What Makes Your Facebook Page Get Banned - Social Media

Do you work a lot on Facebook to sell your Brand / Business? This is well appreciated since this is strong platform to get into Community Engagement mode. Add to this most people seem to be on Facebook. What's more is that Search Engines do like Facebook.

Facebook has its own rules and guidelines on what you are allowed to do and what will get your Brand / Business Page banned. The rules are not too difficult to understand however they end up making you ask what then can you do. Banning of your Page can be a little troublesome for you, reason being that you may find it difficult to get your Page back.

There are Five audiences that can flag you and get you banned:

• Facebook algorithms recognizing your footprints on Facebook as going against their rules
• By Community Members of your Page
• By your Personal Profile Page Network
• By Other Pages where you join
• By Members of the other Pages where you have joined

Below is what you should avoid and what you could do on your Facebook Brand / Business Page:

• On and From your Brand / Business and Profile Page:
• As much you may be tempted do not send out unnecessary and too many newsletters. This is a space where even if Facebook does not ban you - your Community Members will flag you and unsubscribe from your Page.
• Posting too many marketing Links will get you flagged by Facebook. This is done so that Brand and Business Pages do not turn out to be a nuisance to people. Your Community Members have joined you for various reasons - 99% of the time they have not joined you to be bombarded with sales messages.
• Posting too often the same Link will immediate tell the algorithms at Facebook that here is spammer.
• Sending out requests to join via 'Invite Friends' button leaves you very much in the hate list of your Network and Facebook as well.
• Copy and pasting the same information around.
• Your Page for the Brand or Business should be created from your Personal Profile Page not from a pseudo name or corporate name. This Profile Page should be real and not fictitious. In other words you should be traced in the real world if required. Naturally this does not mean you give out too much Personal information that can cause crime.
• You can have multiple Pages for your different Brands and Business all of them should be from that one original real Personal Profile Page.
• You cannot have multiple Profile Pages.
• Do no go on making friends spree from your Personal Profile Page.
• Do not Post Copy-write matter. If you do the give the credit line. Do not claim it as your own in any manner whatsoever. This means that - your not claiming and not giving it a credit line either can be misunderstood as your matter / content is also wrong.
• Your Brand and Business Page name should be real and not general qualifiers like for instance Pizzas. Your campaign name and/or regional or demographic qualifiers are acceptable

• Using your Page as the 'Use Facebook as Page':
• This is great function that Facebook has brought in. However use this wisely.
• Posting your link all over gets you not only on the hit list of Facebook but also by other Pages and Community Members of other Pages.
• Giving unnecessary comment and not adding value to the other Pages that you seem to be trampling on will make your own page get flagged. You will be recognized as spammer by the other Pages and their Community Members as well.
• Copy and Pasting the same information around all Pages that you have joined.

• Running Promotions / Contests / Sweepstakes / Discounts / Offers etc on your Facebook Page:
• Promotions that are leading people to take action on your or their Facebook Page calls for Facebook to cut you out. Examples are:
• Click like and join us and get / win ....
• Post a comment and get / win ....
• Tag the photos and get / win ....
• Get members and get / win .....
• Click like on this Post and get / win ....
• Upload a photo on our Wall and get / win ....
• The 100th Fan will get / win ....
• Mention this Page on your Wall and get / win ....
• Etc
• Promotions should have a open disclosure that in no way Facebook is responsible for the same - its logic, deliverables, content and so on.
• You cannot use any of the Facebook functionality as a voting mechanism
• For instance like and vote your voice
• You cannot notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook Messages, Chat, or Posts on Profiles (timelines) or Pages.
• If you wish to interact / collect any information then you need to have an application for this. The application developed needs to comply to Facebook rules for applications and developers. This means that judging entries, notifying winners, collecting entries, conducting a competition etc all need an application.
• You can randomly select a Community Member - this means that there was no contest or competition etc.
• For third party applications you can get them ready made online or create your own. Both ways the application and the developer needs to comply with the general and special rules of Facebook. Special rules are made for developers to adhere to.
• A simple way to go about is have your contest, competition or discounts and offers run on your Blog or Site. You are allowed to give the Link as a Post. Announce that this is in no way is endorsed, sponsored, administered or associated with or by Facebook.
  

• If you do collect information from users, then you need to take their consent, and make it very clear that it is you and not Facebook who is collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you wish to collect and how you plan to use it.
• Use applications wherein the developers have met with the Facebook terms and conditions meant for developers.
• Any Third party advertisements on Pages are very strictly prohibited. Ads or commercial content on Pages must comply with Facebook Advertising Guideline.
• And finally: Facebook has the right to amend / change the rules anytime.
  

The rules are simple. Are they not? Still need more information?
Bottom line is that Facebook should not be involved directly or indirectly in whatever you do. It is your liability. Simply put if there is winner involved, if there is give away monetary non-monetary then you need to follow the rules tightly.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Is Social Media Still A Riddle?

If you are still wondering if your Business and Brand should be on the Social Media scenario then the answer is yes if your Customers and Clients are online and on the Social Media Platform then you too should be.

Social Media gives you the flexibility of doing things on the spot and changing them if you do not receive the relevant feedback that you may desire. This flexibility is due to the internet wherein you can do changes online in the real time. Knowing this increases your responsibility even more. You cannot work in a haphazard manner and bank on changing things. Remember what you Post and what you may upload will remain for a long time. It is like footprints which cannot be erased.

The good part about Social Media is that you can actually reach out to your Target Audience. You can contact them, you can connect and have a conversation with them. You can get to understand and know what makes them have a positive feel towards your Business and Brand. You can get to know what makes them negative towards your Brand and Business. It is essential to track the conversations taking place. Only then you will be able to weave your way into their heart.

You cannot afford to not be on Social Media. Your Customer and Clients are talking, you may acknowledge this fact or not.

There are a couple of Social Media Platforms that you may want to use so that you can have a healthy Social media environment for your Business and Brand:

• Facebook
• Blog
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google Plus

Additionally join the industry based forums and sites where you can connect with people from the same category and similar mindset. Have healthy discussions here. Please do not go spamming around.

When you do plan the Platforms that you may want to use you need to keep in mind your Brand and Business Personality, Keywords, SEO, Consumer Mindset and so on.

What is your experience with Social Media -  do share it here.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Websites, Emails, Chats, Forums, Social Media, Clouds, QR Codes

Twenty years back having your Business and Brand in the virtual world was not a very digestible thought. Being on Social Media was not even thought of. People had started with the dot com [.com]. Unfortunately a lot of mishaps took place and the online world was seen with a lot of suspicion. This was not a wrong perception, there were many people who went all out and scammed on the net. People had made investments. There were people who trusted with a lot of money. Unfortunately they were taken for a ride and no one was able to track the criminals and the fraudulent party.

Along with all this, emails as a communication tool had grown wide and strong. We all depend on them today as well. They are great for personal and professional communication. The world was loosing boundaries.

In this era came the chat sessions. We had the famous Yahoo and MSN Chat. A simple peer to peer encoding and decoding. This was when the world become small. Distances minimized. People were chatting in real time with their near and dear ones.

After this episode came the certification era when people would look out for VeriSign Authentication SSL Certificate and similar encrypting gateway systems. Having the VeriSign Authentication SSL told people that they could engage in communications and e-commerce online with confidence as the required safety concerns were taken care of. This initiated the era of online payment gateway system. You could do safe shopping online.

Simultaneously the Forum Platforms were getting strong. There were Forums for practically everything. You have them from how to do various things, to medicine, to aunt agony and so on.

Slowly but steadily online transactions were getting stronger. The Banks also joined this and online banking was the progress that we as a society made.

While all this was going on the mobile industry was well into a developed stage. Games were anyway an addiction on cell phones. Along with this people started to think of having mobile as a means of shopping and online banking as well.

When all teething problems were addressed in came the Network scenario. This is in today's time called Social Networking. Networking started in a small but definite way. It had started long back. Emails are part of it. Chat is also a part of it. The websites that had people logging in and having an Online Community is also a part of Social scenario. Forums are also a part of this.

Approximately six years back Facebook came. It started off as just a teenage Networking site. No one then would have imagined that this would make and break Brands and Business. No one imagined that money would be made from here. No one thought that CEO would look at it. No one imagined that an industry was about to start off and perhaps will remain for many decades to comes.

Social Media platforms like ORKUT was already in existence and many people were looking at this. Somehow Facebook got the better deal and became more promising. Since then every year many Networking Platforms come and close down. Facebook has remained and has grown bigger and stronger.

We have now reached a stage where it is simple to estimate if your Brand and Business should be on Social Media. If your Clients and Customers are online then you too need to be online. If they are active on Social Media Platforms then you too need to have Page there.

While this is going great we have Cloud Computing. A single space to put all your data so that you no longer need to have huge servers with heavy infrastructure.

We have QR codes as well now wherein a single image leads us to the site and information. You simply have to scan the image with your cell phone and you will land on the desired site. This could be a Website, Blog or a Social Media Page as well.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Acquisition, Retention, And Building Loyalty In Social Media

There are three important criteria while working on Social Media:

• Acquisition
• Retention
• Building Loyalty

Acquisition:
This is the process of getting new people on-board. This is the phase where you bring in new Customers and Clients.
In order to get people on-board you will need to make a Business decision if you want to do aggressive marketing or have a subtle chronological effort. There are a couple of ways in which you could look at Acquisition:

• Forums: Join the industry / category based Forums. Forums have a good format of automatic giving your links in your signature. These are really good platforms if used properly. Do not spam.
• Competitors: Many a times joining competitors is good. You know what the industry is doing. Please be extremely careful here. The idea is not to steal / pinch their Community Members. The idea is to give constructive discussions and add to the value that they are trying to give. You could join their Community on their Sites, join their Blogs, Join and add to their Facebook content, be on their Twitter and  LinkedIn.
• Online Advertisements: The other way is to recommend to your Clients on giving out online advertisements. Facebook has an amazing concept of Sponsored Advertising and so on. Use these constructively. There is not much of money involved in the initial stages. What you need to know and do is target the advertisements in a correct manner by way of selecting the right Target Audience and their Target Market / Geography along with a message that will generate a desirable response. You can also look at online banner advertising and so on. These also can create new Customers and Clients. Online advertising can be have various formats to it. There are various sites offering various banner sizes and platforms. For instance you can have floating banners and so on.
• Commenting: Commenting on various Blogs, Articles, Posts etc is a great way to encourage people into looking at you and your Links.
• Offline Spread: Offline methods are also great to get you Clients and Customers. Advice your Clients to have your online Links on every document sent out. This could be envelopes, bills, invoices, advertisements, hoardings, tv, radio, visiting cards, letter heads and so on.
• Software Templates: Have templates created for Emails and other software like Microsoft Word documents and so on containing the Online Links.
• Reference And Endorsement: There is another method to get new Clients and Customers: This is the referral and endorsement system. If you have done satisfactory work with your ongoing Customers and Clients then there is a huge chance of them recommending you to their Network. If this takes place there is nothing better. However when you do get new Business from your existing Business sources you have a greater responsibility. People recommending others are putting their reputation to test as well. If you fail then they will be displeased as well. So be careful here.
• More From Existing Clients And Customers: Additionally if your existing Clients and Customers are happy then they in turn will give you more business, your scope of work will be increased.
• QR Codes: With the help of QR Codes you can make a long URL printed in the offline world easy to connect with your Social Media Page.
  

These are few of the ways in which you could look at Acquisition.

Retention:
This is the process of maintaining the existing Clients and Customers. After you get Clients and Customers you need to deliver to them the desired results. There is a lot that goes into delivering the right results at the right time and at the right price. There are a couple of tips that you could use so that you can retain your Social Media Community:

• Privileged Feeling: You need to give your Clients and Customers a feeling of being privileged.
  
• This could be done by giving them great discounts and sales information.
• You could let them have the first peek at new launches.
• Let them be the first to know what is taking place behind the scenes.
• If you are managing Celebrity then let them have a chance to connect with your Celebrity.
• If there is a new announcement that you will coming out with let your Community know first.
• Belonging Feeling: Let your Customers and Clients get the feeling of belonging to your Inner Circle.
  
• Encourage them to speak and to share.
  
• Let them know that they are a part of your Family.
  
• Let them share their experience with your product.
  
• Appreciate a good comment. Make it a point to address a negative remark.
• Share information that can help them. See when and on what do they re-act.
  
• Monitor and check on feedback.
  
• Listen in to what they are talking. Add if you can deliver value.
  

These are few of the ways in which you could look at Retention.

Building Loyalty: 
If you have managed to retain your Clients and Customers well then getting them to be a little more attached and loyal to you / your Brand or Business should not be a far away dream. Building Loyalty is a life long process. It is a feeling that people have towards your Brand or Business. Loyalty is not a destination; in the sense you cannot really say that you have attained Loyal Clients and Customers so there is nothing else to be done. Anything going down on the Retention graph directly hampers your Loyalty graph.

What are your points to build on Acquisition, Retention and Loyalty.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Social Media Networking Is A Win - Win Situation

Networking is an integral part of Social Media. It is essential that you know what it takes to enable healthy Networking in the online world. Networking in the virtual world is almost similar to the Networking in the real world. The difference is obvious that while in the real world you are able to meet on a Face to Face basis while in the virtual world there is video conferencing and so on.

The power of your online Network can be tremendous if you are able to retain and maintain it on a day to day regular basis.

Networking can best work when you have a good win - win situation. Networking is about mutual benefit. For instance you cannot ask for favors and tell people to buy your products or sell them for you. Just asking people to do something will not work. You need to answer this: what have you given and done for your Network. Have you helped them? Without being asked many times have you got two people connected so that they could mutually benefit? Have you shared valuable information with them? How have you contributed towards the persons in your Network?

There are some good pointers when to keep in mind when you are looking at your online Social Network:

• Having a good conversation is great on Social Networking. Please do not get too inquisitive about their personal lives. Also do not get inquisitive on what crises they are facing in their professional lives. Check what is their hobby and what work they do. Have tertiary conversations.
  
• Avoid arguments. It only leads to ego clashes. Have healthy discussions. This does not mean that you become a yes man. In doing this you will loose your respect. Gently disagree if you must.
  
• Check how best you can be of help to them. Here is the catch. Do not sound too helpful. Do not sound as if you are doing a huge favor. Helping people is the key to healthy relations. Help can be given in various ways: You could help by listening to them. You could help by getting two people professionally connected with each other from / via your Network. Help can be given by sharing a great article that you may think will be beneficial to them.
  
• When you have done something for someone you need to check and see if it made sense to them. Did it help them? You will need to have a system of follow up. It is essential that you have a feedback. Be open to having negative replies as well. Do not shy away from negative comments. Understand what went wrong. Reply to them. If need be reply after half an hour so that you can stabilize your emotions and then reply.
  

Your turn - what are your Social Media Networking pointers?

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Why Do People 'Like' And 'UnLike' On Facebook? - Social Media

When people 'Like' a particular Page on Facebook they are expressing the fact that they want to 'connect'. Connecting with your Page does not always mean that you are really liked or people are passionate about you / your Brand / your Business. For instance people could have connected to voice a grievance as they may have not as yet got a suitable reply from your customer care, or from the number of emails that they may have sent to your office.

What this Post goes on to share is that there are number of reasons why people connect with you / your Brand / your Business Page on Facebook. It is essential that you understand these reasons and behave in tandem with them.

There are a couple of reasons why people would 'Like' and 'UnLike' you / your Brand / your Business Page on Facebook:

• They most certainly do not wish to be bombarded with your rantings and sales messages.
  
• They do not want you to interfere into their Wall on Facebook especially when they are not really active on your Page. If they are active then it is good to be occasionally conversing.
  
• People join to have exclusive information. Give them the privileged of knowing things in advance and before hand. Let them be the first to know and let them feel they belong to your Community.
  
• They join you to have special offers and discounts that others may not be able to avail if they are not on your Facebook Business Page.
  
• If you have a celebrity Page then people join so that they can interact with the celebrity.
• They definitely would not like you prying onto their friends and Network.
  
• Please note that there are certain set of mindsets that would like to be associated and have the expression of joining a particular Page. They are not expecting discounts and other perks.
  
• Some join so that your Page could be seen on their information and Profile Page. This takes place if your Page holds esteem value. If your Page is what people want to be seen with then they will join.
• Sometimes people join so that they can share your information in their Network. They feel that the information that you Post is good and valuable for their Network.
  
• If people are not aware of 'why should they join' then perhaps they do not see the reason to join and the subsequent action is that they do not join.
  

What are your reasons to 'Like' and 'UnLike' the Pages on Facebook?

Reading that may be of interest to you:

• Do They Really Like When They Click Like? - Social Media
• Does 'Like' On Facebook Lead To Purchase? - Social Media
• Benefits Of 'Like' On Facebook- Social Media
• Creating A 'Like-able' Environment - Social Media

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Appropriate Networking Scenario - Social Media

Social Media amongst other things is about proper Networking. The world of online Networking has people broadcasting messages. The messages at one level need to be broadcasted in such a way that they enable positive and healthy relationships to be formed.

In order to have an appropriate Networking scenario there are a couple of pointers that you may want to keep in mind:

• We all hear content is the key. This stands true. You need to plan and write each Post. Your text needs to be insync with the Brand Personality.
  
• The frequency of your messages should be well planned. You will be perceived with your frequency along with the content. Together they make the complete Post. If your Post too often you will become a nuisance and if you Post rarely you will be forgotten.
  
• Your Community Members have joined your Page with a particular reason and expectation. You need to understand this and ask them if need be on what are their expectations.
  
• Do not be highhanded. If there are comments then make it a point to understand the reason behind them. Be active and not anti-social.

What are your quick pointers?

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

The Description And Page Title Meta Tags - Social Media

You will have heard and worked on Meta Tags as the SEO personnel and as a Social Media person. You know Meta Tags are important so that your Page / Site / Blog get found easily by Search Engines and you have a better ranking. Once you have a good rank on the Search Pages then there are higher chances of you drawing good traffic. Have you wondered which of the Meta Tags are really more important?

The Description Meta Tag works in a unique way. When your Page / Site Blog gets thrown up on Search Engine findings it is the Description Meta Tag that gets shown as snippet. If written well then it is this that brings you click through. So if your Description Meta Tag is compelling enough then be sure that your click through rate via the Search Engines is a certainty.

The other important Meta Tag is the Page Title. This directly is seen on your Search Engines in bold. It is the result of search words used by your target audience.

Both, Description and Title Meta Tags together form the text that you read on Search Pages. If written well they will induce and encourage readers / searchers to click.

Your description cannot be longer than 160 characters in case of Google.com for instance. After 160 characters your text will be truncated.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Quick SEO Tips - Social Media

SEO is becoming more and more complex as many people demand that their online presence have the SEO inoculation. SEO is to be done to your each and every online presence, however it need not become a night mare.

Here are quick tips to enable your SEO endeavor:

• Use your KeyWords sparingly but definitely consistently. Use the right Keywords in your content, headline, sub-head, URL and links as well.
  
• Do not over stuff with KeyWords. Search Engines recognize this and flag such Sites / Blogs / Pages. Some you may stand a chance of being banned as well. To the extent use KeyWords while saving and naming an image as well.
  
• A very important part of SEO is page - loading. It is critical that your page loads fast. This is not a new entrant in the SEO category. This parameter has been there now since over a decade sine the time people were struggling with website designing.
  
• Use re-directs with a little more creativity. It is a good idea to construct your 404 and such other error / re-direct pages well in advance.
  
• Trust towards your Sites / Blogs / Pages has a direct relation with the ranking. If your site is not anonymous, if it shows real people running it and the intention of its existence then people will flow more towards you and share more of your content. This creates the Search Engines to understand your Sites / Blogs / Pages as good and genuine.
  

What are your tips for good SEO?

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Social Media For Multi Level Marketing

Multi Level Marketing or Chain Marketing means that the sales persons are not only compensated for the sales that they make but also get the commission on the sales that their recruits or down-lines make. Multi Level Marketing is also popularly known as Network Marketing.

In this format one person can do sales from their end as well as recruit a team of persons under them so that this team in turn makes sales. The top person who created this team earns from the sales of their down-lines as well.

The amount that one would earn as commission and the level of people as down-line is fixed and determined by the main company whose products are being sold and who is the ultimate pay master to this entire networking programme. Many a times you can have unlimited down-lines, however some companies profess that you need to have limitations therein.

Have you considered having a Social Media Platform for Multi Level Marketing?

• You can set up a Facebook Page for instance and have people join you there. Imagine a Facebook Page can be your one point contact wherein you can have your team touching base with you with their questions, asking you on what best is to be done and so on.
• This same space can be used to execute your motivational strategy as well wherein you can encourage your team to move ahead and take more challenging sales route.
• With Facebook as one of your marketing extensions you can safely put up information and latest news at one centralized Page on the internet which all can subscribe to.
• If you have a rewards programme you can put up the winners and encourage others to gear up as well on this one Facebook Page.
• If you want to send out an urgent sales offer then this too can be done on your Facebook Page.

So while you can have the rest of your marketing strategy and media playing along a Facebook Page will enable a great method to connect with your Sales Force.

Add to this you will be easily found on Search Engines as well. So go on if you are into Chain Marketing then try out a Facebook Page. Remember it takes time, energy and dedication along with consistency.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Search Engines Technical Limitations - Social Media

Understanding the Search Engine could be advantageous for you. Search Engine Optimization is the process of building your Blog / Site / Social Profile in a way such that the Search Engines can easily find them. This in turn will get them on higher ranks and thereby much easily and quickly available to humans.

Since Search Engines have certain limitations. It is essential and advantageous for your to know these limitations.

• Search Engines programmes can read text not images, animations and forms. Hence what is behind these is left out. This means that having your Site with flash could be a little hassle or an image which does not have an appropriate name may be ignore.
• A Link structure that is not developed well and is broken then the Search Engine will overlook this.
• Usage of terms that normally your Target Audience does not use will be negative for your. For instance if people are used to searching for TV and you are writing television then the Search will not throw up your Blog / Site / Social Profile.
• Similarly language matters. If you have French Site and your real Target Audience is Japanese then again this stands to be a problem.
• The most critical factor is quality of your content. Ofcourse the Search Engines cannot understand the content and hence cannot know if the quality is good or bad. Thus they get to know this via the traffic, links and comments on your Blog / Site / Social Profile. So greater your traffic, the better your Blog / Site / Social Profile is rated.
  

These are few of the suggestions in understanding the limitations of Search Engines.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Interacting With Search On Search Engines - Social Media

It is interesting to note as to how people search on the Internet. Once you know how people search your category based information then you can easily adhere to their requirements. This is how you can use SEO to the fullest. The knowledge of what your Target Audience is keying into search engines is like a little magic wand in your hands. You then are to keep using it at practically all times.

Though people search for various reasons the act of searching is performed in similar way. People go to the Search Engines like Google.com and type in the word that directly represents what they are looking for. At times people type a phrase as well. The whole idea is that people are typing so that they reach a destination. For this they type a phrase, a word, a sentence. They hope to reach a proper Site / Blog / Social Profile that gives them or connects them with the required information.

If at all they are not satisfied with what they find then they refine their search query.

There are specific online tools to enable you in understanding on what is the rank of the words that are used in Search. In other words the tool enables you to know which words are used by many people to do a certain Search. Once you identify the words then you need to cross check if they are relevant to your content and what you / your Brand / your Business will stand for. If it makes sense to use the words then by all means do go all out and use them. These are your Keywords. When you use Keywords remember to not clutter your content and not stuff your article with unnecessary usage of Keywords.

Keywords are to be used in an intelligent way. Use them on your Site / Blog / Social Page.

Share your points in here.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

 

Blogging Is Extention Of Your Brand And Business - Social Media

Blogging is a critical part of Social Media. Blogging enables you to establish and position yourself / your Brand / your Business. Your Blog represents you and your Brand. Neglecting this aspect of your Social Media could be a little dangerous.

Here are few of the parameters that you may want to keep in mind:

• Keep your content new and fresh.
  
• Keep writing. The more you write the better you get. You improve in your writing skills and you get more traffic as well.
  
• Use of Keywords is crucial.
• Do respond and encourage interactions. It is critical.
  
• Be consistent. Do not neglect your Blogging Posts dates.
• Frame out what your Blogging will represent and stand for.
  

These are few of Blogging parameters. What are yours - do share here.

My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

What Affects The Search Engines - Social Media

In the online world, Search Engines are critical. Knowledge of Search Engines form an important part of Social Media professional's  day to day activity. It is critical that you understand what a Search Engine is looking for and how best you can make use of the opportunity. While you do understand the important criteria of the Search Engine you need to keep in mind that the algorithms are updated and changed constantly. Hence what may be true today may not be so correct to use in the near future, or may not be so important in the near future. A classic example of this was Panda which was brought in by Google. Panda was claimed to be a more sophisticated and intelligent way to diagnosing what is a healthy Site / Blog / Social Profile Page / Link and what is just spam.

Search Engines are programmes, they are scripts, they are not human. Keeping this in mind here are a few pointers for you to get a brief understanding on what affects the Search Engine and how your Content could affect your ranking on the Search Engines.

• Though algorithms change there is no doubt that the quality and health of your Site / Blog is crucial. When we refer to health we are talking about the Content and the Frequency of Posts.
  
• If there are more people visiting your Site / Blog the the algorithms understand that this would be a healthy Site.
• If there are more people sharing to your Posts then this is a clear indication that the Posts are good.
• If there are people linking to your Site / Blog then again the Search Engine understands this as a positive sign.
  
• You will need to fix your KeyWord selection. It is essential that you start to identify a limited number of words as KeyWords.
  
• Search Engines also look at MetaTags. This is Off - Page SEO. Your MetaTag of Headlines, Descriptions, Labels etc are critical factors. They direct and entertain the Search Engine Crawlers.
  
• The images that you may upload are another crucial factor for Search Engine Indexing. The names of the Images should be based upon KeyWords that you would have selected.

These are some of the pointers that could help you in understanding what does a Search Engine look for normally.

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What Social Media Is Not

We know Social Media is all about Conversation. If Conversations are taken care of properly and given good direction then over a period of time they become great Engagement avenues for your Customers with your Brand / Business. 

Here in this Post I will talk about what Social Media is not. Below is a quick list of what Social Media is not as far as Business and Branding goes:

• Social Media is not a broadcast platform for sales. With great conversations and engagement you will be able to develop loyalty and Customer connect. This will eventually lead to sales. Having said this, Social Media is not about creating amazing sales messages and bombarding your Target Audience / Community Members with it. People go to Facebook to communicate and interact. This interaction can be on friendly basis amongst friends, family or peers. It can also be to gather and share information. Hence they may want to know what is taking place, what is the latest and so on. They will not mind consuming information. What they will mind is getting tedious sales messages. People understand. They are not naive. It takes very little to 'un-friend' your Brand and Business. It takes less than 4seconds.
• Social Media is not really about yourself. Though people want to know what others do, they do not want inane status messages. It is ok to share a little company experience [as your Brand and Business Personality may suite]. However it is not so right to mention how tired you are.
• As the Page Administrator you need not jump into each and every Conversations that take place. However you will need to have a method to listing into each and every Conversations that take place. This means that when a Conversation is active you need to weigh if you can share anything of value or anything that enhances and or builds relationships. If what you will type, does not match any of these criteria then you need to really re-consider if you should step into the Conversation.
• While there is strength in numbers Social Media is definitely not a race to get more people to your Page. You need to have people who are your true Target Audiences. You need to have them join you not by pushing them but with their own free will. A chronological growth though slow will be more healthy and sturdy than a quick over-nite growth of Fans / Followers.
• Social Media is not about being a robot. In an endeavor to be professional please do not sound like a robot - a copy paste of same message to various people will not hold good - 'sorry we will get back to you' for instance.
• Abandoned Pages are huge fields for spammers. When you as an Administrator will not be present on your Page there will be spammers ever ready and willing to post their links. Ignoring your Page is equivalent to ignoring your Brand / Business.
  
• Maintain good ethical and respectful relationship. Do not behave highhandedly with your Community People. If you have mentioned that you will revert then you need to revert as soon as feasible.
• You do need to be consistent on your Page. If you come and say a hello once in a week it may be too weak for your Relationship. The right balance of Content and Frequency along with proper Ethics creates a lasting bond.
  
• Treat your Social Media as a commitment and not as a one off ad-hoc job that is to be completed. If Social Media is a one off case then better you do not do this.

There are lots of other myths that you may want to burst - share them here!

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Tips On Keyword Selection - Social Media

Understanding Keywords is an essential criteria when you work in the online territory. It is the Keywords that will eventually get your right target to you in the online world. Keyword understanding, finding and usage is one of the most important tool that you have. The knowledge of Keyword is your mighty sword / pen. Keyword finding / research is not a one-time effort. You need to be continuous in your research.

It is the Keywords research findings that tell you where your market and category is going. Keywords are what people type onto search engines when they are looking out for a particular matter online. Hence to know the pulse of your Target Audience you are to be well tuned into Keyword research. This is a simple but great way to know where your Business / Brand is as compared to your category / market. Based on your finding you will be able to work on your On-Page and Off-Page SEO.

Your Keyword finding will enable you to estimate on what is your Target Audience seeking. Every search phrase is recorded by various Search Engines and you can retrieve this information in a simple manner. Identification and the final selection of Keywords depends on the value of the Keywords:

• The Keyword that ranks well when you research needs to be validated.
• Ask the question if this is right for your Brand / Business: The Keywords need to be in-sync with your Brand Personality. It should be able to identify with your Brand and enhance it.
  
• You need to check if the Keyword is relevant to the content that you have on your Site / Blog / Social Media.
• What perhaps you could do is physically go on search engine and type out the Keywords.
  
• Check on the number of paid ads that get thrown up alongside. This enables a little in indicating the strength of your Keywords.
  

These are couple of tips. Your turn share your tips here.

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Precaution While Working On Link Building - Social Media

An important part of working on Social Media is to understand about Links and Link Building. Links are like little veins or tracks that guide the Search Engines crawlers [programs / scripts / algorithms] to go and check out the Site / Blog /Social Profile. Search Engines have built their algorithms in such a way that if you start to spam and paste your Link across without a relevant reason then your Site / Blog can be flagged and quarantined. Sometimes banned as well.

For this purpose it is essential to know as to what criteria should you look out for while working on Link building:

• It is essential to know the health and quality of the sites where you Post your Links.
• If the site where you Post your Links does not have a good traffic then it does not hold good for you.
• If the site where you Post your Links is not having proper content which is useful to readers and if it is not alive [frequent posting] then again this is not going to hold good for you.
• If the site where you Post your Links is not having content that is relevant to your readers then again the reader coming onto the site will not click your link as your link is not relevant to them.
• Post your links onto forums. Careful when you do this. If you go all out it will end up being rated by other members of the forum as spam. Unnecessary posting will not hold good.
• Post your links on Sites / Blogs and Forums which have good ranking.
• Directory submission is another good way to have Links back to your Site / Blog / Social Media Page.
• If at all you have Business Partners then it is a good idea that you share with them Badges which have inbuilt Link to you.
• If you can create content that have the strength to get spread out in a viral way then there too is great chance for you.

Link building is a slow process. It is to be done strategically and let it grow organically. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Facebook Posts Ethics - Social Media

Social Media is one of the great spaces where a Brand / Business can communicate with their Customer Set. If handled well you will find good and loyal people attached to your Social Media Page over a period of time.

Many a times one could get carried away when one is working on Social Media. Spaces like Facebook do hold a great reason to be carried away. While on Facebook Page Management you need to keep a couple of ethical behavior in mind:

• Strange and over friendly messages do not hold good on a Business / Brand Page. While you do need to be friendly and relate to your Community Members it is essential that you maintain professionalism. It is preferred that you do not cross this line.
• Usage of too much of short form and lingo will not hold good. Your Brand Personality may be catering to the youth or the teens crowd still slang will not hold good. 
• You need not hop into all Conversations that your Community People may hold with each other on your Page. Many a times you may see that people do tend to converse with each other if they are observing each other on your Page for a long time. Allow this conversation to take place if it is within the preview of your Page Philosophy. If it is outside your Page criteria then you can gently send out a message.
• Remember to revert and post back the required information as quickly as feasible. This is very critical in Social Media. People may not expect it in real time every time however the earlier you are the better.
• Have the ratio of auto Post much lesser than manual Posts. Facebook algorithms do not encourage third party auto feeds. Add to this a manually posted information is always more interacted.
  
• Do not copy paste some other Posts and messages. This is plagiarism. You may loose credibility over a short span of time. 
  
• Show that you are human and not a robot. Empathy is important. While maintaining professionalism do not end up being robotic.
  

These are some of the ethics. There are couple more. Do share your points.

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Why Use #Hashtag In Twitter ? - Social Media

This sign on Twitter is the most known and used: #. It is called Hashtag. Though it may be a little difficult to organize content on Twitter #Hashtag has made it a little simple. Hashtag has made searching on Twitter easy. It has made the conversational thread feasible. You can search with # and have other people continue to converse. Infact # enables to have an alert system as well; during crises situation people Tweet out with # attached to words / phrases.

You will have yourself used the Twitter Hashtag at some point in time while Tweeting. The Hashtag is put along with a word or phrase. There is no space between the Hashtag and the chosen word. 

The uses of Hashtag # can be summarized as below:

• The main purpose of #Hashtag is so that your Tweets can be organized by you.
  
• In a way you create categories via the #Hashtag usage.
  
• Additionally people searching for that particular #Hashtag will be able to read your Tweets as well.
  
• A #Hashtag enables you to make the persons reading your Tweets understand for who or what purpose you have Tweeted. This way the right Target Audience will select your Profile to follow.
  
• A #Hashtag enables others to Re-Tweet your Tweets.
  
• Having consistency in your #Hashtag enables you to procure new followers who have similar topics to discussed.
  

What is your experience with #Hashtag of Twitter?

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What Causes Social Media Crises?

Social Media has opened up new avenues of understanding for the Brands and Businesses. The days of mere push of information has taken a sharp turn. It is no more just push. Here there is pull as well. Together they make interaction feasible. While there is a debate that the Social Media space is owned by Customers I would say both, the Customer and the Brand have equal rights and ownership. Perhaps ownership can be defined by this fact: the one who uses Social Media correctly starts to own it. So if a Brand chooses to stay out of it and be lethargic then the ball is in the Customer's court.

Thus in simple words Social Media belongs to that person or Brand who stays on top of things. It is an era where you need to plan and execute with ease and consistency. You need to pre-plan on how you will tackle various types of situations. It may not be possible to plan for all events however it would be worth spending time and energy to construct a structure on what and how you will behave in a particular situation.

Many a times we may come across the view that controlling a Brand Perception now is out of question due to Social Media - however if we plan then it should not be very difficult. The perception of a Brand is developed with various factors one of them is Social Media. Usually a bad service or a defective product results in a Social Media crises. If your product does not deliver what it mentions, or your customer service fails, or your after sales service goes out of context then you are most probably going to face a Social Media crises. You may face a Social Media crises if your Social Media personnel does not behave and act in an appropriate way.

You can face a Social Media crisis whether or not you have a Social Media Page. You may think that since you are not on Social Media you can stay away from the Social Media mess and crises. Well, this is not true, an angry customer is not going to wait for you to arrive on the Social Media scenario. If you are not present then it is your loss, your loss all the more. Your angry customer will post the grievance anywhere and you will have to go chasing the messages.

Social Media will be used under various situations. Sometimes your stakeholders may be against your stock market value for instance. Reasons to have a Social Media crises could be ample and plenty. Sometimes an unhappy employee may just go ranting about how improper your systems are.

What makes a Social Media crises stand out and make a huge following? There are two factors that can make a Social Media crises go out of hand and create many people to go against you, your Brand, Product, Company and so on.

• The first point is that when a grievance is not attended with care, respect and a definite rectification course.
• The second part is when useless, unnecessary justification is given although there is a glaring problem.
  

When you attain the above two points your Social Media crisis will begin to go out of your hand.

So while the thinking is that the Customer has taken over I would say it is not so true if you play your role well. You can to a large extent control and rectify your Social Media Brand Perception.

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Important Points For Your Social Media Endeavor

Social Media is developing into an active and a well recognized part of Marketing. Companies and Business Houses are recognizing the advantage in having a Social Media presence. In order to maintain an active and robust Social Media Page there are a couple of pointers that could be useful. Check out these parameters and do share your favorites too:

• Think of the activity as Communication extension. Look at the activity as part of building the Brand and role playing / behaving as per the Brand Personality. Your Consumer has many touch points with your Brand, one of the touch point is the Social Media Platform that you may be working on. This means that a singular Brand Message and a singular Brand Personality is to be in existence all across.
  
• Look at your Social Media Page as a space where your Customers will interact with you in two situations. Situation one: When they are angry they will seek you and Post the grievance. The second part is that since it is Social in nature they will view your Posts and Comments when they are on that particular site at their convenience. You need to respect their time and the reason why they have connected with you.
  
• You need to be active on your social Media Page if you are looking at your Community Members interacting and engaging with you. Do not think that if you have created your Business / Brand Profile Page you have got your Social Media presence. This is a myth. The term Social itself signifies that you behave and remain consistently Social. Be consistent and update your Social Media Page regularly. Ofcourse do not cross the the line and be a nuisance either.
  
• Many a times we see blatant sales messages being posted. This is again an incorrect approach. The idea of being on Social Media is so that you attain top-of-the-mind recall value and not so that you have a space to blast sales messages. You need to carefully develop and hand hold your Community Members. Give them lots of reasons to be on your Page.
  
• When your Community Members start to interact do make it a point to revert as soon as possible. If you feel satisfied that people are interacting and then do not share back then it is not worth being on the Social Media scenario. 
  
• Your Community Members could write just about anything on your Page. You will need to know how best you can monitor this. You also need to decide before hand on how you should deal with various situations. You need to know how negative comments for instance is to be handled.
  
• Make it a point to let your Community Members feel privileged. Make it a point to let them feel that they belong to your Social Page. Give them information that has not been out. Let them have a sneak peek at what is taking place with your Company / Brand / Business / Product / Outlets and so on. Let them feel that because they are on your Page they are receiving first hand  genuine inside information.
• Have a trend and stick to it. Have a weekly trend like question answers etc. Let your Community Members know that there will be an interaction hour on a particular day of the week at a particular time. This will make them look forward to the time. This creates an amazing feeling and it opens up a real active engaging communication.
  
• Ask and you shall get. If you are doing all of the above then it is time to ask. Ask your Community Members to invite their Network. Ask them to recommend. Ask them to share with their Network what you may Post. Use this tool of asking very carefully. You need not get aggressive here or become a nuisance. Remember the discretion to act on your request is upto your Community Members you cannot force them. Remember that you are asking them to share what may hold them in good light with their Network. Do not ask / blast sales messages. 
  

Your turn. What are your key pointers. Share them here.

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Google Plus Circles For Your Brand And Your Business - Social Media

Google Plus is one of the most talked about Network Sites in today's time. You look at the Tweets and it is one of the most Tweeted content on the internet. Though in its nascent stage as yet Google Plus has shown great advantages.

In this post am going to share a couple of features that are very advantageous for Brand and Business Networking.
Google Plus has a significant feature called Circles. It could be compared to what Facebook has as Lists.

Circles from Google Plus enables you to form various groups. You can have plenty of groups. For instance friends, family, work and so on. The Circles enables you to have focused and targeted information sent out. Thus your information is not sent off to people who may not be interested in that piece of information. In the same way you can click on any of your Circles and you will be able to view the information posted by members of that particular Circle alone.

Your people will not know the name of the Circle that you put them into.

An amazing part is that when you post you can select the Circle you want to share your post with. You can select individuals from your GMail as well. And here is the amazing part: you can select to share with your entire Circle as well as the network in their Circles. This is the point of extended / spread of information you can do. One more part is that you can share your post with people whom you may have not added to your Circles but if they have added you to their Circles you can send out information to them.

You can chat with your particular Circle exclusively. This way you can have many people chatting with similar interest or concern.

You can select what part of your profile information is available to which Circle. For instance if you have your professional Circle they will be able to view your education and employment while your friends Circle can view your relationship, location and so on.

If you are posting information that you may want to share and draw attention of a particular person then you can do tagging. You can simply tag by '@'.

The features in Google Plus enable you to do a quick research and ask on what is it that your Customer would be seeking. Ofcourse still the 'questions' section has not been well developed still you can make the best use of the post section.

Google has enable your android phone to be in sync with your Google Plus Network. This means you can be online when you are on the go.

You can have Customer Care taking place on your Google Plus - and have your Brand and Business reaching out to various persons and group of people [Circles].

Your turn: Would you look at Google Plus for Brand and Business?

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SEO Pointers - Social Media

SEO is an important criteria for your online activities. SEO [Search Engine Optimization] if done accurately and consistently then it can be a very rewarding work.

Below are a couple of myths and pointers that one should consider while working on SEO tasks:

• Duplicate the content: Having a couple of blogs that are same is not the way to go. Also having same content across various Social Media Sites, Blog and Website is not a very good idea. There are two main disadvantages: One is that your Pages and Site will not be taken up higher by Search Engines and secondly your Target Audience will loose interest as wherever they go it seems they have to see the same copy paste job.
  
• Images are to be named as Image1, Image2 and so on: Spiders [Crawlers / programmes / scripts] of Search Engines do not 'read' photos, videos and audios. What they do read is text matter. Hence here is a great chance for you. Name your images as per proper and relevant keywords. You can name your images while saving them. Alt Text is an important feature.
  
• Link: Your best SEO is linking the various matter with each other. If you have referred to some point in another post then why not hyperlink the two. As much as external linking is important do remember to work towards internal linking as well.
• Another task of SEO is Keyword. You need to research on what is the right Keyword for your task. Keywords are critical hence before you start to post you need to be clear on your set of Keywords. They need to be intelligently used across all your online work. This starts right from your URL name and so on. Your Page Title, Headline, Sub-head and so on all should be having the intelligent usage of Keywords. There are two parts to this one is On-Page and the other is Off-Page. Use your Keywords in MetaTags and so on.
  

SEO should not be considered later - it is the first part that is to be done planning for.

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Your Community's Network Is Important - Social Media

Social Media is a great platform for sharing information. It is a great platform when things go well and people share either what you want them to share or they share on their own a positive note about you / your Brand / your Business. There are various people sharing various matter. People automatically start to prefer a certain platform for a particular aspect. For instance: LinkedIn to show professional side while Facebook Profile Pages for friends and family.

On Your Social Media Page you will find that particular people share a lot while some do this less frequently and others may have not as yet done the sharing.

Have you tried to track and see if those who are sharing have the network that could be useful to you? Try to monitor and see who other than your immediate Community is getting to view what you Post. It is a critical and good to know aspect of Social Media.

Track the people and check if they also would be good to have on your Social Media Page. When your core Community Member is doing too much sharing and still no one from their network seem to join you perhaps it is time to understand that the sharing may not be so much of value. You need to have a quick check on those people who share less frequently. Perhaps they may be having an actual relevant target audience in their network. It is a simple understanding that people connect with people who perhaps have some similar liking. There is huge potential in the network of your Community Members; it is your task to see as to what may make the difference.

Your Community Member would be having in their network people who have some similar choice. This section could be a huge potential for you to take your Brand / Business ahead. Check this aspect and go ahead.

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Get Your Community To Talk - Social Media

While you work heavily on your Social Media Pages it is imperative that your efforts pay off. One of your objectives would be to have your Community Members talking about your Brand / Business. When people start to talk about your service / product is works very beneficial for you. At one level you have a viral spread taking place and at another level you have your Members acting as ambassadors for your Brand / Business.

There are various ways in which you could enable your Community Members to get talking about your Brand / Business:

• Get them involved: If you could enable user generated thinking pool for your product / service then you will not only know where you stand but also get to know what is expected. Sometimes just a little add-on can make your offering get more preference from your Customers. A collaborated output has far more better acceptance and trial.
• Create a 'want': Get your Community Members to apply / opt in for your trial. This will create a 'look-forward' feel. When they are eligible and get an opportunity to use / try your product / service - this will create more buzz and talk. A feeling of being the 'privileged' person gets people to feel that they 'belong' and this will in turn benefit you as well.
• Happy people create more happiness: When your happy Customers spread the good word and their positive experience it enables more people 'willing' to join you rather than what your sales pitch would have created.
  

So go on and create the buzz. Social Media is an amazing platform.
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Creating A 'Like-able' Environment - Social Media

Many a times you may have wondered on what would create a more favorable environment for your Social Media presence. What should you do and not do. After your audience joins your Social Media Page what are the parameters that you need to take care of. Here are a couple of parameters that perhaps may come handy:

• Asking questions: Social Media Sites like Facebook for instance enables you to have a quick survey. This way you can understand what your Community Members are seeking, what they like, what puts them off and so on. You can use questions as a great space to understand the various facets of your product / service / Social Media Page and so on.
  
• Listen: While you do ask questions you will require to read between lines as well. There could be brief conversations going on on your Social Media Page. Listen to these. Create alerts for your Brand / Business and check on what people are talking. Listen in to what is said about your competitors as well. Listening to what people write for searching can also be a great way to know what Keywords are to be used.
  
• Behind the scenes: People like to know the trivia. There is no harm in sharing on what is taking place at your corporate office / branch office. People like to know what other people are doing. Sharing is not bad. Share by way of text, video, audio, photos and so on.
  
• Do not sell: Please stop bombarding sales messages. Social Media is a very different work, it is not sales broadcast platform.
  
• Surprise and delight: This is definitely one of the best method. It works on ground, it works in direct marketing and it works on most marketing platforms like Social Media as well.
  
• Give value: While surprise and delight is a great way another amazing method is value addition. Try to see how you can go that extra mile to satisfy your Member, how can you provide matter that others cannot / do not.
  
• Honesty and transparency: Any Business requires transparency along with honesty. This goes without saying.
  

You can read the below nine pointers that will enable you to understand in depth the various ways in which you would want to handle your Social Media Audience:

• A good note to go through would be on how you could go about planning and handling the Social Media requirements: http://goo.gl/65bCQ
• A note on handling of negative comments: http://goo.gl/tHTMP
• What are the Social Media uses for your brand and marketing objectives?: http://goo.gl/IDvFr
• Community Management on Social Media sites like Facebook is not just about having a Fan / Business Page set up: http://goo.gl/WgqSK
• A note on how to measure your Social Media efforts: http://goo.gl/uRv12
• Segregating Your Community Members: http://goo.gl/3y49u
• Measuring Your Customer In Social Media: http://goo.gl/EjAHQ
• A note on Types Of Your Audience Personalities in Social Media: http://goo.gl/vrYUd
• How To Decide The Frequency Of Your Posts On Social Media: http://goo.gl/wM2fL

Having said this the last mile is critical: Your product / service should deliver what its promises.

Your turn - what would you look at?

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