Introducing…

The Pages Manager is a fairly new application for IPhones that allows Facebook page Admins to check on their page activity, view their insights, respond to their audience and so on. This gives the Admin more freedom to do the management they need to do while being out on location.

How do I begin?

The first thing you will need to do is download both the Facebook application and the Pages Manager onto your IPhone. From there it is a matter of logging into Facebook and then tapping on the Pages app. And away you go!

Sorry Android Users

Currently only IPhone and IPad users can get the application. However for non-Apple users, it is surely just a matter of time before applications will be available for you. So don’t despair, you time will come.

What? Que? Wat? Qu’est-ce? Was?

So English is important in an application, but Pages Manager is also available in Spanish, French, Dutch, German and six other languages. So for those of you who are polyglots, I say Bienvenidos!

What can I do with Pages manager?

Why the sky is the limit for those of you who want to maintain your pages while on the go. You will be able to post updates for your pages, access Page content and even receive notifications when someone interacts with your Page(s).

Which Page is which?

So you’re logged in now and you’re ready to post updates on your Pages. But wait…you want to make sure that the update you are posting to Client A, a company that makes colorful collars for cats, is not posted to Client B, a company that makes colorful necklaces for children. So how do you know which page is which?

The page you are on will always show at the top of the screen, right below the Write Post button. By clicking on the Write Post button you will see the profile picture of the Page you are posting as. So no worries about posting Update A to Client B. You should be in the clear.

And switching to Client B is simply done by clicking on the top left corner of the application. A menu opens and a list of your Pages will be shown. Tap on the Page you want to switch to and Voila! you are there.

Push Notifications and Messages

The Pages application now gives the user the ability and the option to turn off Push notifications until 8am. Recently, the app does allow you to see your Page’s messages. This is truly a huge improvement. Time is of the essence and if you have a potential client inquiring about your services, you will be able to respond immediately to their private message via your app.

What Insights are available?

There are quite a few insights that are available and useful for the User on the go. The total number of likes can be seen and the number of people talking about your Pages. Your weekly total reach is visible as well as your Trends chart. The app is convenient because rather than waiting for you to get home, or to get a signal while you are waiting for that latte, you can access information that will give you a glimpse of how your pages are doing within the last week. If you are an administrator of several Facebook pages, you can access the settings section under insights and turn off the push notifications for each of the pages you do not need to closely monitor.

For the most part, this IPhone App review is mostly positive however, sometimes this app has taken time to update and can lag. All in all, the Facebook Page Manager app is a  handy tool for people who are on the go that want some piece of mind. If managing your Facebook page and other social networks is still a struggle, you may want to consider hiring a social media manager. Either way, staying on top of your Facebook page and your other social networks is a must!

The post A Handy IPhone App Review of Facebook Pages Manager appeared first on Savvy And Social.

Facebook really knows how to burn the midnight oil. I have to give them credit. As soon they release a new feature, BAM! out comes another. And this one is a great way to follow your interests. Hence the name “Interest Lists”. These lists will help you to personalize the information you read even more then Facebook already did for you.

With an interest list you can create and subscribe to specific topical feeds such as “CrossFit” or “Fashion”. If you want to add all your favorite actors and actresses in one group, you simply need to create a list called ‘Celebrities’ and put them there.

For the most part the Facebook Interest lists acts like Twitter lists (which allows you to create and follow lists of users who tweet about the same topics) and Google Reader (which allows you to subscribe to folders containing different sources).

With all the auto-posting going on these days or your friends posting about how exciting it was to go down the driveway and get the mail, you need to be able to filter, and filter accurately, what you really need to read.

How to set up your Lists
Facebook has continued in its tradition of making things easy for the user. In this case, a user simply needs to go to the left-side bar of the home page. You will see towards the bottom a gray colored heading called ‘INTERESTS’. From there you can either subscribe to a pre-populated list or create your own. If we were to do a search for ‘Social Media’ for example, you would click on ‘Add Interests’, enter that parameter and we would see the following:

As you see, I am already subscribed to the ‘Social Media Mavens’ lists. If I wanted to subscribe to the ‘Social Media News’ list, I would only need to click on the subscribe button.  

If I wanted to create a new Social Media list I can click on the Gray bar that says ‘Create a list named “Social Media”. The first window will allow you to choose people and pages you want to add to your list. You can choose one, two, all or none. And the great part of this is that you can also add brands, friends and public figures even if you don’t subscribe to them. Pretty cool, huh? Clicking on ‘Next’ will then give a summation of the list and whether you want to make it Public (for all to see), Friends (for only your FB friends to see) or Only Me (for only you to see). And that’s it.

The new lists will now be seen on the left-hand side of your Page. If you want to make it even easier, you can add it to your Favorite by hovering your cursor over the list and then clicking on the pencil. You can also remove the list the same way.

Now what do I do?
So now you have seen the lists, added a few and perhaps even created one. Now it’s time to have a little fun. Try to see what lists you can create and who you may be interested in subscribing to.

You never know, the lists you make today can help you get some friends, contacts and even business tomorrow.

The post Interest Lists – Do you like what I like? appeared first on Savvy And Social.

This month we’ve written about Google+ and Pinterest. Now it’s time to talk about YouTube, the video channel owned by Google.

YouTube was created in 2005 as a way for individuals to upload videos for a large number of people to see. Soon everything was being posted, from helpful tutorials to kittens playing piano. The idea that nothing was too shocking, gross or boring to be posted became a call for everyone to create something. The wildfire swept over the nation, then the world. Then  businesses discovered that YouTube could be advantageous for their businesses.  Google is now indexing video which is embedded in blog posts on websites. This should make websites rank better when people are searching for content related to the video and blog of the business.

How to begin
You will first need to create an account. If you already have a Google+ account, you won’t need to create a new one, but simply login using your Google+ account. From that point forward, they will be tied together.

Do I need to have my own video?
A good recommendation is that in the long term businesses invest in making their own video(s) to help promote your company. However in the beginning it is not essential or necessary. Some of the things that are good for a business (or even as an individual part of a company) are:

• Comment on other people’s videos that are pertinent to your business and/or industry
  • Of course it is important, even on YouTube to come off as professional. Therefore, it is not beneficial to slam or insult a competitor. Your comments should be insightful, knowledgeable and even have a bit of humor.
• Sharing – How to go about sharing videos is right after this section; however, it is important here to say that you should share other people’s videos. Not only does it show that you can respect and even admire other videos, but every share is a way for someone to see you and track back to your own channel.
• Creating a playlist – as above, it is important to not only have your videos in your channel but others that are in your industry. Good Karma goes a long way. You can create multiple playlists (even a ‘Favorite Videos’ channel) for people to choose from.
• Rating videos – by rating other people/businesses videos, it show that you are part of the YouTube community and again the ability is there for viewers to track back to your channel and get your company name out there.

How to Share
YouTube gives a very easy interface for sharing videos. Simply find a video of interest to you.

Click on the ‘Share’ button and choose which social network you want to use (currently only Facebook and Twitter are available). You can also +1 (Google) the video which is beneficial to the poster’s analytics. If you do not wish to post to one of the social networks, the ability is there to embed the video in a page or status update as well as e-mail the video to clients. That last option will come in handy once you start creating your own videos.

I just created a video, now how do I effectively use it?
Ok, so you created an account (or signed in with your Google+ account), have liked and rated a few videos about your industry, even created a playlist or two. You just posted your very own video. So what do you need to do to get it noticed and how do you get feedback about it?

 It is very important to you (and all businesses) that you understand how your market is responding to your content. Staying on top of what works and doesn’t work for you can keep you company healthy and vibrant.

The first level of feedback is your video ratings (likes/dislikes) and user comments.  As always, the more views the better. However it is also important that you monitor your likes/dislikes. You might have 1000 views but you have more likes than dislikes, you may need to rethink or retool the video. And how do you find out what may be with with the video? By user comments of course. The comments are a great way to see not only what your viewers are thinking of your video but of your company in general. And if there negative comments, don’t delete them. Open discussion is important and shows that you are not afraid of a little negative feedback. However, you may take one or more of the negative feedback comments and respond to them directly. This will be a delicate procedure (you don’t want it to become an intense dialog on your video post) but if done correctly, will give you a big kudos in the YouTube community.

The second level of feedback is your analytics

From here you will see the following areas:

• Views Reports
  • Views – how many times you video has been seen
  • Demographics – The percentage of male-to-female viewers
  • Playback locations – whether directly on YouTube watche page or another location
  • Traffic sources – where is the traffic coming from to view your video (such as Facebook or Twitter)
  • Audience Retention – A valuable tool that shows you just how much of your video is being seen.
• Engagement reports
  • Subscribers
  • Likes and dislikes
  • Favorites – how many people have added  your video as a ‘favorite’
  • Comments – both good and bad
  • Sharing – how often your video(s) have been shared.

All reports can be viewed over a period of time as well. This allows for when a ‘campaign’ of videos have been released and can therefore be tracked correctly.

How about some Keywords?

As with anything on the internet, it is vital that people be able to get to what you are trying to show. Therfore, it is important that during the uploading process of your video that you add keywords that will allow people to search and find your videos. TIP: add at least one keyword that references something that is directly seen in the video. This will come in handy for those people who are not sure what they are looking for and may put in a random term (i.e. “catapulting”).

Where do I go from here?
So now you have a set of channels to get people interested in your business. And you have videos of your own to take that interest and turn that into dollars. So where do you go from here? As you have probably heard, Social Media may sound like a quick thing that you can do as an afterthought, but it is those companies that spend some time on it that will get the best results. It is important to keep your YouTube channel fresh and with new videos. If you take the time now, then it will pay off in the long run.

I look forward to seeing your videos (and liking them) in the near future!

If you need additional help with your Social Media or how to go about creating Videos, you can contact me by going here.

The post The Groove of YouTube appeared first on Savvy And Social.

With the growing interest in Pinterest, we thought it was time to give some more information on this site.

What is it?
Simply put, Pinterest is a virtual pin board.  You can organize and share things that you find on the internet. In a bit more complex way, Pinterest allows you to interact with others thru the use of ones’ own ‘pinboards’. It is this interaction that is the crux of Pinterest’s growing interest. People love to share things. And nothing brings people together more than interest in the same things. 

How does it work?
If you are not already a part of Pinterest, you will need to be invited by someone who is already a member. (contact me – EMAIL ADDRESS, to get your invite). Once signed up, you can start to ‘pin’ items of interest. A ‘pin’ can be added by either uploading images from your computer or from a website. When adding an item from the web, the item ‘pinned’ will take someone to the original website when clicked on. If you add multiple items at one time, you can create something called a ‘board’. A board can be created on any topic that you want. And then of course, shared.

How can my business benefit from Pinterest?
Pinterest now has over 10.4 million registered users, 9 million monthly Facebook-connected users and 2 million daily Facebook users. This information is from this month taken from the Inside Network’s AppData tracking service. With so many people using this platform, there are a couple of different ways that your business can gain from this site.

1. User Friendly – one of the great things about Pinterest is its ease-of-use. You have ‘pins’ and ‘boards’ and that’s it. To gain interest as a business you will want to create boards that encompass the themes and/or ideals of your company, rather than your brand overall.  Boards also don’t have to be undergoing constant modification – so there is a little less pressure than some of the other social networks.
2. Offline to Online – common everyday things that might allow your business to stand out such as your company style, the city your offices are in, special events that you might do that typically go ‘below the radar’ can now be posted for others to see. Not only can this be used as a marketing tool for those who are in your industry, but will open your company up to consumers that may have never looked at your business. And this in turn can generate business.
3. Create Backlinks – as mentioned earlier, every item added to a board will have the link back to its original site. So the more pins or re-pins of your boards, the more links to your site, the better it is for your business.

What are some of the tools for Pinterest?
There are two tools that can be used to add Pinterest to your Facebook page.

Pinvolve – this app pulls your pins to a tab on your Facebook business page. Click here to add to your page.

Woobox – This app pulls your boards to a tab on your Facebook business page. Click here to add to your page. There are additional settings that will allow you to require users to like your Facebook page before viewing your Pinterest tab, allow users to view your boards in Facebook or be taken to Pinterest and also allow you to get complete stats for your page.

As more and more people start using Pinterest, it will become very important for you to join and start showing your interests. We hope to see you ‘pinned’ shortly.

The post The Interest in Pinterest appeared first on Savvy And Social.

Why is that? Because Google has enhanced their search by highlighting any Google+ content that is pertinent. So if you have already done so, you should go out and get your company a business Google+ page.

If you already have an account, go ahead and log in and then start a search on Google.  Now when you search you will see not only standard results but personal results as well. Google already showed personalized results based on browsing history and location, but now it will show content that has been shared with you through the Google+ social network.

Here is an example of what you may see when logged in and searching on Google:

In the example to the left you see that there was one personal result and 236 million other results. This is considered a ‘mixed’ result. If for whatever reason, you wish to not search personalized results you can click on the ‘person’ or ‘globe’ located at the top right of the screen. Clicking on ‘xx personal results’ will take you to a page with personalized your results only.

Google’s goal is to now provide hyper-personalized results to its users. This will provide more relevant and more important results. Within the public search results and the growth of the +1 button, weighted search results will come into play.

This new way of searching will also return results of people and pages you have circled. Just another reason why it is important to go ahead and jump on that band wagon that is Google+.

So now it’s time to ask yourself “Ok, I get it. It’s important to get noticed by increasing my presence in Google+. But how do I go about doing that?”

Well for starters, you or your business will need to appear more prominently on Google+. You can do this by being circled already or by marketing yourself to be circled. Google says the best way to appear in Related Pages is to:

•  Fill out your profile
• Post about your favorite topics and
• Appear in search results.

It is important to remember that if you or your pages haven’t posted in 72 hours, you will more than likely not appear in the Google Plus box.

Another point that is important in building your following is to build up your company as an authority in your industry. One can do this by writing and posting quality content. +1 is a powerful tool so keep this in mind by writing good content and continually. This is where your staff writers (or in the case of small companies, YOU) are important to a business.  Because the end results of all this quality writing will hopefully be a ‘bump’ up in your ratings. Why is it just ‘hopefully’ you ask? This is due to that fact that your fellow competitors will probably be doing the same thing – writing content.

As Google is now providing this new type of search which gives a lot of exposure to your company, there is no need to be worried about security. Secure Search was rolled out by Google in November of 2011. Google employees have been working on encryption to protect personal results for a least a year. If they did not set up this encryption, content that was shared on Google+ privately could be revealed publicly within searches. As of right now All Google+ search results are hidden behind https:// and no keywords will be linked to your search in analytic programs. Since many users always remain logged into Google this will then limit the keyword data found in analytics software. Though this may seem as a downside to most Marketers, rest assured that in the world of ever-changing software, Google will swing back around to provide a benefit to Marketing.

The post What’s New: Google+ Search appeared first on Savvy And Social.

The 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report written by Michael Stelzner is out and there is plenty of useful information to peruse . Even though the survey included only 3,800 marketers, it is still a good sample of what is going on in the real world. Information that is relative to the business that we are in; but also important for businesses that are still on the fence when it comes to social media. Here’s a quick glimpse at some of the findings:

• 83% of the marketers indicated that social media is important for their businesses.

We know that Social Media, though growing, is still in its infancy. This number is expected to grow by most people in the industry.

• 76% of the marketers are planning to increase their video presence – via sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

Again this number is expected to grow. Video is a medium that many businesses use and what better way to get your point/ad/message/campaign across than by using a quick video. Who knows, it could even go viral!

• The top five Social Media networks and/or tools that marketers are using are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs.

You need to be using at least two or more in order for your Social Media presence to be significant.

• 59% of the marketers surveyed are using Social Media for 6 or more hours per week. 33% are using it for 11 or more hours weekly.

This shows how important Social Media has become. You can be sure that if you are not using Social Media this much, your competitors are.

The report continues with more information and graphs and charts – all about Social Media. Social Media has become so important with the onset of more and more mobile devices and encourages two communication between the consumer or fan and the business. You can read the report in its entirety by going here.

What are the big take-a-ways? The real benefits of using Social Media for your business or brand are the following:

•  Increasing exposure and Increasing traffic.

It is these two benefits that most people are finding so appealing when using Social Media. Now you can reach thousands, if not hundreds of thousands by posting on Facebook, writing a blog or uploading a video on YouTube and integrating all of them so you can be easily found. These channels have become increasingly important.

So how does one go about doing social marketing-either as a start or just to increase their already burgeoning social media plan? Here are some suggestions:

• When you go to a function, either as just an individual or on behalf of your company, go to your Facebook personal page and send friend requests. Chances are the people you are sending requests to are just as interested and may already be sending you a request, as well.
• How about forming relationships with industry partners on Facebook? Now, you can private message people on their Facebook business page and possibly refer people to each other via Facebook. The possibilities are endless. 
• What high school did you go to? What college? This is just another good way to reach out to people. Not only will you get in touch with people you may have lost contact with, they might be looking for someone in your field/industry.
• Do you attend a church? Or do you have a group that meets on a regular basis? Do they have a Facebook Fan Page or Business page? If not, perhaps you can start one for them. Not only is this a great way to gain more experience in Social Media, but another way to make contacts.
• Following any groups or individuals on Twitter is also just as important and a very good way to network. Follow not only people in your industry, but any hobbies or sports you might be interested in; this will increase your presence online.
• You can also follow hashtags (Twitter itself does not have such a way to follow but third-party apps like TweetDeck will) that coincide with your industry so that if someone asks a question you can respond accordingly. This will allow your business name to get out to a wider audience.
• Share information that you might have in relation to your industry. Of course, be sure that  your information is accurate, useful, and above all engaging.

With these simple suggestions, you too can increase your presence in Social Media. However, if you still feel that you need additional help or information, feel free to contact us. You can do so by clicking here.

The post Social Media – A Telling Report. It’s Not A Joke! appeared first on Savvy And Social.

With over 90 million subscribers already, it is clear that Google+ is not going away. In fact, it appears to be the next big thing on the internet.  As people begin the move to Google+, it is becoming more important to be up to speed with the newest tools and options that are available. These tools allow for businesses to track more accurately their online ROI. This is beneficial as more people are no longer responding to traditional marketing. Below is a list of items that are new to Google+:

Multiple Administrators
Google+ now allows for up to 50 managers who can login and manage your page with their own accounts. Managers can publish posts, respond to comments, add photos, change profile information and even add/remove other managers.

Ownership Transfer
Google+ has now also added the ability to transfer page ownership. Ownership of a page can only be transferred to an already existing manager. It is easy for one to do this – click the ‘Transfer Ownership’ link in the new Page Settings panel and then choose one of the managers.

Notification Settings
This feature allows for a page owner to get notification about actions on your page. This allows for customization for your business page to be separate from you individual profile. You can change your page notification e-mail, what you want to be notified about and how you’d like to be notified. To makes these changes, simply go to the ‘Set Delivery Preferences’ section.

Unified +1 & Circle Count
This enhancement changes the +1 count and how it is shown on your Google+ page. Now your count on your page will include +1s on both Google+ and across the web. In addition, it will also include the number of people who have added you to a circle. This is only an enhancement and does not change the original way of how the +1’s were counted.

Google+ Hangouts
Google+ Hangouts is an additional free plug-in that allows you to work from anywhere and be able to have face-to-face conferences with your clients, team members or employees. Through the use of Hangouts, you can video conference, teach, learn and become the leading authority in your industry.  Hangouts also allows you to be able to record yourself to distribute through YouTube. Since Google+ and YouTube work hand in hand, you and your team will be able to watch YouTube videos together, though you may be apart physicaly. It truly is a free virtual office experience.

Master Privacy Policy
Though some people have not liked it, Google changed to a new master privacy policy. These changes took effect March 1. Google has combined over 70 documents into one main privacy policy to govern its many products. This will allow for Google to pull information from one service to another. This will give Google the ability to treat you as a single user across all their products.

To read more about Google+ and about the new changes, you can go here – http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/

(Image provided by http://www.google.com)

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The chatter about the latest Facebook changes has gone global. What does this mean to me? How will this affect my brand?  Can I have Ads on my Cover Image? The following 6 new changes are explained below:

New Look and Feel – Timeline
Brands now have Facebook Timeline. It is based on the same principle as the Timeline for personal profiles. A customized photo can be utilized for the top of the page. The page is separated into two columns. The dividing line that separates the two columns represents the passage of time (hence ‘Timeline’). For brands this provides great opportunity to show and highlight key moments in their history. And going forward, it can be used this way as well.

Reduced Tab Visibility

With this new Timeline, the left-side panel has been removed. This included links and applications. But fear not, the applications still exist. They will now be displayed differently (as rectangular panels underneath the cover photo). Due to the width of the Timeline and the space available, only three applications will be shown at one time. It will be necessary to expand the tab panel to view more. It is possible to order which three tabs can be seen at first, so careful planning must be made to decide which three. Also useful will be Page analytics to help determine the ‘best’ tabs.

No Default Landing Page
The default landing page no longer exists. This was a ‘favorite’ of many astute brands. The default landing page was one of the key ways brands were able to impress users, provide more information and to use marketing strategies like opt-in forms to continue email marketing to the “fan” . So what can be done now that this has been taken away? Brands will need to be quite careful with the top messages in their Timeline. Another strategy can be to make custom images for the thumbnails or tabs that entice your fan or visitor. Also, it will be important to use Facebook ads as they will be one of the most important ways to control a user’s experience. Advertising campaigns, already important, will become more so. 

Featuring Content (‘Pin’)
This new feature seems to be geared toward marketers.  Brands will be able to ‘pin’ certain posts at the top of their Timeline. Pinning will allow for posts to remain at the top of their Timeline for a period of seven days. ‘Pinned’ posts will be recognizable by the orange flag associated with it. The catch to this is that only one Post can be ‘pinned’ at one time. Once a new post is ‘pinned’ the other post will return to its Chronology and there is currently no way to see that it had been ‘pinned’ in the past. This seems to be a replacement for the removal of default landing Pages. 

Outdated Content and Applications
Timeline layout has increased from 520 to 810 pixels in width. This increased width results in tab ‘centering’ without any additional adjustments. Any and all applications that remain on a brand’s Page will probably need new application thumbnails. New dimensions for thumbnails are 111×74. It is therefore one of the most important items for Brands to do once their new Page is up – determine how your thumbnails look and update as needed. It must also be noted that the Cover image (the main image at the top of your layout Page) which helps to identify your brand, can NOT be an ad contact information, web address, email or other information is also not allowed. 

Private Messages
Brands will now be able to send private messages to users. This results in being able to have deeper interactions with consumers. With the new Timeline, it is important to not inundate it with customer’s questions. It must be determined by the Page managers when it is better to take the answering of questions off-Timeline and respond using a private message. This will result in a more ‘one-on-one’ approach with your customer as well as a cleaner Timeline.  

Want even more information about the Facebook changes? Then you can go to one or more of the following: http://www.mashable.com http://www.marismith.com

The post Top 6 Facebook Timeline Changes for Brands appeared first on Savvy And Social.

In this day and age of rapid change, people really want consistency. As we are unable to truly stop the wave of technological changes that the technology gods continue to throw at us, it’s reasonable to want a sense of the usual when it comes to our social media networks, right? Wrong. Facebook, the cutting-edge driver in this industry, continues to add, tweak or just plain change the layout and functionality of their site. Here is a list of items that have changed recently.

Facebook Change #1: Ticker
The ticker is a quick view of a user’s Facebook Status. It gives you the opportunity to see what your friends are doing. The ticker shows you the things you can already see, but in real time.  It helps you to keep up with the latest news as it happens, listen to music with your friends and click or hover over a story to join in the conversation.

Remember: People can only see the posts, comments and likes that you share with them. So if you share something with friends, only they will see it in ticker.

You can control what you see in the Ticker by hiding the story. Just as you can in the regular (or main body) of the status. The hide and unsubscribe settings you use to control what you see in your News Feed impacts what you see in your ticker. If you change the settings for one of your friends to see ‘Important Only’ or ‘Most Updates’ the ticker will actually show you more.

Facebook Change #2: The amount of characters available for Status Updates has increased
When writing a Status Update in the past, you only had 5000 characters to write. Now, you are able to write 63,206. Yes that is about a twelve-fold increase. But before you break out your novels and start typing, be advised that, as it was in the past, only the first 420 characters will show on the status. The rest is there but will be represented by an ellipsis (…). Some people think this is too excessive but, if you needed more room than 5000 then this gives you more space to tell your story and engage your followers. Sometimes more really is more.

Facebook Change #3: The Subscribe Button
The subscribe button allows you to hear from people you are interested in, even if you are not friends. You’ve always been subscribed to friends, and this didn’t change. Now you can keep up with journalists, celebrities, political figures and other people you’re interested in, too.  You can get their public updates in your News Feed by going to their profile (timeline) and clicking on the Subscribe Button. Once you subscribe, you can see their public posts in your news feed. You can also choose what you want to see from them by choosing the types of updates you want to see.

 Facebook Change #4: Highlighted Stories Removed
The masses have spoken. The ‘Highlighted Stories’ were a list located above the normal News Feed. The list was comprised of stories that Facebook detected to be most interesting to you. However, most people agreed that it was really superfluous. So Facebook has removed it altogether. Originally they decided to allow you to simply change the ‘Sort’ feature. But it appears that so many were hiding the highlighted stories, they simply removed them.

Facebook Change #5: Facebook Fan Pages for Brands getting Timeline
Facebook will make its Timeline format available for brands later this month. It is reported that Facebook will make it official Feb. 29 in New York. Don’t worry, not all brands will change at the same time. A few will be changed and then, overtime, more and more. Timeline is Facebook’s photo-heavy format for profile pages. This became available to developers in the Fall and there was little to no information on it impacting brands. Obviously that has now changed. Feedback has been positive from users who wanted to be able to have more self-expression on their pages. Time will tell how positive or negative an impact it will have on brands.
 

(Image provided by http://www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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By: Dan Hatcher

I have had many business owners over the years ask me about the different social networks like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn and on and on and on. The names rattle off their tongues with seemingly no end. Now just so you understand, I am a die-hard SEO guy. I started in internet marketing for my brick and mortar business and transformed it from a good business to a million dollar plus business in just a couple of years. It was all done via SEO… link building… the “normal all American way!”

So, until recently, when someone asked me about social media my thoughts were “child’s play.” THEN came Panda, the most recent Google update, and social media suddenly got way more important. The thing is if you think about it, it makes sense for Google to put more importance on it.

Google’s main goal is to give people the best 10 results for whatever you type into the search bar. The better they are at doing that, the more you will use them. The more you use them, the more money they can make. So it’s capitalism at its finest, and you get to benefit if they get it right. So the question for anyone who wants to serve up the most relevant answers to your questions is how do I index, catalog and organize what people are talking about… TODAY?! By far, the source of those “relevant answers” is social media.

From an SEO standpoint (SEO is the science of using techniques and methods on your website that will rank your site higher on search sites such as Google), social media brings two things to the table. The first is links to your site that are in context with the subject matter of your site; and the second is the building of relationships that are not possible via the posting of articles or blog mentions or links from other websites. Couple this with the fact that 50% of Americans never leave the internet at home anymore because they carry it around in their hands, then you have a change in marketing that is as dramatic and life changing as the invention of the wheel.

I’ve seen the stats and the prediction charts that make the case for how the future of business marketing is going. For the slow to change folks (like I used to be) it is not good news. By 2015, more people will have mobile devices than have PC’s. They will do all their internet “stuff” on their
phone or tablet device which will in turn be the ultimate platform for…wait for it… Social Media!

Having a Google+ page, Facebook Fan Page, YouTube channel and being optimized for GPS enabled local directories like Google Places, Yahoo.Local, Yelp and Yp will be more important to most local businesses than having a website. If you don’t get started by the end of 2012, you’ll be playing catch-up. If you wait till 2014, many will find themselves out of business. Folks, Walmart is going online this year! How significant is that? Remember when you used to buy books at a bookstore? Amazon.com sold over 50% of all books sold in 2011. How about Barnes and Nobles? They were a year too slow with the online thing. How’s that working out for them?

Does that sound a little like “Chicken Little?” You betcha! If you don’t believe that however, do nothing and wait and see. It’s your call. Don’t get me wrong, websites are not dead or dying by any means. It’s just that the path that leads to your website is changing. More people will be coming to your website or your store from doing a YouTube search, by recommendation from a friend on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or by doing a search on Google Maps while out shopping than from the traditional “Google Search” in the very near future.

If you’d like to see in graphic form exactly how your business rates today in this new arena, go to GetListed.org. Enter your business name and zip code and see what your business’s “exposure” is in the local directories. Your local exposure on these local social media outlets is about to become MUCH more important to the future of your business. They also help your website ranking BTW!

Note: What you find out from GetListed.org is about your “Business’s Local Online Exposure.” It is NOT a grade on your Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accounts! For that, in my opinion, you need to seek professional help. I say that because I have yet to find a business owner who really understands their purpose. You’ll see evidence of this by going to any fan page administered by a local business owner and every post is something about their business. That’s NOT relationship building. Also if used correctly you’ll find that Facebook post appear on page one of a Google search result. That’s not by accident.

Well… All that to say this: Is social media important? You bet it is!

 Dan Hatcher is the owner of MakePageOne.com. Dan is one of those people that literally had the internet change his life. Hoping that he would get the edge on others by placing his school fundraising business on the web in 1997, Dan soon found that people from all over the country were calling and wanting to use his services. Over next three years, his business increased fivefold.

Dan sold his fundraising business in 2004, and now helps other businesses to carve out the same kind of results.

Whether your business is a brick and mortar local service company or one that can provide services nationwide, MakePageOne.com provides the engine to help you drive the increase you desire. You can also contact Dan by calling (512) 966-9595

Top image provided by http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

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