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

Related articles

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

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.

That Moment!

Greetings Dear Readers.

Today I thought I would share with you that moment.  What moment am I talking about?
Well we have all done it and every time it happens we normally run for the nearest exit.
In the past at networking meetings or at a conference I used to notice someone of influence,
someone who could help my business big time.  What did I do?  Well normally I ran
for the nearest door, running and screaming to scared to approach them.

That was the old me.  The new me looks for the opportunity constantly.  If I happen
to bump into someone influential or a big businessperson I will introduce myself
and make sure we exchange business cards and follow up.  It has led to many good deals.

It's amazing what goes through your mind.  If you see someone who can help you, your
thoughts start going to the fact that this person could possibly help you out.
So the next time you are in a elevator and Richard Branson walks in, you will know what to do.

Let me tell you, it is indeed worth it and remember it is a two-way street and when you are
big and successful do not forget to help that person out who comes up to you and asks
for help or advice.

Have a great week ahead.

Yours in social

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

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5 Tips On How To Save Space On Your @Blackberry

Greetings Dear Readers

Last week I noticed that my Blackberry was running out of space.  So I had to take
some files, apps etc off to save space.   Amazing what you pick up as you go along
in this world of tech.

Here are 5 Tips to save you some space on your Blackberry:

1.  Take a look at those Apps.

Yes we all love them don't we.  We get all those articles and our friends corner
us and say we just have to download the latest app.  So we download it
not realizing how much space it takes up.  The rule is if you don't use it
dump it.  So get rid of those Apps you don't use.

2.  Get rid of those pictures.

It's wonderful having a camera on your phone isn't it?  I mean snap, snap, snap
and before you know it you have a complete photo collection that will rival
some Universities.  So if you take photo's transfer them to your computer
and then delete them.  No need to keep them.

3.  Get rid of those calendar entries.

Delete all of those calendar entries you have beyond a month.  If you want to you can
even delete them as the event occurs.  No need to keep them.

4.  Delete those emails.

Take a look at those emails, especially the one's with attachments.  No need to store them
beyond 30 days.  They take up space and can clog your much needed memory.

5.  Taking out the battery always works.

You will be amazed how much space you clear if you take your battery out and put it in again.
This is known as a hard reset and works wonders.

So there you go, 5 tips to help you save space on your Blackberry.

Do you have any other space saving tips for your Blackberry?


Yours in social

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

Social Media Goes To The Movies at @DIFFest

Having just finished,  the Durban International Film Festival (2012) was quite
a wonderful experience.

It was also wonderful to watch how Social Media came alive on Twitter
and Facebook and various Blogs.

Here are some of the interesting Tweets from @DIFFest

               @031cinephile - wrote some wonderful reviews

      @DIFFest - the home of the Festival some wonderful info here

            @Marelie - always an interesting Tweet from this one

       @Moni_R - one of the people behind the scenes at the Festival

           @sharlvers - The Festival Publicist gave us lots of info

                                     
@TriggerfishZA - The Animation Studio that won Best SA Feature Film


For even more info you can check out the Festival on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/DurbanInternationalFilmFestival


Which Tweets Did You Like The Best at @DIFFest  ?


Yours in Social

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

Tweet or Email to book Fred Felton for your next workshop, talk or conference.

Here is a bonus story on how the 3D Movie Zambezia was featured in CNN


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• 3D animation puts South Africa film in the picture

5 Blogging Tips

This is icon for social networking website. This is part of Open Icon Library's webpage icon package. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greetings Dear Readers

Okay I better keep it on the down and low but I'm blogging.  I know shock
horror.  If you want to read about the interesting debate going on
check out Twitter and the hashtag #DMMADebate
The Digital Media and Marketing Association of SA @dmma_sa had a debate
on whether Bloggers should be paid for the content they produce or
should they even have adverts on their blog.

You want my 10 cents well if you are a Blogger and you have a Blog.
It's your Blog you can do with it what you want.  You can use
it to market your business or you can use it to share your idea's
or you can build a Brand and charge people
if they want to be on it or if they want to advertise on it.  Simple.

Anyway if you are even thinking of starting a blog after all of that.

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

1.  Have a catchy title


It all starts with the title of your Blog and your Blog post.  So think it through.  It must be catchy.
A good technique is to use a list title so for example 5 Blogging Tips.  That grabs the attention of the
reader.  So think about catchy titles you can come up with.

2.  Not long now


Try and keep your post short.  You are not writing a novel here.  Just something of interest
that is going to grab the attention of the reader and hopefully they will remember it and
pass it on to their friends.

3.  Have pictures in it


From time to time it also helps if you add images.  No one likes just reading something.
If there are interesting pictures it helps a great deal.

4.  Does your blog have social sharing buttons?


Another good tip is to have social sharing buttons for Twitter, Facebook, Google +
Linkedin and Pinterest.  Make sure they are in different sections of your blog so
if people miss them they will see them later.

5.  Remember your contact details


At the end of your blog do not forget to put your contact details and how people
can contact you.  Do you have a website or online shop, well that is the perfect
spot to drop it in.  People are curious so tell people what you do.

Here is a list of interesting Bloggers from Durban, South Africa on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/#!/fredfelton/durban-bloggers


Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Trainer & Speaker
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
email: falconscove@gmail.com
cell: 076-977-5788
twitter - @fredfelton

Call, Email or Tweet to book Fred for Social Media Workshop or Talk


Below find a interesting article on Blog Conferences enjoy :)

Related articles

• Blog Conference Survival Tips

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5 Tips On How To Use Labels In Your Blog

No Labels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greetings Dear Readers.

Do you Blog?  Well if you do here are 5 tips to help you with Labels or Tags.
A Label or Tag helps identify your blog entry so if someone is looking for a topic
like that your blog will pop up.

Here are some tips to get you started with Labels.

1.  A label is better than no label


It is far better to put a label on your blog than to have no label.  I mean how do you expect people
to find you.  A label helps people find you.

2.  Decide on your labels


Before you write your post decide what labels you want to use.  Are you an Actor or Writer
or Musician?   Perhaps use one of those so people remember that you are that Actor or Writer.

3.  Avoid too many labels


As you go you will find yourself experimenting and adding 2,3,4,5 and even more labels to
your posts.  Be careful with this as eventually people will not be able to identify just
exactly what it is you do.

4.  Add in your Geography


People are curious and always want to know about the people they meet and the bloggers
they read.  So it always helps to put the city and country where you are from.
Then people can identify you and who knows someone in that area might spot you
and need your services.

5.  Check your Article for Labels


Sometimes you will find the labels in your article.  So if you are writing about some topic
or about someone or want someone to see it a good way is to add that topic
or that person's name as a label in your blog.

Have fun with those Labels.

Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Speaker & Trainer & Author
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
Social Media Is Our Biz
email falconscove@gmail.com

email to book Fred Felton for a talk or workshop on Social Media or Digital Media countrywide.



Below is a useful article on labels as well.  Enjoy.  

• How To Use Labels & Menus?

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How Crowdsourcing Works

Greetings Dear Readers

Awhile back I sent out a Tweet asking Tweeps to send me Tweets and I compiled them into
a story.  I even got some lines from Facebook Fans.  Each line of the story is from somebody else.

What I did then was edit them into a story and from that The Twitter Story was born.
This is the basis of Crowdsourcing.

Find some people with common interests.  In this case writing.  Get them together.
Brainstorm and come up with idea's and structure them in a way that appeals
to people.

This is what Crowdsourcing is all about.  You will find it in the design of clothing,
in the making of music videos and in many more applications.

So if you have a idea for something why not Crowdsource it.
You will be amazed with the outcome.

Without further ado we present

The Twitter Story by The Tweeps (Edited by @fredfelton)

How does it work?
Any particular topic?
What about?
When do you need it by?
Okay willl see if anything interesting comes to mind.
Here's my tweet :)
Hayden family have a sheep.  One day sheep is stolen by Prince Alex.
Creativity in the toilet at the moment.
Sometimes I really want to use that axe.
Oh dear which one? Should probably learn to tweet less rubbish.
Let's try this again shall we.
Hope I can come up with something better.
I remembered cold, dark mornings on earth but they were nothing like the bitter chill of space ...
Like it




Love to hear what you think of The Twitter Story send me your comments.

What would you use Crowdsourcing for?


Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Speaker & Author
Falconscove
Social Media Is Our Biz
email: falconscove@gmail.com
cell: 076-977-5788

call or email to book Fred Felton for a social media talk or training countrywide.

5 Photo Apps For Photographers For The iPad

Greetings Dear Readers

This week I am looking at 5 Photo Apps worth having on your iPad if you are a Photographer.

1.  Pixlr-o-matic


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pixlr-o-matic/id450263811?mt=8

My favorite at the moment.  Beautifully designed and when you load it it shows you the latest photo
you were working on.

25 Filters you can run the picture through
30 Effects you can play around with
30 Frames to add to the picture

What that basically means is you can mix the Filters, Effects and Frames in various
combinations and come up with some wonderful combinations.

This is one picture I worked on and ran it through Pixlr-o-matic

               Umhlanga Pier Like You Have Never Seen It Before by @fredfelton

This truly is one of the most amazing pieces of software I have seen out there.
Of course once you have finished you can send it out to all the social media networks
and even email it to friends or save it.

2.  Instagram


http://instagr.am/

Recently bought by Facebook for $1 Billion Dollars and you can see why.
Simple to use but packed full of features, some wonderful filters and added enhancements
such as brightness.  You can even drop the colour if you choose.
Social Sharing is first rate.  Brilliant app.

3. MagicHour


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magic-hour-camera-unlimited/id434159268?mt=8

Keep an eye on this one, sometimes it is Free on the App Store

A wonderful photo app,
Simple to use and full of filters.
Here is the difference with this one.
This App gives you the option of making your own filters.
Now that is really interesting.  The idea's are as big as your imagination so go wild with it.

4.  PicShop Lite


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picshop-lite-photo-editor/id505766376?mt=8

Another interesting App to look at.  Also gives you the ability to edit, fix up red eye, crop,
rotate, tilt and shift, focal point, and loads of filters.

5.  Vintage Camera


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vintage-camera/id483959252?mt=8

Has over 5 million users worldwide
It's different.  Does exactly what it says, turns any picture into one of those old photos.
I know it works.
Great little app to play around with.

Update

You will also find that now most Social Media Apps like Tweetcaster and others
that let you upload photo's now let you also add various filters to the pictures before you
upload them.

Quite an interesting new development.

Yours in Social

Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Speaker
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
Social Media is Our Biz
email: falconscove@gmail.com
cell 076-977-5788

call or email to book Fred for a workshop or training countrywide.

How To Run A Social Media Marketing Campaign Using Just a @BlackBerry

Greetings Dear Readers

Wolfgang Bonisch @charlotte_niche and @fredfelton at the @psasouthafrica National Convention 2012
                                                           #vocalislekker



This has been a crazy month for me helping out PSASA with some social media marketing
for their National Convention.  My company Falconscove helped them out with some social media
strategy and then the social media marketing at the convention.   Most of this was done using
just a @BlackBerry

Here are ways you too can market a event or convention using just a @BlackBerry

1.  Make sure you have UberSocial installed on your Blackberry


This proved to be my number one tool at the Convention.  Wherever I went I used
my UberSocial which gives you the wonderful options of sharing posts to Twitter, Facebook,
Linkedin and your Black Berry Messenger.

2.   Upload As Many Pics as you can


It has been proven that people look more at pictures than at statements so during your event
try and upload lots of pics.   Make sure you add the hashtag associated with the Event.

3.  Do some live blogging


For this I chose the Tumblr App for Blackberry and I must say it is rock solid, it works everytime
and automatically posts to Twitter and Facebook for you.  So during the event or at the end of the day
do some live blogging about the Speakers or the Event.

4.  Tell your Tweeps what is going on at the Event


People are curious and they want to know what is going on at Events.  So if you hear a gem
or a nugget of wisdom spread it with your Tweeps.  They will remember that.

5.  Make sure your battery is fully charged.


I know it sounds like a stupid thing to say but so many people forget to do this.  So just in case
take another battery with or your power cord and charge when necessary.


Yours in Social


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

5 Ways To Market Your Event Using Social Media During The Event

Greetings Dear Readers

This week I am giving you 5 ways to market your event using social media during the event.
I am just back from doing a writing workshop with Speaker and Publisher Robin Jackson and
I thought I would share some tips for you on how to use social media to market your event during it.

Sure you have done all the hard work to market it before the event.
During the event is another story.  If you do it right more people will want to come to it next time.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started.

1.  Check in using Foursquare


A great way to create awareness is to use Foursquare to check in to the venue and tell people
why you are there. Include a hashtag as well, we used #IPW.  Make sure your Foursquare
is linked to Twitter and Facebook and even your BBM so you can reach many more people with it.

2.  Use a hashtag and be consistent with it


During the event use the same hashtag.  Do not veer away and use other hashtags.  Decide
beforehand what your hashtag is and stick with it.

3.  Use pictures


People love visual images of events so do not be shy, take some pics of the venue, of the
speakers, of the guests, of what is happening and upload them to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr
and Instagram.

4.  Tell people what is going on


Now your Tweeps will love you for this, so try and Tweet now and again all the great
things you hear at the event and smart advice you hear.  Share it with your Tweeps
and with your friends on Facebook.

5.  Try a live blog


You can even get someone to blog live from the event and create even more awareness.
Use the blog Tumblr and if you are more hands on with a mobile use the app for tumblr
and blog from your mobile.

So there you have it.  5 ways to market your event during it.  Hope you use them in the future
and tell me what you experienced.

Do you have any other tips to market your event using social media?


Fly high, Fly free


Fred Felton
Social Media Engineer & Speaker & Trainer
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
'Social Media Is Our Biz'
email: falconscove@gmail.com

#SocialMedia Advice By Musicians For Musicians

Greetings Dear Readers

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing some musicians and I asked them how
they use social media to market their music.

Let's hear what they had to say.

Leee John


This musician was far ahead of others and in the 90s he already set up his
website.

Check it out at www.leeejohn.com

From there you can find his links on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace

He suggests you build up a huge database of leads and fans.
He sees Facebook as a way to interact with fans.
Twitter is something you check while you are walking on the beach.

The Village People


They use both Twitter and Facebook but use
Facebook more to interact with their fans.

I attended a concert they were at and noticed how live on stage they took a picture
of the audience and posted it directly to their Facebook page and announced to the
audience to check out their Facebook page.  A wonderful concept.

Take a look at what they do on their Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Official-Village-People/202364961024

The band also manages their Facebook page themself.

You have to be in the social media world or otherwise you are nowhere.

Nik Kershaw


He likes Twitter and sees it as a good tool.
Interact with him @NikKershaw on Twitter.

Rick Astley


Another Artist that uses Twitter.  You can find him on @rickastley
He also has a radio show and chats to interesting people on it.

Well hope you learnt some social media tips from the masters.

If you would like to read more about them and a review of the concert they were in
read all about it on Umhlanga Life.

http://umhlangalife.blogspot.com/2012/02/interviews-with-famous-musicians-and.html


Fly high, Fly free


Fred Felton
Social Media Strategist & Speaker
Falconscove
A Digital Media Agency
'Social Media Is Our Biz'
email: falconscove@gmail.com

email us to book Fred Felton for a talk or training workshop on Social Media

5 Websites that impressed me in 2011

Greetings Dear Readers.

Right about now you will be on holiday and maybe shopping for gifts for family or friends
for all of those year end parties you go to.

I feel a tiny bit sorry for those of you who have to work at this time of year.
Just a tiny bit.

Can you believe it 2011 is almost finished and almost time for 2012.

I thought I would share with you 5 Websites that impressed me in 2011.

Here we go:

1.  Twitter


http://www.twitter.com

One of my favourite sites.  So much on there from news, views, interviews,
useful links, people venting, amusing pics and videos and I could go on and on.
Not to mention it's a useful messaging site.  Will it replace email?  Only time
will tell.

2.  Podomatic


http://www.podomatic.com

Some people call this the wave of the future, podcasting, webcasting, having
your own shows on the net, from radio shows to tv shows to web seminars.
All of this for free.  Nifty hey.

3.  Visibli


http://www.visibli.com

For those of you who are big on social media and marketing this is the site for you.
It basically adds a bar above all your links, photo's blog entries and more for every
link you put out there on the interweb.   On that blog you can put up some wonderful things
like your social media profiles, your website and so much more.  A very powerful
marketing tool and the stats are fantastic.

4.  TinyLetter


http://www.tinyletter.com

For those of you looking to start with email newsletters this site is for you.
Very easy to use and it works.  That's right you heard me it works :)
Highly recommended.

5.  VibeDeck


http://www.vibedeck.com

A really interesting site for all you musicians out there.  It allows you
to sell your cd's, songs, ep's and more online and with the social media
integration you can decide if you want to give it away or use
the pay with a tweet or facebook message option.  Very slick site.

Well those should keep you busy for awhile at least till you decide to
hit the beach or try that game reserve or read a book.

Do you have any cool websites you have discovered in 2011?
Let me know.


Wish you and yours Seasons Greetings and have a successful 2012  :)

Yours in social media

Fred Felton
Speaker & Social Media Consultant & Author
email: falconscove@gmail.com

email to book Fred for your next talk or for a social media workshop.