Posts Tagged facebook
Posted on April 26, 2010 by Miller
I’m in the middle of training for this year’s Boilermaker Road Race. It’s the largest 15K in the nation and happens right here in Utica, NY. The thing is though, I’m not a huge fan of running for fun (at least the training end of it). But two things have happened recently that have changed my tune.
The first is that I’ve been running in my Vibram Five Fingers. Hard to explain, but they’ve really made running just more fun when you can experience all the tactile nuances of the terrain you’re on. Plus you work muscles you didn’t even know you had in your legs (if you want more info check out Birthday Shoes- best site for Five Fingers info)
The 2nd is that I’ve been using Nike+, which is essentially a pedometer and wristband that gives you real-time data of your run. Time, Pace, Calories Burned, and Distance are all tracked in real time. After the run you upload the data (from the wristband) to the Nike+ website and Voila! I can see how I improve from week to week and what parts of my run are better than others. I can challenge other people, map routes, and set goals. It’s a kick-ass system that really does make me want to run more.
Why? It’s the data, stupid.
Like bacon, data makes just about anything better. Having access to all of these metrics (and the online community) makes the experience much deeper. I can actually see my progress (or failure) over time and can work to figure out what the weak points are in my workouts and train through them.
Facebook has also made itself a killer place to be for brands not just because there are millions of users, but because of its integration of data & information into its ecosystem of advertising and fan pages. It’s super easy to run and manage ad campaigns, target niche audiences and assess the performance almost in real time.
Even more important are the insights features for Fan pages which provides data that shows you what content resonated as well as data regarding interactions. Placing the interaction data right up front and allowing brands to run ‘Like’ Campaigns to gain new fans / followers is a constant reminder that interactions and conversations really are the currency of this environment. And providing us with all of that data makes Facebook a value play right now for ad dollars, even if you’re using it strictly as a testing ground for ads and content.
So, are you measuring your online campaigns? If so, what tools are you using? How are you incorporating data into your life or your customers’ lives to make interactions more fun and valuable? Fire Away in the comments.
PS - if you want to train along with me on Nike+, leave a comment and I’ll get you my info. I’m also always looking for other Five Finger Runners to talk / train with.
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Miller
Fr. Felix is the Pastor at Our Lady of the Rosary Church. Last week (Easter) was exceptionally crowded - people filled the church, the basement, the lobby and were listening to mass outside. In fact, at a time when lots of churches are closing or consolidating, Felix packs in people week after week, mass after mass.
He has a small army of parishioners that help him distribute communion. He uses lots of humor and personal stories in his homilies - which are delivered in the aisle rather than a lectern. After each mass, he hangs out in the lobby to meet and greet anyone that wants to have a chat.
Most importantly, Fr. Felix knows just about EVERYONE’S name that walks through those doors. He asks about family, thanks people for coming, and is a staple at family & community events.
Symeon’s has been one of the most popular restaurants in our area since they opened in 1973. Good food and really friendly staff. But go there on any given day and you’re likely to get a table-side visit from Symeon or Symeon Jr (pictured), who own the restaurant. I’ve gone there since I was a kid and they are always going from table to table, making sure everything is ok, asking about what’s new and asking how they can help make the experience better. They are on the front lines. While they’re in the restaurant business, Symeon and Symeon Jr. are in the customer service and community building business. They just do it with handshakes instead of Friending and Following.
Is it any wonder why Fr. Felix and Symeon have succeeded where others haven’t? Is it because Felix’s message is different from the other Catholic churches? Nope. Is it because Symeon’s Souvlaki Platter is the best on earth? Nope (but it is good). It’s because they both devote lots of energy to letting their community know that they actually care, even after they walk out the door.
They realize the enormous power of How Are You, Thank You and You’re Welcome.
How many people are you friends with on Facebook? Of those people, how many do you interact with on a regular basis. My bet is that it’s a small fraction (I’m guilty of it too). Maybe it’s time we put more focus on those micro-interactions and personal connections with larger parts of our networks. I think you’ll be surprised as to how much you’ll learn about your friends, fans and community and will be surprised at how those connections will produce better business and more importantly better friends.
So, in your networks online and offline - who are the people that do the best job of interacting and caring? What makes them special? Fire away in the comments, please.
Posted on December 30, 2009 by Miller
Redundancy - image by mlcastle
We’re all part of multiple social media networks now. Maybe it’s Twitter and Facebook, with a little Ping.fm thrown in with FriendFeed and LinkedIn on the flipside. Don’t even get me started on public Google Waves.
And as we’re all getting on more and more networks, our paths are bound to cross at more and more points. Which is why I think it’s more important than ever to know your network and know your audience.
I’ll only post certain types of content on LinkedIN. Twitter gets a bit more loose, and Facebook is more of personal likes and funny stuff. Not a lot of business content there. But that’s because most of my ‘friends’ on Facebook aren’t following me on Twitter or aren’t connected to me on LinkedIN (emphasis on the MOST in that sentence). As we’re migrating, more people are starting to use Twitter or LinkedIN (using those big 3 as an example because it’s where I spend most of my time) and are getting my favorite links, blog post notifications and recommendations on multiple platforms.
From a marketing perspective this is kick-ass… right? More people consuming messages (even duplicate ones) on multiple social media channels from a trusted source is a good thing, if I’m digging your website or movie, or blog, or whatever.
But flip the coin over and I think there’s a point where pushing the same content through duplicate channels now becomes an interruption as opposed to a conversation. If you’re following me on Twitter, as well as being friends on Facebook and colleagues on LinkedIN - there are times where I’m sure you’ve seen the same piece of content across all of your media streams from me…… sorry. Maybe this post is one of them.
The problem is that I want to be able to tell my whole network about something I think is cool, and since we’re not all consolidated onto one channel, some people are getting double doses. At the root of this is the notion that I think we all want to be influencers. We all want to be the person that found that next cool thing, and so hitting everyone in our own network seems like an easy way to share content.
But I think that this will start to come at a price. I’ve already un-friended people from different networks because I haven’t found their content useful or that it’s been too repetitive or spammy. While I hope the same thing hasn’t happened to me, there’s no guarantee that it hasn’t. I also recently was intrigued by my friend Rob Bluey’s post on how he’s going to be treating his Facebook network in 2010. If 2009 was a planting year for social networks, 2010 may be a year of pruning or at least shaping.
What’s the point? I think its that we need to tailor your content to fit the network and be conscious of the people who may be receiving multiple forms of the same message. Trust that if you’re putting out good stuff that people will use a different tool in order to receive that content. You won’t need to force feed them. Chris Brogan does a fantastic job of this. His FB posts are different (not always, but enough) from his Blog posts. Most importantly though, if you want some really useful content, he’ll only offer that through his newsletter. He knows that his content has value and that if people want that premium content, well, they’ll just have to deal with subscribing.
Posted on November 18, 2009 by Miller
I got a chance to check out a service called TinyChat this past week. It’s a very cool platform that lets you build disposable chat rooms for events or meetings but also integrates up to 6 live video streams via webcam where you can have your presenter essentially streaming out the content while the audience can participate via chat (similar to Ustream - which also is a damn great service). And I got to log in with my Twitter credentials.
Then came news that LinkedIn was linking up with Twitter (or was Twitter linking up with LinkedIn?) and it got me thinking…. While we’re still seeing an explosion in social platforms and tools that people use to connect, we’re also seeing consolidation.
More and more platforms are using the robust APIs from Twitter and Facebook to let users log into and use services with their Facebook or Twitter IDs. I know Google is doing this to a lesser extent as well but mostly with companies they’ve bought or services they’re starting.
The point is… I think that FB and Twitter are positioning themselves for the long term not just in their own platforms, but by using their accounts as a sort of ‘passport’ that’s accepted throughout the different social media sphere. They’re becoming the big daddies of social data (read: my information) in much the same way Google has become the big name in search data. And I think that platforms which make it easier on their users to connect (without having to create yet ANOTHER username / password / secret question / demographic form) are the ones that are going to have a leg up because it’s a lower barrier of entry for me to participate.
What do you guys think? Are you more likely to use 3rd party services that let you connect with existing credentials or doesn’t it matter? On the flip side, does the centralization of your social data bother you? Leave a comment and let’s chat.
Posted on October 14, 2009 by Miller
Chris Young chats with Ryan Miller at BOLO 2009 about an experiment he did involving Facebook Fan Pages that built a good sized fan base and even caught the attention of Disney. He found a resource in Art The Greeter that Disney missed…. What rockstars and resources do YOU have in your business that you might be overlooking?
Posted on June 16, 2009 by Miller
photo by megandavid
So the Facebook vanity URL goldrush is on… In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Facebook has basically announced that since this past weekend you could log in and get a username. Instead of getting to my FB profile with a long-ass url, you could hit up. www.facebook.com/ryanmiller315 - easier to remember, right? It fits on a biz card, or an email signature.
That’s the upside. The downside is that its first come first serve (not really a downside I guess) but once you choose your url, that’s it. You can’t change it. EVER. So before you decide you want your FB url to be BigSexy99, think again. Its like getting a really bad tattoo. My friend Katie has a good post on this as well that I caught as I was writing…
But inevitably there are going to be lots of Ryan Millers out there so the chance that I would get my own name was slim to none. Alas, I’m stuck with something less than ideal.
Where there has been a lot of excitement is when it was announced that brands (fan pages) can also get a vanity url. I could hit up www.facebook.com/cnn - again, easier to remember. The downside? You need to have at least 1,000 fans to qualify. So I really can’t get the hook up for my indie music fan page. That sucks.
But is this huge news for brands? Gary V. did a quick video about this announcement and thinks its a game changer. But I have to disagree. Sure, its convenient and for brands that are already playing in that space, its a nice addition and a welcome tool for establishing a presence on the network. But I don’t think its earth shattering.
Here’s why…
First of all, I think FB is a much better platform than MySpace was, in terms of organization, applications and visual layout. One of the reasons I think people left MySpace in droves was because it was almost too open. I couldn’t deal with dancing hamster backgrounds and Tide Detergent adding me as a friend when I wasn’t a fan to begin with. Facebook however, isn’t nearly as customizable as it could be and while its a good platform to interact with fans that are already on that platform - as a brand I have much more flexability for design and features on my own website (should I have the time and budget to invest in building what I want).
I’ve also read that this will be great from a marketing standpoint… But why would I market my facebook URL as a brand? I know its the next ‘cool thing’ but if you’re a business that is doing work in social spaces, marketing on Facebook alone isn’t going to cut it. Maybe you have a blog, a Twitter account, and a Facebook account… Why then would you market the Facebook page? I think its a better idea to get people to your website and link them off to the platform that they prefer. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be doing outreach on EACH platform, but to pimp your FB page on a billboard isn’t a battle plan.
So how could a brand still capitalize on this if they dont’ have 1000 followers or got beat in the gold rush? My advice is to standardize and redirect. If you’re a business and don’t own a domain name, (ryancmiller.com) spend the $10 and get one. You’ll be glad you did. Then I would make sure that all my pages on social networks are easily accessible from my main website or blog. And finally, if you want to pimp your facebook url but didnt’ get a vanity url - just build a simple redirect page (here’s how) that takes you to the Facebook Fan page when you hit www.yourdomain.com/facebook . Its simple. You can change it. and It Works.
What do you guys think? Does having a FB vanity url matter for people or brands? Is it a game changer? Am I full of crap? More importantly, did YOU get the url you wanted?
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I’m in the middle of training for this year’s Boilermaker Road Race. It’s the largest 15K in the nation and happens right here in Utica, NY. The thing is though, I’m not a huge fan of running for fun (at least the training end of it). But two things have happened recently that have changed my tune.
