Using Social Media – Facebook and Twitter – in a way that makes sense with how they work inherently
I have dual monitors so I tend to work with my current task on one and then have CNN or HuffPo or something business related on the other — ready to be read while I sit and wait for poor Freddie, my desktop, to grins along.
I was reading an interview with Candace Nelson, one of the chef/bakers behind the concept of the *Cupcakery*
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/05/17/under-wrappers-secrets-behind-a-cult-cupcake/?hpt=Sbin
It was a fascinating read… but the REAL gold was this quote:
How did you create the idea of a “whisper word?” [A word on Twitter and Facebook that is the “secret key” to daily free cupcakes.]
“Part of the idea is that we run a cupcake shop, so it needs to be fun and playful. We are fortunate that we have a good enough business that we can do stuff like that and charitable initiatives. It’s part of us following our passion versus what we were doing before, which was finance.”
The operative concept here is:
“whisper word?” – A word on Twitter and Facebook that
is the “secret key” to daily free cupcakes.
This is an excellent example of using the inherent properties of Social Media vehicles, such as Twitter and Facebook… using them to do what they (and their millions of users) do and build on how they interact.
Certainly EVERY restaurant should be using tactics like this… but I also think that many independent brick and mortar retailers could also be using this in a similar way… not necessarily to give away or discount, but, for example, to announce new deliveries, especially on items available in limited quantities!
How can you use a *Whisper Word* in YOUR business?
Sharing the Road to Success!
Tink
Facebook Fan Pages – Key to Social Media Marketing
The phrase Social Media is everywhere these days, and if you are like me, you may be a bit unclear about what it actually is… the infamous phrase *I’ll know it when I see it* comes immediately to my mind!
I went looking online for a short, easy to understand definition and found this analogy…
Think of regular media as a one-way street where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, however, you have very a limited ability to share your thoughts on the matter.
Social media, on the other hand, is an active two-way street that gives you the ability to communicate and respond.
As the internet develops and evolves, the various Social Media websites are also growing and changing. Several years ago, MySpace was the place to be but it is now, generally, considered to be on the wane. Likewise, on MySpace, 33% of its users are aged 17 or less.
Ravalry is a relatively new, large community based around knitting with over 1,200,000 registered users. As you would expect, its membership is primarily female and the average member age is not available.
Facebook provides this information about its users:
- More than 500 million active users (I recently saw the number 600 million, but it hasn’t been changed yet, on the Facebook site)
- 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- Average user has 130 friends
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
As you can see, each Social Media site appeals to and has a different user base than any other site.
One of the powerful considerations about using a Social Media web site is the fact that most of them provide a level playing field when it comes to small business owners vs the big boys. For instance, you can build a Facebook Fan page for your offline business and so can a major automobile manufacturer. Within those Facebook Fan pages, both you and the multi billion dollar car maker have the same tools and resources. On Twitter, as another example, both you and the big companies are limited to 140 characters per tweet. They can’t buy more characters and blast you out of the competition.
When considering which Social Media site to use with Social Media Marketing, you should consider the site’s membership but you should also evaluate its culture and how the members interact. It is important that any Social Media site have a population whose interests are in line with your goals and, also, that it have a structure and pattern of interaction that is compatible with your objectives.
In addition, you must keep in mind that things change on the Internet, sometimes at breakneck speed. As an example, between March 2011 and May 2011, Facebook implemented some major changes which changed the whole landscape of using it for business. Suddenly, controlling the content on a business Fan Page and using product images to build a brand became game changers… for those who knew how to do it!
While a particular Social Media site may be a good fit now, be aware that it may not always be a successful marketing vehicle for you! Monitor the efficacy of any Social Media site you are using AND also keep an eye out for the next big thing!
With all of that in mind, at the current time, I consider Facebook and Twitter to be the Social Media sites most likely to be compatible with the majority of offline businesses and their needs.
In this article I am going to briefly cover Facebook, its structure as it pertains to Social Media Marketing, discuss some of the pitfalls, and propose some strategies appropriate to it.
Facebook Marketing for Small Business
Facebook’s membership has exploded and is currently greater than 500 million, according to its own website.
It originally began as a way for college students to keep in touch with fellow students. As a result of that, the basic Facebook community seems to start from an academic basis, joining students and former students with friendship circles widening out from there. If you are like me, you will be shocked at how many members from your high school class seem to appear out of nowhere!
As part of the Facebook mechanism, possible Friends are suggested to you, based on Friends that you and the other person have in common. While you can do searches, it is hard to find and befriend a person that Facebook doesn’t think you should know. On the other hand, Facebook makes suggestions that will extend your network, based simply on friends you may have in common with someone.
Another important mechanism is the Facebook Like option, which now can be extended beyond Facebook Profile pages and Facebook Fan Pages and out into the web at large.
A third and exceedingly important Facebook mechanism is the ability to link between websites, Facebook Fan Pages, and Twitter accounts. This can be done with a variety of website creation software options. At the moment, I am encouraging my clients to use the blogging software, WordPress, for non blog websites.
With WordPress as your website management system, once you have signed up for the Networked Blogs Facebook App(lication), you can set your website to show any changes on your Facebook Fan Page and your Twitter account. Your Twitter Account can be set to show Facebook Fan Page Comments along with Posts from your WordPress website. In addition, your Tweets will be displayed on your Facebook Fan Page and your website.
Now, I know that the previous paragraph was confusing so let me give you the abridged edition! In my example, you have three web presences for your business – A Facebook Fan Page, a website built with WordPress, and a Twitter account. Any Post made on one of those three sites will automatically appear on the other two sites.
This is VERY powerful and is a REAL time and energy saver IF you take the time to plan your web marketing strategies with this capacity in mind!
With the potential of getting a three to one benefit from any of your Social Networking posts, as described above, let me go a bit deeper into the opportunities afforded to an offline business by having a Facebook Fan Page.
NOTE – It is important to understand that while a Facebook Fan Page can be considered a potential web site replacement, it offers long term hazards that, in my opinion, are not worth the risk.
Building your business’s primary web presence on a third party web site is taking the time, effort, and money to build a nice new house on land that you DO NOT OWN! You might be OK in the short term, but later down the road, you may lose you house, simply because you do not own the land.
While you may decide that it is efficient to start with a Facebook Fan Page, you should also plan to build your own website ASAP! As a business owner, you should be careful to own and control as many of your business assets as possible.
With that warning out of the way, before utilizing any Social Media site for your Social Media Marketing, take the time to read the site’s ToS or Terms of Service. Do NOT assume that you know what is allowed and what is not.
As an example, you may have multiple Twitter accounts, but each account must be tied to a different email address. Any email address can have only ONE Twitter account.
With Facebook, any human is allowed ONLY ONE ACCOUNT! This means that any Facebook Fan Pages built for any businesses will be offshoots of your primary, personal Facebook account.
If for some reason, you do not want a Facebook Fan Page to be obviously tied to your personal account, you can set the Privacy setting to obscure the connection. In the case of most offline businesses, this would not be a concern. However, I have a number of online businesses, some of which I am open about and others that I have chosen to run from behind the scenes. There is nothing questionable about doing this, I just prefer to keep the connection quiet to minimize others copying my business model. However, ALL of my business Facebook Fan Pages are offshoots of my SINGLE personal Facebook account.
Part of the evolution of the Facebook Culture is that, in most instances, it is considered appropriate to ask other members to share with their Friends about your Facebook Fan Page or your new post or any of a number of other Facebook interactions. This is markedly different from other websites and their culture, and as a business owner, it is a powerful tool.
It is perfectly OK to ask others to LIKE your Facebook Fan Page. In fact, this can be an important traffic builder for your Facebook Fan Page!
Another online marketing benefit offered by Facebook is the option to use their Pay Per Click advertising. In the Facebook universe these are known as Facebook Ads — which seems obvious, but online, things are not always obvious!
Last night, I was on a call with one of my consulting clients and she mentioned that she had just gotten a $100 voucher for Google Adwords. She wanted to know if this would be worthwhile. I said that I thought that using Facebook, creating a Facebook Fan Page for her business, and spending her limited budget on Facebook ads would be a better use of her resources, even considering her $100 Adwords voucher.
I explained it to her this way:
Google Adwords and Facebooks Ads are Pay Per Click … each ad is shown (this is called an impression) and you pay when someone actually click on the ad.
While the mechanism for figuring ad payments is the same (PPC or Pay Per Click) the basis for showing an ad differs drastically between Google Adwords and Facebook.
On the surface, the ads themselves are similar. While they may or may not have a picture included, the text or content of the ad is short and presented in plain and simple text. Ads are displayed off the side in vertical stacks or within the body of the page’s content. For the most part, these ads are subtle and unobtrusive.
However, the Ad Display Criteria is where the biggest differences lie.
In Google, Adwords are shown on the pages generated with Search Results as well as on website pages related to the Ad’s specified search term. This means that Google Adwords are displayed using a mechanism of which terms are being used in online searches. As AdWords have developed, in some instances they are also displayed according to the geographical location of the person doing the Search.
Facebook actually takes an entirely different approach — Facebook Ads are displayed in front of PEOPLE who meet the demographic requirements that you have chosen.
To simplify further, Google Adwords are displayed based on the content of the page where they are shown and Facebook Ads are shown based on the interests, and even the physical location, of the person doing the looking!
As you can see, there is a radical difference between Google Adwords and Facebook Ads.
This is one of the reasons that I feel that Facebook Ads may be far more beneficial for offline businesses.
It is also important to note that when creating a Facebook Ad, you have the choice of sending people who click either to an offsite web page or to a specific Facebook Fan Page.
All in all, I consider Facebook a strong option for offline businesses, since you have the ability to target both demographically and geographically. The potentially viral effect that is inherent in the Facebook culture is another good reason for adding Facebook in to your online advertising mix.
Finally, if you are using WordPress to build your website to blog, it is relatively easy to integrate WordPress Posts, Facebook Fan Page Posts, Twitter Tweets, and possibly even, your AutoResponder Service messages, so that each one appears on the others… AUTOMATICALLY!
Between the timesaving automation available and the three for one currently available combining WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter, spreading your company’s message across the internet has gotten MUCH easier!
Sharing the Road to Success,
Tink
2011 Will be a Make It or Break It Year in How Small Business Owners Embrace Mobile Technology
We’ve all heard the phrase: “Leaving money on the table”. It means
neglecting opportunities to make as much profit as possible with products or
services you already sell. But how does this apply to mobile websites?
Think about your mobile phone. It’s good for more than just sending Tweets while you’re out and about.
How often do you check websites on your phone? You may be thinking “not
very much”, but it’s still probably more times than you realize. You might use it to:
- Get directions
- Find stores or restaurants
- Play games during involuntary waits
- Connect with social media
Those examples are just a warm up…
Now that it is no longer necessary to be physically connected to a plug-in source of electricity, wireless technology has changed internet usage forever, in a big way.
People are relying on mobile devices more than ever – and less on their PCs (Personal Computers). You may not be one of them, but that makes it even more important that you realize these devices are changing and evolving all the time.
The offline business owners who take notice and position themselves at the leading edge of this unstoppable trend – by creating and utilizing mobile websites – will benefit with the lion’s share of the profits to be made.
We’re not just looking at monetary gain here.
Think about it…
If you position yourself at the head of a new major trend and direction change, you set yourself up automatically as being one of the premier authority *go to* sites… so that when others catch up and the market quickly becomes saturated – an all-too-familiar pattern – you’ll already be firmly established at the top.
As an offline business owner, if consumers are used to using YOUR mobile website, you have a major advantage, even when you competitors (finally) get on board the mobile bandwagon!
This month, the topic here at SurviveAndConquerCoaching is Mobile Websites.
There are 7 Cheat Sheets, a Short Report (this post is the Intro from that) and a longer Special Report.
Please, login to access these Resources. If you aren’t a member, the Basic Level is free and will give you access to most of these Resources!
Sharing the Road to Success,
Tink
Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Ready!
I had a phone chat with one of my coaching clients, Client C, this weekend. The focus of our chat was something else, but while we were talking, she mentioned that she had had an opportunity to view her website on an Ipad and it looked GREAT!
Needless to say, this was good news. 
We used WordPress to create her site. it is a combination static site and blog, a combo that WordPress handles well.
As if business owners don’t already have enough to worry about, mobile computing has become a MAJOR ISSUE. We are going to be covering the issues of Mobile Computing at least two months this year.
In fact, April’s topic IS Mobile Computing. With 7 Cheat Sheets, a Short Report, and a Special Report, you will have a good grounding in the problems and challenges involved.
Sharing the Road to Success,
Tink
Don’t Lose Your Email List by Accident!
If you are sending out email marketing messages, (and you should be!) and using an autoresponder service, such as Aweber (and you should be), then you know that it is a requirement that marketing emails have an Unsubscribe link somewhere. The Unsubscribe is usually placed at the end of the message.
In most instances, the Unsubscribe link includes an identifier or a notice such as “To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit”.
In addition, it is a good idea to send out a text version of your email, even if you are also sending out a prettified HTML version.
OK, now that you have the background…
Last week I received a text email for a list I am on, sent out by a friend. I pay about $30/month to receive the materials that are included in the weekly email.
I was expecting the email and knew that it would include the materials I signed up for. The email arrived late one night and was a plain text email. At the bottom of the email was a link, which I clicked on, expecting it to be a download link for my materials.
I clicked, and then, to my horror, I was sent to a web page the told me that I had successfully UNSUBSCRIBED to the list. Arrrggghhhh!!!!!!
I immediately sent my friend a return email saying, “Mistake! Mistake! My Unsubscribe was a MISTAKE!”
It just so happened that my email crossed paths with an email from her, asking me why I had Unsubscribed! It all ended with me signing back onto the list and her, checking out the email that had been sent. As it happened, for some reason, the email link did not include the standard identifier, saying that the link I clicked was the Unsubscribe link!
The point of this rather long winded story is that it is important to check that your marketing emails are being sent properly and that important items, such as the Unsubscribe link, are clearly marked.
An active and responsive email list is the life blood of an online business and should be treated as such. Losing members accidentally is a problem none of us should have to face!
Sharing the Road to Success!
Tink
Does Your Business Need a Facebook Fan Page?
I am active on a big (actually, the biggest, but who’s counting LOL) Internet Marketing forum. Tonight I received a Private Message from an old acquaintance.
He asked:
But,,,my question…and maybe I’m just not seeing the answer
The Big deal on Fan pages…
Do these get indexed by google??
Is that why the all the clamor to get them set up for local businesses?
This is a question that a lot of folks have been asking, and, rightly so.
I for one have been encouraging, arm twisting, and, yes, threatening, my clients about starting Facebook Fan Pages for their businesses.
Here is my answer:
Yes they get indexed by Google. My first one, that I added a custom Fan Page to in the last 2-3 weeks, shows up when I look on Google with quotes (I was in a hurry and just wanted to see IF it was indexed, not WHERE
“the Armchair Handyman”
I am seeing it at number 5 and its related FB App is #6
Interestingly enough, they are at the same place in Scroogle, with quotes also
Here is the page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Armchair-Handyman/189476407733508
I used it for a test of one of the new WordPRess for Fan Pages solutions that have recently come on the market…
And actually, no, that isn’t the point for Offline businesses, as I see it.
FB is now as big or bigger than Google
Facebook provides this information about its users:
- More than 500 million active users
- 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- Average user has 130 friends
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
As an illustration, I just sent out an email to one of my lists. This is the first email I have sent since Nov 2011
I set Aweber to post it to my Fan Page and 2 hours later, I had a comment from one person about it on FB.
I may or may not get more interaction but the way I see it, it is a start and it took me no effort. The post was done automatically by my autoresponder company, using settings I had added earlier.
Most offline businesses are Brick and Mortar, and using the power of WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter, it is relatively easy to set things up so that every action you take, every post you make, can really magnify your online presence or build relationships
I have been telling my clients that they won’t necessarily see a positive growth for a year or more, but I can pretty much guarantee that if they wait that long to implement, they’ll get lost in the dust
I push most of my clients to WordPress these days because it is so flexible AND because it is so easy to integrate with FB, Twitter, and some autoresponders.
The problem with Fan Pages out of the box is that there is very little to work with from a marketing stand point. You really have just the Wall for the most part. Certainly is it better than nothing but you can’t use it to build an email list, for example.
Using one of the myriad of new solutions available now, such as the one I have been testing, allows you to harness the ease of WordPress and add desperately needed marketing functionality to FB Fan Pages, such as the email sign ups that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
As things progress, Facebook looks like it will become more and more important from a marketing stand point, at least in the near future.
In fact, if you have no web presence at all, a Facebook Fan page is certainly better than nothing. With the new solutions for adding functionality to fan pages using WordPress, it could be surprisingly effective.
No matter what, however, if you are an offline business you need a web site and a Facebook Fan Page, as quickly as possible!
I understand that Facebook Fan Pages may be intimidating as a marketing opportunity.
Do you have questions? Feel free to ask them below and I’ll do my best to answer them!
Sharing the Road to Success
Tink
Maximize your Profits by Playing *Follow the Leader* with your Competition!
I just signed up for a Premium (paid subscription) newsletter offered on a subject near and dear to my heart.
I jumped on it as soon as I heard about it, but when I went to download this issue, I discovered it was Issue 2! Well, needless to say, I wanted Issue 1! LOL
I am on another Premium Newsletter in a related subject and again, I joined at Issue 2. However, when I went to download that issue, there, on the download page was a link to purchase Issue #1 for the regular monthly fee. Sweet! I had noticed this because not only was I reading and following Tony’s newsletter but I was also taking notes on his process.
I emailed Peggy, the author of the new newsletter, and mentioned all of this to her, naming the newsletter where I had seen this method used. She emailed me back immediately.
It turns out she also gets that newsletter and had also been taking notes on how Tony handled his whole process. She was planning on adding the purchase link for Issue 1 tomorrow!
The fact of the matter is that setting something up online can be incredibly intricate… there are so many different ways to handle everything. It is easy to get to the point where you can’t see the forest (the big picture) for the trees (all of the details and choices to be made).
In the case of my Coaching, I generally am more savvy about how to set things up online to maximize effectiveness, while my clients are more knowledgeable about their niches and the folks who are part of that niche.
This becomes very powerful since it proves over and over that *Two Heads are better Than One*. We each have different strengths and together, we can work together more effectively.
As I mentioned at the start, setting up any sales process, website, or simply planning how to maximize your website traffic can be overwhelming. There are so many options and methods…
Especially when you are starting out, look to your direct or indirect competition and see how they are doing things. I find that leaving my niche but observing a similar niche can offer powerful insights. Many times, I will find methods NOT being used in my niche!
It is also important to keep *Analysis Paralysis* at bay. As I tell my clients, *Finished is better than Perfect!*. Online, you can always go in and change things, improve things, or even, set up split tests… usually fairly easily.
You can always fix a wrong decision, but you can’t fix no decision.
Sharing the Road to Success!
Tink
PS – If you are interested, the Newsletter that both Peggy and I are subscribed to is Affordable Mentoring by Tony Shepherd
