Archive for the ‘Facebook Marketing’ Category

Custom Facebook URLs No Longer Require 25 ‘Likes’

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Facebook has recently made it much easier to get a custom Facebook URL for your small business Facebook page. It used to be that Facebook required all Facebook pages to accumulate 25 ‘Likes’ prior to them being able to quality for a custom URL. This requirement caused a lot of small business owners who were just getting started on Facebook to use that ugly URL string for their page. The problem with the old way of doing things was that when small business owners went to promote their Facebook page on other marketing collateral, such as in-store, on their website, on print ads, etc. the URL was not easily read and couldn’t be typed into a browser without a lot of patience on behalf of the customer. Realizing that their rules were causing headaches for business owners and Facebook users, Facebook has changed the rule.

Facebook URLNow, you can setup a custom Facebook URL right away. No more waiting until you have 25 ‘Likes’. If you currently have a Facebook page with that ugly URL string, simply go ahead and change it. For those of you who are thinking about creating a Facebook business page for your small business, now is the time! Here’s why it’s important to have a Custom Facebook Business Page URL.

LinkedIn Discussions Can Increase Facebook & Twitter Connections

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

More and more I’m seeing LinkedIn Group Members using LinkedIn Discussions to add Facebook and Twitter connections. At first glance you think to yourself, hmmm, this is a good idea. After a little time though, you realize that this is a failed strategy. Why? Well it gets back to a point we make over and over again at this company, when it comes to online marketing, it’s about QUALITY over quantity. Too many business owners make the mistake of thinking that if they have a large quantity of followers they will be successful. Unfortunately, that’s not the case if ‘quality’ is missing.

LinkedIn Groups Discussions

So what does this LinkedIn strategy provide to business owners? Does it align to your goal of selling more products and services? Let’s find out.

These LinkedIn Groups are full of  business owners, all of whom are looking to grow their Twitter and Facebook following. They see this discussion topic and decide to go through and ‘Like’ all of the Facebook pages posted in the discussion thread. Then they post a link to their own Facebook page and let group members know that they have already ‘Liked’ all of their pages and request that those owners do the same. Those owners oblige and your Facebook ‘Likes’ jump from 100 to 125. You’re thinking, brilliant! I just increased my Facebook ‘Likes’ 25%. That’s great, now what?

Once you’ve increased your Facebook ‘Likes’ and Twitter followers you continue to post content on those channels expecting that this will lead to more comments and ultimately more sales. What too many business owners are finding out is that once the other owners follow you on Twitter and ‘Like’ you on Facebook, they NEVER come back to your Facebook page and NEVER interact with you on Twitter. If they’re not engaging with you that means your content is never showing up in front of their audience, which means you aren’t going to generate more comments and you’re certainly not going to increase sales.

On the surface this LinkedIn strategy for growing your social media connections seems like a quick fix to that nagging issue of not having a lot of Facebook ‘Likes’ and Twitter followers. Unfortunately, this strategy doesn’t help you achieve your ultimate goal of selling more products and services. Why? Because it’s a quantity-focused strategy and not a quality-focused strategy. If you want to sell more products and services then you HAVE TO focus on QUALITY social media connections.

What are Quality Social Media Connections?

Here at Catalyst we ALWAYS tell clients not to worry if you have 5 followers or 500, as long as those who ARE following you take the time to visit your Facebook page and leave comments and ReTweet your content on Twitter. You want Brand ADVOCATES. You don’t want random followers who never take the time to see what you have to say. Quality social media connections are the folks who are going to stop by your event, share your blog article with friends, and take advantage of your promotions.

Next time you’re thinking about ways to increase your social media following, perhaps take a few minutes to instead think of how you can ENGAGE the people who are already there.

Thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Run a Photo Caption Contest on Facebook

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Are you looking for creative ways to engage your Facebook community? Facebook Photo Caption Contests can be an effective marketing tactic for small business. Facebook Photo Caption Contests help businesses attract new Facebook ‘Likes’, engage existing Facebook community members, learn from their community, provide a fun way to interact with customers, and can lead to increased sales. With that said, there are a few things all businesses need to know before they can run a successful Facebook Photo Caption Contest.

Facebook Contest IdeasBefore you actually set up your Facebook Photo Caption Contest, you must first determine a few things: your goal(s) for the marketing campaign, the action you want contestants and fans to take, what you will offer to the winner(s), and what photos you want to use. Without establishing what you want to achieve (your goals) for the contest, you’re just running a Facebook Photo Contest for the sake of running a Facebook Photo Caption Contest and you will probably not see much return on your investment. By establishing your goals, you’re able to structure the contest in a way that will help you achieve those goals.

Normally, contestants participate in Facebook Photo Contests by leaving a caption that describes the image(s) and then do their best to get their Facebook friends to ‘Like’ their caption. This is how you will engage existing Facebook community members and attract new ‘Likes’. The offer is super important. You need to offer something of enough value that contestants think it’s worth their time to participate. Things like gift certificates, free gifts, etc. are usually good offers. Finally, the photos that you will use are very important. You want photos that get people talking, but you don’t want to insult anyone. For example, if you own a baby products store and you’re using baby pictures for the Facebook Photo Contest, be sure to pick images that are engaging, but won’t solicit rude captions. If you take time to plan for these 4 things, you will be well on your way to running a successful Photo Caption Contest on Facebook.

Setup a Facebook Photo Caption Contest

Step 1: Write a blog article explaining the rules of the contest and describing how people can participate (if you don’t have a blog, do this within the Photo Album you setup on Facebook). Use social media, in-store marketing, etc. to promote the event/drive traffic to the blog article.

Step 2: Add your photos to a Photo Album on Facebook. Use the “Description” feature to explain the contest. Feel free to link to your blog article so that interested participants can read more details.

Step 3: Launch the contest and start using all available marketing channels to promote the contest. Use the ‘offer’ to capture interest in participating in the contest.

Step 4: After the contest deadline has passed, determine the winner and promote the winner on Facebook and your other social media channels. Be sure to provide the winner(s) with the prize.

Benefits to Running Facebook Photo Caption Contest

If you are able to successfully setup and run a Facebook Photo Caption Contest for your small business then you should see both immediate, and longer-term benefits. First, you should have captured additional Facebook ‘Likes’ on your Facebook Business Page. You should have also had a few conversations with contest participants throughout the event, so that usually leads to stronger relationships with customers and can increase sales in the short-term. Some of the longer-term benefits are more awareness for your small business, which over time should lead to more Facebook ‘Likes’ and increased sales.

If you need help running a Facebook Photo Contest, feel free to reach out to us. If you have successfully executed a Facebook Photo Contest for your business, please share any advice you have for our readers by leaving a comment below.

Stop Monopolizing My Facebook News Feed!

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Ok. Take a deep breath. Relax. Don’t get too frustrated… Ahhhh! It’s kind of hard not to get frustrated when a business starts monopolizing my Facebook News Feed. What do I mean? You probably know… You know those businesses who post one status update after another on Facebook? Yeah, I told you you knew what I was talking about. How frustrating is it when you look at your Facebook News Feed only to see the same company posting 10 updates right in a row?! Do you want to know the quickest way to have your Facebook updates hidden, or even worse, be ‘Unliked’ by your Facebook followers? Post Facebook Status Updates consecutively…

How often should I post on FacebookWhen it comes to marketing your small business on Facebook, there are rules of engagement. One of the most important rules to follow is “Keep your Facebook updates to 2-3 DAILY”. The businesses who post constantly are very likely to piss off their followers. There is nothing more annoying than seeing continuous promotional messages on your news feed. Businesses who take part in this monopolization of Facebook News Feeds are not going to be successful on Facebook.

The key to Facebook is getting your message in front of your followers, hoping that they will engage with you by ‘Liking’ your update or leaving a comment. Getting your followers to engage with your Facebook page puts your page in front of their followers, thus giving you the opportunity to obtain new Facebook ‘Likes’. If you want people to engage with you and keep your status updates in their news feed, you can’t piss them off.

When it comes to posting content on Facebook for your business, here are a few tips that can help:

  • Post informative/educational information about your business, industry, products, services, events, etc. Keep the promotional posts to a minimum.
  • Post information/engage with your followers on a daily basis. People like consistency.
  • Spread your Facebook posts out throughout the day – different people are on at different times and you want your messages to reach as many followers as possible (hint: Sunday nights are a great time to post updates on Facebook)
  • Ask questions – Try to solicit feedback from your Facebook community. The key to all of this is engagement. Be thought-provoking with your Facebook posts.
  • Switch up the type of content you post – post images, links to your content, links to others’ content, poll questions, status messages, etc.
  • DO NOT POST MULTIPLE MESSAGES ONE RIGHT AFTER THE NEXT!

If you follow these few tips and be sure not to annoy your Facebook community by posting multiple messages one after the next, you will have success with Facebook Marketing for your small business.

As you can tell, Facebook News Feed monopolization is one of our pet peeves here at Catalyst. What are some of your Facebook pet peeves? Leave a comment below.

3 Tips for Outsourcing Your Facebook Marketing

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Are you considering outsourcing your Facebook marketing to a social media marketing agency? Outsourcing your Facebook marketing can be a very effective strategy for small businesses who don’t have the time or employee (wo)man-power to do it themselves. With that said, when it comes to successfully outsourcing your Facebook marketing there are a few things that every business owner should be aware of.

Choose the Right Partner

Outsource FacebookWhen it comes to outsourcing ANY portion of your business it is important to choose the right partner (notice how I say “partner” and not vendor). You don’t want to work with a company that’s incompetent, difficult to work with, or unwilling to treat you as a partner instead of just another client. In exchange, you should also do your best to treat your Facebook marketing agency as a partner as well. Your relationship with your agency partner should almost feel like you’re working with an internal team of employees who are simply located at a separate location. When you get that feeling you know you have chosen the right agency partner. Choosing the right partner creates a great working environment, encourages both parties to go the extra mile when promoting your information on Facebook, and leads to a long-term relationship, which is important when it comes to consistency on Facebook. Be sure you do your due diligence when searching for a social media marketing agency to help you with your Facebook marketing.

Set Performance Measures

Without setting performance measures up front, how can you measure success? When it comes to outsourcing your Facebook marketing you should understand that you’re going to have to pay a few hundred dollars each month to your social media marketing agency. In order for you to feel confident that you’re getting a return on your investment you must setup performance measures during the Facebook strategy planning stage. If the agency you have chosen doesn’t bring this up, it might be a good idea to get rid of them before you get too far down the road. Too many people out there claim to be “Facebook experts”, but really have no philosophy/strategy to bring to their clients. In order for them to cover up their deficiencies they try to stay as far away from “Reporting Meetings” as possible.

Be sure that you set clear objectives before starting your Facebook marketing. When coming up with these objectives it’s best to work with your agency partner. Don’t come up with unrealistic goals. Remember the agency can only do as much as you allow them to. Together you should put together realistic performance measures and then set up a time each month or each quarter whereby you will sit down with your agency partner to review your reports and compare them to your performance measures, so that you can track return-on-investment.

Conduct Regular Status/Strategy Meetings

Outsourcing your Facebook marketing can only work when you have a plan for conducting regular status meetings with your agency partner. Designate someone internally at your small business, whether that’s you (the owner) or an employee, as the main contact for your marketing partner. When Outsourcing your Facebook marketing to a social media marketing agency, in order for that agency to be successful, they need someone on the inside who they can rely on for information and to get back with them when they have questions. Having these regular meetings helps keep everyone on track, as well as, reduces the chance for surprises when it comes time to review performance measures to see how effective your outsourcing strategy is working.

If you follow these three tips you will have the best chance to be successful on Facebook. Effective Facebook marketing can be extremely beneficial in building relationships with customers and prospects, as well as, increasing sales. If you don’t have the time to manage Facebook for your small business, definitely consider outsourcing your Facebook marketing.

Generate Facebook-Likes Using a QR Code

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Are you looking for a more effective way to generate Facebook “Likes” for your small business? Aren’t we all?! :) Well, now there’s a way to generate more Facebook “Likes” through the use of QR codes. Likify is a new online service that allows users to create QR codes linked to your Facebook Business Page. Businesses can then print the QR code on anything that you want. When your QR code is scanned the customer gets pointed to a mobile landing page, which contains your official Facebook Like button. Pretty cool, huh? As we have discussed before, QR codes are in their infancy as a marketing tool, but their usage is growing. By next year we think using QR codes to promote your business will be mainstream.

Likify QR code Facebook LikeLikify has made creating a QR code for your Facebook Business Page very simple. Follow the steps below to create a Likify QR code:

  • Setup a Likify account
  • Enter your Facebook Business Page in the form where it says, “Webpage about actual item to like”
  • Personalize the landing page that your customers see once they scan your QR code
    • Add a title for the landing page
    • Add an image, perhaps your company logo or a Facebook logo
    • If you want, you can add another link to give customers more information about your small business (perhaps your company website)
    • Add a coupon if you want to entice customers to “Like” your small business Facebook page
  • Click ‘Generate Code’
  • Start printing your QR code wherever you want it and promote it to your customers and prospects

Once you have your Likify QR code you can then begin to print it on your marketing materials. Hopefully you have created a plan for where you want to place your QR code. This will make the promotion process much more effective. Perhaps you want to place your QR code on your marketing fliers, on an in-store poster, on your website, or you can even print QR codes on your business card to generate more Facebook “Likes” for your Facebook Business Page.

Soon Likify will be providing reporting for users of their service. This means business owners will be able to understand how effective their Facebook “Like” QR code campaign is. If you’re looking for creative ways to generate more Facebook “Likes” for your small business, definitely consider using Likify to create a QR code for your small business Facebook page.

Facebook Places: Are You Using the New Check-In Deals Feature?

Monday, April 11th, 2011

Separate from the Facebok Deals feature that we wrote about previously, Facebook has also recently rolled out a new Deals feature for Facebook Places. Businesses who claim their Facebook Places page can now create a “Check-in Deal” to promote your business. Similar to Foursquare Specials, Facebook Places now offers a variety of specials (or Check-in Deals) to reward customers for checking in at a business. By offering Check-in Deals, Facebook is positioning itself as a major player in the location-based gaming arena. Business owners can now use the largest social network on the planet to offer deals to their customers while in-store… Can you say, lots of potential?

What Types of Check-In Deals Can I Create for My Business?

Facebook Check In Deals for Small Business

According to Facebook, “Check-in Deals can help you engage with your customers and grow your business. Check-in Deals allow you to reward loyal customers with discounts and other special offers, so you can build valuable relationships with this influential audience. In addition, Facebook users have 130 friends on average, which means that if someone checks in to your business and you’re offering a deal, their friends have the opportunity to hear about it through word of mouth marketing that is generated naturally on Facebook. Lastly, over 200 million people use Facebook on their mobile devices and they are looking to discover what’s happening nearby. By offering a check-in deal, you give these new potential customers great reasons to stop by your business.”

Currently in the U.S., the Facebook Check-in Deals feature is available to all business owners. Facebook is working on providing business owners with a self-setup option, but for the time being businesses need to contact Facebook. At this time, only one special is allowed per business. How much does a valuable feature like this cost? Try FREE. Also, consumers checking in at your business using Facebook Places will be alerted of your Check-in Deal, potentially further increasing sales.

If you’re considering using foursquare to promote your small business, definitely check out what Facebook has to offer before making any decisions. Over the past few months Facebook has added Facebook Deals to compete with Groupon and Facebook Check-In Deals to compete with foursquare. It seems that Facebook is really putting a lot of energy behind transforming its platform into an even more powerful business tool. Although still in its infancy, this mix of tools may prove to be the most powerful weapon in a small business’s social media arsenal.

Facebook Deals: A Powerful New Social Media Tool For Your Business

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

In their most recent effort to achieve total global internet dominance, Facebook recently released further details on its “Deals” feature.  Similar in concept to Groupon, Facebook Deals allows users to purchase daily-deal vouchers through Facebook.com.  Currently, Facebook is differentiating itself from other group buying sites by only offering deals that provide social interaction. On their website, Facebook states, “Deals gives your business the opportunity to offer people unique social experiences that they can do with their friends. This encourages people to share their excitement about the experience you’re providing, not just the discount you’re offering. For example, some businesses may offer people a 5-course tasting menu, a rock climbing lesson, or a concert package.”

Facebook Deals: The Basics

Once you have made the decision that Facebook Deals is right for your business, contact Facebook through the Deals signup section of their website. Facebook may ask you to provide two pictures for your business.  As with Groupon, you will need to enter information such as the product offered, the discount, and any other relevant information.  With this information, Facebook will list your deal in a format attractive to Facebook users (your potential customers, there are many of them).

Once created, your deals will reach Facebook users through the following mediums:

Facebook Deals for Small Business

In short, Facebook Deals will get your business’s name out in front of many Facebook users within your geographic area.  The deal you create will attract current and new customers to your business, while Facebook’s social networking platform will encourage these customers to share the discount offers with their friends.

We believe Facebook Deals will present significant competition to Groupon, LivingSocial, and other group buying sites.  Although late to the game in social commerce arena, Facebook is famous for perfecting an idea, executing, and taking over the market.  For example, look at the outcome of the Facebook/MySpace battle.  What gives Facebook a leg-up over Groupon is their already enormous user-base as well as their social network platform, which is the most advanced in the world.  When a consumer makes a purchase through Facebook Deals, potentially hundreds of their friends will be notified of this, usually not the case with Groupon.

Manage Facebook Admins on Your Facebook Business Page

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Managing Facebook Admins for your small business Facebook page doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, with the upgrade to the new design layout for Facebook Pages, it’s actually quite simple. Follow the steps below to add an Admin to your Page or remove an Admin from your Page.

Click ‘See All’ in the Admins widget located in the top right corner of your Facebook Business Page

Add Remove Facebook Admin

To remove an Admin click ‘Remove’ next to his/her name. To add an Admin to your Facebook page start typing his/her name into the text box. Select your new Admin (must be connected to him/her on Facebook). Click ‘Save Changes’.

Add Remove Facebook Admin

Pretty easy, right?

Are you taking advantage of using multiple Facebook Admins to help keep content fresh and consistently updated? Leave a comment below letting our small business community know how you’re leveraging Facebook Admins to manage your Facebook Business Page.

Receive Notifications From Your Facebook Business Page

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Ask and you shall receive! Small Business owners have been complaining for years about not receiving Facebook notifications when a fan leaves a comment, posts on the wall, or ‘Likes’ something on their Facebook Business Page. Now, with a recent upgrade, Facebook appears to have been listening. Facebook has released a software update which contains a Facebook Business Page Notification feature that is sure to make ALL Small Business owners very happy!

Facebook Page NotificationsNo more missed activity from customers and prospects. Facebook Business Page Owners can now receive notifications from Facebook anytime a customer or prospects interacts with their Facebook Business Page.

As you know, the key to quality Social Media Marketing is engagement and building REAL relationships with customers and prospects. Online tools have made it easier than ever to accomplish this. More and more Small Business have been taking advantage of online tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. We believe that 2011 should be the year that the majority of Small Business owners start using Facebook for business. We have reached a tipping point. The value of being on Facebook for Small Businesses is just too great to ignore any longer. Facebook sees the trend and they are making sure to cater more to businesses.

Benefits of Facebook Page Notifications

Why is this HUGE news you ask? Well because Small Businesses will realize numerous benefits from the new Facebook Page Notifications. Here are a few of the many benefits of Facebook Page Notifications for Small Business:

  • More engagement can take place on Small Business Facebook Pages – No Comments, Likes, or Wall Posts from customers or prospects should go unnoticed!
  • Small Business will be more efficient with their time spent on Facebook – No more unnecessary Facebook Page checking unless you have something to say OR you receive a Facebook Page Notification that you want to respond to.
  • No more excuses for not using your Facebook Status to engage customers

Do you think this new feature will be useful for managing your Small Business Facebook Page? Please share your thoughts via the comments section below.