Tag: Instagram

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.

Where do you use your social media?

I use my social media on many devices.

When I ask this question during one of my presentations – “What are the top two reasons why people buy a smart phone?” I often get the response for social media. While that is a good answer it isn’t correct.

I sit at a desk a good part of my day. I use my desktop for quite a bit of my social media updates etc. I often use my smart phone, a tablet, or a laptop.

One of the things that I have noticed all too frequently is that I don’t see the same thing in my Facebook feed on my mobile as I do on my desktop, tablet or laptop.social media - Facebook is slow

Quite often my desktop version of Facebook is very slow to react, so slow in fact that I often kill the tab and sometimes don’t reopen it. (See the picture.) Sometimes, I think Facebook is trying to push people to use mobile so they Social Media - Facebook Failmake the desktop version slower and slower. (Now it could be the fact that I have 20 tabs open at any one time and three browsers, but…)

Some platforms like Instagram don’t even let you use it from a desktop. Twitter is an on the go platform. Pinterest is a tablet and a glass of wine or cup of coffee type of platform. LinkedIn is often used on a phone or tablet, but has so much more functionality on a desktop or full laptop.

Where do you use your social media the most? Does it suit your need for speed, or is it more like the tortoise? If you are in business, do you have the right tools to use to enhance your process, are you keeping up with your audience, or better yet, is your audience able to keep up with you? Do you posts get seen? Better yet, are you getting the reactions you want from your posts?

If you were answering no to any of these questions, it may be time for us to have a chat about how you use your social media.

(By the way, the answer to the first question is 79% buy it for phone calls and 78% buy it to read emails.)

 

How useful is Instagram?

Are you using Instagram for your business?instagram-green

For the longest time, I was not an Instagram lover for business. I felt that it was more for foodies and clothing lines. Another challenge I felt was that it was difficult to manage more than one account at a time on a device. Then I read this article that described several apps available to iOS and Android, as well as, one for desktop use that will help users manage more than one account on their smartphone.

What spurred my initial search for answers to using it more effectively was this article about brands being slow to adopt Instagram. The article shares that Instagram engagement rates dwarf those of Twitter. But, only 12% of brands include Instagram if they are using 3 social channels to market. The percentage goes up as more channels are are added to the marketing mix.

Here are my thoughts as to why business has not fully embraced Instagram:

  1. Community managers may not be given authority to post on Instagram as the brand.
  2. Some may not see the value in posting to Instagram for a business.
  3. There is a challenge to manage multiple accounts from one mobile device.  AND It is easier to manage an Instagram account from a phone.
  4. Because much of Instagram is based on images, many brands that deal with a B2B clientele have a difficult time reaching their target audience.

Because the platform is now a Facebook property, there is a spot when posting that you can set a location. With this opportunity, your clients, customers or visitors can opt to “check-in” by Facebook or Instagram!

We all need to know which platforms are best suited to our business. With the rise of Instagram, should you be investigating it’s potential benefits for your business? If you need some help making that decision, call.

B2B vs B2C – Images

B2B vs B2C – Images

Continuing our B2B vs B2C discussion, our topic in this post is Image sites. The biggest names include Instagram, Flickr, Picasa and Pinterest.  Pinterest is big enough to warrant it’s own post, it will be next.

People are very visual. When I read the paper or a magazine, I scan the headlines, look for B2B vs B2C - imagesimages and if either of those things grab my attention, then I might read into the article a bit further or the whole thing. A picture draws the attention of a reader – that could be why picture books are so popular with small children.  They can’t read the words yet, but bright colors and imagery draw their attention.

Image sites all  you to have images posted, sometimes into photo albums that may (or should) include backlinks to your website.  According to an article from MediaPost, 70% of all interactions on social media sites now involve pictures.

How can that help your business?

B2B – Many vendors will post images of their products so that businesses that purchase will see the item. Consider showing the item in “action”. Share images of company events, participation at trade shows, or internal employee recognition occasions. Include links to images in your white papers and definitely in blog articles. Use images to announce new products, especially in press releases.

B2C – Image sites are much more suited to consumer sites. Take for example a restaurant or a bakery.  How many people post photos of themselves in a new outfit and take the store in an Instagram post. That is one of the reasons why Instagram now has 200 million users who have posted 60 million photos a day. Once you have found your platform of choice, encourage customers to share their photos and tag your business in them. While we didn’t mention Facebook as a photo platform, it is a huge player in images and probably one of the main reasons Instagram was snapped up. Share product images, people enjoying your products or services and participation at community events.

In my opinion, the clear winner in this category is B2C.

Why | Blogs | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Video
Google | Image | Pinterest | Location Sites | E-news

 

Top 5 LinkedIn Business Page Tips – Imagery

In this series of articles on the Top 5 LinkedIn Business Page Tips, we have already covered Description, and Products & Services.  This article covers Imagery. The final two will cover the aspects of your business profile about Recommendations, and Activity

Top 5 LinkedIn Business Page Tips – Imagery

A client of mine who was starting a new career at an age when most of us hope to be retired wanted some tips and guidance on which social platforms to use. We stopped by Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  On each platform, the client said – “Oh, that’s your website!” I said no, that is Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, whichever we were visiting at the moment.  When we finally landed on my website, the client said, “I get it, they all look alike!”

Branding your company/products visually is very important. I believe that is why sites like Pinterest and Instagram are growing by leaps and bounds.  Personally, I tend to look at an image first before I read a headline or caption. If the image grabs my attention, I may investigate the item further.

That is why we are addressing as one of the Top 5 LinkedIn Business Page Tips – Imagery.

The opportunities you have are worth spending the time (or money) to develop.

Company Logo – Your company logo has an important place.  It appears on your company page and on the personal profile of all of your employees.

Header – Each company has a header image that can help brand your company.  The headerTop 5 LinkedIn Business Tips - Imagery image should be similar to the images on all of your web based platforms.  Additionally, LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to create up to 10 “Showcase” pages to highlight specific product lines. (Read more about showcase pages here).

Jobs – If you company uses LinkedIn to promote openings at your company on the Jobs pages, you have another image that can express your brand AND company culture.

Products/Services – In our last article we discussed the details of setting up your products and services, but the important part to remember here is the 3 banner images that can link directly to your website, the images that represent each of your products, and the videos that you can link from YouTube that illustrate your products in moments.

Use the power of LinkedIn’s imagery through the visual prompts to promote your brand on the most powerful professional social network.

Need more information on your personal profile? Read the LinkedIn – top 5 Tips – series on the following: Photos, Complete, Connections, Invitations, Participate

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