Reputation Management....That's My Suggestion.

“Please drop your suggestion in the box”, remember those days?  Businesses of all types and sorts would have some sort of wooden, metal, or cardboard box on the wall or counter that invited consumers to make a notation or suggestion for their business.
Now imagine if the suggestion box was full, overflowing even with suggestions, comments, and ideas regarding the business, but the owner never opened the box.  IMAGINE how absurd that would be! Truth be told, it would be a complete waste of an opportunity to engage with and consider the advice and opinions of the consumers….the exact consumers who are supporting the establishment.
This sad scenario is occurring every day and in most cases….business owners aren’t even aware that their Suggestion Boxes are overflowing.

Social Media forums like Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Manta, Google Places, Yahoo Local, Urban Spoon and so many more are compiled with consumer reviews, feedback, comments and suggestions that owners simply aren’t paying attention too.  This new age of “social” technology and consumer access to businesses online establishes a phenomenal FREE “link” between business owners and their customers, but it also provides a “chain” of reaction if consumers are posing questions, opinions, and reviews which are being ignored.  Reputation Management, as it is commonly referred to today, is crucial for business owners and an essential task if businesses want to genuinely serve their customers.  It’s an added duty no doubt, but that’s looking at the glass half empty.  Look at it this way, never before has the opportunity been so great to hear from consumers on a voluntary, regular basis through forums that drive information related to your business, directly into your inbox, and even more conveniently, into your mobile!   Embrace…Engage….and get Excited…..Your business reputation is counting on it! 

Don't Duck and Cover...Just Cover!

No more landing pages! No more custom profile banner pics? Say What???
Actually, COVER PHOTOS are going to be just as effective if not more so! Honestly, you can let your guard down and not feel like you have to come up with the most contented,  informative picture profile banner intended to get a LIKE out of visitors to your wall.
Now you can focus your energy on choosing a pic that is artistic, inviting, heartwarming, eye-catching, story-telling or representing of who you are or what your business does!  It’s the FIRST impression to your page…the trick is…to make it a lasting one!
Don’t worry about trying to squeeze in the name of your business, your website address, your phone numbers and all that marketing madness. Facebook Timeline has solved that problem for you.  With the new interface,  the ABOUT information is conveniently located right underneath your Cover Photo.  No need to be redundant…Instead, be CLEVER!
Facebook actually has some pretty strict guidelines and rules for your new Timeline Cover Photo…and if you don’t comply…your pic could be removed.
Here’s the Rules:
The cover photo can be up to 850 pixels by 315 pixels but may NOT contain any of the following:
*Price or purchase information, such as “40 percent off” or “Download it at our website.”
*Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section.
*References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.
* Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
So Get Creative People….Pull them there fans in with a Snazzy Pic! Or in the case of the attached Cover photo….a YUMMY one!

You Go Girls!

 Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics said it like this...."As Social Media is less about technology and more about relationship building, we are starting to see more women have a heavy influence if not dominant role in the social media space".
It's not surprising to me, on the contrary, it makes perfect sense that women would take the realm of Social Media by the reigns, proving to themselves, and to forums like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, that they've got a pretty firm grip...in fact, they've got total control.
 To understand the brilliant connection between women and the vast array of social media forums out there....you have to consider the history of women. In fact, you might as well go right back to ol' Eve in the Garden of Eden who just couldn't resist the urge to go off "socializing"....didn't seem to matter that it was a serpent...it talked, and that was good enough for the woman.  
Women by nature were designed to connect emotionally, verbally, and physically with other humans, and while you can't physically connect on these forums, women, more so than men...find it irresistible to "poke" one another.  They simply can't help themselves. Ladies have always loved to exchange stories, boast, ramble, brag, inquire, and OBTAIN info about others...(but surely not gossip). And while the terminology has been refurbished to more "modern" verbs such as, share, post, blog, poke, question, like, etc.., you can be sure...the vocabulary is the same as it ever was.  Socializing for women no longer requires a tea pot, a park bench, an outing or a department store "sale"; just a thought, an idea, a prompting, a keypad and a friend....or 500 friends! The "more the merrier" as we women love to say.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words....

Marketing methods come and go but there are a few things, that even time and technology won't let go of, a picture, being one of them.
Remember when your parents would read you stories, and you would sit pressed against them so as to see and touch the the pictures? Or, as a youth, you would check-out a library storybook based on the number of pictures that were interjected into the chapters.  As a teenager studying for a test, you'd  likely scan the textbook, looking for pictures, charts and graphs concentrating on the attached information.  As you grew older, you would whiz through pictures in gossip magazines at the grocery store, and People Magazine became the #1 subscription, not because of it's fabricated and exaggerated stories, but because of all the "people" pics!
Marketing mediums are constantly evolving but the human desire to see images of people, places, and things...well, that's a forever "given".
Facebook soared to the top of Social Media forums because it includes, "faces" and Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine because it includes images.  If you search Google Images, you can literally find a picture of just about anything you type into the search box....pictures, pictures, and more pictures!
A recent Facebook study showed that when pictures are attached to a post, the post is 75% more likely to be read; and when a Facebook ad is created, it's the picture that either "makes or breaks" the Click.
So when you're blogging, Facebooking for your business, creating new social media forums, sending out email blasts, and creating online newsletters....be sure to include pictures, and plenty of them. A picture truly does speak a thousand words.....