Tag Archives: fan page

“Like” Your Page?!? What’s in it for Me?

by Jamie Gorman on March 31, 2011
“Like” Your Page?!? What’s in it for Me?

“How do I get more people to…

Add Value with Social Media for Business
…”like” my Facebook page?
…join my Constant Contact email list?
…follow me on Twitter?
…subscribe to my WordPress blog?”

This is a question I get in nearly every workshop, webinar and consultation on social media. I was reminded of this common marketing concern yesterday, when I saw an emphatic post in my Facebook feed demanding that I like a friend’s fan page. My first thought was:

What’s in it for ME?

So you set up your fan page and your family and close friends are happy to join in your little social media experiment, so you have your first 25 fans – enough to get your own custom Facebook username!  After a time of networking, posting a few things, maybe even creating an event or two, other business friends and acquaintances become fans and you break the 100 mark.  At some point you reach the plateau of people willing to join the cause just because they know you, and this is where it gets challenging.  You see, at this point you actually have to show your value!  That page, post and tweet have to start earning their keep and providing your audience with something they need.  If it doesn’t, there is nothing in it for them and they will not join or will quickly leave.

Delivering Value

I recently saw a list of the top 10 reasons people like a business fan page.  Potential discounts, brand loyalty and new product information were among the top reasons in the study.  Here are some ways we guide small businesses to add value for their audience:

Use a 30/30/30 Content Mix

If your goal is to just repeat your advertising copy into your Facebook business posts, don’t expect a huge return on the time invested!  My recommendation to most clients is that less than 30% of social media posts be straight advertising promotion.   Another 30% should be industry news, product tips, research and other information that establishes your company as credible experts.  The third 30% should be less business focused and can consist of community news, promoting charity events or entertainment.  For all those keeping score at home, use that last 10% however you like!

Make it Shareable

You know those posts that you can’t wait to comment on and share with your friends?  Try to be the person who makes that post!  Think through your media calendar and post schedule from your audience’s point of view.  Are the things you post something they will want to see and share with their friends?  When you are not only valuable, but also shareable, your fan base will grow quickly.

Post Consistently

My Facebook friend base combined with the business pages I like totals about 300.  Not a large number, pretty average in fact.  But, for me to see one day’s worth of posts I have to scroll back through about 8 screens – and I hide Farmville posts!  That means if you are a business posting once or twice a week in the morning, it’s likely I won’t even see your posts for months at a time.  Social Media is more tolerant of short, valuable posts multiple times a day than email.  In fact, if you are on Twitter and only tweeting a couple times a day, most people who follow over 500 people (not uncommon) will forget they are following you.

Social Media Calendar

It’s tough to sit down and in the moment you have to post, think of something creative and valuable to say.  Create a social media calendar to help organize, schedule and mix your post content.  My social medial calendar includes Facebook, Twitter, WordPress blog posts and Constant Contact email marketing.  This provides an integrated, consistent approach to my online marketing (when I have the time to implement!)

Having trouble with your social media or email marketing?  Sigma College of Small Business has business classes, webinars and services to help you get started and be more effective.

Would you like a Social Media Planning Calendar?  We developed an Excel spreadsheet that we use at Sigma College.  Use the comments below to let me know if you are interested.

Posted in Blog, Blogging, Email Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keep an Eye on Your Profile and Make Sure it is Linked Correctly!

by Jamie Gorman on January 24, 2011

Connect Personal Info to Facebook Fan PageFacebook makes and implements a lot of changes without your permission.  Make sure that every month or so you scan your Facebook profile to make sure your setting are right and to see if there are any new features you can use.

Connecting to Your Company Fan Page in your Profile

Recently Facebook made some changes to the layout of your wall an placed your information in a listing right below your name.  When they made the change, they added information based on what was in your profile.

Link Facebook Profile Info to Your Fan Page

For things like your employer, if they didn’t find an existing business page, they created a new page.  My friend Carole from Chow Now Pet Foods, LLC, provider of quality raw, organic pet food, pointed this out to me last week and asked about making it connect to her real Chow Now fan page instead of the fake one they created.

Connecting YOU to Your Fan Page

Here are the steps to connect you to your fan page.

  1. Go to your Profile Page by clicking the “Profile” link in the upper right of the Face book window.  Make sure you are signed in first.
  2. On the Profile Page, click the “Edit Profile” button in the upper right  of the window.
  3. In the left column is a list of categories for information that you can change.  Click the link for “Education and Work”Facebook Profile
  4. If you had an employer or place of business listed before the change, that will be listed with a link to the “fake” page as an employer or project.
  5. In the blank “Employer” box start typing in the name of your Fan Page.  Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t show up in the autofill, type it in just like it shows on your page and hit enter.
  6. It will find your page, show your profile picture and open a box for you to add information.  Fill in the information and click “Add Job”
  7. To remove the other listing, look to the right of the title and you will see an “edit” link and an “x”.  Click the “x” to delete and then acknowledge the confirmation.
  8. Go back to your profile and the information should now include a direct link to your fan page.

Although it’s a bit annoying opening Facebook and finding things different, most of the changes seem to be for the better.  If you haven’t checked your security settings in a while, you should do that now.  That’s probably where the most changes happened last year.

Thanks Carole for pointing this out.  Like most people I rarely go to my own profile because I spend most of my time in the News Feed!

Posted in Blog, Marketing and Sales, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Should My Customers Be My Friends?

by Jamie Gorman on January 18, 2011

A big point of confusion with business owners who aren’t using Facebook for business is the one of separating the personal contacts from the professional ones.  One business owner put it this way, “I’m afraid that my crazy nephews will post embarrassing things that my best customers will see!”.  And others struggle over whether to make their customers Facebook “Friends”.  Here are some recommendations when it comes to putting your small business on Facebook.

Personal Profile v. Fan Page

My first response to these types of questions is to explain the difference between a personal profile and a business page.  Larry Brauner recently wrote a great post, “ONE Facebook Business Page, No More, No Fewer” , that lists some extremely important advantages of a fan page over a personal profile for your business.

From a privacy and professional separation perspective, it is important to understand that people who “Like” your business fan page DO NOT see your personal profile and information – they won’t see the posts from your crazy nephews.  In fact they don’t even know that you are the administrator of the business page unless you tell them.  “Liking” a fan page is a one way interaction that doesn’t require approval.  On the other hand, when someone sends you a “friend request” and you accept, they can see your personal profile and all your personal information and posts.  However, being your friend does not automatically connect them to your business page, they must go and “like” it separately.

“Should My Customers Be My Facebook Friends?”

For most small business owners their best customers are often their closest friends.  So when you get a friend request from a customer or business acquaintance, it may be a struggle to decide whether or not you accept.  Here are some guidelines I recommend:

Determine how you will use Facebook – Do you count on your personal network to generate leads, or are your leads generated through more non-personal marketing techniques?  For someone who leverages that personal network, I would expect a very close connection between the personal profile and the fan page.  Otherwise, complete separation and anonymity on the business page may be the best bet.

Have a policy – Decide at what point someone can become a Facebook friend and stick to it.  Those who count on quickly building personal relationships to sell, may decide to accept someone as a friend on the basis of a single meeting.  Others may only want family members.  A simple reply message that states you only “friend” family members and very close personal friends is better than just ignoring a potential business client.

Know your audience – If you decide to have business acquaintances as friends, adjust your posts accordingly.  Posting the results of your weekday golf game, when you are behind on an important customer project may hurt your business relationship, if that customer is also a Facebook friend.

Managing Privacy

Facebook has made some significant advances in their privacy setting and techniques.  But the bottom line is this – don’t post anything on Facebook, or any online media, that you would be uncomfortable seeing on the front page of the paper tomorrow, or in ten years!  Social media is fun and a great communication tool because of its ease of use, flexibility and wide audience – these are great for spreading good information, but can be awful when that embarrassing picture from college is seen by a current or future client or employer!

We would love to hear your ideas on when you decide to “friend” your customers.  Your comments are welcome.

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“Friendly” URL for Your Facebook Fan Page

by Jamie Gorman on October 18, 2010

I had a question come up from a student about how they could get their Facebook Fan page to have a “friendly” URL like mine www.facebook.com/SigmaCollege.

According to Facebook Help, you must have 25 people who ‘like’ your page before you can set up a “username” for the page. And, you must also be an admin for the page. If you meet these requirements it’s pretty easy, but pick your username before starting the process because once it’s done, it’s done.

1. Go to www.facebook.com/username and you will see your personal username in the top block. In the bottom block will be a drop down box with all the pages for which you are an admin.

Facebook Username Friendly URL

2. Select the page for which you want to create a usnername. Type in the desired username and “Check Availability”. You may need to go to a backup username if the one you chose is already taken.

3. Once you have a username that is available, a confirmation box will come up that tells you that the name can’t be changed or transferred along with some other rules. Make sure that you chose wisely and that you spelled it correctly:-) Then click “Confirm” and you are all set.

Now you can put the friendly URL in your email signature, business cards and wherever else you want to promote your fan page.

Posted in Blog, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

4 Facebook Tips for Small Biz from the Top 10 for Big Biz

by Jamie Gorman on September 9, 2010

Last week I caught a great blog entry from Social Media Examiner – “Top 10 Facebook Pages and Why They’re Successful” written by Amy Porterfield.  The top 10 pages are pretty amazing, but they are all professionally done by big brand companies with marketing budgets most of us small business owners don’t have.  However, after further review, I filtered out these four things that you can do with no budget, just some time and creative thinking!

Note: The fan pages I present as examples are managed by individuals who are running their own business.  Nothing fancy, but they consistently use techniques that support one of Amy’s points with no cash budget, something we can all appreciate and learn from.

Know Your Audience!

Amy highlights for Red Bull and Jone’s Soda

As you work through your social medial plan for the month, think about what your Facebook audience wants to hear – what will capture their interest?

Susan Jacobs – Assist2Sell Real Estate

Facebook Fan Page for Susan Jacobs Assist2Sell Real Estate

Susan is a real estate professional, great networker and a former Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.  Her audience is the network she has built over the last 20 years in the community.  Knowing this audience she places a lot of emphasis on chamber and community events, using links and pictures when possible so that posts can be easily shared.  Like most small business owners her personal life is very close to her professional life, so there are some content ties between her personal and business profiles that help build on the personal relationships she uses for referrals.  Great Job Susan!

Use Pictures and Video

Amy highlights for Burt’s Bees (mentions in multiple others)

For anyone with a visual product or service this is the first recommendation that I make!  It’s not too difficult once you set up your process, it adds a ton to each post and it enables the all important “share” link to the bottom of your post.  I really wish my business was more photogenic!

Dorsey Signs and Designs

Business Signs by Dorsey Signs and Designs Warrenton VA

Stevi is one of my new small business Facebook Heroes because of her daily posts!  Most of them include a picture and show three things: a different type of “sign and design”, the quality of her work and a mention of the business or organization highlighted.

Garden Muse/Ideascapes

Facebook Fan Page for Garden Muse/Ideascapes Warrenton VA

I love the way Fabienne presents the stories of her work.  She provides before and after pictures with little write-ups on different jobs that really make us a part of the process.  Don’t you want a landscape designer who can look at your before picture and really “muse” about the possibilities, then make it happen.

Get Fans to Engage and Act

Amy highlighted in at least 7 of the 10 pages!

So do you think this is important?  Amy provides several great examples – asking people to post pictures, contests, Facebook Stories, etc.  Most of these are pretty cheap but take some time and planning to really get them set up and going right.  What I would like to focus on here is using the content of your posts and campaigns to engage your audience.

Great Harvest Warrenton

Facebook Fan Page for Great Harvest Bread Warrenton VA

Great Harvest in Warrenton is a place I want to visit every morning when I see their daily picture post of fresh baked bread!  Pablo and his staff do a great job of engaging their audience with pictures and headlines, as well as their participation in the community.  I especially like the “campaign” he started this week relating to ‘80’s music.  First, it identifies with his primary demographic (those who remember the ‘80’s).  Second, popular music gets people engaged.  People are likely to comment and share a post for a bread called “Tainted Love”!  Third, those of us who have visited the store know there is always a familiar tune in the background.  I really hope Pablo leverages this campaign!  BTW, Great Harvest Warrenton is a great place to cash in on your Foursquare efforts – I got a free cup of coffee Friday!

Use Campaigns

Amy’s highlight for Oreo

Every month I have my clients fill out a form with events, activities, projects and products they want to promote in the upcoming month.  Then I put together a media calendar where I can lay out all the different posts for these events and activities.  Once we have the big picture I look for the gaps and connections where we can use a campaign.  A campaign is a grouping of messages under a single name or brand, where the name or brand catches people’s attention, ties together a couple key messages and engages your audience.  When done right, like the OREO Back to School campaign, it provides a steady stream of great content.  Guide your campaign ideas around the general value you bring to customers or something your audience will identify with, like Back to School or ‘80’s Music.

Thanks to Amy for a great post that really opened my eyes!  Don’t dismiss the creativity, adding tabs and other things she pointed out and recommended.  Most of what the big guys are doing is within your grasp as a small business, that’s the beauty of social media.

A lot of what I do is taking the success of big business and making it practical for my small business clients.  My biggest recommendation in Social Media for Small Business is to start with one thing and do it well, then build on it.

  • Know your audience
  • Use Pictures and Video
  • Get Fans to Engage and Act
  • Use Campaigns

But most importantly – BE CONSISTENT!  Set up a simple schedule to start and stick with it.

Posted in Blog, Business Networking, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Facebook for My Business? Top 3 Reasons

by Jamie Gorman on August 3, 2010

Using Facebook for BusinessYesterday, my friend Becky O’Brien from Optimal Wellness recommended that I write something about why a small business owner, even an independent distributor should use social media.  To keep it simple I’ll focus on Facebook, but the same general principles apply across applications with some unique benefits for each.

  1. Customers are using Facebook and don’t seem to mind brief, useful posts from businesses they “like” – this sets up for you to have multiple touch points with a lot of customers and potential customers every day.  Social Media is still a “passive” media where people understand a little promotion and it’s acceptable if it’s kept short and there is value mixed in.  But, don’t get greedy by overdoing it.
  2. Businesses like “word-of-mouth” business and Facebook is “word-of-mouth” times 100 – Let’s say your average fan has 100 friends and that you have 200 fans, not a bad start for a small, local business.  If even 2 fans share one of your posts you have the potential to hit 400 people with your post!  Build up your fans and you can see how quickly that number could jump.  Oh, and these are word-of-mouth referrals FROM people who have chosen to “like” you, TO people who have chosen to be their friend!
  3. Facebook advertising can be tightly targeted to a specific audience – I get Facebook advertising targeted to Naval Academy Graduates because it is in my profile.  You can target by location, age, sex, relationship status….. That means if I sell wedding dresses I can target engaged women, ages 18-30 and filter out those who are already fans.  That’s tight!

Facebook is warming up to business more each day, and I highly recommend jumping on the band wagon before business dominates and people start looking for less commercial alternatives.  If you are just getting started remember to be consistent without being overbearing, spread posts throughout the day and week and add posts with value that are worth reading and sharing.

I’ll close with a link to a simple example of how my sharing on Foursquare, combined with Facebook to create awareness for a local small business.  The post is

Sigma College of Small Business will be offering a 3-hour workshop titled “Facebook for Business! Beyond the Basic Fan Page” on August 17 and August 25 in Haymarket, VA.

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