Social Media & SEO | garymoyers.com

I Was Browsing Through Facebook and This Happened! Totally Blew My Mind!

June 7, 2014 by garymoyers Leave a Comment

I’ve recently noticed a trend in how video links are being marketed on Facebook. It’s another way to hook you in and get you to visit a certain site, thereby allowing them to gather income through advertising. See if any of these headlines sound familiar:

The Koch Brothers did something that will make liberal heads explode
HYSTERICAL! My Puppy Does NOT Want To Get Up. At :52, I Knew It Was Hopeless!!
If This Video Doesn’t Make You ‘HAPPY’… Well, There’s Just No Hope For You
A Bully Called Her Fat… This Was Her Reaction On Live TV. I’m Speechless!
These Two Dogs are Absolutely Hilarious When They Get a Special Treat! The 0:36 Second Mark Had Me Cracking Up–Brain Freeze Anyone? You’ve Got to See It!
Nobody Expected THIS To Happen When These 4 Women Walked On Stage. Incredible!
This Guy Keeps A Promise To His Dad When He Was 8. His Dad’s Response? Priceless!
Her Baby Died During Birth, But Mom Asked To Hold Him; Two Hours Later, She Heard A Gasp
This Is Hilarious. This Guy Interviews His Guinea Pig. I’m In Tears!
They Almost Laughed Her Off The Stage. Then This 80-Year-Old Salsa Dancer Blew Everyone Away! Wow!
This Dad’s Reaction to His Baby’s First Laugh is Priceless!
Nobody Expected A Flight Attendant Could Do THIS. And It Was Caught On Video!

These are actual headlines that I pulled from Facebook after about 5 minutes of scrolling. As you can see, there is a new strategy at play. Websites have begun taking YouTube videos posted by other people and reposting them on their sites, usually accompanied by some type of sensational statement. Two of the most prolific offenders using this technique are SFGlobe.com and PetFlow.com, but there are many more. This is sensationalism at it’s best.

To take it yet a step further, they are also using a new image trick. You may have noticed it. Often, they will embed an image that highlights the sensationalism. You’ll see an edited picture from the video that includes a “drawn” red arrow, or maybe something circled. Generally, the highlighted area has nothing to do with the statement made in the headlines, but it certainly gets you wondering. And then you click. And then the website says “show me da money.”

Another image trick I’m seeing used much more is to embed an image that actually includes a play button. Visually, it appears that if you click on the image, the video will play, much like an embedded YouTube video. Nope. You will be taken to a page that includes the actual embedded video and loads of advertisements, often a few pop-ups as well.

None of this is bad, and generally the videos actually are rather cute and worth watching. It just bugs me to see this marketing approach being taken. It smacks of the magazine covers you see in line at the grocer. The main goal of this new approach is to get you to share the link, thus opening the ad-laden site to more and more people.

Sensationalism and Capitalism tied up in one little nice bow. Go ahead and click the link and watch the video. Just be aware of what’s going on. I dislike manipulation.

I have included a little gallery of examples below. All of these were found with less than 5 minutes of scrolling through Facebook. By the way, did you see my embedded pic for this article in Facebook? What did you think? Totally blew my mind! Amazing! I never would have expected that!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Filed Under: Social Media & SEO

Swade’s Big Facebook Fast

March 31, 2013 by garymoyers 2 Comments

Many of you have wondered where I’ve been and why I’ve posted so little over the past month. The following will explain. On March 2, 2013, my cousin Swade Moyers entered the following status update on Facebook. “I’m taking a break form Facebook! See y’all in a month!” Yes, he said “form.” I felt obliged to keep him up to date during his absence. The following is a mostly day-by-day account of my replies to him on Facebook. I think the day count got a little messed up toward the end, but that’s not the important part. Enjoy…

Day One:

Swade has left Facebook. I think it’s a Facebook fast. I hereby commit to chronicle his absence on a mostly daily basis. On this, the first day of Swade’s Facebook fast, hereafter referred to as the big FF, Obama’s sequester has gone into effect. Facebook is buzzing with stupid graphics talking about how this is or isn’t a fiscal apocalypse. When Swade returns in a month, we will know one way or the other.

Day Four:

I must admit that I forgot days 2 and 3. I guess I need to take a break from Facebook as well because I seem to be way too busy to do any comments. You haven’t missed much, except for the crazy graphics going around saying name a city that doesn’t have an E in it, or name a color without a Q in it. Everyone makes a comment about how stupid it is. Before you know it, it has several thousand comments. Then they sell the page to some company who will use your name in their advertisements because you commented on their page, even though it wasn’t their page when you did it. Its the new golf rush on Facebook. Sell your comments and capitalize on everyone’s stupidity. Enough for today. Enjoy your big FF.

Enough for today except that my autocorrect changed the word gold to the word golf. FOUR!

Day Five:

A major snowstorm is hitting DC. The news is going nuts reporting the storm. But when it hits here with I-27 closed and I-40 closed from Albuquerque to OKC, we only get a passing comment on the national news. In other news, the stock market is pushing an all time high. Probably has something to do with the death of Hugo Chavez yesterday. All in all, the day five post is way too serious. Day six will be better.

Day Six:

Since yesterday was so heavy, today’s bigFF post is a touch lighter. 6 knock knock jokes for day 6.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Family, Social Media & SEO

The Secret Weapon Most Small Businesses Don’t Know and Should

January 22, 2013 by garymoyers 2 Comments

I am constantly amazed at the number of small business people I run across who do not know about one of the greatest online tools available for marketing. When I mention the words “Google Places,” I usually get a blank stare in return. For all of you reading who just mentally shrugged, let me share a bit.

Google Place is a free service of the search giant. It is, in essence, your business listing for Google. As of mid-2011, Google owned over 65% of all searches, more than double of Bing (14%) and Yahoo (16%) combined. When someone does a Google Maps search for a business, the results that come up are populated by Google Places. Click on one of those little pins on the map and the page that comes up, hopefully chocked full of info, is a micro-version of their Google Places page.

What makes Google Places so important?

Here’s a few good reasons:

Search engine results pages (SERP’s) give priority to Places results. Google Places will come in at the top of any given search, thus raising the possibility of being found by targeted customers.
If someone is searching for a product along with a location name, the chances of conversion are much greater. You’ve probably got a buyer on your hands.
Even if your website is well optimized, it will always appear lower in the results. Organic search results appear further down than Google Places results.
It’s likely you will see an increase in customers, as Google Places brings in targeted business.
And last but certainly not least, it’s free!

Mobile Friendly

According to a recent study, 95% of smart phone users are searching for information about local businesses from their phone. This demographic of users tends to act quickly with over 80% taking action on their search results within one day. 77% of these people call or visit the local business they discovered in their search.

Google Places is designed to automatically format for mobile phones. If you have a Google Places page, this gives you the greatest mobile impact with the easiest interface and greatly increases the chances of customer conversion.

It’s Already There, so Claim it!

Here’s the thing. Google Places automatically generates Place pages. There are over 5 million out there now. Only 2.3 million have been claimed by actual businesses. That’s leaves over 2.7 million Place pages that are unclaimed and basically devoid of information. If you have not claimed your business Place page, you are leaving potential customers out in the cold. Not only will they have a harder time finding you, there will be no helpful information when they do.

If you claim your page, you have the ability to add location information, pictures, contact info, special deals… just about any kind of marketing you care to do.

Google has even integrated Google Places into Google+. Anything you add to your Place page will be reflected within their social media site. That’s nothing to sneeze at, either.

How Do I Claim It?

Simple. Go to www.google.com/placesforbusiness and they will walk you through the process. It involves Google sending you a verification postcard, so it doesn’t happen overnight. Overall, it’s a painless and fairly quick procedure and VERY much worth the effort. If you still don’t think you have time, I can do it for you. In the words of Stargate, “Hey, it’s what I do.”

Does your business have a Google Places page yet? Have you seen any results?

Filed Under: Management, Productivity, Social Media & SEO, Technology

Statute of Job Limitations

December 26, 2012 by garymoyers 8 Comments

I suppose this blog entry is more of a personal side note than anything else. It’s the morning after Christmas and I’m up alone, sitting in front of the fire before sunrise, just me and the dogs. I finding it a good time of personal reflection.

As of this week, I have officially been “unemployed” for a full year. I’ve applied for more jobs than I can remember and I’ve only been called in for two interviews. The status of my job search seems to be a constantly recurring theme in almost every conversation I have with friends. It’s growing very tiresome to keep giving the same response, “no, nothing yet,” and see the same look of caring and worry in their faces. I won’t even go into the amount of sleep I’ve lost because my mind won’t shut off at night, or wakes up too early thinking about it.

So when I look back on the past year, what is the reality of it all? Well…

I’ve had an extraordinary amount of free time to be able to do what I like and help people out with whatever they need.
I’ve been able to explore areas of interest that I didn’t really have time to indulge previously.
I have increased my knowledge, skills and abilities in the art of web design and social media (which is a good thing since that’s apparently what I’m going to be doing for a while).
I had the chance to work for Broadway Church of Christ as a part time media guy for several months, which I enjoyed very much. I even had the “big office” for most of that time.
I was able to confirm, thanks to my good friend Kit Mullins, that I am really not gifted at sales. Her patience and generosity, while not her sole intent, helped me better understand myself. Thank you Kit.
I was able to be home almost every day when my kids came home from school, as well as the entire summer. I estimate I gained an extra 442 hours of available family time.
I found that I have a host of friends who are very generous in their support. There have been a number of times when I didn’t know where the next bag of groceries would come from, only to find an anonymous gift waiting for me. This alone is a very humbling thing.
My love and respect for my wife has greatly increased, which is hard to do since it was so high already. As with anyone unemployed, there were many times when depression and anxiety held sway in my life. She has continued to be supportive and positive, as she always has been. Oh, and she has a job with insurance (hehehe).

I’m sure there is more, but that’s enough for now. I need to stoke the fire, literally, It’s getting low.

So here’s what I’m thinking. The statute of limitations on being unemployed should be one year. One year of constant job applications, regurgitating the same old information for people who most likely already have someone else in mind, is enough. God has provided what I’ve needed for the past year and he has promised he always will. If another job comes along and presents itself, praise the Lord. Until then, I am not unemployed. I may be underemployed, but that’s different. I will concentrate on doing what I do best… web design, graphic arts, writing and music. I work for Moyers Design, which happens to be me.

As I’ve been writing this, the sun has risen. Somewhat poetic, eh?

Filed Under: Family, Management, Social Media & SEO, Spiritual Tagged With: employed, job search, self-employed, underemployed, unemployed

Control Your Facebook Privacy Settings in a Few Easy Steps

December 14, 2012 by garymoyers 3 Comments

UPDATE: Within a week of my posting this article, Facebook started pushing its new privacy settings, which are showing to users that are logging into their profiles. The most important change is the shortcut to the privacy menu, which now appears in the main toolbar on the top of Facebook. Furthermore, it is now easier for users to set individual settings and check who can access their photos and various other data inside their profiles. And now back to my regular post.

Facebook has become one of those sites that people love and hate at the same time. It’s a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends and to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in years. At the same time, it’s one of the most invasive websites out there in regards to privacy.

Most people don’t realize the steps that Facebook takes to target their ads at the right person. Every scrap of personal information you publish is available to them for this use, unless you take steps to keep that from happening. It takes more than some nebulous statement posted on your status about how everything you post is “private and owned by you.” That’s laughable. Don’t fall for that ruse. When you clicked the “I agree” box during your initial sign up with Facebook, you voided that right. All that’s left to you is to attempt to control how they use the information you gave up as a member of Facebook.

The settings are there, hidden deep within your account settings. You still have the ability to assert some level of control. Facebook makes it as hard as possible to find them. Nothing stays the same for long. Menu options change. Locations of settings change. To quote a famous character, “it’s tricksy.”

The following information is borrowed from an article by Kim Komando and the original article can be found here. I will quote her throughout, make a couple of corrections (even the Digital Goddess makes mistakes), and add some pictures.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Social Media & SEO, Technology

Recent Posts

Categories (Table of Contents)

Follow me on Twitter

Chasing David on Facebook

Brazos West on Facebook