Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Social Media Strategy

Stop Being Busy with Social Media and Get a Strategy That Works

You need a strategy for social media. Being busy isn’t a strategy!

You may have noticed that I have backed off posting as much on Facebook.  Actually, I have been posting less on most of my channels professionally.

The long and short of it is…posting on social channels for the sake of posting doesn’t work.

Let me explain. When Facebook introduced Facebook Pages in April 2010, the average page was getting 16% organic reach. Today it is less than 1%.

Why is that? There was a lot less content vying for our attention back then. Today we have 2000+ pieces of content coming at us on Facebook alone each day. EACH DAY! It’s getting crowded. AND, the algorithm continues to change.

Years ago, there was a social media guru that was promoting posting once every hour for 12 hours. She did it religiously and it must have worked for her because she has a huge following and turned many of those followers into buyers through her programs.

I will admit that I tried it for a few weeks but couldn’t keep up. I didn’t have time to work on anything but posting. PLUS, I found that people didn’t really like to see that much content from me. I found a rhythm of about 3 posts per day. At that time, I would do something inspirational first thing in the morning and later in the evening and then something social media related. It worked for me AT THAT TIME.

I then went to 2 posts per day, then 1 post per day. Now I post when I feel it is relevant.

There you go. I think when you post content (for business) it should be RELEVANT  to the audience you are most trying to attract. Throwing a bunch of content for the sake of content isn’t working. It is WEARING YOU OUT!

Additionally, with the algorithm changes and Facebook pointedly saying that personal profiles and groups will get more play in your newsfeed, posting a lot of content to hope that something gets seen can actually work against you.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are days I post more than one time. WHY? Because there is something relevant that my audience needs to see. Typically, it’s a safety issue that I want you to be aware of!

This comes back to strategy. Do you have a social media strategy? Have you updated it in the past year? Seriously, a LOT has changed online in the past year!  The types of content and what you should be putting your time into has changed.

If you haven’t made a change or met with a professional since January of 2017, you need to do it.

Of course, I would love to help you out. 😊

BUT, if nothing else…take a look at what you are doing online. How much time is it taking you? What kind of results are you getting? Are you putting your efforts to the best use? Could you be doing something differently with your time?

Stop being busy with social media and get a strategy that works. Then, fine tune it as social media changes.

Reach out if I can be of service! Don’t do things for the sake of saying you post on social media platforms. That is NOT a strategy!

Business Owner Life Lessons

Life Lessons of a Business Owner

Business Owner Life Lessons

As a business owner, many times you don’t know what you don’t know when you set-up the technical part (or any part) of your business. Sometimes even almost 8-years later , in my case, you realize you still don’t know it all.

Let me tell you a little story, it may seem a bit “techy”, but there is a point to it for business owners, so bear with me.

Recently I requested a change be done with my website. In order to get this process completed, I needed access to something with my business email. This email was created within Google Apps and I needed my G-suite admin account. That seemed simple enough, since I am the business owner, right? I just login with my business email and it would be there. Not so fast! I didn’t have the admin rights to my G-suite account. This meant that I couldn’t make changes etc.

After some investigating and brain searching, I was able to discern who probably had those rights and reached out to him. Luckily, he was able to make the switch to my account and all is well. I have to tell you; 8 years is a long way to trace back! I was really lucky!

Here’s the thing, if this wasn’t the right person and he hadn’t been able to provide me the rights, I may have been in a world of hurt.

So, you see, it’s something I didn’t know about, but when I found out – almost 8 years later, I had to do quite a bit of scrambling. What if I couldn’t reach him? What if he refused to make the change?

Here’s another story:

A colleague reached out to me when someone that was the Admin for a Facebook Business Page suddenly died. She wanted to know if I had a contact at Facebook (I wish!) that could help this business gain access back to the page. Unfortunately, in cases like this, unless someone else is an Admin for the page, there is very little you can do. Sometimes, there is a way in, but I have found it harder and harder to find these little loopholes.

Here’s my point. Too many times I find this happens with people who own a business and are just starting out. They think they are doing the right thing by letting someone else set something up, like a website, email or Facebook Business Page and they fail to realize that whomever did the set-up has all the access. They don’t know what they don’t know!

Here are a few things to watch out for when you are a business owner setting up a business:

  • Buy your own domain(s). When you want a domain for your business, buy it yourself. If someone else buys it for you, you do not have rights! Too many times I have heard that a business doesn’t own their domain and the “owner” wants to sell it back to them or won’t sell it back to them. THEN, the business owner is  held hostage by the owner of the domain OR may need to create a different one. Neither one of these are great options.
  • Be the Admin. If you have someone else set-up your email (like in my case, my business email account via Google), be sure YOU have the Admin rights to the account.
  • Buy your own website theme. When creating a website, buy your own theme. If there are any updates and you happen to not be with the original creator of your website, you have to repurchase. (Yep, I learned that one the hard way too!)
  • Make sure you have the role as Administrator of your website. If you have someone else creating a website for you, be sure it’s in the contract that YOU are the “owner” of your website and will be given the Administrator Role. This one may sound strange, but I have heard horror stories where a website has been fully paid for and set-up, but the web designer will not give full access rights back to the owner. Anything less than Administrator means someone else has full access and you do not.
  • Have more than one Admin on your Facebook Business Page. Be sure that on a Facebook Business Page that there is a trusted back-up Admin on the page. If you don’t have this and you get locked out for any reason, there is almost NO WAY you are getting back into that account. Since I am an entrepreneur, I have my husband as my back-up.
  • Tell someone where your logins are. Many of us don’t think about these things until it’s too late, but if you are suddenly incapacitated or die, who can get access to all of your business entities (website, social media accounts, emails, etc.)? I know it’s not something we like to think about, but it is important.

These are some life lessons I wanted to pass on to you today. This still goes back to my first sentence, you don’t know what you don’t know. But, now you DO know! I hope this provides you with some tips that will help you or someone you care about make some more informed decisions as a business owner.

Do you have any tips you want to add?

 

Your Voicemail is an Extension of You & Your Business

How do you feel about voicemail greetings?  Lately these have become a pet peeve of mine.  You know what I’m talking about – the message you receive when you call someone and their voicemail kicks in.  If you are running a business – don’t you want to have everything that you do (the touches you make with your clients & prospects) come across as professional as possible?  Recently, I was sent to a voicemail that said this:  “at my earliest convenience I will call you back.”  How do you feel about that? It makes me feel like:  “when/if I deem it important enough to call you back, I will.”  I am assuming that what this person was really saying was: “as soon as I can, I’ll call you back”, but that wasn’t how it came across.

Ok, how about the one that sounds like the person is distracted or recording the message from a tunnel or while driving? It sounds something like (background noise) and “um, you have um, reached, um, ….” With lots of pauses and noise in between.  This also conveys a message about your professionalism and the message isn’t favorable.

Here is my voicemail greeting:  “You have reached, Vicki S. Cannon of Cannon Social Media Solutions.   I am unable to take your call at this time, so please leave your name, phone number & a brief message after the tone and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.  You may also email me at: (insert email address) or contact me via my website: www.cannonsocialmedia.com.  Thank you for calling.”

It only takes a few minutes to write something out and to record and re-record until the right message is given. This is still an extension of you and your business.  What kind of impression are you leaving? Does the impression match your business?

Physician offices are usually pretty good at leaving a detailed greeting that includes when you should expect a call back and the type of information you should leave on the message (for instance, date of birth).  I appreciate these greetings because I am not left in the dark about what they need and when I should hear back.

Have you recently started a business? Don’t forget this important extension of your brand.  Many people are quick to start a Facebook Page and/or Twitter Account, but forget what may be an important piece of communication.  Starting with: “Hi, this is Vicki. Leave me a message.” may not be professional enough.  Also, please smile when you record and have a little bit of energy. There is nothing worse than listening to Eeyore give you a greeting (even if you are a Winnie the Pooh fan).

One last thing, take the time to record your own message.  The pre-recorded: “you have reached the Mobile Carrier Mailbox for 555-555-5555…” is not good either.  It looks like you aren’t keeping up with the little details.

You may be asking: “what does this have to do with social media”?  Well, I believe that everything you do in-person or online is an extension of your personal and professional identity.  You never know if this is the first real contact someone is making with you.  Do you want to put any doubt in the mind of a potential or even current client about your professionalism?   Take a moment and listen to your voicemail greeting. Is it the right message? How would you feel after hearing the greeting? If you aren’t sure, ask someone else to listen to it. What is their impression?  The same is true with your Social Media sites. What kind of impression are you leaving every time you post? People are watching and listening all the time.

Ok, I’m off of my soapbox now.  Do you have any pet peeves on professionalism?

The Ripple Effects of Random Acts of Kindness

Dear Friends –

As I sat to write my blog post last Friday afternoon for this week, I couldn’t find the words to say. I was riveted to the TV and all of the news going on in Newtown, Connecticut.  I am still so saddened that so many innocent lives were lost.  I hope and pray that there will be comfort and peace on some level at some time for these families and the community.

Today I debated about talking about what I have been feeling over the past few days especially with all of the media coverage, but decided that this is a good forum to extend, engage & explore with all of you how we feel now and how we can show up differently in the days, weeks, months & years to follow. Read more

Excuse Me – Where Are Your Social Media Manners?

We’ve all had the social media friend or Facebook Page that has made us want to turn them off, right? You know the one where every post is about what they are trying to sell you. “BUY FROM ME, BUY FROM ME, BUY FROM ME!” If that is you, knock-it-off!

Social media is about being social. You wouldn’t sit down to a meal with someone and immediately ask them to buy from you, would you? The answer better be no!  We need to remember that when we are on social media sites, we are engaging in conversation. It is about building the know, like and trust so eventually the person may buy from you or at least be a good referral source.

In my training class this week I am sharing 12 tips on social media etiquette. I could probably make the list 3 times larger, but since it’s a busy month I will keep it short.

12 Tips on Social Media Etiquette:

1. Use your real name. People like to engage with real people.

2. Use a current headshot of YOU (not your child, husband, dog, niece, etc.).  As author & blogger Chris Brogan says in his 2011 blog: An Insider’s Guide to Social Media Etiquette, “It feels creepy friending a four year old kid (avatar).”

Also, on another note about having a picture: I don’t follow anyone that doesn’t have a picture. I don’t trust that the person is real &/or question if it is a spammer/phisher trying to gain access to me, my computer and my network. Remember, people like to connect with people, so put a good quality headshot of you on your profile.

3. Set your privacy settings to control who can tag you. Facebook offers the opportunity for you to review any post that you are tagged in before it appearing on your timeline.

4. You are not obligated to friend or connect with anyone. In fact, it is a great idea to use some discernment here. If you keep your personal and professional life separate, send a message to the person asking for the connection and tell them that you prefer to connect with clients in a different way on LinkedIn and/or your Facebook Page.

5. When asking to make a connection, don’t use the default settings (for instance on LinkedIn). Include a personal note with the request that may include where you met the person, who you are, and why you wish to connect with them.

6. Be authentic.

7. Listen first and then join the conversation. Be sure you are always adding value.

8. Never spam. Ever.

9. Don’t repeat the same post on ever network within a 10-minute span. Change it up a bit and spread it out.

10.  Instead of selling, why not share with your followers why they should buy from you; what other followers got from buying from you; or some other relational fact.

11. Promote others.

12. Modesty is a beautiful thing. Don’t retweet and share every nice thing someone says about you and/or your company. Thank the person for the testimonial and leave it at that.

Your CANnon Do® for this week is to find a way to unselfishly promote someone else.

What other social media etiquette tips do you have?

Trying to Out-Wit Facebook’s EdgeRank

Do you have a Facebook Page for your business?  How are you feeling about your “number of people who saw this post” count?  It seems like everyday we are needing to find new and different ways to outwit Facebook’s EdgeRank.  (For those of you not familiar with Edgerank – it is the algorithm that Facebook uses to determine who gets to see your Facebook post.)

For a while, the visual-media aspect of loading an image was given more exposure, but more and more studies over the past few months have indicated that text-only posts (no images or links) are gaining more views.  The question becomes, what do I post to get the most exposure without having to pay for it?

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You Never Get a Second Chance to Make A First Impression

Remember that phrase by Will Rogers? What first impression are you giving with your profile picture on your social media sites? In my opinion it is wise to use a professional photo (the same one) across all of your profiles.  For many business owners, we are our brand. Many people know my name better than they know the name of my business, Cannon Social Media Solutions.  If someone was going to look me up via social media, if they put in Vicki Cannon or Vicki S. Cannon, they will know that they got the right person if they have met me before, because my photo looks like me.  If the person has not met me, but is going to meet me in a public place, they would be able to see my profile picture and know who to be looking for.

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Squirrel – How to Resist the Shiny Object Syndrome of Social Media: 5 Questions To Ask Before Adding Or Jumping To A New Social Media Site

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, Delicious, Tumblr, WordPress, Instagram, flickr, Pinterest, Google+, MySpace, LittleMonsters…the names go on and on and will continue to grow from year to year.  How do you have an effective social media marketing plan and still keep up?

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