Making Sense of Twitter Stats

I finally made sense of WordPress stats (more on that later) and now I am looking at Twitter Stats (Analytics). One assignment in the Blogging201 course was to pick a social media site that I would use to grow my blog. I wrote about that in this post But Am I Really That Sociable where I announced i would use Google+ to complete that. I decided to try Twitter instead because I get zero response from the post going to my Google+ account. Plus I cannot fine Google+ stats for the account.

I coordinated my Twitter page using the same background as this blog and included a different image from Cades Cove, TN. While I still do not get RTs (retweets), I have picked up a few followers from the Blogging201 class. And I had a few tweets tagged as Favorite.

The mom blogger at TinyExpats suggested tagging my Sunday blogvposts with #weekendbloghop and #sundayblogshare. I also tag the tweets on Sunday with those tags. At least I think I am doing that correctly because I am getting impression spikes. If not, perhaps someone can chime in a give me some “Twitter For Dummies” instruction on how to do this correctly.

This is what my Twitter Analytics page looks like.

Twitter Activities

Twitter Followers

Twitter Cards Snapshot
Twitter Engagement Data

WOW! I am blazing a trail on Twitter.  Perhaps there should be a Twitter101 course to help folks like me that just can’t get the hang of Tweeting

I am open to suggestions and recommendations from the Twitter experts out there.

Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now.

 

But Am I Really That Sociable

Monday means back to work for working folks. For retired folks, it is just another Saturday. For me and my classmates, it means back to the classroom with Blogging 201.

Today’s Assignment: pick one social network you’ll use to help grow your blog and connect it to your site. Then, outline a 30-day plan for how you’ll use it.

Googling  “drive your business with social media” generates more links than imaginable. What if I don’t have a business? What if I just have “social” connections through my website/blog or FaceBook or Twitter or Google+ or LinkedIn or Instagram or RVillage or other social media accounts?

I’ve already written a couple of post about Social Media. Take a look at Social Network Overload and Plugging Into Social Networks.  Today marks the third post on Social Media.

Auditing My Brand

Day two of Blogging 201 and another tough assignment.

Today’s assignment: audit your brand — look at all the ways you communicate information about your blog, and make sure they’re consistent, focused, and say what you want them to say.

Bonus points: make a test blog to use as your personal playground for testing changes.

One of the key components of this audit was making sure there is consistency across other platforms. I am focusing on WordPress, FaceBook and Twitter.

My approach was to synchronize the header images on these three sites. I really like the panorama of Cades Cove, TN I am using on WordPress. I incorporated other photos from Cades Cove on FaceBook and Twitter.

FaceBook fan page:

Twitter

WordPress
This is going to take a bit more work but I think I am headed in the right direction. What do you think? Do I have consistency?

Thanks for your comments. And thanks for stopping by.

Brand! Blavatar! What’s Next?

Today’s assignment: extend your brand with one of the following: a custom Blavatar, a custom image widget, or a Facebook fan page. When I read that, I felt like Charlie Brown.
I understand the need to extend my brand but just did not want to do the assignment. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.Time to tackle this assignment.

What in the world is a Blavatar? A blavatar is an avatar for blogs. An avatar is an icon or image representing a particular person in computer applications such as blogs, forums or other social networks. Another term that you may see is Gravatar. This is a Globally Reconized Avatar. I decided to take that approach – for now.

We have a yard sign that is planted in front of our RV wherever we park.

I squared up the image and added the name WagginTailsRV on it. That is the name we picked before we retired. It represents the wagging tails of our fur babies as we travel along. I will be working on a better image that represents this theme. If you guys know a sketch artist or someone who could help with this, please let me know.

I want to have an image or a series of related images that will link this blog with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks.

One more assignment to go, I think I will finish this course. Thank you for following along with me and thanks for the support. I also appreciate the new bloggers who are following Tales From The WagginMaster.

Plugging Into Social Networks

Yep, that’s the title for our next assignment in Blogging101: From Zero to Hero. And I just wrote a post about Social Network Overload (SNO). What was I thinking?

Today’s assignment: if you’re active on a social network, set up Publicize to link the account to your blog or add a widget highlighting your profile. If you’re not, explore your social options to see whether one might be helpful.

Michelle Weber, WordPress Daily Post Editor, has done a pretty good job describing which social network  is suitable for the style of blogger you are. Just click , Plugging Into Social Networks, to see what she has to say.

For the assignment today, I rearranged the widgets on the right so I would have room to add a link to my Casa de Waggintails Facebook page. Then I set the blog to auto-post to this Facebook page. Tales From The WagginMaster already auto posts to Google+ and Twitter

I created this page in January 2012 with the idea of updating this page when we are actually traveling. This would make it easier keep friends updated while we are on the road. When we are stationary, as we are now, it is just as easy to blog away and have the blog auto post to Facebook and other social networks.

I started using a sign-off image a few posts ago. This is an image of the yard  sign that we stick in the ground when we park our RV for a season. I designed the basic concept of the sign and had a friend in Missouri actually do the art work on a piece of wood.

This sign-off image is now on the right in the widget area. If you click on it, you will go directly to my Facebook page for Casa de Waggintails. I now have a new sign-off image that is making its debut on this post.

Today’s assignment will take more thought and some thinking about how I want to interface all of this together. In the mean while, I believe I have satisfied the class requirement by exploring some options for Plugging Into Social Networks.

Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now.