It seems like those Facebook like buttons are everywhere. But when you add a “like” button to a page of your site, what actually happens?

I think many, many people assume that someone is liking your Facebook page, but this is not always the case. And more importantly, this may not be what you actually want everyone to do.

Let me spell out some of the details behind those buttons.

Like Us on Facebook

When Facebook introduced fan pages or business pages, it gave businesses the ability to create a page for themselves that was separate from personal Facebook pages. These pages are different from personal pages because it is a one-way, rather than two-way interaction.

With personal Facebook pages, you request to be someone’s friend and then they confirm the request. When you like a Facebook page, there is no confirmation; you’re in. Once you have liked a page, news from that page should end up in your news feed.

I am surprised when people, who use Facebook for business connections, post political items. Is it a bad branding decision to “like” a presidential candidate?

Peter Shankman recently spoke a Social Media Breakfast Maine. His actions on stage and off made an impression, and shows how he upholds his personal brand.

I’ve done a number of presentations about social media and branding, and one question I usually get is how do you find time to keep up with social media. It can be a struggle to figure out how to have meaningful interactions on social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter without it sucking up all your time. Making time and space for social media As a designer, I also see another potential “suck” of social media. The fact that small businesses need to throw a large number of social media icons and contact info into everything from their web site to their print ads or other marketing materials. Yesterday, I was listening to the radio and heard an ad for a local garden shop. Out of the 30 seconds, a full one third of the time was getting out all their contact information. It started with their physical address and phone number, then went on to the URL of  Continue Reading »

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