5 Apps Worth Looking Into

Greetings Dear Readers

Here are 5 Apps that you might have missed.

Waze

(Image - Twitter)

This app is a free voice guided satellite navigation.  That's right you read that correctly, a free voice guided satellite navigation.  It features turn by turn guidance and you can even download new voices.  They have just released a new voice from a US comedian Kevin Hart.  The app uses crowd sourced info for everything from locations to roads to traffic conditions and can even monitor how you drive to select optimal routes for you.  I have tried it out and it really is a wonderful app.

You can download it from your App store.
Find them on Twitter @waze - https://twitter.com/waze

Google Maps

(Image - Twitter)


Google Maps is another alternative for you if you just need a map on your phone.  Featuring the power of Google and turn by turn options that you can read this is indeed a powerful app for your phone.  Worth a spin.

You can download it from your App store.
Find them on Twitter - @googlemaps - https://twitter.com/googlemaps

Uber

(Image - Twitter) 

Now this is something new.  Imagine having your own personal driver in your pocket.   Well that is just about what Uber is.  It's an app that lets you book a car to pick you up.  Perfect for late nights or parties.  The app also shows you on a map where your driver is.  You can choose from various cars to suit your budget.  Well worth a look.

You can download the app from your App Store
Find them on Twitter - @Uber - https://twitter.com/Uber

Find My Way

(Image - Twitter)

This app is wonderful for those of us who make use of public transport.  In South Africa you just type in which city you are in and it will show you the various public transport options for you from the Gautrain to MyCiti to the People Mover.  The best part is it tells you when the next one is.  It features timetables and is also very easy to use.

Find it on your App Store
Find them on Twitter - @FindMyWayZA - https://twitter.com/FindMyWayZA

The Weather Channel

(Image courtesty wikipedia)

If you are looking for a new weather app you might want to try this one.  Features include weather on the app at a glance, wind, humidity, uv index, sunrise and sunset, hour by hour forecasts, 10 day forecasts, maps, severe notices.  It has a lovely design and so far I have been impressed.

Download it from your App Store.
Find them on Twitter - @weatherchannel - https://twitter.com/weatherchannel


Do you have any apps you care to recommend?


Yours in social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist & Keynote Speaker
Falconscove
Bookings & Media Enquiries:  076-977-5788 / falconscove@gmail.com

5 Inspiring Tedx Talks by South Africans

Greetings Dear Readers

Here are 5 Inspiring Tedx Talks I came across by South Africans:

DJ Black Coffee

Lara Foot

Toby Shapshak - A real blast from the past this one

Sarah Britten

Shannon Hope

Well after all of that inspiration all that is left is for me to wish you an inspiring week ahead.

Yours in social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist & Analyst & Keynote Speaker
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
email - falconscove@gmail.com
twitter - @fredfelton

Crowd Sourcing Blog Post Titles

Last week I gave the South African Writers Circle a talk and workshop on Blogging.

I worked with them on Titles for Blog posts.

As you know Titles are important.  They broke up into groups and worked on some interesting titles.
This is what they came up with.  Below are the titles and then what that title is about:


00:67:00?

We know that 67% of you gave 67 minutes of time... what did all you other crazies do to celebrate
Mandela Day?

(by the 33 Percenters)

S.U.Be.H

Launch of the new political party - it's time to stand up and be heard!

(by the Turbulent Trio)

'THINK' Do you have the frog factor?

Are you a jump ahead

What do you know about HIV?
Do you know your HIV status?
Are you well informed and updated on latest HIV news?

(by the WEIRDERINAS)

Barking up the wrong tree

about a treehugger up tree

Is she a Knitwit?

about Julia Gillard

Is Charlene Backstroking?

Still born but Kicking

About Kate's Baby

(by the 'Hawkeyes)

Kate To Have The First Royal Twins

hospital leaks that Kate is to have Twin boys - which one will be the future king?

Nelson Mandela's Will Is Released, Family in Shock

family feuds lead to Mandela leaving his fortune to his Charities.

(by Flying Birds)

Info on the South African Writers Circle - http://www.sawriters.org.za/

there you have it Dear Reader.  Certainly another interesting
crowd sourcing experiment.  Some really interesting headlines there.

Tweet me which one you liked best
@fredfelton


Post by +Fred Felton

5 Tips on How To use the new Gmail Inbox

So I've been getting these questions a lot.
'What has happened to Gmail?'
'I can't find my mail on gmail?'


Okay calm down Gmail has revamped their email and I must say it looks pretty cool.
They have seen that people are getting besieged by emails.
I mean it's like a war out there right?
Hands up if you get 1000 emails a day?
Some company exec's can experience that day to day.

Here are 5 tips all about the new Gmail Features and what you can do with them.

1.  Use the new categories

Gmail has now given you 3 categories which it automatically adds your email into to.
These being Primary (where your main emails go)  Social (where updates from twitter, facebook etc go) and Promotions (where proposals, newsletters, ads etc go).
You also have the option of adding Updates (like receipts or bills and statements) and you can
add Forums (messages from online groups, discussions, mailing lists etc)
The beauty of this new system is you can also move emails to other categories if you feel they are in the wrong one.

2.  Take notice of the colours

If you are not sure if you received emails always check the categories and if you see them highlighted

with colours like '2 new'  in blue or green or yellow then you know something has arrived.  Like that proposal to shoot a new Harlem Shake Video.

3.  Increased storage

Now this I like.  Google now gives you 15GB Free storage across gmails, google drive and google+ photos for all those cat and baby pics you like to take.  I mean one can never have enough of them right.

4.  You can always go back

Now if you feel you have seen too much and you are suffering withdrawal symptoms you can always go back to the original type format and disable tabs.  This will put all the messages in one list again.

5.   New Themes

Gmail now also features new themes from 35 to too many to count.  You can also add

your own photos.  Like that artistic photo you took with the 500 filters.

I suggest you play around with them and see which one you like.

The benefit is that you can have a new photo each day.  

(Images courtesy of Gmail) 

Yours in Social

by +Fred Felton - Social Media Strategist & Trainer & Keynote Speaker

Falconscove

A Digital Media Agency

Social Media - Communications - PR 

email: falconscove@gmail.com

When Crowdsourcing collides with Writers

Greetings Dear Readers

This week I had the pleasure of presenting a talk on Social Media and The Writer to
members of the South African Writers' Circle.

After that I was asked to Facilitate a Writing Workshop with them.

I introduced them to crowdsourcing and suggested they break up into groups and come up
with some very short stories otherwise known as #flashfiction

This is what happens when Crowdourcing collides with Writers.

'Trapped on this hilltop, so many of them, are they armed? What do we do?

by 2thepoint

'It's a direct hit.....
Closing time.'

by Dr M (Squared)

'Camilla....but you're dead!......are those fangs in your mouth?'

and

'Dracula and Mary Shelley lived happily for ever and ever and ever.'

by The Bela Lugosia Appreciation Society

'Cold feet.  Sombre Trees.  Sniffer dogs behind me'

and

'Boobs bounced, I looked, missed the bus.'

by Visionaries

'Sighing ecstatically she stroked the cooling corpse a prelude to the tasty morsel ahead...crunch!'

by A Murder of Crows.


Quite amazing results there.
The Writers that took part in this socia media experiment were all from
The South African Writers' Circle.
You can find out more about them and their meetings here:
http://www.sawriters.org.za/


Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Blogger & Keynote Speaker
Falconscove
email - falconscove@gmail.com

5 Tips On How To Use A #Hashtag

Greetings dear readers.

Over the last few weeks I have been at quite a few conferences and next week
I will be at two as well.  At conferences they normally use hashtags to
create awareness of the conference and brand.

Hashtags are those words with # in front of them.  This is done to help with
search and to help it trend on places like Twitter.  Have a look at the top
Trending topics on Twitter and you will get the idea.
Now there is a right way and a wrong way to use the #hashtag

Here are 5 tips on how to use the #hashtag

1.  Choose a unique hashtag

When you choose a hashtag for your event choose one that is unique and make it your own.
Something that represents your brand or conference.
An interesting one in South Africa right now is #TBD2013

2.  Avoid making it too long

Nobody likes using a long hashtag.  Why?  Well it takes far too long to type out
and #AintNobodyGotTimeForThat

3.  Consider where you are having the event

If you are having an event in a specific city maybe add the name of the city to your hashtag.

4.  Listen to how it sounds

Once you have a hashtag play around with it, listen to it, ask people to say it, what sounds good,
what sounds catchy.  Once you find it that is your hashtag.

5.  Try not to confuse the issue

Now once you have a hashtag make sure to announce it.  So on Twitter you might want to send
a tweet out saying the official hashtag for our campaign is #xyzbrandevent

Make sure you do not change it.  Try not to play around with it.  Stick to it.  Remind people as well in all your press releases what the hashtag is.

Well that should help you on your way for to finding the perfect hashtag for your brand or event.


Yours in social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist & Keynote Speaker
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
email - falconscove@gmail.com
Twitter - @fredfelton
#FredFelton

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• The Marketer's Guide to Proper Social Media Etiquette
• Hashtags Gone Wrong: 6 Examples of Unfortunate Hashtag Choices

10 Funny Memes To Make You Smile

Heard about the Meme?

That funny picture that has sarcastic text added to it.  Well it has taken the internet
by storm and you can normally find it on social media sites.  Some of them can
even go viral if enough people share them.

Here are 10 to make you smile:

The Brace Yourself Meme

The Unimpressed Astronaut Meme

The Condescending Wonka Meme

The Gordon Ramsay Meme 

The Grumpy Cat 

The Inception Meme

The Joker Meme

The Matrix Meme

The Office Meme

The I Dare You Meme

You can find a great deal more here and even make your own

at http://weknowmemes.com/generator/

A very funny tool indeed.  Imagine if you used a meme in your brand campaign.

Something for you to think about right?

What is your favourite meme?

Yours in Social

Fred Felton

Digital & Social Media Strategist & Trainer

Falconscove

A Digital Media Agency

Digital - Social - Advertising - Branding - Copywriting 

email falconscove@gmail.com

5 Social Media Strategy Tips For Your Company and Brand

Greetings Dear Readers

This week I am looking at Social Media Strategy.

Do you have a social media strategy for your company or brand?

Here are 5 tips to help with that:

Where do you want to be?

Think this through carefully.
Here are some places you can be:  Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn
The choice is yours.  Now perhaps you only want to be on one or perhaps you want a mix of
the social networks.

If you are a personal trainer you might like Twitter.
If you are a music band you might like Facebook and YouTube.
Do you have beautiful pictures to share?  Then perhaps it is Pinterest.
Are you more business inclined, then have a look at LinkedIn.

How much time do you have to do this?

If you are a one man band you might like Twitter with it's instantaneous impact.  You can keep
track of your tweets and look for opportunities in a fast, snappy way.

Who will do this for you?

Will you do it yourself?  Appoint someone to do it?  Hire an agency?
Perhaps you should have a social media manager or agency do your social media for you.
These are some of the decisions you have to take.

Think through what you post!

Avoid just posting without any strategy.  When you start out, first have a look at companies
that are doing it right.  What are they doing right?  How are they doing it?  What is working for them?
Learn from all of this when you start to post.

Listen and Reply.

One of the most important things to do is to listen to what your clients and prospective clients do and say.
What are they posting on your wall?  How are they commenting?
Most importantly remember to reply and remember to reply promptly.

These are just some tips to help you along the social media highway.

If you would like help with your social media strategy for your company or brand
email Falconscove on falconscove@gmail.com to find out more.


Yours in social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
email: falconscove@gmail.com

10 More Ways To Do #TheHarlemShake

So after last weeks post on The Harlem Shake I received emails and Tweets about this craze.  

In this post I have included how some Companies and Brands are using it as well.

So here are 10 More Ways To Do The Harlem Shake

The Sunny Coast Skate Version 

The Leeuwarden Version - Reported to be the World's Biggest over 3000 people

The Astronaut Version 

The Hoff Version 

The SeaWorld Version

The HootSuite Version 

The DigitLab Version 

The WWE Version 

The Star Wars Version

The Washing Machine Version

Bonus Version 

The Cat Version 

If you would like to make your own video here is a very handy article
worth reading which shows you how this Viral Video / Meme started
and took off.  It also shows you all the basics.

The music you hear is Harlem Shake by Bauer.  Make sure you credit him. 

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/18/what-is-the-harlem-shake-so-popular/

Lastly a fascinating article from YouTube on this craze.

http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-harlem-shake-has-exploded.html



Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
Digital Strategy - Social Media Strategy - Keynote Talks - Training - Copywriting 
falconscove@gmail.com

10 Ways To Do #TheHarlemShake

There are many ways to do The Harlem Shake.

Here are 10 of them.

The Army Way

The Asian Dance Crew Way

The News Version Way

The Hubspot Version 

The Underwater Way

The Student Way 

The Firefighter Way 

The Office Way 

The Gym Way

The Big Way

Bonus Version 

The Times Square Version 

Extra Bonus Version 

The Scoop.it Version 

(Source - YouTube) 

Do you have any funny versions of The Harlem Square?


Yours in Social


Fred Felton
Head of Digital & Social
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
email - falconscove@gmail.com

5 BlackBerry Apps Worth Having In 2013

Good Day Dear Readers

Today I am looking at some handy apps for your BlackBerry.

There are so many.  Here are 5 that might just interests you:

UberSocial for Twitter and Facebook

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/3436/?lang=en&countrycode=ZA

I absolutely love this App.  This is my first choice if I want to use Twitter or Facebook.
It allows you to check your Tweets and Facebook Updates from within one App.
You can change the colour and display.  Add multiple accounts.  Send and Receive DMs.
Has a wonderful feature called 'Inner Circle' where you can keep your best friends Tweets.
Picture Timeline which just shows you pictures instead of Tweets.
It has search integration and trending topics built in.  Recommended Users, Lists, Picture
Uploads and more.  Favourites and also Everyone Around Me which shows you what people are
Tweeting around you.

BeWeather Free

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/5350/

Everyone needs the Weather right?  I mean it's so hard to look out the window.  Anyway.
If you need the Weather this is the App for you.  Be very wary of some Weather Apps as I have noticed
money disappearing off my account even though I have BIS installed.  Some Weather Apps actually
charge you for updates etc so be careful what you download.  This App does not.
It is totally free and you can set when you want to update the weather.  Great interface and it can show
you Daily, Hourly and even Weekly updates.

Pencil Camera Lite

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/132571/?countrycode=ZA

This is a great App for your Camera.  What it does is take a sketch of a picture you take.
You then have the option of saving it, sending it via bbm, email or even sharing it via ubersocial.



Here is a picture I took using Pencil Camera.

Evil Hangman

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/48274/?lang=en

We all need one game on our phone.  This one will test your knowledge in various categories.
From Nature  to Music to Hollywood and many more.  Look out for the evil laugh and if
you can't get the word right.  Ah well.  Prepare yourself.

Battery Saver Free-Battery Doctor

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/66580/?lang=en&countrycode=ZA

I've saved the best for last.  Now we all know that the BlackBerry has a great battery right!
Right?  That's a whole other discussion for another blog post.

Anyway, Blackberry are aware of the issues and even have their own App for Battery Savings.
However at the moment I am testing this one.  I must say I am pleasantly surprised.  If you don't mind
the odd Ad everytime it pops up, it really is useful.  From graphs, to info to friendly reminders when
you are reaching low levels.  It can even give you an estimate on how much talk time, stand by time
and music time is left.

These Apps were tested on the Blackberry Curve 9320 with 7.1 OS


Some Useful Links For You:

Crackberry - http://crackberry.com/

Blackberry South Africa - http://za.blackberry.com/

Blackberry On Twitter For South Africa - @Blackberry_ZA
Blackberry Help On Twitter - @BlackberryHelp
Blackberry On Google Plus  - +BlackBerry
Blackberry On Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/BlackBerryZA

What are your favourite Blackberry Apps?
Send me your comments or Tweet me @fredfelton

Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist
Falconscove
email - falconscove@gmail.com

Social Media Strategy, Consulting, Management & Training.

Related articles

• Review: BlackBerry 10 still wears a suit, but finds time for happy hour

5 Social Media Goals For 2013

Here are 5 Social Media Goals to make 2013 your best one yet.

Which social media channel is for you?

Think about this carefully as not every social media channel could be for you.

If you like short, sharp burst of info then Twitter is perfect for you. If you are
after business connections then Linkedin is for you.
If you are looking to build a community of fans then have a look at Facebook
or the community pages of Google Plus.
Perhaps you prefer pictures then you should look at Instagram or Pinterest.

Time for that blog

Have you been thinking long and hard about setting up a blog for your company.

Well instead of thinking about it, just do it.  Set it up and start blogging.
Tell people about your company, what you do, your success, your failure, who
works for you, pictures from inside your company.  Have fun with it and experiment.
See what works and what doesn't.  Pretty soon you will have a following and then
you might just get some business from it.

Make connections

Time to stop hiding.  If you are on Twitter then get out there and start tweeting.

Chat to people and start following more people.  Find out who lives in your city.
Use the power of the #hashtag.  Search on twitter and you will be amazed at what you find.

Learn 

Start learning some more about social media.  Whether it is reading some good articles

on the net or reading a book or going on a social media course.  Do some learning
and expand your knowledge.  You can then use that knowledge in your social media
marketing.

Explore podcasts

Make this year the year that you start listening to podcasts.  The beauty of them is that 

you can take them anywhere.  In your car, on the plane, waiting at airports, waiting for
meetings or even going for a walk.  Pop in those headphones and listen to some great
interviews.   There are so many shows out there.
Many can be downloaded from the iTunes or from Blackberry AppWorld.


Make this the year you take control of your social media.

What social media goals do you have for 2013? Please comment here or tweet me
what your goals will be for 2013?

Happy Surfing.

Yours in social


Fred Felton
Digital & Social Media Strategist
Falconscove
email: falconscove@gmail.com
twitter: @fredfelton 

Now taking bookings for social media strategy for your business.
You can also book me to talk about social media at your next conference.