How To Work Facebook: Part 1

Statistics show that Facebook is the most widely used social networking site on the Web. But, unlike Twitter, Facebook is not so cut and dry. As I explained in previous posts, Twitter is a microblog that limits a user’s message to 120 characters. There are various ways to leverage that message and network to others, but the idea of Twitter is very simple: You have something to say and you say it to the people who have chosen to listen.

Facebook is an entirely different animal.

Since over 500 million people use Facebook worldwide. I am going to start Part 1 of this Facebook series by making one assumption: if you are reading this, odds are that you have a Facebook profile. Fair enough? I’m not going to tell you how set up a profile or download your profile picture. Even if you haven’t done that yet, just log onto Facebook and let them walk you through it. The interface is quite intuitive and easy to navigate. I will show you all of the nuances and functions, but I’ll leave the getting started up to you.

So, why are people using Facebook? The most commonly reported uses for Facebook are for personal entertainment and self/business marketing. Facebook is an easy and inexpensive way for the average person to catch up with old friends, classmates, neighbors, or co-workers. And with 500 million users, it is an incredibly powerful platform for selling a product or service, soliciting donations to your nonprofit, recruiting talent to your firm, or spreading awareness about an issue that means a lot to you.

Think of Facebook’s power like this: Say you have a small, web-based consulting business and you want to send out some direct mail to promote your service. You can purchase a mailing list that consists of your target audience’s demographic, you can purchase the printed piece, and you can pay the postage. Let’s say you send out 10,000 pieces of mail and that costs you $7,000. With a typical direct mail campaign, you are supposed to be ecstatic if you get a 3-4% response. Congratulations. You spent $7,000 to engage 300 people. It probably took you several weeks and cost you a lot more than the $7,000 in monetary expenses. In half the time, you could have sent out the same message to millions of people on Facebook…For a fraction of the cost. 3% of a million people make quite a large group. 3% of 500 million is slightly bigger.

Now, I don’t mean to say that you can just set up a profile on Facebook and instantly reach even 100,000 people. But, with the right tools and a lot of effort, you can build a big enough network to seriously boost your business, product, or nonprofit organization. Like Twitter, it’s all about making connections and interacting. The next several parts of this series will show you just exactly how to do it. Stay tuned.

Still Kicking!

It’s been awhile since my last post, but various forms of life have taken my focus away from blogging.  In any event, I’m trying to get back to it.  While I gather some information, let me know what you’ve seen out there in social media that has gotten your interest.  Particularly my nonprofit followers, what have you seen out there that has worked in the industry?  I’d love to hear from you!

The Importance of Social Media Policy

The best social media strategy in the world can be quickly derailed by weak or non-existent policy.  In fact, it can derail an entire company.  Think that’s a little harsh?  Just ask the brass at Domino’s.

Haven’t heard about the Domino’s debacle?  Here’s a quick rundown.  Last April, some Domino’s employees at a location in North Carolina had the great idea make a video of themselves preparing food in what can be  gently described as a ‘not so sanitary manner’.  They put the videos on YouTube and they spread like wild fire.  What happened next is well documented and is an amazing case study in righting a wrong.  A simple Google search will fetch you the information, so I won’t go too far into it here.  But, what almost crippled Domino’s wasn’t the fact that these clowns did what they did, it was the fact that Domino’s had no policy or procedure in place to either deal with the fallout or respond to it in an efficient way.

So, if you are a business or nonprofit who is getting started with a social media plan, you must take the time to discuss policy and best practice within your organization before you dive in.  Why?  Once you are out there in the world of social media, the potential exists for your employees or business partners to speak on your behalf.  If things turn negative, you need to know how you will deal with them.

You also need to make crystal clear to your employees what type of behavior is expected of them online.  Whether they or you like it or not, your employees act as a voice for your company on social media.  When they fill out their Facebook profile and list XYZ Company as their employer, their thoughts and views can be seen as the thoughts and views of XYZ Company.  Obviously, you can’t stop them from doing what they do on their own time, but policy gives you a level of separation from them when things go wrong.  Domino’s didn’t have that, and they were harshly criticized for it.

Things to think about when it comes to policy:

• Who can and can’t officially add content to the organization’s “official” profiles?

• What level of accountability do your employees have for behavior on personal social media outlets?

• How will your organization respond to negative criticism?  Will it be on the fly, or will a committee address each instance?

• Who speaks for the organization in person, if clients, business partners, or the press question your social media activity?

• Who assesses the appropriateness of content?  Again, on the fly or by committee?

All this, and more, must be on paper and made clear within your organization before activity begins.  A good policy can protect the company and answer many questions that are bound to come up from stakeholders and other internal and external parties.  It’s a must as a first step, and is exactly where my company is right now.

Have experience with social media policy?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

How To Work Twitter: Part 4

When it comes to basic Twitter functionality, the list is the last of the main features I need to cover in this ‘How To’ series.  So, let’s dive right into it.

What is a list?  In my own words, the list is Twitter’s answer to Facebook groups.  If you’re not familiar with Facebook yet, then you can consider a list to be, quite simply, a way to organize your followers.  Why create lists?  Well, say you manage the Twitter account for your nonprofit or small business and you follow 300 other people.  Some are coworkers or volunteers, some are donors, some are sponsors, some are business partners, and some are just regular followers.  Lists provide you with an excellent way to organize who you follow.

When you start to follow lots of people, it can get hard to keep up with every single Tweet that gets sent out.  Lists can quickly and efficiently assist you with catching up.  Maybe you need an idea for a fund raiser or new product promotion.  Quickly browse the list or lists that contain your business partners or competition.  Maybe their content can inspire you.  Need to hire an employee or find a volunteer?  Check out the Tweets of the people on your volunteer or customers list.  Maybe you can find a lead.  Bottom line, lists help you make sense of the cacophony of tweeting that occurs when you start to follow lots of people.

OK…so how do you create a list?  On the right side of your home page, you’ll see a ‘New List’ link on your tool bar, right under the ‘Lists’ heading (how novel!).  Click that and a pop-up appears.  Name your list, explain it if you wish, and make it public or private.  I suggest public, because lists are good tools for your followers to find the people you value…it’s all about networking.  Create your lists and start adding.  The easiest way to add someone to a list is by locating them on your ‘Followers’ page (just tap the word ‘followers’ under the number of followers you have, shown on your home page.  You’ll see a little list icon next to that cog icon we talked about.  The drop down will allow you to add this person to the list (or lists) that you already created.  When you want to take a look at the lists you’ve created, just click the name of the list you want to see.  It will be located on the right side under ‘Lists’ after you create it.  What you’ll see here is a feed made up of the people you put on the list, in chronological order.  The more people on the list, the busier it will be.

It’s that easy.  Along with the value you gain from organizing your followers, you’ll find some value in how happy people are to be listed.  Quite often, you’ll get a ‘thank you’ mention or direct message.  And, quite often, you’ll get added to a list in return.  If you want to take a look at the lists you’ve been added to, click the ‘listed’ number next to ‘following’ and ‘followers’ on the right side if your home page.

Has this ‘How To’ series helped?  Leave me some feedback if you’d like to read explanations of Facebook or  YouTube in this format.

How To Work Twitter: Part I

¬Part I

By now you have all read about Twitter. Everyone from the mom and pop business down the street, to your local news station, to your 17 year-old niece has a Twitter account. You might even have one for yourself or your business. But, do you really know how to work it? Well, if you’re reading this blog I’ll go ahead and assume you’re not a Twitter whiz. But, don’t worry…by the time you get done reading this you will be armed with enough tips and ideas to become an expert.

Let’s begin at the beginning. What is Twitter? Quite simply, Twitter is a micro-blog. Why is it micro? It is a micro-blog because Twitter only gives you 140 characters (including spaces) to share your message with the world, whereas a typical blog is much longer.

The Twitter community is broken down into two major groups: people you follow and people who follow you. How do you follow someone? Look for the little picture of the gear/sprocket and click to see the dropdown menu…the ‘follow’ option lives there. When you follow someone on Twitter, you are subscribing to his/her Twitter content. But, instead of getting an e-mail to alert you that the blogger has posted new information, you get a ‘Tweet’ sent to your ‘Twitter Feed’. A tweet is simply a post on Twitter. The Twitter Feed is what you see when you log into Twitter and hit the ‘Home’ link. Your feed is home base, and where all of the action happens. You see people’s tweets, and its where they see yours. The more people you follow, the more tweets you will see popping up on your feed and vice-versa.

So, there are the basics. We know that a tweet is a Twitter post. You follow people who interest you and you get their tweets in your feed. People who are interested in you see your tweets in their feed. So, why the heck should we be doing this? And, how do I decide who to follow and how do I get them to follow me?

The answers to those two questions contain the beauty and the power of Twitter. I’m going to assume that if you are reading my blog, you know what a blog is. I’m also going to assume that you are somewhat savvy with social media. Otherwise, you would not have found my blog. So, I don’t need to go into the importance of social media marketing as a way to extend your company’s brand awareness or build your own personal brand. I’m guessing you get all of that. But, you just might need some help on understanding exactly how Twitter can help you accomplish all of this.

The answer to ‘why the heck should I be doing this?’ is easily expressed. The answer will likely make all of the mothers in the world cringe, but I think it’s 100% accurate. You should be on Twitter because everyone is doing it! That’s the answer to the social media question across the board, too. You’re not jumping off of a bridge because it’s the cool thing to do. You’re making the choice to embrace the way marketing is headed. The sooner you master it, the better. But, social media is not just about sales and marketing. Tools like Twitter can be used to find resources on anything from building a birdhouse to making tonight’s diner. Twitter is an outstanding tool for marketers, shoppers, recruiters, job seekers, and information lovers alike.

How do I decide whom to follow? This really depends on your goals. For our purpose here, let’s say you want to use Twitter to promote your nonprofit organization. After you set up your account and your profile (which can be pretty easily figured out using the ‘Settings’ link placed on the top, right of the home page), it’s time to start searching. The first place you want to look is anywhere you surf on the web. You should be looking for links and buttons that take you the individual or organization’s Twitter page. If you want to consume the information they share, follow them. The next place you should go to find people to follow is the website ‘search.twitter.com’. This is a Twitter search engine that will deliver everyone who is talking on Twitter about the search criteria you enter. If your nonprofit deals in human services, type ‘human services’ and search. Hundreds, if not thousands, of tweets will come up. Comb through them to see what relates to your nonprofit. If you see something interesting, visit the profile of the tweeter and learn more about what they are talking about by looking at other tweets in their feed. If they are tweeting valuable information, follow them. Also, take a look at whom they follow and who follows them for more ideas by clicking ‘following’ or ‘followers’ on the right side of their home page. Repeat the process above until you can’t stand it anymore.

The above practice will build you a nice list of people you follow. What it will also do is plant the seeds of your own following. Typically, the common practice on Twitter is to follow someone when they choose to follow you. When I have a new follower, which you can evaluate by watching the number of ‘followers’ (right hand side of the home page) go up, I visit that person’s profile to make sure they aren’t a spammer or a weirdo. If they seem OK, I’ll follow back. Maybe I’m not interested in anything they have to say, but it still builds a network. Plus, you never know where a good resource lives. Never assume that someone you follow or who follows you can’t become a donor, volunteer, employee, employer, business partner, or fountain of information and ideas.

If you have read this far, you know should know the Twitter basics for finding and attracting a following. There is much more, but I’ll save it for Part II of this topic. But, remember this: it’s not magic and it’s not overnight. And, don’t forget to be generating content that people are interested in or they won’t be following you for very long. Content can be something like a link to your new blog entry, a link to an article that you find interesting about nonprofits, and everything in between. My rule of thumb with content is this: would I be interested in this? If you ever answer no, then rethink the tweet. Twitter followers can be fickle, so always strive to tweet out good content. Like mom always said, if you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all! (Does that one make up for telling everyone to jump off of that bridge, mom?)

Why Moving Too Fast On Social Media Can Lose An Audience

I learned a very valuable lesson as a result of my last blog post, and it might just be one that I won’t read too much about in the ‘how-to’ articles and e-books on social media. This is a lesson you have to learn by making the mistake.  But, maybe my blunder can help you avoid this social media pitfall.

I was very proud of my last blog post, entitled “Finding Success On Twitter”. If you haven’t read it, I ran down the functionality of Twitter and the strategy I employed to quickly gain some followers and make some great connections. I was so proud because I had mastered the tool. My very triumphant-sounding blog post was full of the terms and jargon that I had learned, and I cut right to the core of what you have to do to find success on Twitter.  I sounded like an expert (at least in my mind!)

So, what mistake did I make?  Two days ago I was having a conversation with my father-in-law about my blog.  He is a very accomplished entrepreneur who is also in the process of learning and embracing all that Marketing 2.0 and social media has to offer for business.

He said to me, and I paraphrase, “John, your blog is great.  I enjoy reading it and I am learning a lot.  But, your last entry about Twitter was so full of jargon that I couldn’t follow it and I learned very little.  If I wasn’t your father-in-law, I probably would have stopped following you.”

Talk about a wake up call!  Upon re-reading the ‘Twitter’ blog post, it was painfully clear that my approach did not take into account the audience who I had originally set out to attract.  Someone who knew very little about Twitter would not have received any benefit from that post.  Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have learned everything from that post because I had no idea what things like a “hashtag” or a “mention” were.  I wasn’t mapping my route to learning social media like I had set out to do.  I was just telling everyone what I learned and expected them to just understand how I got from point A to point B.

Ultimately, what I learned from this exchange is this: as easily as you can find an audience, you can lose them if you don’t bring the type of content you promised.  It is apparently very simple to get off track and confuse your audience.  I was thrilled to have so many new followers to my Twitter feed and my blog.  So thrilled was I that I forgot to give them what they were looking for in the first place!  If they were customers, I would have seen them walking out my door as quickly as I saw them walk in.  If I was to employ this kind of strategy with my non-profit, the plan would probably fail.

So, now it is time to get this blog back on track.  My next post will interpret my previous post about Twitter.  And, future posts will focus less on being an expert and more on becoming an expert!

Many thanks go to Tom Wolf at identityanddestiny.com for the valuable feedback.

Finding Success On Twitter

Having had some nice responses to my blog by way of my LinkedIn activity, I decided to spend the last two days trying to wrap my head around the world of Twitter.

As I explained before, getting yourself, your blog, or your business noticed using LinkedIn is as easy as joining a group and adding some good content to a new or ongoing discussion. LinkedIn undoubtedly has more to offer, which intend to figure out soon. But, for now, I think I have the hang of it.

Twitter was another story.  Before this week, I had found around 60 people to follow and had in the neighborhood of 30 people following me.  I had one or two people mention me in their tweets and had one re-tweet.  To say the least, I wasn’t making an impact.  So I put the pedal to the metal and found  more people to follow who were talking about my subject matter, especially those who were blogging about it, too.  If I learned something from their blog, I thanked them using the ‘@’ functionality.  Many times they added me, some of them even listed me.  Success!  This drove traffic to my blog, which brought on some very nice feedback.  Like I said before, if I was a business I’d have the potential to monetize these relationships as customers (or even donors as a non-profit).  I doubled my following in two days, and now show up on 5 lists.  Not bad for a few hours worth of hustle.

Here is a rundown of some other tips I picked up along the way:

• As I said before, acknowledge everyone you follow or who follows you in some way.  Mention them in a tweet by thanking them for the content they shared, re-tweet their link to a blog or article, or direct message them to let them know you appreciate the attention.  These actions set off a chain reaction of new contacts.

• Download a program like TweetDeck.  This type of program automatically shortens the links you post, so you can get the most out of your 140 characters.  It also has some instant message pop-up functionality so you don’t miss anything.  You can also index your feed, your mentions, re-tweets, and direct messages on one screen in real time.  Great tool for multi-asking.

• Look for people who are having live discussions about a topic you are interested in.  The leader usually will announce the discussion and will give the hashtag.  This is a great way to share your content with people out of your following in real time.  They can be tough to find, but they are out there.

• Scour all of the tweets you can find and write down the hashtags you see being used to relate to your business or blog topic. The next time you have a tweet about your topic, use those hashtags and you’ll be directing your message to the people who might be interested.

I’m sure I only scratched the surface.  As I learn more, I’ll be sure to share.  If you’re reading this, and you have a tip to add, please do so!

Thanks for reading.

Committing to Social Media is Key

Now that I’m in full swing, I’m seeing some fantastic things in the way of response to my project. Over 150 people have visited my blog since I moved to WordPress and some 150 more have viewed my pages on Tumblr. Sure, some are duplicates, but the fact remains that anything you write can and will have an audience. If I was selling a product, I might have over 300 potential customers and maybe a nice boost in business.

But, for the last few days views and visits are down to just about zero per day. I have not posted any new content since last week. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you’re not posting new and interesting content, then people aren’t going to pay attention to you. On that we can agree.

But, I’m discovering a very important lesson here, and I know for a fact that some companies out there are ignoring it.  The lesson is:  If you aren’t 100% committed to a strong social media campaign, then you’re not going to get the return you seek. I don’t care if you’re a for-profit, a non-profit, or an informational blog – you can’t dabble in social media when you feel like it and expect results.  Common sense, right?  Sure it is.  But, when you’re a small business or a non-profit, social media may shake to the bottom of your priorities list.  Your blog, your Facebook fan page, your Twitter feed, and your LinkedIn activity can lose momentum fast if you’re not staying on the radar of your audience.

The current conversation the communications and marketing team at my company is having is all about allocating resources.  Who can we commit to social media and how best will the bet used.  This is a big part of the strategy that smaller for- and non-profits must have and must get right, or a great deal of time and potential could get lost in the shuffle.

Social Media Success Comes By Doing

Welcome to everyone who followed me over from my Tumblr blog, and to any new followers. Knowing that people are interested in this project, and are interested enough to give me feedback, makes this so much more fun.

The last few days have been a tremendous learning experience for me as a social media marketing newbie. I’ve seen very quickly how vast the potential of platforms really can be.

I’ve been pounding the Internet, specifically on LinkedIn and Twitter, just raising awareness of my project and testing out the platforms for when its time to launch my company’s strategy. I targeted like-minded groups on LinkedIn and searched around Twitter for people talking about social media in respect to non-profits, small businesses, and getting started. This activity has driven some modest traffic to my blog, and generated some feedback via e-mail. I’ve had visitors from three countries, as well as had some very accomplished marketing professionals express some interest. To say the least, it has been fun and interesting.

One very surprising thing I have noticed from the analytics is that the majority of my traffic is coming by way of LinkedIn. I would have guessed that Twitter would have sent me the most traffic, but I was wrong. Thus, I will continue to focus efforts in the LinkedIn world and will look to adjust what I am doing on Twitter. My guess is that when it’s time to launch my company plan, LinkedIn will be my best asset for professional connections and talent recruitment. But, when it comes to fund raising and general brand awareness, Twitter will be on of my go-to spots.

Here is a brief rundown of how I have positioned my blog, for those of you who are looking for tips:

• I began my blog on Tumblr.com. While I liked how easy and intuitive Tumblr was, they do not offer the option to have followers subscribe via e-mail. I don’t expect many of my followers to sign up for Tumblr just to get my blog, and RSS feeds get cluttered and messages get missed. Bottom line for getting your blog started: test them all out. Find out what options work for you and if they are offered for free (or at all). Worpress looked like a good fit for me, so here I am.

• As I said before, I began to get involved in open discussions on LinkedIn. The easiest way to do that is to join a group and browse the discussions that group members are having on the group’s page. You can chime in on one, or start your own. It seems to be a great way to build personal credibility on an issue, and pick up some great contacts and awesome leads on information.

I did the same thing with Twitter, via the search.twitter.com tool. Amazing amounts of people are talking about anything and everything related to what your line of business does, does well, does poorly, and all things in between. Find someone you think is interesting, and add him or her to your network. If they add you, too, then you can begin a dialogue via the direct message or the ‘@’ functionalities.

LinkedIn is working better for me right now in terms of responses and ideas. You may find that Twitter is better. Just try it all out.

• I plan on involving Facebook in my strategy very soon, so that will be good fodder for a future blog. I see Facebook as the main player, so I want learn some more about how to approach it before I approach it. Also, I want to be careful to keep separation from my personal presence on Facebook and what would be a professional presence as I try to help my company develop a strategy.

All in all, I think I am really starting to devise a strong plan of attack for my company. The relative success of my blog (by my standards!), in a very short time, leads me to believe I will be able to attract a following and turn those followers into business partners, donors, clients, and supporters. I’m pumped!

Where to start the Social Media journey

The great J. Peterman once said, and I paraphrase, that the best way to get somewhere you’ve never been is to not know where you are going.

That’s where I find myself now. My quest is to become a social media expert. My plan involves taking the non-profit I work for and turning into an industry behemoth in the social media realm. How do I get there?

Well, I’ve decided that it starts with some buy in from my superiors. My company is a large non-profit. We have an annual operating budget of several hundred million dollars, over 6,000 employees, and 50,000 clients with special needs. So, needless to say, we have a lot of stake holders who may want to weigh in on our social media plan. The leaders of our Communications/Marketing Department have no fundamental opposition to social media. But, diving in head first is something that no one does easily around here. The inherent risk of exposure to negative banter, the risk of release of confidential information, and the staffing necessary to keep on top of a strategy has everyone hesitant to commit.

Our company does have a YouTube channel stocked with some aging marketing videos. We have a non-managed or updates presence on Facebook. We have a newly designed and attractive website, but it does not offer much in the way of Web 2.0 interaction. So, as you can see, we have some work to do.

What I am doing now is tons and tons of research. Reading every article and blog I can get my eyes on and connecting to every expert I can on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Every nugget of information I find goes into my notebook which will arm me with a rock-solid arsenal for when I plead my case to management to let me devise the perfect social media strategy. I’ll also share the best of what I find with you!

Please share your ideas, feedback, or advice. You can e-mail me at john.stone.01@gmail.com