Should I have one?  Or.  I want an App, but don’t know what it should do. 

As an agency that believes in a holistic approach where by marketing (both traditional and social), public relations and websites  working together for a common purpose/goal, having an App might not work for everyone.

The May 2012 edition of Website Magazine (www.websitemagazine.com) does a nice job breaking down Apps into three “classes”.

• Entertainment Apps-generally in the form of an interactive game.  Good for raising awareness, not always great as a means to raise revenue and relatively expensive to develop

• Information Apps-If you have content to share, this is the App for you.  Great means to reinforce brand, share upcoming events, blog and news posts.  Usually these apps are an extension of web and/or social media work you are already doing.

• Utility Apps (or anything that doesn’t fit under “Entertainment” or “Information”)-mobile e-commerce, mobile banking, catalog sales.  These apps generally have a very specific objective, do one thing and one thing very well.

The App question is one that virtually every business and non-profit organization should be asking.  Using the above categories as a starting point, review marketing and social media goals.  Will an App help your business or organization accomplish those goals?  The next step is to look at the costs associated with  development and integration.  After considering these and other factors, does and App make sense for you.

Interested in exploring Apps for your business or non-profit group.  It would be our pleasure to chat with you.  Send us an email: will@encompassmarketing.com or call 207.755.9445 ext. 101.

Dr. Jim Helmkamp and Mount Auburn Dental were looking for a website to help brand and market their practice to both established and new customers. The new site www.mountauburndental.com is more user friendly for both patients and staff. Patients are able to access billing, schedule history, and other account information. Dr. Helmkamp and his staff will use the blog function to update the community on industry trends and news from the practice.

Women, Work, and Community Women is the only statewide women’s economic development   organization in Maine. Organized into six regions and serving all 16 Maine counties, their website www.womenworkandcommunity.org had to handle multiple calendars and class listings for locations across the state. The new website’s layout and design allows users to more easily access class, program, and contact information.

Encompass Marketing believes in building websites using “Open Source” technology. Many of their sites are built using Word Press, free from proprietary software, and are easily transferable to other developers and users.

Encompass is a group of innovative strategists, creatives, programmers and relationship builders, who enjoy helping quality organizations get noticed for what they do. To learn more visit www.encompassmarketing.com.

• You (or perhaps your business) can help decide how you appear to Facebook friends when they use Bing
• Because this is connected to Facebook (more on this) your Facebook “friends” can get a better understanding of you
• Link search results pages about you, your business, work you have done

Here is how it works:

• Visit http://www.bing.com/linkedpages and hit the “get started button”
• You will be directed to a Facebook App (follow the instructions)
• Click “Link to Me” as/where you feel appropriate
• When you “Link” to a web page, the page is also posted on your Facebook timeline

If a Facebook “Friend” does a search within “Bing” for my name, they will now see pages, websites, and Links that I have linked to (recommended to Bing).

There are likely to be lots of changes/updates to this.  Please keep in mind, there is room for some privacy issues here.  Your Facebook privacy preferences might not carry over to Bing.  If your “Facebook” friends start using this, some of your links could be shared with others via Bing that wold have otherwise been restricted based on your Facebook privacy settings.

This product has some real potential, especially for those of us who are active on the web and through social media.  I contribute to blogs and websites not at all related to my work, I also keep my work social media presence separate from my personal social media life.  Bing affords us the opportunity to help separate those worlds by showing of work and web presence based on the person who is searching for me.

Should a a Facebook “friend” from my Will Fessenden Encompass page use this product, they will see very different things than one of my “friends” from my personal page.  At Encompass Marketing we use social media and a vibrant web presence to help market ourselves (and work with Maine businesses and non profits to to the same).  For those who take the same approach,  Bing is providing an opportunity to reinforce those efforts.  This won’t work for everyone, but is a tool for some to consider.

PRASAD (Philanthropic Relief, Altruistic Service And Development)operates health, education, disaster relief and sustainable development programs in the Tansa Valley of India, dental care for children in the United States and eye care in Mexico.

Candace Sanborn, Managing Partner at Encompass Marketing (www.encompassmarketing.com) says the firms’ focus will be helping PRASAD (www.prasad.org) raise awareness here in U.S. about their efforts in India. “We are embarking on a multifaceted, aggressive, yet targeted PR, marketing and capital campaign.” Sanborn says they will be assisting PRASAD with everything from maximizing their social media presence, web development, as well as paid and earned media opportunities. Initially their work will focus in the metro New York City area, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Founded in 1999, Encompass is a group of innovative strategists, creatives, programmers and relationship builders, who enjoy helping quality organizations get noticed for what they do.

Care2: is a social networking site for those who are into living green. If a target or niche audience of yours has anything to do with green products, living green or healthy living, this is the place for you to be. From product sales, to green job openings, to blog sharing and discussions around living and going green, Care2 is a strong site.

Ning: O.K., it isn’t free, but don’t let that scare you away. From $2.95 per month to $59.95 per month (depending on your needs), Ning allows the user to create their own social website. From non-profits to businesses, to musicians, Ning makes it easy to custom build a social media presence. Combined with your other social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so on), Ning brings it all together. One advantage to Ning is the opportunity to raise revenue, you can charge members for access, collect donations, even target ads in Ning to raise revenue for your business/organization.

Storenvy: Imagine a free, customized storefront to to sell your products. Storenvy community members browse the site and buy what they like. The are able to share their experience and comment on the products they have purchased. It is a more social friendly and interactive version of eBay. When you have your storefront, through an App., you can connect to your Facebook page and sell from your FB page.

Meetup: take your Facebook “events” to heights you never imagined. Does your business host or sponsor a lot of events or business meetings? Are you engaged in a number of webinars, open houses or bring people together for any reason at all? Consider Meetup, it makes organizing a meeting or gathering easy, again the strength comes in your ability to link it with your other social media networks.

Quora: Is great for the know it all or entrepreneur who has a business built around what you know. Quora is a collection of questions and      answers created, edited and organized by everyone who uses it. Unlike LinkedIn where questions and answers largely appear in chronological o order, here other users rate the quality of the answers provided. For those who want to follow a “topic” or “interest”, or share your knowledge of a particular topic, Quora will be a nice addition to your social media world.

Is there a way to make my news feed more specific? Like top 20 people in my life who I associate with will always be at the top? Or something like that? Since all of the changes I can’t seem to figure it out…

This person happens to be both a real “friend” as well as being a “Facebook friend”.  Several people jumped in gave their thoughts, many people had some good ideas/thoughts.

Being that we work with dozens of individuals, non-profit groups and businesses on their social media strategy and how to maximize their time/resources, this type of question is not all that uncommon. Each member of the Encompass Marketing team has been asked a similar question. Not to take anything away from the folks who posted their opinion on my friends wall,  here is a bit of advice we give folks.

This will be the first part of a two part approach, we’ll first look at the “Subscribe” function of Facebook, we’ll then look at how to set up your Facebook Groups and Lists.

On a Friends page (or when they come up on your feed), check out the  “Subscribe” button.  That “Subscribe” button has a drop down menu to allow you to decide what type of information you would like to see from that Friend.

As you can see from the image/screen-shot you can decide to see all updates from your friends, or perhaps you on wish to see “photos” or “comments.”

The “How Many Updates?” piece can get tricky.  Even though it is implied you picking “how many” updates you see from each friend, you are really picking the level of importance.  “All Updates” clearly means you’ll see everything from your FB friend.  “Most Updates” and “Only Important” are based on how often you interact with that person and how many & how often other people “comment”, “like” and interact with that same friend.  This might take a little trial and error.

(Editorial Comment:  lets face it, if you are “Facebook Friends” with someone and you don’t want to see/hear anything they have to say, consider not being their friend on Facebook.  Or you can always remain their Facebook Friend but “un-subscribe” to their updates.  This will allow you to interact with them, on your terms, not theirs.)

Selecting what you want to see from your Facebook Friends should make your Facebook time more productive and help you gather the information you want from the people you really want to hear from.

Next time, we’ll look at setting up and using Facebook Groups & Lists to filter the information from your friends.

After sifting through a huge amount of data, it turns out that Wednesday is the peak day and 9:30 is the top time to share with others.   This data is derived from looking at all sharing platforms, social media, even looking at copy/pasting URLs into emails.  Of interest, most users click 2 minutes after content is shared and 75% of clicks occur in the first day of a share.

As you plan and look at your social media strategy, do you know what the best time(s) & day(s) are  to share information is?  If you send out electronic newsletters there are undoubtedly certain times of the day that will yield better results.  Do you know what they are?

Constant Contact has tools to help you keep track of how successful your email campaign is.  Facebook’s “Insights” is an important tool to help determine what is and isn’t working for you.

The point of all of this is that Wednesday might not work for your followers.  9:30 AM, might now be the best time for your followers or supporters to share information with others.  However, it is important for you to know the best times, best days, and what type of content yields you the best return on your investment (be if financial or in terms of time).

It might take some experimenting, and analysis,  but the tools are there for you to find out what works best for you and your supporters.  The effort will be well worth your time.

Craft-Mania on Center Street in Auburn was looking for a website to help them better engage both established and new customers. The new site, www.craftmaniamaine.com, is a dynamic site allowing visitors to ask questions of Craft-Mainia staff, and contains videos from “featured crafters”.

Community Concepts Finance Corporation (CCFC)-Business Lending Center (a division of Community Concepts) provides funding to entrepreneurs and business owners interested in starting, expanding or buying a business.  The new website, www.mainebusinesslending.com provides information on how to apply for various forms of funding, and provides background on local businesses CCFC has worked with.

Encompass Marketing believes in building websites using “Open Source” technology.   Many of their sites are built using Word Press, free from proprietary software, and are easily transferable to other developers and users.

Encompass is a group of innovative strategists, creatives, programmers and relationship builders, who enjoy helping quality organizations get noticed for what they do.

To learn more visit www.encompassmarketing.com.

In just about every episode of “The A-Team”, Hannibal would utter the words, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

While a bit scatter brained, the strategy “The A-Team” used, generally worked.  While not a life or death situation and not a prime-time drama, your business or non-profit needs  a Facebook plan.  If you are starting a Facebook page for the first time, or revising your Facebook presence, a good Facebook Plan should include the following:

Plan your Content - what do you have to share with others which reinforces your brand or message?  Posts should be a combination of photos, videos, ask questions, links of interest.  Remember, each post should be designed to elicit a response, hopefully resulting in a “Like”, or “Share”.

Plan your page Design - consider porting over the look, colors, design and logos from your website.  Take advantage of applications.  Your brand should be represented in your Facebook pages’ design too.

Plan your Goals & Measurement - who/what are your target audiences?  What is the best time to reach them and get them to  “like” your page, comment on posts and share with others.   A smaller group of of passionate customers or advocates who “like” your page is more important that a large number of people who “like” your page but don’t interact.  Quality counts.

Remember Facebook Insights can be a great tool for measuring and looking at the demographics of your “likes”.  Insights will tell you the who/what/how often people are interacting with you.  Are these the people you want/need to make your page successful?

Conversion Plan - once they “like” you, what are you going to do with these people, what do you have to offer?  Do you need them to buy your product, advocate for your cause, sign up for a newsletter?  Build these goals into your “Design” and “Content” plans.

Have fun with Facebook, but as Mr. T would say, be smart about it.  Make a plan.  “Don’t be a fool.”