Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
Content Marketing Tech Tools
Content marketing requires technology tools to produce, manage, and organize content that your audience finds useful. In this new, semi-regular feature, I’ll be featuring tech tools to help you get the job done faster and better.
Hyper Alerts – Notification for Facebook Page Activity
Hyper Alerts will notify you whenever someone comments on one of your Facebook pages. It works similarly to Google Alerts – just enter the pages you’re monitoring and the preferred notification schedule.
Advantages include:
TweetPersonal Profile to Business Profile on Facebook
Friend or foe? No, the question is: friend or business page when it comes to Facebook.
In the rush to “get on Facebook” many have made a common mistake. The mistake is setting a personal profile but using it for a business. Are you “friends” with a business? Tsk, tsk. That small business set it up wrong. No worries, though: it’s an easy fix. Here’s the “how” and “why”:
TweetPortfolio – Social Media
Here are details about social media services offered.
Social Media Strategy Consulting
Autumn Olive Farms (Waynesboro, VA)
Best Address (Washington, D.C.)
Big “O” Tree (Stuarts Draft, VA)
Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA)
Liz Beavers, sculptor (Staunton, VA)
T&E Meats (Harrisonburg, VA)
RVNN.tv (Elkhart, IN)
Social Media Management
Three real estate brands, Facebook/Twitter: Aol Real Estate, Rented Spaces, Housing Watch – Aol (America Online) – 2009
George Bowers Grocery, Facebook/Twitter – (co-owner) – 2008
Geezeo – 2007
Social Media Monitoring and Reputation Management
~ clients not disclosed ~
Clients determine best course of action and response when I alert them of discussions relating to their brand and service.
Social Media Instruction
Facebook for Artists – Artisan Center of Virginia – Spring 2011
Introduction to Facebook – Staunton Parks and Recreation – Spring 2010
Introduction to Social Media – Staunton Creative Community Fund – Fall 2009
Class: Facebook for Artists
Spring 2011 classes
Attention, artists and craftspeople!
Wondering how to use Facebook to market your work? Join me this Spring as I teach two sessions of “Facebook for Artists“:
Monday, February 14, 1-4pm
Monday, March 21, 10-1pm
We’ll explore tactics used by my client, sculptor Liz Beavers, as well as demonstrate tools and techniques to make your marketing via social media more successful.
The classes are sponsored by the Artisan Center of Virginia and will be held at Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville. Non-members and non-artists welcome, too.
Contact me for further details or await your Studio Classes mailing.
Preparing for Content Evolution
Content is constantly evolving - are you prepared?
Ah, silly content producer…. did you think that you could rest easy after battling zombie content that never dies?
Uh, no.
Besides zombies, you have to worry with something else, too.
No, we’re not talking about finding the “next Twitter” or searching for the “Facebook killer” or discovering some cutting edge app. The distribution channel doesn’t matter as much as this factoid:
Your content will evolve. Will your brand’s online marketing efforts evolve along with it?
Not so long ago web content was treated a lot like traditional print content. You built it, got it approved, and forgot it. Now, with Web 2.0 tools you’re expected to keep that content updated and fresh — expectations set by both the public and the search engines. This is the inverse of zombie content — and it is demanding. Darwin-esque demanding, in fact, if you want to win with content.
I am working again with a client whose website I built wayyy back in 2006. Naturally, this clients’ business has evolved, as has the marketing needs. The new site requires the flexibility to allow for content evolution. We left the “set it and forget it” online communication stage ages ago.
Here’s what you can do to prepare for ever-evolving content:
1 – Invest in a content management system and teach stakeholders how to use it. This is not carte blanc to let just anyone near your site. Hell, no. You still need content leadership and one person in charge of editorial considerations (not your intern, people, please!). Rather, you want to build a content system backbone that allows for frequent and easy updates. Where appropriate, teams or groups can feed the content beast of your site… again, with dedicated leadership in place to ensure standards are met and marketing messaging is on point.
2 – Accept that content changes. Some people are in great denial here for one simple fact: it’s a lot of work. Sure, you can still slap up a website and forget it. But in an environment growing to expect engagement, is a static site enough? Winning with online content demands that someone manage the regular influx of new material. And again: you need someone to keep your new content on message.
So, bottom line. Is your online content vibrant, alive, and growing? Have you evolved?
Content Marketing & Strategy for Clean Water
Managing content offline matters, too
This is perfectly illustrated in the “Flex Fencing” project overseen by the Shenandoah Resource and Conservation Department (RC&D). Challenges here are applicable to many online and offline content projects.
Observations
- Collection and organization of content is not enough if it doesn’t convert.
- By necessity, content must be presented with marketing objectives and audiences in mind.
- Not all content marketing strategies should (or can) rely on social media as a cornerstone.
Content Strategy
The Flex Fencing project is an excellent example of managing data – content – which starts offline and merges online. My ongoing role is taking this “real world” collection of data and distilling it into a usable form for various stakeholders: program funders, the organizing group (Shenandoah RC&D), and the general public.
This is where the offline world of content meets online strategy.
First, the collection of data. Consider, briefly, the river of information necessary (pun intended) for a project that includes farmers, scientists, environmentalists, NGOs, and private investors. Most projects contain similar levels of diverse audience members. To communicate to each effectively one must present different, yet relevant, portions of the collected data to each audience.
A tactical measure is to use a tool such as Google Docs where each of the groups can access specific information.
Content Marketing
Next, consider how you’ll transform this information into action. Data collection and organization is vital, but, this alone won’t embolden your audience – whether farmers or private investors – into action. That takes content marketing – even if, in this example, what you’re “marketing” is progress on, and continued enthusiasm for, a shared goal (clean water). So, to be successful the collected content must explain benefits and demonstrate concrete results in a way that speaks to your intended audience.
What about Social Media?
Social media is a cornerstone to many content marketing strategies. Therefore, it’s easy to forget that some audiences are prevented from accessing social media. No, we aren’t discussing the farmers themselves – some farmers are very savvy here.
Rather, the infrastructure: the RC&D is located in a governmental building that blocks social media sites such as Facebook.
So how to work this into overall content marketing strategy? A single web page and Facebook presence are a start. But, they can’t be the only tools because a large segment of working group is blocked from accessing social media. The alternative? Communicating across counties with tools that aren’t explicitly marked “social” but can function in a shared sense, such as Google Docs.
Side Note: Restoration Economy
This particular project is a great example of what author Storm Cunningham covers in his book, Restoration Economy. The book’s premise is that one of the biggest future economic trends involves private-public restoration projects of the built and natural environment. Can’t you see these projects demanding a combination of online/offline content strategy and marketing?
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- Content Strategy: Why Content Matters (tc.eserver.org)
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