1. Chrysler’s F-Bomb

In March of this year, a tweet emerged from the Twitter account held by Chrysler, that read as follows:

“I find it ironic that Detroit is know as the #motorcity, and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive.” (Image taken from Forbes)

The Story: An employee of the marketing firm that managed the Chrysler account had posted content to the account earlier in the day from his phone. Later, having forgotten to log out, he unknowingly posted to the company’s account thinking it was his own.

The Repercussions: The backlash was intense. The marketing firm fired the employee responsible and Chrysler firing the marketing firm the next day.

Lesson Learned: The world is watching your every move when you market through social media. These new social media tools are out there to connect people, and to allow everyone to post things that are important to them. When you post something on Twitter it is ‘out there,’ so be mindful of what you are writing. Don’t post things that you wouldn’t want your boss or employers to see because those types of things have a way of coming back around. With a few clicks or retweets your content can be seen by millions of people.

2. Kenneth Cole Offends the World

The Story: In an effort to create a clever advertising campaign Kenneth Cole capitalized on globally trending topics (often around tragic situations) with tweets like this, sent out to his nearly 13,000 followers:

“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available” (Image taken from Mashable)

The Repercussions: Facing an overwhelmingly negative response, Cole later apologized for making light of a bad situation.

Lesson Learned: It is never okay to base your advertising schemes off of unstable current events, they will blow up in your face and you will end up making a public apology like Mr. Cole. If something like this does happen the best way to handle it is to face the facts immediately. You were wrong and you must apologize as quickly as possible. Many times the press generated by a big mistake, coupled with a quick turn around, and truly remorseful apology will help build your company’s image back to what it was before the comment. History has shown that sometimes this technique even leads to a boost in public opinion of your brand. The worst thing that could happen is if you try to hide something from the public, or to act as though you were right. In these situations types of situations you can never be ‘too quick’ to apologize.

3. Honda’s Secret Agent

The Story: Honda took to advertising through social media in late 2009 with the release of their Crosstour CUV (crossover utility vehicle). They created a Facebook fan page for the vehicle and then released several photos in an attempt to introduce this new car into their fleet. What they received in return was a slew of negative feedback from less-than-impressed fans. In response to all of this feedback, Eddie Okubo decided to write a comment stating his positive view of the car – how he found it novel and useful. (See image to left – taken from CNN Money) The only problem was he did not disclose the fact that he was the manager of ‘Product Planning’ for Honda, and more importantly, participated in the development of this vehicle. Needless to say his opinion was skewed.

The Repercussions: Within two minutes of his posting, Okubo was being outed in comments on the page. People even linked to his LinkedIn profile and called him out on his purposeful lack of disclosing who he was. Honda ended up deleting his comment and releasing a press statement diverting attention from his comment stating there would be better pictures of the vehicle out soon.

Lesson Learned:

1. Never let the success of a product be overshadowed or influenced by your own personal ego. Okubo thought it was about him and forgot that he represented a brand. As marketers, it is not our job to try to boost our own self-image and ego through our jobs; we are supposed to boost the image of our product and brand, always. The moment this is forgotten is the moment a mistake of huge proportion can be made. Okubo could have simply disclosed his position at Honda and stated his positive comment and it would have been taken for what it was worth, but instead he tried to deceive to create positive feedback about something he was invested in and it didn’t work.
2. Do not delete comments. Face the music and accept criticism – it can be very helpful. When you make a mistake as a marketer don’t try to hide it – use the negative feedback and respond to it. Most of the time there is some good that you can take away from the feedback. The minute you start deleting comments or try to hide the negative is when your brand and/or product looses all credibility.

Social Media Lessons Learned: Summary

• Do not forget that the world is watching you as a marketer, with every ad or promotion you run be sure it represents the company in a positive way.
• If a mistake is made in a marketing promotion you can never be too quick to admit it and apologize. The faster you do this the faster you can go back to marketing the actual product instead of doing damage control.
• Never let the success of a product be about your own personal ego. When that happens you are unable to see clearly what is usable criticism, it becomes all about you and not your product.
• Finally do not delete, or try to hide from the public eye, mistakes that you make. Simply admit them and move on, deceitfulness will never take you far.

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• REPORT: Social Media and Online Brand Monitoring Trends Briefing

“NewsiT believes people want their news portable, personalized and participatory. Our mission is to ‘reinvent’ news content creation by engaging citizens as mobile reporters all collaborating via social networks to produce multimedia coverage of relevance, quality and value.” 

Their first official assignment is on DC Metro’s fire safety and evacuation plans. To participate, just create a profile on the NewsiT.net site (use your real name and photo) or login via Facebook or Twitter. Then, accept a couple of text, photo or video tasks for the Metro assignment: Time yourself to see if you can get from platform to street in less than 4 minutes in rush hour; try to find and document stairways and emergency exits; map the broken escalators! (For all of us DC-ers, we are more than familiar with the headaches of metro and this is a great way to get involved.)

There are a number of other assignments to participate in, including bicycling, blood donation, internet scams, and nuclear power. You can even submit a story if you are at the right place at the right moment. If you have any problems at all with the site or with the assignment, they want to know. They are continuing to develop this summer – iPhone/Droid apps are coming soon – and so need your input. You can learn more on their website – check out their About NewsiT page for sure.

I think it sounds like a really cool way for citizen journalists to start formally sharing what so many of us are already documenting on Twitter, blogs, and other sites. It’ll be interesting to see how the journalism community embraces NewsiT (I know NPR utilizes similar crowd-sourced data). I’m off to sign up and check it out.

UPDATE 5/26/11

So I signed up with NewsiT and I have to say, it was the easiest thing ever – it was two clicks. Having been already logged in to my Facebook account, I just clicked the Facebook icon to register, clicked yes when presented with the authentication screen, and I was in! So easy. It pulled in my photo, location, name, birthday, and gender. Once logged-in I can link my Twitter account as well. …There are definitely a lot of ads popping up on the site (not pop ups). Navigation is pretty easy and there is a high level of integration with both Facebook and Twitter… Hmm… looks like they need some work on their buttons though. When I clicked “Tweet” to share the Subway Fire metro Assignment with my Twitter followers, the only thing autopopulated in the Tweet box was a shortened url…

The Facebook “Like” Button appears to be working normally though – attaching the link, description, and a photo and allowing me the option of prefacing it with something…

If the idea of grown adults playing an online virtual farming game (and often shelling out real cash to do so) doesn’t surprise you, then check out FarmVille‘s newest neighbor: Lady Gaga. Yup, the Pop Princess of Weird has partnered with online social gaming wizards Zynga to bring you the future of cross marketing. And it hurts so good. 

If you are unfamiliar with the FarmVille sensation (which boasted 11 million players in August 2009 one month after its release, 33 million in September 2009, 80 million in February 2010 and now numbers are in the hundreds of millions worldwide), it is a virtual online game available on multiple platforms now including: Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, Android, Farmville.com, MSN Games, and Yahoo!. As the name implies, players build a farm complete with crops that need planting, watering, and harvesting, animals that need tending, and buildings that offer unique benefits. Players (or “neighbors” as they are called in the game) can visit each other’s farms helping out and giving virtual gifts. While the game is free to play, in-game items can be purchased to enhance game-play or give certain advantages.

In a cross-marketing play, Zynga has partnered with Lady Gaga to promote her newest album “Born This Way” through the game. One leg of the promotion is that if you purchase a $25 Game Card (like a gift certificate for in-game “money”) from Best Buy, you will receive Gaga’s new album and other game items as a free download upon redeeming it in FarmVille. Not a bad deal if you play FarmVille and had planned on buying “Born This Way” anyway. [See banner ad above.]

FarmVille players can also visit a Gaga-themed farm titled “GagaVille” featuring crystals, unicorns, and colorful trees where they can unlock and listen to songs from “Born This Way” after completing tasks. The music streams are powered by radio giant Clear Channel’s digital radio service iHeartRadio, marking the first time they have partnered with a social gaming firm. “In addition, Lady Gaga will announce codes that unlock exclusive Lady Gaga-inspired limited edition virtual items on 148 Clear Channel stations on May 17, including New York’s Z100 and LA’s KIIS-FM.”

“I want to celebrate and share ‘Born This Way’ with my little monsters in a special way that’s never been done before,” said Lady Gaga. “Zynga has created a magical place in FarmVille where my fans can come play, and be the first to listen to the album.”

That “magical place” comes complete with a Gaga-themed shopping experience. Players must spend real money to buy virtual items like the unicorn “Purple Ponytail”, a “Fame Sheep”, “Sparkly Glasses”, other outfits for your character,  a “Crystal Stage” and fountain. (But don’t worry – items like the “Bedazzled Tractor” and “Violet Gem” can be bought with coins earned in the game.)

The promotion also reaches across other Zynga games and platforms. Words With Friends (basically Scrabble), the popular mobile social game available iPhone, iPad, as well as Android devices, will feature a daily “Words with Gaga” contest, giving players a chance to win Gaga prizes including tickets to an upcoming concert and a signed copy of “Born This Way.” Zynga is also rewarding players with limited edition Lady Gaga virtual items on RewardVille.com.

This is the second time Zynga and Lady Gaga have teamed up. In March 2011, the two entertainment icons teamed up to raise more than $3 million for Japan relief efforts.

UPDATE: 5/19/11

I just ran across a banner ad for the Gaga/Zynga promotion on YouTube. The video insert features a farmer and his family planting real crystals and brushing pink haired ponies – pretty funny actually….

Visibli calculated that Facebook posts receive 50% of their likes in the first 1 hour and 20 minutes, 80% in the first 7 hours, and 95% within 22 hours. Compare that to Twitter where 95% of ReTweets occur within the first hour!

In a review of Pages with over 100,000 Likes, Visibli gives car manufacturer Audi the crown for most engaged fans. Each Audi post received over 225 Likes per 100k fans, surpassing even the most popular Artists – like Justin Bieber (2nd)  and Lady Gaga (4th). This is particularly interesting because Pages for Artists scored notably higher than Pages for Media or Brands. On average, artists’ posts receive 92 Likes per post, which is almost twice the number of Likes for media organizations and brands – who receive an average of 57 and 54, respectively. “Surprisingly, the same is not true for Comments. Media organizations receive significantly more Comments per post (43 per post) than artists (17) or brands (only 9). While people are more likely to comment on current news, they will simply Like an artist’s post and then move on.”

You May Also Be Interested In:

• Jack Daniel’s hopes to garner buzz on Twitter and Facebook with new Honey Liqueur
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• Twitter Promoted Trends and Keurig’s Coffee and a Cruise Campaign
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Jack Daniel’s on Twitter

By purchasing a Promoted Trending Topic for the day, Jack Daniel’s is guaranteed eyeballs on the new product launch and are generating enough responses to be trending worldwide. Promoted Tweets are an excellent way to get people aware of your product/brand/service and get people talking about it – if only to ask “what is _____??”  The #JackDanielsHoney hashtag from their promoted tweet is being used pretty aggressively and shows up in my local (Washington DC) trending topics as well as for the United States and Worldwide. (For another example of a company using Promoted Tweets recently, check out Keurig’s Coffee and a Cruise Campaign.) [UPDATE: Three Promoted Trends were actually purchased in a seven day span and appeared on April 16th, 21st and 22nd.]

Clicking the hashtag in the Trending Topics section takes you to a search results page with all of the tweets utilizing the hashtag appearing in chronological order (newest first) but witht he most ReTweeted and sponsored Tweet appearing at the top. Here you can see what people are saying about the topic, what they think, and how they are interacting with the brand and each other. Though the whiskey maker does not appear to have an official “Jack Daniel’s” twitter account, they did set up an official @JackHoney account to specifically advertise the product. (There is an unofficial @JackDanielsFans account though with over 16,400 fans. Do you think JD is a little late to the party here?)

If you visit the @JackHoney twitter account you will notice that where you normally link to your website in your profile, they are linking to the Jack Daniels Honey facebook page instead of the official Jack Daniel’s website. In fact, a visit to their website showed zero sign of the new honey liqueur. I even did a search for “honey” which if I hit the Enter/Return key on my keyboard after typing in my query, simply booted me back to the default page – showing no results whatsoever- not even a message saying “No Results Found”. If I click their “Search” button after entering my query, I am taken to a results page only showing a link to cocktail recipes (which after clicking I am taken to a list I have to scroll way down for to even find a recipe calling for honey – which hasn’t even been branded with the Jack Honey yet) and a link for grilling, where I again have to scroll all the way down to find a tiny mention on the last article about using honey teriyaki in a BBQ recipe (again – unbranded). If there is ANY official Honey presence on their website, I cannot find it nor do they link to it anywhere I can see. Branding Fail? I think so.

*A special last thought on Twitter. I think its very interesting how in EVERY tweet that @JackHoney sends out, they include “(Msg 4 21+ only. JD Distillery, Wsky Spec)”. I’m not sure if this was a requirement imposed by twitter, a mandate by JD’s legal team, or just part of their “Responsible Drinking” philosophy, but it’s a nice (albeit useless) thought. [UPDATE: ClickZ reports that "Alcohol brands had previously been restricted from buying ads on Twitter as its audience consisted of too many users below drinking age. Over 70 percent of the network's audience is now over 21 years of age, according to Nielsen and comScore, satisfying self regulatory requirements put in place by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS.) ...In line with DISCUS regulations, all promoted tweets for the product also had to include a disclaimer, which stated, "Msg 4 21+ only. JD Distillery, Wsky Spec.]

Jack Daniel’s on Facebook

If you want more information on the Honey liqueur, your only recourse is to follow the trail to their Facebook Page where you are greeted with what we are calling a “Like Wall”. A Like Wall is like a paywall, but instead of having to shell out your credit card to gain access to the content you have to “Like” the page. I’m not sure who in their design department thought it would be a good idea to make the graphic so ridiculously vertical that you have to scroll twice the length of the page just to see the branded product bottle, but its a good looking image regardless. (I had to blow up my browser window on my second monitor and then zoom way out to capture it all one screen!)

After “Liking” the page you have to click one of the tabs in the left hand navigation or you will be stuck staring at the oversized image forever. I clicked on the “Info” tab first which has some odd content itself… In the product section (among other items) they say: “If you would like to contact us directly, please email us at: jackdaniels_facebook@lynchburg.jackdaniels.com” but in the Email section they say: “@jackhoney on twitter: reply to our DM within one hour to continue receiving tweets.” First of all, I have no idea what THAT means, and second… why not put the email in the email section as well? Just some odd stuff going on with JD here…

As far as content, they have some photos and videos. Their Wall is pretty standard – they allow their fans to comment on their wall publicly which is great, but unlike on Twitter, they don’t seem to be replying to any questions or comments from some very enthusiastic fans which is a shame. They have a Recipe tab which has the branded honey-including recipes missing from their official site. (I may have to try some of these actually – they look good!)

Jack Daniel’s does have an official Facebook Page – boasting over 1 million fans – which is integrated with their website (if you are logged in to Facebook and visit their website it shows who of your friends already “Like” Jack Daniel’s). (With so many fans on Facebook it makes me again wonder why they don’t have an offical presence on twitter.)

Conclusion

Overall I think Jack Daniel’s has the right idea and will most likely get a great return on their Promoted Tweet investment. They seem to be struggling slightly in some areas, but as long as they continue to adapt and embrace these new marketing channels, I think they will see successful results. My advice to them on this campaign would be: Revisit your Facebook profile; Start engaging with your Facebook fans more; Create a presence for the product on your website to complete the circle; and, Its time to add Twitter to your website and marketing channels.

What do you think of the Jack Daniel’s approach? Do you have comments or advice for them? Does the Honey liqueur sound like a smart, forward thinking move? Or are they betraying their roots? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

5/3/11 UPDATE on Jack Daniel’s Campaign

ClickZ just published an article about last month’s Jack Honey Twitter campaign and had some new information that readers may find useful. They quote Marjorie Dufek, interactive marketing director at Brown-Forman (who owns Jack Daniel’s) as saying ”Twitter reported ‘significantly higher than average’ engagement rates for the campaign, as well as greater use of the brand name within tweets than its advertisers usually experience… The advantage for us is that people see Jack Daniel’s as a friend, it’s a very social brand by nature. We have an unprecedented opportunity to have real conversations with our consumers via social media.” Though Brown-Forman works with agencies for some of its marketing functions, Dufek said the majority of its social media activity is handled by in-house teams, which it views as an extension of its 50-year old consumer relationship program. (Thanks for the interview ClickZ!)

You May Also Be Interested In:

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• 8% of online Americans Use Twitter. Are Your Customers There?

When it comes to Twitter, there are two schools of thought. 1) Find out when your followers/audience are most active. More people online, more people actively retweeting and engaging, more likely to have conversion conversations. 2) Find out when the Twitter-verse is LEAST active. Less content clogging people’s news-streams means that your tweets are more likely to be seen.

If you’re at a loss, you can try a tool like Timely to help you schedule your tweets based on your track record with your own audience. Timely analyzes your last 199 tweets and then shortlists the ones that have been retweeted. The more retweets you get in a particular time slot, the more you may want to focus on that timeslot… or just post similar content. There is no “one right way”.

You also don’t want to forget about things like time zones if you are working with an international crowd or even cross-country. While you are reading the morning headlines in New York, Silicon Valley is still asleep!

When it comes to blogging, frequency will pay off more than anything else. Publishing multiple times per day greatly increases traffic (as well as provides fodder for social networks).

Ok, so lets get into Dan’s findings:

The best time of day to get Retweeted: Between 3pm-6pm

The best day of the week to get ReTweeted: Friday

The best time of day to get shared on Facebook: 9am

The best day of the week to get shared on Facebook: Saturday

The best time to get your blog read: Morning

The Best Time of day to Tweet by Dan Zarrella

The Best Day of the Week to Tweet by Dan Zarrella

The Best Time of the Day to Share on Facebook by Dan Zarrella

The Best Day of the Week to Share on Facebook by Dan Zarrella

Based on these findings, a good strategy may be to post new blog articles at the end of the week and in the morning. And then reshare them on social networks in the afternoon.

Related Social Media Articles:

• 8% of online Americans Use Twitter. Are Your Customers There?
• Twitter Promoted Trends and Keurig’s Coffee and a Cruise Campaign
• How Do I: Send Public and Private Messages on Twitter?
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Captico is happy to both set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts for you and manage them as well. Contact us if you would like more information on these services or would like to schedule one-on-one tutoring in developing your social media presence and strategy. Thanks for reading and please share any tips or advice you may have – or ask any questions – in the comments section below!

The thought of complete strangers posting negative comments or inappropriate material on a Page’s public Wall seems to be the first thing to pop into many business owners’ minds. So let me first say, that yes, you can delete any comment and even block individuals from ever posting to your Page again. But that should be a last resort action and not the first button you push.

Why do people post mean things on my Facebook Page?

1. You screwed up. Lets distinguish “mean” from “negative”. If someone takes the time to find your Page and comment on it – even in a fit of rage – it is because they care enough to be irritated. Be honest, chances are you messed up an order or your service technician was having a bad day or maybe they just couldn’t assemble your product and are frustrated. Regardless, most negative comments come from customers who are having a bad experience.

How To Handle It: Respond quickly, calmly, and publicly in order to rectify the situation. An unhappy customer is not a lost customer. You would be amazed at how angry people can quickly turn into people more loyal to your brand than before. Its all about how you handle the situation. Did you mess up? Own up to it and make it right. Are they just frustrated? Put them in touch directly with the person best suited to handle their issue – and follow up to make sure it was resolved. Do not use boilerplate responses. Treat each person as an individual. Respect them.

How you handle negative feedback will matter more to people than how you respond to positive feedback (though be sure to always thank those people to!). By allowing people to post negative things on your Page, you are keeping them posting in a place that you have control of – where you can respond to their comments PUBLICLY. If they don’t do it there, on your page, they will do it elsewhere.

2. They are obnoxious trolls. A common internet phenomenon, these people “troll” internet forums and discussions leaving mean and often vulgar comments just to stir up controversy. Check out almost any YouTube video and you will see a ridiculous amount of irrelevant comments made by annoying people with nothing better to do.

How To Handle It: If the comment is intelligible, respond to it publicly. Even if its just a warning or question like “Are you having an issue with our products or is there another issue we can help you with?” If it is garbled and off-topic nonsense, delete the comment – but be absolutely sure. You don’t want to get in the habit of (or develop a reputation for) arbitrarily deleting comments – it will irritate your fans and make people suspicious of what you may be trying to hide.

How Do I Control Who Can Post to my Facebook Page?

While I advocate letting your Page’s fans post to your Page at will, you can control these settings. Go to your Page and click the “Edit Page” button in the far right corner. This takes you to your settings where you can edit and control many aspects of your Page. Click on “Manage Permissions” in the left-hand navigation.

As you can see in the image above, you have options to control not only who can access your Page, but also what they see. The above settings are for the Captico Facebook page. We have our Wall set as our default Landing Tab – meaning that when you visit our Page, you come to the Wall. This can be changed to any other Tab (such as Info, or Photos, or Blog) or even a custom Tab. Our Wall shows “All Posts” meaning, all posts by us and by our fans. This can be changed to only show posts by us, if you don’t want comments from your fans made public on your page. We have our Posting Ability set very open – any of our fans can post on our wall, add photos or add videos. Unchecking any of these boxes removes that ability.

If you are having an issue with profanity or SPAM, you can utilize Facebook’s built in moderation filters. Typing words into the Moderation Blocklist means any comment posted by a user that contains a word on your Blocklist will automatically be marked as spam. Or you can just set the Profanity Blocklist Filter at Medium or Strong and Facebook will block the most commonly reported words and phrases marked as offensive by the broader community.

How Do I Remove Comments from my Facebook Page?

Removing a comment is incredible simple. Below is a comment left on the Captico Facebook page by a great guy named Mike (contact him if you ever need fencing) Simply mouse over the right hand corner of the individual comment and click on the gear image that appears. You can now choose from 4 options:

1. Remove Post - If this were an accidental duplicate post or irrelevant or vulgar, I might click this option which would simply remove the post from my Wall.
2. Remove Post and Ban User – Selecting this would remove the post from my Wall and block them from ever posting anything on my Wall again.
3. Hide Post – Would simply “hide” the post from the public but would not delete it. Hidden posts are accessible under your Page’s profile picture  in the navigation links. You might use this option if you had multiple Page Admins and a lower ranking Admin wasn’t sure whether to delete it or not and so “hid it” until it could be reviewed.
4. Report as Abuse… - This is a very serious option and should only be used in terms of serial spammers or severe harassment. Clicking this will bring up several reasons which you must choose from as it will report the user to Facebook Authorities. Select your reason (from the options listed below) for reporting them and then check the box if you want to permanently ban the person from your Facebook Page and remove all content they have posted.

• Spam or scam.
• Contains hate speech or attacks an individual
• Violence or harmful behavior
• Sexually explicit content

With social media you will get out what you put into it. Be real. Be transparent. Be authentic. Treat people the way you want to be treated and you will be successful!

Related Social Media Articles:

• How Do I: Link My Facebook Page to My Twitter Account?
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Captico is happy to both set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts for you and manage them as well. Contact us if you would like more information on these services or would like to schedule one-on-one tutoring in developing your social media presence and strategy. Thanks for reading and please share any tips or advice you may have – or ask any questions – in the comments section below!

Based on feedback from our recent Social Media Training Workshops for Small Businesses, we will also be releasing a series of blog posts on how to get started in social media featuring fresh new information geared toward the small business owner. As always, we love to hear your questions and help out wherever we can so feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts or inquiries! 

Facebook Fan Pages / Company Pages

Pages (formerly called Fan Pages) are a way for companies, brands, products, bands, organizations, etc to have an official presence on Facebook. While you “can” create a profile page for your company, Facebook frowns upon it and will shut it down if they come across it. Profiles are for people, Pages are for everything else. Like Profiles though, Pages can be enhanced with applications, “Like” other pages, post pictures and updates, receive comments, and comment on other Pages. Pages cannot send messages to individual users though. If you send a message to a user, it will appear to come from your personal account.

Creating a Facebook “Fan” Page

1. Go to the Create A Page Landing Page. This is accessible several ways, but the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php will work easiest for now.

2. Select your Page type. Are you a brick and mortar store that people can visit, like a boutique or restaurant? Choose “Local Business or Place”. Are you a business that operates out of your home or on the road? Choose “Company, Organization, or Institution”. Each of the 6 types will give you different options and fields for information, so make sure you pick the best one for you. After clicking on a Type, fill in the information that type requires. (Feel free to click around and see what each type asks for initially to get you started.)

In this example I have selected “Company, Organization, or Institution” as my type, “the vague “Small Business” as my Category, and named it “Test Company”. Check the “I agree to Facebook Pages Terms” box after reading it, and click “Get Started”!

3. You have now arrived at your Page. Start building it up! Add a photo or logo to be used as your avatar (profile picture). Suggest to your friends (friends of your personal Facebook profile) to “Like” of Fan your new page. Import your existing contacts from a file or from your email client in order to reach customers you arent connected with on Facebook. Post your first update! Add a Facebook Like Box to your website to encourage visitors on your website to join your Facebook Page (You will need to be able to embed HTML code on your website).

4. Edit Page. Click the “Edit Page” button in the top right hand corner to customize your page’s settings, including who can post to your wall or upload photos, where you want notifications sent, and additional details about your company.

5. Congratulations! You just created your very own Facebook Page for your company or business! See, it was easy! Now create some photo albums and share pictures from events or your products or your staff. Write “notes” with longer-form information – like recipes or advice. Having an annual blow-out sale or hosting a booth at a tradeshow? Create an Event and invite your fans to it! If you’re a B2B, connect with other business’ pages by “Liking” them as your Page – comment on there walls, RSVP to their events. Be active, and be social!

Privacy and Admins for Facebook Pages

By creating a Page you are automatically its sole Admin. Pages can have as many admins as you would like, and I recommend having at least two as a safeguard for your Page. To give administrative control to another person, click “Edit Page” in the top right hand corner of the Page, and select “manage Admins” in the left hand navigation. Here you can remove Admin access and add additional Admins. Simply type their name (if they are connected with you on Facebook) or the email address they use to access Facebook. Be careful who you give control to though as they can access all of your Pages settings (though not your personal ones) and all posts they make to the page will appear to come directly from the page itself. They cannot, however, remove admin power from the creator of the page.

Admins are NOT made public. You can be an Admin of a page and not have anyone know you are associated with that page. You don’t even have to “Like” the page. If you do wish to be visibly associated with the Page, click “Edit Page” in the top right hand corner of the Page, and select “Featured” in the left hand navigation. Here you can set which Pages that your Page “Likes” as Featured Pages on the left of your Page and you can also set Featured Page Owners – which will also appear highlighted on the left of your Page – visible to all who visit your Page.

For information on how and when to moderate comments on your Facebook Page, check out our next blog.

With social media you will get out what you put into it. Be real. Be transparent. Be authentic. Treat people the way you want to be treated and you will be successful!

Related Social Media Articles:

• How Do I: Link My Facebook Page to My Twitter Account?
• How Do I: Connect My Twitter and Facebook Accounts?
• How Do I: Send Public and Private Messages on Twitter?
• How Do I: Post Updates to Twitter?
• Whats Quora? And Should I Care About Another Social Media Tool?
• Lance Armstrong, Twitter, and Google – Why Link Building and SEO Works
• How Does Twitter See Itself and What Are Its Plans and Priorities?
• Are our websites getting too crowded with social media apps?
• 12 Tools for Tracking Twitter Sentiment
• Consumers Engaged Via Social Media Are More Likely To Buy

Captico is happy to both set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts for you and manage them as well. Contact us if you would like more information on these services or would like to schedule one-on-one tutoring in developing your social media presence and strategy. Thanks for reading and please share any tips or advice you may have – or ask any questions – in the comments section below!

Our first workshop will be an intermediate (201) level session dedicated to three of the social networking platforms including: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It will be held on March 17, 23, and 30th at 8am-9:30am with the same material presented at each session.

This seminar, developed with small businesses in mind, will empower you with the knowledge and resources to manage a Facebook Page and Twitter account for your business and introduce you to LinkedIn as a professional networking tool.

Sample Social Media Training Workshop Agenda:

Facebook

• Difference between a Profile, a Page, and a Community Page
• Setting up a Page
• Admins (Creating them, managing the account, privacy concerns)
• Managing the Page (Tabs, Photos, Videos, Posts, Filters, Settings)
• Moderating Comments by Users
• Insights

Twitter

• Anatomy of Twitter (Language, Terms, Symbols)
• How to Send Public and Private Messages
• The differences between Tweets, Replies, Tags, and Direct Messages
• Twitter Etiquette
• Setting up an Account and Customizing Your Design

An Introduction to LinkedIn

• Your LinkedIn Profile
• Customizing Your Profile with Widgets
• Groups
• Company Pages

Q&A Review of Material Presented

• If time permits, those with access to computers may also receive individual instruction and guidance in setting up and managing their accounts.

Interested in Attending?

If you are interested in attending, you can register through the Severna Park Chamber of Commerce website or call 410-647-3900.

Cost is: $30 for members, $40 for non-members

We HIGHLY recommend you bring a laptop.

Class size will be limited to 8 participants in each session.

We have also set up Facebook Events for each session.

• Thursday, March 17th, 2011
• Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
• Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

_____________________________

P.S. If you want to nerd out your home or office, those fun pillows in the featured image are available for sale on Etsy from Craftsquatch for $19.99.

1. Go to your Page. – In this case, I’ve gone to the Captico page.

2. Change User - On the far right side, Under “Edit Page” and “Admins” is a link called “Use Facebook as Captico” (or your company’s name). Clicking this brings up a dialog box (as shown on the right) which will allow me to navigate as use Facebook as my page (giving me the ability to comment on other pages as my page instead of as my personal profile). You can see that the link has now changed to “Use Facebook as Corrie” which I will click back to when I am done playing admin here. [If this is your first time with the new Layout, you may want to follow the Tour to see the new functions here].

3. Click the link.

Seriously. Facebook is now automatically prompting you on how to do this. It used to be a laborious and tricky process to link a Facebook PAGE to a Twitter account, but no more! make sure you are logged into the Twitter account you want your Page posts to go to, and click the “Click Here” text. You will be taken to http://www.facebook.com/twitter/ where you can select which of the Pages that you are an admin of that you wish to link to a twitter account.

4. Click “Link to Twitter” – Click the button to the right of your page and you will be taken to an authorization page like the one below. Click “Allow” and you will be redirected back to Facebook where you can customize what from your Facebook page will be automatically posted to your Twitter account.

5. Edit Settings – You can always go back and change these later, but here you can customize which of your posts to Facebook will automatically go out to your Twitter account.

If you need help with your social media accounts or campaign, contact us today. We will meet with you and co-create a custom strategy to best market you and your business.

Related Articles:

• Facebook’s New Pages Overhaul – More User Friendly
• Whats Quora? And Should I Care About Another Social Media Tool?
• How Does Twitter See Itself and What Are Its Plans and Priorities?
• Are our websites getting too crowded with social media apps?
• How Do I: Connect My Twitter and Facebook Accounts?
• Facebook’s New Spam Filter for Pages

• Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
• A place to showcase photos along the top of your page
• A news feed for your page
• The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page (FINALLY)

Preview your page and you’ll be given the option to upgrade early. All pages will automatically be upgraded on March 10, so why wait? Upgrade now – here is a “tour” to guide you through the changes…

If you need help with your social media accounts or campaign, contact us today. We will meet with you and co-create a custom strategy to best market you and your business.

Guided Tour to New Facebook Page Layout

1. Showcase Your latest photos.

Just like the new Profile page layout, Pages now show your latest photos at the top of the page. These include the most recent photos posted to your page or that “tag” your page in them. These do NOT include photos posted by fans to your page. To hide a particular photo that shows up here, mouse over it and click the “x” that appears. This will not delete the photo, but will remove it from being featured.

2. New Navigation Location

Again like the new Profile page layout, your primary navigation links are now listed on the left and under the main picture for your Page. These include Wall, Info, Photos, Admin Views, and any apps you may be running on your page. For example you can “Blog” in our list. We are connected with Networked Blogs which automatically publishes our most recent blogs to our Networked Blogs and our Facebook Page.

3. Top Posts Filter

You now have two Wall filters. You can show posts by your page and top posts from Everyone. Similar to what Facebook is doing on Profile pages, Top Posts is a new way for people to see the most interesting (read: most interacted with) stories/posts first. As an admin, you have additional filters for viewing posts on your page.

4. Use Facebook as Your Page

In what is no doubt the biggest change to Pages, you can now interact better throughout Facebook as your page, as opposed to oddly switching back to your personal account (which you must have to create and manage a Page). This is an excellent change for small business people in particular who don’t want a personal account, and just want to run an official page for their business or service. For example, you can now make comments on other pages as YOUR page. An awesome feature for networking B2B. And gone is the confusing and virtually useless “Make Page a Favorite of My Page”. Now you can just straight up “Like” another page as your Page. Click “Use Facebook as____” (name of your page) to switch into this mode, and then click “Use Facebook as _____” (your name) to switch back.

5. Settings

With the new features and abilities to switch users, come new settings. Take a look at the default options, email notifications, and even Featured Pages function to customize your Page and preferences for using Facebook.

“DCWEEK is a festival in the US capital focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators of all kinds. It’s a series of 100s of distributed events powered by the community and complemented by core conferences, parties, and projects created by the festival organizers iStrategyLabs and Tech Cocktail. DCWEEK 2010 was assembled in 3.5 months and drew 6,000 attendees from around the world.”

Last year, I attended two days of DCWEEK and really enjoyed them. I met people I still talk to online! Check out our blog entries from DCWEEK 2010:

• Digital Capital Week 2010 – “A Slice of DCWEEK” – featuring video interviews
• Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Gov & Org 2.0 Day
• Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Media 2.0 Day
• Watch the 2010 DCWEEK Video

Registration is now open, and is free for the first 2000 attendees!

• For sponsorship inquires please email: goto@digitalcapitalweek.org
• Submit an idea for a topic or event
• Join the Facebook Group
• Follow DCWEEK on twitter (Use #dcweek)
• View the 2011 DCWEEK Overview and the Metrics from 2010

Related Articles

• Takeaways from the Government Video Expo 2010 in DC
• Recap of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s “Tour and Tweet”
• Nonprofit 2.0 Unconference Keynotes by Beth Kanter, Allison Fine, Wendy Harman
• Digital Capital Week 2010 – “A Slice of DCWEEK”
• Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Gov & Org 2.0 Day
• Digital Capital Week 2010 – Quotes from DCWEEK Media 2.0 Day
• GoPromoIt.com – Discounts for sharing with your social network.

But how much is too much? At what point do we overwhelm our websites with links to, lets be honest, 3rd party sites? Are we driving users away from the very place we purport to use social media to drive them to?

In previous articles we have shown you how to add Facebook Like and Share buttons to your site and how to embed a Tweet button on your site – you can even see our Twitter feed on the right of this blog and retweet or share on Facebook this article from links below (we hope you do)! We are obviously big fans of engagement through social media, and while perhaps we need to take it a step further on our own site (stay tuned for our forthcoming redesign), I think some people might be taking it too far.

Today while browsing the Social Media News Group on LinkedIn which I recently joined, I saw a link shared by the groups leader Chris Voss to an article he had written entitled “Facebook Fan Page Marketing – You Need to Have a Welcome Page Design“. I clicked it and was taken to his website, and the inspiration for this article. Up until this very moment in writing this article, I had not read what I thought to be his blog entry (turns out its a video). I was so visually overwhelmed by calls to action on his site that I left – not to be bothered with digging through it all to find the content in question. Behold:

Now, looking at it here does not give the same effect as this image is static and I’ve drawn red arrows over everything. So just imagine that all of the things the arrows point at are popping up or sliding around.

1. As this link was shared on a LinkedIn Group, there is an iFrame header that pops up first, over top of whatever (and wherever) the link takes you.
2. A pop-up appears over the Drawer that slid up (double whammy) enabling me to “update my status on multiple social networks at once!” Yay.
3. Another window pops up asking me to subscribe immediately to the blog/website… which I haven’t even seen yet… No thanks.
4. Something popped up and then disappeared over here that I completely missed by the time I had the wherewithal to take a screen shot.

From what I understand, Chris Voss “is President of Strategix One Consulting, Sharing 20+ yrs Experience as a Serial Entrepreneur of Successful Companies in Business and Marketing”. He has a “show” (video blog) where he shares his advice and knowledge with everyone, and comes across as a nice guy. I watched his welcome video. So lets look at the content on his page.

iframes and Pop-Up Windows

Since I came here via LinkedIn, if I try to navigate through Chris’ website on my own, I am stuck with that iFrame at the top (Arrow #1) which will be a pain if I want to bookmark or link to anything directly. Its easy enough to close by clicking the “X” in the top right hand corner – which I always do on iFrames, as I find them annoying. While I’m at it, I close any pop-up window that hasn’t disappeared on its own, and I begin to feel more comfortable on the site already. I still have the Drawer at the bottom but I can handle that for now – though it is the busiest Drawer I have ever seen in my life.

Self-Promotion

I get it. You’re a marketer. But the first thing I see (once I actually get to the article) is you asking me to hire you to design my Facebook page? I have NO problem AT ALL with a call to action like this, but put it below the content. Show me why I would want to hire you first. Show you me you know what you are talking about before hitting me with a pitch. This is like the pop-up asking me to subscribe the first second, the first time I visit your page (Arrow #3). Don’t make me scroll down to see the content I came to your site to see.

The article is actually a video blog entry, which is fine, but the first 30 seconds are – you guessed it – a pitch to subscribe and watch more content. The next 7 minutes or so basically tell the viewer that you should have a Welcome page on your Facebook Fan Page by showing other brands that have them. Do I think you should have a Facebook Welcome page? Yes. You can do a lot with them. They are really great for promotions. Do I think you should watch this video? No. Not really informative – unless you have no idea what a Welcome Page is and then yes, give it a watch! Otherwise its basically a fluffy ad.

Besides the pop-ups, the most prominent thing you see on the site is the number “84″ in white, which is Chris’ Klout score. Klout is a firm that attempts to measure social influence, and while 84 is a good score (better than mine), does it really need to be so prominent on every page? Well, I guess if you’re selling yourself as a social media expert, its a good thing to share as it IS relevant. But still.

Also, the second link in navigation – after “Home” – is a list of tweets saying nice things about Chris Voss, labeled as “endorsements“. And while being messaged/mentioned over 1000 times is pretty awesome, I have to say… really? A copied and pasted list? At least embed a saved search from twitter with your name as the query – you’re Mister Engagement!

Advertisements

There are a number of ads on the page and while I understand the need for monetization, many seem to be ads for business practices that are shady in the social media world – like automated twitter “managers” and “get famous on youtube” banners. There is no unified size to ads and they seem to be slapped down the side of the page…

But Does It Work?

Despite my personal opinion on many of the elements to Chris Voss’s site (and please note, I am not commenting on his knowledge, products, services or abilities in ANY WAY – only my impression of the physical site), it seems to be working for him. I posted a comment for him on LinkedIn and hope he sends me some of his stats and analytics on how his site is performing so that I can share them here, but he currently has over 68,000 followers on Twitter, over 2,400 fans on his Facebook page, and over 900 subscribers to his YouTube Channel.

I would love to hear/read your thoughts and comments on this and similar sites. And for all of Chris’ many fans out there, my opinions are my own and not Captico, LLC’s. But I would love to know what drew you to Chris Voss, what you like about his site and methods, and what you would improve if you could.

As always, thanks for reading!

Related Articles:

• How Do I: Connect My Twitter and Facebook Accounts?
• Facebook’s New Spam Filter for Pages
• How Do I: Post Updates on New Twitter?
• Side by Side Comparison of Old and New Twitter Interfaces
• Modules, widgets, boxes oh my! What do you call a box?

• The percentage of all adults who watch video online jumped 14 points in the past two years, from 52% of all online adults in May 2008 to 66% in May 2010.
• 80% of Millennials watch online video.
• 55% of Older Boomers have watched online video, up from 30% in 2008
• 20% of G.I. Generation have watched videos online.
• Over the past few years, comedy video viewership has grown more than any other type of video asked about in our surveys: in 2009 half of all online adults (50%) had watched a comedy video online.

Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 29-May 30, 2010 Tracking Survey. N=2,252 adults 18 and older.

You May Also Be interested in:

• Generations Online in 2010 – Statistics
• Who’s Online? A look at Who Is, and How People Are, Accessing the Internet
• Twitter Statistics and Info on Usage

• 83% of adults 33 and younger currently use social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn
• Social network site use by Younger Boomers (ages 46-55) increased 30 percentage points over the past two years, from 20% in December 2008 to 50% in May 2010
• Older Boomers (ages 56-64) jumped 34 percentage points, from 9% in 2008 to 43% in 2010.
• The percentage of adults age 74 and older who use social network sites quadrupled from 4% in December 2008 to 16% in May 2010.

Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 29-May 30, 2010 Tracking Survey. N=2,252 adults 18 and older.

Related Content:

• Twitter Statistics and Info on Usage
• How Does Twitter See Itself and What Are Its Plans and Priorities?
• The Twitter “Firehose” is up for grabs – if you have the cash!
• How Do I Send Public and Private Messages on Twitter?
• How Do I Post Updates to Twitter?
• Anatomy of a Tweet – A Closer Look at Twitter
• How to Customize and Set Up Your Twitter Page
• How to Sign Up for a Twitter Account
• Side by Side Comparison of Old and New Twitter Interfaces
• The New Twitter – More than a Facelift?
• 12 Tools for Tracking Twitter Sentiment
• Twitter Apps and You – New Authorization Process
• Lance Armstrong, Twitter, and Google – Why Link Building and SEO Works
• Twitter launches new official TWEET button
• Twitter: Who To Follow Suggestions

What Types of Deals are there?

From Facebook:

1. Individual Deal: You can offer this type of deal to both new and existing customers. You may create Individual Deals when you want to launch a new product, get rid of excess inventory, offer seasonal incentives, or simply get more people into your store.
2. Friend Deal: Friend Deals allow you to offer discounts to groups of up to 8 people, when they check in together. Friend Deals are a great way to build even more exposure for your business because more stories are generated when multiple people check-in.
3. Loyalty Deal: To focus on rewarding your most loyal customers, create a Loyalty Deal. These deals may be claimed by customers only after a certain number of check-ins. Depending on your business, the number of check-ins may vary. Please note that you must create a deal that is redeemable after no fewer than two and no more than 20 check-ins.
4. Charity Deal: Create a Charity Deal to make a donation to the charity of your choice. This is a great way for your business to give back to the community while adding a human touch to your business.

Who can use Facebook Deals?

To claim a Deal, you have to be able to check-in to a location using Facebook Places. Currently you can only use Places through the Facebook for iPhone/iPad app or through touch.facebook.com web site on a compatible mobile device. (Suffice to say, you are only reaching the technologically inclined portion of the population.) To redeem a Deal a user will need to click on the name of the Place on their touch device. They will then see the deal offer and terms for claiming the deal:

• For individual deals, check in to view the deal redemption screen.
• For friend deals, check in and tag friends in your check in to view the deal redemption screen.
• For loyalty deals, check in the number of times required and you’ll see the deal redemption screen.
• For charity deals, check in to see the charity redemption message.

When the user sees the redemption screen, they show it to the cashier, customer service representative, or other sales associate to claim it. Redeeming a Deal follows the same privacy settings as any check in with Places, and users will be able to share it with their friends.

Creating a Deal is available to a limited set of Facebook Places. To see if you are eligible, be sure to claim your Facebook Place. (To claim your Place, search for your business name on Facebook via the normal Search bar. If your business’s Place already exists on Facebook, click on it to visit its page. At the bottom left side of your Place there will be a link that says “Is this your business?” Click on the link and you will be directed to a claiming flow.) Facebook Places is free. Click here for more info.

Where can I find Facebook Deals?

As a user, you can see current Deals by viewing Places on your device. Available Deals will pop up as a yellow coupon or a green icon (for a charity donation) next to a Place. I imagine any business running a Deal will also be promoting it with signage or through their Facebook page, Twitter, blog, and website…. or at least they should be.

How Do I Create a Facebook Deal?

The good news is that Deals are currently free to create! They are vetted through a review process by Facebook (within two business days) though to ensure it is a high value deal that fits within their formatting guidelines, and you are notified by email once your deal is approved. You can only offer one deal at a time right now, but you can set expiration dates, end, and delete a deal at any time.

At the top of your Facebook Page you may have noticed an image like the one above this section prompting you to Create a Deal. If not, Visit your Facebook Place and if you are part of the initial Beta testing group, you’ll see a “Create Deal” button at the top right of your place. The screenshots I will share here were captured by clicking through the graphic at the top of the Gutter Helmet Systems Page. By clicking “Create A Deal”, you are taken to the Create A Deal page (as seen to the left).

The form is easy to fill out and gives you plenty of examples of what things should look like, and even displays a preview of what you have so far on the right.

1. Choose a Type of Deal

2. Define Your Offer

3. Add Details and Restrictions

4. Preview your Deal

5. Create Deal!

After clicking Create Deal, you are taken to a dashboard (as shown below) which gives you final controls over editing, stopping, deleting, and creating a new Deal. This Deal is shown as “Pending” because it hasn’t been approved by Facebook yet.

Facebook Places has definitely launched a soft attack on foursquare and other geo-location services with Deals by providing an easy to use and free application coupled with a built-in audience on a platform most businesses are already using. With a limited user base due to technology restrictions, and the slow adoption of Facebook Location check-ins, we’ll have to see how Deals fares, but it looks like a great idea to me to drive foot traffic to stores.

You May Also Be Interested in:

• GoPromoIt.com – Discounts for sharing with your social network.
• Facebook Places
• How Do I: Connect My Twitter and Facebook Accounts?
• Facebook’s New Spam Filter for Pages
• A visual walk through of Facebook Ads
• How to add Facebook Like and Share Buttons to Your Website
• Managing Your Facebook Fan Page (Basics)
• Creating Your Facebook Fan Page
• Facebook is making changes to your Fan Pages

Full Disclosure Alert: Captico created GoPromoIt. Yup. Our brain trust came up with it, our coders coded it, our designers are designing it, and I am talking about it. That said, I do hope you read on, if for nothing else than my thorough explanations and witty commentary. ….Ok, so maybe just read the walk through and give the thing a try…

What is GoPromoIt?

For sellers: GoPromoIt is a magic button that sits wherever you paste it on your website and encourages visitors to post about your company, your service, or your product to their friends.

For buyers: GoPromoIt is an awesome coupon code generator that gives you discounts for sharing a link with either your Twitter network or your Facebook network.

How does GoPromoIt work?

For sellers: After you sign up (which is free right now, by the way), you will be guided through creating your first promotion. Don’t worry – you can make lots of them and delete them and edit them. You have ultimate control over what you offer, where the button goes, and how long its available. After you create your first promotion, the code for your button will be automatically generated. Just copy it and paste it wherever you want it on your website (the checkout process is a good place to start). Users will see the GoPromo button, click it, share the link, and then receive the coupon code to apply to their purchase.

For buyers: Click. Share. Save.

Why should I use GoPromoIt?

For sellers: Viral advertising. Like a ripple effect, your link and name will be spread through out people’s social networks as well as promoted on GoPromoIt.com – increasing sales, SEO, brand awareness, new customers, and a new way to connect with those customers on Twitter and Facebook directly.

For buyers: Discounts. Yeah, baby. Discounts. Its like foursquare… for your wallet.

How do I get a GoPromo Button?

For sellers:

• Create an account (quick an painless – just a username and email address).
• Create a promotion (very simple – we guide you through)
• Copy & Paste the html code onto your website (we will help you with this as well – just contact us if you need to)
• Let us know what you think! How can we improve it?

For buyers: Um… sorry… become a seller and see above!

Whats next for GoPromoIt.com?

We will continue to develop and tweak the site. Your feedback is crucial which is why it is free. This is a beta testing period which means everything works, but it may not have certain options or features that you may think up, the design may change, development packages may be added, etc. GoPromoIt might eventually move to having paid price plans (but it might not), but rest assured, if you are a company that participates in this beta testing period GoPromoIt (at least this version of it) will ALWAYS be free to you.

You can find GoPromoIt on Twitter and Facebook.

Watch a Video Walk-Through of Getting Started!

This guide will walk you through: Auto Posting your Twitter Updates to Facebook.

Why Do I Want To Automatically Post My Twitter Updates to Facebook?

In general, I am of the school of thought that this direction of linkage does not work as well as the reverse. The two social networks are used differently and people interact with them differently. If I follow a company or brand on Twitter and they post every day or a few times during the day – I enjoy that. If I follow a company or brand on Facebook and they are updating all the time (especially the limited content postable on Twitter) I get irritated very quickly and will either “hide” them or “unlike” them.

That said, if you don’t post often or have a different audience, and like the convenience and ease of posting just to Twitter (perhaps you’re on the go a lot), then this auto link may be a good way for you to keep your Facebook Profile or Page up to date without lots of log-ins. — Its also a good way for your Facebook friends to see (and then follow) that you have a Twitter account. –

How Do I Connect My Twitter Account to my Facebook Profile?

• Log into the Twitter account you want associated with your Facebook profile.
• Log into the Facebook account you want to link to.
• Go to the Applications page http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/ (shown below — you will notice confirmation of the Twitter account you want to link to, in this case @corrietweets)

• Click “Allow” — or click “Deny” if you’ve changed your mind (though you can always unlink later).
• Now you have some options: (show below)

• You can unlink or Disconnect your Twitter from your Facebook Profile.
• You can transfer your photo – meaning always use your Facebook photo on your Twitter account.
• You can select whether you will auto post updates to your Facebook Profile OR to a Page you manage.
• Share a link telling people that you’ve linked the accounts.

How Do I Connect My Twitter Account to a Facebook “Fan” Page?

Well, first you have to be an Admin of that page. Then follow the steps outlined above, but check the “Facebook Page” box and select the desired Page from the dropdown menu.

How Do I Make Changes or Edit this Application on My “Fan” Page?

• Go to your Fan Page.
• Click “Edit Page” under your picture.
• 
• Click “Applications” in the left hand navigation.

• Scroll down to the Twitter Application.
• Click “Go to Application”
• You will be taken to the main Permission Screen where you first chose your settings.

Thanks for reading and I hope this article helps! As always, if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to see them!

Related Twitter Content:

• Twitter Statistics and Info on Usage
• How Does Twitter See Itself and What Are Its Plans and Priorities?
• The Twitter “Firehose” is up for grabs – if you have the cash!
• How Do I Send Public and Private Messages on Twitter?
• How Do I Post Updates to Twitter?

• Anatomy of a Tweet – A Closer Look at Twitter
• How to Customize and Set Up Your Twitter Page
• How to Sign Up for a Twitter Account
• Side by Side Comparison of Old and New Twitter Interfaces
• The New Twitter – More than a Facelift?
• 12 Tools for Tracking Twitter Sentiment
• Twitter Apps and You – New Authorization Process
• Lance Armstrong, Twitter, and Google – Why Link Building and SEO Works
• Twitter launches new official TWEET button
• Twitter: Who To Follow Suggestions

When a Post to your Page Wall is marked as SPAM, it is “hidden” from visitors to your page (but is still visible to the poster and his/her friends). As an Admin of the Page, you can view any SPAM posts by clicking on this new SPAM filter at the top of your page.

As an Admin of a Page, you can manually mark/unmark any post as SPAM.

or

The question some may ask is, why do we need this when we could just Remove a Post all together already? Well, Spam is different than an unwanted post. If a post is offensive or inappropriate or will accidentally ruin a surprise birthday party, you may want it removed – you can do this by hovering over the post and clicking “Remove Post…”. But those offenses don’t qualify a Post as Spam. The new Spam filter will allow Page Admins to clearly mark a post as Spam so that users who Spam can be tracked, blocked, and banned. (Something I wish Twitter was better at.) In order for this system to work, PLEASE mark Spam as SPAM and Remove (if you must) offensive posts.

You May Also Be Interested In:

How Do I Connect My Twitter and Facebook Accounts?

Tweet about Shwaag from @bullseyevideo

What I found was a(nother) startup company trying to monetize word of mouth marketing on social networks. Shwaag.com, which is currently in Beta, says:

The Shwaag movement is all about everyday people becoming Champions of Social Goodness by utilizing their social networks to spread the word about great companies doing great things. In turn, these companies not only get recognized for their amazing products and services, but their work with charities, environmental causes and within their own communities.

The generous companies we work with also give back to Shwaag members. Their contributions of 100% FREE products and services called Shwaag, is just one more way of saying “thanks” to the Shwaag community. These products and services are distributed to our members who, in turn, can choose to keep their Shwaag or Pay It Forward.

What that means: “Hey, tweet or share our message, and we MIGHT give you something really cool for free!” Of course, when I say really cool, I mean it. Recently “shwaag’d” items include:

• Optoma PICO Pocket Projector
• Pulse Smartpen (I have one and it is awesome)
• Logitech® Squeezebox Music Player
• Weber® Portable Grill
• Panasonic® DMP-BD65 Blu-ray
• Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator
• Amazon Kindle
• DeLonghi BAR32 Espresso Maker
• Wacom® Bamboo Craft Pen Tablet
• Flip Ultra HD Camcorder

They also tell you what current and upcoming stuff will be, and who has won the recent stuff.

Screenshot of Shwaag.com Current and Recently Shwagg'd Stuff

The odd thing about the site is their tagline “Get It. Give It.” The folks at Shwaag spout a lot of fluff about good will and charity and the joy of giving…

“…we encourage everyone in the Shwaag community to enjoy those things that they are given, but to also spread that joy by giving to others. Giving Shwaag™ is meant to be an open expression of generosity. Our system will ultimately allow you to give Shwaag in a variety of ways: to friends and family, to random strangers or to charities. At times, you may even be given the option to keep Shwaag for yourself, AND give Shwaag away to someone else!”

…but ultimately, I’m left a little confused by the whole plan… honestly, if I’m going to spam my friends with a link promoting a product (I have yet to see anything relating to charities or the contributions to humanity that these companies are supposed to be making) its because I WANT THAT PRODUCT. I don’t want to send it off to a stranger. Call me selfish, but… lets be realistic here. No fund to provide firefighters with better equipment and resources is being helped by handing out an Amazon Kindle. Amazon is getting tons of tweets talking about its product and Shwaag is making money ($99-$599 + the product – though they seem more eager to sell their idea or at least license it than anything else).

Shwaag claims to be a better way to distribute products directly to consumers than by companies themselves – a claim I can see both sides of. Shwaag will have access to a diverse group of free-hungry fans ready to tweet anything you ask them too. A brand with its own following will also have rabid fans who already like the product line and will retweet any freebies as well. Both will really rely on the ancillary readers to continue retweeting and garnering exposure for the brand. In the case of Shwaag, they are promoting themselves in addition to the product. But if a company launches the campaign, they focus all the attention on their product/brand and drive traffic to their website (Shwaag doesnt even link to a product/company’s website).

If you read through the Terms & Conditions (who does that?) you will learn a little more about the site that is currently not viewable to non-members – like the other ways to enter to win shwaag:

“…sign in using your username and password. After reviewing the “Featured Shwaag” or “Shwaag of the Day” Giveaway, Click on the “Shwaag Me” button. You will then be taken to a landing page that will display the details for that day’s Challenge, including, but not limited to; a traditional random drawing; a series of multiple-choice trivia; and chances to increase odds by posting to social media sites such as Twitter and/or Facebook. The number of options in each Giveaway may vary, depending on the design of that day’s Challenge.

Traditional Random Drawing: A Traditional Random Drawing Trivia Challenges: The content of the questions and multiple-choice answers for any particular Giveaway may vary from Member to Member. Use your mouse to click on the answer you wish to submit. For each correct answer you submit for a question about that day’s Featured Shwaag, you will receive (1) Entry. All submitted answers are final. After you have finished playing, the amount of Entries you earned will be displayed and automatically credited to your Account.”

Since the website is still in Beta, you have to request an invite to be a member, so you can’t sign up immediately if you have your eye on that projector. Right now they are focusing on their home state of Arizona, and so some shwaag items (like restaurant gift certificates, services, and experiences) are limited to what state you live in. You also have to have a Twitter and/or Facebook account, duh.

Shwaag Request Invite

So what do you think? Will you be sending a request for invite? (I did.) Do you know of other sites like this? Do you think this would be a valuable tool for your product / brand? Leave a comment and let me know!

You can find out more info and connect with Shwaag both on Twitter and on Facebook.

10/12/10 UPDATE:

So I did eventually receive my invitation to join Shwaag.com, the email read “Hi Corrie, We got your request for a Shwaag Invite Code, and immediately broke into a “Happy Dance!”  Now we’re even happier, because we have new member availability.  We know it may have been awhile, but that’s because of all the hard work we’ve been doing behind the scenes to make sure we were ready for you!  We’d like to welcome you to the Shwaag Movement!” -They also told me they opened up an invite code for me to share with a friend, but as I don’t see a code anywhere or anything on the site to indicate that, I assume they just want me to tell all of you about it and invite you to request an invitation like I did originally.

Once you are signed in and have created your basic profile, you get started by clicking the red “Get Shwaag’d” button under the featured product. You are then taken to a product page of sorts.

You can see the product on the left (in this case, the pocket projector) and the description on the right. In the top right corner is a blue box showing your number of Entries. If you REALLY like the item, Shwaag gives you the option to “Buy Now” which when clicked, takes you to an Amazon.com product page where you can buy the item in question.

After clicking the red “Shwaag Me” button, you just have to agree to their rules to be entered to win – this is the “Traditional Drawing” way to win described in the post above.

Now we get into the social media side of this whole process. To earn BONUS entries (and increase your chances of winning) you can post about this shwaag item to your Facebook and/or Twitter account. The blue box in the top right hand corner tracks how many entries you have based on your activity. I imagine this is also where any games or quizzes or surveys would be where you could also win extra entries (as described in the post above.)

–Oh, and just fyi, when it comes to high end items (like those available on Shwaag.com, federal law requires you to pay taxes – whether you bought them or not. So Shwaag will send you a 1099 form for “any Shwaag given out to any one individual over the course of our tax year, if the combined retail value of that Shwaag exceeds $600″.–

In addition to my invite to Shwaag.com, I also received my first newsletter which addressed my initial query as to where the so-called charitable causes were… Overall, I’m still not convinced that the chance at free stuff (albeit cool stuff) is worth the effort and spam that these kinds of promotions entail… What do you think?