Archive for Social Media – Page 3

Stop Using Social Media as a Communication Crutch!

By Lissa Duty

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Do you use social media as a communication crutch? Are you saying things in 140 characters that you should NOT say at all? Have you said anything online or via email and wanted to hit the DELETE button immediately? Once you hit send, share or post it is too late in most cases.

I was inspired earlier today to write this post after several direct messages back and forth with a fellow social media professional/friend. All of us techies and social media junkies have become addicted to being casual about our communication.

We need to stop having conversations online via social media networking sites and email that should be done in person, or at least via telephone/Skype!

How many times have you sent a Direct Message (DM) on Twitter and realized it didn’t send as a DM, but instead to all of your followers? Now everyone that follows you could be reading it. Go in and DELETE it promptly and apologize PUBLICLY to the person you shouted the message to. (Twittiquette Tip: Remember, you sent in to the public, be prepared to admit your failure to the public!)

How often have you seen someone post something negative on Facebook that made you want to HIDE them from your News Feed or even UNFRIEND them? I know I see it all the time … I saw two updates just yesterday that made me cringe. You could be turning OFF your friends and followers with your negative tweets or Facebook status updates.

We have gotten comfortable about what we say to others online. We have learned to say it short and sweet (sometimes not-so-sweet). We have gotten so use to character limitations in our tweets and status updates that we even think in 140 characters. I feel like I am talking in 140 characters sometimes.

Ask yourself these questions before communicating online to others:

Does the communication contain anything negative?
Can what you have to say be misinterpreted?
Can you say it unless than two sentences and the person understand what you are saying and feel good about your message?

If you have to consider the above when communicating trust me and make a phone call, have a Skype conversation or have a meeting in person instead! Perhaps, maybe you shouldn’t even say it at all. There are many times I will type something to vent and then hit DELETE immediately. (That is right guys …. you read that correctly – I get frustrated too. Did I run my perfect image you had of me? Hope not! LOL!)

Tips to good online communication:

Write it and take pause. Read it again before hitting send. (Then read it again afterwards.)
Type it in a Microsoft Word document first. This will also help with catching typos and grammar errors.
Preface the message with how you want to delicately discuss something and thought a email communication might be the best way to communicate effectively (for those that feel a phone conversation might make it even worse).
Get a neutral third party to read it and give honest feedback and critique!

I am definitely not a communication expert; my focus as you know is social media! These are just my ideas and strategies that have helped me along the way. Hey, you, communication experts please chime in and give us your expert opinion!

Now it’s your turn … Successful communication starts with all of us collaborating and sharing our secrets to success. Can’t wait to hear from you! Comment away!

Categories : Social Media

Tags : communication crutch, communication expert, facebook, marketing, online communication, Social Media, social media communication, social media marketing

Another Facebook Secret … Moving Facebook Friends to Fans or “Likers” as some might say

By Lissa Duty

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Moving Facebook Friends to Fans or “Likers” as some might say

— I had to include this line, as I have had too many laughs about it with friends who also specialize social media marketing. When Facebook changed to the “Like” button for Fan Pages, which they now call Business Pages we all made lots of wise cracks.

At the end of last year, I shared One of My Facebook Secrets and I feel the need to share another one today. Perhaps I should call this a Facebook Strategy verses a secret. I have many secrets still hidden away to share with you in my Facebook Training sessions.

I am inspired by the questions asked by my friends, fans, followers and well, you. It motivates me to help you solve your problems, answer your questions to help you and others grow their network and brand strategically via social networking sites.

Last week on Twitter, Angela Shelton, after reading my blog post Are you a RULE BREAKER? Know Your Facebook Rights and Wrongs she had lots of questions for me. She wanted to know how to convert Facebook Friends over to her Business Page (Fan Page). She said she had tried to move them over in the past, but they usually ignored her request, didn’t see it or were offended because she wanted to unfriend them of Facebook.

What they didn’t understand is she was not trying to unfriend them, she was wanting to follow Facebook’s Statement of Rights and keep her Facebook Profile for personal connections and her Business Page for professional connections. I had no quick answer to solve her problem in the 140 characters that Twitter allows. I decided to write a blog post giving suggestions how to entice them to “Like” her Business Page.

Here are the strategies:

Post a status update on your Business Page that would get “Likes” and comments. Something about your business of course, not personal. Perhaps a new client you landed or recognition you received for your business. Go to your Facebook Profile and say “Just posted some exciting news on my Business Page (link to business page)”. Make sure and go check it out. Don’t forget to click “Like”.
Post a status update on your Facebook Profile that says “Friends, I truly love connecting with each and everyone of you. I have recently been made aware of Facebook’s Statement of Rights regarding Facebook Profiles and Business Pages. I want to keep you updated on my business, but according to Facebook I must do this on a Business Page. Please go click “Like” (link to business page here) and let’s stay connected there also. We’ll still have some fun on my Facebook Profile, but it will be focused somewhat different.”
Post a status update on your Facebook Profile saying “I am having so much fun connecting on my Business Page, if you haven’t already checked it out, please do (link to business page here)”

These are just a few strategies to get your friends moved across to your Facebook Business Page. I hope these ideas inspired a few other statements you can use to entice them. You can repeat these statements of course from time to time (maximum once per week) at different times to catch all your friends.

As your friends click “Like” on your Business Page, assign them to a list (Read how here) on your Facebook Profile that limits the status updates they see on our Facebook Profile. They will get use to not seeing your Facebook Profile status updates regularly and gradually been communicating with you on the Business Page. Eventually, (wait several months), you can unfriend them on your Facebook Profile if you want and they probably won’t even notice.

Another quick something to know …. at this point Facebook Business Pages cannot communicate with Facebook Profiles, only other Business Pages, so if you unfriend someone from your Facebook Profile, the only time you would be able to communicate with your them from your Business Pages is when they comment/”Like” something posted on your Business Page or as you from your Facebook Profile via messages, etc…. (This will be limited based on how they have their Facebook Privacy Settings established.)

It’s your turn! What tips did you come up with for moving friends to fans? How are you going to entice them to “Like” your Business Page? Look forward to hearing from you!

P.S. Special thanks Angela Shelton for the inspiration of this blog post! You should give her a follow on Twitter and check out her Facebook Business Page. Her background is quite interesting.

Categories : Facebook

Tags : branding, business page, facebook, facebook lists, Facebook Statement of Rights, Facebook training, fan page, fans, friends, like, likes, networking sites, Social Media, social media marketing, social networing sites, Statement of Rights, status updates

Are you really secure online? or Do you just think you are?

By Lissa Duty

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Are you secure online? or Do you just think you are?

In teaching social media training sessions, I discuss online security and safety. I especially discuss sharing personal information and privacy settings on Facebook and other social networking sites, i.e. LinkedIn and Twitter.

More often than not, clients and attendees are absolutely convinced their social media profiles are safe and secure. I immediately have them check a few Facebook settings. Then they start to listen closer and start making adjustments to their privacy settings. I haven’t found anyone that doesn’t have at least one thing they should be doing differently. A new set of eyes can provide a perspective and insight you hadn’t thought about.

Before I get started, I need to recognize Michelle Ketterman of The Inventory Experts. Her company inventories residents and business property, furnishings, equipment and valuables. In case of theft, fire, flood, tornado, etc …. Her clients will be able to quickly get their inventory to their insurance company and get all their damaged inventoried items replaced promptly and at a the right value. As Michelle says, “a picture can be worth literally a $1000.” Every time I hear her say this I snicker. What a tagline …. that is another whole blog post! LOL!

While Michelle’s focus is on offline security, she suggested I write a blog post about online security, specifically relating to social media because like many others, she thought her profiles security settings were configured correctly. Needless to say, she realized how unsecure her settings actually were after only 10 minutes of reviewing basic settings with me. With the seemingly constant changes, as part of her normal business, Michelle now has me regularly double check her social media security settings.

I couldn’t cover everything one post, but the following are the most common security threats:

Facebook

Date of Birth. Facebook requires your date of birth, and often people have it set to visible to their Facebook friends. Change this setting to make the year of birth not visible. Several of my clients use a fake year making them a few years younger or older.
Address. Don’t list your physical address on Facebook and don’t share your real city if you live in a small town. i.e. Frisco, Rockwall, Royse City, Allen, etc…. List a major metroplex area like Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Francisco. You get the idea. Yes, again, they could probably go out to Google and find your exact address, but let’s not make it easy on them for Pete’s sake!
Information your friends are allowed to share about you. See One of My Facebook Secrets for details how to view and correct this issue.
Friends. Restrict who can see your friend list to at those that are at least your friends already. You can even break this list down further and make it so they can only see mutual friends.

Passwords

Check Microsoft’s website for a strength test on your password .
Still want more on passwords – read this blog post – How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords by John Pozadzides

Do you need a Facebook Privacy Tune Up? In one hour I show you hands-on techniques to optimize your Facebook Privacy Settings (order the Social Media Evaluation). This social media consulting session can focus on what you choose to discuss from Facebook Privacy to content to share on Twitter. You can also get a Tune Up of your Facebook Profile and Privacy settings that I complete independently. Contact me for details Lissa@LissaDuty.com.

In my consulting sessions, the client tells me their needs and the training is focused on those areas. Yes, you read that RIGHT, a social media consultant that will teach you what you want to learn, vs. what they think you need to LEARN!

Now it’s your turn – share a tip below regarding something you learned about your online security and how you fixed it! Look forward to hearing from you!

Categories : Social Media

Tags : facebook, John Pozadzides, linkedin, Lissa Duty, Michelle Ketterman, networking sites, online security, privacy settings, security settings, Social Marketing, Social Media, social media coaching, social media consultant, social media evaluation, social media marketing, social media training, The Inventory Exports, twitter

Is this photo of you? Are you protecting your digital footprint?

By Lissa Duty

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Is this photo of you? Are you protecting your digital footprint?

When you post a photograph online do you realize how easy it is for someone to save it to their own computer? Do you realize that in the Terms and Agreement of Services for many photo sites like Flickr and Picassa, you are giving your rights to the photograph to the site? Do you know that when you text someone a photo of you they can email it to themselves and then publish it online?

Yesterday I was researching a client’s online presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the other social networking sites, checking his completed social media profiles, photos, etc … I surprisingly came across a picture of him uploaded about two and half years ago. Wow, was I surprised! It was a very provocative photo, but not part of the image he wanted to portray online any longer.

I immediately removed the photo, and of course had several laughs about it with him! He was embarrassed and explained that it was uploaded as a joke several years ago and he had forgotten about it.

I couldn’t resist explaining the importance of your online presence and digital footprint. I saved the picture to my hard drive and emailed it to him. I wanted to show him how easy it was for someone to save and modify it; changing it to suit their needs. Jokingly, I said that we should keep an eye out for it on a future ad for getting rid of belly fat! LOL! I believe I got my point across and he probably won’t upload those type of photos again, even as a joke.

Ask yourself these questions about your online photos:

Are you willing to share it with the world?
Would you mind seeing it at your high school graduation, wedding, etc…. on a video screen?
Would you be embarrassed if your boss, client, or mother saw it?
Would you have objections if your child shared a similar photo of themselves on or offline?

All photos of me must pass the above screening process before I upload or allow anyone to take my photo. You can’t control every photo or even know every time a photo is taken of you, but you can be aware of your surroundings and observe when others are taking photographs. Ask the person taking the photographs to please let you see them before posting online, try and put your back or side profile to the photographer, it will be a little harder for you to be recognized online.

Being seen at social events is an important part of branding and your online presence, but the photos need to be photos you would share with the world. Not a photograph you would regret later. Taking crazy photographs with your friends can be fun, but they can also have an impact later.

Try to limit being snapped in these photos:

Drinking what would appear to be an alcoholic beverage.
Talking with your hands making certain gestures.
Photos with your tongue sticking out, making crazy eyes, rabbit ears, etc…

These are all fun for now, but I promise there is a very strong possibility that those fun pictures can be damaging to you in the future. Your client might decide you are not serious enough, or perhaps drinking is a NO-NO in their book. I had a photo snapped of me where I was talking with my hands (as I often do) and it appeared from the angle of the photo I was grabbing the chest of the person next. Of course, I knew the photo was innocent, but everyone that would have seen it online would not have known that!

Here is your assignment, if you haven’t already done so:

Login to each one of your social networking sites, even the old ones (Myspace, etc…) that you don’t use anymore.
Read through your profile and remove anything that could be offensive, misleading or misinterpreted.
Check each photograph of you, ones you uploaded and ones you are tagged in. Remove anything questionable; always play it safe when in doubt. If the photos of you aren’t ones you uploaded and you can’t remove them, ask the account owner to kindly remove them. If they refuse, you could report the photo as spam on many social networking sites.
Think back to social events you attended and recall someone taking photos. Email the photographer and ask them to see the photographers. Ask if the photos are stored online and ask for the link. You want to see them online also.

Now, let us have some fun! Do you have a crazy photo story you want to share with the readers of this post? Tell us about a time when you had something happened to you online that you didn’t expect. Tell us how you resolved the situation. We all need to make sure our online presence is top quality, and sharing scenarios will help all of us!

As always, looking forward to your comments!

Categories : Social Media

Are you Influencing your Social Network?

By Lissa Duty

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

I was reading a blog post by one of the branding greats, Chris Brogan about influence and it inspired me to think about and write the following ….

Are you Influencing your social network?

I think influence is about not only who knows you, who you know, but of those that do know you … how do they think of you? Do they recommend you? Do they immediately think of you when they hear a certain word or phrase. This all relates back to branding and influence both ….

Are you their go to expert for your industry?
Are you branding yourself effectively?

These are the questions I think of relating to my influence and online presence:

Do I let my audience know I specialize in social media marketing?
Do I talk enough about Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?
Do I talk too much about Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?
Do I share information that allows my audience to connect with with me on a professional and personal level?
Do my connections recommend me to their network because of my expertise?
Do those connections turn into emails, phone conversations and clients?

I challenge you to write down a minimum of 5 questions to ask your social networks, inner circle of friends, strategic partners and your family. Find out if you are influencing them! If not, your influence is not where you need it to be and your branding focus needs to be put back on track!

If you think you could use some help in this area, do check out my Social Media Marketing Coaching specials I have running thru December 31st. I would be glad to help you increase your influence and expand your brand awareness globally!

Please share who influences you, the questions you would ask of your network about your influence and share what you would want us to know about you. Your comments and feedback helps all of us to grow and learn.

Categories : Branding

Tags : branding, facebook, influence, influencing your network, linkedin, Lissa Duty, marketing, Social Marketing, Social Media, social media coaching, social media marketing, twitter

Archive for Social Media – Page 3

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