SynergiSocial is the social media mentor for TechLaunch and we are thrilled to see Travis get interviewed by TechCrunch! Great job Travis!

Here’s some great info about changing your business name on Facebook!

Tellem Grody Public Relations - Los Angeles, CA

(April 11, 2012) Thanks to reader Linda Waterhouse (@llwaterhouse) for bringing this to our attention — the link we provided below (cough, name change solution, cough) is no longer active on Facebook. Here is the new way to petition for a Facebook page name change:

• Log into Facebook
• Visit the page you’d like to rename
• Open the Admin panel (top right) if it isn’t already open
• Find Manage on the drop down, click it and select edit page
• Look at the left sidebar and click on basic information
• Next, you should see the current name of your page listed
• Look for a live, blue, hyperlink that says request change

• Click it and follow Facebook’s directions carefully. You should be on your way to success!

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Original post (March 2012):

Finally, Facebook is offering this form to request a page name change for your business. Some companies restructure, rename or simply…

View original post 89 more words

How to handle mistakes on social media

We’re all human.  As such we make mistakes.  But when we make a mistake on social media, it is out there forever and it cannot be undone.  This can be very, very scary for some, and it keeps many people on the sidelines and away from Facebook or Twitter.

Some mistakes are bigger than others.  Take McDonald’s for example.  They started a social media campaign about McD stories which quickly got away from them and made them look pretty stupid.

But the potential for making a mistake should not deter you from using social media. Indeed you could actually turn a mistake into a strategic advantage.

Here’s one way to handle a social media mess-up:

1. DO NOT HIT DELETE.  Remember, this stuff is out there forever. If you do delete it, someone will dig it up and throw it back in your face, making the situation even worse.  So resist the urge to click delete.
2. Address the issue.  If you make a mistake, own up to it and quickly apologize to all offended parties.
3. Learn from it.  Once is a mistake, twice is a habit.  Learn from your mistake and incorporate what you learned into your social media strategy.
4. Blog about it.  Yup, you read that right.  If you make a mistake, share what you’ve learned and use it as an opportunity to connect with your audience.  While you’re at it, offer concrete recommendations on how others can avoid making similar mistakes.

With this approach, you can create critical thought leadership and offer compelling content for your audience.  In fact a mistake could turn a negative situation into a positive one and improve your reputation.

One final point: don’t let the fear of making mistakes deter you from using Facebook or Twitter.  Instead, use these challenges as teachable moments so we can all benefit from your errors.

In the long run you will benefit with an improved reputation, greater wisdom and a more socially engaged company.

The Social Bowl

For the first time, the NFL streamed the 2012 Superbowl on the web.  Let’s all welcome them to 2008!  Since I am not a sports fan, I figured I would watch the game on TV and online simultaneously and compare the two experiences from a social media perspective.  Ah, ADHD nerdiness.

Image source: http://aaronmorsevoice.com/2011/02/15/social-media-and-sports/

There were definitely some good points to the online version. They offered a multi-angle feature where you could view the game from several different vantage points in a small window while watching the game on the main screen.  You could also make one of those angles your main view if you wanted.   That was kinda cool.  And there was a live Twitter feed which streamed commentary from Jimmy Fallon (?) and someone named “Tafoya, Florio” (???).  It also allowed you to ask questions to Mr./Mrs. Florio via Twitter, for what that’s worth.

Also, the online version provided instant access to the famed big-budget commercials.  They wisely permitted viewers to only see the commercials after they were broadcast.  No cheating!  I also noticed the commercials were timed differently.  It was hard to tell if they played the same commercials on TV compared to online.  But they were definitely not timed the same.

Other than that, the online version was, frankly, disappointing.  First and foremost it was hard to find the game on superbowl.com but I eventually found it on nbc.com.  Why wasn’t the biggest NFL event of the year streamed directly on the front screen of the NFL website?  Hello McFly!  Anybody home?  And apparently they sealed off the non-US market.  I’m sure the NFL had a reason for doing this.  But given the potential for global growth, could it possibly have been a good reason?

Additionally, the online interface lacked substantial fan interaction.  When the internet facilitates interactivity (i.e. it becomes more social) more people use the medium.  Such interactivity was almost non-existent on the nbc.com website, other than the ability to ask “Tafoya, Florio” (again, ???) a question.  Indeed, I found monitoring, and commenting on, my Facebook and Twitter feeds to be much more enjoyable than watching the game itself.

The website also said Twitter predicted “Giants 55%, Patriots 45%” without explaining what that meant, where the metric came from or anything.  More detail and context would have been appreciated.

Perhaps most disappointing was the one-minute time delay online.  People monitoring their Twitter feeds while watching the game online would find out what happened on Twitter a full minute before seeing the play.   Since a minute in Twitterland may as well be a lifetime, more needs to be done to improve real-time streaming.

As a non-sports fan I found this to be the best Superbowl ever: not because it was a good game (which it was) but because I spent the entire time in hyper-ADHD mode, bouncing back and forth from the TV to Twitter to Facebook, jotting down notes and nom nom noming on snacks.  Sadly, it was an interactive experience which the NFL did little to facilitate.  Social media offers an interactive platform that TV simply cannot compete with.  The NFL could, and should, capitalize on this opportunity.

Of course the big question remains:  did the NFL, NBC and/or the advertisers make more money because the Superbowl was streamed online?  When I hear something I’ll let you know.  Meanwhile professional sports need to come into the 21st century and, at the very least, allow fans to subscribe to their favorite games online.  Otherwise they look like dinosaurs.  And they need to make their online interface more social.  That way, people will want to visit their website.  In the long run this will, ahem, make them more money.

The best part of online streaming?  They did not broadcast the Halftime show.  Good Lord, what was that?  Anyone?

Got Hacked? Here’s what you can do.

Recently I have noticed a spike in the number of email and Facebook accounts which have been hijacked.  Indeed a day doesn’t seem to go by that I don’t receive an email from a colleague insisting that my personal, private parts are woefully inadequate and require immediate remedy by clicking on that link.  It remains unclear why my friend in Denmark would care about said personal, private parts on the other side of the Atlantic, but hey, maybe he really does care about his good friend’s, er, welfare.

Also, several people have sent me IMs via Facebook, exhorting me to click on a link of a picture they found of me using the aforementioned personal private parts in an inappropriate and not-too-private manner, and OMG I really have to see it to believe it.

Uh huh.

Internet security remains a big problem, and a little common sense can go a long way to protecting your online presence.  Here are a few steps you can take to combat online abuse.

(1) If you get a suspicious message, contact the person whose account was hacked and tell them to change their password.  If your account was hijacked, immediately change your email and computer passwords.

(2) If your or your friend’s Facebook account has been hacked, you can report it here.

(3) Only purchase items on trusted, secure websites. Pay with escrow accounts if possible.  If you get an email from ebay or Amazon, please make sure the link you are being taken to is in fact that site and not some mirror site.

(4) My good friend runs a website called Stop Badware, the premiere community and information clearinghouse for Internet security threats.

Please note I am not an Internet security expert, and this is by no means an exhaustive list.  There are many more steps you can take to protect yourself online.  Nonetheless surfing the web safely requires that you pay attention to what you are doing, just like if you were driving a car.

What else can you add to this list?

Thoughts on Social Media

These days companies are scrambling to understand what social media is and how they are supposed to use it.  The first question many business leaders may ask is, “How can we use social media?”

While logical, that’s not quite right in my opinion.  Instead, the first question should be, “What are my business objectives, and how can social media help me meet those objectives?”

Social media is a tool and can be used in many ways.  The analogy I like to use is a hammer.  A hammer can be used to install a window or break one.  Similarly, social media can be used to get you new clients or ding your reputation.

So the first thing you need to do is understand what you are trying to do:  do you want to recruit better candidates?  Improve your sales and marketing?  Bump up your website on Google search?  Enhance employee communication?  Something else?

Next you’ll need to get your messaging together, which I will discuss in a later post.  Meanwhile feel free to add your comments below about this new and exciting field.

iFail

At long last, today is finally here.  I will never forget today, because something unbelievable happened.

Did aliens finally arrive on Earth?  Have scientists discovered a cure for cancer?  Is there evidence proving, or disproving, the existence of God?

No, the Beatles are on iTunes.  This, my friends, was Apple’s big announcement, the thing they promised that would make today the day I never forget.

I’m not sure if I have anything to say here.  This is so pathetic, such a monumental flop, such a marketing fail of Appleian proportions that I fear saying anything at all would validate Apple and make them continue doing stupid stuff like this.  If this isn’t an iFail I don’t know what is.

This does leave me with a philosophical question:  if Steve Jobs makes a sound in the forest with everybody around to hear it, will anyone care?

Here We Go Again — More Hype From Apple

Today I discovered that  tomorrow will be a day I will never forget.  Like, ever.  How could I possibly know that I will never forget tomorrow when tomorrow isn’t even today yet?  Because Steve Jobs told me so!

Clearly, Apple has not learned anything about overhyping their stuff:  the iPad was mockingly compared to the Ten Commandments (no, seriously), the iPhone4 turned into an iFail before it was discovered to have problems, er, making phone calls, and so forth.

I can’t believe I have to tell this to an adult, but here it goes.

Dearest Steve Jobs: have you ever read The Boy Who Cried Wolf?  Yes?  Well, re-read it on your iPad or whatever.  You are that boy, and I don’t care about your wolves.   Your announcements do not resonate with me forever, other than in mockery or contempt.  Additionally, I don’t like being told about things I’m supposed to remember by anybody, much less some corporate brand.

I’ve had many experiences which I will never forget.  There was the time I was nearly run over by a giant pig.  (No, seriously.)  I remember the first time I set foot on African soil.  And there are far more personal memories which I will not share on this blog.  Of all my memories, both good and bad, none of them involved Apple or any kind of corporate announcement. Like, ever.

So ease off the rhetoric a little, yeah?  You’re starting to give me a rash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35105284/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/38793374

Are Facebook Statuses Driving You Crazy?

Facebook has emerged as one of the most, if not the most, popular social media websites in the world.  Five-hundred-million people — nearly one in 14 people on Earth —  has a Facebook account.

Sadly, a good portion of these five-hundred-million folks think the best way to utilize the site is by telling everyone what they are eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, and between-snack snacks, every single day.  Others describe, in painstaking detail, each and every show they watched, are watching and/or are planning to watch, and provide in-depth commentary about each and every one of them.  Perhaps the worst updates are those which publicly lament their lack of love in their lives and plead to the Universe that they find The One as soon as possible or the world will surely end!  (see picture below.)

 

 

 

(Image shamelessly lifted from this website)

Although I appreciate the need to connect with others in this cruel and lonely world, doing so in this manner devalues the perpetrator’s Facebook value, leading others (including me) to hide their status updates, or even de-friend you, just to make it stop.

In my opinion, the only reason someone should reveal this level of detail is if people really want to know what you are doing and are willing to pay for it, such as a celebrity (like Aston Kutcher) or a lifestyle guru (like Martha Stewart) where people are indeed very interested in their lives.

Don’t get me wrong:  the status bar is a very powerful tool which can be used in multiple ways.  Some of the best items to post are funny anecdotes or Youtube clips.  Posting pictures and stories while on vacation are a great way to connect with folks.  And if you are a business owner, such as a Realtor, Facebook can be used to post your listings and projects in progress.   In fact, some of my friends are accomplished artists who use Facebook to tell people about their upcoming exhibitions; they even post pictures of their art on their walls for people to preview.  Even the occasional post about your upcoming social plans can be very useful.

So how do you know when something is worth posting?   Keep this one rule in mind:  Facebook status updates are most effective when they are not for your consumption, but for those who are reading your updates.  If you wouldn’t say something out loud at a dinner party, why would you broadcast it to everyone you know?

So please folks:  unless you are a mega-celebrity, please ease off the updates about every detail of your life.

And for the love of all that is holy:  no, I am not going to give you corn seeds for Farmville or whack your enemy on Mob Wars.  So stop asking.