Have you filled in your Timeline?

Just activating your Timeline is not actually filling it in.  Before you can use Milestones (which you need to be doing) then you need to give Facebook a starting point.  I took the time this weekend to fill in my Timeline.  I actually discovered a few very important things like:

• I had lost a year – I have been in business a whole year longer than I thought
• It was encouraging to see how my business has grown over the years
• It was uplifting to remember some of the Milestones along my journey
• This is an opportunity to highlight some of your clients as well

I will be adding more Milestones from the past as I think of them.  This was a fascinating and enlightening experience.  Some of the things to add into your Timeline are:

• Company Start Date
• Yearly Anniversaries
• Conferences
• Education completed that shows your credentials or shows your knowledge growth
• Awards received
• Associations joined
• Websites launched or revamped
• Employees joining your company
• Sales or Client goals reached
• Any Goal reached
• Mergers, Acquisitions, Company changes
• Highlight Ideal Customers
• Customer results
• Anything that is a positive light on your business

Make sure you stick to Business Milestones.  Leave any personal ones for your personal profile.

YouTube Added Playlists

How can this help you?  If you are like me then you have a few videos uploaded on YouTube that may not be business related.  You know ~ your kids sports videos, birthday parties, vacation videos.  Videos you want to share with your family but not necessarily with your clients or customers.

Playlists allow you to Organize and Separate your Videos

A Playlist works like a Category on your website or blog.  A video can be added to a Playlist then several things can be done with the list.

1. Your entire list can be embedded into a website.  You can see an example of how that works on the Fort Vancouver Lions website.  Part way down the home page is a playlist with 19 videos in it.  They will play one after the other in the order you designate in YouTube.
2. your Channel can display certain Playlists (and not others).  This is a great way to be able to share those family videos and keep them separate from your business YouTube Cahnnel.
3. Keep your Channel fresh by changing the Playlist it displays.
4. Are you running a special in your business?  Want to show or highlight  a specific video for the special?  You can do that with Playlists.

YouTube became a better marketing tool when they added Playlists ~ are you using them yet?

WP to Twitter Plugin

This is a plugin that I use on all my blogs.  It will automatically post your content to Twitter when you create a new blog post.  It is very configurable: allows for custom messages, and trackable links.  This is a plugin that will work without thought (once configured) or will work even better if purpose is put into each Tweet.

Automation for Blogging

There are so many aspects to a successful blog.  Adding automation whenever possible will make your blogging life easier and run smoother.  This is on automation tool that is worth using.  It is also one of the few that actually work reliably.  The plugin can be found in the WordPress plugin repository and requires some configuring with the Twitter API.  It is well documented so it is not too hard to set up – as always I am available if you want help with the setup.

Would Daily Deals like Groupon or Living Social work for me?

There are so many Daily Deal sites popping up everywhere.  The original one – Groupon to all the local ones like Fox 12 Daily Deals.  I get this question a lot:  Can my business successfully use a Daily Deal site to grow my clientele? Would this be a great marketing strategy for my business?

Marketing with these types of websites really works for the right type of businesses.  The main deal is usually sold at a loss for the company.  The extreme discount is what brings in the new customer or client.  Where the money is made is in the follow up with that new customer.  How will you get that customer to return?  How will you get that customer to refer their friends and family?  How will you get that customers loyalty?

Is there Profit in Daily Deals?

The profit on a Daily Deal comes after the initial visit.  A Daily Deal is an extraordinary opportunity if you can get that new client to return and refer.  Some ways to make this happen:

• Provide a coupon to use on a next visit
• Provide a reason to have them return ~ excellent customer service, excellent food, excellent whatever
• Up-sale the initial offer ~ make the offer for a basic version of your service/product and up-sale the new client
• Provide referral rewards

If your business is not set up to up-sale or promote quick return visits or referrals then the daily Deal type marketing is not for you.

Timeline has arrived!

With the conversion to Timeline for our FanPages custom tabs are becoming more and more important.  This is one way to really make your FanPage stand out from the crowd.  What can Custom Tabs do for you?

• Give you a way to actually SELL from Facebook
• Give you a way to build a list directly from Facebook
• Promote a Program, Event, or any business item from Facebook
• You are limited by your imagination

What is a Custom Tab?

A Custom Tab is nothing more than a page dedicated to something on your FanPage.  It is an HTML website page, it can be part of your website, it can be part of any other website.  It can be literally anything that can be created on the Web.  It can also be linked to from anywhere – think about that.

If you are looking to drive traffic to a FanPage – why have the traffic land on your Wall?  Your Wall will look like most others.  People will not know what you want them to do.  They will get lost – and leave.  If you send them directly to a Custom Tab it will be obvious what you want them to do.  They will sign up for something, view a video, like your page, buy your item, whatever is on that page.

Custom Tabs are now your Lifeline on Facebook – Start using them!

Become the Go-To Person

I recently had the opportunity to interview with Dr. Shannon Reece on the topic: How to Become Locally Famous.  Learn my methods used to grow my business.

Will they continue to work?

With Facebook Fanpages changing to the Timeline layout on March 30th people are asking about the Welcome Tabs they have created.

What is a Welcome Tab?

A welcome tab is what a non-fan sees when they first visit your page.  They often have some enticing text or a video that requests the visitor to click Like and get something in exchange.  Then once the visitor clicks Like the offered item is revealed.  They are sometimes referred to as Reveal Tabs.

Once your FanPage is converted to Timeline there is no way to have someone land anywhere except the Wall – making the Welcome or Reveal tabs not show.

There is a way around this!

Although a new visitor will land on the Timeline (wall)  if the visitor arrives via a link or ad somewhere you can direct where they land.  Welcome Tabs are actually Custom Tabs and the content is still available through the Icon menu under your Cover image (the new large graphic).

New Strategy

Use the Facebook Advertising (yes this was their goal).  Facebook offers a Pay Per Click advertising platform that businesses use to drive traffic to their Fanpages.  Drive that traffic to your existing Welcome Tab!  Your content is still there and works just like before.  The offer has not changed – just the access point.

When linking to your Fanpage from your website – link to the Welcome Tab.

The new Icon area on your page has just become invaluable real estate – are you using it?

What is a Blog?

Blogging is really not that hard.  A blog is simply a type of website that is easy to use for the non technical person.  It makes it easy to get your message out to the world without hiring a website designer to create it.  Blog software is free and available on the Internet.  Here are a few recommended blog sites:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Movable Type
• Many More

How to Blog

Blogging is a process of finding a topic then creating the post.  I find my topics by listening to the questions that customers ask.  If a few of my customers are asking the same question then there must be more people out there with the same question.

A blog post is born…

Dotty Scott

Can I measure my Social Media results?

I get asked that question all the time.  I found a great article that addresses this very issue at the Blog on Hubspot.  Here is a link: How to Measure Your Social Media Lead Generation Efforts

This article talks about Lead Generation being below Brand Awareness in the Marketing Funnel.  The funnel takes you through Engagement, Opportunity, then Conversion.

Read the article then tell me what you think – will you start to measure your Social Media so you can get an idea of its effectiveness?
Dotty Scott