maine web development, web design, internet marketing

I have gotten asked this question a few times and I think the easiest way to explain how to add a Facebook Like Box (or Fan Box) to your website is to show you. Below is a video explaining the steps to customizing and adding your Facebook Like Box to your website.

Adding a Facebook Box to your site is a great way to promote your Facebook presence on your business website. Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world and people are not only using the site to connect with family and friends but to show their support and interest in businesses too. The Facebook Box is interactive and users can click to connect with your company on Facebook right from your website. With Facebook’s easy customization you can style the Box how you would like and Facebook will generate the HTML code for you.

For you non video folks:

1. First things first: you need to be an administrator to the Facebook page you would like to promote
2. Go to Edit Page of your Facebook Business Page
3. Then on the right hand side, click on Promote with a Like Box
4. Customize your Like Box – choose the width and the information you want to include
5. Hit Get Code
6. Copy code
7. Plug the HTML code into your website files where you want your Facebook Like Box
8. Publish your web page update

Want more information?

Watch our prerecorded webinar: Creating and Optimizing a Facebook Fan Page for Your Business Facebook is becoming a force on the internet. Most of your clients and potential clients are using Facebook. Should you consider using a Facebook Company Page to reach your target audience? In this webinar we will discuss if your business should consider creating a Facebook Fan Page and show you how to optimize the profile to be found easily. We will also show some shortcuts to regularly adding content to your Facebook Fan Page, the difference between a Fan Page and a Facebook Group and show you some examples of what other businesses are doing and if they are getting any value from this popular social network.

Photo Credit: jeffk

Using a CMS gives businesses the freedom to update their website as often as they want. Some use this ability more than others by creating targeted landing pages for visitors. With landing pages available, people who search for a specific product or service will get directed to a page that provides just what they are looking for. Plus Google likes seeing distinct landing pages, since it includes specific keywords and is on-target. How can you not create a landing page when both your visitors and Google approve?

So How Exactly Does This Work?

A landing page includes content that is specific to a certain product or audience. It is on topic, to the point and should always provide a conversion action that visitors can take.

Some examples of what a landing page is used for include:

• introducing new content or products
• providing more details from an ad or email
• customizing content for an audience based on location

Whether users get to your page through searching, clicking an ad, continuing from an email, or finding it through social media, the landing page should be able to quickly show them that your website has just what they want!

Landing Page Tips

Once you decide to create a landing page, think about what you want to promote. Start small by picking one topic or item and focusing on that. With a CMS, you have the ability to create as many landing pages as you want, just make sure they all align with your web strategy! When creating your landing pages keep the following in mind:

• Keep it simple – You have one page to grab the visitor, so include just what you need to say. By using one relevant message you will be providing useful content that lets users know they are on the right page with the information they need.
• Use a clear headline – Quickly get to the point so that visitors are not wasting their time figuring out what they are reading about.
• Add multiple call to action items – It is very important to include an action that the user can take, such as signing up for a newsletter, contacting your company, purchasing a product, or downloading a resource. Make sure to put the action item throughout the page in obvious locations so that users can follow through at any point.
• Have a helpful thank you page – Your follow up message is just as important as the main page. Make sure to give information about how you will follow up and what other actions the user can take. Give them something else to do!

Finish it Up

Once you have created your new landing page(s) don’t just forget about them! Keep an eye out on the conversion rates through your analytics goals and tweak the pages to make them work better. If users are staying on the page for a while but are not converting, you can try changing the call to action elements or simplifying your form so that it is easier to fill it out. If people are not reading your content, try updating the headline or revising the text. With a CMS you have the power to do what you want with your landing pages!

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Photo credit: Hamed Saber

I am not going to lie everyone, I have had a rough couple weeks in this old internet space. Things not going the way they planned, people who I thought would be good business partners ending up being 3 headed monsters, my Google Reader is so out of control I don’t know where to start but with the ‘mark all as read button’, and on and on.

What I needed to do and many of us probably need to do is take a step back and remind ourselves of our goals, our tactics and strategy to reach those goals. I needed to realign myself and find a better stride than the one I was carrying on with. So I did some revamping and I am optimistic about the rest of the year. Here are a few key points I took away on determining my social media stride.

Pace Yourself – When training for an athletic event there is a small window of effort you are supposed to try for. Train too lightly and you aren’t building the muscle or stamina you need. Train too hard and you may get injured or burn out. The same goes for your social media presence. Too little and you won’t even feel like you are seeing return out of your efforts. Too hard and just maintaining your social media presence could be a full time job and your actual responsibilities (like running a business) will suffer. You need to find that balance so you are pushing yourself strong enough to grow but without burning out.

Discard bad relationships – This is hard for many of us to do in business. We feel every relationship has a monetary value to it. Unfortunately, some of those relationships take more than they give. This goes for your online network as well. Sometimes an online relationship that you think will benefit both of you ends up being negative. No matter how many Twitter followers or LinkedIn contacts they have, if they are not in line with your business goals but instead are detracting from them, you may need to step away. If you have thousands of Twitter followers but still find no value in Twitter you may have focused on the wrong things when growing your online network.

Remember why you are here in the first place – I think I say this at every event I speak at but you need to set your goals before you start participating in social media and you need to constantly be checking back and seeing if you are achieving them. It is very easy to get distracted with what competitors are doing, or the biggest social media experts are doing but you joined social media to build relationships for your brand and not to be the next social media expert.

Goals aren’t static – Yes, I am a goals freak but even I know as your business and technology changes your goals need to change too. Sometimes things happen in your industry or your local space that aren’t threatening but are worth realigning your goals to make sure your business will thrive through the coming years.

No one can do this for you – I am not talking about the debate over ghost bloggers or ghost tweeters, I am saying no one can decide for you what you are going to do in this space but you. No one can determine how much time you spend with it and what kind of return you get. If something isn’t working you may need to change your stride. You need to find a rhythm that works with you and your organization that shows you some kind of return.

Of course there are lots of other factors, like the tools you choose, for determining your social media stride. I am looking past tools and to goals, relationships and time. Is there anything you would add on finding your social media stride?

I don’t really consider myself a social media expert. I DO use the tools social media has given me to promote our business, help our clients grow their businesses, connect with people who will help me make things happen and to build better relationships in my personal life and business life.

I also have no problem talking to people about how I use these tools. I have talked to large and small groups about how they can use social media in their line of work. I have no problem educating people on how I use social media as a tool. Much like how we don’t charge for webinars at Hall because we feel it is better for us overall, if we educate people more on the recent advances in technology and internet marketing. I don’t keep my Twitter strategy or how I use LinkedIn close to the vest. I want you to know too. I think we all can learn from each other.

Social media is like a mullet

Photo credit: heyjohngreen

News flash – Social media is fun. There is nothing wrong with participating in something fun but for some reason we all feel guilty doing it. We have to constantly verify to our peers, bosses and friends that we are working when we use social media. We assume we can’t use something for work and have fun, or can we?

I connect with business partners, share our content and have made some perfect business connections thanks to social media. I have a larger business network, we have more inbound links to our site and we have made sales from people we connected with on social media sites, showing me that this is effective for our business.

More than the business part, social media is fun. Users connect with friends, share pictures, tell stories and tell everyone about fun and exciting things they are doing.

I usually keep these two aspects of how I use social media (work and personal) clearly defined. For example my LinkedIn account is for business – I list business books I am reading, post links to our blog and share company news. My Facebook account is much more personal – I share news about my friends, events I am attending, races I am registered for, photos etc.

So social media is a little business up top, but it is also a pretty big party in the back.

Social Media Agencies, Experts and Gurus – What did you do before?

In my travels over the last few years, I have met and stood shoulder to shoulder with lots of social media experts and business professionals. One thing I am noticing is as companies get into using social media, they are slowly morphing into social media companies. I have seen software consultants blogging about Twitter, retail outlets posting about their favorite Facebook tips and more.

There are lots of pieces to running a business; marketing and networking are big pieces. My concern is that too many people are turning into social media experts and less experts on what it is they joined social media to do in the first place.

You created a Facebook fan page to direct people to your website that sells widgets. Now you are posting about social media tips, people are going to your website and businesses are shocked that no one converted and bought a widget! They didn’t want a widget – they wanted that social media tidbit you teased on Facebook.

What did you do before you added social media marketing to the mix? That should be your goal still. This could be website traffic, building your business network, selling more products, getting more people to your events etc.

By focusing on being a social media expert you are hurting your business

Photo credit: ilovememphis

Constantly remind yourself what goals you had in mind when you joined social media sites. Staying on message should equal more conversions because you have a network of people interested in your products and industry, not social media.

Building a business around social media or morphing your current business into a social media boutique or consultancy has the same benefits as calling yourself a high end salon that specializes in mullets. You are hurting your business by putting too much energy into a tool like social media that changes hourly, how it is used is case-by-case by organization and that doesn’t put money directly into your bottom line.

Mullets happen every day. Someone, somewhere walks into their barber shop and requests their hair to be short up top and longer in the back. Is that what you are going to do? Build a business (reminder – businesses are supposed to make money) around a tool people use for marketing that is mostly personal and has some business usefulness? Or should you stick to what you came to do and be the best widget seller who uses social media for their own marketing efforts?