Category : Social Media
What You Need to Know About the New Facebook Timeline Layout
Facebook’s newest profile update was unveiled in September of 2011, but not everyone got to see it right away. A lot of people used a developer’s trick to enable the new profile, and since then, people have been installing it on their own. Facebook has been offering it as a choice up to this point—they haven’t forced it on any users.
That is, until now. Facebook is now urging every user get their newest update—the Facebook timeline. And if you don’t get it yourself, Facebook will do it for you.
While the ever-present naysayers bemoan this latest update, the timeline also has a lot of supporters. But people from both sides are wondering—what kind of privacy risk is this? Each of the 800 million Facebook users are going to be getting this update in the next few weeks, so what should shouldn’t we know a little more about it?
The Facebook Timeline + Style
The Facebook timeline is the most attractive of past updates, and it’s definitely an improvement over the last profile look. The timeline allows you to have a cover photo—a banner over your entire Facebook profile, as seen in the picture below.
The Facebook Timeline + Privacy
None of your privacy settings will change when you get the timeline—the only difference is that all of your past Facebook updates are going to be more accessible. It’s going to be easier for people to scroll through your Facebook profile and see updates and pictures from four or five years ago—as long as you’ve had a Facebook account.
If you think you might have content back a few years that could potentially embarrass you now, it might be a good idea to go back through and delete or hide posts that you’d rather your new friends not see.
The Facebook Timeline + Past
The Facebook Timeline is the timeline of your life—a life that started before you ever logged onto Facebook for the first time. But now, Facebook is asking you to bring that information into your Facebook profile, though the timeline. You can add major events from the time of your birth to now, complete with pictures!
There is no reason to resist the Facebook Timeline layout (and even if you did, you’d get it anyway), so if you’re ready to fill out past information, make it look more attractive and hide a few past status updates and pictures, you can head to facebook.com/timeline now, and get started!
[Businesses can't get timelines yet, but while you're on Facebook, be sure to check out the Smart Solutions page!]
Google+ Pages Now Offer Admin (or Manager) Rolls
When Google+ rolled out pages, people jumped on board and quickly realized a problem—no ability to add additional administrators? You could have a total of one owner, making it difficult for companies with several employees working on social media.
The new social network has finally remedied the issue—allowing one Google+ page to have multiple page administrators, which they call Managers. This feature is a lot like Facebook’s ability to “Manage Admins.”
Facebook vs. Google+ Admins
There is a very large difference between how the two social networks use administrators, and that is ownership. While Facebook pages allow any admin to delete a page, only an owner can do it on a Google+ page. For instance:
- On Facebook, if Person 1 created the page, but added Person 2 as an administrator, Person 2 has full control. He can delete the page, or even remove Person 1 as an administrator.
- On Google+, if Person 1 created the page, he has ownership. He can add Person 2 as manager, but Person 2 cannot delete the page or remove Person 1 as owner, because Person 1 has ownership.
You can debate Facebook and Google+ on other aspects of the two social networks, but Google+ comes out the ultimate winner in this battle. Some things to consider are these:
With Facebook, if a client with admin capability goes rogue, your Facebook account could quickly become compromised. They could delete every other administrator, and post whatever they want on your company’s Facebook.
Despite that disadvantage, though, selling companies with social media equity is easier thanks to that. You can easily hand over the Facebook account to someone else and remove yourself as an administrator.
On Google+, you have the best of both worlds. While you are safe from having an employee go rogue (you can quickly remove them as an administrator, and delete any posts they may have made), you can also hand over reigns very easily. In the admin for your Google+ page, you can transfer ownership quickly to any manager you have added.
Google really thought through their manager system before they launched it, and they did a seamleass job. It is smooth and easy and provides for a lot more than Facebook does. It’s just a step for Google+ in the fight with Facebook, but it could be an important one.
To keep up to date on other social media stories and updates, circle us on Google+! You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!
Putting Together a Social Media Plan
Recently we were asked if someone could promise 2500 unique visits to their business website a month—from social media alone. It’s a good question to ask—there’s no point in working on a social media plan unless it drives traffic to your site, and brings conversions. But when we replied asking about their numbers on current social media channels, we were told that they have 25 fans on Facebook, and have yet to set up a Twitter or Linkedin account.
Our answer? Yes. It is possible, but not right away. Social media is a gradual exercise, not something that can be completed once and forgotten about. When you’re starting from scratch, it will take some time to truly gain a following and get some results. You need to have a social media plan.
Why you need a social media plan
To stay on top of current trends
Social media platforms come and go. If you set up a MySpace account for your business and left social networking years ago, you’ve fallen behind. There are new platforms announced every year, and each one updates and changes from month to month. You need to be on top of the latest social media advances, and so does your business.
Your customers are there
One thing that every business owner knows is that you need to be where your customers are. Your customers are on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and StumbleUpon without you—so join them!
Your competitors are there
Many small and large businesses have come to see the importance of marketing on social media, and they’re out there talking to your customers, while you’re not. Don’t let them take control of your market!
But if you can’t…
Sometimes it just isn’t possible for you to keep up a social media plan. If you don’t have the time to check your social media outlets once a week, much less every day, get someone else to. Designate a person on your team, get your daughter to handle it or hire social media services—just don’t neglect it. Social media is only becoming more popular, don’t fall behind—get a social media plan in place!
Optimizing Your Linkedin Business Page
Earlier this week, we discussed how to optimize your personal Linkedin profile, and a few Linkedin networking tips to make your profile be more effective. Today, we’re talking about the Linkedin business page. This is the page that features your business, so it’s very important that it have all the information it needs.
It’s pretty easy to set up your Linkedin company page, as long as you have a company email address tied to your Linkedin personal profile. After you’ve made sure that your business isn’t already on Linkedin, simply visit the Add Your Company page, and enter your email address and business name! After clicking continue, you’ll be able to create the page and add your company’s information.
Once you’ve completed your company page, you’ll be able to edit information through the tabs lining the top. You’ll have “Overview,” “Careers,” “Services” or “Products,” and “Analytics.”
Overview
This is your main page. This is where you can find the synopsis of your company, employees, and contact information on the right side. You can also grab some “Follow us on Linkedin” code at the bottom of this page.
Careers
In the Careers tab, you can post job openings, to be seen by people browsing your company page. This would be a great way to get real professionals to apply for your job. However, this part of Linkedin does cost—$95 for a 30 day posting. You can see this information by clicking on the Careers page. If you don’t have any job postings, the tab will not show up. This goes for the other tabs, as well—if you haven’t posted anything, people will only see your Overview.
Products and Services
Place your services and products on the third tab—this is especially important if your company is specifically business-to-business. Other professionals who stumble upon your company profile might just need what you have to offer.
Analytics
This tab is only viewable to employees at your company. Here you can see how your company’s Linkedin performance compares to other businesses in the same industry. It’s important to note that you won’t have any statistics until after being on Linkedin for a couple months—views and visitors take a while to start appearing. There are several different graphs on this page, and you’ll want to get familiar with all of them.
Linkedin Status Updates
The newest feature for companies on Linkedin is the Linkedin status update. This tool was released two months ago, and isn’t being used as much as Linkedin would hope. It works just like a status update on Facebook, and can be a great way to drive traffic. Be sure to utilize this feature when creating your Linkedin business page.
Although Linkedin isn’t the most popular or the most used social network, it is still a very important part of professional networking. Use the Linkedin company pages to your advantage, and tell us how it works for your business! And while you’re on Linkedin—be sure to follow our company page!
Using Linkedin for Professional Networking
When marketing a business in social media, people tend to focus on two fronts: Facebook and Twitter. As a matter of fact, most people even skip the second and focus on the first. Facebook is a great marketing tool, of course, but it is certainly not the only one.
Linkedin tends to be tossed under the bus when it comes to social media. People aren’t as active on Linkedin as they are elsewhere, so the site is sometimes considered out of date. Unfortunately, this means that it is often neglected as a social media marketing tool. While it may not be the most popular social network, Linkedin has its own niche—professional networking.
Linkedin Social Networking
Linkedin was built for professionals, and if you fall into that category, you should be networking there. Although the layout may remind you of Facebook, the position it plays is completely different. Linkedin describes itself as “the world’s largest professional network on the internet.” With more than 100 million members, they’re absolutely right; this is the kind of network that you want to be a part of.
Your Profile on Linkedin
It’s easy and free to sign up for Linkedin, and worth the time that you’ll have to put into it. You can start out by filling in past employers, your current job, a picture, summary and your specialties. You can also add your business website and Twitter account!
But the most important part is connections. You can import your email contacts or search for friends and co-workers, but it’s very important that you grow your connection list as much as possible. If you have a large amount of connections, you’re considered an influencer—something you want to be seen as in professional networking.
You can create a personalized URL on Linkedin by going to your profile page and clicking ‘Edit’ next to your Public Profile link near the bottom. You can then change your public profile URL in the box on the right. Be sure to pick something memorable and lasting. Although you will be able to change it, you shouldn’t. You will lose people who have bookmarked your profile in the past, as well as search engine traffic.
Be open and be visible on Linkedin; share business-related posts, and be sure to interact with your connections. Make sure that your profile is connected to your business, and that you share a few links back to your website every so often.
Linkedin Business Marketing
We’ll be posting another blog on Linkedin this week—but focusing specifically on Linkedin company pages. Check back this Thursday to see!
If you want to see what a Linkedin company page looks like on Linkedin before our next blog publishes, follow our Linkedin page!
Google+ Business Pages – What You Need to Know
In early September, Google+ opened up to the general public, inviting an influx of millions of users—eager to try out the newest feature from Google. However, many users noticed a distinct problem with the site right off the bat—where were the Google+ business pages?
Two months later, the pages have finally opened to the public, and social media managers are flooding the site, adding their businesses and trying to figure out how to use Google+ to their advantage. At this point it is difficult for small business to gain a following, because even though the numbers are large, it is still nowhere near Facebook in terms of active users.
Despite the lower amount of users though, Google+ has a lot of advantages. First of all—it’s a Google product. Therefore, Google+ business pages are going to be integrated into Google’s search engine results pages very quickly. As a matter of fact, many of the larger Google+ business pages have already been indexed and are showing up on SERPs.
Using a Google+ Business Page
If you still haven’t set up your Google+ business page, here are your goals this week:
- Set one up! Remember to do it from a company account that someone else has access to, as well. www.google.com/+/business will give you all the directions you need.
- Put together your scrapbook photos. This is the most noticeable part of your Google+ business profile, so make sure it represents your business well—and looks nice!
- Promote, promote, promote!
The third is the most important goal—because of the few active users on Google+, your small business isn’t going to get added to a lot of circles for a while… unless you promote it. Put a Google+ logo on your blog or website, tweet about it and share it on your own Google+ profile.
After your Google+ business page is up and running, post often on subjects your circlers will want to hear about! Let your circlers know that you’re there and provide them with content that’s worth sharing. Remember to track your traffic to see how you’re doing!
And while you’re at it—add Smart Solutions to your circles! See you on Google+.
Timing Twitter | Scheduling Tweets Ahead of Time
If you are in charge of managing a business Twitter account, you know how time consuming the service can be. Professionals suggested that you tweet several times a day, but every time you log into Twitter, you end up spending time that could be better spent elsewhere.
Frankly, you don’t have the time to stare at Twitter all day. The minutes that you spend on the site are taking away from other important projects, and even though it’s beneficial—it isn’t necessary.
Scheduling Twitter updates is an important aspect of social media marketing. If you don’t have a grasp on how to do it—or a service to help you, you are losing valuable time. We’ve listed a few of the basics below, to help you get started with scheduling Twitter.
Finding a Twitter Scheduler
If you don’t have a Twitter scheduler in use already, than it’s time to start looking into the different options available. There are several great services, and we’ve listed a couple of our favorites here:
This is the tweet scheduling service that we use, because you can simply log in with your Twitter account, and you’re ready to schedule. You don’t have to remember another password! It’s as simple as it gets, though, so you won’t have any other feature but the scheduling.
This is probably the most popular system for scheduling Twitter updates. It comes with a lot of other features other than scheduling though, so if you’re looking just to schedule, this service might overwhelm you. You can also monitor your other social networks on Hootsuite—so it isn’t strictly Twitter.
TweetDeck has actually been acquired by Twitter. It’s a program that you can download right to your desktop, program tweets, look at mentions and messages, and monitor other social media platforms, as well.
This service is a lot like Twuffer, but you can also use it for Facebook. We don’t recommend using a scheduling service for Facebook, but it’s an option you have with this website. You can log in straight through your Twitter profile—no extra password to remember—but it’s not the service we chose, because it isn’t as pleasant to look at as Twuffer is. If you’re scheduling tweets as much as we do, you need a site that’s easy on the eyes.
Scheduling Twitter Updates | Putting Together a Twitter Schedule
Once you’re set up with a Twitter scheduler, you’re going to want to figure out a plan:
- How many times will you tweet a day?
- How many links, mentions and hashtags?
- What time of day will you schedule Twitter updates for?
- How often will you load tweets into your Twitter scheduler?
You can save a lot of time by scheduling twitter updates, and it’s something we suggest for all of our clients. However, sometimes it’s still too overwhelming to put together a Twitter schedule and keep your business Twitter account updated. If you want to save some time and stress, give us a call about our Twitter monitoring services.
YouTube Video Marketing – Part 2
Google offers ‘AdWords,’ Facebook has ‘Facebook Ads,’ Twitter has ‘Promoted Tweets’ and Linkedin gives us ‘Ads by Linkedin Members.’ While we take advantage of these search and social media sites offering ad programs—why not look to YouTube for ad space as well?
If you’ve ever watched a video on YouTube, you might have noticed the different types of YouTube ads on the site through your experience.
- Arrive at YouTube and you will see the masthead ad.
- Search for a YouTube video and you will see the featured videos along the side.
- Click through to the YouTube video you want and you might get the 15-second ad before the video with promoted videos on the right.
- After your video finally starts, you will get pop-ups throughout your time watching.
Although these advertisements can be intrusive at some times, they are also strategically placed. No matter where you go on the YouTube site, you are sure to find one business or another trying to get brand recognition and clicks.
While you’re deciding what aspect of YouTube advertising would be best for your business, it would be a good idea to keep in mind what we talked about in YouTube Video Marketing Part 1—knowing who you are advertising to. YouTube allows you to choose your target demographic—whether based on age, gender or both. You can also target by keyword, interests or individual channels. YouTube offers such a wide range of targeting techniques that will ensure your success in your YouTube video advertising.
As with Facebook, YouTube offers Insights as well. After you have started your YouTube advertising campaign, you will be able to track the data for every aspect of your promotion and improve on it, so that each subsequent one will be better than the last.
YouTube grows its viewers every day, and is only going to get more popular as time goes on. After all, YouTube is the second most popular search engine, after Google. Don’t hesitate to get started with marketing on YouTube, whether it is through your own channel or YouTube advertising.
For more social media tips and techniques, follow Smart Solutions on Twitter and Facebook!
Social Media Marketing for Business
People are social animals. We like to connect with people in a way that’s conversational and communal. This is the reason for the popularity of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter—each of them is highly reliant on the social aspect, being able to communicate with your all of your friends in a single place. But it isn’t just friends in social media—it’s also businesses.
There is only one thing that stops businesses from using social media consistently; it isn’t that people don’t realize the significance of using social networking—it’s that they just don’t have the time.
The Smartz Social Pak – Social Media Packages
Smart Solutions has eliminated that barrier with the all-new SocialPak. This social media package comes in different varieties, depending on what your business requires for social networking.
We cover three different social media sites for our customers—Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. We chose these three because they are each the top in their own field. Facebook is the all-time largest social networking site; Twitter is the most popular micro-blogging platform; and Foursquare is the top location-based service provider.
Each of the websites offers its own value to a business, and that’s why we offer them both individually and as a group—not every business will need all three.
SocialPak – Social Media Monitoring and Social Media Set-Up
In our LocalPak, there are two different options for you to choose from: The Social Media Monitoring packages or the Social Media Set-Up packages. Again, the choice of which package to use depends on what you’re looking for in your business. We outline some ideas below:
You might want SocialPak Monitoring if…
- You need regular posting on your social media
- You don’t have enough human resources
- You want all your monitoring compiled in one place
- You want weekly reporting
You might want Set-Up SocialPak if…
- You don’t understand how to optimize keywords
- You need a headstart
- You want to stand out right away
- You need to remodel your social media accounts
Give us a call today, if you’re interested in learning more about the Smartz SocialPak. Don’t fall behind in social media marketing. Get Started Now!
Twitter Analytics Tools
For businesses using Twitter, it’s always been a hassle trying to track the impact of your tweets and links. Because Twitter has never offered Twitter business analytics or statistics, we’ve all had to use outside sources—Hootsuite, Tweet Counter and other Twitter analytics tools.
Twitter has Announced Twitter Web Analytics
This has now changed for Twitter users. Last week, the Twitter Developers announced Twitter Web Analytics—an analytics tool that you can access right inside of your Twitter account. No more using outside sources to track your reach, now you can do it straight from the source.
This new update is going to be a great tool for people using Twitter for business, and it’s certainly taken long enough for it to get here!
As you can read on the Twitter Developers blog post, the Twitter business analytics tool won’t be released to the general public for another couple of weeks, after the pilot group has tested it.
There isn’t any word yet whether or not this Twitter statistics update will be for a price, but it’s better than paying an outside source for things you can now get from the inside. This could be a hurt for Hootsuite and other Twitter analytics tools—we’ll have to see how it all pans out.
Let us know if you see the Twitter Web Analytics inside your Twitter account anytime soon, and follow us on Twitter for more updates like this!
Smart Solutions RSS
