Category: Social Media

Fake Profiles – How Do You Know?

How do you know if they are Fake Profiles?

Honestly, I don’t always know what are fake profiles and what aren’t. But I recently read this article from LinkedIn about what they are doing to combat Fake Profiles – An Update on How We’re Fighting Fake Accounts | Official LinkedIn Blog

In the past year my Facebook account was cloned. You can read about that here. I was surprised I was hit because I do all the password things I am supposed to do. I don’t click on suspicious email links. But it happened. It made me very leery about connecting with people that I don’t know, especially on Facebook.

I know I have connected with fake profiles on Twitter. I am pretty sure I follow some fake profiles on Instagram, but not as many. On Facebook, I always look at the invitations from people that I might know to see how developed the profile is and who mutual friends / connections might be. If it is a repeat invitation from someone with whom I regularly communicate, I will send a text or message them through another social platform before connecting.

One of my Facebook friends recently decided to switch her account to a “grown-up” version and sent out several posts alerting people to the fact that she would be closing down the old account in an effort to share the more adult/professional version of herself.

On LinkedIn, I find that not as many people are trying to scam others. Based upon the article linked above, LinkedIn is doing what I would consider a decent job of nipping fake profiles in the bud.

7 tips

Here are my tips to do your due diligence before falling into the Fake Profile trap:

  1. Use a recent image of yourself on personal profiles.
  2. Brand your company profiles with a logo or a different image of yourself.
  3. Personalize any invitations that you send to people who might not know or remember you.
  4. Check profiles before you accept.
  5. Alert all connections if your account is compromised.
  6. If you do connect with a fake profile, be careful of any messages or requests asking for you to send money. If it is out of character, then it is probably fake!
  7. Don’t use the same password for all of your accounts to prevent a mass breech if you are compromised.

Social Media Plan – Wildly Beautiful or Just Wild

What’s your social media plan?

The other day I was walking along a path and noticed this stand-out wild flower and it made me think about plans – especially a social media plan. When wild flowers are sown (or not) they come up and they are wildly beautiful. On my walk I noticed black-eyed susans, beebalm, coneflowers, Queen Ann’s lace and a couple of others for which I don’t know the name. Just like with social media there is Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and couple hundred others that I don’t remember the names!

What is right for your brand?

Do your posts just come out based upon your whim at the moment? That would be wild. Creating a pattern that involves planned posts along with an occasional wild one can be beautiful. One bit of information which I learned that I frequently share is 70% of your posts should be other people’s content, 20% should be original content from your expertise, and 10% should be promotional.

Which platforms?

Your social media plan should incorporate what is right for your business. Do you need a wild scattering of posts across all of the platforms, or do you need to concentrate your efforts on 2-3 platforms where your clients frequent? Wild would be the hit or miss scattershot. But, a planned effort on either side of a path might be wildly beautiful. Have you determined which platforms work best for your company? If you are a B2B company you definitely need LinkedIn, but is Instagram a good fit? Maybe.

Wildly Beautiful or Just Wild?

In the long run, no matter which approach you take, content will be added to your brand and allow people to get a feel for what you do and your thought leadership. If you are looking for the wildly beautiful option, make a plan and carry it out. If you need some help with your plan, I would be happy to be of assistance.

Social media commitment required to succeed 

What is your commitment level to your social media?

I just read this article about social media commitment from the  Deleware Business Times . There are a few points I would like to expand on.

commitment

I can be as guilty of this as the next person. I go for stretches where I don’t post blog articles and then I don’t have new content to share socially. Then I might binge for a bit and have many weeks in a row where I write fresh content. This is where knowing how to schedule things plays in your favor.

Sparse, old or dated content –

I visited a website of someone I met at a networking event. The blog posts on the site were from 2014. That is not going to bring the search bots back very frequently. Write when you feel like writing or schedule a time to write. Save drafts of things that are on your mind and make a weekly commitment to completing the articles you started. If you can schedule the posts for once a week, you are really only spending an hour or so to write the actual articles. If you are using WordPress, there is a plug-in called PressThis that can help you with drafting your ideas. WordPress lets you schedule your posts.

Track what is happening

Using alerts and checking periodically during the day can help you be aware if your content on social media is getting traction. The article says that unanswered posts tells people that you don’t care. If you do find an old post or comment, answer it anyway and apologize in the comment for just seeing it.

Do what you have time for

If you only have time to do one thing on social media, DO IT WELL! Don’t spread yourself too thin because you think you have to be on all the platforms all the time. When people ask me what they should do with limited time, my answer is always create content on your website – blog. Then, pick one social site where the majority of your customers are and use that to drive them back to your website. Use scheduling when possible, or mobile if you can.

If all else fails, give me a call and I can walk you through strategy or take some of the burden off your shoulders. Do what you do best and let me do what I do best for you!

Check this checklist to make time for your social media

Does your marketing work better when you use a social media checklist?

I know that when I have a list of things to do, a checklist makes it easier for me. Some people use a digital version. I still like a paper and pencil type of list. OR I put things on my calendar and assign it a time.

Using a checklist for your social media tasks might work best using the calendar method. That way you can dedicate specific time each day, week, month or quarter to getting the things done for your business including your social media checklist.

Some of the things you might want to do would include getting posts out for your business. I like to keep the 70 / 20 / 10 rule for social media posts. 70% of your posts should be content regarding your industry. 20% of your posts should be your own content regarding your industry (like posting this post). Only 10% of your posts should be promotional in nature. That means if you have a 5 posts in a week, 3 should be content you find somewhere else, 1 should be your content and 1 could be a promotion. If all you ever post is sales, people will tune you out. Try to post witty, useful or informative items. don’t always be selling.

Use the tools on your checklist to help you maintain your posting schedule, monitor your goal achievement, check out what the competition is doing and where you will go next.

If you have any questions, or would like assistance in setting up your personalized checklist, I would be happy to assist. In the meantime, you can download this pdf version of the image above – social media checklist

The original inspiration for this article came from this source.

Career Day Presentation

Have you ever given a Career Day Presentation?

I am reminded of the commercial on television where the parents are career day presentationgiving a career day presentation and the fireman dad comes in his gear. All of the other dads have a look of uh-oh, he is going to get all the questions.

I guest lecture to a Masters program Marketing class. It is a cake walk compared to trying to keep the attention of a group of high school students.

Giving a Career Day presentation to high school students can be challenging. Some of the go-getters are totally engaged and ask great questions. Then there is the class either first thing in the morning or right after lunch, where all the kids do is snooze.

I am going armed with video in my presentation – it has catchy background music and cool facts. I will be using Prezi for my presentation – not just words, but lots of graphics and movement. I will have giveaways – everybody likes a good tchotchke.  I may even pull out a fun (in my opinion) quiz the kids can take and win a prize – everyone likes the chance to win a prize right?!

My biggest challenge will be that the kids are almost as savvy in my field as I am. They use the latest social media tools. Facebook to them is passe. Snapchat is rage – this week. All the time I hear, if you need to learn how to do something on the internet or a smartphone ask a teenager. The advantage I have over a teenager is the marketing experience I have gained over the years, the comparison for new technologies to old ones AND I can have my selfie-stick in the classroom!

Career Day presentations to high school students are about what you do to interest them in what they might want to do can be challenging. Not all students are college bound, as not all jobs require a college education. Helping those students understand the value of all types of careers is what will keep the world going round.

Wish me luck, watch for the pictures on my Facebook page!

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