While several competitors have stepped up to fill the void left by Twitter, now “X,” since Elon Musk purchased the platform in the fall of 2022 and began making radical changes. But while Mastodon and BlueSky made waves around that time, the surprise drop of Threads in July was welcome news to many still looking for that Twitter-like magic. Threads is owned by Meta and, for all intents and purposes, looks and feels more like Twitter than anything else. However, it still has some issues...

A common piece of advice I give to companies in our industry is often something they don’t always want to hear. Even if you don’t plan on using a specific social media platform, you should still secure your company’s username on it so no one else can. Now, there is a bit of follow-up to this advice: if your company has a Twitter (now “X”) account you’ve snapped up but are not using, begin posting there now. Read on to learn why.In the wake of...

We in the FGIA Marketing department know a thing or two about rebranding an organization. Three years ago, we underwent our own, and today, we are known as the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance. Even though we made this change as of January 1, 2020, it didn’t literally happen overnight. This is why it has been so baffling to watch Twitter, a well-known company with 16 years of brand equity, announce over a sleepy July weekend that they would be called… X.CEO Elon Musk has...

A version of this blog post ran in June 2021. This has been updated with new information.FGIA has several tutorials for members, detailing processes for things like how to join an FGIA committee or task group, how to access and use the FGVL or how to access meeting and conference call information. We have also started doing some short, instructional videos about how to best make use of our social media channels, including our relatively new Facebook page and our other social media accounts -...

A common question I get about social media is a complicated one: how can my company use it to make money? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but there are common themes to what those social media companies want from you in order to give you a cut of their revenue. They want you to have a lot of followers and subscribers, and they want you to have lots of eyes on your content. Here is a brief guide to what YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter...

This blog is often about ways to use social media to your company’s advantage, such as how to best showcase your products and services for various platforms. However, this month’s post is going to offer a certain degree of caution about doing so in some cases. Social media has changed a lot in recent years, and perhaps no more than it did in 2022. Let’s look back on why we started using social media for our businesses, what’s happened since and what to expect moving...

Twitter has been in the news a lot lately, mostly thanks to Elon Musk’s recent moves toward becoming a large part of the company, if not its owner. His influence may be felt there already – like his campaign to get an “edit” button added to tweets. Twitter is also testing a couple other features like “downvotes” and “unmentioning” accounts. Read on for more Twitter news – plus a bonus Instagram tip.Editing TweetsAfter years of users asking for it, an “edit” button for Twitter might...

It’s officially October, which means Halloween is nearly upon us. As a creative person, Halloween has long held a special place in my heart. I love coming up with costume ideas and then figuring out how to execute them. Plus, regardless of your company’s products or services, you can find some fun way to connect your business to the holiday. Below are six different ideas for surprising and delighting your social media followers this Halloween. If you do the leg work now, you’ll be set...

I first became aware of hashtags circa 2009 when I was taking a social media course about using Twitter for organizations. They appealed to me for a lot of reasons, but primarily, I saw them as a way to get your message out to a wider audience, even if you yourself didn’t have a ton of followers. But while Twitter may have brought hashtags into the mainstream, today they apply to social media platforms across the board. Facebook, Instagram and even LinkedIn now recognize them...

FGIA has several tutorials for members, detailing processes for things like how to join an FGIA committee or task group, how to access and use the FGVL or how to access meeting and conference call information. We have also started doing some short, instructional videos about how to best make use of our social media channels, including our relatively new Facebook page and our other social media accounts - Twitter, LinkedIn company page and groups and Instagram. A tutorial giving an overview of all four...