Archive for February 2011

The Role of Facebook in the Egyptian Revolution

February 26th, 2011 by bstoller

If you think your business can’t benefit from Facebook – think again. This story found in Mashable.com illustrates just how powerful Facebook really is.

How Facebook Supported the Egyptian Revolution

15 hours ago by Emily Banks 4

Officially, Facebook has remained mum on its role in the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, which grew into full-on revolutions. But this week, reports have surfaced that reveal a somewhat active involvement in the events and outline Facebook’s support of democracy and civic engagement.

Facebook reportedly worked to protect the identity of Egyptian activists, according to The Daily Beast. The news site claims to have obtained e-mail correspondence from Facebook executives and the administrators of the Facebook Page that was the revolution’s digital epicenter — the We Are All Khaled Said Page, which was created in memory of an Egyptian man murdered last summer by police.

The Page mysteriously disappeared as activists prepared to substantiate what would likely be rigged elections in November of last year. It turned out someone had likely notified Facebook that the Page administrator was using a pseudonym, a violation of Facebook’s terms of service.

Facebook stuck to its policy, but Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, offered a loophole.

“There is no discretion here as the creation of fake accounts threatens the integrity of our whole system,” he wrote. “People must use the profile of a real person to admin the page or risk it being taken down at any time. It is not important to us who that real person is as long as their account appears genuine. So if they can offer a real person as admin then the page can be restored.”

An Egyptian immigrant and activist in Washington, D.C., lent her account password to Wael Ghonim in Egypt, who continued to run the page.

The Daily Beast‘s e-mails reveal that the social network put the key Facebook Pages under protection, the night the protests in Egypt began in late January.

“We have put all the key pages into special protection,” Allan wrote. A team, he said, “is monitoring activity from Egypt now on a 24/7 basis.”

Promoting Democracy & Civic Engagement

In a document filed January 28 with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission — in response to the FTC’s privacy report for consumers, businesses and policymaker — Facebook expounded its role and the greater role of social media in promoting democracy and civic engagement.

“The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University cited Facebook and Twitter as playing key roles in spreading dissent-and up-to-the-minute news-in Tunisia, leading to the removal of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who gained control of the country in a 1987 coup d’etat,” the 26-page document states.

A footnote to that statement also provides an interesting perspective. Referencing the Atlantic article in which that fact appeared, the footnote says the article “…describ[es] Facebook’s rapid response to attempts by the Tunisian Internet censor to compromise dissenters’ Facebook accounts.”

Twitter executives, on the other hand, have spoken publicly about the micro-blogging site’s role in Egypt, mostly downplaying its role in the revolution. And when the Egyptian government blocked the site, its creators declared that the government must let the tweets flow.

Until now, Facebook’s role and perspective on the events in Egypt and Africa were unknown, and although the company has still not openly commented — neither to Mashable nor The Daily Beast — we now have a little greater understanding of the role it played and its stance on the events in the Middle East and Africa.

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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How To Choose a Social Media Manager

February 13th, 2011 by bstoller

Choosing a Social Media Manager can be VERY tricky.

Many simply opt to have an employee or college student make posts for their company. This may seem like an inexpensive way to make posts, but what often happens is the enthusiastic person starts out doing well, then often simply loses interest. Another big problem for the business owner is that the unqualified person starts responding to comments in a way that makes the business look bad.

From my conversation with some of my clients, there ARE concerns with others representing their companies. There must be “rules” and “guidelines” set up in advance.

Here’s why…

What if people are asking questions and the social media manager doesn’t know enough about your company and simply “makes up” answers?? This is very dangerous and can backfire quickly.

I always recommend that our clients set up ground rules for social media. For example, a marketing strategy must be communicated to the social media manager. If the messages sent are not communicated properly to the manager, he/she will not be getting the right word out and the business suffers because of it.

We like to communicate on a weekly basis (e-mail even works well and is efficient) so we know if the business has items that they are needing incorporated into their messages. This also helps us come up with events so they can be properly promoted.

Back to ground rules. We like to put “levels” in place. For example,

Level 1 – very easy responses to comments that don’t require any thought or potential damage to customer.

Level 2 – Need to have a general knowledge of the business in order to respond

Level 3 – Potential damage can be done if business owner is not involved with answer. This normally involves sending an e-mail or text for clarification on response.

Basically – the social media manager must be thought of as an extension of the company. If you don’t feel you can trust the manager’s ability to represent you – move on to someone else. Your business is to valuable to let a high school or college student make decisions on PR for your company.

Many times it proves helpful to have a qualified social media “guru” coach the person or persons that will be making the posts for you. A qualified marketing consultant can help you set up your guidelines and help teach the business owner to set up a social media “system” in order to maximize this new “free” marketing tool.

If you feel you need help, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line at Discovering Profits. We’ve spent countless hours researching what works and we can help you set up your system – it’s a very small investment to insure you maximize your return for social media.

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Facebook Pages Gets a New Look

February 11th, 2011 by bstoller

Facebook has begun a new redesign of Facebook Pages. This new design will bring the Pages look to feel more like Facebook user profiles.

Facebook actually launched the redesign in December – accidentally. They quickly took it down.

The main thing that people will notice is that the tabs have been removed, and it gives page administrators the ability to post and comment on other Facebook Pages while using the new “Login as Page” feature.

According to Mashable.com, the lead product manager for Facebook Pages, Rohit Dhawan, “the company has wanted to redesign Facebook Pages ever since it launched the profile redesign. “We strongly believe you should have consistent experiences when possible,” Dhawan said.

Noticeable Differences

Users will notice the new layout immediately. The old tabs at the top of the page are now replaced with the new navigation menu the closely resembles the Facebook Profiles recent redesign. The old “information box” is now gone. Page admins, however, can now add info about their business or brand at the top of the page under the main title.

On the right hand side of the page, there is now a section that features all the page admins as well as a section that shows all the people who have “liked” the page. The big noticeable difference is that the page now features relevant photos at the top. While this may at first seem to mess up your page, the creative people can really come up with some very neat designs.

Click for more design ideas from Mashable.com

Other Differences

Some other big differences between the old version and the new one involves the page administrators. The new feature called “Login as Page” gives the admins the ability to interact with the rest of Facebook as a page, not an individual. Another difference is that Page Admins will see a different version of the News Feed when they are logged in as their page. The News Feed will show the most important news from the pages you have “liked”. This now allows pages to interact with other pages as if they were individuals.

Pages can’t do everything a user can, though. Most importantly, they cannot post on a user’s wall or comment on his or her status. The lone exception is for a user who has opted for the “everybody” privacy setting; Pages can comment on status updates for those individuals.

The new design is optional until March 10th, when all pages will be converted automatically. Facebook has a tour that you can take and provides a manual explaining the differences.

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Online Marketing Messages for Small Business

February 5th, 2011 by bstoller

Online Marketing for Small Business – It’s All About the Message

Small businesses must make sure that their audience hears what the business is trying to tell them. Of, course they have to make sure that their message truly represents their company’s vision.

Here are some of the all time blunders in marketing, as found in LeftLifeIn.com.

1. Coors put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish, where it was
read as “Suffer from diarrhea.”

2. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

3. Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into German
only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “shit stick.”

4. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same
packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the
label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since most people can’t read.

5. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called “Cue”, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

6. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish
market which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa).

7. Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into
“Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, in Chinese.

8. Frank Perdue’s chicken slogan, “it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.”

9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la”,
meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-kou-ko-le”, translating into “happiness in the mouth.”

10. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were
supposed to have read, “it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass
you”. Instead, the company thought that the word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

The moral of the story? Make sure your message is what you want your readers to hear!!

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Social Media – Online Strategy for Small Business?

February 4th, 2011 by bstoller

I ran across this article that puts social media as an online strategy for small business into perspective. People need to understand that social media may not be an instant return….

The social media approach that nobody wants to hear

by Hugo on January 26, 2011

in Business,Marketing,Social Media,Twitter

Every so often I have someone ask me how to go about building up a social media presence for a new startup. They are usually interested in how to acquire social media’s usual suspects:

-Facebook likes

-Retweets

-guest post on influential blogs

-comments on their own blog

-inbound links from social sites like discussion forums (yes, building links for SEO and otherwise should be a standard goal within a social media strategy)

Their plan was to begin building out content on a daily basis, so what they wanted was a sound approach for acquiring that aforementioned social currency to help build out their brand awareness and generate sales conversions for their business. Essentially, what they wanted to know was what to do after each new piece of content was created.

They were surprised by the answer I gave them. Maybe even disappointed.

Basically, what I told them is that they need to do a whole bunch of things, before they could really hope to get any of that aforementioned social currency. In fact, I told them that they would likely have to do a lot of things weeks, months, maybe even years in advance before being able to reap the rewards of social media traction.

This is a difficult concept for traditional marketers to understand, because they grew up with media formats that delivered immediate exposure and where easily measured. You produce a TV ad and then pay for a specific number of runs in a specific number of time slots reaching a particular size audience. You produce an online display ad and then pay for a specific number of impressions in a specific time range on specific websites (or Google’s search results). So on, and so forth.

Instant exposure and a quick turnaround.

Unfortunately, the more organic online channels like SEO and social media aren’t that cut and dry (unless you buy paid links or display ads on Facebook, but I digress). And that annoys and frustrates the traditional marketer. But back to my answer for this startup.

What I told that they needed to do, before being able to collect the social media currency they coveted:

Build a website that is conversion friendly and sticky (e.g. is intuitive and makes it easy for users to interact with it and share with friends)
Begin engaging within relevant Facebook groups & posting on relevant Facebook pages (not with promotional messaging, but instead with content that adds value to the community)
Begin following relevant Twitter users and retweet the content of said Twitter users
Begin commenting on influential blogs and forums (not with promotional messaging, but with content that adds value to the community)
Begin linking to said blogs and forums from within their own site’s content
Begin attending industry events and mingling with influential peers (don’t just promote yourself or your brand. Add value to the conversation)
Begin to gradually connecting with these influencers via email and other online communication channels (not to promote yourself, but to genuinely connect and add value to their efforts)
If they have a substantial email database, start thinking about innovative ways to encourage email subscribers to engage with your social profiles and social content (some of your subscribers might be influencers)
Think about the proportion of your perspective consumers that prefer to consume contact via mobile devices (including tablets) and then figure out what you’re going to do to accommodate them (some of your niche’s influencers might prefer mobile formats)

All of these steps are needed in order to build enough social karma (yes, I said karma) to facilitate things like guest posting opportunities, retweets, likes, etc. And mind you, sometimes, taking these steps won’t result in anything. Some influencers are part of impenetrable cliques or simply horde their social media mentions for other major influencers (not exactly the spirit of social media in my opinion, but it happens).

Moreover, if your content/product/service isn’t remarkable, you’ll struggle to get social currency no matter how many good deeds you perform for the community.

Most people don’t want to hear this. They want social media engagement to be immediate, and frankly, they don’t want to believe that you have to invest so much in advance and then hope that the effort gets repaid at some point in the future. But you know what? It’s worked for me. It’s worked for clients I’ve worked with. It’s worked for colleagues I know in our industry.

And it will work for your brand if you plan for it and if the executives at your company have the fortitude of mind to stick things out and deal with little to no ROI in the early stages of effort (which could be up to a year in some cases). And unlike more traditional marketing channels, which provide little or no marketing equity, this approach to social media will typically pay dividends into perpetuity.

For a link to the article click here