Catalyst Marketers Blog

Facebook & Twitter Alter the Emergency Procedures at Your Small Business

February 8th, 2010

Online social tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp are drastically changing how business gets done. Period. With that said, I’d like to take a look at one aspect of business that’s really benefiting from the increased use of online social tools. Emergency Procedures. Does your business have Emergency Procedures in place? For example, if you conduct business in and around BucksMont, PA where we were just hit with a foot of snow or more this past weekend, do you have a procedure in place to let employees know if your store will be open, closed, or opened late? Now how about this, do you have an Emergency Procedure in place for letting customers know?

Do you remember using that Emergency Call List when your business was going to have to stay closed on a normal working day? You know, with each new employee you bring on, and for every old employee who leaves, you update that list, print it out, and make sure everyone knows the procedure. Usually it starts at the top with the owner or manager deciding if their store will open on a day where weather or other emergency factors come into play. Once the decision is made, the owner calls the next person in line, then that person is in charge of calling the next person, and so on.

Perhaps your business still operates this way? You know what the worst part is, what if you cannot get in touch with the person you’re supposed to call? Do you leave a message? Do you call back a bunch of times OR perhaps call the next person in line? Either way, it’s anxious moments knowing that if you don’t get through, other people may not receive the emergency information before they leave for work. Well, those days are over…

Now, through tools like Twitter and Facebook, small business owners can write a new procedure. That procedure is as follows: “In the event of an emergency where you feel there is the possibility that our store will close (ie. bad weather), please check our Facebook fan page before coming to work. Someone from the organization will make the decision and post it to Facebook prior to the start of the day.”

Here’s an example of one of the Facebook Fan page messages I saw on Saturday February 6, 2010 due to the winter storm that hit the Philadelphia, PA area:“Tranquility LIFE Spa & Hair Design, LLC is CLOSED today because of all the Lovely SNOW!” Say goodbye to those employee call lists. Small business owners are now able to post one message on Facebook and Twitter and simply instruct all employees to check those social media profiles on days when they feel their could be a closing situation.

As you can see business owners are naturally migrating to these tools as a way to communicate with employees. Online social tools are making it easier for businesses to communicate with employees during emergency situations, but they have also opened up a totally new procedure that many business owners should be taking advantage of: Communicating your situation to customers.

Before the advent of using online social tools for business, there was really no way of communicating to customers that a store would be closed for the day. Granted, on days like the Philadelphia area had on Saturday, many people aren’t going out shopping in the first place. With that said, what if you’re a doctor’s office or another type of business where customers have an appointment setup on a day that’s in question? Well, you’d have to pay someone to answer the phone and unless you have a redirect system in place, that individual would probably have to go into the office. Obviously, that’s dangerous during bad weather days. Now, all of that has changed due to more and more businesses using online social tools to communicate with customers. A big key to this is also the comfort which customers have in using those same tools to communicate with businesses.

Now, on a bad weather day, businesses can tweet to their followers that the store will be closed or that there will be a delayed open. Businesses can send a Facebook message to fans informing them of the situation. Before a customer gets in his or her car to head out to your business, he or she is now checking your small business Facebook Fan Page or Twitter account to ensure you’re going to be there. If you’re not open and the customer finds out while at her computer, she’s thankful you saved her the trip. If you don’t post a message on your online social tools and a customer travels to your store, only to find out you’re closed, well then, she’s not going to be happy.

Here’s a message that went out to Master P’s World Class Tae Kwon Do Facebook Group yesterday:

Subject: No classes today – Saturday Feb 6

Hi Everyone,

Just spoke with Master P and he asked me to let you know that we won’t be able to have classes today due to the snow storm. We don’t want to be contributing to the additional cars on the road which make it difficult to clear, not to mention everyone’s safety.

Enjoy your Saturday afternoon in the snow. We will see you Monday when classes resume.

-Ryan

And another that went out over Twitter. This one is from the Best Buy in Pottstown, PA:

GOOD MORNING FACEBOOK! At this time we are probably looking at an 11:00am or 12:00pm opening. http://bit.ly/bYGHDO

And just to round things off, here’s a message I put up on the Catalyst Marketers Facebook Fan Page and Catalyst Marketers Twitter account the other day. This was not due to the winter storm 2010, but the same principles apply. I learned that our host provider had a server down and guess what? That server hosts CatalystMarketers.com. In real-time, I was able to inform all of our Facebook fans and Twitter followers that our site was down. I was then able to immediately inform them when it went back up. This way, they were not left wondering what’s going on with the site and when it would be back up.

Facebook wall post (server down – 9:48am): Our host has a server down and our site is running on it. CatalystMarketers.com will be back up shortly – fingers crossed

Facebook wall post (server back up – 10:32am): CatalystMarketers.com is back up. Sorry for the inconvenience.

As you can see, online social tools are changing the way small businesses operate during emergency situations. These tools have allowed for easier communication with employees, as well as, created a communication system for customers. Are you using online social tools during emergency procedures?

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Tags: Customer Service, facebook marketing, Social Tools, twitter for business
Posted in Online Marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

LinkedIn Discussions Can Generate Sales for Your Small Business

February 3rd, 2010

LinkedIn is an online social networking tool that’s been around for years, yet doesn’t get as much hype as it deserves. Personally, I think LinkedIn has been the best prospecting tool for Catalyst Marketers to date. Some say LinkedIn just isn’t as “sexy” when compared to other giants like Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a great back and forth between two big time thought-leaders in the social arena. This conversation took place on Twitter this morning.

@TheRiseToTheTop Think we should all spend more time on LinkedIn? For some reason I just don’t find it sexy.
@lewishowes You know that pushes my buttons when you say Linkedin isn’t sexy. I’ll do a vid just for you my man
@TheRiseToTheTop Don’t worry Lewis, you are sexy. I see the usability of LinkedIn but I love Twitter/FB. Show me the light!

It sounds like Lewis is going to make a video for David, which I’m sure is going to be really informative. I’d recommend following both of these guys on Twitter and on their other social platforms as well. With the above being said, the reason for this post is to shine some light on a LinkedIn Discussion I’ve been having for the past week. LinkedIn Discussions through LinkedIn Groups can be AMAZING platforms to spread ideas, establish partnerships, and even drive sales.

UPDATE: This post sparked a Skype debate between Lewis Howes & David Garland. Check out their debate on, Is LinkedIn Sexy Enough to Spend Time With?

I recently wrote about Cross-Promotion on this blog and to help promote that post, I started a Discussion in many of my LinkedIn groups. I made sure that each group I chose contained audience members that would find the topic interesting, relevant, & valuable. The question I asked was, “Have you considered partnering with other local businesses to cross promote each others products & services?” I then explained my idea of Cross-Promotion and how it can work for small business owners.

This discussion topic really hit home as I had numerous responses within several different LinkedIn groups. Alan Openshaw, a Mortgage Consultant at Cornerstone Lending Inc in Philadelphia responded to the discussion from within the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce LinkedIn group. He weighed in on Cross-Promotion and then left this little gem, “By the way, by responding to your last discussion, I started dialogue with a local Realtor and am currently assisting one of his clients….so Thank You!”

By participating in a previous LinkedIn Discussion that I started, Alan built a relationship with a local Realtor, and was able to land a new client through his relationship with that Realtor. So, not only should you be using LinkedIn Discussions to spread your ideas and start discussions, BUT you should be responding to discussions within your LinkedIn Groups. You never know who’s listening…

Subscribe to our blog to read an upcoming post on How To Start a LinkedIn Discussion.

Rating: 6.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 2 votes)

Tags: linkedin, local marketing, relationship building
Posted in Online Marketing, Small Business | 3 Comments »

HGTV Uses TV to Promote Social Media

February 1st, 2010

At this point, I think most of our regular readers know my feelings about traditional advertising: TV, Radio, Print Ads – They are just too expensive and you don’t see much return-on-investment. Consumers simply tune them out. With that said, if traditional advertising is part of your marketing mix (in some cases it is still relevant, but those cases are dwindling), I’m a big advocate of promoting your online efforts through your traditional ads. I was watching some HGTV (my girlfriend and I are big fans) this weekend when I noticed the stellar job they do of incorporating their social media into their own TV spots.

On at least two instances, an entire 15 second TV spot for HGTV centered around their social media. Many of the HGTV personalities have their own Twitter and Facebook profiles. HGTV came up with brilliant campaign to incorporate the activity on their hosts’ profiles into their TV ads. Basically the ads go something like this, “Brittany from Georgia wrote the following comment on Sabrina Soto’s Facebook wall, Sabrina, your design-sense is one of a kind and I’ve incorporated many of your ideas into my own home. Thank you!” The TV ad then ends with the following, “Sabrina Sota responded by thanking Brittany and asking her to submit some pictures of her newly updated home. Remember that you can follow HGTV and our hosts on Facebook and Twitter.” I may not have the exact language correct, but you get the gist.

HGTV is not only promoting their social media, but they are promoting their fans as well. It’s adds to the connection. Can you imagine how you’d feel if HGTV mentioned your Facebook comment on their TV commercial? I’ll bet you’d tell a bunch of your friends, both online and offline. In turn, that may increase fans and followers of HGTV social media sites, as well as, possibly increase viewers of their TV programs.

This is just another example of how traditional advertising can compliment your social media marketing. Again, if you have limited spend, you may want to dismiss traditional ads altogether, but if you’re someone who is running some radio spots or print ads, you should definitely find ways to drive listeners/readers to your social media sites.

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Tags: facebook fan page promotion, traditional advertising, tv ads
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

What is Integrated Marketing Communications?

January 26th, 2010

I received a LinkedIn request the other day from a good friend of mine from Bentley University, located in Waltham, MA. We graduated together and now she, Carolyn Hannus, is working at Digitas in Boston. She’s also getting her MBA at Boston University. As part of one of her classes, she told me that she needed to survey Marketing professionals with the following question, “What does integrated marketing communications mean to you?”

I felt like the question and my response was relevant for the readers of the Catalyst Marketers blog, so I posted my response below. One thing to note, if you’re a small business owner, don’t get scared off by the marketing jargon, “Integrated Marketing Communications”. I break it down below and chances are, you’re already doing it in one form or another.

For me, Integrated Marketing Communications means the all encompassing process for communicating your message, ideals, beliefs, and value proposition to your community. Your community can be filled with both customers and prospects. In order to truly make an impact with your marketing message, you must first start by outlining the goals and needs of your business. Once those have been established, you can then move on to creating strategies that align to those goals and needs. Next comes tactics. These are the vehicles by which you get your information to your community. Finally, the most critical step, one which many don’t consider, is measurement. At set periods of time throughout the year, it’s always good to take a step back and look at the numbers to see how your tactics are tracking against the goals and needs that you originally setup. If something isn’t working so well, then iterate or scrap it completely. If another tactic is truly resonating with your community, then find ways to highlight it and even enhance it. By setting up a plan, whereby you establish goals, you now have something to measure against.

A big part of my marketing efforts, and the efforts of my clients, is content marketing. Content marketing can come in many forms, like written text, video, and even audio. As part of content marketing, you want to ensure that you are educating your community and providing information that they consider valuable. That information should tie-in to your business. If you’re an organic restaurant owner, then you should be blogging about the different ingredients you use in your recipes and why they are better for your patrons. You can shoot videos of your chefs preparing different recipes in a sanitary environment. All of this information is relevant to your business, but also relevant to your target audience. By providing valuable information, you create brand loyalists who are not only going to become customers, but walking, talking, billboards for your business.

Integrated Marketing Communications is the overarching term used to describe all of the different ways you communicate with your community. Each different marketing vehicle that you use, whether it’s YouTube videos, Facebook, Twitter, Email, or Blogs, should tie into your overall plan. If you’ve setup your plan properly, then you should have goals that you can measure against. This will let you know how effective or ineffective your programs are. Either way, you’re learning something, which gives you the ability to make necessary changes. In this economy, and probably for the foreseeable future, those organizations that don’t listen to their community and constantly evolve their offerings based on their leanrings, will not survive. To ensure you don’t end up like that, it’s important to have a plan for your integrated marketing communications, check-in occasionally to see how you’re tracking against that plan, and don’t be afraid to listen to your community and make the necessary changes to satisfy them.

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Tags: content marketing
Posted in Online Marketing, Small Business | 3 Comments »

Use Google Analytics as a Measurement Tool for Your Small Business

January 25th, 2010

Google Analytics is an amazing online tool for small business owners. Best of all, it’s FREE. You simply add your small business website to the system and you can begin tracking things like: site traffic, entrance sources (how readers get to your site), exit pages (what pages readers are leaving your site from), keyword relevance, demographic information on your visitors, and much, much more. If you’re not setup on Google Analytics, definitely take some time this week to get setup your small business website.

With the above being said, to fully leverage the power of Google Analytics, you must first establish your goals for your online efforts, and then build a strategy around those goals. If you don’t setup your goals up front, then when you use Google Analytics as your measurement tool, you won’t know what to look for. Keep reading to find out how Catalyst Marketers uses Google Analytics and how we recommend our customers use it.

Catalyst Marketers e-Marketing Strategy is to practice what we preach. We use a combination of content marketing and online social tools to reach more small business owners, educate them through content marketing on the power of using online social tools to promote their business, and ultimately drive new customers for Catalyst Marketers. Here’s how we do it.

Constantly publish new educational content, relevant to small business owners, to the Catalyst Marketers blog
Use social tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, BizSugar, & the Catalyst Marketers Facebook fan page to promote our content AND the content from other experts – this builds relationships with those experts and shows your followers that you’re not there to just promote your “stuff”
We then try to convert our followers to customers of Catalyst Marketers, by establishing ourselves as thought leaders in our industry and proving to our followers that we understand how to drive growth for them through content marketing and social tools

How do we know if our strategies are working and our goals are being achieved? Well, we turn to Google Analytics (among some other things). Our goal is to use social tools to drive traffic to our content (blog posts). So on a regular basis (you can determine how often you need to check your reports – at least every month), we log into Google Analytics and check out our traffic sources. We ask, are the social tools, which we are using to promote our posts, driving the most traffic to our site? Google Analytics lists the top traffic sources. If the tools we’re using, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are among the top 5-10 traffic sources for our small business website, then we know we are on our way to achieving our goal.

Google Analytics offers so much more than just traffic sources. If another goal is to drive traffic from our blog posts to other pages on our site, like the Catalyst Marketers Solutions page or the Contact Us page, Google Analytics shows us that as well. We can look at each individual page and determine how traffic is getting to that page. We can also tell what page they go to next from the current page. Basically, we can see if the majority of traffic to our Solutions page is coming from our blog posts. If it is, we know that our content marketing is working because we are effectively producing relevant and valuable content, which in turn, is leading readers to want to find out more about what we have to offer.

Turn Content Marketing into Sales

The next step in the process is to effectively drive sales from all of your efforts. The ultimate goal of all businesses is to increase sales. Once we know how we are driving traffic to our site and what pages our readers are going to once they get there, the next step is to entice them to take action: Call us or Email us to find out more about our solutions. If that’s the goal, then you need to make it easy for readers to find your contact information, as well as, state a compelling reason why they should reach out to you. It’s one thing to produce awesome content, but if your readers don’t know what you offer, then you’ll never get any sales. This is why our goal is to drive readers to our Solutions page and then to our Contact Us page. We can track this activity through Google Analytics and then we can tie in any new leads by asking those individuals how they found us.

It’s imperative that you establish goals for your online marketing efforts and then use tools like Google Analytics to see how you’re tracking against those goals. If you don’t, then all the time you spend online, can never really be calculated with return-on-investment. If you have any questions about how you can setup an e-marketing plan, like the one we use, then send us an email OR check out our solutions page. We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you may have.

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Tags: e-marketing strategy, google analytics, reporting, return-on-investment, small business marketing strategy
Posted in Online Marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

Print Ads Run for a Month, Online Content Lives Forever

January 19th, 2010

It amazes me that there are some business owners out there who still believe in paying for high-priced print advertisements, yet don’t see the value in creating a blog for their small business. Content marketing is the present and the future (for now). Whether you’re creating written content through a blog or e-newsletter, video-based content, or even simple audio-based content, it’s critical that you produce some sort of educational information for your target audience. Here are my top 4 reasons why you need to switch from traditional advertising strategies like developing print ads to more new marketing strategies like creating content.

Print Ads Run for a Month, Online Content Lives Forever

Do you have a blog for your small business? One of the biggest reasons for spending the time to develop a blog for your small business is the fact that the content you produce will live forever online. You create it once and 5 years from now someone may come across it and end up becoming a customer. Print ads usually run in the monthly flier/magazine and then they get tossed by readers. You spent time developing your ad and paid for the placement only to reap the benefits for one month. Even if you pay an agency like Catalyst Marketers to develop your blog articles, that content is yours and it lives forever. So even if the costs are the same or a little higher to create great online content, that content has the ability to educate readers and drive sales for years. Print ads are usually one and done. Where do you think you should be spending your time/money?

Print Ads Have Lost Effectiveness, Online Content is Thriving

Does this print ad entice you to buy Dunkin Donuts? For me, I breeze right by it when I see it in a newspaper that I’m reading. Even if I do take the time to read it, it doesn’t really entice me to go buy a smoothie. Does it entice you?

We have learned to ignore print ads, and many traditional forms of advertising for that matter. Now, if I’m new to an area and I’m looking for say, an organic cup of coffee, I’m probably going online to check out sites like Yelp or hit the blogs to find out if there are any great organic coffee shops in the local area. If I come across your blog where it explains where you purchase your organic coffee beans, how you make your coffee, what type of organic creams and sugars you use, then I’m probably going to swing by your store to try your product. Your blog has educated me on your process, as well as, organic coffee in general – an area I’m interested in. You have officially brought value to my life by providing me with great online content. Print ads simply cannot do that.

Print Ads Cannot Tell Your Story, Online Content Engages & Educates Customers

Print ads by nature are limited in the amount of space they offer you to tell your story. Guess what? The more room they have for you to put information into the ad, the more expensive the ad becomes. Most of the time, businesses can only include the most critical information: the offer, their tag line, and their address. That’s it, you’re done. No more space for you.

How do you expect to educate anyone about your business, your products and your services with such limited space? In today’s environment, consumers have an unlimited number of choices for almost anything you can imagine. The difference between purchasing one product over another is usually tied to some emotional reason. How can you evoke emotion from consumers through a print ad? You can’t.

Now, if you’re a salon and you produce “how to” videos for creating different hairstyles and target teenage girls, then you can really bring value to those girls lives. How often do young girls go over to their friends house to do each others hair? All the time. How about for big school dances, girls are always searching for new hairstyles. Now, through your videos, they can learn how to do it themselves. Your videos are now their go-to resources before all school dances. They now feel confident in their looks because they have professional looking hairstyles and your salon is responsible for that.

Talk about evoking an emotional attachment. Where do you think those girls are going to get their hair cut next? How about when they want to spend some big bucks on a hairstyle for prom? You better believe they are coming to your salon. All because you put your marketing budget to work on something valuable instead of wasting it on one and done print ads.

Print Ads Come with Boundaries, Online Content is Limited Only to Your Imagination

We’ve already explored some of the limitations that come with print ads, but just to get them all out in the open, let’s go through them again. Print ads are costly, they have limited reach, there is limited space available to you for telling your story, many people ignore them, and for those that do pay attention, they are only good for about a month before they are thrown away.

Online content is really only limited to your creativity. Have you ever considered running a radio show for your small business? Blog Talk Radio allows you to do that – FOR FREE. You can then archive your recordings to allow people to listen to them whenever and wherever. Those radio shows live forever online.

If you own a retail clothing boutique you can use video to broadcast your own fashion show. A fashion show that models the latest Spring clothing lines that you offer. If you own a restaurant, you can record one of your top chefs preparing one of your best dishes, just like the big guys do on TV. Through your video, people can now make these great recipes at home. You’ve brought value to their lives. Believe me, they are still going to go out to eat, but on days when they need to stay in, they can bring up your video and cook a great meal. You’re now responsible for feeding their family. Again, talk about evoking some emotions. Where do you think they are going to go out to eat the next time they want to do that? Exactly…

Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

Rating: +3 (from 3 votes)

Tags: business blog, content marketing, print advertising, traditional advertising
Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »

Cross Promote by Partnering with Local Businesses

January 18th, 2010

Are you constantly looking for new ways to build awareness around your business, your products, or your services? If so, congrats! Small businesses in today’s economy should always be pressing forward in trying to find creative ways to get their name out there.

Is your business located in a small town? How about a big city? Either way, I’d imagine that the majority of readers who own and operate a small business have it located in an area close to other businesses. With that said, have you ever considered approaching any other local business owners to see if they’d be interested in doing a cross promotion with you and your small business?

Cross promotion involves two or more parties who setup a program where each party helps promote the others’ products & services. I had the idea the other day when I was meeting Steve Keib, owner of Tranquility Life Spa & Salon, for lunch at Spatola’s Pizza in Lansdale, PA. He and I were discussing creative ways to market his business when the idea hit me. Steve should have a flier on each table at Spatola’s. In exchange for space at the tables, Steve could offer to put coupons & a menu for Spatola’s at his cash register – persuading each and every customer to take one with them as they pay for their Spa services.

How much do you think a promotion like this costs? If you said almost $0 then you’d be right. It takes a creative idea, a little time and networking, some printing costs and that’s it. You now get access to all of Spatola’s customers and vice versa. Each small business owner is happy and hopefully traffic increases. Definitely be sure that you setup some measurement tools, such as adding a unique code to each coupon you put in someone’s store OR by having your flier say “mention that you saw our flier at Spatola’s and receive 10% off”. For each customer who mentions it, be sure to track that sale in your computer/register so that you can go back to see just how well the promotion is working.

The best part about this idea is that you don’t have to limit your partnership to one other business. You can work with many different businesses in your local area. Just be sure the customers who come into your partner’s store are the same target customer who you want to attract.

Is anyone currently running a cross promotion strategy like this? If so, how’s it working for your small business?

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Tags: local marketing, Small Business Marketing, small business marketing strategy
Posted in Small Business | 3 Comments »

Dell Does Twitter – Do You?

January 13th, 2010

Dell is a shining example of an organization using new social tools, in this case Twitter, to build its brand and communicate with customers. Dell has not one, but multiple Twitter accounts. One key to promoting your business on Twitter is to not be overly promotional. Every tweet shouldn’t be “buy this”, “discount on that”. Tweets should be informative and even push users to educational content that’s relevant to your business. Dell takes this theory to a whole new level.

Since Dell wants to make sure that they get all of their promotions out there, but at the same, do not constantly interrupt their followers with promotions, they’ve created a Twitter account solely for promoting refurbished Dell computers and electronics – @DellOutlet. By following @DellOutlet, twitterers are essentially opting in to receive Dell promotions. Dell makes it very clear that this particular account will be used for promoting their specials. This strategy allows Dell to get their promotions out without offending their followers. Can you incorporate this strategy into your small business? I think you can.

In a recent article written on Open Forum^®, Dell’s Senior Manager for Corporate Affairs, Richard Binhammer spoke about how Social Media can work for small businesses, “Make it easy for your customer to talk to you. Do simple things to thank your customers for their business. Ask them for suggestions. Go where your customers congregate, whether it be Facebook or Twitter or elsewhere, and participate in those conversations. Also, listen to your customers in the blogosphere. What they have to say is vitally important to your business.”

The tools are out there and waiting for you to use them for your small business. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, there are online tools that can help your business be more efficient, as well as, help you interact and build relationships with your customers. That’s what it’s all about in this economy. You have to think differently, think smarter. How can you stretch your marketing budget while getting more of a return on those dollars? The answer is easy, use social tools. Your customers are using them, there is a ton of help out there to get you started, the costs are almost zero, and with a strong strategy in place, the results are fantastic. Get your small business on social tools today. If you need help, simply contact Catalyst Marketers.

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Tags: twitter for business, twitter marketing
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

How Facebook Tagging Can Help Your Small Business

January 12th, 2010

Do you have a Facebook fan page for your small business? If not, as I said in a previous post, you definitely should consider creating one (if your target customers use Facebook). For those of you who do have a Facebook fan page for your small business, Facebook tagging is a great way to build relationships with other businesses and customers, as well as, getting your fan page in front of more potential fans.

Facebook launched their tagging effort a few months ago, after they realized just how powerful Twitter was becoming. The very nature of Twitter is to tag followers in your tweets through their Username if you want to communicate with them or recommend them to others. Facebook decided it would be a good idea to implement similar functionality. The benefits of Facebook Tagging to business owners isn’t really talked about much. That’s what this post is for. First we’ll learn how to tag others in your Wall Posts and then we’ll discuss why you should be doing it on your small business Facebook fan page.

When creating wall posts for your fan page you can tag your friends and pages that you are a fan of. The first step to this is to become a fan of other local or relevant businesses. If you’re a restaurant in Doylestown, PA, then perhaps you should be a fan of the local jewelry store and clothing store. This connects you with your peers, but it’s also the first step in getting in front of more local customers. Each of those businesses have fans of their business and through tagging, you can get your fan page in front of their fans.

One big requirement for your posts to appear on the walls of your friends and pages is the settings on those walls. As you know, you can either set your wall to allow only your (the owner’s) wall posts OR you can set it to allow your friends and fans to post to your wall as well. In order for your tags to appear on someone’s wall, the owner of that page must allow for OTHERS’ posts to appear. If you tag someone and your post doesn’t appear on their wall, more than likely their settings specify that only they are allowed to post wall comments to their wall.

The act of tagging is actually very simple. When you’re writing a wall post on your small business fan page simply type the “@” symbol in the text field and then begin to type your friend’s name (or the name of a page you’re a fan of). As you can see from the image above, Facebook pretty much takes care of the rest. Once your friend’s name appears in the drop-down, simply click it to make it fully appear in your post. Then finalize the content of your post and click submit.

You can tell that you’ve successfully tagged someone when their name shows up in blue on your wall post.

Facebook Tagging can help promote your fan page

The next step is to navigate to their page to see if your post appeared on their wall. It’s easier than ever now to navigate to their page because all you have to do is click their name (in blue) on the wall post you just created and that will automatically link you to their page. That’s one of the reasons why other people like when you tag them in your wall posts. Not only will your post show up on their wall, but you’ve recommended them to your fans and your fans can easily find them by clicking on their name in your wall post. It’s always about mutual benefits – that’s a key to building great relationships. As you can see from the image below, my wall post has now shown up on The Rise To The Top fan page.

Facebook Tagging gets you in front of a bigger network

Some of the main benefits to utilizing Facebook’s tagging feature are:

You can build relationships with other business leaders by recommending them on your wall
Your fan page gets in front of new prospects/fans
You’re seen as active in the Facebook community
Your fans appreciate you opening them up to other great fan pages

If you have a Facebook fan page for your small business, start tagging.

Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Tags: facebook fan page promotion, facebook marketing
Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »

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Turn Content Marketing into Sales

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Print Ads Have Lost Effectiveness, Online Content is Thriving

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Print Ads Come with Boundaries, Online Content is Limited Only to Your Imagination