JEM Marketing Blog

For the past several months, LinkedIn has been undergoing some changes.  There is a new look, and some new functionality.  But is LinkedIn simply playing “catch up?”  Do these changes remind you of features that Facebook has already been using with substantial success?

New LinkedIn Features

1. Blue Box To See New Updates

When you click on the blue box under your status update box on your profile, you get a listing that looks very similar to a Facebook newsfeed with updates from your connections.  Is this similarity to the Facebook newsfeed a coincidence?  I think not.  Many of the postings here even have the familiar “Like – Comment – Share” buttons.

2. Images are Larger

Images with LinkedIn status updates are now larger which will enhance engagement with yourFacebook statistics have long shown that images get the most engagement with other users.  Is LinkedIn becoming more visually functional to emulate Facebook posts?

3. Company Pages

Recently, LinkedIn has added the ability to upload an image to your companyThis is dramatically similar to the Facebook cover image for business pages.  In fact, I use the same image (recommended for consistent branding) on both my LinkedIn company page and my Facebook business page.

Where Does LinkedIn Excel Over Facebook?

In my opinion, there are a few places where LinkedIn has done a better job than Facebook, especially from a career or business opportunity standpoint.  Maybe this is to be expected, since by nature, providing career and business connections is LinkedIn’s model.

1. Endorsements

Similar to recommendations, LinkedIn now allows your connections to endorse skills that you’ve described on your profile with the mere click of a button. This is a huge plus for networking, and people are much more apt to endorse you for a particular skill or set of skills than they are to write a recommendation.

2. Products and Services on Company Pages

With the ability to now add images and descriptive copy about your company’s products and services, LinkedIn has given business owners a great opportunity to showcase their offerings within the LinkedIn site where they have more opportunity of being seen than on your company’sIdeally, this feature should be used to entice the viewer to go to your website to gain more information about your company and its products and services.

3. Sharing to Groups

Using social media to get your message out is key, so having the ability to share a single post to multiple groups is a big plus for LinkedIn. Comparatively, on Facebook, the user must share the same post over and over again to each group individually.  This is definitely an area where Facebook should look to LinkedIn for improvement.

Today, almost everyone has some presence on at least one social media site. Currently, Facebook has over 1 billion users, LinkedIn has over 189 million and Twitter hit over 500 million in 2012. Even considering the fake accounts, duplicates and other scenarios, there are still a lot of people to interact with via social media.

These social media platforms each have their own guidelines, best practices, and nuances as to how to use them most effectively. Sadly, many people do not take the time to learn about these guidelines and best practices, and the result is that many people are using them not only ineffectively, but inappropriately.

Here are some common sense rules to follow, regardless of which social media platform you are using. Actually, if you really think about it, the only one you need is number one, as the rest will all follow naturally if you practice the first one.

#1 - Be Polite on Social Media

Do not say something on a social media site that you would not say if you were standing face to face with that person in a room.

#2 - Do Not Spam

It's ok to promote your products or services occasionally, but make sure that you are always offering something of value to your audience and that your offering is relevant to the forum on which you are posting.

#3 - Do Not Promote Yourself on Someone Else's Page

It is simply bad form to post something on someone else's Facebook page that promotes yourself, your company or your product or services.

#4 - Do Not Personalize Your Comments

It is fine to disagree with a comment on a page or in a forum, and to offer a different or opposing opinion, but make sure that you stay on subject and do not personalize your remarks.

#5 - Follow the Rules

Most groups on Facebook and LinkedIn have rules posted which explain what can and can't be posted or what the intent of the group is. Make sure that your post, comment or question is relevant to the group or forum where you're posting.

As a social media consultant, I have seen too many instances of people not using these simple rules in their approach to social media marketing. If you would like more information about social media, please become a fan of my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JEMmarketing and/or follow me on Twitter @JEMmarketingLI.

In order to create a custom Facebook cover, there are a few guidelines you need to follow.

1. Size of the Image

The size of your custom Facebook image should be 850 pixels wide by 315 pixels deep. Depending upon you skill level, you can use any image editor to create your image. Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop are good choices, but there are several free photo editors that can be found online.

2. Don't Promote Anything in the Cover Image

Facebook guidelines prohibit you from offering any kind of sale information in the cover image. For example, you cannot say, "10% OFF OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY".

3. Do Not Use Contact Information

Unlike the header of a website, your Facebook cover cannot contain your phone number, address, email or website URL.

4. Do Not Request that Visitors "Like" or "Share" on Your Custom Facebook Cover

Facebook prohibits you from asking for a "Like" or a "Share" or any other Facebook user interface elements on your custom cover image.

5. Do Not Use a "Call to Action on Your Custom Facebook Cover

You cannot use any language that encourages a viewer to take an action on your cover image. An example would be, "Fill out our contact form to receive our newsletter".

6. Facebook Profile Image

Along with your custom Facebook cover image, you will probably want to create a custom profile image for your fan page. If you are a business, that may be your logo, your company name or a product. The image size should be 180 pixels wide x 180 pixels deep.

When designing your custom Facebook cover image, you should keep in mind that the profile image overlaps the cover image slightly on the lower left side of the cover image. Make sure that you do not cover up any text or an important design element with your profile image.

These are the things you need to know when creating a custom Facebook cover. For more tips on social media, you can follow JEM Marketing & Business Solutions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JEMmarketing.

If you would like more information about making money online, watch our video at www.JEMempowernetwork.com.

What is the value of using promotional items to market your business?

Well, here’s a simple fact:  ”People like free stuff!”  If you are giving away free stuff that is useful for a person’s desk, kitchen or car, AND if that free stuff has your company’s name, logo and contact information on it, you have just given yourself the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time.  That is, if you are an insurance agent, and someone needing an insurance product is using a free pen or a free calendar that you’ve given them somewhere along the way, the chances are much higher that you will get the phone call or email inquiring about your products.  You see, people tend to buy a product or service only when they have a need to fulfill.  You may meet someone at a networking event in June, but that person may not have a need for your product until December.  Do they still have your business card?  Maybe, but probably not.  But … if you’ve given them a pen, or a keychain or a calendar or a letter opener with your name, phone and website URL, they probably have that item right in front of them on their desk.
Statistically, over $19 billion a year is spent on promotional items.  Studies at LSU and the University of Texas found that when using a promotional item as part of your marketing strategy, the perception of the company is more positive, and that referrals are more likely.

What are the reasons to use promotional items?

• Promote goodwillAdvertise your products and/or services
• Build customer loyalty
• Build trade show traffic
• Celebrate a business milestone or event
• Say “thank you” to your customers
• Provide incentives for your employees

JEM Marketing & Business Services provides a variety of quality promotional items at a great price.  If you would like to view our online catalogs, click here.  JEM Marketing also provides website design, social media marketing and many other services to help you promote your business.  Visit our website at www.JEMmarketingsolutions.com.

Have you upgraded your iPhone or iPad to the new iOS 6 operating system?  If not, I recommend that you do so right away.  Apple is boasting over 200 new features packed in to this upgrade.  It does take a while for the upgrade to download and install, but I think you'll find it well worth it.  Here are some of the new features that I feel are useful, will make using your device easier, or are just plain cool!

Maps

The maps app on your iPhone and iPad now offers spoken GPS turn by turn directions.  Previously, it had turn by turn directions, but without the voice which made it difficult to use while driving.

Siri

Siri now has enhanced capabilities.  You can now ask Siri for the latest movie reviews and showtimes, get your team's scores and stats, and find restaurants and make reservations.  You can now ask Siri to open apps for you and even post updates to Facebook or tweets on Twitter.

Facebook

iOS  6 now offers better integration of Facebook throughout your iPhone and iPad experience. Facebook events and birthday reminders can now be integrated into your calendar and Facebook friends can be integrated into your Contacts.

Passbook

A totally new icon called Passbook now exists where you can download several free apps that allow you to use your iPhone to check in at the airport, show your paid ticket at a movie theater, or redeem a coupon at your favorite store.  You can also check your seats for a concert, and even see the balance remaining on your Starbucks card.

Facetime

Facetime has been enhanced so that it now works over your cell network, not just with a WiFi connection, and you can use it on your iPad with your phone number.

Phone Calls

Phone features include new options to reply to a declined call with a text message or set a reminder to call back.  There is a new Do Not Disturb feature (useful when you're in a meeting) with an automated response to the caller.  You can also set up a list of important callers to override the Do Not Disturb setting.

Email

You can now set up a VIP inbox and designate important emails so that you don't overlook a message from a client, or a family member.

Safari

The Safari browser now keeps track of your web browsing with iCloud tabs, allowing you to switch from one device to another and continue browsing the same pages.  You can also keep a reading list of full web pages and then access them later even if you are not connected to WiFi.

Camera

The camera on your iPhone now offers a panoramic view, which allows you to shoot up to 240 degrees and create panoramic photos.

Find My iPhone

There is a new Lost mode which, when activated, immediately locks your device with a 4 digit passcode.  It also displays a contact number on your iPhone so that someone who finds it can contact you.  All other functions and information remained locked an inaccessible.  The GPS functionality will keep track of where you phone has been.

Find My Friends

By utilizing this feature, you can share locations with family and friends.  This is great for parents of young children who can set up location-based alerts to let them know where the kids are.

By now, most of us are aware of the term social media marketing, but how many of us really know what it means and how to use it?  The word “social” is a big clue that is often being overlooked.  Social media marketing is meant to engage people in conversation and conversations need to be two-sided.  The term “inbound marketing” is also heard very often these days in relation to social media marketing.  But what does it mean?

Inbound marketing is the art of drawing your audience (and potential customers) to you through the use of social media platforms such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and so on.  How do you draw your audience in?  You provide relevant content, information, how-to’s, and cite examples that are in line with your point of view on a given topic, based on your product and/or services.  Your goal should be to provide the answer in anticipation of the question.  The objective of social media marketing is to start a two-way dialog, to relate to the needs of your audience and to provide information about a benefit or solution.  In this way, your audience responds to you, appreciates the communication you offer, and looks to you to provide additional information, benefits or solutions.

"Honesty is such a lonely word.

Everyone is so untrue.

Honesty is hardly ever heard.

And mostly what I need from you."

   From Billy Joel’s song, Honesty

Honesty and integrity.  No matter what business you’re in, or what your products or services may be, these two principles should be at the top of your list of offerings.  The economy is hard, competition is great and it’s not easy to set yourself or your business apart from the pack.  Every day we hear horror stories about how people have been lied to, scammed or worse.  That makes it ten times harder for those of us who are honest to gain the trust of prospective clients.

These days, it seems like everyone from 8 to 88 is engaged in some sort of social media.  I read the other day that in 2011 a trend developed showing a decrease in texting and a comparable increase in communicating via Facebook and Twitter.  Somewhere along the way, it has become “uncool” to pick up the phone to have a conversation with a friend, and instead we use tiny little keyboards to express ourselves.  Without even mentioning the amount of typos and the loss of most punctuation and grammar that this results in, we are losing the sense of a person’s personality, humor, sarcasm, etc. – the essence of that person which is much more evident in a phone conversation, or – dare I say it, a face to face conversation.

People ask me this question all the time.  I’m sure they don’t realize it, but asking that question is like saying to a builder, “I want you to build a house for me.  How much do you charge?”  Or asking a car salesman, “How much will it cost me to buy a car?” 

The home builder will undoubtedly respond with a series of questions which will probably include the following: “Do you already have a lot? If not, in what area do you wish to build and what size lot would you like?  What square footage are you looking for in your home?  What type of house would you like – a ranch, a colonial, a split level, etc.? What kind of finishes do you require for flooring, cabinets, lighting, security, bathroom fixtures, etc.?”

Here is an all too common scenario.  A new business is started, and the business owner needs a website.  He hires  a web design company, they discuss what is needed, agree on a price, and the web designer begins the process of building the website.  The web designer provides or purchases the web hosting package and the domain name, and the site is built.  So far, so good.

Now some time goes by, possibly even a year or two, and the business owner finds that his needs have changed.  He might feel that he's paying too much for hosting, or for updates, or he needs to add something to the website that the originally designer is unable to offer. He might need a more responsive company to maintain his site, or he might want someone new to totally redesign the site.