Social Tips

office

Board member POV: Marty Vanags

By on February 19, 2013 in Social media tips with No Comments

I am writing this blog post as I am transitioning from a job I have held for almost nine years. Frankly I am surprised I stayed so long in this community and perhaps more surprised that my Board kept me. In all seriousness, I think I leave this organization I run better than I found it. It reminds me of an old adage that perhaps my father told me, but truly I can’t remember where I heard it. It applies across all parts of life, and that is, “Leave the room the way you found it.” In other words if you walk into a room, whether it’s your living room, a conference room in the office you work in, or a shared artists space, when you are done with what you were doing in there, leave it clean, picked-up, or even better than the way you found it. For the male species that means having the remote available in a place where one can find it after the spouse or kids have used the television.

@Midwest started as a coffee-klatch meeting among five or six people that were interested in learning from each other about this new-fangled thing called social media. We pulled in other people who were also interested, and this June we will celebrate our third year. There is always something to learn in the social realm, and one should never stop learning. To those who are older than I and think this is a kids game, it may be, but think of the advantage you would have in business if you adopted social media as part of your working day. I think I have learned not only from working with the group, but attending all of our activities and ultimately the conference. I have walked into the social media room and it left me a better, more informed person.

The Social Media environment or “space” as people are prone to say these days, or let’s call it a room, has been left a better place. @Midwest “walked into the room” and as it walks out each year has left it a better place. It will leave you in a better place. Participate, have fun, and leave better than when you  arrived.

Facebook Pages Terms Change for Covers and Contests

Facebook Pages Terms Change, Again

By on February 15, 2013 in Facebook, Social media tips with 2 Comments

If there is one thing consistent about Facebook Pages, it’s that things change without any notifications. Unless you follow Facebook’s developer’s blog or some other techno-geek blog, you might never know what or when they implement changes. Last December (the 15th to be exact), they did it again by changing the terms the govern your Facebook Pages. While most are relatively minor changes, there are two changes that have bigger ramifications on most users.

Facebook Pages Cover Image Dimensions III. B. Cover images of Facebook Pages

According to Facebook, all cover images are public. No surprise here, anyone who visits Facebook Pages can see the cover. It’s common practice that the cover images should not be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone’s copyright, but here the new rules you might not know about:

  • You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines;
  • Cover images cannot be made of more than 20% text (as a graphic designer who loves typography, not sure I like this one);
  • Cover images cannot contain price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”;
  • Cover images cannot contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
  • Cover images cannot ask a visitor to “Like” or “Share” your page;
  • Cover images cannot contain calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

Facebook Pages ContestIII. D. Promotions on Facebook Pages.

“Like” us to win…. A favorite method of marketers to increase the number of “Likes” on a page is at a end. Facebook is attempting to crack down on the amount of spam appearing in wall post. As such, they have change the rules of promotions.

  • Promotions on Facebook Pages must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com. What this means is that you will have to create an html page with your contest rules and bring it onto your Facebook page as an application in a tab. The tabbed page must all include the following information:
    • A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
    • Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
    • Disclosure that the participant is providing information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook.
  • Contest registration or entry can not require the user taking any action by using any Facebook features or functionality such as commenting on a photo, uploading a picture to your wall, liking a photo or a post, etc…
  • You must not use Facebook Pages features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant.
  • You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion.
  • You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.

No longer can you use your cover image to announce your latest promotions, ask the user to “Like” your page for a chance to win, or even let them know your website address. And we are all guilty of rewarding users who “Like” or “Share” our pages through contest. Or use the “Liking” of images to get user feed back on products.

Can you still implement them? Sure, but at the risk of getting your page removed if Facebook finds out. And Facebook is not known for letting users have their banned Pages back, as we found out at Illinois State University early on in our social media adventures. Reggie Redbird was our original profile. According to Facebook, mascots are not real people and as such, cannot have a profile. One evening, they removed the profile. In one sweeping click of a key, they negated over a year’s worth of Facebook relationship building.

Let us know how these changes will effect your social media marketing plans with a comment below.

coffee

Social Coffee: Morning networking with social media pros

By on February 12, 2013 in Social media tips with No Comments

Join @Midwest board members and fellow community leaders and professionals to discuss current trends in social media. There will not be a formal program. Drop by before work for networking, coffee, and the latest in social media. Event will be held at Coffee Nation (3907 GE Road, Bloomington, IL  61704).  Come with questions, leave with answers and your morning caffeine fix!

Coffee Nation will be offering a special for @Midwest Social Coffee attendees: $1 pastry with any coffee purchase

See the event on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Facebook ticker

Facebook Q4 points to an interesting year ahead

By on February 11, 2013 in Facebook, Social media tips, Viewpoints with No Comments

By Steven Barcus

Facebook has shared its fourth quarter results for 2012 along with its full-year earnings results. The report, which boasts highlights such as a greater move to capture the mobile market, the launch of Graph Search, and the release of Facebook for Android 2.0, also painted a picture of a company that has maintained profitability but is still struggling to earn the confidence of investors.

Revenue was listed at more than $1.58 billion for Q4, an increase from the $1.13 billion achieved in that same quarter during fiscal year 2011. Revenue for the entire fiscal year was more than $5 billion, again an increase from the $3.7 billion listed for 2011. However, along with the increasing stream of revenue that resulted from Facebook’s more aggressive move into advertising, net income and operating costs also saw changes. Net income for Q4 2012 was $64 million, down $238 million from the same quarter in 2011. In addition, costs and expenses increased by 82 percent from Q4 in 2011 to $1.06 billion.

But perhaps what is most telling about the state of Facebook are the stock prices. Since the much anticipated IPO on May 18, 2012, share prices have experienced a roller coaster of change, starting at $38 per share, dropping as low as $17.73 per share, and then rising back to $28. It is uncertain where shares will rest at the one-year anniversary of the IPO, as trends over the past months indicate that prices have not yet stabilized.

What can be said is that 2013 will be a telling year for Facebook. According to an article in Forbes, nearly 13 percent of all global Internet traffic is from mobile devices. The same article lists smartphone use as growing by 42 percent each year. With such leaps and bounds in mobile adoption, Facebook may have poised themselves to capture this increasing base of users and the advertising dollars that come along with it. In addition, Graph Search may reveal itself to be successful in keeping more users in Facebook. In addition, Facebook has also worked to evolve alongside the changing face of social media through the acquisition of companies such as Instagram and a partnership with Bing.

Just days after the Facebook IPO, critics and users alike lambasted founder Mark Zuckerberg, even suggesting that the underwhelming IPO was evidence that social media will only be a passing fad. Some even went so far as to suggest that Zuckerberg might be better off staying on his honeymoon in Italy. But with an active monthly user base of 1.06 billion and growing, opportunities abound for Zuckerberg and the social media giant. The acquisition And with Facebook’s growth continuing worldwide and mobile phone usage skyrocketing, it was probably a bit premature to tell Zuckerberg to stay in Rome.

magnify

Graph Search-Is anything private anymore?

By on February 4, 2013 in Facebook, Social media tips with No Comments

magnifyBy Jennifer Feaman

Facebook is constantly evolving and creating new features. Some of which we love, and many of which we dislike and complain about for months until the next new change comes out for us to complain about. In mid-January Facebook called a press conference to revel the next big feature they were going to roll out. Many people speculated what the new product would be: a phone, mobile platforms, new look, but what they unveiled was a new search feature called Graph Search. Simply put, Graph Search is a search engine for Facebook. It will allow you to sort and search your friends based on four filters: places, people, interests, and pictures. For example, if you want to find all your friends that are from Chicago, Graph Search will produce a list that only shows you friends that are from Chicago. Say you want to know which of your friends “like” @Midwest Social Media Conference. Graph Search could tell you that also! Graph Search will filter through all your friends’ information and give you the results you are looking for without having to search page by page.

I see Graph Search as a tool that could be used to connect people based on the common interests. It’s a way to connect with current friends and seek out new friends that share common interests. It’s a way to see which doctors or restaurants your friends “like” or recommend, and a way to filter through the massive amounts of data stored on everyone’s profiles. I personally don’t know how relevant such a tool would be for me to use. I don’t have an interest in meeting new friends and I am fairly aware of what my current friends’ interests are. But I also come from a generation that calls friends on the phone and talks to them in person verses just having a relationship on the computer. I don’t need to learn about my friends on Facebook because I already know who they are.

Where I could see this new search feature having some relevance is for businesses. They can find out who “publicly” liked or tagged their establishments, products, movies or music and potentially connect with clients based on relevant search results. I can also see this new search feature being used as a tool for online dating. Singles can now search friends of friends and others that have same interests as them and that live in their area, and it’s free unlike other dating sights. I have not yet been able to test the new Graph Search since they are only allowing a limited number of participants in this soft launch but I am curious to see it’s fully capabilities and how it will be used.  Just because I may not personally see value in it doesn’t mean I don’t think it can have some valuable application for the Facebook community.

Now I know there is an ongoing debate on the safety of your information on Facebook and many people are concerned about their privacy. From what I understand, your information is still secure. How Graph Search will work is it will only be able to search information you put on your profile and make visible to your friends or to the public.  For example, my page is set only for my friends to view and I “liked” the @Midwest Social Media Conference page. If one of my friends wanted to know which of their friends also liked the page, I would then show up in the results of that search. But Facebook also has a privacy setting that will allow friends of friends to view your information so in that instance friends of friends could show up in your search results. So for those of you that worry about their privacy, please always remember that you control your privacy settings. A tip that I can share is you should go to your profile page often and view it as others see it so you are aware of what you are making public. It’s simple to do; go to your profile and click the drop down arrow on the right of the page under your cover photo. Click “view as” and that will show you what your page looks to the public. If you see things on your page from that view that you don’t want to share then go into your privacy settings and make sure everything is set on “friends only”. This will also take care of the pesky problem of your information showing up on non friends timelines because your friends commented on or liked your status or photos. So instead of posting statuses about having your friends change their settings to protect you; you change your settings because you are still in control of what you share!

Want to learn more? Facebook’s Graph Search information site includes videos, a preview and an invitation to sign up for Facebook Graph Search Beta.  Check it out and let us know what you think! Do you think this is something that will have valuable application in your personal or professional life? Feel free to comment below or email me personally at jennifer.feaman@heartland.edu.

Mobile email marketing

Email marketing marketing for a mobile audience

By on January 25, 2013 in Email Marketing, Marketing, Social media tips with 3 Comments

At Illinois State University, we have a large audience base. As such, we rely on emails to correspond with our audience, an audience base that is becoming more mobile with each year of new graduates. We have seen a trend in recent years of emails being read on mobile devices. According to Return Path, mobile email open rates increased 34 percent in the second half of 2011, this is at the expense of desktop email open rates. As a result, we have researched and experimented with designs to find the best practices for email marketing to a mobile audience.

Read more…

Call for speakers

Press Release: Call for Speakers

By on January 16, 2013 in Recent News with No Comments

@Midwest announces a call for speakers

@Midwest is seeking speakers for their 3rd annual social media conference to be held June 6–7, 2013, at Heartland Community College’s Astroth Community Education Center. @Midwest is a two-day forum where experts address small to mid-sized business professionals who are creating a social media presence or enhancing current practices. The conference is seeking experts and business professionals willing to serve as a session speakers. There are presently six speaking positions available.

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fireworks

5 Social Media resolutions for the new year

By on January 10, 2013 in Blogging, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social media tips, Twitter, Viewpoints with No Comments

By Steven Barcus

New year’s resolutions are generally not unique, nor do they even need to wait for the new year. Eating healthy, exercising more, reading, cleaning out clutter, spending more time with family and friends—we already know we should do these things in our normal lives. The same can be said for social media. The following are five resolutions for you to make that will bring your social media properties to the next level or just keep them shining bright. But don’t look for any surprises on this list…each of these are things you already know you should be doing!

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Lunch and LEarn

Social eats: Taking business social in 2013

By on January 5, 2013 in Recent News with No Comments

Join us for the first topic in our 2013 lunchtime Social Eats series. Learn how you can enhance your business through social media with inside information from business experts. Cost is $10 per person and includes lunch. Space is limited. Reserve your spot by contacting (309) 452-8437 or by using our online form.

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Socializing

@Midwest Happy Hour

By on November 20, 2012 in Recent News with Comments Off

Join us at Gill Street from 4:30-6:30 on November 20 for a an impromptu get together to brainstorm session ideas for @Midwest 2013. Stop by and give us your thoughts, chat with other social media professionals over drinks and share your ideas on conference topics and speakers.

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