Manage Your Small Business Social Media Marketing From A Single Dashboard

Social Media Marketing via Facebook for small business is hot! And I don’t see it going away anytime soon. That means your small business should be there. (Note: if you are still one of the few small businesses that does not yet have a website, Facebook would be a good place to start.)


One of the drawbacks for small business owners when it comes to any type of social media — whether that is blogging, Twitter, or Facebook — is taking on one more thing to do in an already packed day. Yes, you can outsource some of these activities, but the whole idea behind social media is the social part (as in you need to be present and engaging).

So I was pretty thrilled when a couple of messages landed in my email box about a young startup called MediaFeedia. Its aim is to be the answer for small business owners like you to manage your Facebook presence.


And I think they’ve nailed that pretty well. Here are some of the things you can do.

• Manage multiple administered facebook pages from a single dashboard
• Send posts, complete with photos, links and link metadata from the dashboard
• Send posts in real-time or schedule posts in advance (hours, days, weeks or months in advance)
• Receive notifications via email for all posts and comments made to your page
• Respond to posts and comments via the email notification

What I Like About MediaFeedia

I took it for a test drive and really liked what I saw. Here are my thoughts on the service along with some handy videos to show you how it works.
Scheduling a post is pretty easy.

See the video, click here.

Plus, you get (almost) instant notification of comments on your fan page via email and can click to interact.

See the video, click here.

I truly love the option of being able to schedule posts to your facebook page. One of the keys to successful interaction is to be able to reach your contacts when they are on the site. This option allows you to to do that. You can see the example below. Note that the post source shows MediaFeedia.

Here’s What I Don’t Like

MediaFeedia is using the popular freemium model for their business — you get a free version that has certain features and benefits and have to upgrade to get more goodies. I’m actually okay with the model because I know businesses can’t survive without cash flow. But what I’m not okay with for this particular site is the way it looks like they are going to price their service.



According to the welcome email, you will get full features for 30 days and then will have to upgrade to continue with full features. You’ll still have a basic account, but notice that one of the key options they take away is the fan page email notifications. Ugh! Not good. The two key reasons why a small business owner like you and me would use this service is to 1) have the ability to schedule posts, and 2) be able to get notifications of comments via email.

But there is an alternative. I could use MediaFeedia for the scheduling options and then set up the (totally free) HyperAlerts to get email notification of wall posts. Or you could use one of the other new kids on the block like Postling to monitor comments. Problem solved.



Do We Recommend MediaFeedia? Yep.

No matter what, though, I feel comfortable recommending MediaFeedia and plan on using it myself. I think it’s one answer to helping small business owners be present and engaging with clients and prospects while being able to balance all the balls in the air.

Why your anti-virus software might have stopped working this week without telling you!

Why clients ask "what's the best FREE anti-virus for my small business" my answer is always the same, Microsoft's Security Essentials is a free no-nonsense, no-hassle anti-virus and anti-spyware tool that does 80% of what small businesses need. Microsoft's own tagline for the application is "Proven anti-virus protection for free? That's what I need!" And it's true... or at least it was, until this week.

Microsoft released a new version of the Microsoft Anti-virus application a few weeks ago, and prompted everyone to "Upgrade" it's still free, but the upgrade takes about 20 minutes per PC and requires you to reboot when it's finished, so many people ignore it's prompting seen below.

Again the problem being most people didn't take the  time to hit the "Upgrade Now" button the old version for some unexplained reason "stopped working" it never reported an error, or gave any signs of failure, but I've now seen 3 Pc's in the last week with virus infections that I KNOW were protected, but didn't get upgraded. So did Microsoft miss a virus definition distribution? Did the program hiccup and let a virus through? We're not sure, but we do know that if you DIDN'T Upgrade, you're likely unprotected, and possibly already infected without knowing it.

So if you're using Microsoft Security essentials, as I recommend most small business do (ask my why I tell 20% of my customers about a BETTER solution!) and you haven't already done the "upgrade" Microsoft recommended last week, you'd better soon, or, give us a call and we can arrange to have a technician install it for you and do a thorough security check at the same time.

Below is a screen shot of the older version not yet upgraded.

And the upgraded version below already installed (note the gray lines instead of the solid blue background).

Top 10 sites businesses should ban during work hours.

One popular method of reducing employee web traffic to non-business sites is modifying the DNS (Domain Name System) settings on your server or internet router, many of our small office clients have asked us about ways to reduce non-work related internet traffic to minimize distractions and keep workers productive and focused during working hours. The sites we found were blocked most often after we put the security measures in place are listed below.

No surprise here as Facebook was the most blocked site by businesses with almost one in four trying to put the clamps on social networking site, Myspace was second and is still a popular social networking site.

Youtube, the internets second most searched website, I could hear arguments on youtube though, as much as it is primarily an entertainment site, it also contains wealths of useful information and great "how to's" for staff and management alike.

Doubleclick, and ad.yieldmanager at numbers 4 and 8 are not "traditional" websites at all, these two sites are advertising agents that put the ads on other websites you visit.

Twitter at number 5 is another popular social networking site.

The biggest security threat of the bunch was probably number 6, hotmail, being an non-office email application it opens the doors to security threats in two ways, incoming and outgoing, both the threat of viruses arriving via hotmail and getting through the company email firewall AND sensitive files being sent OUT of the company via hotmail or similar web based email addresses were a concern.

Orkut at number 7 is a social networking site now owned by google and recently relaunched and Meebo at number 9 is yet another popular social media site.

And of course we can't forget ebay, I honestly think this site would have ended up MUCH higher on the list if it wasn't for what I call "self regulation" that is people who realize they're not supposed to be on that site, before they even try. eBay is one of the most popular websites on the internet, and a real "time waster" for employees.

The full list:
1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. YouTube
4. DoubleClick
5. Twitter
6. Hotmail
7. Orkut
8. ad.yieldmanager
9. Meebo
10. eBay

If you're company hasn't already implemented an acceptable employee internet usage policy and doesn't have an easy way to enforce and monitor it, we'd be happy to discuss cost effective solutions.