What Do You Do When You Goof on Social Media?

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Lisa Karl

I’ve been reading Renegades Write the Rules, by Amy Martin, owner of Digital Royalty. Amy spoke of her almost accidental social media career at NMX and her point about social media is: Don’t be afraid. Jump in and do it! Yes, sometimes things will go wrong and you may fly by the seat of your pants, but don’t be afraid to fail or be humble.

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.

Facebook Graph: Game Changer for your Business

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Lisa Karl

If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business, get one now. If you aren’t active on Facebook — posting, connecting with your customers — log on right now and get going!

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.

5 Ways to Keep Your Event Alive (Till the Next Time)

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Lisa Karl

Using social media for your once-a-year event is a no-brainer. Various outlets allow you to spread the word and build enthusiasm leading up to the big day. Through live Tweeting, video feeds and regular updates throughout the event, you keep all of your attendees informed and excited throughout the event.

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)

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.
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.
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.
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.
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!

The Three Ways to Engage Your Facebook Fans

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Lisa Karl

You’ve opened for business on Facebook. And you’ve waited. But your ‘likes’ number is flat and there seems to be no movement in the ‘talking about this’ number. You need to keep something very important in mind:

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?

Are Moms Your Target Audience?

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Lisa Karl

If so, you need to be on Facebook. There is a reason that teens and young adults are migrating to Twitter from Facebook—their moms are there, in overwhelming numbers. According to the 2012 Moms and Media report from Edison and Arbitron:

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!

Mid-Year SoMe Check

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Lisa Karl

OK everyone, summer is racing by and it’s time to take a mid-year look at your social media efforts! By now, you should be able to look through your analytics from January through June, so let’s see what worked and what didn’t.

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!

Two Great Changes from Facebook

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Lisa Karl

One of the dilemmas many small business owners have is whether to grant Facebook administrative—or admin—privileges to another person. In doing so, the page owners leave themselves venerable to malicious posting and even cases of page theft.

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!

Write your status.
Click the clock icon in the lower left corner of the post.
Select the year.
Select the month.
Select the day.
Select the time.
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?

Social Media Post Calendar

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Lisa Karl

You have good intentions…really. You created a Facebook page for your business, and you’re excited about telling your customers and the wider world about you, your business, and your product or service. You post a few times and then…you get busy. You look at your Facebook and it hits you: you haven’t posted anything in a week (or more).

It’s time to get organized, plan and really think about what it is you want to say. A great tool is an editorial calendar. Used by bloggers for years, it’s a useful tool for managing your social media presence. You can easily find templates on the web, but they’re designed with blogging in mind, not Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. So here’s one I developed–let’s call it the Social Management Calendar.

Open your spreadsheet program and go! This one is for both Nova Creative Media and Find It In Ashburn. I do daily posts, and sometimes I just need a few ideas for spark. You can also just write out the entire post and on the particular day, just copy and paste it into Facebook, Twitter, or wherever.

This is an enormous timesaver, as you don’t have to stop whatever you’re working on, and think, “What do I want to say today?” You can even insert a column labeled ‘theme,’ if there is a particular angle or theme you want to talk about that week.

Put this planning on your calendar. Take a half hour or so every week to develop your next week’s social media presence. You’ll find that the daily time-suck of social media decreases; you’ll have a more uniform flow of ideas, and by looking back over your calendars, see when you last spoke a particular product or service.

How do you manage your daily postings? Leave a comment!

A Rant on Facebook Changes

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Lisa Karl

OK, so yesterday I spent the better part of the day creating new cover photos to use once I converted to the new Facebook Timeline. Switching to the new timeline itself isn’t hard—you just click ‘publish’—but deciding on the cover photo had me in a sweat. It got me thinking, along with this great article on how the new Facebook look betrays small businesses, about how so many social networks behave as if that’s all you do all day.

But wait. You are spending your time running your business, for crying out loud. You are ordering supplies, handling paperwork, taking orders, and dealing with customers. Most likely you have a small staff, and you are the CEO—chief executive everything. When a social media network throws changes your way, you just can’t drop everything and attend to it. Trust me, I know it’s hard enough sending out your tweets, posts, pins, and writing your blog–along with running your business.

Let’s face facts: as Jay Baer notes in the above article, Facebook has become decidedly unfriendly to small businesses. The company proudly announced the changes to business pages, trumpeting great new features. Except, unless you have staff dedicated to social media—and most small businesses don’t—the new changes weren’t terrific. They are ending up a time-consuming, stressful mess.

Take the cover photo, ugh. As I said, I spent most of yesterday working on the cover photos for Find It In Ashburn and Nova Creative Media. The one for FIIA was more time consuming, although it doesn’t look like it; after all, it’s just a couple of photos and the logo, right? Right. I had to decide on the photos, resize them, arrange them, place the logo, resize the logo, add text and decide on a background color. Then change the photos, arrangements and background color. Rinse, repeat. Deciding on what to do for NCM was a bit trickier—I don’t have a lot of photos of me blogging or posting to Facebook. So if you have a business that doesn’t lend itself to beautiful visuals, what do you do? Get even more creative.

And now, a new feature to be rolled out by Facebook: Interest lists. People will be able to develop lists of things that interest them and it will be continuously updated, creating a newspaper-like experience. So now you need to think about keywords and how to target those lists.

It will be interesting to me to see how these changes evolve and how small business owners react. The new timeline emphasizes engagement and visuals, such as photos and video. How long before small business owners decide to disengage entirely?

Please comment on how you’ve reacted to the new Facebook timeline and what it means for the future of your social media engagement.

Before You Publish, 5 Things to Consider for Facebook Timeline

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Lisa Karl

Whether you love or hate the new Facebook Timeline for business pages, and it sounds like most of you feel passionately, please take time to learn about it before you go public with it. And take the time now, because the end of March (Facebook’s deadline for conversion) is coming quickly! Here are five points to consider:

Cover photo: Your landing tab—if you had one—is history; now you get to decide on a beautiful new ‘cover photo.’ You want it to be visually appealing and descriptive of your business. Do not use your logo or business card here! If you’re thinking about just changing your old landing tab to fit into the space, think again. Facebook wants your business page to act like a personal page, so it added some no-nos. No calls to action or really any other text, except your business name. This means you can’t splash “Like Us!” or any other kind of offer on the cover photo. The cover photo can be as large as 850×315 pixels and that’s a fairly large space, so play with an idea or two before settling on one.

Profile Picture: This is your logo or descriptive photo that looks good as a thumbnail. This is the photo that will accompany your posts.

Bigger visuals: Facebook wants you to use more photos and videos, so these posts will stand out by being larger. Make sure when you post photos they are of good quality.

Tell your story: Facebook is making it easier to tell the story of your company with Milestones. Simply click on the line in the middle of your page and select Milestone. You’ll be able to highlight the important events in your company’s history.

Instead of tabs, you’ll have apps: A tab is an app, of course, but you need to be creative in positioning, naming and adding photos to them now. There are now 12 applications, but only four of them will appear along the top of your Timeline (under your cover photo). Photos cannot be moved, but it’s your choice as to the other three you’d like to appear.

Here are some good local examples of the new look:

Catoctin Creek

Earth Day @ Loudoun

Visit Loudoun

Let me know once your new timeline goes live, I’d love to see it!

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What Do You Do When You Goof on Social Media?