My goal is that by the time you’re finished reading this article, you’ll understand your options for turning your nightlife website into a social hub.

Let’s get started.

#1: Like Button

The Like button lets clubbers share pages from your site back to their Facebook profile with one click. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ news feed with a link back to your website.

The Facebook Like button is HIGHLY recommended for your:

• Home Page
• Photo Gallery
• Events Page

#2: Send Button

The Send button allows your clubbers to easily send your website content to their friends. It’s different from the Like button in that the content sent between friends is communicated via a Facebook message and not, by default, through a public news feed posting as a “Liked” item would be. This button is great for content that might be better served individually.

For example, on your nightlife site you’ll want to use the Send button for:

• Individual Photos
• Individual Events

#3: Comments

The Comments plugin lets clubbers comment on your site. A lot of WordPress websites come with the commenting feature built in.  We would recommend you disable that and install the Facebook commenting plugin feature.

You should definitely be allowing commenting on :

• Photo galleries
• Event Pages

WARNING:  Moderate your comments frequently by coming back to check them.  You can delete comments you don’t like if you are the admin of the site.

#4: Activity Feed

The Activity Feed plugin allows you to show users what their friends are doing on your site through Likes and Comments. Basically, it lists the most recent activity people have undertaken on your website.

A nightclub wouldn’t have much use for this.  But an event promotions group that drives a lot of traffic back to their website for photos and interaction might get some use.

If you’re going to use it, put it as a widget on the right side of your back pages, but don’t make it prominent.

#5: Recommendations

The Recommendations plugin lets you give users personalized suggestions for pages on your site they might like. These “personalized” recommendations are compiled automatically by the plugin, using information from the most common activity on your site.

Again, a nightclub wouldn’t have much use for this.  But an event promotions group that drives a lot of traffic back to their website for photos and interaction might get some use.

If you’re going to use it, put it as a widget on the right side of your back pages, but don’t make it prominent.

#6: Like Box

The Like box enables clubbers to Like your Facebook Fan page and view its stream directly from your website. This is VERY IMPORTANT for your website.  It is a MUST HAVE if you want to build more fans on your Facebook page.

If you’re going to use it, put it on the homepage or add it to the footer of your website so it’s always there as a reminder to get more ‘LIKES’.

#7: Login Button

The Login button lets you show profile pictures of the clubber’s friends who have already signed up for your site in addition to a login button. This is not so useful for venues, but very useful for event promotions companies who want to build a community on their site.  This is only useful if you’re also going to add in a Registration function (below), which allows you to create a community of website users who are logged into your site.

When Facebook users login to your site with this plugin, they are also giving permission for your domain to access all the network-available personal information they’ve shared on Facebook, which allows your event promotions company a greater understanding of the kind of users engaging with your website.

#8: Registration

The Registration plugin allows users to easily sign up for your website with their Facebook account. The registration process is simple for users, and generally includes input fields that are pre-filled with the users’ personal information if they are already logged into Facebook in another tab.

Event promotions companies with community style sites will find great use out of this.

#9: Facepile

The Facepile plugin lets you display the Facebook profile pictures of users who have Liked your page or have signed up for your site. However, it only displays the pictures of a user’s friends.

It’s a cute way to dress up your site.  I would put it on the header.

#10: Live Stream

The Live Stream plugin lets your users share activity and comments in real time as they interact during a live event. This plugin is similar to the Comments social plugin in that a visitor to your website can leave a comment on a page and also post that comment to his or her Facebook profile.

If you’re hosting a major concert or event, it could be a cool added tool to build your community, especially for people who really wanted to come to your event but couldn’t make it.

What do you think? What social plugins do you already have on your website? Are you planning on adding any more? Leave us your questions and comments in the box below. We’d love to hear from you!

The physical and virtual worlds collided in the Amazon jungle this week — where a nightclub opened sporting the Facebook name and logo.

“The Facebook concept is about sharing ideas, adventures, friendships, parties and photos with your friends,” the club’s 30-year-old founder Humbert Camacho told the UK Guardian. “So what we wanted to do was to build a nightclub with this concept, where people could come and share things with their friends, spend a cool night, sharing pictures, experiences and have fun.”

Facebook recently overtook Google‘s Orkut as the most popular social networking site in Brazil, so Camacho’s timing seems ripe.

Read Full Article on Mashable.com:  http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/facebook-nightclub-in-brazil/

DELETE ACCOUNT:  Unless a club’s Twitter is wildly successful (most aren’t), delete it, start a new one from scratch and tell all your followers they can potentially follow the new handle.

SET TO PRIVATE:  Go to setting, account, and click off the “Protect my tweets” button.

MANAGE CORRECTLY:  The face of the venue, likely the door person or owner should handle all updates to Twitter.  This same person will also be responsible for picking and choosing who gets access to follow the account.

WHO TO FOLLOW:  Start by following those who support the club, mainly the staff and regulars, and allow them follow you back.  From there, decide how tight you want to keep the following.  The reason a door person is likely best candidate to choose who gets to follow the account is because this is the person who oversees who is and isn’t coming in the club nightly.  Let the door person select people offline and online for consistency.

STRICT DOOR POLICY:  If you’re going to be a rope in front of your Twitter, you better make sure what is inside kicks ass.  There’s nothing worse than getting hassled at the door, getting in and finding out the party inside sucks. The same rules apply for Twitter.  Update frequently by live tweeting from the door and posting relevant happenings to the audience.  Because you’re not letting any yahoo follow the account, it is important to know who is inside so you can highlight and interact on a more personal level in order to create a community or family-like feeling.

If you’re still not sold on private accounts, think of all the undesirable people who won’t get to see and more importantly reply to your tweets.  If only there was a private setting for life.

I share those tactics below and analyze how they can best be applied to a social media audience.

1. Reciprocation – You Give and You Get

It’s the oldest trick in the book.  Reciprocation is built upon the assumption that if you give something as a gift and then ask the recipient for a favor, they’ll respond with what you’re asking for.

For example, Foxhole Bar on South Beach will give you a free drink on their opening week, in return for your name, email address and phone number.  You give a free drink and you get an email address. That’s reciprocity.

2. Social Proof – Are you as popular as you think?

When party goers make decisions, they often look to other people for clues.  That’s why promoters are so necessary.  This is called social proof. Here are a few indicators that your venue can use to measure its social proof in the social media world.

• Subscriber or follower counts – Are there a lot of people following this venue or promoter?  Then I guess I should be following too.
• Reviews – If I see that over 400 people have reviewed this venue and the average is a 2 star rating, I’m more likely not to go.
• Comments – Facebook posts with hundreds of comments suggest that it is a very good (or very controversial) post. I’m more tempted to see what’s going on.
• Share counts – If I see an event has been shared or tweeted 150 times, I’m more likely to look into this event.

Bottom line: When it comes to social media, a large audience is golden.

3. Liking – Who is handling your social media?

Liking your Facebook page is very different from liking your venue.  If you want success at social media management, you need to pay very close attention to who is handling your twitter and Facebook.  Here are some qualities they need.

• Be warm and personable – Whether you’re on Twitter or Facebook, talk to people how you would interact with them on their first visit to your event.
• Give people things they want – For example, if you know someone is looking for a restaurant in the Miami Beach area, guide them to a spot near your nightclub and invite them after for a drink.  Be there hero.
• Be polite – Your personal twitter is very different from your company twitter.  Unfortunately, some people forget this. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all and save it for personal time.
• Be funny – If you have a sense of humor, flaunt it online. People love to laugh.

4. Authority – Why You Must Listen to Me

What does authority look like in social media? Maintaining relationships with other promoters, PR people and event coordinators can only help.  For example, if your event gets published in a popular online blog or offline magazine, display that on your social accounts.

Highlight your exceptional achievements in your social media interactions and you’ll have greater influence with your audience.

5. Scarcity – Last Chance to Be Popular

Scarcity is another way of saying you have a limited supply of something. When it comes to social media, weave scarcity into your efforts.

• Limit your interactions online – Have a popular DJ host a 30-Minute     Q&A on one of your social networks and have him reply directly from your account.
• Time your interactions – When are nightlife people likely to make their decision about going out?  Find out the best times you need to be online and make it a point to get on and off between those times.  Master social media timing and you’ll increase your social media performance.
• Use deadlines – Example:  The first 50 people to retweet this in the next 10 minutes get a free t-shirt from some famous DJ.

Conclusion

To be successful in the nightlife, you must ask people for help. But first, you have to convince them to comply with your requests.

Promoters, listen carefully:  Social media allows you to do that by giving you the tools to be a connecter and persuader, whether offline or online.

Klout, the San Francisco based company, compares data with other social media sites to determine a user’s influence across their social network. Klout analyses data from various social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and most recently Youtube.

Klout users are given a score between 1 and 100. The higher the score the more influential the user is considered. A high ranking number means the user has a strong influence in their social media community and will likely have many comments, retweets and general participation towards their online activities. Below you can see my Klout score. I’m a feeder of over 3,000 people and am utilizing multiple platforms to their fullest extent, making me somewhat influential.

Many people, including myself, do not care about knowing the strength or weakness of their personal social media influence. However, many nightclubs hiring promoters are should recognize the positives of having an influential social media user on their side. Venues and promotions companies should start “buttering up” these influential social butterflies with freebies and perks in hope that they will spread the word about their parties and events onto their plethora of followers.

Good Side

1. More Influence, The Better – The idea of course is that, in theory, a promoter with more online influence will help your party or event through blog posts, Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn updates because they’ll reach a broader audience.
2. Pre-Qualifying – When promoters come knocking at your door for work and you’ve never heard their name in your life, you can use Klout to at least gauge some level of influence in their claims to be able to bring people to your event. Of course, you should still ask for references.
3. Friendly Competition – Create friendly competition amongst your promoters to fight for the top spot on Klout and award them with extra drink or bottle tickets on a weekly or monthly basis.
4. Ego Trip – Klout plays to the ego of promoters who want to be known as influencers and this will encourage them to take their influence from the streets to the online world.

Bad Side

1. The “Street Promoter Problem” The current Klout algorithm takes little to no account of a person’s offline influence. In other words, Klout doesn’t show that I’m extremely handsome, lovable, and that everyone likes me and that’s why they follow me to my party
2. The “Bottle Promoter Problem” Bottle promoters are different from general audience promoters. Bottle promoters can bring you $10,000 in sales by brining just two or three big spenders. The klout score will not help you determine who is a bottle promoter.
3. Klout can be manipulated – You can earn points for doing certain things to your profile and recommending people, stuff that doesn’t really make you a person people want to party with. So look deeper into the promoter’s social influence.
4. Not Hiring a High Klout - If you don’t hire a high Klout promoter, watch out – After all, regardless of if you want to hire her or not, you want to stay on her good side because his or her online influence can have a impact on your brand.

Should a candidate’s Klout score influence whether they get the job or how you will treat them?

How influential does Klout rank you?

Are you seeking a bigger Facebook presence, but have a small budget?

You may see your venue’s efforts on Facebook like David compared to the Goliath mega nightclub businesses enjoy.

There’s a lot that small venues can learn from the way big nightclub management groups approach Facebook, but the separation between your little company and multi-venue groups isn’t as vast as it may sometimes appear.

In this article, we’ll show you six ways you can model your efforts after the successful campaigns run by big nightclubs, and some ways you can even get a leg up on the big guys.

1. Have a plan and a strategy

Big nightclub businesses have plans for their Facebook endeavors. They’re focused on strategizing, plotting and forecasting. They have goals in mind and they know the hurdles they’re going to have to jump en route to achieving those goals.

Small venue owners, on the other hand, often create Facebook pages just because they see other businesses doing so, or they read somewhere that experts say they should. But they create their pages with no real goal.

You may not have the same manpower or finances to assign to your Facebook efforts that big nightclubs possess, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead.

Think about what you want out of your Facebook presence. Is it more foot traffic through your venue? More sales at the bar or VIP area?

Figuring out your goals is the first step in initiating and directing your Facebook presence.

2. Use custom tab applications

You’ve probably seen those sharp, shiny customized page tabs that big nightclubs have. A couple of years ago, companies had to hire designers to build these tabs. They were hand-coded, labor-intensive and difficult to maintain. It was a near full-time job that many small venuees just couldn’t afford.

ShortStack, along with numerous others, gives small venue owners the ability to create their own custom tabs with relative ease.

You don’t have to know programming languages and you don’t even have to be a particularly adept web designer. They’ll give you the look and functionality boasted by the pages of big nightclubs at a fraction of the cost. These custom tab applications have really leveled the playing field, so it’s important that you take advantage of them.

3. Emphasize interaction

Facebook users want interaction and attention, and this is where big nightclubs blow the little guys out of the water.

From bottle contests and concert ticket giveaways to virtual gift cards and sharable content, big nightclubs know how to give Facebook users what they want.

Unfortunately, it seems most small venue owners missed this memo. Their venue pages consist of a couple of pictures, a short bio and perhaps a map. But this static content will not hold the attention of your fans.

To be effective on Facebook, you’ve got to buy into the ideals of Facebook, and that means embracing engagement and interaction.

Promotional features like contests, giveaways and virtual gift cards are available on most custom tab apps. So again, if you’re not using a custom tab app, sign up, create engaging content and be social.

4. Be available

Facebook is about the individual—your customer. Big nightclubs have community managers, positions that revolve around interacting with their customers on a daily basis.

Small venue owners, however, often check the business Facebook page once or twice a week, responding only occasionally. But you wouldn’t feel comfortable knowing customers were in your venue with no one to ring up their drink purchases or get them a VIP table, so don’t be unavailable online.

Your availability to your online community could be what motivates your next customer to come in and make a purchase, so check your Facebook page often, and respond when your fans post to your wall.

5. Take action

Gathering feedback and looking for improvements is part of the job of a big nightclub community manager. But taking advantage of any such data usually includes reports, marketing meetings, action items and a host of other steps in the filter-up process of big nightclub bureaucratic hierarchy.

This is where you, as a small venue owner, really have an advantage. Posts to your wall from your customers become instantaneous feedback that you can use to make appropriate changes, resolve issues and even enjoy compliments. And because you’re the owner, you make the decisions. There’s no waiting for teams of higher-ups to convene and agree on a response. It’s all up to you, and you can make things happen right now.

6. Be flexible

Big business decision-making lumbers. Not only are there reports and meetings, there’s planning and marketing. Action takes a while. As a result, big nightclub community managers have little flexibility.

But small venue owners don’t have to wade through that corporate process. Want to get a bunch of people to your restaurant tonight? Let your fans know via wall post that everyone who comes in and mentions the post gets two-for-one drinks.

Have too much liquor inventory you need to clear before the next shipment arrives? Post a today-only 50% off coupon for your fans to print and bring in. Creating a sense of urgency and offering your fans good deals is a great way to get a strong community response.

What do you think? What have you noticed big nightclubs doing that you’ve incorporated into your small venue’s approach to social media? Leave your comments in the box below.

Looking for fresh ideas to improve your nightlife Twitter marketing?

We scoured the internet and sought out cool and innovative twitter habits from nightclubs, bars, lounges and promoters.  Here is what we found.

Now’s not the time to let your Twitter marketing go stale.

Twitter has already grown more in the last 9 months than in the last 5 years and this trend is expected to continue.

How does Twitter fit into your social media marketing?’

1. Share valuable content in your own voice

Do your best to craft your content tweets, @replies and promotional tweets all with a seamless style that matches your promoter personality and/or venue’s brand image.Ideally, you want people to read your tweets and feel naturally compelled to click on your links and retweet you.You just want to add value and have no agenda or attachment to “come to my party,” yet you’re strategic and mindful about how you tweet. Then you’ll see a marked improvement in your retweet and click-through rates.

2. Use keywords in your tweets

Keywords have been and continue to be a relevant and driving force for web content (whether we’re talking about a DJ, an artist, a restaurant or another venue). Keywords are the backbone of content.TIP:  Make a list of keywords that best describe your business and industry. Use these words as you compose your 140-character posts.Think quality over quantity. Make every character and tweet count!

3. Share links to useful content

Sharing links to useful content is, statistically speaking, more effective at growing and retaining followers than “engaging” with them in conversation.  Is there a hot restaurant opening up?  Is a DJ or artist releasing a new album?  Are there political changes that might affect your venue or district?  Link out to those articles.That’s not to say that conversations aren’t useful in helping people to like you, but if you want to grow your fan base, you need to share more links than you do @replies.

4. Use search features to discover what your clients want

Use the search feature in a Twitter tool like HootSuite to watch for conversations about a DJ people want to see live or a genre of music they are starting to listen to.  It will give you insight into what is on your prospects’ minds and provide an open door for you to help satisfy their craving.Try providing a link to a great article or video that answers their question. This one action could lead to an ongoing dialogue that in turn may lead to a customer relationship later.

5. Connect with the party people and tweet with them

There are two crucial things businesses should focus on when implementing their Twitter strategy.The first is not finding just anyone to follow in hopes that they follow you back, but finding relevant people to follow who are more likely to follow you back. You can bloat your account to 100,000+ followers, but if they are not interested in your content, it gets you nowhere.You need to be using tools such as Follower Wonk, Twellow and Wefollow to find people who are in your region (if you’re a local business) and interested in your industry. Then start following them.

The second is after you find your targeted audience, don’t just tweet at them—tweet with them. Follow their conversations; add in your two cents from time to time. Follow anyone who talks about your brand and thank them for their compliments or help them with their concerns. Follow anyone who talks about the nightlife industry and show why you are an authority.

Doing these things will help you run a successful Twitter campaign that will give your brand exposure as a leader in your industry!

Until then, happy tweeting!

Is Flickr good for driving traffic? Can Tumblr help my SEO?  These are questions that some of my clients ask me all the time.  And for once I have finally found a graphic that lay’s it all out perfectly for you to understand.

If you’re doing any social media marketing, here’s something for your to print out and hang up near your desk as a handy point of reference. CMO.com, has created this amazing chart showcasing which social networks are best for various organizational, CRM and marketing goals.

For example, if you need massive pageviews for your venue’s website or an event, Facebook and Twitter are just so-so for referring their users to your content. If you want to see really big clickthroughs, you should optimize for StumbleUpon and Digg. And if your goal is search engine optimization, don’t think that Facebook’s “no-follow” links are doing you any favors; instead, focus on Flickr and YouTube to see your desired results on Page One.

When you think about the best social marketing campaigns used in nightlife , you realize that most of the time, successful marketing teams pick a specific platform for a specific reason; this chart gives you a better understanding to what these people are thinking, when it comes to making the right choice for your own company’s or clients’ campaigns.

Check out the chart below, and in the comments, let us know about your personal experiences with marketing, CRM, PR and SEO across these various platforms.

Full Size Social Media Guide

Can Facebook actually be used to bring in people, business opportunities and sales to your venue? YES! Myself and my clients do it every day.  Follow these 4 tips and you’ll be on your way to Facebook marketing success.

1. Bull Horn

The number-one no-no  on Facebook,  is broadcasting, instead of providing fans with relevant content and engaging on an continual basis.

With Facebook, nightlife venues of any size can do effective, word-of-mouth marketing at scale for the first time. But its all about authenticity, so if your Venue is not being authentic or engaging with your fan base in a way that feels genuine and honest, the Facebook community will see right through

You should be interacting, not just to broadcast,  your fans are looking for a reason to connect with you, and they’re showing you that by clicking ‘Like.’ Your job is to give them a reason to come back.

Examples:

• Take video of your events, post them on Facebook and have your employees tag friends
• Post photos of your events, post them and have your employees find their friends and tag them in photos
• Post Polls about what DJ they want to see at the venue
• Post status updates as you book new DJs or make upgrades or changes to your venue

2. Not Investing Adequate Time

Another common mistake is underestimating the amount of time a successful Facebook strategy will take. Simply “set it and forget it” will not work here.

It’s not just fan growth that will suffer from this approach — it may also hurt your relationships with existing fans, particularly fans who have come to expect a certain level of quality from your brand / venue.

You must engaged your fan base and give them reasons to share as well as stay for more.

Sit down with your marketing team and create a long term strategy of how you will engage your fans.

3. Being Boring or Predictable

When thinking about marketing, some venue owners forget that Facebook is a social place where people share things they find funny, interesting or useful with their friends. Think about what kind of content your fans would actually want to share when planning your posts.

Your job is to mix it up. The moment you become predictable, boring or annoying, they’ll hide you from their feed. So keep it varied and personal — a video here, a photo here, a tag of one of your fans here.”

Creating too much “filler” content by auto-publishing content from your blog or Twitter feed can also hurt you, as many businesses see this as the easy way to go.  Whatever you do , do not put everything on auto-pilot.  You will loose touch with your fans and hinder what you are actually trying to accomplish here.

Examples

• Create a podcast for your venue (Mansion’s “No Sleep Till Miami”)
• Run a contest for free tickets to an event
• Tag DJs coming to your venue, mentioning their fan page on your posts

4. Violating Facebook’s Terms

Not only is it critical to know how Facebook works and what tools are available, it’s also important to know the rules of the road — something that many businesses miss. Like for example very few businesses use the “info” tab on their pages correctly or bother with making custom landing pages for facebook.

Here are some common violations;  Some Venues will build a community on a personal page instead of a proper Facebook Page. Others don’t abide by Facebook’s rules around running contests. And don’t even think about “tagging” people who are in an image without their permission.

To avoid common mistakes, invest time in learning about the Facebook platform (API), educate yourself on how to build and sustain an audience, and don’t forget to engage with people like you do in real life.

Seeing QR codes everywhere?

Well you can thank smartphones for the most part as they all pretty much come loaded with QR code readers these days and marketers are aware.

Combine this with the fact that they easily  enhance any real world promotion, and you have a very powerful new marketing tool in your aresenal.  However many new nightlife venues are using it wrong.

What Should a Good QR Code Do?

It should forward users to a mobile-friendly webpage with functionality built for your audience and event. We notice the following themes occur over and over again: Exclusivity, rich media, downloads, social media, incentives like prizes and contests, and contextual relevance. Should all be used to give your audience incentive.  For a Nightlife Venue, there are certain Must-Haves for your event.

For example, providing immediate music playback via an online service like YouTube or Vimeo will help promote a new artist. Show a bio along with performance and venue information will help you promote your event. Allow users to “Like” on Facebook and follow on Twitter will give you free traffic.

Other ideas would be to create VIP access contest, or give away free gear/schwag that has to do with the event/sponsor.  Many large scale marketing promotions/campaigns can be scaled down to work with mobile/QR promotion.

Also if you have any sponsors for your event/ party , your mobile site is a good “added-value” for them.   Getting your sponsors more visitors from your site will not only make them more likely to sponsor more events with you, but also get them to help you with bigger contests and etc down the road.

Using QR Codes at Your Event

Put your QR code on every single piece of promotional material you have. This goes for every marketer. Posters, flyers, stickers, merchandise tags, press kits, temporary tattoos; The more unusual the better, coasters, condoms, and anything else you can think of is a good start.

What Not To Do

• Don’t use proprietary code formats like those from AT&T Barcode Services or any other that requires a particular scanning app to work. Your QR code should simply contain a URL directing to your mobile web presence. You can easily create a free QR code with services like bit.ly or goo.gl .
• Don’t link to a non-mobile-optimized site, or (heaven forbid) any pages containing Flash.
• Don’t forget to prominently place a compelling call-to-action (e.g. “Scan to Win”) near the QR code so that your audience immediately knows why they should bother scanning your code.
• Don’t forget to test-scan the proofs for your creative. Make sure your QR code works as intended before you produce a bunch of collateral. Can’t tell you how many times I have seen this error.