Archives November 2013

This holiday season is a great opportunity for YOU – the business owner to share the holiday spirit with customers and fans.  You can boost your sales and engagement by getting your holiday-themed campaigns and page content ready.

Here are several ways to get your Facebook campaign ready for the holiday season:

Plan Ahead
Decide which types of activities will help you achieve your holiday marketing goals. Utilize your Facebook page insights to determine whether you are going to conduct contests, promos, content, freebies etc. With Facebook Insights you can discover more about your fan demographics: gender, age and location, as well as the similar pages your fans like. With better understanding of the numbers, this tool will help you fine-tune your holiday marketing efforts. It is also important to determine the end of your promotions. This way you will have plenty of time to stock up your products or hire additional staff.

Pre-schedule Posts and Use Call to Actions
Action words such as “Post”, “Comment”, “Take”, “Submit”, “Like” and “Tell Us” help boost engagement rates on Facebook – so make sure to combine these keywords into your holiday-related posts. Take note of the following holiday spending days in US:

• Black Friday (November 29th)
• Small Business Saturday (November 30th)
• Cyber Monday (December 2nd)
• Green Monday (December 9th)
• Free Shipping Day (December 18th)

It’s easy to preschedule the posts using Facebook’s scheduling tool.

Post Restock Alerts
Know which products or service packages your company has offered in previous holidays.  Let your fans know that because they were so popular, you are restocking the products and offering them again and they will ONLY be available this season only. Start your post or ad with content that says something like “back by popular demand….”

Use apps for your holiday campaign
There are TONS of Facebook apps that you can use to promote your activities. Select 3rd party apps that offer sharing and refer-a-friend features already built-in. Refer-a-friend allows users to increase their chances of winning (like additional entry points) every time someone joins the promo through the referral link they share.  I use ShortStack apps and have been super pleased with their apps and their service!

Be like Santa: Give Away Free Items
There are a number of ways to share the holiday spirit:

• Build a list of your most loyal clients and page fans then send them an early gift.
• Grab the chance for your company to partake in social work: donate to charity or render free services for the needy this holiday season.
• Offer coupons for everyone -especially those who Like your page.
• Offer free shipping on special items.

Use Custom Audiences to Target Your Customers
Tailor ad copy that is custom-made for your customers rather than just creating a generic copy for all. This will make audiences feel special as the message is directly addressed to them.  You can upload your email address list and create a custom audience on Facebook that you can then create an ad campaign for.  This feature is available when creating ads using Power Editor.  Not sure how to use Custom Audiences?  I can help you.

Share your store hours
There might be changes in your store hours during the season so make sure to announce it early. This will allow your customers to conduct business with you before you close down for the holidays and might even get you some extra sales if you’re a local shop and have extended hours.

Timeline Cover Photo Ideas

Having a holiday themed cover photo can leave your fans feeling jolly!  Here are a few ways to get your timeline cover photo ready for the holidays:

• Use the cover photo to promote your holiday app.
• Showcase new products or services.
• Promote your giveaways.
• Say thank you for their business.
• Use the cover photo to inspire audiences to take action.
• Promote your homepage, other sites or links.

Optimize Your Page for the Holidays

• Create an editorial plan for your posts
• Use the appropriate Call to Action (CTA)
• Share images of holiday related products
• Include fine prints: disclaimers, rules into your verbiage.
• Promote your posts with Facebook Ads
• Use an app to collect data/email addresses from contest entries.

Pay attention to Facebook’s Page Guidelines
This should be on top of your list when creating any kind of Facebook campaign. However, I thought it would be a good opportunity to remind you as there are daily changes to Facebook’s page and ad guidelines.  Here are a few to consider:

– Avoid inaccurately tagging people, as well as encourage people to tag themselves in a promotional photo if they are not included on the photo themselves.

– Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright.

– Choose an expiration date for your offer. You can also add optional terms and conditions and advanced options, like a redemption link, redemption code, claims limit and reminder time.

– Promotions may be conducted on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal timelines should not be used to administer promotions. So, encouraging people to share on their timeline or share on their friends’ timeline is prohibited.

I hope this gives you some great holiday marketing ideas for your Facebook page. You don’t need to do it all – simply select a couple and focus only on the activities that will help you achieve your marketing goals this season.

Happy Holidays!

Have you seen the new star ratings review on your Facebook business page?

They previously were shown on the right hand side of your business page and you typically had to scroll to see it.  However, the new star reviews are shown directly under your timeline cover image for all to see.

The Good…
The stars are placed in a more prominent place –just beneath the page name. They are now more prominent than any other element of a brand’s fan page such as the number of Likes and “talking about this” metric. This can be great for some brands, as it is much easier to showcase positive reviews.  Page admins will now need to focus on and pay special attention to improving the quality of their pages, thus naturally encouraging positive reviews from fans and potential followers.

This also makes monitoring metrics more simplistic. It leaves out the focus on geeky statistics –like counting number of reach or virality. Page admins can promote a more positive and authentic engagement by simply making fans happier.

The Bad…
The stars can be too prominent because it can appear, not only on the page itself but could also end up on other apps such as Like boxes, Profile badges or anywhere else on the web through embedding codes. If you are able to ensure great reviews, then your less likely to have issues, But let’s face it, it’s not always easy to get a 5-star rating!  For instance, I only have 5 star ratings on my page but Facebook is only showing 4 stars. Therefore, we have to assume they are using additional algorithm scoring such as fan engagement to determine the star rating,

Let’s talk about how the rating is determined..

A like is only counted as one vote, whereas star reviews count into averages.

If your page does not allow fans to post on your Timeline, the review feature can be the easiest, most convenient way to leave poor feedback. When people want to contact your brand on Facebook, they can only send you a message, leave a comment or better yet leave a review. If they are trying to reach you over a customer-related issue, then chances are you will accumulate some bad reviews.

How to enable or disable reviews on my Brand Page?

Based on Facebook’s Helpdesk, admins can only allow reviews by adding your address. If you would like to disable reviews on your business page, you can remove the address which will remove the reviews option entirely.

If your Page has a location, star ratings and reviews will appear once you have updated the page info with a business address.

1. At the top of your Page, click Edit Page
2. Select Update Page Info
3. Click Address
4. Edit your address
5. Click Save Changes

How to add a review to other Facebook Pages?

1. Just visit the Facebook page of the business you want to review.
2. Find the review section by scrolling down, on the right hand side of the timeline.
3. Fill in the number of stars (total of five) that reflect your experience with the business.
4. Write a written review on the space that says “What do you think about this place”.
5. You can select your review to go public or select the friends, acquaintances or other connections so they can see it as well.
6. Click “Review” when done.

If you are a business owner or authorized representative, you can create a Facebook business page in a few simple steps:

Step # 1. Login to Your Personal Facebook Account
In order to access setting up your Facebook business page, you must first be a Facebook user.  Other page admins and contributors that will be involved in the growth of a Facebook business page will also need Facebook personal accounts.

Note, there are ways to set up a business account without it being linked to a personal account but you lose some of the key functionality offered by Facebook so I wouldn’t suggest this route.

Here are a couple things you’ll miss out on:

• Can’t be found in search, send or receive friend requests or build apps
• Can see public information about other people on Facebook, but can’t interact with those people except as a Page

If you’ve decided to create a page from your personal account – let’s get started.

Simply go to “Create Page”: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Step #2. Select the type of business you have
For B2B organizations, you can select either Company, Organization or Institution. For Non-profits like advocacy campaigns, you can select Cause or Community. You will also have to select a sub-category to further describe your page.

Step #3. Page Set-up
Setting the page has 3 elements – About, Profile Picture, Add to Favorites

• The About section is SO important.  Make sure you complete this section entirely as the about section is searchable by Graph Search (Facebook’s search engine) and allows people to find your company easier the more information you provide). Also, make sure to include keywords in the long description section.
• Add the site URL of your business if you have one.
• You can also add other websites related to your business such as links to your blog or social media profiles.
• Create a vanity URL for your business. It is a custom made URL to make your page URL easier to type on the browser or share.

Step #4. Profile Picture

• Upload a profile image (JPEG or PNG) from your computer or a website. The most optimal size is a square image that is 180x 180 pixels.
• A profile image will also be your thumbnail in comments, app boxes and posts.
• You can use your company logo, a similar icon or an image of a person if the page represents a brand.
• Make it stand out by putting a colored border around it – this will make it pop when people see it in their newsfeed.

Step #5. Add it to your Favorites
The Favorites sidebar is found on the left-side of the Facebook homepage just right under your profile picture. Decide if you would like to add your new page into your Favorites to make it easier for you bookmark the page when logged in to Facebook.

Step #6. Update Your Page Info
Once you’ve set up the About section, go back into Update Your Page Info and double check that your page includes all of the relevant information regarding your business. You can write short and long descriptions, include store hours or contact information, include a company mission statement, product details and awards you might have previously won.

Step #7. Manage Your Page Settings
This step allows you to set rules on the following:

• Who can post on your page: allow followers, or admin only.
• Privacy settings
• Age and country restrictions: if you need to limit your page to your own country, or an age group.

Step #8. Choose & Upload a Timeline Cover Image
The last step would be uploading your cover photo, which should be eye-catching and relevant to your audience and business. It should stand out and represent your brand. I suggest to my clients that they update their cover image once a month.  This image appears in your fans timelines and gives your business the opportunity to show up in their newsfeeds again.  You can also include a link in the description if you’re featuring a page from your website.  Simply click on the image after you post it and include a link in the description.

Optimal image size for timeline cover photos is 851x 315 pixels.

1. Use “like” and “share” buttons liberally. Make them available throughout your website and wherever you post content online.
2. Post regularly. Tumbleweeds shouldn’t be blowing through your Facebook page. Aim for at least two to three posts per day.
3. Use plenty of photos. Post interesting photos with thought-provoking captions, and take care to select appealing cover photos and profile photos.
4. Kick-start conversations by asking questions. Try to end every post with a question of some kind.
5. Share special offers with your Facebook fans. This is a great way to reward them for liking your page and to keep them coming back for more.
6. Respond quickly to comments and questions. This will show people that you are actively involved in your Facebook page and that you care about what they have to say.
7. Avoid salesy language. This is not the place to aggressively market your products and services; it’s a place to educate people about them. Think of it this way: You should speak to your audience, not at it. Ideally, there should be a back-and-forth exchange happening.
8. Be transparent about handling criticism. Don’t delete negative comments. Try to respond in a way that shows you want to make things right.
9. Show that real people are behind your Facebook posts. Include people’s names in your posts and let your fans get to know them.
10. Admit to your mistakes. If you make a post that steps on people’s toes somehow, acknowledge your mistake and do what you can to correct it.
11. Make your posts fun by posing trivia questions or having people fill in the blanks.
12. Share relevant content from outside sources to spark debates and conversations.
13. Actively promote your Facebook page outside of Facebook. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, share the URL with your customers.
14. Give people an inside glimpse into your business. Post photos of your employees and of the inner workings of your company.
15. If you have a blog for your company – and you should – promote new posts on Facebook. Don’t just share links to them; include a little commentary to spark interest and to get comments flowing.