How To Add Fans To Your Facebook Business Fan Page

Here is a quick video on how to add fans to your facebook business fan page.  You can always send the link, tell people about your page or suggest to your friends. 

Checkered Flag Auto Group is running a promotion for every fan they receive in the month of Janurary 2010 they will donate money to the United Way of Hampton Roads.

Making Time for Social Media

It seems like there is never enough time in the day. Fact is that we live in a fast paced world and if you’re not busy, and you’re not where you want to be or on your way there, there might be something wrong with your business model.

That being said, the way busy professionals communicate is changing rapidly and social media is becoming a primary vehicle for that communication. Though many people see this rising trend, I often hear people say “my schedule is busy enough as it is!” or they ask “how do you find the time?”

Well here are some potential answers to those problems and questions.

Trim the fat: Though we are always busy, we can always scan our days and find time that could be better spent. It could be taking that phone call that we know always takes longer than it should or even sleeping in that extra 15 minutes. Try pinpoint similar patterns and cut back on them.

Rethink, Reevaluate, Replace: If your like me, your constantly doing something to try to grow your business. If you see the importance of social media and want to make it part of your routine, think about the methods you are using and evaluate their effectiveness. If adding social media to your arsenal is a priority, consider reducing or eliminating your time with less effective growth strategies.

First thing, last thing: Some people start strong, some finish strong. If you start strong, make social media part of your morning routine. Go to any Starbucks and you’ll see many people on laptops and Blackberries doing just that. If you finish strong, use the thoughts you’ve gathered through the day and share them with the world.

Set it in Stone: If you’re busy, you probably have a planner. Put it in your schedule and stick to it as though it were a meeting with your dream client because who knows, you may end up meeting that person through social media!

Social Media Meeting of the Minds in Hampton Roads

The most recent meeting of the Hampton Roads Internet and Technology Meetup was a roundtable discussion at New American Mortgage in Virginia Beach. Because there has been so much interest in Social Media and internet technology, some Hampton Roads Social Media and IT experts gathered to discuss the direction of the HRITM and expanding the knowledge of social media in our area.

The group was founded with the principle of professionals helping professionals make sense of the emerging popularity of social media in a professional environment and it is now read to take social media in Hampton Roads to another level.

The group’s founder Naoma Doriguzzi, expressed her desire to continue to bring relevant and useful information to the MeetUp. Some of the topics discussed were: Blogging for Business, Branding, Website Development, Forums, and Link Building among many other things. That being said, there is something brewing on the horizon. Social Media fans, be on the lookout for great new things! Hope to see you at the next MeetUp

Using the Power of Friend Suggestions

I am notorious for giving friend suggestions. Because of that, I often get feedback from my friends asking who these people are that I suggest to them. I love the suggest a friend to option because it allows me to do two things:

1. Connect people that know each other but are not already connected online.

2. Introduce people who I think may have something in common or who could be a good strategic connection. This is also known as a referral in face to face networking.

For those of us who use social media to build relationships and expand our sphere of relationships, referrals are key. Suggesting new friends allows networkers to do just that.

Facebook has the ‘Suggest Friends for ‘ feature that can be found on the far left, below all the application boxes (see picture). This is a cool feature that allows you to suggest up to 2o friends to someone. This tool is excellent for your friends who are new to Facebook. Suggesting friends to help people grow their network is something that most people appreciate, and often, they return the favor by suggesting people they know that they think may be good connections for you.

Twitter has a fun weekly tradition called #FollowFriday.

Tweeters use Follow Friday to share the people they follow most with their Followers. It’s a way of saying, “this person has good content, follow them”!

These tools are great ways to make and share connections and virtually every social media outlet has a similar feature. Use them to your advantage, and take friend suggestions as a real opportunity to start a new relationship.

Do My Employees Need Social Media?

Recently, while talking about social media with a client, the topic of empowering employees with social media as a business strategy was discussed. Allowing employees to share their company affiliation and actively exchange information in such an open and informal way initially gives a lot of business owners an uneasy feeling and with good reason. Its tough to monitor the content employees are delivering via social media outlets: Ask Dominos Pizza.

The reality is that social media is open to anyone and a motivated person can do something malicious whether they are an employee or angry customer. That being said, there is a tremendous benefit to your company by giving employees access to tools that show them how to use social media to promote what they do both directly and indirectly.

If you have a website, one of the most notable affects social media can have on your online presence is inbound linking. Having each employee posting a link to your website from their social media profile adds relevance to your site which is good for SEO.

Also, employees social networking on your company’s behalf increases the amount of exposure of your business, essentially expanding your sales force and in many cases a sense of taking ownership of the company’s mission to grow and expand via the internet develops.

There’s no real way to monitor all content being put out, however, there are steps business owners can take to protect themselves against social media smearing by irresponsible or disgruntled employees.

1.  Create a clear detailed company policy on social media usage and ensure this policy is given to all employees and agreed upon with a signature.  

2. Hold employees accountable who violate this policy as necessary.

3. Flag or report inappropriate, dishonest, or potentially damaging materials to the site that holds the such material. This is key as most sites are generally accommodating to such requests.