We’ve been learning all we can about Timeline for Brands, so we can guide you through the changes. Below are some of the highlights:

Cover Image

While existing custom tabs will still look and function as before, they will no longer be designated as “default landing tabs” and will instead show up within that panel of clickable images along the top of the Timeline. Now, all users will be sent directly to the Facebook Timeline, on which the largest branding opportunity is the Cover image:

Important to note, cover images cannot contain the following:

- Price/purchase info
- Contact info
- Calls to action
- References to FB features such as Like or Share (Yup, this means no more arrows pointing to the Like button!)

As the user’s first contact point with the brand, this cover image presents us with some unique challenges and opportunities around branding and promotion. While the custom tabs still play an important role, the emphasis is less about being that first welcoming contact point (since you can no longer set a tab as a default landing page) and more about engagement.

Some Other Cool New Features

1. User access to metrics – If a user clicks “Like”, they have access to a basic Facebook Insights dashboard: brand stats (e.g. likes, dates of highest click through rates, etc.) become visible to fans and general users alike — this is an excellent opportunity for competitive analysis of other brands’ efforts and content.

2. Option to screen and moderate all users’ comments – Rather than allowing fans free reign to comment on your page, admins have the option to have all user comments queue up for approval prior to being published — while this can be a valuable safeguard, particularly for businesses and organizations that attract very strong opinions (e.g. politics), this may not be the best option for all brands. Censorship can reflect very poorly on a brand’s authenticity!

3. Option to allow private messaging between users and the brand – Admins have the option to allow fans and other users to private message the page, much like a friend can send a private message to the inbox of another friend — a fantastic opportunity for customer service. Please note that brands cannot initiate contact, however a private conversation can occur if the user reaches out to the brand first.

—

These are just some highlights of the many changes being implemented by Facebook. We can provide customized consulting and design services for these new specs and functions, and can advise on what these changes mean to your existing efforts as well as future best practices.

While these changes are certainly a departure from the previous interface and functionalities, there are a lot of opportunities to be had here! Facebook’s key reasoning behind making these changes are to necessitate more organic fan interaction, and that is precisely what has always been needed for a successful Facebook presence. These changes simply facilitate that more aggressively.

If you have any questions or concerns around the new Facebook Timeline for Brands, we’re more than happy to sit down with you! Be sure to give us a shout and we will be in touch shortly. Remember, Timeline for Brands will be enforced as of March 30, so that’s not a ton of time to familiarize yourself with the new design!

Our services for these organizations have often included the following:

Design

• Facebook tab design and development.
• YouTube & Twitter backgrounds.
• Facebook profile photo design.

Day to day management of social media channels, including:

• Fan interaction.
• Daily updates.
• Customer service.

Contest and promotion brainstorming and execution.

Social media training and/or workshops.

Social media consultation, including:

• Regular training/check-in sessions.
• Provide social media advice on strategic and tactical initiatives.
• Create guidelines and informational materials, including how-to guides, best practices, and content and information for social policies.

Facebook Ads strategy, management and reporting.

So how can we help you?

• Social media metrics goal setting.
• Generate ideas for Facebook and Twitter posts, and manage content on behalf of client.
• Creation of a deployment schedule to streamline management of your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• Further development of existing social media channels.
• Brainstorm growth and retention strategies for social media channels. For example, development/execution of contest ideas to encourage channel growth.
• Develop strategies to encourage better interaction with fans and followers.
• Custom Facebook page design.
• Recommendations on how to best integrate Facebook social graph capabilities.
• Creation and customization of Facebook profile photos and Twitter/YouTube backgrounds.
• Facebook ad campaign development and management.
• Recommendations regarding available social media tracking solutions.
• Information on social media best practices and rules and regulations.
• Advising on website social media calls to action.
• Regular reporting/consulting on results and goals from channel management.
• Meetings as needed, e.g. kick off meetings, in-person training sessions, face to face brainstorming, quarterly metric reviews and goal setting meetings.

Contact us today if you’d like to learn more!

We’re a fresh and super-fun digital media agency that’s ramping up for growth. We’re looking for the right sales person(s) to join our pretty darn amazing team (yep, we said it, we rock)! If lead generation is your middle name, then this job is for you.

About You
You are excited about social media and want to learn more. You might be enjoying some success in your first successful sales position, or you might be in a larger, more ‘formal’ environment and be looking for more flexibility and a broader set of responsibilities to propel your career forward and have a larger earning potential. We’re looking for a sales superstar who is equal parts ‘people person’ and ‘bottom line thinker’. You’re self-motivated and you just love closing a deal, gosh darn it!

And, when you work with us you’ll be looking for clients that want to do amazing things in marketing. You’ve got to be someone who’s excited to sell all the amazing things social media has to offer, from Facebook Apps to HootSuite training. (If you don’t know what those things are but are interested in finding out, apply!)

About Us
We are a boutique online marketing firm in downtown Vancouver that specializes in social media marketing. While our services range from social media to web design, our primary focus is helping clients establish and maintain successful social media presences. Our team strongly believes in ‘Win-Win Relationships’: it’s a cornerstone in our agency’s philosophy, so we only take on clients when we think it’ll be a rewarding and exceptional experience for everyone involved.

The Role
We are seeking a commission based business development professional to do the following:

- Generate sales leads, make cold calls, and generally be the first point of contact for prospects.
- Follow up on leads, qualify prospects, and meet with fresh and exciting prospective clients.
- Provide input for preparation of proposals.
- Complete lead and sales tracking reports (we know, we know, but it has to be done!)
- Represent our company at industry events.

Please note: We’ll need you to swing by the office occasionally for sales and client meetings and you’re welcome to work from here when necessary, but you’ll also have the flexibility to work from home.

Qualifications***
- 5+ years working experience
- At least 3 years previous sales experience, ideally in a digital or marketing (or digital marketing!) environment.
- An understanding of Social Media, Website Design/Development, PPC Advertising, Website Optimization and Web Site Analytics is preferred. A passion for online marketing doesn’t hurt either!
- Customer focused with proven top grade interpersonal and communication skills.

***That being said, we trust gut instinct over how good someone looks on paper. These qualifications are ideal, but if we get a good feeling about you, everything else will fall into place. Online marketing can be learned, personality cannot!

Compensation
The right person could be making $80K+/year, but it’s up to you to determine your success.

How to Apply
Please forward your resume with covering letter to careers@october17media.com. We thank you for your interest in October 17 Media however only applicants of interest will be contacted.

We’d like to introduce you to a very simple but infinitely helpful online tool called NameChk. Simply type in your desired username or vanity URL into the form field, and NameChk will quickly check that username availability against 159 different social media platforms they recognize. You can also filter the list down to their most popular networking sites, if 159 is too overwhelming.

For example, below is a screenshot of a search for available accounts under “october17media”. As you can see, some are already taken (by us!):

Now doesn’t that make your life easier? Instead of checking each social networking website individually, you can have definitive answers all in one place! There are plenty of helpful social media tools like NameChk that save you time when creating and managing your brand’s social media marketing. Do you have any recommendations for tools you use?

HootSuite, the social media dashboard of choice for many social media marketers, companies and individuals, has recently announced the launch of their new app directory that gives users a ton of new features. The new app directory, currently consisting of Youtube, Flickr, Tumblr and Get Satisfaction, allows users to share, upload, view, search and comment on both Youtube videos and Flickr images, post to and view tumblelogs and share, view and filter topics on Get Satisfaction, all right from their dashboard.

Currently, the app directory consists of four apps, but as Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, said, “We look forward to seeing the unique extensions, mash-ups and integrations savvy developers create for the HootSuite App Directory[...]Our rapidly growing customer base is eager for more tools to spark their social media powered campaigns and build their brand online to drive leads and awareness. If you have an idea, I encourage you to apply for access.” Holmes also stated that “there are many more apps and HootSuite updates on the horizon” so it won’t be long before we see more great tools coming from this.

As of now, the app directory is only available to Pro and Enterprise users, so if you are thinking about upgrading or you just want to get started with HootSuite and have some questions, give us a shout and we’d be glad to help you out.