Today, one of them has been released.

And that’s the ability to schedule a Facebook status update, so that it appears into the future.

Scheduling status updates is something that social media dashboards like Hootsuite have been able to give us for a long time. They’re very handy, but there are some dangers attached. For example, you can mischedule a status update quite easily and look silly. I must admit I’ve done that before, when a scheduled post has reminded people that an event is “ON TONIGHT!” when it’s in fact the following night. So you need to proofread the dates and times of your scheduled posts very carefully.

Also, there’s the danger that your scheduled post may become irrelevant or inappropriate in between the time you drafted it, and the time it’s sent. There’s an increased risk behind this if you schedule your post weeks or months into the future (and Facebook’s scheduled posts allow you to scheduled six months ahead).

I’ve given the new Facebook feature a try this morning and found the process a little clunky, as it slowly takes you through choices as you choose each one (month, day, hour, minute). See the graphic below (Facebook offered the year first, then the month, the day and so on):

Facebook scheduling posts window

This is in contrast to Hootsuite, for example, which lets you see all your schedule choices quickly in one window:

Hootsuite’s scheduling window

I was relieved to see you can access and check your scheduled Facebook posts under your Page’s Activity Log. Again, I know from experience that you’ll want to recheck scheduled posts and perhaps change or cancel them:

Facebook scheduling: activity log

Mashable has published an overview of the new feature which leads to another piece about its flaws  and here’s your Facebook Help Centre page to learn more.

Do you think you’ll be using scheduled Facebook posts?

They were a lovely, inquisitive bunch, seriously pondering whether social media might offer something to them.

Sign up to Twitter

It was one of those presentations which reaffirmed my appreciation for Twitter in particular. This happens whenever I explain why I like Twitter so much. So I’ll reiterate for you, what I said to them:

10 reasons for using Twitter:

1. Twitter can help you find new friends.
2. Twitter can give you breaking news.
3. No matter what your hobby or passion, Twitter can help you follow it and find out more.
4. Twitter can help you find answers. Also known as #lazyweb. Why Google something or ask a workmate, when you can tweet a query and crowdsource even further?
5. Twitter can prod and provoke you and change your mind on issues. You might change other people’s minds. It’s a place where you can engage in debate.
6. Twitter can put you in touch with your role models, idols and others who you may have thought you’d never be able to interact with.
7. Twitter can provide fun, distraction and company when you need it.
8. Twitter can keep your mind agile. Join a silly Twitter hashtag (which typically ask for variations on band names, movie names or book titles). Or join into movements like #artwiculate, “the Twitter based word of the day competition”. See @artwiculate.
9. Twitter can keep a record of your life. It’s the whimsical little things, ponderings and small talk that you might not recall if it weren’t for Twitter, but could be precious in years to come. It might even contribute to history. You can use a Twitter archiving tool for this, like Twournal.
10. Twitter is whatever you make it: you subscribe to (or follow) the Twitter accounts that add value to your life. If you change your mind, you can easily unfollow.

Did I miss anything?

Does your business have a Facebook page? Are you guilty of any of the following?

• Not responding to fan’s questions or comments
• Not filling in all the biography fields available to you: your company overview, email, website address and so on
• Not removing offensive posts (pornographic images, offensive language)
• Not removing spam posts (posts from other pages that have no relevance to your community, often selling something, often posted on many other pages)
• Not having a large cover image (If you have the Timeline layout)
• Posting relentless sales/advertising posts
• Not having any community guidelines posted. Here’s an example of community guidelines for Tourism Australia’s Facebook page (loaded in the Awards section of its biography):
  

  Tourism Australia Facebook guidelines

Your Facebook business page requires regular attention and care. While the examples above are ‘sins’ you shouldn’t commit, there are many positive things you can do to maintain a great Facebook space. These include:

• Posting updates regularly – and these updates should be of interest and relevance to your Facebook community. See this recent article from Facebook for engagement ideas
• Having a conversation with your community. Thank them for their posts, ask them questions, answer their questions promptly.

I watch The Voice. I like it. I watched the American version featuring Christina Aguilera and enjoyed that; so I looked forward to the Australian version and have had fun watching the blind auditions. The current live shows? I’m not enjoying those so much …

But I digress.

The point of this blog is to look at the social media program of The Voice.

The Voice is one of a number of TV shows that is using social media to:

• Listen to audience feedback
• Promote the show’s brand and products
• Lift the profile of the show and generate buzz

They’re certainly not the first or the only ones doing this: the ABC’s Q&A has long been displaying the viewing audience’s tweets on screen. The Block is using social media, The Biggest Loser, My Kitchen Rules and other reality TV shows.

The Voice AU on Twitter

But The Voice seems to have spread its tentacles a little further:

• Each contestant has a Twitter handle and that’s displayed on-screen along with audience voting details
• Each celebrity judge has a Twitter handle and tweets about the show; sometimes chatting with each other, offering feedback on the performances and occasionally chatting with their Twitter followers
• Public tweets are displayed on screen
• It has a few hashtags: not just #thevoiceau, but also for example #teamseal and #teamdelta
• Social media interactions are strongly encouraged, with the co-host sitting in a room with contestants shown (somewhat awkwardly) reading public comments sent in.

The Voice has also cleverly made all contestant tracks available for download in iTunes. That’s a fantastic move for fans and the brand. I wouldn’t purchase any of the tracks, but years ago as a fan of the first Australian Idol series, I may have purchased a track or two. It makes sense to have them available.

The numbers

I took a snapshot of leading reality TV shows’  Twitter and Facebook fan numbers (as at 16 May 2012):

MasterChef        Twitter 46,021                   Facebook 890,248            (Total 936,269)
The Voice            Twitter 50,366                   Facebook 225,566            (Total 275,932)
The Block             Twitter 5,203                      Facebook 162, 164           (Total 167,367)
Biggest Loser     Twitter 6,263                      Facebook 64,090              (Total 70,353)

MasterChef has the biggest overall numbers and this is not surprising because it’s been screened annually for several years and has a jump start on shows like The Voice. It’s intriguing however, to see that The Voice already has a larger Twitter audience.

The imbalance between Facebook and Twitter audiences (for all shows) is an indicator of where Australians spend their time: more are Facebook users.

This isn’t a complete snapshot of numbers for these TV shows’ social presence.  They have offshoot social media sites, most developed by fans. For example, the Biggest Loser’s Commando coach has more than 17,000 fans on this Commando unofficial Facebook page.

The engagement

How about a quality measure? I’ve appointed myself the judge here, and looked at the nature of the tweets being sent from the TV show accounts …

This morning The Voice Twitter account sent the following tweet “What I love most about #thevoiceau …” aimed at encouraging interaction (and perhaps a tilt at trending). It gained little traction, with only a handful of responses immediately afterward. What does this mean? Perhaps fans only want to interact with The Voice when the show is airing, or immediately after. It’s two days after the live show now, and it would appear fans are disengaged.

This isn’t to say that the tweet was the wrong move. I would think The Voice wants to encourage week-long engagement and that was a good experiment to undertake. Perhaps questions related to actual contestants would have sparked more conversation, rather than a somewhat blatant “tell me what you love about me”.

The Block sent a similar tweet: “You all seem to love the music on The Block…if you could choose one song to be in an episode what would it be?” and while it had a few more responses, it didn’t gain a lot of traction either.

There’s not a lot of personality in the tweets, but again that might be because they’re sticking to brand (and also staying safe online). While there’s some enthusiasm and warmth (and a lot of exclamation marks!) there’s not much fun, ribbing or probing of fan feedback. Most tweets revolve around recounting what’s happened in the show, asking the audience what they think, and occasional interaction with an audience individual.

(By the way, MasterChef community manager: you need to update the Facebook bio, which reads “It all begins Sunday May 6”.)

Of course, the social media interactions for these brands are just the tip of the iceberg. Their official websites no doubt gain massive online traffic, and these sites have their own online communities. It’s important to have these, to cater to non-social media audiences and also have some more ‘control’ and ownership of your brand online.

In a future post, I’ll be exploring tweeting while watching television. I touched on this last year in Twitter Encourages Live TV Viewing.

And “time” is a common thread that comes up in conversations around social media.

I’ve pulled these two time themes together in the list below. Do you recognise yourself or others in these sayings?

“It’s a waste of time”
This person isn’t using social media and doesn’t understand the appeal. They think it’s a fad that will go away. They scoff at social media users. They often reason that they prefer other methods of communication.

“I haven’t got enough time for it”
This person understands that social media can help them stay in touch with others and hear news first. They probably have a Facebook profile. They are cynical about others’ enthusiasm and may only check their networks on the weekends.

Time is a big factor in social media

“How do you find the time?”
This is a social media user who’s having some light bulb moments. They are using Facebook, Twitter and perhaps Foursquare or Instagram. They’re gaining an understanding of social media as something that can be useful and fun – but can’t quite work out how to fit it into their busy lives. Rather than giving up, they’re asking for tips from more social-savvy friends.

“Where did the time go?”
This is someone who’s fallen hard. They’ve spent hours down the social media black hole. They’re late for work because they started reading Facebook over breakfast. That TV show they are watching? They keep missing bits because they’ve been too busy reading what other viewers are saying on Twitter. They may have tripped over a gutter while walking and using their smartphone at the same time.

“I make time.”
Finally, this is a social media user who has a solid few favourite platforms. This person knows what suits them and has ditched the rest. Facebook? They’re over it, and may have deleted their profile. They might use Path instead.  They may use Tumblr. They have well-ordered Twitter Lists. Their social networking is achieved during a few niche times of the day, usually on their mobile device. They may network and conduct business via social media and make sure they have the time to pay attention to their earmarked important channels.

A start up called Dead Social has taken this a step further, by developing a tool that will enable people to store Facebook, Twitter and GooglePlus messages, for distribution after death. See the explanatory video below:

This was discussed on Michael Smyth’s ABC Drive show yesterday. Some very clever  callers pointed out the dangers of such a service, including hurtful messages that someone may store for later posting, when they’re not around to face the music.

Dead Social pitches itself at the celebrity market, as this YouTube clip explains:

But what about the non-celebs who might sign up? Those who aren’t keeping a celebrity estate earning money, but have more personal reasons for using Dead Social? As with so much on social media platforms, the quality of the content will dictate how well this works.

If you have a marvellous black sense of humour,  but also some warmth in your soul, and a good turn of phrase: your tweets from beyond the grave might delight readers. They may be a way to continue to encourage loved ones, to jibe them, and give them heart.

Alternatively, if your skills and maturity levels are lacking, your tweets from beyond the grave may be vindictive, hurtful or even nonsensical. I  suppose when you’re dead, you can’t be embarrassed by a spelling mistake.

Dead Social is in Beta phase and it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out. Some questions I have:

1. Can a deceased person’s posts be defamatory? What recourse does someone have, if post via Dead Social slanders them?
2. Will the posts be earmarked as coming via Dead Social?
3. Will family and friends be forewarned about someone signing up to use Dead Social? It’d be an awful surprise to get a message from someone you’ve just seen put into their grave.

In the meantime, remember that platforms like Facebook and Twitter do have mechanisms in place should you want to report that a user has died. With Facebook, you have the ability to ‘memorialise’ an account.

Memorialise an account on Facebook

With Twitter, you can notify the platform that an account holder is deceased and they will deactivate the account – given enough evidence, as outlined in the Twitter screenshot below.

Deactivate a deceased person's Twitter account

What are your thoughts on Dead Social? Dead keen, or dead against?

CEOs, board members and others can be wary of social media because they are the guardians of an organisation’s future and its reputation. They constantly assess risk, and social media can appear to be a volatile and risky space.

So how do you convince the powers that be, that social media is worth trying? Here are some tips to help you plan your approach:

1. Firstly, you have to know what you want to do with social media. Why are you convinced it’s worth trying? How do you plan to use social media? Don’t take the idea to management if you just want to join the social media bandwagon. You need to have objectives and be ready to share them. What is social media going to do for your company?
2. Forecast the questions and concerns your managers might ask. What are their likely concerns with social media? Are they worried about the time staff will spend on social media? The potential online stoushes? Do they think social media is a passing fad?  Or do they simply think it won’t contribute to the business? Be prepared to answer their concerns.
3. Research your managers’ social media use.  Do they use LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook? Have a look at their online profiles and try to gauge how much education they may require.
4. Research your competitors’ use of social media and use them as examples. You could also research what your partners, suppliers or other stakeholders are doing on social media, and share that with your management. Show them that social media is not an unchartered space, but is being used effectively by their peers.
5. Enlist help from within the organisation. Who are the other social media ‘champions’ who might support you? Conversely, who might stymie your efforts? Do you need to meet with IT staff first to address any technical issues? Do you need to meet with HR to talk about a social media policy?
6. Use pictures. Don’t understimate management’s lack of social media knowledge. During your pitch, use screenshots of Facebook business pages, industry blogs, LinkedIn Groups or whatever else is relevant, to help them understand how it all works.
7. Outline how you’re going to measure social media success, and how you’re going to report on this. Management will need peace of mind, and looking forward  to regular reports helps facilitate that. Perhaps you’ll send them Facebook Insights once a month, and screenshots of engaging posts. Perhaps you’ll report on social media’s impact on your website traffic, or its impact on your customer service workload. (Ensure however, that management is aware that social media is a long term undertaking and you’re not likely to get results overnight).
   

   "Selling Social" to management, Prakky

For more on this topic, see Connecting Up’s Storify of a recent conversation on Twitter, where we delved into these tips and more.

Have you had to pitch social media to management? What’s worked for you? 

Facebook is Australia’s most popular social network, with a user base hovering around 10 million and growing.

But some things about Facebook annoy us, right?

Here are six quick little adjustments you can make to give you a more pleasant Facebook experience.

1. Unfollow a post

This one is a personal favourite of mine. Sometimes you comment on a friend’s Facebook update, then lots of other join the conversation, occasionally over several hours or days with trite contributions. You grow tired of the notifications and you want to leave the conversation. See the screenshot below: you have the option to unfollow a post at any time (and also refollow if you change your mind).

Unfollow a post

2. Hide apps or games

Annoyed by updates from friends using Farmville or the latest casino games? You can hover your mouse to the right of that update, and see the choice available for hiding updates from that game or app from now on.

Hide apps or games

3. Hide friend’s updates

Sometimes it’s far too awkward to unfriend someone, yet you might not enjoy all their Facebook updates. Again, if you hover your mouse to the right of their status update, you are given some choices about hiding parts of your friend’s feed. Your friend does not know you’ve done that, it’s a completely private setting. (Note, I do not filter any of Laurel’s posts!)

Filter friends' updates

4. Hide brand updates

Similarly, you can choose to hide updates  from brands or organisations you’re following on Facebook. You can even report some posts as spam, or click to ensure you don’t see a post (story) again. That’s a good option in those cases where you may be following a news site  for example, and you find a particular news story disturbing and want to hide it.

Hide Facebook page (brand) updates

5. Change group notifications

Are you a member of any Facebook Groups? They’re a great way to keep in touch with similarly minded people. However the updates can become too much. Once again, you can choose whether to get Group updates  pushed  to you, or choose to opt out and just check the Group page occasionally when you remember to. This can be particularly useful for Groups that have a very active community that posts throughout the day. Just see the Notifications option at the top right of your Group screen.

Change Group Notifications

6. Use Facebook Lists

To tailor your Facebook experience even further, you might want to use Facebook lists. These allow you to categorise your connections and quickly check their particular status updates. A handy example is having a ‘close friends’ list. This may be people whose posts you don’t want to miss. You can quickly cut through to their news and bypass the rest of the Facebook clutter.

Read all about Facebook Lists in Facebook’s Help Centre.

Friends Lists on Facebook are handy

Do you have any Facebook tips you’d like to share?

And by that I mean: don’t have a Facebook account.

Have never looked at Twitter.

Aren’t sure how to find a blog.

My first reaction is to struggle to keep my jaw from hitting the floor.

The second reaction is one of confusion. I usually ask them why they aren’t using social media, and the most frequent response is that they value their privacy or they prefer to communicate with friends by more traditional needs.

(Of course, that response underlies their lack of understanding. You can choose to have quite a private experience on social media. And using social media does not preclude you from maintaining your current communication habits when it comes to ‘real life friends’. But I digress.)

If you’re working in public relations, advertising, web design, marketing, what-have-you, it’s remiss of you not to be using social media and experiencing what it’s like to be part of an online community, over the long term. The reasons why include:

• Sooner or later, you’ll be asked for your opinion on a social media idea. You better be ready to offer something realistic and not just unfair vague impressions of a platform that you’ve gained second-hand  from the traditional media and social media cynics.
• Any morning now, your boss might storm into your office and cry “People are writing bad things about the company on Facebook and I want you to remove it now!” What will you do, if you don’t even have a Facebook account? If you don’t understand how to find things on Facebook? And whether in fact it’s possible / prudent to attempt to remove other people’s comments?
• There are other, less-talented people than you in your field kicking arse right now because they’re promoting themselves on social media sites, networking the heck out of your industry and being seen to be a leader in their field. Whereas others have never even heard of  you.

So if you’re in communications, can I suggest, in the spirit of continual lifelong learning, that you bloody make sure you’ve got a Facebook account?

Social media is important to communications professionals

And when you have that Facebook account, follow brands there and watch the types of things they’re doing.

I also suggest you open a Twitter account and start interacting with your industry and keeping up with ideas from around the world.

You might even want to hang up on your shingle on LinkedIn, so that on the odd occasion people Google your name, a somewhat professional-looking summary of your career is returned in the search results.

Don’t have time? Suit yourself. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This is where you'll find me! Facebook.com/PrakkyCom

Ever seen a sign that says “Find us on Facebook”?

It has to be one of the most aggravating marketing calls to action.

Find you? You mean, type your business name, or its nearest approximation, into the search box of Facebook?  And then you want us to assess the results, do some filtering, reject listings that aren’t related to you, reject any groups or community pages  or places, until we may (fingers crossed) find your business on Facebook? <sarcasm font> that doesn’t sound difficult at all </sarcasm font>

You don’t ask customers to “find us on King William Street” or “Google our website” do you? “Look up our number in the White Pages”?

With approximately the same number of characters you’ve used to tell us to “Find us on Facebook” you could have given us your actual Facebook URL.

Life would be so much easier if Mars Coffee Bar said “Join us at facebook.com/MarsCoffeeBar”. Don’t you think?

Grab your Facebook URL

Sometimes the problem is that a business doesn’t have a vanity URL on Facebook. They are easy to acquire, by visiting www.facebook.com/username

Of course, your exact business name may have been claimed by another Facebook user. So you’ll have to go through different iterations. You might try MarsCoffeeAus for example.

Grabbing people’s attention is a battle. If you have it, you need to make it supremely easy for them to take additional steps such as connecting with you on Facebook. Don’t ask people to seek or type in addresses. So:

• Grab your Facebook URL
• Spell out your Facebook URL in marketing collateral
• Hyperlink your Facebook URL to your Facebook logos

Read Facebook’s brand and logo guidelines to make sure you comply with Facebook’s  permissions. It’s interesting to note that they’ve encouraged people not to hyperlink to the Facebook login page, so I take this as another vote for hyperlinking direct to your vanity URL.