Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing

Loose Lips Sink Ships: Be Careful What You Post on the Web

Phyllis Zimbler Miller — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:03:55 +0000

The article “Technology’s Hidden Dangers” by Norman Friedman in the May 2012 U.S. Naval Institute’s monthly magazine Proceedings may be a somewhat extreme example of a technology misdeed, but this can serve as a warning to all of us to think before we post:

A recent incident in Afghanistan illuminates a military aspect of the new world of integrated electronics, as exemplified by smart phones.

Integration means that formerly disparate functions, such as those of a camera, phone, and Internet access, are combined seamlessly in a single device so one can feed off the others.

In this case, four new attack helicopters were delivered to a U.S. base, the location of which had apparently been unknown to the enemy. Soldiers there photographed them and put the photos on the Internet, presumably using a social medium such as Facebook.

Not long afterward the helicopters were all destroyed by a Taliban mortar attack. The base was secret, and it was unlikely that Afghan agents had tipped off the Taliban. What happened?

The answer involves the fact that pictures taken by smart phones are automatically tagged with GPS locations. Hence the revealing of the secret base.

Call to action:

What are you revealing by uploading photos taken by a smart phone to Facebook? Or do you already allow social media sites to geotag your updates?

Carefully consider whether you really want to automatically reveal where you are via your social media activities.

And also think before you post anything – it is smarter not to push “send” until you read over what you just typed and are sure about posting it.

The reputation you want to save is your own (not to mention your own safety).

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which helps clients with effectively using social media to connect with prospective target audiences.

Visit her author site www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com to find out about the three-book series HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND BEYOND COLLEGE.

General Motors Does Not Understand Social Media

Phyllis Zimbler Miller — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:47:25 +0000

The Facebook IPO is producing a large number of news stories, including how General Motors plans to stop paying for Facebook ads.

Rolfe Winkler in his May 17th Wall Street Journal article “Three Fears for Facebook as IPO Approaches” really hit the proverbial nail on the head.

He points out that GM in 2011 spent only $10 million of its $1.8 billion U.S. ad budget on advertising on Facebook.

Now here is Winkler’s truly pertinent comment:

And that it was seeing poor results may have been mostly its own fault. The posts on GM’s Facebook page, from which its ads would have been drawn, don’t seem particularly compelling.

There is this from April 1: “Happy April Fools’ Day everyone! What’s the best prank you’ve pulled?” It isn’t clear how that would help sell cars.

This GM comment is unbelievable! With all the history of GM and the interesting components of making its cars today – info that car fans would surely enjoy – this is what GM posts?

Winkler goes on to say:

GM will likely have to figure out Facebook at some point. Considering that roughly 13% of the world’s population is an active user of Facebook, it is hard to see how advertisers can avoid it.

Figuring out Facebook for brands or people is not that difficult if one understands how to be social in the context of what one is about. (Winkler says: “Ford, for example, says Facebook advertising works great.”)

What can we learn from GM’s cluelessness?

Whether you have a $1.8 billion U.S. ad budget or no ad budget, taking the time to understand effective participation on social media is important.

(On the other hand, at least it does not appear any GM top execs have gotten fired for inappropriate use of social media as did the CFO of fashion retailer Francesca’s Holdings Corp.)

Bottom line? Social media can be very effective – whether paid or free – if it is used strategically for one’s brand, business, book or cause. Learn how to use it effectively so you do not lose out to your competition.

Visit her author site www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com to find out about the three-book series HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND BEYOND COLLEGE.

How Much Common Sense Do You Need to Participate on Social Media?

Phyllis Zimbler Miller — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:36:16 +0000

The May 14th Wall Street Journal article “Facebook and Twitter Postings Cost CFO His Job” by Rachel Emma Silverman is a mind-blower:

Gene Morphis, chief financial officer of fashion retailer Francesca’s Holdings Corp., was fired because he “improperly communicated company information through social media.”

The article reported that his Twitter username is @theoldcfo and gave as an example of his tweets one that he tweeted on March 6: “Dinner w/Board tonite. Used to be fun. Now one must be on guard every second.”

As the saying goes, how dumb do you have to be? You are the CFO of a company, presumably trusted with the company’s funds, and you do not know enough not to tweet this?

The mistake by Morphis is not an example of not knowing the difference between private and personal. This is an example of not understanding what you do not disclose about your employer (or your business).

Social media should not be blamed for Morphis’ stupidity. That blame rests solely on Morphis’ own shoulders.

And while Morphis was appropriately fired, his stupidity should be a wake-up call for all of us to examine what we share on social media sites.

If you need help with knowing what not to share, here is the full-page warning posted at the beginning of all three books in my new series HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND BEYOND:

WARNING – READ THIS RIGHT NOW TO SAVE YOURSELF FROM MAJOR MISTAKES

No matter what – NEVER, EVER, EVER put anything online that could damage your future.

And NEVER believe that privacy controls will protect you. Even if you think no one except yourself can see that nude picture of you, do NOT put it online.

While I am a huge advocate of effectively using social media for your goals in life, I also know that sharing inappropriate information, photos or videos can really hurt you.

In case you are unsure what could be harmful to your college applications or beyond – here is a partial list:

Photos or videos of yourself with beer, alcohol or controlled substances in your hands

Photos or videos of yourself in lewd (or no) clothing

Photos or videos of yourself making vulgar hand gestures

Comments or videos with R-rated swear words

Hurtful comments or videos about others

Photos and comments can live on the Internet forever even if you have deleted these. Please do NOT shoot yourself in the foot by putting inappropriate photos, videos or comments online.

While the above tweet by Morphis can probably be included in the “hurtful comments” category, we will create another one just for him:

Anything that you should know better than to say publicly about your company or your business

After all, how much common sense is required to know this?

Visit her author site www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com to find out about the three-book series HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND BEYOND COLLEGE.

Tips About Using Facebook More Effectively

Phyllis Zimbler Miller — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:38:49 +0000

As Facebook continually makes changes – adding features and taking away features, it can sometimes be difficult to do even “simple” things you have done before.

For example, I really liked the way previously I could choose to participate on Facebook in the name of a Page of which I am an admin. Now I have to do this one of two different ways, depending on which Page I want to participate as.

If I want to function as a Page that I “own” (set up via my own Facebook profile account), I can simply click on the little dropdown arrow next to the “Home” on the top nav bar. Then I can choose to “Use Facebook as:” and click on the Page name.

But, if I am admin of a Page set up through a client’s Facebook profile account, I have to:

1. Start from my own profile

2. Go to Page that I want to participate on Facebook as

3. Click on “Manage Page”

4. Click on “Use Facebook as [name of Page]”

On the other hand, here is a new feature that I learned about from Facebook guru Mari Smith:

When you are on your newsfeed for your profile (the “Home” locale), look down on the left-hand side of the screen and click on the dropdown arrow next to “More.”

You will then see the heading “Interests” and you can click on “Add Interests” to come to www.facebook.com/addlist/ where you can “subscribe to interest lists or create your own.”

What I found most interesting is that a list can contain people and Pages. Of course, you can choose “public,” “friends” or “only me” for who can see the list.

(Remember, though, nothing online is ever truly private. I would highly recommend NOT creating a private list that, if it became public, could embarrass you.)

For an example of a list, see Mari Smith’s “Facebook Experts and Resources” at www.facebook.com/lists/10150585382860868

And, finally, I want to give a shoutout to the thumbnail images that Yael created for my three Amazon country stores on my author Facebook Page – see these now at www.facebook.com/PhyllisZimblerMillerauthor

(I did have to remember to go back to the Amazon U.S. store app and manually add the just-released paperback format of HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE because the Amazon store app on Facebook will not automatically update.)

Phyllis is also the author of fiction and nonfiction books and ebooks. For more info see www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com

Amazon Opportunities for Book Authors

Phyllis Zimbler Miller — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:10:21 +0000

I have been working on marketing self-published books and ebooks, and here are some often overlooked Amazon opportunities:

Amazon store on a Facebook Page:

You can have an Amazon store on your Facebook Page. (See the Phyllis Zimbler Miller author Facebook Page Amazon store as an example.) Kudos go to Yael K. Miller for figuring out how to do this.

The basic steps are:

1. Sign up for an Amazon associate account — https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

2. Go to Associates Central — https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/network/main.html

3. On nav bar – click “aStore”

4. Click on “Add a Category Page”

5. Change category name, such as to: My Books on Amazon

6. “Add products” (you can rearrange the order manually)

7. The return to “Create aStore Pages” and click “Continue” to “Color and Design” to choose options for your Amazon store.

8. Click “Continue” to “Sidebar Widgets” and choose your options.

9. Click “Finish & Get Link” and choose “Embed my store using an inline frame”

10. Then copy link (change width to 100%) and go to your Facebook Page and use the “Static HTML: iFrame Tabs” app to create a customized Facebook Page tab.

Adding a book or ebook to your Amazon Author Central account:

As you add books on Amazon – whether physical or in the Kindle format – you must tell Amazon that these are your books.

You need to go to https://authorcentral.amazon.com and “Add a book to your bibliography” and claim the book as yours.

While the book may be added, what may not happen automatically is that, if you are adding a Kindle edition after the physical book is on Amazon (or the other way round), these two formats may not automatically be linked.

I learned about this issue when my father asked why his second book of short stories – BLOSSOM WINTERS IS DRIVING ON THE LOS ANGELES FREEWAYS AND OTHER SHORT STORIES – did not show both formats in one listing as Amazon did for his first book of short stories – THE LOVE LIFE OF HOWARD HANDSOME AND OTHER SHORT STORIES.

The answer is that often an author must contact Author Central to ask that this be done, and it can take one to three days to show on Amazon after the request is made. (This is especially important in order to ensure that the reviews of the same book are shared between both formats.)

Plus you want to check that all your books on Amazon, whether physical or ebook, have the “Look Inside” feature. (You can contact the Amazon team responsible for this at insidethebook-submission@amazon.com )

And then there is Amazon Studios, as Amazon has now entered the film business and screenwriters can upload their screenplays after carefully reading and considering the agreement.

(If you are interested in reading screenplays, check out my screenplays that you can download for free at Amazon studios.)

CreateSpace Kindle conversion note:

I had learned that $69 was the base price for a Kindle conversion by Amazon’s POD publisher CreateSpace of a book published in physical format via CreateSpace. I then asked for a quote for conversion of Shirley Windward’s THE EDNALOR MYSTERIES and was given the price of $165.

When I asked why so much higher, I was told by a support rep:

All books with a trim size that exceed 7 x 10 are considered a complex conversion and require more time for our Kindle Conversion team to perform the necessary steps to adapt your book to Kindle compatible format.

If you are publishing a book through CreateSpace and deciding on the trim size, keep this information in mind. You may want to choose a size smaller than 7 x 10 if you plan to have CreateSpace do the Kindle conversion.

And please add in the comments below any other Amazon opportunities for authors that may not be well-known.

UPDATE: Book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri reported in her May 10th ezine: “The #1 Facebook App for Authors is Now Free!” I just tried it out and it is truly easy. Get the app at https://apps.facebook.com/authorapp/?ref=ts

Phyllis is also the author of books and ebooks, including the new HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE. Learn about her books at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com