evharonline.com

Greetings! Thanks for visiting Masterful Marketing. You’ll find a lot of content about marketing your small business in the blog, so you may want to subscribe via the RSS feed or email so you won’t miss any valuable information.

Your Facebook Business Page is once again sporting some new features. The following is a brief explanation and a few screenshots.

• Admin Permission Levels – There are now 5 different levels for administrators: manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser, insights analyst. This allows you to have multiple administrators for your page but control who has the ability to add and remove administrators. This protects your page from someone who may be a bit unhappy! The following are the roles and their capabilities:

  

  Facebook Admin Roles

• Schedule Posts – Schedule posts directly from your page. In the screenshot below, note the little clock in the corner. There is a lot of clicking to set the schedule and it does not eliminate the need for Buffer or Hootsuite, but it’s another option and a start. (For those wondering where the Buffer button came from, I have the Buffer Browser pluginfor Firefox).

  

  Facebook Scheduled Posts

• Promoted posts– Individually promote posts to increase their reach without going through the ad dashboard. When you create a post on your page, you can choose to promote it by clicking on the little drop down arrow. The promoted post has a major benefit of displaying in News Feeds of your fans rather than in ad units on the side of the page. With all the competition for visibility on Facebook, this is a valuable option for small businesses to gain more reach. Minimum bid is $5.00.

  

  Facebook Promoted Posts

• Page Post Metrics– See the reach metrics for each post of your page, including those from apps such as Buffer and Hootsuite. The screen shot on your left shows how many people actually saw the post on their news feed, the ticker or on your page. The screenshot on your right shows your total reach. Your reach is calculated from the total number of people that organically saw your post divided by the total number of likes.

  

  Facebook Page Post Metrics

• Page Manager App – Currently only for the iPhone, allows you to manage and post to your page without having to deal with your personal Facebook account. This will allow community managers to stay on top of their Facebook pages without needing their personal profile. Check out the complete guide to using this app.

Facebook Business Page Updates – Hot off the press

• Larger images and text size for posts in the News Feed – Posts from Facebook pages will gain more prominence than ever in a News Feed redesign that increases the size of images and text for all posts. This new visibility may also prompt more businesses to promote their posts to get even more.
• Viral shares added to your People Talking About This (PTAT) count – By adding viral shares, when friends of your fans take action (like, share, comment) on a shared post, to your PTAT data, you get a more accurate view of your good content from that which is not so much! This will help you deliver more of what your fans like, increasing engagement and visibility of your business.

I like the individual page post metrics and upcoming viral shares as part of my PTAT count. For small businesses, these new features help us evaluate our social media engagement without a lot of overhead.

What do you think about these new features?

Article source: http://masterful-marketing.com/facebook-business-page-latest-updates/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-business-page-latest-updates

Greetings! Thanks for visiting Masterful Marketing. You’ll find a lot of content about marketing your small business in the blog, so you may want to subscribe via the RSS feed or email so you won’t miss any valuable information.

Building Your Business Brand

Recently I wrote about the real value in your value proposition to help small businesses determine what it is they offer and why their market needs it. Now we need to turn our attention to discovering and establishing a strong business brand.

Your Business Brand – Personality, Expertise and Values

A strong brand clearly communicates your values, establishes credibility and brings to mind a positive emotion or feeling about your company, having a powerful impact on whether someone wants to work with you. Your brand should:

• Project everything you are, the value you deliver and the total client experience. Every image you project, from your visual brand identity, location, office furnishings and the way your staff answers the phone, needs to accurately reflect your business attributes.
• Communicate the personality of your business clearly, visually and promote credibility. It shapes clients’ perceptions of you and conveys the expectations and promises that you extend to your clients in terms of quality, service, reliability and trustworthiness.
• Helps the audience differentiate you from your competitors. This differentiation will attract those that have a need and positively influence their decision to hire you, directly impacting your profitability.

How do you determine your business brand?

Before you start to develop your brand identity (the visual representation of your brand), you need to define your brand so that you can project the value you provide to your target audience.

• Be clear on the purpose of your business. What made you start your business in the first place? This purpose – the emotional connections you make with those you help – is why some people naturally want to work with you and not someone else. For example, a business coach may have the following:

As a business coach, my purpose is to enrich the lives of business owners by helping them discover, develop and maximize their abilities and assets, resulting in enhanced personal and professional growth which yields higher productivity, better quality of life and higher and profits.

• Determine the values that are core to your business. People are attracted to businesses whose values reflect their own, therefore, by incorporating your values throughout your communication, you build an emotional connection with people and influence how they interact with you.

A good example of a company that has identified and communicated their values is Zappos. If you look at their 10 core values, they live and breath them through everything they do. They “deliver WOW through service and value being fun and being a little weird”. Figure out what your core values are and deliver on them continuously.

• Identify your top personality attributes that people associate with your business. If the personality your business projects today is not what you think it is, you could be projecting a personality that is wrong for the audience you serve, the market you’re targeting and where you want to be in the future.

Remember the Mac vs. PC ads? Apple portrayed the PC as old, stuffy and difficult to use while the Mac was innovative, stylish, intuitive, cool and friendly. (View all 66 Ads that ran from May 2006 to October 2009).

• Determine your core strengths and make them the essence of your brand. Focusing on what you do best helps create trust because you are more likely to live up to your promises. Trying to be the expert at too many areas will water down your messages and cause you to be “me too” or too generic to effectively stand out.

One way to focus is to become an expert in one area of your business such as helping independent professionals develop their personal brand, being the best search engine optimization consultant or personal trainer for student athletes. Another way to focus is to pick a specialized target market to work with such as providing business coaching for fitness instructors, marketing services for chiropractors or an image consultant to plus sized women. That doesn’t mean you don’t have other areas you work with, but you are known for one thing very well.

When you clearly define these four areas, you can then develop a brand that consistently projects your personality, values and expertise. The effort is a long-term commitment, but when your brand matches the needs of your target, the end results are rewarding for both your business and your customers.

How does your brand help you stand out from your competition? Share your personality, values and expertise with us in the comments.
(more…)

Article source: http://masterful-marketing.com/4-steps-strong-business-brand/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4-steps-strong-business-brand

Greetings! Thanks for visiting Masterful Marketing. You’ll find a lot of content about marketing your small business in the blog, so you may want to subscribe via the RSS feed or email so you won’t miss any valuable information.

Although Facebook Tagging seems rather straightforward, when I received the following as a comment in another post, I decided to write an entire post on the subject.

Recently, we were tagged in a post by another company. There was nothing inflammatory about the post, but my company is very sensitive regarding what is posted on our wall. As of right now, the post does not show up on the Page’s wall or in the news feed of people who like the Page. Would you let me know how tagging works for Facebook Pages, as it seems to be different from personal profiles? Also, is there a way to review tags and approve them before they are posted?

Facebook Tagging Overview

Facebook Tagging – How it works for Timelines Pages

Facebook tagging links a person, Page, or place to something you post, like a status update, photo or app activity. Tagging is a useful feature because it:

• Notifies a friend or Page when you post something that pertains to them, letting them know that they were mentioned;
• Makes the post more visible because it appears in the news feed and timeline of the friend or Page you tagged (if the person has set the post to be visible to friends or public).

When a friend or Page is notified that they have been tagged, it increases engagement because they are more likely to comment on or like the activity in which they have been tagged. Without tagging, you could post a nice comment but your friend or the Page owners may never know they were mentioned. However, since your entire post including associated comments is automatically posted onto the wall of whichever friend/Page is tagged, there is an unspoken etiquette of Facebook Tagging that you need to understand.

Facebook Tagging for Timelines

When someone tags your personal profile (timeline), you have control about how you handle tags. You can turn on Tag Review in your privacy settings to ensure you always approve a tag.

Timeline Tag Settings found in Privacy Settings

If you don’t want to restrict people, you do have many options if someone tags you unfavorably.

Facebook Tagging for Pages

Only Pages within the Brands Products or People categories can be tagged in photos. In addition, the privacy of the photo is always respected when a Page is tagged in a photo. If a photo is published to “everyone”, then it can appear publicly on the Photos tab of the Page and the admins can see it.

Since Masterful Marketing’s Page is in the Brand or Product category, I was able to tag my page in a photo and a comment.

Facebook Page Photo Tagging

I took a screenshot as I hovered over the image and you can see that I tagged my laptop. I also received notification in the Admin Panel of these events.

Page Tagging Notification

The photo was visible on the Page under the photos area, but not on the timeline.

Photo Tagging for Pages (click to enlarge)

The layout of the photos section of your Page Timeline has your albums on top and tagged photos below.

Tagging in posts show up on your timeline. Below is a post where I tagged the MH Paint Works Page and note that the post is in the right column.

Page Tagging in Posts (click to enlarge)

Some of these settings are editable. Go to your Admin Panel, click on the down arrow next to manage and select “Edit Page”. Then select “Manage Permissions”.

Page Tagging – Managing Permissions

As a Page Admin, you can set the permissions for your Page for how you want to handle posting. To make your Page more interesting, you should allow people to post content, photos and videos to your Page.

The Post Visibility section enables you to put posts by others at the top of the right column on the timeline. That is what you see in the image above for MH Paint Works – my post in the right column.

Plus you can restrict people from tagging photos that you post.

Pages Tagging other Pages

Tagging a Page from another Page is a nice way to promote other brands in which you may have a relationship, but to do so, you need to be using Facebook as your Page. To change to your Page, click on the down arrow next to home and select your Page:

Using Facebook as a Page

Once you have done that, you can tag another Page in a post.

Facebook Page Tagging another Page

I have not found any type of Tag Review for Pages as there is for Timelines. Admins need to be aware of what is going on with tagging and monitor the activity to avoid any issues.

Have I missed any features of tagging for Timelines and Pages? Have you taken advantage of tagging to increase visibility for your Facebook Page?
(more…)

Article source: http://masterful-marketing.com/facebook-tagging-how-it-works-for-timelines-and-pages/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-tagging-how-it-works-for-timelines-and-pages

Greetings! Thanks for visiting Masterful Marketing. You’ll find a lot of content about marketing your small business in the blog, so you may want to subscribe via the RSS feed or email so you won’t miss any valuable information.

What value are you providing to your clients?

Marketers like to ask clients “what’s your value proposition?” But what does that really mean to you, the small business owner? Your value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible results a customer gets from your products or services. Once you have identified your clear, compelling value, you can then optimize your website and social media properties to clearly project that value to your visitors and help you convert more visitors to customers.

But First You Need to Know Your Real Value

If you have trouble explaining to people what you do and why should I buy from you, it’s time to identify the one thing that really makes you different from your competitors (hint it’s not price!). You must be crystal clear about why you are uniquely different and communicate it with confidence. There is no magic formula for creating a value proposition, but there are some key ingredients that help you refine it.

Simply, a value proposition creates interest because it speaks to the needs of your prospects and differentiates you from your competition.

Where do I start?

Understand your ideal client needs and how their needs align with your services. Knowing your target audience intimately will help you define and communicate your solution to their problem with ultimate clarity.

• Do you know what challenges or stress them out that you can help them resolve?
• What is the biggest struggle or obstacle they encounter on a daily basis?
• What is their biggest money or time leak?
• What is the one goal that seems unattainable to them?
• What is the biggest improvement they could make in their lives or business that you can help with?
• Is there something that they would do ANYTHING and pay (relatively) ANYTHING to solve, eliminate, or achieve?

Describe how your products or services achieve results such as increased revenue, decreased costs, improved productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction, streamlined processes and procedures, or improve customer retention.

What are those differences?

Understanding what makes you different is something that evolves as your business evolves. When you know your strengths, new opportunities can surface that align with those strengths.

Identify what your clients have said about working with you that made you stand out in their minds. Most likely what made you memorable was something that to you that was really simple. And because it is simple to us, we don’t place any value on it. We are taught to believe that things of value have to be hard to do. But normally what is easy for you is hard for others. You need to become consciously aware of this value you provide and use it to your benefit.

• Are you a master at simplifying processes for your clients?
• Do you bring a new perspective to a challenge that helps your clients determine a solution they never would have thought of without you?
• Are you able to do something faster than anyone else could?
• Do you create systems that help your clients learn how to do things more effectively?

Your differentiation should be things that make you different in your field, packaged in a way that others cannot copy. Record these unique differences and keep working on them until you have one that sets you apart from others and aligns with the needs of your ideal client.

What’s your value proposition?

Delivering value requires real understanding of what your customer wants to accomplish, the challenges they face, and what is important to them. I’ve listened to many small business owners talk about lack of control of their online marketing and how they are unable to gain online visibility because the tools are out of their control (website, social media, email marketing, etc.)

My value proposition is: I help small business owners dramatically increase their online visibility and attract more clients by taking control of their marketing.

What’s yours?
(more…)

Article source: http://masterful-marketing.com/whats-the-real-value-in-your-value-proposition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-the-real-value-in-your-value-proposition

Greetings! Thanks for visiting Masterful Marketing. You’ll find a lot of content about marketing your small business in the blog, so you may want to subscribe via the RSS feed or email so you won’t miss any valuable information.

When I search for you, what do I find?

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

This children’s rhyme does not apply in today’s highly connected world where a few negative words can cost your company a lot of business. Now everything from quality reviews and recommendations, legitimate issues and reputation damaging complaints are there for the entire world to see.

Managing your online reputation is no longer optional and needs a simple strategy that combines monitoring what is available about you and responding appropriately to ensure your business is not unknowingly damaged by negative comments.

Even if you have never added your information into Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google Places or other online business directories, it doesn’t mean that your business isn’t already visible online and immune from the backlash of an unhappy customer.

How should businesses approach online reputation management?

Because of its critical nature to the success of your business, you need to proactively manage your online reputation. It’s not something you should leave up to someone else because when it comes to responding and engaging your audience, you should handle that personally. Here are 5 tips to get you started:

• Regularly monitor your brand’s reputation – Search for your business name and see what comes up. Doing a vanity search helps you identify not only where you are listed but also what is being said about your company. You want to be sure your information is accurate and complete. Set up Google Alerts for your name and your business name and choose whether you want email updates or an RSS update. You can also use Google’s Me On the Web, a tool that helps you manage search results on your name.

  

  “Me on the Web” in Google’s Dashboard

• Claim your local business listings – According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online so you need to be visible in a crowded local market. When a listing is claimed, it sends a message that the business is open and ready to help. Unclaimed listings make your business seem out of touch. Make sure the content in the listing is accurate and optimized to include your top keyword phrases to get better visibility for local searches.
• Stay or get more active online – It’s difficult to remove negative information so your best option is to create more interesting and positive content to push the negative down and out of the first few pages of the search results. If you can make the time, start a blog. If you aren’t ready to commit to your own blog, guest post or post comments on other blogs. Update your status on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter regularly. Google wants fresh content so the more you post, the more content you will have in the search results, moving a not so favorable review out of site.
• Encourage customers to write reviews about your business– It’s not easy to ask customers for online reviews, but you need to get your best customers to speak on your behalf. Add a note to your invoice asking “How did we do?” and point them to your website. Create a big “Write a Review” button on your website which takes them to a testimonials page that contains links to your Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, InsiderPages or other online review sites. This makes it easy for you to point them to one place where they can click a link and write a review.

  

  Ask your best customers for reviews

• Respond to negative comments and reviews immediately – You cannot ignore what is being posted about your brand online. Reviews, both good and bad, will happen whether you want them or not. Most rational people understand that you can never please everyone all the time, so a couple of unflattering reviews are expected. But if all I find are negative comments, I will question the integrity of the company. Take the high road and respond to negative reviews and try to resolve them quickly. Respond as you, the business owner and be visible, authentic, concerned and humble about the situation. This will alleviate fears and send the message that your company is concerned about their customers. (Then strive to get happy customers to post positive reviews!)

For most of us, monitoring and managing our online reputation is not that difficult. It takes a little time to monitor what is out there and determine what you need to do to respond or change the perception. This exercise is important to create the image you want your prospects and customers to see. Even if you don’t have any negative content about you, you still have work to do to create an image that is visible, credible and consistent with your brand.

A Word of Caution

If you think you need help, buyer beware. Do a little research and you will discover another industry that has its share of unethical companies. Many of these “reputation management experts” are the same “SEO experts” that I have previously warned you about. Their reputation management services use black hat SEO and other questionable tactics to bury the negative content in the search engine rankings. Once again, when it comes to your web presence, be cautious about who you trust to help you.

Do you know how your business is perceived by your customers and prospects?
(more…)

Article source: http://masterful-marketing.com/5-tips-for-managing-your-online-reputation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-tips-for-managing-your-online-reputation