13 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community

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• Create Your Facebook Page Today and See the Benefits Tomorrow
• Your Child’s Online Reputation is In Your Facebook Hands Starting Now!
• The Intangibles of Social Media
• Local SEO for Small Business – Get Ranked Locally!
• Why Google Hangouts Are Awesome
• Large Short Films Makes It Large On Social Media
• How Building a Reputation with Social Media Use is so Important?
• Why No One Cares About Your Rant
• Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Steps to Fab
• How Real Businesses Tripled Their Facebook Fans
• Old vs. New: The Evolution of the Term Social Marketing
• Be a Real Person on Twitter
• 35 Experts Weigh In: How We Create Influence on Facebook

Create Your Facebook Page Today and See the Benefits Tomorrow Posted: 07 Oct 2012 12:30 PM PDT If you are a small business owner, then you will be excited about the easy and exciting ways that you can build local and brand awareness with a Facebook business page. More and more people are using Facebook to find out about local businesses on all of their devices. There are a billion Facebook users and 425 million mobile users that rely on recommendations, reviews, and 'likes' and almost 3 billion new 'likes' are added each day. Stephanie Lichtenstein is the president and founder of Micro Media Marketing, a social marketing firm that helps businesses navigate the world of social media. She is also a frequent guest on affiliate marketer James Martell's podcast, Coffee Talk. She recently explained to Martell how Facebook is easy to integrate into a social media strategy, even if you have limited time and resources."Everyone you want to target as a client is there on Facebook," said Lichtenstein. She continued by saying that people are on Facebook for personal reasons, they are also there to interact with businesses. The key is to promote your Facebook business page inside your brick and mortar store. Then you can bring customers from the store to Facebook, retaining them and turning them into long-term brand loyal customers instead of having them disappear. Lichtenstein used the M Cycle Gym in Miami, a boutique fitness center as an example of a good social media plan. What does M Cycle Gym do that makes them so successful? They share daily updates. It doesn't have to take a lot of time to update your business page regularly. By creating a social media calendar and using a site like Hootsuite, you can outline your updates ahead of time, only adding additional updates when something new happens. They update the fitness schedules. If you run a business that relies on a schedule, then making it available to your clients on your business page makes it easy for them to stay on top of things. Lichtenstein said that when people see that there is a spin class about to begin, they are more likely to head over because it is something happening right then and there. They build an email list. M Cycle keeps track of people and their emails right from their business page. That allows them to build their list for marketing purposes and continue to keep people in the loop. They post their hours. Some small businesses keep varied hours. It is very helpful for a customer to be able to click on the business page to check what time the business is open without having to go to a separate website or call to check. They provide their address and telephone number. The business address and phone number can be entered on the 'About' section on the business page. Keeping all the contact information in one place makes it easy for the customer to stay in touch. They collect recommendations. M Cycle Gym provides a place for people to write their own personal recommendations. When Facebook users see that someone they know has recommended the gym, they are much more likely to join. Lichtenstein referred to a study that shows 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations over any other type of advertising. Having a number of recommendations also gives a business a good social standing. They have over 500 'likes' and lots of photos. M Cycle Gym so many 'likes' that it's clear that they are very active in their community. They update their photos regularly- always a good idea because people love to see themselves in pictures and are apt to share them with friends. They add trainer tips to their log. As an added feature, M Cycle Gym posts trainer tips on a regular basis. People love free tips and know they should keep up with the business page so that they don't miss anything. How much time do you need to put in? Staying on top of your Facebook business page doesn't have to take a lot of time. You can spend 30 minutes a day on a daily basis which includes updating your status and answering any questions that are asked on your page. When people see that you are active on your page and that you respond to people and have recommendations then they are more likely to visit your business. If you are concerned that you don't have enough time to spend on Facebook, then you might want to try a web based time tracking software program which can show you places in your schedule where you need better time management. You may find that it's easy to add Facebook into your schedule with time that is already there! Do you have a Facebook page that is benefiting your small business? What has worked for you and what has not worked? Share your small biz diamonds in the comments section below. Jennifer Koebele, MS Ed is a freelance writer who regularly benefits from time management suggestions found on http://goaboutbusiness.com/. Jennifer is a mom of three children living in Charlotte, NC. She became a huge sports fan in 2010 and follows NBA and NFL regularly. She also enjoys reading and pop culture. Image credit

Your Child’s Online Reputation is In Your Facebook Hands Starting Now! Posted: 07 Oct 2012 11:35 AM PDT We have all seen them…the videos, photos and social network status updates by frustrated parents. The story goes something like this: 1. The kid does something wrong. 2.Parent implements a consequence such as grounding, taking away car etc. 3. Parent vents on Facebook or Twitter. 4.Child vents on Facebook, Twitter, text and who knows where else! 5. Parent takes photo of messy room, wrecked car or mad teen. 6. Parent posts photo and/or another frustrated status update to Facebook. 7. Parent and child go about their life. They make up, forgive one another and forget about situation. 8. Parent does not update social network status that everything worked out great and that their child is now back to the perfect angel the Holiday cards will depict they are. So, what's the problem? So now you may asking "what is the problem and point of this post?" Why is it a problem to complain about your kids constantly? Isn't it part of life? Part of sharing everything you do, what's on your mind via Facebook? As I always say there is only one way to do social media. The way that works for you, your business and your life. I am going to share with you my opinion of why I think you should think twice before using social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to blast frustrations about your child. You can take them or leave them. My goal is that you will at minimum have an open mind, take them to heart if appropriate and maybe even use them to help your own child or someone close to you in your network. I have been concerned recently by many parents within my community. I am seeing a flurry of photos, rants, videos and more focused on bad teen behavior. Some parents are venting, digitally yelling and overall putting their child in a bad light. Often times they take over their teens Facebook page posting as if they are the teen. They are sending messages to their friends and the list goes on. I know kids who are getting bullied because of content their own parents have posted to Facebook. Where do you draw the line? So where does a parent draw the line? Where and when is it okay to publish content about your kids? I can't answer these questions for you in this post as I don't know you. We do help parents with these matters but it takes more than a post. We meet with them and help them uncover what is being said about their teen, who their teens are engaging with, how they are engaging, privacy settings and more. It takes more than a blog post for me to help you with what is appropriate to share with your community and what is not. I am also not a doctor, family counselor or psychiatrist. I can only offer advice based on my knowledge of living and breathing the online social world for many years. Why you should think twice about what you post to the social networks about your children: 1. You are your kids first online entry. For many their online reputation may start in their parents social networks. You have control of how their reputation is kicked off and nurtured. 2. Your kids are learning from your behavior. They are watching you closely. They know what you post to Facebook. They know if you spend all day gossiping in the neighborhood Facebook group or if you constantly complain via your status updates. You are teaching them as a role model how they should behave. 3. There are likely people who you are connected to via your social networks that have influence over their offline success, status or reputation. You may even be connected without knowing to school authorities or teachers, law enforcement, community leaders, potential or current employers and the list goes on. 4. You are making a lasting impact on all connected to you. Each post of a messy room, mean status update or video leaves a personal brand imprint. Your son or daughter may apply for a job with a leader in the community who saw a Facebook post from you complaining what a rotten child they were two years ago. What if that was the only time the hiring manager saw an update from you about your child? Chances are they are going to remember that post, particularly if they don't know your child personally. 5. What happens on Facebook goes to Twitter, neighborhood parties, school classrooms, and phone conversations. Nothing posted on a social network should be considered private, ever. I want to encourage parents to take an active and positive role in helping their kids to properly manage their online reputation. Don't be the person that teaches them online reputations don't matter. They do. Social media is real life. It is not fake. Social media can either be used as an opportunity to nurture and grow positive relationships or it can be used to destroy one another. Choose the first and teach your kids to do the same. 6 Proactive Reputation Management Tips for Parents: 1. You can say NO! You do NOT have to let your child on Facebook, Twitter or any social network for that matter. My oldest son is 12 and he is NOT on any adult social network. Yes, his friends are on Facebook. However, we have made the decision not to let him join any social network until there is a real need to do such. Chances are he will join Facebook with the launch of his new business before he does it only to connect with friends. He is currently enrolled in home based virtual school, is educated on social networks and understands how most of them work better than some of our clients do. He could probably teach a class on most of them. However, he also respects our decision. He has told us he is happy he is not addicted to Facebook like some of his friends are. 2. You can monitor. Do NOT feel guilty monitoring what your child is doing on the social networks. If you have a bad gut feeling then do a deep dive check on what is happening within their communities. Treat it the same way you would if something was going on offline. You wouldn't just ignore it if the problem was offline, right? So why ignore it because the conversation is online? 3. Educate yourself on the details of profile setup and privacy settings on Facebook. It is very easy for a teen to fool their parents into thinking they are seeing all of their updates on Facebook. By using the Facebook friend lists combined with privacy settings you can choose for each post who can see what post. You may think you are seeing every status update your teen is posting, but in reality are seeing only a small percentage. 4. Check that they do not have more than one profile. I have a good friend who found out her daughter had two Facebook profiles. An entire group of their friends each had two profiles. One that their parents could see and one that was uber secret private. Once she got into the private account she found out many things that were happening including experimenting with drugs and more. It was bad enough she pulled all of her kids out of public school and is home schooling them this year. This was coming from a mom who is very involved in her kids lives, a super user on Facebook and never thought she would be one to be fooled. It can happen to anyone folks! 5. Think twice before venting about your child. Just as you would do with a work email, take a deep breath and walk away from the keyboard. Before you type that rant post about your teen, think about it. What good is it going to do for anyone? Is it worth the risk to your child's reputation to vent at their cost? 6. Turn off & become a "Hands Free Family"! If you are getting so frustrated with your child online or offline, maybe it is time you all schedule time offline! A few months ago I was introduced to an amazing site called "Hands Free Mama". I took one read at the first few paragraphs and it changed my life. Since that time I am a proud #Handsfreemama and our family is a proud "Hands Free Family." We now spend baseball games, basketball games, nights out to dinner with phones put away. We don't tweet, Facebook or send texts unless necessary. We look our kids in the eye, listen to what they say and give them our full dedication during the time we are with them. I'll tell you, it has changed our relationships, family and life. If you are at all struggling with putting that new shiny iPhone away, take a stroll to www.handsfreemama.com. I hope that you too will join the revolution and challenge yourself and your family to do the same. Just a few weeks ago we had dinner with some family friends. One of the 12 yr olds had his phone with him. He was complaining of getting bullied at school and on Facebook. The entire time he had his head down in his phone. He missed the conversations, laughs and ability to connect with other adults and his friends. When we left the restaurant my son looked straight at me, hugged me and said "mom, I am so happy we are a hands free family." He and I both had tears ready to stream down our face. It is moments like those that will change your life and help your child grow. Be the inspiration they need to turn off the tech and turn up the real life relationships they so desparately need. We should look at our children's reputation the same we do for our own and for our business. Think before you tweet, post and pin regardless if it's about you, your business, or your kids. Inspire them to connect to grow and to achieve both online and offline. Inspire – connect – achieve! What You Say? What are your thoughts? What tips do you have for parents? Do you see a trend toward good or bad with parents impacting their child's reputation online? Have you dealt with this before? Are you ready to be the positive influence in the life of your kids, community and family? It starts with you!

The Intangibles of Social Media Posted: 07 Oct 2012 11:15 AM PDT This weekend I was watching football (Go Gators!) and the commentators were talking about a particular player and what he brought to the team. They talked about his touchdowns and rushing yards, and play making abilities. All the reasons you recruit a player. But then they started talking about his intangibles – what he brings to the team that doesn’t show up in his scouting report or post game stats. They talked about his work ethic, how he makes players want to come to practice and perform. They talked about his leadership abilities and how he rallies the team to work together. They talked about his energy and how he gets players hyped throughout the game. In social media, ROI is a sensitive issue. Social media is a relatively new and scary area for businesses to venture in to, and they’re all asking the same question: “Is it worth it? Will our investment pay off?”Do these things have an impact on the team and result in wins? Of course they do. But, you can’t find a stat for it. You can’t find a stat for every high-five or pre-game speech. Every player already has an incredible amount of talent, but maybe that extra focus in practice allows them to recognize a hole in the defense. Maybe that high five they received on the sidelines motivated them to push harder and get an extra yard for a first down. You can’t quantify those intangibles, you don’t recruit for those intangibles, but it’s those intangibles that help win games and develop a strong team. If I’m involved in creating any social media strategy or campaign, I make sure I have clearly laid out the results I want to see based on business objectives, and establish a way to measure those results. Like I’ve said before, social media ROI is not hard to measure. But, it’s also important to recognize all of the intangibles that derive from social media when used properly. You can’t measure the bond you develop with your customers through interacting with them. You can’t count every person that walks into your store as a result of your content, you can’t measure the private conversations your customers have online about your brand. But, all of these things and so many more work together to bring in business and revenue. I’m not saying you should invest in social media only for the intangibles. You would never recruit a football player based on his intangibles. But, when you’re working on your social media plan and tactics and measuring the results, keep in mind that those results – those post game stats – are just the tip of the iceberg if you’re using social media well.

Local SEO for Small Business – Get Ranked Locally! Posted: 07 Oct 2012 11:13 AM PDT Google’s recent Venice update back in March 2012 was a fundamental shift in how local listings are shown in search results. The change in Google’s policy makes it dramatically easier to rank for what were previously unattainable keywords in “universal” rankings. Local businesses now have a shot, if they can create a strong geographic footprint and create enough “local citations”. I fully cover this subject in my online SEO training class, but let’s dive right into how you can start ranking higher for local searches, with this local SEO checklist: Register with Google Places. This is probably the most important one. They’ll ask for your address and send you a postcard with a 4 digit code that you later confirm. Sign up for Yahoo Local. Yahoo’s process is fairly straightforward and quick. Create an account at Bing Local. Bing will also send you a postcard. Reserve your Yelp page with Yelp, this can be extremely beneficial in helping your ranking signal, especially after you get a number of legitimate reviews. Make a listing at Yellow Pages. In my opinion, YP is not as important as Google, Yahoo and Bing, but should still be done. Register with City Search. Again, another 2nd tier local listings site, but make sure to do it. Next, get listed on local key sites, based on your geographic location. Are you based in Richmond, Virginia? What are the local TV stations there? The local newspapers? Are you in Buenos Aires? What are the local forums, newspapers, message boards and local blogs? City-specific event boards? Every geo-location is going to be different for this one, but make sure you acquire a number of links that are very clearly designed for your location. Finally now that you’ve identified a number of places to acquire listings and links, you have to remember this one vital principle: Your listing must be consistent! What does that mean? You want your listing to appear the exact same across all listings. So if you are from Widget company at 123 main street, here’s how it should look: Widget Company 123 Main Street Anytown, USA 12345 555-555-5555 What you want to avoid at all costs, is inconsistency in your citations, so make sure you’re not putting “The Widget Company” … ” Widget Company Inc.” … “The Widget Co Anytown USA”. You want predictable, consistent listings on all of the previously mentioned websites. And that’s it! I recommend trying to get 5-15 local citations, depending on how competitive your vertical is. This should get you started on your path to better local listings for your small business. Enjoy!

Why Google Hangouts Are Awesome Posted: 07 Oct 2012 10:56 AM PDT Google Hangouts can be an awesome meeting tool (and that's what Google used them for in the first place). Apart from being a completely free option, readily available to anyone with a microphone and a webcam, and having neat options like screen sharing, and focusing on the person who's currently doing the talking, Google Hangouts are streamlined, integrate with your Google Calendar and Gmail, and if you have Google Apps, like we do here at MeetingKing – even better. You can even, should you want to, dress up the other participants as pirates, clowns and kings (I didn't say they were all GOOD features). But despite all these features you can't invite more than 10 people to a Google Hangout. Can't be done. Why? For the simple reason that Google's idea of an ideal meeting is 10 people. As Google VP of Business Operations Kristen Gil wrote, '…meetings should ideally consist of no more than 10 people'. Any bigger than that, and you lose the focus of the meeting. People who don't have anything to contribute will sit around the table, hopefully wasting just their own time (and not everyone else's, by asking irrelevant questions), people who do have something to contribute will get lost in the shuffle, and the meeting just won't be as effective as it can be. One of the biggest dangers when you set up a meeting, certainly one that requires that you come to a decision, is inviting too many people. The mistaken belief that the more people and opinions you hear, the better a decision you will reach, causes many a meeting to be nothing more than a long series of rambling discussions, without concrete decision or action being taken at the end. So next time you have a meeting to set up, and you find yourself inviting more and more people, use Google Hangouts. Why? Because with Google Hangouts you're limited to 10 people. That forces you to concentrate on inviting only the people who have a contribution to make, and who can really help move the meeting forwards, and help you reach a decision. And isn't that what it's all about, after all?

Large Short Films Makes It Large On Social Media Posted: 07 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT A review of the social media activities of Large Short Films, an initiative by eminent directors Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra and Chakri Toleti to create a platform for short films. Recently, I stumbled upon an ad on Facebook by Large Short Films – an endeavour to bring the magic of the large screen onto computers and mobiles with short 10 minute films. With a tempting copy, the ad enticed me to participate and win mugs autographed by Anurag Kashyap. Now I have to admit that Anurag is my favourite director, especially after the splendid revenge saga, GoW, so I wouldn't be in a minority here. About LSF Face Off! A click on the ad led me to a Facebook caption writing contest by LSF titled 'Face Off!' I had to 'like' the page as the contest is open to fans of LSF only. Face Off is a simple contest in a one page format. A picture, an empty text box and the 'Submit' button make up for a simple contest and certainly gets fans to let their creative juices flow! Although it has been designed well, it could have done with a little polishing though. However, there is a glitch in the manner of winner notification. As per the T&C document, it states that the Face Off winners will be notified through Facebook message or notifications, but this is against Facebook guidelines (see E vi). You cannot notify contest winners through Facebook messages, chat, timeline or Pages. Besides, I would have liked to see the previous list of winners and their winning captions in the app. This would have added to the excitement and encouraged fans to participate. Right now, it looks like a clever 'like' campaign. LSF on Facebook Later, I explored the Facebook page which now has more than 34,000 fans. I was pleasantly amazed to see a lot of activity, for a fairly new page – the LSF Facebook page was launched end July – but already boasts a flurry of activities. The cover page was exciting but the 'About' needs some more filling up. The content being shared is interesting and revolves around short films. The below screen grab gives a glimpse of one such content. It is encouraging to see that the content which is being shared, is aligned to the objective of creating awareness about short films. This also motivates fans to be a part of the discussions which can be seen from the various comments on the page. LSF on Twitter Large Short Films is excellent on Twitter. Apart from having a cool background image and a completed bio on its Twitter page, I was delighted to see that the content being shared isn't a copy of that on Facebook. The brand new handle is on the path to create a century with its next tweet and is already being followed by 90 people from related fields. Twitter, as a platform is an effective medium for one-to-one and one-to-many conversations and LSF seems to know that all too well. The content on the Twitter page reflects a conversational tone, unlike the regular Twitter pages which have become a dumping yard of links. The page is responsive, talks to people and almost makes you feel like you are talking to a human! LSF on YouTube Large Short Films has a brand channel on YouTube with 254 subscribers. The 43 videos uploaded till date has managed to receive a total of 81,673 views and are basically a treasure house of amazing short films while a few are about the brand voices talking. I liked the videos where each of the founding directors share about what they think makes a film large. In addition, LSF has also joined Google Plus with its brand page but hasn't shared anything yet. LSF also has a blog but now it is more or less dead. Wonder why have they killed the awesome blog and focussed on Facebook. Is it because of the large numbers or the easy engagement on Facebook. LSF is a great initiative to create awareness about short films that they are at the same level of big budget movies. Using social media to build the buzz around it and reaching out to the right audience is no more unique. However, the activities that are being carried on are good but it could have focussed on few networks rather than expanding everywhere. The challenge for such initiatives to continuously engage on social media would be noticed once the contest ends. For now it is interesting and I wish it carries further. What do you have to say about LSF and it's social media activities.

How Building a Reputation with Social Media Use is so Important? Posted: 07 Oct 2012 09:35 AM PDT Branding is one of the important components of Reputation buildingwhich is constantly at stake. One way to build a good reputation of one's business, site or themselves own is through the use of Social Media .For a company to have great revenues and sales it's a good method to increase it’s prominence online. With an effective social media marketing one can target specific audiences and communicate about their brand. Building of reputation through social media has to be done in a way that it potentially attracts more clients and a hold is established on the key issues. There should be social media sharing through one website. There should be coverage of most of the popular social media sites as users can have accounts on any of them. So to utilize social media effectively for one reputation building below mentioned points could help. A blog should be created for maximum effectiveness. The information on the blog should be relevant and well written. People think that it's setting up of blog and posting information won't help, but it's not the fact .If one starts associating their client and users with their blog, then it can really help in promoting the reputation of any product or services. One should try to highlight the key points, benefit and profits of the company or product. One should create an online identity by creating profiles and linking it to your own site or blog. There are options on many social media sites to have expandable profiles like Twitter, one can use these services in promotion of new product, offers, schemes blog posts, news and development plans. These are some of the best methods to build and gain popularity of your product and services One should be active and constantly in uploading the blog posts. Most people create a blog, post some information and then disappear. One should keep an in charge for handling the information to be posted on the blogs on a regular basis. Also interact with the users who read your blog by answering their queries and replying to their comments and concerns .This will help in building an overall reputation. Many a times social media sites create complains about the service or product being offered by the company One should try to face it and don't let it go unaddressed .Complaints should be addressed head on and in open .If things will be transparent and clear the potential client and customers will also understand that, one really is concerned about the issue or complaint that arises.  The importance of social media is also because it is a medium through which people can obtain information fast and in short span .Adequate information about the company, product or services should be shared without unnecessary blurring of information. The information should be of interest to the customer's .It will help in making a trustworthy reputation. Social media is really helpful in maintaining and building one’s reputation. But one should not fall into the trap of setting and then forgetting one account , or posting something that can do and irreparable damage to one's reputation and brand.

Why No One Cares About Your Rant Posted: 07 Oct 2012 09:30 AM PDT Sure, everyone has a bad day every now and then but there are some who seem to be in continual rant mode. Brilliant articles are crafted by a writers who are expressing their frustration or anger but constant rant mode sucks. Passionate writing brings real emotions and a new level of writing when the words fly off the fingers on onto the screen. However, a continual stream of this type of content is not healthy and just plain negative. Negative moods transfer easily and who wants to absorb or spread that? There are a few people who can pull off a good rant, for example Olivier Blanchard, but this is interspersed with quality content, clearly not all that he does. These types of posts do lead to great comment threads but also bring out negativity as well. You need some serious cahones to battle the fools in the comments as Marc Ensign did recently on a post. Olivier's How to suck at social media: 101 level course Marc's 12 Most Offensive Phrases You Could Use in Your Business 244 comments including this foolish comment "pretty gay post. get on with life.. if you have one, that is. (remember, i'm doing you a favor)" Punctuation and grammar, or lack thereof, typical of this type of comment, interesting, no? I'd like to offer a few tips to deal with people who try to push our buttons. "When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice, and motivated by pride and vanity." – Dale Carnegie "Everybody has a hot button. Who is pushing yours? While you probably cannot control that person, you CAN control the way you react to them." – Unknown "I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to." – Unknown Here are a few resources to look at what is behind the chronic complainers and ranters behavior. The Survival Guide for Dealing With Chronic Complainers "The constant negativity issuing forth from chronic complainers presents a huge challenge for those around them. Trying to remain positive, motivated and productive amid a constant stream of complaints and dissatisfaction can try anyone's patience. Trying to be helpful will always backfire. Nothing makes chronic complainers happier, than being more miserable than their friends." This post has three essential survival tips for dealing with chronic complainers. Internet Trolls: The Psychology Between the Rants Jerks of the Web "Scammers, stalkers, online antagonists ready to pick a fight, folks who are just plain mean–what is it about the Web that turns people into jerks?" It Takes A Village Idiot: The Jerks of Online Forums While we can't change other people's behavior, we can choose how and if we react to such people. Sure, people love watching a train wreck, but make sure you protect your own social presence and maintain your course. I would put a rant in the fats and oils pyramid of your content chart: use sparingly unless you want to look like a numpty. (Hat tip to Jason Konopinski for the fab new word.) From Danny Brown, "Don't sacrifice what made you great by attaching it to the mundane. Be great the way you aspired to be great." Don't let those negative vibes throw off your day. Be strong! What do you think about rants? Do you ignore them? Jump in the comments or just scratch your head?

Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Steps to Fab Posted: 07 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT Is your business' Facebook fan page not getting as much engagement as you'd hoped? Maybe you haven't dedicated enough time to building it properly or you haven't kept up with day-to-day interaction like you should. Either way, here are five tips that'll have your Facebook fan page reaching fabulous status in no time at all! Step 1: Invest in a Professional Cover Photo Not sure what to do with your cover photo? Think creative, eye-catching, and unique. Your cover photo is an opportunity to stand out and make Facebook users want to 'like' your page. If you're lacking graphic design skills, consider hiring someone who can create a professional cover photo that will make your business look credible and impressive to your target audience. Step 2: Fill Out Your Business' Profile If you haven't completely filled out your fan page's profile yet, this should be one of your top priorities. This step is often overlooked during the initial setup of a page, but it's one of the easiest and most important to complete. Enter in your business description, phone number, website, hours of operation, directions, and anything else you think your customers might want to know. Ignoring this step will make your page look unfinished and could possibly turn prospective customers off to your brand. Step 3: Add Photos to Your Facebook Fan Page Don't forget that photos are a great way to engage your target audience. You can create albums for past work you've done or events you've held, current on-the-job photos, any items you have for sale, and much more. Facebook has made uploading photos extremely easy, so you will be able to do this, on a daily basis even, without taking much time out of your day. Step 4: Post and Share Content Regularly Once you have your fan page looking nice and pretty, it's time to start posting on it throughout each day to engage your followers. If you aren't posting on it regularly, your followers may forget about your brand and possibly even delete you from their pages, undermining your hard work. Don't let this happen! Instead, spend a little time each morning finding interesting stories and articles online that you think your target audience would enjoy. Breaking news, images, and engaging your fans with questions works well. You can also share content you've written from your own blog (if you have one). Step 5: Don't Forget the Extras! Facebook allows you to modify your fan page through various applications. Choose an interactive element like a Facebook contest, or give your customers a way to review your products directly on your Timeline, or even let them purchase a gift card to your store that can be given to your recipient directly through Facebook. There are many creative things you can do with apps, but hiring someone with technical skills to do it for you might be necessary if you need a little extra help or want to create your own app. To get more fans, you may also want to think about running Facebook ads. To increase engagement, Facebook lets you easily create your own surveys through a built-in feature on your page. Facebook fan pages can be a great place to promote your business, as well as an opportunity to really get to know your target market. If you take the time to grow your page and keep up with regular posting, your work should pay off in the form of new fans and daily engagement. But if you still need a little more help with your Facebook fan page, don't worry, we've got you covered! Download our free e-book: Facebook Timeline Basics today! Share your thoughts: What do you think is the best way to grow Facebook fan pages?  Image courtesy of Flickr by Laguna IT

How Real Businesses Tripled Their Facebook Fans Posted: 07 Oct 2012 07:30 AM PDT Boring or unimaginative advertising doesn’t go far on Facebook anymore. I’m pretty sure even inbound marketers can occasionally identify with business writer Jim Edwards who famously wrote “sure, I like your brand page. Now leave me alone.” Getting noticed online, whether you’re talking about a business blog or major social media networks, is really about producing material that’s interesting enough to be shared and discussed offline. You’ve really got three options. You can build a following by introducing humor or otherwise loveable content or slowly generate a reputation for sterling customer service, like Zappos. Or, you could go the direct route and triple your Facebook fans in a single weekend by doing something irresistible or just plain nutty. We’ve gathered some real-life examples of social media rock stars and a few other companies who ended up with a little more than they bargained for: 1. Offer Incentive Lenny’s Sub Shop, a Memphis-based Sandwich chain tripled their Facebook fans in two days, increasing from 11,000 to 34,000. There were no paid advertisements or Google Ad Words campaigns involved, just a pretty sweet incentive: a coupon for a free, half-pound sandwich for all new and existing fans who liked their page over a 7-day period. It was a risky maneuver, but they weren’t too worried about losing money. President Brent Alvord was confident that first-time guests of the chain would be converted into regular customers. Besides, chances were high they’d also purchase chips and a drink when they visited or even bring a friend without a coupon. The move was bold and probably a little scary, but it definitely worked: a year after the promotion, Lenny’s has nearly 90,000 Facebook fans and offers a new coupon every Wednesday! Several years ago Jack and the Box ran an “October Rich Fan sweepstakes,” where they offered to pay a nickel per fan to a randomly-selected winner at the end of the month. The fan count shot from 40,000 to 230,000 by the time a lucky winner was awarded $11,500. That’s a lot of nickels! 2. Spotlight Your Kindness While national department store chain Kohl’s is a large corporation, the ingenuity surrounding their 2010 Facebook contest for charity can yield a lot of inspiration for small and medium-sized brands. The department store offered $10 million for not-for-profit schools nationwide, with $500 thousand as prize winnings for the 20 schools who were able to generate the most “likes” and votes. The winning schools each earned more than 100,000 votes and the total number of Facebook fans quickly exceeded a million. The contest was a home run because it brought a flood of positive attention to the brand’s outreach efforts. Two years later, they have nearly 10 million Facebook fans and a high engagement rate. 3. Be Really Weird So your brand can’t afford to put $10 million up for grabs, even for a great cause? Maybe what you need is something that no one’s ever done before. Being really original can help you generate buzz and earn likes. A little-known example of Facebook brilliance comes by way of Pinacoteca de Estado, a fine arts museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil. When faced with the need to close a floor of their massive building for an entire year, they introduced a robot cat attached to a live web camera. For a week, they allowed Facebook fans to spend 3 minutes controlling the electronic beast and catch a peek into the renovation. Over 10,000 participated and many more watched. 4. Don’t be disingenuous Remember, there’s a difference between putting a human-like face behind your company and masquerading as a human. Shock rippled through South America when a young Columbian man announced on Facebook he was giving away all of his worldly possessions. Lines formed, and it turned out it was all a ploy by local hardware store Homecenter Sodimac. While it certainly got people talking about the brand and earned some social media attention, it wasn’t all positive by any means. 5. Don’t Ignore Possibilities There’s more than a few examples of big brands who suffered social media embarrassment, but few Americans have heard of a little-known Volkswagen incident that happened overseas. When Volkswagen Quicar, a car-sharing service was introduced to the town of Hannover, Germany, fans were invited to share messages on the Facebook page which were broadcast to hundreds of electronic screens throughout the city. It didn’t take people long to figure out the messages weren’t filtered before broadcast. The enthusiastic surge of likes and commentary from trolls worldwide wasn’t the sort of fans Volkswagen was hoping to earn. 6. Be Honest There’s another way that thousands of brands have experienced a boom of followers overnight without even having to craft a really innovative campaign. Buying fake followers has become an epidemic, and Facebook said about 24 hours ago that enough is enough. Back in August, buying fake likes became a violation of the terms of service. Early October 1st, the social media king began deleting these fake accounts in droves. There’s an estimated 83 million fake accounts currently on Facebook and some major brands have already lost nearly 100 thousand followers in the beginning stages of the great clean-up. While it’s still technically possible to buy fake likes for as low of a cost as $0.10 each, the option won’t exist much longer and it might even get your company banned from the biggest social media network in the future. How Does Your Brand Build Facebook Fans and Engagement?

Old vs. New: The Evolution of the Term Social Marketing Posted: 07 Oct 2012 05:30 AM PDT As many of you know, Marketo just released our brand new Definitive Guide to Social Marketing, which touches on everything a modern marketer needs to know about creating a comprehensive social strategy. Back in 2010, we released the Definitive Guide to B2B Social Media. As trends in the social media space change so rapidly, when we sat down to create the new version, we decided to re-name it The Definitive Guide to Social Marketing, as the term "social marketing" fit with the holistic strategy that we discuss in the guide. Social media just seemed like too narrow of a term, more of a channel or a tactic, and social media needs to be viewed as much broader than just posting on Facebook or Twitter. Since publishing, there have been inquiries about the actual definition of the term "social marketing", and I thought I would take a minute to open the discussion and explain how we believe social marketing is applicable to the increasingly social world that we marketers find ourselves in. Kotler's Definition of Social Marketing The original definition of social marketing was coined in the 1970s by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman to describe a marketing technique seeking "to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit society". An example of this might be an anti-tobacco campaign or health services. This definition of social marketing was originally actualized before the term "social" applied to marketing in a technological sense, and it is still used today by many to describe this particular facet of marketing. The Evolution of the Term Social Marketing Over time, as social channels have become paramount to every marketer's toolkit, the term social marketing has taken on a new meaning that has been widely adopted and accepted within the modern marketing world. At Marketo, we define social marketing as the strategy of including social channels in every aspect of your marketing. In our guide we state "social is more than just a channel or a tactic, it is a strategy that has to be present in every aspect of your marketing". In this case, social marketing refers to the the practice of infusing your entire marketing strategy with social elements. We believe that the term social media marketing just isn't accurate to how marketers should be using social channels in their marketing. To define what a social strategy strictly in the terms of social media is quite limiting. So, who else is using social marketing in this way? Mashable uses it in a recent article titled How to Choose the Right Social Marketing Platform, Awareness Inc put out a recent study called 2012 Social Marketing & New Media Predictions featuring insights on social from 34 business and b2b marketing leaders, and when you search for social marketing in Amazon you will find a mix of content that focuses social media in addition to the traditional definition of the term. Also, there are a slew of applications popping up that call themselves Social Marketing Platforms, such as Extole, Vitrue, and Wildfire. And this is only to name a few examples. Clearly, the new definition of social marketing has taken hold. It seems that many companies and marketers have taken the traditional term of social marketing and have begun evolving it to fit a concept that far surpasses the idea of social media marketing. But, can the two definitions of social marketing exist simultaneously? I believe that they can. It is clear that the Kotler definition of social marketing for the inducing social change still is widely used in the sphere of marketing health communities. However, as the definition of marketing itself has changed over the years, the definition of social marketing has also begun to shift. And this new definition has become widely accepted as part of the marketing tech revolution that we all find ourselves in. Do you think that the definition of social marketing will continue to evolve over time? We would love to hear your thoughts!

Be a Real Person on Twitter Posted: 07 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT If you want to connect with the best people on Twitter, you need to be as real and as transparent as you can. Here are some ways you can make that happen. Make sure you use your name as your Twitter Name or Profile or better yet, both. There are a number of people who have a cute Twitter Name and do not offer their real name. I am very leary of these people. Are they trying to be someone else that they are not? Are they afraid someone will be onto them for one reason or another? When a person's profile name matches their twitter handle – It shows me they stand behind who they are. Also, have a profile picture of yourself. – People liked to put a name with a face. It's just natural Talk directly to people Call people out on twitter in a good way. Send direct messages to people on a more personal level Acknowledge people by using a reply once in awhile instead of an RT Don't live your life on twitter. It's great to be positive, but if that is all you do online, it makes me wonder if you are living a second-life on twitter Don't tell us all of your pains every day either. Who wants to connect with people who pull you down. Create a balance to show you are real. You don't have to live every part of your life on twitter. Have a life away from twitter. Taking weekends off is ok. It shows you have a life. Twitter Spammers – I call these people social media spammers. All they do is broadcast. Always repeat other people's ideas These People never take the time to listen to others All of their tweets are scheduled and they usually post 3 or more at the same time. Finally and most important – Have some fun! Find creative ways to get your message across to people Share some pictures on Twitter Share some posts from your blog Ask questions? Be Different – Stand out from the crowd photo credit: JPott via photopin cc

35 Experts Weigh In: How We Create Influence on Facebook Posted: 07 Oct 2012 04:00 AM PDT In the "real world," a person might have power and influence through their position on an organizational chart or through some elected position. But on the Internet, we HATE rules. We HATE structure. And we sure don't need any org chart. And yet, people do become influential on the Internet don't they? I've written quite a bit about the special opportunity we all have to create influence through our content. But beyond content, I was interested to know what people thought it took to gain influence on the social web. So I asked a few of my friends … What do you think it takes to become powerful on Facebook? I think you'll enjoy their answers: Be Useful JAY BAER, President, Convince & Convert: "Be a Youtility. Facebook forces companies and people to compete for attention pixel-by-pixel. That's unprecedented. You can have all the cute cats and cool photos you want, but ultimately usefulness and relevancy are the keys to success." RANDY GAGE, Author, Risky Is the New Safe: "Influence comes from value – creating a FB community that brings value to the people who participate there." IAN CLEARY, CEO, Discover Buddy: "Creating influence on Facebook involves identifying your niche and building a personal and meaningful relationship with existing influencers, helping them grow their influence and not expecting anything in return." JASON FALLS, CEO, Social Media Explorer: "Be consistently useful. Isn't that the key to influence anywhere?" Be Visual C. C. CHAPMAN, Author, Amazing Things Will Happen: "Share visual items that instantly create an emotional response from the viewer so that they feel compelled to like, comment or share immediately." KERRY GORGONE, Course Director, Internet Marketing at Full Sail University: "Include a photo with every post or, better yet, several. One study indicated that posts with multiple photos increased engagement 1290%!" BERNADETTE JIWA, of Striking Truths: "I think one of the things that's overlooked about FB is that you don't have to have a huge presence there yourself to drive 'traffic' back to your blog. We create outstanding visual images that people like to share on Facebook, driving traffic back to our own website." Be Generous LIZ STRAUSS, Founder and Owner, SOBCon, Successful-Blog.com: "Help other people be visible and valued. When you find something great and valuable, don't just "like" what you see. Tell the people who made it why you like it and pass it on. Share great work and help the people who created it grow. Do that often and with pleasure. You'll attract generous, powerful people who value great work." BILLY MITCHELL, President, MLT Creative: "If anyone you'd like to do business with takes a second to like you (and your business) on Facebook, don't blow it. Annoy your new friends with hype and you're history." DJ WALDOW, Founder and CEO, Waldow Social: "In order to create power and influence, it's imperative to speak like a human, to be helpful, and to share knowledge with others." MARGIE CLAYMAN, Director, Client Development, Clayman Advertising, Inc.: "Instead of worrying about creating content, prioritize sharing and commenting on the content others create." JENNIFER KANE, Principal, Kane Consulting: "Proactively and strategically build your network, and then lavish those people with attention and empathy so that each one feels like the star of their online life — which seems to naturally compel people to want to make you the star of yours, in return." Be Real SHELLY KRAMER, Founder and CEO, V3 Integrated Marketing: "Just. Be. Human. And to me, being human means being a trusted resource, as well as being interesting, funny, compassionate, interested in others, supportive, informative, helpful, appreciative, etc. You get my drift. And this is where so many people go wrong. They try to do something different online than they do in person. But the brands, large and small, who are successfully using Facebook to connect with their customers are doing just this. They are being human." SHONALI BURKE, Vice President, Digital Media and Marketing, MSL Washington, D.C.: "If you know who you're talking to, you'll know how likely they are to respond when you ask them for/to do something. So get to know your audience; if it worked for Edward Bernays, it'll work for you." STEVE FARNSWORTH, of The @Steveology Blog: "Have a distinct, candid, and thoughtful opinion/point of view, and be transparent on your reasoning for it. However, if you're presented with new information that changes that opinion, openly admit your new position and why you changed it." SEAN MCGINNIS, Founder, 312 Digital: "Treat Facebook as a channel where you conduct thousands of one on one conversations. Real influence is built one person at a time." GLEN GILMORE, Principal, Gilmore Business Network: "Sow influence on Facebook the same way you would in "real life": show that you care, that you can be trusted, that you listen and share — and that you are a leader both in what you say and do." Be Surprising MARISSA PEACOCK, Chief Strategist, The Strategic Peacock: "In order to create power and influence on Facebook, it's essential to provide fans with an experience that they can't get from any other company touchpoint — not from your website, or Twitter, or Pinterest. A successful FB page creates a value-added bonus that gives fans a reason to stay connected and engaged. " ELIZABETH SOSNOW, Managing Director, Bliss Integrated Communication: "To gain influence on Facebook, create an emotional narrative arc that can be broken down into daily mini-stories. Structure your stories so they satisfy at least one of these four filters: surprise, humor, excitement and inspiration." JESSICA NORTHEY, Digital Host and Strategist, FingerCandyMedia.com: "No matter what you think, YOU will not be relevant and/or liked by EVERYBODY so shoot straight from the hip, get to know and learn about YOUR audience, find out what is important to THEM and never ever ever be boring." JAYME SOULATI,, PR and marketing strategist: "Facebook requires filters to target the audience with whom you want to engage. Much like LinkedIn groups, creating specialized communities, or better yet, joining them, provides more powerful relationship building with those who have the same/similar objective. Use those groups to show authority and balance that with smart questions, too. " JOHN BUSCALL, Communications Consultant, Jontus Media: "Surprise your audience with something different. Familiarity can breed contempt." BILL STRAWDERMAN, "The Marketing Bard" and Executive Director, AT&T Digital Marketing and Social Media: "Serve at the pleasure of friends, Inspired by what your care lends. In the kitchen of minds, Your ideas further bind The weak ties – which grow strong in the end." Be Consistent LEO WIDRICH, Co-Founder, Buffer: "There is one key thing we have seen from our data analyzing 1 million Facebook updates: Whenever the frequency of daily postings goes over 5 posts per day, the reach and engagement drops significantly. The best results were achieved with 2 daily updates, one being around 11am for the most important timezone your fans are in and another posting being at 5pm." NATE RIGGS, of Social Business Strategies: "Lots of bigger companies who are building and managing fan pages stop responding after 5 pm. This is dumb. To create real influence on Facebook, community managers need to be present when the fans are ready to talk. Influence is created when you can solve a problem or answer a question when it happens." NAVEEN KRISHNAMURTHY, CEO, RIVA Solutions, Inc: "The key to creating power and influence on Facebook is to have a consistent message over longer period of time that is infectious to the targeted community. Thus the audience wants to move past window shopping and open the door and come in!" GREGORY POUY, European blogger and digital strategist: "Focus on one subject/community that is relevant to your company and to create and give useful content for these people, respecting their own code, meeting them in the real life as often as possible and to take time, not expecting a short term financial ROI." KATHI CRUZE, Automotive Social Media marketing consultant at Kruse Control: "Know what your customer wants and give it to 'em." Engage Thoughtfully MICHAEL A. STELZNER, CEO and Founder, Social Media Examiner: "If you want to have raving fans on Facebook, simply reply when they post on your Facebook wall. You'd be surprised how far a human response goes in building brand loyalty." MITCH JOEL, President, Twist Image-Blogger, Podcaster, Author, Six Pixels of Separation: "Let keep this short and succinct: instead of getting people to "like" you, why not go out and "like" people? It's radical I know, but it's true. Power and influence won't come from the amount of people who like you. Power and influence will come from being real with the people you're truly interested in connecting with." TOM WEBSTER, Vice President, Strategy, Edison Research: "*Ask* your Facebook followers what kinds of content they would expect/need to see from your company (or your vertical/industry) in the future on Facebook, reward them for answering, and then do that thing." DANNY INY, The Freddy Kreuger of Blogging: "The key to success with Facebook is investment; giving the people you want to reach repeated opportunities to engage in a way that is fun, and habit-forming." ROBERT ROSE, Strategist in Residence, Content Marketing Institute: "In my work with brands on both the B2C and B2B side, "active listening" is one of the keys to success on Facebook. Too many brands treat the platform as a publishing platform. And, it's not just monitor/response. That, frankly, is just "hearing". Active Listening is consciously hearing, understanding and responding in a way that communicates to the person that they are actually being heard." GINI DIETRICH, Founder and CEO, Arment Dietrich: "Ask questions! People LOVE to talk about themselves so if you ask them questions, you'll find some serious engagement. The questions can range from "what's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish" to fill in the blank questions. For instance, on our page, we recently asked, "The most overlooked marketing tactic is… " and "What was the best thing that happened to you this weekend?" While not everything we ask is business-related, it definitely keeps us top-of-mind with our clients, prospects, and candidates." Wow. Some great ideas here! Many thanks to these friends who contributed so generously to this project! I conducted these interviews as part of my research for the upcoming Facebook Marketing Success Summit. If you'd like to hear the presentation as well as insights from marketing stars such as Mari Smith, Dave Kerpen and Amy Porterfield, click on the link and check it out. Should be awesome. What intrigues you about the insights in this post? Do you agree? What would you add? Illustration courtesy Bigstock.com Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, author and college educator who blogs at {grow}. You can also follow him on Twitter: @markwschaefer.

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