Blogging with #Irene

So I prepared like most of you did. I have my water, food, fuel, cooking supplies and of course coffee and as of right now 10:04 am Sunday it looks like I will be able to watch TrueBlood tonight because the power and cable is still on here at my house. I am monitoring the usage of social media to get the word out to the people who have mobile devices that are not effected by the storm. Here is what I have seen so far.

1-Everyone is a mobile newsroom now.

2-People want to help other people by posting information to assist them to know the danger areas around them.

3-Social Media is being embraced by all news platforms to help stay in communication with the world.

I hope everyone is staying safe during this storm.

Erik

Why We Created "Share Your Fanpage"

Why We Created:

We launched Share Your Fanpage just about 36 hours ago, and it has been growing at a steady pace. We envision that in about 30 days time it will have a couple of hundred pages posted up, and many more will come join the platform as word of this spreads, and the usefulness of it becomes apparent.

So what's the method behind the madness; why did we decide to create a place where Page owners can freely post their Page?

For a long time, Erik and I have thought about Facebook as not only a B2C platform, but a platform just on the brink of being able to be utilized just as well for B2B. The best of both worlds. That came to fruition a few months ago, when Facebook changed features on the site to enable people to "Switch" from their personal profiles and assume the personality of their Fanpage. When this happened, we were finally able to speak as our Fanpage once we left our little spot on Facebook.

What this in essence did was create the ability to now go to other Pages and post as our own Page, easily spreading the word about our businesses and organizations organically. For example, Talking Finger could now go to Subway's Page and post AS Talking Finger. Subway has 8 million fans at our disposal who would have the potential to see our post. Powerful stuff! By engaging and posting as our Page, we have attained clients we wouldn't have if we didnt have this ability of speaking as our Page. More about that later.

We watched other Pages similar to Share Your Page pop up, and fall into disarray. Spam and lack of organization lead to a jumbled mess of posts that went to everywhere from Fanpages to porn sites. Most of all, no instructions on how to actually utilize a platform where Page owners could help each other out to find prospects: NOT just "Likes". Likes are great, but they don't always equate to ROI.

We decided to try something new. Our Page includes Video Guidelines (text version available) and "How To" videos for connecting to other pages and cross marketing by simply engaging in conversation. Conversation that isn't just spam, but one which builds relationships between pages who wish to connect and partner up to "share" each other's fan base. Because the relationship you build B2B between Pages equals a huge gain in B2C. After all, If I have 1000 fans on my Talking Finger Fanpage, and you connect to it with your Fanpage and engage in conversation (rather than just coming, dropping a link and leaving), you are now not only speaking to Talking Finger, but to all of Talking Finger's 1000 fans. In the example below, Franklin Management who is just starting to get going on Facebook, has a wonderful thing to say about Talking Finger, but more importantly, they posted to 1000 of our fans.

Now if Franklin Management continues such practices, and starts connecting and sharing and building relationships on other Fan Pages, they increase their odds of finding a prospect and eventually a client.

It takes time. It takes planning. It takes consistency and it takes a dedication to allocate resources to social media marketing. Share Your Fanpage makes it easier to share your Fanpage, but ultimately it is up to you to make it work. We can't make connections for you. After all, if you went to a Chamber of Commerce meeting, would you stand against the wall afraid to engage in conversation? Does this method work?

Hopefully, you would walk around, try to meet as many people as you could and engage in conversation. So why on Earth wouldn't you do this on a social network!!??

Go forth! Share, Like, Engage!!

I am an Official Foursquare Creeper

Last night a friend of mine asked if I would like to grab a drink at a bar all of our friends frequent. Despite my fatigue from a long weekend I agreed.

As I pulled up to Anna Liffey's and parked my car I immediately took out my phone to check into the establishment on Foursquare (I don't get very good service downstairs). As I began to accumulate my points I saw that my friend checked into another place that we frequent, Gourmet Heaven. Wondering why he was there and not at Liffey's, I decided to take a walk down the street to see him.

I walked into Gourmet Heaven and walked down the aisles of imported food and drink searching for my friend. Confused, and slightly disappointed that I couldn't share half of whatever he bought, I walked back down the street to Anna's.

As I walked down the stairs I saw him sitting right at the end of the bar. "Jason! I totally just walked to Gourmet because you were checked in there!"

As soon as I said it I knew...I had become a Foursquare creeper.

A better definition of a Foursquare creeper would be someone who uses the app to find where people are and then go to that place. Granted, Jason and I already had plans to meet so I think my creepiness was on a lesser degree (at least, that's what I tell myself) but it was still apparent nonetheless.

After I found Jason we began chatting with the owner of the bar, Patrick. Patrick overheard us talking about checking into places and questioned us on it. We began to explain:

Me: "Checking in comes from this social media app called Foursquare. People check into places to accumulate points and it becomes a game for friends to try and get as many points as possible to beat each other. And you try to become mayors of places!"

Jason: "But it's also a really great social networking tool for businesses. A lot of places will have specials or incentives to get people to enter their business. For example, Starbucks will give the mayor a free cup of coffee as a way to keep them coming. It also is a way for other patrons to try and become mayor to get the free coffee. On the app it shows a list of specials in the area that people can browse."

Patrick at this point looks utterly confused. I take out my phone.

Me: "Here, look." I open up the Foursquare app on my phone and click "Places." At the bottom of the screen there is an orange bar that says "27 Specials Nearby." I click it. A new screen opens up and I show Patrick the businesses that are using and promoting items on Foursquare. I happen to see that Koji will give a free scorpion bowl to the mayor of it's restaurant. I make a mental note to myself.

I give Patrick my phone and he begins to scroll through the specials. He peers over his glasses and, although he still looks confused, I see him taking note of some of the other local bars in the area that are utilizing the app.

Foursquare is getting more popular especially among businesses. I know when I'm new to an area I look at the specials on Foursquare to see if I can benefit from anything. Couple that with Urbanspoon or Yelp and I'm completely covered with restaurants and other businesses.

I highly suggest that you and your business use Foursquare if you aren't already. It's a great way to retain customers and to entice new ones. And the next time you're in New Haven, check to see if you can grab a free pint at Anna Liffey's.

-LV

How to spot a Social Media Expert

Anyone who has met myself or my business partner at Talking Finger Bill DeRosa you know a few things about us.

1-We only focus on Social Media.

2-We dress for meetings like we just got off our boat...all the time.

3-We love what we do and it shows.

But most importantly..."We don't call ourselves experts."

I am about to go off on a rant here (thank you Dennis Miller) and I can't help it. Blogs are diaries, informational pieces, places to share ideas etc., so here I go.

Doctors practice their entire lives...why...The word practice derives from the Greek word praktikos. The definition of practice therefore covers; the habit of doing anything; frequent use; performance; method; medical treatment and the exercise of any profession.
In other words they are always learning, always adapting to new methods because new is better when it comes to medicine. Why do they do this...because professionals always want to be better at what they do. I wish I had gone through the surgery I had as a kid NOW instead of back then. Less invasive, quicker recovery time, etc...

"Experts" according to Websters Dictionary(Caution...rant happening again...Remember that thing? I remember it as a monster 3000 page cinder block I used to look through to find words I did not know the meaning of. It never helped me remember how to spell them though! I blame spell check for that!) Where were we..o ya EXPERTS!!!...So Webster says an expert is a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field. While that definition may be true the person who is claiming to be a Social Media Expert is really a person who you should run the other way from!

Bill and I have sat in on seminars where we had to actually and politely correct the so called "expert". I felt bad about it last time but this guy didn't know what he was talking about right out of the gate. He had data that was 1 year old (rant approaching...) In social media terms 1 month is like 1 year. You have a dog? 1 year = 7 human years...get it..ok let move on. Here are some tips and to spot the so called experts.

1-Facebook.
A-The expert has been in business for over 6 months and has under 50 likes on the page and better yet the URL at the top does not look like this (www.facebook.com/talkingfinger) it looks like this (www.facebook.com/pages/xxxxxx/?id=768555052 ...BTW that link was made up, don't click it, I don't know where it will go. No really I made it up.)
B-Never asks any questions, only tells you "stuff"
C-The landing page (if they even know what that is/has one installed) does not automatically put a new person onto the page. Why is that important...Well it's simple. As a business owner you want to tell people who and what you do, commonly know as an elevator pitch. If I land on your wall page as a first time visitor I need to figure out what you do. Having a well made landing page is your elevator pitch!
D-The expert posts 1x per month or less. You, the reader, do not have enough time to hear my rant on why this is a big no-no.
E-As of today there are 750 million people on Facebook! That is a lot of people to reach out to. If your business is not on Facebook I bet there is a fax in your office still.

F-If they are not practicing what they preach RUN!!! I would not eat anything from a skinny chef, unless I was at a vegan restaurant.

2-Twitter
A-Why would I use Twitter? One word. EGYPT.
Enough said. Learn it, use it!
If your expert is telling you that Twitter is just a bunch of junk WALK Away. Twitter has its purpose. A creative team will find the way for your business to use Twitter.

3-YouTube.
A-Second largest search engine in the world. #2! I would love it if Talking Finger was the #2 Social Media Marketing Company in the world. R/C Cola would love to be the #2 soda in the world. (no more rant, I think you get the message)
B-SEO, SEO, SEO, SEO, SEO. Search Engine Optimization. YouTube ranks results on the first page of most Google results. Most people are to lazy to search past the 2nd or sometimes 3rd page. Having a presence here puts you in front of people who you want to be in front of!
YouTube is a spoke in your wheel just like Facebook, Twitter, etc. You need it to get scene.

Those are 3 of the top places you need to be on Social Media. Its still marketing so you need to use it to make it work for you.

Here are some other tips to spot the "experts":
-They want you to send the same message from an automated system to all your social media channels. (Why would I want to tell my Social Media Reach the same message on 5 different platforms?...Oh, I know why...I want to bore them to death...got it...lets move along)

-They think tracking any of the analytic's is meaningless and a waste of time. If you put a coupon ad in the newspaper you track result by the amount of coupons you get back in your hand right? Why would you not track your results online?

-They don't tell you to put the Social Media icons on the top of your Website. OK This is just plain stupid! You have a website, someone found you...tell them about your other links so they can get social with you! If the links are at the bottom of the page you are making and hoping someone will hunt for them. What is they want your Facebook/YouTube/Twitter info and you buried it on the contact tab?!

I hope you enjoyed reading my rant. I feel better now that I have vented. I need to get in the shower so I can go to a wedding.

Choosing the Right Social Media Marketing Agency

When the time comes to hire a professional to create or maintain your social media marketing, you must be careful with the agency you choose. While there are many fantastic agencies out there who understand the platform and are quite successful at it, there are many more who are still way behind. There are easy ways to find this out with a little research.

Social media marketing has grown in complexity, and focus is the key to success. It is not a sprint like traditional platforms, it is a marathon. A profitable marathon. It is relationship building for long term success and due to the nature of the platforms, is easily shared among the masses. It truly is a fundamental shift in the way businesses will operate as time goes on.

Below is a short list of things you should look for when you are seeking an agency to help you utilize this incredible medium.

1. Make sure they are deeply immersed in their OWN social media marketing. After all, they can't possibly understand what works and what doesn't work on the various platforms available without participating in full themselves. Have they made a Tweet in the last 3 days? Is their Facebook page engaging, informational and are people *actively* participating in conversations? Does it have a landing page and at least some minor customizations? What about a YouTube channel? Does this channel offer instructional videos they have produced and possibly some videos they made for clients? Are they active on LinkedIn? On LinkedIn, do they have recommendations from clients and list social media marketing as their main occupation? A member of groups within the industry? Do they blog? If the answer is no to most of these, go elsewhere.

2. Are they specifically a social media marketing agency, or at least make it their main service offering? The platform has grown much beyond being an offering for an agency (ie advertising/marketing/website/PR) and you will see more and more agencies who will focus on social media; and only social media. Many firms who have added it to their lists of services do a lackluster job. Since they are typically trained in traditional "push" marketing, most still use social media like a billboard, magazine ad or website, which will result in lackluster results. See #1 to check if they are truly immersed for proof in the pudding.

3. Do they give seminars or webinars about social media marketing? While this isn't a total necessity, it does show that they can talk the talk with confidence in a setting that people can ask questions and interact with them live. Try to attend one of their offerings, and ask pointed questions. Push the envelope. If you are going to spend your money with a professional, make sure they are one, and can answer most if not all questions.

That's just the basics. Use common sense...if they can't answer questions like "Why do I need a landing page", or "How do I cross market my Facebook page on other pages", or "What is Quora" then the decision should be easy.

How to be Fricking Awesome (on Twitter)

Picture credit: http://liveyourtalk.com/2010/10/so-much-awesome-the-growsmartbiz-conference-nov-5th/

I recently came across a really great article via @DanOnofrio called "7 Ways You Can Be Fricking Awesome On Twitter" written by @SkinnyJeans. While I find myself rocking my awesomeness during everyday life, I couldn't help but notice that my Twitter game needed to be stepped up. Stephanie (@SkinnyJeans) really hit home on the ways and the reasons being awesome kicks up your Twitter presence. As marketers, these are valuable things to learn for our company/client/self:

"Awesome is a state of being, not an act"
Such a statement could not be truer. Yes, doing something can be considered awesome. But people who live their day-to-day lives BEING awesome demonstrate so much more liveliness into their world - including their social media world! Stephanie states that true awesomeness comes from within and to mimic someone else's awesome habits would be like buying "faux awesome." Save your money. Find your inner awesome.

"Give a damn!"
What are you passionate about? What are you good at? How much pride do you have working for your company/client? Share it! People who show off (modestly, of course) their pride and joy radiate awesomeness. It shows how much you care about your cause and that can become very inspiring for people. "The caring is the fuel for awesomeness."

"Add dimensions to your tweets"
One common problem that social media gets a bad rap for is how it's become so....casual. People start to tweet about every little thing going on in their life. "I just did my laundry." "Cooking is fun!" "This sandwich is tasty." That's all fine and dandy, but wouldn't a tweet about cooking be more entertaining if it read like this: "@LaurenVassallo: Testing out a recipe from @runnersworld Magazine: whole wheat penne primavera in a homemade pomodoro sauce. YUM! http://tinyurl.com/62nc54d" And then you included a picture of the ingredients or the final dish? I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry just reading it...

And for the record, it is a GREAT dish. One of my favorites. :)

"Would you rather follow Winnie the Pooh or Eeyore?"
We're all guilty of it. Sometimes we start to feel sorry for ourselves and feel the need to express that sorrow to the rest of our social media friends. Go through your Twitter feed and tell me how many apathetic tweets you read. Now tell me, after reading all of those tweets how do you feel? In most cases you're feeling pretty down in the dumps. "People gravitate more to sunshine than to the clouds...and retweets are like sun rays extending the warmth of your shine."

"Don't be afraid to wear your heart on your tweets"
Now I know I said reading apathetic tweets suck and tend to get people down. That's not to say you shouldn't show ANY vulnerability. We're all human. People tend to be vulnerable. And other people enjoy trying to cheer someone up when their down. It also shows that you are human and that sometimes life just gets the best of you. What I like to do if I find myself posting a vulnerable tweet is resolve the problem and then tweet about the strength I found to overcome it.

"Party!"
Party on Wayne! Party on Garth! Despite the fact that many or all of your Twitter followers are people you do not personally know there are SO MANY EVENTS that occur through Twitter. For example: when I was training for the Marine Corps Marathon last year I would tweet often about my runs. Many races have hash tags for people to use so at the end of every marathon training tweet I would type #mcm or #mcm10. There were so many people that we all decided to form a tweetup. When all the runners ended up in Washington D.C. they went to a bar and met their fellow tweeting training buddies. It was a great way to meet new people and to put a face to a name. @SkinnyJeans' article has some great websites to check out if you're interested in attending a Twitter Party. Maybe I'll see you at one?

"Pay attention to your numbers but don't live by them"
Ugh. I have a confession. I HATE numbers. I hate math. And to be honest, I hate analytics. They are so important and yet I despise them. So when I read this rule I had to come to terms with my number problem. But I was excited to read that I shouldn't have to let analytics consume my life. Stephanie writes that quantity doesn't always have to reflect quality. So as much as you may be down about the number of your Twitter followers, don't let it slow you down. Keep being awesome and true to yourself. Your time will come.

So there you have it. You may be awesome in the real world (it's tough work. I know it) but are you showing that same level of awesome on Twitter? Better get started!

-LV
@LaurenVassallo

Sup Ya'll?!

Hey everyone! It's great to be a part of the Talking Finger Blog. Let me tell you a little about myself since this is my first post here. My name is Chris and I am 21 years old. I graduated from Platt Technical Highschool for Electromechanical Technologies. I am the Graphic Designer/Coder for Talking Finger. I also Graphic Design for Gateway Community College. I am working on getting my Associates in Graphic Design. I play drums in two bands called Angleworm, and Wolves At Bay. I will be away on an entire East Coast Tour from July 14th - August 1st with my band Wolves At Bay and I am very excited.

Me being in a band I know the importance of Social Media. Without Social Media today in the music scene it would be a lot more difficult for bands to get exposure. With Facebook fans, youtube views, tweets and much more it makes our musical presence more well known and opens you up to offers such as Tours, and Record Deals. So we pretty much rely on Social Media just as much as any business who is trying to get their name or product out there.

Well it's about that time to go hit my drums so I am now signing off. This won't be the last of me on this blog mwahahahahaha. Expect to see more about Social Media and it's importance. Take care all!

-Chris

It's business not Personal.

It's business...not Personal

Talking Finger creators Erik Granato & Bill Derosa see this mistake made every day…a personal page was created for a business. The difference between a Facebook business page and a personal Facebook account…there are MANY differences and reason why you need to follow the rules.

There has been a lot of talk recently about personal profiles versus public or business profiles. We have noticed a lot discussions popping up about converting personal profiles that people set up for a business to a business page. The buzz was presumably started by the fact that Facebook has been going through and shutting down personal profiles that are being used for business. Some of you are undoubtedly wondering why Facebook is shutting down accounts. Well, guess what, using a personal profile for a business is against the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Since profiles are for meant individual people, they aren’t suited to meet your business needs. Pages offer more robust features for organizations, businesses, brands, and public figures. If you don’t convert your profile to a Page, you risk permanently losing access to the profile and all of your content.”

Facebook does have the right to enforce them and they are making some noise about it too.

Below is a critical point, number 4 under section 4, the most important.

4. Registration and Account Security

4. You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain. (In other words a business using a personal page to promote themselves is in risk of being deleted.)

So how do I know if I have a Business or Personal page?

Does your Facebook page say “Add as Friend” or “Like”?

Likes = Business, Add as friend = personal

Here are a few reasons why you need to switch or create from the start a business page.
A personal profile page is designed for individuals. This page allows you to engage and connect with family, friends, and coworkers as you choose. You can add as much personal information as you wish. Personal profile pages also have many privacy setting options, allowing you to control who has access to see certain things on your personal profile page. Someone who knows how to use Facebook and sees that a business page is really a personal page may not “add you as a friend” because it subjects them to a security breach. We all know about Facebook security, when a TRUE business page is LIKED, the page admin cannot see your personal information. If you FRIEND a page that is acting as a business you just gave them ALL your personal info that you have listed in your profile, ALL OF IT, Email address, Phone, HOME ADDRESS, if it is in your profile, you just gave them access to it.

AND… Personal profiles are capped at 5,000 friends!

What business only wants 5000 people to know about it!

Having a personal page to do business limits your abilities to enhance your page. You cannot add apps that will help market your business. You cannot add custom coded features such as a Landing Page, Multipage layouts etc. These custom pages are found not only on our Facebook page but on the pages of many Fortune 500 and well built Facebook pages. Remember it’s your business that you are marketing. You don’t have a poorly built and constructed website, why would you have an illegally designed Facebook page? And anyone who wants to be found in search engine results will be if you have a business page, personal pages are not, it’s called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Here is another reason to go convert or make it right the first time. Once someone “Likes” your page, their Facebook friends will be notified, creating additional interest that may result in others Liking your page (I termed this Collateral Exposure). Each time your business updates the page, your fans are notified and the information shows up on their news feed. Why is that important? Average Facebook user has 130 friends…do the math.

Need help converting your company’s page we can do it? Contact us for a quote. For more info visit us on our Facebook Business Page

Brands: Facebook Me!

Well, that guy didn't translate the title of this blog post correctly...hopefully most of YOU will understand it!

Being the social media marketing guy I am, I look for trends within the world of marketing that include new media. In particular, how companies and brands are using their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, blogs, YouTube channels and the dozen or so other viable platforms available.

Although we don't watch a lot of TV in our house, the times we would watch Survivor, or The Office or some of the other couple of shows we tune into I noticed a trend during commercials that was hard for me NOT to notice: The use of Facebook or YouTube channels in place of other contact information in the TV spots. Instead of how things were typically done, such as RedBull.com, the brand decided to go with their Facebook page: Facebook.com/RedBull.

Why? It's simple...they can engage there. They can form relationships with customers and prospects in a way never before possible. They can send out messages at any time and know the fans of their page will get them, and even share them with their friends! They can do it right now, at 11:48 at night or tomorrow at noon. Brands are realizing that when I go to their website at 1 a.m. in the morning, no one but me knows about it, but if I go to their Fanpage at 1 a.m. and like what they have to say...BAM! 390 of my friends see that I commented or clicked on their fanpage.

So where do you stand in the world of new media? How does YOUR Facebook page stack up to the brands? Do you have a landing page welcoming people in? Customizations to make it more "fun" and engaging? Are you adding content every few days? Engaging in comments?

Here is the list of commercials on TV that I have been putting together for thirty days or so. Each of these brands did not put up a website, phone number or any other contact information other than a Facebook page. Pay attention to what THEY have done with their pages. Just like 20+ years ago, these same brands were the leaders and forefront of what websites could be, now they are the leaders in using Facebook as their platform.

Facebook.com/Gerber
Facebook.com/Starburst
Facebook.com/Visa
Facebook.com/AdvanceAutoParts
Facebook.com/DialForMen
Facebook.com/Carnival
Facebook.com/Reebok
Facebook.com/SimplyOrangeJuice
Facebook.com/FritoLay
Facebook.com/Subway
Facebook.com/DoveChocolate
Facebook.com/Arbys
Facebook.com/Wendys
Facebook.com/Excedrin
Facebook.com/Heineken
Facebook.com/VirginMobileLive
Facebook.com/Applebees
Facebook.com/TJmaxx
Facebook.com/Sears
Facebook.com/MMS
Facebook.com/Guinness
Facebook.com/Rayovac
Facebook.com/RedBull
Facebook.com/Sony
Facebook.com/DunkinDonuts
Facebook.com/ChevyCamaro
Facebook.com/BuffaloWildWings
Facebook.com/Disney
Facebook.com/iTunes
Facebook.com/GMC
Facebook.com/DrPepper
Facebook.com/Walmart
Facebook.com/PepsiMax
Facebook.com/Hanes
Facebook.com/Oreo


-Bill DeRosa

Introduction to LV

Greetings all! Resident marathoner Lauren Vassallo here and I am very excited to be a part of the blogging team at Talking Finger. I wanted to give a brief introduction to myself so all of you could "put a face to a name."

-A 24-year-old graduate from Emerson College
-Received my B.S. in Print and Multimedia Journalism
-Played college basketball for four years
-Went to the Division III NCAA Tournament my freshman year at Colby-Sawyer College
-Ran my first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, October 2010
-I follow the Yankees, Jets and Celtics (weird combination, I know)
-Very active in personal social media: Twitter @LaurenVassallo
-Hate being cold so I love the summer
-I play kickball in two adult leagues, New Haven and Hartford

What do you want to know about me? Leave a question and I'll answer it!

Talking Finger Opens it's Blog to Employees

We will be starting a whole new way we blog...introducing Lauren Vassallo and Chris Durso, our two favorite employees. They will have free reign to post here their daily thoughts and activities...should be interesting! We'll add our usual stuff as well for informational purposes...but stick with us and find out more!


Chris Durso is our Facebook coder and graphic designer and all around awesome drummer.



Lauren Vassallo, aka "Twitta Gurl" is our all around social media specialist and marketer, as well as graphic designer and resident marathoner.

I Don't Know What To Say

One of the biggest fears I hear in the voices and see in the faces of the people we introduce social media marketing to, is the creation of content. Put simply: "I don't know what to say".

This may seem like a valid trepidation on the surface, after all content IS king in social media, and along with strategy and engagement, is part of the social media "triangle" for success. Coming up with interesting and relevant information on a consistent basis seems like a daunting task, and many people and companies opt out of social media based on this one seemingly challenging prospect.

These are typically the same people I can have a fourty-five minute conversation with about who they are, what they do, and how they feel about their industry. They can go into detail about the latest trends, their past successes and failures, things they would love to try, how they started their company, and cite several news stories that are affecting their bottom line.

Can you see where this is going?

Without using a single tool to mine information, most people easily have several blog posts, dozens of tweets, a month or two of Facebook posts within themselves, all without researching a single thing. If they literally sat down for an hour one day, and thought about it, they could easily find enough content for months.

Besides their own brain power, there is this little discovery device called the internet. I did a quick experiment researching content for a medical billing company. I simply entered "medical billing" in Google, clicked the 'news' tab up top, and walla. A bevy of interesting articles about that industry. It took ten seconds.

Now setting up a Google alert makes this even simpler. At a pre-determined interval, the news finds YOU. An email is sent to you with several articles for the search terms you set up. Remember to use quotes when searching or setting up your alerts. In the example I just gave, "medical billing" will give you much more refined and specific findings, than typing in medical billing. The quotes lock the words together, giving results specifically FOR "medical billing". By just typing in medical billing, you will get results for anything with the word medical or billing mixed in with medical billing.

Read blogs about your industry or business. Find white papers or newsletters. Join groups on LinkedIn. Speak to your friends and neighbors and ask their opinions or thoughts. Chances are, you can come up with plenty of content by simply looking around you.

As well, mix in some fun and games. Have a contest once in a while and give away a $5 Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks card. On a Friday, link to an online game of some sort such as can be found on Miniclip. On Monday ask what people did for fun over the weekend. The possibilities are almost limitless. The only "what NOT to do" is to treat your social media as an advertising medium. Keep from making it a commercial about yourself!

Spend an hour one day data mining and creating several posts/tweets/blog entries. Create a word document or similar, and get some ideas ready for the next 2-4 weeks. Keep in mind some news items may be time sensitive, so keep those up top. A good strategy for posting frequency is to set up your ical or outlook calendar. Simply entering in a repeated task (facebook post; blog entry; tweet) will remind you that today is the day for this task. Once organized, it is simple to implement.

Still afraid? Keep in mind, your competition isn't. While we are still at the doorstep of social media marketing, this is your chance to get inside and get your stride going before the explosion that is bound to happen, and is happening right now. Every day more companies turn to social media, and every year budgets are increased for this marketing medium as more and more success stories roll in. It's still a great time to get your feet wet.

Still don't know what to say? Get in touch with us. We can help you develop your content and keep you on track.

-Bill DeRosa

Facebook Changes things...AGAIN...here is what you need to know.

8 New Facebook Business Page Changes: What You Need to Know

Are you wondering what to do about the new Facebook page changes, did you know that new ones happened?

Let’s take a closer look at these changes and what they mean for your business page.

Or you can view our YouTube channel to view these changes.
Facebook Page Changes.
Part 1 Part 2

#1: Many functions are changed, one big improvement is providing one-click access to several admin tasks, rather than having to go through the “Edit page” link. Managing page admins is now accessible via clicking “See all” in the admins area in the right column. Admins can easily change their page’s category by clicking the “Edit info” link under the page name, then selecting the category from the pull-down menu in the edit screen. This is also available by clicking the new “Edit page” button, as shown above.

-The Fan Count section in the left navigation has been simplified, with the fan pics eliminated and replaced by a simple count. (Only Admins can see "who" likes the page. Vistors can no longer click or see the fans.
-Clicking “people like this” brings up the familiar popup dialog where admins can remove or ban fans or make them admins.
-The “Information” box has been removed entirely, and there’s no longer a place where a brief description of the page can be presented when it loads.
-Visitors will have to click the “Info” link in the new left-column navigation to access more information about the page.
-View Insights and Suggest to Friends have both been removed from the left column to the right column, just below the Admins area.
-The “ friends like this” section has been moved from the left column to the right column, with smaller thumbnail images but a count of how many of the owner’s friends like the page, as well as some other pages that have liked your page.
-The “Links” section at the bottom of the left column, with a selection of recent links posted to your wall, is gone.

#2: The New Masthead—Expanded Opportunity for Creativity
The new masthead for pages, like the redesigned personal profiles, now features the five most recently added images (Facebook calls this the “Photostrip”) which, when clicked, expand to full size in “light box” fashion, keeping users on your page instead of taking them to the photos page.

Although the addition of the Photostrip adds more space for visual branding, admins will be disappointed to learn that, unlike on personal profiles, the order of these images can’t be fixed, a feature that spawned some nice creativity on personal profiles. On pages, these Photostrip images are reordered each time the page loads, and this can’t be changed.
Brands are, however, already accepting this randomness and rolling with it, coming up with creative combinations of the profile pic (now reduced from 200 x 600 px to 180 x 540 px) and the image strip, either actively embracing the randomness or incorporating images that aren’t dependent on
their order.

#3: Bye-Bye Tabs—Now What Do We Call Them?
This is one new feature many admins will view as a downgrade, and with good reason. The ability of brands to present clear tabbed options at the top of the page, in line with how websites present navigation, has been replaced with a less prominent listing of page sections in the left column, just below the profile pic.

#4: Use Facebook as Your Page or Personal Profile!
This is definitely the most “revolutionary” new feature of the update. Previously, page admins could only comment as page admins on their own pages. Now, page admins can move around Facebook as their page, commenting on other pages’ walls (but not on personal profiles), and liking other pages.
Facebook has made toggling between your identity as a page or as a person easy. You can do it from the “Account” link at the top right (Account—Use Facebook as Page) where you can select which page you’d like to use.

Or, if you want to use Facebook as the page you’re currently on, there’s a shortcut in the right column. Click “Use Facebook as [your page name]“; that link then becomes “Use Facebook as [your name]” so you can easily switch back.

#5: Featured Liked Pages—A Great Opportunity for Promotion and Partnership
As Facebook says, “These pages are shown on the left of your page. Up to five pages are shown at a time, and you can specify which of your liked pages always rotate there by selecting them as featured.”

#6: New Wall Filters and Admin View—Improved Page Management
Admins now have two ways of viewing wall posts, accessible via the left-column nav:

If “Wall” (the default) is selected, you can view posts either by “Everyone” or just by the page.

“Admin View” is a new feature and a convenient way for admins to manage wall content. Select “Recent” to see all—not filtered by Facebook—non-page posts in reverse chronological order. Select “Hidden Posts” (posts by users you’ve hidden or posts filtered by EdgeRank). Admins can unhide hidden posts as well as perform familiar functions such as banning a user or reporting spam.

Tip: Users now have more control over what appears in their news feed. They can filter their feed to show “Friends and pages you interact with most” or “All of your friends and pages.” The default setting is the former, and given that default settings usually go unchanged, brands may more frequently be filtered from news feeds when users don’t interact with their posts in their news feed when the user may actually still want to keep up with the brand’s news.


#7: Email Notifications for Page Activity-- A MUST for any Admin

Admins can opt to receive an email alert whenever a comment is made on one of their pages, sent to the email address they use for their account. (Edit page—Your settings)

Click “View all email settings for your pages” to be redirected to the “Pages” section of the Notifications screen.

#8: Static FBML App Is Out; iFrame Applications Only—Sort of…
Another big one here. Facebook’s Static FBML application brought the ability to create custom tabs utilizing HTML, CSS, FBML and JavaScript (actually FBJS, Facebook’s flavor of JS), to the masses. Many thousands of users, from individuals to the largest brands, have used Static FBML tabs to promote their brands and incorporate the viral elements of Facebook via FBML tags.

However, as Facebook announced in August 2010, the roadmap was to eventually phase out FBML and migrate to iFrames, and they’ve now announced that after March 11, 2011, admins will no longer be able to add the Static FBML application to their pages.

Where admins with little coding experience could utilize widely available templates and tutorials to create their custom tabs with Static FBML, creating an iFrame canvas application entails a deeper understanding of web technologies, requiring that you understand how to work with iFrames and HTML, create a Facebook application, upload files to a server, and utilize XFBML (FBML that can be used on websites) and the PHP scripting language to integrate with Facebook. The age of the amateur coder on Facebook may be coming to a close.

The good news for Static FBML fans is that Facebook will continue to support existing installs of the application and the custom tabs, as well as continue to allow admins to add and edit their custom tabs. However, they do urge people to migrate their custom tabs to iFrames sooner rather than later, as they are deprecating FBML (in other words, gradually eliminating it).

It could be many months or even years before Facebook terminates FBML altogether. No one knows and Facebook isn’t saying.

But Facebook has added support for iFrames to page tabs (previously, aside from some hacked methods, iFrames wouldn’t load on page tabs), and developers are relishing the increased flexibility in developing their applications (iFramed pages are hosted external to Facebook and thus can use standard web coding and scripting) rather than dealing with the quirks of FBML and FBJS.



You can view our YouTube channel to view these changes.
Facebook Page Changes.
Part 1 Part 2

When Work is Play

I have to admit, Erik and I are surprised to be where we are today. If you look at the last couple of blog posts by Erik, he defined the beginnings of Talking Finger, and it seems like yesterday that we sat around with those Scooby-doo scented markers (I liked the cherry! Yum!) and big white pad to figure out "who" we were. We planned, practiced, learned everything we could about our industry, refined and defined our business plan, beta tested several companies and did it all over again and again. We had been "playing" with social media for years already. This was the inevitable next logical step for us when creating our business model. We wanted to work AND play. Ad/marketing became fun again!

Here I sit on a very windy Saturday morning almost a year later, in what used to be the library of my home. What once was a quiet sanctuary to read and relax, is now converted into TF office #1 (Erik's is TF#2, GVCC #3, and various Starbucks#4). I look around at the four computers, video cameras, printers, desks, tables and chairs, empty coffee cups and papers with scribbles on them yet to be converted into digital notes, and can't help but smile.

I guess if I could give any advice to others starting a new company, it is to love what you do before you start off on a new adventure. Enjoy it...have fun with it. I think this alone was the most integral part of how far we have come since the smell of cherry markers filled my pool cabana in spring of 2010. We knew right from the beginning that we would, if nothing else, enjoy showing others how they could take advantage of this new medium for marketing their businesses. That hasn't changed, and I never expect it to.

I find myself being drawn online to check up on our latest client's foray into social media such as checking their Facebook page and Tweets on a Sunday evening. I pop onto my main computer to work on our enewsletter or YouTube video, and plan the week's Facebook posts, tweets and production schedule. Heck, even now I am writing the ad we need to hire a new html coder to help with custom pages. This is in addition to Lauren Vasallo, a young talent interning with us to train in social media the Talking Finger way. Growing...

In the end, I've never felt so free to believe that I could love what I do every day and night and become successful at it. When people ask what I do for a living, I smile and subconsciously smell cherry markers as I tell them "I play on Facebook".

Creating a company from scratch. "Talking Finger"

This is my first post in a series where my goal is to log my life’s progress, both the good times and trouble times I have experienced while creating the social media marketing company called “Talking Finger”

It all started in March of 2010 when a close friend, Bill DeRosa, had posted a message on Facebook saying “Hey, there is a lot of brain power and knowledge here…how can we harness it and create a business with it?” So we independently thought out some ideas, some of which we still are thinking of doing. After writing down many ideas such as bacon scented candles, which by the way are all over the internet, I had the idea of creating a social media marketing company. When I went to Bills house in mid March of 2010 to hang out and discuss our goal of building a business together I told him we need to create a social media marketing company. As soon as I was done saying that Bill’s eyes grew wide and nearly screamed out “YES, that’s perfect for us and the times we live in. “It was at that point we knew we had to do it.

When we got together back in March to figure out how to build a new company we started by writing our skill sets down on paper and talking about what each of could bring to the table. Both Bill and I have 20 years each in various marketing venues. I have a background in newspaper and magazine print ad creation and sales, direct mail marketing, corporate trade show work and web and graphic design. Bill has a similar background but also brings to the table work in television and radio advertising. Both of us also have many years of sales skills in our tool box of knowledge as well.

While we were doing this something magical happened. Our attention on creating a company changed focus; it was now directed to the new found connection we had realized together that 2 years of prior friendship didn’t show…we would not only make a great team based on our life experience but we have a interesting connection that allows us to read and work off each other. We have very similar though patterns, we nearly finish each other’s sentences and a connection that is vital in any relationship is this little nugget.

Bill and I have the ability to hear what the other person is saying from their point of view. In other words when Bill brings an idea to the table I am able to not only think about how that idea will work in real life but I am able to understand how Bill came up with the idea and how he feels it will be viable. This one thing has allowed us to create and work much quicker and allows us the pleasure to be open and free with our creative thoughts because each of us knows where the other person is coming from.

After that magical event happened we each know that the idea I came up with “Let’s create a social media marketing company” would be the thing both of us would not only be excellent at creating but we were the right team for the job.

Erik G.

Creating a company from scratch. "Talking Finger" Part 2

So we knew we had a great idea...so now what...how or what do we do next.

The next step turned out to be child like and fun...I went to the local Ocean State Job Lot and picked up a giant drawing tablet and a pack of Spiderman makers (3 bucks...the first big investment into the company) so we could sit on the floor in Bills cabana and start to outline ideas of what the business should be, where we were going to market the product, what types of business we were going to target and also the culture of what a social media marketing company should be.

Before we ever put pen to paper, or in this case Spiderman markers to paper, we had a discussion about no matter what happens we will both have each others best interest in mind. Neither one of us wanted to see harm come to our friendship and neither one of us wanted to destroy what we both felt was a product ahead of it's time. It was as if we were creating a child and wanted to protect not only it but ourselves from any possible harm. Once we had that discussion it was a race to grab the red marker, they smell like cherries.

At this first meeting in the early spring we tried to come up with a name but that didn't come to us till a few weeks later. We wrote down any possible idea that came to our minds:
What types of business, where we felt we would get the most success, who to talk to at the company, any idea was valid. We sat for a few hours that nite and just wrote, laughed and dreamed.

I still have the pad of paper with all our original ideas, I keep it in my office with the hopes that when we get our first office space, which by the way we both want a big open warehouse, I will hang those original "works of art" on the wall to remind us of the first days we sat down to develop what became "Talking Finger".

Erik

All I can say is...

...WOW.

I owned my first computer in 1985. It was a Tandy 1000 from Radio Shack... yes they sold computers at one time. It had an Intel 8088 processor, 640 k of ram and dual 5 1/4 floppy drives...it was a beast.
To put things in perspective, as far as the world of computing power goes that Tandy computer had 8 times more processing power then the computers used in the Apollo missions guidance computers. A good mental image would be Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic in The QE2!

So why am I rambling about my past computer and why are you still reading this? Well both of feel that there is a point to all this...and there is.

When I first got my Tandy there was no publicly available Internet and BBS systems were in their infancy. I never would have imagined how far and how powerful that monolithic PC would evolve.
Today I own an iPhone and I am still blown away by its capabilities. I have in the palm of my hand everything I had in that old Tandy except its light years more advanced and wickedly faster then the 20 lb white elephant I used to have on my desk. The Internet is now accessible at SR-71 speeds compared to a 1200 baud modem. There are 1000's of apps and software packages that I can use that do everything from communication to word processing to games and they're in more then 16 colors!
I am totally mobile now. Everything I need is a touch of my finger away and it keeps getting better and faster. Mobile is taking over this world quickly because of smartphones and the new tablets that are now on the market. Like never before people are able to stay in touch and gather real time information at a moments notice.
I am happy to be young enough to experience the birth of the personal computer and yet still young enough to see that it has a long life ahead which I will also get to experience. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years holds and what we will consider dinosaurs of the computing age.

Soon my iPhone will be the same as my Tandy 1000.

-Erik G.

The Power of "Suggestion" and How it Can Help Local Businesses and Economy

As social media marketing (SMM) becomes more mainstream and local businesses understand and embrace the power and value of this marketing, those local businesses can make a difference not only for their own bottom line, but in

shaping the local economy.

Think this is stretch?

I propose that to make a difference, we need to act in unison to create local virtual networks utilizing SMM. We cannot count on governmental policies, and we can't count on the economy to turn around of it's own accord. What we can count on is each other. The entrepreneurs and mainstream business owners of each town and region to work together in unity to find the clients and consumers each business needs locally. Our local Chamber of Commerce as well as yours is a fantastic resource, and in a way is a type of SMM. Join. Now. However, we also need to look to technology, which invariably connects all businesses in some way or another, twenty four hours a day.

We have the tools to do so in the various social media marketing platforms, and Facebook is the perfect example. While Tweeting, blogging, YouTube and other SMM will help increase brand awareness, Facebook is the most popular, and the most useful due to it's viral nature. Every day, another local business creates their Facebook presence, and is hungry to develop a following.

When you see a local business on Facebook, take a minute to try out some of the ways I have listed below to connect to them (remember to "LIKE" their page, first and foremost!), and as well help them connect to a new audience. Message the page owner and ask they do the same for you. SMM is ALL about communication and networking...use it! The combination of two business pages working together is powerful...now extrapolate this out to dozens of pages and so on. Locally, you CAN make a difference! Not such a stretch after all.

Make it your mission to adopt at least some of the following ideas, and utilize them often:

1. "Suggest to friends" (and the new "Share" button) is paramount for local businesses wishing to help each other out. It quickly spreads the word about a business page and can turn into leads and potential sales for the receiving business. Don't forget to ask the page owner to return the favor!

There are two ways to "suggest", but in either case, be sure to mention to the people you are suggesting to, that they need to visit and "like" the page once there:

The "Suggest to friends" link allows you to pick and choose who from your friends list is introduced to the business. Typically, you would just choose all of your friends, but the choice is yours. For example, a friend in Toledo, Ohio may not care about a local nail salon. Or they may?

The "Share" button is to quickly post the business page to your profile. This is more permanent as this post remains on your wall (and in the "home" feed) until you delete it.

Don't do both, as it can annoy your friends! One or the other is fine, and is a matter of preference.

These links are found somewhere below the business page logo on the left hand side of the business page (there are two versions of pages right now, one where this is directly under the logo, another version where it is far down under the "likes" and "favorite page" avatars.)

2. If you come across a business page who made a post which may be relevant to your industry, "share" it on your profile page. It will show the source of the link (business page where you found it) as well as the link itself, which is clickable to your friends. Sharing interesting links or posts via "share" is a great way to connect. Not to be confused with the "share" above for sharing a page, this "share" is found right under the post, and JUST shares that individual post, not a page. For example, on My Tech Pro's page, I noticed a link that was right up our alley, having to do with Facebook:

I "shared" the post to my profile. So what we end up with is a shared link, as well as the page who originally posted it. This is a great way to help promote the page where the link was found, as well as help you find content for YOUR page:

3. Post on other's business pages! If you do none of the above ideas so far, at least do this. Every page owner LOVES to have people interact with their page. It helps them create content, and shows others they are involved. If you come across a great news article, post the link on their page with a simple "What do you think of this?" Perhaps you have a photo that is interesting, or just want to ask a question.

The point is not only are you helping make their page interesting, everyone THEY have as fans will see YOUR post, and may want to connect. It is marketing yourself. I guarantee after you make a few posts, you will get friend requests from THEIR fans. Work it, baby! Post, post, post. The more you post places, the more YOU are seen too!!

If you have other ideas, use #3 and post on our Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.

Bill DeRosa