Category FACEBOOK PAGE MANAGEMENT

Ever wonder how the heck you can respond as a business owner to comments people post on your Facebook business page?  I get it!  So many things to remember.  Let me help….

Allowing people to comment on your Business page creates a welcome feeling for fans.

As the page admin, Facebook allows you to reply as well as tag your fans to get their attention. This starts a thread of conversation and creates valuable engagement.

Watch this video quick video to know how to reply to posts on your Facebook page:

1. Go to Edit page – Edit Settings.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Scroll down the list till you see “Replies”. Click Edit.

4. Check to see if comment/replies are turned ON for your page.
If not, you’ll want to check the box and then, Click Save Changes.

As a bonus, I created a few tips on how to improve your conversation and interaction skills on your Page:

• Create a positive, FUN, and respectful environment by commenting yourself in a professional manner.
• Be helpful by offering additional info such as including a link to useful or relevant information.
• If your business actually made a mistake or one of your employees didn’t treat a customer respectfully, first, apologize.  You can do this first and then try to correct the situation by offering  a free service or product after the apology.
• Keep the thread topic focused on the content posted.
• Tag only the fans involved in the thread conversation, avoid unnecessary tagging of other people.
• Create basic rules on comments made by spammers or bashers. This will make it easier for you to keep them at bay.

Hope this helps.

Do you run a charity or have a goal to launch a charity soon?   Then you are going to love this new feature from Facebook that allows you to collect money through donations directly from your Facebook page!!  Wow, cool stuff, huh?!

Facebook introduces the Donate Button for non-profit pages. The company first tested this new feature in November through Red Cross after the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines. Though Facebook’s representatives did not mention the actual amount raised from the campaign, the feature allowed users to donate through a notification found right on the top of their News Feeds.

Right now, 19 non-profit organizations have signed-up as launch partners, including DonorsChoose.org, Boys And Girls Club Of America, World Wildlife Fund, UNICEF, Red Cross, and Kiva. These groups have the Donate Button show up on the top of their Facebook Pages and at the bottom of their News Feed posts. After some tweaks more, Facebook will allow other non-profits to use the feature by simply signing up here. Upon clicking the button, users will be allowed to donate through credit card or Paypal.

Steps

1. If you don’t have a Facebook page yet, you’ll need to create one.  Refer to this previous blog post on how to create a Facebook Page. Make sure to select The “Cause or Community” or “Company, Organization or Institution” pages as a charity fan page.

* If you need to assign team members as page administrators, you can add them as you set up the page or do it later.

2. Find the Donate Button Application by First Giving. On the top menu, click “Create Button”

3. Type in the name of your charity or organization. Results will pop up below the text box. Click on your charity name when it appears on the list.

4. Install the app on your Facebook Page. Choose the page you have created to install the donation button “Install on Fan Page” button to the right of your page’s profile picture.

5. Click “Add Donation Button Creator” . A popup notification will appear and ask permission so the app can access your page. This will add the app to your page.

6. You should be able to find the Donate app next to“Photos”

7. To edit the button setting, click on the “Donate” button. As administrator, you should be directed to the page where you can “Edit Donate Settings”. You can now use the button to change the charity or other settings of the donation such as change the verbiage to “Support Our Cause” rather than “Donate”

With this new feature, users will no longer have to go outside of the Facebook platform to donate to your charity. A pop-out window will appear on Facebook and will make the donation process Easy as 1-2-3!

Here’s what it will look like when you’re all done…

Donors can choose how much to give and can enter payment details or just use the ones already saved on Facebook. The easy pop-out guarantees you’re charity will boost conversion rates and raise more funds for projects in need.

Now go raise some money for your cause and let me know in the comments below what charity YOU are passionate about – I’d love to hear

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!

Are you a business owner with a Facebook page and need to make someone (other than yourself) a Facebook page administrator to your page?

Maybe your business has gotten too busy for you to manage your page yourself and you’ve hired a social media company, or maybe you’ve hired a new employee that is planning to manage your page.

There are currently FIVE different administrative roles that you can assign:

1. Manager
2. Content Creator
3. Moderator
4. Advertiser
5. Insights Analyst

To give admin access to someone on your page, go to Edit Page >> Manage Admin Roles >> Add Another Admin

If the new admin does not receive an email or Facebook notification, they can go to facebook.com/pages at the top right of their Facebook page and accept or reject the invitation.

Below is a chart that outlines the 5 roles and what rights each one has access to on your page.

Below is a more detailed overview of each of the five admin roles along with a chart to help you see all roles and access:

Managers

The Managers of your page have full access to everything.  So be very careful giving anyone Manager access as they not only have full access to you page but they can also delete your page without you being notified.

Managers have the following access to your page:

– ability to manager admin roles for other admins on your page

– edit the page and add apps

– create posts as the page

– respond to and delete comments

– send messages as the page

– create ads

– view insights

Content Creator

Content Creators are good roles for the lead person in your company that is managing your Facebook page.  You might also give this access to an agency that you trust.

Content Creators have the following access to your page:

– edit the page and add apps

– create posts as the page

– respond to and delete comments

– send messages as the page

– create ads

– view insights

Moderator

Moderator access is great to provide someone that is planning to review and monitor your posts, comments, likes and shares.  You’ll want to train this person on the best way to respond to your fans and make sure they are using the same voice of your company that you would if you were responding yourself.

Moderators have the following access to your page:

– respond to and delete comments

– send messages as the page

– create ads

– view insights

Advertiser

An advertiser is someone that you are working with to create and develop ads for your business using your Facebook page.  This person can create, edit, monitor and launch Facebook ads on behalf of your company.

Advertisers have the following access to your page:

– create ads

– view insights

Insights Analyst

Insights Analyst is someone that is reviewing, analyzing and compiling your data for your Facebook page, campaign or advertising.  This person can only see the insights data and does not have access to any other functionality on your page.

Insights Analyst have the following access to your page:

– view insights only

This should give you a good overview and understanding of the 5 admin roles you can assign for your Facebook page.

If you’ve tried to add someone and have had issues, let me know your questions – I’m here to help!

It’s hard to know what information you post is going to connect with your fans on your company’s business page.  Every fan is different and every fan has a different idea of what they think is funny or what they’d like to share or comment on.

I’ve identified 4 tried and true ways that you can “Be” engaging with your fans on Facebook and get them not only liking your content but commenting and sharing your Facebook posts.  Comments and shares take the “Like” factor to a whole new level of engagement. These acts of true engagement are what get your posts seen by the friends of your fans…which is where the real power of Facebook comes in.

These 4 ideas will help you engage with your fans AND influence the audience of your fans:

Be Real

Last week, I shared a story on my personal profile on Facebook about my son sticking a rock up his nose.  I wasn’t trying to be funny.  I was sharing my frustration about how crazy and frustrating my day had been.  Because I shared my experience with my friends and was honest about the way I felt, I had 37 Likes and 30 comments on my page.  Now that’s the power if you let go of worrying about what others might think or if it’s information your fans will care about.  Try being real with your customers and fans.  You might just be surprised at their response.

Be Current

Posting on your fan page about current events or information going on in your community is key.  It lets your fans know that you care about and pay attention to special holidays, current or local events.  For example, if your business targets military families then posting a status update on Memorial Day or 4th of July honoring our troops would show your patriotism and support of a cause that is important to them. Here is an example of a post I created on 9/11 that showed my support of all that lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Be Personal

My most engaging post to date on my Facebook Page has been one where I asked my fans to share their business page and tell me a little bit about their business.  I called it “Post Your Page Thursday.”  It got 31 Likes and Comments.

The reason getting personal with your fans works is because you are focused on your fans rather than trying to sell your products or services.  When you ask them to share with you, you’ll be surprised how many will respond because someone took a moment to ask them about their business.

It’s also a great opportunity for you to engage with your fans.  You can then ask questions in the comments and get a back and forth dialog going with your fans. This helps build trust with your audience and encourages them to share more information with you. The more they share, the more you learn about your customers.  You’re then able to take this information and use it to create future posts.

Be Funny

There is no better way to engage with your fans than to be funny.  Everyone loves a laugh and if you can try to post content that makes people laugh then you’re definitely going to be one up on your competitors.  It’s easy to post content, but posting funny content is an art form.

If people think your status update is funny, they are more likely to SHARE this content.

Here’s a great example of a status update that received 266 likes, 14 comments and was shared 60 times:

I hope these 4 ways will help you better understand how to “Be” Engaged with your fans on Facebook. Try them and let me know how they worked!