Facebook Promotions: Know the Rules Running contests on Facebook is a major source of confusion amongst Facebook Page owners. Facebook terms are a little unclear and many Businesses have no clue at all about the rules they need to follow. By breaking Facebook Terms, you run the risk of having Facebook shut down your Business Page. Make sure you’re familiar with all the rules. Done right, running promotions and contests on Facebook can be a great way to gain fans and increase visibility for your business. Nearly 40% of Facebook users who become fans do so to receive discounts and promotions ( Here’s what you need to know about Facebook Promotions and Contests: You MUST administer ALL contests, promotions, and sweepstakes on Facebook using a third-party application and never use the Facebook platform such as your Page wall, the Events app, Groups or any other Facebook functionality to run your promotion. In addition to Facebook’s own terms, your promotion also needs to follow local laws. Wildfire.
4 Tips to Evangelize Your Brand on Facebook Are you looking to stand out on Facebook? Christiane Erwin, owner of Crestview Doors of Austin, TX, logged onto Facebook early one morning and was surprised. She saw one of her company’s door designs in a photo post from home superstore Lowe’s. Unfortunately it was as the winner of the Lowe’s Ugly Door Sweepstakes. The winner of the Lowe's Ugly Door Sweepstakes. “They call that ugly?” Crestview is a small door manufacturer specializing in mid-century modern architecture. Due to a savvy Facebook strategy that plays to its strengths, Crestview was perfectly poised to take advantage of the opportunity to play David to Lowe’s Goliath, and increased its reach more than four-fold over the course of the week in the process. Organization: Crestview Doors Social Media Handles & Stats: Website: Crestview DoorsFacebook — 4,795 fansTwitter — 1,021 followersYouTube — 28,788 viewsFlickr Highlights: Evans responded with a succinct post in reply: “Dear Lowe’s Ugly Door Sweepstakes. #1: Get Personal #2: Get Visual
5 Simple Metrics to Track Your Social Media Efforts Are you looking for simple, straightforward metrics to measure the impact of your social media efforts? Social networks and blogs continue to dominate Americans’ time online (accounting for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the Internet) according to a recent Nielsen report on social media, . While we all know how important it is to market through the various social networks, it is vital to track and measure your efforts for success. Here are five simple metrics to find out whether your social media effort is paying dividends. #1: Examine Referring Traffic Google Analytics is a fantastic way to measure how much traffic is being referred to your website from the various social channels. Under the Traffic Sources tab, click on Referring Sites and then type in your social network of choice to see how much traffic is being referred. Quick Tip: For Twitter referrals, search both Twitter and t.co, which is the built-in Twitter link shortener. #2: Review the Quality and Relevance of Content
Reaching the Right Audience More than any other element, targeting is what sets Facebook advertising apart from other channels. Anything that a user inputs into his or her Facebook profile is targetable: age, gender, relationship status, location, interests, level of education, and more. These capabilities allow you to reach customers at a much deeper and more customized level. Instead of waiting for your customers to come to you, you can bring highly relevant content to them. Don’t Oversimplify Overlooking or oversimplifying your targeting approach limits the kind of success you can have. So with all the possibilities, where does one begin? Although testing is extremely important, it’s also important to think about testing strategically. Identify What You Want To Learn So, decide in advance what you want to know. Once you’ve decided on your strategy, you can start to execute. The next targeting element to add is keywords. At the same time, don’t get boxed in. Interests Can Be Proxies For Other Things
Simple Step-by-Step Instructions for Setting Up a Facebook Ad Campaign Between the IPO, debate around GM's ad performance, and Zuckerberg's recent marriage, there's been a lot of controversy -- or at least chatter -- around Facebook of late. As we look across the digital landscape, however, we still get a lot of questions regarding Facebook ads and how to set them up, especially with the recent changes within the user interface. This post is not to debate the efficiency of Facebook ads (I did that last week), but rather to show new users how to set up Facebook ads, and current users how to improve their existing ad campaigns by highlighting some of the nuances in the setup process. Let's get started. Step 1 - Create an Ad. When logged in to Facebook, look at the top right hand corner of your browser. Step 2 - Select What to Advertise. Step 3 - Set Up the Ads. Step 4 - Target by Geography. Step 5 - Target by Age and Gender. Step 6 - Target Your Ad to Precise Interests. Step 7 - Define Precise Interests. Step 8 - Or, Use Broad Categories.
9 Facebook Marketing Tips to Improve Engagement Need some Facebook marketing inspiration? Here are nine Facebook pages using some great techniques for more engagement. Keep reading for some awesome tips from businesses of all sizes. #1: Get Personal Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn does a great job with a variety of posts but also adds some of his personal life. Your community wants to get to know you and wants to be able to relate to you and your company. You can tell them what you had for lunch. Personal cover photo with his podcast setup and a picture of his son. #2: Use Pictures No doubt you’ve heard the visual marketing drumbeat, and it’s all true. Home Depot uses pictures very well by engaging their fans with project ideas, posts featuring employees and a fun game to guess the product. Home Depot gets engagement with their fans by making them guess the product. Home Depot features their employees. #3: Run a Contest Facebook Contests are a great way to bring some fun to your Facebook page. #4: Have Fun #5: Showcase a Cause
How to Use Facebook Ads: An Introduction Are you considering Facebook Ads but are confused by all the options? You’ve undoubtedly heard that “social ads” are the future of advertising, but what does that mean in practical terms for you today? This article will help you make smart decisions about how to promote your brand and engage with fans through advertising on Facebook. As a Facebook Preferred Developer, I’ve had the opportunity to gather a lot of information from the proverbial “horse’s mouth.” This article will provide a useful lay of the land around the new ad solutions that were introduced at the Facebook Marketing Conference (fMC) in February. Understanding Facebook’s Sales Process and Where You Fit Before delving into the various advertising options available on Facebook and how you can utilize them, it’s helpful to understand how Facebook interfaces with advertisers. Facebook has three sales channels: Direct, Inside and Online. What’s the Difference Between an Ad and a Sponsored Story? Marketplace Ads Sponsored Stories
EdgeRank: Doing the Right Things Doesn't Solve the Bigger Issue UPDATE: Hugh Briss of Social Identities has started a petition at change.org asking Facebook to make EdgeRank an option. You can read it (and sign it, if you're so inclined) here. Posts have been flying from Facebook Page owners recently encouraging fans to create interest lists, click 'show in news feed', and interact frequently with posts to ensure that the Page’s posts show in user’s news feeds. While these are options, they don't solve the bigger issue. That bigger issue is EdgeRank and the fact that an algorithm decides what content is important to you - not you. One of the most important determining factors in posts being seen in the news feed is the interaction between users and Page content. For instance, in my own personal news feed, there are Pages that I interact with on a regular basis, yet their posts don’t always show up in my news feed. SEE ALSO: Dear Mark Zuckerberg, Can We Talk? Why these ‘fixes’ don’t always work: So what is the answer? What do you think is the answer?
How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Business Have you decided that it’s time to create a Facebook Page for your business? Wondering exactly how to get your Page started the right way? Facebook continues to change and evolve, making it a moving target for people trying to find the correct steps to set up a Page. But never fear—we have all the critical pieces that you need to put in place to start your Facebook Page today. To set up your Facebook Page, just follow these steps: #1: Log into Facebook If you do not have a personal profile set up on Facebook, do that first at www.facebook.com. Either login to your personal account, or create a new personal account from Facebook.com. Once you have logged into your personal account, we are going to create your Business Page. #2: Create a Page While Logged in as Your Profile Go to www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. Select the most appropriate category for your business. #3: Choose Your Category from the Drop-down Menu and Name Your Page Choose your category from the drop-down menu.
10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following Has your Facebook Page growth stalled? Now is a good time to examine your Facebook activities, cutting out what isn’t working and expanding what works. Here are ten tips to help grow your Facebook community. #1: Connect With Other Page Managers This is a powerful tactic to a make a live connection with other Page admins who have a similar demographic to yours and cross-promote each other. So if you are an ice cream store with a Facebook Page, make a live connection with the pizza parlor in your neighborhood that draws the same clientele (you may already know the owner of the pizza parlor). Joint ventures also help forge these meaningful connections. When you make a meaningful connection, you can cross-promote to each others' audiences. #2: Share Original Content Content is still king and when people share your content, your Page name travels with it. Maybe it’s a screenshot from a hot tip. Just make sure you are following photo copyright laws. #3: Tag Your Page From Your Personal Profile
How to Grow Your Email List With Facebook Promotions Are you looking for ways to grow your email list? Can email list-building and Facebook promotions work well together? In this article I’ll outline the potential synergies of email marketing and Facebook promotions. Included will be a dive into example Facebook Page promotions and how companies can use them to build their email lists. Why Email? Email marketing continues to be a strong method digital marketers use to inform, educate and push information to opt-in recipients. As outlined in a past interview with Mike Stelzner, Christopher Penn notes that email is an important “push medium.” Reach people where they must take action ---> their inbox. Email serves as one leg of a three-legged marketing tool along with a blog and social media. When new content is posted on a blog, email can be a method of distributing notice of the new article, while social media offers a conversation mechanism for users to talk about the content. The Facebook Advantage List-Building Facebook Promotion Examples