INFOGRAPHIC: A Brief Insight into Facebook Marketing

• 80% of social media users prefer to connect with Brands through Facebook.
• 42% of marketers say Facebook is critical or important to their business.
• 77% of B2C and 43% of B2B companies have acquired customers from Facebook.
• Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.

Okay, so now that we have reviewed a few statistics of why a Facebook business page is an effective marketing asset, let’s dive into the steps for creating a Facebook Business Page.

1. Create a New Business Page

Head on over to this url to set up your page: create new Facebook business page.

If you are currently using a personal profile for business purposes, you need to seriously consider migrating over to a business page as it’s a violation of terms to use a personal account to represent something other than yourself, including a business. Further instructions for migrating a personal account to a Facebook Page can be found here.

Facebook Business Pages are also pre-installed with custom functionality designed for each business type category. Unlike with Friends for Personal accounts, there are no limits to the number of people who can like your Facebook Page.

2. Choose a Classification

You’ll then need to choose one of the following classifications:

• Local Business or place: normally for businesses that have a physical location where customers can actually go to.
• Artist, Band or Public Figure
• Company, Organization or Institution: for companies or organizations that don’t have physical locations or customer storefronts.
• Entertainment: a place to promote something other than yourself.
• Brand or Product: if you are producing products on a large-scale.
• Cause or Community: a place to speak your mind

3. Choose a Category

Depending on the classification you chose in step 2, you will be able to choose a category and add in your brand or company name. Categories and sub-categories are becoming more and more important for Facebook Pages with the implementation of Graph Search. Be sure to pick categories and sub-categories that accurately describe your business, product, or service.

4. Upload an Avatar Photo

This would ideally be your company logo as this image will appear in news feeds and every time you leave a comment. Some companies get creative with this image because it also overlaps your cover photo (see step 7) at the top of your page.

5. Fill Out Your About Section

This should be a few short sentences about your business. Make this section very descriptive and to the point as you only get so many words to describe what your business does. It is a good idea to include your website url in this section, as a clickable link will appear to viewers.

6. Add Apps & Tabs

Facebook allows you to show up to 4 tabs at the top of your page, these are your favorites tabs, and then any additional tabs will be located in a drop down menu.

Your photos tab is always on the far left and displays the most recent photo uploaded. You can edit tab names, positioning, etc by hovering over the tab and clicking on the pencil icon. You can also add add more tabs in the drop down menu by clicking on the + icon. Apps such as the website app, which displays specific pages on your website, can be added by clicking on the Welcome tab.

You can also look to add custom tabs and images with Facebook developer. Custom tabs allow you to promote products and services not already included the pre-installed tabs.

7. Add Your Facebook Cover Photo

Go to your timeline and click on Add a Cover. Once you decide on a photo, you will be able to reposition it by clicking the photo and dragging it around. This photo takes up a large portion of your timeline real estate so try representing your company in a unique and creative way here. You will need to follow Facebook’s cover photo guidelines including: covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

Amplify Interactive Facebook Page

8. Custom Facebook Page URL

Once your page reaches 25 likes, you can create a custom url to reflect your business or business name. Note, that once you create a custom url you can only change it one time. Also, Facebook states that your custom url should accurately represent your business or the content you put on your page.

Steps to follow…

1. In the top right menu, click Edit Page
2. Select Update Public Info
3. Click Change Username

A couple tips after completing your business page:

• Use Facebook Insights to analyze what is working and what is not
• You can assign multiple people to help manage your page and give them different access roles.
• Keeping your page name and url short and catchy will help with the shareability of your page.
• Make your page very easy to navigate through and to locate important resources and links.
• Not all your fans will see every post, so you will need to engage your audience. The more likes, comments and shares a post gets, the more it will be shown to your fans.
• Lastly, produce consistent content that is highly relevant, engaging, helpful and enticing to your audience.

If you would like to add anything that I missed, tips, or resources – please leave a comment below.

Amplify Interactive is a Digital Marketing agency that provides search engine & social media marketing services for B2B clients. Check out our Search Marketing and Social Media Marketing services and our Clients or download one of our SEM Whitepapers. Go ahead and follow Amplify Interactive on LinkedIn or follow us on Slideshare or both!

Sources:
• Socialmediatoday.com
• Hubspot
• Cleargoalmedia.com

My attempt at desk decorating

Can you believe that it is December already?!? Hopefully everyone has recovered from all of the turkey, leftovers, and Black Friday shopping. I’ve been getting ready for the holidays and tried to spruce up my desk with some lights and a USB powered festive tree. In my last post of 2012, “Ashley’s Social Media Snapshots” covers: Instagram Embeddable Badges, LinkedIn API, Facebook Trims Reach of Brand Pages, and New Tools for Pinterest.

Instagram Launches Embeddable Badges

Instagram has been very busy this year. They were acquired by Facebook, launched web profiles (which I mentioned in last month’s snapshot), and now badges are available for users to embed on their sites. This is just another step that Instagram has taken to increase their presence on the web. This is great news for businesses, who will now be able to direct users directly to their Instagram web profile for easy navigation and increased interaction. Instagram released this statement in conjunction with the launch:

“We’ve launched Instagram badges to help you link to and promote your Instagram web profile. Instagram badges are available in a range of sizes and can be added to your website, blog or anywhere that you want to link to your Instagram web profile.”

New Tools for Businesses on Pinterest 

Does your company have a Pinterest account? If yes, have you converted your account to a business account? If not, create a business account now! With the recent addition of Pinterest business pages, Pinterest is rolling out several new tools and features that can help increase your presence on Pinterest, as well as integrate it with your overall social strategy. Here are a few new tools that you can start using:

• Verification badge: Website verification allows you verify the ownership of the website associated with your Pinterest profile.
  

  Amplify Interactive Profile Widget

  All you have to do is go to your ‘Settings’ and click on the ‘Verify Website’ button.

• Buttons and Widgets: The ‘Pin It’ and ‘Follow’ buttons are available for you to place on your site to increase traffic and awareness to your Pinterest profile. Another cool feature is the widgets that are available, including a ‘Profile’ and ‘Board’ widget that you can use.

Facebook Trims Reach Brand Pages

Source: Drew Neisser, Social Media Today

A recent change to the EdgeRank algorithm has resulted in limited reach for Facebook Brand pages. The change in the algorithm was originally meant to limit spam on the homepages of users, which has become significantly noticeable over the past few months. Through my personal Facebook account, I have noticed a large increase in spam posts on my homefeed, including posts that claim that one of my friends “likes” something, when they never “liked” the brand or page. This shift has sparked some controversy, with many speculating that this algorithm change was meant to drive more pages to buy promoted posts. Rich media content – photo and video posts – are facing the majority of backlash from the change and reach has decreased dramatically for posts, as shown in the graph. Regardless of the intention, the quality and content of posts has diminished, as has the economic value of a fan.

LinkedIn Reveals New API Program

LinkedIn launched their ads API program last week. Previously, campaigns were managed directly through the self-serve interface. The introduction of the LinkedIn API will allow greater flexibility in campaign management, including real time bid and budget adjustments. Currently, the API is available to a limited number of search partners and is a closed program. To request access, contact LinkedIn and sign an API agreement by filling out this form.

Justin Timberlake Revamps MySpace

This look and hair are definitely not bringing sexy back

Although Justin Timberlake has no chance in bringing sexy back (I’ve always been a Backstreet Boys fan), he is trying to bring back MySpace. Earlier this year Timberlake invested in the outdated social network and the new site layout was revealed this November. The emphasis of the redesign is music and new features include full-screen videos, a simplified interface, and the ability to “connect” with friends. Another unexpected element of the new site has users scrolling from left to right, rather than up to down.

Sound off in the comments below to let me know if there is something I missed!

Amplify Interactive offers Social Media Marketing services for small to medium sized businesses. Contact us today to chat about your Social Media Marketing strategy.

Google+ Hangouts Enhanced

The most recent update to Google+ Hangouts introduces a new layout and features that give the user more control in their Hangout experience. Invites, chats, and apps have been consolidated into a sidebar that you can show or hide.  The addition of the sidebar provides more space for what’s important – the people in the hangout. The new look is really clean and sleek. Additional new features include:

• Notifications are now easier to read and manage when you are in a hangout. Announcements will appear in gray, alerts in red, and actions in blue.
• Apps will be located in the sidebar and can be removed at any time.

Instagram Rolls Out Web Profiles

Nike Instagram Web Profile

Instagram is finally rolling out web profiles for Instagram users. The profiles are being released gradually (sadly, mine isn’t available yet) and will allow users to follow fellow Instragrammers on the web. Profiles are structured similarly to Facebook Timeline, which makes sense since they recently acquired Instagram this past September.

To see if your profile is web ready, check instagram.com/(username).

Hey Facebook, Twitter is Testing its own ‘Like’ Button

Although no official announcement has been made, Twitter has started using new buttons that have been introduced to a small amount of users. The new features include a ‘Like’ button and a ‘Star’ that is slated to replace the old ‘Favorite’ button. These rebranding efforts will increase actions that appear on the activity stream and complement the recently revamped Discover tab.

Video Comes to Self-Serve LinkedIn Ads Platform

LinkedIn Video Ad

Are you having trouble fitting all of your content into your LinkedIn ad? Worry no more – video ads on LinkedIn are finally here! Details regarding the new feature are:

• Video ads work with YouTube, allowing you to promote your presence on YouTube while promoting your videos on LinkedIn.
• Video size is 300×250
• The duration of the video cannot exceed 30 seconds

Sound off in the comments below to let me know if there is something I missed!

Amplify Interactive offers Social MediaMarketing services for small to medium sized businesses. Contact us today to chat about your Social Media Marketing strategy.

LinkedIn’s New, Simpler Homepage

LinkedIn: Introducing a Simpler Homepage

LinkedIn announced on their blog back on the 16th that they are creating a “simpler” homepage for user accounts. The changes have been rolled out since then. The big updates include:

• A newer, simpler, and more modern design
• More relevant updates on top
• A richer, cleaner update streams

Do you have the new homepage? What do you think?

Facebook UI Updates Galore

• Facebook Groups now allow you to see which group members have viewed each post.
• Events can now be viewed as a list or on a calendar.
• Facebook pages can now add locations to their posts.

Facebook Events Calendar

Groups: See Which Members Viewed Which Post

Olympics London 2012

If you haven’t noticed yet, several of us at Amplify are REALLY excited about the Olympics. Ashley wrote a fabulous Social Guide to the London 2012 Olympic Games post, I’m DVRing like it’s my real job, and Ryan is Googling random things we’re talking about – like the Australian Women’s Beach Volleyball team’s uniforms…

Twitter #Olympics

Not too surprising, many social networks are also featuring the Olympics in some way shape or form. Below are a few of my favorites:

• Twitter’s #Olympics Page
• Pinterest’s Natalie Coughlin Feature
• Facebook’s Olympics’ Page
• Postano’s Socialympics

Do you “like” something that I missed? Add it to the comments below. Check out more of my likes / +1′s on my Google+ Profile.

Amplify Interactive offers Social Media Marketing services for small to medium sized businesses. Contact us today to chat about your Social Media Marketing strategy.

Twitter Mobile: Old and New Comparison

Twitter Overhauls Their Mobile Website

Twitter announced yesterday that they completely rebuilt their mobile.twitter.com site from the ground up. They state the process resulted in “a lighter-weight, faster client that looks and feels like twitter.com and our mobile apps.” Big improvements from the old version:

• Pages are 63% smaller so they work better on certain networks
• Sessions are up to 37% smaller
• 63% fewer requests in some views, like profile pages

16 Creative Ways to Use Twitter for Business

Awesome post from Social Media Examiner. Many people think they know Twitter. They don’t have to look at the way they use it and determine if there are ways to improve. This blog does a great job of reminding us of little things that may help our twitter account to perform better. A few of my favorites:

• # 1: Organize whom you follow with lists
• # 6: Create a Twitter landing page
• #11: Stop following people who don’t tweet
• #13: Add photos to your tweets
• #14: Bookmark tweets you want to keep

Choosing How You’re Seen on YouTube

Google announced at the end of June that YouTube and Google+ integration is now available, basically providing you with one Google-wide identity. So what can you do with this integration?

1. Your Name: Choose to use your full name from your Google+ profile instead of your username.
2. Review Past Activity: Decide if you want to associate your full name with all your videos, comments, and playlists you’ve EVER posted.
3. Keep Everything the Same: Don’t want to make changes. Choose to not use your full name.

Check out the full details in their blog announcement.

GA App Dashboard

Data at Your Fingertips: Announcing the Google Analytics App for Android

If you’re like me, you’re reading the headline of this announcement going, “YES! Oh wait, man!! Why not for iPhone too!!” I’ve been waiting for a google analytics app directly from Google for a long time – I think I’ve bought 3 or 4 non-google google analytics apps so far. BUT…maybe this is the first step to getting one for iPhone too. So Droid users, help Google fix the bugs and make an awesome, bug free version for iPhone! =)

Do you “like” something that I missed? Add it to the comments below. Check out more of my likes / +1′s on my Google+ Profile.

Amplify Interactive offers Social Media Marketing services for small to medium sized businesses. Contact us today to chat about your Social Media Marketing strategy.