Tara J. Brannigan, Author at Boop.Social

Earlier this evening I spotted a tweet from John Russell about a new Facebook feature:

To kick it off: FB launched short urls to help brands get users talking to them inside Messenger: for @techcrunch -> https://t.co/HgNnaAQKfS

— Jon Russell (@jonrussell) February 19, 2016

The core motivation behind this change appears to be to eventually sell more ads: Facebook Plans To Put Ads In Messenger (TechCrunch)

Regardless of whether you intend to use the ad functionality, being able to link your customers straight into a direct message is a big plus! If you’ve ever tried to get a community member to send you a direct message, you know how difficult that can be. Once someone has liked a fan page, they seldom (if ever) return to the page itself. Many users have no idea how to send a fan page a message, and are often afraid to ask how when requested to do so. This solution makes it a much simpler process.

Running a Facebook Fan Page as a small business or independent business owner is a daunting task. How they operate can change at a moment’s notice, and knowing all of the rules is challenging However, there’s one big area in which many pages are falling on the wrong side of the rules (and often law): Contests, aka Promotions.

Thinking of running a contest on your fan page? Make sure you’re aware of these three major areas before making that contest post!

This past weekend I was running the Twitter account for the Wellington (NZ) Global Game Jam 16 account. As part of that process, I was monitoring #GGJ16 and a few other related hashtags. This allows me to start conversations with other jammers around the world, and is a fun way to see what everyone else is working on.

Shortly after kick-off, I started to notice a trend in some of the comments out there. Not from people who were participating, but from those that had decided to refrain. While I fully understand if people aren’t able to attend due to timing, I wanted to address a few of the more common reasons people listed for not participating.

It’s a sad truth that if you’re conducting business online, you will run into… let’s just say disagreeable sorts. Part of managing an online community is learning how to deal with negativity. In short, learning how to deal with haters. Because as we all know, haters ARE gonna hate. Being unprepared for the inevitability is a fast track to failure.

So how do you deal with all that hate? Check out this set of 5 tips to get you started!

Note: For the purposes of this article I’m talking about your average grumpy community member, not aggressive, personalized attacks. If you’re dealing with personal attacks, please seek additional assistance!

One of my favorite additions to the social video space is easily Blab.IM. I’ve been experimenting with it over the past few months, and have really enjoyed the experience. While platforms such as Periscope focus on more of a single person perspective, Blab.IM focuses on a talk show format. In short, it focuses on conversation!

So how is Blab different from other social video tools already out there, and why should you bother using it?

Quick Tip: Facebook Messages

What You Need to Know About Facebook Contests

Game Jams: Getting Past the Fear

Patreon Pick: Dealing with Haters

Using Blab.IM