Almost daily there are so many changes to social media and in turn how they impact startup business that it often overwhelming. I am sure that you feel it is hard to keep up.
Recently, a few new changes were rolled out across the web and I noticed a couple of patterns that I believe are important to us as small businesses. In order to cut down the confusion, I wanted to share some of the latest trends with you:
- Twitter introduced the Activity Feed.
By now if you read my blog posts, you know that I think you should be on Twitter. Twitter is a great way to connect with others in your vertical and potential customers if used correctly. (Just this week I was quoted in FORBES thanks to a Twitter Connection.)
This week, Twitter showed off a new feature called ‘Activity.’ Where is it? It is located on your home page when you are logged into Twitter right next to ‘Timeline’ and ‘@mentions.’ What is it? The Activity Feed is a more involved synopsis of your Twitter feed that includes who people you follow or are following have added to their followers, tweets recently favorited by who you follow, and trends in your feed.
Why does it matter to you? If you are following a good group of people in your vertical, this will help you expand your network by seeing who they are following. Pay attention to tweets that are favorited, they are more than likely valuable. In general, the ‘Activity’ feed eliminates a lot of hunting around on your own for good people to follow and value rich tweets.
- Google+ unveiled Business Pages.
You are now able to set up a page for your business on Google+. Up until this point, only personal pages have been available. Although Google+ is fairly new, it is pretty easy to navigate around. To set up a Business Page, you can go here (first you will need a google account if you do not have one but that is easy to set up).
I know that it may seem overwhelming to add another social network to your repertoire, but in this world of web based engagement, we need to be as many places as we can possibly be — it is the truth. When potential clients are googling, we want to be found.
As the new kid on the block or a small business, one advantage that Google+ provides is not being as cluttered a space yet. Therefore, YOUR business may stand out in a feed without getting lost in a long list of updates that are overlooked.
- Skills are expanding on Linked In.
This year Linked In added a beta section on skills that you can add to your profile. This is an awesome way to get noticed as a professional with particular skills and/or find another professional/group with a certain skill set.
A few weeks ago, Linked In emailed me to let me know that Social Media is now an available skill. Another good reason to stay up to date with social media changes. When we are establishing ourselves in new vertiicals or categories, listing our skills is a fabulous way to Link Up with others and vice-versa.
- Forcing Finding Fans on Facebook.
Just in the last week alone, I have received numerous messages asking me to ‘like’ Facebook pages and in turn they will ‘like’ mine. I noticed promoted challenges to get to a certain number of fans and planned out agendas to achieve a particular number of ‘likes.’ While I dream of having MANY, MANY more Facebook fans, if you are not gaining truly interested fans, fans that will engage, and fans that will convert to business somehow THEN you are just collecting numbers.
In order to gain fans on Facebook, look at it like a friendship. There is give and take, and in order to get quality fans stick your neck out for others. Send a shout out to a person or business that you ‘like’ or perhaps ask relevant, engaging questions on your page and tweet it out in order to bring more fans to Facebook. In my opinion, do not waste your time asking for likes that will not turn into any true business for you.
There you have it! My latest roundup of social media ins and outs. Have more questions? Visit me at http://backngroovemom.com or email me at [email protected]
