Top 10 key differences between Pages and Profiles

A small-business owner recently asked me why they should consider creating a Page for their business instead of simply using their personal Profile.

This is an interesting topic because I see not a few small business owners using their personal profile to promote their business. This is a huge mistake. But before we talk about the pros and cons, let's define what each is.

When people first start a Facebook account, they are typically creating a personal account which has a Profile. Normally, they use it for personal reasons like keeping connected to Friends and family. They must make "friend requests" with other people who also have personal accounts on Facebook, and they have to wait till the other person approves their friend request. In addition, they themselves must respond to friend requests.

Anyone who has a personal account or Profile can create a separate Page (also called a Fan Page) that is related to their profile. This is not a separate account ... you use your regular login to access any Page you create. You can create as many Pages as you wish. And those pages could be for anything in which you feel you have an interest or would enjoy promoting; such as your business.

So what are the Top 10 key differences between a Profile and a Page especially as it relates to your business or cause? Here is the list:

How to engage your fans ... it comes from the heart!

Here is an example of a non-profit that simply said "thank you" to its fans. The company is called "InvisiblePeople.tv" and here is what's remarkable, and probably should not be, about this video:

• It comes from the heart ... it's not fake
• They recognize that they are speaking to real people
• It tells fans the effect they have on the organization and confirms that they are making a difference
• It connects with fans at an emotional level
• It let's fans see that there are also real people "behind the page"
• It reminds fans about the important mission of the organization (it comes in the credits at the end)
• It reminds fans that it's about them ...it's not about you

Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.tv sure knocked the ball out of the park with this one. Do you have a video like this on your fan page? It is one way to move casual fans up the relationship scale to becoming advocates for your brand or your non-profit! Enjoy:

Facebook is just for teens ... NOT!

First they were babbling on cellphones and then they were texting. Then came the phase when they were listening to music on iPods and then iPhones. Even taking photos of their uncool parents. Now your kids spend their every waking hour on Facebook ... sharing pictures, music, making new friends. Not to mention, electronically torturing each other.

That doesn't mean that your kids and their friends are the only ones using Social Media. It only happens appears that way because children are the most receptive to new technologies. Thy are the early adopters. They do kiddie type things with technology.

Look deeper imagine the serious things you can do with Social Media ... as well as the not so serious. Social Media is simply a vehicle. The old round-dial telephone was Social Media, if you think about how it was used, wasn't it? It just so happens that that era of technology doesn't seem as cool now as it probably did then.

The serious applications you can use with Social Media help you to leverage your business if it's done right and a manner consistent with your business strategy. The not-so-serious applications help you to put a human face on the people behind the page. This is a lesson in engagement. Don't build your Facebook page like a child, but use it like one!

And if you were curious about who uses Social Media and for what, check out the graphic by Community 102.

How do you feel about the potential for Social Media in your business? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Why every Non-Profit organization should have a Facebook page

I've been talking to a lot of non-profit organization executives recently and discovered that many of them do not have a Facebook fan page, or if they do, there is no strategy for gaining new supporters and donors and no real engagement of the supporters (fans) that they do have.

It's a huge opportunity that's being missed here.

So, let me share with you in a nutshell, the Top 10 Benefits a Non-profit could have with even a basic Social Media Marketing strategy:

1. Create a platform for engagement of supporters - donors and prospects - at relatively low cost.
2. Turn your e-mail list into a base of fans and vice-versa. The trick would be to send an email promoting your fan page (and what it has to offer) and simply asking recipients to become fans; you can also put a "join-our-mailing list" form on your fan page.
3. Educate the public and existing supporters about your organization's mission.
4. Add a video message with a passionate, unpolished statement (from the Executive Director) addressing your organization's mission so visitors can see and hear that message - they simply have to click the Play button; a video would have a much greater impact on a prospect than the written word.
5. Add a video library of important or powerful videos showing your organization serving its mission (may be you can call the list, "Your donations at work!") so that supporters can easily view them.
6. Allow supporters to easily share your fan page, engagement initiatives, polls, fundraising events, etc., with all of THEIR friends by simply clicking one button ... "Like" or "Share".
7. Add a "Supporter of the Week" promotion that automatically picks a supporter to highlight to all the other fans - this is a "call to action" and creates peer pressure.
8. Promote fundraising events using a promotional tab and the "event" feature in Facebook.
9. At all fundraising events, you could ask everyone to become a fan of your Facebook page; even if those people do not donate today, as long as they are fans on Facebook, they may donate tomorrow.
10. Add a "donate" e-commerce button right on the fan page making it easy for fans to donate whenever they choose to; but give a choice for fans to "share" instead of donating.

But perhaps the biggest reason of all is that you can list yourself on Causes.Com and install their Facebook app to get campaign management capabilities PLUS an automatically generated spectacular tab about your cause along with a donate button right on your fan page!

It's really all about having an integrated marketing strategy that is aligned with the organization's "business" and fundraising objectives. Pretty simple, wouldn't you say?

What tips would you give non-profits for promoting the cause on Facebook? Please use the Comment feature below! And don't forget to share this article with your friends.

Five easy steps to increasing your Facebook fan base

Every business needs customers ... and it takes lots of satisfied ones to successfully grow your business. As a business owner, your number one goal is to grow your business. That's a lot easier said than done.

There are many ways to grow your customer base and they all involve some form of Marketing (reaching the right prospects with your story, building a relationship with them and directing them to do business with you). The cost of each marketing approach varies and may be constrained by your financial resources or ability to invest in marketing.

So the key marketing question for any business, especially small businesses, is which are the approaches that can give you maximum bang for the buck?

One answer is Social Media. In this article, we reveal five easy steps to increase the number of prospects who will listen to your story so that you can find more customers to do business with you.

1. Create a Facebook "Fan Page".
2. Integrate your fan page with other social media channels.
3. Develop your marketing message and Amplify it to bring in fans.
4. Engage your fans so that they bring more fans.
5. Convert fans into paying customers.

The formula is truly that simple.

Fan Page+Integrate+Amplify+Engage+Convert = 100 x Current Customers!

While the formula is simple, executing it is challenging unless you know how to do each part well. So here are a few tips about each component of the formula. If you don't have time to read all the details, just read the highlights in bold and italics below.

You can do Social Magic!

Yes. With Social Media, your business can now do what amounts to magic. It is possible to do today what even tens years ago would have been thought impossible in terms of reaching millions of prospects all over the globe and ultimately doing business with them.

But sadly, millions of businesses are missing the boat. There may be a belief that these media are not for serious business applications.

In reality, Social Media is one of the most cost-effective ways to turbo-charge the returns your business achieves for each dollar spent on marketing resources. How so? Social Media is all about building relationships with customers and prospects. It is the ultimate marketing tool.

In this blog, Amazing Business Promotions will provide you with the following key benefits:

• Show you how to build a powerful Social Media strategy ... without programming!
• Help you avoid the 3 biggest mistakes businesses make when implementing strategy (visit the "How To Do It" tab on our Facebook page to see them right now)
• Tips and tricks on how to get the most out of each of the most popular Social Media tools
• Teach you how to multiply the effect of Social Media on your customers and prospects
• All the resources you need are on our Facebook page
• Educational videos that separate fact from fiction about Social Media
• Links to additional helpful resources from around the web

Amazing Business Promotions is your one-stop source of organized, well-researched content about Social Media and how you can use it to quickly acquire thousands of new customers for your business.

Our goal for each blog post is to provide you with at least one powerful idea you can apply to your business today.

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