Alpha & Beta of Facebook Pages

If you have been using Facebook for a while, why do you need to know basics?

Think of your PERSONAL PROFILE as your home. You have invited your friends into your home to share your life.

So, a post for 'friends' is only for those people you have invited into your home.

If you post a 'public' post, you are still in your home, but you are 'opening the curtains' to let people 'see inside'. For that public post they can engage, comment, reply and share. But they have not been 'invited' into your 'home', your personal space.

I like to think of your Fan Page as a pub. It is a social space where people gather and you get to stand on a chair and make announcements, share ideas and yell 'above the noise'.

And no one ever has to to know that YOU are admin on a Fan Page.

To post something on Facebook, you can choose the following:

• For friends only

• To go public so that anyone on Facebook can see the post

• All your friends except x. This could be for a surprise birthday party, or if you don't want your neighbour to see it (for example)

• Only a select group of friends (maybe just your book club friends for example)

The post will instantly appear on your newsfeed, but if you want to find it again in the future, you can go to the top right-hand corner of the page and click on your name to access your personal profile with all your previous posts.

To post something on Facebook, you can choose the following:

• For friends only

• To go public so that anyone on Facebook can see the post

• All your friends except x. This could be for a surprise birthday party, or if you don't want your neighbour to see it (for example)

• Only a select group of friends (maybe just your book club friends for example)

The post will instantly appear on your newsfeed, but if you want to find it again in the future, you can go to the top right-hand corner of the page and click on your name to access your personal profile with all your previous posts.

You can delete a post that you have written, anywhere on Facebook: on your personal profile, in a group, on a Page...and it will be gone forever!

Social media is about getting more eyes on a post, so if you know how to share a post, you are increasing the opportunity for more people to see your post or someone else's post. You can only share a link if it has been posted as a public post. If it isn’t a public post, when you share it, only those people who are your friends as well as with the person whose post it is, will see it.

If you see the 'share' option on a post, it means you can share it. So, if it is one of these options you will see the 'share' option:

• A friend's post (or your own) that is public

• From a public group

• A sponsored post

You will not see the 'share' option on a post if:

• The group is private

• The post is created for 'friends' only

Sharing is a fun way to engage your friends in fun, interesting and valuable posts that they may not see.

Share away and spread the love :)

You won't need to share links between Facebook posts and Facebook Pages much, but this is also how you would share a link from a website or an online article, onto Facebook.

You can share a link in a public post, in a message, into a group.

But remember:

If you share the link, it has to be a public Page to start with. If you share a link from a private group for example, people not in that group will not see the link when they click on it.

I have shown you how to share a link from Facebook, but you will be using this a lot more to share links from outside of Facebook.

A 'clean' link is a link without all the numbers and characters that Facebook uses to give websites information about where that click came from.

You don't need to share long links with unnecessary information on it. Just a 'clean' link that looks neat and tidy.

Sharing links that are 'clean' makes such a difference. Remember that this applies to sharing links anywhere and not just on Facebook.

When you tag someone, they get a notification to say they have been tagged and will generally go to that post to see why you have tagged them.  Their friends will also see they have been tagged, which is great to get more eyes on a post. If you would like your friend to know you are supporting them, or you would like to draw their attention to something, you can tag your friends.

The main difference between a comment and a reply is:

• When you comment on a post, everyone else who has commented on the post will receive a notification that you have commented on something they have commented on.

• If you reply to someone else's comment, only they will get the notification that you have replied to them. (If, of course, there are more people who have replied to a comment, all those in the 'reply' thread will get the notification about the reply. But not everyone else who has commented will receive this notification, only those in the 'reply' thread')

In this video I show you how to:

• Find your friend request notifications

• Find all your friend requests

• Unfriend someone

• Unfollow a friend

• Snooze a friend for 30 days

  
  

  You do not have to accept everyone who sends you a friend request!

  It is totally up to you who you accept into your private life.

You choose the settings to decide who gets to see your public posts (these are not the posts you write for your friends).

And...

People can also 'follow' you, if you haven't accepted them as friends. In the settings you can decide if they see and can comment to your public posts too.

You have  Fan Page because you want to promote what you do.  Using a personal profile will not do that for you, and it is against Facebook's policy.

Let's start promoting the amazing work you do and the fantastic products you make or sell!

Some tips to keep in mind:

1. Keep the name of your Page the same as (or as close to) your website and your other social media profiles

2. Do all your business marketing and social media work on your laptop or desktop. Except for Instagram, you won't have all the features if yo use a phone or a tablet. And you, of course, want to be be as professional as yo can

3. Your description needs to be EXACTLY what you sell. If someone lands on this Page, they need to know what you are selling, promoting, making, creating.

4. Your profile picture should be your logo (or if you are delivering a service), and should never change. This is how people will start recognising your brand.

5. Your cover image can and should change to highlight new products, offers, specials and information you want to share with your community as things happen in your business or organisation.

You need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve with your Facebook Fan Page.  Align your goals with your actions on your Fan Page so all activity on the Page has purpose.

Your notifications are your customer service desk, so you need to be on top of them.

Your profile picture should not change. You want people to start recognising your brand across the Facebook platform. Your profile picture should be your logo, or if you are delivering a service, maybe a picture of you - a smiling image that warms people to you.

If you don’t have a logo you can:

• Post a picture that reflects your Page

• Get one designed by a designer

• Go to Fiverr (more info in the 'Tools of the Trade' module

Changing your profile picture will lose momentum of your brand.

Once you have updated your profile picture, click on the picture to open it up and write a description:

• Explain your logo (what’s the story behind your logo?)

• Explain what the picture is

• What’s your goal, your mission?

If your Page represents a physical location, add in the location too. If someone wants more information, they could click on your profile picture, so it is important for it to have something on it.

Ensure you have all the information you possibly can on the image description.

And include a link to take people somewhere - maybe your 'about' section on your website.

Your cover image is your business 'shop front' or 'shop window'. It is the first thing people will see when they 'land' on your Page. Make this inviting, interesting and relevant.

Change your cover image regularly with product information. And make sure your cover image has information in the description of the image, explaining exactly what is in the image and how to buy with a direct link (if you people have to work hard to find out how to spend money with you, you will lose their sale and they will go to someone else who has made things a lot easier).

Take your own photograph, or get a royalty free photograph (search online), but never use a picture you could get into trouble for using (you could be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars). You can put specials, events or any up-and-coming information in text on the photograph.

Make sure you have information and a location (if applicable) on your cover picture.

Your ‘About’ section will let everyone know who you are. It is very important to tell any potential customers exactly what you do and how they can get hold of you.

And fill in your Story - tell your audience about YOU - your values and how you came to be in this business.  The public love stories, so tell YOUR STORY.

This helps you get picked up in a search on Facebook and on other search engines.

You can select the main features for your Fan Page depending on what your Page is about – if it is a physical location, like a shop or a café, or if it is an online community, or a personal brand. Choose the tabs you would like Facebook to use to gear your Page, and the content you publish on your Page, to your specific audience and the community you are trying to reach.

I think this is just a lovely touch to help your audience feel a bit more welcome on your Fan Page.

Another very important part of your Fan Page - make it easy for people to get in touch with you.

Start thinking about your business as a brand - and get noticed across the internet and on different platforms.

This helps tell people who know you and those who are following your personal profile (they only see public posts you make) about your business.

Just invite as many of your friends as possible to get started.

Don't wait for your Fan Page to be 'perfect'.  As soon as you have the basics on the Page, let everyone know about it by sharing it to different places on Facebook.

You don't want to spam groups with your business or products ands services, but it is important to let your community or niche groups know you exist. By sharing in groups, you can share with your target market, or your Avatar - but be aware of the group rules. Always check the rules to make sure you are allowed to share posts into the group, or if there are certain days you are allowed.

You risk being removed from the group if you break the rules.

Find your business allies – those people who can help your business along. This might be the shop next door, the local council, other businesses that works well with your business or people who can promote your business. Connect or align with those around you by finding their Pages, ‘liking’ their Pages as your Page. They will start seeing you as your brand and you can initiate ‘cross-pollination’.

It is invaluable to communicate with people as your business Page and not as your name, although there are times you might also want to comment on your own business Page using your personal name. You can change your ‘voice’ very easily for maximum effect. But you are not able to comment in a group as your Page (unless you have been allowed to join the group as your Page), only as your personal profile (and unless it is a group that you have linked to your Page – but we get to that later).

Find your allies – people who can help your business grow, or whose audience could benefit from your product or service. ‘Like’ their Page as your Page so they know you are there.

Tagging them in a post, will mean they get a notification that they have been tagged, and they may do the same, or even share your post with their community. You can tag more than one other Page in a post – try it and see what kind of response you get.

Why is this important? Think of your Page as a library book in a sea of shelves. How will anyone know your Page is there, if the ‘librarian’ doesn’t tell them? You have to tell people about your Page or they will never know it even exists. By tagging other Pages, you are also letting other organisation know you are promoting them too, which is great for your business as it increases your exposure.

And people are lazy – they won’t seek you out. But in a tag, there is a direct link to the Page/s you have tagged, so people can click on it to take them directly to a specific Page – helping the lazy ones along.

When you tag allies in your posts, you are increasing opportunities for more engagement.

By letting other organisations or businesses know that you are promoting them in a post, you are encouraging them to support you, and of course putting more eyes on your post.  So, tag away...

You need to get 'social proof' to help grow your business - and reviews and recommendations will give the public the 'social proof' they need.

Print this off and you can mark off what you have done so far.

Two simple ways to drive more traffic to your Facebook Fan Page.

It is so unprofessional to see people who have shared long, unnecessary links. Most of the numbers and letters at the end of a link are only used for the website to assess your activity and for Google to know where you came from to land on that page. You can delete all the unnecessary bits at the end of a link to make it look neater and easier to manage.

You want the links you share to look ‘clean’ and professional. Once you have your link nice and ‘clean’, you can copy it and paste it somewhere else – on Facebook, in an email, or a message, or in your newsletter etc. It looks a lot nicer than sharing links with long, unnecessary characters.

When you share a link or url on Facebook, you can completely delete the url once Facebook has made the connection, and pulled up the image etc. But, studies have shown that people are weary of clicking on something not knowing where they are being taken. If they can see the link and the website, it makes them feel 'safer'.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is overthinking their social media, instead of having fun with it.

This might not be something you want to consider, or have even ever thought about, but this video shows you what you can set up to have someone else manage your Facebook account, once you have passed away - like you would with your will.

Welcome to the Beta part of the course!

In this video we look at the definition of marketing and modern marketing - and we start to explore why we are on Facebook.

Here is the blog post mentioned in the video: http://dawnadenton.com/value-of-the-freebie/

Who is your customer?  You need to understand exactly who they are so you can 'talk' directly to them in your marketing.

You need to focus on who it is that you are trying to attract to your business or organisation. Marketing to everyone, just doesn't work, so you need to start being really specific about who your customer is.

How does your Avatar behave on Facebook?  This will help you identify when and what your audience enagages with.

When are the people who have 'liked' your Page on Facebook? If you can post something when you know they will see it, you will get a lot more engagement.

Have a look at those around you doing something similar to you...

You want to put content on your Fan Page when your community are online or they won't see it.  You can sit down one day a week / month and get all your posts set up for the week / month ahead. In this video you learn how to schedule your posts.

You can always edit, delete, reschedule or publish your scheduled posts at any time.

In the 'Insights' tab, you will see a list of tabs on the left-hand side of the Page. In each tab you will see a sentence and headings about what that tab is about  (which you will also see when you click on the little 'i' in each section, where you get an explanation from Facebook) and information about each sub-section.

Facebook is SOCIAL media and your community does not want to be sold to everyday. You need to provide VALUABLE CONTENT and only inter-disperse your sales posts - never make your sales posts the majority of your posts.

This is the kind of posts people tend to share, if it 'strikes a cord' with them.

What are people talking about? What's trending? These are topics your community will enjoy too, so find topics that they are talking about already and weave it into your strategy. Your community might even share these posts if the content is topical and about what they are already chatting about in the office or at home.

Give a little of what goes on behind the scenes - your audience generally love seeing this kind of post, and it often brings quite a lot of engagement.

By asking your community a question, you are getting them involved and encouraging engagement - which is 'likes', comments and shares.

The more engagement you get on a post, the more people will see your next post as Facebook will deem your content relevant to your audience and push it into the newsfeed of more people who have 'liked' your Page.

Make people say 'Wow' with these kinds of posts.

We live in the Information Age and people love information.  If you don't have a blog, it might be time to consider a blog for your business...

Blogging is a great way to connect to your community on a more personal level, so share one of your blog posts on your Fan Page to help drive traffic to your website / blog.

...but don't feel intimidated about having to write a blog.

Have fun with cyber or real events.

You might want to relaunch your business or let the public know about your event or a new product in your brand, or a new service in your suite...

A Press Release does not have to be 'scary' to write.  Here is a simple format you can use to right one right now and share it on your Fan Page as well as send it to your local paper or community radio station.

Facebook LOVES video and are much more likely to push your video posts out into the newsfeed.

A competition is a great way to increase engagement and also raise the profile of your business. Here are some tips to help your run successful competitions on your Fan Page.

Find a person or a company in your niche who could help you sell more of your products or services.

When you create an event on your Fan Page, you want as many eyes to see your event, without having to boost the event, or pay for advertising.  Here are two ideas for you to use to share your events to reach a lot more people.

Support something close to your heart, to give your community more of an insight into your values and what you stand for.

A poll is a great way to get engagement on your Fan Page.  But ask them to engage with the post by commenting too.  The algorithms will love the comments.