How To Get Your Content Grow Organically In The UpDated Facebook EdgeRank - Social Media

The recent update of Facebook Algorithms shares that older stories / Posts will surface onto the News Feed. 

The question is what will make this take place. If simply put - be more Engaging. Get people to interact with your Posts. Elicit a call to action.

Popularity of your Posts:

• Posts that have many Likes are considered up high on the Rank. 
• Posts with lots of Comments are great as well. 

So easy and obvious!
The above two can be done by fake crowd as well! Here is the catch:

• The algorithm picks up on how often your Network has been interaction with Similar Posts! 
• The algorithm picks up how your Network's Friends have reacted to similar Posts.
• The type of Posts that your Network has previously reacted.

Solution? Simple! Genuine Posts that mean a lot to your Network. Did we know this before!

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Facebook Now Has 'Trending Topics' Being Shown In Its Graph Search - Social Media

Fantastic! Facebook now has 'Trending Topics' being shown in its Graph Search. What else is left out?

Facebook has unveiled the latest [most required] 'Trending Topics' feature. This is in its rolling out stage. Currently available everywhere in US. The language right now in the first phase is English. 

The efforts are in its experimental stage as yet. You as the Facebook user will be able to see the Trends even of people who do not feature as your friends.  You will be able to view both, public comments and posts. Irrespective whether or not the contributors are existing as 'Friends in your Network'. 

Well there is just one negative. Does this mean that your Posts seem to be exposed? Anyway once you write on Internet why would you think that what you write will remain private for life!

With this feature Facebook now has taken Twitter's most sought after functionality! 

What are your thought!

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

EdgeRank Of Facebook Just Got UpDated - Social Media

There are Stories floating that EdgeRank of Facebook is withdrawn. This is incorrect. EdgeRank has not been withdrawn, it is just updated!

Facebook has just Announced: That now there will be an even better way to go about the News Feeds. A much better way to surface older stories onto your News Feed.

An update to the News Feed ranking Algorithm. This means that the Organic stories that people did not scroll down far enough to see can reappear near the top of News Feed if the stories are still getting lots of likes and comments.

This is good news. This means that if many people have Interacted with your Post then the same Post will surface on top of News Feeds. This goes to say that if your Network did not Scroll till right below then, still, your Post will come up on their News Feed.

For Brand / Business Facebook Page Admins, this means their most popular Organic Page Posts will have a much  higher chance of being shown to more people within the Page's NetWork, even if they're more than a few hours old!. 
​
I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

You Are What You Post - Social Media

Writing on on any Social Media is like engraving your thoughts in black and white. No matter what you do your writing can be retrieved. This indeed is good when you think of it as protection for the Human Society. However it is bad for those who may Post their Photos and Write things without giving it a second thought. 

It is like footprints on the path of time. It does not get erased in its true sense neither can you undo this in reality. 

You are constantly making people know you. You are constantly building your and your Brand / Business Image. 

Put your best foot forward. 

This in no way should make you paranoid though.

Handle with care not only when you Post but when you Comment, Reply, Tag and so on. 

​

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Trusted Contacts From Facebook - Social Media

What do you think you should do if one day you are unable to log-into your Facebook Account!!? Naturally you will try a lot. Then what? Ok, you may click on 'Forgotten your password?'. Via this mechanism you will receive the Re-Set Password Link in your EMail id. This could be the EMail id that you normally use to log-into Facebook / which you have registered with your Facebook Account.

Now, what if you are unable to get into your EMail Account since you may have not used this in a long time?

There is another way in which Facebook chooses to help. This is called 'Trusted Contacts'. This is a simple mechanism. This is added Security Feature from Facebook. 

'Trusted Contacts' are those chosen persons you can reach out to if you ever need help getting into your Facebook account. This is like a rescue system. For example: if you forget your Facebook password and can’t get into your email account to reset it.

If you like this system then this is what you should do:

• Go to your Security Settings in your Facebook Account
• Then click on the 'Trusted Contacts' section
• Here you are to click Choose 'Trusted Contacts'
• Choose 3 to 5 friends and confirm your choices

Not to worry: You can edit this list later.

Your turn, will you use this ?

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

6 Points To Remember While You Use #HashTags On Your Facebook Page

#HashTags are the most recent additions on Facebook. However while using them you need to be careful. #HashTags unfortunately can be a too cluttering on your Audience’s eye. 

Below are 6 tips on how best you can use #HashTags:

• Words: When you #HashTag a word it needs to be such that your Target Audience uses the same in search and would think on similar lines.
• CapitalLetter: Use capital letter after #HashTag. This way it is easier on the eye to read. Ofcourse it does not mean that you use capital  letters when it is totally not require.
• Clutter: Please do not clutter your entire Post with #HashTags. Soon your Audience will turn a blind eye to your Posts. 
• Use Sparingly: It is not compulsory that you use #HashTags in each Post. Do maintain the warm Community Feeling for your Audience. Putting #HashTags could mean that you are more interested in having a crowd following your Page. This is since you want to be easier to search on Facebook. It is essential that your Community should be given a Privileged Feeling. 
• Short: Keep your #HashTags simple and short.
• Engage: Remember last but not the least, give a reason to your Audience to relate and use your #HashTags

​

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Four Parameters To Measure Your Social Media Efforts

Social Media is Measurable. You need to know what exactly your will measure. It is best that you decide this before your Social Media Campaign breaks out. The reason being is that only then you know where you are to go, thereby you can decide how best you will reach your Objectives. 

No matter what your Goal and objective is. You need to focus on your goal, how you will achieve it and after your finish your task you need to measure. 

So you could be crafting a Post for awareness, or tweeting to share an opinion or you could be creating a Product preference - you need to have the below Parameters to Measure in mind:

• Share Of Voice: This is how many times you have been mentioned. This is not measured in isolation. It is viewed with Competition. So, how many times your Brand is mentioned as against your Competitors. Here while you look at quantity be certain to check on quality as well. Mention can be in positive and negative term. So you need to read and understand.
• Reach: This is 'seeing'. How many people view your Post. 
• Interaction: This is engagement. This is 'how' people engage with your Brand. This would be re-Tweeting, Share and so on. Comments and direct interaction is also counted here. 
• Tracking: This is the time when you measure the above three in context with the call to action.

Dependent on your Objective you need to decide which of the above 4 are more important; though you will need to consider all 4.


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

Retention Plan For Your Facebook Brand Pages - Social Media

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.


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

How To Use #HashTags On Your Facebook Page - Social Media

#HashTags are the most recent additions on Facebook. Practically all Brands and Business Houses have started to use and understand them. However you need to be careful with them. #HashTags unfortunately can be a too cluttering  for your Posts. 

Below are a couple of tips on how best you can use #HashTags:

• Make a wise choice of words. When you #HashTag a word it needs to be such that your Target Audience uses the same in search and would think on similar lines.
• Best is if you could have a capital letter after #HashTag. This way it is easier on the eye to read. Ofcourse it does not mean that you use capital  letters when it is totally not require.
• Please do not clutter your entire Post with #HashTags. Soon your Audience will turn a blind eye to your Posts. 
• It is not compulsory that you use #HashTags in each Post. Do maintain the warm Community Feeling for your Audience. Putting #HashTags could mean that you are more interested in having a crowd following your Page. This is since you want to be easier to search on Facebook. It is essential that your Community should be given a Privileged Feeling. 
• Keep your #HashTags simple and short.
• Remember last but not the least, give a reason to your Audience to relate and use your #HashTags

​

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Your 6 Benefits Of Using #HashTags On Facebook - Social Media

Recently Facebook has introduced #HashTags.  This has a lot of benefit to persons in Marketing and Business. If #HashTags are used properly then here are a couple of encouraging uses of the #HashTags:

• Each of your #HashTag will have a separate URL
• You can comment directly on that Page
• You can check on what Competitors are doing
• You can easily know if your Brand, Business, Industry is being talked about
• Usage of #HashTag by default makes Facebook one of the resources that people will go to apart from Google.com
• #HashTag can be a great feature to have a Conversation. For example if you are having a Conversation with a Particular Person [s] on your Facebook Page then you can all use a particular #HashTag so that you all can find your conversation at a later date. Since you will have included the #HashTag you are very likely to get found by similar minded persons.

Your Turn : Do you make the best use of #HashTag ?


I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

How To Post On Facebook With #HashTags And Yet Be Legible - Social Media

Recently Facebook introduced #HashTags. They are amazingly useful when you want to find and be found as well. 

However for your Audience to read this is a little difficult. Have you seen Posts that have almost every alternate word #Hashtaged?!

Soon your Posts will be meeting a blind eye. Your Audience will not be looking at your Post. With the result while you will be found in plenty of searches you will not be able to create interaction and a relationship with your existing Audiences. 

Here is a solution to this:
Post your Content on Facebook without #HashTags. Below your complete Post have your KeyWords #HashTaged! 
This way your Post is legible and you are working on your #Hashtag as well!

What do you think?


I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

How To Promote Your Facebook Page On Facebook Without Spending - Social Media

Spreading your Facebook Page becomes a huge necessity in your Marketing efforts. Promotion takes place via Facebook and outside media. 

On Facebook you need to Post on Status Update what you are doing with regards to your Facebook Page. 

Inform people on why they should join your Page. Why should they like it. It is important for them to know two things: 

• One is that your Facebook Page is ready for them to join 
• The other is to get them to know why they should join. 

I have seen many promotions talking about the Page and that it is a fantastic Page that one is join , and so on. However please stop. Think on who should join you and why should they join you. Infact this is to be answered before you create your Facebook Page. 

Next is that you can request your Network on your Personal Profile and on your Page to share your Page. 

Send out Personal Messages to your Network inviting them to share and join your Page. 

Update your Cover Photo. This is important. Let people know at a single glance what exactly should they expect from your Facebook Page. 

A good way is to have your Facebook Personal Profile pointing a Lin to your Facebook Page. This is done in the 'About' Section. 

Join other Facebook Pages so that you can share your Page URL at a relevant time. 

Another most certain way to damage your Page is to be irregular and never monitor your Page.  This gives rise to Spam. This clearly shows that you ignore your Page and such could be an attitude towards your Customers as well. 

Interact with Persons who may ask questions and support your Page. Do not let too much time pass after they ask / Comment on your Page. What I have seen is that People do not revert back. Or they revert in copy paste format. Same answer for many questions. This is the sad part. 

Your turn: What are your Methods To Promote Your Facebook Page On Facebook Without Spending


I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

The One Small Difference Between B To C And B To B Social Media Execution

From your Clientele list you know how many of the Business Houses are on Social Media. Business Houses could be selling to Consumer B-C or to another Business House B-B. Whatever be the Target Audience - if Client's Audience is on Social Media then your Client too is required to be present there. 

You also know that the way to Communicate for B-C  and the B-B Audiences is little different. Not that any should be non-creative thinking. However the desired results from the Communication drive us to think appropriately. 

Similarly, when you are on Social Media there naturally is the tone and personality difference of your Brand that you need to bring out. 

The one key important difference is the persons joining. If you are working with B-B Audience then it is essential that you not only follow the Brand Personality but also the personality of the Organisation's key persons. This is because it is most likely that the persons from the Organisation know and have a face to face relationship with their Customer set. This means that what you Post will be understood as the person's Content from the organisation writing. This is extremely sensitive. Your one mis-handled Post / Comment / Reply etc could make the Audience place a direct call to the person of the Organisation. This could be a little embarrassing. 

In short, for a B-B Audience you need to keep the key person's way of addressing issues in mind apart from the regular Social Media Parameters. 

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

How To Analyse And Measure / The ROI Metrics For Social Media

Measuring Social Media can end up being a tedious task if not done with right Objective. You need to be clear on what exactly you are looking at. Measuring will go hand in hand with the objective and the reason as to why you ventured onto Social Media Platform. 

It is essential that you discuss and make sure that every concerned person is in tune with your Measuring Metrics. This is to be done at the very beginning. Over the course of time as your Page Members grow there will be fine tuning and tightening of the Metrics; however it is best to have a direction from the very beginning. Just the way you would have put forth the objectives of Social Media similarly you need to put forth the Measuring Metrics as well. 

The reason? Well if you set your foot ahead without knowing the direction and the goal then you may end up going all over without a direction. It is best to understand the Objectives and Measuring Metrics of Social Media at the very beginning. 

There are plenty of discussions taking place on what exactly would be the Measuring Metrics. For example there are people running for the number of 'Likes'. Just having 'Likes' is not a Measure to ensure popularity. People join your Page for various reasons. For example: At times they could be tired of the Customer Care on phone who perhaps may not be responding in the correct manner. Hence they could be hoping that your Page Administrator could be more active in procuring an appropriate response / solution. 

The various Metrics could be:

• Study the Members of your Page. Are they relevant and your correct Target Audience. If you do develop a good Brand - Customer Relationship will it add value to your Objectives. 
• Number of Interactions taking place as compared to the Number of Persons who have Joined you. 
• The Quality of interactions. Mere numbers is not enough. If the people are talking with each other on topic that is unrelated to your Page then this interaction is of no use. 
• It is essential to view the number of interactions with respect to the repeats taking place. If people have got engaged in one Post and then they are no more interacting in subsequent Posts then you need to take a call if that one Posts value is good enough to draw any analysis. 

Advance Stage:

• If your back - end data collection is good and if the company has an IT department then tag the Customer data with your Members of Social Media. See who is purchasing and who is Passive.
• Can you identify the low hanging fruits. Can you cluster the various Members into Active Members, Passive Members and so on. 

Check out these two Posts for more:

• How To Measure Your Social Media Efforts

• Measuring Your Customer In Social Media

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Social Media BackLinks

A very big part of managing and nurturing your Social Media Business / Brand Page is to be found on Search Engines. Other important reasons are Brand Image, Customer Care, Relationship Building etc. Search Engines like Google.com have been long enough on the net to know how to recognize good and healthy links and url. 

One of the ways to come up ahead on the search engine listings is to have BackLinks. Technically, BackLink is an inbound html code that points to your website. You probably are wondering why you would want a BackLink. This means that, If you have many websites with single, one-way, links to your website, the search engines interprets this in your favor. 

To achieve good Back - Links, the search engines should view your site as an 'authority site'. If your Audience is satisfied with your writing and if they are looking forward to more then your Page will look like an 'authority site'. Websites mention and point to, or refer to, articles and videos on the authority site.

If you get people to have your URL on their sites then you stand a good chance with Search Engines. You need to keep in mind that Search engines need to view your Partner site as healthy. This means that you are not go rampant asking people to have your URL on their Page. You need to check their credibility, repeat audience and general traffic etc. In case their site is not of good standing then you have a very disadvantage situation here. 

So while BackLinks is good to have please be careful on which Site your URL is. 

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

Acquisition Ideas For Your Facebook Brand Pages - Social Media

Acquisition ideas for your Brand / Business Facebook Page: 

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.

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

​Your Response On Facebook Determines The Future Interaction Of Your Community - Social Media​ ​​

It is critical to decide before hand on how to go about​ your Social Media Platform.

When you work on the various Social Media Platforms it is important to concentrate on your Responses. Response is very critical. Apart from regular Posts you also need to actively respond to the various comments and remarks. Your response to various comments should be well administered. At the very beginning you need to decide what types of comments will be responded. 

Your framework is to cover both, when you should Respond and when you should not Respond. It is imperative to have an idea and a set mutual understanding on this. 

​The guiding light on what and how to Respond will be your Brand Personality. 

This will automatically get determined if you have a well thought out Brand Personality. The Brand Personality will decide on how you will behave in the world of Social Media and it will also give you an indication on what Tone of Voice you should maintain. ​Social Media is an extension of the Brand Personality. 

​The value of your Response:

• ​At one level you start to address the comments and gain interaction, trust etc. You start to build credibility for yourself and your Brand / Business. 
• At another level your Response indicates to others on what they should expect if they put up a certain Post. 

What this means is:

• ​Your Response should give an idea to others that they too can interact.
• This means that you should be able to create an environment of comfort and trust. 
• Though your Page has a certain framework - people are free to Post their comments and thoughts if they stay within the framework.
• It should make people feel that there is human who is responding and not an auto generated reply. 
• Encourage your Members to interact among themselves as well. However do intercept if they are going too far and their conversation has nothing to do with your Social Media Page Philosophy.​

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Traps That The Corporates Fall InTo While Working On Social Media

Social Media is not being talked about but is also practiced by major Business Houses. However not each and every Corporate is well tuned on what exactly is to be done. So, while they are on the Social Media Platform they are not all to-gather there as yet.There are lot of unfortunate situations and traps that the Corporate falls into. 

Traps that the Corporate falls into: 

• Once the Page is created they feel that they have won half the battle. Not attending to the Page is showing clearly that you are not organised. Just merely creating Page is not the key. The main work is nurturing the Audience on that Page. 
• Social Media is handled by a novice. Many a times spaces like Facebook is thought of to be a younger generation space. With the result a recent trainee or a junior level is given charge of. While there is no harm in here as the person will be able to write things like 'hello how was your day' 'Good Morning' and so on they will not really know how to behave based on the Brand Print and Brand Personality. It takes experience here. As the person should know, Branding, Direct marketing, public relations, Customer Care and so on. Social Media manager needs to know how exactly they are to behave with Negative Remarks and so on. 
• There is one person believing and struggling with the Social Media in the office. If Social Media is not respected and not followed by the top management then eventually the efforts on Social Media start to fail. Fail miserably. 
• Social Media is often thought that it should build up many Followers / Fans. This is extremely harmful. There is absolutely no need of running after quantity. You should mainly concentrate on the quality of persons. You will find lots of offers that say you can get over 1000 Fans and Followers. However why would you want to keep dead wood?
•  Social Media is judged by the ROI. You need to really think hard here. What is ROI. You may want to re-visit this. Is ROI always in terms of sales and income? Can this be looked at in qualitative terms? No doubt that every thing a Business does would be looked at in terms of what money is coming in - however Social Media can definitely be looked as more of Relationship Building rather than immediate returns.  How about judging the Interaction and the type of Interaction that takes place / does not take place?

Your turn

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

What Not To Do On Facebook - Social Media

While Social Media is a great platform it is a sensitive as well for your Brand and Business. Social Media is part of your Marketing. It may not show immediate returns however it is definitely an investment to reap rewards in the future. The whole area of Marketing is based on trial and improvisation. Feedback and addressing issues is the core of Marketing effort. These could be in any form and via any vehicle like advertising wherein we deal with perception, direct marketing where we personalize [we try to] and so on. In this huge sphere we have now Social Media as an additional feature. This is no more new media and in no way should it still be a mystery to the marketing personnel. One of the main platform in Social Media is Facebook. Just the way we have dos and donts in other medias, we have similar dos and donts which are to be kept in mind while we work on Facebook. For instance you would avoid more than 8 words on a hoarding. 

Below are a couple of dont's while you work on your Facebook Page for your Brand / Business:

• Buy Fans. This is amazing. When you purchase the Fans you have a huge following suddenly. The cost is usually per Fan joining... The practice of buying Fans kills the very idea of Social Media. You are coming on-board because you believe in the amazing power of connecting with your Audience and putting in the required efforts. Many a times the Buy Fans practice leads to disaster. 
• Posting of Irrelevant Content. Posting Content that has no meaning and use to your Audience is worse than not Posting. just for the sake of Posting please do not bombard your Audience with matter that is not at all relevant to them. Your Audience will start to ignore you, and unsubscribe from your Page.
• No Interaction with Audience. This is again against the basic principal of Social Media. You are on the platform of Social Media to Interact and Connect with your Audience. If they Communicate with you then you too need to Communicate. Ofcourse it depends on your Brand and Business Personality on how you may want to respond. 
• Be A Spammer. Joining other Pages on Facebook and then giving Links of your Page is not a very good thing. You need to understand that not only the Page Owner but also other Audiences on that Page will look at your Post as Spam. It is essential that you know and understand that this way you may just about get a two to four people onto your Page. However the negative image and perception that you are building is larger than what you may think.

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

How To Do Marketing On Facebook With The New Feed Design - Social Media

Facebook has very recently rolled out the new Layout / Design for the News Feed of Profile Pages. Have you noticed this? Has it rolled out onto your Feed as well? If you have not as yet experienced this - you will soon be able to experience the new Layout.

The main objective of this new Feed Layout is to be visually driven. The root of this revamp goes back to the Facebook Search Graph that was recently introduced. The new Search feature enables results based on photos, people, places and interests. Soon it will roll onto Posts and what your Network writes and shares as well. So before you get into a hotel you will know if your friends also liked it or not. 

Coming back to the new Layout / Design for the News Feed of Profile Pages which will be more visually rich. With the new layout you will be able to sort your Feeds into 

• All posts from friends only
• All posts from pages only 
• And all posts from people they’ve subscribed to. 

Additionally this is rolled for both, desktop and mobile. Add to this the new format is not going to affect its algorithm. 

As a Facebook marketeer you need to keep in mind the below:

• Be consistent. No matter what the changes are the content will always remain important. 
• Be more visual. Your Posts needs to be more image oriented. This also means that even if you have text make JPEG and upload as visual. 
• A new important criteria is the 'Following' aspect. This feature has been on Facebook since some time. It is not new. However the good part is that the 'Sorting' can be done by way of Posts from people you have subscribed to.
• The cover photo that you use on your Pages will be displayed with more space on the News Feed. 

What are your Points!

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

Remove The 'Fans' From Your Social Media Plan

'Hello Fans!' 'This is especially done for Fans!' 'Come on Fans answer!' 'Good Night Fans'

Fans?

Why is this term 'Fan [s]' used to address the persons who are on your Social Media Page? 

There are many reasons as to why a person joins your Brand and Business Page. They need not be a bunch of enthusiastic all looking forward to see your Page Feeds. They could be dissatisfied Customers who because have had no luck with your Call Centers / Customer Care people have then joined your Page to voice their discomfort and anger.  

Definitely many would have joined because they feel the Brand or Business is part of lives. 

Whatever be the purpose of their joining would it be appropriate to address them as 'Fans'? You are there because of them, how about regarding and addressing them as 'Members' and similar terminology instead of 'Fans'? 


I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

The Social Media Medicine

How do you see Social Media. Is it a compulsory evil for you? Or a pleasant get away? Is it healthy addiction for you or a painful one? Does it make you feel good or remorse? Do you use it to keep a watch over certain Profiles? Or do you make new friends? Social Media if used sensibly an bring you good emotional support as well. 

Like any other things being addicted to it could be a little detrimental though. However if your attachment to this Platform is in reasonable limits then good for you! Having said this - who is to set the limits? Well it is simple - a feeling of self respect and goodness is your measuring tool. If you do not neglect other things then it is good amount of intake of Social Media.

Social Media Platform can work as anti - stress. It can be good therapeutic. Many a times your mind moves away from the problem that could be bogging you.   With many persons willing to help via Social Media, who knows your problem can get solved!

Social Media can be a great space to establish your skill sets. You can share your feelings and get people to talk and share on similar subjects of interest. You can ask for advice. Your can share your expertise. You can establish yourself and build credibility for yourself, your Brand, your Business. 

If you are representing an organisation on Social Media then it is a good idea to check out how to go about handling your Page. 

Having said all this you do need to take care on how much and what kind of information you share. There is always crime waiting to take place. Unfortunately Social Media is utilized in a negative manner as well. People stay anonymous and mess around with other persons. This ofcourse is detrimental. 

What do you think?

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

How To Plan Your Social Media

Social Media should be a part of your Marketing Plan. Social Media is not to be seen as an  isolated one - off case. You need to be sure on how exactly you will use the Social Media Platforms like Facebook and others. Just the way your Marketing Plan would have a set of tactical steps for action, your Social Media is to have an action plan as well. The most worrying situation is when Business houses set up the Facebook Page and then they do not keep the Page active. This leaves a bad impression for the Brand and Business. Add to this the Page is open for Spammers. 

Social Media Specialist: Working on Social Media requires expertise in many Marketing functions. For instance the person handling your Facebook Page is to be aware of the Brand Personality and how should the Brand Behave on the Social Media Platform. It is critical to understand the Brand Print and Personality. This will then be useful to know what kind of execution you will do on the Social Media Platform. The tone of voice is to be culled out from the Brand Personality. The person also needs to be sensitive to the pulse of the Consumer and other Stake-Holders. They need to understand how best Customer Care is rendered. They need to have the maturity on handling real time Comments.

Negative Comments Crises Management: While we all are certain and anxious that our Customers are happy with our products and services, we also know that there would be some issues which would end up being a deterrent to Customer Satisfaction efforts.  It is important that once you know the Brand Personality you have an agreed Crises Management written mandate. Crises in terms of unforeseen incident with your Business and Brand. Crises also means Negative Comments. The reason being that while you are in an open space of the internet there are Customers who can voice their opinion and suggestions. This not only comes to you but also goes to other Existing Customers and Future Customers as well. Any negative publicity needs to b e understood in a matured manner and not be responded due to anger. Practically all Brands see Negative Comments. It is a good idea to have Escalation Matrix. When you receive a query from your customer who is connected on your Page / Blog / Site what will you do if that query was not thought of previously. You need to have a person in the Company at your Client's side who can answer you almost 24/7. Your tackling of Negative Comments should be in line with your brand personality.

Monitor And Listening: It is important that you have a well constructed Monitoring System in place. This will keep you on top of the various Comments going out in the World Wide Web. It would be great if you have an alert system to send you an alert whenever your Business / Brand is mentions in the OnLine World. 

Pre-decide On Key Performance Indicators: KPI or Key Performance Indicators are important. Many a times when important personnel from the Brand / Business side are not clear on what happens in the Social Media atmosphere  It is sometimes the main cause of Social Media endeavors being left half way, people loosing interest, the steam goes out and the top management puts these efforts in the side line. Have your performance indicators well laid out. Let them be realistic and let them be such that they contribute towards the marketing and business goals. For instance having lots of followers and fans should not be a blind criteria, how much are they engaging and involving with your Page is important. 

On-Page SEO: It may not be essential to know technology in order to do SEO. Yes, there are specialists who can do off - page SEO which is done via programming, script writing, coding and in the edit HTML formats. However with limited knowledge of programming you need to be aware of where all you can work to ensure that the various search engines throw up your page when your target audience do their search.

Key-Word: One of the main reasons for your Page to come up ahead on Search Engines like Google.com is selecting the right KeyWords. This is critical. Before you post your first comment / information you need to decide and be sure of what are your Key-Words. This would emit from doing Key-Word research of your category, competitors and what your Brand is to personify and identify with. Add to this be realistic and think in terms of your target audience. What would they type in search engines is essential that you know. 

Page Philosophy: While you have your Brand Philosophy in tact you will also need to decide on what is your Page Differentiation and Philosophy. It is important that you pre-decide on the reason as to 'why should people join your Page'. Is it that they will receive exclusive offers, or a launch preview etc.

Consumer Mind-Set: You need to understand what your customer thinks about your category, brand, competitors, online as a medium and the particular Social Media Site that you plan to establish your brand / business in. For instance there are customers in certain part of the world who will not use Social Media to talk with certain categories where they feel it is best to meet the relationship officer. So you need to understand your customer's usage and attitude towards the Social Media Sites. Add to this there are various reasons as to why a person could have joined your Facebook Page for instance. The reason could be as  simple as they want a response to a specific problem with regards to your product / service. Since they may have not received a good and satisfying reply from your Costume Care persons they have joined your Page to ask you. 

Adaptability To Change As Per Feed-Back From The Measuring And Monitoring Tools: Rules and plans should be pre-decided, however they are not to be rigid. You need to change your plan of action if required. If feedback via your Monitoring Method throws up the fact that changes are required then do so. 

Competitor Study: You need to be aware on what others are doing. Both, Direct Competitor and Notional as well. Who is your competitor, what is their offline and online activity is all important to be well understood. And yes what are they doing on Social Media Sites is crucial for you to keep updated with constantly. Also keep in mind that your Posts will be one of the many Posts that come onto your Audiences Feed. So you are not only fighting with Competitors but also other Posts.

Understand The Social Media Site's Functionality and Its Perception As well: It is best to really know the functions of the Social Media Platforms that you take up. To use them optimally is the best way to get results.

Acquisition: It is necessary that you plan how and from where your target audience should flow into your Page. You need to have your Social Media URL on each and every communication - OnLine and OffLine.

Retention: How will you nurture and limit the attrition is also vital. This if done well then your existing Audience will become your Brand Ambassadors. 

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

Interaction Is The Core Of Your Social Media Efforts

Many a times you may have wondered as to where does Social Media lead us. 

Since your Target Audience is on Social Media you too are trying to understand the Social Platform. However whatever be your goals - the end and means are 'Interaction'.

Interaction is the communication between your Community Members and your Page. The whole story and truth is in this.  

It is good Interaction that will lead to amazing relationship between your Community Members and Your Page. Thereby you will be able to enhance the value that your Brand and Business brings to them. Add to this in turn they will be great Brand Ambassadors for you.

Interaction is the main instrument to measure where you are in your Customer's Life, what do they think and perceive of you. Do they have problems with you, your product and your service. It is due to appropriate Interaction that you will be able to tackle a Negative Comment and so on. 

What is your take?

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

How To Make The Best Of Facebook For Your Business And Brand - Social Media

Facebook has turned out to be one of the most critical and ultimate destinations for most Business and Brands. Since practically all are on this same Facebook Platform  it ends up being important. Infact it has almost substituted the other contact details mentioned on visiting cards. The unfortunate part is that not all Business and Brands are active although they have created their Facebook Page. 

If you have created the Facebook Page then see to it that you are active on it each week. It is great if you can attend to it atleast four times a week. A Page that is not attended to might attract spammers. It is also very significant that you are not bothered about your own Business and Brand.

Additionally you should also monitor your Page. You need to encourage interaction of your Facebook Page Members. The advantage of interaction cannot be underestimated. The more the interaction towards your Posts from your Community Members the more Facebook algorithms would understand that your Posts and Pages are popular and people value them. This then leads to Facebook throwing up your Page when someone searches.

Respond. When there is a comment put up, please see to it that you respond as soon as possible. Do not assume that the person will be ok with a late reply. 

Utilize the Posts broadcast well. Posts which contain Photos and Text will be much more liked by Facebook. Facebook algorithms are prepared to 'like and read' the Posts with Text along with Photos.

Do not be robotic. Remember that you are talking and communicating with Humans. Hence it is imperative that you communicate naturally. This does not mean that you move away and think of slang language only. However it is critical that you 'talk' and not render instructions. 

Brand Tone and Brand Personality are very important. It is essential to understand the Brand Personality and then start your first Post. Facebook is an ideal space where you can actually demonstrate your Brand Behavior. 

Facebook is made to share - since you are looking at Facebook you might as well request your existing Community Members to share the Posts etc. Do not make this blatant. However you can request for a quick share. This enables your Facebook Page go viral and have many more persons look at it. 

Content is the king and shall remain the king. You need to build your content in a manner such that it is valuable to your Community Member. Remember it is not about you it is about the Members. 

I work as Freelance Social Media Network Online Professional. My Business Page is on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.