Facebook better be prepared for some bashing. Pretty soon you are all going to see a new design and the design is quite different from the one we are used to. This is quite different from the old one. I use Facebook both for marketing and to touch base with friends and family. Since I use Facebook for marketing, I have more than one account. When I logged in to my Facebook account I still had the old design but one of my other account was showing the new design. So I quick grabbed it so you get an idea what’s changing.

Here is what the old design looks like (the one many people are currently seeing). I have marked the areas that have changed so you can expect what areas of the old design are being changed.

Now compare the old design and new design (below) and see what the changes look like. This is quite a drastic change as far as design goes and I am sure Facebook is going to get slammed by users once again. They are used to it though. Kudos to Facebook once again for trying out things.

What do you think? It’s pretty different huh?

Tags: Social Media // 3 Comments »

I honestly am not in the mood to write an intro for this post. I have something to share so without any fluff and all that “formal” crap, I will get right to the point and start talking about what social media isn’t.

Social Media…..

Isn’t Work

That’s what pays the bills and here I am saying it isn’t work! Something is definitely wrong with me, right? Well, let me explain. You see there is a difference between work and tool. Social media is a tool and not work in itself. What are you using Twitter, Facebook, SlideShare, YouTube, Flickr and thousand other platforms for? To reach out, engage and hopefully be a part of the community. What is your ultimate goal? Maybe it’s increasing the readership of your blog, boosting the sales, building community and so on and so forth. Now, that’s work.

If I were to put a shelf up in my garage, I need a hammer to put nails in the wall. My work is to hang the shelf up and hammer is the tool. You see what I mean. Social media in this case is a hammer and it’s a tool. If social media becomes work, you are doing something wrong. [Click here to read more →]

Tags: Social Media // 6 Comments »

Remember the pants on the ground act from American Idol? Of course, you do. Well, someone decided to open up a Pants on The Ground Facebook fanpage and the page has over 2 million fans! After digging around I found the fanpage was created on January 13th and as of now (Jan. 24th) it has 2,414,627 fans. That’s 219,000 plus fans each day! Talk about going viral .

Facebook might shut down the fanpage soon cause I think the creator is utilizing the numbers to boost a bit of a profit through affiliate links. I am not sure, but it does looks like affiliate links to me, if that’s the case Facebook may shut it down pretty soon cause they have done so in the past with fanpages that had millions of fans. I think it depends on what the fanpage is about and what they are trying to promote. In this case the links have nothing to do with the fanpage “pants on the ground.” We will see.

Tags: Social Media // Add Comment »

I am sure there are many who use iGoogle to centralize information that relates to them. Although many use it to add unnecessary gadgets and games, if used properly it can be quite effective to stay up-to-date on things. I have been using it to subscribe to some of the best social media blogs out there and wanted to share my tab with you. This allows me to keep up-to-date on social media without having to open my feedreader or having to visit that particular site.

Since iGoogle is set as my home, I keep it open on my second screen and as things happen it just pops up, without me having to do any extra work. The cool thing about it is that you don’t just get headlines, you can read the article within iGoogle by simply clicking the “+” button next to each link.

Since I’ve already done all the work, I thought I would share this tab with the rest of you. If you are like me looking to see what’s new on social media space, I can assure you this is quite handy way to stay up-to-date. If you want to add the “social media” tab to your iGoogle, all you have to do is click on the link and click on Add to iGoogle : Add the ultimate iGoogle Dashboard for social media enthusiasts.(note : you need a google account)

If you want to learn how to create iGoogle tabs that fits your needs, be sure to check out this tutorial on FreelanceFolder.

What do you think? Did you find it useful? Share your thoughts.

Tags: Productivity, Social Media // 5 Comments »

When it comes to social media marketing, Facebook is the “it” platform. If you are going to dive into reaching out to your customer/reader base, it’s a platform that just can’t be ignored. The sheer number of users alone is a good enough reason to get into it and the fact that it’s almost certain that the demographic you are going after will be there. However, we often see many brands and blogs finding it hard to engage their user base. Remember, number is not the main issue when it comes to fanpage, it’s easy to boost numbers, it’s the participation that matters the most.

I will highlight the most effective way of getting fans to participate in this post.

Questions, Questions : All Kinds of Questions

Can it get any easier than this? What does a question require? An answer, and this is one of the most effective ways to get your fans to participate. Don’t use your fanpage as just another platform to post your blog posts or simply update with company news. If you are a known brand such as Starbucks, Dell, etc. you might get away with those tactics, but if you are a small brand or blog you have got to engage your fan base with questions.

Your questions doesn’t always have to be something related to your business. It can be personal. It’s ok to get out of your comfort zone and just ask your fans something that is very off topic, something that almost everyone does…for example : how was your lunch today?

You see, we all want to think of ourselves as someone who knows our stuff. If you have a fanpage that is related to web design, your question related to web design will almost certainly get someone to answer. Simply because they want to share the information with everyone else and be seen as someone “who knows his stuff.” It’s a tried and true method, asking question works! The only thing is be careful of how you do it and what you ask.

Get your fans involved in your internal decisions. I am not talking about something that is too secret of a thing to discuss publicly, but more like ask for feedback. If you are planning on starting a podcast, ask your fans how the intro should be played out, or ask them how you should set apart from everyone else, etc. Try and get them in the decision process. Make them feel they are a part of your community and that they matter. Make them feel that you realize that the 4,511th member of your site who comments on your update matters!

Get personal with your fans. I am not talking about sharing things that are meant to be shared behind closed doors with your spouse. I am talking in general, make them feel they are not just a target market but a friend. As I mentioned before, once in a while it’s ok to ask questions that are not related to your business or blog. Just get out of your comfort zone and take that risk. Ask a question that almost everyone might have an answer. If your fanpage has 200 members and no one answers when you ask “How do you like your coffee – with sugar or without?” then there is a problem. These kind of questions kind of breaks the barrier between brand or blog and the fans. It makes them feel comfortable cause it shows the other side of your business or the person behind that fanpage – the personal, human and friendly side.

Here’s an example of getting personal and up close with fans by asking questions that are out of topic but very personal. Here is the screenshot from the fanpage of FreelanceFolder, a community of freelancers on Facebook

I’ll talk more about Facebook on this blog as we go on. Before I end this post I just want to tell you one thing you shouldn’t do with your Facebook fanpage

Don’t just use it to update with blog posts. What’s the point? If they want to read your blog post they can either subscribe to your feed, visit your blog,etc. I understand some like to stay updated through Facebook feeds, but I am sure they would appreciate a lot more if you said hi and showed that they are not just a “market” you are trying to reach out to.

So there you have it. Share your thoughts. If you have any questions related to Facebook fan pages, feel free to ask.

Disclosure : I am on FreelanceFolder team as community manager.

image credit

Tags: Business, social media marketing // 1 Comment »

Voyeurism.

Although the term “voyeurism” is usually related directly to sexual interest, these days we use this particular term to define other behaviors as well. Here is the definition of Voyeurism according to Wikipedia,

In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature. In popular imagination the term is used in a more general sense to refer to someone who habitually observes others without their knowledge, and there is no necessary implication of any sexual interest.

So all of you getting all excited and defensive cause of the word “voyeurism” can relax. [Click here to read more →]

Tags: Networking, Ramblings, Social Media // Add Comment »