The Village Blog…

Introduction
First off, let me congratulate you by saying Welcome, Bravo, and Thank You for wanting to actively engage your customers! There are over 300 million subscribers in facebook, with approximately 3 million members becoming fans of pages like yours daily!   There isn’t a better time to start two way conversations with your customers, and let them talk to you and about your business.

So what can I expect?
Well depending on how you use your new fan page will ultimately determine how many and how frequently your customers or potential customers think of you and your business. A fan page is all about giving, it’s about opening up and sharing information about your business, providing insights into the people behind the name, and providing compelling content that makes people want to come back and see what’s happening in your business. By providing some or all of the above to your fans through social networking sites such as facebook or twitter you open the doors for a more intimate customer experience, and an enriched relationship which will generate increased business exposure and ultimately revenue.

How do I get started?
Here content is king – Think about your business and all the aspects of it, now with that in mind, content is: photographs, video, press releases, new products, events, and discussions. With continual and fresh content you elicit conversation, interest, and will engage your customer.

Where do I Update facebook?
There are several areas that you can update your fan page, however the most common are:

• Wall – What’s on your mind?
• Photos – Either new albums or new photos
• Events – Activities you want for fans to know about or participate in
• Discussions – Questions and Subject Matter Expert Content
• Video – Product reviews, How-to,  Commercials

Challenges
Often when I complete a facebook deployment for my clients a common challenge that I run into is Now What? While companies excel at both sales and marketing strategies bridging the gap between these common practices and how to use the facebook Fan Page seems daunting.    Because of this uncertainty I guide clients by developing both tactical and strategic plans to update facebook, and will create new content and manage the fan pages for them.   Listed below are only 5 of over 20 guidelines and thought provokers that I use with my clients.

Update Guidelines and Thought Provokers

• Update your Fan Page at least once a week, preferably 2 – 3 times a week
• Showcase new products by posting pictures on your wall with descriptions
• Create Events to add excitement about your business and send out updates to fan
• Create “facebook only” promotions to drive fan membership
• Add company announcements, press releases, articles to your wall.

The Start of a Series
So it is with this facebook Fan page article in mind, I will be releasing a series of screen casts that will talk through these guidelines and show you how to apply these techniques to your own facebook fan pages.   Each screen cast will be approximately 3 – 7 minutes in length, and be designed as something you the reader can review and apply these technique to your own fan page.    I welcome your feedback, suggestions, and ideas and look forward to getting to know you and learn from you my reader.

Skeeter

Skeeter Social Networking facebook, Mac Village Productions, Skeeter Harris, Social Networking, Social Networking Education, Social Networks Work

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mac Village Productions Announces “Social Media Works!” Seminar.

Rochester, NY May 4th, 2009- As Rochester NY’s premier full service internet marketing provider, Mac Village Productions will be offering a full day seminar on using Social Media for your business. Mac Village Productions has partnered with Michael Mayfield, Kodak Marketing Interactive Marketing Manager, Brian Neudorff , News 8 Meteorologist and Aaron Newman, Techrigy President. This seminar will offer expert advice on Social Media Marketing and how to best to use facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, along with other tools.

The seminar will be presented on May 20th 2009 at The Brio Mediterranean Bistro, 3400 Monroe Avenue, Rochester N.Y. Registration begins at 8:00 am which includes a continental breakfast and “Meet and Greet”. The Seminar Schedule begins with Mac Village Productions covering facebook & LinkedIn, where the learner will gain a detailed “how to” walk through to getting started and using these Social Media technologies for business. A 12:00 pm a Social Networking Buffet Lunch will be provided consisting of delectable selections from The Brio. The afternoon consists of formidable presentations from Mac Village Production’s Seminar partners whom have first hand knowledge of the benefits of Social Media, how to leverage it, and get the results they need for business development and brand recognition. The seminar will end at 4:00 pm.

Skeeter Harris, President of Mac Village Productions said “Nearly all shopping now begins with an internet search. Our goal is to help Western NY business owners differentiate themselves through internet marketing using all outlets available. Today, more than ever, Business needs a social media presence that will convert internet contacts into leads. Business without a rich media strategy will be left out of critical online conversations that would allow them to spread the word and market themselves.” This seminar will delve into four of the most popular media outlets allowing business to brand themselves, build business and leverage these internet tools to connect for results. For more information regarding this seminar go to www.socialnetworkswork.com or visit their website at www.macvillagepro.com

About Mac Village Productions

Mac Village Productions is Upstate NY’s premiere full service provider for Internet Marketing, Innovative Web 2.0 Website design work, and Rich Media incorporating virtual interactive presentation through the use of Real Tour Vision virtual tours, video and photography services.

Mac Village Productions was founded in 2008 by Skeeter Harris. Our production team is managed by Designer, Photographer, and Film Editor Skeeter Harris. He along with a skilled team of graphic designers, developers and innovators push the envelope of creativity to deliver more value with minimal investment.

Mr. Harris is an experienced Information Technology Professional with over 25 years of experience selling and implementing complex global enterprise solutions. He excels at conveying solid Return on Investments which have allowed him to close more then $200M in solutions sales.

As an Information Technology Specialist; Skeeter has led high performance client solution engagements thru the life cycle of opportunity identification, business development, product management, implementation, and deployment. He has extensive experience in data storage, content management, and business workflow solutions utilizing a plethora of different technologies.

As a certified Microsoft trainer in prior positions, Skeeter has delivered classes such as MS Windows 95 and MS Windows NT to companies such as Xerox Corporation and Paychex to name a few. While working for Xerox Global Services, he developed and delivered custom training to the pharmaceutical market segment on a Xerox developed New Drug Application document authoring tool – called XDP. Skeeter then continued his work with education by developing custom content management & workflow user documentation and class material that he has delivered into the Petrochemical industry. Most recently he has been delivering a primer class entitled “Leveraging Social Networking for your Business” to various organizations in Rochester and is booked to deliver Social Networking topics at Rochester Works later this summer.

As a Technology professional, Skeeter has served in an executive capacity in business operations such as EMC North American Solutions Division, PTC Global Services, and Xerox Global Services. In these positions he led client facing solutions focused project teams, large scale technology outsource programs, and performed as an executive consultant.

He is now taking these years of experience and applying them to Mac Village Productions to drive outstanding solutions and value for his customers.

Contact Information:
Skeeter Harris
Mac Village Productions
585-520-2232
wkharris@macvillagepro.com

Skeeter Press Releases facebook, linkedin, Rochester Social Networking, Social Networking, Social Networking Education, twitter

As a direct result of many requests for having my Social Networking tips available for more then one day we are going to be re-launching this great service.

During these weekly tips you can expect to hear content on – Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Flock, Digg, and other technologies

Starting next week (on Mondays) you will be able to check back and see a new tips that will stay active for a full week. This will allow you to replay this tip and refer back to it throughout the week as well as allow others to discover these tips if they happened to miss a particular day.

I thank everyone for there feedback on this service and I welcome both your comments and suggested topics!

Skeeter

Skeeter Internet Marketing, Social Networking facebook, linkedin, Social Networking, twitter

Yesterday Mac Village Productions delivered a presentation to the Rochester Realtors Association on Leveraging Social Networking for your business, and we will be working on putting that premier up on this blog so that people can review it shortly. This event was coordinated by Steve Babbitt, CRS, e-PRO, GRI ReMax Agent and we want to thank him for inviting us in to speak to this group. This premier is an overview session on Social Networking and discusses how to use facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter to promote both your personal and business brand.

The call to action was that every participant was given the following task: Create an account in each of the four Social Networking sites and invite me as a friend. The first 3 Realators to complete this task each would win a $20 Starbucks gift card. The first person to complete this call to action was given a chance to win $1,000,000!

Now without further adieu, please join us in congratulating the winners!

First Place





Jim Ledsome

Second Place





Robert Malone

Third Place





Angela Penkin

Skeeter Internet Marketing, Social Networking CRS, facebook, linkedin, Rochester, Social Networking, twitter, youtube