The Tin Shingle Blog

Facebook has been making changes to the way regular people and business use it, and they've been making them fast. More and more people are using Facebook for personal reasons, and businesses know that, so have been clamoring to get in front of their customers. Facebook has been watching how businesses are using it, as well as how regular people have been reacting, and have made changes to help the experience overall.

We asked the pros over at SocialBees to break down the changes Facebook made to business pages. SocialBees design Facebook pages for businesses, so we knew they would have a great understanding of the changes, and how they affect you.

Thank you Thomas Evans, VP of Operations at Socialbees, for contributing this article to our blog!

While it is taking many businesses owners time to get used to the changes Facebook recently rolled out for Pages, the changes provide some exciting new opportunities for Page owners.  Let's start with the basics:

PAGES LAYOUT LOOKS LIKE YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE LAYOUT, WITH A TWIST
1. The first change you will notice is that the style of the Pages is now very similar to personal profiles (which also changed recently, as you may remember). The tabs are no longer featured at the top of the page, and have been replaced by a navigation section on the left side. Don't worry, all of your custom Facebook tabs and landing pages are still featured, they will now just be accessed from the new navigation area.

2. The other main layout change is the addition of a line of photos that is displayed for all visitors, just like the new personal profiles.

3. Finally, instead of showing the posts in chronological order, they now are sorted using similar algorithm that the Home Page' Top News feed does.

POSTING ABILITY
And now for the fun stuff. Administrators of Facebook Pages now have the ability to post comments as either themselves, or as the brand, company or page that they are representing. Basically, you can now browse through Facebook as your Page. This is critical as it provides the opportunity to form and strengthen personal relationships as your brand, which is one of the main goals of using Social Media. You can now visit other pages as your page, and like them and comment on their posts. You can even interact with public personal Facebook profiles as your page. To access this, simply find the 'Account' settings at the top right of the page, and select "Use Facebook as Page."

NOTIFICATIONS
Once you have switched to the new Facebook Page layout (all pages will automatically be switched in March 2011) you will probably start to see a lot more activity in your notifications. There are many instances when page owners simply forget to check if anyone has commented on their wall, now, you can get individual notifications for each of your pages to ensure that no fan goes neglected. You also have the option to receive email alerts each time a comment is posted.

When Facebook changed the layout of personal pages, there were a lot of complaints and users did not see the point of making the changes. While this may be the case again for Facebook Pages, users will learn to appreciate and utilize the new features as they are significant improvements to the Facebook Pages experience.

Growing up, if we ever used the word hate (for example, "I hate Susie Snowflakes" or "I hate Mrs. Third Grade Teacher for reprimanding me") it was nearly akin to swearing.  Hate is a powerful word, feeling and concept.  To this day I try to keep the word and concept out of my vocabulary, but lately it seeped into conversations again as I heard from more than one business owner about the "haters out there" knocking their businesses, ideas, writing, success - you name it.

Often as entrepreneurs we have to toot our own horn - a lot - as we're the ones steering and powering our own ships.  Often we march to the beat of our own drummers, as it's this beat that beckoned us to leave the "normal" work week and venture into the unknown, to launch our own venture.  This same part of us that leads us to exciting and great things, also often leads to "haters".  Whether from jealousy, misunderstanding, not understanding, ignorance or their own unhappiness, it's rare that success isn't accompanied by not so nice messages or conversations whispered about you, that are often relayed to you through the grapevine. 

There has not been one client we've ever worked with over at Red Branch PR who, when beginning to experience a moderate to higher level of success, hasn't come to us lamenting about former friends and even family who begin to complain about their job, their "new personality", the entrepreneur's lack of time for others, accusations of "developing an ego" or even having people who don't know them or what they do attack them for one reason or another.

So what do we do?  How do we respond?  Interestingly enough two conversations popped up in my day today that addressed just that, and I'm going to share them with you. 

The first is from Kiri Blakeley, writer for Forbes and author of Can’t Think Straight: A Memoir of Mixed Up Love, who has been experiencing this type of hate first hand ever since her memoir became a hot topic in the press, and she wrote about it for Forbes.  Though outlets from the Today Show to AOL to Joy Behar were kind, Kiri was labeled "really dumb" by a blogger, a "slut" by the Library Journal (Sabina's note: can you believe people think that is appropriate?!) Even her next-door neighbor turned on her.  Kiri reflected on this, and the thought process that got her out of feeling bad about, well, feeling hated in THIS article.  She actually pulls from Kurt Cobain for her lesson, which in her own words can be summarized as "... I’d rather be hated for what I am than loved for what I’m not."  I agree Kiri!

The second answer to this common quandry came to me from one of my favorite entrepreneur's, Russell Simmons, by way of my business partner.  In his autobiography Russell talks about all the people who have talked negatively about him throughout his career which he sums up in his lessons with the advice, "Let your haters be your best PR".  Amen to that!  When they're busy talking about you to anyone who will listen, your "haters" are saying:  This person is worth talking about (a lot) and here is what they are doing XYZ".  The more they talk the more people will hear your name and what you're up to, and if they are worth it they will be able to assess your character, product, idea or service on their own!

We all hope that as we travel along our entrepreneurial journey, the marathon race that is small business, we'll be flanked by positive encouragement and support but at times that won't always be the case. Hopefully when those moments do pop up you'll remember what Kiri, Kurt and Russell remind us of and let it fall by the wayside.  You have no time for that hate anyways!

Peg Samuel is the Diva in Social Diva, a go-to resource for all of your social needs, providing you with exclusive invitations to events, VIP access and Diva deals.  Peg is an international author of the book, “How to be a Social Diva” and has been been featured on E! News, MSNBC, Entrepreneur Magazine, Richard & Judy Show (UK), AM New York, and Good Morning New York, just to name drop a few.

And most hotly, Peg is NYC's newest diva DJ, and just released her latest album, Strictly Social Diva Exclusive Remix. In the Diva's own words: "You gotta get on board and get the hottest remix out there! As if you even need to ask. You’ll can go have a listen, of course."

The iTunes exclusive debut of the second Strictly Social Diva digital comp – SocialDiva's release with top dance label Strictly Rhythm, remixed by The Wizard Brian Coxx.

Soulful, sexy and beautiful house tracks. The song titles aren’t called “Something (So Good)” and “Love Sweet Sound” for nothing. Translation: they’re Strictly the most diva-worthy grooves and an essential addition for any dance collection.

Yes, you “hot” to buy a copy.

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I was honored and excited to find out that I was going to speak as part of Tory Johnson's Spark & Hustle National Tour this March when it stops in NYC.  As you may know, I'm believe firmly that understanding and mastering the art of Do It Yourself PR is one of the most powerful tools a small business or entrepreneur can possess. 

Well here's a confession: I pride myself at being quite able to create strategic and to-the-point pitches for brands on a regular basis, yet today I was met with a request that had me stumped for longer than I thought it would...Tory's team at S & H asked for my headshot and a three sentence biography.  THREE SENTENCES?  For some reason I could not find three sentences that summarized everything I did and felt about entrepreneurship, PR and my role with small businesses as a whole.

While working on it I began to wonder.....can all of you tell your story in three sentences?  Sure we talk a lot about elevator pitches, but these often focus on our business and our products/services.  Can you do an elevator pitch about yourself?  I'm guessing some of you can as you use it on a regular basis at parties, networking events and in press interviews. I am also guessing a lot of you cannot as you're often so focused on pitching your brands you forget about the brand that is YOU.

So this week I challenge you to create a three sentence bio for yourself.  Find one that really captures brand "you", and try to use it when you're out and about in the future.  I'd love to hear what you come up with, and will feature some in an upcoming blog if you send them in!

Also, should you want to join us at Spark & Hustle this March in NYC (or anywhere on their national tour) you can check out their website HERE and if you are a Tin Shingle member you can take advantage of some great discounts & deals from Tory and her team HERE.