Many people are outraged about Facebook’s new decision to roll out Timeline and cover photos, but if you look at the evolution of the internet as a whole – these are relatively conservative changes compared to the technology available.

Here are my tips for what you could be seeing and using on Facebook sooner than you think.

1. Group Photo Upload

I hate it when three or four of my friends upload photos to separate albums. Each album originating from their own Facebook page which I then have to navigate to, I also don’t want to have to create a group every time I want everyone’s photos to be in the same album.

So, why not add a ‘group upload’ facility in which you have the option to view all yours and your friends’ photos from one event in the same place. The author would be listed and people can be tagged.

Statistically, most people have a close-knit group of friends that they see regularly and are therefore most likely to have pictures with, and with Google+ exploiting this notion, I see it as a way forward.

You heard me right; Google+ is on to something.

2. Custom Design

This one is tricky – part of the reason for the success of Facebook is its structure, making sure no-one is alienated and making sure that all functions are open to all of its members. But I would like to see some more personalisation controls, much like a simplified version of Word Press.

Facebook has different core functions for many different people, however for a large proportion; these functions cross over with the ideologies of what is fundamentally a blog.

I recently started a blog because of these customisable functions – so Facebook…try and stop me.

3. Ken Burns Effect Cover Photo

Now, my natural instinct would be to suggest that you could put a video where your current cover photo…or maybe not. Facebook is visually static, I remember when I first saw an animated GIF and filled my MySpace page with them just like everyone else. It ended up being a horrific mix of cartoons and thrusting storm troopers that would completely destroy the uniform of Facebook (or any other website for that matter).

No. A slideshow of photos in your cover window with the Ken Burns photo effect would be a perfect fit.

4. Live Profile Pictures

The option to actually see people when their online – Of course this would include functions to be heavily limited to your friend group, but I just can’t be bothered to type chat sometimes – it’s a lot of effort  to sum up the nights TV in writing to four people simultaneously.

Give us a customisable area on the timeline where we can physically see our friends.

Alternatively, simulate the use of video messages. Leaving a private or public video on your friend’s wall could be massive if Facebook tailored its functionality and focused on making it an easy task. With so many webcams built into devices – it’s a quick and easy way to share messages.

So come on Facebook – good work so far, but now is the time in your life cycle where you need to think radically about what technology can achieve for your company and your customers.

You created one of the world’s most innovative and successful companies; don’t think we expect anything less from you.

What do you think about the current state of Facebook? Good, or getting worse? If you have suggestions how to make it better, please share below.

[Image: Coletivo Mambembe]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by James Duval. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: 4 Simple Ideas To Revolutionise Facebook.

Pinterest is a fun and useful tool for business and online marketing. The visually oriented virtual pinboards allow users to pin and share images they find appealing. With over 12 million active users Pinterest is growing quickly; in fact it is one of the fastest growing websites ever! The site is already being used successfully by many big brands.

According to Mashable Pinterest drives more web traffic to other sites than Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube combined. See related post: Pinterest vs. StumbleUpon.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest users can easily post images from other websites into their own account using the “Pin It” tool on the task bar. They also like, comment on, and/or “repin” content others have already posted. Users often have multiple boards. My boards, for example, include Marketing and Social Media, Products I Love, and I Workout. Many pinners create boards for recipes, craft projects they’d like to try, and wish lists. No doubt, you’re already thinking about the boards you’ll create.

Each user decides which boards to follow, putting the control of what content they see in the hands of the viewer rather than the sharer. (Unlike Facebook, for example.)

How Can You Take Advantage of Pinterest for Business? Follow These 10 Tips.

1. Integrate Pinterest with other networks. Pinterest allows you to sign in via Facebook or Twitter. You can share your pins across your networks, letting those who already follow you know they can find you on Pinterest, too.
2. Use images. To ensure that your blogs are pin-worthy, be sure to include an eye-catching image with each post. Pictures of any products you sell should be enticing to pinners who may want to pin, comment, or like. Infographics are hugely popular as well.
3. When you pin, ask if your followers would re-pin. Include a link to your website, blog, or other social media presence.
4. Try a creative campaign. Consider a contest where your fans create images to be featured on your Pinterest page. Allow voting on favorite items on a specific board. Try featuring how-tos, videos, and posts that show another side of your service or product (we love behind-the-scenes).
5. Clearly label your boards. Think about the audience that will view it. Individuals can choose to follow all of a users boards or just the ones that interest them. (Compare this to Twitter where many people manage two accounts, one for business and one for pleasure. On Pinterest your boards can be completely unrelated and won’t flood your followers’ streams with things they’re not interested in.)
6. Use Pinterest widgets on your website, etc. Pinners will recognize that red P logo anywhere. (See our Pinterest -button further down the page.)
7. If you’re a photographer or designer, consider using Pinterest as a portfolio.
8. Control who can pin to boards. You can create boards that only you can pin to or allow a few specific people to pin. Create a community board and anyone can pin to it.
9. What doesn’t get measured can’t improve. Unfortunately there are no brand pages as of yet and therefore no metrics, but you can use tools like Google Analytics to track the popularity of your boards.
10. Get inspired. Be sure to follow those that might give you further ideas for marketing campaigns.

Pinterest For Business Infographic

Here is a great Infographic by Maria Peagler featuring some important things you need to know when using Pinterest for business purposes. (Sorry for changing the colours, Maria)

Pinterest For Business Video

This excellent video from Matthew Loop talks about the use of Pinterest in marketing your brand or business. Enjoy!

What About Your Pinterest Account?

Are you already using Pinterest in your business? Let us know in the comments below.

Social Media Revolver is on Pinterest

Click the button below to follow us. Cheers!

Pinterest For Business Book

If you want to learn more how to use Pinterest in your business, check out Pinterest For Business Made Easy from Kim Castleberry. [Yep, you guessed it, it is an affiliate link. Still, the book is actually very good!]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Terra Fletcher. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: Pinterest For Business – 10 Ways To Pin It.

You can learn more about the Timeline update if you read the Facebook Timeline Survival Guide. But don’t read it now! Do it later, ok?

Ok, let’s have a look at how some of the biggest brands, companies and artists are using these new Facebook banners. Some are taking full benefit of the added creative space, and some … not so much.

29 Cool Facebook Page Banners

These banners are not in any ‘best of’ order. All these companies are leaders in their respective fields, so it’s safe to assume that they have done a good job in designing their new Facebook Page banners.

Microsoft

Microsoft is using the most traditional trick in the advertising book; smiling, happy people. I’m assuming these girls are using a Windows phone, probably Nokia Lumia, and posting a picture of themselves on Facebook. Ok, it might be Samsung Galaxy as well…

Samsung Mobile

Samsung Mobile is one of the few companies that have integrated the Facebook profile picture into the banner design. This banner is lovely but see Ford and Sprite a bit later for better examples.

eBay

The biggest online auction website in the world eBay is up to date with their Mother’s Day themed banner.

Ford Mustang

See how cleverly Ford has picked up their profile picture from the front of the red Mustang. Nice!

If you want to pull the same stunt you can download a free Photoshop template here:

Sony

Sony has designed a clever collage of ‘all things Sony’. You can see some famous game characters as well as different situations where Sony products can be used.

BMW

BMW is featuring their latest super car, the i8 Spyder. Me wants it!

Barbie

Mattel’s Barbie is probably the most famous toy in the world. She is 53 years old but still going strong!

Toys R Us

I have no idea what this banner is about, but Toys R Us is one of the biggest toy retail companies in the world, so I’m sure they’d know.

Gibson Guitars

Gibson is the most legendary guitar brand on the planet (alongside Fender) and they have chosen a nice, laid back studio environment for their Facebook banner. I’m a bit surprised about that Epiphone featured in their profile picture instead of a ‘real’ Gibson.

Fender

Fender is the other world famous guitar brand used by musicians such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Richie Blackmore, David Gilmour and of course, Jimi Hendrix. Fender’s banner presents two of their most popular models Stratocaster and Telecaster.

New York Giants

New York Giants are one of the most successful American Football teams. They won the Super Bowl this year (again) and are, of course showing it in their Facebook banner. See related story here: Super Bowl 2012 Social Media Showdown.

Adidas

Adidas is using the same trick as Microsoft featuring happy, shiny people on their Facebook Page banner. They are much bigger on Facebook that Nike by the way.

Monster Energy Drink

Monster is featuring quite a dramatic image of the Finnish snowboarding wizard Eero Niemelä. Move over Red Bull!

Sprite

The second famous drink from the Coca-Cola Company, Sprite has a fresh looking banner which cleverly uses the bottle label as the profile picture. Mind you, it’s caffeine free!

Heineken

The Dutch beer brewer Heineken has a crisp, corporate green design on their Facebook banner.

Now, let’s see what kind of banners the biggest social networks are using. First up, Facebook!

Facebook

Nice colours, but I’m not quite sure what this banner is about. Facebook connects over 800 million wraiths? Does look quite cool though,.. or what do you think?

Twitter

Twitter isn’t doing much better with theirs. Looks like something Dream Works Animation would use. But it isn’t, because they are using this one:

Dream Works Studios

Nice collection of Dream Works’ most beloved animated characters.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has hooked up with Apple to get some additional recognition. Clever move from Jeff Weiner, Reid Hoffman et. al.

Google

Hmmm? Red, yellow and green bubbles. Omg! Lol! Wtf?

Barack Obama

The 44th president of the United States has also linked up with some external help. Is George really more popular than Barack?

Greenpeace

…and one more one of those banner partnerships! Is this becoming a trend now? See how that smoke is extending from the MacBook to the background? Cool, eh?

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has settled for their famous ‘symbol globe’ on their banner, but what is that brick wall?

Coldplay

This Coldplay banner was actually used in Facebook’s own material when they introduced the new Timeline for Pages. Regardless, I’m still not a fan.

Madonna

The queen of Pop is using a classical and stylish banner. You go, Material Girl! Check out Madonna’s Girls Gone Wild as our Video of the Week!

Lady Gaga

50 million fans can’t be wrong. Lady Gaga rules Facebook!

Elvis

Lady Gaga might be the ruler of Facebook but Elvis is still the King! 35 years after his death Elvis is bigger than ever. He had 2.8 million fans in March 2011 and now over 6 million! How does that happen?

Kim Kardashian

Famous for being famous, Kim Kardashian does what she does best. Showing herself of course. Five times.

Diablo 3

Blizzard’s Diablo is one of the most popular computer games ever and now they are coming out with their long awaited third instalment. Evil is back and I can’t wait!

Angry Birds

The most downloaded game on the planet. Over 500 million, and counting Angry Birds features their latest game version, Space on their Facebook banner. Did you know that Rovio Entertainment produced over 30 games at a loss before they hit the jackpot with Angry Birds? Talk about perseverance. Perkele!

What Do You Think?

Which one is your favourite? Did I miss some good ones? I’m sure I did, so if you have seen a cool Facebook banner lately, please post a link in the comments.
[Ok, yes, it can be your own as well...]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: 29 Cool Facebook Timeline Banners.

Pinterest Is All The Rage, As Of This Writing

When it comes to referral traffic let’s remember, every action in liking, re-pinning and sharing in Pinterest is visually-driven. Recipes, kittens in coffee cups, hot infographics, and inebriated people removing themselves from the gene pool – along with brilliant photographic and video work will get seen, shared (read: lifted and “repinned” to others’ boards) and make you the cat’s meow in Pinterest.

Seldom Discussed Pinterest Fact

Pinterest Is Hardly New. Private beta invites went out in the beginning of March, 2010.

I think it’s just a matter of how long I’ve been using Pinterest and perhaps the OsakaSaul name that people have “seen around” that has caused me to collect likes, repins and a slew of followers within Pinterest.

I have been kicking their tires for nearly two years, and while they’re gotten flashy, I would love to see them be more thoughtful to the user in their user experience.

My ideas for just the most obvious Pinterest UX improvements:

• Close windows after we’ve liked/shared
• Let us multi-share with boxes to tick, rather than having us repeat steps
• Provide us with us more condensed view options – so we can get more done with a lot less scrolling

For me, words are my strength.  Article titles drive traffic from many sources, and terms, or ‘keywords’ within the body of posts draws natural search traffic.  A couple Google Analytics screenshots should speak volumes.

For referral traffic, or page views, StumbleUpon is still doing it for me, with 1,095 page views in the last 30 days (just 4 new articles published in that time), and Pinterest, where I have had an account and boards for about two years, does not even make the top 25.

Also, note the 1.19 page visits (means some people see other pages after the one they came to see, once on my blog) and an average stay of 58 seconds:

Where do I find Pinterest within Google Analytics?  39th place – seven visits in 30 days.

Seven visits, thanks to my six boards in Pinterest and dozens of images, most of which lead to OsakaBentures.com.  While the Time on site of 10:13 and 3.57 average pages viewed would look glorious, I’m not buying it:

1. The sample is too small – just seven visits to my blog from Pinterest, so, I’m guessing that one or more people left their computer on and the browser showing my blog and did other things for an hour or so – before closing the browser or going elsewhere on the internet;
2. My own wife would not listen to me for 10:13 at a time (or read 3.57 of my writing) – even when we were still dating, and she still felt compelled to pretend to take interest in what I had to say.

If you, too, are not using breathtaking images, infographics, or showcasing the People of Walmart in original and shocking ways…

How To Get More Referral Traffic From Stumble Upon

1. Follow people you know, to start, but understand that it will take some time to understand how they are going to use StumbleUpon. I get better and better at looking at a Stumbler’s number of likes, the recency of likes and what they like – and decide if the Stumbler is going to appreciate what I share to them, perhaps “SU-like” on occasion, and maybe not share tons of odd stuff to me.
2. Every couple days, from Profile > Connections > Visitors, from the pull-down menu, see who you don’t already know (they could be people you are already connected to who simply looked at your likes most recently), and see what their stats tell you.  What do they like? How often, and when was the last time they shared content? Follow (or don’t) wisely; you can only follow 500 people in StumbleUpon.
3. Review your own post, and also go through your blog circle, etc. and SU-like your supporting bloggers’ latest posts. The first review on a page is the StumbleUpon “Discovery Review” – and counts the most for StumbleUpon SEO.  StumbleUpon allows you to add as many tags as you like, but actually uses the first five you provide. These, multiplied by the number of likes you have on the page, once reviewed, increase the likelihood that your page will appear “randomly” before Stumblers who are Stumbling their followed topics.
4. For reviews on your own posts/pages – or any that you want to be sure get in front of many Stumblers’ eyes – test your tags in the StumbleUpon “Explore Box,” which suggests acceptable StumbleUpon topics from words and phrases that you input.

If your content is not particularly visually dynamic and/or if you are seeing far better referral traffic results, please share what you are doing differently.

Social Media Revolver is on Pinterest

Click the button below to follow us. Cheers!

Pinterest For Business Book

If you want to learn more how to use Pinterest in your business check out Pinterest For Business Made Easy from Kim Castleberry. [Yep, you guessed it, it is an affiliate link. Still, the book is actually very good!]

[image credit: photostock]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Saul Fleishman. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: How To Get More Referral Traffic: Pinterest vs. StumbleUpon.

Twitter Inc. has just turned 6 last month and have currently about 500 million users worldwide. Twitter was valued at $8.3 billion in 2011 and it’s the second most popular social media network after Facebook. Twitter has 900+ employees and is based in San Francisco, California with additional servers and offices in New York City.

With 500 million users you’d think that everybody would already know how to use Twitter. Well, apparently not so. Here at Social Media Revolver we get lots of questions from people and small business owners what Twitter really is, what it does, and how to use it.

This article is for those who are still wondering what this crazy Twitter thing is; or who already have a Twitter account, but haven’t used it much yet.

First, we have the ‘official’ definition from Twitter themselves:

Well, that’s a bit vague isn’t it? Let’s have a look what Wikipedia has to say:

Ok, that one is a bit better. In short, Twitter is a communication tool which allows you to be in touch with like minded people via Internet and Smart Phones.

People who are connected with you are called followers. Some people have millions of them, especially musicians, movie stars and celebrities,.. and president Obama.

For instance Lady Gaga has over 22 million followers! Can you imagine how powerful one message, or tweet from the Mother Monster can be?

New York Times has close to 5 million followers, so when they send out a tweet it does reach a serious volume of people!

How To Use Twitter – Infographic

Check out this wonderful Infographic from Twiends that presents most of the important Twitter features as well as some interesting facts. Learn these and you’ll be bonafied! [Sorry @SnoopDogg I just had to put that in!]

Twitter User Name

This is an important piece of online real estate that you should take seriously if you are running a business.

Twitter user names are unique web addresses, and you should own yours. It doesn’t matter if you don’t use, or even need your Twitter account at the moment, it’s still important that you own your own Twitter user name rather than someone else.

So, if you don’t have a Twitter account for your business or brand, please go and register your business name today before someone else does.

[See related post: How To Change Your Twitter Username]

How To Use Twitter – Video

Here is a great (and a bit humorous) video presentation from Blinklife about Twitter and what it can be used for:

How To Use Your Twitter Account Effectively

When you first get your Twitter account it does not look like much. You will get much more out of it if you customize it a little bit.

Here is a Top 10 list how to get most out of your Twitter account; either personally or for your business:

1. Use a profile picture. As you saw in the Infographic you will get 10 times more followers if you have a picture of yourself than if you don’t. This is fairly logical. Twitter is a network of people, and people relate to other people better if they see their faces.
2. Customize your Twitter background. Use this area to tell more about yourself or your business.
3. Fill in your Bio information. Again, you will get more followers if you tell people something about yourself.
4. If you have a website or blog put the URL below your Bio.
5. Start following people in your interest areas. Twiends and Twellow are good places to start.
6. Tweet about your interest areas. At least once a day. Twice would be better.
7. Follow back people who follow you. You can use some free automated services for this (such as SocialOomph). Remember not to unfollow automatically as you will risk losing your account!
8. Retweet often. When you see an interesting tweet in your Twitter feed, or timeline go ahead and retweet it. This is good interaction between you and your followers and will get you some retweets as well.
9. Reply to direct messages and conversations unless they are obvious automatic messages.
10. Use images. Twitter teamed up with photo sharing website Photobucket last year and introduced image sharing on tweets. It has quickly become a widely popular method for sharing some of the coolest pics on the web.
11. BONUS TIP: Do not hard sell! If you use your Twitter account trying to get people to buy stuff you will start losing your followers quickly. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t promote your business on Twitter, but make it so that your tweets are not obvious ads. Use the 80/20 rule on this. Tweet 8 messages of good, interesting and shareable material and throw in 2 commercial tweets once in awhile.

If you follow these simple rules your Twitter account will start working for you and before you know it, you too can become a Twitter superstar!

The Power Of Retweeting

Alyssa Milano

[Added 19.4.2012] Retweeting is one of the most powerful features on Twitter. When someone with lots of followers retweets your post you can end up with a huge increase in your followers as well as hits to your website or blog post.

As a matter of fact, this was exactly what happened with this post when American actress Alyssa Milano retweeted this post a few days ago. Alyssa has over 2 million followers on Twitter, so when she makes a tweet or retweet it makes a difference!

Below is the original retweet from Alyssa:

How To Use Twitter – Beginners Guide goo.gl/w7N6g /via @KrisOlin @jkcallas @heykim

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 16, 2012

Alyssa’s retweet caused 50+ other retweets from her followers and all this resulted in a huge jump in views (over 1,000 clicks/day). Thanks Alyssa! Social Media Revolver will follow you forever!

Very nice when something like that happens, eh?

Follow Us

Yes, Social Media Revolver is on Twitter as well! Follow us and stay in touch with the latest news and rumours from the exciting world of Social Media. Follow @SocialMediaRvl

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: How To Use Twitter – Beginners Guide.

If you woke up this morning confused and scratching your head when you found out that someone had changed your Facebook Page, you are not alone. You are just one of the 38 million Facebook Page owners out there who just learned that their Facebook Page had been converted to the new Timeline format overnight.

Facebook Timeline is actually only one of the new features on the updated Pages, but it seems to be everybody’s favourite term to call the new Facebook Business Page format.

Confused? Don’t worry, this article will explain all you need to know how to make the best of your updated Facebook Page.

There are several features that are either completely new or upgraded from the old format. I will guide you through the most important ones.

Facebook Timeline

The biggest change concerning the Facebook Business Pages, or brand pages as they are also called is the new Timeline format. Earlier this year Facebook started using the controversial Timeline on personal profiles, and now it’s here for the business pages as well.

Timeline is basically a chronological representation of all the things that have happened during the lifetime of a Facebook Page. It is visualised on a two column Wall. You can quickly navigate through the Timeline by using the Timeline indicator located in the top right hand corner.

The new Timeline itself has several cool features such as cover photos, highlighted posts and custom tabs.

Facebook Brand Page Cover Photo

Additionally to the Timeline format the new Facebook Cover Photo feature is the most visual change here. While nobody was watching Facebook upgraded their Groups earlier this year, and the most prominent new feature there as well was the new cover photo. For more information on that topic read my article How To Customize Your Facebook Group in Three Easy Steps.

The Facebook Group banner was a successful update so it is now being introduced to Facebook Pages as well. The custom banner area is 315 pixels high and a whopping 851 pixels wide! Where did that extra 1 pixel come from, I have no idea? Maybe they should just have gone with 850, but who knows what goes on in the brilliant minds of the Facebook programmers.

Anyway, this new banner area is nice and big and gives you plenty of space to create a professional looking Facebook Page for your business or brand. But don’t get carried away with this! There are some strict rules that you must obey.

Facebook Cover Image Rules

The large area of the new Facebook Cover Photo gives you fantastic options to really jazz up you Facebook Page, but you must take a notice of Facebook’s terms of service.

The basic approach is that this space is not meant for promotions, coupons or advertising your stuff. Your cover photo must not infringe any copyrights and cannot be primarily text.

Here are the official rules for using cover images on Facebook Pages:

• Use a unique image that represents your Page. This might be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product.
• Cover image may not contain price or purchase information, such as ’40% off’ or ‘Download it at our website’
• Cover image may not contain contact information, web address, email or mailing addresses
• Cover image may not contain references to Facebook user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Cover image may not contain calls to action, such as ‘Get it now’ or ‘Tell your friends’ (or ‘Like this page’)
• Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property
• You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines
• Cover image must be at least 399 pixels wide

Ok, a few rules there to remember when you design your new page banner! Follow these and you should be just fine. If you don’t, you will risk losing your Facebook Page without warning. See related post: Warning! This Is How You Lose Your Facebook Page.

Below you can see the change from the old Facebook Page layout to the new Timeline format:

Makes a big difference, doesn’t it? As you can see the new format is much more powerful to businesses, products and brands than the old layout.

This 101 Quotes From Alice In Wonderland Facebook Page used to have a custom landing tab encouraging new visitors to ‘Like’ them. That of course is now history and is not tolerated by Facebook any more, or at least not in the cover image. The old default landing page had been converted into a Tab just below the cover photo. You can still see it represented by the <-> icon. That icon needs to be customized, so read on as I will talk about the new Tabs feature a bit later on.

Facebook Page Cover Image Samples

Here are some nice samples how companies, brands and artists are using their new Facebook cover images:

See more cool Facebook Timeline banners here: http://socialmediarevolver.com/29-cool-facebook-timeline-banners/

Landing Pages – No More

In the old format you were able to choose which page your viewers landed on when they came to your Facebook Page. This was a very handy feature and enabled companies to use some clever designs and advertising tricks to lure more fans.

Here is the old landing page from Angry Birds which is (as you’d probably know) a blockbuster game from the Finnish game maker Rovio:

…and here is their new Timeline based Facebook Page:

Pretty funky, eh? Looks like the Rovio boys have not yet done any custom tabs, but I’m sure they will cook up some awesome features there soon.

The custom landing page feature will be gone (and missed dearly), and from now on everybody will arrive on the Wall. Sounds boring doesn’t it? Well, it could be, but fortunately the Facebook product design department has come up with some clever ways to make your Wall more interesting.

More Prominent Wall Posts

Let’s face it, the old Facebook Wall was a boring place. Nothing put a monotonous feed of text and images rolling down the line.

The upgraded Wall is much better as it is in easy to read, two column layout and your posts are now larger as well. You can also manipulate your posts with highlighted and pinned -features.

Highlighted Wall Posts

The default area of a normal Wall post is 410 pixels but you can emphasize it by highlighting it. (clicking the star icon in the top right hand corner)

Highlighting a post makes it fill the entire width of your Wall. Now you have all those glorious 851 pixels to play with, and this makes a big impact on any post! Let me show you.

Here is my new Timeline Wall with a cool picture quote from my favourite guitar player, Keef:

You can’t really see the whole story on a regular post, but wait … click!

Here is the same post after highlighting it:

As you can see you can now read the entire quote properly. That sure makes a big difference doesn’t it? Making that Keef post highlighted unfortunately cut the bottom portion off from the image, but if you plan your posts more carefully than me that shouldn’t be a problem.

Pinned Wall Posts

If you have a special promotion happening you can now extend its life on the Wall by ‘pinning’ it.

As you know, Facebook Wall is a dynamic digital canvas where your messages stay only for a little while before disappearing to the mystical land of ‘forgotten posts’. That is ‘below the fold’ in geek speek.

Now you can prolong this by pinning some of your favourite posts to the top of the Timeline. Just click on the pen icon at the top right hand corner of your post and choose ‘Pin to Top’. Your post will now stay at the top of the page for a week. This should be plenty to run a quick promotion or ad campaign.

Using this same pop-up menu you can also delete a post or simply hide it from view.

Custom Facebook Page Tabs

As I mentioned earlier the old tabs and some of their functions are now gone and instead we have new ones just below the cover picture.

Facebook offers you currently 16 custom pages, or Tabs to play with. Only the first row is visible unless you click the arrow on the right. The Tab for your photos is always the first one there. Tab icons can, and should be customized to represent the Tab content. That is not an easy task as the area is only 110 x 75 pixels.

The new Facebook Tabs feature offers you as a business owner or brand manager lots of opportunities to advertise and promote your products and services. You can use Tabs to get new fans (Likes), collect subscriptions to your newsletter, feature videos, play games, keep an online shop, run advertising campaigns and so on. The only thing you can’t do any more is to make them into a default landing page for your Facebook Page.

For instance, Mexican brewing company Cerveceria Modelo here is using their Corona Facebook Page tabs to run competitions, advertise events, raise funds for cancer research and download free music (that Jesse Harris song isn’t bad actually).

Each of your Tabs have a unique URL which makes it easy to use them in your online or offline marketing campaigns.

There are several more new groovy features such Milestones and Direct Messages to the new Facebook Timeline’d Pages, but if you learn to use the ones above for starters you should be just fine.

Questions?

If you have any questions or comments related to the new Facebook Timeline update, please feel free to use the comment box below.

[main image: photostock]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: Facebook Timeline Survival Guide.

Every blogger should know that social media and SEO are fast becoming one big, messy and marvellous marketing discipline. Here is a collection of 50 blogging tips from my most recent and valuable posts on topics that are essential for a successful blog marketing effort. If you’re just starting out with a blog, these tips may save you a lot of time – and perhaps a little heartache as well.

Blogging Tips For Strategy

Blogging is a powerful tool to be used in marketing as well as presenting yourself as an expert, but you need to take notice of a few simple rules to make it more effective for you or your business.

1. Headlines are just as important as the blog post, and in some ways, more. It takes a pretty good one to capture the attention of readers who are scanning scores if not hundreds of Web pages every day.
2. SEO drives traffic, but a site must be optimized for conversion in order for that traffic to turn into leads and sales.
3. Companies err by concentrating on SEO and ignoring CRO, conversion optimization. The fatal flaw of an SEO fixation is that it takes your eye off the ball. SEO is about traffic. Traffic is important, but it’s not the goal.
4. The fundamental purpose of Internet marketing, and business blogging in this case, is conversion.
5. Publish regularly. Have a calendar based plan for your blog posts. Once a week is good, twice a week even better. The important thing here is that you stick to your plan.
6. Consider hiring an SEO specialist. This is one of the most important decisions you will make in your pursuit of online marketing success. (see points below)

Blog Design And Functionality

No matter how brilliant a website’s design, no matter how elegant its navigation, sooner or later visitors will decide whether to take action because of something they read. In the end, the effectiveness with which a website converts visitors hinges on words. If a new website is going to hit all the right notes, its content must be just as well crafted as its design and programming.

1. Primary SEO keywords should appear at the beginning of headlines. This helps readers as well as search engine crawlers.
2. Use bold text for keywords; again, this help readers in addition to strengthening SEO.
3. Use bulleted lists to the attention of readers and crawlers.
4. Insert primary keywords at the beginning of Meta titles.
5. Build a strong internal link structure on your site.
6. Optimize site images – this is an often-overlooked technique that boosts SEO and user experience.
7. The biggest error in corporate website content: inward focus.
8. The second biggest error: burying the lead under a pile of unimportant words. Give readers the point first of all, and then elaborate.
9. The third biggest error: poorly optimized or non-existent Meta content. Your site will seriously confuse Google and readers without proper optimization.
10. The fourth biggest error: Too much content. If you can say it in 1000 words, you can say it more effectively in 500.
11. The fifth biggest error: Lame or non-existent calls to action. If you don’t tell readers what to do next, they won’t do anything.
12. Corporate sites tend to have weak calls to action because they don’t take the time and apply the creativity to develop them in the first place.

SEO For Bloggers

While Title Tags contain only a very small mass – roughly 65 characters – they pack an unbelievable punch. Because of title tags’ enormous impact on SEO, social sharing and conversion, content marketers should know how they work, and how to put them to work.

1. Title tags are the most important piece of Meta information on a Web page in terms of SEO.
2. Title tags are also crucial for optimizing user experience and facilitating social shares.
3. Title tags may or may not include a branding message.
4. Title tags must always include the primary keyword phrases for the Web page it represents.
5. Title tags can be composed for conversion: snappy titles inspire social sharing. The decision whether to stress SEO or conversion depends in large part on the nature of the content.
6. Skilful use of H1 title tags boosts conversion without compromising the SEO integrity of title tags.
7. Title tags should be updated if on-page content changes relevant keywords.
8. The biggest factor in selecting an SEO partner: understanding their methodology. If the agency doesn’t have a formal one, or if the methodology is outdated, results inevitably will be poor.
9. The second biggest factor: understanding the SEO’s track record. Actions speak louder than words!
10. The third biggest factor: making sure there is a good fit. Every SEO has a sweet spot; if you’re not in it, results will lag.
11. The fourth biggest factor: the longevity and stability of the SEO. You don’t want to start from scratch after investing years developing a program with a partner who suddenly disappears.
12. The fifth biggest factor: great relationships. You don’t want to start over after investing years on a program with a partner who suddenly disappears.

Some web content writers, as well as web designers view on-page SEO as a necessary evil to an effective content strategy on the web. However, when properly executed, SEO can actually enhance a site visitor’s experience, rather than detract from it.

Writing For Web

Web writers are a special kind of breed. Their jobs include writing AdWord ads, corporate bios, blog post titles, calls to action, display ads, Facebook fan page posts, landing pages, Meta descriptions, taglines, testimonials and tweets.

1. Writing AdWords ads requires more precision than perhaps any other form of Web writing.
2. Corporate bios require genuine creativity to be readable and relevant.
3. The art of writing brochures should not be lost, because it’s still a highly valuable business skill.
4. Landing page composition is too important to be a sideline job: great landing page writers are made, not born.
5. Several important (and not always understood techniques) go into writing a truly persuasive sales proposal.
6. Taglines are the most all-around demanding form of business writing there is. There’s a reason why brilliant taglines cost a fortune.
7. Twitter may seem like a frivolous medium, but great writing skill is required for effective business tweets.
8. “Different from” is universally accepted, but “different than” is not.
9. Avoid the expression “if and when.” Not even experts understand its meaning.

Social Sharing And Blogging

Social Sharing is the latest ‘add on’ in blogging and Twitter has become one of the most important social sharing platforms. Here are some practical tips how to make Twitter perform better for you.

1. On Twitter, define your purpose clearly before launching your page.
2. Make sure you have adequate resources to support your Twitter program. Many firms grossly underestimate the time and effort needed.
3. Select the right Twitter interface platform to support your program. They all have strengths and weaknesses.
4. Vet your Twitter followers and clean them up to avoid being buried under a mountain of spammers.
5. Learn the basic types of tweets and best practices for writing them before you start tweeting.
6. Don’t tweet on one or two themes all day long: variety helps attract followers.
7. Although you have 140 characters to work with, tweets at 100 characters or less can be very effective and draw retweets.
8. Avoid jargon and exotic abbreviations in tweets – the longer it takes someone to get your drift, the less likely they’ll be to pay attention to you.
9. Schedule certain types of tweets in advance to save time and make sure you’re getting the full message out.
10. Always respond to people who retweet your material and ask you questions.
11. Always be ready to lend a hand to fellow tweeps – giving to get works well on Twitter.

I hope these 50 tips will help you in your blogging endeavours. If you have any blogging tips of your own please share with us.

Brad Shorr works for Straight North, a Web development, Chicago-based agency concentrating in B2B, with clients in specialized niches such as credit card processing for gas stations and truck tracking systems.

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Brad Shorr. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: 50 Golden Blogging Tips For Business.

Social Marketing and Social Sharing are two of the hottest trends in marketing today. You share your business and personal stuff via multitude of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, StumbleUpon, Pinterest and others. But when is the best time for doing that?

Social marketing eats up your time and resources so it would be a good idea to learn when exactly to do that,.. and when not.

This week I’m presenting the entire Science of Social Timing infographics series from those cool and clever people from KISSmetrics. This is a long post and these infographics are quite big, so please give them some time to load; it will be worth your while I promise. (All data is in Eastern Standard Time (EST). Click the images for a bigger view if you need to.)

Timing Your Social Marketing On Twitter And Facebook Is Crucial

This first infographic is about using Twitter and Facebook at correct times for marketing purposes. It makes a huge difference when you upload your material on your Facebook Page or post your tweets on Twitter. If your audience is not present at the time of posting your material probably goes to waste.

For instance, my Twitter feed consists of about 10.000 people and the time one single tweet is visible on the main view is only about 90 seconds before it falls below the fold. This does not leave much time for your message to reach your audience. You should make sure there are enough active people on the receiving end for your message make an impact.

TIMING TIPS: If you are targeting people in the United States your best bet is using the Central and Eastern time zones as they cover 81% of the US population.

The best days to post your tweets are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The best times are at noon and in the afternoon 5-6pm.

Regading Facebook your best day is Saturday and the best times are middle of the day and early evening at about 7pm.

Timing Makes Or Breaks Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Some might not agree that Email marketing is part of Social Sharing or Social Marketing, but regardless of the view it is still a very powerful tool for your business.

TIMING TIPS: Don’t send your Email campaigns between 10 pm and 6 am. It is considered a Dead Zone and most of your material goes unnoticed. The best times are usually in the morning and after lunch.

Open rates and click rates are highest during the weekend.

What Is The Best Time To Publish Your Blog Posts?

When it comes to blogging timing is an important factor to the success of your articles. You should publish your posts at the time when most of your readers are active on the Internet.

TIMING TIPS: The best day to publish your blog posts is Monday. You should post them in the morning as usually articles get the most views and comments between 9 am and 11 am. If you are a comment junkie Saturday is the best day for getting comments on an average blog.

When Is The Internet Awake?

Do you think it would be useful to publish your material during the hours when most of your audience is awake and active? Of course it would be.

I came across this awesome visualization by New York based Art Director Bård Edlund about the times when Internet is either awake or asleep. You can use it to locate the time zones when most of your audience is alive and kickin’. See the wonderful live chart here.

TIMING TIPS: If you know where your audience lives try to publish your material at the time when most of them are awake. That’s fairly obvious isn’t it, but it is often over looked. If you are using Google analytics you can see this data under Audience > Demographics > Location.

Most of my blog readers live in the US, Canada and UK, so I usually publish my posts at 11 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) which is 9 am EST in the US. Mostly I do it on a Thursday but I should actually try to change it to Monday as Mondays give you the most traffic.

Let us know if you are using timing as a strategic weapon in your Social Marketing. If you have timing tips of your own, please share below.

[Clock tower image: FreePhotos.com Infographics: KISSmetrics]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: The Secret Of Timing In Social Marketing #Infographic.

While everybody and their social media consultant is talking about the new Timeline for Facebook Pages I thought I’d be controversial and talk about something else. I’m going to show you how you can get the most out of your Facebook Groups.

Additionally to Facebook Pages Facebook Groups are the other main option Facebook is offering for businesses and brands. Facebook Groups are often overlooked, but can be as powerful as Pages if configured and managed properly. They have some cool features Pages can’t offer; for instance group chat and their own Facebook email address. For companies offering online support Facebook Groups are far superior option than Facebook Pages, or Twitter for that matter.

Three Steps To Customize Your Facebook Group

While the social media world has been preparing for the massive Facebook Pages update lately Facebook Groups have under gone their own updates somewhat unnoticed. They are, however now in very good condition both visually and feature wise to be used in lots of commercial and non-commercial applications. You just need to do a few important customizations and you’re all set. Let me show you what needs to be done.

There are three main areas of interest here. First we’re going to replace the image area at the top with a custom banner. Then we’ll sort out the Group Info box and finally we’ll set you up with a custom Facebook URL.

1. Customize Your Facebook Group Banner

The default mode for the image area in Facebook Groups is to present a flow of pictures from the Group. In most cases this is both impractical and visually unappealing. We’re going to fix that with a cool custom banner.

Click the top right hand corner of that photo area and you should see a pop-up menu for uploading a photo. The best size for a custom Facebook Group banner is 800 x 200 pixels, and it’s better if you already make your banner exact to these measurements so that the Facebook image robot doesn’t crunch it to something ugly and weird. Yes, it does that believe me!

Upload, and click the Save Changes -button.

Your new banner image replaces all those little images that were fed into the picture area originally. Now, isn’t that so much better!

Notice that there is a semi transparent area of 30 pixels at the bottom of the banner, so make sure you don’t put anything important there such as phone numbers, web addresses and so on. Next we’ll have a look what you can do with your Facebook Group Info box.

2. Customize Your Group Info

The Facebook Group Info box is useful for presenting the basic details of your Group. You get to this area by choosing Edit Group from the pop-up menu on the right next to Notifications. You can write as much as you want there but only the first ten lines are visible at first glance.

The important thing to remember here is that if you go over those ten lines don’t put your Website, Twitter, blog or any other URL’s in the end as they would not be visible with out clicking the See more -hotlink. I usually put them right at the top.

The other tip is when you write your URL’s make sure you write them including the http:// in front of the www. This way they will become live links that people can actually click on.

3. Get Your Own Facebook Group URL

When you first set up your Facebook Group it will have a very generic URL address with lots of numbers in it. Something like http://www.facebook.com/groups/283445239392807/. Not very nice if you want to print it on your business cards or stationery, yet alone remember! Luckily there is a way to get a custom URL for your Facebook Group instantly right after setup. With Facebook Pages you have to have at least 30 fans in order to get a custom URL but that rule does not apply with Groups. You can get your custom URL straight away if you know how to do it. Let me show you.

Again, you choose Edit Group from the pop-up menu on the right. You will see a button that says Set Up Group Email. Click it. A box opens up where you can write your email address for the Group. The email functionality is very cool by itself as emails sent to this address will go to all the Group members, but that is not the main issue here.

Ok, are you ready for this? [drum roll here] The name you put in front of the @ sign becomes your custom Facebook Group URL!

Once it is accepted it gets locked in and it’s yours! Now, how cool is that? You don’t have to wait for 30 fans to show up or anything! So now, instead of having the awkward http://www.facebook.com/groups/283455239392807/ you can have something like facebook.com/groups/SocialMediaAdvertising. Much easier to remember, print and use don’t you think?

Most importantly as there can be several Facebook Groups with the same (visual) name there can only be one Group with a properly customized name. If your Facebook Group has the name of your business or brand, please make sure that you set up it’s email address and secure the custom Facebook URL.

Ok, there you have the three most important Facebook Group customizations. Do these and you’ll get much more out of your Group. Next week we’ll have a look at what Facebook has done to our beloved Pages. It’s not all good unfortunately. Stay tuned and subscribe to RSS.

Let me know if you are already using or planning to use Facebook Groups in your marketing.

[image: photostock]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: How To Customize Your Facebook Group In Three Easy Steps.

But what happens when you, all of your mates, their friends, … and the rest of the world get things going?

This Is What Happens In 60 Seconds In Social Media World

When you consider the entire Internet user community all of a sudden you’ve got stuff happening you couldn’t believe! Twitter people send 175.000 tweets, Facebook users share 700.000 messages and video fans watch 2 million YouTube videos! All in those 60 short seconds! Here is an interesting Infographic of all things happening on the most popular social media networks in a minute:

Here is another look with some more disturbing figures. Google gets hit by 695.000 searches, people send 168 million emails to each other, and Skype connects over 370.000 phone calls. Wow!

Check out this 90 second (hmmm..?) video on what happens in 60 seconds on the Internet:

What can you do in 60 seconds?

What can you do on the web or in real life in just 60 seconds? Let us know. The best answer wins 10 Twitter followers and a Retweet!

 [Infographic by David Fung for Social Jumpstart Video by YouOnGroup]

* * * This has been yet another awesome post on Social Media Revolver by Kris Olin. Social Media Revolver is a magazine style blog covering latest discussion, news and tips from Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other major social media networks. You can read the original article here: What Happens In 60 Seconds On Social Media Time? #Infographic.