Last week we started Lesson Two: Facebook for Business by looking at the first step setting up your profile.  This week will continue lesson two by focusing on getting ready for your Facebook Page.

Facebook Wall vs. Facebook Page

We’re going to spend some quality time on your Facebook Page because that Page will be your main business engine, when it comes to that particular social network. Ideally, you should use your general Facebook Wall for close friends and family, and interact with business clients, customers, fans and peer acquaintance on your Facebook Page.

Facebook pages are meant for your group, band, business, non-profit — any permanent cause that isn’t simply personal. (If you are your business, you can make it all about you.)

Public Audience

Your fans don’t have to “Like” your Facebook page: Facebook has changed it so that any viewer can comment, “Like” or share your content. They can also post on your page, which develops three key ingredients for successful social networking:

• Interactivity
• A sense of community
• Emotional involvement

When you post frequently and invite engagement, it’s no longer a question of forcing people to press “Like” — artificially — to share your content (or even read it). The result? Facebook “Likes” are no longer a joke — something everyone knows you did to support all those begging friends. (Please “Like” my page — I’ll get my own custom URL if I get just 17 more “Likes!”)

Instead, if you are tuned in to the psychology of your followers, your calls to action should naturally prompt them to share your content.

Social Metrics

If you monitor your results and discover what your “hot” buttons (topics) are, you’ll be able to create content with a huge potential to go viral. And your fans will now be able to share it with anyone they like.

No more desperate, annoying pleas to “Like my Page.” (And what was the result of having a “Like” emotionally blackmailed out of you by someone you barely know? Did you ever visit their Page again?)

Have you set up a Facebook Page yet?  If so, has your Page converted any visitors to clients?  We would love to hear.  Feel free to comment below.

Come back next week as we continue our subject on Facebook for Business.  We will look at how the stars engage in social networking through their Facebook Page.

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Now that we have completed Lesson One, expanding our understanding of the psychology behind social networks, we are ready to start Lesson Two beginning with zeroing in on the Big Four; specifically, Facebook.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will cover six (6) steps on how to effectively use Facebook for Business.  This week we will begin with setting up your Facebook profile.

Nowadays, it’s unusual for a person to not have a Facebook account. If you’re one of the few, go here to sign up now.

Whether your account is old or needs refreshing, we will take a look at the key points to observe.

Step One: Set up Your Profile

There are a few small but important pointers for setting up a strong Facebook profile.

PHOTOS:

1. Do upload a profile photo — and not one of scenery or flowers, unless you’re a Landscape or Nature photographer! Use a headshot.
2. Use the same profile photo across all social networks.
3. Make sure it’s a current one — preferably a head shot with no distractions in the background.
4. Make sure what you’re wearing in your profile photo reflects the image you want to portray. For example, if your business is selling dental equipment to busy dentists, you wouldn’t want to show a photo of you goofing around at a party in your “70’s Blast from the Past” afro wig and tie-dyed t-shirt.
5. On the other hand, if your business consists solely of selling hand-painted beach flip-flops, you could get away with a photo of yourself in a Hawaiian shirt on a beach, flip-flopped feet pointed towards the camera as you lie on a deck chair with a big grin on your face.
6. Have your photo ready to upload before you set up your profile. It doesn’t really matter what size it is, as you’ll be able to drag the thumbnail around to select the portion you want, but 367 pixels by 327 pixels is the size you need, if you have photo editing software.

PRIVACY SETTINGS:

Don’t take these for granted. Make sure you configure them to your preference. Go through each one individually.

Do you use Facebook for business? If so, has it helped your business? We would love to hear your experience with Facebook. Leave us a comment below. Come back next week when we discuss step two in using Facebook for business focusing on setting up a Facebook Page.

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A few of you who missed our webinar last Thursday, January 19 on Introduction to Social Media for Business have asked if there is a recording.  Here is a sample of our recorded webinar.

Go here to pick up the fr^ee recording and a report on Introduction to Social Media Business.

This info-packed webinar and report are excellent reference tools to have on hand for those who are engaging in social media networking.

Be sure to come back on Thursday, January 26 when continue our series on Social Media for Business. We will take a look at Facebook for Business as we begin Lesson Two.

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We are not publishing a post this week. Instead we are presenting a webinar, in which we cover everything we’ve discussed over the past few weeks on the topic of Social Media for Business.

If you haven’t registered yet, you still have time.  The webinar begins at 2:00 p.m. MST today.  Go here to register.  See you there!

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This is the last post in this lesson on Introduction to Social Media.  In the first post, Social Media for Business, we learned how personalities determine what type of networker your customers and clients are.

In the second post, Understanding Flow Patterns, we analyzed the flow patterns in social media interaction, including the social media metrics you should keep your eyes on.

In the third post, Social Media Procrastination, we took a look at the common causes of procrastination in regards to social media.

We left off last week discussing the Two Deadly Hidden Social Media Pitfalls.

Target Customer or Client

It’s only now that we are finally ready to arrive at the place where most social media guides start — asking yourself: “Where does my ideal target customer/client hang out?”

Take everything we’ve learned about personality types and put it into practice on the social networks you frequent, and you will have a much more accurate answer than if you relied strictly on keyword targeting alone.

Building Relationships

Social media is not where you will close most of your sales — it’s where you will build trust, connect and become known as an expert in your field.

Do you know where your ideal customer or client hang out?  Where do you like to virtually go to do your social networking?

We will begin our second lesson on Facebook for Business in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned . . .

If you haven’t registered yet for our upcoming fr^ee webinar, Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm MST, you can register by going here. We will cover each of above-mentioned posts more in-depth, as well as have a Q&A session. Hurry seating is limited!

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Two of the biggest hidden pitfalls in social media engagement are: Blind, token acceptance and a lack of analysis.

Blind, Token Acceptance

This is what usually happens: Your average Internet entrepreneur buys a guide to social media and business. They attempt to follow the recommendations, but because these recommendations are largely re-hashed, without presenting the psychology behind the recommendations, the new habits don’t “stick.”  We discussed how to create new habits last week in the blog post Social Media Procrastination.

What does stick seems to be a half-hearted conviction that social media interaction is necessary. In an attempt to follow a prescribed path, all natural flow quickly gets tossed out with the bath-water: What the average Internet entrepreneur ends up doing is tweeting or posting either infrequently or inconsistently . . . or bombarding the social media platform with spammy post after post about other people’s links.

Lack of Analysis

The second biggest hidden pitfall involves lack of analysis. Understanding yourself, your preferences and habits is the single most crucial factor in social media success.

You need to identify:

• Your communication likes . . . and dislikes
• Which social network feels the most comfortable
• Your fears about social networking
• Your current popularity level
• What you want to achieve
• How it will fit in with your overall business plan
• Your personality type

This last point is especially important. It will tip you off ahead of time to potential pitfalls.

For example, if you are a Social type, you may find your particular pitfall becomes spending too much time on social networks. If you are an escapist and procrastinator, you may find yourself quickly becoming addicted to games. (When you consider that most social networking games are set up to keep you playing longer and longer, the danger becomes even greater.)

Both types of addiction result in decreased productivity.

There are other types of dangers to consider: For example, if you are the needy type who networks for feedback and approval, you may find yourself sharing personal details that detract from your business image. (Go to blog post Social Media for Business to refresh your memory about how personality traits determine the type of social networker you are, as well as determine what type of social networker your clients and customers are.)

Creating a plan and then diligently sticking to it is the best way to guard against these types of problems.

TIP: Say your goals out loud before every social networking session. Try to phrase them in a positive light, rather than focusing on what you don’t want in your life right now. We will go more into details about how to focus on the positive in our upcoming webinar.

Precautions to take:

• Be selective
• Don’t fall into the trap of “friending” or “following” someone just because you know them elsewhere online
• Don’t fall into the trap of “friending” or “following” someone just because they ask you to
• Do be aware that stalkers hang out on social media
• Never, ever post article links because you have nothing else to say: Post them because you know it’s something your followers will find value in.

We will cover 10 mistakes not to make in social networking during our upcoming webinar.

Have you ever fallen into one of these social media pitfalls?  Leave us a comment below. We would love to hear from you. Come back next week when conclude our first topic, Introduction to Social Media, in a series of five (5) topics. We will wrap it up with a discussion on your ideal client or customer.

As promised, we would let you know when our first webinar in this series will be held. The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm MST, and it is fr^ee.   You can register by going here. Hurry seating is limited!

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The points we’ve covered so far in our previous posts may seem pretty labor-intensive. They’re not. It’s knowing how to network effectively that creates a strong presence and following — not the precise number of minutes or hours you spend on social networks.  If you missed our past two posts which led up to this post, click here to read the first post and here to read the second post.

Social Interaction

A habitual five minutes a day of acknowledging or making comment responses and hitting your “Like” button is more likely to increase your visibility and trust factor than all the educated articles in the world. Yet many people engage in social networking only on a “hit-and-miss” basis — or avoid it altogether.

Whether you’re a “hit-and-miss” poster or a socio-webophobe, it all boils down to the same sin: Procrastination.

Common Causes

The nine most common causes of social networking procrastination are:

• Anxiety
• Fear of addiction
• Dislike of social networking
• The belief it’s a “waste of time”
• Disorganization
• Distraction
• Reactivity
• Lack of proactivity and planning
• Laziness

Whatever the cause, you need to tackle that issue right now. (Remember, we’re not talking becoming a social media guru here: We’re only talking about a few minutes a day with two or more of the “Big Four” networks.

Offline Business

Think about it. If you were running an offline business, would you put up a website, and then sit in your office waiting for the world to discover you? Or would you be out and about, drumming up business.

Even offline, your best business leads often come from word-of-mouth recommendations, and the fact that people “know” you. If they’ve met you helping out at the annual Sally Sue Run, they’re able to put a face to your name, when they discover it while looking for local web designers. People want the personal touch, and that’s even more true on social networks.

So ignoring them is like sitting at home, never, ever volunteering, taking a booth at a craft fair, offering to give a talk to your local Chamber of Commerce, attending networking breakfasts, carrying your business cards around with you or whipping out your elevator speech. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Perhaps in the movies large clients might drop out of the sky . . . but that’s not usually how it works.

Social Networking

When you realize that social networking replaces all this legwork when you run an online business, procrastination is not an option!

Start by spending five minutes a day commenting on posts you like, sharing highly relevant content with selected followers or simply clicking “tweet,” “Share” or “Like.” Make it the same time, every day — and don’t miss it for at least three months! NASA experiments show that the human brain will actually create a neural pathway for the new behavior . . . but it takes a good couple of months for these pathways to “grow,” if you walk there every day.

Once you’ve created the habit, you will have plenty of time to hone your social networking skills.

But start today!

Do you suffer from social media procrastination?  If so, do you recognize any of the common causes listed above?  Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear from you.  Come back next week, when we discuss the two deadly hidden social media pitfalls.
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Last week we looked at how our customers’ or clients’ personalities determine how they engage in social networking, as well as which social networks they tend to hang out at. We also learned how to gauge where we are on the social network scale; what are our social network preferences and habits. This week, we will back up last week’s information with our analysis of flow patterns in social media interaction.

Analyzing Flow Patterns

We start by asking ourselves basic questions:

1. What kinds of posts you create get the most comments?
2. Who and what type are your most engaged friends or followers?
3. Who always show up on the other networks you visit?
4. What motivates your most engaged fellow networker?

Basic Social Metrics

1. Also, there are some basic social metrics you should keep your eye on; for example, visitors, traffic sources, comments, bounce rate, etc. We will cover this more in our upcoming webinar.
2. Although, the four major networks provide some form of tracking and feedback, studies show that approximately 85% of all online entrepreneurs and small companies don’t bother to track.
3. Start by ensuring that you install the social sharing widgets into your blog, websites, and social media pages. This way, your site visitors can “like,” “share,” and “tweet,” your published content.
4. Track which posts generate the most comments and are socially shared.
5. Include calls to action in posts and on social networks enticing people to share, tweet, etc.
6. Use YouTube to create “how to” videos, video reviews, etc. to share on social networks.
7. Use Google Analytics to track your content. We will cover more on specific tracking for Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter in the upcoming blog posts and webinar.
8. Promptly answer or acknowledge every comment or if on Facebook, respond and/or “like” the comment.

Data Value

But how can you recognize the value of your data?

When analyzing results; for instance, increased participation, did it have any impact on converting visitors to subscribers or sales?

Keeping Your Followers Engaged

Keep in mind that “flow” doesn’t just refer to metrics but also means keeping your fan or follower happy and engaged.

Try out different types of content to see which one keep your followers engaged; for example, polls, quizzes, contests, “how to” videos, questions, etc.

Although pre-scheduled posts keep you in front of your fans and followers, it is important that you personally participate in order to engage with them.

Do you track your data? If so, which analytical tools do you use? Leave us a comment below. We would love to hear from you. Next week we will continue our discussion on social media for business. We will cover social media procrastination.

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During the next five – six months, we will focus on social media for business. In our blog posts, we will discuss five topics on social media for business. Within each topic, there are five to seven subtopics. Each of our posts will cover each subtopic.

After we complete the last subtopic, we will offer a free webinar, which will cover the entire topic, (including the subtopics), more in depth, as each blog post will be only an overview of each subtopic. We will keep you up to date as to when the webinar will be held, as well as registration information.

The five topics we will cover include:

• Introduction to Social Media
• Facebook for Business
• Google+ for Business
• Twitter for Business
• LinkedIn for Business

This week we will discuss Introduction to Social Media and share various methods to figure out where you are on the social media scale. Do you love engaging in social media or do you dread having to social network?

To ensure that your social media plan help to grow your business and increase your niche community, make social media a part of your overall business plan, as well as understand your customers or clients.

First, it’s important to understand your own online social preferences and habits; where you are on the social media scale.

It’s vital to realize that you and your customers’ or clients’ personalities change when interacting on any given social network. For example, when networking on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn, you have a different personality based on the network.

Also, the type of personality will determine how the social networker will use a particular network. For example, a user that only uses Twitter is generally more extroverted than introverted. For an introverted Twitter user, social media involvement feels more of a chore than a pleasure. An extroverted Twitter user hates wasting time.

Part of having a successful social media business plan is to determine your personality as well as your customers’ or clients’ personalities. You can take the free Twitter-oriented personality test at Ipersonic.com. Myers-Briggs (from Human Metrics) and Keirsey Temperament Sorter (free mini-report) are a couple of more tests you can take to determine your personality type. In the webinar, we will discuss personalities more in detail.

Studying personalities will help you to learn your customers or clients, where they hang out, as well as how they interact on each social media network. Learning your personality type will help you determine who you want to do business with. You may even learn how you interact on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn.

Come back next week as we analyze the flow patterns in your social media interaction. Which network do you spend the most time on? Do you know your personality type? Mine is the Good-Natured Realist based on the personality test over at Ipersonic.com. See you next week!

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When I was in college back in the 90’s earning my marketing degree, the focus was on marketing tangible products rather than on marketing services. As a result, my understanding of unique selling proposition (USP) was based on marketing a product. In this post, we will focus on your USP for marketing services as a service professional.

The description for USP in one of my old advertising textbook is: The unique selling proposition, or the differentiating features, of every product advertised; a concept developed by Rosser Reaves of the Ted Bates advertising agency.

However, according to a recent article I read by Peter Vogopoulos, co-founder of Firepole Marketing, if you are a service provider, your USP is you. Peter says, “You are the only variable that cannot be replicated. Your competitors can have the same hours, offer the same products, get certified from the same place, offer the same result, same, same, all the same as you, but they can never be you.” Click here to read the entire article.

For nine years I have been scratching my head trying to figure out what is unique about our Internet marketing services. Why should someone retain our services rather than work with Billy Bob and Associates. I was working from the premise of what I learned at Arizona State University; marketing a tangible product.

According to Peter, we have to connect to our potential clients on a personal level. When we bring our true values and attributes to the table, someone will like us and be inspired to do business with us.

According to Bob Bly, who is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets,” that in addition to your intangible USP, your personality, service professionals also have a tangible USP. Bob says, “The tangible USP is the visible, quantifiable differentiator between you and your competitors. Because it can be seen, felt, described, and grasped, the tangible USP is the one you feature in your marketing copy.” You can read Bob’s article by going here.

So, based on the concept developed by Rosser Reaves if you are advertising/marketing a product, you have to come up with differentiating features as your USP. Peter Vogopoulos says be you, and Bob Bly suggests be you, as well as create a tangible USP for your marketing copy, which differentiates you from your competitors.

What are your thoughts on unique selling proposition? We would love to hear what you think. Leave us your comments below. Come back next week for more Internet marketing tips.

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