What does your company do and what is your role there…besides running the Facebook page of course?

I work with a range of companies and brands, including Gordons Gold Jewellers, my longest client. Gordons Gold is a local family jewelry store in London, Canada, which specializes in fine jewelry, diamonds and gem stones. For 4 years, I’ve handled the social media, graphic design, branding and online marketing.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

Although my client values dedicated customer service in-person, they also recognize the importance of social media. Gordons Gold effectively uses social media to engage customers, build community and facilitate outreach. The store is not only a staple in the local community, but strategic social media has been a key element in also growing Gordons Gold into a nationally recognized luxury brand.

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

Over the holiday season, we incorporated the Photo Showcase app to beautifully display a virtual jewelry catalog. We had customers comment in-store about how much they loved it, as well as sales as a result of having it on the Facebook page.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

At the jewelry store, we are fortunate to work alongside some pretty impressive brands that also “get” social media. These brands include Hearts On Fire diamonds, Tacori, and the American Gem Society. These companies do an incredible job of engaging fans, publishing great content, and offering a very personal connection.

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

Constantly put your own goals and opinions aside and really focus on what the fans want. Take necessary measures to understand exactly who your fan is and why they ‘liked’ your page in the first place. Also, don’t forget to talk to them like a human being. Humans don’t want to be given a sales pitch! They want a relationship. That’s the most important part of building brand loyalty.

How can people connect with you online?

Gordons Gold Jewellers

Website: http://www.gordonsgold.ca
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gordonsgold

Phil Pallen

Website: http://www.philpallen.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/philpallenfan
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philpallen

What does your company do and what is your role there…besides running the Facebook page of course?

Love and Pride is the first high-end designer jewelry online destination for people who believe in equality, diversity and tolerance. Our jewelry collections include engagement, commitment, wedding and anniversary rings, necklaces, pendants, earrings, watches and other accessories for women and men. Sometimes romantic, sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical…always captivating.

Love and Pride works with some amazing organizations such as The Human Rights Campaign and The Matthew Shepard Foundation where we donate 100% of the proceeds from these products directly to these organizations making a difference for the LGBT community and creating a society that is truly diverse and tolerant.

I am the head of social media activity at Love and Pride. I manage the Facebook page, our Twitter account, and the blog.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

Facebook has been a valuable tool for Love and Pride. We use our Facebook fan page as the main way of interacting with our customers and supporters. It has been extremely effective in the ways of reaching out to new fans who otherwise may never have heard of us. Over the past year alone we’ve increased our fan base by 30,000.

Facebook serves as a great platform not only for the increase of traffic and customers to our site, but more importantly, we’ve been able to build a community around Love and Pride and the important causes that we stand for. Without Facebook, our influence would be nowhere close to what is today.

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

Though we use several North Social apps effectively, perhaps our most successful and most frequently used app is the Deal Share. We like to feature about four products per month and we’ve gotten great responses from our fans every time.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

Hoopnotica: http://www.facebook.com/Hoopnotica
Human Rights Campaign: http://www.facebook.com/humanrightscampaign
Matthew Shepard Foundation: http://www.facebook.com/MatthewShepardFoundation.MSF

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

Facebook is very visual. Be sure to use lots of images in your postings – it really helps to engage your fan base.

How can people connect with you online?

Twitter: @_loveandpride
Designer Blog: http://udibehr.wordpress.com
Tumblr: http://lookgooddogood.tumblr.com/

What does your company do and what is your role there…besides running the Facebook page of course?

We make fashion-forward accessories for iPhones, iPads, iPod touch, and more. We are a global company, selling our products just about everywhere but we’ve recently upgraded our product line and online presence, so we’re very excited to get out there and connect with our fans. So my day is about connecting with media, bloggers, Facebook fans, and more. Spreading the word on our products, sending out products for review. We want to put X-Doria products in front of as many people as possible, we know they’ll love them when they see them.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

Facebook for us is a way to cut through the clutter and noise as much as possible to have a direct conversation with our fans. We have new designs we want to share with them, and when they have a problem, we want them to have an easy to use way to connect with us. We pride ourselves on our customer service, it is part of the X-Doria experience. We try to be as transparent as possible.

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

We’ve just launched our first program with North Social but it has been a major success! Using the Sweepstakes app, we were able to add 1K fans in one day as part of our My Style is X event. We were starting from basically zero, fan-wise so we wanted to make a splash. We paired the Sweepstakes app with the Photo Showcase app. The idea was to draw people in with the Sweepstakes and lead them into Photo Showcase to check out some of our new designs. Facebook is a long term effort on our part, and we’re making the investment now to build our base as quickly as possible.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

Although we benchmark ourselves on our competition, we admire most the smaller Mom and Pop operations that are out there using Facebook to make a personal connection with their customers. While we operate internationally, we want to feel connected to our customers in every region, to emulate that ‘local’ feel.

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

For us, it is most definitely that the old say, “If you build it, they will come.” does not apply to Facebook. At least if they don’t know that you’re there. So if you’re starting small like us, make your offer meaningful to your fans, and potential fans and carefully consider ad buys that can spread the word.

What apps are you using?

Universal Technical Institute Inc. (UTI) is a nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.

As the Social Media Specialist, it is my task to engage our audience through Facebook and YouTube, as well as, monitor our online reputation on a daily basis.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

Our demographic grew up on Facebook! We MUST be there!

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

Our 2012 UTI / Tjin Edition Mustang Giveaway Contest using the North Social Sweepstakes app is our most successful marketing program on Facebook.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

Hot Rod Magazine, Ford Motor Company, Wal-Mart, Mercedes-Benz, Harley-Davidson

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

Stay active! Majority of people who “Like” a brand won’t ever visit their Facebook page again, so stay active in their Newsfeed!

What apps are you using?

Sweepstakes, Partner Pages, and will be using the Video Channel App soon!

How can people connect with you online?

www.facebook.com/DiannaHollandUTI

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the latter half of 2011, you’ve probably met Jonny Like on at least one occasion. Jonny is the face of all Facebook Fan Page fails, which occur all too frequently in a social media world chock-full of interns-turned-page-admins and self-labeled gurus. There are 10 fail video shorts in all, each of which allude to various learnings of being on the front lines of managing a Facebook page. Will you post up on the street corner with your brand’s billboard? We’ll bet not, but chances are you’ve mimicked the page of another brand in an attempt to reap similar rewards. Fine by us, just remember to give it your own spin – otherwise you’ll be dropping the ball, just like Jonny.

Watch all 10 of Jonny’s adventures at www.fanpagefail.com and be sure to let us know your favorite.

1. The word “brand” makes a comeback.

Sounds silly to say “comeback”, but the truth is many businesses got so caught up in the A.D.D. world of social media and the desire to provide instant gratification to their consumers on 2011, they failed to take time to work on themselves. As the number of users on Facebook continues to increase, the harder it will become to capture quality “Likes”. Remember, being successful at Facebook marketing doesn’t begin with just creating a Facebook page for your business. It doesn’t even start with putting those cute and colorful F icons on your website or marketing materials. It actually begins with building and activating a B-R-A-N-D. If you can’t bring your own brand to life in a meaningful (and differentiating) way, you’ll have an awfully hard time inspiring new fans in 2012.

2. Social sampling programs go mainstream.

While Facebook product sampling programs don’t signal the immediate death of the street sampling team, they are most definitely putting the first nail in their coffin. Seriously, never before have we ever been able to put our brand’s message and product into the hands of motivated consumers where they learn, live, play, share, and shop with such precision and speed. While outfitting a bunch of college kids in branded t-shirts to hand out a new flavor of breath mints can help unload inventory. It’s also incredibly costly and highly inefficient. So quit force-feeding your product on uninterested people as they are walking by on the street; collect a name, address, email, and valuable feedback on your Facebook page and put your product in the hands of people that actually want it (and can share it with one click…).

3. Growing “likes” alone won’t keep the boss engaged.

While your boss in the corner office or the client across town screamed for an elevated fan count in 2011, that publicly-facing “talking about this” metric has them clamoring for more of something else this year; engagement. Sure, likes are still important, but more focus and effort needs to be spent on getting page visitors to interact with your product, service, or cause on a regular basis. Listen, if you treat your Facebook page like a tourist destination (only promote offers), you’ll attract tourists. Long-term social success is created when you’re able to take a tourist (someone that liked your page because of a souvenir) and actually convert them into a full-time resident. After all, what good is an elevated fan count if those photos of one-time tourists on the left side of your page never visit your online or offline destinations ever again?

4. Consumers fail to fall for “schmalue”.

Last year your Facebook promo for a tasty 15% off a cinnamon roll may have been able to bring in some new fans, but if that’s the only trick up your sleeve in 2012, hit the whiteboard and try again. Your brand is only worth as much (or as little) as the value it provides back. While small percentage off discounts may have been able to ramp your fan count in 2011, you will have to go beyond this year. Sure, consumers want discount-driven offers, but they also seek out elevated experiences. Entertain them. Inform them. Activate concepts and promotional campaigns that provide meaningful value. Because if you don’t, instead of getting a thumbs up of approval, you may find them using their thumb to hitch a ride to another brand’s page.

5. 90% of Super Bowl ads will be tagged with an F.U.

Calm down, nothing profane here. F.U. as in Facebook URL. Yep, when it comes to Super Sunday, a few things are almost always a given when it comes to the show “off the field”; 1) a really old and not-so-relevant music act will go through the motions at halftime (sorry Madge); 2) the average viewer will consume roughly 3,000 calories in food and drink; and 3) expensive ads featuring animals, babies, and boobs will run one after another all the way until the Vince Lombardi Trophy is held high. But one thing Page Admins should be paying close attention to is how these deep-pocketed brands tag the end of their commercials with not their Website, but their Facebook Page URL. Yes, to build a better following in 2012, you should follow the lead of the Fortune 500 and leverage your other media touchpoints to drive more traffic to your most social online destination.

6. Walk the talk or walk the plank.

As more and more digital agencies pivoted to offer social media marketing services as a core capability in 2011, the numbers of huckster and hustlers entering the social fray also skyrocketed. The good thing? The days of dropping buzz words and pitching useless complexity to win new business is over. Brands are a year wiser and now know it’s possible to achieve more with less. 2012 will no doubt separate the performers from the posers, as more Facebook marketing retainers and custom app builds will continue to be won by more nimble, knowledgeable, and transparent service providers. So whether you’re a Madison Avenue shop or a one-man band pitching your Facebook page smarts, do yourself a favor and customize your own Facebook page first. Your competition is steep and the results you generate need to be real. Psst…if your own Facebook Page fails to inspire, no brand on earth is going to trust you to handle their social media budget.

7. Timeline treatment on business pages just around the…not really.

Remember these words, “Changing consumer behavior is hard. Supporting their habits is easy.” When Facebook announced the new timeline profile at f8, every Page Admin on earth was left wondering how this would eventually affect their business page. But as consumers are just now getting used to clicking a “Like” button and navigating tabs on the left hand side of pages, is this really the best time to roll out a massive re-design? While it makes a lot of sense for Facebook to make the user experience a consistent one on Profiles and Pages, this decision is not an easy one to make. With Google+ and Twitter business pages lurking as possible alternatives, now’s probably not the time for Facebook to re-tool something’s that been working well and jeopardize throwing a curve ball at their biggest advertisers and third-party developers. While we believe a switch to the new layout is imminent, our Magic 8 Ball says, “Reply Hazy. Ask Again Later.”

8. Facebook Ad Forecast: Sunny. Clear. More Conversions Likely.

Facebook’s advertising platform is forecasted to pull in more than $5.3B in 2012 revenue and has quickly become a go-to arrow in the quiver of every brand manager and media buyer. Why? It works. New UI updates like Timelines and Tickers will provide varying new possibilities for targeting consumers with improved contextual messaging. Facebook’s roll-out of mobile ads this coming spring will allow marketers to convert fans into paying customers while they shop offline. With an intelligent strategy, brands of all sizes can expect higher CTR’s and lower CPC’s as ad unit offerings and targeting possibilities expand in 2012. Ready. Aim. Fire.

9. More spray paint coming to a wall near you.

Facebook announced at f8 that users would be allowed to comment on pages without liking them. While your first reaction may be “oh shit”, this open door policy has both positive and detrimental consequences for brands unable to interact with fans on a one-to-one basis. A brand experiencing a public relations crisis could see thousands or even millions of users descend on its Page to leave complaints or insults without gaining any new fans. How page admins respond to these crises will greatly affect the future of their brand image on Facebook. We’ll likely start seeing more brands blending their social media marketing and support teams to provide round-the-clock monitoring and responding to both fans and drive-by taggers. Whether visitors are coming to leave unwanted wall graffiti, product feedback, or give praise, you must be ready to respond. What’s your plan?

No one feels good replying negatively to that statement, unless they’ve recently been on a voyage with Captain Ahab on the waves of the beautiful, briny sea. But who really feels good about it? People don’t usually care for those petition-yielding folk who are always hanging out in front of their local Trader Joe’s.

Non-profits need to shine extra bright in order to get noticed out there, and the world of social media is no different. Experts say that non-profit organizations “fail because they don’t have administrative capacities”#, so adding a Facebook strategist to that list simply isn’t an option for your average non-profit. So where do you go? Who do you turn to so that ship you’re helming doesn’t go down, Titanic-style?

There is tremendous potential for your non-profit to see increased value from social media, if of course, you understand how to best utilize it. To generate momentum for your cause, you need simple. You need inexpensive. You need fast. You need…North Social.

“One really successful campaign we ran with North Social was using the video tool to post an exclusive video. It was a quick and easy way to reach our fans, and it ended up getting over 100,000 views – all for a few minutes of staff time.”  – Meghan Teich, Digital Engagement Director at IAVA

These tips and tricks will help you push your Page to star status:

1. A simple, witty red carpet roll-out never fails to impress and will quickly deliver your cause into the hands of current and future supporters.

2. Focus your mission with programs that speak directly to potential volunteers and donors.

3. Provide concise but impressive campaigns that demonstrate the importance of your cause to the good people of the world.

4. Offer a reasonable and quick way for them to give to your community, without breaking your budget.

Don’t spend all day in the hot parking lot at the neighborhood grocery store trying to collect one signature at a time, when you can take your message and cause to a place where 800 million are at once.

What does your company do and what is your role there…besides running the Facebook page of course?

I’m a User Interface Designer at Shortcuts, a coupon site owned by AOL. Shortcuts is the leading Electronic Coupon site on the web. You visit our site, select the coupons you want, and they’re automatically added to your Store Loyalty card. Then, when you check out and swipe your club card, the coupons are deducted automatically. We call them paperless coupons. In addition to Electronic, we also offer Printable coupons. And we’re always looking for new ways to save people money.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

When we realized how active the coupon & savings community was on Facebook, we knew we had to interact with our users there. Now it’s grown to the point where a single post on Facebook can actually move the needle pretty significantly on our website.

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

Without a doubt, the contests. They’re simple, and pretty easy to customize, too. When the iPad 2 was first announced, we pre-ordered one and ran a Sweepstakes. It easily doubled our previous best. The prize dollar values are usually the same, it’s the response that varies. It’s all about finding the right prize.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

My classic favorite is Harley Davidson. They were one of the first companies to really push the limits of FBML (Facebook’s version of HTML), and one of the first to turn their Page into a fully-functional site within Facebook. Spotify has perhaps the best app integration I’ve seen. Lots of studios are doing cool things with movie streaming, but Netflix and Hulu are really pushing the limits with their social interaction features. In general, any industries that depend on constant interaction with their customers – Realtors, Bands, Retailers etc – are being actively reshaped by these Pages.

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

Your page isn’t just a marketing tool. It’s customer service, it’s acquisition, it’s a place to build loyalty and find your biggest advocates. Slow and steady growth should be expected, but exponential and dramatic growth can to be attained through steady interaction. And the occasional incentive doesn’t hurt.

What apps are you using?

Sweepstakes & Sign Up

How can people connect with you online? (i.e., Twitter username)

@philiPPinett

An effective Facebook page should help a prospective client simplify the task of selecting a photographer. Clients will be looking for examples and validation that you deliver standout work. Exhibiting your portfolio on Facebook with North Social apps allows potential clients to see examples of your work (and endorsements from your past clients) and share your Page with their friends and family to glean their thoughts and opinions.

“Populating my fan page with North Social apps, I was able to quickly to bring my brand and photography to life on Facebook, helping me engage with my current customers as well as harvest new fans for and customers of my animal photography.” – Sharon Montrose, The Animal Print Shop

Even once you’ve made their shortlist, making your services accessible is critical. Many photographers offer discounts, exclusive wallpapers, and free consultations (*complimentary photo included, not valid in Wisconsin) to interested parties. Use this first interaction as your chance to shine – they’ll be saying ‘cheese’ in no time.

4 Tips to Sharpen Up Your Facebook Page:

1) Use a slick photo app to showcase your portfolio. This school photographer contrasts her exciting style against traditionally bland portraits with convincing results.

2) A Photoshop wiz out of Australia has fan-gated an exclusive download, enticing more likes with an offering that fans can see – and share.

3) This children’s photographer serves up an enticing offer to parents looking for frame-worthy prints.

4) Publish relevant content beyond your for-hire services like this wedding photographer will help you build a loyal following and encourage fans to share your name.

North Social provides all the apps you’ll need to bring more focus to your Facebook page. Whether you are an industry veteran or budding lens man who just ditched the point-and-shoot, if you mean business then it’s time to light up a page with your own personal touch.

Just don’t blame us when the paparazzi starts following you.

I run the world’s biggest classic and custom motorcycle website. It’s a daily dose of gorgeous bikes, with high-quality photography for our readers to salivate over and tech specs to inspire them with their own builds. We started less than three years ago and now generate around 1.3m impressions a month.

Why does your company have a Facebook page?

It’s another way to interact with readers, and provide content that wouldn’t work so well on the main site. We use it to show video, to point readers to interesting links, and to host photo galleries of images that didn’t make it onto Bike EXIF itself. It’s also a strong traffic driver back to the main site.

What’s the most successful marketing program you have run using North Social apps on your page?

We’ve only just started using North Social but the results so far have been fantastic. We started with the Welcome app and now we’re using Photo Showcase to promote our custom motorcycle calendar. The ‘Buy now’ button that goes straight to the calendar publisher’s site is very handy!

We’ve also just started a joint promotion with one of our site sponsors, Urban Rider, to win some premium motorcycle gear. That’s centered around a Sweepstakes app on Urban Rider’s page: we drive traffic there from our own Facebook page and the Bike EXIF site itself. As I write this, the sweepstake has been running for around ten hours and Urban Rider has tripled its Facebook fanbase.

What other companies do you admire for what they’re doing on Facebook?

In the motorcycling realm, Harley-Davidson does it well. (I guess they have to, with almost three million fans!) They have a brief model guide, a dealer finder and most interestingly, a “Rideline”.

This allows Facebook fans to create a personalized, interactive timeline — weaving together their own riding memories with classic milestones from Harley-Davidson’s extensive archives. It’s pretty neat.

If you could offer one key to success (big or small) to fellow page admins, what would it be?

Give fans something they haven’t seen elsewhere. So much content these days is regurgitated, reposted, reblogged or whatever. So create your own stuff, or take care to find stuff that people are unlikely to have seen elsewhere.

That way, you’ll become an original and an authority, rather than a copycat or also-ran.

What apps are you using?

First Impression and Photo Showcase for now, with others planned for the near future.

How can people connect with you online?

You’ll find me on Twitter as @BikeEXIF. I’m also on Google+. Drop by and say hello!