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Announcing Your Social Media Presence

Charlene Kingston — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:00:11 +0000

Now that your business is using social media, it’s important that you share your online presence with your customers and potential customers. Here are ways you can do that, both online and offline, to make sure that the people who want to find your business on social media know where to look.

Before You Start: You have a business account on one or more social media sites.
Learning level: 3 | Building Skills
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Your Business Social Media Passport

Now that your business is using social media, you need a strategy to share your social media accounts with the people who want to find your business online. It’s easy to create a social media passport, a list of your online accounts, and share this information with your customers.

Before you get started, you need to prepare you social media passport information.

You need an icon for each social media site. You can find free icon sets online, or you can ask your graphic designer to create a set that matches your visual branding.
Create a list of the exact web address (URL) for each account. Make sure you have the address of your page and not just the front door of the social media site.

Here are some suggestions for sharing your social media passport both online and offline.

Email. Update your email signature to include your social media passport with links to your accounts. Use a tiny icon here to save space, and include a link to your page on the social media site.
Business cards. Social media accounts are generally long and don’t fit well on business cards. You can easily add your Twitter handle. For the other sites, simply include the site icon. Your customers who use those sites will recognize the icons. You might consider placing this information to the back of your business card.
Marketing materials. Update your print marketing materials with the icons for your social media sites. You can also add a sentence like “Find us on…” with a list of your social media accounts.
Website. Work with your website designer to find a great location on your website to include your social media passport. Ideally, this information should be on every page and should be near the top so it’s easily found by site visitors. Use the social media icons, and provide a link to your exact account page for each icon.
Blog. Most blogs have a two-column (or more) layout. Add your social media passport to the sidebar on every page, and position it near the top. Use the social media icons, and provide a link to your exact account page for each icon.
Menus. Add your social media account icons to your menu. This is especially powerful when you add it to the printed menu that you hand to customers and your carryout or catering menu.
Receipts. Add your social media account names or icons to any type of receipt you hand to your customers when possible. This includes any forms that you give to customers when they drop off items, like a dry cleaning claim form.
Signage. Put a sign on your front door that lists your social media sites with their icons. Place a sign near your cash register for additional reinforcement. Consider adding social media information to a sign outside your business.
Google Maps Place Page. Use the flexibility of your Place Page to add your social media passport to your Google Maps listing.

Your turn: How are you promoting your social media passport to your current and potential customers? Share you insights and tips here.

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9 Ways To Engage Your Twitter Community

Charlene Kingston — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:47 +0000

It’s easy to measure the size of your Twitter community by follower counts. But it is more important to have a strong Twitter community where you engage others and build relationships. There are no numbers that easily define the strength of your community. Instead, your daily actions demonstrate your community strength.

Before You Start: You have a business Twitter account.
Learning Level: 2 | Getting Started
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Build a Strong Twitter Community

Everyone starts out with a Twitter community of zero followers. The best way to build a strong Twitter community is to engage your community. Talk with them. Listen to what they are talking about. Share valuable information. Build relationships. This is true when your Twitter community is less than 40 people or over 40,000.

Here are some ideas for how to build a strong Twitter community.

Tweet consistently. Your Twitter goal can help you decide how often you should be tweeting. Everyone misses a day here and there, and everyone takes a vacation. But if you tweet for business, you need to show up on Twitter every business day.
Say things that add value. Anecdotes about the weather or personal observations show your personality, but most of your tweet should have substance. Your tweets should help you to fulfill your Twitter business goals and connect to your target audience.
Retweet good things. When someone else says something that you feel is valuable to your target audience, share it with your community. Not only does this pass good information along to others, but it highlights the person who said it. Part of building community is letting other people shine. Share the glory.
Offer assistance. If someone in your community asks a question, answer it if you can. If you can’t answer it but you know someone who can, make that connection. Be generous with your information and connections.
Tweet with restraint. There are some things that should not be said on Twitter. It’s not a place to vent about employees, vendors, customers or anyone else. Be honest and real, but also stay professional. Sometimes, that’s a hard line to draw.
Avoid being chatty. We all have days where we naturally talk more than other days. When you notice you are putting out more tweets than normal that are anecdotal rather than adding value, stop. Instead of tweeting, call or email a friend. Don’t dilute the value of your tweets by being chatty.
Use Direct Messages. If you are in a conversation that gets going back and forth, switch to DMs or email or chat. Don’t clutter up your tweet stream with conversations unrelated to your business goals.
Share the success of others. Did someone in your community (your industry or business neighborhood) get an award or get media coverage? Did someone just get a book published? Did someone have a baby? Share it.
Share links to resources related to your business. Help your community stay in touch with your industry by sharing relevant blogs, articles, and services. Twitter is a great way to point out great online resources.

Your turn: How strong is your Twitter community? How do you engage your community? Share your experience here.
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Invite People To Your Facebook Event

Charlene Kingston — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:00:28 +0000

Facebook provides several ways that you can invite people to attend an event you created on Facebook. This is the second of three articles about creating Facebook business events. In the next article, you learn how to manage guest RSVPs.

Before You Start: You created a Facebook business event and you are ready to invite people to attend.
Learning Level: 3 | Building Skills
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, November 8, 2011

Facebook Accounts & Events

Before going any further, make sure that you understand what kind of Facebook account (how you log into Facebook) you are using right now. This is not the same thing as separating your personal profile from your business page.

This is one of the most confusing things about Facebook.

If you log in to Facebook using a business account, you can’t invite your friends to your business event because as a business, you don’t have friends! However, if you log in to Facebook using a personal account and you are a page (or event) administrator, you have the option to invite your friends to your business event. In fact, anyone that you make an event administrator can invite their personal friends to your business event.

Facebook Business Events

Facebook doesn’t allow you to invite your business page fans (the people who like your business page) to your event. While this does limit businesses who schedule business events, it fits with the Facebook emphasis on individual privacy. When someone becomes a fan of your business, Facebook keeps their personal information private from your business.

You do have many options for inviting people to your event using your Facebook event. You just have to think about your strategy for invitations and be prepared to reach out in unexpected ways. Don’t rely just on Facebook to send out your invitations. You need to use every communication method available to your business to invite people to attend your event. You can use your Facebook event to provide the event details and manage the RSVPs.

Invite People To Your Facebook Business Event

There are several ways you can notify people of your event on Facebook. You are not limited to people who are on Facebook.

The Event On Your Business Page

Facebook automatically added your business event to your business page as a wall post. Anyone who sees your event on your wall or in their news feed can RSVP to your event.

Everyone who is a fan of your business page sees your event in their news feed just like they see your wall posts. (There is no guarantee that Facebook displays your wall posts to every fan. It uses a complicated process to decide who sees your wall posts. That’s a topic for another article!)
Anyone who has a Facebook account who lands on your business page sees your event on your wall.
Depending on your Event application settings, you may have an Events menu option in the left column.

Update Your Page Fans

Facebook removed this feature in September 2011. They have not replaced it with any similar feature.

~~You can send an update to the fans of your business page. However, updates are not like messages and your fans may not know where to look for them. You can’t count on your fans reading your updates.~~

~~To send an update to the people who like your page:~~

~~Display your event page.~~
Click Update Fans of [your business page name]. If you are using Facebook as your page, you will have to switch back to your profile to complete this task. Facebook displays the Send An Update page.
~~You can send the update to all of your fans, or use the Target This Update check box to focus your update to specific fans based on demographics.~~
~~Type the update message subject.~~
~~Type the update message text.~~
~~Click Send.~~

~~Your fans find your update in the Updates tab of their Messages inbox.~~

Invite Your Personal Friends

If you have a Facebook profile and you are an event administrator, you can use the Select Guests To Invite event option to invite your personal Facebook friends to your business event. It is a best practice to not mix your business and personal contacts on Facebook. However, you may have a friend or two whom you would like to attend your event.

Ask Your Customers To Invite Their Friends
Anyone who visits your event page and has a Facebook personal profile can use the Select Guests To Come event option to attend your event. This feature allows them to review a list of friends and select the appropriate friends to invite. The newly invited guests receive a personal invitation from the person who sent it, not an invitation from your business.

Your turn: What is your experience inviting people to Facebook events? Share your experience and tips here.
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Create A Blog Comment Policy

Charlene Kingston — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:00:46 +0000

Many bloggers discover that some blog commenters have very different ideas about what is appropriate in a comment. Here’s what you need to know to develop a blog comment policy that lays the ground rules for comments.

Before You Start: You have a business blog.
Learning Level: 3 | Building Skills
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What Is A Blog Comment Policy

If you read a lot of blogs, you know that blog comments are a critical part of each blog. And yet, blog comments are written by blog visitors and out of the control of the blogger. Or are they?

Large and well-established blogs have a formal blog comment policy that they publish and use to moderate blog comments. A comment policy tells the commenters what you expect from them, and what you will do if they don’t follow your rules.

Blog Comment Policy Components

While each blog’s comment policy reflects the opinions and experience of the blogger, they generally address the follow types of issues:

Do you moderate comments?
What will you do with off-topic comments?
Do you allow profanities?
How will you handle personal attacks and flame wars?
Do you allow the comment to include links? Any limitation on the number of links?
Do you allow commenters to put keywords in place of their name?
Do you require a valid email address to make comment? How do you use that email address?
What about obvious spelling, grammar, and other language mistakes?
Do you allow commenters to add a signature with links at the end of their comments?

Blog Comment Policy Examples

Here are some comment policy examples you can use to inspire you to create your own comment policy.

When you allow people to add their comments to your blog, you create a place for conversation within your community. The conversation is on your blog. which means that you can set the ground rules for the conversation. A blog policy puts everything in writing for your community and lets them know what you expect of them. Over time, as new situations arise, you many need to update your comment policy.

Your turn: Do you have a blog comment policy? Add a link so we can see it. Have you seen blog comments that were truly out of line? Share your experiences.

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Twitter Is Like Attending A Party

Charlene Kingston — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:00:51 +0000

One way to understand Twitter is to think of Twitter as a large party you attend. This metaphor helps to explain parts of Twitter. However, Twitter is a new way to communicate, and experience is the best way to really understand it.

Before You Start: You have an interest in learning about Twitter.
Learning Level: 1 | Social Media Basics
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What Is Twitter Like?

One reason why many people don’t understand Twitter at first is because it is a new communication tool. It’s not like any other way we talk to each other. It takes a little experience using Twitter until it clicks in your head and you get it.

One way to help people understand Twitter is to compare Twitter to attending a large party.

Twitter & The Party Metaphor

Here’s how Twitter is like talking to people at a large party.

Following and Followers. You can say that you invited people to the party when you followed them. People who are not online right now have not arrived at the party. But like all good parties, there are party crashers (people who follow you whom you don’t follow back) who also appear but were not invited.
Timeline. Your timeline (tweet stream) is full of many individual conversations, and skimming the timeline is like walking through the room, eavesdropping on conversations as you walk past people.
@Replies. The @replies are like walking up to someone and using their name to start a new conversation or turning to include someone new by using their name.

But the party metaphor doesn’t explain everything.

Direct messages (DMs). A direct message is similar to whispering in someone’s ear, except that in a party setting, you would notice that happening, and on Twitter, that communication is invisible.
Regular tweets. In a real party, no one stands around making announcements to the room (or if they do, the room quickly clears around them).
Who is in the conversation. The people talking who don’t follow you will let you stand and listen, but they are not easy to talk to. The @reply is the only way to reach them. In the same way, the party crashers are welcome to listen to you speak, but you don’t make it easy for them to talk to you. They must use an @reply to get your attention, also.

Email and IM Metaphors

Some people compare Twitter to email and instant messaging. While Twitter has features in common with both of these communication tool, Twitter is quite different.

Instant messages (IM). Twitter is similar to IMs because both use short message formats and the communication takes place in real time. However, with an IM, not only must you be set up to communicate, but you must both be online to talk. If you tweet to someone who isn’t online, the message waits patiently for them to return. Also, IMs are private communication between two people.
Email. The only way email is similar to Twitter is that tweets are like email subject lines. However, you send an email to a specific person or a distribution list, and a tweet goes out to everyone who follows you.

Your turn: When did you really get Twitter? Share you insights and experience here with people who are just starting to learn about Twitter.

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Backing Up Your LinkedIn Connections

Charlene Kingston — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:00:03 +0000

LinkedIn is one of the few social media sites that allows you to back up your business contacts. Learn how to export your contact information so you can create a backup of this important business data.

Before You Start: You have a LinkedIn profile and connections (people in your network)
Learning Level: 4 | Creating Solutions
Article Last Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012

Export Your LinkedIn Connections

LinkedIn allows you to make a backup of your online business connections. This means that you can safeguard this valuable business data by having a backup on your computer. You can also use this information in other ways for your business. For example, you can import your LinkedIn connections to your email address book.

Before you export your LinkedIn connections, decide what you will do with them. This may change the export file format you choose. For example, if you only want to save the information, you could use any CSV file because you can open that kind of file with a spreadsheet. If you want to import your contacts into an email address book or other contact manager, find out the file format it requires.

To export your business connection contact information:

Log in to LinkedIn and display your connections.
At the bottom of the list, click Export Connections.
Choose the file format.
Type the verification code. (This is a security measure that makes sure a person and not a computer program is downloading your contact information.)
Click Export.
LinkedIn creates the file.
Choose Save File.
Your browser may ask you to select a file save location, or may save the file to a predetermined location.

If you want to import the connections, LinkedIn provides instructions for several email programs. If your email program is not listed here, refer to the instructions for your program.

Your turn: Have you used the export feature in LinkedIn? How have you used this data within your business? Share your insights here.

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Reputation Management with Google Alerts

Charlene Kingston — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:00:01 +0000

If you run a business, most likely people are talking about your business on social media, even if you are not yet using social media. Google Alerts are a free tool that you can start using today to listen for these hidden conversations.

Before You Start: You understand reputation management and can use Google.
Learning level: 2 | Getting Started
Article last updated: Thursday, September 22, 2011

Google Alerts

When you do a Google search, it provides you with all of the results it can find at that moment. A Google Alert is a stored search that continues to find results as Google finds new matches. You can receive these new results through email.

When you create a Google Alert for your company, your brand, or your product/service name, Google constantly monitors the internet for new mentions of these names and emails you the results.

Google doesn’t charge for this service. However, you must have a free Google account to use the full range of alert services and set up the maximum number of alerts.

Creating Your Search

A Google Alert is a stored search. The more specific your search, the better results you will get. Here’s a general strategy to define your search.

Create a simple search for your company or brand on Google.
Review the search results and identify ways you can refine your search (add more key words or exclude specific words).
Switch over to the advanced search page. Use the form options to add your search refinements and run your search again.
Review the search results, refine your search string, and repeat as necessary.
When you have the search string you want to use for your Google Alert, copy it to the clipboard (higlight and CTRL+C).

If you don’t know how to use advanced search techniques such as Boolean operators, take a little time to experiment with these search features. You can use the Google advanced search page to create a customized search criteria and Google will create the search string for you.

Google Alert Options

Google indexes nearly everything it finds on the web and includes it in the search results. However, it sorts the results into general categories based on where it finds things:

News
Blogs
Web (general websites)
Video
Groups (results found in any Google group)

You can request a separate alert for each location. Google also offers a comprehensive option that includes news, blogs, and web results.

There are more options for creating and managing your alerts. Check the Google Alerts FAQ for more information.

Creating A Google Alert

After you have a search string defined, you are ready to create your Google Alert.

Display the Google Alerts page.
Type or paste (CTR+V) in your search string.
Select the search type, the alert frequency, and the email results length.
Type your email address.
Click Create Alert.

You can use the Google Alert feature without having a Google account. However, you are limited to having a few alerts and you can’t manage them until you have a free Google account. If you don’t yet have a Google account, this would be a great time to start one. There are many free Google services that you can use with an account.

Now, sit back and wait for Google to let you know when it finds your search item mentioned online.

Your turn: Do you use Google Alerts to help you with reputation management? What tips or tricks can you share with the community?

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