Facebook for business

How to use hashtags in Facebook for business

Jun 19, 2013 By Tea Leave a Comment

Are you using them or have you at least noticed them?

I’m talking about Facebook hashtags…

I’m sure you are at least aware that Facebook introduced hashtags earlier this week. (read about it here).

In my last post blog I talked about what hashtags in Facebook mean for business. This time I would like to show you how to use them and why you should be using them in your online marketing.

The most obvious reason is

Reach bigger audience and expend your fan base

Research shows that approx. 88-100 million people are engaging on Facebook during primetime television. By strategically using Facebook hashtags you will expand you reach to a wider audience. Bigger reach means more exposure and more exposure means growing your fan base. All that whilst watching TV – sounds good or what?

Create a buzz about your brand and expand your brand awareness

With strategic use of Facebook hashtags you will increase your visibility and engagement with your brand. When people click on hashtags and go to a page of content specific to that hashtag, they are more likely to engage with this page, as it is relevant to something they like or find important. This means more likes, more comments and also potential clients.

Make it personal

Everyone likes to know that there is a ‘real’ person behind a Facebook page. Especially if you are a small business owner, people want to meet you. With Facebook hashtags you can show your interest, what you stand for, what inspires you…Make it personal; yet stick to your branding. Don’t let the hashtags bite you!

Join a conversation about your brand and promote your events

Using relevant Facebook hashtags in your posts as well as monitoring conversations about your brand helps you create a buzz, respond timely on any adverse conversations about your brand and stay on top of what people are saying about your brand.

Create specific Facebook hashtag for your event and encourage attendees to engage. This will boost visibility of your brand, products and services and number of likes. This kind of ‘likes’ are likely your potential customers. They are already at your event, they liked you, so they are interested in you and what you have to offer. With a bit more schmoozing…you have them J

I hope this sparked some ideas on how to use Facebook hashtags on Facebook for business. I also know that there are some people who hate them and resist using them…are you one of them?

I’m interested to know if you like them or not and why? So don’t be shy…get the debate flowing….

Hashtags on Facebook – What does it mean for Facebook Business Pages

Jun 13, 2013 By Tea Leave a Comment

The months old dispute whether hashtags work on Facebook or not is finally resolved – so far they haven’t, however Facebook announced today that it’s launching ability to follow conversations via hashtags.

The Facebook admits that this is not an innovative function and further explains that “every day, hundreds of millions of people use Facebook to share their thoughts on big moments happening all around them…— people on Facebook connect with their friends about what’s taking place all over the world. …To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook.”

Facebook statement indicates that hastags will be rolled out gradually and we’ll also see some other new functions of this sort.

From a practical perspective this means that once rolled out, any hashtags you add to your posts will now be clickable. The search bar at the top of the Facebook homepage will also allow users to look for hashtags, and hashtags on Facebook will also tie in to those from other social media platforms such as Pintrest, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.

This will allow you to add context to a post and indicate that it’s part of larger discussion. By clicking on a hashtag you will see a feed of what other people and pages are saying about a topic or an event.

But there is a big difference in using hashtags in Facebook and it relates to Privacy settings.

From a privacy perspective, hashtags will work similarly to Facebook Graph Search. You’ll only see the comments that you’re authorized to see. This means that if you include a hashtag in friends-only post, only your friends will be able to see it in a hashtag search.

Considering that hashtags are already widely used on other social media platforms and commonly visible on Facebook already, it is highly likely that users will embrace this new add-on. And that can only be positive for Facebook Business Pages as well.

Are You on Top of Facebook’s New Terms & Conditions?

Apr 22, 2013 By Tea Leave a Comment

In my last blog post I kind of touched up notion that it seems that Facebook is relaxing its rules for using Facebook for business and that changes, which are currently being rolled out will mostly benefit small businesses.

Well this is true but with any change come also new rules. Are you on top of these? How often do you refer to Facebook’s terms & conditions? Regularly? Once a year? Never? It’s probably the latter, isn’t it?

Ignoring Facebook rules can cost you big time!

I’m not just saying this to scare you. The fact is that with growth and new technology, Facebook is becoming more capable and efficient in finding those who breach Facebook rules.

Why should you care?

#1
If Facebook decides that your page is breaching Facebook rules, it can deactivate your page without any questions asked. How much would that cost your business? – Probably, heaps!

#2
Yes, you can complain to Facebook if you think there has been an error of deactivating your site – but have you ever tried to contact Facebook? If yes, then you know this is not really a solution. I recently had a client who wanted to post a link to her custom tab and Facebook has labeled it as “spammy” link. We filled a complaint and they don’t even deal with such ‘trivial’ requests. Not so trivial for my client, as you can imagine. What I’m trying to say is that getting answers takes too long, so once you are hit with adverse actions, it will take long time to even hear from Facebook, let alone fix the problem.

#3
Even when you speak to Facebook, there is no guarantee that they will give you a chance to fix your errors.

#4
Even if Facebook acknowledges your errors, your reputation will be damaged and you will lose your credibility. Imagine fans looking for you and not being able to find your page. All your marketing materials that link to your Facebook business page will be sending fans nowhere. This could be pretty embarrassing, right?

As you see non-compliance with Facebook rules can have significant impacts on your business, financial and reputational. So, don’t even go there. When it comes to Facebook rules – Ignorance is NOT a bliss!

It’s true that most people are not trying to deliberately breach the rules or push the boundaries. Unfortunately, Facebook is not policing the intent, but they rules.

And for that reason I think hiring a professional social media consultant can save time and money for your business. Imagine what would be a cost to your business to suddenly lose your Facebook page over a simple, unintentional yet avoidable mistake, let say, if your cover photo breaches Facebook rules? Or if you run a competition on your wall which is in breach of Facebook rules? Do you know that such rules even exist? Or that they have recently changed? If not, think sincerely of what you are gambling with. What processes you have in place for staying on top of current terms of using Facebook for business. What about other social media platforms?

Quite often I see that businesses don’t thing about these things and are oblivious to the rules. If you know someone in your network that can benefit of this information, please share this article and raise their awareness.

Do You Comply with New Facebook Timeline Cover Photo Rules

Mar 26, 2013 By Tea Leave a Comment

Here we go again….another change from Facebook. But this time, it is a very welcome change for anyone owing a Facebook Business Page. Without too much noise, Facebook released new guidelines last week about new rules for Facebook timeline cover photos.

Would you believe me if I tell you that all limitation on what kinds of information you can include in your Facebook timeline cover photos are gone?

Yes – it’s true. You are now allowed to:

Include your contact details – phone, email, website etc
Present discounts, offers, purchase and price information
Make explicit calls to action; such as Like Us!, Call us! etc and even include arrows pointing to the Like button
Use visuals that direct fans to like or share your page

How fantastic is that?!

But hold your horses – Before you brief your designer with various ideas you had but couldn’t use until now – Facebook ‘s new cover photo guidelines are not without rules, that you strictly need to obey. And when I say strictly – I mean it. Facebook has indicated that they will be policing new rules more strictly then in the past.

What are Facebook’s New Cover Photo Guidelines?

Old limitations about the content are gone
The one and only rule is – the so called, 20% Rule. This means that no more than 20% of your Facebook timeline cover photos can include text. That’s it!

Sounds simple, but how do you determine what is 20% of the image?

With every change comes an opportunity and various developers have already created tools that will help you identify this percentage and to help you determine compliance with this Facebook rule.

Test your Facebook Cover Photo here

I guess I should also mention that cover photos can’t be deceptive, misleading or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. This is law, not Facebook guidelines. You should also refrain from encouraging people to upload your cover photo to their personal timelines.

What’s the big picture to this Facebook timeline cover photo changes?

With Facebook announcing changes to the look of the news feed and with increasing the maximum size for photos by almost 20 percent to 720 pixels, images are truly becoming more and more important and stars of the news feed.

Even the latest iPhone version update allows you to take a new cover photo with your iPhone and upload it via camera roll. Same goes for iPad.

With all these changes and importance that Facebook is giving to visual content, you need to start asking yourself how you are taking advantage of this virtual real estate for your business. Is your branding strong? What can you do to strengthen your brand positioning with fans and customers?

Are you using all creative possibilities yet observing the rules?

While it might seem that Facebook is relaxing its rules, it’s actually becoming more rigorous policing them. So what are you doing to stay on top of its terms & conditions?

But let’s leave this hard topic about observing the rules for next time….I know you are keen to get that order in to your graphic designer.

I would like to see your creativity – so why don’t you show off your new Facebook timeline cover photos – just paste a link to your Facebook page in comments below. I’m keen to see…

How to Boost Likes, Shares & Comments on Your Facebook Page?

Mar 13, 2013 By Tea Leave a Comment

Your Facebook page looks sleek and engaging, you have some likes, you are posting regularly…yet no one is commenting, liking or sharing your posts…what’s happening???

It’s normal to feel disappointed when you are investing your resources into something without real success. So how can you to fix this? Easily!

First – we’ve all been in a similar situation. Do you remember times when you started something and it took a while to master it? Persistence is a key to any success, and Facebook is not an exemption.

But you gotta do it right…here are ways to boost likes, shares and comments on your Faceboook page:

Grab their attention

The best way to do this is to catch readers’ eyes. We are drawn to images. So instead of text posts think how you can incorporate your message into a photo, diagram, video etc. Such posts stand out more in news feeds and get more engagement. According to Facebook, posts that include a photo album, picture or video generate about 180%, 120% and 100% more engagement, respectively.

Ask questions

We all like to be heard and we just love sharing our opinions. Give you Fans a chance to engage with you by asking simple yet relevant questions. It’s also ‘an innocent’ way to survey your audience.

While questions tent to get less likes and shares they are fantastic for comments.
Tips: Fans prefer yes or no questions or brief answers rather than open-ended questions. Keep it simple, interesting and start with “What do you think…?”, “How many…?” or “Should….?”

Tell Fans what to do

If you want to receive likes, than ask your fans to like it. If you want them to share, tell them to share it. You’ll see many will follow your ‘instructions’.

Example: Have social media strategy is important. Like if you agree!

Timing is everything

You need to post when Facebook is buzzing – that’s in the afternoon and evenings. While people use Facebook in the morning (usually on public transport) it is highly unlikely that they will continue using it once they are at work. Engagement window of opportunity is little. As the day progresses and the post-lunch fatigue sinks in, more are likely to engage on Facebook – but the pick hour really start from 5pm. Make sure you join the buzz.

Weekends are also ideal time as many are glued to the screens. People have more time to engage, share, like, comment etc. Especially if you are posting something longer, this is a time to do it.

Show you feelings

We like to know that behind a Facebook page is an actual person. Express your feelings by using emoticons – so smile, cry, get angry…

Tell a story

People are interested to know who you are and what you are up to. Same goes for your business. Share what’s happening behind the scenes in your company. Share success stories of your clients and employees, development of your products, events… Don’t forget to add images and use milestones 🙂

Promote good causes

“Charitable” posts receive almost the highest engagement. But don’t just share charitable endeavours of others. Get involved! Participate in fundraising events and share your results on your Facebook Page.

If you use these 8 simple techniques, you will soon see boost in your Facebook page engagement. And with more engagement your fan base will grow as well.

What are your best techniques to boost likes, shares and comments on your Facebook page? Share them in comments below or drop by my fan page? I’m dying to know!