Viral Video, what makes it viral?

Jerry Springer

Like Jerry Springer’s ratings, viral videos are gained because people like watching other people and in most case having the ability to laugh at someone or simply feel better about ones self.

As Joseph Cross played Owen Reilly in the 2008 film, “Untraceable”, he saw the explosion of viral video.  Unfortunately for him it all started with a video, of the death of his father, spiraling out of control on the internet.  In turn he started killing people on live streaming video, where the death was actually caused by more viewers.  Is it the same as we think when we mention a viral video?  Maybe not, but the premise is there, many people are attracted to negative things: a live slaying of a journalist by a terrorist, simply the negative way one lives so that the viewer may compare themselves to someone else in order to feel better about themselves.

However all viral videos aren’t necessarily bad, just look to You Tube which hosts the largest number of videos viewed of all time.  There you’ll find great things like: “World of Marcel the Shell”, Justin Bieber singing Chris Browns, “With You”,  America’s Got Talent Star, “Jackie Evancho” or “Unicorn after Wisdom Teeth” or “Double Rainbow”.  Oh wait the last two were watch by people because they were or “appeared to be” on drugs and people thought they were funny.

YouTube

Are you or have you attempted to created any?  What videos do you like and why? While you may be trying to Braid Your Brand, maybe your tips will spur ideas for others to create that next spiraling viral video.

Brian

What are the new Facebook Message options?

Well thanks to the on-line war between Google and Facebook, users keep benefiting from some great features.  The latest feature from Facebook is its new email offered FREE to its users.  That’s right, FREE!  Fortunately when big businesses go at it, it seems that the public are the ones that often benefit from the war.  What you will find with Facebook’s launch of their new email program is the control and set-up of their entire message program.  Let’s look at what “The new messages” program offers…

Facebook's Messages

1. Consolidate all of your messages options in to one place by putting “Everything in one location”, which includes; messages, chats, texts & emails.  Yes that is right emails; you’re even able to sign up for a Facebook email.  If you do not think you want to have everything from everyone sent there, that’s OK because you don’t.  All you have to do is go into your privacy settings and you have the ability to control who can send you a message all together
2. See a “Full conversation history” with each friend as a single conversation and you now have the ability to archive it for later or simply delete it all together
3. See the “Messages you want” while items sent to you by unknown or bulk senders will be sent to the “Other Folders” and spam messages will be hidden from view as well.

Now as you may think this is just another way for BIG BUSINESS to take over your information, I think it is a way to help bring everything together as a way of convenience.  Yes that means you could potentially be putting all of your eggs in one basket but it is FREE and they do it because they know if your there the advertisers will be more apt to pay to be there as well.  

With that said, who do you think really wins?  Everyone of course; the users because it’s FREE, the advertiser because more people visit where they want and buy what they want and yes of course Facebook too but isn’t that OK considering they are putting the whole thing together?

Brian

What are QR Codes?

If you hate typing in URL’s (web site address) on your phone and you have a smart phone, download a QR (Quick Response) reader so when you see a tag that looks like a black and white maze, snap a pic and you’re all set.

BRAID it! on Facebook

A QR code is simply another way to help Brand you or your organization.  It is a quick link to a website, phrase or phone number that you want to share with someone.  For example, if you want to promote your company, create a QR code to link to your website.  If you’re promoting a movie, you can create one to directly link someone to the trailer.  It is a great way to provide a direct connection instead of relying on someone to type the information in or actually type the accurate information.  In fact, wouldn’t you hate it if someone went to a competitor because they misspelled your URL?

Not only is it good for a business it is very convenient for an individual. It’s quick, hence the “Q” in QR, it’s accurate because you are connected to where you want and you can easily save it on your phone for later.

BRAIDit.com

Now you know why, let’s find out how and let me tell you it is easy! If you have a Google account, which is free, Google will create one for you. A couple other places to visit that are able to create codes are Kaywa and Qurify.  Once your there simply type in the information you want to have the code directed to and that’s it.   While you’re looking to create the code you may want to look at how you can view them.  A few QR readers to look at may be ScanLife or BeeTag.

Once you start looking at these you will notice how many QR codes you see.  They have been around for a a lot longer than you think and if your someone who has used one for a while, what do you think?

Brian

Want a custom URL on Facebook and wonder how to get one?

Have you ever wondered how some Facebook Users or Facebook Pages have a custom URL and wonder if you should have one or why you would even want one?

Here are 4 Reasons why you should have a custom URL:

1. Why not? – Not often are you able to do things for FREE well right now choosing a custom URL is so do it now and do it before someone else takes the one you want.
2. Where is Your Audience – People continue trying to market themselves to others and the most important thing is marketing where people are.  Facebook is that place and if you want to direct people there you have to tell them so add it to your business card and http://facebook.com/BRAIDit is as simple to read as a phone number of email address.
3. Make it easy for people – http://facebook.com/BRAIDit is much easier to remember or find than http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Grand-Rapids-MI/Braid-it/133193160055539 isn’t it?
4. Be Consistent – Whether you are marketing yourself or your business the most important thing to remember in creating a Brand is having a consistent message. Be consistent if you can and keep your Social Networking Platforms like Twitter http://twitter.com/BRAIDit or Facebook http://facebook.com/BRAIDit the same as your website http://BRAIDit.com if you can.

 Now that it makes sense, how do you actually capture your own Facebook URL?  First you need to have a the right number of people who “Like” your Facebook Page (it has been a changing number), then it’s easy simply go to http://facebook.com/username and sign up for your custom username before someone else does.

Before doing this there are several things to remember prior to capturing a custom URL:

• You can’t change the username once you set it
• You can’t transfer the ownership of a username to another party
• You can’t violate anyone elses trademark rights
• If you are acquiring a username to sell it in the future (squatting), you will lose it
• Usernames may be reclaimed for other unauthorized usages

To learn more ways to BRAID Your Brand, visit us at http://facebook.com/BRAIDit and I hope you “LIKE” it!

Brian

Do you think online social platforms are a great place to do job recruiting?

Although many people find social networks a useful place to search for a job, many people wish the recruiting would stop but how can you stop someone from taking your employees?

Unfortunately or fortunately last year 70% of all hires were made through the use of the internet, so it is here to stay.  Why you ask, well it’s simple, social network sites make up a 4^th of all online activity.  We all know the numbers are high but my recent Wikipedia Search shows just how staggering the numbers really are.

• Facebook: OVER 500 MILLION users &  grows approximately 700,000 users EACH DAY w/ the average user spending just less than 1 hour per day on Facebook
• YouTube:  OVER 100 MILLION video’s are viewed every day on YouTube
• Twitter:     190 MILLION users on Twitter, Tweeting 65 million times a day
• LinkedIn:  OVER 75 MILLION users spanning 200 different countries

Like almost everything in life, recruiting is about who you know.  Knowing more people is done by networking and being where your audience is.  With numbers like these we know where that audience is so now it is about learning how to capture them…or for many companies, stopping others from taking someone from you.  In order to do that you need to learn how online recruitment works. 

There are three primary ways recruitment happens online.  The first, individuals searching online for jobs, which seems to be the most popular…but is it?  I’m not sure, companies spend a lot of money not only being online for people to see, but companies making their adds or websites look appealing to people seem just as important, but I’ll hit on that in a second.  The second source of recruitment today is through direct recruitment and that’s where recruiters reach out to people for others.  This initially started by meeting people in person, then came the phone, then via fax, then email and now social platforms.  Sites like ,  and  are of the top sites recruiters use to place individuals, in fact just this morning I had a recruiter from Ney York, whom I don’t know, ask me to connect with them and follow them on Twitter.  Lastly and most importantly, recruitment is done subconsciously through online branding programs and doesn’t this tie to the first type of recruitment, individual job searching?   People want to work for a company that offers a good product or service, has great customer service, understands employee appreciation and looks like a leader and the ones that appear that way will be the first place people look, even if their not in the market.

Social Media Recruitment is still at its infant stages and it is so because social networking is in its infant stages. The more companies start maximizing the benefits of social media marketing and online customer engagement the more people will be drawn to the leaders doing so.  Not great news for companies trying to retain their employees so the real trick is trying to figure out how can you hold on to them because it is all about protecting your investment, the investment of PMT (People, Time & Money). 

How can you stop it you ask?  Simple, become the leader!  Become a leader by exposing your company to everyone who needs your product or service and do so where they are.  It doesn’t help to market cable television in areas that people can’t receive service unless you can provide the service too.  Bottom line, show people why they want to come to you and why others enjoy being with you.  Whether a customer or a prospective employee you need to know why others work for and do business with you so find out why your employees like working for you and promote it and find unique reasons why clients do business with you and highlight it. Also, learn what employees don’t like and improve it and find out where your can improve customer service and do so.

When you BRAID Your Brand remember, it is NOT just about marketing…in fact far from it because it touches so many others areas of your business.  If you perceive that your customer service and employee satisfaction meets your clients and employees, you’re wrong.  Find out how to improve it, show everyone how you master it and they will want to come to you.  People want to be where there treated well, appreciated for what they do and see that a business knows how to take care of their clients.  Are you really doing the best you can?

Brian

Is the new “NOT NOW” option better than the old “IGNORE” button

Have you ever hated to “Ignore” a Facebook Friend Request? Well now you don’t have to “Ignore” them you can “Not Now” someone and send them to Purgatory instead!  But watch out you may be worse off than you think!

Confirm / Not Now

Till now if you received a friend request and you did nothing, that request would be there every time you looked, with that face, staring at you saying…”Please be my friend!?!?”, then you had to keep asking what do I do, “IGNORE”  them again or finally accept their friend request.  In many cases you probably just let it sit there and did nothing and if that’s the case you in fact “IGNORED” the request all together.  OK not the same type of Ignore as Facebook’s “Ignore” but “IGNORE” none the less and not only did you “IGNORE” the request but the person as well…really you did, because when once someone sent you a request, it also gave them certain access to your posts, unless of course you hit the “IGNORE” button, that is.  It might be crazy but I think Facebook has a staff of Psychologists working with them, letting them the least invasive ways to reach people.  No one wants to “IGNORE” some one as it seems so harsh, in fact, doesn’t it sound similar the less invasive “Like” button instead of the follow button.  What’s next, when it comes to donating through Facebook are they going to call it a gift…oh wait, they are already doing that.

Facebook - Pergatory the Abyss or Both?

So, what does this change do for you? Well click “Not Now” and it send the request to a Requests page or as some may call it “Purgatory”, considering they will remain there until YOU decide what you want to do with them.  Unfortunately, leaving them there will allow them to see things that “Everyone” can see yet it will block them from making any further friend requests or at least until you go to the Requests page and confirm them later on.  Now if you just want to deny a person’s request without blocking them, you have to go to where Facebook sends the “Not Now” people, the Requests page or as I like to call it, “Purgatory”.  How do you get someone out of Purgatory?  Well it’s not easy, you have to head deep into the abyss of Facebook… 

First, from your Home Screen, head to Friends then select Find Friends (Start at your Profile Page and select “See All” then Find Friends you won’t find it) and under Requests at the top of the page select Hidden Requests where FINALLY you can then select Confirm or Delete Request.  WOW that’s a lot, my guess is most people will not take the time and simply select something not knowing the ultimate result, either becoming your “Friend” or “Purgatory”.

It seems that TechCrunch and Inside Facebook anticipate that because “Purgatory” is so hard to find, that people will just Confirm a Friend Request thus having additional people following you.  That’s great if you’re someone who is doing internet marketing or looking to BRAID Your Brand (which most people on Facebook are becoming) but not so great for internet security and having more people than you want seeing your personal information.  Even though some seem to feel that way, my thought is people will simply click the Not Now button more often than not, just pushing it off until later.  Oh wait, remember what was previously mentioned?  Sending them there will allow them to see all the information “Everyone” is allowed to see as Facebook starts sending your information into that person’s News Feed with out you even knowing.  So if you don’t want someone to see your info, you need to take the steps to find them and select Delete Request.

While, Facebook feels this feature will help with excess Friend Requests from the same person over and over again even after you have “Facebook Ignored” them in the past. I think they should add what TechCrunch suggests, a Bock button. 

Heck put three buttons, Confirm, Block and Ignore but Facebook please stop, with every change, giving everyone’s information to “Everyone”!

Brian

Is Twitter as micro as it once was?

Did the microblog go further than you may have thought?  Twitter, a microblog…really???  Well the way I see it the microblog isn’t as micro as it used to be.

The New Twitter

With a simple click of a button the New Twitter will let you see a video mentioned in a link right from the same screen you’re on. Not to mention anyone who ReTweeted (RT) it, more Tweet’s from the user that posted it.  It seems like this is a lot to see at the same time from one user.  Actually, I think it is the advertisers dream; it’s a great way to Inform people about what you want.  Remember, Social Media Marketing is about finding ways to attract people to a place where they can receive what they are looking for and that is information about you or your company.  Well if you can throw your name and or logo at someone four, five, six or even more, times, at the same time, that’s great. And how much more powerful is it when they click a button and do that themselves? A lot!

Twitter CEO Evan Williams said that Twitter is for people who like to read short blog posts as well as those who like to write them. “To get value out of Twitter, you don’t have to tweet any more than you have to create a Web page to use the Web,” he told Jon Swartz of USA Today.  With this said, people need to remember that Social Media Marketing is about tying all of your media efforts together.  By doing so, not only will it attract people to you, but if done right strengthen your Brand at the same time. 

With Twitter climbing over 160 million users and mobile use up 250% when you’re looking to BRAID You Brand Twitter still continues to be a great place to invest your resources.  As for those who say Twitter is on its way out, I say not anytime soon.  How about you?

Brian

Can Social Media SAVE MONEY and keep jobs from going overseas?

Some people think that keeping customer service representatives in the United States is way too high and that they should out-source overseas. Is adding social media program to a company an alternative that can help?

Hometown Customer Service

It seems as if every time I need to contact a company, over the phone at least, I reach a customer service from somewhere other than right here in our own back yard.  In fact every time I speak with “Bill” from India or “Susan” from Dubai, I remind myself that I really don’t think it saves anyone money and I am confident that more often than not, it makes a frustrated customer instead of a happy customer.

I recently had these same feelings when I called Citi, my credit card company, over something very simple.  Unfortunately I really needed the answer and wasn’t able to find it on line, because if I didn’t I surely wouldn’t have stayed on the phone as long as I did.  Well, after nearly an hour of unbearable language barrier, 3 different customer service, 1 supervisor, being told what I wanted to do was not possible, I was finally forwarded to, “Ashley” from Atlanta, Georgia and I felt now we’re getting somewhere. Literally, after a 3 or 4 minute conversation she understood what I was looking for and handled the situation.  By the way, I am confident that lack of language barrier played a huge role in the expediting the call too. 

Is someone stealing our jobs or are we giving them away?

A few days after the call I stumbled over an article written by Rhea Drysdale is the Chief Operations Officer of Outspoken Media called, ”Why Social Media is Not Customer Service”.  Part of me agrees, if you don’t take care of the client initially in person or on the phone, why do you think you will on a social network?  Social media, like Twitter, are about being a platform where people not only learn to go when they need you, a place to INFORM and also a place to see the good that your company does and isn’t that also about how you take care of your customer or resolve a problem.  Hey wait, that’s customer service, in fact that’s great customer service.  Those are the things your company can use when looking for a ROE (Return on Engagement).  That’s right today’s investment is really all about the engagement you have with your clients. So when a Gartner study showed 5 Reasons Why Offshore Deals Go Bust, witten by Computerworld, business should have looked at what else they could have done to improve what they already have.  Imagine the cost of training when initially setting up the overseas solution and then again when bringing it back to the states, do you think they took that into consideration when looking at the old fashioned ROI (Return on Engagement), probably not.

The Gartner study was back in 2007 and I know that social media wasn’t as prevalent as it is today, but now it’s today and we really need to be looking at tomorrow.  I can say that today your customers are on social networks and as tomorrow comes platforms may change, however, the fact that they will be there will not so utilize the tools you have.  Who knows, maybe if you have enough dialog with your customers through social media programs upfront, some of the other issues will not be as big of a deal.  Remember, when you need to BRAID Your Brand it is about tying all of your efforts together to strengthen your BRAND, so utilize social media to help. 

A business is about a relationship and the stronger the relationship is, the easier it is to rectify things as the happen instead of waiting until it is a big problem.  Do you think sending customer service overseas is the solution to a stronger relationship with your clients?  What about the comsumers out there, how do you feel when you and “Bill” can’t understand each other? Does that make you feel like you matter to a company or they are paying you the RESPECT you deserve? 

Brian

Does God love Twitter and is it OK to Tweet during church?

Does someone’s evil eye really mean you shouldn’t be Tweeting in Church? Even if it’s the President of the United States, I think not, what do you think?

St. Peters Cathedral Marquette, MI

I recently saw a video blog Church Tweet by Sugar Jones from Sugar IN THE RAW about sending Tweets in church, if it was OK and it made me think a bit about what I had been doing.  For some time now I have been doing something similar.  For over a year now if I heard something in church or saw a passage from the Bible and I felt that they were worth sharing, I would actually type myself an email with what was said and/or the passage until I later in the day where I would then Post it on Twitter and Facebook.  Well, whether it’s that or checking into Foursquare or typing the email, it seems to bring on many crazy looks (at least a look that I’m nuts and or rude) and often time controversial comments.

Sugar’s post and comments by Patty a NY Girl at Heart, Star Forbis (@star4laughs), Paul Kortman (@namtrok) and a few others, made me realize that it’s ok and that I am pretty sure God is happy when I touch someone’s life.  As the majority of the world doesn’t attend any type of service I figure this one of my ways to spread the word of God.  It is about spreading the word and there are a variety of ways to do so and if the masses are on-line then we should throw out a line and see who grabs on.  Ironically, the positive comments definitely out way the snarls, so I think it is great and I’ll continue. 

Twitter Scowl

Continue, better yet someone mentioned that #churchtweet should be added to the post, awesome idea, however after looking at the things that are posted with #churchtweet we may consider a different hash tag because most of the ones I saw were probably the reason I receive so many scowl’s.

The question is; in church, To Tweet or Not To Tweet, what do you think?

Brian 

Is the original social media network really on its way out?

That’s right Ma Bell, phone service; the original social media network is on its way out.

From Old to New an Ever Changing Phone

From hieroglyphics to one of the original curriers Paul Revere and then eventually what we call today, snail mail, all forms of social media change and yes that even means the telephone.  Well at least phone service as we know it is on its way out and it is not what I predict because the future is now because, “phone numbers are dead, they just don’t know it yet“.   It’s already happening; applications like Skype and Google Voice are setting the tone for a whole new future.

Who would have thought that one day 91% of ALL American’s would have a cell phone?  In fact the number of people who have substituted their home phone for their cell phone is staggering and still growing rapidly.  Even more amazing is the growth of business using phone service online.  Virtual engagement through video conferencing tools like Skype have brought personal and business relationships to a whole new level and I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Skype

Ma Bell

Have you maximized what these new tools bring to the table? Have you found ways to use tools like Google Voice and Skype in order to BRAID Your Brand?  And how do you see yourself embracing these new social media benefits?

Brian