For a short time we are offering a $50 Facebook special to new clients.  We want to help you get your Facebook business page set up the right way the first time!  No one wants to spend precious time doing something incorrectly only to have to redo it, so let us help you right from the start.

The details: We will spend an hour with you setting up your business page on Facebook and giving you a tutorial on the basics of running the page.  We will gladly answer simple functionality questions that come up after our initial tutorial either by phone or email.  If you would also like a customized consultation regarding content strategy that is an additional $25/hr.  Give us a call or email us to take advantage of this offer today!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon consulting with Eric Adams of Montana Fly Fishing Guides.  Eric is extremely tech savvy, he even built his own website and has already set his business up on Facebook and Twitter.  His main concern was that he is about to enter his really busy season and will not have time to keep up with what he has going.  He also wanted to make sure that he had a good understanding of what he should be doing to fully utilize all of the tools that he already has in place.  Here are just a few of the suggestions that I made to help him streamline his social media marketing and keep it all simple.

•  I set him up on Hootsuite.  Hootsuite is a wonderful tool where you can access all of your Twitter and Facebook (profile and pages) accounts.  You can post updates to multiple accounts at the same time or just one, you can schedule posts to be sent out later and you can follow all of your news feeds.  This will be especially helpful to Eric during the summer months when he has less time to be on the computer and he can plan a week’s worth of updates at one time.

• We looked at his Twitter account and got him going following more people instead of just letting them follow him.  It is always a good idea to reciprocate and follow some of the people who have found you.  It will also benefit Eric to be following more people because he can then pass on any interesting information that they tweet and not always have to come up with original content.

• Eric has a built in source of content in his clients so I suggested that he share their stories periodically on his Facebook page.  This will help with getting people to his page, especially if he posts photos, and it will encourage interaction.

• Finally, Eric is interested in learning more about social media so I recommended that he start reading Mashable.com and follow Chris Brogan’s blog.

Eric is definitely on the right track and hopefully our meeting yesterday will make things easier for him.  He has already done a great job of implementing some of what we talked about.  He also knows that if he gets too busy this summer to handle it all by himself, we are there to help him.

If you are interested in fly fishing you should check out his website and be sure to become a fan of Montana Fly Fishing Guides on Facebook to see what he’s up to.

Advice is a tricky thing.  There are many things that I would love to give advice about quite regularly that I usually keep to myself.  Most unsolicited advice is not helpful and not wanted and therefore better left unsaid.  Today however I just can not hold back.

Here at H & H Web we are very passionate about Social Media Marketing.  While most people use tools such as Facebook merely as a way to keep in touch with family members and old friends (which of course is something we do too) we see it as an amazing opportunity for people to share ideas, promote their businesses, build community, and keep abreast of the latest news.  The most remarkable part of all of this is that these tools are accessible to everyone!  And they are free!!  Much of the world has already discovered this and is taking full advantage of Social Media Marketing successfully.  Understandably, smaller towns like Livingston, Montana are usually slow in catching on to new trends and this has been the case with Facebook, Twitter and blogging even.  There has however been a recent surge, especially in Facebook activity, around these parts which we find more exciting than most people would.  This is a great thing and could be a wonderful community building tool for our unique little town.  Just imagine the possibilities with such a small population being able to connect and interact instantaneously!  We imagine it and think about it all the time and we like to encourage any step in that direction.  All of that being said, here comes the rant…

Facebook is set up for two different types of interactions – personal and business.  And there is a reason for this, as most of us want a separation between our personal lives and our work.  When you create a profile on Facebook you are creating a personal page for yourself, the person.  If you would like to promote your business on Facebook, then you need to create a business profile or preferably a business fan page.  When someone requests to be your friend that is a personal interaction.  Just like in real life – you wouldn’t say that you are friends with Albertson’s or Target, would you?  When someone requests that you become their fan that is a business interaction.  In an attempt to connect with our community I have gone on Facebook searching for specific local businesses in order to become their fans.  Well, this has proven to be a challenge for a couple of reasons.  First, many businesses are still not utilizing social media and therefore are not there to be found.  Second, more than a few of the ones who are actually on Facebook are using it incorrectly.  They have personal profiles set up as their business page.  Not only does it make me cringe every time I get a “friend” request from a business, it is also against the rules of Facebook.  Believe it or not, if your business builds a big enough presence as a person instead of a business Facebook will shut you down, completely!  It is understandable that many people are making mistakes as they venture into the unknown world of Social Media Marketing because this is uncharted territory for many of you.  And we commend you for getting yourselves and your businesses out there to begin with.  But, I implore you, if you understand how important social media is to your business, then do it correctly.  If you don’t know how to do it correctly, get a friend who does to help you.  If you are an established business and you have some money to spend on your marketing, then hire someone to help you.  And if you hire someone to help you, make sure they really know what they are doing.  That’s it.  That’s all I have to say on the matter.  So, I will leave you all with this, please don’t ask me to become a friend of your business!  Suggest I become a fan and I will support you fully.  Friends are for people, fans are for businesses.

Since we have offered this unsolicited advice to all of you, here is another offer for you:  Please feel free to come to us with any questions you have about Social Media Marketing.  We love to share our passion with others and would love to hear what you think about all of this or know what you have the most trouble with.  So, leave us a comment, send us an email, give us a call, find us on Facebook.  And stop by again soon for an introduction to two new clients (who we love) Truex Furniture and the Murray Hotel.