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When you think about your social media strategy for 2012, remember that you need to integrate how you use Facebook with other communication channels like email. Jay Baer, the co-author of the book: “The Now Revolution” made an interesting presentation at the Facebook Success Summit in 2011 which highlighted how integration between these two digital marketing channels can help you delight your fans and help you to build your business.

Similarities between Facebook and Email

Many people don’t realize it, but Facebook and email are in fact very similar. A report was published last year stating that 84% of Facebook Fans of businesses are current customers. This is not surprising, because we “like” on Facebook what we like in the real world.

Knowing this, don’t expect that Facebook enables you to create customers out of thin air, that somehow Facebook is this magic potion that allows you to build relationships with people who previously had no idea who you are. That’s not what Facebook is for.

Facebook, other than potentially Facebook ads, is not really a customer acquisition vehicle. It is more of a loyalty and retention play because you are in front of people who have given you permission to do so, who already have expressed interest through their pressing of the Like button.

So in Facebook, what you are trying to accomplish is to keep your brand top of mind among people who have opted in, who have asked you to communicate to them.

And what are you trying to do in email?

Exactly the same thing. The whole point of email is to keep your brand top of mind among people who have opted in.

Metrics – another common area

Metrics is one of the areas where much commonality exists between email and Facebook.  Let’s explore the metrics similarity between the two.

• In email, we call them subscribes or opt-ins. In Facebook, we call them likes.
• In email, we call them unsubscribes when people say, “I’ve had enough.” In Facebook, fortunately, we also call them unsubscribes, although they could change that name at any time as they are want to do.
• In email, when somebody chooses to look at your message, we call them opens. In Facebook, those are called impressions, or  the new metric called “People Talking About This”.
• In email, when somebody takes an action, we call them clicks. In Facebook, we call it feedback.
• In email, if you take the message and share it with somebody else, we call it a forward. In Facebook, we call it a share.

But in all five of those, the physical actions, or behaviors, are fundamentally the same. We just call them something different.

Strategic integration

In terms of strategic integration between Facebook and email, look at how they work together from a scheduling standpoint. Do tests to find out what time of the day is the best time to send out emails to your subscribers by looking at the open rate at different times of the day for example at 8:00 in the morning, at 1pm over lunch time or at 5pm when people go home or during evenings (after hours). Then use this information to sync up your Facebook updates.

Another touch point is to gather email addresses in Facebook. Give people on your Facebook page a free e-book for example and when they download, ask them to sign up for your email newsletter.

These are just some of many examples of how you need to look at integration between your Facebook and email communication that is part of your ongoing marketing to your customers and prospects.

Let us know in the comments section what you think of these integrated communication ideas!

Remember to subscribe to the RSS for similar posts in future.

Interesting facts and statistics about one of the biggest social networks of it’s kind: LinkedIn.

If you’re a business professional, you need to watch this video – it’s less than 3 minutes, but packed full of facts you need to know to appreciate the power of LinkedIn!

Let me know in the comments what you think!

Remember to share if you like it.

Have a look at the free Webinar.

WEBINAR: 9 Small Businesses Doing Social Media Right and What You Need to Know

It is hosted by Social Media Examiner and definitely worth your time.

This is also a quick reminder. Thursday (Jan. 19th) is the last day to save 50% on tickets to Small Biz Success Summit–the online conference for small businesses that want to master social media marketing, brought to you by Social Media Examiner!
This online conference is all about using social media to gain more exposure, increase traffic, better engage customers (and prospects) and increase your sales. And it’s just for small businesses…

Already hundreds of your peers have signed up! Click here to save 50% (expires Thursday ), and get a free sample class.

Small Biz Success Summit

The summit includes 25 well-known small business social media pros, including

• John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing),
• Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends),
• Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch),
• Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing),
• Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies),
• Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing),
• David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Smarter, Faster, Cheaper),
• Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers),
• Brian Cl ark (founder, Copyblogger Media),
• Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing),
• Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses),
• Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking)–just to mention a few.

There’s really never been a better cast of experts coming together on this topic. Register now for Small Biz Success Summit 2012. Small Biz Success Summit

Here’s a sampling of the topics the summit will cover:

* From Social to Sales: 4 Steps for Growing Your Small Business Revenue
* How Small Businesses Are Growing With Facebook (Case Studies)
* 10 Google+ Tips for Every Small Business Owner
* Mastering LinkedIn for Small Business Success
* 7 Unique Blogging Strategies to Explode Your Company’s Traffic, Trust Factor and Brand

This is more than just an online conference.  It’s also a way for people just like you to come together, share their experiences, meet the experts and network.

At our summer summit, 99 percent of attendees said they’d attend again!  That’s some endorsement.

So go grab your ticket before the half-off early bird sale expires THURSDAY! Small Biz Success Summit

Are you looking for some social media tips to grow your small business?

We asked eight small business pros for their hottest social media tips.

Here’s their advice for you to take your business to the next level.

#1: Show Them the “Real You”

Use Facebook to show prospects, clients and customers the “real you.” Sure, provide the occasional business tip. Or link to your new blog post. But that’s what everyone else is doing. So why not show them you’re a real person by posting updates about things you’re passionate about?

I love to cook, so I’ve been known to post pictures of my grilled masterpieces. Or I’ll quote something one of my silly kids just said. Or I’ll pose a question, such as “How can we encourage more young entrepreneurs?” Either way, I try to keep it interesting, humorous and different. And always authentic.

Oh, and I know I’m going to ruffle a lot of feathers by saying this, but I really do believe that less is more. I get more engagement by updating five times per week than five times per day. Plus it fits my personality. Because offline, I would never call attention to myself that frequently.

Ed Gandia, founding partner, International Freelancers Academy.

#2: Pick One Thing and Do It Really Well

Small businesses are faced with having to prioritize their resources toward the activities that deliver the most impact. With social media, it’s easy to feel like you need to have a presence on every social media channel. It’s also easy to get lost in managing too many networks.

Being on 5 social networks and giving all of them half-effort will not generate results. Therefore, I recommend that small businesses first find which network has the highest concentration of their audience using tools like Follower Wonk, Facebook’s free advertising platform and LinkedIn’s search features.

Once you’ve found which social media network actually has a concentration of your target audience, develop a strategy to engage them. Rather than spreading your energy across multiple channels, put 100% of your “social focus” on the best channel for your audience and do it exceptionally well. If you’re successful, you’ll have a much easier time justifying the additional investment to replicate your success on another social media network.

Nichole Kelly, founder of Full Frontal ROI.

#3: Turn Your Facebook Page Into a Lead-Generating Machine

One necessary component of a thriving business is a strong list of qualified leads. Collecting names and emails is essential to any small business because you can communicate with your ideal audience on a regular basis. Some business experts say that without a list, you don’t really have a business!

There are many ways to grow your list and one of the smartest marketing moves is to create an opt-in strategy on your Facebook page. To keep it simple, use iFrames to create a custom welcome tab. On this tab you can create a 2-step process called a “reveal tab.”

Step #1: Include a call to action to encourage non-fans to click Like and become a fan.

Step #2: Once you get the Like, offer a valuable giveaway in exchange for name and email.

With this model, you are increasing your fan base and growing your lead list at the same time. It’s a double whammy for your business.

Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies.

#4: Invest in a Great Twitter Design

If your business or brand is geared toward a particular niche market, make sure that you go all out when designing your Twitter profile. For an example, see @HungerGamesPod. Make sure that it shows how serious you are about your niche and that by looking at your profile, people will see valuable content that they could get if they were following you on Twitter.

Next, go find other Twitter IDs that market to your exact niche market. For my Hunger Games brand, I did this with @TheHungerGames, which has over 76,000 followers. These 76,000 people are obviously interested in The Hunger Games niche and therefore might find my podcast on the subject interesting and want to follow.

Go through and follow that account’s followers. Most will get an email notification from Twitter, because they never turned off email notifications, telling them that you just followed them. Many will click through to your Twitter profile, check it out and if they’re interested, they’ll follow you back.

This is how I added over 4,000 followers to my Hunger Games Twitter account in less than a month.

Cliff Ravenscraft, founder of PodcastAnswerMan.com.

#5: Bring Your Company Onto Video

Without question, the hottest and most effective use of social media today is VIDEO. With all the recent changes in how Google and other search engines index web pages, adding short videos is the #1 way to get into the top of search results.

Creating a custom channel on YouTube is very easy. Creating a series of short instructional videos around your product or service and using testimonials from happy clients/customers are great ways to add credibility to your company and dramatically increase the chances of a viewer going to your website.

Use humor and graphics to get your key messages across. Remember, shorter is better—no more than 3 minutes.

Michael Crosson, founder of the second-largest LinkedIn group, “the Social Media Marketing Group,” with over 230,000 members.

#6: Learn How to Master Video Marketing

My hottest tip for small businesses to take their business to the next level is to learn how video content—when tagged, titled and published correctly—can increase your exposure in search results.

Video thumbnails in search results attract the eye more than text and can get your content seen over traditional text delivery. Plus, video can really highlight your company’s personality!

Gregory Ng, an advertising executive by day and the host of a popular webshow by night.

#7: Monitor Your Clients and Prospects

Create alerts for all of your important clients, add their blogs to your RSS reader, create a Twitter List and add it to a tool like TweetDeck. Explore whether your CRM tool allows you to add the social connections for your clients (BatchBook, Highrise or ACT!all have this function and the Rapporative plugin for Gmail can do this as well).

Monitor what your clients and prospects are doing and saying in social networks to anticipate and serve their needs and build relationships much faster. Next you can do the same with key journalists and strategic partners.

This step alone will make your social media efforts pay off immediately.

John Jantsch, a marketing consultant and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine and the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network.

#8: Give Away the Secret Sauce

In other words, start developing content about those industry secrets or how-to tips that no other competitor of yours would dare touch. This can be your competitive advantage. By creating the kind of content that really solves your customers’ problems, you’ll be linked to and shared. Your content will rise in the search rankings and be actively shared on Twitter and Facebook.

How do you get started? Write down all of the most interesting and hard-to-answer customer questions and create online content from each question.

Do this every day for six months and you’ll see a significant difference in your business.

Joe Pulizzi, author of Managing Content Marketing and co-author of Get Content, Get Customers.

Want to more social media marketing ideas for your small business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of social media for your business, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most businesses still haven’t figured it out.

There’s one easy way to take your social media marketing to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online social media conference for people like you: Small Business Success Summit. You’ll become empowered to use social media to gain more exposure and grow your revenues.

The great part is you’ll be learning from more than 25 small business social media experts (including the eight mentioned in this article).

It’s the web’s largest online social media marketing conference for small businesses. Go here for a free sample (click on above picture) and to learn more.

After Christmas Sale: Monday, December 26th, 50% off sale on tickets to the Small Biz Success Summit 2012!

Learn the most effective social media, new media, digital media strategies to grow your business and brand in 2012!

Video is also included so that you can read, listen and connect with all the information shared. Enjoy!

If you like the contents of the magazine, please share it with your friends and colleagues.

Social Media Woman DEC 2011download

Recently I attended the Facebook Success Summit 2011 and I discovered some fascinating findings about Facebook. This post is about Facebook commerce and what it means to you as a business owner and/or marketer.

Mark Zuckerberg stated: “social commerce is the next area to really blow up…”

Looking at the Facebook statistics, we may want to pay attention to what he says.

According to a survey by Booz & Company, social commerce is responsible for $5 billion in sales this year and that is expected to grow to $30 billion by 2015.

A total of 2.5 million websites are integrated with Facebook through social plug-ins. A further 10 000 websites integrate with Facebook every day.

Facebook commerce will directly impact mobile commerce as more than 200 million Facebook users are logging in through their mobile devices.

Question 1: How do you as a business owner or marketer need to take advantage of that?

Question 2: How do companies begin to harness their fans’ social graph data to drive commerce?

Social Commerce Tools

Here are three commerce tools that are worth checking out:

#1 Wisdom – getting wise about your fans

 There are some analytics tools that help brands analyze the demographic and psychographic profiles of your users. One such tool is a free app, called Wisdom. It’s a web-based app, it’s an iPhone app, and it’s an iPad app.

It shows your personal data about your personal network. There is an enterprise version of Wisdom which will show a breakdown of fans based on basic demographics, geographics, language preferences, and psychological or psychographic data.

 

#2 Emma – the next generation marketplace

Another commerce tool to take note of is Emma.  She’s a mobile marketplace that allows you to buy, sell, and trade with your Facebook friends, friends of friends, or everyone.

It’s available for the iPhone and soon the Android, and it’s also going to be available as a web app used to log in with your Facebook sign-in ID and password. Then you can post products or services for sale, or you can bid on things you want to buy. This is a next generation marketplace.

 

#3 Alert

 Alert is a tool that looks at all of your Facebook pages. You can look at anything that you’ve liked or any of the pages that you’ve set up and look at what’s trending there.

Alert is able to leverage your fans’ social graph data so you can segment the audience and deliver more targeted offers, personalized right down to the fan.

For social commerce you really need to think about how to make it social. It will become more about engagement. There are certain buying activities that we want to share, like booking a hotel room with a group of friends. By promoting these purchases through social channels, it will lead to more of a return on investment.

Try out these tools or let us know of other tools and provide feedback in the comments section.

Do you struggle to build a solid fan base of qualified leads? Do you struggle to convert your Facebook fans to paying customers?

Would you like your fans to engage more with you and to build a thriving community on your Facebook Page?

Here are 6 strategies from Amy Porterfield, the co-author of “Facebook Marketing All-in-one for Dummies” to grow your Facebook fans!

#1 Include a give-away on your Facebook Welcome tab

If your offer is enticing enough, it will set the stage for what’s to come. You will also be growing your list as you grow your Likes.

#2 Create an engagement Add campaign

An engagement add is a bit different than a traditional Facebook add. This is an add you create when you’re advertising something inside of Facebook, like a Facebook Page, a Facebook event or a Facebook application. When some-one clicks on this add, they’re not being taken out of Facebook.

It is recommended to us a good headline and an image in your ads. You also want to track your engagement ads.

When people click the Like button, they start to see your posts in their news feed. As long as people see you in their news feed and receive constant communication from you, that is valuable.

#3 Become active outside of Facebook

Promote your Facebook Page off-line at events, or even if you participate in online seminars or webinars. People who attend these events, like to communicate on Facebook with the presenters and to ask questions and to continue the conversation there.

When you are interviewed, your will have exposure to a new audience.

Blog more often and offer to do guest blog posts on popular sites.

#4 Create content themes and ask questions the right way

Use weekly themes, for example:

• Marketing Monday
• Facebook Friday
• Post breaking news
• Ask questions
• Post tips

Before you post a question, think of the likely responses. The response should be short, easy and entertaining. Let you fans help solve the problems and ask for their advice and insight.

#5 Stick around – don’t post and disappear

Create a real-time engagement experience with your fans. Don’t just post something and then leave your computer. When you post, make it personal. Use first names, thanks your fans and expand on their responses.

#6 Create easy calls to action

It is important to create opportunities for your fans to take action. Start with small Calls to Action:

• “Click here”  – link to your latest blog post
• “Watch this” – link to an entertaining video
• “Check this out” – post an interesting stat

Successful Calls to Action are rich in content and promise something better outside of Facebook.

Grab attention with your Facebook post and then give specifics of your website or a webinar or event.  Just like you bring people to Facebook from outside, you can also take people to your events, your conferences etc, by running Facebook ads. You can always send people to a sales page from a Facebook page. If you’re promoting an event, send them to the sales page of the event.

I trust that you will turn your fans into raving, invested customers through the consistent use or these content and engagement strategies.

Please post your feedback or questions on my Facebook Page:

Linky Merwe Integrated Communication Advisor

When you plan to market your business on Facebook, you want to make sure you do it right. The Facebook marketing expert, Mari Smith, teaches 6 specific steps that you can follow to ensure a successful Facebook marketing strategy.

#1 Clarity

It’s important to have clarity of purpose. Discuss this with your team when you create your Facebook marketing strategy.

• What is your Facebook Page all about? What does your company do and what are your objectives?
• What exactly do you offer and to whom?
• Who do you want to attract and why?
• What is your call to action?

It is recommended to have a Welcome page where visitors can instantly see what you’re about and why they should Like you.

#2 Content

Your content should be relevant and on topic. You can now post up to 5000 characters in your status updates.

Studies have found that photos, images and screen-shots work very well.

You need to find a frequency of posting that works for you and your fans. A good recommendation is to post 2-3 times per day, but at least once a day.

Experiment with the time of the day, inside or outside office hours. Thursdays and Fridays are good, because Facebook’s happiness index (yes they have one) spikes on Fridays.

Focus on regular and consistent content. Use different types of posts like:

• Photos
• Videos
• Links
• Questions
• Updates
• Call to action (CTA)

Use Like, Comment or Share as part of your call to action. For example: “Click Like if you agree” or “if this is of value to you, click the Share button”

Share is to Facebook as Retweet is to Twitter!

#3 Connection

Have an engagement strategy that determines the following:

• Moderation blocklist and profanity filter
• Handle negative posts promptly and courteously
• Remove spam promptly
• Decide on a response time
• Ensure adequate moderation
• Be personal, use first names.
• Admins to sign off in first names

A good engagement tip is to provide good resources and some-times direct people back to your blog for more information.

#4 Campaigns

To have more people come over to engage with your content, you need to blend online and offline. Put badges of your Facebook Page on your blog and your company stationary. Place the social Share buttons everywhere.

You can run a launch contest if you come out with a new product or book. You can run Facebook Ads and sponsored stories. What about a competition or a prize drawing? Don’t forget mobile deals.

#5 Conversion

Once you’ve grown your online presence to reach more people and the people are talking about your brand and sharing your content, you want to turn them into paying customers. You can this by:

• Having clear call to actions
• Have promotional posts after providing sufficient quality content
• Use the long URL rather than a short URL, because people can see it.
• Create a marketing calendar and plan your promotions 3-6 months in advance.
• Integrate Facebook with other marketing

#6 Culture

Your Facebook Page will have a culture that emerges over time, but it must always reflect your company values. Remember:

• Your whole team should embody your company values.
• Reward and acknowledge superfans.
• Have clear guidelines on what can and cannot be posted.

In conclusion, it is important to experiment, to track and to test daily.  Also monitor other successful Facebook Pages and find more ideas of what to use there.

Please comment to share if you find this useful.

Which of these are you applying already? How is that working for you?

Do you manage a Facebook page?

Have you ever wondered how to build and manage a thriving Facebook community?

In this article I’ll share best practices to apply when using Facebook for Business. You will learn about 5 ways to build your Facebook community. Some content is sourced from the Facebook Success Summit 2011 as hosted by Social Media Examiner.

What is a community?

A community can be defined as follows:

• A group of interacting people
• People who share  a common interest or value
• People who do things for each other
•  People who have a sense of belonging

Why do you build a community?

Most of you have heard about the Know, Like and Trust factor. People only follow and buy from people that they know, like and trust.

A community will also lead to better visibility, higher EdgeRank and more connections. These are good reasons to build a community on Facebook.

How do you create a community?

Here are 5 ways that will help you build a thriving community:

#1: Be a resource

Provide content – your own, as well as shared content. Answer questions, or direct people to your blog or other resources for answers. Post useful information like tips, links to articles and free resources. Think about what is helpful to your community.

#2: Respond and engage

Similarly to being a resource, you want to make sure you are responding to your community. Take note of the following activities to achieve that:

• Respond in a timely manner by setting an email notification on your settings when people post or comment.
• Be helpful, follow up within the thread and keep it fun.
• When people post negative comments, offer assistance or take it offline by sending a direct message. Ban people if necessary.
• Check Hidden Posts, below Wall, frequently. Unhide and respond.
• Watch threads, look at your Notifications and create community by follow-up messages.
• Like your commenters and encourage more comments. Let them know that you saw their posts.

#3: Moderate

Some companies have a separate tab containing a policy for their Facebook Page Protocol. It is easier to delete spam or ban people if you have a policy in place. Watch for comments marked incorrectly as spam; they usually have darker blue colour. It may happen when people share links. Unmark as spam, otherwise no-one sees them.

#4: Connect

There are quite a number of ways to connect within your community.

• Support others by having a Fan of the Week and you may want to highlight other Pages.
• Or else you could connect by Tagging a Page in your post. You do this by using the @ and typing the name of the Page. The Page will appear as a drop-down that you can select. The Page will be a hyperlink in your post.
• Like other Pages as your Page, then watch your Home feed (top right button next to Page name) and comment and add value.
• Be active, because people who comment, get comments. See the Pages who Like your Page.
• Target complementary Pages, by starting with your Page community. You may also want to look at other Pages’ Likes and connect with appropriate Pages.

#5: Measure

There are 7 Insights to watch when you measure your Facebook community:

• Post feedback
• Like/Unlikes
• Page activity (people talking about this)
• Demographics
• Like Sources
• Facebook shares (suggested tools: Sharethis.com, Wibiya, Shareaholic)
• EdgeRank – algorithm for being seen on Facebook. It is recommended to post directly to Facebook to improve EdgeRank instead of using 3^rd party tools.

 

These are proven practices that work best to build and manage your Facebook community.  It is best to ask questions that anyone can answer and to make it personal.  Look at what other people/Pages are doing and find some ideas that you can adjust to use on your Pages as well.  Most importantly, have fun and don’t take it too seriously!

Please subscribe to the RSS feed for more social media strategies and tactics!

The October 2011 edition of Social Media Woman Online Magazine is out!

If you want to know how to create loyal customers, what you must know about the latest Facebook changes, how to create video products that convert like crazy, and much more, then this magazine is a must read.

Please click on the image below for the Social Media Woman Online Magazine October edition.