Tag Archives: facebook page tips

The New Facebook Page Layout

The New Facebook Page Layout - 315

The New Facebook Page Layout - 315

In mid-July of 2016, Facebook began a selective rollout of yet another new layout for Facebook Pages, with no apparent pattern behind the deployment of  who got the new layout first. Some users noticed the difference immediately and began comparing the new configuration to previous versions. At this point, the vast majority of Pages Admins have the new layout.

Why a New Facebook Page Layout?

Good question!  It has not been clearly explained why the modified layout has been deployed and what purposes they hoped to accomplish.  In some ways it’s a throwback to older versions with the apps being visible in the left navigation once again.

Overview of layout changes

Here are some of the changes which users have seen on their Facebook Pages layout:

  • Call To Action Button

    One of the more obvious and interesting changes is the Call To Action buttons. They have been enlarged for increased visibility and have been relocated on the page. They are now situated directly under the tab links, and the new buttons are labeled “Send Email”, “Request Appointment”, “Watch Video”, “Call Now”, “Shop Now”, as well as a few others.

  • Shift of Page App Tabs

    The Page App Tabs have moved to beneath the logo, so every single tab created can be seen. What a boon for TabSite users!!

    Now that all page tabs are visible, some users may want to remove a few to avoid clutter, and shift those of importance to the top.

  • Crisper Cover Photo

    Facebook has cleaned up the cover image by removing the logo from overlaying on the cover photo. This has the effect of highlighting the photo and drawing more attention to the larger image, which now extends across the entire column. Facebook displays cover images at 828×315.

    See: https://www.facebook.com/help/125379114252045. For cover images with logos or text (or shades of red), use a PNG file format for a more crisp display. For a hack to display your full cover image content on both desktop and mobile, use these dimensions: 828×465.

  • Relocated Logo Image

    The logo image is a bit bigger than it was and has of course shifted to the top left.

  • Relocated Like, Message, and Share Buttons

    Similar to the page tab links, the buttons for “Like”, “Message”, and “Share” have been moved below the cover image, and slightly to the left.

  • Repositioned Page Insights

    Page Insights for Page Admins now appears underneath the cover photo, instead of the prior position at the right of the image.

  •  Repositioned Admin Menu

    The menu for Page Administrators is now situated on the left-hand side, rather than beneath the cover photo.

  • Page Info is Relocated

    Info relevant to the page has been lowered and relocated to the right-hand side. The “About” and “Promotions” have also been relocated to this new spot.

  • Increased Search Bar Functionality

    The search bar now lets fans search for specific posts from the page!

  • More Spacious Feel

    The overall effect is that the page seems less cluttered. This is because much of the material crammed in at the page top has been evenly distributed across the page.

Cumulative effect of  changes

One of the biggest and most obvious impacts of the changes come from the fact that the logo image has been accentuated, perhaps in response to user request. For businesses, this image represents branding and company identity, so the greater emphasis and more prominent positioning of this image will be enthusiastically welcomed.

The strategy behind the re-positioning of some page elements could mean that Facebook intends to emphasize those areas, perhaps in response to user feedback. Whatever the reasoning, these changes are noticeable, particularly for App Tabs.

So that’s a wrap on the most recent Facebook Page layout changes.  Be sure to spend some time on your Page and others to get a feel for the new layout and make any necessary adjustments to optimize your Page.

How To Use Facebook Live Video

How To Use Facebook Live Video

How To Use Facebook Live Video

Facebook Live video is an exciting new way to promote your business.

The concept is very basic, but the results are powerful. At the tap of your finger, you now have the ability to create live video content within a Facebook post on a Page, Group, or personal profile.

Your audience will embrace the opportunity to engage with your brand in a new way. They’ll share in the excitement created by spontaneous streaming content. It should also come as no surprise that Facebook is favoring live video within their platform as well, so expect your Facebook Live sessions to appear prominently in your audience’s home feed and get the best reach of any post type on your Facebook Page.

The feature first rolled out in August of 2015 to a very warm reception. Ushered in by celebrities and big brands, the new feature quickly earned the favor of users. All it takes is a creative jolt, an interesting topic, and you’re off to the races!

What’s better is the fact that Facebook will actually send push notifications as well as news feed alerts to fans of your page when you begin a live-streaming session.

What are some Facebook Live best practices?

Before you use the new live feature, get your bearings with the new interface and test your ability to come up spur of the moment content, with no chance to edit what goes out. After you get your footing, it’s time to try some advanced moves.

Here are some exciting Facebook Live video strategies you might want to try:

  • Two people on screen

    While you might be quite the charismatic ham when it comes to creating video content, your audience will appreciate different faces in the stream. You could be holding the camera while another team member demonstrates a product, or answers interview questions.

  • The tour

    Motion is an extremely compelling component of any piece of video content, and Facebook Live video sessions are no exception. If you have an office or a brick-and-mortar, the Facebook Live walking tour is a great way to provide your audience a behind-the-scenes all-access peek at your operations or to sell real-time value.

  • Demonstrate a process

    If your audience is truly interested in what it is that makes your business or brand unique, they’re going to want to see the world from your point of view. Perhaps you’re a chef — what better way to share some live moments with your fans than to go live on Facebook while you prepare that delectable dish?

  • Schedule and inform

    You’ll get an audience if you decide to go live, off the cuff. That said, Facebook recommends you let your audience know at somewhat in advance when you plan to launch your next live video session. That way, they’ll be sure to have set aside the time to tune in.

  • Be mindful of signal strength

    This tip is purely technical, but it is also vitally important. If you don’t have a strong 4G or WiFi connection, Facebook will actually prevent you from even using the live feature. Especially in cases where you’ve advertised in advance that you’re going to be going live at a certain time, you want to make sure that you’re able to fulfill the promise to your audience.

What else do you need to know about Facebook Live Video?

  • Once you go live on Facebook, you’ll be able to see which users are joining you as viewers in your live broadcast. They’ll be able to share responses such as likes, hearts, wow faces and more. Be sure to greet viewers by name and thank them for joining in.
  • In addition to being aware of who is in your Facebook Live audience, you’ll also be able to see their comments alongside your video, in real time. This means that Facebook Live creates an excellent opportunity to host a live Q & A session. Interaction and authentic content are what Facebook users are known to crave most.
  • When your viewers enter one of your live sessions, they’ll see the option to subscribe to your future live feeds. Encourage this action and it will lead to bigger and bigger audience sizes as you continue to offer live content.
  • It doesn’t matter whether you orient your device vertically or horizontally. Facebook’s Live video interface is designed to use a square video, allowing your audience to view your content either in portrait or landscape, regardless of which orientation you choose when creating the content.

The Facebook Live feature is making a big splash. Take advantage of it and set your brand apart from competitors who are missing this great time to shine.

Taken from my article “How Should You Use Facebook Live Video?” on MaximizeSocialBusiness.com

10 Tips to Boost Your Facebook Shares

10 Tips to Boost Your Facebook Shares 315

10 Tips to Boost Your Facebook Shares 315

Are you frustrated with your Facebook page engagement results? Most small business owners are scratching their heads, wondering what to do to improve engagement on their Facebook pages.

If your page has thousands of followers but a single post typically gets a couple of shares, you need to do more to improve engagement. Below are 10 tips you can implement to boost your Facebook shares.

1. Post Interesting Content

If you’re simply posting content for the sake of it, good luck getting any shares. Post interesting content. No one wants to be the one sharing boring content. Moreover, Facebook’s algorithm determines what people see on their newsfeeds. If your content is boring, engagement will be nil.

2. Post Content that Resonates With Your Fans

Understand your audience and what makes them tick. Find out how your fans feel about specific topics. One mistake most businesses make is posting controversial content to get engagement. However, if fans don’t resonate with the content, you won’t convert any of them to customers. Even worse, you’ll lose some of them.

3. Proper Timing is Critical

It’s important to know the time the majority of your audience is online. The best time to post content is between 8am – 9am and 5pm – 8pm local time. If you post in the middle of the day, people may be busy at work or school, and engagement will be low. Check Facebook Insights to know the best times to post.

4. Go Easy on Posting

Posting frequently helps your followers keep up with your brand. However, if you are posting too frequently, you’re likely to bore your audience. The last thing fans want is their newsfeed splashed with updates from your page. Go easy on posting and keep updates to a maximum of three a day.

5. Avoid Being Too Niche

Your content should appeal to the majority of your audience. Avoid topics that are too niche as they will dilute your page’s visibility. The Facebook algorithm shows content based on the engagement generated. Content that does not generate engagement is filtered out from newsfeeds.

6. Define Your Target Audience

Make sure you define your page’s target audience to improve the likelihood of generating engagement from your posts. When your audience sees posts they’ are interested in, they’ll like or share them. Make sure the content you post is entertaining or helps improve the life of your followers.

7. Build Your Facebook Page Following

Sometimes, engagement may be low for one simple reason: there aren’t enough eyeballs on a post. This usually happens when your page has a small following. Rather than post continuously and hope for more engagement, focus on increasing your page’s followers first.

8. Post Unique and Diverse Content

Your content should be diverse to encourage engagement. Different types of content will elicit various reactions from your followers. Experiment with various types of content such as video, text posts, and images and check their engagement

9. Check Your Posting Days

Know which days your audience is active on Facebook and post content then. Depending on your business, you may find the majority of your fans are not active during the weekends. If this is so, any content posted during the weekend will result in a low number of shares.

10. Be the First to Share

No one wants to share outdated info or info that’s already been shared. Be proactive in looking for content that will excite your audience and be the first one to share.

Which strategies have you found effective in improving your Facebook shares?

Infographic: Facebook Page Checklist for Page Admins

Facebook Page Checklist for Facebook Admins header

Facebook Page Checklist for Facebook Admins header

Regularly reviewing or “auditing” your Facebook page is an important part of successful social media marketing. Facebook’s features change and update frequently, and you want to make sure that you are getting the most out of your page. Here is a checklist you can use to review your Facebook page to make sure it is up-to-date with Facebook’s current rules and features.

Maximize Your Cover Photo

When was the last time you updated your cover photo? Facebook’s current rules for cover photos give you great freedom to promote your website, special events or sales, featured products and more. Your cover photo is the first thing potential customers see when they visit your page, so make sure it’s up-to-date and accurately portrays your brand.  Make it 851 x 315 pixels!

Check Your Apps

Several great apps (like TabSite) exist to help promote your page and create contests, surveys, RSS feeds and other special features. Test out the apps to make sure they are up-to-date and functioning to provide visitors to your page with a great experience. Keep an eye out for new apps that you could add to help your page grow.

Update Your “About” and “Page Info” Sections

Did you notice that the “about” section is now lower on your page?

Make sure your “about” section is up to date. When users click the “about” tab on your page, they are brought to that short “about” section and will have to click the “page info” tab from there to access more information. Make sure that your “page info” section has a rich description of your business, is SEO and Graph Search Friendly by including key phrases that users would search for that describe your product/service.

Review Your Page’s Category

Facebook periodically changes their category selections. The category you select will determine the features that are available to your page. The local business category offers the most features such as check-ins and ratings and reviews and is best for businesses that want to draw customers to their location. The company or organization category is best for businesses like consulting agencies or law firms that aren’t necessarily open to the public the way a local business is.

Set Up Saved Replies

Saved Replies are a neat and relatively new feature to Facebook to help your business quickly respond to messages. First, make sure “Messages” is active on your Page so that fans can send you a Message! Facebook provides you with some automated saved replies you can use, or customize them to your liking.

Review Admins and Roles

Check your list of admins and the list of people who can post on your page’s behalf. Make sure they are people you trust and work with you. Page Admins can assign various roles to the people who manage the page without making them full-fledged admins. You can set members of your team as editors, moderators, advertisers, or analysts, all of whom have different levels of access to your page.

Check Notification Settings

Your page’s notification settings are very customizable. Keeping all of your notifications on is a good practice, so you’re always in touch with what’s happening on your page. Visitors love quick responses, but the only way you’ll know to respond is if your notifications are on!

Review Your Activity Log and Evaluate Your Performance

The activity log will show you all the activity on your page, from status updates to comments from visitors. You can also click on the publishing tools tab to review all of your published posts and see their reach, likes, and comments. As you review your page’s past, look closely at what worked and didn’t work for your page so you can plan future posts to engage your audience.

Facebook Page Checklist for Facebook Admins (1)

7 Ways to Use Facebook Search to Improve Your Page

7-Ways-to-Use-Facebooks-Search-to-Improve-your-Page

7-Ways-to-Use-Facebooks-Search-to-Improve-your-Page

Facebook’s search bar, called Graph Search, can be an awesome tool to get results for your business if you know how to use it properly. Graph Search is unique because it delivers search results driven by social relevance and interest data. This social data can be very useful; businesses get to know their audiences better. Read on for 7 ways to use Facebook Graph Search to gain knowledge about your audience and improve your page.

Find Similar Interests

Graph Search helps narrow your search to discover your audience’s interests. Say you wanted to appeal to people interested in boating. You could search for “Posts by people who like boating,” and in an instant, you have information on people who like boating. And you could get even more narrow and search “Posts liked by people who like boating.” Once you find the types of things people who like boating like on Facebook, you can easily begin creating content to attract that audience, and increase your engagement.

Learn About and Know Hashtags

Hashtags are on Facebook, and they’re an awesome way to discover social media trends and add your voice to the discussion. You can use Facebook’s Graph Search to search for hashtags. You’ll to learn social media’s hot topics and discover the hashtags trending in your audience. Take advantage of hashtags on Twitter as well, and use them interchangeably between the two platforms.

Know Who Likes Your Page

It’s awesome that your Facebook page has a bunch of likes, but just who are these people who like you? Search “People who like [your page name]” and in seconds you will have a gold mine of information about the people who like your page. Once you know the people who like your page, you can create content that they’ll love and drive up engagement.

Search Deeper

An abundance of information is at your fingertips with Facebook’s Graph Search. You can learn more about the content on similar pages, or find out what pages your fans like. Play around with search phrases like “Pages liked by people who like my page,” and let new information and knowledge come to you in seconds.

Discover Your Fans’ Interests

You don’t have to mess around with an email survey anymore to discover what your fans are interested in. Simply search “Interests of people who like my page” and you’ll get a great idea of what makes your audience tick. You can also search the interests of people who like other pages to learn how to better market to other audiences.

Discover Your Competitors’ Fans

To learn about your competitors’ fans, search something like “People who like [your competitor’s page name].” You can use this information to better target your Facebook ads and keep an eye on what is working and not working for the competition.

Demographic Research

Demographic research is now very simple with Facebook’s Graph Search. You could search something like “fans of my page under the age of 30,” and you will be given access to a list of your fans who are under 30. You can search across other pages and discover the interests of your targeted demographic audience and create content that matches their needs.

Facebook’s Graph Search is a great way to discover the information you need to successfully market your business. The key is to stay on top of social media trends. Use the information you gather to create content that your audience will love.

Read the original article at MaximizeSocialBusiness.com