5 Things I Would Do To Fix Twitter

5 Things I Would Do To Fix Twitter

So, Elon Musk has purchased Twitter.

I don’t really want to get into the politics of whether this is a good or bad thing (other people are already debating this), but it got me thinking about what needs fixing in Twitter.

There is little doubt that Twitter has a number of challenges facing it with bad behavior, trolling, misinformation, and more…and much of these problems stem from a broken incentive model.

So, I decided to put together a video with five practical recommendations of what I would focus on if I was in Elon’s position to deliver practical improvements to how Twitter works.

I cover solutions including:

  • Building a better incentive model that focuses on reading, content, collaboration, and more.
  • Integrating citations into Community Notes to provide clarity around news-related topics.
  • While people can pay $8 to be verified…provide a pathway to earn verification at no cost (especially important for low-income users, students, etc.)
  • Creating better features for content creators (and raising visibility of content based on key metrics.)
  • Opening up how the Twitter algorithm works.

Check it out: ?

Should you use Facebook Groups for Your Community?

Should you use Facebook Groups for Your Community?

Yeah…yeah…I get it…Facebook…

…even people who use Facebook don’t seem to be huge fans of Facebook as a company…but let’s put that to one side for a moment.

Thousands of companies, interest groups, support groups and more use Facebook Groups every single day, so, here is the question: are Facebook Groups a good platform for building an awesome community?

You know what, it is a fair question.

There are a billion people on Facebook, and Facebook Groups are totally free…so does it make sense to dip your fishing rod into the communal fish pond (so to speak?)

Well, unlike people on Twitter complaining endlessly about anything to do with Facebook (or Meta), I decided to remove emotion from the equation and explore if Facebook Groups are any good.

In my video I explore the good and bad of Facebook Groups covering features, capabilities, insights, data, notifications and more…while also demoing a live community in a Facebook Group.

Finally, I will let you know what I would do if I was in your shoes and whether I would use Facebook Groups for a community…

Spoiler alert: there is a lot to like, and there are some things that really suck…give a watch and let me know what you think!

How Developers Stay up to Date in 2022

How Developers Stay up to Date in 2022

Developers are a really important demographic for a lot of companies. Front-end, back-end, QA, cloud architects, mobile devs…every tech company needs clarity on how to engage with developers.

But…how do you know how developers like to stay up to date? How can you be a voice in the places they are listening?…

…well, I reached out to my friends at SlashData and they shared some super-interesting 2022 data that shines a light on how thousands of developers have chosen how to stay up to date.

I not only walk through this 2022 to help you to make sense of it…but I also provide some super-practical recommendations of how you can build engagement with developers TODAY.

You should definitely check this out if you are:

  • Wanting to engage more effectively with developers…
  • Want to better understand developer habits and interests…
  • Want to reduce the amount of content that doesn’t get seen…
  • Want to optimize your overall developer engagement and developer relations…

Check it out:

Also, be sure to check out my other video sharing the 2022 data for how developers like to learn and problem-solve here:

How Developers Consume Content in 2022

How Developers Consume Content in 2022

Developers are in high-demand for technical companies and communities, but getting developer attention is harder than ever before…

…so, a lot of companies and communities create enormous amounts of content to attract developers…but a lot of it doesn’t get any traction.

Bummer.

So, how do you figure out how to create content that developers will love?

Well, we start with data.

I reached out to my pals at SlashData and asked them if they had some insight on how developers like to learn and solve problems…and boy did they deliver…

They sent me data from surveying thousands of developers that is enormously helpful in helping to guide how we structure and developer content developers will love.

So, I put together a video I walk through:

  • An overview of the data from Slashdata that sheds light on what kinds of content developers prefer for learning new technologies and problem solving.
  • An analysis of these trends and what it means for you (especially how it impacts your community platforms.)
  • Based on this data, I recommend 3 practical things you can do today to optimize how you create content for developers.

Where you work in AI/ML, cloud, mobile development, game development, open source, infrastructure, web3, or any other industry where you need to grab developer attention…this video is a must watch.

Check it out:

This data is powerful, so be sure to share it with others who are building developer enagement.

How to Deal with Internet Trolls

How to Deal with Internet Trolls

Did you know that 5.6% of people self-identify as Internet trolls?

This isn’t particularly surprising…but there is a broader challenge…

…I believe that a much larger group of people are not Internet trolls…but they are generally anti-social when online.

This still presents a problem for us…how do you deal with these people so you can not only limit their damage and manage them…but also so you can sift out useful feedback from the noise?

Well, I decided to put together a quick video guide.

In it I cover:

  • The science of Internet trolls and the “dark triad” of personalities.
  • How to judge if and how you should respond…with examples.
  • How to “Stay Classy” when dealing with difficult people.

You can think of this video as your go-to-kit for dealing with the difficult. Check it out:

Dean Baratta On Intelligence and Security

Dean Baratta On Intelligence and Security

Dean Baratta comes on to talk about his fascinating career in working in intelligence, security, and protection.

Communities are changing the way we do business. Discover a concrete framework for building powerful, productive communities and integrating them into your business. My new book, ‘People Powered: How communities can supercharge your business, brand, and teams’, is out now, available in Audible, Hardcover, and Kindle formats.

As usual, thank you to the fantastic Marius Quabeck and NerdZoom Media for mixing the show!

Sam Aaron On Live Coding Music

Sam Aaron On Live Coding Music

Sam Aaron, creator of Sonic Pi comes on to talk about live coding music.

Communities are changing the way we do business. Discover a concrete framework for building powerful, productive communities and integrating them into your business. My new book, ‘People Powered: How communities can supercharge your business, brand, and teams’, is out now, available in Audible, Hardcover, and Kindle formats.

As usual, thank you to the fantastic Marius Quabeck and NerdZoom Media for mixing the show!

David Spinks on Building Communities

David Spinks on Building Communities

David Spinks from CMX comes on to talk about how to build amazing communities and his brand new book.

Communities are changing the way we do business. Discover a concrete framework for building powerful, productive communities and integrating them into your business. My new book, ‘People Powered: How communities can supercharge your business, brand, and teams’, is out now, available in Audible, Hardcover, and Kindle formats.

As usual, thank you to the fantastic Marius Quabeck and NerdZoom Media for mixing the show!

David Jenyns on Building Amazing Business Systems

David Jenyns on Building Amazing Business Systems

At the heart of every business is people. People though, need to work together to get great results, and this requires the magical balance of business processes, systems, and workflow.

The question is: where on earth do you begin in building these systems and workflows?

David Jenyns is an expert in building world-class business systems, having written multiple books and hosting his popular Business Processes Simplified podcast.

He comes on Conversations With Bacon to dig into the role of these systems and processes and how to optimize them. If you are running a business, or want to improve the place you work, be sure to check out our discussion!

Communities are changing the way we do business. Discover a concrete framework for building powerful, productive communities and integrating them into your business. My new book, ‘People Powered: How communities can supercharge your business, brand, and teams’, is out now, available in Audible, Hardcover, and Kindle formats.

As usual, thank you to the fantastic Marius Quabeck and NerdZoom Media for mixing the show!

How to Track Link Clicks With UTM codes

How to Track Link Clicks With UTM codes

Please be honest when I ask you this: do you track your link clicks when you promote your content, build growth, or run advertising campaigns?

Campaign tracking might not some very exciting, but it is essential for great marketing strategy, market research, and optimizing your content to rank in search engines.

If you’re not a data-hound like me, you might not take your data-tracking quite so seriously. But be warned, because there are serious consequences for ignoring where people are coming from to your product, service, or community.

If you fail to develop a strategy, you’ll be “shooting in the dark” when it comes to growth and marketing decisions. Furthermore, if you’re not making tracking your priority, you’re losing out on all kinds of useful insight.

Luckily, today I’m showing you exactly how to implement some simple data-tracking using UTM codes. This takes about 5 minutes to do- but it’s so impactful when weaved into your growth plans.

While data tracking like this might not be the “sexiest” part of building movements and communities, this is actually where the impact is made, so listen up! 

But first, what even are UTM codes? 

“UTM” stands for “Urchin tracking module.” Urchin is the name of the company that invented this software, but was later acquired by Google in the early 2000s.

UTM codes are bits of text you can add to a URL that tell Google Analytics (or other dashboards) more about the traffic coming from that link. They are a powerful way to figure out where the traffic to your blog posts, videos, podcasts, and other material is coming from.

This helps us spot trends in how to use certain platforms more if they are more popular with our audience. For example, if a lot of people are coming to your blog posts from Twitter, wouldn’t it make sense to put more material up on Twitter? Yes indeed!

What do UTM codes tell us?

Depending how extensive your website and social media strategy is, you probably have more than a few links to manage. Every page of a website and every social media post can have a link, and UTM codes can make each link unique for tracking purposes. 

UTM codes are added to the end of those links to show us:

  • What source the specific traffic came from
  • What marketing campaign is driving the traffic
  • The medium that’s performing best for driving traffic
  • Which keywords your traffic may be tied to
  • And more. 

Here is an example of a link with UTM codes added (the UTM codes are the bold bit):

https://www.baroncarta.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=deviltosend

If you clicked this link, I’d be able to tell that you went to my band’s website coming from YouTube as part of a campaign to promote the song ‘Devil To Send’.

Okay, But How Do I Use Them? 

Step 1: First, sign up for a Google Analytics account if you don’t already have one. It is totally free and you can use it to track the traffic coming from your UTM codes.

Step 2: Then, go to Google’s UTM Code Builder to create your first UTM code-laden link.

As pictured below, there are a few different things they’re asking for on that page (these are what are called UTM parameters):

  • Website URL – this is pretty straightforward – it is the link you want to add the UTM codes to.
  • Campaign Sourceutm_source – where is the traffic coming from? Add a word that summarizes the general source of your traffic with this link (e.g. facebook, twitter, webinarJam.)
  • Campaign Mediumutm_medium – this is more generalized, it’s asking the medium overall (e.g. social, search, webinar, blog, podcast.) 
  • Campaign Nameutm_campaign – what is the purpose of the campaign? Add a word to describe this (E.g. leads, sale, hackathon, ad, eventpromo). You can also use this to sort different audience personas!
  • Campaign Contentutm_content – this is optional, but this can just be any details you include to differentiate the ad or content where the link itself is placed (e.g. button1, button2, webinaropening, webinarclose). This is commonly used with paid search.

Remember: people CAN see these values if they take the time to look at the generated link, so don’t set the campaign for a new diet product to “fatbuster” for example. 🙂

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At the bottom you can see your generated URL that you can then use when sharing links online. This provides enormous flexibility for you to customize campaigns and get real clarity on where your traffic is coming from.

Step 3: Lastly, use the final link wherever it is intended. For example, if you want to track social media marketing, you can track people coming from Facebook with facebook in the UTM codes. For Twitter, use a different link with twitter in the UTM codes. Make sense?

You don’t have to do anything else on the Google Analytics side of things. Just observe the data once you place the links.

Once your codes are placed in the proper locations, you’ll start to see data rolling in to your Google Analytics dashboard automatically.  

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Above is an example of a test Analytics dashboard using two links – one UTM link and one plain. You can see the difference in the traffic sources and medium, even though the website looked and functioned exactly the same for the viewer who clicked these links. 

Now, let’s look at a few examples of other UTM code parameters so you have a good idea of how to sort this information/ 

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Starting to get it? 

Now go and take a look at the data and try to find patterns in where most of your traffic is coming from. This can help you to determine where your audience is primarily spending time and you can then experiment at placing different types of content in different locations.

Enjoy!

Image Credit: https://sitechecker.pro/utm-codes/