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Are you ready for Facebook's new Timeline ?

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Facebook will be converting all Facebook business pages to the new Timeline look and feel at the end of March. Are you ready to take advantage of this huge change. Perhaps the most obvious change is the new larger timeline photo.

Timeline Cover photos size will be 850 px wide by 315 px tall. These images can be changed or updated as often as you like.

However, please not there are some Facebook rules governing this new image. According to Facebook, cover images may not contain:

      Price or purchase information, such as “60% off” or “Download it at our website”.

Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section.

References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.

Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

I am still working on my new image.

Here some examples of how others have used the new size to project their identity.

 

 

Basics to Help You Setup Your Facebook Page

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Every business should have a Facebook Page. However, having a Facebook Page is not just about getting tons of fans it’s about connecting and engaging with your customers and fans. When your fans comment or share your posts this will will increase your “reach” or number of new people that see your fan page.

First you need to build your fan page and fill out basic info; address, hours, web address etc. This allows people to learn more about your company and ultimately find and visit your store.

Second step add profile pictures, this adds personality to your store. Then invite your friends and family, this will “prime the pump” and help jump start your fan base. The beauty of this is that friends of your friends will learn about your new business page.

Lastly setup a vanity URL, example http://facebook.com/AndrewsBikeShop and make certain to put this URL on all your marketing assets.

Once you have setup your page try and post at least once a week. You can then use Insights the built in tracking program to learn which posts resonate with your fans.

Join Your Local Chamber and Watch Your Rankings with Google Climb

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Perhaps the best way to achieve top ranking with Google and other search engines is to attract a large number of relevant and authoritative links back to your site. Because Google, for example, interprets each link as a “vote”, the number of votes becomes key to evaluating (ranking) your website. When many sites provide links to a website, that website is understood to be significant. These links, however, should be relevant and from a reliable or authoritative source.

Many Black Hat search engines practitioners create “Free For All” sites with tons of links pointing to other sites. This tactic does little to increase traffic since in the majority of cases the originating site is neither relevant nor authoritative. How, ever, when an organization such as a local Chamber of Commerce site links to your business, then you have an authoritative link. Thus I encourage all businesses to join their local Chamber and make certain that the Chamber links back to their sites.

The Branford Chamber of Commerce takes this strategy a step further by creating micro sites for all of its members. These sites are by definition authoritative, because they are connected to the local Chamber. Thus for the cost of annual membership, Branford Chamber of Commerce members automatically get a huge boost with Google and other search engines.

13 great tools to help you manage Social Media

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Are you looking for tools to simplify your social media activities?

Many businesses feel overwhelmed when implementing their social media marketing.

Sometimes the solution is to focus on the right social media tools for your business.

We asked social media experts for their most valuable tool for small businesses using social media. Here are 13 tools to help you execute your social media strategy effectively.

Social media becoming everybody’s business

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Technology changing the way companies, customers interact

 

By John A. Lahtinen

jlahtinen@HartfordBusiness.com

02/20/12

Social media — Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter — has taken the traditional business PR model and turned it completely on its head.

Firing off poetic press releases and dumping thousands of dollars into glitzy Andrew Kaplan, owner, Walden Pond Designadvertising campaigns are no longer the norm as dwindling budgets continue to force businesses to do more with less.

But, the really seismic change surrounding the social media trend is that in addition to promoting and selling products and services, companies are now being asked to engage their customers like never before.

Today’s consumers not only expect top quality, but also demand personal attention and unprecedented access to the companies they do business with on a level never seen before. The era of social customer relationship management has arrived.

Traditionally reluctant to “share” much of anything, many companies are embracing social media and realizing the benefits of developing a new relationship with their customers.

A 2010 study of Fortune 100 companies found that 66 percent used Twitter; 54 percent had a Facebook page and half managed a corporate YouTube channel.

The truth is that customers are talking about everything — the good, the bad and Alex Halavais, associate professor of communications, Quinnipiac Universityeverything in between — and businesses should be listening.

But, with so many options — from heavyweights Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to rising challengers like Google+ — choosing a social media platform can be daunting for a business.

“Facebook isn’t the only game in town, but it’s the most popular,” says Andrew Kaplan, who owns Walden Pond Design, a digital marketing firm in Madison. “I recommend companies focus first on Facebook. Once they are comfortable with Facebook, they can explore other technologies.”

A major advantage of social media is accessibility.

“It’s good old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising on steroids,” said Kaplan. “The beauty of social media is that a small business can compete with the big guys.”

One of Kaplan’s clients, TheWhisperofGod.com, quickly attracted more than 300,000 Facebook fans with a daily advertising budget of less than $10.

But, can the likes of Google+ really mount a sustainable challenge to mainstays likeCaitlin Thayer, owner, Barefoot MediaFacebook?

Some feel it is too early to tell.

“It feels like Google is pretty much making this up as they go,” said Alex Halavais, associate professor of communications at Quinnipiac University.

“They’ve got a pretty nice platform, but it isn’t well suited (yet) to group interactions. The key strengths of Google+ seem to center around networked individual interactions. And it’s not clear that it has, yet, the sort of audience that would encourage heavy investment.”

Many Connecticut companies are dipping their toes into the Google+ waters which Halavais says is a good thing as it allows them to keep up to speed on the updates and changes the platform undergoes.

Halavais believes the future of social media rests in integration.

“I think we will see more and more of our devices talking to one another and creating models of our behavior — as individuals and groups.”

The first and most important consideration before starting to implement a social Julie Daly, executive director, HYPEmedia campaign is to make it a priority, says Caitlin Thayer, owner of Barefoot Media, a social media consulting firm in West Hartford, adding that once companies make the decision to incorporate social media and devote the resources to it, they also need to make certain that they have properly-trained staff in place.

“Social media has become a huge part of our society, so whether a business decides to have a social media presence or not, it’s important for them to be keeping track of what’s said about their company online,” said Thayer.

“The most important thing for anyone and everyone to be doing on social media is listening; a company can learn a lot about their customer service skills, their products and their services by listening to what people say about them.”

Seeing the value in utilizing the social media skills of their increasingly tech-savvy employees, businesses are now training them to become online brand stewards.

For many employees — for whom social media is already a critical part of their personal lives — using the tools at work is not only welcome, but often expected.

Many businesses are faced with the challenge of gaining corporate buy-in to actually implement a social media plan. Often, if decision-makers don’t think that social media will result in increased profits, they don’t see the potential.

The key, according to Thayer, is for management to take the time to fully understand what social media is — and what it isn’t.

“It’s hard to overcome, particularly for managers who are laggards when it comes to media, the impression that social media is somehow ‘trivial’ and therefore not worth their time,” she said. “Many think that social media is free, and therefore can be simply ‘tagged on’ to a ‘real’ media strategy.

“Just because many social media platforms are free to use does not mean that it’s cheap to mount a social media campaign. Unlike some forms of ‘fire and forget’ advertising, social media strategies require a continuous and concerted effort to maintain over time, and expertise and time do not come cheaply.”

Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (HYPE) worked closely with Barefoot Media to develop a more strategic approach to the management of its social media presence, learning effective strategies for developing and sharing relevant content on a more consistent basis through its Facebook and Twitter channels, and blog.

As a membership-driven organization, HYPE is dedicated to making personal connections.

“We want to help young professionals find what it is they are looking for right here in Hartford to increase the likelihood that they will stay here,” said Julie Daly, HYPE’s executive director.

“Social media is increasingly one of the most effective ways to advertise and engage your constituents, you just have to get past the fear that you’ll mess it up. You may have a typo here and there, you may even get a complaint now and then, but nothing is worse than being absent when a potential customer/member/client is searching for you.”