How to Create a Facebook Page For Your Company or Non-Profit

I might be one of the "under 30 crowd," but that doesn't mean I was born with a social media chip implanted in my skull. When I was given the task of getting The Byne Group onto Facebook, I too had to learn and overcome my fears of the unknown. So in this entry, my mission is to help you through something I spent a few hours, and yes, a few anxious moments, figuring out.

Now if you cant figure out how to turn on your computer, it might be time to call over that sprightly intern or your offspring to help you out (I think maybe the "tweens" do come with a chip)!

Are you familiar with Facebook? [ if not, click here and get familiar ] If so, I’m sure you’ve seen friends of yours become fans of famous (or infamous) people, companies — like California Closets, or a non-profit like the American Red Cross. Well, in any case, you too can create a page for your company or non-profit with a few simple tips to make your experience a little less painful.

1: Get a Facebook Account. The person who creates this page needs to be an actual "real person." They wont let you join as a company entity. (Here at The Byne Group we tried to create an "imaginary person" so as to keep professional life and personal life separate on Facebook, (not allowed apparently). So for us, it's all through Ann Byne.

Now at this point you will be consumed with finding old college buddies, but bear with us here...

2: So once you are signed in, click "create a page." You will be prompted to fill out info about your company/non-profit. Keep in mind that all the info you fill out in the beginning is your ONLY chance to get it right, otherwise you have to start from scratch (I think it took us 3 times to get it right!)

3: Once you have filled out all the info they request you can customize your page’s look. Remember to keep the look consistent with your current branding.

4: Now you're ready to accessorize. Add components, such as an RSS feed, to pull in content from your blog or your website's news feeds to ensure that current content about your company is on your page. You can add videos, photos and upcoming events.

5: Once you’ve added all these elements you just need to publish it. Of course you can continue to update or take down items as you go along.

Now that you are "live" its all about getting the word out about your page. Have your employees join as fans of your page. Invite fans from your friend list. Or you can do word-of-mouth advertising through a Facebook ad or by adding a Facebook widget to your website.

Last bit of advice, keep up with your page and keep it current.

[ click here to view our page and become a fan ]

–Melissa Behrens, Senior Graphic Designer

Some free time? Here are books about sales you might want to check out.

I just finished three books of fiction for pure pleasure while on vacation last week. Now that I’m back to reality I’ve decided to read some books about sales to help motivate me in 2009. Happily the 2008 Sales Book Awards, an organization that recognizes books, authors, and publishers whose work advances sales as a profession, has just released this year's winners.

Sales, I’m not in sales, you say! I am a director of a philanthropy, a middle management administrator, a lawyer who works for someone else. Guys, it’s time to re-think. Yes, all of us sadly in one way or another are in sales. If its convincing your boss that you deserve the new title, or you're a CEO and need to excite your staff about yet the next big thing in the company, even if its your kids that need to be motivated to pick up their dirty laundry, in one form or another we are constantly selling.

A panel of 35 judges rated submissions in 10 separate categories, awarding one Gold Medal and two Silver Medals in each. Each book was rated on five primary criteria: Authority, Readability, Content Relevance, Physical Quality & Writing Style. I’ve included the 2008 Sales Book Gold Award Winners in my list.

Hmmm, where should I begin, Any suggestions?

General Sales
• Gold Medal: Perfect Selling by Linda Richardson

Classic Sales Books
• Gold: Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath

Sales Leadership
• Gold: Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions by Keith Rosen

Sales Methodology
• Gold: Reality Sells by Bill Guertin and Andrew Corbus

Sales Motivation
• Gold: The All Star Sales Book by Billy Cox

Prospecting
• Gold: The Real Secrets of the Top 20% by Mike Brooks

Presenting
• Gold: Presentations That Change Minds by Josh Gordon

Industry Specific
• Gold: Salesopedia by Clayton Shold

Sales Audio Programs
• Gold: Nano Sales Books by Linda Richardson

eBooks
• Gold: 200 Sales Hunting Tips by Mark Hunter

– Ann Byne, Principal/Creative Director

Managing Your Reputation Online

It’s a subject that most likely concerned us all greatly in Junior High: Reputation Management.

It’s a big, virtual world out there and whether you like it or not, people are talking about you! The good news is, you can make sure it’s not all behind your back.

Fact is, there are more people online creating “buzz” about you than you create yourself, and considering how much you invest in marketing, it’s not to be ignored!

One of my favorite blogs, marketingprofs, recently offered 6 keys ways to manage your reputation online. I’ve summarized my fave’s.

…and yes you can do it all from your computer at home (but don’t tell this to your boss)!

1. Google—Google.com/alerts
Set up an alert and you’ll know whenever someone writes something about you, or even your competitors. Best to set it up in your RSS reader and you can sort the results to find out who the biggest talkers are… and who to kiss up to!

2. Blog Posts—Technorati.com
If you have a blog, register and Technorati will track other blogs who are linking to yours. What’s the point? It’s all about relationship management. Try to link to them in your blog, comment and spread the love.

3. Blog comments—Backtype.com
It’s so important to comment on blog posts that mention you, whether positive or negative. Use backtype.com to keep track of all of the conversations you participate in. The coolest part is you will begin to find out who the key influencers are (one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel) and do a little targeted damage control. And for those singing your praises? Tell them you appreciate it.

4. Discussion Boards—Boardtracker.com
Get alerts when someone in a “forum” mentions your name, and join the top few. Then you can establish yourself as a leader on the topic and offer resources. What great publicity!

So remember, it might be overwhelming at first, but after you’re up and running you will have a great picture of who is talking about you, what they are saying, and also the opportunity to inform, educate and be a good community citizen.

Just do it!

–Jennifer Zapf, Art Director

Are You on a Tight Budget?

Times like these you need to be more creative with your budget. The good news is that email marketing can fit into most anyone's budget. Wikipedia explains that email marketing is a form of direct marketing, which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to your customers/clients. You can achieve a big bang for a small price while getting out relevant messages, achieving brand appeal and the ability to measure it all.

• Reduce Other Costs_ Think about what you are printing: holiday cards, invitations, newsletters. Could these be emailed? Of course they can.

• Get Valuable Info_ Using email you can obtain valuable stats and watch response rates in real time. With this information you can easily tweak your emails, see what is working and not working with your client/customer base.

• Build Brand Loyalty_ With email you can keep current clients/customers happy and engaged. Reward loyal customers, but keep it interesting.

• Do's and Don'ts – Use Email The Right Way
DON'T buy/rent an email list
DON'T send emails everyday
DO be client/customer specific
DO keep your focus on a permission-based strategy
DO make it fun and different

–Melissa Behrens, Senior Graphic Designer

What one Non Profits best practice teaches us all!

A CASE STUDY: How did one non-profit reach out to new clients in this economy and what can it teach for-profit businesses?

Now more than ever, I believe growth takes an entrepreneurial spirit, starting at the top that permeates throughout the entire organization. And I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand the successful outcome of this formula.

Our firm donates our time and talents to a local non profit of which I sit on its board. Amazingly, its Executive Director is always ahead of the curve coming up with new ways to raise the marketing bar, never accepting the status quo. If there’s a way to reach out, build consensus and stretch the marketing dollars she’ll figure it out. The most recent example; Reaching out to other like organizations in non-competing locations and pitch the idea of combining their funds for media. Some radio stations and newspapers overlapped so why not create an 800 number where potential clients could call into and pass the leads to the organization in the callers location. A real win-win to all who might consider participating.

This was not the first great idea this Executive Director formulated. By shear stick-to-it-ness she brought to life a revenue-generating initiative* by filling a real need she saw in her community and beyond. After bringing it successfully to market she now sells the program to other organizations for a small fee. It's a rare person who has that kind of energy and drive, she doesn’t have a marketing degree but she approaches things from a different angle with no pre-conceived notions. I have to say she has even taught me and my staff a thing or two!

So what best practices can you take away from one case study for your business or non-profit organization?

• Create an entrepreneurial spirit in your organization where new ideas are welcomed, and receive thoughtful consideration.

• Brainstorm other commercial or revenue-generating initiatives. And not only with your leadership team, sometimes the best ideas come from outside the inner circle. Tap into all the brainpower of your organization including the person who makes the coffee.

• Think about your competition differently. Are there ways you might pool marketing funds and come up with some new initiatives that would be win-win.

• Inspire people to think in new ways and be creative when times are tough, rather than get discouraged and do nothing. Remember if its your organization or firm your most important job is to be a cheerleader for your team.

• If you believe you have a great idea be willing to fight for it. Stick-to-it-ness really does pay off.

• Don’t assume you know what does or doesn’t work because what has happened in the past. Be aware that the climate has changed and a bold vision is imperative.

- Ann Byne, Principal/Creative Director

*AssuringYourWishes.org

Defending Your Marketing Budget!

When the economy is tough management's first response is to reduce marketing budgets. What management sometimes forgets to remember...... that during any period of economic downturn your best customers become someone else's best prospects. When you stop inviting them to do business with you, a more aggressive competitor may become much more attractive.

According to Nancy Schwartz author of Effective Marketing "It may seem right (politically) to accept the managements decision to slash your marketing budget, but it's the wrong move to make. In the long run, accepting a significant budget cut will harm your organization"

"No program succeeds without participants; no service lasts without users; few organizations stay healthy without a strong donor and volunteer base -- and marketing is the way that these groups are reached, engaged, retained and motivated to act. Challenge your organization's leaders NOW if they're shying away from investing in marketing. If they do, your organization will really suffer long term. That's what you have to point out -- as diplomatically as possible. And far better than just talking about it, you have to prove it. Rather than taking a defensive position when faced with budget cuts, proactively respond to your leadership's challenges."

So how can you defend your marketing budget, and make your customers experience exceptional.

1. Never take your focus off your customers. Cherish them, and make sure they know it. Make their Personal Experience Factor exceptional.

2. Media pricing is driven by market demand. Take advantage of the weak demand and the resultant drop in price to buy even more market presence without increasing your advertising budget.

3. Craft a plan tying marketing work directly your goals, and track the impact of every effort before, during and after the work to enable ongoing course correction.

4. Arm yourself with as many hard stats and success stories as you can. Talk about what colleague and competitive organizations are doing, and what you'll lose if your organization retreats now.

Does Your Website Need a Face-Lift?

The New Year is fast approaching and maybe
it's time you rethought your website’s purpose.
The Internet is constantly changing and so is
your clients/prospective clients expectations.
Visitors expect your site to be “cutting edge”
or at least “up-to-date.”

Things to keep in mind while
revamping your site:

1. Design with optimization in mind. Search engine optimization (SEO) means having text friendly elements on
your website which will make your site easily search able.

2. Visitors want what they are looking for quickly and easily. Spotlight or call to action important services on your homepage (ex: “click here to…” or “free download”).

3. Be proactive and engaging. Start a blog. Invite people to be a part of your online presence. Ask visitors to post their comments. The point of
a blog is to share and get involved in a community that is active and listening.

4. Ask your marketing team or web designer for their suggestions.
They may have ideas that you hadn’t thought of.

Check out our newest "green" web design: mydejavusalon.com

~Melissa Behrens
Senior Graphic Designer, The Byne Group
(source: Must-Have Website Features for 2009, by Shaheen,
The New York Enterprise Report, October 2008.)