It seems like users are either on one side of the fence or the other. The rumors usually goes both ways: Google is a ghost town or angry Facebook users are moving to Google+.

Is there really only room for one social media platform? There are definite benefits and downfalls to both platforms but for business owners who are usually short in resources, focusing their efforts in the right place(s) is crucial.

Comparing Growth

Google+

GlobalWebIndex recently reported that Google+ is now the second-biggest social platform worldwide after Facebook with 343 million active users. There’s seem to be some confusion on how those numbers were calculated as various other Google products are included within those numbers.

Nonetheless, according to data published by Google in December 2012, more than 135 million Google+ users were active in just the stream. As of May 2013, that number has increased to 190 million users.

Image source: http://marketingland.com

Facebook

Facebook has seen a consistent increase in active users since it was founded in 2004. There were 665 million Daily active users on average for March 2013, an increase of 26% year-over-year (source: TechCrunch.com) and 1.11 billion monthly active users as of March 2013 (source: Facebook.com).

Although growth has slowed in countries such as the US and Canada as well as in Europe, the company has grown by 54 million monthly active users, a 23.2% increase from Q1 2012 (source: insidefacebook.com).

Image source: http://techcrunch.com

Time Spent on Site

Mashable recently reported that time spent on Facebook has decreased to 6 hours 44 minutes per month from 7 hours, 9 minutes per person in March.

Although the time spent on Google+ is substantially lower than Facebook (around 7 minutes), it is slowly going up. It remains to be seen if Google users will increase their time on the platform with the popularity of Google Communities and Google Hangouts.

Why Would Facebook User Want to Move to Google Plus?

Facebook EdgeRank

Unless you’re investing in Ads and Promoted Posts, Facebook has made it increasingly difficult for business users to reach their audience. Facebook claims to have an algorithm formula called Edgerank in place to “improve the quality” of the user experience on the site, but many users believe that it’s more about shareholders than users.

Logically, business owners should not expect to be able to advertise their business for free on Facebook and a marketing budget should be allocated for Facebook Ads. The problem seems to be that Page owners can’t seem to reach their fans without having to continually fork out some cash even if their fans are obviously interested in what they have to say (after all, they did click on the Like button).

Perhaps as some have suggested, a better option may be to give business owners the choice to pay an upfront fee or a monthly subscription based on the size of their fan base.

Facebook Usability

Another frustration for users seems to be Facebook’s terrible interface. With every new feature released, there seems to be a flood of complaints about the changes and the lack of stability for the platform. Facebook cover rules, threaded comments, Facebook ads and other wonky features are a continuous source of annoyance for Facebook users.

Facebook mobile app is also notorious for being very slow, crashing and lacking desired features.

Facebook Fatigue

It has also been reported that teens are suffering from Facebook fatigue and are starting to spend more time on other platforms. Teens shouldn’t be ignored since they constitute a consumer segment worth $819 billion. This is also significant for Facebook since what people do and say on social media considerably influences the purchase decisions of customers.

Another research by Pew Internet & American Life Project in December also indicated that more than a quarter of Facebook users surveyed said they planned to spend less time using the service in 2013 than they did last year.

Google’s Advantages

The growing impact of Google+ on Google’s search engine ranking is one of the most common arguments why businesses feel the need to increase their presence on the network. After all, Google+ is Google and Google is the main go-to source for search for the majority of web users.

Having a Google+ profile also allows you to claim your authorship markup. Google Authorship markup is a way for Google to show within the search results who’s the author of a specific piece of content. The result shows a picture of the author and displays a link to the author’s Google+ profile. Authorship markup may be useful to help you stand out in search results and increase the click through rate to your site.

As well, the integration of Google products within Google+ and a superior interface makes Google+ a very attractive platform. Google+ can be very beneficial for businesses not only as a social platform but also as a business collaboration tool.

There are also advantages for being an early adopter on Google+. You have the ability to cut through the noise and become the go-to resource and leader in your niche which is something that is becoming increasingly difficult to do on Facebook.

What Should YOU do as a Business Owner?

Although looking at the number of Facebook users and time spent on the site, it may look like a no brainer, but unless you’re paying to have your posts seen by your fans it may not be as obvious. This decision may also depend on your niche and how successful you are at building your community and engaging your fans on Facebook.

With Facebook’s astonishing market penetration, it may be very difficult to believe that users would ever switch to Google+, especially after having invested so much time on Facebook.

One of the biggest argument businesses are making as to why they are not on Google+ is that their customers are on Facebook and not on Google+. Although this is a valid point, let’s not forget that Google+ is barely 2 years old so it will take time to build trust with internet users.

While as a business owner you may have a preference for one platform or the other, keep in mind that your own personal preference doesn’t really matter! Remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to social media but knowing exactly who your target market is and understanding the purpose of each platform should help you decide where you should spend your time.

What do you think, which platform works best for your business?

Image source: henrie tsai via Compfight

Here are 10 tips you can use to run a successful Facebook Business Page:

1. Find the Answers

Why: Why should you be on Facebook?

Not every business should be on Facebook! Figure out where your target market is and focus on the platform(s) that will have the highest pay off for your business.

What: What are your goals or what are you trying to achieve.

Some of your Goals may be:

• Create brand and/or product awareness
• Build a community
• Show your expertise
• Educate
• Stay top of mind
• Increase your reach
• Generate traffic to your website
• Build new partnerships
• Provide Customer Service
• Increase sales, Etc.

Who: Who is your target?

Have a clear idea of who you want to reach on Facebook. The more you know about them, the better you can target your message.

How:  How are you going to get there?

Figure out which best strategy will help you achieve each goal. Strategies are never set in stone, you need to review and revise as needed.

2. Use the Space Given Wisely

Facebook gives you space which can leave a lasting impression on your Page visitors. Make sure to pay close attention to your Cover image, Profile image and About section.

• Cover image size: 851 pixels by 315 pixels and may not include more than 20% text.
• Profile image size: Upload images 180 pixels by 180 pixels (shows at 160 pixels by 160 pixels)
• The types of information that appear in the summary box are specific to your Page’s category. The About section under your profile image may allow for your to write around 155 characters which will be visible on your profile. Make sure to include your website address if you can.

3. Your Cover Should Talk

Your Cover image is prime real estate on your Facebook Page and it’s the first thing your Page visitors will notice. Your Cover image should express who you are as a business and your Page visitors should understand what your business is about at a glance.

4. Post Regularly

Posting at random or not regularly enough can leave a negative impression on your page visitors and affect your reach. Also, posting too frequently can have an adverse effect on your Page engagement. Find your rhythm by testing your frequency and watching your numbers to optimize engagement. Creating a content calendar can help you stay on track and makes the process easier to manage.

5. Understand the Platform

 Facebook EdgeRank

Did you know that not all your fans see your posts? Actually probably less than 16% of your fans see your Page posts! Edgerank determines what posts appear on a Facebook user’s newsfeed. Facebook EdgeRank formula includes:

• Affinity: Measures the relationship between the viewing user and the creator of the story. The closer the relationship the higher the score.
• Weight: Different types of posts carry different weights (photos, videos, status updates, links, etc.). The higher the weight, the higher the score.
• Time Decay: As a post ages it continually loses value.

Page vs. Profile vs. Groups

 Pages are for businesses and are entirely open to the public and search engines. Pages can also have applications and custom tabs to help engage with your audiences. You can have as many Pages as you want and there are no limits on the numbers of fans (likes) you can have.

Profiles are for your personal use and represent you as a person. On your profile you have “friends”. You can have up to 5000 friends and you’re allowed to “like” up to 500 pages. You’re only allowed to have one personal profile. You can control your visibility with the privacy settings.

Groups are for people who share a common interest. Group members can participate in chats, upload photos to shared albums, collaborate on group docs and invite members who are friends to group events. In Groups, there are 3 Privacy Options: Open, Closed or Secret.

Facebook Terms of Service (TOS)

Breaking Facebook rules may result in having your page shutdown without notice. Be familiar with the TOS. Keep in mind that TOS may change without noticed as we recently saw with the Cover image rules. Visit Facebook to learn more https://www.facebook.com/policies.

Insights

By using the Page and Post Export option in your Facebook Page insights, you will have valuable data to help you understand how people use your Page and what works best for your business.  Facebook insights can provide valuable data to help you measure your Page success. Keep track of your numbers and adjust accordingly!

Check out Social Media Examiner 6 Facebook Metrics Marketers Should Be Measuring.

Tool ALERT: I discovered a really great Facebook Page analytic tool you may want to try, take a look at Shoork (review to come shortly).

Help Section

Facebook Help section can provide valuable information and is often underused. If you’re stuck, visit the help section first! Visit Facebook for more https://www.facebook.com/help/pages.

6. Use Facebook’s Features

• Vanity URL
• Post Targeting
• Pinned Posts
• Highlighted Posts
• Featured Likes
• Custom Tabs
• Events
• Post scheduler
• Offers
• Promoted Posts
• Milestone
• Questions

7. Respond to All Comments

Yikes…Only around 30% of brands respond to comments (source: Socialbakers.com). Respond to ALL comments and make sure your settings ( under Manage Permissions) allows for people to post on your Page and your Page has turned on ”messages”, so that people can send you private messages.

8. Cross promote

To increase your Page visibility, you need to tell people about it. Don’t forget to link your personal Profile to your Page. Promote your Page on:

• Other social networks
• Your website
• Business Cards
• Marketing material
• Events
• Newsletters

Take a look at Get More Facebook Likes by Linking Your Personal Profile

9. Invest in Your Page

It’s becoming clear that Facebook ads are no longer an option for businesses.  Include Facebook ads to your marketing budget to help increase your Likes, engagement, visibility, promote events, market your products or services, etc.

• Promoted Posts
• Sponsored stories
• Facebook ads
• Offers

10. Provide Value 

The 80/20 rule. Try publishing around 80% original and curated content that provides value to your followers and no more than 20% promotional content. Promotional content includes selling your products or services, posting about how great your customer find your business (unless your clients post it directly on your wall), showing your work or portfolio, promotion of your accomplishments, etc.

Relevant Content. Provide a mix of content related to your products or services. All too often we see Pages that post about random topics that are totally unrelated to their business. Don’t stray too far off your topic!

What’s In It for Them? Whenever you post to your page, remember that your page visitors want to know “what’s in it for them”. Be mindful of the content your post on your page to make sure you provide value to your visitors and fans. Most Facebook users Like pages to:

• receive discounts or promotions
• stay informed
• Get entertained
• Interact and connect
• Get Educated
• Show support

Bonus Tip!

Don’t put all your eggs in Facebook’s basket! Facebook can be a great marketing tool, but it still needs to be supported by other channels.

image source: Scott Beale via Compfight

Although I personally don’t think it’s a crime to send a generic LinkedIn connection request, a well-crafted personal message will always increase your chances of connecting with the recipient. This is probably true for all social networks.

Generally, the fact that I get generic invitations is usually not the reason why I reject connection requests. When receiving a generic invitation from someone, I always check their LinkedIn Profile to see if they’re someone who I want to connect with.

If the LinkedIn profile is not complete or doesn’t clearly tell me who they are, the chance of being a connection is pretty much zero.

Here’s a recent invitation I received which contained the LinkedIn generic message.

After receiving it, I checked the profile. It didn’t take long for me to reject this invitation. Here’s why:

No Business Name. Including your business name or companies you worked for will give you added credibility.

No connections. This is not really a reason to reject an invitation but when looking at the entire profile, it can make me suspicious if your profile is not complete.

Fake picture. This is obviously not the real picture for this LinkedIn user. Tip: Always use a professional self-portrait.

Profile not filled out. What’s the point of being on LinkedIn if your profile is not filled out?

The importance of a well optimized and complete profile is undeniable and it’s imperative that you make the right impression. Don’t forget that LinkedIn often appears at the top of search results which is a golden opportunity to get more visibility for your business.

Before sending any invitations to connect, make sure your profile is complete.

What You Should Know About LinkedIn Invitations

• You have a limit of 30,000 first degree connections.

• You have a limit of 3000 invitations you can send.

• When you reach your invitation limit, you can contact Linkedin to request an increase. LinkedIn will consider the acceptance ratio of invitations you’ve previously sent in their analysis but invitation increase is not guaranteed.

To find out how many invitation you’ve already sent, click on the “Contacts” tab and then go to the bottom right of the page and select “Sent Invitation”. If you don’t see the word “accepted” beside the contact name, this probably means that they haven’t answered your request. It’s also possible that they clicked on “don’t accept yet”, “ignore” or “report as spam”. At the bottom, you should see the total number invitations you have already sent.

• Withdrawing invitations doesn’t return them to your balance of available invitations.

• A restriction on your account is automatically triggered if too many invitations are declined by recipients with the “I don’t know” response or if it’s flagged as spam. This means that you may not be allowed to send any further invitations to connect without an email address until your restriction is lifted. To Unrestrict your account click on http://www.linkedin.com/unrestrict?display.

• LinkedIn automatically sends reminder emails to Invitation recipients who have not yet responded to your Invitation. No more than two reminders are ever sent.

• LinkedIn may ask that you enter the recipients email address when inviting them. Usually, you’ll get this if:

i.        The recipient’s settings are set to only receive invitations from members who know their email address.

ii.        You’ve reached the limit of invitations you can send without email addresses to people you’ve identified as a “Friend” during the invitation process.

iii.        You’ve been restricted (too many recipients have clicked “I don’t know this person” after getting your invitations).

• You can withdraw a sent invitation but keep in mind that if you change your mind, you’ll need the recipient’s email address to send them another invitation.

• An Invitation that has not been accepted after several weeks will expire. If an Invitation does expire a new Invitation can be sent again to the same recipient.

Image source: Loren Sztajer via Compfight

Many of those businesses will fail but there are certain basic elements you can establish to help turn your online business into a successful one.

1.    You can’t push your product or service if it’s crappy!

A great product or service and a strong business model is essential. It doesn’t matter how much marketing your do, if you don’t have a solid business (which is your foundation), you’re setting yourself up for failure.

“You can put lipstick on a pig…but it’s still a pig”.

 2.    You have to offer something people want and need

Understand your market and their needs. By identifying their pain points, you’ll be able to offer a compelling solution.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” Peter Drucker

3.    Make a good first impression and have a clear message

People don’t want to search to figure out what you’re selling. Provide tangible value your customers will receive by buying your products or services.

Your website, marketing materials and the way you present yourself on and offline is a direct reflection on the way you conduct your business.

“Regardless of the changes in technology, the market for well-crafted messages will always have an audience.” Steve Burnett

4.    Make it a good user experience 

• Make sure your website is easy to navigate
• Pay attention to both function and aesthetics
• Don’t overwhelm your visitors with ads
• Don’t make website visitors jump through hoops to get what they’re looking for (including your free offers)

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”. Steve Jobs

 5.    Put your customers first. It’s not about you!

People really don’t care about you, your business or what you’re selling. Your customers only care about what your business can do for them and how you can solve their problems-what’s in it for them.

Focus on how you can help your customers and avoid excessive self-promotion (continually talking about your business and products or how great you are).

“I am wired like a CEO and care a great deal about the bottom line, but I care about my customers even more than that. That’s always been my competitive advantage”. Gary Vaynerchuk

6.    Make it social

Allow your audience to be involved in your community and connect with your business to create more meaningful relationships.

By being a social business, it will help to humanize your brand, make you more accessible and drive your audience to inter­act with it even more.

“Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers”. Bryan Weiner

 7.    Educate

Assist your prospects during the purchase journey by educating them about your products or services.

Producing helpful content that will educate your visitors is the best way to portray yourself as a leader in your field and will make your business accessible 24/7 which would be impossible to do if you were solely an offline business.

“Blogs are about sharing with authenticity. A good enterprise blog can help you really connect deeply with your customers in a meaningful way because the content is not only relevant but insightful and personal. I think most enterprises miss that point.

When you do it right, your customers will walk away not only having learned something new but will also feel much more connected to your brand”. David Armano

8.    Keep track of your supporters, fans and advocates

Providing a unique and personal experience requires knowing and understanding your audience. A CRM system can help you identify, categorize or segment your target audience.

By tailoring your communications, you will be able to provide a more personal experience and develop deeper and stronger relationships with your audience.

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them” W. Edwards Deming

9.    Do something unexpected and delight

Sadly, the bar is not set very high when it comes to customer service. Exceeding people’s expectations by showing how much you value their business with simple gestures will make your business memorable.

According to Ipsos, a global independent market research company, “delighted customers are 5 times more likely to plan on repurchasing than merely satisfied customers”.

This doesn’t have to apply to only your current customers. Think about how you can also be memorable with your prospects, employees, peers and with your audience in general.

“Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘Make me feel important.’ Never forget this message when working with people”. Mary Kay Ash

 Source: http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com

 10.  Be helpful

Help people solve their problems, give without expectations and provide value.

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed”. Napoleon Hill   

Of course there are many other important factors to consider which may influence the success of your business. Making sure that you have a solid foundation will increase your chances of succeeding with your online business.

The only problem is that although everyone seems to be doing it, you just don’t get it! You’re not really getting new business from it and you can’t help wondering if you’re wasting your money on this social media “thing”.

Sounds familiar? If you’ve jumped blindly into social media and have no clue WHY, might as well get out now because you’re doomed to fail!

By not setting goals and objectives, you can’t effectively measure your success which will leave you frustrated and disappointed. Clearly defining and understanding what you’re attempting to accomplish with social media should be your first step.

Start from the Beginning

Setting social media goals should be a reflection of your overall business goals.

Find the Answers

Before jumping into social media, you need to do your research and ask yourself several questions.

• What are your competitors doing
• Who are you trying to reach
• Where is your audience
• What resources are you able to allocate
• What’s your budget
• How much time can you dedicate
• How much should you handle yourself or who’s going to be responsible
• Should you keep it internally or outsource
• Do you need a social media policy
• What are your obstacles
• What are your strengths
• What image do you want to project

Keep it Realistic and Achievable

Here are some Social Media goals:

• Increase your brand recognition
• Increase website traffic
• Improve search rank
• Generating Leads
• Increase sales
• Provide customer support
• Reducing marketing costs
• Reducing client support costs
• Market Research
• Educate
• Become the go-to expert in your field

The more specific you are at setting goals, the easier it will be to measure the effectiveness. Example: increase website traffic by 30% in the next 6 months.

Time

The truth is Social Media takes time and is a long term process. If you’re not fully committed on spending regular time on this, it’s going to be very difficult to see any progress. Determining the amount of time that you can realistically spend on your social media marketing will help you decide where you should spend your efforts.

Educate Yourself

You may not need to know how to set up a Facebook Page but it’s important to at least understand the big picture. As a small business owner, you may choose to stay away from the details but you should understand the process, be involved in the planning stages and keep track of the results.

If you’re responsible for all aspects of your social media campaign, you’ll obviously have to understand and learn the process as well as being familiar with the different tools.

Remember

By setting realistic expectations, time-frame and clear goals, you’ll be able to better focus and have direction for your social media campaign. Keep in mind that reviewing your efforts and making appropriate adjustments is also part of the process.

It’s also important to note that social media is not there to replace all other forms of marketing; it’s only a small piece of the pie which works best in conjunction with other channels.

Image eource: slworking2 via Compfight

According to Hubspot.com, companies who create, optimize and promote their blogs get 55% more traffic and 70% more leads than those who don’t. 

As many say, content is King BUT…it’s what you do with it after that will make all the difference.

Even if you have loyal followers, generating traffic to your blog will require some work on a consistent basis. To create visibility for your content, you’ll have to promote it after you click on the publish button.

Distribution Channels

After publishing your blog articles, you should systematically distribute your content through several channels. The exact channel(s) which you should use will depend on your target market. Knowing exactly who you’re trying to reach and where they are on the web will make the process much more efficient. 

Social Media

The most obvious social media platforms to distribute your content are the big four social media sites, but don’t restrict yourself to these if your market hangs out somewhere else on the web. 

• Facebook has more than a billion monthly active users (source: Facebook.com)
• Twitter has over 200 million monthly active users (source: Wikipedia.com)
• Google+ has more than 135 million monthly active users (source: Google Blog)
• LinkedIn counts more than 160 million unique monthly visitors (source: LinkedIn.com) 

Other Social Sharing Communities

There are countless other social sharing communities you could be using to get some visibility for your business. Your approach should reflect the platform’s purpose, unique qualities and best practices. 

Triberr

connects like-minded bloggers who are interested in reading and supporting each other. Tribes are formed around a certain topic and Tribe members share blog content that appear in their Tribal stream. Content can be shared to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon and Pinterest.

When joining a Tribe, make sure the subject aligns with your blog topic to ensure that your fellow Tribe mates share your content to their own social networks.

Watch the Complete Video Guide to Triberr

StumbleUpon

This is a Bookmarking site. StumbleUpon allows users to share and recommend content and websites they find. StumbleUpon will show you web pages based on your feedback as well as what similar Stumblers and the people you follow have Liked or Disliked. Keep in mind that it’s best not to only Stumble your own website but to try Stumbling other websites in your niche as well.

Read Social Media Examiner StumbleUpon Guide.

Scoop.it

This is a curation publishing platform. You can distribute content across the web according to particular interests in a digital magazines style format. Users can follow your topics and easily share your posts on several social media platforms.

According to Scoop.it

• Reached 5 million uniques in 11 months
• 25% average growth per month
• 75% of our users have post-secondary education
• 44% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher (vs. 13% for Tumblr; 24% for Pinterest)

Repurpose Content

Reusing your content in other formats can help you reach difference audiences and can also help you increase your content output. Turn your regular blog articles into: 

• Videos
• Presentations
• Infographics
• Emails
• Podcasts

Blog Commenting

After publishing each post, find blogs in your niche market and leave comments on recent blog articles. Make sure that you bring value to your comments and never hijack their comment stream with self-promoting messages.

This can be helpful to position yourself as an expert in your niche. It can also help you connect with your target market and other leaders in your field. As well, it can provide beneficial links back to your website.

Remember 

Consistency and Frequency Is a Major Factor
Avoid long period of inactivity. For best results, I believe that you should write (at a minimum) one blog post per week.

Although the following is often a time issue and might not particularly sound realistic for most small businesses and solopreneurs; according to Hubspot.com, businesses that blog at least 20 times per month generate 5 times more traffic and 4 times more leads than those that only blog a few times per month. This shows that frequency is also an important factor to consider.

 Keep Your Content Relevant
Keep your content relevant to your target market. Keep in mind who you’re writing for when creating content.

Make Your Content Easy to Share
Make sure your blog has sharing buttons to make it easier to spread your content around the web.

 Your Blog Title Makes All the Difference
Use blog titles that really grab your readers’ attention without misleading or using unrelated titles. Your blog title may be the only reason why readers decide to click or not on your article.

SEO Is Not Dead
Although sharing your content on different social networks is becoming crucial for most businesses, you can’t ignore Search Engine Optimization (SEO) when writing your blog articles.

Read SEOmoz Beginners Guide to SEO

Do you have a system in place after you hit the publish button on your blog?

So, I thought I would give you a recap of what every Facebook Page owners should know to avoid looking like a fool.

1. Know the Difference

Facebook profiles are for personal use not for business. This is where you share pictures of your kids and connect with your family and friends. It’s OK to network with people using your personal profile but you can’t conduct business. Remember that personal profiles represent individual people and must be held under your individual name.

Business Pages have many specific benefits:

• Pages are public so anyone can read and follow your posts
• You can install apps and tabs on your Page
• You can run ads for your Page
• You can run contests and promotions
• You have Facebook Page Insights which helps you see how your Page is performing
• You can have several people managing a Page with different roles assigned to them

Additionally, Facebook’s terms doesn’t allow for you to conduct business on a personal profile. Beware that Facebook has been known to shut down accounts without notice.

 2. Make it Easy to Share Your Page

Customizing your Page web address will make it much easier to share your Business Page in your marketing communications, website and business cards. You can only change it once so make sure that you’re careful and think long term about this. You can change your URL here https://www.facebook.com/username.

Here’s an example of the difference between the two:

Default URL: www.facebook.com/pages/vasimpleservices/177767078381

Custom URL: www.facebook.com/vasimpleservices

Remember that if you change your Page URL address, you’ll probably have to go change it everywhere else on the web, including your website so that you don’t get broken links.

Bonus Tip: To make it even shorter, you can also use www.fb.com/vasimpleservices (use FB instead of Facebook) to share your Page after you’ve set your custom URL.

3. Don’t Make Me Work 

Make sure to fill out the “About” section properly including a link to your website. Please tell me in one sentence what your Page is all about…don’t make me look around or click on anything to figure it out! Most people never click on the About box to get additional information.

If your About section on your Page doesn’t allow you to add a proper business description (this will depend on the Page category you originally picked), make sure your cover image tells your story.

Just keep in mind the Facebook rules on covers which allows for no more than 20% text.

4. Use the Proper Picture Size

If you don’t use the proper image size for your cover image and profile picture, the quality usually will look bad. Make the first impression count and pick good quality graphics! You may get a higher quality result by using a PNG file.

Cover image size: 851×315 pixels

Profile Picture size: 180×180 pixels (displays at 160×160)

5. Know the Rules

Running contests and promotions require that you follow some rules. There are Facebook terms that you must follow but also laws that you must respect. Playing the “I didn’t know” game usually doesn’t work and it’s your responsibility to keep up with the rules.

6. Not All Your Fans See Your Posts

Even when someone Likes your Page, it doesn’t mean that they will see your posts. Actually, depending on which type of post you’re using, probably less than 16% of your fans will see your content.

This is due to the Facebook algorithm formula called EdgeRank which is used to control the amount of content people see in their newsfeed.

If you want more people to see your posts, you have to get your audience to engage with your content (like, comment and share) which will help increase your Edgerank. As well, you always have the option to pay to promote your posts.

7. Post as Your Page

When posting on your Page, it’s best to post “as your Page” and not as yourself. When you post on your Page using your personal profile, your posts end up in the box on the right called “Recent Posts by Others” which is only seen if you go on your Page directly and your fans will not get your updates in their own newsfeed.

Remember, less than 2% of people who Liked your Page will ever return to your Page after Liking it. Most of your fans will consume your content directly in their newsfeed and not on your Page.

8. Be Relevant

If I’m going to follow your business on Facebook, I want to see posts related to your business. If you’re a website designer, why are you constantly posting inspirational quotes?

Try to stay focused and don’t stray too far off your main business topic or you’ll confuse your audience.

9. Spam is Bad

Don’t Spam! Really, this seems pretty obvious but I see it all the time! I consider it spam when I continually see your sales messages in my newsfeed.

Try applying the 80/20 rule: 80% of your content should provide value and less than 20% of your posts should be promoting your products or services.

Some of the biggest offenders I see are people in the Real Estate industry who often post 100% of their content about their home listings.

10. Don’t Go MIA

Being consistent is the key with your Facebook marketing.  Avoid falling off the map for a long period of time. Remember, out of sight…out of mind!

If you know that you‘ll be away or have a really busy day or week, use the Facebook scheduling tool to plan your posts ahead of time which will help you avoid going MIA (missing in action).

Facebook marketing is not rocket science but you have to keep on top of the changes and know the basic rules to avoid making mistakes. How do you keep on top of it?

Image Source: Alan via Compfight

In case you didn’t know, custom tabs can be added to your Facebook Business Page to run contests or promotions, add contact forms, create sales pages, landing pages, about us pages, showcase products, share Twitter feeds, showcase Pinterest boards, etc.

How to decide which app is best for your Facebook Page

To decide which app will work best for you, take a look at:

• Your budget
• The number of Fans (Likes) you have
• The number of Pages you manage
• Your goals
• Your technical knowledge (can you use html coding)
• Do you need templates or can you create images from scratch
• Which features are important to you and which are not necessary

Some stuff you should know

• Like Gate allows your custom tab to display different content to those who are not fans and to those who are fans.
• Contest rewards skill; winners are determined based on skill, popularity or judging.
• Sweepstakes awards winners at random; winners are determined based purely on chance.
• Tab App icons:  You have a total of 12 visible tabs on your Page which are located right under your Cover image. The first tab is always the picture tab and you can’t customize it or move it around. You can change the images (icons) for the other 11 tabs by clicking on the pencil icon and uploading an image (111 x 74 pixels). You can move the order of those tabs as well.

• Width of Page tabs for the new Facebook Timeline is 810 pixels. Depending on which app you use, if you want to create an image (for a header as an example) you should keep it under 810 pixels wide.

• REMEMBER: If you’re going to run contests, sweepstakes or promotions on your Page, please make sure to follow Facebook terms and respect the laws governing social media promotions.

Here are some companies which offer apps you can use to create contests and/or custom tabs. These companies may offer additional services but for the purpose of this article, I will focus mainly on their custom tab features.

1.   Pagemodo

Contests options:

No, but they offer templates for the creation of Coupon tabs with a Pro Package.

Like Gate:

Yes, but this feature requires a Pro Package.

Templates:

Yes, there’s a really nice selection of templates.

Ease of use:

Really easy to use.

Flexibility:

Although the templates provided will probably satisfy most users, there’s not that much flexibility in terms of customizing the layout of a template. You can start from scratch if you’re able to use html coding and create your own custom tab and layout.

Pricing:

Free

Some features included:

• 1 Fan Page
• 1 Tab
• Cover Photos
• Builder & Hosting

Most Popular $13.25/month

Some features included:

• 3 Fan Pages
• Unlimited Tabs
• Cover Photos
• Builder & Hosting
• No Pagemodo Footer/Watermark
• Pro Templates
• Like Gates
• Google Analytics
• No Powered By
• 2 Team Members
• Forum + Premium Email

Other packages: $6/month, $33/month

2.   Tabsite

Contests options:

Yes, for Gold and Platinum members.

Like Gate:

Yes, available for premium memberships.

Templates:

Yes.

Ease of use:

I found Tabsite a little confusing to use at first. There’s a lot going on a page with no clear direction on how to create your tabs. I suggest you first visit the help page to learn how to use these tools.

Flexibility:

The layout is very flexible, simply drag and drop your widgets or images. Since the free version only includes 4 widgets, the premium versions will give much more flexibility on what you can do with your Tabs.

The Powered by Tabsite will show on the top right corner with the free version which I find pretty intrusive. If you don’t want to have it on your tab, you’ll have to get the paid version.

Pricing:

Free

Some features included:

• 2 tabs with ads
• Friendshare app
• Unlimited likes
• 4 widgets (Content text editor, Image, Map and email sign-up form widgets)
• 2MB storage space for your images and content

Most popular Gold Plan $19/month or $190/year

Some features included:

• 11 Tabs
• No ads
• Unlimited likes
• 21 widgets
• 9 engagement apps
• 250MB storage space for your images and content

Other packages: $10/month, $30/month

3.   Shortstack

Contests options:

Yes, contests features are available for paying members. Free accounts have access to the Sweepstakes feature.

Like Gate:

Yes.

Templates:

Yes.

Ease of use:

This is one of my favorite app from this list. Straightforward with clear and easy to use instructions.

Flexibility:

Shortstack has enough flexibility in design, layout and options to achieve most of your needs.

Pricing:

Free

Some features included:

• 2000 Likes
• Unlimited pages
• Sweepstakes
• Fan gating
• Access to all widgets
• Photo galleries
• Videos
• Theme and template galleries
• Viewable on mobile
• Share function

Most Popular $30/month or $300/year

Same as Free plus…

• 25,000 Likes
• No footer logo
• Contests
• Entry storage/data collection
• Export contest entries
• Custom app icons
• Form integrations
• White labels
• Priority support
• Add more than 10 apps to any page
• Multiple user collaboration

Other packages: $75/month, $150/month, $300/month

4.   Woobox

Contests options:

Wide variety of contest, sweepstake and promotion features with paid membership.

Like Gate:

Yes.

Templates:

No.

Ease of use:

This is fairly easy to use with plenty of options to help make your life easier but it includes a lot of steps to setup your tabs. The help guide is nicely done using Sliderocket presentation slides which is great for visual people like me. There’s also help features directly within the dashboard.

Since there are no templates to get you started, you’ll have to make sure to plan your tabs visually before creating them. This means that you’ll need a photo editor as well to create your tabs.

Flexibility:

There are a lot of options but the layout is pretty restrictive in terms of customization unless you create your own tabs using HTML coding. You can preview what your tab will look like before you upgrade your account which I found to be a nice feature.

Pricing:

Free

APPS included

• HTML Fangate
• Twitter Tab
• Instagram Tab
• Pinterest Tab
• YouTube Tab

$29 per month or $299/year for one Business Page

• 20,000 likes
• Unlimited promotions

Apps included

• Sweepstakes
• Coupons
• Photo Contests
• Video Contests
• Instant Win
• Polls
• Pin To Win
• Deals
• Group Deals
• Rewards

Other packages: $15/month, $49/month, $99/month, $249/month

Other Apps you may want to check out

Wildfire Basic Promotions $5 + .99 cents per day

Appbistro Various prices

Rafflecopter  Free-$59/month

Since Facebook removed the option to choose where visitors could land on your Page when they launched the new Timeline, it’s much harder to get traffic to visit custom tabs unless you have a worthwhile incentive or a catchy app icon.

Also, keep in mind that very few people (fewer than 2 percent) return to a Page after Liking it. They will usually consume your content directly from their own newsfeed and not from your Page.

Unless you promote your custom tabs, most users will never see them so make sure that you take that into consideration when deciding how much you should invest on your custom tabs.

Note: One of the most effective ways to send visitors to your tabs is probably to invest in Facebook ads since it allows you to direct people who click on your ad to any URL of your choice including your custom tabs.

Image Source:  peasap via Compfight

Facebook Insights will help you analyze your Page performance.

This is an overlook of Facebook individual Posts Metrics. You can find this data by going in your Facebook Page Admin Panel and under the insights box, click “See All”.

Reach

Your Page post count as having reached someone when it is shown in people’s News Feed for the first 28 days after a post is published. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that those people actually saw or read your post but it simply appeared in their News Feed.

 People may see your posts from these different channels:

• Organic reach: The number of unique people who had your post show in their News Feed, ticker or directly on your Page.
• Paid reach: The number of unique people who saw your post from ads.
• Viral reach: The number of unique people who saw your post from a story generated by a friend. These stories can include liking, commenting or sharing your post, answering a question or responding to an event.

Here are some ideas to increase your Page Reach:

1. Post useful and interesting content people will want to share. Try to think of what value added information you can provide in each post.
3. Avoid constant self-promotion and irrelevant content.
4. Optimizing the performance of your posts will increase your Page’s total reach.
5. Use promoted posts and Facebook Offers.
6. Use text only status updates. Although pictures were performing better in the past, Facebook’s algorithm now seems to favor text only updates. Keep in mind that Facebook can change its algorithm anytime so keep an eye on the numbers.
7. Post at the right time when your followers are most likely to be on Facebook. This can be different for every Page depending on your target market. You can create a spreadsheet with the time of your posts, the reach, engagement rate and test which time works best for your Page.
8. Avoid using third party apps such as Hootsuite to post to your Page. It is believed that using third party apps to post to Pages doesn’t get as much reach as posting directly from Facebook. If you’re looking to schedule your posts, it is best to use Facebook’s own post scheduler.
9. Be consistent. Posting at least once per day including weekends is a good idea but keep in mind that frequency depends on your audience.
10. Getting more people to talk about your Page and posts allows you to reach more people and increase your edgerank. 

Note: Increased reach doesn’t necessarily mean increased engagement.

Engaged Users

Engaged Users is the number of people who have clicked anywhere on your post. This includes:

• Video plays: The number of times the play button of your video was clicked on.
• Photo views: The number of times your photo was viewed in its full size.
• Link clicks: The number of time the link included in your post was clicked on.
• Other clicks: The number of clicks on your post that are not counted in other metrics.  These clicks can include clicks on people’s names in comments, clicks on the like count, clicks on the time stamp, etc.
• Shares: The number of times your post was shared.
• Negative feedback: The number of times users hid or reported one of your posts as spam. You can find out more about the type of negative feedback you received when downloading the Page Level Data report.

 Don’t forget that Facebook has a large percentage of passive users. Some people will only look and read your posts but won’t necessarily like, comment or share. This doesn’t mean that they don’t find your content interesting. The Engaged Users metric is definitely an important number that you should watch.

People Talking About This (PTAT) 

This is the number of people who have taken action on your Page post. This may include:

• Sharing, liking or commenting on your post
• Answering a question
• Responding to an event
• Claiming an offer

When users share a page’s post, any subsequent Likes, comments, or re-shares will be counted in a page’s People Talking About This.

Note: When people like specific comments on a post, it doesn’t count toward this total since the action does not generate a News Feed story.

 Here are some ideas to increase your PTAT: 

1. Ask questions
2. Post interesting images. Pictures usually get more interactions than other type of posts
3. Add a call to action at the end of your posts such as Like, share or comment
4. Run contests and promotions
5. Conduct surveys
6. Use short status updates. Posts under 80 characters has an average of 27% higher engagement rate than posts with over 80 characters (Buddy Media)
7. Post on weekends. The interaction rate for posts on weekends is 14.5% higher compared to weekday posts (Buddy Media)
8. Play the “caption this” and “fill in the blank game” (in moderation). According to Buddy Media, “caption this” posts increase the overall interaction rate by more than 100%

Virality

Virality is the number of people who have created a story from your post as a percentage of the number of people who have seen it. A story is created when your fans interact with your posts (see PTAT).

People Talking about This divided by Reach  times 100 = Virality Percentage

Posts virality can help you see at a glance which type of content gets the most engagement.

According to EdgeRank Checker, the median Virality rate for Facebook Pages is 1.92%.

Reports 

Under “Export Insights Data”, you will be able to export to Excel more complete reports with additional metrics for your Page. You can choose either Page level data or Page post level data and select any date range, with a maximum of 500 posts at a time.

Here’s a video tutorial from Hubspot on how to analyse Facebook Insights reports.

One of your main goal as a Page owner should be to publish content that will reach a large audience and that your audience will engage and share your content with their friends so that you have greater visibility. Facebook Insights allows you to measure your Facebook marketing efforts. Also, since Facebook is constantly changing, it’s important to keep an eye on your numbers and adjust accordingly.

Do you find Facebook Insights overwhelming? 

Source: Facebook.com

Remember: When a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile.

Here are the different Twitter Posts you can use:

Regular Tweet

A Tweet is a message with less than 140 characters posted to Twitter.

Example:

Get More Facebook Likes by Linking Your Personal Profile bit.ly/xKjqwp

— Genevieve Lachance (@vasimpleservice) February 24, 2013

Who can see it: Anyone who is following you (the sender) will see the Tweet in their Home stream.    

Mention

A mention is used when you want to include someone in a conversation or you want to highlight someone in your post.

Example:

How To Get More Referrals goo.gl/Gl3wp via @steamfeedcom — Genevieve Lachance (@vasimpleservice) February 24, 2013

Who can see it: Anyone on Twitter who is following you (the sender of a mention) will see the Tweet in their Home stream.    

Reply

Twitter handles tweets that start with @username differently than it does those that place the @username somewhere else. If you start a message with @username, it’s considered a “Reply”. Replies are directed specifically to one Twitter user.

Example:

@crystal1a Yes, Seth Godin is definitely always interesting — Genevieve Lachance (@vasimpleservice) February 25, 2013

Who can see it: If you send a Reply, only the ones following both the sender and the recipient of a @reply will see it in their Home stream unless they visit the sender’s Profile page. So, most replies will only be seen by a small number of people.

Retweet

A retweet is a re-posting of someone else’s Tweet to your followers.

Example:

RT @ruhanirabin: A closed mouth says nothing wrong; a closed mind does nothing right. — Genevieve Lachance (@vasimpleservice) February 18, 2013

Note: There are two possible ways to retweet a post. From the official Twitter retweet option or by using “RT@username”. Unlike when using most third-party application, when you retweet directly from Twitter you won’t be able to edit the retweet or add any comments. Read more on RT Versus Official Twitter Retweets: How Are They Different?

Who can see it: Anyone on Twitter who is following you (the sender of a retweet) will see the Tweet in their Home stream.

Direct Message

A direct message (DM) is a private message sent via Twitter. You can only send a direct message to a user who is following you and you can only receive direct messages from users you follow.

Starting a tweet with “d @user” or “dm @user” turns it into a direct message as long as that user already follows you.

Who can see it: Only the sender and the recipient will see the direct message.

Are you taking advantage of all the features on Twitter?

Image Source: Ilse via Compfight