With Facebook Graph Search starting to roll out to profiles worldwide, it won’t be long until businesses will start to ponder how to monetize it. Like most new developments, the opportunity is usually glaring right at us until some ‘innovator’ comes along and shows us all how it’s done. Advantage Capital Funds just released an excellent infographic to help illustrate the functional value of Facebook Graph Search and it’s impact on businesses both large and small. Those who read our first article on Facebook’s new enhanced search platform already know that the potential for local businesses is enormous…but exactly how big are we talking? Facebook Graph Search: The Back Story Any marketer that has ever explored advanced search options on virtually any other social network can admit that Facebook search has always left more to be desired. Surely there must be a better way to make use of this Fort Knox-sized data goldmine than the disgraceful excuse that was Facebook’s old search system. Enter Facebook Graph Search. Finally you can find out how many of your female friends between the age of 24-37 in the UK like the Young & The Restless on Facebook! Despite the sarcasm, it’s actually pretty [...]
This Could Be Why Facebook Is Rejecting Your Ads
Facebook marketing is now used by a majority of businesses in the United States. However, Facebook’s new ad guidelines have instituted several limits on ad content. If your ads are getting rejected by Facebook, you might unwittingly be in violation of these guidelines, particularly the “20% rule”. Text to Image Ratio The 20% rules states that an image in an ad must have no more than 20% of its area covered with text. This goes for every image in any ad. It applies not only to Facebook ads but also to Sponsored Stories as well. This means that if you want to use Facebook marketing to promote an event or product, you will need to convey your message mostly through imagery, relying on text to get across only the most important details. Failure to follow this rule might get your ad rejected. The Reason for the Change Many companies are using News Feed ads as an increasing focus in their Facebook marketing. This allows their content to appear on many different people’s timeline and allows for easier sharing among friends. Images are more difficult to monitor for content than text and as such, Facebook is cracking down on the percentage [...]
How Your Personal Facebook Profile Can Help Your Business
Many small businesses and professionals that engage in Facebook marketing have found themselves struggling when it comes to getting their posts showing up in peoples’ news feeds. Due to the way that Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm sorts top posts, studies suggest that only about 16% of fans are likely to see your company’s posts. Fortunately, there is another way to use Facebook for business: strategically utilizing your personal profile. The Differences Between a Personal Profile and a Business Page Your personal profile cannot be used to directly promote your business but you can still use it to network and provide a personal face that people can associate with your business. Think of this as your chance to let people see the face behind your business. However, you should be careful not to focus exclusively on using your personal Facebook for business. While you can occasionally post about your business, frequent promotional posts will turn people off. Using Lists and Groups One of the features of a Facebook personal page is the ability to use lists, which will make sure that certain posts are only readable by selected individuals on your friends list. This means that you can use Facebook for [...]
5 Ways Facebook Groups Can Be Better Than Pages
Using Facebook for business purposes is a can be an incredible way to attract new customers and develop a link with existing ones when done right but many businesses still struggle to do this successfully. While most businesses use Facebook business pages as the base of their efforts on the network, you can also take advantage of Facebook groups, which offers a new dimension that most have yet to explore. 1. An Environment That Thrives On Engagement Groups allow for a more engaged and focused environment from your audience. While business pages allow companies a place to broadcast their updates and new content, groups allow the audience more freedom in beginning, continuing and even driving discussions. This translates to an environment that can offer better customer feedback, a more active user base within your specific niche and many other opportunities to creatively network yourself with your ideal clients while providing them value. 2. More Organic Exposure Business pages on Facebook are at the mercy of an algorithm called EdgeRank to determine what messages should be listed in the Top Stories section of the News Feed. Groups allow a different form of ranking that is more organic. Every time somebody [...]
Facebook Graph Search: What It Means For Business
Facebook is testing out a new feature called the Facebook Graph Search. This new search system aims to revolutionize the way people browse the Internet and connect with others by allowing them to be more specific than ever in their searches. Read on to find out how this new feature might impact your business. Big Changes With New Facebook Graph Search As a quick summary, Facebook Graph Search allows people to perform multifaceted searches by including regional location, area of interest, and business type. This means that people can use search terms such as, “People in Chicago that like Italian restaurants” and get meaningful results. Facebook Graph Search for business means that you can provide more information about your company and better control the audience you are reaching. Results show up in graph form, so the closer your business is to a perfect match, the more noticeable you will be on the search.
The Facebook Page Notifications Debacle
Another day and another major change to Facebook page notifications potentially making promoting posts even tougher without shelling out cash for advertising. Many page admins recently got the sneaking suspicion that Facebook quietly changed their notorious EdgeRank algorithm yet again. The evidence at hand: Photo updates, widely known as the best way to maximize post impressions, started showing significantly less impressions than usual After my own tests, I was able to conclude that I was getting approximately half the amount of impressions on photo posts vs. plain text updates Renowned Facebook expert Mari Smith saw a drop in the “People Talking About This” metric from 5500 to only 1900 in a week Facebook Pages: Going Premium? Social Identities made a post on their Facebook page showing a few screenshots of a Facebook survey indicating the social media giant is considering launching a premium service for page owners that could possibly include email and chat support. Here is a partial the list of some potential services that might be offered: Prominent listing in Facebook Search and local directory Ability to respond to people who comment or post on your page using private messages Ability to change the name of your page [...]
Facebook Groups: The Overlooked Engagement Goldmine?
Facebook Groups has completely fallen off the radar for most people since it’s major change back in 2010 but some people have managed to resurrect it and use it the right way. Up until a few months ago, I thought Facebook Groups was a complete bust. It was a seemingly useless feature that would only annoy me when friends put me into random groups without my permission. Since then I have come to see it in a different light and think that you might as well, especially considering only 7% of fans are seeing posts from pages they’ve liked. The numbers are simply atrocious and nearly every page admin who has noticed has uniformly determined that something must be done. Before that something becomes deleting your Facebook page, it might be time to consider a new alternative… The Second Rise of Facebook Groups I think many early adopters of Facebook for business use likely created a Facebook group before figuring out there was a page option that was completely separate. After meeting an untimely demise with the Facebook Groups overhaul two years ago, most group admins decided to abandon ship for the new standard created by pages. It is [...]
Mari Smith’s Top 10 Facebook Tips
I just listened in on a Facebook webinar by my mentor Mari Smith, the Queen of Facebook. She provided 10 ESSENTIAL Facebook Tips and I’ve recapped them here in this blog post for you. If you want to make more money using Facebook, it’s essential you use it the right way. Follow these tips and you will have much more success with Facebook. Missed Mari’s Facebook webinar? Click here to watch the replay now Here are Mari Smith’s Top 10 Facebook Tips that she shared in her webinar: Facebook Tip #1: Understand Facebook edgerank This is the formula that determines who see’s what in the news feed. Only 16% of your content is being seen by your fans (some report it’s even less). Mari suggests checking how your Facebook content is doing by checking it out Edgerankchecker.com. Facebook Tip #2: Include photo’s Photo’s and videos get the highest edge rank which means they are the posts most likely to show up in your fans newsfeed. Keep your posts to under 160 characters. Maximize visibility to your site and increase engagement. Facebook Tip #3: Don’t post links via 3rd party apps Facebook doesn’t include the share button on your posts that come from [...]
