Tag Archives: sharing

Liking Your Own Stuff

As many of you know, I’ve been making YouTube videos for a couple of years now. I’ve had a few that have done really well, but some haven’t quite gotten the type of traction I’d hope they would get.


who wouldn’t like this!

There’s always this question about how to promote videos, or blog posts, or things one posts on Facebook. The thing I see happening most often, and I see it on YouTube more than anyplace else, is “liking” one’s own video.

The thing about liking a video on YouTube is that, for most people, it automatically shows up on both the person’s YouTube channel who likes it and on Google Plus, since Google owns them. If you have lots of people following you it’s another way to reach many of them who might not immediately go to your page when you post something, and if you have few people it gives you another opportunity to spread the message that you have a new video.

I remember having a conversation with someone a couple of years ago about this practice, only we were talking about blog posts. She said that whenever she wrote one she shared it everywhere, including Facebook, and then if she could “like” it she would because it would not only help spread the message but, in her opinion, if you didn’t show you liked your own stuff why should anyone else like it.

My response was that it seemed narcissistic and looked kind of goofy, especially if you ended up being the only one liking your own stuff. However, she pointed out to me that whenever we created a new page or group on Facebook that we had to like it, otherwise we couldn’t follow it easily. She was right on that front… but I still have problems with it.

I believe in marketing. I believe in selling. I believe that there are many opportunities to do both, and that probably most of us are bad at these things. I’m the guy who did a video telling people that the ultimate secret to success is selling. So it’s not that I’m against any of that stuff.

I just personally have a problem with trying to tell everyone that I think everything I put out is great. Truthfully, I don’t think everything I write here is great. I don’t think all my videos are great. Pretty good most of the time… yeah. Are some things great in my mind? Yeah. 🙂

With that said, if I click on everything I write or record and tell the world that I think I’m great… am I lying, promoting, bragging… what?

Once again, this is something I don’t have the answer to. Maybe I’m the only one with this issue; I’m not sure. So, on a relatively short post for once, I’m asking you, the blogging public, what you think about liking your own stuff in public. I’m not saying sharing now… I mean visually liking your own stuff.

This should be interesting; I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with. And, as a special treat, how about one of those “great” videos of mine, on the topic of influence? Go ahead, I’ll wait… 😉
 


http://youtu.be/mH02Z4OQxng

 

7 Ways To Increase Your Visibility On Facebook

About six weeks ago I wrote a post here talking about Facebook and its Edgerank algorithm that prevents a majority of your connections from seeing what you put out, whether it’s your regular profile or your business profile. I then told you how you can set things up so you can see what you want to see on Facebook with a couple of neat little steps.

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and MyblogLog
Luc Legay via Compfight

Today I’m going to give you 7 things you can try to increase your Facebook visibility. I’ll warn you up front that some of these are time intensive, and yet I’ve found that they work in small degrees. Are you ready? Let’s begin:

1. Select 5 to 10 people you’re connected to and visit their page. I don’t mean the people you talk to all the time but some of the other people whose news you almost never see, if you see it at all. Check out the page to see if they have any activity whatsoever. If not, think about unfriending them; they obviously won’t care. If they do then find something you can like or comment on, and if you don’t see anything like that then send them a short message asking them how things are going or whatever. If they respond, you’re on your way.

2. Share a lot of the images you see in your stream from your friends. I know, you think it’s redundant, but when you realize just how little of your stuff is being seen you then realize how little stuff from others is being seen. There’s nearly a billion people on Facebook; do you really think most people will mind if they happen to see something twice? Not only that but it seems Facebook has taken care of that by grouping things that have shown up in one’s stream more than once in a day, so no worries.

3. Either “like” or comment on more of the things you see in your stream. I’ll admit that I was hesitant to do this type of thing for a couple of years. Then I realized that it’s a way of making sure you keep seeing things from people you want to see it from, especially once I learned about Edgerank. That’s how Facebook decides what you see, by determining what you liked to see previously. And if people see you more often, there’s a likelihood that they’ll like your stuff and share it as well.

4. “Like” many pages of things you like that pertain to your business or interests. I have joined a few leadership pages because that’s what I talk about mainly on my Facebook business page. I also love motivational stuff so I’ve joined a few of those pages so I can see and share what they have here and there. And of course a few things you really like which, in my case, means Star Trek and Snoopy! 🙂

5. Visit select pages that you’ve liked, go through them, and if there’s anything you see that is share worthy share it. This is the biggest thing I do, and I do it daily. I do it for three reasons. One, because it helps me find a couple more things I can share on my business page other than my own blog posts. Two, it helps give me some things to share that others might not see because they’re haven’t liked what I like. And three, it promotes other people’s stuff, which they like and thus feel a sense of obligation to share some of your stuff. It’s all about cooperation in the long run.

6. Invite people to your page. As simple as this one seems, you’d be surprised by how many people never think about doing this. Your group page offers you a chance to invite people you’re connected to without your necessarily having to publicize it in the open, although doing that every once in awhile can’t hurt either. My strategy was to selectively invite people in groups rather than everyone at once, so I did it by inviting 50 people at a time. You only get to invite them once, just so you know.

7. Ask people to share your stuff. We hate doing this, and I’ll admit that it’s rare I’ll do it. There’s nothing wrong with asking people if they’ll share something you think is pretty special but don’t abuse it. If you always ask then there’s nothing special about it and people will get tired of seeing it. I dropped a page I liked that had lots of great stuff in it because there was always this message asking you to share, and it was there when I did share, thus making it hard for me to write something over it.

I know you’re asking “how much did your traffic increase.” It’s hard to say. However, I’ve noticed that I’m seeing people on Facebook whose missives I’ve never seen before, and the number of people who have liked my Facebook page has increased. None of that depresses me at all. By the way, if you’d like to check out my Facebook page take a look at that little widget to the right and give it a little click. 😉

Meanwhile, I did a video with my Hot Blog Tips crew on the topic of alliances, which kind of pertains to this topic, and we even argue a bit over SEO:


http://youtu.be/XyJVEjPqU1c