Intuitive, precision, dynamic search with less complicated queries-that’s what the new faceted search feature offers! You’ll find the new filters on the left of the people search page in LinkedIn. The filter fields available are unique to your search. Powerful! With faceted search, you may drill down by relationship (Connection Level) , Industry, Company, Group,  School and more.

Check out this product feature announcement from LinkedIn onYoutube.

1. Set goals, create a social media plan for your business and stick to it.  For example, if you want to reach a fan base of 500 on Facebook, determine to be only about that goal when you login to Facebook during business hours. If you aren’t strategic in your use of Facebook, it can easily become a time waster.

2. In your status updates on all networks, answer this question: What information does my business audience need from me today?

3.  Relate to people on the networks as if you are seeing them in person. Ask questions. Reply to comments or messages. Engage in conversation. Then, and only then will you see the value of social media.

4. Develop systems for growing your networks.  Example: Invite all the decision makers you are working with into your LinkedIn network. Invite contacts from informal networking events into your Facebook network. Or, determine to invite 10 people from your business association memberships into your personal network each month.  Having a system will ensure incremental growth of the right audience over time.

5. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new functionality. Social media tools are still evolving. Everyone is learning.  You’ll get the most from these tools when you get comfortable with them.  You don’t have to think about how to use the phone and email for business. Eventually, you’ll feel that way about social media.  Dive in the deep end and have fun with it.

This question was raised today at online bootcamp: Does CoTweet.com have Facebook integration like Tweetdeck?

The answer: Kind of…

Ping.fm integration is available –very new since Oct 23— so that what you tweet on co-tweet can flow to your ping.fm account which of course flows to all of your accounts configured there.

Stay tuned for a detailed blog post on this subject.

You may also want to check out http://www.HootSuite.com for similar capabilities.

Today, I was preparing to demonstrate how to set up http://www.Twitterfeed.com and realized my feed wasn’t functioning properly.

My blog URL (which works fine as an RSS feed in Facebook apps) wasn’t working for Twitterfeed. It seems a title tag was missing from the code of my new WordPress theme.  I utilized the tool Feed Validator http://feedvalidator.org/ to identify the problem.

A more common problem is finding the RSS feed URL.  With some applications, your standard URL will work as your RSS feed URL. If not, find your RSS feed URL like this:

• Open your blog in a browser as shown below.
• Left click the RSS feed icon as shown in image below.
• Select from the RSS feeds available.

There are different families of RSS feeds available. I have these two RSS options on my blog. Both work with twitterfeed.com.

http://www.michellecullison.com/feed/

http://www.michellecullison.com/feed/atom/

If you have a WordPress blog, you can also feed your blog posts into twitter using the wordpress plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-poster/faq/.

Automation eases the pain of social media time drain.  Setting this up or hiring someone to do it, is well worth the investment.

Extending your blog to the active twitter sphere is a good business decision.

Contact me to hire my team to help you get started.

On Facebook, you can become a fan of a business page. However, you may want to bow out at a later date. Here’s how:

• Visit the business page.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the left hand column.
• You will see a link that says: Remove me from fans. See figure 1 below.

Figure 1-Screenshot from facebook fan page

To learn more about social media, sign up for social media bootcamp!

On Tuesday, August 25, 2009, Plan Your Meetings, sponsored a webinar, hosted by David Nour with Michelle Cullison and Nhat Pham. These questions were asked by the meeting planners:

1. Can a group created by an individual be moved to a public business page?

Moving from a group to a company page is a manual process. Create the page and then invite all group members to become a Fan of the new page. Some Group admins put a deadline on the move and close the group. You may also provide some new content on the page as an incentive to make the move.

2. How are people using Facebook to find potential partners/vendors?

You may find vendors/partners using the advanced search page on Facebook. It allows you to search for people, pages and groups by keywords. You can get to the advanced search page by typing search in the Search field. (Currently, there isn’t a link to advanced search on the menu.)

Another great way to find potential partners and vendors is groups. Join industry specific groups where your partners and vendors are spending time. Need to find the groups, search for them with the advanced search page.

Are they searching like on Google? Yes. Business pages on Facebook are public so googling the company name and the term facebook as search words is a good way to see if a potential vendor has a facebook presence.
How does Facebook rank pages when a search is done?
Facebook doesn’t disclose how it ranks pages on its search results page.  However, this page about the new Facebook Search may be helpful to you: http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=923

3. I get feeds on my home page from groups/pages that I am member/fan of, what do we need to do as a company to get our updates to post to our friends pages?


4. Can you create an event for a Cause FB account?
A cause is an FB application. Anyone with an FB profile may create an event.

5. What is the difference between a group and a fan page – benefits of both?
Groups gather people around a topic of discussion and can be a good place for collaboration. FB fan or business pages are like personal profiles but for businesses.  They have all the power of personal profiles including the ability to publish a lot of company info, install apps, communicate with and build a fan base.

6. Is it advisable to keep a “personal” Facebook page versus a “professional” page?

Having both kinds of presence on Facebook is important.  You develop business relationships personally using your personal profile and as a brand using your (professional) company page.

7. If you post a blog to the notes section how do your friends see it?

Under the Settings menu, Choose Application Settings and then Notes under the Wall tab click on: Allow Notes to publish to Streams.

8. I am the director of communication for a small trade association – we have created a group on Facebook – so are you saying we should create a profile – if so, for me or for biz? How would you do this?

Groups are good for collaboration but do not have as many features a public profiles (business pages) have.  As an association, you could benefit from the added features that public profiles have. To create a public profile for your association, go to Facebook.com and click this link: Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business.  Having a personal and a business presence on Facebook is helpful as business relationships can be formed personally and organizationally.

9. How can Facebook give an incentive travel company an edge on the competition? Create a content-rich public profile for your company on Facebook Business pages.  Make it a page that adds value to your audience and includes links to your website and industry specific keywords for Google. Invite your target audience to become fans.  Engage your audience in conversation.   

10. I’m looking for a job – any suggestions on how to use Facebook for that? Many times job leads come through the people you know.  Make sure you’ve entered all your education and work history info in your personal profile. Communicate confidence and the value you bring to employers in your status updates. Do communicate that you are looking for opportunity. Don’t convey desperation in your updates.

11. How can you use Facebook for education/learning?

12. How can my company keep negative comments off our Twitter account? Controlling negative comments is a common concern across social networking platforms.  Some of the blogging/microblogging tools allow you to turn off commenting but then you’ve shut down communication with the exact audience you want to build relationship with.  Responding positively to the negative comments may indeed give you an opportunity to build repo ire with your audience and show how you are handling the issues that occur. Google the words “Transparency in blogging” to learn more about how companies are dealing with negative comments in the blogosphere.

13. How secure is Facebook?

I will talk about 3 common ways that FB accounts are compromised and how to prevent it from happening to you.

1. Phishing: Do not give you account information to someone who claims to be an FB rep via email. FB will not ask you to update your account info via email ever.
2. Hacking via email access. You can reduce your chances of having your account hacked by using a password on your FB account that is DIFFERENT than the password on the email account that you have associated with your FB account. If a hacker gets your FB password and it is the same as your email password, they can then take over your email account that manages your FB account and lock you out of your account.
3. Applications are another door hackers use to compromise your account. Facebook is an open development platform meaning applications can be submitted by anyone. One way to reduce your vulnerability is by installing only verified applications. Read more about verified apps here: http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=247

14. Looking to extend company community aspects while differentiating content on Facebook so it is not a duplication of efforts. With this type of strategy, you will need to communicate what type of content will be unique in the FB arena. I saw a site that week that gives tips on their FB page that they do not post anywhere else.

And, if the company doesn’t have a blog where interaction occurs, then of course, the FB page can be the place for customers to provide feedback and enter discussions with you. Open up your FB page wall for community interaction.

15. How do you get over the legal hump within a corporation to allow use of Facebook for the company and employees? Developing a policy and making sure all parties understand the rules is key to social networking success in a corporate setting. Here is a GREAT site, the Social Media Blog Council, to use a resource in the process of policy development: http://www.socialmedia.org/

16. As a non-profit with few resources, how do we figure out what the best use of Facebook for our situation is? If you have a small budget for education, invest that in learning social media strategy. Then, perhaps you can utilize volunteers or college students for implementation. The leaders must understand WHAT the goals are and who the audience is on these social sites. Social Media Strategy programs are offered by David Nour, Nhat Pham and Michelle Cullison.

17. How do you keep you personal Facebook and business Facebook separate?  I don’t want to personally become a fan of a vendor but want to professionally become a fan. Only people (personal profiles) can become fans of pages. However, you can tag another page as Favorite page of your Business page.  Go to the Vendor page on FB that you want to support as a business. Then, click the Add to MyPage’s Favorites and select your business page from the list. You won’t be a fan but you will be showing support business to business.

18. What’s the quickest way to add value to the lives of those we contact with in Facebook and to monetize opportunities for all parties involved? To add value, think about what tip you can give your audience today that will help them in business. Monetizing many times comes when a client trusts your business enough to close the deal, buy the product.  What can you say today to build trust in your product or service?

19. What is the balance between being effective at promoting events vs. spending all of your time on social media sites?

It is best to determine 2 things before you login to social sites:
1. How much time do I have to give to this social media session?
2. What specifically do I need to accomplish when I login?

I would suggest allowing time to create the event in the FB events app and promoting it on your page and to your targeted friends list. You may also promote the event to select groups on FB that have the targeted audience on FB.

20. How do you show the value and utility of Facebook and social media when executive management doesn’t even understand social media? Case studies are really helpful to show what others are doing that is working. Mashable.com is a good site for breaking info on social media and web 2.0. Here is an article that highlights some big business success stories that you may want to share with your executive management: http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

21. Facebook comes across as a social site – how do you make messages more “business like”? In your status updates, answer questions like these, “What would add value to my audience today? What can I share that will help them professionally?

22. How do I  get folks to register for my online training?

You may want to familiarize yourself with FB events. Another great way to get the word out on FB about products and services is to join groups with members who are in your target audience.  Start discussions in the FB groups and offer the group members free pre-training teleseminars or webinars so you add value first and then plug the training on the call. You wouldn’t want to join a group and then start selling your training services.

23. How can I advertise my business on FB but not have it so “In Your Face” to my friends. You may want to consider a paid FB ad. You can get significant exposure for $30 a month. Or, segment your friends using Friend Lists and send targeted advertising messages to select groups. However, remember that social networking culture is somewhat averse to advertising. Try soft marketing value add messages that also include links to learn more about a product or service.

24. To me, Facebook is merely a social tool.  I want to be convinced of it’s usefulness as a business tool. I’ll give you 3 reasons:

First is location, location, location. Facebook allows you to put your business where the traffic is flowing. There are many people you can touch in FB that will never come to your website. Secondly, google loves high traffic sites and a link to your website from within FB increases your findability on google and other search engines. Finally, on FB pages you are allowed the chance to have people build a relationship with your company or brand.

I am often asked the question, “How do I create a badge for my FB page?”

A badge is an icon that indicates you have a presence on Facebook and want to connect with you.

There are 2 types of badges: personal and page badges. Personal badges link to personal profiles. Page badges link to business pages.

To create a personal badge, go to your Profile Page and scroll down to the bottom of the left column. There you will find the “Create a Profile Badge” link. Click the link to go to your Facebook Badge page. Next, select the “Create Badge” option and follow the instructions on your screen to create a badge.

To create a page badge, also known as the “Find Us on Facebook” badge go to the ‘Promotion Guidelines’ link found in the right hand column under the communications section of your Edit page screen.

Both of these badges can be used on other websites to drive traffic to Facebook.

If you have a brick and mortar location, you would do well to create physical badges on site announcing your Facebook presence. You may also use FB badges in print mailings or Print ads. In these circumstances, you will need to provide the FB URL for them.

If you have 100 followers, you may request a URL to match your business name such as facebook.com/businessname.

In a web 2.0 world, clients want more than ads.  They want to know and trust you. Only then will they invest in your products and services.

• They want to get to know you, your company, your products and services.
• They want to engage you in conversation about their questions and concerns.
• They want to try out some of your wares before investing.

Social media enables you to connect, engage and add value to your target market.

Since 1993, Michelle Cullison, President of Daystar Digital, has been helping individuals and businesses leverage the power of the web. If you have questions about social media, you’ve come to the right place.

In a web 2.0 world, a static website isn’t enough.
Connect. Engage. Add Value to your client/prospect relationships.
Expand your web presence to social sites. Grow your business.

How may I help you today?

1. Do you have questions about social media?   Ask them on my blog.

2. Do you want to develop a Facebook Page for Business?   Become a Fan and I’ll send you a free chapter of my book Facebook for Business.

3. Are you ready to get serious about social media?  Register for Social Media Bootcamp.

4.  Are you in need of a corporate social media strategy? We provide social media readiness assessments.

6. Are you looking for experts to manage your social media campaign? Michelle and her team are ready to serve.

Are you on Twitter?  Are you tweeting? Who are you following? Have you been re-tweeted?  How often do you get DMs? 

These are the questions floating around business networking conversations these days. Newbies to social networking are nervous because Twitter is an unknown territory— a very strange one at that!  Who speaks in 140 character snippets? It takes some getting used to.  At first glance, it makes no sense. A glimpse at a home page on Twitter shows fragmented, one-sided conversations happening now. You may wonder, “How can this be useful?” But, with all the success stories on Twitter, many are considering a move to this unique new communication platform. How about you?

To get started, create a personal profile and connect with a few trusted people that you know in real life. Practice on each other.  Post some updates to your profile. Ask a friend to @ message you. To @message is to reply publicly to a tweet (a status update on Twitter.) To reply privately or send a message privately is DM or Direct Message. Send your trusted friends a DM – a direct message (the Twitter version of email). Get your feet wet with this new tool. Don’t be afraid. Remember that EVERYONE is fairly new to this and even the “experts” will make a “mistake” every now and then.

When you sign up on Twitter, try to secure your first and last name as your username. This will help you establish your personal brand and build your personal online reputation. And, it is cheap (free) insurance to protect you from someone who may want to masquerade as you on Twitter. (If you have a business name, go ahead and create an account for your business also to secure the username even though you may not be ready to use it.  Getting started personally will familiarize you with the tools so that you can better understand how to use this tool for your greater business purposes.

Like most things in life, experience is the BEST teacher. Join the Twitter crowd today.

Feel free to post Twitter questions as comments to this post on my blog. Or, better yet, Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcullison and send me a DM!