Tag Archives: metro

Five Instagram Tips Part 6

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We’re at the end of another good week. My personal highlight this week was my first social media article on Transworld Business that went live early Thursday morning.

My good friend Floris Gierman called me up 2 weeks and said that after checking out this website I should hit up some trade/B2B magazines. The next day I emailed a handful of action sport focused magazine, and Mike Lewis, editor of Transworld Business, said he would be down to get something started right away.

The article that went live on Thursday is about Instagram, and gives you 5 basic tips for using Instagram. Most of them I’ve already mentioned here in the past few weeks. My ugly smug even got a prime spot on the homepage. Scary but cool. So far the article got over 9,000 views in the first 3 days. Thanks again Mike!

OK, back to the Sunday Instagram tips on this blog. Just like every Sunday I’ll be giving you 5 more Instagram tips today.

1. How to change your Instagram password
You can’t change your Instagram password from your iPhone, so get behind a computer and go to Instagr.am or Instagram.com and click on “Edit Account” at the bottom of the page. Log in if needed and once again scroll down the page and click on “Click here to change your password”.  This will take you to the page where you can create a new password.
Once you’ve changed the password on your computer grab your iPhone and log in with you new password.

2. How to delete an Instagram comment
If you want to delete a comment, either your own or from someone else, go to the photo and click on “comment”. Click on the wheel in the top right corner and now every comment on your photo will get a red circle on the left of it. Tap on red circle and confirm your action by tapping “delete” on the right side.
I don’t really delete people’s comments on my own photos. If they are drunk or trying to be funny, let them be. Only if it gets offensive or just plain stupid I delete their comment. I do use it every now and then when I just uploaded the photo and I either made a typo in the caption/text, or I forgot something.

*Please note that if delete the first caption/text and you shared your photo to Twitter, Facebook or something else, that the text there won’t change. Maybe another good reason to not feed (every) Instagram photo(s) to your other social media platforms….

3. Have a plan for your hashtag for events
Going on a trip or tour? Decide before the thing kicks off what hashtag you want people to use, and inform everyone that is a part of this. Teamriders, filmers, photographers, TMs, shops you’re visiting on the trip and the media. Maybe even tell your followers to use it in some way and do a giveaway with it so people want to get involved. Who doesn’t want to win free shit?
When your hashtag gets used a lot by various people, you get more eyes on your brand. And besides that it’s a good way to look back on a trip after a few/weeks or months. Just search for the hashtag and bring back the memories.

4. How to handle multiple Instagram accounts with one app
Unlike Twitter the official Instagram account won’t let you handle multiple accounts. You have to log out of one and log back in to the other. Quite annoying and pretty time consuming.
Currently Instagram does not offer anything to handle multiple accounts. When I created an account for Altamont and Emerica in early April 2011, this was one of the first requests I emailed Instagram. I for sure thought they would add that feature quickly, but they haven’t yet.

I did find another app a few months ago called Fotogramme that will let you handle multiple accounts. Only downside with this app is that you can’t upload any photos to any of the accounts from the app. And that is of course the main feature we would like! With the Fotogramme app you can get profile information, view/like and comment on photos, follow/block users and search hashtag and users.

5. Give someone a shout out
In the last few weeks I’ve gained a lot of Instagram followers thanks to shout outs from Metro skateshop and Epidemic skateshop. And about a week ago Lowcard re-posted a photo I shot of my niece Cassidy rocking the world famous Lowcard longshoreman beanie.

You know that if you hit the “Sleep” and “Home” button at the same time you take a screen shot with you iPhone right?
Anyway, you think I was stoked and thankful that I got a shout out from Metro, Epidemic and Lowcard? Fuck yeah! Did I gain some legit followers? Yes. Is it most likely that I will (hash)tag them in the future? So true!
Support those who support you. U-N-I-T-Y! (Op. Ivy reference)

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

For more Instagram tips see part 5 from last week.

Five Instagram Tips Part 5

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After the guest tips from Steve Clare last week, we’re back to another batch of tips from me.

1. Makes sure your hashtag works
You can’t use any punctuation marks in a hashtag. So the hashtag #iwon’t will be archived as #iwon. The hashtag ends wherever you put the punctuation mark in.  ( , . ; ‘ ? ! – + etc.). Also make sure to leave a space before, and after the hashtag to have it show up correctly.
I mostly try to use 3 or less hashtags per photo. An overdose of hashtags makes each hashtags less valuable.

2. Double tap to like
This is one of the basic ones but it wasn’t included in the first versions of the app. If you want to like a photo you can do so by simply double tapping on the photo. Of course you can also tap on the “like” button (once) below the photo.
The only downside with the double tap is that I keep seeing people go though their feed and like every photo…. Since it’s so easy to like a photo it’s also way less valuable.
So if you really want to show someone you like their photo, leave a comment.

3. Go to the top of the feed with one tap
This is something that works for every iPhone app. Tap the status bar, at the top of your screen (where the time is displayed), once and you’ll go to the top of the page.
I use this a lot with my email and phone list too.

4. How to change your username if needed
Both with Instagram and Twitter is super easy to change your username, if the username you want is still available. I understand that you have this super weird nickname that you like to use, but again, think long term and think big. Because of social media everyone is their own brand, so beware. Do you know any brand that uses a different name on social media?
Not saying you must use your real name, but it will help. If you don’t have your real name as your username, at least have your real name in your profile.
Tap the right button on the bottom and go to “edit profile” to change your info. The first 2 lines are for your regular name (first and last), the 3rd line is your username.

5. Do a giveaway and get other users involved
People love free shit, and skateboard kids are no exception. The most interactive instragammer in my feed is by far Metro skateshop from Pleasant Hill, CA (Bay Area). Every other week they do a giveaway with a product the sell in their shop. A few weeks ago they did a Thunder/Chris Cole giveaway.

Besides posting this flyer on their own Instagram it was also posted on the Thunder facebook page and the DLX website. Numerous DLX employees, as well as friends of the shop, posted it on their personal Instagram account.
Think that gained Metro some more followers? Think those followers are mostly skateboarders? Think it gained Chris Cole some more followers?
And besides all that, it also brought some extra attention to Metro, Thunder and Chris Cole. Plus someone won a free pair of trucks. So all this great promotion for all parties involved, for one set of trucks.
We asked Joel Jutagir, owner of Metro skateshop, about the impact of this giveaway: “We has been playing with different ways to garner attention to what we do at the shop. Our latest efforts have been focused on Instagram where there’s tons of interaction due to the platforms simplicity and the way you can tell a story visually. It’s right up our alley!
We did a giveaway for Chris Cole’s new Thunder Truck, what we saw was some large accounts, 5000+ came on board and posted for us. That helped spread the word to everybody in their feed. Even small accounts that posted helped us out a ton. More importantly it opened up lines of communication and exposed them to the fact that were a bunch of goofs, that like to ride skateboards, have fun and on occasion sell something. We are also involved in their feeds now, dropping likes and comments and staying in touch.
Instagram a great way to stay in touch and share what makes you tick!”

*Make sure whatever giveaway you do on Instagram complies with the Instagram terms.

Interaction on social media is not only a must, it’s also super easy. Do believe the hype.

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

For more Instagram tips see part 4 from last week.

Five Facebook Tips #3

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Another Friday so that means some more Facebook tips.
Here are 5 more for this week.

1. Tag other brands and people when you can
When you tag another brand (or person), your post shows up on their wall. So if you’re fan page only has a small amount of fans it’s a great way to expose your brand to new fans. Make sure to do this right and don’t just tag to tag (spam!). Also tag them withing the sentence you’re writing, not at the end of your text by itself.
To tag another brand/person just type the “@” sign followed by the name of the brand/person you want to tag. Make sure you tag the right one since a lot of brands (and pro skateboarders) have fake pages.
Tagging is also an easy way to show the brands that you’re doing your job. Let’s say you run a skateshop and you just received new Toy Machine boards. By telling your fan base about this shipment (with a photo or link), and tagging Toy Machine, the people at Toy Machine will be thankful that you’re promoting their products. And since you are making your consumers aware of this you are gonna drive traffic (and sales!) to your store.


* Example of the Metro skateshop Facebook page tagging Venture trucks

2. Keep the text short, but not too short
Twitter only allows you 160 tokens (140 with a photo or link), which sometimes might not be enough to trigger someone to click the link or photo. I know I’d always like to type more.
I keep repeating myself (already), but less is more. My general rule with a Facebook post, when I post a photo or link, is to write maximum 2 lines of text. Try to stay away from just typing text! Get a photo or a link in your post.

3. Don’t send people to your blog in every post
Interaction happens on Facebook, like it or not. Sending people to your blog for every update you do won’t help. People don’t like to leave Facebook, so post the YouTube/Vimeo video on Facebook (and blog!), post the product (photo) on Facebook (and blog!) and ask questions and respond to them (interaction!) on Facebook. People know that they can go to your site anytime to look at product, your teamriders, contact info etc. Your website should be treated more as a homebase. People can always go back weeks or months later to find stuff on your blog. It’s easier to look stuff up than on Facebook.
Websites are becoming less important since people don’t really surf the web on their smartphone, so adapt to that. As a brand or shop you’re fine with doing 2-5 blog updates a week. But you should be posting on your Facebook page 2-5 times per 24 hours!

4. Stop posting mostly product
Don’t treat your Facebook page like a boring product page. Again, it’s less about your brand and more about the interaction. You want to create an emotional connection with your (future) consumer.
Asking your fans about their favorite pizza or plans for the weekend will get more interaction than most product posts. It also shows that you actually care about what your fans have to say. And caring is more than half the battle. Try it out and you’ll see.

5. Re-post good content
Some people might disagree with this but I think it’s totally fine to post a good video multiple times in the first 48-72 hours. Pretty much all your fans will see your updates in their newsfeed (and not on your page), so it’s only visible for a few hours, if that.
The average person has in between 200-300 friends, so their feed is filled with updates from their friends and (fan) pages they like. So if you post something in the morning and someone checks their Facebook feed in the afternoon, it’s most likely he or she won’t see your update.
You can post a video even after a few weeks, and it will still be seen by new people. The people that have already seen it might give it a like since they loved the video when they saw it the first time. This comment or like will show up on their feed so all their friends might be triggered to watch it too, and possible comment, like or even share it. The more people see your video the better right?
I was doing this with a lot of the Theotis Beasley sponsor me reviews on the Altamont Facebook page last year quite a bit, and every time I would post it I was amazed how many comments and likes it got, even after re-posting it for the third time after a few days it was posted for the first time.

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Also check out “Five Facebook Tips #2” from last week.