Improve Your Facebook Postings, Part 2

Mashable says that keeping an up-to-date social media presence is key to promoting a brand image. At our Long Island Public Relations firm, we encourage our clients to create a Facebook page for their business. As part of our services, Epoch 5 manages consistent, relevant updates and posts for your brand. 

Below are five more tips that Mashable suggests:  

6.  Ask Questions and Involve Your Fans
Ask them a question or for their opinion. The more questions - the more participation you will receive.

7.  Watch Your Post Frequency and Timing
Don’t overwhelm your fans with too many posts. Keep the posting to just once or twice a day to begin. Also, pay attention to when you post. Many people catch up on Facebook at the end of the day and during the weekends. Be patient and monitor activity. 

8.  Have a Unique Voice
Maintain a consistent brand voice. Find a voice and tone that represents your brand.

9.       Diversify your Content
Change up your content now and then. I.e.: Adding How-To’s, Trivia, Breaking News, Polls, Fill in the blanks etc.

10.    Track the Performance of Your Posts
Watch for numbers of likes, comments, and posts. Pay attention your trends and feedback to keep up with your Facebook strategy. Knowledge is power!

For more tips or questions about Epoch 5’s Services, please visit www.epoch5.com .

Elizabeth Taylor’s life offers many PR lessons

Liz Taylor lived much of her 79 years before the public eye on the screen and in the newspapers.  So, it’s not surprising that we can learn lessons in public relations and reputation management from her.

A Hollywood starlet of the old-time studio PR machine, she became her own brand.  Fueled by almost constant publicity, that brand served her well as a businesswoman, long after her acting days were over. With the PR value of her name and the glamour it portrayed, her brand was embodied by the fragrance line, White Diamonds and Passions, which rewarded her with an estate estimated in the hundreds of millions -- more income than she earned in all the years she appeared on screen. 

At Epoch 5 Public Relations, our Long Island public relations firm, we tell our clients that long-term PR that builds a reputation has to be grounded in substance.  Liz Taylor certainly had substance -- with two Oscars to her credit, courageous support for AIDS when few others dared even talk about it and her open admissions about battles with substance abuse. 

She was deservedly a person who women admired and men adored. These are the enduring memories of Elizabeth Taylor, not her multiple marriages, 69-carat diamond ring and addictions that fed the Hollywood tabloid tattle machine.

Improve Your Facebook Postings!

The higher up in your News Feed, the better! 

Mashable explains that keeping an up-to-date social media presence is key to a brands image. But – Just because you’re posting on your Facebook Wall, doesn’t mean the content is relevant. The most recent and relevant activity on any Facebook profile or Fan Page that you follow is listed at the top of the News Feed, which is your home page. 

At our Long Island Public Relations firm, we help manage and post on our clients’ Facebook walls. Epoch 5 serves as an administrator to help maintain consistent, relevant updates for your brand, as one of our services.

Below are the top 5 ways to optimize ways to enhance your Facebook News Feed ranking:

1.  Don’t Automate Your Status Updates

Don’t automatically feed your blog posts or your Twitter updates into your Page. Automated content doesn’t make it into News Feeds.

2.  Show You’re Human

Thank your fans for their replies, sharing their opinions and stories with you, wish them happy holidays, and be more communicative with them.

3.  Post More Photos and Videos

Videos and photos perform well on Facebook. They get into News Feeds and they grab people’s attention. Users choose to watch more than they read.

4.  Put Your Fans In Charge Every Now and Then

Post a question for a fan’s opinion – crowd source! This provides a sense of value and voice for your consumer and some of their decisions might help you in the long run.

5.  Target Your Status Update

Make good use of targeting. Be sure to set status settings for targeting by city/state or by country (for international companies) so that the message gets to the appropriate consumer.

Start using these tips and visit www.epoch5.com for further information and services.

Going green is good PR

Going green is good public relations.  Just ask Walmart, which found a clever way to “Save Money, Live Better” that doesn’t just echo the mega-retailer’s tag line.  Walmart recently reported that its California operations eliminated more than 80 percent of its waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. The comprehensive waste reduction program is now being implemented across Walmart's 4,400 stores, Sam's Club locations and distribution centers in the U.S., moving it closer to its global goal of creating zero waste.

Public Relations experts agree that recycling and other acts of commitment to the community can help you win customers and positively influence public perception of your company. Our Long Island public relations firm, Epoch 5 Public Relations, helps our clients implement giving back programs that do good, both for the community and the client. A business does not have to be as big as Walmart to practice good corporate citizenship, and small acts can speak volumes.

Springtime brings a host of opportunities to volunteer for a charitable organization.  Many not-for profits hold walks to benefit their cause, and a local business can sponsor a walk, or form a walking team, for example. Epoch 5 PR formed a team such for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Walk MS on Long Island. Or you can volunteer your group to help out at a local soup kitchen, or at a Habitat for Humanity building project. Helping those in need is a great team-building activity. 

You depend on the larger community for your business.  Giving back to that community should be a part of every business plan.

The People Of Japan Need Our Help

Here’s how you can help support relief efforts by the simple click of your mouse on your favorite social media website, or even a quick text from your mobile phone.

Japan Earthquake: 7 High-Tech Ways to Help

Apple, LivingSocial, Zynga Use Social Media, Tech to Support Relief Efforts

In the aftermath of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, technology companies across the Web are stepping up to support relief efforts in the area. Through gaming, texting, tweeting, Facebooking and more, small start-ups and tech giants alike are partnering with non-profit organizations to give people simple, high-tech ways to contribute to the cause.If you're looking for a digital way to donate to the earthquake relief efforts in Japan, take a look below...

ABC News - Japan Earthquake: 7 High Tech Ways To Help

Japanese Earthquake Shows Social Media as a Lifeline in Disasters

The first images to emerge within minutes of our world’s most recent natural disasters, first in Haiti and now in Japan, are eyewitness photos and videos delivered to the world via social networking sites, well ahead of most cable and wire news services and public relations agencies.  Eyewitness accounts delivered for the people, by the people on Internet sites like Twitter and Facebook, experiencing the destruction and devastation first hand.

But what is even more amazing is not just the delivery of the news about the damage and requests for assistance, but for Epoch 5 Public Relations, our Long Island Public Relations firm, is the exchange of valuable information and immediate response for those in need.  Google, for example, is offering a Person Finder service following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Google Person Finder has previously been used to help people get in touch with old friends and family, and has now become a focal point and vital directory and message board for victims, friends, family and aid agencies unable to get in contact with or physically reach others, with meaningful information gathered in one place – a valuable solution for crisis management.  Social communications like Twitter and social networking sites like Facebook are at their best when big news is breaking.  Facebook pages like Japan Earthquake formed to offer people’s outpouring of support, links and sites on how people can help.  

Social media has swiftly become a lifeline in times of disaster and while many believe technology to isolate us from our fellow beings, is now unifying us as humans, helping to display our altruism and empathy for others in times of need. 

Does Social Media Sell Stuff?

You bet — studies show that consumers buy the brands they follow on social media. Digiday:Daily recently reported that according to a recent Comscore report, nearly one in four Twitter users (there are 15 million active accounts) follow businesses to find special deals, promotions, or sales. The story is much the same on Facebook: A study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that people are 67 percent more likely to purchase products from brands they follow on Twitter and 51 percent more likely to do so if they follow a brand on Facebook. In fact, 53 percent of retail transactions involving Facebook directly convert from Facebook to checkout  per Efficient Frontier...

Charlie Sheen: Public Relations Disaster or Master of Reputation Management?

Is Charlie Sheen a PR genius…or a PR nightmare?  Ask a reputation management expert and he’ll likely say Sheen has driven his career into a ditch.  Epoch 5 Public Relations, our Long Island public relations firm, would likely prescribe a strong dose of crisis management.   

But, ask a branding expert and, guess what…she’ll likely say that all the “made for You Tube” publicity surrounding the Two and a Half Men star’s outrageous behavior and obtuse pronouncements have boosted his stock as a TV sitcom actor.    

Notwithstanding the theories about what may be driving Sheen’s crazy antics and mangled metaphors, it’s hard to mistake his insistence on burnishing his unique identity. Do you have any doubt that he believes it when he says, “I am on a drug…it’s called Charlie Sheen”?  Try explaining that one, People magazine and TMZ.

While some media outlets may have hurried to complete his obituary – Slate having even called his routine “suicide by camera” -- let’s not forget how many heroes, celebrities and other Page Six notables have hit bottom only to climb back on top.  For Sheen, you don’t imagine him welcoming a high-priced public relations consultant for an image makeover.

Even if you’re as baffled as we are by his “winning” mantra, you have to be impressed with his consistent messaging, as in his “defeat is not an option” Tweets.  You’d be pushing your luck to bet against someone so seemingly masterful with the media.