Most policies and procedures document what staff should do in certain situations. They essentially boil down to a list of “If this happens, do that.” Social media policies must be  different because social media is evolving and changing, almost daily, so there is no way to know exactly what situations may arise.

A well written social media policy will support, protect and empower high-quality engagement. It recognizes that each social media network and each relationship is unique. It focuses on the big picture, addressing roles and responsibilities, legal compliance and branding, and why we do it. It empowers staff and communicates trust in them to act in a way that brings value to the customer and to the company.

The importance of crafting a great social media policy for your company cannot be over stated. Poorly written social media policies create an environment of distrust that restricts and deadens engagement.

To help you craft a great social media policy for your organization, here are a few tips to guide your journey:

#1 Look at other policies to get ideas about what to include. You can find samples of policies on these two sites:

• http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php#axzz1lxkns4Xm
• http://www.socialmedia.biz/social-media-policies/

#2 Gather your team together to discuss ideas and issues. Members of this team would include your senior management, customer service personnel, and any staff that will be involved in social media interactions.

#3 Address legal ramifications including labor laws, liability issues, protecting intellectual property, and external regulations. Address issues that effect employees who use social media as part of their job, and separately, specifically address issues related to what all employees can and cannot share about the company online (i.e., they cannot disclose trade secrets). Be sure to have an attorney review your policy.

#4 Review your policy frequently. Do not allow it to gather dust. Social media is evolving rapidly so it is wise to review the policy at least every six months and address areas that are not working.

A well written social media policy can empower your employees to act as brand ambassadors while avoiding the pitfalls of doing something that causes harm to the company. It will help your company build engagement by empowering your staff to communicate on this powerful and evolving medium.

Is your small business trying to compete on price? Are you afraid of the “big box” retailer that has the ability to negotiate lower costs? In most cases, your fears are unfounded because what you really need to do is differentiate yourself on value.

According to the Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey — a nationally representative study of more than 14,000 adults living in households with at least $100,000 in annual household income — as reported by AdAgeStat on January 4, 2012, value remains a top priority in the marketplace. Stephen Kraus and Bob Shullman report that “78% of affluents agreed, ‘When it comes to quality, I believe you get what you pay for.’” Meanwhile, they report, “Only 18% of affluents agreed, ‘I tend to buy based on price, not quality.’”

Herein lies the opportunity for you to differentiate yourself and gain market share. Ask yourself, “What unique value can you bring to the consumer?” In an apples-to-apples comparison, where the consumer perceives an equal level of value, they will choose the best price, but if you can create an apples-to-oranges comparison with a perception of better value, no longer is the price the primary concern and you can win sales even with a higher price point—so long as the perceived value you offer justifies the price.

For the full survey report including interesting information about online shopping habits, read Affluency: Three Trends to Watch for 2012.

Today while manning our booth at the St. George Marathon Expo, I was asked, “with computers and software, why should someone hire you instead of a young creative student that has all of the same software and is likely to charge a lot less.” The question isn’t unfamiliar and is one I love to answer. Here are three key reasons why you should choose us.

Experience
While it is true that many talented and creative youth will design a nice looking brochure, website, or other design project, almost all of them will lack technical experience when it comes to the decisions made to bring a project to final production in a cost-effective professional manner. Most of them will never have specified paper. They will lack extensive knowledge and relationships with print vendors and the various techniques and limitations of the production equipment these vendors own. There are numerous little technical decisions that contribute to the success of an advertising project.

Focus
In addition to my training and experience in print and web design, and in video production, I have a business education. I understand the importance of focusing and crafting a marketing message. We help clients first focus on their message and then create the vehicle to carry this message based on their target audience and their business goals. Most inexperienced designers will focus solely on the design and ignore this critical consultative phase.

Cost
While my hourly fees are generally higher than the student or inexperienced designer, most clients whom have come to me after first choosing to work with “the less expensive provider” have found my experience makes me faster. Even if my overall design fees are higher, I also am able to, in most cases, save clients money in final production because I know where the production efficiencies are and I know how to properly prepare the files for this important stage and avoid costly reprints due to errors.

I have over 15 years of experience providing services in advertising design. I have invested heavily in ongoing professional training to stay on top of a rapidly changing technical landscape. My experience coupled with this training allows me to professionally advise my clients in making decisions that not only provides good looking marketing collateral, but positions their marketing to provide a return on their advertising investment.

I just saw a post on Facebook that brought me up short. It wasn’t because the subject matter was particularly shocking—it was for a poll about social media platform usage. The question just seems extremely premature to me. Social media expert, Brian Solis, asked, “Will you abandon Facebook in favor of Google+?”

Google+ has garnered a lot of interest, and it is definitely offering some exciting concepts in social engagement. It has posted some impressive numbers with growth to 20 million users in about three weeks.

But Google+ is still in it’s infancy. At this time, it is an unknown. Most of the engagement I have seen on it is still centered around its novelty as a new platform. A lot of questions remain including whether it will continue to be widely adopted and what will the business presence look like?

For business, Facebook remains the better platform at this time for three key reasons: broad adoption, branded presence, and opportunity for engagement.

1. Broad Adoption. Facebook as of most recent statistics has 750 million active users. This is up 150 million over just a few months ago. Much has been made about Google+ growth, but you cannot ignore the growth of Facebook that continues at extremely impressive rates. Your reach on Facebook is simply much larger. Nearly 40 times as many people!
2. Branded Presence. Google has hinted that a business presence is coming, but for now, it doesn’t exist. Facebook’s Business Page allow you to set-up a presence for your business where you can connect directly with customers and fans. This connection allows you to reach out to others they know through their news feed as they engage with you. A ComScore study cited by AdAge highlighted the importance of this newsfeed engagement with a majority of post views occurring in the newsfeeds of the friends of a business’s Facebook fans.
3. Opportunity for Engagement. My impression so far is that Facebook engagement covers a broader demographic. Unless your business audience is focused squarely in the geek crowd, Google+ for now is a curiosity. Most of my engagement broadly is still happening on Facebook while my geek friends are very active on Google+. As a business, I cannot interact because of the lack of business presence, so I cannot promote my business brand in any efficient manner as it is all indirect. Unless your brand is you, Google+ right now cannot serve your business.

Will Google+ close the gap in users? Will they provide a meaningful platform for businesses to have a branded presence? Will the opportunity on engagement broaden? The answers to these questions will unfold over the next few months. Facebook will almost surely answer the challenges with changes to their platform. Google+ will have to convince the broad user that their platform is better and provide a reason to abandon Facebook. Or, we may have a situation where both coexist and provide value and your business must have a presence on both. In my opinion, it is simply too soon to tell and any discussion to the contrary is purely hype.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think.

Facebook e-mails each page owner about their page's activity during the previous week providing valuable trend insight.

Much ado has been made about Facebook’s “Active User” statistic in page insights. Some people consider this number inflated because it is in essence, an impression count. Perhaps it is misnamed, but it is an important statistic because it represents users who have engaged with, viewed, or consumed content generated by your Facebook Page including if they have seen it in their news feed.

In order to spread your reach and build likes and interaction with your page, you must be able to build impressions. If your posts are not being seen, then you have little opportunity to build new likes or to get people to interact with you. A high “Active User” count is invaluable.

If you have a high amount of “Active Users” but these are not converting into growth in the number of people who “Like” your page, visits to your page, and wall posts and comments, then you need to strategically look at the value you are offering in your posts and adjust to meet the needs of your target audience.

On the other hand, if you are seeing positive upward trends in page “Likes”, visits, and the feedback in posts and comments, then you know you are engaging your audience in a meaningful manner. From this point, you can start to evaluate if your interactions are building relationships that lead to positive business results such as new leads and sales.

It all starts with building your “Active Users”!

It has been nearly 2 weeks since Google first opened up Google+ to a limited group “testers” by invitation only. It took me this long to get my invitation and checkout Google+ first hand. I am just getting my feet wet, but here are a few of my first impressions.

First, I am intrigued by the way Google+ allows you to organize your connections. They call them circles and start you with a few, but you can create others to fit your life. These circles allow you to target your posts to those you want to share with. It is a functionality that is available in Facebook but isn’t very obvious.

Second, I love that you can include people who are not yet on Google+ in your circles and they will receive your posts by e-mail. They cannot comment without setting up an account, but you can include them in receiving your posts.

I am intrigued by the Hangouts concept. I haven’t yet gotten to try this out because I am still building my connections, but I can see a lot of ways to use this video chat tool.

Making posts is similar to Facebook. You can really target who the post is available too. I also like the privacy settings and functionality in setting up my profile. It was very intuitive.

Bottom line, I think Google has created a serious contender in the Social Media platform wars. A few months ago, I would not have thought anyone would challenge Facebook in this arena, but it appears Google has delivered a serious contender in Google+. I am looking forward to exploring further.

I know it has been a bit since we last posted. We have been a bit busy here at Vive Studio preparing for a move while taking care of our customers. To celebrate the opening of our new office, we are inviting businesses to join with us in celebration of the opening of our new location. Beginning April 20 and through midnight May 9, business owners and managers can enter for a chance to win our Social Proof Infusor™ Reviews package with the winner to be drawn at an open house event May 10. 

“We are excited about our new location in the heart of St. George’s business district,” said Vive Studio president, Richard Isom. “To celebrate the move, I want to sponsor one company in discovering the power and influence positive social proof can have on their business.

Richard will draw one winner from the entries received during the open house and ribbon cutting to be held at their new offices on 344 East Sunland Dr., Ste. 2 in St. George, Utah on May 10. The open house will begin at 12:00 noon and provide guests an opportunity to tour the new location while learning about Vive’s services to build positive social proof.

Details about the Social Proof Infusor™ Reviews package and the contest can be found on Vive Studio’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/vivestudio along with the form to enter the contest.

“With the growth of social media, consumers are increasingly seeking out the shared experiences of other consumers when making buying decisions,” Richard noted. “This program is about putting our client’s in the drivers seat in providing the information their prospective customers are seeking.”

Contest Entry Form

Please Join Us at our Open House
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 • 12:00 noon
344 E Sunland Dr., Ste. 2A
St. George, Utah

Talking to a stranger can be very unnerving. Giving a stranger money and hoping that they deliver the expected result is absolutely terrifying. The unknown creates doubt and doubt kills sales.

For businesses, the challenge becomes how to build trust by making yourself no longer a stranger, but a trusted friend, before you have even conducted business together. The key is SOCIAL PROOF.

For a prospective customer who hasn’t had a personal experience with your business, the validation of social proof—the shared experiences of others who have done business with you—provides the confidence that they can expect a similar experience and creates trust. The broader the social proof available, the stronger the trust becomes.

With the growth of social media and the internet, businesses have new opportunities to provide positive social proof to prospective clients. By working with past clients to get reviews posted on the internet, video reviews, and by having an active social media presence where the business interacts with their clients, potential clients have an opportunity to see how you have treated your existing clients and know what to expect from you—you are no longer a stranger to them.

The bottom line is trust. Positive SOCIAL PROOF equals TRUST. TRUST equals Sales.

Are you on LinkedIn? Hey, if you are, let me know and we can connect! Now for the big question. Is LinkedIn working for you? If not, the problem may be with your keywords.

Keywords quite simply are words and phrases that match terms that others use in search boxes and if your LinkedIn profile doesn’t contain keywords used by people looking for what you offer, then your LinkedIn profile won’t provide great results for you. It is important to think about the terms used by people who will search for you and not the terms you, as an insider might use and then make sure your profile contains these keywords in several key locations.

Four key locations to include keywords are:

1. Your Headline
2. Specialties
3. Job Titles
4. Skills

Avoid being generic. One way to identify great keywords is by looking at job advertisements for jobs you might want. You might also look at the profiles of other people who are in your field. There are over 85 million people (as of December 2010) using LinkedIn, so make sure people who want someone who has your skills can find you. Remember, that until people find you, they can’t do business with you. Keywords are a key to your success.

A common mistake businesses make when setting up their Facebook presence is creating a Profile instead of a Page. Profiles are reserved for individuals under Facebook’s terms of service and businesses using Profiles can have their entire presence deleted without warning when discovered.

Without formal announcement, Facebook has added a new capability to help businesses get their Facebook presence correctly established without losing connections they have already collected. You can read all about it in Facebook’s Help Center.

Here are 6 things you will want to know:

1. All of your Friends are retained as Fans. You won’t lose your connections.
2. Most of your information won’t transfer, but in the Help Center, you can learn how to download those contents before starting so you can put the information back.
3. The conversion is irreversible, but fail to convert and you risk losing the whole presence so you will want to take the leap.
4. Converting takes the limits off the number of connections your Facebook presence can have. Profiles are limited to 5,000 Friends but Pages can have an UNLIMITED number of Fans. You will also gain some cool analytics to help you see what is working with your presence.
5. The Profile Photo will also be transferred to the new page, but no other content will be transferred over.
6. The e-mail address and password you used to log-in to the profile will be converted to a business account. You can log-in and add your personal profile and those of others as Admins to the page.

There will be some differences in how you interact with connections to your business when compared to how a Profile interacts, but the change is worthwhile with what is lost being far outweighed by tools that will benefit your business and increased opportunities to customize your presence.