Ingredients:

• Internet

• PC or Laptop

• Facebook Account

• Login Details

Duration: 20 min

Preparation:
Log in to your Facebook account. On the home page there is a button on the right hand side of the screen that says Account – click on it. A drop down box will then appear. Now click on Privacy Settings. There are different aspects you need to set when it comes to setting your privacy. They will now appear on your page. They are: Profile Information, Contact Information, Applications and Websites, Search and Block list.

Step 1:
Let’s start with setting up your profile settings. Click on Profile Information. You will find a list of everything that appears on your profile. You can set each one according to your own taste. Decide whether you want everyone to see your personal information, Facebook posts or would you prefer only your friends to see it? Customize refers to a setting which allows you to hide your profile from specific people. So, dice through these and season to taste. You can also edit you photo albums settings. This refers to who can see your photos. You could set it to Only friends, friends of friends or everyone.

Step 2:
Next, you need to set your contact information. This part is crucial. So, click on Back to Privacy and then click on Contact Information. Once again, whip through these and season according to your own taste.

Quick Tip: I would suggest that you set most on the list of information as Only Friends. One’s you can set as Everyone would be the last 5 areas on your list. It is a good idea to set your website as public information so everyone can see your website. It could improve your online visibility.

Step 3:
Now you set your application and websites settings. Click on Applications and Websites. Now things get a little bit messy. What you share means that when you visit a Facebook-enhanced application or website, it may access any information you’ve made publicly available. This is why it is important to set your profile settings so that all your information is not publically available.

Also, tick what information your friends can share about you through applications and websites. Set things according to taste. The third setting on the list would show you the applications you have blocked on Facebook and the fourth setting, Ignore application invitations, allow you to ignore application invitations from certain friends. Lastly, set who can see your activity in the Friends’ Recent Activity, Friends’ Applications and Friends’ Games sections of these pages.

Step 4:
It is now time to set who can see your search result on Facebook and in search engines. Click on Search. I would suggest setting Facebook Search Results as Everyone so people who are looking for your on Facebook can find you. When it comes to Public search results I also set it as allow. Test it and click see preview. If you do not like having this public you can remove the action.

Step 5:
The last setting on your list of privacy settings is Block List. People you have blocked will not be able to interact with you on Facebook. Any Facebook friendships or relationships you currently have with that person will be broken. Simply add their name and email address and it’s done.

Now that you have completed our 5 step recipe to a secure Facebook profile click the Preview my Profile button in the right hand corner of your screen to view your dish. Also, if there is anything you are not satisfied with just go back to that setting and redo the step. Happy Cooking!

Q: How do you improve your business’ ORM?

A: 5 Ways to increase your “positive” search results:

1. Sign up for a Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and LinkedIn account.
2. For Facebook and LinkedIn, learn how to claim your vanity URL here and here, respectively.
3. With YouTube and Twitter, be sure to choose a username as close to your real name as possible. MySpace will give you the option of obtaining a vanity URL when you register.
4. Create a Google Profile, which also will rank high.
5. Purchase a domain with your name

Q: How do you deal with negative comments?

A: The worst thing you can possibly do is join in and fight back online. You’re welcome to respond thoughtfully or ignore it. Responding to a negative comment publically could also add fire to the flames. Rather try to contact the person offline. Ask them for their email address or cell phone number so you can help them if they complained about bad service.

These things can get out of hand and you could get slandered online. Don’t call your lawyers just yet, rather invest in professional help to manage your ORM and deal with positive and negative chatter on your behalf.

Q: How do you monitor your business’ ORM?

A: Here’s a great Check list to track your ORM:

• Search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s
• Bing Blogosphere: Known blogs in your professional arena, or use blog search engines such as Technorati or Google Blog Search
• Forums: Known discussion threads in your professional arena
• Social networking sites: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn
• Microblogging sites: Twitter, Jaikuand Plurk, Social Mention
• Personal rating sites: PersonRatings.com
• Corporate Web sites: Your company, former places of work

A reputable SEO company should perform a competitive analysis and develop a strategy for you to achieve high ranking across the specific keyword terms being searched. There are a few ways you can determine whether a company is reputable or not. CEO of Urban Interact, Beverly Garvin offers 3 things you should be doing:

1. Ask for references from 3 clients who have worked with them for a year or more. This will show you whether they are good and, more importantly, experienced in what they do. Happy long term clients are a great indicator that you are working with a credible provider.

2.  SEO is a long term strategy and if you want your website to be competitive you’ll need to understand that this is an ongoing effort. A reputable SEO provider will work with you during the contract period and will consult with you being transparent in their activities, even going so far as to train you on how to help continue those efforts when the contract period expires. “If they hide behind “proprietary processes, software, blah blah blah” they are not someone you should work with” says Beverly.

3.  Understand that you get what you pay for. This doesn’t mean that if you spend more you will get better results, but keep in mind that if someone promises a deal that sounds way too cheap and the results way too good to be true – they probably are. These people are taking your for a ride. Go do a little shopping around and get a general idea of how much this should cost you. Don’t go bargain hunting! The company you decide on should include a monthly consulting session where they will meet with you to review the reports (not just an emailed report) explaining the efforts made from last month, what the results were and what they will focus on in the upcoming month.

Beverly wrote a very helpful post on how hiring an SEO company is similar to hiring a Personal Trainer which should also help you put things in perspective. Thanks Beverly for such great advice!

Louis covered the digital consumer, and what we can expect, and Justin tore into the macro-environmental landscape, sharing loads of love for Telkom along the way.

We gave away some of our new T-shirts at the end, followed by a Q&A session with the audience particularly interested in some of the controversial and contentious future predictions by our favourite (not so skinny) Australian living in SA.

Here is Louis’ presentation:

Here is the presentation by Justin:

Thanks again to Deloitte for such a stunning venue, and for Corona for the refreshment.

First up is one of our very own chefs, Louis Janse van Rensburg who’ll be kicking things off by providing an overview of what we as marketers can expect regarding changing consumer habits online. Louis will focus on trends for how SA consumers will be using the Internet (online and mobile) in 2010 and referring to different age demographics, adoption curves etc.

Next up Justin Spratt will approach this from an “overall trends” point of view. What the SA internet landscape looks like, macro-trends looking ahead and using his cunning wit to take attendees on a tour on what the internet holds for SA in 2010.

Want to come? Sure!

Date: 2 February 2010 (That’s next week!)

Venue: Deloitte Campus, Johannesburg

Directions: Click here for map

Fee: No charge to attend

Sponsors: Corona, Carlsberg, Delheim

Want to attend? Email Nic to enquire about booking your seat.

Availability: maximum 50 seats (We still have a few open seats left so hurry!)

Want to find out first about future Sessions? Email us to get on the Heavy Chef Newsletter.

The study used the following age brackets as a base: 

• Kids: 2-11 years old
• Teens: 12-17 years old
• Young adults: 18-24 years old
• Adults1: 25-34 years old
• Adults2: 35-49 years old
• Mature adults: 50-64 years old
• Seniors: 65+ years old

The results are as follow (diagrams below):

1. FACEBOOK

2. TWITTER

3. LINKEDIN

Although it is no surprise that the ‘adult’ segments form the nucleus of most of the network’s member bases, what interests me is the prominence of the 50-64 (and 65+) year olds – the ‘Silver Surfer*’ demographic as it often referred to.

With Silver surfers becoming the fastest growing Internet demographic group in South Africa (source: Online Publishers Association), it is indeed a relevant demographic and has become quite a hot topic of discussion in recent times.

Overall though, I think we can all agree that within the South African context Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – though, especially Facebook and to a lesser extent, Twitter – are dominant forces within our online and mobile web space.

It would thus make sense to do your due diligence and understand the digital habits of your customers online.

(via BNET)

*An adult, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the web and spends time online (”silver” refers to the colour of their hair)

• Build stronger customer relationships by sending out an email newsletter.

• Offer great content and tools of value regularly so it gets linked to by other sites.

• Keep updated on topical events such as Christmas, New Years or 2010 Soccer World Cup and use them online.

• Create relationships with bloggers and other online folk on social media sites.

• Offer free downloads as a viral marketing method.

• Keep updated on current news in your industry

• Write and distribute press releases that are newsworthy, and send them to newspapers, magazines, and television and radio stations.

• Remember your social networks like Facebook and Twitter, image communities like flickr, and don’t forget forums

• Take part in your online community and join in on the conversations

• Promote your RSS feed for your blog or other website content.

• Write posts for other blogs.

These should get some creative juices flowing and remind you of things you haven’t thought about for a while.

Reason 1: ORM protects your brand
Think back to the Domino’s Pizza ‘cheese up the nose’ debacle – watch the videos here – where Domino’s employees Michael and Kristy showed their extra-special pizza making techniques (which included snot on the pizza and armpit salami, amongst other things). Domino’s responded slowly and failed to avoid a brand-damaging firestorm when the video went viral. If Domino’s had had a decent online reputation management strategy in place, they could potentially have averted the few million views the clip received online and dealt with the issue a little more privately.

Reason 2: ORM allows you to make smart decisions
The board of United Airlines have not been able to sleep properly since August 2009. The reason? This video, where musician Dave Carroll sings a song called “United Breaks Guitars“. The song hilariously describes Carroll’s experience with United Airlines staff and their stubborn refusal to repay him (or even apologise) for the breaking of his Taylor custom-made guitar. United Airlines staff damaged the item irreparably en route and then belligerently batted Carroll off when he asked for compensation of $3600. The song went viral (over 6m views to date) and is probably the last thing UA directors hear as they drift off into troubled dreamland. A careful ORM strategy would have allowed United Airlines to pick up the song before it spread across the globe.

Reason 3: ORM gives you a lead over your competitors
The key to ORM is listening. If you do this correctly, not only will you hear the bad stuff written about your brand, but you’ll also be able to hear what is being spoken about within your target community. This allows you to gather vital information, identify consumer trends, and most importantly, spot opportunities quickly.

Reason 4: ORM is the best customer retention tool you have
This is a no-brainer. If you’re an angry customer, the thing you want more than anything else is to be heard. If you’re a really angry customer and you feel like no one is listening, you’ll quickly find other people who will listen to you bitch and moan.  On the other hand, if you’re an angry customer, and you’re suddenly confronted by responsive service, your anger will be instantly deflated. I remember going to Pick n’ Pay after buying some really nasty wine. I complained about the taste – a subjective thing, really – and half expected the customer service person to tell me to bugger off. To my surprise, they took the half-drunk bottle of wine and gave me double my money back – no questions asked. I am now a Pick n’ Pay customer for life. Online reputation management works on this principle. If you make an angry customer happy, in most cases, they will reward you with their unbridled loyalty.

Finally, if you’re wanting to find out more about ORM for your brand, drop us a line. World Wide Creative’s team is currently working on high profile ORM strategy for a host of brands, and we’re eager to pass on our experience to you.

(do a search on 2010 digital marketing trends and you’ll get the picture)

A lot of noise indeed and often lacking context I believe…

A bit more focused and centred around the South African user, here are The Heavy Chef’s trends for the next year:

5 WAYS SOUTH AFRICAN CONSUMERS WILL USE THE INTERNET IN 2O10

1. MORE VIDEO, MORE OFTEN: Visual mediums online and offline will always have appeal, whether consumed for entertainment, for information or for learning. Thus, with bandwidth on the increase, this means we are busy consuming more content online, more often and much, much faster. It’s a no-brainer that video consumption would thus play a bigger part in the South African consumers web experience. Thus, for marketers I’d suggest you investigate ways of using video online to engage with your customers. At The Heavy Chef Project, we’ve been using this with great success.
2. 2-SCREEN SURFING: In the states (that is the United States of America, not Vrystaat), they often refer to a 3-screen (three) culture being a mobile device, a laptop/PC and your Television. All forming part of a richer, integrated Internet experience. Within the South African context and looking to 2010, the usage of the Internet would primarily be around your mobile and laptop/PC. With both device Internet usage on the up. However, not being an Either-Or-type-scenario, both ‘screens’ will be used by consumers for different needs.
3. SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND TRUST: A few days ago, I was keen for a bit of sushi, so I asked my 185 Facebook friends and 768 Twitter followers for some recommendations on where to eat. Needless to say, I had many options to choose from. Options that I valued. So much for the Yellow Pages… and Google. One of many examples I can use, but expect the South African consumer in 2010 to utilize Facebook and Twitter, as well as refer to blog opinions more often when recommending and/or making purchase decisions.
4. USAGE MATURITY: It’s a known fact that with higher Internet speeds, richer Internet experiences will result and certainly more mature (read: confident) browsing. No doubt Facebook has a had a major impact on the South African consumers’ lives. One of the biggest spin-offs though is that Facebook (and I do think Facebook primarily) has played a big part in creating a more mature Internet usage culture in South Africa, from being more security/privacy conscious to consumption and sharing of media to usage across 2-Screens (see point 2) and even navigating trough a JAVA-rich environment. Thus, for marketing in 2010, don’t be too afraid of pushing the browsing boundaries somewhat.
5. CLEAR MOTIVATIONS: One thing that is standing out for 2010, is that the Internet is being used more and more for specific reasons. Not just for random surfing. In fact, the popularity of online tools to do accounting, sales management, document sharing, connecting with friends, organizing events etc is very much proof of this. In fact one of the more popular buzz-words these days amongst geeks is “Cloud Computing” – essentially, taking software (like MS Word) and offering it online (like Google Docs). The result, centralized storing, collaboration opportunity and broader accessibility. Towards 2010, I’m expecting South African consumers to be very objective-driven in going online, with clear motivations. Thus, for marketers I’d suggest spending a great deal of time in defining your message/promise, keeping it consistent and supporting that with a proper web marketing drive.

Below is a bit more reading from other sources on trends for 2010:

South Africa

http://www.huddlemind.net/profiles/blogs/10-crucial-consumer-trends-for

http://www.fluxtrends.com/web/content/view/116/57/

http://www.collings.co.za/2009/11/consumer-trends-for-2010.html

http://www.matthewbuckland.com/?p=1183

Global

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/11/six_social_media_trends.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/03/cashmore.web.trends.2010/ (I like!)

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2009/11/social.html

I recently attended the State of Entrepreneurship Summit in Joburg and we were given an Entrepreneur Magazine which contained some very useful tips on how to generate free publicity. One of the articles dealt with handling the press so I thought of sharing some of it with you.

What to say

It really is vital to be fully prepared for an interview. If you’re not given the questions that are going to be asked before hand, you should focus even more on what message you want to get across. Most interviews want to get information from you or valuable content which will interest readers, viewers or listeners. Make sure the information you provide during an interview is relevant and topical.

Key messages

What are the key messages you want to get across about your company? Go back to your advertising, brochures and web content and identify the 3 primary themes or issues. Use them and work them into statements.

How to say it

It’s not embarrassing to rehearse and memorise content you wish to convey. In fact, this could help you even more. Never read from a piece of paper – keep it spontaneous and thoughtful. You can even have a rehearsal with a friend to get the feel of how it would be in the interview. Remember to also be concise, clear and confident when answering questions.

These tips are very useful and will reduce the nerves a bit. It helps to chat to your interviewee before hand to get acquainted so you’re more comfortable when the interview takes place. Good luck!