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The Law of Reciprocity

January 3, 2011 By Mason 3 Comments

This is actually a continuation from the article Participation, posted a few days ago. In the first article I discussed the importance of trying to build an online community instead of trying to coerce everybody to engage with your content. I also layed out three different levels of community involvement: Absent, Lurking, Participation. Obviously, participation is what is required to build an active and engaged community but the next question that arises is, “How much time does that take?”

This all depends on what kind of results your looking for and how much time you have to put into it. There are three levels of “Participation Frequency” and only two of them will yield positive results. Even if you don’t have a lot of time to participate, one of the two are practical for anyone. So let’s dig in:

3 Participation Frequency Levels

1. Hit And Miss

This level of participation has no intention driving it. This is where you are not absent or lurking, but you are leaving comments on articles, using retweets or @ replies on Twitter, and “liking” updates on Facebook. The problem here is that you don’t do it consistently. You read a higher percentage of social media content than you interact with. Unless you know the person, or the content really makes you laugh, you probably will just read it and move on. This is where the majority of people in social media and blogging are at. There is nothing wrong with this amount of participation… unless you have a blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account that you are looking to build an online community with.

2. Looking To Participate

This level of participation is different from the “Hit and Miss” person. This person is looking for a way to participate with each bit of content they come across. 9 out of 10 times they read something, they leave a comment, “like” it, etc. This person may not read the same amount of content as the “Hit and Miss” participant or “Lurker” because they are losing a small amount of their reading time in order to participate. Why would someone do this?

Everytime you leave a comment or interact within today’s social media environments, you are indirectly advertising your own social media/blog. In fact, the most practical way for a blogger to advertise his/her blog is to leave comments on other blog articles (especially the ones that allow you to link your name back to your blog). Not only do readers see your comment and click on your link, but there is a good chance that the author of the blog article will reciprocate your participation back to your blog. This is “The Law of Reciprocity.” You “like” my Facebook content, I’ll probably be more inclined to “like” yours. You “retweet” my tweets, I will “retweet yours too. A lot of people do this on a subconscious level without realizing it. You just naturally end up interacting with people online that started interacting with you more than others did.

If this concept is true, why would you waste an opportunity to interact with content if you’ve already invested the time to read it??? Think about it, you’ve already read the status update or article; how much more time does it take to “like” or leave a comment? 5, 10, 15 seconds at the most, right? Why not take the extra seconds to participate and build up the community you would like be a part of? It is a much more efficient use of time, business-wise, than “lurking” or being “hit and miss.”

For the person or business owner that doesn’t have a lot of time to participate in the online community, this level is the most practical to implement. You can simply set aside 10-15 minutes a day to not only browse content, but interact with it. I promise you, if you consistently interact with online content 3-5 days a week consistently, you will start seeing more interaction with your own content in six short months. Over time, you will begin to identify pages and sites that actually participate in the online community themselves. Those are the people you’ll want to prioritize your participation with because they will reciprocate it back.

3. Exploring To Participate

This is the person that is really looking to “crush it” online. This is where a person not only participates with the majority of content they come across, they are diligent to explore new frontiers of cyberspace to participate with. They scientifically evaluate which sites and/or users are the most influential to participate with along with the amount of reciprocation that is experienced. They are disciplined at browsing for extended periods of time or they browse each morning and night to stay up on everything. This type of user is probably looking for click-through traffic and is selling products/services that are not limited to a geographical location.

Again, the 2^nd level is probably going to be the most practical for most people. I encourage you to coach yourself up on, not just reading online content, but interacting with it as well. You’d be surprised at the relationships you’ll develop, the amount you’ll learn from others that respond to your questions, and the partnerships that form when people reach out to you as a result of your participation.

Filed Under: Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: Blogging, participation, reciprocity, Social Media

Participation

December 31, 2010 By Mason Leave a Comment

When it comes to blogging and social media for business, people are always asking, “How can I get more fans/followers?” or “How I can get more people to visit my blog?” The perspective of this question is all wrong. The perspective of this question needs to be framed, not from the website owner, but from the website visitor. A better question would be, “What can I do to build an engaged online community?”

The former question has a one-way result in mind. The latter has an interactive result in mind. Trying to build an “engaged online community” assumes a level of participation in what others are doing. We’ll talk more about that in little bit…

There are many services that you can pay for to bring more exposure to your social media and blogging. There are many strategies I could share with you that would bring more exposure to your pages. Today though, I want to focus on a core principle of getting your pages out there to be seen: Community Involvement. At first this may sound like a big commitment, but I promise you it’s not. Let’s look at three levels of Community Involvement:

1. Absent

This is a rather humorous level. This is the user who builds their website and their social media with much anticipation. They do a bunch of planning and finally hit the “publish” button and/or the “status update” function. Then they sit back and wait for the visitors, traffic, comments, replies, likes, followers, and connections to roll in. Then, after several weeks of very little interaction (sometimes after days), they begin to lose faith in their online endeavors and get discouraged. They stop posting content and updates less and less until they finally stop all-together.

This sad story is more common than you may realize. The problem here is rooted in a famous movie called “Field of Dreams.” In that movie there is a memorable line: If you build it, they will come. This is how people approach blogging and social media: “If I create my website and all of my pages, they will come.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.

What’s missing from the story is this user’s involvement in the online community. Their commitment is very self-involved which is also known as “absent.”

2. Lurking

This is a user that is part of the online community. They visit different sites and check on different social media pages of their friends and acquaintances. Despite their active surfing though, they’re kind of shy when it comes to posting comments and such.

There wouldn’t be anything wrong with this if this lurker didn’t have his/her own site/pages that desperately needed some interaction.

3. Participation

This is a person who is interested in other people’s lives, projects, businesses, sites, and so-on. They’re not just interested, but they show they’re interest with their comments, replies, and different forms of interaction.

Coincidentally, this person’s site and social media pages are buzzing with traffic, fans, followers, comments, and private messages. Why? In a very naïve fashion (or possibly not-so naïve), this person has been indirectly advertising themselves and their sites/pages to other members of the online community. Since they have shown interest in other people’s content, others have shown interest in their content. It’s a very profound concept right?

Now this did not cost any amount of money (other than the cost for their computer and internet). I am aware though, that some people that are reading this are thinking, “Yes Mason, but how much TIME does that take?” I am so glad you asked because I will be addressing that in my next article : )

Until then, ask yourself, “Am I a member of the online community?”

Click Here To Read Part 2: “The Law of Reciprocity”

Filed Under: Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: Advertising, Blogging, reciprocity, Social Media, Traffic

Winning the Facebook News Feed

December 16, 2010 By Mason 2 Comments

Do you believe Facebook is a great way to share your content? You probably answered “yes” because you can publish your own Facebook page and once people “Like” your page they will see all of your posts in their “News Feed.” Is this right??? Sorry, the conclusion mentioned above is actually WRONG.

Next time you’re on Facebook, take a closer look at your News Feed. In the upper right-hand portion of the screen, your News Feed is actually divided into two categories: “Top News” and “Most Recent.”

Through private conversations with Facebook staff, Jeff Widman at BrandGlue – a Facebook management company – revealed that 95% of Facebook users only read their newsfeeds by “Top News” instead of “Most Recent.”

(In the tone of Homer Simpson) D’OH!

This means that it is possible that only 5% of your fans may actually see your content. Factor in research from ExactTarget and CoTweet that states 65% of Facebook users do not log-in during the workday, but rather at night and on weekends. This means that a large portion of your fans could be missing out on your content.

According to Emily Molitor, writer for Smart Blog on Social Media, the “Top News” is determined by Edge Rank, an algorithm that reflects three components:

Affinity Score: The amount you have historically engaged with content by a person/page increases your affinity to the content creator.

Timing: The more recent the post, the higher it ranks.

Weight: As posts are commented on, liked and shared by other Facebook users and their networks, their overall weight increases.

Emily recommends 3 actions to get your content into the Top News:

1. Post content frequently. This increases your chances via the timing angle.
2. Consider your post timing. “Off hours” might work best for posting your content.
3. Use calls to action in your posts. Encourage your fans to like, comment, or share your content to increase the weight.

I would like to add 1 spiritual recommendation to that list: If you have your own page, make sure you are interacting with other pages. If you see a post from another page, be generous with “Likes,” comments, and sharing. Whatever you sow, you will reap.

Mason Media factors this information into clients’ packages when setting up their Facebook page and implements strategies to help them in “Winning the Facebook News Feed.”

To read Emily Molitor’s complete article, click here.

As always I hope you found this article helpful. Thanks for stopping by!

Filed Under: Facebook, Featured Articles, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook, Facebook News Feed, Facebook Page, Facebook Top News, Social Media

Adding Fans To Your Facebook “Like” Page

December 15, 2010 By Mason 4 Comments

Most of us are familiar with a “Facebook Fan Page.” Recently, Facebook changed this to a “Like Page” but it’s basically still the same. In regards to your “Like” page, one of your goals is very simple: Get as many “Fans” and/or “Likes” as you possibly can. There are numerous different strategies out there to grow your FB Page that involve some type of investment. There are referral contests with prizes to special discounts to Facebook Advertising. I’m going to offer up a list of things that will only cost you some time to do. I spent no money launching my FB page (Facebook.com/MasonMediaToday) and had over 200 Fans/Likes in 24 hours of launching.

1. Before launching your page, fill up your page with content. Do not launch a page that is not full of content. It doesn’t matter if the posts are two minutes apart. If no one is following yet, you’re not going to SPAM anybody’s news feed. Post some links, quotes, photos, videos, etc. A half-empty page is not enticing.

2. Invite every single contact you have in your profile. Ask a handful of friends and family to invite their friends and family. I recommend inviting 35 people at a time in a batch to avoid being flagged as a spammer by Facebook.

3. Once you hit 25+ Fans/Likes create your own custom (aka simple) URL for your page. I wrote a short article on this: Custom Facebook URL

4. Add a Facebook widget to your website. If they’re on your website, it’s not that hard to click over and “Like” your page. You can also add FB Badges to other sites/pages you may have and/or your weekly/monthly email newsletter (cough, cough).

5. Interact When People Interact – don’t leave a comment un-responded to. Affirm their participation with a response. People will see that it’s not a dead page but that a living, breathing, human being is actually checking it. If you’re not going to check it routinely, don’t make it.

Some people de-activate the ability for others to post. If you do that you’re nullifying the whole concept of Social Media which is a two-way conversation.

6. Add the simple URL of your Facebook Page to your email signature and business card.

7. Deliver consistent content. Whether it’s once or twice a day, or, once or twice a week, make sure you regularly add fresh posts.

A Facebook page can be just as effective as a website. If it’s going to be created, it needs to be treated like you treat your website: Have a plan/strategy for it, monitor it daily and get the word out about it. I hope you find this post helpful.

Filed Under: Facebook, Social Media

Do YOU “Like” the New Facebook?

December 9, 2010 By Mason 3 Comments

Please leave a comment below the article and let me know your thoughts on the new Facebook profile setup. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s just a matter of time until you visit someone’s profile and see this invitation:

That’s right, Facebook has changed things again. In my opinion, this is the biggest shift Facebook has made in comparison to past changes.

As explained in a Facebook blog post, “The profile begins with a quick overview of basic information such as where you’re from, where you went to school, and where you work—?the kinds of conversation starters you share with people you’ve just met or exchange with old friends as you get reacquainted.” True, some of this information is a typical dialogue when first meeting someone although I don’t recall asking people how old they are along with their birth date. I guess Dale Carnegie feels stupid now (How To Win Friends and Influence People reference).

An interesting change is a five-photo-array of your most recently tagged pics at the top of your profile. The only criticism I have with this feature (and I had this criticism before too) is that somebody else can post a pic of me on the front of my profile without permission . I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get tagged in photos that I don’t want people to see at the top of my profile. In fact, after I upgraded my profile, I went into my album and untagged myself in the photos I wanted to show and then re-tagged them to bring them back to the front of my profile. Does this mean I don’t like the new photo feature? Absolutely not. Photos have never been a bigger part of social media than right now and this was definitely an innovative idea. Your photos are no longer tucked away and attached to a tab, but are now part of the main presentation of your profile. The benefit to using the “most recently tagged” photos is that your five-photo-array becomes a sort of visual status update for your profile. Again, it’s not quite ideal yet, but I can smell the innovation at the same time.

Here’s Facebook’s new promo video (I liked Twitter’s new promo video better):

Before, I give them too much credit though, Facebook usually adds “new” features that are strikingly similar to other social sites. Take for instance the 5-photo layout…it is a remarkably similar concept to Flickr’s “Photostream.” Personally, I upload many more photos to Flickr then I do Facebook and now I’m sure I’m not the only one. Flickr still has a lot more “convenience features” for the end user, in regards to photos, compared to Facebook so I hope Zuckerberg isn’t getting insecure about Flickr’s success. This world is big enough for Facebook AND Flickr to co-exist.

Another new “original” idea is that you can now add “projects” you are working on. Honestly, this doesn’t do much for me, but maybe that’s because I already use this other little site called LINKEDIN!!! Yes, it’s pretty obvious Facebook is trying to keep up with the professional networking site as well. Good luck Zuck! A lot of people actually pay to use that site, so they must know something Facebook doesn’t.

This next feature kind of made me chuckle. You can now “create new groups of friends, or feature existing friends lists.” As soon as I read that I immediately created a friends list and titled it my “MySpace Top 8.” Now I know it’s not exactly the same concept, but I am already anticipating controversial lists that make people wonder, “Why am I not on their list?” or, just as confusing, “Why am I ON their list?” For my friends and family, I created my “MySpace Top 8″ as a joke so please don’t think about it too much. I really hope this doesn’t ressurect the ranking of relationships online again. As Jerry Seinfeld once said in regards to a wedding ceremony, “Why does the groom have a best man? I mean, if he’s the best man why isn’t the bride marrying him?”

Facebook is also encouraging people to share more information about themselves in the two contexts of philosophy–which includes political views, religion, favorite quotations, and inspirational figures–and sports. And surprise, surprise…the new design has a greater emphasis on advertising as well.

Last but not least, Facebook has removed the empty field at the top to input your status update. You now have to click one extra time to bring this field up before updating your status. That’s interesting to me, since that was a feature they added a while back to keep up with Twitter’s simple status update field. I wonder which of these new features that Facebook has added now, will be obsolete in the next year? I have my guesses…

Some people get intensely angry when Facebook changes things. How do I feel about Facebook with the new changes? Pretty much the same: “Facebook is one of the best social media sites because it organizes a lot of concepts in a very clean manner.” Are the changes good or bad? Well, “change” is a double-edged sword. Change is good because it shows that you are working hard to improve your product. Change can be bad though if it makes you look like you are trying too hard to be something you’re not. So far, Facebook has made several shifts without losing their dominance so it must mean that they are improving their product. Well done.

Facebook has already started to roll out the new look and all users should receive the upgrade by early 2011 (or you can elect to upgrade here). When I upgraded I was taken through a five-stage-tour of the new features. Here are the screenshots of the tour (click on each photo for full view):

Filed Under: Facebook, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook, facebook changes, facebook profile changes, new facebook, new facebook profile, Social Media

Avoiding ‘Negative Social Proof’

December 8, 2010 By Mason Leave a Comment

Social Media is a powerful tool when it comes to perception. Perception equals fact in the business world because even if a certain perception is not completely true, it is the reality in peoples’ minds. This is why it is important to avoid “Negative Social Proof.”

Your social media page is an extension of your brand, your message, and your influence. When people first see it, you want their ‘perception’ to be a positive one. Now there are multiple factors to consider for each social site in order to create that positive vibe but I’m going to focus this article on one in particular. I will definitely point out others in future posts.

Unlike RSS Feeds, you can’t hide your list of friends, followers, or connections on your social media sites. It’s right out there for everyone to see publicly. How many times have you visited a page and immediately looked at their ‘social stats?’ I believe it’s safe to say, that many times it is the first piece of information that gets processed in a browser’s mind.

Now I know what some purists out there are thinking: “Here’s a shallow marketing approach making social networking all about numbers!” That’s not what I’m doing here. What I am doing is pointing out a common sub-conscious pattern of human behavior and thinking which is simply this: “Unless I know you, I don’t feel the need to follow someone who isn’t being followed by anyone else.” Your follow stats add digital weight to the information your posting. I will consider what you’re saying more when I know others are listening. I will really consider interacting with your ideas publicly when I know others are watching.

That’s why the worse thing you could do is start a page on a popular social site and then do nothing with it. You would be better served to simply not use a specific site than have something like this:

Now, there are multiple things that are not good to do here, but the poor follow stats are the final nail in the coffin. Chances are, unless you know them well, you’re probably not going to follow them. Heck, I know them personally and I didn’t follow them (I say that humorously as this particular person is actually a good friend who just doesn’t know much about Twitter).

I whipped up some sample metrics for you to use as a measuring rod for your own social media pages. Don’t be offended if you don’t measure up. The point is, if you can be persistent until you hit some of these levels you will increase the likelihood of your page growing on it’s own.

SOCIAL MEDIA PERCEPTION SCALE

Personal Page/Hobby Page:

25+ Facebook Fans/Likes

100+ Twitter Followers

25+ LinkedIn Connections

Small to Mid-Size Company:

250-500+ Facebook Fans/Likes

2,000+ Twitter Followers

100+ LinkedIn Connections

Advanced Social Media Strategy (Ideal):

2,000+ Facebook Fans/Likes

10,000+ Twitter Followers

500+ LinkedIn Connections

Unless you’re a rock star, pro athlete, Hollywood diva, or Nike, some of those levels might seem pretty challenging to hit. If so, take your time with each page. Start one page on one particular site and get it established first before moving on to the next site. I would recommend starting with Twitter first. It’s simpler to start, in my opinion, being that there’s not as many ducks to line up in a row, figuratively speaking. When I setup networks for customers, I always setup their Twitter and LinkedIn first, then launch their Facebook page last.

In closing, let me give you an idea of what I’m talking about. I have some networks currently setup that hit and/or exceed those metrics. When nobody even touches them for a week they will still grow by over 150 people or more across the board. The opposite of ‘Negative Social Proof’ is experiencing a ‘Social Tipping Point’ that stimulates growth on it’s own. This is the goal I have with each of Mason Media’s customers.

Filed Under: Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter

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