Archive for andrea vahl
How Your Business Can Use the New Facebook Cover Photos
9 Ways to Become a Better Facebook Community Manager
How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Business
How to Optimize Your Facebook Page for Facebook Graph Search
8 Ways to Discover Valuable Social Media Content
Do you struggle to find good content to post on LinkedIn, Twitter or your Facebook page?
Would you like to find reliable sources of content your fans and followers love?
This article contains eight tips to help you quickly find great content.
Why Share Other People’s Content?
It’s all about becoming a valuable resource. When you can dig up great articles your audience is interested in–regardless of the source–you’ll become more respected and your content will be widely shared.
And when you have some of your own content to share, people will be more likely to help spread the word.
Here’s where to find valuable content:
#1: Watch Large News Sites
Depending on your industry, you may find topical and interesting articles on large news sites such as USA Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. If you have a news site or magazine for your niche that provides industry news, make sure you have that bookmarked as part of your content.
The Huffington Post has a lot of different categories to draw your content from.
Dive into the different categories and subcategories available on the Huffington Post to watch for content.
#2: Watch News Aggregators
If you want to make content sourcing a little easier, use a news aggregator website or tool. Certain sites do a great job of bringing in the latest news and sorting it by industry or niche all in one place.
Stuff To Tweet has some of the most popular posts on different sites including CNN, YouTube and more. Yes, it does mention tweeting, but these articles are good for Facebook, too.
View some of the popular posts on several sites at once.
Popurls is another similar site that has a few more sites listed. You can also customize the results if you sign up for an account.
Alltop is another news aggregator where you can customize your results. The topics are organized by topic alphabetically and by site.
Find topics listed alphabetically or by site.
Inbound also uses categories to help organize their content. They tend to be more online-related topics.
Inbound also uses categories.
If you like receiving an email with aggregated news, SmartBrief may be a good fit for you. They include a variety of industries and send you an email with the popular news.
SmartBrief sends the news stories to your email address.
#3: Pay Attention to Popular Posts
You can also see things that are trending and popular on some of the other social media sites and share them to Facebook.
LinkedIn today has some great features such as Trending in Your Network, which is a natural filter if you are connected to a lot of people in your niche.
LinkedIn today has generally trending articles and also Trending in Your Network.
You can also see what’s trending on Twitter even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Just go to any Twitter account (such as www.twitter.com/smexaminer) and look on the left side to see the hot topics.
See the trending topics on Twitter from any Twitter account.
Notice that you can switch the trends by clicking the Change link and selecting a certain region to get more localized results. Are these trending topics always the best things to share on Facebook? Maybe not, but they can be relevant.
You may be better off just using Twitter Search and plug in some of your niche keywords to find some good articles to share on Facebook.
You can narrow your scope to see what is trending on Twitter in your region.
#4: Have Go-to Sources to Share
Many times you know which other Facebook Pages consistently have good content and valuable posts. They may be in your industry or they may be a complement to your business so your audience will also be interested in their content.
There are a few different ways to watch their Facebook posts. One is to like their Page as your Page and then watch your Page news feed. This makes it easy to share their posts when you see them in your news feed.
Another way to easily monitor other Pages is to create an Interest List of all of the Pages on your personal profile and periodically monitor that feed.
You can make this Interest List public so other people can follow it, or you can make it private so only you know who is on it.
Mari Smith made a public list of Facebook Experts and it’s followed by almost 30,000 people!
Use an Interest List to generate a separate feed of your go-to sources for content.
When you have the Interest List on your personal profile, sharing it to your Facebook Page is not hard. Just select the Share button and then switch the selection to On your Page. Then make sure the right Page is selected and the post will be shared by your Page.
Easily share content from your Facebook Interest Lists to your Page.
You can find public lists that other people have created by going to Facebook Add List (this is the same URL you use to create your own list). They first show you some of the lists that your friends have created or may be on and then they sort the popular lists by topic.
Find other lists to follow or create your own list.
#5: Use Google Reader and Google Alerts
If you have several (or even several hundred) blogs you enjoy reading that provide great content, use Google Reader to access them all from one place. You can easily see the latest posts or just click on the particular blog in the left sidebar to see some of their latest posts.
Google Reader gives you a dashboard for all of your best content sources so you can see which ones have new posts rather than checking on each individual site. You can sign up here.
Use Google Reader as a dashboard for all of your content sources.
Google Alerts are another great way to monitor the web for fresh content. Google Alerts use the latest relevant Google results and send them as an aggregated set of stories to your email address.
You can use keywords related to your niche and have a set of fresh posts brought to your email inbox every day.
You can sign up here for Google Alerts. If you find that your keywords aren’t bringing the right content in, you can always delete the alert by clicking “Manage your alerts” in the lower-left corner.
Having your company name as an alert is also useful to watch for any new mentions of your company on the web.
Try adding a few Google Alerts to bring fresh content into your email inbox.
#6: Look for Funny Posts
People are typically on social media to have fun and be social. Even if you’re a more serious brand, don’t forget to lighten up every once in a while with a humorous post. Humor can be difficult and you always run the risk of offending someone, so be careful.
George Takei posts a lot of humor (but not all posts are appropriate for a business Page).
Sometimes you can create your own funny posts using sites like Quickmeme or Someecards.
Or you can find sites that post a lot of funny content such as Know Your Meme or Cheezburger.
Just make sure you know the rules of the sites and understand how you can share their content so you don’t have any problems with copyrights.
#7: Create Your Own Images
Images are still getting a lot of engagement on Facebook. They continue to get a lot of comments, likes and shares even if they don’t have the same reach as a text post.
Images take up more space in the news feed and 0are generally more interesting than a plain text post.
But what if you don’t have many pictures to share? You can find images to illustrate a point at sites like iStockphoto or 123RF (you can’t just find images on Google and upload them to Facebook).
If you would like to find free images, you can use the Creative Commons area on Flickr or stock.xchng (make sure you read the guidelines on giving proper attribution).
You can also use Compfight to help you search for photos that you can use. You can use the Commercial hotlink to see which ones are for business use (again, make sure you read about proper attribution).
Use Compfight to find images you can use.
If you want to add your own text to the photo to illustrate a point or add some special effects to make the picture more interesting, use an online editing tool like PicMonkey or iPiccy.
Special quotes are popular things to share on Facebook, but you can use these tools to turn the quote into something more visual. Of course if you’re well-versed in something like Photoshop, creating an image to use is a breeze.
You may also have an occasion to take a screenshot and edit it. This technique works really well if you’re teaching something about websites or computers.
At Social Media Examiner, we frequently have “Hot Tip Tuesday” where we share a hot tip from one of the social sites.
Use a screenshot tool to create a picture that helps your audience do something.
Use a screenshot tool such as Jing or Snagit to help you easily create and edit screenshots.
#8: Monitor Your Stats
Finally, make sure you watch what works with your audience.
Dive into your Facebook Insights and sort the posts you have by Engaged Users. The Engaged Users stats include the number of unique users who have clicked on your posts, which can include people clicking on the photo or link, liking the post, commenting or sharing your post.
Notice what types of posts your audience responds to and post more of those.
Sort your posts by Engaged Users to see what interests your audience.
Hopefully this gives you a running start to find more awesome content that your audience will love.
Once you get some of your favorite content creators in place, don’t forget to continue to monitor the web for new sources of great content. And make sure you work in plenty of your own original content!
What about you? Where are you finding your best content to share on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below.
How to Analyze Your Email Newsletter List With Facebook
5 Facebook Ad Tips to Maximize Your Facebook Campaigns
Have you tried the new Facebook Ads interface?
Are you interested in getting more bang for your buck when it comes to advertising?
This article will show you five ways to enhance your Facebook Ads.
What Changed Within Facebook Ads?
If you’ve been running Facebook Ads over the past year, you may be confused by some of the new options and the new layout of the Ads area. You may have felt like you had a good handle on everything if you read our previous post about Facebook Ads.
But of course, this is Facebook, and the only constant with Facebook is change. Let’s dive into some of the new changes with the Facebook Ads platform so that you can fully maximize your next Facebook Ad campaign.
The first step is to choose what you want to advertise. You can choose an external URL or a Facebook Page, App or Event. This step has not changed much from the previous iterations of the Facebook Ads interface.
First decide what to advertise.
You’ll notice your first difference if you choose to advertise your Facebook Page, Event or App.
#1: You Have New Choices
One big change with the new Facebook Ads layout is the choice of objectives.
Your new choices when advertising your Facebook Page.
The changes are as follows.
- Get More Page Likes. With this selection, you’re advertising your Page and trying to grow your Likes. You can write your own ad copy, but the title of the ad is still unchangeable as the title of your Facebook Page. If your Page name is too long, the ad will only show the first 25 characters of your Page name. (More on this in a bit.)
- Promote Page Posts. This option was previously under the “Sponsored Story” section of Facebook Ads. This is a way to advertise one of your recent posts and the ad is prewritten for you. This type of ad still appears on the right side of Facebook Ads, as shown in the preview, and it appears in the News Feed where people can interact with the post itself right from the ad. A word of caution on this type of ad: You will get charged for a click if someone likes the post that you’re advertising. They don’t have to like your Page to like the post and they may even think that they are liking your Page by liking the post. So make sure you’re using this option wisely. But one thing I like about the Promote Page Posts selection is that you can select a post that had a photo and get a “bonus” photo in your ad.
If you advertise a page post with a photo, you will have your profile photo and the post photo in your ad.
- See Advanced Options. Selecting this option allows you to have more flexibility in the bidding on your ad. If you select this option, you still have the same options of choosing to advertise your Page or a page post, and you will have to make those selections initially. The main difference here is in how you want to bid for your ad.
Only the Bidding options change with the See Advanced Options selection.
Also note that when you choose to advertise your Facebook Page, you can change the landing view so that when users click on your ad to see more information, you can direct them to a particular tab on your Page.
#2: Sponsored Stories Are Automatically Selected When Advertising Your Facebook Page, Event or App
Be very cautious about this next step, because it is one of the major changes with Facebook Ads.
Facebook auto-selects the Sponsored Stories choice for any ad that advertises something on Facebook, such as a Page, an Event or an App. Facebook says, “No increase in budget is required.” But that is a little misleading.
What that statement means is if you are spending $10/day on your ad, then Facebook will also run your Sponsored Story within that $10/day budget, but will still charge you when someone clicks on that Sponsored Story.
So now you may have $5/day going toward the Sponsored Story and $5/day going to the ad you intended and that has the copy you want.
Notice that Sponsored Stories is on by default.
Now this may not be a bad thing if you’re truly looking to increase your likes. Remember that Sponsored Stories are the ones that go into the News Feed (and they are shown on the right side also), where more people notice them.
The Facebook Ad I ran recently that included the Sponsored Story Ad performed very well. When you look at the data, the Sponsored Story looks like it had a 100% conversion rate (Actions to Clicks), versus the Facebook Ad that had an 80% conversion rate of Actions to Clicks.
The conversion on the Sponsored Story looks better than the ad.
But make sure you dig a little deeper into these numbers. When you expand each of these ads (notice how each of the ads has a different line item in your reports), you see more information.
You find that while the Actions were high on the Sponsored Story, they didn’t all result in an actual Page like. Some users just liked the post, some commented on it and some shared it.
Dig deeper into the Facebook Ad stats.
In this case, the Ad conversion now becomes 80% for the Sponsored Story and 77% conversion for the regular ad (74 likes from 96 clicks). The Sponsored Story still outperformed the ad in this case, but make sure you watch your numbers!
And do your own testing on Facebook Ads—you may find that your Page and your ads perform differently. Remember you can deselect the Sponsored Story if you do not want to create a Sponsored Story with your ad.
#3: Click See Advanced Options to Only Advertise a Sponsored Story
Another change with the new layout is that it’s more challenging to advertise just a Sponsored Story about people Liking your Page. To do so, click See Advanced Options, then Remove the Ad itself to leave just the Sponsored Story behind.
Click the See Advanced Options selection and Remove the Ad.
#4: Know Your Bidding Options
Bidding has not changed that much, but it is definitely something you should understand. When you choose to advertise something you have on Facebook such as your Page, Event or App, and you select the first radio button (Get More Likes, Increase Attendance, or Get New Users, respectively), then Facebook does your bidding for you. They optimize your ad with the CPM (cost per mille, which is cost per 1000 impressions) model.
If you choose the basic pricing model, Facebook optimizes your bid for you.
You can switch to the Advanced Pricing either here in the Campaign and Budget window or by choosing to See Advanced Options as mentioned in #1. If you choose the Advanced Pricing option, you can then use the CPC (cost per click) model, as well as set your own bids for the CPM model.
Switch to Advanced Pricing to set your own bids with either the CPM or CPC models.
#5: Use the URL of Your Facebook Page to Edit the Title of Your Ad
This isn’t a brand-new trick in Facebook Ads, but it’s one that seems to work sporadically. Luckily with the new Facebook Ads interface, this trick seems to be more available.
If you enter the URL of your Facebook Page, rather than select your Facebook Page from the drop-down menu, you can then edit the headline.
Use the URL of your Facebook Page to modify your headline.
The Choose your Audience section of Facebook Ads still works the same way as before and is great for reaching your perfect customer.
Hopefully these tips have helped you stay on top of some of the changes in Facebook Ads and maybe even given you some new ideas on how you can leverage Facebook Ads.
How about you? What have you found to be working with your Facebook Ad campaigns? How frequently are you using Facebook Ads? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.
9 Fun Facebook Page Examples to Spark Your Creativity
Are you looking for creative ways to engage your Facebook fans?
Do you need some fresh ways to infuse fun into the Facebook experience?
This article will examine nine Facebook pages that bring excitement to their Facebook pages.
My hope is you’ll find inspiration for your own page.
NOTE: Many of these Facebook apps are developed by a third party and have a standard look and functionality. Other Facebook apps can be used to create a custom tab, but can have some limitations on how the tab looks.
#1: Seasons 52: “Mini Indulgence” Quiz
Seasons 52 is a restaurant chain with signature desserts called the “Mini Indulgence.” The restaurant has developed an interactive quiz that asks you questions to determine “which Mini Indulgence dessert is you?”
The reason this works is because it asks personal questions about things you like to do and “matches” those things with the type of dessert. Yes it’s kind of silly, but people love quizzes about themselves.
Take the quiz to find out which dessert matches you.
Key Takeaway: Create a quiz that is all about your customers.
#2: Grey Poupon Society of Good Taste
This is another interactive app that requires fans to “Apply” to be a member of Grey Poupon’s inner circle. You can like the Page freely (no one can restrict that beyond age or country) but this is a step above.
This app uses your personal profile information (where you have checked in, where you went to school, what pictures you’ve been tagged in) and creates a little movie that the judges use to “review” your qualifications and decide if you are in or out of their Society. The interesting thing is that many people aren’t immediately approved and they have to apply again.
But it’s so much fun to see what the reviewers say about your Facebook activity that it makes you come back again, hoping next time you’ll “cut the mustard.”
You must apply to get into the Society.
See a "movie" made from your Facebook activity complete with commentary.
Key Takeaway: Create a fun way to use someone’s personal Facebook information.
#3: ABF U-Pack Moving: U-Pack-A-Cube
This Facebook app is an interactive game that requires you to pack the items coming off of a conveyor belt into the moving van. You get a score at the end based on how many things you packed and the difficulty of each item.
Pack the van with boxes that come off of the conveyor and try to get a high score.
Key Takeaway: Create a fun game out of your product or service.
#4: Sierra Mist: Mixology
This app allows you to find drink recipes based on the occasion, ingredients or taste preferences. Fans can also submit their own recipes, which is a great way to get people involved.
Find some delicious drink recipes or submit your own.
Key Takeaway: Provide value based around your product and involve your audience.
#5: Dove: Dove Insider
This Facebook app is not that complex, but there are a number of reasons why it works well. First, the name itself is intriguing because people want to get the “inside” scoop. It also highlights a different fan each month with a quote about feeling beautiful.
You also get access to a coupon and a contest. A Facebook app does not have to be that complicated. Just make sure your app delivers value.
The Dove Insider includes a fan photo, coupon, contest and quiz.
Key Takeaway: Make your app about your fans.
#6: Ford Mustang: Customizer
The Customizer app allows fans to design their own Mustang from scratch. Then people can vote for designs they like and Ford even gives one of the designs away to a lucky winner each week. People get points for participating in the Customizer, which adds a gamification aspect to your marketing.
Customize your own Mustang and get points for participating.
Key Takeaway: Gamify your Facebook Page to keep people there.
#7: Gap: Pin to Win
Facebook contests are a great strategy to add life to your Facebook Page. What is great about this Pin to Win contest from the Gap is that it overlaps Facebook and Pinterest to give people a great way to browse merchandise on the Facebook Page and incorporates a Pinterest contest, which is so hot right now.
You can use the Facebook app to pin and thereby enter the contest on Pinterest.
Key Takeaways: Cross-promote your social platforms creatively.
#8: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: In Your Facebook
This is another simple app, but it is all about the fans. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is crowdsourcing their content to involve the audience in finding funny posts.
Ellen invites people to share funny posts.
Key Takeaway: Crowdsource your content.
#9: The Tooth Fairy Pillow: Find the Tooth Fairy
So far we’ve talked about large brands’ Facebook apps. Even if you are a smaller brand, you can get creative with your Facebook app. Think about what is going to be beneficial to your customer. The Tooth Fairy Pillow offers their fans something simple and easy to do, yet meaningful. The app itself doesn’t have to be overly complex.
Get a picture of the Tooth Fairy with your child in this simple app.
Key Takeaway: Make it meaningful.
Do you notice the trend in all of these apps? They are all designed to entertain, benefit or reward fans. That is what makes a good app. It’s not all about you; it’s about how you can help your fans. An app doesn’t have to be overly complex to achieve these goals.
How about you? Have you seen any interesting Facebook apps? Have your Facebook apps helped your business in some way? Let us know in the comments below!
9 Tips for Integrating Your Facebook Page With Your Facebook Profile
Do you have a Facebook Page and a Facebook personal profile?
Are you trying to figure out how to work your business life into your personal life on Facebook?
Well, have no fear. I’m going to lay it all out for you and dive into some of the reasons the two sides of your Facebook life should be linked together.
You may also want to review your Facebook privacy settings to help you understand what’s visible on your personal profile.
Here are 9 tips for understanding how your Page and your profile work together.
#1: Understand That Your Page and Your Profile Are Very Separate
Even though you log into your profile to get to your Page and they look like they are linked together, no one else knows which Pages are attached to your profile.
When you log in using the email address you use for your personal profile, you can then switch to use Facebook as your Page. Think of it as having to get to your Business Page via your personal profile.
You can switch to using Facebook as your Page by clicking the down arrow in the upper-right corner of Facebook. Then select the Facebook Page you want to log into.
Switch to using Facebook as your Business Page by clicking the down arrow.
Remember, no one can see that you are the admin of these Pages except for you.
#2: Access Your Page From the Left Sidebar
Your Page is also bookmarked on the left sidebar of your Home page so that you can easily access it with one click.
Access your Pages from the left sidebar of your Home page.
All you need to do to navigate to your Page is click on the name of the Page. But remember, when you get to your Page, you’re logged in as your personal profile.
See the next tip for more information on how your personal profile affects your Facebook navigation.
#3: Watch How You Are Logged Into Facebook in the Top Right Corner
How do you know how you are logged into Facebook? Look at the top of the Page to see which name appears—either your personal profile name as shown in the image below, or if you are logged in as your Page, you would see the name of your Page in the top blue bar.
Watch the top of the Page to see how you are logged in on Facebook.
When you are logged in as your personal profile on your Page, you can see by the Voice indication how you will post on the Page.
Right now the Voice indicator shows that if I post on the Page, I am posting as the Page. You always want to post a status update on your Page as your Page, not as your personal profile.
If I were posting a status update as my profile, the post would appear in the Recent Posts by Others section with my personal profile name and would not go into the News Feed of all my fans. So it’s important to always post status updates on your Page as your Page so they go out into the News Feed.
To avoid any confusion on this point, always switch to “Use Facebook as your Page” with the arrow in the upper-right corner when you do any Page activity, just so you are always clear what account you are logged into.
Also remember that when you’re logged in as your Page, you’re acting as your Page on Facebook. So any Pages you like and any comment you make on other Pages will be as your Page.
I highly recommend you use Facebook as your Page in the same way you use your personal profile. Comment on posts, connect with other Pages and be social as your Page. Your Page will be much more visible to other Pages and the fans of those Pages.
#4: Comment as Your Profile on Your Page
The default setting is to always comment as your Page when you are on your Page (even if you are logged in as your profile as shown in the image above).
But you can either switch your Voice by clicking on the link at the top of the Page, or you can change your posting preferences.
Make a comment as your personal profile by clicking the link at the top of the Page.
Access your posting preferences by clicking on Edit Page, Update Info, then select Your Settings in the Page dashboard.
Note that you will only see the posting preferences when you are logged in as the Page and have navigated to the section titled Your Settings. Yes, we know Facebook is confusing!
Check your posting preferences and notifications in Your Settings.
You may want to be able to post as your profile from time to time on your Page if you want to add your personal profile’s voice to the conversation. But for the most part, you will probably be carrying on the comments and conversation as your Page.
#5: Get Notifications on Your Personal Profile for Your Page
If you notice in the image above, you can also get notifications about activity on your Page on your personal profile’s Notifications bar by checking the Onsite Notification checkbox.
This can be very handy if you want to see what is happening on your Page without switching back and forth. No one else sees these notifications on your personal profile. They are only visible to you.
See your Page activity in your personal profile notifications.
If your Page gets a lot of activity, this can become overwhelming. You can switch notifications off by unchecking the Onsite Notification checkbox. Also, the email notifications can be turned off in that same section.
#6: You Will See Your Page Updates in Your Personal Profile’s Ticker and News Feed
One thing that is sometimes confusing for people is the News Feed. Remember that your personal profile’s News Feed is your own and is private.
You’ll see updates from everyone you’re friends with, you subscribe to and Pages you like. If you like your Page (note that you can be an admin of a Page you haven’t liked), then you will see updates in your News Feed.
Your Page updates appear in your News Feed if you like your Page.
You will also see activity from the Pages you like in your Ticker, including your own.
Ninja Trick: It looks like more Page activity is appearing in the Ticker than before. To have your Page more visible to your fans, be more active as your Page!
Notice the Page activity is showing in the Ticker.
Again, remember that no one can see your Ticker, only you.
#7: Highlight Your Page as Your Employer in Your About Section
You can intentionally add your Page as your employer in your About section to highlight your Page as we mentioned in tip #4 of this article: 10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following.
If you’re interested in letting people know about your Page, I highly recommend doing this. But if you want to keep your Page separate from your profile, this is optional.
You can highlight the Pages you are the admin of by adding them as your employer.
#8: Have a “Business-Only” Facebook Page
I highly discourage this option, but you can have a business-only Facebook Page. When you go to www.Facebook.com without logging in, there’s a link to Create a Page underneath the signup form. This will create a “business-only” account.
You can create a business-only Page.
If you create a Page like this, it will not be linked to your personal profile at all. You will use a separate email to log into this Page. A business-only Page has several limitations including:
- No Search bar at the top of the Facebook Page. You will not be able to search for and navigate to other Pages when you are logged into this account.
- No way to like other Pages as your Page. If you have a business-only account, you can’t like another Page to show your support for that Page or connect with that Page.
- No Page Home Feed. Since you can’t like other Pages as your Page, you won’t get updates as your Page through your own Page’s News Feed.
- You may have to provide a separate cell phone number to verify this account. This feature is different and not consistent, but many people who have created a Page this way report that they need a separate cell number that is different from their personal profile account to verify this business-only Page. Not everyone has two different cell numbers.
- No ability to use the Invite Friends feature on the Admin panel. Obviously if you are intent on keeping your Facebook profiles separate, then this may not be a feature you are interested in. However, it’s an easy way to connect some of your personal friends to your Page.
I don’t think there’s any need to create a business-only Page. The Page and the profile are very separate on a Page that is attached to a personal profile. No one can see who owns the Page and the limitations of the business-only Page are significant.
If you have created a business-only Page and want to rectify the situation, all you need to do is to add a personal profile as an admin and you will have all the functionality of a regular Page.
#9: Feature a Page Owner
If you want to be able to showcase the personal profile that is attached to the Page, you can feature a Page owner.
Just go to Edit Page, Update Info and select Featured. You can highlight Pages you want to feature in your likes and the Page owner.
Feature the Page owner if desired.
The Page owner appears on the About Page.
Ultimately know that your Page and your profile are separate, even though they look connected.
Hopefully we’ve made the navigation of Facebook clearer and easier to understand so you know how you are interacting as your personal profile and as your Page.
How about you? How are you using your profile and your Page? Do you find yourself using one more than the other? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following
Has your Facebook Page growth stalled?
Now is a good time to examine your Facebook activities, cutting out what isn’t working and expanding what works.
Here are ten tips to help grow your Facebook community.
#1: Connect With Other Page Managers
This is a powerful tactic to a make a live connection with other Page admins who have a similar demographic to yours and cross-promote each other.
So if you are an ice cream store with a Facebook Page, make a live connection with the pizza parlor in your neighborhood that draws the same clientele (you may already know the owner of the pizza parlor). Then talk to him or her about doing a little Facebook cross-promotion and share each others posts with your audiences every once in a while.
Joint ventures also help forge these meaningful connections. Host a webinar with another company that has a similar audience. This can be a great way to become visible to their audience.
When you make a meaningful connection, you can cross-promote to each others' audiences.
#2: Share Original Content
Content is still king and when people share your content, your Page name travels with it. Think of new ways you can add original photos as part of your content.
Maybe it’s a screenshot from a hot tip. Or maybe it’s a photo from something happening behind the scenes at your business that you ask people to caption. Or you can add an inspirational or thought-provoking quote to a photo.
Just make sure you are following photo copyright laws. Notice how this photo is also branded with the name of the blog.
Your Facebook Page name and original comments will travel with shared photos.
#3: Tag Your Page From Your Personal Profile
Make sure it’s easy for your friends to like your Page. As we know, Pages are not being seen as much in the news feed, so what is a page owner to do?
I recommend you post about your business occasionally on your Personal Profile. If you tag your Business Page (type “@” and then start typing your Page name until you can select it from the drop-down menu that appears) rather than share the status, people who mouse over your Page name in your post can easily like the Page right from your update.
When you tag your Page, it's easier for people to like it without leaving the news feed.
#4: Link Your Profile to Your Page
This is a very simple thing to do, yet I see so many people skipping this step. If users are searching and finding your Personal Profile on Facebook, you want to make it as easy as possible for users to find your Business Page as well.
When people list where they work and it’s not properly linked to their Facebook Page, a strange “Community Page” is created with that same name and it has a suitcase icon. Then people start liking that Community Page rather than your real Facebook Page.
All you need to do is to delete the Community Page from your Work and Education section in your About area (click Edit in the About section), then add in the correct Facebook Page.
Your profile should be linked to your Facebook Page.
Click your About section on your Profile, then Edit in the Work and Education area.
Start typing the name of your Facebook Page and select your Page from the drop-down menu.
#5: Add Facebook in Your Email Signature
How many emails do you send each day? Again, this is not rocket science—just consider this tip as your gentle reminder to add a link to your Page in your email signature. Many email programs such as Gmail make it easy to customize your email signature with clickable icons.
Get fancy in Gmail by adding clickable icons.
Or you can use WiseStamp to make your email signature stand out.
#6: Comment (Thoughtfully) on Other Pages as Your Page
This is a great way to get more exposure for your Business Page with a target audience. Participate on other Pages where your audience is already having conversations. Find complementary Facebook Pages and like them as your Page, then watch your Page home feed and comment on the posts.
Use Facebook as your business the same way you use it personally: by interacting and having conversations as your Page.
Remember to add to the conversation and authentically build relationships. That will lead to those meaningful connections I mentioned in point #1.
This activity takes time and you may find that you only have 10 minutes a week to do this. But it’s a good habit to get into to get more visibility for your Page.
When you like other Pages as your Page, click Home to see your own Page's news feed and then make comments from time to time on those other Pages.
#7: Run a Contest
Running a contest can be a great way to get new likes on your Business Page. It does cost some money to run a contest, but hopefully you have a marketing budget for your business.
Many of the apps that are available for Facebook contests (and you MUST run a Facebook contest through an app) are not too expensive and are easy to set up yourself.
Running a contest is also a great way to promote your product or service in a fun way. Running a contest with a like-gate on your contest app also gives you the ability to make sure people like your Page before they enter. And it’s a great way to get folks on your email list to come over to your Page to like you and enter your contest. Who’s the winner here? It’s you.
Promote your product and get new likes on Facebook.
#8: Add a QR Code to Your Business Card
How many business cards do you give out? Make it easy for the people you have connected with in person to connect with your Page. Creating a QR code is easy and free at sites like Kaywa and QRStuff.
Use the link for your Facebook Page and you have automatically created a QR code that you can add to the back of your business card.
#9: Advertise Your Page on Facebook
Today there are many options for advertising on Facebook. To get the best value for generating new likes for your Page, I would suggest you use a Sponsored Like Story. This will advertise your Page to friends of your current fans and give social proof in the ad by showcasing that the user’s friend likes your Page.
Sponsored Like Stories can be a bit cheaper to run, but you won’t have any ad copy to help convert people into fans. Hopefully seeing that their friend likes you is a sufficiently compelling reason.
Your Sponsored Like Story will be targeting the friends of your fans, but you can also use the regular Facebook targeting features to narrow the audience to your perfect demographic.
It’s easy to create your ad and limit your budget so you know how well it works before spending an arm and a leg.
Use a Sponsored Like Story as an easy way to get new likes for your Page.
#10: Add a Like Box to Your Website
In the Business Pages I have seen, a Like Box is one of the largest sources of likes for the Page if the website gets good traffic. It’s very easy to add a Like Box—just go to the Facebook Developers site, add the URL of your Facebook Page, configure the settings for how you want your Like Box to appear and click Get Code.
You will now have a choice among HTML5, XFBML, iFrame or URL. For most WordPress sites, you can choose HTML5, XFBML or iFrame for your code. But your WordPress theme may affect your choice. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to paste the code into a text widget on your sidebar.
Use the Facebook Developer site to get your Like Box code.
Finally: Watch what is working.
Know where your likes are coming from and do more of that. Do some tracking by using link shorteners such as bitly to drive traffic to your Facebook Page and see how many clicks you get.
Dive into your Facebook Insights and click on the likes link to see your sources of likes. Many of these you can’t control, but at least you can be informed about your statistics and know what is currently working for you.
How about you? What are you finding to be a good way to get new likes for your page? Let us know in the comments section below.
