Aoife Rigney - Digital Marketing & SEO | All your online business needs – SEO, Social Media Management, Content Management, Email Marketing Training and Consultancy

May 23, 2013 · 17:09

Facebook and Twitter for Business Training Course – Cork

Course: Half Day Facebook and Twitter for Business
Time: 9.30am – 1.00pm
Date: Friday, June 21st 2013
Location: The Clarion Hotel, Cork
Cost: €55 per person

Your customers are now relying more on information they find online. Are you optimising this opportunity?

Social Media is a great tool for promoting business, communicating with your target market, providing outstanding customer service and capturing your customers’ needs. Having a Facebook page or twitter account is not like a magic wand – for it to be effective, your social media needs to be used strategically.

If you have a business and want to give it a boost, this is the course for you. Social media has the power to reach so many people and by learning the tricks of the trade you can have a massive impact on your visibility. Here is what we will cover on the half day course:

What is Social Media and why does our business need this?
What can Facebook, Twitter and others sites do for our business?
Is it possible to quantify how online we should be? Number of updates etc?
We have an online presence already but are we using it effectively?
How can we see the results/success?

I will start with a brief introduction to social media, showing you what is available for you to use and will then go straight into the practicalities as well as tips and tricks to help you save time. Our focus is to optimise your online presence without having to spend all day every day online, yet achieving the same results!

I will give you the information so you can manage online marketing campaigns, as well as strategies to build a community of fans and followers. We all know that word of mouth marketing is the best advertising a small business can get; social media is just that, except it’s online!

I’m hosting this half-day workshop so you will leave with a toolkit, tips and skills to use social media effectively for your business.

There are a limited number of places available, so that there is more opportunity for interaction, questions and learning.

Book your place now or email me (Rigney dot Aoife @ gmail dot com) for a copy of booking form. Your place is only confirmed once payment has been received. A 50% cancellation fee applies if you cancel 48 hours or less before the workshop. Payment of €55 can be made by bank transfer or cheque.

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· 16:55

Free Digital Marketing for your Business in 7 Simple Steps

Digital marketing is a necessary element of running a business. If you are to promote successfully with no budget, you need to use word of mouth. You need to foster an environment where people are talking about you.
Whilst many people think that effective marketing campaigns are costly, the reality is that they don’t have to be. This is because there are many FREE techniques that can be used, which are proven to work. The main idea of this blog is to help you to discover and use the other tools at your disposal which will enable you to market without cost.
Before you start, it is critical to understand who you are targeting and what’s in it for them. This will be your main message in your marketing campaign.

Here are a few ways to market your business online without spending a cent:

1. Create Objectives: In order for any plan to be successful, it needs goals. What do you want from this marketing campaign? Why are you partaking it promotion? Do you want to develop brand awareness? Do you want increased online and offline traffic?

2. Do a Stocktake: Make a list of all the tools you already possess which can be used to market your business without spending any money. Do you have a good network of contacts? Are customer testimonials positive? Do you have the enthusiasm and passion to grow your business. Do you have the time to invest? These are some of the best tools needed for marketing.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) : SEO is the technique of structuring your web presence for search engines to rank them at the top of their lists for certain search terms.Begin by ensuring you know what people are searching for and how they are searching for you. These are the basics and can be ascertained through Google Analytics and Google Ad Words, both of which are free tools with lots of online resources explaining how to use them. Once you have informed yourself in these ways, start providing content related to what they are searching for and including these keywords. Update your site often because search engines are looking for the newest information.

4. Good website design and content: Like most small businesses, you probably have customers and prospects that have visited your website once and haven’t been back since. And why would they? Once they find the info they need, there is no reason to come back, unless you can add interesting, relevant content to your website to drive traffic to your website and increase sales.

5. Blog! Blog! Blog!: Search engines like fresh content. It is advisable to keep your company’s keywords in mind and try to incorporate them in your blog content as often as is practical. Furthermore, a blog allows you to express your unique voice, personality and thought leadership. It improves your SEO, drives traffic to your site and builds a base of content for your email marketing campaigns. Dedicate some time every week to writing content, get into the habit of writing and soon blogging will become second nature.

6. Be Social: Join the main social media networks that suit your business such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Use social media to build relationships and connect. All too often businesses think that having thousands of followers makes them a success. But what good are those ten thousand followers if none of them end up as a customer? Isn’t that the whole point of being on social media? Get to know people, talk and then once they trust your brand they will want your product.

7. Measure, Monitor and Manage: As you build your online marketing plan you need to be sure that each element produces the results you aiming for. Use Google Analytics to measure and monitor your website. Try out applications like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for Social Media Management.

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Filed under Digital Marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media

May 20, 2013 · 20:13

Guest Post: It’s your time to Vine!

This guest blog is written by Kathryn Hurley. Kathryn is an Irish Trained Chef – UK trained Pastry Chef, who has worked in London and Australia and has been a Head Chef in London for a successful events company catering for royalty and rock stars, theatre and fashion leaders! Her passion for pastry lead her to learn all about Cake Decorating and Chocolate. She has consulted and mentored with bakery and pastry businesses to assist their staff skills, new ideas, new product development and product presentation. She is a skilled food demonstrator with a depth of knowledge of a classically french to Asia Pacific style foods to European trends. Kathryn is currently taking a detour into Digital Marketing to explore its creativity for food businesses. Kathryn is currently creating a blog on Chocolate Adventures and digital media online community management so watch this space!
Feel free to connect with Kathryn on LinkedIn: ie.linkedin.com/in/kathrynphurley/ or tweet her @CorkChocolateG

It’s your time to Vine!

Let me introduce Vine…

Yes, it’s showtime on all your social media platforms. The future has arrived for all those extroverts and budding movie directors to practice their creative craft in moving colour. About three months ago, a new app that works with Twitter and Facebook, was released.

The background

Vine is currently only available for iPhone or iPads, but the developers are working to bring it to other platforms soon so everyone can make full use of this great new app. Don Hofmann, one of Vine’s Co-founder explained “Vine offers a hybrid between Photo and Video sharing that could be the long sought after sweet spot for Social Media.”

How to get going…

Once you sign up for this using your email and creating a password – you’re ready. You can also sign in using Facebook or Twitter but this is not a necessity. Choose your subject and point and shoot your Vine.

Creative

The idea is to make short 6 second looping movie about your product, activity or even a Vine ‘selfie‘! First of all, you can plan out your Vine movie on ‘storyboard’ so then to action it is less deleting and messing about. A storyboard is like a comic strip of what your message /movie is about. This allows you to make is cartoon like or fully packed with content. As you have a one shot or delete – you can’t edit. This may sound harsh but is speeds up the posting of it online with out too much drama.

Attention span of 6 seconds? Welcome to modern life!

Vines are now used as regular tweets and facebook posts, however you can only search for your twitter friends using Vine app as Facebook did not sign up for this functionality. Currently click through rates on Facebook and Twitter increased dramatically since Vine has been launched.

Have you vined? Post a link to your vine below so we can see!

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Social Media

May 2, 2013 · 20:01

Facebook launch Promoted Page Likes

Facebook today announced the global rollout of “Promoted Page Likes,” a feature similar to Promoted Posts but aimed at helping page owners get new fans without having to use the more complicated ad dashboard.

Facebook said “Promoted Page Likes allow Page owners to create ads aimed at gaining new fans directly from their Page.” You can read their full announcement here: http://www.facebook-studio.com/news/item/promoted-page-likes-now-available-globally

All pages with a location and profile picture will now have the “promote page” option in their admin panel. This was previously in beta for some users in the U.S. From here, Page owners can select a daily budget based on how many people they want to reach. Like Promoted Posts, these ads are bought with a preset price rather than on a cost per click basis.

Page owners can narrow down their audience by country, state or city. The ads are designed with small businesses in mind to help them garner more Likes for their pages without needing large budgets or sophisticated targeting. Be warned however, that unlike with Facebook’s other ad products, these ads will continue to run until an admin manually stops the campaign.

The ads will show in users’ news feed as well as in the right hand side of the desktop version of Facebook.com. After launching a Page ad, the basic stats on the Page ad campaign display in the same area within the admin panel.

Source: AllFacebook http://allfacebook.com/promoted-page-like-ads-global_b116234

Promoted Page ad campaigns don’t require large budgets or sophisticated targeting, though it is possible to set up and customize both ad messages and targeting from the Ads Manager. To learn more and start your Page Like campaign, visit www.facebook.com/business/promoted-like.

I am yet to try out a Promoted Page campaign, however I intend to give it a go. My main concern about these promoted pages is that you may end up with irrelevant fans or worse still, spam fans. I will report back once I give it a go. For now, you’re up to date on the newest addition to your admin panel! Let me know if you give it a go…

Source: http://b.globe.com/VNUkt2

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

April 23, 2013 · 09:47

3 Pinterest Tools every Pinterest User Should Know About

3 great tools and so easy to use! Have you tried any of them?

1. PinPuff.com: According to the PinPuff.com website, “Pinfluence is a relative measure of your popularity, influence, activity, reach (& celebrity levels if applicable) on Pinterest on the scale of 100. It also decides monetary value of your pins & traffic your pins generate. Higher is your Pinfluence score, higher are the chances of you getting Big Brands’ attention for working with them on Pinterest. Average score on Pinpuff is 32. And a Pinfluence score of 50 or above is a good score.”

I checked my “Pinfluence” and got a disappointing 22. I must remember to pin more often!! What’s your Pinfluence?

2. Pinreach.com: provides you with analytics to study your influence on Pinterest except without the value estimation you can find in Pinpuff. It does however have other features to offer. To use Pinreach, visit the website and click on the ‘Sign Up’ button and fill up the registration form together with your Pinterest username. When registration is completed, you will be redirected to your analytics page. There are four tabs available on Pinreach to study your Pinterest activity in details.

3. PinSearch: Pin Search is an extension for Chrome browser that will let you easily find more related photos and information of a photo you found on Pinterest. To start using, head over to the Pin Search extension page on your Chrome browser and click ‘Add to Chrome’. Once added to Chrome, open the Pinterest website and you will see an additional ‘Search’ button at the bottom of the ‘Comment’ button, when you hover over any images on Pinterest. Clicking on this ‘Search’ button will direct you to a Google’s search results page that is related to the image you selected.

Do you use Pinterest? Are there other tools for Pinterest that you use and would recommend?

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media

April 16, 2013 · 22:05

Simple Guide to Creating a Facebook Page for Your Business

Step 1: Choose a Category

Go to the following URL to create your business page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Choosing a category will help you rank for more relevant searches and provide relevant information fields on your page.

In most cases, the first one is most relevant for small businesses. Choose the category that most suits your business and fill out your business name. The business option also asks for further location information. Remember that your category and name cannot be changed once your page is created. So choose these very carefully!

Step 2: Complete Basic Information

Follow the steps and add your details – be as accurate as possible.

Step 3: Add Facebook web address

This is a very important step. This cannot be changed once it has set. Choose very carefully!

Step 4: Upload Photo

Facebook will now prompt you to upload the main photo for your page. This photo will appear as your icon every time you comment on a post, appear in news feeds or run ad campaigns. Ideally, it should be your company logo. The actual dimensions of your profile picture is 180X180. This will shrink on your page to appear as 125X125.

Step 5: About Section

Next, you need to write your ‘About’ information. This small bit of information will serve as the main 2-3 sentence description for your company. It will be on your main page, so make it short and sweet. Be sure to include a link to your company website as well. Also ensure that this information differentiates your brand, making your page even more appealing to potential fans.

Step 6: Use Your Admin Panel

Your admin panel is for managing your business page. It’s filled with various features and options to optimize your page and you’re monitoring of that page.

Edit Page
The ‘Edit Page’ option in the upper right provides various options. Update Info does exactly as it says and allows you to update your page information. This will also allow you to edit the about section and add more details.
You can also manage who has admin access to your page. This allows you to give employees from your business access to be administrators on your Facebook page in order to respond to comments or messages, without giving them complete power over your page.

Build Audience
Growing your audience is a huge task. It will not happen overnight and is by no means a simple thing to do. Be sure to have your page filled with content before you start telling people about your page! Give your new fans-to-be something to read. Then, your brand advocates to start engaging with that content. Once your page has some interactions, invite more fans and contacts, and they’ll be more interested to like the page when they see the buzzing hub it is.

Step 7: Optimise your Page
Cover Photo
The best visual space on your business page is called the cover photo. The exact dimensions of this cover photo are 851X315. Be sure to select a creative image with less than 20% text that will appeal to users who land on your page. Also, when people like your page, your cover photo will be shown in the newsfeed of that person. So spend some time getting your cover photo the best it can be!

Posts
When posting on your page, be sure to use a variety of content. Who are you targeting? Who is reading your updates? What is your brand message? What images would your audience like to see? What stats would they like to read? What links would they like to click?

Monitor
While having a beautiful Facebook page is great, ensure you’re monitoring how fans are interacting with it. Use Insights on the admin panel to check what’s happening on your page. Be sure to respond to comments and messages as needed to ensure your fans know you not only care about them and what they have to say.

Step 8: Keep Learning

Facebook changes on a regular basis, as does it’s rules and regulations! Keep up to date with changes – always keep learning.

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Filed under Facebook, Social Media

April 11, 2013 · 10:28

5 Reasons Why People Unlike a Page on Facebook

Firstly, if someone does unlike your page – don’t panic. Don’t beat yourself up about it. However, it is important to do a quick check and make sure you’re not doing things that could be causing people to turn away from your page! Here are 5 reasons why people might “unlike” your page:

1. Constant Self Promotion and Sales

Posting “sales” posts does not work. This sales promotion type of marketing is referred to as “push” marketing and it no longer works! You’ve probably seen pages that do this. Every single post is a marketing pitch to sign up for their webinar, or buy their product. Even if those webinar & products are great, no one wants to get sold to over & over again, day after day. You now want the customer looking for information and asking questions.In Pull Marketing, you’re still generating leads — but you’re doing it in a generous, informative way. This is essentially “pull” marketing. That’s why I suggest the 80/20 rule: 80% of your posts should be informative updates, blog posts, links, tips, podcast etc. The remaining 20% should be a mixture of promotional posts and sharing other people’s content.

2. Too much activity

How often do you post updates? Is it more than 3 times a day? Is it only once a week? I can’t tell you specifically how often to post, but I can tell you to test out different times and see what works best i.e. what gets the best reaction. Personally, at the VERY least you should be posting to your page once a week. Every page is unique and should decide what’s best for their particular audience.

3. Irregular/Lack of activity

I know I just said that posting too much will put people off your page, however not posting enough can also cause people to unlike your page. Why? People don’t like to have redundant pages on their Facebook page! If your business is serious about social media then create a posting plan with content ideas which will means you update your page daily. In my opinion (whatever that’s worth!!) I believe pages should be posting at least once a day.

4. Facebook Voice of an Eejit (Eejit: Irish word for jerk)

Think your humour and attitude is funny? Do you constantly give out and vent problems on your page? Are you arrogant or rude when interacting with fans? Great that you are an expert in your industry however that does not excuse the attitude! Perhaps you just get enjoyment out of constantly “calling out” competitors or other businesses who make mistakes, it’s a very negative reflection on your business and your brand. Be careful how you portray your brand, insure your voice is that of the brand and of the message you wish to portray.

5. Unrelated updates and posts

Memes are very popular these days on Facebook. However, sharing memes which have no relevancy whatsoever to your brand will just annoy people. Yes, photos do get a great reaction on Facebook and memes are even better these days however are you willing to dilute your brand message for a few extra likes, comments and shares? This is true for unrelated topics too, not just memes! Now, trust me.. I understand what you are trying to do; engage your fans with humour and show off your personality. Eventually, your fans will think you don’t take your business seriously and will unlike your page.

Have you ever unliked a page? Why?

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

March 21, 2013 · 00:04

Facebook Cover Photo Policy Update

Facebook has updated its policy for pages’ cover photos in recent weeks, eliminating rules against calls to action, contact info or references to price or purchase information, while maintaining the 20 percent limit for text overlay.

In the Facebook Pages Guidelines the updated rule states:

All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

What does this mean for businesses using Facebook pages?

Well mainly, it means you can now have calls to action, contact information and product information. You’re cover photo can now be an advertisement, if you so wish! The new guidelines give Facebook page owners more flexibility in the type of content they include in their covers.Your cover photo is the largest space on your Facebook page, and this is even more important as the recent changes to users’ newsfeed. Cover photos are beginning to be included in both organic and sponsored page-Like stories. That is, when a user likes a page, a preview of that page is shown in the newsfeed of their friends. This preview is actually the cover photo! So, if your cover photo isn’t quite as effective as it could be.. then perhaps it’s something to think about!

So now that price/purchase information, discounts, calls to action, contact info, web addresses, phone numbers, like or share, arrows to like your page, etc. are allowed on your cover photo… Get creative, folks! However, just keep in mind the 20% text rule still applies!

What does your cover photo look like? Post your facebook page below – I can’t wait to look at the creative covers!

[UPDATE] Here is one of the first cover photos to change, and it just so happens to be from Condescending Corporate Brand Page who often do what we are all thinking! Do you “like” their new cover photo?

Source: http://www.facebook.com/corporatebollocks

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

March 8, 2013 · 14:03

6 Tips on How To Handle Negative Comments On Social Media

Social media provides an opportunity to gain great brand exposure. The real key to social media marketing is to build up a relationship with your fans/followers that then become your brand advocates and spread the word about your business. Social media is word of mouth marketing. Yes, people buy from people… but they will more likely buy when recommendations come from their peers!

However, you can’t hide from negative feedback. It’s part of the reality of running a business, and in today’s socially-connected world—it’s part of the reality of managing a Facebook or Twitter Page.

Here are my 6 tips on how to handle negative comments on social media:

Respond as quickly as possible otherwise people will feel ignored and will think you don’t care, however you don’t want to rush an answer and get it wrong, read the complaint and don’t reply without thinking.
Reply sincerely, be human and be sympathetic to how they might be feeling.
Give customers more information about why they were experiencing problems.
Invite them to email you directly – but not a generic info@yourcompany.com email address.
Be honest and transparent. Do not try to hide or cover up something that has happened. Be upfront and apologise whole heartedly, admit fault if this is the case.
Don’t take it personally. If you are in charge of monitoring social platforms, it can be difficult to maintain calm during times of high levels of negativity. The worst possible thing you can do is react in a defensive or aggressive manner; you must maintain a helpful and reasonable approach at all times. Yes, there will be times when a customer is being unreasonable or even using harsh language, but never, ever respond in a similar fashion!

When you deal with complaints effectively, dissatisfied customers will be satisfied and will tell their friends how great the company is and about the excellent customer service they received. Furthermore, they’ll encourage their friends to buy from you. They have now become a brand advocate! You’ve established brand loyalty and trust to a greater degree than you would have had if there had never been a complaint.

Just remember that no matter how fantastic your company is, mistakes happen, customers get upset and complain. With the growth of social media they now expect to be able to lodge these complaints – and get resolutions – via social media. Think of it as an opportunity to prove how fantastic your business is – or not. It’s your choice!

Have you ever had to deal with negative comments on your social media?

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Social Media

January 17, 2013 · 15:46

Facebook Graph Search – Zuckerberg’s Third Pillar

As I’m sure you’ve already heard.. Facebook made a big announcement on Tuesday (15th January 2013). This was the unveiling of the so called “Third Pillar” of Facebook: Graph Search, a new way to search for things you’re looking for on the social network.

Graph Search can be used to search for something simple like “Restaurants in Cork,” or something more specific like “Restaurants in Cork that my friends like.” The service is in beta now, which means they are testing it. Facebook gave a few hundred people gaining access to Graph Search on Tuesday. They will be using results from those first users to help finalise the service, before it opens it up to everyone on Facebook. To join the waiting list click here and add your details at the bottom of the page.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook now has three pillars, namely Newsfeed, Timeline and now Graph Search. Graph Search, when it does go live, will be available on desktop first. It has been reported that a mobile version of Graph Search will still take some time. To learn even more about Facebook Graph Search have a look here.

What does it look like?

It is a larger search box at the top of the page. Facebook is allowing users edit the title of the page as well and so let’s them create their own custom view of the content that you search and share.

So, is it just like any other web search?

No! It’s nothing like a web search and Zuckerberg made that very clear from the outset! These searches made using Graph Search are based on who you are connected to, what pages you like and so on. Initially, graph search will focus on Photos, People, Places and Interests. If 2 people did the same search they would get different results, based on their personal preferences!

Does it impact my privacy?

Zuckerberg reinforced the importance of privacy and reassured that only stuff you choose to share will be shared. If you’re privacy settings are set to “Only Me” then these results will not show up in Graph Search. If you have you content set to be friends, friends of friends or public then it will be shown. Remember however, that if you have a group photo with several friends tagged in it, their friends will be able to search for the picture via Graph Search. Facebook will be giving users the option to review the Activity log before they make Graph Search live across the site.

Quick tip: If you have photos on Facebook you would rather not share with everyone, change your settings on that photo/album to “only me”.

Zuckerberg said at the conference, “We are indexing our map of the graph, which is really big and constantly changing. Almost a million new people every day. 240 billion photos. 1 billion people. 1 trillion connections.” That’s a lot of data!!

Here is the official video from Facebook about privacy:

What do you think of the idea of Graph Search? Are you on the waiting list? Let me know what you think!

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Filed under SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

January 9, 2013 · 16:29

Another Facebook Change… January 2013

Today I noticed something different about my Facebook newsfeed… A large “Like Page” button appeared in the top right hand corner of a sponsored post. See below as an example – I’ve hidden my friend’s details for their privacy.

The new like page button is a strange addition as it seems to be sitting on top of the sponsored post. It’s quite like the button you would see on a mobile device. Is it a temporary “test” or is it a new look for our newsfeed?

Have you seen this like page button in sponsored stories on your desktop version of Facebook yet?

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Filed under SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

December 22, 2012 · 15:40

Latest Facebook Privacy Settings Changes Explained (December 2012)

Facebook Privacy Update December 2012

Facebook is planning to roll out a series of updates to its privacy settings by the end of the year. These new updates are a new set of simplified privacy tools to help its users understand where their photos and updates will appear – and who will see them.

It’s time to review your privacy settings and ensure you are happy with who is seeing your content. Of course there’s no one real way to hide everything you’ve ever added to Facebook, however the changes made this week make it easier to keep control of your privacy.

Some of the changes are fairly straightforward. There are fewer options hidden behind menus, making it easier for you to change your privacy settings without leaving the News Feed. Additionally, the company has introduced a faster way to untag multiple photos and a two-step app authorization process.

Here are just a few of the changes – to see the full explanation check out Facebook’s own update about it: Read here!

Blocking:

The first thing you’ll notice when you get the new privacy update is a pop-up box explaining the new way to block users. It’s simple – just add their name or email in the box and press enter, or click “view all blocked users” to see a list of the people you’ve already blocked.

Privacy Shortcuts:

The biggest change is the new privacy ‘shortcut’ menu at the top which gives you the option to check “who can see my stuff?” and “who can contact me?”

If you click the first of those options, the menu item will drop down a list to show you where you’re photos and other information are shared. Click this and make sure it looks as you would expect. If it is not as you thought, click through to “see more settings” and change your privacy options to suit your requirements.

Similarly, do this for “who can contact me” too – again, check it is ok and if not, make changes.

Basically, Privacy Shortcuts is a new feature that allows you to change privacy settings. In short, this means that there’s a one click method for most of the different ways you can block someone or block everybody – if that’s what you want to do.

How do I look?:

Ever wondered what people see when they look at your profile? Well, this new update puts the “View Profile As…” tool right into privacy drop-down menu, meaning it’s easier to see how you look to the world. Do this – you might be surprised by what you see!

Erase Past Posts:

Facebook launched the activity log about a year ago to help users track their history on the site and make changes. The “new look” activity log now makes it easy to filter content based on when it was posted, and who can see it – and then get it removed if you wish. You can get to this activity log by entering this URL in the address bar: http://www.facebook.com/YOURUSERNAME/allactivity or by going to your profile and finding the “Activity Log” button to the right, under your header image.

For example, until now hiding a photo of yourself on your timeline didn’t necessarily mean that you were also untagged. The result was that the picture was still out there for people to see. Facebook now gives you an option to fix that.

Go to your activity log, you can now set up a filter to show “invisible” photos, in which you’re tagged but that aren’t showing up in your feed. You don’t even need to untag them individually – you can also “untag” multiple photos in one go based on the filters you choose.

In the past, the social network has struggled with offering its members user-friendly privacy controls. Facebook is hoping a more educational approach will help ease concerns. Facebook has said that all of these updates and new tools will begin rolling out at the end of 2012.

Has your profile been updated yet?

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Filed under SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

December 18, 2012 · 10:38

#CorkChristmas – Tweet and keep it local this Christmas

Calling all Cork businesses… I’m making a list of all Cork offers, promotions and deals so we can all buy local in the run up to Christmas. Want to be added to the list below? All you have to do is tweet your business/location/contact details/deal with the hashtag #CorkChristmas too … Simple!

SuperStyleSabby: Find my salon Kopper Hair Glanmire on Facebook. We have loads of offers this Xmas & in the new year! 021-4820692 #CorkChristmas
@Bumpsnbabiess: #CorkChristmas bumpsnbabies opened our new showroom #maternity & childrenswear #Melissa & doug toys 20mins from cork city
@SuperHandsIrl: XMAS SALE: Order a book or poster before 5pm Dec 19th & get another FREE! http://bit.ly/UM1y0D Pls RT #CorkChristmas
‏@biabeautytracey: #CorkChristmas we sell natural skin care & gift sets in Fair Alternative Market Princes St every day til xmas eve
@acne_skin: #CorkChristmas we sell natural skin care & gift sets in Fair Alternative Market Princes St every day til xmas eve
‏@firehousebread: bread making in west cork #corkchristmas
@BreakthroCancer pop up shop (Cornmarket Centre below TK Maxx) open until 23rd Dec. Gifts, raffle tickets, Christmas cards, ‘Tree of Hope’ & music Sat & Sunday
@UmNumNumm: Last day for buying gift vouchers from me if you want them posted outhttp://bit.ly/rfFxUI #CorkChristmas. email up until Sunday tho!
@wwTIGRAww Hi Christmas promo in 3 Store Blackpool, Half price Iphone and free Iphone 4s/Galaxy S3. http://goo.gl/MVA8d #CorkChristmas
#CorkChristmas @Longuevillecork Unique Irish drinkable Xmas gift Case (15 x 500ml bottles LH Cider). €57+ carriagepic.twitter.com/hvc89ej1
#CorkChristmas Longueville House bottle LH Apple Brandy+Box Glenstal Abbey Chocolates at €42+ carriage or collect from hotel. T 02247156
@brianokane #CorkChristmas Oak Tree Press for business books including @howtosave5000‘s book of same name
@No21Cork: 2 cases of Bulmers/Budweiser/Carlsberg 20x300ml btl only €25#CorkChristmas
@Bumpsnbabiess: #bumpsnbabies showroom open fri 2 to 5pm 20mins from Blackpool shopping centre #CorkChristmas
@pizza_ginos Special reduced homemade chilli oil salad dressing €3.49 for our friends on facebook pic.twitter.com/GAPtu3Tj
@pizza_ginos Special reduced homemade chocolate sauce €3.49 for our friends on facebook pic.twitter.com/9dKbsF7G

Would you like to add your business to the list above? Just tweet or comment below!

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Filed under SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

December 17, 2012 · 11:41

Should I Convert a Personal Facebook Profile to a Business Page?

In 2011, Facebook released a tool that lets users convert their personal profile into a Facebook Page. The main difference between the two (page and profile) is that users can simply “like” a Page while they “add a friend” with someone who has a profile. This makes Pages a much better solution for businesses and public figures as it does not limit the number of fans nor does it require a response (accepting friend request).

Is your business operating a Facebook profile? My advice… set up a Page instead. Why? (Link to 7 reasons…)

Well, first of all, it’s against Facebook’s terms and conditions to have your business account set up as a personal profile. Facebook have the right to delete your entire account at any time if they happen to come across this configuration.

Also, it just doesn’t look very professional. Some people have set up their businesses using part of the business name as the personal “first name” and part as the personal “last name.” To most Facebook users, when they see this, it really sends out the message that the business doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing.

Actual business Pages from Facebook offer a much better and more solid set of features for business marketing and fan engagement purposes. Personal Facebook accounts are designed to help the individual interact with family and friends. Business pages offer many more features that help you promote your business and your brand—plus, by default, they’re open to the public just like your business is.

Now, if you have a profile set up for your business but you understand that it is essential that you use a Page – then you’ve made a good decision. However, if you think you are at an advantage by using a profile – then bigger fool you!

Can you use an app to run a competition on a profile? No.

Can you have more than 5,000 fans/friends on a profile? No.

Can you monitor your analytics and insights on a profile? No.

Can you do all this and more with a Page? Yes.

So, lots of businesses ask me can they just convert the profile to a page. Technically, yes you can. Honestly? Please don’t do it. I’ve tried a number of times with a few different pages and have had a few issues! Instead, I much prefer to just create a new Page. Start from scratch – let your “friends” know, perhaps my private messaging them all, that they will need to “like” the page and you will be closing down the profile on 10/01/2013 (for example!). Once you have a Page set up, you can continue to encourage your “friends” to like your new page while building your page, growing your brand and gaining new brand advocates!

Now, if you do decide to migrate your pages… Here is how to:

Step 1 Log into the Facebook account that you wish to migrate to a business page. Please double check this as the results are permanent and irreversible.

Step 2 – Backup your existing profile if it contains any info you want to keep. Unfortunately, converting a personal profile to a business page deletes all of the wall/timeline info other than your friends list and subscribers. So make a backup if you’ll ever want to see this info again by going to the account menu at the top right of your Facebook page. Once there, choose the Account Settings option, and then choose the “Download a copy of your Facebook data” option.

Step 3 – Visit the Business Page Migration link from Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate

Step 4 – Select the category of business page you would like to use for your business. You can choose from:

Local Business or Place
Company, Organization or Institution
Brand or Product
Artist, Band or Public Figure
Entertainment
Cause or Community

Step 5 – Complete the process. Facebook’s migration tool will guide you through the steps of finalising the conversion process.

Step 6 – Once you’re done moving your personal Facebook profile to a Business page, be sure to add all of the important details for your business to the profile. Most personal profiles didn’t include the place to put these details, so you’ll need to do it for the first time once you’ve migrated in order to have a complete, helpful business profile.

For additional information, please be sure to check out Facebook’s help section that contains information just about this popular topic. They provide some answers and tips related to frequently asked questions on this process. You can get to it here: http://www.facebook.com/help?page=213602951994043

It’s not glamorous, but it’s something you need to do…whether you decide to set up a page from scratch as I advise or if you try the migration – I strongly advise you use Pages for your business and not profile.

Have you tried to migrate a Facebook profile to a page? How did you get on?

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Filed under SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

· 12:34

7 Reasons Why Businesses Should be using Facebook Pages

Are you using social media for your business? If so, you really need to consider setting up a Facebook Page. Facebook says that “Pages are for businesses, organizations and brands to share their stories and connect with people. Like timelines, you can customize Pages by adding apps, posting stories, hosting events and more. Engage and grow your audience by posting regularly. People who like your Page will get updates in their news feeds.” A personal profile on Facebook has a limit of 5,000 friends and many requested a larger “fan” option, and so the “Fan Page” was created.

Regardless of what type of business you have, if you are using Facebook you MUST have a fan page. Too many businesses are using personal profiles – this can cause multiple problems, as well as running the risk of the profile being closed down!

So, why use a Facebook Page?

Branding: Fan pages allow you to brand your business, use your logo and customize your cover photo, tabs and content just as you would with a website. With this extremely valuable tool available to you, you can keep your “brand” consistent across the board as it relates to all aspects of your online presence.
Personal Facebook: Using a Facebook Page for your business allows you to promote your business while having a personal profile to keep in touch with family and friends in private.
Unlimited Fans: Your personal profile page has a limit of 5000 friends which is imposed by Facebook. While most of us do not have 5000 personal friends, if you are using a facebook profile for your business contacts or prospects, this number can be turn out to be very limiting. A fan page, on the other hand, will allow you to have an unlimited number of “fans”. Some have thousands and even millions of fans, just like the Coca Cola Facebook Page who have 56 million and local Cork newspaper the Cork Independent Facebook Page with a huge 19,000 fans.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Facebook Fan pages are indexed by Google, which means that anything you post on your fan page can be found by anyone doing a Google search. Content from your personal profile page does not have this same benefit. Exposure to your business or service will be expanded because your social media content will now be found by anyone (not just a Facebook user) who searches via Google. Additionally, Facebook is the 2nd most trafficked site; second only to Google in fact. Any links from your fan page to your website will increase your chances of achieving higher rankings within Google.
Unlimited Access: Your fan page is totally open to anyone who stumbles across it. If someone is searching for something through Google and your fan page pops up, that person can view the entire fan page without “liking”. Obviously, it is your hope that they will “like” the page. Often businesses use 3^rd party applications to give exclusive content to fans only and so this increases the chance of people “liking” the page.
Build brand advocates: Your Facebook fan page permits you to have a more personal communication with your fans than you can have through your website. This is why a Facebook fan page is so valuable. You can share content, videos, photos, run contests, ask questions, etc. This interaction will build relationships with your target market (fans) and builds the relationships. This “fans” quickly become your brand advocates. Encouraging interaction and building a sense of community will ensure that they keep coming back.
Customer Service: The post-sales experience brings retention possibilities as well as a chance to acquire new customers. It is critical to keep current customers happy and show potential customers how much you care about your customers. Facebook gives your business a channel to achieve this. Customer service is key to the success of any business using social media or not!

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

December 3, 2012 · 13:14

5 Things Your Social Media Expert Should be Telling You

If you decide you need someone with expertise working on your social media and digital marketing then the expert should learn how your company works, then create a strategy to spread social throughout your organisation. Here are 5 things I believe businesses need to know, but most experts don’t generally tell!

“Followers” and “likes” figures don’t matter: Small businesses often obsess over how many followers they have on twitter, and likes on facebook. Rather, SMEs should be building up relationships with online influencers i.e. trusted insiders who have engaged followers (such as bloggers, local celebrities, industry experts or active tweeters), who can help spread your message and be your brand advocates.
Facebook and Twitter are only a start: Your social media expert should know which platforms are best for your businesses. For example, if you are a fashion designer and your consultant isn’t talking about collage platform Polyvore, they’re doing something wrong. Or if you are an accountant and they haven’t mentioned LinkedIn, then start asking questions!
Let’s look at statistics, insights, analytics and data: Your social media expert should interpret data and the insights that social network platforms provide. They should also identify the best social measurement, management, and listening tools for your company’s needs, and train you how to use them, so you know what to do when they are gone!
Your website should be social: Don’t just rely on facebook and twitter. Your social media expert should optimise your website for sharing and data collection.
“I’m not a social media guru.” If someone is declaring that they know everything about social media, they are an expert or a guru – chances are they’re not. Do some research, ask around, get recommendations and ask questions!

Don’t get me wrong – social media consultants and experts can bring huge value, knowledge and expertise to your business and your online marketing efforts. Be sure to ask questions, be proactive and get involved! Social media can really boost your business and brand – do you agree?

(Image Source: http://bit.ly/S6xJCU)

3 Comments

Filed under Digital Marketing, Social Media

November 21, 2012 · 14:40

Facebook Changes… What’s going on with business pages?

Have you noticed lots of changes on Facebook in recent weeks? I admin a number of Facebook pages for various businesses and noticed recently that the pages were having issues. Some issues I’ve experienced in recent days include:

Missing the news feed
No access to fan posts on the timeline
Limited access to private messages
Little or no notifications (even though people were interacting with the various pages)

So, during this frustrating time over the last week or so, I’ve had a closer look at Facebook and look what I found:

I spotted this “Pages feed” about 2 weeks ago, and noticed that my newsfeed had much less posts from business pages. Why? Because they are now only in this new “Pages feed”. This de-clutters the news feed and keeps all the Pages (business) posts together.

Facebook have launched this new feature hoping to satisfy business owners. The social network has been criticised for its News Feed option which was full of promotional posts mixed along with friend’s posts. Now, Facebook has cleared this up by introducing “Pages feed”.

The Pages feed seems to be a business oriented feature which has already been launched and soon all Facebook users will be able to see and use it.

Facebook claim that they have received a large amount of negative feedback from businesses. Facebook has to deal with a huge amount of spam posts from Pages which are considered irrelevant. This is all figured out with an algorithm called “Edgerank” which apparently is still “under construction” . One thing is certain… posts from business pages now reach fewer users.

The Pages Feed is just like your news feed, only it filters out all the other noise and brings you only the updates from the Pages you have liked -whether it’s 10 pages or 340. To access your personal Pages Feed, all you have to do is click on the Pages Feed link on your home screen of Facebook (shown in the image above).

I actually think I like this new feature… It gives me a chance to catch up on the brands and pages I follow while filtering out all the personal stuff at the same time. I can quickly review the latest business news, articles and such in one feed. I love this, it’s a time saver!

Have you noticed these changes? What impact do you think they will have on business pages?

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Filed under Digital Marketing, Facebook, SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

November 19, 2012 · 15:11