We’re willing to bet, too, you aren’t even doing half of what you could be doing with it to optimize your business.

As with other social networks that appear to maintain rigid design structures, Facebook does allow you to get away with the occasional trick to help make your profile or fan page stand out among the rest. If you plan to rely on Facebook for the bulk of your social marketing, you especially want to pay attention to different ways to optimize that space. You may already know about custom tabs (and if you don’t, we’ll cover that soon enough) and manipulating the Boxes tabs to arrange information the way you want, but there is so much more you can do to turn a simple wall thread into a genuine hub for your customers and soon-to-be customers that will keep them coming back to interact.

You can maximize your profile picture!

That all-too-critical profile picture is the first thing people will see when they visit you. More than likely, given the positioning and small print of that dinky About You box underneath it, they will miss your main URL. It’s important to take advantage of your allotted space here to advertise who you are and what you do. This example from Eurobookings illustrates how they have used the maximum 200×600 pixel spot to showcase the beautiful hotel rooms they book. The URL is clear and they have branded the picture with their logo. You look at this and you know this is a page for travel accommodations.

The challenge, of course, comes in designing a cascade like image to suit your company. If your logo is more horizontal than vertical, choose images relevant to your business and be sure to make your URL prominent.

You can add custom boxes on your personal profile!

Customizing on Facebook isn’t limited to fan pages. If you have a fan page for your company live, you must have a profile to manage it.  With the application HTML Profile Box, you can add custom HTML code to your profile to advertise anything at all – your main site, your Facebook page, products and more. You can link anywhere in the world, and set the profile box on your profile sidebar, so every time a new friend comes to visit your information is there to guide them anywhere on the Internet. In this example, a teaser advertisement for an upcoming book is placed on the author’s personal profile. As newcomers visit, though it’s possible they won’t see the entire profile as dictated by the privacy settings marked, the custom box should remain visible for anybody to see.

Two caveats to using HTML Profile Box that I have found: it appears you can only use the application once on your profile, and you need to make sure permissions are turned on to have it appear on your profile. It’s important for your personal profile to have some kind of optimization done that guides people to the fan page, where you are more apt to collect people who “like” what you have to offer.

You can sell stuff! If you take Paypal for goods and services, you can sell on Facebook. There is a nifty plugin called Payvment that allows you to integrate a small cart on a custom Facebook tab. What you have to offer, people can buy it right there without having to leave Facebook:

Certain fees may apply. Be sure to check with the site and plugin as you set up your account.

You can collect e-mails for your newsletter! The relevancy of e-mail marketing in the age of social media remains under debate. However, as long as e-mail is still used, e-mail marketing is germane. If you have a newsletter or alert system in place and use a system like Aweber or VerticalResponse, you can set up a tab to collect opt-in interest for your company:

Check with your e-mail marketing setup to see about Facebook options.

You can host a live chat! Live Stream is one of many helpful plugins designed to shape your Facebook experience. With this code inserted in a custom tab (or even on a website that accepts iframe code), you can host a live chat event for your business.

Advertise your Q&A session for your products, host a live book launch party, get all the family and friends together for reunion…the possibilities are endless!

With these and other Facebook fixes, you can create an interactive forum for your company that truly puts the social in social media!

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with Facebook Marketing. She has helped a number of companies, including Virginia Beach web design firms, global trade forums, European hotel booking sites, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns achieve optimized social profiles.

Just like the song says, you gotta have friends. Friends are there to help seed your Farmville gardens and help destroy the forces of evil in your Mafia Wars. Friends are there to retweet the URL of that “not safe for work” Lady Gaga video you managed to sneak peek while the boss wasn’t looking, and you can always count on them to “like” your Facebook status every time you come up with a whimsically snarky comment about which Real Housewife of Boise is sporting fake…well, let’s say enhancements. In this age of social media, everybody has the potential to be your friend, even people you don’t know and may never meet in your lifetime.

So comes the dilemma as you approach your social marketing strategy: do you grow your Twitter or Facebook page following naturally, hoping that people you do know will recommend you and your business to others, or do you embark on the aggressive vaccum cleaner process of sucking in every profile in sight? If numbers are the only thing that concern you, there are ways to amass plenty of warm bodies. People sell services that strictly invite Facebook “friends” and mass follow Twitter users that automatically refollow. For as little as fifty bucks you could have the ears and eyes of thousands of people, but are they really paying attention?

Consider for a moment the pros and cons of the guerrilla invite. We’ve discussed this topic before, but it’s one worth revisiting as ideas on social networking change. If you don’t switch gears as you promote, it means you haven’t grown in your strategy, and it’s good to weigh all options. With the blind follow of Twitter users, for example, you could match your follow count to your followed by as many as six figures if you wish. If those followers boast the same volume, there is the likelihood your tweets are lost in a sea of other updates, but one can also argue that by following a good number of re-follows there is the possibility your message will be seen by people who wouldn’t otherwise follow you naturally. You had to find them first, then they become interested.

Same goes with Facebook and even LinkedIn. With the latter, there are groups solely designed to connect “open networkers,” people who will connect to you regardless of your industry. As a writer and social marketer, it might benefit me to network with as many people as possible because ultimately every industry will need marketing help, right? Gaining more connections increases my chances of finding work. However, for the niche business you might not benefit as much, unless one connection happens to know of somebody interested in what you do.

Where Facebook is concerned, triggers are in place to reign in your mass friending activities. Unless you know one of those magical loopholes to gain five thousand friends in one fell swoop, you might be better off approaching people slowly. To be certain, there are accounts created strictly to sell and spam, which won’t do you much good when you try to sell. However, in a sea of kelp you’re bound to catch a few fish.

So, how do you approach networking? Is it better to throw everything you have against the wall and see what sticks? Do you take out a thinner brush and draw out a more thoughtful plan? Look at what you’ve done to start, and if it hasn’t worked you might consider bolder measures. Experiment with different lighters to see what sparks the fire in your campaigns.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and local PPC campaigns. Clients include Gainesville bed and breakfasts, European hotel search engines, global trade forums, and Virginia Beach web design firms.

Not everybody is happy with Facebook right now. Accusations of breach of privacy and disregard for online safety have prompted grassroots protests and mass deletions of accounts on the premise that not only does the social network do nothing to protect user privacy, but actually encourages distribution of information not necessarily meant for everybody’s eyes. If you use Facebook, perhaps you’ve seen viral status messages from friends imploring you to make adjustments to your settings to ensure that the complaint you make about your boss isn’t broadcast to the free world. Reports that some users prefer to delete their profiles altogether may concern other diehard Facebook fans, and as a business with a strong Facebook presence you might wonder if this backlash will affect the way you promote your products and services.

The privacy concerns making the news, naturally, concern users who are wont to share personal information and photographs on their networks. While they believe at first only select friends have access to the data, neglected privacy settings may allow certain (read: embarrassing) information to be found in Internet search. We’ve all heard stories of people getting fired from their jobs or losing out on other opportunities thanks to a slip of the keyboard – an outsider might opine, “Well, don’t post anything you wouldn’t shout into a megaphone,” yet one can argue users and Facebook need to meet halfway on ensuring security measures.

As a business, you want exposure for your Facebook page. Despite the grumbling, Facebook is still one of the most used websites on the Internet – it’s a powerful search engine and marketing tool, and as you amass fans (or people who “like” your page and company, per the new policies) the opportunity to expand your reach grows. If you are concerned about losing fans due to a protest against privacy settings, know that you do have a few options for keeping your page visible and the information available, even to people who don’t use Facebook.

1) Integrate the content into other networks. Feed status updates into your Twitter account to capture that audience, and place a fan box on your main website. If you use Squidoo, there is now an option to embed a fan box in a lens, too. Anywhere you can place your page’s RSS, take the advantage.

2) Keep your page active and visible. Offer as much data on your page to new visitors and those who do not use Facebook. As a business page, you should feel comfortable with the information you post there. Don’t give away any trade secrets, but encourage participation with the content you do provide.

3) Be respectful of current fans. Make sure whoever monitors comments on your page is courteous to posters. Just as the products and services you impart online are available to others, so are bad vibes. If you receive a complaint, be tactful in your response, because that’s what people will see. The impression you make on Facebook coupled with the timeliness of your information will keep people on your page.

How will Facebook fare in the future? Like Google, it may continue to grow and offer amenities we can’t live without, or it could go the way of lesser social networks if and when another player comes along. Whatever the fate for this network, it is still a top used site and as such holds importance in your social optimization. Mind your p’s and q’s on your Wall tab, and you should be fine.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media promotion and Virginia Beach web design. Clients include European hotels, real-time global trade forums, and vendors of pet supplies.

Back in MY day, Facebook was very different than it is now. Only college students were allowed, and the news feed was non-existent.  We didn’t use Facebook to figure out a company’s business hours, talk with our favorite aunt in Vegas or live feeds.  Back when it was www.THEfacebook.com, there was no Farmville, no Mafia Wars, dopplegangers or status updates. The utility of Facebook was brilliantly simple – if you didn’t go to class to take notes, send your friend a message (writing on the wall was kind of weird at the time).

Then came the groups, the photo tagging, and the complicated relationships.

Here’s what a profile page looked like when I first started Facebook in 2004:

Ah, blissfully simple. Nice, clean boxes. Then, everyone freaked out when “The mini feed” came rearing it’s ugly head. As if the addition of the status wasn’t too creepy feeling, Facebook wanted to chronicle every thing you did on the site.

If we only knew! The mini-feed has now split into a news feed AND live feed, your wall is the most prominent feature, and we are inidated with pay-per-click ads on the right side of the page that are targeted toward everything we put into our personal information in our profile.

Mark Zuckerburg had no idea his small Web project would turn into a revolution for marketing and advertising. With over 350 million users, Facebook has become part of almost everyone’s lives, whether they want it to or not. For businesses, if you do not have a presence on Facebook, you are behind your competitors. For students, Facebook is a way to not only keep up with class notes and party spots, but an outlet to talk outside the school walls. For families, it’s never been easier to stay close when you are spread apart.

Am I pleased with the progression of Facebook? Sure. Why not? I’m a big believer in “Facebook is what you make it.” If you love Farmville and taking quizzes, wonderful. If you love connecting with other professionals, fabulous. If you are a helicopter mom (please stop what you are doing), Facebook is good for you.

More importantly, now we have the ability to use Facebook (and all of social media, really) for good. News breaks faster than ever and awareness can be given to important causes and charities. Millions of people united to help those in Haiti stricken by disaster by donating food, money and time.

So happy birthday, Facebook. I’m excited to see how far you’ve come, and where you’ll go from here. If you had it posted on a profile, you’d have 350 million notifications. Lucky you.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Search Engine Optimization and Facebook Marketing.

More recently my husband, who shuns any and all social networking, asked me to look up a few Facebook profiles for him. He is on a panel conducting interviews to fill a vacancy at his school, and wanted to see if any information provided on the accounts matched what he received in the applications. It happens, in nearly every field of business and entertainment. I know publishers and editors who perform Google searches on prospective authors who have submitted work – not so much to see if they actively promote online, but if they do or say anything that could potentially damage their own reputations if they were to sign them.

If you think somebody isn’t looking at your Facebook profile, or reading your tweets and not forming an opinion about you, think again. According to a recent Microsoft study, twenty-five percent of HR managers reject job candidates based upon information found online, particular social profiles. So if you’re thinking about posting that video of your antics from your friend’s bachelor party at Hooter’s, and you happen to be up for tenure at your university, you may want to think twice.

Business and the Social Media Image: Who Represents You Online?

These days, it doesn’t seem uncommon for a major company to have a policy on their employees’ involvement in sites like Facebook and MySpace. Even off the clock, you may be seen as a representative of your work, and as such may be expected to project a professional image. This doesn’t mean, of course, that businesses are watching their workers 24/7, but thanks to Google Alerts and similar watchdog applications, managers can monitor what is being said about their companies, and ultimately these updates can click through to something they feel should be handled swiftly, and perhaps with disciplinary action.

For the business using Facebook, Twitter, and other social profiles to market products and services, it’s important to ensure that your activity online is handled in the manner you conduct your business, and provide the face you want customers to see – be it casual, professional, humorous or compassionate.

Does this mean you can’t play Farmville anymore? Not necessarily, but if you do have criticism to share about your company or competitors, you may wish to exercise caution when you post status updates. If you’re set on sharing photos of your wild weekend in Vegas, strongly consider utilizing privacy options on the social network and avoid tagging friends online if you feel the shots are a bit compromising. You don’t want to put a friend at risk, either.

If your company has a fan page on Facebook, make employees aware of feedback policies – designate one or two employees to speak on behalf of the business via the network to avoid confusion. It’s easier, of course, to set up that person as admin to ensure fans will know the company responds in a timely manner.

Social networks are all about socializing – they are meant to inspire fun and creativity. So long as your company and employees know the difference between light-hearted behavior and immaturity, you can enjoy a good presence online.

Kathryn Lively is a social media expert assisting clients with social media writing and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels and Virginia Beach web design companies.

When it comes to social networks like MySpace and Facebook, a user may favor one over the other and simply focus attention wholly on the preferred site. Recently an acquaintance posted on his Facebook account that he may never log into MySpace again because he found the feed layouts and real-time updates on Facebook more user-friendly. As he uses social media primarily to keep up with friends and family, he isn’t bothered by a neglected profile page. Should a business, however, that began its social marketing campaign gung-ho with a presence in every port worry about “site rot”?

Consider some reasons why work on some social profiles fades:

• Not enough analytics – it’s difficult to determine how many referrals to the main site are coming from that page
• Poor response to centric contests and discounts – you might offer a sales code on one network and it’s rarely used
• Problems with spam – the only friend/follower requests you receive are from junk accounts that clog your inbox/comment walls

Eventually there comes a time when a business realizes that marketing in an area where nobody can hear you is a waste of time, energy, and money. Though most social networks cost nothing to join, the content and time invested is better spent elsewhere. But should you delete the ineffective account altogether? Is it better to have a virtual ghost town set up and risk opinions on your company? While a private citizen may endure little backlash in deleting an account, a business profile may serve your company well even in a state of long-term hiatus.

• The brand remains visible – if the profile in question is labeled with a vanity URL, you keep your brand’s name intact. Nobody else can take it.
• Your brand may still be found in search – depending on how much content is available on the profile, search results may still appear. Better to lead potential customers to a stagnant page with a link to your site than a 404 error.
• Social media is adaptable – even if you don’t log in to one account, you can adjust the profile as such to feed in updates with available gadgets. If you continue to blog, for example, find a tool that displays RSS of recent posts; this way, if somebody does stumble on the page there is some fresh content.

For businesses, social networks can be an effective method of promoting brand identity. It’s common, when one tactic fails or doesn’t mesh with the overall vision of the company, to move on to something else. In the case of stagnant social pages, however, one may wish to consider a lengthy hiatus over deletion. Should the need arise to revisit the account, it’s better to revive a dormant profile than redo all the work.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels and Virginia web design companies.

As you maintain your social media presence, it’s important to do so in a manner that lets people know there is a human being behind the profile picture you display to the Facebook world. The Facebook page back end does allow you to adjust who can post to your page’s wall, photo albums, and message board, but if you are the type who fears backlash and wants to limit consumer opinion, you may wish to step back and evaluate why you have a Facebook page in the first place. Limiting a forum for fans to speak their mind makes a powerful statement about the way you handle feedback, good or bad. If somebody is unable to post how they feel about your products and services to your page, do you think they will wonder if your company listens at all?

Not only that, blocking any kind of communication from fans keeps the good feedback away, too, so prospective customers won’t see how others like you. For a company intent on catering to people, it’s necessary to listen to the people.

So let’s say you are browsing your fan page and you come across a thumbs-down notes. Perhaps somebody visited your brick and mortar store and claims to have been treated rudely, or maybe somebody purchased your product, book, or service and was not satisfied. That comment is sticking out there like a stain on your reputation, visible to anybody browsing your page. What do you do? You have a number of options available.

1) Delete it. The temptation to change history and remove the comment is always strong. Out of sight, out of mind…or is it? You don’t really know how many people will see a bad mark once it’s posted, and if you do erase it consider the possible fallout: will people call you on the deletion? Will the original poster retaliate with more negative remarks, not just on your page but elsewhere in spots you can’t administrate? While you have the option, removing a bad review should be considered carefully. Weigh the legitimacy of the claim against the poster’s intent – if somebody is posting a general “You stink!” without backing it up you may be able to chalk it up to general trouble-making. If specifics about the bad experience are mentioned, it’s time to evaluate the complaint and do something about it.

2) Ignore it. You could also continue to post and answer other fans as though the complaint doesn’t exist it. Of course, that may work as well as deleting the comment. If the fan expects an answer or compensation, you may find he/she doesn’t want to be ignored. This could lead to trouble on your fan page as more fans catch wind of the silent treatment, forcing customers to wonder if this is how you truly handle business issues.

3) Respond privately. One point in your favor is that when somebody posts a negative review on Facebook, it’s not done with anonymity. Whereas people can hide their identities on Google reviews or blogs, with Facebook you know who the plaintiff is. Therefore, you can seek to appease the poster with a personal missive offering some kind of compensation (a refund, a freebie, etc.) and hope for the best. A display of personal apology may inspire the poster to retract his/her complaint and keep you a customer.

4) Respond publicly. Even better, showing not only the plaintiff but everyone subscribed to your page that you heard the remark and intend to make good shows your willingness to listen and heed negative feedback. No person, no company is perfect, but as you work to correct wrongs in productivity and customer service it shows that you are prepared to progress toward perfection, and are willing to take it on the chin once in a while. You could offer the poster some kind of compensation, while at the same time offering your fan base a general discount on products and services.

Above all, do not ignore poor grades on your company. How you respond to feedback on Facebook creates a powerful image in the mindset of those who check your page for updates. Act professionally, and your fans will treat you as such, even if they are frustrated at times.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing, travel social media services, and Virginia web design. Her clients include Gainesville hotels and Virginia Beach roofers.

More examples of social media involvement in charitable efforts (including Haitian relief and other causes) include:

The Facebook Causes Application – This application allows non-profits to set up their own widgets which allow users to donate via Facebook. Supporters can join the application and list favorite charities and invite others to join as well.

Care2 – A social network geared toward promoting understanding of environmental and similar causes, Care2 utilizes their technology to generate interest in wildlife preservation, political change, and human rights. Organizations can start petition drives and encourage others to use “click to donate” badges to generate awareness.

ChipIn – This widget builder works with Paypal to allow users to collect donations online for any cause. A simple Flash application is then applied to a blog or website, or may be added to a Facebook profile, and promoted easily.

If you plan to give online, it is important to research where you plan to give. Clicking through a link on Twitter may take you anywhere – your Twitter feed client may not always reveal the source of a shortened URL, so it’s best not to provide your financial information immediately. If one social network account claims to collect for the Red Cross, check official Red Cross sites and profiles first for their collection sources. Check websites for the secure lock logo before providing credit card information, and avoid using bank debit cards online. The more you understand how social media can be used for charitable giving, the better for those who benefit.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services.

The most important thing to know about setting up a Facebook page for a business, celebrity, or other organization is that the URL of said page must be linked from the subject’s official website. Say, for example, you wanted to create a page for your favorite rock band. Unless your page is linked from the band’s official site, Facebook will not recognize your effort as valid and may penalize you by revoking your right to post to the page. It may not be shut down entirely, but you will certainly be hindered in growing its content and popularity.

Now, let’s say you have a tribute site for the band, one rich in content with a following among listeners. Creating a page for fans of your website may be a better way to go. You can still provide content on the band, and direct Facebook users to your tribute site.

So how can this tactic work to build your brand? Think about your business – what do you do, what do you sell? Are you known for carrying a particular brand name or product? You may want to supplement your Facebook presence with pages for “fans” of particular items you offer. A car dealer in Atlanta who specializes in foreign makes like Porsche and Ferrari could set up pages for both, place more emphasis on the region rather than the car. Set up pages on your main site to link to your profiles, then build content with photos and information. From there, you may be able to attract the attention of Facebook users in your area who wish to buy either car.

Just a word of caution: don’t get too involved creating random Facebook pages that you lose focus of your marketing campaigns in general. Be careful not to dilute your overall message, which you want targeted to your audience.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services.

The realist, however, will use these examples to affirm one more thing that isn’t really news: people like to gossip. People have gossiped for centuries. Hey, did you hear what happened to Eve in the garden? That we have access to something as unifying as social media serves to amplify our vested interest in such non-news.

That said, should one consider to be more responsible while using social networks like Twitter and Facebook? When we post status updates and share news, we essentially share with the world a taste of who we are in real life. Why do we post the words we choose to share? Some of us use Twitter to promote our projects and businesses, and inform clients and customers of new products and services. Some people use Twitter to vent or offer play-by-play commentary of favorite shows or sporting events. I couldn’t tell you how many people I follow watched the MTV Music Awards…actually, yes I can. Nearly everybody had a remark about at least one of Lady GaGa’s dresses.

Still, there are others who see Twitter, I think, as a means of obtaining some level of celebrity. The likes of a helium-voiced pre-teen named Fred and acomedian with a shoe fetish have proven it is possible to cross into the mainstream, and the Internet provides more avenues toward fame than reality TV. Already we’ve learned that plans are in the works to adapt a Twitter account into a sitcom (???), and if you ask me, I highly suspect that people are purposely dressing bizarrely so somebody will snap them for the People of Wal-Mart site.

Is there a fear that we might come off as vacuous or indifferent people, or does social media challenge us to be more interesting and entertaining – always “on”? Perhaps deep down we are all entertainers at heart – deciding if we can’t be in the spotlight, we should at least tweet about it.

That said, perhaps we should also take some time out of the day to post on news and items of social responsibility.  Remind friends to do a self-exam for breast cancer once a month, or retweet Amber alerts in your area. With the growth in smart phone use, one is likely to see news on a feed and do something about it. After work, when we’re ready to unwind, we can catch up on the gossip.

Believe me, there’s plenty to be read.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with Virginia Beach social media services and Virginia Beach web design.

The recent news implying that Facebook usage, among utilization of other networks, is responsible for global marital breakdown is fascinating, yet it is hardly an innovation. If a marriage has floundered before Internet use became a factor, one can’t necessarily place the blame on social media. While sites like MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and others allow old friends (and consequently old flames) to reconnect, it’s also a helpful communication tool for families. Fathers keep track of their children’s activities, married couples share photos and videos with friends, and often talk to one another. It may not be the ideal situation, and may fast be replacing the night dinner around the table, but social media can work as well in strengthening familial bonds rather than severing them. Anyone using a social network to expedite divorce could easily do the same with anything else – an obsession with sports or other activities, long hours at work, and so forth.

Social networks in and of themselves are not evil. To be certain, people have abused their better qualities for nefarious purposes, but as such stories are few and far between this should not deter a businessman or company from refraining from their use. For every new item of a threat posted on a blog there are more detailing how people have used social media to find missing children, obtain help for needy families, or reunite siblings separated for years.

How can you keep a positive focus on marketing through social media? Always maintain a healthy attitude when you post items of interest. Not everything you share needs to be company related, and it’s good to engage friends and followers in conversations that highlight a brighter side to humanity. Does your company support a specific charity or non-profit? Find links and articles that showcase the good they do. If you’ve hosted an event recently, share pictures and video. Social media is about making your own news – so make it good.

As 2010 nears, now is the time to consider your Social Media Resolutions. Where will you concentrate efforts, and to what extent will online networks play a role in how you present yourself and your company to others? Now, perhaps, you have the Facebook fan page and Twitter account…what else is there to do next year?

Plenty. Social sites aren’t going away. In fact, as platforms like Twitter and Facebook and similar sites develop, they are becoming deeply integrated with established media. Watch a news network on television, and you’ll find they’re getting their news from YouTube videos. In order for your business to find customers, you have to find them through social media, and that means ramping up your campaigns.

This coming year, you need to resolve to:

1) Attract more followers. The adage of “I follow you, you follow me” may not always work in your favor. It’s not uncommon to look at a Twitter profile and see that person is following a number equal to his followers, but when you think about it, is anybody really reading the posts. Mutual admiration can soothe the ego, but at the end of day you want people on Twitter to read your feed because they WANT to read it, not because they feel obliged if you add them to your reading list. How do you attract more followers to any social network? Cross promote among your profiles, add URLs to e-mail signatures, campaign via established opt-in e-mails addresses. Above all else, produce the relevant content on a regular basis and people searching for it will find you.

2) Gain different perspectives and share them. Depending on the size of your business, either you are doing everything yourself, or you have hired a marketing person or firm to handle your social media. Both options are good, but when it comes to nurturing a fan page it’s important to keep the information current and interesting. Every post doesn’t have to be about the hard sell – get to know the people who visit your page. Converse, share information, and if you have the manpower working for you get employees to contribute socially. Mix up the perspectives on your feeds and present to consumers and clients a well-rounded image.

3) Broaden your horizons. Once upon a time, television was all about the Big Three networks. These days, it may seem like social media is all about another big three – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – but don’t discount niche networks that could provide you with a new audiences for your products and services. Restaurant owners should take advantage of sites like Foodbuzz and Yelp and encourage patron interaction and feedback. Businesses seeking to grow gay/lesbian patronage can set up shop on GLEE.com, and Care2.com provides a great forum for people interested in environmental concerns.

The key to keeping strong social media resolutions in the new year, however, starts with producing relevant content. Grab readers, and they’ll grab you right back.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting Virginia businesses with social media optimization and travel social media.

Social Media for the Retailer

Businesses with active Twitter and Facebook profiles are well advised to make use of both when courting shoppers to their online carts or brick and mortar locations, but other social networks also prove useful. The key to successfully utilizing social media to stimulate sales, though, is to maintain a high level of activity and sociability. As people pose questions on your Facebook wall or send messages via Twitter, answer promptly and offer links to your sites whenever possible. It may not be necessary to change up sales information via social networks, but it’s important to make sure the messages stay visible.

Social Media for the Consumer

If you consider yourself a savvy online shopper, chances are you are following all the retailers you patronize the most, and have subscribed to all the right mailing lists and forums. However, social media can still optimize your shopping experience.

If you’re aware of a particular shop or restaurant in your area and are contemplating shopping there for a gift card or other item, Yelp.com can prove useful in making up your mind. This social forum, while on the outset a customer review site for dining, also accept commentary on local shops and services.

Similarly, Digg allows Internet users to find links on bargains as discovered and promoted by Digg users. A search on an item you wish to purchase for a friend or relative can yield information helpful in your search for the best deal.

Smart phones have an extra boost this year, with specialized apps available to assist in hunting the best sales.  Coupon Sherpa, a website known for providing sales codes for online carts, allows smart phone users to download coupons that are accepted simply buy showing the cashier the phone screen.

This holiday season, keep watch on your social feeds for the best shopping deals, and see how social media can save you money this Christmas.

Here are some important statistics on Facebook:

• Facebook has more than 300 million active users.This is larger than the population of most countries.
• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• The fastest growing demographic of Facebook users is people 35 years old and older
• The average Facebook user has 130 friends on the site (think about how many people read a friend’s news feed…the word of mouth possibilities are endless)
• More than 10 million users become fans of Pages daily.
• More then 65 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices.

With the ease of accessibility Facebook offers to users, communication between friends has increased, along with a user’s tendency to share information. People post links to news stories, videos, and products to their profiles. They recommend books, movies, and local restaurants. Any business without a Facebook presence needs to seriously think about setting on up, not only to market products and services, but to monitor what others are saying about you.

Consider the advantages of having a Facebook fan page:

• Instant socialization: Feedback is real-time, and you can communicate directly with one customer/client while promoting to anybody else reading the feed on your page.
• Search optimization: In blended search paradigms, Facebook pages are showing up in search under certain keywords. With a page, you increase the opportunities for being found online.
• Customization: Create a unique look for your company with a customized fan page.

That’s right, you can add touches to a Facebook page to make it unique. You might think Facebook is limiting in terms of the options you have with regards to marketing. All Facebook fan pages look alike, right? Not necessarily. It’s only a matter of know what tools to use and how to properly arrange your page to maximize exposure of your brand. The application Static FBML (which is short for Facebook Markup Language), allows users to add customized tabs to the fan page, thereby allowing for unique content, graphics, and anchor text to your company’s main site, shopping cart, or anywhere else you want visitors to go.

How it Works

Once logged into Facebook, you will need to go to the page for Static FBML. Underneath the avatar on the top left corner you’ll see a link that says, “Add to Page.” Click to add the capability to your business’ fan page.

Next, go to your fan page and access the backend. The FBML option will appear under the Applications section. Click edit and you’ll find the means to add a new box and tab to your page. You will add raw HTML code into the new boxes you create, but bear in mind that FBML may not accept certain types of code like scripts and iframes.

With FBML, you can create beautiful graphic pages advertising various aspects of your business, even text pages of articles and stories relevant to your company. The more you tinker with this customizable option, the stronger you can build your Facebook community.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist who assists clients with Virginia web design and social media optimization.

That the Mohegan Sun has close to 7000 fans on Facebook – pretty good considering its proximity to Atlantic City, could stand as testament to the power of promoting social media. The page itself is updated regularly with information on touring acts and events, and feedback appears to be active as well. Will definitely keep a lookout for other ways social media is advertised offline.

Ready to get social with your business? Contact us at 757.499.1990.