Is your business on Facebook?

Do you need to convince your boss—or a client—that Facebook is a worthy marketing investment?

In this article I’ll show you 7 things you can do to convince decision-makers of the value Facebook.

#1: Assess Your Goals

Before you can convince anyone that they need to be on Facebook, you’ll need to understand what they want to accomplish.

Remember that not every business needs to be on Facebook.

If you are in a B2B that sells concrete to two or three huge companies, LinkedIn might be a better fit.

Not all businesses need to be on Facebook. Assess your business goals first. Image source: iStockPhoto.

Ask the following questions before you start planning a campaign to help you assess expectations and set goals.

• What are your expectations? If you’re starting a Page from scratch, make it clear that’s it’s unrealistic to think a Page will grow from 0 to 100,000 likes overnight.
• What kind of exposure do you want? Does your boss want to use Facebook for public relations or customer service? Or do you have a client that wants to use Facebook to promote limited-time offers or new products? How about increasing interaction (i.e., engagement) with existing customers? All of these are possible on Facebook.
• What kind of feedback would be most helpful for you? Do you hope to learn more about what existing customers think of your products? Or does your boss want to learn more demographic information?
• What demographic are you not currently reaching but is valuable to you? For example, do you hope to reach users in new regions, or older/younger or male/female users?
• What are your competitors doing that you like/dislike? If you love what someone else in your business sector is doing, explain how you can take a similar approach and what you will do to set your company apart.
• What kind of ROI do you expect? ROI is always a hot topic. Everyone wants to know how much more cash will be in the drawer if they invest in Facebook.

For starters, explain that ROI for social media can be measured by getting better customer feedback, increasing word-of-mouth marketing and gaining a better understanding of customers’ wants and needs.

You need to understand social media ROI and know your company’s expectations. Image source: iStockPhoto.

#2: Do Your Homework

Since you’re asking your boss or your client to commit to Facebook, bring information that backs up your position. When doing research that will help support your pitch, focus on three areas.

Case Studies—Find examples of businesses that are similar and have vibrant Facebook presences. Explain what these brands are doing right and what you think they could be doing better. Be sure to include a couple of your client’s competitors in the roundup.

If you’re a sushi restaurant, show some examples of what other sushi restaurants are doing on Facebook.

In this example, Reef Sushi reaches out to their community with a nice Mother’s Day gift!

Market Research—Look up user statistics on CheckFacebook.com to estimate the number of people within your client’s target audience who are on Facebook.

CheckFacebook.com is a free social media monitoring platform that tracks data reported from Facebook’s advertising tool.

Facebook’s Future Projections—Find articles that predict Facebook user growth; focus on your client’s target market. eMarketer is a great resource for tracking industry trends and projections.

#3: Focus on the Opportunities

Based on goals, you’ll want to demonstrate how Facebook could help. Here are some different business opportunities.

For a young business. Present the branding opportunities Facebook has to offer. For example, focus on the opportunities for building awareness for a business in untapped regions, using Facebook ads and various targeting features.

Using Facebook advertising, you can target ads to people in specific cities (down to the zip code) and countries, or who have indicated specific interests on their profiles (sports, cooking, technology, travel, etc.).

For a client concerned with sales. Introduce several of Facebook’s many business-only features such as Offers. Find out whether there are conversions happening elsewhere and whether you need to connect with fans who are already on Facebook.

For example, Macy’s recently posted a code that fans could use for a discount both online and in stores.

Businesses big and small are taking advantage of the Facebook Offer features, which allow a business to offer something exclusive to their Facebook fans.

For an established business. Facebook offers businesses unique opportunities to show off their culture and brand. Customers love to see the people they do business with letting their hair down every once in a while. It makes them feel like they “know” the faces behind the brand and helps build loyalty.

Outdoor brand Patagonia frequently gives fans a look inside factory headquarters to show fans what the company is working on by featuring photos and posts about employees.

A great way to show customers the faces behind the brand.

Remember to point out that customers are having conversations about them anyway, so they should jump in and take some control of what people are saying. Facebook can also provide another channel for customer service, crowdsourcing and feedback.

Major brands such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Oreo, Lays and Budweiser have used crowdsourcing on Facebook to let their customers choose new flavors. In particular, Lays used Facebook to support their “Do Us a Flavor” competition where they asked their fans to pick the next Lays chip flavor.

Lays gets their fans involved by asking them to vote for the next potato chip flavor.

#4: Be Honest About the Potential Risks

Being a target of public criticism is an issue that makes many CEOs and business owners nervous about having a Facebook presence. Part of your job is to address these fears, and tell them what you plan to do to minimize the risks.

For starters, you should create a crisis-management plan. Use the opportunity to demonstrate how you plan to deal with potentially negative comments and other feedback.

And explain why transparency is meaningful to customers. Use the opportunity to talk about the reasons customers like the transparency that social media allows—and how it can inspire loyalty. People don’t expect every business to do everything right 100% of the time, but they get really annoyed and loud if they are ignored.

Facebook fans appreciate timely responses from a real person. Facebook is the perfect place to have open lines of communication with your fans.

#5: Estimate the Costs of Creating and Maintaining a Page

Create a simple spreadsheet or document that include estimates of what’s required to create and maintain a Facebook Page.

Here are some things to include when estimating the cost of your Facebook Page:

• Estimate the hours a week needed to maintain a Facebook Page. The number of times per day and per week a brand posts depends on the type of business, but a small business should be able to manage a Facebook Page in 30 minutes a day or less (checking three times a day and dealing with comments, etc., in three 10-minute chunks). A larger business might need a dedicated staff member who monitors Facebook around the clock.
• Estimate the cost of creating a professional-looking Facebook Page. Consider costs such as a graphic designer to create a series of cover photos and app thumbnails. And consider costs to redesign these in the event Facebook changes their specifications.
• Include a budget for Facebook ads. If you decide that Facebook advertising is something that should be part of your overall Facebook plan, bring examples of the different types of Facebook ads and how much they might cost per month.

Knowing your monthly budget can keep your business on track for reaching its goals on social media. Image source: iStockPhoto.

#6: Suggest a 60-Day Trial

If your company still isn’t convinced of the value of a Facebook presence, suggest a trial period that lasts at least 60 days. If you start off with a good strategy and keep expectations realistic, you’ll be well on your way. My motto is always under-promise and over-deliver!

At the start of the trial period, you will provide them with:

• An outline that will include several realistic goals. Goals could include a 20% increase in the number of fans who engage with the Page by commenting and sharing (remember that fans who engage are more valuable than those who merely like a page), or a certain number of sales that result from a promoted deal.
• A commitment to post a specific number of times per day or week.
• A style guide for the Facebook Page, that should include suggested cover and profile photos, copy and voice. For example, do you want to be casual, informative or formal? Funny, conversational or journalistic? These details should be spelled out in a style guide.

Your Facebook Page should be branded like a website. Your cover photo, profile and apps should all represent your brand.

You’ll also want to point out that social media is ever-changing. And you’ll monitor and adjust your campaign according to what you discover about your fans and followers during the trial period.

#7: Round Up the Results

At the end of the trial period, discuss the results of the test. In your presentation, you could:

• Include a wrap-up with details about accomplishments and lessons learned.
• Make suggestions for tactics you will use going forward based on what you discovered during your trial.
• Have a discussion about additional options for establishing an engaging Facebook presence, including using Facebook apps and Facebook advertising.

Use Facebook for Your Business

When you follow these steps, you’ll be able to show the value Facebook can bring to your client or business. Your company will then be able to figure out how to use Facebook and get the most out of it.

In June 2011, Google introduced author information in the SERPs. Since doing so, much has been written about the importance of ensuring search marketers have taken steps to set up authorship in Google+.

Intuitively, it makes sense that greater attention is drawn to search results with pictures on them and several studies confirm higher click-through rates (CTRs) for search results with authorship images.

In addition to CTRs being higher for search results with vs. without authorship markup, many have theorized that Google will start using an author’s influence in determining how to rank content created by them for relevant queries. This makes it even more critical that publishers set up authorship, linking their online content to their Google+ account.

Google+ Presence in Search Results Increased by 10%

A data analysis of the search results for queries containing 500 of the world’s top tech writers‘ names using Conductor’s Searchlight enterprise SEO platform (disclosure: I work for Conductor) – shows that Google is surfacing Google+ accounts for personal brand searches with increased frequency. From January 2012 to May 2013 the percentage of writers that have Google+ results appear on page increased from 33 percent to 43 percent.

Almost 90% of Tech Writers Now Have a Google+ Account

The data shows that in the last 12-18 months, Google has given increasing weight to Google+ in the SERPs (from June 2012-May 2013 for our data set Google+ visibility in the search results grew by the greatest percentage of all social networks ). Given this growth, and given the attention the techosphere has given to Google+, we were curious to see how pervasive it has become amongst what one would think is a group of early adopters.

First, we looked to see what percentage of writers had a Google+ account, and found that nearly nine out of 10 writers have an account (although it doesn’t say anything about the extent to which they use it).

3 out of 4 Authors with Google+ Accounts Have Established Authorship

Given that simply signing up for a Google+ account doesn’t say a lot about the extent to which authors recognize the growing influence of the network, next we looked to see: Of the authors who have a Google+ account, what percentage actually went through the process of establishing authorship?

Establishing authorship requires the author to take specific action, in one of two ways, to tie their Google+ content to their content. This can be done either by inputting a verified email address from the same domain as their content into Google+ or by embedding their Google+ account URL into the content with rel=author html markup and adding the content’s domain to their “contributor” list in Google+.

The analysis showed almost 75 percent of authors with a Google+ account had linked their content to their profile and their authorship appeared in the SERPs. This high percentage of authors who have gone through one of the two steps to establish authorship suggests the importance to natural search visibility they (or their publishers) now assign Google authorship.

Claim Your Authorship and Share Content on Google+

The data shows Google is placing increasing weight on Google+ in the search results, at least as it pertains to personal brand searches. Further analysis shows a majority of the world’s top tech writers have Google + accounts and have, by now, taken a step further by establishing authorship in the SERPs.

This analysis suggests establishing authorship has moved past the early adopter stage and those marketers who have not yet established authorship and who are not regularly sharing content on Google+ would be wise to do so.

About a month ago, we asked our readers if they are or plan on blocking Google Images after they noticed a huge drop in traffic since the new image search designlaunched.

The results are now in and while 37% said they will not block Google from indexing and ranking their images, 35% said they will or have blocked Google Images. Currently 28% are not sure what they should do in this situation, which likely means they will just keep the status queue. Here are the poll results:

• 11% already blocked Google Images
• 24% will soon block Google Images
• 27% will not block Google images
• 28% are not sure if they will or will not block Google Images

Here is the pie chart:

The bar was set high for the annual Google I/O Developer’s Conference in San Francisco following a whole series of product announcements and surprises in 2012, and although no one jumped out of a plane wearing Google Glass this year, we were treated to some cool new products.

The keynote was packed with announcements of enhancements to Google services. For example, Google Maps now shows clouds hovering over the world in real time and displays how Earth looks in the Milky Way as the sun sets. Google+ has 41 new features. The company announced impressive stats about the popularity of its applications, and there was even a rare Q&A session with GoogleCEO Larry Page. However, we didn’t see a new Android tablet launch, an operating system update or more details surrounding Google Glass.Here’s a look at highlights of Wednesday’s keynote.

Google+ Redesign and Photo Features

Google+ added 41 — yes, really — new features to its social network to make it smarter and more intuitive, with the inclusion of bigger pictures and related hashtags. The image-focused design looks a lot like Pinterest and Facebook.

The update includes a multi-column layout for pictures and related hashtags. If you’re following a sports team, Google+ will tag it for you by adding, for example, #SFGiants. It also rolled out a new way to improve photos. Auto Awesome — yes, it’s actually called that — uses a set of photos in your library to create an animated GIF.

Meanwhile, Auto Backup automatically backs up mobile pictures as soon as they are taken, and Auto Enhance acts like a filter to correct color and saturation of pictures.

Hangouts App

A new stand-alone Hangouts app was announced for web, Android and iOS, and it’s available starting on Wednesday. Vic Gundotra, senior VP of engineering, told attendees it will focus on conversations, rather than contacts. Contacts will be ranked by Google according to how often you talk to or chat with those contacts.

Users will be able to use text, photos and video within the app, and it will all be stored so you can go back and retrieve that content any time. There is also an option to delete what is shared with others during a Hangout.

Google Maps

After a string of rumors that the company was readying a new Google Maps design, it announced a spectacular new look for the platform. In fact, Google said it rebuilt Maps from “the ground up.”

The new Google Maps has Google Earth and Street View baked into it. With stunning Google imagery, as well as user-generated photos that can be uploaded and submitted to Google Maps, the platform has never looked better.

Now, you can create a tailored map for each search and click you make, and it incorporates Zagat badges and restaurant reviews. Offers from retailers such as Starbucks can also be integrated directly into the site, and it makes smart recommendations specifically for you. The more you use it, the better it gauges your interests.

Overall, Google Maps also aims to be a GPS device killer. You can re-route directions based on traffic conditions seen on the Map and view side by side how long each route takes to select the quickest and shortest one.

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4

An unlocked “Google edition” of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 smartphone made an appearance during the keynote. The model will be available on AT&T and T-Mobile and tout LTE support, 16 GB of RAM — which is expandable with an SD card — and its bootloader unlocked. This will allow it to receive system updates “promptly with every Android platform update.”

The device will be available starting June 26 on Google Play for $649.

New Gaming APIs

New tools have been introduced to help developers make their Android games more social. The suite is a part of updates to the Google Play Developer Console, which developers use to organize their apps released onto Android.

Some perks include the ability to add leaderboards and achievements games within Google Play, giving players the ability to compete against friends through high scores.

SEE ALSO: Google Adds New Gaming APIs for Developers

Another new API lets gamers play the same game across multiple devices, allowing the game to move from a smartphone to a tablet and so on.

Check out this awesome Google Racer app which creates a track across devices.

More Location-Based Services

Android location services also got a refresh with three new APIs. First, the Fuse Location Provider can acquire locations faster and more accurately — all using less battery power than before.

Another API relies on geofencing by embracing what Google is calling “virtual fences” around geographical areas. It will allow developers to add up to 100 geofences for each app.

The third is an activity recognition feature that lets users track their physical activities. It senses whether a user is walking, riding a bicycle or driving, thanks to accelerometer data and other classifiers.

Android and Chrome Stats

Google announced there have been a total of 900 million Android activations, which is a huge increase from 400 million activations it said it had last year at Google I/O. Although this is impressive — the operating system launched only four and a half years ago — Apple is reportedly close to 50 billion app downloads for iOS.

Google is also proud of its browser Chrome, and it should be: it now has 750 million active users. This is up about 300 million users from the same time last year. Chrome, which launched in beta in 2008, became the most popular browser used worldwide last year, beating Internet Explorer for the top spot.

Chrome Voice Commands

Google is also adding voice commands to Chrome. By saying “Okay, Google” and then asking a question — such as “show me things to do in Santa Cruz” — the Google results page will speak back to you. It comes from its knowledge graph and knows Santa Cruz is a place. It then pulls related things to the city. Users can also make more narrow voice requests, such as “show me pictures of the Santa Cruz boardwalk.”

Users can also ask how far away a point is to their location and where to eat nearby.

A Spotify Killer?

On the heels of rumors of launching a Spotify competitor, the company announced the Google Play Music All Access, which “blends your music collection with ours” across multiple devices. Despite its clunky name, the streaming platform is strategically priced at $9.99 — the same as Spotify’s monthly subscription service. For those who sign up by June 1, Music All Access Plus will go for $7.99. It comes with a 30-day free trial and is now available in the U.S. It will eventually roll out to more countries soon.

Google hasn’t said which record labels have signed on; it’s been rumored that deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are in the works.

Google Cloud Improvements

Google Cloud Messaging just got a big revamp during the big Google I/O conference held in San Francisco on Wednesday, and it’s now a whole lot faster.

Last year, Google Cloud Messaging — which lets you push data from servers to apps — was announced, and now 60% of the top 100 apps in the Google Play store use it. The company is expanding this service by supporting connections between a persistent connection from servers to many devices.

This means you can upstream messages to send data in both directions, from servers to apps and then from apps to servers. It also is launching a new API that syncs notifications across devices.

“All of the new features are rolling out progressively, and all you have to do up is sign up starting today,” Google said.

Google Play for Education

A new program called “Google Play for Education” was discussed during the event and is designed for making devices and software affordable for educators. Teachers can now buy apps and push then to a classroom of tablets at once, which then can be charged to a school account.

Last year, over a thousand schools in the U.S. are using Chromebooks and more than 2,000 new schools this year.

“Chromebooks have gone mainstream in education — not just in US, but around the world,” a Google spokesperson told attendees.

Larry Page Speaks

In an unusual move, Page fielded questions from attendees after the keynote presentation and delivered a passionate speech about the importance of technology and programming’s “image problem” and took questions from the audience.

SEE ALSO: Larry Page: Tech Is ‘Not a Zero-Sum Game’

Page, who is battling a medical condition related to his vocal cords, spoke softly as he discussed how his father influenced his love for tech: “My dad was really interested in technology. He drove me and my family all across the country to go to a robotics company. Then we got there, he thought it was so important his son would go to the conference.”

He also discussed the industry’s competitive nature and the company’s role in the upcoming Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson film The Internship to help shatter consumer opinion that computer programmers and scientists are “nerdy curmudgeons.”

“When I read about us in the press, it’s always us vs. some other company or some stupid thing,” Page said. “I just don’t find that interesting. … [The] most important things are not a zero-sum game. There’s a lot of opportunity out there.”

Thumbnail via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, and images via Google and Mashable

Google IO 2013

Open Gallery

Google+

Vic Gundotra, senior VP of engineering talks about new photo handling features in Google+.

Show As List

Bing announced they have added people to the auto-suggestions when you search and Bing tries to auto-complete your search query.

Here is an example:

Bing said they did this because people searches are the second most searched for category, representing about 10 percent of all searches on Bing.

Bing talks more about this feature on the Bing blog but I should add, I don’t personally come up.

When starting a new website, one of the first and most important decisions you have to make is choosing a domain name. That choice will impact the website’s success in nearly every area, included search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM). Let’s examine how a domain name impacts SEO and SMM and then analyze the factors that make a good domain name.

Should I Choose A Keyword Domain?

For years SEOs and Search marketers have often purchased domains that contained their targeted keywords in order to increase CTRs and to help gain higher rankings on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. Let’s examine this strategy to determine if it is still effective.

Many SEO strategists would purchase exact match domains (EMDs), which are domains that exactly match the keyword phrase they are targeting. For example, if they want to rank for “buy green widgets” the person might purchase BuyGreenWidgets.com. EMDs offered two advantages.

1. The presence of the keyword phrase in the domain was itself a ranking factor.
2. The presence of the keyword phrase in the domain encouraged other webmasters to include
3. The keyword phrase in the anchor text when linking to the site.

However, in light of recent Google updates (especially the “EMD update”), EMDs are no longer as helpful as they once were.

• High Position’s study indicated that the “average EMD ranking went from #13.4 down to #26.6,” and the “average top 10 EMD went from #3.2 down to #11.9.”
• SEOmoz data shows that EMD correlation with ranking has dropped from 0.34 in 2010 to 0.18 in 2012.

In light of the trend since 2010, many SEOs feel that EMDs and other keyword domains may become even less beneficial in the future. This does not mean that you should necessarily avoid or abandon keyword domains, but it does mean that keywords shouldn’t be the primary factor you consider when choosing a domain.

Keyword Domains For Increased CTR

In some cases, owning a premium keyword domain can increase click-through rates on ads and SERP listings:

• A study published by Memorable Domains found that “ads featuring a generic domain name with an exact match to the product (ElectricBicycles.co.uk) performed significantly better than identical ads featuring an alternative generic (YourBikes.co.uk) or non-generic (InAHurry.co.uk) domain.” It is worth noting that YourBikes.co.uk looks very generic, and InAHurry.co.uk doesn’t appear to be relevant to the query. Sorry does this support the EMD or premium domain?
• A study titled “How generic domain names impact SEM campaigns” shows that ads with the display URL DivorceLawyer.com achieved a 298% higher CTR than ads with the display URL VladimirLaw.com. However, this study was only based on 34 clicks, which is not enough data to accurately measure the performance difference.Sorry does this support premium domain or EMD?
• Does the CTR advantage make buying a premium keyword domain a smart choice?

Consider these factors:

• What is the search volume? Use Google’s keyword tool to find the exact match search volume for the keyword phrase the domain matches.
• What is the cost? Most premium keyword domains are already registered and are difficult to obtain (read very expensive).
• Is it a .com? For example, a keyword.info domain will be far less valuable than a keyword.com domain.

What Is More Important Than Keywords? Choosing A Brandable Domain

Having a domain name that matches your target keyword(s) does offer some benefits, but there is a bigger factor you should consider: the brandability of the domain.

Your brand is important, and your domain name is the foundation upon which your online brand will be built. Your domain name is how users will find, remember, share and identify your company online. In both social media and search engines, the domain name is the primary way by which users can identify to “whom” the link will lead.

While some marketers think that SEO is only about keywords and links, the reality is that Google likes brands. Google CEO Eric Schmidt once said that “brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool. Brand affinity is clearly hard wired. It is so fundamental to human existence that it’s not going away.” The first step to building a brand is choosing a brandable domain.

7 Tips for Choosing A Brandable Domain

What is a brandable domain name? Start with these 7 factors to consider when choosing a brandable domain name.

Pick a .com extension. In most cases, .com is the best choice. This is because .com is the standard, the norm. Most users assume that a company’s website will end with .com; after all, 75% of all websites have a .com extension.

Be memorable. Users must be able to easily remember your domain name/brand. As Ashley Friedlein, CEO and Co-founder of Econsultancy, said, “Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organization.” You can only have a lasting influence on how people perceive you if they actually remember you.

Be relevant. Words have implicit meanings and connotations; do a little research to ensure that your domain name communicates your desired message. Here is a quick and easy way to test a domain name: go to Amazon Mechanical Turk and run a survey with at least 100 people. Just provide your domain name (nothing else) and ask users to guess the purpose of the company. The responses you receive should provide valuable insight into any implicit meanings your domain may connote.

Easy to spell. Your domain name must be easy to spell. Avoid commonly misspelled words, intentional misspellings and hyphens. If you purchase a domain name with numerals (eg 1widget.com), also purchase the domain name with the number spelled out (eg onewidget.com). Popular bookmarking site Delicious actually had to change its domain name because so many users had difficulties remembering how to spell it.

Sound authoritative. Your domain name should sound like a trustworthy authority. As this research brief puts it, users “demonstrate a clear preference now for credibility and trustworthiness in a domain name.” Remember Margaret Thatcher’s advice: “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” Avoid choosing a domain such as bestwidget.com.

Shorter is better. Keep your domain name short; 1 or 2 words is best. The top 100,000 websites, on average, have 9 characters in their domain names.

Be unique. One of your marketing goals should be to build a distinct brand that stands out from your competitors. Start by choosing a unique and distinctive domain name. Names like YourDiscountInsuranceStore.com sound generic and unremarkable compared to names such as Google.com, Yahoo.com and Zazzle.com which sound unique.

How To Find A Great Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can be hard. In many cases the most obvious brandable domain names are already registered and would be expensive to purchase. Set up a brainstorm session with your team to develop a few ideas. If it helps, use these three formulas to brainstorm possible domain names.

1. Use existing words. Amazon.com and VitaminShoppe.com are good examples of domain names that were created using existing words. Use a thesaurus to find words that may not readily come to mind.
2. Create new words. Many famous websites are based on new words (or words that were so obscure that few people knew them). Examples include Google.com, Bing.com or Quora.com.
3. Create portmanteaus. A portmanteau is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes and their definitions to create one new word, like Groupon or Pinterest.