But when it came to the new Timeline on Facebook, I just didn’t get it. So I did some research, played around with it, and watched some easy to understand videos.

Here’s my at-a-glance summary…

Where To Start

To convert your Facebook profile to Timeline go to https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline and click Get Timeline.

Virtual Scrapbook

It’s time to start thinking about Facebook as your life’s chronological scrapbook (makes me wonder if I should start Facebook accounts for my little ones).

7 Days

You have 7 days to play and edit your Timeline before it is public. This gives you a chance to add or hide information, posts, events, and photos. You can even to go your birth date and add a very first baby photo. Your Timeline will automatically go live after 7 days or you can immediately publish your Timeline using the Publish Now button.

Take a Tour

If you are as confused as I was, I strongly recommend taking the Timeline tour (which you’ll only find after you convert your profile page to Timeline).

Cover Photo

The first thing Facebook suggests you do is create a cover, which is a large picture that appears above your profile picture. Facebook suggests selecting a picture that represents your life (no pressure there). And similar to your profile picture, you can change it often. Have fun with it. Be creative.

Everything In One Place Bar

Below your cover photo is where you can view everything about yourself (friends, information, photos, Likes, apps, etc). This has basically replaced your old Facebook Info page.

Apps

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around apps and how they sync with your Facebook Timeline. Here’s the best Apps on Facebook video on the subject.

Two Pane Layout

Information about your life is chronologically displayed from left to write, starting w/ your most recent status, photo, place, or life event. In the center of the two pane layout is the new vertical navigation bar. I find this totally different layout confusing and finicky, but am hoping to embrace it once I start using it more.

Privacy

One of the biggest buzz concerns related to Timeline is privacy. Be sure to protect your Facebook Timeline privacy within the first 7 days of launching Timeline. You cannot change Facebook’s privacy policy, but you can control your privacy settings so you can continue using Facebook with privacy settings that feel good to you.

Have your published your Facebook Timeline? Do you love it or are you still confused?

Stacey Hoffer Weckstein is the CEO of Inspiring Social Media and loves to combine her social media and personal growth passions by helping inspiring transformational teachers, authors, and life coaches leverage the power of social media to meet their spiritual, personal, and business goals. When she’s not helping her clients live their dreams, raising her two boys, building her business or trying to figure out yoga & meditation, she’s a lifestyle blogger over at EvolvingStacey.com, MyChicagoKids.com, ChicagoSpaMoms, and TheChicagoMoms.com.

Giving you an in-depth look at social media along with understanding the myriad of choices on what to use and how to use social media is beyond the scope of this article. We will however, offer you a very brief overview of three of the most popular social media platforms. With this overview, you will hopefully gain the motivation to investigate your options even further, begin realizing the full potential of these platforms, and ultimately broaden the reach of your own voice.

Facebook

• TOS (Terms of Service) states users of Facebook must be 13 years or older
• Objectionable material (nudity, adult language, hatred, etc.) is rarely found and can be reported
• Post messages on your “wall” containing text and multimedia
• Privacy of your messages is controllable in multiple ways (groups, friends only, friends of friends only, etc.)
• Create business pages
• Create multiple “tabs” for business pages (i.e., Welcome, Photos, Videos, Store, Specials, etc)
• Customize business pages to fit your own unique branding
• Create contests
• Post links to other web pages or event announcements
• Create news stories and event announcements
• Post pictures and videos within posts or albums
• People “Like” or “Recommend” you via direct invitation, ad campaigns, and sharing via your friends
• Marketing is accomplished by building a network of “friends” or “fans” (used interchangeably)
• Viral content is created by posting compelling content that is shared by your friends/fans to their friends, and so on.

Twitter

• TOS does not state a minimum age requirement
• Objectionable material is often found, and can be searched for
• Messages are posted as text only on a public feed, called “tweets”
• Multimedia can be added to one’s account profile and linked to
• Web pages and multimedia can be linked to within posts but not seen directly within post.
• Marketing is accomplished by building a network of “Followers”
• Viral content is created by posting compelling tweets that are subsequently “retweeted” to their followers, and so on.

Blogs

• TOS varies, but usually states users must be 13 years of age and prohibits objectionable material
• There are a number of blogging services, the most popular of which include WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr
• All blogging services allow you to create posts and link them together in a variety of ways, most popular of which simulates an interactive magazine
• All blogging services allow pages to be any length, along with having a variety of multimedia embedded within pages
• All blogging services provide a variety of ready-made templates, along with the ability to create one’s own, or customize existing templates
• Blogs are “subscribed to” via RSS or Atom feeds
• Marketing and viral content are both created much like a standard web page via promotion, word of mouth, ad campaigns and search engine optimization; there are no internal ways within blogging services to create traffic.

How do you use social media as a marketing tool? What is your favorite social media platform?

Here we are in the image above, including (from left): Ann Marie from This Mama Cooks, Jennifer Garner, Helen Jane from HelenJane.com, Alicia from Get Buttoned Up, and Cybele.

I don’t know about you, but when I prepare for Thanksgiving, I don’t get all dressed up. I am in my yoga pants, a sweatshirt (or oversized sweater, like I am wearing in the picture above), and often times haven’t even showered yet. Of course, I get ready for the guests, but otherwise, I try to keep it as casual as possible. I’ll spare you pictures of me, but go ahead and imagine.

And now, check out this image of Jennifer Garner.

She’s pregnant, beautifully dressed, wearing, what?, 4-inch heels? And all this while pulling a turkey out of the oven.

Jennifer and I are obviously really different. Not only do I not have her style, but I wasn’t a secret agent in a past life either! But, we do have a couple of things in common—our love of Symmetry Double Ovens and our support for the Save the Children organization.

This season, Frigidaire will donate $1 for each day you view Jennifer Garner’s turkey tips  to help Save the Children’s US programs. Just click on this Facebook link, then click the “Talk Turkey” tab and then the button, and voila! $1 dollar donated.

Check out this post for 5 ways to make a difference this season and learn more about Save the Children.

So, whether you dressed up to prepare Thanksgiving dinner or wore comfy casual attire, join with us to support important causes like education and families facing hunger this season by getting click happy and visiting the Talk Turkey tab every day between now and January 31.

What’s your Thanksgiving Day style? How do you dress to prepare meals versus when the guests arrive? Any fun fashion traditions?

If you are a part of Facebook and Twitter, then you should have a widget on your blog as well. These allow your visitors to be even more engaged in your site and it gives an insight to who you are as a social networker. Adding a badge is as easy as four steps.

Facebook Badge for WordPress

There are different directions to take to place a Facebook widget on your site, but here is the most common way.

1. Log into Facebook and go to the link “Add a Badge to Your Site” at the bottom of your profile page (mine displays left under my friend list)
2. Go to Badges Home and there is a list for you to choose a template.  The most common that I use on sites are the Like, Activity Feed, and the Live Stream, but you can choose whichever template suits your fancy.
3. After choosing a template, you can make several edits to the badge {colors, fonts, size etc}.  Note:  the default is set at 300 for the width, so be sure to change the width for your site.
4. When you have the desired template set, click on “Get Code” and copy/paste the code into your Text Widget in WordPress.

Twitter Feed for WordPress

1. After you have logged into Twitter, scroll on down to the bottom of the page and hit “Resources”
2. Click on the “Widgets” option and then the desired template {most choose Profile Widget}. Note: Some on you may have a page in between Widget and the templates that gives the option of choosing between website and Facebook. Just choose website.
3. After you have chosen your template, customize to your creative heart’s desire.
4. When you are satisfied with your look, you can give it a “Test” run or click “Finish & Grab Code” and then copy/paste into your Text Widget in WordPress.

To read more blogging tips, be sure to check out the following pages:

• Blogging Tips: Top 6 WordPress Plugins
• Blogging Tips: Creating a “Grab My Button”

Do you have a Facebook and Twitter feed on your blog site? Why do you think it is important to engage with your visitors through social media?

Mariah Humphries is a wife, mother to three handfuls, graphic designer, blogger, photographer, and addicted to all things Starbucks. She blogs at Humphries Nation where you can find her talking about faith, kids, and the randomness of life. When she is not watching a kids game or reading her Nook, she gets lost in social networking. She is also the one woman show over at Jula Studio as a print and WordPress designer.

5 Ways to Improve Your Business’s Facebook Page

1. Post daily. Daily interaction on FaceBook is so important. Social Media is about making connections, building relationships, and sharing. Share something each day with your FaceBook community. Tell us what is new or interesting about your business. Do you have a new product or service? Did you recently attend a conference to further your learning and education or were you a speaker?Also, share information that is not about you or your business but is of interest to your community. Always keep their perspective in mind. If you have a community of moms think about if there is a helpful article you could share. Do you have a helpful tip? Can you get a conversation started about a topic like: Do you use a family calendar? Do you give your kids an allowance? Do your children have daily chores?
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2. Respond to comments. When members of your FaceBook community respond to your posts by making comments, you need to respond to those comments. It is not about putting a post up and hoping someone comments and that’s it. It is a conversation. Be sure to respond to all comments made on your wall. It shows that you are interested and engaged with what THEY have to say.
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3. Promote other pages. If you find something interesting on FaceBook you can share this by copying and pasting the post on your wall and tagging the page it came from. If you just click on the “share” option it will share the post with your personal profile page wall not your business page wall. So, literally copy and paste the post onto your business page wall and be sure to reference and tag where that post came from. *fyi you tag posts by typing in the “@” symbol and then start typing in the person’s name or business page name until it comes up in a select menu. Select the correct option and it will tag your post with a hotlink directly to that person’s page. Note: you must either be friends with the person or “like” the business to be able to tag them.FaceBook’s genesis was a photo sharing website for college students.
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4. Add photos. Not only is FaceBook great with photos, FaceBook loves photos and people love photos. Adding photos makes you multi-dimensional and can share in a way that words can’t. You can share photos of your office, your staff, attending conferences, new products, pictures of your customers, etc. *Bonus: be sure to use the comment section for each photo to tell us more about it and you can even include a link to more information about that photo.
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5. Set your page to “Wall” view. Many pages I look at have their “wall view” set at showing only their posts on their wall. At first this may seem like the right idea, but it I am here to tell you it is not the right thing to do. You need to show “all posts” by everyone. A page is missing so much by not allowing other people’s posts on their wall to be displayed as a default. If you hop over to Starbucks’ wall page – imagine how boring it would be if it only had posts by the Starbucks company instead of these great posts and interaction from their fans.
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   To help you change your Wall Settings for your FaceBook Business Pages. Here’s the step-by-step:

Click on “Edit Page” underneath your FB Page Profile Picture.

Go to top option “Manage Permissions” and click.

Go down to the 4th option “Wall Tab Shows” and click on the down arrow button to see your options.

Options that will present are “All Posts” or “Only Posts by Page.”

Click on “All Posts.”

Click on blue button “Save Changes.”

FaceBook is a wonderful thing for people personally and for their businesses. Remember the people behind the connections and share and connect with them. Speaking of sharing, share your favorite FaceBook tips to make you more likeable.

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MELISSA LIERMAN loves Social Media and travels across the United States and Canada speaking and training on Social Media. She specializes in doing workshops on Social Media for Business. The online world is constantly changing and growing and Melissa has found it to be THE single most powerful and wonderful place for making friends, meeting moms, and connecting with clients all over the world! Melissa is a night owl and you can often find her tweeting on twitter late into the night – send her a tweet and say hello http://www.twitter.com/TimeOutMom.

With that in mind, how can YOUR site benefit from all those searchers hungry for travel-related information?

1) Leverage Video

Why is video important in SEO? Because of something called “Google Universal Search.” This means is that when someone goes to Google to search for a particular topic, not only will results for web pages come up, but videos will as well. (YouTube videos in particular get preference, because Google owns YouTube!) The great thing about this is that there are much less video results available for any given topic than there are web results. This equates to more exposure for your videos and less competition.

A few specific tips for your travel-related videos: Be sure to give it a descriptive title of about 4-5 words that includes keywords. The description and tags are also important. The description should discuss the benefits someone would get by watching the video. Tags are what help people find your video and should describe what it is about.  (Think about how people would search in Google for what for what your video covers.)  Finally, be sure to include a call to action in the video itself to let people know where they can find out more information.

2) Use Social Media

When it comes to travel, as with a myriad of other topics, many people are bypassing Google in favor of social networks. They’re there searching for travel information and recommendations, so you want to be there too. One of the more important things you can do? Facebook is the #2 site on the Internet, and business Pages are indexed by the search engines, so set one up and make sure to include keywords in the title.  Once you’ve created it, spread the word in order to get more supporters and keep it updated with new content.

3) Recognize That Content Is Still King

Blogging is still one of the best ways use keyword-rich content to your advantage. Blogs by their very nature are dynamic, meaning the content is updated often. In Google’s eyes, this is a very good thing–it shows that their users are getting fresh information. A blog is a great way to get your travel-related content to rank well in the search engines.

The most important things to remember when blogging? Use keyword-rich titles, update your blog frequently and strive to provide quality information, not fluff. People will tell you that there is no shortage of SEO tricks you can use–but in the long run, consistent, thoughtful posts will give you the best rankings boost.

Bottom line? There are many different ways to optimize your site if you’re in the travel niche—but these are three top tips you can incorporate in your SEO strategy easily starting today.

Christine Gallagher is a relationship marketing specialist and social media business coach.  She graduated Cum Laude from Temple University in 2000 with a Bachelors in Communications and Mass Media and received a double Masters in Information Systems and Information Science from Drexel University in 2003.

Through her consulting, coaching and training business, Christine helps entrepreneurs and small business owners maximize their business profits using an integrated social media and online marketing strategy with a particular focus on blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.  Christine also has a strong background in the world of Internet technology and is passionate about showing solopreneurs how to create powerful relationships using social media as well as teaching them how to stop trading dollars for hours by using online information marketing techniques. Christine was recently featured as a social media marketing expert in the book Get Scrappy: A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Marketing On Less, as well as profiled as one of 16 Brilliant Business Minds on Twitter by The Huffington Post.

Prize

This week, everyone’s a winner. Whether you win the grand prize or not, you can enjoy a discount toward Crayola products by downloading a Crayola coupon here (good through August 31).

One grand-prize winner will receive the following products in a Crayola Color Wonder gift pack (approximate retail value: $200).

• Color Wonder (CW) Coloring and Fingerpaint Art Set (Dora the Explorer)
• CW 3-D Glitter Kit
• CW Magic Light Brush
• CW Glitter Paint
• CW Stow & Go Studio
• 2 30-page Drawing Tablets
• CW Fingerpaints & Paper
• CW Large Paper
• CW Twist-Up Crayons & Coloring Pad
• CW Markers & Coloring Pad (Disney-Pixar Cars)
• CW Markers & Coloring Pad (Disney)
• CW 6 Mess-Free Markers & Coloring Pad (Disney-Pixar Finding Nemo)
• CW 6 Mess-Free Markers & Coloring Pad (Disney My Friends Tigger & Pooh)
• CW Learning Book (Numbers)
• CW Watercolor Paint Set
• CW Markers & Paper
• CW Glitter Paint Set (TinkerBell)
• CW Glitter Paper Set (Disney Princess)
• CW Markers & Coloring Pad (Disney Princess—Sleeping Beauty)
• CW Mess-Free Paint (2 Paint-filled brushes)
• CW Mess-Free Soft Sticks
• CW Watercolor Paint Brushes
• CW 10-ct. Markers

Entry Requirements

To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do three things:

1. Leave a comment on this post, including your e-mail address.
2. Join the new Crayola Facebook Page.
3. Post these messages on Facebook and on Twitter and leave comments here, linking to your messages:

Talk affordable fun 101 (kids arts & crafts) Tues on #gno w/ #Crayola 9-11 ET. RSVP: http://bit.ly/IrbM8

Enter to Win @Crayola’s Color Wonder gift package @ http://bit.ly/INj9Q (ret val $200) PLS RT

Extra Entries

Take advantage of all the many fun ways to earn extra entries this week. Leave an additional comment for each.

• Tweet and/or Facebook the following:

Love Crayola? Become a Fan of the brand new Crayola Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Crayola.

• Post something you learned during #gno this week on the Crayola Facebook Page wall.
• Take the Summer of Service Challenge this week and comment on that post.

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Crayola and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, August 2 at midnight PDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

Enter to win this week’s giveaway here by reading the rules for entry below. You can also enter at these terrific parenting blogs: Make and Takes and I Never Grew Up.

Giveaway Prizes

Four lucky winners from this site will be randomly selected to win a gift package, including:

• A popcorn bowl
• Three boxes of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn
• Kathy Peel’s most recent book, The Busy Mom’s Guide to a Happy, Organized Home

Entry Requirements

To enter to win, you are required to do the following four things:

1. Take this week’s SOS Challenge to Focus on Family by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or by performing one random act of kindness that fits within this week’s theme.
2. Share your experience by leaving a comment on that post.
3. Tweet about this giveaway sponsored by Orville Redenbacher, including this link: http://momitforward.com/giveaway%E2%80%94win-a-popcorn-gift-pack-for-the-perfect-family-night-in.
4. Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, June 14 at midnight EDT, including your e-mail address and information about your extra entries, if applicable.

To receive extra entries (for a total of five extra entries):

• Click here to join the Mom It Forward Facebook group.
• Post about this giveaway on your Facebook wall.
• (For 3 extra entries!) Join and post a picture of your favorite family activity to the Mom It Forward Flickr group.

In the event that you do not win a giveaway, Orville Redenbacher’s would still like you to enjoy family fun with a big bowl of popcorn. Click here to download this coupon for a box of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn.
The Fine Print
You may enter in all giveaways, but you may only win once. No purchase necessary to enter this giveaway. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. ConAgra employees and Mom It Forward, Make and Takes, and I Never Grew Up family members are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, June 14 at midnight EDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

Here is the basic story…

This is a family picture we took this past October.  I posted it on my blog and Facebook to share with people I care about. We loved it so much, we used it as our Christmas card.

Apparently someone else loved it so much, they swiped it, and used it to advertise for a high end grocery store—in THE CZECH REPUBLIC.  That is nearly 5000 miles away from where I live. Note the langauge at the bottom of the ad.

An old friend from college (who I’m recently back in touch with thanks to Facebook) lives in Prague—and nearly scared his wife half to death when he yelled out in surprise as he drove down the road.  The picture is life size—maybe even bigger.

I have felt a variety of emotions about this….this intrusion into my life.  I have been alternately flattered (really?  Of all the pictures they could have stolen, they chose ours?) to confused (how did this happen?) to offended (who do they think they are?)

But what has been most amazing to me since I shared this story is the outpouring of opinions, shared thoughts and feelings, suggestions and offers of help.

Some moms offered to ask husbands/cousins/friends for advice on what I should do.  Some didn’t wait to ask if I needed anything, they called ‘people in the know’ and then emailed me with advice and additional help. Many suggested I laugh it off, some yelled SUE!, others said, “I’m not sure there is anything you can do, but it is a good picture.”

Ninety-eight percent of the people (mainly moms) who contacted me are not people I have ever met—they are people who reached out, hoping I wasn’t too scared.  They wanted my world to feel small and comfortable again—not big and unknown. This is what moms do, don’t they?

For that, I am grateful. I’m proud to be a mom.  I’m proud to call so many of you friends.

About the Author: Danielle Smith is a mommy to two smart and sassy small people, as well as the founder and primary author of ExtraordinaryMommy.com. You can catch her hosting a brand new live show, The Spin Cycle, on MomTV.com every Wednesday at 9pmEST. She also hosts a show on Blog Talk Radio and contributes to WhyMomsMatter. Danielle is thrilled to be contributing to MomItForward – as ‘giving back’ has always been an important part of who she is and what she hopes to teach her children

Twitter

Chat anytime all day everyday in bite-sized comments (140 characters or less) on Twitter. You can follow Mom It Forward by clicking here.

Also, check out our new group over on Today’s Mama, where women and moms can tweet to their heart’s content!

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Girl’s Night Out (#GNO) Tuesdays on Tweetgrid

Chat with other Mom It Forward gals during our weekly #gno Twitter party every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern time. Stay for as long as you’d like and enjoy our weekly themes and our virtual panelists. We create a custom TweetGrid each week with our panelists Twitter IDs, so click here to RSVP as well to learn the who and the where for each week’s party.

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Facebook Group and Page

Keep apprised of weekly and special Mom It Forward events on our Facebook Group. While there, feel free to upload photos, videos, or links and start or participate in discussions. While this is a spam-free zone, it is a great place to introduce community members to your blogs and/or online businesses.

Also, we love our Mom It Forward fans, so please click here to become part of the club.

LinkedIn Group

Share job-related information and opportunities and start or participate in Mom It Forward discussions on our LinkedIn group. This is a great place to share your resume, blog, websites, and on or offline businesses.

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Flickr Group

As Mom It Forward starts more and more chapters around the world, Flickr is a great way to see what other women in the community are doing to Mom It Forward. So far, our Flickr Group has pictures of us singing at an assisted living facility, preparing lunch at the Nashville Rescue Mission, enjoying an uplifting workshop luncheon at The Melting Pot, serving side by side with our children at a center for absued children, and partying while raising funds and awareness for Yehu Microfinance, Basa Body, and Coast Coconut Farms. Not able to attend an event, feel like you’re part of the action by viewing the pictures. Served in your community or with your family, please upload and share what you did or are doing to Mom It Forward.

YouTube Community

YouTube has been a great way to capture not only the heartfelt, but the fun side of our community. Where else can you see @JessicaKnows doing her famous “super star” right after singing a song created especially for #gno during the Blissdom party skit? Or, where can you see Larry Possum of the famous @soulpossum come out of his trailer twice, once to sing a ballad for the Blissdom Party, and a second time to sing for the New York City Tweet Up for Charity? Get in on the action by clicking to view one of these fun videos or by uploading your own.