Category Archives: How to

Feb19

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

Stress. It’s not fun. Whether it’s from your personal life, work or holidays — it can be very overwhelming.

I found this 7 Things Highly Productive People Do post via twitter and think it can help.

So the first item on the list (#1 work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks) is definitely doable with a little practice. Start by setting a timeline for the main goal and then break everything down into steps. I can manage that.

The next one (#2 stop multi-tasking) seems like it would have an adverse effect but is worth trying.

I completely agree with #3 (eliminate distractions) and #6 (work on your own agenda) but I’m not sure about #4 (scheduling emails), at least not in my line of work. I see value in #5 (use the phone) but I much prefer email over phone. I hate bothering people unexpectedly and not having an electronic trail.

I will be trying #7 (work in 60 to 90 minute intervals) as I think the could be the answer to many of my problems. I know people in a regular office take “water cooler” breaks and I don’t have that here. I also have to track my time for each task so I hate wasting time off the clock but maybe working for 9-10 hours each day wouldn’t seem as depressing if I’m able to accomplish other things, like walking my dogs, during my breaks. The life/work balance has always been hard for me.

What time-saving tips work for you? Do you have other tips to share?

Nov17

MT on Twitter

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Anne Hornyak

MT on Twitter

If you’re on twitter, you already know that “RT” stands for retweet — forwarding or re-posting someone’s tweet to your followers. Well I’ve been noticing a new trend and it turns out that it’s not new at all. At least in terms of social media time.

People have been using “MT” to indicate a Modified Tweet. It’s basically a retweet that’s been edited. Makes sense, right? I’ve been seeing it more and more recently but I found mentions of this in blogs from as far back as August 2010. That’s ancient history on twitter.

When should you use MT instead of RT? Here are three answers:

More twitter abbreviations you should know: Read the rest of this entry →

Aug17

Foursquare’s branded pages and lists

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Anne Hornyak

Foursquare’s branded pages and lists

Ever since my #geekcation in Chicago (an excuse to work on Explore Chicago’s Foursquare badges), I’ve said that I would love to see a CVB create a Foursquare guide. Well this is it! Foursquare recently allowed brands to get pages for free and also unveiled a new lists feature on Monday.

What does this mean for you? Get your CVB on Foursquare. Now.

It’s easy to create a page. All you need is a graphic, description and a branded twitter account to get started. Once you’re ready with that, it’s time to add a few tips. You have to add at least 5 tips when you create your page. What’s great about these tips is that they come from your “official” brand and not a personal account.

Lists are an excellent way to group Foursquare venues together into themes, whether it by a list of museums, BBQ restaurants or even neighborhood guides. Three CVBs that have already created Foursquare lists are Visit Savannah, Baltimore and Tuscarawas County CVB. Read the rest of this entry →

Jul27

Conference Hashtags

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Anne Hornyak

Conference Hashtags

A lot has changed in the social media world since October 2010 but most of the basics in Hashtaggery (how to create a hashtag for your event) have remained the same. Here’s an update:

1. Think: choose a hashtag that can easily correlate to your event

What type of abbreviations can you use? If there will be live-tweeting at your event, make sure you choose something that can be easily typed. Keep it short and sweet but not so short that it becomes confusing.

Should you use the year in it? I’ve seen a lot of hashtags that use “2010″ or just “10″ as a date. Twitter search history lasts only a few days so there’s no need to differentiate your annual events by adding the year to your hashtag. Remember that people will be live-tweeting and it takes an extra step to add numbers on a mobile device.

The thought process behind this hasn’t changed. Since my original post, I’ve upgraded to an Android phone (from a Blackberry) so typing numbers in a hashtag is more difficult now but my keyboard (Swiftkey) auto-suggests words and hashtags so leaving off numbers in a hashtag is not as crucial. Just keep in mind whether you want to use the hashtag year-round or only specifically for the conference.

2. Research: are your choices already being used? Read the rest of this entry →

Dec20

Twitter Transcripts

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Anne Hornyak

Twitter Transcripts

Transcripts are essential for twitter chats. Not only to refresh your memory of the chat but they’re also great for those who were unable to participate during that hour.

If you’re not familiar with #tourismchat, it’s a biweekly twitter chat focusing on social media in the tourism industry. Each chat varies but we normally see over 300 tweets from 50-75 twitter users during that hour.

As many of you know, we were using “what the hashtag?!” (wthashtag.com) for the #tourismchat transcripts but for some reason the site started displaying error messages, for both the #tourismchat and #SoMeT hashtags. It’s working now but was down for a few weeks so I researched other twitter transcript sites for a substitute method.

Here are my results:

what the hashtag?! http://wthashtag.com

-pros: easy to use, customizable, list basic hashtag usage stats, create transcript for custom dates, unique transcript URL

-cons: site did not work for a few weeks, stats are only available for the past 7 days

Tweetdoc http://tweetdoc.org

-pros: provides a nice pdf transcript, use custom dates

-cons: not instant/takes time to process, pdf must be housed somewhere (I use Google Docs) for easy sharing

tweetreach http://tweetreach.com

-pros: interesting stats include exposure and impressions

-cons: no custom dates, transcripts for up to 50 tweets are free, monthly plans are expensive

Twapper Keeper http://twapperkeeper.com

-pros: use custom dates, creates RSS feed & excel version of transcript

-cons: must format export with text to columns in excel before saving into google doc, could be a user error but I don’t always get all of the tweets in the export.

For geeks: As I was researching these sites, I came across this very cool site. Summarizr provides charts and stats for any hashtag, via Twapper Keeper. The #tourismchat Twapper Keeper account was created in the beginning of December so these stats only reflect the past two chats.

My temporary solution for replacing wthashtag was a hodgepodge of things stored in a google doc. I plan to continue updating this doc but my preferred method is definitely what the hashtag?!

What are your preferred methods for accessing and sharing twitter transcripts?

Oct12

Hashtaggery (how to create a hashtag for your event)

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Anne Hornyak

Hashtaggery (how to create a hashtag for your event)

Hashtags are a great way to organize tweets around conversations and events. If you’re new to twitter, check out this Twitter Help Center page about hashtags. Creating a hashtag is easy but a lot of thought must go into the process. These steps will walk you through creating a hashtag for your event but can also be used for creating any type of hashtag.

1. Think: choose a hashtag that can easily correlate to your event

What type of abbreviations can you use? If there will be live-tweeting at your event, make sure you choose something that can be easily typed. Keep it short and sweet but not so short that it becomes confusing. Read the rest of this entry →

Oct4

So you’re going to a conference

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Anne Hornyak

So you’re going to a conference

With the use of social media, more and more people can now experience conferences virtually. Whether you’re attending in person or just following along via a hashtag, here are five tips to help you get ready to use social media at a conference.

What’s the hashtag? Hashtags are a great way to follow the conference on twitter. If you’re leading the conference, create the hashtag early and publicize it! Put it on all of your registration information, printed and online. Be sure to include your social media icons here as well. When creating a hashtag, make it short but not so short that it becomes confusing. Use “10″ instead of “2010″ or consider using no year at all. Read the rest of this entry →

Sep27

Using Twitter’s Advanced Search

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Anne Hornyak

Using Twitter’s Advanced Search

Social media is not traditional marketing. If you’re only pushing out information to your twitter followers, you’re missing out on connecting with potential visitors.

People are talking about you and your area. They might not know that you’re on twitter but they do know that twitter can help them find answers. Are you listening?

There are many tools that can help you find these people and Twitter’s Advanced Search (search.twitter.com/advanced) is one of them. Read the rest of this entry →

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Category Archives: How to

Work Smarter, Not Harder