So I “liked” their page and then had a change of heart.  But what are they doing?  They are promoting what many local businesses can do on Facebook : Congratulating their employee of the month with a photo, asking the community to wear red for heart month,  giving their users updates on availability of the flu shot, and updating their patients and friends on office hours for all their locations.

If three out of four people are on this social media platform, maybe it’s time for you to talk about your business on Facebook.

While automation in tweeting and Facebook posting certainly has it’s place and can be a time saver, we at Seven Waves Marketing and the Marketing Dock don’t think it should be the total focus of your social media marketing.  The human factor of social media can never be replaced.

We humans make mistakes like posting the wrong photo or we retweet the wrong message.  But doesn’t that offer reality compared to perceived perfection for a brand?

Even the name of social media is morphing and is now integrated into most of the brands we see everyday. So is there a formula for standing out?  Blasting out messages at a certain time or having the biggest voice in your industry.  Retweeting the same message 3 times?  Talking only about yourself and driving people only to your website or blog?

If there is no interaction, conversation or sharing behind your brand, you might be missing something.

Social Media in Savannah

1.  Don’t apologize for not writing for a while – most people just want the information, not reasons as to why you have not been blogging.

2. Please don’t vent about politics or why someone did not live up to your expectations.  Some tend to use social media as a complaint forum.  I suggest avoiding complaints even on Twitter, although there comes a time and place when awareness needs to be raised about an issue.  Just don’t make complaining a daily habit.

3. Never steal work from others.  I saw so many acts of plagiarism in 2010.  Some might consider this flattery, but it’s stealing and fortunately sites like Twitter allow people to call it as they see it. When in doubt – don’t!

4. Remember that words are powerful – they can uplift and they can hurt.

5. Each Social Media Tool should be treated separately.  While blogs, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, etc. all work together – when updating information to one and all, it can come back to bite you.  Take for instance the Linked In weekly update.  If you have a habit of “tweeting” late at night about random items, yet have a professional Linked In account … the last crazy thing you tweeted could show up in the weekly update (I’ve seen it happen).

Have a Happy Social Media New Year!

• Be sure to get in the facebook news feed by posting often.

• The latest statistics prove posting most often on facebook puts you right in the news feed of your page fans.

• According to Vitrue the most popular times for big brands to post is:  11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET, but see what works best for your audience.  I’ve personally found that early morning, noon, and 7:30 – 8:30 pm is the peak time.
• Make it fun! Take some photos and tag your customers or fellow employees
• Be sure to check your page once a day
  Just in case there is a question on your page or to delete spam messages
  *facebook has a new spam  filter on business pages, but but it’s still not catching all the spam.
• Make sure they can find you in the search bar:  register your customized facebook url page here:
  http://www.facebook.com/username/
• Have your friends and business associates depend on you for information
  Post interesting information on your business or your sector of the market and keep the information coming on a regular basis.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 1:00 pm – 4:00pm
Savannah State University, Social Science Building – Lab 106, 3219 College Street, Savannah, GA

FEE: $90 per GCN member; $130 per non-member. If your organization does not have a training budget, contact us about fee options.

Have you been wondering what social media is all about and if it is worth the time? It is! Your nonprofit can engage with funders and volunteers on a whole new level using free resources like Facebook and twitter. We’ll show you how both small and large nonprofits can benefit from these tools, walk you through how to use them, and help you think through developing a marketing plan. You will get hands on experience working in Facebook and Twitter.

*Special opportunity: An attending nonprofit with an upcoming event will receive a free, 30 day use of Savannah company Evoca’s easy-to-use VideoKit to create a video about their event and post it to their nonprofit’s Facebook page!

TO REGISTER: Online Marketing Strategies Oct. 26th

It’s a Facebook “Like Page” in Reverse!  This photo says it all when the business likes you instead of the other way around.  It’s brilliant marketing with a look at the basics of customer service.  The photo was taken at a neighborhood hardware store.

Facebook makes it easy to be an administrator of a business page with seamless transition.  Once you sign into your personal account, it’s easy to switch over to your business page to make a few comments and it’s done as the voice of the brand.  Then hop back over to your personal page and anything you post is your personal identity.

The challenges and objections of  the personal page and being an admin for a work page conflict can be easily overcome by opening up another facebook account.   The employer can then bear the burden of promoting their own brand and one way would be to advertise the page on facebook until the buzz begins.

I’ll be presenting at the Savannah Chamber Expo on Sept. 21st at 1:00 on:

How to Set-Up a Facebook Page For Your Business, Tips and Tricks for Enhancing Your Brand Learn how to display graphics, videos, and important basics for making your business “likeable” on  Facebook.

Location:  Savannah Civic Center

On this Labor Day, Seven Waves Marketing and The Marketing Dock reflects back to September 1st, as we celebrated one year in business.  Thank you to all the creative bloggers and our local networking community who have opened new doors, exchanged ideas, and made this all possible.

Evoca is always branching out and just announced they are now working with Hospice patients to capture their stories as a family keepsakes.  The Evoca system allows you to record on any hand held phone, which serves as a microphone.

Simply upload to an Evoca account directly from your phone device and later grab the code for a player and park right on your blog or website. It’s also easy to post your recording link directly to Twitter from your account.  For a look at the web players in action, visit The Cradle of Prayer Listening Room.

There are so many ways this unique system can be used, and I’m told that recordings have been made on cell phones right in the midst of disaster, such as the Haiti earthquake, and on the mission field to report back to headquarters in an effortless way.  Teachers even use Evoca to test students remotely who are taking a language class.

Since the world is so mobile and smart phones are the primary source of communication, Evoca makes it easy for business opinion polls or user driven call-in recordings.  With a free 30 day trial offer, it’s hard to think of a reason not to use this unique system. http://www.evoca.com

*Seven Waves Marketing is the founder of The Marketing Dock.

Providing a practical business or social media application is one of the best ways to create brand new content – especially after you have tested.

So the art of stealing other’s ideas on the web has certainly been going on for quite some time, and now there are even personal attacks going on within the blogging community in response to tweets.  Isn’t it amazing how people react and respond to the written word?

Make your words count and blog with purpose, while not getting caught up in the fray of criticism of others.  Here are suggestions

1.    Offer insight and tips for social media users.
2.    Share a piece of knowledge from your industry.
3.    Have you made a new software discovery?  Let others know how it worked for you.
4.    Write about a service you provide and why others need it.
5.    Tell others about the benefits or unusual features of the products you sell.
6.    Show photos of real people using and enjoying your products.
7.    Write about how you solved a difficult customer problem.

Yes, the rule of thumb is to make blog entries novel length and blog a lot, but contrary to the normal rules, life at the Marketing Dock doesn’t seem to work that way and surely we don’t want this reputation:

From the Urban Dictionary Blog Definition 1. “A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life.”  And Bloggers= “Modern day hippies”.
Blog #2 “those written by people who are experts on a topic they’re writing about, and their posts can be very useful to other people who are working on similar things. Such blogs are very informative, and have a purpose.