Facebook Events is an application that lets you schedule your business events from a Fan Page and invite friends and fans to attend. Events can be “Public” in which case anyone can RSVP and attend or “Private”, which only allows invited guests to RSVP. Either way this app is a great way to help get the word out about your next event! Thanks to Becky O’Brien of Optimal Wellness for helping me test the process!
Add an event from your Fan Page
Sign in to Facebook and go to your Fan Page. One of the tabs should be “Events”. If you don’t see an Events tab click on the “>>” tab or the “+” to see more options, “Events” may be there if you have other tabs. Your Events tab will show and at the top right is a button to “Create Event”. This will bring up a page to enter your event information.
After you fill in the event information it’s time to invite people. Realize that the people that you are able to invite are “Friends” from your Personal Profile, not Fans. You might want to filter and select from that list or choose not to invite people at this point if it is a business event. You can always post and share from your Fan Page after creating the event. Don’t forget to add an image to your event so that you don’t get the standard event picture! When you create the event it builds and event page that allows people to post comments and see who else has been invited and who has accepted, if you click on the boxes to allow those things.
When you are done entering the event information, click the button to “Create Event”. This will bring up your new event page. From here you can invite more Friends (once again from your Personal Profile) using the link on the left under the picture. At the top there is a link to edit the page if you need to make changes and…..
Update Your Fans!
Clicking the link to update your fans will bring up an update box for your event that lets you invite your friends to the event. You have the capability to do some filtering on your list by region, gender and age. Add a subject and message then click send. Your friends will see the invitation in their news feed and have the opportunity to comment, share and RSVP directly from the post.
You can send additional updates as your event approaches. You might want to consider planning this out and using additional updates to announce speakers, VIP guests that have accepted the invitation, door prizes that have been contributed or other special news relative to the event.
Sharing Events
The best thing about social media is the ability to quickly share information. This is true of Facebook Events as well. When you see events posting to your News Feed from your network, click on the share button to send to your friends if you think they may benefit. When posting and updating your events, encourage your fans to share with their friends!
Please comment with any additional tips or lessons learned while using the Facebook Events Application.
This scene from the movie classic Raising Arizona reminds me of a conversation between a Social Media expert and the typical small business person!
“Well you’re on Facebook, right? You’re not on Facebook, you don’t have a page? And what about Twitter, well you just have to be tweeting…and blogging, are you using WordPress, Blogspot, what, you aren’t blogging? And make sure you use Hootsuite, or Tweetdeck or you won’t have any idea what is going on!”
I often catch myself doing it with my students and clients, and then slow down when I see the eyes glaze. Because of the value of social media and the ease of linking things together and sharing, it is difficult to talk about only one media at a time. For those who are overwhelmed and panicked, here are some tips for fitting social media to you. Make sure to leave a coment with your biggest challenge in social networking!
Some is better than none! Start with one application and build as you get comfortable. What you start with depends on the business and objectives. I like to get professional services people up on LinkedIn first and then get them blogging before digging into Facebook and Twitter. For retail I might focus on Foursquare first, followed by Facebook and Twitter.
Learn to Subscribe and Comment. Find blogs to subscribe to, people to follow on twitter and Facebook Fan pages to “Like”. Track those with experience and see how they do it. Write comments, respond to questions and ask them questions about their sites. It’s a great way to learn and an easy way to start getting your name out there.
Carve out an hour a day. Most social media is free, but if it’s a significant part of your marketing plan you have to put in the time. At first you will spend the hour learning more than posting, but as you get more comfortable and experienced the hour will become more and more productive. To start try spending 20 minutes learning more about social media, 20 minutes reading and commenting on other peoples posts and 20 minutes on your posts – thinking through what and when you will post throughout the day.
Read a good book on Social Media. I recommend the book Trust Agents because it focuses more on the philosophy and strategy of social media than how to use any specific tool. What you really need to understand is how you can add value to the network you are trying to build. For the “how-to’s”, there are a ton of step-by-step blogs out there.
Slow and steady wins the Race. Listen, you may go a couple days and not have time to post anything. It’s ok to jump back in! Even if you can only spend 30 minutes every other day, it’s better than nothing and you will see some results. Just like most other types of marketing, a little every day is better than a marketing dump every two weeks.
Don’t try to solve world hunger in your first week of social media! You will become quickly overwhelmed and likely stop after a couple weeks. Instead, pick one media app and go with it, focusing on establishing a routine and setting aside the time. You will get people telling you about a ton of other tools that are out there. Write them down for reference but make the time and get comfortable with the first thing before taking on the second and third.
It won’t be long until you shift from finding the time to network online to forcing yourself to stop so you can get some work done!
What’s your biggest challenge to social networking?
I was listening to the Tony Kornheiser show this morning and they read through a direct mail piece that Tony received from the Washington Kastles Tennis Team. The letter was a form invitation from the owner of the Kastles to an upcoming event and seemed to be pretty well done for a direct mail piece. Tony and the crew absolutely ripped the Kastle organization for it though. The problem – the letter started out “Dear Anthony”.
Boy, if you could take back a direct mail piece!
Most of us understand the methods for gathering names and information for direct mail, and that there are many mistakes in the names, titles or even gender. Where the Kastles really messed up though is that they didn’t use public relations to address the media audience separate from the direct mailing to the general population.
For those not familiar with the Tony Kornheiser show, it is a daily talk show on a local DC sports radio station. They talk some sports, but it is more about entertainment and, well, just stuff. The Kornheiser crew/posse/team (what exactly are they?) loves to latch on to a product or company, for good or bad, and use it as conversation fodder throughout the show. At the end of the show there is an email pile-on where the audience sends in their take on the day’s topics, usually dominated by the product or company in the spot light. You can imagine (or you can probably go listen) how much fun they had with a letter from a local sports group to a national sports celebrity and local sports icon that started out “Dear Anthony”.
When you are planning your marketing campaigns, especially for upcoming special events, do some public relations planning first. How would this have been different if before Tony received this impersonal, promotional invitation he had received a personally signed invitation, or even a phone call, from the owner or a public relations person? Do you know the ten or twenty media people in your industry who have the power to make or ruin your day because they have an audience? You should be communicating with these folks through public relations.
Many small business owners mistakenly limit public relations to periodic press releases about their business. PR is much more than that, and unless you are a company popular enough to be newsworthy, self reporting press releases are useless. Public relations is about knowing and building relationships with the media and providing information and resources that help them provide more value to their audience. Of course your hope is that the end result reflects positively on your business.
The Prince William Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies conference in September and the focus this year is on Public Relations. Wouldn’t it be great if Tony Kornheiser somehow found and read this obscure blog post and offered to come to the September 22nd as the keynote speaker! “Mr. Anthony”, you can email me at jlgorman@sigmabizlearning.com if you’re interested. It’s more likely that they read this post and publically humiliate me for my poor grammar and shameless use of their name to promote my blog and MAPS event!
This weekend I traded emails with Becky O’Brien of Optimal Wellness about my Subscribe! blog posts that described the importance and steps to subscribing to a blog. As part of the discussion I went to her blog, checked out the subscription setup and left a comment – nothing serious.
Here’s where it gets interesting…
I walked into Sigma College of Small Business yesterday afternoon and there on the desk was a little pink box with a great thank-you note from Becky. The little pink box contained a Southern Red Velvet cupcake from one of my business neighbors in Haymarket, VA, Cupcake Heaven. Now, 5 years ago I would have e-mailed or called Becky to thank her and probably told my wife and a few others what she had done and how wonderful the cupcake tasted. In the end maybe 5 or 10 people would have known how thoughtful Becky had been, what a wonderful cupcake they have over at Cupcake Heaven and the fact that I took some time to help Becky out with her blog.
The Difference with Social Media
Instead of just e-mailing or calling, I posted my thank you on Becky’s Fan page and on my personal profile in Facebook, tagging her fan page. I also mentioned Cupcake Heaven and the quality of their product. The difference with social media is that the same message that went to 5 or 10 people a few years ago can now reach hundreds of people between my friends, my fans and Becky’s fans. And it took no more effort on my part than if I had just sent an email. If I could have quickly found the Cupcake Heaven Fan Page, (I have since found them on FB) the message would have been received by all their fans as well! So the advantage is that in the simplest of transactions and communication, all three of us are promoted from trusted sources (people choose to fan, follow and like those that they trust) to a few hundred people.
And By the Way…
You may be asking the question “Why would Becky choose Cupcake Heaven, with its pink box and swirly frosting for a male business associate?” Well, it is right next door and I look like I enjoy a good cupcake, but that’s not the case. The fact is that I have been posting my visits to Cupcake Heaven for coffee through Foursquare, and commenting on how tempting the cupcakes (and ice cream) look, for several weeks! In fact I’m the Mayor! So Becky knew going in that this would the perfect thank-you gift, and it absolutely was! I was wiping frosting off my face as I walked into my next meeting.
A Lot of Hype
There is certainly a lot of hype around social media. And there are some who can fit the technology so well with their business and personality that it becomes a huge business driver. But like any other marketing tool it takes time and consistency to build success. Don’t get scared by the hype because even a simple presence and effort can become beneficial. In fact, in many cases, like the one I described above, you just need to set up the presence and let your customers and network do the work for you through their social media channels!
In Subscribe! Part 1 I talked about the importance of tracking and commenting on relevant blogs and news feeds to building your online presence. Internet Explorer and other browsers have the capability to help you manage your RSS feeds and this post will walk through how to send news and current blog posts to the “Feeds” tab in Internet Explorer 8. Other browsers should have similar functionality.
If you are someone who routinely uses the “favorites” functionality in IE to manage the web sites you visit frequently, then this may be the best place to track important RSS Feeds that you want to comment on immediately. I don’t routinely use the favorites part of IE so I use this method for sites that don’t update often, or for sites that I want to track for reference when I’m developing business curriculum. Remember, in social networking it is important to follow and comment, so keep your “high interest” content where you will see it often through your normal work routine.
1. Go to SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog or news site that you want to subscribe to.
Click on the RSS Icon in the upper right of the IE window
2. In the upper right of the window, in the menu area is the little orange RSS icon. If the icon isn’t orange, either you are already subscribed or the site doesn’t have RSS capability. Click on the RSS button and a “feed” page will load.
3. Click on “Subscribe to this feed” and then “Subscribe” in the window that pops up. The subscription will be placed in the “Feed” Tab in Favorites.
Access your saved RSS feed through the Favorite window on the Feeds Tab
4. To see your feeds, click the “Favorites” button in the upper left of the window and then the “Feeds” Tab.
5. Click on the subscription to see the latest post!
Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others. Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!
Microsoft Outlook allows you to use RSS technology to subscribe to blogs and news feeds and have updates come directly to your inbox. This can be useful if your main communication technique is email and there is a feed that you don’t want to miss an update. Or, you may use it to store feeds from an online resource for future reference. I use the RSS functionality in MS Outlook for my Inc. Magazine RSS feeds. There are a lot and it’s tough to keep up, but there is some great information that I can use when I am putting together my business management classes for small business owners. Once again, if you don’t use Outlook, your email software probably has a similar function.
1. Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or the blog that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS button, either on the page or in your browser. This will bring up the “Subscription” page for that site.
2. Select and copy the web address or url from the subscription page. For Outlook you must have the url from the subscription page, not the main blog page.
3. In Outlook, go to the File menu and Folder>>Add a new RSS feed…
Open the "New RSS Feed" Box
4. Paste the URL from the subscription page into the New RSS Feed box and click the “Add” Button.
5. Your RSS feed is now ready to review in Outlook.
Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others. Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!
Tomorrow morning the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce is hosting a seminar “Doubling Your Profits” at the Warrenton Visitor Center. Angela Smith from Fauquier Springs Country Club will be sharing her personal experience of doubling profits by following the guidance from Bob Fifer’s book, “Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less”. At Angela’s recommendation I read the book and am looking forward to hearing which of the 78 steps she used and found most useful.
Be Serious About Profitability!
There are some great ideas on how to both cut expenses and increase revenue in this book, but it is not for the faint of heart. In the first “step” Mr. Fifer warns the unsuspecting that the book is written for those who are serious about profitability, and if you aren’t serious, many of the steps will seem harsh, especially the ones that deal with suppliers and employees. However, I would recommend it for small business owners because it will seriously challenge many of the discretionary “needs” that we have.
A Teaser! Some of My Favorites
Step 4: What Does “The Best” Mean? – 1. Never settle for status quo 2. Be a Meritocracy, i.e reward based on performance, period. 3. We’re here to make a profit, don’t apologize (step 5) These are culture changing definitions of being the best.
Step 7: Strategic vs. Non-Strategic Costs – He recommends categorizing every cost into “Strategic”, those that clearly bring in business and improve the bottom line, and “Non-Strategic”, the rest. Once categorized, outspend your competition for strategic costs and ruthlessly cut non-strategic costs to the bone. I love this attitude, and although Mr. Fifer later bashes accounting reports (for the sake of reporting), he might agree that using Quickbooks categories to help identify these would be useful.
Step 25: Go to Bid, Frequently – He uses frequent bids or the threat of frequent bids as a tactic for draining price concessions from suppliers, and it will work. However, it also forces suppliers to review their own costs and helps identify the new techniques and technologies that may be available from the last bid.
Step 39: If You Never Fire an Employee, You Can’t Have an Excellent Business – This one may surprise those that know me, but if you are going to be the best and a meritocracy, you can’t tolerate poor performance and the reality is that it will happen. Putting up with it is not fair to the top performers and it’s not fair to the poor performers who are probably in the wrong job – help push them to the right job. (See “Straight From the Gut” by Jack Welch of GE fame)
Step 75: Invest in Your Sales Force-No Investment Will Yield a Greater Return – Enough said.
This is only a teaser in comparison to what you can learn by reading the entire book. I can’t wait to hear Angela’s direct experience of implementation and have the opportunity to ask questions tomorrow morning. If you are local to Warrenton, VA don’t miss this opportunity! See you there.
Another great week of weather and business. If you are willing to listen and reflect there are always oppotunities to learn.
Who Cares?
A great tip came from Asha Sedalia Bruot of ASHA Public Relations during a MAPS committee meeting this week. When preparing to write your next press release, ask yourself “Who Cares?”. Her point was that choosing the right audience is a must in deciding what to write, how to write and which media channels might be interested. The upcoming MAPS (Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies) Conference on September 22nd will be focused on developing a good public relations strategy – more to come!
“Customer Service” should always be top of mind
Kris Johnson of the PWCGM Chamber shared a story at Friday’s MB3 breakfast that we can all probably relate to. She was calling a relatively new member to offer a sponsorship opportunity and was deep into her explanation of the benefits of this particular sponsorship. The member gently interrupted and jokingly said, “Oh, you’re calling to sell a sponsorship, I thought you were calling to thank me for membership and see if all is well”. Knowing Kris and her record of customer service, she surely recovered and impressed by the end of the call. Her point was that we can all learn much more about customer service Wednesday at the Insight Series Luncheon “Customer Service” , with guest speaker Bobbie Walker, Partnership Marketing Education Director for Virginia Tourism Corporation, but this was a quick reminder for me. Everyone says that repeat business is the most profitable, but make sure you have successfully delivered on the previous sale before launching into the next!
Gas Mileage, Gravity and Centrifugal Force
I learned this week that a late model Toyota Avalon can go from Warrenton, VA to the PWCGM office in Manassas, then to the Western Chamber Office in Gainesville and finally to the Sheetz in Haymarket with the orange gas light on. In further news, on that same day I learned that a well placed gas cap wedged between the rear windshield and the trunk will last against wind and centrifugal force from the Sheetz in Haymarket to Warrenton and that 2 of 5 people on the road will take the time to slow down and try to point that out to a motorist on a cell phone. And for those kind people – Ok, ok, I know now what you were trying to tell me! Thank-you!
Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to my little sis Kristy MacIntyre and her husband Jamie at MacIntyre Engineering! Congratulations to the “Rev Man”, Scot Small of RevBuilders who hosted a wonderful Grand Opening at his new office in Gainesville this week. I heard that Chow Now was featured in an article in an upcoming Flavor Magazine – looking forward to reading that. My daughter Jessica Gorman finished a summer semester of classes in France this week, with flying colors I’m sure. Way to go Jess! And finally, a big Sigma Shout Out to all the recent graduates of Leadership Prince William “Third is Superb” class. I hear nothing but great things about this program and they are currently recruiting for the next session. Congratulations!
Started the week on Sunday with my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration! Wow, a lot can happen in 50 years. Amazing how many lives you can impact, it was a page right out of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Got me thinking how what I learned from my parents has affected me as a husband, father and….business owner. You see, when my parents were about my age, Dad quit his job and they bought Sleepy Hollow Campground in Schellsburg, PA. Neither one of them had a business degree or any experience owning a business, but they were passionate and determined to make it work. I’m certain that the joys and struggles of that experience are what sparked my love for working with small business owners. There aren’t many things in the world more satisfying than helping a passionate, determined business owner with a great idea, become a great business person that turned that idea into a successful business.
The campground was sold long ago and they followed another path. Dad is retired and Mom is working on her writing career (that she started just a few years ago). Thanks to both of you for the inspiration and example of having the guts to follow your heart, dreams and God’s will. Congratulations on a great 50 years!
Social Networking Boosts Regular Networking
Earlier in the week I posted a book review on SigmaBiz Blog for Terry Bean’s The Universal Guide to Business Networking. After posting, I tweeted, commented and sent Terry an email letting him know I posted and inviting him to comment if I missed anything. I didn’t know Terry, but we traded a few emails and he even gave me a call to talk, which was impressive since he recommended a follow-up call as a tip in his book. It was pretty cool to have a published author contact me directly, and we had a nice quick conversation about leveraging social networking tools for your local business network. We aren’t planning Thanksgiving together, but it shows how solid social networking techniques can more easily open good business relationships. Thanks Terry.
Example Two. I finally met Jeff Crites of Brick and Click, right here in my home town. I’ve been following Jeff on Twitter and Facebook and subscribing to his blog for a few months now. We finally met at a Greater Warrenton Chamber luncheon on Wednesday. He’s the first one that I’ve met face-to-face after first meeting through online social networking. It was pretty cool because instead of that awkward discussion on what we do and who we know, we were able to jump right into a solid conversation on social networking (his expertise) and business education (my expertise). Jeff even explained how to do “lists” on Twitter to help me manage followers! Social media provides a great way to get over the initial awkwardness of meeting new people in person, and you can use it to build and improve your network.
I attended the PWC-GM Chamber Excellence in Business Awards Luncheon on Tuesday. It’s amazing how much time and resources our members are willing to provide for the building of our local business community! Congratulations to all winners:
BR Associates – Business of the Year (up to 5 employees)
Cardinal Bank – Louis E. Maroon Business of the Year (6-15 employees)
To be perfectly honest, I almost put the book down after the first ten pages, but because it received a strong endorsement from social networking guru Chris Brogan I endeavored to persevere. I’m very glad I did, because once I got through the universal connection philosophy stuff, with several references to “The Secret” that drag down the first chapter, I found a great networking philosophy and some wonderful tips for improving anyone’s networking game.
The book is broken down logically to discuss the preparation, execution and follow-up for networking events and for networking online. As someone focused on educating small business owners and not just giving them quick tips, I especially liked this outline. By laying it out in this way Terry followed the foundational steps for starting any marketing effort – Audience, Objectives, Message and Delivery/Follow-up.
“Understand What You Seek”, is one section title but also an overarching theme in the book. It was a good reminder that as my business grows and changes, I need to review what it is that I want my network to do. Terry touches on this concept throughout the book and then brings it home in the last section where he summarizes “The ASK”, his version of that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect. He also does a great job rolling this concept into the choices and decisions of who you should be targeting to meet, both in person and in your online networking.
“How to Work a Room.” This is one of the most practical pieces on networking that I have seen. Terry gets to some of the core concepts of meeting people in a large group setting. Being approachable with a smile, how to remember names, polite ways to enter and exit a conversation and even what to say, oops, I mean ASK, when you meet people. The ideas and suggestions he uses are especially good for those folks who are over the fear of working the big room, but not sure how to make it most effective. WARNING, shameless self promotion: For those still petrified of the big room, check out “Business Networking for the Non-networker”.
“How To Separate Yourself From Most People You Just Met” What a great way to start a chapter on follow-up! Terry even points out in the opening sentences that we all know the answer is follow-up, and yet it is probably the biggest point of failure, not only in networking, but in our general marketing efforts. Thank-you Terry for letting me off the hook and not insisting that a hand-written thank-you note is the only acceptable follow-up! The “After You Network” chapter provides a great process for timing, method and content of follow-ups, including one of my favorite lines from the book – “Here’s the reality, following up with someone 2 weeks after you met them, is still better than not following up with them at all.”
Overall, Terry has provided a pretty good guide and an easy read for improving your networking skills. The ASK approach is an interesting and unique way of looking at that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect. But more importantly it lays the foundation for adding value to a network that will then add value to you in return. Maybe that’s where the “universe” fits into the discussion?!? I recommend this book for any small business owner who has decided that personal networking is an important part of their marketing strategy.
August 23, 2010 | Posted by Jamie Gorman 
Categories: Business Networking, Business Topics, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media | 
Tags: advertise, education, facebook, gainesville, haymarket, learn, management, manassas, networking, online, seo, small, social, Social Media, VA, Virginia, warrenton, web | 
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Started the week on Sunday with my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration! Wow, a lot can happen in 50 years. Amazing how many lives you can impact, it was a page right out of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Got me thinking how what I learned from my parents has affected me as a husband, father and….business owner. You see, when my parents were about my age, Dad quit his job and they bought Sleepy Hollow Campground in Schellsburg, PA. Neither one of them had a business degree or any experience owning a business, but they were passionate and determined to make it work. I’m certain that the joys and struggles of that experience are what sparked my love for working with small business owners. There aren’t many things in the world more satisfying than helping a passionate, determined business owner with a great idea, become a great business person that turned that idea into a successful business.
