Many small business owners are concerned that by their clients or consumers seeing that they are not “in town” they could lose business. You do have an option to keep it private from certain groups or friends when you comment on your profile page.

Here is a screen shot of what it will look like:

Facebook Comment Privacy Option

As you start to type in your new comment you will see a deadbolt or lock icon to the bottom right of the comment bar. Click on it and then select the option: Customize. You will then see the above screen appear. Type in the friends or lists that you want to “hide” it from.

Next time you are out of town or would like for only certain friends to see your comments use the privacy section located next to your new comment.

For more tips on Facebook and how to use Social Fusion purchase the e-Book today at SOCIAL FUSION

Skinning is the process of overlaying a branded image, logo or advertisement over a social sphere or website. The majority of social spheres: Facebook, Twitter & YouTube allow you to skin their spheres. Posterous, WordPress Websites & the majority of template websites also allow for you to skin the home pages. When you skin a social sphere or website you now create a “landing page” or “portal page”.

A landing page is meant to be a modern day billboard. Rather than sending all the traffic to the free site like twitpic and advertising their website you show off your connection points and have these new consumers land on your other profiles and/or website. A landing page is limited in that it is a billboard style so that the consumer can not go directly to your other pages or spheres without opening a new window.

A portal page however, gives you that advantage. The portal page is simply defined as a skin that sends consumers to the different links and pages you want them to go- with one-click they land on a company’s product page, purchase page or even ancillary products and information. We are starting to see the BIG companies invest 6-7 figures into their social media marketing and skinning approach. Facebook business pages are a great example of skinning the sphere with a portal page. Below is a screen shot of Harley Davidson’s portal page. It can also be found at Harley-Davidson:

Harley Davidson Portal Skin

Each of these icons direct you to a new website or page on Harley Davidson’s site or an affiliate. Imagine the amount of traffic you can begin attracting to your site through a social sphere skin. Your skin must engage the consumer and one of the best ways is through icons/images that are on a portal page. Not all social spheres allow for skinning nor a portal page. GetSkinned is a company that can help you with branding your image online and creating your own landing & portal pages so that you do not lose the necessary web traffic when consumers find you online.

If you watch any TV- especially commercials 2 out of 5 will reference their Facebook Business page which is of course already skinned. I was watching TV the other day and saw a Honda Ad- at the end they referenced NOT Honda.com rather www.Facebook.com/Honda – They get it – they understand where the consumers are already communicating, shopping and dreaming. They along with hundreds of other companies are starting to embrace the modern era of advertising… Don’t be left behind. GetSkinned today…

Honda Facebook Skin

James Nellis speaking with a Top Real Estate Brokerage

Learning how to identify the target market and keep up with the accessibility of today’s consumer takes a new type of savvy business owner. It must be done through a holistic approach as you leverage your dominance in the local marketplace with a genuine “you” online.

It is fun for me as a speaker when the audience really “gets it”. They start embracing the new concepts and ways of doing marketing so they can better serve their clients and make wise decisions with their marketing dollars.

Spoken Word recently launched their in-house studios in order to provide graphic design, copy writing and print pieces for all businesses. Contact Spoken Word Seminars for more details.

Listen to what some of the Top Brokers & Agents that attended this recent event had to say about James Nellis and Social Fusion:

I can tell you from first hand experience that I do not answer BLOCKED callers. If you are running a business and attempting to call leads or prospects I would suggest you no longer block your calls. It can be viewed as a simple matter of trust. YOU are obviously calling them to request they answer your questions, buy your products or simply pick up their call on their dedicated line YET you do not have anough trust in them to open up your own line. Can you see the apparent break down of trust that you are conveying before you ever say a word?

There are some easy solutions to put you more in control of the next conversation between you and a possible client or lead. Technology has given us a gift to manage our time better… One is voicemail transcription services…

There are many services out there- the most important things for you to focus on when choosing a company is: Speed (how long from when the message is left till you get the email or text with the transcription), Cost (how much are they charging you- if you are running a business off that line- look for unlimited plans), Control (Hosting the data and messages on their server so you can listen online or download it to your computer at any time as an attachment. Most companies will email you the transcription with the wav. file attached so you can listen right away). My preferred vendor can be found under my resource icon or click here: PHONETAG By the way, once you join Phonetag, they encourage you to spread it virally and give you a free month of their service whenever someone signs up for the product. Many companies have cut down on their marketing expenses by offering free services based on referrals to their members or subscribers.

After you see the transcription on your smart phone and read the message or listen to the wav. file how do you find out more about the possible client? You should start with the area code… Look up the area code so that you can gather more data. A quick resource that is also free is: LincMad – they host free tables for you to see the counties related to the number. This week I received a call from a 707 area code. I did not know where it was but assumed the west coast. Here is the screen shot of what I found… Click on it to research your own:

So by reviewing this I realized that 707 is the Sonoma-California area. Now I know more about either their current location OR where they used to live. It will also make me more aware of what time to call the number back. If I am on East Coast time a call at 9 AM EST will not be well received in California. Start using both of these today when interacting with clients and “Happy Dialing”…

Before you look at attending a class or consulting with a company make sure they have “real world” experience. Are they currently utilizing all of these technologies? Are they making money from them? You need to find a company or course that can take you through all of the basics and help you become an expert in social networking so that you will be the recognized guru of your own field online.

I have had the pleasure of speaking around the Country within the last year and have seen many online social faux pas being made by both Speakers and attendees. Out of the growing need I partnered with Mike Parker, a National CRS Instructor and active Real Estate Agent out of Northern Kentucky to create a 1 day course that will help you to the next level of social networking.

Mike and I have found that many of my readers and business professionals have profiles on all sorts of different networks but no idea how to leverage them nor which ones to focus on today. We created a course titled: “The Big Bang of Social Networking & Technology”. We cover everything that will benefit you today. We have found the whole topic so overwhelming for some organizations and companies that we also now offer consulting on a case by case basis.

Contact Spoken Word Seminars to find out more and how to book “The Big Bang of Social Networking & Technology” in your local area.

As I reviewed Facebook Connect and read the possibilities at Going Social Now I now see the personal type of advertising occurring within the next year. They referenced the combination of Facebook with Amazon, ITunes & the I-Phone. If websites and companies embrace the Facebook Connect as a way to register within their sites- their products could expand and go viral within Facebook to all of the person’s friends. It is an expansion of marketing- FREE marketing to their friends on Facebook.

Click here to learn more about the purpose of Facebook Connect As the Facebook Friend logs in with Facebook their friends will be able to view what they find out on the world wide web. They will be able to share their findings in news feeds on their Facebook pages and even ask for advice prior to purchasing online.

Where does this leave you as a business? Well, if you have a solid referral network it is certainly an option you should embrace. One example Going Social Now listed was Amazon giving the consumer a bigger discount based on the size of their friends/influence. Outside of retail we have seen Facebook become the dominant force for viral marketing and social acceptance of a company, product or business.

There is also the option to install the Facebook Connect within your company or personal blog. Want to Install a Facebook Connect Option on your Site? Watch the Video Tutorial by Luke Shepard & Wei Zhu from Facebook.

In order to change to your NEW pin number and send service books to your Blackberry Device click on Blackberry Log-In

If you want to activate your new Verizon Phone go to New Phone

Hope these sites help you get it done quickly…

Yes, Speechable is an online free service that allows you to manipulate your photos and insert comments and designs on any of your photos. Log in and try your first photo Today!!

Twitter is an update status that is limited to 140 characters with each submission. It is useful in keeping up with business associates, friend and even clients. What can be shared? Anything and everything… It can be a great informative service when looking for the best answers or solution. You can choose who you follow… This is done best when finding peers in an industry or those that you look up to in another field to gain insight and share wisdom.

Twitter is a widget that can be installed on your own personal website for a constant feed that your users can view. It is a free user application that can be synced with other social media applications.

I do suggest becoming acquainted with it as it is now part of pop vocabulary… Don’t be surprised if at the next cocktail party someone asks you if you “tweet”.

The link below is the quickest download for the “TwitterBerry” – the application to be used on a Blackberry Phone:

TwitterBerry

Another download available for the Windows Mobile Phones is located at:

Twobile

If you want more applications or details of how to use Twitter click on the link below:

Twitter Apps

There is even one for Football called Twootball…

Happy Tweeting…

Technology is the best way to accumulate information, compare and rank schools. There are 2 sites that every Realtor and Buyer should use when comparing school districts and neighborhoods.

Great Schools - this provides a review system so that you can read what others have to say about the schools and their personal experiences. It also includes school checklists and way to compare private versus public schools.

School Matters-This site allows for a great side by side comparison of schools. This is great for a relocation buyer or even someone locally trying to pick the right school for their children. They provide email updates and even have a list of the TOP 100 on their home page.

Happy School Shopping!!