New page, new possibilities

A few ways Facebook’s changes have improved the brand and user experience:

• Custom tabs with iframes allow brands to streamline content and pass data directly to a hosting or analytics service. This is a big one, I’ll explain later.
• Admins can set and receive alerts based on fan activity and engagement.
• Brand page layouts are now similar to personal pages—five photos on the top and tabs on the left.
• Both fans and administrators have new filters for the wall that help prioritize wall content.
• Admins can now represent their page when interacting with other pages.

Which Facebook changes will have the biggest impact on marketers?

1. iframes, additional analytics and opportunities to serve up highly interactive content make custom tabs even hotter. With iframes, marketers can deliver more target—based on the user’s location and referral source—and more engaging content than ever before. Add Google Analytics to any tab for a deeper understanding of how users are interacting with its content.
2. The ability to comment or like other pages as your brand page leads to a larger potential audience. As part of your Facebook strategy, consider creating a program of interaction, where you post with your page identity to related pages and groups as a member of the community. By contributing positively, you’re likely to draw potential fans back to your page.

Bonus Facebook Tips!

• Not all likes are created equal. Just because someone likes you doesn’t mean they’ll consistently see your updates and posts. Facebook uses a complex algorithm to display posts on news feeds. Ongoing engagement with followers is critical to get value from your likes.
• Facebook ads are easy to manage, and with careful messaging and targeting can be very effective at drawing people to your page or your website.
• Post questions, activities and cool content. Try to put some type of link in your wall posts. The more interaction the fan has with your posts, the better.
• Facebook likes are now crawled by Bing. Your search results are likely to be influenced by what people are saying about you on Facebook. Here’s a peek at CMD on Bing:

How are some of your favorite brands using the new Facebook page design? What innovative ways are you using it? Tell us in comments.

It was also about social media with a good helping of marketing thrown in. Most of the panels I attended were valuable and the ones that weren’t had one thing in common—the panelists talked about things that were not on topic. #protip: stay on topic.

I can’t cover every fantastic panel I saw, but I want you to promise me that if you ever have a chance to see Kris Krug speak on photography, you will run, not walk, to whatever room he’s in. Promise me.

The panel I do want to highlight was “Ethics and Social Media.” Brandon Eley, Jason Baer, Jeremy Wright and Patrick O’Keefe rocked this thing. My favorite takeaways involved building relationships with bloggers and the permission bloggers and social media users are granting or not.

The panelists encouraged the audience to be mindful of the power of symmetry of relationships and the social friendship scale. Social media is opt-in and once it’s not, the power becomes asymmetrical and you wind up with an unhappy blogger.

The social friendship scale is a process by which we think connecting is okay. First we @reply someone on Twitter, then connect on LinkedIn, then finally on Facebook. If we leapfrog over these steps, we do so at our own risk.

Forums, message boards and groups were also a hot topic. They seem a bit like shooting fish in a barrel for a PR person. “Look! A whole group of people talking about something my client profits from!” But groups and message boards are essentially a dinner party, not a candle party or Tupperware Party or a Naked Lady Party. They’re places for people to meet up and communicate without being hawked a candle, plastic container or old clothes.

Patrick O’Keefe gave the audience Patrick’s Pyramid of Permission for approaching communities.

Step 1: Observe community norms

Step 2: Read community guidelines

Step 3: Ask staff for permission to post or for clarification

He said that we should always reach out to the community manager before posting. When we do that, we build up social credit with the manager.

The panel wrapped up with the five characteristics of ethical social media marketing.

1)      Always disclose

2)      Be honest

3)      Get permission

4)      Use only the data you need

5)      Respect the space you’re in

We’re in PR because we thrive on the thrill of the kill—grabbing that big hit before the next guy does. And these tips are a great reminder that social media is still about humans talking to other humans. Not humans talking about our clients. Even though we really, really want them to.

Here in Portland, we have some terrific opportunities for users of social media to meet up. My favorite is the weekly Beer and Blog that happens every Friday from 4 to 6 at the Green Dragon. This ostensibly began as an opportunity for people to get help with their blogs, but it’s transitioned into a group of people getting together and chatting. They have guest speakers and often people sponsor that day’s beer and french fries (bless those fine people). New people are always welcome and for old-timers like me, it’s a great place to catch up with friends.

We also have Ignite Portland, and any number of un-conference-camp camps. The faces become familiar, and over time, the people walking into these events must feel like Norm felt walking into Cheers.

People aren’t using social media just to meet casual friends. According to Marta Kagan’s deck, What the F**k is Social Media NOW?, one in six marriages last year were between people who met through social media. Conversely, the London Telegraph says that one in five petitions for divorce cited Facebook. Social media hath given, social media hath taken away.

I love the variety of people you can meet through social media. As a kid growing up in San Diego, I listened to radio station 91X. Robin Roth was the voice of 91X and my personal hero. While helping a client grow his Twitter following, I stumbled upon Robin’s Twitter profile, added her as my friend and before I knew it, we were making plans to hang out when she comes to Portland. Robin Roth was the closest thing San Diego had to Siouxsie Sioux. I still freak out when Robin @replies me.

As social media becomes more prevalent, our personal and professional networks will expand. We’ll have the opportunity to meet more people, make more friends and broaden our own interests.

Oh, and get married. Though I’m not married yet, when the day happens for my boyfriend and me, we’ll comfortably fit into that one in six that Kagan’s talking about. Thanks, Twitter!

What about you? What real life relationships have happened thanks to social media?

Melissa Lion: Will Condé Nast be able to pull up out of print media’s death spiral with a new revenue model? The New York Times article, Condé Nast Is Changing Its Blueprint, explores the possibility.

Sarah Biedak: Facebook has launched Facebook Questions, a Yahoo! Questions-esque service. This could be useful for seeking community feedback and research.

Darcie Meihoff: I have two favorites this week. Have you considered inviting a guest blogger to your blog? Get some helpful tips from HubsSpot’s recent post. I credit @DaveAtNorth for this one: a 14-page article from The New York Times, The Web Means The End of Forgetting, explores how your digital past is never forgotten and can haunt, or help you. Enlightening and a little frightening.

Erik Sebellin-Ross: New Forrester research shows that Foursquare doesn’t have a big enough user base to warrant its use in marketing efforts. Outside of major cities, sure . . .

Stefanie Week: Content is king, but only if it’s free. A new USC survey shows that zero percent of those polled would pay for Twitter. I think I’d have to agree.

Julie Yamamoto: Mashable reveals how to send an audio tweet.

Julie Ma: Having a case of writer’s block? Clarabela Media’s post, Nine Sites Every Freelance Writer Should Bookmark, will get anyone’s creative writing juices flowing.

Meet DeHood. Like its location-based relatives, DeHood encourages users to check in at places around town and offers rewards for reaching certain milestones. Where DeHood sets itself apart from the rest of the pack, however, is with one valuable feature: “reporting news.” This feature allows users to share hyper-local information—you can even include photos—that is served up to other users based on their proximity to the location where the information originated (think Twitter’s “Nearby Tweets” feature, but better organized and easier to consume).

This is a major step forward for location-based services that are constantly under fire for lacking value and substance. Sure you can use Foursquare to share where you’re heading for dinner, but as many social media critics will reply, “Who really cares?”. Now users are able to go beyond checking in at brick-and-mortar storefronts to share diverse and impactful information with others nearby. I predict Foursquare and its close competitors will integrate this feature into their products, or be lost in the dust to those that do.

So what does the reporting news feature mean for marketers and local businesses? As an example, here’s a day in the life of Pete, a local social media-savvy baker:

• At 8 a.m., Pete puts the finishing touches on a fresh batch of sticky buns. He snaps a quick photo and posts that they are ready for pickup. Julie and her mom happen to be in the neighborhood running errands two blocks away. They’ve never heard of Pete’s bakery, but see his news alert and stop by for a morning treat.
• Around noon a construction crew arrives in front of Pete’s bakery to do some street repair. The construction blocks the main street in front of Pete’s business, so he sends a news update to alert people in the neighborhood to avoid the traffic and take a side street. Sharing news like that is certainly good karma for Pete and increases engagement and goodwill with other users.
• An hour before the bakery closes, Pete posts that he has a surplus of dinner rolls and is selling them at 75% off. As his neighbors return from work, they stop by Pete’s bakery to take advantage of the great deal. Way to go, Pete!

How else do you see the reporting news feature revolutionizing location-based services? And now that there’s a location-based service that lets you report news to your neighborhood, will you be checking in?

On the other hand, the latest round of Facebook privacy concerns has led to a diaspora among tech-savvy folks. As a social media lover and an admirer and follower of many early adopters, I’m paying attention to where they’re going. What I’ve seen so far—they’re taking it to Twitter and to their own blogs. What? No new social network someone has uncovered from Canada?

So what’s next? I mentioned a diaspora, right? Well, some tech-savvy college students have gotten together and started Diaspora. It’s an open-source social network that has yet to be built, but is already funded to the tune of $173,000 through Kickstarter. (Their goal was $10,000.) I have my five bucks on this—the tech-savvy people love open-source and hey, it’s college students! Just like Facebook!

Until those guys get their Facebook-crusher built and I hear a liftoff from my Twitter feed, I’m waiting for someone to take me up on my offer to bring back Friendster. C’mon. You know you miss getting email in your Hotmail about the birthday of that college friend whose name you can’t remember five years later. Who’s with me? … Hello?

Last week was the Social Media Club of Portland’s annual awards event and CMD took home the big prize for the “People Like Me” category that recognizes social media programs that help build brand awareness and user engagement.

The campaign that caught the eye of the judges was a social media effort to garner the attention of gamers for Intel’s presence at PAX East, one of the industry’s biggest shows, attracting more than 50,000 gamers. The goal was to dominate the show, generate maximum buzz and create/convert fans among an audience that is cynical when it comes to traditional marketing efforts.

So how do you set your social media programs apart from the rest? Consider incorporating these elements that we used for the PAX East promotion:

• Face2Face – You may have thousands of fans and followers online but don’t exclude the ones you meet in person! Amplify your social media conversation by integrating offline activities like events, activities and special guest introductions.
• Build momentum – Consider creating multiple mini-promotions within a larger program. Multiple activities provide different touch points for different portions of your audience, while also building excitement and relationships along the way.
• Be competitive – Think about ways that you can tap into your audience’s good natured competitive spirit to motivate a call to action that’s fun and engaging.

Check out our “red carpet” interview to get the full scoop from the awards event!

Well, that’s the only way I love it. I have a hobby of glancing at the clicks supremely influential users get, and I long ago came to see how important having a strategic growth strategy really is. After all, Twitter success isn’t about the number of followers you have, it’s how many of them interact with you. I’m shocked to see how some users, with follower counts in the hundreds of thousands or millions, get clicks in the hundreds, or low thousands. Their followers aren’t invested! What a waste of everyone’s time.
The shining paragon

On the other hand, here’s an example of an account with overwhelming influence—@cwgabriel, one of the daring duo from Penny-Arcade. Gabe announced on his website that he had created a Twitter account in February and hit 40,000 followers instantly. His bit.ly clicks routinely see tens of thousands of clicks (here’s just one example) and he is awash in @ replies. His audience adores him, and you can bet he isn’t wasting his time when he fires up Tweetdeck.

What’s heavier, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?

I’ve managed quite a few Twitter accounts in the past couple of years and I’m really starting to appreciate the value of an organically grown and cultivated account. The followers are genuinely interested in what you are sharing, and that makes chatting with them a pleasure. But for every account I’ve helped to carefully grow, there are many I’ve inherited that were built with an emphasis on growing followers, and damn the torpedoes. If you’re working this way…

1. Follow hundreds of people.
2. Wait a few days for them to follow you back, then un-follow everyone and start over.
3. ???
4. Profit!

…you’re doing it wrong.

OH MY GOD I DID IT WRONG! What do I do now?

Writers have a saying: “Sometimes you have to kill your babies.” I know you’ve spent a lot of time building up your following, but I’m afraid the only thing left to do is prune it back and do things properly. It will hurt…but we can make it through this! Follow these steps and you’ll be set straight:

1. Make a list of your followers who you’re certain are valid targets.
2. Go to Twitter Karma and log in with your Twitter credentials.
3. Wait for Twitter Karma to do its job. Yes, it takes a long time, depending on your number of followers, the time of day, and the whims of the gods. If it fails, start from scratch.
4. Checkmark the boxes of all the people you are sure aren’t valid targets, then DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR WORK.
5. Purge the list.

Aargh, okay I’m done—what now?

There are a ton of ways to grow your following legitimately. My favorite? Go to WeFollow, search for a tag that coincides with what you are trying to promote, and start following everyone on the list. The beauty of WeFollow is that people list themselves voluntarily—so you can bet, for example, anyone you find under Chefs cares about chefs, cooking, and food.

What about you?

What’s your preferred method of growing a legit Twitter following? Sound off in the comments!

As director of the PRSA Portland Metro Chapter’s New Professionals Group this year, I’ve talked with a variety of young public relations and marketing pros about scoring that first job, and recognized that there are a few things that college doesn’t necessarily teach you, but they’re important to acknowledge. Think networking, keeping up with the news, getting your references in order and dressing professionally. Here are three thoughts that I’d like to share from some of the New Pros:

1. Schedule informational meetings before the school year ends. Hiring managers get a flood of interview requests from graduates in the spring.

2. Ask for feedback. Schedule time with several professors, or your school’s career center, and show them your resume and portfolio, and conduct mock interviews. No one else is going to tell you you’re saying, “Um, and um, and like…” if you don’t ask.

3. Manage your online reputation. Most everyone is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter these days. Not only should you demonstrate your knowledge of these apps, but it’s time to clean up anything you wouldn’t want published on the front page of The New York Times. Remember, if it’s on the Internet, an employer will find it.

What’s the best piece of advice you received about finding a job? Hiring managers, what do you like to see from recent graduates? I’d love to hear your thoughts.