CWI Media, LLC

Do local business owners still believe they need a website? Or is a Facebook page enough? One of my favorite restaurants in the New River Valley doesn’t have a website, but they are on Facebook. 

What do you think?

Quick! How many status updates have you posted to Facebook? How many photos? How many did you post, but don’t remember posting? If you’ve ever been curious just how much information you’ve posted to the world’s largest social media site, or if you’re paranoid that one day Facebook’s servers and backup servers will suffer a massive data loss event, then, boy does Facebook have something you’re going to love!

“Download Your Life”

Technically, it’s called “Download Your Information,” but I found it under my Account Settings. Login to Facebook (using https://facebook.com to ensure security, more on that in a later post) and click on the “Account” button at the top right. A drop down menu will appear; click “Account Settings.” The default tab displayed should be the “Settings” tab. Near the bottom, you’ll see the option to “Download Your Information.” Click on the “learn more” link and here’s what you’ll see:

This tool lets you download a copy of your information, including your photos and videos, posts on your wall, all of your messages, your friend list and other content you have shared on your profile. Within this zip file you will have access to your data in a simple, browseable manner. Learn More about downloading a copy of your information.

Security
This is a copy of all of the personal information you’ve shared on Facebook. In order to protect your information, we will ask for authentication to verify your identity.

WARNING: This file contains sensitive information. Because this download contains your profile information, you should keep it secure and take precautions when storing, sending or uploading it to any other services.

The process takes quite a while, but you will be notified when it is complete. Once completed, you’ll be able to download your information via a .zip file that will contain the following information:

• Your profile information (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)
• Wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile
• Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account
• Your friend list
• Notes you have created
• Events to which you have RSVP’d
• Your sent and received messages
• Any comments that you and your friends have made on your Wall posts, photos, and other profile content

So, there you have it! It appears that Facebook doesn’t just let your posts evaporate into the ether. Instead, you can download it for posterity and archival purposes, like that old filing cabinet you have that you’ve never cleaned out.

Earlier this week, I saw a Tweet about adding Google Analytics (GA) to a Facebook (FB) fan page, so naturally I checked it out. The blog post came from a London-based Web development company called WebDigi, so kudos to them for sharing this with the rest of the world.

The only problem I found with the blog post is that their instructions aren’t very clear, as evidenced by the numerous questions that appeared in the comments section. So, after piecing together the responses and doing a little trial and error myself, I decided to come up with a soup-to-nuts list of steps for implementing WebDigi’s strategy for adding GA to FB.

1.) For starters, you will need to create a new Google Analytics (GA) account for your Facebook fan page. This is completely separate from any other analytics you use to track other sites - this GA account is specifically for your Facebook fan page.

2.) If you don’t have a Gmail account, get a free account at Google.com and then visit Google.com/analytics to get started.

3.) Once you add a new site to GA, you will get some code to add to your site. Do not copy the entire set of code. Instead, just look for a small string of code that looks something like “UA-12345678-9.” Copy this string of code and move on to the next step.

4.) Visit http://ga.webdigi.co.uk/ and generate an image tag by using Webdigi’s code generator. (You’ll need your Google Analytics UA code you copied in step 3.)

5.) Enter your GA code in the first box, facebook.com in the second box, page link information in the third box, and the page title in the last box. Then click “Generate Code.”

6.) Copy the code and then move on to the next step.

7.) Go to the Static FBML Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Static+FBML&init=quick#!/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&ref=search&sid=616126479.2955418844..1

8.) In the upper left, click on “Add to my Page” and choose the fan page(s) you’d like to add FBML to and click “Close” when you’re done.

9.) Go to your Facebook fan page and click on “Edit Page” just below your page’s profile picture.

10.) Under “Applications” look for FBML and click on “Edit”

11.) Change the Box Title to whatever you want (i.e. Links, Contact Info, etc.)

12.) Paste the code from step 6 into the big text box labeled “FMBL:” (You can also add other text, but just put the code at the bottom.)

13.) Click “Save Changes”.

14.) Go back to your page.

15.) Click on the “Boxes” tab. (If you do not have Boxes enabled, click on the big plus (+) button and add it.

16.) Look for the box with the title you created in step 11. For this example, we used “Thanks for stopping by!” Click on the pencil icon on the right - this is the “edit” button.

17.) A drop-down menu will appear - click on “Move to Wall tab”

18.) This step is purely optional. It’s more for aesthetics. After you add the box to your Wall, you will be taken to your Facebook fan page home page (usually your Wall unless you’ve changed it). Look in the left column for the “Google Analytics” box, which is blank. Roll your cursor over the header, click and move it to the bottom of the left column.

19.) If you used FBML to create custom tabs (i.e. pages) for your Facebook fan page, you can add the same code (from step 11) to the bottom of each of your FBML custom pages.

20.) That’s it, you’re all done.

Now all you have to do is sit back and wait a day or two for Google to pick up on the tracking code you added to your Facebook pages. If you have questions, or would like us to blog about a specific topic, please let us know by leaving a comment below, or visiting our Contact Us page.

If your Web site crashed, or went down for any significant length of time, are you prepared with a remotely hosted back-up site, or what we call a “dark site?” If you are, congratulations! You can stop reading this post and go about your day. If you do not have a dark site, keep reading…

A dark site is a fully functional, branded site or blog that remains “hidden” on a separate server from your main site when everything is peachy keen. However, it is easily accessible from any computer with an Internet connection and a Web browser. It is also updated and ready to go public in the event of an emergency or if your main Web site goes down for any reason and you need to get information out to the public.

Most companies probably have secure and reliable Web site hosting, but every now and then, even the most reliable sites can have issues. Sometimes these issues are beyond the hosting company’s control, such as natural disasters. And there is always the risk of your site getting hacked, which actually happened to one of our clients. In an extreme cases, an event (good or bad) may trigger an avalanche of traffic to a company’s site that could overload the server and bring the site down. In this case, having a dark site ready to bring into the light is essential.

So, where can you host a Web-accessible dark site? There are several free services such as Tumblr, Wordpress, Blogger or Weebly. Of course, even if you have a back-up site, how are you going to let your followers know that you’re site is down and direct them to the temporary site, or what we call a “dark site?” Simple. Social media and even the traditional media - if the public needs access to your information immediately.

Oh boy. There’s that phrase again. Social media. In addition to having a “dark site” ready in case of an emergency, your business or organization should be utilizing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, two of the most popular social networking sites on the Interwebz today.

If your Web site goes down, and you have a Twitter and/or Facebook account, you can easily notify your clients, vendors, partners and friends that your site is down and provide a link to your dark site, which by now you’ve brought into the light.

Another option is to integrate the two. Many businesses are using content management systems (CMS) like Wordpress to build their sites and blog. At CWI Media, however, we have a static HTML-based site, but use Tumblr to host our blog. Now, when you’re on our blog site, it looks just like our static HTML site, but should our Web server ever fail, our blog will still be active. So in our case, our dark site is actually live, but because we designed it to match our Web site exactly, you can’t tell the difference.

Hopefully your business or organization already has these continuity of operations (COOP) plans in place, but if not, I strongly recommend you add it to the agenda of your next executive meeting. And if you have questions, or would like a free consultation on how to develop such a COOP plan, e-mail me at gary@businessbullpen.com.

I’ve gone dark. I’m off the grid. I’ve become a ghost. Well, sort of. I am speaking, of course, about social media and the ever-increasing privacy concerns that come with posting information about your life online.

It started some time ago with Facebook and MySpace. My profiles were at one time public and anyone could see them. After getting a ridiculous number of unsolicited “friend” requests from people I didn’t know, and even some from people I actually did know, it was time to restrict access to those profiles.

I also had a accounts with, Plurk, Plaxo, SocialThing, FriendFeed, MyBlogLog, Digg, Newsvine, Reddit, Brightkite, Ping.fm and a bunch more sites. Clearly, I was on the social media overkill bandwagon. Well, no more.

In what a friend called a “scorched Earth campaign” against social media, I went through and canceled virtually all of my social media accounts, especially those that I don’t use any more. I was a bit shocked to discover that I had so many different accounts with varying degrees of personal information available to the world - some of it extremely outdated.

Here’s a partial list of the social media accounts I deleted:

• MySpace
• Digg
• Orkut
• FriendFeed
• SocialThing (bought by AOL, discontinued)
• MyBlogLog
• Squidoo
• 12seconds.tv
• Ping.fm
• Plaxo
• Brightkite
• Blogger (two blogs)
• Photobucket
• Plurk

Here’s a list of social media accounts I decided to keep, but with a restricted privacy level:

• Delicious
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Stumbleupon
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• Vimeo
• Wordpress.com
• YouTube

My Facebook is locked down pretty tight. I created multiple friend lists and restricted access to my personal date to less than 90 people, all people I trust. They are either family or friends.

Twitter is set to private and after after pruning my list of “followers,” my list is down to less than 300. So, why the sudden shift in attitude toward social media? There are several reasons, but first, why did I put all that information out there in the first place?

There was a time when I wanted my name, opinions, thoughts and qualifications out there for the whole world to see. I gloated about how I dominated the search engine results pages (SERPs) when you searched for Gary Cope. There was a time when I didn’t even show up on the first few pages. Social media was huge and niche sites were popping up left and right to cater to virtually any audience. Being a web geek and web professional, I felt an obligation to try the new “it” things as they came out.

I still have a personal blog on Tumblr, but I went through all of the nearly 1,700 posts over the last three years and took down any pictures or posts about my son. They’re still there, but are “private” and only I can see them from my admin page. Sure, they might still exist in some search engine cache file, but there’s nothing I can really do about that.

Going forward, however, I have created a password-protected Tumblr site for family and some select friends. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s better than going completely dark. I also post to Facebook, which is where most of my friends and family are anyway, so it’s not hard to keep them updated.

The recent social media enema was long overdue. I had more accounts than I could remember and more importantly, I felt a need to get my personal info off the web as much as possible. No more pictures of me and my son. Flickr got privatized, as did Twitter and my blog on Tumblr. I no longer feel the need to let the whole world know what I am doing. The world doesn’t really care, but my friends and family do, hence why I locked the sites down.

I realize that I can’t control all of the information available on the Interweb, but I can attempt to limit it.

If you have too many social media accounts to keep track of, or you are concerned about people you don’t know having to much access to your personal information, consider a “spring cleaning,” or “scorched Earth” campaign of your own.

It can be time-consuming and tedious, but once completed, I felt so much more organized and at ease.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions and/or stories to share about your social media experiences, let me know.

By Gary Cope

We all know one. A person on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn who abuses their status as your social media “friend” by inviting you to join Facebook fan pages every other day, sending out 500 Tweets before lunch, or even worse, sharing links to get-rich-quick schemes.

There are a couple of folks that I know in real life (IRL) and am also “friends” with on Facebook and/or Twitter. But lately, they’ve started to annoy me with their endless recommendations for fan pages and shameless self promotion. The whole thing cheapens the overall relationship and damaged their credibility.

One person in particular has become a shill, not a living breathing human being. Often times they promote worthy causes, but when I get several fan page recommendations a week, I start to tune you out.

Perhaps you are well recognized and have an established personal brand - great! Good for you. Don’t cheapen it by treating your social media friends and followers with disrespect.

Be a person. Be real. If all you do is pimp something or send invites to everyone on your friends list, that’s not how social media works. That’s how spammers work. It’s the fastest way to get un-friended and/or un-followed.

By Donna Cope

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I use sites such as Facebook to network. Does it really work? The simple answer is, yes! If used effectively, these sites can help build customer relationships, which is essential in gaining customer loyalty (we all want repeat business, right?), they put you in more places (the more places you are, the easier it is for someone to find you) and let’s not forget, it’s free advertising.

One thing to remember when marketing yourself is that people like to work with someone they know, or feel like they know. Why? Comfort and trust. You trust someone you know more than someone you don’t know. You feel more comfortable working with a familiar face, rather than a stranger. You are also more likely to be a loyal, returning customer to someone you have a relationship with, be it a personal relationship or a business one.

Having a client on your Facebook page offers them the opportunity to feel like they know you or at least are familiar with you. It offers you the opportunity to be in front of them on a daily basis at no cost. You can post your message or any updates on your company every day if you choose and your clients will be notified as soon as you do it, FREE advertising.

I have created special offers only for my Facebook clients and have made new connections that I may not have without it. As an example (names and occupations have been changed), I have a client named Jane who runs a home health care company. Each of her therapists and nurses are responsible for their own business cards, marketing materials and clientele and Jane provides them with the name recognition of her franchise. When Jane became a friend of mine on Facebook she referred several of her employees to me on the site, employees that I did not yet have as clients.

A simple friend request message to Jane’s employees introducing myself and my connection to Jane and… VOILA! A new potential customer that I may not have reached otherwise is now seeing my name and receiving my updates on a daily basis.

This new customer now has the opportunity to “get to know me” and what I offer. They also get to see all of their colleagues that are clients of mine and on my page as well. If it takes several months of offers and updates on my Facebook account to get that ONE new customer to make a purchase, it was worth it. Why? Because I did not spend one dime, so the rate of return is 100%. I have also had the opportunity to build relationships with current clients improving the likelihood of repeat business, so there is no loss.

Something that people struggle with is separating the personal from the professional. If you don’t want potential clients to know too much about your personal life, the answer is simple. Create a separate Facebook page. I have a few friends that have done this and it works well for them. Have one page that is your personal page where you can feel free to put your personal views and beliefs and share it with your close friends and family. Have your second Facebook page for networking only. On this page keep it strictly professional and have only your clients and networking contacts. It may seem like a lot to keep up with, but there are sites such as Ping.fm that lets you update all of your sites from one place. Another thing to consider is the 5 minutes it takes to post an update on your profile is worth it when you land that big client and receive that repeat business.

If used effectively, Facebook and other social networking sites can be an extremely beneficial and a completely free marketing tool. You may not land that huge client right away, but the more places they can find you, the greater your chances of gaining them as your client. Not to mention the customer loyalty you can build from these sites. It’s free, it can be fun and it’s effective, so why not?

By Donna Cope

Yes, I’m going to write, once again, about social networking. I am a convert. At the beginning, I would rather have gone to the dentist and had every single tooth pulled with no anesthesia. The thought of creating a MySpace or Facebook page or even … GASP, using Twitter was out of the question. I thought it would just be one more thing to keep up with and would be a waste of my time. Oh contraire!

Because of Facebook, I have been introduced to and corresponded with new clients that otherwise, I may not have been able to meet. With Twitter and my other social networking pages, I have found another medium for updating clients and keeping our name in front of them as well as potential clients. Since using these sites, I have been more in touch with my clients than ever, strengthening my customer relations.

Using social networking the right way will not only strengthen your relationships, but also create new ones. Best part, it does it all for free! Even if it takes you 500 tweets before you get your first client, since it was free, the return on investment is 100%. CWI can help you set up your social networking sites and teach you how to use them, if you need any help using these free marketing tools, drop me an e-mail at: donna@cwimedia.com, or give me a call at 540-295-5139.

By Donna Cope

Are you social? Most people would probably answer “yes.” But, are you really? In today’s world to be social doesn’t just mean you say “hello” to people as you pass them on the street or go to every party to which you are invited. Today, being social means being social on the Internet, too, and it is almost as important as face-to-face. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Plaxo are some of the most popular sites and can be used as great marketing tools.

Everyone knows how important word of mouth is to your business, social networking sites are a great way to increase your word of mouth. These sites basically make it easier to connect with people. Clients have a way to access you, read what you have to say and give you feedback. Most sites can be easily accessed from anywhere, your computer, cell phone, BlackBerry, etc. Someone can read your page, give you feedback and by giving you feedback, spread the word to everyone in their network…virtual word of mouth.

Social networking is a no-cost way to advertise. If you need help setting up all of your social networking accounts and synchronizing them so they are easy to manage, give us a call, 540-295-5139 or drop us an e-mail, info@cwimedia.com, we would be happy to help!