Gielow Marketing Blog

Gone are the days of watching the inauguration on a fuzzy black and white television and reading the presidential address in the newspaper. Those days have been replaced with constant Twitter and Facebook updates on your cell phone while streaming the live broadcast on your tablet. Though Twitter is the more common place to update thoughts during the inauguration, Facebook is an equal competitor. For example, when the photo of President Obama being sworn in at the private White House ceremony was posted on the official 2013 Presidential Inauguration Facebook page, the response was immediate and overwhelming.
Just a day after the inauguration, the same photograph showed over 10,000 "Likes", over 6,000 "shares", and 565 comments. During the inauguration celebrations photos and updates were uploaded to the White House's official page, which not only show immediate response, but have a few people quoting from the actual telecast on their comments. This reaction is not just to posted photos, but also to clips of the inauguration. A day later, the inauguration is readily available for viewing on Facebook as well as a link to the White House webpage for further updates. The post with the YouTube clip of the president's address has over 1,000 "likes" and 389 "shares".
Some wrote comments of empowerment from the inauguration celebrations and address, while others made their arguments known against the president's continuation. This incredible ability to voice immediate opinions on historic events like the inauguration is not something your mother was able to do. It certainly is something many in my generation do not take full advantage of. It is not due to lack of interest, but rather due to lack of understanding the gift of conversation that Facebook facilitates.
Writing this post has made a student, who has a small yet decent understanding of the impact of the inauguration, take a step back and really admire the tool Facebook has become. The moral of the story is take advantage of Facebook and its conversations. Whether young or young at heart, opinions from more than just your surroundings can be heard, combated, or commented on in just one click.

In the past, it has been difficult for businesses to connect with their audience of customers and potential customers. However, Facebook offers a variety of options to allow contact with a company. These options range from instant messaging to posting questions or comments directly to the company page, but all of them are important. Of course, the traditional phone number, email address, or web page link is on each page for a person to pursue contact.
Customers no longer have to worry that if they send an email, it will get caught in the business's spam or that the email will never reach the person in pursuit. Perhaps it is something personal someone wants to know, so all they have to do is simply go to the companies Facebook page, click the messaging option, and spill their beans. Perhaps the customer wants to know something quickly. Instant messaging is just the ticket to grabbing the business's attention quickly and efficiently. It gives not only a personal touch, but also facilitates fast responses, which are much easier to handle on electronic devices such as a cell phone or tablet.
Remember the old saying from the classroom by the teacher "Always ask questions because it may be something another person in the class wanted to know?" Well that holds true to Facebook too. Phone calls or finding the web link for a business can be time consuming and frustrating. There is a guarantee of another person on the other side answering questions through Facebook, not a recording! Therefore, posting a question or comment to the Facebook page of a business lets other people in on the action to respond and to possibly see the answer to their questions.
Connecting to the audience of customers and potential customers has never been easier. Facebook provides several ways to not only speak directly to the company, but to be able to interact in conversation as well. Give it a try and see how quickly people become clients and "likes" rack up.
-Chelsi Mickler

Ever wonder how to get that "pretty" URL that everyone has now?  One with just your brand name after the facebook.com.....

Pinterest is relatively new to the social media landscape. Since its launch on March 10, 2010, it has become a venue for self-expression, creative ideas and personal branding. It has also taken the social media landscape by storm! According to Shareaholic in an article entitled, Pinterest Beats out Yahoo! Organic Traffic to become 4^th Largest Traffic Source in the World,

“Pinterest is now sending more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined in January, Twitter in February and StumbleUpon, Bing and Google referral traffic in June.”