The what, who, when, where & why of Facebook

Facebook is easily the most controversial major social network. Seemingly constant changes to Facebook's user interface, its functionality, and the algorithm that controls what we all see have led marketers and users alike to feel nearly constant frustration with the service.

So, if it’s so bad, why do we keep logging in? What keeps us coming back to this Web site that inspires such frustration?

Our friends. Our business. Our interests.

Yes - even if we see each of them less and less. The thing is, I doubt we'd like it if the algorithm wasn't prioritizing our newsfeed. And Facebook is still the largest and most-used social network on the Internet, which makes it relevant and important to your business.

What is Facebook?

Believe it or not, I meet people regularly who don't have Facebook accounts. They have their reasons, but if you're not on Facebook yet, it's hard to know what you're missing. Facebook is the quintessential social network. It started out as a two-way connection - reciprocity required. I send you a friend request, you accept or don't accept. One choice means I have access to your content and you have access to mine. Declining my request means we don't. 

"Friendship" is still the primary focus of the network, though they have since added Pages, Groups, Interest Lists, and Followers - all of which are not reciprocal connections.

Who should use Facebook?

From a personal perspective, I think that anyone who wants to connect with other people can get value out of Facebook. The idea that social media makes us less social doesn't have to be the reality - and it isn't for most. From a business or entity perspective, Facebook is a valuable marketing tool. There are over 1.3 billion active accounts on Facebook. It would be a rare business that can't find its audience in a pool of people that size.

When (and how) should I post?

Post at least daily, but not too often. The frequency your audience will respond to is potentially different from my audience and likely based on what kind of business you run. Media outlets can get away with posting numerous articles every day. A small business might post only once per day. For the majority of businesses, a maximum of 2-4 times a day is a good guideline. Facebook users will “unlike” your page if you annoy them. I know I have.

Be sure to share a mix of content - status updates, links, videos, photos - so that you get a better idea of what works best. The algorithm changes, so maintaining a mix ensures you won't get caught up in some of the silly (and fleeting) trends that don't work in the first place. 

Where should you post?

Over the years, Facebook has done a lot of work to improve its mobile app - from splitting out Messenger and Groups to improve loading time, to adding more and more of the browser app's functionality, such as editing, comment replies, and more. The list of actions you can only do in the web browser is getting shorter and shorter all the time. So, where should you post? Pretty much wherever you want.

Why should you be on Facebook?

I really like Facebook. The potential for collaboration, connection, information consumption are all pretty much endless. I've created and found support networks, small and large, through Facebook. I use Groups for my work with Lara on WWC, as well as part of the delivery of our programs. A lot of the issues people have with Facebook tend to be rooted in unrealistic expectations. Your audience has never all been guaranteed to see your content - not in newspapers, on television, on your website, on Twitter, or any other medium that you contribute to - not even when Facebook didn't have ads was 100% your audience guaranteed to see your content.

Developing a presence on Facebook can bring good things in the form of better relationships personally and professionally. It can also have an impact on the bottom line for businesses. However, no one should have a presence unless it makes sense to achieve business goals and they have the resources to be consistent. 

What would you add to the 5 Ws of Facebook?

Watching YouTubers doing it right

I may have a bit of an obsession with YouTube. It's a hobby and I love it, and I can chalk it all up as business research now that I'm writing this blog post!

In the year or so that I've found a lot of the big name YouTubers (those are the ones who make substantial livings off their YouTube fame) time and time again I've seen that most of them are doing a lot of what we advise our clients to do and slowly but surely it has turned into Internet fame.

I'm not promising internet fame here, but let's pull out the important pieces:

Great content

Good YouTubers figure out what their audiences want and they provide it. It also needs to be in line with what they want at the same time for it to be successful and for them to want to keep doing it.

Music covers are one my favourite things to watch on YouTube. High quality covers of recent popular songs are gold for a musician making videos (I make no apologies for loving Taylor Swift's new song. I even like the original!).

I could post examples of great YouTube content all day from comedy to musicians to cooking shows, but that would be too distracting so I'll just share one more. I made this meal and it was amazing and now I can't get enough of all the Sorted Food videos.

Consistent schedule

Most YouTubers have a schedule they stick to. Grace Helbig of It's Grace made a video Monday through Friday for years and has only recently gone down to three videos a week.  

Hank and John Green (the vlogbrothers) post a video every Tuesday and Friday.

Fans expect the content and if they go to the channel on those days and there aren't videos they are disappointed.

It's not fast

A lot of these people have had YouTube channels for years. It's take awhile to get to the point where they now make enough money to make YouTube (and all that it's brought them) their career, but slow and steady wins the race.

Opportunities come knocking

While a lot of YouTubers make money on their content alone, they also make money from advertising and from companies, such as Patreon and Subbable that have popped up to help content creators find ways to make money online. For example, Walk off the Earth gets a dollar from me every time they make a new video through Patreon. In addition to this, there are also lots of opportunities that pop up as a result of their internet success, including:

Book deals:

Opportunities to be on Broadway and Tours

TV show deals

Consistent quality content aimed at your audience is what helps grow your reputation online. Whether you're creating content to help business owners learn to use social media or you're just out to entertain, it always come back to quality content.

Leave a comment and let me know if you've seen anyone online slowly grow to huge success with the delivery of consistent valuable content. And also let me know if you have any favourite YouTube channels because I'm always looking to check out more!

Benefits of customers telling your story

Who doesn't want this?

Last week, Lara wrote about how you can invite your customers to tell their story. Taking this step may be slightly anxiety-inducing if you’re worried about what people will say. However, when your business is delivering high-quality and meeting the needs of clients and customers, the risk is minimal.

Customers who support your business and have a relationship with you or your organization will be happy to spend some time making recommendations. And, though some pretty sensationally bad customer service situations get a lot of attention, those instances truly are the exception to the rule. Even most complaints don’t make it onto the Internet.

There are two really good reasons to ask your clients and customers to talk about you:

1. If they feel strongly enough to say something - positive or negative - they are more likely to talk about you with or without a prompt.
2. Ask and you shall receive. It’s not always top of mind to relay a positive experience with a business. By asking, you’ve brought it to mind in the context of the positive.

THREE BENEFITS OF ASKING

I recently liked my chiropractor’s Facebook Page (Dr. Surbjit Herr). Within a day or two, I received an email from his assistant thanking me for liking the page and asking me to post a review. (Very smart tactic…hint, hint.) So I did! It was actually a very easy step, because I’ve been talking about Dr. Herr to anyone who will listen for nearly a year. However, I hadn’t thought to post anything online, so I’m really glad his assistant asked.

How many of your customers might have a similar story?

You will get access to your customers’ and clients’ network of friends, family, and associates.

We all know and influence different people. When I post about the experience I’ve had with Dr. Herr, my network will see it and (since I’ve been actively encouraging a few friends to go to him anyway) someone may finally take the plunge because of comments I’ve made in such a public place.

You’ll find out (sometimes surprising) things that are important to your clients and customers.

Every business puts a certain effort into delivering service in the way that they feel will be well-received by patrons. However, some of the little touches can mean a whole lot. For example, Dr. Herr ends each of my son’s adjustments by telling him to close his eyes. While Brandon’s eyes are closed, Dr. Herr gets a bottle of bubbles and gets ready. Brandon covers his eyes with a huge smile on his face and waits for Dr. Herr to tell him to open his eyes. He gets such a kick out of popping the bubbles and he plays along with the “surprise” even though he knows it’s coming. The trust and affection my son openly shows Dr. Herr makes me feel good about taking him for treatment.

When your clients and customers are willing to talk about you, it increases your credibility to those who don’t yet know you.

It’s easy to go to a grocery store and hand over money for things you need. The trust required is small. However, maybe your business (like mine) requires trust in a concept that invites skepticism. Or, perhaps your business (like Dr. Herr’s) requires a level of personal interaction and information that may be uncomfortable for some. Seeing the testimonials of others who have had a positive experience can help overcome doubt and uncertainty.

YOUR TURN!

I challenge you to talk about one great experience with a business. Tell us in the comments who they are (share links if you can!) and why the experience you had was so positive - or post an online review for that business and then share the link with us. Then go and ask at least 5 of your own customers or clients to do the same for you!

Facebook account cloning: what it is and how to prevent it

Have you ever received a Facebook friend request from someone you are already friends with? If so, don’t accept it! Chances are your friend’s account was cloned and the cloned account wants to get a hold of your information. Accepting a friend request from a cloned account leaves you vulnerable to spam and often reveals personal details that could be used in identity theft. So, how do you avoid having your Facebook account cloned?

Check your privacy settings

Is your profile picture able to be viewed by your friends or by everyone? You can easily tell this by looking on the top right hand side of your opened profile picture – if you see a tiny icon of the world, this means your profile picture can be viewed in a larger format by the general public and in turn can be downloaded easily (and therefore re-used by someone else) – making it easier for someone to clone your account. Make sure your current and past profile pictures as well as all photos and photo albums you have uploaded and created are always set to “friends” and are never made available to the public.

Hide your friends list

It’s fun to scroll through the friends lists of other people, especially when looking to connect with past colleagues and school mates, but by leaving the list open to the public, or even just your friends you are leaving them at risk. If someone clones your account, the first thing they are going to do is try and befriend people on your friends list in an attempt to get ahold of their information as well.

Don’t accept friend requests from strangers

Consider this not talking to strangers online. If you do not who someone is, don’t accept their friend request or create a rule  - only accept a friend request if you have two or more mutual friends in common (Facebook typically shares this information with you at the time of the request).

Don’t accept requests from people you are already friends with

If you are already friends with someone, don’t accept a second friend request from them and be sure to report the cloned account to the original account owner as well as to Facebook. If you are unsure if you are friends with that person, double check your friends list. If you’re still unsure send a message to the original account owner asking them if this is them or not, but when in doubt don’t accept the friend request.

Don’t overshare

If you are heading out on vacation don’t post it as a status on Facebook and then have that status open to the public. At the very least make it only viewable to friends you wholeheartedly trust. You can do this by creating lists and only selecting those lists to share with. 

As with all social media it’s important to remember that whatever you post online is “out there” and even though you may think it is protected it doesn’t take much for complete strangers to access that information. The best thing to do is to take all necessary precautions when posting online and be mindful of what you are sharing and who you are sharing it with.

Facebook page? Group? Account? What’s the difference?!

As I talk to people, I often realize that one of the key things that confuses people is understanding just what the difference is between the sections of Facebook. When I ask if someone has a Facebook page, they often say yes, or they tell me they have two and then I quickly figure out that what they actually have is an account.

So I’m going to break it down here in the hopes that it will lessen the confusion for everyone.

Facebook account (a.k.a. personal profile)

This is YOU on Facebook. When you sign up for Facebook and set up a password and then go in and add a photo and then start making connections with other people on Facebook by “friending” them, it is done through your personal profile.

Only individuals should have a Facebook account (there is an exception, but for simplicity we aren’t going to get into that). 

This is who I log in to Facebook as – this is my Facebook account.

Key distinctions:

• You have to be a person
• People can’t see any information you share (that isn’t made public) without being connected to you
• To make connections with someone both have to agree

Facebook page

A Facebook page is your business’ presence on Facebook.  By Facebook’s rules, businesses are not allowed to have an account and interact with other people on Facebook the way that people do.

Page is the distinguishing word here.  If someone says “page” they mean something that looks like this where you can go and like the page and allowing it to possibly get some of it’s content into your newsfeed.

Key distinctions:

• When you like a page you get immediate access, nobody has to approve anything
• There are analytics that lets a business measure the success of what they’re posting
• Information comes out of the page to people, but people’s information (other than basic demographic information) doesn’t come in to the page.

Facebook groups

There’s yet another kind of Facebook space that people can create, a Facebook group.  A group is like a discussion forum.  It is created by one person but everyone within the group can post to the rest of the group.  There are a variety of different kinds of groups, public ones (which are called open), private ones (which are called closed and secret ones that can’t be found by search at all.

They are great for many reasons, including planning committees, classroom discussions, clubs, etc.

Key distinctions:

• Only individuals (using your Facebook account) can be a member of a group, not business pages
• People can converse with each other without being Facebook friends. Other than what is posted within the group, people can only see information that is made public if they are not friends with you
• There are no analytics or options for advertising so it is not an alternative to a Facebook page, but can be used by a business to create more community

Leave a comment and let us know if this was helpful and if you’d like more of the language of Facebook broken down in future posts.