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Archive for the ‘Social media’ Category

Facebook Timeline for Business: 10 Things You Should Know

Posted on: March 30th, 2012 by Laura

Facebook is changing the look and feel of your business page today (March 30th, 2012). Here is our top 10 list of things you should know.

1. Cover Photo

A Cover Photo is a large photo that will now appear at the top of your Facebook Business page. Facebook has been very generous giving brands 850 x 315 pixels worth of space to showcase their best images. It is worthwhile to consider your Cover Photo as it will be the first thing Facebook users see when visiting your page and a real opportunity to give your brand a strong presence. Choose the colours and images that best reflect your brand. But keep in mind there are some strict Guidelines that need to be followed when designing a cover photo.

2. Facebook Apps

Facebook has replaced the tabs down the left side of your business page they can now be found just below your cover photo. You can now use them like navigation on your website and they can help drive traffic to your website. Other than the Photo app you can highlight 3 others and apply your own images to brand them. Why not have a web developer create some custom pages for you like Testimonials, Special offers, Booking Information, etc. see example

3. Timeline

Timeline helps to tell your brand’s story with marking important Milestones for the business. It might take some time to update your Facebook Business page with the Milestones, but it definitely provides better understanding of your business for your fans, and is easy to use.

4. Pin Posts & Favourites

Pin the posts to the top of your Facebook Business page. They will stay there for 7 days, and after that return to the timeline to the date they were posted. Remember that you can pin only one post at a time. Click the pencil edit post button and click “pin to top”. You can also favourite any post and it will span both columns of your timeline to feature posts as you scroll down your timeline. To favourite posts just click the star icon.

5. Private Messages

You are now able to send a private message to your Facebook fans. Before the new Facebook Timeline the only way to contact someone was to post on their wall. There is no longer a need to do that. Inform your Facebook fan about winning a contest by asking them to send their email address to you through a private message. It also means that Facebook fans are able to send you a message so be sure to check your incoming messages and respond regularly.

6. About Section

Previously your About Section was on the left hand side, and it was the place to include a link to your website. Also all of the tabs were there, and connected with the Facebook website. Now your About section can be 100 characters longer (it has changed from 70 to 170), and shows under your Timeline and profile photo. If you are a small, local business make the About section work for you. Select the type of your business, your location, and choose whether to display your phone number or a link to your website.

7. Admin Panel

Under the Manage Menu in Admin Panel you can find the Activity Log. Go through all of the updates of your timeline by you and your fans. Here you can choose to highlight them, hide, allow on page or mark as spam.

8. Facebook Ad – Login Screen

It’s now possible to place a Facebook ad on the logout screen. Since it usually takes some time to log-out, your ad can now utilize this moment. This is very useful for businesses targeting people who might use shared computers (Internet Cafes, Universities etc.).

9. Facebook Offers

Post Offers for your Facebook fans. They are able to claim the offer through the newsfeed, select their closest store, and redeem the offer. This is currently available for selected brands only, but Facebook has promised to give this chance to every business in the near future.

10. Insights Overview

The Insights Overview includes the number of current total likes, a number of friends of your fans, number of how many people are talking about your page, and weekly total reach. The pink circles underneath will show the dates when you have posted updates on your page.

If you need any assistance updating your Facebook business page to take advantage of the new design just get in touch!

Starting a business and Social Media -Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust

Posted on: February 25th, 2011 by Greg

Edinburgh based Social Media marketer Greg Kelly of Inventive Management speaks in front of Microsoft Vice President Bob McDowell and Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust about Generation Y and starting a business by leveraging Social Media

There goes the neighbourhood: how the cultural gatekeepers of mass media have lost their mojo

Posted on: February 2nd, 2011 by Greg

There was once a time, not very long ago, when the power the media held over the common man was as far reaching as the Roman Empire. With a flick of their golden quills, they had the ability to bewitch the masses into packing out cinemas across the country, and the unyielding influence to make novels fly off the shelves and onto every man, woman and child’s bedside table. However, thanks to our very own rebellious leader, the social media revolutionary Che Zuckerberg, we are now able for the first time to storm the gates of the cultured brethren and challenge their omnipotence by declaring “We shall not just eat the bloody cake”.

Please excuse my melodramatic description of this slight shift in power, because although it does signal, I hope, a move away from the decades of spoonfed information from the powers-that-be, the media are not going to go quietly into the night and are mounting their own counter-revolution.

Unless you have been living in the woods for the past year (perhaps planning your own guerilla campaign) it has been difficult to escape the fanfare in the media surrounding The Social Network, David Fincher’s semi-fictionalized account of the founding of Facebook, and the overwhelming collective agreement that this is perhaps the best damn film any of them have ever seen. It prompts one to wonder, then, why this seminal film of the decade has yet to break the $100 million mark at the box office and was only the 29th highest grossing film of the year.

Well, the bottom line is, we just aren’t paying as much attention to the media’s battle cry any more. Our world has been changed forever by the internet, particularly, in recent times, Social Media. Ironically people were more inclined to listen to what their ‘friends’ and ‘friends of friends’ had to say about The Social Network than the media juggernaut, which was endorsing a film about the very thing that may bring their world crashing down around them. Ah irony, don’t you just love it.

I believe this Musketeer approach of ‘all for one and one for all’ media attack will only heighten as they try and cling on to the power they had become accustomed too, hoping that by collectively backing the same horse, they will blindside Joe Public into believing that their life will indeed not be worth living without succumbing to their mass message.

The real beauty however, that I believe lies in this social media revolution, is the breakdown of information asymmetry which has been prevalent in our global society for far too long. To quote Wikipedia:
“In economics and contract theory, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other. This creates an imbalance of power in transactions which can sometimes cause the transactions to go awry.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry

A world where we all have the power to make decisions based on an even share of information and the opportunity to broadcast our own views and opinions is the kind of place I want to live in, don’t you? Viva La Revolucion!

Social Media Marketing – it’s simply evolution

Posted on: January 17th, 2011 by Greg

Having downloaded the Kindle App for my IPhone the other day I stumbled across Origin of Species, Charles Darwin’s robust description of evolution by natural selection. After devouring the highlights of Mr Darwin’s work on the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, which I like to think was quite similar to the author’s expedition in South America aboard the H.M.S ‘Beagle’ that inspired his work, albeit with more indigenous Glaswegians, it made me think about just how we humans have evolved over time and especially how the internet has most recently opened up an entire new chapter in our history.

The Internet is only just over 6000 days old, which makes it a mere infant compared to other revolutionary tools invented by man such as the wheel, which has been part of civilisation since we were all wearing loin clothes and spearing woolly mammoths. This makes me wonder why anyone would shy away from such a powerful tool that is opening up a whole realm of exciting opportunities by adopting the mind-set that they, and especially their business, has no place on the information super high way. As the internet grows day by day it will become more interwoven into every facet of our lives than ever before, providing a personalised connection to the world as a whole. I know there will be sceptics out there who may think I’ve gone the way of Tom Cruise and been watching the Matrix too many times, but this is not a notion based on speculation but on fact supported by the brightest minds around the world.

We are at the very beginning of a new era which will change how we work, live and play and if you, and especially your business, do not start making changes to embrace this new way of thinking then I’m afraid natural selection will take over and your business will go the way of the Dodo. I look forward to you all joining me on the next momentous 6000 days.

Would you sell your on-line soul for a cupcake?

Posted on: January 4th, 2011 by Greg

Back in August 2010 (which, due to the inclement weather we have endured in the U.K since, seems like light-years ago) General Mill’s–the 6th largest food company in the world, responsible for household names such as Betty Crocker and Old El Paso–held an event where a select group of bloggers was invited to “Bake with Betty” at the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis. All very innocent, you may be thinking, but the underlying fear I have is that as more and more of the worldwide conglomerates begin to tap into the enormous power that social media marketing holds, how long will their ethical approaches hold fast?

The passion I hold for social media marketing is based on the unflinching belief that it is an evolution of communication based upon openness and transparency, making us all prosumers (both the consumer and producer of information) in the worldwide network. Gone are the days where the man with the biggest marketing budget held the key to fame and fortune. Gone are the days when we had to suffer the constant onslaught of questionable information, distributed through the media by savvy P.R people.

But as they say, where there’s a will there’s a way. A big part of my job when working on a campaign for a client is finding the social media influencers in their target market, and through engaging content and nurturing the relationship we hope to produce a new brand ambassador. However, I hope this sort of approach does not descend into the murky waters of questionable agreements being set up between the guys with the big cheque books and those influential bloggers and twitteratti out there who we look to for honest and impartial opinions.

I do believe that this new generation of marketers and opinion-leaders will have more moral fibre than to succumb to the wooing of the fat cats–which our predecessors in the press and television bought into hook line and sinker. This is the beginning of the transformation of communication. Just watch out for those cupcakes; they may be poisonous after all.

Edinburgh Coffee Morning Beer Evening- #EdCMBE

Posted on: July 18th, 2010 by Laura

Last Thursday evening I attended a lovely event organized by some fantastic women (Nadine, Kay, Danielle and Carrie) and hosted by Stills called Edinburgh Coffee Morning Beer Evening (Twitter hash tag* #EdCMBE). This event, regularly known as Edinburgh Coffee Morning #EdCM, decided to have a beer evening, because many people (such as me) find the Friday morning start a little too ambitious. It was a huge success and the organizers did a fantastic job. The event also raised £612.92 for The Sick Kids Friends Foundation courtesy of The Ambeciles.

The night was made even more delightful due to the very generous sponsors:

Food by Illegal Jacks (if you haven’t been – put it on the must go list)
Beer by Stewart Brewing (my favourite was Hollyrood – “Pale, Light & Hoppy”)
Wine by Vino Wine Shops (really enjoyed a glass of white)

There were tons of other fantastic sponsors who donated to the raffle as well as very generous cash prizes such as Attacat – click here for a full list! I will make a special mention to Sandstorm Kenya as I was overjoyed to win the messenger bag as a prize in the raffle. Picture courtesy of Stills Gallery

The attendee list read a little like the Who’s Who of Social Media/Digital Media in Edinburgh and a worthy bunch to follow on Twitter if you’re looking for great insight, great chat and excellent blogs.

I find it next to impossible not to volunteer for everything, so when the ladies mentioned they were looking for cake bakers for their Charity Bake-off I, of course, put my digital hand up.

I haven’t baked anything from scratch in a long time but I was committed (and it was for the kids) so of course, I set out to make the best of it. After a week of fretting about what to bake and watching YouTube videos on how to decorate cupcakes (cupcakes are all the rage these days), and each time deciding that I just wouldn’t be able to pull it off, I finally Googled a perfect North American stand-by: The Strawberry Shortcake. The recipe I used is here (thanks “Judy & her Mom”).

This has been a favourite of mine since forever. A lovely sponge-cake with whipped cream and strawberries; simple, elegant and absolutely delicious. The best I have ever had was made by my the nanny of my childhood best friend Shauna – the late, sadly missed and all around beauty, Mrs. Patricia Pettifer. Nanny’s cakes were legendary and I can still taste the strawberry shortcake she baked for Shauna’s 9th Birthday party (and I think she would have been proud of mine).

So it was with obvious delight that I won the coveted Attacat Mug as the 2nd place prize in the bake-off competition. See a delightful picture of the masterpiece below – again courtesy of Stills Gallery.

I can’t speak highly enough of the hard work and dedication of all involved to make it such a successful evening. I only wish I had of met more of the attendees. I write in hope that there will be a next time, ladies…let me know if you need a hand organizing the next one!

I will definitely aim to make it to #EdCM at least once a month and would urge anyone interested in networking with some delightful, intelligent, warm and welcoming people to do the same.

Special mentions for some really lovely people I did get a chance to speak with:

@Vgibson, @GeorgiaArtus, @techsitc, @attacat_han, @craigmcgill, @colingilchrist, @noexcusesedin, @littledishy, @btocher, @shellbryson and of course…Nadine, Kay, Danielle and Carrie

*on Twitter “Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags — words or phrases prefixed with a #"

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History of Social Media – in celebration of Mashable’s Social Media Day

Posted on: June 30th, 2010 by Laura

Social media has been around since long before the likes of Myspace and Facebook. Technological advances have transformed our ability to connect with one another online, but let us take a look at where it started.

The most easily recognizable early ancestor would be the Bulletin Board System (BBS), which appeared in the late 1970s and remained popular until the mid 1990s. A BBS would generally be run by one system operator as a hobby, from his or her home. Themes for BBSes were far-reaching, from various hobbies and interests to software piracy to pornography. Access was achieved, one at a time, via a dial-up connection to the system operator’s phone line, incurring calling costs which, if calling long distance, could end up very expensive.Therefore users of a particular BBS tended to be localised, and meet-ups were common, like a pre-Twitter Tweetup. Incendiary, I met my first boyfriend at the age of 15 at BBS Coffee Meetup – turns out he was not meant to be, but my life long love for Social Media was born.

At the same time, commercial outfits such as Prodigy and CompuServe launched their services online. These services were also very popular, and allowed more mainstream access to social networking – for a fee.

By 1995, the world wide web had become available via private ISPs. Usenet, a discussion format which resembled a more easily accessible form of the BBS, became incredibly popular, giving birth to internet staples such as Godwin’s Law, which states that as a discussion continues, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis approaches one. This paved the way for what we now know as the internet forum, which is still a popular format today.

In 1996, AOL launched ICQ, the first mainstream instant messaging (IM) system, today having over 100 million accounts registered. IM systems today include MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype and many others

The late 1990s saw the launch and rise of blogging sites such as Livejournal, Open Diary, Diaryland and Blogger (now owned by Google). Blogging became incredibly easy and accessible, though it had been in existence in one form or another since the days of the BBS. These sites allowed comments and feedback on posts, and also the development of networks and friends lists.

One of the most important social media developments was the launch of Napster in 1999. Napster enabled the sharing of mp3s online and was shut down in this capacity in 2001 due to mass copyright violation. It did, however, pave the way for P2P (peer-to-peer) sharing, where users make their resources (bandwidth, files etc) directly available to others. This has led to the development of Bit Torrent clients, which source different parts of a file from multiple users (“seeds”), relieving the strain once borne by an individual resource.

Continuing the theme of copyright violation, 2005 saw Youtube for the first time. Now owned by Google, Youtube allows users to upload video clips up to ten minutes in length, post comments and further video responses. Copyright violation was rife in the early days of Youtube, though now broadcasters freely offer many programs through the site.

In 1997, the site seen as the earliest form of social media as we know it today (known as “Web 2.0”) was launched. Six Degrees (derived from the concept of the six degrees of separation) offered extended networking options to friends, friends of friends and friends of friends of friends. Six Degrees boasted 1 million users at the height of its popularity, though is no longer online. Next came Friendster in 2002, which today is most popular in Asia and continues to grow. 2004 saw the launch of Myspace, which allowed users full customisation of their profile as well as the addition of music and video. By 2006 it was the most popular social networking site, overtaken by Facebook in 2008. Facebook also launched in 2004, and today boasts over a staggering 400 million users. In 2003 we saw the launch of LinkedIn, a social network for businesses, now with over 70 million members.

Digg, a site allowing users to vote on the links of others, was launched in 2004. It took off in 2006 and can cause huge surges in popularity for particular sites. Delicious (del.icio.us), launched in 2003 works on a similar principle, with users voting on tagged web content from other users. Photobucket and Flickr arrived in 2003 and 2004 respectively, allowing users to share photographs and host for embedding in blogs and other social media.

Twitter arrived in 2006, capturing the imagination of celebrities and non-celebrities alike. Today the microblogging website, allowing short announcements of 140 characters, has over 100 million users. Technology today has advanced to such an extent that we are able to combine almost all of the top social media and social networking tools to be used in conjunction with one another.

As mentioned earlier, image hosting sites can be used for embedding elsewhere on the web, and Youtube (as well as Vimeo and other video-hosting sites) for posting video clips on Facebook, MySpace or elsewhere. These clips can be Tweeted (that is, published via Twitter), voted for via Digg or Delicious, or “Liked” on Facebook.

Sound too easy? It gets better. The introduction of mobile web technologies with Microsoft Windows, Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone iOS operating systems has allowed for access to social media from mobile phone handsets, and also from the newly-introduced Apple iPad. It is so easy to link in to these services – often many at a time, updating Twitter and Facebook in unison, for example – that of course new real-time social media sites have sprung up. The real-time, location-based network Foursquare encourages users via a range of incentives to post their whereabouts, be it indulging in retail therapy, or having a pint down the pub. It even uses GPS (Global Positioning System) to make sure you aren’t cheating.

So where to next? Just as Star Trek helped us out with inspiration for automatic doors, mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets and USB flash drives, perhaps we should be tuning back in to the world of science fiction for clues. 2002’s Minority Report seemed impossibly futuristic less than a decade ago with personalized biometric advertising and advanced touchscreen computer systems, not dissimilar to those also seen in CSI. A glimpse into the future? Most probably, IMHO.

Leave a comment and share your stories about using some of these early platforms!

Mashable’s Social Media Day Edinburgh @ Chop Chop Leith

Posted on: June 20th, 2010 by Laura

Edinburgh Celebration June 30th 7pm at Chop Chop Leith – Book your ticket today!

£18.50 pp, includes:

Celebration Dinner
Free BYOB (no corkage charges)
£12 Voucher for your next visit
Prize draws

June 30th – 7:00 pm
Chop Chop Leith, 76 Commerical Quay, EH6 6LX
Google maps
Schmap.it

We are looking forward to celebrating Social Media Day with you – please help us spread the word far and wide using hashtags: #smday, #edinburgh

If you’re not aware, Chop Chop have recently become very active with their Social Media (Twitter /Facebook Fan Page /Blog) and embrace the opportunity to meet and help celebrate Mashable’s Social Media Day with the Edinburgh Community.

Their new Leith location opened on June 14th. If you haven’t been to Chop Chop, they are an award-winning (and phenomenal) Chinese restaurant who specialize in dumplings from Northeastern China. This event is open to anyone with a keen interest in Social Media in Edinburgh.

Join us for a special celebration dinner, with unlimited Banquet for only £18.50 pp (and get a £12 voucher on the night) plus free BYOB and the following specials.

Chop Chop Special Offers

Everyone will be entered in a draw for an all-expenses-paid day at the Open Golf Championship at St Andrews on Saturday, 17th July. This includes an open bar all day plus breakfast, silver service lunch and afternoon tea. You will have a choice of free transport from and back to central Edinburgh or parking at St Andrews. There are nine places to be won!
Everyone who participates in a short survey about the new restaurant on the night will get a £12 voucher to be redeemed at Chop Chop Leith by 31st August.
Free unlimited Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) with NO CORKAGE CHARGE, beer or wine

Mashable have created a dedicated web page for all the events worldwide.

Any questions? Contact:

Laura Mcgregor – Inventive Management
Twitter: @smallbizally

Check out this fantastic local blog:
http://thesocialpenguinblog.wordpress.com/

5 Reasons to join Empire Avenue today!

Posted on: June 7th, 2010 by Laura

I came across Empire Avenue on Friday when catching up on various happenings in the social media industry. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Empire Avenue is a revolutionary online influence stock exchange combined with an advertising platform that allows individuals and organizations to convert their online influence and reach into revenue

As a social media Marketer with 10 years experience working with Fund Managers, it’s no surprise that I signed up for a Beta invite on the spot. (And being a Canadian living and working far from home in Edinburgh, I’m thrilled and very proud that Empire Avenue is an Alberta, Canada incorporated company.)

Once the account was set up (easy) I went to make some friends, naturally starting first in Scotland. I was giddy to realise I was the first person in Scotland to join the site. It’s almost impossible in the world of Social Media to be the first at anything, so yes, I will claim the glory. Once that wore off and I figured out how to play (easy), I was quick to invite some of my Tweeps to join in the fun and put Scotland on the Empire Avenue map!

I am pleased to say that The Social Penguin Blog (@social_penguin) grasped the idea as quickly as I did and I had a friend to join me.

Within moments I had some investors – a huge thanks to Fray Close (current #1 on the Leader Board) from Edmonton (TICKER: GULROK) who thought we were a good bet and got us started.

Since this morning my stock has increased 1.611, I have gained an additional 15 hits to my website, a new comment on my blog, 16 new followers on Twitter and a hardcore addiction to the medium.

Not bad for a lazy Sunday!

Introducing INVMGT

5 Reasons to join Empire Avenue Today!

Automatically measure and watch your clout & reach grow
Motivate yourself to post great content often (this is my third blog post today)
Advertise your services, business and blog – 100 hits costs on 20 Eaves (Empire Ave Currency)
Get in early and be part of something seriously engaging and fun
Meet new and interesting people and explore new blogs

On the downside, as I say, it’s still really early days in the UK with under 60 participants but mark my words this is going to be huge!

If you would like an invite I have 2 available. Email me: laura@inventivemanagement.co.uk or find @smallbizally on Twitter.

Be sure to buy our shares – we’re going places!

Top stock tip of the day: MARI SMITH (TICKER: MARI) @MariSmith purchased for a bargain 12.993!

The Social Penguin Blog did a great job providing an overview of all the site features – check it out here.

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