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Brand & Message Essentials for Creatives on Social Media

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Nov 23, 2011 in Facebook, How-To, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter | 0 comments

I had the honor of speaking yesterday at Ottawa’s Make Art Work! conference put on by OCRI and I spoke on the topic of, “Brand and Message Essentials for Creatives on Social Media.”

The presentation was designed to highlight the ways that creatives and artists could use social media and maintain an authentic expression of selves.

Here is the slide deck from that session:

Constructive Playthings Ignites a Social Media Firestorm

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Sep 27, 2011 in Facebook, Social Media | 6 comments

Constructive Playthings, an online toy company, has ignited a social media firestorm this week.  A group on Facebook, Play at Home Mom, noticed that the company had a sale on and as a part of this sale, were offering a light table (regularly $300) on sale for $29.  The Play at Home Mom group sent their fan base over to the website, which resulted in 600 orders of the light table.

Unfortunately, the light tables will never be shipped and these customers will not be receiving their purchased product.  Why?  Constructive Playthings made a mistake when lowering the price to $29 — it was never meant to be that inexpensive.  The company cancelled the orders and posted a statement on their Facebook page:

Reader Question: How to Get More Facebook Fans

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Mar 15, 2011 in Facebook, How-To, Social Media | 11 comments

Reader question:

I have 270 people on my Facebook Fan Page, how do I get more to follow me?

I’ve already done the suggest to friends button to invite the people on my profile page. I have some new friends on my profile page but I was waiting to establish a relationship with them since I have spoken to these people in years.

I was thinking of having a contest/draw for a complimentary service by asking people to invite their friends when I reach a certain amount of people and then have another contest later to continue increasing the number until I reach at least 500.

What do you think?

Response:

The process of gaining new friends, fans, followers, etc. is an interesting one and one that I get asked about a lot.  The truth is, there is no real magic formula to getting your number of fans to go up.

Think of it this way… if you walked into a networking event and just stood in the corner or at the bar, you wouldn’t get to know very many people, right?  Or, if you were delivering a seminar but you were dry, boring and the information you shared was regurgitated, you aren’t going to necessarily walk away with people who loved what you did.  People want authenticity and they want interesting.

Making friends, fans or followers on social media comes from having interesting things to say, interesting resources to share and forging relationships with the people you meet.  It also comes from the value you give to the community.

There is this perception on social media that more followers / friends / fans = success.  It’s just not the truth.  You could have 100,000 fans on your Facebook page but the real value is in knowing how many of those people listen to what you have to say, interact with you and interact with the other people you’ve attracted.

However, that being said, there are some ways that you can attract more people to you.

• Start a blog. If you aren’t blogging yet, do so!  You can utilize the blog as a feeder system into your other outlets.  For example, you could start a blog post on your blog but have the rest of it posted as a note on your Facebook fan page which will drive people there.  Blogs allow you to give the ultimate amount of value and they never disappear so you benefit from them for a long time to come.
• Interact in groups, pages, etc. to find other similar people. Sometimes the “if you build it, they will come” idea just doesn’t work.  Instead, you have to go out and find people to friend, fan or follow.  Once those relationships are being built, you’ll naturally find people who are ideal for your world.
• Contests are a great idea – when done correctly (see examples at bottom of post). There is something to be said about a good Facebook fan page contest but there is even more to be said about the bad contests.  The goal here is to create something of interest that will want people to come to your site but you also don’t want to come across as saying, “I just want MORE fans!”  Yes, that is the end result but saying so might make your current “fans” think, “Well… I wonder what’s wrong with the lot of us that is here!”

After you gain new “fans”, building the relationship and having them stay a long-time “fan” is something you’ll have to work on personally and that will just take time, authenticity and a little effort.

Do you have an interesting way that you, or someone you know, has used to gain more fans on Facebook? If so, leave it as a comment so we can continue the discussion!

***

Here are some examples of Facebook fan page contests that have worked.  Thank you to my friends on Twitter for providing the references!

• From @DLPhotography – a contest to drive people to the Facebook fan page: http://www.daniellelynnphotography.com/all-posts/firstbirthday-ottawa-photographer/
• From @NtQtSouthSurrey – @Klutchphoto is hosting a contest for her photography business as well: http://klutchphotography.com/blog/?p=280

Also, before you do a contest, be sure to read the Facebook Promotion Guidelines!  There are some distinct rules you need to follow.  If you prefer a short cut, this blog post sums up the rules nicely.

Podcast: Growing Your Social Media Following (Ep. 10)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Dec 2, 2010 in Facebook, Podcast, Social Media, Twitter | 0 comments

Radio Interview: Social Media & The Virtual Assistant #newmediaradio

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Oct 29, 2010 in Events, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter, Virtual Assistance | 6 comments

Last night I was interviewed on New Media Radio by Monique Terrell and Sam Weaver on the topic of: “Social Media and the Virtual Assistant.”

We had a great conversation around the virtual assistance industry and how social media has affected the industry both from a service standpoint and a user standpoint.  In the interview, I share my opinion on “social media assistants” and talk about incorporating these trendy new services into your business without pigeon-holing yourself.

You can listen in to the interview here.  I’ve also embedded the radio interview below.

Entrepreneurial Moms Ottawa Event Recap #EMOttawa

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Oct 20, 2010 in Events, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter | 1 comment

I just got back from speaking at my very last event before baby arrives and it was for the Entrepreneurial Moms group here in Ottawa. The event was focused on social media and it was the second time I’ve been to speak for this group.

I promised everyone at the event that I would post up the resources I mentioned and shared as well as the slide decks from the first and second events so this post is serving that purpose. I also figured it might be helpful for some of you out there who are jumping into social media.

Slide Deck from Part One

Slide Deck from Part Two

Resources Mentioned in the Slide Deck from Part Two

• Twitter Lingo 101
• Twitter for Business free Video Series
• Adding Revenue to Your Twitter Stream
• Lifestreaming Design