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Facebook’s New Marketing Solutions: More Than Just Timeline for Pages

By On March 5, 2012 In Facebook, Social Marketing Tools, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Facebook’s New Marketing Solutions: More Than Just Timeline for PagesPermalink

You’ve surely heard the buzz of the past few days! Facebook is rolling out Timeline for Pages! Some Page owners are rushing to convert, some are holding off until it becomes mandatory on March 30, while others are confused about what this even means. While Timeline is the most visible piece of the ‘new marketing solutions’ that were announced on February 29, it’s not the only piece – even though that’s what we’ve been hearing about for the past few days.

Wonderful and very comprehensive how-to articles on converting Pages to Timeline have been published since the announcement, such as this one from mashable.com: Facebook Timeline for Brands: The Complete Guide, and this from Talking Finger: Oh No!!! Facebook Killed the Landing Page! Well, Not Really…It’s Just Different.  Both of these articles can help you convert to the new Timeline.

Since the conversion has been covered so well, I’ll focus on an overview of the new marketing solutions and what they mean to Facebook marketing, especially for small businesses. So, let’s get to it…

Pages
The Page is a brand’s mission control, according to Facebook. They describe Pages as the “most customizable marketing canvas ever created” connecting your brand to people in the ways that matter to them (that’s a very important phrase…in the ways that matter to them). Brand Pages aren’t new, but they’re getting some new features:

  • Cover photo (an 851 x 315 pixel photo like the ones rolled out to personal profiles a few months ago) and Page timeline, as mentioned in the articles above
  • Ads and Sponsored Stories (personalized ads) will now be available on Facebook’s mobile platform
  • Tabs, such as Welcome/Landing page, are replaced with Views and Apps. Some were upset that this took away the option of a fangate (a landing page that encourages the user to “like” a page to see the content), but Facebook answered this, saying brands can still drive traffic to these pages through ads. (Oh how very sly, Facebook!)
  • Posts can now be pinned to the top of a Page for 7 days to highlight important news
  • Posts that are less engaging can now be hidden
  • Photos in posts are larger to encourage engagement
  • Brand milestones can now be represented on the timeline
  • Fans can now send private messages to brands. At present, brands cannot initiate a private message to a fan.

These changes are huge, but really, they are just the beginning.

Reach Generator
Currently brands reach only about 16% of fans with their posts – not very effective when trying to connect with and encourage fan engagement. This is a new ‘always on’ tool guarantees brands will reach 75% of their fans each month and 50% of fans each week. WOW! What they don’t mention (although implied in small print) is that this ‘always on’ tool is only available to brands that run sponsored story advertising. Oops. While brands should run ads and sponsored stories to grow their communities, it shouldn’t be a requirement in order to be seen in fans’ news feeds.  However, for those brands that do run ads, this is a great new tool. Fans can’t engage with brands if they don’t see their posts, so getting seen by fans is a top priority. Questions remain, though, such as what happens to reach as soon as the ad campaign ends? Does this mean that brands must run ads continually just to be seen? What happens to local brands and small businesses who don’t have a large marketing budget? Are they stuck with only 16% reach? These questions will only be answered over time. Facebook has provided some posting guidelines for Reach Generator as seen below:

Reach Generator - FacebookPremium on Facebook
Premium on Facebook takes a brands’ Page posts and places them in the most impactful areas of the site, such as the right-hand side of the homepage (news feed), in the news feed on the homepage and mobile, and, optionally, on the log-out page. Brands must contact a Facebook marketing rep to avail themselves of this product and the ads are more expensive, but will undoubtedly bring greater reach and engagement than their less expensive cousins.

Ads will show on the right-hand side of news freed for those not connected to the brand, in the news feed of fans as sponsored stories. These placements bring 5x-10x  more engagement, are 80% more likely to be remembered and can leverage ROIs of 3x or greater, Facebook claims. Premium is best used for product launches, special events, and sales. A guidelines snapshot for Premium is shown below:

Premium on FacebookImproved Insights
Insights is Facebook’s in-site analytics tool that has typically been less than insightful. The problem is that the data were three to four days behind, making it difficult to utilize the data effectively. The new Insights are said to be real-time which will make them much more useful for marketers.

Admin Levels
Also announced were five levels of access for Page admins that will be released in late March. Thus far, Facebook has announced three levels: full access, publishing-only access, and insights access, but haven’t revealed the other two levels.

Conclusions
These changes, while not perfect for the smallest of marketers on the network, show that Facebook realizes that they must take marketers needs into consideration when developing new features. Past roll outs haven’t always reflected such consideration. One thing is clear – Facebook wants ad revenue. To prove it, they’ve put in place features that will make it worth your while to spend your marketing dollars with them. Still, the question remains as to how small businesses with small marketing budgets will fare in this new Facebook environment, but at least the marketing dollars they can afford will be more effective.

Facebook has released a resource library for brands including overall best practices, best practices by industry, and white papers on brand building and organizational design. These resources can be found here: Facebook New Marketing Solutions Guides.  Watch all of the videos of the breakout session of the Facebook Marketing Conference here.

What are your thoughts about these changes and how they will affect Facebook marketing? Let me know in the comments!

Dear Mark Zuckerberg: Can We Talk?

By On February 25, 2012 In Facebook, Social Media for Small Business With 4 Comments Permanent Link to Dear Mark Zuckerberg: Can We Talk?Permalink

mark-zuckerberg-facebookAnyone who knows me knows that I L-O-V-E Facebook (and Mark Zuckerberg). I’m serious!! I love it so much I started a business to help business owners use Facebook (and other social networks) to grow their businesses and connect with their customers. I’ve seen the power of social media for business. Especially Facebook!

Facebook should love businesses, too, when you consider that advertising comprises 85% of Facebook’s revenues. According to the company’s IPO filing, ad revenue was over $3 billion last year and has been growing at more than $1 billion each year since 2009 (yes, those are both B’s!). In fact, one of the “risk factors” listed in the IPO filing was that there could be a “decline in advertising revenue”.

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE RUNDOWN ON FACEBOOK’S IPO FILING

That being said, you’d think that Facebook would want to do what it can to help businesses succeed on its platform. However, as a business owner who not only advertises on Facebook, but encourages her clients to do so as well, I have to admit I’m less than pleased with many of the things that are happening with Facebook Pages (business pages) in the past few months.

I realize that Facebook developers live by the code (no pun intended) that ‘done is better than perfect’ and their focus is on delivering features first and improving them later. I get that – and I like that approach – but there are some things that have been rolled out that seem to punish Page owners, aka advertisers.

So, Mark Zuckerberg…can we talk?

Given just a few minutes with Mark, I’d like to propose several things that, I feel, could make all of our Facebook lives better and improve everyone’s bottom line. Below, I outline six problems that I encounter daily and my suggestions for solving them.

The Problems and My Suggestions

1. Problem: Let’s start at the beginning. When a company initially creates its Page, it is required to get 25 “likes” on the Page before being able to claim a vanity URL (i.e. www.facebook.com/seekmediagroup). This requirement was supposedly dropped a few months ago, but it hasn’t been. A vanity URL is important because it makes it easier for potential fans to find the page on Facebook. There’s nothing vain about it.

Suggestion: Allow Page owners to claim the vanity URL immediately upon creation of the Page. Easy breezy!

2. Problem: The biggest advantage to having a Page is the ability to connect and engage with clients and potential clients. Since the advent of the ticker, posts from Pages are relegated to the ticker…for about 3 seconds. No longer do our posts go to our fans’ news feeds. We’re told that if a fan engages with the Page, the Page’s posts will appear in the news feed, but that’s not happening either. many of my Page’s most engaged fans complain that they don’t see my posts in their news feeds.

Unless a fan happens to be on Facebook, looking at their ticker, they most likely won’t see the post. It’s difficult to have fan engagement when the fans can’t see your company’s posts. According to AllFacebook.com, only 17% of a Page’s fans actually see a Page’s posts. While some of that may be due to poor content, most is due to the posts going straight to the ticker.

Suggestion: Simple. Allow Page postings back in the news feed – with or without prior fan engagement to allow for greater engagement opportunities. If a Page continually posts substandard content, they will lose fans of their own accord, but at least give the fans the choice.

3. Problem: When fans aren’t seeing a Page’s posts, they don’t have an opportunity to engage with the Page.  Studies show that 80% of people don’t return to a Page after liking it. It is for this very reason that Page posts need to show in the user’s news feed. They liked the page because they want to receive the information that the Page posts. They shouldn’t have to go to the Page to get that information. By the way, my Page’s fans have complained that they aren’t seeing my Page posts…and they want to see them!

Suggestion: See number 1 above.

4. Problem: Pages are unable to tag fans in posts unless the fan has made a comment. Even when a fan posts on the wall, we are unable to tag them. Tagging is very important since the Facebook notification system no longer seems to work. Tagging a fan is sometimes the only way he will know that his post or comment has been acknowledged which is an extremely important aspect to building community and engagement.

Suggestion:  I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. Another easy breezy fix. Allow tagging of any person or Page that has liked a company’s Page.

5. Problem: Owners of business Pages want to grow their Facebook communities. Other business owners want to support fellow business owners. However, likes from other Pages don’t count toward the likes of a company’s Page. That’s ridiculous! A like is a like is a like!

Suggestion: If a Page likes another Page, it should be included in the like total.

6. Problem: Insights. Aside from the fact that they are three to four days behind, they are not very insightful.  The stats that Insights are supposed to provide don’t mean very much when one is aware of Problems 1 and 2 above. If the Page posts were in fans’ news feeds then Insights would be incredibly valuable – and insightful. However, seeing that my post only reached eight people doesn’t mean anything since I know the reason that most fans weren’t reached is simply because they weren’t given the chance to see or interact with the post. Many business owners have also complained that in addition to Insights delayed reporting, many times they don’t work at all. When the Insights pages are opened, the information simply never loads. What’s the point of offering on-site analytics if the information reported is skewed and of little value? While we’re on the subject the “Talking About This” metric is absolutely of no value! Again, how can anyone talk about something they never see?

Suggestion:  Take a little time to work on providing analytics that are more valuable and true for the Page owners who are helping support Facebook and themselves.

Do you have a Facebook Page for your business? If so, what are issues that you’re facing? Are you a fan of a business Page or Pages? Are you seeing their posts in your news feed? Do you want to see their posts in your news feed? Let me know in the comments below!

Seek Media Group Wordle

By On February 22, 2012 In Uncategorized With No Comments Permanent Link to Seek Media Group WordlePermalink

Wordle: Seek Media Group

Just having some fun!!  :)

Social Media for Business: If You Build It, Will They Come?

By On February 11, 2012 In Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business, Twitter, YouTube With No Comments Permanent Link to Social Media for Business: If You Build It, Will They Come?Permalink

In my work, I speak with many business owners about using social media to grow their business. They typically fall into three categories:

  • Those who are hesitant to involve themselves in social media (“I wouldn’t know what to do with a Facebook page!”)
  • Those who don’t believe social media will ‘work’ in their industry (“I sell to other businesses; it won’t work for me.”)
  • Those who say they’ve tried social media and had no success (“I have a Facebook page, but I only have 14 likes and no one ever goes there.”)

I understand that it can be a daunting decision, striking out into the unknown and being unsure as to the worth of social media for their brand, but when properly done, social media is a powerful business tool that enables your company to connect and engage with current and prospective clients, build community and brand loyalty, and increase sales.

To those who don’t believe social media is appropriate for B2B sales, I say give me an hour of your time. I can show you many ways that social media can help you grow your business and increase sales. LinkedIn is a fabulous network for B2B businesses. YouTube and blogging are excellent ways for your brand to become known as the expert in your field.

And for the last group, I say that there is much more to social media for business than simply setting up a Facebook page or Twitter account and having your receptionist or a high school student post your latest specials. Unfortunately, many business owners take this first step then are disappointed when they don’t see hordes of new customers coming through their doors. For a funny take on this concept, watch this short video below from Business2Community.com.

When I hear things like, “Our company tried social media, but it just didn’t work” or “We have a Facebook page/Twitter account, but no one ever goes there”, I ask them to describe their strategies. More often than not, the answer is nothing more than a blank stare. I don’t blame them for not having a plan; this is a very new medium and there aren’t a lot of rule books out there. I do wonder why business owners don’t take the next step of asking for help from a professional.  Think about it, if you were filling out your tax returns and didn’t know how to do it, you wouldn’t just abandon your taxes. You’d hire a professional to help – or at least consult with one.

Social media for business is a very powerful tool, but only when properly executed. It requires an investment of time and money, development of a strategy, and implementation of said strategy; just like any other marketing plan. The key word there is plan.

To get started, you’ll need to:

  • Establish goals and objectives
  • Conduct research
  • Develop strategies
  • Determine tactics

Many traditional marketing teams have little or no experience using social media for business and don’t know the nuances of social media marketing – and there are nuances – so having a marketing team in place won’t necessarily help you be successful in social media marketing. My suggestion is to consult with a social media professional, someone whose job it is to keep up with the ever-changing world of social media and is knowledgeable on best practices for social media marketing.

Social media strategists can work with you or your marketing team to help you develop your plan utilizing best practices. We can also do it for you so that you don’t have to worry about it and can go about the business of running your business – and take care of all those new customers!

Social media for business is no longer an option! You wouldn’t dream of opening a business without putting up a website, so why would you then deprive your business of one of the most powerful marketing tools available? In short, you shouldn’t!  Really.

For more information on how Seek Media Group can help you integrate social media into your marketing efforts, please contact us today!

To help you get started, we’ll even give you a FREE social media assessment!

 

Social Media for Business – The First Few Steps

By On February 1, 2012 In Facebook, Social Media for Small Business With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Social Media for Business – The First Few StepsPermalink

Many business owners are afraid to jump on the social media bandwagon mainly because they just aren’t sure where to start. Deciding what to do and how to do it can be a Social Media Iconsdaunting task, so here are some tips to help you get started and grow your business using social media.

First Steps to Using Social Media to Connect, Engage, and Grow Your Business:

•    Join the Social Networks That Matter. Join the social networks that matter to you and your community. Don’t stretch yourself thin by signing up for hundreds of social networks (and there are hundreds!). Learn where your community is and join them. If unsure, my recommendation is to begin with Facebook.
•    Reach Out to Those That Matter. Let your current clients know that you have a social media presence and ask them to join you there. Links to your social media pages should be in all outgoing communications (email signature, press releases, business cards, etc). Stay focused on the type of people with whom you want to interact. If you advertise on Facebook, don’t just place an ad that will show up on the walls of all 800 million Facebook users. Facebook allows for very specific targeting in ads to reach the specific types of people who matter to your business and you should use this feature to reach your perfect clients.
•    Share Great Content and Listen to Others. Provide helpful resources that go beyond what you have to offer. Share entertaining media. Treat your connections as you would a friend; don’t look at them as dollar signs. Listening (and responding) to those who are commenting on your social channels is one of the most important things you can do. You wouldn’t ignore a customer who was standing in front of you; don’t ignore those in your online community.
•    Ask People to Share Your Content. Include social buttons on your website and your content and ask people to share it. Interact with people when they do, by thanking them or asking their opinion of your content.  Engage with other brands, too! You may be surprised to find that other brands are willing to give your company a shout-out on their social channels – and you should be willing to return the favor.
•    Be Consistent! Connecting and engaging with your online community doesn’t happen overnight. There will be times, in the beginning, when you may wonder if the investment of time is worth it. It is. It’s also a lot of work and it takes a bit of time before you see the payoff – just as with anything that’s worthwhile.
•    Don’t Be Afraid to Hire an Expert. Let’s face it; there is a lot more to social media marketing than just creating profiles and sharing content. There are many ways to promote your brand using social media. Having an opportunity to connect and engage with current and potential clients is also a huge advantage of social media – when done properly. Don’t depend on your receptionist or your teenage son just because they “use Facebook a lot”. To be truly successful using social media for business you need to develop a strategy and identify your goals. You need to know how to respond when negative comments come in, and no matter how great your company and your customer service is, there will be negative comments. At times such as this, it’s a good idea to have an expert on-board to help you respond appropriately.
What you need to remember is that people are talking about your business via social networks. They are saying positive AND negative things. You need to be a part of the conversation!  Some business owners are frightened by the prospect of addressing negative comments on social networks, and that’s understandable.  In reality, though, those negative comments will come whether you have a presence or not.  Isn’t a better idea to have the opportunity to address those customer concerns with them directly, for the world to see how fantastic your company is at turning negative perceptions into positive ones by apologizing and making the situation right? That’s the beauty of social media for business: You have the opportunity to address negative perceptions in a public forum and make your company the hero! Don’t be mistaken, though, there are right and wrong ways to address these negative comments – and that’s where a professional can be a great support.

See also:  5 Ways Brands Respond to Negative Comments on Social Networks and Why Only One is Effective

If you need further assistance getting started with social media for business, please contact us today…we’re here to help!

In Solidarity Against SOPA and PIPA

By On January 17, 2012 In America, Internet, Seek Media Group News With 1 Comment Permanent Link to In Solidarity Against SOPA and PIPAPermalink

Dear Clients and Friends,stop sopa pipa

Tomorrow, January 18, 2012, Seek Media Group will join thousands of other websites by going dark in opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills being bandied about in Congress.

If you’d like more information about what exactly these bills entail and how they would affect you, please visit:  PIPA/SOPA Breaks the Internet
To contact your Representatives in Congress, please visit:  Stop American Censorship.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support!

Carole Billingsley
Founder
Seek Media Group

 

Social Media Fail: Boners BBQ’s Big Blunder

By On January 11, 2012 In Facebook, Internet, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business With 6 Comments Permanent Link to Social Media Fail: Boners BBQ’s Big BlunderPermalink

I’ve written previously about brands making huge gaffes when handling negative comments via social media networks, but this one takes the cake! You may have never heard of Boners BBQ in Atlanta, GA but they’ve gotten some unwanted publicity in the last few days, all due to the way the owner responded to what he considered to be a negative review on Yelp.com.

SEE ALSO:  Another Sale Fail for Ann Taylor Brands on Cyber Monday and Empathy for The Social Media Team

It all started innocently enough. A woman named Stephanie and her husband got a $10 off coupon for Boners from Scoutmob. After their visit, Stephanie wrote a review on Yelp. Her review was less than stellar, but it certainly wasn’t the most scathing review I’ve ever read on Yelp. It was well-written and laid out exactly what she believed to be the strengths and weaknesses of the of the restaurant’s foo,service, and atmosphere. You can read her actual review here.  In no way did she trash the place in her review; in fact, she actually gave some constructive criticism.

This unflattering review didn’t sit well with Boners’ owner, Andrew Capron, however. He decided that he didn’t need customers like Stephanie darkening the doorway of his establishment, so he posted the following (which has since been removed) on Boners BBQ’s Facebook page:

Boners Rage

I’ve edited the photo to blur her face – Andrew did not.  As you can see, he was not impressed with her review. He says she didn’t leave a tip; she says she did. The first few comments on his post were positive with people “liking” and sharing the post, which must’ve encouraged Andrew because he decided it’d be a good idea to add a follow-up comment:  Well then, that explains it! This is when things really got fun! As word (and Andrew’s post) started to circulate around the Internet, comments began flooding in to Boners Facebook page with some rather harsh words for the business owner. Many people mentioning that he had no right to post Stephanie’s picture and reminding him that calling customers names via social networks (or anywhere else) might not be the best business decision he’s ever made. Andrew heeded this advice – sort of – and posted the following on Facebook:Boners 1st Apology largeThe initial “apology” simply apologized for being inappropriate. Really, Andrew? That’s it? As you can see from the number of comments on this post, that wasn’t enough for most, and it certainly didn’t convey a sense of remorse or an attempt to rectify the situation. In fact, as he started getting flak about his lack of remorse, Andrew decided to explain why he’d felt the need to post Stephanie’s picture and rude (to say the least) comment:

Boners RationalizationHe must’ve believed that once we realized she hadn’t left a tip and that he and his staff had been working so hard, we would understand, see his perspective and it would all go away. He was obviously ready to move on and, I guess, thought that making light of it would work:

Boners Making LightBut it didn’t go away. No one seemed to appreciate his humor. The comments kept coming and several people pointed out that perhaps a sincere apology directly to the customer would go much further toward righting the wrong that he’d created. Poor Andrew tries one more time to put out the fire:

Boners 2nd ApologyAs you can clearly see from the comments, it was a case of too little, too late for most. Andrew has obviously learned the power of social media the hard way. Had this been his first response to the review, he’d have looked like a hero, would’ve garnered some brand loyalty, and may very well have gained some new customers. Unfortunately, too much had already transpired before his common sense kicked in and he most likely lost customers and certainly didn’t inspire any loyalty. And, sadly, even though the firestorm will die down, the damage will remain. Anytime someone searches for Boners BBQ many articles about this debacle will pop up – for eternity.

As someone who manages social media for small businesses, I’m constantly amazed at how some business owners (and social media managers, in some cases) choose to handle negative comments via social networks. No matter how fabulous your brand is, there will always be some negative comments or complaints. Stuff happens. How you choose to handle these incidents can literally make or break your business. No longer can you have an argument with a customer that stays between you, the customer, and 10 of her closest friends. Complaints now have a tendency to go viral, especially when handled poorly, as in the case of Boners, Ann Taylor, Papa Johns, and many more. Some brands do it right, such as the way FedEx handled the viral video of its employee tossing a box over a fence. FedEx took to YouTube, owned up to the mistake, and made things right with the customer which was the wisest move they could’ve made. Here’s a link to the video by FedEx Senior Vice President of US Operations, Matthew Thornton, III.

Social media is a new medium for business owners which is why it’s important to have someone on the team who is adept at dealing with negativity in a constructive and impartial way that could actually help your business shine (and grow!) at times like this as opposed to igniting a firestorm and possibly destroying your business in the process.

 SEE ALSO: 5 Ways Brands Respond to Negative Comments on Social Networks and Why Only One is Effective

If your business is considering jumping on the social media bandwagon (or if you already have), you should consider hiring a professional to manage these accounts for you. For more information about our services, please click here. Seek Media Group is here to help you connect and engage with current and prospective clients and grow your business online by harnessing the power of social media!

Let me know what you think about the way Boners BBQ handled this situation in the comments below!

Why Unsubscribing from Friends’ Comments and Likes Won’t Keep You Safe from Hackers – And What You Should Do Instead

By On January 4, 2012 In Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Tools With 13 Comments Permanent Link to Why Unsubscribing from Friends’ Comments and Likes Won’t Keep You Safe from Hackers – And What You Should Do InsteadPermalink

Raise your hand if you’ve seen (or posted) the following Facebook status update:

“Hello friends, I like to keep my FB private except to those I am friends with. So if you all would do the following, I’d appreciate it. With the new FB timeline on its way this week for EVERYONE, please do both of us a favor. Hover over my name above. In a few seconds you’ll see a box that says : “Subscribed”. Hover over that, then go to “comments and likes” and un-check it, by clicking on it. That will stop my posts and yours to me from showing up on the bar side for everyone to see, but most importantly it limits hackers from invading our profiles. If you repost this I will do the same for you. You’ll know I’ve acknowledged you because if you tell me that you’ve done it I’ll “like” it.”

Yep, that’s what I thought! I see a lot of hands out there! This has been spreading like wildfire for the past week or so. I’ve seen it countless times myself.

There are a few problems with these instructions:

  1. This has nothing to do with the advent of Timeline.
  2. While it’s true that if you unsubscribe from a friend’s comments and likes (and vice versa) these items will no longer show up in the ticker…but they also will no longer show up in your news feed.
  3. Maybe most importantly, this action will NOT protect you from hackers!

So what should you do? Can you disable Timeline? Disable the ticker? How do you protect yourself from hackers?

Timeline

First things first. You cannot disable Timeline (frankly, I don’t understand why you’d want to…it’s beautiful and gives you more options than ever!). There are posts going around on Facebook saying, “click here to disable Timeline”. Please don’t be fooled by this!  This is a scam to get you to “like” the scammers’ pages and some of them are asking people to download a browser extension that may, in fact, do damage to your system.  For the complete story on this, please click here to read the facts from The Next Web.

That Blasted Ticker!

You can disable the ticker according to AllFacebook.com. Click here for instructions on how to disable the Ticker. I’ll add the disclaimer that I haven’t tried to disable the ticker yet, but I trust AllFacebook so if they say this is how to do it, it is.

It’s Up to You: Passwords

Keeping your account safe from hackers isn’t all that hard – but it has nothing to do with the ticker or Timeline.  Here are some suggestions:

  1. Change your password frequently. I change mine on the first of every month (sort of a hassle, but much less trouble than trying to regain control of your account once you’ve been hacked).
  2. Use numbers AND special characters (! ? %, etc) in your password.

It’s Up to You: Check Those Privacy Settings

If you’re concerned about people you don’t know seeing your posts, comments, likes, etc. simply change your Privacy settings. This is easily done by clicking on the arrow at the top of your news feed, to the right of the word Home. Click on Privacy Settings, which will take you to this page:

You’ll notice that my Privacy Settings are set to Custom. Within the Custom setting, you can be very specific about who sees your posts – even to the point of excluding one or a few people. Those who want only friends to see posts can click on Friends so that only your friends will see your posts, comments, likes, etc.

Also on the Privacy Settings page, you’ll see an option called “How Tags Work“. Here you can set it so that you can review and approve tags (of photos and posts) before they show up on your Timeline as well as limiting who can see those tags. Another option there is enabling/disabling being “checked in” to places by friends.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll also notice an option to “Limit the Audience for Past Posts”. Click that and a box will pop up to help you change all of your old posts to Friends only. You can also remove old posts from within your Timeline by scrolling down to the post you want to remove, hover over the post, click on the pencil icon and delete it completely.

You can limit who sees your posts on a post-by-post basis by clicking on the icon to the left of the Post button on the status update box on news feed or within Timeline. See picture below:

Facebook Post-by-Post Privacy Settings

I hope this post helps you realize that you actually do have a lot of control over who sees what on Facebook. I also hope that posts like this will convince people to double-check information before re-posting on Facebook. If we all take a minute or two to do some research before re-posting we will all be better informed and our news feeds won’t be cluttered by what is essentially spam.

If you’d like daily information, tips, etc. regarding Facebook and other social media platforms please “like” the Seek Media Group page on Facebook by clicking here. I make it my business to keep abreast of hoaxes, scams, and security measures – among many other things – and post them on my company page every day.

If there is anything else you’d like information about, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll be happy to answer it for you!  And…please let me know if you found this post helpful!

Facebook Timeline Part 2: How To Feature Posts and Create Life Events

By On December 29, 2011 In Facebook, Social Media With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Facebook Timeline Part 2: How To Feature Posts and Create Life EventsPermalink

In this week’s installment of  How-Tos for the new Facebook timeline, I’ll cover how to feature a post and how to create a life event. Let’s get to it!

Featured Posts

Some status updates are more important than others. Now you can “feature” important updates on your timeline. It’s easy breezy…

Make a post as usual from your news feed or your timeline/profile/wall (<- these are all synonyms; what you call it depends on how long you’ve been on Facebook).  After posting, go to your profile page. You’ll see the post you made at the top of your profile page.

Hover over the top right corner of the post and a box will pop up that has a star (feature) and a pencil (edit or remove). Click on the star and your post will now expand to two columns within your timeline. It now looks like this…

Of course, I used a cartoon for my example, but think about how cool it’ll be to feature posts about your kids, pets, and all the important things that you want to share on Facebook. Speaking of which, let’s talk about sharing Life Events…

Life Events

Directly under your cover and profile images is the status update bar.  You’ll notice there are a couple of new options here.

Place…as far as I can tell doesn’t really do anything new when logged in to Facebook from a computer. BUT, the new Life Event option is pretty awesome! Click on Life Event and just look at what pops up…

You’re now able to categorize the important life events that you share on Facebook. When you click on a category, many sub-categories pop up.  I was going to post screenshots of all the different options, but there are so many that I think you should go and check them out for yourself! Play around with it!

Some of the options seem a little silly, such as getting glasses or contacts or first kiss (please folks, if you’re over the age of 16, we probably don’t need to hear about your first kiss with a new mate…and if it’s your kid’s first kiss, well, you may want to rethink posting about that, too – not sure your child would be very happy about that post!).  However, if you do post about your first kiss or your new glasses, I’m sure some of your friends will be excited with you.

I don’t want to overwhelm new timeliners so I’ll post more cool options in a few days. Play with these and get used to them, then come back here next week for more info!

Please let me know in the comments if there’s a timeline feature you’d like for me to cover, or if any instructions need clarification.  Either way, let me know what you think about timeline!

 

 

 

 

How To Enable Facebook Timeline, Change Your Cover Image, and Move Photos Into Your Timeline

By On December 17, 2011 In Facebook, Social Media With 4 Comments Permanent Link to How To Enable Facebook Timeline, Change Your Cover Image, and Move Photos Into Your TimelinePermalink

Facebook finally released its long-awaited new feature, Timeline, to all users on December 15. It’s beautiful, awesome, and allows users to get creative with their profile page.  Timeline is a beautifully enhanced version of the Facebook profile that allows you to share as much (or as little) of your life as you’d like on the social network.

If you haven’t gotten a notice from Facebook alerting you to the roll out, you can still enable Timeline in just a couple of clicks. Our friends at Mashable have provided a great guide that you can access by clicking here.  Once your Timeline is enabled, you can do some really cool things to spiff up your profile!

The Cover is a large, banner-type image at the top of your Timeline, as shown in the screenshot below:

If you want to change the Cover, simply hover over the image and click on “Change Cover” the  pull-down menu and choose from existing photos or upload a new one. Once you’ve chosen a Cover image, you can also reposition it using this drop-down menu.

Along the top right of your Timeline you’ll also notice an actual timeline. This is where pictures, posts, and other activity from your time on Facebook appear, as well as anything else you choose to share.  So how do photos get listed in the year they were taken? If you’ve shared pictures on Facebook of your childhood, for example, you can change the date on the photo so that it shows up in your timeline in that year. As an example, I shared a photo of myself when I was a kid. I posted it on Facebook a year or so ago, but I simply changed the date on the photo and it now shows up in the year it was taken (a long, long time ago).

To change the date, click on the picture you want to move, then click on the “Change Date” option. Choose the date, click save, and your picture will now be in your timeline in that year (as well as whatever album it was already in).

Now you can start filling in your life’s timeline on Facebook! Have fun with it and be creative!

In my next post, I’ll talk about more cool Timeline features such as Life Events, Featured Posts, adding music, and more! Let me know in the comments below if there are any features you’d like tips on.  What do you think about Timeline so far?

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