It’s been an interesting few years. Sometimes you and I are friends. Often times I’d rather spend my time with twitter. You’ve pulled some jerk moves then come back with some great new thing or change that makes you interesting again for a little while.

This time you’ve gone too far.

This pissing contest you’ve got going on with Google is just too much.

I know you want to be the biggest thing on the internet. Who doesn’t? You want more information and better search results than Google has. Your ambition might be your downfall.

When I search for a business on Google, I want to find that businesses website. I want to see the phone number, address and a map, products and services, the business owner and other information. In that order.

When I search a business on Facebook, I want to find that businesses fan page. I want to see the personality behind the page and see the fan interaction. I want to like the page so I can get updates and specials from the brands I care about.

Now you’ve added Places (haven’t I heard that name somewhere before?) and allow anyone to create a page for any business.

Nice marketing tactic.

Instill fear into business owners so they hurry up and create a business page before someone else does. You can’t have a business page without an individual page, so the number of users could increase. Facebook usage numbers are leveling off in some countries, so you’d better throw some fuel in that fire, quick.

How about Facebook deleting second accounts? You are the only social media website I know of that thinks each person should be allowed only one identity. If I have an account for personal use and one for business use, which one will you delete when you decide I have too many accounts?

Living pages cannot be created then safely neglected.

All along I have been telling my clients that if they don’t have the time to put into social media, just stay out of it. Living pages like forums, blogs and Facebook pages cannot be created then safely neglected. Now you are forcing people to create pages that are very likely to be abandoned. Is this what you want for the future of Facebook? Gaps of dead zones just so you can say you have more businesses listed?

You have taken away sidebar blocks which reduces my ability to modify my pages. For security reasons you say. Conveniently, it allowed you to nearly double your ad space. How fortunate you came across this security risk.

Stop.

Stop building long enough to look at your core users and make sure they are happy. Make sure they understand the rules and what you have to offer. More features like that new help section you added would be great. So would updated “how to” videos.

Facebook, if you want to be great, you have to help your users make it great.

Fan pages are being defaced

Malicious Facebook users are defacing fan pages in a way that is hard for the admins to detect.

Visitors can go to a fan page, like the page, add vulgar comments and links to the page, then unlike the fan page. If the visitor blocks the admin’s personal account, this leaves the admin unable to see the comments, remove them or flag the fan.

Before you panic and delete your fan page, know that this cannot happen to just anyone. There are a few issues at play:

• You cannot block a fan page. You can hide it, but that does not prevent the admins from seeing your post.
• You can block a person. Blocking a person will prevent them from seeing your comments or posts.
• You have to know who the admin is to block them. This information is not on the fan page unless the admin chooses to put it there.

A fan page can only be defaced in this way if the malicious fan knows who the admin is and blocks their personal account.

Who is vulnerable?

• If you are a public figure and are the sole admin of your fan page, it’s pretty easy to block you and deface your page.
• If you make it known that you are the admin of a specific page, you are open to being blocked.

How to protect your fan page

The good news is there is an easy workaround. Simply add a new admin. Monitor the fan page from the new admin account instead. It would be best to have an admin who is not publicly associated with the account. This is where having an internet marketer to manage online accounts is a good idea.

How to add an admin to your fan page

• Log in to the admin account.
• Click EDIT THIS PAGE on the fan page.
• Scroll down and on the right sidebar (not the ad bar) you will see an admin section.
• Choose a new admin from among the page’s fans.
• Do not display the admin name.

With 350 million users, Facebook is the biggest social media network in history. Your customers are out there, take advantage of the chance to connect with them. The best way to establish your brand on Facebook is with a fan page. If you have had a personal account on Facebook, you will see pretty quickly a fan page is not the same. Personal pages have friends, fan pages have fans. Anyone can become a fan without waiting for approval. Fans can post reviews of your business or product right on your page. Don’t worry, if they say something you don’t like, you can delete it. You can send out notifications to your fans if there are less than 2000 of them.

Fan pages need to be connected to personal pages. If you are uncomfortable with having your personal information displayed along with the corporate page, you can set your personal settings to private. Another way around this is to set up a ghost account for corporate use and connect the fan page to it. Even though ghost accounts are against the Terms of Service, it’s still better than having an employee use their account. The user who sets up the fan page is forever connected to it. Other users can be set up and removed as admins, but not the originating account.

A few tips to help get your fan page going:

• Look up your customers and friend them. Invite your friends to become fans. Try to update the page at least weekly.
• Get a vanity url. This option will be available after you get 25 fans. A vanity url is a shorter and easier to use. For example, http://facebook.com/korbyimagery is better than http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moorhead-MN/Korby-Imagery/170215538252.
• Add a profile picture. The best size is 200 pixels wide by 600 high. Try to set up the photo so the part that shows up in the icon still makes sense.
• Change the tabs! You have all the control over your page, so get rid of those useless tabs. Add tabs of your own. You can have Twitter or YouTube importing right into a Facebook tab.
• Add photos. People love photos. Tag your customers. When a person is tagged, they will get a notification and probably visit your page.
• Link to your website from your fan page.

Ever wonder why you see some people’s status updates and not others?

Facebook uses an algorithm that decides which updates you probably want to see. If you have never commented on someone’s status updates, you will probably stop seeing those updates after a while. On the other hand, if you want to stop seeing someone’s updates without unfriending them, you can do that in the time line. When you hover over an update, a hide button will display on the right side. If it is Farmville or some other annoying application that you are trying to hide, the option will pop up to hide the person or the application.

Leave a comment with the link to your new fan page.

There are countless social media networks, so we will just focus on the big two: Facebook and Twitter are the giants of social media. Social media networks are made to connect people that share the same interests. The use is so widespread, it only makes good sense to use it as a way to promote your brand. Social media isn’t going away so get ready to man the stations. The best use of social media for corporations is real time PR. See what is being said about your business as it happens and deal with questions and complaints on the spot. Get involved with niche social networks in addition to Facebook and Twitter to promote your brand online. Twitter is a great way to drive traffic to your website and Facebook fan page keeps you in touch with your customers.

Social media isn’t going away so get ready to man the stations. The best use of social media for corporations is real time PR. See what is being said about your business as it happens and deal with questions and complaints on the spot.

Different types of companies are using social media successfully in different ways.

• Non-profits make the most use of social media channels to promote their causes and raise funds worldwide.
• Small businesses are giving out coupon codes through Twitter and using Facebook to promote invite only events and get customer feedback.
• Medium and large businesses are promoting their brand and handling online reputation management.

With any customer service or public relations method, you should always put your best face forward. Have someone who will do well to represent your business globally be the “face” behind the social media. This isn’t a job for the summer intern.

The kinds of companies that make use of social media are the companies with nothing to hide. Financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies are the least likely to use social media, with near 10% industry saturation.

There are 350 million Facebook users and it costs nothing but time to set up a fan page. It should be updated at least weekly. Take advantage of the discussions and conversation to find out what your fans and customers are thinking. It’s great market research with feedback directly from your market.

Social networking is gaining momentum in business promotional strategies. Social networking platform may offer soft targets as it provides real time benefits for the business and business head. According to a survey conducted by William Baker, a marketing professor at San Diego State University, companies that use external social networks were rated 24% higher in radical innovation. Online networking site also helps in getting the right kind of ambiance to advertise your product.

Google recently has launched the Real-Time Search option feature in their search page. This pulls out data published in Facebook fan page. Facebook fan page is a custom-built social platform to publish business data about an organization and their products. This enhances the various Facebook users to join your network and comment and gather useful information about the company.

All the Fan Pages should be public. It provides updates to fans and allows them to control the page content. When you have new fan in your page, the news feed publishes the data. Overall it’s free and easy. Creating a Fan page would take only few minutes and with some data, URL and company logo upload the Fan Page is complete. To give more customized business look we could look at providing data on company overview, contact details of the company, press releases issued by the company and media publications, videos, blogs, link to company updates in Twitter and testimony.

Setting up your Facebook fan page:

1. Log in to Facebook, scroll down and select Advertising.
2. Select Pages and Create a Page.
3. Select the type of your business.

This allows us to fill in details about the profile we are creating. Add more information to get better your page view.

Enhance Your Page with Apps

Keep the visitors engaged and provide interesting reasons for the visitor to visit your page again. This helps to rank you better on Facebook.

Promoting a Page

This is the toughest task in Facebook Pages. This is because you cannot find a friend that matches your profile. People could elect to become fans of your Page. This is possible only if they have some idea about your Fan Page.

Keep yourself on the move, identify and reach out to all others from your business connections, and work area. Invite them to become a fan of the Page. Prepare a short note explaining what value addition you will provide with an overview, and provide the link to your Facebook Fan Page.

Facebook with 350 million users makes it hard to ignore. This allows us to leverage the friend’s connections we have on Facebook. This feature allows all the members of the Fan Page to become the company’s brand ambassadors. Posts written on the wall of the Page will appear in News Feed, giving Pages a stronger voice to reach their Fans. Hence it is the best time to get ready for Google’s Real-Time search. Create your Facebook Fan page and make sure you get found!