Facebook Group - LinkedIn Group - Important guidelines - Social media groups - Online community

How to use and why to use Facebook Group - LinkedIn Group?

FAQ about social media groups and answers that will help you to use the online groups effectively.

Study these important points while joining online community to get maximum benefits and stay away from avoidable issues. Here are the best practices to help you become a valued group member.

Groupology

 Contributing as a Group Member - Best Practices:

1. Make the most of your group by using the same manners you would use to interact at a social event or a friend's house.
2. Make sure your conversations are relevant to the interests and purpose of the group.  Look at the Group Description (on the right side in the Facebook group) and ABOUT THIS GROUP as well as Group Rules (on right side of the LinkedIn group).
3. Start or participate in conversations.  Do not be a passive audience. Engage with posts - Like and Comment will help you increase your own visibility (and credibility).  [Usually, people expect that "my post members should Like or Comment"  but did you do the same?  It is similar to everyone want to do batting only and not fielding.  Group will be vibrant only if all participants do the discussion.  
4. Invite discussion. Ask for members' input on a topic or article that you share and phrase your update as a question.  It is OK to disagree; if you find yourself disagreeing in a conversation, remember to keep the discussion respectful.
5. I have created two kinds of groups: (1) Focused Groups:  Specific interest or topic or industry or profession group.  (2) Geographical groups:  Group members are stakeholders of a specific city (Country).  Here you can do self-promotion.  Use it to promote your products/services to your targeted city or community.  
6. About 80 % of your posts should add value to group members.  Show-off your expertise instead of always marketing (restrict advertisements to about 20%).  The usual mistake is that people only post their advertisements. 
7. How often one should post? Post need not be daily.  Four posts in a week are recommended. 
8. Sharing other websites that could be useful to members is a good way to increase your visibility and credibility (as an individual).  
9. What is in it for marketers?  The idea is to pause as a thought leader!  If you're sharing a link or article, if possible provide context on its relevance to the group.
10. What is in it for HR?  On LinkedIn, if you're sharing a job opening with a group, post it under the Jobs tab.  
11. Once you are a member, it is your group, so you can report spam (to admin) when you see it. Reporting spam helps everybody in the group, and it helps Admin/managers / Moderators to take appropriate action.
12. When fellow group members or group management feel that certain contributions do not meet their group's objective, they can take actions like reporting or removing comments, or even removing and blocking you from a group. 
13. Use the Business Page to promote your business/company instead of groups.  Use a group to become an influencer in the society, as an individual, human, so it is not a good idea to post as a company.  Post in the group as a person.
14. Groups are all about building relationships through the conversation about topics and ideas with two-way dialogue.
15. Use groups to publish your ideas to reach a wider audience, beyond your own friends' circle, thereby reaching to more clients. 
16. Digital platforms offer a great opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge in a certain area to a broad audience with the purpose of promoting ideas, as opposed to promoting commercial services.
17. Why Post?  Your posts are tied to your Facebook / LinkedIn identity and provide an effective way to stand out from the crowd while building your professional reputation.   

• Click here to view a complete list of groups, on the appearoo site click on the Group tab http://appearoo.com/zaveri

Consult Jyoti or his team to create a Facebook Page or LinkedIn Company Page and manage social media marketing:

Post published by Jyoti Zaveri [Jyotindra] +1 (650) 798-4175. Palo Alto, CA, USA. Follow boards to learn more http://Jyoti.Guru

Graphical Bio - Online presence by summarizing all social media profiles into a gorgeous, interactive uber-profile

In the Year Twenty Fourteen, it will be more important than ever to be able to differentiate yourself and easily express what’s important to you.

Jyotindra Zaveri's Vizify Bio

Here I have demonstrated an awesome tool that lets any Twitter user instantly make a video "movie trailer" complete with a soundtrack, showcasing the best Twitter moments, including: top photos, tweets, and followers.

Get the best of your profile pages from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, Blogs, and mashes them together into a dynamic graphical visualization of who you are and where you came from. 

• Share Graphics Via Social Media Cards.  It appears as if the lines between your professional and personal identity online are thinning.
• This visual personalized bio is created by integrating the educational history, places lived, photos taken, and tweets.
• YouTube videos, LinkedIn profile, Facebook posts, and other social media networking sites are linked automatically to keep the profile live and updated.
• Showcase your achievements and also your interests in real-time by embedding stuff from social media sites.
• Online equivalent of an elevator pitch. A bite sized encapsulation of what makes you awesome.

Click on Page Words to see Words that I Tweeted

You can look back to see your own activity, from your most-shared tweet to your most-used words, and even your "Golden Follower."  Click various pages above to see the demo.

Are you ready to try innovative profile to greet the New Year 2014?

Hope you will Like this innovative way to showcase a profile, and Share it.

Social Media Marketing in Germany

Guten Tag!
European companies need to increase traffic to their website, to build a strong brand in India, and drive more online sales.  You need to be noticed, to attract targeted visitors in India.

Let us look at how social media is used in Germany:

• Germany trails behind the US in adopting social media.  Blogs are not yet a part of mainstream media and have no significant influence on public opinion.
• Only 58% of German internet users are on social networking sites (compared to 77% in the US).
• The most popular social networking site in Germany is called StudiVZ, however Facebook is quickly gaining market share.
• Culturally, Germans tend to be very private and do not freely share personal information.  Many still feel that their data is not safe online.
• Germans place a high value on university degrees or professional certifications and do not trust unofficial sources.

(status as on May 2010)

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5948/3-Social-Media-Lessons-For-Global-Marketers.aspx#ixzz1sjZHUIWS

What is the status today?  Please leave your comments in the space provided below.

Social networking best practices

There are 50+ social networking websites.  Let us take example of the most popular site 'Facebook' to learn Do's and Don'ts of social networking sites.  Here are excerpts from the lecture by Prof. Jyoti Zaveri and the related PPT explaining Facebook best practices.  Learn about security settings, Groups, Page, and so on.

 

DO and DO NOT of Facebook.

Points worth doing and points that one should not do, while using social networking sites, such as FACEBOOK.

1.       Do proper security settings to maintain your privacy.  Do not share lots of private information with strangers.  Avoid sharing information about your children or share minimum. 

2.       Use private message button for one-to-one communications.  Post on the wall is seen by everyone in the contacts and if selected ‘public’ then by everyone.

3.       Join group of your interest to interact with your community.  You can request for joining by clicking on the button ‘ask to join’.  Your friend (contact on Facebook) may add you in a group; however, if you find that the group is not interesting enough, you may leave the group.  

a.       Groups can be public.

b.      Groups can be private, only members can see the posts and participate.

4.       Companies (corporate) are publishing website on Facebook, called Facebook Page.  Visit a Facebook Page of a company you would like.  Search the name in the search window (on top) to find the page.  Click on LIKE button to follow the posts and conversations.

5.       Do update your profile with proper name.  Upload your proper picture, preferably only face.  Do not put picture of a cartoon or joker.  

6.       Add confirm ‘friends’ only if you know them.  If the picture is missing or you have doubt, send a private message to find more about that person.  

7.       Facebook privacy setting is the most important before you start using the Facebook.  Your privacy is in your hand, allow, or do not allow your personal information as per your needs, Facebook has nothing do with it, so you do it yourself.

8.       Limit you time on Facebook.  Do not get addicted.  Commit yourself for not spending over ‘nn’ minutes in a day or in a week.  For instance, “limit 15 minutes in a day or in a week”.

9.       Facebook suggests names of your friends on birthday, this is a good idea to be in touch with your friends, and wish them happy birthday. 

10.   Avoid using third party applications (called Apps) on Facebook, these programs before you start using will ask your permission to use your private information by showing a screen with a button ‘ALLOW’, once you click allow, the Apps will use and share your information the way they want.  In other words, it is not Facebook but Apps on Facebook is sharing your privacy because you have allowed it.

 Please share these important guide lines with your friends. Wish you safe and happy networking.

You may suggest some points that I have missed out in the comments box provided below.