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Do You Understand What A Facebook Page Admin Is?

Key Points to Facebook Fan Pages:

• Multiple administrators are important in case a personal account gets shut down
• The fan page is not tied to the personal account that has set up the page unless they are the only admin
• Your business should always be a page and not personal account with a business name
• You should always be able to like a business not have to friend it
• You can now change a name of a fan page vs. losing all your followers to create something new

Frankly people amaze me with their lack of understanding about what they are doing at times. And then others amaze me as far as how they will jump on a negativity band wagon.

I follow a fb “Fan page” for a guy who is trying to find his lost dog. It has gathered momentum and has over 5000 followers…recently, for whatever reason, the person who has been administering the page, has decided to shut down his or her personal account. He is saying that he now has a new page that he wants all 5000 of his followers to “move over to.” The likelyhood of his message reaching all 5000+ of those people and having them all respond to his “call to action.” Are slim to none…

I mentioned on one of his posts that from a social media standpoint this is probably not a good idea. Others mentioned the same thing. Instead of taking the time to understanding that those of us who are saying don’t delete the current page are trying to help them, we have become the “haters” followed by all kinds of “hate speech” against those of us who are saying don’t delete it. People are saying, “Don’t tell them what to do.” “Do what you have to do and don’t listen to people who are telling you, you must keep this page.” “Ignore the haters who are telling you not to do what you need to do.” “Just be supportive and let them do what they need to do.” Really? What? Strange…

So I just tried (most likely unsuccessfully) to tell the administrator and the haters that there is no need to shut down the page just because you want to shut down the account. My comment was: “I don’t think you are getting it. The people who are saying it’s a bad idea to change the page are not trying to be negative or non-supportive they are saying that you do not lose a fb fan page if there are other admins even if the original page was created by you and you delete your fb personal account. If someone new was made an admin, and you then deleted your fb account the page would live on.

As a social media marketer, I create fb fan pages for clients all the time and once they are up and running I remove myself from admin and the page does not delete…nor would it delete if I closed my account… the thing here that people are concerned with is you have over 5000 followers, they are not all going to transition to a new page. So you will potentially lose that reach from a sm standpoint that is not so good… (I really don’t get why people think that when someone is trying to explain it to you that they are haters….so silly)”

Anyway, make sure you understand the ramifications of your actions as you change details about your fan pages. You want your followers to keep following it, you want them to be able to find it, and there is no need to take down a fan page and start something new for the same thing. You lose your momentum.

Can You Outsource Online Sales, Social Media and Blogging?

It isn’t always easy to keep up with the myriad of tasks you have on your plate as a business owner.  Can you outsource your blogging, social media, and online sales?

These three important aspects of your homebuilding business are definitely elements that need to be expertly addressed.  If you have a small office, and would like to keep your overhead costs down on employment, outsourcing to an expert may be your answer.  But how do you choose the right subcontractor?

Your best bet is to seek out and hire an expert who is already familiar with your industry.  Finding someone who speaks the language is essential and will save you time and frustration on training larger concepts.

Three important roles that today’s homebuilders should make a priority to fill are online sales counselors, bloggers, and social media managers. In today’s market if you are lacking these three roles, you are behind the times and your competition is ahead of the game and could be gaining momentum on you through creative relationship building and customer service.

An online sales counselor does not need to be onsite to be on target.  If you hire someone with experience in real estate sales and technology this role can be filled from a distance. Skills to look for in your online sales counselor are organization, writing ability, follow up skills, ability to qualify and ask questions, personable, professional, great phone presence, persistence, and if you are going to outsource you need to make sure you have a motivated self-started. Make sure you have the proper tools in place to outsource this position, which would include a dedicated CRM for homebuilders, proper reporting, and benchmarks for success.  It is also essential to set up proper communication and buy-in between onsite sales and online sales counselor so that they work together as a team.

A social media manager is someone who knows your industry, is up on the latest technology and can organize and implement a social media plan that is targeted for your business. This is a person who is knowledgeable about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and any other social media channels that can be useful to your business.  This is a person who can do most of your posting, and can collaborate with your onsite sales people to create and post current information such as photographs, videos, events, openings, and customer appreciation.

Content is king, and blogging on your real estate site is important to keep search engine spiders crawling new content. Blogging, along with the rest of your social media, helps craft your company’s identity. Blogging can assist in establishing yourself as a knowledgeable company in your field.  Blogging gives buyers insight into your homes, your philosophy and your ability.  Again by hiring someone with excellent writing skills and familiarity with your field, you can create a set of parameters or writers guidelines and easily outsource this peice of the puzzle.

These roles can all be filled by the same industry expert or organization if they posses the skill sets for each individual role.  Talk with us more about filling these roles in your business.

Twitter: As Captain Kirk Would Say "Engage"

Did you answer the questions about your business in our last blog post?  That worksheet will help you decide whether you are marketing business to business or business to client. You have a different approach if you have a product to sell,  or a service.  You need to decide if you can reach your audience directly through twitter, or if you need to go to a middle man. As an example is your product such that mommy bloggers would want to talk about them, and your audience is those that listen to mommy bloggers? This is an important way to decide exactly how you are going to engage.

Once you’ve come up with these key aspects of your business, then you can begin to develop an action plan on how best to utilize twitter.  If you are business to business, do you know whether or not the businesses you want to interact with are on twitter? Try doing a search on twitter with keywords to see which users fit those target words or which users are talking about your target words. This will help you learn if you are in the right place to begin with. If you are selling a product or a service searching keywords to find out if people are asking for those services can also be helpful.

Next step, as Captain Kirk would say, “Engage.” It’s not simply about pushing out your message, that would simply be spam on twitter, it’s important to talk to people, and read what they are writing about to understand what they want or need out of twitter. Retweet their blogs and their thoughts, and make sure you have a few of your own. (Blogs and thoughts) it’s not all regurgitation of information, there needs to be a sincere desire to socialize. That is why they are called social networks. You can’t simply place your company on autopilot because you see Twitter among other social networks as a tool, you must actually use it to build relationships by finding other people talking about or needing what you have to offer.

How are You Making Twitter Work for Your Business?

Do you keep asking yourself how can twitter help my business? How can I use twitter? And what is the point? If so you are not alone. Many people get started on twitter and don’t know what they really want to use it for. It is not a business tool for everyone, but it can be a powerful business tool if used properly and with a plan.

The types of questions you want to ask yourself when using twitter are the following:

What is my focus for using twitter?
Are using twitter because someone told you to put a twitter page up and your clients will find?
Are you trying to sell something?
Are you trying to make friends?
Are you trying to increase your influence in your field?
Are you giving advice?

Who is my Audience? 
Are you trying to engage an audience of your colleagues and friends?
Are you trying to sell a product or a service?
Is your audience a specific demographic?
Who else engages your demographic?

How am I trying to engage them? 
Are you engaging people on a one on one basis, are you posting articles and ideas out there?
Are you simply reguritating other peoples articles and ideas?
How much of your content is original?
Are you using search tools to find other people talking about your topics?
Are you interacting with people?

What is my call to action?
Are you driving people to your website?
Are you filling your fan page on facebook?
Are you trying to get people to attend a seminar?
Are you getting people to read your blog?
Are you getting people to look at your products?

Once you answer these kinds of questions we will get into more detail on how to put together a twitter stradegy that is right for your business.

Goals For The New Year – They Might Surprise You

So here we are almost the last day of 2011. Blue Gypsy Inc has nearly completed it’s 2nd year of existence and through hard work, top notch service and dedication we’ve doubled the gross income of the company and pleased many clients throughout the year.

But the blog for Blue Gypsy Inc has taken a hit, as has the twitter feed. Which is somewhat ironic since we’ve probably put out an average of about 2000 tweets for clients this year, About 500 facebook posts for clients, and written upwards of 150 blogs and articles for clients this year…not to mention everything else we do!

But Blue Gypsy Inc. went from 66 blog posts in 2010 to 22 blog posts in 2011. And the numbers for tweeting and facebook followed suit.  My goal for 2012: Step up the social media engagement for Blue Gypsy Inc. I feel the most important element is blogging.  My goal is to write a minimum of 2 blogs per month for Blue Gypsy Inc. I also write 1 blog per month for Business Chopstix. Business Chopstixs is a Business Talent Collaboration blog focused on all things Business, Marketing, Tips, Advice, Technology, Social Media and more.

With this in mind I plan to balance work for my clients and work for Blue Gypsy Inc better. I also plan on balancing my personal goals which are more exercise and fitness. By this time next year with as much hard work and dedication that I put into my clients I plan to put that dedication into myself and be 50 lbs lighter!

What are your business and personal goals for the new year?