Archive for facebook offers

Social Media Newsfeed: Apple-Facebook Hacking Link | eBay Feed

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AppleApple Hit By Hackers Who Struck Facebook (The Wall Street Journal)
Apple said Tuesday that some of its employees’ Mac computers were attacked by hackers, a rare admission for a company that has long touted its security over PCs running Windows software. The malicious code in the latest attack is believed to have been the same discovered by Facebook, which said on Friday that its employees’ computers were breached by hackers last month. The Next Web The Facebook hacking a few weeks ago and the Apple hacking announcement have one common thread: an unnamed mobile development site. This site had been frequented by members on the development teams, specifically the iOS development teams, of all of these companies. The site’s name, which has also been exposed in reports by AllThingsD and The New York Times, is iPhoneDevSDK. Reuters Twitter, which disclosed that it had been breached Feb. 1 and that hackers might gave accessed some information on about 250,000 users, was hit in the same campaign, according to a person close to the investigation. Another person briefed on the case said that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software. AllThingsD Ian Sefferman, owner and operator of the site iPhoneDevSDK, has reached out to AllThingsD and provided the following statement: “We’re investigating Facebook’s reports that iPhoneDevSDK was hosting an exploit targeted at Facebook employees. We’re actively ensuring that is not the case. Facebook originally noted that they immediately reached out to other affected companies, but we were never contacted by Facebook, any other company, or law enforcement. Our users’ security is incredibly important to us and we’ll be sure to follow the investigation through to completion.” Bloomberg An Eastern European ring of hackers reportedly are responsible for the Apple, Facebook, and Twitter hackings, and many others, in an effort to steal company secrets, research and intellectual property that they can sell. The origin of the malware attacks was reported by Bloomberg News, which cited as sources two people familiar with the invasions. Investigators tracked at least one server being used by the hacker ring to a hosting company in the Ukraine, Bloomberg said.

Feed Me: eBay Rolls Out New Homepage to All Users (CNET)
E-commerce and payments giant eBay Tuesday officially rolled out its website redesign, the biggest change in its history. Users no longer have the option to use the older design, but eBay says the new site is “more intuitive.” Business Insider The project was led by Jack Abraham, the founder of Milo, a local-shopping startup he sold to eBay in 2010. Abraham and eBay haven’t spoken much about the development of the new homepage—called the “Feed.” Silicon Valley Business Journal The new design focuses on a “highly visual, personalized feed of products based on your interests, and the brands and trends that match their passions and preferences,” according to the report. Tom Pinckney, head of the eBay NYC office, told TechCrunch that users are responding “positively” to the new design, and next up is an international rollout of the design.

Mark Zuckerberg, the State of California Would Like You to Pick Up Your Unclaimed Checks (BetaBeat)
According to the California comptroller, PayPal owes Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg $308.62. The address listed on the form is for 1743 Westbrook Ave. in Los Altos, Calif., the house Zuck and Co. rented while building Facebook. As a struggling entrepreneur in 2004-2005, he probably could’ve used that money.

Bing Pushes Ahead with Search of Facebook Photos (SocialTimes)
Bing is continuing to improve on its specialized search engine for Facebook photos, gussying up the feature’s user interface and supporting a slideshow view. Users who connect their Facebook accounts to Bing can use the Friends’ Photos feature in lieu of fumbling through Facebook to find a particular set of photos.

I Don’t Think You’re Ready for This Celly — Startup Raises $1.4M to Bring Social Networking to Classrooms (VentureBeat)
Social media startup Celly closed a $1.4 million round of funding Tuesday to enhance communication for smaller groups and organizations. Celly allows classrooms, government organizations or other community groups to use a communications platform that cherry picks some of the best elements from Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook Testing Revamped Offers with ‘Remind Me’ Option, New Layout (AllFacebook)
A new version of Offers being tested by Facebook is aimed at giving users more options, such as the choice of redeeming the offers immediately or receiving reminder emails and notifications prior to the expirations of the promotions. Sister blog Inside Facebook reported on the offers test, saying that users who receive offers involved in the test will see the “get offer” button replaced by two buttons: “shop now” and “remind me.”

Mother Furious After Cops Use Facebook to Inform Her of Son’s Death (The Daily Dot)
Anna Lamb-Creasey is furious at the police for contacting her about her son’s death over Facebook. But she should save some of her anger for Facebook, too.

Tweetdeck’s New Column Filters Help You Sort Twitter Noise (AllTwitter)
Ever try to follow a #hashtag chat and get annoyed by certain folks posting irrelevant tweets that muck up the stream? Tweetdeck now offers a way for you to wash that junk right out of your feed, with column filters.

Jeep Twitter Account Hacked, Claims Sale to Cadillac (Mashable)
Jeep’s official Twitter account was hacked Tuesday morning by what appears to be the same group who attacked Burger King on Monday: @DFNTSC. The background on Jeep’s official Twitter page has been changed to some gentleman riding around in a McDonald’s vehicle, and the account’s description claims it has been sold to Cadillac.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Social Media Newsfeed: Apple-Facebook Hacking Link | eBay Feed

 Click here to receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed via email.

AppleApple Hit By Hackers Who Struck Facebook (The Wall Street Journal)
Apple said Tuesday that some of its employees’ Mac computers were attacked by hackers, a rare admission for a company that has long touted its security over PCs running Windows software. The malicious code in the latest attack is believed to have been the same discovered by Facebook, which said on Friday that its employees’ computers were breached by hackers last month. The Next Web The Facebook hacking a few weeks ago and the Apple hacking announcement have one common thread: an unnamed mobile development site. This site had been frequented by members on the development teams, specifically the iOS development teams, of all of these companies. The site’s name, which has also been exposed in reports by AllThingsD and The New York Times, is iPhoneDevSDK. Reuters Twitter, which disclosed that it had been breached Feb. 1 and that hackers might gave accessed some information on about 250,000 users, was hit in the same campaign, according to a person close to the investigation. Another person briefed on the case said that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software. AllThingsD Ian Sefferman, owner and operator of the site iPhoneDevSDK, has reached out to AllThingsD and provided the following statement: “We’re investigating Facebook’s reports that iPhoneDevSDK was hosting an exploit targeted at Facebook employees. We’re actively ensuring that is not the case. Facebook originally noted that they immediately reached out to other affected companies, but we were never contacted by Facebook, any other company, or law enforcement. Our users’ security is incredibly important to us and we’ll be sure to follow the investigation through to completion.” Bloomberg An Eastern European ring of hackers reportedly are responsible for the Apple, Facebook, and Twitter hackings, and many others, in an effort to steal company secrets, research and intellectual property that they can sell. The origin of the malware attacks was reported by Bloomberg News, which cited as sources two people familiar with the invasions. Investigators tracked at least one server being used by the hacker ring to a hosting company in the Ukraine, Bloomberg said.

Feed Me: eBay Rolls Out New Homepage to All Users (CNET)
E-commerce and payments giant eBay Tuesday officially rolled out its website redesign, the biggest change in its history. Users no longer have the option to use the older design, but eBay says the new site is “more intuitive.” Business Insider The project was led by Jack Abraham, the founder of Milo, a local-shopping startup he sold to eBay in 2010. Abraham and eBay haven’t spoken much about the development of the new homepage—called the “Feed.” Silicon Valley Business Journal The new design focuses on a “highly visual, personalized feed of products based on your interests, and the brands and trends that match their passions and preferences,” according to the report. Tom Pinckney, head of the eBay NYC office, told TechCrunch that users are responding “positively” to the new design, and next up is an international rollout of the design.

Mark Zuckerberg, the State of California Would Like You to Pick Up Your Unclaimed Checks (BetaBeat)
According to the California comptroller, PayPal owes Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg $308.62. The address listed on the form is for 1743 Westbrook Ave. in Los Altos, Calif., the house Zuck and Co. rented while building Facebook. As a struggling entrepreneur in 2004-2005, he probably could’ve used that money.

Bing Pushes Ahead with Search of Facebook Photos (SocialTimes)
Bing is continuing to improve on its specialized search engine for Facebook photos, gussying up the feature’s user interface and supporting a slideshow view. Users who connect their Facebook accounts to Bing can use the Friends’ Photos feature in lieu of fumbling through Facebook to find a particular set of photos.

I Don’t Think You’re Ready for This Celly — Startup Raises $1.4M to Bring Social Networking to Classrooms (VentureBeat)
Social media startup Celly closed a $1.4 million round of funding Tuesday to enhance communication for smaller groups and organizations. Celly allows classrooms, government organizations or other community groups to use a communications platform that cherry picks some of the best elements from Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook Testing Revamped Offers with ‘Remind Me’ Option, New Layout (AllFacebook)
A new version of Offers being tested by Facebook is aimed at giving users more options, such as the choice of redeeming the offers immediately or receiving reminder emails and notifications prior to the expirations of the promotions. Sister blog Inside Facebook reported on the offers test, saying that users who receive offers involved in the test will see the “get offer” button replaced by two buttons: “shop now” and “remind me.”

Mother Furious After Cops Use Facebook to Inform Her of Son’s Death (The Daily Dot)
Anna Lamb-Creasey is furious at the police for contacting her about her son’s death over Facebook. But she should save some of her anger for Facebook, too.

Tweetdeck’s New Column Filters Help You Sort Twitter Noise (AllTwitter)
Ever try to follow a #hashtag chat and get annoyed by certain folks posting irrelevant tweets that muck up the stream? Tweetdeck now offers a way for you to wash that junk right out of your feed, with column filters.

Jeep Twitter Account Hacked, Claims Sale to Cadillac (Mashable)
Jeep’s official Twitter account was hacked Tuesday morning by what appears to be the same group who attacked Burger King on Monday: @DFNTSC. The background on Jeep’s official Twitter page has been changed to some gentleman riding around in a McDonald’s vehicle, and the account’s description claims it has been sold to Cadillac.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

21 Social Media Marketing Tips From the Pros

social media how toAre you struggling to keep up to date with the best social media marketing tips?

Would you like to know how to get the best results with your social media marketing?

We asked twenty-one social media marketing experts to share their best social media tips today.

Here’s what they had to say.

#1: Attract Leads With Facebook Offers

amy porterfield

Amy Porterfield

If you’re looking for a new way to attract quality leads using social media, try Facebook Offers.

Facebook Offers are a type of Facebook ad, but they work a bit differently than a traditional Facebook Ad. You can set them up directly from your Facebook Page (no need to go into the Ads dashboard) and they can be created for offline and online businesses.

Although you can use them for many different promotions, I’ve seen the highest conversion rates when marketers use Offers to attract quality leads.

juice offer

Here's an example of a lead generating Facebook Offer.

Here’s why they work:

  1. Offers are promoted in the news feed (as opposed to being placed in the right-hand column on Facebook where you usually see marketplace ads).
  2. Ads in the news feed can get up to six times more engagement than ads in the right-hand column on Facebook.
  3. You can hyper-target your Offers to ensure that only the Facebook users who will have a genuine interest in your brand see them.
  4. When a user clicks on your Offer in the news feed, Facebook sends that user an email to their personal email account outside of Facebook. That means that your Offer is not only seen on Facebook, but now you are getting into the email boxes of interested prospects.
  5. When prospects open their email, they will see a link to your website or an opt-in page (wherever you choose to send people to claim your offer).

See how powerful Facebook Offers can be? Not only do you get optimal exposure in the news feed, you also get into personal email boxes and you can hyper-target each Offer. The way I see it, Facebook Offers are a triple threat!

Amy Porterfield, social media strategist, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.

#2: Use Social Media to Engage With Your Email Subscribers

melanie duncan

Melanie Duncan

The best social media marketing tip that I have for businesses is to use social media to engage with your email subscribers.

I can’t take total credit for it—it’s a concept that I heard at the Traffic and Conversion Summit in San Francisco. You see, everyone is trying to use social media to get new leads, which you definitely can do, but not enough business owners are using social media to build lasting and profitable relationships with their current subscribers.

You probably don’t want to email your list every day, but you likely want to stay top of mind and connect with them on a daily basis somehow. Social media is the perfect solution!

subscribe via email istock 15899912

Use social media to build lasting and profitable relationships with your current subscribers. Image source: iStockphoto

I suggest putting an email in your autoresponder and invite your new subscribers to follow you on Pinterest, or like your Facebook Page, and then remember to tell them WHY.

Do you host exclusive promotions and contests on your Page? Will they have access to information that you don’t share anywhere else? Make it worth their while and watch your business and your bank account flourish.

Remember, when it comes to your audience, you want quality over quantity.

Melanie Duncan, a serial entrepreneur, owns a successful apparel and home décor ecommerce business and teaches other entrepreneurs how they can get more traffic and sales with Pinterest.

#3: Combine Your Marketing Channels

brian carter bio pic

Brian Carter

My biggest tip is strategic: combine all the best of digital marketing for what I call your “Perpetual (Pro)motion Machine.”

If you use SEO, organic social media, search advertising, social advertising and Google remarketing ads, then you’re doing the best of everything.

You’re raising awareness for new business via Facebook, you’re getting the low-hanging fruit of buying-intent keywords via Google, and you’re making sure that people who’ve been to your site keep seeing you via Google remarketing and your Facebook fan base.

pertpetual promotion machine

The "Perpetual (Pro)motion Machine."

Also, most companies’ analytics are incomplete. They usually make Google look better than it really is and Facebook look worse than it really is. So allocate some money to raise awareness via Facebook as a best practice. Win the war at the mindshare and awareness level, not just at the bottom of the sales funnel.

Brian Carter, develops strategies and builds social marketing fan bases for companies of all sizes, and is the author of The Like Economy.

#4: Create a LinkedIn Company Page

viveka von rosen

Viveka Von Rosen

If you don’t have your company page up on LinkedIn yet, what are you waiting for?

LinkedIn Company Pages are not only a great way to get more branding for your business, but they are also an excellent way to reach your target market on LinkedIn.

Many business owners and executives like to keep a more private profile on LinkedIn, but would also like exposure for their company.

company profile

Get exposure and target your products and services.

LinkedIn Company Pages are the way to do that. You can grow your company following as large as you want, regardless of the size of your personal network. If you have employees, they can also become administrators of your page and help you promote and manage it, thereby exponentially increasing its visibility.

You can also target your updates and services and products to a specific market. This allows you to craft a message and a presence specific to your different audiences. If someone comes to your Company Page from the financial, legal, medical or marketing industry, you can customize your message to speak directly to them.

Not only that, but you can create “click-through” banners to entice your target market over to your website, sales page, commerce site or other social media sites. And it’s free!

company profile

Add video, documents and pictures to your Company Page.

And you can add video, documents and pictures to your company page too!

So if you don’t have a LinkedIn Company Page yet, what are you waiting for? And if you do, now’s the time to refocus it to target exactly the people you are hoping to do business with.

Viveka von Rosen, known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert,” author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

#5: Identify Your Outcomes

ric dragon

Ric Dragon

When we talk about the best thing to do in social media marketing for any given business, we have to begin with what that business is trying to achieve—its “desired outcomes.”

The best thing for a manufacturer of underarm deodorant is likely to be something quite different from what might be best for a company that tests those same products.

Before you go jumping into one platform or another, imagine what it would require for you or the company to go out and buy a $1,000 bottle of champagne and share it with the team. That’s your “1K Champagne Result.”

stock photo 11160909 champagne

Start thinking about your 1K Champagne Results. Image source: iStockphoto

The next part of the puzzle is to understand that not all social media efforts are the same. There are some really big differences in approaches, and thus outcomes. The five big approaches are:

  • Brand maintenance—monitor your channels and respond when appropriate, and perhaps post a bit here and there.
  • Community-building—whether it’s internal advocates, external brand ambassadors or groups of people who share the underlying passions of the brand, in this work you endeavor to join and nurture community.
  • Influencer outreach—identify and engage the people who are influential around your passion points or industry.
  • Reputation management and development—the project wherein you either repair or develop thought leadership or positive reputation.
  • The big splash—these are the big creative campaigns that garner a lot of short-term attention.

You might very well decide on a mix of these five approaches. If you start by thinking about your 1K Champagne Results, you can more easily line up your big approaches with whatever it is that’s going to make that cork go flying across the room.

Ric Dragon, co-founder and CEO of DragonSearch, author of Social Marketology and DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual.

#6: Become the Wikipedia of Your Industry

marcus sheridan

Marcus Sheridan

Over the last couple of years, a very interesting shift has occurred with each and every one of us who use the Internet. And what is this shift?

We’ve all grown incredibly impatient online.

In other words, if we go to a business’s website, and we can’t find what we’re looking for, it bothers us. We get frustrated quickly. And unlike a few years ago when we might have “hung around” to try to find the answers we were looking for, we now move on quickly—knowing that if we keep searching, we’ll eventually find a website that has the answer(s) we seek.

Interestingly enough, although we’ve all grown more impatient when it comes to websites that don’t bother giving us the answers we’re looking for, we’ve also grown more loyal once we stumble upon the information jackpot.

Basically, if we feel a website is a true “go-to source” for information and answers, we’ll keep coming back—again and again and again.

It’s for this reason that the best social media strategy any company can take in 2013 and beyond is to become a true teacher (Wikipedia) within their industry. The golden rule of marketing is this:

They ask, you answer.

In other words, if a consumer has ever asked a question, you should be answering it on your website. And considering most industries have literally thousands of potential consumer questions, content should always be growing, evolving and added to.

yale steve

After owner Steve Sheinkopf followed the "They Ask, You Answer" strategy for his company's content marketing approach in 2012, the Boston-based business Yale Appliance watched their web traffic, along with sales, explode.

With the average business website answering about 10 consumer questions, if a company is willing to follow the “They Ask, You Answer” mentality, amazing results will often occur. The brand will grow. Traffic on the site will increase. And above all else, sales will likely have a huge upturn.

Marcus Sheridan, co-owner of River Pools and Spas, the founder of PoolSchool.us—an educational site on selecting the right pool, founder of The Sales Lion.

#7: Meet in Person or “Virtually Connect”

andrea vahl

Andrea Vahl

Some of my strongest online connections and relationships have developed because I took the time to connect in person.

Either by organizing a “meetup” or “Tweetup” with a group, going to a conference (such as Social Media Marketing World) where I knew the people I wanted to meet would be or even just connecting one-on-one through Skype.

I highly recommend you take some of these online connections offline to make a deeper connection.

google hangout

Use Google+ Hangouts to meet up with your peers.

Think about organizing a Google+ Hangout with several like-minded people with whom you are interested in connecting.

Even “virtually” connecting can help strengthen that relationship and spark some ideas for collaboration. Meeting someone makes retweeting and sharing their posts much more fun. Not only that, it can have a profound effect on your business. I know it has for me!

Andrea Vahl, social media coach, speaker, strategist and the Facebook community manager for Social Media Examiner, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.

#8: Ask Your Audience Anything

pat flynn bio pic

Pat Flynn

Ask. Plain and simple—just ask. Ask anything. Why? Because when you ask your audience something, you give them permission to speak. When it comes to social media, you want to do two things: engage and get people involved.

Asking encourages both and taps into the human nature of people who are online and participating in social media—the urge to be heard.

question marks with speech bubbles

Asking your audience anything gives them permission to speak. Image source: iStockphoto

Once you’ve enabled others to speak by asking, you’ll learn a lot about your business—what’s working, what’s not and where to go from here. At the same time, you’ll learn a lot about your audience—who they are, what they like and dislike and the language they speak.

From there, you can start a real conversation and build a deeper relationship with your audience.

Pat Flynn, founder of Smart Passive Income.

#9: Like Your Customers on Facebook

mitch joel

Mitch Joel

Instead of asking your consumers to like your brand on Facebook, why don’t you start liking them?

Most brands use Facebook as an extension of their traditional and mass-marketing initiatives. As such, we have what can only be described as an “arms race” for likes on Facebook.

The average person on Facebook has 120-200 connections (depending on whom you ask… and when).

stock photo 14925891 thumbs up

Start liking your customers on Facebook. Image source: iStockphoto

As big as Facebook is, it’s actually many, many, very small circles of close (and semi-close) connections.

Facebook and brands are less about advertising and much more about creating, nurturing and developing a more direct relationship between individuals and the brands that serve them. This isn’t for all brands. This isn’t for all consumers. This is (still) a massive opportunity for those who can rise above a traditional advertising strategy.

Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image, blogger and podcaster, author of Six Pixels of Separation and the forthcoming book CRTL ALT Delete.

#10: Listen First and Never Stop Listening

dave kerpen

Dave Kerpen

Listening to your customers across social media is most important. There is little sense in social media marketing if you are not following this simple rule.

Social media is based on conversations; it’s not just another marketing channel for you to push out your content or promote your product. You have to have a conversation in which you’re engaging your customers. And in order to have a good conversation—whether online or offline—you have to listen and respond to your audience.

stock photo 12716675 what

Listening to your customers is most important. Image source: iStockphoto

Use Twitter search terms like “need an accountant” if you’re an accountant or “We’re hiring” if you’re a recruitment firm. Then take what you learn from listening and use it to build better products, services and marketing campaigns.

Sun Chips, for example, returned to their old packaging after customers complained widely on the Internet that the new biodegradable packaging was too noisy.

Following this simple tip of listening to your customers AND prospects will empower your business with knowledge about what your customers really want. This is crucial for your business to grow and achieve high customer satisfaction. Customers like businesses that listen and respond to them.

Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable, author of Likeable Social Media and the forthcoming Likeable Business.

#11: Move From Social Like to Social Trust

john jantsch

John Jantsch

Smart marketers use free content as a way to attract fans and followers. Others create and hide content in an effort to get Facebook and Twitter users to like their Page or submit their email to get to the good stuff.

If you really want to see the power of this idea, combine these approaches. Create and share valuable content with no gate or requirement. Then offer those readers even more content when they like your Page or visit a landing page to sign up for more updates.

fb offer

Duct Tape Marketing's offer on Facebook.

The power behind this two-step approach is that it not only allows more people to see and interact with your first wave of content, the people who then take your call to action are much more highly qualified because you’ve already built a layer of trust with them before you asked for anything in exchange.

This approach works in almost any social network and is particularly effective using a combination of Facebook Offers and Sponsored Updates.

John Jantsch, founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network, marketing consultant and speaker, author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Commitment Engine and The Referral Engine.

#12: Secure Your Brand and Product Names

justin levy

Justin Levy

Whether you’re taking baby steps into social media or have jumped in with both feet, it’s critical that you secure your brand and product names on all major social media channels. This is as important as the domain name you choose for your company.

Too often companies will tweak or completely change the name of their company to fit an available domain name but they don’t treat social media channels the same way.

stock photo 199114 golden padlock

Secure your brand and product names on all social media channels. Image source: iStockphoto

Even if you’re not ready to launch an active presence yet, at least secure your company handles on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, SlideShare, Flickr, Instagram and others.

Ideally your company handle will be consistent across all social media channels (e.g., @yourcompanyname), because once you start setting up variations on different channels, it makes it more difficult for your prospects, customers and fans to find you.

To that end, take a few minutes to set up minimal branding such as adding your company logo, website and bio information. Once you’ve completed this exercise, it becomes easier to just secure your company name on the new shiny social network of the month.

However, initially you may consider using a service such as KnowEm which allows you to easily search across 550 social networks. KnowEm even has premium packages available where they will take care of complete signup of all profile info, thus making it even easier for you.

Justin Levy, strategic advisor on all social media activities at Citrix Online, editor-in-chief of Workshifting.

#13: Find Your Content Marketing Mission Statement

joe pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi

According to Wikipedia, a mission statement is a company’s reason for existence. It’s why the organization does what it does.

Southwest Airlines’ mission statement has always been to democratize the travel experience. The mission statement for CVS is to be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. So, in simple terms, the mission statement must answer the question, “Why do we exist?”

In almost every one of my keynote presentations, I cover the content marketing mission statement. I feel it’s critical to set the tone for the idea of content marketing and social media, or any marketing for that matter.

Marketing professionals from so many small and large businesses get so fixated on social media channels such as blogs, Facebook or Pinterest that they honestly have no clue of their underlying content strategy.

So, the why must come before the what. This seems obvious, but most marketers have no mission statement or core strategy behind the content they develop.

Think of it this way: What if you were the leading trade magazine for your niche area? What if your goal was not to first sell products and services but to impact your readers with amazing information that would change their lives and behaviors?

If you can get your mission statement straight, you’ll make social media marketing that much easier for yourself.

Inc. magazine has its mission statement in the first line of its About Us page.

inc magazine

Inc. magazine has its mission statement in the first line of its About Us page.

Welcome to Inc.com, the place where entrepreneurs and business owners can find useful information, advice, insights, resources and inspiration for running and growing their businesses.

Let’s dissect this a bit. Inc.’s mission statement includes:

  1. The core audience target: entrepreneurs and business owners
  2. What will be delivered to the audience: useful information, advice, insights, resources, and inspiration
  3. The outcome for the audience: growing their businesses

Inc.’s mission statement is also incredibly simple and includes no words that could be misunderstood. Perfecto!

If you want your social media to work, first stop what you are doing and start thinking about what your content marketing mission statement will be. Put the “why” before the “what” or “where.”

Joe Pulizzi, founder of The Content Marketing Institute, author of Managing Content Marketing and co-author of Get Content, Get Customers.

#14: Listen 100% of the Time

sarah robinson

Sarah Robinson

The best social media marketing tip I can offer is this: Talk about yourself 10% of the time, engage with others about what matters to them 90% of the time and listen 100% of the time.

stock photo 19719987 one hundrwed percent

Make sure you listen 100% of the time. Image source: iStockphoto

I was having lunch with a really sharp guy and the conversation turned to social media (Twitter specifically). He said, “I just don’t get Twitter. I post some stuff there and that’s about it. I don’t see any real return.” I quickly checked his stream and the only thing in it were his posts about his business. Later, I replied, “Twitter is a two-way conversation. Think of it as a cocktail party. It’s not a place to talk only about yourself and hawk your wares.” “Huh,” he said. “I never thought of social media as a conversation.”

I know people who go to cocktail parties and don’t think they’re for conversations either.

Don’t be the guy no one wants to talk to because he’s only interested in talking about himself. Be the one who draws a crowd because you are interested in and attentive to others. Offer helpful resources and connections. Solve problems.

This earns you the right to eventually talk just a little about yourself and what you are up to. And when you do, everyone will be listening.

Sarah Robinson, a seasoned business coach, strategist, advisor and speaker who helps business owners set their companies apart from the pack. Author of Fierce Loyalty: Unlocking the DNA of Wildly Successful Communities.

#15: Create a Systematic Approach

stephanie sammons

Stephanie Sammons

To be successful in leveraging social media for growing your business, I believe you have to create a systematic approach to building your network and your brand.

Developing a system that is focused on high-impact social media marketing activities while spending the least amount of time possible allows you to be a consistent and efficient marketer. Consistency builds trust and efficiency lowers your marketing costs.

Many people don’t realize how important consistency is in marketing. Simply by staying top of mind with your community, you will reinforce your messaging over and over and create loyalty within your community (your messaging must be unique, helpful and insightful). Also, by being more efficient with your marketing, you will save time and money.

stock photo 18528255 old black alarm clock with calendar

Be more efficient with your marketing. Image source: iStockphoto

By developing a systematic approach, the members of your network will be able to count on you to show up week after week with valuable insights, information and guidance. You will grow accustomed to a schedule that works for you, and over time, you will build online influence by meeting the expectations and experiences of your clients and prospects.

Here are some components that your digital marketing system should include:

  • Time to create and publish unique content to your blog each month
  • Time to share reputable and helpful content with your community on social networks
  • Time to engage in conversations and discussions on social networks
  • Time to empower and promote others
  • Time to grow your network and community
  • Time to analyze and reflect upon what’s working and what can be improved upon

Planning, dedication, and social media marketing software tools can all help in achieving a systematic approach while shaving off significant time in building your brand. It is feasible to spend only 3 hours a week on your system and realize success. If you map out your plan and make the commitment to marketing, you will achieve results.

Stephanie Sammons, founder and CEO of Wired Advisor.

#16: Create Your Voice

neal schaffer

Neal Schaffer

Of all the companies I consult with, the one social media marketing tip that is always part of my advice is the importance of blogging.

Creating a social media presence and engaging with both consumers and potential clients requires companies to have a “voice” and to be able to share something of value in social media communities.

A blog is a perfect place to establish that “voice,” and it also serves as a logical vehicle to help both seed conversations in social media and help lead those same social media users back to your own website.

Simply being active in social media helps attain brand awareness, but when a user comes back to your website, it gives you a higher probability of converting them into a customer.

istock red megaphone on blackboard

A blog is the perfect place to establish your voice. Image source: iStockphoto

Obviously, providing unique content means that you can reap the potential benefit of that content being shared in social media, helping to expose your brand and website to more potential customers.

It’s also a logical boost for your search engine optimization. Some have claimed that with the advent of social media, blogging is dying. I believe that blogging is more important than ever before, and those who blog relevant and shareable content for their social media communities will continue to reap the benefits.

To build upon this tip, the keys to successful blogging are being able to create content that others would want to share (“shareable content”) and also create a content strategy for your blog that is aligned with your marketing goals.

Start with organizing content into “buckets” of categories that are aligned with your present sales or future marketing plans. If you can organize these categories into four “buckets” of content, blog once a week for each category and you’re on your way to becoming successful at business blogging.

Neal Schaffer, president of Windmills Marketing, author of Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing, Understanding, Leveraging and Maximizing LinkedIn, and the forthcoming Maximizing Twitter for Business.

#17: Share Content That Resonates With Your Audience

jesse stay

Jesse Stay

The best tip I have to offer for social media marketing is to stick to your passions! Share messages and content that resonates with your audience. Are they going to feel strongly, “I agree with that!” or “I strongly disagree with that!” when you share your message? Those are the types of messages you should be sharing.

Passion should emanate from every part of your social media campaign. From the name of your Facebook Page, to your advertising, to the content you share. Everything should resonate and strike a chord, in one way or another (usually in a positive way), with your audience.

stock photo 19649213 share button

Share content that really resonates with your audience. Image source: iStockphoto

When you focus on passion, your engagement will go up, your shares will increase and your audience will grow. When you can create content that builds passion, your audience will come. Focus on passion and you can’t go wrong!

Jesse Stay, social media director for Deseret Digital Media, author of Google+ Marketing for Dummies and I’m on Facebook—Now What??? 2nd Edition.

#18: Exchange Contact Information

paul colligan pic

Paul Colligan

There are no guarantees that the social media network or platform that you are part of will have the same shelf life as your business. Networks come and go (MySpace, anyone?) but your business, hopefully, will not.

Yes, social media is a “party” and you want to play and interact on the terms of your host. But just as important is the simple fact that said party will end at some point.

Just as you might exchange phone numbers or email addresses (with some people) at any social event, you should, and want to, consider doing the same thing on any social network you want to be part of.

stock photo 1007979 rolodex

Consider exchanging phone numbers and email addresses with people within your social network. Image source: iStockphoto

Regular contextually appropriate opportunities to exchange phone numbers or addresses inside of a social network are just good business. Be strategic, but be purposeful. The test of any good party is the relationships that come from them. Everything else is just fleeting memories of “another party” and a bad headache in the morning.

BTW, I met my wife at a social event. I sure am glad we exchanged contact information and didn’t hope everything would happen within the confines of where we met.

Paul Colligan, CEO of Colligan and Content Czar at Instant Customer.

#19: Distribute Your Blog Content to the Most Popular Groups on LinkedIn

michael crosson

Michael Crosson

It is easy to gain very valuable distribution of your content to some of the 200,000,000+ members of LinkedIn.

Here’s how to get exposure to some of the largest and most popular groups.

  • Find the LinkedIn Share button on articles or posts throughout the web.

    linkedin share

    Find the LinkedIn Share button on articles or posts.

  • Cut and paste your content under Post to Updates and then check the Post to Groups box.

    linkedin share

    Cut and paste your content under Post to Updates.

  • Select the groups you want your post submitted to.

    linkedin share

    Select groups.

Done! This is super-easy and helps accelerate massive exposure.

Michael Crosson, founder and publisher of SocialMediopolis, founder of the fourth-largest LinkedIn group, the Social Media Marketing Group.

#20: Integrate Social Media Best Practices

carrie kerpen

Carrie Kerpen

The most important social media marketing tip for businesses is to integrate, integrate, integrate. Social media can’t exist in a silo. Instead, it should be a core part of your strategy.

A company that’s responsive on Twitter but has poor customer service practices won’t do well. A company that produces great content on Facebook but has a closed, non-transparent corporate culture will eventually fail. Successful social media has to start with integration.

stock photo 22958840 puzzle q amp

Integrate your efforts for successful social media outcomes. Image source: iStockphoto

Social media is not just a function of marketing or public relations. Of course social media includes marketing, public relations and advertising, but it also includes customer service, customer relationship management, sales, operations, human resources and research and development.

Ideally, everyone at your company should be trained in the fundamentals of social media as it touches many different areas of a business.

Furthermore, there are numerous opportunities throughout the customer experience for integration of social networks and social media best practices. The more open and transparent you are with customers throughout the entire customer life cycle, the more comfortable they’ll feel about continuing to buy your stuff, hire you, like you and your Pages and recommend you to friends.

Carrie Kerpen, Chief Like Officer at Likeable Media, author of the upcoming book Social Moms.

#21: Focus on Getting Attention First

aaron kahlow

Aaron Kahlow

If I had to boil it down to one social media marketing tip, it is to focus on the marketing element.

We are marketers, we need to get some movement beyond buzz and really drive progress. In that vein, my tip is to focus on getting attention FIRST.

stock photo 22912335 signal

Focus on getting attention first. Image source: iStockphoto

So many of us think about the end game of generating leads or sales, and others think about the metrics of engagement. But like a magazine ad, you must get someone to stop the virtual page flipping and say “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

Focus on headline writing and visual storytelling (I steal from Lisa Buyer) to get someone to pause for that millisecond and lean in. Your content is only as good as that which gets the attention of the inundated user.

Then of course you must test, iterate and measure. Tools to do this will be critical.

Aaron Kahlow, CEO of Online Marketing Connect, chairman and founder of the Online Marketing Summit and its related educational arm, the Online Marketing Institute.

Who are these social media marketing experts?

social media marketing world

The social media marketing experts who contributed to this article are all speaking at Social Media Marketing World.

Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner’s latest mega-conference—taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.

Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you!

All of the experts you’ve come to respect and admire will be in one place. Be sure to check it out.

Why should you attend Social Media Marketing World?

You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies and enjoy extensive networking opportunities in San Diego, California.

This is a historic opportunity for you to connect face-to-face with the top social media marketing experts while breaking bread with like-minded peers from around the globe.

You’ll pick from 49 expert-led sessions covering social media tactics to content creation to social strategy.  Plus, hear from brands such as Sony Electronics, Ebay, Walmart, Cisco, Zappos.com, Sharpie, Petco, Dell, Whole Foods, Intel, SAP, Citrix, Dun & Bradstreet, Caterpillar, Taylormade, SAS and San Diego Zoo.

This is just a sampling of what’s in store for you at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego on April 7, 8 and 9, 2013. Click here for details.

What do you think? What’s your best social media marketing tip today? What’s the one thing businesses need to know for successful social media marketing? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Images from iStockPhoto.

New Facebook Offers for Businesses

Facebook just released new posting functionality for offers that will help businesses post deals to their Timeline for fans to redeem.   Currently the functionality being released is to a limited number of Facebook Business Pages, but will eventually be available to select types of businesses.  We have seen this option become available for clients with Local Business Pages and it is currently free to use.  Facebook has created a help section to guide administrators and fans through the of

Google, Facebook and Mobile Flush Groupon Down the Toilet

Online daily deal provider Groupon, once the darling of Wall Street, has had its share of woes in recent months. Its stock is down over 50% from November's IPO price, thanks in part to a pending SEC investigation of the company’s Q4 2011 earnings restatement (actual net revenue was significantly lower when refunds to consumers for unused deals were factored in).

Facebook Offers: 5 Things To Consider Before Creating An Offer

You should expect losses up front and should consider using this as a promotional tool. It’s important to remember that including this offer in an overall marketing strategy combining traditional efforts along with online campaigns will increase the overall awareness to your services/products.

Facebook Offers Helps Businesses Leverage Social Mobile Local

On May 3rd, Facebook officially rolled out its new Groupon-like marketing platform, Facebook Offers, to all local U.S. companies. With Offers, businesses can distribute coupons or other promotions to fans directly through news their news feeds.

How to Launch Facebook Offers in Minutes

It appears Facebook is giving the new Offers priority and pushing direct to fans News Feeds. The margarita offer I created in the example received 4x's more "Reach" than any other post I have done for that client. The "Engaged" and "Talking About This" figures are 2x's greater. Wow!

LinkedIn to Acquire SlideShare | Facebook Sets IPO Range | Future Bright for Social Media Ads

 Click here to receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed via email.

LinkedIn Spends $119 Million on SlideShare — the YouTube of Slide Shows (Mashable) Professional social network LinkedIn on Thursday snagged presentation-sharing platform SlideShare for $118.75 million. SlideShare now attracts 29 million monthly visitors, while LinkedIn sees 107 million unique monthly visitors. GigaOM The acquisition, which involves 45 percent cash and 55 percent stock, gives LinkedIn another way to connect its users, who are often communicating and promoting themselves through PowerPoint presentations, slide shows and other content. TechCrunch The move makes a lot of sense from a product point of view. SlideShare recently deepened its integration with LinkedIn, and the two companies have compared their relationship to chocolate and peanut butter for professionals. The San Francisco Chronicle The Mountain View-Calif. based company, whose shares have more than doubled since its initial public offering last May, said membership increased to 161 million from 150 million in the fourth quarter. The company is signing up more professionals for its subscription services and attracting advertisers who want to reach the growing user base. CNBC LinkedIn reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 15 cents per share on revenue of $189 million. Net income rose to $5 million, from $2.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

How to Use Facebook Ads: An Introduction

social media how toAre you considering Facebook Ads but are confused by all the options?

You’ve undoubtedly heard that “social ads” are the future of advertising, but what does that mean in practical terms for you today?

This article will help you make smart decisions about how to promote your brand and engage with fans through advertising on Facebook.

As a Facebook Preferred Developer, I’ve had the opportunity to gather a lot of information from the proverbial “horse’s mouth.”

This article will provide a useful lay of the land around the new ad solutions that were introduced at the Facebook Marketing Conference (fMC) in February.

Understanding Facebook’s Sales Process and Where You Fit

Before delving into the various advertising options available on Facebook and how you can utilize them, it’s helpful to understand how Facebook interfaces with advertisers.

Facebook has three sales channels: Direct, Inside and Online.

  • Direct sales deals with the largest global brands, for which Facebook has dedicated account teams to manage the relationship directly with the advertiser and their agencies. These are generally referred to as managed accounts. The first important point to note is that certain products, specifically Premium (discussed later), are only available to managed accounts.
  • Inside sales handles the next tier of clients, who may be spending in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on Facebook. These clients will have a sales rep whom they deal with directly to buy advertising, but they don’t have quite the same level of strategic support as managed accounts.
  • That means the rest of us interact with Facebook sales via the Online, or self-serve, channel. There are companies developing products on top of Facebook’s Marketing/Ads APIs to facilitate the buying process for self-serve advertisers. Platforms such as Ad Parlor, Blinq, TBG Digital and others can be beneficial to those spending enough to justify an investment in automation and optimization.

But when it comes to the type of advertising available, these platforms don’t provide access to anything that you can’t do yourself through the Facebook self-serve interface.

What’s the Difference Between an Ad and a Sponsored Story?

According to Facebook, users want to engage with “stories,” not “ads”—the difference being that ads are one-way communication and stories are more conversational and participatory.

sponsored story

With this sponsored story, you have the ability to Like the brand, comment or share.

To support this, they have presented data based on research done by Nielsen that showed significantly higher click-through and brand recall rates for ads that contained the social context of a friend’s name (i.e., “John Liked this”) versus a traditional advertising message alone.

Facebook will continue to offer options for both Ads and Sponsored Stories through the Online and Direct or Inside Sales channels. However, they have introduced a number of new formats to encourage advertisers to use these more social ads. In addition, Facebook recently began testing a button that bypasses the somewhat complicated self serve ad interface to allow Page admins to promote content directly from their Page as a Sponsored Story.

That said, you can still choose to set up a traditional ad, called a Marketplace Ad, where you supply the ad copy and creative, and can link the ad to your Facebook page or your own website if you choose.

Marketplace Ads

There are currently four Marketplace Ad types:

  • Standard Ad (drive traffic to your site)
  • Like Ad (drive to your Facebook page)
  • App Ad (drive to an app)
  • Event Ad (promote an event)

Each ad includes a thumbnail image, title and body copy.

Note that as of April 1, there is a new 90-character restriction on body copy length.

ad setup

Facebook's self-serve interface makes it easy to set up a new ad.

Direct advertisers also have access to video ads, which are not available through the Online channel. However, self-serve advertisers can incorporate video via Page Post Ads described below.

Sponsored Stories

Now let’s look at Sponsored Stories. These were Facebook’s initial social ads and may now be referred to as “voice of friend” stories to differentiate from the new Page Post Ads discussed below.

These stories are shown to “friends of fans” (users whose friends are fans of your page and interact with your brand). These stories always show the friend’s profile photo and name, something not displayed with Marketplace Ads, and hence the social dimension.

Sponsored Stories can be generated from any of the following actions:

  • Page Like (user Likes your page and their friends will see this)
  • Page Post Like (user Likes a post on your page)
  • Page Post Comment (user comments on a post)
  • App Used or App Shared (user interacts with your app)
  • Check In (user checks into your location)
  • Question Answered (user answers a question you posted on your page)
  • Event RSVP (user indicates they are attending your event)
like vs ss

Above you can see a traditional Like Ad alongside a Page Like Sponsored Story. Both encourage a user to engage with your page, but the Sponsored Story contains the "voice of friend" that is more likely to drive engagement from friends of fans.

The most recent additions to Facebook’s advertising arsenal are the Page Post Ad and Sponsored Story.

Page Post Ads

The Page Post Ad offers the ability to display the same content in an ad unit as on your page. If users are not already connected to your brand through a friend, they will see an ad and have the ability to Like your page.

Existing fans and friends of fans will see a Sponsored Story showing their friends who are connected to your brand, providing additional social context. For managed accounts that have access to Facebook Premium, Page Post Ads will also allow existing fans to interact by Liking or commenting directly within the Sponsored Story. This greater degree of engagement is not currently available to advertisers through the Online channel.

Page Post Ad options currently include:

  • Text (you make a text-only post on your page)
  • Photo (you post a photo to your page)
  • Video (you post a video to your page)
  • Link (you share a link on your page, which can be used to drive traffic off of Facebook)
  • Question (you ask a question/poll)
  • Event (you create an event)
page post video

With Page Post Ads, you can drive video consumption.

What if I Want My Ad to Appear in the News Feed?

Much has been made of the new Facebook Premium, which enables advertisers to promote Page Post Ads and Sponsored Stories directly in the news feed, including on mobile. Facebook Premium is only available to managed accounts, but that doesn’t mean your ad can’t appear in a user’s news feed.

Marketplace Sponsored Stories scheduled through the Online channel will also be considered for inclusion in the news feed. Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm will take into account numerous factors to determine the suitability of a given story for inclusion.

If I’m in San Francisco and seeing something from a plumber in Wichita, that isn’t good for the advertiser or me, and isn’t necessarily a good user experience. Facebook is rightfully concerned about this and will likely be very selective about which Sponsored Stories appear in the news feed.

If your ad does appear in the news feed, you will be paying for impressions (CPM) or clicks (CPC) just as if the ad had appeared in the designated ad position on the page.

Initially Facebook will be gathering data on how different ads perform in the context of the news feed and on mobile. Armed with that data, they will be in a better position to determine how or whether to roll out the product to more advertisers. Of course there are no guarantees that you will ever be able to pay directly for exposure in the news feed.

What About Offers?

Facebook also announced a new product that enables companies to create an Offer that can be posted on their page and claimed by users with one click. Once a user claims the offer, their friends will see this in the news feed and be prompted to claim as well.

At this point Offers are only available to managed accounts and a select number of local business Pages, but it appears the product will be more widely available soon.

offers

Here's an offer displayed in the news feed with the ability to claim or share the offer with one click.

It’s unclear exactly how Offers will be rolled out to a wider selection of advertisers, but it is certainly an exciting tool for businesses of any size, so stay tuned!

So Now What?

I can’t provide a prescription for how to advertise on Facebook because each organization is unique and will have different objectives. However, I think it’s important for anyone not yet advertising on Facebook to think about the following, and for anyone currently advertising to take a second look at their campaigns with these points in mind:

  • In general, advertising on Facebook is more effective at driving behavior on Facebook. Another new feature Facebook recently announced will help advertisers measure this effectiveness even more precisely by enabling the tracking of various actions (Liking a Page, installing an app, RSVPing to an Event) a user may take after interacting with an ad.
  • Conversely, how can you utilize advertising to support your broader goals on Facebook? Page Like Ads can be a great way to build audience size and Page Post Ads can drive deeper engagement. If you’re utilizing apps on your page, you can use ads to drive traffic directly to the app.
  • One of the most powerful opportunities on Facebook is to reach friends of fans. Rather than targeting anonymous users with a traditional ad, you are likely to get a much greater response from someone one degree removed who sees that their friend interacted with your brand through a Sponsored Story.

It’s important to be clear on your goals and to be able to measure your effectiveness in reaching those goals. I am a big advocate of experimentation, but not of doing it blindly.

Just because you saw your competitor advertising on Facebook doesn’t mean you should do the same. And while tallying Likes and comparing how you stack up is an easy game to play, it’s not a great measure of the effectiveness of your Facebook marketing.

Before you go out and spend a bunch of money to gain more Likes, it’s important to have a plan for how you will retain and engage those fans. Again there is no formula, but successful brands on Facebook engage with their fans through content and conversations on their pages, as well as through fun and interactive applications (i.e., games, contests).

These activities can be amplified through the use of Page Post Ads and Sponsored Stories. When utilized together, they comprise a more holistic approach toward marketing on Facebook.

What do you think? Have you had success with advertising on Facebook? Are you excited about these new opportunities? I’d love to hear about it. Leave your questions and comments in the box below.