Grow My Law Firm

Marketing essential: give your clients what they want

One of the primary rules of marketing is to give your customers and clients what they want. And I try very hard to focus my efforts in that direction, so imagine my surprise when I learned that I was overlooking a critical use of Pinterest!

Here's how it happened. One of the conversations I had at PodCamp Western MA 4 was about the content that I share on my social media channels that my followers like. The person I was speaking with mentioned that she loved how I share so many infographics on Twitter because they're visual and it's easy to get the gist of the info quickly. I thanked her, and then our conversation flowed into Pinterest use, and she mentioned that she loves infographics there as well. 

Interestingly, I had been deliberately not posting infographics on Pinterest because I disliked the clutter aspect in my own home page feed, and I said as much to her. Then she actually asked me to start pinning the great infographics I find there, because, as she said, "This might seem like clutter to you because it is your business, but it's a learning experience for me!"

Lesson learned. I have now started sharing interesting social media infographics that I find on Pinterest. Followers are free to follow or not follow that board if they find the content clutters up their own feeds.

The best thing though is that I listened to my potential referrer and client. She is now receiving the valuable content that she likes, and this makes me a more valuable resource.

Are you giving your clients what they want? When was the last time you asked them?

 

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

PodCamp Western MA 4 wrap-up: Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Where else can you get 5 custom social media and/or tech presentations/discussions, lunch, a t-shirt, a cool swag bag, meet new friends, catch up with old ones, and learn more that you expected for just $30?

PodCamp Western MA 4!

What a day it was!

This was my 4th PodCamp Western MA, and I'll admit that I was a bit sceptical that I would learn anything new. I've been at this social media stuff as long as anybody, and I'm a seasoned speaker and trainer. I pretty much expected that I would be there sharing, and reconnecting, but not really learning.

Was I ever wrong!

I started the day at my friend and fellow PodCamp organizer, Morris Partee's Augmented Reality session. Morriss reviewed some of the most popular apps, and I offered one of my own favorites, Historypin. It was a fun session for all and quite enlightening for many of the attendees who didn't understand the potential for things such as NY subway assistance or finding a restaurant by scanning your locale with your smartphone. 

Next up, I went to another friend, Lesley Lambert's Pinterest session. I'm a pretty enthusiastic Pinterest user, so my goal was to support Lesley, and I'm thrilled that she had a packed room full of inquisitive people who wanted to learn how they can use Pinterest personally and to promote their businesses. She successfully drove home the point that Pinterest is a major driver of traffic to blogs and websites, so businesses should take notice. Lesley's slidedeck is here if you'd like to take a look.

After a very tasty lunch I attended a session that I requested, Davd Pakman's Podcasting How-To. David hosts a thriving political podcast that is syndicated on hundreds of radio and cable TV stations, so he knows how to do this right. He started with the basics of equipment and went right trough to promoting your podcast and growing a following. I couldn't tweet out my notes fast enough. If you're interested, his slidedeck is here.

Next up, I co-presented a session about Optimizing Your LinedIn Profile with Christine Parizo. The room was full of a variety of people. Some were seasoned social media users, others were beginners, and some were students. Everybody shared a common desire to improve their profile to position themselves for hire, be it employment or consulting gig. I received several emails, tweets, and LinkedIn messages over the last couple of days from happy people, so I think I did a good job for them.

I wrapped up the day with a session created in true PodCamp spirit. I was standing with Lesley Lambert reviewing the PodCamp session board, and nothing really struck our fancy, so I said to her, "How about if we grab a room and discuss productivity tips and tricks? Let's share ideas about what we're using that is making it easier to do our jobs and get through our days." Lesley grabbed a sticky and posted this on the wall, and 5 minutes later we had about 20 people ready to share ideas. Ron Miller started chatting about how he is using Evernote, and Lesley told us about how she combines Evernote and Dragon dictation to write her blog posts in the car. That flowed into talk of tools to schedule tweets, apps to backup data in the cloud, a cool app that helps your create lists on the fly, and also something to help you keep track of client time and easily invoice. Next we moved into Gmail productivity tips, lots of other things, and we wrapped up with discussion about solving one of a blogger's major challenges, finding royalty free and low cost photos that won't get us into copyright trouble. 

Interestingly, throughout this session, nobody left, but we gained several additional people who came looking for us after reading the tweets that were coming out of our discussion. You see, one of PodCamp's rules is called, the rule of 2 feet. Anybody is free and encouraged to leave any session at any time, and the session leader is not allowed to get hurt feelings. 

I look forward to PodCamp every year, and each year it goes by way too fast! I come away with new acquaintances, fresh ideas, and plenty of inspiration. If you have an opportunity to attend a PodCamp in your area, I recommend that you give it a shot. All of them are different, and in Western MA, our goal is to keep it small, (cap of 150 people,) and create an environment where there is room for spontaneous sessions like the one I described above. Other PodCamps run throughout a whole weekend with all time blocks pre-scheduled. That's fine too, but I think I prefer our format. We do PodCamp pretty well here in little ole Western MA!

 

- Christine Pilch Mancini

 

Pinterest wish list

I signed up for Pinterest in the summer of 2011, and I've been using it enthusiastically since just after the holidays. I guess I'm about as much of an expert as anybody because it's so new.

I really like it, as I'm a visual person who has been scrapbooking and clipping things from magazines to stick in binders for many years. Pinterest is right up my alley.

There are a few things that Pinterest could do right now that would greatly enhance usability, for me at least:

1. Create private boards. Just like my private links stored on Delicious, sometimes I'd like to be able to be able to save something for future reference without letting the whole Pinterest world know about it.
2. List followers chronologically. Seriously, Pinterest, how hard can this possibly be? Facebook does it with Likes on Pages, Twitter does it with followers. Why not you? It's a time-sucking pain to have to review my whole follower list to find new people that I may want to follow reciprocally, especially if I know them personally.
3. Create boards that anybody can post to. This would fit well with contests and other marketing initiatives. Facebook did away with the old requirement that only fans could write on a Page's wall. How about lifting the requirement that board owners must assign permission to individual users to pin to a specific board that they want shared? 

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

What's in a name? The name change conundrum in social media.

This may be more interesting to female readers than male ones.

When your whole identity is your maiden name, at what cost can you change your name? Will that brand be sacrificed when you get married and want to take your husband's name? That is the dilemma I encountered when I married last year.

I'm not in my 20s, or even my 30 for that matter. As a result,  I have a lot of equity in my name personally and professionally, especially since a lot of my income is generated by the recommendations and referrals that come via the social media sphere.

So when I married, I stressed over what to do with my last name, and thus, my identity.

I ended up adding my husband's name after mine, without a hyphen. That was the best solution for me, and most social media platforms made it pretty easy as well. Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slideshare, YouTube, and Google+ gave me no hassle at all. It was easy to find and configure the change on their respective sites. (Note: I am referring to display names only, not platform usernames. I see no reason to jump through those hoops.)

Twitter, however, was a whole other story. Twitter actually has a character limit on display names, and "Christine Pilch Mancini" exceeds it, so I am unable to change my name there. Yes, it is ridiculous.

Anyway, making the right name decision for me was a whole lot harder than the actual process of changing my name in the social media world. If only it was so easy to do everywhere else...passport, driver's license, bank paperwork, insurance, utilities...

 

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

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 Mancini

 

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 Mancini

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

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.

 

8 steps to a better law firm website

I'm currently working with a client on a website redesign, and I want to be able to provide guidance to the developers about where my client wants to be as far as look and feel, so I'm looking at law firm websites. Fortunately, Google offers a large preview of a site's home page when you hover over search results, so that makes it easier, but I'm noticing some not-so-good commonalities among many law firm sites.

It's time for a little tough love.

1) Law firm sites are overwhelmingly blue.
Why blue? It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence. However, if all your competitors also have blue websites, isn't that a bit confusing for a prospect who is shopping for a new attorney? If you want to stand out, try another color. Almost anything will be better than blue to differentiate your firm. Don't settle for blending in with the pack. Your phone will ring when you make an impression.

2) Don't settle for poor content  
I'm seeing a lot of us, we, our... me, me, me... Unfortunately, nobody cares about you. They only care about what they can get from you. Whoever is writing the copy for these websites doesn't understand basic marketing principles. It's not about you, it's about your clients. Clients only care about how you can benefit them. For example, you're not selling wills, you're selling the peace of mind that one's family will be cared for if something really bad happens. If you want your website to bring in business, get over your ego and start using language that your prospects want to hear. If you can't step away and be objective about what your clients want and get, (your market position,) hire a marketer who can distinguish that on your behalf and is good at writing copy.

3) Over-used cliché images
Scales of justice, gavels, columns, law books, courtrooms, and conference rooms don't appeal to clients. Clients want to see themselves on your website. They want to know that the people you represent are just like them, so they will feel comfortable. Clients don't care about cliché legal images, so stop trying to impress them, and make your website relatable.

4) Beware of your own image on the home page
Again, get over yourself, and think about what your clients need. What will make them pick up the phone? Yes, you are likely your brand, but at this point, people need to know what they will get if they hire you. Your smiling mug is usually not enough to make the phone ring. Sorry to bruise your ego.

5) It's just too busy
Your home page doesn't have to contain everything you know about your area of practice. Think "less is more" here, and draw your visitors in. A home page that has a lot of text to read and lots to look at only confuses your visitors because they don't know what they are supposed to focus on. Remove their ambiguity by making a few key points that pull them into the site.

6) Stay away from art of your city's skyline
This idea was once fresh, but it's not anymore. Look at your competitors' sites. Chances are that at least a couple of them use this art. Don't be a me-too. Make your design original. Be distinctive.

7) Be wary of font errors
Basic design 101 dictates that no more than 3 complimentary fonts be used on a page, but don't go crazy here. Again, less is more.  Also, san serif fonts, like Ariel, are a lot easier to read online, so skip the serif fonts, like Times New Roman. They make a reader work harder, and the last thing you want to do is tire your prospective clients.

8) Don't ignore design consistency
Most websites have a home page look and an interior page look that remains consistent across all interior pages. Headlines and fonts should be carried consistently across all pages. Although your visitors may not necessarily notice a subtle shift in such things as style, size of a headline, or color of text, they will sense that something is off and feel uneasy. You want to foster a sense of confidence and trust in prospective clients, not unease. 

What other mistakes do you see law firms make with their websites?

 

- Christine Pilch

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

How to buy TV advertising, and what all those sales promo numbers really mean

If you want the skinny on buying TV advertising, here's a crash course from someone who sold and bought a lot of TV advertising over my career. I sold advertising for the local ABC affiliate for several years back in the 90s, and then I spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually while acting in my capacity as marketing director for an employer, as well as overseeing media purchases on behalf of many clients within my own business. I've seen all the tricks and tactics to make you spend your money with a particular station.

Stations seem to have finally realized that an average business owner doesn't understand technical numbers like ratings points. They understand plain English numbers in the thousands, so the marketing pieces I'm seeing lately reflects this. Ratings are more technical. Although they're not hard to grasp, the average business owner isn't expected to understand them. Agencies generally buy on ratings and subsequently use these projections/promises of delivery to make sure they receive what they paid for. If you're interested in the definition please check the glossary below. But for now, let's discuss common TV sales tactics.

Household numbers: One of the most common tricks to make poor ratings numbers look better is to use households numbers instead of popular buying demos, like adults 25-54. Think about your clients. It is unlikely that reaching a large number of households would be helpful to you. Household numbers includes people of all ages, from newborn to elderly, people in all income brackets, people living in apartments, etc. If you've done your positioning work, you know exactly who buys your services. They are the only people you should be targeting with your advertising dollars. If a station is using household numbers in its promotional pieces, your clients are likely not watching its programming.

Packages: TV sales people love to sell packages that include a couple spots in key, effective areas and lots of spots at times where there is very little viewership. They try to fool you into thinking you're getting a great deal because of the frequency with which your ad runs. Again, think of your positioning. Are your key prospects watching TV at 3AM, 10:30AM, or 2:30PM? Are they watching during the daytime on the weekends? Probably not. Your target prospects are probably listening to news as they get ready for work in the morning and make dinner in the evening, however, so a $1,500 package that includes just 2 or 3 news spots and many spots in other areas may be a waste of your money.

Commissions: Sales people are paid on commission, so it's to their advantage to convince you to spend as much of your budget with them as possible. Many media sales people are honest and will try to find a good fit to advertise your service on their station. Some are not. The best insurance you have is your position statement. Don't buy an area that doesn't have a lot of viewers who are likely to buy your services. Ask for cost per thousand numbers of your chosen demos when looking at proposals, so you can evaluate bang for your buck among areas. Don't waste your money.

Glossary:

Ratings point: One ratings point is 1 percent of all TVs in a market whether on or off. 

Share: A share is a percentage of TVs on at the time.

Book: Nielsen puts out ratings books 4 times per year. Some markets are metered, which means that some homes have boxes sitting atop their TVs that record what station the TV is displaying through the day. Most markets are calculated by diary, however. This method relies on people writing down what they watch at any given time. Although this is the most accurate information available about programming popularity, as you can imagine, it is very flawed.

Projection: A projection is a mathematical equation of ratings from a particular book against viewing levels from another book. For example, TV viewership is traditionally up in the winter vs. the summer in New England, so if you're placing an annual buy, you may ask for projections that include numbers based on the latest ratings book adjusted for seasonal viewing levels.

Don't be fooled into buying advertising that won't work. Go back to basics and judge every advertising opportunity against your positioning. Spend your money wisely.

 - Christine Pilch

Photo credit: William Hook

How to create Facebook Friend Lists and use them for privacy

 

 

By popular demand, here's an update on how to create Facebook Friend Lists. This video takes you through the process and explains why this is important. Christine Pilch, Christine@GrowMyCo.com 413.537.2474

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

 

Disconnecting on LinkedIn: How and Why

 

 

Sometimes a LinkedIn connection doesn't work out and you want to disconnect. It's not difficult, but LinkedIn doesn't put that functionality where you might expect to find it. This video discusses why you might decide it's not in your best interests to be connected with someone and how to sever that connection. Christine Pilch, 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.

Facebook Group Admins: Beware spammer loophole

I recently learned the hard way that Facebook has a big loophole through which spammers can crawl within Facebook Groups.

In short, if a spammer joins a group and blocks the Group Admin, the Admin is unaware of the spam activity until it is reported by Group members, because she can't see anything that this person does. But that's only the first challenge. The bigger issue comes in when the Group Admin can no longer even see the spammer within the Group Membership roster because of the banning activity. How can one delete and block a spammer when the Admin can't even see the offender in the member list?

Here's what recently happened within a Facebook Group that I started and administer, called Social Media Brainstormers:

This Group consists of people who generally make their living doing some aspect of social media. Some are speakers, some are trainers, some manage the social media operations of a company, others are consultants, you get the picture. We're all on the higher end of this relatively new communications platform, and we don't want or need to be spammed with sales messages for the very services that most of us provide. This Group is mostly a think-tank. We share ideas, post links to interesting resources, and ask each other for help in resolving issues we encounter.

Once in a while a new member spams the Group with a sales pitch, and that member is quickly politely but firmly reprimanded by many members of the Group.

Well, as the Admin, I can't really screen members who ask to join, as I can only see their public Facebook profiles, and more often than not, there's not much information available to Everyone. A couple weeks ago, someone requested membership, and he seemed to be a legitimate social media entity who could add value to the Group. Within hours, he started spamming the Group with pitches and links to his own social media training webinars. He obviously didn't understand that his audience was as educated and qualified or more so than he was, and he didn't bother to even monitor the unfavorable comments under these posts. I deleted them and sent a private message explaining his misunderstanding and asking that he please not repeat this activity.

He didn't respond, but a couple days later, he posted 2 more spammy messages that drew the increasing wrath of several Group members because he was disrespecting our time and this special space that we had built as a private resource. I deleted his posts again and sent a stern message that this was strike two and at strike three, he was out and banned from the Group.

So what did that snake do? He blocked me personally on Facebook. Suddenly my private message to him was listed as sent to "Facebook User," and I couldn't see him in the Group membership list or any of his subsequent spammy posts to the Group Wall.

He thought he had outsmarted me, but he forgot one key fact, a Facebook block is mutual, so he could also not see my Group activity. I promptly promoted another Group member, whom I trust, to Admin status and asked my friend to block and ban this person. Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, this loophole displays an example of Facebook not thoroughly thinking through a particular privacy action and its implications over Group operations. I can think of no situation where a Group Admin should be blocked from viewing the activity of any of her Group's members. And no member should become invisible from the Admin's sight within the membership roster.

So, now I wonder, does this occur on Pages as well? Have you encountered this situation? Have you found another solution?

 

 - Christine Pilch

Image credit: This image has been used so many times across the web, that I can't find the original source. However, the creator stated that anyone could use the image, provided that they post a link to it on the creator's site. I fulfilled the owner's original requirement, but I regret not being able to post a link back to him/her now. My apology and thanks!

Do you have a social media disaster communications plan?

Late Wednesday afternoon, a violent tornado ripped through Western MA, cutting a cruel path of destruction from Westfield to Sturbridge. It spun through downtown Springfield, mere blocks from one of my clients. All of my client's employees and others in the building at the time are safe, but there was a lot of glass damage inside and out. The parking lot was hit hard especially hard, with downed trees, branches everywhere, and smashed and overturned cars.

So, was my client, a law firm, open for business on Thursday? That was the question I had to resolve by first thing Thursday morning, as I knew the firm's clients would be looking to its popular social media channels for guidance.

I was in touch throughout Wednesday night with personnel from the firm's executive office, and at 7AM I called the managing partner at home. He shared with me that the damage was fixable, all hands would be on deck within an hour or so, and the public should be informed that, although the Springfield office was not closed for business, clients should call their attorney to check if their appointment would occur or be postponed.

With that information, I got to work on my disaster communications plan for the firm.

1. First I removed all items in the What's New box on the home page of the website and replaced them with instructions to call the office and speak with the appropriate attorney before coming to the office.
2. Next I posted similar messages on all 4 of the firm's legal blogs.
3. Next I posted the message on Twitter.
4. I monitored all channels throughout the day and responded to individual inquiries and sentiments of encouragement as they came in.

By the end of Thursday, the major damage had been repaired, cleanup was completed, and I was informed that the firm would return to business as usual on Friday, so I posted follow-up messages to all of the above channels.

Interestingly, traffic to those blogs and the website increased an average of about 15% since the messages were posted, so I do believe that people looked to them for information. The Twitter account was brand new, so it's impossible to gauge if that helped.

The above communications plan wasn't complex or difficult to implement, it just took a little thought and time to craft the appropriate messages. And time is of the essence. You need to have the messages available when people look for information, not 6 hours later.

So, what's your plan if disaster strikes? Your response would certainly vary by industry and organization size, and be appropriate for your particular business and the circumstances of the crisis. But have you given this any thought? How would you communicate with your business's constituency if traditional channels were impeded? Who would take responsibility? What messages would you send?

 - Christine Pilch

 

Photo credit: Kunal_Clicks

The danger in using a Facebook Page as your social media hub

As Facebook grows stronger and more relevant each day, it also becomes an attractive and significant marketing tool for businesses. In fact, businesses that neglect Facebook do so at their own peril if their competitors make the effort to craft a positive user experience there.

While Facebook's potential as a marketing platform for a company is hard to ignore, it is also wise to proceed cautiously on a network within which the user has few, if any rights, and little recourse in the event that something goes wrong.

Know that because Facebook is a free platform, it can do essentially whatever it wants. This means that it can, and does remove information for any reason. Unfortunately, such action sometimes seems random, and it becomes a huge problem for the Page owner, who suddenly finds himself adrift in a huge Facebook sea of indifference with no pipeline to a real-live human being who can or will help.

I've had 2 instances where I've experienced Facebook's callous disregard for it's users. In the first, Facebook took down a note on my own Grow My Company page because someone reported it as abusive, which is absurd. I had spent many months developing a list of tips for social media usability. I would tweet them and post them to my Fan Page, and then add them to this note, which linked off  a graphic on my page that portrayed me as a "Tipster." There was absolutely no questionable content included. It was just tips for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, video, and social media in general, but someone reported it as abusive, and Facebook yanked it down.

So, why would Facebook do this? I can't say with certainty, but I can speculate that somebody decided to be spiteful for their own selfish reasons, and they reported the Note just to be mean. Unfortunately, this instance proves that Facebook doesn't bother to review reported content, they just remove it. So beware.

Unfortunately, I neglected to keep a local copy of the list I was developing. I can certainly rebuild it simply by going back in my posts. Will I? Maybe, but it will be a lot of work to duplicate my effort.

In the second Facebook affront, it suddenly, and without warning, took down a client's Fan Page. This was a law firm Page with absolutely no questionable content as well. It contained over a year's worth of blog posts from 4 legal blogs, legal news, and 50+ legal videos.

In both above instances, I tried my best to open a channel to an actual person within the Facebook conglomerate who could listen and help, to no avail. I dug through countless help documents and sent many messages. I worked my social media channels hoping to find someone who knew someone within Facebook. My LinkedIn network gives me access to about 11 million people, and I came up dry. Facebook is a black hole when it comes to customer service.

So, I am very cautious about positioning Facebook at the center of any of my clients' marketing endeavors. I agree that it's an essential component, but I've been reading lately that some companies are actually getting rid of their websites in favor of establishing their Facebook Page as their primary online presence. I believe that is foolish. When you use Facebook, you're playing in a sandbox that you don't own and where you have just fleeting, non-specific rights. Facebook can make any decision it wants at any time, for any reason, and you have no recourse, as you would with something that you pay for, like a website hosting service.

 

 - Christine Pilch

Friday Favorites: 5.20.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. 10 Best Tips for Creating a Mobile Site:
   Are you thinking about mobile marketing yet? If not, you're a little behind the curve because smartphone use and mobile traffic are growing daily. This article offers a brief, plain English overview of best practice for developing a mobile site.
2. The Most Complete Twitter Application List Available - 2011 Edition:
   No explanation needed here. This list rocks! You might want to bookmark it.
3. 5 LinkedIn 'Must-Haves':
   LinkedIn has developed into a serious business tool, and this article offers solid tips about getting as much as you can out of the application.
4. New Facebook Promotions Guidelines:
   This is certainly not the most exciting item on this list, but it may be the most important. Facebook is serious about reducing their own liability, and a lot of the things people ordinarily do when they run a promotion on their Fan Page is actually against Facebook's terms of service. Read these guidelines and respect them, or you just might find your Page disappear one day. Remember that this is a free platform and Facebook can do whatever it wants, leaving you with little to no recourse.
5. How to Build a Free Social Media Monitoring Dashboard:
   Yes, you can track your social media activity without spending big bucks with expensive monitoring services. Here's a step-by-step guide for all you do-it-yourselfers. 

Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

QR code marketing mistakes

I recently received my first two marketing postcards that utilized QR codes. QR, or quick response codes, utilize a 2 dimensional, square barcode that, when scanned with a smartphone barcode reader, takes the user to a webpage. While I applaud these businesses for jumping on the bandwagon and using this hot, new technology, I sure wish they had done it right!

The first piece was from an area hospital, and it was promoting their birthing center. (I'm going to stay on task here and not critique the punctuation or composition of the piece, which were poor.) I'm on Android, and the QR code brought me to the hospital's Facebook Place, which was connected to their Fan Page, but it took me a moment to figure out how to get there. In fact, I had 3 choices in the navigation, Activity, Wall, and Info. There was no landing page telling me anything about why I scanned that QR code in the first place, or how to collect on their free offer, as described in the piece. I was simply dumped onto an irrelevant Fan Page that didn't have the information I wanted.

So how could this hospital have properly utilized that QR code to give them a marketing advantage? Simple; drive traffic to a page that expands upon the information included within the postcard. If that can't happen on Facebook, the landing page should have been built on their website.

Also, the huge missed opportunity here is that even if the mobile user could get to the custom landing tab, there's no information about the birthing center there. The user has to click to another page for that info. This is wasted marketing money because many women will simply like the page as instructed, collect their free gift, and go have their baby elsewhere because they weren't given a compelling reason to consider this particular birthing center.

The second postcard was promoting a seminar for non-profits. It wasn't a bad piece. It explained the benefits, and I clearly understood the advantage of attending. However, unfortunately, they also fell short with the addition of their QR code on the piece.

The code takes the user to a webpage that doesn't include any more information than the postcard and wasn't optimized for mobile use, so the text was tiny. The registration button was so small that it was barely visible, and when I clicked on it, I received a big security warning saying that the certificate was not from a trusted source. That didn't give me much confidence about proceeding.

The moral of this story is that while it's terrific to utilize new technology, traditional marketing principles still apply. You still need to drive people to a place where they can get the info they need. You still need a compelling offer to entice people to take action. You need to always make it easy for your prospects to do business with you. And, in this case, you must test, test, test...on every mobile platform.

 

- Christine Pilch

LinkedIn: Why should I bother?

Now and then I hear someone say something like, "I'm on LinkedIn just because someone sent me an invitation. I don't use it though." That always makes me shake my head in amazement about the potential opportunities they may be missing.

Google yourself. Sure, right now. If you're on LinkedIn, your profile is likely one of the first entries, probably the first one. That's how important your LinkedIn profile is. And don't kid yourself, people Google people all the time, especially if you're looking for a job or you offer some sort of service. So it really doesn't make much sense these days to ignore LinkedIn.

In addition, this high-test version of your resume is available for the whole world to see 24/7, so it's a good idea to spend a few hours polishing all the details. Simply listing your title and company tells people that you don't much care what information is out there about you and you don't take seriously what is arguably the single most significant professional online networking tool available today.

Still think you don't need it? What if you're a lawyer? Do you really think that prospects and clients don't check you out online? Consider an employer that is looking to recruit for a plumb, new position. If your profile doesn't demonstrate all the wonderful things you bring to the table, that opportunity may just pass you by in favor of someone whose skills looks more attractive. And don't fool yourself, employers search for qualified candidates to fill openings on LinkedIn all the time.

Here are a few of the most important reasons that you can't afford to neglect LinkedIn:

Builds your network - LinkedIn provides an opportunity like never before to meet and collaborate with people who you would likely not meet any other way. The talent pool available to question, poll, and request advice from is almost overwhelming. LinkedIn's 3-tiered network gives you access to your connections' connections whenever you search for someone with particular skills, and the reverse is also true, so a strong LinkedIn presence can get you noticed when a friend's friend is searching for someone who does exactly what you offer.

Demonstrates your capabilities - This is not the place to be humble. A strong LinkedIn profile can lead to jobs, project work, speaking engagements, and new vendor relationships.

Displays public references - This is an opportunity to prove that you are actually capable of all the wonderful things you claim on your profile. These credibility boosters are also instantly accessible references for a potential employer to read, which may give you an added push to the top of the applicant pile.

Personal branding - You already have a brand, which is how people feel about you. It's the public's sum total of all their experiences with you. LinkedIn provides a terrific opportunity to bring your brand online, reinforcing what people already think of you professionally and revealing it to an expanded network.

Increases traffic to your website and blog - LinkedIn provides many opportunities to drive traffic to your website and blog. You can start by adding links within your profile, but don't forget about adding them to your signature whenever you post a comment to a discussion item within a group or answer a question. You can also post a link to a new blog post as a status update and within relevant groups. In addition, you can add links to your website and blog from your company's profile, and you can use the companies component to add exclusive offers that link to custom landing pages on your website or blog.

Positions you as an expert - LinkedIn provides opportunities to demonstrate your expertise in ways that don't make you appear as a pompous, egotistic fool. By answering questions, contributing to discussions, and always being helpful and friendly, you can raise your professional credibility and stature. This can lead to media interviews and other opportunities.

LinkedIn is the professional standard of online networking. If you're a professional, people expect you to be there these days, so you might as well take advantage of the potential to promote yourself.

 

- Christine Pilch

Friday Favorites: 5.6.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. 26 Ways to Engage With Customers Using Video:
   Are you using video in your marketing yet? If not, wha are you waiting for? It's one of the hottest marketing techniwques available today. This article has great tips to inspire you.
2. The 7 Biggest Lies Out of Digital Hollywood:
   Hollywood seems to be playing ostrich, sticking it's collective head in the sand, and hoping that the things causing it to loose its iron grip on the entertainment world will just fade away. Not so. This article is an insightful look at common myths perpetuated by the Hollywood dinosaurs.
3. 3 More Ways to Manage Your Dropbox Files You May Not Know About:
   Dropbox is a great way to store files in the cloud so they are available to pull up wherever you are. This article offers a few helpful tips.
4. How to Get Your Employees On Board With Your Social Media Policy:
   Without staff-wide buy-in, you social media initiative has little chance of success, especially if it depends upon collective support. This short article will get you thinking.
5. Five Steps to Help Your Brand Avoid Overpromising:
   Your customers easily feel the difference when their experience differs from your brand message. So how can you synch those two aspects? This article will give you a few pointers about how to do so.

Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

LinkedIn recommendations: why they really do make a difference!

Your LinkedIn profile is available 24/7 for the whole world to review. It provides an opportunity to put your best foot forward and reveal all the wonderful things that you can do for a prospective employer or client.

Unfortunately, far too many people don't bother to complete their LinkedIn profiles. One step required to reach 100% completion is to obtain 3 recommendations.

There are several reasons to get recommendations on your LinkedIn profile:

Helps substantiate all the wonderful things you're claiming about yourself: It's one thing to claim that you can do something, but it's better to have others say it for you. That provides the proof that you are indeed capable of what you say you can do.

Proves that you're good enough for people to put their own reputation on the line: Most people greatly value their professional reputations, so when someone recommends you on LinkedIn, they are actually sticking their neck out and stating that they believe in your value.

Recommendations are often a point of distinction, since most people on LinkedIn don't bother: If someone is evaluating you against another candidate who looks similar on paper, and you have plenty of strong, creative, and well-written endorsements on your profile, that might be enough to open a door for you.

Here are some tips for LinkedIn recommendations:

Only recommend and request recommendations from people you have worked with extensively and know well. These people should be very familiar with your skills and you with theirs. It's okay to refuse a request for a recommendation, and I have done it several times with casual social media friends. Since your word is at stake, make sure that you have a solid basis to make a recommendation.

Don't use the stock invitation requst form message. You're asking someone to do you a favor, and it will take a bit of effort on their part, so don't you think this deserves a personal, custom request?

You can write the recommendation yourself and suggest they use it. If you want to make it easy on someone, go ahead and draft a suggested recommendation. People often appreciate the assistance, and you get the added benefit of creating something that best suits your needs. 

Strive for variety and balance. If you've been working for a while and have had several jobs, try to get recommendations from a few different ones. Chances are you applied your skills differently in each one, and your peers and former bosses can speak to a variety of your talents. Beware having cookie-cutter recommendations that all read the same on your LinkedIn profile. That seems fishy to prospective employers and clients, and it isn't really all that helpful.

Use your charity and community work. If you've done a great job in a volunteer capacity, and you're connected to someone you worked with within that organization, they may be able to offer insight into a different aspect of your personality, so don't overlook these opportunities to shine through a different kind of recommendation.

Reciprocal recommendations are fine if appropriate, but don't feel that is required. For example, several people who have attended my speaking engagements have recommended me, but I can't reciprocate because although they greatly benefitted from my work, I am not familiar with theirs. Our relationships don't run parallel. It also looks suspicious if every recommendation on your LinkedIn profile goes both ways, so try to resist that.

 

- Christine Pilch

10 ways to use QR Codes in your marketing

2D codes, or QR Codes, as they are becoming more commonly known, are two dimensional barcodes that are easily generated through a variety of web services and can be scanned with a barcode reader on a smartphone to take the user to a web page. 2D is the general category, but there are many kinds. Among them are Microsoft Tag, Datamatrix, EZ Code, QR Code, and others. Calling them all QR Codes is like calling a bandage a Band-Aid or a tissue a Kleenex.

Most people have probably seen them, but many still don't know what they are. Marketers are finding ever-greater ways to incorporate them into marketing by making it easier for a user to reach a particular page online. Let's face it, it's easier to scan a code than type a URL, so let's review some of the practical applications for QR Codes.

1. Add one to your business card. Think about how many cards are handed out at events and tradeshows for example. If yours contains a QR Code, later on, when the user scans it, you might have an advantage over the rest of the business card stack when the contact lands at your LinkedIn profile, and sees your photo and complete skill set.
2. On printed product literature. Think about the added convenience when you make it easy for a potential customer get more information and/or place an order.
3. Make it worthwhile. Entice the user to scan the code for a special message, information, video, or giveaway.
4. Within webinars or presentations. Use them for a little something extra that isn't accessible to non-atendees.
5. On t-shirts. My first experience with QR codes was a couple years ago at PodCamp Western MA. The code on the t-shirt given to all attendees lead us to a webpage where people uploaded all their media following the event, including videos, photos, and blog posts.
6. In ads. This is a great, easy way to get prospects to a particular web page from within a print ad. I've seen them on billboards too, but I wouldn't encourage you to do something that entices drivers to take their attention off their primary responsibility.
7. In a retail store. How great would it be to be able to go to an instant coupon while you're in a store? That's so much easier than clipping coupons and remembering to bring them with you.
8. For events. A QR Code can send potential attendees right to the EventBrite sign up page or a place where they can get more information.
9. For reservations. A hot, new application at 2011 SXSW makes it possible to users to scan a QR code to save their place on a restaurant waiting list.
10. For instructions. Think about how much greener it would be for people to read, for example, instructions for something they purchased by simply scanning a QR code on the product packaging rather than having to print and insert instructions within the packaging.

One very important factor however; if you plan to use a QR Code in your marketing, make sure that the landing page is optimized for mobile use. Little will frustrate your users more than a busy page with lots of unnessary images.

- Christine Pilch

How your social media identity affects your brand

Most adults seem to be fairly cautious about what they post on social media sites, as they understand that it can affect their reputation, but I sometimes see eyebrow-raisers that make me wonder, "What were they thinking?" (Charlie Sheen, anybody?)

Like it or nor, your online identity is an extension of your brand on both a professional and personal level, but for the purposes of this post, I am referring to your personal brand. Getting back to basics for a moment, remember that your brand is the way people feel about you. It's the sum total of their experience with you. Everybody has one, whether they realize it or not. And social media extends the brand that you've created for yourself in your day-to-day life.

Your social media identity provides an opportunity to extend that brand much further than might have been possible before. It also provides an occasion to craft that brand by reshaping perceptions. The content that you put out there will influence your reputation, so be careful about that. People are on social media for a variety of reasons, some of which are to be educated, entertained, and informed. You may choose to be the one who brings wit to your friends', fans', and followers' day, or you may want to be perceived as a resource for good information. Perceptions certainly evolve, but you are likely perceived in a particular way, and that's your online brand.

Because of this, it is important to remain true to yourself. You are who you are, and you can't effectively fake a passion for something that you don't actually feel. Your online brand should be your authentic self because it won't take people long to loose interest in a phoney. In addition, people will quickly learn whether you're a giver or a taker by the way you interact with others, and that will greatly affect your brand.

So, getting back to those eyebrow-raisers that we all sometimes see in social media, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger!" A good rule of thumb is to think twice and post once. You can delete something, but in reality it never really goes away in the age of instant Googling of most social media content.

It's usually better to call a close friend when you need to let off steam, rather than venting publicly via social media. Many people are put off by profanity, bad attitudes, aggression, and nastiness, no matter how justified you feel.

Now, I'm not saying that you need to be eternally happy in social media, (that is phoney in itself,) but just be careful in your delivery of a negative message. For example, it's likely that you'll find lots of company in a complaint about a rainy day, but publicly chastising a cheating spouse just might generate more shock for your behavior than sympathy for your situation. 

You are in control of your social media identity by choosing the content that you share. Be careful. Protect your reputation.

 

- Christine Pilch

Photo credit: Microsoft

Friday Favorites: 4.8.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. 11 Pro Tips for Better Business Blogging: This is a quick, easy read full of good advice.
2. How To Avoid and Prevent Facebook Spam: It's not just beginners who get caught up in these traps. This article provides a great overview and refresher.
3. Drive Traffic to Your Blog With LinkedIn: The info here not only pertains to your blog, but also also your online identity in general.
4. How to Improve Engagement on Your Brand’s Facebook Page: The statistics here are very helpful when considering such things as what day to post for particular industries.
5. Top 5 Slideshare Marketing Tips: In my opinion, Slideshare is a hidden gem of social media. It carries a strong Google ranking and provides another venue for your presentations and videos to get them seen. It also intergates nicely with LinkedIn.

Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

How to stop Facebook Questions emails & auto photo tagging suggestions

   

 

If you're annoyed by the emails that you've been getting from Facebook when someone comments on a Facebook Question or Poll after you, this video will show you how to disable that. Also, you'll learn how to disable your friends' ability to auto-tag you in photos. Christine Pilch, Christine@GrowMyCo.com, 413.537.2474

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

Determining who to follow on Twitter

I've done this post before, but it's been a while and it's worth revisiting now as I am going through a backlog of people who have been kind enough to follow me on Twitter. I'm @ChristinePilch, by the way.

I rarely seek out new people to follow any more. I used to when I started a few years ago, but I'm currently following too many people already to read every tweet, so it seems silly to actively pursue new tweeps. However, if you follow me, I will look at your profile and make a determination whether or not to follow you back. (It may take a while, but I'll get to it, so please be patient.)

There's no right or wrong follow process. It's all personal choice, but I'm looking for people who will add value to my Twitter experience. I like to reach out to my Twitter community when I need help, and I'm interested in meeting new people who will educate, inform and entertain me daily.

Here's my own strategy.

I use TweetDeck as my preferred Twitter client. So the first screening is what I can see there.

1. Your photo matters: If I see the egg, that tells me that you don't care or aren't serious enough about Twitter to bother, and I won't look further.
2. Your bio: No bio is a stop sign for me. It's not difficult to add a couple lines of text about yourself, so if you haven't bothered to do it, I won't bother to look further.
   
   The first 2 tests happen in a second or so, and if you passed them, I click over and check out your page on Twitter.com. The first thing I notice is,
   
   
3. Your background: It's okay to use one of the stock Twitter backgrounds for a little while when you're getting started, but if you're still using it after 1,000 tweets or so, although it's not a knock-out factor, I notice and file it in my mental follow-criteria folder.
4. Location: The next thing I notice is where the person is from. I almost always follow back people from Western MA, as that's my backyard, and I like to be friendly. If it's someone I know personally, they get an automatic bump into my local favorites column in TweetDeck, and I add newbie strangers to a second local column that I keep an eye on. I move people between and in and out of those columns regularly as I constantly re-assess value. Reading tweets is time-consuming, so I want my favorites to be prioritized.
5. The numbers: I look at the total number of tweets against the number of followers and following. If I see a disproportionately small number of tweets and a large number of follows, I know that user is a celebrity or just followed everybody on someone else's list without any thought at all, and oftentimes, many of those people auto-followed back. That's not my style. Again, this isn't a knock-out factor, but it's added to the follow-criteria folder in my head.
6. Tweet stream: While I pretty much automatically follow back local people, all the rest are screened by their tweet stream. This is one of the most significant factors to me. I don't bother following people who preach, that is, if I don't see a balance of unique content, @Replies and retweets, I won't follow, regardless of the value of the content. Twitter is, at its core, a communications platform, and I'm not going to bother with someone who has no demonstrated interest in an exchange of ideas.

So, that's how I make my decision whether or not to follow back someone who followed me on Twitter. Do you screen differently?

- Christine Pilch

Photo credit: geek&poke

Friday Favorites: 3.25.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. 7 Tools That Monitor Your Children on Facebook - Facebook can be a dangerous place for kids and a great concern for parents, but these tools can help provide piece of mind.
2. QR Codes: Game Changer or Passing Fad? - I believe that QR codes have tremendous potential to be a powerful component of marketing. This article explains what they are and how they can be used.
3. 5 Mobile App Trends You Can’t Ignore - This article is about using mobile apps for enhanced productivity.
4. How to Use Facebook Social Plugins on Your Website - Although I believe it's a bad idea to integrate Facebook and your blog comments because Facebook is too fickle to allow it control over something so important, this article is good for showing you how you can integrate Facebook into your site or blog.
5. Why Women Rule The Internet - This article is full of statistics about the significance of women for eCommerce, social networking sites, and even, surprisingly, gaming. If you're not optimizing your site for women, you just might be sorry.

 Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

When does, "Can I buy you lunch?" mean, "I want to pick your brain."

Like all consultants, I deal with my share of casual acquaintances and strangers who look for a ways to get free professional advice. The requests often come disguised within their idea being clever, "Can I buy you lunch?" or "Can we meet for a cup of coffee?"

Too many times I have been lured into situations that make me uncomfortable, frustrate me, and are disrespectful of my value as a marketing/social media consultant when I realize that the person across the table is a taker.

Now, don't get me wrong, I give away plenty of free marketing advice. This blog and my Facebook Fan Page are full of tips, tricks, and advice. I speak frequently and contribute to online communities through comments and discussions. I write articles and create how-to videos that demonstrate the process of doing something and why I recommend it. I also guest post on other people's blogs, and I consult on a complimentary basis with favorite non-profits.

I am a giver. That's my core philosophy.

Things are different for those within my personal circle, but there is a line. If I don't have a close, personal relationship with someone, is it appropriate for them to expect special treatment over and above what I freely offer to everybody else?  

I tossed this out through my social channels and received some terrific feedback about how others handle such requests to essentially pick their brain for free:

Peter said that whenever a casual lunch turns, he laughs and comments, "Wow, look at that, you've just turned this into business!" 

Rob said that he politely comments, "Let's not turn this into a working lunch. We can set up an appointment for that."

Ron said, "You really have to frame it that way. Your time is valuable and you charge your hourly rate for lunch meetings."

Tish said, "...networking has to have a purpose for me. Who are the people who want to network? What do they bring to the table? Will the interaction have a benefit for both of us, or is it one-sided?"

John said, "... Everyone is thinking of themselves, 99% of the time. They invite you to lunch because they want something from you, and you accept because you want something from them."

On the other hand, others said that they view it as an opportunity to impress someone who may become a potential client or referral source one day.

Valuable advice from people I respect.

So I guess I need to dig deeper when an acquaintance requests such a meeting and determine if the exchange has the potential to be win-win.

How do you handle such requests for free professional advice?

- Christine Pilch

 

Photo credit: Deb Harkness 

 

Friday Favorites: 3.18.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. How to Draft a Company Social Media Policy - "The purpose of your social media policy is to help employees understand what is and what is not acceptable, where the line is, and how, exactly, they should react when someone they’ve never met, and whom they were only trying to help, turns around to call them a HUGE MORON." This insightful post will provide a few guidelines to help get you started on drafting your own policy.
2. Fortune Global 100 Social-Media Savvy, Getting Savvier - There are strong statistics here to give you a quick snapshot of how these companies are using social media. 
3. Which is Better for Social Media Monitoring: TweetDeck or SproutSocial? Before I read this, SproutSocial wasn't on my radar, but now I think it looks like a valuable tool. 
4. Scan a QR Code & Save Your Place on the Restaurant Wait List - This is a hot new app introduced this week at SXSW with terrific potential! 
5. Interview tip: flushing out objections to your potential employment - This 5 minute audio recording is well worth your time, even if you're not interviwing for jobs now. It's basically about closing a deal.

 Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

A lesson in social media power

The following is a true story that was initiated within a private Facebook Group that I started a few years ago for members of my high school class and members of classes close to us. Following is a recount of the events from one of the participants.

"Back in January, I laid out a small rant on FB declaring my dissatisfaction with the FB social media experiment. I iterated how negative most of the end-results had been up to then regarding the SM world and how it had affected my life.

Then, two days ago, a close high school buddy, sends out a blast via FB to the alumni from our school asking for help. His 14-year-old niece, Samantha, had been a part of a student exchange program and had landed in Japan ½ hour before the quake hit. The kid was stranded and he was asking for help.

A friend, Marilyn, linked up with another alumni named, Sun Chul Kim, who had contacts in Korean airlines. He paid for a ticket leaving Hiroshima for Seoul, Korea, but she could not board without someone in Korea to act as a guardian.

I was able to provide a link to SFC Michelle Johnson, who reached back to 8th Army and her boss, a man named Mike Detor.(SP?) He and his wife stepped up and met Sam at the airport, took care of her, and placed her on a plane bound for NY and then home to NC and Mommy.

From nowhere, suddenly, people around the globe are hopping around expending effort to assist a kid none of them know personally. None of it being possible without the rapid access of the SM networking.

I take it all back. I really do. Facebook has proven itself a worthy tool that enables amazing power. Similar to the linking of small rooftop antennas into an array capable of sending and receiving signals out to space, the entwining of relationships and people can create a synergy that changes lives.

I am glad to have had a small part in linking good people together. Thank you, Sean, Sun, Marilyn, Terry & Ana, Michelle, and Mike for doing the right thing just...because... you are wired that way."

~ Roland (Chip) Filiault, Producer-Director for Soldiers Radio and Television based in D.C.

Social media sure is one amazing communications tool, isn't it?

- Christine Pilch

Photo credit: Official US Navy Imagery

 

Friday Favorites - 3.11.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. The CMO's Guide to the Social Media Landscape - Want to know how each social media application is affecting your SEO? This informative infographic is clear and easy to understand.
2. 9 Ways to Transform Your Website Into a Social Media Hub - Your own website (or blog) is the perfect hub for all your social media activity because, unlike a Facebook Fan Page, you completely control it. There are some great tips here.
3. Look at Your Social Media. You're Seeing the Future of Your Brand - Your brand is entirely about others' perceptions of you, so you can gage the future of your brand by people's reactions to your social media activity today.
4. 8 Simple Ways to Improve Your YouTube Channel - Video is hot, hot, hot! Statistics are showing that many people prefer to watch a quick video than read a post or article online. Here are tips to make your YouTube Channel better than ever.
5. Facebook Insights: Product Guide for Facebook Page owners - Ever wondered what those stats mean in your Facebook Page Insights? This is a must-read for Page Admins.

Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

The wonder of social media communications in a disaster

I woke this morning and turned on the news, like every day, to be confronted with the horrible reality of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. My first thought was for the safety of a very close and dear friend, Kaoru, who I met many years ago in high school. So I grabbed my Droid and checked Facebook for news. Fortunately, she and her family were safe.

My second thought was for another old friend from high school, Mo, who makes her life in the US but still has family in Japan. The news on her Facebook page was distressing. She was unable to reach her parents. A short time later though, her dad called to say that they were safe as well. Whew!

This is a perfect illustration of how social media has greatly enhanced mass communication. Instead of frantic friends and family flooding landline, cell, and email channels, three quick messages from these friends relieved the anxiety of thousands of people who care about their well-being.

Posts with the keyword, "Japan," are flooding Facebook to the tune of dozens/second today. And that's just posts that are publicly available to Everybody. I searched for, "Japan," on Twitter, and the posts are rolling so rapidly that it's impossible to read the live stream, and almost instantly, TweetDeck throttled my stream for too much traffic. All of today's top trending news on Twitter is related to this disaster.

Some people still think that social media is silly, but today's events have certainly demonstrated its power as a communications tool.

- Christine Pilch

 

Photo credit: Smooth_O

 

Why confusing a Facebook profile with a page is a mistake

Now, more than ever, with the new and improved Facebook Pages, it's important to make sure that you've don't confuse a profile and a page. Each has unique advantages over the other for particular purposes.

You can control what your friends see on your profile, whereas all fans have 100% access to page content. You can use friend lists to control access to individual aspects of your profile. For example, you may prefer to keep vacation photos hidden from a "client" list, and restrict people you don't know well from reading certain status updates and personal information. It's impossible to control who sees what content on a fan page.

Profiles are reciprocal, whereas Page admins can't see the Walls of their fans (likers) unless they are also friends. With a personal profile, you can read content on your friends' walls and interact there if your friends' privacy controls allow it. With pages, you have one space to intereact, on your page wall. You don't have the option to initiate a dialog on your fans' walls.

Profiles have friend limits, whereas pages are unlimited. Friends cap off at 5,000, so if you have a popular brand, you will have to insult all the extras by not friending them. You have the potential for millions of page fans, however.

Friends are mutually approved, whereas fans just simply like your page. Imagine the workload of manually accepting the 29M+ fans on the Lady Gaga page! On the other hand, it's nice to make an individual determination about each friend request and place each friend into an appropriate list at the point of connection, for privacy purposes

Pages can see usage statistics, whereas profiles have no statistics available. Since profiles are for personal use, there's really no need other than curiosity satisfaction for profiles to have stats available to them. Pages, on the other hand are for businesses, non-profits, entities, causes, products, etc. Admins have a vested interest in tracking who is coming to their page because the page is an investment intended to produce some result.

Once your friend leaves the buisness, who is managing that "company" profile and accessing your personal info? This one is a little scary when you think about it. You might accept a friend request from a "company" profile because you know the person who created it, for example, if your friend heads up the sales department. But what happens when your friend no longer manages that profile? Who now has access to your personal information on your own profile? Will you even know when/if a transition occurs?

Pages display videos prominently, whereas profiles bury them under photos. Video is one of the most significant marketing tactics available these days, and the latest generation of Facebook profiles not only got rid of the ability to highlight them in your left margin, but they also lumped them under your photos link in your left nav. Thankfully, Facebook retained the videos link in the left nav of the new pages, so they retain their prominence as a marketing tool.

Pages are accessible web-wide, whereas profiles can only be viewed by Facebook members. If you're looking for maximum exposure for your business, why would you want to hide your Facebook presence from people who aren't logged into Facebook? 

Profiles allow elaborate messaging, whereas you can only announce an event via pages. Facebook's messages enhancements made it possible for you to now see a comprehensive trail of all private communications between you and a Facebook friend, including chat. It also allows you to add friends and remove yourself from a thread. On the other hand, pages have extremely limited private communications capabilities.

Profiles and pages have distinct advantages and disadvantages depending upon your intent. Basically, if you're looking to market a business, product, cause, band, public figure, or non-profit, a page is the way to go.

- Christine Pilch

Friday Favorites

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. Understanding the Social Media ROI Cycle - I like this because it helps establish realistic expectations. No, you won't see instant returns from your social media investment. It takes time, consistence, perseverance, and diligence. There is no cutting corners.
2. Facebook Promotions: What You Need to Know - Many people run unsanctioned contests on Facebook and get away with it, but what it you're the one who gets caught? Are you willing to risk loosing your Fan Page?
3. 4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Business - Video is one of the hottest marketing tactics available these days, and here are 4 solid tips for integrating video into your marketing. 
4. The Reputation Economy is Coming - Are You Prepared? - "The reputation economy is an environment where brands are built based on how they are perceived online and the promise they deliver offline." So, are you ready for this?
5. How Well Is Social Media Fitting into the Marketing Mix? - There are some great statistics here.

Well, that's it for this week.

- Christine Pilch

 

How to change your view of Facebook Pages

 

 

This video shows you how to change your view of Facebook pages from most popular to most recent. It will also show you how to see only posts from the Page administrator. Christine Pilch, www.GrowMyCo.com, 413.537.2474

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

Stop complaining about Facebook privacy and take control on your own

On March 1 there was much ado about Facebook's refusal to stop plans to make users' addresses and phone numbers available to 3rd party application developers. This was shocking to many, but should it have been? Really?

Make no mistake about it, Facebook is in the information collection business. They have made it abundantly clear over and over that they don't consider it an invasion of privacy to share your information. Most every platform upgrade comes with hidden privacy invasions. Even their default, suggested privacy settings make any privacy advocate's head spin.

You volunteer to play in Facebook's sandbox when you join. It's free, which means that they can do what they want. If you choose to share personal, private information without implementing Facebook's very comprehensive privacy controls, you do so at your own risk. They won't feel one bit guilty about that.

Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, has been very forthcoming about his beliefs that social media should be open and transparent, and that's the network they are working to create with Facebook. He makes no apologies for any perceived compromise of privacy. He stops short of actually saying it, but one might conclude that Facebook's philosophy is that if you don't like it, don't join Facebook.

On the other hand, to Facebook's credit, they have developed solid privacy controls that can be fine tuned down to a very detailed level. Unfortunately, most people either 1) don't realize what information they're sacrificing by not implimenting privacy controls, 2) don't care, or 3) are intimidated by the process of implimenting the controls and keeping up to speed on changes.

To a large degree it's human nature to be realtively complacent. Most people trust in what they're told and don't further investigate. Facebook understands this and takes advantage through a suggested setting that many people believe is too open, so they settle on a "Friends Only" setting that provides the illusion that this insulates their personal information against all but their own circle.

Unfortunatley, those people are lulled into a false sense of security. "Friends Only" is a good start, but there are plenty of additional settings that compromise the security of your information, are turned on by default, and are unaffected by "Friends Only."

The best advice is to take control of your own privacy. Read blog posts, watch videos, attend a seminar, and poke around yourself. Hire a speaker to come into your place of business and give a presentation about Facebook privacy, so your employees can all benefit.

Be proactive, but stop complaining, because Facebook owns the game. They make the rules and we're just players. We're not paying for this incredible networking and communications tool, so Facebook is free to do whatever it wants. Impliment the privacy controls available, but also be mindful that there is a possibility that everything loaded onto Facebook may become public one day. There's no guarantee that it won't, so you might want to be discriminate about what you do when you're playing in Facebook's sandbox.

 

- Christine Pilch

 

Brand lessons from the Sheen PR crisis

Charlie Sheen's public rants on major media outlets lately have created a potential brand crisis that he is doesn't seem to be anticipating. In his letter published by TMZ, he states, "Remember these are my people ... not yours...we will continue on together..."

Therein lies the bomb. Charlie believes that he owns his fans. He doesn't. They own him. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand branding.

The essence of branding is the feeling that people have about you. It represents perceived personality, which includes your constituency's total experience with you. People form opinions about you every day, be them good, bad, or indifferent. Brands need attention to thrive, so even "bad boys" enjoy a certain brand capital. When they're celebrities, this sometimes works to their advantage with producers because the "bad boys" have an inate ability to create buzz for a project.

But what happens when people ignore your brand?

It fades.

Brands are only strong when they incite reaction. What if Charlie pushed his fans so far that they stop caring and paying attention? That's a potential crisis that he doesn't seem to be anticipating.

 

- Christine Pilch

 

HTTPS & Remote Logoff - Hidden Facebook Privacy Settings

 

 

Facebook's default connection allows malicious hackers to access your account, but here you'll learn how one simple change can log you in through an encrypted connection. You'll also learn how to be notified whenever someone accesses your account, how to monitor computers currently accessing your account, and how to log out of Facebook remotely. Keep yourself safe. Christine Pilch, 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.

Facebook adds relationship statuses and upgrades search

 

 

Facebook recently added new relationship statuses and upgraded its search component. This quick video will show you these new advances. Christine Pilch, 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.

Are you spamming your prospects without even knowing it?

Unsolicited email is considered to be spam by most people. It doesn't matter how great you think your product is or how helpful you think your information might be, if an individual didn't ask for your email, you're a spammer, plain and simple.

Recipients' potential course of action takes many forms: from annoyed deletion, to email requests for removal, to opting-out when available, to reporting you as a spammer. The last option is potentially the most devastating to you. If you're using an email marketing service, you just might find yourself reprimanded or suspended, because all reputable services have anti-spam policies. But if you're sending such email out of your own personal email program, like Outlook, the results could be much harsher. You could actually be blocked by your email host. That means that you can't send or receive email, and you'll likely be in for a battle with your ISP to get it restored.

So, what's a good marketer to do with that handful of business cards freshly collected at some event? You're certain that these people would benefit from your nuggets of wisdom, so how can you safely add them to your email list?

Best practice is to have a welcome email ready to go that invites them to opt-in to start receiving your eZine. I know that this sounds counter-intuitive because this is also unsolicited email, but it's all about perception. This email is an invitation with a promise that they will never hear from you again if they don't choose to opt-in. People tend to be much more relaxed with such a respectful invitation than the harsh intrusion of an automatic email subscription.

Make sure this invitation email has a compelling incentive. Give something away. Have a contest. Make it fun and attractive. Most of all, make sure that this initial email is so jam-packed with great, topic-specific content that they want more. Create desire. Then work hard at fulfilling that desire with every issue.

It's also good practice to use a reputable email management system, like Constant Contact. This ensures that your ISP won't flag you as a spammer. It also provides great internal tools that make the whole process easy and provides clear a opt-out when someone wants to go. There are many email management options, so be sure to do your research before contracting with the most popular one.

Bottom line, though, be respectful of your contact list. People will only accept email from you when they perceive value. Make sure you deliver even more than they expect every single time and they'll stick with you. But don't disrespect anybody by opting them into something that they didn't sign up for. If they didn't ask for it, it's spam, and you're a spammer.

- Christine Pilch

 

 

Klout: what's all the to-do about it?

I recently read a fellow marketer's recommendation of Klout in an e-blast, and while I appreciate his enthusiasm, I don't agree with his logic and support of this application as the be-all, end-all of social media influence measurement.

I look at my own Klout score from time to time, but I take it with a grain of salt. It's maybe the best indicator out there right now, but how accurate is it really in determining influence, which by Dictionary.com's definition is, "the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others?" 

True, @BarackObama's Klout score of 90 seems impressive. But @JustinBieber's Klout score is 100. Can anybody reasonably argue that a 16-year-old has more influence than the president of the United States? Are the retweets, comments and mentions of pre-teen girls really more significant and unpactful than those of the US president's constituency?

How about someone who has just 3 followers? This person's Klout score might be relatively low. But what if those 3 followers were Barack Obama, John Boehner, and Ben Bernanke? It could be argued that this person could be in a position of powerful influence regardless of whether they were retweeted by those users.

I am also a little suspect of Klout's data, some of which seems surprisingly old. I've been listed 107 times on Twitter, and this has been the case for a long time, but my Klout score reflects that I've been listed just 50 times. This makes me doubt the accuracy the rest of the data regarding retweets and mentions too. I really don't understand why this information is inaccurate though because it is dynamically generated and easily accessible. The list data seems at least 6-months old.

So, taking all of this into consideration, I really do take my own Klout score with a grain of salt. I commend the people at Klout for creating what is perhaps the best indicator available right now for social media influence, but Klout's algorithm unfortunately favors people such as celebrities. Let's not confuse popularity with influence.

- Christine Pilch

Why confusing a Facebook profile with a page is a mistake

Now, more than ever, with the new and improved Facebook Pages, it's important to make sure that you've don't confuse a profile and a page. Each has unique advantages over the other for particular purposes.

You can control what your friends see on your profile, whereas all fans have 100% access to page content. You can use friend lists to control access to individual aspects of your profile. For example, you may prefer to keep vacation photos hidden from a "client" list, and restrict people you don't know well from reading certain status updates and personal information. It's impossible to control who sees what content on a fan page.

Profiles are reciprocal, whereas Page admins can't see the Walls of their fans (likers) unless they are also friends. With a personal profile, you can read content on your friends' walls and interact there if your friends' privacy controls allow it. With pages, you have one space to intereact, on your page wall. You don't have the option to initiate a dialog on your fans' walls.

Profiles have friend limits, whereas pages are unlimited. Friends cap off at 5,000, so if you have a popular brand, you will have to insult all the extras by not friending them. You have the potential for millions of page fans, however.

Friends are mutually approved, whereas fans just simply like your page. Imagine the workload of manually accepting the 29M+ fans on the Lady Gaga page! On the other hand, it's nice to make an individual determination about each friend request and place each friend into an appropriate list at the point of connection, for privacy purposes

Pages can see usage statistics, whereas profiles have no statistics available. Since profiles are for personal use, there's really no need other than curiosity satisfaction for profiles to have stats available to them. Pages, on the other hand are for businesses, non-profits, entities, causes, products, etc. Admins have a vested interest in tracking who is coming to their page because the page is an investment intended to produce some result.

Once your friend leaves the buisness, who is managing that "company" profile and accessing your personal info? This one is a little scary when you think about it. You might accept a friend request from a "company" profile because you know the person who created it, for example, if your friend heads up the sales department. But what happens when your friend no longer manages that profile? Who now has access to your personal information on your own profile? Will you even know when/if a transition occurs?

Pages display videos prominently, whereas profiles bury them under photos. Video is one of the most significant marketing tactics available these days, and the latest generation of Facebook profiles not only got rid of the ability to highlight them in your left margin, but they also lumped them under your photos link in your left nav. Thankfully, Facebook retained the videos link in the left nav of the new pages, so they retain their prominence as a marketing tool.

Pages are accessible web-wide, whereas profiles can only be viewed by Facebook members. If you're looking for maximum exposure for your business, why would you want to hide your Facebook presence from people who aren't logged into Facebook? 

Profiles allow elaborate messaging, whereas you can only announce an event via pages. Facebook's messages enhancements made it possible for you to now see a comprehensive trail of all private communications between you and a Facebook friend, including chat. It also allows you to add friends and remove yourself from a thread. On the other hand, pages have extremely limited private communications capabilities.

Profiles and pages have distinct advantages and disadvantages depending upon your intent. Basically, if you're looking to market a business, product, cause, band, public figure, or non-profit, a page is the way to go.

- Christine Pilch

What to look for in a social media trainer or speaker

Like with most everything, there are varying levels of expertise among social media speakers and trainers. Beware hiring an "expert" and getting a casual social media user who billed themselves as competition to people who spend the majority of their days working within the social media sphere, and who are perceived as trusted authorities who advise users on up-to-the-moment changes in such applications and the implications of these changes. I use the word, "expert," cautiously because this field is so new, it advances so rapidly, and we're all learning together, that I prefer to call us early adopters or advisors.

Coming from someone who lives much of her life immersed in social media and who regularly responds to changes that impact you on the day they occur, here's what I recommend you look for when you hire a social media advisor:

1. Review this person's social media activity: If the individual isn't an avid, enthusiastic user of the tools themselves, how can they advise you on best practice? This includes the following:
2. Twitter: Twitter success for social media advisors is not necessarily in the number of followers, it's in influence and being perceived as a go-to resource, (see this post.) Check out your potential social media speaker or trainer's Twitter page. Is there a custom background that is consistent with the rest of their company's social media branding? Does their bio reflect their social media expertise? Do they tweet about social media tips, tricks and resources? Do they regularly break social media news? Do people generally look to them for social media advice and counseling? Do they use Twitter consistently enough to be perceived as an authority, i.e. more than perhaps 5,000 tweets?
3. LinkedIn: Like Twitter, with LinkedIn, it's not about number of connections here, because anybody can send out lots of invitations and build up a big network, but look at the strength of their profile. Is it complete? Does it clearly state their social media experience in specific terms? Do they have recommendations about their social media work? Do they use their status and Group memberships to demonstrate their social media expertise regularly? Do they have a company page? Is it complete?
4. Facebook: Take a look at the individual's Facebook page, no, not their personal profile, their Fan Page. Is it dedicated almost exclusively to social media? Are they regularly posting links to social media tips and articles that demonstrate that they are on top of the field on a daily basis? If they don't have a Fan Page at all, that's a big red flag. 
5. YouTube: Video is hot and one of the the most significant contemporary social media tools available to you right now. Is your potential advisor utilizing video to market their own social media expertise? Do they regularly create how to videos that make it easy for you to adjust your own social media profiles? Do they use video to react to changes and advise you of benefits and traps within specific applications? If not, how can they advise you in using video to market your own business?
6. Blog: Does the individual have a blog? Blogging was one of the first social media tools available, and the individual should have a blog jam-packed with social media tips, news, how-tos, and advice. Most qualified social media advisors use their blog as the hub for all their social media activity due to it's dynamic nature, which is in-line with social media's underlying chacteristic of being a collection of communications tools. Take a look at your potential speaker or trainer's blog for some good insight into their level of expertise with social media.
7. Community leader: Has the individual created an online environment that fosters discussion? Do they lead and encourage growth of others' social media knowledge? This can happen within a LinkedIn Group, Facebook page, Twitter account, Wiki, blog, and any combination of the above.
8. Thought leader: Is this person regarded as a go-to person for social media questions? Look at their blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter account. Watch their videos. Are they breaking news, or do they play catch-up 2-weeks after a change occurs within a social media platform?
9. Branding: Strong social media consultants know the value of image and consistency. All their social media identities should have a consistent look and feel, with colors, fonts, and language. They also understand how critical it is to enable anybody to reach out to them instantly and easily, so they prominently display their social media links across all venues, including their business cards. If you can't find the links to the individual's profiles on all these sites with minimal effort, that's another big red flag. 

I could also go into may other factors, such as strategic planning and RIO, but they're a little too technical for this venue. The above might, however, serve as a basic guide for you to use when evaluating a potential social media speaker or trainer. Social media identities are generally wide open, so this information is there for your review. I urge you to take a little time and look at all of the above.

Social media advising is a specialty niche. Many ad agencies are starting to list it among a suite of services, whether or not they have a dedicated social media advisor on staff, and many individual users are seeing visions of easy money in part-time social media speaking and training gigs. Unfortunately, casual use does not an expert make, and if you hire the wrong person, you just might be getting inaccurate or outdated advice from someone who is well-intended but under-qualified. Isn't your business worth getting its best possible introduction to this exciting new frontier?

Good luck!

- Christine Pilch

How can I hide my Facebook friends list?

You may want to hide your Facebook friends list from particular people, friends lists, or everyone. This used to be pretty simple to do, but Facebook made it less obvious in the last couple of site overhauls. It’s still easy; you just have to know where to go. 

In the upper right corner click on: 

• Account
• Privacy Settings
• Right at the top, under the subheading of “Connecting on Facebook,” click “View Settings”
• The setting for “See your friend list” is half way down. You can select one of Facebook’s defaults or click “Custom” to select specific people or friends lists to make this visible to or hide it from.

 

Save your selection, and you’re good to go. 

- Christine Pilch

 

10 ways to insult, irritate and get dumped by your social media connections fast

Here are a few things I've learned during my last few years in social media. If you want to keep your friends, I suggest you avoid the following:

1. Spend all your time pitching your own product or service. Very few companies are successful directly selling in social media. Use this space to communicate and build relationships. 
2. Be rude and use foul language. If you don’t speak that way face-to-face, don’t do it here. 
3. Pick fights. Openly challenging peoples’ opinions, insulting, & antagonizing them puts people off.
4. Be selfish. Using social media as your personal pulpit to preach your message without answering questions, helping, or engaging doesn’t work. 
5. Retweet or repost others’ links without crediting them. It is proper social media etiquette to credit the source when you share something from a friend’s Facebook page or retweet a link.
6. Forget to thank people. Remember your basic manners. 
7. Stalk people you barely know. When you Tweet @ people incessantly and comment on every photo, status update, and link they post on Facebook, and you’re just a casual acquaintance, that’s creepy. 
8. Drunk post. If you must jump on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter when you’ve got a few drinks in you, you would be wise to refrain from communicating. 
9. Insist that you’re right and everyone who disagrees is wrong. Speaking vehemently about your religious or political beliefs, parenting style, or favorite sports team, then arguing with, belittling, or insulting anyone who expresses a contradictory opinion, turns people off. 
10. Post information that should remain private. Betraying confidences and airing dirty laundry proves that you can’t be trusted.

What can you add to this list?

- Christine Pilch

 

Customizing Your Facebook News Feed

 

Facebook resurrected an old feature today that I really missed. You can now view your home page feed by different criteria. This quick video will show you how. Christine Pilch, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2010, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

New Facebook Profile Tips

 

 

The new Facebook profile format lacks of lot of the originality that the previous format had, but there are a few new features that you might like. This video offers you some tips. Christine Pilch, 413.537.2474; growmyco.com

© 2010, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.