I’m pretty sure that Facebook will eventually allow Timeline to come to Pages.  We don’t know when or what that will look like.  However, it is clear that the use of  TABS for Pages is still the best way to start conversations. I’ve looked at, read about, compared, played with and analyzed these services Facebook Pages:

ShortStack.com – good for contests/sweepstakes but I found it rather cumbersome to use. –$15 a month

NorthSocial.com Great Aps, great service, helpful tips.  However, because my client has  over 5k fans it would  run $49 a month and that’s just too much for them.

Wildfireapp.com Fairly easy to use. The free HTML Ap can be used by anyone.  This service will allow one image for NEW fans and one image for folks that already LIKE the page.  The basic Promotion Builder will allow a contest and I’ve noticed several nonprofits use it. In order to have a custom header it runs $25 per promotion plus 2.99 per day of the promotion.

TabSite.com $15 a month  ($150 for 12 months) INCLUDES video embed, a new Sweepstakes plugin and Google analytics among other fantastic options at this low monthly rate.

I encourage you to use the free form to see about the interface before you purchase and then upgrade. You will see that  it is actually fun to use.

Hands down, I recommend that you spend the $150 to get the GOLD TabSite and start building tabs right away.

Mobile Friendly Facebook Tabs with TabSite

Here is the break down on what widgets for the Gold level

Here are all of the TabSite Widgets

Using TABS effectively will start to make your Facebook Page more dynamic and user friendly.

By using TabSite, any new changes to Facebook designs and policies will automatically be addressed by the 3rd party.  This makes me feel confident about being ready for any Facebook changes about to take place. This service went from 19,000 to 61,000 users in one year and I can see why.

We started using TabSite and our Post Feedback went up 167% in one week:
View the Nashville Symphony Facebook Tabs  or Mobile Version

Content management can be daunting, particularly if you have quite a bit of content to manage. The challenge that we face in the workplace of social media strategy is transforming that content into conversation.

Brian Solis compiled a list of  10 Steps Toward New Relevance  that I promptly sent to my colleagues as a reference point to my actions that are planned in the coming year.

It is difficult to get to know what people want to talk about without listening (a lot) and jumping in to start a conversation. The full experience of a full service arts organization like the one where I work, comes with a superabundance of material. Content includes the performances, the education, the community involvement, the lives of the artists, the work of the staff, the generosity of the volunteers, the brilliance of the management, etc.  All fine stories, but what do the people want to talk about?

We invest on the value of the content, it is now time to fully embrace the responsibility of innovative engagement. Bring value, acknowledging the experience.

When something is awesome, funny or horrible, people talk about it with their friends now on a viral scale.

• Are you a social media strategist? How do you engage authentic experiences?
• Do you use social media tools to tell your circle of influence about things? What calls you to action the most?

 Quick 3  posts saved on the Evernote not to miss:

-YouTube Redesigns Its Web Site to Promote Personalized Video Channels
-Facebook to Start Placing Ads in User News Feeds in January
-The New, New Twitter and What It Means to You and Your Business

photo credit

I  was given this infographic last week and found the statistics quite interesting.  It is clear that we are not alone in our quest to use the social media landscape to the best of it’s potential.

It is surprising to see that 88% surveyed agreed that Social Media does or will impact the business and yet only 30% are moving toward full time engagement.

What do you see in this graph that reflects your business?  What are your plans to increase the conversation about your content, product or service?

Livestream.com has partnered again with the NAMP Conference to live webcast three conference general sessions! There are many ways to take advantage of the streamed sessions: log on during the presentations to participate in online conversations, and submit questions right from your seat; send the link to colleagues who couldn’t make it to Louisville; or send the archived session to friends post-conference.

Make sure to bookmark this link for easy access to the streaming channel during and after the conference!

Live webcasts include:

• Sunday, November 13 9:00 a.m. EST   Opening General Session with Scott Stratten
• Monday, November 14 12:20 p.m. EST   Plenary Lunch with Oliver Uberti
• Tuesday, November 15 10:45 a.m. EST   Closing Plenary with Sam Horn

Just because you build it, doesn't mean your audience will come, necessarily. Maybe.

Let’s talk about the importance of knowing your audience again shall we?  There are so very many  social media platforms and so much noise about  how to link them together and and how to shout louder that we may very easily loose site not of the message but of the the audience we hope will share our message.

Headlines like this make me jitter:   Facebook to Let Users Update Twitter Accounts from its Site

If Facebookers start  duplicating their Facebook posts on Twitter I think it will damage Twitter and help Google+.  And I say this  without really liking Google+ , but we’ll get to that later.  Here’s the deal people; each platform grew from its own audience base and those of us who use many platforms use them for many different reasons.

When you work in social media, communications, marketing, advertising and the like, you are surrounded by the noise of colleagues that the next thing may be the best thing.  I love innovation, lets keep creating!  However, I really think that the audience should tell us what they prefer and then we meet them there instead of  diluting our energy trying to get our audience to embrace another platform.

Here is a quick look showing how current trends are fairly with large nonprofits:  How Non-Profits Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Now, back to  Google+ :    Google+ social network lets firms have their own pages  Yes, I’ll create a pages for my clients.  Will anyone come to them?  I don’t think so. Will I drive them there?  No. Why should I?  I still want them to go to the website and our Facebook Page and subscribe to our YouTube Channel and look at our Instagram photos and hit that special Tumbler account .. oh, and check in on Facebook, Yelp, Gowalla and …you get the point.

Let’s all go back to identification of audience and meet them where they are, shall we?  I know it’s fun to play on all the new gadgets, but let’s remember that our messages only survive if they are shared.