Apparently, according to author Dr. Gennaro D’Amato of the Department of Respiratory Diseases who has noted that this unusual occurrence is becoming more common as more people interact on social networks. He noted that many social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be traced to a new, developing source of psychological stress that can also be connected to other physical ailments or conditions.

The case that triggered the interest and research into these findings were that of a young man who experienced a severe asthma attack after his ex-girlfriend “unfriended” him from her Facebook page, yet he discovered pictures of her still on Facebook. He was under the impression that she had just deleted her account.

Although situations like the one the young man experienced aren’t so unusual, the question is whether or not social sites should be made responsible for anything negative or stressful that can result from the information on the site.

Social networking sites are just another form of interacting for people. Other conditions like a bad day at work, or a sick child can attribute to a person’s stress level as well. Therefore, according to a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool, Peter Kinderman, all stress should be placed into perspective and dealt with according to its own criteria.

Mr. Kinderman agrees that while there is no way to avoid stress, people should limit as best as possible their exposure and involvement to stress from all sources. In other words, if there is a possibility or potential for you to gain upsetting information by looking for an old boyfriend or girlfriend on a social networking site, then just don’t do it, especially if it’s going to cause undue medical stress in addition.

Comments

1) It was recently reported that Facebook was the most visited website in 2010, beating out Google for the first time. Do you think that there is value there for small businesses or is just part of the social media hype?

Greg Finn
I honestly don’t think that Facebook Marketing is hype at all, and I think that many businesses are hesitant due to the perception that Facebook is a friend-to-friend network. Now with Facebook pages showing up directly into a user’s stream, businesses can have highly visible messages displayed to their fans – and it is far more than just advertising.

The fact that Facebook users are regular users is really the biggest upside to me, and it’s not just kids using it anymore. Facebookers really are adamant about checking the site frequently, whereas Twitter is used very differently (outside of our industry). Sure, Twitter has 15 million users, but according to a study from Edison Research, only 33% of users use Twitter once a day whereas 50% of users log on to Facebook in any given day. I have seen traffic stats mirror this research as well.

I also love the format that Facebook provides, allowing for easy communication, fan interaction, and sharing. Take a look at this post from the UFC – it not only has a link, but a description, video and comments/likes as well.

Whereas the same thing on Twitter looks like this:

I really look at Facebook as the most popular RSS feed in the world, pulling in information from friends and businesses. I would say that Facebook marketing may be the furthest thing from hype as Pages allow for businesses to post directly into arguably the best and most popular stream – the Facebook wall.

Victoria Edwards
I think there is great value in small businesses adding Facebook to their online marketing initiatives, as it’s a great way to promote a business in an area that essentially is free. While some may think it is hype, it has become an additional way to benefit from an organic perspective, as well as acquiring a larger audience for your brand. The trick is having a proper strategy with detailed and measurable KPI’s so you can track your success, so it does not become a time suck.

Marty Weintraub
I’ll focus on Facebook Ads, because we’ve been in the space since 2007. Paid Facebook is an incredible small business tool, both b2b and b2c. For perspective, 2 years ago it was already easy to recruit local plumbing businesses to up for Yellow Page products by serving ads reading “Free Internet Listings for Your Plumbing Business” to hundreds of SMB owners interested in “Master Plumber.” They signed up in droves across a number of local business segments as early as 2008.

A quick look shows that 30,580 people living in the United states “like” master electrician, master mechanic, master plumber, small business owners, business owner, or business development. FB rocks for many types of small business marketing assignments.

For instance, circumvent Groupon-type services to accomplish the same types of objectives for a much lower cost.

2) There are some businesses that are a natural fit for Facebook, and other businesses that don’t make too much sense. Can you give me some examples of who should definitely be spending time on Facebook and who shouldn’t?

Greg Finn
As a rule of thumb, if your business doesn’t have a kick-ass web presence, you probably have other things to worry about than Facebook. I do believe that most companies can achieve some facet of their overall goals on Facebook, but obviously some niches fit more than others. Companies that should be involved 100% are:

• Restaurants
• Retailers
• Ecommerce Sites
• Media/News/Blogs
• Destinations
• Charities

Types of companies that may benefit less & analyze their goals before participation:

• Highly Specialized B2B
• Industrial
• “One-Time Client” Services – i.e. Dishwasher Repair in Phoenix

With that being said, I do think that these companies can still find value if used correctly – just not as much. For example, a specialized widget manufacturer may not appeal to the majority of users, setting their Facebook page up as a news source for reps could be beneficial in keeping relationships. By updating their Facebook page with new products, company happenings, and industry news, a useful and informative destination would be created that could reach customers off of the main website. This type of communication is still valuable, just at a smaller scale than a post about a sweater sale at Old Navy.

Victoria Edwards
I feel anyone who is trying to gain a broader audience with their service, product, or brand has potential in utilizing Facebook as a robust online marketing channel.

Businesses that should not be on Facebook are the ones who have created a Facebook page, but have either left it on auto pilot or have forgotten about it. Not only does it make your brand look lazy and unprofessional, but it also leaves a window open for potential brand damage.

Marty Weintraub
Branding using FB actually lifts direct response search CTR in Google and Bing, because marketers can make any product a household name to the right users. Understanding that KPIs are sometimes secondary is key for SMBs. Anyone who’s been around the block will say that marketing famous brands is a much easier than unknown brands. The ability to tightly brand what you’re selling to highly specific social segments using Facebook Ads, at CPMs that are often still below 40 cents (a fraction of the cost of AdWords) is an opportunity that you should not miss while it’s still cheap. The price is going up and will continue to do so.

Therefore, anywhere marketers are successful in direct response search PPC, FB Ads is a natural build out. FB Ads ads are still much less expensive than AdWords. For SMBs and local business, understanding this dynamic opens up fabulous opportunities at dirt cheap prices. The barrier to entry is that FB, as grass roots as it is, requires savvy marketers to leverage for local. That’s the reason things are sometimes hard for local businesses.

3) Let’s stop talking theory and dig in. Are there any small businesses that you think are doing a good job on Facebook?

Greg Finn
Here are a few (and what I like about them):

YouTube

They do a great job communicating regularly using their own media. I think it is really clever how they post, and it is always topical. They also have perfect frequency and relevancy for their audience in my opinion.

UFC

I think that the UFC does an exemplary job in pushing their branding with Facebook. They work fans into regular photo updates, feature exclusives with fighters, and also let fans know what’s coming up. Best yet, they make users feel like they are important and somewhat of a VIP just for following. It would be hard to find a better event & branding example than the UFC.

WebProNews

This is hands down, no questions asked the best Facebook page in the Search space currently, and should be a model for any news source/blog. Instead of just spitting out info from their sites, regular posts include group questions/discussions, links to relevant stats/posts (not on WebProNews), company updates, and of course links to their content! It is a great job all around of not just broadcasting their news, but creating a valuable destination for marketers.

Boca Java

This is a good example of how a smaller retail company can not only promote product, but have a good time doing it. From asking questions to showing people at work to hosting events, Boca Java does a great job at updating fans. They also do a great job of creating unique Facebook only specials that provide fans with that VIP feel!

Victoria Edwards
Example #1: WUSLU http://www.facebook.com/wuslu

WUSLU is a ‘deal of the day’ site focusing on home furnishings. Not only does this Facebook page make use of the FBML to bring in the brand, the individual constantly monitors and engages with their fans, in addition to utilizing 3rd party applications, like Wildfire, to bring in contests that further engage the audience.

Example #2: http://www.facebook.com/horsetreats
As mentioned before, anyone who has creativity can be on Facebook and also find like minded people within this platform to engage with. Here is another great case and point. Horsetreats.com is exactly what is says: a website/Facebook page dedicated to selling treats specifically made for horseses…HEY…sorry bad joke.
What is so great about this page is seeing how many people are sharing pictures of their horses on the Facebook page, in addition to incorporating a tab that shows some of their products. This is great because it’s giving an additional bonus by incorporating conversion opportunities in Facebook.

A few other small businesses that I feel are doing a good job in Facebook, whether
from an engagement stance or by incorporating customization and conversion areas:
http://www.facebook.com/pointofviewcameras
http://www.facebook.com/Vamplet

http://www.facebook.com/mezstudio

Note: These are not clients, but I have gotten approval from these individuals to use them as examples.

Marty Weintraub
Sure. aimClear does not have any very small clients. We tend to work for large, multi-national type clients…SO this is a local business that I patronize and respect. Sammy’s Pizza, a small regional chain of mom and pop pizza shops, has over 8,000 fans with engagement and community involvement. Friends range from the Mayor of Duluth to the elderly and their grand kids who have been patronizing the shop for generations. I love the way the owners and their shrewd local agency drive traffic to MySammys.com, which turns public participation into actual equity for the website they own. There are only about 80,000 people that live in Duluth, maybe another 10,000 in the other communities Sammy’s serves. We’re talking about 7.2% of the population that has fanned Sammy’s!

4) I understand that lots of businesses are hesitant to publish metrics, but what are realistic goals that you have seen people achieve from Facebook?

Greg Finn

Obtainable Facebook goals should really mimic your overall website goals in my opinion (with the exception of e-commerce on Facebook). Whether it be increase in branding, increase in engagement, increases in site traffic, or increase in website sales, these can all be achieved on Facebook. In regards to traffic, I have consistently seen Facebook send 10% of the Daily Users to one’s website (the Daily User stat can be found within Facebook Insights in the Users section).

Victoria Edwards
I have seen a page surpass its 10,000 fan mark within a 4-5 month period without doing any advertising; however that number could have been reached in half the time if they were doing Facebook ads, as they are a well known brand & are a great fit for Facebook.

I think realistic goals must be set if a business wishes to do Facebook marketing but does not want to invest in Facebook ads. One must communicate that it will be a long, slow process by not adding Facebook advertising into the mix.

Marty Weintraub
For Facebook Ads, expect that for every 300K user segments targeted with average overlap, we can serve about 10 million impressions a month. It’s common to have 3/10th of a percent CTR, ranging as high as 1.2%. Costs can be as low as $.10 and can cost well over $1.00. Conversion to realistic KPIs is often over 3.5% and sometimes up over 10%, rivaling search. The key here is setting realistic KPIs.

5) For a small business who is getting ready to get involved on Facebook, what are three tips or actionable items you can share?

Greg Finn

1) Use the “visible-to-connection” tag Whether you are Kayne & Jay-Z or a retailer, you can entice users to like your page in return for an exclusive offer. By implementing this tag on a custom Facebook tab (full details here), you can give users a reason to like you, but keeping them after that is up to you…
2) Make it Easy
This seems like it is a no brainer, but you would be surprised by just how many sites overlook the placement of Facebook buttons and widgets on a homepage. Facebook has both share and like buttons as well as community widgets. A few simple things:

• If you can place a share button with icons, you will most likely have the highest number of article shares.
• The “Share” button currently puts out a stronger message than the “Like” button on users’ walls
• Placement optimization can boost CTR 3-5x
• Facebook has a variety of plug-ins that you can easily apply to your feed

3) Leverage Off-Line & Other Marketing to Help Promote Page
The easiest and quickest way to grow your page (with useful fans) is by utilizing your existing customers. There is no shortcut. To speed this process up, leverage as much offline as you can and include messaging in your other marketing as well. Not only will you have a high conversion rate, but the fans will be of the utmost quality – they already like you and are customers! This is one of the big resolutions that I talked about this year … even Wal-Mart is doing it.

6) They say that you learn more from your mistakes than your successes. Care to share a mistake you made or that you saw a small business make on Facebook?

Greg Finn
One of the biggest mishaps that I have been a part of involved a mishap with a promotion due to technical issues on the behalf of a website. I learned that while promotions can be a big positive for your page (now with less restrictions as of Dec 1st!) you should try to envision what will happen if everything goes wrong and devise a failsafe. If you are generating a coupon code – have a backup plan where you can identify winners; if you are using an app – make sure it is tested and can handle the traffic; if you are offering a giveaway – make sure you have enough supply for all of the demand. Issues do occur – especially on sites that you don’t own and control. By taking 15 minutes to virtually troubleshoot issues that will arise, you will absolutely save yourself from massive headaches.

Victoria Edwards
It was not a huge mistake but regardless I learned from it was trying to implement content, monitor and manage multiple pages for businesses. Reason why is that it was very time consuming and not very scalable if you’re doing it alone. Also, when questions on the page were customer service related, I would have to ask the client as I was not aware of the correct answer.

Another lesson learned was how slow of a process it was to increase various key performance indicators, for example fans acquisition, without leveraging Facebook ads. I became quickly aware how slow the process can become, in addition to realizing that if you have a client who does not want to do ads on Facebook, you MUST communicate how the process is much slower rate at which you increase like, fans etc. Set a realistic expectation and make sure they are communicated to your client if they do not add Facebook advertising.

Marty Weintraub
When trolls are incorrigible, it’s important not to take them on and ban them. Though I’m a big believer in letting the mob have it’s say, knowing when to end a conversation is a valuable skill that is out of most SMBs league. You can’t reason with a crazy person.I’ve seen simple complaints escalate into Better Business Bureau complaints and lawsuits as SMBs mismanaged trolling jerks in public, viral, and Google-indexed space. The biggest mistakes I’ve ever seen is when SMBs don’t call professional reputation managers when they’re in over their heads.

A big thank you to Greg, Victoria, and Marty for taking the time to participate and share your knowledge. There’s a lot of actionable advice that hopefully the readers can put into place.

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Chief Marketing Officer for Cypress North, a company that specializes in social media and search marketing services and web-based application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 7+ years and has managed social media campaigns for clients of all shapes and sizes. In addition to Cypress North, he is a regular blogger on mainstream search engine blogs and has spoken about Internet Marketing in a variety of marketing conferences. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.

Victoria Edwards

Victoria Edwards has been working in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) for the past two-and-a-half years. Through her various online marketing experiences, Victoria realized that, no matter whether you are a small, local business or a medium-to-large corporation, search engine optimization along with social media should be an integral part of your marketing efforts. Victoria also has hosted several educational SEO and Social Media webinars as well panel discussions talking to small businesses on the importance of SEO and how to intermingle your SEO and social media efforts. Victoria also has written blog posts for Search Engine Journal and ONE AWESOME blog post for this site If you need to find Victoria on the interwebs, she uses the name TallChickVic, because that is what she is.

Marty Weintraub

Marty’s online marketing experience dates to 1992, the dawn of the interactive era; however, his career has spanned more than three decades working in traditional and online marketing channels. Marty has been described as “not your typical agency type.” A “social media maverick” and “more innovator than follower,” He’s often to be found leading the conversations about search and social media marketing, and aimClear has become internationally recognized for its work in the field. An avid blogger, Marty shares his insights via the company’s online marketing blog, named an AdAge Power 150 blog, as well as in blogs and columns for SearchEngineLand, SearchEngineWatch, and Search Marketing Standard. He’s has spoken at many conferences worldwide, including Search Engine Strategies (SES), Search Marketing Expo (SMX), PubCon, International Search Summit, BlueGrass South, Direct Marketers Association, Search Engine Marketers of Portland (SEMpdx), and Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA). aimClear, Marty and his team specialize in paid and organic search and contextual online marketing. aimClear’s services include blended search and social demographic research; search engine optimization (SEO) technical and semantic audits, analytics monitoring, and consulting; pay-per-click (PPC) audits, setup, testing, and ongoing management; online reputation management (ORM) dashboard configuration and ongoing monitoring; social media marketing consulting and data-driven community management; public relations; and copywriting. aimClear will be presenting a full day Facebook Training at SMX West upcoming. Client credits range from small start-ups to such household names as Martha Stewart Omni, Washington Post Properties, Malt-O-Meal Brands, Angie’s List, Second Life, BlueCross BlueShield, CBS, and Siemens North America. Marty enjoys camping, canoeing, fishing, eating (both cooking and patronizing James-Beard-award-winning restaurants), fine wine, listening to and recording music, and coaching his daughter’s soccer team.

Comments

This would apply to many similar services and so also for Quora. If you follow other people and eventually want people to follow you, please do some homework and complete some basic steps before firing up that ‘follow everyone I know’ button.

• Complete your profile. Write a Description. (People need to remember who you are and why they should follow you.)
• Upload your picture. An online avatar, be it your own photo or of your cat, is something that people recognize you by.
• Answer at-least couple of questions. Or ask some which are relevant to you or your industry.

These are simple steps but it will help people remember who you’re and follow you back to help a meaningful conversation on Quora. It is not easy if you just follow me and I see nothing on your profile (no picture, no questions, no answers). I’m pretty sure other users have the same sentiment.

Quora

Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question.

Comments

But what about LinkedIn – especially if you are a B2B marketer or are looking to connect with the 85 million business community on LinkedIn? How can you share your own or other peoples content to your LinkedIn newsfeed? Here are seven options for your to consider:

1. Yes you can log into your LinkedIn account and add content to your newsfeed – customising the call to action is something I highly recommend. This is the usual way I share content into my LinkedIn newsfeed.

2. You could connect your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts – though take care to ensure that the content you syndicate from Twitter to LinkedIn is relevant for your network there.

3. You can use a content management tool like Hootsuite.com which enables you to link connect your LinkedIn account and schedule your updating of your LinkedIn newsfeed to a specific date and time.

4. Yesterday LinkedIn made available a LinkedIn Share button that you can access here. It is easy to customise, adding your URL of your website and then deciding which of the three buttons you want to use. Using this tool not only you but visitors to your site can share your content to their network. You generate the code and then can add it to your site. Though testing it today, I seemed to get an error when looking to share my site. Perhaps this is a bug?

But what if you want to share a specific page from your website or blog? You don’t want to have to add code each and every time to your site do you? Here are some additional options for you to consider:

5. Add the LinkedIn Share Button to your WordPress.org blog – thanks to Irish web developer Frank Prendergast – this will enable not only you but visitors to your blog share content to their LinkedIn network.

6. Use the ShareThis.com widget and customise the code so that the LinkedIn Share button is visible – if you are a WordPress.org user then there is a ShareThis plugin you can add to your site (both for pages and posts). I use this at the bottom of my articles and pages on my blog – again enabling visitors to my website to share content to their LinkedIn network.

7. Add the LinkedIn Bookmarket to your browser toolbar which means that you can share not just your own content but other peoples articles, videos and podcasts to your LinkedIn newsfeed as you browse across the web.

What options have I missed though – and what is your preferred way of sharing your own or other peoples content to LinkedIn?

If you find this article of assistance and interest, perhaps you might share it to your network on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

From “normal” school bullying (though there’s nothing normal about any kind of bullying) to being harassed for your sexuality, the ability to easily bully teens online seems to be at an all-time high.

Which is why a new Facebook app from SafetyWeb could be a key tool in combating the issue.

Find Help on Facebook

Conceived by leading web-based monitoring company SafetyWeb, the Find Help app makes it incredibly easy for teens to connect with the right channels for their immediate needs.

By installing the app on Facebook, any teen can report abuse, bullying, sexual harassment and other issues directly to Facebook officials.

Additionally, they will also be connected to professionals and counselors in the area of help they need, from drug abuse, alcohol abuse, cyberbullying, child sexual predators and more.

Teens will get access to the likes of The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline, as well as The National Suicide Prevention Hotline and Facebook’s own Abuse Reporting help centre.

Why Find Help Is Important

While we often look at social media as a great place for connections to business and customers, it’s easy to forget that there’s a huge teenage market out there too.

MySpace is a perfect example where teens can be easily approached, due to its demographic audience of teens and their favourite indie music bands. Facebook is also hugely popular with this audience, sadly highlighted by recent news stories about teen suicides as a result of bullying on Facebook Groups. Something not helped when school officials themselves are the bullies.

We’ve all been teens and remember how it wasn’t easy to talk to our parents about everything. Add to that the “shame” often felt when kids see themselves as different in any way, and you can see why so many teens feel alone online.

The new Find Help app for Facebook from SafetyWeb is a huge step in helping teens through what is often the most difficult time in their lives. It’s a shame that it’s needed at all, but sometimes the bad has to happen for the good to win out.

What’s your take – is this something you can see working? And what else would you like to see in place to help teens online?

Comments