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How do you think of social media?

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!

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How to increase fan on Facebook

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.

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HOW TO: Back Up Your Social Media Presence Before the Ball Drops

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.

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What to do with Facebook

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!

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Fun Video with Animoto

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!

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Setting Up A Facebook Business Page

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.

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