Recently, I ran across an article on Mashable that I found to be quite fascinating. Being active in the non-profit, social good sector, the title of 4 Real Challenges to Crowdsourcing for Social Good caught my eye. If you are interested in this topic of crowdsourcing and social media, I highly recommend you read the complete article (just click the title of the article above).

In today’s post I am going to simply bullet some of what I think were great truths about the true challenges that are faced when trying to use social media to boost your social non-profit.  Each of the below are direct quotes, from the excellent article:

• Many online conversations and literature on the topic fail to delve into the real hardships an organization may face in its [crowdsourcing] effort.

• Some of the hurdles may seem obvious. You need an active community in place before you can simply thrust your cause’s effort into the public for feedback. Additionally, the crowd has to at least be acknowledged if not rewarded for its participation, if the effort will be sustained for any length of time.

• Many non-profits assume that their community will automatically care about the cause’s ongoing efforts. And while there is some common interest, to compel a community to act on an issue has to mean something to the individuals participating.

• So the average crowdsourcing effort has to motivate people with real meaning in their lives. That means an organization not only has to know its purpose, but also has to know where the community’s passions lie so it can strike the right balance.

• While the crowd craves freedom, people need to be told the rules of engagement and how to participate. These rules have to be clear, empowering for the crowd and directive in their end result.

Check out the complete article for more on the subject, and keep on doing good.

In March 2010 at a massive South by Southwest event, then CEO of Digg, Jay Adelson, announced a major overhaul to the popular social news website.

However, before the “soon to be released” overhaul came to fruition, Adelson stepped down from his leadership role at the company per an April 4th, 2010 post on the company blog.

At that point the speculation was rampant with claims ranging from “simple differences of opinion” to “trouble brewing” at the company and more specifically with the much anticipated Digg Version 4.  However, Digg founder Kevin Rose has not veered from statements made to TechCrunch over a year ago in that the new Digg will be more real time and provide a more personalized experience.

Instead of piling onto the gross speculation or blindly attacking Rose’s direction, I decided to take a look at some data.  What I found is surprising in that the real problem Digg could need to solve for is better integration with non-social media users who still use the “Forward” feature in their email client to circulate viral content.   If this is true, Digg Version 4, described by Kevin Rose himself as a “ballsy move”, could be steering the social news site to the waters between the 6-headed mythical monster Scylla and the inescapable whirlpool Charybdas.

Removing the mythological terms, Scylla and Charybdas are none other than Facebook and Twitter. Ironically, another beast could be a much easier one to tame.

About Digg and The Challenges

Per the About page on Digg:

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web.

How do we do this? Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images — is submitted by our community (that would be you). Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see.

The beauty about Digg is that there are no editors, and between the users and aggressive technology controls the site maximizes quality content and minimizes SPAM submissions.  Though they have 40 million unique views per month, the downside is that they only have around 5 million registered users and the site is really driven by a few thousand power Digg users.

According to founder Kevin Rose, only about 140 submissions reach the front page each day.  For better or worse, the site really only has three main activities:  1) submitting content, 2) digging or burying content (thumbs up/thumbs down style voting), and 3) commenting.

Still for the millions of users and non-users alike who visit the site, of which NYC Mayor Bloomberg is one, Digg produces a very clean presentation of news, images, and videos of interest.  The problem facing Rose is that Digg lacks the real-time power of other social media websites like Twitter and the newsfeed feature inside of Facebook.  Moreover, Facebook has recently added a Digg-like feature called “Facebook Like” that when combined with a personalized experience and Facebok’s over 700 million engaged users could present a real threat to the future of Digg.

The Realities of Facebook and Twitter with Respect to Digg

Without going into a long dissertation, I’ll net out the strengths and weaknesses of Twitter and Facebook in a few sentences.

Twitter has set the standard in terms of real-time information.  The passing of Michael Jackson, which broke on TMZ and dominated Twitter more than 4 hours before it appeared on Google’s news feed, proved to the world how quickly information can travel through social media.  Twitter, on the other hand, quite possibly has the worst user interface and overall usability of just about any online destination.  Usage of the site requires third party tools, a knowledge of “CB handle” type terminology, and an understanding of who to follow in order to get the right experience.

Facebook has been an unprecedented online phenomenon.  It has many parallels to Las Vegas in that some come for the shows, others for the food, nightlife, conventions, gambling, and more.  Regardless of why you come to Facebook, you generally are connected with people whom you personally know and met.  The numbers are staggering in that 50% of the 400 million active users visit the site on a daily basis and the average user has over 130 friend connections.  With the introduction of the Facebook Like feature, the mammoth social media site has actually entered Digg territory.  On the downside, I’ll let How-To-Blog.TV author Jerod Morris’ post on Midwest Sports Fans tell the story of why Facebook sucks.  Despite any weaknesses, Facebook and Twitter have won the popularity contest.

“You don’t hear much about Digg these days,” commented Mike D. Merrill, President of Social Media Club Dallas.  ”Facebook and Twitter have taken the headlines.”

Furthermore, if I can get fast and accurate news via Twitter, and a true sense of popularity from people I’ve actually shaken hands with on Facebook, where does this leave the need for Digg?

I think Digg founder Kevin Rose was alluding to this exact question as he revealed directions for Digg V4 in a TechCrunch video interview over 1 year ago.  Before we rush to conclusions, let’s look at some data.

Social Media: Dissecting Viral Content

On May 10th, 2010, a sports-related picture was posted on PicChore.com called “Best Fan Sign” and was thereafter submitted to a host of social media sites.  The sites where it was shared included Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon.  Having achieved 1977 Facebook shares, 210 retweets, 1517 stumbles, and 3,262 diggs, this post qualifies for viral status online.  Here are the raw data facts:

• The post had 146,000 page views in a 10-hour period of time and 178,595 visitors from 404 sources in a 3 day period.
• Being a photo, the average time on site was only 6 seconds and the bounce rate was 96.83%.
• The average number of pages per visitor was 1.05, which coincides with such a high bounce rate.

Here is where the data for that 3 day period gets interesting as it relates to the different traffic sources.

• The #1 referring source of visitors was Digg, delivering over 125,000.
• Facebook only delivered 1,420 visitors and Twitter a measly 160 visitors.
• The #2 source of traffic was direct traffic delivering 27,502 visitors (more to come on this in a second).
• The Hot Clicks blog from SI.com delivered 15,027 visitors.
• The highest pages per visit and time on site datapoints came from Facebook referrals at 1.14 pages and 15 seconds respectively.
• The second highest pages per visit and referrals came from the direct visitors.
• Twitter visitors spent an average of 3 seconds on the site, which was among the worst.
• Digg visitors were about average, having visited 1.04 pages per visit during the average 6 seconds they were on the site.

Over the next 10 days:

• Digg produced an additional 29,408 visitors with 1.11 pages visited and an average of 8 seconds on site.
• Facebook and Twitter fell completely off the radar screen.
• Direct visitors accounted for another 8,297 visitors with 1.20 pages per visit and an average of 16 seconds on site.
• The post became the #4 hit in Google for the keywords “best fan signs” and created a suggestive search entry.

Here is the kicker: this site was a brand new site and the posting of the picture that went viral was not really supposed to have gotten out…but it did.

I personally didn’t decide to share it and Digg it until it was too late.  Thus, the only explanation for the direct visits was email sharing of the link!  This is further confirmed by the fact that beyond a handful of other social media sites in the referral list, the majority of the other 404 referring sources were email clients.

Since this happened during the work day and the desktop version of Microsoft Outlook still is the defacto standard email client, I’m confident that the direct visitors were shares of the link via email.   This leaves me to ask if email sharing is still that common in blogs with an established readership?  For that answer I reached out to John Poozadzides, founder of the popular One Man’s Blog and CEO of web analytics company, Woopra.

“We find less than 1% of referrals across all of our web analytics customers come from email,” said Pozadzides.  ”Any email readers of One Man’s Blog get their content from a Feedburner subscription which is technically Web 2.0.”

Before I draw any conclusions on Digg’s future, let’s talk about the quality of Digg visitors.

The Quality of Digg Visitors

Though the data for different sources of content and the context under which the content is shared will vary, pictures have been shared on the Internet on a regular basis over the past decade and are a pretty good indicator of the impact of various forms of social media.  Still, I reached out to Jerod Morris and asked him what statistical trends he saw on MidwestSportsFans.Com for more serious editorial that had gotten similar traction through social media.

Time on page from our direct visitors and Digg referrals is approximately 3 times that of Twitter, Facebook, and Google referrals.  Whether passive or active, Digg users take content serious that has been voted popular, said Jerod Morris, Editor of MidwestSportsFans.Com .

I have further seen evidence of Twitter traffic being less impressive.  When social media  power house Chris Brogan tweeted about a post on How-To-Blog.TV, we saw a huge 1 hour traffic spike but very little to brag about in terms of time on site.

Though Facebook has the sheer user numbers in its favor, people do not like to leave the comfortable confines of the Facebook website. Even features like image previews and on-page commentary do not encourage visitors to other sites on the web.  Furthermore, as Facebook has implemented the real time feature of its news feed, I feel that content on the site has lost its stickiness and has become more of a quick flash to the eyes of users.

If Digg users are more engaged and produce stickier traffic, which has to be more attractive to advertisers, is a platform overhaul what Digg really needs?  In doing so, is Kevin Rose steering the site into treacherous waters?  Or could a simple brand revitalization take place without the drastic change?

The Problem Space

In Rose’s interview with TechCrunch, he admits that previous advances at Digg have netted out activity and traffic increases ranging from 5% to 20%.  Still, he’d like to see the number of viral content on his website go from the 5-15K range to the 20-30K range in terms of the number of diggs.  He also concedes that other social bookmarking sites like Mixx and Propeller aren’t the competition (hence my Twitter/Facebook hypothesis).

Still, I think Digg has to look within for the problem.  The site has always been accused of being an insider’s site.  At the risk of sounding old fashioned, I’m going to argue that Digg should connect with new and old users alike in a much more simplistic way.  The first would be a refreshed PR campaign that highlights the site’s strengths.  Second, focus on a new user on-boarding process more geared to help them to succeed.  Last, improve upon usability knowing that non-users are defaulting to email sharing instead of site interaction.  Mabye instead of steering the Digg boat between Scylla and Charybdas, Digg should just modify its current course.

Kevin Rose’s Big Gamble

The Digg community is nervous.  With the departure of Jay Adelson and massive changes coming our way, I predict one of three things will happen:

• Kevin’s brillance will shine through again and the new Digg will escalate the site and the community on all fronts.
• Kevin’s action on a perceived “third down and long yardage” situation will not hit its mark, causing disruption for the community.  Mike Phillips’ blog post, “Digg is Dead” has a great perspective on this..
• Digg will show the improved “friending” and community card to the general public while continuing to be driven by power users and Google-like algorithms that take a lot more than popularity into consideration.

Though I was sad to see Jay depart from the Digg family, and I am one who is always made nervous by massive overhauls, I wish Rose the best of luck and hope that Digg does achieve new highs for its users and visitors.  Still, I am going to be a bit pessimistic and predict that Digg Version 4′s efforts to create a more real time and personalized experience will alienate committed Digg users and dilute the quality of content the community deems popular.  Digg’s front page is the true asset of the community.  It will need to continue to be front and center in order to avoid the dilution that both Twitter and Facebook see with their emphasis on real time content.   I’d love to hear from other Digg users as to what you think?

For now, I’ll leave you with a version 4 preview that was posted on Mashable:

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Derick Schaefer is the founder and Managing Director of Orangecast Social Media based in Dallas, TX and has been a passive Digg.Com user since 2007 and an active user since 2009.  He is a regular contributor to How-To-Blog.TV.  Prior to founding Orangecast, Derick spent 10 years in a variety of roles with the Microsoft Corporation.

(photo derived from James Gillray 1793 cartoon entitled ‘Britannia Caught Between Scylla and Charybdas’)

Twitter characters are unique. For the new user or for the user that is planning to activate their previously dormant account, the initial understanding of how people are communicating could be confusing.  Thankfully, the symbols are pretty straightforward once they are explained simply and clearly.  Today we are going to provide a listing of Twitter symbols and their meaning.  We will then discuss the Twitter language (i.e. Tweet, Follow, etc.) and provide a guide for what each term means.

Twitter Characters

@

The @ sign signifies that you are commenting directly to someone (i.e. @hannahnewlin).  Once you put the @ symbol in front of a username, the person you are messaging will receive a notification.  This comment will be something that will show up on your personal profile page that other people can see, and it will be a comment that will show on the newsfeed of the person you sent it to and your mutual friends. Think of it like “group text messaging”.

Note: There should be no space between the @ symbol and the username.

d

This is a direct message. It is similar to an email as no one else can see this. It will still be required to meet the character specifications (no more than 140 characters). When you input this you must have a space between the d and the username (i.e. d hannahnewlin). If there is no space (dhannahnewlin) it will show up on your newsfeed, and that could get sticky.

RT

This symbol is known as a retweet.  It’s basically forwarding a message that you like to all of the people that follow you. This is a great way for messages and links to spread exponentially.  A best practice is for you to credit the tweet that you are retweeting. If you click the retweet button on your newsfeed page this will happen automatically. If you use the RT symbol and copy and paste, simply add a (via @username) after the RT.

#

This is called a hashtag and represents a group topic. When a tweet is put out on Twitter with a hashtag (i.e. #TED or #womenshealth) in it, then it becomes public for any user to search on Twitter and find out what the Twitter world is saying around the topic of the TED Conference or Women’s Health. You will find this when you are finding people that are discussing a particular subject or event they are attending.  They’ll simply search #TED and will see a feed that looks like the below.

Using Twitter: Basic Twitter Terms

Below is a listing of the various twitter specific characters and terms.  This will provide a basic knowledge of the Twitter language.

Newsfeed

This is your personal page that no one else sees. When you log on this is the page that you see that has all recent posts from those people that you are following.

Profile

This is what other people see when they go to your page.

Following

These are the people that you have chosen to follow on Twitter. Their updates will post on your newsfeed.

Followers

These are the people that have chosen to follow you. Whenever you post something, your post will show up on their news feed.  You will not see their updates unless you choose to follow them as well.

Tweet

This is the term for posting. When you post something you “Tweet” it.

Retweet

When you choose to “retweet” something, it is because you find someone else’s comment/ information valuable. So you simply retweet it so it will go out to all of your followers as well.

***

Twitter is constantly evolving and there are many other terms that are used.  Feel free to post more terms that you are aware of in the comments.  Above are the basic Twitter symbols and terms to get you started.

Tweet away!

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Photo Credit

Fan Pages, Profile Pages, Twitter Feed, Blogs, Status Updates… It seems there are so many places that we have to display our message. However, as mentioned in part one of this series, there is a need to work efficiency into the equation.  Thankfully, there are ways that we can incorporate automatic updates that will save us the time and hassle of posting on multiple pages.

In the first post of this two-part series, we discussed how to automatically post your Twitter feed to your Facebook Fan Page and Profile Page.  Today we are going to discuss how to add your blog link  to Facebook Fan Pages and/ or your Facebook Profile page. My application of choice for these two automatic updates is RSS Graffiti. Below I’ve posted the process for using RSS Graffiti to post your blog link to Facebook.

• In the search bar type in “RSS Graffiti” and select it.
• When the page has opened, you’ll see on the left hand column a selection of your profile page and any fan pages that you are an administrator on.  From this page you can authorize and adjust settings to post your blog link to your fan page, profile page or group page.  The selection of pages will look something like the below (account specific of course).

  

• Click on the page, profile or group that you wish to have your blog link automatically posted on.

• Next you must begin to authorize the account.  The application will take you through the steps.

• Once you get to step #3 you’ll click on the blue box (below).  This is where you fully authorize and add RSS Graffiti.

• Step #5 is where you will add your RSS feed. In order to find your RSS feed, you will need to go to your blog and click on the RSS icon.  The exact look of your icon will be determined by the design of your blog. Ours looks like this with the Standard RSS icon. Click on the feed and then copy and paste the URL that comes up from the RSS page.

Once you’ve put in your feed, you’ll be prompted with the settings and you’ll be on your way to a faster, more efficient automatic posting of your blog link to Facebook Fan Pages and Profile Pages.

Whether it be 60 Minutes, NPR, or your local news, professional journalist provider their listeners and viewers with great content.  Many bloggers have equally compelling content.  Just because you have great content, however, does not mean that people will make the transition and follow you on Twitter.  For this reason, I am just amazed at the rash of quick blanket “outros” that say things like, “We are on Twitter and Facebook. . .until next time.”  Is there a way to be more effective?

Twitter and Facebook are “social” media sites.  Note the emphasis on the word SOCIAL!  If you take the concept socialization off the Internet, we really get back into the same semantics that drive verbal interaction and conversations.  Jerod dedicated an entire post to the topic of better blog conversations.  It wasn’t until I’ve heard this recent onslaught of “me too” statements blurting out “we are on Twitter and Facebook” that it dawned on me that we have yet to approach the topic of “inviting people into your conversation” from your blog or even mainstream media.

To explore, let’s take it offline and use a hypothetical cocktail party as a setting.  If I am introduced to a group of people at the entrance of a cocktail party and listen to someone voice an opinion, tell a story, or put forward some other form of one way narrative that would equate to a blog post, do you think I’ll be successful in starting a conversation by saying, “Great, I’m headed to the bar.”  Probably not.  So if I won’t be successful with this type of in person approach, why would I be successful in ending a newscast with “I’m on Twitter”?

Ok, maybe if you have celebrity status, just the pure mention that you are headed to the bar might draw the entire conversation to follow you.  Perhaps this is what news personalities who enjoy celebrity like status can do.  For bloggers, however, we need to entice our readers to come engage with us.

Let me offer a couple of news story outros that could work and then I’ll back this into a couple of tips for bloggers:

• Anger Invoking News Story Outro – “Doesn’t that story make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  I’ll be on our Facebook page after our broadcast and I’d love to hear your opinions.”
• Positive Story About A Charity – “What a great example of people who truly make a difference.  If you know people doing equally great things, Tweet a link to their website to @xyznews as I’d love be aware of more in our community who do great things.”
• Biography Story – “Our newscast doesn’t allow us the time to do justice for the accomplishments that Cheryl has given our community.  If you follow me on Twitter, I’ll share a few links to more information about her and her lifetime accomplishments.”

Do you see where I’m going with this?  It is the equivalent of, “I have got a great story about that topic.  I’m dying of thirst and need a glass of water.  Come with me to the bar as I’d love to talk more with you about it.”

Three Ways To Invite Your Blog Readers To Join You Outside Your Post

Take the Offshoot Story to Facebook

How many times have you started a blog post and came across a point that is a story of its own.  There is no reason why you can’t have that conversation on your Facebook page.  As a matter of fact, we have a few other blog posts in How-To-Blog.TV about engaging on Twitter and Facebook.  Instead of diverting this post, friend me on Facebook as I’ll be sharing those there this week.

Tweet the Links That Didn’t Make It

When you research a blog post, many times you will find multiple online articles and blog post that compliment your story.  Instead of burying your post with links, let your readers know that you will be tweeting several other helpful articles around this topic during the week.  Invite them to share information as well.  Consider making a hash tag that interested readers can rally around.

Provide an Alternative to Comments

Some readers get turned off when your post already has twenty comments by the time they read it.  It gives them the feeling that their are too many people in the room and that their voice might not be heard.  Encourage them to engage outside of your blog including Twitter and Facebook.

Summary

Don’t be a “me too” communicator when expressing your presence on mainstream social media.  Give your readers, viewers, and listeners a reason to engage!  Do you agree or disagree?  Do you have other advice to bloggers beyond my list of three?  Btw, I think I accidentally turned off the comments on this post but I’d love to hear from you on Twitter!  :)

As part of its quest to rival Google in dominating Al Gore’s little creation that we all know and love, Facebook has introduced a new way for web publishers to encourage readers to share content.

Facebook’s new “Like” button, officially released just last week, will soon become a ubiquitously used tool on pretty much every website that isn’t hosted by GeoCities.

Case in point: I am the guy who published this post on his sports blog…and who just this morning added the “Like” button to that very same sports blog.

Oh Facebook, you dastardly, craven, necessary little evil you.

Anyway, if you don’t mind selling off a tiny little piece of your soul for increased exposure (as I obviously didn’t), this post quickly details a few steps for adding the “Like” button to your own site.

What are you waiting for? Help Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook get one step closer to Total Web Domination with the Like button!

Image source: IdeaGrove.com

Add Facebook “Like” Button to WP Using Plugin

As you can see if you glance down at the bottom of this page, the Facebook “Like” button is now a part of H2B. How did I do it? Why through the heavenly alchemy of a plugin of course!

There seem to be more than a few out there, but the first one I tried worked so I didn’t investigate them all. The one I used is called “Facebook Like Plugin for WordPress” and was written by Ahmed the Greek.

This plugin provides options for where you want the “Like” button, whether you want it to say “Like” or “Recommend”, how wide you want it, and a few others. It is clean, simple, and allowed me to get the button up in a matter of minutes.

One note: Pay attention to where the button ends up on your home page. It will auto-insert itself into posts on the homepage that have more than just the excerpt (see the H2B homepage). With one setting it inserted it right into the middle of the text, so I had to tweak it a bit.

Add Facebook “Like” Button to WP Using Code

If you like to minimize the amount of plugins you use (never a bad idea), then you can add code directly to the single.php file of your theme. This is how I added the Facebook “Like” button to Midwest Sports Fans.

Thanks to this site’s quick lesson on adding the Facebook “Like” button, I easily found the code I needed. Here it is:

<iframe src=”http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php echo urlencode(get_permalink($post->ID)); ?>&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” style=”border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:60px”></iframe>

Depending on where you want your button, take that code and copy paste somewhere before or after you see this: <?php the_content(); ?>

If you go directly to Facebook to get this code, it can be a bit confusing. I won’t even link you there because all you need is above. The author rewrote the iframe code to be compatible with WordPress and to work for each individual post you publish.

Besides, if I directed you to Facebook, you’d just end up leaving the page five minutes later confused and probably the victim of identity theft. There’s no need for that.

Add Facebook “Like” Button to non-WP Blog Using Code

If you are a non-WordPress user, here are a few sites to help you out that will know much more about this than we will:

• How To Add Facebook “Like” Button to Blogger
• How To Add Facebook “Like” Button to Tumblr
• How To Add Facebook “Like” Button to TypePad

If you are a Drupal user, I couldn’t find a perfect link. Try this one, but hopefully there are some updates to the code soon.

Hopefully you found what you were looking for. Now please make it all worth my while and like the post using the nifty little button you see below. I’m sure that person from your high school geometry class that you are friends with but haven’t talked to in 15 years will appreciate it.

Technology simplifies our lives and complicates them all at the same time.  With the incredible reach of the social web, we find the ability to reach mass numbers of people easier than it used to be.  Yet, at the same time, if we don’t find ways to streamline processes, we can waste serious amounts of time marketing our message ineffectively.

Today we are going to focus on streamlining the process of automatic updates of your Twitter account to your Facebook Fan Page or Facebook Profile Page. My preferred choice for Twitter to Facebook updates is the “Selective Tweets” application.

Automatic Posting of Twitter to Facebook

The Selective Tweets Application will allow you to decide when you’re tweeting if this is a tweet you want to have published to your Facebook status, or if you want to keep it in the Twitter world.

• From your Facebook home page, click on “Application” on the left sidebar.
• Type “Selective Tweets” in the search bar.
• Once on the “Selective Tweets” page, click “Go to Application”
• Enter your Twitter Username and click “Save”
• The “Allow Access” box will come up. Click “Allow”.
• You will then get a box that will say “Request for Permission”.  Approve it and you are in!

Now, simply add #fb to the end of your tweet if you want that tweet to go to Facebook… Easy as that!

Automatic Posting of Twitter to Facebook Fan Page

• From your Facebook home page, click on “Application” on the left sidebar.
• Type “Selective Tweets” in the search bar.
• Once on the “Selective Tweets” page, click “Go to Application”
• Click “Your Fan Pages” tab
• Next to your fan page(s) click the hyperlinked “Grant Permission”
• Click “Allow Publishing”
• Enter your Twitter Username you want to be associated with the Fan Page
• Click Save Changes
• Any tweets you post from the Twitter account that end with #fb should now update the status for your page(s)

Next we’ll post tips of automatic posting of Blog updates to Facebook Profile Pages and Facebook Fan Pages.

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Photo Credit

Facebook etiquette. Twitter etiquette.  Today we are going to talk about some warnings of Facebook and Twitter usage when using either tool for business.

I recently came across a blog that pointed out some of the recent mistakes made by a popular candy company.  Essentially the moderator for the company’s Facebook page, when asked direct questions regarding some environmental issues, responded with defense and backlash. As can be expected, the consumers fought back and the company was left looking bad.

Social media has further expanded the bounds of “the customer is always right” truism.  With the hope of offering helpful tips on how a business should interact on Facebook and Twitter, please note a few of our rules to Facebook etiquette and Twitter etiquette for the business. Hopefully, these tips will help your small business or business of any size use Facebook and Twitter in a manner that will improve your company’s social standings within your target market.

Facebook Etiquette for Your Business

1. It’s more about them than it is about you. Yes, you need to fill out your profile information and show the greatness of your business in a professional manner.  However, when you are involved in social media, it’s because of your customer, not just you.  You have ‘opted in’ to hear what they have to say and to interact with them.  The more interaction you have with your fan base, the more successful you are. This means that when comments are posted, you read them and answer them when necessary and appropriate.
2. Status updates should be professional. Links and status updates on a business page need to be relevant to the business.
3. Photos should strengthen your message. The photos you put on Facebook need to be photos that strengthen your message and don’t detract from it.  Connect with your audience, but keep your professionalism. Too familiar is unattractive.
4. Admins - If you have any admins listed on your page, make sure that they are appropriate representations of your company and that their personal accounts represent the organization well.

Twitter for Your Business

1. Status Updates – The status update is the primary function of Twitter.  Twitter was originally crafted with the intention of group text messaging between friends. So, it’s common practice for individual users to simply tweet a quick comment to their groups of friends on Twitter about their location, what they are doing, who they are with, etc. However, for a business or a business personality, there should be appropriate bounds maintained.  For instance, complaining about the long line at your local coffee shop probably won’t go far with followers that have chosen to follow your floral business.
2. Address and Info - Make sure an address or information on your business is on your Twitter page along with the website information.  This weekend I was going to visit a local coffee shop for the first time and had to opt out because I couldn’t find their address anywhere. Their website was down and although they had both Twitter and Facebook, I found no address on either. I’m just saying, make it easy for people to find your business.
3. Direct Messages – There is no need to hard sell your business to those that follow you.  Sending a nice follow up direct message to new followers is a fine practice. However, a canned message with a link to your website or to something you’re selling is a cheap trick and a turn off to the community.
4. Replies - Be gracious in person and reply in the same way!

These are just a few introductory tips on Twitter and Facebook etiquette.  What are some other etiquette tips you can think of?

Using social media has become the buzzword in marketing strategies across the country.  However, when strategizing and using social media, it is critical that your expectations are correct. The two understandings that are important as you begin using social media are that it is meant to amplify your message and second, authenticity is crucial.  Today we are going to discuss the role that each of these play in your social media strategy.

Amplification

I have the opportunity to speak with many business owners who are seeking to improve their customer reach.  One thing I’ve noticed is that many of these business people are functioning under a false assumption that if they adopt social media strategies in one area then they are going to see instant growth in their business.  Social media serves many purposes that cannot be downplayed, but its best function is that of the “great amplifier”.  It simply makes the message you already have in motion bigger by amplifying and punctuating it. Social media tactics should be intertwined in a greater digital marketing strategy that is a part of an overall strategy.

Our Favorite Cows

Chick-fil-A.  Many of us know and love the famous Chick-fil-A cows and their slogan “Eat Mor Chikin.” The Chick-fil-A marketing strategy has for quite some time maintained a positive, lighthearted feel. The billboards and commercials are comical and inviting. In the same manner the Twitter and Facebook pages of Chick-fil-A simply punctuate what has been happening for years. The blogs from the CEO tote family values, the tweets involve contests for free sandwiches, and followers feel welcomed into Chick-fil-A’s social media realm.

In short, Chick-fil-A’s social media streams of communication simply amplify the company brand that has been in motion for years.

Authenticity

Starbucks Twitter Feed

Authenticity involves two things: Being genuine and being true to your brand.  Authenticity is non-negotiable if a company wants to succeed in breaking down the walls between their business and the customer.

A great example of authenticity is Starbucks. If you look at the Starbucks Twitter page you’ll find that the “vibe” of it is a direct reflection of how each coffee shop feels. They respond to tweets that require responses, they retweet good tweets, they suggest music.  All social media streams feel as though you are walking into your local Starbucks, ordering from the familiar barista.  Grande Chai Latte anyone?

In your opinion what are other important understandings we should have as we begin using social media?

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You can find a full article regarding Starbucks’ strategy (that I found on my friend George’s posted links) by following this link: How Starbucks Builds Meaningful Customer Engagement via Social Media.  The article is worth a thorough read.

Recently Derick and I had the pleasure of attending the Dallas/Fort Worth WordPress Meetup and the topic of this meetup was BuddyPress. Before looking at BuddyPress I want to give the contact information for the DFW WordPress Meetup:

Dallas WordPress Meetup
“Open to anyone interested in learning how to build a website, start a blog, and build traffic to their website. We also discuss the technical aspects of WordPress, and social networking topics such as Twitter”
Website: Dallas Fort Worth WordPress Meetup
Twitter: DFWWP

Going into this Meetup I had heard about BuddyPress, but had never taken the time to play around and get acquainted with this WordPress Add On. The reason I call it an Add On is that it is hard for me to call BP a plugin because of how powerful it is.

Michael J. Pratt was the presenter for the DFW WordPress Meetup on BuddyPress. He runs a BuddyPress-driven site for West Point Alumni, contributes to the BP core, and you can follow Mike on Twitter @mikepratt. Mike’s presentation covered the different ways that you can use BuddyPress to create your own social network. This was great because Jerod an I are always looking for ways to grow our Sports Blogs, and this was clearly the next step that we needed to take.

During the presentation the topic arose of large vague social networks like Facebook and how they have a major flaw. You can’t talk about all of the things that you want because your family, friends, and co-workers see all of your updates. However if you create a social network that is focused on one subject you can create better interaction between users.