5 Ways to Benefit from Facebook’s Analytic Tools

I think Facebook could set a record in the amount of newsworthy material it produces in a week. The most recent news is Facebook launching of analytics tools. After reading about this on Fast Company I’ve decided that it’s a great addition to Facebook’s  world domination. Kidding aside it’s a cool feature that will show who “likes” what without sharing personal information.

The tool shares data based mostly on demographics similar to Foursquare’s analytic business tool, which for most is old news. Both features allows companies to gauge who their main audiences are in terms of gender, age, location and language. Instead of wasting time on extensive research these charts will show who and where your target audience is. Although the new and improved Analytics for Websites, Applications and Pages are mostly targeted to app developers, content owners and publishers the people representing these brands can greatly benefit. I also recommend clicking the link above for some more step-by-step instructions to implement the new tools.

Here are 5 reasons why you WILL benefit:

1. Time Saver. Time is money and this feature is easy to read and use. Therefore is you know who, based on demographics,  “likes” your product then that’s where you invest your time.

2. Capitalize on Content. For instance, if your brand has a FanPage you can look at how many users commented on posts to capitalize on what they find to be most interesting. Basically you can begin to give your audiences what they want. Also if you are an administrator of a Facebook Page you can now see analytics for referral traffic and stream stories in the Insights dashboard (read link above), as well as tab views for your Page.

3. Document. Document? Yes, you can now easily collect data with the new visualization tools. These will enhance you ability to view full screen, print and save graphs, which in turn will allow you to save and conduct quantifiable research.

4. Know Your Audience. The new features only show demographics of users, which is all you need to know about your audience or potential audience. The insights dashboard breaks it down for all domain administrators.  A couple examples offered for admins are a breakdown of contributions from users to active user count, demographics on authorized users and active users, and the number of times permissions are prompted and granted.

5. Websites, Applications, and Pages. You can use these tools on all three channels. There is no excuse to not use these new features.

Changing Politics One Tweet at a Time

In the past politics and social media have gotten to know each other fairly well. However, I think its safe to say they are now becoming very good friends. President Obama showed the potential for success with the tying of politics and social media in the 2008 election with his millions of friends. The younger generations are getting most of their news from social media channels which includes political news and information. So how can politicians use the power of social media?

Personal connection plays a big role when deciding who to vote for. Voters can get to know a candidates thoughts on issues and have personal contact with them. Although most sites are run by professionals there is still a closer feeling to the candidate. As if voters do have a voice that can be heard. Using social media also allows for a discussion rather then candidates talking “at” voters…if used correctly. During elections it’s hard to reach audiences but through social media new audiences can be if candidates pay attention.

Recently, I was reading how candidates in California have been using social media to personally communicate with potential voters. By sensing the need for more personal connections California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has had a growth in the number of Facebook friends. This is mostly due to people recommending him to their friends and so on. Yet, his connections have grown.

I suppose in this day and age it makes sense that we turn to Twitter and Facebook to help determine our vote. Hopefully, before actually casting your vote you have researched by doing more than viewing a candidates profile or looking at their Twitter feed. Have you heard of TweetCongress? You can find polticians tweeting and then follow them. This relationship with social media will save candidates a ton of money by focusing less on paid ads. The relationship will continue to grow and change but it’s definitely one to pay attention to. Social media allows candidates to create a lot of impact with minimal effort.

Using Social Media Tools in Background Checking

During the ten years that Will Barada has served as Vice President of Barada Associates, he’s shown tireless dedication wearing every hat from chief operating officer to director of business development. Through these efforts he’s helped grow the family business into an industry leading background screening company. His accomplishments were culminated in 2008 when he negotiated for the purchase of full ownership of the business from the original founding partners.

Prior to joining the family business, Will served in Community Outreach for WFYI Indianapolis, the local PBS affiliate.

Will earned his BA in English Education from Indiana University and is a member of National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) and the Indianapolis chapter of the Society of Human resource Professionals (SHRM).

Increasingly employers are going to places like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to check out candidates.

If you’re spending a lot of money on a hire, you want every available piece of info. So social media seems a natural place to search, right? Be careful. You need practices and processes in place to protect yourself from retribution by the candidate if you chose not to hire them based on information you find on their sites. With routine background screens, the hiring manager is able to consider multiple factors based on criteria and job requirements not just skills and work ethic but also personality and so forth. Having access to a cross-section of data prevents a hiring manager from depending too much on one single piece of information. The problem from a CRA perspective with using data gained from social media sites is that there is no way to resolve a dispute if a candidate should claim misinformation.

For instance, if a court check comes back with a criminal activity and the candidate argues wrong identification, we can help facilitate the correction of that information at the court level and have the event removed from candidate’s record (if it was wrong). Drug testing results are verifiable because of the chain of custody required to complete the test. But if a candidate complains about not getting a job because of pictures on their Facebook page, there is no way to confirm or deny their identity (despite what some of you may have seen on TV). Facebook isn’t a verifiable source of information and that is where the problem lies.

Further, this presents a serious EEOC issue as Facebook postings don’t tell you anything about their ability to perform the job as described in the requisition.
Somewhere, somebody is going to make a no hire decision because of a picture of a candidate drinking beer on Facebook. Thus far there is no precedent yet but something will happen. Do you want to be the example case in the future when a company gets sued for this?
Protect yourself by putting a process in place and if you chose to use these tools, be aware of the risks and check with your attorney.

Flowtown Continues to Impress

Change is always for the better, right? Don’t worry this has nothing to do with Facebook. If you’re not familiar with Flowtown it is a tool that allows you to enter customer’s email address to track where they are active online.  Flowtown helps you sift through your database and group contacts. They have teamed up with Wufu, an online form builder, to make your life easier. If you don’t use Wufu I would reccomend checking it out then continue reading.

I also highly recommend Formstack for online form building. They are brilliant!

If you use these tools here what this new integration can do:

1. Sort form submissions

2. Instantly Filters. This ranges anywhere from people who match a certain job description, skills whatever you determine.

3. Set-up Notifications. You can find out when anyone opts in on a page, if they fit into what your interested in (e.g. marketer), location.

4. Automatically. Once someone who opts in on one of your forms and submits their e-mail they are automatically added to your database on Flowtown.

5. Information. You then receive an email with all information on who that person is. How many Twitter followers, online memberships, age..etc.You will also find out if you have any mutual relationships so that you have a point of reference and can make a more personal connection.The information also leads you to this person’s 5 last tweets to better understand what’s relevant to them.

Flowtown is making huge inroads when it comes to adapting to what the social environment is needing, wanting, and using. Check out the tool. It will not disappoint.

Where Should Small Biz Focus Their Energy

There is a question as common and as old as Shakespeare, “to be or not to be”. Whether Will intended this for business or not it can be applied. In all areas of business we find ourselves struggling with where to focus our attention and energy. So in this modern day age the question becomes “to do or not to do”. I understand that this is somewhat of a stretch but the question still remains….how should we spend our time in order to accomplish our business goals?

We can all agree that there is always something that we can be doing. The important thing is to determine what needs to be done and when. You don’t want to feel as though you’ve missed out on an opportunity because you were too busy with something else. In any great strategy plan there is a goal, objectives and then ,of course, the tactics. If your lucky you can hire an intern to do handle all the minuet details while you focus on your business goals. If you don’t have this privilege then phrase your “to do” and align it with your goals. Do they match up? Can you do one without the other? All your tactics should be planned and followed through with in order to reach the intended goal. It’s hard but be careful not to get distracted there is a lot of noise out there.

The argument here is that everything done is done for greater business good. However, make sure you’re not just making excuses to get out of doing the other not so fun tasks. There is always a reason “to do or not to do” something. The key is finding balance with what can be done now and what should be done now. Also, keep your plan in the forefront of your mind as to avoid getting pulled into a million different directions. It’s okay to say no. It’s okay not to do everything that comes your way.

Social Media: Number One Tool for Lead Generation

We can all agree that social media is here to stay (at least for now)…but do we know why? Research indicates that many professionals implement social media to increase lead generation. In a new social media study, eMarketer stated:

“According to virtual events provider Unisfair, social media is the top emerging channel for lead gen among technology marketers surveyed in May 2010.”

The definition of lead generation alone is argument enough for using social media. Social media can and does make finding new customers so much easier…and fun. Not only can you find potential business demographically but you can base it off interest. This information will save you time, energy and money. A strong social media plan can introduce to potential customers that up until now you didn’t even realized existed.

This ever evolving concept of social media can have powerful effects for you (or your company). Are you familiar with Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? Hopefully, the answer is yes. These are all social media channels that are at the forefront for the lead generation. These channels give you valuable information for finding your brands lead generation. Most places, events people are going online and social media in all it’s many forms grants you exclusive access to it all. What is imporant to potentially new customers? What interests do they have? Do you have offer something that they could benefit from? Socail media has the power to answer these questions and more without ever having to leave your desk.

This may seem like shameless marketing tactic but it’s not about attacking potential leads with information..it’s about spending your time and energy on someone who would be interested in what you have to offer.  Social media has literally created a bridge between the product and its consumers. Before it was a guessing game in determining future leads now we can eliminate most of that.  So, it makes sense that social media has become a new wave for the future. You can connect with customers in a whole new way, monitor brand awareness, form relationships and find new customers. What’s not love?

10 Ways to Build and Focus on Passionate Content

I was reading a post by Jay Baer titled the 14 Things I Think I Think About Social Media (Great title huh?) and one of the fourteen points hit me pretty hard.

“Social media is fueled by passion, and too many companies try to take elements of their company that aren’t passion-worthy, and attempt to build a social media program around it.”

How do you go about defining passion-worthy elements within your company? What does it mean to have passion filled content to share across the expanse of the Internet and the tools afforded through social media?

I don’t know if companies knowingly choose elements that “aren’t passion-worthy”… maybe they have no idea? They have been rooted for years in this centralized brand strategy… rooted in the belief that they (in the ivory towers) understand what makes their product or service passionate.

How do you go about creating passionate content or choosing “passion-worthy” elements within your company?

10 Ways to Build and Focus on Passionate Content

1. Tell the story of founding the company or your first week at the company. What sites and sounds did you experience? What made you love what you did that first 72 hours?

2. Tell the story of a client. Who is your best client? Who makes the world go round for your company? We all have them. Tell THEIR sorry… now THAT is passionate content.

3. Better yet.. get your client to tell the story for you! Ask your best client to write a guest post. They are the passionate user.

4. Include your own opinions and arguments about popular trends. Great writing moves people and inspires them.

5. Ask your employees what makes them passionate. Does it have to do with the overall company product or service? Heavens no! Your employees are as much of the brand as your overpriced logo on the side of your overpriced building.

6. Remember… your customers and employees are the most important part of your passion worthy content. Let them tell the story for you.

7. Great user/customer experience creates passion-worthy content. What does it feel like when an individual walks into your store? What is the experience when someone clicks through your website?

8. Check out the 4 cornerstones to creating great content from Rand (SEOmoz).

9. Keep tabs on your blog content creation guidelines. How are you creating your blog content? How are you systematically telling your story?

10. Leave no question behind your motives.  Create transparent content that elicits a response. If you have multiple writers in your company… be very sure you have a system and policy in place to allow them to write authentically.