Courtesy of socialnicole.com

The Old Facebook Cover Policy

You might remember how strict the rules once were that detailed what you can and can’t design into a Facebook cover photo. You couldn’t write any calls to action on it for example, or Facebook would ask you to take it down, or just remove your page. The new Facebook changes have done away with every single one of those rules, except one.

The Rule That Still Counts

The only remaining rule that Facebook will still enforce is this one: “your cover photo may not be more than 20% text.” That means 80% of your photo has to be an image, and only 20% can be words of any kind.

This still restricts what you can say – or rather how you can say it – but as Facebook changes go, it’s a big one. They offer a lot more flexibility to business pages that are only on Facebook to sell their products. I never quite understood why Facebook had so many rules for the cover photo, but I’m glad to see them gone.

Try improving your impressions, clicks and sales without any calls to action in this prime real estate! It was very hard. Rumor has it that the Facebook changes happened because Facebook realized that they had very little hope regulating the billion accounts. What do you do exactly when someone violates a silly rule like that?

The Rules That Don’t Count Anymore

Courtesy of marismith.com

Facebook changes like this don’t come very often, but you can bet your boots that businesses all over the world will be redesigning their cover photos. Here’s what is now 100% legal to do on your cover photo:

• You CAN put price or purchasing information on your cover photo now. That means you can have a product image with a great big “only $14.99” right on your page. You can also tell your fans where they can go to buy, “download at jimmysburgers.com.

• You CAN put your contact information directly on your cover photo. This Facebook change will drive a lot of extra leads to your websites. Put your web address there, your email address, your postal address and telephone number – go nuts!

• You CAN tell your visitors to click, like or share your page with their friends. The Facebook changes make it possible for you to even have an arrow pointing down to the like button, like the old days! This will definitely increase your fan base.

• You CAN create calls to action and publish them on your cover photo. Phrases like ‘buy it now,’ ‘download here,’ and ‘share with your friends’ are perfectly acceptable. This opens up a lot of new marketing opportunities for page owners.

The real reason why these Facebook changes have occurred, is because Facebook needed to make their image policies for ads and cover photos the same. Cover photos are appearing in more and more ad campaigns, and without calls to action, pricing info and the other previously banned phrases – the ads were not living up to their highest potential.

If Facebook is going to capitalize on their new advertising systems, then they need to make marketing a standard and desirable part of using the platform. It has to be completely business friendly. You can’t sell a product to someone and then insist that ‘because of the rules’ they can’t have effective images in their ads.

Though the ad system has a long way to go before it’s perfect. Some Facebook ads are full of words, and they are approved – while others barely have any words, and they are rejected. This is definitely the teething phase for the platform. These Facebook changes are not going to stop coming.

Until Facebook can make their business users as active as their social users, it will continue to improve conditions for page owners. I read recently that they’ve got their heads in the books, and are working through tons of data to make educated decisions about their services. Facebook changes like removing the ‘unlike page’ option in the newsfeed is one of the tactical moves.

The data obviously showed that too many people were unliking business pages when given the chance. Facebook doesn’t want that to happen. For every unlike – there are businesses reaching less people. If you can’t reach people, why bother taking out an advert? It’s all part of their master strategy to become a hugely business-friendly platform.

The Cover Photo Potential

Courtesy of dreamgrow.com

My advice is to go and change your cover photo immediately. All covers are public and they are highly likely to show up on Google page one for a direct search. Launching a product? Use your cover photo. Appearing at an event? Use your cover photo. These Facebook changes will make it a lot easier to scale small business pages in the coming days.

• Put amazing discounts on your cover photo
• Put incredible specials on your cover photo
• Add a ‘like our page here’ arrow and graphic
• Add in some timeless calls to action to drive traffic!

Remember that the governing rule is still to publish way more image than text. But sales tools are back in, and that’s more than enough for now. We can all start using our Facebook pages a little more realistically because of this change. I expect that more Facebook changes are on the way, and we’ll be smiling about them all year.

Are you going to change your Facebook cover photo? What do you think about these new changes that are sweeping through the social network?

Join our Facebook page here!

Courtesy of myphonedaily.com

Goodbye Single Newsfeed Options

The Facebook changes that will affect you and your business the most, are the ones happening to your newsfeed. There are new ways to filter your newsfeed that include viewing streams according to certain categories like music or photos. Instead of having to scroll down a million times only to run out of new content – Facebook proposes this.

Each newsfeed steam will be just as long, only you’ll be able to see and engage with more content – much more content. This will inevitably improve the time people spend on Facebook, and on finding content from YOUR business. It’s a win-win for Facebook and Facebook users alike.

The Information Junkies We Are All Becoming

Personally, I think this improvement by Facebook is the best thing they could have done right now. Facebook changes like this improve the user experience, instead of making it less tolerable, like all of their recent advertising changes. I bet a smart executive said – ‘but how can we keep people using Facebook for longer?’ That was the million dollar question.

The answer was also simple – these new Facebook changes. Increasing the amount of clean friend-based information that a single Facebook user can consume quickly, is key to maintaining their current business model. And with the ad increases this doesn’t come soon enough. If there are going to be more ads, there must be more content.

We are all becoming information junkies, and there is an increasing need for sites like Facebook to make more information available to us. The only problem is – we want it to be simple, super-fast and convenient. That’s no simple task. In order for the Facebook changes to meet this need, they also need to make the navigation of Facebook a little more complex.

Courtesy of techcrunch.com

The New Facebook Look

Along with the massive newsfeed changes, you can also expect updates to the photos and ad systems. Photos on Facebook will appear larger –which is great for marketers, and actually marks the beginning of a more friendly way to market to your customers. Text is great, but let’s be honest – images and moving images are becoming more important online.

Since Pinterest and Twitter Vine, the internet and your potential customers only seem interested in sharing the best images and Vines – text is left alone. But even as these numbers climb, more Facebook changes are on the way. There are rumors that a radical mobile redesign is on the cards for Facebook as well.

The mobile feed makes advertising look really bad, because it’s so noticeable and unwelcome. I wonder how they’ll improve this! Also on the way is a camera app, or some kind of app that will compete with Twitter Vine. At least that’s the news on the wire right now. With all of these additions and changes, Facebook as we know it will be gone.

The Changing Faces of Facebook

There is a desperate need for Facebook to improve their cluttered appearance. Experts like Techcrunch suggest that they will achieve this by giving things like ‘newsfeeds’ and ‘tickers’ the ability to be hidden. This would definitely leave room for the larger images and whatever new apps they want to promote. Facebook changes like these are needed.

• The newsfeed is getting an overhaul – you can switch between different content feeds
• Facebook is punting Instagram by dedicating an entire newsfeed to photos
• Facebook may introduce an independent music feed to make Facebook users engage more often with Spotify and the music shared on the site
• Facebook changes could include a new ‘news’ section dedicated to business page updates and general news
• Link and image posts will be much larger to get more responses from people. This is great for advertisers who can expect better click through rates
• Luxury brands will be attracted to the larger ad formats, and Facebook will get the extra investment it’s been looking for all this time

These Facebook changes tell me a few things. First of all, Facebook is STILL a people-centered platform, they want you to be happy. By keeping you happy, they can make money for their advertisers and business page owners. This is also good news for small businesses that want better returns from their Facebook ad investments.

All in all, the site isn’t just getting swamped by adverts – it’s also getting overhauled for the users that want more, and want it from Facebook. It seems that Facebook as a company is moving in the right direction. I had my doubts at first, but they are making every effort to balance out the business side, with the user side.

Courtesy of digitaltrends.com

The Facelift and The Pace of Change

This new Facebook facelift will no doubt have the internet divided again, as some people love the new feeds, and others hate them. People don’t like change, but it’s so crucial for a giant like Facebook to continue to change to stay relevant.

Just when they bought an image sharing app for a billion bucks, Twitter goes and buys Vine – which becomes the hot new thing.

These Facebook changes will continue because all of the social sites are in competition. A moment spent on Twitter is one not spent on Facebook. I would safely assume that more innovations – especially app-wise – will come from Facebook in the coming year.

You’ll notice that the Facebook trailblazers are being mimicked by just about every other social platform out there. They need to change constantly to stay in front! Hopefully this update will reduce clutter and increase time spent on Facebook, as the developers intend. If it doesn’t, Facebook will be left with a flawed design and a lot of ads bothering their users.

Join our Facebook page here, and stay updated on the latest Facebook changes!

Have you seen the new Facebook changes? What do you think of them – better or worse?

Courtesy of venturebeat.com

Ads Here, Ads There, Ads Everywhere

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Facebook advertising has rapidly increased. My private newsfeed now consists of strange promoted upcoming events, ‘most shared’ posts from the businesses I do follow, and endless business page suggestions from companies I’ve never even heard of – something has happened, and people are noticing.

These days when a friend likes a business, it shows up as a full on post ‘Jane Doe likes Business Page x’ sprawled across your page. These adverts are getting to people, there are too many of them. Yet businesses love the new Facebook advertising options, don’t they? Otherwise why would Facebook be doing all of these intrusive changes?

The Truth About Facebook Advertising Campaigns

In his latest post on Facebook advertising, Jason Falls takes a look at how useful the current Facebook ad campaigns really are to small business owners. For a $5000.00 investment, the return was 1.5 million impressions and 40,000 claims. That means 40K people clicked on the offer that was shown. That’s a lot of people taking interest in adverts.

Are businesses making money? Well, if that small business invested $5000.00, giving away a redeemable coupon, then according to the numbers – a heck of a lot of money was made from that ad campaign. This may be different from gathering likes and using sponsored stories to gain fans – but the proof is there – it works.

Courtesy of pagetrafficbuzz.com

It’s clear then that BECAUSE these Facebook advertising options are working, Facebook wants to make more of them. They want a diverse range of ads to suit all people, all budgets, across the world. That’s how they will increase their revenue. As ads become more social, they are also becoming more interactive and engaging.

Fans WANT the offers from their favorite businesses that are giving away coupons and free stuff, because it adds value to being their fan. As for the other ads – the cold ‘suggested business’ ads, these may work intermittently, but they are more of an irritation than anything else. It’s Facebook’s attempt at building stronger business pages. Why?

The more fans a business page has, the more Facebook advertising power is has. You can only show ads to your fans and their friends – right? Those are the rules. So Facebook has gone on a twisted ‘like ALL of these businesses’ rampage, suggesting 5-10 businesses to you per day if you’re unlucky. It’s devalued the experience for me a little.

Courtesy of thehighlow.com

Speaking About Advertising, What’s Facebook Up To?

There is a very clear increase in the frequency of Facebook advertising, offers and sponsored stories. Facebook, as Jason Falls so eloquently writes, must become a revenue engine. I fear however that this new model may lead to a breakdown in trust between user and platform. No-one likes useless adverts. They like repeated spammy adverts even less.

All you can do as a Facebook user or Facebook advertising user is to use their ‘spam’ options. If you see a spammy ad, report it as spam, hide posts you don’t like – give Facebook the knowledge it needs to keep your page free of irritations. Remember Facebook or any social media site, is not a passive service. It takes user and owner input to grow!

How do you feel about the increase in Facebook adverts?

Courtesy of sproutgeek.com

Facebook For Business: According To Mari Smith

Mari is a big fan of the Timeline design, and she has spent months determining how best to use it for business. To Mari Smith, Facebook is a necessary platform that all old and new businesses should invest in. The best way to learn from her, is to check out her own Facebook page. There, she shows you exactly how a page should be run.

The 101 Profile From a Facebook Expert

On first glance you can see that Mari keeps the conversation going – with nearly 2,847 people talking about her posts. Here are some tips from the queen of Facebook.

• For Mari Smith, Facebook is meant to inspire community. She pops in every now and then and announces LIVE discussions for the next 60 minutes. This encourages people to ask her questions or give her feedback, live on her page.

• She posts blogs from other people, which helps her connect to them and adds fresh relevant content to her wall. Only practical advice is shared.

Courtesy of Twylah.com

• If there is one person that knows how to use Timeline apps, it’s Mari Smith. Facebook apps make your page functional, and Mari has 8 of them. Among these are Youtube Videos, a Facebook Course, Google+, Free Webcasts, Mari’s Top Fans, A Free Chapter From Her Book and a big list of apps you should be using on Facebook.

• Mari ensures that she’s the prominent source of Facebook knowledge by publishing DIY or practical info posts. She’ll publish directions, and an explanatory image. By making her images not only attractive, but practical – she gains more fans.

• To Mari Smith, Facebook is about engagement – so she asks her fans questions and encourages a lot of interaction. She also makes great use of the ‘whole page’ function, to enlarge interesting images on her profile.

• Mari Smith is the best at what she does because she’s put the time into her own credibility. She posts images of herself writing on the Facebook ‘wall’ in the FB offices – and she is often interviewed about Facebook as an expert. She makes sure the world knows when something like this happens, you should too!

Courtesy of marismith.com

For an expert like Mari Smith, Facebook will be a constant challenge because it always changes. For you – the business owner – Mari can be that unparalleled source of Facebook knowledge that you need to keep your profiles current and popular.

One of the best things you can do for your Facebook page is to model it after one that works. This is how you learn to implement new strategies and test new processes. Mari is to Facebook what Brian Clark is to content, and Darren Rowse is to blogging! Thanks Mari!

Join our Facebook page here!

Do you know of another Facebook expert that you want to share with us?

Courtesy of jsainteractive.com

How To Facebook Market Like a Millionaire

A smart marketer on Facebook that is not out to quickly and easily make money using basic Facebook marketing strategies, is able to focus on long term techniques instead.

These long term techniques on how to Facebook market pay off, and result in higher earnings directly off the platform. I’ve worked with many wealthy customers – and they do things a little differently. You could learn a thing or two here!

The secret is to manage your strategies in 10 day cycles. It works a little like this:

Step 1: Focus on a marketing strategy
Step 2: Test the marketing strategy on Facebook
Step 3: Give it 10 days to have an impact
Step 4: Collect and analyse data
Step 5: Make improvements and start at step 1 again!

Courtesy of kidnapcustomers.com

The Facebook market is ever-changing, and while this formula may seem basic it has a lot of working parts to it. For example, if your main goal is to increase the sale of an item from your product website, the strategy will work like this.

Step 1: How can you Facebook market this product to gain more traffic?
Step 2: If you decide on video advertising, set schedules and create content
Step 3: Publish to Facebook every day, multiple times in different ways
Step 4: Measure the analytics data and record results
Step 5: Redo your video campaign using the improved results…

…if video X received more fan likes for example, create more videos like it. These cycles are simple to use but devastatingly difficult to maintain for the average business person. This is especially true if you need results now – because money is a concern.

But millionaires should NEVER worry about money. They focus on the processes that result in excellent returns. That’s why they don’t skip steps, make mistakes and end up making more long term money in the Facebook market than other people.

Courtesy of socialmedianews.biz

Some Marketing Tips For Facebook

• Wealthy Facebook marketers only promote their absolute best content, that has already received lots of comments, likes and shares. It has a higher impact on people – especially on Facebook mobile – because it is already popular. The more likes you have, the more you’ll get.

• The Facebook market can return a lot of negative results. Facebook marketers know that promotion to fans is good – but not promoting to friends of fans is important too. It excludes negative feedback from your page.

• Only ever ask people to perform one SIMPLE action. More than one call to action makes the task hard, and people will not do it. Add in one solid call to action that is so simple, quick and easy – people can make it happen in 1 or 2 seconds.

• Upload your email or subscriber lists to Facebook if you’re using Facebook advertising. You can target existing buyers by taking advantage of the custom audience function in the ad backend.

The Facebook market will always be a tough one for independent business owners, looking to make their fortune on the platform. But if you stick to single strategies, tested properly in these 10 day cycles, you’ll find that your marketing techniques boom, along with your sales!

Join our Facebook page here!

Do you think there is value in using Facebook analytics to improve your marketing techniques?

Courtesy of netprofitmantra.com

Facebook Marketing Mistakes Revealed

We’ve all read about those Facebook marketing mistakes that you can make. ‘Don’t speak at your fans, speak to them.’ ‘Post lots of images to get interaction.’ These are broad, common sense mistakes that you shouldn’t be making. What about those harder, hidden blunders that YOU don’t even know about? They could be losing you droves of fans!

Marketing Blunder #1: No More Buying Fans!

You might have noticed your numbers dropping recently, and that’s because the Facebook marketing team is tightening up their ability to find and delete fake accounts. When you use services that offer you Facebook fans for a fee, these companies will insist that they are offering you real people. This is just not true.

In fact, Facebook is cracking down on all pages that bought fans – leaving you without anyone to talk too. In the past, you could buy fans just to get started on Facebook. Now, you really shouldn’t waste your money.

Courtesy of likeable.com

Marketing Blunder #2: Ruining Your Contests

It’s SO easy to break the rules regarding contests on Facebook. As a Facebook marketing expert, I’ve dealt with clients that simply can’t understand why their contests were pulled down or banned. Here are some rules to clarify what you can and can’t do.

You may not ask people to like other Facebook UI functions in your competitions, and you have to use an APP to do it. Your competition should state that it has nothing to do with Facebook, and winners can’t be notified on Facebook, ever.

Marketing Blunder #3: The Facebook Market

Not understanding the Facebook market can cost you fans. For example – if you behave like you’re on Twitter when you’re on Facebook, this can be great, or terrible for you. Great – because people love short, call to action posts with images, and terrible because using hashtags on Facebook makes sensitive fans crazy.

Have you ever actually tested which posts get you the most responses before? Facebook marketing is actually about doing your own testing and analysis.

Courtesy of ontopinternetmarketing.com

Marketing Blunder #4: Not Pushing Your Products Enough!

Let’s be honest, whether your fans are using Facebook mobile or desktop, you want the same thing – leads and sales. But are you doing enough to get them? We are warned so often that Facebook marketing is about people, that we forget to SELL stuff to them, or our pitches or efforts are too weak to get noticed.

If you can’t sell something blatantly, post it on Pinterest – then repost the pic on Facebook and let the sales funnel work. Facebook marketing in small businesses can be a little more aggressive at times.

These four massive Facebook marketing blunders will send your fans packing, and you can’t afford to lose any more of them. Do yourself a favor and start selling properly, no short cuts, no tricks – just daily work.

Join our Facebook page here! It’s so shiny!

What is the worst Facebook blunder you’ve made to date? Any great stories? Share them here.

Courtesy of facebook.com

The Basics of Facebook Graph Search

The Facebook Graph Search beta has hit the net, and people are scrambling to find out what all of fuss was about. Critics are calling it a ‘big step for Facebook’ as they try to capitalize on their traffic by adding a search function to their network.

This isn’t any old search process however, it’s a NEW kind of search and it adds a lot of additional functionality to the site. The Facebook Graph Search function allows users to search for people on Facebook that share similar interests, places, people or photos.

Sounds a bit date-site like? It is, kinda. In fact, using this kind of new functionality will allow people to better source relevant friends for things like book clubs, yoga meetings, gym sessions or clubs. Bing gets a massive boost from this Facebook decision, as Facebook displays Bing results if they don’t know who you’re trying to find.

As I was saying, Facebook Graph Search concentrates on 4 areas. The graph will allow you to find other television programs for example, that are similar to ones that you’ve already liked. Or you can use it to find photos of cats with bread on their faces in your area. Facebook is connected in weird and wonderful ways, and it’s trying to make us see and use these connections we have with people on the site more often.

The Down Side of Facebook Graph Search

The only down side to the new Facebook Graph Search is that it sure makes it easy for strangers to find and harass you. This is mildly reminiscent of a bad dating site, that allows creepy people to type in exact descriptions and get results. If you’re looking to marry a brown haired, secretary with 3 cats that lives in Ohio – you can find them on Facebook.

Courtesy of techcruch.com

For businesses, you might be able to use this search to find ideal clients, potential fans and competition entrants. If you couple it with the recent ‘mail for a dollar’ expansion, people can now find you and email you – anything. Hello spam!

Aside from the blatant stalker world that Facebook has just unleashed on all of us, I do admit that this step is beneficial for Facebook users. For one it allows people to better sort through Facebook, which never stops expanding. Facebook Graph Search will work concurrently with open graph, and Facebook has mentioned that the two will grow together over time.

The Proof is in The Privacy

I’ve given up trying to find a reasonable privacy balance on Facebook. With the introduction of new advertising processes and now Facebook Graph Search – you’re lucky to have ANY privacy left on the site. Even though Graph Search will become one of the 3 pillars – alongside Newsfeed and Timeline, you have to wonder – is my personal information safe?

The quick answer is no. I would encourage you to limit what you say on your Facebook profile just in case. These days the privacy policies change so often, it’s hard to keep up. And now that strangers can find you and talk to you – no information is safe. Many strangers will be spammers, marketers and phishing fraudsters.

Facebook’s official statement about privacy went as follows: “No one can see anything that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see,” said Facebook public policy manager Nicky Jackson Colaco in an interview with VentureBeat. “We don’t want people to be surprised. It’s really bad for them … and it’s bad for us.”

So Facebook is insisting that enabling people to find you, based on where you live, what you like and who you are is not another privacy violation, it’s simply an advancement.

How To Prevent The Privacy Onslaught?

Go and check out which groups and interests you’ve liked, in your entire Facebook history. Then delete the groups you may find uncomfortable. If for example you once liked a group called, ‘I’m a T&A man’ because an image was funny, you may want to unlike that.

Otherwise Facebook Graph Search could be telling people you’re this sort of man when they search for you. Your normal privacy settings are fine for now, but keep an eye out – they could change!

Check out this awesome video from Business Insider on how to use Facebook Graph Search.

Benefits To Small Businesses on Facebook

There are some superb benefits of the new Facebook Graph Search system. People can find businesses like yours, just by asking Facebook which ‘dentists’ their friends use in your area. That means the power and value of one fan just went up! Search amplifies how many people can find and like your company. Score!

Will this negatively impact Google? I don’t think so. If there’s one thing Google can’t get wrong, it’s search. They will remain the kings of online web browsing. But Facebook may steal some time spent per person, away from Google. People will be interested to see how Facebook Graph Search works, but they won’t use it every day like they use Google Search.

Courtesy of ibtimes.com

What The Twittersphere Thinks of Facebook Graph Search

• @MariSmith says, “@Markettennant Facebook Graph Search on mobile is coming – as an API. A whole new sub-industry, methinks cc #smexaminer
• @WSJ says, “Can Facebook’s Graph Search get you a date?”
• @RWW says, “Facebook Graph Search is Boring: Wake Me When We Get A Single Search Al by @ablaze rww.to/XBHviU”
• @Mashsocialmedia says, “Analysts are unimpressed with Facebook Graph Search.”
• @SocialMedia411 says, “Yelp stock tanks 8% after Facebook announces Graph Search.”

It’s interesting to me that recently Facebook removed the ability to opt out of search results, and now Facebook Graph Search is up and running. All I’m seeing is another attempt to open up new revenue streams by Facebook. Soon, marketers, corporations and companies will be clamoring to get a piece of you on Facebook.

How do you think Facebook Graph Search will affect you?

Courtesy of covenantsolutions.co.uk

The 5 Laws of Engaging Facebook Posts

#1: Increase Your Edgerank Score

Edgerank is the algorithm that Facebook uses to determine how close you are to individual fans. It decides how relevant you are to your fans, and when to show them your posts. Increase your Edgerank score by tagging fans in photos.

Right: “Fan poll: How do you use engaging Facebook posts to boost your business?” (Then tag 10 or so fans in the image you use with this question – they will be prompted to answer, and your edgerank score will increase, meaning they will see more of your posts)

#2: Use a Striking Image

People love engaging Facebook posts with images in them. It’s been proven that posts that have images vastly out-perform posts that don’t have images. Choose thought provoking, funny, emotional, intelligent or witty images and construct an equally as engaging text line to go with it.

Courtesy of anitaloomba.com

Right: “Engaging Facebook posts like this image, increase your edgerank score by 45%. Can you tell why? Tag the area you think has the most impact” (Then start the response list by adding in a comment below your post)

#3: Use Short Video Clips

It’s important to use short video clips, because people don’t tend to watch video longer than 4 minutes on Facebook. If your engaging Facebook posts are going to work, then select videos with huge viral potential. They need to be funny, shocking, fascinating and impossible not to share. Add an extremely tantalizing text line to the video.

Right: “Something in this video doesn’t make sense. Can you tell what it is?”

#4: Links For Engaging Facebook Posts

Links are always a powerful engagement tool, and they are even more-so on a site like Facebook. But don’t just share the link – that’s boring. For engaging Facebook posts that go viral – share an image from the page, and include the link in the text portion of the comment. Then give your opinion on WHY you are sharing the link.

Right: “What do three elephants, an egg and a chainsaw have in common? It all makes sense when you read Rod’s article on engaging Facebook posts here. Brilliant!” (Include an image that captures the imagination)

Courtesy of wearesocial.com

#5: Focus on Top Text Updates

The key to great text posts, is to invite discussion or debate. Keep it short so that people can read it without clicking on the ‘see more’ link. Speak directly to your fans. Get them to share their knowledge, so that they look like authorities on the subject. Engaging Facebook posts happen when you make it easy for your fans to look good.

Right: “To write engaging Facebook posts I need to ________ “

Use calls to action, questions, trivia, word tricks, challenges, quotes, holiday themes and polls to get your fans talking.

Use these rules to create engaging Facebook posts, so that your business page can come alive with conversation. Don’t forget to use Facebook Insights to track which posts do better than others. Always test and improve – for better results!

Did you like this post? Please share it with your friends!

How do you create engaging Facebook posts on your page? Any tricks you’d like to share with us?

Courtesy of lighthouseinsights.in

Why Milestones Matter

In life, a milestone is defined as a significant event or stage that happens in the overall development of a particular person, place or thing. On Facebook, your milestone area is exactly that – a space for you to share the special events and moments of your businesses life, with your fans.

To get it right, you have to be creative, honest and willing to dig deep into your past to pull out some priceless gems. These will matter most to your fans.

Using Milestones Like a Pro

The first step is scroll down to the very bottom of your Facebook page – where it all began. You’ll want to add in your founders date. Don’t forget to upload an image that communicates the emotion of the occasion to your fans. Some businesses have even gone in and created milestones before the founding date.

How did the name of their business come into being? How did the two main business partners meet? These extras really help personalize the process.

Once your founders date is set, grab a piece of paper and create a bit of a mindmap of the best events that have happened over the last few years. They can be personal, or strictly business orientated – like the day you bought your first office, or a photo of your first customer. Fans love to see the evolution of your brand this way.

Facts and Figures Enhance Your Identity

Fans want to know how your business grew and became what it is today. The easiest way to communicate this is to use facts and figures. These can be laid out in flashy graphs, charts and diagrams – or they can be stated as a quote, or a great image that relates to the stat in one way or another.

One milestone for example, would be your fan page reaching 1000 users. Striking images are important on milestone posts, as the update stretches across your entire Facebook page. The brighter and better your image, the more fans will like and share them.

Key Elements To Remember When Creating Milestones

• Milestones should follow a sequential storyline, so that they orientate your fans in the history and success of your brand and business.
• Don’t be afraid to get personal – if the birth of your first son affected the direction of your business, create a milestone for it.
• Milestones don’t necessarily have to be true. Many fun brands use them as an amusing tool to capture the attention of their fans. These milestones aren’t strictly true, but they’re a lot of fun to read.

So – get to it! Your Facebook page just isn’t complete without a few great milestones to let your fans really know who you are. Take advantage of this space, you’ll be surprised how popular these posts can become.

Do you have an interesting idea for a Facebook milestone? Leave it here!

Courtesy of army.mil

#1: Facebook Accounts For 1 of Every 5 Page Views Online

Imagine how powerful and addictive Facebook must be to attract 1 out of 5 page views on the internet – in the world! People are literally checking Facebook several times a day.

#2: Facebook Users Like 2.7 BILLION Things Per Day

There’s a whole lot of liking going on in the world – with people clicking ‘like’ billions of times each day. For such a neutral button, the world sure gets behind the endorsement concept. ‘Like’ is also one of the most important ways for a business to get a decent Edgerank score.

#3: 57% of All Facebook Users are Female

Facebook is a female dominated online community, with women not only making up a larger demographic than men, but using the platform more often as well. Must be the social sensitivity in women!

#4: Everyone in The World Spends an Average of 20 Minutes on Facebook

Open your homepage, check out the latest updates, scroll down – add in some comments, upload an image, reply to your messages, ‘like’ a few things…that’s about 20 minutes alright. The funny thing is, people are doing this once every couple of hours, it’s not just once a day anymore.

#5: EA Games Muscled in on Zynga’s Gaming Monopoly With The Sims Social

EA Games currently has the #2 most popular Facebook game in the world, thanks to an adaptation of their already hugely popular ‘The Sims’ game. Whereas Zynga games used to dominate the landscape with favorites like Cityville and Farmville – new players like EA have found their way into this new market, with little to no struggle.

#6: Facebook Earned 1 Billion Dollars in 2011

In 2011, thanks to Facebook’s new ad platforms, their old friend Zynga, and massive amounts of online traffic coming their way,
they managed to earn a cool $1 billion – that’s no small amount of income.

#7: Mark Zuckerberg Will Earn $1 Per Month From Jan 2013

Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest men, pledged to earn only $1 dollar per month as a salary, while working at Facebook. Makes sense – he was worth a neat 17.5 billion before Facebook’s recent IPO – now he’s worth about $24 billion. You can’t spend that amount of money in one lifetime!

It’s clear that Facebook is evolving. It’s becoming more of an aggressive money-maker – something we’ll see more of now that it’s a public company. But this hasn’t deterred people from using Facebook now more than ever. Usage, users and traffic is up, up, up! The reign of this social favorite is not going to end any time soon.

Have you come across any new and interesting stats about Facebook lately? Why not share them here with your SMM community? Share away!