Posts

Are you finding it difficult to get people to like you on your Facebook page?
There’s a way you can increase your following quickly . . . if you do it the right way. Yes, there is a right way to get people to like you and it is very much the same as making friends. This right way is where so many people go wrong because they treat it differently than they do when they make a friend in the “real world.”

Guess what? The Internet is the “real world” because it consists of the same people. Are you treating them differently? 

Get Likes on Facebook: Give People a Reason to “Like” You
People aren’t just going to randomly “like” your page.

First, you need to know who your ideal market is, you can do this by knowing their interests, likes, professional where they live and more. Introduce yourself. The best way to do that is to “like” them first and tell them you look forward to connecting with them or to seeing more from them.

Also, compliments go a long way. Show them you are paying attention to what they have to say and it is a two-way street.

Interact with the people who have “liked” the same page. An excellent way to say, “Hey, notice me” is to pay attention to the comments on the posts of the page you have liked and “like” their comment. This will show up in their notifications and it’s a way of introducing yourself to people outside of “pages.” It’s a way to expand your exposure to your target market.

It’s Not All About You (Hard to believe huh?)
The best way to get likes on Facebook is to realize that it is not all about you and what you can do for them or what you have done. It’s about giving to others first and helping others succeed. If you do that, people will have no option but to stop an notice you, and like your page!

Others that share the same niche are not necessarily your competition. In fact they may actually be your future business partners, cross promotion opportunities, or collaboration partners. The key here is to identify some excellent people, teams, or businesses that stand out to you and you truly believe are doing an excellent job. Remember everybody has a different niche or specialty.

Interact with these people, promote their relevant products or services. Promote them without any expectation of anything in return. Do it because you are establishing relationships with other people you respect in your area of expertise. You’re providing value to your readers and you’ll give yourself the opportunity to learn from other experts.

Get Likes on Facebook by Being Likable
A way to get likes on Facebook is to be yourself. People will sense it if you’re not being yourself and they’ll probably run in the opposite direction as fast as they possibly can. Be authentic and creative. Show your personality.

Allow for people to actually get to know YOU, not your business necessarily. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. If you are not well liked, it doesn’t matter if you have the best deal in the world. People will hide when they see you coming to avoid you and they’ll find what you offer from someone they like.

Ask yourself, “Would you do business with someone that introduced themself with a sales pitch? Facebook is NOT a place to sell, it truly is a place to build relationships and find people all over the world! Your reputation is created by the way you present yourself. You can present yourself as likable or as that person who keeps trying to sell something to somebody blatantly. Remember what goes up on Facebook represent who you are as a person, so if there are inappropriate pictures on your personal page, people can find them and may not want to do business with you or like your page. Regardless if you own your own business or work for a fortune 500 company, your reputation is all you have.

You will be amazed at how you’ll get likes on Facebook because of your personality and the way you present yourself. And if you can master that, you will then be able to introduce your business.

What’s your experience? Do you get likes on Facebook?

Social media marketing like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube is a

tricky beast. It can be time consuming and if done wrong, super spammy.

That having been said, social media can produce REAL results for your small business!

We do social media marketing for small business owners and oftentimes during

the sales process they ask us what kind of results they can expect

from our efforts.

 I THINK that they are asking what kind of SALES can they expect to receive

within a couple of days of starting, but that is just conjecture on my part!

Social media marketing is not a direct line kind of thing. It is more like grabbing

a tigers tail and hoping that he is going where you want to go!

 I read the best post the other day about why Facebook marketing does not work,

it is worth a read for sure. The nice thing about this article is that it

comes from an agency who has really deep pocket clients who have made the mistakes that our

small biz marketing peeps cannot afford to make.

Social Media Marketing Results and Goals

I was talking to a client the other day and he was VERY focused on growing his database so that he

could send them marketing messages. With that in mind he had developed a series of four different

 autoresponders with GREAT content. The problem was his front-end pitching of it. Basically by reading

what he was saying, you could tell immediately that his goal was to get you in his database which

would turn anyone off. With social media marketing (actually with all marketing) we have to know

that there are humans at the other end of line. Our goals for using social media have to be REALLY clear so

that we know what we are trying to accomplish with our efforts. Here are a couple of goals that

you could have in social media:

To Get Them Into Your Database

Social media marketing results

If you are talking  A LOT with someone on social media,

 check out their information. Often they will have their email or phone number on there,

add them to your database. Additionally, you can have a

 great teaser and a link that you can post judiciously that will allow people to opt into your

database but don’t be a spammer about it! Here is a link

to one of my clients FREE ebooks about “How To Buy USA Real Estate” that could be a good carrot!

The photo shows how you can add it to your Facebook

 profile without looking like a spammer.

To Sign Up People To Work With You

Social Media Marketing Results

One of my favorite online MLM marketers is Kirsten McKay Smith

 of Passion Parties. She REALLY knows how to engage her clients, team members and

prospects on Facebook. THIS Is the kind of thing that can happen when you are out there.

She had a prospect who she “friended” on Facebook. Now that could have gone nowhere as

 many of our leads do BUT through communicating on the Facebook, Kirsten stayed in touch and

when her prospect was ready was there to sign her up immediately. Kirsten is also an author

of the What It Takes To Make A Million Dollars In Direct Sales books, unsurprisingly, this same thing works for sales of her

books. In fact, I saw on there the other day someone asking about when her forth volume was set to come out!

 Gotta think that will lead to some sales.

To Stay In Front Of Prospects Without Spamming Them

Social media marketing social media real results

The picture is a lead that I got yesterday from a prospect. The content basically

said that she had met me at a talk that I gave over a year ago and had implemented some of the

 suggestions that I gave and had great results for her company. NOW, she is at another company

and is interested in finding out about the services that I offer. YAY! So how did this happen? Was it because

I set up a Facebook profile a year ago, ignored it and then magically someone wanted to buy something?

Nope! This is the process that this prospect went through:

  • She attended a class that I gave
  • I put her into my database AND asked her to be my Facebook friend
  • She did not need my product or service right then BUT we saw each other on the Facebook, I liked some of her stuff off and on, generally she
  • still knew I was out there in the business
  • She sent me a message through Facebook asking about my services

Now, will she turn into a client, maybe. BUT the whole point is to fill up your pipeline with people

who are curious about what you do and make sure

to pay attention to them. Have to say that having them as Facebook friends is a super easy way to do that!

– – – –

I do not know if you know this or not, but we have a Small Business Marketing and Social Media membership site

will all kinds of great information about how to actually DO some of the things that we talk about over here!

In fact, I am going to be adding so me new videos TODAY

that cover how to do these kinds of posts that get results for your social media efforts!!!

Found on http://www.Marketingartfully.com

Late last week Facebook announced changes to Facebook Pages. The latest overhaul will streamline the look of the site to match Places and personal profiles. Plus, added features expand the options for brands to engage on Facebook.

Here are the highlights:
New Look Mimics New Personal Profiles and Places
Last month Facebook revealed it updated looks for personal profiles. Just as users are growing accustomed to the new look, Facebook announced similar updates for Facebook Pages – plus an array of other useful features for page admins.

What’s Changing: The addition of a photostrip at the top of the Page that mimics the personal profiles. This displays the latest photos the Page has tagged itself in, according to Inside Facebook.

What It Means: Users have done creative things with this section (view examples at Mashable), but because these photos display randomly, there’s not ways to work strategically with these images. Regardless, this will immediately put an increased focus on images.

What’s Changing: Tab navigation is now on the left, instead of the top. Six tabs are displayed by default, and tab names support more characters.

What It Means: The question of whether this move from top to left will reduce the traffic to tabs remains to be seen. As visitors grow more accustomed to the layout, checking that space on Facebook Pages could become commonplace. Plus, the added character space for descriptions might aid in piquing interest. This could make strategic use of default landing tabs more important than ever.

What’s Changing: Info blurb moves from Wall to Info tab

What It Means: For brands that aren’t highly recognizable, this could hinder their ability to give their “elevator pitch” to new visitors. Welcome tabs as default landing tabs can help raise awareness and could come in handy for this issue.

The profile pictures shrink from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540 pixels. Shortly after the announcement, a Facebook bug led many to believe that tab width was changing from 520 pixels to 492 pixels. The tab width will remain at 520 pixels.

Administrators Have More Freedom to Speak on Brand’s Behalf

What’s Changing: Page admins can now “be” the brand on Facebook. This includes:

  • Browsing Facebook as the brand. Facebook will allow admins to jump between browsing the site as themselves or as the administrator. Along with this comes the ability for a brand to read a newsfeed of its own.
  • Posting comments on other Pages.
  • Liking other brands’ Pages.

What It Means: Brands have a bigger voice and greater reach. Not only will brand-to-brand relationships be seen (what if Coke and Pepsi Like each other? Packers and Steelers?), but this will also impact consumer discussions with brands on other Pages. There are co-branding opportunities in terms of cross-commenting on partner Pages. While there are opportunities for spam to increase or consumer fatigue to swell at seeing more brand posts in new places, if used wisely the increased freedom to engage in different parts of Facebook could be somewhat of a game-changer.

What’s Changing: Users will see friends who also like the Page, as well as Liked Pages that the user and the Page have in common.

What It Means: AllFacebook reports this is one of the most requested features. And rightly so – these connections mean more opportunity for organic discovery for brands. This is a good sign, especially with recent discussions around the need to break through the noise of users’ newsfeeds. The importance of having an internal process for commenting as a cohesive Page among team members will become more important to ensure there’s one voice among many admins.

Management Options Updated and How They Work with Shoutlet

What’s Changing: Admins can receive email notifications from Facebook when users post to the Facebook Page. These can be turned on or off by administrators.

What It Means: For small Pages, this will be a lifesaver. For large brands with a significant number of Likes, it will be overwhelming. For Shoutlet users, this feature currently exists. Unlike Facebook notifications that only notify of posts and comments, Page activity notifications from Shoutlet can be tailored and include more notification possibilities. For instance, users can turn off notifications for new comments and only receive email when new Likes are added.

What’s Changing: The order of Wall posts move from most recent to most relevant. If admins choose to display user posts (the other option is Page-only wall posts), Facebook determines the most relevant posts based on factors like friend comments, country, and more.

What It Means: For Page admins managing their Pages within the Facebook interface, this can make moderation tricky. Although there are email notifications, some have complained that without chronological ordering of posts, moderation will suffer. Having a social media management system can help your team catch everything and respond quickly – without being buried in email notifications from Facebook or wading through the Wall to find what’s new.

For current Shoutlet users, all changes are supported and are ready to roll when admins make the switch manually or Facebook converts all Pages to the new layout on March 1.

We’re interested in what you think about the new Pages. How do you think it is going to change the impact of Pages?

http://socialmediatoday.com/jason-weaver/270419/new-facebook-pages-mean-new-look-greater-reach-and-more

As a Social Media Manager I get asked the question a lot, “What does Social Media mean to you and how do you think of it differently?”

Well to me Social Media means a connection source. If you think about it Social Media connects people all over the world. People have found long lost family and friends; people have done business with each other, even though have never met.

In my environment, the people I am around the most are what I like to call “Light Workers” and these are people that are very authentic, bring spirituality into their business and talk about rising up to a new level of vibration for 2012. I always tell them by using social media the right way we can accomplish that. They give me a funny face most of the time.

Social Media is a tool we can use in the right way to find people nationwide that have things in common with us. We then build those relationships. We have videos we create to teach people what we do and who we are, we put those up on our Social Media profiles and that builds relationships. Sometimes people think that everything is going on the internet and we are getting away from face to face connections and growing part from each other. That is one way to think about it, OR you can think about it like this: there are thousands more people on the Internet that you can connect to. Yes people are using Internet more than going to meeting and events to find people. At the same time there are tools like Skype and GoToMeeting where we can still see that other person face to face.

I just want you to remember that Social Media is about building relationships with people from all over, it is NOT about selling.

Social Media can be our connection source to the world!

Facebook can be a little tricky on how to get more fans. You will see a huge increase in fans if you do these following steps:

1)      Creating a “List” on your personal side and name it business, anyone you add as a friend you will put them into this list of people

2)      When you create your page use the widget code Facebook gives you to add on your website

3)      Add your Facebook Page link on your email signature

4)      Send an email out through your email system like Constant Contact, Aweber, iContact, ETC telling them you are on Social Media and giving them those links

5)      Make a compelling video to put on your welcome page on Facebook

6)      Have customers tag photos of you and your products

7)      Using Facebook Ads to get more fans

8)      Run a contest

9)      You can use Mobile marketing to have people check out your Facebook page and “Like” it

10)   Have your Facebook Page link on all marketing materials

11)   Post your Facebook page link to Twitter

12)   Use the Suggest to friends on page and suggest to that List you have been creating

By using these steps you are promoting you fan page. Also you want to encourage your customers/clients to leave comments, feedback and questions to your page. Facebook ads are a great way to get more fans quickly and easily, BUT you want to make sure you are doing the ads correctly like make the message compelling so people want to come to your page. Use a creative picture, good message, maybe free offer. There are steps you need to follow in order to get a return on the ads. Facebook is a great way to really make those connections with people all over the world and a great place to get closer to your customers/clients. I hope this post was helpful. If you need help on any of these steps please let me know and I can help assist you with them.

1)    Make your videos viral

2)    Use other social media outlets to post your videos like Twitter, Digg, Facebook, ETC

3)    Have a plan or theme for your videos

4)    Make sure the sound is clear so people can hear you clearly

5)    Keep your content engaging to your audience, make it funny and informative

6)    Keep your videos clean without too much conversation

7)    Have your logo and information (Video bumper) on each video

8)    Write down your goals for YouTube, what do you want to give and receive from it

9)    Use a good camera and editing tool. ( Windows movie maker, Camtasia are good editing tools, cameras any cannon or Kodak are great)

10) Make sure you are recording with an HD camera and publishing in HD so it is very clear for your viewers

11) Have a color scheme to your videos and stay congruent

12) MOST IMPORTANT BE YOURSELF, show your authenticity

13) Remember nothing is perfect online, it is better to get videos up rather than trying to look like Oprah, as small business owners we do not have a backroom stage crew

14) Practice before doing your video that you will post out into the Internet world

15) Think of doing an ongoing series of videos then think of making a product of those videos

16) Do more than just talk if you are doing a video longer than 3 minutes, be interactive and have handouts and pictures

17) Work hard on getting you videos between 2-5 minutes, after that it is hard for people to stay engaged. If you are creating a product or training that is different

18) Make a schedule for your videos, once people start to like you and follow you they will be used to a schedule, this also keeps you on track.

19) Have a creative sign off that people will remember and brands you

20) Ask for feedback from your viewers and have them leave comments

21) Work on bringing other people into your videos, clients, coworkers, friends, family so it is not always you

22) Do not use music unless you have permission

23) Remember the title of the video is just as important as the content

24) Use your keywords in your title and tagging in YouTube and other Internet outlets

25) Use tags in addition to the keywords, as this also get people attention

26) Do not stress over negative comments leave them, pay attention to them and see if it is something you need to change or someone just having a bad day

27) Use as many social networks as you can to get your videos out there, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, Delicious, ETC

28) Let your customers and email list know when a new video went out and ask them to share it

29) Add your videos to various communities and subject areas of YouTube for more exposure

30) Remember to thank people who post positive comments and see if you can do the same for them

31) It is ok if all your videos are not all huge hits, be patient and practice

32) Have a script or bullet points you want to make in your video

33) Use analytics tools like YouTube insight to track your sources and hits

34) Use the word “video” in your title

35) DO NOT MAKE YOUR VIDEO A SALES AD

36) Choose your thumbnail picture wisely. YouTube actually allows you to choose your thumbnail picture

37) You can delete comments on YouTube, so do not hesitate to get rid of those negative or rude comments on your YouTube channel

38) You can put up more than one video at a time

39) Be real, don’t try and fake something you’re not

40) Have FUN and focus on fun, and then it will be fun for others

41) Aside from your logo and website include a phone number and email people can reach you at

42) Watch others in your industry and learn from them both good and bad

43) Stick with your target market. You want loyal viewers

44) Do videos in different locations, office, outside, client project ETC. If using a webcam please make sure when you publish it that your lips are sync with your words

45) Make a YouTube Channel profile, it gives your viewers a personal touch

46) Do NOT cuss or use inappropriate language. Stay away from religion and politics in videos

47) Use props, costumes, pictures and other “organic” items in your video.

48) Create a video bumper with your logo and theme music before you start

49) Utilize other videos sites to get your videos posted

50) Specify your channel type, and have a clear sense of what you are offering on the YouTube channel’s main page.

I found this article on http://mashable.com/2010/12/28/back-up-social-media/ and thought it would be great to share!

Remember how we were all freaking out on New Year’s Eve, 1999, convinced that the world as we know it would end — at the hands of machines, of course? Well, we weathered that storm and then some. Still, as we shamble forward into the next decade, it might be prudent to take pause and take stock of the years behind us. Translation: Back up your stuff.

Think of it as stockpiling food and building a fallout shelter for the 21st century. We have a ton of information, photos and memories scattered around the web that we would be loathe to lose, and while it’s unlikely that the entire Internet is going to come crashing down in the next week or so, it still might be wise to put some of that stuff in an iron box for safe keeping. 

Read on, and Christina Warren and I will show you how to… 


… Back Up Your Facebook


 

We’re coming pretty close to living our lives on Facebook — it’s our photo album, diary and mailbox, all in one — so why leave all that info up to the whims of the all-mighty servers? This October, the social network got hip to data portability after it started allowing users to download their profiles — photos, statues, updates, videos and all. 

The process is really too simple to forgo. Here’s how you can stow away your social life for safekeeping: 1). Go to Account Settings, 2). Click on “Download Your Information” and allow Facebook to download your info, 3). Wait for an e-mail that will let you know your info is ready (it takes a while, what with all the stuff you probably have on Facebook), 4). Go through the security test that allows you to download your info (kudos on that one, Facebook), and, voila, your profile is ported to your desktop in a nifty folder. Do this before you go through with that New Year’s resolution to make your profile less scandalous — you know, for when you’re old and gray and full of sleep and nodding by the fire. 


… Back Up Your Tweets


 

Yes, the Library of Congress is now hoarding tweets, but that doesn’t do much for the casual user looking to keep a log of his own mundane musings, now does it? 

Thankfully, you’re got some options. There’s TweetStream, which lets you back up your data as well as mine it for information and statistics. (Be warned, this service takes a looooong time to gather your info). 

And if TweetStream doesn’t strike your fancy, TweetScan, a site we covered back in 2009, will track your data back to 2007, and, using OAuth, will even grab your timeline, tweets from friends and direct messages. 

Pinboard, a paid, Delicious-like (RIP) tool, also lets you store your tweets — you can also back up or archive tweets from other usernames or from hashtags, as well as add favorites from a username and turn links embedded in tweets into bookmarks. 

 


… Back Up Your Blog


 

After Tumblr’s epic outage the other week, we showed you all how to back up your blogs. Well, we’re just going to reiterate that right now, along with some solutions for WordPress as well. Remember how you felt when your mom threw away all your old journals, crammed to the margins with angsty poetry? Well, that’s not a feeling one would like to replicate later in life (unless it was relief — in which case, disregard). 


Tumblr


Last year, Tumblr launched a backup app that allows users to save their blogs so that they can be viewed on any computer, burned to a CD or hosted as an archive of static HTML files. The app is super easy to use: Simply download, enter your Tumblr sign-in info and save your blog to your desktop (it looks like the below screenshot). You can launch the app and backup more info every time you post as well. 

Note, this app is only for Mac OS X (10.5 or higher), but there are other options for those who use different operating systems. 


WordPress


 

If your blog or website uses WordPress, grabbing a backup file of all your posts, pages and comments is easy. In the WordPress dashboard, just go to Tools, Export and choose what types of posts you want to export. 

If you want a backup of your entire WordPress database, the excellent WP-DB-Backup plugin can make scheduled database backups for your WordPress site at intervals you choose and even e-mail you the backup file. 


… Back Up Your Photos


 

If you’re like millions of Internet users, you probably upload most of your photos to a photo-sharing site like Flickr or Facebook. While you’re backing up your blog entries, tweets and Facebook messages, it might be a good idea to go ahead and archive all of your photos, too. If nothing else, this is a great way to destroy the evidence from that sorority beer bong tournament in college. 

Flickr is a great service and in terms of reliability, it’s consistently solid. What’s less consistent is the whims of its parent company, Yahoo. If the Delicious debacle has taught us anything, it’s that Yahoo isn’t afraid to sell off or shut down a service with millions of daily users. 

Lots of apps and tools let you back up your Flickr photo stream, but a quick, fuss-free way to unload years of photo uploads is the Adobe Air app Flump. The app works on Mac, Windows and Linux and downloads a copy of each photo in your stream to a folder of your choice. 

Be aware that while this will grab each and every photo, tags, titles and photo sets are not preserved. There a few other alternatives if you’re willing to invest more time in the process, but Flump gets the job done.

Facebook is about building relationships and building community. When you create your Facebook Business page it is NOT for selling it is to educate people on your industry and to help them in their business. It is to share why you are so passionate about your work and what you love to do.

Here are 5 steps to follow that will increase your return on Facebook for FREE!

1)      You want to brand yourself on Facebook, people will do business with you when they know, like, and trust you. It does not matter what “Company” you are with it is about your personality, your enthusiasm, your authentic self. You want to share your niche!

2)      When posting on your business page you want to have valuable content. When you are writing your blogs use those as content to share on Facebook, talk about tips people can use, think about what your niche market is looking for on Google and write about that.

3)      The goal with social media both Facebook and Twitter you want to build a targeted following. In my opinion it is not about the quantity of fans or followers it is the quality. I want people to “Like” my page and follow me because they want to hear what I have to say and may even want to do business with me. When you are writing your blogs be sure to share them to Facebook and Twitter and also have your links on your blog so those people that read your blog can also “like” your page and follow you.

4)      Ask for syndication from people. Once you have built the relationships with people ask them to share your blogs, posts, tweets etc. That way there is more than just YOU promoting YOUR business. Remember you want to do this for people as well. If you have great power partners make sure you are sharing their stuff. Now one thing with syndication make sure it is within your industry and makes sense, what I mean is I do Internet Marketing so I am not going to promote jewelry or make-up on my business page. I can share it with my personal friends but not with business people make sense?

5)      Last but not least, ALL traffic points back to your blog. Your blog is your hub that is where people can really see and learn who you are. Then from there they can purchase products or be pointed to a site where they can purchase. When people come to your blog they want to read and or watch what you have to say and learn from you. This does two things, one builds your database when they subscribe to your RSS feed and two allows them to learn about you to decide if they want to do business with you.

Now with all this great information these steps are not just a onetime thing, these steps are to be done on a consistent basis and from doing these steps you will see an increase in fans and increase in traffic to your site. An added bonus you will see business come in!

This is my sales pitch! I am looking for businesses who need help managing their social media or would like a 2 hour consultation for $50. Here is a fun video I created with Animoto. Enjoy!

Here is a video that shows you how to set up a Facebook business page. The first thing you need to do is create a “List” and name it business or your company name, then go through all you friends and pages you are a fan of and click on them, then click create list. Once you have done this, it allows you to have everyone that is business related in one list. When you add or confirm new friends you will want to add them to this list as well. Then go to the white search bar within Facebook and type Your Marketing Voice, it will bring up my page. Please click the “Like” button and then scroll down to the bottom left where it will say “Create a Page for My Business” Click that and create an Offical Page. Fill out all the information in your profile, remember to “Like” your own page! The videos show what do to next! Please let me know if you have any questions.