Businesses are now using Facebook to connect with customers.

Facebook is more than a vehicle for social chit-chat amongst friends. You may have noticed many businesses starting to use it – even now using a facebook.com/businessname URL instead of a usual web address.

If you’ve been thinking about doing something on Facebook for your business or brand, here’s some key websites, simple ideas, case studies and videos to enable you to understand the basics and get yourself up and running.

If you haven’t already done so, the very first thing is get yourself a Facebook account / profile. You need this to move on to other features.

(These first two sites here are for the real newbies.)

1. Facebook.com
The starting place to sign up for a Facebook profile (if you don’t have one.)

2. How to set up a Facebook account / profile (video)
A simple video with the basics about how to set up your profile.

There’s a bit more in this:

3. ‘How to build your personal brand in Facebook’
A Mashable article with some simple, useful advice on how to make the most of your Facebook profile.

If you get stuck at any stage, this site should help:

4. Facebook’s Help Centre
Links to help on many of the key aspects aspects of Facebook.

Profiles are really about individuals. You can leverage your profile to gather contacts and get messages out to your contacts which can be useful.

But if you’re trying to promote a business, organisation, cause or venture, you really need to set up a Facebook ‘Page’. The following links will help you understand, develop and promote your Page.

5. Facebook’s Video on Pages
Why you should set a Page up for your business or brand and how it works. (Video from Facebook themselves.)

6. Facebook’s start page to create a Page
The place to start on Facebook to set up your business or brand Page.

7. ‘Claim Your Facebook URL’ Video
Explains how to grab your business or brand name on Facebook (i.e. the “vanity URL” for your Page.) And why it’s important. There’s also simple advice about the content you should put on your Page.

8. Facebook’s Help Page on Pages
Provides tips, examples, best practices, explanations and additional resources specifically for building Pages.

9. Examples of Facebook Pages
A collection of interesting Pages to help provide the inspiration and some ideas on how you can do your own.

Finally, to give you an idea of how seriously large companies are taking Facebook and how they’re using Pages for marketing their brands, I’ve included this short case study:

10. Levi’s Case Study (video)
Describes how Levi’s used their Facebook Page to grow an online community, build awareness, gain sales and garner feedback on products and promotions. (Video from Facebook.)

Have I missed any good ones? If you think so, let me know – in the comments.

Here’s “a few of my favourite things” – Pages on Facebook I think are interesting – and ones I let into the inner sanctum of my news feed. I’ve listed them to help get you in the right headspace to set up and develop your own Page.

As with all things to do with social media (and life?), you can learn alot by observing other people and organisations who are doing it well.

SMALL BUSINESS

Milkwood Farm

This is a husband and wife team based near Mudgee who run permaculture courses. From a small base, they’ve grabbed the position of the leading provider of these courses in Australia. A lot of their success has been built on their use of online media. And a fair bit of that via Facebook. They’re always up to something on there – running events with with permaculture leaders, posting video interviews with them, photos of people on courses, pics of the farm and food, the odd unusual article they find and more. Their Page gives the impression they love what they’re doing and you can tell their followers love them back.

PEOPLE

Chris Morphew

Chris is 25 years old. He writes books for teenagers. (Including a successful series entitled ‘The Phoenix Files’.) I like the way he interacts with his followers via his Facebook page. (He does well on his blog too.)

Seth Godin

Every day Seth pumps out another interesting gem on marketing. It’s not long, but it’s very personal and down-to-earth. I can rely on Seth to write a useful insight. I probably read his stuff more than any of the other people (including friends) in my news feed. This content feeds through from his blog.

CAUSES

Greenpeace

Greenpeace have been at this game for awhile now – jumping on new media early and using it to build and galvanise communities in their target. They’ve also plugged in a useful app to feed videos from their YouTube to their Facebook Page.

NEW MEDIA

Mashable

Mashable is a social media property worth millions of dollars. It was started by Peter Cashmore and now employs a team of writers. They’re constantly pumping out interesting ideas on social media. And on this page interacting with their audience. Actually to be honest I find it too much to keep up with these days, but I do like the way they aim to be the best in the field.

Life Then Strategy

Mark Pollard started this online blog and Page. He’s a Strategy Planner at an ad agency in Sydney. Like Seth’s feed, I’m mainly getting this one to make sure I get Mark’s interesting posts that come through from his blog. (They’re a mix of ideas on digital media, advertising, consumer insights, and life.) He’s also experimenting with asking questions of his followers. I like his style. Someone to watch.

OLD MEDIA

ABC Radio National

‘Old’ is probably a bit harsh. The ABC have really lead the way in adopting new media and using it to complement their traditional media outlets. In fact ‘complement’ may not be right either. The ABC are having a good go at trying to engage, interact, get feedback and ideas from their audience.

In summary, make sure everything you put on your new Page is good. I know you don’t have the time to put stuff on there often. But when you do, make it worthwhile.

Craft the wording. Make sure any links, photos and videos you add are interesting. “Pump out good sh*t” as Gary V would say. You want people to follow, receive, and even read your news, not hide it.

I’ll be updating this post with interesting, useful Facebook Pages as I come across them. Ones which use this media well. If you see or know or know of any yourself, you’re welcome to add them in the comments below.

Have a good look at the Facebook pages you like the best. Think about what they’re doing and learn from it. Adapt and apply the style and techniques which work for you.

More posts coming on using Facebook.

This was a speech given by Steve Jobs a few years ago at Stanford University. In it he makes a passionate case for finding work you love. And that you not settle for someone’s else’s idea of what you should do in life.

There’s lots of other great insights in his talk. I’ve summarised them in this post for you.

Here’s what Steve says about marrying your different interests:

• You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.
• You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
• Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.

Here’s what Steve says about finding work you love:

• Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
• Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.
• I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going after I got fired was that I loved what I did.
• You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.
• Your work is going to fill a large part of your life.
• The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
• If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle.
• As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.
• Like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
• If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

Here’s what Steve says about contemplating your own death (and how it will help you figure out what to do with your life now):

• Every morning I look in the mirror and ask myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
• Whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
• Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important thing I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
• Death is life’s change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new.
• Right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
• Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Here’s what Steve says about being influenced by others’ ideas of what you should do in your life:

• Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
• Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.
• They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

These notes were taken from Steve Jobs address. For the full impact, best to spend the 15 minutes listening to the Steve in the video. His stories about his life bring the whole thing alive.

This is one of the most important speeches for young people I’ve ever seen. Give it a go.

Steve Jobs is the founder of Apple computers. He was famously fired from Apple and then returned some years later. His return sparked Apple’s current success – with innovations such as the ipod, iphone and ipad. Find out more about Steve Jobs on Wikipedia.

Video of Steve’s speech courtesy of Stanford University. At the time of writing it had 2.6 million views on YouTube.

Start by learning from the best blogs

Here’s my round up of the best blogs to help you understand how to write your own first blog. Have a good look at how they tackle key aspects viz. writing, design, structure, blogroll, feeds, use of video and photos etc. Learn from what they’re consistently doing. And borrow and adapt aspects which appeal to you.

You’ll find in this post: links to my favourite blogs, compilations of top blogs (as voted by Time magazine and others), some of the more interesting advertising blogs around, and articles on how to blog better.

Phil’s blogs
Here’s my own blogs (where I cut my teeth.) OK, besides being a blatant plug, you can see where can see where i’m coning from (especially if you’re in one of my classes.)
The Environment Show
Phil Stubbs quotes blog
Phil Stubbs teaching blog

Phil’s favourite blogs on digital media and marketing
Mark Pollard’s blog
Seth Godin’s blog
Gary Vaynerchuk’s blog

Other interesting advertising blogs
Copyblogger
Problogger (Darren Rowse’s blog)
Mumbrella
Adverblog
Life at the Bottom
Laurel Papworth’s blog
Julian Cole’s blog
Servant of Chaos (Gavin Heaton’s blog)
Amnesia agency blog

Compilations and Lists of ‘Top Blogs’
Top 100 Australian women bloggers
Top 100 Australian blogs
Time magazine’s Top blogs of 2010

Lists of ‘Top Advertising and Marketing Blogs’
Ad Age’s Power 150
The 34 Australian blogs that made the Power 150
The Top Blogs by Young Advertising Minds
The Top 100 Australian Marketing Pioneers

Different types of blogs
There’s different types of blogs around. Some people are good at writing and focus on crafting the text. Some people have an eye for visuals and make photos the centre piece of the blog. And then there’s others who love being in front of a video camera (or have learnt to do it.) As Gary V says – you should go with the media that suits your DNA. Below are some good examples of each type.

Interesting photographic blogs:
The Sartorialist
52 Suburbs

Interesting text based blogs:
Dead Fish Float
Seth Godin’s blog

Interesting video blogs:
Gary Vaynerchuk’s blog

Other articles and help on how to blog well
Blogs and articles bookmarked by Phil
Smart Company’s ‘Best Business Blogs’ advice

Find the best blogs on the topic area of your blog
If your area of interest is outside of advertising that’s fine. Learn from the best bloggers in the field that you’re passionate about. Try to google the best blogs in your area.

For leads you could try sites I’ve bookmarked as well – I’ve collated a host of things by area: Phil’s bookmarks by tag category

Have fun surfing. Let me know if you find any really good ones. (You’re welcome to leave a comment box below.)

Photo courtesy of The Common Craft Show.

I’m encouraging my students to learn about using social media for promotion – by setting up their own blog, Twitter, YouTube, Delicious, LinkedIn etc.  The aim is for the students to learn by doing. And to create a work profile and presence online. We’re also reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book ‘Crush It’ to see how you can do it well and why it’s worth doing.

The plan is to be the leading provider of undergraduates in Sydney in this growing area of the media.

“A plan so cunning, it may even work,” as Blackadder once said.

Photo courtesy of the BBC.