A2Z Computer Services Inc

Corporate I.T. Solutions, Computer Repair and Web Design in Henderson, KY

Three questions that must be asked when creating a social media strategy

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A couple weeks ago, we at A2Z Computer Services, Inc hosted a free seminar at our office for our existing Mad Skillz Marketing customers to help enhance their Social Media presence.  The purpose of this seminar was to show these business owners how to start their Social Media ventures with a strong foundation.  So we showed them how developing a business plan for Social Media that included various Goals, Strategies, and Schedules will help them fully benefit from Social Media.

You might be asking yourself “Really?  A business plan and strategies for using Facebook and Twitter??”

The simple answer is YES.

And to help you, we’ve developed a few questions you can ask yourself to help you get going with Marketing your business with Social Media:

What do I have to offer?
As business owners, we all have something to offer our customers that adds value to their lives, whether that value be our products and services or simply knowledge and information. If we didn’t, then we wouldn’t have been in business for very long.  Are you looking to offer people knowledge or information?  Or perhaps you’re providing them a way to save money with your products and services. Whatever the value-add is that you’re offering, keep it in mind as you develop your Social Media Goals and Strategies.

Who am I trying to reach?
This aspect of your Strategies and Goals will play an important part in your overall Social Media endeavor.  Everything from the content of your posts, to the manner in which you convey your ideas, to even the design and feel of your Social Media outlets, having an identified target audience is very important.  Identifying targeted customer age groups, geographic locations, interests, and other demographic information is vital to developing a solid campaign.

What do I want to accomplish?
This question may sound simple at first, but after much thought it can become difficult to define.  Are you looking for more visits to your website?  Do you want more customers coming to your store or restaurant?  Is finding an alternative means to communicating one on one with your customers your objective?  Finding out your purpose for using Social Media will bring your overall Strategies and Goals together and get you started on the path to using these marketing avenues effectively.

Now, as an example, after answering these questions, a restaurant can develop a Social Media campaign to draw more 18 – 30 year old college students in their doors to try their latest mouth watering appetizers and convince them to stick around for a wonderful week night dinner.

Finally, remember that Social Media is not a one way street.  If businesses are just constantly throwing information out there, hoping to get a few bites, they are really just settings themselves up for failure.  Goals and strategies will help guide a business to truly reap the rewards that Social Media has to offer.

If you have any further questions please comment below and join in the conversation. If you would like assistance with your Social Media Strategy, please feel free to contact A2Z Computer Services, Inc at (270) 830-9590 or send us a message via our contact page.

Facebook Contact Back Up Process & ‘Fan’ page resizing requirements

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Many people have begun to wonder what would happen if their Facebook account was deleted, hacked or simply lost all of their contacts / friends.  It would take a great deal of work to recreate it as an individual and even more so for an organization, group or business.  All of those ‘friends’ (aka. contacts, vendors, clients, potential customers and friends) would be lost and extremely difficult to get back completely.

Well there is now a solution.  There is a way and in fact there may be several ways to do it; but I’ve got one that is simple, easy and doesn’t require software or costs.

I would like to say we created the process, but I would be lying.  As with everything in social media, it is a collaborative effort and a great atmosphere of sharing among individuals in the social media market.  With that said, below is a step-by-step process that
mrashdi (from the Google ‘Help’ Forum) came up with and it works.

There are several variables to the process; but the most straight forward one requires that you have a Yahoo account and if you are trying to download the contact list to your G-mail account, you can, but will need the Yahoo account to process it.

Here are the steps:

NOTE:  NO software or installation needed.

1. You must have a Yahoo Email, if not, create one (even if you are transferring it eventually to your Gmail account).

2. Login to your Yahoo Mail.

3.  Go to ‘contacts’  – then choose ‘import email from Facebook’.

If you use Yahoo, you are now done.  If however, you are using Gmail, then proceed to the following steps.

4.  ‘Export’ Yahoo csv. download/save it (I used Excel format to save mine).

5.  Login to your Gmail

6.  Upload the csv file to Gmail contact.

That’s it.  Yes, that simple.  There are some other variables and accounts you can utilize and export to (such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape).  But no matter what your particular preferences, at least there is a way to save your valuable Facebook contact list.

On a sidenote as a reminder to everyone with a Facebook ‘Fan’ page, today was the scheduled day for the required resizing of ‘Fan’ pages.  ‘Fan’ pages have been 760 pixels width and Facebook made the change to 520 pixels width.  Facebook says that if the pages are not resized in advance that they would resize them automatically.  There have been rumors that ‘Fan’ pages that are not resized before the deadline might be cut off and unreadable or even rendered unusable and unviewable.  If you are an organization that has not made these changes need to move quickly to avoid a potential problem.

Mad Skillz Marketing is a social media service provided by A2Z Computer Services offering social media development, training, consulting and support for organizations, groups and businesses of all sizes and types.

Facebook Places Privacy Settings already out

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NOTICE:  Many of you have heard about Facebook Places.  Well regardless whether you have or not, or even have an interest in it, there is something you should know anyway.  
Facebook has already added a setting to your ‘privacy’ settings in regards to this new application.  You should try and understand what ‘Places’ is all about and decide if you want to participate or not.

No matter what you decide on, you need to at least check your privacy settings and protect your privacy as you see fit.

Attached is a link to a video from Facebook discussing what ‘Places’ is, how it works, etc.  If you are familiar with ‘Foursquare’ then you will have the basic concept as ‘Places’ is based on the ‘Foursquare’ concept.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=697692691093

SIDENOTE:  There are also several other videos available to view discussing various aspects of Facebook and its various programs, settings, operations, etc.

If you have questions, contact us.  We will have more information and details tomorrow.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for other updates, news and events.

@MadSkillzMrktng

Why should you use Twitter?

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Twitter, although it may not yet have the largest number of users, it’s the fastest growing social networking tool, growing at over 2,000% annually. You might not see a need for it as an individual, you might not see a need to have it for your business, but the truth is that more and more people are using it, and as a business owner, you should be willing to evolve as communication evolves, and learn to embrace and take advantage of these tools. Also note, that these are a way to further your relationship with your customer, not a replacement to face to face and voice to voice contact.

Here’s a short list of some basic ways twitter can help your product:
-Form a closer, daily relationship with your customers
-Offer “twitter-only” specials and discounts
-Free customer service (to an extent), anytime your customer needs it
-Show your customers you’re more than a brand, but also a person

This is just a taste of  what twitter has to offer (and all for free!) Of course there’s virtually an endless list of what you can do using twitter, but I just wanted to give you a little something think and talk about, please feel free to get involved in the conversation and share your thought, questions, and even innovative ways you’ve used twitter to help further your brand.

A Response on Beginning to Tweet

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Recently, a client asked us how they could get followers on Twitter. Being new to Twitter, they are of course excited to start using this great tool for their business to better connect with their customers and peers in their field, as well they should be enthusiastic about it. In an email, we replied to their question with a few tips and links to resources for beginners.

We decided to share our reply with you in hopes that you too can grow, add your style and needs to this, and pass it along to others as well. Enjoy!

RE: Twitter

I have a few tips and ideas for you on ways to accumulate more followers and connections on twitter, I also have a few links to online articles that I believe will be beneficial to you as well.

A few simple steps would be:

-Promote your twitter account via Facebook and your web site, add links to your Facebook page and twitter onto your site (your web host should be able to do this for you)

-Promote both Facebook and Twitter in your ads, marquee signs, business cards, etc.

-Put up a sign in your stores, perhaps next to your registers, informing customers to find you on Facebook and Twitter

-When someone “follows” you on Twitter, be sure to “follow” them back

-Be personable and natural

-Allow your followers list to grow naturally

-Don’t try to sell people something in all of your posts

Twitter involves a little more patience than Facebook as far as growth goes, it grows more naturally, but don’t be discouraged by this. Even if you only have two followers, treat it with the care that you would give to it if you only had 2,000 followers. Although there are some common courtesies involved with using Twitter, you have the freedom to morph this to fit your business and life. Therefore the more you use it and the more you observe on it, the easier it will become to think up strategies and set goals for your Twitter identity.

Here are a few links and articles that I think will really help you:

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/best_practices This will help you with some basic practices

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/learning This will help you understand and learn the lingo.

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_bestbuy On the left hand side of this page you’ll see a list of other case studies to look at.

http://madskillzmarketing.wordpress.com This is our blog that we update regularly

http://deansguide.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/twitter-strategies-and-tips-for-beginning-twitterers/ This is a short article on beginning Twitter strategy

This should effectively get you going, just remember that although there are a few guidelines you’ll want to be aware of, Twitter is completely open and can be molded to fit your business needs.