business Archives - iRespectOnline

June 30, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Protecting your facebook presence

(or How not to get shutdown on Facebook)

Many small business operators create a Facebook presence to help in the marketing and advertising of their business, but they often fail to seek expert advice when doing so. Unfortunately not understanding the complexity of Facebook rules has led to some businesses having their business pages shut down, or worse still even losing their personal profiles (generally for operating under a business or fake name). The heartbreak of losing a hard earned community and possibly a brand name is not an easy one for businesses to bear. But all is not lost. Read on to discover how you can help to protect your reputation and your facebook profiles and pages.

1. Know the difference between your profile and a page

For some people this might seem obvious, but for those new to Facebook, or to using Facebook as a platform for their business, it isn’t always so obvious.

Your “profile” is your personal account. You need to set this up first, before you create a page. You can keep it as private as you like. You need a profile in order to engage in groups, comment on your friends stories or photos, or engage as yourself on a page. Facebook also use your personal profile to verify your identity. So it’s smart to use your real name, because if you have to try and prove you own a page on facebook and you didn’t use your real name, it’s not going to be an easy process, and you may even fail. If you want to learn more about profiles and how you can use them, you can visit facebook help here.

2. Don’t force anyone to have to “like” or to “tag” themselves on your page in order to enter a competition

You can ask people to LIKE a COMMENT or a POST on your page as part of entry, but not to “Like” the page. You cannot ask people to tag themselves into an image which they are not actually pictured in. You can have the competition shut down, or sometimes even your whole page. You also can’t use personal profiles to collect entries (mainly because it’s unfair, there is no way you can track them). This means you can’t ask people to “Share” a post on their page as an entry or to “share” to friends for more entries.

Using a third party app or having a social media specialist set up a competition for you should help protect you and take some of the pain away, (but make sure they do know what they are doing, we have seen some pretty big brands run competitions in breach of the rules, and they risk a lot of damage to their brand in doing so). The terms and conditions for promotions are exact. You can find the guidelines here.

3. No Spam!

A sure way to have people report your page or your profile is by sending unsolicited direct messages to them via Facebook. Spamming is a violation of Facebook’s Community standards. Posting links and images to other people’s profiles and pages or using your personal profile to push your business onto people’s pages is considered spam. Other forms of spam include “clickjacking” where a button looks like it is for one thing, but clicking it actually has you liking something else; phishing and malicious software (often via video and “viral” posts) and “sharebaiting”. You often see sharebaiting where scammers create a fake competition for a big brand and people click and share thinking they are going to enter a competition. Also those videos and posts that say “you won’t believe what happens, what she does etc”. Be skeptical of such posts.

You can learn about spam here.

4. No third party advertising

This generally relates to people who attempt to charge you to advertise in their groups or on their pages. Under Facebook terms and conditions you cannot charge people to use their platform.

5. Make sure your page adheres to age limits depending on content

When you set up your page you can define the audience. If your page contains adult content, or products which have age limits you must adhere to the law. This relates to adult products, alcohol, tobacco or firearms. Protect your page and help look after our young people by limiting your page to age 18 and over.

6. Don’t tell lies!

If your page contains or promotes information which is false, deceptive, mislead or makes fraudulent claims, it will be shut down. In addition you may find yourself facing fines under consumer laws. Keep it real.

iRespectOnline and Communication Tree joined forces to create this infograph. Feel free to print it, pin it , share it to help others to understand how to protect their valuable media and reputation.

7. Keep it Nice

Facebook has a wide community of people from all walks of life, and it is very family orientated and friendly. Don’t post violent or sexualised images. Be respectful. Your community and Facebook will not tolerate bullying, harrasment or threats. Facebook gives your business such a huge opportunity to connect with existing clients and prospects and grow your business brand and reputation. Look after it well (including how you engage personally within groups and on posts).

Your turn:

Have you been guilty of any of these issues? Many people inadvertently have, particularly when it comes to promotions and competitions.

Do you have a specific question? Leave your comments below (and of course, be polite!)

(You can join our communities on Facebook at iRespectOnline and Communication Tree )

December 22, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

Reputation management matters

Branding vs Reputation

Someone said to me recently, “reputation doesn’t matter, it’s all about how you brand”.

Wow I thought, that takes the personality out of it, although of course I could understand what they meant. Certainly in business, or for individuals (particularly celebrities), if you create a lot of hype and gloss about something you can get traction even if its not quality information that you are promoting. There are plenty of snake oil salespeople out there but I for one don’t intend to add to them.

“All you have to do is been seen” they said. Yes, true for some people that seems to work, but I certainly do not think it builds any kind of longevity. What you do catches up on you at some point. Just what is it that they are seeing?

There is an audience for those who create hype and gloss, often vulnerable people who are seeking quick answers or desperate for change. That is why there are so many “get rich quick” schemes.

Smoke and mirrors

Puffery abounds in all forms of advertising and never as much as online when often consumer laws are pushed right to the edge in order to make claims about being the “best”, the “top”, make six figures in xx minutes”. For me it’s all about ethical marketing practices, promoting and highlighting the truth of what you do. We all know (or we should) that it takes work to get results. If you pay for a course it won’t guarantee you results unless you take action (unless of course the content is not there and you paid virtually for air, and sadly that happens). You might might six figures in xx minutes if you have a great product, but you wont if there is a mismatch between what you say and what you offer.

When it comes to the online world and social media the only results you can really guarantee is that if you continually stuff up your reputation will get damaged. People talk. People share.

Reputation management is imperative in today’s world and should be part of every business (and every personal) strategy.

There is a famous quote by Warren Buffet “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently”. It’s worth starting to think about it if you haven’t already.

If you are a school leaver or job seeker, what is it that will be discovered about you first in a search online? If you are trying to make a name for yourself in any industry, what kind of name do you want associated with your own

Authentic experience

This is how I see it, it’s my version of something I read at some point and it really hit home with me.

The most damage to reputations comes from a mismatch or misinterpretation of what is said about your business (or you)
and the reality of others experience of you.

So you can do all that hype, puffery and smoke and mirrors stuff, but at some point, the experience people are having of you and your business will be the defining point. You may get away with it for a while, but do you really want to end up on something like “sixty minutes” as the latest scam?

If you have a great business or product, or you yourself are the product (such as celebrity, actor, job seeker, entrepreneur) then reputation management matters!

A quote from Seth Godin comes to mind also “the key to getting a reputation for being brilliant is actually being brilliant, not just acting like you are“.
That says it all really. Be authentic.

What is it that you say you do? When someone works with you is that what they find?

At iRespectonline we get down to the nitty gritty, we explore the experience others are having of you and we help you to bring the best to the fore, and to take action on any negatives.
We don’t work with just anyone either, we look for synergies within your values and your mindset. Whether it’s producing a blueprint for your image online or our social media workshops and training to bring congruence to the whole team, it’s all about reputation.

So have you been caught up with the “bright and shiny” objects? Have you had an experience where there was a mismatch between what was offered and what was delivered?

We would love to hear your stories. Please share with us your experiences (no name and shaming please, lets keep it to respectful discussion).

Fiona Lucas.

If you would like to stay up to date, please sign up to our newsletter mailing list here. We are revamping our newsletter so you can be the first inline in 2015. We don’t spam, our reputation depends on it 🙂

If you would like to work with us, please drop us a line here.

March 4, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

MYBIZCARD Begone -Letiquette lesson No 2

Are you totally over those random inmails on your Linkedin asking for a review?

You know the ones .. they look like this

From all my research into this app – there isn’t much good about it. If you have received one there are two things I ask you not to do:

1. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK

2. DO NOT CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE

WHY? Because clicking either link will find you being asked by MYBIZCARD to access your Linkedin Profile. This will give the app the ability to approach ALL your contacts. Even if you innocently chose just a few thinking you are helping out a friend you may find a bulk email goes out. Not only does this annoy your contacts, but the message will go out with their names clearly visible to each other. It’s never good etiquette to expose your contact names to others without their knowledge at the best of times, but you might just really upset a client if their details end up in the wrong hands. Unfortunately many of these app “mine” lists which we really don’t know in whose hands they might end up. It’s always worth a little research before using any app.

Further if you have a really big list, you can only apologise to 50 at a time so it is just not worth it.

From all indications this app tells you that you will get a “rating” but then you find that you have to pay to access the service anyway.

I have heard of negative ratings being given to people who complain to the company so that is really poor and possibly in breach of certain laws in some countries.

Follow the instructions in our infopic to see if you have the app installed and to remove it.

If you do receive one of these emails, delete it and then let the person know – and send them to this post so they can take action themselves.

If you don’t know the person who sent it to you, you can mark as spam, but if you do, marking as spam could see Linkedin suspending or closing their account down if everyone on their list does that.

If you want to build a great profile and reputation, then the best way is to ask real clients and colleague to give you genuine recommmendations, and keep your Linkedin profile up to date because profiles always score well in a google search!

If you found this post useful and would like to know more , please join our Linkedin business page here to stay up to date

With respect

Fiona Lucas – iRespectOnline

February 17, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

LETIQUETTE – LINKEDIN ETIQUETTE

LETIQUETTE – LINKEDIN ETIQUETTE

In recent times there has been a bit of a change filtering into LinkedIn and in my opinion it’s not all been for the better. From my observations it’s change being driven by users, due to a poor understanding of what LinkedIn is for and how to use it well. As a Social Media professional educator, I constantly come across clients and associates who create profiles on every different platform because they believe that is a good strategy. Sometimes it is, provided there is a strategy and plan behind it.

Where it goes pear-shaped is when we start taking rules and behaviours from one platform to another and there is a mismatch between audience and purpose.

Professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn have rules for a reason. The rules are not there to restrict – it’s about targeting. When I’m discussing LinkedIn with clients and associates, I keep hearing so many stories about “spammy” emails and requests to connect from very disconnected sources, so it inspired me to do the following post, to help you get more out of LinkedIn and leverage it’s power for your profile and business.

LinkedIn’s own mission statement is: “…to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful”

I hope this post helps you to understand how to use and engage with your connections to help make your experience a positive and successful one.

1. NO PROFILE PIC (who are you?)
Think of your presence on LinkedIn just as you would when attending a physical professional networking event. You don’t walk into a room with a bag over your head do you? For best results, have a clear professional and current headshot on your profile. Ensure that your eyes are showing because we connect far more readily with people when we can look into their eyes. Your photograph (or lack thereof) is one of the first things people will look at.

2. NO SPAM PLEASE
Just because someone has connected with you on LinkedIn this is not an invitation to be placed on your mailing list. Nothing can be worse for your reputation than being known as a spammer. Anti spamming rules apply and if you wish to add someone to your newsletter, then email them asking them and make sure there is an opt out option. This is important for you to understand because if enough people mark your emails as “spam” then LinkedIn just might shut your profile down.

BEWARE THE THIRD PARTY APP: There are several products on the market which purport to build your networks and help your to build your brand and be found online. Unfortunately many of these programs make it very easy for you to send out invites and requests to your entire list. Some of these are referral key Etagged.me Erated.me Make sure you do your research before accepting such invitations – they may do more damage than good.

3. SENDING A BLANK INVITATION

If you only request connections using the standard connect form and don’t complete it, you are sending a blank invitation. LinkedIn provides an option to add a message with a request to connect. Please USE it. LinkedIn is about QUALITY over quantity. If you wish to build relevant relationships, which can help you to leverage opportunities, then it is worth taking the time to customize the message.This is even more important when reaching out to someone you have actually never met or engaged with. Let them know why you would like to connect. Tell them you enjoyed their article or the talk they gave. Remind them that you were at the conference or that you share similar interests or thoughts on a subject they are passionate about.If you actually don’t know the person, have no connections or their email address, then ask a mutual connection for an introduction. Some try and get around this by linking to a business the connection is part of. This does nothing for your reputation and could be just AWKWARD! Connecting with someone by saying you have worked with him or her at your business, or their business and you never have just to make the connection is a poor strategy! Come on – imagine being at a physical network event and someone says to you “oh I just met Bill over there, he says you used to work for him”, and you’ve never met the guy? If you wouldn’t do it in real life, don’t do it online. Worst still if you run into this person in the future your reputation will already be damaged!By the way..

4. IT’S NOT A DATING SERVICE
Linked in is NOT a dating service! It is inappropriate to use it as such. There are plenty of websites and platforms designed for that service. If you do happen to connect with someone and at some point it leads to a relationship that is lovely, but don’t send inappropriate connection messages – it doesn’t build your reputation and you just might get marked as spam and end up without a profile.

5. NO SELFIES OR CUPCAKES
LinkedIn is NOT Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or any of the other social networks. Whilst Facebook is primarily a social network, one which also has fantastic opportunities for businesses to connect and develop customer/client relationships (B2C, C2C and B2B), LinkedIn really works best as a professional networking platform. Here you can build and develop your profile, seek new connections and new opportunities, build or change your career and find partners and joint venture opportunities.It’s been said that “you wouldn’t wear flipflops to a job interview so don’t kick your shoes off on LinkedIn” and I think that is a great analogy. LinkedIn’s roots were in the recruitment industry – linking people and jobs, but over time they recognized the potential to help business to grow and to find connections way beyond the capabilities of a job board. LinkedIn has deliberately been created in a more formal and professional way and many professionals who would shy away from the other social networks will happily add opinion and share information within the constraints of the LinkedIn environment.
That said, the power of visual marketing means you can share powerful content, just ensure it is relevant. Using great images in your blogs is still a great strategy. Cupcakes are fine if that’s your business, but not if it’s your afternoon tea!

6. BE TRUTHFUL
This is the most important one of all. There is no benefit to lying or exaggerating on your profile. Your online profile is a snapshot of your resume and subject to scrutiny. Don’t risk your reputation.Highlight your achievements, your contributions to the world, but be transparent. Don’t take personal credit for a team effort and don’t reinvent your titles. Just be honest. This is especially true for those just starting their careers, it can be tempting to “gloss it up”. Please don’t. You can still be creative, especially if that suits your industry, but just keep it real. For example if you managed a business, use your title; don’t say you were the CEO (unless you were of course!). If you contributed to an article or book, say you were a contributing author, not the “author”. A little honesty goes a long long way.

I hope you have enjoyed this post, please pop over and join our LinkedIn company page so that you can keep up to date with our posts and let us know what you think. We would love to hear about your LinkedIn experiences.

Fiona.

LinkedIn, the LinkedIn logo, the IN logo and InMail are registered trademarks or trademarks of LinkedIn Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.
This post has been written to provide information and education about using LinkedIn and the use of the name is within branding guidelines. We are not an affiliate.

www.fionalucas.com.au

May 21, 2013 By Fiona Lucas

Staying Smart Online – Passwords & Links Cyber Security Week 2013

Folllowing on from yesterday’s post, today we will look at Tip no 3 & 4 from the Stay Smart Online Cyber Security Week tips.

Tip 3: Use Strong Passwords and different Passwords for different uses

We live in a world full of passwords and pin numbers and it can get hard to remember them all. It is really important however that you do regularly change passwords for your email accounts and other online programs. Although it can feel like an inconvenience and a bit of a pain to do, it really does help protect your accounts from spammers and hackers.

If you use the same password for your accounts and it gets picked up by a hacker then you have really given over control of all your information.

Using a strong password and changing it regularly is the best protection you can give yourself.

Make sure you keep up to date with security alerts (you can sign up to the stay smart online alert service here)

Your security can be jeopardised because a business you subscribe too gets hacked. Just recenting LivingSocial.com was hacked and 50 million passwords belonging to members were breached. This of course means that the names and email addresses matching the passwords were also breached. If you have an account with Living social ( who supply coupon /daily deals ) then you should immediately change your password.

Tips for passwords:

1. Make sure you use a combination of letters, numbers and punctuation marks ie art@23$% to make your password harder to crack.

2. Don’t use your street address, pet names or date of birth in your password as they can be easier to crack.

3. You can use a base name to make it easier, but change around it and modify it so it is not a word from the dictionary. Changing and L to a 1 for example . For example FLY could be used as 345F1Y##! or &#F1Y289 etc.

4. Don’t forget to change passwords on computers, email, bank accounts, subscriptions to online services and your modem.

5. Keep details of passwords secure. It is not adviseable to have a document called “passwords” on your computer for instance. Keep the details separate and secure. If you have a lot of passwords you might consider purchasing one of the great password tools available for this purpose. roboform, 1password, lastpass are examples of such online tools. These tools store and generate passwords for you. (*these are purely examples and I cannot vouch for any of them, please do your own research into using any of these tools).

You can find lots more safety tips here.

Tip 4: Stop and think before you click on attachments

There is a real risk of infecting your computer or compromising your information through clicking on attachments which contain malware . There are many “phishing” sites which mimic a real website or email but ask you to enter your logon details. Legitimate companies will never ask you to provide your details through an email. Clicking on pictures which promise “click and share and you will be amazed at what happens..” well they are just to get you sharing information which may well actually be grabbing details from your contact lists and setting up to spam all your friends. A static photo will never “do something” so just delete these types of pictures.

If you get an email from someone you don’t know, particularly without a subject then be wary about opening it. Likewise if you get one from an email address you do know, but the subject seems strange or the topic is not what you would expect, then do not open as your contacts may have been breached and although it is not a true hack, the spammers modify their address so it appears to come from someone you know.

Emails stating you have won a huge sum or have a large inheritance are almost always spam and you can often tell by the email addresses attached to them that they are not legitimate.

Delete spam email without opening or previewing the content.

I hope you are staying smart online and enjoying the cyber security week tips!

more tomorrow!

Fiona Lucas
iRespectOnline ( a 2013 Stay Smart Online awareness week partner)