Grow My Company

Social Media 101: covering the basics in early 2012

I can't tell you how often people ask me what they really should be doing to cover their bases these days from a social media perspective. Often these conversations start something like this:

"Should someone like me really be on Facebook?" with a wrinkled nose," That's not really my thing."

"Not really your thing?" I counter, "What do you mean? Marketing yourself and your company isn't your thing?"

"Oh, then what should I be doing?" is a common follow-up question.

Social media is constantly evolving, and there is no mix that is right in every situation and every company, but what was once the essential 3: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, has expanded to include YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest these days, depending upon what you are selling.

There are plenty of others too, but let's go through the current recommended basic social marketing hexagon, one-by-one.

Facebook:

Everybody should have a personal Facebook account, if for no other reason, to educate your friends and family about what you do. Sure, your cousin and college roommate likely know that you're a lawyer, but can they tell a friend what kind of law you practice and possibly refer business to you? Believe me, all my Facebook connections know exactly what I do, and yes, they do refer business my way.

It's a common and legitimate concern to worry about mixing personal and professional connections and have clients see vacation and family photos, but Facebook has extensive privacy controls that utilize lists, and a single account can satisfy an infinite variety of people in your life by simply controlling what they can and cannot see. If you need assistance setting this up and understanding how to use these controls, I would be happy to help you.

A Facebook Page for your firm is another no-brainer. Anybody can do create one. Facebook offers step-by-step instructions. Just fill out all the requested information completely, upload your logo or photo, post some content, and invite your personal friends to like the page. That's all you have to do to get started, and there are lots of ways you can use that page to market your firm later.

You might also find use for a Facebook Group within your business. This space could be used to collaborate and share information with specific people. Unlike Pages, Groups can be private, where non-members can't see content, or secret, where nobody outside of members even know that the Group exists.

Facebook ads are another possibility. Since Facebook collects lots of information about its users, it is capable of extreme targeting with its advertising. This is not a no-cost option, but it is worth exploring at the right time.

Twitter:

Twitter seems odd and uncomfortable for most users when they first check it out. How can anybody market in 140 character bursts? Well, Twitter is very much about developing relationships, which are likely the lifeblood of your firm, so sign up and start talking to others in your geographic area. Yes, you can discuss your field of expertise a bit, but don't preach, and above all, just be friendly. If you need help getting a feel for Twitter, give me a shout.

LinkedIn:

You're a professional right? Well, a LinkedIn presence is expected for all professionals these days. In fact, LinkedIn is so powerful that often your LinkedIn profile tops your own web profile in search results. Let me also assure you that LinkedIn makes it really easy to find your competitors, so if you're not there when a prospect searches for you, you just might lose business to competitors who do take this platform seriously. Can you afford that risk?

Sign up and go thorough the process of building a 100% complete profile. Be prepared to spend a couple of hours gathering and inputting all of your information, and go way back throughout your entire career and school days. Most everybody in your past is a potential referral source, aren't they? The best way for them to find you is to identify yourself with all of your past jobs and education. Don't skip sections, but do use action words and proper grammar and spelling. This 24/7 web-based resume is not the place for typos and tense issues. If you don't have the time, patience, or inclination to write a proper bio for yourself, I would be happy to help you. In fact, one of my clients currently hears from at least 2 recruiters per week because of the profile that I created for him.

YouTube:

YouTube is a no-brainer for professional service firms that want to position their lawyers, accountants, etc., as qualified and knowledgeable experts in their fields. Grab your iPhone, Andriod phone, Flip, Kodak Zi8, etc, light yourself, get an inexpensive lavaliere microphone, and start talking. Do a few takes if you need to and edit to whatever degree you are able. Or hire someone to do this for you. It may be a bit pricey to hire a professional videographer, but there are also plenty of multimedia college grads who are unemployed and/or need to build a resume. They would likely work very reasonably. Have them come in and shoot a dozen videos at a time that they can take back to their studio and edit for you. Then use your videos on your blog and website in addition to YouTube.

Google+:

I must admit that I am still not a big G+ fan. I find it somewhat redundant and can't break the feeling that it's just another social media that I have to check, so I neglect my account. There is one feature that I use regularly though, Hangouts. Hangouts allow up to 10 people to videoconference, unlike Skype, which only allows multiple parties to videoconference within the paid model. I am currently working with a group of 4 others planning PodCamp Western MA 4, and we haven't had a single in-person meeting. All planning is being conducted within a private Facebook Group and weekly Hangouts.

There are a couple additional nice features that are worth mentioning. On Google+, updates are editable. How many times have you posted on Facebook and wished you could change something retroactively? Google + is also integrated with many of Google's other products. I especially like its integration with its Picassa free photo app. And I love that all of the photos I take on my Android phone are automatically uploaded to my G+ account. That's free automatic photo backup! If you have additional favorite features of Google+, please add them in the comments below.

Pinterest:

This blog covers marketing for essentially professional service firms, but I do plenty of marketing for other kinds of companies that have products to sell. And, let's face it, your service is your product. The true marketing potential of Pinterest is still being discovered and tested, and its core strength is in its visual advantage, so its value to you may not be as readily apparent as the above tactics, however; I like Pinterest because it displays the human side of me and helps people get to know me, so they feel better about reaching out to me. Remember too that Pinterest will climb in search engine rankings as it becomes more popular, so it will help you to populate that critical first page of search results with your own content.

In closing, it is important for you to understand that there is no cookie cutter social media strategy that suits everybody. However, the above includes what I am finding especially useful in my own and my clients' social media toolbox lately. What are you using that I haven't mentioned?

 

- Christine Pilch

 

Photo credit: Best Design Options

What the heck is Pinterest, and why should I try it?

I recently read that said Pinterest was the hot, new socia media that is currently exploding. And I'll admit that I'm hooked! A friend recently asked me on Twitter what it was all about, so here goes...

I joined several months ago, but I've just started really using it since the holidays. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Why would I want to save a bunch of photos? Well, Pinterest is a great place to save things that are visual, like recipes, makeup tips, hair styles, home decor... are you get any ideas now?

I've been a huge fan of the online bookmarking site, Delicious for years. I stopped using my browser bookmarks when I discovered it. Why save something on my hard drive when I can save a link on Delicious and have access anywhere in the world that I can get on the internet. I liked the ease of using categories, I liked that I could save private links, and I liked that my library was easily searchable, unlike browser-based bookmarks.

But text links weren't especially helpful when I was looking for an idea for dinner, for instance.

Photos are though.

Hello Pinterest!

I love to cook, and decorate my home, and dream about building a new one some day. I like to travel, and organize my life, and read. I like gadgets, and wine, and martinis. These things are very visual, so when I save pictures and look at the relevant board, it's easy to find my inspiration.

Here's the key, the pins (pictures) link directly to the webpage that contains the recipe, or description, or houseplan, or book, or whatever. So the pins are my visual guide to finding what I'm looking for and clicking over to it quickly and easily. Pinterest makes me more efficient.

Another really cool thing about Pinterest is its viral component. You subscribe to other Pinterest users and see what they pin to their own boards on your homepage, much like looking at your Facebook newsfeed. When you see something you like, you can repin it to one of your own boards. So Pinterest is a giant sharing site. 

I've found wonderful new websites through other user's pins that I would have probably never seen before. I'm especially fond of food, and food is really visual, so when I see a pin of something that looks intriguing, I check out the recipe and save it to my own food board if I want to make it sometime. The original pinner is credited when you repin something, so your followers can easily find new people who share similar interests or tastes, and they can follow everything those users pin or specific boards that interest them.

I'll continue to use Delicious to save industry article links and such, but for anything visual, Pinterest is my new online bulletin board.

Now how can Pinterest be integrated into marketing? Well, I haven't used it in any client camapiagns yet, but I can think of a couple ideas where it might be useful. Pinterest could be used in a contest where people pin something on a board that is open to others' pins in addition to your own, or perhaps users could be challenged to find a board with the most pins about a specific theme. Since popularity on Pinterest is likely indicative of how well a product will do, you could also test new products there and observe how quickly they go viral, meaning how quickly they are repined by others.

This is how I use Pinterest now, and I'm sure it will evolve over time. How are you using Pinterest?

One more thing, Pinterest is open by invitation now, so if you want an invite, just send me an email:
Christine at GrowMyCo.com

 

 - Christine Pilch

When does working your LinkedIn network cross the line into abusing your network?

I had an interesting discourse with one of my LinkedIn connections this morning. He messaged his connections, asking for a critique of his new website. Since this is one of my paid services, I emailed him asking if he wanted a quote. He emailed me back, obviously indignant, and said that he didn't know that's what I do, and he was simply working his network, and asking for advice, which he certainly didn't expect to pay for. The key, however, is that this man and I are strangers, so he didn't know anything about some of the people he was asking for free help.

He was abusing his network.

So, what is appropriate conduct on LinkedIn, and what crosses the line?

Is LinkedIn really any different than real-life? Would this man stand up in a restaurant, interrupt everybody's lunch, and ask that they stop eating and review his website as a favor to him? Yes, that's an extreme example meant to emphasize the rudeness of the request. It's one thing to ask friends for help. Most people are generous about helping those in their personal lives. But strangers? This isn't courteously holding a door open for someone behind you, it's asking someone to take time out of their day, do work, and make a report back. That absolutely crosses the line into inappropriate behavior.

Now, let's discuss the delivery method, the LinkedIn message system. LinkedIn members generally do not expect to be interrupted by irrelevant communications from their connections. This is not the first time that this particular gentleman messaged me. The last message, a few days prior, was a sales pitch for his product. Again, misfire. Nobody wants to be sold something that they don't want from someone they don't know on LinkedIn.

Make no mistake...everybody is on LinkedIn to sell something...their expertise, their service, their products...

LinkedIn is a wonderful personal marketing tool. However, some people don't seem to understand that this is not the place to push anything. LinkedIn, and social media in general, is about subtly positioning yourself as an expert and being helpful.

LinkedIn is about getting to know people, developing and enhancing relationships, and earning trust and respect.

Only then have you earned the right to sell, and even then, it's usually when someone makes an inquiry about what you have to offer. Interrupting and disrespecting people is not the way to be successful on LinkedIn any more than in the real world.

 

- Christine Pilch

Facebook compromised your privacy this week, and you probably didn't even notice it

In the way of a great illusionist, this week Facebook got so many users worked up about the loss of easy access to recent posts that they were able to slide in much more significant changes that altered the privacy control that every Facebook user had over his own information. 

Yes, you can establish the privacy of photos and status updates on the fly now, but if your friends choose to share your information on their own profiles, your friends' friends and the apps they use have access to it.

See here:

In the past, your privacy settings controlled who could see your posts, but the above statement leads me to wonder if that remains the case if friends can freely share your updates, photos and information with their friends.

However, you can still stop apps from accessing your info. So it is more important than ever to restrict which of your personal information your friends' apps can access. See here:

If any of the above boxes are checked, your friends are sharing that information with the apps they use. And yes, they are checked by default. Pretty slick, don't you think? 

Access this screen here:

Home > Privacy > Apps and Websites > How people bring your info to apps they use.

Keep in mind that Facebook makes money from those apps, and those apps are only free because they benefit from collecting users' information.

So, did Facebook deliberately compromise user experience to take attention off a significant and deliberate privacy reduction? We'll never know for sure. But users world-wide sure took their eye off the ball and focused on usability instead of privacy issues this week. 

Few users realize that Facebook doesn't give a hoot about our privacy, despite their claims to the contrary. Facebook is in business to make money. If they're not charging you to use the service, the money has to come from somewhere. Bottom line: the more info Facebook can get you to provide, the more valuable its database is to advertisers and apps. Remember, you are a user; advertisers and app developers are its customers. That's a very important distinction.

- Christine Pilch

Netflix and Qwikster: can the brand survive its own tragic PR gaffes?

Netflix damaged their brand again today…twice. 

First they sent out an email and posted on their blog that their mistake in separating their streaming and dvd services, and jacking up the price 60%, was only in the fact that they didn’t first educate their customers. 

Second, their CEO, Reed Hastings, made a low-end video with another Netflix brass that further insults their customers by stating that they, “…think it will be great for us to have a separate brand, a separate website…” Therein lies the crux of the problem. Suddenly this apology, which was intended to appease those offended and angered by past mistakes, turned into something that sounds like, “We don’t care about you or how this inconveniences you at all. It’s good for us, so there.” 

There is no doubt that streaming will become the standard for video delivery, dvds are going the way of vinyl records, and Netflix must evolve to remain relevant. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't seem to have anybody in place who truly understands branding. Their brand is what their customers perceive it to be, and they keep doing things to antagonize their customers and make them angry.

The PR gaffes over the last couple of months are extremely damaging to their brand. People don’t want to pay 60% more for the same service. People don’t want to go to 2 websites to fulfill a need previously fulfilled by a 1-stop-shop. People don’t want to pay extra for 3^rd rate streaming content.

I know that the Netflix name lends itself better to online delivery, but dvd delivery is the current Netflix brand. It would be easier to eventually transition all customers to the inevitable exclusive online service by keeping the dvd customers close and tight, not carelessly casting them off. How about the glaring oversight of the @Qwikster Twitter username currently being held by a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking Elmo character? 

Who is running Netflix’s PR/marketing machine? How are they keeping their jobs through this colossal brand breach? No, Hastings' video doesn’t help. It proves that the Netflix brass have lost touch with what made them great in the first place, curing a customer pain point, (late fees and physical trips to the rental store.)

I am a long-time Netflix customer. I emailed back and forth with Hastings many years ago when I was frustrated that it was taking 10-days to receive a replacement movie, and he convinced me to hang in there because they were soon rolling out nation-wide distribution centers. Unfortunately even I’m scouting my alternative options now. Amazon’s free online delivery via their Prime subscription is looking better and better. 

Netflix is killing their brand. So sad, so sad.

- Christine Pilch

 

Cross-promoting your content: working smarter instead of harder

My clients would probably tell you that I'm a bit of a broken record when it comes to re-purposing content. I'm always saying things like, "Cut some blog posts out of that article," or, "Let me see where else I can get that published for you." To me, re-utilizing content is working smart.

If you've done the work and created a great piece, why not post it everywhere you can and repackage it for cross-promotion? If you've retained the copyright on your work, there is nothing stopping you from having the piece republished within another venue, chopping it up for multiple blog posts, and producing a video about the topic.

But don't stop there. Publish a link to your work on your Facebook Page and personal profile, on your LinkedIn profile, on Twitter, and within appropriate LinkedIn groups. Upload your presentations to SlideShare and LinkedIn, and upload your videos to YouTube and LinkedIn. If you find all of this too cumbersome, utilize a free, multi-platform posting tool, like Shareaholic, TweetDeck or Hootsuite, where you can post to multiple destinations with a single action. But be careful though, as it is not necessarily appropriate to post all content everywhere.

I also caution you to carefully consider using article farm sites, as I'm reading lately that these sites actually work against your search rank because links from them are considered bad.

So, the next time you create a great piece of content, add it to your blog or website, and then make sure you spread it around the web. Over the following few days, carefully review the statistics of where your inbound traffic is coming from. The results just might surprise you.

- Christine Pilch

Photo credit: Mac Users Guide

How to secure your Facebook Photos from strangers and specific friends

 

 

Are you aware that Facebook's default setting for all your photos is Everyone? This means that everybody on Facebook can see them. If you want to restrict who can see your photos, this video will walk you through the process step by step. Christine Pilch, Grow My Company, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

LinkedIn privacy threat and Facebook notifications: changes you should make

 

 

LinkedIn recently opted you into letting them use your name and photo in advertising, but you can change that. This video will show you how. In addition, Facebook recently changed their account settings infrastructure. In this video you'll hear a few tips about key settings you should pay attention to. Christine Pilch, Grow My Company, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

Common LinkedIn don'ts - avoiding mistakes that just might hurt you

LinkedIn has become pretty mainstream over the past couple of years. It has grown way past the point when it was mostly just social media early adopters. Today it's pretty much expected that professionals maintain a presence there, and if that's not enough of an incentive to take LinkedIn seriously, try Googling your name. You'll likely find your LinkedIn profile near the top of the results. 

Despite the huge popularity of LinkedIn, many people take a lackadaisical view of the network. They display incomplete profiles, neglect to upload a picture, and let invitations pile up in their inboxes. These mistakes should be obvious to everybody, but there are a few additional things people do that can really hurt their reputation within the network. Are you doing any of these things?

1) Unprofessional status updates

LinkedIn is a professional network, not a social one. People here don't generally care to read about your non-professional activities. Everything you post on LinkedIn should be carefully crafted to get you into the job you want or bring business through the door. If you want more information about how status updates among LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter differ, here's a video I did about this topic.

2) Using a logo or random image as your photo

LinkedIn is a professional network, and people should see you here as they see you in your day-to-day professional life. Bankers and lawyers should be in a jacket and tie, law enforcement should be in uniform, and chefs should be in their coats if that's how people see them in their professional lives. It is not appropriate to use a photo of you in a baseball cap unless you're a baseball player, or a photo of you on the beach unless you're a lifeguard.

One more thing, although you may be tempted to use your logo, it is against LinkedIn terms of service to represent yourself with anything other than a photo of you. The user agreement states that "...your profile photo should be a photograph of yourself and not a cartoon, symbol, drawing or any other content." Yes, others get away with this, but do you want to be the one that LinkedIn makes an example of by removing your profile?

3) Spamming other members

This is a real pet peeve of mine and many other members. We are all here to network, but nobody wants to be harassed by your sales message on LinkedIn. It is not okay to spam your connections or fellow group members with pitches for your product or service via the LinkedIn message system or through group discussion boards. Remember that spam is unwanted and unsolicited messages, so if you send out these kinds of messages or post them on discussion boards, you are a spammer. There are plenty of other ways to position yourself as an authority and let people know what you have to offer on LinkedIn without spamming others. 

These are my top 3 LinkedIn mistakes. What else do you see people doing on LinkedIn that hurts their professional reputation?

 

 - Christine Pilch

Photo credit: roger4336

Netflix: An exercise in social media backlash over business decision

A 2:21PM on July 12 I received an email from Netflix informing me that my $9.99/month subscription for 1 DVD out at a time + unlimited streaming is going up to $16.99. That's about a 60% price hike!

My stomach started to churn. I'm a long-time customer. I signed up before they even had local distribution channels. It used to take about 10 days from the date I mailed back a DVD to when I got a new one, but I stuck with Netflix because I believed it was an overall great value.

My opinion never wavered when they eventually dropped the price of my 3-DVD out at a time plan, when I realized that I wasn't watching enough movies and dropped down to the 1-DVD out at a time plan, and when they added a rather sad assortment of B and C level movies for streaming.

But this...a 60% price hike...made my blood boil. And I've only streamed a handful of titles in the last several years.

So I tweeted it, and followers retweeted it. And other Netflix subscribers tweeted it. And Facebook members posted complaints in their status updates. And the Netflix Facebook Page lit up like a Christmas tree with 41,000+ comments on the announcement from angry members, plus countless Page posts raging against Netflix's move. And the Netflix blog received 5000+ comments on its post about the fee hike. "Dear Netflix" is trending at #5 in the top 10 on Twitter. Several of my social media friends have shared a link to a blog post called, "Mad About Netflix Prices? Here Are Some Alternative Services."

This is all within the just last 26 hours.

So, what did Netflix do to quell the social media storm? Nothing. Not a peep from them in response to their angry customers. 

Netflix has been known for its exemplary customer service and brilliant business planning for many years, so they likely anticipated the backlash. But did they expect the volume and the venom? Only Netflix can answer that, but they're not talking. 

Perhaps they're attempting to wait out the storm and hope that everything just goes back to status quo. Maybe they're waiting to gage just how bad things get, as in how many people quit Netflix. Maybe they just don't care. They've made a business decision, and the heck with customer backlash.

In any event, it seems bad business to have not anticipated the storm thundering over Netflix right now. And the past has proven that brands are made and broken in social media. Time will tell if this is one of the all-time-great examples of social media failure or a brilliant move by a company running one of the largest-scale research projects of all time.

 

 - Christine Pilch