Friday Facts: How Small Businesses Can Leverage Pinterest

Today's link comes from a tip from LinkedIn which then took me to this article on Pinterest.  It has some useful tips that you can use to improve your small business' impact on Pinterest.  Produced by the Business2Community site and written by Harsh Ajmera, take a couple minutes to read the article, found here:  http://www.business2community.com/small-business/small-businesses-can-leverage-pinterest-effectively-0823034#!CKqYS

As always, if you see any good articles we can link on Fridays, please don't hesitate to leave them in replies to this thread or future posts.

Also, our First Friday post is a bit delayed.  It will be out later this afternoon.  enjoy!

Wednesday Words: Direct Messaging (DM)

DM, or Direct Message, is terminology associated with Twitter.  It's a way to send someone a private, direct message, that is only viewable by that person, instead of publicly viewable when you write a tweet with @Theirname in it.

Some people will accept direct messages from anyone, others require direct messages be from people they follow and follow them back.

Be careful with direct messages though.  Often times, when twitter accounts are hacked, they will direct message everyone that can accept direct messages with a fake message and a link.  The link will look like Twitter and want you to sign in again - don't do it.  This is how they get your password then use it to spam your account.

Direct messages are a great way to communicate briefly about projects.  If more in-depth explanations are needed, stick to Facebook chat, email or other methods.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media.  These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media.   You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Be Transparent, But Not Too Transparent

In this day and age, transparency seems to be the "in" and "good" thing, but there is also a problem of being -too- transparent.

Don't make the mistake of being too transparent and posting complaints about customers, about service providers or about how something/someone/anything sucks.  What you post on social media stays around forever - even after you edit it or delete it, it can - and most likely will - come back to haunt you.

Remember, as a company, your social media page should be positive.  Keep the negativity out of it, otherwise you will lose people you want to keep.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Facebook News: Top 5 Questions about the Update to Pages

Facebook is making another change to how pages are laid out - just like your Timeline and news feed has recently changed look.  The business side of Facebook has released a useful Top 5 Questions about the changes.

The questions (and answers) include:

1. What information will appear in the left-side column of my Page?
2. Where will my apps appear?
3. Where can I view messages?
4. Will other Pages know I’ve added them to my Pages to Watch list?
5. When will I have access to the updated design for Pages?

Check out all of the available information here.

The Monday Search: Job Listings Current as of 3/31/2014

There are many jobs available out there for people knowledgeable about Social Media, but sometimes finding the job isn't easy.

Don't worry! Each week (when I have time) I will be featuring 3-5 jobs currently available as of Monday.  Additional sites will be linked at the very bottom of the article and listed as sources.  Other sites may be listed as well.

Sears Holdings is looking for a social media manager in Illinois.

The Manager, Social Media is responsible for the social networking strategy for Sears Holdings’ loyalty program, Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR). This position is responsible for the constantly changing trends in social media and social networking. This position utilizes social networking technology, new media and online community resources to promote Shop Your Way Rewards to an expanding audience. This position drives the success of social networking objectives, strategies, products, etc. through effective marketing planning, implementation, and constant assessment of impact.

For more information: http://jobs.sears.com/career/267326/Social-Media-Manager-Illinois-Il-Hoffman-Estates

Ebay is also seeking a Senior Social Media Manager for its subsidiary, PayPal, in San Jose, Calif.

PayPal is seeking a strategic Senior Social Media Manager for special projects and global campaigns. This individual will be reporting to a Senior Director, Social Media and be responsible for taking campaigns created in North America and packaging them for local markets worldwide.

Unfortunately, the page was formatted funky so it made it difficult to import requirements to this page.  You can find more information on the opening here: https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWEbHost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=13746&siteid=195&Areq=96062BR&id=2044565-1818-220

Ralph Lauren is seeking a social media manager for their New York City location.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Actively participates in a wide variety of social media activities such as blogging, community development and management, social bookmarking
• Participate in minute-by-minute on line conversations by answering questions, and offering solutions
• Content creation - writing blog posts, articles, newsletters, communications materials, and material for social media channels
• Social media marketing - creating, managing and growing the company's presence through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other strategically relevant online properties
• Events and event planning - attending industry events in your city (often outside of 9-5 hours) and planning meetups for your community
• Public relations - (note: some companies may have devoted PR departments so this may not be relevant) managing incoming media requests and building relationships with industry journalists; creating, executing and measuring media campaigns
• Customer relations - the Community Manager is often responsible for customer support - answering questions however they come in (phone, e-mail, Twitter)
• Communications/marketing strategy - the Community Manager is responsible for creating strategic marketing/communications plans to provide direction for the company's public-facing communications
• Analytics - Using Google Analytics and other measurement tools to provide reports on metrics, and continually find ways to improve on those metrics through testing and new initiatives
• Produce community management guidelines and documents that reflects the holistic understanding and implementation of the role of social media and its effects.

QUALIFICTAIONS

• Bachelor's  degree
• Strong writing skills - a background in journalism or experience with writing
• Strong verbal and presentation skills
• HTML or CSS knowledge
• 2 to 3 years of experience managing social media platforms or communities for brands (Twiiter and Facebook..)
• Ability to work some evenings and weekends, and responding to community members outside of work hours
• Strong time management skills, ability to multitask, intelligence
• Prior PR experience, advertising or online marketing
• Passionate about the RL brand

More information: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/jobview.asp?joid=163179&c=jfbatl

Other listings:

• Media Bistro Job Listings (note not all the jobs listed here are social media positions):  http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/?c=stnav
• LinkedIn Social Media Job Listings:  http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-manager-jobs  and  http://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/j?keywords=socialmedia+manager  or  http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-marketing-jobs or http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-strategist-jobs
• CareerBuilder: http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobs/Keyword/Social-Media-Manager/
• Indeed.com: http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Social-media
• Simply Hired: http://www.simplyhired.com/k-social-media-jobs.html
• Social Media.org's Big List of Openings: http://www.socialmedia.org/blog/social-media-job-openings-and-new-hires-at-meijer-the-clorox-company-ralph-lauren-and-more/

The Monday Search is a brief listing of jobs available for those in the social media marketing field.  All jobs are found through internet searches and are just featured because they are of interest to me.  Monday Searches will contain links to sites with other job listings in addition to the ones listed here.