Cape Cod Social Media

With the security breach with LinkedIn and Eharmony last week, protecting your on line security comes to the forefront again as a hot issue. The hackers are getting a lot more creative than spaming you with an email about an inheritance you are to receive from your long lost uncle in Nigeria. Here is an interesting article about how criminals/hackers are using facebook thanks to www.dailyfinance.com – http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/how-criminals-use-facebook/

Even though we do the best to protect ourselves on line, once in a while a good scammer will attempt to get you. In fact, a few of my friends were hacked into with the  ”stranded in London” . Luckily, I realized my fb friends weren’t in London and didn’t fall for the scam. If you’re aware of other scams on fb that people need to look out for, please post a comment to help us all out.

If I could get a dollar for every time someone asks how do I convert my profile to a fanpage, I’d be retired by now. Unfortunately, facebook doesn’t allow you to convert from one to another. I’ve run into many clients lately who create a personal profile for themselves and/or a personal profile for their business and spend countless hours friending everybody they know and don’t know in hopes of networking with them. They do a great job networking and utilizing social media to promote their business with their business profile, but one  becomes limited in capabilities and then you loose most of your “friends” when you start a fanpage for your business.

I can’t blame folks for using their profile for their business, because they see everyone else doing it and it is pretty easy to find some facebook friends by searching for them or checking out your friends friend’s and then friending them – yikes that’s a lot of time friending. What about time management for social media (shelf that subject for another blog post)?

I can’t blame folks because that is the way they were taught to network. After all, if you go to a business networking function that is what you do – hand out your cards and meet/greet as many people as possible. It just seems quicker and easier to sit in front of a computer and speed friend on facebook to make all those connections.

But folks, its time to take a step back and realize what social media truly is and how to use facebook as a tool to engage, entice, and keep the conversation going. For those using their profile for there business, it is time to cut the cord and start developing your facebook fanpage and then update your profile with a note and link to your latest and greatest facebook fan page.

Here is what you can do with a fanpage, but you can’t do with a profile:

1. Custom Landing Page - A landing page is the equivelant to the home page on your website – its the first page users go to. An effective landing page will increase the number of people to “like” your page and keep them updated.

2. Oddles of Applications – A facebook application is like a “plug-in” which you can add to your fan page. There are tons of applications that have been developed and you can decide which ones work best for your business. For example, if you are using Google Calendar you can use that application to add to your fan page. Every time you update the calender the fan page gets updated – voila!

3. Customized Tabs - With a facebook page you can use applications to create new tabs which appear to the right of the wall tab. For example, if  you are a retailer and sell products you could create a tab to sell your merchandise directly from your facebook page. If you are a restaurant, you can post your menu and sell gift cards.

These are just a few things you can do with a facebook page that you can’t do with your business profile. With your creativity, there are a lot more things you can do. So with the end of the year its time to say good bye to the old and welcome in your new fanpage.

Not since 1991 Hurricane Bob has a hurricane threatened the Cape Cod area. With the abundance of social media tools, mobile devices, and so many websites on the Internet news and information is readily available with the click of a mouse or a tap on your screen.

 Here are some helpful tips to prepare yourself in the event  Hurricane Earl affects Cape Cod or if there is another natural disaster  in your area in the future: 

Before the storm

1. Be sure your laptop and mobile devices are fully charged.
2. Purchase a car adapter for your laptop and mobile device. If you loose power, you can always use the car as a power source.
3. If you use a router, check to see if there is a battery back up for it or better yet connect it to your generator. Rember even if there is an internet connection but you loose power you router will not work.
4. Create favorites or bookmarks of important sources of information like www.weather.gov, www.fema.gov, your local news stations, red cross, and town web sites. If you are on Cape Cod we have created some favorites at http://www.delicious.com/capecodsocialmedia.
5. On facebook be sure to “like” or become a fan of these websites you have bookmarked and on twitter you can follow them or create a list of them for others to follow.
6. Download weather, hurricane, and safety related applications on your mobile devices. A flashlight application will help out if you loose power. If you have a Kindle download some good books to read.

 During the storm:

1. Update your status so friends and family can follow developments and include a time you expect to make your next update. You can use facebook places to make updates as to where your location is.
2. If it is safe to do so, take pictures with you camera or mobile device to document the storm and help out emergency personnel.
3. Listen to local radio stations for updates. Alternatively, you could listen live via the radio station’s website with your computer or laptop.
4. Track the storm on your computer, laptop, or mobile device so you can be aware of what is happening with the storm and be aware of when it is safe to venture outside.

Please add any additional information that will help others prepare for and deal with a severe storm.

If  you have had the good fortune of having children do you remember how much time and energy went into naming your child? The same time and energy should be put into creating your facebook page name. Now that facebook has surpassing google with worldwide traffic – http://www.google.com/trends?q=facebook,+google . You might want to reconsider your facebook page name to increase your facebook page presence and your social media optimization.

Case in point. Say your have a cleaning company called Acme Cleaners, Inc. on Cape Cod and you specialize in the laundry service for consumers. If you picked “Acme Cleaners, Inc.” then everyone that likes your page or makes a comment on your page would post on their wall the following:

“Jane Smith likes Acme Cleaners, Inc.” or Jane Smith likes Acme Cleaners, Inc’s status”

 If everyone on Cape Cod knew who Acme Cleaners, Inc was then your facebook page name would be fine. However, what if Acme Cleaners, Inc. is just starting out and not many people know about them?

 If the facebook page name was called “Acme Cleaners – Cape Cod’s preferred laundry service for your dirty clothes” then the wall posts would look like this:

“Jane Smith likes “Acme Cleaners – Cape Cod’s preferred laundry service for your dirty clothes.” or Jane Smith likes “Acme Cleaners – Cape Cod’s preferred laundry service for your dirty clothes status”

The difference in the facebook page name clearly shows what service Acme Cleaners provides. People on Cape Cod are more likely to become a fan of Acme Cleaners and take advantage of their promotions, laundry service advice, enter the dirty laundry sweepstakes and everything else that Acme Cleaners posts on their facebook page.

 You can even take this one step further by useing google’s search tool to find out the most popular local key words are for your website and your business. Then based on that research you can add some of those keywords into your facebook page name.

On a side note, if you already have your facebook page name, Facebook will not allow you to edit the name. You will need to create a new one and delete the old one. 

Take the extra step to do the google  research, be creative with your name, and enlist the assistance of your trusted advisors to come up with a great Facebook page name for your business. If you don’t have the time, we are available for hire to consult with to create the perfect name for your business and design a customized facebook page to engage and entice your fans. 

By now you’ve been following facebook and probably have a facebook fanpage or a facebook profile for your business. You’ve probably  posted some useful information to your fanbase and updated your status with events happening this summer. So now where do you take our facebook page? How do you get “to the next level.”

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a page on your facebook fan page that a user can go to. You can make it the default landing tab on for non-fans by editing your page and changing the wall settings. Some studies have shown a conversion rate of visitors to fans increased 24% with a landing page. Here are some great examples of landing page:

http://www.facebook.com/mint

http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks

http://www.facebook.com/adidasoriginals

How to create a landing page?

You have a couple of options, but it depends on how much time and money you want to spend on it.  If you’re a self-expert and have the time and patience, then you can learn all the fbml programming language here http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/fbml/ . If you get stuck, you can do some research on line or contact us for some assistance.

If you’re web savy enough, then you can probably create your own landing page with some 3^rd party applications that are available. Most of these are template based, so your customization can be limited, but it is a great way to save some money and set yourself apart from your competition. Here are some of the programs available:

http://www.facebook.com/FanPageEngine

http://northsocial.com/store/first-impression/

http://unbounce.com/

If you like this concept to create your facebook landing page but aren’t web savy enough, we’d be glad to put it all together for you. 

The last option is to have a customized landing page developed by a professional programmer for your business, organization or non-profit. You can do a Google search, post your gig at www.craigslist.com, or hire us to do the work for you. 

Once you’ve created your landing page, we’d love to see them and hear your success stories.

In this learn at lunch event we uncover the black hole about social media and explain it in terms you can understand. We show you why facebook is such a powerful social media marketing tool to reach your target audience and the reason behind facebook applications. We then wrap up the event with creative ways to attract, retain, engage and entice your fans to get your facebook fanpage to grow like
a bountiful garden.

Our learn at lunch events are designed for people who want to combine education with a great meal. We provide a 1 hour seminar on various social media subjects in a relaxed and friendly environment at your favorite Cape Cod restaurant. This one is at Scargo Cafe in Dennis, MA .All of our events are “hands on” so you have the opportunity to apply what you are learning immediately on your own laptop. While lunch is being served the event wraps up with a question and answer period.

In this learn at lunch event we uncover the black hole about social media and explain it in terms you can understand. We show you why facebook is such a powerful social media marketing tool to reach your target audience and the reason behind facebook applications. We then wrap up the event with creative ways to attract, retain, engage and entice your fans to get your facebook fanpage to grow like
a bountiful garden.

Our learn at lunch events are designed for people who want to combine education with a great meal. We provide a 1 hour seminar on various social media subjects in a relaxed and friendly environment at your favorite Cape Cod restaurant. This one is at Scargo Cafe in Dennis, MA .All of our events are “hands on” so you have the opportunity to apply what you are learning immediately on your own laptop. While lunch is being served the event wraps up with a question and answer period.

This learn at lunch event is for those wanting to grow their existing business with facebook. You will learn the advantages a facebook page has to offer versus a profile or group. The correct way to setup a facebook page, how to install applications to your fan page, how to attract and retain fans, and how to engage your facebook fans.

Our learn at lunch events are designed for people who want to combine education with a great meal. We provide a 1 – 1 1/2 hour seminar on various social media subjects in a relaxed and friendly environment at your favorite Cape Cod restaurant. All of our seminar are “hands on” so you have the opportunity to apply what you are learning immediately on your own laptop. The seminar is followed by a lunch with a question and answer period.

Price – $60 per person includes the seminar, lunch , and a non-alcoholic beverage.

We can customize a seminar for your specific business or organization and teach your employees how to use social media to increase sales, provide professional on line customer service, and how to engage customers to spread the good word to their friends about your business. We will show your employees how to properly setup their social media profiles, how to set their security settings properly, and provide tips on what to do and things to avoid.  All of our training is “hands on” meaning your employees use a laptop or computer at the seminar and actually do the things we are talking about.

These seminars can be done at your place of business, at a restaurant, or any location of your choice.

Price – $350 for a 1 1/2 hour session (up to 12 employees)