As a writer, as well as a dedicated user of social media, it is sometimes a challenge to keep coming up with topics that are interesting and engaging.  Yes, you heard right—even I struggle as a weekly blog writer from all the research and information I read.

Topics and content are what secure your social media following.  Without interesting content, no one wants to engage, and then all the time and effort you put into social media becomes futile and a waste of time.  At the same time, you cannot just write about some random topic that has no relation to your industry just because some people may find it interesting.  If you are using social media, you have to realize that you cannot reach everyone.  What you need to do is discuss things that are relevant to your industry, and valuable to your followers/fans. 

The power of social media is undeniable.  It assists in building rapport, can increase web traffic or even bring in walk-ins!  That is why content is so very important.  Social media can be the fuel behind your business, and content is the fuel for your social media.  What you need is a source for your content, your fuel, that will not only help you get over that crippling condition known as writers’ block, but make your social media postings a “must read.”

 

Everyone needs a little helping hand, so here are some tips that will help to make sure you never run out of fuel for your fire.

1. Get Everyone Involved!

The amazing thing about people being different from one another is that everyone has an opinion, a perspective and general way of looking at things that are fresh, new and exciting.  This is why it is a great idea to get all of your employees involved in your blogging and social media activities.  They may have ideas about content that never once occurred to you, or have a new way of approaching a topic that to you seemed boring and useless.  If you have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) area on your website, or a place for comments or concerns, have employees write blogs in response.  That way, not only are you answering customer questions and solving potential problems, but you are creating content that is relevant and valuable to your following from multiple points of view.  And just to make sure that all blogs and postings are formatted the same, you can create templates!  Go to www.contentrulesbook.com for some template ideas.    

 2. Use an RSS Reader to View Your Subject Specific Blogs at a Glance.

Every writer needs a source of inspiration.  One tried and true method is to study the subject you want to write about by reading what other experts have already written.  You can sign up for a free RSS Reader that will allow you to see all of the blogs you are subscribed to in one place instead of hunting the Internet for interesting topics to write about.  As always, Google is an amazing resource for just about everything.  Google offers a free RSS Reader (Google Reader), as well as a place for you to go and search for and subscribe to blogs that are relevant to your industry.  If you have a few different areas of interest, you can divide them into categories which will make it easier for you to scan and pick out what you want to talk about.  As with all writing, you must make it your own.  Combine the new ideas you have read about with your own creativity and ingenuity to create a blog that is new, exciting, and full of valuable and relevant content.

Also try using Google Blogs for their search option to search the blog directory sites such as Technorati  
as shown below or Blogcatalog to find blogs that are relevant to your product or service.  Be sure to organize your RSS Feeds into folders and sort by category for ease of scanning and you can combine the topics by industry classifications with your own commentary to create posts that stand on their own.

3. Use LinkedIn Groups.

The internet is a constant source for finding tools.  Some of the tools offered do not appear that way at first, so you must open your mind and look at everything as a potential resource.  One resource you may not have thought of is LinkedIn!  I know, it seems crazy to use social media as a social media content resource, but used the right way, LinkedIn can be an effective tool.

There are hundreds of groups discussing hundreds of topics, and believe me, people have no problem expressing their opinions.  Join groups that are relevant to your industry, and again, take advantage of experts in your field being willing to share their knowledge.  It is never a bad thing to look at things from another’s point of view.

4. Eavesdrop…

Don’t be shy, everyone does it.  And it is truly a great way of finding out what the average Joe is interested in.  Of course you do not have to listen to everyone’s conversations at all times, but keep an ear out for key words that are relevant to your niche in the world.  You can even go as far as carrying a little notepad and pen around with you so you can jot things down as you hear them or even better use Evernote to make it easier to remember things whether big or small, using your computer, the web or even your phone. You can do this while waiting in lines, sitting on the train, or an airplane, or eating out are all good opportunities to hear what interests the average consumer.

5. Audience Participation.

Here is a concept that seems obvious but is so often overlooked: ask your audience.  Post something on Facebook or Twitter asking what THEY would like to read about.  Many times your followers and fans know exactly what kind of advice they want from you, and they will not hesitate to tell you when given the chance.  You can also take polls, surveys and ask questions to find out what the general public is interested in learning from you.  Your client base is the backbone of your business, so do not forget about them.  You write blogs so they will read them, so who better to go to for subject matter?  

6. Audio Books.

What on Earth did we do before the Internet?  Oh yes - we read books!  We sat down and actually took time out of our day to study, research and learn.  Of course I understand that we do not always have a few hours to just drop everything and read a book, but that is why they invented audio books!  You can be driving down the highway and still reading, but in a much safer way.  The basic point here is not to get so wrapped up in the up and coming way of doing things that you forget about our old friend, the book—believe it or not, they are still around. Check out eMusic or Audible for a nice selection of titles to choose from.

7. Forums.

Call it old fashion, but you should never forget our old friend, the forum.  Do a simple web search about forums in your industry and see what is going on. This method is simple, fast and effective, so why not use it?  You do not even have to tell people where you found your information if you don’t want to.

 

8. News Sources.

Isn’t it terrible to be behind the times on current events?  Well, there is a way to avoid that…keep up with current events!  These days there are an infinite number of sources available for news no matter what topic.  You can use sites likewww.AllTop.com  or Google News that will allow you to search current events by area of interest.  You can find news about your industry from all over the world and instantly have a topic to blog about or share with your fans.  Just take a look; you will be surprised what you can find.

9. Go To Events.

I know this one kind of seems like a no-brainer, but just like getting feedback from your audience, this tip is often neglected.  Attend meetings, conferences, seminars, webinars, tradeshows, or any other kind of face to face event relevant to your industry.  It gives you a chance to learn the up and comings of your industry as well as gather interesting new content to share with your following. Try setting up your own Meetups, Tweetchats, Conferences orWebinars through a wealth of events hosted both on and offline and on a weekly basis with so much free exchange of wealth of knowledge and ideas.  You will be left inspired with new ideas and new-found energy to turn those ideas into remarkable content.

10. Merge Your Unfinished Ideas!

If you are anything like me, I am sure you have a plethora of half-finished blogs hanging around, just waiting for something to be done with them.  Today is your lucky day, because I am going to share with you how to turn them into a workable, post-able source of information.  Go through your blogs and see if you can find a few with related topics, then merge them together—simple as that!  Not only have you freed up space on your computer, but you have just created an amazingly informative blog out of ideas you never thought would go anywhere.

11.      Try Making a Tag Cloud.

You can use entire conversations based around your keywords that are relevant to you to build a tag cloud. Look for 15 tweets that mention your brand, industry or product and drop them into a tag cloud application such as Wordle.  This is a site that is a toy for generating “word clouds” from the text you provide.  These clouds give greater prominence to your words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can also tweak the clouds you create with different fonts, color schemes and layouts. The images you create with this tool are yours to use whenever you like. You can print them out or even save them to the Wordle gallery to share with all your friends. You may even find keywords you may not have thought of in addition to a few surprise topics of association. This is a great way to find emerging trends to blog about and stretch your content dollar!

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

1.  Exposure.

In the MarketingProfs Brands Undervalue Social  Media for Customer Service post, they point out that when social CRM is done well, it provides added benefits of increased exposure for your brand and helps acquire new customers, retain existing customers, and drive brand awareness.

2.  Guerilla Marketing Techniques.

Here are five guerilla marketing techniques offered by Ann Evanston to improve customer experiences in the social sphere.

• Set up strategic search phrases key problems your target market faces such as “slow internet” or “internet connection.”
• Set up search phrases for your business name. These types of searches are easy to set up in Twitter, Market Me Suite, Hootsuite,  and Social Mention and will search blog posts as well.
• Watch the mentions and respond to them! Offer empathy, help, and respond with a suggestion. Show them that you listened.
• When people use your business name positively, saying “thank you” creates a way to “keep in touch” as they are becoming fans and also referral sources (or potential customers).
• If something negative happens, deal with integrity and provide good communication. Don’t delete the negative feedback as this would be like putting your head in the sand. This can show others how gracious you really are in the way you respond.

3.  Interface Across Functions.

In the Community Roundtable’s 2011 State of Community Management Report, they state that community management is increasingly a distinct and separate role with explicit responsibilities for interfacing across many functions to ensure its continuity of care for their community members.

4.  Structural Hole.

This can be seen as the person between two groups who has been taken away. This creates a disconnect between the two groups. According to Community Roundtable, they suggest that recognition may cause companies to rethink about outsourcing their Twitter accounts to their Public Relations Company.

5.  Hub and Spoke

In Jeremiah Owyang’s  hub-and-spoke model,  he illustrates how the model provides a centralized resource to companies. Also, Drew McLellan, in his blog post dated April 20, 2011, recommends that companies should build the web of content creation in a hub-and-spoke model as shown below. He says you need to have a core or hub for all for your social media activity. This means having one place set up as a repository for your core content.

                Image Source:  Altimeter Group.

6.  Variety of Functions.
According to Heidi Cohen of ClickZ Marketing News & Expert Advice, she states that social media has changed how both consumers and companies view customer service. Customer service now fulfills a variety of different functions in addition to enhancing your marketing opportunities. See below 12 ways you can use social media to enhance customer service.

• Give business a human face. Become more personable and build customer trust.
• Listen to what customers are saying. Listen to what consumers are asking, provide a timely response and determine early the warning signs for PR and other issues.
• Proactively engage with prospects and customers. This shows that you are a real company that cares. Accomplish this through tweets, Facebook postings, or eve blogs.
• Provide additional product-related content. Try using other formats such as online videos to blogs showing how to use your products or services.
• Answer product-related questions. This allows your customers to respond to a confused customer with a direct answer and may even turn out to have more authority than coming from your customer service dept.
• Supplies as an alternative contact channel. Remember many companies have not yet started to really embrace suing social media for customer service. This can translate to better service for your customers.
• Gives customers a channel to talk to each other. This is where customers have an environment to have customer-to-customer conversations.
• Share customer feedback. Reviews can help qualify and endorse your products in ways that your team members can’t.  Customers trust other customers.

7.  Questions.

Often answering a consumer’s question takes a back seat to responding to customer complaints. However, providing a timely response to a question will make a customer feel heard and potentially can alleviate customer dissatisfaction.  Be sure to apologize for any missed communications as shown below by L.L. Bean.

8.  Key Stakeholders.

It is important to keep in mind that key stakeholders will care about different parts of your social media and will need access to different types of social media metrics.  In reading Forrester’s white paper titled “Social media Marketing Metrics that Matter: Communicating the Right Data to Internal Stakeholders,” the author points out that the focus of the company was to various internal stakeholders and how each one differed in their company.  Be sure to create frequent reporting of digital metrics to community managers within your company and identify the social media strategists. Reporting metrics are key for annual reporting of branding and reviewing the financial metrics for a return on investment of both time and money spent in social media efforts.

9.  Why Measure.

To have a successful community management, you need to regularly measure your efforts.  According to Dion Hinchcliffe, he points out that if you are not looking at your overall levels of participation, in addition to growth rate of new likes and new members, and making a list of recently disengaged and following up on them, then you are not managing your social media environment at all. There needs to be an understanding of your overall health and momentum in the social media arena and how you directly respond to issues and how you do it every day to be vital for long term success for your efforts.

10. Processes and Policies.

Having a marketing department in place to address customer service and social media needs is essential, but much more is needed in today’s marketplace. Companies are encouraged to put in place a thorough process and policy system for handling customer interactions through social media and technology efforts. According to Drew Kraus in his Gartner paper Emerging Technology Analysis: Social CRM for Customer Service, he stresses that one of the inhibitors for the adoption of a social CRM customer service technology is the lack of having defined processes and policies. Many companies hold off on bringing the new technology into their business practices until optimized processes and policies have been adopted. Instead, many companies are allowing their marketing departments to handle their customer service.  

11.  Template for Social CRM. 

With emergency technology and social media growing at a rapid pace, putting into place a Social CRM for customer service is becoming a best practice format for many companies. Drew Kraus offers actions for technology and service providers with his developed “template” for social CRM using a customer-service delivery process for your customers. This process template allows your business team members to deliver the same quality of standard for customer service through the same services and messages throughout your company.

  12. Wisdom.

Social CRM is about moving your fans and followers to becoming customers and advocates. This is a wise practice as it starts off first as a strategy and then moves to a back-end process and system for managing customer relationships and data within your company in an efficient and process-centric way. The key is being able to understand the business challenges you are looking to solve and then finding a way to solve them. Social CRM is one single component to developing a social or collaborative business that is both internal and external.

13. Zealous.

All of the 13 tips from last week and these 13 tips from this week require constant dedication and devotion. Becoming zealous about maintaining good customer relationships requires forethought and a quick response time from listening in your social media community.

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

1. Allocate Your Resources.

Assign different team members in your company to be responsible for managing social networking profiles to ensure each one is covered throughout the workday. See example below for Comcast social media site. Provide coverage when staff members are not around to monitor social networking profiles.

2.  Create a Center for Excellence.

See the link to Jeremiah Owyang showing how he advocates for creating social media centers of excellence in their “centralized program” that provides resources, training and strategies to in four major areas for planning, resources, processes and vendor selection and management.  He shows how to deploy social media in order to increase efficiency, reduce costs and provide standardization.  This team is run by a corporate social strategist who is in the business as a stakeholder and program champion.

3. Bridge the Gap.

Bridge the gap with your customer service coverage during staff breaks and vacation times.  Do not risk missing out on important messages when someone is out that monitors the social media site(s) for your company.

4. Listen.

Set up a good listening strategy that not only listens to customers’ compliments but to also keep tuned in to listening to complaints.  According to Marketing Expert Heidi Cohen , she states that with the help of customer monitoring tools, customer service can hear what consumers are being asked, provide a timely response, and determine early the warning signs of PR and other issues.

5. Delivery.

Be sure to deliver on your customer communications as promised. For example, see below regarding Whole Foods where they let users know what time and days they can expect to hear back on a response.

6. Evaluate.

On a consistent and regular basis, stop and take a look to see how your social media pages are doing. Review and monitor your reports of keywords and make a determination of how much of your time is spent fielding customer issues. 

7. Justification.

Follow the advice of the Community Roundtable that discusses how Measurement is NOT about justification, but is more about understanding the data to do a better job.

8. Mitigate Problems.

It is easy to listen to what customers are saying, but taking the precautionary steps and actions needed is what truly counts. As Heidi Cohen  mentions in her February 2, 2011 article, it is critical to have a crisis management plan in place for your current social media ecosystem to mitigate potential problems. 

9. Resolve Problems.

Immediately try to resolve problems.  According to Stacy Acevero, she explains how sometimes the largest protestors can become your best advocates with a little bit of love, understanding and attention. If you don’t provide some type of customer service or online redirect to someone who can help, you are risking your reputation.

10. Food for Thought. 

There are a couple of great mathematical equations to remember in this food for thought offered by Best Selling AuthorSeth Godin. His rule of thumb is that every person you turn away because your product or service isn’t right for them turns into three great customers down the road. What this means is that every bad sale may cost you five!

11. Number of Interactions and Issues.

Many companies are primarily focused on the number of fans and followers they are acquiring through social media. While that may be fine and good, it is important to remember to track the interactions staff members are having and be able to report back what issues were identified and how many of they were successfully resolved by teach team member.

12. Unhappy Customers.

When thinking about social media and customer service, there are often times when we find ourselves on the other side of the spectrum as an unhappy customer. According to Erik Deckers’ Five Rules to Getting Good Customer Service on Social Media, he says that if you are unhappy with a company, you should complain. It is your right as a customer to do this.  If you do it the right way, you are more likely to get what you want than if you whine and gripe about a company’s incompetency and failures.  Try this next time you are an unhappy customer. 

13. Opportunities.

Issues and complaints for customer service do not need to be seen as all negative. With the right mindset, these can be viewed as opportunities to learn more about what your customers want and expect from you. Use feedback as an opportunity for improvement within your own company.

Stay tuned for next week’s Part 2 for 13 More Quick Tips for Using Customer Service in Your Social Media Strategy.

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

When you hear the phrase, “social media return on investment,” you may ask yourself how you could possibly measure a return on investment of using something that costs you virtually nothing.  But if you think about it, although the major social media sites are free, you still have to take time out of your busy day to post something or engage with your followers.  Or if one of your employees posts things online for you, they are taking time out of their schedule which costs you employee salary.  And what if you hire someone to engage in social media?   You have to be able to measure your return on investment to judge whether or not your social media activity is working positively for your business.

Social media return on investment (ROI) means different things to a lot of people.  It could mean a “return on engagement,” or a “return on creativity and/or originality.”  Simply put, social media ROI is a measurement of effectiveness.  In a strictly technical sense, it is a way of measuring the effectiveness of marketing through social media.  This may sound complicated and tedious, but it is actually quite easy, and well worth the time.

 
What Exactly is ROI?

Before we go in depth about calculating the return on your social media investment, let us first make sure we all know what ROI really means, and why it is so important.

In the world of business, ROI is meant to measure the efficiency of an investment.  It is based on the financial formula:

ROI = (return – investment) / investment %.

In short this formula tells you whether or not your investment was worthwhile.  If you keep your investment the same while seeing in an increase in returns, this indicates a positive ROI.  A negative ROI means that your returns decreased while keeping the investment the same.  It goes without saying that an increase on your ROI is much more desirable than a decrease on your ROI. 

Because the formula for ROI uses just two variables, it is a quick and easy way to not only measure, but compare your marketing campaigns.  That way you can always go back and see what worked for your company, what did not, and how to improve any less-than-successful campaigns.  

Now that we understand the importance of measuring ROI and what it actually means, we can begin to apply it to marketing through social media.  If you want a more in depth look at ROI, see Investopedia’s definition here:

Social Media ROI: What is your investment, and what is your return?

So, now that we understand ROI and everything knowing it accomplishes, we can just take our social media returns and investments and plug them into the formula, right?

Social media ROI = (SM return – SM investment) / SM investment %

Not quite.  Although the investment in social media is fairly clearly defined, the return is not so easy.  What exactly is the return on social media, and how do you attach a dollar value to it?  Just like everything else in marketing, metrics are essential.  Thus both of these questions must have answers before we can move on and accurately measure your social media ROI.

The Social Media Return: What do you Plan to Accomplish?

You cannot just dive head first into a social media marketing campaign.  As in all aspects of marketing, regardless of the investment, you must have goals.  Without goals, nothing is measurable and without metrics, how can you know if you actually accomplished anything?  One of the best things about marketing through social media, however, is you can tweak the definition of your social media return to suit your company’s personal goals.  As Brian Solis from the Altimeter Group says, “Everything starts with an end in mind.”

The social media return is a way of showing what you have gained from that particular campaign.  Let us say, for instance, that what you want out of your social media investment is more sales.  Your social media return then becomes the amount of sales that have sprung from your social media engagement.  But what if instead of boosting sales, you wanted to make your brand more recognizable?  Then you would launch a social media campaign focused on promoting your brand, and your return becomes brand awareness.

Another great thing about social media marketing campaigns is that you can launch multiple campaigns from multiple angles with multiple end goals in sight.  For example, let us say that you want to drive sales while promoting your brand and building relationships with your followers—you can do that!  Be aware, however, that having more comments, likes, and followers is not indicative of your return.  More specifically, your return is indicated by whether or not those follows, likes and comments have moved you closer to your goal, whatever that may be. 

In short, you do not want to use social media just to keep up with the times.  You must be able to prove that your investment in social media has accomplished something positive for your company, thus you must set realistic and measurable goals for yourself.

But How do you Quantify Your Social Media Return on Investment?

Now we arrive to the most complicated part.  We have set our goals and defined our social media return, now what we need to do is assign value to that return—quantify in terms of money.  This is without doubt the most difficult part, because you need to assign a dollar value to something that may not necessarily be tangible. 

When using social media to promote your sales, the quantification of that return is relatively straight forward.  You can pass out coupons that are only available to followers, and in so doing you can track how much business was generated from using social media.  But in cases of, say, building relationships, quantifying becomes a bit murkier, yet still essential.

One way of doing this is by asking new clients how they heard about you, or why they chose your company.  If you keep track of the answers you get, you can see exactly how much new business was generated by taking the time to listen to your followers.  Then you can begin putting value on your return.

Basically, the idea is to be able to see and measure not only the value of building rapport and relationships, but the effectiveness of doing it through social media.

Putting a value on promoting brand awareness is yet another beast entirely.  You could accomplish this by sending out e-coupons to your fans and followers and keep track of the traffic and business generated from online.  In this way you can judge not only how effective your social media marketing campaigns are, but how they compare with your other marketing techniques.  According to the social media analytics company Virtue , who in April of 2010, stated that according to their research, the average Facebook fan is estimated to be worth $3.60. They did this by looking at the average number of messages each fan received, and then compared this number to what it would cost to purchase impressions in order to send the same number of messages to each fan. 

Social media offers a multitude of channels for quantifying the value of your return, and in this way allows you, the marketer, to be more creative and innovative in your methods.  

Social Media ROI: How Does it Compare?

Once you are able to quantify the value of your social media marketing campaign, and have estimate your investment, you will be ready to plug your numbers into the ROI formula, then, presto!  You now can now clearly see if you returns in social media marketing were worth the investment.  

The great thing about having accomplished this is that you can now use your calculation of one social media campaign and compare it to your other ROIs.  Did you launch other social media marketing campaigns?  If so, you can now see which ones were effective and which were not.  What about offline campaigns or e-mail campaigns?  You can now see how your social media ROI compares to those.    Remember, ROI is a measurement of efficiency, so having calculated the ROI of your social media campaign, you use the ROI number to compare to other social media campaigns and also your TV, print, radio and other campaigns.

For a more in depth look at strategizing your social media focus areas, check out the Altimeter Group’s research report by clicking here!

When you are able to calculate the ROI in all forms of marketing, you can start to create a clear picture of what works best for your company—what type of campaign is most effective and efficient.  This is why ROI is so very important, and becomes one of the most useful and powerful tools in your company’s marketing arsenal. 

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

How to blog – using images to enhance your blogs and blog posts. In this blog article, I will share with you 19 ways that you can use images to make your blog more appealing to read, entice readers to want to come back for more, and increase your credibility in the online community.
One thing to know first is that the best blogs are built on top of outstanding content to draw readers in and keep them engaged.
Too many images can become a distraction to your blogs so balance is necessary. Try to find the right balance to make your blog more appealing and the right images to use to get what you want out of your blog.
First let’s look at some design essentials of how to see images and design for your blog.

1.   How To Blog Branding.
Having al compelling blog header is one of the most important design elements of your blog. Designing a blog header starts with having a logo within the blog header and also needs a design to convey the message you want to strengthen your brand.

         
The Pioneer Women’s Blog does a great job with a well-designed header that changes with the seasons.

2.   How To Blog Social Media Profiles.
Your blog is considered a social media platform and you want to make it easy for other readers to connect with you on the social platforms they feel most comfortable connecting in. This is why many blogs have easy-to-recognize social media icons in a prominent position within their content.
 
It is easy to see what Dan Zarrella is interested in with is prominent position of these social media icons on his blog.


3.   Have Easy Reading Blog Posts. 
Images in your blog posts need to make your blog appealing to keep visitors on your site.

 
Ecoki uses photos in blog posts to make reading easy and entertaining

Other key places to use images are in the side bar and in the footer of your Blogs, depending on your overall blog design. Readers naturally turn to these areas for useful information. This is why the footer or sidebar are great places to show your readers what to do next.


 
Notice that the images used on this portion of the side bar Rise to the Top.

The Hubspot Blog above has a primary call to action “Get the Book” with a link.  This is something that needs to be clear in your blog of what is your main objective. What do you want your visitors to do when they read your blog? Once you’ve figured this out, use images to direct the readers’ attention to your primary call to action.

4.   Offer Free Incentives.
The primary objective for most bloggers is to increase their list of subscribers. Many bloggers do this by giving away a free report or other freebie as an incentive to read further and follow them. Use a compelling image for your free incentive to get readers to want to sign up and receive RSS Feeds to your Blog.

 
This blogger offers a free ebook to email subscribers. The read image grabs the readers’ attention easily and leads them to the sign up information.

5.   Develop your Own QR Code.
Another type of graphic is the QR Code. If this is something your audience can relate to, you may find it useful to have on your blog.
 
Denise Wakeman has a QR Code in the side bar of her blog page.

6.   Promoting a Book.
The primary objective for some bloggers is to promote their own book. A well-positioned picture of your book is a great way for increasing recognition, highlighting your expertise and building your credibility.



 
 Also Available at the following resellers...
                     

7.   Key Presentations.
Many companies choose to embed a key presentation in their side bar to highlight their particular area of expertise and create a call to action. Pay attention to the visuals you use to make your blog readers want to find out more information about what you do.

 
David Meerman Scott adds this image which he links to a YouTube video in a prominent position in his blog.

8.   Products.
Place visually any appealing badges about your products in a prominent position to get more sales.
 
Copyblogger’s product badges are appealing.

9.   Blog Author Photos.
If you do not have a photo of yourself or your team in your blog header, consider putting one in the side bar of your blog. This shows your readers who you are and can make it much easier to connect with you. See below for an example of my marketing blog header with my own photo.

 Full BRAIN Marketing


10.     Using Navigation to Build External Links.
IS there something else you would like to share with your readers? Make a link appealing with the right image.

 
Brian Solis has an image that links to his mobile app.

11.   Using Navigation to Build Internal Links.
You may want to highlight certain information on your blog that readers may otherwise miss if visiting your website.

 
One example above is we have a national event calendar that helps exhibitors research shows by region, industry and by date.  This is sometjign we want to be sure to share with readers and link to one of our other landing pages. You can click on the above image and it takes you to a our calendar landing page on our website.

12.     Add a Community Badge.
Blogs that haveactive communities should consder using a badge to incite more interaction within their online communities.
 
This business to business company Cree uses the above badge on their blog to incite readers to join their community.

13.    Blog Directories.
There are a number of popular blog directories that offer badges and widgets for their community to use. See below a great resource for blog directories.
 
Content Marketing Today has the Alltop
Logo and widget on their blog to highlight their presence 
In their industry.

14.    Regular Guest Blogging Sites.
Many bloggers publish articles on other websites and blogs.  Badges from these blogs will add credibility and social proof to your blog page.

 
Kristi Hines shares badges of the places where she publishes articles regularly in the side bar of her own blog.

15.    Social Networking Sites.
Many social networking sites have widgets that you can embed on your blog page. This is a great way to build social media platforms to grow your communities.  It also gives your readers the choice of where they want to connect with you on their own terms. It also lets your readers choose how they want to connect with you.

 
Citrix has a Flickr feed on t heir blog “Workshifting.”

16.    Rating Systems.
If you have a widely recognized ranking tool in your industry with a badge, consider placing this on your blog for social recognition.

 
Simply Zesty highlights their ranking on a popular
Ad Age Power150 list in the side bar of their blog.

17.    Awards and Prizes.
Share badges of awards and prizes you have won.

 
Erik Qualman, author of the book Socialnomics, highlights one of the
Awards he received for his book on his blob page. 

18.    Clients and Sponsors.
Consider highlighting your clients who you have worked with or your blog sponsors. Be sure to check if you have the right to publish their logos before posting t hem.

 
Web Advantage shows a selection of their clients in the side bar 
of their blog.

19.    Social Numbers.
Display widgets that highlight the size of your communities.  Popular widgets on many blogs share the number of your Twitter Followers, your blog subscribers and your Fans on Facebook.

 
Scott Monty has some great social proof next to his “Subscribe” button.


DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com
      

Using Photos to enhance your Facebook Page is a key opportunity you may be overlooking. You can buy a camera for a minimal cost everywhere these days.  Using Photography, along with the rise of social media, allows everyone to shoot photos and share them with a lot of people.
Using photos in Social media allows organizations an incredible opportunity to connect with others online and showcase one’s brand in unique and interesting ways.
See below 6 Tips to keep in mind to incorporate photos into your Facebook page.

1.   It’s Not Personal-It’s Business

When it comes to using photos in social media to represent your brand, a common adage is often used to justify moral carelessness to provide insight when it comes to using photos. Keep in mind the photos you post are not your personal photos. The photos you post will likely look different than the photos you upload to your personal Facebook profile page.
The photos you post are an extension of your brand. They instantly tell others a lot about your organization to the casual reader. They don’t need to be in any particular formal but they should always be professional. Use the same judgment for posting photos that you would when showing a client in person. If you need to question whether a photo is appropriate enough to be posted, then it isn’t!

 
Zappos balances professionalism and fun when showcasing their brand on their Facebook page.

2.   If your Company is Local, Show it Off!

If you’re a local organization that could benefit from local appeal, play up your localness in the photos you post. Many organizations take pride on their location and the communities they serve. Don’t confuse showing off your local appeal with taking photos of local events and landmarks. 
Try showing members about your organization interacting with your local city in some meaningful way. A great example – if you are a local restaurant, try taking photos of your chef shopping for produce at the local farmer’s market! These types of photos not only showcase your brand, but can also make you more appealing to the clients you serve.

In the example below, the Albuquerque “Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk” took place, on April 25, 2011 and see below a photo of the walkers!

 

 
3.   Post Photos You can Share With Others.
One of the most effective ways to broaden your online reach is to create content and upload photos that others will want to share. Photos provide a great opportunity for you to connect with others and provide content others will want to share with their online connections.
 

Develop content that is likely to be interesting and worthwhile to others. Chances are that no one cares what your office looks like unless it’s labeled as being really cool or they are told you are really cool. Think of subject content that others will want to see.
In the photo below, Local Joy Junction, Albuquerque, New Mexico posted a photo on their Facebook Page about PLANTING DAY!  Volunteers got together to install irrigation for Joy Gardens.  Joy Gardens is a collaborative effort between different church groups, local businesses, community members, guests and residents.


     
Try posting photos of events that involve other organizations. If the photos are decent quality, these organizations will likely share your photos, which also share your organization’s brand, with their followers. In addition to posting photos to your Facebook page, be sure to tell these organizations about the photos posted.
For example, if you sponsor a fundraising event in partnership with a few other organizations, you could post photos showcasing the event and let other organizations know about the photos. This allows you to share the positive contribution you’ve made and provide content that the partnering organizations will likely want to share with their own followers. This will drive more traffic to your Facebook page.
To spread the word on Facebook, try tagging other organizations in your posts and announce your new photos. After you’ve uploaded photos to an album and published them, follow these steps to tag organizations:

o   Visit other organizations by going to their Facebook pages and clicking the “Like” button.

o   Return to your own business Facebook page and click the “wall” link under your profile photo.

o   Beside the “Share” tab along the top of your Facebook page under the Wall Photos, make sure that the “Status” is selected.

o   In your status, announce your new photos, include a tag to the other organization by typing @ and the organization’s name.

o   Select the other organization from the pop up menu.

o   Click the blue “Share” button under your typed information.



 
4.   Add New Photos As Often as Possible.
Unless you have some sensational photos to attract the attention of viewers,  they’re likely not going to come back time after time to see the photos after the first post Posting new photos consistently can help entice people back to your Facebook page and keep you at the top of viewer’s minds. It’s also a great way to appear current and active on social media networks. The more consistent you upload new photos, the greater chance your supporters will share the content with others. Also, when you include a wide variety of photos, you increase the chance e that visitors on your page will find something else interesting.

Photos are a great way to show off your brand and also engage your followers. If you spend some time and put in a bit of thought to the photos you post, your photos can help you stand out among the mass of photos already posted on the Internet today.

5.   Show Off Your Personal Side of Your Organization!
The photos you post on the social media networks are a great chance for your company or organization to show off a more personal side that your clients may not often get to see.  Don’t just post photos you have on your website or in your advertising.  Become less formal and humanize your company or organization to show the personalities of people who work there.
The photos below are a great example of doing this.  At our 3rd Annual B2B Networking event, we show people networking and having fun engaging in conversation and also the Donation that we give every year that included a $1,200 tabletop exhibit donated to Samaritan Counseling Center. What a great community event.  This year we have one coming up June 2nd and will be posting new photos after that event too.

             


                 
This is a great way to make your company appear more personable and endearing to your potential customers and other companies or organizations you work with.

6.   The Photos You Post Should Represent Your Brand.
The photos you use will represent your brand and your organization to the casual observer. As such, it’s important that they show that you took some time and put in a bit of thought. Don’t upload too many photos of the same subject. Pick the best and only show those.

In addition, here are some basic photo editing tips for you to use. First, crop your photos to highlight the area of the photo you are showcasing. Do not use any photos that are blurry. Consider using some black and white photos to stand out and give a different look amongst the other photos.

Be creative and have fun.  The goal is to showcase your company or organization. Crop photos to showcase some of your staff members and leave nothing extraneous to distract from the main content or subject of the photo.

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com
      

If you are wondering how you can have 550 friends in Facebook but only have 15-20 show up in your news feed, here is your answer. It is not that those other friends have stopped using Facebook.  Chances are they are all still there. It is just they are not showing up in your news feed.

If you have not noticed, there are two settings on your Facebook news feed.  The “Most Recent” news feed shows most of the content published by your Facebook friends in a chronological order and the “Top News” filters content based on EdgeRank.
When you have friends and family with a high EdgeRank, they are more likely to show up in your “Top News” feeds. Users with a low EdgeRank may not even show up in your “Most Recent” news feeds.

For businesses or others that are looking to promote, market or just interact through Facebook, the implications of this new change are huge. “Top News” is the default setting.  Unless a friend or fan changes their default, it is quite possible they will never see your updates.  No matter how great the content, no matter how well you manage your Facebook page, EdgeRank may be holding you back.

Facebook looks at everything published as “objects.” These can be identified as status updates, links, photos, video or anything else that is shared on Facebook. Each object receives a ranking (EdgeRank) which determines if the information will show in your personal newsfeed. Posts with a high EdgeRank appear in your appear in your “Top News” feed.  Posts with a low EdgeRank will not.  According to a study done by The Daily Beast last fall, posts with a really low EdgeRank may not show up in your “Most Recent” news feeds.
A post’s affinity score is based on the interactions you have with the friend or fan who published the post.  Friends or fans with whom you interact with regularly receive a higher affinity score.  Every time you visit a fan page, click the “Like” button, comment on a user’s status or view a picture, you increase the affinity score with that user.

InThe Daily Beast s tudy, it points out that this affinity score only works one way.  It cannot increase your affinity score in another user’s feed by constantly clicking on their “Like:” buttons or viewing their pictures.  Although doing this will increase the likelihood that you’ll see their updates, your posts will not do any better in their news feed until they return the favor.

How to Level the Interaction.
Different types of interactions are weighted differently in Facebook. Activates that require higher levels of user engagement receive a higher score than those that don’t. For example, if you leave a comment on a photo it takes more effort on the user’s part than clicking the “Like” button. Posts that receive higher levels of interaction are more likely to show up in a user’s newsfeed.

Timeliness of Posts.
Most people do not want to read yesterday’s news.  Newer posts have a better chance of showing up in your news feed than older ones.
Here are six quick tips to arm you with a better understanding of these three elements to increase the likelihood that your content or posts will appear in your friends’ or fans’ “Top News” feeds.

1.   Publish Posts that Encourage Interaction.
Unless you are interesting enough to draw comments, simple status updates are not going to move you into the “Top News” feeds.  You need to publish content that naturally encourages others to click-through or create a discussion.  Content such as creative games that require a response (i.e., caption contests or trivia) open up opportunities to add high EdgeRank weighted interaction and build affinity with your new users.

 

2.   Keep your Content Fresh.
The Facebook stream moved fast. It you have content that is not getting a response, don’t be afraid to let them go and move on to the next best content post. If the content post is good but didn’t get you the response desired, consider repurposing it or sending it  out again at a different date and time.


3.   Try Creating a Forum.
Ever notice how political content on Facebook generates a ton of comments? Although it makes sense not to mix politics and Facebook, people love to debate and discuss hot topic issues. Make your fan page a place to be known for constructive discussion on the latest industry topics. Although this approach may be a little time consuming in the beginning and requires careful management, content from a fan page filed with healthy discussions are more likely to receive a higher EdgeRank.

 

4.   Share Links with Others.
Links require interaction with other users when they click on the link to view the content. While it is good to share content from your own website, don’t be afraid to promote some interesting content from other sources too. Twitter users discovered long ago that the more valuable content you share, the better chance you have of driving followers to your own content.  A comment that encourages someone to open the link or leave a comment can go a long way.

 

5.   Make the Most of Your Photos and Videos.
Photos and videos show up in a Facebook news feed as a thumbnail image. Due to the size, they almost require some type of interaction as users click on them to make them larger to see what the photo entails. Be sure to add a comment when posting photos or videos to encourage users to open the photo and add comments of their own.
 

6.   Ask Other Users to Share
Don’t be afraid to ask other users to share your content or click on the Like Button, especially if you are new to Facebook. It can take a while for a Facebook page to gain momentum and anything you can do to help it along will only speed up the process for growth.

With the introduction of EdgeRank, it may make it more difficult to share information on Facebook. Ultimately, it still comes down to your content being posted. Publishing content that users are willing to share and interact with has always been vital to any Facebook marketing campaign. With the recent Facebook changes that occurred on March 1st and the new “Send” Button assed the end of April, that content may now need a little extra push to get the attention it deserves.

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com
      

Facebook introduced a new feature on their platform.  Just over a year ago, they introduced the “Like” button to help people share worthwhile information with all their friends. However, there are many times when people want to share something with just certain people. On Monday April 25th, Facebook  introduced the Send button to allow us now to privately share things with groups and individuals. 

How It Works
The NEW Send button is a social plugin that allows websites to let people send a link to a friend through Facebook Messages, posting it to a Group, or emailing it to an individual. A great example - if you see a Mother's Day gift idea on 1-800-Flowers.com, you can send a message or email to one of your family members to discuss the gift idea.  This new button allows your readers to choose who they want to share your content with.

 
The NEW Send button drives traffic by letting users to now send a link and a short message to the people that would be most interested. They no longer have to leave the web page they're on or fill out a long time consuming form. Compared to the alternatives, the NEW Send button has fewer required steps. It removes the need to look up an email address by auto-suggesting friends and Groups. 
Facebook designed the “Send” button to be used alongside the “Like” button. By including both these button on your website, people will have the ability to broadcast the things they like and also send the information to specific people.

How to Add the Send Button
The Send button can be easily added to existing “Like” buttons or as a standalone feature. Developers currently using the XFBML Like button can include the send="true" attribute in their Like button code to generate a combined button, and those using an iFrame version of the “Like” button will need to upgrade to XFBML to display the NEW Send button.

 The following code will generate a combined Like and Send button:
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script>
<fb:like href="example.com" show_faces="true" width="450" send="true">
</fb:like>
Developers can add a standalone Send button with the following code:
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script>
<fb:send href="example.com"></fb:send>

If you want to learn more about the combined Like and Send Button, visit here on the Facebook Developers’ Page:http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/



 
If you want to integrate your Website pages into the social graph, set up the Open Graph Protocol. When a user clicks on your Like Button on your Facebook Page, a connection would be made between your page and the user’s page.  Your page would appear in the “Likes and Interests” section of the user’s profile and you would then have the ability to publish updates to the user.
To turn your Website Page into graphic objects, you will need to add Open Graph Protocol <meta> tags and the Like Button to your Website Pages.  The tabs will allow you to specify structured information about your website pages. The more information you provide, the more opportunities your website pages will be surfaced within the Facebook pages. 
Facebook Deals launched new Test Program in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco.  This new program is similar to Facebook Deals and Groupon that allows local businesses to offer digital coupons on Facebook.
See example below:

 
Klout.com  launched their new site version on their site allowing you to “compare your Klout” profile to others to gain new insight on your score. Klout identifies top influencers on topics across the social web.
When I signed up, my score is a 22.  Even though it says I have the ability to generate actions and discussions and engage with a good mix of influencers and friends, along with building a good size network that is highly engaged -  I have a lot of work to do.
 

Another recent thing that has happened on the social networking platforms is that YouTube Founders acquiredDelicious.  Delicious users will be happy to hear that this very popular book marketing platform has a new owner.   Avos has made plans to make the site even easier and more fun to save and share content.

 
Another great platform to be aware of is http://www.pressjack.com/  that is a desktop application that allows publishers to convert their web content instantly into digital magazines. A desktop version of the application is now available in beta.

 

Did you know that WordPress has come out with a Free Template to create Facebook landing Pages? Check it out here:  http://www.wp4fb.com/

 

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com
      

Just when you think you are catching up with all the new Facebook changes, here are some more for you.

1.   New Commenting Platform.
Did you know that Facebook rolled out and overhauled their comment system by allowing you to add comments to any web page by using its platform? Facebook allows readers’ comments to be published in their Facebook news feeds. When friends comment back in Facebook, the reply shows up on your site. This is a new feature that all bloggers should check out.  You’ll notice that any comments you go in and write are left under your real name, which spells bad news for those who troll or spam sites.  This new system is far from perfect because there are a lot of people who won’t want to use Facebook to leave comments.  For more information check out this blog:http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/01/facebook-rolls-out-overhauled-comments-system-try-them-now-on-techcrunch/

2.   Facebook Likes Button Clicks Now go to News Feed.
When your readers like something on your site, this now generates an update on their news feeds that looks like a Facebook Share.  It looks like we can have one Facebook button on our blog or website in the future which will be the Facebook Like Button.

 
3.   LinkedIn Groups Guarantee Relevant Jobs Listing.
The “Jobs” Tab in LinkedIn Groups is now tailored specifically for the group. The jobs are either shared into the group by its members or they match keywords specified by the group manager so they are guaranteed to be relevant.


 
4.   Google Enhances User Profiles in LinkedIn. 
While Google profiles have been around for some time to help you “connect to other public online services and improve your search results,” the new design now lets you “highlight” the information that is most important to you.  See example below:


 
Here are a few new social media tools that you may be interested in checking in to.

5.   “Speaker” Platform:  
This is an audio platform that allows you to create, broadcast and share a personal radio show across the Internet in a simple and accessible way. Now podcasters and bloggers have an easier way to keep in touch with their audience by audio.


 
6.   Fflap.
This is a new social selling tool for eBay to help sellers reach more people to sell their items faster.
 


7.   uQR.me
You can now create a unique QR code and a profile page where you can easily change, replace or update the code’s content at any time you want or need.  See this Video:  http://vimeo.com/15882690
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/15882690?portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/15882690">uQRme spot</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4977766">uQRme</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
 
 
DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com
      

If you are using Twitter and really want to enhance your Twitter experience, check out these five tools below.  Twitter is pumping up the volume for real-time news source information and is no longer considered a procrastination tool.
These tools will come in handy for your preparing your strategic social media goals.

1.   Deepen Your Relationships in Twitter.
Twitter has a chat room called Nurph so you can chat with more than 140 characters unlike tweeting and you get a room!  All you have to do is tweet a link and bring your friends together for a real-time chat without taking over your followers’ timelines with lengthy conversations.

The Nurph chat rooms come complete with twitter profile integration and tweet streaming, which allows you to look at a highly optimized twitter-specific chat service.  This is a must try!

 
Take your Twitter conversations to the next level

2.   Be Rid of the Noise in Twitter.
While FaceBook allows you to hide the annoying posts, why not Twitter?  Well, it turns out that Twitter now has an app called Proxlet that allows you to do this and much more!  This app works with your favorite clients like Twitter (usingChrome extension), TweetDeck Desktop and Twitter for iPhones.

Now you can block out those spam apps, filter out any annoying hashtags, temporarily mute the loud users, and breathe much easier knowing you have some control over the incoming content.
 

3.   Extend your Reach in Twitter!
If you are already mastering the Twitter game and want to build on that, try using Triberr tool that allows you to create a tighter network of fellow bloggers by sharing your posts and engaging  ideas.

This is an invite-only network where you can create your own “tribes” with other bloggers. Once you become part of a tribe, you can instantly share each other’s posts in Twitter which allows you to multiply your reach and retweets instantly.  Usually there are no more than 7 members are allowed per tribe and is invite-only, which guarantees that this remains high-quality and spam-free.  However, when reaching,  I found a few tribes with more than 7 Members.  This tool can still be thought of as a tight quality control human Twitter feed.  Go to the home page for Triberr and check out the video.  Search through the tribes and see which one fits you best and see if you can be asked to Join. 

 

4.   Share and Track Blog Content.
Check out Dlvr.it, which is a smart online mailman that delivers your content to various platforms and tells you how many people enjoyed reading your content. Each time you publish news on your blog, it delivers the news to all relevant places on the web.

This means you can deliver news through your Twitter account, Facebook profile or wherever you want the news to be.  Also, Dlvr.it tells you how many clicks your published content received. This may come in handy for your social media efforts as well.

 Deliver your content to all of your favorite social networks


5.   Putting it all together with Awesome Stats and Metrics.
After you have put the above tools in place to create content, now it is time to make sense of it all and get the bigger picture for your impact.  Check out Twoolr as it provides you with all the data you need to analyze what you are doing with your Twitter efforts.

Twoolr provides you with metrics that matter most by giving you interesting visualizations such as usage trends and associated clouds and user comparison information. You can access all the information intuitively from the dashboard and can receive growth and community reports straight through your inbox. This is a simple tool and is presented in a slick design.

 

As I was researching the information for this blog, I went into each of the tools and played around.  You should too!

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com