social media sharing

Social Networks (Share on Them) But Host Your Own Website

Why Host Your Own Website, Social Networks Host a Page for You for Free?

Today Posterous got bought by Twitter, and likely will fade away and be shut down in the not too distant future. It follows a long line of other social networks, some alive but irrelevant like MySpace, and others that have been shut down completely.

The image above is from The Next Web delivering the news today, and those who have built their web presence around a Posterous space are now left to either try and move it or start anew. I am here to explain why you cshould choose a wordpress sefl hosted site over other social networks.

This moving around could all be avoided, and should be avoided at all costs, by any business who wants an online presence. You need to create and host your own content, on your own website, and it is easy and not that much money either.

I host all my sites (15+) on one Bluehost account which runs about $5.95 a month, then I build them on wordpress using the genesis framework of amazing WordPress themes. You can check them out here: StudioPress Themes for WordPress, by using wordpress I can log in from any browser and post/edit/manage my website without needing any software on whichever computer or device I am using. I can also use the wordpress app on any iOS or Android device to make the edits. It truly is as simple as can be imagined for a self hosted website. I am an affiliate of both of these companies and you can see them in action here on spirocks.com, I love using them.

But You Want to Be on these Social Networks

You can be, in fact you will get more out of social networks this way. Here is how the workflow goes:

Create Content for your blog. Video, Text, Photos, etc.
Share the link to that post on your Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr, Pinterest, Etc…
When people click on those posts they are led back to your website/blog and you get a chance to show them more.

Now in this scenario if Posterous is gone, all you lose is the links from your blog that you shared there, not the actual content that you spent time, effort, and money creating.

It is clearly the way to go, and sooner or later there is always a new popular site, and a fading older one, so why not be a part of them while they are vibrant and not lose anything when they fade away?

What are your thoughts?

Find me on Twitter and say HI here: @Spirocks and be sure to subscribe to my updates above.

Blog is the Foundation — Your Blog is Your Online Foundation

Features Google+ beats Facebook at (part 1)

Spiro Pappadopoulos

I have been using Google+ from day one and I am very impressed with the way they handle many things, so I decided to write a post about each feature Google+ does better than Facebook. Part one is about Photos:

]Google+ beats Facebook at Pictures

Facebook handles billions of photos, it is arguably one fo the most compelling parts of logging in. You get to see what all the people you know are up to. From the mundane to the monumental it is an experience that helps people identify with what is happening in the world around them.

That being said, Facebook sucks at photos. Here is why:

In stream photo handling, Facebook drops the ball by giving a tiny thumbnail which forces extra clicks and punishes those trying to use in slow data environments. Google+ makes them much bigger and with thte naked eye they look better too. Take a look at what I mean, this is the same pic posted on both:
Tiny = Poor

google+ photo in stream — Big pic in stream = instant enjoyment

See what I mean?

Facebook fails to match the photo storage and sharing skills of Google+. With Picasa Google offers an unlimited (external) photo storage service with easy to use editing capabilities. It provides html code for embedding elsewhere and a whole host of other features. Google+ on mobile quickly and silently uploads every picture you take to picasa so when you next login you can decide which ones you want to share. This is likely to mean that you will both share more photos and also do it more easily. A huge win for the user and the network.
Google+ destroys Facebook on Photo Display. Ok I have no clue why Facebook decided to go to the black display screen when it works so horribly. How many times have you seen one of the aforementioned tiny thumbnails and clicked on it so you could see what it was all about only to get a black screen with the caption at the bottom? It has happened to me hundreds of times and it has been an unmitigated disaster even prior to the advent of google+ doing it extremely well right out of the gate. With a modern interface for albums and a display that works google+ embarrasses the pants of of facebook. In the albums which look better on google+ when you hover over a photo it enlarges right there, no clicking to get a better look, such a nice little feature. Take a look at the album pages here, not the layout and the comment notifications in google+:

Google+ Photo gallery display — Modern Display and Hover over enlarge are killer features

Facebook Gallery Display — Not a disaster by any means, but feels outdated when compared side by side.

The differences are fairly clear to see.

Google+ Photo Sharing Granularity trumps Facebook in ability and ease of use. With circles you can now carefully share what you like with exactly whom you like with ease. Much of what you can do with google+ you can do with Facebook, but how many sub menus of settings are you likely to go through to set up multiple sharing groups? With google+ doing so is as easy as drag and drop and group (circle) creation is as easy as possible. That means immediate adoption. In addition I personally feel like Facebook has changed default privacy settings so many times that you can’t be sure you will not get caught with your pants down so to speak. So sometimes I just skip posting the the stage dive with the bottle of Stoli O in my hand to Facebook so as to not turn off any of you. 🙂 On Google+ I could easily share that pic with those who were there that night, or my friends circle, while excluding my family circle, etc. So go ahead interact with whoever on Google+ and know that you can easily share or not with whoever.

I think the ramifications are great for the adoption of Google+ by businesses, quickly:

Your photos are neatly stored in picase for outside of Google+ uses
Increased sharing of specific images with specific customer groups creates a more granular marketing ability that can drive greater interaction and results.
Google+ is likely to catch on among end users which means businesses should begin using it as soon as business pages are released.
Google+ is likely to be a prime source of SEO opportunities, (you heard of google search right?)
Better pictures of your products online is more compelling to consumers.

What do you think of my assessment? Love to hear from you, and if you like these kinds of updates please subscribe to my blog: SUBSCRIBE

Google Plus – Business Ideas

Spiro Pappadopoulos

By now you have heard about Google+, its a brand new social network that seems to have a ton of potential. I am not going to go over what its features are, as there are a thousand such articles already. What I am going to do is give you a few reasons to check it out, and hopefully reveal a few opportunities it presents.

Google+ and Your Business

By uniting the functionality of the Facebook style stream, the Twitter style update, the Foursquare Check-In, the Flickr photo video curation, the contact collection that is in your gmail contact list, and the power of multiple best in class Google properties from Youtube to Maps, Google+ is a legitimate titan in the making.

Google+ has one major Hurdle to Clear

In order for it to succeed Google Plus for business will have to answer one major question: Will enough people decide to invest time and energy into a new social platform? Who will right away: people like me, who have businesses that rely heavily on their web presence. The reason is, despite Bing’s progress, Google owns search. To ignore the potential for increased search rankings from interactions and content on Google+ would be foolish. Please don’t forget with every Gmail user there is also a built in head start as well… true that didn’t work out so well for Buzz. but Buzz sucked, it felt like an intrusive clone, and nobody likes that.

Google+ is different, it is intuitive and it is a hybrid of features from successful networks that have been improved and tied into very very robust Google properties.

Privacy is Weapon #1 for Google+

How many people have had an issue arise from something posted on Facebook? How many people have grown frustrated by the obvious push by Facebook to make it hard to keep things private? Sure it does make sense that you should not share things on Facebook that you would not want public. But those making that argument are missing the point. PEOPLE WANT TO SHARE THOSE THINGS. They just want to be able to choose with whom. With circles Google has the best answer to date. You can share items specifically with the people you want to, and creating a circle is incredibly easy and the granularity of the process is as transparent as I can imagine. I highly suggest that you take your time at the beginning and try to think of the ideal structure for your circles. Work, Friends, Family may be too general to really get the benefit. Think: Potential Customers, VIP customers, company bosses, employees who report to me, CBS fantasy league, college guy friends, Mom’s side of the family, cute girls (if you are looking for that), etc. You can always select to share something with everyone, or you can drill down to the groups you are trying to reach.

Video Meeting via Google+

Having an active Google+ profile and well defined groups means that you will be able to selectively manage the promising video meeting feature of Google plus for business. That could mean proactively jumping into a customers Google+ hangout and striking up a convo and asking if you can do anything for them. But most incredibly you can be face to face with a customer who needs help with your company immediately and for free. Yes it starts to sound like a Skype killer here.There are a ton of possibilities here, including remote meetings with co-workers. Imagine for a moment. Google plus for business and for personal use, under one hood.

Google+ is Uncluttered

Time will tell if it stays this way but the clutter of Facebook is not here. There are no mafia invitations, or applications that ask you to answer juvenile questions about your friends. It is pure and that is refreshing. I don’t have to tell you about the annoyances with Facebook applications, they are the Myspacification of that platform in my eyes. Combined with the lack of control over privacy, the black screen of death when viewing photos, and the general feel of a meat market Facebook has lost some of its appeal to me. The big draw? Everyone is on it… but you know what everyone I knew was on Myspace too, and I can remember the day I fell for Facebook and then the day some time later that I somewhat sadly deleted my Myspace page. Things change and in the world of internet empires, pretty f’in quickly.

In summary here is why you should give a chance to Google Plus for business:

Google+ is a legit, full featured, and well thought out social network.
Google+ makes Privacy a core feature, highlighting the shortcomings of Facebook in that department.
It has the strength of many Google properties driving it. (Youtube, Maps, Places, Picasa)
Google owns search and will be tying data from Google+ into search results.
The Video feature has a ton of possibilities, and it is free on Google+
Google+ is a more grown up social network, uncluttered by childish games and the meat market feel of Facebook.

Want an invite? Email me your gmail address and I will send you one. (spirocks@gmail.com or @spirocks on Twitter)

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This is my initial post on how to use Google Plus for Business, and ideas about the feature of Google plus for business.

Give your Wifi Away. Now.

Spiro Pappadopoulos

You spend time on promoting your restaurant via social media right? Then why are you among the restaurants/bars/cafes that do not give free wifi to your guests?

In case you are missing my point: Your bar or restaurant needs to offer free wifi, period. 6 Reasons Why:

1) It costs so little. You already have Internet access at work right? If not please close this browser immediately and accept my apologies and condolences. Anyway, your connection is paid for, the only investment you need to make is (maybe) in a new router that can grant public access. Today there are routers that require zero set-up and have a guest access feature that allows you to securely share your wifi connection with guests on a separate wifi network. Such as the Cisco-Valet Plus Wireless Router which offers a password you can give to guests to log into the guest account. It is easy to setup and costs $78 or so. I use one at Evenfall and it is very easy to manage. So for $78 you can start sharing worry free.

2) Sharing your Wifi encourages social posting. After all you do to promote your place socially, make it easy for the guests to check-in etc when they are there. Wifi offers better speeds and encourages a quick share session.

3) People who use Wifi will come more frequently. I never used to go to Starbucks, then I heard about the free wifi, now I find myself there about two times a week, sometimes I take my mac book and drink a coffee or two and do some writing, or work for one of my clients, or my own businesses right in Starbucks. Now I may only spend $10-12 bucks a week there but that is just me. I imagine there are plenty of new Starbucks customers who may be more inclined to visit now. Again the ongoing cost is no higher than now… think about it. Check out this video from a Starbucks, full of people on their computers and phones:

4) It is more important than ever to offer free wifi because the mobile carriers are switching their Data plans and they are going limited. So data lovers feel a subconscious nervousness about using heavy data on the road. If your place can be a mental data oasis that they can stop by, spend a few bucks, and use wifi that is great for you. It is also bad for you if the guy down the street does it and you don’t.

5) You can advertise it. In fact make sure you advertise it. Even if you don’t relate there are people out there who will love that they can use their devices at your establishment. So get the word out. Menus, signs, a line in an email, twitter feed, facebook page… let people know. If of all your contacts 20 become more regular customers is that a plus? Yes it is.

6) People stay longer when you offer wifi, and they buy more. Now I am not suggesting this is a panacea for a horribly run business, or a bad idea, but you aren’t reading this blog because you don’t care or have no clue. An remember a nice crowd draws in other business too… so share your wifi.

What are you saying to your guests that open up their phone and see that you in fact have a wifi network, and it is locked so they can’t use it? Its a bad vibe… so do what you have to do to offer a free wifi connection to your guests. The router I mentioned before (Cisco-Valet Plus Wireless Router) is literally plug and play. But if you want to go even cheaper than that, get a wireless router and plug it into your current router and set up an open wifi network on that one for your guests. It really is that easy, and it will pay for itself really really fast.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, hit me up here, or @spirocks on twitter. And if you have a desire to give your restaurant a technology makeover that will save you money and bring in more business, ask me what Guestfeed can do for you, here or @spirocks I love to converse.