Facebook - How to Get Your Fans to See Your Page

Reports from small business owners is that the November changes to Facebook and then the recent Timeline change have both impacted negatively in page interaction and lead in many cases to a fall in sales. 

This may be very frustrating to page owners, but facebook now works on the very reasonable assumption that if someone really does like a page they will interact with it and continue to do so.  It means that Facebook users no longer have to go and unlike the pages that they are no longer interested in - as those pages will slowly slip away into the mist naturally.  If you think about it from a user's point of view, it is totally sane.

But from a page owner's point of view, it can be a bit of a nightmare!

There are many very complicated metrics that work to decide exactly how long your posts continue to be shown in someone's feed before they start to drop out and not be shown as often or not at all.   And to make things just that bit more fun, it's not the same for all interactions, for all users, or for all pages, so there is no magic formula I or anyone else can share with you. 

However, what we do know is that  
more interaction = more chance of being seen

Here are a few basic things you need to know:

• liking a page no longer means the liker will see all that page's posts in their feed
• people no longer have to like your page to see it in their feed
• in order to see a page in their feed, a person must interact with it
• the interactions must continue - once someone stops interacting with the page it will begin to drop out of their feed until posts are no longer seen.

Okay, so, you need to be interesting - it's that simple.  Think about what your fans want to see - why did they like you or interact with you in the first place?  Are you funny?  Do they like your goods?   Do they like to answer questions you ask?  Are your photos shared far and wide? 

In the coming posts, I will talk about how to work out what your followers like and how to use that information to keep them interacting... meanwhile, make sure you post on average once a day to keep people interested!

What's hot in social media?

 The only thing that changes faster than a politician's opinion after an exit poll is what's hot in social media.  And this week's star of the show is Pinterest.

When I first discovered Pinterest I though "How quaint!" and kept on moving.  It seemed like a fun thing but not really of much use to me, even socially - and certainly not for my businesses.  Then somehow I went back for another peek a couple of weeks later and was drawn in by the fun of being able to keep - or 'pin' - the things that made me smile so that I could revisit them at some later date. 

And revisit I did.  And again.  And again.

It was only after a fair few social visits that I began to realise that Pinterest could actually be a good way to share my work and get it seen. 

So I uploaded a dress that I'd made for my sewing venture mooandflo, and sure enough within about 3 minutes I'd got an email saying it had been repinned umpteen times and liked by gazillions of others (where gazillions = maybe five).

I even pinned my flobusiness logo, which has been liked and repinned for heaven knows what reason.  Maybe it's the dashing curve of the line, the bold use of orange, who knows. 

My interest was piqued.

So now I upload and pin most things I make, and I've found it does indeed lead to more views on the blogs and even the odd like on Facebook, though it's yet to lead to a sale.  Whether it's a good use of my time is yet to be seen.

Will it be a continue to be a phenomenal hit?  Will the bubble burst?   Will it prove itself useful to businesses in the long term?  Who knows? 

Either way, I seem to be hooked.

~ Dianne

Facebook Launches 'Offers' - a Coupon System for Businesses

Facebook just can't stand still at the moment - the latest thing to launch are 'Offers'.

What are Facebook Offers?
Business pages will be able to offer discounts to their fans by posting an 'offer' on their Facebook page.

Will they cost anything to create?
No, they are free to use.

How does the customer redeem the coupon?
The customer claims the offer by clicking on it on their Facebook page (a bit like 'liking') after which they will get an email to the address set to their Facebook account.  The emailed coupon can then be shown at the business's real life physical shop to get the discount.  There doesn't seem to be a mechanism for businesses that operate online only.


Excellent - I am going to rush off and create an offer right now!
Whooa there, cowboy.  Unfortunately, unless you are one of the big guns that Facebook has trialing it, 'Offers' are not available to you just yet.  Hopefully, though, it will be rolled out to smaller businesses in the not-too-distant future.

As always, I'll keep my ear to the ground and let you know as soon as there's news.

~Dianne

References:
https://www.facebook.com/help/offers

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

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.

Many Hats

If you run a small business, you no longer are just a baker or a seamstress or a plumber or whatever.  Suddenly you're a receptionist, office manager, credit controller, accountant, advertising agency and marketer.  And whilst you can fudge some parts of each of those and get away with it, it will serve you better if you aim to do each one well.  It will save you time in the long run - not to mention money and sanity.

My tips:

• stay on top of your accounts - without that information you have no idea how you are doing, what is working and what is not, let alone whether you are solvent.
• do the filing at least once a week - you won't regret it, and it doesn't have to be a complicated filing system, just a system of some sort.
• answer your phone and emails professionally and with good manners.  Sounds obvious but how many calls do you come away from as a customer where you think the person on the other end was unhelpful or disorganised?  Do you want that reputation for your own business?
• think carefully about where you advertise - what custom you want to attract and from where, otherwise you will waste money.  

and last but not least by any means

• learn about social media and what it can do for your business.  And I mean really learn - not just a few random tweets and a dead Facebook page.  Find out how they work and use them in a targeted way.  You won't regret it.

You need many hats, but make sure you find the right ones and wear them well!