Sharing and/or Posting Online - Flow-Chart about "Where To Post What?"

Since this is a serious & professional business blog about Internet Marketing, rarely do we post content of this type. However, we all here love good harmless sarcasm, and this graphic was amusing enough in our offices to warrant a public share.  Hope you also find it funny!

Click Here to View Full Size

Cole WebMarketing is a Charlotte, NC based web design, development and site management firm. We offer a wide array of internet marketing related services, and have been serving small-medium sized businesses nationwide, since 1999. 

Social Media Marketing Consulting is one of our main areas of expertise & specializtion.  We offer consultations by phone and in person, 1on1 and group presentations, to businesses and organizations.  Client support can be on a one time basis, from time to time (quarterly or annual review/recommendations) or on a monthly retainer basis.

To learn more about our services, please visit www.ColeWebMarketing.com and then call us at 704-456-9321 to discuss your particular needs.

DISCLAIMER: We LOVE Google+, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter - no offense intended and this post clearly states that this is a piece of satire...so please don't sue us!

Use Facebook For Biz? Deadline FEB 15, 2012 to Save Old Tracking Data

Having a Facebook page is a GOOD thing.  Knowing how people are using your Facebook page is a GREAT thing.  Knowing how to USE all the valuable information contained in your Facebook Activity Tracking Analysis Reports is an AWESOME thing.

It's also something that many business owners don't really understand.  That's where Cole WebMarketing, a Charlotte, NC based Social Media Consulting Firm, can help!

If you currently have a Facebook Page for your business, you need to know:

• On December 15, 2011, Facebook stopped collecting "activity tracking" data in the OLD format.  
• After this cut off date, your data will be collected in the NEW format, called Pages Insights.  
• All old format data from your page will be deleted on February 15, 2012, so be sure to archive (export & save as Excel or CSV file) anything that you want to keep. 

ABOUT Facebook's ''Activity Tracking Data Program'' for Facebook Page Owners:
Facebook says "Insights provides Facebook Platform developers and Facebook Page owners with metrics around their content. By understanding and analyzing trends within user growth and demographics, consumption of content, and creation of content, Page owners and Platform developers are better equipped to improve their business and create better experiences on Facebook".

Don't Just Know, DO! Knowing something useful is nice; doing something useful/beneficial with that information is what it's all about!

To learn more about Social Media Marketing for your business, especially how to understand and utilize the gold mine of marketing data provided for FREE in Facebook's Insights, please contact Cole WebMarketing today - visit ColeWebMarketing.com, and then call 704-456-WEB1 (9321) to discuss the many ways that we can help you grow your business using the internet.

Facebook Page vs Group - What's The Difference and What Should My Business Have?

If you're confused, here's the quick answer: A business should have a Facebook Page, not a Facebook Group.

Here's an example that should help make the distinction clear:

PAGE: ''The Bead Lady'', a local Concord, NC business, would want to create a Facebook Business Page. She'd want to name it after her business - something like: "The Bead Lady". The Page will help her increase awareness of her business and help promote it.  The page connects her business with prospects, customers, and supporters (friends & family) who become "fans".  

GROUP: She might also want to increase awareness about her "type" of business and help promote her industry, so she would want to create a Facebook Group.  Perhaps simply calling it "Beading", for people interested in beading. The group connects members, who share a common interest, with each other. To better target a local geographic area, a business owner might want to add city or region to the group name, such as "Cabarrus County Beading" or "Concord Beading".

-------------------

DETAILS:

Facebook Pages:
Like a friend's profile, Facebook Pages enable public figures, businesses, organizations and other entities to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook. Unlike your profile, Facebook Pages are visible to everyone on the internet by default. You, and every person on Facebook, can connect with these Pages by becoming a fan and then receive their updates in your News Feed and interact with them.


Facebook created Pages when they noticed that people were trying to connect with brands/businesses in ways that didn’t quite work on Facebook. Business Pages not only connect ''fans'' with the business, but they can show their friends what they "like" (support) and recommend by adding Pages to their personal profile. When people become a fan of a brand/business, that information is posted on their wall. You can see which Pages your friends are fans of via the “Info” tab on their profile.

It's also important that I point out that a Facebook ''Business Page'' is different from a Facebook "Business Account". The Account is mainly for companies that pay to advertise their brand/business on Facebook.

Facebook Groups:

A group is best suited for something of shared interest - a cause, a hobby, etc.. While Pages were designed to be the official profiles for businesses, Facebook Groups are the place for small group communication among "members" who share a common interest. 

Facebook Groups are set up for more personal interaction. Groups are also directly connected to the people who administer them, meaning that activities that go on there could reflect on you personally. Pages, on the other hand, don’t list the names of administrators.


PRIVACY - The Separation of Your Business & Your Personal Life: It's important to understand that Facebook considers groups to be an extension of your personal actions. When you post something as a group administrator, it appears to be coming from you and is attached to your personal profile. In contrast, Page Adminstrators can create content that comes from the Page itself, so that content doesn’t have to be linked to you personally.


SEO: Regarding which type is best for a business, one critical difference involves SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Pages are indexed by external search engines such as Google, just like a public profile, while Groups are not.


There are MANY other differences, unique features/benefits, and pros & cons between Pages and Groups, but hopefully I've shared enough here to show you that if you're a business owner/manager, you need to create a Facebook page to represent and promote your brand/business rather than a Facebook group. 

For more information about this blog post topic, please visit CarolinaWebsiteDesign.com and then call Cole WebMarketing at 704-456-WEB1 (9321).

Want Your Site Visitors To Help Drive Traffic To Your Site?

FREE WebMarketing Tip # 100727: Want to make it super easy for people to bookmark your website, print a page, share via email, post to their Facebook page or otherwise "share" your site with their own personal & professional network of family, friends and business associates? Consider adding AddThis, a FREE add/share feature to your site. You can increase traffic to your website by having your site visitors help drive valuable "personal referrals" to your website!


Sharing features are very popular these days because they are powerful form of contemporary "pull" marketing (vs traditional "push" marketing like TV commercials, banner ads on websites, print ads, email & direct mail, telemarketing, outside sales, etc.). Blogspot sees the VALUE in them - see bottom of this blog post!


AddThis is the professional solution used by Cole WebMarketing on all our websites. It's also used by over 1.2 million sites (US government, Fortune 100, sports teams, major entertainment & news websites, etc.) so it's quickly becoming the industry standard "bookmark/share feature". One click to "print, email, tweet, facebook post, etc." As of JULY 2010, it offers one click connection with over 300 social media marketing opportunities such as the premier Facebook.


A great BONUS is the analytics (tracking of activity) that's included. You can log in and view your "stats" anytime. You can get weekly email notifications to monitor how many people used the feature, what they shared, where/how they shared it, etc. Also includes geotagging, so you can track where in the world your "sharers" are from. Best part of all this is that it's FREE.


To add AddThis to your Cole WebMarketing designed and developed website, or simply for more information, call Cole WebMarketing at 704-503-7069. To learn more about our company and services, visit CarolinaWebsiteDesign.com

Business Blog - Is It Worth The Time & Effort?

Since all Cole WebMarketing clients are businesses, most of them B2B (business to business) companies, I'm often asked by the business owner or Marketing Manager if creating a blog for their business is worth their time and effort to set up and maintain.


Before I answer that frequently asked question, let's first answer...what is a BLOG?


A blog (a contraction of the term "web log" is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.


Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.


Blogs for business can be used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.


==============================


WHY:
A few quick facts should quickly answer the question about "what's the VALUE for having a corporate blog"? A business blog can...


- help win back past customers
- help retain current customers
- help attract future customers
- help create more visibility/exposure for your company
- help create a "community" within your customer base
- make it easier for customers and prospects to connect with your company
- help your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts because blogs are "crawled & indexed" just like "real" websites.
- help keep your content updated on your company website (when your blog is "embedded" into it


SEE EXAMPLE OF BLOG EMBED >> CPSwitchgear.com


WHAT:
I'm almost always asked "What should we (our particular type of business) blog about?"
Most prospects and customers like to read about company news (new products/services, industry news and updates, special promotions, upcoming tradeshows, plus tips & advice, tutorials, how to articles, etc. You can provide some really good customer service before, during and after the sale by "posting" content like this.

SEO:
I mentioned SEO above, and you can really maximize your SEO efforts when adding content to your blog by "optimizing" your blog posts for keywords. Be specific!
Use “long-tail keyword phrases” not just single keywords whenever possible. For example, write "social media marketing tips" rather than just "marketing tips". If your company targets just the local or regional market, add your city or state to the keyword, as in "charlotte social media marketing consultant".


LINKS:
Links INTO your website are important, especially in the eyes of GoogleBot, the search engine spider robot for Google. Make sure you include hyperlinks into your website whenever possible. At the very least, each and every post should include a "call to action" (for more information, to get a quote, to order now, etc.) along with your company name, phone number and website address (link).

INTERACTION:
Encourage readers to FOLLOW your blog. Following allows people to be informed automatically when you post something new. The free Google Reader is the way I manage the blogs I follow. You can learn more about Google Reader here: http://bit.ly/fQdyFN. 

Also encourage visitors to interact with your blog by posting comments & questions.  In order to maintain "control", make sure your blog is set up to "moderate ALL comments prior to public posting". This way, you'll get an email notice telling you that someone has posted a comment and you can approve or deny the comment. Yes, this can involve censorship, but I prefer to call it "protecting your corporate branding".

However, if someone posts a common objection, take advantage of this opportuity to overcome the objection so that you ''nip it in the bud'' for other readers that might have the same or similar concern. If it's a complaint, don't panic and instantly delete it! Consider it instead as an opportunity for you not only to make a wrong right, but to also show customers and prospects that if there is a problem or a mistake has been made on your end, your company will act quickly to satisfactorily resolve the issue. Make sure you respond quickly (within a few days) on your blog to any comment or question posted on your blog.



PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BLOG:
Once you've set up your blog, customized it, and posted something more than the initial "welcome to our blog, check back soon for yada yada", you need to take an ACTIVE role in promoting your biz blog.

• Use your Facebook Business Page (see my other posts about using Facebook to help build your business) to help drive traffic to your Business Blog.
• Mention your company blog in your company newsletters. You can write a press release about your new business blog (there are many free business press releases services...here's one: PR.com and many paid ones too PRBuzz.com has a nice package for $300 a year)
• Include a link to your business blog in your email signature

TIPS:
Make sure you provide high quality, interesting, and relevant information that's written to target your specific market. Avoid "selling" in your blog. Some soft selling is usually tolerated, but if readers think you're just trying to use your blog to close another deal and you're "pushy" about it, they are very likely to leave and not return. The back button is just a click away!


HOW TO GET STARTED:
If you'd like to start a business blog for your company, call us at 704-503-7069. We can set everything up for you, customize it and embed the blog into your website. For more information about this blog post topic, please visit CarolinaWebsiteDesign.com and then call Cole WebMarketing at 704-503-7069.