Hound Computer Solutions Shop Talk
I am a firm believer in the idea of home bases and outposts. A home base is a place online that you own, that is your online ‘home'. For me I have two home bases – Hound Computer Solutions and Shop Talk. The first being our main website and the second being our social blog where we can "talk shop".
Outposts are places that you have an online presence out in other places on the web where you might not ‘own'. At Facebook, Twitter, Mysace, etc you do not own the content and could be thrown off the site if you contravene any of their rules or regulations, so the activity there and the content you create, whilst still important, is expendable if you choose not to continue Facebooking or tweeting.
What I hope to accomplish at the outposts is to meet other people build relationships and if they care, for them to visit my home base site.
The problem with social media is that it can be a huge time suck. I want to concentrate on my home base and update my outposts as easily as possible.
Create Quality Content, Syndicate, and move along
What I want is to create quality content then syndicate it to as wide an audience as possible as easily as possible. In my quest to make this happen I tried two different methods. I prefer the WordPress – Facebook – Twitter method as it allows my home content and also Facebook to contain more than 140 chars. This method is not 100% automated but very close. It requires the one extra step of after posting on Wordpress, pushing a button to send to Facebook and Twitter. This does allow you to choose which Blog posts get posted to Facebook and Twitter, so that is a good thing.
The second method while doesn't require the button push, limits the amount of chars to 140 for both Twitter and Facebook. The reason for this is it works in the opposite way, Wordpress – Twitter – Facebook. So Twitter is updating Facebook, and as we know limits the chars allowed. One other downside to this is the Twitter to Facebook App does not seem to be very reliable.
I will post both methods so you can choose which is best for you.
Method 1 Wordpress – Facebook – Twitter
With this method you post on your Wordpress blog as normal and when you wish to update Facebook and Twitter just remember to "Post to Facebook" button. What could be simpler?
- The first step is to get Facebook talking to Twitter. For this you need the Facebook to Twitter App. Add this to your profile or fan page and connect it to your Twitter account. Not too difficult! Now make a post on your Facebook wall to test and see if it updates your Twitter page. Good? Let's move on.
- Now we need to add a plugin to Wordpress and get it to talk to Facebook, which is already talking to Twitter. Lot's of talking going on huh? For this part you will need the Simple Facebook Connect plugin. You can find it in Wordpress under "Plugins" and install directly. Wordpress will prompt you to go into the plugin setup. Enter your information and your all set. Now we can make a post in Wordpress and test it. Remember, after making the post, view the ost from admin area and click the "Publish to Facebook" button.
Method 2 Wordpress – Twitter – Facebook
This method when working properly is more automated (no button push), but it limits the chars on Facebook.
- First step is to install the Twitter FB application available at http://www.Facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543. Once you have added the application to your FB profile, you are asked to enter your Twitter ID and password. Then any updates you make on Twitter will add an entry on your profile. Once completed be sure to test it.
- Now for the Wordpress plugin! For this you can use Twitter Tools by Alex King. Again this can be found and installed directly within Wordpress under the Plugins. Setup is very simple, done? Ok let's test it out!
Bonus!
Both Wordpress plugins come with additional plugins. Again I prefer the Facebook plugin as it also integrates Facebook login and other nice Facebook tools into your blog.
Want To Connect at an Outpost?
You can find me at the following locations:
Need Help Integrating WordPress, Twitter and Facebook
If you need help integrating your blog with these popular social media platforms, I would be happy to give you a quote, please contact us at Hound Computer Solutions and let me know your requirements.
