Although Facebook Places with the Facebook user base of 750 million people is definitely the “Place” to be, there are other players in the geolocation market allowing customers to actively check-in to your business on their mobile devices. Do you know who they are? Are you doing anything to delight them? Local businesses that get involved can get ahead of the competition or at least stay in the game by doing so.

Foursquare recently reached the 10 million user benchmark and Brian Solis gave an overview of their progress in his blog post Foursquare Now 10 Million Strong: Has Your Business Checked-in? Their growth rate has out-paced Twitter. Does this give you an idea of how important the mobile user engaged in social media is to your business? Not only are they checking in to restaurants and retail locations, but also conferences and weddings and births. The infographic that foursquare created also shows their sentiment at different locations ranging from awesome to happy to okay to blah to sucks to wtf.

Remember that as with your business and all social media, you get out of it what you put into it. We’d all rather have someone say awesome rather than wtf. To learn more about social media, join in our free  monthly social media meetings the second Tuesday of every month except September  – 7:00 – 8:30 pm.

You can see you can upgrade the Page you are on, or if you are admin for multiple Business, you can upgrade all. I like to take them one at a time. Here’s what the new Business Page looks like.  While you are in Tour mode, you can see what your Page will look like, but everyone else will see the old version of your Page until you Upgrade.

You can switch back by clicking the “switch back” link at the top of your Page, but once you have upgraded you cannot switch back. Also, the switch option is only for a limited time. Beginning March, 2011 your Page will be automatically upgraded.

Let’s start the tour to see what you get. You now have photos at the top of your Page, just like your Profile. However, unlike your personal profile, only photos you upload will show up here. Photos uploaded by your fans will not appear in this section.

Before upgrading and therefore making the new Page changes public, you may want to make some changes or additions to your photos. If you don’t have any…

have only a few, or don’t like the ones your have, this is your time to correct that.

If you want to remove a photo, hover over the photo and click the “x”. You will not delete it from your photos, so you’ll still be able to find it when you click on the photos link, but it will hide it from your Page. The photo selection comes from photos that were uploaded most recently. Here’s an incentive to add photos to keep the Page fresh.

The navigation has moved to the left. This is good, because it’s familiar… like your Personal Page. It’s also good because usability studies show the majority of the people prefer left navigation to top navigation. You do lose the ability to have a permanent bit of info about your business or upcoming events here.  So if you want to promote something you can only use your profile image with a graphics or buy a Facebook ad. Slightly Annoying. The placement of that information on the old Page layout is shown below.

Here’s a close-up of what I’m talking about. You could also put a clickable link there.

On with the Tour.

The filters are similar but different from the old ones. You could show only your posts before, or posts by everyone. Now you still can show only your posts, though this is counterintuitive to engagement. You really want people to post on your Page.

The other choice is interesting because instead of showing just Everyone in chronological order, you can see the most active posts on the top. This will keep you on your toes for engaging your fans, though if you do want a new post on top, it will need to be liked and have more comments. So old posts may show up before the posts you want to promote. A lot of admins don’t like this and find it confusing. Luckily the admin can still see the posts in chronological order by clicking Admin View under your profile picture seen below. If you want to check your spam filter, click Hidden Posts, just to the right of Most Recent above the first post on your Page.

On to the Great! Admins rejoice! You now can post your Page on your own Personal Profile and other Public Pages and Profiles. Now we can see the faces of our friends  instead of them feeling the need to use a Business logo or image on their Personal Profile, or illegally creating two profiles, one personal and one for business, they no longer have to do that. Although this does allow you to promote your brand on other Pages, use it wisely or you may come off as being too much like spam. Always be respectful of other people’s Pages.

And there’s more. You get notifications when fans interact, in case you don’t check your Page every day or several times a day. When you click the “Use Facebook as [Your Page Name] you will get this Tour:

Admins, when you log in as your Page, you can see the activity of other Pages you have liked in your news feed. This is great to keep up with business news. If you have multiple Admins and you want to keep up together, this is an easy way to do it. Please note, that this shows up on your home News Feed, not on your Business Profile Page (that’s right, when you are logged in as your Page and click the Profile button at the top right, you will bet to your Business “Profile” Page, not your Personal Profile. Now you can switch back to being logged in as yourself in account settings.

Or, you can just click the “Use Facebook as [Your Personal Profile Name] underneath your Admin photo.

If are an admin, and want to promote certain Pages, you can feature them on your Page.

You first have to be logged in as yourself, not your Page. Next Like the Pages you want to feature. See instructions from Facebook on how to Like a Page below.

Once you Like a Page you can Feature it. Only five will show up in that section. If you Like 5 or fewer Pages they will all show up in the featured section automatically. First click on Edit Page at the top right of your Page:

You will be taken to your Settings page. Click on Featured and here’s what you get:

Now you can choose the Pages  you wish to feature. You may also feature Page owners (admins). This would make sense if you have multiple admins and want to recognize your top people. This will show their personal profile, so ask if they want to be featured first.

Here’s one last tip. It can get confusing to remember if you are logged in as yourself or your Page. I find the easiest way to check is to click on the home button or Facebook logo and see which profile image shows up. Here, I’m logged in as Consensus Technology:

Let us know if you have any questions. We would love to help you. You can comment here or post your Facebook Page: facebook.com/consensustechnology. (If you’ve not yet like our Page, you will be taken to the Welcome! Page so you have a chance to do that, then go to the wall and ask your question.)

Graphical representation of Metcalfe's Law for networks

How does a business gain critical mass in their social media network and get a return on investment? Let’s start with understanding social media beginnings. In a recent interview¹ with Jonathan Gourlay at the Monadnock Ledger –Transcript, we talked about Social Media, when it began and how it relates to business. In electronic media there were listservs where professionals could easily interact in a group discussion via email. Then there were online forums where communities could discuss the topics of the day.

Really the change from traditional to social media occurred when communication was not just broadcast or printed for many individuals to hear or read. It started when the audience could interact with the originator of the content. When that happened we went from a one-way to a two-way conversation. Talk radio was therefore an early form of social media. But the real power in social media occurs when communications go beyond just two people and many people are added to the conversation.

The leading networks in this digital age where you can build your network of followers, fans, and connections are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Although more than 133,000,000 blogs have been indexed by Technorati since 2002, blogs are only a form of social media when people begin to comment and interact with each other. Without the comments it is still a traditional form of media communication.

Metcalfe’s Law Applied to Social Media

You might be asking “so when does 2 + 3 = 25?” Here’s where a scientific principle called Metcalfe’s Law comes into play. Metcalfe’s Law states:

“the value of a network increases proportionately with the square of the number of its users.”²

When you apply that law to social media networks, you can see that although 2+3=5, with Metcalfe’s Law the real power of the network is greater. In fact it is 5², or 5 x 5, which equals 25. Now you should consider, when does the cost of time and money spent on social media to expand your network give you a return on your investment? How can you get the value of your network to go from 5 to 25?

Engagement Increases Impact and Influence

To really live, learn and thrive in social media you need to do more than add more friends, fans or followers. The value potential of Metcalfe’s Law can only be fully realized if you interact with your audience and keep your communications authentic, consistent and relevant.

If your friends, fans, followers are not engaged, the impact or influence of your network is diminished. If they are engaged, the value of your network will grow exponentially. Of course, as in all business, you must start with a good product or service.

Metcalfe’s original point was to establish the existence of a cost-value crossover point–critical mass–before which networks don’t pay. Should you get involved with social media. I would say yes. The choices that have to be made are which networks, how much time, how much money.

Remember to create a strategy for your social media marketing with measurable results so you don’t spend time and money, without knowing your return on that investment.

¹ “Getting Social” by Jonathan Gourlay, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.

²"Metcalfe’s Law: more misunderstood than wrong?” by Simeon Simeonov

The very nature of social media is that it is a social interaction and not an advertisement. So before jumping in to new media conversations on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your own blog, or the multitude of other social media networks, take some time to know your self and know your audience.

Who are you as an individual, a business owner, or part of an overall company? Who are you to your friends and family? Writing answers in a journal and reviewing your vision and mission statement will give you clarity in your communications and purpose. To add some entertainment into the mix, watch the film Julie & Julia and have a laugh as Julie starts her journey into the blogosphere.

Why go through these steps? I believe the following quote was made by Werner Erhard, though I’ve also seen it attributed to NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip. (If you know the answer to this or have relevant personal experiences relating to this truism, please comment below.) “Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.” In this case, you are about to start talking to the world, one person at a time, and also all at once. It’s wise to take time to review these questions before jumping in the deep end.

When you are well grounded within yourself, then it’s easier to create your social media conversation. Before you start communicating, consider your audience.

Who is your social media audience?

Based on all you know about yourself, and what you want to accomplish in the world, ask yourself this question, “Who would be excited to learn about my projects, services, products?” Who would absolutely love to talk to you until two in the morning about your vision and even participate in helping you accomplish your mission? These people are the first and best examples of your perfect audience.

There are additional audiences to reach. One audience includes all the people with a hobbyist interest in what you have to offer. Others may include investors, potential partners, employees, employers and the media who may want to report on these offerings.

This may sound strange, yet another audience is your competitor. Be sure that your competitors will be following you as a friend, fan, follower or as an observer. Make a list of them. How do they compete with you? What are their strengths and weaknesses. Know them well. Actually, in the spirit of healthy competition, if you learn to appreciate them for who they are, you can free up more energy to focus on engaging the audience attracted to your unique offerings. We will speak more about reaching that audience in another blog post.

What do you want your social media audience to know about you?

When you know who your audience is, spend some time determining what you want to tell them.

Equally important, list things you don’t want your audience to know about you. I say this for two reasons. The first is that it’s easy to bare your soul in social media, to talk about your family and personal life. Later you might regret that, so set your boundaries now. You can always expand them if you feel it is prudent, but it’s impossible to move them back.

The second and more serious reason is for protection of your own personal identity and your security. We will say more about that in our next blog post.

Whether you are blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Blipping, YouTubing, LinkedIning or using any of the other social media applications, the first thing to consider is “What is my social media strategy, and how does it fit into my overall internet strategy, marketing strategy, business strategy?”

First, a definition of strategic planning is in order. Strategic planning, according to Wikipedia, “is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.”

We feel the time has come for our clients to include social media marketing in their strategic planning at some level.  We have added social media consulting services to our internet consulting offerings. Our blog will incorporate guidelines for our clients and visitors, including practical ways to incorporate social media into a marketing plan. We’ll also look at how to allocate resources to achieve additional brand exposure and help accomplish your overall marketing goals.

Our blog will also include information on other aspects of our internet consulting business and other topics we find interesting and relevant.

Join us as we journey forward through various aspects of web design, database development, e-commerce, print, search engine and social network marketing, content management, blogs, web application software, hosting, technology and business.  We’ll explore challenges and opportunities in the film industry, business consulting, hospitality, retail, e-commerce, and non-profit organizations.