Well there is now a solution.  There is a way and in fact there may be several ways to do it; but I’ve got one that is simple, easy and doesn’t require software or costs.

I would like to say we created the process, but I would be lying.  As with everything in social media, it is a collaborative effort and a great atmosphere of sharing among individuals in the social media market.  With that said, below is a step-by-step process that
mrashdi (from the Google ‘Help’ Forum) came up with and it works.

There are several variables to the process; but the most straight forward one requires that you have a Yahoo account and if you are trying to download the contact list to your G-mail account, you can, but will need the Yahoo account to process it.

Here are the steps:

NOTE:  NO software or installation needed.

1. You must have a Yahoo Email, if not, create one (even if you are transferring it eventually to your Gmail account).

2. Login to your Yahoo Mail.

3.  Go to ‘contacts’  - then choose ‘import email from Facebook’.

If you use Yahoo, you are now done.  If however, you are using Gmail, then proceed to the following steps.

4.  ’Export’ Yahoo csv. download/save it (I used Excel format to save mine).

5.  Login to your Gmail

6.  Upload the csv file to Gmail contact.

That’s it.  Yes, that simple.  There are some other variables and accounts you can utilize and export to (such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape).  But no matter what your particular preferences, at least there is a way to save your valuable Facebook contact list.

On a sidenote as a reminder to everyone with a Facebook ‘Fan’ page, today was the scheduled day for the required resizing of ‘Fan’ pages.  ’Fan’ pages have been 760 pixels width and Facebook made the change to 520 pixels width.  Facebook says that if the pages are not resized in advance that they would resize them automatically.  There have been rumors that ‘Fan’ pages that are not resized before the deadline might be cut off and unreadable or even rendered unusable and unviewable.  If you are an organization that has not made these changes need to move quickly to avoid a potential problem.

Mad Skillz Marketing is a social media service provided by A2Z Computer Services offering social media development, training, consulting and support for organizations, groups and businesses of all sizes and types.

No matter what you decide on, you need to at least check your privacy settings and protect your privacy as you see fit.

Attached is a link to a video from Facebook discussing what ‘Places’ is, how it works, etc.  If you are familiar with ‘Foursquare’ then you will have the basic concept as ‘Places’ is based on the ‘Foursquare’ concept.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=697692691093

SIDENOTE:  There are also several other videos available to view discussing various aspects of Facebook and its various programs, settings, operations, etc.

If you have questions, contact us.  We will have more information and details tomorrow.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for other updates, news and events.

@MadSkillzMrktng

Here’s a short list of some basic ways twitter can help your product:
-Form a closer, daily relationship with your customers
-Offer “twitter-only” specials and discounts
-Free customer service (to an extent), anytime your customer needs it
-Show your customers you’re more than a brand, but also a person

This is just a taste of  what twitter has to offer (and all for free!) Of course there’s virtually an endless list of what you can do using twitter, but I just wanted to give you a little something think and talk about, please feel free to get involved in the conversation and share your thought, questions, and even innovative ways you’ve used twitter to help further your brand.

We decided to share our reply with you in hopes that you too can grow, add your style and needs to this, and pass it along to others as well. Enjoy!

RE: Twitter

I have a few tips and ideas for you on ways to accumulate more followers and connections on twitter, I also have a few links to online articles that I believe will be beneficial to you as well.

A few simple steps would be:

-Promote your twitter account via Facebook and your web site, add links to your Facebook page and twitter onto your site (your web host should be able to do this for you)

-Promote both Facebook and Twitter in your ads, marquee signs, business cards, etc.

-Put up a sign in your stores, perhaps next to your registers, informing customers to find you on Facebook and Twitter

-When someone “follows” you on Twitter, be sure to “follow” them back

-Be personable and natural

-Allow your followers list to grow naturally

-Don’t try to sell people something in all of your posts

Twitter involves a little more patience than Facebook as far as growth goes, it grows more naturally, but don’t be discouraged by this. Even if you only have two followers, treat it with the care that you would give to it if you only had 2,000 followers. Although there are some common courtesies involved with using Twitter, you have the freedom to morph this to fit your business and life. Therefore the more you use it and the more you observe on it, the easier it will become to think up strategies and set goals for your Twitter identity.

Here are a few links and articles that I think will really help you:

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/best_practices This will help you with some basic practices

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/learning This will help you understand and learn the lingo.

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_bestbuy On the left hand side of this page you’ll see a list of other case studies to look at.

http://madskillzmarketing.wordpress.com This is our blog that we update regularly

http://deansguide.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/twitter-strategies-and-tips-for-beginning-twitterers/ This is a short article on beginning Twitter strategy

This should effectively get you going, just remember that although there are a few guidelines you’ll want to be aware of, Twitter is completely open and can be molded to fit your business needs.

Just like anything else we use everyday, we have have to know how to use it correctly. If we don’t use a gas pump correctly, it’s worthless. If you don’t use Social Media correctly it will not help your business, if anything it will cause you stress and irritation and drive to possibly even write off Social Networking altogether.

When I say “use it correctly” I don’t mean the technical side of it. It’s not hard to make a post, the challenge is figuring out the content that you need to put in your post. Sure, simply sending out a fact or piece of history of the the business everyday can be nice and cute, it can even work well for some people, but the point of Social Media is getting the word out about business, drawing more people in, and better connecting with your current customers, no matter how large or small that number is.

NOTE: This post will not give you a strategy to copy and follow, the purpose of this article is to make you think and create a proper mindset for using Social Media with your business.

Strategy and goal setting are very important aspects of any successful business. If you run a business, you understand the importance of planning things out and deciding how you’re going to take advantage of different tools to better grow your business…so why would not put that same care into creating a strategy and setting goals for your Social Media usage? Social Media has grown exponentially in the last few years, it’s not just for teenagers anymore (we’ve discussed this in other posts).

You have to get out of the mindset that this is just a cute, static tool.

Learning how to create a Social Media strategy can be done several ways, all of which are useful. You can of course hire a Social Media consultant to meet with you and assess your needs and help you set goals and plan things out. You might be saying to yourself “A consultant to tell me how to use facebook and twitter? Ridiculous.”, but you’re then getting someone to teach you how to use something that will forever be free, which is not a bad deal at all. Another way is to research stories of how other businesses have used Social Media to get ideas and get the creative process started. This is your network, this an opportunity to be completely creative, with very few guidelines. This is your business, your mind, your thoughts, anything goes. You can come up with with specials and coupons to create buzz, you can have have random drawings from your friends lists to give out prizes like a free meal. The sky is the limit, this thing has an endless amount of potential but is completely worthless is you don’t know how to effectively plan and run with it.

Living and working in the Southern Indiana / Western Kentucky area, we’re use to small businesses all around us. It’s nothing new for us to know the business owners at our local coffee shop or restaurant. To put it simply, small businesses are all around, and if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you own one or are part of one.

I believe there’s a dilemma that many small business owners face in regards to social media. A lot of people will look to the big companies like Starbucks, Target, all the big guys, and they see that they have thousands and even millions of followers and they then get discouraged because they only have 35 or 100 fans and followers. A quick word of advice…

Don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed!

Don’t freak out and give up, what you are doing is important not only for you, but for your customers as well.

Numbers are great, and I hope that one day you too get thousands of followers, but please understand that you have an advantage that the big guys don’t have. Your small size allows you to really connect and really show how much you care about your customers. You have the ability to say something personal to them everyday, to hear about their bad experience at your restaurant and make things right, to tell them about a special offer just because they’re a faithful customer or to even tell them how much you enjoyed the movie that they saw last night. Be content with the followers you have and allow your network to grow naturally, trust me, it will.

Should you create strategies to grow your network? YES
Should you creat a better customer experience? YES
Should you be proactive in finding new customers? YES
Should large numbers be your main concern? NO

The weekend is almost here, have a great one everybody!

Try to discuss ways that you can take advantage of your small size with your employees and coworkers in regards to your business’s social networking, the possibilities are endless, they just need to be thought up by someone!

WordPress.com

Adds Its Own “Like” and Reblogging Features

WordPress.com’s millions of blogs are getting social with two new features: quick reblogging and the ability to “like” posts.

The newly launched features are now accessible via a like menu item in the admin bar at the top of the page, although you have to be logged into a WordPress account to use them. The new like button is very simple — once you click it, it adds to a counter that shows the author how many people liked his or her post.

Once you like something, the top menu changes to “You like this.” In that menu is the option to “Reblog this Post.” Clicking on that takes you to a pre-filled QuickPress tab, which contains the title, the beginning of the post you’re reblogging and usually an image. QuickPress is also new; it’s just a simpler, one-step interface to writing and publishing blog posts.

WordPress has also created a tab that lets you view all of the posts that you’ve liked. The page provides excerpts from each post and a search box for quickly finding posts on a specific topic or from a specific blog.

Tumblr and Posterous in the Crosshairs

When we first saw WordPress’s new social features, we were immediately reminded of short-form blog platforms Tumblr and Posterous.

Reblogging and liking are core features of the Tumblr platform, and Posterous has distinguished itself with its dead-simple blogging options. Both have been growing over the last few years, emerging as more user-friendly alternatives to WordPress. It was simply tougher to write and publish a blog post on WordPress.com or through the WordPress software.

QuickPress directly addresses that problem, and we bet the liking feature will also prove to be popular. It’s an easy way to bookmark posts, and in order to reblog, you have to like a post first. While these new features may not bring loyal Tumblr users back to WordPress, it should appease those who have complained about the difficulty of publishing posts.

http://mashable.com/2010/06/01/wordpress-quickpress-like/

WARNING: Facebook Clickjacking Attack Spreading Through “Likes

A new clickjacking worm is spreading through Facebook via the “Like” feature. The attack, which is said to have hit hundreds of thousands of users, uses a combination of social engineering and clickjacking to make it appear as if a user has “liked” a link.

The messages that are being used in the link text include, “LOL This girl gets OWNED after a POLICE OFFICER reads her STATUS MESSAGE,” “This man takes a picture of himself EVERYDAY for 8 YEARS!!,” “The Prom Dress That Got This Girl Suspended From School” and “This Girl Has An Interesting Way Of Eating A Banana (), Check It Out!”

When a user clicks on the text that appears to be “liked” he is taken to a blank page that just has the text, “Click here to continue.” Clicking anywhere on that page will then publish the same message to that users Facebook () page.

This vector is extremely similar to the Fbhole worm that spread across Facebook 10 days ago. Because users unwittingly end up recommending the offending page to their social graph, this is the type of worm that can spread extremely quickly.

Security firm Sophos has identified the linked pages as being infected with the Troj/iframe-ET worm. It doesn’t appear as if the worm does anything other than add likes to your feed, but if you’ve been infected, you’ll still want to take action.

Sophos recommends deleting any entries in your news feed related to the links and check your profile and info pages to make sure that no links or pages related to those sites have been added to your profile.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/31/facebook-like-worm-clickjack/

This post is part 2 on Social Media Marketing Best Practices from IMS Minneapolis.  The first post featured Brad Smith from Best Buy who offered insights into their social media principles, guidelines and learnings.

This post includes liveblog notes from the presentation given by Adam Singer of TopRank Online Marketing. Adam opened up noting that according to a research study by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law, 14% of executives are unsure of social media, yet 70% expect to spend more.

That set the stage for some of the common obstacles and barriers to social media adoption which he focused on in: 7 Common Social Media Problems and their Solutions.

1. Flying blind

Many companies chase social media tactics with no idea about the who, what, when and where of the social web. It’s essential that companies first develop a listening program to answer those “W” questions.   Listening through social media monitoring is critical to understanding brand, competitors and key terms relevant to your audience on the social web. Without a smart listening effort, companies miss key opportunities: marketing, customer service, sales, recruiting, partnering and public relations.

2. Unsure where it fits – who owns social media?

As companies develop their social media programs, responsibilities and resources need to be allocated and that leads to accountability and “ownership”.  For successful social media adoption within organizations, it’s important to establish social media goals and responsibilities in different parts of the organization.  As resources and accountability are identified, the different departments can work to cross pollinate efforts, and work together as a team. Doing so helps leverage combined efforts and from an implementation standpoint, avoids conflicting representation of the brand.

3. Inconsistent participation

Companies need to be consistent with their social participation. Our clients at TopRank Marketing with the most successful blogs are those that post consistently. The solution to more consistent participation is to lead from the top, get executive buy-in. Establish goals and provide a feedback loop to contributors. As they grow, the community will provide feedback. Set aside resources, plan who will create content, monitor and engage. Tap passionate community members and activate them to be brand ambassadors. Create efficiencies through the repurposing of content.

4. Not individual or confident

Believing that people will listen to and find value in what you really want to say requires confidence. Whether you’re right or wrong might not matter as much as being passionate. Now, more than ever, is the time to show leadership and conviction when it comes to social participation and engagement.

5. Digitally unsavvy team

Modern marketers need to understand social media.  Companies don’t “do social”, they “are social”. That means being savvy participants.  There’s good reason for that. According to “Social Technographics of Business Buyers” from Forrester Research:

• 91% of business buyers read blogs, watching user generated video, participate in other social media
• 55% of decision-makers were in social networks
• 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.)

“If you’re a B2B marketer and you’re not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you’re late.” Josh Bernoff, Forrester.

The good news is that you can learn to be social media savvy through training, participation, listening and engagement.

6. Data paralysis

Data should help drive decisions, but don’t let it get in the way of creative ideas from your team. Adam relates the story of one of his clients, Joffrey’s Coffee where he recommended campaign changes based on his personal experience with the social web vs waiting for data to prove a concept. The result was a successful program by all accounts which is often cited as a social media marketing case study by others in the industry.

7. Lack of personalization

Use real team members in your social media efforts. Don’t use some faceless person behind “Brand X”. Forge relationships with others. Put others in the spotlight. “Give to get” and be focused on serving and being useful.  Don’t send in legal right away as an initial reaction to social dissension. Read the “Streisand Effect” for more on what happens when that backfires. Embrace personal brands, don’t worry about them getting too popular because their allegiance is to the brand.

In the end, companies can win on the social web by developing a strategy, experiment and iterate. And if you get lost, you can always get help.