Nathan Snell's Blog - Internet Strategist http://thesnell.com/blog The latest in internet strategies and how they can profit your business Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:42:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 TheTechnopianhttp://feedburner.google.com 2 Simple steps to help get your Facebook Page found http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/4fhzq0zvTpQ/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/15/2-simple-steps-to-help-get-your-facebook-page-found/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:12:00 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1197 This post is part of my series, The Complete Guide on How To Use Facebook for Business.

In this video, I outline 2 quick and simple steps to help your Facebook Page get found by people who are looking for it within Facebook.

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/15/2-simple-steps-to-help-get-your-facebook-page-found/feed/ 1 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/15/2-simple-steps-to-help-get-your-facebook-page-found/ Why I wish I had a top-hat http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/q2iqsPXKvws/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/13/why-i-wish-i-had-a-top-hat/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:06:54 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1178 I am sure you’ve heard the phrase “wearing multiple hats”. I think with the right business model that can be true, but sometimes I am not so sure.

For example, you have the agencies that wear multiple hats. They’ll do your branding, your marketing, your PR, your web presence, and more if you ask them. I personally don’t see this as an agency (especially as they get into software). Their own marketability  seems to get diluted.

The flip side of this are the top-hat wearing specialists. They only do interface design, or  social media, or search engine optimization. I think there’s a strength in their focus. Look at other specialties, after all. You have electricians, specialized auto mechanics, foot doctors, and so forth. Not to mention the marketability increase dramatically – especially when starting out. Your “pitch” is quite nearly forced to become your elevator speech.

I bring this up because what kind of hat to wear, or how many hats to wear, has been a constant struggle of mine. The evidence of this should be blatantly obvious based on the content of my blog. Facebook and Business models aren’t exactly related — unless I’ve been talking about Facebook’s business model. Which I haven’t.

A convincing case for the top-hat mentality is that if you look at the companies that frequently get acquired, they tend to be top-hat toters. The irony, of course, is that they’re acquired by companies that wear multiple hats.

  • Rotten Tomatoes only focused on movie reviews and was acquired
  • YouTube only focused on user generated video content and was acquired by Google
  • iLike which only focused on music for social networks initially was acquired by MySpace

Is there an answer to whether a top-hat is better than wearing multiple-hats? I think both can look fairly ridiculous. I am beginning to think that simply adhering to the business model that led to success in the first place should play a larger role. If you’re working to build that initial success, then the laser focus of a specialty may be the simplest way to get there.

What does that mean for me? It means I need to wear the hat that fits the best. Better question – what does that mean for you?

Hat tip to rattyfied for the only useful top-hat photo on flickr. Oh yes, pun totally intended.

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/13/why-i-wish-i-had-a-top-hat/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/02/13/why-i-wish-i-had-a-top-hat/ Watch my wedding online http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/sKwp6nFUqFE/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/23/watch-my-wedding-online/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:05:09 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1164 As you might suspect, having just gotten married, I’ve been a bit preoccupied for the past week as Stacy and I get into the flow of life together (which is awesome)!

The wedding was amazing. As everyone says, it goes by in a hurry. Thankfully, we had the whole live stream archived, and Stacy’s family has put the archived version to be viewable online until the edited version is finished. So if you’d like to see the archived live stream of our wedding – take a look!

The live stream was almost as important as updating our Facebook status (which we had to pay the hotel internet access to do). Yes, we’re that dorky : )

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/23/watch-my-wedding-online/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/23/watch-my-wedding-online/ Two Days Until Showtime http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/fWnlmWtGokk/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/14/two-days-until-showtime/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:24:22 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1162 And by showtime I mean my wedding day. It’s crazy awesome to think I’m getting married Saturday. Crazy awesome and kind of scarey as a crap. If this is news to you, I invite you to enjoy our story as well as join us online.

Yes. I am enough of a new media nerd and am thankful my in-laws are also nerdy enough to organize the live streaming of our wedding on Saturday at 4. More info on our wedding site: http://wedding.thesnell.com

A big thanks to Stacys family too (which comprises much of the Broadcast Group) for doing a masterful job with the event overall. They’ve really gone above and beyond and no doubt you’ll be able to tell.

As you might suspect. This also means I won’t be posting till next Tuesday (when our initial honeymoon is over – yes initial). Rest assured tho, I’ll be back with much to share. Both personally and about Facebook.

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/14/two-days-until-showtime/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/14/two-days-until-showtime/ [Video] How to create a Facebook Page for your business http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/4cPsIQ5eIyA/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/12/video-how-to-create-a-facebook-page-for-your-business/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:44:39 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1147 This post is part of my series, The Complete Guide on How To Use Facebook for Business.

In this video I take you through the first stages of creating a Facebook Page for your company, the importance of choosing your categories, picking a name that people are looking for, and what account you should be creating a Page from.

If you have any further questions, feel free to let me know! Coming up will be more on customization!

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/12/video-how-to-create-a-facebook-page-for-your-business/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/12/video-how-to-create-a-facebook-page-for-your-business/ 5 Facebook Page Secrets You Need to Know http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/daZT62yoNGI/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/07/5-facebook-page-secrets-you-need-to-know/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:27:20 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1105 This post is part of my series, The Complete Guide on How To Use Facebook for Business.

This next line should wake you up like realizing you accidently hit “reply all” to that personal e-mail you meant to send to one specific person.

1. Most people will come to your Facebook Page just once.

Taking that into consideration, you have one opportunity to get the person to become a fan of your page. It also means the primary goal/strategy of every Facebook Page should be to convert as many users as possible to become a fan of your Page. You can see this in play by Mashable, as well as many others.

2. The value of your Facebook Page is in what you share, not in the Page itself.

After you get someone to become a fan of your page, your secondary strategy kicks in – sharing. This is also where the true value of your Facebook Page is.

When someone is a fan of your page it gives you the opportunity to share continual information with them that they will find interesting. It’s about them, not you. If you shoot wedding photography, share memories and stories. If you’re a real estate agent, share crime rates and ask questions like what the first thing people look for in a house is.

3. The success of your Page lies in its activity

If people are “liking” or commenting on what you’re posting on your Page, then there’s a pretty good chance they’re also clicking on your links and sharing what you post with their friends.

One important thing to note is the more activity your Page receives, the better chance you have at your Page showing up in the News Feed, where you get exponential marketing exposure. We want activity.

4. Your page isn’t for acquiring new customers.

The vast majority of the time, your Page will be best served as a customer retention tool not a customer acquisition tool. It’s unlikely someone who doesn’t have a pre-existing relationship with your company will fan your page, because being a fan can be a rather personal arrangement (depending on the Page).

That doesn’t mean there’s no point in having a Facebook Page or that you won’t get any new customers. It just means your strategy needs to be focused.

5. Timing is everything

I’ve said this again and again: Facebook is real-time. What you say at 11:00 am is only seen at 11:00 am (unless it gets a lot of activity). So use your Facebook analytics to understand your Page demographics. We’ll get into using your Page demographics later, but the idea is simple: are your demographics what you expected and are you sharing when said demographic is likely listening?

More Secrets?

What’s a Facebook Marketing Secret that has served you well?

Sweet looking photo credit goes to rpongsaj.

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/07/5-facebook-page-secrets-you-need-to-know/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/07/5-facebook-page-secrets-you-need-to-know/ The Complete Guide on How To Use Facebook for Business http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/GXl_ekle-5M/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/05/the-complete-guide-on-how-to-use-facebook-for-business/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:42:05 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1100 With a population larger than most countries, Facebook is Godzilla of the social networking space.

The opportunity Facebook brings to businesses should be obvious – there’s a lot of potential customers and eyeballs available. But getting access to the widely untapped population of hundreds of thousands of Facebook users can be a bit tricky.

That’s why with all of my recent Facebook research, writing, and presentations, I’ve decided to create the complete guide on how to use Facebook for business (free). I am going to be building this guide over the course of the next couple of weeks. Here’s some of what you can expect to learn:

  • Fundamentals of a rockstar Facebook strategy
  • How to create a Facebook Page for your company
  • The secrets of getting your company found on Facebook
  • How to make your Facebook Page grow like a weed
  • Getting your Facebook updates into the News Feed
  • How to write killer Facebook updates
  • Linking your Facebook account with other social media

Posts Written

Not Complete Enough For You?

If there are any immediate Facebook questions that you don’t see present in the list above, feel free to let me know and I would be more than willing to cover it and add it to what will be the growing list above!

Laughing Squid took the sweet photo. They’ve got an awesome site too, so check it out!

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/05/the-complete-guide-on-how-to-use-facebook-for-business/feed/ 1 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/05/the-complete-guide-on-how-to-use-facebook-for-business/ Twitter hires Captain Ahab, goes after Fail Whale http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/le_R-pd-zjs/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/04/twitter-hires-captain-ahab-goes-after-fail-whale/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:33:37 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=1095 It would appear from Twitter’s recent down-time report that Twitter is making inroads to catching its certainly frustrating, albeit lovable, fail whale. It could even be that with Twitter’s growth, Twitter could parallel Moby Dick, except instead of being the next great American novel involving a whale, it could be the first great American website involving a whale (I’m sure the Guinness Book of World Records could have a slot for that). Either that or it could be considered internet plumbing. Both great achievements, although one certainly much less notorious than the other.

What’s really significant about Twitter’s lack of recent downtime is that they’re actually being reported as up more frequently than Facebook. I will save my “oohs” and “ahhhs”, however, for when Twitter sustain that up-time while having a userbase 2.5x the size of Japan. I have hope for the fail whale yet.

If the question “What was MySpace’s up-time?” is ringing in your head, then to you, I say, get a grip. MySpace was so last year. But really. MySpace? Who thinks about MySpace anymore? Or is the real question is, who is Captain Ahab? Seriously. I wiki’d him for an accurate reference, which makes me glad wikipedia just got its additional 7.5m in funding… otherwise I’d have to use Google legitimately.

Photo credit to Paul Rj Muller

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/04/twitter-hires-captain-ahab-goes-after-fail-whale/feed/ 0 http://thesnell.com/blog/2010/01/04/twitter-hires-captain-ahab-goes-after-fail-whale/ The number one rule of blogging http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/JwUwxgUMgXI/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2009/12/08/the-number-one-rule-of-blogging/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:12:52 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=748 Should be don’t post inconsistently or don’t stop posting. At the very least it’s somewhere in-between those two ideas.

There’s a great reason for why you should post consistently. Namely, if you don’t post consistently it will cause your subscriber count to stagnate faster than Tiger Wood’s personal life. The analogy still works because numbers aren’t everything, even though Tiger had that too… unfortunately.

If you’re wondering what the number two rule of blogging is… it’s probably something like pick your niche. I’ll chalk my excuse up to The Curse of Knowledge.

Props to Leo Reynolds for the photo.

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]]> http://thesnell.com/blog/2009/12/08/the-number-one-rule-of-blogging/feed/ 2 http://thesnell.com/blog/2009/12/08/the-number-one-rule-of-blogging/ How to track your e-mail conversions without e-mail marketing software http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTechnopian/~3/gmV8aswHPfU/ http://thesnell.com/blog/2009/12/02/how-to-track-your-e-mail-conversions-with-e-mail-marketing-software/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:28:03 +0000 Nathan Snell http://thesnell.com/blog/?p=741 Recently I’ve been noticing a number of clients have been sending out marketing oriented e-mails to their mailing lists without really tracking how many people are clicking their links (conversions). This makes me particularly sad because I am such a fan of measuring and fine tuning marketing and processes. In most cases, the reason clients are tracking conversions is because they don’t want to pay the price for e-mail marketing software.

Because I’d like as many people to track conversions and improve their business as possible, I created a brief screen cast video of how you can use bit.ly to create custom, trackable links to use in your e-mails. It covers:

  • The process of creating your e-mail then inserting your links
  • How to get the URL you want to create
  • How to convert that URL into a trackable bit.ly URL
  • How to insert that URL into your e-mail
  • What it looks like once people begin to click on that special “short url” link

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