If you struggle to attract a steady stream of quality readers to your blog, you’re not alone. The good news is that your blog isn’t a lost cause.

There are many smart strategies you can use to create compelling, bite-sized content your readers will devour—and share like crazy.

The secret is to tap into the power, speed and instant accessibility of social media. Here are 5 simple, foolproof ideas you can put into action TODAY:

#1: Build instant rapport

Rapport happens when there’s a relationship of mutual trust between you and your audience.

Social media conditions lead us to expect meaningful relationships to grow quickly, based on interests, likes and other searchable snippets that instantly highlight what we have in common.

But we do the exact same thing in real life. We connect to people at networking events based on first impressions—age, appearance, business niche, and so forth.

We talk to people in restaurants who are rooting for the same football teams. In other words, it’s human nature. The question for you is how do you achieve this same instant rapport on a BLOG—especially in a virtual world that’s full of distractions?

You can’t be everything to everyone. But you should write like you’re talking to someone—preferably, to just a single reader. Who is that person? What does he or she want to know?

In the image below, Derek Halpern of Social Triggers shows how he addresses his blog readers.

Derek makes it a point to always use a personal, friendly and conversational tone when writing blog posts to his ideal audience.

Be friendly and direct, and never forget that your readers are individuals with interests, families, jobs, etc.

For example, to promote a recent blog post to my email list, I might start by saying something like, “Halloween’s almost here. We just got back from picking pumpkins. I can’t wait to carve mine. I hope you’re enjoying the cooler weather too!”

The first time I did that, emails came back to me—with colorful personal stories, anecdotes and even photos. Those relationships are priceless.

#2: Create relevance

After you succeed in building rapport with your readers, you’ve hooked them—at least temporarily. But how can you be sure they’ll come back?

The key is to consistently provide engaging, actionable and relevant content.

Focus on delivering added value to your core market at every opportunity. Deliver actionable takeaways. Cater to their interests. Remember to educate, entertain AND empower—no matter what topic you’re covering.

I know my blog readers value additional resources when I blog about a new topic. That's why in this blog post, "5 Reasons Google+ Will Change Your Content Marketing Strategy for the Better," I added links to relevant articles as a way to further their education on Google+.

If you want to educate AND empower your readers, you’re going to need to give them evidence that what you’re saying or doing really works—and that’s where you can go above and beyond your competitors.

Statistics, infographics, research and quotes from experts (especially from a new interview YOU conduct) are great ways to add value and create truly unique content.

In the image below, Vistage International (a training agency for CEOs) created an in-depth infographic.

Vistage International used this graphic to share their recent findings about CEOs' confidence in the economy.

For another eye-catching example of a “meaty” post, check out crowdSPRING’s recent post on how small businesses are using social media. It’s jam-packed with data that really delivers a punch both statistically and visually.

#3: Provide instant gratification

If you’re really passionate about what you do, then chances are you’ve got a ton of ideas you’re itching to share.

But you might want to put the brakes on that instinct. One of the cardinal rules of social media is speedy delivery of good ideas. Remember: quality, not quantity.

Providing instant gratification is all about effectively delivering high-quality content in bite-sized pieces. It’s about making your blog readers’ lives easier.

Take a look at Seth Godin’s blog. He’s the undisputed master of instantly gratifying, bite-sized blog content. Even his post on Steve Jobs’ passing, “A Eulogy of Action,” boiled all of our complex feelings down into one simple, compelling, actionable idea—would we live up to Jobs’ example?

Seth Godin's blog posts are a perfect example of delivering instant gratification. With each post, Godin only touches on one idea, keeps it simple, short and extremely valuable.

Instant gratification is also about restraint. Our fidgety readers are scoping out a ton of blogs, posts and feeds every day—you need to catch their eye and keep it in a short enough time to give them one main idea or action item that they’ll remember—and come back for more. Don’t indulge the urge to go on the “tangent train.” Stick to one idea, develop it, give it some meat and watch your blog engagement rise.

#4: Ignite shareability

Serious bloggers know how valuable their blogs really are. But most of us won’t see real business results from blog content until we take the next step and give our content wings.

Content with wings takes off—people send it to everyone they know, because they love it so much. To make sharing easy, provide the right mix of sharing buttons with each post. Put prominent share buttons where they’re easy to see, reach and click.

In the image below, Free Blog Factory uses the DiggDigg share buttons to encourage sharing on their site.

Adding share buttons increases your viral reach and introduces your content to a new audience.

Another important component of shareability is harder to pin down—it’s about providing value in unexpected ways. And sometimes, that means thinking outside the box. A great example of this is a post Chris Brogan wrote, “The Practice Is the Reward,” where he manages to connect his workouts to social media, business, happiness and beyond.

Don’t be afraid to branch out and introduce a new concept or idea into your posts. Face it: we get so hung up on our business or niche that we all forget to put down the vacuum and look outside ourselves for a pick-me-up.

Talk about a book you think your audience will like, even if it’s not directly related to your service or product. Interview someone new whom readers will benefit from learning more about. Select ideas that matter to you and your audience—but in a new or challenging way. This will inspire YOU—and in turn, your readers.

#5: Make your closing count

Great content isn’t enough.

The final challenge? Getting your readers emotionally invested in you, your brand and your business. Invested readers comment, share and engage in higher numbers—and they’re also more likely to become future customers.

Don’t let readers just walk out on you. Instead, make every closing count. Ending a post with “Make sure to post a comment” is accurate, but it’s not a very effective way to close a blog post. (Full disclosure: we’ve all made this mistake, including me.)

Stop telling your readers WHAT to do. Instead, spark conversation—ask them to think, participate and invest in your content.

I often use the "Now it's your turn" approach to encourage blog comments.

Better Content Leads to Better Results

Improving engagement on your blog is just one part of your content strategy, but I’d say it’s the MOST crucial—because you can then use your blog as a hub, driving traffic to and from your social media streams, email list and even YouTube channel.

Remember, the best blogs aren’t necessarily the best written, or the ones with the newest ideas. They’re not necessarily the shortest. (We can’t all be Seth Godin!) But they DO share one thing in common: meeting, and often exceeding, the expectations of content-hungry readers—who are happy to devour, share and come back for more.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? What ONE piece of advice would you give a friend to help take his/her blog to the next level? Share your thoughts and comments in the box below!

Keep reading to discover nine ways you can build loyal fans who’ll love your business.

In a recently published infographic, Moontoast illustrates a Facebook fan’s journey from a “Potential Fan” all the way to a “Super Fan.” The image below shows a fan’s progression.

Moontoast shows how a fan's level of interest with a brand can move from light to heavy engagement.

Moontoast says Super Fans are Facebook users who have given you access to their data via their Facebook profile, purchased from you and also encouraged another fan to purchase from you as well. There’s no doubt we all want an abundance of Super Fans!

So how do you move a Potential Fan all the way up the ranks to Super Fan?

For starters, it takes time. Facebook success rarely happens overnight and unless you are a huge brand like Zappos or Target, patience, persistence, and hustle are all required to create a successful Facebook page.

There are also specific actions you can take to create a thriving Facebook page full of Super Fans.

The following nine core strategies will help you streamline your Facebook activity and turn your Facebook page into a success story.

#1: Give your page a human touch

The most successful companies on Facebook are those that step out from behind their logo and let the people behind the brand represent their Facebook page. The goal is to communicate with your fans as though you were talking to your friends, and let your personality come through in each post.

One of the ways to do this is to step away from your niche once in a while and show your personal side through entertaining posts and photos. Change things up a bit and share details about your experiences and everyday life.

Have you taken a fun trip recently? Post some pictures of your vacation to let your fans see a different side of you. Or maybe you see something funny while you’re out and about—share it! Snap a photo of it and post it to your wall with a fun caption.

Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment, does this on a regular basis and his fans love it. The reason we are intrigued with Guy’s posts is because we get to see the real side of him, not just the author/expert side of Guy.

When you visit Guy's Facebook page, you'll often find posts and photos that give you a peek at Guy's entertaining journeys outside of work.

#2: Become a content machine

Always make sure that your content educates, entertains and empowers your fans to keep them engaged and coming back for more. The key to a successful content strategy is to consistently create new content and mix up your media often.

For example, some of your fans might respond better to video than text, while others might be drawn to the images in your posts. To make sure you’re attracting the attention of your diverse group of fans, post your content in a variety of ways.

iPhone Life Magazine does a great job of always showing fun images with each text post. Images and videos are the top two types of content that Facebook users gravitate to the most.

One simple way to do this is mix up your blog posts by posting written blogs, video blogs and audio posts. Regularly drive traffic from your Facebook page to your blog to introduce your fans to a variety of content.

#3: Cultivate engagement with two-way dialogue

Imagine this: You haven’t talked to your good friend in a while, so you call her up. When she answers the phone you say, “Hi! How’ve you been?” But before your friend can answer, you hang up the phone. That would be odd, right?

Well, essentially that’s what you are doing each time you post a Facebook update and then instantly move on to a new task before waiting for a few fan responses so you can engage in a conversation.

Make sure you never miss an opportunity to thank a fan for reaching out. Replying to your fans' posts shows them you really do care about what they have to say.

Real success on Facebook happens when you mirror real-life situations. Don’t “post and ditch;”  instead, stay around a few minutes to get involved in the conversation. True engagement happens in the “back and forth.”

#4: Create consistent calls to action

Facebook gives brands the optimal opportunity to create genuine relationships with their prospects and customers. But it’s also a great platform for moving your fans to action. One of the best ways to move a Potential Fan to a Super Fan is to start out with simple calls to action.

To do this, start out by posting valuable content, such as interesting articles and videos related to your niche, and accompany this content with simple calls to action such as “click this” or “watch this.” The valuable content will show your fans that you’re an authority and consistently post good stuff.

Also, consider offering discounts and specials or ask your fans to sign up for your newsletter. These are all low-investment calls to action that will help you build trust and affinity over time.

Zappos does a great job of mixing up their calls to action on their Facebook page. Some include value-added content as you can see above with the call to "CLICK PLAY" to participate in the live fashion Q&A video. Others are more promotional, such as "Click here to check out our new summer flip flops!"

#5: Make word-of-mouth advocacy easy

Studies have shown that social media users tend to trust their friends and peers more than they trust brands. It makes sense. If you were looking to try out a new restaurant, would you rather get a recommendation from a friend who just had a great meal or the restaurant that’s promoting its latest special?

Word of mouth matters, especially on Facebook. To get your fans talking about you, the key is to make it easy to spread the word.

One great way to do this is to create a contest or promotion that rewards fans for spreading the word. By using a platform such as Wildfire, you can track and reward the fans who invite their friends to join your contest.

This sweepstakes by Kudzu promises extra chances to win for every friend you encourage to enter the contest.

#6: Encourage fan-to-fan conversations

Enhance your fans’ experience by creating a community that encourages your fans to interact with each other. One surefire way to do this is to spotlight your fans. When you create opportunities such as “fan of the week” or recognize top contributors, you are giving your fans an opportunity to get to know each other.

Social Media Examiner regularly highlights a fan of the week on their Facebook page and always makes a point to link to their fans’ websites to give them free exposure.

This generous gesture also allows fans to get to know the fan of the week even better.

#7: Focus on smart branding

You have multiple opportunities when it comes to branding your Facebook page. One option is to make your Facebook page an extension of your website to spark familiarity when your existing customers visit your page. Another option is to make it different from your own website so your fans experience a sense of exclusivity when they become a fan of your Facebook community.

Crafty Mumma's Facebook page is a great example of smart branding.

No matter if you want to create familiarity or a sense of exclusivity, it’s important to make your page dynamic and interesting so it will stand out from the rest. One way to do this is to create custom tabs that showcase your programs, products and services and tie in the look and feel of your brand. The key is to make it obvious who you are and what you’re about. Short videos that tell your fans about your business, mission statements and easily identifiable logos and images are great additions to a branded custom tab.

#8: Be deliberate and manage expectations

One of the most important questions to ask as you create your Facebook marketing plan is, “What do we want to achieve with our Facebook page and overall marketing on Facebook?” Often your Facebook vision will be closely aligned with your company’s vision.

For example, let’s say you own a local running shoe store. Your vision for your retail store may be to sell the most high-tech, top-of-the-line running shoes and running gear to all the avid runners in your local community.

As an extension of your company vision, your vision on Facebook may be to create a community of like-minded people who openly share their running stories and give each other support and advice. Over time your Facebook page becomes the ultimate hub for avid runners and you begin to attract runners from cities beyond your local community and you start to sell your top-of-the-line running shoes to people all over the world. Setting a clear vision can lead to lucrative opportunities.

When you create a vision for your Facebook efforts, your actions are more deliberate and have purpose and your fans clearly understand what your page has to offer.

If you’re just starting out developing your Facebook mission, one great place to start is with your fans’ expectations. What can your fans expect when they become a fan of your page? One optimal place to display expectations is on a custom welcome tab so all of your new fans will know what to expect before they start engaging on your wall. The following example is from the Facebook page of Pam Hendrickson Consulting.

Notice how Pam tells her fans exactly what they can expect when they join her Facebook community. This is the first step in creating your Facebook vision.

#9: Monitor, measure, and track

With the rise of social media, your customers are now all social customers. They love to share, chat, post, Like and comment, and when they have something important to say (good, bad or worse), they are quick to share it on their social networks. Their comments run the gamut from the best raves to the worst rants. This is why monitoring is so essential to social media marketing.

Social Media Examiner often gets great raves on their Facebook page. They monitor their page closely so they can respond to all comments.

In addition to listening to your fans, you should also do a reality check to find out whether all of your social media activities are worth your time and effort. To make sure you’re on track, first you want to set your key performance indicators.

To figure these out, ask these three questions:

1. What do I want to achieve?
2. What does success look like? What are the indicators of my success?
3. How often will I check in to evaluate my progress?

Once you answer these questions, make sure you have surefire methods in place that enable you to consistently track your Facebook marketing progress. The tools you choose will largely depend on the level of measuring and tracking your company needs. Most likely you’ll want to use a few different tools to get a clear picture of the overall activity on your Facebook page.

If you’re new to social media analytics or are looking for a few new ideas to add to your tracking arsenal, consider these areas for monitoring and tracking.

Here are a few areas you might consider monitoring:

• The names of key people in your company
• Your company name
• All brand names associated with your company
• Product and service names
• Competitor names
• Industry- or niche-specific keywords

Here are a few areas you might consider measuring and tracking:

• Engagement
• Brand awareness
• Influence
• Sentiment
• New Likes/unsubscribes
• Click activity
• Financial return
• Conversion rates

Now it’s your turn! Applying these nine strategies will help you sort through the many layers of Facebook marketing. If you’ve tested any of these strategies already or plan to do so in the near future, leave a comment in the box below and let us know.

You’ve come to the right place.

Facebook marketing, when done right, is an extremely powerful tool. It can increase your leads, attract highly targeted prospects and position you as a sought-after industry leader.

To reap these business-building benefits, the key is to develop daily habits.

The following list of six daily habits will keep you focused on what really matters when it comes to Facebook marketing: real fan engagement.

Refer back to these habits often to keep yourself on track as you work to create a vibrant community of raving fans who’ll happily spread the word about you and your products and services.

#1: Become addicted to solving problems

When you regularly solve problems and answer questions for your fans, you not only foster trust, but you also set yourself up as the go-to expert in your niche.

A surefire way to create engagement on your Facebook page is to regularly offer your expertise and insight. One great example of a master problem-solver is Facebook expert Mari Smith. Mari encourages her fans to ask questions on her Facebook page. Because she is quick to respond with valuable responses, she’s turned many Facebook fans into loyal followers and customers.

But she doesn’t stop there. Mari takes her support a step further by providing a resource center directly on her Facebook page. She continually keeps this resource link up to date and full of valuable information. As you can see in the image below, Mari has set up multiple info tabs including Changes, How To and Rules & Safety, all related to Facebook marketing.

By providing a resource center for her fans, Mari Smith is seen as the Facebook go-to source by tens of thousands of fans.

Take Action: Make it your mission to be the go-to source for your Facebook fans. What information related to your niche do your fans, prospects and clients want to know? To set yourself apart from your competition and keep your fans coming back for more, create a resource page as a custom link on your Facebook page. By doing so, you can provide updated, useful content to your growing audience on an ongoing basis.

#2: Talk to individual fans daily

I make it a habit to comment on other people’s posts 3-5 times each day. I do this because these comments are the real conversations that build relationships.

Taking a minute to comment on a fan’s vacation photos or adding my two cents to a peer’s recently posted video is my way of letting my fans and peers know that I genuinely am interested in what they are talking about online.

To check out what your fans are posting on their own pages or profiles, first check out which fans are posting on your page. When fans post on your page, you can click on their avatars and you will be taken to either their pages or profiles, depending on how your fans have posted on your page. You can then post on their pages (or if you are also a friend via their profiles, you can post on their profiles as well).

Here’s an example of me posting on a fan’s page, Life In Motion Chiropractic:

When you post on your fans' Facebook pages, it shows that you have a genuine interest in them.

Here are a few tips when commenting on fans’ posts:

• Use first names. When your fans know you are paying attention to them, they are much more likely to speak up and tell you what’s on their mind. Knowing what your fans are thinking is invaluable!
• Be yourself. Talk to others in the same style you would talk to a friend over dinner. Before you click send, read your post and make sure it really sounds like you.
• Be brief. If your post is too long, it will be overlooked easily. To get more people reading your post, get to the point faster.

Take Action: Make it a habit to spend at least 10 minutes a day reading posts from your fans and peers and leaving insightful comments on their profiles and pages. By stepping outside of your own Facebook page, and spending time on other pages and profiles, you let your fans and peers know that you truly do care about them.

#3: Track your Facebook activity

Although it may not be the most exciting task of your day, taking the time to check your Facebook activity is essential to growing your fan base and keeping your momentum going.

If you’re just starting out with tracking your activity and looking for a quick list of key metrics to track, consider tracking the following metrics on a weekly basis:

• # of total fans
• # of new Fans
• Fan growth from prior week
• # of unlikes
• # of weekly Actives
• Actives growth from prior week

You can find these metrics by checking out your Facebook Insights on your page. To get to your Insights, just go to your Facebook page and click “Edit Page” in the upper-right corner. From there you will see a list of links in the left column. You can click on “Insights” to get your page metrics.

Here's a snapshot from Facebook Insights of my page's metrics.

One other tracking tool that is extremely useful is EdgeRankChecker. This is an online tool that scores your overall page engagement activity. I use this tool to help me identify what score Facebook is likely giving my page in terms of EdgeRank. (Note: No-one knows the exact formula Facebook uses to assign an EdgeRank score; however, this tool is useful.)

The higher your EdgeRank score, the more likely it is to be visible on a fan's Top News Feed.

As seen in the screenshot below (for Outside the Cubicle), the tool also identifies the days of the week when you get the most engagement and the days when you have the least activity on your page. This is valuable information as you decide when to launch new promotions and post valuable content.

In the screenshot above, you can see the Facebook page received a high engagement score of 15.

Take Action: Create a Google Doc and track your Facebook activity on a weekly basis. By tracking your weekly metrics, you will soon see what’s working and what you might need to tweak, depending on the high and low metrics in your tracking document.

#4: Change what’s not working and move on

When it comes to tracking your social media marketing activity, there’s a fine line between having patience and making changes when you’re not getting the results you’re after.

The key is to set a realistic goal and clearly identify its benchmarks and the length of time you are going to allow to get the desired results. If the time comes that you don’t reach your desired outcome, tweak your activity right away. The longer you wait, the more damage you’ll do.

For example, let’s say that for the past 30 days you’ve been asking questions a few times a week on your Facebook page and only two or three fans are leaving responses each time you post a new question. There could be a few different reasons for your low response rate. You might be asking questions that are not of interest to your fans. To fix this, you really want to pay attention to what grabs their attention and what topics your fans talk about the most.

Or perhaps your questions are too difficult or too time-consuming to answer. People move fast on Facebook and tend not to spend too much time in one place. There’s actually an art to asking questions on Facebook. The key is to ask questions that require little effort to answer. Questions that require just one-word responses tend to get the most engagement. Watch this short video to learn more about the art of asking questions on Facebook.

Overall, the important thing to remember is that when something isn’t working, don’t dwell on it. Change it and move on!

Take Action: Have you been procrastinating on making some necessary changes to your Facebook marketing strategy? Take the time to make the changes to ensure your page continues to grow and increase its engagement activity.

#5: Post fresh content

To get the most reach from your content, make sure that your content educates, entertains and empowers your fans. This will pique their interest and keep them coming back for more.

Also, publish everything you have in as many places as possible. What this means is that you want to get your content online, and you want it to be seen by as many potential prospects as possible. While Facebook is extremely powerful, don’t forget to spread your content out and use Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and of course, your blog.

You can also monitor what others are publishing. If you see something that would be valuable to your audience, publish that content (and make sure to give them credit for it!). Third-party publishing is a great way to continue to add value for your fans without having to create all the content.

To help you consistently publish content, I suggest that you create an editorial calendar. It might sound daunting, but it’s actually very simple. Here’s how you do it:

1. Create a six-month digital calendar. You can do this in Word or you can find digital calendars online. One of my favorite digital calendar sites is http://www.calendarsthatwork.com.
2. Decide how often you want to create content and in what form. Consider creating blog posts, video posts, articles, reports, podcasts or any other form of media you know your audience will like. Mix it up and deliver your content in many different formats to attract a wider reach of ideal clients.
3. Brainstorm content ideas related to your brand or niche. Again, think of what interests your clients the most. (Hint: Check out your competition’s content. This will help you decide what might be best for your audience.)
4. Create a calendar of content. Choose the specific dates you plan to post and list the topic of the content and the type of delivery. For example, in my own content calendar months ago, I added the following for a day in July: Blog post and Facebook update on “6 Daily Habits for Facebook Marketing Success.” It’s as easy as that!

Take Action: Stay diligent with your content calendar. After you create it, stick with it. The more disciplined you are in sticking to your content calendar, the more traction you will see with your audience.

#6: Spread the love

The old saying, “Give and you shall receive” is one of social media’s golden rules. By sharing other people’s valuable blog posts, useful articles, entertaining videos and other content, your audience will repay you tenfold.

Make sure to share the content from the influencers in your industry. This will help you build relationships with them and possibly create partnerships with them in the future.

But remember to also acknowledge your fans who consistently produce great blog posts. They may not be well-known experts (yet!), but it’s important to share their great content as well. You can create a fan for life if you take the time to share their great work with others.

Mike Stelzner says it best in his recent book, Launch. He writes, “Every time you share a great link to some relevant content, you’re giving two gifts: one to your base and the other to the person or company that created the content.”

Social Media Examiner is well-known for spreading the love on their Facebook page. Here they promote a great blog post from the popular site, Social Media Explorer.

Take Action: On a weekly basis, take the time to identify great third-party content and share it with your Facebook community. This goodwill gesture will go a long way with your fans and peers.

Now it’s your turn!

What do you think? Are there other habits that have brought you Facebook success? Share your thoughts and comments in the box below!

You’ve come to the right place. This article highlights nine companies (big and small) that have transformed their online presence by implementing innovative social media marketing.

You’re sure to find inspiration for your social media efforts here.

Look at the tactics these companies employ and don’t concentrate too much on the target audience. It doesn’t matter whom you’re targeting—these tactics will work for just about any business… so let’s dive in!

#1: Martell Home Builders

Martell Home Builders is an Atlantic Canadian custom homebuilder. In the past, Martell relied heavily on realtors to keep their business moving forward. However, once they embraced social media, they were able to create a direct-to-consumer model where they were no longer reliant on a middleman to bring them business.

Martell started a content creation and blogging strategy to focus on their homebuyers’ needs. With topics such as “14 Must-Have Tools for New Homeowners” and “Home Staging Tips & Techniques,” Martell was able to grab the attention of homebuyers. Today, about 86% of all their leads come directly from consumers.

Notice in the image below the placement of their email capture box as well as their social media channel buttons. Prime placement of both components (above the fold and in the right sidebar) is the key to grabbing attention and encouraging interaction.

Note: Studies show that more people subscribe to blogs by email than RSS feed readers. Martell’s call to action—”Get the blog sent to your inbox. Enter your email”—is a smart move to capture leads while promising value in the form of new blog updates.

Martell also takes advantage of geolocation technology by mounting GPS tracking devices on their contractors’ vehicles, making it easy for their customers to always know where their contractor is when on the job. This eases the customer’s mind and allows Martell to extend even greater customer service.

In the image above, Martell's customers can track their contractor's location when they're on the job.

With innovative strategies, Martell has made the homebuilding experience social. One great strategy is their use of photo galleries of the clients’ homes being built. Not only can the homebuyer watch the progress in pictures, but also they can share their excitement with their family and friends on social networks. This is not only a great experience for their clients, but Martell is able to gain excellent social proof and even more visibility online via these photos as seen below.

Martell also uses the Facebook Like box, as seen below. This widget is dynamically updated; pulling content right from their Facebook page each time someone visits their site. The Like box is great social proof. It shows how many people have Liked your page and also shows faces of your Facebook fans.

The benefit of having this widget is that people can become your fan without leaving your company website. This encourages viewers to stay on your site longer and allows you to increase your fan base from your own website.

Tip: Think outside the box, like Martell did by allowing their clients to see where their contractors were at all times while on the job and by giving access to photos of their homes being built. By providing real-time, socially connected customer service, you’re able to create even more trust with your clients.

#2: Zappos

Zappos is an online retailer that sells shoes, clothing and accessories. They’re known for the enormous emphasis they put on creating real relationships with their fans and customers.

Notice their Facebook custom welcome tab below. Their catchy saying, “Let’s be in a Like-Like relationship,” shows they treat their potential fans as equals, solidifying their relationships even more.

One great strategy they’ve employed is to first ask for the Like and then ask their new fans to join their email list. Once you click their Like button, the custom tab changes and you then see the opportunity to sign up for their email list and interact with their products, as seen in the image below. By waiting until after the fan clicks the Like button, Zappos is proving they care about building relationships with their fans first.

In addition, Zappos uses a strategy often called “fans-only content” where they reveal content only after someone has become a fan, such as the fashion images in the illustration above. Once you click the Like button, you get instant access to exclusive content, videos and special promotions.

They’ve also included comment widgets, as seen below, on their custom welcome tab where you can post about their products and your comments will post to your profile or page, telling all your friends or fans what you like most about Zappos. Great social proof!

One of the best engagement strategies I’ve seen on Facebook is Zappos’ “Fan of the Week” contest. They encourage fans to send in their photos with the Zappos box and other fans get to vote on the best photo of the week. What’s great is that Zappos highlights the fan of the week by putting him or her in their wall image photo for all to see. As seen below, this is definitely about putting your customers first!

Tip: Brainstorm ways you can use social media to make your fans the stars. The more you spotlight your fans and followers on your social media channels, the more often they’ll engage with you and come back for more. Remember, you don’t have to be a billion-dollar company to model what Zappos is doing on their Facebook page. You can take their best strategies, tweak them to fit your unique needs and make them work for your business.

#3: Giantnerd

Giantnerd is a company that sells outdoor equipment for outdoor activities like hiking, biking and snowboarding. This company represents one of the best examples of social media integration seen online today. Their emphasis is on giving their customers the most value possible while becoming friends with them in the process.

As seen in the images below, Giantnerd has integrated social media into almost every aspect of their website. They’ve created a social network on their site that’s completely different from other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Their one-click process to join their network makes it easy and fast to join the group and they incentivize new membership by offering a discount to all new members with their “Nerds save 5%” promotion.

Also, Giantnerd has incorporated the Like button on their site and they promise their fans exclusive deals and promotions when they click Like and join their Facebook community. Since adding the Like button, their average order has increased by 50%! That’s a pretty impressive social media ROI, to say the least!

Also, when potential customers are researching products on the site, Giantnerd provides multiple social methods to get feedback from other social buyers. One example is their WikiNerdia, as seen below. Similar to Wikipedia, viewers can check out all of the different products, including descriptions and photos, and their customers can edit the information as well, making the experience interactive.

With WikiNerdia, potential customers can also ask product questions and the nerd community comes on board to answer the questions. What’s genius about this is that they let their customers sell for them by giving them the tools to answer questions that potential customers post on the site. People tend to trust their friends and other consumers more than they trust the brand. Giantnerd benefits from their fan engagement by allowing customers to answer product questions for them, thus increasing brand trust for potential customers. Brilliant!

Tip: Let your customers be your salesforce. Think of multiple opportunities for your customers to tell others about you. Social sharing buttons, exclusive social communities and real-time engagement opportunities are all great ways to turn your existing customers into word-of-mouth advocates.

#4: Ford Motor Company

Ford has brought the social experience to the forefront of their marketing efforts.

Each time they add a new blog post, they pull in the image, headline of the post and the comments from readers onto the front page of their website. Those new to the site or those browsing for a new car get to experience the company and its culture from a social viewpoint right from the start.

Their blog, The Ford Story, is also unique. In the image below you can see their innovative layout where viewers can start reading the comments before they read the article, putting their fans’ and followers’ viewpoints first. Introducing your blog and your readers’ comments to new viewers sets a welcoming and friendly first impression for any company.

Notice the placement of the Stories button in the image below. Ford takes the social sharing component to the next level by not only asking their customers for their Ford stories, but also asking their community to share ideas that are in popular categories like Safety or Personalization.

Ford uses this as a way to get new ideas for their next generation of cars. These ideas are not taken lightly; Ford has used many of these innovations to advance the technology of their cars. They do a great job of involving their fans and customers into their company growth.

Also, photos are always a great way to attract new viewers and draw in existing audiences. In the image below Ford has added a Flickr widget to show off some of their latest photos, making their site more interactive and fun. (One little-known fact is that Flickr is a fantastic tool for search engine optimization. When you load your photos onto Flickr, you can tag them and optimize the descriptions.)

Tip: Encourage your customers to share their stories and ideas and make it easy to do so on your site. Also, make it easy for readers to interact with and share your content by adding more opportunities to comment on your blog and sharing buttons to encourage social sharing.

#5: Convince & Convert

Convince & Convert is a social media strategy firm with clients across North America. Its founder, Jay Baer, is a social media expert and co-author of the new book titled The Now Revolution.

To say the least, Jay knows a thing or two about making a website social. One smart strategy he uses is placing a link to all of his comments at the top of each blog post. This tactic is a smart social proof mechanism.

Most people only show their comments when you’re on the abstract of the blog post. However, when you showcase your comment numbers near the top of all posts, others can see how many readers before them have interacted with your post, making it more appealing to them and more likely they too will follow suit and read the post.

Jay also includes social share buttons in strategic locations on his site. He includes them at the top of each post (as seen in the image above) and he includes them at the end of each post as seen below. To get more people to share your content, provide more opportunities via social share buttons in numerous places throughout your site.

Since Jay is targeting businesses, he knows his audience is likely connecting differently than the masses when it comes to networking. He found that by adding the LinkedIn Share button to his site, he was able to dramatically increase the amount of traffic to his site from LinkedIn. In the image above you can see that for Jay, this button outperforms the Facebook Share button because his community is actively engaged on LinkedIn. It’s important to understand where your audience is spending time.

Tip: Give your readers every opportunity to share your content with their networks. Expert marketer Brian Solis calls this “an audience with an audience of audiences.” If you want to expand your message, make it as simple as possible for your readers to share with their audiences.

#6: Cree

Cree is a business-to-business company that sells energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, industrial LED lighting. When you think of social media marketing, you wouldn’t think that an industrial lighting company that sells LEDs to grocery stores would be shining; however, Cree is extremely social-savvy.

As you can see in the image below, Cree knows how to make their customers’ experiences fun, social and interactive. In their “Cries for Help” section, they encourage companies to showcase their terrible lighting on their site. It’s a fun way to make light (no pun intended!) of their bad lighting situations in their offices.

In addition, Cree provides valuable content to pique their audience’s attention. With articles such as “What happens if a baby holds a Cree light bulb?”, they’re able to speak to their audience in a way that grabs their attention and gets them involved. Great content is the key to a happy audience.

Also, Cree knows the value of social proof. When you become part of their environmental movement, you get to display a badge on your site that says, “Take the pledge. I joined the LED lighting revolution.” This is a great way to build community with your audience and get great viral exposure for your company.

In this image you can see they also do a great job of including their social media channel buttons on their site. When you see the Facebook Like box and their Twitter and YouTube buttons, it’s easy to see that Cree is truly changing the way B2B does business today.

Tip: Remember that you’re not selling to other businesses or to “consumers,” but instead you’re always selling to real people whose buying decisions are driven by emotion. Speak to that emotional side, as Cree has done by infusing the hot buttons of bad lighting in the workplace and people’s passion for environmentally friendly products. Find your cause and use it in your messages and share it on your channels.

#7: Emmy’s Closet

Emmy’s Closet is an online store that sells accessories for children. They’re a great example of infusing social media with ecommerce.

Emmy’s Closet is an extension of the popular arts and crafts ecommerce site, Etsy.com. On the site they use an application created by Etsy that allows you to browse and purchase directly through Facebook (see the image below).

They’ve also included social share buttons so fans can share their favorite items on their Facebook profile with their friends and their friends can then click through and buy products via Etsy as well. The share buttons create a viral buying experience. In the image below, you can see how easy it is to share favorite items with your Facebook audience.

Emmy’s Closet knows that Facebook commerce is on the rise. With over 500 million people on Facebook, it makes sense that many of them like to conduct their entire shopping experience on Facebook, including the actual purchase.

Emmy’s Closet also does a great job of branding their company to their social experience. Notice in the images below, they’ve created social buttons to reflect their brand, thus personalizing the social experience.

Tip: Experiment with ecommerce and product sharing apps on Facebook. For a great article on Facebook apps, check out the Top 75 Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page.

#8: San Chez Bistro

San Chez Bistro is a tapas bistro and restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Just like Martell Home Builders, they’ve taken social media and infused it with the needs and preferences of their local audience. San Chez encourages their patrons to use Twitter to reserve a seat at their restaurant. They call it “Tweet-Ahead Seating” and it’s a great use of social media local marketing. Once you tweet your interest in a reservation, the online hostess tweets you back with a message similar to this: “Great, you’re on the list. See you in a little while.”

With the number of smartphones on the rise, San Chez knows they can reach even more potential customers if they make access to their restaurant easy and quick. By combining smartphone capabilities, social media and local marketing, they were able to create an extremely successful marketing campaign online.

In addition, San Chez Bistro utilizes Foursquare to gain even greater viral visibility. Foursquare, one of the top location-based services out there today, allows people to check in with their mobile devices and let all their friends know where they’re currently spending time. It’s fun for the fan and powerful exposure for the physical business.

Notice below how San Chez Bistro has customized their Foursquare page, making it easy for patrons to see the incentive for checking in.

Tip: If you’re a local business, consider customizing your Foursquare page and adding an incentive for social media check-ins. It’s great exposure for you and makes your patrons’ experience in your establishment more fun and interactive.

#9: Cranium

Cranium, a game by Hasbro, takes board games to the next level by including fun activities like drawing, singing, acting and trivia questions.

To make their experience more social, Cranium does a great job of using content from the game to engage with their fans. They often post factoids that can be found in their game, such as the one about Einstein’s theory below. They know their audience well and therefore know that these fun factoids will attract them.

Also, Cranium has brought the experience of playing their game to their social networks. They’ve developed an app that encourages fun via fan engagement. For example, as seen in the image below, the app asks fans “Which one of these characters are you? Take our little quiz” and fans interact with the app and then are told which character best fits their personality.

Cranium is also clever with their use of video. Again, in the spirit of bringing the experience of playing their game to their social channels, they use video to get their fans to play along. For example, in the video they have someone humming a song, and you have to guess what song she’s humming. It’s put together in a way to make the experience interactive and fun.

In the image above you can see that the use of video on your Facebook page is smart because when you upload your video, you get an embed code. You can take that embed code and place the video on your website, your blog or anywhere outside of Facebook. When you do this, the Facebook video automatically brings the Like button with it. Therefore, if somebody’s surfing the web, they find your video and they’re not yet a fan, they can become a fan of your Facebook page right from the video just by clicking that Like button.

Also, if somebody shares your video on their Facebook page and a bunch of their friends see it, they too can become a fan of your page while they’re watching the video, without actually leaving the video. This is a great way to virally grow your Facebook fan base.

Tip: Create experiences on your social channels. How can you tailor your programs or product experiences to get your fans engaged and interested? Think of ways to spread your message by getting people to interact with you in fun and interesting ways via great content, apps, videos and quizzes.

Want to Learn More About Social Media for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of social media, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

There’s one easy way to take your social media efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Social Media Success Summit 2011 you’ll become empowered to use social media to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 22 blogging experts. Join Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Guy Kawasaki (author, Enchantment), Brian Solis (author, Engage), Frank Eliason (Citigroup), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Erik Qualman (author, Socialnomics), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Dan Zarrella (author, The Social Media Marketing Book), Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing), David Meerman Scott (author, Real-Time Marketing & PR) and experts from Verizon, Boeing, Timex, Intel, and Cisco as they reveal proven social media tactics at Social Media Success Summit 2011.

Check out this video from Michael Stelzner

It’s the web’s largest online social media conference. Click here SAVE 50% (expires Thur. April 14th) or for a free sample and to learn more.

Now it’s your turn. Did you see some great ideas and tactics that might change your social media strategy? Leave your comments in the box below.

According to the survey, marketers admit to struggling with customer engagement on multiple channels. This makes sense as many marketers are just beginning to experiment with more engagement efforts, one channel at a time.

In the near future, we’ll begin to see this single channel engagement morph into a more synergistic engagement effort over multiple channels. As we’ve seen with other social media trends, these shifts take time.

Here are some of the findings:

• Customization: The vast majority of respondents have created a customized experience for their social channels. (Only 9% admitted to not customizing any of their channels.)
• IT vs. Marketing: 66% of respondents admitted to having friction between their IT and marketing departments.
• Social Conversations: A vast majority of marketers (7 out of 10) say they have little understanding of social media conversations surrounding their brand.

In addition to delivering these insightful statistics, Alterian also created the above infographic to give a snapshot of the most important stats.

Click here to read the full report and download the infographic.

Alterian asked marketing professionals a series of engagement questions. Let’s take a look and see where you stand in relation to others in your industry.

#1: How will marketing budgets change over next year?

About half of the marketers surveyed claim their budget will increase slightly, while about 9% see their budgets greatly increasing.

In addition, about a quarter of those surveyed plan to maintain the same investment, roughly 10% will decrease their budgets and a little over 7% say they have not yet determined next year’s budget.

#2: How will social media budgets change over next year?

About half of the marketers surveyed expect their social/digital marketing expenditures will increase slightly while 23% see their expenditures greatly increasing.

Also, 14% of the marketers plan to maintain the same investment while 4% will spend less than the year before.

#3: Do you monitor social media conversations?

Almost 40% of those surveyed said they are using a few ad-hoc tools and 30% said they are reporting regularly to management.

In addition, almost 30% claim they have very little understanding of the social media conversations happening around their brand or those of their clients.

#4: Are you as engaged with customers as you should be?

A little over half of those surveyed (57%) feel their brand (or client’s brand) is somewhat at risk and are taking action to fix the challenge.

13% said they know they need to better engage but haven’t taken action and 7% admitted there were major concerns, but didn’t know where to start to fix the issues.

Lastly, about a quarter of the marketers claimed their brand (or those of their clients) was not at risk and they were fully engaged with their customers.

Now it’s your turn! Did any of these statistics surprise you? What changes have you made to engage with your customers? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.

To help you lay down tracks for social media success, here’s a solid list of strategies from eight top social media experts. Take a look, ask yourself what tips you can use and start reaping the rewards of real success.

#1: Offer live events on Facebook

“To provide additional value and fresh ways for your fans to interact with you, periodically conduct live chat sessions or live webinars or teleseminars. My co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, Chris Treadaway, and I recently conducted what we called a ‘flash chat’ in order to crowdsource content for version two of our book,” explained Mari Smith.

“We used the awesome webinar platform Linqto and within a few minutes we had a large group of people interacting with us. Linqto allows presenters to be on webcam and mic and take turns ‘on the floor’ while participants interact via chat,” said Mari.

Mari also said you can keep it real by simply conducting a live Q&A right on your Facebook fan page wall. You’ll get extra visibility in the news feeds of your fans!

#2: Help others who aren’t necessarily famous

“Don’t try to build your personal brand or company brand alone. Go out of your way to look for opportunities to help others and give others credit. This may seem like a lot of work in the short term, but it pays off in the long run. Plus, it’s the right thing to do,” said Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.

“Easy ways to do this include recommendations on Twitter of others’ work, retweets and hot tips on the comment section of blogs,” Erik added.

“Heed Guy Kawasaki’s advice and select those not on the A-list. The Mari Smiths, Chris Brogans and David Meerman Scotts already are showered with love. Select an up-and-comer, as you will stand out more to that person,” explained Erik.

#3: Don’t over-focus on marketing

“All too often, businesses overlook the ‘social’ part of the phrase social media marketing and jump straight into the ‘marketing’ part… to their detriment. They forget that social media is dominated by a community of people who have expectations of the various social networks to which they belong. Very often, these expectations do not include having marketing messages jammed down their throats,” explained Hollis Thomases, author of Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Hollis cites INGDirect, L.L. Bean and Ben & Jerry’s as good examples of authentic brand voices that ‘get’ the Twitter community.

Notice the engagement in their streams.

Hollis added, “If you plan on delegating your social media activities to someone, ask yourself, ‘Does this person really understand our brand, the image we want to present and does s/he have the ability to communicate properly about these attributes?’”

#4: Research what your customers are saying

“Stop reading the success stories and best practices to model your social media strategy. Use them for inspiration, but my best advice to you is to go figure out what your opportunity is first,” said Brian Solis, author of Engage: The Complete Guide to Building, Cultivating and Measuring Success in the Social Web.

“Every business case is different. Your customers’ needs are different. Use a tool such as Research.ly to learn more about what your customers and prospects are saying, looking for and sharing. It’s here where you will find the insights necessary to inspire a campaign that’s relevant and meaningful,” said Brian.

Publish your time-stamped stream as an intelligent link.

#5: Meet people in real life

“I’m from Boston and we used to have a huge user group here called the Boston Computer Society,” says Steve Garfield, author of Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business. “They had monthly meetings where people could go out and meet each other and get help and learn about new products. Then, people started getting answers online. So the Boston Computer Society disbanded, thinking that people could just go online to get all their answers.

“The most critical thing that the Boston Computer Society forgot was how important it is to meet people face to face. That’s why I have monthly meetings in Boston with a group I founded called Boston Media Makers. At these meetings every person who attends gets to meet every other person. That’s the secret,” said Steve.

You can meet people online, but solidify these online relationships face to face.

“The meeting is set up to allow for mingling at the beginning, then we have a round table where everyone gets two minutes to talk about who they are and share some news or ask a question. Then the meeting ends with more mingling. What’s very important is that the meeting is free, and happens at the same time every month no matter what. We never cancel. Everyone is welcome,” explained Steve.

#6: Get your content read by being controversial

“We all know that ‘content is king’,” says Dean Hunt, a leader in high-impact buzz and viral content. “This is especially true when it comes to social media and social bookmarking. But what happens if nobody reads your masterpiece? There’s nothing worse than spending hours on an article, blog post, etc., only to see it gather dust in the Internet caves.

“So here’s a strategy I created to ensure that your content WILL get noticed… In fact, people will do a double-take when they see your content title, and will not be able to resist reading it. I call it the ‘negative slant.’ It’s very simple to do, and works best with informational or how-to content,” said Dean.

“An example is a recent post I wrote, ‘How to Work Really Hard and Make No Money.’ It was a big success. Now, I should stress that the content in that blog post was informative, positive and actually showed people how to make money, but I put a negative spin on the title, which gave it shock value,” said Dean.

“Imagine if the title had been ‘How to Make Lots of Money’ instead. We see these kinds of promises every single day, and we’re trained to not believe or trust them. So put a negative slant on your social media content, and watch it create buzz and get shared faster than ever before,” explained Dean.

#7: Invest in social media after you do your research

“Just as you would invest your personal finances based on your family size, age and market conditions, you should be spending in social business with the same industry knowledge,” said Jeremiah Owyang, partner of customer strategy at Altimeter Group.

According to Altimeter’s recent report, How Corporations Should Prioritize Social Business Budgets, “Corporations should gauge their own social business maturity and prioritize spending decisions based on the industry benchmarks. Novice programs must focus on getting their internal teams in order; intermediate programs must scale customer-facing initiatives; and advanced programs must integrate social business throughout the enterprise.”

This chart matches spending priorities with an organization's social business maturity. Take a look and see where your business fits best.

#8: Share the knowledge of experts with your audience

“Get experts involved with your content. Determine who the experts are in your industry. Then go to them and offer to interview them about their hottest new project. During the interview, be sure to ask plenty of questions your audience would like to know the answers to. The result will be a great article, audio or video that provides valuable information to your audience AND forges a relationship with the expert,” said Mike Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner.

To see an example of this strategy, check out Mike’s recent interview with bestselling author Seth Godin.

Want to Learn More About Social Media for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of social media, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

There’s one easy way to take your social media efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Social Media Success Summit 2011 you’ll become empowered to use social media to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 22 blogging experts. Join  Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Brian Solis (author, Engage), Frank Eliason (Citigroup), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Erik Qualman (author, Socialnomics), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Dan Zarrella (author, The Social Media Marketing Book), Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing), David Meerman Scott (author, Real-Time Marketing & PR) and experts from Verizon, Boeing, Intel, and Cisco as they reveal proven social media tactics at Social Media Success Summit 2011.

Check out this video from Michael Stelzner

It’s the web’s largest online blogging conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

By the way, all eight of these experts cited in this article will be joined by 14 other social media pros at this year’s Social Media Success Summit 2011. Go here to learn more about this online social media conference.

Now it’s your turn! Which of these expert tips are you going to model for your own social media strategy? Share your comments with us in the box below!

Altimeter Group‘s recent research reveals that integration, staffing, advertising and measurement are all key areas of focus for social media strategists in 2011.

Jeremiah Owyang, industry analyst and Altimeter Group partner who focuses on customer strategy, recently delivered the keynote Social Business Forecast: 2011 The Year of Integration. He offered some extremely valuable survey results, insights and advice for businesses looking to expand their social media plans in 2011.

In the survey, Altimeter Group asked 140 corporate social strategists about their 2011 planning. Below are the specific questions asked and the graphs Altimeter created to reveal and compare the findings.

Question: What internal social strategy objectives will you focus most on in 2011?

As you can see from the graph above, "Creating ROI Measurements" was top of mind for almost half (48.3%) of those surveyed. Not so closely behind was "Internal Education and Training" (37.3%).

Question: What external social strategy objectives will you focus most on in 2011?

The graph above shows "Website Integration" as the #1 priority for 46.7% of respondents. This is an important objective because social integration with your website allows readers to stay on your site longer. This also encourages social sharing and community in a location (your website) that you have more control over (versus external social channels like Facebook and Twitter).

Question: What measurements are most important to evaluating the success of your program?

From the above graph, it's obvious that social strategists have their eye on engagement for 2011, with over 65.5% stating that retweets, comments and likes are top of mind when it comes to measuring social success. Interestingly, product revenue was much lower on the list, coming in at only 21.8%.

For years we’ve been hearing social media experts warn that profits and revenue should not be the ultimate goal for using social media tools and based on the findings above, businesses just might be starting to agree.

So how do you get ahead in social media in 2011?

Owyang’s advice is to invest in scalable social media programs in 2011.

How do you do that? Here are his six tips to help you move in that direction:

#1: Hire Correctly and Properly Train to Scale

Altimeter Tip: No gurus, ninjas or hotshots need apply. Look for solid experience and seek out the early technology adopters, as they tend to have a finger on the pulse of industry trends and behaviors.

#2: Integrate Social Media on Your Corporate Website and Then Aggregate and Curate

Altimeter Tip: Do this in stages, starting from ground zero with no integration and moving toward seamless integration by using a step-by-step progression. Start off with sharing, move toward integrating the brand with the social channels and eventually integrate social logins to keep people on your site longer and encourage even greater social sharing.

#3: Invest in Advertising That Leverages the Social Graph

Altimeter Tip: Advertising is the second highest social business program spend for 2010-2011, but it must be done strategically to see real results. Focus on clear metrics and make sure to tie the ads back to the social graph, instead of the old way of using banners.

#4: Build an Unpaid Army of Advocates to Get Your Customers to Do the Work for You

Altimeter Tip: Invest in advocacy programs because you can scale them more easily than most other social programs. Here are the 5 phases of scalability for an advocacy program:

• Internal readiness
• Identify advocates
• Build relationships
• Put advocates first
• Foster growth

#5: Invest in Scalable Systems

Altimeter Tip: 1:1 dialogue does not scale. The two systems to help you scale are social customer relationship management (SCRM), which connects the social web to your customer database, and social media management systems (SMMS) such as Co-Tweet.

#6: Learn to Measure Using the ROI Pyramid

Altimeter Tip: To avoid information overload of executives and management, Owyang provides a valuable solution: Provide the right metrics to the right audience. Know who your internal audience is and give them the appropriate info.

He makes a great point by saying, “A novice mistake is to provide engagement metrics to executives.” He suggests instead that you focus on business metrics when it comes to executives.

Check out the “Social Media ROI Pyramid” in his keynote presentation (slides 37-40) to better understand which role should get what specific data. I’ve never seen it laid out this way and it’s incredibly valuable information you don’t want to miss.

Now it’s your turn! What are your thoughts on the six tips for scalable social media programs? Do you think it’s valuable advice or will you do things differently in your business? Leave your comments in the box below.

This article showcases 10 top blogs in multiple markets. Follow their lead to take your blog from good to great. And if you don’t have a business blog yet, now’s the perfect time to get in the game!

Each of these successful blog examples has incorporated unique features that have attracted thousands of readers. The great news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel—just model the best. Take a look at these thriving blogs and apply the same success strategies to your own blog.

#1: Sweet Leaf Tea

Sweet Leaf Tea is a blog site that sells specialty teas. They’ve figured out a way to humanize their blog while staying true to their brand. Sweet Leaf Tea uses their blog design to bring a less formal, more human touch to their brand.

Notice in the image below the casual fonts, the old-world feeling of their images and the informal language they use to spotlight the features on the site. It’s more “people-speak” than “marketing-speak” and this strategy instantly draws in their target audience.

Sweet Leaf Tea also showcases their employees in a very friendly, casual way. They show photos of their teammates (they call them “Tea Mates”) and give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their fun work environment by posting the Tea Mates’ nicknames and interests.

Tip: Consider allowing your employees to be the face of your brand. Highlighting your team is a great way to bring your readers behind the scenes and let them see the team camaraderie. This kind of transparency builds trust with your readers. Also, your team can help you keep things informal, fun and relatable. It’s important to be professional, but remember your readers are human and everyone enjoys a little fun too.

#2: Stonyfield Farm

Stonyfield Farms specializes in organic dairy products. Their branding is geared toward family, farming and living an organic lifestyle.

Stonyfield does a great job of staying true to their brand by creating a targeted theme within their blog. As you can see from the image below, they use a barnyard as their home page backdrop, and include pictures of healthy families and articles about healthy living. All of these components reinforce their theme of family and healthy living. Plus, notice how they say “Let’s Be Friends,” a much friendlier, warmer way to encourage people to connect with you on your social sites.

They also use video in a very genuine, behind-the-scenes kind of way. Just like their blog’s theme of family and farming, their videos are not professionally done, but with real people living the lifestyle they personify. Many of their videos come from the farm of an organic dairy farmer in Vermont, who supplies milk for their products. You can’t get much more behind-the-scenes than that!

Staying true to your theme, as Stonyfield has done with their videos, allows your audience to know, like and trust you. This is key to building a solid blogging foundation.

Another thing they do very well is their use of soft sales messages contextualized in value-added content. For example, they may write an article about the importance of eating organic fruit, but weave in the idea of mixing Stonyfield yogurt in with your fruit for an extra dose of nutrients. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your products on your blog; just remember that the most successful blogs place added value before selling.

The Stonyfield Farm blog is a great example of a big brand using their blog to build community and educate their readers about their market.

Tip: Try to weave in a theme throughout your blog. To help with this, consider inviting outsiders to contribute to your blog. Another great tip is to go deeper by allowing your audience to see what’s behind the curtain. Behind-the-scenes stories and footage invite the reader in even more and will help you create content that stays true to your theme.

#3: Pioneer Woman

Pioneer Woman is an excellent example of a successful lifestyle blog. The blog’s creator, Ree Drummond, has used her blog as a platform for a variety of projects, including promoting her cookbook and showcasing her photography. Her “secret sauce” lies in her ability to connect personally with her readers while creating a welcoming, friendly and warm experience one blog post at a time.

One great example of Ree’s welcoming persona is her simple bio on the home page. And take a look at her social sites. They’re easy to see and are also uniquely designed to match her site. This is smart branding at its best!

Another way Ree is consistent with her branding is in her blog’s header. She changes it depending on the season and time of year. Because so much of country life is about holiday and seasons, this small touch is directly aligned with the overall vision of the blog. Also notice her brilliant use of photography. Photos on a blog are essential when you want to create a feeling or experience for your readers.

In addition, her blog layout is easy to navigate, which is extremely important considering the short attention span of most readers today. Ree has added icons that allow you to view her blog in multiple ways, including multiple blog thumbnails to a page or just a few at a time. You get to decide. These small touches are just some of the reasons her readers continually return for more.

Tip: Be aware of your brand when you’re designing your blog. Consider using photographs and brand-specific design elements to draw in your readers. By increasing your blog aesthetics, you can easily create a more personable and relatable experience for your readers.

#4: Citrix

Citrix’s unique blogging strategy is all about adding value. Their blog, Work Shifting, is a work/lifestyle blog that focuses on the issues people in business experience when on the move. What’s interesting is that you have to really look hard to know which company is behind the blog because Citrix downplays their involvement. Instead, they’ve put their audience’s needs first and have created a space that resonates with their audience’s needs and interests.

In addition, to set their blog apart from the rest, they use distinct visual branding with their logo and images. Plus, their visual branding is memorable—another surefire sign of a successful blog. In addition to their branding, notice below how the content and topics are all about the target audience’s needs. This is key when creating a blog that’s bigger than your own brand.

They also use a broad range of contributors—people who do not actually work for Citrix. This is a smart strategy to diversify the content of your blog and attract new readers via those who already follow your contributors.

Tip: Focus on adding value to a market that’s bigger than your brand. You can do this by collaborating with contributors who are experts in your market and who will resonate with your ideal audience. Offer as much free value as possible and keep your sales messages as low-key as possible to keep the focus on the content. This strategy will build trust with your target audience and keep your readers coming back for more.

#5: Danny Brown

Danny Brown’s blog is a terrific case study for consultants or anyone with a personal brand. This site positions Brown as an expert in his field and showcases his expertise, knowledge and services.

A brilliant feature on this blog is the way Danny presents his consulting services without being too pushy or arrogant. It’s all about the language he uses. Instead of saying “Hire Me” on his site, he instead uses the phrase “Work with Me.” It’s a subtle shift in language, but conjures up an entirely different experience.

In the image above, you’ll also see that Danny uses the cliffhanger concept by posting a snippet of a blog post and then adding a “read more” button to get the reader to dive deeper into his blog site. This is a powerful way to get people’s attention and entice them to stay a little longer and explore your site. Also, this concept helps you save space on your home site by just giving a teaser of your article content.

One of my favorite features on his blog is the share sidebar next to his blog posts. The WordPress plugin is called Digg Digg and the sidebar floats on the screen. When a reader scrolls down the page, the sidebar follows them. This is a smart way to make it as easy as possible for people to share your content.

Tip: Make content sharing on your site as easy as possible for your readers. If they have to look around for the share features, they’ll likely skip sharing altogether. Consider using the Digg Digg plugin to make this possible on your site.

#6: Ecoki

Ecoki is a blog site that offers a wide range of articles, tips and ideas on everything related to living a green lifestyle.

The beauty of this blog is the clean, grid-based template. This style makes it easy to read and showcases the various topics. In addition, they make it simple to navigate the site by adding easily visible headers, such as featured article, latest news, popular items and resources. Sometimes just calling out the specific areas on your site is all you need to do to get people more engaged with your content.

In addition, Ecoki has two types of navigation bars. The top navigation bar calls out the main topics they cover, including food, technology and design, and the navigation directly under it showcases their media delivery, including articles, video and info on contributors. These two different navigation bars give more power to the readers by allowing them to choose how they want to consume the content.

Tip: If the content for your blog site includes multiple topics, consider the grid layout design. It’s easy to follow and allows you to showcase multiple areas in a simple format. Also, one smart strategy is to add in photos to break up the text in your grid layout and make the site more inviting and less static.

#7: Nuts About Southwest

Southwest Airline’s blog, Nuts About Southwest, is one of the most popular airline blogs around today. Their secret to success is they understand their loyal flyers’ needs and interests and capitalize on that throughout their blog. The blog is designed to build a relationship between the brand and their consumers.

One thing to remember is that blogs are so much more than just text. What Southwest does best is mix up their media. They use written articles, videos, photos, polls and surveys to capture the interest of their many readers. They often lead with images to draw in the reader, a great strategy for any business blog.

In addition, Nuts About Southwest has added a feature where returning readers can create an account to customize their profile and engage with other Southwest readers. Since frequent flyers are often loyal fans, they’re likely to exchange travel stories and experiences with other readers. Southwest created a way to make this easy for their readers.

Tip: Special features on your blog are a great strategy, especially if you have loyal fans who will likely return to your blog on a regular basis. (After all, this is the goal for most blogs, right?) Treat your returning readers as VIPs by creating features and content that facilitate engagement with you and other readers.

#8: Disney Parks

Disney Parks is a site designed to encourage more visitors to Disney’s parks. They do a fantastic job of making their site memorable and useful.

One great feature is the way they showcase their blog authors. Next to each post is a photo of the author. This allows their content to be a bit more friendly and transparent.

Also, Disney is a world-renowned company and they’re known for their professional branding and impeccable productions. To be consistent with the branding and to meet the expectations of their audience, this blog site posts professional videos, photos and content. Unlike the Stonyfield Farms blog mentioned earlier, Disney Parks does not have that casual, homegrown feeling to it. Instead it’s polished and professional to match their branding.

This blog site also includes a comment policy to inform their readers that comments are monitored. Because they’re appealing to families with children, Disney Parks needs to make sure parents feel safe when their children visit the site.

Tip: Keep your design simple while staying true to your audience’s expectations. If you have a polished, professional image, don’t stray too far from this on your business blog. The key here is to know your audience’s expectations and go above and beyond to deliver what they want to read, see and experience most.

#9: Procter & Gamble

Man of the House, a Procter & Gamble blog, is a great example of a blog that targets a very specific audience. The blog is designed specifically for men and covers all areas that interest men, including money, career, technology, family and fitness. Although there are many “mommy blogs” out there today, there are very few sites that focus solely on men and their interests. This site captures that niche market perfectly.

They do many things right, but one great feature is their use of photos on their home page. Each blog post includes a thumbnail photo above each post to allow their readers to browse the articles easily. This is a great way to showcase your content, especially if you’re writing on a variety of topics and want your audience to browse your archives.

Also, similar to the Citrix blog mentioned earlier, this site also does not blast advertisements and push their products. Instead, they’ve built a site with great content and engaging features and subtly weave their marketing messages into the site, but only as a secondary outcome. Adding value for their audience with tips, tricks and ideas is their number-one goal.

The key is to create a site that caters to your target audience, and once you own the platform, you’re able to subtly weave in your marketing messages to a warm audience. If you do the hard work up front and do it consistently, you’ll create a platform that practically sells your brand and products for you!

Lastly, the Man of the House blog places social media sharing buttons at the top of each post, instead of the bottom where most people are used to seeing them. Because many readers will not read the entire blog post, placing the buttons at the top encourages readers to share their content.

Tip: Think about how you can address the needs of your audience even if it has nothing to do with your products or services. The more you can make your posts interesting to your target audience, they’ll consider your site as the “go-to source” for quality info and keep coming back for more.

#10: Delicious Days

Delicious Days is a front-runner when it comes to impeccable blog design and overall layout. This site is a great example of knowing what your audience will respond to and delivering your content in a way that grabs their attention.

The use of white space and the black-and-white design makes the site easy to read and navigate. Notice how there’s not a lot of background noise and the clean, minimal look is inviting and calm.

Also, Nicky Stich and Oliver Seidel, the creators and designers of the blog, have added a feature that’s not often seen on most blogging sites. In the upper-right corner you’ll see a tab that reads, “Can I help you?” This serves as their website search tool.

In addition, the “A+” and “A-” buttons increase or decrease the font size of their blog site, again making their site even easier to navigate. These two features are great examples of taking care of your audience and addressing their needs front and center on your blog.

Also, Nicky knows what will lure her readers in, and in her case, its enticing photos. She is a master at mixing text with imagery to tell the story and evoke emotion. This is evident in the two images below.

Tip: Don’t underestimate the power of white space. It can make your blog more user-friendly and visually appealing to attract readers and keep your existing readers on your blog longer. Also, know what attracts your audience’s attention. If enticing photos will catch their attention, as with Delicious Days, use more photos! Keep it simple and give your audience what they want.

Want to Learn More About Blogging for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of blogging, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Most businesses are just now getting started with blogs.

There’s one easy way to take your blogging efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Blogging Success Summit 2011, you’ll become empowered to use blogs to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 23 blogging experts. Join Technorati’s CEO, Scott Monty, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Michael Stelzner and experts from McDonald’s, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony and Procter & Gamble as they reveal proven blogging tactics at Blogging Success Summit 2011.

It’s the web’s largest online blogging conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

What do you think about the above business blogs? Have you tried any of these techniques with success? Let us know! Please leave your comments below.

To help you take your blog to an entirely new level, here are 7 tips from the best-of-the-best in the blogging and social media arena. Every expert below has created a thriving blog with tens of thousands of subscribers who engage with their posts on a regular basis. If you want to know how to create and grow a successful blog, make sure to take notes (and take action)!

#1: Measure Your Blogging Success

“If you’re blogging for business, rather than blogging about your cat, baby, fashion addiction, or crush on Taylor Swift, you need to set some success metrics,” says Jay Baer, founder of Convince and Convert.

Without a statistical measure of your blogging progress, adding content to your blog on a regular basis can be an incredibly lonely proposition. Is anyone out there? Does anyone care?

However, within the business blogging arena there are a wide variety of potential metrics to gauge your momentum. It’s imperative that you select the most relevant ones that match with your blog’s purpose.

The first step in that process of course is to know why you’re blogging. This sounds simple, but it’s shocking how many bloggers aren’t clear on the core business rationale behind their blog initiative.

As I see it, you have 3 options:

• Blogging for Content
  This is the scenario where you are writing a blog with considerable emphasis on search optimization, attempting to drive traffic to the blog via strategic content creation and keyword inclusion. Your metric is search traffic.

• Blogging for Commerce
  Related to the first, but commerce-oriented blogs are more interested in conversion events than in traffic generation. Funneling traffic from the blog to some other web destination (typically a corporate site or lead form) is the primary objective. Here, your metrics are leads and conversions.

• Blogging for Community
  These blogs seek to build a consistent readership that interacts with the blogger(s) and advocates on behalf of the content on other social outposts.

Determine the main reason why your business has a blog and pick success metrics to match.

#2: Pursue Guest Blogging Opportunities

One of the best ways to get exposure for your blog is to blog for other people. Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media, offers some great advice to start building relationships for potential guest blogging opportunities.

“Find the influential bloggers in your related industries,” says Brooks, “and read their blogs. As appropriate, leave intelligent, thoughtful comments that further the conversation. This can drive traffic to your blog and may open up opportunities for guest blogging at their blog as they become aware of you through your brilliant insights. However, this must be a win-win for it to work. If you leave comments for completely selfish reasons, you can expect limited results.”

#3: Reframe How You Look at Business Blogging

“I often hear people complain that they don’t have time to write on their business blog or they don’t know what to write about,” says Denise Wakeman, founder of The Blog Squad. “Yet a blog is one of the best tools you can use to distribute your message across the web.”

One way to move away from this mode of thinking is to reframe how you look at blogging. It’s not about writing on a blog; it’s about taking advantage of a powerful marketing tool that works for you 24/7/365. Then, schedule writing time so it doesn’t slip through the cracks in the course of a busy day or week.

Here’s a 4-step process to get you started:

1.     Block out your writing time on a calendar.

2.     Plan your content in advance. Create an editorial calendar and plug in your topics 1 to 3 months in advance.

3.     For each of your blog categories, list a minimum of 5 topics you can cover related to your company, products and the solutions you provide.

4.     Pop them into your editorial calendar as prompts so you’re never at a loss for ideas when it’s time to create content.

#4: Add Keywords to Your Blog Titles and Posts

Rob Birgfeld of SmartBrief says keywords are the secret sauce to a successful business blog.

“It’s easy,” Birgfeld says, “to write blog posts on whatever topic springs to mind. But chances are your blog was created to help achieve business goals. In order to reach those goals, take data from your search engine marketing efforts and develop an editorial plan around your top-producing keywords.”

Gather your top 10-15 keywords or phrases and write blog posts specific to each one. Keep the content compelling, but be sure to sprinkle the selected keyword (and synonyms) throughout the post.

Most importantly, be sure to include those all-important keywords in the blog title and in the tags that you select. Not only will a keyword-driven blogging strategy help you build and plan out your editorial calendar, it will help you reach company goals via proven search engine marketing data. Thus providing you with something that’s hard to come by in social media: An easier sell to your CFO.

#5: Interview the Best in Your Industry

Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner, suggests, “Hire a videographer and go to the biggest trade show in your industry. Interview all the leading book authors and thought leaders.”

When you do this, you’ll end up with tons of content you can release on your blog over months. And chances are, when the big names see your video, they’ll share it with their fan base, driving new traffic to your site.

Here’s Mike Stelzner interviewing Scott Monty of Ford at Blog World 2010. This is a great example of attending the best events in the industry and connecting with the influencers.

#6: Create Persuasive Calls to Action

“You’ve got anecdotes, case studies, top-ten lists, provocative insights and more on your business blog. Hats off to you. That’s a huge achievement, particularly if you’ve been publishing a blog for a year or less. But what’s your call to action? And by that I mean, what step is a visitor prompted to take after landing on your blog?” says Debbie Weil, expert blogger and author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

What obvious callouts do you have to attract a visitor’s eye after he or she reads your latest blog post? Think about it. Your blog reader, if a first-time visitor, has most likely typed in a keyword phrase and ended up on your blog through search results.

Readers may not even know that it’s a blog. So you’ve got their attention, at least for a few seconds. This is your real-time moment to prompt your visitor to take the next step. If I sound all salesy here I don’t mean to. This is permission marketing 101. It’s offering something unanticipated but relevant at the exact moment your visitor is looking for it.

Here are a few ideas for persuasive calls to action from Debbie Weil’s Social Media Insights Blog:

• Download our white paper
• Join us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
• Ask us a question
• Download our e-book
• Sign up for our free webinar
• Request our toolkit
• Sign up for our e-newsletter
• Request a demo

#7: When it Comes to Video Blogging, Forget Acting

“I remember the first time I was on camera,” says David Garland, founder of The Rise to the Top and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper. “I was trying to be someone I wasn’t… with an awkward spray tan. (Stop laughing.)”

For some reason, our personalities can sometimes change when on camera (something about that scary lens). What the audience craves is to see the real you. All the good stuff, quirks and everything else.

Try this. Invite someone over with whom you are VERY comfortable. Have him or her ask you a question and simply answer it. Then, have the person hold a camera and try it again. Rinse, wash and repeat until you feel comfortable. When you talk into the lens, picture that person. It will make all the difference.

Here's David Garland interviewing Mike Stelzner about the success of SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Want to Learn More About Blogging for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of blogging, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Most businesses are just now getting started with blogs.

There’s one easy way to take your blogging efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Blogging Success Summit 2011 you’ll become empowered to use blogs to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 23 blogging experts. Join Technorati’s CEO, Scott Monty, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Michael Stelzner and experts from McDonalds, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony and Procter & Gamble as they reveal proven blogging tactics at Blogging Success Summit 2011.

It’s the web’s largest online blogging conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

Now it’s your turn! Have you used any of these great blogging tips already? Do you plan to implement any into your blogging strategy right away? Share your thoughts and comments with us in the box below.

All photos from Shutterstock

Although there’s a lot to consider when growing a successful Facebook page, the rewards of brand exposure, loyal fans and increased revenue are well worth your time and effort!

One way to streamline the time and resources that you put into your Facebook page is to assign a community manager. A community manager is an admin of your page who is responsible for managing the page and making sure it’s running smoothly. If you have multiple admins on your page, the community manager is ultimately responsible for managing them as well.

Most small to large businesses that have a Facebook page should consider assigning a community manager. The community manager should be aware of the company’s Facebook marketing plan and be well-qualified to execute that plan on a daily basis on your page.

A good community manager is key to building a strong community.

To help you find the right fit for your page, below are three tips to guide your decision.

Tip #1: Personality Counts

When looking for the right community manager for your page, you want to make sure his/her personality is a good fit for your audience. Here are six personality traits of a superstar community manager:

• Natural communicator
• Problem solver
• Enjoys people
• Good listener
• Professional
• Positive attitude and enthusiastic

Tip #2: Know Your Audience

You need a community manager who can connect with your audience.

Also consider your ideal audience and make sure your community manager is comfortable connecting with your audience and is able to build rapport with them easily.

Remember, Facebook marketing is about connecting and building relationships with real people, not brands. Choose a community manager who is a great representative for your company’s mission.

Tip #3: Evaluate Skill Set

You need a community manager with the right skill set.

In addition to personality traits, there are also some necessary skills that you want to make sure your community manager possesses. They are:

• Solid understanding of social networking
• Social media savvy
• Infallibly committed to helping people in social channels
• Ability to multi-task and think quickly
• Understands online marketing
• Ability to grasp how social media activity aligns with business goals

Questions to Ask Before Assigning a Community Manager

To help you make the right decision, here are some important questions you want to ask before you make your final hiring decision for a community manager:

• Does this person show the ability to be social online?
• Does this person show a genuine interest in connecting with our clients/customers?
• Can I trust this person to be professional and respectful at all times?
• Do people naturally gravitate toward this person?
• Will this person actively contribute new ideas to grow the page and make it better each day?

Because your community manager will be interacting with your fans daily, it’s paramount that you take the time to choose this person wisely. More often than not, you’ll find this person already on your internal team because they know your brand and your clients better than an outside source. However, this is not always possible and if you do need to hire an outside source make sure you train him or her well and monitor activity closely, especially in the first few months.

Expanding Your Facebook Marketing Team

In addition to assigning a community manager, it’s also wise to assign multiple admins to your page. Having a few admins manage your page is one way to optimize time and effort. Putting together an admin team is a smart strategy because your admins can divide and conquer.

With multiple admins, your community manager can assign roles and responsibilities that are aligned with the admins’ skills and strengths and your page will be more consistently managed with multiple people watching over the day-to-day activity. For the Social Media Examiner Facebook page, we have three admins. This allows us to keep engagement high and support our fans impeccably by responding to their posts and answering their questions.

To add an admin to your page, just go to the “Edit Page” link under your profile image on your Facebook wall. Once inside your Facebook page dashboard, click “Manage Admins” and you can type a name or email to add an admin to your page.

Once you're inside your Facebook page dashboard, you'll have the option to add (or remove) admins.

Any admins of your page have the ability to do the following:

• Admins can post status updates on your wall as the page’s identity, not the admins’ profile identity. What this means is that when you’re an admin of a page, you can only post as that page, and never as your own profile. To post on the company’s Facebook page as your own personal profile, you would need to remove yourself as an admin first.
• All admins can edit the page. This means that admins can add photos and videos, change out the profile image, remove posts, and add new tabs.
• Any admin of your page can add or delete admins. Due to this function, it is essential that you can trust all admins of your page to act respectfully and with integrity.

There is no way to limit the admins’ access and functionality on your page. This means that when you add an admin, it’s all or nothing. Make sure to choose your admins wisely!

Your community manager will want to make sure to assign each admin clear tasks so there’s no overlap or confusion on your page. The best way to do this is to create a set of rules and guidelines for your page to make sure everyone is clear on the expectations.

Here are some guidelines to consider as you coordinate posts and strategies:

#1: Decide how you want your admins to post on your page

Here are some questions you want to ask about your status updates and posts on your wall:

• How often will you post updates to your page?
• What will you post about?
• When will you use text-only versus links?
• Will you use third-party content to add value?
• Will you mix up the media and use video, audio, photos?

#2: Determine a communication strategy

There’s a fine balance between monitoring your page and allowing your fans to interact with each other and come to their own conclusions with questions or feedback you might ask from your posts. Decide how your admins should manage this important balance.

#3: Assign roles and document them

One admin might be responsible for posting one third-party article a day while another admin may be assigned the task of uploading company videos throughout the week. Other tasks might include posting questions, uploading company photos to a photo album, monitoring and responding to all fan posts or posting on fans’ pages to increase overall engagement. Whatever the task, make sure your admins are clear on their duties so there’s no confusion as you get going.

#4: Create guidelines

Every Facebook page should have a “dos and don’ts” list. Make it very clear what’s allowed and what you won’t tolerate on your page. Include what can and can’t be discussed, including company-related content and personal content. Decide how often you’ll promote your programs and services and what acceptable promotion looks like.

Think about your company, your mission and your goals and carefully craft your guidelines around all three. The time spent here will save you a lot of headache in the future!

Facebook continues to grow quickly and smart marketers are continually finding ways to use this platform as a new way to engage with their prospects and create stronger relationships. Consider putting together a Facebook team to optimize your Facebook marketing strategy.

Now it’s your turn! I would love to hear your thoughts on how your company manages your Facebook page, so feel free to share your ideas or add a comment in the box below.

All photos from Shutterstock