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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Aug
28
Facebook Page Events Rock
Filed Under Business Networking, Case Studies, Facebook, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Outside the Box, Promoting Yourself, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Web Marketing | 15 Comments
I love to experiment with SEO and social media strategies for small businesses. I’m ready to admit that many of my experiments are flops, but there’s no need to discuss those right now. 
One of my successes, however, is with Facebook page events. These aren’t merely events created by Facebook pages, as you might think. Rather, they’re virtual events that take place entirely on the walls and in the discussion areas of Facebook pages. The objective of Facebook page events is to increase page membership and engagement.
My First Facebook Page Event
My first such event, the 4+ Day Blog and Website Promotion Event and Social Media Party, took place January 2010 on my Facebook page in celebration of my 58th birthday. This Facebook event went viral and attracted well over 300 participants. As a result, I added many new fans and generated a momentum for my Facebook page that has continued even until today.I have since organized other networking events on Facebook pages, including Books I’m Reading on the Purple Umpkin page and What I’m Grateful For on my Facebook page, that were modestly successful.
International Watch Fair on Facebook
You may recall that I wrote in My Social Media Mission Abroad about attending Baselworld 2011 in Switzerland earlier in the year. The Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Fair was the most marvelous business experience I have ever had, and I dare say for most other people in the trade, as well.My Baselworld experience is the inspiration for my latest Facebook page event, the 4-Day International Watch Fair, taking place next week on the Gevril Group page. 76 people have already RSVP-ed “I’m Attending” as of this writing, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if attendance at this first of its kind event reached several hundred Facebook members.
You can create Facebook page events too but to achieve favorable results, I recommend that you or your client build a solid web presence — on and off Facebook — before giving this approach a try. Your web presence will help to fuel your Facebook page event.
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Comments are welcome.
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Tags: Facebook, Facebook pages, networking events
Aug
21
Can You Back Up Facebook Relationships?
Filed Under Facebook, LinkedIn, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 9 Comments
Last week, in Whether Hackers from Anonymous Bring Down Facebook on November 5 as Threatened or Not, I suggested that you find ways to reduce your risk of loss should Facebook go away.I asked you, “How can you protect your interests by diverting or diversifying your networking and marketing efforts starting right now?”
Some readers recommended that we back up our data, but I pointed out that we can not back up our relationships like pictures or profiles.
Sal made a couple of very good points:
- “I think there is no real way to mitigate completely against the damage that losing Facebook would mean, any more than you could mitigate against losing Google.”
- ”On the Internet, you always have to see it coming and mitigate against it by having as many, diverse, independent sources of prospective customers as possible.”
While I agree completely with Sal’s remarks, I ask, how can we at least partially mitigate against the damage? What practical measures we can take?
Just as an example, we might start groups on LinkedIn and invite fellow Facebook group members to join these groups. Unfortunately, LinkedIn groups don’t have the same functionality as Facebook groups, and not all of our fellow Facebook group members will join us on LinkedIn, but this is nevertheless a practical partial solution.
We might instead choose a Ning social network or a Ning group within a particular Ning social network, etc. You get the idea.
Now it’s your turn again. What are your ideas? I would like to hear them, and I’ll share mine.
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Tags: Facebook, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn, Ning, Ning social network
Aug
14
Whether Hackers from Anonymous Bring Down Facebook on November 5 as Threatened or Not
Filed Under Business Networking, Facebook, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 14 Comments
Last Tuesday, Ellis Hamburger relayed what seemed to be a highly credible threat to permanently bring down Facebook on November 5, hardly an auspicious date, in Hacker Group Anonymous Vows To Destroy Facebook On November 5.The following day, Ellis posted an update that slightly mitigated that threat in Hacker Group Anonymous’ Leadership Disowns “Operation Facebook,” Only “Some Anons” Are Involved. He reported that the threat was issued only by a minority of the hackers within the Anonymous group and not by the group as a whole.
Ellis cautioned, however, that “nothing changes the fact that there are some talented hackers part of Anonymous that want to take down Facebook, even if the organization’s leadership does not condone it.”
Crafting Your Facebook “Plan B”
Whether hackers will actually succeed in destroying Facebook on November 5 as threatened or not, this is probably a good time to ponder the following three questions:- How critical is the role that Facebook plays in your business or personal life? After all, the existence and viability of Facebook is far beyond your control or mine.
- What would you lose if Facebook were to close down permanently without or even with prior notice? Consider the ways in which you use Facebook, the many contacts you’ve made and all the social capital you’ve accumulated.
- How can you protect your interests by diverting or diversifying your networking and marketing efforts starting right now? This question, while the most important, is also the most difficult to answer, since Facebook offers numerous and unique benefits; the popularity of Facebook is much more than accidental.
What do you think? Comments are welcome.
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Tags: Facebook, hacking
Aug
7
New Secret to Gaining Followers on Facebook
Filed Under Facebook, List Building, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Promoting Yourself, SPAM, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Targeting, Website Traffic | 21 Comments
I stated in How to Benefit from the New Facebook Groups that “you don’t need to lead a group in order to benefit from it.” In other words, there is value in joining other people’s Facebook groups. That value can be enormous, as I’ll explain.Facebook Group Members Become Followers
Every new Facebook group has members who follow that group and all of its conversations by means of the Facebook notification system. Not every member will monitor or engage in discussions, but some will. Therefore, each time you become a member of one of the new Facebook groups, you acquire potential new followers.For each subject that interests you, join as many relevant new Facebook groups as you can find using the Facebook search function. Once you’ve joined the group and can browse its discussions, if you find that they’re in a language you don’t understand, or that the group is overrun by spammers, leave the group.
Examine the list of new Facebook groups to which I belong. You’ll find that they fall into a many categories, and that most categories contain more than one group. I suggest that you follow a similar approach, and if you wish to join some of the same groups as I, don’t hesitate.
Here are three very important points:
- Don’t use the new Facebook groups merely to push out your own content, since that’s spam. Group members will see through your approach and ignore you. Not only that, the group moderator might even reprimand you or expel you from the group.
- Share content with each Facebook group that’s relevant to that group. Group members will appreciate you, enjoy your participation and become genuine followers.
- Don’t just post. “Like” other people’s posts too and comment on them when appropriate.
As I browse the web, I keep my eyes open for content worth sharing. I then share it in a variety of places including the relevant new Facebook groups to which I belong. When the time comes to share my own content, I follow the exact same procedure, but because I’ve played fair, my posts aren’t viewed at all as spam. Consequently, I receive lots of traffic from Facebook and other social websites.
Go now and acquire some Facebook followers. The relationships you build in the new Facebook groups can easily grow into meaningful social or business friendships.
Before you go, however, please do subscribe and leave a comment.
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Tags: Facebook, Facebook Groups, new Facebook groups, SPAM
