A common cliché in the real estate industry is location, location, location. Now that cliché applies to Facebook too.

Location based services are big conversation pieces in cyberspace and the mobile world. Thus, it makes sense that Facebook jumped on the bandwagon introducing Facebook Places. Despite initial privacy concerns, Facebook places will have advantages for business. The limits for your business will be your own creativity.

If you’re already using FourSquare, or Gowalla; Facebook Places will seem very similar. Here are a few ways you can boost your online visibility with this new tool:

1. Whether you have a brick and mortar office, work remotely or are attending an event, use Facebook places to let others know where you’re at, add a description of your business, tag friends (clients are good, pending their approval) and increase your visibility.

2. Make sure to declare your business “place.” The geo-location features will pull nearby places. However, you most certainly can add your place via name and description.

3. Always a good idea to express what you are doing. For business, use it just like you would any other social media tool. Engage, educate and entertain.

4. Get creative. Offer incentive. You might offer discounts, free schwag (I love that word) for coming to your place of business and “Checking In”, calling you or just being a part of your business by paying attention to your Facebook Place through comments and testimonials.

Remember, like any other social media tool, it’s all about visibility and content. What you can do with this new tool is up to your imagination.

To access Facebook Places, use the Facebook app from your mobile device or login at touch.facebook.com via your browser.

So by Saturday, I have 1,000 tabs with great resources open, some of which I have shared, some of which I haven’t even read yet.  I love Saturday mornings, because I can chill, drink my coffee and catch up on good stuff I’ve missed during the week (* think Dad at the kitchen table with the Sunday paper *)

While I’ll read most of them this morning, tweet, stumble & bookmark on Delicious ~ I also thought I’d share them in a recap post for you.

Monitoring/Measuring:

Why you need to monitor and measure your brand on social media

Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions – I actually always have this handy, but was reminded of it this week. great resource!

Research/Usage Stats:

How Women Use the Web – (that’s my Austin & fellow pink fanatic Connie Reece in the photo!) Great stats on usage from both men and women along with a download from comScore with more detailed info. For those of you asking me for usage stats, here you go!

Social Profiling – more great usage data for you

Tools:

Apture’s new browser extension ~ Love the on page search!

Follow Up Then – free & easy email reminders

Twitter/Facebook:

Twitter starts ‘who to follow’ feature – This hasn’t been rolled out to me, yet. Have you seen it?

Advanced Ways to use Custom Tabs on Facebook and UStream on Facebook

Social Media Manager – http://katebuckjr.com/companies-rush-to-hire-social-media-directors (be sure to catch all 3 pages on the original source)

…And In case you missed ‘em, catch the 3 blogs from yours truly right here on http://kbjonline.com/blog

Was this helpful?? Let me know in the comments ~ and if so, I’ll try to do it every week!

As we continue with our discussion on branding it is essential that your site reflect your brand.  What does this mean?

Basically, if you have a color scheme or logo that you will be using it will need to be consistent throughout not only the different social platforms but your website as well.  It may be easier to go down a list of essential items to keep in mind for your website.  Consider the following:

• Color Scheme – try to maintain the colors you use consistent on your website.  If you use pink and black like I do, you will want to use it not only on your social profiles but your website as well.
• Header/Banner – The name of your site or domain is very, very important.  After all that is what folks will use to find your site.  Be sure to make it simple enough that it can be easily remembered and try not to use funky spelling.
• Dialect – If you speak a certain way or use certain words that folks remember you with, be sure to add those to your posts or articles.  Remember connection is very important.
• About Page – Be certain that your about page not only includes information about you, but also include a clear photograph of yourself.  Many folks will go directly to your About page to see what you look like and make another connection.  Also be sure that it is a current photo, not one from your ‘youth’; so when they meet you in person they will be able to identify you and not be disappointed.
• Graphics – You will want to choose a logo that is recognizable if that is what you are going to use to identify yourself.  Everyone knows the Nike ‘swoosh’ symbol, whether their name Nike is attached or not and that’s what you want to be able to accomplish.  Perhaps it won’t be as noticeable as Nike but it will be something that will reflect who you are.

Those are the main points to consider for your website.  We will go into more detail later but for now, let’s focus on the above.  You can then extend your colors, logo and your overall brand onto business cards and other marketing methods, which we will discuss in greater detail later as well.

So, does your website reflect your brand?  What can you add to your site to make it unique and more like ‘you’.  Would love for you to share what you have added to your site that makes it unique to you.

Social media marketing doesn’t operate in a vacuum. I recently conducted some market research for a client and compared them to two well-known industry brands. Brand A had many followers and fans. Brand B has even more followers and fans. Guess which brand was better at using social media?

Brand A.

For the uninitiated, seeing a brand in the social media realm with many followers and fans, it’s really easy to think the goal is to corral a ton of people to your brand and post content.

Yet, having a ton of fans and followers and not doing anything with them is like being a rock star on stage at a major show and just standing there playing a set and leaving. Brand A is the opposite. This brand has stage presence. Like watching your favorite band rocking out, swinging hips, getting the crowd excited. That excited crowd is the user generated response in social media that readily promotes your band (brand) through their actions during the show and after. They are the ones who are going to tell all their friends about what they witnessed, they are the ones who are going to form communities and get others to buy merchandise and tickets.

When you look at your own social media marketing or when you are explaining the benefits to a potential client; it’s a great thing to ask. Do you have stage presence?

In order to help your clients as a social media manager you must first develop your brand.  It is essential to have your branding consistent in order to look professional and to show your prospective clients the importance of branding themselves properly.

Your branding should begin with:

• Website – Your website is your hub of all the products and/or services you provide.  Keeping your brand connected through your site is essential, so consider the use of colors and logos to be consistent with your online presence.
• Social Profiles – it is important to create your profile on all the social media outlets you are active on, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube should all reflect your brand.
• Voice – developing a voice that is consistent and that everyone will be familiar with is also very important.

Most importantly in order to attract clients, you must have a presence that is reflective of your business.  We will go into much more detail of all of the above in further posts.  Until then, start thinking of a brand or name you may want to call your business.  Along with a name, think of a tag line that folks will remember and associate with your company or website.

When implementing your profiles on the various social media networks; stay consistent with the same name.  Your profile or user name should stay consistent throughout the networks so it will be easier for folks to remember you and connect with you and your business.

In our next post we will discuss in detail your website and the presence you want to reflect for your prospective clients.  Be sure to come back to learn how important your brand is to the success of your business.

You’ve heard of it, but still not sure what the role of a Social Media Manager is all about.  First off, social media is simply not Twitter or Facebook.  There are lots of different forms of social media which include blogs, video, podcasting, message boards, forums and more.  A perfect example of using social media is Amazon.  They have the consumers write or share their reviews on products purchased as a way to share their input with the public. This user-generated content is social!

Another form of social media that individuals do on a daily basis is social bookmarking.  When folks visit a website or blog they enjoy they will mark the RSS feed or digg or stumble the post and that is all part of social media, too.  It’s amazing the different forms of applications available for users to share content.

Now this is not intended to blow your mind, but merely just to share with you how social media can be used effectively to build your business.  Instead this is just an example to show you that a Social Media Manager can help you in your quest to building your business larger than you ever expected.  A Social Media Manager is available to help promote your business and manage the social media outlets and avenues that you may not be aware of; making it possible for you to focus on your business and products.

Social media is like a large party where folks are meeting and learning about different people and their interests. If you would like to compare social media to a party, then I say the Social Media Manager is considered the ‘party planner’.  The role of the manager is one that researches individuals and particular contacts as well as companies that may be an asset to you and your business.

As you can tell the role of a Social Media Manager is one that is greatly needed for your business’ growth process.  Let us do the time consuming part and connect you to the right individuals as well as research the correct circle of influence to target for your success.

I keep getting asked for a good reading list on Social Media Marketing.

Well, here’s a good start (at least a part 1 to tide you over until the next post!)

Twitter Revolution,  Warren Whitlock & Deb Micek

Social Media Marketing in an Hour a Day, Dave Evans

Get Seen, Steve Garfield

Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble & Shel Israel

Groundswell, Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff

Trust Agents, Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

Social Media 101, Chris Brogan

The Social Media Marketing Book, Dan Zarrella

If you’ve got others to share, post in the comments!

(Oh, and be sure to give each of these fine folks a follow on twitter. Just search twitter.com: NAME to find them… it shouldn’t be too hard!)

* The Links posted above to Amazon.com are affiliate links, and I will receive a commission on any purchases made from clicking on them. Think of it as a nice way of saying, “Thanks for sharing!”

I’ve been asked about how I structure my days, what my calendar looks like, when I work and all that jazz. To tell you the truth, I work the oddest hours.  That includes late nights (after the family has gone to bed); early Saturday mornings (while their still asleep); and yes, even holidays.

“Why?” you ask.

The answer is simple: It’s quiet.

And by quiet I mean: the phone is not ringing, emails are slow, only my die-hard friends are tweeting :)

I can focus with minimal distractions. And I love it!

This morning is a perfect example. While everyone is offline enjoying that paid-day-to-do-nothing, I’m here plugging away and getting those “I never have time for you projects” done. (Heck – I even wrote a blog post!)

So for me, holidays are time-and-a-half, because it seems like I get a day-and-a-half worth of stuff done!

And who doesn’t love THAT?

It’s official!

Lunch in Lakeway Tweetup will take place the LAST Friday of each month at Thai Spice in Lakeway at 12 noon.

A list of attendees and interested persons so far can be found on this Twitter List, or by searching the #lunchinlakeway hashtag on Twitter.

For future dates & to let us know you’re coming, visit: http://lunchinlakeway.eventbrite.com

What a beautiful day in Austin, Texas. It’s a #whyAustin kind of day.

After a super long exhausing day yesterday… I was so pleased when I found a few gifts in my office & in the mailbox!

On my desk:

Flowers and a card from the chef! How sweet :-)

Last night, I finally met up with my good buddy Ricci Neer at Austin Internet Marketing Entrepreneur Network who had months ago gotten a copy of Trust Agents signed for me by Chris Brogan.

And then this morning I had Chris’ Social Media 101 in my mailbox!

Had a second gift in the mailbox!

Even Frankie Dogg got a couple of surprises today!

The first, was a gift certficate to Austin Dirty Dog for being their 1500th follower on Twitter. (Yes, you read that right!)

He also got a shiny new contraption for me to walk him with that Christina from Skillful Paws found for him!

Oh, Happy Day! What surprises did you find today?