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Facebook brings a world of possibilities to your business. It gives you the ability to interact daily with those who keep your business going. You can develop truly personal relationships with your customers. It allows for consistent interaction. The potential to grow your business through Facebook is phenomenal. That is, it can be if you use it correctly. For those that are not familiar with using Facebook for business purposes it can be confusing. There are more options than you can imagine for just simply creating your account. One of the biggest things that people wonder when signing up is whether they should go with a standard profile or a business fan page. If your business is not big enough to have a significant number of fans then the idea of a fan page may seem silly. What you have to understand is that there is a big difference between the two. A standard profile uses the art of “friending” people to make connections. That means that your customers would have to submit a friend request. The biggest downfall of this alternative is that standard profiles are limited to 5000 friends at the moment. In other words, your growth is limited. I know you read 5000 and you might think my little business will never exceed that anyway – but let’s dream big and believe that you will! A fan page is much different. People simply like your page, rather than friending you. Anyone can like the page at any time. They will still receive your updates, and the amount of people that like you is unlimited. You have the ability to grow as large as your imagination will allow. For most businesses, this is the best option. There are many other reasons why a page is important for business and I will cover those in a later post but this one simple reason should be enough to help with your decision. Friend profiles are best left to personal pages for the simple act of catching up with those you care about.

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Now will this blog post be shared on my Facebook page … not my profile!!

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Does this application work to share a blog post on Facebook automatically?? Let’s see …

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Is appearance really important? It’s an age old debate that will likely never go away. There are those that say it does, and those that say it does not. However, in the business world there is no way to deny it. The answer is a resounding yes. Customers, clients and others will undoubtedly base their first impression on what they see. For some, it may not be a lasting impression as the core of the business comes to the forefront. Unfortunately, that is the exception to the rule. Most will find that the initial impression remains locked in the mind and is the basis for many decisions thereafter. When it comes to social media it is easy to sit back and think that the look of your site does not have a significant impact. The reality, however, is that it does. Those who visit your social media site will first notice the way it looks and how easy it is to maneuver. If you haven’t put the proper time and attention into the design of your space then that first impression may not be a good one. The goal is to portray your business as one that is not only professional, but that values the customer or client. This is achieved through making certain that your look matches your vision, goal and potential. Opting for the right social media design can impact your business goals in tremendous ways. Choosing to stick with the standards can leave you as nothing more than another face in the crowd. When the time comes to update the look and feel of your social media presence Mayvin Training can help you determine just the right image for you.

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Blogs have existed on the internet for far more years than people have known about them. The explosion occurred when people that have been labeled as ‘mummy-bloggers’ gained the notice of a wide audience. Soon these pages were being shared and new and creative blogs continued to pop up. Some of those bloggers make a decent living doing something they have been doing for years. With the increase in popularity of the blogging world, the tide began to turn for businesses. Many have jumped on the train to incorporate blogging into their own marketing schemes. After all, people are flocking to blogs in massive numbers. Why not take advantage and use it as a tool to increase your own revenue. How does this help? For starters, you are able to develop a more personal relationship with the readers. You can choose to add some interactivity so that they can communicate with you, or you can keep it simple and informative. Either way you are giving them more to base your business on than a building or even a website. You attach a human component to what was otherwise just a name. Of course, you have the added advantage of keeping them informed about your company and what is going on with it. Blogs have become the normal way for people to find the information they need. If you create your own then you will begin to see how effective it can be. You do not have to be a mummy to gain the potential that comes from a well-written blog.

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People are searching for you and your business. Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Every day there are people searching for what you have to offer. The problem is that they can’t find you if you are not in a place to be found. For many years this meant that businesses focused on creating websites and placing prominently in search engine results. Now, that is not nearly as important as it once was. Why is that? Because social media has overtaken the need for a prominent website and that is where people are expecting to find you. Do you have a social media site? This consists of everything from a Facebook page to a business blog and all sites in between. If you do not, you should. Massive numbers of people are joining social media on a daily basis. Simply having a place on each of the sites expands your audience in ways that you could have only imagined. You have the potential to grow your business, creating lasting relationships and see a rise in your revenue simply because you are located where people are looking. The old adage that if you build it they will come could not be truer than in the social realm. If you have a Facebook page, it will get shared and people will begin to like it and interact with it. If you jump on the Twitter bandwagon, people will follow. If you create an informative and interesting blog, you will have readers. This is what you want and it can never happen if you do not take the first steps. Create it and watch it grow.

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Social media has created a new realm in the world that has never existed before. Where else is it not only okay, but widely recommended, to follow people and copy what they say word for word? Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and more have taken interaction between friends, professionals and even businesses to a new level. Have you jumped on board? If you are like most business people then you understand the power that each of these social media platforms has to offer. You have to the potential to reach infinitely more people than you ever imagined with your company. The best way to maximize your advantages is to utilize each of these platforms and works towards bringing people from one site to another. Friends that you have on Facebook can become your followers on Twitter and vice versa. As you begin to take advantage of social media you will find that it serves a multitude of purposes. Not only does it allow you to provide some interactivity between your business and those that help to sustain it, it also allows you unlimited marketing potential. At a time when keeping costs low is vital, why not take advantage of any aspect of free marketing that you can get. Used properly the many forms of social media can effectively drive traffic to your virtual site or your brick and mortar building. The key is to learn how to intertwine a combination of each platform to move those interested up to the level of true fan and customer.

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It can be easy to be skeptical of something as popular as the current social media platforms. What happens when people become bored and move on the latest and greatest thing? Have you wasted all of your energy and time marketing to an audience that may not even be there tomorrow? After all, look at some of the social media sites of the past and see how they have seemed to be forgotten over time. The distinct reality is that not everything will last forever. There are some social media sites that continue to grow and thrive and the expectation is that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Yet, there are those that were once considered the latest and greatest that no one even talks about anymore. It is possible. You just have to look at it from another perspective. Customers that find you through today’s social media platforms are utilizing what is current and desirable. That does not mean that if the site folds or becomes less popular they will forget about the businesses that they have grown to like. Instead, they will move forward and look for your business on the newer and better sites. In the meantime, the customer base and business growth that you experience is far from wasted. It is not going to go away if a site seems to. You will just adapt and move with your customers to where they can be reached. In past decades newspaper advertising was the prime way to get the business out in front of customers. As the digital age continues to grow, printed newspapers are dying. Those customers are not leaving the businesses. They are simply looking for them in other areas, such as social media sites. Growth will continue. At this moment, it is centered around the available social media sites. Take advantage of them while you can.

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I just received this thank you email from Sonja Breddels, Executive Officer of Kiama & District Chamber of Commerce. I had the privilege of speaking at their monthly meeting and it seems I was able to simplify social media for the attendees. A big thanks to Sonja for the opportunity to speak and for her kind message, but even more important to me is Sonja’s decision to pay attention to social media to grow her business. “Good morning Francine, Thank you very much for the excellent presentation at our March network meeting. I really think many people (including myself) will actively participate in a smarter way with their social media skills. I personally always found it a chore, however you simplified the whole process & I appreciate it. Thank you again Francine. Sonja”  

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So by now you would have heard about the changes to Facebook this week. Before you get anxious and concerned about having to learn how to use Facebook all over again … rest assured these changes aren’t bad, they are just different. There is some bad news but there is definitely some good news! Let’s start with the differences: All visitors now land on your Timeline. We can no longer set a default landing tab, or welcome tab. I believe Welcome tabs will still have a place on your business page, we will just have to be more creative about how we use them. The profile banner has been replaced with a large cover image and small thumbnail/profile image. The cover image is a large horizontal banner at the top of your business page. You can use a photograph or a graphic design. Facebook have put some strict guidelines around what can be included on this cover image. Facebook says cover images may not contain:  * Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website” * Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section * References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features * Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends” Tab/application icons are much bigger. This may be the opportunity to be innovative. You might recall applications were listed underneath the profile image with a very small image and a text link to the page/application. These have relocated to the top, underneath the cover image, and the size has increased .. alot. We can change these icons easily! And put them in the order we would like them to appear. Tabs, like the old Welcome Page, were a maximum of 520 pixels wide. This has increased by 55% to 810 pixels. That’s a lot more space! We can now pin posts to the top of our timeline for up to a week. Highlighting what is most important at any time, so for example, if you have a promotion running for an entire week you can pin that status at the top of the page to be seen by all visitors. We can now send and receive messages from the business page, instead of our personal profile. This is a great feature. A brand new Admin panel. Loads of new features – notifications, insights, new likes, messages etc. You really should go in and have a look. It is really easy to navigate and gain insight into your page. Let’s have a look at all of this in context … I hope you have enjoyed this overview. Facebook have made some great demo videos which you can watch to be sure you are clear on the changes. There is no rush to move or convert your page to the new Timeline. There are some bugs in the page, such as posts not showing up on the timeline. These will be ironed out over time. You can preview your page, without anyone else seeing it, and when you’re ready you can click publish for all to see. The official date for launch is 31st March and on that day anyone who hasn’t already published will be, by Facebook. If you have questions please pop over and ask me on Mayvin Training’s Facebook page.