As the internet and social media continue to develop, it’s a must for parents to keep up with what’s trending and navigate the digital landscape well with their kids. 

Have you heard of this gaming platform called Roblox? If not, let me help you with that. Better yet, let my daughter help you with that...

In this vlog episode, I am joined by my daughter, Emery, to give us an overview of what this platform looks like and how it works. 

If you’re curious and wondering if it’s okay to let your kids play Roblox, watch this. I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments as well! 

P.S. I’ve got a gift for the parents out there! Here’s a FREE training I specially created to help parents navigate social media with their kids. This training includes the Top 5 Mistakes Parents Make on Social Media.  

Got other social media questions? Text me, I'd love to help: (646) 768-9491

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Let’s talk about Alexa! 

GGMM (thank you) sent me some new toys! Join me in this vlog episode as we unbox and review these Echo accessories together.

Got a question about this product? Or even social media questions...text me, I'd love to help: (646) 768-9491

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Website: http://nilssmith.com

GGMM Website

Battery Base for Amazon Echo 4th Gen Alexa Speaker

GGMM 3rd Generation Dot Battery Base Speaker

ProudBird 4th Generation Wall Mount Shelf Holder Stand for Amazon Echo Alexa Speaker

As social media platforms strive to keep our attention more and more, we need to set healthy boundaries when it comes to our social media engagement. 

Have you watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix? I get that question a lot, and you've probably gotten that question. If you haven't yet watched it, I encourage you to go watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix. It's a fascinating documentary/horror film. I’m gonna talk about it, share my thoughts and what my takeaways are, and what we all need to understand after watching that. 

Netflix came out with the documentary Social Dilemma, and it was fascinating. What was fascinating to me is how many people have come to me and said, did you know that social media companies function like this, or do you think it really happens like they were trying to suck us in? And the reality is they're in the business of attention, just like TV and radio historically have tried to keep our attention as long as possible so they can sell more...

Is Clubhouse the next big thing in social media? We don't know. I don't know. It probably is going to be a big deal. It's already caught a lot of momentum at this point, early 2021. But we don't know where this is going. I'm going to share my thoughts of what Clubhouse is, why it's important and what you should do as to whether you should dive in now or wait till later.

What is Clubhouse?

Let's talk about Clubhouse. Clubhouse came onto the scene here recently, and I got an invite early on. I started jumping in and playing around and there are some really cool things. It's basically an audio-based social network but it's only on iOS. That's the first flag to me because it's only available to Apple users. (Caving in To My Apple Addiction was probably a good thing) There's a very limited audience for it. But the thing that is really interesting is their launch strategy. They’ve created exclusivity. And so you can only get in if you get an invite. I get so many messages...

Hey, guys! So today we're talking about Mr. Beast. I watched my first Mr. Beast video pod two years ago when he did the Orbeez like putting a million Orbeez in his friend's backyard video. And it caught my attention. The little thumbnail caught my attention and the title caught my attention. And as I was watching, my kids started watching. I've got an 11-year-old and an eight-year-old, and they love Mr. Beast. My wife, she's not such a big fan, but it's on the TV in our house. It's on the mobile devices in our house. We have actually eaten Mr. Beast’s burgers out of their Times Square location. Mr. Beast is taking over YouTube in so many ways and there are so many smart things he's doing that I think we can all learn so we can become a part of The Future of Social Media.

Thumbnail is Important

So the first thing that I think every YouTube creator can take away from Mr. Beast, watching his YouTube channel is that we cannot overvalue the thumbnail.

Thumbnail...

I saw a stat the other day that said less than 1% of your Twitter followers are seeing your tweets. And I started looking at my Twitter engagement and that was close to accurate. And so is it time in 2021 to just abandon Twitter?

Hey there. I'm Nils Smith, your social media guide. And today we're talking about Twitter and whether it's time to bail on Twitter in 2021. And let's see. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the reasons why you should bail and the reasons why you should stay.

Time Investment

And I'll tell you one reason why you shouldn't bail or stay. I should better stay because you've invested a lot of time. Because you've invested a lot of time, doesn't mean you should just keep investing time. If there's not a good return on investment of your time, your time is your most valuable asset and you cannot waste your time. So if Twitter is not the right social network for you, you shouldn’t keep doing it. MySpace, people invested a lot of time and I invested...

Are you using texting to accomplish your digital marketing goals?

I can't believe it took me so long to jump into texting. We've obviously probably been texting or you've probably been texting for over a decade yet it took me till 2020 to actually start using texting as one of the Keys to Outsourcing Social Media. And I just regret waiting that long. So if you're not into texting, I hope you pay attention to this episode and let's learn a thing or two about texting and how we can use it to accomplish our digital marketing goals.

I'm Nils Smith, your social media guide. And today I'm going a step beyond social media to talk about texting because I believe that we can't just leave people on social media. We have to have a holistic digital marketing strategy that includes social media to Maximize Our Network, but then also has some direct engagement tools and resources like email, our website and texting to accomplish our goals, because, well, we need to understand The Power of...

In 2020, hate crimes against Asian-Americans were up by 150% in New York City. And now, just in the first quarter of 2021, they have gone up by 900%.

Today, I am going outside my normal tech-centered niche to share an eye-opening conversation with my good friend, Drew Hyun about this critical issue in our culture. 

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This 2021, I've been diving deep on LinkedIn. I think there's so much opportunity on this platform. I dove into it several years back, spent a lot of time on it, put some great relationships and interactions and then my decision went elsewhere. But I'm back in on LinkedIn on a daily basis and I'm seeing some consistent trends that aren't good. And I think that you can learn from them if you're interested in Crushing LinkedIn in 2021.

In this episode, we're talking about LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a platform that I really enjoy using. I love the functionality, the professional interactions and engagement like Linkedin Live. And I’m seeing some consistent trends of how people are using it that honestly really hurt the platform and make me not want to be there and others not want to be there and are really wasting your time. If you're doing these things, you're not getting the most out of LinkedIn’s platform.

So let's talk about those things. 

Spam Direct Messages

Podcasting is such a massive and growing trend. I have been a podcaster for about six years now and learned a ton, made a lot of mistakes. I want to help you avoid some of the mistakes I learned and continue to learn a lot as I now manage close to a dozen podcasts. And there are some real key practical lessons that I think you can learn that are going to help you on top of the 7 Steps to Launching Your Podcast and building your podcast audience.

Create Great Content

Now, the first thing, it's pretty simple. It's to create great content. At the end of the day, great content wins. It doesn't matter how much you promote your podcast if it's not good. It doesn't matter how great your podcast art is and how creative it is, and eye-catching it is if your podcast isn't good, because once they listen, they're going to stop listening. So you've got to start with great content. This sounds like a no-brainer and like, you know, great content.

Make Sure Your Content...