Facebook For Business Interview (Ep.13

Episode 13 of this podcast reveals an interview conducted by Mari Smith of FacebookFortunes.com. She interviewed me about my use of Facebook for business and the success I’ve had with this social media platform to date.

On this call, I reveal my results, my attitudes and best practices in maximizing your time on Facebook.

Download and enjoy this podcast episode today.

Transcript

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[Announcer] Welcome to ShermanLive.com! Featuring interviews and seminars. In-depth. Intelligent. In right now on ShermanLive.com. Here’s Sherman Hu! …

Sherman Hu: Hello and welcome to episode number 13 of ShermanLive.com. This is your host Sherman Hu and today I have an episode revealing an interview conducted by Mari Smith of FacebookFortunes.com.

She interview me today about my use of Facebook for business and the success I’ve had with this social media platform to date. Now on this call I reveal my results, my attitudes and best practices in maximizing your time on Facebook. So stay tuned for today’s episode.

[Announcer] You’re tuned in to ShermanLive.com. Keeping it simple for you!

Mari Smith: Hello there, this is Mari Smith from FacebookFortunes.com and also FacebookCoach.com. Welcome to our interview today, very very fortunate to have Sherman Hu on the line and I’m saying HU right, your name properly…?

Sherman Hu: Yeah, that’s right, Hu (who)…Hu (hue), I go with both, either.

Mari: Excellent, excellent. Well I think you’re very, very much enjoying the connections that we’ve had through Facebook and on the Internet and through your blog ShermanLive.com and I really have a lot of admiration for your grasp of technology so thank you for taking the time to be with us today.

Sherman: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me on the call Mari.

Mari: Oh yeah, you bet, you bet it’s so exciting. So let me just ask to start with, I am curious how long have you been on Facebook, when did you first come on board?

Sherman: I don’t think it’s been that long ago. I was trying to track how long I actually, you know when I started and it can’t be longer than…I don’t know, three, four, five months… I would say but it’s been fast and furious since I’ve come on board. So it’s been really exciting.

Mari: Yeah, yeah I agree, I am in the same boat. I think over the summer in July and soon to be somewhere with other people I am talking about, it’s just exploding. Now, the thing that I am asking a lot of people that’s because I am seeing alot of resistance with people in the business community thus far but do you think personally that Facebook can be utilized for better business purposes, for marketing purposes?

Sherman: I believe so. I mean there are definitely different camps, of people, you know in regards to, there are few in perspective, for social media for business but the statistics, they don’t lie and the fact that we’re, we’ve graduated from a Web 1.0 world era where everything was about you and your website and what you said about who you are and graduating to a Web 2.0 era where it’s all about the community, to about connections and interactivity and dialogue and back and forth where there’s a good way for a third party, somebody who is looking from the outside in to really get a grasp of who you are, your personality and your value-add to the conversation by all the different peripheral web properties out there, be it social media site, to really get a vibe and sense of who you are to see the authenticity and the transparency and then to build a ‘like you’, ‘trust you’, ‘respect you’ and then partake of your offerings.

There are lot of things going online where people are skeptical or you know a little cautious about new offerings but you know when you have that social proof from whether it’s LinkedIn or MySpace or Facebook or all these different properties that say, hey, you know what, "Mari Smith of FacebookFortunes.com is solid and you know, a lot of integrity, consistency and you definitely will have a lot of value from partaking in her offerings" … then that just boost, that social proof and you have people who are more willing to accept what you’re offering. Does that makes sense?

Mari: Oh that makes a lot of sense and I think what you’re saying really ties in to Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg because he talks about how in the past you might meet someone on the street and then recommending a new doctor or something and that might take you a week or two to verify that with a few other friends, however on Facebook you could do the same verification process in about 24 hours flat and it is absolutely the social proof…

Sherman: That was a recent Wall Street article, wasn’t it?

Mari: Well yes, it was. That article though moving. I really, really got a lot of value from it.

Sherman: That was great.

Mari: Yeah, now are you on some of these other platforms Sherman, MySpace, LinkedIn and some other ones?

Sherman: Yes, I am. I am, I have a profile on different places whether it’s MySpace or Squidoo or LinkedIn, even on IMDb I used to act a while ago, YouTube, 43Things, and so these are all the different social media platforms that I participate in, some more actively than others and Facebook, I am very, very active in compared to the other platforms.

I used to be more active in MySpace but I just felt that the genre of people and the kind of spam comments I was getting or spam requests through, were just plain spam or porn requests on MySpace, it was just really disconcerting. I spent a lot of time just having to de-spam you know, all that stuff.

It’s still a great traffic platform if used well to give people a teaser for the full meal deal either on your blog or somewhere else to have them come over to your web property. By I find that Facebook – I did some stats checking before your call, Mari – and I found that Facebook in relation to my podcast blog at ShermanLive.com, generates about 22 percent of all the natural incoming traffic to ShermanLive and…

Mari: Well, that’s a terrific number, yeah that really is great!

Sherman: Yeah, I think it’s not just using the platform – but it’s how you use it more effectively, how to maximize it, how to leverage it. And that’s all basically how much you put into it. So, be it photos, videos, participating in groups, or setting up your own groups on Facebook, really making it social and fun, and not hard-core proactive pitching but just real easy-going in referring others back to where they can get more information, which is maybe your blog or your podcast.

So I’ve found a boost in listenership or viewership of my podcast through Facebook – and 22% is a pretty big number.

Mari: Right, that is great, yeah. A couple times I’m having a hard time hearing you and I wonder if you could speak up just a little.

Sherman: Yeah, OK. Sounds good.

Mari: That’s better. Thanks so much. By the sounds of it, Sherman, you are working with a specific strategy or a strategic business intent in using Facebook. Would you say that’s accurate?

Sherman: Yeah, it definitely is. As somebody who’s a web marketer, starting out with search engine marketing and then going to new media like blogging, podcasting and video, I view Facebook as an extension of my marketing, an extension of my brand, my personality.

And it just so happens that right now I’m promoting my brand as somebody who’s a new media consultant, but more coming from the perspective of not just the strategic but the technical and tactical on how to use it, which is something that I have been blessed with: breaking down complex thoughts and processes into simple step how-to-do’s.

And so that brand at ShermanLive.com is what I’m promoting right now versus my original where I came from, which is WordPress blogging at WordPressTutorials.com. And so I’ve found great pleasure in being able to showcase different strategies in what I’ve learned and posting that on Facebook, and then leading people inadvertently to ShermanLive.com. So that’s the strategy.

Mari: Yeah. Well, you certainly have a great ability to break down the complex and teach it. I really love being on your webinars.

Sherman: Thank you.

Mari: You run a group. Why don’t you mention the group that you have on Facebook which is very active and fun.

Sherman: Yeah. I have started two groups on Facebook. And one of them is really just for my members at WordPressTutorials, which is called the "Friends of Sherman Hu’s WordPressTutorials.com" Facebook Group. And so there are members – it is a close group – so members of WordPressTutorials can join me there and participate in discussion there.

And there’s another group I started, which is growing by leaps and bounds, and it’s called the "Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Web Basics". And right there, that group started out because – between me and my friends – we have family and friends that are very tech unsavvy. And having to repeat ourselves over and over again was just cruel and unusual punishment.

So I basically set up this group with about 60 plus video tutorials right now that showcase basics from domain registration to hosting to ‘file transfer protocol’ to setting up a site, and all that basic stuff: how to source stock photography, you know; stuff that you don’t want to have to repeat over and over again. I set up all the videos there and there are about 331 members as of right now on this call.

And there are at least 50 different officers on the right hand column, basically people who have influence and specialties and expert status in different areas of web marketing and anything to do with the web, anyway. And you can actually see their names and titles, and you can ask them questions if you’re not so sure. But that’s also my way of sending leads or links to my officers within Facebook, and that’s a great way to drive traffic to them too.

Mari: Right, yeah, it’s really a win-win, a nice collaboration. Well, I love your group, and I want a lot of people to join it, so we’ll get you so more.

Sherman: Yeah.

Mari: Several hundred, three hundred is terrific. And I think when we talk again in a few months we’ll find there to be significantly more as well.

Sherman: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It’s funny, one of the officers said, "Sherman, as soon as you put me on your officer status, I had this whole barrage of people wanting to join my profile, my network of friends. And I don’t know what to do with it." Like, he said, "what do I do with all this?"

So I had to share with him about how to best use Facebook moving forward. But that’s a great testament to the fact that it’s powerful to not only participate in Facebook but be of influence within a group.

Mari: Yeah. Yeah, to lift other people up and to leverage and add value, really. I love Buckminster Fuller’s strategy: just always add value.

Let’s talk about friends. And tell us if you are actively building your friend list or are people finding you, and do you have a specific friend request policy? I have a few questions in one there, but it’s all about friends.

Sherman: Yeah. Facebook allows, what, 5,000 friends as a cap?

Mari: So far. I guess one day they’ll lift up that cap.

Sherman: Correct. And my strategy moving in is to combine both business and personal in one profile. And of course that’s my Sherman Hu Profile. The reason for that is it’s a win-win situation both ways: one for my friends who don’t have a clue what I do, because they know that Sherman does something on the web, they just don’t know what I do. So that’s a way for them to find out a little bit more about what I do.

Then on the other hand my business colleagues and friends and acquaintances will get to know that, hey, Sherman has actually a life outside of just marketing online. And so it’s a great way for me to blend the two. Plus it’s easier to mange one profile than two in my personal opinion.

I have about 408 friends here. It’s not like I connect, spend a long time per friend as far as the connection goes. But I will accept friends that are connected to other friends of mine. The one thing though that if anybody’s listening to this interview – is when you are adding yourself to another person’s friend network, be sure to let them know where you found them. Because as a person – I’m not just talking about myself — anybody who has influence as a subject matter expert or a thought leader, they’ll have a lot of friend requests.

So to save them time let them know where you found them. Pay them a compliment, based on whatever they are offering at this present time. To let them know that you are interested not in just blatantly adding friends, but just interested in who they are. That way it will make it a lot easier for them to add you then having to search around and find out how they know you. Does that make sense, what I said Mari?

Mari Smith: Oh it’s full of sense. I’m so grateful that you’ve brought this point up because I have to admit Sherman it’s one of my pet peeves on Facebook.

Sherman: Yeah, true.

Mari: So when someone goes to click on that little "Add Friends", it pops up a new window. There’s a little link in the middle of that window that says "add a personal message." That is what you want to click on. It’s not always obvious. I think that’s why some people omit it.

Sherman: Yeah, it’s a small link there.

Mari: It’s a link there. Then you type in like Sherman said of how you know the person. OK so let’s go ahead and do a couple more questions here. Do you think there is any kind of detriment–downside for business users being on Facebook?

Sherman: Well that’s – detriment to business people will be a different question than detriment in general on being on Facebook. Everybody knows that when you’re on Facebook or any other social marketing platform, that you are extending yourself to be more transparent. So if you have something to hide, be it whatever, be sure not to add that in, or keep your privacy settings so that it blocks that from people who you don’t know.

But for business owners–off the top of my head. I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t want to extend your brand or your personality or be more transparent to an end user.

Mari: Yea, yeah, I can live with that.

Sherman: It’s just a thought. I’m sure there are some detriments. Maybe there are some corporations that just doesn’t lend itself well. But I think any personality added, a personal voice added to a corporation – of a real stuffy type of corporation type of attitude, always lends itself to being more well embraced and accepted by the end-user. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a detriment.

Mari: Yeah, I think I agree with what you are saying. The lines are being blurred between personal and business.

I was reading an article the other day that said basically, do not put anything on the Internet that you don’t want other people to know. Even if it’s behind privacy settings or whatever. It might be something very personal or not necessarily seeing that you’re keeping a great big secret but be careful with privacy settings.

Let’s go ahead and close up here with a couple more questions. I could talk to you for awhile but we’re going to keep this brief. Do you have any plans to develop an application Sherman?

Sherman: I have considered a couple of applications. But at the same time, it’s not something that’s a priority to me. Because there are a lot of applications right there in Facebook that have been thought about and have been created already. The application has to make sense from a business user’s standpoint. It has to also deliver a good return on investment, whether it’s a database or of revenues. At this point in time, I haven’t come across one in my brainstorming that would be something I have to do right now.

Mari: Yeah!

Sherman: What’s that?

Mari: What we are going to is actually an increase in more applications that have business uses.

Sherman: Correct. Correct. It’s the 100 monkeys syndrome. I’m sure if I thought about something, there are a bunch of people who have thought about it and already working on it. I’ll wait for them to develop it. [laughs]

Mari: Yeah, yeah I agree.

Its really been a delight that you are at ShermanLive.com and also WordPresstutorials.com. They can find you on Facebook. I highly recommend your group. You can just go in search, you key that into the top left under the search and it is…Tell me the name of the group again. I know part of it…

Sherman: That’s the "Beginners Guide to Mastering Web Basics."

Mari: Thank you. That’s a mouth full.

Sherman: Yeah, that’s a mouthful I’m sure. But if you are looking to add me as a friend or add to my network of friends. Just let me know that you know Mari Smith through Facebook Fortunes. That way I’ll know where I know you from. Then we can go ahead and connect that way.

But Mari, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you creating Facebook Fortunes to help other people learn how to maximize Facebook for their business and their interests. Thank you so much for your time for doing that.

Mari: My pleasure. And thank you for yours and I look forward to connecting further and seeing where we both go with this wonderful platform.

Sherman: Thanks, Mari!

Mari: OK, have a wonderful thanksgiving up there in Canada.

Sherman: Yes, thank you very much. Take care, cheers.

Mari: OK, bye, bye now.

[Sherman]: Well that takes us to the end of that interview. Thanks for staying tuned to this episode of ShermanLive.com The next episode we’ll cover juicy stuff about new media.

[Announcer]: You’ve been tuned in to Sherman on ShermanLive.com. Want to call Sherman? Or send him some love? Go to ShermanLive.com today.

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