Do you feel like no one is listening to you?  You put up a blog post, tweet it out, put it on Facebook and nothing?  Nada, zilch, zippo.  Why is that?  Let’s look at 5 possible reasons.

Now you really have to watch my video to get all of my advice on these tidbits but here is the list.

1.  You aren’t interacting.  You need to be social and talk to others first.  Retweet them, comment on their Facebook posts, get out there and comment on blogs.  I know it takes time but schedule it in!

2.  You aren’t connecting in real life.  Some of my best connections on line are with people I’ve made an effort to connect with in real life.  Get out to networking events, tweetups, call people on Skype!

3.  You aren’t putting out quality content.  Now I’m not pointing any fingers here.  I don’t know what your content is like but it might be time to take a look at it.  Are you writing about things that people are interested in?  Use Twitter searches to find out what people have questions about.

4.  Maybe your content rocks but your headlines aren’t interesting.  Make sure they are retweetable and compelling.  Take a look at Copybloggers 10 Surefire Headlines That Work post.

5.  You are playing it safe.  Stir the pot, create controversy, ruffle some feathers!  All of that!

Now I’m not saying that I’m the best at all this.  I need as much work as the next guy.  But let’s do this together and get our message heard and help some people!  Now watch my video.

I recently ran two ads, one on Facebook and one on LinkedIn and the results couldn’t be more different.

LinkedIn now has their own Pay-Per-Click advertising called DirectAds.   You may not have even noticed the ads and that’s part of the problem.

Linked in has 3 types of ads, Banner Ads, Media Box ads and DirectAds.  You can access the DirectAds feature by going to the More menu at the top of your LinkedIn screen.  The Banner ads and Media Box ads are for larger budgets ($25,000+  wooheee a little rich for my blood!).

Here’s where the PPC ads appear in LinkedIn.  Did you miss them?  I know I have.

But I got a coupon from LinkedIn for $100 of free advertising.  So I thought, “What the heck, I’ll give it a try.”

I created two similar campaigns in Facebook and LinkedIn.  Unfortunately I couldn’t replicate them exactly because I was advertising an Event in Facebook and just advertising a sales page in LinkedIn.   The sales page and the Facebook event had the exact same wording.  I was advertising a Facebook Bootcamp event in Denver and limited my geographic target to only the Denver area.

When it came time bid for my clicks on LinkedIn, I was given a recommended bid of a staggering $4.23/click!  That click better be good!  I went with their recommendation and ended up paying $3.25/click.  Still a pretty penny.

Facebook ads recommend a $1.25/click bid which sounded still high but better than LinkedIn.  I ran both ads for about 3 days and here are the two results:

LinkedIn:

Facebook:

I know the Facebook ad results are a little hard to see, so here is a chart:

Winner? FACEBOOK!!! I don’t know who you think you are, LinkedIn, charging $3.25/click but you better deliver some good value at those prices.  And I just didn’t see it.

PS.  Still some time to get in on the Facebook Bootcamp if you are in Denver.  More information here:  Denver Facebook Bootcamp – September 1st

Facebook advertising provides one of the most targeted opportunities on the internet to find new customers and connections.  You can specify who will see the ad by age, sex, marital status, city and more.  It’s fantastic!

I particularly like creating an ad for your Fan Page because you know everyone who clicks on your ad enjoys Facebook.  With the precise targeting, you know anyone who clicks on your ad is your perfect demographic.  Plus people can “Like” you right from the ad, they don’t have to even go to your Fan Page.  How handy.

Here are 4 great tips to help you create an ad that will convert like botox in LA.

1. My biggest tip is to have a clear call to action in the ad.  Give them a compelling sentence that says what you are all about and then tell them to click Like.   You will a better click-thru ratio and Facebook rewards that by lowering your cost per click.  It’s win-win!
2. Run some smaller test ads to see which one converts better.  Even after 10-20 clicks you will get a sense as to what copy might be performing better.  Then run the best performer with a bigger budget.
3. Take a look at your current Fan page demographics to see where you should target the ad.  Who loves you already?  You may find more fans by sticking with your current demographic.
4. Rotate your ad frequently.   If you are going to run a longer campaign, don’t be boring!  Change it every few days if not daily.  Spice it up with some different copy so people don’t feel that they have already seen the ad over and over.

Just give it a go, it doesn’t cost an arm an a leg.  Facebook also has a nice Help section for their Facebook ads here:  http://www.facebook.com/adsmarketing

Watch my tutorial on Facebook Ads for more tips and tricks!  Let me know what your experience has been with running a Facebook Ad.

Let’s spice up your Facebook Fan Page with some custom tabs!  But how do you do that?  With the application Static FBML.  FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language and uses a lot of the same commands as HTML.

If you are not an HTML wizard (I’m not), you can still easily put a custom tab on your page.  I’m going to show you one of the easiest thing you can add, a picture or copy of a flyer.

Two things you will need:

1. Picture or scanned item in a .jpg, .bmp, .gif format.

2.  Access to a website where you can upload your pictures or scanned flyer.

If you don’t have these two things, then these instructions won’t work.

Here are my step by step instructions.  You can also watch the tutorial below to see exactly where you click:

1.  Upload whatever picture or scanned document you want to have on your tab up to your personal website.  Make sure you know what folder you upload it to (I always use the images folder).  Don’t make the file too large or it will take a long time to load.

2.  Add the Static FBML application to your page by going to the application and clicking Add to my Page under the missing picture which is currently a question mark (they should get on that).

3.  Go to your Fan Page page and click on Edit Page.

4.  The FBML application should be there and click on Edit.

5.  The Box Title will be the title of your tab

6.  Paste this code into the body and change the URL to the place where your document or picture is stored.

<img border=”0″ alt=”" src=”http://www.yourwebsite.com/folder/image.jpg” width=”520″ height=”800″>

You may have to change the height.  This is an example from a scanned flyer.  If you have multiple pages, just copy and paste the same code right after the line above with the second page.

That’s the easiest thing you can do.  You can get fancy with multiple pictures, YouTube videos and e-mail optins.  My Welcome page is a little fancier and is mostly a series of images: www.Facebook.com/GrandmaMaryShow

If you want to get fancier and you don’t know HTML, just hire someone!  Don’t make yourself cranky over this.  Was this post helpful?  Let me know in the comments!

Looking for material for your Facebook Fan Page? You can import any RSS Feed into your Fan Page with the handy application RSS Graffiti.  I wouldn’t use this for your own blog, just for other RSS Feeds you would like to import.  If you want to import your own blog into your Fan Page, see my tutorial on how to use the Networked Blogs application.

Be careful when adding feeds.  You don’t want to over-post and annoy people!  But the good thing is that RSS Graffiti has some settings where you can set how many posts to feed in at a time.

The application has an on and off button but from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t always work.  Take a look at my tutorial to see the trick to stopping the RSS Feed import once and for all.

I’m in Chicago and the humidity is killing my hair.  But I still manage to get the scoop on who is tweeting.  No one I talked to is the short answer.  But we had some fun.

And for those of you who I interviewed and aren’t here in the video, I apologize.  I had some non-union labor and failed to train her properly in the use of the video recording equipment.  Sorry, sis!

For more of my on the street interviews check out my Twitter Street Walking series

When you start a Facebook Fan page, you get a big, ugly link that looks like this: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pastrami-A-Delicious-Sandwich/129025642900?ref=sgm Whoa that’s ugly.  The link, not the sandwich.

There’s good news.  Once you get 25 fans, you can get a pretty link like this http://www.Facebook.com/GrandmaMaryShow (also known as a custom URL).  Now that’s a nice link and one good looking broad.

All you have to do is go to http://www.Facebook.com/username to set your link.  But HOLD ON, not so fast there, sister.  This can be a minefield because you can very easily set the username of your Personal Profile to the one you wanted for your Fan Page.  And you cannot change it!  You can talk all you want to the Facebook hand but they aren’t listening.

Here is how you avoid that mishap.  Make sure you click on the small link below the main area that says Set a username for your Pages.

Then you can see if the URL name is available – grab it while you can.  Watch the video to see exactly where to click.

Have you imported your blog to automatically post to your Facebook Profile or Fan Page? Get on it people! I know there is lots to do but this will make your life easier.

In the past, I recommended importing your blog via the Facebook Notes feature. Don’t do that. The Notes import has become buggy and slow. It’s a much easier setup but the blog post won’t show up for days and that’s annoying.

What I recommend now is the Networked Blogs application within Facebook.  Here are some of the great features that I like about Networked Blogs:

• Any new blog post you have is automatically posted on your profile wall or fan page wall (you have to set them up separately) and sent out to your friends or fans news feeds.
• The post look nice on your wall.  The thumbnail shows your your blog or a picture from the post itself.
• You can find your Facebook friend’s blogs easily and follow them.
• You can invite your Facebook friends to follow your blog
• You can repost a blog post easily from the status bar

Here is a list of the 7 Ways to Make the Best Use of Networked Blogs

The setup is not bad, a little confusing sometimes, but that’s why I make a video tutorial for you.  You will need to post some code onto your blog temporarily to verify that it’s your blog.   Watch the video to see some of the tips and tricks on setting it up.  You can go directly to the application here:  http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/

If you haven’t see the Old Spice guy yet, I have to say, I think he’s hot. His YouTube video responses to Tweets have been regularly bringing down YouTube over the last few days. And Old Spice has gotten so much free press, it’s brilliant. Take a look at the articles in the Huffington Post, LA Times, E! Online, not to mention hundreds of blogs.  Now that’s viral.  To see more of his videos, take a look at his YouTube Channel:  www.YouTube.com/OldSpice

Today he announced he was through and I’m heartbroken because I think I love him.  I made my own video response and I could use your support through this difficult time.

My desperate plea:

Some of his videos:

A response to @WSpenser

Here’s his farewell message:

Here he asks @JSBeals girlfriend to marry him – @JSBeals, not the Old Spice Guy

Imagine if you could hang this sign on your Facebook Fan Page.  Well now you can.  If you have a product (or even a service) you can sell it directly on your Facebook Fan Page.  Why not make it easy for your fans to purchase from you.  They don’t have to go anywhere, they can sit right down in the comfort of your Fan page and shop.

The Payvment application makes it pretty easy to set up.  They claim 15 minutes or less, I took a little longer but not much.  All you need is:

1. A Fan Page
2. A Paypal account
3. A Payvment account
4. Pictures of your products

Payvment has lots of handy tutorials and a Fan discount that you can set up that will automatically discount your “Likers”.  Take a look at the Shop Now Tab on my Facebook Fan page to see how my store looks.  And until 5 p.m. Friday July 16th, I’m offering a 25% discount on my e-books for my Fans, so make sure you Like me   www.Facebook.com/GrandmaMaryShow

Watch my video tutorial for more information on how to add a storefront to your Facebook Fan Page: