My friend Staci runs a skin care business from her home recently asked me how she could promote her business better on Facebook. I talked to her about the various types of ads you can run and the advantage of each.

The big selling point for using Facebook ads is that you can target your ads very specifically and only show them to people who live nearby. The drawback is there is a learning curve and it’s always changing. Also, in addition to investing the time both to learn and manage an ad campaign, you will need a daily budget. If you have the budget, unless you enjoy doing it, I would just hire someone like Avalaunch Media to run them for you. They’ll create the ads and run the campaign for you.

There are many free ways to promote a local business online that are easy and don’t require as much maintenance that every small business should use and maximize. Here are my top 3:

1. Maximize your Facebook business page with custom tabs
This is obvious, you need a Facebook page for your business. But after that, then what do you do? I found this business page from a Facebook ad asking me to like their page. It’s not a local business (in other words, it’s not in Utah) and so normally I would gloss over it. This time I wanted to do some research so I went to the page and I liked it. I found it was a good example of effective Facebook marketing for a local business.

Besides having a decent level of engagement and following, her cover photo (the large photo) clearly  tells you what she does. The custom tabs give you more information.

Imaginary Jane is in a crowded space – she is a graphic designer who creates logos, business cards and other collateral for small businesses. Her page is at  www.facebook.com/imaginaryjane

Note how she has created tabs (where it says “services” “prices” “contact”) which link to corresponding sections of her website. They have a nice style, which I’d expect because she’s a designer. There’s a consistent design for each button that fit with the overall theme of her page (color, look, font, etc). If you don’t have a website you can simply put the information right on your Facebook tabl. I liked that she put her pricing because immediately I knew what to expect. She is priced right for a small business and I thought to myself: I’d hire her!

It’s a little tricky to learn how to make custom Facebook tabs but you can learn or pay someone to do it for you by using a site like Elance or Odesk, maybe even on the cheap at Fiverr.

Note: Here’s an online scheduling tool: http://www.timetrade.com/products?product=professional that you can use if you create appointments, so people can schedule online. I’m sure there are Facebook apps that do this too (please suggest one in the comments if you have one you like).

2. Create a free profile on Yelp
Yelp is a community that rates and recommends businesses and most people know it as a good place to find restaurant reviews. However, Yelp features many types of businesses. You can create a Yelp business profile so you come up in searches on the site.

This is how I found someone who does eyelash extensions, who also has a home business. I went to Yelp, typed in “eyelash extensions, Kaysville” and found this business: http://www.yelp.com/biz/truebeauty-professional-skin-care-kaysville

She was one of two businesses that came up but she had no reviews.  I needed someone immediately and she could fit me in so I took a chance on her anyway and was really happy.

3. Create a Google business profile.
If you type a type of service or business along with a city and/or state name, you will usually see a Google listing come up first. You should create a business profile on Google, which is now technically a Google + profile.

I searched on, “eyelash extensions Kaysville Utah” and the top result was for a business called Eyecing. They also has a Google business listing with the address and a map on the right hand side of the page. They have no competition for their business listing because they’re the only business shown, and they didn’t have to pay for any of it.  It’s really amazing how much real estate on the page you get free as a local business, simply by getting your business listed. People can also leave a review and Google will display them, adding further credibility to your business.

These are some of my favorite tools for a small business to get free publicity and rankings, free. There are tips and tricks you can apply to further enhance your listings, but this is a good start. Please let me know if you have any additional tips you want to share about free ways to promote your local business online, by leaving a comment below.

KSL is a local news station in Utah and has been innovative in working with women in social media.  As part of their social media strategy the station has integrated social media and bloggers in a variety of ways.

It’s a win/win. KSL gets what they need: content. Bloggers get what they want: exposure.

Here’s how they do it.

1. Report and curate social media stories and what’s trending with their talk show The Browser.

2.  Invite DIY bloggers to be guests on their morning show Studio 5.

3. Host a private Facebook group of bloggers where they can get quick feedback on ideas. They tap into this group to find new content and guests.

4. Host in-person events to form relationships with bloggers and drive social media shares/conversations.

According to KSL’s social media director, Natalie Andrews-Wardel, KSL hosted a party to create buzz around KSL and their new anchor team. I attended along with about 20 other bloggers. They had food, drawings for prizes, and introduced us to the team. For many of us the anchors are rockstars. I’ve been watching Nadine Wimmer for over 20 years. The photo below is with anchor Mike Headrick along with bloggers Emily and Meagan.

They brought small groups in to be on their live radio show The Nightside Project.  We recorded short broadcasts of our own using the teleprompter with a script they prepared. We recorded them in teams and everyone got the video back. This was great content to put on our blog and an opportunity to get coaching from the pros.

I wish I had a picture of the signs with QR codes on the tables at the studio. When you scanned the QR code it automatically sent out a tweet with their  hashtag #KSLlive. The hashtag ended up trending on Twitter.

Between the tweets, blog posts, instagram pictures, and YouTube views, KSL had the potential of over 30,000 impressions. There were also blog posts (like this one and the ones linked to above). In fact they could hardly get us to leave, we were having so much fun. Even more they created a lot of goodwill with women active in social media (the power sharers).

The response was so enthusiastic and positive. I’ve planned a lot of blogger events. Sometimes you need to remind bloggers to send in their posts. Not this event. The posts poured in.

This comment from one of their guests sums it up well:

“I love this channel and listen/watch them regularly. They ‘get’ the value of blogging and women in social media. And more than any other station around here, they actively involve bloggers in lifestyle, DIY and parenting segments in addition to the regular ‘experts’ that usually get trotted out. Or maybe that’s just it: they see us ‘mommy bloggers’ as experts in our own right with something important to share.”

– Nike Peterson, Thrive

Though I don’t have hard numbers on how this outreach has impacted viewership Natalie says: “Several studies show that blog readers trust bloggers as much as they trust their friends when making purchasing decisions and I would like to think that expands to TV-viewing behavior. For us, reaching influencers is an added benefit because we easily find people who become great content for our shows.”

Thanks for a great event KSL.

Elearning is huge. My son’s summer routine includes Khan Academy lessons. Take some time to learn new skills or download some interesting content to listen to at the gym with these resources. Thanks to Kevin at Social Traffic Lab for the tip.

• Stanford has podcasts (some also have transcripts) about entreneurship. Free.

• Udemy has courses on a variety of topics such as Google Analytics. Prices are all over the map (set by the teacher).

• Mixergy has tutorials from founders of successful businesses. New podcasts are free for a limited time, then you need to subscribe to access them.

• Pluralsight has more tech and in-depth training such as Jesse Stay’s excellent 3 hour course about Facebook. You’ll learn tab development, social graph integration, and more ($25 a month). You don’t have to listen to it all at once, it saves your place. This will make you more valuable as a marketer or social media specialist.

Other Odds and Ends

• If you blog using WordPress then check out this handy editorial calendar plugin. When add a new post you will see the calendar option. Start a draft for the day you want to publish, see everything you have scheduled. Now if only Facebook could make their scheduling feature easier to use/visualize.
• This month Facebook announced a new WordPress plugin that integrates key features from Facebook to your blog. The ratings aren’t stellar which makes me pause. If you have tested it let me know what you think. Here’s a handy guide to the plugin from Social Media Examiner.

• Google released some very useful tips to help small businesses understand SEO (includes a video).

Nothing could eclipse the big news this week that the company I work for, OrangeSoda was recently bought by Deluxe Corp.

Press Releases:

• I found a local newswire service that puts your press release online, plus sends it to local media via email. It’s affordable. I’m going to test it out soon.
  Note: my favorite Utah PR service is Utah News Source. I’ve used it for years with great results. But it only covers Utah so I’m testing this one.
• PRWeb has the best deal I’ve seen in a long time. Try their press release distribution (for 1st timers) for 25% off the regular price. Hurry though, the offer only lasts until June 10th.

Social Media

• 11 shocking social media facts such as if you’re on Twitter you’re more likely to be a democrat, and only 33% of people on social networking sites follow a brand. Almost half say Facebook has the greatest impact on purchase behavior. And more!
• I was interviewed about Pinterest along with some friends on secrets to a successful Pinterest marketing campaign.

SEO

• How to Perform the World’s Greatest SEO Audit. With tools and explanations.

And a bonus link about how women in the workplace are not your wife, and while well-meaning, treating us in that way is not helpful. Be sure to read the comments, that’s where it gets fun.

Each week I publish my best finds to help you market your business online. This is the “I’m sorry” edition. It’s a bit random but I hope you find these links as interesting or as useful as I do.

My big online PR score this week was being on a local TV news station talking about Pinterest. All from a single PRWeb press release. More on that later.

Social Media Links

• Steve Jobs, I’m so sorry that this has happened. Cricket is carrying the iPhone. It’s sort of like saying you’re now being carried in Walmart.
• Facebook stock price continues to drop, which isn’t doing wonders for the perception of our industry.  I’m so sorry. Just any of these names to the video in the last link and cry with me.
• You can now schedule posts on Facebook  - simply hit the clock icon under the white space of the status box to see the feature. Not only that you can assign page admins different levels of posting rights. New promoted posts let you pay a min. of $10 to promote an update in the newsfeed(rather than to the side like regular ads) for 3 days.  Sorry Hootsuite and PostPlanner.

Links to Free Online Image Design Tools (for Pinterest or other projects)
I’m working on a Kickstarter project directly related to images and I’m a bit obsessed with this topic.

All of the other companies I list link your image to their own domains when you upload them to Pinterest (smart way to build their own domain authority), but not PicMonkey. You save your image to your hard drive, and you can upload it from Pinterest and make it link to wherever you choose.

• Pinstamatic – choose from a sticky note or other designs including a chalk board as background. Then add words. Can’t control the font size or color. I’d use this tool to quickly make customer quotes into images for press releases or blog posts. Examples here.
• Pinwords – upload your own image, add words. Very easy, not a ton of custom options, so again, ideal for a quick quote. Examples here.
• Quozio - Upload your own image, add text, quick you’re done. Examples here.
• PicMonkey – Upload an image or images, add features, including classy frames and filters. Can resize text, make it any color or create  collages (ideal for making a killer Facebook cover image). My personal favorite because it’s the right blend between custom and using templates. It keeps getting better.
• If you need royalty free images to use, this post has a list of some.

I’m starting a new tradition to make me blog more frequently here. Each week I’ll publish my best finds to help you market your business online. I look through my tweets and what I’ve pinned or saved on Facebook and give you my best links.

For Writers + Authors

• SeekorShout.com – get content, expert sources, research and other support for stories (free of charge). Great find for looking for bloggers in a certain niche. Created by Cision.
• Talesit blog is a great resource and example of how you can create info products centered on your expertise.
• The Talesit’s author study gives great advice to authors – unfortunately only half of self-published authors make more than $500 on their books. Writing a press release or getting media increases your profit.
• How I went from writing 2000 words a day to 10,000 words a day. Tips on increasing your writing quality and capacity.

Utah Bloggers Make the News:

• Utah bloggers are top in the nation.
• McDonald’s tapped the mom bloggers & social media to stage a big come back.
• A Utah blogger fears bloggers sold out in exchange for some free Happy Meals.

Pinterest Marketing Roundup:

• Too long didn’t read (TL; DR) Slideshare presentation about how with Pinterest & other image sharing sites social networking is going graphic.
• SmallbizTrends covers PinAlerts my new tool for Pinterest.
• Sony tests Pin Deals – and tips for marketers who want to steal their idea.

Thoughts about Writing a Press Release:

I took the thought below from the book How to Write Perfect Press Releases which is strong if you’re targeted the media and not using a distribution method such as a newswire. My book, I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What?? is focused on getting traffic to your web site and people sharing your news through social media. This is probably the #1 thing most struggle with – understanding how the media works. Read both and you’ll be a pro with the media and online!

Pinterest is my favorite social network for both personal and business reasons. I’m always looking for Pinterest tools that make my job easier. Not only that I’m working with my business partners Paul Wilson and John Benson to develop new tools of our own. Here’s our list of favorite tools Pinterest board.

Here are my top 5 Pinterest tools

1. PinAlerts

PinAlerts are like Google Alerts for Pinterest. You get an email when something from your blog shows up on Pinterest. This is my first Pinterest tool with PinnableBusiness.com and it’s been getting great traction. It was named as a fav tool by Sarah Evans and Website magazine named it their tool of the day. We have many plans for it so this is just the exciting beginning.

2. Quozio

Quozio is an easy-to-use tool for making quotes for Pinterest but also for Facebook, Twitter or even this blog post! I’d love to see them allow you to resize your picture, add a watermark and control the font color and size (even each individual letter). I found out about it from a reader of my blog (which is one reason why I keep blogging). Quotes are huge for Facebook. One quote can be featured in a blog post (which can then be pinned), pinned on Pinterest, and tweeted. I’ve found that people don’t read my contests (or the rules) on Facebook unless I make them visual. When I read an article I’m always looking for the quote. When I get a killer quote it gets a ton of likes, shares and comments on Facebook.

I made this for Mother’s Day:

3. Pinstimatic

Pinstimatic is a versatile tool that creates a pinnable map of your location (great for local SEO optimization). They also have Post It Notes (wish it were easier to add an icon, image or watermark to a note and change its size) and you can do a screenshot of your website or even share music from Spotify. My ideal tool would be to combine Quozio and Pinstimatic. I’ve also tried PinaQuote too but it’s too basic at this stage, even at the pro level (check out this post with examples).

4. PicMonkey

From the founders of Piknic that got bought out by Google comes a tool with more robust features for making and editing images. This is the tool I’ve used least often but this image made in PicMonkey (here’s how) caught my press release loving eye:

5. The Pin It Plugin for WordPress.

This plugin adds a “Pin It” button to posts and pages that will allow readers to easily pin your content at Pinterest. You choose what types of pages the button should appear on and where (above or below content, for example). Several styling options are available and implementation is as simple as pasting a shortcode. The plugin has over 42k downloads and a 5-star rating from every review.

It’s a great plugin but I like this paid Pinterest WordPress plugin better for one reason (I apologize for the cheesy sales page, you can get the developer’s license for $17 so you can use it on all of your blogs). It puts a PinIt button next to all of your images (not just at the top of your post) which encourages more pinning.

UPDATE: I just learned about yet another tool that lets you upload your own images (or use one of theirs) and add quotes. It’s called Pinwords http://www.pinwords.com

Any Pinterest tools you love that I didn’t cover here? Please leave a comment!

Just like Google, no one knows exactly how Facebook’s algorithm works. But unlike Google where most content gets into the search engine and can be found for years, if no one interacts with your posts on Facebook, they are essentially gone. Once they are off the front page they have essentially disappeared forever. Sure, there’s a chance someone will find and read your old content, but it’s unlikely (get it, unlike -ly?). If someone truly likes you they want to hear from you.

Number of Fans not as Important as Level of Engagement

I’ve seen various figures about what percentage of your Facebook Page fans see your content, but it’s not ever very high. Anything above 10% is pretty good. And the larger your page, the lower the engagement drops.

To find what percentage of engagement your page gets, take the # of likes for your page divided by the number of people “talking about” it. I wish I knew where I got this chart (help, please comment if you know). Once I got my engagement level in the 80% range for a client but I couldn’t maintain it. It’s consistently around 20%. This is why I rarely delete or ignore fans who post frequently. Instead I thank them and respond (unless they are obscene or vulgar). Think about it – controversy sells! Every CEO I’ve worked with wants me to squelch the person who posts something negative. I say most of the time, leave it up! Let your fans come to your rescue. Chime in. Find ways to reward engagement from your fans and ways to build loyalty with them.

Interact with Brands you Like on Facebook

The bottom line is if you want to see content from brands you like, you need to share, like or comment on their posts. Otherwise they won’t show up in your newsfeed and you’ll forget all about them. Same goes for the fans of your Page. If you want to see all the brands you or someone else has liked (which is great for understanding your target market) simply type in your username followed by a slash and then “favorites” like this: https://www.facebook.com/JanetThaeler/favorites Scroll down past interests and you’ll get to all of your likes. I’m not sure why that URL isn’t /likes but not my call.

Go try this on your profile and you’ll see just how many pages you’ve liked but forgot all about. Then go and start interacting so you have a newsfeed full of content from brands and organizations that you really like. It beats having a newsfeed full of drama from your high school friends!

An Effective Way to Get Higher Engagement

What I’ve found most effective (besides large giveaways) for engagement on Facebook and Pinterest (link goes to my Pinterest for Business blog) are quotes that relate to your brand. My client’s page attracted people who want a quick pick me up that will make them feel good and inspire them in their faith. I started out simply typing in a daily quote.  Next I graduated to making quotes into graphics. That really enhanced the numbers of shares, likes and comments.

My best posts have a short question relating to the image and a killer image with a quote. Not too crafty and not too plain. In other words they like quotes that have background images over just text on a colored background. If I keep it short, the quotes also make ideal tweets (I have them tweeted automatically using Hootsuite). Then I use the same quotes in blog posts to get maximum search engine value and I pin the quotes on Pinterest. That’s a lot of bang for my buck!

P.S. I’m always looking for a tool to make quotes where I can add my own image and have choices of fonts and sizes. Let me know if you know of any.

Not All Interactions are Equal

When it comes to Facebook, not all interactions are equal. The share is king because it says you like something so much you’re willing to put your name on it and let your friends know.  These are usually very informative, timely or funny posts. Next important is a comment because that takes more effort than just clicking like (easy). The time of day you post something on Facebook is another factor because then more people will see it. Sound complex for a small business to pull all of this off well? That’s why there’s a rise in social media experts. It’s a lot to keep up with and do well! I invest a lot of time staying current and testing for that very reason.

Support the Brands you Love by Interacting with Them on Facebook and in Real Life

Think of this principle in real life. The longer and more often you “engage” with a store (visit, go inside, talk to the owner or salesperson), the more likely you are to buy from them.  If you simply drive by it frequently it’s not going to help. Example: your local bookstore. You might be glad it’s there. It may add a lot to your community. It has character. People gather there. They bring in authors and have live performances. You really like them. But if you never make time to visit or buy books and instead order all of your books from Amazon.com what will happen to your local bookstore? Yes, exactly what is happening all over America. That bookstore will close. Either that or it will struggle. That’s why I’m willing to spend more to keep places I like in business and why I’m bugged when people only buy what is least expensive (they’re cheap). I’d rather not have a world full of asphalt, chain stores and Walmart!

So on Facebook if you truly like a brand show them! Go out of your way to comment and share their content. It’s a win/win for both.

Learn more about EdgeRank

In the meantime, here’s an awesome infographic with insights on how to rock your Facebook fans (link goes to original post about the infographic):

Ever since hearing the news that Facebook is buying image sharing app Instagram I’ve wondered why. Why did Facebook pay $1 BILLION for Instagram? That is an astoundingly high number. Especially since Instagram hadn’t made a cent. It’s also highly unusual for Facebook to buy a company.

First, this validates mobile and how important it is that social networks and services are optimized for the mobilesphere. Next, it’s part of the trend of image sharing/curation of beautiful things (the imagesphere).

To validates Pinterest too. Like Pinterest, Instagram was a unique way brands could “market” their products. Obviously, Facebook wants to reach those businesses. Facebook could also get direct revenue because they show ads on images (I wish I could see figures on that).Is it because it’s an easy way to get rid of a competitor? I don’t think so.

Was it a way to tap into a passionate userbase that Facebook doesn’t have but needs? I don’t think so – because I don’t think the goodwill will transfer (people are deleting their accounts in protest).

Mark Zuckerberg said this on the post about the acquisition on Facebook. “We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products.”

So why did Facebook buy Instagram? I think it’s to bolster their mobile and photo sharing technology so they could better reach businesses.

Here’s an infographic that explains a little behind Instagram’s success. And here’s Mashable’s answer to the question.

Created by: Online MBA Programs

When you’re coming out with a new product, you need publicity. Before the product is finished, you should start creating a list of media and bloggers to pitch.

This works even if you don’t have a product but just want to be recognized as an expert on a particular topic.

Let’s say you’re writing a book or you have a product about Facebook marketing.

1. Set up Google alerts for the topic. In this case, “Facebook marketing” and related terms.

2. Every time you read an article from your Google alert, leave a comment. Share your opinion or further insight. Do it right away and you’ll be one of the first comments. I do this and always sign my comments with @Newspapergrl. This starts a relationship with the writer – it gets me on their radar.

3. Search Twitter for the terms too (to see who tweets about the topic). Add them to a Twitter list so you can track them all in one place. Add the people who tweet about Facebook marketing and have a strong following to your media list. Retweet and comment on their tweets.

This is one of my favorite methods for finding case studies and new articles too. Repeat step 2.

4. Use Google to see who writes about a topic on a particular media outlet you want to be published in. For example, you want to get in the New York Times. Type site:newyorktimes.com “Facebook” into Google to see who has written about Facebook.

5. Pin your favorite articles to Pinterest. This is why I added a graphic to this post – to make it pinnable. The reason to add your favorite articles to Pinterest is it makes it very easy to find and browse them plus it can help you rank for the topic in Google (further establishing you as an expert.) Summarize the main points in the description. Now I need to add a Pinterest button to my blog! Here’s my collection of resources for businesses on Pinterest.

Use these techniques to assemble a media list. Then when you’re ready to pitch a journalist of blogger, try this method to personalize your email. Hopefully they will recognize your name and you’ll already be seen as an expert on the topic – perfect for an interview or commentary.

Continue this process and you will build an expanding reach in the topic you’re following.

Do you have any online pr tips to share?

Related articles

• 92 Ways to Get (and Maximize) Press Coverage (seomoz.org)
• How to Take Your PR Pitches to the Next Level (mashable.com)
• 25 Tips from 25 PR Experts (ereleases.com)