Not too long ago, the consumer didn’t have much of a voice. If they were unhappy, they could complain directly to the company (or rather, a poor facsimile of the company delivered in the form of a cranky customer service rep with a horrid phone-side manner) or the few friends who could stand to listen to one more tirade about your broken Shark broomvac. Now most people just get on the Internet and scream their fingers off.
According to a recent Nielsen study, 90% of consumers surveyed noted that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trusted consumer opinions posted online. The thought of buying a car, a computer or even a gardening hose is now accompanied with a Google search and extensive perusing of customer reviews.
Today, you no longer have to depend on the integrity of a company, traditional advertising or even your close knit community to make consumer decisions. You can turn to the Internet to see what other people (real people) like you have to say before shelling out your hard-earned dough.
Now that everyone is on Facebook and is plugged into Twitter, marketers must rise above the noise and engage those who, in turn, are able to engage the masses. These are the influencers.
Influencer programs help companies craft and guide the conversation that’s already going on about their brand by engaging with key influencers to speak on their behalf—think about what happens to book sales the minute a novel is put on Oprah’s Book Club list. These influencers are your biggest brand advocates, those who feel passionately enough about your brand or product to reach out and persuade people to get on board. They have the power to make or break your brand by spreading the word and getting people to listen. Regardless of the advertising dollars spent, influencers are the newest, most powerful marketers.
So in order to capitalize on these willing brand advocates, you must:
Identify your influencers– This can be a daunting task, but well worth the effort. True influencers are people who have a stake in your product; they are well-informed, persuasive and often highly regarded in their online communities. Figure out where your influencers are posting and weed out the casual commenters. Troll online forums, ask around, take the time to really dig for the contributors who you think can make the biggest impact.
Listen- Keep the conversation two-sided. Know what your influencers are saying, and be open to their suggestions. They are in touch with the wants and needs of your consumers, so use them to test out ideas, ask their opinions and really listen to their answers. The lines of communication should be friendly and personal. The goal is to build a relationship based on trust and mutual respect that will benefit you both.
Engage– Work closely with them and learn all you can about their process. The sites they visit, the forums they frequent and the virtual circle they travel in. This will help you better understand your influencers and in turn will help you find more people like them. Keep up with the conversation and you’ll stay one step ahead of the competition.
Please post comments and I will try and answer any questions.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Facebook Page Changes: What you Need to Know
This month Facebook rolled out a slew of upgrades to its Pages, the profile type used by most businesses, nonprofits, public figures and bands. Team Zuckerberg claims that the upgrade will help Pages better organize, engage in and promote communications, and in general the redesign succeeds. But not without throwing a few curve balls, of course.
Our team broke out the test tubes and Bunsen burners to test the changes, and our bubbly experiments have turned up some interesting results. Read on to learn what you need to know to benefit from the Page updates.
But wait; first things first:
Facebook has replaced the familiar reverse-chronology display of posts on a Page’s wall with a filter that pulls the most popular posts on a Page (those with the most likes and comments) to the top. Presumably this positions the most interesting content first, but it poses two challenges for Page admins.
First, it makes finding and responding to the most recent comments from your fans difficult. Fortunately, admins can switch to their Page’s “Admin View” to see the most recent comments listed first. Make sure to check in on the Admin View regularly to ensure that you’re finding and addressing user comments in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, Page visitors are not able to see the Admin View, which brings us to the second challenge: Controlling your Page’s most visible content is pretty much impossible. Want to push down a negative string of comments? Not going to happen if those posts have lots of comments. Want to post a link to an article about your big blowout sale? Better get your employees, friends and family to comment on and like that post if you want it to bump its popularity and pull it to the top.
Here’s a change that’s been on our wish list for a long time: Admins can now switch back and forth between their personal profiles and Page profiles. So as a Page (i.e. a brand), admins can now “like” other Pages, post comments on other Pages’ walls and “like” posts and comments on other Pages.
Now that branded engagement is no longer confined to a business’s own Page, brands can interact with each other freely. But don’t abuse this power to post by spamming other business’s walls with self-serving ad-speak and excessive links back to your own content. Find meaningful ways to engage in the discussions on other Page’s walls, and keep the conversation focused on the topic at hand. Otherwise you risk alienating not only the Page’s admins, but also that Page’s loyal followers. .
In addition to Page-branded postings, using Facebook as a Page allows admins to receive notifications of user activity on a Page, such as when a page gets new “likes” or when fans post comments to the wall. If you’re managing a Page, this will help you track user activity in real time and respond to posts and comments promptly.
Another useful consequence of being able to switch profiles is that a Page admin can now post to their Page’s wall using their personal profile. To do so, it’s necessary to change the default Page settings, though. Just click “Edit Page” then select “Your Settings.” De-select the appropriate checkbox under “Posting Preferences” and voila!, you (as in you you, not your Page you) are commenting on and “liking” wall posts on your own Page!
If you built a custom tab for your Facebook Page, it was done by installing an FBML application on the Page (FBML, or Facebook Markup Language, is HTML’s Facebook-specific cousin). Facebook is eliminating the need for FBML apps by now allowing developers to i-frame web content into tabs instead of building the code in Facebook. In fact, as of March 10 Facebook will block Pages from installing any new FBML apps. Your existing FBML apps should continue to work (there may be a few bugs that need to be tweaked after the switch), but Facebook is recommending that all FBML apps transition to i-frames.
The move to i-framing custom content into Facebook tabs is a good one for business, since it allows web developers a wider range of options than FBML’s security restrictions could offer. With i-frames, your Facebook Page’s tabs can more easily display typical web content, such as e-commerce transactions, games, videos and sophisticated layouts of graphics and content.
Similar to the newish personal profile layout, a Page’s most recent photos will now display across the top of the Page’s wall. Great—if your recent photos are fresh and appealing. Not so good if they comprise of five exciting “new furnace!” shots posted by the intern in 2009.
This is prime real estate, so keep these pictures current and catchy: New products, old favorites, employee outings, homemade pie charts and other images that reinforce your brand’s personality will do the job nicely. Be creative, too, and make it relevant to your followers. Photos of smiling employees express your brand’s human face, but a string of photos from the cube farm will accomplish little in the way of connecting with fans.
As with the new personal profiles, you can hide a photo in this stream by clicking the “x” in the photo’s upper right corner. Use this option to edit out images that are repetitive, confusing or unappealing as a thumbnail. (They won’t be deleted from your photo album if you hide them here.)
Until these latest upgrades, the identities of a Page’s administrators were hidden from view. Now, however, you have the option to list some or all of the Page admins right there on the Page. Making these identities public isn’t for everyone, but showing the smiling faces of Mom and Pop of the Mom & Pop Store lends your Page a personal touch that can help consumers emotionally connect with the brand.
Personal connections not only foster loyalty, but they also help temper the irrational Post Rage that frustrated customers might feel toward a nameless, faceless brand. If Mom’s smiling face is not enough to deter angry outbursts, though, this next new feature may be of help.
It’s unfortunate, but managing a Facebook Page does at times mean managing offensive and insensitive comments. It’s a shame to check your Page in the morning and find that the f-bomb has been dangling at the top of the wall for the past eight hours.
Facebook is helping Page admins monitor offensive content with a new blocklist option. Posts and comments containing admin-identified blacklisted words or profanity are sent directly to jail…er, to the Page’s “Hidden Posts.” Facebook is also automatically hiding posts it recognizes as spam (“Get your Viagra here!”) or duplicate posts. These hidden posts are visible only in Admin View, where they can either be deleted forever or approved for public eyes.
One quick note on deleting user posts and comments: Unless they’re offensive, don’t do it. Consumers expect open and meaningful interactions with brands on Facebook, so the best way to address any negative comments isn’t to hit the Remove button but instead to address them, head on.
This is a lot, we know, but it’s not all! Facebook has also introduced promising new ad options, such as the placement of ads within photo albums and the option to sponsor user-generated content about your Page in ads that target that user’s friends.
The social media geeks in our Facebook lab are continuing to monitor the opportunities and challenges these new upgrades offer. Social media best practices are in constant flux, so if you’d like to re-evaluate your organization’s social media program, please contact me and I would love to help.
But wait; first things first:
- If you upgrade your Page, nothing will break. So go ahead; click that “Upgrade Now” button with confidence.
- The Page update is optional…until March 10th, when Facebook will automatically upgrade all Pages to the new layout.
1. New Order for Wall Posts
Facebook has replaced the familiar reverse-chronology display of posts on a Page’s wall with a filter that pulls the most popular posts on a Page (those with the most likes and comments) to the top. Presumably this positions the most interesting content first, but it poses two challenges for Page admins.
First, it makes finding and responding to the most recent comments from your fans difficult. Fortunately, admins can switch to their Page’s “Admin View” to see the most recent comments listed first. Make sure to check in on the Admin View regularly to ensure that you’re finding and addressing user comments in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, Page visitors are not able to see the Admin View, which brings us to the second challenge: Controlling your Page’s most visible content is pretty much impossible. Want to push down a negative string of comments? Not going to happen if those posts have lots of comments. Want to post a link to an article about your big blowout sale? Better get your employees, friends and family to comment on and like that post if you want it to bump its popularity and pull it to the top.
2. Switching Profiles
Here’s a change that’s been on our wish list for a long time: Admins can now switch back and forth between their personal profiles and Page profiles. So as a Page (i.e. a brand), admins can now “like” other Pages, post comments on other Pages’ walls and “like” posts and comments on other Pages.
Now that branded engagement is no longer confined to a business’s own Page, brands can interact with each other freely. But don’t abuse this power to post by spamming other business’s walls with self-serving ad-speak and excessive links back to your own content. Find meaningful ways to engage in the discussions on other Page’s walls, and keep the conversation focused on the topic at hand. Otherwise you risk alienating not only the Page’s admins, but also that Page’s loyal followers. .
In addition to Page-branded postings, using Facebook as a Page allows admins to receive notifications of user activity on a Page, such as when a page gets new “likes” or when fans post comments to the wall. If you’re managing a Page, this will help you track user activity in real time and respond to posts and comments promptly.
Another useful consequence of being able to switch profiles is that a Page admin can now post to their Page’s wall using their personal profile. To do so, it’s necessary to change the default Page settings, though. Just click “Edit Page” then select “Your Settings.” De-select the appropriate checkbox under “Posting Preferences” and voila!, you (as in you you, not your Page you) are commenting on and “liking” wall posts on your own Page!
3. Changes to Custom Tabs
If you built a custom tab for your Facebook Page, it was done by installing an FBML application on the Page (FBML, or Facebook Markup Language, is HTML’s Facebook-specific cousin). Facebook is eliminating the need for FBML apps by now allowing developers to i-frame web content into tabs instead of building the code in Facebook. In fact, as of March 10 Facebook will block Pages from installing any new FBML apps. Your existing FBML apps should continue to work (there may be a few bugs that need to be tweaked after the switch), but Facebook is recommending that all FBML apps transition to i-frames.
The move to i-framing custom content into Facebook tabs is a good one for business, since it allows web developers a wider range of options than FBML’s security restrictions could offer. With i-frames, your Facebook Page’s tabs can more easily display typical web content, such as e-commerce transactions, games, videos and sophisticated layouts of graphics and content.
4. Recent Photos Display
Similar to the newish personal profile layout, a Page’s most recent photos will now display across the top of the Page’s wall. Great—if your recent photos are fresh and appealing. Not so good if they comprise of five exciting “new furnace!” shots posted by the intern in 2009.
This is prime real estate, so keep these pictures current and catchy: New products, old favorites, employee outings, homemade pie charts and other images that reinforce your brand’s personality will do the job nicely. Be creative, too, and make it relevant to your followers. Photos of smiling employees express your brand’s human face, but a string of photos from the cube farm will accomplish little in the way of connecting with fans.
As with the new personal profiles, you can hide a photo in this stream by clicking the “x” in the photo’s upper right corner. Use this option to edit out images that are repetitive, confusing or unappealing as a thumbnail. (They won’t be deleted from your photo album if you hide them here.)
5. Revealing Page Admins
Until these latest upgrades, the identities of a Page’s administrators were hidden from view. Now, however, you have the option to list some or all of the Page admins right there on the Page. Making these identities public isn’t for everyone, but showing the smiling faces of Mom and Pop of the Mom & Pop Store lends your Page a personal touch that can help consumers emotionally connect with the brand.
Personal connections not only foster loyalty, but they also help temper the irrational Post Rage that frustrated customers might feel toward a nameless, faceless brand. If Mom’s smiling face is not enough to deter angry outbursts, though, this next new feature may be of help.
6. Moderating User Content
It’s unfortunate, but managing a Facebook Page does at times mean managing offensive and insensitive comments. It’s a shame to check your Page in the morning and find that the f-bomb has been dangling at the top of the wall for the past eight hours.
Facebook is helping Page admins monitor offensive content with a new blocklist option. Posts and comments containing admin-identified blacklisted words or profanity are sent directly to jail…er, to the Page’s “Hidden Posts.” Facebook is also automatically hiding posts it recognizes as spam (“Get your Viagra here!”) or duplicate posts. These hidden posts are visible only in Admin View, where they can either be deleted forever or approved for public eyes.
One quick note on deleting user posts and comments: Unless they’re offensive, don’t do it. Consumers expect open and meaningful interactions with brands on Facebook, so the best way to address any negative comments isn’t to hit the Remove button but instead to address them, head on.
This is a lot, we know, but it’s not all! Facebook has also introduced promising new ad options, such as the placement of ads within photo albums and the option to sponsor user-generated content about your Page in ads that target that user’s friends.
The social media geeks in our Facebook lab are continuing to monitor the opportunities and challenges these new upgrades offer. Social media best practices are in constant flux, so if you’d like to re-evaluate your organization’s social media program, please contact me and I would love to help.
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