A Quick Overview The New Facebook Pages

February 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Facebook announced major changes yesterday to the design and functionality of its Pages, bringing them closer to individual user profiles in look and functionality. We’re excited about these updates, as they will improve the ability of our customers to connect with audiences. The changes impact the user experience visually, giving a more compelling look and feel to Pages; functionally, allowing brands and companies to operate more the way individual users do; but also by greatly increasing your ability to build richer application experiences using iFrames. In addition to having applications that perform better, brands will also have greater flexibility in the way they name them.The changes go into effect for all Facebook Pages on March 10, which gives you four weeks to preview the new format and switch over at any time before then.  Below is a map of the new features, followed by an additional summary of the changes:

1-Photo strip above the Wall (with most recent photos you posted or tagged)
2-Tabs move over to the left panel, in the form of a list (maximum of 6 above the fold)
3-Profile picture reduced from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540
4-Blurb box that was below the Page picture moved to info tab
5-Pages can Like other Pages, not just favorite them
6-Featured Pages and Admins
7-Page category
8-Choice for Wall posts between “Everyone” and Page posts only
9-Mutual Friends and Interests section
10-Ability to interact on Facebook as your Page
11-Ability for admins to post and comment around the site under their Page’s alias
12-News feed of updates from Liked Pages
13-Pages can now feature iFrame tab applications
14-Email notifications when users post or comment

Important: You can preview the new layout but once you upgrade, there is no way to revert back to the old design.

Photo Strip Instead of Tabs Above the Wall
The replacement of tabs with the photo strip at the top adds a dynamic, colorful element that will significantly improve the look of the average Facebook Page. The photos are drawn from the most recent ones you posted to your Wall and those you tagged, but does not include photos posted by fans. Users can hide undesirable photos. The new left nav placement of tabs also allows for longer tab names.

Expanded Functionality For Fan Page Admins
By enabling Fan Page admins to comment in the name of the page itself and to interact with other Fan pages, Facebook has finally made it possible for brands to truly engage in tremendous interactive engine which powered its growth among individuals. Your power as a page administrator is increased in a number of other ways, including the ability to set filters on your Wall so that visitors see relevant posts first, and to view all the content and get notices whenever someone posts to your wall.

While many applications like Flash will now function better on your Page, Facebook’s restrictions require you to limit their functionality until a user interacts with it.

The new page update has a very powerful toggle in the right sidebar that allows you to surf Facebook as your personal profile or as your page.  That means that, like blog commenting, you can now leave comments all over Facebook that lead back to your business (page) instead of back to you.

Conversely, you can switch from page persona to personal and respond to comments on your page as yourself and not as the admin. That means you can put a human face on a business which is always a good thing.

This is also helpful if you have multiple people monitoring a page as it allows each one to comment personally instead of having it all lumped under one icon as it was before.

Other components of the upgrade include the removal of tabs. Now the navigation is in the left sidebar where you expect it to be and the overall design is more modern.

The one downside to the upgrade is the line of photos that now take up the top of a page. While photos may be the bread and butter of a personal profile, they’re less important on business pages but you’re stuck with themContact us with any further inquires.

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Preventing Social Media Letdowns in 2011 (via Trufflepig Search)

January 11, 2011 Leave a comment

With concerns growing about privacy and companies’ access to personally identifiable data, social-media marketers will have to work harder to earn confidence, involvement, and loyalty from consumers. It will take more than a “Like” or “Follow Us” button on a website to get consumers involved in brands’ social programs this year.

Preventing Social Media Letdowns in 2011 In the spirit of blogging in 2011, here’s the standard obligatory blog post with predictions for the year: Brian Solis has predicted a bit of doom and gloom in the social media space for 2011. Many marketing departments poured money into the medium in 2010 without any real planning and even worse, no tangible goals were set to increase sales using social media. After all, “Failing to plan is planning to fail,” says Brian Solis. But perhaps these … Read More

via Trufflepig Search

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Facebook is now worth $50 Billion (via Avinash Joshi’s Blog)

January 3, 2011 Leave a comment

While everyone has been busy wondering when Facebook was going to IPO, most were looking past the first question: how is Facebook going to IPO? Goldman Sachs has just led a major new investment in the social network. An investment that values it at a nice round $50 billion. And the likely reason is so Goldman can take Facebook public.

Facebook is now worth $50 Billion According to a new report, Facebook has  received a massive $450 million from Goldman Sachs and $50 million from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies in a new round of funding. In September2010, Facebook was worth between $23 billion and $33 billion and in November it was worth $41 billion. The New York Times says that the deal sets the popular social network’s valuation at a whopping $50 billion. Facebook has raised over $800 million … Read More

via Avinash Joshi's Blog

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The 7 Biggest Lies Your Social Media Consultant Told You (via HighTalk)

December 21, 2010 Leave a comment

Great article. Social Media is not a conversation. It is “conversational and, on occasion, a conversation will happen”. You really can’t keep up with hundreds, or thousands of individual conversations, not should you feel obliged to. The other myth of – you cannot outsource the handling of social media to an agency is ridiculous. Not everything is for everybody. A business does not have to be everywhere in social media while maintaining an in house crew to Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, Flickr, Vimeo, or what have you. A good Social Media Strategist will sit down with a business owner and plan out a road map with goals that will work for the owner, the business, and anyone else who will be involved.

The 7 Biggest Lies Your Social Media Consultant Told You 1. Social media is a conversation. This is almost laughable, but the "conversation" buzzword is still in rampant use.  Social media is not a conversation.  It is conversational and, on occasion, a conversation will happen.  But most of the time social media is listening in aggregate to your fans and foll … Read More

via HighTalk

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What type of ads on Facebook or other social networks work the best?

December 10, 2010 Leave a comment

To find out, Psychster Inc. teamed up with Allrecipes to determine which kinds of ads are most effective and whether the platforms advertisements appear on make a difference.

The study tested out seven different types of ads on two different publisher websites, Facebook and Allrecipes.

The ad types evaluated were: banner ads, newsletter subscription ads, corporate profiles with fans and logos, corporate profiles without fans or logos, get widgets, give widgets and sponsored content.

The Results

  • While sponsored content provided the most user interaction (and was the least likely to be perceived as advertising), it also triggered the lowest level of purchase intent and the fewest viral recommendations.
  • Corporate profiles are effective but they work better when users can become a fan of the profile and add a logo to their own page.
  • More people engage with give/get widgets than with banner ads, however widgets do not increase purchase intent or viral recommendations.
  • Regardless of format, the most effective advertisements were those that were related to the content on the publisher’s website (i.e. a soup advertisement on a cooking website).
  • Of the seven advertising types, banner ads and newsletter links were the most successful at encouraging purchase intent.

Conclusion

The study suggests that banner ads may be the best choice for advertisers that want to push a product. However, for campaigns that want to build engagement, corporate profiles or sponsored content is the better option.

Full Report

Uploaded by: BenParr — via Mashable

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How To Get More Blog Comments By Timing When You Post

December 8, 2010 2 Comments

Dan Zarella in his upcoming webinar, titled The Science of Blogging, taking place on December 9th has decided to to tackle the question of  ”When’s the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts”?  In his answer, he combines all of his existing data on timing with his new research into one big post on the subject.

You can read his article here, and view the data set.

RED Brand Media has made our own observations of how to get MORE Blog COMMENTS by timing when you post:

Whether you make Blog posts, Tweet or ReTweet on Twitter, or share posts on Facebook, there are three criteria we’ve noticed  that garner more commenting.

  1. Articles published during the week generally tend to get more views, articles published on the weekends get far more comments. This may be because users have more freedom on non-work-days to take the time to read and leave feedback.
  2. The hour-of-day blogs posts were published is important. Commenting peaked on articles posted in the morning, specifically around 8 and 9AM. Most likely because posts released early are in everyone’s email inboxes and feed-readers when they check them in the morning.
  3. Certain words used in articles induced higher comments. Posts that mention “giveaways” and “gifts” are commented on more than the average article. Posts that mention I’ll “follow” you if you follow me show the promise of a favor, and are read and commented on frequently.

In conclusion, we have observed along with Dan that among very popular Blogs, Twitter accounts, and Facebook Pages or Groups, publishing multiple times per day led to a huge increase in a commenting success.  Therefore, instead of focusing on one perfect day or time, one could aim to publish many times a day, on many days of the week.

 

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Murdoch and Jobs – Frenemies of the Internet (via Stuart Smith’s Blog)

November 22, 2010 Leave a comment

A Women’s Wear Daily subscription will reportedly launch in early spring and will cost 99 cents per week. Investors who have been following newsprint, magazine and even Web publications’ difficult transitions to the smartphone and tablet market should take great interest in The Daily‘s development and possible success as it could indicate the shape of news media (and advertising platforms) in the coming years.

Murdoch and Jobs – Frenemies of the Internet Now we know why James Murdoch, heir apparent at NewsCorp, has been so messianic about the iPad recently. The Times/Sunday Times "apps" experiment is merely part of a bigger picture – perhaps a small one at that. It has emerged – rather curiously via US fashion industry journal Women's Wear Daily – that Murdoch Sr is working closely with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on launching an entirely new, exclusively apps-driven newspaper (there will be … Read More

via Stuart Smith's Blog

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The Keys to Keeping your Twitter Followers Happy

November 19, 2010 1 Comment

One strategy is to focus on keeping your current followers by rewarding them with discounts, and special offers from time to time.  Another strategy is to appreciate and not take advantage of your existing followers by being too sales oriented.

Focus on the needs of your followers.

- Write interesting content about your industry.
- Give them a good laugh.
- Let them see a human behind the tweets and behind the company (video).
- Help them with their cause (RT).

Do you want to know see how good you are at keeping your followers?

You can use “Who Unfollowed Me” to track and trend how many Twitter followers you’re losing over time.  Conversely “DoesFollow” will quickly allow you to see if someone is following you or not.

If your goal is to gather many tens of thousand of followers, then you are missing the whole point of being on Twitter.  One cannot possibly engage with so many followers, and quality followers will soon unfollow you based on a lack of interaction.  Speaking of interaction.  Interesting posts are important.  Post about others in your industry, not just your business, and don’t recycle posts more often than weekly.

Used prudently, tools like TwitterFeed or Feedburner Socialize can be extremely helpful to businesses wishing to expand their Social Networking activities because they ensure you Tweet consistently – even if you are busy in your business, away on vacation, or unable to be active on Twitter.  If you have long gaps when Tweeting (longer than 3 days) you will start to lose Twitter followers, especially among those savvy enough to know about tools that search for inactive Twitter users based on the time lapsed since their last Tweet.

Finally, Twitter isn’t a race to get the most followers. If you follow users that you’re interested in, it’s more likely that legitimate users will find you and read your updates. Write interesting content for them, and RT their Tweets, in addition to automating your Tweets.

Contact me on Facebook for a detailed explanation on using Twitterfeed or Feedburner Socialize to sensibly automate your Twitter posts.

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Which Top Social Media Media Sites Should You Really Care About?

November 11, 2010 Leave a comment

Well, glad you asked!

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

I’m sure you already know that everyone and their mother is on Facebook right?  Facebook, that behemoth of a platform with 500 million users is number one.  If you want to have visibility online and engage in the platform that offers the best source of social media traffic to your website or blog you need to be on the number one social networking site in the world.

Image representing StumbleUpon as depicted in ...
Image via CrunchBase

What about the number two player?  If you have a social networking campaign to launch or you want to engage and make “friends” so that you can eventually interest people in what you are doing online, where would you go after Facebook?  Well, it surprised me in writing this article that the answer is StumbleUpon.  StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site where people can “Stumble” web pages that peak their interest, write reviews, rate, and share their discoveries with their followers.  We should all care about StumbleUpon if we care about what social media is – making connections.  The Social Media Examiner wrote a nice little article (again) in the last few day on how to use StumbleUpon, so I won’t get into how I am using it until the end of this piece.

When TechCrunch first reported StumbleUpon’s #2 ranking in April, they had StatCounter‘s Global Stats graph from Mar 2009 to March 2010.  Well, I did another StatCounter graph from Nov 2009 to Nov 2010, and the results still show StumbleUpon as the number two most trafficked social media site.

StatCounter-social_media-facebook-stumbleupon-200911-201011

We’re not talking members here, because StumbleUpon has roughly 11 million users versus 175 million Twitter users.  We are talking about level of importance if the results from StatCounter are correct, and we are going to assume they are, because TechCrunch is influential enough to have done their homework.  The conclusion is StumbleUpon is an important social media traffic generating platform for your blog and website.  Similar to Twitter’s ReTweet, as you stumble-upon more content and discover fascinating new information that has yet to be stumbled, you will gain new subscribers who will see a plethora of the stuff you found good enough to “Like”.  StumbleUpon requires you to do minimal self-promotion of you own site(s), and instead share information about new websites that you recommend.  Align the content, and relationships you’ve created on StumbleUpon, with your burgeoning “StumbleUpon Station” correctly and the potential rewards for mega traffic back to your own website is almost guaranteed.

Now for my take on how to use StumbleUpon.  If you really want to get your blogs and website to be eyeballed, get yourself StumbleUpons’s link shortener – su.pr simply by opening a free account. Copy and paste your Tweets in the box supplied with the original link to the article, hit the shorten link button, check the Twitter and/or Facebook check-boxes and then click on “post” or schedule the post, and you are finished.

Your article will be posted by using su.pr shortening service to your Twitter and  Facebook accounts.  You can then click on the article snapshot and “vote it up”.  After you have done this, simply go to your StumbleUpon profile and share the article with your other subscribers and if you are fortunate, they will also vote it up as well.  Alternately, if you don’t mind your screen real-estate being infringed upon, you can certainly download the StumbleUpon Firefox add-on and the website will be available in the toolbar of your browser.  The pay back for the browser add-on is it appears StumbleUpon gives more credence to the content you’re sharing when you do your stumbling and liking through the frame, because you are now fully part of the community.

Having been on StumbleUpon for a couple of years and having hardly had a go at it, I are now armed and ready to really use it in a manner that clearly works for a large majority of its subscribers.  So now go and befriend me on StumbleUpon please, and start building your subscribers list.

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Ask.com Gives Up On Search, Hangs Its Hopes On Q&A (via TechCrunch)

November 10, 2010 Leave a comment

The search engine business is competitive, with Google controlling around 66% of the market and Microsoft controlling another 28% with its Yahoo partnership, according to Comscore. Ask was number three at 3.8% share. Now Blekko can try to take over third spot.

Ask.com Gives Up On Search, Hangs Its Hopes On Q&A photo © 2008 Desi | more info (via: Wylio) IAC's Ask.com has laid off 130 of its search engineers in New Jersey and China and surrendered its search operations to its competitors in the notoriously tough search market. Remaining search staff, who primarily worked on maintaining the rank algorithm, will be relocating to Oakland, and focusing on the Ask Q&A product. Search is an almost impossible business to get into, with Google controlling ar … Read More

via TechCrunch

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