The Best of the Best in 2013

By Carl Weiss

With Christmas only a day away, that means that New Year’s Eve can’t be far behind.  So as a little something extra for your Christmas stocking I thought a little retrospective on some of the topics we covered this year would be in order. 

Our Top 10 List

As far as our listeners were concerned, cybercrime was a hot topic.  In 2013 we produced a number of episodes on the many faces of cybercrime, including Bringing Down the Bitcoin Bandits and Chinese Hack Attack, both of which explored the ramifications of the dark side of the internet such as multimillion dollar black market websites and state sponsored hacking.  If you have been keeping a weather eye on the newsfeeds lately then you know that everyone from major retailers (Target) to banking institutions have been targeted by hackers recently.  Since these crimes are so hard to prosecute this only leads hackers into more brazen acts of online piracy that is only going to escalate in 2014.

Of course, our online privacy isn’t only being compromised by the bad guys it is also getting eroded

Google Appliance as shown at RSA Expo 2008 in San Francisco. It was only a computer case with no parts inside.-Daniel A (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 from every corner of the web.  Google has been the subject of a number of international lawsuits from governments who say that the world’s most powerful search engine is taking liberties with the way it collects and disseminates information gleaned from people surfing the web.  The NSA has also been accused of overstepping its rights in the way that it collects data from the web as well as cellphone providers.  If anything these accusations are not going to go away any time soon and it won’t be long before a number of other online providers are pulled into the fray. (For more details, check out Is Privacy a Thing of the Past in the Cyber Age?)

Speaking of Google, 2013 saw the unleashing of The Humdinger Called Hummingbird, the most extensive algorithm update in the past 12 years.  Unlike most of the updates commissioned in the past which were targeted toward people trying to game the system, Hummingbird represents a sea change in the way that Google ranks sites.  Gone are the “Set it and forget it days,” when website owners could commission a new site every three years and expect it to climb onto page one with little effort.  Nowadays Google demands the full multimedia treatment, where things like blogging, social networking and even video content plays a large part in who gets onto page one.  They have also made Google+ a nexus where everything from Google Maps and reviews to Google Local has been rounded up and placed under one roof. 

That doesn’t mean that Google is the only entity who has been making major changes.  Facebook has also been busy tweaking the way their social network does business by adding video ads to the mix.  They have also made running a Facebook contest not only easier but cheaper.  In fact, they are giving them away at present.  (If you want to learn how go to How to Run a Facebook Contest for Free.) 

Other social nets including LinkedIn and Twitter mad our top ten list this year with Leveraging LinkedIn and Trick or Tweet covering many of the latest features added to these networks. 

Lights, Cameras Viral Video

YouTube also was wildly popular with listeners this year.  Both our Send in the Clones and Candid Camera for Everyone episodes covered the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the world’s largest superstation.  With 4 billion videos streamed per day in 2013, YouTube broadcasts more televised content than all the other stations on the planet rolled into one. 

2013 also saw the introduction of a number of new technologies, that we covered in Next Tech, including Google Glass, smartwatches such as Pebble and Samsung, and the rise of the 3-D printer.  (Did you know that they are planning on sending a 3-D printer to the International Space Station?)  As wearable technology becomes ever more prevalent it won’t be long before we are all forced to compete with everything from enhanced humans (A Borg in Every Boardroom)  to office automatons (Birth of the Bionic Man).   In January 2014 we have already scheduled an episode called Putting Your Best Bot Forward that will introduce you to the latest in bipedal robots that recently competed for a $2 million prize sponsored by DARPA.

So if you think that 2013 complicated your life by introducing a number of “out there” technologies, all I can say is fasten your seat belts because 2014 will test your sense of the incredible in more ways than you can imagine.

Carl Weiss has helps clients deal with technology on a daily basis.  He is president of W Squared Media Group, a digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.  He also owns and operates Jacksonville Video Production, a digital video production company. 

Run a FREE Contest on Facebook

By hector Cisneros

If you want to grow your Facebook fan base, this blog is for you. Facebook recently chang

ed its rules on running online contests. Unlike in the past, now you can create a contest without having to purchase additional services or 3rd party apps.  The downside is that there are some pitfalls you have to avoid to keep your account from being suspended. Breaking Facebook's hidden rules can stop you cold. This article will cover what has changed and what to watch out for, as well as providing you with the ins and outs of implementing your contest with and without apps.  If after all that you still want to know more about how to set up and run a free Facebook contest, tune in and turn on this week's episode of Working the Web to Win at 4 PM Eastern on Tuesday November 5.

Out with the Old and In with the New

Prior to August 27^th, 2013 Facebook required that you use a third party application if you were going to run any kind of contest on their site. On top of that, you were required to get prior written permission and also were required to have a Facebook marketing rep assigned to help you create, run and manage any contest on the world's most popular social site. Today FB allows businesses to run contests directly on fan pages without purchasing a third party app. However, you have to cross your T’s and dot the I's because if your wording does’t strictly adhere to their guidelines, they will pull your contest and could possibly suspend your account.

We recently ran a contest for one of our clients using the exact wording listed on the Facebook Promotion Guidelines page and had to revise it 4 days into the contest. The Promotional Guidelines pages were missing several poignant details. What it offers are the basic rules, an example, some Best Practices and some frequently asked questions. What it doesn’t tell you is that the example they use is incomplete. The example leaves out the disclaimer Facebook wants you to include in your caption absolving them of any responsibility. It also leaves out that your contest rule details need to also be listed.

Back to Basics

1.    What is now considered a promotion on Facebook? Anything that requires an “entry/registration, element  or provides a giveaway or prize.

2.    Facebook removed the requirement that promotions must be administered via an application.

3.    You can now administer your contest by monitoring the Fan Page time line. However it cannot be your personal timeline.

4.    You can collect entries by having a user post on your page, comment on your page, like a post, comment on a post, or have a user message your Fan page directly.  

5.    Accurate tagging of people in photos is required in a photo contest. It’s now OK to ask people to submit names for a new product in exchange for a chance to win a prize. However,  it’s not OK to ask people to tag themselves in pictures of a new product in exchange for a chance to win a prize.

Facebook states that their motivation for this is to make it easier for businesses of any size to run contests on their site. Having said that, they have also made it easier for you to spend money promoting your contest with pay per click promotion tools. Under their best practices section, they list “Amplify your Promotions – Create Promoted Post or ads for your Page post to broaden the reach of your promotion. I won’t disagree that promoting your post will produce greater reach but I am sure that they are trying to get more revenue from the promotions where in the past the app companies were getting the lion’s share of the revenue.  Either way following Facebook’s Best Practices is a must. See these three links for details. Facebook News,  Facebook Advertising Guidelines and Facebook Page Terms. After all the confusion that was created by their original “Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines”, they updated their advertising guidelines  on October 22^nd, 2013. 

Pro’s and Con’s

Me and my 542 bestest friends (on Facebook) (Photo credit: tychay)

PRO - It’s free. It doesn’t get any less expensive to run a contest that this. Your cost is yo

ur time and your prizes, period.

CON – You have to be a little creative to find a good picture, figure out how you want people to vote and come up with your contest objectives. This will take a little time and you may have to run several contests to figure out what works best for your company. Also if you break any Facebook’s posting rules you can be suspended.

PRO – It's relatively easy to setup and run. You can find lots of examples where you can copy the verbiage from someone else's contest and reword it so that it now fits your contest.

CON – If you make a mistake in your verbiage, Facebook will pull your contest post and send you a stern warning that you have violated their rules. It further says, any other violations can lead to suspension or removal of your account!

PRO – This type of contest can make it simple to manage a short duration contest (less than a couple of weeks). It also works well if you don’t have more than one hundred entries.

CON – You never know how may people will enter. If your contest takes off, it will be much harder to manage.

PRO – You can use Facebook’s insights page to view your basic contest statistics.

CON - Fully understanding what is represented by your contest's statistics will not be so easy, nor will you be able to measure specific statistics for demographics, psychographics and more.

PRO – You can ask participants to message you with their email address to insure they are entered.

CON – There is no automatic way to capture participants email or other information.

PRO – Your rules can be simple and listed either on the photo or as part of the caption.

CON – Make sure you provide rule details, (age limits, time frame, how to retrieve your prize etc..). If your rules are either too complicated or too long, this kind of contest may not work for you.  If you don’t follow Facebook’s rules to the letter, they could pull your contest post, send you a stern warning and/or could suspend your site. 

I started researching this subject in the end of August when Facebook broke the news of the contest changes. I read dozens of articles on top of what Facebook has released. Facebook releases a video with the head of their promotions department explaining the rules. Check out what she had to say about the new rules.

 A couple of good articles that provide additional examples come from the Social media Examiner. The first I would like to mention is “New Facebook Contest and Promotion Rules: What You Need to Know”. The second article I believe is worth reading is “How to Run a Facebook Timeline Promotion: 6 Tips for Success”.

Are Applications Dead?

Does the introduction of on-page contest mean that contest apps are done for? Absolutely not! There are many reasons why a company would still use an on-page application. 

·         Facebook approved third party apps allow you to gather additional analytic information about your contest. This can include home many people clicked to view verses the actual number of people that click, posted or like your contest.

      ·         Facebook approved applications allow you to build more elaborate rules and usually include Facebook’s disclaimers built in. If your rules are elaborate, they will be harder to show on a timeline managed contest.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps are generally not confused as spam. 

      ·         Facebook approved Apps generally allow you to maintain your company's brand.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps look more professional than just having a photo/comment contest.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps stay in the same place on the page. Your own page managed contest will most likely move down the time like making it harder for people to find it.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps also can hide the results of the contest as it plays out. This means competitors and participants can only see what you want them to see.

      ·         With some third party Facebook approved Apps, you can require that fans Like your page, allowing you to grow your Fan base. If growth is your goal, this is important.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps allow you to gather email address for those who enter. Non app contest requires you to ask the participants to message you directly. This usually has a lower compliance than an app.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps can provide for opt-in forms allowing you to gather more information about the people entering your contest.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps allow you more choices in how a participant interacts in the contest. Voting can be done via check boxes, uploaded videos, pictures, slideshows and more.

      ·         Facebook approved Apps allow you to incentivise sharing. You can not do this with on page administered contest.

      ·         With a Facebook approved third party application you have more control over the contest. This reduces the risk of cheating, or someone gaming your contest because you forgot to list a specific rule.

The bottom line is that there are many ways a businesses can administer a Facebook contest without incurring a large expense. This article has provided not only the basic rules that are now in place. I have also provided detailed information that explains how to avoid some of the pitfalls that many people fell into when the changes were first launched.

Hector Cisneros is a partner, COO and social media director for WSquared Media Group based in Jacksonville, FL. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. He is also the co-host of Blog Talk Radio’s “Working the Web to Win,” where he and Carl Weiss make Working the Web to Win simple for every business.