Starting Saturday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern, Facebook will allow users to personalize their Page URL’s (the web link people use to access profiles and fan pages). Not only is it a nice touch for Web users and brand promoters, it will help with search engine optimization for your brand since Facebook gets so much traffic. Though chances are Facebook is a top hit for your page already. Telling someone how to find you on Facebook will be easier, since you can provide an easy URL rather than telling him or her to search for you.

You must have had 1,000 fans on your page prior to June 1 to be eligible. Be sure to secure your name or brand before someone else does!

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Andy Swindler Categories: Fun, Social Media, Web

Wondering what the deal is with these “apps” on Facebook or LinkedIn?  Or perhaps like me up until recently, Facebook apps are old hat while LinkedIn’s offerings are more unknown.  Well, firstly, app is short for application.  An application in the social networking context is an extra, optional element to include in your profile.  It adds functionality beyond the core information displayed about you and your activity on a particular site.  Apps often bring external information into your profile, and this is where they are arguably most useful.  For instance, if you or your company has a blog, you can display its feed on your Facebook or LinkedIn profile.

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Andrew Crowe Categories: ePiphany Featured Story, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web

We get this question regularly enough that I wanted to share a few quick talking points you can use to convince your boss that engaging with social media is not optional. The longer you wait, the more you’ll miss. A common reaction to social media is that companies don’t want to use another marketing channel, or they don’t have time to join yet another social networking site. Well, it’s time to make time. The good news is you can control how much you get involved — just be sure to get involved.

1. Low cost of entry

The key thing to realize with social media is that it costs very little to get started. Free tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are available to connect directly to people and get your message out. Free services like Google Alerts give you a glimpse into what people are saying about your company. Free blog hosting makes getting started easier, though we usually recommend spending a nominal amount on some custom branding and consulting so that your blog stands out and is found on search engines.

Rather than money, what social media requires most from you is time: time to participate, time to contribute, time to engage. If you are fighting an uphill battle in the office, then you may have to consider investing your own time off the clock to get the ball rolling and produce some tangible results. Try one or two services at a time until you become comfortable with the medium. You are better off fully engaging with one or two social media tools than signing up for all of them at once.

2. The conversation is happening. All you can do is join.

Social media is less about delivering a one-way message and more about engaging with your clients. The fact is that people are out there having public conversations about your company or products. Social media is your opportunity to meet them on their own turf to talk about their experiences, complements, and complaints. Think of it as an opportunity to gain insight into the mind of your clients rather than a burden.

It’s important to listen before you join a conversation, as you would at a party. Make sure you understand the conversation and represent yourself honestly and transparently. Be sure to disclose your relationship with the company and express your genuine opinion, update, or concern. People will often tell other people about the interaction just because you bothered to reach out. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing.

3. Demonstrate credibility

You are good at what you do. Your boss is even better. Your clients know that, but bringing in new business requires convincing new people that you have what they need. Starting a company blog and/or podcast, commenting on other sites such as forums and wikis, contributing to the body of social expertise that is being constantly updating and expanded are all ways to show people who you are and how you think. And chances are you offer services with which even long-standing clients aren’t familiar, which could lead to more business when they see what you publish.

What results can you expect?

People respond positively to increased customer service with responses to comments wherever they are, access to real representatives from a company not hiding behind phone banks, and direct timely expertise in the form of blogs and commentary. These are all tools that work together to deliver leads and expanded trusted networks.

As long as you consistently represent your brand and exercise full disclosure, people will remember where the information came from. It won’t happen overnight, but over time you will see benefits as people become more deeply aware of what you offer, whether or not you’ve done business yet. If you combine social media with traditional relationship building, you’ll increase the chances of earning their business.

This post was featured in ePiphany, Astek’s Monthly Newsletter | Other ePiphany Articles

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web

It’s really been bringing out the grammar snob in me lately to see LinkedIn’s automated messages mix plural pronouns. For example, “Andy Swindler has updated their profile,” rather than his/her. This is a common complexity in the English language, but it’s one I feel is still necessary. Officially, we are to default to using “he” if the gender of the subject is unknown. But there are more creative ways around it that are still grammatically correct and adhere to more contemporary political correctness standards. “Andy Swindler’s profile was updated on December 12.” Just an example. The point is that computers don’t have to sound like computers if you build the software that’s flexible and smart enough to account for these things. I’m picking on LinkedIn here, but it’s a common issue that should be addressed when designing sophisticated software.

As much as I’ve enjoyed digging back into LinkedIn lately, I’m frequently reminded of the glaring lack of innovation on this site. The best features seem taken right out of the Facebook page. At least they are imitating the best social networking site out there.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Social Media, Technology, Web

Like most new web sites with potential, I signed up for LinkedIn years ago when it came out. The problem with a networking site is that if no one is on it yet, it can’t do you much good. So I set it aside for the most part, lazily connecting to people as they popped up here and there until one day a critical mass would exist.

Recently I decided to give it another shot. I feel that social networking, particularly on Facebook, has reached a saturation of participants who are neither geeks nor young. This is important because it’s only when the tool steps off the stage of attention that anyone not interested in the tool itself will begin to find it useful.

So it goes for LinkedIn. I updated and optimized my profile, then uploaded my most recent address book to the site and found 200 people I knew personally or professionally who I hadn’t yet connected to. That was a bit less than half of the people I uploaded, 45 of whom I was already friends with.

For better or worse I did this over Thanksgiving weekend, and within a couple of days tripled my number of connections, exponentially increasing the 2nd and 3rd degree connections. As with Facebook, it’s been a nice opportunity to casually reconnect with people I did a limited amount of business with at one time or another. This is why burning bridges is not such a good thing. Luckily I figured that one out awhile ago.

One of the most powerful marketing devices in any market is testimonials, so I’ve been collecting recommendations from my richest client relationships. Not only is a bit of a confidence boost to read these and post them to my profile, it makes me take just a little more pride in my work. I’ve earned them, true, but I must continue to earn them if they will continue to speak for me.

LinkedIn was innovative in bringing a social networking brand to the business world, but I don’t see it as being on par in terms of overall innovation to Facebook. At least when concepts and features are borrowed, people will already know how to use them.

What’s missing? I’d really like to see some sort of conversation area where I could talk more about job opportunities, contracted work, etc. It seems that recommendations are key to getting a web gig from one of the million+ people in my network. Not that it should be easy, but getting on someone’s recommended short list should be simple through this tool, and that’s the main goal. It always takes more conversation to evaluate the match.

The status update is a start, but it’s a token gesture toward a social networking trend. To make it useful in the professional world, I would want to talk about a few things I’m working on, particularly projects that people might find interesting or that would even lead to business leads.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General, Marketing, Social Media, Web