22
Weekend Inspiration: Facebook Resources
Image by Austinevan
It’s been a long, strange trip, and I hate to see it go, but our 2-week long Facebook extravaganza has finally come to a close.
We’re going to close out with some resources to keep you inspired and learning about building your empire on Facebook. I hope we’ve motivated you to work hard at utilizing Facebook’s marketing and social networking potential to its fullest, and I can’t wait for you to start seeing the results!
Official Facebook Resources:
It’s hard to go wrong when you’re getting advice right from the Mothership itself. Here’s some great resources from Facebook.com:
Facebook Pages - Facebook’s Facebook Page for Facebook Pages. Very Meta. Also Facebook’s main resource for tips, best practices, examples, and additional resources.
Guide to Facebook Ads - Tips, instructions, and best practices for creating, maintaining, and optimizing your Facebook Ads campaign.
Promotion Guidelines- Facebook’s official guidelines for promoting your Page on your own website.
Facebook Developers - Facebook’s homepage for everything related to integrating Facebook with your website.
Tips and Tutorials
There’s so much to do with your Facebook page, we could cover only a portion of it during the past two weeks. Check out these resources for more tips and ideas.
Creating a Facebook Application - a beginner’s guide by blogger Emanuele Feronato. If you’re html-savvy and ready to add even more interactivity than your Static FBML page offers, this is a great place to start.
HyperArts - HyperArts has a great, intensive FAQ page regarding FBML. A must-have if you are just getting started and need some technical know-how to get the job done.
Mashable - Mashable’s blog is a great resource for everything social-media related.
Galleries
Facebook Showcase - This is a (fairly) regularly updated gallery that shows examples of great Facebook pages,divided into categories (Brand,Business, Celebrity, Entertainment, Other, Web Firm)
Platform Showcase - Facebook’s official Showcase shows how some big brands integrate Facebook with their websites.
Outstanding Facebook Pages
These are some of the Fat Dude’s personal favorite Pages. Check them out for some inspiration!
There you have it. This is really still just the tip of the mammoth Facebook iceberg, and we’ll return to Facebook here on FatBlog from time to time with new tips, tricks, tutorials, and resources.
Until then, good luck, fellow Facebookers… don’t forget to chime in in the comments and let me know what I’ve left out!
20
Add Super-Powered Facebook Features to your Website with the JavaScript SDK
The ease with which a someone can click a “Like” button on Facebook is an unspeakably useful tool. There is so much to be said for word-of-mouth; no matter how fantastic your ads and marketing material might be, a recommendation from a friend or colleague will always be ten times more effective to a potential customer or audience member.
Now, with very minimal effort,you can add that ease of sharing to your website or blog.
The SDK Code
You can find Facebook’s page for the SDK Code here. On a completely non-technical level, this code is what will enable your website or blog to understand and utilize Facebook’s applications for your site.
Here is the code you will need:
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({appId: 'your app id', status: true, cookie: true,
xfbml: true});
};
(function() {
var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true;
e.src = document.location.protocol +
'//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js';
document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e);
}());
</script>
Essentially, this code will just need to be added before the closing body tag of your site or template. If you’re unsure about how to do that, I bet your friendly neighborhood web developer could be bribed with tasty treats (Mmmm, tasty treats…)
With the SDK code entered, you have easy access to the supercharged Java versions of Facebook's Social Plugins.
Social Plugins?
That’s right, Social Plugins. You may be familiar with Facebook’s Instant Personalization if you use the awesome Yelp, the more awesome Pandora, or the pretty-okay Microsoft Docs. These three sites partnered with Facebook earlier this year. Pandora, for example, will display which of your friends have Liked the artist you are listening to, and allow you to post your own likes on your Wall with a single click.
While not quite as intensive, (or some would say, intrusive) as Instant Personalization, Facebook’s Social Plugins toolset offers a similar set of features that can be included in any website.
Your Supercharged Like Button
Here is a quick example of the simplest, easiest, and one of the best features of the Social Plugins toolset: the Like button.
This like button actually packs quite a punch. It will allow your visitor to add a comment to their “like”, which will appear on their Facebook status…
… and will display the portrait picture of any friends who also like the item.
Adding the button to your page is dead easy. Remember, at this point, you should have already added the SDK code above, or this won’t work. Ready? let’s mosey on over to the Social Plugins homepage.
There’s a lot of exciting stuff here, but for now we’ll go straight to the Like button. Go ahead and click on it.
Just a few easy options to choose here and we’re nearly done.
Put the web address you want the Like to lead back to in the “URL to Like” box (later we’ll cover how to set this up so that each of your Blogger or WordPress posts will automatically have a like box leading back to that post, but for now, let’s try a single URL).
The rest is mostly cosmetic, there are a standard and smaller layout available, you can choose to include fans’ profile pictures or not, you can change the color (light or dark), font, and verb (“like” or “recommend”) as well. One thing you’ll want to pay attention to is width. Don’t make it too wide for the box you intend to put it in!
When you’re done here, click “Get Code.”
See that big long chunk of code under iframe? … Ignore it. Because we’ve entered the SDK code, we can use the much shorted XFBML code to create our button.
Here’s where uncle Fat Dude makes a small confession… you actually could have skipped the SDK altogether and used the iframe code instead, so we have sort of done this the hard way. Except, we get some extra bells and whistles with the XFBML version, not the least of which is the option to add comments. See? Put in the extra work and reap the rewards.
From here, you will simply need to insert the code where your button belongs. If both the button code and the SDK code are inserted successfully… congratulations on your new Like button!
Beyond the Like Button
Now that you’ve added your SDK code and successfully implemented your first Social plugin, you might want to head back to the Social plugins page and see what else there is that might add some value to your page. Some are just a tad more complicated to implement than the Like button, but not much.
Please do let me know in the comments if you have any trouble, and I’d love to see links to your successful implementation of your own Like button!
19
Using Insights to Improve your Facebook Page and Ads
Or, “Stay on target…”
(A cookie to any geek who gets the reference)
Once your Facebook Fan page is up and running and you’ve had some activity from Fans and visitors, you’ll begin collecting some precious data that will be a huge help in deciding just what content is connecting with your visitors, and just who those visitors are.
What’s an Insight?
If you are familiar at all with Google Analytics, you have a good idea what to expect from Insights. If not, think of Insights as your own private data analyst for your Facebook Page. Through Insights, you can view a huge amount of data about page visits, likes, comments, and demographics.
You can find Insights either through the box under your profile picture on your Wall, or by browsing to http://www.facebook.com/insights/.
Using Insights Data to Improve Your Content
When you first visit Insights, you’ll be provided with a general overview of your Users (people who like and visit your page), and Interactions (likes and comments on your content) over roughly the past two weeks.For both, you can drill down into deeper detail, as well as mousing over the line graph to get data from any one day.
Let’s take a look at our Interactions.
Interactions describe how your users are… well, interacting with your page and its content. The first graph shows feedback on your daily posts; how many likes and comments you got, and how many people unsubscribed from your feed. On the second graph, you see a readout of your other page activity: wall, video and discussion posts; reviews; and mentions of your page on other Facebook feeds (profile walls, etc).
All this is a great tool to show you what interactions your customers had with your page, and when. It’s a nice warm, fuzzy feeling to see those lines start to rise, which can be a great motivator, but the data is more use than just that.
By comparing spikes in activity to the actual content you released on your page at peak interaction times, you can start to determine which content is working, and which isn’t. Did you have several unsubscribes after your eight-post series on your cats’ sleeping habits? You may be disengaging some of your audience with that content or worse, spamming up their feeds. If, on the other hand, you had a huge spike after a two-week long series about Facebook Fan Pages (wink wink), that sort of content may be serving your Page very well.
This sort of trending, if performed regularly (say, once a month) can lead to a big boost in Fan engagement and retention.
Using Insights Data to Find Your Niche, Improve Your Ads
Let’s head over to your Users details. here, You’ll find some bar graphs that reiterate the information you found in your Interactions data: Users active on a daily basis and the number of Likes and Unlikes your page is receiving. We’re going to scroll past that to the Demographics.
Here, loyal reader, we have hit the Insights jackpot. The demographics graph gives you a lot of great data about who your visitors are: where they’re from, how old they are, their gender. This lets you know at a glance what demographics you are reaching most.
Your plan of attack based on this data can go one of two ways: Catering your next ad campaign to your key demographic can certainly get you some page views and Likes, but you may also want to consider those demographics you are not yet reaching as thoroughly. The chart pictured above shows a very heavily young, female audience. If this was your chart, what new contents and what sort of targeted ad copy could bring in the male audience? What about readers 55+?
Your Insights are your Facebook Fan Page’s report card. It shows you just how well your content is performing, and who is consuming it the most. Your content and ads can only benefit from you keeping a vigilant eye on your Insights.
How are your charts and graphs looking? What are you doing to get those numbers up? Let us know in the comments!
19
3 Ways to Stay Active on your Facebook Page, Away from Facebook
Image by mistress_f
Or, Phoning it In
Now that you’ve implemented your Facebook Fan Page, added Static FBML, and maybe even placed a Facebook Ad to bring in new traffic, the number one thing you can do to maintain and improve the health of your Page is to keep it updated with new content.
But, for the love of social networking, don’t stay cooped up in front of your Facebook page all day! Here are three ways you can update your Facebook Page’s wall without needing to log in to the Mothership:
Mobile Updates
Facebook offers a number of great ways to change your Wall status and even add pictures and video from your mobile phone. Cruise on over to your administration page by clicking the Edit Page link beneath your profile photo, and click ‘edit” on the Mobile menu item to view these options.
Here, you’ll find a unique email address you can use to upload photos and videos to your page. This is a great addition to interact with your fans even when you’re at, say, a trade show or a performance. A quick and dirty backstage, behind the scenes, or from-the-trade-display videocast can be very interesting and drive some traffic on your page.
If you’re a little too busy on-the-go for that kind of interaction, you can follow the Send Text Messages link for a quick and easy setup that will give you a number you can text message to change your Wall status. Now you can update from everywhere, but be sure to practice safe texting… your Uncle Fat Dude can’t be responsible for what might happen if you hold up the Starbucks line tapping away at your phone…
Selective Tweets
In an earlier post, we covered adding applications to your Facebook Page. A Fat Dude favorite is Selective Tweets, which allows you to change your Facebook Status by tweeting. The great thing about Selective Tweets is that you don’t have to send every tweet to your Facebook Page, but only the ones you choose by adding #FB to the end of the tweet.
You can view and set up Selective Tweets from their Facebook Page.
Tweetdeck
If you are social networking on several different fronts, Tweetdeck can be a lifesaver. Available for your desktop, iPhone, or iPad, Tweetdeck gives you one place to update Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, and Foursquare all from one user interface. On the Facebook front, you can share photos, links, wall posts, comments and status updates directly from the TweetDeck interface.
Tweetdeck is hugely customizable, allowing you to add columns to track multiple accounts from each supported service as well as searches, trending topics, and more. As your social networking train really gets rolling, it’s a huge help to have one place to keep track of and update multiple networks.
As you become more and more successful building your online network, you’ll find that it becomes more and more work to maintain. Any tool or trick you can find to make keeping connected easier and quicker will help you focus more on your business and less on pulling out your hair.. And if you’re anything like your uncle Fat Dude, you may not have that much left to spare.
What have I missed? Chime in in the comments and let me know what other tools you use to ensure a simplfied, streamlined Facebook experience.
18
Quick Tip: Filter your Facebook Wall Posts by Location or Language
If your fan base gets large enough, you may have fans covering a large geographic area. Or, you may find yourself needing to post in two or three different languages to include your entire fan base. Facebook has an interesting tool for either of these situations that will help you stop spamming your fans’ feeds with posts that don’t apply to them.
You’re probably familiar with the padlock icon that appears when you are posting on your Wall. On your facebook profile, this allows you to restrict who can read your post: everyone, just friends, just these people, not these people, etc. This is used as a privacy tool.
The same icon appears when you post on your Page’s Wall, but when clicked, the options panel looks like this:
Now, if you will be at a craft fair in North Hollywood, California, you don’t have to spam your Chicago, Illinois fans with the details. Or if you’re reposting something in Spanish, you can send it specifically to your Spanish-speaking fans.
Less clutter on your feed means less annoyance to your Fans. An annoyed fan can become a no-longer fan, so this easy adjustment can go a long ways towards fan retention.
What do you do to keep your fans happy? Let us know in the comments!
18
How to include YouTube Videos on your Facebook Page
If you’ve had your Facebook Page for a while now, and you’re a savvy social networker, you may have tried to include a YouTube video, or a Flickr slideshow, only to have nothing appear on your page. Don’t worry, this is definitely possible, and today we’re going to discuss how to make it happen.
A few things to keep in mind first:
- Including Flash content requires that you’ve installed Static FBML and have set up a new tab. See our post on this topic if you haven’t done this yet.
- This, and all other Static FBML tricks, will only work on your Facebook Page, not on your Profile.
- This tutorial will not cover how to position the Flash file on your page. If you are web design -savvy, you can do this by enclosing the below code in a div and styling it with CSS. If you don’t know what that means, your friendly neighborhood designer may be willing to exchange his or her services for tasty treats.
- This tutorial will not cover how to make videos, music, animation, or any other interactive content that plays immediately upon page load… because it isn’t possible. Read on to find out why.
The Problem
Here’s why you haven’t been successful including a Youtube video on your page. Youtube’s handy-dandy embed code works for you on your blog and your website, but if you paste it into your Static FBML page’s code, it won’t work there.
The reason is that Facebook will not allow any page to contain video, sound, or animation that ambushes the user by playing immediately upon loading. Facebook has implemented a its own FBML tag that requires that you include a place-holder image. The user has to click that image to play the embedded media. For a good example, take a look at Starburst’s landing page.
Very stylishly implemented, but a placeholder image nonetheless.
The Code
Here is an example of code you would need to put in your Static FBML page to embed a YouTube video:
<fb:swf
swfsrc='http://www.youtube.com/v/Mtw-tC5hTZM'
imgsrc='http://img.youtube.com/vi/Mtw-tC5hTZM/2.jpg' width='480' height='385' />
<fb:swf : This is the tag that tells Facebook to embed a Flash item. This and the closing /> must be included for this to work.swfsrc='http://www.youtube.com/v/Mtw-tC5hTZM' The address in the single quotes (note everything is in single, not double, quotes) is where your flash file is stored. We'll get into specifics for YouTube and some other services in just a bit.imgsrc='http://img.youtube.com/vi/Mtw-tC5hTZM/2.jpg' This is where your placeholder image is stored.width='480' height='385' This is the size of both the image and the flash file, in pixels. They should be the same size or you'll end up with some funky results.
<fb:swf
swfsrc='http://www.youtube.com/v/XXXXXXXXXXX'
imgsrc='http://img.youtube.com/vi/XXXXXXXXXXX/2.jpg' width='480' height='385' />
17
Four FBML Tricks to Improve your Facebook Page
Image by Skycaptaintwo
Or: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
Now that you have your own Static FBML landing page, and maybe a few additional tabs as well, it’s time to keep adding value for your Fans with a few tips and tricks using FBML (Please note if you haven’t yet added the Static FBML app, you’ll need to do so to use the tips listed below).
What is FBML?
If you’ve gotten this far, you have at least a passing acquaintance with HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language. Just as HTML is read by a browser to tell it how to display a webpage, to too is FBML (Facebook Markup Language) read to do the same. Here are just a few simple tricks to use FBML on your page:
Fans Only Please
With this little trick, you can offer two versions of any element in your HTML, one for users who “Like” your page, and one for users who don’t.
<fb:visible-to-connection>
You are my fan.
<fb:else>You are not my fan.</fb:else>
</fb:visible-to-connection>
If you’re at least a little familiar with basic programming concepts, you might recognize the above as an if-then(else) statement. If not, here is the above in plain English:
If the person is my fan,
then, display this: “You are my fan.”
Otherwise, display this: “You are not my fan.”
Nifty, right? All you’ll need to do is copy the code above, place it where you’d like the conditional text in your Static FBML page, and replace my text with yours.
Please note that when you are logged into an account that has administrator access to your Page, you will see both sets of text when you visit the tab. I suggest you get a friend who is your fan to test the “fan” text for you, and you can test the “non-fan” text on your own by simply logging out of your account and visiting the page.
This could be useful in many situations, particularly for coupons, contests, and other promotions. When providing instructions, making “If you are not already my Facebook Fan, please become one by..” turn into “Since you’re already my Facebook Fan, go ahead and..” or “since you’re not yet my fan..” is a nice touch.
Or, you might want to add a conditional thank you message. “Thank you so much for remaining my Fan, I really appreciate your support!”
Sharing is Caring
The best thing you can hope for by placing content on your Facebook page, except perhaps a sale, is Fans who want to share your content with their friends. Make it as easy as possible for them!
<fb:share-button class=”url” href=”http://www.fatdudedesign.com/contact.html” />
That’s it, just one line of code. The result is an old-fashioned, but still functional “Share” button that looks like this:
The only thing you need to change in this code is the web address inside the quotation marks. You may want to put this button somewhere on a tab to recommend that your fans share that particular tab with their friends. In that case, you’ll want to enter the tab’s URL. I’ve also used this next to buttons that redirect to a blog, twitter account, or website, to make it as easy as possible for the reader to not only follow the link, but share it too.
When the link is clicked, your viewer will get a standard “Post to Profile” popup:
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
Another feature that can really add value to your page, not to mention interactivity, is a comments section. Maybe you want to let your readers ask questions about a how-to article you’ve posted, or provide feedback about your new art slideshow. Here’s the code you’ll need:
<fb:comments xid=”Your_Comments” canpost=”true” candelete=”false” returnurl=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sellers-Success/141712855859741?v=app_4949752878“ >
Here’s a rundown of what’s going on here:
- comments xid=”Your_Comments” IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU CHANGE THIS. This is a unique identifier for your comments, and you may end up with comments from another page ending up in your comments box if you don’t change this. Make it something unique to you, like YourPage’sName_01.
- canpost=”true” Leaving this as “true” will allow your visitors to leave new comments. You’ll probably want to leave this alone unless you have a different use in mind.
- candelete=”false” Leaving this as “false” makes it so your visitors cannot delete each other’s comments. You probably want to leave this alone too.
- returnurl=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sellers-Success/141712855859741?v=app_4949752878” This tells the comments box where to send the visitor after they’ve posted their comment. You probably want to use the URL of the page where you are putting the comments box, so they don’t actually go anywhere, unless you have something else in mind.
The end result looks like something like the image below. Notice that a like button and a list of the user’s friends who are also fans appears above the comments box, so keep that in mind when designing your page.
Add a Little Music
Here’s a quick and easy way to add a snazzy mp3 player to your page.
<fb:mp3 src=”http://host.com/file.mp3” title=”Song Name” artist=”Song Artist” album=”Album Name”/>
If you’ve had no trouble with the pother three examples above, this one should be a snap, but just in case, here’s a rundown:
- src=”http://host.com/file.mp3“: This is the full URL of your MP3 file, it cannot be stored in your Facebook page.
- title=”Song Name”: This data will appear as entered on the player.
- artist=”Song Artist”: This data will appear as entered on the player.
- album=”Album Name”: This data will appear as entered on the player.
Troubleshooting and Beyond
If any of the above doesn’t work for you at all, just simply does not appear on your page, it may be an error of copying and pasting. WordPress is notorious for dropping characters, and each character is pretty essential when it comes to coding. Make sure that every phrase that begins with a quotation mark also ends with one, and the whole shebang ends with a close carat, > .
Each one of these is a useful addition to your page, if you’ve got an application that makes sense. Just remember the Fat Dude motto… Less is more! Don’t use these tips just because you want to add some bells and whistles. Think from your reader’s perspective, and only use what adds value for that reader.
If you have any problems you can’t solve, any questions, or just a little love to share, let it fly in the comments section.
16
Turn your Facebook Fan Page Visitors into Fans with a Custom Landing Page
Image by Tatters
Each one of us is deluged by a huge amount of information and entertainment on a daily basis, so much so that we’ve become adept at screening out uninteresting or incomplete information without really noticing we’re doing it. As such, you have a very very small window of opportunity to convert someone who has taken the time to click the link to your Fan Page into a loyal Fan.
Luckily, using Facebook’s tab-based layout, an application called Static FBML, and a little html code, you can put your best face forward to new visitors who haven’t yet clicked that Like button.
Adding Static FBML
The first thing to do is to add the Static FBML app to your page.
If you go to your Edit Page menu (you’ll find the link just beneath your profile pic on your Wall), you may find Static FBML already suggested to you at the bottom of the page. If not, simply visit Static FBML’s page here.
From Static FBML’s Wall, click Add to my Page to get started. You’ll need to select which page you’d like to add to, if you have more than one.
From there, go back to your Edit Page menu and you’ll find Static FBML listed amongst your applications. Select Edit on this entry.
From here, you’ll only see three options:
Add another FBML Box: You can run multiple FBML boxes, each with its own tab. Here’s where you can add more.
Building Your Content
This is the point where a little bit of technological know-how comes in to play. If you’re not familiar with basic HTML, this is the point where you may need to trade tasty treats for a designer buddy’s assistance, or jump in to some tutorials. If you’re an intuitive person, you may be able to get by with a program that builds the code for you, referred to as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Lifehacker has a rundown of some of the best.
From hereon out, we’ll assume a basic knowledge of html (and this really doesn’t require anything past html 101). Here are a few points to keep in mind when you write your code:
- MAXIMUM WIDTH HAS CHANGED! This is so vital. If you have done some web research beyond your Uncle Fat Dude, you may already have some knowledge of Static FBML… That’s very industrious of you, but please note there have been some recent changes. Maximum width used to be 760px, but as of a few days from when I write this, that will shrink down to 520px. Don’t create a page that’s too wide to fit!
- No <html>, <body>, <head> tags needed: You’ll only need to build the actual body of the page. Static FBML doesn’t support meta tags either.
- JavaScript and Flash items won’t auto-play: Facebook has designed Static FBML in such a way that the user won’t be inundated with any animation, video, or sound until the user clicks something. More on this at a later time, just plain old HTML today.
- FBML is for your Fan Page only: It won’t work on your personal profile. Sorry.
Once your code is created, launching is a simple matter of entering the code in the box provided, and going back to your Wall to view the tab. Go ahead, check it out! It may take a bit of trial and error to get it looking just right, but you’ll be there in no time.
Launching your Landing Page
Your code is written, and your new tab is live, the only thing that is left to do now is to set the new tab as the default for new visitors who are not currently your Fan.
Visit your Edit Page link from your wall, and go to Wall Settings. Under “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else:” select your new tab.
Voila! You have created a landing page for new visitors!
Beyond Landing Pages
Now that you’ve successfully built a landing page for potential fans, you may want to consider what other tabs would add value to your page. A product description? A list of your services? A copy of your resume? The sky’s the limit. Just remember your uncle Fat Dude’s motto, “Less is more,” and don’t go too crazy, okay?
Show off your fine work with a link to your page in the comments!
15
Weekend Inspiration: Three Fun Ideas for your Facebook Profile Pic
Image by Mr T in DC
Or: A picture is worth… Well, you know.
We’ve already covered adding value to your Facebook Page with an oversized profile picture, but that doesn’t answer a more basic question: What exactly should you use as your profile picture?
The practical approach dictates that you should use whatever best promotes you, your product, and your brand. This might be a logo, a picture of your most popular product, a piece of your art, etc. But, for those who don’t have any of those things, especially if your most popular product is you (I’m looking at you, motivational speakers, comedians, actors, etc), here’s some fun inspiration to get you started.
Get Cartoonized
There are a number of recognizable brand names out there that will allow you to make a cartoon version of yourself. Uncle Fat Dude is particularly fond of:
The Simpsons (via The Simpsons Movie)
Fun with Photos
There are a number of sites online that will help you do some fun things with a simple every-one-of-your-Facebook-friends-has-one headshot. A lot of the results can be sort of corny digital versions of those “stick your head through the hole” things you see at theme parks and carnivals, but Photofunia is a personal favorite here at Fat Dude. the results are pretty original, and convincing too. Here are a few examples using the Dude’s ugly mug:
DIY for the Win
If you have the means (not to mention the talent), there’s nothing that can beat the thousand-and-one different one-of-a-kind results you can get out of a digital photo editor like Photoshop. From simply fixing the color and white balance of your portrait, to using the software’s build-in photo effects to building a work of art from scratch, nothing is likely to give you a better (or more universally praised) result.
Here’s the profile picture, inspired by A Scanner Darkly your uncle Fat Dude is currently sporting on his private profile:
Here’s a great tutorial regarding how to create a portrait like this.
What are you doing with your profile picture lately? Let us know in the comments!
14
3 Steps to Start Promoting your Facebook Fan Page
Image by ishrona
Or: Step Right Up and Get Your Ticket!
You’ve constructed a killer Facebook Fan Page with just the right applications and content that is valuable to your audience.. now you just have to find one! Finding a Facebook audience isn’t quite the same as finding new Facebook friends (although there’s no reason not to suggest your Page to all those people you haven’t talked to since High School!). Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Facebook’s Built-In Tools
Facebook offers three flavors of tools designed to direct traffic from your website or blog to your Facebook Page, each is a little different in terms of size and content:
First of all, I’m not sure what Facebook’s thing with Lactose Free Milk is, but this is what always appears for me when I click the “Promote with a Like Box” link from my Edit Page screen. You can load your own page’s info into the Like Box creator by entering your own Facebook Page ID. You can easily find this by viewing the URL of your Fan Page.My URL is http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=141712855859741 , which makes my ID 141712855859741.
The rest of the options depend on your needs, based on the room you have on the page where the Like Box will be entered, and your personal preference. When you’re finished making changes, select “Get Code” to get the code you’ll need to enter in your website. Here’s mine:
Facebook Badges
Facebook Badges are part of a whole slew of options that Facebook offers for sharing your Facebook info on other sites. There are tools for both your Profile and your Pages here. I’ll focus on the Page Badge, but bonus points if you can get some of your fans to create a Like badge to share your info on their websites or blogs!
Again, Facebook offers a pretty simple set of options here, largely cosmetic. My quickly-cobbled-together result looks something like this:
Sellers Success
Promote Your Page Too
Link Image
Sometimes less really is more. This simple link image may be all you need to direct your website visitors to your Facebook page.
Pounding the Pavement
Adding a link wherever possible, in whatever format is most useful, is certainly a good start, but don’t discount a little bootstrapping to grow your audience.
- Be Shameless- Don’t be afraid to tell anyone and everyone you know about your Facebook Page. Reccomend the Page to everyone you know, on and off of Facebook. Get them to spread the word for you. Create your own self-marketing guerrilla army!
- Put it in Print- Your website or blog isn’t the only place to drop a link. Add your URL to the end of your email signature. Include it at the bottom of forum posts. Add it to your business card!
- Bribe Your Potential Audience- We live in an age where information and entertainment are vying for our attention from a hundred different directions every minute of our day. Make sure your audience gets some value out of the time they spend on your Page. Of course your content is up to snuff, but why not a coupon code, sweepstakes, or giveaway that is only available to your Facebook fans?
Pony Up
If you’ve explored your Fan Page back-end much, you’ve certainly run across the fact that Facebook really really wants you to advertise with them. And… maybe you should. Facebook Ads offer some really nifty tools for targeting your audience and tracking your ad’s effectiveness. Expect a post on this very soon.
This is all, of course, the very tip of a very, very big iceberg. We’ll talk more about promoting and growing an audience later, but feel free to hit me up with any questions in the comments.
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