Video Tour of the New Facebook Business Page Timeline

This video walks Facebook users through the new timeline for business, with detailed help on the many features and what you can do with them.  It's over 8 minutes long but is well worth it, as it's very clear and concise, and covers a lot of the quirks too.

Watch it here 

~Dianne

How To Get Your Facebook Business Timeline

If you want to take a peek at the new business timeline features, go to Facebook's own page and it's all explained there.

In a nutshell:

• if you see the banner at the top of your business page asking you whether you want to use timeline, click 'learn more'.  This takes you to the 'learning more about facebook timeline' page
• Click 'preview your pages' (top left)
• You will be asked to log in as your personal account - do that.  This takes you to a 'page update status' page
• Choose the business pages you want to change over to timeline, turn on preview, and then - if you wish - publish.

That's all there is to it.

This is one of my business pages, post-pimping.

If you want a closer look at the new layout before jumping right in, have a look at these examples


https://www.facebook.com/theamazingspiderman

https://www.facebook.com/Starbucks
https://www.facebook.com/mooandflo

Do let me know what you think about the changes and how easy they were to implement.

~Dianne

Facebook Timeline for Businesses - The Latest

So, the announcement is out and as I awoke this morning in New Zealand there was already a wee banner on my Facebook business page asking me whether I'd like to preview the business timeline.  I said yes - nothing changed.  Hmmm.  Maybe it'll come later in the day. 

Nonetheless, here is a breakdown of what's what with Facebook Business Page Timeline::

• business pages' tiemline will roll out between now and March 30th.
• you can opt into it sooner than that, but by 30th March you'll have no choice.
• once timeline is operational on a business page, it will be the default landing place for visitors.
• the business timeline will have the big banner pics just as the personal timeline does.
• admins will be able to make certain posts appear larger.
• admins will get a new dashboard from which to see stats, comments, notifications, and other key information.
• admins will also be able to put one post per week at the top of their page and have it stay there.
• facebook users will be able to contact a business page direct, by message, privately, just as personal users can contact each other. (That app can be turned off if you don't want it).

So far, from my perspective, that all seems quite sensible and useful.  Here's hoping for a nice smooth transition.

Facebook Timeline for Brands and Businesses - Announcement Due

Facebook are due to announce more changes, and amongst other things they will be bringing in a timeline for businesses and brands.

Announced by Live Stream
They invite us to join them on Wednesday 29th February as they "...announce Facebook's newest and most powerful marketing products."  promising us hapless users that "Facebook and industry leaders will share new solutions, actionable insights, and strategies to drive business growth using social technology."

You can watch it live here.

Thumbs Up or Feed to the Lions?
Whether these changes will be received any better than the personal timeline was is yet to be seen.  Whether they cater for small businesses as well as they giants will be foremost in many minds - certainly the changes late last year seemed detrimental overall to the small business owner.

However, timeline might just lend itself well to promoting brands as it could provide a stream of branding and marketing information that Facebook users can easily access and read, and there's hope that this might be just as useful for us minnows as it is for the giants.

Timing of the Announcement
For us Kiwis, New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of New York, so we will have to be awake at 7am Thursday morning if we want to watch it live.  And it goes on for five hours. Crimminy!

I'm thinking maybe a fair few people will have other things to do at 7am and midday, like, maybe work, so I'll keep you all updated with news as it comes in via the blog and my Twitter stream

Watch this space.
~Dianne

Follow me on Twitter - Dianne Khan @ FloBusiness

Why Twitter is the Best News Source

Twitter is a relative newcomer to the Social Media scene and yet has an astounding following.

Every major event that I have wanted to know about this year has been more widely, more speedily, and more reliably reported by Twitter than the mainstream media.  When the earthquakes hit Christchurch, it was through Twitter that I first got a clear picture of events - which suburbs were hit, the level of severity, and so on.  And if a superstar does anything exciting, well it'll be all over Twitter like a rash within seconds.

Speed
News is tweeted within minutes or even seconds of an event, making Twitter faster than newspapers, radio and television by far.

Wide Coverage
So many people are Tweeting any given event that you will normally have many and varied viewpoints, making it possible to sift through and get a wider version of an event than mainstream media might give you.  It might also allow readers to see opinions and ideas they hadn't considered and which other media might not report.  Follow  two or three media giants as well as smaller fry to get a wide coverage of views.

Multiple Viewpoints
As well as following those you respect and hold similar views to, it's worth following people you don't have common view with.   Why? Well there are two excellent reasons:

1. There is nothing more valuable that considering BOTH sides of an argument, and 
2. Knowing what your adversaries, opposition or competition are saying is invaluable.

Tracking Events - Hashtags
Hashtags are what people add to tweets to categorise them for easy searching.  For example #Oscars or #Australia or #tsunami.   If any big news hits, use the hashtag to track the latest.  To do this just use the search box to get the latest, using whatever hashtag is being used by others.  The busiest ones are listed on your twitter home page so you can always see what is trending, although these are often facetious and not altogether helpful for newshounds or businesses.

Now, make sure your Twitter account is open at all times and check it regularly - you will be amazed what you will learn.

Social Media Marketing - Plan and Share Carefully

If your business tried to sell itself online in any way then you must think, and think carefully, about your social media marketing strategy.

You think it doesn't matter?  You're just a wee crafter?  A one-man-band?  Think again.

PLAN
You must plan very early on - before you get started would be ideal.  The golden rule is 'the earlier you plan, the better'.  Carefully consider these key things:

• What is it about your business that want to promote?  
• How do you want your company to be seen?
• Who is your ideal customer? 
• What is your goal?

Make sure you have these basics thought through before you begin, that way you will have a good, clear focus, your customers will start to get a good feel for the company from the start, and your online presence will be consistent.

Plan, and you'll be targeting the right people with the right message to sell a specific product or service.

SHARE CAREFULLY
Do not over-share.  Do not share randomly.  Do not share things that could harm your business's image.

• Too much sharing can drive your potential customers batty and even turn them off your company altogether.   To a certain degree, less is more.
• Share things that fit with your company's profile and that your customers would want to hear. Make sure that whatever it is, it  serves to strengthen your image.
• Do not share things that could upset or offend your customers - be very sure it is relevant and appropriate.  One really big mistake could cause a lot of damage.  If in doubt, don't share it.

 Make every interaction count.

If you have already forged ahead with your social media, it's not too late to pause and put the above advice into practice.

Do it now.

Simple Facebook Facts - How to Engage Customers

Talking to small business owners and sole traders, it seems that the majority don't understand how Facebook's metrics work, especially since the changes late last year, and still rely on people 'liking' the page in order to get customers to their page and seeing their wares.

Here's the cold hard fact:  when a person "likes" your page it no longer ensures she sees your content. 

Here's what you must do: Stop focusing on getting lots of likers and instead focus on giving the ones you have a good experience.

Here's how it works : 
Give fans content that they engage with.  In order for it to be of use to you, they must comment, share, click like and so on - this registers with Facebook that they want to see your page, therefore Facebook is more likely to show your page on that user's wall in future.  If their engagement drops off, so Facebook will bring your page to their attention less and less.  So you must find ways to get them to interact and do so repeatedly. 

Remember - Engagement is what keeps those likers seeing your page.

What can you do?

• You can ask your fans questions - people love to share opinions.  You can do this as a status update sometimes and other times use the questions application (app).

• Add photos - not too many at once, and certainly not lots of batches one after another or you will swamp people's walls and they are likely to 'hide' your page - you do not want that to happen.  Photos will often get comments and likes by fans, and is an easy way to engage them.

• Have competitions - simple and fun things work best.  Make sure whatever it is, it's relevant to your business.  For example, if you sell cards, ask for a caption for a card and offer the winner a prize from a certain folder - many potential customers will go and look through the folder to choose what they might win.  That way you get lots of interactions from the one competition and you share your products with potential new buyers.

•  Add video or links to videos that are appropriate to your business.  Videos carry a lot of weight with Facebook so getting people to interact with them is very valuable indeed.

The key to all interactions, though, is to remain honest to your company, your values, and your own voice - just be you - in the hope of gaining a following by giving the customer what he or she wants.

Social Media in New Zealand

This short video gives a good overview into the numbers of people, particularly in New Zealand, using key social medium and their likes and dislikes. 

Take 4.44 minutes of your time and learn something useful: