For those Facebook users that use their “Insights” tools there are great new improvements.  Facebook has now given us a plugin that will help you track how your website content is performing on Facebook.  Ultimately this means that you will be able to improve your content and optimize it for Facebook users.   A great feature of this tool is that you can get results in realtime. 

Facebook makes the use of these results easy, they give them to you in an easy to read graph.  For website publishers this will mean that if you have a post or article that is getting a lot of Facebook attention you can see what is happening and possibly increase the visibility or prominence of the content. 

These analytics allow you to see where your traffic is coming from.  You can tell where your visitors are being referred from and how many clicks you are getting.  This is key in knowing your demographic.  You can even see who “Likes” a post or how much traffic your site is getting from Facebook.

The new plugin allows users to see who their audience is.  You can tell gender, age or country your traffic is in.  It is important for users who want to make this plugin work for them to really learn how to read the results of the analytics.  These are powerful tools for increasing your traffic as well as pleasing your target customers.

facebook, Facebook analytics, Facebook Insights, website traffic

Get the Most ROI for Your Social Media Marketing…

White label daily deals platform and TC Disrupt finalist ChompOn is releasing some interesting data today comparing the value of shares, Tweets, likes and follows in the context of e-commerce. Using data from the sites that it powers daily deals for, ChompOn examined the conversion rate and action for deals shared on Facebook and Twitter.

According to the startup, the value of a Facebook share is $14 and the value of a Tweet is $5. For shares and tweets, ChompOn was able to directly attribute sales to the original action and took the total revenue attributed to each action and divided it by the total number of shares/Tweets. ChompOn is working with 50 partners including Blackbook Magazine, JDeal and the wine vertical of flash sales site Beyondtherack, to power Groupon-like crowdsourced coupons.

By comparison, ChompOn says the value of a Facebook like is $8 and the value of a Twitter Follow is $2. For likes and follows, ChompOn estimated attribution by looking at traffic references and subtracting out purchases made through shares/Tweets as well as purchases made through direct traffic. Of course this data is a bit tenuous and anecdotal. And it’s important to note that this analysis does not capture the long-term value of customers over time.

We’ve seen other data that shows the higher value of a Facebook share over a Tweet. Eventbrite recently reported that a share with Facebook friends results in $2.52 worth of ticket sales whereas a Twitter share is only worth $0.43.

As we wrote back then, Facebook and email most closely match your real friends. In the context of events, this produces better conversions. But it’s interesting to see that in terms of commerce, Facebook again provides a higher value than Twitter in terms of conversions.

blogging, facebook, Social Empire Media Marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, Twitter

To Find Out InformationContact Us Today!!! 
Let Social Empire Media Marketing help you set up your Custom Facebook Page and Social Media Strategy…

www.facebook.com/brandonlangerssymmetrydirectblog

With the movie “The Social Network” out in theatres and all the buzz that surrounds that, there is even more interest in Facebook.  In typical Facebook (genius) fashion, FB has now made it possible to get more creative with your page.  For private pages and businesses alike, this is a great boon.  Here we will discuss just a few things you can do to utilize these new features!

1.  Find a new profile templates that reflect your personality or the attitude of your business.  If you are a business owner, you can be very creative and connect with people through these creative medians.  Just be sure to keep it professional.  It may be hard to believe but professional can be fun and creative without losing credibility.  Make your page something to keep coming back to.

2.  Use photography.  Some of you may have seen different profiles where one picture is displayed through many different blocks on the page.  It gives the illusion that the full photo is behind the “wall” on your Facebook page.

3.  Get creative with your photography.  Check out this link.  If you have the know how and the creativity, you can have a lot of fun with your product, personal photos or whatever you choose.

The opportunities to have fun with this are endless and keep in mind – you want to keep people on your page and interested.  We all want our visitors to keep coming back.  Keep it fresh, updated and relevant and you can’t go wrong!

Social Empire Media Marketing Sample Facebook Pages Links:

www.facebook.com/chapmanchiesl

www.facebook.com/gotopatty

www.facebook.com/voakhomesrealestate

www.facebook.com/baggettrealty

http://www.facebook.com/RobertMaesandAssociates

http://www.facebook.com/PowayRealEstate?ref=ts&sk=app_4949752878

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weichert-Realtors-Elite/129540968782

http://www.facebook.com/luxuryhomesofhenderson#!/pages/Luxury-Homes-of-Henderson/127115167326447

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheFleetWoodSD?sk=app_4949752878d

blogging, facebook, Facebook profile, Facebook template, Social Empire Media Marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, Twitter

How Strong is your Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Stay Socially Connected

In late December there were reports of a woman who put together a class reunion by finding all of her classmates on Facebook.  About 10 days after the class reunion her husband left her.  Her Facebook friends found out that she was left with children to take care for and a mountain of debt.  She was devastated and her friends wanted to help her. 

The friends she had on Facebook set up a page on her behalf that she could not access.  Within a short time, her friends organized meals to be delivered to her home, packages with items for children (like diapers, etc) and more to help this single mom out of her situation.  She was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity and the power of Facebook in spreading the word and bringing her friends together for her benefit.

For those of you who doubt the power of social media, perhaps you need to hear more stories like this one.  It is so easy for a cause, a business or just something entertaining to go “viral”.  If you are in business you really need to understand the power in social media in this day and age.  Few marketing strategies are so cost effective while being so very powerful.

If you want to know how social media can help you in your business or in any other way, please contact us and let us help you.

facebook, Social Media, social media marketing

You may have recently received or seen messages on Twitter and Facebook offering a free iPad.   If you saw this it could be that your friends have fallen for this latest scam.  The Twitter safety people say:  “If you’ve received a message promising you a new ipad, not only is there no ipad, but also your friends have been hacked.”   Twitter also says that for those who were “hacked” they will be sending out password reset messages.

The  message that users see usually say something to the effect that you must check something out and because there is a problem with the system it is sending out free iPads to everyone.    The message then contains a link that when you click on it gathers your personal information.  If you do receive messages or did click on these types of links it is a good idea to go in immediately and change your password. 

This scam is just one more warning as to why you should never follow links that sound too good to be true or offer something for nothing.  It is also a reminder of why you NEVER offer your personal information online unless you know exactly who it is that you are giving it to.  Even then you need to use a lot of common sense.  Nothing is fool proof and anyone can fall prey to these types of scams but if you are aware of them you know what to look for.

facebook, Facebook scam, free iPad, iPad, online scams, Twitter, Twitter scam

We recently did a post on Foursquare reaching a milestone in their “check ins”.  Here we will discuss location based applications and what they do for your business.  It is important to note that now, more than ever, all businesses should be taking advantage of these powerful and free resources online.

What are location based applications?  These applications let consumers tell their network of friends online where they have been and what they are doing.  This is like tweeting on Twitter but the world knows where you are and you can post that you found a great sale somewhere and tell your friends when that sale ends.  Or say Starbucks is having a giveaway that ends at 3 p.m., you can let your friends know so they can join in the fun before the event ending time.

Here are a few of the location based applications that we know to be great! 

1. SCVNGR- This is a  fun application.  Rather than simply telling friends you have been to a location you actually have a challenge to do at that location.  You check in at a location and take pictures, answer riddles, do challenges and more.  For customers this adds a fun element to exploring the city around them.  For business owners this is a great way to build exitement about events, sales, and more.  For example, you could have a challenge in a clothing store that whoever folds the most t-shirts in 45 seconds gets a gift certificate or a savings of some kind. 
2. Gowalla - The application allows you to visit different businesses and locations and give your friends tips and recommendations.  When you check in to a certain place you get a stamp in your passport.  Gowalla has games where they make “trips” and as you complete the trips you can win certain items.  This is a great way to encourage more participation from your customers.
3. Facebook - Just this month Facebook announced their new product which allows users to check in to certain locations.  As with their photos you can even “tag” your friends that are with you on your outing!  As users post the place that they are in a feed is sent to that locations Facebook page as well.  This can be fun because if you check in at a location and your Facebook friends get your update you can join each other for coffee or a museum tour.  The possibilities are endless. 
4. Brightkite - This is an application that is very much like Foursquare but the main difference is that you have more options.  You can chat, update, upload photos and more.  Businesses benefit because you can really get specific about the geographical location of your visitors.   Say you own a salon – you can send out a message to those that are checking in that if they bring in a friend their service gets a 20% discount or another incentive. 
5. Loopt- This application actually has many different aspects for the iPad.  For users you can check in at locations and keep up with your friends.  For the business owner it is a great way to spread the word about promotions, discounts, coupons and more.  You can also offer virtual rewards for your customers.
6. Whrrl -  This is a unique application that focuses in on specific audiences.  The are called “societies”.  For example if you are an avid bird watcher you would be in a society with people that have the common interest.  For the business owner you can offer what they call “society rewards”.  This is their version of a loyalty rewards program or frequent flyer number.  It is a great tool for offering rewards for frequenting your business. 

While you may see a lot of very large businesses getting in on this type of marketing, you should know that the small business owner has a lot to gain from these applications.  Use them to your advantage and watch your sales soar!

Brightkite, facebook, Gowalla, location based applications, Loopt, SCVNGR, Twitter, Whrrl

As most have probably heard by now, Facebook has had some issues with privacy settings.  First users complain that the privacy settings aren’t good enough and then they claim they are too complicated.  For a while now it seems that Facebook has been struggling with keeping it’s users happy.

On the flip side, Facebook is a phenomena that is new to all of us.  The marketing power from networking  on Facebook is very powerful and I think most of us would agree that the good out weighs the bad on Facebook.  However, privacy is a huge issue in our world today and users take this very seriously and rightfully so.  Because the popularity of Facebook is something  uncharted there is no way they were going to be able to do everything perfectly right off the bat.  Times change, and so do the issues that affect us all.  The best a company can do is to try to foresee problems and prevent them and then take action quickly when issues do arise.

The CEO of Facebook came out in an open letter saying that while they may have hesitated to speak out until recently, they have been focusing on fixing the issues that are a problem.  We have to hand it to Facebook for being proactive and for looking after it’s users and listening to their feedback so that they can make the appropriate changes.

There are claims that many Facebook users have closed their accounts recently.  While this may be justified (no one can really tell) it is recommended to change your privacy settings to protect yourself and to not reveal things on any social networking site (or anywhere really) that you do not want shared with the world.

facebook, Facebook privacy, online privacy, privacy