One of my most popular posts has been “How to Market Your Business on Facebook“. It was first posted in August of 2009 and has been updated several times.
Seems like a series may be in order!

Just found a great post about how to comment as yourself on your own fan page. Don’t know about you but it’s something I’ve been wondering for a while. The long and short of it is, you can’t. But there are some ideas of how to work around it without violating Facebook’s terms of service.

Those of you thinking of setting up a Facebook Fan page for your business may want to read these posts first so you know the pros and cons of setting up. Right now it doesn’t look like you can transfer the fan pages to another account, so you may want to set it up originally with 2 administrators, just in case something happens to your original account or to you. You can add admins, but you probably should do it before there is a problem.

The good thing about a Fan Page (versus promoting your company on your profile) is that by using privacy settings you can separate your company from your personal profile. That way information that you’d like potential clients to read and respond to doesn’t get mixed up with the individual comments that you make as a family member or friend to your personal contacts.

As my Facebook friends know, I subscribe to my fan pages with Networked Blogs in Facebook, so my family and friends are subjected to my non-stop marketing talk as well. Sorry!! (But, not very sorry though!) Because I use my Facebook Fan pages for business, and I use various privacy settings, my fans are not subjected to my personal vacation photos and individual wall messages to friends & family. So I’ve got a one way funnel of work into personal, but not personal into work. Makes sense, right?

Here’s one of my favorite links about the privacy settings explanation in Facebook, showing you how to control the privacy of each bit of content you post on Facebook.

State Toy of Kansas - The Etch-a-Sketch

Maybe you want to consider applying to the government in your state to have your product become the “official state insignia” for a product category. Seems to me that even just applying would help give your product extra marketing exposure.

Most states have an official bird, flower and flag, but what about other categories?

The state of Wisconson has an official state motorcycle. Indiana has an official state wine. And the state of Maryland has the official state dessert.

Evidently many states have made milk their official state beverage. Bet that makes the milk council happy.

Most states have an official state song, however my state, Ohio, is the ONLY state to have an official state rock song. Must be because the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is here in Cleveland.

Does your company brand and market a product that would make a great “official state _____”?

Photo: Flickr Courtesy of Creative Commons Warzauwynn.

I just love one pagers! They offer a clear and conciseway to look at a program.

Silvia Azmitia shared this branding program model with me and agreed to let me write about it. (Click on the link to see it as a pdf.) What do you think of it as a model for a branding program?

While I assumed this was created for consumer products business only, this model can be utilized to analyze corporate brands or even to conduct a brand analysis of b2b company. Silva explained to me that the target audience should be read not as the general population but current and prospective clients.

Providers refers to the people who are involved with the organization but do not belong to it. For example, the company’s ad agency and other contractors. You could substitute that word for ’suppliers’ or ‘vendors.’

The initials ATL and BTL stand for Above the line and Below the line. They refer to themedia selected to conduct a message to the target audience. Above the line is mainstream and massive media such as TV and radio. Below the line refers to more targeted media such as email marketing and other niche marketing.

So what do you think? Can you see yourself using this model to analyze your business or one of your company’s branded products? Leave a comment below.

Do you market a business that could benefit by your customers or consumers keeping track of where they were and how long it took?

You might consider introducing a GPS tracking system for increasing customer loyalty, interaction and buzz. The photo above is from the website generated after the information is uploaded to the internet and is from Flaik.

All of the sudden runners are using these to track their miles and route, skiers to see their runs on the slopes, and I bet some amusement parks have them too. It’s one of the new technology gadgets that people love to talk about and if you can figure out a way to incorporate into their experience with your product, service or business, you’ll be able to increase the relationship strength with your customer and their likeminded friends.

Wonder if there is a Facebook app for this?

Do you think about getting a social media program underway but are feeling a bit overwhelmed? If you’re responsible for the marketing of your company or organization, you really should take advantage of this marketing media. So how do you eat this elephant?

One bite at a time.

Here’s a new tool from COSE (Cleveland’s Council of Smaller Enterprises.) They’ve created a new tool to help small business owners and marketers nail down a strategy and create a presence in just 60 days. Using only 15 minutes a day!

SocialMediaLeaps.com offers step by step daily tasks and worksheets, as well as a pool of resources to help you start up and grow your social media presence.

One of my favorite links that I found on this website: “50 Ways to use Social Media, listed by Objective” by Jeremiah Owyang who writes Web Strategy.

Thanks to Linsey Knerl for including my suggestion in 48 Guerrilla Marketing Tips from Top PR Pros.

Your business is feeling the crunch this year — and your marketing budget is dwindling as a result. We’ve asked some of the most experienced public relations professionals to share their secrets on how to market a company on a small budget. Here are some of the best ways to use social media and word-of-mouth marketing to gain a competitive advantage in this tough economy.

There are lots of Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media tips from the PR professionals. Looks like this is one of the more cost effective ways to marketing a company on a small budget.

How are you branding and marketing your company on a budget?

Hiring and training a sales rep? Review this “Lifecycle of a Sales Rep” powerpoint to make sure you’ve covered your bases.

Added resources: Hiring a Sales Rep? Use These Sales Rep Checklists

I believe it’s important to keep in mind that social media is just that — social. You’ve got to make sure it’s a two way street and not treat it as if it is a broadcast media. Otherwise, you may as well call it “business media” otherwise known as advertising.

Image courtesy of Laurel Papworth and Gary Hayes from a presentation given at SPAA Fringe called “The Future of Social Media Entertainment.”

The point: You’ve got to involve your reader, create new content, discuss as well as promote and measure…. NOT just promote and measure.

Gary Hayes and Laurel Papworth elaborate:

* INVOLVE – listen to, live the social web, understand it, this cannot be faked
* CREATE – make relevant content for communities of interest
* DISCUSS – no conversation around it, then the content may as well not exist
* PROMOTE – actively, respectfully, promote the content with the networks
* MEASURE – monitor, iteratively develop and respond or be damned!

I like to use analogies in explaining marketing.

For instance, marketing is like:

Gardening: We’re planting seeds and then feeding and watering them to grow. New Growth After Adversity

A Marathon: Strategic Marketing is a marathon…

Fishing: We we use different tools (the offer) and try to catch different types of fish (customers/consumers) from ponds or lakes (the markets) with different tools (the rod, reel, or net). Fishing for Customers? Use the Right Bait!

Job Hunting: The resume (marketing materials), the cover letter (direct mail) and interview (sales presentation) The Brand Called You: Don’t Overlook Personal Branding!

A Freight Train: The Power of Marketing: A Freight Train Analogy

A Bridge: Relationship Marketing helps Build Bridges

Making Popcorn: Marketing is like Popcorn…

Those are a few of mine. What analogies do you use for branding and marketing? …Or am I the only one who thinks in analogies?

Do you feel like your trying to do EVERYTHING in Social Media because you’re not sure what the RIGHT thing to do is?

Having a strategy before you start is a great idea to help you keep away from just sending out multiple or confusing messages.

One thing that I have found very helpful for those who don’t want to use an RSS feed reader… or subscribe to this blog via their email… is to subscribe to this blog by becoming a fan of Marketing Resources & Results in Facebook.

Yes, a Facebook Fan page makes it easy to publish by using Networked blogs.

When you pass your 100th fan, you can get your own URL on Facebook pages. Our’s is http://www.Facebook.com/MarketingResults.

Another advantage of a fan page is there is no limit to the number of fans, unlike a profile where the limit is 5,000 friends.

So, if you’re a regular reader, but not a subscriber, consider subscribing via our Facebook Fan page.

Are you trying to hire a sales rep? Check out these checklists to help you make the right decision.

Sales Rep Evaluation Checklists

Thanks to Entrepreneur.com for this handy checklist of what to consider before hiring a sales rep:
Use this checklist when evaulating different sales representatives with whom you might contract to sell your goods.

Here’s another handy checklist from Bay Area Sales Recruiters.

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is conducting sixth annual industry-wide survey to assess the economy’s effect on year-to-year online marketing spending and investigate new trends.

The survey is open to all search engine marketing (SEM) managers and professionals working in an agency or in-house corporate position. Participants do not need to be SEMPO members. Log on to http://bit.ly/SEMPO-search to participate.

In addition to the organic search optimization and paid search areas, this year’s survey addresses social media as a component of search engine marketing.

You have until Monday, February 22, 2010. Preliminary results will be available in early March with a full report expected in late March.

As an incentive for participating in the survey, a free copy of the final report – a $249 value – will be sent to all survey respondents.

Example of one of the questions:

What are the three most important metrics your clients use for gauging the success of social media marketing? Check three options

• Brand awareness
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Cost of generating sale off-line
• Cost-per-click
• Customer engagement
• Customer satisfaction / advocacy
• Number of sales / leads
• Profitability of sales
• Return on ad spend
• Return on investment
• Site traffic metrics

Value of sales / leads

Does your on hold message help to market your business? Many phone systems have the ability to use on hold marketing messages.

As long as your customer or potential customer may be on hold, wouldn’t you prefer to have them listen to information that could lead to a sale rather than the local radio station or some beeping noise?

Take Advantage of These On-hold Marketing Message Benefits:

• Reduces caller hang-ups
• Enhances your company’s image
• Answers frequently asked question
• Communicates information about your products & services
• Communicates important history of your company
• Promotes and directs callers to your company’s website

Use On Hold Messages to Inspire Callers to Take Action:

• Cross-sell your products & services
• Communicate your hours of operation
• Identify key selling points for using your business
• Announce new products and special offers
• Relay news about upcoming events
• Reinforce your marketing positioning

My company has helped our clients create on hold marketing messages as part of their marketing programs. The idea is that after a caller has been on hold, invariably a caller will mention something like, “I didn’t know your company offered that service. Tell me more!”

In this day and age where social media marketing seems to be the latest hot shiny object, sometimes the use of the tried & true marketing tactics are left behind. Sometimes something as basic as a recorded voice explaining the benefits of one of your company’s services is enough to start a conversation that will lead to a sale.

So, if your company use on hold marketing messages, please share with me:

How often do you update them? Do you use a female or male voice? Does it annoy people or do they find it helpful? How many different messages do you use? How is it working for you?

Wow! Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn… Oh My!

Now business will have Google Gmail status updates for social media to examine, learn and perhaps use as a marketing tool too.

I think about Google Video which never really took off. Instead, Google just bought YouTube which has a huge community following compared to Google Video.

Are you ready to learn a new marketing platform? Do you think Google is too late? Are you planning to learn it?

And why should I care?

Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”

One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool! Umm… What the heck is RSS?

Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!

Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.