social media Archives - Page 13 of 31 by Mark Murnahan

Building Equity in Social Media vs. Interruption Marketing

Interruption Marketing vs. Social Media

I know this may seem impossible in 2011, but I discover many companies that do not yet fully appreciate the value of social media and the long-term equity it can build for their business.

A lot of companies understand the value of their brand being visible in many places online, and some will understand the value of those people who help to grow its visibility. Only a relatively few actually look forward beyond the horizon to understand the greater value that social media represents over an extended time.

When I hear people say things like “we just don’t have time for all of that” or worse, “we don’t have the staff for that”, it always leaves me shaking my head. It reminds me why only a small percentage of businesses account for the lion’s share of their market. It is explained well by Joseph Juran’s well documented “Pareto Principle” named for Vilfredo Pareto. Many people know the Pareto Principle as the 80/20 Rule.

Consider the Interruption of Marketing

Think as a consumer for a moment, and consider the way you shut down to marketing. Think about how your brain just goes in another direction when companies interrupt you with their marketing and try to sell you stuff. We are each inundated by a constant barrage of commercial information about everything from A to Z in our daily lives. This is why we fast-forward through commercials on television, we screen our telephone calls, and we are seasoned to ignore advertisements on websites.

Interruption Marketing Train Coming Through

Unless you are really tired and vulnerable, you probably don’t stay tuned to that late night infomercial about something you really never knew you needed. Although, I can almost bet that you can remember a time when you thought “why in the hell am I still watching this?” Perhaps you can even remember thinking “Holy crap … I was about three seconds from picking up the phone to buy one of those” or even “Damn, I bought this … why did I buy this?!” It happens, and we each have our weaknesses, but let’s face it, we are far better adapted to turning away from all the hype. Otherwise, if marketers had their way, you would own one of everything, and you would have worthless crap in every nook and cranny, and stacked to your ceiling.

For the most part, we consumers make efforts to avoid these awkward moments which compel us to buy things. Why? Maybe it is just because, deep down, we hate saying “no”. If we can avoid the pitch, we can avoid wanting something, and thus, avoid saying “no” to our own urges, and the urges of those squillion salespeople out there.

Maybe you are different, and you enjoy that marketing interruption, but in that case, you are not like most people. I am addressing most people.

Marketing Got Sneakier With Social Media

Since there was so much information out there interrupting our days and nights, as a collective group, consumers became more cautious. We decided to make companies earn our business. Of course, the economy of the past few years has helped this along faster than ever. The timing was perfect for social media marketing to explode like a shot from a gun.

Maybe you like it, or maybe you don’t, but let’s face it, marketing got a whole lot sneakier. It became more targeted, and marketers became better spies. Effective marketing today utilizes more information, better strategies, and just a bit of James Bond 007-style of thinking.

Marketing Became Targeted and Marketers Became Better Spies

As consumers, we became more cautious and protective of ourselves. We got really smart and created clever ways to filter our television ad consumption, filter our email, and filter our social media.

In order to effectively reach us consumers, marketers have been forced to provide a greater value proposition. This is a hard concept for many companies to grasp. Today’s successful companies are giving before they take, and the ones giving the most are receiving the most.

Today, people are more likely than ever to make purchasing decisions based on trust, reputation, and a good old fashioned sense that the company gives a damn about us. We have come to expect it, and whether you feel this way yet or not, it is a sweeping trend. People want to do business with people, and with brands represented by people. The world is building relationships with brands, and those relationships are worth money … a lot of money. Missing this fact is a very costly mistake.

You can consider it sneaky, or you can consider it a welcomed gift, but brands are in our lives to stay. We will always need to buy things, and we buy from the companies and the people we feel good about. When the brand is there to help us with information, and with a legitimate desire to help us make good decisions, they win, and we buy.

Shortsighted Brands Damage Their Social Media Future

A huge obstacle which gets in the way of social media marketing is time. Companies want everything, and they want it right now. It is understandable, but when companies forget the importance and value of longevity, and when they feel the breath of their competitors on the back of their neck, they can be quite irrational.

Smart Companies Have a Social Media Vision

Smart companies look far ahead into the future. Rather than take a reactive and panicked approach to a weak quarterly report, they work with an eye toward longer goals. Strong companies can look farther ahead, and that is why they succeed farther into the future. Applying this to social media marketing means doing business the right way, and not simply with the urgency of trying to force a brand down the consumer’s throat. This means doing business on the customer’s terms and timelines, and not only in a one-way company-centric method of the past. Consumers respect companies for this, and they return with even more consumers following closely behind them.

What About Social Media Marketing Equity?

I know that for some people, it is easy to look at social media as a bunch of time-wasting crazy people who believe that somehow the world’s consumers will come flocking to their front door just by using a nice, soft approach and patting everybody on the butt with nice words. Well, maybe yes, and maybe no, but there is a very significant value in a good reputation. Reputations do not just happen … they are built. It takes a lot of effort to build a good reputation, and it takes both words, and deeds.

Anybody in business today should understand the value of word of mouth. What people say about a company, whether good or bad, forms consumer’s perceptions of a brand. More than ever before, they are not just picking up the telephone and talking to a friend, or talking about companies at a lunch meeting. They are talking about them in large groups such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and etcetera.

Whether the perception is good or bad, they will be talking. Either outcome cannot be controlled by a company, but when a company is not involved in their own brand message, they are missing huge opportunities. Even a negative statement made in social media is an opportunity to make things better with customers, and other potential customers who are silently watching.

People really do notice what companies are doing online. I realize that for a lot of companies, this just seems impossible, and they do not have a good grasp on how to track their reputation. Just because a company does not really “get it” does not keep them out of trouble. This would be about as silly as trying to talk your way out of a speeding ticket just because you didn’t read the speed limit sign. It just doesn’t work that way.

If you feel a bit lost about the value of social media, it is time to read the signs.

I will leave you with a video which I believe makes some very good points. I believe that this video titled “The Thank You Economy: How Business Must Adapt to Social Media” is well worth your time and consideration.

If you feel like you still have more to learn, please subscribe to my blog, and as always, feel free to email me or ring me on the phone. I am always happy to hear from readers and to brainstorm.

I hope that you have found this useful, and I would really appreciate your comments.

Photo Credits:
Skyline photo by Hackfish via Wikipedia
Train Crossing photo by Paul Heaberlin via Flickr

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Why Do You Want to Become an SEO and Social Media Expert?

If I had an ounce of sand for every request I have received to help somebody become an SEO and Social Media Expert I could retire on my own private beach in a magnificent sandcastle.

As I consider all of the hype associated with SEO and social media marketing, I guess I can understand why so many people are attracted to the industry. The problem I see is that the hype has become far too believable, while reality and common sense have been left to rot.

I love to help people with their learning, and I take a lot of care to do it well. I will never intentionally lead you wrong, but in order to keep being helpful, it is important to understand people’s motivations. I will share some of my observations with you, and I would like your input as well.

My editor, Peggy, has already called this a “rant”, but it is a rant which I believe can be useful, or at least entertaining. I told Peggy this is something I think some people need to hear, and take seriously to heart as they consider their motivations for learning about SEO and social media.

I don’t want to be cruel, because I know that many fine people read my work to learn, and to pick up new ideas. The only cruelty here will come from within, if you find that you are doing things for the wrong motivations. Sometimes, my voice of reason must come out, and I have to be cruel to be kind. I want to understand my readers’ motivations better. Perhaps if I help you to reflect upon your own motivations, it will help us both.

Below are some observations that I find common among people seeking to learn SEO and social media marketing. I am absolutely not categorizing everybody, and I would not begin to tell you that you fit into one of these groups. These are just some observations I have found from well over a decade in this line of work. If you feel a bit awkward because you can relate to any of these, you should perhaps rethink your goals. Maybe you really are built for this, or maybe you should keep your day job. You decide!

Notice that I have lumped the two different disciplines of SEO and social media marketing into one. That is because they are more closely related than most people dare to believe. They often require similar skills, and anybody involved in one should have a good understanding of the other. They are also equally as scam-riddled because of the mythical glamour associated with the Internet.

Did You Think It May Be an Easy and Glamourous Job?

This industry is not lacking for participants. If you want a line of work where your demand will be high, try nursing. If you want a job that requires little training, try house cleaning. If you think that SEO and social media marketing is an industry that has a low barrier of entry, think again! The level of training, effort, and marketing talent required to be successful in this industry is not unlike becoming a rock star or a movie actor … only without the red carpet and paparazzi. Oh, and the groupies usually don’t throw lingerie at you or lift their shirt to get your attention.

SEO and social media is not as easy or as glamourous as those people promoting their “get rich quick” online marketing schemes will tell you. Oh, I suppose you could grab some quick bucks if you want to lie to people.

If you are the type who will do anything for money, I have some wise advice for you: Customers are not stupid for long. They may believe you if you say “just wait … the profit is coming”, but then it will not be long before they wise up and realize that the industry is full of bullshitters like you. Then they look for people with a track record and a reputation. That may not starve you today, but it will starve you. It is an easy way to keep enjoying your canned beans and mac & cheese while living in a cramped apartment with cockroaches and worrying about how to ask Mom to move into her basement. Stop now, save your effort, and get a job. This is a career where you will not last. Even if you straighten up and do the right things, your reputation will follow you and haunt you until you are back to mopping the floor of a truck stop where you may actually have superior skill. Got it, lowlife?

Social Media and SEO are “The Future”

Maybe you heard what I heard back in grade school. In the 1980’s I heard “Computers are the future!” and I took heed and learned a lot about them. Maybe you heard it later and they told you “The Internet is the future!” I heard that, and I founded an industry leading wholesale Internet services company. If you were really late in the game, you heard that “SEO and social media marketing is the future!” Maybe it is, or maybe it is not, but unless you are innovating, you will be stagnating.

Unless you are seriously committed to this industry enough to give up a whole lot of sleep and work extremely hard, you are better off looking for the next big craze. Most people will not tell you how hard it is to become good at this business. They will also usually neglect to tell you how many extremely intelligent people there are who make up the top echelon of the SEO and social media marketing industry. Just when you think you really have a mind for this, you may find that you are just a little more average than you expected. Average people don’t last very long, because the average person in this industry earns about three dollars per day and they move on to something else.

There isn’t much room in this industry for earning a living with average efforts, average results, average commitment, or average intellect. It takes a lot more than average to even begin to earn a full-time living in SEO and social media marketing. I guess, that is unless you can con your way into an entry-level position where you look over your shoulder every minute for fear of the boss coming to fire you because he found somebody in India who will do your job for a tenth of the money.

Marketing Your Own Company with SEO and Social Media

I know that a lot of people want to learn SEO and social media marketing to improve their own company. I have also seen how badly most of them totally destroy an otherwise decent potential to reach their market and do more business.

Mike and Bob, SEO Experts — Mike and Bob Are SEO Experts Now!

So, let’s say that this is the case with you, and business is so slow that you have time to take on a whole new job description on top of your regular job. Maybe you will delegate it to the receptionist, since the phones aren’t ringing anyway.

Even if you don’t make a mockery of your company by spamming to a disinterested audience in social media, it will be unlikely that you will do a better job than somebody who is already skilled in propensity modeling and market research.

Even if you don’t get your website banned by search engines for using SEO tactics you picked up at WarriorForum, you will never … and I mean never produce the same results as a studied SEO professional. I don’t mean the kid posting on WarriorForum who builds WYSIWYG websites with Dreamweaver or CoffeeCup. I mean the kind who will help you put your wallet back in your pocket before they would ever take your $699 for the instant-failure marketing plan you are asking for.

It is important to remember that for each customer you miss by doing things the wrong way, the cost goes up. You will also miss their repeat and referral business. If your business is already weak enough that you are trying to save money by doing your own marketing, it will likely become exceedingly worse the longer you do.

Have you ever heard that it is best to delegate tasks to people who know the job better than you? You will need a dentist someday. Do you want to take some dentistry courses so you can avoid hiring a dentist, too? What about auto mechanics?

Truly successful results in SEO and social media marketing do not come from people who are part-timers trying to be good at everything. Successful results come from people who do it all day and deep into night, and then lie awake in bed thinking about how they can do something bigger, better, and smarter tomorrow. You cannot get that from a quick course on how to become brilliant online. That comes from experience … hard-earned experience.

Enhance Your Existing Job with SEO and Social Media Marketing

Many people will try to learn more about SEO and social media marketing in order to enhance their existing job. This may have some benefit for people who are deeply entrenched in marketing, web development, web hosting, or other industry verticals. However, if you are not in one of these industry verticals, there really is not any value gained.

If you think that you will augment an existing job description by adding SEO and social media marketing to your task list, rub a lamp. That usually turns out about as good as the pool cleaner deciding to tinker on his client’s Porsche.

Do one job or the other, and make a decision. Being a little bit good at a lot of things is fine, but trying to be an expert with multiple things is about the worst career decision you will make. It may be helpful to know more, but do not expect it to be an enhancement, but rather a diversion. It will divert you from becoming even better at the job you already have.

Learning SEO and Social Media to Avoid Being Robbed

I think this is somewhat realistic, for a few people. I could see why somebody may want to know more about the industry to avoid being ripped off. This is even more important for a recruiter or hiring manager, but how much do you really need to know? There are some considerations to this which should eventually become obvious.

First: You can shop too much. It is easy to become confused, and if you are comparing the wrong things, you will get the wrong results.

Second: There are a lot of great liars in SEO and social media marketing. Look for quantifiable evidence proportionate with your objectives.

Third: Seeking good marketing should never conclude with the best liar, nor begin with the newest fool.

I think a lot of people in my industry can relate to this: My clients do not need to know everything about SEO and social media marketing. They just need to know that I do, and that I am not a conman. Learning a whole new job skill just to be a buyer is like learning automotive engineering just to buy a car. It does not scale well.

A little bit of reading things like “Good SEO vs. Bad SEO: How to Tell the Difference” and “7 SEO Lies: How to Know When the SEO is Lying” should be enough to make purposeful decisions. Then, if they pass those measures, read more about them, and find out what others say about them.

Lastly, if you are trying to learn SEO and social media marketing for shopping purposes, you will do well to read ““How Much Does SEO Cost?” is The Wrong Question”

Appear Cooler in Social Settings

Maybe you are looking for some cool factor in your social life. Heck, if you can learn SEO and social media marketing, maybe you will be better at arranging a tweetup or getting Facebook friends to love you. Maybe you could even use Twitter to get a bunch of people to go out for drinks with you.

Good luck, but wouldn’t it be more fun to just go out and get drunk without the curse of thinking about that new product launch. With all of those cell phone social media addicts around, you will never get drunk enough to have real fun. You don’t have to be an expert to make social media your party tool, just talk to any college student.

Aside from suckering people into paying your bar tab by sharing your expert advice, the return will probably be pretty low. I know, you may think it will help get them naked, and that is true, but so tacky!

In Summary of SEO and Social Media Marketing

Even with the very best alignment of the stars, and if you wake up to sex, coffee, and bacon every day, the job is still not easy. Finding people who are willing to do business instead of just talking about doing business is about as tough as pulling chicken teeth. There are so many bullshit sandwiches being served out every day that I am shocked McDonalds hasn’t put it on their menu.

Do you still want in? Tell me what you want to know, and I will give you my honest truth. Subscribe to my blog and I will give you some great tips and fresh ideas. If you just want to become an SEO and social media expert because it will make you rich and famous, back off … this industry will kill you and eat you before you will see success.

Photo Credits:
Paparazzi photo by internets_dairy via Flickr
Custom Trike by ale? via Flickr
Closing Arguments by Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia via Flickr

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Social Media Rat Race: Avoiding Social Marketing Burnout

I surely cannot be alone in my thoughts when I reflect upon social media and the rat race it can sometimes represent. There are millions of people out there in our social networks who are trying so hard to be brilliant every day, in their respective industries and job roles. It can be really challenging to find the right balance between burning hot and burning out.

If I am the only person who feels that pressure of striking the perfect balance, I would be really shocked. On the other hand, if I am the only one who will admit it, there is little surprise. People are proud (often far too proud), and they don’t like to admit their weaknesses.

Some of you certainly must relate to the burn that keeps you “hot” in your social media efforts. Just like any fire, it takes fuel to keep it burning. When the fire rages, it takes more fuel. After a while of burning really hot, it is easy to run low on fuel and need to go chop some more wood. That means it is time to find new inspiration!

There should be little wonder why so many people burn out and give up on their efforts. I see it all the time, and I see it across many networks, and with individuals and companies of all sizes. It is really hard to be brilliant on a consistent basis, and it is even harder when you try to balance long-term objectives with short-term frustrations. This is true for individuals and groups alike.

How can you control this “fuel consumption” dilemma and keep your fire burning steadily? I may not have all the answers to your individual burnout challenges, but I can offer you some ideas. First, I would like to direct your attention to the term “Rat Race“ as it is described in Wikipedia. Here is a quote:

“A rat race is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually.”

The first step to keep your efforts from becoming (or remaining) like this description of a rat race is to be aware of it.

Who Are Those Social Media Experts, Anyway?

I have a strong suspicion that the reason you took all of that “brilliant” advice the world kept shoving at you about social media marketing is somehow related to money, right? They told you to use Facebook and Twitter, they gave you all the good reasons to blog, and urged you to jump on the social media express train. Maybe a few even advised that you be “human” but yet, whatever you do, be brilliant every single day!

Social Media Rat Racers Are Constantly Feeding

Maybe “they” didn’t put it quite in those terms, but that is the writing you saw on the wall. Social media marketing became the clearest answer for helping your business to survive and hopefully thrive while other marketing failed like an untied balloon sailing through the air as it deflates. You have seen how thin newspapers and telephone books are nowadays, right? Perhaps you noticed how many television stations had cutbacks, or how thin your telemarketing cousin is looking these days. All paths seem to lead to social media as an ideal cure for the cancer ravaging your business.

Social media is the one place where “they” tell you that you can do it all yourself and you will save a ton of money because it is “free”. Of course, “free” will never come without a cost. That is another blog article altogether, but let’s be realistic: Social media marketing is not designed to save you money, or save your sanity, but rather to earn you money more effectively. There is a huge difference in saving and earning, and I love how Thomas Jefferson said “The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.”

Social media marketing done well will often require an even larger investment than those things of the past. One of the steepest costs comes from right there between your ears. It takes a great strategy to achieve great results, and great strategies can be just about challenging enough to put most people on the doorstep of an insane asylum. Whether you hire it out, or you try and do it all yourself, there is a big cost of time and energy, or money.

In a perfect world, success may be simple or it may be free, but you can bet that it will not be both. In either case, the famed social media miracle cure has probably let you down more than once.

Grab Your Social Media Rope

Since you are hip-deep in it now, I want to throw you a rope to help pull you from the ashes and give you an ember to rekindle your efforts.

I will admit that I am not feeling very brilliant today. I am worn out from long hours of work, and we have had a nasty cold running through my family. How else would I be able to reflect on burnout so clearly, yet confused at the same time? Hey, I am human … Imagine that! You are, too, and that means you are full of faults. You have all kinds of lovely faults, and each of them provides opportunities to do better.

If what you are doing is burning you out, it is time to regroup and rekindle. It is time to rethink things, and create new solutions. My example is certainly different from many, because I am a marketing professional. After long days of building upon theories and crafting marketing strategies for everybody else, it is easier to just ignore my own marketing needs. I guess it is why there are so many metaphors about plumbers with leaky pipes, sick doctors, and cobblers with barefoot children. If you are in the marketing field, this should be a cinch for you, but it can be applied to any marketing endeavor.

Grab my rope and pull yourself out of those ashes and let’s reflect on your strategy. Is it outdated for your needs? Do you have more insight to work with today than you did in the past? If so, it is time to redefine and reshape your social media strategy.

In the Social Media Rat Race, It is Better to Be A Squirrel!

Redefine Your Strategy

Why did you ever begin a social media marketing effort? Did you do it to solve short-term objectives and squelch immediate fears of jumping in too late? One of the most tragic things I see with companies is the act of just dipping their toe in, only to find that it is quicksand.

If you take a step back and consider this, you may find that you entered the social media arena with a tactical approach, but without a well-formed strategy. If this is the case, don’t be ashamed of it, and don’t be overwhelmed by it. It is a common mistake, and my experience says that it is the most frequent cause for burnout. I was not kidding or trying to be “Mister Popular” when I wrote “Social Media Tactics Without Social Media Strategy Fails“.

Taking a new look with a fresh set of ideas can make a huge difference. What have you learned along the way, and how can you use that knowledge? It is worth the effort to discover things you may be overlooking or procrastinating.

Measure and Enjoy Your Social Media Successes

I can often share things best by recounting things from my professional work. Real stories are very often my best inspiration and source of that “fuel” to keep me working hard. It is a good way to get a point across and help you to think about how it may relate to your world.

I met a college student on my blog this morning. You see, I have this nice little chat on my blog where I can see what people are reading and engage them in a chat. I saw the article he was reading, and I struck up a conversation. We had a nice 19 minute chat, and I found that he was very interested in learning from my work. I have given a lot of hard lessons and grief to newcomers in my industry, because there is a widely held perception that it is easy. I strongly dislike the type who come into my industry and treat it like a Gold Rush. It is not a “get rich quick” kind of job, and it took me years to earn my first million. On the other hand, I respect the newcomers who have integrity, are willing to work hard, and want to learn. I work hard to help them, and I feel good about doing that.

What? You don’t consider that a success story? It did not pay me a penny, but you can bet that I came away feeling better about my work. It gave me more fuel, because it reminded me that I have a lot to offer, and that I can make a useful impact in somebody’s learning. It reminded me why I love what I do, and why my objectives always follow along behind my purpose … and not the other way around.

Maybe this seems too longsighted, but it is what works in the real world. Anything else is like trying to harvest a crop without sowing any seeds. All you get is dirt!

Restate Your Objectives

Are your objectives honorable? Do you have integrity and honesty? Unless you are representing something despicable and unworthy, it is OK to make your objectives known. Regardless of the stigma which some (usually jealous or unsuccessful) people place on those seeking a benefit from social media, most people won’t hate you for that. What they hate is when you try to harvest a crop without planting any seeds.

If you work hard to provide a value to others, and they appreciate your work, it is fine to ask them for something in return. That may mean asking for the sale, asking for them to subscribe, or many other possibilities. If they don’t like it, they are probably selfish about other things, too. Some misguided people will always want something for nothing. A lot of people will respect you for it, and it could be a big breath of fresh air for your business.

You don’t have to take it as far as I do with stating your objectives and your strategy publicly, but you must at least mark them in your business plan and keep them in your sights. When you have a clear definition of your strategy and how it will help you achieve your goals, it is a lot easier to do what it takes to reach those goals. It will also be much easier on the people you hope will listen to you and take action.

It was perhaps not my most brilliant moment, but I think I said it pretty well in my article “How to Make a Blog Popular: Consider Your Intent!“ This is not just about a blog, either. Your intent will have a lot to do with how people perceive you, and how receptive they are to your brand. Here is a quote from that article:

“The focus of this blog is to help educate people about things which can help them. I like to help people think and create their own ideas. I like to teach people about things which they may find useful. I also like to dispel the many SEO lies which are common in the industry.

When I say that intent is important, here is how I look at it: If my intent was centered around selling something rather than educating and helping people, the direction would be totally different. The intent would show through, and the value to others would be far less.”

When I consider this intent, it is a lot easier to achieve my hopeful outcome. That hopeful outcome is that you will subscribe to my blog, share it on Facebook, Twitter, email, blogs, and scream it at the top of your lungs in a packed office, train station, street, or any other place where there are people. My strategy involves people adapting and sharing my ideas far and wide. Since I only seek a very select group of businesses to provide my services, my strategy is to help others enough that they will help me in return, by getting me in front of my special somebody.

Did you follow that? My strategy is to help enough people that some of them will help me to find my special client … the one I call “The Right One”. Be helpful? Not a bad idea, right? Sure, I am only seeking one good person to see value in my work, and you may be seeking a million of them. Trust me now, or resent me later, but I can tell you that the principle is the same regardless of the scale.

Can you see the parallels in your industry? I hope so, and I hope that this gives you some fuel for thought and keeps your social media bonfire burning for another day.

The strategy almost seems too simple, right? It should seem simple, because then it is manageable and sustainable. If you make things too confusing, or if you don’t have your objectives straight, your strategy will fail. That is a perfect recipe for rat racing and eventual burnout.

What do you have to say about this?

Photo Credits:
Two Rats by Matt Baume via Flickr
Rat & Squirrel by Peter Pearson via Flickr
Rats Drinking Milk by Mandy via Flickr

Facebook Page Changes and New Settings You Should Know!

If you have a Facebook Page for your business, you probably already noticed that Facebook has made some changes. Most of it may seem pretty basic, but there are a few things you should know before you just dismiss it as a new design. There are settings you should review, and also some information that Facebook seems to have lost.

When Facebook profiles changed, starting back in late 2010, I was not entirely thrilled, but I adapted. I got used to it quickly, and I like the improved layout.

Facebook certainly caught many people off guard by placing employer links prominently in profiles, but as usual, we Facebook users have adapted. We are resilient, and even when we don’t like the changes, we push through it, and usually find some things we like.

The latest changes from Facebook are easier to take, and it was designed to make the transition between profiles and pages very easy for users. Just as always, the changes require a look at your settings to be sure everything is working as desired. This is why the most important thing you should look for when you upgrade to the new Facebook Page layout is the “Edit Page” button.

The topics I want to address here are the ones I think may catch users off guard, are useful, or a cause of concerns for people holding off upgrading until Facebook forces the change in March. The topics I will cover are as follows:

Facebook Page As a Profile
Facebook Page Default Wall Display
Facebook Page Default Landing Tab
Change Facebook Page Category
Facebook Page Featured Likes and Owners
Editing Your Facebook Page Settings: Summary

Facebook Page As a Profile

Use Facebook as Page

One of the profound changes to your Facebook Page is that you may now use it as a profile. That caught me off guard, because it was something I wished for. Now, when you interact around the web, you can choose to use your profile as usual, or you can interact as your Facebook page.

What mattered more to me is the ability to switch to using your page as a profile in order to view other pages you have “liked” as a news feed, just like you would view your news feed of friends. This provides a much easier view of updates from other business pages you interact with. It also means that they will be able to keep up with you even easier, too!

Facebook made it really simple to switch between interacting with your personal profile or as your page “on the fly”, without logging out and logging back in. If you manage multiple pages, it will allow you to select which page you wish to use, and switch between them easily.

Important: When you post to your own Facebook Page (with the new Page upgrade), you must switch to use Facebook as a page to post. Otherwise, your updates will be posted from your Profile and not as the Page. If your default wall display is set to show “Only Posts by Page”, your updates will not appear in the default view.

Facebook Page Default Wall Display

Without a doubt, there will be people caught off guard with this change to their Facebook Page. Facebook Page administrators have always been able to select their wall settings, including whether it will default to showing posts from “Everyone” or “Only Posts by Page”. Facebook seems to have lost this setting, so it will be wise to check yours. What I found with each of my pages was that they were all set to “Everyone” when I upgraded to the new version.

This is important to a lot of companies, and although it can be fine to allow everyone to post to your Facebook wall, I certainly encourage watchful moderation. It is very easy to reset this to your preferred method, and it is found under the “Manage Permissions” section. This is also where you may set your default landing tab (not changed), block profanity or other specific words.

Facebook Page Default Landing Tab

This is a feature that I know a lot of people have feared would be eliminated completely, but the option still exists (as it should). The old version of “tabs” went away, but the functionality is the same, and each former tab is now represented on the left side of the page.

If you have previously set a default landing tab, it will still be there. I know that gave a lot of marketers and developers a huge sigh of relief.

It appears that the selection of a default landing tab no longer allows for distinguishing between new and existing users. From what I have seen, it seems that it has not changed from any previous settings which were made. However, one concern would be if existing users who “Like” your page were forced to click an extra time to get from your default landing page to the wall. For example: The settings I have previously used will direct new visitors to a nice welcoming tab, but direct existing users who already “Like” the page straight to the wall. This is a commonly used setting for Facebook Pages.

My pages each appear to work just as they were previously set up, but it may not be the same when adding new pages. I say this because the setting for existing “fans” versus new visitors has disappeared in the new layout.

Of course, if you are handy with FBML (Facebook Markup Language), you can create a Static FBML page landing page but then add Wall contents limited by with the “fb:visible-to-connection” function. That just means people would all land on the same page, but existing users would see something different from new users. This is just good information to know, but as it is, I have not added a new page for testing since the change. So, for all I know, I am just seeing “grandfathered” settings. Either way, we geeks can still have fun with our FBML and can work our way around nearly anything.

Change Facebook Page Category

You may now change your Facebook Page category. This is an added feature that many people have asked for. Something that will surely surprise a lot of Facebook Page administrators is that the category you chose for your page when you set it up is gone. I noticed this in each of the many pages I manage. Not a single page still reflected the category it was set up with. Although, it may be stored behind the scenes and just didn’t show up in the new settings, it is definitely worth resetting your page’s category.

Facebook Page Featured Likes

This can be a great setting for any company with multiple Facebook Pages, or for companies who want to help promote friends or partnerships. In the instance pictured below, I have set the pages for my books and my wife’s cakes and confections company as my aWebGuy Facebook Page “Featured Likes”. What happens here is that up to five pages you select as your “Featured Likes” will always be displayed, while any others will be displayed in rotation.

Similar to featured likes, you may also feature page owners, so that people can put a name and face with the person or people behind the brand.

Editing Your Facebook Page Settings: Summary

I know that a lot of people feel pretty inconvenienced to have to edit their Facebook page. Let’s face it though, when it is your business involved, it is worth the attention.

Facebook has made it very easy to find the editing functions, and it is mostly pretty straightforward. Just look for the “Edit Page” button and be sure that you click on every section. It is better to fix it now than to fix it later.

I hope to read your comments about which settings and functions you like or dislike about the new Facebook Page.

Social Media Express: Avoiding The Social Media Train Wreck

Social media is more than just a little bit special to me. Perhaps, if you have been using social media for a while, you feel this way, too. I have lived with my Internet connection close by my side for many years, like a good friend. Just like any longtime friend, it has changed. It has built me up, and it has let me down.

Social media has helped me to meet many wonderful people that I never would have met elsewhere. Those people include some of my closest friends of the last 15 years, and even my wife and mother of our three children, whom I met back in 2000. I think a lot of people can relate to how I feel about this special part of my life where I laugh, learn, and spend many hours working.

I still cherish many memories of times when social media was simpler. I guess it must feel kind of the way my 94 year old grandmother feels when she recalls her earlier days. The pace was more manageable, and people would still wave from their window in a train, and take more time to visit with the passengers around them.

Today, I want to encourage you to slow your social media train to avoid a crash. Yes, I said slow down … take your time. Read about one of the worst hazards of social media, and consider how you may avoid it.

Don’t Let Your Social Media Train Derail

Over the past few years, we invited the whole world to board the “Social Media Express”. It has created a time in our society which can adequately be termed “astonishing”. Now that the train is full, we all want to go somewhere, and get there fast.

Sometimes it seems that social media is like a runaway train with a huge payload of information and passengers just sitting there oblivious to the derail ahead of them. I have ridden this train to many derails, such as Yahoo! Groups that fell apart, and services that eventually phased out and friends lost communications. In cases where I looked far enough ahead, I could see it coming and warn my friends and we could slow the train down to resume our comfortable ride.

I feel very fortunate for the many people I met through social media and still communicate with regularly after teens of years. It took some effort to avoid the scattering effect of a train derailment, but it has been very worthwhile to me.

The big crash that I have emphatically warned people about is trying to “follow”, “friend”, “connect”, and etcetera, with excessive numbers of people with whom they never have any intention or ability to build a meaningful relationship.

I understand the huge urge for people to feel popular. I hear it all the time, even from people who have no real agenda to have a squillion connections, but just enjoy the appearance of being popular. If I had to point a finger at one single overriding challenge in social media, this would be it.

What so many people overlook is that having real communication and meaningful relationships with a smaller group who really listen to you or care about you is much more rewarding. This is true for both personal and business purposes, because it only takes about 150 people sharing something worthwhile to set it on a path to “viral” communication. Don’t try to argue this point with me, because I really will win this one.

Robin Dunbar Meets The Social Media Express

Have you ever heard of Dunbar’s Number? I will explain with a quote from Wikipedia:

“Dunbar’s number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships.”

I watch people trying to push Dunbar’s Number to a breaking point every day. Once they run through each passenger car on the “Social Media Express”, they burn out and jump off the speeding train when they don’t get what they hoped for. They don’t pull the hand brake, they don’t say goodbye, and many of them will never board the train again. They broke their social media train.

I can certainly place a good amount of blame on the implied importance of somebody with a lot of “friends” in social media. After all, I must be more important if I have xxxxx followers on Twitter and xxxx friends on Facebook, right?

There is another big challenge created by the many desperate people producing deafening levels of static while trying so hard to become marketers. With enough of that static, it causes many people to build up stronger than ever communication barriers. This overheats the train’s brakes, and sends more than a few passengers jumping off between stations.

Can You Share in My Guilt?

I witness many examples of pending challenges in my own use of social media. For example, I tend to tune out a lot just in order to keep up with people communicating with me directly. I am always available to anybody on this Internet, but it takes a lot of effort to reach out and see what all of those people have to say. So I let them come to me. I have even found out shamefully late of people who died, because it took me a long time to make my rounds to their Facebook profile.

I do my best to put friends and interesting people into lists, and I try to keep up, but nobody is immune to the challenge of “keeping up”. Many of the people I used to hear from every day stopped participating in social media, because they felt burned out and like nobody heard them anyway. Twitter makes a profound statement in this area, and has a horrible churn rate. It is not just specific networks, either. Many bloggers have expressed concerns that although people are reading, their comments have diminished. I certainly see it here, as well. Even while my readership is consistently high, it seems that many people don’t want to discuss topics the way they used to.

Do Those Big Numbers Really Matter?

I have studied this dilemma for years, and I know the importance of reaching a lot of people. Sure, it may increase your odds, right? Well, the truth is that if those are not the right people, and they are just a number for the sake of numbers, your impact will not be proportionate with your efforts. When you see somebody with a lot of friends, followers, and whatever you want to call them, it generally happens for one of two reasons: They either sought a lot of people who were also looking for big numbers for the sake of numbers, or they earned those numbers by reaching an appropriate audience who cared what they have to say and pay attention. One method imitates popularity in order to appear important or to throw spam at the wall and hope it sticks, and the other method is to do something people care about and presenting it to the right people.

I recently looked at my Twitter followers to find that many thousands of them had not used Twitter at all in the last six months. I filtered them out by those who had not sent an update in the last 90 days, and found that for many of them it had been over six months. I unfollowed 1,000 of them, which were mostly just nameless and faceless to me, and then I stopped. I realized that it was a waste of time to keep sorting through the graveyard of fallen Twitter users. I had only followed them in the first place because they had followed me, so I don’t feel some huge loss of a close friend.

Back before it became so popular to try and follow everybody under the sun, I used to see a huge value in Twitter. I liked it enough that I was asked to write a book about Twitter. I wrote it, and it was pretty good. I published it in July 2009, but I wish I had written it a few months sooner, before the Twitter graveyard started filling up.

Back in the good old days of social media, even as recently as Twitter, people paid attention to others. There were more conversations, and the conversations turned into friendships, and many times into business.

Today, I tweet something and it can sometimes seem to go unnoticed, even if it is totally hilarious or brilliant. Very few people respond, and almost nobody retweets things, compared to earlier years. Is it because they all hate each other, or is it because they simply went blind and only communicate if you go directly to them?

It is a tough call, but the numbers clearly indicate a speeding train.

Do You Slow Down and Say Hello Enough?

As a person who works and socializes here in this social media world, I have sometimes wondered “Is it me? Did I do something that changed things? Did I contribute to the extra hustle and bustle?” I really don’t think so, but I always try to keep myself in check.

I still find great value in many areas of social media, and it is still a very good place to make friends, build relationships, and produce new business. In fact, far better than any other, but it requires greater effort than ever before. It is not as easy as it used to be, and it can be more challenging than earlier years. It sometimes makes me wonder if I hadn’t been in my industry for so many years, what it would look like to me today. I have watched it evolve, and I have evolved with it nicely, but for somebody new here, I think it could get pretty overwhelming, and lose its luster quickly.

The Social Media Train is Human-Powered

I have written volumes of thoughts on the human aspects of our technical world. I write it in books, blogs, and I talk to groups about the importance of the real human communications that social media is so great for.

We control the pace of the train we are on, and the direction it travels. There are no rails, and plenty of great people and places to see. I only hope that more people will enjoy the ride, consider the people, stop running from car to car seeking more people to irritate with bad marketing, and avoid the train wreck.

Here is just a small selection of things I have said to try and caution others, and help them become more cognizant of the people around them. The longer list is found throughout my blog archive and in my books. I would not say these things if I didn’t mean them, and can stand behind them.

A Story from My Social Media Train Car

Something slowed my train nicely a few days ago. As I was unfollowing that 1,000 people on Twitter, as I mentioned, I came across several old friends who had dropped off the face of Twitter. One of them was Tom Roquemore, whom I met on Twitter a couple years ago. I like Tom, but he stopped using Twitter last October, and we hadn’t communicated since then.

Remembering good talks we had shared, I put him on my list of people to contact by phone. Before I even got around to calling him, my phone rang and it was Tom. We talked for a while and it was great to hear from him again. The timing was kind of uncanny, but we probably would have talked even sooner if our train was just moving a little slower.

How Does Tom Roquemore Affect My Social Media Train?

I have used social media, in one way or another, since before Yahoo! purchased GeoCities. That has been a long time, and I have seen a lot in those passing years. One thing that I have found to be the most valuable of all is to focus on a core group of the right people who really listen and feel strongly about the value you represent. That is where true and worthwhile popularity stems. It is like the initial spark of an explosion, and it starts very small. This holds true in the largest of all marketing campaigns, and in the smallest of groups. If you focus more on value over volume, your success and your enjoyment will be far greater. You just have to slow the train to recognize it, and find the truth in what I am telling you.

If some of you great people will slow down and add your comments here on my blog, maybe we could show others the start of a better habit. A habit of taking the time and effort to bring better communications back to social media, and not just rushing to the next thing that seems urgent.

Conga line image credit to fallingrock via Flickr