social business tip: size matters!

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Tamara Rasberry

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve clicked on someone’s Facebook page only to be disappointed in their choice of cover photo. I’ve been disappointed not because the photos were particularly unattractive or inappropriate but because they aren’t the right size.

In most cases, you can’t just drop your blog or website header image into Facebook as your cover photo and have it work. Too many times, I’ve seen words or images cut off and for the life of me I cannot fathom why someone would deem that an appropriate representation of their brand. I don’t know about you but it turns me off to the point that I don’t even want to take the time to look at what they’re talking about. If you can’t take the time to make sure your cover photo, the first impression of you that I’m getting from your page, looks right, why should I (or anyone else) bother going any further?

Facebook offers this advice for selecting an appropriately sized cover photo –

What are the dimensions for my Page’s cover photo?
Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload an image that’s smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide.

To get the fastest load times for your Page, upload an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes. For images with your logo or text-based content, you may get a higher quality result by using a PNG file.

Of course your Facebook Page cover photo isn’t the only place where size matters. LunaMetrics was kind enough to compile ‘The Ultimate Complete Final Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet‘ to help us get the most bang for our photo-sizing buck across multiple social networking platforms. Now go out and resize those images!

social sharing on the go with glyder

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Tamara Rasberry

My first Glyder post.

If you’re anything like me you use your mobile device just as much, if not more than, you use your computer. I also always have a million and one things to do and am always on the lookout for things that will help me get those things done easily and efficiently. Enter Glyder.

Glyder is a small business social marketing app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s designed to make it simple for small business owners to create and share effective marketing messages via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email, Text Message, MailChimp and Passbook. Ingenious, right?! There’s even an option to share your completed post to Pinterest on the backend. Given the popularity of Pinterest, that was a brilliant addition. I wish Tumblr was also included but I guess we can’t have everything.

Glyder is very intuitive – no need to read pages of instructions to figure out how to use it. The current version includes five templates and the app promises “many more to come.” Glyder focuses on visuals and “short and sweet” updates which, the app says, garner 80% more engagement when compared to longer posts. We all crave greater engagement, right? There is also the option to create a custom Glyder design to match your existing branding. Another great addition.

So what makes Glyder stand out among the many other social sharing apps? Co-Founder Glenn Allen had this to say: “Very small businesses still struggle with the complexity of online marketing – they have to reach their customers on multiple platforms and are underserved by existing web-based tools. They don’t have the time required to figure out all the platforms or the money to hire an employee or consultant,” says Glenn, whose experience starting OpenTable helped develop the idea for Glyder. “After meeting hundreds of business owners and seeing the same issues over and over again, it became clear that these businesses need a faster, easier, more affordable way to communicate with their customers. We’re putting the power of professional design and proven customer communication into their pocket at a price that puts the interests of the business owner first.”

As a social media coach, I think Glyder will be a great option for my clients to use as a low-cost way of implementing some of the strategies I provide. Though I’m looking forward to seeing the expansion of this app it’s simplicity is part of it’s beauty. You want to do something, you do it, you share it, it’s done. Try it out and let me know what you think. Glyder is available for free at http://www.glyder.co and on the iTunes app store (short link: http://glydr.co/AppStore).

dc social hues interview series: leon harvey, jr.

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Tamara Rasberry

It’s been a while since my last DC Social Hues interview but when I met Leon Harvey, Jr. at a recent event celebrating Social Media Day I knew he’d be a perfect candidate for the next installment of the series.

Harvey runs LifeStyleFeed.com, a website and mobile app that provides consumers, or as Harvey prefers to call them, guests, with short videos of various local venues. It’s a great way to get a feel for a place before you get there. I’m so glad Mr. Harvey (as it says on his business cards) took time from his busy schedule to sit down with me to discuss LifeStyleFeed.com – present and future.

“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” - Flora Edwards

A child of a military family, the “being of service” bug bit Harvey early on. Through his early jobs as a restaurant server, he discovered that he got genuine joy from seeing people enjoying themselves. As he told me, “Not only do I want to be happy, I like seeing other people happy.” During our lunch meeting, I could tell this was indeed the case. He was more attentive to me than our server was!

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” - Bill Gates

Harvey’s 15 years of restaurant industry experience have served him well in his entrepreneurial pursuit. Throughout his successful tenures as a concierge and private dining manager at numerous local establishments, he kept his eyes and ears open behind the scenes and was the go-to person for answering customer questions. The first-hand knowledge he gained of the complaints and concerns of both venue management and customers planted the seeds for the development of LifeStyleFeed.com

Rule No. 1: Meet people where they are.

One thing about stats is they’re always changing but just to give you an idea about the popularity of online video (data from Hubspot Blog):

Online video viewers will reach 169.3 million in 2012

53.5% of the population and 70.8% of internet users (up 7.1% from 2011) will watch online video in 2012.

Mobile video viewers will reach 54.6 million in 2012

Smartphone video viewers will reach 51.2 million in 2012

As you can see, the smart money is on video. Though there are multiple online outlets for searching and reviewing restaurants and other venues, Harvey realized that no one had developed a service that focused on videos. That’s where LifeStyleFeed.com comes in. Harvey envisions the service serving as a web/mobile concierge for his “guests” – providing not only video previews but information on daily specials and other resources. The mobile app will also be integrated with Google Maps for your added convenience. In Harvey’s words, “I want the site to do all the work for the person.” Who wouldn’t love to have a personal concierge in their pocket?

As is my way, Harvey and I had more of a conversation than a traditional interview, but I made sure to ask him some key questions.

TR: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?

LH: Entrepreneurs must be willing to sacrifice. Your willingness to sacrifice correlates to how serious you are about your venture. I’ve also learned the time period from idea to concept fruition must be short. If you take too long you give someone else the opportunity to take your idea and run with it.

TR: Who’s the ideal LifeStyleFeed.com “guest”?

LH: The “ideal” LifeStyleFeed.com guest is sophisticated, savvy, intuitive, needy, cultured and is an actor vs. being a reactor. He/she is that friend everyone turns to find out what’s going on. Of course, if you don’t currently possess those traits or are not “that friend” LifeStyleFeed.com is prepared to help you change that.

TR: Other than the videos displayed on the site and the app, what role does social media play in LifeStyleFeed.com?

LH: Social media puts people on an even playing field. It gives us the opportunity to connect and engage with a much wider audience as well as potential collaborators. Our Facebook page and Twitter account are fairly new but please connect with us there to find out all about what we’re up to.

TR: What does the future look like for LifeStyleFeed.com?

LH: We’re planning to branch out into other cities and to reach beyond hospitality into the retail and fashion sectors. To that end, we’ve started an IndieGogo campaign to help raise funds to support these initiatives. We also plan to eventually include promotional groups such as meetups, brands and promoters.

“Harvey. Leon Harvey.”

The five words Harvey used to describe himself were Relentless, Passionate, Intense, Perceptive and Empathetic. I can’t think of any better traits to have for someone dedicated to making life easier for others. Download the LifeStyleFeed.com app today to get a firsthand glimpse of how it will feed YOUR lifestyle.

*Special shout-out to the fabulously talented Anthony Tilghman for the photo accompanying this post.

event: how dc biz does pinterest

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Tamara Rasberry

As you may know, and I hope you do, I am a HUGE fan of the virtual pinboard website, Pinterest. I am on there daily- pinning, repinning, liking and commenting. It’s definitely one of my favorite social past-times.

I initially joined Pinterest for personal use but, as tends to be the case with me, I started to add business related pins as well. Me and my business are so intertwined it’s almost impossible not to overlap. The things that interest me enough to pin- beauty, fashion, social media – are also my business. My MO is always to show myself as a complete person. I believe that people choose to do business with people, not logos. If you follow me on any social network, you’ll know that I do social media and image consulting but you will also know that I like music and tattoos. Same goes for Pinterest. After all, I AM MY BRAND. I also pin my blog posts with links back to my sites.

I consider myself to be pretty well-versed in using Pinterest for both personal and business use, but when I heard about the event ‘How DC Business Does Pinterest’ I thought it might be a good idea to attend just to get an idea of what other local businesses are doing with this exciting visual platform.

The event seemed to be pretty well attended but it was certainly lacking in some areas. I would have loved to have seen more diversity on the panel and use of technology to actually show the attendees the functionality of Pinterest. Some of the attendees weren’t too familiar with Pinterest so I’m sure having visuals would’ve been helpful, especially considering that Pinterest is a visual platform. On a personal note, I would’ve greatly appreciated some refreshments.

I used Storify to compile my tweets from the evening. If you’re interested in seeing more of the tweets from the event, check out #DCWWPinterest

Do you use Pinterest for business or are you considering doing so? Please share your thoughts/experiences. Have questions about using Pinterest for business? Contact Me.

five free iPhone apps for image consultants

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Tamara Rasberry

I originally wrote this post for Appolicious in 2011. Since I’m seeing a lot of press for some of these apps lately, I thought this would be a good time to revisit.

As an image consultant, I help people develop their sense of personal style when it comes to makeup, wardrobe and overall presentation. I am very hands-on with my clients, but there are definitely a few iPhone apps that make my job easier and make it easier to convey certain ideas and images to my clients, whether or not I am with them. Here, I share with you five iPhone apps that I have found to be very useful. The best part is they’re FREE!

Instagram is a photography app that allows you to not only take photos but to apply a variety of filters to them (ex. making the photo appear brighter or in black & white.) This comes in handy particularly when taking post makeup application shots or headshots. You can also set the app to save the photos in your camera roll. It will save both the original and filter-applied versions.

Pinterest allows you to create virtual pin boards and “pin” various photos that you take. The best use of this app for an image consultant is to create inspirational vision boards using categories such as fashion, beauty, makeup, client recommendations, etc. Let me warn you, it can be addictive.

Makeup Simulator allows you to show your client what various makeup looks could look like on them. You can use a photo from your photo library or take one. The app then analyzes the face and you can apply foundation, blush, eyeliner, etc. The major downside is that the included foundation shades don’t offer much diversity, but you can create a custom shade so it’s not all bad.

FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising allows you to keep up to date on fashion related news and trends. This app gives you access to news topics such as Fashion News & Events. My favorite feature is the blog section; which includes the ‘Fashion Club’ and a Student Video section. FIDM is a renowned school and they are offering quite a lot of interesting information via this app.

Evernote is a great app for business in general, but in particular for the busy image consultant it allows you to catalog notes, photos, websites etc. – anything that inspires you! You can save information for general use, reference and/or to share with clients.

What are some of your favorite apps for business?