Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

Did you know that by the end of March your companies Facebook page will be moved over to a new layout? This new layout has several aesthetic changes that allow businesses to highlight their brand and company heritage.

Up until now, most successful business Facebook pages had a content rich Custom Tab and News Feed strategy to engage their audience. The focus was “what is happening right now?”. With the new timeline features it will be about not only what is happening now, but what has your business done / been a part of in the past?

Facebook is currently offering you visual testing, so you can see how your business page will look after the conversion. Be sure to see how your business page is going to look and also make sure you are aware of several new features of the Facebook timeline:

Cover Image. A cover image is a large (850px by 315px) image across the top of your business’ Facebook page. This is one of the big introductions in the new timeline layout and you might have already seen examples of these on personal Facebook pages already converted to the new timeline.

A cover image shouldn’t be approached as just another profile picture, but think of this as an image that gives you the opportunity to create a great first impression. Beyond that, your Facebook cover image should drive home your overall brand image and makes it stick in the users mind.   

Before you create or upload any new cover image, please note that Facebook does have guidelines for what content can and should be there (specifically surrounding call-to-actions). Be sure to brush up on these guidelines before creating any images for this space. You might want to also consider rotating this image as often as you can to keep your fans interested.

Milestones. Considering the new layout is a “Timeline” focus, it only makes sense that major milestones and activities are going to be dated and marked along the way. Users will actually be able to look or filter through your information and the major milestones accomplished based on dates. Milestones also allow you to add a picture, so be sure you are snapping photos and adding them for major events!   

Pins. This new feature allows you to control how important stories or news updates on your business’ Facebook page are seen. When you pin something on your page it will remain at the top of your timeline for 7 days (or until it is unpinned). This means you can have featured content each week and makes promoting weekly specials easy.

While being aware of the new features is obviously important, it is also good to know that there are also several changes that limit previous features or take them away all together.

Profile Pictures. While this isn’t a huge change, the size of the new profile picture has actually shrunk (due to the new cover image) to 180px by 180px. This means you have a very limited space, making businesses’ previous attempts at including call-to-actions in their profile pictures almost impossible. Focus on using a profile picture that promotes your brand while being clean and simple.

Default Tabs. One of things most businesses did when setting up their Facebook page was to create a default tab for non-fans; these tabs were used as a tool to increase fan conversion. Well, Facebook is taking these away in the new timeline layout. That means your business’ Facebook page is going to have to utilize new tools, such as cover image and pins, to convert users into fans.

Just remember, even with the new layout, the goal of your business’ Facebook page should be about engagement and providing useful content for users. Focus on those key elements when converting your page over to the new Facebook timeline and you should have no problem maintaining and increasing your fans.

Before creating your business’ Facebook page or converting it over to the new timeline layout, you need to have a Social Media Strategy - Download our Social Media Strategy Kit to develop your own.

So you already have a great Facebook page, share content regularly and have a pretty healthy “like” count? Great! That is a good start.

To truly take advantage of that Facebook network you need to engage users. How do you do that? Well here are a few ideas to get your engagement started:

Share. Make sure you aren’t only sharing links to your website - post photos, ask questions, reshare useful content, etc.

Have fresh content. Refresh (rewrite) content as often as you can – try once every quarter to start.

Promote special offers. Try running an exclusive pricing deal or promotional offer on Facebook. Or, try a giveaway for customer interaction – example: “Answer our poll question for $5 off your next visit” or “What did you think of our last blog post? Leave a comment and your next order is shipped free!”.

Reward loyal fans. Have a “Fan of the Month” highlight where you reward those who are engaging with you and on behalf of your brand across Facebook.

Having a large network on Facebook is important, but how that network is interacting and engaging with you is equally (if not more so) important. Engage your network and be successful on Facebook.

Want more Social Media tips? Download our Social Media Marketing Strategy Kit.  

Facebook's New Mobile Application Facebook Deals Adds A New Benefit To Social Media Marketing.

Businesses are finding more ways to capitalize on the merging of mobile marketing and social media together. Smartphone users view their emails on their phones and most users now access their social sites the same way. This has changed the way we send out messages and communicate with our friends, family, and clients so that they can also be viewed on cell phone screens. Text messaging has also given a new opportunity to stay in contact with cell phone users.

Facebook launced Facebook Deals just 6 weeks ago. This is a new application that targets smartphone users and is making a strong push for Facebook to enter into the multi billion dollar online coupon space. Currently it only works for computer users, Android and iPhone users, but will eventually become available to all cell phone users.

This application works in conjunction with Facebook's Places application. When a Facebook user identifies their physical location Facebook Deals will search for discounts and sales in close proximity to that place.

Deals will only show up for businesses that have a Facebook business page that the smartphone user has said they 'like'. So, when a user indicates through Places that they are dining at a specific Chicago eatery Facebook Deals can kick in and let them know that the restaurant down the street is offering 1/2 price desserts and the women's boutique next door is offering 30% off all accessories.

Now a nearby fan of these establishments has a great reason to stop in even if that hadn't been part of their original plan. This also encourages businesses to increase the number of Facebook users that 'like' them. Growing this base of fans will increase the value of an application such as Facebook Deals.

There is great potential for businesses small and large to benefit from this new Facebook application. Staying current with new advances in social media marketing is imperative to continuing to help your business grow and evolve.