New Facebook Feature: More Local Pages You Might Like

To be honest, this may not technically be new, but it is the first time I’ve seen this feature, personally. Facebook often rolls out new features and functionality in waves to different users, so I’m curious – has anyone else seen it, yet?

Facebook Feature - More Local Pages You Might Like

Facebook Feature – More Local Pages You Might Like

A few thoughts follow – as scattered as they might be:

  • Anytime I see something “new” on social, I wonder, “what can we (marketers, publicists, online marketing people) do with this?”
  • Can we do some positive PR and leave a nice comment on the wall of a new page we found and say “Hi, I’m here because Facebook thought I might like you since I liked (insert name of other local business here)!”
    • Does that open the door to a nice note becoming a nasty-gram if that other business is actually a competitor? (We can’t really expect Facebook to NOT suggest direct competitors, can we?)
  • Do we leave just leave it alone and hope Facebook doesn’t start suggesting that we like “Target” when we’ve just liked the neighborhood independent gift shop?
  • This rogue thought still burns me up and I think of it every time I think “Facebook Marketing”: when is Facebook going to finally stop so heavily throttling how many people see page-created content? These are the Facebook users who have opted-in to liking the pages we heavily invest time and effort into promoting (you’re welcome, Facebook). Facebook is forcing us to buy “sponsored” visibility to improve the chances that more than 10% of page subscribers will see the posts we take the time, and have been trained to, create. {Read more about this on NewMediaRockStars.com, if you’re so inclined.}

Ending today and this post on a positive note: big “thank you” goes out to Kim Adamof for the referral that came my way today in need of public relations services!

Happy Mondaying,
Lisa

Missed the February Social Media Seminar?

Did you miss the February 2nd Shop Local Raleigh social media seminar? We certainly missed you, but I’ve provided the information shared in that event below so that you can study up on social media and how it positively impact your marketing plans.

Presentation Files:

https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.ppt (PowerPoint Format)
https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.pdf (PDF Format)

My friend Greg – facilitator, educator, rhythmatist, Trained HealthRHYTHMS Facilitator, and founder of Shop Local Raleigh member business Drum for Change – asked if I could share these resources with him for an upcoming industry conference. I told him that “I am an open book” and would be happy to share this information as a resource for him and his group and also provided the following “talking points” (below) from the presentation (which I went back and added after the presentation, because if you’ve ever attended an event with me, you know I’m an “off-the-cuff” girl and like to let the audience and their questions about a topic steer our conversation). I thought it would be helpful to share here on the Raleighwood blog, too – for everyone’s benefit!

Talking Points:

Slide 3 – The AMA (American Marketing Association) board is comprised of working marketing professionals, so I feel this definition more accurately describes the business of marketing than the typical dictionary definition.

Slide 5 – As overused as the phrase “social media is a two-way conversation” is, it’s true! Businesses that only promote their businesses, but don’t take the opportunity to engage with their audience, are not going to benefit from the time and effort required to nurture this form of communication.

Slide 6 – BIG takeaway: DO NOT MAKE A PERSONAL PROFILE FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Make a PAGE. There is a difference. Signup at facebook.com/pages. Have a personal profile so you can understand how it works from the personal user perspective, but create a page for your business/brand/organization. A vanity URL is a short, personalized URL like http://www.facebook.com/raleighwood – this is the same as telling people what your website address is exactly so they can come right to you instead of telling them to “google you”, where your competitors could snatch up their attention, instead.

Slide 8 – Remember that twitter is a unique network in itself. You don’t want to have to Twitter profile for your brand and only populate it through your facebook activity. You won’t get very many followers if you’re not offering unique information to that audience separately. You’ll also be “blind” to the responses you get on Twitter if you never actually use twitter to engage your audience there, as well. (IE: They’re not going to go to your facebook page to leave you a comment, they’re going to do it on twitter and you will likely miss it.)

Slides 10 and 11 – I LOVE iContact.com for an email service provider. They are local to Durham, NC – as is Bronto.com. MailChimp.com is free as long as your list is under 1,000 subscribers.

Slide 12AllFacebook.com and Mashable.com are two nice resources for staying up to date on social media happenings and changes. They can be overwhelming due to the frequency of their content and updates, so I just check in once a month or so 🙂

Have any questions about this event? Feel free to ask! I hope to see you at the next Shop Local Raleigh seminar and will be sure to post details here when that event is confirmed!

Cheers,
Lisa

Join Me Tomorrow at Shop Local Raleigh’s First Seminar of the Year!

Join me tomorrow morning to kick-start your Spring marketing goals and hear from other local business owners and seasoned veterans who are using social media to support their marketing plans. The event, Free Social Media Seminar – Marketing for your Business: Facebook, Twitter, is the first for 2011 in a series of quarterly education events hosted by Shop Local Raleigh (part of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association). ALL SLR & GRMA Members are invited.

We’ll talk about the idea of push versus pull marketing and some effective uses of social media for your business.

The free seminar will help you to understand:

Marketing and why it’s important for your business
Social Media 101
Email Marketing, Blogging & website and how they integrate
Top 10 Tips for Social Media Marketing 2011
Question/Answer panel including local business owners and veteran marketing professionals that use social media

And the best part? You’ll be able to hear me speak! (Just kidding about that being the best part. ;-)) Please do think well wishes for me though as today I’m fighting a nasty winter cold. Have no fear, I’ll be presenting tomorrow. Just please forgive if I sound a little raspy!

The event is from 9-11am on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 1 Maiden Lane – just off of Hillsborough Street.

RSVP to info@shoplocalraleigh.org today! Not a member, yet? That’s ok – come as our guest! But please still email to RSVP so we can have an accurate head count.

What’s ON Your Cup?

What’s in your cup may not matter as much as what’s written on your cup, with this great idea from Caribou Coffee. To be fair, I don’t believe they pioneered the idea, but I do love the customer engagement! Way better to use your customers words (with permission, of course) than a small array of old quotes, no?

Engage guests with memorable digital interactions.
When the company asked guests to submit comments about what they stay awake for, more than 15,000 people responded. Next year, Caribou plans to reissue its coffee cups with statements from those guests.

via: Marketing executive shares lessons from Caribou Coffee’s growth, growing pains – http://www.restaurant.org/nra_news_blog/2010/10/marketing-executive-shares-lessons-from-caribou-coffees-growth-growing-pains.cfm

image: http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/3075181/double_wall_paper_cup.html (PS – I’m not advocating importing your cups from China, I just like the picture.)

“This Better Not End Up on Facebook”

Clearly, a dog-owner wrote and/or directed this commercial!

PS – I half expected Pup-Peroni to have an official YouTube channel to share their clever videos. It’s a shame it took me as along as it did to find this video, not from an official source. When creating content that you hope viewers are enjoying, make it easy for them to watch, share, and engage!