In the last 24 hours Facebook has been rolling out it’s ‘Questions’ functionality – you will see it on the left hand side of your Home Page or at the top of your Profile or Business Page.

the Answers and Questions feature of Linkedin have been a great way to build online visibility and be a source of lead generation for a number of years. This move by Facebook is another example of them looking to have people spend more time in their company and become a source for information and research about questions we have.

One of the most powerful features is that you can post a reply to a Question as the name of your ‘Facebook Page’ – unlike when you comment on a Facebook Profile or Facebook Page.

Here is a quick video review of the Facebook Questions feature which I published today over on my Biz Growth Media Facebook Page.

You can also ‘follow questions’ and edit the answers to the questions that you respond to.

However one potential disadvantage is that when people click on the links to the questions you ask using the ‘Questions’ feature it will take people away from your Facebook Page.

If you are monitoring your online reputation on Facebook it will be important for you to start to listen to the questions being asked and answered.

When you post an answer or a question it will be seen by the whole of the Facebook community irrespective of your Facebook Profile privacy settings – so be careful what and how you ask and answer questions.

More details about Facebook Questions are here on the Facebook blog.

Remember the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams where the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything was 42 – perhaps Mark Zuckerberg is looking for that book to be re-written – and the answer now being Facebook.

What are your thoughts about Facebook Questions?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Access my FREE Facebook webinars about using Facebook Pages and Facebook Advertising

Access my guide to Facebook Pages best practice guide for colleges and universities

Perhaps Facebook not where your potential clients are networking online? If they are using LinkedIn you might want to access my FREE LinkedIn for business – make sure that you leave a valid email address so that you can access a discount off my forthcoming 4 week programme starting the 9 August 2010 called “LinkedIn for Business Leads and Profits”. The discount is valid until the 31 July 2010.

comScore, Inc. has today released a global report how women interact with the web called, “Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet” – it’s an extensive analysis of how women are are interacting online across social networks, online video, mobile communications, online retail trends and a number of other key areas.

The report comments that social networking sites reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, with 75.8 percent of all women online visiting a social networking site in May 2010 versus 69.7 percent of men.

Here are a few conclusions I drew from the comScore report.

1. Don’t just look to connect and reach women on women’s magazines, celebrity gossip and baby sites – the report comments that “women are more engaged than men on the Internet -you just have to know where to look”. Think beyond the obvious suspects when looking for online communities where you can reach the female consumer.

2. If you want to connect with women you need to understand how they interact in social networks – the report states “social networking is central to women’s Internet experience”. Women of all ages connect on social networks sharing photo’s, playing games, and watching online video. Globally, women spent an average of 16.3 percent of their online time on social networks in April 2010, compared to only 11.7 percent for the men.

3. Women in the US control the cash – more women than men get engaged with online transactions and collectively spend more.What does this mean then when it comes to the tone and content of your online marketing?

4. Act global but understand local influences – we need to deep our understanding of regional and cultural differences impact in Internet behaviour. The report goes into some depth about differences they have found across the globe.

5. Stop making the excuse that Social Networking is only relevant if you are marketing to a youth audience -  the 45+ female segment is driving the greatest proportion of growth for Social Networking sites, in terms of both visitation and time spent. Yes the 15-24 may use these sites more frequently and use them more however the 45+ age group visit and use Social Networking sites just as much as the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups.In fact older women are using Social Networks significantly more than men do. In North America, with 9 out of 10 female Internet users visiting a social network site in April 2010.

6. Men and Women use Twitter differently – the report comments that in an April 2010 comScore survey, men were found to be more likely to post their own Tweets than women; women on the other hand used Twitter more to find deals and promotions, as a place for conversing online and to follow celebrities.How does that change your content strategy for Twitter?

What other research and insights have you found about how female consumers use the web and how is it influencing your online marketing, PR and communications? What other insights did you glean from the comScore report?

Here are three new resources from Facebook that I think you will find of interest:

1. A new Page about Facebook Safety to provide you with updates and information to keep you and your family safe while using Facebook or surfing on the Internet. This compliments the Facebook Security Page.

2. A Facebook Page for PR professionals where the Facebook team share what they have learned about creating social content, promoting events, optimising Pages, and integrating with tools off of Facebook – it looks as though this will be a great resource for PR an marketing people alike. Check out the hour long video recording of a live event held last week at Facebook HQ in the US with information about using Facebook advertising and live streaming

3. A Facebook Page for the Media where they are providing guidance and tips for media outlets  in terms of best practices and tools to drive referral traffic and increase engagement on your site. They are recommending all journalists should have a Facebook Page, and provide tips about running events, adding Facebook social plugins and how to use Facebook search to monitor conversations.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Access my FREE Facebook webinars about using Facebook Pages and Facebook Advertising

Access my guide to Facebook Pages best practice guide for colleges and universities

Perhaps Facebook not where your potential clients are networking online? If they are using LinkedIn you might want to access my FREE LinkedIn for business – make sure that you leave a valid email address so that you can access a discount off my forthcoming 4 week programme starting the 9 August 2010 called “LinkedIn for Business Leads and Profits”. The discount is valid until the 31 July 2010.

I recently noticed a post from Jeremiah Owyang asking the readers of his blog for their input on Facebook marketing best practice.

Here is the feedback I shared:

1. Understand the online habits of your community – identify when your community are online so that you can time your Facebook update so that it has a chance to appear when they log on in their feed on their home page without too much scrolling. This simple online visibility tip could increase the possibility of them engaging with your update

2. Manage the frequency of posting – Take care not to publish content too frequently to your Facebook Page – if all people can see on their Facebook home page feed is your updates not their friends they may ‘unlike’ your Facebook Page or hide your feed

3. Don’t forget to promote your Page – When starting a Facebook Page we have found that also investing in engagement ads (on the home page of Facebook) has assisted in increasing the visibility and number of people joining your community quickly

4. Post relevant refreshing content – Keep your competitions relevant to the community on your Facebook Page. This may seem obvious but it is often overlooked. Your competition does not have to be for something that has an expensive price tag – but it is something valued by your community. Note – if you are hosting a competition or give way, make sure you comply with the guidelines for promotions and competitions (there are many brands who don’t and risk their Facebook Page being deleted)

5. Make it easy to do business with your app – When adding applications make sure you test it for useability – too many clicks as part of the process and people won’t add your application and if it’s not easy to use and does not add value (or fun) to them your Facebook app will remain a secret.

But what ideas would you add?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Access my FREE Facebook webinar about using Facebook Pages

Access my FREE Facebook webinar about Facebook Advertising

Access my guide to Facebook Pages best practice guide for colleges and universities

Perhaps Facebook not where your potential clients are networking online? If they are using LinkedIn you might want to access my FREE LinkedIn for business – make sure that you leave a valid email address so that you can access a discount off my forthcoming 4 week programme starting the 9 August 2010 called “LinkedIn for Business Leads and Profits”. The discount is valid until the 31 July 2010.

Here are some of the areas I covered:

• How LinkedIn can assist you if you want to be make sure that you are found online for professional expertise
• Tips for optimising your professional LinkedIn profile so that it can attract leads for you
• Guidance on how to develop a network of strategic business contacts
• How to ensure you never lose the important connections you make on LinkedIn
• The most important rule you need to follow when using LinkedIn to represent your personal brand online or offline
• Ways to expand your network to support your personal and professional goals
• Guidance to boost your online visibility and your visibility to your LinkedIn network.

Just head over to the opt in page and leave your name and email address – make sure that you leave a valid email address as there is also a special offer that will be emailed to you – a discount off my forthcoming 4 week programme starting the 9 August 2010 called “LinkedIn for Business Leads and Profits”. The discount is valid until the 31 July 2010.

I have delivered this programme in workshops with clients but this is the first (and possibly only) time I will be delivering the programme online.

I was also recently interviewed on a national radio show about LinkedIn for business and career success – you can listen to the recording here.

Kildare Village (opened in 2006) is home to over 55 designer outlet boutiques (Bally, Anya Hindmarch, Polo, Karen Millen, Reiss, Coast, Molton Brown, Clarks, All Saints, Designers Guild, Cath Kidson, Le Creuset, Kenneth Turner, Starbucks, L’Officina by Dunne & Crescenzi) offering previous seasons collections at prices reduced by up to 60% all year round.

You can listen to the podcast here – it’s the first of a new podcast series I am producing bringing you conversations about inbound marketing and social media communications.

00:00:00.0     An introduction to Kildare Village
00:04:03.8     The types of customers that come to Kildare Village
00:06:23.7     What is the shopping experience like?
00:09:01.5     Trends in retail in the current economy
00:10:34.1     The Kildare Village marketing programme
00:16:39.1     How Kildare Village is using social media
00:19:07.9     Tips for building a community on Facebook
00:22:15.1     Benefiting from customer feedback
00:24:34.2     Integrating marketing online and offline
00:30:29.0     Tracking and measuring the effectiveness of your marketing
00:35:07.2     Recent and current promotions
00:47:50.6     Key learnings and insights from the first four years
00:53:36.5     Show ends

Find Kildare Village on Twitter

Find Kildare Village on Facebook

I had the opportunity to meet Ivan recently at the BNI Ireland conference and we managed to record a short podcast. In the interview we talk about how we originally connected through networking online through my blog and Ivan watching his Google Alerts. We discuss how social networking online helps establish and maintain relationships.

In the conversation he covers tips for effective networking and referrals and how the closing ratio of a referral being one of the most effective ways to grow your business.

Ivan also talks about how he and his team syndicate their content online when using social media for example using tools like HootSuite.com.

Networking Like A Pro is a very accessible book – the chapters are brief and provide easy to implement tips including:

- how to gain the confidence of people in your netowrk

- how to leverage new contacts

- developing a plan to attract more referrals

- how to network at non-networking events

- and tips for getting other people to refer you.

You will also find helpful check lists in the book that you can use in your business to support your networking plan.

If you would like to connect to Ivan on Facebook you will find him HERE and on Twitter you can follow him HERE.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

You will find additional free tutorials about networking like a pro here in an archive of some of my most popular podcasts.

As a result I have been exploring best practice examples of education establishments using Facebook Pages and thought you might like to see what I uncovered.

If you think I have missed examples of colleges and universities that should be included in this guide, do let me know as I would be delighted to feature more examples. examples included are from Fordham University, Harvard University,  Oxford University, Stanford University,  Texas A&M University, Tufts University, University of Miami, University of Salford and the New York City Department of Education.

I also include in the guide 10 questions to consider before starting your Facebook Page for your college or university. What other questions would you ask yourself or your team if you were setting up a Facebook Page for your university or college?


I know when I first started podcasting over 5 years ago I was very nervous about what I would sound like and whether anyone would even be interested in what I had to say. Last week my youngest daughter met one of the people she admires – Rachel Allen the Irish chef and author. Before the event I asked her if she would like to do a little interview with Rachel so she prepared a few questions.

We were invited to the event by Marks and Spencer Ireland (I have to admit it is a favourite brand in our home). The event was a Summer barbeque held at the WHPR offices in Dublin (who support the Marks and Spencer account). The WHPR team had done a great job decking out the courtyard in wonderful garden furniture from the Marks and Spencer Summer collection and all the foods were from their store – they featured foods from their Irish producers and many were there on the evening.

On arrival, we sought out Rachel Allen and 8 year old Megan asked Rachel if she could interview her for a podcast. Rachel was delightful and was very approachable. We then found a relatively quiet area and Megan started with her questions. Picture it – I had Megan lifted in my left arm so she could look Rachel in the eye when doing the interview and held my iPhone in the right hand (I was testing out a new voice recording app to save me having to carry my microphone and recorder).

Was the recording perfect? No – mainly because I wasn’t happy with the quality of the audio from the application I used.

Were the tips that Rachel shared in the interview with 8 year old Megan valuable? Yes – listen out for the response that Rachel gave Megan when she asked for three tips if someone wanted to be a chef and author.

Will Megan remember that experience and is now proud of the opportunity to share her interview with the world in a video and a podcast? Absolutely! And repurposing the podcast we now have a video for her to show her friends.

So let me know what is stopping you from podcasting? If an 8 year old can podcast just imagine what you could do!

Leave your questions about podcasting below and I will answer your questions in a forthcoming FREE webinar. An of you are already podcasting, what tips do you have for creating memorable podcasts?

Listen to the podcast of Megan in conversation with Rachel Allen:

Watch the video – we repurposed the podcast into an online video:

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Register for the FREE webinar about the 7 essential tips for profitable podcasting

• Find Rachel Allen on Facebook

• Find Marks & Spencer Ireland on Facebook

• Find WHPR on Facebook

• This video was first published on my Social Media Marketing Resources Page on Facebook

In my workshops and mentoring about Facebook for business, many organisations are not aware that Facebook do actually have guidelines for promotions and competitions that you want to host on Facebook.

In the last week I have come across more than 5 Facebook Pages in Ireland (both large well known brands and start-ups) who are failing to comply to Facebook guidelines. And the consequence of this could be that Facebook comment that they will:

remove any materials related to a promotion at any time, regardless of whether the promotion was approved, where we determine the continued marketing or administration of such promotion may be unlawful under applicable laws, rules, regulations or guidelines or may cause unreasonable liability for us.

I do in fact know of one Facebook Page (not in Ireland) where the Facebook Page which had amassed a significant community was deleted by Facebook for failing to comply to the Facebook Promotion Guidelines.

Specifically take note of the fact that Facebook will not allow you to:

Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as making a post on a profile or Page, status comment or photo upload

Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your Page

Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.

Here are some essential tips for staying the right side of the Facebook Promotion Guidelines:

1. Read the Facebook Promotion Guidelines – this may seem obvious, but the guidelines do and can change so you need to be aware of the current guidelines and understand how they could impact the plans for your Facebook promotion or give-away:

6.3 We reserve the right to review promotion rules and promotional copy at anytime but is under no obligation to do so. Our approval of rules or materials related to the promotion does not relieve you of any obligations in these Promotions Guidelines

2. Comply with local and industry specific promotion guidelines – you need to ensure that your promotion is in accordance with any restrictions in your own local geography or within your industry sector, for example:

2.4 The promotion’s objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline;

2.5 The prize or any part of the prize includes alcohol, tobacco, dairy, firearms, or prescription drugs.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO MANAGE OR PROMOTE YOUR COMEPTITION ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE

1. Create and implement a bespoke Facebook application – You can of course still promote and run competitions on Facebook – you do however need to either work with a digital marketing or social media agency who will develop a specific application for you or work with a Facebook approved paid application. Especially in the case of bespoke applications, you need to account for time in your project plan for Facebook to approve your application:

3.6 You must submit materials for any promotion you plan on administering through the Facebook Platform to your account representative for our review and approval at least 7 days prior to the start date of such promotion. Promotions not approved in writing within such time period will be deemed unapproved.

2. Use a paid Facebook application service – There are a number of Facebook application services available that you can use to manage your competition, quizzes, gifts, promotion or sweepstakes, including Fanappz, Involver and Wildfire – or have your social media agency use one of these services to support your Facebook marketing programme. These offer great affordable solutions for small businesses, however be aware that the application will be braded with the name of the provider which I know may not be relevant for all organisations.

3. Manage your competition or give away on your website or blog – You do not need Facebook’s approval if you are publicising a promotion that is administered completely off of Facebook. However, Facebook reserves the right to remove any materials relating to the promotion or disable your Page or account if they determine that you violate their Promotions Guidelines, the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities or any other of their policies.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

And of course once you have your competition or promotion in place don’t forget that you then need a marketing plan to support you building awareness of your competition. I will be covering using Facebook adverts as a way to promote your business, product, service, page or even your Facebook application in a forthcoming FREE webinar.

You can register online to attend the event here.

It is taking place on Friday 11 June 2010 at 6pm and will last 45 minutes. I will also be featuring some real life examples in the Facebook advertising webinar. This is one of a series of FREE webinars this month that I am hosting as part of my reverse birthday celebrations. You see if was my birthday yesterday and I decided last week to host some live webinars an provide someone on the webinar guidance and mentoring for their business.

What is your experience of managing your promotions, competitions and give away’s on your Facebook Page?

Photo credit Nimbupani on Flickr