August 20th, 2010 | 
Author: One of the things I love about Facebook is that developers can create applications for the rest of us to easily use. Back in March I promoted one called Social RSS. It worked great for a while and my blog posts were imported in to my Facebook Page without any issues. I even forked out the minimal fee of $24 to have the feed pulled in at a more frequent rate than the free version. No sooner had I done that, I started seeing issues with delays of over a day for my posts to show up in Facebook.
Then I found RSS Graffiti. This application is FREE which is always good! And it updates immediately! I just did a post on creating RSS feeds from the Meetup.com group I am an organizer for. To pull it into Facebook, I used RSS Graffiti.
Log into Facebook, then use the search feature at the top and type in RSS Graffiti. You will need to allow this app to have access to your profile or page before you can have the feed pulled in. Once you have done that, you can set up as many feeds as you want to. I have three set up for the New Lawrenceville Facebook Profile that I moderate. Enter in the url for your RSS feed. You can then set up how many items from the feed you want to pull in, if you want a text prefix before each article is posted, and other useful settings. Do all of that and then save.
RSS Graffiti will start working immediately. Once your feed is updated, you will see the articles posted directly on your Facebook wall. Hope you find it useful!
Posted in Facebook, Social Media | 
Tags: Facebook, Networking, RSS, Social Networking | 
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If you are a small business owner, no doubt you are a member of a few networking groups. One of the groups I am most proud of being a member of is the New Lawrenceville Group on the Meetup.com site. I am one of the organizers and also moderate the group on Meetup.com, on Facebook, Twitter and also at www.NewLawrenceville.com. Anyone that updates multiple sites knows how time consuming it can be. I wanted to figure out a way to get information out to these various outlets with the minimum amount of effort!
Enter, the Meetup.com API. An API (application programming interface) allows you to call for information from one software or application, and pull in that information into another program or application. To use the Meetup API, you need an API key. If you are a member, you can get that automatically by logging in and going to http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/key/
Here is more information from their website. By clicking on Get an API key, you will be given a series of numbers which will be used when you create the call for information.
There are a variety of methods for returning the information. It can be in XML format, ATMO, JSON, KML or RSS. For my purposes, I wanted to create some RSS feeds that I could then pull into Facebook, Twitter and other sites. You can see in the screenshot below an example of pulling in data for an XML file.
Following the directions on the site, I was able to create a feed to show all new meetings we scheduled, recent activity, RSVP’s for meetings and a feed to show new members when they join our group. The link below shows how I created the one for new members. The number at the end would be your unique API Key (mine was changed for this example, don’t share your key if you can help it!). I can then take this RSS feed url and plug it in wherever I need it!
http://api.meetup.com/members.rss/?group_urlname=newlawrenceville&page=600&key=123456789123456789123456789
Here is how the feed looks within Internet Explorer. It will pull in the photograph of the member, their name, location, and bio. Fantastic!
One of the things I love most about blogs and social networking is how seamless it can all be. You create an article in WordPress, publish it and it automatically can go out to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with no extra work on your part. There are many different tricks and tools you can use but in this blog post I will walk you through how to find a plugin, install it and set it up to start auto tweeting your blog posts!
First things first, you need to find the plugin. Go to the Plugins section from the navigation on the left. Click on Add New. From there, the following screen will appear. Type in Twitter Tools into the search box and click Search Plugins.
You will see a list of Plugins appear. Go to the one that says Twitter Tools (should be the first one in the list). Click on Install Now directly underneath the Plugin.
You will be asked to confirm that you do indeed wish to install the plug in. Once it’s installed, click on Activate Plugin.
Once you have done this, you should be a link at the top of the page that prompts you to update your Twitter Tools settings, or you can go to the Settings section near the bottom of the left navigation in your admin portal. Finally, you will want to add your user name and password to connect with your Twitter account. Unless you want all of your tweets to be published in a blog post (not advisable) then select No for that option. That’s it! Just update at the bottom of the screen. Next time you publish a post, it will go out to Twitter!
Our last new featured client this week is Manda’s Crafts. Just like Gia with OneHealthyMama.com, Manda is also a very good friend starting out with her own blog. Manda is a Stampin’ Up demonstrator. Those into arts and crafts and scrapbooking will have already heard of Stampin Up. Manda’s blog post are very creative, including ideas and crafts you can complete yourself. She lists the items she used which you can purchase online from her Stampin’ Up website.
Manda is a busy working mom of twin boys. She is passionate about her family and loves her crafts! Check out her new site at www.mandascraft.com. Again, like Gia’s site, Manda’s blog is created using WordPress so she has the flexibility to easily modify her site, add new blog posts and change content on the pages. Keep up the great work Manda!
Several months ago I had the pleasure of working with Sarah Johnson, owner of Pampered Pet Care of Atlanta on her website. I added a blog to her existing website. Her dad owns Computer Movers, Inc. in Duluth, GA and she recommended he work with Purple Star Consulting on revamping their website.
Their new site incorporates content from their old site but in a concise manner that allows visitors to find what they are looking for with just a couple of clicks. With two contact forms, rotating testimonial and client flash files, newsletter sign up and a blog, there is a lot packed in to this site! If you are in need of seamless, smooth, fast & professional moves of computers, electronics, digital communication, & sensitive equipment, they are the company to call! Check out their new site at www.computermovers.net
