Social Media Dimensions Quick Reference, by downgraf.com
The Ridiculously Exhausitive Social Media Design Blueprint features all of the major design dimensions for all of the major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIN, YouTube, Pinterest and the most recent entry, Instagram.
Here's the one for your Instagram profile:
Social media image sizing guide for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+
From A Guide To Social Media Images (Infographic) @ originalginger.com:
Since there are so many social media options available now we find it helpful to have a guide to refer to when we are preparing design elements and images.
Here's the one for YouTube:
By the way: if you often upload videos to your YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe to http://youtubecreator.blogspot.be/ - the official YouTube Partners & Creators blog.
Cheat sheet: ideal sizes for pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest
From INFOGRAPHIC: The Complete Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet @ lunametrics.com:
Most effective auto-posting apps for Facebook Pages
From Study: Auto-Posting to Facebook Decreases Likes and Comments by 70% @ insidefacebook.com
Many companies, public figures, organizations, and news outlets (including our own) use auto-posting apps to create Facebook Page updates by syndicating their Twitter posts or converting their blog post headlines. This increases efficiency by relieving the admins of these accounts from having to copy and paste headlines and links from one platform to another.
Facebook, however, depreciates third party applications over manual posting. According to a recent study by edgerankchecker.com, engagement ratio overall drops at least 70% per post. Check this infograph for an overview of popular auto-posting apps:
[Update] From Management Tools From Having Posts Hidden in News Feeds @ insidefacebook.com
We’ve now learned that Facebook maintains a secret whitelist of companies that are exempt from having content posted through their publishers consolidated across different Pages and clients. This protects them from a reduction in news feed impressions. The whitelist includes some top enterprise Page management tools from the Preferred Developer Consultant program including Buddy Media, Vitrue, Involver, Context Optional and Syncapse. Facebook has forbidden those included from discussing the existence of the whitelist. Facebook has confirmed with us that “trusted partners” are having their posts treated differently.
How to integrate social into your corporate website
According to Altimeter's Jeremiah Owyang, the evolution of integrating social into your website is getting closer to maturity.
So far, he sees websites who integrate "social" do either of these:
- Social linking e.g. by using "Follow us on Facebook" buttons. Owyang: "Companies that link away, are sending away their decade of hard earned investments getting customers to come to their website."
- Social aggregation, the process of collecting content and trusted discussion from multiple social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter or blogs. Owyang sees three ways of doing so: Basic Feeds (e.g. "What people our saying about this topic", unmoderated), Curated Aggregation (e.g. pulling in Twitter feeds to show how people are reacting to this content), and Contextual Aggregation (e.g. social sign-on with Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn).
- Social publishing: publishing all the information back out. Passive Sharing (allowing people to share or "like" whenever they feel like it), Active Sharing (encouraging people to share it by making it easy for them)
- Social Context: really personalised information based on their online behaviour and preferences. Two kinds: social content (based upon their profile), and social and contextual content (based upon the people I know and trust, e.g. Amazon recommendations).
- Seamless integration where you can't tell the difference between the social web and the corporate website. Content will just assemble based on where you are.
Hear the full story in this recorded webinar:
Secrets of Engagement: Leverage Social to Unlock User Value on Your Site from Janrain on Vimeo.
Checklist: customising your Facebook Page before you start promoting it
For Facebook, Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook.
Do you represent a real organisation, or are you an authorised representative of one? Then use this short checklist to set it up before you start promoting your Page with invites and Facebook Ads.
Profile Picture
☐ Create a Profile Picture of 180 pixels wide and between 180 and 540 pixels high.
☐ Check how the automatically generated 50x50 pixel Profile Picture thumbnail looks when you post on your Wall. If you don't like it, Change Picture > Edit Thumbnail to drag the picture until you like the result.
Left-column Navigation
☐ Check if your Profile Picture's height doesn't obscure your Navigation's visibility. If it does, make your Profile Picture less high.
☐ Prune your Navigation items by clicking "Edit" just below them. Hide ("x") or move the items until you like the result. Only Wall and Info can't be moved.
About Box
☐ Write a description of your brand, company or organisation in maximum 240 characters (of which the first 78 are shown) and publish it in the "About" section.
Likes — Page Favorites
☐ Let your Page can "Like" other Pages to have them show up in the Likes box. Facebook will randomly show 5 of them.
☐ Edit page > Featured > Edit featured likes to decide which "likes" to feature in the Likes box.
Photostrip
☐ Upload at least 5 Photos. The 5 most recent ones will form the Photo Strip on top of your Page.
☐ Upload and remove from the Strip until you like the result. Keep in mind that you can't change the order of the pictures, but you can hide them from the strip one by one.
Wall (Custom Tabs)
☐ Edit page > Manage permissions > Default Landing Tab to design a custom "Welcome" tab to convert visitors of your Page into Fans
☐ For a quick start, use a hosted 520 pixels wide JPG file for your Welcome Tab. If you're ready for it, replace it with a full blown iFrame app.
Identity management online: 5 models by Evan Williams
Remember when you used to be WolfHound345 or Kitteh89 on-line? Those days are gone. Facebook was the first ‘casual’ social network to force you to use your real first name, real last name, and a picture of your own face as a picture profile. This has changed the way we think about on-line identity forever. People are putting masses of information about themselves on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
But what about identity systems? Will there one day be one true identity system for internet users? In his Five Easy Pieces of Online Identity blog post, entrepreneur, blogger and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams says:
While the big guys will keep getting bigger, I don't think identity will be "owned," per se—at least not on the open Internet. As we transition to a mobile-dominated Internet (and a more closed one), things are going to play out much differently, however.
For the time being, he defines five aspects of online identity:
- Authentication
Question Answered: Do you have permission [to get in]?
Online use: log in with a username and password
Offline Equivalent: Picture ID or keys, depending on method.
Examples: single sign-on solutions fail to get much traction, with the exception of Facebook Login and Twitter Login - Representation
Question Answered: Who are you? [or rather: are you here as a private person, or do you represent a company?]
Online use: individual or professional representation
Offline equivalent: Business card. (Also: Clothes, bumper stickers, and everything else one chooses to show people who they are.)
Examples: LinkedIn profile, Google Profile, About.me page - Communication [or rather: contact details]
Question Answered: How do I reach you?
Offline Equivalent: Phone number.
Examples: used to be AOL's AIM, ICQ handle. - Personalization [or rather: personal preferences]
Question Answered: What do you prefer?
Offline Equivalent: Your coffee shop starting your drink when you walk in the door. - Reputation [sometimes called karma, kudos, whuffies etc]
Question Answered: How do others regard you?
Offline Equivalent: Word of mouth/references, credit agencies.
Examples: Ebay reputation as part of identity
Social media plan: Psoriasis 360° by Janssen
Just a quick screenshot but it illustrates their approach well, viz.
Connecting multiple social platforms and a hub from the value website with strategically aligned value conversions.
Further reading:
- Digital Pharma: Janssen unveils UK social media plans @ inpharm.com
- Digital Pharma: First app for psoriasis launched @ inpharm.com
