Alison Driscoll

By now, a lot of businesses have figured out that there are a ton of social media tools that can boost business tremendously. Using social media at all will make you look like you “get it;” using social media effectively can help gain you more clients, better employees and a bigger brand.

So where should a potentially social media savvy business start? Facebook is relatively easy to learn, so I’d recommend starting there. However, to create and maintain a good business profile or page you need a few other things first. So, uh, I guess you really need to start somewhere else.

Start a company blog. And use it. There’s not a whole lot left to say about blogs; if you’re reading this you know what they are, so I’m sure you know all the benefits as well. The only advice I have is to make sure you know what you’re talking about before you start; a bad blog is worse than no blog.

Set up a Twitter account. Use that, too. Twitter is great for reputation management, seeing what people are saying about your brand, product, company, CEO–whatever. Use a tool like TweetScan to see who’s talking about you and what they’re saying: the good, the bad and the blah. If you want to be really adventurous you can respond as well. It can also be used as a recruiting tool if you’re looking for new hires.

Of course, you can set up a Facebook account without either of those, but my must-have apps integrate both of these things so… My point is your profile, and therefore your image online, will look a little sparse if you don’t do more than slap a generic Fbook profile up.

Assuming you have a blog and a Twitter account in place, set up a Facebook profile AND a business page, then add these:

• Twitter App You can set this to automatically pull your Tweets into your Facebook status, and it puts a cute little Twitter-themed box on your profile, so everyone knows you’re cool enough to be on Twitter. Also saves you time in updating AND ensures profile activity to keep you relevant. 243,450 total users; 4,869 daily.
  
• Blog RSS Feed Reader I tried a ton of blog and RSS apps out and I found this one offered more functionality, better customization (you can pick an image to make your Facebook mini-blog look like more your actual blog) and a greater sense of control. 28,350 total users; 567 daily.
  
• TwitterSync App Works pretty much like the real Twitter app, which I prefer, but has one advantage over Twitter; you can add it to your page, whereas the Twitter-sponsored app only works with profiles. You can also specify your own propend verb so your status says “is twittering:___.” 14,300 total users; 429 daily.
  
• 30 Boxes Really, any decent calendar app will do, but I found this the easiest to use. If you have (or set up) a 30 boxes account you can sync the two to update the app with all your actual events, as well as any Facebook event invites. Very handy if you host or attend a lot of business events. 222,000 total users; 2,220 daily.
  
• Something fun Add some personality to your profile with a fun or silly application that shows you’re not all work and no play. Facebook is about connecting with your audience, so make your profile look like a real person’s, someone that other users would want to friend.
  

Once you’ve got all that set up, you just need to monitor and maintain everything. It doesn’t need to take a tremendous amount of time, but it does need to be done; you can’t just set these up and let them go. If you can’t manage them and you’re lucky enough to have an intern, see if they can help. Or hire a freelance social media person. I know of at least one

Finally, someone is in my corner, defending the recently legal drinkers in the work force…OK, so they called us “the young” and it’s Advertising Age, a print publication that is traditional media-centric and still trying to get the hang of this new-fangled internet ‘thang…but still. At last, some “authority” came out and admitted that “the young aren’t stupid.”

I was super excited when I first read this post, as I deal with pig-headed clients who refuse to listen to or accept my advice once they’ve met me and realized how old I am. I’ve also been told I don’t “look smart.” It was meant as a compliment, but who knows.

Anyway, my point is, Advertising Age, a somewhat stodgy and “the man” of old-school advertising, had to tell people we are a force to be reckoned with. My issue is not with the blog post, but with the fact that it warranted being written.

As the youngest member of the BU faculty, Jonathon Feit undoubtedly has dealt with much more ageism than I could ever encounter. I understand his frustrations with present day dinosaurs, and I applaud him for finding a way to make people sit up and listen, ‘cuz hey, I’m doing the same thing right here. What upsets me is where it ran.

I’m assuming Feit, or some editor somewhere, thought the only way to grab the ageists’ attention was to get it in “their” press. Good thinking, except you used the blog, not the print magazine, which is what the very people you’re targeting put more stock in. Strike one.

Now, as much as I enjoyed reading the post (which is my next problem with it, but we’ll get there), I’m not the one being convinced. To really convince the target demographic, I think an author in the same age bracket as the target would have been more effective. Strike two.

Unless, of course, Feit wanted to direct it towards the old dogs to disguise a simple self-congratulatory pat-on-the-back post. I know I liked it, but I’m the choir; does he really think he’s going to get these old dogs turning tricks? Strike three, you’re out.

Definitely read “The Young Aren’t Stupid-but They Are Changing Your World” if you already believe that. Chances are, if you’re here, you figured that out on your own. If not, check out some amazing young’uns I only sometimes dare to compare myself to, like Amanda Gravel and Dan Zarrella. They truly demonstrate just how, like, not stupid we totally aren’t.

The 9-to-5er just started up a company blog, so I will now be blogging about copywriting and SEO stuff over there as well. More technical and businessy, a little more censored, but definitely some good stuff about content and writing for the web-with some social media and Facebook thrown in, of course.

I’ll still be blogging here, where I can say whatever I want (and more frequently very soon, I swear), but check out the AMPloyee blog for some excellent insight on design, development, PPC and search engine marketing.

Shameless plug, but I figured I’d share some of what I do at work.