Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

This week I'm quoted in an article on "Business News Daily" that talks about  "5 Quick Ways to Boost Your Facebook Fanbase". Here are some of what you'll learn if you read the full article…

Provide compelling content. — Even though your Facebook page is up and running, you need to get people to like and trust you. According to Debra Zimmer, The Expert Marketing Coach, one way to increase that trust is to provide compelling content.

"Basically they need a reason to 'like' your page. They want to know what's in it for them. When they come to your page, they want to see that you consistently post something of value to them," Zimmer said.

Zimmer suggests one way to post compelling content is with a "tip of the day."

"You can sit down once a month and jot down 30 things that would help your customer transform their life. You then use a tool like Hootsuite to have those tips post for you automatically once a day. And you have created a reason for people to 'like' you. They do it to get those tips," Zimmer said.

And,

Build a chain of communication with your customers. — Facebook isn't all about business, so it's important to make sure that you're entertaining your customers. Zimmer said that you can do so by asking some questions.

For example, Zimmer asks her followers what tip topics they would most like to see from her.

"That starts getting people engaged. And when they comment on your post, it shows up in all their friends' news feeds. With the average Facebook user having 130 friends, that number of people who see your post multiplies quickly," Zimmer said.

You can read the rest of the article here…

Have you ever wondered how to get people on Facebook to respond to your ads?

Here are some tips from Mona Elesseily, the VP of Online Marketing Strategy at Page Zero Media
and Jennifer Sheahan from FBadsLAB.

The three types of images that convert best on Facebook ads are:

1. Happy Women
2. Colorful Logos
3. Headshots

Happy Women

The best performing images to use in Facebook advertising are of happy women. Women who look overjoyed, free and are looking directly at the camera convert best. Also, try images of women who joyfully have their arms in the air.

Colorful Logos

Try logos that are colorful and engaging. If your company’s logo is boring or bland, make look colorful by adding a colorful border, background or text. Definitely avoid blue and white as the colors blend too much with Facebook’s colors (think contrast to capture attention).

Images with text on them (calls to action) convert better than images alone. In general, ads with a “reason” convert better than ads with no reason. So don’t just tell people about your accounting services but include a reason like: 1) end of tax year special or 2) an online promotion with savings available for 3 days only.

Note: product images do not convert as well as straight up colorful logos.

Headshots

Happy pictures where people are looking directly at the camera work best. Close up pictures work best.

Facebook Advertising Tips

In addition they shared some general tips to help you get the most of your Facebook advertising.

1. Use a sense of "urgency" with your Facebook ads. Don't run them too often or for too long. The reader should feel like they have to take action now or the opportunity will be gone.
2. Distract the user from other tasks.
3. Include a purpose or reason they need to take immediate action. Tie your ad to a a promotion, discount or compelling report.
4. Test images and call to actions.
5. Expect low conversion rates averaging in the 0.02% range. You’re doing well if you see conversions above 0.4%.

Do you have any tips to share? Is there anything you've experienced with your Facebook advertising that works really well?

(You can read more details at http://searchengineland.com/3-types-of-facebook-image-ads-that-work-80162.)

If you are like me, I've heard that Facebook shares help get you ranked higher in search engine results. Now, there's data to prove it. According to AllFacebook.com,

There’s a high correlation between Facebook shares and ranking well on search engines, particularly Google U.S. rankings.

That’s according to the latest annual report by SEOmoz called “2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors.”

In the end, SEOmoz says it cannot prove that Facebook shares cause high search engine rankings. The study will only say that there’s a strong correlation between the ranking and Facebook shares.

What does this mean?

Delivering high quality content on Facebook gets your content shared more often. More shares influences a lot of factors which in the end result in higher Google rankings.

What do you think?

Facebook Fan Page Custom Landing Page

When a customer or potential customer comes to your website you want a way to greet them and invite them to "like" your page. When they 'Like' your page, you can then continue the conversation with them off your page and in their news feed.

Your Facebook Fan Page should have a 'landing page' in the same way that every online marketing campaign would have a unique landing page to inform and convert customers.

To create a landing page on your Facebook Page, you will need to add a "Reveal Tab". By default your Facebook Page will have a Reveal Tab for your Wall, Info, Photos and a few other default applications. If you want to add some custom content that is unique to your page, you will need to create a new Reveal Tab for that content.

When you create a Reveal tab,  you are in essence adding another page to your Facebook Page. That page is going to act like a picture frame. It will have a tab that you name and then a blank page. The blank page is actually a placeholder for your content. Think of it as a picture frame and your job is to put in the picture (or text, video, etc.). the frame is called an iframe, and your job is to add an iframe to your page and fill it with your unique content.

There are 3 main ways to create and fill that picture iframe and create your custom page.

1) Install an Iframe application from the Facebook App Center

You can go to the Facebook App Center and download an application that someone else created. These apps usually have the phrase "static html" and "iframe" in their description. Once you install this, it typically will have the name "Welcome". You can change that name by going into your page edit features, going to the apps, then clicking on that specific application.

Once the tab is installed,  you will find that you will need to know html in order to put content in it. If you know html, this method is the fastest way to get started. If you don't know html, you will need to find someone who does if you want to use this method.

The Pros: Fast, Easy, Free.

The Cons: Requires HTML knowledge

For a list of suggested applications in this category, please visit my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/DebraZimmer

2) Use WordPress for Facebook

The second "free" option does not require that you know HTML to create your content. However, there is some setup required. With this option you create your own iframe application from the Facebook Developer Center, and then point your iframe to a self-hosted WordPress site that is formatted with a theme that fits inside the iframe. For this method, you will need to create the application which is not terribly difficult, and you will need a new wordpress installation using wordpress.org and NOT wordpress.com.

I like the simplicity of WordPress and love that I can add another WordPress site for free on my website self-hosting account. You can see an example of my WordPress for Facebook website on my Facebook Fan Page "Debra Zimmer".

Using this technique, you will create the tab and then link to a wordpress site that is formatted to fit in the iframe (500 pixels wide).

There are 3 ways to integrate WordPress as your content management system for your Facebook Fan Page.

1. With this I created a set of WordPress templates formatted to blend with Facebook and I sell those for $15. this allows you to show multiple WordPress Pages inside the one Facebook iframe and the color palete matches that of Facebook so it will work for any business.
2. If you have an existing WordPress site and just want to link one of the pages to it, you can use the "Fanpage Connect" Plugin for WordPress. This plugin will format your WordPress page to fit inside the iframe restrictions of Facebook Pages by stripping out the formatting and sticking the content only in the Facebook iframe. Please note that this only allows you to show one WordPress Page in the iframe and I found it difficult to understand the directions.
3. Design your own WordPress theme.

Pros: You can use the familiar WordPress content management system to create and update all  your custom content on Facebook. One iframe contains multiple pages of content. Free if you already have a self-hosted WordPress website.

Cons: Takes some setup. You may need technical assistance for setup.

More details on these solutions are available at http://www.facebook.com/DebraZimmer

3) Get a Facebook Application with Templates

The third option to create your customer Facebook Fan Page is to register for a 3rd party software application. These require no programming skills. No installation required. However, they may require a fee.

You can see the ones I've used and tested by 'liking' my fan page. And, a complete list of applications is available at http://www.facebook.com/DebraZimmer

Are you using any of these techniques to customize your Facebook fan Page? What tools do you like most and why?