by Jason on March 21, 2012
How to Lose Your Facebook Followers in 1 Day
Everywhere you look there are political campaign posters, signs, commercials, tweets, messages on Facebook – a never ending barrage of political campaigning to assault the senses.
It seems harmless right? I mean I should have the freedom to express my opinion. Well, you may be surprised to know that a huge percentage of the people following you on Facebook do not want to hear about your political interests. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that a sizeable chunk of the population will “un-like” or leave social sites with political content that offends them.
The numbers are huge, 4 out of 10 people had a “serious” political disagreement with a friend. The results of the disagreement caused 1 in 5 users to take action. (Amongst passionate liberals, that number rose to over 1 in 4 users).
What did they do?
* Blocked posts from this friend
* Unfriended the person
* Ignoring posts and marking them as SPAM
There are two topics which have extreme emotional effects on people, religion and politics. The country is pretty much divided. If you are not in the political arena, don’t use Facebook as a platform to express your political beliefs. Many of the posts that I’ve seen involve mud-slinging and derogatory remarks about a candidate.
Think about this, you are insulting another person’s opinion, their intelligence and values. Facebook, Google+ and Twitter are a powerful extension of your brand. As a dentists or professional provider, you may not only run the risk of losing a single patient, but perhaps an entire family. Remember that 9 out of 10 times it is a ‘woman’ that is scheduling the appointments. It is a woman deciding on the practitioner. In the 2012 political campaign there are some very controversial issues surrounding women’s rights. Before you decide to post something of a political nature to your page remember – 73% of social network users “only sometimes” agree or “never” agree with their friends’ political postings.
Use your social brand to empower, inform, educate, entertain and add value to your followers’ lives. They will stick around, refer you to others and value what you have to offer.
by Jason on March 20, 2012
We have noticed some nice changes when it comes to “Checking in” on social media sites lately. For those of you who don’t know, “Checking in” is a way for you to mark where you are in real time. Popular social media sites like Facebook, Foursquare, and Google + have a feature on their mobile versions that allow you tell everyone where you are via the GPS on your smart device. Many of you are probably saying, “Well, that is stupid!”. Stupid or not, people are doing it by the millions!
Checking in on social media sites offers some opportunities to businesses like dental offices. Your patients can actually check in to your office, sending out a non threatening, non-marketing notification of where they are. This is instant word of mouth to all their social media connections. Check ins also show activity at your map location. It has been hinted that search giants like Google may at some point include this activity in their search algorithm. (Pure speculation of course!). Check-ins also allow you or your staff a chance to show off your office when you are at work. Many of the check-in providers like Foursquare also allow you to attach offers to check ins. You could possible offer a bleaching special to those who check in to your office. You give them a deal and they tell all their friends (the average person has over 100 friends on Facebook) about your office. Adding your practice information to sites like Foursquare also create links and citations back to your website and Google listing, so why aren’t you checking in?
Recently we noted that Foursquare has started to use the open map display system. The Open Map project is a open source map much like Mapquest or Google maps. The recent changes in Foursquare also accompanied larger displays on Facebook. A Foursquare user can opt to feed their check ins to their Facebook wall. This will not only show their Foursquare friends, but their Facebook friends too!
Jason T. Lipscomb D.D.S. checkin
This is an example of a Foursquare check in on Facebook. You can see that it is quite large and has a nice visual pop. Successful Facebook posts almost always have a nice visual aspect to them, so these are great. What a great way for you or your patient to spread the word of mouth about your practice.
What many people don’t know is, Google + actually has a check in feature on their mobile application. It is very inconspicuous but very important. Google + checkins actually use listings form Google places and maps. One could speculate that these check ins could become very important to the Google local search algorithm because you actually have to be near the location to check in. Google places great importance on real people interaction with map and review content. I would encourage all of you to get a Google + listing as well as a Google + page for your business. Once you do, check in every day!!!!
Lets take a look at the Google + check in process.
The check in feature can be seen in the upper right hand corner. Hint, it is a check.
Google + mobile interface
When I hit the check in button a list of nearby places are presented. I choose my office and either add a picture or a quote. I like to keep them funny or informative, but something that will make other people comment!
List of places to choose
The Check in shows up on my Google + feed. If you examine the post further, it is actually a link to my Google places listing. What a great way to share my listing!!
Give it a try today, and come visit our Facebook page for more tips!! http://www.facebook.com/socialmediadentist
