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5 Tips For Getting More from Facebook

Written by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: In continuing with my series of quick social media tips (check out 5 tips for LinkedIn) I’m covering some tips for business use of Facebook here. I’ve actually written about some of these tips in great detail before, but this can act as a quick primer for folks who like their info snack sized like this.

5 Tips For Getting More from Facebook

In continuing with my series of quick social media tips (check out 5 tips for LinkedIn) I'm covering some tips for business use of Facebook here. I've actually written about some of these tips in great detail before, but this can act as a quick primer for folks who like their info snack sized like this. 1. Fan page - Facebook had personal profiles and groups from the start, but a few months ago they added to the function called fan pages and made them more business friendly. Any business on Facebook should create a fan page for their business and start optimizing additional content there. The cool thing about fan pages is that it's now a lot like having another web site. You can add applications, newsletter sign-up pages and events and promote them to your friends on Facebook. When someone becomes a fan of your page, your updates on the page show up on their wall giving additional exposure. I wrote a pretty comprehensive post on the subject of Facebook Fan Pages here. Also, check out the Duct Tape Marketing Fan Page - http://www.facebook.com/ducttapemarketing - note the brand optimized URL - that's pretty new and something you should take advantage of.

2. Custom HTML - this one's a little more technical but when you create a fan page you will see that your page comes with tabs for various categories of content you create (each tab has it's own URL so you can promote each section on your fan page around the web). Using the Facebook Mark-up Language (FBML) you can create custom boxes of HTML content, like newsletter sign-up pages, blog RSS feeds, and white paper downloads just like you might on your web site. FBML is a Facebook application you can get here. I've also done a quick little video showing you how to add FBML custom HTML here.

3. Special content - Give your Facebook fans a little something extra they might not find on your blog or web site. Upload images from your PowerPoint presentations, articles from the local publication you contribute to, or on the fly videos created using the Facebook video application. You're bound to find some crossover from other social networks like twitter, so give the Facebook users something unique. I know some people caution about reposting twitter here, but I think it's perfectly fine. I get lots of comments from people who just happen to like to use Facebook more than twitter and this way they still get updates.

4. Events, videos and apps - Use the heck out of all of the Facebook applications. (Here's a post I did some time ago about some of the best Facebook business applications, many of which are now compatible with pages.) Promote events, upload or record video, hold contests and polls. All of this extra engagement is so easy to do using pre-built tools. And don't forget to integrate your Facebook activity back to your web site and blog using a Facebook Fan Box - I wrote about the Facebook FanBox tool here.

5. Ads for awareness - I think that Facebook has built one of the better ad targeting tools going. You can target ads to Facebook members on all kinds of criteria and run pretty low cost campaigns. The trick though is to run campaigns that are compelling and promote your FaceBook Fan Page instead of trying to sell something. Promote your white paper, events, and educational content - create awareness about your great content and your will get the chance to earn the trust it takes to actually sell something to someone. Here's where you go to find more info about Facebook Ads. And, I wrote about using Facebook ads to create awareness here.

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Article Tags: cool thing, custom boxes, custom html, duct tape marketing, facebook, fan page, fan pages, fbml, images, linkedin, newsletter sign, personal profiles, powerpoint presentations, site upload, snack, tabs



Related Forum Posts
Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Re: Social media question - Facebook is where I get all my traffic. Facebook is great, because you can create fan pages and your customers come to you. Twitter is good, but I just don't see the same results. I think Facebook is the most popular and it's easier for people to find what they're looking for.
Re: Facebook Advertising? - Facebook has more than 700 million active users and half of them log in on a daily basis. Through Facebook advertising, you can be sure to reach any particular segment. Conventional advertising models are expensive and difficult to reach a narrow target. Facebook advertising is one option that can get you results and target specific user groups. You may be the local beauty parlor, restaurant or a Fortune 500 organization, but eBizUniverse will show how to build your brand equity through Facebook advertising. Consider these ideal scenarios: You own a restaurant and wish to target those who are recently engaged to be married for their catering business. All you need to do is to find the women with the relationship status of “engaged” on Facebook and you have your desired segment with Facebook Ads. (See Sample Ads Below) There is a birthday special that your restaurant is offering and the Facebook Ads would be displayed only to those whose birthdays are in the offing. An event is being organized and you wish to target local college graduates, who are single and 25-35 years old. They are on Facebook and you can reach them with Facebook Ads.
Re: Are you going to use Facebook Timeline? - Hi apu, I Recently used Facebook Timelines, actually it seems like a Facebook blog which makes profile page more attractive but i don't think it will help in internet marketing because it also slow the speed of Facebook Page. Share your Experience!
Re: Facebook or Twitter? - Thanks for the feedback guys! I personally started with Twitter and am now moving over to Facebook. I polled people on both my accounts and (not surprisingly) the Twitter people said Twitter and the Facebook people said Facebook! The actual order of my social media presence looks like this: 1) LinkedIn (with little success) 2) Twitter 3) YouTube 4) Facebook


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