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Have you ever won something in a contest? Regardless of how big or small the prize was, weren’t you proud to boast that you won something? Chances are, a marketing or promotions team carefully planned the contest to get you excited and get you talking to your friends about their product or service.  And most of the time it works!

Social media marketing relies on engagement. What better way to get people’s attention and get them to take action than to launch a fun contest? Facebook is not only the largest social network, but it currently offers the best platform for contests.  Chances are you’ve entered a Facebook contest yourself.

If you’re thinking of launching a Facebook sweepstakes, there are some promotion guidelines you need to be aware of.  One of the guidelines states that, “Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or an app on a Page Tab.” This means that you need to use a third-party app to run  your contest.

There are numerous apps to help you carry out the sweepstakes. At the time of this post, I’m using North Social to run a Kindle Fire giveaway sweepstakes. Check it out on the Miss Ink Facebook page and of course, feel free to enter.  This is important because simply “liking” a page or taking another action on a page to enter a contest is against Facebook rules.

In addition to apps, Facebook requires that your promotion include specific wording that releases Facebook from any liability.  The North Social app offers this wording as a part of its service.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
You understand that you are providing your information to the administrators of this page and not to Facebook.
The information you provide will only be used for communications related to this promotion.

In addition to the wording specified in the Facebook promotion guidelines, you should disclose full contest rules, which your attorney can assist with. It may seem like a lot of work, but with the right strategy you can gain visibility and build customer loyalty.

What’s the next BIG thing in social media?  Who knows.  I can, however, tell you that sites like Twitter and Google+ are growing while networks like Facebook are rapidly making changes to keep its spot at the top.   So where do you belong?  I can’t tell you that either. It’s a matter of personal preference and in the world of marketing, your target demographic and goals.

I can however tell you that Twitter is more popular than ever. Recently, the social network announced that it reached 100 million monthly active users worldwide.  Furthermore, in January of this year, roughly 100 million tweets were posted a day.  Now the site calculates that nearly 250 million tweets go out a day!

In my experience, news breaks sooner on Twitter and spreads faster on Twitter.  Something about a limit of 140 characters and trending hashtags, sends people into a conversation frenzy.

More and more, social media is about being the first person to break news.  Think about it; you know you love to be the first of your friends to post about a major event.  It happens so much faster on Twitter because you can have hundreds or even thousands of people voluntarily following you, no friend request necessary. Yes, not all of those who follow you are active or really care about what you’re posting, but many do. Check it out for yourself, but be forewarned, if you’re signing up on behalf of a company, be sure to check out Miss Ink’s 3 C’s of Social Media Marketing so you don’t wind up making your company look worse. True tweeps despise nothing more than to be sold or to tweet with an unresponsive brand.

To read more about Twitter’s growth, check out this article for Mashable.

Using social media to give your customers the gift of five-star customer service

The social media train is rolling along stronger than ever. Businesses are hopping on with much less hesitation than a few years ago. There’s just one problem: Many companies forget to buy their tickets and pack their bags.

Simply having a Facebook fan page or a Twitter account is like hopping on a train with a one-way ticket. Sure you’ll see the sites along the way, but you’re not going to get very far. You have to plan your route.

Many people regard social media as simply a promotional tool.  It’s not. Yes, social media can help raise awareness of your company, product, brand, etc., but social media savvy companies and individuals realize it’s purpose is much more powerful.

Take for instance The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told, Starring Morton’s Steakhouse by Peter Shankman. This story is incredible inspiring.  I’ll let you read it (and I hope you do) for yourself, but it goes something like this. Peter, during an exceptionally long day of traveling, was craving a steak from his go-to spot Morton’s The Steakhouse. He  jokingly tweeted the restaurant asking them to have a steak at the next airport he was landing at.  Well, guess what? His joke became a reality when he arrived at his destination to see a Morton’s waiter (tux and all) standing with Peter’s driver and a to-go bag packed with restaurant favorites.

Have you ever heard of customer service that amazing? Talk about five-star! So, maybe the restaurant wouldn’t go that far for someone like you or me (Peter is famous in the PR and social networking world), but check out Morton’s Facebook page and Twitter. It’s amazing. They listen–to everyone!

That’s how you provide exceptional customer service. No matter how big or small your company is, they key is to listen. That includes monitoring your social network accounts and providing timely response, which brings me to a couple of my top pet peeves.

It really, really bothers me when people link all of their accounts together so that they only have to post on one site OR when they schedule all of their messages. What’s my beef? Among the reasons that I rarely suggest using either of these tactics is, how do you know what people are saying if you never log into your account? (FYI, I do not follow companies or people on Twitter when they don’t interact with other Twitter users. What’s the point?)

If you’re a fan, you just want to be heard. Taking the time to monitor and respond is worth every second that it takes. It’s just that simple.

The world is abuzz with the news of Facebook’s live announcement this afternoon.  The result? Marketing gurus and social media nerds were sent into a frenzy catapulting “Zuck” and “#facebooklive” to trend on Twitter.

The announcement was regarding the new video chat feature in partnership with Skype. A Facebook spokesperson described the new feature by saying, “Your least technical friend can use this feature.” In addition, the company launched group chat and a redesigned chat interface.

Critics wonder why Mark Zuckerberg would go as far as to describe the announcement as “something awesome” when the information about the new features were already announced on Facebook through its blog. And for that matter, why the hoopla over a live announcement, which was broadcast through livestream.com?

Here’s what really caught my attention. A representative from Mashable asked Zuckerberg about his reactions to Google+. He responded by saying that now that the technology for such applications exist, he predicts we will be seeing more of them pop up in the future. In other words, he didn’t put down Google+ but rather recognized it as an app that is simply one of many to come based on the interface that has already been invented (I presume he means invented by Facebook).

More over, going back to the trending topics, this seemingly unimpressive announcement suddenly made Facebook more talked about than Google+. So, I ask you: Was Zuckerberg’s decision to live broadcast his “awesome” announcement so silly after all? From a public relations standpoint, I’d say it was pretty damn smart.

Social media is no longer an unfamiliar term, but it seems that most people I talk to still believe that the tool is reserved for the tech savvy.  Relax. True there are right ways and wrong ways to “do” social media, but social media rules are evolving.

There are basic principles that will assist you (check out “Miss Ink’s 3 C’s of Social Media Marketing”) along the way, but we all make mistakes. Here’s my list of the most common ones:

• Relying on spell check. I once posted a blog where I meant to write “public” but wound up leaving out the “l”.  Luckily, a loyal blog reader and Twitter reader promptly pointed out this mistake to me.  Lesson: Slow down before you communicate something unintended.

• Venting. I know many, many people who use Facebook and Twitter to vent about problems they are having with other people. While it may be momentarily therapeutic, the fact of the matter is that no one cares. It’s a passive aggressive behavior—and a really bad habit—that more often than not reflects poorly on you.  Stay classy people. Warning: Airing your dirty laundry can be addictive.

• There’s no such thing as private. This ties into the venting mistake, but save yourself some embarrassment and don’t post something if there is even one person you don’t want to read it.  Six degrees of separation is not a myth.

• Forgetting your manners. Social networking is integrated with business more than ever.  Your online personality is NOT different from your “real life” personality.  If anything, people see who you are on social networking sites as a true reflection of self because people tend to let their guard down.

• Unintended links. This is another mistake that I am guilty of.  I have posted an article and not included the correct link.  The links didn’t direct my readers to a scandalous website, but the power of the information I wanted to share was lost and I ended up looking careless.

• Sharing links without clicking first. Social networking is a competition of who can be the first person to break news.  When we’re trying to keep up, we may share or retweet something just because the teaser sounds interesting.  Click on the link first.  Make sure you know exactly what information you’re sharing.

• Posting only about you. Most people new to social media make this mistake. Social media is about sharing information that engages people in conversation.  Who wants to have a conversation with people who only talk about themselves?  I sure don’t and I can guarantee the people in your network don’t either.

• Auto posts. This is what happens when people automatically link everything they share from one site to share on another site. Many people make this mistake because they want a social media presence across several sites, yet they want to simplify the process.  The trouble is that people will feel spammed or if they comment or reply, you’ll never know because chances are that you rarely check up on your account’s activity.  To avoid this, only sign up for the amount of social media tools that you can give personal attention to.

• Auto direct message. A lot of people LOVE to do this on Twitter. They figure if they send an auto direct message to every new follower, they will be properly acknowledging them.  While it seems nice in theory, it rarely works. You’re better off sending a personal message to followers you want to build a relationship with.

• Adding every person you meet to your mailing list. Everyone wants to build their database, but no one wants to be spammed. Yes, I did use this tactic early on, but I quickly learned that it could backfire and actually annoy people in part because I don’t enjoy being on the receiving end of this tactic.  Always ask if people would like to opt-in to your email list. You’ll look more professional and courteous and you’ll know that you’re sending information to people are actually interested in what you have to send them.

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BNI Coral Gables and I was told that it was very helpful to several people in the room.  I didn’t deliver a complicated presentation, however, I focused on three basic principles of effective social media marketing that I have dubbed “Miss Ink’s Three C’s of Social Media Marketing.”

These are very simple concepts that I have written about before, however, after the presentation, it was clear that many people can benefit from this information. Whether you’re new to the game, or have a daily social media regimen, these three concepts are the foundation of effective social media marketing.

So, just what are “Miss Ink’s Three C’s of Social Media Marketing”?  I’m glad you asked because here we go:

1. Content: What’s in it for me? This is the question that every single person asks before purchasing a product or service. Post information in your blogs and on your social networks that people will find useful and interesting.

For example, if I simply wrote “Buy from Miss Ink” as the title of this blog, would you read it? Yeah, I didn’t think so. However, you are reading this article because it provides information of value to you. Go ahead and get creative but post information that’s relative your business and expertise.  I love the Frosty fan page on Facebook by Wendy’s.  It focuses on something that is a popular item on the restaurant’s menu but it does so in a witty way that keeps people interested.

2. Consistency: If you have a Twitter account, but are only tweeting once a week or worse, once a month, you’re completely missing the boat. You have to be consistent.

The Internet world moves at a lighting fast pace. Status updates, tweets, blogs: they are all like flashes of lighting, here one second, gone the next.

Of course the information you post doesn’t just disappear, but with so much information being shared, your tweet may be washed away by someone else’s in a flash. That’s because new information is being posted every second of every day and the likelihood that someone will actively search out what you post is really low.

If you’re not sharing information on a regular basis, how can you expect to keep up?  It’s the tried and true marketing principle of repetitive communication.  I’m not saying you need to bombard your fans with new status updates, blogs or emails every 5 minutes. But, what I am saying is be consistent by logging on everyday.  I recommend making it part of your daily schedule.

3. Conversation: Third but certainly not last is conversation.  Let’s go back to the networking event example.  If someone stands up and gives you a testimonial, would you just ignore it or would you thank them for their kind words. I’m going to bet (or at the very least hope) that you said the latter.

This is the same idea with social media. If someone comments on a blog that you wrote or retweets one of your tweets, thank them.  Similarly, participate in the conversation by “listening” (i.e., reading) what others are saying and then respond. In other words, get involved.  Communication is the only way to build relationships and that has to be a two way street.

Of course there is much more to social media marketing than these three concepts, but if you can remember “Miss Ink’s three C’s of Social Media Marketing” you’ll be on your way to powerful results.

Facebook continues to evolve as a social networking giant. Whether you use it for business or pleasure or both, you’ll want to know about some of site’s cool and underused features.

New profiles:

Did you know that the new profile design is a magnificent tool for all professionals? Whether you’re a student, a professional or a business owner, there’s one feature in particular that you should take advantage of.

Now you can add projects that you’ve worked on and tag friends who worked with you on the project(s). Here’s how:

1. Convert to the new profile by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/about/profile/
2. Once complete, click “edit my profile” on either your homepage or profile page.
3. Select the “education and work” tab.
4. You can add projects to either your university or place of employment or both. Just click on the “add a project” link under the entity name.

Profile and Page Tags:

This is another personal favorite feature. You can tag people, fan pages, groups, community pages, etc. in your status updates and on wall posts.

Tags are great because just like photo tags are posted to your page, status tags will show up on the user’s wall (depending on their settings) or on the page wall. Why is this so cool?

If you’re a business owner, you can monitor when people tag your business by using the search feature. You can also view mentions on your community page, which is a public page featuring every Facebook post that mentions your company name.

How do you tag something? First, be sure you either are a friend of the person or “like” the page.  Now you’re ready to tag.  In the status update or wall box, type the “@” symbol followed by the person’s name or page name. A drop down list will appear with all of the names of people or pages that you’re associated with that are similar. Choose the one you want to tag and that’s all there is to it. The text that is tagged will show up as highlighted text. When you click “post” the tag will appear.

Claiming Places and Community Pages:

Have you ever searched your business name on Facebook? If not, do it. In the search results, you’ll likely see a “community” page and/or a “places” page.  Did you know you can claim these pages?

When you click on the page, you will see an option in the left hand menu that says, “Is this your page?” If you have reason to believe you can claim that page, click on the link and fill out the appropriate information.

There are many, many more features than the ones that I have highlighted in this post. Feel free to contact me with any questions and of course, check back for new blogs.  You can also subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here, http://www.miss-ink.com/feed/rss/ or become a fan of Miss Ink, LLC on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

I have been talking about the power of social media since I opened Miss Ink nearly three years ago. At first, people thought I was crazy and simply promoting a fad. Today, the sentiment is much different. There has been a strong transition in 2010–at least in the small business community in Miami–and businesses are more vested than ever in social media marketing.  The question has changed from “why do I need to have a social media presence” to “how do I have a social media presence.”  The answer is simple: You have to build it.  It’s an investment in time, but also an investment in building relationships with your target demographic or better yet, an investment in building relationships with people.

It’s very similar to attending networking events. You go to an event and you will inevitably meet two types of people: A) The “professional” who throws their business card at you in passing and B) the person who takes the time to learn about you and your business.  Most likely, you’re going to give your business to person “B.” The same concept applies to social media marketing on social networks.

So, just how does a business market through social media?  It’s simple when you remember “Miss Ink’s Three C’s” to Social Media:

1. Content: What’s in it for me? This is the question that every single person asks before purchasing a product or service. Post information in your blogs and on your social networks that people will find useful and interesting. For example, if I simply wrote “Buy from Miss Ink” as the title of this blog, would you have read it? Yeah, I didn’t think so. However, you are reading this blog because it provides information of value to you. Go ahead and get creative but post information that’s relative your business and expertise.  I love the Frosty fan page on Facebook by Wendy’s.  It focuses on something that is a popular item on the restaurant’s menu but it does so in a witty way that keeps people interested.

2. Consistency: If you have a Twitter account, but are only tweeting once a week or worse, once a month, you’re completely missing the boat. You have to be consistent.  The Internet world moves at a lighting fast pace. Status updates, tweets, blogs: they are all like flashes of lighting, here one second, gone the next.  Of course the information you post doesn’t just disappear, but with so much information being shared, your tweet may be washed away by someone else’s in a flash. That’s because new information is being posted every second of every day and the likelihood that someone will actively search out what you post is really low.  If you’re not sharing information on a regular basis, how can you expect to keep up?  It’s the tried and true marketing principle of repetitive communication.  I’m not saying you need to bombard your fans with new status updates, blogs or emails every 5 minutes. But, what I am saying is be consistent by logging on everyday.  I recommend making it part of your daily schedule.

3. Conversation: Third but certainly not last is conversation.  Let’s go back to the networking event example.  If someone stands up and gives you a testimonial, would you just ignore it or would you thank them for their kind words. I’m going to bet (or at the very least hope) that you said the latter. To not thank someone or respond when they as a question is just rude.  This is the same idea with social media. If someone comments on a blog that you wrote or retweets one of your tweets, thank them.  Similarly, participate in the conversation by “listening” (i.e., reading) what others are saying and then respond. In other words, get involved.  Communication is the only way to build relationships and that has to be a two way street.

Of course there is much more to social media marketing than these three concepts, but if you can remember “Miss Ink’s three C’s to Social Media” you’ll be on your way to powerful results.

Top 3 reasons for not using social media to promote your business:

1. I don’t have the time.

2. I don’t understand how to use it.

3. I don’t think that it would help my business.

Enough with the excuses.

Being that it’s still so “new,” I can understand why people would be intimated by social media or not see its value.  There are so many new developments, that even I get a little dizzy thinking about it from time-to-time.  So, what’s a business owner to do?

1. Make it a part of your day. Schedule it into your daily plan.

2. Create a monthly plan for your strategies and tactics.

3. Get creative with your content and stay consistent with your activity.

Still not sold that you can use social media for your business? Or, do you already have some social media presence, but rarely give it attention?

Miss Ink is offering a FREE social media analysis for your business. There is no catch and no obligation to work with us. We just want to help point you in the right direction. We will research your current social media presence, perform a quick analysis of activity and offer a few suggestions on how to improve your efforts. Interested? Email Misty@miss-ink.com to request your complimentary social media analysis. (One free analysis per business or organization. Must be located in the Greater Miami area.)

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