by Susan Payton (MASHABLE)

Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm specializing in blogger outreach, social media, and PR. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and teaches marketing courses at Marketing EggSchool. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.

Today it seems that no matter what industry you’re in, your competition is stronger than ever. How do you stand out and get that sale when people aren’t as loyal to brands as they used to be? How do you get their attention in an ever growing sea of noise when they’re so often swayed by price rather than quality? One answer is to become recognized as an expert in your industry, someone other people seek out for information.

The most important part to becoming known as an expert, of course, is that you know a lot about whatever it is you do. That could be construction, public relations, HR, dogs — whatever it is, in order to gain the requisite knowledge to be regarded as a thought-leader in your field likely requires years of schooling or real-world practice, or both. In addition, when your goal is to be recognized as an expert you need to always keep learning, and to constantly share that expertise. But first let’s talk about why you might want to be an expert.

Benefits of Being an Expert

Being an expert in your field makes you the go-to person for your industry. There are many people that I trust inherently on different subjects simply because they know their stuff, and they’re not trying to sell me anything. They just want to be helpful in their own space. These are people that I learn from, but also whom I would buy from because I trust their knowledge and expertise.

Being an expert helps you:

– Establish yourself as an industry leader
– Help others
– Become a trusted resource
– Get interviews and media coverage
– Gain access (via conference/speaking invites, etc.)
– Convert followers to sales

Keep Up-to-Date

Only a fool assumes he knows everything and can’t learn any more. No matter how much you know, content and ideas are changing, especially if you work in a fast-moving industry like social media. News happens, ideas shift, people try new things. It’s important for you to stay on top of the latest updates.

Though this list is by no means complete, here are some places you can turn to stay up to date on the most recent news, trends, and ideas in your industry.

Blogs & News – Blogs in your industry are a great place to find out the latest tools and news. If you’re not already reading blogs, do a web search for [your industry + blogs] (like Chiropractic Blogs, for example) to locate some blogs that cover your business niche. Find ones that you like and subscribe to them by RSS so you won’t forget to read them.

You can also use Technorati or PostRank to find blogs in your industry. PostRank can be used to weed out the best post from the blogs you follow, as well.

It’s not a bad idea to set up a Google Alert to search for news about your industry. Paying attention to news headlines is a great way to stay abreast of changes in your field.

Online Education – There’s no reason you have to enroll in college (again) to keep learning. There are a variety of online resources at which you can take free or cheap webinars or e-courses to keep the wheels churning.

If you’re looking for generic business information, the US Small Business Administration has free online courses for small business owners, for example, or if you want great advice on internet marketing, look to HubSpot. Search the web and pay attention to the blogs you read to keep abreast of opportunities for online learning.

Social Networks – Increasingly, social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, and Delicious are where people are sharing news and information that matters to them. By following the already established experts in your niche, you’ll gain access to the information they possess, which will in turn increase your knowledge.

Conferences & Events – Every industry has conferences, trade shows, and other events, at which other experts in the industry gather to share their knowledge. Attending these meetings can help you in your quest to continually learn new information. You can find out about conferences by reading industry blogs, searching events sites like Upcoming.org, or finding local user groups on Meetup.

Imparting Your Wisdom

By sharing your knowledge with others, you’ll quickly become known for your expertise. This can translate into sales, job offers, gigs, or other opportunities, as you build your personal brand as an expert. Here are some ways you can share what you know.

Blogs – The easiest way to start sharing is by creating a blog. Blogs are fantastic if you’ve got a ton of information in your head and need a place to dump it. The bonus is: you can help others through that information. Blog about what you know. Share news, offer advice, give your opinion, and make yourself the go-to resource for what you do. The key to successful blogging is to consistently put out good, original, and useful content that encourages readers to engage with you and with each other.

Social Media – Social media sites are designed for experts! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a question about something, tweeted it, and gotten free advice back, later, the people who provided me with expert advice are the people I buy from when I need their services. By providing free advice on Twitter or Facebook, you will build a base of fans that both trust you and look to you for expert advice. These fans will seek you out and recommend you to others seeking advice and information — in other words, by sharing your knowledge and gaining trust, your network will grow on its own.

Among the ways you can share your expertise using social media, are creating a lens on Squidoo that is home to all the great knowledge you’ve gleaned over the years, bookmarking blog posts and articles that relate to what you do on Delicious, and sharing those links on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, or Reddit, and responding to queries on Yahoo! Answers or LinkedIn Answers.

Create Online Courses – The benefits to teaching online are many, says Mike Volpe of HubSpot. “Leveraging inbound marketing with educational content is more efficient and a lower cost per lead than outbound advertising. Our inbound marketing programs are 5-10 times more efficient lead gen and sales channels than our outbound marketing programs.”

One way to offer an online course is through recently launched, Prfessor.com, which offers software that makes it possible for anyone to host an online school where they sell (or give away for free) courses on virtually any topic.

Video – Don’t underestimate the power of video. For those who do well in front of a camera, sharing free how-to videos on sites like YouTube or Vimeo can lead to increased awareness. It also demonstrates to television producers how well you do on camera, which means online expert videos can lead to television appearances.

Speaking Up – You should already be attending industry conferences, trade shows, and user group meetings, and you should make sure to assert yourself as a knowledgeable voice in the community while at those events. Whether that means lining up formal speaking engagements — which will be easier to do the more you grow your personal brand as an expert — or just networking and sharing your expertise with other attendees, speaking up is helpful in building your expert brand.

Consulting – Offering consulting services can do two things: first, it can make you a little money, and second, it can help you establish yourself among industry insiders as someone who knows their stuff. One consulting gig can lead to many based on referrals and having a list of business owners willing to give you a recommendation can be invaluable. If you plan to offer consulting services, put information about your services on your blog and in your social profiles, and consider offering phone consultations through Ether.com.

Build On Your Expertise

It takes a while, but you will see a snowball effect as you build your brand as an expert. More people will come to you for advice or consulting, and more media types will reach out to you for interviews. Learn to leverage your knowledge and convert it to sales. Speaking at conferences, teaching courses or seminars — both online and off, and consulting for businesses will help you grow your personal brand.

by Adam Ostrow (MASHABLE)

Adam Ostrow is a new media entrepreneur, consultant, and commentator. As Editor in Chief at Mashable, Adam is responsible for the editorial management and direction of one of the most widely read blogs in the world, covering the latest technologies, trends, and individuals that are driving the current evolution of the Web. Adam is a graduate of The University of Maryland, from which he holds a B.A. in Journalism and was awarded Most Outstanding Senior in the school’s prestigious Hinman CEOs program. Adam has been frequently quoted by mainstream media, including mentions in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Times of London, The Globe and Mail, Forbes, BusinessWeek, AdAge, BBC, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC.

by Lauren Fisher (MASHABLE)

Lauren Fisher is the co-founder of Simply Zesty, an online PR and social media agency based in Dublin. She blogs regularly on Simply Zesty on social media and online communications.

New research by Citibank reveals that social media has yet to penetrate the small business world, finding that 76% of the 500 organizations surveyed have not found social media useful in generating business. Maria Veltre, Executive Vice President of Citi’s Small Business Segment says, “Our survey suggests that small business owners are still feeling their way into social media, particularly when it comes to using these tools to grow their businesses.”

On the surface, that’s not very encouraging news for small businesses, however there are plenty of small businesses doing some amazing things with social media. The five companies profiled in this post show that making a splash using social media isn’t about the size of your budget and that the only limit is your creativity.

Kogi BBQ

Kogi BBQ is a mobile Korean BBQ trust that travels around Los Angeles selling Korean tacos. They’ve built up an impressive 45,000 follower base on Twitter () by tweeting where their truck is going to roll up next. The company also recently ran a crowdsourced t-shirt competition, with fans voting on their favorite t-shirt design.

The story behind Kogi BBQ is decidedly home-grown, showing that with a personality and a good product you can build up a loyal community. The now-famous taco truck has basically reached cult status and is an excellent ‘how-to’ for any business who wants to get involved with Twitter.

Lesson: Kogi have shown that social media is about taking the mundane and making it remarkable. On the face of it, a mobile food truck isn’t all that innovative. But a mobile food truck that tweets its way through Los Angeles? That gets people engaged and importantly, the end result is boosted real-world sales.

The Marsh Cafe

With a simple poster in their window, The Marsh Cafe in San Francisco, have seriously demonstrated that they’re ahead of the social media curve. This summer they put up a sign that promoted ‘Foursquare () mayor drinks for free!’ The cafe has received lots of coverage for their innovative marketing campaign, including on mainstream media outlets, such as CNN.

Cari Turley, the manager of The Marsh who runs their social media presence, explains that she is an active user of social media including Foursquare, which is how she came up with the idea for the promotion. She says, “Already, a dozen or so people have written to me about how ‘cool’ the offer is, and really, in the Mission District, cool is the best thing you can be.” As for the impact on business? Since starting the offer, The Marsh cafe has a seen a surge in demand and has hired extra staff and extended opening hours to meet it.

Denis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare, even contacted the cafe after the promotion and worked to develop a special box application that promotes the offer.

Lesson: By being right at the forefront of new technology, The Marsh has demonstrated how something as simple as an offer for a drink can garner attention and create conversations around your brand. Because the staff at The Marsh are heavy social media users themselves, they know what works and what doesn’t work — and this is invaluable.

Duke of York’s Cinema

The Duke of York’s is an independent cinema tucked away in Brighton, England with a cult following. They’ve successfully brought this following online, through actively engaging with key social media channels. Their Twitter account has grown to over 1,200 followers and they have a regularly updated Facebook Page with over 700 fans. Jon, the manager at the cinema is responsible for their social media activity and is concentrating on Twitter as a channel that is gaining momentum for the business. He explains that it is important to “remain a living presence in people’s lives no matter where they go.”

They’ve recognized that a lot of their clientele are young professionals using new technology, so they adapted their marketing to suit that demographic. Their Twitter account contains a good mix of interaction with followers, as well as links to film teasers, exclusive announcements and special offers. Amidst all this work, Jon also finds the time to run the Splendor Cinema blog, which has also gained national recognition.

Lesson: The Duke of York’s show that they are committed to regularly engaging with their community and keeping the focus on their product. They’ve integrated different social media channels which are all consistently communicating the Duke of York’s brand. They’re using their expertise around different films to generate a conversation around the brand with content that is always fresh.

Wiggly Wigglers

Wiggly Wigglers is an excellent example of a real local company making it big online. Wiggly Wigglers is a rural store specializing in garden equipment and worm composters, which on the face of it, is not the sexiest of products. But the store has demonstrated how to make their content come alive online. In addition to an impressive social media presence, they’ve also integrated social media into their site.

Their “cinema” page hosts great video demos showcasing their latest products, and they’ve gone even further by recording a regular podcast, where each week you can settle in on the ‘wiggly sofa’ and listen to the program. The company is also using Twitter to post garden tips and updates from the farm, with a distinctive personal touch.

Heather Gorringe from Wiggly Wigglers is active across the company’s social media accounts, sharing her expertise on topics like worm composting, and posting ‘wiggly deals of the day.’ They’re sharing a vast amount of specialist information both on and off their site, which has established them as experts in the area. Their social media activity has brought credibility to their brand and this is priceless for any company.

Lesson: In the case of Wiggly Wigglers, it’s clear that it is ultimately the people that are the face of the company online. Customers engage with a faceless Wiggly Wigglers business account on Twitter, but with Heather herself and it is this which keeps people talking about them.

Howies

Howies is a UK clothing company specializing in activewear. By any standards their site is incredibly social and packed full of sticky content. Howies has succeeded in giving their brand a real personality by making sure visitors get to know the individuals within the company. The howies blog is regularly updated by staff members Tim, Ruben, Ben, Pete, and Jon, and each of the authors has a distinct personality which comes through their posts, The blog’s content includes the right mix of product updates, such as t-shirt of the month, and quirky posts, such as Pete’s decision to sell his BMX.

There’s barely a social network that Howies doesn’t have a presence on — they’re even on Last.fm, maintaining an active company playlist. And they’re sharing an impressive amount of content on these channels, having built up over 2,000 fans on Facebook (). They’re also clearly communicating expertise in their area, by joining niche social networks such as Rumplo, where members share artistic t-shirts from around the web. There isn’t an inch of their site that isn’t communicating their quirky personality and it’s certainly working to connect people to the brand.

Lesson: By creating an incredibly social website, Howies demonstrates an understanding of the full social media landscape. It’s one thing to work hard at building an external community on social networking platforms, but the key is retaining this traffic on your own site and creating a social experience for the user that will (hopefully) lead to sales.

These examples hopefully show that it’s not about the monetary investment you make in social media, but how you use these channels to communicate and build a community. Find what it is you have that can add something of value to the conversation online. In today’s connected world, it is the story and personality of a company that will stand out and small businesses are in a great position to take advantage of that.

by Jennifer Van Grove (MASHABLE)

by Josh Catone (MASHABLE)

Keeping content fresh is one of the most important things you can do on your small business blog.  Consistently putting out quality posts accomplishes two important goals: it turns visitors into repeat visitors and it creates a community around your content.  Further, good content builds on itself over time and will slowly increase your blog’s traffic as it becomes more discoverable in search engines.  However, blogging regularly isn’t easy, and while it’s true that almost anything can be turned into a blog post, generating ideas for fresh, original, high quality content is difficult, especially for those new to blogging.

In this post we’ll take a look at five different types of posts that you can use on your business blog.  We’ll talk about what these posts look like, explore why each variety of post works especially well for business blogs, and look at examples of each type of post from actual blogs around the web.

1. Advice or Tips

One of the easiest and most effective type of blog posts that you can write for your small business blog are those that give advice and tips.  Sharing your expertise can be an effective way to engage and provide value to readers no matter what type of business you own. These posts can take on two different forms depending on the goals of your blog. If you’re writing your blog in order to brand your business for thought leadership within your industry, then you should write advice for your peers about how you run your business successfully.  It may seem counterintuitive to share your business acumen with readers who might also be your competitors, but in the long run, establishing yourself as a leader in your field among your peers will help you sell more of your product or service and lead to opportunities in the press that bring exposure and awareness.

Social media consulting firm FreshNetworks, for example, routinely publishes social media tips on its blog.  Other social media consultants could certainly learn from that advice and use it to offer competing services, but in the end, the awareness that being a thought leader brings is likely worth more than the risk of helping competitors.

The other type of this variety of blog post is advice for your customers. It doesn’t matter what type of business you run, it is guaranteed that there are things you can teach your customers or help your customers better understand.  Whole Foods, for example, shares recipes on its blog, and printing company PsPrint uses its blog to give tips related to design.  The Quicken-owned Quizzle blog gives consumers advice about money and credit management, and the blog at financial startup Mint is filled with posts about how to better manage your finances.  Roto Rooter offers plumbing advice on its blog, and the blog of niche, gothic wedding clothier Wedding Skulls discusses wedding planning.  And those are just a few examples from a small handful of industries.

The idea behind advice or tips posts is that providing your customers with useful information builds trust and will increase the likelihood that they’ll shop with you.  Not every person who uses a recipe from the Whole Foods blog will shop at Whole Foods, of course, and not everyone who learns how to unclog a drain on the Roto Rooter blog will use that company’s plumbing services — but that’s okay.  The idea with business blogging isn’t to sell, it’s to build awareness and create a community around your company that increases the chance of future sales.

2. Behind-the-Scenes

Another type of post you can offer on your blog is a behind-the-scenes post.  Giving readers a look at what goes on behind closed doors at your business is an easy way to establish a deeper connection with your customers. On the BBC Internet blog, for example, the news web site gives readers a look at the reasoning that goes into decisions about the site and the process that the managers of the web site make. Keeping visitors plugged into the nitty gritty details of how and why they do things is smart because it makes their users feel more invested in the brand — if readers are let in on the secrets of production they’ll be more apt to feel a sense of ownership and develop brand loyalty.

The Bovine Bugle from Stonyfield Farms similarly takes readers behind-the-scenes, by sharing with them the ins and outs of organic farming.  The blog is written by farmer Jonathan Gates from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont, which is one of the farms that the niche, organic yogurt producer deals with. Publishing Gates’ farm reports is an easy way for Stonyfield Farms to let readers in on the process and offer customers assurance of the authentic and organic nature of their products.

Fashion photographer Jason Christopher, meanwhile, uses his blog to share insights into the fashion industry.  He talks about his lighting design, the types of cameras he uses, and what it’s like to deal with models. By providing a behind-the-scenes look at his photographic process, Christopher is smartly advertising his methods to potential clients, while simultaneously providing interesting reading and thought leadership for his peers.

3. Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to grab attention and generate interest in you blog or business.  Design firm Metalab, for example, recently used its blog to take on Zappos by publishing a case study of the shoe retailer’s web site design in an open letter.  The design study had two positive effects for Metalab.  First, it created a lot of buzz and brought traffic to their design firm, and second, it demonstrated their design acumen by showing readers how they were able to pick out flaws in a well-known web design and offer suggestions for how to fix those mistakes.

Darren Rowse, who is one of the most popular writers about the craft of blogging, also used case studies when he was first starting out as a way to garner attention. By offering his thoughts on the designs of well-known blogs he was able to immediately insert himself into the conversation at a high level and demonstrate his knowledge of the subject. Noted logo designer David Airey does the same thing by publishing critiques of well-known brands on his logo design blog, Logo Design Love.

Case studies work best for service oriented businesses. Find someone who could use your service, and give them a virtual makeover for free.  Your critique will demonstrate your expertise and the quality of your results, and if you target well-known businesses for your case studies, they can also bring added attention.

4. Interviews or Profiles

Interviews or profiles are an easy way to add a human touch to your business blogging. By interviewing your employees, other people in your industry, or customers that use your products and services you can both provide value to readers and create authenticity by humanizing your blog and putting a face on your service, products, or industry. The blog for software creator FiveRuns, for example, used to run a regular series they called “Take Five,” in which they would ask five questions of experts within their field.  This series was a win for everyone involved. It provided an outlet for those in their industry to share their stories, it created value for readers who learned more about the people that defined their business community, and it brought traffic and awareness to the FiveRuns company blog.

One of the blogs published by work clothing maker Carhartt is the Tough Jobs blog, on which they profile Carhartt customers with difficult jobs.  The profiles are submitted by the readers themselves and almost always include a mention of the company’s clothing products. Carhartt has smartly enabled customers to participate in the conversation and evangelize their products by appealing to their desire to share their stories via profiles on the company’s blog.

5. Research

Though it won’t work for every type of business, another great way to create buzz around your business blog is to use it to offer industry research reports that will be linked to, blogged about, and repeated elsewhere.  That’s exactly what Internet marketing software firm HubSpot regularly does on their blog.  In the past they’ve used their blog to release reports on the state of the Twitterverse, how web traffic converts to leads, and what sort of web traffic expectations you should have based on the size of your business.  These reports are not only helpful to readers, but they also bring awareness from outside sources via mentions on other blogs and press web sites.

When they first started as a consulting and design firm, software maker 37signals used research reports to generate buzz and build awareness of their new business, as well. They published a report in 2003 called the “E-Commerce Search Report” (1.2 MB PDF) that looked at 25 popular e-commerce web sites and rated their effectiveness at garnering search engine rankings.  Not only did the report bring traffic and attention to the design firm, but because they sold it for $79, the research actually brought in some revenue.

Clearly, some types of small businesses are better suited to creating research reports, but by getting creative, almost any business can figure out some type of information they can formally package and sell or give out in order to generate some attention.  For example, maybe you’re in retail and have been experimenting with the size and placement of end cap displays in your store — why not formalize that testing and release a report? Research demonstrates your expertise and can bring traffic and attention from people most interested in your line of work.

by Sharlyn Lauby (MASHABLE)

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.

You can hardly have a conversation about social media today without discussing the concept of transparency. More and more, companies are incorporating transparency into their marketing efforts. Why? The reason, according to Debbie Weil, a corporate social media consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book, is because customers and stakeholders increasingly expect it. “It (transparency) is the new operating standard,” she said.

Transparency is about being open, honest, and accountable. It’s about responsibility. People are listening to you and making evaluations and decisions based upon what you say, and as such, it’s important to take responsibility for the messaging you put out there. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh explains it best, “I think people worry too much about bringing their personal selves into business, when I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make your business more personal.”

For those looking to refine their social media messaging, here are five ways to become more transparent.

1. Don’t Fake It — Talk About What You Know

Web designer Jeffrey Zeldman talks about web design. That’s it. And, he’s good at it. If you want to know about web design news and info, he’s the king. Literally: Business Week even dubbed him the “King of Web Standards.”

Zeldman’s example teaches us that transparency is about being who you are. Talk about the things you know and can do well. You can actually enhance your personal/company brand by sticking to what you know. Then make sure you have a list of go-to people or lifelines that specialize in related areas. For example, I’m a human resources consultant. I’m not an employee benefits consultant. So, when my clients ask about employee benefits, I refer people to one of my colleagues. This makes me look good, because I’m not trying to be something I’m not, and my clients get the right services and information they need.

It’s just as important to be viewed as a person with a lot of talented resources as it is to be viewed as an expert.

2. Have an Opinion, But Stay Open to Other Views

We all know that part of transparency is being responsible about the information you share. As Weil mentions, “If you’re an organization using a blog or other social media to ‘get closer’ to your customers you’re never going to reveal proprietary information, internal office politics or forward looking financial information. Common sense reigns.”

This also applies to offering your opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-opinion. In fact, I find it quite educational to hear different viewpoints. It’s really nice to read a well-thought out stand on a particular issue.

But when you offer your opinion, think through the implications. What happens if others don’t agree? A recent example involves Whole Foods, a company that has embraced social media at many levels. They have created a presence for themselves on Facebook (), Twitter (), YouTube (), and other social media sites. CEO John Mackey’s recently published an op-ed regarding healthcare reform that caused a minor controversy among Whole Foods customers. In response, the company wisely kept to their social media philosophy and encouraged comments (both positive and negative.) My takeaway from this incident: people might not like the opinion, but the company remained open to hearing differing views and criticism. That kind of openness earns respect.

For some businesses, taking a stand on social issues is a part of their culture and something we, as consumers, come to expect. Having an opinion is actually a part of their marketing strategy. Ben & Jerry’s actively promotes corporate social responsibility. Their most recent announcement, changing the name of the Chubby Hubby flavor to Hubby Hubby in support of same-sex marriage, is simply a part of the iconic corporate culture they are known for.

3. Be Truthful

I know, that sounds obvious, but keep in mind that part of transparency means putting all the pertinent details out there. If you neglect to include something – that others might have thought was important – this will impact your online credibility as much as lying outright.

One way the truth is sometimes challenged is when new projects or initiatives are implemented. When Facebook revised their user terms of service, for example, the company did a poor job of communicating the changes to users. As a result, Facebook was forced to go on the defensive when users instinctively mistrusted certain changes that affected their user rights. Everything in social media is so immediate and change in general can sometimes be hard to digest. Surprises can be met with an equally swift response.

When considering and implementing changes, it could be beneficial to use crowdsourcing for gathering information, announce changes in advance, and garner customer buy-in. Then, roll the changes out in phases. This can alleviate confusion and negative perceptions.

4. Be Timely and Responsive

Because social media is so immediate, you need to start or participate in conversations as they happen. Recently, a fairly high-profile Twitter user was in Miami for a business meeting. The meeting was extended and he needed to find a hotel for the night. He sent out a Tweet asking for hotel recommendations and got very limited response from local hotels. Since I live in the area, I retweeted it for him, and three days later a Miami hotel got in touch to ask how they could help me. Major FAIL.

If you are going to be a part of social media, then remember that timeliness can often mean the difference between success and failure.

Timeliness is also important when a crisis or controversy is occurring at your company, Weil told me that, “you can always blog and/or Twitter that you are aware of the situation, working on the problem and will get back to people as soon as possible.” That’s better than leaving people hanging to draw their own conclusions.

5. Think Community

None of us can or should operate as an island in social media. Transparency means creating community, giving credit, and being caring.

While some industries, such as the cruise industry, are natural fits for using social media to build community, there are other industries that are not traditionally known for building community turning to social media as a way to educate customers and generate ideas for new products and services. Mashable () recently published a post, for example, about how banks are turning to social media as a way to build community, which is proof that just about anyone can benefit from growing their community through social media.

Another key component to understanding community is knowing your audience. Companies like Disney have realized that it’s not only important to be kid-friendly, but that they need to appeal to parents as well. They launched Family.com in 2008 as a way to share info with moms and dads.

While it might appear on the surface that transparency is nothing more than telling the truth, sometimes telling the truth is hard. In general, we don’t like to let people down or admit mistakes, and transparency is about putting our unguarded self out there. But embracing transparency will help you to be more open, honest, and accountable and connect better with customers.

by Callan Green (MASHABLE)

Callan Green works in public relations and social media at Bailey Gardiner in San Diego. You can read her posts on the company’s marketing blog or follow her on Twitter.

When Facebook re-launched its fan pages earlier this year, companies were thrilled. At last, there was a solid way to have a presence on Facebook (), and users were actually responding positively. Within a couple of weeks it seemed as though every major brand had put up a page. However, very few are using them well.

Sure, anyone can build a fan page in under 10 minutes, and some big brands may even attract fans without any real effort. But even if you have 3 million fans, if the extent of their involvement with your brand is that at one point they “became a fan,” is that really benefiting you?

The fan pages that are doing it right are the ones that are actively engaging with their fans. These pages have creative content, two-way communication, active discussion boards, videos and images, and a fun and casual tone to match the medium. Below are five mini case studies of brands that are doing everything right when it comes to Facebook fan pages, presented so that you can learn by example. Please share your favorite fan pages in the comments.

1. Pringles

The fan page for popular potato chip brand Pringles stands out mostly for its great use of video. While Pringles has created an inviting laid back tone, and managed to engage fan via reviews, discussions, and original interactive games, the most notable aspect of the page is definitely their use of video.

Because videos are so easy to consume, video is among the most commonly shared types of content online, which is why many companies strive to create videos that will go “viral” (be shared an exponentially growing number of people). Of course, creating a viral video is not easy. There is no ready made formula for create viral content.

Pringles, however, has recognized that its audience on Facebook reacts well to comedy and have used their fan page to catalyze the spread of a set of videos that certainly have the potential for virality. The videos are low budget productions with little editing or props depicting people singing goofy songs. It’s not much, but Pringles clearly knows its demographic, and the way Facebook works. By distributing the videos on their fan page, they’ve given users the chance to spread the Pringles brand to their friends without resorting to paid ad placements, which is exactly what thousands of people have done by “liking” the videos, an action which is then repeated in the newsfeeds of their friends and can potentially attract new people to the Pringles fan page.

2. Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola fan page seems generic at first glance, but upon closer inspection it is really a testament to the brand’s commitment to user participation. First, Coca-Cola has taken the unorthodox step of displaying user created content in their main page Wall feed by default, something that most brands shy away from. That means that the page is really powered by user generated content, good and bad. That’s a bold move for Coca-Cola, but one that really demonstrates their interest in getting fans involved with the brand.

Another way that Coca-Cola stands out, is their approach to photo albums. Many companies simply incorporate an album of product pictures and call it a day, but Facebook offers companies a chance to get creative with photos, and Coca-Cola realized that. They have a number of albums showing off the product, workers at the company, photos of Coke fans, pictures of Coke products from all around the world, and pictures of old Coke nostalgia. Coke knows that their brand is an icon and people don’t just interact with their product by drinking it — they actually collect it. Their photo albums reflect that.

However, the best example of how Coke is truly committed to their fans on Facebook is the awesome story of how the page came to be. The page was originally created by two fans who just loved Coke. Coca-Cola found the page, and rather than trying to buy it or create another “official” page, they rewarded the two fans and worked with them to continue building the page and representing the brand. By empowering their existing fans, rather than trying to marginalize, shove aside, or steam roll them, Coca-Cola has been able to build on the connections that were already established with fans on Facebook before they even arrived in an official capacity.

3. Starbucks

Starbuck is clearly dialed in to the world of social media, and that is reflected in the Starbucks fan page. The page incorporates great videos, varied content, and has active engagement with the fans. But what makes it truly exceptional, is its use of status updates.

Status updates are an important aspect of any fan page because they provide two-way communication between company and fan, while keeping the page fresh with new content and information, which gives fans a reason to return. So many companies struggle to understand how best to utilize these updates and either don’t use them at all, update solely about product announcements, or update so often users become overwhelmed and the updates turn into so much noise. Starbucks, on the other hand, has established a good frequency of updates, sharing something new every couple of days.

More importantly, though, the content is varied, fun, and interesting. Their updates share videos, blog posts about all aspects of coffee — and not just on the official company blog — including how to grow coffee beans, articles about Starbucks and Starbucks employees. The tone of each update is informative and casual, and even their product updates are kept varied enough to remain interesting, for example, by offering up reviews of new music or books for sale in their cafes. As a result, the quality status update content has led to a very engaged fan base, with every update receiving thousands of comments.

The Starbucks Facebook fan page is a great example of how a company can still engage fans without the use of flashy apps, and instead simply focusing on quality content.

4. Adidas

The Adidas fan page offers all the usual attributes of a strong page: active fans, a branded application, lots of content variety, plus, good video, pictures and notes. That’s all good stuff, but what really makes them stand out is the way they use their page’s tools to promote their other social media and advertising campaigns.

Running a contest on Facebook brings variety to a page’s content, engages fans, and has the ability to directly increase the company’s revenue by introducing new customers to the brand. Lots of brands attempt to promote campaigns on Facebook, but there are only a few that I have seen do it well. Adidas is one of those brands.

Most recently, Adidas teamed up with MTV to run an exclusive Facebook contest where a fan could win an all-expenses-paid house party. Their campaign was successful for a few reasons. First, Adidas chose a prize and partner that would resonate with the Facebook user demographic. Second, they wisely chose to promote the contest on their fan page not only before the contest, but after it had ended as well.

Once they had chosen the lucky winner, they used their page to share the fan’s blog posts, photos and video from the party. The integration of status updates, photos, notes and videos, with a smart contest, resulted in a whole lot of fan engagement, and keeping the winning fan involved even after the contest had ended showed their commitment to fans and helped them get extra mileage out of the campaign. The contest also gave the page content variety by breaking up the usual status updates with something new, fun, and with an included call to action for fans to get involved.

5. Red Bull

The Red Bull fan page is easily one of the best on Facebook simply because it has been able to break out of the typical fan page mold by providing fun content that encourages fans to interact with and ultimately connect with the brand. Their uniqueness is captured in their innovative incorporation of Twitter into their Facebook fan page. Integrating a Twitter () stream is not special on its own, but Red Bull doesn’t just pull in tweets from their official corporate account, as you might expect most brands do. Instead, Red Bull has aggregated tweets from sponsored athletes like skateboarder Ryan Sheckler and snowboarder Shaun White and included them directly in their Facebook presence. Associating themselves with popular athletes, and letting fans connect to those athletes on a separate social network (i.e., not boxing them in) gives Red Bull some instant cool points.

Their page’s “Boxes” section is also pretty darn incredible. Red Bull has built all kinds of content and applications that help them break out of the vanilla Facebook mold that forces all brands to look and feel more or less the same. My favorite app is one that lets fans rate phone calls of people who “drunk dialed” the Red Bull 1-800 number. It’s not only hilarious, but it also smartly encourages additional fan engagement.

Red Bull, which is a drink popular with teen and college ages kids, definitely knows its audience, and they’ve played to that face by categorizing their page under business type “pharmaceuticals.” Clearly, this is a company that understands their audience and knows that the best way to connect with them on Facebook is with humor, fun, apps that get people engaged, and by being creative.

Conclusion

The brands mentioned in this all benefitted from having a solid brand image and loyal following before they actually joined Facebook and started using social media tools. Still, they offer insights into what makes Facebook pages work for brands. The key takeaways are that you have to know your audience, you have to provide quality, regular content, you need to encourage discussion and engagement, and you must not take yourself too seriously.

There are thousands of brands on Facebook, and this post only had room to look at five. What other brands do you think are knocking their Facebook pages out of the park? Please share your favorite Facebook brand fan pages in the comments.

by Dan Schawbel (MASHABLE)

Dan Schawbel is the bestselling author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog and a columnist for BusinessWeek.

With over 300 million users, no one can deny the power of Facebook (). In fact, 50% of users log in every single day and spend over 6 billion minutes on the platform. What are they doing on it? Depending on the intent of the user, they’re sharing personal stories and updates, staying connected to friends and colleagues, and even building businesses. Many people only use their profile to keep in touch with friends and family, and form a brick wall so no one else can come inside. This strategy won’t help your career, but if you choose, you can also leverage Facebook to build your personal brand.

If you do decide you want Facebook to support your personal brand, then you will have to capitalize on its openness and the ability to grow your network, one friend request at a time. There are three new features that you should pay close attention to, as you tap into the millions of resources presented to you on the service. Each feature — tagging, Pages and widgets, and real-time search — is tied to a specific personal branding strategy.

1. Facebook Tagging for Networking Your Brand

Networking, as you can probably guess, is the key to forging a strong personal brand and developing your career. As you grow older, you will rely more and more on the “assets” in your network, which can range from your father to a coworker to even strangers you may have briefly met and exchanged information with in the past. Facebook tagging, in my opinion, has brought a whole new dimension to networking. The fact that you can use the “@” symbol when you post on your wall and associate a post with your friends’ names, is remarkable, and is exceptionally useful for personal branding.

Let’s say you write a wall post about your weekend plans or a cool blog you’re working on with a few people. You can use the tag feature to have that same wall post appear on their wall, which is great for visibility, appreciation, and for remaining in touch with people. When people comment on that post, whether it’s on your wall or someone else’s, you will be notified through email, so you can continue the conversation and meet new people. That can help you expand your network and stay top of mind with the people already in yours.

2. Facebook Pages and Widgets for Growing Your Brand

Facebook Fan Pages are nothing new, but how you use them and promote them is what really counts. There are thousands of Pages out there, but only the best ones succeed in capturing the attention of Facebook users. You aren’t going to be Vin Diesel or Coca Cola, but you can still make an impact.

Your Page needs a focus and strategy behind it, so first you need to decide what it’s going to be all about. For instance, do you want to use your profile page to build your network to the 5,000 friend limit and then create a Fan Page? Or do you want to keep your profile page for your immediate friends and use the Fan Page to interact with your social media entourage? These are questions you need to answer when building your brand on Facebook.

A Fan Page can contain:

– Event appearances with pictures and videos

– A video introduction or running video blog

– Press features

– Your blog posts via syndication

– Details about your personal and professional achievements

– Delicious () bookmarks that represent your industry

– Pictures of you with celebrities from your industry

– Wall posts, including: a quote of the day, event reminders, blog posts, news, etc.

– Your LinkedIn profile

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Mashable () on Facebook

Once you decide how you want to present yourself on your Facebook Fan Page, what information you want displayed and what widgets you want to use, you should then grow your page to 25 fans as quickly as possible. This will allow you to get a username for your Page, so that your URL will be easier to share, remember, and discover. You should use either your full name (if you haven’t already used it for your Facebook profile) or a positioning statement, such as http://facebook.com/facebookmarketingexpert.

Next, you need to market your Fan Page like it’s your job (because it is!). Here are just a handful of ideas you can use to spread the word about your Page:

– Add a Facebook Fan Page widget to your web site or blog

– Advertise your Facebook Page to targeted employers

– Put your Facebook URL in your email signature, at the end of presentations, and possibly even on your traditional resume

– Write articles and/or blog posts on other sites, leaving your Facebook URL in your bio or byline

– Hold a contest on Twitter (), where you give out free information or products to people who become fans of your Page on Facebook

– Become part of communities in your niche, on a variety of social networks

– Comment on blogs and instead of using your blog URL, use your Facebook address

3. Facebook Real-Time Search for Monitoring Your Brand

At Mashable, we’ve given you ten free and ten paid reputation management tools, to monitor your personal brand (they also work for company and product brands). But that was all before Facebook released its real-time search engine, which replaced their legacy search engine.

The new search engine identifies results, for each keyword entered, in conversations that are happening with your friends and the outside world. It also searches Fan Pages, groups, applications, events, people, and web results — so you can say it’s truly an end-to-end solution. Aside from using tools such as Twitter Search () or Google Alerts to keep track of personal brand mentions, you should occasionally (depending on your popularity) perform a search in Facebook to see what people are saying, both inside your network and outside.

But what should you do when you’re being talked about?

– For a brand mention by someone in your network: If people are saying something positive, then you should “like” the conversation and possibly leave a comment, such as, “Thank you for the mention,” or a value-add comment such as, “I would like to add _______,” or, “What do you think of _____?”

– For a brand mention by someone outside of your network: You should friend them, because they gave you the opening, and then send them a nice note through Facebook mail thanking them for the mention.

Facebook’s new features present many opportunities for building your personal brand. The tagging feature is a great tool for professional networking, while Facebook Pages allow you to extend your brand and grow it virally. The search functionality is another data point that you can use to keep track of what people are saying about you. There’s no doubt that Facebook is here to stay, so if you start using these features now, you’ll be prepared to be more successful in the future.