For those of you who keep getting an annoying error message on your computer or printer, just think what you would do if you got one of these real errors:

Printer Error

Printer Error 2

Computer Error

Computer Error 2

Computer Error 3

License Error

Internet Error

Error Error

Too Many Errors

In our first two parts of this series we took a deeper look at how your company could use Facebook for business to business social media marketing efforts. Our posts explored how to set-up and customize your B2B Facebook Page and how to integrate other B2B social media channels into your Facebook Page to better connect with customers. Now in part three, we’ll review Facebook applications and the newest trend of social shopping applications that are available for your Facebook page.  As always we’ll provide examples to some of the best B2B social media uses of Facebook Pages.

B2B Facebook Applications

According to the eMarketer report, the use of a branded Facebook Application was most effective in achieving their individual B2B social media goals. This tactic can also be the most expensive and time consuming tactic to successfully implement, however the rewards can certainly be worth the associated expenses – if done right. Applications can either be developed in-house from collaboration between the marketing, executive and technology departments, or externally through an agency like Buddy Media, A Venue Social or  SocialCubix. If you decide to develop internally and you don’t have the development power then you can also check out Facebook’s Application Builder. The second option would be to sponsor an existing or new Facebook Application. This option would be less expensive, but you’ll also lose control of command as you are simply paying for branding and not the application itself.  Another point to consider during the development process is that your application doesn’t need to directly relate to your companies’ products or services. Your application should however appeal to your target market and the application’s message should be in line with other B2B social media marketing messages as cross-promotion is most certainly a necessity. Below you can see how several companies are developing Facebook applications to supplement their B2B social media strategies!

HP, is running a contest from November 15th, 2009 until January 31st, 2010 that encourages HP customers to purchase original HP supplies in order to enter a chance to win a Mini Cooper. The contest has nearly 15,000 active members to date.

PayPal, developed an application called the PayPal WishList. It allows Facebook users to create and share “gift” wish lists to be shared with other Facebook users.The application has been a huge success as it has over 200,000 active monthly members to date.

Visa, created “The Visa Business Network,” is a forum-like community powered by Facebook which enables small business owners to set goals, connect with other SB owners and interact with the Visa Business Network’s community moderators. To date the Visa Business Network has attracted nearly 8,000 active monthly users.

Social Shopping Applications

Another more recent concept is that of social shopping applications. If you are connecting and interacting with your customers through Facebook, why not give them the ability to browse, share and recommend your product offerings. We think that this is more difficult for B2B companies (hence the reason two out of the three examples below are B2C companies), however it can be worthwhile if you have a large amount of customers who share the demographics of Facebook users. Using a Facebook Fan Update would also a non-obtrusive way to communicate a new B2B promotion or sale (think of it as an alternative to an e-mail blast). There are three major players in the social shopping application market today; Alvenda, Shop Tab, and SortPrice. Each of which pulls in product feeds and organizes your products into a tab on your Facebook Page.  Installing these apps provides your fans the ability to browse your product offerings and share their favorites with friends. Like any good service, there are costs associated with each social shopping app. If you go the ShopTab route, you can choose from a 500 SKU product feed for $10 / month all the way up to a 3,000 SKU product feed for $20 / month.  SortPrice offers a freemium and enhanced version of their application, so be sure to follow-up on the site.  Alvenda is a little different from these other social shopping applications in that their app isn’t restricted to Facebook. Their shopping applications can be embedded within a network of Publishers, thus expanding your customer reach and adding interaction to your brand. Pricing changes with every client but you can find out more by visiting Alvenda’s Advertiser page.

West Florida Components, uses Shop Tab to power their social shopping application. Fans and Facebook users can the online store to shop by category, price, and product search. The “Buy Now” button routes the user to the landing page of that particular product.

TigerDirect.com, uses SortPrice to manage their social shopping store on Facebook. The store’s landing page features a “Browse Category” grid, product search bar and a list of recently viewed products. Within the left panel of the store, is a typical online store filter that includes; popular categories and sub-categories. Facebook users can add items to their wish list to be shared with other friends, write a product review, or they can visit the product page on TigerDirect.com for purchase.

1-800-Flowers, uses Alvenda to operate their online retail store. Alvenda is different from the other two  social shopping applications in that the entire browsing and checkout experience can be conducted through their application known simply as a shoplet. These shoplets can be embed on Facebook or any other website, thus increasing the interactivity of the shopping experience for potential customers. Still a skeptic, check out their 1-800-Flowers case study.

As always comments and feedback are welcomed! Did I miss a good example? Feel free to share it in the comments section.

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The Supplies Guys

For the past few weeks, there has been trouble brewing in China. Google, the American based search engine company, has publicly stated that they intend to no longer censor the search results in China as required by the Chinese government.

Since the spotlight was on China during the 2008 Olympics, many have reported how the Chinese government has attempted to and in most cases successfully censored all forms of media in some way. Up until this point, Google followed these restrictions and added certain censors / filters to their search results that prevented users from viewing information as requested by the Chinese government.

The dispute surfaced two weeks ago when Google had reported that “it and other companies were the target of cyber-attacks originating in China aimed at gaining access to the e-mail of Chinese advocates for human rights.” Although Google has no absolute proof, they believe the origin of these attacks stem from the Chinese government.

These attacks have caused Google to change their stance on the government censorship of its search results in China, in addition to the fact that this form of censorship directly contradicts Google’s mission to provide the most relevant search results. Although the two sides are still trying to resolve the issues, it is very possible that Google may pull all operations out of China and discontinue its search service. Other possibilities include the Chinese government requiring all Chinese ISP’s to block the content in question thus removing the responsibility from Google, or they could require the ISP’s to block any Google search engine or search result page.

What is your stance?

Dedicated label printers are excellent tools to have in both homes and offices. Best of all, they use no ink or toner and the only consumable you have is the labels. Label printers provide quick and easy solutions for any situation you can imagine. Whether you want to try out a label printer at home or at work (or both!) here are ten fun ideas on what you can do with one.    

Use your labels to simplify life at home by labeling toys, spices, kitchen supplies, school supplies, separate cables for electronics, know which circuit breaker is which in the electrical panel, label leftovers with the date on which they were made …the list can go on forever!

Arrange all boxes, notepads, binders, CDs, etc so they each have their own designated spot. Stick labels underneath each item so that all employees know where items belong and will help keep the closet in order.

Continue organization once you take items out of the supply closet. Use labels to prevent confusion by organizing information within binders. Add professionalism to CDs and DVDs by using a label to distinguish what has been uploaded.

With a dedicated label printer, you can print out as many address labels as you need, without having to worry about aligning the sheet labels correctly. Print return address labels, too. Most printers are compatible with common applications for both Mac and Windows, such as ACT! and Microsoft Word, making labeling even easier.

DYMO has created a line of desktop label printers that enable you to print postage right from your computer. (Check them out on the Supplies Guys site.)With their DYMO Stamps software, you can purchase and print out stamps without leaving the house. Your friends at the post office will miss you dearly!

You won’t have to worry about any awkward introductions at meetings or conferences when you use your label printer to print out name badges. If your business has a lot of visitors, time sensitive labels include a photo of the person and fade after about 24 hours.

Go through all of your files, both home and office, and clean out the folders. Use your label printer to give them a clean, organized look. If you’re really daring, arrange them alphabetically or chronologically. Also, make a master list in the order you put them together so you can easily refer to the list when looking for a file.

Place labels over magnetic strips to make yourself a personalized calendar. Perfect for both the home and office, to create your calendar you can use a white board or chalkboard to specialize it month-by-month, or week-by-week.

Seiko’s label printers are designed to print out accurate, detailed labels within seconds. Keep products organized and save money by printing bar codes on your own.

With continuous feed labels, most printers will let you print labels up to 36-inches long. Design custom-made scrapbooking decals or print out “Caution” signs for work zones. You can even create your own quirky bumper stickers!

What other ideas can you suggest for using a label printer? Share in the comments!