Are you spending lots of time on FacebookTwitterLinkedIn but not really sure why??  Or, perhaps you know you should be on FacebookTwitterLinkedIn or some combination thereof, but you aren’t really clear on how exactly they all work??  You are not alone!!  But it’s not really your job, is it, to figure it all out and then do something about it? Well, yes, so sorry. It is your job. But you don’t have to slog and slosh your way through it by yourself, sweetie. Girl Friday is here to make it all right. There now…feel better?

Here’s the truth: you need to figure out which social media tool works best for you, for your business, and for the staff and resources you have on hand to manage that social media. Not all businesses need a Facebook account, nor should certain businesses even have a presence on Facebook…and certainly not everyone should Twitter. And LinkedIn has its own special purpose that may not fit in with your business model or way of working.

It’s to your advantage to look at the different social media tools available and then ask yourself a few questions:

1. Is my target audience even ON Facebook or Twitter?? If you are a financial planner whose clients are all retired, chances are they are not on Twitter – they don’t even know what that is!  If you are trying to gather a younger clientele for your business, however, you may want to be on Facebook and reach the adult children of your older clients. They may be on Facebook for social reasons, and can get to know you in that online community. Let’s say you are a new restaurant – you’ll want to reach people in the surrounding neighborhood who are on Facebook, where they and their friends talk about or suggest places to go out to eat…by all means, gather as many of those Friends as you can! ON the other hand, if you are a business coach offering services to corporate clients. LinkedIn may make better sense as a social/business networking tool for you. You become a resource on LinkedIn, where other businesses search for your unique skills or services. If you believe your target market is heavily involved in a particular social media, you’ll want to be utilizing that social media tool, and it’s community, to keep your online presence fresh and engaged.
2. Do I have the time, or the staff, to consistently engage in the social media conversation? If you can’t devote time on a consistent basis, whether daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.  – honey, you are just a wastin’ time and who has time to waste? Not Girl Friday!! and I’m sure you don’t either!  So I’m going to save you a ton o’ time and tell you that you need to make sure you can consistently maintain whichever social medial tool you choose to participate in. If you start and then allow your Profile or Twitter account to remain outdated, it looks to visitors as though you don’t even visit your own sites…so why should they?  Social media is of the moment; be present, be there now, be a part of the conversation that is happening today. So stay up to date, cupcake!
3. Should I perhaps just choose ONE social media tool, stick with it, be consistent, and give that a try?? Well, um…in a word:  yes!!  See if you can manage just one social media tool, OR, a blog if you have one. Be very consistent…if Twitter is all you can manage time-wise, then do Twitter. But do it well. If you feel really comfortable in Facebook, and you can manage your Profile or Fan Page in a way that promotes you and your business in a personable yet professional way…then go for it. Better to do just one social media tool, and do it well, than try to manage three or four different accounts where nothing of value or relevance is posted, or it is inconsistent.  You can always add on more social media once you master one.

Don’t feel guilty that you’ve neglected your poor Tweets, have not responded to all those Facebook emails, or updated your contacts at LinkedIn. Take a deep breath. None of this stuff is going away. Conserve your energy…plan carefully….then do it!!

And if you’d like some great information you can use, take our “Navigating the Maze of Online Marketing” workshops….workshop III is this Thursday, November 19, 10 a.m. in Petaluma, CA. Go to this link to reserve your spot:  http://onlinemarketingmedia.eventbrite.com/ or….send me an email to: info@e-girlfriday.com.

Your website is the single most important tool you have to promote your business online. Start smart…it’s easy to avoid these common mistakes, plan ahead, and save yourself a lot of money and time:

1.    DO know what the goal, or the purpose is, of your site. Without a clear goal, you can’t come up with a clear plan, and without a clear plan, the resulting site will be a wasted opportunity to get your message out there.
2.    DON’T plan your site around a DESIGN concept and then fill the design with CONTENT. You must know what that CONTENT is first, then plan the DESIGN around that CONTENT. This is critical to clarifying your website’s goal or message.
3.    DON’T use a non-professional to build your site in order to save money. You will eventually have to hire a professional to fix the problems that WILL occur, costing you more money in the long run than if you had hired a professional to begin with.
4.    DON’T hire a website designer who doesn’t understand how to optimize the site for Search Engines. You’ll wind up with a site…and no visitors.
5.    DON’T begin the build process until you have the previous four suggestions worked out, and you have your art, content, and plan IN HAND. If you start without your materials ready to go, you will encounter countless delays. It should not take six months to build your site.

Girl Friday Virtual Marketing and NeighborhoodNow are actual professionals…we don’t just play one on TV! Learn about our Workshops on “How to Navigate the Maze Of Online Marketing.” We are offering them in the North Bay and beyond, and can present to your company and staff, too.  For more information, email Girl Friday at info@e-girlfriday.com today!

Another way to get past the “Live News Feed” or “News Feed” is to Create a List:

1. On your HOME page, under the Left Sidebar, click on the “More” link to expand the Sidebar.
2. Click on “Create New List.” It will open a new window, where you will see all of your Friends listed.
3. Name your New List and then click on all the Friends whose Status Updates you would like to see (instead of the “News Feed”). When finished, click on “Create New List” button at the bottom of the window, and close it. (PS: you could even name your new list something like: “MY News Feed” if that works for you, or “My Music Friends,” or “Business Friends,” etc….you get the picture!)
4. It will place your New List in your left sidebar. Now, if you ONLY want to see the Status Updates of those Friends in your New List, just CLICK on that New List, and Facebook will only show you THOSE Friends’ Status Updates…there ya go!

It’s easy as buying an apple pie (not making one – I don’t think that is really easy!) You will be filtering your own News Feed and only seeing the stuff YOU have determined is of interest to you. FACEBOOK -  get outta our brains, fer gosh sakes!

(thanks Kirk for reminding me about this feature!)

Want to learn more? Girl Friday teaches workshops, consults with small businesses, designs stuff and writes things. Send her an email: info@e-girlfriday.com

Dear Facebook,

I finally understand it now:  The “News Feed” is the OLD “Highlights,” which used to live in the right sidebar. In the OLD “Highlights” section, you benevolently placed the updates and posts that received the most “Likes” or were widely read or linked to by Facebook friends. I get it! You have NOW placed those “Highlights” in the “News Feed” section, and you are so kindly determining which posts YOU think I might find interesting based on how many people read, “liked” or “commented” on those posts, or, which posts I commented on. Thank you!! (you could have told us!)

If I combine my new-found knowledge (almost impossible to find, no thanks to you) with my powers of deduction, my crystal ball, my astrologer and the Wiccan practitioner who lives down the street, I think I’ve unraveled The Mystery of Facebook’s Myriad Magical and Constant Changes to Their Interface, and have come to the conclusion that you are just trying to be helpful. Again. Thanks.

Please stop, dear. Just stop it. You’re confusing my Friends and they are getting cranky.

PLEASE send out some form of CLEAR, CONCISE information that will explain the DIFFERENCE BETWEEN:

the “News Feed”

the “Live News Feed”

and

the “Wall”

In the absence of your obviously understaffed Customer Relations department, Girl Friday will do her best now for her cranky, annoyed Friends:

1. The “Wall” on your PROFILE page: Post here, my dear Friends, when you want to Update your Status or post a Link, Video, Music and so on. When you Update Your Profile, your FRIENDS will see it )in their “News Feed” or “Live News Feed,” depending (see below!)  and, depending on your Settings, it may also come up on a Google search, etc. If what you post is particular interesting, and lots of Friends “like” it, “Comment” on it, etc., Facebook’s Magical Mystery Algorithm will deem that Update more worthy than others, and will stream it to the “News Feed” of your Friends who have shown through THEIR postings, usage, comments, etc. that what YOU’VE posted is interesting to them.  YOU NO LONGER NEED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ENJOY…FACEBOOK KNOWS FOR YOU!!! Woo hoo!!?
2. So, the “News Feed” is basically filtered Updates and posts that show up on your Home page, based on your past usage. Girl Friday thinks she has discovered this font of knowledge regarding Facebook’s changes, has researched it, and to the best of her knowledge, may even be slightly correct about this. However, Girl Friday would like to state right here, right now, that the information provided on this website should not be construed as personal medical advice or instruction and readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well being. Going nuts over Facebook does not constitute an actual medical condition, but rather presents itself as evidence that you may require other activities with which to occupy your time. Readers who fail to consult appropriate health authorities assume the risk of any injuries.
3. The “Live News Feed” is pure, unadulterated STUFF, STUFF and MORE STUFF from pretty much every one of your “Friends.” You know those Friends who tell you that they’ve: “Just had coffee, think I’ll visit the john” in their Updates? I’m talkin’ about them. They’re in your “Live News Feed.” That “Live News Feed” collects all the fascinating bits of trivia and drivel, along with the brilliant and witty art-music-poetry-life-affirmations that occasionally burst like little stars in the Facebook firmament. You could spend your whole day reading the “Live News Feed.” I suspect some of you do. But just in case you miss something while you are out actually living your life (as Girl Friday does manage to do, too, once in a while), Facebook stores up all those tidbits for you. So that when you log in again…they are waiting for you. You cannot escape them. Effluvia awaits, to drown your brain in Information Overload. Proceed with caution.
4. So: what to do? To remove the “News Feed” and begin the Road to Thought Recovery, go to your Home Page. In the left sidebar, click on “Status Updates.” You’re done. The News Feeds, both of them…the chum and the good stuff, will cease to exist for you. All you need to read will be the Status Updates of your Friends. That’s the stuff you’re interested in…right?
5. The Moral of This Story:  In a way, I think this is a Good Thing…the fact that Facebook has just really messed up your online mojo. Why? Because Girl Friday thinks there is enough irrelevant nonsense on the internet, and in Facebook and Twitter and on and on. If you’re going to write something….make it Entertaining, Communicative, Collaborative, Educational. Give something meaningful to the world. Facebook wants to filter out the boring, irrelevant stuff, and their attempts to do so are just annoying. Why not just provide some quality here, so that the geniuses at Facebook don’t have to spend their time trying to read our minds. Let’s make our Minds BETTER!!!  Better as in:  Write something edifying, post a beautiful photo or incredible video, or uplifting song, or quote from JesusBuddahMohammedOprah…whatever you are passionate about. If you do that consistently, Facebook may have to lay off some of their workers, which will be unfortunate, but they may then go out and start serving Curry Without Worry and making the world a better place in a new and different way and they will all get away from their computers which is what Girl Friday is going to do right now.PS: you can learn this stuff if you really want to. Girl Friday teaches workshops, barn dances, and cow-tipping…no, not really. She teaches a workshop on Online Marketing. Send her an email and ask about it:  info@e-girlfriday.com

Insert appropriate words where indicated:

“I’ve spent a ton of (money / time / effort) on my (website / blog / shopping cart) and I (haven’t sold a thing / have no traffic / have no clue what’s going on! )“

Sound familiar?? It sure does to Girl Friday! You can’t imagine how many times she has heard that sad story. But how could you know, really, that even though your brother-in-law did read “HTML for Dummies” cover-to-cover, he really doesn’t know how to build you a site that actually functions as a website should – that is, as a marketing tool to promote you online!!

Listen, dearie, you are one smart cookie…you’re reading this blog!!  So before you invest any more money or time:

1. 1. 1. figure out, based on what your goals are, which type of site is best for you; then
      2. learn to recognize the important factors that make up a good website
      3. ask some very important questions of your web designer and internet service provider (ISP)
      4. make sure they incorporate those critical tools and elements into your website/blog/e-commerce site.

You’ll save yourself a lot of stuff like money and time and aggravation and you’ll have more fun doing the other stuff you love!

Think about these things, and then have yourself a nice day.

PS: if you’d like to take a workshop on the above, Girl Friday is offering one with her friends at NeighborhoodNow. Just click here to read more details!!

Bye now!

Your Girl Friday

Ponder:

• What makes a good website? What’s better for your business and goals? A static site with a Content Management System? A Blog? An E-Commerce Site?

• Starting Over? Learn what you need to know and the steps you must take BEFORE investing time and effort in a website that gets no visitors and no customers. You can turn your website into an effective and dynamic marketing tool that WILL attract prospects, leads and customers.

• Ask the Right Questions: Does your website designer know about best techniques for optimizing your site for search engines, both behind the scenes and on your site pages? Is your website provider doing everything they can to make sure you are attracting visitors, extracting information from those visitors, and/or getting the website visitors to convert to a customer/client? This is stuff you need to ask, Bonky…don’t be shy!!