Facebook changes features
and functionality on what seems like a weekly basis, so it can be difficult to
keep up with what’s new. And as a
result of a slew of recent changes, you may not have noticed a number of
updated features that give you more control over your Facebook page—and, by
extension, your Facebook marketing efforts. Therefore, consider this your cheat
sheet. If you’re not already putting these features to work for your Facebook page,
now’s a great time to start.
Organic
vs. Viral Visibility
Stats are a goldmine for
marketers. And Facebook provides no shortage of data and insights that can help
you track how your Facebook content resonates with your audience, as well as
what types of post spark the most engagement. You can also see how many people
have viewed your Facebook posts organically (your page’s fans) and virally
(friends of your fans). Simply hover over the “…. people saw this post” link
below your page post to see the count. Regularly checking out these numbers can
help you fine-tune your content to consistently post information that resonates
not only with your page’s audience, but with their connections, too.
Reposition
Photos
Whether you love or hate Timeline,
you can’t deny that it’s a much more visual experience for Facebook users. That
being said, a photo may sometimes not appear as you’d envisioned because of the
site’s automatic cropping and positioning parameters. The good news? You’ve got
control! Go to your post and click the pencil icon in the top right corner.
Select Reposition photo, then use your mouse to better align the photo within
the space provided. This is a great trick for the default photo size, as well
as photos that you enlarge by highlighting the post.
Schedule
Facebook Posts
We don’t advocate
automating your entire social presence (after all, you’re not a robot—you’re a
person!) But the ability to schedule posts can save you a great deal of time
and make sure your page is covered during traditional downtimes like evenings
and weekends (which is when a lot of page admins see increased Facebook
traffic). To schedule a post, make sure you’re in your page’s admin view (where
you can see insights at the top and your page posts below). If you switch over
to your page’s News Feed and try to post from there, you won’t be able to
schedule. Under the status window, you’ll see a clock. Click and add the year,
month, date and time you want your post to publish. Once you’re done, a window
will pop up that confirms the update has been scheduled.
Define
Admin Roles
If you work with a team of
people to manage Facebook pages, you’ll want to take advantage of the more
recent admin role functionality. Facebook has defined several roles: manager,
content creator, moderator, advertiser, and insights analyst. Each role comes
with a varying number of responsibilities, with managers having complete access
to all tasks (pictured below). This way, you can ensure
that your admin team can fulfill various page-related tasks, but perhaps it’s
not appropriate for every member to have full-fledged access.
Edit
Links
It’s happened to all of
us. You find the perfect link, copy and paste it into the status update window,
and bam—the meta data leaves a lot to be desired. Facebook automatically
imports this information from the source, and although you can’t change a link’s
thumbnail, you can edit the title and description. When the link preview pops
up under your status window, simply double-click the headline and description
text and you’ll be able to make edits as needed. This might seem like a small
adjustment to make, but let’s face it—everything you post on your Facebook page
counts. And the more polished and enticing the information is, the more
engagement you’ll likely see.
Highlight
Fan Posts
One of the more consistent
complaints with Timeline is that it consolidates fan posts into one window on
the side of the page, rather than interspersing them on the page’s main feed.
Just as you might highlight a status update, you can highlight fan posts, too,
and draw more attention to user-generated content. Click the wall posts box,
select the post you want to highlight and click the X in the right corner to
select Highlighted on Page. Not only does this feature give your page some
increased content diversity, but also signals to your fans that you’re paying
attention to their content—and appreciate their contributions to your page.
See
Page Likes
Getting people to like your
Facebook page is the key to a robust presence and an engaged
community. Yet it’s also important that you, as a Facebook page, like other
pages—and they return the favor. Not only does this increase the size of your
Facebook audience, but it creates a more robust news feed and allows you to
more easily share updates and activity from other pages. To see which pages
have liked your page (and so you can return the favor, if applicable), go to New
Likes in your admin panel. Click See All, then go to the top left and change
from People to Pages.
You’ve likely heard the
saying “the devil is in the details.” And Facebook marketing is no exception.
By incorporating these tips into your Facebook strategy, you’ll make subtle yet
noticeable improvements to your page—and continue to know more about your audience,
too. When you factor in Facebook’s fast-moving stream and continually growing
user base that’s approaching 1 billion
people, you need all of the competitive advantages you can get to
make your Facebook page stand out in a crowd.
Have you discovered any
other little known Facebook tips or tricks that have improved your Facebook
marketing efforts? If so, please
feel free to post on Goodbuzz or email it to us (and we will do thy bidding).
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