The truth about fanpages!

It’s about 6:30pm EST and I’m still sitting at my computer.

I made the mistake of taking yesterday off to spend at the beach. And, today I’m paying for it.

I had several emails and a few phone calls while I was away.

It seems what’s on everybody’s mind right now is how to make their fanpage more effective. To some just having a fanpage would do wonders.

But, a word of caution…

A fanpage won’t do diddly if you don’t work it!

“You got to work it, work it!” – as my kids would sing, from the movie Madagascar.

Yep, you have to actively engage readers (followers, friends, stalkers) or whatever you wish to call them, to respond to what it is you are conveying.

It’s not easy.

If they have hundred of friends (or in my case thousands), your message may not get much “play-time” and may just fall on deaf ears.

So, truth be told…why waste time creating a fanpage if you aren’t going to continously make it interesting and fun.

The best fanpages incorporate a “thank you” for liking us feature. Or, some type of incentive to get people to share the page with their friends.

Yeah, I know it’s crazy!

Just a few years ago, there was no Facebook. Now, if your business doesn’t have a fanpage you are labled a leaper or maybe something worse.

The times they are a changing…are you keeping up?

I know!

Almost 3 years ago, I screwed up!

In the early days of fanpage development I made a few mistakes…even had my very first fanpage shut down for two weeks due to violating Facebook’s terms of service agreement. Which, ironically wasn’t my fault, but it did cost me time and money.

It was a hard lesson to learn.

Now, with Facebook surpassing 600 million active members, having a fanpage for your business is definately the way to build sales. And, you need to do it right!

Gimmicks work for a bit! They are like that tangling carrot in front of the mule to get him to move forward. Eventually, the donkey will get tired and want to eat the carrot. So substance is just as important.

The key is to keep your followers engaged…is to actively educate and entertain them.

 

Until Next Time, 

      “Live with Passion!” 

      Rob Anspach    

P.S.  If you need help with your fanpage (setting up, increasing traffic, conversion), give me shout out! I offer consulting, content creation and yes, even management of your fanpage.  

Contact Information

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Email: rob@robanspach.com                                   Phone: (717)330-7947

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 Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube & WordPress!

                    

Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com  today!

Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

What is TBU?

Last Thursday, I spoke at Jeff Cross’ Totally Booked University marketing mini-clinic! I shared with the attendees the in’s and out’s of social media networking, the why’s and how’s of newsletter marketing and the importance of using qr codes as a marketing tool. But, before the event… I sat down with Jeff and he shared with me… …some tips on time management, …why requests from others can lead to new opportunities for you, …what TBU is all about, …why trust is important …and why “face-time” is critical to building your business. Best of all, I filmed it! It’s only about 7 minutes long, but it’s packed full of some really good stuff! Go ahead, have a look! Success Secrets TV – The Jeff Cross Interview Until Next Time,     “Live with Passion!”        Rob Anspach        P.S.  Want to see some other great interviews? Go to http://SuccessSecrets.tv

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com                                   Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com  today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

The Facebook Employer Link Fix!

I spent the last several hours ripping my hair out because my employer links on my Facebook profile didn’t go where they were supposed to go!Have you checked yours? Well, I really hadn’t thought about it (my link) until this morning when I was editing my profile and wanted to add some things. That’s when the fun began. (Yeah, that’s scarcasm!) I clicked and was surprised that my fanpage didn’t show up! It was replaced by a generic, non-descript BLAH-boring “sad-excuse” for a page I had ever seen. These so-called place pages occurred when Facebook made everyone upgrade to their latest format. Well, after many attempts to correct this error, and looking on Facebook’s Q&A section, I found nothing but more confusion as to correct this injustice. I Googled my dilemma and found I needed Firefox and some developer tools… I thought is it really that hard to do this, why do I need to jump through freaking hoops here? This is going to sound crazy but… It’s actually very simple! Maybe, that’s why Facebook didn’t post it anywhere. It’s too simple! Here’s what to do! On your personal page under your name, there should an “Edit Profile” link. Click it! You will be sent to your Profile page where you can edit all of your personal info. To the left you should see “Education & Work” – again click on it. It’s this page that will show you your employer (or employers) names & dates and some general information. Select the one you want and… Just delete it! Yep, delete your employer listing! (Told you it was crazy!) Now retype it! Type it just like whatever fanpage you wish to have your employer name be directed to. As you’re typing, there should be a shaded bar below the box that will display… “Add” followed by whatever you typed. If you have spelled the name correctly, then click on the shaded bar. If you’re page displays a picture that matches what your trying to accomplish than you are good to go and your fan/employer page is now linked and ready to be clicked on. If not, you may need to create a fan page for your business and then re-do the linking process again. Having the links work the proper way will help fans/followers find you, know more about you and have a reason to “Like” you. Until Next Time,     “Live with Passion!”        Rob Anspach         P.S. If you don’t have a Facebook fanpage – here’s the link to an article I wrote back in April of 2010    http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/its-so-simple-why-arent-you-doing-it/

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com                                   Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube & WordPress!                      Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com  today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Get fast Answers with Facebook Questions!

In the past if you wanted to know something you would look it up on Google, right?  But what if you wanted to know more detailed information, how would normally go about it. You would research it. Maybe go to the library and drudge through stacks of dusty books or hire a service to perform a poll. That’s all well and good, but that takes up too much time. Research just easier and faster. Now, you can ask your Facebook followers pertinent questions and get responses almost immediately. So, if you wanted to know what the most popular color was. You could ask “What is your favorite color?” and put several colors as options… like Blue, Red, Green or White. The people that respond to your question would most likely pick from your options. Now, I’m not saying you should ask people what their favorite color is, but you should ask questions. Sure, if you really want to know if people think you’re sexy, I suppose you could ask that question. Followed by Yes, No, Maybe or Who? But, why? Ask questions that will have a long lasting impact on your business. One’s that will help you improve your service, product, website or even the content of your fan page. It’s called Facebook Questions and it’s now available on everyone’s Facebook account. Immediate answers right at your finger tips! If you need more insight on how Facebook Questions work here’s the link http://www.facebook.com/questions/ Until Next Time, “Live with Passion!” Rob Anspach P.S. If your business isn’t moving in the direction you would like it to be, let’s talk! Just send me an email and tell me a little bit about yourself and your company. Tell me why you think your sales aren’t where they should be, tell me what you’ve tried and why you think it didn’t work. The more I know about your situation, the better equipped I can be to help you improve and make money.

Contact Information  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Using hashtags in your marketing!

I haven’t written about Twitter lately, so I thought maybe it was time again!  You know, I’m not a big fan! I still think Twitter is chaotic. But, it does have it’s cool tricks that some of the other social media networking sites don’t have! First, there’s that cool search feature. Type in a word, such as “marketing” and blamo, you are now viewing posts that contain the word “marketing” in it. This is neat feature in that it allows you to pinpoint exactly where the action is regarding the search terms you enter. Next, you can add hashtags to your post. I’m sure you’ve seen them! Words that have the number sign in front of them. #marketing, #newsletters, #winning, #emailmarketing, #Ijustmadethisoneup In basic terms, a hashtag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. But, it’s also a way to get people to find you if they type in the word you posted as your hashtag. If I tweeted, “Free Report! How to select the right BMW repairman (weblink or phone number) #freereport #bmw” Now I could also tweet, “Free report! How to select the best bmw service in Santa Clara” #free report #bmw #santaclara Those that were looking to get their BMW repaired would type ”bmw” in the search and in most cases the above post would show up. If they typed #santaclara in the search terms, the post mentioning #santaclara would show up and people would see that there is a bmw service center near by. A hashtag makes it easier for people looking for you to find you. And, those looking make for better followers, then those who accidentally stumble upon your posts. There is a whole list of hashtags that people use to create awareness…and then there are those that are made up on the spot. #winning was made popular after Charlie Sheen mentioned it in an interview that he was “winnning”. But that hashtag is now one of the most popular and has made Charlie Sheen one of the biggest celebrities to follow on Twitter. Sometimes the fastest way to see if people are paying attention to your tweets is make up a hashtag!  #rupayingattention2me is one I just made up and posted on my Twitter account. I wonder how fast it will catch on? Word of caution…although hashtags can be a powerful tool in getting followers and finding others, don’t use more than 3 in a post and don’t use them in every post. The whole idea of networking through social media is… educate, entertain and engage. Hashtags are a means to do all three, but you don’t want to seem spammy in your message. My suggestion is use hashtags every 4-5 posts then adjust as necessary to grow your followers list. Until Next Time, “Live with Passion!” Rob Anspach P.S. If your business isn’t moving in the direction you would like it to be, let’s talk! Just send me an email and tell me a little bit about yourself and your company. Tell me why you think your sales aren’t where they should be, tell me what you’ve tried and why you think it didn’t work. The more I know about your situation, the better equipped I can be to help you improve and make money.

Contact Information  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Seriously, do you do this?

The other day, a client called and asked me how he could get more followers on his social media sites! You know what I told him?

It’s not the size, it’s the content!

Sure, a big list of happy followers is nice to have, but they wont be happy if you don’t do these three things first!

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Sounds simple, right?

Well, I’ve been using various social media platforms now for several years and I’ve noticed a good majority of people screw it up…royally!

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Let’s take educate first! These are posts meant to teach your followers about you, your product, your services, what you stand for, how you operate, what makes you different and why they should use you.

Now the entertain part! Here’s where you bring your personality into the mix. These posts will showcase your interests. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What’s your favorite music, or TV show? You can share videos and articles! Even pictures of your family, pets or places you visit. These posts bring out your human side and allow your followers to get to know you as a person.

And, finally engage! If you can’t get people to respond to your posts then you might as well not even be on social media sites. The main reason to educate and entertain is to get your followers to engage. They need to respond back to you. Think of your posts as conversation starters…you say something and someone responds back. Without engagement, your messages fall on deaf ears.

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Remember those three words!

By educating, entertaining and engaging you will find people will want to read what it is you are posting, they will tell their friends about you and your followers lists will grow.

Until Next Time,

“Live with Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. If you’re still having trouble figuring out the whole “social media” stuff, maybe I can help. Click here for more info… http://robanspach.com/socialmediamarketing.html

Maybe you saw this?

I thought this was kinda cool and wanted to share it with you!

 

Maybe you’ve seen it.

 

They’re called Social Trading Cards.

 

You can use them for all kinds of things…

…as a conversation starter!

…a networking tool!

…to build your personal brand!

 

Throw that dull, boring business card away and start using these cards and watch how easy it is to engage your customer.

 

Not only are these cards designed to catch your attention, they have some cutting edge features!

 

They utilize the QR (Quick Response) imaging that your smart phone can scan and pull up more information on you in a snap.

 

Don’t know what QR marketing is about… I wrote an article about it back in October 2010 about it… here’s the link

http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/qr-marketing/

 

Anyway, back to Social Trading Cards…

 

You can integrate your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles right into the card, add an image, a 160 character bio and… you’re almost done.

 

But wait there’s a bit more…

 

What makes this card a bit more interesting is it gets you to think about your personality.

 

In fact, you are asked what your “special power” is. Think about that! Everyone’s is different! What’s yours? What sets you apart and makes you unique?

 

Just using these cards can have a dramatic impact on how you interact with potential clients. They will see you as an inspired, driven individual using a marketing tool that is new and exciting…that grabs their attention and gets them to take notice.

 

 

Until Next Time,

 

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. I almost forgot to give you the link… here it is! https://www.meet-meme.com/

 

P.P.S. Did you see the newest episode of Success Secrets TV yet? It’s about utilizing the power of online coupons! In the episode I interview Andrew Mazer of ModernCoupon.com and get him to reveal why he started such a service, and how you can use ModernCoupon.com to grow your business. To watch it… go to http://www.SuccessSecrets.Tv

 

It happens in 5 days!

You only have 5 more days!

I’m not sure anyone reminded you, so I figured I would do so.

You really can’t ignore it. So, just…

…ahhh, you really have no clue what I’m talking about do?

Don’t you read the papers, surf the net or listen to the radio… it’s all the over the news. Heck, it seems all the stores I go into lately have been prepared.

And there you are…just sitting there reading my post, twiddling your thumbs, with that blank expression on your face.

Dude! Love is in the air! It’s Valentine’s Day!

What? You thought I was going in some other direction, maybe some special announcement, a product launch, a book release…nah! I wouldn’t tease you like that!

Any holiday, or special anniversary or heck even a made up day like Seinfeld’s “Festivus” - can be part of your marketing.

Sure, there are thousands of stores (maybe more, I haven’t counted) doing some type of Valentine’s promotion… but, that’s not to say you can’t do it too!

Some give away jewelry, some chocolates, one of my clients sends a single rose to his female customers in the month of February. A restaurant I frequent, has a special couples only package complete with limo, flowers, champagne, dinner and a theater show…it’s sold out every year.

Okay, now that you know what I talking about…what are you doing for Valentine’s Day? And, don’t give me that… “there’s no time, I can’t whip up a promotion in under 5 days”.

Pfft!

Sure you can…

well, unless you live in a cave and don’t know how or what email is, or what social media is for, or what a phone does! (Since you’re reading this , the whole caveman thing doesn’t apply…I know better.)

If you have a database of clients, pick up the phone and start calling, or send an email blast or start posting your message across the social networks.

Sure, a planned promotion is great, but sometimes spontaneity is all you need.

Just do something! Take action!

But, hurry! Times running out!

Don’t panic! Just get-r-done!

 

Until Next Time,

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. A great way to keep clients coming back month after month is with a client newsletter. Not just any newsletter, one designed to trigger sales, enhance referrals and keep clients focused on you. To see how my Ultimate Newsletter can help you…go to http://robanspach.com/clientnews.html

 

A video, some Q&A and you’re on your way!

Ping it, baby!

Just ping it!

First I want you to watch this video, where I share with you all why it’s important to ping. Here’s the link… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdzk0EfRhl0

And next, I’m going to do a bit of a Q&A with a Facebook friend Andrew Mazer who wanted to know how to maximize his ping’ing & flickr experience.

(Andrew) Q: Rob, are there any sites you WOULDN’T submit to on the ping.fm list? How did YOU choose the sites you wanted to post?

(Rob) A: Yes!

First I stick with the high response sites to post to (twitter, facebook, buzz, linkedin & plaxo)

Then I’ll add in a secondary tier (myspace, facebook fan pages, tumblr, plurk & friend feed)

I don’t waste my time on all the rest as the time to set up versus getting response from subscribers is low. I keep it to about 10 sites, it’s easier to monitor. I get on my main 3 sites (facebook, linkedin & twitter) everyday -all the rest I check maybe once a week.

Q: I set it up this morning and made a post. Included twitter, fb, jaiku, blogger but I didn’t see any of my posts. Do they show up later? I appreciate your tips and your replies.

A: Slight time delay! Your posts should appear soon! The system is designed to cycle posts asap, but sometimes there is a delay of several hours due to traffic to the site.

Q: Do tagged photos on flickr have any seo to your knowledge?

A: They do if you are searching for photo’s – flickr due to their high submission (of subscribers photo’s) is well liked by search engines…however unless you are specifically searching for photos (which most do not) your photo may end up not being seen.

There ya go!

Until Next Time,

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.P.S. Did you see it? If not, check out our Web Success special episode on

 

Time Hero

Did you ever have one of those days where everything seems to flow perfectly and you feel like a you are invincible.

Yesterday was one of those days for me!

I wrote an article for Cleanfax Magazine entitled “The Uniqueness Factor”. This is one of those articles that will get you to think about how you present your service to your customers, why most companies are not unique, how to change the misperceptions people have and create a company so unique that it positions your company as the go to expert in your field.

Then I did a half hour video with my friend and internet marketer John Spangler on how to make your website more successful. Believe me, this information is killer and it’s stuff that everyone with a website should watch. (I’ll be sharing this video with my list later this week…watch for the email.)

Next, I did two half hour phone consultations talking about SEO, social media, print marketing and a host of ways to gain market exposure.

And that was just half the day…

Do you track your day?

Time equals money, right? Of course it does!

To become a better time management hero…I started tracking my day and my results. This keeps me focused on the big picture and helps me eliminate all the wasted stuff that was dragging me down and wasting my time.

Not only do I track my time, but I put a value on each project I do in that time frame.

Regardless if it’s $10 or $10,000 I mark it down next to the time or project I’m working on.

After a month, I can look back and see where my time was spent and what if any amount was given to that task.

If my time was not being used in the best manner possible, I can field out those smaller tasks that were dragging me down and wasting my day. Allowing me to focus my abilities on what makes me the most money with the best use of my time.

If you want to be more profitable you need to start tracking your time.

Learn to be a time management hero!

Until next time,

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. Again, look for that email later this week regarding my video with internet marketer John Spangler.

P.P.S. If you are currently using a monthly client newsletter that isn’t getting the phone to ring, generating referrals or providing more money to your bottom line… it’s time to check out The Ultimate Monthly Newsletter.