Posts Tagged facebook
What Bothers You About Facebook?
Posted by seo in social media on August 20, 2010
Whether you think that change is good or bad, it’s one thing for sure: inevitable. Facebook faces harsh criticisms as they are always changing features and updating their looks. Let’s take a look the pain points of Facebook:
Constant changes – People don’t always like change, especially when it comes to something that they’re familiar with. Facebook is always changing how Pages look and have recently put a size constraint on Facebook Page tabs and eliminated Boxes. They claim that the purpose of this is to enhance the user experience but how is it helpful for Pages to take things away?
Facebook Places also made its debut and people are up in arms over privacy issues, so learn how to disable it if you’re interested.
Lack of focus – Should I focus on gaining more Fans? Constantly updating my status? Adding new content? What’s the point of all this?! Many people find themselves asking these questions. It’s hard to find a balance in all this but you’ll eventually find the spot. To me, the most important aspect of a Facebook Page is to show your personality. An updated Page shows that you’re active and “social” so yes, it’s important to show your customers and fans that there is a real person behind your Page.
Irrelevancy and distractions – This article shows how Facebook Pages are becoming irrelevant in some ways. It claims that less people are visiting Pages. I think that well-maintained Pages will still get hits.
So, what are people doing on Facebook? I just noticed that I got a complimentary 25 credits for Facebook Games such as Resort World (nearly 2.5 million players) or Happy Island (nearly 9 million players). Time to spend that virtual money!
What are some other things that bother you about Facebook?
Stop Being So Frantic About Social Media
Posted by seo in social media on August 13, 2010
Such a rare sight to see – a hummingbird that’s actually sitting still!
This just reminds me of people who are so frantic about getting started with social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Ning, Flickr, LinkedIn, Tumblr and more. Sure, you can throw out all these names but what’s the point of being on all these social media channels? If you just want to be on all these profiles for the sake of being there, it’s time to reevaluate your strategy. In this related article from Problogger, Darren Rowse notes that:
“I’m pretty sure that facebook is not a site that will work for every topic.”
Wanting Too Much
Businesses and individuals with successful social media pages can tell you how much time, research, and resources it takes to just maintain ONE profile. So, how can people expect to do this effectively and efficiently with numerous social media profiles? Simply put, most people just can’t. Clients often want too much out of social media because it’s “free”. If anyone starts suggesting that you can save time by copying and pasting things in place of real engagement… it’s time to step away. (Especially if it applies to starting a new social media profile and building a fan base.) Check out some other practices to avoid.
What is the Point?
Before you setup a social media account, it’s time to think about your goals. What do you want to achieve with this profile? Here are some things you want to consider:
- Create a space where you can respond to customer feedback
- Raise brand awareness for your local business
- Offer specials and discounts for loyal customers
- Provide helpful resources for customers who need help
- Or just share information that you’re passionate about
A Moment for Clarity
Remember, it helps to stay still for once. Like the hummingbird, it gives you a chance to catch your breath and take a look at the big picture! You can still take notes but make sure to edit it down to reasonable actions. If your strategy doesn’t work, move on and look for another approach. Don’t let all these thoughts and ideas consume your efforts in boosting your online identity.
Step Up 3D’s Social Media Advertising
Posted by seo in social media on August 9, 2010
Did you catch Step Up 3D this weekend? This is the third film of the dance series in which Channing Tatum was the original lead. The film made a pretty good debut for it’s opening weekend, grossing over $15 million and securing the 3rd spot in the box office.
The film had a relatively small budget of $30 million but wasn’t afraid to hit hard when it came to social media advertising. Their Facebook Page has close to 1.5 million fans while their MySpace Page has over 2.5 million fans. Not too bad for a threequel!
Lessons learned from the film’s marketers – they effectively understood their audience demographics by:
- Implementing interactive pages that engage fans with questions, music and videos. Some Facebook fans even claimed to have seen the movie 4-5 over the weekend!
- Having an impressive soundtrack with popular artists like Flo Rida, Estelle, Jessie McCartney, T-Pain and Chromeo.
- Take advantage of the 3D trend. Who said 3D is just for childrens movies? Let’s see how Piranha 3D does later this month..
- Riding the popularity of dancing in pop culture. So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew are just a few examples of what is “in” in entertainment nowadays.
Sure, this movie may not have the best storyline… but sometimes, audiences just want to watch a fun movie. In that case, Step Up 3D really captured the sentiment and understood their audience. The real question is, who’s ready for Step Up 4D?
Piranha 3D
Are You Feeling the Pain of Social Media Promotion?
Posted by seo in social media on July 27, 2010
Nowadays, a blog here and there just isn’t enough to get your content out there. It can be hard to go that extra step but the effort is worth it. Promotion with social media doesn’t have to be a painful process for writers and bloggers. Many people see social media as a medium for personal relationships, so why can’t you apply that concept to engage your readers?
Add a Personal Touch
It’s easier than it seems but fans will appreciate it when you add a personal touch to your social media efforts. Instead of just linking a news story or site, give them a good reason to read and click. People aren’t just interested if you’re throwing a URL out at them. Give your opinion or a different spin on the subject. Here are some examples:
- Have a sense of humor. Being genuine and funny is one of the best ways to get a response or RT on Twitter. Also, don’t be afraid to ask!
- Give people shout outs. On Twitter and Facebook, you can use the @ tag to show your fans and followers appreciation.
- Retweet others and comment. The best way to engage is to start with outreaching others. Remember, it’s not all about pushing your URL.
Simple is Always Best
It helps to stay simple and you can start with your content. Unless you’re focusing on a niche topic or doing some technical writing, more people will be able to connect with a simple subject. Reading other blogs and articles can help give you ideas and also improve your writing. These are simple steps you can take for inspiration and learning more about your area of expertise. Simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy and it takes practice. Just think about it, what’s more difficult: writing a concise one sentence summary or writing a summary paragraph?
Bloggers often focus on consistently coming up with new ideas and writing the content. After the writing process, it can be tedious to promote your work on different social media channels. Try to force yourself to do so by following a few of these tips. Remember that in the end, you get what you put in but you can always work to change the outcome. No pain = no gain!
Does Social Media Help or Harm Your Blogging Efforts?
Everybody uses social media advertising to promote their blog nowadays. Besides, what good is so good about blog without the sharing aspect? But, does social media actually help or harm your writing efforts? Either way, it’s important to look at both sides of things before you implement a social media plan for your content.
How It’s Helpful
The best thing about social media is that it gives you the power to share your content beyond just your blog domain. Through your RSS feed, Twitter retweets, Facebook ‘Likes’, diggs and more, these tools give you the opportunity to give your writing exposure. When paired with your online network or blogging community, social media broadens the audience that has access to your posts. How awesome is that?
Social media is also a great way to get ideas for new topics to write about. Let’s face it, writing is fun but not when you run out of things to write about. Searching my favorite blog communities is the best cure for my writer’s block. Even if you’re just feeling lazy, you can expand on a comment you’ve been meaning to make or react to a current news story.
Sharing through social media also provides an open way for you to strengthen your online brand while demonstrating your knowledge.
How It’s Harmful
Now, on to how social media can be harmful to your blog. Two words: damage control. If you’re a big brand, you really have to watch what you say. Is it wrong to say that readers are waiting for you to make a wrong movie? Just take a look at Consumerist who reveals the mistakes and slip ups of big companies. They also take consumer tips!
It’s easy to give into information overload on social media networks. Some bloggers argue that social media can also be a sheer waste of time. While you start using social media as a way to find ideas, it could lead to clicking irrelevant sites that just pointless to your blogging goals!
How about you? In my experience, social media has been an extremely helpful part of the blogging experience. I started my first foray into guest blogging and it’s going better than I initially expected! Again, it’s the social aspect that made this all possible.
What Do You Think of Facebook Marketing Solutions?
What is It?
Facebook Marketing Solutions is a Page run by Facebook’s very own employees. It’s a resource page for brand marketers to share and learn about marketing on the social site. Though the Page was founded early last year, I haven’t really noticed it until it showed up in my ‘Recommended Pages’ box. The Page also some helpful tips on how to build your brand presence, engage your audience and spread your message.
An Interesting Concept
Make sure to check out the Discussions tab to see what people are asking and answering. It seems to be an interesting concept but I see that a lot of topics are overwhelmed with spam. For example, the latest discussion is titled ‘Please Like my FB page’. If this continues, I can see how it will be a lot more problematic than helpful.
Facebook is taking a stand to help marketers get a better understanding of their changing game. As far as I know, Twitter doesn’t have a resource similar to this. I’m not sure how well this would work for Twitter where spam seems to be even more prevalent. I’m noticing a lot more spam accounts that are following the emarketed profile. Schemes like: cash for gold, win a free iPad, vacation home rentals etc.
Things That Could be Improved
There are cool case studies on Coca-Cola and Starbucks but what about the little guys? I think this Page is lacking information for local business and smaller businesses that are just starting out. They seem to be taking suggestions into consideration so I hope they add more info about this in the future. I’d definitely like to see more info for small businesses and less spam.
Guest Post: How to Create Relationships on Facebook
Posted by seo in social media on June 15, 2010
We all know how popular Facebook is in today’s Internet era, but if you own your business, did you know that you can create some great relationships on there? Whether you want to find more customers, or maybe you want to connect with other owners in your industry, there are a lot of things that you can do in order to find the people that share the same interests as you.
Use the friend suggestions: On the left hand side of your screen, you have probably seen the “people you may know” tool. You will want to take advantage of this. Even if you don’t really know that person, check out their profile, and send them a message. What’s the worst thing that they are going to say?
Join the groups: Yes, Facebook has groups. What you can do is find groups that you’re interested in. Let’s say that you want to find people that are into pets. Find groups that relate to pets. The key here is to make sure that you’re active.
Create a fan page: If you have a business, make sure you start up a fan page. It’s free and it’s a great way to communicate with your customers. Put your fan page on your business cards, your website, and if you have some cash, advertise it on Facebook.
Use other websites: Other social sites such as LinkedIn or Twitter are another great way to meet people. On these sites, you can input your Facebook URL as well. This is a great way to connect outside of the social platform. LinkedIn is designed more for professionals, while Twitter is for those looking to connect with just about anybody.
Facebook is a little bit like real life. If you’re going to hide in the corner and not talk to anybody, how do you plan on forming a relationship? You want to be active, communicate with others, and set out to find others that may relate to you. There’s no need to spam, as relationships take time to grow!
This is a guest post written by Elizabeth Cutten. Elizabeth helps run FindBizCards, a business credit card portal, as well as a small business blog helping entrepreneurs on a daily basis.
What Social Media Challenges Do You Face?
Posted by seo in social media on June 11, 2010
Feeling Lost
Many companies who take the big dive into social media can be left feeling a little lost. This is understandable as it can be confusing to organize what to do and who to listen to. If you’re feeling confused, it’s time to do something about it! Many companies and social media resources offer free webinars or white papers for educational use. For example, SEOmoz has resources ranked by difficulty so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed if you’re a beginner. Once you have a better understanding of what you want to accomplish, you can begin looking into social media tactics that can help you pursue this plan. Remember, social media is just another channel where you can extend your reach in the areas of marketing, customer service, partnerships, leads and even hiring.
Spending Too Much/Little Time?
Do you feel like social media helps your brand or hinders it? It depends on how you look at it of course. If you don’t have a plan, things can get messy and you can find yourself spending way too much time on Twitter. Depending on your schedule, you may want to assign yourself a couple minutes (I like 5-10 minute bursts) of time to check your social media profiles. If it gets too overwhelming, ask for help. A big mistake you can make is trying to manage everything on your own, especially if you don’t have the time or understanding. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of a Twitter whiz or Facebook specialist.If you don’t know where to look, an internet marketing firm is a great place to start.
Problems with Consistency
Many companies need help and motivation in keeping consistent with participation on social media sites. Think of this task like a project for a client or a personal goal. You need to establish time lines and can start realistically. It might be a long shot to aim to write 10 blogs a week, so why not start with every third day? You can always build yourself up without any pressure. Just like all the good things in life, social media success doesn’t come without hard work and dedication. The misconception is that people get frustrated with their progress because the services are “free”. But remember, you get out what you put in, so plan accordingly. Set aside some time to set targets for your blog, tweets, Facebook Page updates and you’ll be glad you did!
New Viral Marketing Campaigns Spread Excitement
Posted by seo in facebook, social media, twitter on May 27, 2010
I always like to hear about the latest viral marketing campaigns and see how big brands are trying to outdo each other.
Papa John’s Pizza Mania
First off, p-i-z-z-a! Papa John’s unveiled an online contest this week asking fans to share their special recipe. The contest, dubbed “Papa’s Specialty Pizza Challenges”, encourages pizza aficionados to submit their special recipe along with a short blurb about why their pizza is so special. Ten semi-finalists will get a chance to have their recipe tested at Papa John’s HQ. From there, three finalists will have their recipe featured on the Papa John’s menu in August. But the excitement doesn’t stop there! Of the final three, Papa John’s will hand out a $1000 budget for marketing.
The recipe with the most sales will get a permanent spot on the menu! The grand prize also includes free pizza for life and an appearance in a Papa John’s TV ad. Go to Papa John’s Facebook and take a look for yourself. I never thought that people could be so excited about pizza but as fan Diane writes on the Page’s Wall, “I don’t care for American Idol. But, a pizza right now sure sounds good.”
Honeymooning with Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn also launched a campaign this week targeting newlyweds who are looking for a good deal for their honeymoon. Appealing to members of their rewards program on Twitter, Holiday Inn’s month long “Honeymoon on Us” contest will give out free prizes. With wedding season around the corner, this is the right time for the InterContinental Hotels Group to focus their efforts on vacationing couples. The grand prize is pretty great too – a complete wedding registry!
Papa John’s and Holiday Inn are just two examples of how big brands are using social media to the fullest extent. Nike also just set a record with their new viral ad. Do you have any other examples you’d like to share? It doesn’t have to be a promotion that’s currently running.
Does the New Facebook Make You Miss the Old MySpace?
Privacy Concerns
Facebook’s privacy shuffle is not quite done as founder Mark Zuckerberg reveals that new settings will be coming very soon. Great, just what we need!
Facebook’s integrity may be unraveling as many users are angered by privacy violations, profile bugs, and Zuckerberg’s pompous behavior. A recent source reveals that Zuckerberg called users “dumb f****” when a friend asked why users would trust a stranger with their information.
Profiles Lacking Personality
Privacy is not the only thing that Facebook user profiles are lacking – what about the personality? Remember when you could make your interests “unique”? Maybe you enjoy ‘music to sleep to’ or some other obscure band or activity. Thanks to the site’s new feature, you can’t even add something you’re interested in to your profile unless it already has a presence on Facebook (via Group, Page, Community etc.) On top of that, adding an interest to your profile instantly connects you to other users who like the same thing, whether you like it or not.
Now everyone is stuck with a boring, generic profile layout and you can’t even add an interest that Facebook doesn’t like. Remember when you could add your favorite song to your MySpace profile or change your background layout to match your mood? No, we aren’t talking about the obnoxious animated gifs. What if you just wanted to simply change the background color and font? Not possible with Facebook. Although my MySpace account has been laid to rest many years ago, the new Facebook makes me miss it sometimes. Facebook’s features seem to be getting more problematic and restricting. That’s not to say that MySpace didn’t have privacy issues of their own… but still.
What’s Next?
Thousands have already pleaded to commit social suicide and quit Facebook by May 31st, will you join? I’m also looking forward to Diaspora, an alternative to Facebook, which is set to launch September of 2010.
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- What Bothers You About Facebook? August 20, 2010
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