Facebook fan/business pages are dead unless you pay to advertise

September 13, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Zero people saw this Facebook post!

or this one, 3.8.16

That’s it. I’m calling it. I’ve been saying this ever since Facebook changed it’s algorithm after going public. And now the results of posting on a fan page have dropped to a point I didn’t think was possible. Here’s more proof. If you have the time and money to advertise on your fan page you may get more engagement/sales/attention/etc. But for the time being, organic reach has disappeared. These pages are great as yellow pages ads, though.

If you’ve got a great following – you’re getting tons of natural engagement because you have a fun following – for example, Keep Portland Weird has a page that regularly gets their posts shared like crazy. They are probably a perfect fit for Facebook. But for small businesses, I think it’s now a waste of time to post on your page.

This is why I’m continuing to place more and more of my time and effort into email marketing. I wrote about this decision a little while ago, here.

Though I’m down on business pages, I still think Facebook is good for a few things. It’s an excellent networking tool. Here are 5 Facebook Surprises.

Public Speaking

September 8, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Public Speaking @ the PABA Chamber in Portland 9.9.15

I’m excited to being speaking on how to get started with email marketing on September 9th before the PABA (Portland Area Business Association) Chamber in Portland, Oregon’s September Luncheon. It’s at the Hotel Rose. I’ve been using on-line marketing tools for 8 years now, and the longer I do, the more I’m convinced that email marketing, using Constant Contact, is a good place to put one’s resources. When I first started teaching Facebook classes out of my living room, social media was all the rage. People were excited to use the free tool to invite one another to like pages – and there was a fair bit of usefulness to the process.

As Facebook has gone public the usefulness of having a fan page/business page has plummeted. I talk about this in a recent report I wrote in June tracking these trends. Since then, nothing has changed. If you’re not willing to invest time and money into advertising on social media I wouldn’t bother spending a lot of repeated time on it. Sure, post pictures or videos now and then – some of your fans will see them. But, when you’re looking to actually reach your audience, you’d better be thinking about your email list – building it and using it effectively. And that’s where my topic for tomorrow comes in.

At 43% ROI (Return on Investment), there is nothing like putting your resources into email marketing. Nothing. Not now, not 6 months ago, and my guess is not for a long time to come. So – if you’d like to make a real impact, contact me and let me help you get started down the right path. Put away your Instagram and your Pinterest – unless you’re an ace with these. Pocket the Twitter and Facebook for now – and get behind your email marketing plan. Learn how to build your lists, segment them and reach out to your clients/customers on a regular basis. If you don’t see a change in your bottom line, I’ll be very surprised. And, if I can help you in any way, please let me know! Have a great end of Summer, beginning of Fall!

Sincerely,

Albert Kaufman
Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert and Certified Solution Provider
Portland, Oregon

Filed Under: Public Speaking Tagged With: constant contact, email marketing, getting your point out there, go, learning, public speaking, speaking, teaching

LAST CHANCE to Save 30% on Constant Contact and a Free Subject Line Webinar 9.15.15

August 31, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Constant Contact

Hi there,

I hope you’re having a great Summer. I’ve been having a nice mix of vacation and work and I’m looking forward to helping you and your business thrive this Autumn. If you’d like to get started with the best tool I know of for online marketing, you have until 9pm PST to sign up for a Constant Contact account – the offer is 30% off for the first three months and ends tonight.

In addition to this offer, I will spend at least an hour with you setting up your account – making sure you have a sign-up form on your website and Facebook fan page; helping you upload your email list(s); create a mobile-friendly template, and work with you to get your first email sent! It’s an exciting process that often yields great results the first time you do it. Sometimes the results are not what you expect they’ll be! Clients often write back happy to hear from you. Some unsubscribe. Some share your news with their friends and referral business comes your way. You won’t know what you’re missing until you try it, and I can help make the process easy and effective!

In other news, I’m planning to offer a free webinar on September 15th on the art and science of creating fantastic subject lines. Have a look at this free “headline analyzer” to get a sense of some of the possibilities in this area. When your subject line is improved, your open and click-through rates go up – thus, bringing you more attention and prospective business. I hope you’ll tune in. Everyone who participates will receive a link to a recording of the session and slides, too!

Have a great rest of your Summer and I look forward to hearing how things are going for you and if there’s any way I can support your efforts.

Take care,

Happy Labor Day!

Albert Kaufman

My Summertime Look

Filed Under: Constant Contact Tagged With: constant contact, continuing education, go, go team, marketing, next steps, subject lines, webinar

Online Marketing Checklist

July 21, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Marketing Checklist = Social Media & Email Marketing for Small Businesses

Email Marketing – 43% ROI – most valuable tool out there
Use Constant Contact – https://albertkaufman.constantcontact.com
Consistent Branding
- Stick with 2-4 colors
- 1-2 fonts
Relevant Message – short and Sweet
- Welcome Email: What to expect, how often you send and a special offer
- Newsletters: Blog posts, press releases, events, announcements
- Promotions: New and compelling offers, clear call to action
Consistent “from” name
For mobile-friendly emails (which should be all you do at this point) stick to one column and keep logo left-justified or centered
Contact information in the body of the email
Add in social media links
Clear call to action
Quality photos
- Link your logo/photos back to your website
Links, Links, Links
- Give a short description or teaser line and link the rest of the info.
Join My List button (always!)
Social Share Bar (in header options)
Web page version option (in header options)
White space is your friend!
Use the “Share this email with your friends” option
Be yourself… use conversational text!
Don’t forget the Humor!

Social Media Suggestions

Learn about Hootsuite, Buffer and Sendible (pick one and use it)
- Buffer has a great daily newsletter
Make sure all accounts are filled in
Think about a different voice for each type of account
- LinkedIn – business casual
- Facebook personal page: personal
- Facebook fan/business page: about the business
- Twitter – short and sweet
- Google+ – think about keywords and SEO
- Always be thinking about keywords and SEO 🙂
- Pinterest/Instagram – pictures pictures pictures
Double-check your spelling
Think ahead – editorial calendars are great!
Are there holidays, other events coming up, tomorrow, a year from today!
Follow your competitors – what are they posting?
Err on the side of over-posting – with the new algorithms, it’s likely followers won’t see much of what you post (see why Email Marketing is a preferred way to spend your time/$$$)
Try things – make mistakes
Everyone is learning social media together – no one is an expert – try something clever and your post may go viral
Upload native video to Facebook and elsewhere.
Be prepared in case anything ever does go viral (have all accounts filled in with website URLs – landing pages where you would like people to get to
Think about the what, why, who, kinds of questions often – who am I trying to reach with what message?
What would success look like?
Consider trying FB advertising – boosting posts vs. advertising

Feel free to keep in touch. I love fielding questions about social media and email marketing. Don’t get discouraged – this is a new field and it’s a constant learning curve! Good luck, Albert Kaufman

Filed Under: marketing, Online Marketing Tagged With: constant contact, email marketing, facebook, google+, instagram, linkedin, marketing, marketing checklist, online marketing, pinterest, social media, social media marketing, twitter, what is it good for?

Marriage Equality – Hurrah!

June 26, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Thanks to everyone who has worked long and hard for the right to marry who they wish – it’s been a long struggle.

This one’s for you, Brother Dan!

Celebration Cookies by BakerManDan!

Also great news this week!

Atlanta, GA

Here’s a great, short movie on FB that shows the history of this effort. I’m all about progressive change and I’ll keep working for the rest of my life. Winning one every once in a while helps 🙂

Watch marriage equality come to all 50 states.

Read about it here – Thanks, VOX!

The final two paragraphs of the SCOTUS’s opinion legalizing gay marriage:

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.

It is so ordered.”

Filed Under: marriage equality Tagged With: gay rights, marriage equality, scotus

The Eleven – June 2015: Summertime

June 14, 2015 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

The Eleven

Hello, and welcome to my monthly e-letter, The Eleven. This is where I have shared my latest thinking about the world and my life for the last 8 years. The newsletter goes to about 3,000 people. If this doesn’t interest you, and you’re more interested in my classes and such – please take a moment and update your profile below. Thanks.

Jerry Garcia

Me, thanks to Zen Achilles

I want to talk about the classes I teach for a minute. I started by teaching classes on how to use Facebook in my living room. I loved it – I really have taken to teaching. That led to connecting up with Constant Contact 3 years ago. They like how I teach and brought me into their Authorized Local Expert program. I’m provided with content about email marketing and social media to present locally and via webinars. Generally, the ideas are sound and I add in my own special sauce derived from my personal experience and that of my clients. That has led to me knowing a whole lot about newsletters and other online marketing tools. Here’s my current thinking on the topic.

Please come join me for one of these classes and send your friends to me. Whether this is your world or not, everyone can use new skills and I think you’ll find my presentation style refreshing. Also, my classes offer a safe and easy opportunity to network – they are filled with small business owners who are often looking for people to hire or collaborate with. So, if you’re looking for opportunities; are considering beginning a new venture; or are curious about small business issues, come on down. Also, I have been inviting some really interesting and cool marketers into the mix. For tomorrow’s class – David Baer of Baer on Marketing will be joining me. He’s a driven and exciting guy – and makes Facebook marketing a lot clearer. Later in the month I’ll be joined by Tshombe Brown, an inspiring coach and speaker.

Music break: Click on the title above for a taste of what the Grateful Dead were doing 50 years ago. And will do again in a few weeks in their fare thee well tour. My dentist is going. My best friend from college is going. Due to climate change and ears that don’t love flying, I didn’t try for tickets, but I hope to watch some of the action via pay-per-view in Portlandia. This may also have to do with my Early Onset Grumpiness.

Life continues to be interesting. The other day my friend, James Curtis, sent me this beautiful mandolin. I’m loving playing it – click on the pic to learn more about this master luthier!

Personal News: I’ve been off sugar (mostly) for the past month. That’s led to some weight loss, and Eecole tells me my body is probably a lot happier without the white devil! I’ve been doing a bunch of reading/listening/watching, lately, and I’m especially enjoying Tim Ferris’s podcasts. I’ve noticed feeling jealous when friends tell me they’re in school, so I’m making a point of spending as much time as I can studying – reading, learning Spanish and watching inspirational videos. If you have anything in this realm you’d like to recommend, please let me know. Thanks!

Meanwhile, our sunflowers are growing taller by the day. Oh, and I started teaching a co-counseling class for men. If you’re interested, let me know, we’re just getting started. We’ll meet bi-weekly for now at my place in SE Portland.

The world keeps turning and we all are doing the best we can. Me included 🙂 If you need help with something, please let me know. I could use some more connection in my life so feel free to reach back if you feel moved to. Being car-free, I’d especially love invites to get out and hike in the hills!

Take care and have a great Summer!

oh well a touch of gray, kind of suits you anyway 🙂