When promoting content on Facebook it can be hard to get likes and attract visitors when you make a Facebook page as compared to other social media networks such as Twitter or Google Plus. The reason is because while most people will simply follow you back (if you follow them) on Google+ or Twitter, the same cannot be said for Facebook. The below mentioned guidelines are my suggestions for creating a prominent digital footprint on Facebook by using a Facebook Page.
Guide For Promoting Your Business Using A Facebook Page
Step1: A Facebook Business Page, as you might know is different from a profile. To make a page successful you will need a lot of people to “Like” the page and engage them in discussions. A good example of a successful Facebook Page is the when where business officials (e.g. helpdesk or blog authors) engage in conversations with fans and reply to queries.
Facebook Like Box
Step 2: The page should be linked with your website using a “Like Box” and Favicon (as shown in the below image). This can be specially done for the blogs attached to the main website. People who like a post on a blog are likely to like your Facebook Page. Moreover, any promotional material or post that is published on the Facebook Page will show up in the Facebook Social Feed of subscribers, which can be even more helpful in promoting your brand.
Things To Consider When Making a Facebook Page:
Step 3: Following is a list of a few things that you should consider when building a Facebook page.
1. Vanity URL: A vanity URL reflects the name of the owner of the page, e.g. www.facebook.com/”yourbrandname”. The biggest advantage of a vanity URL is that it seems relevant and reflects the company or individuals identity.
2. Creative Cover Image And Page Layout: A creative cover image and properly organized page is necessary to make it possible for visitors to grasp the given information about the company and the promotional content available on the page.
3. Better Visibility For More Important Content: More important content such as promotional material or potentially viral posts should be kept on top while others can be demoted. Facebook also allows pinning posts to make them more prominent.
4. Regular Posting: Regular posts will have to be published to keep the page interesting; this can include blog post links, a press release, etc.
5. Automation: Post automation can help save valuable time and also automatically keep the page updated. This can be done by using a number of free services (some are listed below).
- RSS Graffiti (Facebook App and Web Service)
- Seesmic (Web Service)
- Dlvr.it (Web Service)
6. Visitor Tracking: Visitor tracking and stats are necessary to keep an eye on the page’s progress. These are made available by Facebook to the Page’s moderator via email and on the page.
7. Meta Descriptions: The meta descriptions of the published posts on the Facebook page should be clear enough for the visitor to understand.
8. Tagging The Page: This strategy can also be used for cross bookmarking content. For example, when sharing interesting posts a user can tag the Facebook Page to direct users to it.
Cross Bookmarking
Step 4: Cross bookmarking is an SEO technique used to bookmark content from one social media service to another (e.g. tweeting posts from the Facebook page). This helps get better search engine leverage for your shared content and can be helpful in promoting the Facebook fan Page. For example, let’s say that a user has 800 Twitter followers and just 100 Facebook Fan Page likes he/she can begin sharing the Facebook page content on Twitter so that the 800 followers see the link in their social media feed, hence creating an opportunity to make the page more popular.
Create And Connect YouTube Channel
Step 5: If you are looking for better social media promotion, then it is worth making a YouTube channel and linking your Facebook and other social media pages with it. You can get some ideas from my personal YouTube Channel, which has more than 39,000 video views in just a few months after its launch. The YouTube channel can also be linked to the Facebook page by adding a YouTube section to the Fan page. Likewise, pages from other social media accounts can be linked to the Facebook page to direct visitors. As an example, see the WML Cloud YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/wmlcloud
Questions Polls and Fan Feedback
Step 6: These can be used to keep the visitors interested and to start discussions.
Giveaways
Step 7: At a blog that I used to work for sometimes received a giveaway offer. This is an offer from a web service or mobile/desktop application developer to give out a free license for his paid app. In such a case the blogger does the following:
1. Writes a post about the product and its features
2. Prompts visitors to Like the Facebook page (of the blog) and to leave a comment as to why they need this app/web service license.
3. The most interesting answers are picked and the people who leave interesting comments in reply to the post, are sent the license. Normally developers offer 5-10 such licenses for a free giveaway.
Attractive Post Title: The title of such posts is often something like “Free Android App Giveaway”. From experience I can tell you that people engage in viral discussions when such offers are presented and the Facebook activity/likes increase quite quickly. This is because people will try to get an app for free even if they have little use for it.
Benefit For The Developer: The developer gains the benefit of getting free publicity. Sometimes one can also directly contact application developers to offer a giveaway on the blog.
While I can go on with the type of steps that can be taken to promote a Facebook Fan Page I’m sure that the above mentioned details will give you a rough idea regarding the plan that I present.
Promotion On Other Social Media Websites
It is worth pointing out that a similar strategy can be used for other social media websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Wikipedia and others. If someone is able to get a useful tip or guide from a blog or video, they are likely to recommend the service or blog to others. For example, when Windows 8 was released I realized that the most difficult part a common user will have to go through it is to find the Shutdown button (hard to believe isn’t it). But as you can see from my video (link given below), my screencast on this topic has had thousands of views:
How To Restart, Log Off And Shutdown Windows 8
The point is, sometimes the small things can count more than the big ones. For promotion of your business or blog across other social media websites, see my post: How To Promote Your Website With The Help Of Social Media. If you found this post useful, then don’t forget to Like the WML Cloud Facebook Page.
