This point was driven home to me recently when I goofed up on a Facebook post.  Find It In Ashburn is a website I created to list all the businesses in Ashburn, VA. I’ve developed a wonderful community on Facebook and Twitter, sharing information about news, events and the like. Well, I went to post about a company that closed, The Cone Zone, and in my rush, here was what the post looked like:

Whoops! I went to read the comments and here was the first one:

I immediately answered, and my thought was to repost (with the correct spelling) and then delete the original post a few minutes later. I didn’t want Barbara to think I was just covering my tracks! But then, I looked at the post and more people commented:

As you can see, we all had a good giggle at my expense!

So yes, you’ll make mistakes, spelling and otherwise, and believe me, your followers will be quick to point it out! But your human, and as you build and connect with your community, they will see that in you. And forgive you.

What about you? Have you had something go wrong on social media? How did you handle it?

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

What is Facebook Graph?

Facebook Graph is a search tool Facebook will roll out over the next few months. It will enable you to search across your network – your friends – to tap into their likes, reviews, and places, to get recommendations, as it were, without actually asking for them.

For example, let’s say you’re really into Star Wars and you’re thinking of throwing a Star Wars-themed party. Pull up Facebook Graph and search for “My friends who like Star Wars.” Now you know whom to invite!

If the search for “My friends who like Star Wars” pulls up too many results, or friends who are scattered across the country, you can refine the search by “Current City,” or any number of criteria.

What does this mean for small business owners?

It is critically important, now more than ever, to have a presence on Facebook. When your potential customers are looking for your product or service, you want the largest number of your current customers to already like your Facebook page. To stay relevant to your current fans, and therefore in their newsfeed, you need to stay active. That means:

• Sharing relevant content frequently
• Inviting participation by asking questions, asking for comments, and posting polls
• Asking for and sharing positive reviews
• Interacting with your fans via the comments section

What does this mean for other social media networks?

That remains to be seen, and you shouldn’t ditch your other networks, if you already have a presence and your customers are there. As a cautionary tale, look at Yelp. The review site’s stock dropped almost 6 percent after Facebook announced the new search. After all, now you’ll be able to search “Ashburn Thai restaurants my friends like.” Even without reviews (although that will likely be incorporated), if you see that 50 of your friends like a particular restaurant, you will be more likely to try that restaurant.

What steps should I take?

In a nutshell, get your fans to hit the ‘like’ button on your page. Ask your fans to share your page, ask your newsletter readers to like the page, ask through your other social media channels to like the Facebook page. Now your fans are your sales force, whether or not you or they like it, so to speak, as what they ‘like’ on Facebook will be available to all.

Other steps:

• Engage with your fans. Facebook Graph will pull to the top the searches with the most engagement and activity.
• Build your Facebook page completely, especially the location.
• Continue to ask your current fans to share your content. But not every time, that is a turn off! If you see people disappearing from your page, adjust.

Think of Facebook Graph as the old “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. We’re all interconnected at some point, and when someone comes looking for you, make sure enough people are out there who already like you, so you can be found.

Creators Syndicate, Inc.

What changes will you make? How will this impact your business? Let me know in the comments.

Oh, and please like my pages on Facebook – Nova Creative Media  and Find It In Ashburn.

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

And, then, the party’s over.

What you do vis-a-vie social media regarding your infrequent event is critical. Especially now that some channels (we’re looking at you, Facebook) regularly change their algorithms or their users experience, it’s crucial you have a post-event and between event social media plan. Social media networks are constantly refiguring how content is delivered to their users and what content their users see.

You can’t afford to let your social media channels lie fallow between events!

Nova Creative Media often gets hired to manage social networks for companies leading up to annual or infrequent events. After the event is over, I often check in to see how the Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, etc. are doing. Mostly…they’re doing nothing. All the hard work both my company and the client have done to build an audience is now for naught, and will have to be done all over again the next time.

Steps to Keeping Your Event Alive (Till the Next Time)

1. Thank your participants. While the memory is fresh, continue to post frequently for a few weeks after the event, thanking your attendees, and engage in a dialog of what was great and what needs improvement for next time.
2. Share photos, video and others’ posts. In the after weeks, post lots of photos and video (you did take photos and video during the event, right?) and invite participants to tag themselves and share your content. Share a list of fun tweets, Instagram photos and Facebook posts about your event.
3. As the initial glow of the event begins to fade, start talking up the next event. Invite guest posts/tweets/video/photos from your next year’s speakers/companies/honorees. Encourage your followers to ask questions of your experts, even this early on.
4. In the fallow months between events, keep posting content as regularly as you can. Share content from other sources that you feel will interest your followers.
5. As you get closer to the event, pick up the pace on your social media channels. Look at new networks, to see if they are a good fit for your event and provide additional reach.

Rinse. Repeat.

How do you keep the buzz going between events? I’d love to hear form you in the comments!

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

Social media channels are free; using them is not!

Developing and maintaining your business’ social media outlets takes time and effort. Think about how you use Facebook for example (if you do use it). Which company pages do you like and why? Which posts do you skim over and which do you read, comment on and share?

The big three.

You can have the best content in the world, but unless you present it in an equally terrific manner, it will be skipped over.

Visual media—Use photos and video liberally! People like to see what you have to offer, see how your products work, and even see silly things that make them laugh!

Questions/opinions/recommendations—People loooooove to give their opinion, so let ‘em! Ask a question, pose a dilemma and ask their advice. Post two photos and ask, “Which one?”

Discounts—This is what your fans really want; this is why they follow you. Regularly offer Facebook-only savings, by asking for a printout of the offer or a code word.

Follow us on Facebook.

How often do you see this? It’s everywhere you look—signs in stores, email signatures, business cards, ads—you name it! Again, think like your customer. Why should they follow you? You know the content to deliver, and when to deliver it. But you need the fans to deliver it to! Change the wording to:

• For up-to-date news, follow us on Facebook (good if your industry changes rapidly)
• Get fan-only discounts and savings by following us on Facebook!
• Psst! Want the inside scoop? Follow us on Facebook!
• Get exclusive information and savings by following us on Facebook.

Then—and this is critical—follow through!

The credibility factor.

The market research company Lab42 reports 82% of their respondents say that Facebook is a good place to interact with companies, and that the top reason the respondents listed for following a company is to receive discounts! Here are some other interesting insights from the survey:

• people feel more connected to brands on Facebook
• people feel like brands listen to them on Facebook
• people will like brands their friends like

Don’t clog the newsfeed! The respondents said they would unlike a page quickly if there is too much posting. How much is too much? Follow your insights carefully and adjust.

What is your strategy to draw in and engage your customers?

• 41% of moms on Facebook follow companies and/or brands
• Moms have an average of 255 friends
• 72% of moms have a Facebook profile and 47% of them are on Facebook several times a day

And most importantly, moms share! Facebook has become the outlet for moms to connect, not only with friends and family, but also with other moms. What are they looking for? Advice on parenting, life and home, and recommendations for just about everything!

If your target audience is women with children, it is critical for you to have a Facebook presence!

Keep in mind that the average Facebook mom is highly educated and is not receptive to strong-arm or condescending marketing messages. The surest way to turn off a mom is to eat into her busy day with unwanted, unneeded and frivolous posts.

How do you attract and keep your mom audience? Save her time and money!

Money: Special offers and discounts available only through Facebook need to be real and true savings. If you want your moms to bring their kids to your restaurant, don’t offer a free soda with her meal. A better offer is “Today Only – Kids Eat Free! Mention this post and your kids eat free, with a purchase of an adult meal.” If you have an activity, offer half off during your slow period—again, make it contingent on mentioning the Facebook post.

Time: If you offer a service, get your moms to take advantage of it by playing up how your service will save her time. Cleaning, organizing, meal prep, errand running—there are countless services that can save busy moms time. Convince her!

Don’t forget to share your expertise and fun!

Moms are often looking for advice on all aspects of their life. By all means, share tips, tricks and hints. You can even get these from other sources and share (with credit!). Take time to show off your fun side with silly photos and videos, but be careful not to overdo it.

Ask for feedback–and listen.

Ask your moms to comment on your posts, ask for advice on a product or service you offer and take it seriously! Engage with your mom audience because moms, just like everyone else, like to feel their input is and feedback is important.

Do you market to a mom audience? What has worked for you? Please share with us in the comments!

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

Facebook

You got your page set up or you resolved to pay attention to it. Did you begin by posting once or twice a week? How many posts do you do now? The more you engage, the more your customers engage, so by now you should be posting daily. Year End Goal: Posting 2-5 times a day.

You began by posting what you do and what you offer. By now you should be offering more varied content, from links, photos and even video. Ask your clients/customers for permission to photograph or video them using your product or providing a testimonial. Year End Goal: Varied content at least once per day. Stock up on client/customer photos.

When you started, the conversation was mostly one way. You wrote and hoped people were reading. Now you should know how many people are seeing (reading) your posts.

You should have comments and interactions with your fans. Year End Goal: Several times a week, ask a question, for a referral, a review, anything to provoke a conversation.

Other Social Media Outlets

In the beginning, getting and managing a Facebook page was all you could handle. Since then, you reviewed and researched Twitter, blogging, Goggle+, Pinterest, and other outlets to see what would be a good fit for you and your business. What have you added at the mid-year mark? Year End Goal: Establish a presence in as many social media outlets that make sense for you and your business. Again, start slowly and build.

Consistency

You remember the hard part wasn’t getting started, it was continuing. Everyone (just about) has some sort of social media presence, but one post, one blog, on video does not a success make. Social media is free; meaning just about everyone takes advantage of it. But, like a child with a new toy, many get bored, or realize that the work that goes into it is more than they bargained for in the beginning. Year End Goal: Don’t stop now, be that reliable presence and store of information your fans come to expect.

Call to Action

Maybe when you started your social media presence, you found it easy. You liked sharing content that is relevant to your fans and your business. One thing though, you discovered your fan base hasn’t grown. Why is that? While it’s great to get information, don’t forget to tell your fans what you do/offer, and WHY they should get it from you! Ask for the comment, the retweet, the sale, and ask your fans to share your content with others! Year End Goal: Ask for the sale at least once a week!

How did you do? Are you happy with your social media presence? Don’t forget that at Nova Creative Media we can coach you to meet your goals and help you expand your social media presence!

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

Planning for said vacation, however, was not nearly as stressful as trying to figure out what was going to happen to my business while I was away! I am a solopreneur, there’s only me to service clients, to write, to plan, and to keep up-to-date. The main focus of my business is social media, and you’ve heard me say it before, don’t forget the social part of social media! So, how to stay social, stay connected, when I expected to be away for 11 days?

My first decision had to be whether this would be a working vacation or a vacation vacation. To add to the stress, my husband is also a solopreneur, and he had some decisions to make. After all, neither of us can just turn to our boss, an employee or coworker and say, “Handle this, will you, I’ll see you in a week!”

After some discussion, it was decided this would be a vacation vacation, albeit with no more than an hour a day to check the computer for urgent messages. Luckily, we were out of the country, and since that means a per-message and -minute cost for texts and phone calls, I simply powered down and stuck the phone in the hotel safe for the week. (How liberating!)

Here are some tips to manage while you take that very-much-deserved break:

Confer with your clients.
Give your clients as much notice as possible that you’ll be away, especially if your work for them entails day-to-day management. Arrange a face-to-face meeting with them to plan for when you are gone. Assure your clients that in an emergency or if an urgent question comes up, you’ll be checking your email once a day (more later).

Plan for when you are gone.
When you do what I do, manage social media for small businesses; you can’t just disappear for a week. Before my client meetings, I came up with a rough plan of how to handle the messages and promotions for the week. My clients added their input, and we discussed what they could reasonably and comfortably handle while I was gone.

Implement your plan.
Luckily for me, there are social media management tools (such as HootSuite) that allow for scheduling social media posts. Facebook had just introduced scheduling for posts just before I left (see my post on Facebook scheduling). Weeks before I left, I was researching the messages and content I wanted to appear during the time I was gone, and then began scheduling them. Blog posts offer more flexibility, but there were some I wrote ahead of time and scheduled while I was away.

You need to plan for emergencies.
If your business handles emergencies, then you need a local back up. For example, there was a horrendous storm in our area while I was gone. If my business had anything to do with storm-related damage, I would have already given my clients a back up source. (And arranged it with that source.) For this reason, you should check in via computer once a day—although do not get sucked into the wonderful world of the Internet!

Take my advice and find a way to take that vacation! You need it and you deserve it. Go as off-grid as possible–the rewards are priceless. If, like me, you are vacationing with your children, it’s worth it to be away from the electronics (after all, that’s what we told them, too!). Yes you’ll come back with a lot to do, and it may seem overwhelming at first, but you’ll get your desk cleared eventually, and you’ll realize the benefits of clearing your mind as well!

Are you a solopreneur? Have you taken a vacation recently? What worked for you?

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

So how is location-based social media doing now?

Despite the buzz and the prevalence of smart phones, a study by Edison Research finds that 74 percent of Americans have no idea about location-based check-ins and how it works. Only 3 percent of Americans have check-in in somewhere, and more telling, that number has dropped by 25 percent over the last year.

Foursquare is paying attention to the trends and announced a newly redesigned app. The app now looks more like other social media feeds, and offers the opportunity to ‘like’ check-ins, comment, and the ability to see where your friends are via an area map. More deals are being rolled out, and businesses are actively encouraged to post deals on these sites.

What does this mean for our local business owner?

It means you need to give serious thought to location-based models as part of your overall social media/marketing strategy. Once again the caution is although these avenues are free in terms of dollars, they are not in terms of time. Just as when you are plotting your social media strategy for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogging and the like, you need to plot a strategy for offering deals for check-ins.

Although there are serious drawbacks to social media check-ins — after all, you’re announcing where you are (and not at home) — it seems the younger generation is less concerned with these privacy issues.

I expect that these social media check-in apps and sites to change, develop, and grow and more and more people taking advantage of the deals they get when using them.

Does your business offer specials, coupons and rewards for checking in? What has your experience been?

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

Now page owners can receive help and protect their Facebook page. Admin roles have been introduced and the manager of page can assign roles to their admins. If you own a page and have admins, know that all admins are by default managers, so you need to get on the page sooner, rather than later, to make the assignments.

The five roles and responsibilities, as outline in this table from Facebook:

The ability to restrict usage will be a great relief to business owners who need and want help managing their social media presence, but are wary of “giving the keys to the kingdom” to someone. Now you can have people do what they do best, without allowing them to overreach.

Another great feature recently added is the ability to schedule posts right from Facebook. Until now, that could only be done through third-party apps. I always recommend to my clients to use those apps sparingly, as it could potentially annoy your fans, it shows you’re not posting ’live,’ and Google doesn’t care for it either, which could hurt your ranking.

Scheduling posts on Facebook is easy!

1. Write your status.
2. Click the clock icon in the lower left corner of the post.
3. Select the year.
4. Select the month.
5. Select the day.
6. Select the time.
7. Click schedule!

With all the ‘improvements’ Facebook gives us that are not wanted, it’s nice to see improvements that actually help small businesses reach out to their customers. What else could Facebook do to help you manage your page?

About Lisa Karl
Lisa Karl is the president of Nova Creative Media, a social media/marketing firm in Ashburn, VA. She is also the publisher and editor of Find It In Ashburn! Connect with Lisa via Facebook (NCM), Facebook (FIIA), Twitter and LinkedIn.

The Dreaded Elevator Speech (DES)

If you do any business networking at all, you have one. If you’re not familiar with the concept, the DES is a 30 second or less summary of you, your company and your job. In my experience, the DES comes in two flavors:

Laundry list: Ford Motor Company makes cars, trucks and SUVs. We also develop and design hybrid and eco-friendly vehicles. We offer financing through our Ford Credit division. Ford also has a racing division, with cars on all the major racing circuits, and where we research, design and test many innovative products that eventually come to our consumer market.

No you don’t. You make cars.

Corporate-ese: At Prudential, we help our customers achieve financial prosperity and peace of mind. We are a multinational financial services leader, striving to be our clients trusted partner, and provider of innovative solutions for growing and protecting wealth.

What? You sell insurance. And investment services.

If I hear the DES in these variations, not only do I immediately tune out, but I never think of them when asked for referrals. How do you break out of the DES syndrome and say what you do so you are remembered for what you actually do?

1. Distill what you do to its essence. Most companies offer more than one service or product, but there is a main product that drives the engine of the company and provides most of the revenue. Don’t get so worried you’ll miss a $1.00 sale for an auxiliary service or product that you lose a $100.00 sale for your main product.
2. After you state what your company sells or offers, give a brief description. BRIEF!
3. Highlight what sets you apart, but please don’t just say, “We provide excellent customer service.” Honestly, that’s a given that you think that. If you/your company has won an award for service, customer satisfaction or the like, feel free to tell me.
4. Be easy, casual, and friendly. Make me curious about your company and want to get to know you better.

How do we turn the above DES into a conversation to be remembered?

I represent Ford Motor Company and we build cars. Since 1903 we have been innovators in automobile production and design—we’ve change the way America moves. Our cars have won many awards through the years, and our Ford Focus recently won the Car of the Year at the Honest John Awards! If you’re looking for a new car, or are just curious about Ford cars, I’d love to get together with you to talk, so call or email me.

At Prudential we focus on the things most people put off—planning for the future. We offer many ways to plan, from insurance to retirement accounts, and it’s never too early—or late—to plan. I live here and know our community, and I’d like to get to know you. If you’re curious about how to get your ducks in a row, or you’d like a second opinion about the ducks you already have, call me and let’s get together for coffee.

I would rather meet the speakers of the latter speeches, wouldn’t you?