I just found this great tutorial for setting up your own vanity url for Linkedin.
Check it our over at LisaMarie Dias Designs blog:
http://lisamariediasdesigns.com/2011/05/03/setting-up-a-vanity-url-for-linked-in-tutorial/
Category Archives: Social Media
How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Facebook Posts
By Charlie Scala
If you’re a small business owner and you’re a) taking the time to update your company’s Facebook Page, or b) paying an employee or marketing company to update your company’s Facebook Page, it is equally important to compare your posts to see what type of content your fans value.
In order to see how many impressions and how much feedback each post receives, use Facebook Analytics. All you have to do is go to the “insights” section of your Facebook Fan Page and click “See All”. This brings you to the Facebook Analytics dashboard, where you can view user statistics and interaction statistics.
In order to measure the quality of your posts over time, start by clicking on the interactions tab. This section recaps your most recent posts, the dates and times they were posted, how many impressions each received, and the amount of feedback per impression. (I recommend exporting these statistics to excel once a month, which you do right from Facebook Analytics dashboard. This will allow you to archive results to see more than just recent posts.)
On the Facebook Analytics dashboard, posts are sorted chronologically, which allows administrators to compare impressions and feedback among posts. This shows us how many times each post was viewed and the percentage of reactions per impression. You can also click on “impressions” to sort the posts from highest to lowest number of impressions, or you can click on “feedback” to sort posts from the highest to lowest percentage of feedback.
(Keep in mind that feedback is a percentage based on the number of impressions. Let’s say you have 1000 impressions on a post, and 5 people click the like button, and 5 people comment. That gives you a feedback rating of 10/1000, or 1%. If another post receives 100 impressions and two people click the like button, that post will receive a feedback percentage of 2%. Even though this is a higher percentage, the overall amount of feedback was much lower, two reactions compared to ten reactions.)
Unfortunately at this time, Facebook only measures the overall number of times that posts have been seen on Facebook (on your wall or other walls), not the number of unique users that saw the post. Still, measuring impressions and feedback over time can give you a better indication of what engages your audience. These post statistics are also available to fan page administrators when viewing your Facebook Fan Page wall.
Measuring impressions over time is a good way to judge your page’s activity. If impressions are rising, that means you’re probably adding new fans on a regular basis and offering compelling posts to keep fans interested. If the number of impressions drops over time, that probably means that your fans are not coming back to your page on a regular basis.
Monitoring feedback between posts is a good way to track what type of content engages your audience. When comparing feedback between posts, think about what content you’re offering. Is it a price discount, news, tips, photos, announcement, or something else? Once you’ve categorized your posts by what you’re offering, compare the feedback on each to see what engages your audience.
For example, if you own a running shoe company and you post sneaker discounts, marathon stories, running tips, and pictures of new shoes, compare the feedback you’re getting between each type of post. If 15 people click the like button when you post a picture of a new sneaker and only two or three people click the like button when you post a price discount, it could mean your fans value new running technology and innovation, not cheap prices.
Tracking the effectiveness of the type of content you offer in each post will give you a better indication of what the people that “like” your page value from your product or service. The key is to categorize and monitor your posts over time. Then, use that information to post content that your fans will view, “like,” comment on.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charlie_Scala
How to Go Local with Social Media
by Debbie A. Everson
Is there a place for a small neighborhood business like yours in global sites Twitter or Facebook? Business wise, is there an advantage? Of course, there is. The beauty of online marketing through social media is that it gets your sales pitch to everybody. This means that you can launch a local social media campaign to attract local customers, with the help of these global-catering sites.
Successful Local Social Media Stories
Here are a few of the entrepreneurial spirits that grew their business with the help of ingenious local social media campaigns:
1. Mars Cafe. They employed Twitter and MySpace to establish an easy-going relationship with Iowa University customers. A “Twitter Tuesday” promo for students and teachers is claimable with a school ID. $1-coffee offers can be claimed when customers know the keyword posted earlier at Twitter.
2. Expedia. Online travel booking company Expedia is operating globally but maintains numerous local accounts. Expedia Chicago tweets the best round trip deals to and from Chicago every day. Twitter customers also get last minute travel and hotel deals that are cheaper than standard rates.
3. Studio Movie Grill. This Dallas-based cinema house operates an online ticket reservation system. They use Facebook and Twitter for local social media campaigns filled with announcements on special movie screenings and promos.
4. Dunkin Donuts. Their local campaigns are a mix of corporate- and branch-level Facebook offerings. Customers get a close look inside their kitchens, learn about their chefs, and receive a steady dose of news on local stores everywhere.
Best Places to Conduct Your Local Social Media Campaign
Social media sites may be the microcosm of the world, but they actually cater to local online marketing. Here are some of them and how they can help localize your campaign:
1. Facebook
Every user that signs up in Facebook fills in profile information. The city or hometown part of the profile is useful in local marketing. Your business’s Facebook account automatically places you in the same network with users of the same location, city or hometown.
2. LinkedIn
Business people use LinkedIn to get connections with businesses in the same location or industry. Your product, skill or service gains wider local coverage. LinkedIn users are potential business partners, employees or customers.
3. Twitter
Twitter’s near-real-time and conversational tweet feature allows businesses to directly reach out to local customers. It has a search facility that returns users in particular locations, depending on the search keywords used.
Tracking Local Social Media Gains
To ensure that your local social media campaign is really helping your business and is not a complete waste of time, here are some things to do:
1. Set a goal. This may vary from reaching out to costumers, or increase online sales, or simply monitor brand popularity online. Goals serve as the baseline to track the progress of your local social media campaign.
2. Track your milestones. A quarter later, did you achieve your goal to get a thousand Facebook fans, for example? Take stock of your current progress relative to the past, to maintain direction or make corrections when necessary.
3. Use tools to measure performance. It can be Google Analytics to measure traffic, or a PR checker, or a customer satisfaction survey form.
4. Keep at it. Local social media benefits are not gained overnight. Followers, fans and your entire customer base are carefully nurtured with patience and through time.
Remember that there is no such thing as instant success in local social media campaigns. Good business sense plus a well-crafted campaign will be instrumental in increasing your business reputation and engaging customers online.
About the Author
Debbie A. Everson, CEO SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Learn about search engine marketing, pay-per-click, social bookmarking, and email marketing at our SEO Blog. Follow us on Twitter @searchmar or call 866.885.6263 to speak to an SEO Consultant.