Show Notes
Our panel of WordPress experts discusses social media, and what role it plays in our own businesses. We examine some news stories circulating through the WordPress ecosystem.
Our panel this week: Kim Shivler, Sallie Goetch, Jackie D'Elia, John Locke.
We record our round table episodes on FireTalk every Saturday at 10am PST.
Our news stories this week:
1 - Teaching you isn’t free development time
https://www.thewpcrowd.com/wordpress/teaching-isnt-free-development/
2 - Why You Want to Get WordPress Plugin Support Licenses
https://maintainn.com/2016/06/wordpress-plugin-support-licenses/
3 - Zerif Lite theme: Make WordPress Themes
https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35906
Main Topic: Social Media, what role does it play in your WordPress business?
0:00 Intros
2:15 News Story 1: Teaching You Doesn't Mean Free Development Time
4:07 Meetup Groups and boundary lines
7:20 If you hire a cheap developer, we can't train them for free
7:50 The difference between pointing people at an answer and doing all the heavy lifting for them
9:24 List of resources where you can learn web development
9:50 Buying a theme doesn't make you a web developer
10:40 Clients aren't the issue; it's web professionals selling client services
12:10 Be willing to invest in yourself to further your education
13:04 News Story 2: Why You Want to Get Plugin Support Licenses
13:30 Clients need to control their plugin licenses
14:14 When developer-only licenses are okay
15:39 The "What if I got hit by a bus tomorrow?" contingency
16:38 Why piggybacking off your developer's plugin licenses is a bad idea
17:19 News Story 3: Zerif LIte theme compliance issues on the WP themes repo
17:50 Why do themes on the free repo try to bend the rules?
20:10 Moving data in 200k theme installs is problematic
21:09 Why custom post types should always be in a plugin
21:55 A free listing in the theme repo means you have to follow the rules
23:20 Backwards compatibility when you've already built stuff out in a different direction
24:55 The logic of separating theme and plugin data so sites don't break
26:05 The fear of backlash when making large-scale theme changes
26:35 Main topic: Social media and WordPress
26:45 The ROI of social media
27:45 Using Twitter cards for lead generation
29:22 The social side of social media
30:15 LinkedIn Groups can have a ROI
31:24 Social media can lead to business...indirectly
32:26 Social media for networking in your industry
33:37 Finding where your clients are hanging out
34:08 Social media can build your authority and brand
35:34 Curating content instead of blasting out your own content
36:36 Certain businesses only hang out on LinkedIn
37:23 Reposting blog content on Medium and Linkedin Plus
37:49 Curating content on social
38:45 You have to have enough content to share
39:10 Developing relationships through sharing content on social media
40:08 Defining your brand by what you share and curate
41:08 GaggleAMP for spreading content through social
42:19 Instead of retweeting, add your own quote or commentary
44:46 How do businesses use social media?
45:19 Focus on your audience; don't try to do everything
46:18 Read what you're retweeting
48:05 Only have links to social feeds you are using
49:19 Time is the big issue
50:31 Focus on the social media channel where you feel comfortable and where your audience is
51:29 Add value without doing promotional posts 24/7
52:19 Having an informational hub on social
52:50 Social media is a community and a two-way street
53:38 Don't use social as another e-blast
54:20 Using social media as an educational platform and value add
56:08 "Engage me on the platform I'm on."
56:54 Our favorite social plugins for WordPress
1:00:26 The danger of using a social profile as your de facto website
1:01:12 It comes down to ownership; you need your own platform
1:02:59 Don't bank your future on the future of a particular social platform
1:04:42 Own your core. Own, don't rent.
1:06:40 Podcast outros
Read the article on the WP-Tonic website:
https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/123-wp-tonic-round-table-social-media-wordpress-business/
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Remember WP-Tonic is not only a WordPress maintenance and support service, but we publish a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the smartest people in WordPress development and online marketing.