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Were you shocked to see the new Facebook changes on your profile last week? If so, you are not alone. Facebook has made tremendous changes to Personal Profiles and Business Fan Pages will not be far behind.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but, here are 3 tips worth knowing so you can get a handle on the new changes to your Personal Facebook Profile:

1. Subscribe: Subscribing is really just the same as “adding a friend” or “liking a business page”. What’s new is that you have so many more options regarding the type of information you wish to see from each person or page. Just mouse over the name and the “hover” card will appear with many choices based on: “volume” – how often you get content, and “type” – what content you hear about. Learn more here: facebook.com/about/subscribe
2. Timeline: The former “wall” is now called your Timeline. You are not automatically switched over to this view just yet. But, take a look at learn more about it here: facebook.com/about/timeline You may find it fun. The new layout is nice with a large “Cover” photo at the top instead of the 5 little thumbnail images plus news is shown in a 2 column format (you can even click to “feature” a particular post that will spread across both columns). What’s new is you’re going to find many drop down boxes and icons to click on that will let you edit and update just about anything. For those with lots of free time, you can spend hours adding life events (even those in the past). Facebook wants to hold your whole life!
3. Privacy: There are many ways to select what other people see about you. You can control:
   • How you connect with friends
   • How you are “Tagged” and tag others
   • Who sees when you add new apps and websites
   • Who sees what you posted in the past
   • People and apps you have chosen to block

   Take a look at each setting individually and open or close them as you see fit.

PLUS! Facebook will be adding NEW “like” terms such as: “watch”, “read”, “listen” so that you can more accurately interact with content.

BONUS! And, if you really want to help Facebook know what you want to see on your wall, click the little blue triangle on the top left of a post to either remove it as a “top story”, or click the empty left top corner to mark it as a top news.

More questions? Just post them below.

One of my clients, Katy Goshtasbi, owner/founder of Puris Image, a personal branding company asked me to be the subject of a video series she is creating on her YouTube channel. She had a great idea to create quick 2 – 3 minute videos with her flip cam, interviewing her clients on their experience personal shopping with her at Stein Mart and posting the videos to her social media sites.

What I love about her video series approach are several things:

1. She’s uploading new videos every week with new client interviews and using her keywords with each upload.
2. She’s giving the embed code to each interviewee to get them to add it to their blog (see below), this gives “in-links” to her content.
3. She’s keeping the videos short so that she can keep the viewers interested.
4. She’s promoting the video on her blog, her Facebook site and in Twitter.
5. She’s promoting a strong brand, Stein Mart, in the videos, which is a great way to get noticed, especially if Stein Mart monitors social mentions of their brand. The goal would be that Stein Mart would reach out to her to thank her for all the kind mentions and perhaps it could turn into a great online relationship for her, if the Stein Mart web site or Facebook page links to her videos content. It could help her go viral online and get her more viewers.

If you’ve been thinking about using video to promote your business, take a look at Katy’s approach and see how you can do something like that for yourself. What do you think of her series so far? I’d love to hear your comments below.

Have you seen any Twitter hashtags on your favorite shows lately? I’ve started noticing this myself and then read a great article in TV Guide Magazine about the introduction of hashtags (#) scrolling at the bottom of your TV screen for certain shows.

Just last week, “#Glee” was shown throughout the entire episode of Glee and “#AmericanIdol” is loving their real time Twitter Tweets from devoted fans during the show itself.

Many broadcast and cable networks are now starting to add Twitter hashtags to the bottom of their shows: Fox, CBS, NBC and Comedy Central included. Fox marketing president Joe Earley says, “We thought if we provided the official hashtags, then more posts would aggregate.” Joe is right. If you want to aggregate information to view real time activity on your brand, name, product or service, hashtags are the way to go.

Monitter.com is a great online resource that lets you monitor hashtags in real-time from their website. You can even monitor up to 3 hashtags at once, which appear in three columns with the newest tweets in each column popping up at the top. It’s a powerful way to see trends and get in on the conversation that people are having, real time!

As DVR’s become more popular, social media is now helping TV networks drive people to watch their favorite shows in real time so they can be part of the conversation. In fact, NBC just launched NBC Live, a whole site devoted to promoting its shows via social media, while CBS just recently held its own “Tweet Week” devoted to its shows.

Social is starting to weave itself into the daily fabric of our lives, from the computer to our phone, to the way we search for information online and watch TV (which you can also do from your phone). So much cross over is very exciting for those of us in the social media industry. If you are not using the power of Twitter or Facebook to promote your business, you need to take a look at these results below and then ask yourself why not?

Last month, Comedy Central jump-started the hashtag trend with its Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump. The network reports that the show became it’s “most watched in history” and credited some of that success to its decision to run a “#trumproast” hashtag at the bottom of the screen throughout the special. Analysis shows that the “#trumproast” hashtag was used more than 27,000 times on Twitter during the telecast. That’s a lot of social activity for a 1 hour Television show.

Think there is no power in social media? Think again!

Can you believe it was just 5 years ago that Twitter began? What was once just a way to keep friends easily connected with real time updates like “Where you at?”, Twitter is now a tremendous tool for the business that knows how to use it properly.

Used for Branding, Customer Service, Coupon Specials, making joint venture partnerships, online networking, search engine optimization, driving traffic to your blog or web site, and more… Twitter is an online marketers dream. With keyword search, you can find someone talking about your product, service, or Brand, real time and reply back to them (whether they are following you or not.)

I caught Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter (find him @biz on Twitter), on Conan O’Brien’s Show last week. With the Tonight Show debacle and Conan being restricted on when he could appear in public and what he could say last year, he said Twitter was his saving grace. Visit @teamcoco to read his witty tweets.

Brian Solis blogged that Twitter, “has a reported 200+ million users (and bots) and a market valuation of $8 – $10 billion. It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to hit 1 billion Tweets. Now it only takes 1 week for Twitter to syndicate 1 billion Tweets.” If you are actively using Twitter, you understand how it works and can really see the power of it to connect instantly with someone you know, or have a common interest with. Even the mobile use of Twitter has grown 182% in the last year.

If you visit Twitter’s home page these days, their tag line reads, “The Best Way to Discover What’s New in Your World.” For the general user, you can find out what Oprah has to say, or stay up to date on the latest happenings of your favorite music artist or celebrity.

In January there was a lot of talk about how Twitter helped the people of Tunisia stay connected and avoid censorship by their government using the hashtag #sidibouzid.

Twitter is a lot of things to a lot of different users. For social media experts, having a networking tool available at your fingertips that can reach anyone (who has a Twitter account), anywhere, in any country, in seconds is phenomenal. As long as you have a business strategy in place regarding what you are saying and when, you should be seeing success with this aspect of “permission marketing”. If after reading this you thought to yourself, “I’m supposed to have a Twitter strategy for my business account”, then, you might want to give me a call.

Twitter itself reports that 460,000 new accounts were created each day on average in February 2011. Did one of those accounts belong to you or your business? Have you found connections that are a great source of referral? Are you tracking clicks and offer codes from Twitter? What do you use Twitter for? I welcome your comments.

There are now over 600 million people using Facebook. 2 million web sites are integrated with Facebook social plug ins. Facebook has their own algorithm, much like Google, which is called Edge Rank. Having good Edge Rank determines if your posts are making the “Top News” feed. Facebook has two news feeds: “top news” and “most recent”. Top News is the default feed Facebook assigns to accounts and what most people see. It is a snapshot of the “most active” Facebook people and pages you are connected to. Most Recent is the feed that shows what every person or business you are connected to has posted in their status update. As a business, the more you are “shared”, “liked” and “commented” on, the better your Edge Rank.

As a business, you must follow these tips to improve your Edge Rank and help ensure your posts are being seen by your community:

1. Post photos: they get the BEST Edge Rank
2. Post videos
3. Post URL Links out to content (Only posts with URL’s can be shared. Text only does not show the “share button”)
4. Post live, manual posts (not all auto fed)

More Tips About Facebook and Your Blog:

You may also want to consider manually posting your new blog articles into Facebook, rather than auto feeding them in via the notes tab, Networked Blogs app or other automated tool, like Twitterfeed. The reason is, a manual post allows you to choose the best “thumbnail” image to accompany the post. Sometimes, auto fed blogs don’t provide a visual thumbnail (and sometimes they do, so, check the one you are using). People like to see images along with content. Take a look at how your blog article entries look on your Facebook wall now and decide what works best for you. At least 1 post per day should be a live, manual post to improve Edge Rank.

Facebook Like Box - Social Plug In

When it comes to Facebook Social Plug Ins, use the “like box” on your blog. The “like button” is not as viral. It posts 1 line to the wall of the person who clicks it. But, the “like box” makes the post easier to share, shows up on the wall of the person who posted it and includes thumbnail images of fans.

Add This Sharing Buttons

Allowing people to share your blog while reading their Facebook wall posts is key. If someone starts on your blog and wants to share your article in Facebook or any other social tool they use, you should make sure your blog is as “sharable” as possible by adding share buttons to each and every blog article. Add them to the top and bottom of the post. For example, you may use the “TweetMeme” button at the top of the post and the “Add This” list of buttons at the bottom. Be social everywhere you can and encourage sharing.

Have you heard the buzz about Social Media Success Summit 2011—the web’s largest online social media marketing conference?

Before I tell you how this virtual summit will help your business attract great customers and prospects, gain a unique competitive advantage, and measure your social media results, let me share a story with you.

PROOF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORKS…

In October 2009, Michael Stelzner started Social Media Examiner, a blog for marketers and small business owners. Almost overnight, his site became one of the top business blogs in the world.

He didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of his traffic came from search engines.
Slightly more than a year later, his site has more than 57,000 email subscribers, over 31,000 Facebook fans, a half-million page views a month, and has generated nearly $2 million in sales.

Everything he does focuses on delivering high-quality content coupled with intelligent social media marketing.
Michael’s story is not unique. A significant 73% of business owners and marketers plan to increase their use of social media in 2011 (2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report).

What’s the connection? Your customers (and prospects) are using social media every day. Social media is a new marketing frontier because it bypasses all the costly middlemen and allows you to engage directly with your customers and prospects! AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

SO WHAT’S THIS ABOUT?
Michael (and his team) have been working for months to bring the best minds in social media together in a fully online event called Social Media Success Summit 2011.

A significant 2,500 marketers and business owners from around the world attended his last Social Media Success Summit. Businesses were transformed. In fact, 96% of attendees said they’d attend again.

This summit’s focus is to empower you to implement successful social media marketing tactics, track and measure your social media ROI, and see how successful social media campaigns were executed. Twenty-two of the world’s leading social media superstars will be summit instructors.

Presenters include Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Brian Solis (author, Engage), Frank Eliason (Citigroup), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Erik Qualman (author, Socialnomics), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Dan Zarrella (author, The Social Media Marketing Book), and experts from Boeing, Intel, Verizon, Cisco and LinkedIn.

Plus join Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing), David Meerman Scott (author, Real-Time Marketing & PR), Jay Baer (co-author, The Now Revolution), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), Steve Garfield (author, Get Seen), and Ann Handley (MarketingProfs)–just to name a few.

Attendees at our two last summits included well-known organizations such as General Electric, American Express, Staples, General Mills, Microsoft, Harvard, San Francisco Giants, MetLife, Kraft Foods, Hyatt Hotels, Stanford, Ben & Jerry’s, IDG and Disney. But you don’t need to be a big business to benefit!

This is the world’s largest online social media event designed to empower marketers and business owners to master social media marketing. And the great news is it’s a live online conference you can attend from your home or office.
Go here now to learn more.

Here’s to your success!
Joann Whetstine

P.S. Twenty-two of the most successful social media pros will show you how to use social media to market and grow your business. Remember, the experts teach the sessions live (and it’s all online). So you don’t need to leave your home or office! Go here to see how this works!

P.P.S. As a way of saying “thanks” for checking out the summit, there’s a gift just for marketers called “8 Steps to Creating a Winning Social Media Strategy” by Jay Baer (valued at $59) waiting for you. Go get it here.

Selling Cookies with Facebook Status Updates

Still wondering if you should start using social media for your business? Here’s a great story about how my neighbor used Facebook to promote her daughters Girl Scout Cookies sales this year.

It’s Girl Scout Cookie time again, as I’m sure you know because you’ve seen many cookie stands out if front of your local grocery store in the past few weeks. I was very pleased to see that my neighbor used social media to get the word out about her daughters fund raising efforts.

One day she posted on her personal Facebook profile the following status update:

“One week from today we will have 108 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in our house! Please put in your orders quick before I eat all of them ”

All did was reply back with my comment, “I’ll take 2 boxes of thin mints, please!” and the sale was done.

I love that she started getting the word out 1 week in advance, and, as the pick up day approached, she had Facebook status updates:

“It’s Cookie day!!!! Come get your Girl Scout cookies starting at 4pm today ”

Then a few weeks later as the initial purchasing rush has died down another reminder:

“Just stocked up on Thin Mints, come & get them before they’re gone ”

Yuuummm! Who doesn’t love Thin Mints! And, when you know they are almost done for another year, it’s pretty easy to walk across the street and pick up a few more boxes.

Social media marketing works. If you “don’t have time” or “don’t know how” to use it for your business, I can help.

Nuts About SouthWest - Winner of Best Corporate Blog 3 Years in a Row

If your business has jumped on the social media bandwagon, congratulations to you! You’ve taken a big step towards marketing time well spent. But, before you launched it, did you and your company do some strategic planning to decide what your blog should be about?
If not, take a step back and get your strategic planning hat back on. In order to achieve business success through blogging, you need a plan and to determine the following:

• What is the voice of your blog
• What is the end result / goal you wish to achieve

I attended a recent webinar where SouthWest, P&G (specifically ManOfTheHouse.com) and McDonalds spoke about the effectiveness of blogging for their respective companies. There were some big takeaways every blogger and business can learn from:

1. Be Authentic and True to your Brand
   Every blog should mirror the company voice. SouthWest Airlines has a very fun blog called Nuts About Southwest. If you’ve ever seen a southwest commercial on TV, you can see how their online presence mirrors their brand. They state their goal on the blog itself, “Give our visitors the opportunity to take a look inside Southwest Airlines and to interact with us.” Started in 2006, their blog posts content from 30 bloggers companywide and they have won the Best Corporate Blog award 3 years in a row.
2. Add Value with Your Article Content
   You need to give people a reason to visit you, subscribe via RSS and comment on your content. All social media sites (Facebook, Twitter and Blogs) are communities first and foremost. What information can you bring to the community that will make them want to visit you and learn what you have to say? How do you add value?
3. Reach Out for Other People’s Content
   Blogging does not have to be an island in itself. Reach out for others to write content for you. Take P&G for example. ManOfTheHouse.com found great success promoting the Gillette P&G product by reaching out to 12 bloggers to create custom, personal, heartfelt content about their own personal Dad stories in their “Thank You Dad” campaign.

McDonalds actually does not blog for themselves at all. But, rather, they invest in bloggers who already have a strong online presence, like Mommy Bloggers, who are happy customers. They find that having a 3rd party voice lends credibility to their restaurant as the story is told with through a true voice who loves the products.

If you have not yet figured out what your blog is about or why you are blogging, take a look at successful corporate blogs online, think about the ideas above, and create a plan and goals for your blog today. As with any traditional marketing activity, without goals and planning in place, you will have trouble achieving the desired results.

Haircut Back View

Haircut Front View

Combining social media with traditional marketing works. Facebook is great for not only connecting with your current customers online, but also getting new leads and exposure via referral.

Here’s one way a hairdresser used social media (Facebook) for lead generation.

I discovered Rely Local from a postcard at a local shop in my neighborhood. I visited their site and “liked” them in Facebook. A few weeks later, I noticed a post entitled “click Like and be entered to win a free haircut from Hair by Chandra.” I really never expected to win, but, as a social media consultant, I know how beneficial clicking “like” can me to a business, so I was happy to click.

When I won, it was such a nice surprise and this was a really great example of how timing is everything. I had been considering finding a hair stylist in my neighborhood, instead of making the 1 hour round trip to visit the shop I’d been using for awhile. So, when I saw the post asking me to click “like”, I was at the perfect time in my “buying cycle” to pay attention to the post and find out more about WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?)

After the free service, she took my picture and uploaded it to her Facebook Business page from her Iphone. I went online to Facebook as well and added my happy comments and review of her service under my photo and also as a separate post right to her Facebook wall (which showed on my own personal Facebook wall and was viewed by all my friends.)

Because of her contest offer, both her Facebook wall and Rely Local are getting new “likes”, engagement, and the opportunity to be seen by all my local friends (and others like me) who may be interested in using her services, or learning more about Rely Local. This is the viral beauty of social media sharing and how you can build your Facebook “fans” and get more leads with social media.

What a business really needs to realize is that social media tools, like Facebook, can serve as another touchpoint (or “eyeball” if you will) to keep you top of mind to your audience. The more someone sees your posts, they will be much closer to buying from you when they are ready to purchase because of the relationship you’ve built with them in the social media community, in this case, Facebook.

I was thrilled to get a free haircut and happy to have found someone local that I liked. It was a win, win for all. Thank you social media!

The Blogging Success Summit has kicked off with full force. I always attend webinars like these to stay current on what’s happening with social media for big companies as well as learning results from other social media consultant’s client successes.
With three sessions so far, we heard from:

1. Richard Jalichandra, the CEO of Technorati, with a great Keynote speech talking about best practices for brands and bloggers and the State of the Blogosphere.
2. Joe Pulizzi, co-author of Get Content Get Customers, and founder of Junta42 and the Content Marketing Institute revealed twenty actionable tactics to create compelling content.
3. Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book, talked about Leveraging Your Blog as a Social Media Hub.

Here were the big takeaways:

As Facebook and Twitter may come and go or social platforms may change over time, a blog stands as your “permanent digital footprint” – the Hub. Every article holds a unique URL which makes it easy to find share and linked to from any social platform. And, and when you wisely use your keywords in your headlines and body copy, you are improving your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with valuable content that lives online forever.