Facebook's New Pages To Watch Section

Have you seen this new section in the admin area of your Facebook Page yet?

Facebook has rolled out yet ANOTHER great new feature for Small to Large Businesses and Communities, and this one is going to be a hit!

This allows you to track (or watch) the progress of other pages and compare it with your own page's insights. 

What is a Twitter Party?

There has been a lot of action on social media lately about Twitter Parties. In fact, we're about to have one at my day-job to promote our brand! Yet, every day when the subject comes up I hear the same question over and over again: What is a Twitter Party? How does it work?

Well, take a seat and I'll explain it to you.

"500 Milllll-ionnnnn"

You see, wayyyyy back in 2006 a few enterprising guys thought that all that you needed to get your point across was 140 characters. They weren't exactly wrong (even though it can be annoying sometimes!) and their social networking site, Twitter, has been a big deal ever since.

A big deal to the tune of 500 MILLION followers worldwide and 200 MILLION active users every month.

So naturally, brands and businesses have found a way to capitalize on this ever-growing population of online users. Although many opt for the obvious choices, like promoted tweets and ads, some brands have taken a more organic approach.

Many bloggers and influencers have found great success with twitter, garnering followings upwards of 100-thousand people in a relatively short period of time. Leveraging these bloggers and any bloggers, really, to participate in brand activities and create relevant content that can be shared across social media, is what many brands have done.

Thus came... the Twitter Party!

If you're expecting balloons and pinatas, it's probably not going to happen. But here's what does happen at a twitter party:

1) A brand and a group of dedicated influencers (ex. Bloggers, Notable People) set a date and time where they will all convene to discuss a certain topic. Generally this is directed towards a product or brand launch.

2) A hashtag is selected, usually around the product, brand or topic. This is what creates the conversation that people can follow along with and participate in via Twitter.

3) The Twitter Party is officially launched & promoted. Most Twitter parties involve giveaways and/or prizes to participants to incentivize people to engage with the brand. Attendees are generally asked to RSVP ahead of time so they can be cross-referenced to win prizes.

4) The day of the twitter party arrives. If the party is successful then generally the twitter hashtag will become a trending topic. (Many tweets with a specific hashtag from a wide range of users in a short amount of time = trending topic)

5) Most Twitter Parties involve a Question & Answer format where the host(s) will ask questions in a Q1 / A1 format. As the questions are put out, attendees are asked to respond (including corresponding A# and hashtag for the party) and then winners are selected. Most are selected randomly and aren't reflective of the quality of the tweet.

6) Most parties generally last about 1 hour and have between 4 and 10 questions and/or prizes. Generally they will start with the smallest prize and work their way up to a Grand Prize. Some questions involve trivia and links to brand-specific landing pages where hints are available. Many questions are more subjective and are opinion-based. Usually there is a combination of both for a wide variety of responses.

Here's what you should know before you consider attending a Twitter Party: 

A) It's going to be brand-heavy. Be positive about the brand.

B) Yes you can win free stuff, but it's also about networking and creating a meaningful conversation.

C) If you don't win free stuff, that's okay. Hundred's of people attend twitter parties and only a handful win prizes. There's always a next time.


Here's what you should know before you consider throwing a Twitter Party: 

A) Although it's brand and product specific, Twitter Parties aren't created as a means to sell product. Most participants are in it for the free stuff and are NOT going to make a purchase based on activities around the product. As a brand or business your focus should be on building relationships and long-term brand visibility.

B) The best Twitter Parties are the ones that really inspire people to engage. (i.e. Asking generic/boring questions isn't entertaining and likely won't be that impactful.)

C) Your influencers = Your reach. Don't be afraid to pay for high-quality influencers, because they will make the difference in the overall success of your party.


Anyways... that's Twitter Parties in a nutshell. Got a question? Leave it in the comments below!

Social Forum: Q&A Mondays

You've found yourself at my newest feature! Social Forum is a way for followers and businesses to ask questions related to Social Media and Social Media Marketing... each week I will feature a few questions (and my answers) regarding things like Facebook Pages, Increasing Likes & Brand Visibility! Hopefully you can learn something, too!

Want to ask a question? Post one here on my Facebook Page or Tweet me at @christellasays with hashtag #thesocialmom and you might just find your answer here!

Our first question comes from Jen P. over at Finding Momtopia ...

Jen asks: "Where to draw the line on how often to post on our FB business page? What's too little and what's going to cause our followers to hit the remove button?"

That's a great question! Just like anything the idea of "too much of a good thing is a bad thing" is totally relevant when it comes to social media and marketing, especially for business purposes! Creating brand visibility and consistent engagement is vital to a new or growing brand, however over-using your social feeds can deter people who had previously liked your page from engaging with you in the future.

Avoid "Spamming" When creating post content it's important to steer clear of solely "advertising" to people. One of the reasons people like social media is because they don't feel like it's a complete money grab. Most services are free and although brands do use many of them to highlight products that are for sale, they do it in a way that says "If you like this come and get it" and not "Come buy this now!" -- As I always say it's better to initiate conversations around your products than to just straight up advertise them. Also, to break things up ask questions, generate ideas and share other people's ideas, products and giveaways, too!

In terms of "how much is too much?" it can be a bit relative, but posting every hour or every couple of hours if you don't have a large audience to engage with is probably overkill. There's no rule of thumb, but I like to let my posts linger, give the followers a chance to see them and engage with them before moving onto something else. I'd say if you're not generating a lot of response keep your posts limited to two per day and try to find your "voice" that gets people engaging!

If you've got a lot to say, use the "scheduling" option and post in the future so that you have less to do in the long run!

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Diane D. from  Little Prints Design   asks: "Question on blogging ... should you stick to a particular topic or is it okay to have random topics that don't always go together?"

This is a great question, Diane! It really depends on what your blog is about. If you're writing a lifestyle blog or it's considered "personal" then by all means, it's sort of a free-range type of writing. You have to know your audience and know how they'll take your blog posts, but if you're just starting out the best way to improve your writing is to challenge yourself by writing in many different ways and styles. It's also a great way to see what clicks and when.

If you're writing a blog pertaining to a business or a brand, sometimes steering too far off course may be a bad idea. In most cases companies want to be aware of what their brand entails and not stepping on anybody's toes but  that being said, occasionally writing about something that ties into your brand or blog's personality can work. An example of this would be a Design company who has a blog writing about an interesting concept in design or a new product in the market. It may not pertain directly to what your brand or blog is about, but if you can tie it in, no harm no foul!




Have a question about Social Media or Web Marketing? Tweet it to @christellasays with hashtag #socialmom OR visit my Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/thesocialmom to ask now and you might be featured in next week's column!

Social Media for Small Business: To Blog or Not To Blog

Welcome to So-Me for Small B; A Series on Social Media Integration for Small Businesses!

This will be a regular feature here on T#SM and I hope that you learn something new!

Part One: To Blog or Not To Blog

(Is that even a question?!)

Blogging and Social Media pretty much go hand in hand, but there are right times to blog and wrong ones. The key thing you want to look at when this comes into play is what you will be blogging about. Utilizing Blogging as a strategy to enhance your business is about the same thing social media is really about: Shareable Content. 

So what makes what you have to say shareable? Is it relevant to your business? Can you write regularly about it? Would your target demographic be interested in reading a blog related to your business?

These are all things that you have to think about before jumping on the blogging bandwagon: 

• Don't Blog Just To Blog! Have a reason for blogging, and a passion for it wouldn't hurt either! If you can't come up with at least 20 topics you could blog about off of the top of your head (give yourself a few days to think about it) then maybe a blog isn't the right option for you!
• Is Blogging Relevant to your Business? Anybody can write what they did that day or how their business is doing, but a blog isn't a space for advertising (ahem, not in that sense anyway) and it certainly isn't an avenue for only promoting your products. Just like any aspect of social media, blogging is about sharing and conversation.
  
  Businesses that blogging would be relevant to are businesses that have fresh content all of the time.
• What will make people enjoy reading your blog? Posting pictures of your new products and telling everybody how awesome they are is only half of the job. (Maybe even 1/3!) A great blog teaches you something, and it makes you want to know more! Are tutorials an option for you? Could you talk about how your products are made? Do you have new and exciting information relevant to your industry?
• A Blog Is NOT A Diary! Contrary to popular belief, most successful blogs aren't people sitting down writing about how their day went. They have real content. They produce assets like whitepapers, downloadables, shareables like coupons and tutorials, videos and more. Blogging is about being creative and productive.
• Do you need the cross-marketing platform? Blogs feed into other social media sites and vice-versa, so they can work well as a leverage tool for bumping up your SEO, creating more visibility in the market and even reaching a more targeted audience. This, however, is only achieveable if your blog is rich in content that is actually shareable. News-style formats work well even if its just re-populating existing news stories because they are constantly feeding refreshed content through the system. Blogs that share productive items like Tutorials, DIY's and Infographics are also popular because their content is unique to them and thus even more shareable.

Ultimately it comes down to whether or not your content is marketable! If you think that you can create regular updates that are targeted toward your demographic and relevant to your business, then maybe a blog is for you! But if you're not sure, feel free to post your Q's and I'll give you some A's!