Author Archives: twylaprice

Pinterest Exposing Your Business!

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Last week we talked about How Pinterest can help you market your business.  Now, How do we go about this? How to Make Images Stand Out on Pinterest!

I was given a link in my class to an infograph called Pinterest Image Optimization posted by Mashable.

Ya’ll know I like Infographs!

Basically, follow commonly known social media etiquette and strategies!

  • Use interesting Titles
  • Be Original
  • Remember this is Social Networking not Advertising
  • Link your Pins so readers know were to go for more Information
  • Make as Easy as Possible for readers to navigate  (I’m lazy)
  • Use Keywords/Tags
 
 
 
 

Blow Your Posts Out The Internet Sea!

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Okay, So your writing your blog.

And you put your blood, sweat and maybe some tears into it…….. And it’s Awesome!

Now, you get to the Title and all your creative juices are spent……..

It’s so common and easy to forget about how important your Titles are.

These Blogs helped me understand about this important and commonly forgotten nugget:

Copywriting: How to improve headlines on landing pages and blog posts– Gives more explanation on Headlines like Headline Theory & Attributes of Value

Are You Writing Rockin’ Blog Post Titles? I could NOT have explained Title importance Better! Simple Sweet and To the Point!

I really enjoyed learning more about writing Titles for my blog with both of these sites. I believe if you want your blog to get in the eyes of readers around the world, Your Titles and Descriptions are Very Important!

Example:

When I’m looking for info on the Internet I pick and choose what I’m gonna look at by what I read first. If I’m not interested in what I read,

I’m passing your blog by…..

Without second thoughts!

This is the order most people read internet searches:

  • Read Headline Search Engine Gives
  • Read Description Underneath
  • Click The Headline To Go Read More

If I’m interested in the Headline, I will read the Description, then, and only then, if I am still interested, I will click the Link.

From now on, Promise Yourself this one thing! You will reserve some energy and creativity for your blog/post/headline/titles!

   You have great information to offer!

And I should be reading your hard work!

Don’t forget to put a bit of sweat-blood-and-maybe-some-tears into that Title!

 

The Truth Comes Out – Will.I.Am – A Tech Geek?

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Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas talks about how he wants to be apart of the creative tech world coming alive as we speak. He’s all revved up and full of ideas, and he wants to be smack dab in the middle of it.

The Internet of Things ~ Why Will.I.Am wants to Code 

"Everywhere that we go in the world, the things that we come
across aren't intelligent. Like this wall that I'm looking at, 
it's just separating the room from the other side. In actuality, 
that wall should be intelligent. Nobody thinks of it like that. 
That's why when you go into a house, you need to put a TV on it, 
instead of the wall being the display system. I think what's going 
to come is the Internet of things...The next ten years is nuts. 
That's why I want to code."

Though, I can agree that some of his Idea’s for the future of code will be great! Such as, our environment telling our cars when there’s an accident up ahead or “watch out for an upcoming pothole”

I cannot help thinking it will be another stone of good intention, paving the road to no more privacy.

It’s good to see a world music idol getting involved with our technology growth and helping the “Geeks are Cool” cause!

Letting your inner Geek Shine!

&

Bringing forth the Future!

 

Code is Awesome!

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Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn to code

I think this is a petition to help get coding education available in more schools. The Video has the creators of famous online social networks like Windows, Facebook and Twitter talking a little bit about their experience with coding.

Code, Interesting to watch.

After you sign the petition it takes you to a learning activity that teaches a bit about code by having you type instructions. Kinda Cool!

They say anybody can learn. and I’ve found that to be true!

I know very little about coding myself, however, what little I did learn, I learned fast and I had fun learning!

I believe it would be beneficial for people to consider learning some coding.

It would be especially helpful for anyone with a business or plans for a business in the future, because lets face it…..

Most everything in this generation runs on electronics, and electronics run on Code.

Marketing Interest with Pinterest

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You probably recognize this:

Believe it or not, Pinterest is one of the youngest social networking sites. Like Instagram, It’s based off of images that viewers pin and re-pin. Unlike Instagram, however, You can re-pin someone else pin, make your pin with links and put together you very own boards for your pins to live on.

Think of it like an old Cork board you see in places like Hancock Fabrics  the book store, or the local coffee shop. It would see a bunch of fliers with information, probably contact information, and business cards.

When you find a pin on Pinterest it is most often just like that old cork board. Except digital and way more advanced!

You click on the pin and it takes you to that site, blog, post, etc.

So, now, How to use it for Marketing!

Mary Wieder, posted a blog on SocialMediaToday, Titled “Pin It to Win It: How Non-Profits Can Tell Their Story on Pinterest”

I really like how she talks about making separate Boards for your pins to live on targeting different, but very important, aspects of your business.

  • Educate- For educating your followers with resources, news article and facts about your company.
  • Action – For all your Call-To-Action plans.
  • Communication – To show your followers what you do, what you’ve accomplished

She also list some others as idea givers. I really like the -Where We Work idea. That’s easily grasped for a social network site that’s primarily picture based.

You can build your Business’ Story or Brand with Pinterest easily and visually pleasing, for customers like…well, me!

Who sees it? Monitoring Your Online Reputation

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How to Monitor Your Online Reputation

Not to be mistaken with DIY, this infograph is simply how to do it right!

You want your business to go Places. Right? Then your business needs a voice, a face and a personality.

Today I’m gonna share an infograph on keeping up with your Social Media reputation.

Just like any other relationship, your online social media presence is dependent on communication and dedication. Think of your business as an Extrovert, eager

to make friends and keep them. Business wants to see whats going on with friends and neighbors and be expected at every party because everyone else feels like your business is

their wing-man. ‘Hehehe’ (so to speak).

Before you get to poken around in other people’s ‘business’ remember to be courteous and have a customer service mindset.
This is not about spying. It’s about Friendship. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you……

Now for the spying part.

If your gonna have an online presence you probably want to know how to “Know when people are checking you out”!

This guide may help a bit. It shows how you can keep up a presence and be helpful to customers by knowing yourself, your business and your goals.

I know you probably started your business for yourself, however, it’s not about you anymore. Never forget, Your business is for  your customers! One for All-All for One!

Opening the Box! Photography Studio Lighting Starts… at the box.

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Our photography skill is in natural outdoor lighting and because of some important shoots that require us to be indoors, my business partner and I have decided to expand our knowledge to studio lighting!
The lighting kit we chose to use is by Linco Inc called Morning Glory.

I asked my partner, Jennifer, to write her experience opening the package for the first time! So, I’m handing her the mic…  uh, keyboard…..

‘”Yay! my package is here…(rummage sounds)…
Wait!… I have to call Twyla…(dialing beeps)…
“Did you open it, Did u open it?”
“No, I was waiting on you”
“Open! Open! Open!”
(tape ripping)
Yay…
…
…
and…
…
Ok, so now that you feel like you were there with me for the awesome unavailing of DragonVision Photography’s new lighting equipment, I will let you in on how i felt about it…
“It was Awesome!!!”
lol
We ordered our 3 morning glory lights with snoot-able reflectors and stands complete with 3 backdrops and a backdrop stand
off of the internet and didn’t expect to get them in for at least a week so when I found a giant box waiting for me  at home (after only 3 days) I was ecstatic…
I ripped into that box to reveal that only half of it was there…
I was crushed…
I emailed the company and we nail biting-ly waited for a reply.
The next day there was, to my surprise, another giant box awaiting at my door step!
Upon opening it, I discovered the other half of my pieces had apparently got separated in shipping…
“SOOO HAPPY MAKING I COULD CRY!!!”‘
We set up the kit and couldn’t wait to play with our new toys…
I mean do a trial run through of our expensive new equipment…
We continuously found distraction upon distraction irritatingly pulling us away from our objective…
phone calls…
people showing up…
grumbly tummies…
Nothing would let us do what we really wanted to be doing…
Those poor lonely lights calling out to us…
feeling so abandoned…
It wasn’t until dark that we finally got to get our hands on the camera…
That brings us to the first wonderful thing…
WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE PICTURES AFTER DARK!!!
That is nearly… no… actually impossible when you specialize in natural lighting…

We tried out the black backdrop.
Fun Fact… Black swallows up light like a snake eats a rat…
but I’m sure you already knew that…
We forgot this little fact and we tried to use only one of the three morning glory lights and set it to snoot (which gives a more direct, hard light, however,  does dim it a little bit)
This resulted in very grainy pictures…
We had to rethink how to approached this little predicament…
…
After some adjusting of our thought process and the lights I think we might have got a small handle on it…”

 

 

 

Thank you, Jennifer! ….

So, now about the lights!

LincoInc is a Professional Photography retail company selling lighting and green screen equipment. They sell just about anything you could dream of needing for photography or recording necessities!

The Morning Glory’s have proven to be a great choice for our beginning endeavor! Very versatile, and light weight, with powerful 85W Softwhite Daylight Photo Energy Bulbs! When we hooked up all three lights, it really looked like the roof was missing and a full daylight sun was shining through! Check them out at

For more information on DragonVision Photography in Oklahoma City Oklahoma.

Social Media Marketing on Instagram?

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Wow! That floored me! I never considered using Instagram to market my photography business. I use Instagram all the time for personal stuff, like posting pictures of my cat……… (crickets)

                                                                                                                                                                                           Now, I’m gonna second guess what I post here on out!

socialmediatoday posted an infograph that talks about the do’s and don’t’s of marketing your business on Instagram!

If your going to use Instagram for marketing you need to know how Instagram is different than other social media sites  to be able to reach out successfully.

Check out socialmediatoday‘s post for some valuable guidance!

Social Media Networking = Addiction?

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There are so many people on the internet these days! It has become so ingrained in our daily lives that some people are curious to the effects that it has on us. “Good or bad for business?” Is the usual question, however, there’s also concern for Students and how the Social Networking World effects their growth.

Students Addicted to Technology:

If you’ve ever felt a phantom cell phone vibrations in your pocket, you could be addicted to technology. A post on Edudemic by Jeff Dunn momentarily touches base with the increasingly common social media addicted students with this infograph from Education Database Online.

While some believe that Social Media may be ruining Students educational growth, others believe it is good for them.

The infograph shows that the majority of Facebook users worked less than 5hrs a week, while a whopping 80% of non Facebook users worked 16hrs a week.

However, Facebook users were twice as likely to be involved in campus activities than non-Facebook users. “All work and no Facebook, just might make you a dull student”.

After working 16 hrs on top of studying for tests and catching up on homework, I think I’d be a dull student too!

More interesting facts!

Did you know Facebook was originally created for students of Harvard to interact with one another?

The popularity of Facebook has obviously expanded quite a bit since then having the attention of approx. 500,000,000 active users as of 2011.
71.2% of United States internet users have a Facebook. Are we obsessed with Facebook?

Are we Obsessed with Facebook?

Reason’s to video blog

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Why use Videos on your website, youtube, facebook, blog?

Because of the magnitude of people who regularly use Social Media to obtain their information, including news, shopping and entertainment, it has become difficult to connect with people, especially potential clients/audiences!

People like social networking because it’s interactive, entertaining and….FREE!

Really, you don’t have to drive somewhere or call anyone, so there is no gas spent and time is greatly reduced!
Oh! And we can get our questions answered almost instantaneously!

So, maybe you want to connect with your prospective audience in the same way they want to connect with you?

Mari Smith, marketing expert http://www.marismith.com/, aired a webinar that talks about video blogs and how they can help your business. The webinar touched topics such as inexpensive equipment and techniques to use, conduct/branding your videos, and the best technique for stating your own video blogging.

The equipment ideas are great for beginners with limited budget or just wanting to experiment. And the advice was helpful also for 1st time video bloggers.

Topics included

  • On the go videos – Great for letting your viewer get a personal feel of you in your environment
  • Creating “Studio-Like video – For more of a professional point of view
  • How to Start – Suggesting How-To videos to start off with and how to word them for the viewer to get a personal interest what you’re offering them

My favorite points were with the lighting techniques and how to understand that what you’re doing is offering your viewers something that benefits them! Kind of like getting freebies. I love Freebies! This part of the webinar helped me understand that what I want to offer viewers may not interest them if they don’t have the same level of knowledge about the topic that I do. They wouldn’t understand why the video is good for them. So, lets put it in terms they know and can connect with.

Mari Smith’s example: If you want to talk to them about 3 point lighting, they may not understand why they need to know about 3 point lighting (even I didn’t know about 3 point lighting and I wasn’t interested). You say instead, How to look great in your videos! Now, the viewer knows what they will learn when they watch your video blog and if it will be something beneficial to them!

This webinar was helpful in teaching on how to connect with a potential audience, and had a few good tidbit tricks for lighting!

If you would like to learn more about Mari Smith and her Marketing Strategies visit her website at http://www.marismith.com/