How to Import your Facebook Contacts to Google+

July 16, 2011 Leave a comment

One of the negatives to setting up and using a new social media platform like Google+ is creating your contact lists all over again. Many of you might be hesitant to get involved with Google+ because your community is already established on Facebook. If this is the only thing keeping you from trying out the new platform, there is a simple way around this roadblock. Here are the steps to migrate your Facebook friends to Google+.

1. Sign up for a Yahoo mail account if you don’t already have one. Log into the account and click on the Contacts tab. There you’ll see a function to import contacts from Facebook. Follow those instructions.

2. Once your contacts are imported click on the drop down box that says “actions.” Choose export all and export to a Yahoo csv file.

3. Now go to Google and log into your gmail account. If you don’t have one you can create one quickly. Since you are interested in using Google+ I’m going to assume you have a Google profile already. Once logged in, click on Contacts and create a new group called Facebook.

4. Select the group and then choose “import contacts.”  Browse to where you saved the csv file and choose import. Choose the Facebook group as the destination and click import.

5. Now log into Google+, click on your circles and choose “find and invite.”

That’s it! Now you can add anyone who’s already on Google+ to your circles and invite those that aren’t.

How do you like Google+ so far?

Filed under Facebook, Random, social media Tagged with , ,

Manual Posts are Still the Best for Engagement

May 12, 2011 3 Comments

Clients often ask me how to connect their Facebook, Twitter, blog and LinkedIn accounts for automated posting. While I see the need for streamlining and for saving time, this isn’t something I recommend. Here’s why.

People don’t want to talk to machines

R2D2

Image courtesy of starwarstoys.com

We’re all accustomed to leaving a message on voicemail or sending a text, but only as a way of asking for feedback at a later time. By automating your tweets to post to your Facebook page you are using Facebook as a broadcast medium, which isn’t what people enjoy. It’s all about the conversations. If you really don’t have time to check your page and converse there, perhaps you should think twice before setting up a page. I am frequently disappointed when “liking” a fan page only to discover a stream of posts directly from a Twitter app (hashtags and all) with no engagement whatsoever. I know right away I won’t be getting any feedback nor having any fun with the page owners. There isn’t a person behind those posts. It’s a machine. R2D2 talked back at least.

Automated Facebook posts have a lower EdgeRank

I’m not positive about this, but I suspect it. Facebook’s ranking system for deciding what is displayed in your newsfeed, known as Edgerank, is a complex mystery and I don’t pretend to know how it all works. I do know that comments and likes drive up the Edgerank of your posts and that each object has its own rank.

Think about it though. When was the last time you saw an automatically generated post in your top news feed? I admit I use Networked Blogs for posting my blog posts to my Facebook page, as I do get some traffic from the app; however, I’ve started posting them manually in addition to the auto post. After studying the analytics on my blog I realized those automated posts weren’t driving much, if any, traffic directly from Facebook. I realized I needed to go back to the old fashioned manual post. I get the most enjoyment when people comment and ask questions and I don’t want to do anything that might discourage that interaction.

Social Media is about relationships

Relationships take time and energy. Just ask your significant other how much they’d enjoy a robot version of you taking the place of real conversation. As busy as we all are I’m sure some of you wish you could clone yourselves. But really – is that robot able to reproduce your personality? It’s your personality that draws people to you, just as on your page. Remember, social media is technology, but it’s just a tool that allows us to engage in relationships across a virtual space.  Remove the personality from the space and the space becomes dry and useless.

Participating in social media channels takes commitment. There is no way to fake, automate, or get around spending quality time with your followers. Streamline where you can, but take the time to be genuine, converse and have fun. You’ll get so much in return.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and I promise it’s me you’ll find there.

Filed under Facebook, Fun, Random, social media Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Staying connected to college students (and customers)

October 19, 2010 Leave a comment

I am the mother of twin boys just entering Ohio State University as freshmen. <insert Mom bragging> I’m very proud of them – one is a chemical engineering major on a full scholarship and the other is a computer science major. They are happy at college and doing well. <end bragging>

Here’s the problem. They don’t really tell me anything. Moms of teenage boys will relate to this. Not that this is different from high school, but now that they’re living away from home I feel the need for better communication. I want to stay connected.

This is where social media comes in.

Through Facebook, I get daily updates on what they’re doing and the latest photos and videos they’ve shared with their friends. I can comment and add my own photos and posts so they can see what I’m doing here at home too. Last week my son posted a video of the Ohio State Marching band rehearsing outside his dorm!  I was able to watch it and enjoy exactly what he saw just a few moments after he shared it.

Script Ohio

OSU Marching Band's famous Script Ohio

This is how I’m staying in touch right now. Of course I follow up with a phone call to check in, but I already know what to ask. Without this tool, I’d have no idea.

This is the same reason it makes sense to use social media for your business.

Your customers may not tell you exactly what bothers them or what they want or need. They aren’t (most likely) going to pick up the phone and call you to chat about how you can better serve them. They’ll share that information on Facebook and Twitter with their friends. They might blog about you too, and it isn’t always pretty.

Are you listening?

By communicating regularly though social media, listening to the comments that you receive, paying attention to what drives a response and monitoring the web for chatter about your business you can know what they want and need. Then you can give it to them.

Filed under Random

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