Spider Writers

Facebook Timeline for Pages: Rolling With the Changes

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:03:19 +0000

When friends on Facebook first migrated over to the Timeline algorithm, I discovered many a reaction on my update feed. Reactions were generally polarized – people either loved the change or hated it, and I’ll admit I resisted moving over as long as I could. Now that all of the Facebook pages use Timeline I must adjust to the differences. As a business owner using Facebook to promote products and services, you will do the same, but you will find the new design does somewhat favor companies.

Where once a Facebook page displayed posts by the page administrator and “followers” in a uniform feed of status updates, the Timeline design parses this information differently. Posts still appear in chronological order, but updates made by non-admins are relegated to one box on the right hand side of the screen, and boxes of posts that “recommend” the page/business take up prime real estate, too. If you have “liked” other pages through your current one, those links have moved from a narrow left navigation column to a wider, right-hand side box. While it may appear the right side of your page is taken up by material that isn’t entirely relevant to your business, you do benefit by having your posts appear more prominently on the page.

It is also worth noting that:

Administrators can now temporarily “pin” important posts to remain at the top of a page. If you have a sale or special promotion you want to stay prominent while you continue to post, this is a great feature to use.
Pictures appear much larger in posts. Where on the old Facebook pictures you uploaded directly to the wall appeared like thumbnails, Timeline expands them. You want to make sure the photos you use are of high quality.
You can establish a “founding story” on your wall now. In the status box there is an option called “Milestone” that lets you set the date for when your business was established. You can add a history to the post and upload old photos to show people the business before Facebook came along!

Probably the most notable change to Facebook Timeline is the looming cover graphic. This image, sized 851 by 315 pixels, takes up a large portion of the top of the page. You can include a photograph of your business or popular products, even an abstract design with your logo. You may think this is a good spot to place advertising, but Facebook notes in their TOS that calls to action are not permitted in the cover photo. This means you cannot design a graphic with phone numbers, URLs or other such language.The best way to adjust to using Facebook Timeline is to simply use it and become familiar with how it works. Play with the design and continue posting your news and promotions to keep your user reach high.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on social media writing and Virginia web design. Clients include Fairfax personal injury lawyers, self-publishing services, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

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Facebook Marketing: The Basics for Beginners

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:14:11 +0000

I almost decided not to write this article, because my fear is once it hits heavy distribution most of what I have written here could be rendered obsolete. This is the risk you take in writing a guide to using social media or SEO techniques – what is valid now may not be in the future as sites and platforms change. With regards to Facebook, I doubt we’ll see the last of major changes to the interface and they will allow businesses to use it for promotional purposes. That said, there are some basics a newcomer to the social network should know, and hopefully these tips will remain timely.

Profile or Page?

In the time I have worked with business owners to build their Facebook followings, I’m not surprised to see how many people are confused about concept of the Facebook page. Occasionally I’ll get calls from clients asking for the “login” to their Facebook page and I have to explain that access is obtain through their personal accounts. To clarify.

1) A Facebook page can only be created by a person with a Facebook account.

2) The only people who can make edits to a Facebook page are people with administrative access. You can add as many administrators to the page as you wish, just make sure they are people you trust.

3) When an admin makes a post to the Facebook page wall, the post will read as having come from the page, and not the person who wrote it. At this writing, there is no way to change the functionality to make a wall post from an admin look like it’s come from you as a person. This is why you want to be careful about what you post on the wall and how you respond to comments.

4) When you post to the wall of your Facebook page as an admin, the activity will NOT show up in your personal profile feed. I find many clients get confused as to what they believe people can see on their profiles. The Facebook PAGE is separate from your PROFILE or PERSONAL PAGE.

5) People you connect with via Facebook through your personal page are “friends.” People who click the Like button on your Facebook business page are generally called “fans” or “likes.” When a person “likes” your Facebook business page, they won’t have access to your personal information unless you have also added him as a friend on your personal profile and granted that access.

6) As an admin of a business page, you can assume the “persona” of the page/business and comment on other Facebook business pages. You cannot, right now, comment in groups or on personal profile walls. You can, though, reshare a wall post from a personal profile.

This doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of Facebook basics, but if you are new to Facebook hopefully this will give you a clearer picture of the difference between the business page and the personal profile. Most importantly, you need a personal account to maintain a page. If you delete your personal account, you lose the access.

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Reasons to Go Mobile With Your Web Presence

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:18:26 +0000

With the new year comes new opportunities to promote your business. It’s amazing to see how far Internet development, in particular, has come in the last decade. Where once companies relied heavily upon print advertising and TV/radio ads, now the tide is turning toward Internet spends, Web development, and social media. In the last decade alone, we’ve seen the focus shift from SEO web content to PPC to Twitter and Facebook, and now emphasis is placed on mobile development.

What’s that? Your website does not have a mobile version ready? You realize you could potentially lose a number of customers and leads without mobile adaptability, right? You might feel reluctant to invest in a mobile version of your site because it might require a complete overhaul of your current online look and feel. In truth, there are ways for mobile browsers to call up your site and see a clean version without too much re-coding. Specific CMS programs like WordPress, for example, have plugins that allow webmasters to offer a mobile interface without disturbing the main site. A seasoned developer and designer, too, can help with a redirect if you are using a customized content management system.

Still not convinced that you need to go mobile in the new year? Consider this:

1) It is estimated that as of July, 2011 there are over 82 million subscribers in the United States to some type of smart phone service. This means that nearly 100 million Americans have either an iPhone, an Android, or another brand of smart phone with Web search capability. If you’ve been to your favorite cafe or hangout lately, you’ve noticed that people are using their gadgets for more than talking to friends. They are looking up movie times, directions to restaurants, and even buying products. That’s right – anybody can call up an app to shop for books, electronics, clothing…anything at all. If you have a cart on your website, it needs to have a mobile plugin to catch those impulse shoppers.

2) Mobile isn’t going away. People want information faster…and they want it now. If you own a smart phone, how often do you call up information on the browser merely because you’re thinking about it? It’s something I do often – I’ll sit with my husband at a restaurant talking about a movie or a sports team, and the next thing you know I’m looking up information to jar our memories about an actor’s name or World Series results. When people know they can access what they need that quickly, you know it’s important to make your presence live so people can find you in that same manner.

We don’t know what the next decade will bring in terms of sharing information, but one thing is certain – mobile technology can help widen your audience and appeal. Make this year’s resolution to increase your visibility via mobile browsing. It’s affordable, and you can’t afford not to do it.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on mobile web development and mobile commerce development.

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Using Twitter on Your iPad

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:19:05 +0000

If you employ any social media in your marketing strategies, you no doubt have made allowances for working via mobile. As a social media specialist assisting a number of clients with their Twitter and Facebook presences, I find I must be alert even in the off hours in the event an urgent message comes through a network and must be answered. Using the iPad for Twitter, in particular, allows me to help clients stay in touch with potential and current customers when I am not at my desk – if you want to get serious about your social media, it’s good to have a tool like this handy.

So let’s say you recently received an iPad as a gift or treated yourself after months of saving and sacrificing your daily latte habit like I did. You’ll find there are a number of Twitter applications you can use, but I personally prefer the standard Twitter app. I find the interface is clean and very intuitive, plus I can set up multiple accounts on the app and jump easily from one to the other. If you use a more advanced Twitter program like Hootsuite that employs custom URLs you track – and offers features like tweet scheduling – definitely get what you use regularly. The idea is that you want to use the app with which you are most comfortable.

When you have all the accounts you manage set up on your Twitter app, it’s important to become comfortable with using your tablet to tweet, re-tweet, and reply. Take your time in getting to know the application and how to access lists you have created, and how to search for hashtags you follow. Once you’re set, you shouldn’t have any trouble transitioning from your work station to the iPad when you monitor tweets and accounts in the off-hours.

Why would you do this? For one, Twitter is not a nine-to-five thing. You could have followers across several time zones who may contact you any hour of the day. They may not expect an answer to come to them at ten in the evening, but if you can demonstrate your vigilance with your social media platforms, you stands to win trust and hopefully a new customer.

It is important, too, to check the settings of the Twitter application you use on your iPad so that you receive alerts pushed through as they happen. You need to be made aware of every reply and direct message that comes through, so you can respond in a timely manner.

Owning an iPad gives you the opportunity to increase your productivity, especially with building your social media. Get an app for your Twitter work installed and keep your accounts active.

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Social Media Resolutions for 2012

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:55:13 +0000

With 2011 behind us, now is the time to think about marketing strategies for the new year. By now, you likely have your Twitter account and Facebook page for your business set up, connected to each other, and updating followers regularly with news of your business and products/services. Perhaps you don’t have as many followers as you would like, but a new year brings the promise for increased interest. It’s also a good time to take into consideration a number of social media resolutions.

What should you plan for 2012? This largely depends on what you have intended for your business. Your marketing strategy will differ from those of other companies, but if you are looking for ideas here are some to adapt.

1) Cut away the dead weight. Do you have social profiles set up that you do not use anymore? Maybe in a fit to cover all the bases you set up a Flickr or MySpace page and let it fall to the wayside. You might want to consider deleting profiles that haven’t been updated in several months – it looks rather unprofessional for a social profile to lie stagnant. Either that, or find a way to revive it by feeding an active RSS into it.

2) Re-Evaluate design. This could be a good time to change your Twitter background or your Facebook page profile photo. As social networks have changed interfaces over the last year, your current designs may no longer suit. Take the time for a few makeovers.

3) Check Facebook tabs. Are you still using FBML for custom tabs on your Facebook page? Better fix that quick, for FBML support will eventually go away. You need to make sure you are familiar with Facebook’s development site for making tabs, and that you have a server with https support to host the pages.

4) Engage more in social media with people. Once a day, commit yourself to the following:

Re-tweet one update on Twitter
Respond to another person’s Twitter status
Use Facebook as your page’s persona and comment on another Facebook page (without spamming your business)
Share one status update from another person on your Google Plus page
Comment on a relevant Youtube video
Comment on a relevant blog post

Social media entails more than shot-gunning information. Put the social back in your social campaigns.

5) Lastly, don’t be afraid to show your sense of humor. One doesn’t always plan to go viral with a tweet, video, or blog post, but when it happens it’s because the item is worth sharing. You don’t have to be the clown prince of social media, but if you let your hair down once in a while you can show people a new side to your business that they will want to know.

Good luck with your social marketing in 2012!

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writingand Facebook marketing. Clients include Fairfax personal injury lawyers, self-publishing services, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

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Four Important Tools for Optimizing Your Blog

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:49:30 +0000

As a social media strategist working with businesses to increase their online exposure, I often encourage blogging as a means of distributing content and building authority for the brand. Despite the growth in social network use, blogs remain an essential component in any online marketing plan. Search engines cache blog content with frequency, and even the major news outlets rely on customized blog platforms to easily produce content. If your business has a blog, you definitely need to use it regularly to inform your customer base of new innovations and products in your company, as well as other news. It’s important, too, to ensure that your blog is optimized.

What does this mean? Of course you want to use the right keywords in your articles, and you want to optimize your META data. Aside from that, you want to make certain you make good use of the tools available to you for promoting your content, and in turn raising awareness of your brand. Take a good look at your blog – is it designed in a way that allows for easy viral marketing? If not, make sure you have the following tools in place:

1) Share Buttons. You see these everywhere now – tiny colored icons with lower case f’s or silhouettes of birds. One click sends a blog post to Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, or a myriad of bookmarking sites designed to share information. If you use a specific platform like Blogger or WordPress, there are widgets you can activate to put the most popular of the sharing buttons underneath each post you write. Individual sites, too, also offer code you can use in the template of your blog. Then it’s up to you to create compelling content worth sharing.

2) Related Posts Widget. For every blog article you post, there should be a widget that directs readers to links to related content within your blog. This is a handy tool to use in that it encourages visitor “stickiness.” Readers may be more inclined to hop around your blog if you give them direction by pointing out where to go next, and a good widget can help.

3) Mobile Viewing Option. More and more, people are reading websites with smart phones and tablets. Blog platforms have picked up on this fact and now offer functionality for blog owners to adapt their blogs for easy mobile reading. Check the software you use and make sure the mobile viewing options are activated. This way, people can read your blog anywhere.

4) Subscription Options. For readers that prefer to check blogs through feed readers, digital book readers like Kindle, and similar methods, the subscription option allows you to reach this audience. Set up functionality so people can subscribe to your blog via e-mail or RSS. If you blog regularly, it’s a good way to make sure readers are alerted when you have new information for them.

By adding these four simple tools to your blog, you have the potential to draw new readers and retain your current audience, and in turn keep your band visible.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include Fairfax personal injury lawyers, self-publishing services, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

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The Twitter Basics for New Users

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:21:46 +0000

As a social media strategist, I do occasionally meet with new clients who are finally setting up accounts to use for connecting with their target audience. Twitter has been around for almost six years now, and one might think everybody knows how to use it and how to incorporate it into marketing plans, but as with any new media there is an orientation period. If you are new to the world of Twitter, there’s no reason to feel old or left behind. Twitter is a very intuitive and effective tool for marketing and customer support if you know how to use it, and it won’t take you long.

Hitting your stride with Twitter, however, may take a while, so as you begin to set up your account here is a short FAQ list to help you get started in the ever unpredictable world of social media.

1) How do I sign up for Twitter?

Simply put, you will go to the main Twitter and fill out the necessary information. From there you will confirm the e-mail attached to the account (you can only use one e-mail address per account) and create your profile. This involves choosing your Twitter name, or handle, and providing other information you wish followers to see. For a business account, you would typically choose a handle close to your business/brand name.

2) Is the Twitter site the only place I can use Twitter?

No, though it’s not uncommon to use Twitter from the main site. There are a number of applications one can use to browse Twitter feeds and post updates – whether on a computer dashboard or via mobile devices. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Echofon are just three applications that support multiple Twitter accounts.

It’s important to note, too, that one can connect a Twitter account to other social networks like Facebook and Google Plus. Updates made elsewhere can be fed into your Twitter.

3) How do I get followers?

This one, of course, is not a simple to answer as the previous two. There are ways one can promote a Twitter account – linking from applicable websites and profiles, promoting from print advertising, etc. – but if you are looking for a way to attract quality follows (that is, people who actually want to read your updates as opposed to people following you to be followed) the tried and true method is delivering content of interest. The more you tweet, re-tweet others, and connect with other users, the more likely you are to attract an audience.

4) Can Twitter help my business?

Twitter is helpful in that it provides you with another avenue for relaying information on your products and services. As for whether or not Twitter will drive sales…that depends on the effectiveness of your marketing. As with other methods of promotion, you will gauge reach and other factors to determine what works with Twitter and what does not. I could give you a line and say that Twitter will make you a millionaire – and who knows, it might – but ultimately your success with Twitter lies with how you use it.

5) Do I even need Twitter?

You may be surprised to hear a social media strategist tell you that Twitter is not necessarily suitable for all businesses. Some may find Facebook or LinkedIn is more effective, but should you neglect Twitter altogether? You will want to think hard on that – it’s good to have a handle of your brand claimed so nobody else takes it, and as I mentioned earlier you can connect other accounts into Twitter and automate updates. Responses can be monitored, so you don’t miss anything.

If you feel you have no time to tweet, consider outsourcing your social media to a firm that specializes in Twitter and other profiles. You may find this free tool is effective in your promotional efforts.

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A Brief Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Pages

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:06:22 +0000

It is okay to admit that you don’t fully understand Facebook. As a social media strategist, my job is to assist business owners in establishing their brands through social media so they may use the tools to better connect with their customer base. Often, I work with people who are new to these networks altogether. Some may have Facebook accounts, but don’t know how to use them beyond adding friends. Therefore, managing a page separate from a personal account can prove frustrating if you don’t know a few things. I intend to cover just the basics here.

Whether you plan to build your business page yourself or hire a social media optimization firm to take on the grunt work, it is essential for you to maintain an active interest in the Facebook page. While other people may post updates on your behalf and monitor feedback, you still know your company best and as such need to be on hand for the difficult questions.

That said, here are a few things you will need to know about the Facebook page set up for promoting your business:

1) To access the admin panel of a Facebook page, you must be an admin of the page and logged into your account. Many times I have had people ask me for the “password” to their Facebook page, and I’ve had to explain that all they need to do is go into their personal account, go to the page, and click the Edit Page button. If you have a page made, it is important to be made an administrator so you can access the back end data. There is no need, though, to request a password separate from your own personal login.

2) As an admin, every time you post on your business page wall or “like” a comment, the result will show as your page doing the activity. There is not a way yet to have those actions appear under your name. Also, you can post on other Facebook pages (not the walls of personal profiles) as your business page. Simply go to your business page to the top right-hand corner, click the link that lets you switch personas, and you are free to browse Facebook as your business. This is a good function to utilize if you are partnered with other business and wish to cross promote on their pages. Of course, you want to be careful of how you use this function – you don’t want to appear as though you are trying to spam the network.

3) Facebook has strict policies regarding use of the network for contests. If you have considered holding a contest in order to boost fan numbers, be aware of Facebook do’s and don’ts. There are applications authorized by Facebook to allow you to properly run giveaways and contests. Make sure whoever is coordinating these promotions knows what to do.

Managing a Facebook page doesn’t have to frustrate you. If you know how to use your own profile, updating your page is a breeze. Keep it active, and take advantage of its many uses to benefit your business.

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Using Social Media When Your Customers Don’t – Is It a Waste of Time?

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:58:22 +0000

First thing I do each morning when I get to work is log into my Facebook account. Many upper-management types would frown upon this, but as a social media strategist this is my job. Therefore, Facebook is a requirement for me. Before I begin my daily rotation of monitoring client pages, I happen to glance at a few posts on my personal news feed. These days, it’s not unusual to find a friend or relative complaining about alleged privacy breaches by Facebook.

What does this mean, exactly? Well, if you were to search the Internet for news stories about Facebook, you may find a number of articles outlining changes in privacy statements, and whether or not Facebook claims ownership of any pictures or videos you upload. Check your friend feed long enough, and somebody will have shared such a notice. Now, we’re not going to detail here Facebook’s terms of service and privacy policies, but for the sake of argument let’s examine what you should do for your business when the people you want to reach decide to drop off the site. This means one less pair of eyes sees the sales announcement on your Facebook page, right? Perhaps, but does this mean you should put less effort into social media optimization if you feel people aren’t getting the message?

One thing I have personally noticed is that people in my feed who do complain about Facebook don’t necessarily leave it altogether. Indeed, the site have proven useful in terms of finding information and keeping in touch with family and friends. There are measures one can take to protect identity and privacy, it’s just a matter of simply doing it. As a business, you will want to maintain an active presence on Facebook because it remains one of the most visited networks online. Facebook URLs also come up in relevant search results, so be generous with your content.

Don’t forget, too, you can also devote time to Twitter and YouTube, which also boast impressive unique visitations. What you don’t catch through Facebook can be filtered into tweets. The upstart Google Plus network is also helpful, and now that businesses can set up pages you may wish to make room in your social media schedule for updating a page there.

Some ideas you may consider to boost awareness of your social media:

Devise a Twitter hashtag unique to your business, and use it often. Advertise the hashtag in your print and broadcast marketing endeavors.
Utilize a Facebook-authorized contest application to draw traffic to your page. Be careful in how you use Facebook for such promotions, because they are known to penalize you.
Concentrate on YouTube and encourage customer feedback videos, offering incentives to people who record testimonials.

Social media may change in the next several years, but it won’t go away entirely. Adjust to general preferences and think outside the box as you use social networks to advertise.

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Twitter Etiquette for Authors

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:25:41 +0000

Whether you are currently celebrating the release of your first or your fifth book, the plan for promoting your work may not greatly differ from other marketing endeavors. These days, you have the advantage of reaching a wide audience in a short amount of time through social media. With a Twitter account, you can inform followers of your latest book, and hopefully encourage viral word of mouth. What you do not want to do, though, is abuse the network to the point that you turn off more Twitter users than attract readers.

As with anything you promote on Twitter, there are do’s and don’ts to which one must adhere. What you send out to your network could make the difference between netting a sale and getting a public reprimand. Here are a few tips to consider where Twitter “netiquette” is concerned.

1) Avoid direct mentions to Twitter users for selling your book. If you note on your Twitter profile that you are author, one can guess you will spend time promoting your work via the medium. Regular tweeting about your successes and challenges, and the occasional sale link, are not likely to bother followers – they choose to follow your stream, so they should know what to expect. When you get to the point of contacting followers, and even people not following you, not only do mutual followers become plagued with your stream of sales pitches gumming up their feeds, but you risk irritating those on the receiving end of your ads.

2) Don’t hijack a hashtag. Hashtags in Twitter are sometimes more prized than a good handle. Look on billboards or advertisements for television shows, and you’ll see a Twitter hashtag shown in place of the actual handle used. This is because marketers see the value in tags and know that people use them when discussing important and/or popular topics. You may think it’s a good idea to adopt a hashtag to promote your work, but you definitely want to research whether or not the tag you have in mind is already in heavy use. Some people may find it offensive if you try to ride on coattails by prefixing your tweets with an unrelated tag.

3) Keep your feed updated, and tweet to people rather than at them. Using your Twitter account to constantly shotgun news and links to the ether will eventually produce bored followers. If you want to nurture your following, stay social and talk to people through Twitter. Respond to tweets, re-tweet interesting posts, and thank people who re-tweet you. You’ll find that as people realize a human being is behind your account, they will be more apt to follow.

Twitter etiquette is important in your book’s promotion. Use it wisely to develop interest in your work and in your brand.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include Fairfax personal injury lawyers, self-publishing services, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

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