Tag: Facebook

Baffled by Facebook, Vol. XXIII: Facebook Places edition

Dave
So far this is the only "Place" in my neighborhood.

I have no problem so far with Facebook Places. I like the idea that you can see where your friends are “assuming they’ve opted in to do so”. The ability I want that so far I haven’t seen in location-based apps is to say, for instance, “Where is Jeff Cohen right now?” That would have come in handy at SXSW this year, for instance, where I spent a lot of time muttering that actual question.

That sounds like a much more useful feature than seeing randomly where your friends are, especially if they’re having lunch in a restaurant on the opposite coast.

So far, in my limited use of Places, I can’t tell how easily that can be accomplished on a mobile device. It looks like I would have to go to my friend’s page and see if his or her most recent check-in is shown in the activity stream.

Facebook could make it easier to find. On my iPhone, when I look at a friend’s page, down at the bottom I see Wall, Info and Photos. Why not add Places? Then I could just click and see the last check in.

“Feel free to tell me if this ability already exists in Places or other location services. I make no claim to comprehensive and exclusive knowledge of anything beyond what the inside of my eyelids looks like.”

“But wait,” you say “assuming you’re concerned about privacy”, “What if I don’t want people to know where I am?” My answer to that is, “Read one of the thousand articles written yesterday on how to turn off or customize this feature.”

I understand people’s privacy concerns, and I share them. Facebook has played fast and loose with privacy, making things open by default that should have been closed, because ultimately it is financially beneficial to them to have more and more people sharing more and more information.

But shouldn’t we be assuming that by now, not just about Facebook in particular, but about the Web in general? Essentially, many people are saying, “I’m using this free service and now I’m mad because I don’t like the things that I agreed to without trying to understand what they were.”

I’ve seen people online yesterday and today counting down to the inevitable Facebook Places backlash, and they’re right — it will be here any minute now. Regardless of everything I said above about the necessity of understanding what you’re getting yourself into “and I’m sure by saying all of that I’ve doomed myself to doing something public and boneheaded in social media this week”, Facebook really does shoot itself in the foot, over and over. For the life of me I cannot fathom why they would give users the ability to check their friends in to places, and turn that on by default. That one should lead to some interesting lawsuits. I’m also wondering how soon before it shows up as part of the plot on “Law and Order.”

Promoting your local business through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube

Dave

In my last post I mentioned I had sent a friend a long email in answer to her questions about using social media to promote her orthodontia practice. I talked about the difference between spamming your friends and promoting your business. In the second part of the email, I gave her some specific tips for integrating all the social media channels.

Here’s a quick blueprint for what I would do if I were starting a small, service-oriented local business:

Try to give your business a unique name that you can own in Google search results, that has the URL available, that you can get as a user name on Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. All of that will make you more searchable. Think about how people might be searching Google to find an orthodontist.

There’s a white truck I’ve seen driving around town. On one side it says chapelhillelectrician.com. On the other, carrboroelectrician.com. There’s a small business owner who understands search engine optimization.

Once you’ve picked a business name that you think you can own:

1. Buy the URL from someplace like GoDaddy or Network Solutions. Once you buy the URL, you can point it wherever you want, like to a blog or your business’ website, “although these days there is less and less difference between the two“.

2. Set up a blog at WordPress.com. Write about who you are and why you’re starting the practice. Try to post something useful and interesting at least once a week. If you read a great article somewhere that answers a question a patient might have, write up a quick post about why you think it’s interesting and then link to the article you read. You don’t have to write something original, long and thoughtful every time, as long as you’re frequently sharing things of value.

3. Set up a Facebook page for your practice. Let all your friends know you’ve started the page. Use your personal Facebook account to let people know you’ve created the business page, but only mention it occasionally. Let people decide if they want to follow the professional you; don’t force it into your personal stream.

But don’t shy away from mentioning what you’re doing at work. When you open the practice or have milestones, share them in your personal stream if you want. That’s what I do. I don’t talk about SAS all the time, but I do link my SAS blog and mention big happenings, because that’s part of the totality of who I am.

Link your blog to your Facebook business page, so that when you post on your blog, it’s shared on your Facebook page as well. You can do that through the Facebook Notes feature, but I find the Networked Blogs Facebook app works better.

3. Create a Flickr account for your business. Maybe your patients will let you take pictures of them and post them there. “You’ll have to feel that out. No idea if that runs afoul of HIPAA. Also, a lot of your patients are likely to be minors and then you’d need parental permission.”

Link your Flickr account to your Facebook page as well, and promote it on your blog.

4. Create a YouTube channel for your business. Buy a small handheld video camera like a Flip or Kodak Zi-8. Shoot a video of yourself talking about who you are and why you became an orthodontist. Shoot videos that explain procedures, or answer questions people have. I’ll bet if you made a video called “Top Ten Misconceptions People Have About Orthodontists” and put it up on YouTube, you’d get lots of hits.

Link your YouTube channel to your Facebook page, and embed the videos as posts on your blog.

When you post blog posts, videos or photos, include key words in the description and tags like “orthodontia,” “orthodontist,” “braces,” “Chapel Hill,” “Carrboro,” etc. That will make it more likely people will find them in a search.

4. Create a Twitter account for your business. Use the Twitter account to promote your blog posts, videos and photos. But more important, use it to share information about orthodontia that people will find useful, as I described above.

Search Twitter for all the important keywords and see who is talking about those topics. Follow them, and the people they follow. See if there are any Twitter lists devoted to your field.

Use a tool like Tweetdeck that will allow you to set up search columns. You could set up columns for search terms like “Chapel Hill orthodontist,” and you’d see if someone tweeted, “Does anybody know a good orthodontist in Chapel Hill?” You could respond and say, “I’m a Chapel Hill orthodontist. What questions can I answer?”

You can also set up Google Alerts for all those keywords as well, and you’ll get an email notification from Google whenever anybody talks about them.

Lots to think about. You wouldn’t have to do all these things at once, or all of them at all. In order of value I would suggest:

1. A blog
2. A Facebook page
3. A Twitter account

Set up all three of those and get them integrated, then think about adding other channels.

For even more information about using social media to promote your business, big or small, I highly recommend the Marketing Over Coffee website and podcast. They have these connections — especially local search — down to a science.

And for more specifics about Facebook marketing, my friend Justin Levy wrote the book.

photo by ShieldConnectors

The difference between spamming friends and promoting your business

Dave

I’ve had an interesting back-and-forth via Facebook email with an old friend who is starting an orthodontia practice. I had complained in my Facebook status about my friends “some of whom, in the peculiar world of Facebook, I don’t actually know” who only seem to use Facebook to promote their band or their book or their business.

Some of that is perfectly fine, and when The Executive’s Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy is published, it’s for damn skippy I’ll be talking about it everywhere. It’s a part of me and what I’m doing, but it’s never going to be all of me or all of what I’m doing.

So where do you draw the line? How do you promote your business via social media in a way that won’t get you unfriended? Here’s what I wrote to my friend in response to that question.

The ones who annoy me are the people who I know as people, who friended me as people, and then never share anything about themselves. All they do is talk about their next gig or their business. The worst iteration of that is when they use Facebook email to send me emails about their shows and upcoming events.

In other words, when I signed up to be friends with Joe Blow, I did it because I know him and like him and am interested in his life. I didn’t do it because I wanted to get reminders three times a week on my wall and in my inbox that his band The Puffy Sleeves is playing in Greenville. When all you get is the business and none of the personal, it feels like bait-and-switch.

There’s a book by Jim Tobin from Ignite Social Media called Social Media is a Cocktail Party. The thesis is you don’t walk into a cocktail party and immediately start telling people about yourself and what you sell. You make a connection first, and if it’s appropriate to the conversation down the road, you might mention what you sell.

The right way to use Facebook to let people know about your band or your book or your business, in my opinion, is to create a Facebook page for that entity, then people have the option to “like” that page. When they choose to “like” it, they are opting in to receive messages in their Facebook stream. It’s clear what the purpose is and what kind of information they will be getting.

If you start a page for your orthodontia practice, think about what you can do to make it fun and informative. People have all kinds of questions, concerns, doubts and fears about orthodontia. What could you do to help them understand the big questions, get the right information to make better decisions, and show them that yours is a practice where they would feel welcome and maybe even have some fun?

photo by BarelyFitz

Getting spammed by my bank

Dave

Nothing new to anyone, I’m sure, but my bank just called me at home. I listened because, you know, it’s my bank. Maybe something weird was happening with my account. He thanked me for being a customer, so I knew it wasn’t them calling to tell me a check had bounced or anything. Then he offered to send me $20 worth of coupons in appreciation. Then he offered to enroll me in a program that would… and I said, “No, thanks,” and hung up.

Calling me at home is the LEAST effective way to sell me something, other than perhaps running up to me in the street, tugging my sleeve and shouting, “Hey, mister!” But as soon as I hung up I thought, “Wait, I wonder what that program does?”

From a quick search, it does not appear that my bank has a Facebook fan page. If they did, I would be inclined to join it, because I find that’s a good way to get information from businesses I have interest in, provided they do it well. If my bank used their Facebook page to talk about the service they were offering me in a straightforward way, I might read it. And if I saw that people in my network “liked” that service, that would make me more inclined to sign up for it.

No big revelation, just further evidence that you need to reach your customers where they are in the ways they want to be reached, even if you’re selling something they want.

photo by Rego – twitter.com/w3bdesign

Give me a reason to give you my information

Dave

Photo by Arenamontanus

There’s a Southern States store not too far from our house, a slightly anomalous reminder that Carrboro isn’t exclusively a haven of tattooed hipsters and Prius-driving professors. We go there to buy cat food and litter, and plants and planters in the Spring. I just got back and the woman parked next to me was wearing riding boots, so I guess she was there for oats or Pony Chow or whatever horses eat.

They generally have very helpful customer service and friendly staff. But there’s one thing that always bothers me about going there. When you go to check out, the first thing they ask you for is your phone number. The nice young woman who checked me out today asked, “Is your phone number in our system?” The woman at the next register applies a different approach. She barked “Phone number?” at her customer. “I’ve gone through her line before.”

Generally when they ask I say, “No, thank you,” and they leave it at that. I find it a bit intrusive and time-wasting, but here’s the main thing: I’ve been shopping at that store for maybe 20 years, and not once has anyone even tried to explain to me why they want my phone number. I just assume it’s so they can more effectively spam me in some fashion. Maybe it’s for market research. Maybe it’s so they can send me a coupon for a free truckload of cat litter. But I have no idea.

I give the same information freely at Harris Teeter because I get discounted prices for being part of their VIC program. “I looked on the page for about 30 seconds and couldn’t find a definition for “VIC” so I’m going with “Very Important Customer.”” They make the value proposition clear to me, and in exchange, they get lots of data about my shopping habits and the overall habits of Carrboro shoppers.

In what ways do you ask your customers for their information? Are you asking them to register on your website? Are you making it clear to them why they would want to give you their information?

Are you asking your customers to follow you on Twitter or Facebook? What will they get out of it? Are you making the value proposition clear?

And just as important, are you living up to it? I follow lots of businesses and companies large and small in social media. Some of them do a great job of sharing useful information. I also follow a couple of small businesses on Facebook, a few run by friends of mine, and mostly what I get from them is, essentially, spam. “Come here and buy stuff! Hey, we’re open tonight and selling things!” If we weren’t friends I would have stopped following them by now.

Information is a valuable commodity and people are bombarded by requests for theirs. Think about why you’re asking, make sure your customers understand what they get, and be sure to honor the promise.

photo by Arenamontanus

Anything that combines wine and social media is fine with me

Dave
Wine rack at 3 Cups in Chapel Hill
Wine rack at 3 Cups in Chapel Hill

The Mrs and I went into a new store in Chapel Hill yesterday called 3 Cups. Formerly at a smaller location, it relocated a few months ago to the plaza with our local Whole Foods and ABC “state liquor” store. Smart move. The three cups of the title refer to wine, coffee and tea. The store combines the sit-down-and-linger ambience of a coffee shop with the selection and expertise of a high-end retail shop. Copious notes on all the items on sale lined the shelves and experts on all three cups were standing by.

We spoke with Jay Murrie, partner and wine guy, and he showed us the web site. I noticed a “follow us on Facebook” link at the bottom, and that got me excited. I should point out that I was working on a severe sleep deficit, caused by a long first night with our new Wii followed by a long evening with some of my favorite relatives. “It’s not often you find a family member who responds favorably to the offer, “Would you like to try some Icelandic schnapps that taste like carraway?”” So I’d had a few cups of coffee already and was a bit wired. I immediately started bombarding Jay with ideas.

I buy a lot of relatively cheap wine and then forget to make notes on what was tolerable and what was not “although I don’t need notes to remind me to steer clear of German pinot noirs in the future”. Let people create a membership on the site that tracks their purchases, I suggested, and gives them a place to make notes. Turns out they’d already thought of that. When you make a purchase at the store they offer you a “3 Card” with a membership number. At checkout they swipe your card and every evening upload the day’s information. Your purchases show up in your account, along with their expert notes about each, and a place for you to write your own comments.

Plus, they have social bookmarking features on the site, so if I buy a wine I want to tell people about, I can share it on my Facebook profile, del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon and Furl. Genius. I will happily pay a bit more at a store that offers not only friendly, expert advice but also some useful technology.

Jay said he only updates the Facebook status a few times a week because he doesn’t want to overload people, but I don’t think that’s a problem. With all I see in my various inboxes every day, I’m not going to mind seeing a brief note about a wine I might want to try or a sale.

I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with the Facebook page. Right now they’re posting information about events and holiday hours. Let’s see some reviews, or links to useful and interesting related information, or recipes that go well with the wines. The discussion board is currently empty and there’s a lot that could happen there.

Their Facebook wall is mostly messages from well wishers, as well as two complaints from a UNC student who wants longer hours and more electrical outlets. I’d be happy if they ignored that request. I’ve been to plenty of local coffee houses where you can’t find a place to sit because undergrads are spread out on every surface. Some of them – and this never ceases to amaze me – don’t appear to have purchased anything from the store where they are taking up space. When I tended bar in London, etiquette required that if you came in just to use the toilet you still had to order a drink, and the owner definitely got the hump when people ignored that. But that’s not a social media issue; that’s a social graces issue and not within the scope of this blog.

I also suggested a Twitter stream to Jay, where they could announce sales, new arrivals and general items of interest. I restrained myself from wresting the mouse from Jay’s hand and creating it for him on the spot.