Category

Social Media

Sep 30
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Social Media Assignment #14: Managing Your Facebook Page, Commenting as Yourself

By Social Media

You have a Facebook PAGE for your business, right? Not a profile; please not a profile.

If you are a Facebook page administrator, and want to leave a comment on a post on your page’s wall, the only way you can post as YOU and not as the page, is to change a setting on the page.

Select, Use Facebook as Page, Go to Edit Page, choose Your Settings and deselect the option to always comment as the page. Note: you will have to be using Facebook as yourself (and not the page) to comment as yourself.

There you go — that’s it — now you are free to interact on your business’s page as yourself and not a company or brand.

 

Sep 29
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Social Media Assignment #13: Add Sections to your LinkedIn Profile

By Social Media

If you’re new to LinkedIn, step back a bit and review an earlier social media assignment. Perhaps this one or this one.  If you’ve been using LinkedIn for a while, casually or even strategically, you need to know about a new, profile-enhancing feature on the platform.

You can now add sections to your profile to more easily clarify items like certifications or organizations to which you belong. Here’s a list of the section options offered by LinkedIn:

To add any of these items, log in to your LinkedIn account, select Profile, then edit Profile from the top menu. Scroll down past the main part of your profile and just after that you will see a green plus sign and the Add Sections option. Click on that and follow the instructions to add individual sections and enhance your profile.

This is a great addition to the platform, as previously certifications and volunteer engagement was jumbled up with skills, in summaries and within interests. Give it a try!
Sep 27
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How Not to Commit Social Media Suicide

By Public Relations, Social Media

I met with a couple of bright young women today, eager to launch a new business and putting some early thought into social media strategy to support it. One of them expressed concern over committing a social media faux pas — or, as she called it, “social media suicide.”

I thought that was funny and said (truly, I’m not even making this up) that she’d just named the title of my next blog post. . . .

Here are five ways to avoid committing social media suicide:

  1. Think before you publish. Seriously. Sometimes, if you recognize you’re reacting in the heat of the moment, it’s best to let a reactive post sit overnight. Sleep on it. Often viewpoints are clearer the morning after.
  2. Be true to yourself. If you are consistent, believe in what you share and maintain control of your own account, there’s little to be sorry for.
  3. Pay attention to what’s being said. If a national disaster is occurring, don’t be the lone voice sharing your drivel about what you are having for lunch.
  4. Don’t (for the love of all that is good and holy) tweet, thinking you’re DMing, take pictures of your junk (of any variety) and share them online. Jeez!
  5. Don’t ignore reply messages, mentions of your brand, direct messages or other contact to give you a frame of reference for the tone of the conversation.

It seems pretty dramatic, but social media users are a ruthless bunch. Paying attention is important. See: Five Ways to Avoid a Social Media Spanking.

Sep 21
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Publish or Perish: 5 Ways to Resurrect Your Blogging Efforts

By Communications, Social Media

Your business may have already taken up blogging efforts, but they’ve flagged, as many do, and you need a shot in the keister to get your online presence revived. 

As a reminder, small businesses that blog get 55% more traffic to their websites than businesses that do not blog.

No, silly — don’t just take my word for it — read the study for yourself.

I’m here to help, so here are five ways to get back to blogging and down to business:

  1. Feature your fans! The Charlottesville Albemarle Airport has begun a spotlight series featuring different members of the CHO family. See the spotlight on airport photographer Jack Looney!
  2. Invite a vendor or business partner to contribute a guest blog post. I was fortunate to have a great piece by Chester Hull of ProSound recently and my co-conspirator (we’re writing a book together) Ken Mueller is a regular guest on the Change the Conversation blog.
  3. Use video — seriously — videos that are a couple of minutes long, homespun (read: not professionally produced) and tell the story of your business are a fantastic way to connect with your audience.
  4. Read, read, read. Read other blogs — outside your industry. Read a newspaper (online or in print! I don’t judge!). Read a magazine. Read a book. Read with an eye for inspiration and you will find it.
  5. Brainstorm a bunch of lists. How many can you develop in an hour? 6 Ways to Bake a Potato! 3 Rules for Getting a Great Haircut! 5 Questions to Ask When Choosing  a Dentist! You can do it.
Now, get to blogging and down to business.

 

Sep 20
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Define Your Brand; it’s Not your Mission Statement or your Vision

By Communications, Public Relations, Social Media

What’s the difference between your brand position and your mission statement?

Sometimes when I ask a client about their brand position, they rattle off a mission statement, or the company’s vision. It’s great when employees know what these are, but these are both very different from the company’s brand position.

In short, a mission is the reason for the company’s existence. It’s vision is what it wants to be.

The mission of my company is to connect and apply my team’s experience to the communications needs of businesses with similar values.

The vision is to be a world-famous, highly respected communications firm that makes millions billions in revenue. (What? Let’s not pretend we’re not in business to make money. That’s just ridiculous.)

To define your company’s brand, try using the following formulas:

For target audience that have a specific need we offer your main offering unlike main competitor, your name provides your main benefit that allows users to . . . 

For Jaggers Communications, this brand position approach looks like this:

For businesses that want to grow by attracting new customers or inspiring loyalty through clear and consistent communications, we offer strategic communications planning, counsel and execution. Unlike firms focused solely on social media, public relations or marketing, Jaggers Communications provides applied experience in business communications counsel across disciplines and industries. We help clients reach their business goals through smart communications strategy and tactics.

This series of questions is also helpful in developing a brand position:

Who: Who are you?

What: What business are you in?

For Whom: What people do you serve?

What need: What are the special needs of the people you serve?

Against whom: With whom are you competing?

What’s different: What makes you different from those competitors?

So: What’s the benefit? What unique benefit does a client derive from your service?

Jaggers Communications offers strategic communications planning, counsel and execution to businesses  that want to grow by attracting new customers or inspiring loyalty through clear and consistent communications.  Unlike firms focused solely on social media, public relations or marketing, Jaggers Communications provides applied experience in business communications counsel across disciplines and industries. We help clients reach their business goals through smart communications strategy and tactics.

Give it a whirl in the comments (if you’re brave enough).