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February 3, 2012

ALVIN REINER Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Feb 03, 2012, 08:29 AM EST

KEESEVILLE — Representatives from North Country tourism and arts groups assembled to learn how to apply Facebook to their marketing strategies.

The seminar, Focus on Facebook, sponsored by the Champlain Valley Heritage Network and Lake Champlain Region Marketing Network, was the January installment of Adirondack Architectural Heritage's monthly meeting series.

Participants were taken on a tour of Architectural Heritage's headquarters in the renovated Ausable Horse Nail Co. building, which manufactured the nails as well as machines to produce them.

The structure now houses offices, a classroom area and gallery spaces, as well as storage areas for historical and architectural ephemera. Program Director Susan Arena pointed out some of the historic attributes of the facility, such as the exposed beams and brickwork dating to the 19th century, and two old safes used by the company that had also serves for awhile as bank vaults.

'ANYTHING HAS LEGS'

But most of the agenda was devoted to a Facebook presentation by Kim Rielly, director of communications for the Lake Placid-based Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, known as ROOST.

The session was designed for individuals, organizations and businesses that want to set up and expand a presence on the social networking site.

Though classified as such, chambers of commerce, businesses, historical sites and others also take advantage of its elements to get the word out.

Most of the participants said their organizations were utilizing Facebook but were unaware of the intricacies involved with the social network.

"Anything has legs," Rielly emphasized. "Only post what you assume you want out there. People will steal and share. It's not just negative. It's a conversation."

MUST MONITOR

She intimated that the "stealing and sharing" can be positive, as it gets the word out and expands, much like a spider's web.

As for some of the negative facets, Rielly pointed out that there are "concerns that you will get too many hits that are not related to your business."

Also, she said, multiple Facebook members can have virtually the same page name.

For example, they can utilize "Lake Placid," which can confuse or misdirect individuals wishing to connect with what the resort area has to offer.

Rielly demonstrated how personal information can be linked to a site, as each business or organization has to have an administrator.

"You have to monitor and be able to block so someone else doesn't write on your page."

UPDATE OFTEN

She warned of changes coming soon to Facebook that, she said, "we will have to learn how to manipulate."

Within days of the meeting, Facebook implemented a change to how its timeline works.

Rielly offered other tips, too, such as making sure information is updated regularly and not saving information until one is sure that it is correct.

The next Lake Champlain Region meeting will be held at the North Star Underground Railroad Museum at Ausable Chasm at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday Feb. 15. It is open to all.

For more information, contact Maye via email at Suzanne@lakechamplainregion.com or call 597-4649 or 1-866-THELAKE.

Email Alvin Reiner at:

rondackrambler@yahoo.com