2013 Facebook's Doggone Stock

If Marky Mark 2.0 was creating Facebook today, would he choose a different name in light of recent missteps to monetization?  Would he have used "FaceValue" to reflect the falling stock price since its IPO?  Or "FacePalm" to refer to the embarrassment over privacy concerns and leaks that pop up faster than "Like Us" buttons.  Or perhaps "Fakebook" to play off all the millions of fake accounts it continues to uncover every day?

These were my thoughts as I waited at the vet's office frustrated by the new mobile ads clogging my Facebook mobile feed.  As I watched my poor dog get prodded and poked with needles, he seemed unfazed. Nor did he bat an eyelash at visit's end from the exorbitant bill for his food and medicine. He got a treat and was thrilled.  And that got me to thinking on how to rescue Facebook stock.

Facebook developers, attorneys, and management aren't responsible for all these problems. It's us who are to blame; the three-quarter billion-give-or-take real members whose data makes up Facebook's nest egg.

I mean in its defense, we're not even supposed to be using Facebook in the first place. It was designed to pick up Ivy League co-eds as The Social Network explained. And now, it's not just college folks that belong, it's far worse -- working people. To some Silicon Valley start ups, the real world is a necessary evil. The irony of the social network being created by an anti-social network is not lost upon them.  Alas, if only "The Matrix" was reality and people could be "commented out" of the source code, we wouldn't have put Facebook in this compromising situation.

Facebook advertising revenue generating has been a bust. That's why the stock value's continued to drop and the less than expected revenues. It's totally all our fault because we prefer the Google and Amazon ad plans. Recently it started seeking out and deleting its millions of fake profiles to help win over skeptical advertisers. Of the 83 million false accounts it initially found, over half were duplicate accounts, and almost 23 million were used for companies, groups...and pets. 

That's right. Pets. And therein lies the goldmine Facebook has overlooked. My epiphany at the veterinarian's was that the road out of the "dog house" leads straight to our dog's house. Rather than play with people's privacy why not just undermine the personal lives of the canine contingency? They actually prefer when they have their privacy infringed upon. Why not target dogs with ads rather than using the their masters? People just complain about not wanting to be exploited. But pets...well what self-respecting dog wouldn't invest their life savings in a website that gave them say rawhide treats?

To Fido, Facebook isn't undervalued, it's simply under-scented. Rename it Nosebook, then figure out a way to replace photos with "Scratch and Sniff" and the dog members of Facebook will make the stock skyrocket. No complaints regarding user interface, privacy, or user enjoyment now. Just one smelluva' good time.

The ball is in your court, Facebook. (Or better, pretend to throw the ball the other way and fake us all out.)  Bring back those accounts and appeal to the needs of your four legged friends and the stock will flourish.  All this time the answer was right under your cold, wet noses. Now, who's a good boy?

Article first published as How to Save Facebook Stock on Technorati.

2012 Why No One "Likes" Your Social Media

Good for your company on starting a Facebook fan page; bad for you if you're the unlucky one forced to manage it without direction. The first mistake companies make is concentrate on sending the page to coworkers, friends, family then have to sheepishly ask for clicks like we do for our kids doing school fund drives. Problem is you are not a collector and they are not "fans."  So "Like" building has been your focus so to appear legitimate or because you believe more is better, then you'll likely generate as much new business as Donald Trump's hair stylist or Honey Boo Boo's charm school teacher. (Or Trump's charm school teacher or Honey's stylist. Take your pick.) 

The companies with successful track records on Facebook know that number of "Likes" is irrelevant. But trying to convince upper management of this fact van be tough. To them, it's all about numbers, more the merrier, the buckshot approach, fish in a barrel, and all those other sales idioms they tend to throw around. Challenge their "Trolling for Likes" approach by putting it on a personal level.  You know those friends with ridiculously high friend counts? (I haven't met 3,000 people nonetheless willing to call them amigo.) Is this really friendship or a collection of strangers? Can you count on them for help?

Now apply this to your company "Likes."  Can they "help" you? They are useless unless they are potential leads. Visitors care if they get something out of it and care little if others do. The only people you want to click the Blue Thumbs Up should be potential and current customers. You're intent is to build trust, credibility, and foster future business by supplying pertinent content and engaging offers.

So what should a business do? A Facebook Fan Page is meant to reinforce — not replace — your sales, public relations, and customer service. The idea of Facebook for companies is to create and capture new leads by building credibility and interest. Try to push visitors to their websites, custom landing pages, etc. Here are a few simple rules:

• Vary the sentiment of your posts. In addition to posting news about your products, offer Facebook-only promotions, special offers, and helpful tips.
• Remember it’s social media. Include photos of the staff at work, company outings, parties, etc. 
• Cross market and place the Facebook address on all other ads, emails, promotions, etc. to increase fan count.

Let your fan page bring us into your world. Give us reason to visit and to return. Who knows? Just like Mikey from the old Life cereal commercials, we just might "Like" it.

Article first published as Social Media: Why Nobody "Likes" Yours on Technorati.

2012 Social Media: Like Marriage it's a One-Way Street

Social media and relationships: that's what the new Facebook couples pages is all about. Listing yourself as "In a relationship" is so traumatic that it's probably ended more relationships than Vegas trips and Victoria's Secrets catalogs combined. But now, a page to illustrate the relationship?  (For more information on this please see "Kiss of Death".)  Instead let's discuss the business/customer social media "marriage."

First, if you believe the adage "Marriage is a two-way street" then I might have due cause to suspend your relationship license.  Or maybe you've never walked down the plank, er I mean, aisle. Marriages — even the most successful ones  — are more often than not comprised of a giver and a taker. And the social media business relationship is no different except the business is always the giver and your customer is always the taker. As the reader/follower/customer, I want, want, want. I don’t care if it’s an insight or a laugh,  though I'd much rather have a coupon, hot tip, chance to win, or anything FREE! Just hand it over. The better it is, the more I’ll return.

When a company starts a Facebook fan page or a Twitter account they expect to build relationships with clients right away — both current and potential ones. Like marriages, there is a honeymoon period. They like your product/service, so they will "Like" your page without much expectations. But you'll need to deliver or the relationship will sizzle. 
Too often companies expect the leads and sales to file in like lemmings. They won't. It takes time. Many companies simply give up too quickly. And like marriage, it takes work. A lot of work — and I don't mean just taking out the garbage every once in awhile.

Social media is about providing relevant content to act as a catalyst to create buzz or “call to action" not instant sales.  So if you’re selling, rather than a post that basically says “Read this and buy my product” get intriguing instead. Try “Buy this because today and we'll charge you less. Click for your special pricing.”

The marriage parallels are all there: hard work, interest, intrigue, and a willingness to give.  Done correctly, social media, like marriage can greatly enhance both your sales and customer experience. 

Article first published as Social Media is Like Marriage: A One-Way Street on Technorati.

2012 Want 5 Top Pro Social Media Tips? Steal this Headline

Did you see what I did there? I front-loaded the headline with tried and true triggers to make even the most skeptical reader to click and open. Like you just did. Marketers have known for years that people respond to sentiments that imply easy, free, expert or quantitative points. But social media is upping the ante. We live in a 140 character world that will keep getting shortened until mind reading is a downloadable smart phone app. The bad news is that my Magic 8-Ball says "Chances are good" that several people who will repost this very article will do so without ever reading it.

And therein lies one of the most prevalent problems that social media for business is facing today.
There is such a frenzy by businesses to share post, re-post, tweet and retweet that few stop to read what they share or know why they're sharing it. Often it's rehashed info we just read --and those are the good posts. More often articles are a few paragraphs seasoned with keywords to improve someone's SEO (search engine optimization.)  And then there's the "joiners" who have never asked why and are adding to post proliferation for the sake of doing it. If it were paper, Green Peace would be knocking down their doors. (OK it's Green Peace, so perhaps knocking politely asking us to stop.)

To quote a conversation I overhead the other day at social media central (aka Starbucks): "I'd like to reach a point, at some point." Unintentional yet brilliant advice actually. As a world, we no longer write to inform; we write to get noticed and that my concerned friends is a very dangerous concept. Am I calling for a referendum on rampant post sharing? Yes, but it's too late for that. So I will settle for reposting or sharing with a purpose. Nothing wrong with an enticing headline as a little playful manipulation is fine. It's when you don't deliver on those teases that readers get angered. But keep doing that and something far worse will occur, they'll start to ignore you.
So when creating social media content, it's important to remember to deliver what you're subject line promised — even if you didn't create the content yourself. Ask yourself what you can add to it and how you can shed light upon a subject that may have never occurred to the author. Agree or disagree. Praise or chastise. Share with a purpose.

Finally, kudos to those of you who made it to end of this article--because you're customers will. All they ask of you is that you think and read before you share and add your take on things. After all, it's why they follow you. If you add the hash tag #sharewithpurpose when you share this article, it will let everyone know you did.

Article first published as 5 Free, Fast Pro Social Media Tips? Steal this Headline on Technorati.

2012 Social Media & Facebook Friends: In Need of Defense

 A new social media website wants to encourage us to follow the advice of our friends instead of complete strangers. With perpetual skepticism, sarcasm approaching warning levels, and being named yet again to People Magazine's "Sexiest Curmudgeon of the Year" list, I've somehow accumulated more friends than I really should have. (O.K. so I may have substituted the word "messiest" with "sexiest" in the previous sentence.) And some of my best friends are strangers I have only corresponded with through social media; ones I have never met and not likely I ever will.

If you think about it, you didn't really choose the friends you saw this weekend. More likely, they're your neighbors, your family, work associates, fellow students who sat next to you in Algebra class, or the parents of the other kids on our kid's team. We "promote" these people to friendship status due to their close proximity to our lives, their time served in it, or due to our disillusionment with other friends who we feel should be, well, friendlier.

The Peter Principle is a belief that, in an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit, that organization's members will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability. When applied to friendship its rising beyond the levels of commonality.  See, I don't really want to have Peter as my friend. He just sees the photos of my kid everyday on my desk, or lives in the apartment above me, or dropped me off at the mechanics to pick up my car -- well you get the picture. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but we often don't even like our friends. Harsh, I know but we're usually appointed our "real life" friends. 

But social media friends are friends we actually select. Earlier I called them "best friends" which was not the right term, but do I know that at times I like them better than some of my "friends by default." I like what they have to say, how they say it, and who they say it about. We have similar politics, senses of humor, sensibilities. We choose to keep in contact rather than be handcuffed by association. We look forward to correspondence rather than feel obliged to respond. Our heartfelt support soothes us emotionally from an emotionless laptop. 

This is not about discrediting the importance of friends I've known for years but rather giving more respect to those I've only known virtually. You could make the argument that we only interact with online friends superficially. We see each other through photos at our best and communicate our wittiest thoughts.  But yes, at times I do like some of my virtual friends better than my live ones and that's O.K. because those friends by default are like an acquired taste: I wouldn't have chose them but glad I found them. But more importantly, -- online or in person -- real friends are preferable to fake ones, as they're the toughest to find.

Article first published as In Defense of Social Media and Facebook Friends on Technorati.

2013 Perfecting Your Social Media Timing.

The precise moment I pulled up to the gas pump this morning, my car chimed and the "Need Fuel" icon light came on. I thought about how great it would be if I could achieve similar perfect timing with my social media to maximize results and reach. To have posts, emails, texts, them appear precisely at the moment they are needed or desired.

One of the first things I learned about being a social media professional was that before you spend time on the metrics of perfect timing, it's better to spend more time tweeting and Facebook posting more often. The number one reason social media campaigns fail in my opinion is because businesses get discouraged by a lack of results and stop posting. Or they run out of ideas. Or they just don't keep up with a regular schedule.

Instead, first think about your intent. Why do you want your posts to be read? What are your expected results? Is it just to be retweeted or reposted? That's good for the ego but doesn't much help the bottom line.  Is it to drive sales or drive visitors to another site?

Don't worry about repeating yourself particularly when you are just getting started with your social media.  Like learning tennis, don't worry about hitting winners or even hitting the ball over the net. Concentrate on form.  No one follower will ever read all your tweets so they don't have to all be gems.

Perfect timing for your social media will vary industry to industry. Sometimes the first week of the month will garner the most attention other industries it's the last. Once you've got a better idea on why and what, the when will become easier to determine.  I can tell you that certain days to post are better than others. For blogging, Monday sees the most posts while Friday seems to be the day when most are read. Studies show the best time to Tweet and/or post on Facebook is between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Yet most of the readers who will retweet this article will likely do so first thing in the morning. We all tend to believe that real news happens when we were sleeping. Lesson? Vary times and track when you see the best results. Then stick to a schedule.

But even when you think you've got it all figured out, social media success really comes down to luck of the draw. That next customer may read all my tweets in the afternoon but the one that catches their eye might be the one they read while waiting for my appointment at the dentist tomorrow morning. So in other words don't worry about how fast your going and lose site that you're in fact, running on empty.