Purple Diamond Blog » Social Networking

Facebook Tips for Businesses From Purple Diamond

Charlene — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:03:43 +0000

[note: these tips are just suggestions and it is up to the individual business to determine what is best for their business.]

1.) Frequency is key!

Posting an update at least once per day and adding “friends / fans” to your personal and business page must be on-going and with effort. Do not wait for people to friend you….find them and invite them to YOUR page!
*Inspirational Quotes, Questions that create discussions, Videos from YouTube and Posting about important upcoming events are great fillers when you are struggling for an idea to post for your daily update.
2.)   NO controversial posts or comments to anyone who has posted something that can have a polarized issue unless they follow your brand for your business.
3.)   Interact with Others!
Happy Birthdays / Like button when appropriate and genuine comments to their posts.
4.)   Add photos and videos!

*People are drawn to pictures so if you have something you want people to notice be sure to add a picture with your post.
5.) Need both a Personal and a Business Page!

Building a Fans page [or Business page] without paying for a Facebook ad requires building it through your personal page so you must have both to grow your followers! If you are worried about your personal content being seen you can choose to use the new privacy settings. But, if you are on Facebook to gain more contacts and help market your business it makes sense to keep your personal page free from embarrassing pictures or content you would not share openly. Remember, you are on the internet and even the best privacy setting might not keep people out so think before you post or upload a picture, but don’t avoid Facebook because you are afraid to be found. It is more powerful than your website and if used well it can drive traffic to your website….it offers a great opportunity to promote your services on a larger scale because it reaches more people daily!
6.) Use the Event page when you have an upcoming event.

7.)   Invite your friends from your personal page to your business page at least once every 2 weeks. If you have been building friends you will have new people each time to send an invite to.
8.)   Don’t be afraid to ASK for your friends help and be sure to give help to others!
9.)   JOIN JOIN JOIN……the more business pages and groups you belong to the more your business gets exposure!
10.)   Don’t hand this important job off to your staff…this is one of the fastest and quickest way to make a warm sales call and it has replaced COLD CALLING in a huge way.
11.)   If you have a blog be sure to post active links to your blog AND your website on a regular basis.
12.)   GAMES do not send a great message unless you sell games!

There is a tendency to get caught up in to the games and surveys on Facebook, but it clutters your wall and takes away time for connecting with others and growing your contacts.
13.)   Early posting in the morning can have favorable results.
14.)   Don’t sell sell sell…….remember that most people run from salesmen so be sure to not come on too strong. Be genuine and represent your business with a positive voice.
15.)   HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE & PATIENCE….this is a new marketing tool and has no exact numbers, but it is a great source that is still free and worth using!

If you are still struggling with Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter or you are not sure if having a blog is right for your business, consider hiring Purple Diamond for marketing coaching or a one on one consult.

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Facebook is more than JUST Games!

Charlene — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:52:39 +0000

I have never played a game on Facebook, but I have gotten several clients this past year from effectively using this social networking site. So, why are some people getting clients and others are saying it is a big waste of time? “Attitude and aptitude!” If a person doesn’t believe that on-line social networking is important to the growth of their business, it is as good as a salesman who doesn’t believe in his product trying to sell it door to door. After the 7th door slams on the salesman’s face he drags himself back to the office and announces that no one wants the product and it can’t be sold, but other sales reps still sell it with ease. Business owners who tell people that they haven’t gotten any customers from Facebook are like that same salesman who quit. What is the difference? Well, many business owners tell me they play games or spend time reading other people’s posts and never comment and are lucky to get on Facebook maybe 2 times a week and rarely post an update. YIKES!!! This is not the attitude you need to be successful with on-line social networking. A positive attitude and the belief that on-line social networking is an important new marketing tool that will help your business if used consistently and correctly is half of what you need. This brings us to the other half, the “aptitude” part of how both navigate the sites and what to actually post while there. There are a list of “do’s and don’ts” that I share with my clients, but they can differ depending on the industry you are in and what you are trying to achieve from using these sites. For instance, for many businesses I warn that playing games or tending “farmVille” on Facebook is not the best use of your social networking time, but if you were an internet company about to launch a new on-line game this could be exactly where you want to be since your potential market is drawn to these programs. Another “don’t” that I share with my clients is to stay clear of any topic that is political or religious based or could prompt people to be polarized in their views unless you are a political analyst or gain from taking a stand in such controversial discussions. The “do’s” I tell my clients is to work on connecting with people and adding them to your personal page and to your business “Fan” page which has recently been renamed to the “Like” page. If you are trying to expand your reach, why limit your contacts??? Unless you are saying no to a direct competitor, I would be inviting people to get to know you and your business. And, once you have them there, you have got to interact. Think of it this way, you have just invited 50 people to your home and instead of greeting them at the door and introducing them to others, you have gone to your bedroom to take a nap and to allow the party to go on without you. WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD! The party is in the living room and it is filled with people who like you enough to show-up and they each know about 150-200 people and many of those people they connect with quickly with their own social on-line networking so if you are not being a good host, you just might lose out on a potential referral or introduction to key contacts. Frequency of posting and interaction with other people when they post is how to use these sites well. And, if your aptitude is such that you get confused when you are trying to navigate the various sites, then you need to call your kids in to the room and ask them for help because there are 10 year olds who are on Facebook setting up “event invitations” and for their own birthday party or “surveys” for their school projects. Your parents are posting photos of their grand kids and sharing them out to their friends so if you think that uploading a company photo to your business page requires your web designer, you are wrong….”tweet” or text your parents and ask for their help! And, if you still have not set-up a Twitter account and haven’t learned to text, please do so today.

I give one-on-one coaching to clients who are still struggling with the new technology, but every social networking site has a “help” section and commonly asked questions that will quickly make you an expert on how to gain the aptitude of how to navigate the site. If you choose to embrace on-line social networking and have a positive attitude and a great aptitude for connecting with others and building your network, then you may be smiling as I did today when I received an email on Facebook with ANOTHER referral for my marketing services from one of the many contacts that are on my page!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

JOINING ON-LINE NETWORKING GROUPS

Charlene — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:29:16 +0000

Did you know that the 2009 Nielsen ratings showed the largest age group of people using on-line networking for Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter fall in the 35-49 year old age grouping with the second largest being 50-64 year olds?! Two weeks ago when I shared that information with a room of business owners during my seminar on Target Marketing I got many surprised looks. On-line networking is not going to go away just because you do not have the time to work it in to your business marketing plan or understand how to build a following on these sites. One solution for people who do not have many on-line contacts is to consider joining groups and being FANS of various different organizations that will connect you with people who may need your product or know others who could use your services. A quick way to find great local groups to join is to view the profile pages of your contacts and see which ones they have joined. Another is to use the search key to look for information about the topic you are interested in or find one of your competitors and look at their site. You want to be EVERYWHERE that your target market might be and be sure to post comments or questions and use your company logo or the same profile picture so people become familiar with you. Try to post comments on blogs and sites that allow you to link back to your own website. The more you create an on-line identity the greater the chance you have of reaching potential clients.

I do caution, though, that these sites are “social” sites and if you come on too strong with messages just about your business or you bombard your contacts with message updates that are not really important you may find that you lose your own following. The idea is to “connect” and build a relationship and not to try to constantly “sell” them. Since my husband and I met on a social networking site 6 years ago in which I was the moderator of a group, I know first hand the power of on-line networking and building relationships. The key is that you have to understand that social on-line networking is not a commercial or paid advertisement for your business. It is a place where people share ideas and connect and build friendships. Had the first time my husband posted to me on-line he proposed marriage I can guarantee that I would have been looking to drop him quickly from my network and I would have labeled him as “pushy and weird”. This is what you want to avoid. It takes time to develop relationships on-line and in person, but the number of people who use these sites cannot be ignored so create your accounts, look for on-line groups and FAN pages and be sure to make this as important as your other marketing projects by creating specific times during your work day that you check out these sites and post.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

BUSY PEOPLE STILL NETWORK

Charlene — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:38:31 +0000

As January is hitting high gear for many business owners who are getting a jump start on closing sales for 2010, it is important to remind people that even busy people continue to network both in person and on-line. This is one of the main reasons their business is so busy and successful, they understand that when you stop networking and connecting with others you stunt the growth of your business. Think of it this way, if you were dating a person consistently for several months and then you did not hear from that person for the rest of the year, would you jump at a chance for another date with them? Maybe if you were desperate, but most of us would not feel as close to the person who dropped out of sight and would have moved on to connecting with new people. These new people could be your competitors and that means you are losing potential business!

With the internet it is easy to connect with people on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and not need to leave your office. However, I strongly recommend doing both face to face networking and on-line. Schedule networking events in your agenda early in the month so that you make it a priority in your business and you do not miss out on opportunities to connect with the business groups in the area. If you are someone who is shy and hates to network, serve on a committee or be part of a planning group for a local event that will have you connecting with other business owners or people who are potential clients.

If you are currently using the on-line social networking sites and you do not have many friends, fans or contacts, look for groups on the sites to join so that you increase the odds of connecting with more people. If you are someone who is very private and uncomfortable with allowing everyone to see your profile you can choose to use the options that most of the sites now have for keeping parts of your profile hidden.

Finally, if you have not upgraded your cell phone in years you might wish to consider a trip to the store to see what great technological tools are available to keep you connected wherever you go. A few extra dollars spent to upgrade your phone to a smart-phone will let you get out of the office more and out where potential customers might be. Think smart and use your time effectively so that networking is part of your “to-do” list and success will follow!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Charlene — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:42:05 +0000

This morning as I attended the annual Kick-Off Breakfast for the North Shore Business Forum I was engaged in a conversation about having realistic expectations for our marketing efforts. We all want to have HUGE success. Who wouldn’t love to join a business networking group and walk away with a client on the first day you attended a meeting? Or, how about getting mentioned in the paper and having your phone ring instantly with a paying account! Chances are this is not really going to happen for the majority of us. Networking either on-line through Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or at a local chamber event or business networking group requires consistent effort and time. Creating a profile on-line and then not going back to the site for weeks or months is not actively working the on-line market. Though these sites are FREE, they do require you to spend a percent of time each day and week to keep your content fresh and to reach out to those you are adding as followers or friends. The same is true for face to face networking groups… you must allow relationships to build before you secure paying clients. And, you have to have “realistic expectations”! Unless you are ready to invest in an advertising campaign that uses several forms of media to reach your target market and have a serious budget to accomplish your goals, you will not get a big boost in sales in a short time from on-line social networking, one press release in the paper or attending one or two chamber events. The best advice I have for anyone who is out there daily trying to get more business with a limited budget is to have patience with the process and to not give up. It may feel like posting on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook or creating blog posts is not worth the effort, but that is where people are going right now. So unless your clients are not human, your business New Year’s resolution is to be realistic in your expectations and to recognize the various forms of networking and relationship building that are part of cyberland and make it as part of your “To Do” list for 2010. It will not be the huge money maker you want for this week….that requires some traditional advertising like Radio, TV, etc in a blitz campaign ….but it will start to build your brand recognition and increase sales in the long run.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”