5 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Fan Engagement
Want to increase your Facebook fan engagement?
Keep reading for some simple techniques to get your fans more involved.
Even if you’re active on your Facebook page’s wall by posting regular status updates, interacting with fans and answering questions, you’re still missing out if you aren’t using calls to action.
A call to action encourages or even incentivizes fans’ responses to your content, and it can be as basic as a simple status update.
Your fans will enjoy interacting with your Facebook page and your page will benefit the most with increased visibility, traffic and marketing opportunities.
Many Facebook page admins aren’t quite sure how to foster an active fanbase, so here are five effective ways to call your fans to action.
#1: Post Fan-Centered Status Updates
You want to get your business in front of your fans. But how do you do that? Too many page admins resort to posting the same status updates over and over as a solution. But in the long run, that technique becomes annoying to fans and it doesn’t play to the power of EdgeRank.
EdgeRank is the algorithm Facebook uses to determine the importance of a status update. The more comments a status update receives, the higher its EdgeRank. The higher the EdgeRank, the higher that update is placed in news feeds. In addition, Facebook will display that update to more people. This means getting comments should be your goal with your status updates.
To get more comments, tailor your status updates to ask for your fans’ opinions, stories and even advice. The comments will float your post to the top of your fans’ news feeds, giving more fans the opportunity to interact.
Lonely Planet's fan-centered status update asked fans for their input. The 171 comments vaulted the update to the top of news feeds.
#2: Start Conversation With Relevant Content
If you’ve tried asking your fans for input but you’re still hearing crickets, it’s time to look back over your status updates and evaluate your posts. Are you posting more about your company or your community?
Facebook users want—and will respond to—relevant content. A car company that posts nothing but advertisements in their status updates won’t get nearly the response they would if they posted information about tire recalls, car seat safety test results and tips to improve gas mileage. Give your fans a reason to chime in by creating status updates that discuss issues they care about.
Fans interact with Rosetta Stone's community-focused status update because it poses a question that resonates with the fans' interests.
#3: Enable Sharing and Get Traffic to Your Custom Content
Too often, Facebook page admins create these gorgeous, highly functional tabs, but fail to include a call to action. It’s not just your status updates that are important; every bit of content on your page is important, and you need to get that content spread around Facebook. That’s why all of your content must be sharable.
Omaha Steaks' share button allows subscribers to post the newsletter—and the exclusive deal—to their walls.
All of your content can include a share button that encourages your fans to post that content to their walls. If you’re holding a sweepstakes, provide fans with a share prompt upon entry submission so that they can let their friends know they’ve entered your contest. When one person watches your video or enters your contest, that’s great. But if that fan tells their 200-plus friends about your content, that’s more clicks, more traffic and potentially more business.
It doesn’t matter what the content is. If it isn’t sharable, it isn’t benefiting your page as much as it could be.
#4: Sign Up Now! Create Action-Based Incentives
Your custom Facebook tabs are a great place for your newsletter or customer relationship management sign-up form. If you aren’t seeing the number of sign-ups you had hoped for, incentivize it.
Remind your fans what is sent to subscribers (like coupons). It’s a great way both to populate your list and get your fans excited about your product or service.
80sTees.com, Inc. drives newsletter subscriptions by incentivizing sign-ups on Facebook.
#5: Like Us to Enter! Harness the Power of Simple but Effective Fan-Gates
Want to drive up your fan count and increase engagement at the same time? Create a custom tab with a fan-gated contest. Serve non-fans a message that tells them about the prize, but inform them that they have to like the page to be eligible to enter. Once the non-fan clicks Like, present an entry submission form that collects your targeted user data, whether that’s an email address or phone number.
If you’re giving away something good, you’ll get the likes and you’ll get the data. However, it’s important to note that if your contest is on a welcome tab, don’t gate the whole thing. You don’t have to let non-fans be eligible for contests and promos, but you can’t hide all of your content from them.
Neutrogena's welcome tab is perfect: it's fan-gated, incentivizes liking the page and includes lots of information for non-fans who may not want to click Like.
The more content you gate—the more abandonment you’ll see.
Remember—Fans First!
All of these steps revolve around fan-centric content. While this looks different from brand to brand, the first step in successfully creating a call to action is to put yourself in your fans’ shoes. So ask yourself—Why do they like my brand? My page? What do they all have in common? What interests do they share? Answering these questions will help you find your starting point.
What do you think? What are you doing to increase your fan engagement? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read More3 Twitter Browser Extensions for Better Social Management
Do you have more than one Twitter account?
If you use social media for your business or to promote other companies, you probably have many different accounts to keep track of.
Dashboard apps can help you keep tabs on various networks at once and update multiple accounts.
However, when you want an enhanced Twitter experience from your browser, these three free tools can help.
#1: Silver Bird
A feature-packed little extension, Silver Bird offers a multitude of Twitter features in a smart pop-up box.
Main view in Silver Bird's pop-up box.
Silver Bird uses neat tabs to organize separate views of your timeline, mentions, direct messages, favorites and lists. A search box is tucked in between the tabs as well, for quick hashtag or keyword searches.
Extensive options give you complete control.
An extra tab titled “Unified” is a collection of tweets that you choose. This can include mentions, direct messages, lists and your home timeline—or just some of these options—which allows flexibility and control.
A recent update added a trending topics feature.
Silver Bird’s icon changes color to notify you of new tweets, which is an unobtrusive way of keeping you up to date. On the settings page, you can choose which colors the bird will change to, depending on what kind of new tweets come through; for instance, you could make it change to green for mentions and yellow for new tweets in your home tab.
A number icon shows how many new tweets you have.
Composing a tweet in Silver Bird is simple, with the now-standard options of adding media and shortening links included. The compose box stays out of sight until you open it, making for a smoother view of your timeline.
Two clicks to start composing a tweet make this a great tool to share thoughts quickly from within your browser.
Silver Bird has some other handy features that make it extra useful, including a “mark all as read” option, a preview of image links and follow/unfollow features. You can also set on-page pop-up notifications if you find them useful.
Silver Bird is free to download from the Chrome web store.
#2: Tweetings
Tweetings is based on the same open-source Twitter extension as Silver Bird—the no-longer available Chromed Bird. Thus, the two are similar in many ways. The design, however, is much better in Tweetings.
Tweetings uses icons to distinguish each tab.
As you can see, the basic layout is very similar to Silver Bird. Tweetings puts the compose box at the bottom, but keeps it open so you can create an update with just one click. The basic timeline view is very simple to navigate, with unread tweets in bold font to make catching up much easier. As with Silver Bird, you have an option to “mark all as read,” which I find very useful.
Map previews make your Twitter feed more dynamic, without loading extra pages.
Twitter lists, searches and trends are all available in Tweetings, so you can keep up with tweets on any topic. As in Silver Bird, the app comes with detailed settings, including the option to change the color of your icon for notifications.
An extra cool feature in Tweetings is that the icon can show two different colors at once.
This app includes some handy features to stay connected to your Twitter community, such as follow/unfollow features and the ability to view other users’ timelines. One of my favorite features is the auto-completion of usernames, which I use regularly.
Clicking on a username gives you several options to connect with the person.
Lastly, Tweetings offers Windows, Mac, iPad and iPhone versions of its app, which you can sync with the Google Chrome extension. You can grab the extension for free from the Chrome web store, and download full apps from the Tweetings website.
#3: TweetBar
TweetBar takes a very different approach than the full-featured Silver Bird and Tweetings extensions. Simply put, TweetBar lets you send tweets from the URL bar of your Chrome browser. This is certainly one of my favorite additions to Chrome, as there are many times I have wanted to quickly send a tweet without opening a full-fledged Twitter client (probably because I closed them earlier to help me focus!).
Using TweetBar couldn’t be simpler. Once your account is connected, typing “t” and hitting space or tab will let you type in a tweet. Hitting enter sends your message to Twitter. That’s it!
A character count will show up in Chrome's drop-down box when you start typing. Image source: babbl.me
If you often find yourself needing to send a tweet right away, this is the quickest and easiest way I’ve found to do so. Forget opening a new window or even a new tab in your browser—just type and send.
You can download TweetBar from the Chrome web store.
While none of these extensions offer the features (like multiple account support) of full-blown dashboard apps, they are useful to keep on top of a single account, especially if you spend a lot of time working in your browser.
TweetBar is a definite favorite of mine; it certainly fills a need I have. If you’re on the lookout for a specialty app like this, I’d love to hear about it.
What do you think? What features are you looking for in an app that you haven’t found yet? What needs do you have that haven’t been met? I would love to hunt down some tools to help you fill the gaps. Leave a comment below and let’s chat about what you need.
Read MoreHow Content Turns Prospects Into Customers
How do you attract passionate customers?
What can you do to cut through the noise and get people to notice what you have to say?
The answer is CONTENT—interesting and compelling information that helps solve your customers’ problems.
Why Content?
It’s interesting content that drives people to push that Share button or say to themselves, “Wow! This is a great article! I think I’ll subscribe.”
Here’s an analogy: If a big-time investor invited you to pitch your business idea to him, how much effort would you make to impress him?
I’m guessing that you wouldn’t dare show up without a compelling idea and a well-thought-out strategy. And yet most businesses do just that when it comes to social media marketing.
Given the opportunity to influence an online audience of potential customers, they simply show up without preparing a compelling message. No wonder they don’t see the results they want with their social media campaigns.
Prepare Your Message
Social media rewards interesting ideas. What is your audience most interested in? Find out what that is and then create compelling stories that feed your audience and generate passionate followings.
In their book Managing Content Marketing—The Real-World Guide for Creating Passionate Subscribers to Your Brand, Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose sum it up this way: “Content is what converts customers.”
Whether you call yourself a social media marketer, an Internet marketer or a traditional marketer, you should define the kind of content that interests your potential customers, develop it and then prepare for the conversion to take place.
This book shows you how to do that. Here’s what you need to know about it.
Authors’ Purpose
Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose
Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi wrote Managing Content Marketing to provide the vital steps required to understand this thing called content marketing.
Let’s face it—it’s not easy to create compelling content day in, day out. In fact, without proper knowledge, it’s practically impossible. But it can be done. It starts with understanding three fundamental things about yourself and your market space:
- Who YOU are—What’s your story?
- Who THEY are—Your customers, and why they should care about your story.
- What CONTENT can you provide them to build loyalty?
Ultimately you want to develop a content marketing strategy that helps you:
- Create passionate subscribers to your brand;
- Continually engage them with great content from the first day you meet them throughout their entire life cycle.
What to Expect
This book is a reminder to all business owners and marketers that we are all storytellers, and we need to figure out how to develop stories that will win over our audiences.
At 173 pages (12 chapters) you can expect an outstanding guide for doing content marketing the right way.
Part 1 examines to WHOM you want to tell your story; WHAT story to tell; and WHERE to tell it. Part 2 shows you how to manage the strategy you’ve created in Part 1. Overall, the book digs deep and discusses the more robust processes behind content marketing.
Highlights
#1: Build a Business Case for Content Marketing
Content marketing is so new that it’s hard to identify the “hard business benefits” associated with it. However, the whole idea of creating compelling content is to get customers and make money.
To develop your business case for content marketing, ask yourself these questions:
- What’s your business goal? (What challenges are you trying to solve?)
- How big an opportunity is it? (What is the outcome if it works?)
- What’s the business model? How are you going to make it work? What kind of content do you need to make it work? Who will create it?
- What’s your differentiating value? How is your content marketing going to be different from other marketing efforts you have attempted in the past; e.g., PPC or SEO? Can you anticipate success where other efforts have failed?
- What’s the risk if you fail?
#2: Develop Your Pillars of Content
What’s your story? If you own an air-conditioning company, for example, your story is not “providing and repairing air-conditioning systems.” Your company’s story should be “providing a comfortable home experience.” Once that story has been grasped, the content ideas can begin to flow.
What's your story? Figure that out and the content ideas will flow. Image: iStockphoto
As you brainstorm your own content ideas, think about these questions:
- What environment do you find yourself in currently? Who are your customers? Are they happy or frustrated? What kind of content will make them happy?
- What’s that big, audacious goal that you have for your company? Is it to introduce a new product? What kind of experience will your new product provide to customers?
- What happens if you launch this new product and it fails? How will you address your story then?
- What about the frustrations you faced while developing the new product? Work that into your story and get the audience on your side.
- How will you respond to those who said it couldn’t be done—the competition and the naysayers?
- Reach out to other bloggers and share your point of view with them, and ask them to share theirs.
- How will the story continue after the product is launched? Tell stories that will continue to provide thought leadership.
#3: Create Passionate Subscribers
Content generated by satisfied customers is the most powerful way to reach your content goals. Apple® is the quintessential example of this. They have no social media presence and they have no blog. But they have successfully built a passionate subscriber base that is willing to create fan sites, write, share and evangelize the Apple® brand.
Passionate customers create the best content.
Here’s how you can you create passionate subscribers:
- Know your target audience—Never create content from the “inside out” (based on what you already have in your “library”). It may not be relevant. Instead think like a cable TV station and define a very specific audience. Then create content that will inspire them.
- Feel their pain—Let’s say your customer base is 80% men and only 20% women, but your product is equally useful to both sexes. Clearly you’re not attracting enough women. What kind of content could you put in place that would attract the women who are not currently drawn to your product? For example, P&G uses a blog called ManofTheHouse.com to attract dads and a separate blog called HomeMadeSimple.com to attract moms.
- Determine the opportunity—What would happen if you could write content that eases the pain of your target audience? (Hint: “cha-ching!”) This is where RETURN on investment comes in.
- So if the opportunity is big enough to justify spending your time and money, then pull it all together with a solid content marketing strategy.
#4: Case Study: What Happens When You DON’T Write Your Story?
If you don’t write your own story, guess what will happen? It will be written for you.
P&G found this out in early 2010 when they introduced a new Pampers product that was hailed by many as the “iPod of baby care.” It was a redesigned diaper that was thinner and more absorbent than the previous design.
But instead of repackaging the new product, P&G put the new diaper in the old packaging and didn’t communicate this to their customers. As a result, furious mommy bloggers and Facebook groups popped up all over the place calling for the company to bring back the old product.
What P&G didn’t realize is that their subscribers, in the absence of a story, would go ahead and make up a story themselves. A successful content marketing strategy would have made the launch more successful.
#5: Case Study: What Happens When You DO Write Your Story?
If you do write your own story, then YOU remain in control and can influence what your customers think about you.
In August 2010, a flight attendant on JetBlue flight 1052 from Pittsburgh to New York got into a fight with a passenger and proceeded to have a “take this job and shove it” moment! Then he grabbed a beer from the plane’s galley and slid down the emergency evacuation chute.
Over the next few hours, JetBlue’s Facebook page lit up with a torrent of angry comments. But an opportunity was brewing. The next day, JetBlue posted a rather tongue-in-cheek blog post titled, “Sometimes the Weird News Is About Us.”
What happened over the next few days was very interesting.
Slowly, the sentiment about JetBlue began to turn around. There were hundreds of sympathetic comments on the blog post and soon bloggers and the press began to notice. They wrote about JetBlue’s “comeback” and how they “survived the crisis.” Soon everything was back to normal.
Personal Impressions
A lot has been written about content marketing and there’s always a risk that another book on the same topic is just “beating a dead horse.”
However, Managing Content Marketing is modern, thought-provoking and at times even risky. It doesn’t deal with the basics (there are plenty of other books for that); rather, it focuses on helping you develop a structure for your storytelling enterprise. If you’re serious about learning how content marketing works, you won’t go too far without it.
Fair warning—there are a few bold ideas in this book, some of which made me a little skittish; for example, the ideas of budgeting for failure (page 30) and switching your story when the current one doesn’t work are not appealing, but they’re sometimes necessary.
In the end, the authors’ execution of content marketing as a business strategy is brilliant, and you can’t help but feel a little smarter for having digested it.
Social Media Examiner gives this book a 5-star rating.
Over to You
How are you using content to convert your audience into customers? Please share your ideas in the comments box below.
Image from iStockPhoto.
Read MoreSocial Network for Social Media Marketers: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
Social Network Launches for Social Media Industry: Social Media Examiner’s Networking Clubs just went public. “It’s a social water cooler for social media marketers,” says Michael Stelzner, CEO of Social Media Examiner. The free network has rich discussion and networking taking place. There are three active clubs: The Facebook Club, the Blogging Club and the Small Business Club.
Social Media Examiner launches Networking Clubs for social media marketers
Online Search Introduces Their Social Media Jobs Salary Guide: This is a “comprehensive look at the best job markets, the most in-demand job titles and salary ranges for social media professionals in the top 20 U.S. cities.”
Click through to check out the current social media job salaries.
Tumblr Introduces Highlighted Posts: Tumblr users can pay to have their posts featured on the Tumblr Dashboard.
"For one dollar, your post will stand out in the Dashboard with a customizable sticker to make sure your followers take notice!"
LinkedIn Announces a More Secure Browsing Experience: “LinkedIn now supports https for your browsing experience. This is currently an ‘opt in’ feature that will be rolled out gradually in the next coming weeks.”
On this Settings page you will also see a link to the https FAQ with more information about this feature.
Foursquare Improves “Explore” Search Feature: Foursquare’s Explore on the web features are now available on Explore for iPhone and Android.
The new mobile features include changing your location, filtering your recommendations and photos in your search results.
Here are a couple of social media tools worth noting:
Pholiofy: a Facebook Pages application that easily publishes your latest campaign, promotional coupons or branded messaging into your Facebook Page through WordPress.
Check out Pholiofy to publish your Pages on Facebook.
BuildChatter: a tool to build your Facebook app in minutes and without professional help.
Check out BuildChatter to build your own Facebook app.
And here’s another interesting infographic:
Check out the stats for Yammer, the free private social network for your company.
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
Read More10 Tips for Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Business
Policy. It can be a dirty word, especially in social media communities.
Why? Poorly written social media policies restrict, deter and deaden social media engagement–the exact opposite of what businesses want.
However, great social media policies support, protect and empower high-quality engagement. It is about empowerment and trust.
As Beth Kanter writes, “Trust is cheaper than control.”
This article will explain how social media policies differ from other policies and give you 10 tips to help create an effective social media policy.
Why Social Media Policies?
Social media policies are different. In most policies and procedures, we document what staff should do in certain situations: “If this happens, do that.” For social media, there is no way to know exactly what situations may arise – or in many cases – how staff should best handle them. Each social media network and each relationship is unique and the social media environment changes daily.
The risks are uncertain. The courts are in the process of interpreting laws in regards to social media. Until that interpretation process is mature – and this will take years – organizations operate without definitive guidance. Issues that may arise include: employee and/or client confidentiality, labor relations issues, brand jacking, miscommunication, spamming, etc.
Given an uncertain environment and unclear risks, how do we move forward?
There are hundreds of sample social media policies on the Internet. If you are looking for a starting point, you will surely find ideas here and here.
However, in order to create policies that work – really work – we must first lay the groundwork.
Here are 10 strategies you can implement today.
#1: Gather Your Team
A social media policy cannot be written by one person alone. It must be unique to your organization and ideally should include input from many different people with a variety of skill sets.
A team approach ensures that key areas of risk are managed properly and that any future challenges that may arise are handled appropriately.
Besides the staff directly involved in social media, potential team members might include: CEO, HR director, IT director, marketing/development director, program/department director, a social media–savvy lawyer and at least one digital native.
Don’t worry, not every member of this team needs to be aware of the intimate details of your social media activities. Think of it this way: if a crisis should occur, what information does your team need to have (about the social media and legal landscapes as well as your organization and values) in order to respond appropriately on social media?
Who needs to be on your social media team? Image source: iStockPhoto.
#2: Focus on Creating Culture
Social media is organic. It changes every day. Bureaucratic policies aren’t likely to be successful. Instead, we want a culture of innovation, idea-sharing, problem-solving and creativity. There is a direct link between internal organizational culture and policies. In fact, the policies we write shape our culture.
As you write your policies, include processes that reinforce a culture of evaluation and learning. Here are some questions to consider:
- Who is on your social media team?
- How often do they meet?
- How are problems/challenges handled and by whom?
- How do you document group learning?
- How will we evaluate our successes and learn from our failures?
In your policies, you can acknowledge the social media cultural values of transparency, consistency, connection, creativity and promptness. With these values in mind, build processes that emphasize training, support and evaluation.
If the concept of social media culture is new to you, check out the 26 Promising Social Media Stats for Small Businesses. It offers a great overview of the social media landscape and why it affects businesses.
#3: Consider Legal Ramifications, Including the National Labor Relations Review Board (NLRB)
Many of the court cases coming out about social media are labor relations issues. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted primarily to protect employees’ rights to organize.
Traditionally, employee organizing took place in person or over the phone. With the advent of social media, it also takes place online. It doesn’t matter if employees are unionized or not; they have the right to discuss conditions of employment with fellow employees.
This means that even a casual conversation on Facebook about working conditions may be protected under the NLRA. Each situation is different, but the bottom line is this: be very careful about telling employees what they can and cannot do on their own personal social media sites. This language can quickly backfire.
In August 2011, the NLRB issued a memo regarding 14 of these cases. This memo provided explanations of the cases as well as the reasoning behind the decisions made. I highly recommend that employers read this memo and share it with everyone on the social media team.
Memo dated 8/18/11 from the National Labor Relations Review Board.
#4: Separate Overall Policies from Site-Specific Guidelines
The social media landscape changes every day. If your policies are narrowly focused on a specific social media site, they will be out of date pretty quickly. In general, the policy should focus on the big picture: who does what (roles and responsibilities), a general overview of how they can/can’t do it (legal compliance and branding, for example) and why we do it at all (purpose and values).
Separate written guidelines can be created to record the nitty-gritty specifics of a certain social media site. These guidelines help tremendously in the case of staff turnover. The process of drafting guidelines also helps staff to better understand and explain what they are doing and how.
#5: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
It’s likely that you already have many internal policies in place that apply to social media activities. This includes policies about privacy, photo consents, Internet usage, cell phone usage and many others.
You can reference these policies in your social media policies, taking special note of any differences in application that may be necessary with social media.
For example, your cell phone usage policy may not currently discuss the use of photos from cell phone cameras. Thanks to geotagging, photos taken by cell phones almost universally contain digital coding which betrays your exact location on the date and time of the photo. If you upload a photo taken by a cell phone camera to your social media sites, you might be giving away more information than necessary.
A social media policy might take this into consideration by requiring staff to use software to strip the photos of geotagging information before the photos may be posted.
Many of your existing policies are applicable to social media. Image source: iStockPhoto.
#6: Include External Regulations
Most legal regulations (including HIPAA, FERPA, fair employment, etc.) are in effect online as well as offline. Use the social media policies to remind employees that these regulations must be adhered to. Where possible, give explicit examples of what types of behavior are not acceptable.
P.S.: This is a good time to think through your corporate compliance training. Social media is affecting just about every aspect of our lives and businesses. If your training on privacy, confidentiality, branding, etc., don’t currently discuss social media, it’s time to include it.
#7: Create Two Policies
It is considered a best practice to have two social media policies: one for employees using social media for their job and one for employees using social media in their personal lives.
The first policy, focusing on job-related activities, should cover everything we’ve been discussing here: defining your team, articulating roles and responsibilities, branding guidelines, and becoming clear about what internal and external policies must be complied with.
The second policy, focusing on employees using social media in their personal lives, should give employees information about what they can and cannot say about your company on their personal site.
Some organizations – including military organizations and health care – will want to be very specific about what employees are not allowed to share online.
For example, trade secrets, client information and even employee whereabouts might be kept strictly confidential. Other organizations will want to encourage employees to act as brand ambassadors. Some even go so far as to provide guidance as to how to talk about the company online. However you’d like your employees to discuss (or not discuss) your company online, give them guidance.
Two words of caution: 1) It is dangerous to require employees to use their own personal social media accounts to connect with your company online. They may choose to do so, but let that be their choice. The last thing any manager wants is to learn more about an employee’s private life than he/she needs to know. 2) Before you write the policy, reread tip #3 and the memo from the National Labor Relations Review Board. It may save you a lot of headache down the road.
#8: Emphasize Education
The boundaries between our personal and professional lives are blurring. Most employees haven’t fully realized the challenges that may develop as a result of decreased privacy. The old saying was, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Today, a more accurate statement is, “What happens in Vegas, stays on Facebook.”
As I read the court cases that come out about social media, it seems to me that many of the cases arise out of ignorance, not malice, on the part of the employee. Many employees haven’t fully thought through the consequences of their cyber-behavior. By providing cyber-safety education to their staff, employers are preventing problems before they start.
Just as you have two policies, one for job-related activities and one for employees using social media in their personal life, employee education can also take two tracks:
- Provide job-related training to staff engaged in social media on the organization’s behalf. Ongoing, regular training helps keep your organization current and gives staff an opportunity to network with others in the field.
- Educate all staff on Internet safety. This education might include how to protect ourselves from cyber-crime and how to establish and protect our online reputation.
When it comes to responsible cyber-behavior, employers have a unique opportunity to educate rather than mandate. This commitment demonstrates respect for the employees. Employees feel valued, trusted and inspired. Everyone benefits.
#9: Ask a Lawyer to Review the Policy
Legal advice is critical. It is easy to misstep, especially in the areas of labor relations. Make sure you ask a lawyer who has experience in the area – your tax attorney friend won’t be of much help.
Legal review can be expensive; however, a lawsuit would be exponentially more costly.
#10: Don’t Let it Collect Dust
The cyber-environment changes frequently. Social media policies should be reviewed at least every six months. Let everyone on the team review the policy separately and then together.
Ask yourselves, is this still relevant? Does this help us do our jobs? How has the social media environment changed recently? Are there any legal updates that apply?
Social media policies are not the most exciting part of social media; however, if they are developed well, they can support, empower and engage staff as they in turn engage your clients.
Mark your calendars to review your policies in 6 months. Image source: iStockPhoto.
What are your thoughts? What is your best advice for a company writing a social media policy? Please leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Images from iStockPhoto.
Read MoreBlogging Trends for 2012: What You Need to Know
In this video I interview Shani Higgins, CEO of Technorati.
Shani shares information on the business of blogging and current blogging trends. Discover how much money bloggers make and learn more about the opportunities brands now offer bloggers.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- How blogging is intertwined with social media
- Current trends in who is blogging and where there is growth
- The state of corporate blogs
- The average number of blogs bloggers have today
- How brands are blogging
- How brands are connecting with bloggers
- Why probloggers are approached up to a thousand times a week
- What brands need to know before connecting with bloggers
- The average salary of bloggers
- The additional opportunities brands are offering bloggers to make money
- What’s next for Technorati to improve the business of blogging
Check out the State of the Blogosphere. For information on revenue generation, go to Technoratimedia, and to find out more about the blogosphere, check out Technorati.
Does your business have a blog? What has been your experience? Please leave your comments below.
Read More4 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Visibility
Have you noticed less interaction on your Facebook page in the last few months?
Getting your updates to appear in the coveted news feed is more challenging than ever.
I don’t have answers as to how the elusive Facebook algorithm works.
What I do have are some suggestions on how to ensure that your page posts are being seen by your fans to give your page the maximum visibility.
#1: Train Your Audience to Watch for Your Content
You want to make sure you are delivering good content so that your audience won’t want to miss a thing. The best way to do this is to work toward building super fans. Use these Facebook marketing strategies.
When you are delivering good content, interacting and building a community, your fans will come to your page on their own when they haven’t seen your posts. Be consistent with your posts (i.e., posting every day at 10 am, for example). Then your fans will know when they are missing something and come seek you out.
Your fans will come find you if you are delivering good content.
But then what? You can’t expect your audience always to come to you. That’s why you must take the next step.
#2: Educate Your Audience to Highlight Your Stories in Their News Feed
The good news is that Facebook pages are showing up in the news feed. People have a choice when viewing posts to highlight the story. When someone highlights a story, it indicates to Facebook that the person wants to see more stories like that one.
When a story has been highlighted, there is a little blue triangle in the upper-left corner of the story. Facebook typically chooses which stories to highlight based on past interactions, so getting more engagement (post likes, comments and shares) can also help indicate to Facebook that your page posts are important to a user.
The blue triangle in the upper-left corner indicates a highlighted story.
You can encourage highlighting by telling your audience to highlight your post so that they continue to see your posts. You won’t get any statistics about how many people actually do highlight your post, but you may get instant feedback and a better chance of showing up in the news feed!
Educate your fans on how they can keep getting your posts.
Notice how you can highlight a story by clicking on the blue arrow in the upper-right corner of a post that has not been highlighted.
To highlight a story, click the blue arrow in the upper-right corner.
Highlighting a story may be a good start to increasing your visibility, but there are other steps you can take to ensure it.
#3: Tell Your Audience to Create a Favorite Pages List
Again, make sure your audience knows that pages aren’t showing up in the news feed as often. If you are delivering good content and building relationships, your audience will want to stay in contact with you.
A way to ensure that people always see your posts is to have your fans put your page on a special “favorite pages” list. You will have to educate your audience how to create this list (sharing this post with them would be an easy way to accomplish this goal!).
The easiest way to create the favorite pages list is to follow these steps:
- Go to your Lists on the left sidebar of your home page and click More.
- Click Create a List in the upper-right corner.
Create your new list.
- Enter the name of your list in the pop-up box (you can call it “Favorite Pages” or “Tech Pages” or whatever makes sense for the pages that you will be adding to this list). Click Create.
- On the right side, you can type in the names of the pages you want to add in the search box. But the easiest way is to click the drop-down menu Manage List and select Add/Remove Friends.
Select Add/Remove Friends.
- All of your friends are now showing in the pop-up box, but in order to see pages as well, you need to select Pages from the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of the pop-up box. Now you can easily select the pages you wantto be on this list.
Find the pages you want to add to the list by selecting Pages.
After you have created your list, all you have to do to see all of your favorite page updates is to click on the Favorite Page list (or whatever you titled your list) on the left sidebar under the Lists heading. You can also make this a Favorite item so it’s always showing at the top of your left sidebar as shown in this screenshot.
Add your list to your favorites so you can access it with just one click.
To add a list to your favorites, navigate to your lists by clicking More next to the lists on the left sidebar and navigating to the list name. Click on the pencil icon and then select Add to Favorites.
Select Add to Favorites.
#4: Leverage the Facebook Subscribe Button
Because personal profile posts are being shown more in the news feed, you may want to start using your personal profile more for business. Facebook terms state that you aren’t supposed to “use your personal profile for commercial gain” as shown under their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, point #4. But you can talk about your business! Direct people to your blog posts, give helpful tips and talk about what events you are participating in.
If you are worried about privacy, the Facebook privacy settings have gotten better so you can control who sees each update. Your customers want to connect with you personally on Facebook (not just via your Facebook page) and the Subscribe button will give them that personal connection.
If you are the face of your company, or are networking and connecting with people, leverage the Subscribe button by enabling it. Find out more about the Subscribe button in our post here.
Mari Smith recently included similar posts on her Facebook page and her Facebook timeline. Her post to her personal profile got almost 4 times as much engagement (comments, shares and likes). To be fair, she does have almost twice as many subscribers (113,000) as fans (60,628) but that in itself is amazing as she has had her Facebook page up for years but her Subscribe button open for less than a year.
Mari's post on her fan page.
Mari's similar post on her personal profile got almost 4 times as much interaction.
One other powerful part of the Subscribe button is that Facebook is giving suggestions of whom to subscribe to within Facebook. Navigate around and you will see these suggestions in the upper-left corner of certain pages. Yet another way you can gain exposure with a new audience!
Facebook suggests "People To Subscribe To."
I hope these four suggestions give you some new ideas on how to gain visibility for your business with both your Facebook page and by adding your Facebook profile into your marketing strategy.
How about you? What do you think about the decreased exposure of Facebook page posts? Have you found your interaction has gone down or stayed about the same? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read More8 Brands That Benefit From Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the most efficient, yet misunderstood, social media marketing tactics.
It’s not new. In fact, it’s almost as old as blogging itself. It started becoming a standout tactic just a few years ago.
This post answers one of the most frequently asked questions: Is guest blogging good for “big guys?”
By the way, “guest blogging, the time waster” is one of the myths I busted in my previous post for Social Media Examiner. Today’s article is one more argument in favor of guest blogging.
Guest blogging is about placing your content for free outside of your own blog to increase its reach. A guest post thus is a piece of content you write for someone else’s blog and include your author information to build exposure and awareness of your brand.
Here are eight familiar brands that are benefiting from guest blogging.
#1: Intel: Create and Support a Blogging Celebrity
Intel has definitely made a good choice. Ekaterina Walter is a well-known guest blogger contributing to Mashable, The Next Web, Fast Company, Social Media Examiner and many more. She actively collaborates with readers by replying to comments and participating in discussions.
Caption: Intel's Ekaterina Walter answering comments to her guest post at Mashable.
So what is Intel doing right?
The company lets Ekaterina build her own personal brand. She always links to her personal blog while making it obvious that she loves working at Intel.
Ekaterina has become a social media celebrity and Intel handles that perfectly. It brings the company credibility, which is an invaluable advantage.
#2: Evernote: Share Your Own Success Case Study
Evernote is one of the best to illustrate the difference between self-promotion and sharing authentic case studies.
Evernote’s CEO Phil Libin is a guest contributor at TechCrunch, sharing the behind-the-curtain and first-hand experience of promoting an iPhone application. This post was an eye-opener for many people, as it shared some pretty awesome stats.
Caption: Evernote's CEO Phil Libin sharing his company stats after the first week on the App Store.
So what did Evernote do right?
Being really open and sharing your actual stats and tactics in a guest post on a popular blog may make you vulnerable to competitors who might try to copy your strategy.
But the loyal community of social media advocates and exposure the guest post brings is well worth the risk.
#3: Xbox: Dealing with a social media crisis
Stephen Toulouse, head of Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement, found a great place to explain the recent series of “unfair” console suspensions—the personal blog of his fellow Xbox team member.
The guest article has caused quite a buzz in the gaming community and an active discussion at the post.
Caption: Stephen Toulouse of Xbox deals with a social media crisis with the help of a guest post on a popular blog.
So what did Xbox do right?
To respond to rumors, the company needs to talk back to the community. A guest post shared on a popular niche blog is a great way to start the conversation.
#4: Klout: Promote your most powerful users
Megan Berry, the marketing manager for Klout, hits Huffington Post with a series of guest articles highlighting the most influential Twitter users (as per Klout stats).
Caption: Klout's Megan Berry features the most popular Twitter users (according to Klout).
So what is Klout doing right?
By sharing Twitter lists on a popular blog, Megan manages to achieve two important goals: (1) she shares Klout’s methodology and application example and (2) she attracts attention of those influential Twitter users to Klout (turning them into powerful brand advocates).
#5: Autodesk: Promote your message
The Autodesk team has been working hard to promote sustainable design. They are running an active contributing column at Fast Company called “Autodesk Sustainable Blogging Team” as well as guest posting actively around the web on sustainability in design. Here is a recent post on Designing a Sustainable World in 3D (at Forbes).
Caption: The Autodesk sustainable blogging team's guest column at the Fast Company blog.
So what is Autodesk doing right?
Guest blogging is a great way to increase brand awareness, but you don’t need to directly self-promote in your guest posts. Instead, focus on an idea, message or concept neighboring your brand. This will grow your (personal) brand influence and position you as a niche expert. For example, see how many times the Autodesk Sustainable Blogging Team is quoted online:
Caption: Screenshot of multiple quotes from the Autodesk Sustainable Blogging Team.
#6: O’Reilly Media: Increase your reach
One of the best-known media companies is hardly in need of more exposure, right? Wrong! O’Reilly Media started O’Reilly’s Radar, an online blog featuring emerging web technologies.
To increase its reach, correspondents for O’Reilly Media maintain regular guest accounts at top online publications; for example, Alexander Howard, government correspondent for O’Reilly Media, is a guest author for ReadWriteWeb, Huffington Post, etc.
Caption: Alexander Howard's guest post at Huffington Post results in a very active discussion.
So what is O’Reilly Media doing right?
Even huge brands with lots of online exposure understand that it is not wise to keep all of the content on their own sites. Yes, the constant stream of news might make other “outside” publications much stronger, but the exposure you get from regular guest posts on high-profile blogs is well worth it.
#7: Salesforce: Get the whole team involved
Salesforce is one of those huge brands that takes guest blogging really seriously. For example, their CEO Marc Benioff guest posts at TechCrunch on the future of cloud computing; their coders guest post at the official Google Code blog, sharing how to build a Google Earth app for Salesforce.com Foundation grantees and how to visualize your cloud’s data; and their MVPs guest post on file management.
Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff guest posts at TechCrunch on the future of cloud computing.
So what is Salesforce doing right?
Incorporating your whole team in guest blogging means creating multiple voices around your business. Guest blogging should be a team effort. Salesforce gives its employees the freedom to talk about what they are good at and what they enjoy. The result: plenty of first-hand tutorials on using Salesforce and a lot of well-established contacts with bloggers.
#8: Forrester Research: Share the expertise
The leading business research company successfully uses guest blogging at powerful blogs to share their team members’ expertise. For example, Forrester‘s vice president and research director J. P. Gownder writes on brand loyalty; their principal analyst guest posts on ICANN’s new domain registry options; and their consumer product strategy professional leader guest blogs on the future of digital music.
Caption: Forrester's vice president J. P. Gownder writes on brand loyalty.
So what is Forrester Research doing right?
Forrester Research makes great use of expert blogging. All of their leaders are blogging and most of them have powerful guest columns outside Forrester’s domain. All of the team members’ posts are highly professional—they all work to the benefit of the company’s image.
So are you guest blogging yet? Maybe you need to start!
What do you think? Do you know of any other big guys who are using the power of guest blogging? What else can we learn from them? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read MoreHow AutoCAD Retooled Its Marketing With Facebook
Chris Hession has been a product and marketing manager for nearly 15 years. But recently, his job completely changed.
“Just in the last year and a half, social media has become not just a component of our product marketing plan, but really the core component,” said Hession, currently senior manager of Autodesk’s AutoCAD product marketing.
“Pretty much for everything we do, we’re looking at, ‘How can we make this work for social?’”
Millions of people worldwide use AutoCAD software to design everything from sunglasses to skyscrapers. If there’s any question that a B2B software company can market effectively with Facebook, look no further than the AutoCAD team.
The firm Nikken Sekkei used AutoCAD to design the Tokyo Sky Tree.
The AutoCAD Facebook page has become a new media channel of sorts, with largely live and on-demand video keeping fans very actively engaged.
Every day the AutoCAD group connects directly with its audience on Facebook, bringing them high-value educational video, tech tips, fun quizzes and reality TV–style segments. At the start of 2011, the company had 120,000 fans. Now it has reached 652,000.
But beyond those “Likes,” the company garners an impressive level of engagement. On average, fans spend more than 20 minutes watching AutoCAD “Facecasts.”
“In Internet time, that’s an eternity,” Hession said.
Here’s how the AutoCAD team attracts and keeps fans with interactive, two-way content.
Organization
Social Media Handles and Stats:
Highlights:
- The average viewer spends more than 20 minutes watching AutoCAD Facecasts.
- The company brought 250 sessions from its Autodesk University—about one-third of all presentations—straight from the event to its Facebook fans.
- About 850 people watched a live product announcement on Facebook with another 2,200 catching the recording, just on the first day.
- The first episode of “Technology Makeover” drew 1,944 Likes, 94 comments and 326 shares.
Facebook: The Perfect Medium
For those who design physical structures and objects, AutoCAD is an undisputed leader worldwide. Chances are something you touched today—from your car to the road you drove on—was designed using their software.
Though not every B2B organization is a fit for Facebook, two traits of the software’s target audience make Facebook just the right marketing medium for AutoCAD.
- 18- to 24-year-olds, in design school or in their first jobs, are overwhelmingly on Facebook.
- Facebook provides a place to connect directly with this young audience across the globe. AutoCAD is used by designers in hundreds of countries.
Two years ago, the AutoCAD team created a fan page and started populating it with informative and entertaining content designed to encourage two-way interaction.
Fans answered a recent tech quiz for the chance to win sunglasses.
A Sense of Family With Facecasts
The company started what they call Facecasts, live presentations on Facebook by AutoCAD product specialists on different aspects of the software. Using the Livestream plugin, product specialists spend about 15 minutes on a different topic each time and take questions afterward.
Unlike YouTube posting, Facecasts enable valuable back-and-forth with the audience.
“The nice thing about Livestream is you can actually have a discussion,” Hession said. “For our Facebook fans, we’ve found it to be something that helps them feel part of the family.”
Facecasts, streamed live with Livestream, draw big attendance.
Since last spring, the AutoCAD team has run 15-20 Facecasts, drawing around 25,000 viewers so far to the live and then recorded sessions. In their book, that’s hugely successful.
Autodesk University—250 Sessions on Facebook
Every year, about 8,000 designers from around the world descend on Las Vegas for the annual user group conference, called Autodesk University. But not all of the company’s global audience can make it to Vegas.
This year, the company brought 250 sessions—about one-third of all presentations—straight from the event to its Facebook fans. Autodesk used a custom-built app to allow customers to access the sessions on its fan page, while eight sessions were broadcast live.
“Our goal was to bring the energy, excitement and inspirational aspects of Autodesk University to our Facebook friends,” Hession said.
Autodesk also set up a broadcast booth in the middle of the show floor with a backdrop that made guests feel as if they were stepping into Facebook. Over the three days, broadcasts featured customer stories and insight from Autodesk executives.
The broadcast booth at Autodesk University brought video via Facebook to the company's thousands of fans unable to attend the live event.
A Big Step: First Software Launch on Facebook
With Facebook firmly planted as a major marketing staple, the AutoCAD team took a big step this past summer. The group officially launched its new AutoCAD for Mac software right on its Facebook page.
But ahead of the launch, the company spent half a year building the fan base through engaging broadcasts and other content, and with very targeted Facebook advertising. By launch time, the AutoCAD group had added a few hundred thousand new fans, many from developing markets like the Philippines and India.
“Some of the folks in those countries, they’re starved for some good AutoCAD tutorials, training and access to folks on the AutoCAD team,” Hession said. “Facebook marketing gives us a direct connection with these folks.”
Also prior to the launch, the AutoCAD team engaged fans to help crowdsource details of the launch, asking them to co-design the launch announcement and to help decide the when, who and how of the event.
Fans voted on the AutoCAD person they wanted to host the Mac launch.
An event-specific AutoCAD profile image brought awareness of the launch.
On August 16, the actual announcement was broadcast live on Facebook with a Q and A session following. About 850 people attended the live announcement with another 2,200 catching the recording, just on the first day.
Hession, far right, and the production team direct the Mac launch.
The format also allowed customers (for the first time in a launch event) to interact directly with the launch team through Facebook comments. In the past, Autodesk launches were via traditional webinar.
Beyond fan engagement, the software gained widespread exposure from 76 blog posts, with nearly all of those bloggers watching the Livestream.
“We were thrilled at the reaction to this social launch,” Hession said. “We can do this fairly inexpensively. We didn’t have a big budget, so it worked out great.”
Fun questions caught fans' attention and brought in 235 comments.
Technology Makeover—Office Edition
Facebook continues inspiring creative video content. In December, Autodesk and Lenovo aired the first “Technology Makeover,” a series of five short episodes where the firm Alan Mascord Design Associates received a full tech makeover.
The segments took an HGTV-style approach with a show host, “prize van” and surprise visit to the design firm.
Each episode runs 2 to 5 minutes, and is also available on the AutoCAD YouTube page. Facebook fans loved the series, with the first episode drawing 1,944 likes, 94 comments and 326 shares.
The first episode of the Technology Makeovers was a success.
With the success of the first makeover series, Autodesk plans to roll out a Facebook contest to find the next candidate, using a voting app from Votigo.
Engaging Posts, Every Day
Facebook broadcast segments are the anchor content for the software’s fans, but the AutoCAD team peppers in regular text-based tips, quizzes and polls that keep customers involved. The key: be interesting, relevant and regular with content.
Well-crafted customer stories educate and entertain.
While the AutoCAD team does count engagement levels in the form of Likes, comments, shares, views and questions, Hession and the company mainly see their efforts as critical brand-building that’s tough to truly measure. For them, talking directly to customers is gold.
“For me, it’s ‘How can we have a direct communication with our customers?’” Hession said.
“Our little tagline internally is, ‘personal communication on a volume scale.’ People are seeing their updates from AutoCAD between updates from Aunt Jenny and their best friend. It brings a sense of the personal to your communications and marketing.”
How to Be Your Own Facebook Broadcast Channel
- Ditch the script—Software product managers have become the “talent” for Livestream broadcasts. Keep it real by letting experts talk about what they know, without a script.
- Keep video times relatively short—AutoCAD video presentations are no more than 20-25 minutes, and then experts answer fan questions.
- Encourage questions repeatedly—Fans might be shy, especially those with foreign native languages. Push for questions, encouraging your fan base.
- Have fun—You may be B2B, but there’s no reason to be stodgy. Fun content gets a reaction.
What do you think? How has Facebook “broadcasting” affected your marketing? Do you plan to do more in 2012? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read MoreHow AutoCAD Retooled Its Marketing With Facebook
Chris Hession has been a product and marketing manager for nearly 15 years. But recently, his job completely changed.
“Just in the last year and a half, social media has become not just a component of our product marketing plan, but really the core component,” said Hession, currently senior manager of Autodesk’s AutoCAD product marketing.
“Pretty much for everything we do, we’re looking at, ‘How can we make this work for social?’”
Millions of people worldwide use AutoCAD software to design everything from sunglasses to skyscrapers. If there’s any question that a B2B software company can market effectively with Facebook, look no further than the AutoCAD team.
The firm Nikken Sekkei used AutoCAD to design the Tokyo Sky Tree.
The AutoCAD Facebook page has become a new media channel of sorts, with largely live and on-demand video keeping fans very actively engaged.
Every day the AutoCAD group connects directly with its audience on Facebook, bringing them high-value educational video, tech tips, fun quizzes and reality TV–style segments. At the start of 2011, the company had 120,000 fans. Now it has reached 652,000.
But beyond those “Likes,” the company garners an impressive level of engagement. On average, fans spend more than 20 minutes watching AutoCAD “Facecasts.”
“In Internet time, that’s an eternity,” Hession said.
Here’s how the AutoCAD team attracts and keeps fans with interactive, two-way content.
Organization
Social Media Handles and Stats:
Highlights:
- The average viewer spends more than 20 minutes watching AutoCAD Facecasts.
- The company brought 250 sessions from its Autodesk University—about one-third of all presentations—straight from the event to its Facebook fans.
- About 850 people watched a live product announcement on Facebook with another 2,200 catching the recording, just on the first day.
- The first episode of “Technology Makeover” drew 1,944 Likes, 94 comments and 326 shares.
Facebook: The Perfect Medium
For those who design physical structures and objects, AutoCAD is an undisputed leader worldwide. Chances are something you touched today—from your car to the road you drove on—was designed using their software.
Though not every B2B organization is a fit for Facebook, two traits of the software’s target audience make Facebook just the right marketing medium for AutoCAD.
- 18- to 24-year-olds, in design school or in their first jobs, are overwhelmingly on Facebook.
- Facebook provides a place to connect directly with this young audience across the globe. AutoCAD is used by designers in hundreds of countries.
Two years ago, the AutoCAD team created a fan page and started populating it with informative and entertaining content designed to encourage two-way interaction.
Fans answered a recent tech quiz for the chance to win sunglasses.
A Sense of Family With Facecasts
The company started what they call Facecasts, live presentations on Facebook by AutoCAD product specialists on different aspects of the software. Using the Livestream plugin, product specialists spend about 15 minutes on a different topic each time and take questions afterward.
Unlike YouTube posting, Facecasts enable valuable back-and-forth with the audience.
“The nice thing about Livestream is you can actually have a discussion,” Hession said. “For our Facebook fans, we’ve found it to be something that helps them feel part of the family.”
Facecasts, streamed live with Livestream, draw big attendance.
Since last spring, the AutoCAD team has run 15-20 Facecasts, drawing around 25,000 viewers so far to the live and then recorded sessions. In their book, that’s hugely successful.
Autodesk University—250 Sessions on Facebook
Every year, about 8,000 designers from around the world descend on Las Vegas for the annual user group conference, called Autodesk University. But not all of the company’s global audience can make it to Vegas.
This year, the company brought 250 sessions—about one-third of all presentations—straight from the event to its Facebook fans. Autodesk used a custom-built app to allow customers to access the sessions on its fan page, while eight sessions were broadcast live.
“Our goal was to bring the energy, excitement and inspirational aspects of Autodesk University to our Facebook friends,” Hession said.
Autodesk also set up a broadcast booth in the middle of the show floor with a backdrop that made guests feel as if they were stepping into Facebook. Over the three days, broadcasts featured customer stories and insight from Autodesk executives.
The broadcast booth at Autodesk University brought video via Facebook to the company's thousands of fans unable to attend the live event.
A Big Step: First Software Launch on Facebook
With Facebook firmly planted as a major marketing staple, the AutoCAD team took a big step this past summer. The group officially launched its new AutoCAD for Mac software right on its Facebook page.
But ahead of the launch, the company spent half a year building the fan base through engaging broadcasts and other content, and with very targeted Facebook advertising. By launch time, the AutoCAD group had added a few hundred thousand new fans, many from developing markets like the Philippines and India.
“Some of the folks in those countries, they’re starved for some good AutoCAD tutorials, training and access to folks on the AutoCAD team,” Hession said. “Facebook marketing gives us a direct connection with these folks.”
Also prior to the launch, the AutoCAD team engaged fans to help crowdsource details of the launch, asking them to co-design the launch announcement and to help decide the when, who and how of the event.
Fans voted on the AutoCAD person they wanted to host the Mac launch.
An event-specific AutoCAD profile image brought awareness of the launch.
On August 16, the actual announcement was broadcast live on Facebook with a Q and A session following. About 850 people attended the live announcement with another 2,200 catching the recording, just on the first day.
Hession, far right, and the production team direct the Mac launch.
The format also allowed customers (for the first time in a launch event) to interact directly with the launch team through Facebook comments. In the past, Autodesk launches were via traditional webinar.
Beyond fan engagement, the software gained widespread exposure from 76 blog posts, with nearly all of those bloggers watching the Livestream.
“We were thrilled at the reaction to this social launch,” Hession said. “We can do this fairly inexpensively. We didn’t have a big budget, so it worked out great.”
Fun questions caught fans' attention and brought in 235 comments.
Technology Makeover—Office Edition
Facebook continues inspiring creative video content. In December, Autodesk and Lenovo aired the first “Technology Makeover,” a series of five short episodes where the firm Alan Mascord Design Associates received a full tech makeover.
The segments took an HGTV-style approach with a show host, “prize van” and surprise visit to the design firm.
Each episode runs 2 to 5 minutes, and is also available on the AutoCAD YouTube page. Facebook fans loved the series, with the first episode drawing 1,944 likes, 94 comments and 326 shares.
The first episode of the Technology Makeovers was a success.
With the success of the first makeover series, Autodesk plans to roll out a Facebook contest to find the next candidate, using a voting app from Votigo.
Engaging Posts, Every Day
Facebook broadcast segments are the anchor content for the software’s fans, but the AutoCAD team peppers in regular text-based tips, quizzes and polls that keep customers involved. The key: be interesting, relevant and regular with content.
Well-crafted customer stories educate and entertain.
While the AutoCAD team does count engagement levels in the form of Likes, comments, shares, views and questions, Hession and the company mainly see their efforts as critical brand-building that’s tough to truly measure. For them, talking directly to customers is gold.
“For me, it’s ‘How can we have a direct communication with our customers?’” Hession said.
“Our little tagline internally is, ‘personal communication on a volume scale.’ People are seeing their updates from AutoCAD between updates from Aunt Jenny and their best friend. It brings a sense of the personal to your communications and marketing.”
How to Be Your Own Facebook Broadcast Channel
- Ditch the script—Software product managers have become the “talent” for Livestream broadcasts. Keep it real by letting experts talk about what they know, without a script.
- Keep video times relatively short—AutoCAD video presentations are no more than 20-25 minutes, and then experts answer fan questions.
- Encourage questions repeatedly—Fans might be shy, especially those with foreign native languages. Push for questions, encouraging your fan base.
- Have fun—You may be B2B, but there’s no reason to be stodgy. Fun content gets a reaction.
What do you think? How has Facebook “broadcasting” affected your marketing? Do you plan to do more in 2012? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read MoreWill You Purchase Facebook Stock? This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
Facebook Seeks to Raise $ 5 Billion in IPO: “Social networking titan Facebook filed to go public, seeking to raise $ 5 billion in the largest flotation ever by an Internet company on Wall Street.” Facebook shares are not expected to begin trading for several months. Experts expect this initial public offering to be much larger than Google was when it went public. Do you plan on investing in Facebook? Leave your comments below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEXhNVDN-OI
Facebook IPO Reveals New Usage Numbers: Facebook’s nearly 200 page IPO documents revealed that Facebook now has 845 million active users, with 483 million people logging in daily. Facebook also sees Google+ as a big competitive threat.
More Options for Google+ Badges: Google+ page owners now have a choice of badges to put on their website. You can configure badges with a width that fits your design and choose one to complement your website.
Put a Google+ badge on your website to get more followers on your Google+ page.
Here are a few social media tools worth noting:
Salesforce Launches Desk.com and Desk.com Mobile: Salesforce‘s new services Desk.com and Desk.com Mobile are a “social help desk specifically targeted for small and mid-sized businesses (SMB). Desk enables businesses to deliver personal customer service using a help desk that is social, mobile, and easy to use and deploy: key attributes for any SMB today looking to leverage social enterprise technologies.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UClF_DhDO_I&feature=player_embedded
Ifbyphone: Hubspot adds the Ifbyphone’s LeadResponder app to their marketplace. LeadResponder enables HubSpot customers to quickly connect with and convert qualified inbound marketing leads through the use of voice-based marketing automation.
"Ifbyphone’s integration with HubSpot solves the problem that occurs when a prospect completes a web form, then waits hours to receive a follow-up response."
So.cl: The social search experiment from Microsoft Research FUSE Labs.
Share your search. Rediscover search through your friends and community on the all-new social search…
And here’s an interesting infographic:
Is Pinterest the Next Social Commerce Game Changer?:
Have you had a look at Pinterest?
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
Read MoreWill You Purchase Facebook Stock? This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
Facebook Seeks to Raise $ 5 Billion in IPO: “Social networking titan Facebook filed to go public, seeking to raise $ 5 billion in the largest flotation ever by an Internet company on Wall Street.” Facebook shares are not expected to begin trading for several months. Experts expect this initial public offering to be much larger than Google was when it went public. Do you plan on investing in Facebook? Leave your comments below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEXhNVDN-OI
Facebook IPO Reveals New Usage Numbers: Facebook’s nearly 200 page IPO documents revealed that Facebook now has 845 million active users, with 483 million people logging in daily. Facebook also sees Google+ as a big competitive threat.
More Options for Google+ Badges: Google+ page owners now have a choice of badges to put on their website. You can configure badges with a width that fits your design and choose one to complement your website.
Put a Google+ badge on your website to get more followers on your Google+ page.
Here are a few social media tools worth noting:
Salesforce Launches Desk.com and Desk.com Mobile: Salesforce‘s new services Desk.com and Desk.com Mobile are a “social help desk specifically targeted for small and mid-sized businesses (SMB). Desk enables businesses to deliver personal customer service using a help desk that is social, mobile, and easy to use and deploy: key attributes for any SMB today looking to leverage social enterprise technologies.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UClF_DhDO_I&feature=player_embedded
Ifbyphone: Hubspot adds the Ifbyphone’s LeadResponder app to their marketplace. LeadResponder enables HubSpot customers to quickly connect with and convert qualified inbound marketing leads through the use of voice-based marketing automation.
"Ifbyphone’s integration with HubSpot solves the problem that occurs when a prospect completes a web form, then waits hours to receive a follow-up response."
So.cl: The social search experiment from Microsoft Research FUSE Labs.
Share your search. Rediscover search through your friends and community on the all-new social search…
And here’s an interesting infographic:
Is Pinterest the Next Social Commerce Game Changer?:
Have you had a look at Pinterest?
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
Read MoreHow to Craft a Privacy Policy for Your Website
Does your website have a privacy policy?
This article will tell you what you need to know to create a privacy policy for your website.
Why a Privacy Policy?
As online professionals and entrepreneurs, you know that collecting information on visitors to your (or your client’s) website can help tailor goods and services. It offers insight that previously could only be gathered through expensive research. Today, though, data collection can be easy and inexpensive.
But with this type of information, businesses face a daunting task of protecting the data and telling visitors and/or consumers what will be done with the information. Regardless of whether site visitors read the terms and conditions, companies can’t overlook the creation of policies that set out how such information will be used.
Example of a well-placed privacy policy and descriptive link. Disney Muppets website.
Interestingly, except for regulated industries, there is no federal law requiring an online business to have a privacy policy. More importantly, no company has ever been sued for not having a privacy policy. But, for those businesses located in California or those that do business in California (many online companies!), there is a California state law requiring the posting of a privacy policy.
As professionals in the online world, often we’re expected to know all of the rules and regulations when it comes to what a company can and cannot collect or do with the information that is collected. Marketing wants to collect certain information and use it as a competitive advantage, but the company as a whole may want to convey a different sense of privacy, which creates internal conflict.
Privacy and personal data collection are areas where consulting with legal counsel may be necessary if your industry is regulated or if you want to be very aggressive with the data collected. The collection methods also need to be confirmed with the IT professionals who create the back-end tools.
In addition, following the policy set forth is imperative so there is no risk of sanctions. This is why having a policy custom-tailored will always be better than using a stock policy or cutting and pasting from what you find on the Internet.
The Elephant in the Room
It wouldn’t be a complete discussion about online privacy without mentioning Facebook and the recent ruling by the FTC that the social network deceived consumers by telling them their information was private when in fact the data was exploited beyond what was agreed.
While Facebook was not fined, the settlement is quite strict and obligates Facebook to undergo third-party reviews for 20 years.
Sometimes young companies learn the hard way. Facebook.com
For a platform that relies on users sharing information, Facebook turned a blind eye to the disparity between what they agreed to do and what, in fact, they did. But consumers are very savvy and complaints ignored by the company were taken to the FTC.
The social network faced the potential for millions of dollars in fines. Ultimately, though, that may have been a lesser punishment than what was agreed upon because of the length of monitoring.
Unlike for most companies, users of Facebook are highly involved and very vocal. Even though the company is still in its infancy, this big stumble was likely a wake-up call. Not just for the social network, but also for the online business community as a whole. Consumer deception is becoming a bigger concern, and Internet users are savvier with each passing day.
Creating a Great Privacy Policy
When you think of the policies and disclosures that belong on websites, it should come as no surprise that big companies have them drafted by a team of lawyers. If you’ve ever read them, you’d agree.
However, when it comes to a privacy policy, sometimes the best thing to do is write it out yourself first. You know best what you’re doing with the information. When it’s done, run it past an attorney.
What to Include in a Privacy Policy
First, and foremost, write it in plain English (or if your primary language is something else, then that language). Determine what information you would be gathering—email, cookies, subscription information, credit card, login, gender, age, etc.—and make sure there is a legitimate reason for collection. And once you have all this information, identify what you are doing with it.
Next comes putting it together—all it takes is 8 easy steps to an awesome privacy policy!
- Write in language that is easy to read and understand.
- Explain what information will be collected and whether it will be identifying or anonymous. If it’s both, say so.
- Without getting into lengthy detail, explain how it’s collected (such as search terms, sign-up, log files, clicked links, cookies).
- If you’ll share information with affiliated, partner or other sites, be clear about this. Most people are concerned with who else is getting their information.
- Simply state that if compelled by law to disclose, then you’ll comply with such orders.
- Give readers the option of verifying, correcting, changing or removing personal registration information. I suggest having a separate email for this purpose so you know exactly the nature of this communication.
- Provide a way for people to opt out of future communication. If someone wants to be removed, make it easy. Having a “privacy policy email” allows for these types of communications to be routed for easy handling.
- State that the policy will be updated periodically and how you will communicate such changes.
Privacy Policy Best Practices
Creating, updating, monitoring or managing privacy policies and practices may not be your responsibility. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore possible missteps. More importantly, those who are responsible may not know the rules, regulations or best practices.
For those who are responsible, whether it’s part of your job because you’re an entrepreneur and everything is your responsibility, or you’re hoping to add this area to your book of knowledge, there are best practices to keep in mind.
- Don’t ignore the FTC or state laws that provide minimum standards.
- Write the policy in plain English. If you have a lawyer draft your policy, ask that it be written so your consumer or visitor will clearly understand.
- Don’t cut and paste something you found for free on the Internet. Because the risk of penalties is very real, this is not the time to be cheap. Your policy should be your own and reflect the unique circumstances of your site.
- Update your policy regularly to reflect changes in the online environment, what your company actually does with information and clarify areas that may be vague. And once it’s updated, communicate the update!
- Follow the policy! If there is only one thing learned from the FTC sanctions of Facebook, it is that you should follow your policy and not engage in deceptive practices.
- Allow consumers, readers, forum visitors or others to opt out of having their personal information retained. And then follow through with their wish.
- Make your policy easy to find and accessible. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that the policies are buried or inaccessible due to broken links.
- Ensure that the stored information is, indeed, secure. Security breaches are not only very costly in terms of having to invest in infrastructure, the potential disclosure or sale of private information can be devastating.
- Utilize a well-respected privacy certification program to add credibility.
- Do not ask for intrusive or excessively personal information unless it’s absolutely necessary. Consumers are getting savvier and are less willing to provide sensitive information if they don’t feel the situation merits such an intrusion. If you need this information, be clear as to why and include how you will protect the data.
Conclusion
Putting up a sign may work for your garden, but not for your online business. Image: freedigitalphotos.net
Privacy policies are often not given the attention they deserve. Many companies churn them out, not realizing their true importance. While not everyone will read the policy, it’s these types of policies that say a lot about what the company stands for and what it wants to achieve. Information is key to future growth. It provides insight that can’t be replicated in other ways.
Most companies don’t have the resources or reputation that the largest social networking site has, and being singled out for deceptive practices could easily crush them.
Success tomorrow depends on not just doing the right thing today, but doing it every day. Most of us want our information kept secure. And our most valuable asset—our customers, users and community members—do too.
What do you think? Have you written a policy for your business? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
* This article does not specifically address policies regarding children under 13. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) will be addressed in a future treatment.
Disclosure: While Sara Hawkins is an attorney, this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.
Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Read MoreHow Has Blogging Changed the Voice of Women?
In this video I interview Lisa Stone, CEO and co-founder of BlogHer, the leading cross-platform media network created by, for and with women social media leaders.
Lisa tells the story of BlogHer, the fifth largest blog network. She also shares insights and tips for successful blogs and current trends for women bloggers.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- How blogging changes the voice of women
- Why blogging is the perfect tool for women
- Why you should find a community when you start blogging
- How to build your blog community
- What the popular topics are for women bloggers
- How to manage an online community
- How to set up your blog to drive revenue
- Examples of blog-to-book stories
Connect with Lisa on Twitter @LisaStone and Google+. And be sure to check out the BlogHer community.
Do you belong to a blogging community? What tips do you have to share for women bloggers? Please leave them below.
Read MoreHow Has Blogging Changed the Voice of Women?
In this video I interview Lisa Stone, CEO and co-founder of BlogHer, the leading cross-platform media network created by, for and with women social media leaders.
Lisa tells the story of BlogHer, the fifth largest blog network. She also shares insights and tips for successful blogs and current trends for women bloggers.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- How blogging changes the voice of women
- Why blogging is the perfect tool for women
- Why you should find a community when you start blogging
- How to build your blog community
- What the popular topics are for women bloggers
- How to manage an online community
- How to set up your blog to drive revenue
- Examples of blog-to-book stories
Connect with Lisa on Twitter @LisaStone and Google+. And be sure to check out the BlogHer community.
Do you belong to a blogging community? What tips do you have to share for women bloggers? Please leave them below.
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