It’s always nice to be liked, it gives us a feeling of being accepted, or that we’re doing things that keep other people happy; but what does it mean for you if you have a brand that’s ‘liked’ online?

Now, more than ever, companies have a golden opportunity to interact with their customers, to find out what those customers either like, or dislike, and whether this interaction can help to create new customers from the many people that will now see them as a wholly likeable company, on one of the biggest social networking sites around, Facebook.

If you are looking to enhance your friendly persona, and take advantage of the opportunities offered by Facebook promotion, then you’re going to want to take a note of the ten tips below.
1. Always listen to what people are saying – This is as close to being able to listen into other people’s conversations about you as you’ll be able to get.

Take note of the things that people don’t like about your product, as much as you do about the things they do like, and get involved in these conversations, if possible. If people know that you care enough to get involved, and they see that you’re making changes based on what they’re saying, then you’re going to find yourself creating a better customer feeling about your products.

2. Using the EdgeRank Formula – If you don’t already know, EdgeRank is the way that Facebook determines what’s going to be at the top of the News Feeds. Why is that important? Well, most people are going to notice what’s at the top of the News Feed, and if that’s you and your product, you’re going to be seen by a lot of potential new customers.

This is going to give you a great advantage over any other company online as your Facebook marketing effort will put you ahead of your fan’s friends, so no competing for attention further down the line. Make sure you use this advantage by grabbing their attention further, videos, photos and short text should help to do that. Also, make sure you don’t go in with ‘obvious’ advertising; nobody on a social site is looking to be advertised to.

3. Engage with people – Remember, you’re taking part in a social site, so be sociable. That doesn’t, of course, mean that you have to act in a way that’s going to bring your companies image into disrepute, on the contrary, by talking to, and listening to your customers you’re going to start to build a rapport, and this is going to help you to get genuine feedback about your products.
There are some very large and successful companies that are doing this already, if it works for them, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for you; in fact, if your company gets a reputation as being approachable then it will help with customer loyalty.

4. Be on hand to answer negative comments – People have found that the internet is a good place for them to vent their frustrations and, due to the very nature of the internet; this negativity about your company can be made known to other potential customers very quickly.

You now have a fantastic opportunity to address those frustrations. Be quick to get your point across, and don’t be afraid to say if you’ve made a mistake, in fact, showing that your company has a human side, and can apologies, when appropriate, can give a lot of positivity to your Facebook marketing.

5. Positive comments are great publicity, so respond to them, too – Not only is it good to be quick to respond to comments that could damage the reputation of your company, it’s also a great idea to say ‘thank you’ to the people who are prepared to say how good your company is.

These comments will be seen by a lot of people, and if they can see that you’re appreciative of good feedback, then that may encourage them to post their experiences of dealing with you and your company, too.

6. Being genuine – Share things with people that will give them more of an insight about you and your company. That doesn’t mean that you should be ‘airing your dirty laundry in public’ but, if you have some interesting story about something that led to a new innovation in your product, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t share it with people.

7. Value for money – Why not give people something that they can’t get anywhere else, if they become one of your fans on Facebook?

This sort of Facebook promotion can bring you a lot of fans, and having a lot of fans means you have a lot of people that you can let know about new products, and they can spread the word. Because they’re doing so much to help your company, why not give them something really valuable, like 50% off of one of your best selling products?

8. Sharing stories – This was touched upon earlier, but is well worth repeating.
A lot of people are interested in how people get to where they are in life, and they’re just as interested in how products were arrived at, or improved upon. Many online are looking to start or improve their own businesses, so this can be a great way to inspire people, and if your company is associated with inspiration, that can only be a good thing for you.

9. Be ready to surprise – This should be a surprise in a good way. Are you looking to make a certain number sales of a product, or sign up x number of fans, or maybe have y number of downloads of a report? In that case, why not give people a surprise incentive if you get past that goal?
If you have something that’s of value, but you can give away a certain number of for free, then tell people that you’ll do so once the goal has been reached, but limit the number to add a certain amount of scarcity to the offer.

10. People are on there to socialize, not to be sold to – How would you feel if you went out with your friends, and all they did was try to sell things to you; you’d leave, wouldn’t you?
People go online, to social networking sites, to meet up and chat, they’ve had enough of the usual commercialism for the day, so the last thing they want is your company popping up and pushing your product.

While it’s fine to sell, don’t be a sales person, give them a way that they can buy from you, and get involved in conversations in areas that concern your product, but don’t ‘push’ it on anyone – that’s how you make a sale on a site like Facebook.

So, if you want to make the most of your Facebook marketing, then think like a buyer, and decide if you’d ‘like’ your company if you saw them and how they interact with people on Facebook.

Lady Gaga has done what many in the industry thought to be impossible; she’s knocked Oprah Winfrey from the number one position in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities.

Clearly, having a media empire that rivals that of many small countries isn’t quite enough when it comes to taking on the sheer power house of Twitter. Naturally, 10 million followers’ trumps a ‘mere’ 5.9 million any day of the week, and you don’t have to have your own production company to get them; but some talent, and an incredible marketing and business brain, helps a lot.

Of course, Twitter isn’t the only online platform giving rise to the ‘overnight’ music phenomena. YouTube, and the 500 million views of a certain music video, jumped Justin Bieber into the public consciousness, and into number 3, with his breakthrough hit “Baby”.

Also, young Mr. Bieber is vying with Lady Gaga for the top spot on Twitter, with his 9.7 million followers. It looks like the race for number one is on.

What about some of the other players in the social media arena?

Well, it looks like the lady takes the prize here, too. Even with 36 million fans on social media giant, Facebook, Eminem may as well be ’8 mile’ behind as he has to settle for second place; I’m sure she could ‘just dance’ after hearing that.

However, the last laugh may be the privilege of Oprah after all. Despite not being top of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, she has a nice, healthy, and not too shabby $290 million worth of earnings for last year to comfort her. Poor old Lady Gaga, and little Justin, only made $90 million and $53 million respectively; though I’m sure they would take that, wouldn’t you?

While it seems that traditional media is still bringing in the money, the popularity behind the stars seems to be, in a large part, based on other newer and more widely available media sources. It also seems that many of these media companies are commanding the big bucks to go with the tag of ‘the power behind the popularity’ i.e. LinkedIn, which won’t be as familiar to you if you aren’t involved in the online business side of things, has been valued at $4.25 billion. Not bad for a relatively unknown company, is it?

Are we all floating on the top of another dot com bubble? It’s hard to say, at the moment. There are plenty of differences to the boom and bust time of the late ’90′s, and lessons have been learnt, but have enough been learnt to make sure the opportunities offered this time around aren’t wasted?

Can social media sites really make money for their users? Let’s just say that not all of the stars are as well known as the ones mentioned above; and that’s something that they’re more than happy about.

It’s always nice to be liked, it gives us a feeling of being accepted, or that we’re doing things that keep other people happy; but what does it mean for you if you have a brand that’s ‘liked’ online?

Now, more than ever, companies have a golden opportunity to interact with their customers, to find out what those customers either like, or dislike, and whether this interaction can help to create new customers from the many people that will now see them as a wholly likeable company, on one of the biggest social networking sites around, Facebook.

If you are looking to enhance your friendly persona, and take advantage of the opportunities offered by Facebook promotion, then you’re going to want to take a note of the ten tips below.

1. About Time You Listen  - This is as close to being able to listen into other people’s conversations about you as you’ll be able to get.

Take note of the things that people don’t like about your product, as much as you do about the things they do like, and get involved in these conversations, if possible. If people know that you care enough to get involved, and they see that you’re making changes based on what they’re saying, then you’re going to find yourself creating a better customer feeling about your products.

2. Engage with your Audience – Remember, you’re taking part in a social site, so be sociable. That doesn’t, of course, mean that you have to act in a way that’s going to bring your companies image into disrepute, on the contrary, by talking to, and listening to your customers you’re going to start to build a rapport, and this is going to help you to get genuine feedback about your products.

There are some very large and successful companies that are doing this already, if it works for them, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for you; in fact, if your company gets a reputation as being approachable then it will help with customer loyalty.

3. Being Genuine – Share things with people that will give them more of an insight about you and your company. That doesn’t mean that you should be ‘airing your dirty laundry in public’ but, if you have some interesting story about something that led to a new innovation in your product, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t share it with people.

4. Must answer negative comments – People have found that the internet is a good place for them to vent their frustrations and, due to the very nature of the internet; this negativity about your company can be made known to other potential customers very quickly.

You now have a fantastic opportunity to address those frustrations. Be quick to get your point across, and don’t be afraid to say if you’ve made a mistake, in fact, showing that your company has a human side, and can apologies, when appropriate, can give a lot of positivity to your Facebook marketing.

5. Positive comments are great publicity, so respond to them, too – Not only is it good to be quick to respond to comments that could damage the reputation of your company, it’s also a great idea to say ‘thank you’ to the people who are prepared to say how good your company is.

These comments will be seen by a lot of people, and if they can see that you’re appreciative of good feedback, then that may encourage them to post their experiences of dealing with you and your company, too.

6. Using the EdgeRank Formula – If you don’t already know, EdgeRank is the way that Facebook determines what’s going to be at the top of the News Feeds. Why is that important? Well, most people are going to notice what’s at the top of the News Feed, and if that’s you and your product, you’re going to be seen by a lot of potential new customers.

This is going to give you a great advantage over any other company online as your Facebook marketing effort will put you ahead of your fan’s friends, so no competing for attention further down the line. Make sure you use this advantage by grabbing their attention further, videos, photos and short text should help to do that. Also, make sure you don’t go in with ‘obvious’ advertising; no one on a social site is looking to be advertised to.

7. Sharing stories – This was touched upon earlier, but is well worth repeating. A lot of people are interested in how people get to where they are in life, and they’re just as interested in how products were arrived at, or improved upon. Many online are looking to start or improve their own businesses, so this can be a great way to inspire people, and if your company is associated with inspiration, that can only be a good thing for you.

8. People Love Surprises! – This should be a surprise in a good way. Are you looking to make a certain number sales of a product, or sign up x number of fans, or maybe have y number of downloads of a report? In that case, why not give people a surprise incentive if you get past that goal?

If you have something that’s of value, but you can give away a certain number of for free, then tell people that you’ll do so once the goal has been reached, but limit the number to add a certain amount of scarcity to the offer.

9. Provide Value for Money – Why not give people something that they can’t get anywhere else, if they become one of your fans on Facebook?

This sort of Facebook promotion can bring you a lot of fans, and having a lot of fans means you have a lot of people that you can let know about new products, and they can spread the word. Because they’re doing so much to help your company, why not give them something really valuable, like 50% off of one of your best selling products?

10. People are here to socialize, NOT to be Sold To – How would you feel if you went out with your friends, and all they did was try to sell things to you; you’d leave, wouldn’t you?

People go online, to social networking sites, to meet up and chat, they’ve had enough of the usual commercialism for the day, so the last thing they want is your company popping up and pushing your product.

While it’s fine to sell, don’t be a sales person, give them a way that they can buy from you, and get involved in conversations in areas that concern your product, but don’t ‘push’ it on anyone – that’s how you make a sale on a site like Facebook.

So, if you want to make the most of your Facebook marketing, then think like a buyer, and decide if you’d ‘like’ your company if you saw them and how they interact with people on Facebook.

Facebook(FB) has probably changed our lives – Who would disagree to this statement? Even the most loner kind of a person finds himself swarmed with hundreds of friends. Conceptually, FB was supposed to be a social networking site, and it still is one but businesses are increasingly looking at FB to provide them with a launch pad for a lot of their products.

Why not – FB allows businesses to promote their products directly to their prospective customers, isn’t it? That said, there is a long way to go before you optimize your business for FB and start using FB constructively for your business.

Here are 7 tips for you to use Facebook for your business

1. Separate your personal account from your business account. Your business account in FB should only have your target customers and no one else.
2. Offer something for free – It could be anything, a newsletter, a whitepaper or something of that sorts. People would read information available for free.
3. Setup a brand identity for your business account. This means you should work on your business description, logo, and all of that. Who said using FB for your business is a child’s play?
4. Now, invite people to join your business group.  A good place to start would be to have couple of your friends who are interested in your products.
5. Enclose your FB profile link in your email signatures. This way your clients would know your business is on FB. And hey – It also helps in Viral marketing, doesn’t it?
6. Did I forget – From time to time, you should keep offering something or the other for free. This allows the interest in your group members to be sustained, when they know that they would get a free offering. Don’t do this too often else you would lose the value of your product.
7. Last but not the least – Keep revisiting your contacts. Keep adding new contacts and delete the ones who you think don’t really participate or the ones who don’t really enquire about your product. Eventually, you would want to make FB a profit making entity for your business and towards that any decision you take, is welcome.

One thing is clear – FB can definitely be used to boost the sales for your business, provided some care and diligence is exercised in building your business on FB. It may sound and look lucrative, but one mistake could also prove costly. It doesn’t take long for your business identity to lose its credibility on the Internet (At least, some businesses have definitely discovered this by now).

But, if you can follow these 7 simple tips, it is my guarantee you would be able to generate more leads for your business. It would only be matter of days that you see the sales of your business increasing.

If this is so lucrative, what’s stopping you from taking on to FB networking? After all, it is not a place where you could only make friends, but also make some moolah too!

]]> http://www.sonnyahuja.com/personal/7-tips-to-use-facebook-productively-for-your-business/feed/ 0 http://www.sonnyahuja.com/social-media/gingering-on-facebook/ http://www.sonnyahuja.com/social-media/gingering-on-facebook/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:11:08 +0000 Sonny http://sonnyahuja.com/?p=562 Many cases have been reported with minor attacks on ‘ginger’ kids as Facebook’s group has proclaimed today to be “Kick a Ginger Day”. Although nobody has been seriously injured and no arrests have been made.

The “Kick a Ginger Day” Facebook group has been inspired by an episode in South Park where the lead character, Eric Cartman tried to kill ginger kids.

This day histories back to last year in Canada where its 14-year-old creator invented this day, and later apologized and changed it to “Universal Hug a Ginger day”

Lt John Benedict, from the sheriff’s office has said, “We know the why, we know the how, we just need to find out who is involved”

Meanwhile we hope such attacks will not be repeated.

Facebook, the social networking site, is going to test the latest feature that will allow the users to respond to their status messages via email. This service will be tested with only few users this time, but it is expected that this feature will be applicable for all of its users in future.

Earlier, if you had to comment on others status updates, then you had to move out from your inbox and sign in to Facebook, but now some users are noticing a new feature through which, they can respond to the status messages via their email.

This system sends you an email and if you want to comment on the other’s status messages, then you have to click on the link to respond. It is a simple method of replying to the alert messages.

So, if you don’t want to navigate away from your inbox, it is a good way to comment on your friend’s massages.

Advantages of Facebook

Facebook, as facebook.com is commonly known as is one of the most popular social networking platforms today. It began modestly in February 2004 and has come to become a phenomenon in the recent times. The best aspect that most members attribute to Facebook is its ease of use as compared to other social networks but, as most people realize today, Facebook is one of the most popular platforms to share photographs and announcements. Although Facebook caters to various needs of individuals, every niche group of individuals looks at Facebook with a different outlook as to its advantages and disadvantages. For example, for internet marketers, Facebook is a means of advertising while for a group of students, it a good means of sending messages and announcements back and forth. The strength of Facebook lies in its flexibility of use that allows almost all means of effective communication efficient.

Let us look at the advantages of Facebook in better detail:

1. Medium of advertising: Facebook is an efficient and effective means of advertising since it costs almost nothing but reaches the world at large. Although there are varied expressions of the number of members on Facebook, the number could be anywhere between 60 million to 80 million as per data dating to November 2008. Facebook is only growing by the day and it would not be surprising if it has already crossed the 100 million mark. Amazing, isn’t it? Can a business imagine the possibilities of its advert getting an exposure to this large mass of people? Although many members seldom log into Facebook, an advertisement posted at a cost of a mere $10 or $20 reaching a tenth of its members can open a lot of possibilities, especially so for virtual or internet based businesses. Again, Facebook comes up tops here with member comfort by not displaying advertisements all over the pages. It displays them on the top-right corner of the home page and in the column on the right in the internal pages. This ensures that the adverts get good coverage and at the same time do not stick out like a sore thumb for a member. The effectiveness of advertising on Facebook is already proven and many businesses are making a beeline to Facebook all the time.
2. Legal advantages: Facebook is an informal interactive website and does not seem so serious for many but legal professionals have a different take of it. A prime example here is the case of the University of Pennsylvania where officials claimed that they had tracked down the identities of students who bombarded the field in the October 2005 Ohio state game. Facebook is also known to be used by the police to track down students violating the moral codes or standards of colleges and even culprits who are at large. Many students contest the use of Facebook with authorities since they feel that something like a singular drunken photo should not be used against them for penalty.
3. Social interactivity: Websites like Facebook are very useful when used to track down long lost friends and relatives. In fact, the more popular they get, the more useful they are since they would have a greater or a larger network where the chance of finding that someone are so much higher. Facebook also entertains groups and causes that make many a people come together for common interests thus facilitating making new friends surpassing geographical barriers. It also facilitates knowing people better and gives way to relationship and love lives that many swear by.
4. Student interactions: Although statistics prove otherwise, they are not the beacons of reality. It is true that mostly middle aged people and retirees (owing to availability of time and Facebook’s popular perception of being a social website) use Facebook, but it is also a fact that the younger generations makes the most of it. This is solely because of the social habits and common interest areas that most of the younger people share today. A lot of organizations or groups on Facebook comprise of younger people and these groups and organizations come up with a zillion posts daily about new and upcoming programs, invites and gathering notices. Even for the more mature users, Facebook, in this context, acts as perfect, cost effective and most reliable medium. Dominantly, Facebook today is the single most group communicating medium today and this quality will only assume more importance as time goes by. With Facebook being available on more and more platforms like mobile phones and Wi-Fi networks in many countries, Facebook is adding supporting infrastructure to group communication capabilities in real time.
5. Photo sharing: One of Facebook’s greatest strengths, the photo sharing feature is a great advantage for many. Photo’s can be uploaded to Facebook with ease and this can be achieved directly from a mobile phone too. The user can organize the photos into albums and set restrictions as to who can see the photos and who cannot. This Facebook has largely contributed to the popularity of this social networking medium and has eased the cause of members to a great extent. If such a feature were not available, members would have to send multiple emails with attachments to their friends and relatives or snail mail prints. The photo sharing feature also features a comment which is very innovative method of conversing with pictures and opinionating them.

Facebook by large has a lot of advantages over other social networking media which have contributed to its success. Its aesthetic feel is also one of its strengths and as mentioned before, everyone has a different take to Facebook and uses it to their own specific advantages. This flexibility of use that Facebook offers makes it highly customizable for professionals as well as personal use making it one of the best communication mediums available today.

Getting into Facebook is as easy as 1,2,3 and only needs to give in a few details. Making a good and a detailed profile would be useful to have a bigger network. One last advice, use Facebook to your advantage but be careful as to what you say to whom in there, follow a simple, modest and courteous trend and you will be safe.. .

Facebook Statistics:

# Facebook today has over 300 million active user and over 50% of them login to Facebook daily.

# The age group of above 35 is the fastest growing on Facebook.

# Facebook is also the most active website on a daily basis due to the fact that it clock over 6 billion user-minutes a day and has over 40 million status updates and 10 million fan-page requests daily.

# With over 2 billion image uploads, 14 million video uploads, 3 million events and 2 billion content/links monthly, Facebook is the most sought after SNS on the internet.

# Facebook also has over 45 million active user groups and over 70 translations.

# With over 350,000 applications online and with 70% of users using them, Facebook encourages over a million developers from across 180 countries.

# Facebook connect has been implemented by over 15,000 websites, applications and device since December 2008.

# Facebook mobile is also very popular and over 65 million active users access Facebook on mobile devices and are known to be about 50% more active than others. Facebook mobile has been deployed in over 60 countries by over 180 operators.