Just like there is a light or good side to social syndication or what I like to refer to as content syndication, there is also a dark side. Good bad up down left right. Yes there is a dark side of social syndication.
If you don’t know what social syndication is, or you are just knew here let me enlighten you. You can brush up on a couple of posts like “6 Reasons Why You Need a Blogging Alliance” and “Tribe Syndication The Accountability Factor.”
In other posts I also covered the basics of content syndication. There are three types. Self, Group and Automation. This time lets talk about the self syndication. There’s nothing wrong with it and your mom wont think you are doing something nasty.
Ready for the social syndication tip of the day?
Self syndication is just the act of sharing your own content. You want to get your content out there right? Oh and before I get to far down the rabbit hole here, let me just say you should share your own content. After you have hit the publish button the very next step is to hit all your share icons. You should never have a zero on any of your main share sites when people come to your latest blog post. It’s embarrassing so don’t do it!
But today lets cover the social aspect of sharing on your social sites with a question.
Do you have your Twitter feed connected to your Facebook?
How about Twitter tweets going to your Linked in?
Does your Facebook fan page update your blog?
Or your Friend Feed post to your Twitter when you’ve watched a new Youtube video?
Does your Tweet get syndicated to your blog then bounce off your Facebook and end up on 10 other sites via RSS feed?
Shall I go on?
Some of the social syndication strategies are good and worth while, weather you’re a celebrity or not. But some just don’t belong.
Social Syndication Do’s and Dont’s
Thankfully I don’t see these issues nearly as much as I used to but this needs to be addressed. For your protection as well as your brand.
What is one of THE biggest benefits of social media? Anyone? Bueller…?
It’s to build relationships! And yes there is such a thing as to much syndication. Follow these quick guidelines and we’ll all get along.
Twitter – When you are on twitter you should be on. The idea of this micro blogging site is to hit it hard and leave. 20-30 Tweets at a time is perfectly acceptable. If you are thanking people for their RT’s to your last post or vetting new followers, this practice is acceptable. But if all your tweets wind up on your Facebook wall, is anyone reading them? It pains me to see a Facebook wall where self spamming is going down and nobody is home to tend to it.
Facebook – When you are on facebook the idea of updating your status 1-3 times a day is ideal. It allows you to keep yourself in front of your followers. But 10 status updates a day and people tend to look the other way. When in doubt look down your profile wall over the last couple of weeks. Is anyone following you? Are most of your posts being liked or commented on? If not then it’s time to rethink your social syndication strategy.
Hopefully we all have a little 20/20 going on with our social sites now. one last tip regarding self syndication would to think of your followers and community first as well as what the culture is for each site.
Ken Pickard
The Network Dad
P.S. No bloggers were actually hurt in the production of this post. But you could actually save some of our fellow bloggers from the pit of dis-pare and am ugly self spammed profile. Share this post and who knows they just might thank you for it.
As always leave a comment for the community and share your social syndication tips.
P.S.S Time to come clean and mention an embarrassing moment when I was a little to aggressive trying to get followers and likes. I had my Youtube account notify Twitter when I followed or commented on a video. I thought it would be great to help other people in gaining some recognition. That is until Youtube released a new update that let you auto follow all your Facebook friends. So I did. Sounds cool right?
185 friends later which led to 185 tweets all saying the same thing. “The Network Dad is following ______” If there is ever a time you want to know if ANYBODY is watching you or following you via SMS or Twitter…THAT WAS NOT THE TIME. Several hate mails later and a dozen or so un-follows on Twitter and I learned my lesson.
To be honest Ken, I’ve heard syndication for quite period of time but I don’t fully understand it. Thanks for adding this link so that I may understand it clearly. I been in social media for two years but last year I have lots of bad experience here in social media. Thanks for adding this one here Ken, you post is packed with great information and looking forward to understand more on social syndication.
Farrel recently posted..Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Quad
I have really been trying to get into syndication more heavily. I have been hearing only how great it is and that I should be doing it. Thank you for this post that tells me what I could do wrong with it.
Sara recently posted..The Best Climbing Plants For Wooden Arbors
Sound observations and advice there Ken and you’re right – there is a fine balance between posting and sharing for the sake of it or posting for engagement, interest and education.
One of the things I have noticed recently is people who do a mass syndication of blog posts to facebook groups – and actually I would be interested to hear from people on this.
My own feeling is that there is no actual SEO assigned to a post in a group, therefore the groups are for sharing and for discussions, so if a blog post is automatically posted into these groups with no interaction with the group members it is likely to get ignored.
On the other hand, when I have (on occasion) had to (manually) post and leave a group – I have still found that people have followed me back or “liked” my post, so would be interested to hear what others feel about this. I also see some good marketers auto posting too – presumably for time saving techniques.
Anyway food for thought Ken, thanks for the share!
Nicky
Nicky recently posted..How to Recruit MLM Leaders|Network Marketing Success Tips
This is something I try and watch alot. When I post on FB, it automatically goes to Twitter. I am not sure how that happened, but I don’t like it. I go back and check to make sure I don’t double up and come off spammy either.
It’s important to share my own content, but only at a level where I give readers the opportunity to read and share it too. I would never want to appear like I am trying to ram something down their throat for the sake of a tweet or like on Facebook.
Syndicating your content is very important, but only at a moderate pace. I have seen some people go over board and it comes off spammy or I figure they just don’t know how it really looks on twitter to see the same tweet posted 5 times in one hour. Really?
Sonia recently posted..Why Bloggers Have Sh-tty Friends & What To Do
Hi Ken, My Twitter is on my Linkedin account and I get so many people telling me “Donna you are so busy out there, I see you all over the place.”
That being said, it is important to keep some time in your day to got to twitter and as you say “tend it” otherwise it looks spammy. Lately, as I was paying more attention to my Twitter, I found that there are some pretty great people that reached out to connect with me, not only on Twitter, but other social platforms. So much so that they are coming to my blog.
As for Facebook, I totally agree updating our status a few times. I see too many people updating it too much and I end up “hiding” them or deleting them because it gets to be too spammy.
Thanks for the great advice.
I will pass it on!
Donna Merrill recently posted..How To Leverage Your Blog Content
Donna,
I love hearing that phrase as well… “You’re all over the place.” As you know that comes from having that balance between publishing good content and having a good following who likes to share your content. And you ARE all over the place!
But when you “tend” to your sites and your followers like you do it’s easy to be seen all over the place.
Ken
Luckily Ken, I learned these lessons last year. I had signed up for a training program at the end of 2010 and they taught us to connect all our accounts together. So I use to be one of those sharing everything all over the darn place.
Then I learned thankfully not too much into 2011 that people know you aren’t on the social sites when your tweets show up on your wall. They are totally turned off by that. In all honesty, so was I so why do something I don’t even like. So I deleted all that automatic stuff right then and there.
I still send my tweets to LinkedIn and I still do get mentions about me being everywhere. I also get visits to my blog from that so I’ll keep that one set up.
I don’t auto tweet like I use to, I try my best to just send tweets when I’m on in the afternoons. I also just post on my Facebook wall four maybe five times a day tops. But I always respond when someone replies to a post. Oh and you know me, I share fun questions, inspirational quotes and humorous videos, not only content.
You are right, we’ve all made mistakes but as long as we learn from them then we can share our lessons with others. I have a few friends that I’ll be sharing this lesson with for sure.
Thanks Ken!
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..When Life Gets In The Way
Adrienne,
Thanks for the great comments. Yes we all learn by our mistakes. Hopefully other can learn from my mistakes as well. haha… You are one of the few people who have really made great strides to put stuff on social sites and then follow up with just about everyone who comments or connects with it.
There’s always lots of energy in your communities and that’s the biggest difference. Some of the auto stuff is good but not much. Especially when there’s nobody listening.
I need to go clean up my Linked In account. I can’t remember the last time I was in there. I took that tip from Chris Brogan and the more I think about the more it makes sense. However each person needs to validate their own syndication strategy and note what works for them. In addition to that I’m realizing the bigger picture for each social site or blog is to do one thing.
Like a capture page is designed to do one thing. Same with some of these other social sites. Moving people forward towards that one thing should be the primary focus of that site. By adding all these other distractions we could be pulling people away from that one thing.
Maybe I’ll do a follow up post to this topic.
Ken
These things are sometimes over my head. Some times I find my post all over my facebook page and don’t really understand how that happened in the first place.
As far as twitter I really tweet other people’s content more than I do mine, so I’m all good there.
Thanks for very good tips here
Sylviane Nuccio recently posted..How To Turn A Browser Into A Reader – Part Two
Sylviane,
If your post are showing up all over Facebook and you’re not doing it then it sounds like other people are sharing your content and probably tagging you. That’s a good then. This is why I put together our syndication and comment groups. So yes you should be good there. It’s the feeds to empty walls that’s getting to be a pet peeve of mine.
Ken
Hi Ken, You’re hitting on a pet peeve of mine. It’s fairly easy to tell when a tweet ends up on Facebook and it isn’t pretty. They are two very different beasts and should be treated that way. I completely agree with you, no point in automatically spamming yourself.
Off to share!
Carolyn | Wonder of Tech recently posted..Poll: What’s the Map for You?
Thanks for the comment Carolyn. I still see Facebook walls where the only one on there is that person’s Twitter stream. It’s actually pretty sad. Mostly they just don;t know any better, but they are trying.
Now if you are somewhat of a celebrity you can totally get away with this. But until then work the site the way it’s meant to be worked. Do you have a syndication strategy?
Ken
A few times I have “stumbled” my own posts, but for some reason it never occurred to me to share every post every way possible. No idea why. That’s now on my posting schedule.
Kirra recently posted..Wednesday Witness – Kimberly Tavernier
Kirra,
There is a lot you can do for your own syndication strategy. I have a couple of post on the subject with more coming out later. In fact here’s a good place to start. http://www.thenetworkdad.com/content-syndication-strategy The main point I was making in this post was along the lines have having to many feed hitting to many other accounts.
And if no one is reading your stuff on those other social sites then it’s a waste of time and looks like self spamming. Do you use any other syndication systems or tools?
Ken
I use twitter, linkedin and Facebook, and I have a couple groups on Facebook I post to. I definitely need to pursue more if I’m going to get anywhere.
I feel your pain with the auto tweets! I try to disable all of them but sometimes you don’t realize they are activated. Nothing more annoying than a long stream of updates about where someone has “checked in” or what video they have shared! I try to be super careful about not sending anything out automatically.
I also think it’s important to find balance between not enough sharing and too much sharing. There’s no real answer, you just have to pay attention and find out what’s working and what’s not. I think it’s better to update Twitter more often because you can easily get lost in the stream. But Facebook is a lot more limited so a lot of posts can be really obvious and annoying. I try to put at least 1-2 hours between anything I post, sometimes more.
And it’s always a good idea to actually “be there” – not post and leave. I know we can’t be on social sites all day, but if we’re “being social” we have to check in every so often!
Carol Lynn recently posted..The “Who” Matters: Defining Your Target Audience
Thanks for sharing this post. It’s especially helpful to know that too much of a good thing can be detrimental.
And even better when our fellow cyber friends let us know sometimes is a blind mistake for those new to the tools of the internet and marketing.
Take care,
Ashley
Great discussion you’ve created Ken. I am very careful (or try to be) with my Facebook account. It is mostly friends and family, after all. I started posting to FB Groups last year, and found that they just end up in my status stream. It looks too spammy. I didn’t really benefit from the posts, either.
I love Twitter, and have a good following, so I post useful tips, promote my own blogs, and throw in some personal stuff just to keep it real.
I seem to get my biggest bang with Linkedin Groups. You can post your blog on one group that you are a member of. Then you can share it with all the rest of the groups. I think you can be in up to 50. I find there is more interaction in these groups, and better quality of posts. The best thing is that the posts stay within the groups, not on your status.
But, the best thing is to watch what you are doing, and if you use automated tools, check on what they are doing. Check each of your accounts to see what’s going on.
Thanks for sharing, Ken!
Bonnie Chomica recently posted..You’ll Kill Your Business Without a Niche Marketing Strategy
Hi Ken,
I have been thinking a lot about this, and what I ended up doing is I stopped everything that was automated. I wanted control. I do syndicate all my posts to at least, Twitter, Facebook, and G+. Sometimes I even do StumbleUpon. But, I try to write a different text to all of them, so it won’t look exactly the same. It takes more time, but I feel better about it.
I have been a little sceptical about Twitter and having a lot of updates, like 20 – 30 updates at the same time. I usually thank people for retweeting my content, and I don’t see any problems with that, but if I show up all over someones timeline, they might get upset. On the other hand, it’s probably just for a few seconds
Jens P. Berget recently posted..Niche Marketing – The Most Important Research
Jens,
The best i can offer is to do what feels right for you. Some will always push the envelope. This is one way to see what works and what doesn’t. There should be some balance between push and pull marketing. We push out our content in hopes that others see it and it pulls them towards us. So if we don’t tell others we have a new article how will they ever know.
On the other hand if we’re screaming or pushing to much then we tend to push people away faster than a speeding tweet. What else have you found in regards to your social presence and attracting people to you?
Ken
What I’ve discovered is that social is social, and when we’re friendly and not talking about business, business will come to you in the end. It’s all about being persistent and helping people. That’s not just a lot of fun, and meaningful, but it’s also very profitable
I try no to talk about business when I’m talking to people on social media. That’s what works for me.
Jens P. Berget recently posted..Check Your Google Rank Weekly
This is an area where I feel very inept. There is so much to it — and lingo with which I’m unfamiliar. Just takes time, I’m sure, to learn the ins and outs and dos and dont’s. Thanks for this bit of information. I’ll check out your Content Syndication Strategy blog, also.
Bobbi
Bobbi,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes there is lots to learn and trying to keep up with it all is tough. We hope to learn the best practices from the best trainers. By staying plugged into those who are leading the charge we hope to gain their knowledge. But it’s in the actual practice where we learn the most.
Ken
Ken,
In lieu of the new Penguin algorithm, and specifically regarding duplicate content, do you still this it is advisable to create an original blog, and then link it to Facebook and LinkedIn? The reason being, the first few sentences will be captured when you link the blog article, which then appears like a dupe in a Google search query.
Please advise and thank you.
Dudley,
From what I have read with regards to penguin, the algorithm didn’t go after duplicate content directly but on other black hat SEO and even some white hat SEO functions. The concept of using RSS or ping services to share content is still an affective practice. Plus not all traffic is the same. And Google is not the only form of traffic.
Viral social media traffic that is seen by your followers and communities may never even hit Google or if it does may not stick. And it’s not meant to. If you are writing for your readers first and foremost then you’re not really concerned with Google, right? think of Seth Godin’s blog. Any on page SEO?
But when you write for you reader first AND Google a quick second now you have to think a little differently don’t you. Now you are inclined to check keyword availability and use anchor text. But now we know we shouldn’t over do it.
What if I told you there was no issue as far as duplicate content? What if I told you there was no such thing as “getting sand boxed?” Both of these issues are discussed at great length in the SEO communities with no REAL clear explanation. There is just perceived best practices.
What is your take on all this?
Ken
Ken,
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question.
I know EXACTLY what you mean with regards to “writing for readers”. I say this because prior to “Black Tuesday”, 98% of all of my site entries came through my individual blog posts. Additionally, after cleaning my site using Copyscape.com, I came across many other webmasters that were plagiarizing my content. Unfortunately, Google now feels otherwise about my content.
I’m already doing research on other traffic markets because as it stands now, business is ruined. I’ll have to take a closer look into building audiences myself on social networks since Google no longer recognizes me as a knowledgable resource.
Thanks again.
Dudley Smith recently posted..Workers Compensation Compliance – Claimant Information Packet
Ken,
Where does Onlywire distribution play into this? If you ping all your icons aren’t you duplicating?
Tom
Tom Bradley recently posted..What If The Supermarket Didn’t Have Duct Tape? 7 Things That Should Be On Your Shelves..
Tom,
Great question and I’m glad you brought this up. Yes it would appear to be the exact same issue wouldn’t it. Except most people spend most of their time on Facebook and not on those sites where Onlywire sends content to. i don’t use have Onlywire post to my facebook or Twitter for that very reason.
If you care about the wall on those sites then you should unhook the syndication to those as well. If you don’t care about your facebook wall then by all means keep the feeds coming. We all know we can’t spend all day on each of our social sites. So we tend to leverage automation. In fact I just built another RSS feed syndication process to multiple social bookmarking sites.
Will i be on those other sites. Probably not, but the leverage and back link aspect is worth setting them up. They will serve a specific purpose. my personal Facebook wall serves another purpose. Where do you draw the line when it comes to automation syndication?
Ken
This is a great post.I think it will be very usefull to us. I read it but I need some thing more to know about this. How can I know about this.
Kristen recently posted..Earning $5000+ is not hard as you think.
Great expalantion. I don’t know what social syndication really is before I read your article here.
I made mistake about showing tweets in my fb wall back then. Until I realize it
. Thanks for this post Ken
Okto recently posted..Promo Indonesia Alfamart : Tips Peserta Kontes
There are several ways to do it, and whether you’re looking to share your brand with the world or just want to interact more with your readers, using these syndication techniques will make you a lot more noticeable on the Web.
Laura recently posted..What is Smile Makeover?
very interesting post i really enjoyed reading about it, thank you for sharing this post with us.
Andrew recently posted..Choose Your Debt Counselor Wisely
Thanks for adding this link so that I may understand it clearly. there is a fine balance between posting and sharing for the sake of it or posting for engagement, interest and education.
One of the things I have noticed recently is people who do a mass syndication of blog posts to facebook groups – and actually I would be interested to hear from people on this.
Donna,
I love hearing that phrase as well… “You’re all over the place.” As you know that comes from having that balance between publishing good content and having a good following who likes to share your content. And you ARE all over the place!
But when you “tend” to your sites and your followers like you do it’s easy to be seen all over the place.
Mike Jones recently posted..The eBook that’s changing the game. + Bonus movie.
Great article Ken! I think that automated content syndication does not always work out very well, depending on how you do it. I’ve seen some use software that does it for them, but the quality is never what you want and leaving it that way to me only burdens your business in the long run.