Twitter and Facebook on a Cereal Box

I was surprised to see Twitter and Facebook names listed on a new gluten-free Nature's Path cereal box. This is the first time I noticed social media contact information on a product package, and I am sure this won't be the last. If you aren't on Twitter and Facebook, sign up now and a new gluten-free world will be at your fingertips!

Easily Create a Gluten-Free Blog with Tumblr

According to a post today on Mashable, Tumblr is thriving. Mashable describes Tumblr as “one of the simplest blogging platforms around”. It is considered to be easier to use than WordPress. Tumblr has 15,000 new users each day and had over 1 million page views in February. Recently, Tumblr added a new feature so that users can add static pages (create several header tabs), which is something that is still difficult to do in Blogger.

Browse the Tumblr directory to see gluten-free blogs. Gluten-free and the City and Celebrate with Cake are great examples of Tumblr blogs. If you want to choose Tumblr for your blogging needs, register here. For more blogging information, read “Top 10 Blogging Tips”.

Get answers to your blogging questions and share tips by leaving a comment here, joining the Gluten-Free Faces Bloggers Group, and becoming a fan of the Gluten-Free Social Media Tips Facebook Fan Page.

Locate Gluten-Free Blogs and Examiners

Blogrolls, Twitter, Facebook, and Gluten-Free Faces are great ways to discover gluten-free blogs. When you are traveling, locating a blogger or Examiner in that city can be very helpful. The Gwinnett Gluten-Free Food Examiner maintains a list of Gluten-Free Examiners on her bottom right sidebar. The Crispy Cook has an updated list of 134 gluten-free bloggers with descriptions of each blog. The Gluten-Free City Guide is a map for finding gluten-free resources throughout the US and Canada. While many gluten-free blogs come up in Google search results, the dedicated gluten-free search engine, Gluten-Free Fox, is very useful!

Top 10 Gluten-Free Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook is full of gluten-free groups, fan pages, and individuals. The fan pages listed below are some of the most active gluten-free pages with many fans and frequent comments. If you are looking to discuss gluten-free topics or for ideas for your own fan page, take a look at these great ones.

1. Enjoy Life Foods

2. Gluten-Free by Dr. Peter Osborne

3. The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness

4. Celiac Handbook

5. Kinnikinnick Foods

6. Live Gluten Freely by General Mills

7. Karina’s Kitchen

8. Gluten-Free Girl

9. Gluten-Free on a Shoestring

10. Gluten-Free Houston

Become a fan of the new Facebook fan page for Gluten-Free Social Media Tips!

Update: September 2010 - Live Gluten Freely is now the most popular with over 45,000 people that like it!

Use Twitter to Discover 100 Companies with Gluten-Free Products

I just created this Twitter list of over 100 companies with gluten-free products. Follow the list to discover gluten-free restaurants, new products, magazines, books, and discounts. Thinking about creating a Twitter account for your company? Browse these companies for tips on interacting with the gluten-free community. If you would like your company added to the list, leave a comment here or tweet me @gfsocialmedia.

5 Tips for Twitter Parties

1. If you don’t have a twitter account, Summize is the easiest to use to read the party tweets. Simply enter the party hashtag (example #glutenfreely for the General Mills gluten-free party). A twitter account is required to reply to tweets.
2. Familiarize yourself with TweetGrid before the party. TweetGrid has several advantages over Summize. TweetGrid is faster, the party hashtag is automatically added to tweets, your @replies are displayed, and the grid layout can be customized.
3. Compile a list of some relevant links and tweets ahead of time, so you can quickly copy and paste them during the party.
4. Introduce yourself during the party with information relevant to the topic.
5. To increase your chances of winning a prize, pay attention to tweets during the party and read websites of companies offering prizes. Often, prizes are awarded to the first person to correctly answer a question.

There are two gluten-free twitter parties next week. Click on the links to RSVP.

Glutino: January 11 at 8pm EST #GF

General Mills: January 14 at 7pm EST #glutenfreely

Top 10 Blogging Tips

1. Publish frequently.

2. Add a share button and share articles on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and in yahoo groups.

3. Organize posts with consistent and specific labels.

4. Edit, spell check, and verify that all links work.

5. Moderate comments and require word verification to prevent spam.

6. List your blog in appropriate blog directories and aggregators. Many require a blog to be at least one month old and have a minimum number of posts before listing.

For gluten-free blogs, request to be added to the gluten-free news aggregator as soon as your blog is active. It now takes three to four weeks to be added to it. Foodie BlogRoll and Blog Catalog are good blog directories with many gluten-free blogs listed.

7. Provide email subscriptions using Feedburner.

8. Establish a blogroll and leave comments on other blogs.

9. Set up Google alerts for your topic. This will help you find the latest news and provide ideas for posts.

10. Be creative! Approaching topics from a unique perspective will draw readers and increase comments.