Jan 1005
On December 9, Facebook rolled out new privacy options to its 350 million users. When I logged onto Facebook that Wednesday, I was greeted by a message that asked me to review the new privacy policy and review my privacy settings. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg blogged about the new changes, which were greeted with raised voices on both sides. Here are some of the major changes:
- You have always been able to limit what information from your profile was public and private. But now, Facebook lets you control access to every status update, link, photo, video, etc.
- When controlling access, you can grant access to different people or groups: Everyone (as in the world), All Friends, Friends of Friends, and specific friends or lists of friends, or deny access/hide from specific friends of lists of friends.
- Facebook eliminated regional networks, which allowed users to unwittingly share their profiles to entire cities, states, countries, etc.
Advocates for the new privacy changes praised the simplified settings and the increased control over every single post. Critics, however, are livid over the fact that the default option was to make nearly everything on a person’s profile available to Everyone (that is, until users edited their settings and posts) and the fact that some information is strictly public and can’t be edited. For example, you can no longer limit who can see your list of friends and your public profile always shows the Facebook pages that you are a fan of. I know I was ticked off that even though I edited my privacy settings so that my photo albums are globally only available to Friends, Facebook made my existing photo albums publicly available until I edited each one manually.
If the new privacy settings and changes confuse you, here are my recommendations:
Dec 0904
I’m following over 700 people on Twitter so I’ve looked at a lot of Twitter pages. Yes, I look at pages and tweets closely before making a decision to follow someone. Some profiles are pretty sparse, while others are fairly elaborate. What’s the saying? “You only have a few seconds to make a first impression.” This is especially true on Twitter where people scan your page, then instantly make the decision to follow or not follow.
So how do you customize your Twitter profile page to maximize followers? Here are my top tips:
- Make sure you fill out your name so it’s searchable. This sounds so simple, but consider this: The Humane Society of the United States is @humanesociety, but the profile name is listed as HSUS. If you use the Find People search on Twitter and type Humane Society, the HSUS page does not come up because the Twitter search only searches the Name field, NOT the username. A better name would have been Humane Society of the US.
- Fill out the Bio and Web site fields. This is a perfect opportunity to link your Twitter page to your company Web site or blog AND provide a short elevator speech. The bio and URL add perspective and credibility. You can be formal, you can be clever, or you can be funny in the bio field. Check out other bios for good ideas. I like @pmohara and @neagle. In addition, I hear from many, many people that if someone has not provided a bio or URL, they are much less likely to follow that person. Read the rest of this entry
Nov 0918
I was talking to one of the Cat Herders (Project Manager) at Matrix Group today. She said she was trimming her Facebook friend list and unfriending some people. Unfriending. It sounds so… ummmm… unfriendly.
Facebook says that the average user has 130 friends but I know people who have hundreds, even thousands of friends. 500 friends? I can’t imagine many people who have that many friends with whom they would willingly share personal updates, photos, even their full birthday. So I asked around and got some good insight into the friending and unfriending business. These findings don’t represent a large group, just my friends! :-)
- There is a group of Facebook users who will accept friend requests from anyone and who actively try to expand their friend network.
- There is another group that views Facebook as a place where they can communicate freely so they only connect with true friends. For these folks, Facebook is a place for personal communications, often about self, family, kids, friends.
- There was a general consensus that the new Facebook homepage, which splits updates between News Feed and View Live Feed, makes it harder to see updates from your entire network of friends, which makes it more challenging to have a large network.
- Many people have been cleaning up their lists on Facebook, Twitter, and other social network recently. They’re actively unfriending people so they can manage the communications and flood of updates.
- Even if a person has a large network on a platform like Facebook, they are more than likely only interacting with a small subset of friends. Indeed, the Facebook sociologist says that no matter how large their friend network, Facebook users tend to “comment on stuff from only about 5-10% of their Facebook friends.”
Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0920
During a recent interview, the candidate asked me if Matrix Group still uses e-mail to promote its services and events. Curious, I asked her why she asked that question. She replied that she thought e-mail was obsolete, that all marketing is moving to the social Web. My first reaction was “no way, you’re crazy, e-mail is never going away.”
But then I read a study by Nielsen that reports “member communities, which includes both social networks and blogs, has become the fourth most popular online category – ahead of personal email.” Whoa! Social networking and blogging have overtaken personal e-mail? Could this signal another monumental shift in our communications?
Perhaps. But yet another Nielsen analysis reports that “the heaviest social media users actually use email more” than other segments. My God, how could this be? And where the heck are these people finding the time to be on both social networks and e-mail so heavily?
Here’s my take on what’s going on: Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0908
I was at a conference recently where one of the attendees mentioned that although she’s on Twitter, she doesn’t understand half of what’s being said. “What’s a DM?,” she said. “And what’s the difference between RT and via?”
Twitter is deceptively simple. You get 140 characters to speak your mind or share some news. In some ways, Twitter is a lot like instant messaging ((IM) because people use acronyms to shorten common expressions. I found a good list of acronyms that pop up a lot of Twitter on the Examiner.com site. My favorites?
- LOL – laughing out loud
- BTW – by the way
- IMHO – in my humble opinion
- TMI – too much information
- FTF of F2F – face to face
- LMK – let me know
- TTFN – ta ta for now
In other ways, Twitter is different from IM because it has its own protocols and etiquette. Here’s what I’ve learned: Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0901
Clients often ask me how to add social media to their marketing and communication initiatives. Rather than viewing social media as a separate program, I recommend adding social media to existing marketing activities.
In addition, I recommend against blasting the same message across the different platforms. Instead, I urge clients to create a layered approach that uses each platform according to its strengths and capabilities. Here are some examples:
Example #1: Trade Association Wants to Promote a Conference
- Create a microsite for the conference that contains information about the conference, the venue, the program and speakers, and benefits to attendees
- Use Twitter to broadcast conference updates and deadlines, industry news and statistics
- Post photos from the previous year’s conference to Flickr
- Use a Facebook fan page to feature program and speakers, host discussions about conference topics, and allow attendees to interact with experts
- Host a blog where conference organizers can blog news before the conference; during the conference, assign members to blog about the sessions
Example #2: Shoe Boutique Wants to Increase Traffic to Bricks and Mortar Store During the Holiday Season Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0901
Matrix Group collaborated with author and certified financial planner Kelly Campbell to launch a redesigned Web site for Fire Your Broker. The redesign features Kelly’s book Fire Your Broker, a practical guide to help individuals take over their financial futures and find the right broker.
Our work included:
- A new blog where Campbell addresses financial issues, and offers insightful tips on how to prepare for retirement and sustain financial security beyond one’s working years.
- The incorporation of other social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to help establish a fan and follower base.
- The implementation of Expression Engine as the CMS.
- A fresh look and feel that serves that highlights Campbell’s expertise and perspectives on the nation’s brokerage industry.
Visit Fire Your Broker
Sep 0929
I had the pleasure of being part of a panel at today’s Grow Smart Biz conference, sponsored by Network Solutions. Our topic was “Integrating Traditional Marketing with Social Media.” Despite being the last panel of the day (we started around 4:20pm), I estimated that over 80% of the conference attendees attended the panel. And by the number of questions raised, this is a hot topic for sure.
You can read a nice recap of the panel on the Solutions are Power blog, but here were my take-aways: Read the rest of this entry
Sep 0924
I’m going to be a panelist at the Grow Smart Biz conference next Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC. In my opinion, this conference will be a must-attend event for small business owners and entrepreneurs (more on that later). This blog post is about how the conference planners are using the crowd to attract a bigger crowd. Here’s how:
The planners of Grow Smart Biz have assembled a powerhouse group of speakers and panelists, which is not unusual for a conference. What is new is this: the planners have actively engaged the speakers in promoting the conference through their blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. In essence, the conference hosts are tapping into the vast networks of the speakers to promote the event. So, when Jill Foster, editor of the Women Grow Business blog and social media expert, tweets or blogs, the event is marketed to her over 3,000 followers. So, if you’ve got big names keynoting at your next convention, why not ask them to update their status and give your event a boost? Read the rest of this entry
Aug 0927
I was on LinkedIn yesterday and the LinkedIn search engine helpfully recommended a couple of people for me to add to my network. The list included a couple of people who currently work at Matrix Group. While it’s every CEO’s dream to have a large network, I did not invite the staff to get linked up. Why? Because I think that for bosses, managers,and CEOs, there are unwritten rules of netiquette. Here are some of the rules I abide by when using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks.
- Except for a few direct reports, I don’t invite staff to be my friend or get linked up. I imagine that some staff would view an invitation from me as wanting to know too much about them; at the very least, it could be awkward if they don’t want to get linked up and they have to turn down a request from their boss.
- I do accept invitations from staff to be my friend or get linked up. If they’re staff, they’re part of my extended family.
- I don’t accept an invitation to get connected unless I actually know the person. Even on LinkedIn. Random strangers are NOT going to get access to my network just because they want to link to me.
- I do ask staff to follow this blog because I’m communicating with their clients through the blog and it’s always good for staff to know what the boss is broadcasting. :-)
- I do ask staff to follow or fan the company’s pages on the social networking platforms. I’m not asking for them to friend me, but I am asking them to support our social networking efforts. Read the rest of this entry
