5 Steps to Import Your Blog into Facebook

This morning I was working with a client, trying to explain over the phone how he can pull his blog into his new Facebook Page, and I felt as if I was playing that game where you sit blindfolded and have to get someone to draw something you are thinking of, using verbal communication only.

Somethings are just easier to do yourself than to try and explain. I ended up writing the directions down and sending them via email, but by 3pm, I had two other people asking me this same question on our Gettin’ Geeky Page so I figured I’d better get this out!

Since you put a lot of effort into a blog, you want to get all the exposure you can. You can import your blog into your personal profile on Facebook as well as your PAGES. Here are the steps to follow (it may sound a bit confusing but hang in there!)

1. Go to your PAGE and click on EDIT PAGE on the left.

2. Go down to APPLICATIONS (sometimes you have to click on BROWSE MORE . The search box is in the upper left- type in BLOG and you will see several options including NETWORKED BLOGS (SOCIAL RSS is another good one).

3. When you click on the Blog app you will then need to click the link ADD TO MY PAGE (under the picture on the upper left). If you have multiple pages, it will ask you to choose which page to add it to.

4. Now you go BACK to your PAGE and select the Blog tab that should now be showing. You will have to now pull the blog into the tab from here. You are almost finished.

5. There are a few boxes to check and then you must SAVE your settings and then TEST the publishing to make sure everything took.

There … that wasn’t so hard now was it?

Share your blog address here for all of us to check out too!

@GinaSchreck

July 29, 2010 | Filed Under Facebook, Facebook PAGES, Social Media, Technology | Leave a Comment

Social Media for Business…Whose Face Do You Use?

This is a common question asked by executives, entrepreneurs and, small businesses especially. Should you tweet or post content from a Facebook page as yourself or as your company? Ask yourself this question: On Twitter, would you be more likely to follow and engage in conversation with a person who happens to work at, or own, a particular company, or with the logo of the company? You know that there is a person (most of the time) sending out the information on the company’s behalf, but which is considered more transparent and authentic? The REAL person.

Take a look at the company, Zappos. For those of you who are not familiar with this company (shame on you!) it started as an online shoe retailer but now sells clothing as well. I believe Zappos is a customer service company that happens to help you look great! The CEO, Tony Hsieh, says they deliver HAPPINESS…and when shoes are delivered…it is indeed HAPPINESS! But if you do a search on Twitter for Zappos, you will find over 40 individual accounts that have Zappos and then the person’s name within the company that is using Twitter to reach and engage her own community, including Tony Hsieh. People want to connect to brands that they love and if there is a real person behind the brand, it is a bonus!

Social Media Expert, Gina Schreck, Twitter Training, Technology Speaker

Remember, social media is about the conversations, not the pushing of your goods and services. Once I like you, I will be more likely to buy from you. If all you do is talk without asking my opinions or listening to what I am talking about, you might as well keep wasting your money on those slick postcards that I love throwing away!

Now on Facebook it is a little different. You may want to allow individuals within an organization to send or post content on behalf of your company from their personal profile pages, but I would use extreme caution (OK I would really ask you “ARE YOU NUTS?”). If you are a small company and you want your team members to help you get the word out on certain company campaigns or messages, have and communicate clear policies around what type of content should and should not be shared from a personal Facebook profile. ”Company picnic today at Synapse” is fine but “Boss man getting married AGAIN…this time to our marketing VP” may not be the message you want getting out to all of Facebook Land! Facebook has PAGES that serve the business world and provide a great place for you to engage with your community. (See episode #35 on Gettin’ Geeky for the HOW TO CREATE A PAGE) I suggest that companies create a PAGE that does not have an individuals name, but the company or the service you provide (SPEAKEASY uses the company name while WOMEN WHO WALK THE WALK is not a company named PAGE, but a community of people drawn by common interests).

Twitter and Facebook profiles are more about the personal conversations, while PAGES (formerly FAN PAGES) are about great content and engaging your community -whether around a brand name or common interest group.

So who’s face do you use? I will leave that up to you…but unless your logo has a shoe somewhere in there, you may not get me to engage! Share your thoughts with us~ What PAGES do you engage with most and is it a person’s name or an organization? Come on…take off that mask and talk to us!

@GinaSchreck

You can connect with me on Facebook on my personal page or join the fun at our GettinGeeky Page

June 25, 2010 | Filed Under Facebook, Gettin Geeky, Social Media, Twitter | 6 Comments

HELLO? Is Anyone Home on Your Social Media Sites?

A good friend of mine is an expert in his field. He is a great guy and is booked regularly for speaking engagements. He jumped on the social bandwagon over a year ago with a Facebook page and a Twitter account. The problem is he has outsourced the posting of content on his pages to someone who obviously does not know how to LISTEN to the community he has tried to engage.

There are regular info-dump posts with tips or links to his site with information about where he is speaking next, but you never see comments on the Facebook PAGE or replies in the Twitter feed. There is no conversations going on. Why bother? Your website is already playing the role of stagnant information dumping ground (assuming there is no blog). There’s nobody home.

Social engagement tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and your blog are about conversations and building relationships. Part of a good conversation is listening and responding to the people you are wanting the relationship with. If you don’t believe me, try maintaining a healthy relationship with someone (significant other, children, co-worker, etc) without responding when they speak to you. That relationship won’t last long.

Here are 3 tips for making sure the lights are on and people know you are home:

1. Mix in questions with your tips and information that get posted. Asking questions shows you care about what your community thinks. For example, your Twitter profile and Facebook PAGE should be sprinkled with great content and conversations.

2. NOW LISTEN and respond to the answers your community posts. Yes this means replying to every single comment. You can bundle your reply to several people at a time but show you heard them.

3. Look at what your community is saying (this is made easier by using a tool like Hootsuite or TweetDeck to filter the flow of information) and jump in on the conversation occasionally with a comment, a LIKE, a ReTweet, or a reply (shoot for 5 times a day to start).

Be sure you are applying these tips to all of the places you have hung your SOCIAL sign out–your blog, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Remember, don’t leave your lights on if no one is home!

Like Tom Bodett, I’m @GinaSchreck and I’ll leave the light on for you~

Join me on our Facebook PAGE (someone’s alway home there)

June 24, 2010 | Filed Under Facebook, Gettin Geeky, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube | 2 Comments

Tending to Your Social Media Garden

I love spring and summer. I love sleeping with the windows open and hearing the birds in the morning. I love waking up at 5:30 to go out in my garden to water the flowers, skim leaves out of the water fountains, making sure the water levels are up, and frequently planting a new potted plant that I found the night before. I even enjoy pulling a few weeds here and there. My husband asks, “Is the garden ever finished?” I try to help him see that a great garden is a daily commitment. It is never finished, it just keeps getting better and better.

Growing your social community is a lot like a garden. It takes a daily commitment to do the work each day. You will need to check on your relationships, nurture a few that are wilting and even pull a few weeds each day. Too many people want the beautiful garden without doing the work. Those are the people who end up buying fake plants or paying someone to come each week to do the work for them. Let’s take a peek into both of those Social Media Gardens:

Buying fake plants is the same as those who jump into the social media arena and connect with thousands of people that they have nothing in common with or that they really have no interest in conversing with. They just want the appearance of a big garden. Take a look at the “FOLLOWER” list of some people and you will see it filled with spammers, porn accounts and the default Twitter bird picture that shows it is most likely a spam account. Now look at the profile page of that gardener and you will find one way conversations that are most likely automated. Little if any @replies to people because this gardener is simply focused on sticking more fake flowers in the dirt.

While there is nothing wrong with paying for a little help, and who wouldn’t want a gardener to come and help make your garden look its best each week, BUT you have to be careful that the gardener doesn’t take over your vision or your garden might end up looking like Disneyland with sculpted Mini and Mickey in the front yard! There are tools that can help you automate SOME of your social media chores, but you still have to get out in the garden to nurture the relationships each day. An example of a problem that can arise when you replace your presence in the garden with automation, is posting Facebook PAGE updates using fabulous tools like TweetDeck, Hootsuite or any other third-party tool and not paying attention to comments or questions that might be posted. You will not always see comments or questions unless you walk through the Facebook Page garden.

If you are going to hire someone to help you, be sure you don’t abandon the garden. There’s just no way around the fact that SOCIAL media tools are still about the SOCIAL! Without the daily work, all of the time and effort you put in to start your garden will return nothing but weeds.

Here are 4 tips to simplify your work in the garden.

1. Start with a plan. What kind of content will you be providing? Who is the community that you will be connecting with?

2. Log in to each of your sites each morning. Welcome newcomers, provide value to your community, respond to questions or comments. Be social.

3. Use automated tools (TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc) to schedule posts for regular events or tips that you provide.

4. Take time to enjoy your garden- post fun content – recognize loyal followers- show your personality!

What are your tips to keeping a beautiful social media garden? Share them here with other gardeners!

@GinaSchreck

June 10, 2010 | Filed Under Facebook, Gettin Geeky, Social Media, Technology, Twitter | 1 Comment

Understanding The Four Faces of Facebook

There is no doubt that Facebook is the powertool that we need in today’s marketing toolbelt. With well over 400 million users, you have the equivalent of an entire country, which just happens to be the 3^rd LARGEST in the world (Ranking by population: China, India, FACEBOOK, United States), at your fingertips.

What started as a college connection tool has evolved into a Quad-Faced, personal networking and professional business behemoth. Along with this evolution has come great confusion. How to separate personal from professional use? What is the difference between profiles, pages and groups? Here is an overview of the four faces and how to use each.

The Personal PROFILE. The mainstay of Facebook is the personal profile, and it can be used for both personal connections with family members and close friends or as a professional networking tool. The terms of agreement at Facebook state that you will have only one account. If used correctly, you do not need separate accounts for business and personal use. Using the “LIST” feature you can create a list for colleagues and lists for family members or friends and then set privacy settings for these lists that will help you keep your information and photos nicely separated.
The Business PAGE. The former FAN PAGE has matured into the Business Tool extraordinaire. PAGES can do just about anything a website can do including house videos, blogs, testimonials, and more. You can have as many PAGES as you’d like and they are created off of your personal PROFILE. When you log into your personal PROFILE you will find a link on the left column that reads, “Ads and Pages.” From this link you will choose “Create a PAGE” not an AD.

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

PAGES have no limit on the number of fans you may have (profiles cap at 5,000) and each post from a PAGE is fully indexed by Google and other search engines (profile posts depend upon your privacy settings). People who join your PAGE cannot see anything on your PROFILE (unless you are connected there) and your friends are not automatic fans of your PAGE. Facebook PAGES also offer wonderful analytic tools to help you track click through rates, fan demographics and more.

One word of caution when naming your page: You may want to put your business name or other benefit-revealing name on your page instead of your personal name. Your friends will know the value or type of information YOU will provide but if your goal is to grow your fan base beyond your friends, your page should give an idea of WHY I SHOULD allow your PAGE information to be added to my information stream. (see post: Unless You’re a Rock Start, Your Facebook Page Shouldn’t Have Your Name)
The Community PAGE. This is the newest and most random face on Facebook. Again, in their efforts to separate business application on Facebook from personal use, the Community PAGE was born. These are PAGES that do not represent one particular product or service. You might be a fan of “I LOVE SLEEPING PAST NOON,” or “I ALWAYS DUNK MY COOKIES IN MILK.” There is not one person who “owns” these PAGES, so after someone creates them and they grow to a certain number, Facebook turns them over to be managed by the community. Posts are made equally by all and the group will self-manage the content.

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Facebook GROUPS. GROUPS are meant to foster discussion around a particular topic area and are great tools to use after a class or conference to keep the conversations flowing. Facebook GROUPS are similar to LinkedIn Groups. They do not have the same functionality as PAGES but have the benefit of being made private (members must be approved to join) or even secret (not even showing up in group searches). This makes them a great post-event tool that you are able to monitor.
To create your own GROUP, you simply log into your Facebook PROFILE and like creating a PAGE, you look for the GROUP link on the left column and select “Create a GROUP.” After naming your GROUP and filling out some basic information you will be taken to the second page that allows you to make the group public, private or secret.