Take a guided tour with Mari Smith of the new FB design. It’s causing a lot of angst and irritation among users. You can turn it off and return to the Classic view for a short time. But FB will force us all to move with them before long.
FB Friend Lists
A Special Kind of Clean Up
A client recently contacted me about doing more social media posting. First step was to see which platforms she had set up and what had been done so far.
Come to find out, there were:
2 Gmail accounts
1 with a business page
1 with a YouTube channel
1 Yahoo
2 Instagram accounts
3 YouTube channels
No clue what emails 2 of them went to
1 Twitter account she didn’t need
2 Facebook business page
1 MailChimp account
Before we could get to work, the client had to reset all of the passwords because she didn’t have a good list of Usernames and Passwords. THIS INFO IS CRITICAL TO YOUR BUSINESS! Use LastPass or another password keeper to record all usernames, passwords, PIN#, security questions. (Another client couldn’t access one of her accounts because she couldn’t remember if the answer to the security question was farmer, Farmer or cotton farmer. Capitalization counts in passwords and security answers!!)
We went to each account and reviewed the info. Every profile had different information! There was no consistency in the services she said she was offering, the descriptions of the services or even the way she had input the company name! This is very detrimental to your marketing efforts. Branding 101 requires that you use the same company name every time, every where. Then to increase your Search Engine Optimization you need to use the same keywords to list your services and to describe them.
Keywords
Keep a list of your keywords by your computer. Everything you write for your website, your social media, your eNewsletters, etc. should use these words. Why? Keywords are what your clients use to search for your services on Google, on Facebook, on Instagram. If you are sloppy with your keywords, they can’t find you.
Before you get too self-righteous about the mess this poor client was in, I challenge you to go look at your site and profiles right now! You may find the same confusion!
Pixel Tracking
Yesterday I went to a website to see what they offered in home meal deliveries. I didn’t set up an account. I didn’t request a quote. Just looked around the site.
15 minutes later there was an email from the company in my Inbox.
This was done with pixel tracking. While I was on the site, a piece of code gathered my information and added it to the company’s database.
Emails from Service Providers like Constant Contact and MailChimp use pixel tracking. That’s how they know who opened an email or clicked on a link in the email.
Facebook ads and Amazon.com use pixel tracking. Any search on Amazon will result in plenty of ads popping up on your browser offering the same or similar items.
So it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s helpful. But you should have control over who is gathering information.
First line of defense – Turn off image downloading. (Instructions here.) The pixels are hidden in graphics. If you don’t download the graphics, you can’t get a pixel tracker. You can always choose to download graphics in an email from a safe source.
You can gain additional control by installing extensions in Gmail or other email softwares to block the tracking. I’ve installed PixelBlock in my Gmail. Another option is Ugly Mail. Each software is going to be a little different. Google “pixel trackers in Yahoo” or something similar to see how your provider handles them.
Social Media Examiner Report
Giving Reviews on Facebook
Best Option
This is the best method because reviews stay on the Reviews page forever.
Go to A’s Business Page
Click Reviews on the left side navigation
Click the Yes button under Do you recommend A?
A window will open to allow you to write a recommendation.
Confirm that the post is set to be Public.
Click the Post button when you are done.
You can only leave one Review per Business Page. If you want to change or update the Review, you have to delete the first review and re-do it.
Alternate Method
Go to A’s Business Page
At the top of the News Feed, click in the “Write a post…” field.
Write a recommendation.
You could add @person’s name so the post would show up on their personal profile
You can add hashtags, links to a blog post or website, etc. just as you would any post
This post will be sent out to the Business Page’s Likes as a normal post would be.
This post will work down the News Feed as new posts are added. It will only be seen for a short period of time.
Exchange Reviews
It’s a great idea to arrange mutual reviews with colleagues and business partners. They would follow the same steps on your business page. I recommend doing the posts 2-3 days apart in case you have shared Friends and/or Likes.
Updated Statistics on 17 Marketing Strategies
This article title is a little mis-leading. Don’t pass it by if you are an established business. In fact, it may be more important to an established business. Over time we can get into a marketing rut. Or we may discount a technique that has changed and re-surfaced. This article has some interesting statistics about what is working right now in marketing. Compare this list to your marketing calendar. What are you using? Are you getting similar results to those mentioned in the article? Call Your Computer Lady if you want to review your Marketing Calendar and freshen your plans.New Guidelines for Online Marketing
This is a GREAT article about our new world and how we can and should market our businesses. Practical suggestions and tips. Using reality to put our best foot forward. New from Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a long time favorite of mine for email marketing. I like their interface. I like their Knowledge Base. I LOVE their live tech support.
Now they are expanding to become a broader digital marketing company. What’s new so far?
LogoMaker – For the long term, you can’t do without a high quality logo for your company. But this logo maker is a starting point. It is also a great option for a special logo for an event, a product introduction, a new service announcement.
Social Media Posts & Analytics – You can schedule posts for Facebook and Instagram from your Constant Contact account. And you can read your analytics from CtCt.
Website Builder – It seems everyone has a website builder these days. I’m leery of them because they are proprietary software which limits your website. The advantage the CtCt builder has is that it is an interface you are already familiar with. Your learning curve would be lower. If you are considering a small, simple website, I recommend looking at the CtCt option. The site would, of course, have an opt in that would connect directly with your CtCt email list.
Social Media Predictions for 2020
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