My Blog has moved!

I’m now blogging from my own website and would love to have you join me there.

Number 10 Downing Street issues a Twitter guide to help British governments tweets be less dry. http://bit.ly/2YRoci

Starwood’s W Hotel’s partner w/ Entourage 2 create tbrand bungalows 4 posse of 4! Limo, Grey Goose etc | http://bit.ly/k28yq #fb

Ethical standards for Social Media Marketing: Share your thoughts

As more practioners enter the field of social media marketing, consulting and branding, those who have been early adopters of these tools should step forward and contribute to the discussion on developing a set of recommended albeit not mandatory set of guidelines for marketing and public relations via social mediums.  As someone who is currently engaged in training with Mari Smith, http://www.marismith.com (someone who also cares deeply about ethical behavior online) and who will be part of the first class of certified social media professionals, I’m very interested in hearing about your concerns, issues and ideas for perhaps a “Golden Rules” of using social media for publicity and marketing.  Let’s post our ideas here and start the conversation.  If you post, please include your full Facebook, Twitter or Website URL including the http:// so that others can friend, follow and connect with you in just one click.  You’re welcome to list all of your preferred connection options in that way.  Let’s start a movement.

How to add a “Follow Me on Twitter” Button to your Facebook Profile and Fan Page

Take your Social Media Image Seriously

Your Facebook® profile and your Facebook® Fan Page are two  key social media touch-points for connecting with potential clients.  Creating your on-line funnels in a variety of social mediums helps people find you and clearly understand the service you provide.  Now, the yellow pages will do the same thing but social mediums let customers engage with you first and then decide, based on your attitude, the comments they read from your friends and followers and the value you provide in your various postings, whether or not they want to take the next step and become your customer.  They can literally shadow you while deciding.  That’s why it’s so critical for you to take your social media image seriously.

The Key Ingredients to your Social Media Strategy

Because your potential customer might be exploring numerous social media sites, you’ll want to be on at least Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and I highly recommend that you have a blog.  If you already have your own website that becomes your home base.  If you don’t, you’re blog can serve that purpose.

Now the number one rule of any great  marketing campaign is to make sure that every consumer touch-point is integrated with every other one.  All of your social media sites should link to each other, carry a similar look and message all while speaking to the consumer in the voice most appropriate for that medium.  For example, you’ll communicate in short 120 character* bits on Twitter, longer more detailed thoughts will be incorporated into your blog and your Facebook profile and fan pages might be more personal and intimate.  Yet an integrated marketing strategy means that the core values and the key message points will be the same, albeit communicated differently.

Helping Customers Find, Follow and Friend You

If you were the owner of a Deli, you wouldn’t hide the checkout counter.  You’d make it very easy to find.  Shoppers would never have to guess where to find you, talk with you and pay you.  It’s the same with social media sites.  Be user friendly.  Make it easy for someone who finds and follows you on one site to find and friend you on another.

I recently installed a “Follow me on Twitter” button on my Facebook Profile and my Facebook Fan Pages. This is a nice visual addition to your profile or page and there are a lot of designers and programmers out there offering free buttons.  I happen to love http://twitbuttons.com for it’s user-friendly interface.  You simply enter your Twitter name in the URL box at the top of the page and all the HTML code in every Twitter Button box is changed, automatically, to customize the button for your twitter page.

So here are the instructions for adding a “Follow me on Twitter” button to your Facebook Page.

1. Log onto your Facebook Page and go to the applications link on the bottom left hand side of your screen.
2. Click “Browse applications and the find ” “Extended info” application. Add that to your profile. Then click the edit settings link to the right of the app in the list of apps you’ve downloaded. Where it says “Tab” click “add.”
3. Then go to http://twitbuttons.com and pick out your favorite button. Be sure to enter your twitter name in the black space above the buttons. This will automatically enter your correct twitter name link to the code under each twitter button image.
4. Copy the code of the button you like and go back to Facebook to the Applications list (link on bottom left of page).
5. Open the Extended info application by clicking directly on that link. A window will pop up for you to paste your code.
6. Paste the code and click the “Add to Profile” button on the upper right of that page.
7. Then click the Save changes button below the code and return to your page.  You can change the look of your button at anytime by returning to these instructions and choosing a new button from the website I mentioned or another you may find.  You can design your own if you’re skilled with HTML too.

Transparency is Currency in Social Media

I recommend adding your “Follow Me” button or link to all of your social media sites and using the custom options on your Twitter background to provide the URL’s for your Facebook, Linked In and Blog to your Twitter followers.  You get the picture.  The name of the game is to be visible.  For some inspiring examples of people who are doing this well, check out these social media pros.  Each one of these people are helping potential clients find them and utilizing a slightly different style.  Take a look and make a plan to help yourself stand out in the crowd.

Mari Smith: http://www.facebook.com/marismith?ref=ts#/marismith?v=app_11007063052&viewas=1048779085

Dr. Mehmet Oz: http://www.facebook.com/droz?ref=ts#/droz?v=app_4949752878&viewas=1048779085

Gary Vaynerchuk http://www.facebook.com/gary?ref=ts#/gary?v=wall&viewas=1048779085 (Check out his “Friend Me Up” Tab!)

Karmen Reed at KickOff Topic: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kickoff-Topic-Marketing-Solutions-Through-Online-Visibility/56494299508#/pages/Kickoff-Topic-Marketing-Solutions-Through-Online-Visibility/56494299508?v=wall&viewas=1048779085

The Social Latte: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tempe-AZ/The-Social-Latte-Specializing-In-Social-Media-For-Small-Businesses/80841554499?ref=ts#/pages/Tempe-AZ/The-Social-Latte-Specializing-In-Social-Media-For-Small-Businesses/80841554499?v=app_7146470109&viewas=1048779085

Angela Albright: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angela-Albright-Social-Media-Entrepreneur/87674098294?ref=ts#/pages/Angela-Albright-Social-Media-Entrepreneur/87674098294?v=wall&viewas=1048779085

If You Liked What You Read Here, Please Join Me

Friend me on Facebook:  http://Facebook.com/CindyRatzlaff

Connect with me on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/CindyRatzlaff

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrandYou

Subscribe to my Blog: http://CindyRatzlaff.wordpress.com

*Always try to keep your tweets to 120 characters so that people can Re-tweet your post.  When they re-tweet, some of the character spaces are taken up with their Twitter name.  At 120 characters you’ll be re-tweet-friendly.

From my friend Mari Smith: Get ready to secure your BRAND on FACEBOOK tonight: How To Secure Your Facebook Username (Vanity URL) http://bit.ly/HuuCW

As the Masses Become 300 Million Individuals Publishers Scramble

Social Media has turned the marketing world upside down in the past two years as the consumer evolves from “the mass” to the individual.  Some companies and brands have successfully navigated the shift while others, entire industries, have fallen behind and in fact seem surprised by the turn of events.  Publishing seems to be one of those industries that are just now scratching their heads and asking “What happened?”

Every person with computer access is now a writer and a publisher or has the ability to be so within 10 minutes of hatching the desire. Anyone can log onto the internet, start a free blog, open a Twitter account (where every 140 character thought they have is indexed and searchable by Google.com) and in effect, publish their thoughts.  Business slide presentations, nearly virtual business books, can be posted on LinkedIn and everyone with a glimmer of an idea can create an e-book and distribute it by tonight.

The era when gatekeepers carefully chose which  ideas would be presented to the consumer has passed.  The idea-makers are taking their work directly to the universe.  Less driven by the desire for monetary gain than by the need to express themselves and connect to others, these new world order writers are dumping endless content into the cybersphere.  Yet without the filter of publishing houses, editors, agents and the like, how does the end user find the work and commune with the writer?  Even if the reader finds the work, how can he/she be assured the work is good, interesting, valid.  

The aggregator sites are a start but lack the “taste filter” an editor might have provided.  Readers must self-select which writers they’ve liked in the past and hope they’ll enjoy future work.  Here’s where the community kicks in.  People who share a passion for a particular genre, writer or subject matter become the referral mechanism for those who are searching.  People are developing trusted communities and sources from whom they’ll accept recommendations much like we once trusted our local independent bookseller.  The hunger for information, the lust for a great read hasn’t died.  The medium, the delivery system and the discovery process, however, are changing.

So what does this mean for the future of books, fiction and non-fiction?  Publishers will continue to act as curators, finding and nurturing talent, but the financial model will have to change.  Increasingly the burden of finding an audience for a writer’s work will fall squarely back on the shoulders of the writer.  This is not always a good fit in terms of an writer’s skillset.

Mystery writers and women’s fiction/romance writers have an edge in this new world because publishers have always placed the lion’s share of the promotional responsibilities back on those genre authors.  They’ve become experts at self-promotion and understand the importance of building a passionate fan base and engaging with those fans.  They’re already social media pros. Business writers tend to be good at this as well.  But perhaps this appears so because publishers are only buying books from business writers who have already demonstrated their ability to build a database and a following for exactly this purpose.  The business model seems to be, “build it and we will publish.”

How, then, will first time novelists and self-help specialists with new ideas fare in the new Social order?  How will great work rise above the noise to capture the imaginations and heart of millions rather than just delight hundreds?  Will this democratizing of publishing rob us of literary talent who are not also self-marketers or will this process open the door to bright new talent who might never before have been able to squeeze by the gatekeepers?    I don’t know the answers and most likely neither do you but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Since we can’t look at things the same old way, we might as well talk boldly about what “new” can really be.