Recently, I was reading one of the many other music blogs out there .and they were lining out what social networks they recommend be used by bands that are currently trying to raise awareness about their existence. Let’s face it, there are a ton of groups and this was a great idea to see being done. Truth be told, a website is like a band as well because one must employ the same tools in order to help raise the brand profile and keep up with the Jones’. With that in mind, I felt it was a good time to revisit the whole crop of items being used by “The Chronicles” with a quick summary about it. This is our current main page and its theme with the latest posting. Oh yeah and outside of this image, if you click any of the photos you will be brought to that network.

Since it’s now the BIGGEST of the Social Networks ever, I should start with the Official Facebook Page for “The Chronicles”. Facebook became the Big Kahuna for all things social a few years ago and as result its made NUMEROUS changes to the dynamic. We’ve had an official account for years and its those who “like” it help to keep it flourishing. It’s free to have but unless you pay for advertisements or to “increase reach” of the posts you might as well be invisible. These days those who legitimately support our activities here have reported they never see our posts and its probably based on the two-step methodology of being seen. Fans have to not only “like” said page but also select “see first” when they do so. Otherwise we fall far behind all of those friends who argue politics with everyone else on your feed. I used to let the posts go there automatically upon their go live moment, but have since adopted the method of embedding them one by one so the assorted pages that they might relate to get tagged as well. It’s more work sure but its proven effective. Be sure to check this one out for sure.

Next up is our Twitter. I’ve been using this profile since about a year before even launching “The Chronicles” website back in June 2009. Initially it started out as a personal account but then was relegated to this site and the adventures that I was undertaking as a blogger and media person. I’ve used this Twitter account to connect to my other most used networks as well such as Yelp, Foodspotting and Swarm to help raise awareness. I admit I don’t follow a lot of accounts and go on automatic in its use for the most part but I do like having this one in our creative corner. I have not yet mastered conversational tweeting though.

Coming up now is the Instagram account. Truth be told, I pretty much love this social network more than any of the other ones at the moment. When I go to conventions and shows, I will do several photos with my mobile device and those are my “Gram Exclusives”. The ones taken with the traditional camera will be on the website but these are almost always only here and right after the moment that they were captured. Instagram is owned in full by Facebook now so some of the same principles apply to the network. As the creative we love the follows and the likes of as many images as possible since you can get a year end “standings” sort of thing. I don’t love when folks purloin my images for their own profiles and don’t credit the source or tag us but there isn’t any way to really prevent that from happening.

The YouTube account was also begun as a personal account and then began to get used for “The Chronicles” website. Now, despite this slight transition I have been really bad at uploading videos to it because most of what I do with the website is photography and opinion stuff. I know that I should do more spot videos from things and I promise as time goes forward on this I will. Some of the conventions that I attend are always asking me if I am heavily active on YT and I must meekly reply “not so much” and given its massive popularity, I best get cracking. Please visit that channel and click “subscribe” because like Facebook and Instagram and the rest, its a numbers game.

Last but not least is the Official Google+ account for “The Chronicles”. Sadly, this is a network that is pretty much dead in the water and I hate that since I really loved how it flowed and felt as an online presence. I use this one as a feed for the most part, so everything that you see as posts here will be directing you back to the main website. Since its a Google product I’ve kept it in play because it also adds to their search engine discovery. Since everyone with a Google email address automatically had a Google+ account, I think somewhere along the line that the ball was dropped because it should be the biggest of them all and sadly…..it isn’t. The photo brings you to the PiercingKen account and since its a feed you should definitely follow it if you aren’t already. At least you will see our posts without much hassle and I am all for that. I will admit that I do NOT engage our readers with G+ after its posted to. That’s it for the social networks used by “The Chronicles” but let’s continue along shall we.

Now since we are on the topic of the Social Networks being used by this website, it makes sense to do some reminders about the ones that have been in place for the PiercingMetal.com website too. I’ll start with the site itself and one of our currently running contests. Clicking any of the images will bring you to the site or social network being talked about. As noted earlier about the ones for PiercingKen.com, if you click the image you will be brought to the website or network. Let’s go.

I’ll follow suit in the same manner as for the other website and say that yes, PiercingMetal also has an Official Facebook Page and in the case for that website it would be a very bad thing to not have one. The same issues are present here as were noted about the one for Piercing Ken but based on the kind of adventures that I undertake for that media outlet, they are scrutinized all the more. Truth be told, PiercingMetal and The Chronicles have different reader bases and demographics but if you love the comic book and movie stuff along with the doses of heavy music opinion then I encourage you to not only give the page a “like” but make sure to choose “see first” and then invite the like-minded friends in your circle. I am always seeking to up the numbers on this profile and feel that the more is very truly the merrier. Engagement on this Official Page also counts so don’t just like us and never come back. That’s not helpful at all.

With the PiercingMetal accounts I’ve swapped places with our Instagram because when I said I loved having one for PiercingKen, well, I absolutely am over the moon about the one for PiercingMetal.com – Sadly, despite having an account since 2012, I wasn’t able to secure our actual domain name and instead use PIERCINGMETALNYC. That’s okay since we are NYC based anyway so it sort of gives props to our hometown. The same premise applies for this account as on the one for Piercing Ken with exclusive images being used on the profile while the camera stuff hits the website narratives. I tend to load up tons of photos from the conventions as much as the shows with this account so as before, give a follow and start perusing. The same issue with the sharing to other accounts happens here and I think that Instagram needs to find a way to have the photo likes go to the creating profile as opposed to some others. My brand identity is not effective when my image gets 1K likes on a fan page and 100 on my own account where it was an exclusive photo. Oh well. As you can see I am closing in on 4K images and with the NY Comic Con coming up soon, I will surpass that by early October for sure.

The YouTube Channel for PiercingMetal is more active than the one for PK but on these clips I am still not usually a talking head to our viewers. I’ve done a couple of gallery overviews that have gotten super popular so perhaps I need to investigate a regular show of some kind where I sit and discuss a number of topics. What do you think about that idea? Should I examine it? Are you a subscriber yet? Come on over and let us know what you think.

Here’s our Twitter and I need to use it more than I have been doing. I used to connect it to the PM Facebook but that wasn’t working out for me so I disabled it. Some of my friends are diehards on this and tell me to use more photos when I tweet and I shall give it a go. In my defense the lack of tweeting is because I am out there doing things and not slowing down to tell you that I am doing things.

This is our Tumblr Feed and its just that and only that – a feed. Much like our Google+ which is right below it. As anything posts on the PiercingMetal website, a link gets sent to both of these two mediums and posts for those who are following to be alerted about. Though we are not actively engaging people on these two networks, if you use them and like our stuff then please “subscribe”. “like” or “follow” so you are aware when something goes live on the website. At least you will not miss anything.

Update 10/1/2020: Please note that the original PiercingMetal Tumblr has been rebranded as the Ken Pierce Media Tumblr since the time of this original story and the link is updated to reflect this change. This rebranding makes the overall experience even better for the readers of each website.

So that is it. These are all of the additional steps and items to attend to when you wish to post anything on your website. It’s somewhat daunting and hopefully this doesn’t discourage any of you who feel they wish to make their own voices known because that was not our intent. I left off the old MySpace accounts despite the fact that I still had them. One was for personal use (so became this websites account by default) and of course the one for PiercingMetal.com – That social network had fallen out of grace a very long time ago and who knows, in the coming months I might just delete the pair of profiles entirely and save myself one more step. I also left off the Snapchat and Soundcloud accounts because they only exist with our name and are never, ever used. I’ll close up now and thank you again for reading these posts and following the pair of outlets on the social networks that you enjoy using the most. Your participation totally counts and if you are enjoying how we use those please make sure to invite your friends over as well. I’ll be back soon enough with something to entertain you. Ciao for now.

Reminder Links To The Discussed:
Piercing Ken Facebook
Piercing Ken Twitter
Piercing Ken Instagram
Piercing Ken YouTube Channel
PiercingMetal Facebook
PiercingMetal Twitter
PiercingMetal Instagram
PiercingMetal YouTube
Ken Pierce Media Tumblr