Finally something new has come along to eclipse the Facebook Timeline business pages.  Yes the new iPad is what has been filling my feeds this week.  There has been other news however and below is my pick of the best blog posts I’ve read this week.  Sorry  I couldn’t squeeze all your suggestions in.

Twitter and mobile advertising

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Twitter introduced promoted tweets. Twitter purists (myself included) were worried that ad’s would kill the network but so far they seem to fit in quite well.  This week sees Twitter up their mobile advertising offering, allowing targeting of mobile customers specifically.  This, and Facebook’s decision to display advertising on it’s mobile app show how seriously companies are taking the mobile web.  Read more here on the Venture Beat blog.

Happy Birthday Twitter

Twitter was 6 years old this week. It’s amazing to think that something so young that started as a SMS service is now such a big part of so many peoples lives.  It’s changed the way that news breaks and it’s given us all the opportunity to converse with people and businesses that were inaccessible to us in the past.  I’ve done business on Twitter, debated on Twitter, made real life friends on Twitter and I’ve only been on it since January 2009!  Here’s an app that will show you how long you’ve been on Twitter.  And here’s a great article from Bernie Goldbach who’s been there since the beginning.

56% of Facebook pages have less than 256 fans!

For those struggling to build their Facebook community this could be good news. If you’ve more than 256 Likes you’re in the majority, well done!  And that’s not it, there’s plenty of other interesting statistics in this infographic from Recommend.ly. Also revealing is that the second biggest page type is local businesses and that 82% of all pages only post 5 times a month!  Read more here.

13 brands using Linkedin business pages

I often feel that Linkedin is one of the most undervalued of all social networks.  But according to Hubspot in this article Linkedin is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.  If you feel that you’re not getting full benefit from Linkedin read beyond the stats to discover how to maximise your business page profile.  This is something we’re currently working on at Spideworking.com.

Hiring Interns via Facebook

What an innovative way to hire an Intern, and just in case you’re worried, the job on offer is a fully paid Summer position.  A marketing company called Fast Horse is asking Facebook to choose someone for the job.  Applicants upload their submissions to a Facebook app and the applications are voted on by the community.  More here.  Would you trust your Facebook fans to choose the right person?

Facebook Timeline icons

If you are still in the midst of redesigning your Facebook page before it’s converted to Timeline at the end of the month this free icon set may help you.  They can be used to customise your app tabs and all the basics are there.  I called them ‘not beautiful’ on Twitter during the week (and was caught out by the designer) but they are functional and well designed, perfect for anyone who wants something quick and easy to make their page look good.

Re-arrange your Pinterest boards

Pinterest is still a hot topic and if you are using it for business it’s worth having a look at this post from Write On Track.  It shows you how to  re-order your boards so that some appear more prominently.  This is a great way to highlight seasonal offerings, special offers or a particular board you want to draw attention to.

And from Spiderworking.com

If you missed the Lunch & Learn I participated in on the Sage Ireland Facebook page you can pick up all the tips shared from all the experts on the day on the Sage Ireland blog.

My second video tutorial for those of you trying to get to grips with the new business Timeline Facebook pages.  Some simple tips on pinning posts to the top of your page, featuring posts and repositioning images.

This week I finally got around to answering one of the most common questions I get asked.  How do you get more Likes to your Facebook page? I’m sure I’m missing a few so do leave a comment if you have a great tip to share.

This week we’ve seen the Measureit.ie conference in Dublin & the Timeline for Facebook pages rumour has gained traction.  I’ve also discovered some great blog posts on Facebook, Linkedin and more here’s my pick.

Facebook Timeline for Business Pages?

The end of this week seems to be all a buzz with Timeline for Facebook pages.  For some time we have suspected that Facebook will be launching Timeline for business pages on 9th of February.  The rumour gained more traction this week when several influencial blogs started talking about it.  Inevitably Facebook will have to convert pages at some stage, I dont’ see the future of Facebook including completely differnt profiles for business and people.  However it wasn’t until I saw this image shared on Mari Smith’s Facebook page wall that I was convinced:

As many of the articles were predicting it will be rolled out to big brands first, and it looks like Coca-Cola are going to be one of those brands.  Could it be a bit soon?  With so many users still not switched to the new Facebook profiles, and many of them pretty unenthusiastic about the prospect, I suspect that we will see a drop off in page views as our Likers get used to the new layout.

For those of us who offer Facebook customisation it puts us in limbo.  At Spiderworking.com we have temporarly stopped developing customised Facebook pages until we know how they will work in Timeline.  Here’s AdAge’s take on what Timeline could mean for business.

Twitter & Privacy

Last week we talked about how niche network Path had been in trouble for storing users contact lists.  They reacted really well, admitting their mistake and rectifying it immediately.  Since then it has emerged that lots of iPhone apps, including Twitter were storing personal details on their own servers too.

Again the response from Twitter has been good but I think it’s a shame that the revelation about Path last week resulted in lots of people unsubscribing from the service something that is unlikely to happen on Twitter.  Also Path have taken the brunt of this scandal, now we know everyone is doing it we seem less concerned.

The real bad guy in this story seems to be Apple who are allowing apps to use information this way. You can read more on the reactions from both Twitter and Apple here.

Measureit Dublin

The place to be this Wednesday was the Measurement.ie conference in NCI Dublin (aka #donedealsocial).  Organised by Damien Mulley it was a fantastic day for social media practitioners, commnunity managers and business owners alike. My keyboard was smoking all day as I attempted to take down all the top tips from the speakers.  It would be really hard to single out one or two speakers that inspired me the most… but I’m going to do it anyway!  Both Dena Walker (@CurlyDena to the tweeters out there) and Georgina Bowes (@GinaBo) gave energetic and compelling presentations.

I’ll be writing more about what I learnt at the conference next week but for now here’s Dena’s presentation as recommended as a great read by Zwartbles Ireland.

In other Irish social news word of the massive #SMEcommunity Tweetup in Birr made it into the traditional press. I was lucky enough to meet some of the people involved at Measureit and they were full of enthusiasm and support.  Congratulations to all involved.

Using Facebook In Business Mode

A few weeks ago I shared some basic tactics on using Facebook B2B.  There are lots of compelling reasons to use Facebook in business mode and although not all businesses are on Facebook it can be a great way to build relationships between businessses that are much the same way that you can on Twitter.

This excellent article from the Impactiv8 blog gives you 8 more compelling reasons to use Facebook in business mode.

Linkedin Marketing Gems You May Have Missed

Whenever I share Linkedin articles on Twitter I always get a great reaction.  In fact Linkedin is one of the networks I get asked about a lot.  Most people get as far as setting up an account and completing their details and then stop.  Linkedin can be a hugely effective network for finding new leads and attracting new customers.  So if you want to put a bit of polish on what you are doing on Linkedin have a look at this article from Hubspot that takes you through some of the features you may have been neglecting.

5 Facebook Changes

Facebook changes so fast it can be hard to keep up with it.  Luckily Mari Smith is always on hand just in case you missed any of these recent changes, this guide is no exception.

I’m looking forward to seeing her take on Timeline for business pages and I’m sure I’ll be referring to it constantly as I try to navigate my way around.

When Is The Best Time To Post On Social Media?

This is a question that gets asked a lot and of course there is no one catch all answer.  However this is a pretty interesting infographic from Dan Zarella that suggests that you are likely to get the most ReTweets on a Friday afternoon and the most Facebook likes on a Saturday.

Of course results will vary for every user but it’s inspired me to run a totally unscientific mini-study amongst my Facebook Likers.  More info on that here soon.

And From Spiderworking.com this week

This week’s videocast was a tutorial on how to add a sign up form to your Facebook page using Google Docs and WooBox.

On the blog this week I interviewed Beatrice Whelan from Sage Ireland about their recent cloud computing launch and the use of ‘Flogos’ – floating sage logos that became fantastic social shareable objects.  What is a social shareable object? What is a Flogo?  You’ll have to read the article in full to find out!

Do keep me up to date with your news.  Have you written or read a great social media article?  Leave your links below.

If you get bloggers block Social Media can help. This week in part three of our series on Social Media and blogging we look at how it can help you find inspiration for blogging.

Be inspired by others – Blog Directories

I find I am inspired by other bloggers, some that work in social media and others that just produce well written interesting content.  But how do you find blogs to inspire you?

There are a number of popular blog directories.  Technorati, AllTop, BlogCatalog are some of the most well known.  If you’re in Ireland or have an Irish interest Irish Blogs is fantastic.  A quick internet search will also provide you with topic or industry specific blog directories.

Search these for blogs of interest and be inspired!

Social Bookmarking Sites

StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious and Digg are full of great links and information that can both help you guage what is trending in your industry and inspire you.  Search for topics that interest you and they will throw up lots of interesting stuff you might not find elsewhere.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is not only a fantastic research tool but it can also give you a snapshot of what people are talking about relating to a specific interest.  Once you have discovered the current trends write a blog post with your particular insight into the topic.

Linkedin Groups

What are people talking about or looking for information on in your Linkedin groups?  If specific questions are coming up write a blog post addressing these questions or topics.  Ask your own questions on Linkedin Groups or within Linkedin Answers to discover what others think, aggregate the answers in a blog post or answer the question from the feedback you have received from others.

Click here for part one on research

Click here for part two on finding readers

Do you have any secrets on finding inspiration for your blog?  If so I’d love to hear your comments below.

Have you noticed that some Linkedin profiles have edited their websites to describe what they are (see above)?  Changing your website titles like this makes your links more clickable as well as adding to the SEO value of the link.  If you are stuck with the default ‘company website’, ‘blog’ tags this tutorial is for you.

Log in to Linkedin

Click ‘Profile’ on the top menu bar and choose ‘Edit profile’ from the drop down menu.

Scroll down to the website section.

Click ‘Edit’ next to the website you want to change.

On the next screen choose ‘Other’ from the drop down menu on the left hand side of the website you want to edit

A new box will appear with ‘Website Title’ written inside.

Replace this text with a description of your website: e.g. Social Media for Business

Type in the url of your website (including http://) in the box next to your description

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Save Changes’

Check your profile, your website description should now appear as a hot link on your profile page.

Thanks to Susanne McCabe from Totem.ie for suggesting this blog post.  If you have a burning question about linkedin leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer it.

This has been a really interesting discussion. We started in July with the second round in August.  Finally we have a comprehensive list of the dos and don’ts according to all of our social media communities.  A big thank you to all of you who took the time to contribute.

A big surprise for me was how strongly people felt about some issues.  And I have to bow to popular demand and point out that the list below is simply a list of guidelines.  There are exceptions to every rule and some people find even the highest rated don’ts work for them.  However I would exercise caution, whatever your strategy it is important to measure the results clearly and consistently.  Is social media really working for you and if not how can you adjust your behavior for better results?

I have also resisted adding my opinion to the survey so far as I wanted to see what others thought but now that the results are in I’d like to add my vote to ‘Do be polite, considerate and respectful’.  I see this frequently abandoned in the heat of the moment and I think it is important to remember that everything we say on the Internet reflects on our business.  Being controversial works but there is a fine line between controversy and rudeness, a line that I strive not to overstep.  Having said this, again there are exceptions to the rule, controversy and rudeness, if it suits your business could be a big draw.

The Full List as suggested by our online communities:

• Do give benefit to your community
• Do be different
• Do be funny
• Do be interesting and relevant
• Do be polite, considerate and respectful
• Do be sociable
• Do build a strong network
• Do comment on blogs
• Do complete your Linkedin profile
• Do converse and reply when someone attempts to engage you
• Do create your own App for Facebook or Smartphone
• Do get involved in discussions
• Do have an open and public Facebook page so those not on Facebook can access it
• Do personalise Linkedin invites
• Do post useful resources
• Don’t insult people
• Don’t apply ‘Old Media’ strategies to social media
• Don’t be a creepy lurker
• Don’t be repetitive
• Don’t broadcast, engage
• Don’t have personal conversations on Twitter (do it privately)
• Don’t invite people who will get no benefit from it to fan your Facebook page
• Don’t join Linkedin groups and not engage
• Don’t just collect followers and likes, make them relevant
• Don’t link your Twitter account to your Linkedin profile fully
• Don’t only follow celebs
• Don’t post inane tweets / posts
• Don’t pretend you know about social media when you don’t
• Don’t protect tweets
• Don’t schedule tweets
• Don’t sell, sell, sell!
• Don’t spam Linkedin groups, only post relevant content
• Don’t swear
• Don’t think that Facebook is just B2C
• Don’t post a big bunch of Tweets in a row
• Don’t update Facebook personal and business accounts concurrently with the same info
• Don’t use push over pull
• Don’t write rules, suggest guidelines
• Don’t post too often or talk too much

The Top 10:

1. Don’t sell, sell, sell!
2. Don’t link your Twitter account to your Linkedin profile fully
3. Don’t have personal conversations on Twitter (do it privately)
4. Don’t post too often or talk too much
5. Don’t post inane tweets / posts
6. Do post useful resources
7. Don’t write rules, suggest guidelines
8. Don’t invite people who will get no benefit from it to fan your Facebook page
9. Don’t be repetitive
10. Don’t apply ‘Old Media’ strategies to social media

Last week saw the third meeting of the KLCK Bloggers network and our first outing to Laois.  Once again it was well attended and although there were technical difficulties with the live stream to start with we got them fixed and 8 people joined us online.

I’m always bowled over by the atmosphere at our meetings, everyone has knowledge to share and questions to ask.  Everyone, newbie or experienced blogger can learn something.  I’d never heard of some of the plugins that our first speaker Eoin from Istech told us about but all were useful.  ’Old Post Spinner’ in particular provoked some debate.  Spinning blog posts means recycling old blog posts –  changing them slightly and re-posting them ‘Old Post Spinner’ automates this process.

Our second speaker Niall Devitt talked about Bloggertone, many of us were inspired to think about submitting content, he was also a wealth of information on blogging in general, and our questions kept him busy for quite a while.

If you want to view the stream recorded on the night click here (quality not great).  You can also download Eoin’s notes by clicking here.

Our next meeting is at The Pembroke Hotel, Kilkenny on 11th October 2010 at 7pm.  You can RSVP on Facebook or Linkedin or by leaving a comment on this post.

To keep up to date with our events join the KLCK Bloggers Network page on Facebook or Linkedin.

We’ve been inundated with your suggestions for the Rules of Social Media since we asked for your help here last month.

We’ve managed to narrow our intial list down to 39 suggestions with 7 of these recurring 3 or more times (see the charts above).  We noticed that people seemed to be particularly concerned about Linkedin with issues such as ‘Linking your Twitter account to your Linkedin profile’ ‘Engage in groups that you join’ and ‘Don’t spam Linkedin groups’ all being metioned.  The top gripe however was people only pushing out sales messages through social media.

We’d like to narrow down this list a little further so are looking for your help again.  Vote in our poll by clicking here and  let us know which things really work for you or really bug you.

Monday saw the Inaugural meeting of the KLCK Bloggers Network, a group of like minded people living in the Kildare, Laois, Carlow, Kilkenny area who share an enthusiasm for Blogging and Internet marketing.

Amongst those who attended were those who write professionally, those with popular blogs, those who were just taking the first step in blogging and those who were on the cusp of getting started.

The aim of the group is to share knowledge, put our heads together and see what we can achieve both individually and as a group.

Meetings will continue every second Monday of the month and all are welcome to attend whether you are living in the four counties or not and whether you are already a blogger or not.

Our next meet up will be on August 9th at the Talbot Hotel Carlow. Paula Sheridan from Candle Designs will be talking about using Flickr for business and we will have a second presentation on the basics of setting up a WordPress blog and useful plugins (speaker tbc).  If you’d like to come along or if you have expertise to share with the group you can RSVP on Facebook or on Linkedin or by leaving a comment on this blog post.

This week we’re asking for your help, we need your gripes.  We’re compiling a list of social media rules, the do’s and don’ts of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc and we want to know what bugs you!

What would make you unfollow someone or unlike a page on Facebook?

How do you choose who to follow or like?

What lessons have you learnt?  Is there something you have done that has resulted in loosing followers or annoying your Facebook community?

How to help

Leave your rules below in our comment box, post on our Facebook page, leave a comment in the ‘Facebook For Business Ireland‘ Linkedin group or Tweet at us @spiderworking!

There will be a prize for the best suggestions.

You can use social media to both organise, promote and enhance an event.  Over the next 2 weeks our podcast will be showing you how to create events using Facebook and Linkedin.

This week we will show you 4 applications that help you take bookings and help you display tweets at your events and sharing your events presentations.

1. Eventbrite

Eventbrite allows you to set up an event and take payment from attendees.  Once you have created your event it is easy to embed a sign up form into your website or even just a booking button.

2. EventElephant

Similar to Eventbrite but with what seem to be far more customisable pages.  EventElephant it’s an Irish company which means customer service will be easier to reach.

3.Twitterfall

The easy way to set up a tweet wall at your event we’ve talked about Twitterfall before but we can’t find an alternative that we like more so here it is again.  Add your event #tag to the wall and watch the tweets scroll onto your screen.  All you need to do is hook your computer up to a screen or a projector to share the tweets with conference goers.  This encourages more interaction amongst your audience and more online buzz about your event.

4. Slideshare

Using Slideshare you can set up a group or an event where all the presentations from the day can easily be shared.  Simply click ‘events’ at the top of the home screen once logged in.  Again this not only makes it easier for attendees to catch up with the presentations it also creates a buzz around your event.