We’ve got a couple of questions to answer today – you can submit your questions at kelli@pixelpointpress.com.

Our first question comes for a recent class participant:

A link to an interesting article was posted in a group that I’m a part of. The group is moderated, which means that you need to be approved in order to see the posts. I’d like to share the link, but linking directly to the Yahoo! group will prevent most of my readers from seeing the article. Can I post the link to the actual article? If so, how should I give credit to the person who shared the link?

Let’s talk about how to credit links in various social media outlets:

• From a private group: You need to share the link to the original article, as most readers might not be part of the group. In this case, you can cover your bases by crediting the original poster in the group (helpful if you know a real name) and perhaps mention the group you found it in (readers who link the link might consider joining the group).
• From Twitter: If you’re the first retweet, it’s easy – RT @originalposter and the link. Things get a little more complicated as a tweet gets retweeted multiple times – you’re going to run out of space pretty quickly. A wide variety of techniques exist, from saving the original poster or the final poster that you’re retweeting, saving the last tweeter and using via for the original one, but one this is for sure – try and give credit. You don’t want to be perceived as a Retweet Thief.
• From Facebook: By typing in the @ symbol in Facebook, you’ll be able to tag your friends and credit them for sharing content.
• Cross-network: If you’re moving a link between networks, you can still credit the original poster using the same techniques above.

No matter the network, just ensure that you give credit where credit is due.

Add to Favorites link

P3's Favorite Pages

Our next question comes from a fan of our Pixel/Point Press page:

Can one fan page become a fan of another fan page in Facebook?

Yes, but under a different name. While people become fans, fan pages become favorites. To select another page as a favorite of your page, visit the fan page and click the Add to Favorites link. When your page adds favorites, the other pages will be displayed on the bottom left of the page in their own popout box. For example, Pixel/Point Press is a fan of French Creek Press, our parent company.

Our final question comes from a VP of marketing who finds herself at the helm of her company’s social media campaign:

Our company has decided to pursue marketing using a Facebook fan page, among other tools. I have been asked to moderate and evaluate the interactions in our page as well as possibly place some advertising. I don’t have a Facebook account – and I don’t want one. I also don’t want to be associated personally with our company’s brand online. Is there a way to administer these accounts without having a Facebook account?

Many people don’t know that Facebook actually offers two types of accounts for individuals: Personal and Business.

Facebook Business Services

You can’t get out of having a Facebook account altogether, but you can have a business account instead of a regular, fully featured Facebook account. If you’ve never had a Facebook account, you can create a Business Account that allows you to administer all your company needs – fan pages, advertising, and other interactions with the Facebook platform, like Facebook Connect – without having a personal profile.

A couple of caveats though: If you convert your business account to a regular account, you can’t go back. And if you already have a regular account, you can’t create a business account. As always, having more than one Facebook account violates Facebook’s Terms of Use.

Related posts:

1. Ask P3: Should I share the same content on multiple networks?
2. Ask P3: Should I cross post content from my Facebook fan page to my friends?

Our first post in a series to help beginners (and maybe some more experienced hands as well) understand social media begins with strategy.

Often skipped entirely or dismissed as unnecessary, drafting a social media strategy should be the cornerstone of every social media campaign – regardless of the company size. Whether you’re an individual looking to rebrand yourself before a job search or an international company trying to target a new market, you need to have a plan. Let’s take a look at what goes into a social media strategy in three steps.

One caveat: This three-step guide assumes that you’ve already spent some time online listening to your market and you’re able to make an educated guess at how to target them. Before you can build a strategy, you’ll need to have set reasonable goals for your social media campaign.

Step One: Resources: Social media isn’t free. Before jumping on the Facebook bandwagon, take a hard look at what resources you can allocate.

Will a new social media campaign replace existing aspects of your current marketing? If so, will it free up budget? What content are you going to contribute? Do you have a regularly updated blog that provides more than simple self promotion? Is your company in support of promoting themselves as thought leaders in their industry? How often can you add new content?

Who will search for relevant articles to post? Who will answer comments on your blog and moderate posts to your Facebook fan page? How many staffers can be dedicated to the initial setup and learning curve of various tools? Will each staffer specialize in a specific area or will you need to cross train your staff to function with multiple tools? What skills do your staff already have and what will need to be taught/learned? Will your outreach be limited to business hours only or is it possible to allocate manpower over a larger part of the 24-hour cycle?

How much budget can you allocate to purchasing support tools for your strategy? Can you foot the bill for Involver’s toolset to make your Facebook presence more powerful and easier to manage? Will you and your staff have smartphones capable of sharing content from anywhere with a 3G connection?

To build a successful strategy using social media, you’ll need to take a hard look at three resources:

• Time: How much time can you or your company dedicate to these efforts on an ongoing basis?
• Talent: What skills can you leverage that allow you to reach out online in a new format?
• Technology: Both hardware and know-how – can your current hardware get the job done and are your tech skills up to the task (or do you have a geek in waiting that could help you out)?

Step Two: Content: Before you create that corporate account at Digg.com, take a step back and consider what content you’ve got to share with the world.

The first part of content brainstorming should be a raid of your archives. Have you got good informational articles that can be repurposed as blog posts with a facelift? Do you have some PowerPoint presentations explaining your product or service that can be shared at SlideShare.net? Videos teaching someone some tips and tricks that you can add to YouTube? Audio files that teach – can they be made into a regular podcast? Content is king in any social media campaign, so consider first what you’ve got to use. In many cases, generating new content is also the most time consuming (and therefore resource consuming) aspect of your strategy, so make sure you use what you’ve already got.

But your own content is less than half of the equation. In order for your outreach effort to be a success, you need to become a valuable resource to your target market. And that means sharing a wealth of top-notch content that extends well beyond your own self-promotion efforts. If you’ve done a good job of building a successful listening system and know what content is relevant to your target market and where they can find those resources, you’re well on your way to sharing great links.

Instead of trying to steer your market to your content only, serve as an aggregator of relevant information on the Web in a variety of platforms. Become the go-to site for news and information, tips and tricks.

Instead of the staid model of solely diseminating information to your target market, become part of the discussion and encourage a focus group atmosphere.

Step Three: Tools: Finally, we reach the aspect of social media with which folks are most familiar. Once you’ve got the content, how are you going to reach your target market?

If you’re lucky, the most powerful tool in your social media toolbox might be your own Web site. If you’re unlucky, and your Web site doesn’t meet the needs of your target market, you’re going to have a hard time with any Web-based marketing campaign – despite your best efforts. Your own site is home base for your presence on the Web. If your ultimate goal is to sell a product, be contacted by a prospective client or be hired to perform a service, your own site is the most likely gateway for new business. Make sure you have your ducks in a row at home before spending resources trying to promote a weak site.

Whenever possible, your use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter should be a means of getting people back to your own Web site. Don’t let your networks serve as an end point. While it’s useful when someone shares your Facebook fan page, you’ll have a lot more leverage if the link they share is to your blog or Web site. Train your target market to come back to you as a destination for useful content. Any links to your site that are shared will improve your search engine optimization – this technique is known as inbound marketing.

Which networks are the best fit for your target market? Will you reach the same market on two different networks, such as Twitter and Facebook? What sites for rich media fit your content the best? Does your Web site have tracking software in place to determine from which sites people click through to you? Which networks are best suited to your specific goals?

In summary: Evaluate your resources, raid your archives for content and target your market on the networks that are most conducive to achieving your goals.

We’d love your feedback on our new series – Social Media 1-2-3 – here on the blog at Pixel/Point Press. To read more articles in this series, please bookmark this category.

Related posts:

1. Introducing Social Media 1-2-3 – a new series of blog posts for social media beginners
2. Three steps to getting started in Twitter
3. Tips for successful Facebook fan page after Involver

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on tips to create a successful Facebook fan page (also known as a public profile). One of the toolkits mentioned in the blog post was applications made by Involver.com. Hands down, Involver.com makes the best applications for Facebook pages. Their tools allow page administrators to easily integrate YouTube, Twitter, RSS, slideshows and much more into Facebook fan pages with ease.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one aware of how great these tools were. Involver.com also had a clue – and decided to monetize their tools by introducing a premium membership. Even at $29 a month (introductory pricing with one month free), the tools are a great deal. For a major company that’s trying to make the most of their Facebook fan page, $29 a month is nothing. I would strongly suggest anyone who can afford it keeps using their tools. If you need further convincing, check out some of the case studies available on their site.

Involver.com's array of tools for Facebook fan pages

RSS

To import your RSS feed – whether it’s a blog site or regular news site or press releases or Twitter – you need Social RSS. This very handy app allows you to import up to five RSS feeds into a page. You can choose how many items post from each feed and have a little flexibility in the placement. What’s better, you can still add the feeds to a page tab so fans will see “RSS/Blog” when they visit your site. Don’t forget to add a box to the main page so your feeds are prominent.

Twitter

Though there are countless Twitter apps out there that allow you add your Twitter feed to your page and update Twitter from Facebook (and vice versa if you’re using TweetDeck or Seesmic, among others), sometimes the simplest solution is the most effective. Instead of adding another app (and another tab) to the top of your page, add your Twitter feed via RSS as one of your five RSS feeds using Social RSS. To find the feed for your Twitter page, just visit your own page in Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/pixelpointpress, for example – and click the RSS link on the right-hand side. You’ll have similar control and fewer apps to manage with Social RSS installed.

SlideShare

Well, this is a no brainer. Instead of using Involver’s Slides for Pages app, just use SlideShare’s own app to share your presentations on your page. Link your Facebook account with your SlideShare account and fans will see your latest presentations as well as those you’ve marked as a favorite. Don’t forget to add both a tab and a box to the page to make it easier for fans to find your presentations.

Video

As it stands, I haven’t found a good substitute for YouTube for Pages. That said, Facebook’s own application allows you to upload video – several fan pages have made an impact using this simple but useful tool. A few to view are Pringles and Victoria’s Secret. The main benefit to using Facebook’s video function is that users can share their own videos with the same interface – no more separate tabs for user-generated content.

All the rest

When it comes to coupons and polls – as well as other custom branding – and your Facebook fan page, it’s time to learn some Facebook Markup Language (FBML). In short, it’s time to dive into the deep end and become a developer. Give it a shot and let us know what you learn by posting in the comments!
* For the record, social media is anything but free. The tools are free to use, but your time commitment is a very valuable resource. Please understand that social media isn’t for everyone – and that any serious marketing campaign takes resources. You get out of it what you put into it – and if you’re lucky, you get a bit more.

Related posts:

1. Five tips for a successful Facebook fan page
2. Facebook fan page tool creator Involver.com to charge
3. Facebook fan page tool creator Involver.com to raise prices

My all-time favorite Facebook fan page (public profile) tool provider Involver.com will begin charging for their tools on July 5. The site is offering existing users the chance to purchase the Involver Pro package for $29 a month if they purchase before July 5. From the press release:

Involver Pro has officially launched, and includes several new features like automatic status updates, increased support, and much more. You are currently using one or more features that have become part of the pro package. Unfortunately we will no longer be supporting this feature for free users. Since we know that the involver apps have become an integral part of many Facebook Pages, we’ve given you an automatic 14-day free trial of Involver Pro as you evaluate whether you’d like to upgrade to the pro product or be downgraded at the end of the trial period.

Their Web site is currently listing a basic, free package for non-profit organizations.
While I’m saddened by their decision to monetize in this way, I can see why they’re doing it and think they will likely be successful at it. $29 a month is a small price to pay for a well-organized and frequently updated Facebook public profile. With Facebook’s decision to open up vanity URLs to pages with less than 1,000 members or that were published after May 31, 2009, it’s clear that this major venue for online marketing is alive and well.
Stay tuned for an update to my blog post Five Tips for a Successful Facebook Fan Page to learn how the best practices have changed and how to get the same results using other (free for now) tools.

Related posts:

1. Facebook fan page tool creator Involver.com to raise prices
2. Tips for successful Facebook fan page after Involver
3. Five tips for a successful Facebook fan page