The Social Media 101 Series is sponsored by Global Strategic Management Institute. GSMI’s Social Media Strategies Series are the leading educational events for organizations looking to advance their online capabilities. Learn more.
Posterous is a free blogging platform for people who want a simplified yet flexible way to create and maintain a blog. One of the key selling points for Posterous is that it allows you to send new posts to your Posterous blog via email, so you can easily update your site from any web-enabled mobile device. You can also connect Posterous with other sites like Facebook and Twitter, so that you can simultaneously send posts to all your social channels.
Posterous also aims to take “all the hard work” out of blogging by automatically formatting your post for optimal web viewing. If you send a photo, the site will resize and post it. Send a video, Posterous converts it for viewing on the web. Send a document, it gets embedded.
Here’s a step-by-step process for getting started.
1. Open an Account
There are two ways to get your Posterous blog up and running. The first way is to send an email to post@posterous.com that includes the title of your first blog post in the subject line and the content of the post in the body of the email. Within a few minutes, your first post will be live — it’s that simple. Once you receive a confirmation email from Posterous, you can click through to set up a username and password for your account and further customize the blog. Alternatively, you can go directly to posterous.com and create a username and password right from the home page.
Once you’ve got your username and password sorted, you can then proceed to the “Manage” screen, which will allow you to edit your profile, attach additional email addresses to your Posterous account, subscribe to other Posterous blogs, link your Posterous account to other online accounts, and create new posts without going through email.
2. Customize Your Blog
You can easily adjust your blog’s look and feel by changing the theme you’re using. Simply select “Edit theme” from the Settings section of the Manage page. Posterous currently has more than 40 free, built-in themes that you can use for your Posterous blog. Web developers can also adapt any of these themes with full HTML/CSS customization — you can also customize the color, the header and many other elements of your blog.
If you want to customize your domain, Posterous will take care of the domain name purchase for you, or you can point your Posterous blog to your existing custom domain.
3. Create and Post New Content
You can send a new blog post to Posterous at any time by sending an email to post@posterous.com. Create your new posts exactly as you did for your initial email — the email’s subject line will become your post title and any text or multimedia in the body of the email will appear in the Posterous post.
Here’s a quick video tutorial on how it works:
You can also easily post content to your blog by using the Posterous Bookmarklet. By dragging the “Share on Posterous” button to your bookmark bar, you will be able to select text, video, music or photos from any web page and post it instantly to your Posterous blog. To share text, simply highlight the content you want to share, then click on the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar. A pop-up window will show the post, which you can then edit and finalize for posting. To share videos or photos, click the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar, and a window will pop up that includes all the photos and videos on the page — select which of these you’d like to share, then edit and finalize your post.
4. Link other accounts to Posterous
By linking your other online accounts to Posterous, you can share your posts on several sites without having to go to these sites directly. To do this, go to the “Manage” screen and click on “Autopost to Everywhere.” Then follow the instructions for updating your account information for each of the web sites you want to post to.
Once you’ve completed this step, you’ll be able to post to these sites via email:
To post only to your Posterous blog, send an email to posterous@posterous.com
To post to all your linked sites, send an email to post@posterous.com
To post just to one linked site, send an email to the sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook@posterous.com will get your post up on Facebook as well as your Posterous blog)
To post to several linked sites at a time, send an email to sitename+sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook+twitter@posterous.com)
You can use the following service names to email to: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, blog, Blogger, Tumblr, YouTube, Vimeo, FriendFeed, Delicious, Laconica, Identica, LiveJournal, Plurk and Shopify.
5. Go Mobile
Posterous also offers apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. These apps make it even easier to post photos and video on the go.
For example, the iPhone app lets you email a photo from within the Camera or Photos apps, and you can also email multiple photos to Posterous at once to create an image gallery. From within the Photo Library, click the “Share” icon in the lower left corner of the iPhone screen. Then select up to five photos. A checkmark will appear on photos you have selected. Then click “Share” in the lower left corner to email them to Posterous.
If you have an iPhone 3GS or later, you can also post video directly from the phone to Posterous. When viewing a video, just click “Share,” then email it to post@posterous.com. The video will get converted for the web and published to your site instantly.
Of course, since you can post to Posterous via email, you don’t really need to install an app to get going. Just send an email to post@posterous.com from your mobile device and attach photos, audio and video.
Series Supported by Global Strategic Management Institute
The Social Media 101 Series is sponsored by Global Strategic Management Institute, a leading source of knowledge for today’s leaders. Learn more by visiting GSMI’s website, liking it on Facebook and following it on Twitter.
More Marketing Resources from Mashable:
- HOW TO: Start Marketing on Foursquare
- HOW TO: Start Marketing on Gowalla
- The PR Pro’s Guide to Facebook
- How Barbie & Ken Were Reunited by Social Media
- How Converse Became the Biggest Little Sneaker Brand on Facebook
More About: blogging, how to, posterous, social media, Social Media 101 SeriesFor more Social Media coverage:Follow Mashable Social Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Social Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:33:41 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/-xQ8Lo_Ev84/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/03/posterous-start-guide/#comments
Posterous is a free blogging platform for people who want a simplified yet flexible way to create and maintain a blog. One of the key selling points for Posterous is that it allows you to send new posts to your Posterous blog via email, so you can easily update your site from any web-enabled mobile device. You can also connect Posterous with other sites like Facebook and Twitter, so that you can simultaneously send posts to all your social channels.
Posterous also aims to take “all the hard work” out of blogging by automatically formatting your post for optimal web viewing. If you send a photo, the site will resize and post it. Send a video, Posterous converts it for viewing on the web. Send a document, it gets embedded.
Here’s a step-by-step process for getting started.
1. Open an Account
There are two ways to get your Posterous blog up and running. The first way is to send an email to post@posterous.com that includes the title of your first blog post in the subject line and the content of the post in the body of the email. Within a few minutes, your first post will be live — it’s that simple. Once you receive a confirmation email from Posterous, you can click through to set up a username and password for your account and further customize the blog. Alternatively, you can go directly to posterous.com and create a username and password right from the home page.
Once you’ve got your username and password sorted, you can then proceed to the “Manage” screen, which will allow you to edit your profile, attach additional email addresses to your Posterous account, subscribe to other Posterous blogs, link your Posterous account to other online accounts, and create new posts without going through email.
2. Customize Your Blog
You can easily adjust your blog’s look and feel by changing the theme you’re using. Simply select “Edit theme” from the Settings section of the Manage page. Posterous currently has more than 40 free, built-in themes that you can use for your Posterous blog. Web developers can also adapt any of these themes with full HTML/CSS customization — you can also customize the color, the header and many other elements of your blog.
If you want to customize your domain, Posterous will take care of the domain name purchase for you, or you can point your Posterous blog to your existing custom domain.
3. Create and Post New Content
You can send a new blog post to Posterous at any time by sending an email to post@posterous.com. Create your new posts exactly as you did for your initial email — the email’s subject line will become your post title and any text or multimedia in the body of the email will appear in the Posterous post.
Here’s a quick video tutorial on how it works:
You can also easily post content to your blog by using the Posterous Bookmarklet. By dragging the “Share on Posterous” button to your bookmark bar, you will be able to select text, video, music or photos from any web page and post it instantly to your Posterous blog. To share text, simply highlight the content you want to share, then click on the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar. A pop-up window will show the post, which you can then edit and finalize for posting. To share videos or photos, click the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar, and a window will pop up that includes all the photos and videos on the page — select which of these you’d like to share, then edit and finalize your post.
4. Link other accounts to Posterous
By linking your other online accounts to Posterous, you can share your posts on several sites without having to go to these sites directly. To do this, go to the “Manage” screen and click on “Autopost to Everywhere.” Then follow the instructions for updating your account information for each of the web sites you want to post to.
Once you’ve completed this step, you’ll be able to post to these sites via email:
To post only to your Posterous blog, send an email to posterous@posterous.com
To post to all your linked sites, send an email to post@posterous.com
To post just to one linked site, send an email to the sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook@posterous.com will get your post up on Facebook as well as your Posterous blog)
To post to several linked sites at a time, send an email to sitename+sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook+twitter@posterous.com)
You can use the following service names to email to: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, blog, Blogger, Tumblr, YouTube, Vimeo, FriendFeed, Delicious, Laconica, Identica, LiveJournal, Plurk and Shopify.
5. Go Mobile
Posterous also offers apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. These apps make it even easier to post photos and video on the go.
For example, the iPhone app lets you email a photo from within the Camera or Photos apps, and you can also email multiple photos to Posterous at once to create an image gallery. From within the Photo Library, click the “Share” icon in the lower left corner of the iPhone screen. Then select up to five photos. A checkmark will appear on photos you have selected. Then click “Share” in the lower left corner to email them to Posterous.
If you have an iPhone 3GS or later, you can also post video directly from the phone to Posterous. When viewing a video, just click “Share,” then email it to post@posterous.com. The video will get converted for the web and published to your site instantly.
Of course, since you can post to Posterous via email, you don’t really need to install an app to get going. Just send an email to post@posterous.com from your mobile device and attach photos, audio and video.
Series Supported by Global Strategic Management Institute
The Social Media 101 Series is sponsored by Global Strategic Management Institute, a leading source of knowledge for today’s leaders. Learn more by visiting GSMI’s website, liking it on Facebook and following it on Twitter.
More Marketing Resources from Mashable:
- HOW TO: Start Marketing on Foursquare
- HOW TO: Start Marketing on Gowalla
- The PR Pro’s Guide to Facebook
- How Barbie & Ken Were Reunited by Social Media
- How Converse Became the Biggest Little Sneaker Brand on Facebook
More About: blogging, how to, posterous, social media, Social Media 101 SeriesFor more Social Media coverage:Follow Mashable Social Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Social Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:33:41 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/-xQ8Lo_Ev84/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/03/posterous-start-guide/#comments