A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the trials and tribulations of getting Facebook page fans to become engaged. It has been an uphill battle on my own page but we are getting there. My new sense of confusion happens to be regarding other business and community pages.
One of the pages I administer is geared toward highlighting local area businesses in a way to drive traffic to both their Facebook pages and their physical locations. The primary focus is to promote the "SHOP LOCAL" mentality. The graphic below aptly describes that focus:
On the plus side, the page has been receiving a lot of positive feedback both online and on the street but... (yes, there is always a but), for every local business that regularly updates their Facebook page and actively engages their fans, there are many others that either do not utilize best practices or worse yet, never update their page.
Branding yourself is just as important as the company, product or service you represent. I know that this is definitely not a new concept; but it recently took on a more personal meaning to me.
When I began writing this blog, it was more of a way to put down my thoughts about the many things I was finding out about social media and its effect on my world and the world around me. It was also one of the things I began doing to keep busy and not go crazy trying to search for employment. So much as transpired since my first post.
Whether it was as a result of this blog or the mere fact that I was the only one who raised their hand in the room, I soon found myself being recruited as an administrator for several Facebook pages. Of course, this is all done on a volunteer basis and the job titles run the gamut from Digital/Social Media Coordinator to Page Administrator.
I found myself becoming the "Professional Volunteer". Not a bad title and it does provide a great deal of personal satisfaction. It does not, however, pay the bills. So now I embark on my next journey - taking what I have learned and branding myself just as any Fortune 500 company would do for a new product or service.
I will admit that upon hearing the term "Social Media" for the first time, images came to mind of people sharing newspaper clippings or discussing the previous night's newscast. I have learned a lot in the last year.
I am not an expert on all things "Social Media" by any means. I know what SEO stands for (Search Engine Optimization) but do not ask me how to put it into practice. That I will leave to the true experts.
What I can admit to is, I can tell you how to set up and maintain a Twitter account (or maybe even several); how to switch between the accounts; and how to link them to other Social Media sites.
I have been able to navigate through the ever changing world of Facebook with more ease than some. I understand the basics of setting up a business or community page and how to best promote it for free (that is, without having to pay Facebook to do it for me).
Finally, I understand the true meaning of social networking through my use of LinkedIn.
I will continue to explore the endless possibilities that Social Media holds and let all of you know what I find out. This has become more of a learning process for all of us. In the meantime, I will still continue to answer questions from those of you looking for help in setting up Facebook accounts and/or pages. We should all be able to view all the cat pictures out there; they weren't meant for a select few.
