Mea Culpa & Sociological Side of Social Media

My sincerest apologies for letting this blog lay shuttered and gathering dust for such a long time.  As many business owners know (especially service providers), the first order of operations is to serve your clients. Unfortunately, I have been extremely busy at C3. Creating Connections Consulting, LLC assisting some amazing businesses in tightening up their social media marketing strategy; creating new training materials for our workshop series,  staying on top of the latest in the digital industry; and doing the occasional speaking gig. Throw in life and I had very little time for writing.

I have to be honest, this truly pained me. I am a writer at a heart and have been at the practice since I could hold one of those large yellow pencils and put words to lined paper as a kid. I have been published in several magazines and news stories and am a co-author of a social media book.  Once upon a time I was writing for four different blogs and working on a suspense novel.

I’m carving out time into my schedule to return to this practice that I have loved so much. I hope to continue to share my personal perspective on all things digital here in this space. If you are looking for more hard-hitting posts on social media best practices, you can find them on my C3 Blog here.  This space is for me to examine digital through my eyes and to view the world through the sociological side of social media that we are all living through.

I’m so glad to be back!

Cincinnati Social Media Marketing Training w/ C3

Upcoming opportunities for social media marketing education:

All courses taught by Michelle Beckham-Corbin.

Michelle Beckham-Corbin, President & Chief Digital Marketing Strategist of C3: Creating Connections Consulting, LLC has over 20 years experience in the Corporate, Non-profit and Small Business sectors.  Michelle is a former Sales & Marketing Manager for Procter & Gamble and holds an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Michelle specializes in Social Media Marketing Strategy and Brand Development.  She is a Board Trustee for the non-profit group Authentic Leadership Cincinnati and is the Social Media for Business Curriculum Creator and Instructor at the Warren County Career Center, a University System of Ohio Provider. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the digital networking group, New Media Cincinnati and is an active member of the Cincinnati Social Media (CincySM) Group. Michelle is a frequent speaker, lecturer and trainer.  Additionally, she is a published writer, co-author of Social Media book, Age of Conversation 3 (Channel V Books, New York, 2010), frequent commentator and Blogger. She brings great energy and passion as well as a keen ability to deeply connect with people in order to create business building social media opportunities for her clients.

April 16^th:  Surviving in an Online World: Reputation Management for Teens

Location: Forest Hills School District:  Anderson High School (closed to the public)

April 17^th:  Social Media Trends Rocking 2012

Noon-1:00 p.m.

Location:  Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce Marketing Roundtable

Register here: http://bit.ly/HC3B1e

April 18^th: LinkedIn Training

1:00-4:00 p.m.

Location:  Warren County Career Center

Register here:  http://www.mywccc.org/SocialMediaWorkshops.aspx

April 19^th:  Introduction to Social Media Marketing

9:00-11:00 a.m.

Location:  Deerfield Township Trustee Meeting Room, Mason

Register here: http://c3introsocialmedia.eventbrite.com/

April 23^rd:  LinkedIn 101 for Women

1:00-2:30 p.m.

Location:  C3 HQ, Anderson Township

Register here:  http://creatingconnectionsconsulting.com/social-media-training-classesmichelle-beckham/social-media-classes-linkedin-michellebeckham/

April 25^th:  Facebook Page Timeline Marketing

9:00-11:00 a.m.

Location:  Warren County Career Center

Register here:  http://www.mywccc.org/SocialMediaWorkshops.aspx

April 26^th:  TEDx- Xavier University

1:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Location:  Cintas Center, Xavier University

Register here:  http://www.xavier.edu/williams/tedx/rsvp.cfm

Tony Robbins TED Talk: “Why We Do What We Do and How We Can Do It Better”

April 26^th: Living in an Online World: Internet Safety for Kids

7:00-8:30 p.m.

Callahan & Associates at Stir

Available to Callahan clients only

April 30^th:  Facebook Page Timeline Marketing

9:00-11:00 a.m.

Location:  Deerfield Township Trustee Meeting Room, Mason

Register here:  http://c3faceook4arts.eventbrite.com/

May 8^th:  Digital Branding & Job Search

12:30-2:00 p.m.

Location:  University of Cincinnati- Clermont

Open to UC students only

May 10th: Advanced LinkedIn Marketing Strategies

9:00 a.m.-noon

Location:  Warren County Career Center

Register here:  http://www.mywccc.org/SocialMediaWorkshops.aspx

May 16^th:  Google and Search Engine Optimization

9:00-11:00 a.m.

Location:  Warren County Career Center

Register here:  http://www.mywccc.org/SocialMediaWorkshops.aspx

May 16^th:  Marketing with Pinterest

1:30-3:30 p.m.

Location: Deerfield Township Trustee Meeting Room

Register here:  http://c3pinterest.eventbrite.com/

May 23rd: Advanced Facebook Page Marketing

9:00 a.m.-noon

Location:  Deerfield Township Trustee Meeting Room, Mason

Register here:  http://advfacebookmarketing.eventbrite.com/

Contact us with any questions:  info@CreatingConnectionsConsulting.com OR  513-445-2180

Facebook Page Marketing w/ Google+ Bonus

Can Your Customer’s Find YOU on Facebook?

C3: Creating Connections Consulting, LLC Facebook Page -Mobile

Even if you have a Facebook Page, are you truly leveraging Facebook marketing capabilities to create a dynamic Fan base that drives customers/clients to action?

Announcing the Facebook Page Marketing for Businesses and Organizations Workshop, a hands-on computer lab class that will allow you to work with your own Facebook Page as we discuss strategies that are unique for your industry at the state-of-the-art computer lab at The METS Center for Corporate Learning in Northern Kentucky.

Facebook Marketing has exploded and is being used by corporate brands, small businesses and non-profits all over the world to connect with and engage their clients and customers. Gain the competitive edge by learning how to leverage this important social networking tool.  Don’t just have a Page in name, have a Page that builds community and becomes a destination point for your fans!  

The class will be held on Tuesday, August 30th from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with a FREE Bonus Introductory Session on the latest social networking craze: Google+ from 11:00-11:30 a.m.

This class will be limited in size to maximize the hands-on learning and discussion among the group. We will cover the following topics:

• Page Settings Optimization
• Administrator Capabilities
• Custom Landing Pages/Tabs
• Building a Strategic Fan Base
• Creating Engagement Strategies
• Creating Winning Content Strategy
• Tagging for Cross-Marketing
• Messaging Fans
• Marketing the Page
• Page Analytics

Click here for more information and to register for this class. Previous C3 workshops on Facebook Marketing have sold out. Don’t wait, register now and save $20 with the early bird discount while seats are available.

Hope to see you in the Facebook Marketing Class. Where else can you go to actively learn how to leverage your company or brand Facebook Page?

Can’t make this class, see the C3 Website for a list of Social Media for Business classes for the remainder of 2011. I will also be speaking to local businesses at The Secrets to Small and Medium Business Growth Seminar hosted by The Berry Company, publisher of the Cincinnati Bell Yellow Pages. This is a wonderful free event for businesses to come and learn more about how digital media can help you connect with customers and grow your business.

Details:  8/18 from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the Cintas Center-Xavier University. Click here for more information.

Facebook Marketing W/ C3’s Michelle Beckham

My blogs have been silent for quite some time. Not because my thoughts and words have dried up, but simply because I have been incredibly busy working the C3 business. 2011 has proven to be a banner year in the first four months, underscoring my decision to embark on piloting my own craft. One of these days I am going to write a post (or perhaps an e-Book) on my journey from corporate marketer with P&G to business owner and social media evangelist in the middle of my career, but for now I wanted to briefly (more later) share some of the great things that are happening in my social media marketing work. Hopefully you will find a kernel of an idea that you can use to market your own business or organization.

Facebook Community Management:

I am having great fun running the social media campaigns for clients. The key is to spell out what your services will be; attach a fair price that adds value over what the client could do for themselves; set benchmarks on key data points and provide monthly reports on activities and benchmarking.  I like to provide screen grabs of key engagement posts so that clients can visually see the Page in action.

Facebook iFrame Customization:

While I learned FBML (Facebook Mark-up Language) and became an iFrame developer to enhance my own Facebook Page presence, I have discovered an explosion in interest from other Pages and have created a series of Customization Products for sale.  They include:

• Custom Extended Length Profile Pictures that integrate key marketing message or company info
• Custom Welcome Tabs
• Custom Tabs (anything a client dreams up from Reveal Tabs, Reservations, Services, Event Promotion, Specials, etc.)
• Facebook engagement & content strategies that are industry specific
• Facebook Page Marketing training

Facebook Page Custom Profile Pic Example

Custom Facebook Welcome Tab Example by C3

Having an impactful static marketing space on Facebook (especially when the landing tab is set to one of these colorful Tab Pages) truly does the job of making your business or organization stand out and be noticed. It shows that you are operating in a professional mode.

Facebook Marketing Ideas: 

Operating multiple Facebook Pages gives me a chance to connect with many different communities and to test various theories about engagement. Fans of Pages want to connect with the Page in a dynamic and human way with an exchange of relevant information and back-and- forth conversation. Pages that broadcast only are turn offs.

A winning Page will have Fans that are so smitten with the Brand that they will post relevant content. When the Page can integrate that content in an even bigger way, by recognizing the Fan, then the exchange is elevated to a higher level. Here is an example:

One of my clients is a long-standing restaurant in Cincinnati that is much-loved. They have an annual Cinco de Mayo Party that includes live radio station broadcast, specials, giveaways and general party time hoopla. I created a marketing program to help build anticipation of the event on their Facebook Page. I started a countdown with custom photos marking the number of days left and posted them daily on the Wall. Fans began asking questions about the event. One fan inquired whether the restaurant would have Cinco t-shirts available again.  She shared that her husband had received one at the very first ELC Cinco party years before and she would love to send a new one to his current location: Iraq.

After we chatted on the Page, she shared the story with her husband that night via Skype and it turned out that he happened to be wearing the original lime green ELC Cinco shirt- she quickly snapped a screen grab and posted the Skype image onto the ELC wall. That generated a lot of conversation and her husband took it a step further the next day by posing on a military aircraft in Iraq wearing the shirt. He sent her the picture, she posted it and I turned it into a custom profile pic heralding him as the ELC ultimate Cinco Fan.

El Coyote Custom Profile Picture featuring Fan in Iraq

I was so touched by the number of people who commented on this, including their son who stated in a comment:

“That’s my Dad!!”

This is a simple example of how real people can interact and engage with a Brand- but only if they have the ability to be true listeners in the cloud and are able to mesh the mission/vision and brand essence with the human qualities of communicating in a warm and real way.

Facebook Page Engagment Example by C3: Creating Connections Consulting, LLC

I am happy to assist your marketing efforts, just give me a call at 513-445-2180. Have a question that others could benefit from hearing the answer?  I have a Custom Tab: Social Media Q&A with a comment box for folks who have a burning question.

Ask away here.

(Note: C3 is a social media marketing firm and Michelle is a Steering Committee Member of New Media Cincinnati, a digital/social media networking group.)

No Such Thing as a Social Media Expert

Stock Photo

If you have spent some time cruising around LinkedIn profiles, you will find that there are many people working in the social media industry who define themselves as Expert in their headline or position descriptions:

• “Social Media Expert”
• “Social Media Master”
• “Social Media Guru”

The irony of the situation is that no one can be an expert in a rapidly evolving industry. You may be on top of a particular social media platform or third party application only to have the latest update knock the socks off your world and you are back in novice mode.

I have found that the media likes to label people.  I have done several radio (WKNU) and t.v. news guest spots (Fox 19/WLWT Channel 5 News) on various social media topics and the reporters always want to plug me as the ‘Social Media Expert’; I can usually get them to back down to the more palatable Social Media Guru title which seems to fit the situation a bit more appropriately- their label, not mine.

In the grand scheme of the knowledge scale, there are many of us who do know an awful lot about social media. Perhaps we were early adopters and have become complete enthusiasts constantly working to stay on top of the information game. We just may seem like experts to those making their entree at a much later stage of the industry development, but we have to realize that there is no end point. We can’t get to point B and state that we have arrived and lay claim to an Expert status.

The road to point B is a never-ending one and the best we can do is to continue to learn, to test, to fail and to continue on down the path of digital connectivity, all while leaving that Expert hat in the corner.

‘Cus the beast known as the Social Media Expert just doesn’t exist. If you think that you find one, make sure you aren’t dreaming….

Thanks to my good friend and fellow XU alum, Daniel Lally for an invigorating conversation that prompted me to write this post. You can hear more from Dan on 3/12/11 as he visits the New Media Cincinnati group to discuss Social Media Tragedies. Should be a sell-out crowd; stay tuned for ticket details.