Holistic Technology Enabled Internet Marketing Solutions

We know… it happens. Facebook is confusing. You probably set it up in a a hurry. Then you started using it, you got some friends and some traction and realized your Facebook page is actually set up as a personal/profile/timeline and not as a business page, like it is supposed to be.

You don’t want to discredit the followers you have gotten and you don’t want to have to say all that time you put into it was a waste… so what is a busy marketer or business to do?

Now you can convert your personal profile into a business profile. All your ‘friends’ will carry over to it you but they will turn into ‘likes’. For more information about converting your profile, read these FAQs from Facebook.

The only other thing that will transfer along with your friends will be your Profile Pictures album.

You can (and should) backup your information so you have it and can repopulate your page after it has been transferred. Below is info from Facebook on backing up your timeline information.

To avoid losing important content, we recommend taking these steps before you convert your profile (timeline):

1. Download your profile (timeline) information. You can download a file that contains all of your sent and received messages and all of the photos and videos you’ve uploaded to Facebook.
2. Appoint a new group admin or a new Facebook Page admin to any groups or pages that you manage. The account you’re converting will lose these admin rights during the conversion process.

To actually convert your personal page to a business page you need to go here.

Facebook takes you through some very simple steps to make the change. Follow along and when you are done, your personal page will flip to a business page.

Some things I have seen and heard that may freak you out:

• Your Friends who convert to Likes will not show up instantly. I have flipped a few pages and it took a matter of minutes but I have heard of it taking longer… even days.
• You no longer have a personal page. I know that is what you just got rid of but it freaks people out. You will need to create a new personal page.
• The ‘Use Facebook as Page’ link goes missing. That is because, as stated above, you no longer have a personal page. You currently have only the business page.
• Your search bar goes away… it comes back though.

Some things I would do before converting my profile

• If you are the admin of any other pages, make someone else an admin, your profile is going to go away… so then you won’t be able to be an admin. You can set up a new profile and add your new and improved personal profile as an admin.
• Have a stiff drink, a cup of herbal tea, a stress ball or a yoga mat nearby. There is definitely a ‘push a button and hope’ feeling that freaks me out when you do this but if you backed up your information, you should have less to worry about.

I know a change like this is stressful but if your page is set up incorrectly you will want to do it. If you carry on with your personal page as your company page, you will never be able to reach more than 5,000 ‘friends’ plus there is different functionality to a business page over a personal page.

Good luck and I hope that helps! Have any of you flipped your page? Do you have anything you want to add to these notes? Any changes that really freaked you out?

This is an entry in our daily Internet Marketing Advent Calendar series. Each day your favorite marketing elves will focus on a new topic to get your internet marketing in order before the start of the new year.

Welcoming people has been a sign of respect and politeness for a long time. Businesses can do the same and welcome users who arrive at their Facebook page. Your wall is a great place for your visitors to hang out and interact with your company, but it isn’t necessarily the first thing that you want to show your new visitors.

Having a great Facebook landing page can help to engage new users from the very first interaction. Landing pages let you display engaging content, calls-to-action, incentives, interactivity, and so on. You can also detect whether the user is already a fan of the page or not, allowing you to create custom pages for fans and non-fans. This allows you to give your non-fans exclusive offers for liking your page.

When it comes to designing your company landing page it is much like designing for any website page, but there are some important factors you should keep in mind.

• Design your page with width restrictions in mind. Facebook pages must fit within a width of 520px. There are no constraints on the height of the page but you must keep in mind that people are most interactive above the fold. You don’t want to make the user have to scroll down the page to see the most important aspects of your page.
• Use your fan page profile picture to include more than just your logo. The profile picture has to stay within the dimensions of 180px wide and can be up to 600px high! It depends on your design and logo, but use the height to display important information about your business. Your profile picture is displayed on every tab, so it should be engaging, clearly display your business name and logo, include contact information, and be sure to include your web address- since Facebook should drive traffic to your website.
• Keep the design simple and engaging. You don’t want to have a design that is too busy or your main call to action will be lost. The headline should catch the visitor’s attention and let them know they are not a fan yet, and show them reasons why they should become one. This is a great way to display exclusive offers that only fans will receive, and that by becoming a fan you will continue to get important information and offers.
• Make use of the liked parameter. Include a secondary welcome page that only fans see, this is a great way to show exclusivity of becoming a fan. A great example of this is for ecommerce businesses. By displaying on your non-fan welcome page an offer, ex.) “Like us and receive a coupon for 15% off on your next order” Your secondary welcome page can be displayed right after the visitor has liked your page- displaying the coupon code for the 15% off their next purchase. This kind of immediate gratification will show the visitor right off that liking your page has benefits.

  

  BMW’s Facebook page is a great example of this. Most features are hidden to non-fans, which encourages visitors to like the page to see more.

A great fan page will not only encourage people to like your page – it will also effectively promote your brand and connect with readers on a regular basis. This is another opportunity to advertise your business to millions of FB users, so why not take advantage of it?

Read more from our Internet Marketing Advent Calendar series!

Photo credit: Stéfan

A few months ago, I started using the popular Facebook application NetworkedBlogs for a few blogs that I manage.

With NetworkedBlogs you can:

• Import your blog feed into the app
• Once the blog is set up, it will automatically post when you publish a blog
• The post can automatically be tweeted out or posted to your Facebook profile or page
• Users can subscribe to the blog right on NetworkedBlogs
• Users can participate with the NetworkedBlogs community on a variety of topics

Pretty handy and how many of you drooled a little bit when I said once you post a blog it automatically tweets it out AND adds it to your Facebook profile?

NetworkedBlogs is GOOD if you are trying to get back a few minutes in your day

It is a really great feeling to hit Publish on a blog post and know it is also being sent out on Twitter and Facebook. Once a blog is out, I can move on to another task. A few hours later I can go back and see if we have got any feedback on the post. Before using NetworkedBlogs, I would post the blog, copy the URL, add it to Bit.ly and manually post to Twitter and Facebook. That process only took a minute or two but it is still nice to cut it out.

NetworkedBlogs is BAD if you are a numbers/control freak like I am

What I liked about the manual way, was the control of posting it the moment I wanted AND I liked the Bit.ly stats telling me who clicked on my link or who shared my link. It was a helpful stat for me to keep an eye on and I can compare link to link to see what was more popular.

NetworkedBlogs is GOOD if you want your blog to be a seamless experience on Facebook

Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world. Most likely your customers are on it. It is where they are spending a lot of their online time. If you want to catch people in a seamless way on a network they are already participating on – this could be the application for you. People can get alerted to a new post, read it, subscribe to it and even comment on it right in the application.

NetworkedBlogs is BAD if you want the interaction ON your website

What I like about posting our blog on social media sites is getting that traffic to our website. I like seeing that they clicked on it, I like seeing the visit in Google Analytics and I like seeing where that traffic goes from its original entrance source. With NetworkedBlogs, you lose that control over your data. The blog is read on a networked blogs link and not on your own URL.

So what to do? As with most things in the internet marketing space, you need to determine what is best for you.

• If you are looking to get some precious moments back in your day and get your content ‘out there’ on Facebook and Twitter for people to read – NetworkedBlogs may be the way to go.
• If you are managing your social media effectiveness in-house and find yourself very tied to numbers, NetworkedBlogs may not be the best choice for you.

Are any of you using NetworkedBlogs? What are your thoughts on how it has helped you or how it has held you back?

Photo credit: shioshvili

We actually get this question pretty often from small and medium sized clients alike (B2B and B2C clients too), so I wanted to share with you our opinion on how many social media accounts you should have.

First off, it truly does depend. We think it is best to start with one. Make it really easy for your customers and fans to know what page they should follow/like/subscribe to. Start with one account and strive to make that account become popular. You want lively conversation, good feedback and loads of followers or subscribers.

I’m popular, now what?

Not a bad problem to have… too much action on your social media accounts! After your Twitter account or Facebook page gets some traction, then you can start outlining what people are using the page for. Some may use it for things like customers service, job opening questions, inquiries about products and support. Once your page is popular and you can identify the needs your users have then you should consider breaking the page into sections.

Things to keep in mind

If you are going to maintain several social media profiles, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• More accounts mean more time. Do you have the resources to keep multiple accounts fresh and deliver relevant content?
• Keep all of the accounts fresh and full of information, an account that doesn’t look ‘lived in’ won’t get much traction.
• Make a plan before to alert your current fans and followers of the new resources that are available to them.
• If it isn’t working, don’t be afraid to cut your losses.

So don’t start your social media marketing by spreading your content, time and accounts thin. Let them grow first and then let the users decide which direction you should take your profiles in. What we always see is people trying to do too much and then burning out, leaving a bad taste in their mouth. Start small and as it builds, think about expanding.

What do you think? Should businesses start with multiple accounts or with one?