Social Media 101
Meredith Schwartz -- Gifts and Dec, 9/15/2010 12:24:51 AM
Did you ever play a game called telephone? You tell one person your message, and with each person they tell, the words get a little more confused until the meaning is lost, or sometimes even reversed? The game called Social Media is different.
You tell lots of people, all at once. And if they choose to pass it on, they'll pass along exactly what you said in the first place - plus maybe a comment of their own. It may not sound like a fun party game, but it's one of the most effective ways that ever existed to get word-of-mouth advertising. It's completely free. And while technically it's done by computer, it's anything but technical.
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Here are step-by-step instructions to get you up and running.
• Point your web browser at www. facebook.com.
• Scroll down andclick on "Create A Page for My Business" at the bottom of the left hand column, right above "Share."
• Choose "local business" if you have one store, or a few stores all in more or less the same area. Then select "Store" from the drop down menu.
• Choose "brand, product, or organization" if you are a manufacturer or a national or international retailer. Then select either "consumer product" or "online store" from the drop-down menu.
It may not sound like a fun party game, but [Social Media's] one of the most effective ways to get word-of-mouth advertising that ever existed - and it's completely free.
WHO CAN DO WHAT
• Click on "Edit Page," below the picture space. In "Settings" you can pick country restrictions, age restrictions and who can view your page. If you don't sell adult-only products like alcohol, you probably want to make your page visible to as many people as possible. However if you sell online and don't want to ship overseas, you might restrict your page to your own country.
• In "Wall Settings," you can choose what people will see (only your posts or yours and everyone else's) and where they first land. If you expect mostly visitors who already know the basics of what you're about, choose "Wall." If you expect mostly visitors who need an explanation of the basics of who you are, choose "Info."
• You can also choose what kinds of content people who "like" your page, formerly called fans, can post to your wall. Unless you think you're likely to have a problem with people posting inappropriate content, you might as well leave them all checked. Facebook followers like to feel involved and interactive, and it offers your readers fresh content without you having to take the time to create it.
• You can skip the mobile section unless you plan on updating your Facebook from your phone a lot (such as from trade shows or buying trips).
ADDING CONTENT
• Upload some pictures. On your main page, hover your mouse over the big question mark and the option "change picture" will appear. Click on it to upload, edit, or remove pictures. (You can even use it to take a picture if your computer has a webcam.)
Start with your logo, the front of your store as seen from the street and a professional looking photo of you that you don't hate. Later you can upload lots more photos and create albums. Good album topics would include your coolest displays, hot new products and party pictures from your promotional events.
• In the "Discussion Board" section under "Edit Page," click "Edit" and then "Start a New Topic"; then post a question for the people who like your page to get them to interact with. Questions that ask people to share personal experiences or opinions tend to get the most response.
• Also under "Edit Page," click on "Edit" under "Events." Here is where you add the upcoming events you have scheduled. These can, of course, be parties, fundraisers, signings, etc., but they can also be online-only events, such as a live chat or a Facebook sale.
Once you've entered the information about each event, click "Select Guests" to invite people.
• Now go back to view your main page. Click where it says "write something about [your store name]" and add a brief description. This is also a good place to put your store's URL.
• Click on the "Info" tab and choose "Edit Information"; then fill out the basic who, what, when, where and why about your business. Don't forget to include your address, phone, email, store hours and website address.
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INVITING VISITORS
• Now your page is ready to share. If you have a personal account, first "Like" your store page yourself, then choose "Suggest to Friends" under the photo on the left sidebar. Next, then choose friends from your list to send the link.
• If you don't have a personal account on Facebook, you'll have to go about finding friends to suggest it to. You can find your customers on Facebook by uploading your contacts and searching for their email addresses; you can also invite those who are not already on Facebook to join.
• Encourage your in-store customers to "Like" your page, perhaps with a small incentive such as 5 or 10 percent off, early access to new products or other perks.
• Add your Facebook page to your business cards, your email signature, your letterhead, etc.
Getting Started on Twitter
• Point your browser to www.twitter.com. Click on the big yellow "Get Started Now" button in the top right corner.
• Enter your name, username, password and email address. Make sure your username reflects your business. If your first choice name is taken (Twitter will check instantly) think about adding "shop," your location or "indie" to create a unique name. Your name may not include the word "Twitter." Also, make sure you use your business and not your personal email account, since people will search for you using this email address.
Encourage your in-store customers to "Like" your page. Offer a small incentive such as 5 or 10 percent off, early access to new products
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FINDING FOLLOWERS, FOLLOWEES
• Find people to follow. This is important both because they will be a source of interesting content to "ReTweet" and because some of them will follow you back. First, pick topics of interest and let Twitter suggest feeds to follow: art and design and business are probably the two most useful categories for a gift retailer.
• Next, import your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and/or LinkedIn to find them on Twitter. Finally, search for a username, first name, last name, or business name to add anyone you've missed.
ADDING CONTENT
• Click on "Profile" in the upper right hand corner. Click on the Photo + icon. First, add a photo - either of yourself, your logo or your store. Then fill in your location, your website, and a brief bio in 160 characters or less. Click "Save."
• Click "Design" on the bar at the top of the page. Choose a design that is appropriate to your businesses' image and choose "Save Changes." To further customize your Twitter look (say to coordinate with your store's website, giftwrap, logo, etc.), visit web1.colourlovers.com/themeleon/ twitter.
• Click on "Account Settings" to set your time zone and add your location to your Tweets. You can also make your Tweets only visible to followers here, though that is probably detrimental to promoting your business.
• Now you're ready to Tweet! Go back to the Twitter home page and type something in the box (140 characters or less). Good choices include anything time sensitive, Twitter-only specials, and links to any press coverage you receive or interesting blog posts. If your links are taking up too many characters, use a link shortening service such as bit.ly.
• If people are using terms you don't understand, visit the help section and check out The Twitter Glossary, which will explain things like "retweet" (to pass along someone else's content to your own followers) and "hashtag" (a keyword with a # sign in front of it included in the tweet, to make it easier for others to search for that topic).
• While the basic Twitter interface is super-simple, a lot of third-party developers have come up with cool gizmos you can use on Twitter as you get more advanced. One of the most common is Twitpic (twitpic.com), which enables you to share a picture on Twitter.
PROMOTING YOUR TWITTER
As with Facebook, put your Twitter in your email signature, on your letterhead, business cards, etc. In addition, you can invite your friends to read your Twitter by visiting /twitter.com/invitations/invite_by_ email. You can download buttons at twitter.com/goodies/buttons to link to your Twitter account from your website, etc.
Consider spending a little money to boost your profile, especially when you're launching a new presence.
PAY TO PLAY
Basic social media accounts are free. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider spending a little money to boost your profile, especially when you're launching a new presence.
• To advertise on Facebook, click on "Promote with an Ad," just above "Suggest to Friends." You can type up to 135 characters and add an optional photo. Then click continue.
• To target just your local audience, enter your city and then select how many miles around you want to include. You can also target your ad to a particular age range, gender, listed likes or interests, education or work. You can even choose to target people specifically on their birthdays!
A box on the right side will tell you how many people will be reached by your targeted ad. For example, an ad aimed at women in New York City reaches almost 2 million people. Adding that they are interested in gifts takes it down to about 2,000.
Consider whether you want to reach as many people as possible or only those most likely to answer, and keep in mind that this will affect the cost.
• Then enter your budget (how much you want to spend per day), pick your dates and you're ready to go.
• Advertising on Twitter is so new that it's still being tested by only a handful of large brands. However the company is hoping to open it up to others soon. Called Promoted Tweets, they will be called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages and labeled as promoted. Twitter plans to measure which Tweets "resonate with users" and stop showing the ones that don't. The company is starting with impression-based pricing, but is measuring a whole lot of others things, including retweets, @replies, re-use of hashtags, avatar clicks, hashtag clicks, in-Tweet link clicks, views after Retweet and more, and is working on a pricing model which will take the whole set into consideration.
CROSSING OVER
To get two sets of eyes for the price of one, you can automatically publish your Facebook content to Twitter- or your Twitter content to Facebook ot website.
• To link a Facebook page to Twitter, click on the announcement box at the top of your Edit Page asking if you want to do this. Click "Link a Page to Twitter," enter your Twitter username and password, and choose what content you want to forward: Status Updates, Photos, Links, Notes and/or Events.
• To export Twitter content to Facebook or your website, use a widget (a stand-alone application that can be embedded into any page where you have rights of authorship.) Visit twitter.com/goodies/widgets, click on "My Website" followed by "Profile Widget," or "Facebook," then "Facebook Application," then click "Install Twitter in Facebook."
We would love your feedback!
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