Marketing over Facebook has convulsed. It is now a battle for likes/followers. Firms are waging cold wars, wherein the highest number of followers is considered the winner without an assertion. This picturesque is very well known to us and yet marketers follow the path blindfolded.
Let us analyze the common mistakes committed by most of the marketers.
Fan Page is not a Petri Dish
‘Create a fan page; buy thousands of likes and update the status with fluffy contents’ seems to be the motto of new firms. No wonder, results fail to show. Fan page is not a Petri dish where you grow your fans like organisms. In relation, fan page is just another portal where your customers arrive to see what you have to offer. Unless you give them something worth their time and money they will walk off with contempt.
First Impression is the Best Impression
Impress your customers with your fan page. Facebook has been very generous with providing various tools for designing your fan page. Though FBML is being deprecated HTML, CSS and JavaScript are there as your savior. Make sure to create a stunning landing page for your customers. Now, with the recent intrusion of Timeline it has been easier than ever. Just upload a cover photo of your firm or the latest product which is about to be launched and you are done.
Note how Apple has taken advantage of Timeline over their page.
After you are done with the impression work, the product you should offer should be worth their time. This brings to our next question.
Why should Customers stay on your Fan Page?
People log into their Facebook account for relaxation and entertainment. Unless you are the big player in the market you will have a hard time in convincing your customers. However, the good news is you do not have to convince them at all. Satiate their thirst for entertainment by throwing up a contest. Again, another mistake committed by marketers is to announce the contest through the status update. Creating a separate page for contests creates a better impression and appears to be professional, not to mention the increase in engagement. Below is a screenshot of how Blackberry engages their customers to a challenge.
Provide Discounts on Products & Freebies
There is nothing that sounds as good as freebies and discounts. Give away discount offer on your products and if possible provide some freebies. Customers will be attracted in hundreds and thousands to your fan page and you will reap success within no time. Personally discount on London pass coupons world soccer shop showed greater sales when sold through our page.
Should you buy Fans?
Before winding up we need to discuss the much debated topic of whether purchasing fans is ethical or not. Of course it is not ethical but apart from that purchasing fan has very less benefits. In fact there is hardly any benefit by purchasing fans. Some of the reason not to purchase fans is mentioned below:
1. Most of the fans sold are sham. Fake profiles are created on a larger scale and these are used to provide ‘likes’. Once the job is done through these fake profiles they longer serve any purpose.
2. The cost of a like goes anywhere from $1 to $1.33. Yearly budget for a small business might range from $500 to $6000. If this budget is used for marketing, you will not only achieve organic likes but an increased conversion rate.
3. After purchasing thousands of fans, fan page remains desolated. No engagement is found and rarely a share and few likes can be seen. This scenario is just the result of misleading people to like your page by false promises. ‘Joshua likes XXXX (name of the brand). Like us’, this sort of gaining likes is a lame one. Likes will be accrued but what are you looking for, likes or engagement? Instead write a short description with excellent copy. Likes gain through this tactic will provide better engagement as every like is really interested in what your brand does; not in what their friends have done.
Author:
Richie Richardson loves to write about Social Media Marketing, SEO and Internet marketing. He also writes about london pass code and world soccer shop code. They have some discount and various promo coupons which can prove beneficial.
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Bottlenose Surfs the Stream for You
For many with large social networks, reading through social feeds can begin to require the same time and energy as any other full-time job. This social media overload can be frustrating to those who are dependent upon their social networks for industry news, communication with friends and colleagues, or research purposes. How do you separate the videos from the web links? How do you filter through the spam, jokes, and memes to find the information you need.
Bottlenose may be a serious competitor in an industry that is filled with similar tools. Bottlenose allows you to filter your Facebook and Twitter streams by a specific set of criteria.
Bottlenose Custom Stream Filtering
Bottlenose allows users to create their own custom streams by:
- Media Types – Videos, Web links, Images
- Mentions – Messages and their relevance to you and your industry
- Popularity – Topics that have been made popular by user aggregation, retweets, and shares
Users can also select actions to add such as apps that will play sounds when the stream updates. Although actions are a bit limited at the moment, Bottlenose relays that they have many more action options coming soon.
Sonar Term Clouds
This may be one element that sets Bottlenose above and beyond its competition. When you use the single column view tab, you can click on or observe any stream topic and the Bottlenose sonar will display a term cloud. You can control your term cloud in a variety of ways.
- Changing Time Periods
- Changing Term Density
- Toggling People, Messages, Hashtags, and Topics
Users can zoom on their term clouds to open it in a feed. Clicking on the users relative to your account can also show you terms that are associated with that person, or even just let you view their feed.
Although Bottlenose is clearly in its relatively early stages, it seems to be growing up to be a very functional and useful stream aggregation tool.
Author:
@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.
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What a Successful Company Blog Says about Your Business
We’ve all seen them – the company blog that is buried within the site map, with a single “Welcome” post that is three years old. Or the blog that is littered with bad grammar, typos or business jargon. A bad comp
any blog can give off the impression that you’re lazy, technology-challenged, or you think you’re smarter than your readers. No blog at all is better than a bad blog.
Writing a successful company blog takes time and effort. It’s a way to start, continue and strengthen a meaningful conversation about your business and your brand.
So what does a great company blog say about your business?
You care about your customers.
The blog is your opportunity to reach out to your customers and provide them with in-depth, valuable information that they can’t find on your website. It allows you to connect and engage with them daily – answering questions, providing feedback and responding to comments. This interaction shows your commitment to building a community that benefits your business and your customers.
You know what you’re talking about.
When you write comprehensively about industry-related topics, you can establish your company as a leading authority in your field. Let readers know that they can rely on you for sound advice, useful information and knowledgeable opinions – and they can count on your products and services, as well.
You’re not a dinosaur.
You should be sharing your blog through Twitter and Facebook. Being active through social media channels can help you connect even further with your audience, and lets readers know you’re up-to-date with current trends and always thinking forward.
You’re well-known and respected in the industry.
Networking with other bloggers in your niche can increase blog traffic and in turn, increase leads. Engage other industry thought leaders in the conversation – contributing guest posts for other prominent blogs, for example, can help you expand your blog’s reach even further.
You have the resources to create quality content and designs.
Readers can tell if you’ve created a company blog with no knowledge of Web design or copywriting. A well-designed, well-written blog is crucial to drawing attention to your blog and keeping it there, and demonstrates the ability and talent behind the scenes – whether you have a staff of designers and writers maintaining the site, or you have taken the time to learn these skills yourself.
You’re friendly.
Blogs allow for a more casual, personal tone than your company website. Your blog has a voice – your voice – to give readers a sense of the people behind the business. Don’t fill your posts with industry jargon or make your readers feel inferior; this will only repel readers from your blog and your business. A blog that reads like a friendly chat over coffee, containing stories with which readers can relate, makes your company seem more approachable.
Do you know what your company blog says about your business?
Author:
Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer for Straight North, one of the leading Internet marketing companies in Chicago. She writes for a wide range of clients, from merchant account providers for credit card processing restaurants to manufacturers of electrical gloves. Check out the Straight North blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter.
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Reference.me – A Unique Business Social Site
Since almost every social site claims to be unique, yet there are several floating around that seem to mirror each other, we have come to understand that often ‘unique social site’ in reality means, social site with a unique name. So when I came across Reference.me, I gave it a shot, but without any genuine expectations for uncommon features.
Trusted Networks
We have other social sites that rely on trusted networks. LinkedIn immediately comes to mind. Currently the largest business social network online, LinkedIn has over 120 million users. Many people use it to connect to business partners and other colleagues, or even employees and customers.
While most of us likely have a LinkedIn account and profile, accept or decline contacts on a daily basis, and even update our profiles when business opportunities change, we usually stop just short of using our LinkedIn profiles outside of a social bookmark on our website or link on our email signatures unless we are in the process of actively building on that network.
How Does Reference.Me Work?
Your trusted network on Reference.me actually comes with a very impressive visual reference of who your trusted network represents. It differs immediately from other social networks in one specific way. Log in is only integrated with Google + currently. However, once signed up, and logged in, you can still easily integrate your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. Integration with LinkedIn will also fill out many of the details, work references, education, and skills on the Reference.me details tab.
There is no messaging on Reference.me, no activity streams, groups, or anything else you may be called to join in, or at least not yet. That doesn’t mean that Reference.me doesn’t have a shining quality or two at this stage in its development game.
Reference.me Pros
The site already has a great setup when it comes to a quick list and profile viewing opportunity with a few different filter options. Arranging your network by skills, location, companies, strongest connection, or even alphabetically supplies users with the ability to quickly locate members in their network that may not be so readily available on the top of your network. This layering feature is absolutely unique from any other social business network available on the net currently. It provides a more in-depth look at how the rest of your network functions with their own, giving potentially more elaborate insight if browsing the networks of perspective new hires, new colleagues, or even consumers.
The references system on Reference.me is impressive, as well it should be on a social site with such a URL. Grabbing a reference from their system is as easy as clicking on a name and choosing the big tab that pops up. Under the tab you may also see that the source is already a trusted one for you, or that you may need to request them to join your network so that they too receive trusted status on your Reference.me account.
Reference.me Cons
Reference.me cons are as mostly as listed above. There is no messaging on Reference.me, no activity streams, groups, or anything else you may be called to join in, and for this reason Reference.me may not be seen as a full-bodied network that promotes major interactivity.
Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be what the team at Reference.me is going for. Reference.me seems like a great place to send a prospective client, employee, or consumer when they ask for references, whole references, and nothing but your references.
Author:
@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.
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How to Make Your Event Successful
Those who organize events know that the success of the event depends on many things, least of them the weather. The amount of options and the connections the attendees 
create in an event will dictate if they will join you next time or not. In other words “What would I get out of it?”
Even in our connected and social media rich world, business is still done face to face. The biggest hurdles business people have to overcome are psychological; how to introduce themselves to strangers, how to portray themselves without seeming cocky and how to make the most of the time in the event.
Pathable.com is a new program that aims to create a virtual gathering place before the start of the event. It is a private online community which aims to facilitate introductions and highlight common interests. They provide an interactive space for the attendees to gather and share information.
When one registers an event, all the attendees are asked to fill a profile. Those profiles are personalized with photos and links to other sites and all other web representations in social media; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.
This has the potential of introducing the attendees to each other before the event starts. People can see who they would like to meet personally at the event and start a conversation beforehand. The program even makes it easier to spot them; people with common interests are highlighted.
Starting a discussion in forums is encouraged, and because people can converse, they can also set meeting to take place during the event. The software enables mailing schedules that will appear on all the chosen attendees’ schedules at the same time.
A personalized conference calendar is available for each attendee, so they can easily build their own schedules as well. The program enables attendees to save space for private meetings and has a diagram of the conference, including all the booths and private rooms to make navigating the event very easy.
Event sponsors can create their own pages and sponsorship tools that target specific channels. They can participate in the conversation and communicate with the attendees in a non-intrusive way. It provides another place for targeted advertisement.
All those features are available in a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows and Android as well. Easy to use and quick to respond.
Author:
@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.
Sources:
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/pathable
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/profitable-growing-pathable-raises-cash-events-social
Inbound Marketing Summit NYC 2012 – 3 Important Tips to Take Home
If you had the opportunity to sit in on the panels at the Inbound Marketing Summit in New York this year, you likely took away a few vital lessons that you can carry to your business. The conference itself has evolved over the last few years. It has held a focus on social marketing strategies, but has also begun a swift evolution to cover other vital elements such as social TV, touch screen devices, and mobile marketing, as well as defining what these technological shifts really mean for professionals utilizing engagement skills and strategies.
While many interesting points were made, there were absolutely three great highlights that every small business owner should consider when focusing on social media and fan engagement.
Social Media Advertising
Most social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn have opportunities for advertising at relatively affordable prices. While businesses are building and managing their content in order to break through valuable channels to achieve better engagement, they are finding that advertising can be easy when it is placed where people are hanging around the most. With the many Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn stats we are familiar with when it comes to time spent on social networks these days, there is no doubt that although more affordable than many other types of digital or traditional advertising, they are still highly effective. The IMS panels recommended trying this out on your Facebook Fan page since it is significantly easier to build an audience there.
Responding and Engaging
You have heard it before here at DBMEI, it is not enough to simply create formats for your consumers to interact with, you actually have to be responsive, and in a relatively short period of time for maximum engagement opportunities. Business owners can either use a team to ensure engagement in a timely manner, or they can use alerts and other monitoring programs to ensure their consumers or prospective customers are given responses before too much time has passed. They should also not wait until there is an issue to engage, even if a visitor just stops by to post or praise your products and services, give them a swift thanks a Like, and a special coupon code when at all possible. Make interactivity on your social media platforms a source of mutual positive reinforcement when at all possible.
Have a Plan
Business owners need to have a plan. You shouldn’t be rolling over, firing up the computer, and tapping your fingers until the content idea comes to you. You need a lot more of a forecasted plan than that. Using a social media editorial calendar can be a helpful way to pre-plan and map out topics so that they are optimized for distribution, coverage, and of course engagement. You should know ahead of time, aside from breaking or important trending news, what type of content will be created and when it will be set for distribution. Knowing your audience and what type of content they can appreciate, combined with a social media editorial calendar will help business owners to better manage engagement with current or potential consumers.
Many other vital points arose that are also swiftly becoming crucial elements in business marketing such as tablets and social TV and their respective places in a full-bodied marketing campaign. Since Americans still watch around 35 hours of TV per week, many now on touch screen devices and tablets, marketing professionals now need to begin to consider how to capture an audience’s attention across multiple devices simultaneously.
However, it is also important to recall that another lesson from IMS included understanding user behavior over in-depth knowledge about emerging technologies.
Author:
@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.
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A New Kraze has Arrived. Meet LifeKraze.
When Facebook and Twitter were first launched, it’s safe to say that a collective thought went through everyone’s mind: “Why didn’t I think of that?” As LifeKraze enters the realm of social media, I believe that question will be whispered once again by a majority of the population.
If you haven’t heard of LifeKraze yet, you will soon. The beta version was launched to the public in March 2011 and has since built a strong group of followers. Their current team consists of 10 employees and is based in Chattanooga, TN, surrounded by mountains and rivers, making it a perfect “active” base.
What is LifeKraze?
It begins with one simple question, “What have you done?”
I spoke with the co-founder and CTO of LifeKraze, Michael Brooks, Jr., in order to step into the mindset of LifeKraze: “If Facebook is what you are, Twitter is what you say, 
then LifeKraze is what you do.”
The idea is that people need motivation in order to lead an active and healthy lifestyle. “Our entire idea was based around encouraging others, because with a little motivation, and people cheering you on, you can achieve anything,” comments Brooks.
LifeKraze helps to create this motivation through a social media platform. It is a community of people that all have similar goals, whether it is losing 10 pounds or writing a chapter in that book you’ve always wanted to write, the goal of the community is also the slogan of LifeKraze, “Live like it counts”.
Not only does the community help to inspire you by giving words of encouragement and helping to hold you accountable for your goals, there are also reward points involved, which you can redeem for products. You receive 200 points daily, to be spread around to other people. For example, maybe someone posted that they helped a child in math today. If you like that action, you can reward them with some of those 200 points. In return, when you post an action that is admired by other users, they can reward you with points. Points can then be redeemed for various products from partners of LifeKraze, which so far include big names such as Reebok and PowerAde Zero.
Besides points, though, it really is the care and comments from other users that I believe is the gem of LifeKraze. The community really supports each other through comments. They really seem to care about each other. It’s what you need to keep yourself on track of your goals.
Where did the idea come from?
“Things really started to come together for us after we had our initial idea, but what drove us to really push to make this a business was providing a platform to encourage and motivate others to achieve their goals,” says Brooks. “We always had coaches and teammates to push us through our lives (through Sports) and when we graduated, we lost that.”
That is the power of LifeKraze. I asked Michael Brooks, Jr. about the response they’ve received from users since launching almost 2 years ago. One word he used to describe them was “unbelievable”. After reading them, I’d also add inspiring. One user signed up months ago and could barely make it around her neighborhood without being exhausted. She just ran her entire first half marathon. People have posted of losing 30-50 pounds since joining LifeKraze and using the platform to stay motivated. “People post about getting engaged, cleaning out their garages, and acing exams. The accomplishments are spread out from health, to fitness, to positive actions,” says Brooks.
In a world where healthy and active lifestyles are on the forefront of minds with shows like The Biggest Loser, a wide variety of health magazines, and an increasingly large amount of diet books on the shelves, LifeKraze seems to fill a gap. While we have all of the information and applications to be active, the motivational, community aspect was missing. Until LifeKraze.
“We care about what people are doing, and we want to provide a community and a platform that is always there for you, and we are always in season, encouraging and motivating you to do your best,” finishes Brooks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypYm2HCj58E&feature=player_embedded]
Author:
Megan Campbell has a degree from Clemson University in Graphic Communications, and is currently living in Germany during a Gap Year abroad, working as an au pair and freelance writer. Her degree set her up for a great interest and knowledge of social media. You can find her on her blog, balancewithadashofcrazy, or contact her via email at meganecamp at gmail dot com.
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Did you try? A Look at the data from #SMWsmac [InfoGraphic]
What can you do in 16 days? Try!
With just under a month before Social Media Week 2012, it came to our attention that NYC did not have a daylong event that was tailored to teach the small business owners and professionals how Social Media is and can be used. On Feb 1st, 2012 dbmei authors decided to launch Social Media Action Camp! The event which a few days later became an official part of Social Media Week was set for Feb 16th 2012 at the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC.
Data provided by Synthesio , and a few other sources .
The event tag #smwsmac generated over 1,000 tweets! Which represents about 5% of the social media activity in New York City. The Social Influencers reached over 116,000 followers and generated tweets in 15 countries globally!
In addition to the info from Synthesio, we also know that:
- 102 people attended throughout the day
- 128 viewers at one time on LiveStream
- 976 views on the Live Stream Channel
- 1484 tweets to date #smwsmac
- 71 check-ins on foursquare to the Roger Smith Hotel
The Official Social Media Week event page hosted on SocialMediaWeek.org generated 177 Facebook “Likes”, 250 “shares” on LinkedIn and 834 tweets that did not feature #smwsmac as a tag. Making the event the most socially shared event for ALL Social Media Week 2012 globally!
The Social@Olgivy Movers & Shakers platform supported by Kred featured organizer @BasilPuglisi as the top influencer for Feb 16th and both @BasilPuglisi and @dbmei as the top 5 influencers for the following day Feb 17th 2012.
The event was a mix of speakers featuring some of the digital names like Google, Klout, Synthesio, StumbleUpon, EmpireAvenue & Constant Contact. The event featured digital media professionals like David Meerman Scott, Amy Vernon, Mardy Sitzer, and Lujure’s Nathan Latka. Lisa A Burns, representing Corning Inc., spoke about the wonder of how a Fortune 500 Company used YouTube to capture more than 17 million views. Then the dbmei authors Bill Corbett Jr., Jeff Ogden, Craig Yaris and Basil C. Puglisi contributed their take on using social media to generate action!
The real success resulted from the response that the attendees reported. The mix of content and style presented, generated useful information in many areas with actionable advice and solutions.
“The diverse group of presenters offered extremely valuable best practices and actionable advice. It was also nice attending a social media event that didn’t cater to newbie’s or skeptics” said David Gise
The event exemplified the point that “you don’t know till you try”, and while we have a long list of things we can do to make the next event even better, it’s an important point for dbmei as well as the individuals involved to say not only did we try, but we succeeded. If you take nothing else away from the article, we hope that when a opportunity presents itself, you be so bold as to try and make it happen.
Social Media Week Made Manhattan Move for #SMWsmac
An attendee at our event submitted a wonderful poem about his experience at the Social Media Week Social Media Action Camp event. #SMWsmac
Social Media Week Made Manhattan Move
By Serge Zenin
Social Media Week made Manhattan move;
Networking and negotiating, we never grew numb;
Give out a business card and go with the groove;
I’ll friend you on Facebook, wherever you’re from;Developers need diagrams drawn by art directors;
Bloggers benefit as they beckon a bigger crowd;
Consultants collaborate with crafty data collectors;
Programmers pick projects that make guru’s proud;Puglisi Consulting prudently puts people together;
Implementing inactive ideas with inherent passion;
If a logo looks cold let’s lightly add a little leather;
If a fangate’s too flashy let’s frame it with fashion;Social Media Week electrified the wire that conducts;
It’s about providing solutions, not selling products!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXfJQLVPsXA&feature=youtu.be]
Serge Zenin is the founder and director of BD at Media Contours, an NYC based PR and marketing company. When he’s not working, Serge enjoys writing poetry about relationships, love, modern phenomenon, and various other topics. If you would like Serge to poetically capture the essence of your business or your event, please contact sergezeninpoetry@gmail.com with your request.
Is Social Media the Cure for Writer’s Block?
The growing world of social media means that everyone is now a writer. There are status updates on Facebook that could rival a short story, and the creativity required in order to twist that status update into 140 characters on Twitter can rival that of a poet, indeed inventing a new phrase, “twaiku”. These new ways of communicating have not only made everyone a writer, but they’ve opened up new doors of inspiration for working writers.
As a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time writing for various websites and blogs. There are times when the subject is dealt to me, but most of the time it is my job to think of a new and original idea. Aside from my freelance writing, I also write two blogs. And as any writer knows, it takes a lot of creativity, imagination, and determination to spend your days constantly writing about fresh, original subjects.
In Steps Social Media…
Just like so many other procrastinators, Facebook, Twitter, or some other form of social media often distracts me while I am trying to do my work (writing). Rather than hindering me, though, the updates and information I read on social media often inspires ideas for later.
Facebook as a Resource
One of my jobs as a freelance writer is to complete articles on various subjects. These subjects are usually out of my general-knowledge-range and require some research to complete. In some of these instances, I’ve begun using Facebook as a source. I recently was called upon to write an article on Global Warming, including facts. One of my Facebook friends is constantly posting news articles and videos dealing with global warming, so I utilized these posts to my advantage when writing the article.
Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon as Inspiration
Writing for your own blog can be very rewarding, but it can also be stressful if you want the blog to be successful. A successful blog is one that is always fresh and has something different than other blogs. They require a lot of work and new ideas for posts daily. I keep a list of ideas that I’ve come up with, but when I get stuck, I regularly flip through Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, or any other social media site to get some sort of inspiration. I recently wrote about an article that a friend posted on Facebook, was inspired by a photo from StumbleUpon, and am continuously adding ideas to my lists from information I see through social media.
While the Internet evolves, it’s important for an internet-focused writer to evolve, too. Finding new areas of inspiration and information is one of the most helpful and rewarding ways that a writer can become and stay successful. Luckily, with the way that social media is constantly moving, there are no shortages of subjects.
Author:
Megan Campbell has a degree from Clemson University in Graphic Communications, and is currently living in Germany during a Gap Year abroad, working as an au pair and freelance writer. Her degree set her up for a great interest and knowledge of social media. You can find her on her blog, balancewithadashofcrazy, or contact her via email at meganecamp at gmail dot com.
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