I recently had an enquiry from a friend wanting to know what the "go" was with Silent Tagging, Fan Ladders and Fan Chains on Facebook.  My friend had been invited to participate in Fan Ladders and didn't really know how they worked, or if it was worth her time.  Here is my take on Silent Tagging, I'll let you decide if it suits your business page or not.

For those who aren't familiar with this concept as yet, let me inform you a little.  Silent Tagging currently works by either 1. Invitation from a Business Page or 2. By A Silent Tagging Page.  Basically a post will be made by either page inviting people to tag their business page under the invitation post. Do this tag from your personal page and press the @ button to tag your business page.  You then go through the list of tags (possibly up to 150 at times!) and hover the mouse over the link and press the like button.  By doing this, and others agreeing to participate, your liker numbers can skyrocket in a short 30 minutes.  I have seen success on some pages by an increase of 56 likers in this time!  So what are the advantages and disadvantages I hear you say?

Advantages:

1. Good For New Pages wanting to Reach 25 Likers to gain a Facebook Username URL
2. Increase Liker Numbers means increased chances for new customers/clients/referrals to your business.
3. Liker numbers gained quickly without too much effort on your part.
4. When invited by other local businesses to join in a Silent Tagging Party, this could be a wonderful way to gain new local referrals and get your business name "out there".

Disadvantages.

1. Many people contributing to this Silent Tagging do not read the rules and either don't participate or LIKE with their business page instead of their personal page, and this does not improve your liker count - the whole reason for participating in the first place.
2. New Likers won't necessarily turn into customers.  If they find that after they have liked your page, that it is not suitable or appropriate for them, they will either unlike your page or hide your posts.  Remember not to over post as this irritates people when their home page is full of posts from the one business page.
3. Your Personal News Feed will now be taken over by business pages, rather than friends and family's posts etc.
4. Quantity versus Quality - Would you really prefer a Large Quanitity of Fans, or a smaller number that are Quality Fans.  (More on this later)
   

All in all, the decision is up to you. 

My Top Tips for Participating in Silent Tagging"

• Keep an open mind when participating remembering that you are most likely going to only gain numbers not customers.
• Give it a try as a good way to reach your username url quickly (25 likers)
• Play by the rules on the page that on which you are participating.
• Always log in as yourself, not your business page to join in the Silent Tag.
• You will most likely find that silent tagging is a far quicker way to gain those new likers rather than through shout outs.  Never forget though that you may not gain quality likers, just quantity.

Top "Silent Tagging" Pages

So you have decided to give Silent Tagging a go to either gain those necessary 25 likers for your URL or just to increase your numbers a little.  You may be unsure on how to start a silent tagging post on your own page, so why not participate in one that is designed for this concept.  The following pages are my top picks for professionally run silent tagging posts.  Most posts run for around 1 hour and then are deleted after this time to save extra spamming etc.  Remember to read the posted rules, often listed on the wall or in the info tab and log in as yourself, not the business page!

1.    Promote Your Products Australia  (Australian Businesses Only)
2.    Like 2 Like
3.    The Silent Tagging Circle

I would love to hear your thoughts, recommendations and experiences with using Silent Tagging & Ladders.

Until Next Time.

While recently trying to add my Google Friend Connect Widget to my website blog, I discovered that this much used, fantastic way of keeping track of my blog followers, is being retired for all blogs/webistes other than blogger as of 1st March 2012.

So this left me in a little bit of a diliema, while I do have a blogspot blog, I also like to keep an up-to date blog on my main website and is wonderful to see who is following your work.  So what are the other "follower options available for non-blogspot bloggers??

Google Friend Connect is recommending that all users with non-blogspot blogs (gosh that is a mouthfull!) set up a Google+  page and intergrate their badge (widget) to your blog.  I have got a Google+ Page and am still currently experimenting with this new form of social media, so I will go ahead with adding the widget to this blog and others that I manage to trial Google Circles.  You Can Sign-Up For Google Plus or find our Google+ Here.

My Other suggestions for options of keeping  track of your followers are:
1.    Bloglovin.  This is a great blogging site, where any blog users can register their blogs under different categories/locations etc.  It is also a great site for users who can follow blogs with ease and recieve daily email updates when new blog posts are published by authors they follow.  See our Bloglovin Page for an example on how to follow a blog with Bloglovin.  We allready have this widget on all blogs that I manage and find that is getting more and more popular and well know daily.  I have discovered some wonderful new blogs through this resouce.
2.   Networked Blogs Tab (Networked Blogs is an application run through Facebook which integratates blog posts from any form of blog onto your desired Facebook Page or Twitter Page.  Networked Blogs provides a variety of widgets to intergrate into your blog).  Our Networked Blogs tab is displayed on the right hand side of our main blog page.
3.    Linky Followers.  This new following site, works pretty much in the same way that Google Friend Connect Does. It has the same "look" as Google Friend Connect and shows a small thumbnail pic of your followers.  I have just added this to our Blue Bird Social Media Blog on the website in place of the Google Friend Connect Widget.  Sign up is free and you don't have to have your own blog to sign up or become a follower.  Blog resgistration is fast and simple and the html code is provided quickly and can be added to your blog with ease.  See Linky Followers to sign up for your free account or find our Linky Widget on our blog page to sign up quickly.
4.      HelloCotton.  This site is one I have just found this week and it looks fantastic!  It is a fantastic for Networking Women Bloggers. I am new to this site and have signed up and added the badge to the Blue Bird Social Media Blog on the website.  I am looking forward to spending a little more time on this newly found blog network.  You Can sign up for free and register your blog at HelloCotton.

Don't forget to integrate your Social Media Pages to your blog also and to always integrate your blog posts to your social media pages.

I look forward to hearing your feedback on the changes at Google Friend Connect and any recommendations for following widgets/sites that you use. Feel free to leave links to your blogs in the comments and we will make sure to pop over and follow your blog.

Until Next Time,
Keep it Social...