Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Sunday Social: blogging beginnings

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Sunday Social
1. How did you come up with your blog name?

back of worn mead five star fat lil notebook

A well-worn notebook I’m currently using.

In middle school, I was looking for a small notebook that could fit in a purse, yet hold a ton of information. When I found Mead’s Five Star Fat Lil’ Notebook, it was perfect. The size of the pages is just right, it has a TON of sheets (200 to be exact), and the pages are perforated so I can tear them out when I’m done. I had one with me everywhere so I could write down things I wanted to remember. When I started blogging, I had pages filled with potential blog post ideas – the ‘fat lil notebook’ was vital to my blogging! I didn’t want to take the name exactly, so I changed it to “little fat notebook” and decided to add the double parentheses to make it visually a bit “fat.” I like to be different and I’ve never seen another blog with double parentheses. This also doesn’t limit me to any topic or type of blogging so I can write as I please. 🙂

2. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love sharing! Whether it’s a how-to (my most popular post to date is about setting up a Facebook page), a review/product feature, or just random thoughts, I like to share it with others. I think people like to know they’re not alone in things, so if you write about it, they’ll know at least one other person agrees/has experienced that too. I wish more people commented so I could get feedback on what they like to see on the blog.

3. What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can’t live without?
It’s gotta be a tie between subscription boxes (which I learned from other bloggers) and getting free stuff to try (which I get to do partly because I have a blog). I absolutely love subscription boxes and I have quite a list of ones I want to try in the coming years. Right now a lot of it is focused on beauty and personal items, but I see my preferences changing towards household stuff once we get a place, then towards pampering again come wedding prep time, then a shift to baby and kid-oriented things as we start a family. Also, I’ve only recently discovered BzzAgent, Influenster, Pink Panel, and other similar sites that send me free things to test! It’s great and I definitely want to keep it going indefinitely (as long as I qualify for the stuff).

4. Facebook or Twitter? And why?
Facebook. I’m never on Twitter and pretty much only use it to promote my blog posts and enter giveaways. That’s it. Facebook, on the other hand, is where I can share pictures with my friends, get invited to events, interact with brands, etc. It feels less “busy” on that site because I can control the level of interaction. Twitter has way too many strangers trying to sell things or get followers or whatever. I pretty much just ignore it.

5. If one celeb read your blog who would you want it to be?
Umm… I don’t really know or care for celebrities, but maybe Ellen or Oprah since they could talk about my blog and hopefully that would bring more readers! Yeah, I know, totally selfish, but celebrities just aren’t my thing so if one did read my blog, might as well be one who can help me grow! I’d love to be able to share more things with more people and learn from them too, but it’s hard to do that when there aren’t many readers connecting. *hint* 😉

6. What is something you want people to know about your blog?
It is constantly evolving and I’m always looking for feedback on what you want to see! I seem to get a lot of lurkers and I’d really love to hear from you. 🙂 I mean, yeah I blog about what I want, but I want to also make sure I’m covering what YOU want! Please do share. It would make my day!

Sunday Social: anniversary edition

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Sunday Social

Ok, so I was totally going to skip this week’s Sunday Social and join in for next week’s (what can I say? I don’t want to bore you with answers to questions that I don’t have interesting answers for) BUT then I saw they are doing a giveaway to participants. I can’t say no to a good giveaway and I’m particularly interested in a custom blog design. I’ve been itching for one but don’t want to spend the money. Here’s to hoping I win! 🙂

1. What is your favorite social media outlet?
Hmm, I guess I’d have to go with Facebook since it’s the most useful for me. I like the versatility of it – I can put up pictures and videos, tag friends, connect with brands, keep track of events, etc. It also happens to be the one I use the most. All others are sort of just there to help extend my blogging efforts.

2. Do you subscribe to any daily news reads? If so which ones?
No… I probably should, but there is way too much for me to read/do as it is. I usually get my news from Panda since he’s a lot better about staying up with the times. Me? I may as well live on the moon for all I know about current events.

3. Favorite magazine to have by the pool?
See that’s the thing – if I am poolside, I have a book and the title varies each time. I never have a magazine. I haven’t bought magazines since my teen years and I rarely ever read them (except for online articles).

4. Favorite summertime song?
A happy one. I’m having way too much trouble trying to think of one (sadly all the songs I can think of are melancholy). Yeah I warned you these answers would be boring.

5. Best summer concert you’ve been to?
Well, I’ve only ever been to one concert, which I was volunteering at and it was The Killers at the Hollywood Bowl. It was fun, but I didn’t know most of the songs so I wasn’t screaming and excited like most of the other people there. I also didn’t spend who knows how much to get in!

FMSPhotoADay May 2013

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , ,
0

I was going to post these photos from the May FMS photo challenge but the internet gave out on me yesterday and trying to do it on my phone is way too challenging.

Hello, June. Here’s a look back at my pics for May’s FMSPhotoADay photo challenge! Little did I realize I used the same picture twice. Oops! Guess that’s what the monthly view teaches me… how to see the big picture. 😉 Check out previous months’ postings too.

fatmumslim may 2013 photo a day prompt card

How to: Claim Your Username and Vanity URLs

laelene Posted in how to guides,Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
7
Ever want to claim “facebook.com/yourbrand” only to find it was taken? Rather than accepting that and settling for something like “facebook.com/yourbrand123″ (which is less than optimal), read on to learn how you might be able to get what is rightfully* yours.

First let me start by saying that most sites already use vanity URLs, so whichever username you choose will usually end up being in your URL. For example:

http://twitter.com/maryqin
http://pinterest.com/maryqin
http://instagram.com/laelene

For these sites, the issue of the getting the vanity URL you want ends up being the same as getting the username you want. Once you get the username, you get the associated URL.

Now Facebook is an exception to this and you actually have to set the vanity URL yourself. They start you off with some ugly URL like http://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145. Just go to the username settings page to change it to something pretty like http://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook. You can do this for your personal profile as well as any Facebook pages you manage. The cool thing is that usually you have to wait until you have 25 fans on a page before you can set the username, but by doing it this way you bypass that requirement! [Edit: Looks like there still might be a minimum – I was able to set the username with just 16 fans but I can’t for another page that only has 4 fans right now.]

facebook page set username

facebook page set username confirmation

Ok, so let’s say you’re claiming these usernames for your brand and you find someone has already taken them. You may not have to resort to choosing a different username – there’s an option to try to claim the username by reporting trademark infringement. A few tips for improving your chances of filing a successful claim:

1. You should own the domain name related to the username you want. For example, I own pandaloves.com and I wanted facebook.com/pandaloves and twitter.com/pandaloves

2. Even better if you actually own the trademark for the name in question, but it’s not necessary. If you do own it, make sure you can prove it to help your case. I never registered a trademark for my brand’s name, Panda Loves, but that was fine.

3. If you do own the domain (i.e., pandaloves.com), use an email set up from that domain for more credibility. This shows that you are an authorized representative of the business. I used contact@pandaloves.com as my contact email when I filled out the form.

I came across this helpful article for claiming usernames on Facebook and Twitter, which you should read if you are claiming a username on either site. I was able to successfully claim both usernames on Facebook and Twitter, but not Pinterest (they never got back to me). I haven’t tried for other sites.

For Facebook, go here to fill out the form: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/208282075858952

For Twitter, there are two routes you can take depending on if you own the trademark:

https://support.twitter.com/forms/impersonation (if you don’t own the trademark)
https://support.twitter.com/forms/trademark (if you do own the trademark and have proof)

And for other sites, I located articles that can help with the claim process. For any site not listed, do a search in their help section for terms like “trademark infringement” or even “impersonation” to locate more information.

Pinteresthttp://about.pinterest.com/trademark/
YouTube: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=151655
Etsyhttp://www.etsy.com/help/article/17
Instagramhttp://help.instagram.com/customer/portal/articles/118970-trademark-policy-for-instagram-usernames

Let me know if you have any further questions or how it goes when you do file your claim on these sites! Good luck!

 

*This is, of course, assuming that it is your right: that you are trying to claim the name of a brand you own and not take someone else’s.

FMSPhotoADay March 2013

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , , ,
1

FMS PhotoADay is a photo challenge hosted/led by Chantelle of FatMumSlim. She posts a prompt for each day of the month and you can interpret them however you like! It’s a fun way to look at the world around you in a different light (and actually look at it more). I joined partway through March and have been having fun with it. It’s quite rewarding! I liked how Chantelle summarized and looked back on her month’s worth of photo a day images on her blog, so I’m going to do that too!

I started on March 10th; here’s what I did through the month. 🙂

How to: Create A Facebook Page (original)

laelene Posted in how to guides,Tags: , , , , , , , ,
104

pinnable quote image for how to create a facebook page blog post on maryqin.com

I decided it was time for me to create a Facebook page for my little blog, so I can really try to build it out and maybe get some followers! I’d like to think that what I’m putting out there is educating or entertaining someone, but I’ve never really promoted it so it’s time to take action.

When I went to create the FB page, I (for the life of me) could NOT find where to choose the “Personal Blog” category! And that’s what spurred this entry. Read on to learn the basics for setting up a Facebook page and how to select a category like “Personal Blog,” “Personal Website,” and more!

Creating Your Facebook Page

webpage to create a new facebook page First of all, here’s where you can create a new Facebook page. As you’ll see, right away they want you to choose a category. Your desired page may fit multiple categories, so it’s up to you to decide which one is best for your needs. Of the 6 types they’ve laid out for you (1. Local Business or Place; 2. Company, Organization or Institution; 3. Brand or Product; 4. Artist, Band or Public Figure; 5. Entertainment; 6. Cause or Community), all but the last one have a dropdown menu with category choices. Don’t worry if your desired category isn’t there – just pick what’s closest or tickles your fancy. In my case, I went for “Brand or Product”and chose “Website” from the dropdown.

You will be asked to enter your page name, which should be the title of your blog, the name of your business, or whatever you want the world to know your page by. Note that Facebook has certain rules in place about what is allowed in a name – for example, I tried to enter my blog name, ((little fat notebook)), but it was immediately rejected because I’m not allowed to use symbols. You are allowed one set of parentheses, but there can only be two words in it (like this) and obviously I’d have three if I went for (little fat notebook). Alas, I then tried just plain little fat notebook and that’s not allowed because the name must start with an uppercase! I didn’t like how Little fat notebook looked, so I went for the boring old Little Fat Notebook. Luckily, you can change it after the fact!

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

Once you agree to their terms and click Get Started, you’re prompted to fill in a description and add links to your site(s). Next upload an avatar/profile picture to represent your page. You’ll then be taken to your brand new Facebook page! A quick 3-step tour is given and then you’re given free reign. Feel free to add a cover photo, invite friends to like your page, and share your very first post!

screenshot of page to set up about section of new facebook page

Adding a basic description.

uploading profile picture to new facebook page

Uploading a profile picture.

Changing To A Better Category

dropdown menu to edit facebook page infoNow here’s what you’ve been waiting for: how to make the page exactly as you want it! At the top, you’ll see an option to Edit Page, with a dropdown. The first option is what you want: “Update Info.” Here you’ll see that the category and subcategory choices are far more plentiful than they let on earlier in the process! That’s where I found a previously unmentioned category called “Websites & Blogs,” which contains the subcategory option I had been hunting for: Personal Blog. The nice thing is that you can change this at any time, so as your site/brand evolves, you can update the category accordingly.

dropdown menu for facebook page categories

 

dropdown menu for facebook page subcategories

 

A few other tips:

Once you get 25 fans, you can reserve a vanity URL (or username, as Facebook calls it). This means that rather than an ugly URL like https://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145, you can get a pretty one like https://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook, which is much easier to direct fans to. I still need to claim mine! (So hey if you don’t mind, please like my page so I can claim my vanity URL soon!) [Update: I was actually able to claim it when I had just 16 fans – check out my post on claiming vanity URLs to see how.]

When you reach 30 fans, Facebook will provide “insights” about your page, which includes data about the reach of your page and each post (how many people see it, pretty much), how many people are talking about (sharing) your posts, and how many posts you’re putting up daily.

Also note that I was able to update my page name from Little Fat Notebook to all lowercase. Unfortunately you still can’t add symbols, but as mentioned before, you can use one set of parentheses.

I highly recommend putting your website URL in the Short Description so users can easily click to your site from your FB page. Just be sure to input the “http://” so it becomes a clickable link, as shown. (Click for full size.)

screenshot of facebook page short description with embedded link

Now that you have a Facebook page, check out my tutorials on:
~how to manage your Facebook page
~how to link your social media accounts
~how to claim your vanity URLs, and more!

You can find all my “how to” posts for useful tips like how to make a favicon and random things like how to set your iPhone/iPad to stop playing music at a certain time or even how to win a Facebook contest!

If you have any questions or tips of your own, I’d love to hear them! Please do share. 🙂

On My Mind, episode 2

laelene Posted in on my mind,Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

(In case On My Mind is not self-explanatory enough and you want to learn more, check out my post explaining what inspired it.)

screenshot of giveaway tools final result: mary q. won 3-month conscious box subscription from just another new blog~I won!!! I’ve been trying to win a bunch of things, but in particular is a 3-month subscription to Conscious Box, which tons of bloggers have been giving away. AND I ACTUALLY WON! I was just going through checking up on the giveaways that had expired to see if they announced winners and what did I find? My name! That is probably the most exciting thing in the world.

~Last week I went to the DMV because I wanted to renew my license and update the photo. Why can’t I just send in a picture like I can with a passport? I’m assuming it has to do with that special shade of blue they use for the background, which then begs the question… why that color??

~I tried to book an online appointment for the DMV but the earliest appointment was two weeks away! If I didn’t need to drive in the mean, I totally would have gone that route to save the time at the DMV. Unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury this time, so I was stuck standing in line. It took nearly 3 hours (and there were only like 15-20 people in line in front of me!). Luckily, I was smart and got a book to read before going. I was the only one.

~My mom and I went to Best Buy because she had some reward money she had to spend – all told, we spent $0.30 on a bunch of random pens for her and a cool whiteboard/blackboard for me! We didn’t know what else to buy with her $20 credit. And it took us over an hour to figure it out, lol. Granted, much of that hour was spent waiting for an associate to help me locate the board at another store. The one they had was missing the crayon box and what’s a board if you can’t write on it?

5 sets of pens from best buy

Ignore the cat paw. 😉

crayola dry erase board dual-sided black and white with set of dry erase crayons and wiping cloth

Comes with dry erase crayons!

~I’ve been reading a bunch of books like Buyology & The Zappos Experience – great source of learning and very useful lessons for my future business attempts. I’m trying to apply everything I learned to the Kickstarter I’m developing. I sure hope it’s successful!

~So when I went to get some of those books I’ve been reading, I discovered the cool new library self-checkout! My fancy little library has this system where you put the stack of books (up to like 7 or 8 at a time) on the counter and it can check them all out for you. No more scanning one by one! Nifty. I should also note they have a conveyor belt thing behind the wall when you return a book, complete with video so you can watch your book get dropped off into some bin at the end.

~Remember that Influenster campaign I mentioned last time? Well, yay I got in! Turns out it’s for an Aveeno product, which they’ll be sending to me shortly. 🙂

~This week I got to hang out at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach. It’s right on the water and I really enjoyed working in the cabanas and other similar areas. It’s great to have a fabulous view, a slight breeze, the warmth of the sun, and the option of shade all at once. If it weren’t for my reflective laptop screen, it’d be perfect for working all day.

outdoor couches at hotel maya in long beach

I spent most of the days here.

view of waterfront from hotel maya in long beach

~Since I was at the waterfront, I spent a lot of time (sea) bird watching. Totally fun! There are the ones that bob around on the water and dive down for fish, disappearing for minutes at times. Then there are the fliers that dive down to the water from high above, making a nice splash. There are the little ones that flit about quickly and the larger ones that almost seem like they’re gliding in the air. In the morning, they were most active and by noon, many of them had settled in for a nap. By the afternoon, they started waking up again and as the sun set, I lost track of them.

~I also caught a glimpse of a seal! Actually, I think a pair of them. So cool!!! Next time I need to find a beach that they hang out at. I’d love to seal watch.

(Here you can hear how excited I am to see them, even though I didn’t get to see much.)

seals at Long Beach from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
 

 

Intense Gogobotting

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , , ,
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Whenever I find a new site that offers something I like, I tend to throw myself into it and get obsessive about building up my profile.  This happened with Yelp, then Foodspotting, then Schemer, and now Gogobot.  With Yelp I reviewed and checked-in like my life depended on it (then happily achieved Yelp Elite status).  I’m still obsessively checking in but reviews come sporadically.  With Foodspotting, I went through ALL my pictures from the last couple of years, picked out the food ones, figured out where they were, and started adding them.  After awhile, I got overwhelmed so I’ve taken a break from that but I have an arsenal of pictures yet to post.  With Schemer, I meticulously thought of all the things I wanted to do, see, and experience and added those schemes.  I also browsed popular schemes and continually update this master bucket list as I come across interesting things.

With Gogobot, which I just discovered yesterday through a friend and started adding to my profile today, I’ve been going through old photos to remind me of all the places I’ve been.  I started with the cities I’ve been to and now I’m working through restaurants, sites of interest, hotels, and other notable (and reviewable) establishments.  I’ll be reviewing and adding pictures as I go.  My goal with this is to reach Pro status the next time they choose them!  Plus, Panda and I are actually planning a trip for later in the year, so this will be a great way to keep track of all the places we might want to visit and discover places we haven’t thought of.

Fun times with Facebook

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , ,
0

Yesterday, I decided that Missy should have her own Facebook profile.  After all, she’s got tons of pictures to be tagged and a personality all her own!  I had a lot of fun setting it all up and going through, tagging all the pictures I’ve posted of her.  So far she has friended me and Cousin and Cousin was so amused by the account that she also created one for Molly.  Now both the cats in our household get to run the show on social media too!  They already rule the house, so why not expand their horizons?

I wish there was an easy way to toggle between FB accounts; for now I’m stuck with one account open on one browser and the other open on another browser.  Of course Missy has me doing the grunt work for her, posting up pictures and videos and typing to her dictation.  But hey at least now she can share some of her wisdom with the world.  You can be her friend too!  Find her at http://facebook.com/missy.qin.7 and check out some of the hilarious shots of her sleeping.

How to: Link Social Media Accounts

laelene Posted in how to guides,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
2

With the ventures I’ve been working on, much of my time and effort have been spent figuring out the nuances of social media.  I think these issues are pertinent to many people, particularly business owners, so I’ve decided to put together some of the lessons I’ve learned and tips for how to improve your experience and avoid pitfalls.  These will be filed under the “social media lessons” category, so you can filter by category to sort by relevant posts.  Hopefully you’ll find these things useful in optimizing your own social media strategy!

social media icon buttons: facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, vimeo, etsy

Icons courtesy Brandi Girl

Today I’ll cover how to link your social media accounts to offer consistency across social media platforms.  It can be quite time-consuming to post content across platforms, so why not link them and get more bang for your buck?  Most sites will allow you to connect with Facebook and/or Twitter to post your activity and updates; just check the settings and look for something like “Sharing Settings” or “Connect Accounts.”

First, you can interlink your Facebook Page and Twitter accounts.  That way, any post on Facebook gets updated to Twitter, and any update on Twitter gets updated to Facebook (except @replies and direct messages).

Link Twitter to your Facebook Page

  • You will be prompted to use Facebook as yourself (instead of as your Facebook Page) if you aren’t already.
  • Your personal Facebook account and any Facebook Pages that you are an admin of will be listed.
  • On the right side, click “Link to Twitter” for the account you want to link.
  • On the next page, make sure you’re logged in to the correct Twitter account and click “Authorize app.”
  • You will be returned to the previous page, where you can choose what to share (Status Updates, Photos, Video, Links, Notes, & Events). By default, they will all be checked so all updates will be shared on Twitter as well.

 
Link Facebook Page to your Twitter account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Sign in to Facebook and connect your accounts.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Twitter access to your personal Facebook account. Allow it.
  • Now your account is connected to Facebook and you can choose to allow Twitter to post to your personal profile page, or one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

For all the rest, make sure you are signed in to the correct Facebook and Twitter accounts first.

Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Pinterest account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Login with Facebook.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Pinterest access to your Facebook account.  Allow it.
  • Now “Login with Facebook” will be ON and you can choose to also turn “Publish activity to Facebook Timeline” to ON. If you do, another pop-up will prompt you to allow that type of access to your Facebook account.  Allow it if you want Pinterest updates to show up in a box on the right side of your timeline.
  • In the Twitter section, click “Login with Twitter” and authorize the app.

 
Link Facebook, Twitter, & more to your Instagram (instructions for iPhone app – Androids may vary)

  • Open up the Instagram app on your device and click on the icon that shows you your profile (bottom right).
  • Tap on the settings icon in the top right corner.
  • Scroll down to “Sharing settings” under the Account header.
  • Tap on that and choose the accounts you want to link. You’ll be prompted to log in and allow access.
  • For Facebook, your personal profile will be connected by default, but you can change it to a page by clicking on “Facebook,” then “Post to.” This will take you to a page in the FB app. Allow access here to then be able to connect Instagram to one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

  • Click “Connect” next to the account you want to link.
  • You will be prompted to allow access. When you accept, your account will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you will automatically be connected as yourself, but you can choose to link to a Facebook Page that you are an admin of instead by clicking on the dropdown.
  • Note that Vimeo will only send updates when you ‘like’ a video. When you upload a new video, you will need to manually choose “Share” in the top right corner of that video.

 
Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Etsy account

  • Click on “Connect with Facebook” and/or “Connect with Twitter” under the Connected Accounts section
  • You will get a pop-up prompting you to allow permission. When you do, your accounts will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you have the option of sharing your Favorites from Etsy on Facebook. Check the box if you’d like to, otherwise leave it alone.

 

*Pinterest and Etsy don’t appear to allow you to link your account to a Facebook page – right now you can only post updates to your personal timeline.

 

Is there another social media platform you’d like to see here?  Did I miss a step anywhere?  I’d love to hear some feedback.  Let me know if it worked for you (or what happened if it didn’t).

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