If you simply type in your business or company name into the “employer” section of your personal Facebook profile, you might find that the link does NOT take you to your Facebook business page but rather to a non-descript generic facebook page:

As you can see, this page does not help attract potential clients. It doesn’t give much information to your audience about your business, nor does it include any posts or articles you have shared on your page (and it isn’t very attractive, either)!

It’s super simple to link your Facebook business page to your personal profile page and here’s how:

1. Go to your Business page
2. Copy the NAME of your page (not the URL)
3. On the home page, on the left under your name click “edit your profile”.
4. On the left hand column, click “Education and Work”.
5. Type your business name in the “Employer” box. Assuming you are a fan of your own page, a dropdown field should appear. Click on your page to complete the linking process.

Now, when you view your Facebook personal profile page, under your name a link that directs the viewer to your Facebook Business Page will appear:

Looks better, huh?  And so easy to do!

A vanity URL is an address that uses your name or your business name within the address. By default, a LinkedIn address has a bunch of numbers in it and is impossible for anyone (including yourself) to remember or recognize.

When you have a vanity Linked In address, you are instantly recognizable – making it easy to promote your personal brand on your web site, your email signature, your business cards or resume.

Will it optimize your brand for SEO? Maybe, maybe not.  It really depends on who you ask and which engines you intend to use.

Will it optimize your brand for Humans? YES! A thousand times YES! A vanity address makes it effortless to TELL people where to find you on LinkedIn – it’s simply your name or the name of your business!

It’s super easy to do:

1. Log in to LinkedIn
2. Hover over “profile” on the top menu bar, scroll down and click on “edit profile”
3. Scroll down in the name/info area until you see “public profile” – if this is not your name or brand but a series of letters and numbers, click “edit” to create your vanity URL.
4. On the right hand side of the next screen, you will see “your public profile URL”.  Click on “customize your public profile URL”.
5. In the box that pops up, type in your brand name.  Hopefully, you will be able to use yourown name.  If not, choose your business name or something professional. Also, your custom URL must contain 5 – 30 letters or numbers. Please do not use spaces, symbols, or special characters.
6. Click “set custom URL”.
7. Your Vanity/custom URL is now saved.

Let me know if this was helpful to you!  Feel free to Link Up with me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joywilder

Here’s how to keep your Facebook Fan Pages and Groups nice and private…

1. Log in to Facebook
2. On the upper right hand side of the screen, click “Account”
3. A dropdown will appear – click “Privacy Settings”
4. On the top of the page that follows, you will see an area entitled Connecting on Facebook – click “View Settings”
5. Look all the way down the page for See your like, activities and other connections – on the dropdown click “Custom”
6. Under Make this visible to – click “Only Me”

Rather than unfriend them, we decided to use a kinder, softer approach.  We hid them from our newsfeed!

Now we want to give them a 2^nd chance but how? Do you even remember who you hid?

Unhiding a Facebook friend is a cinch, once you figure out where to find the list of people you hid.

1. Log in to your Facebook account
2. Go to your Home page
3. Scroll your browser all the way to the bottom of the feed
4. At the lower right, you will see a link that says “Edit Options”. Click it.
5. A box will pop up entitled “Edit Your News Feed Settings”
6. There’s an area that reads “Hide Posts From”
7. There you have it in one concise list – all of the friends, apps and pages you hid from your Facebook newsfeed page.
8. Click the little “x” next to the name, app or page you want to unhide.

Take a look at the URL of your Facebook Business Fan Page – is it pretty or ugly?

• Ugly:  www.facebook.com/pages/yourbusinesspagename/28563514487
• Pretty: www.facebook.com/yourbusinesspagename

Why do I need a “pretty” permalink URL for my Facebook Fan Page?

• It looks better and easier to remember – Let’s face it – it’s easier to promote your business with something that is short and significant.
• Claim your name and brand! You can put it on your company website, business cards and email signatures – anywhere you want to put information about your business.
• It’s free, so why not??!

Before we start here are a few caveats:

After you get 25 fans to like your page, you can change your URL from ugly to pretty.  [EDIT: Good news! No longer do you have to have 25 fans to change your URL! 9/15/11]

Only a page administrator can change the page username (URL).

Each page username must be unique. Facebook checks your username request to make sure it is available. If it isn’t available, you must select a different username.

If you make a mistake, a typo, or change your mind, you cannot change your business page username. Be careful!

When you select your username, keep in mind that it should be aligned with your marketing strategies. This isn’t the time to be creative – make your page easy to find. Use the name of your business.

Remember that your business Fan Page is NOT THE SAME as your personal Facebook profile page.

How to add a username to your Facebook business page

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username
2. Login to Facebook
3. All of the Fan Pages that you administer are displayed in a dropbox list. Select the page from the list.
4. Type the Facebook username that you want to use for your vanity URL
5. Click “check availability”
6. Read the warning message. Make sure your username is typed correctly – once you click confirm YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT !!
7. Click “confirm”

First things first really quick…

Why would you want to leave a LinkedIn Group?

• As it stands today, LinkedIn has a cap (50) on the number of groups you can join.  If you want to join a group when you are at your limit, you have to let one go before you can do so.

• Some groups, unfortunately, have nothing more to offer their subscribers other than SPAM or sales ploys.  I’d strongly suggest leaving those groups.

• Your target audience and/or needs have changed and you no longer need the information and contacts from a group.  Perhaps you used to target Health Care Providers and now you have switched to Entrepreneurs — definitely calls for a strategy change!

Here’s how you leave a LinkedIn Group:

1. From your homepage: click on Groups and scroll down to “your groups” and click on it
2. Click on the hyperlink of the group that you want to leave
3. Click on the last menu tab, which is designated “More”
4. A dropdown box will appear – click on “My Settings”
5. Click the “Leave Group” button, which is located on the bottom right hand corner of the screen (yes, I know it looks grayed out/disabled…but trust me it works!!)

Voila!  You’re outta there!

Facebook users can opt to receive an email whenever a new computer or mobile device logs into their account. That way, you will know if someone is trying to gain access to your account without your permission.

1. Login to your Facebook account
   
2. In the upper right hand corner of your newsfeed page, click on “Account”
   
3. On the dropdown, click on “Account settings”
   
4. Locate “Account security”, and click the “change” link
   
5. Check the box to activate: “When a new computer or mobile device logs into this account: Send me an email”
   
6. Click save
   

Then, register the computer you are using:

1. Logout of your facebook account and then back in. A pop up box will appear asking you to name the device you are using.
   
2. Name your computer whatever you want and then check off whether or not you want Facebook to remember the computer being registered. If you are on a public computer, leave this box unchecked.
   

You will also be able to see all activity and registered computers on your account under “Account Activity”, which is also located in “Account Security”.

GTD Update: BB app Viira 2 really helps – I have accomplished so much this week!

This afternoon, as I was updating Viira2 on my Blackberry, I realized I made a few to-dos as tasks when they were really projects. OK, this isn’t the worst thing imaginable but it was then I realized that I was looking at my day’s work a lot differently.

Since I’ve hunkered down and gave GTD a try, I’ve noticed that  I know what my next move should be when I’m working. My day progresses smoothly – I don’t feel stressed and over-scheduled with appointments and disorganized lists. I’m starting to see “projects” and “tasks” rather than the dreaded “too much to do so why bother with any of it” feeling. Whether my energy is high or low I know what projects to tackle. Interruptions aren’t as interrupting as they were just a couple of weeks ago.

I take the day as it goes, calm but focused – one task at a time.

It’s simple – whether I have 5 minutes or an hour to kill,  Viira2  makes it easy to pick out what I can do to fill the time.

This past weekend I got a bit further with setting up GTD for myself. It’s strange how in control I feel now. Or is it how I don’t feel overwhelmed and completely powerless over things I haven’t done yet?

I’m getting a better understanding and appreciation for what Allen is getting at in his GTD book. For instance, anything that does NOT have a date does NOT belong on my calendar. If I make random due dates for my tasks it clutters up my calendar, I know that that task doesn’t really have to be done and I get stressed out whenever I look at calendar because of all the things I see that aren’t getting done. The dateless tasks belong on my “Contexts” lists. I call it my @ list. I gotta be me.

A few forums suggested that Outlook or Google calendar is a great place to store my GTD lists so I tried it. A huge red flag flashed before my eyes when I was in my car and had time to run some errands. Where is my list? Yes, of course! It’s on Outlook on my laptop AT HOME! #fail

My Blackberry Bold, however, was with me. It’s always with me! I knew I needed to integrate my projects on my Blackberry.

After a couple days of trying to use the native task list on my Blackberry I realized it is too cumbersome to use for the GTD system. I searched for a Blackberry GTD based to do list application. Instead of doing tireless research like I am known to do *smirk*, I kept it simple. After finding 3 apps with positive reviews, I chose the one with a free trial and OTA (Over the Air) installation: Viira 2. The installation was straightforward and the application itself seems easy to use.

Viira 2 breaks my to-do list into a workable format on my Blackberry – Projects, Contexts or Tasks. If I’m in front of the computer with 15 minutes to kill – I can look at my @computer list on my phone and – !BAM! – a few to-dos are done before I know it! If I’m in my car my @errand list tells me what I need to do while I’m out. That rocks.

Viira2: so far so good. It’s a buy.

What project has been sitting on your desk waiting for completion?

• Research – big or small projects, Internet and/or Conventional Research
• Transcribe handwritten notes from a meeting to a computer document
• Organize client paperwork to your specification
• Make phone calls, then follow up the left messages
• Research vendors and products you intend to buy for your office
• Attend to your Business Voice Mail requests
• Organize your business email inbox
• Handwrite messages & thank you notes to clients, contributors and contacts
• Proof and submit blog entries
• Order office supplies
• Keep your Social Media sites current (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, various blogs)
• Calendar management and Appointment Scheduling Set up and confirm depositions, meetings and reservations

All of these things…PLUS MORE can be done from my office VIRTUALLY.

How much time you will GAIN by delegating these mundane office tasks to Wilder Office Approach?

You will feel less stressed with those months-old (or older) projects off your mind.