I’m Private, But Social Media is Just So…Social. What Should I Do?

5Aug

Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

First of all, I absolutely love this topic. Again and again I cover this as it is a concern for lots of professionals such as you and I out there. We see that members of our target market are using social sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube like crazy…but how can I get involved with social and not share all of the intimate portions of my life.

This is something that I completely understand. When I started out in social, promoting myself, I made the decision to be 100% transparent. It was hard at first, but felt very natural in the end. But I speak with people very often that enjoy hiding behind their brand and distancing themselves from social.

I am definitely placing no judgement there. For years we were able to do this but the humanization of brands is something that social sites have begun to put on fast forward. Now it seems that everything is wide open and online for all to see. BUT…this isn’t the full picture.

Over the past few years privacy laws and site updates have seen drastic changes to sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter which allow you to have lots of flexibility on how you are found, viewed and interacted with online.

But privacy aside, let me give you the real insight here. When you decide to market your company using social, you do NOT have to reveal every single personal fact about you as a person.

What I mean by this is that is:

*Facebook Page: In order to create a Facebook Page, you can do so from an account not connected with your own. While having the connection makes it easier, creating a Facebook Page account can put privacy concerns to the side. Also when using your Facebook Page account, you will always be commenting and interacting as your page, not as yourself. Add to this the plethora of privacy settings that you can add to your personal profile and Facebook Page. These are important settings that you MUST explore!

*Twitter Account: Create a Twitter account for your brand and Tweet about your company, industry and news….not anything personal. In the description you should put your name and that you are the “insert title” of “insert company” and a little about what you want to tweet about. Again….professional to the forefront and personal out of sight. Also, make sure to learn about the privacy settings and other ways to protect your account and tweets.

*LinkedIn Profile: This is a bit trickier as you will, and should, completely fill out the profile. But, there are privacy settings on here that will let you restrict what people can see. My advice though is that if you are not comfortable with networking with other professionals, I would side step LinkedIn (which, by the way, is an absolute gem when it comes to social). Also, please review the extensive privacy settings which provide lots of protection.

So as you can see, there are ways to get around things. Each site offers privacy settings that many of us didn’t know existed. We hear about the Facebook stalkers, bullying and spamming – but if you are savvy enough and look close enough, you are totally protected.

My advice? If you want to keep it professional, keep it professional. If you want to mix professional and personal….go for it. At the end of the day, the more “human” your brand is the more you will resonate with your audience. But, if you are worried about privacy and are able to humanize your brand without a face…then fair play to you.

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Increasing LinkedIn Engagement and Credibility with Endorsements and Recommendations

By Christopher Tompkins

17Jul

LinkedIn, Uncategorized

A large part of LinkedIn has to do with your reputation and how you are viewed by not only your peers, but also the masses at large. Credibility and visibility are two other factors that, when paired with a solid reputation, can make for not only a killer LinkedIn profile – but also a more successful LinkedIn marketing campaign.

Two elements that help you elevate your LinkedIn reputation are endorsements and recommendations. Here I want to give you a quick overview of these two topics and show how they can help you build your reputation on LinkedIn.

The first thing you need to do is create a list. I know, I am always telling you to create lists, but this is the best way to move quickly through certain social media marketing functions such as this. Your list should be made up of two categories: peers/influencers in your target area as well as those who can recommend you, your work, your company’s work.

On this list, make sure to have the person’s full name (first and last) and their current email address.

Now let’s move onto the endorsements and recommendations:

Endorsements: One of the newer features of LinkedIn, endorsements allow you to go to a person’s profile and “Endorse” or vet them for certain skills (and vice versa). So for example, if you go to my profile on LinkedIn here the first thing that you will see is a large blue box above my profile that says “Does Christopher have these skills or expertise?” From this list, you can select all of them, click the x to remove, or type in another area of expertise. When you have made your selection, click the “Endorse” button. This will immediately let that person know that you have given them a thumbs up about their skill set.

Now, using your list, search and locate peers and/or influencers (as well as potential clients) that you wish to get in front of, visit their profiles and endorse them. Has someone endorsed your skills? Send them a thank you! This is a great tool to build credibility on your profile and to begin engaging with people you normally wouldn’t.

Recommendations: These are more familiar to LinkedIn users as they have been around since the beginning of LinkedIn. The most straight-forward explanation of these are that recommendations are testimonials you are able to post to your public or private LinkedIn profile. You can see how they appear by visiting my profile above and scrolling down through my experience.

Obviously, having a testimonial on your profile looks great – but why should you recommend others?

So that your picture, words and links are visible on others people’s profiles! Just think if their profile is viewed 100 times more than yours and your testimonial and profile link are visible on their page….pretty powerful right? While it can be a bit tough and time consuming, recommending pays off.

My only rule? Don’t ask or write recommendations for ANYONE that you do not know or haven’t worked with.

To get started, click on Profile, then Recommendations. This will bring you to the main recommendations page where you will be able to manage your recommendations, request recommendations and make recommendations. This is where your list comes in handy. Make sure that if you are going to make or request a recommendation, you choose the right relationship from the list provided. And off you go! All recommendations are reviewed before they are posted live, so do not worry about anything being posted that you are not aware of.

——–

These two functions, while a little tricky, can be a great way for you to not only get in front of those decision makers you are so eager to meet, but they also give you the power to pop up everywhere on LinkedIn, thus increasing your visibility!

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Is Hootsuite Right For My Business?

By Christopher Tompkins

16Jul

Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

For many of you marketing your businesses on social media, you know there are many other tools you can utilize to effectively keep on top of your daily social media marketing commitments.

Third-party tools are available for free, or a small charge, and can help you do everything from schedule posts to find influential people to connect and engage with.

Hootsuite is one such tool and can be an asset to your social media marketing strategy. But first thing, first: you need to have a social media marketing strategy in order to get the most out of Hootsuite. My disclaimer here is that before you begin using third-party tools, you have a clear idea of the capabilities of the social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+) you want to use for marketing purposes and what sorts of activities are going to make up your overall strategy.

Having these elements clearly presented will allow you to not only look at Hootsuite more analytically, but it will also help you get the hang of it quickly.

Here are some reasons why Hootsuite could be good for your marketing strategy…..does this sound like you?:

“It is impossible to keep up with posting daily updates to our social media profiles!” This is definitely one of the areas where Hootsuite excels as you are able to schedule your posts to go out on your chosen social media networks whenever you want. It allows you to do both the date and time, allowing you with lots of flexibility. I am not saying that social media marketing all comes down to scheduling posts to go out via Hootsuite and waiting for the wonderful results to roll in. Scheduling posts helps you stay consistent when you have to travel, have a busy week ahead, lost a member of staff, or even if you are just starting out and need to use a bulk of your time researching your new social networks. Scheduling really can be a help at these times.
“My company has 4 social media accounts, how can I keep up with that?” You are able to add multiple social networks to Hootsuite and manage your accounts from one place. While it doesn’t take the place of on-site visits and daily check-ins with your audience, it is wonderful to be able to post and see the news feeds for each of your networks added.
“I have no idea how many people are clicking my links!” There is a reporting area on Hootsuite which will track links from the accounts you specify. Then a report will be generated and emailed to you showing how many total clicks your links received as well as which links were clicked. Of course, it will only track the links that you schedule through Hootsuite, but still it is handy to check and track the effectiveness of your campaign!
“I want to share things instantly or I’ll forget to do it later!” There is a wonderful plugin for Hootsuite called Hootlet. Once installed into your internet browser bar, when you are reading a story online that you want to share with your audience, you simply click the Hootlet button and a popup window will appear with the link shortened and a title. Just customize this as needed and share instantly….or schedule it to go out later. Another great way to share your knowledge in real time.
“I want to get my email blasts in front of more people!” Currently there are free plugins that Hootsuite provides supporting Mail Chimp and Constant Contact that enable you to share your email blasts with your social networks by a click of the button. A great way to get that email blast to go the extra mile and increase your exposure by the size of your network reach. This is one of the lesser important functions, but there are many other plugins that you will want to explore that can support other areas of your online marketing plan.

While Hootsuite has many wonderful features, there is no tool out there that does everything. Hootsuite is best utilized as a tool in your social media toolbox. Using Hootsuite does not mean that you will never have to log into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ to interact with your audience, answer questions, post discussions and build your network. Social media marketing is not down to one solution, but having good solid tools in your toolbox makes it all the more simpler!

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What You Need to Ask Before Outsourcing Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

By Dale Griffen

15Jul

Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

(This blog has been reprinted courtesy of Doctor’s Life Magazine CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT ONLINE).

In my last two installments of “Your Social Media Prescription” we discussed “Social Media 101” – getting your online marketing efforts up and running, and “The Cost of Social Media” – showing you the pros and cons, as well as the true costs associated with social media’s ‘free’ usage.

In this issue, we’ll discuss what you need to know if you decide to refer your social media marketing campaign to an outside provider!

As in your practice, there are several reasons that you may refer to a trusted specialist. Sometimes you need a second opinion. Other times the needs of your patient may fall outside of your scope of practice. Maybe you may not be taking on new patients at the time, so you look to other professionals to help out, or take over those tasks.

The same may be true for your social media marketing. If you are finding that you, or the person that handles your social media in the office:

•   logs into your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account and just doesn’t know what to say several times a day, or…
•   scratches their head trying to figure out how to get your current and potential patients and referral sources engaged, knocking on your door or calling for appointments…
…then you may need to outsource! This is exactly what social media marketing firms do! Not only that, but a properly executed campaign:
•   puts you on the leading edge ahead of your competition;
•   highlights your expertise in the field; and,
•   places you in direct communication with other thought leaders – giving your practice a wonderful boost!

Think about it another way, if you wanted to create a TV commercial, billboard or print ad, you wouldn’t try to do the entire thing in your office, would you? You would hire the experts to listen to your ideas and goals, and then using their expertise – allow them to come up with a campaign that you will love! Social media is no different.

With that being said, use caution! Obviously, as in any business, not everyone out there that claims to be an expert in the field always is. To avoid wasting time, money and getting a bad taste for social media in general, there are several questions you must ask when choosing a firm to represent your social media marketing campaign. Don’t trust this public relations, brand awareness and relationship-building effort to just anyone. Make sure that they know what they’re doing, have a proven history of success, and that their own reputation, platforms and online following are in line with what you would like for your own.

You need to protect your reputation and to help you do so, we’ve provided 12 questions you may want to ask a potential social media marketing partner…

1.   First, look at their online profiles (the links should be available on their website). Do they have at least daily activity on each channel of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.? Do they have a decent number of followers? Is their brand aligned with the services that THEY provide? Once you get this data, bring it to their doorstep and ask them about the infrequency/frequency of their posts and the quality – will this be what you are going to do for us?
2.   Ask what sets their company a part from other social media marketing firms?
3.   Do they work with medical or healthcare related clients now (or in the recent past)?
4.   Do they know how to deal/work with the healthcare industry, including rules and regulations, patient privacy and HIPAA, to name a few?
5.   Will you be allowed to view and approve all final work before it’s sent out to your audience?
6.   Is all of their work done in-house, or do they work with partners during the delivery process?
7.   How much of the marketing work on the accounts is automated? Can they give you a percentage?
8.   How many people will be working on your account and have access to your passwords?
9.   Will they be monitoring your brand through the social media channels they are using?
10.   Will they share 3-5 past/current clients that you can speak with about their services?
11.   Will you have access to your account(s) during and after the campaign?
12.   What happens to your campaign if you stop working with them? Who owns it?

These questions should get you off to a great start. Obviously you want to also ask questions about the campaigns (and how they work), but the questions above should enable you to figure out how credible that potential partner is. Remember – go with your gut. Choose someone you trust or have a good feeling about. If you have distinct reservations, beware.

Remember, social media marketing campaigns can be extremely beneficial in getting the word out about you, your brand, your services and your ‘WOW’ factor!
Should you have any questions about why the above points are important to ask, or have any other questions – be sure to give us a call or send us an email!

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Twitter Lists: How to Create and Populate Them

By Christopher Tompkins

11Jul

Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

One of the best features of Twitter, but little used by Twitter newcomers, is the Twitter Lists function. If you want to get the most out of this popular site, this is a great way to target your marketing efforts while shaving valuable time off of your daily onsite work.

Before you create your list – you need to figure out what the list will be all about. This is where the planning comes in. How would you like to use your list? Some of the most popular way to use lists is for prospecting, following power users, keeping abreast on a specific topic or keeping tabs on the competition. Whatever you choose, create your list accordingly and then start adding members.

Creating your first list is simple. Here’s what you will need to do:

Login to Twitter
Click on the “Me” button on the top black tab
Then on the menu on the left, click “Lists”
On the right, you will now see the main Lists page. It will show you the Lists you are Subscribed to and the Lists that you are a Member of. Next to that, you will see a button that says “Create List”. Click this.
This will pop up a little window where you can create your new list. First name your list. Here you want to choose an identifying name that will help you quickly reference the list.
Then write a description. Here you want to describe what the list contains in 100 characters or less.
Then choose if you would like to make your list Public or Private. Basically, if you do not want ANYONE to see the list, keep it Private. But if you are creating the list so that its members know they have been added, keep it Public.
Click Save list.

Now….you need to start adding people to the list. This is fairly simple as well. While logged into Twitter, find the person that you want to add to the list and go to either their main page or profile summary. There you will see a little button with the outline of a person. Click on this button and a dropdown menu will appear. Choose “Add or remove from lists…” and a window will pop up where you “Include @person in:” the list of your choice. Tick the box next to the list that you would like to add them to and click the x on the top right to save and close. Then…move onto the next person!

If you ever want to reference your lists at anytime, repeat steps 1-4.

Happy List making!

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“Ugh! How Do I Change My Twitter Settings?!” We’ve Got You Covered…

By Christopher Tompkins

2Jul

Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

Once you have created your Twitter account and tried your hand at branding your profile picture, cover image and background – you will need to come to terms with the administration panel on the backend of your Twitter account.

While the words “backend” and “admin panel” can make be a bit off putting, in reality it is very straightforward.

Your admin settings can be found by clicking the cog icon on the top bar, next to the bright blue box. This will give you a drop down menu of options, click on “Settings”.

This will bring you to the main settings screen of your admin panel. If you have read my piece on making sense of your Facebook admin panel, you will see it Twitter’s is very similar in format. The tabs for the different pages run down the left hand side and when you click on them, the right hand side of the page will show the content for that page. Now let’s go through what you need to pay attention to in each of these tabs and what they mean to your marketing your business on Twitter:

*Account: This tab shows all of the baseline information on how your account is setup. Here you can change your username (if you choose to do so at anytime), change your email, and choose the settings for how your tweets and account will be viewed at large. My advice here is to check if your information is correct, add the correct language and timezone. The other settings have to do with personalization and privacy. Each of these settings are very self explanatory – so read through them and set up your account accordingly. Also here, you will be able to “Request your archive” – this can be very useful down the road if you want to have a full record of the tweets that you have put out on Twitter. Once you are done, click “Save Changes”.

*Password: This tab simply allows you to change and update your password. This is handy if you need to increase security at anytime.

*Mobile: Do you want to enable Twitter to be used on your mobile phone? Click this tab and enter your phone number. Only downside is that every time it alerts you, you will be charged for a text if used OUTSIDE of an application – so keep that in mind! My suggestion is to not use this feature and download an approved or highly rated Twitter app to your mobile device/phone and use that to Tweet….free of charge!

*Email notifications: This tab will enable you to decide what information Twitter will keep you up to date on via email. Choose wisely – as if you choose all of these options, you could be receiving emails from Twitter constantly….to an annoying level. Keep the noise to a minimum by only choosing a few options and changing them as you go.

*Profile: We discussed this tab previously when we spoke about branding on Twitter. Here you will be able to change your Profile Image, Header, Name, Location and Bio. So if at anytime you need to update these aspects, this is where you would do it. Also, you are able to connect Twitter to Facebook here. Use this feature with caution, as in time it can be a bit off putting to your Facebook audience as your content may look like Tweets, rather than status updates.

*Design: We spoke about this section in detail in the branding yourself on Twitter article as well. Here is where you will be able to change your background and link color on Twitter.

*Apps: Very simply, this tab shows you all of the third party applications that you have allowed to access your Twitter account. In layman’s terms, if you are using Hootsuite to send out tweets, it will appear on this list. Also, if you login to Pinterest using Twitter – Pinterest will appear in this list. My top tip is to check in with this page every so often and “Revoke access” to any application that you are no longer using. This will keep your account safe from hackers and spam.

*Widgets: Have you ever seen a Twitter box showing a company’s Twitter feed on their website? Chances are that it could have been created here in the Twitter Widget page. Simply add the information that you would like to add to the widget and click “Create widget” – and there you are. In this step you will need someone with website design expertise in order to have the widget integrated into your website.

These 8 tabs will help you manage your Twitter settings so that you account is full branded, up to date and safe. These are all important factors because of the speed of Twitter.

Take a moment now to login to your Twitter account and review the “Settings” administration page. Going through it once and understanding what your options are is powerful and will help you easily manage these functions of your Twitter account effectively in the future.

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How to Setup a Twitter Account to Market Your Business

By Christopher Tompkins

28Jun

Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

When marketing a business on social media, Twitter tends to be the last choice for many companies. Why? Mostly because it tends to be a completely foreign territory.

It doesn’t look like any other site.
It has a messy interface.
The information comes so fast.
It seems far too daunting for someone who doesn’t understand social media.

Well I’m here today to tell you that I completely understand. Although by understanding, I’m not agreeing with you. You CAN do this without a well versed knowledge of social media. Remember, learning how to market your business through social media is an organic process, not something that you learn instantly overnight. First you should obviously read up on Twitter and its benefits, its drawbacks and take a look through some of your competitors’ accounts and see how they are using Twitter. This will give you a baseline of understanding that will help throughout the process.

So now you are ready to create a Twitter account to market your business – let’s get you started! Here is my Twitter quick start plan: a step-by-step process to getting you setup and ready to begin marketing!

If you currently have a Twitter account and have been using Twitter, this article probably is not for you. This article is geared to those who have never worked with Twitter and are looking for some guidance on how to get setup with an account.

Step 1: Got to Twitter.com. Once you are there you will see a login box and then a “New to Twitter? Sign up” box. In the sign up box, add your full name, email and create a custom password. Then click “Sign up for Twitter”.

Step 2: This will take you to the “Join Twitter today” screen. Make sure that your name is spelled correctly, your email address is correct (as they will send you an email to confirm your account) and that your password is secure enough (they will let you know). Now the MOST important step – choosing your username. This is the name that you will be identified by on Twitter. I suggest that you use your company name, product/service name, website address or something similar. Company name is the absolute best, so shoot for that. If your name is too long or the name is taken, try different variations of the name until you find something that fits. For example “companyinternational” is too long for a username, but “companyintl” works perfectly. Once you choose your username click “Create my account”

Step 3: On the next “Welcome” screen click “Next”. This will take you to the “Build your timeline” screen. Now in order to get started, Twitter requires you to follow 5 of the most popular accounts. These can be removed/unfollowed later, so choose 5 from the list that you would be interested in. For example following Coca Cola may be more interesting than Mariah Carey. Don’t be put off by their suggestions, this is not who you will be targeting on Twitter. Then click “Next”.

Step 4: On the “See who’s here.” screen you will need to choose another 5 from different categories. Here you will see more relevant choices, so go through the list and choose 5 that are most relevant to you. Again – these can all be removed/unfollowed later. Then click “Next”.

Step 5: Here you can find people that you know. If you would like to connect Twitter to any of the email programs that are listed – simply click “Search contacts” and it will find connections that you can invite to connect. If you don’t want to do this now – you can click the VERY hard to see “Skip” button on the bottom of the box.

Step 6: Now you are on the “Add character.” screen. Here you upload your company logo. Your image must be smaller than 700K and 81 x 81 pixels in size. Format this before you upload for a higher resolution, non-pixelated image. Then you have to write your bio….and you only get 160 characters to do it! My suggestion? Look at some of your competitors bios (which show up below their logo on their Twitter account page) and see how they have done it. By looking at examples, you will begin to generate ideas and understand. For example, here’s ours: The Go! Agency is a full service marketing firm focused on helping you grow your business online. Social Media, SEO, Website Design, Copywriting”. Then click “Done”.

Step 7: Now that you have completed your setup, you will need to confirm your email address. Go to the email account that you specified, find the email from Twitter and click on the link as instructed. This will take you back to Twitter and you will be ready for Stage 2 setup – including setting up your settings, header image, background image and more!

So you have done it! Officially setting up your first Twitter account! While we have just gone through the setup features now, in my next few blogs I will continue to explain the other setup steps to really make your Twitter account work for your business!

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How to Schedule a Status Update on Your Facebook Business Page

By Christopher Tompkins

27Jun

Facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized

Automation is one of those subjects that kicks up the dander with some some social media marketers. In some cases, I’m one of those marketers – rolling my eyes at obviously automated responses.

But in other cases, I think they are absolutely fine. Here’s why.

My rule when it comes to social media automation, is that you should not automate more than 10% of your overall social media activity. It drives me up the wall when I see other social media marketing firms automating their clients’ ENTIRE social media marketing campaign. You can usually tell as there is no engagement, conversation, back and forth and acknowledgement. At the end of the day, if you don’t want your company to act socially, don’t use social media.

But in the busy schedule of a marketer, there is not always time to get log into Facebook and post an update exactly at the time you want it to go out. Maybe you get pulled away on another project, get sidetracked or just plain forget.

Facebook has a wonderful functionality that allows you to schedule a status update on your Facebook Business Page to go out in the future, at the exact time and date that you choose. It is an underutilized feature as many people use other scheduling tools to help with Facebook marketing. The only problem with these tools is that you are unable to TAG companies/people in the post (which increases your post’s visibility). But if schedule a post on Facebook using their scheduling tool, you are able to reap the benefits of more exposure.

Plus it is easy, fast and free.

Let’s show you how to do it.

1. Go to your Facebook Business Page and make sure that you are using Facebook as YOURSELF. This is indicated at the top right corner (in the dark blue banner). If your name and picture appears next to “Home” and the wheel icon, you are using Facebook as yourself. If it does not click “Edit Page” on the menu towards the top of the page, and in the dropdown menu that appears choose “Use Facebook as YOUR NAME”. If you do not follow these steps, you will not be able to use the full features of this great tool.

2. Scroll down to below your logo, tabs and about to your status box. Click in the box where it says “What have you been up to?”

3. Next add your update (including links, pictures, video, etc) and include TAGS if possible.

4. Now look at the grey box below your update. In the bottom left corner there is a little clock. Click on this icon and a calendar function comes up. It first asks for the year then or the month, day, hour (am/pm) and minute.

5. Click Schedule and you are done. Your post will appear at the time and date that you have specified.

Not sure if you did it right? Do a test update for later in the day and see if it appears correctly. Ensure your tags, links, pictures and video showed up. This is the way to begin to feel comfortable.

A word of caution: if Facebook is updating ANYTHING this feature tends to be hard to access. Be patient and it will eventually re-appear. The good news is that I have not known it to lose any content, so everything you schedule should remain safe.

Happy scheduling!

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Step-By-Step: How to Do a Competitive Analysis on Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

24Jun

Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

One of the things I tell prospective clients, as well as those interested in exploring the value of social media marketing for their company, is that one of the most important reasons to become involved with the social media world is to keep, or gain, a competitive edge over your competition.

I’ve spoken before about the importance of claiming your social media real estate and monitoring your brand and brand sentiment on social media, but another item that I want to share with you is how to do a competitive analysis for your company on social media.

While this seems like a daunting task, or even a time waster for some, what this will enable you to do is to gain lots of intel into how your direct competitors are using social media and where you need to be in order to gain the advantage.

Just think about it. If your major competitors are at a trade show, odds are that you will be as well. If your major competitors are placing advertising in a popular trade magazine, odds are that you will be using this vehicle to promote as well. Depending on your industry the list can go many different ways. But one of the rules of business is that if you want to gain a competitive advantage, then you must be highly visible in as many places as your target market resides.

What I want to show you here is how to develop a step by step competitive analysis using social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. As each of these sites have different functions and terminology, I want to provide an overview that you will be able to apply to each site.

Step 1: Compile a List of Competitors. First, create a short list which includes direct competitors of various size. This will help you understand how each segment of your competition is using social media to their advantage. Create this list within an Excel spreadsheet for ease of use and reference.

Step 2: Locate and Record Their Social Media Locations. On your spreadsheet, create columns for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and any other relevant social media sites to your industry (such as Pinterest and YouTube). Then go through each competitor and find their page on each site. Copy and paste the hyperlink to each profile in the spreadsheet accordingly.

Step 3: Record Their Network Numbers. On your spreadsheet, go through each social media profile and record their numbers (Likes, Follows) so that you can track growth. For example, if a company has 50 Likes and week after week it stays at 50, their marketing is not bringing in new people.

Step 4: Look at Their Insights. Facebook and LinkedIn currently have this capability where you can click on “Insights” and see the demographics of the people connected to said profile. This can be useful in seeing if your competitors social strategy is effective.

Step 5: Track Updates Versus Engagement. Take a look at their updates and see what they are posting. Then take a look at how many comments, likes or shares they are receiving with each post. This will show you how engaged their audience is. My only caveat to this is if your industry involves lots of privacy issues – transparent engagement may not be the top factor I would consider during the analysis.

Step 6: How Are They Branding Themselves? Look at the combination of their imagery, logos, descriptions and updates to track how they are branding themselves. Does it look slick and professional? Does it stay true to the company message?

Step 7: Time for Overall Analysis. Now that you have gone through and looked at the major points of the profile, compare where your competitors are with where you are. How do you stack up against your competition? Are there any tips that you can take from their strategy that you can apply to your own? What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? While you go through the profiles, make sure to jot down notes in your spreadsheet for things that you want to keep an eye on. This helps to remember important items on the fly.

Now, how often should you do this? I would suggest a minimum of once a month. This will keep you fresh and up-to-date with your competitors strategy and success rate on social media.

This simple 7 step process will not only help you come to terms with how your competition is using social media, it will also show you how valuable it is going to be for your company moving forward. If you are not on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – your competition will be. And if you are not there to steer the conversation about your company, products and services, who is going to do it?

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Quick Admin Set-Up Tips for Your Facebook Business Page

By Christopher Tompkins

21Jun

Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

Setting up a Facebook Page for the first time can be a slightly confusing endeavor. If you have just decided that you are going to throw your marketing hat into the Facebook ring, there are many aspects of proper page setup that you are going to have to know.

On the front end (your visible Page) you will need to focus on such items as: creating your perfect logo image, initial description, cover image, custom tabs and first posts. But were you aware that there is an entire back-end that is not entirely visible to the public eye?

In this blog I want to give you 10 quick tips to getting your Facebook Page back-end setup effectively. You will be able to access this dashboard of options by clicking the Edit Page button, and then choosing Edit Settings on your Admin Panel (see image in post). Once the page is pulled up, you will see options going down the left hand side.

My 10 suggestions for you, by tab:

Your Settings Tab
1. Make sure that the boxes are checked for: Similar Page Suggestions, Posting Preferences, Email Notifications and Onsite Notification.

Manage Permissions Tab
2. Page Visibility: if while you setup the page you do not want it to be seen, check Unpublish page. When you are ready for people to see it – uncheck the box next to Unpublish page.

3. Tagging Ability: I suggest you uncheck the box next to Tagging Ability as this can be a source of spam on your Page.

4. Messages: put a check in the box next to Show “Message” button on Page.

5. Replies: make sure to check the box so that you allow replies to comments on your Page.

Basic Information:
6. Category: make sure your company is in the correct category.

7. Sub-categories: type and choose sub-categories for your business.

8. Address: add your address to enjoy the map feature/places feature on your page.

9. Make sure that you fill in the following COMPLETELY: Short Description, Company Overview, Description, General Information Mission, Products and more. Different pages have different options – make sure that you fill out the information fully, as this is the information that will be visible on your page. Pack it with keywords and don’t forget to add your contact information. In the Website tab, add links to ALL of your online hubs (including other social media hubs). It may look messy in the box, but it will be in column form, and hyperlinked, on your live Page.

Profile Picture
10. Edit Thumbnail: click on this (which is a link under your logo) and a small box will pop up. Make sure that you have a check in the box next to “Scale to Fit”. This will scale your logo to look professional in posts and elsewhere on Facebook.

Once you have these setup, you may want to circle back and really go through each one of these tabs to see all of the settings available to make sure that you have it all setup accordingly and try your hand at enhancing your settings. Also (especially on the Basic Information tab), toggle back from your live page and back-end to see where improvements can be made.

Want more tips? Drop by and Like us on Facebook here!

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