Facebook emerged as the largest and most influential social network online. It is also becoming a great place for business owners to promote your products and/or services. In order to improve facebook marketing, here are 15 tips to optimize your activities on Facebook and help you acquire more likes, engaging with your audience and provide ideas to keep them coming back for more.
1. Create your compelling profile picture
Facebook specs recommend that profile pictures should be 200px wide, while height can vary as needed. Actually, Facebook thumbnails are square with rounded corners, and sized based on the length of the shortest side of your image. So when you create your profile image that’s 200px wide, allow a 12 pixel border around crucial information such as a logo to allow for automatic cropping.
When setting up your page, select your photo carefully. Use your business’ logo or other appealing photo representing your product and/or service.
2. Create an appealing landing page
An appealing landing page can dramatically increase your Facebook fan growth. The idea is that instead of sending people to your facebook wall, you send them to a landing page with more interesting message you want to provide. For example, you can give a short description of your product and/or service and tell people to click the “become a fan” button.
3. Optimize your website’s share preview
A key strength of Facebook is the viral spread of shared links into news feeds, using the Links application, built directly into the Publisher box at the top of your Wall. When anyone links to your site using this, the application presents the user with a number of images from the page that can be chosen as a thumbnail to accompany the link. Facebook provides specific information on how to do Share Preview with a snippet of code to add to the HEAD of your website pages that points to your desired image. A 100 pixel square preview is optimal. This not only requires no resizing by Facebook, but also provides a suitable shape for Digg, which uses the same code to pull its own Share Preview.
4. Display different content for fans and non-fans
Public Profiles now allow separate default landing areas for Fans and Non-Fans. This allows brands to display a “Become a Fan” incentive in an FBML box or Tab. Business owners want to find a simple way to display different content for Fans and non-Fans, by doing this you can separate your business from your personal stuff, such as communication with your family and friends. In addition, this allows for more useful scenarios, such as displaying a simple “Thank you” to people who become Fans, incentivizing visitors to “Become a Fan to see exclusive content/promo code/offer, etc.
So here’s a quick hack for creating an FBML box that can be used on the Wall or Boxes page (or in its own Tab) that displays different information to different users, depending on their fan logged-in status:
- Create a 1 cell borderless table, with a fixed height and width; for example, 100px.
- Create and define a background image for that cell to the same dimensions, which contains the information you want Non-fans to see.
- Create a same-sized image that contains the information you want Fans to see and insert that into the cell.
- Use the FBML tag to surround the cell contents.
This FBML Tag only displays its content to fans who are logged in.
5. Use vanity URL or custom domain
A vanity URL like www.facebook/onlinebusinesslab makes it easier for people to find you. But, you’ll need 25 followers before you get the option of creating one. You’ll find a direct link to create one at www.komando.com/news. However, you can use your own domain to point to your Facebook Page using a domain redirect. For example, you can set up http://facebook.mydomain.com to point to your profile, making it easy to remember and easy to share. The same tactic applies to profiles you may set up on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. as well.
6. Use Custom Tabs to Capture Leads
You can build a landing page that offers a free ebook for signing up and you can even change the offer by doing split testing.
7. Use a reveal page to acquire more Facebook ‘likes’
This will provide access to exclusive content such as an exclusive video, on-line tutorial or even a song that offers an incentive for your potential new fan to ‘like’ your Facebook page.
8. Integrate Facebook with your site
Use facebook social plugins for your site, making it easy for visitors to your Website to ‘like’ your Facebook Page. For example, you can let visitors “like” content you’ve posted to your site. A link will appear in the user’s News feed, potentially attracting the attention of the user’s friends. You can also include a box showing popular content. Or, show visitors what their friends like. It’s a handy way to help readers navigate your site. Facebook offers a number of Social Plugins you can easily add to your site. Find a link to the Social Plugins at www.komando.com/news.
9. Run polls
Facebook questions provides you a built in function on Facebook that can provide another means to interact and engage your readers.
10. Run surveys
Facebook is a great place to test whether a product is worth producing by asking people to vote on whether they like the product and you can open a live real time forum, which will offer you with free market research.
11. Embed a ‘Like’ button in your videos
You can upload a video to Facebook (not from YouTube) that allows people to ‘like’ your facebook page even within a video pop-up.
12. Link to twitter in your Facebook menu
This allows people the option to view your tweets on Twitter without forcing your fans to leave Facebook.
13.Respond to comments
Responding to comments creates good communication with your readers, so you will have more fans. This also improves your Facebook edge ranking.
14. Post valuable content
“Content is king”. Make sure that the content you add is interested to your fans. Post market news, useful tips related to your field, or links to where good information can be found. When you promote new products and/or services, offering reviews, discounts, or giveaways to add value to those posts.
15. Post frequently
Readers and Google like fresh content, so post high quality, fresh and frequent content.
If you want to market your business effectively using the significant marketing potential that Facebook represents, invest some time to learn it thoroughly, including its applications and add-ons. The most important thing is to take action and improve your facebook marketing strategy and tactics along the way to your online business success.
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