Mike’s Points

In the relatively short life of work-related and Internet-related software, and the even shorter life of social media, we’ve seen countless products rise to the top — only to be replaced a short time later by something else.

There was Word Perfect…now (and for a while) there’s Word.

There were WebRings…now there’s blogrolls.

We’ve come to accept that the latest new social media site and tool likely may not last long.

But, what about Facebook?

At the October 2009 Social Media Breakfast-Toledo, Curve Detroit’s Charlie Wollborg said that Facebook has staying power because of its “nesting” services. We post family photos and videos. We stay connected with friends and family. We’re not going to leave that behind.

However, I’ve always had a bit of concern over the business-related uses of Facebook. With its servers generally closed to Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines, the only way I saw reaching members and gauging success was through apps and contests. And, I wasn’t alone in that view of Facebook being not business-friendly.

So I am glad to see several recent developments.

One is an opening up of Facebook to search, highlighted by Google’s recent announcements, via Inside Facebook:

This specifically means that any brand, famous individual or other Page owner who shares status updates or media like videos or photos from their Page will get this content showing up in real-time Google search results, which could increase SEO traffic for Facebook Pages.

You also can view AdAge’s story for details.

Combine the search engine news with a study about college students’ preference for Facebook, and you can easily see long-term success for Facebook.

Anderson suggests that this decrease in blogging and discussion-board visits may be because Facebook is quickly becoming more of a communications hub than a social networking site. He noted that its increasing variety of applications, functionality and flexibility enables it to deliver “one-stop shopping” in the otherwise fragmented digital space.

While Facebook may some day fade off into the sunset, it’s the shining star for now.

Point to Ponder: While Facebook may be here to stay and be tempting to use it for your business — with 350 million members worldwide — don’t rush to Facebook. Only start a Page, Group or Cause if enough of your customers and prospects are there, and if it suits your overall marketing objectives. Having a Facebook presence likely will benefit you, but just be sure it’s right for you and you know what to expect. Set objectives! I developed a simple how-to for creating a Facebook Page that you might find helpful.

Thank you.

-Mike

The great thing about social media marketing is how encompassing it can be, and how many parts of business it can touch. With all of its potential and many opportunities, a part of me still likes things to be simple.

So, in this 1:37 video, I try to sum up what social media marketing is. In four simple words.

Please have a look. I very much welcome your comments and if you agree or not — especially if not.

-Mike

(The post headline is supposed to be said in the voice of a newspaper boy selling newspapers at a downtown corner. Sarcastically, of course.)

Last month, I tweeted:

Creating in social media is easy. It’s the maintaining that requires know-how, patience & time.

And, for the most part, that’s true. Social media technologies are cheap at worst; free at best. While there is value in the know-how in the creation of social media activities like a blog, a Twitter account, etc., the process often is not complicated.

So, during the past few days, I created a four-step process to create a Facebook Page. I have a few more thoughts on the social media creation v maintenance issue at my latest Toledo Social Media Examiner article.

If you want to see and download my “How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business / Organization,” you can click on over to the Toledo Social Media Examiner article or see the file at my DocStoc account.

Of course, any feedback on the how-to will definitely be appreciated. Anything left out? How can it be better?
-Mike

During the last couple days, I looked at using search — or better, social media monitoring — to help with blogger outreach, and search to help improve one’s Twitter community.

Today (yes, I know I’m very late with this post), let’s take a look at LinkedIn for building business prospects. This can be used for various objectives, but, in my example, I’m looking at it as a small agency or solo practitioner using it in business development.

LinkedIn has many great ways to find people within your community — professionally and/or geographically — that are open to business relationships. While LinkedIn offers many ways to search, you do business with people, not “companies,” right?

So, use the advanced people search: see right.

While there are many ways to filter your search, I want to point out a few key ways:

Keywords: You can search for prospects based on terms related to vertical industries you have experience in. Sure, you can filter by Industry, but using keywords allow you to refine your search around specific industry terms.

Geography: Looking to do business near you or in your favorite city? LinkedIn has a lot of flexibility to help you search by geography.

Open to potential: The bottom box highlighted is the real key: It shows you who on LinkedIn is interested in what. I have the “interested in: Consultants/contractors” option. There’s also:

• Potential employees
• Entrepreneurs
• Hiring managers
• Industry experts
• Deal-making contacts

And, the ever-there: all option.

Once you get your results, you can sort various ways, from relationship to you, recommendation, keywords and relevance.

So, what are your good LinkedIn tips?

Since business is all about relationships, be sure you are networking with local Social Media Breakfast groups, Social Media Clubs, PRSA, chamber groups, etc. And, be sure you check out LinkedIn to see who is closely connected to you — but you don’t yet know.

-Mike

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use social media to build business — either having me talk with your group or help your social media marketing efforts — I would appreciate it if you’d contact me.

Okay, if you’re an individual, naked launches are okay. I mean, just go already and do it. No planning really required.

But, if you’re a business or a similar organization, naked launches are not needed. Planning and work are required.

I define naked launches as a business or organization starting/publishing a blog, Facebook Page, YouTube channel, Twitter profile, etc., in name only. No or very little content, or solid thought as to what the heck to do with it.

I’ve seen many companies and organizations publish Facebook Pages with little more than their name, URL and logo.

Before moving on, let me say that I understand the need of businesses to protect from name squatters. Okay, save your name even if you have no plans for it — but then state your corporate ID/brand protection intentions so it is clear, and visitors know that it’s not a dead account or that you don’t know what to do with it.

So, what can you do to prevent naked launches? Here’s some help with select popular social media tools:

Twitter: First, be sure your audience (customers, prospects, influencers, etc.) are using Twitter or that you expect they will in the soon enough future.  Because Twitter is so fluid, you don’t need a detailed plan. You do need to have a plan for the types of information you will tweet. Sure, some will be broadcast, but most should be informational — adding value to the legions you hope full follow you.

Also, track key terms around your product, industry, audience, etc., so you can respond to those who have a similar interest. This will help grow your followers and help you find new people to follow. Also, be sure to fully fill out your Twitter profile. See Ford for a solid corporate example. The Toledo Museum of Art has a solid one, too.

Corp/Organizational blog: A lot of planning needs to go into a corporate or organizational blog: Decide why you should, and who you want to reach; who will blog; design (so that it mirrors your corporate look); your blogroll; and objectives to measure to gauge effectiveness.

Also, prior to launch have a couple posts done and published — one an introduction to state why you started the blog, and then a first real one. You must also have an editorial calendar or schedule of posts for the next upcoming time period. If you plan to blog daily, have the first two weeks planned and posts pretty much done; if you plan twice-a-week posts, have the first 3-4 weeks of posts in mind and started; if weekly, have the first month’s worth or more planned. And, then keep up the schedule so content stays regular.

Facebook Page*: Before publishing a Facebook Page for your organization, be sure you complete the pertinent tabs: Information on your company others will want to know; Photos of interest — and more than just your logo; Links to not only your organization but also that your fans would find helpful and of interest; and details on any Events you may have coming in the near term. For Discussions, you don’t have to start any off the bat — though it’d be nice — you should prepare a list of topics to initiate in the coming weeks and months. This is similar to the planning you should do for a blog. Having regular discussion topics will help keep the Page fresh and engage your Fans. If there are no or very few replies, switch to another form of engagement on the Page.

AND, please refrain or control your organization, communications agency and others with a vested interest from fanning your page right off the bat. Those are tainted and don’t come off as being real fans. Most other fans may not know it, but those who do will look sadly upon you. I’m not saying employees and your agency’s personnel should never do it, but when they do at first and months later, they still make up a sizeable portion of your Page, it doesn’t look favorable upon the company.

YouTube: Yes, most companies will simply upload commercials. Guess that’s okay. IF you can do other videos — like from a news conference, how-to, a commnunity volunteer effort you’re involved in, etc., — please do. YouTube offers a lot of customization for your channel to ensure it matches your corporate colors and look. Take advantage of it — before launch. When you do launch, have at least a couple videos ready. Also, keep on the look out for other channels to subscrbe to — could be customers, vendors, prospects, other organizations of interest and that could provide value to your own subscribers. A couple good examples of YT profiles include Pickens Plan (good tie to branding, but would like to see some comments — or haven’t there been any?) and Domino’s (not as strong in corp branding but plenty of positive and negative comments allowed and many non-corp favorites).

If you have other social media tools that should not be naked upon corporate launch, please share your ideas in the comments.

Take care, and thank you for reading.
-Mike

*In most business cases, you’ll want a Facebook Page, not a Group. To decide the best for you, see a post a Mashable and at Inside Facebook. AND, if you’re an organization, business, etc., DO NOT create a Facebook Profile — it’s not allowed. See the 4th question in the FB Help Section.