Let’s face it. We are all attracted to beauty. We turn our heads to gaze at good looking people. Our jaws drop when we see a rainbow or a tree that’s awash in gold and orange in October. Or, how ‘bout a turquoise ocean and a white sandy beach? You just want to be there, forever, right? If you’re not actually there and looking at a photo instead, you can still feel the wonder and imagine that you really are there.
And all that imagery you see on the “small screen” influences how you see the brand that posted the image. Okay, small business owners: How does that translate to your social media efforts? Any photo you post represents your brand and the way you want your customers to think about you. Let’s say you’re the owner of a yoga studio and you sell items related to living a calmer, less stress laden life such as soothing soaps and oils. Besides posting products and touting your services, are you also posting photos from nature? Calm scenes in fern filled woods, a field of flowers with blue skies above, a park area with a person blissfully reading a book on a bench; you get the idea. The images you share can take the viewer to another place for just a moment while learning more about you. It will also give them reason to stop by your page more often; a picture IS worth a thousand words. However, more importantly, social media is not a sales tool; at least not in a direct sense. Imagery is important to create a “photographic memory” for your brand when the day comes and the consumer needs your product or service. Using the example above, perhaps that consumer enjoys your page and is unemployed at the moment. Let’s say that consumer finally lands the job he or she has been looking for. Now they want to start taking those yoga classes and they already know you! You’ve already created a strong relationship with this consumer! The example above may not entirely relate to your business, however, beauty is universal. Beauty can be that hot green motorcycle or the conveyer belts that your products travel on as they’re being packaged. Beauty can be found in the design of just about anything! The takeaway is: Share your story of what is beautiful about your business! Gordon Lightfoot sang about beautiful things in this song from the 1970’s (see below). To learn more about the beauty of social media stop by our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
My jaw dropped. Why? I recently read an article, shared by a Facebook friend, about a form of scamming that you probably didn’t even know about. I admit I hadn’t a clue! The article neatly describes the simple viral content that is created, shared, and ultimately generates a huge amount of likes on a brand new Facebook page in a relatively short amount of time. Then the page is sold (cash deal) for $200 to a business that wants a built-in fan base. Just change the name of the page; easy to do nowadays (though impossible in the past), and add your own cover art that demonstrates your brand identity and start posting your company’s content on the page. Who’s going to notice? Most of us have “liked” hundreds of pages anyway! The posts made by the scammers during build up are the kind that encourage people to share and, according to the article, tend to be on the trashier side.
Now, who’s to say that they aren’t adding a generous dose of more legitimate looking posts that people can’t resist; inspiration quotes, cute cats doing funny things, stomping out cancer inspiration or perhaps something sassy with the word ass in it? In addition, maybe the words “share this” are on the post in the text or perhaps as suggestive directions on a photo. Maybe there’s a question. At any rate, there’s something enticingly engaging about it. So, the post is shared. And a few friends share it and so the virus grows. Think about it: How many times do you see the same post on your wall that everybody seems to be sharing? Nothing wrong with that, right? Some of those folks are going to fan the page and just one post could bring in thousands of people almost overnight. That happened to my Groovy Reflections page when one post was ultimately seen by 3.3 million people and shared by 187,000 folks; for a short period of time the incoming new fans at one point “liked” the page at a rate of 3 to 5 a minute! However, there’s a BIG difference here: The Groovy Reflections Facebook page is legit. It is real and it actually grows slowly and organically, with highly engaged fans. And this brings up a very alarming point. I’m a small business owner, with two businesses. And chances are some of those businesses that are buying their built in fan base many compete with me in some way. Not fair to us who play by the rules with honesty, integrity, and good old fashioned ethics. Is there a way to shut down this practice? Facebook, are you listening? One suggestion: If it's a page that you fanned a long time ago, chances are it is legit. Be leary of the newer ones! Listen people at Facebook! Herman's Hermits sang a song about gaining attention long long ago; we're hoping that you will listen and spread the word about this sleezy practice and bring these scammers down! Oh and do stop by and say hello to this organically grown small business owner's our website, or on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Okay, small business owners: How does that translate to your social media efforts? Any photo you post represents your brand and the way you want your customers to think about you. Let’s say you’re the owner of a yoga studio and you sell items related to living a calmer, less stress laden life such as soothing soaps and oils. 
Now they want to start taking those yoga classes and they already know you! You’ve already created a strong relationship with this consumer!
