Social Media Etiquette for Everybody

Every day we make decisions about what to say, how to act and react, and whether or not to let that guy who’s honking his horn and flashing his headlights merge into traffic. We try to be polite-some more effectively than others. Why is it, then, that people are so often quick to do or say the wrong thing online? Etiquette is important, no matter the medium. Here are some basics to always remember.

Let people know who you are. Be sure your profiles are filled in completely, including a photo, bio and contact info. If you have a website, be sure to link it – and it never hurts to link to other social profiles as well.

Use names and @mention people. When you’re dealing with the public (assuming you’re managing social media for a business) saying the name of the person with whom you’re talking really goes a long way, both to endear you to them and solidify a connection. As an added bonus, using the person’s name helps you to remember.

Give credit to the original content creator. Not everything you share on the Internet came straight from your mind. Be sure to mention the person who did create it. It’ll boost your cred with others, and it’s good Karma too.

Don’t mass-post (also known as an instadump). If you’re managing social media for your company (or yourself for that matter) it can be easy to share several things you have found in mass succession. This crowds the timelines of your friends or followers. Do it a few times and some of them will almost certainly disconnect from your feed.

Don’t go #hashtag crazy. Hashtags are everywhere now: Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Vine… you name it. They’re a great way to search through content, but too many of them in an individual post can be quite off-putting. As an aside, don’t hijack other’s hashtags. That is, don’t try to make a popular tag about you/your product.

Keep your privates private. If you’re having a conversation with someone via direct message or email, don’t share any portion of that conversation publicly Also, if a situation requires a delicate touch, be sure to handle it via private medium.

Don’t use social autopilot. There are some great social media management programs available. These will let you schedule your posts to go out right when you want them to, no matter when you actually enter the content. Don’t forget; just because the program will take care of the initial post, doesn't mean it can answer any questions or respond to comments. It can’t.

Don’t mix voices. If this is a social media presence representing a business, don’t use “I”, don’t talk religion or politics (unless that’s your business), and don’t alienate potential customers by posting a lot of opinion pieces.

Prooferad. Make sure your statuses are pithy and properly spelled and punctuated. Use the right words. People will notice. Also, we know we misspelled proofread. We wanted to be sure you were paying attention.

If you have anything to add or if you dispute any of these, let us know. Tweet us. Facebook us. Email us. Just be sure your spelling and grammar are up to snuff.

SEO Is...

In the early 1840s, a very wise person coined the phrase “never talk about religion or politics.” Opinions regarding these two things are arguably the most deeply held beliefs among most Americans. We either agree, or we don’t. Vehemently. In either case, it’s best-in polite company-not to discuss these topics and potentially incite a row. We say, add to this list of taboos the topic of search engine optimization. SEO professionals have widely varying opinions as to what’s best when it comes to getting a website seen, and everyone believes his or her method is the best, without question. Well, we’re ogres and we've never been too keen on obeying the rules, walking on eggshells or candy-coating the truth. As such, we’re going to lay a little SEO knowledge out there for you. Pick up what you can use.

In the early days of the Web, back in the 90s, search engines cataloged websites. Their “spiders” would then download the page and crawl the content looking for links and topics. In August of 1997, John Audette of Multimedia Marketing Group documented the phrase “search engine optimization.”

I searched teacup poodle; why am I seeing results for oolong and earl grey?

Initially, the search engines’ algorithms relied on webmasters to provide information letting the engine know the content of the site via keyword meta tags and index files. It didn’t take long for programmers to start looking for ways to game the system, coming up higher in end-users’ search results. Eventually, a simple Web search would return links to sites that had nothing to do with the actual query. Webmasters were stuffing meta tags with anything they could remotely associate with the product or information actually being displayed.

An old internet marketing joke goes (something) like this: 

A SEO expert walks into a bar, bars, pub, Irish pub, tavern, watering hole, beer, wine, whiskey, whisky, shot, shotgun, rifle, pistol, bandolero, tequila… You get the idea.

Search engines adapted. Traditional methods of utilizing keyword density, inbound links and link farming used to get businesses a spot on page one of Google. Now, those practices may get your site flagged for spamming.

Wait, so SEO is dead?

We didn't say that.  There are still lots and lots of companies out there willing to sell you a $500+/month SEO package of blogging, link building and general Internet voodoo. Some of the old practices are still very valid in modern marketing. More important, however, are things like quality/original content, frequent updates, social sharing and well written code utilizing embedded keywords, heading tags and alt image tags.

The old SEO methods of telling people you had something (keyword stuffing) and then not delivering on content are dead. Search engines are getting better at showing us what we’re truly looking for. Thank you, search engines.

Sound off!

Do you have any SEO experiences – positive or negative – or is there anything you’d like us to blog about? Get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter or via email. 

Ogre Shawn Knows the Key Code: It’s F#m

Alright, listen up. If this is your first time here, look around a little. This is the final installment in our Clever Ogre “What are the ogres listening to?” blog series. We’ve talked about all kinds of different music, from Christopher’s old school jams to Nora’s punk bluegrass (Punkgrass? Blunk?) across to Dadant’s reggae and Dan’s jam bands. We finally had a chance to catch up with ogre Shawn and get his take on the listen.

When we found him, Shawn Grimes was sitting in a dark cubicle in the corner of the basement. It smelled like a coffee shop in a cave. He was wearing headphones and typing away like a crazy person. Shawn is Clever Ogre’s front-end web developer. He doesn’t work in words or images, instead he uses special characters, acronyms, and abbreviations to do his work. In other words, he’s free to rock his music loud and constantly.

So, loud and constant it is. If Shawn is streaming music he’s either using rdio or Pandora. He cranks his headphones to drown out all external sounds allowing him to dive deep into codeland. When coding, he turns to his favorite band, 311, for good tunes. Alternately, if he’s in the mood for mostly lyric free music, he’ll listen to Deadmau5, Skrillex, or some other dubstep-electronic grooves.

If Shawn finds himself cleaning the house or doing other non-web related work, he listens to a wide variety of music. Of course, 311 makes a return, but he also likes to throw in Mumford & Sons, Jimmy Eat World, Sufjan Stevens, Sublime (even with Rome), Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, and pretty much any 90s alternative including Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Stone Temple Pilots. Old habits die hard, indeed.

On the off-chance he finds himself with little to do other than relax, he puts on some Pink Floyd or Adele. The melodies of Adele and lingering instrumentals of Pink Floyd allow his mind to rest. It’s tough when a person thinks in <html dir=”top”> <head> all the time. A little decompression is important for everyone, but for a programmer it’s kind of like when a daycare worker is finally able to be around adults and have actual adult conversation.

Phew. That’s 100% of the ogres. Do you think you’ve gotten some good tunes out of this series of blogs? There certainly has been a wide variety of artists in these posts. If you dig or hate any of the bands mentioned, let us know. We’re all over the place and ready to hear from you.

You’re already clicking around the internet. Click here to check us out on Facebook and here to Tweet us. Oh, don’t forget to click here to go to our website.

Music is My Literature – the writing ogre listens

If you’ve been waiting for our next ogre music blog, your wait is over. If you haven’t, hopefully you’ll be waiting for the last one – which will be out after this one.

By now, we hope to have turned you on to at least one really good band or artist. Have we succeeded? We can’t hear you or read your thoughts, so please nod at your webcam. Cool. Speaking of music, we recently told you Christopher listens to a lot of really good, but obscure, music; Chris Dadant likes his music melodic, driving, and jammin’; and Nora likes a little punk in her bluegrass. What about Dan?

Dan Fugate is Clever Ogre’s writer and social media manager; sometimes he even does graphic design. Writing doesn’t afford the same listening freedom as social media and design, so he has a couple of listening trends. This has been bittersweet for the one-time loud singing jam band enthusiast.

Being a writer, you might expect Dan to be a voracious reader. Well, he’s not. He goes after and gets into music the way other writers devour books. He often says “Music is my literature.” We believe him. When he’s writing, music generally leans toward instrumental stuff. Widespread Panic, the Grateful Dead, Phish, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Deadmau5 are where he turns for lyric free tunes.

Behind the social media and design wheels, Dan likes to add the lyrics back into his listening. The same jam bands from before are present, but also folks like: Mumford & Sons, MGMT, Keller Willaims (who he’s going to see at Vinyl in May), the Black Keys, and Ok Go.

Dan also has a soft spot for female singers. The emotion that comes through is “so powerful”, he says. When he’s in the mood for lady listening, he turns on: the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Feist, Mates of State, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, and Sugarland. Melt and swoon.

He will listen to most anything once and he’s found he has no place in his heart for rap, r&b, or the heavier rock/metal stuff. They have too much anger and screaming for his liking. Dan has a bit of music snobbery in him too. He’s of the belief if a band can’t perform as well on stage as they can in the studio, they’re not worth his time. He says he’s just about stopped listening to Modest Mouse after seeing them live.

Alright, readers, that’s 80% of the ogres down. Now, if we can track down Shawn Grimes we’ll feature his preferences next time to round out this musical exposé series.

Let us know how we’re doing. Have we turned you on to any new music? Sound off on Facebook or Twitter.

No, I Can’t Hear You. My Music’s too Loud.

Once again we’re here to tell you about an ogre’s music preferences. If you’ll recall, Christopher is a music snob with a broad, eclectic musical taste (except for reggae) and Nora listens to everything she can cram in her ears. This time around, we’ll talk about Chris Dadant’s ear candy.

Chris is Clever Ogre’s chief designer. As a result, he is in the best position to use music as an IV drip. When other ogres have to stop listening so they can take a phone call, concentrate on a series of words, or focus on lines and lines of code; Chris can keep the music pumping and draw inspiration from the rhythm.

When he’s designing, which is pretty much all the time, he listens to music that drives him – moves his thoughts from point to point. He listens loud. Music, to Dadant, serves to activate the mind and remove external distractions. The Black Keys, MGMT, Phoenix, Wolfmother, these are the bands that drive the broad strokes of Chris’ designs.

When it comes to concentration, he mellows out the sounds a little. The same music Chris uses for concentration is what he chooses when it’s time to relax. John Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Eric Lindell, Blackberry Smoke, and Bob Marley are just the right mix of dip, drive, and dance.

Chris’ preferences sway with the weather as well. In the summertime, his mood is high, and his musical tastes reflect this with an extra injection of reggae. Once the temperature starts to drop and the grill gets warm, the music gets a twang and the Illinois country boy comes out with some George Strait and Eric Church.

The only genre Chris tends to shy away from is screamo. In his own words, he’s “hard of hearing as it is” and can’t tolerate a lot of screaming and yelling in his music. Understandable.

As for live music, Chris, like all of the ogres has an addiction. He can often be found listening to James Adkins, one of his favorite local musical talents, wherever he’s playing. He recently saw Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers at the Blue Nile in New Orleans. Also, he never misses a chance to see his pals Boukou Groove play. Usually, however, this requires a trip to Destin or South Walton but he says “It’s well worth it to hear some real New Orleans Funk.”

Alright, three ogres worth of listening.

Are you finding any new bands or artists to check out? We hope so. Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter to let us know.

Thanks for reading.

What the Lady Prefers

Welcome back! Last time, we started a series of blogs dedicated to each ogre’s musical preferences and listening habits. If you read that blog, you now know what kind of music Christopher Davis enjoys and when. You also know he’s a bit of a music snob. This go ‘round, we’re going to discuss the lady ogre’s musical taste.

Nora Jones loves music like no one we’ve ever known. One time, she referred to music as her Xanax. We’re assuming that means it relaxes her and helps when things get too stressful. Either that, or it’s a drug that requires a prescription and she’s hiding her addiction from the public. (Hmm, a daily dose of music doesn’t sound like a bad medication.)

She’s constantly on the lookout for a new band to get into. Relix magazine is a good source for interesting tunes, and their monthly compilation CD showcases the artists featured in that particular month’s issue. Other sources for new music are Paste Magazine’s website, Spinner.com, and Spotify.

There is not a particular genre of music Nora sticks to and her listening is steady across most moods and activities. She has an affinity for punk band members who’ve gone solo and broken away from their punk roots. Among her favorites are Tim Barry of Avail, Dallas Green of Alexis on Fire, and Ben Nichols of Lucero. Though she doesn’t limit herself to one particular genre, bluegrass is far and away her favorite type of music. Her love of bluegrass and interest in punk has drawn her to bands like Old Man Markley, who’ve created an interesting blend of the two musical styles.

Like every audiophile, Nora has a specific preference for when she’s feeling sullen and down. On the rare occasion when something is troubling her, she likes to listen to mellow sounds like Adele or Florence and the Machine.

Alright, that’s two down and three to go. Up next…maybe Chris Dadant.

Do you share Nora’s musical preferences? Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter and let us know.

Thanks for reading.

In One Ear, and In the Other

If you've been with us for more than a week or so, you have probably seen a Facebook post or tweet where we've mentioned the music we’re listening to; or at least what’s been stuck in our head. We love music and it’s always playing in the office. If you don’t hear it when you come in, we probably have earbuds tucked in, each ogre listening to his own jam. There is a lot of overlap when it comes to ogre musical preference, but we all listen in our own way.

Christopher is an eclectic cat in every sense of the word. His musical interests pull from most genres and generations. When he’s working, he likes to listen to music with a constant drive. Among his work-time favorites are Interpol, Common, the Replacements, the Black Keys, John Zorn, the Jam, MandoDiao, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and the Darkness. Christopher is a long-time Black Keys fan, but their newest release, “El Camino” came up short for him.

When the work is done, or at least put on pause, the music changes. For mellow times, he leans toward classics like Steely Dan. He also still revisits his high school years with bands like Dag Nasty, Dinosaur Jr, BlackFlag, X, Hüsker Dü, Social Distortion, The Stooges, and MinorThreat. Music is a constant for Christopher. When there’s no music, he makes his own. Really. He’ll strum a guitar, hum, tap, or listen to the cacophony of an orchestra in his head.

Just between us, he’s a bit of a music snob too. He knows what he likes and doesn’t like. Don’t play what he doesn’t like. One of his biggest pet peeves when it comes to aural satisfaction is when someone changes the music mid-song. It drives the control freak in him crazy.

We are going to write a bit about each ogre’s likes, dislikes, listening habits, and whatnot, but we don’t want to keep you here too long. So, that’s it for now. Anyway, it’s time for a potty break.

There are still four ogres to cover, so look for a series of these to come out in pretty quick succession.

If you liked this post, thought it was crap, or want to find out more about Christopher’s musical preferences, get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

Clever Ogre’s Top 7 Toppy Things of 2011

Preamble

Here we are, at the end of 2011, another calendar year in the books. For some it was a year of accomplishments, for others…not so much. Dictatorial world leaders fell, the King of tech died, the prince of England, Duke of Cambridge, married a commoner, Charlie Sheen proved winning can be as bad as losing, and Kim Kardashian interpreted the definition of marriage. This is the time of year when everybody and his semi-aquatic mammal have a top 10 list of one kind or another. So, why not a Clever Ogre top 10?

Photo: thedailycute.com

‘Cause we’re not everybody, and we’re certainly not platypuses. Though, those little critters are cute, in a weird, freak of nature kind of way. What we’re gonna do is give you a top 7. Without further ado…

Clever Ogre’s Top 7 Toppy Things of 2011 

7: Invented 8 ogre-themed games designed to challenge us both physically and mentally. These super challenging, totally awesome games are clip board paddle ball, indoor golf HORSE, hacky throw (kicking is for donkeys), paper airplane flight control, balance something on some body part longer than everybody else (long name, fun game), point and laugh (ok, we didn’t invent this one, but we perfected it), 1-2-3 NOT IT: coffee edition, and the wildly popular, make the reader guess if we’re serious game.

6: Together with the U.S. Navy and the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, we celebrated flight (100 years of Naval Aviation)

5: We entered and got high score in three golf tournaments. As it turns out, we’re great at bashing things with sticks; just not golf sticks.

4: Won an award for every piece of advertising we submitted to the Addy Awards. We’re bad at golf, but we’re pretty doggone good at advertising. Insert Norma Rae reference here. The Addys are kind of like the Academy Awards for the advertising industry. 

3: In the summer, we had an intern from the University of West Florida; then, in the fall we had another student come in and shadow our work for a day. We loves us some free labor, er, students. We love the students. 

2: Moved our office from the corner of Chase and Coyle to 49 S. Jefferson St. We’re now right above Hopjacks, one of our favorite downtown Pensacola haunts. Speaking of haunts, our old office was haunted. Thought you should know.

1: Developed and launched a new, more ogrey (ogreier) website at cleverogre.com. If you were a fan of our old site, you can still find it at cleverogre.net.

And there you have it. Clever Ogre’s list of 2011’s Top 7 Toppy Things. Do you have a list somewhere? Tell us about it on Facebook or Twitter.

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from the gang at Clever Ogre: Christopher, Chris, Dan, Shawn, and Nora.

Which One is the Last Word?

Social media can never truly replace in-person conversation, but it’s trying. In fact, many people refer to social media as a conversation. It is, really. The short form and quick, easy access allow people to exchange thoughts on myriad subjects in real-time; just like in an actual conversation, but without all of the annoying inflection and intonation. Wait, that’s what’s keeping social media from being an actual conversation. Being able to hear how people are saying things and seeing facial expressions during a conversation are what adds intimacy to the exchange. When actually talking with someone, it’s easy to tell when it’s time to move on to a different subject. What about online, though – when is the conversation over?

Some online venues, most often forums, have a way to close a thread to comments. This usually can be done by either the original poster, or a moderator of some sort. If you can’t comment, it’s a pretty safe bet the conversation’s over.

Barring the obvious, some other ways to tell a conversation’s over may be:

·        That’s it, I’m out – The person who started the conversation says it’s over. It doesn’t happen that often, but sometimes whoever initiated a thread will curate the posts and, when satisfied with (or frightened by) the outcome of the discussion simply say “next topic” or something similar.

·        OP absconditus – The hidden originator. If someone starts a conversation online, either via an interesting or inflammatory statement or fact and then abandons the thread, the topic could be dead before it gets going. The community can move the topic forward without the originator, but where’s the fun in that?

·        Time will tell – There may be a zombie apocalypse coming, but there’s no reason to create zombie threads in social media. If people stopped commenting two days ago, it’s safe to assume anyone who’s already involved in the dialogue has moved on and may not be interested in resurrecting an old topic. Some issues won’t die though. If there have been comments within the last 12 hours or so, keep it going if you’ve got something to add.

·        Closure happens – Similar to an interview, open ended questions and statements lead to more digging and information exchange, but a closed statement doesn’t require your two cents. Look at the last few posts in a thread. If they seem to bring the conversation to a close, listen to Paul McCartney and let it be.

There are definitely other ways to tell it’s time to move on, but these should help you navigate the social media discussion. What do you think – what are some of the ways to tell a topic is dead? Tell us via social media. You can leave a comment here, on Facebook, Twitter, or send an email through our website. 

Velvet Ropes & Red Carpet:

Google+ brings virtual exclusivity to life 

There’s a lot of invitation-only social networking going on these days. Look around the web, you’ll find the members only clubs. On June 28th, Google launched the invite-only “field testing” phase of Google+ development. Based on social media activity and presence, invitations were sent out to selected requestors. The next day, those people were allowed to invite their friends and networks to join. This was soon suspended due to extremely high demand for accounts.

This reminds us of the old battle between penetration and prestige pricing. If you’re not familiar with these two strategies, you’re about to be:

Penetration pricing is a technique used when a business introduces a product into the market at a relatively low price in order to attract a large customer base. The hope is that new users or customers will try the product, find they like it, and continue to use the product when the introductory pricing time frame has ended. This is common with cable and satellite providers, credit cards, and myriad other products and services.

Prestige pricing (sometimes called Premium or Image pricing) is a method where the business will introduce a product or service at a high, or prestigious, price. The intention is to set an expectation that the product is high-end and exclusive. This method is most often seen with jewelry, clothing, and automobiles. This generates buzz – no pun, honest.

So, are invitation only web services a new, online version of prestige pricing? The exclusivity provided to early adopters is closely akin to prestige pricing.

A few ogres have had a go with “the Plus”. Here are some initial thoughts.

Google+, or Google Plus, is the online giant’s latest attempt at social media. After failing with Google Buzz, Google+ is a refreshing attempt from the company of a hundred zeroes. Of course, it has its shortcomings. Come on, it’s just a kid. But, it’ll probably be around for a good long while.

Why? Google’s already got their mitts on a large chunk of your digital life. You may or may not realize it, but Google is everywhere. The map app on your iOS device is Google powered, Google Earth is a great way to see pretty much anything anywhere in the world, Picasa – the online photo sharing application – is a Google product, and YouTube – the broadcast yourself behemoth – is a Google service as well. Google’s got its own browser, Google Chrome, and pretty much anything else you could want to do online, well, there’s a Google app for that. Big whoop, right?

Mudhole? Slimy? My home, this is.

This is where Google+ comes in. The service is closely related in form and function to Facebook. Just in case you’re from Dagobah, and have never heard of Facebook, it’s the 750+ million user strong, social media giant dictating the direction of the digital world. Ok, maybe it’s not dictating the direction of the digital world, but you’d be hard pressed to find a modern company or group of friends without a presence on the network.

The trouble is, nearly everything inside the Facebook environment comes from outside. Google+, on the other hand, incorporates all of Google’s services, seamlessly. Add to that Google+’s “Circles”, “Hangouts”, and “Sparks” and there’s definitely something worth checking out…all the time. Sure, Facebook has similar services, but they’ve been cobbled together from bits and pieces. Facebook is like Frankenstein’s monster. Eventually, it’s gonna go crazy and end up at the North Pole in ashes. G+ has all of these features integrated in the core of its being. Plus, no pun intended, it’s closely tied into Google’s own web rankings; more +1s equals more Google go-go juice.

As long as the farms, vampires, and mobsters stay out, Google+ might have a real chance at taking down, or at least paralleling, Facebook. Sure, Facebook has 750 million users, but in its first two weeks, Google+ had over 10 million. Not a bad start.

What do you think? Are you using Google+? Leave a comment below, or hook up with us on facebook, twitter, or over at our website, www.cleverogre.com