“It’s a shame a man has to use gimmicks like this to get elected,” Richard Nixon remarked to Mr. Ailes, about the televised presidential debates.

“Television is not a gimmick, and if you think it is, you’ll lose again,” Mr. Ailes retorted.

Whether you are a fan of Mr. Ailes personally or not (and I’m certainly not), this quote speaks volumes.

A recent Associated Press-CNBC poll showed that half of all Americans think that Facebook is a “passing fad”. (However, more than 40% of all American adults log in to the site at least once a week and Facebook is poised to sign up its one billionth user this year.)

I think that these poll respondents, like Richard Nixon, are scared that they are going to be left behind by the increasingly all-consuming social media/mobile technology tidal wave.

Well, they should be.

The concepts behind social media have many bigger picture implications – it’s all much more than simply having a place to tweet about what you just ate or post a photo of your vacation.

It’s not as much about the tools as it is about the process.  People get so hung up on where and when they should post/tweet/update, but focus less on the why and the what.

It’s about being comfortable online. Its 2012, people. Get comfortable online or perish.

It’s about thinking critically about what you share with others and when.

It’s about creating dynamic policies for your organization and company around sharing, responding and interacting with clients and stakeholders.

It’s about stopping to develop a plan, as opposed to only putting out fires.

It’s about testing ideas to see what works, and failing and learning from failure.

It’s about truly evaluating your product, your service or your cause. It’s about self-evaluation, asking yourself – Why exactly would someone care?

It’s about finding new and compelling ways to tell your story.

It’s about being focused on your impact and the ways that you are helping people/changing lives/adding value to the world.

It’s about destroying the status quo and being open-minded.

With one-way communication, it is a lot easier to ignore your customers and stakeholders. When you have a symphony of crickets responding to your last Facebook post, it’s harder to ignore.

What do you think are the biggest implications of the social media revolution? Anything to add? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section. Thanks for reading!    

**Are you located on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and are you interested in social media marketing? Join me at the digital media event of the season, North by North Shore!  Use my special discount code “Julia613″  (minus the quotes, naturally) and get 20% taken off the top, resulting in a ticket price of $40. Sign up today!**

Somehow, he always seems to know what’s on my mind. I’m not sure how he gets into my brain like that, but he always does!

The post is here.

While his posts are often focused on marketing and growing a business, this one spoke directly to me in another way – as a busy mom who works for herself and is constantly overwhelmed by the demands placed on her time (and her sanity).

The post summed up a lot of my recent stress – the reasons I have felt overwhelmed by my chosen career path, even doubtful, discouraged and yes, feeling sorry for myself. (World’s smallest violin…)

Seth wrote about the modern 24/7 work cycle – no more shifts that have a 9 AM beginning and a 5 PM end, no more clocking out, no more closing the file and leaving the office.

“Now, of course, there’s always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete. There’s one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can never be finished.”

But what I needed, and received, was a kick in the pants – to stop feeling sorry for myself.

I am very fortunate to have the work, and, after all, “to be finished, done, complete – this is a bit like being dead.” So true!

Thanks, Seth. I needed that.

Do you work for yourself? Are you always trying to send that last tweet, that last email? Do you find yourself overwhelmed? Please share your experiences in the Comments section below. Thanks for reading! 

By far the number one question and comment I get in presentations and in meetings with clients revolves about privacy concerns.

Privacy concerns on social media are very real and understanding the specific privacy settings and protocols on each social network you use is paramount.

Today I received an email from Twitter about their updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

They highlighted a few of the main changes with helpful links to more information. The email read:

• We’ve provided more details about the information we collect and how we use it to deliver our services and to improve Twitter. One example: our new tailored suggestions feature, which is based on your recent visits to websites that integrate Twitter buttons or widgets, is an experiment that we’re beginning to roll out to some users in a number of countries. Learn more here.
• We’ve noted the many ways you can set your preferences to limit, modify or remove the information we collect. For example, we now support the Do Not Track (DNT) browser setting, which stops the collection of information used for tailored suggestions.
• We’ve clarified the limited circumstances in which your information may be shared with others (for example, when you’ve given us permission to do so, or when the data itself is not private or personal). Importantly, our privacy policy is not intended to limit your rights to object to a third party’s request for your information.

SCORE helps aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners translate their dreams and ideas into reality through planning sessions, mentoring and counseling. They do great work, and I am happy to support them!

Here is the presentation; I hope that you find it helpful. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to send me an email – julia@jcsocialmarketing.com – have a great day!

Social Media Marketing for Small Business presentation to SCORE

I see too many static Facebook Pages – Pages that lay dormant except for the occasional promotion or sales pitch. If you want a form of communication that is one way, try an email newsletter. Or a website.

Facebook is not a megaphone.  (Or at least it shouldn’t be!)

An interesting and engaging Facebook Page is meant to encourage interaction, likes and comments; foster goodwill; build community.

Yes, some successful Pages do sell things. But this cannot be the primary goal of the Page (at first).

(If you don’t already understand the important distinction between Facebook Profiles and Pages, read my blog post about it here.)

3 advantages to using Facebook as your Page:

• Exposure: If you comment on a Page that gets lots of traffic, people will see it and they might click on over to you.

• Karma: By leaving thoughtful or thought-provoking comments on others’ Pages, this creates dialogue and community, what social media is really all about.

• Relationships: Using Facebook as your Business Page, liking others, commenting, posting etc. helps build your brand and build your online voice.

How to use Facebook as your Page:

• Go to your Page. Click the link on the upper right hand side that says “Use Facebook as [Page Name].” Switch back by clicking on the link that says “Use Facebook as [Your Name].”

J Campbell Social Marketing Facebook Page

• You can also go to the very top right hand corner of the Page, next to the word Home, and click on the drop down menu under the arrow. Pick the Page you would like to operate as and click on it.

J Campbell Social Marketing Facebook Page

(NOTE: You can hide the Admin Panel once you are done monitoring your Notifications, Messages, New Likes, Insights and Page Tips.)

What you can do as your Page:

• You can view notifications of all Page activity and new Fans in the Admin Panel or in the top Notifications bar (the three icons next to the Facebook logo).

• You can, and you should, “Like” other Pages as your professional Page! This is very useful if, like me, you prefer to keep your professional and private Facebook identities separate. However, it is important to note that Page-to-Page Likes are not counted in the number of Fans that a Page has.

• Now you can view a customized News Feed with stories from all the Pages that you “Like” as your Page – this successfully eliminates all non-professional clutter from your News Feed, as well as serves as inspiration for future posts, a way to keep an eye on the competition and an easy method of scanning top headlines/news stories in your industry.

• You can easily share content from other Pages directly onto your Page, as well as comment on other Pages as your professional Page and not your personal Profile. Do this frequently and with purpose!

• Comment on other Pages as your Page. After I meet someone at a conference or network event, I login as my Facebook Page and make sure to write a comment on their Business Page Wall and Like their Page. I leave a genuine, thoughtful comment about our interaction, and it helps me build my community and establishes me as a friendly person. (Which I am!)

What you can’t do as your Facebook Page:

• You can’t interact with personal Profiles that are set to private, and most are. (This has an advantage however, if you want to “Like” a Page on Facebook but you don’t want them to see your personal Profile.)

• Using Facebook as your professional Page is not a functionality available on mobile phones.

How do you take advantage of Facebook as your Business Page? What other advice and tips do you have? Please leave any additional feedback in the Comments section. Thanks for reading!

Why is social media such a big deal? How will it directly grow our organization? How will it close sales or increase donations for us TODAY?

A question that I hear a lot from organizations exploring the jump into social media is: “What is the ROI, or return on investment?”

In other words: “How can I quantify my limited time and stretched resources and be assured of a return?”

Well… the short answer is, you can’t.

You cannot be assured of a definitive, predictable ROI from social media, no matter the size or your business or nonprofit.

This is true even if you are Proctor & Gamble, “the world’s largest marketer” (according to Business Insider) with a $10 billion annual ad budget.  P&G recently laid off 1,600 staffers in its marketing department to dedicate more resources to its social networks – but it’s impossible to know (yet) how this has affected sales.

Sure, it certainly helps to have unlimited staff and resources to dedicate to marketing on social media platforms – you get out what you put in, after all.

In my opinion, the real ROI with social media comes from the hard-to-measure-in-hard-data benefits – benefits that require more examining in order to be translated into dollars.

My two favorite examples of intangible but valuable return on social media investment are:

1)      Establishing yourself as a Thought Leader. Thought Leaders are those wonderful people you turn to when you want to find credible, accurate, up-to-date information on a topic. Thought Leaders share (for free usually) an abundance of useful information that people want to read. A great example of a Thought Leader in the social media realm is Chris Brogan. Brogan advises businesses, organizations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.  Another good example is Becky McRay of Small Biz Survival. She started her site to “write about small business and rural issues, based on my own successes and failures.” Both of them have sizable social media followings because they have established themselves as Thought Leaders in their industry.

2)      Engaging with dedicated, even obsessive, Brand Ambassadors. Every brand, every business, every nonprofit wants Brand Ambassadors – those individuals that identify with your brand as a part of their persona (online and off). These are the people who put your brand in their “About Me” descriptions on Facebook, share links about your brand, post photos related to your brand, or even include your brand’s logo on their profile or blog page. Brand Ambassadors love your cause, your product and your brand. Social media is a perfect medium to encourage these enthusiastic individuals, due to its up-to-the minute speed and ability to create social connections and personal relationships.

It may be hard to justify spending time and resources on social media efforts without seeing the dollar return. But if you put the time into the two above areas, the return will soon become tangible.

What other results do you see from your social media efforts? Anything to add? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section. Thanks for reading! 

You’ve posted about the event on Facebook and sent out regular tweets on Twitter.

You put information in the monthly email newsletter and on your website.

You may have also put it in the calendar section of the local papers and approached reporters about media coverage.

These are certainly all effective ways to promote an event. But there are less obvious, more creative ways to promote it that can also lead to success. Here are four ways to promote an event that you may not have considered:

1)     Directly and in person ask every board member, staff member, volunteer and organization VIP to help spread the word and give them concrete, specific ways to do so. You may have asked everyone to “tell their networks”, but what does that mean? The more specific you are with assigning tasks, the better for accountability and measurement. For example, give your volunteers and staff a menu of action items to choose from (can choose more than one): Commit to purchase 10 tickets, send a tweet a day, post on Facebook three times, send out an Evite to their network, hand out flyers, call 10 guests. Important note for nonprofits: Donors love to be involved in the activities of the organizations they support, and they especially love when they can give back in a way that doesn’t hurt their pocketbooks!

2)     Start a Social Media Street Team. The Massachusetts Conference for Women did a fantastic job cultivating and instructing their Social Media Street Team at their 2011 Conference. Team members got a discount on registration, their name and Twitter handle on a page in the program and a hyperlink on the Conference website, and a chance to sit together at a reserved VIP table at the keynote luncheon. The time commitment for the Street Team should be minimal and the instructions should be very specific. In this case, the Conference marketing team sent out a one-page worksheet with sample wording for Facebook posts and tweets to help the Street Team promote the Conference.

3)     Use Pinterest, the third largest social network, to your advantage. If your nonprofit isn’t already on Pinterest, request an invite immediately. Start specific pin boards for your fundraiser. Ideas for photos to pin (with people’s permission): Images of your guest speakers, sponsor logos, exciting images from the city or location of the event, exhibitors, raffle prizes, photos from last year, links to industry blogs/articles, infographics on related topics, and “before”, “during” and “after” photos of the fundraiser. Make sure you have permission to use the photos and that they link back to your website and the fundraising event registration page!

4)     Hold a contest via Instagram. Contest winners can get free tickets to the event, VIP seating or another special perk. A great example of how to use Instagram to engage constituents and create buzz about an event is the Clybourne Park “Heart of the Neighborhood” Instagram contest. Clybourne Park, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and London’s Oliver Award winner for Best Play, is celebrating their Broadway arrival with a unique way to win Opening Night tickets. Contest participants are asked to capture the “Heart of a Neighborhood” via Instagram, by snapping a photo, choosing a filter, and writing a caption that includes the location and the hashtags #ClybournePark #HeartOfNeighborhood #Instagram. The winner will receive a VIP package with two tickets to Clybourne Park’s Opening Night performance and party as well as a copy of the winning Instagram photo signed by the cast. Now that’s awesome!

Do you have any other creative ways to promote your fundraisers and events? Please post them in the Comments section. Thanks for reading! 

Read it here (and let them know if you like it so I can write for them again)!

You have a Like button on your website, you have a link in your email signature and you include the little blue Facebook icon in your email newsletters.

If you are an advanced social media user, you integrate it with your other social networks. You send out tweets asking people to Like the page, you link to it on LinkedIn and you’ve sent out a plea on Google+.

You’ve got the “how” down pat and you are pretty satisfied with yourself.

However, if you are like most Page Administrators, you are forgetting one critical piece of the Facebook Page To Do List – the “why”.

Why the heck should I Like you on Facebook?

For example: I Like Staples on Facebook. And it’s all because of this email that they sent to me:

As a Facebook fan, I get access to exclusive deals, specials and coupons. Also, I love the subject line of the email – instead of writing “Like Us!!!!! Please!!!!” they went with “Join us on Facebook and Twitter. Here’s why.” This is a much better and more effective approach.

So – what is the strategy for your Facebook page?

Think about the following questions as you hone and perfect your strategy:

Are you copy and pasting the same content that I can find on your website? Repurposing information is great, but you need to know the Facebook audience – they are more casual, friendly and frankly, lazy. They don’t read a lot of text, they rarely click on links to get more info and they love anything visual – photos and videos are a must. Attention spans on Facebook are absolutely miniscule. What are you posting that will catch people’s attention?

Are you simply syncing your tweets with Facebook? This is an absolute NO NO and will get people leaving your page in droves as fast as you can say “hashtag”. It is acceptable and encouraged to tweet several times a day on Twitter, Some power-users tweet every hour! The language on Twitter is different (think @mentions, hashtags, RT, etc.) and the culture is completely different. Keep that in mind when syncing social networking sites.

Are you hosting Facebook contests and sweepstakes, giving out coupon codes, posting information in advance of other places, or creating some other Facebook-specific promotion? If I could just find all this information in other places, why would I Like your page and clutter up my news feed?

You always have to be thinking like your audience. And I guarantee that they are thinking: What’s in it for me?

For more information (and for a laugh), check out this great cartoon from The Oatmeal on the art of getting Facebook Likes.

Post the top reason why I should Like your Facebook page in the Comments section, as well as any other thoughts you might have. Thanks for reading! 

If you know me on a personal level, you know that I love doing hot power yoga. Hot power yoga, the way I prefer it, is in a large studio heated to at least 95 degrees. Bliss = an hour and a half and my yoga mat.

I also love the power and potential of social media marketing – I have a passion for it that is rivaled only by my family, friends and my yoga.

While I was practicing the other day (even though we are supposed to clear our minds), I was thinking about some of the similarities between yoga and social media marketing.

Yes, on the surface they seem to be diametrically opposed. The frantic, frenzied nature of social media and the calming 5,000 year-old practice of yoga?

But, like the great yogi Baron Baptiste said, everything is not always what is seems on the surface…

How social media marketing is like yoga

1)     Both mediums are focused on unity and harmony. Yoga means “union” in Sanskrit. Social media, according to Wikipedia, “includes web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into interactive dialogue between organizations, communities, and individuals.” Yoga is creating a union between you and your spirit, and social media is creating a union between you and your constituents.

2)     You must do both correctly, and often, to get results. Much has been written lately about the supposed “dangers” of yoga. Yoga is dangerous when people overextend themselves or do not do the poses correctly.  Just like in yoga, social media “hurts” people when they have not bothered to do any research or get any training into using the tools properly. When yoga is practiced correctly and social media is used effectively, they can both produce amazing, life-changing results. Take the time to get the proper training and consult with experts before giving up.

3)     You must be aware of your capacity and your limitations. I am not an athletic person. I am not flexible; I am not a ballet dancer or fitness instructor. I also don’t have the time to practice yoga every day. I simply show up and practice as hard as I can, when I can. The same goes for social media. Give it your all when you can and in the ways that you can. You will not able to master every single tool if you are a small business owner with a lot on her plate. You will not be able to master every single yoga pose. Know your limitations, understand your capacity and work within those boundaries. (And then exceed them whenever and wherever possible.)

4)     Neither social media nor yoga are “silver bullets” for your problems. They both require practice, practice, and more practice to get them right. They require investments of time and money (you get what you pay for, both in yoga and in social media!) However, the results are very fulfilling – when you nail that first head stand or that first blog post goes viral – this creates a serious sense of accomplishment. Keep trying – you’ll get there.

5)     Neither discriminates. Even if you are not a spiritual or athletic person by nature, you can still practice yoga. Even if you are not a techie or a computer geek, you can still master social media. They keys are passion, perseverance and dedication.

In yoga and in social media marketing, you get out what you put in.

Yoga helps us get in touch with our true selves and discover what we are capable of when we push beyond what we think is possible.

The same can be said for social media – when the channels of interaction are opened up, it gives businesses and nonprofits a never-before seen view of their constituencies and of the world.

Namaste!

Do you see any other similarities between social media marketing and yoga? Anything to share? Please post in the Comments below, and don’t forget to share, tweet, pin and Like this post! Thank you for reading!