Due to the overwhelming amount of technological and social media marketing questions that I regularly receive, I have decided to create a monthly Frequently Asked Questions post. On a scale of 1-5, based on difficulty level, the following would be a 1.5.  

Facebook

Q.  I want a Facebook business page, but I heard I have to have personal page, too – how can I keep certain people from “friending” me?

A.  Yes, you do need a personal page to set-up a business page and you would be the admin of that page. If you do not want people to find you on your personal page, you can change your privacy settings so you are not found in a search.

Follow these steps to change the settings:

•       Log into Facebook.
•       On the top right-hand side, click on “Account” then “Privacy Settings.”  
•       You will see a tab that reads “Connecting on Facebook.” Click the “View Settings” area within it.
•       Under “Search on Facebook,” you can change who can find you. I would change this to “Friends Only.” You can also   control who can send you friend requests and messages, and who can see other personal information such as your friend list, current city, or education and work.

Sidenote:  Mari Smith is a fantastic resource for most technical questions in Facebook. You can follow her blog here.

LinkedIn

Q.  How do I change the email address of my LinkedIn account?

A.  Follow these steps:

•       Sign into your LinkedIn account
•       Go to your Settings tab, which is a drop-down menu below your name on the top right-hand side.  
•       Under “personal information” you will see a link for “email addresses.” Once you click on that link, you will be prompted to add an email address. Be sure it’s not listed in the menu, at the bottom of the page, before adding a new one.
•       You will be asked to confirm the address via email.
•       Go back into the Settings tab and chose which email you would like to be your primary address. The primary address is the one you will receive your LinkedIn notifications.

Social Media Marketing

Q.  Should I be using social media to promote my business? Will I receive a return on my investment?

A.  From my experience, business owners are initially hesitant to embrace social media. They are fearful the technology, the privacy issues, or the time commitment. Once they conquer those hurdles, then they have to understand that social media is not a silver bullet. It’s not as if they are going to have a fan page and all the sudden there’s a surge in business – it’s a process, like anything else.

Social media is where consumers are going for information – they want to hear from their peers and engage. It’s important to be a participant in face-to-face networking to yield optimal results from social networking.

Once this is established, the wheels start to turn and folks begin to see both increased web traffic and interactivity on social sites. This is the “buzz.” The buzz is the beginning of what can become the ROI. If social media is managed consistently and effectively, it can equate to dollars. For many businesses, social media is now supplementing or replacing traditional forms of marketing and advertising.  

Send me your social media questions by clicking here.