 was just as, if not more complex than his first efforts. The ’08 campaign was filled with what many would consider the basic understanding of social media; the lessons that can be taken from ’12 stand out as a new era for digital as it was a campaign built on effective content marketing and storytelling.

As we move into a Canadian election, it’s obvious that each party will be forced to embrace social media to secure a win. Social media presents each candidate with an unparalleled opportunity to reach those who haven’t voted in the past and convert those who were initially non-believers. Here are a few lessons that I’ve learned after analyzing the Obama campaign from top to bottom. My hope is that some of these lessons will help everyone from marketers to politicians achieve success:

Achieving Content Marketing Excellence

There are two key elements to content marketing. The first is the development and delivery of a message from the brand and the second is to inspire content that comes from others. You can have amazing videos, platforms, infographics and blog posts, but if you can’t spark conversations that share your passion and story, what’s the point?

In politics, the combination of these two types of content are key to success. In fact, these two types of content play off one another to deliver what I call reactive storytelling. Reactive storytelling is the combination of a top of mind idea or newstory combined with a brand specific message. For the public, they create this content after watching debates and interviews and the most effective politicians do the same.

Over the years I’ve studied the content marketing efforts from a variety of brands and politicians and came to a conclusion that the successful initiatives have these two elements as their foundation. First, they deliver a story and message that is brand relevant and delivers both their value proposition and unique story. From there, the brand uses ongoing storytelling and branding to inspire others to create additional content.

Marketers of all types studied Obama’s ’08 campaign and saw the power of developing a community first hand. In his ’12 campaign we saw the true power of content marketing and how it can lead to success in an election. Between content being published by the White House and content being created by sites like College Humour and average joes, the power of content marketing was heard loud and clear.

On a weekly basis there are 3.5 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook. Whether it’s in the form of images, status updates, links or videos, there is more content shared on a regular basis than ever before. The amount of content shared in a week is more content than what was once created in a year. During the election, it can be expected that nationally the amount of content created and shared will only increase. For that reason, it’s important for each candidate to ensure that the content and story within that content is aligned with their brand and their key messages through effective content marketing.

Using Facebook for Content Excellence

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, and it’s often challenging for brands and politicians to stay ahead of the curb. Facebook is one of the channels that forces digital marketers to stay on the top of their game as they constantly make adjustments and changes to their platform. Recently, there have been a wide range of changes to Facebook that need to be kept in mind. Some of these changes will drive new opportunities to increase conversion on Facebook while others simply making the platform more visual. Overall, these changes aren’t something to get stressed out over and should be used to their full capacity.

Before doing that, you need to recognize that Facebook is a channel built for sharing. It’s a place in which people share stories about their beliefs, ideas, day-to-day lives and yes, political opinions. In many ways, people view Facebook as an extension of themselves that is always on. For that reason, we as marketers must understand why we share content on Facebook and what those motives look like. Once we have a deep understanding of this, we can start creating content that is truly shareable and ultimately able to go viral on Facebook.

Share Images & Share Them Often

When Facebook bought instagram for $1 billion dollars, it was clear that the social media giant was putting their eggs in the visual basket. Since the acquisition, you may have noticed an increase in images showing up in your newsfeed along with an increase in the size of photos. As marketers, this is important information as images are now being given more prominence than ever before. Meaning, politicians will want to increase the number of visuals they are creating and sharing.

I find it odd how I still can have a conversation with a marketer and they ignore the importance of sparking a share. They talk about how the message is important and branding is key but frequently ignore subtle tactics that drive an increase in human engagement.

Content alone doesn’t always drive shares. You need to tell your fans what you want them to do if you want to see results. Obama demonstrates this very idea when his team uploaded a series of images stating some of Obamas accomplishments during his first 4 years and told the fans to “Share with a friend the acoomplishment that means most to you.” Some of these accomplishments included repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” concept along with the ending the war in Iraq.

While this is simply one piece of the puzzle, the most important piece of the content puzzle as it relates to Facebook is digital storytelling. As a politician, it’s important to ensure that you’re telling your story not only when you speak at an event or a debate, but also on Facebook and other channels. The story you tell must be consistent, compelling and unique.

We live in an world where everyone has a camera in their purse or back pocket (tweet this idea). As a politician’s campaign goes from one Province to the next, they can be sure that their face will be shown on millions of screens

Using Twitter for Content Excellence

At first glance it would appear that Twitter and politicians should go together like bread and butter. Twitter could be the best way ever for a politician to listen to and react to the general public and other candidates. But sadly some politicians and their social media strategy approach are missing opportunities.

At the time of this post, none of the individuals who will be running to be the next Prime Minister of Canada have tweeted more than 3,000 times. Of these three, Justin Trudeau is leading the pack by more than double when it comes to tweets, but follows Stephen Harper when it comes to number of followers. While these numbers are above average, they are not even comparable to the Mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, one of the most influential politicians on Twitter.

As the election picks up steam, it will be important for the candidates to embrace and utilize Twitter to increase their levels of engagement with their supporters and those who are sitting on the fence. Twitter provides politicians with a great opportunity to deliver a message in short bursts that can be spread to millions in the matter of minutes. During the last Canadian election, there was a surge of tweets during every debate or interview and we can expect an increase in that conversation moving forward.

An example of how politicians can use Twitter effectively to spark two-way dialogue with their country is by hosting a Twitter event. Back in July, Obama partnered with Twitter to host the first ever Twitter Townhall. This event allowed for citizens throughout the country to #AskObama anything through tweets where he would respond back to them live with his thoughts and positioning. This event generated significant buzz and conversations not only online but also on the news and in various print publications.

Since the first Townhall, Obama has held two additional interactive sessions on Twitter. These efforts demonstrate to the public that he is not only embracing technology but that he is embracing the idea of democracy. He is using technology to hear what the citizens of his country are looking for and have conversations with them to help guide his teams platform and thinking.

Ongoing Dialogue and Conversations

One thing that I’ve noticed a lot of Canadian politicians doing well is embracing that two way dialogue with their citizens. Huffington Post featured some of the best Canadian politicians on twitter with a list that included the likes of Elizabeth May, Tony Clement, Jason Kenney and Peggy Nash. I asked Twitter who they thought were some of the best politicians and names like Naheed Nenshi, Nathan Cullen of BC, Waye Mason of Halifax and Zach Churchill of Yarmouth came up. While the opinions of these individuals may differ as it relates to their policies and beliefs on what direction our country should take, it’s clear that each of them are aligned in embracing social media conversations.

A great tactic used by Obama is the integration of both call-to-actions and compelling visuals. Recognizing the power of a retweet, Obama frequently asks his followers to retweet his content if they agree or retweet content if they feel strongly about something. As you can see in the examples below, he uploads the images directly to Twitter to make it easy for users to view and deliver a message in an effective and easy way.

The power of images on Twitter is going to play a significant role in all future elections. As cliche as it may sound, the idea of a picture being worth 100 words is very true in todays content driven society. An image can deliver a captivating message in the matter of seconds and spread just as quickly. An example of how visuals can impact a candidates story was already seen with one simple tweet:

This one tweet spun into a media blitz with reporters interviewing the man who sent the tweet and showing old videos of Justin Trudeaus father. If anything, this reaction from both Canadians and Canadian media should demonstrate the power of not only Twitter, but also having the guts to do something clever or witty. Throughout the Presidential Campaign of 2012, the biggest battle between Romeny and Obama was a battle of wit. That said, the wit had to come not only from the candidates but also from the digital mavens and content creators across the globe.

Get Ready for Parody Accounts

A parody account is when a consumer takes the team to impersonate or create an account solely meant to leverage a top of mind idea that is generating buzz. The first mistake that most politicians make when these parody accounts show up is they call the Police and try to have them taken down. If the word gets out that you’re trying to shut down these accounts, things can quickly take a turn for the worst so avoid that route if possible.

Political marketing teams need to be ready for parody accounts being developed in support and against their party. During the Presidential election, Clint Eastwood was giving a speech on behalf of the Republican party when suddenly he started talking to an empty chair pretending it was Obama. In the matter of seconds, the twitter handle: @InvisibleObama was created and became a trending topic on Twitter.

Now, instead of simply letting the general public have all the fun, President Obamas team was quick to also react to this conversation. Within only a few minutes after the Clint Eastwood saga played out, he decided to share this on his Facebook page and Twitter account:

His team took a top of mind story and combined it with a message that they knew would resonate with their supporters. The key here was to not only embrace the idea of being topical and different but also embracing the idea of having a little fun.

Embrace Reactive Storytelling

Reactive Storytelling can be defined as an intentional integration of a top of mind story or idea with a compelling marketing message that your audiences finds relevant and compelling (tweet this idea).

When a politician uses reactive storytelling they are able to leverage a human truth or an insight to generate instant feedback. Whether it’s the utilization of a Facebook post or the development of a YouTube video to tell and share a compelling story, reactive story is a great way to spark conversation and deepen your brand connect with their supporters.

The power of reactive storytelling doesn’t solely land in the lap of political parties or candidates. Reactive storytelling is a concept that is enabling consumers to also share and create stories that are relevant, captivating and worth sharing. As a Canadian example, look no further than the first attack ad developed and shared by the PC party. The ad specifically targeted Justin Trudeau and instead of watching the Liberal party react with an immediate rebuttal, the public and influencers reacted. The following post was shared from a facebook page called: “Meanwhile in Canada” with 204,000 subscribers:

Over the course of the campaign, each of the candidates are going to sound off with soundbites that are sure to either haunt them or do wonders. Each of these instances will present opportunities for their opponents and the public to create engaging and relevant content that goes viral.

Influencers Might Get Involved

During the presidential election it seemed like the entire world was watching. Not only were internet users getting involved by creating content but so were influencers and celebrities. Whether it was College Humor and their development of the brilliant and now infamous “Romney Style” or Samuel L Jackson telling everyone to Wake up it was constant hilarity and rich content being shared.

For the Presidential Election, these examples were just the tip of the iceberg. Well known comedian, Sarah Silverman took it her antics a step further and made videos that sent the press go into a frenzy. In one video, she made a proposition towards Casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson after he committed $100 million to Mitt Romneys campaign in hopes that he would defeat Barack Obama. Sarah Silverman proposed that if he gave the money to Obama instead, she would “scissor him to fruition” in a bikini bottom. Yes, you read that right.

Celebrities of all shapes and sizes got involved with the Obama campaign. Some were sought after by Obama himself while others simply showed support through their own thoughts and beliefs. This made for rich content and content that the public embraced and shared. For Canadians, we can only hope that influencers get involved in the development of influential content. Cough cough. Ellen Page. The ball is in your court.

Embrace Two Way Engagement Channels

One of the most memorable moments of the 2012 campaign was when Barack Obama committed and took part in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit.  An AMA is a chance for anyone (in this situation, the President) to say “I am a ______, ask me anything.” It’s a channel that’s been used by Jimmy Kimmel, Bear Grylls, bestselling authors Neil Strauss and Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan, Ezra Klein, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Stephen Colbert, and in 2012, Barack Obama.

In the matter of only a few minutes, between the time in which Obama announced he was doing an AMA and the time the press sent out the first tweet to confirm, Reddit crashed. Millions of people went to what is known as “the front page of the internet” and caused the site to crash. There was a server overload of people trying to ask Obama questions and witness a political first.

If any lesson can be taken here it would be the importance of embracing two way engagement. Citizens want to have a voice beyond just a vote and play a role or at least feel as if they can play a role in a politicians decisions and views. Reddit isn’t the only opportunity for two way engagement. Quora is an excellent resource for detailed information and based on a typical Q&A website. Users come to Quora and post a question and individuals of all different backgrounds can add their response. Justin Trudeau was originally active on Quora but has since gone silent since the announcement of his intent to run for Prime Minister.

Content has changed marketing, business and yes, even politics. It’s an avenue for people to connect with people who they one could only see at rallys and on the TV screen. It’s providing politicians an opportunity to build deeper and more personalized relationships than ever before. Thus, it’s giving politicians a better opportunity to stand out and tell their story effectively and consistently.

The buzz around the upcoming election has already begun. There have been images shared, stories circulated and new brand pages liked on daily basis. In todays world, businesses and politicians alike must recognize that it’s impossible for them to control the conversation. That said, influencing the conversation with rich and compelling content is not  (tweet this idea).

Bio

Ross is a digital strategist and entrepreneur with a passion for technology and disruption. He keeps his finger on the pulse of all things related to technology and social media as it's truly his passion. His startup dreamr.ca is striving to connect young professionals around the globe with unique social experiences.

Facebook is always changing.  And 2013 has been a landmark year for adjustments!  For some, they’ve felt as if spinning in circles and suffering from social network whiplash!  Others even keep a Facebook wish list for reference.

Noteworthy new Facebook features for 2013:

Facebook Graph Search

The NEW news feed

One-column Timeline (Personal Users)

Facebook also torqued-up their Advertising program, which brought upgrades to functions within the features listed above.

Learning where the bells and whistles are after a product engineer moves the cheese.

Facebook’s Advertising program really affected how Facebook Page owners and Admins perform functions on-page, as well as methods of reaching and relating with fans.

One nice thing: Timeline covers for business brands can now include a call to action as long as the image stays within the 20% text rule.

Notifications are now an additional click away on a page “under the hood.”

The Page Likes area is now an encouragement to promote your page with a big blue “promote” button.

Now see your Likes by clicking a word link that brings up a separate box.

Insights are viewable with focus on paid reach and promoting posts for each update.

The graph chart is still in the Admin Panel, though many have reported reach and “Talking About This” (PTAT) decreases each week.

A blue Ads Manager button appears just to the right of the panel.

The words, “Promote Post,” have become “Boost Post.”  At this time, a “Boost Post” prompt appears:

In the Admin Panel.

On both the upper right corner of a status update, once published.

On the bottom right corner, once published.

That’s one for my Facebook birthday wish list: Lose one, maybe?

“Facebook, My Wish List”

If you spend any time in platform conversation or Facebook Groups, you know the complaints and demands start flying with every change.

For instance, I really wish I could edit text on a post after it’s scheduled to be published on my Facebook Page, and I wish the community could not see the original time the post is scheduled.  Right along with that, I wish I could schedule shares from other pages, and the ability to schedule posting a photo album would be a Facebook 4-run homer, in my opinion.  Oh, and can I have a feature allowing me to create Interest Lists from my brand page??

But that’s just me.

Facebook Wish List – From Real Life Facebook Page Owners

A survey within Facebook Groups rendered this collection of Facebook wishes:

* Veronica of  Oroklini FB Page Design, Cyprus – ”I wish I could schedule shared posts from other pages on my page.  There is a page for a networking group where I share posts from several business pages and it’s impossible to schedule them and spread them out in time so I have to post a few within minutes while I get a chance to work.”

* Karen of Project Social, Virtual Social Media Manager — “…also wish I could schedule photos in an already existing album. The scheduling feature for photos isn’t as good as the FB scheduling feature.”

* Jon of  Jon Turino Marketing + Connections  – “I wish the Return key worked like a return key instead of automatically posting before I’m finished writing and checking.”

* Molly of New Inklings Press — “I wish Facebook wouldn’t decide what’s ‘important’… I miss a lot of posts because of the way Facebook decides which of my friends I ‘follow more.’”

* Debbie of P3 Service, LLC — “I wish the REPLY button worked like it should instead of deciding for me the importance of the posts and changing the order. It makes it almost impossible to follow a conversation when there are many replies or posts.”

* Maralana of Maralana Go Do Be — “I wish you could share to your page mobile!…I do so much from my phone…You also can’t share to your page from your profile.”

* Elise of ELT Natural Wellness — “It would be terrific if the mobile app was more inclusive allowing for sharing and also allowing for building albums.”

* Debbie of Marketing, Social Media and More — “It would be nice if settings remained once you set them. For instance, if you want to see ‘most recent’ posts, it would be great if the default didn’t keep returning of ‘top posts/most viewed posts’.”

* Sheryl of Sunray Art Happenings — “It would be awesome if Fb didn’t decide for me who is a real time, in person friend and not penalize us for befriending people we have legitimately come to know online and in groups.”

* Susan of BeautifullyPractical — “I wish Facebook didn’t put up so many barriers. If I want to block someone, I will. Otherwise, let me be!”

* Mischa of The Parris Company — “It would be nice to have the scheduling post and comment reply function in Groups! as well as the ability to edit posts after they are posted (same as comments).”

* Sandi of Wisdom From The Well — “It would be nice when posting that the little pop up “write a comment” would disappear so I could see what I was typing.”

* Klaudia of GroovyPinkConsulting — “It would be nice to have one way of showing comments under the post, now it can be confusing (sometimes the most recent on the top, sometimes not, etc.).”

* Roslyn of BeadZbyRoZ — “I wish I could send messages to people who like my post without having to friend them or pay because I didnt friend them.”

All legitimate wishes.  Some mentioned are remedied with Admin abilities – I’m counting on readers here to help reveal new solutions, and maybe comment with a few of their own groovy tricks!

Facebook Wish List – From The SteamFeed Author Community

* DJ Thistle — “I wish I had more control over what content Facebook shows me.”

* Daniel Hebert – “…if I friended someone or liked a page, I want to be able to see their (relevant) content more often. I tend to see the same 20 people over and over again on my newsfeed.”

* Sarah Arrow — “I’d like to be able to message new likers without being charged. Good manners shouldnt cost.”

* Jeff Howell — “I wish that they would finally make the iOS mobile app load faster and not crash on my phone…”

* Kimberly Bordonaro — “I wish that when I was using the gift function it gave me suggestions based on my friends interests.”

Sarah brings up a good point about the lack of Facebook function to extend kindness and appreciation to those that like a brand’s Facebook Page.  At present, it cannot be done without a fee.  At one time, Facebook reprimanded me for “spammy behavior,” for sending a few messages of thanks in one day.  So, even if you know or know of someone that likes your page, there is a risk.

Your Facebook Wish List Application

photo credit: Andressa Colbalchini via photopin cc

The density and speed of Facebook changes this year could certainly leave people wanting and wishing.   ’Tis true, less savvy users have had their heads in their hands on at least a few occasions!

What is on your Facebook wish list?

Any solutions to wishes made above?

Please share your thoughts in the comments box below.  :)

Every Tuesday evening from 9-10pm ET, Keri answers questions about Facebook and other social networks directly right on Idea Girl Media Facebook Page.  Or, subscribe to Keri’s RSS Feed for more tips and tricks on social media.

Keri Jaehnig is the Founder and CMO at Idea Girl Media, an international Social Media Marketing Agency. Keri helps business brands, non-profits and public figures achieve social media success and positive online reputation. Most often with: Real Estate, Interior Design, Restaurants, Travel Services, Entertainment, and Government Agencies. Keri's insight has been featured at Social Media Today, Search Engine People, and she has been quoted by Business Insider. Non-fat lattes, travel & quick wit make her smile, and Keri is always enthused to meet new people!