Tips to Improve Your Facebook Page

DIRECT QUOTES from Source: Scott Ayres, 2014. “6 Tips to Improve Your Facebook Page,” URL: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/elements-facebook-page/, accessed: 18 July 2014.

#1: Add a Clear Cover Photo (1)• When Facebook users land on your page, you want them to

figure out:• Who you are and • What you do in about 3 seconds.

• That’s why a good cover photo is important. Here’s a good example from Coca-Cola.

#1: Add a Clear Cover Photo (2)• Only use images and text that relate to your brand, services

or products. For example, if you sell boats, don’t use images of trucks.

• To avoid a stale page appearance, change your cover in conjunction with the seasons, holidays or events that make sense for your brand.

• If you don’t have professional image editing software, here are some free and paid tools to help you create a great cover image:• 1.Canva• 2.Timeline Slicer Pro• 3.PicMonkey

#2: Optimize Your Profile Photo (1)• While your cover photo gives users who land on your

Facebook page their first impression, • It’s your profile photo they’ll see the most….on the news

feed.• Profile pic is more important than the cover photo because it

appears in:• 1.The news feed of your followers• 2.Posts on your page’s timeline• 3.Replies in comments• 4.Comments and posts you make on other pages while

using your page• 5.Over the cover photo on your timeline

#2: Optimize Your Profile Photo (2)Tips for Profile PicsRectangular images must be cropped as square to upload as a profile pic so it’s best to use a square image.

Your profile pic is uploaded at 180 x 180 pixels, but displayed at 160 x 160 pixels. Check to make sure the smaller image still looks good, like this one fromShortStack.

#2: Optimize Your Profile Photo (3)

Profile pics are resized to:• 100 x 100 pixels in a fan’s news

feed, • 86 x 86 pixels next to posts on

your timeline, and • 43 x 43 pixels next to comments. • Check to make sure your image

is recognizable at news feed or timeline location.

#3: Complete Your About Section (1)

• An incomplete or misconfigured .. could result in missed traffic and likes on your page.

• Be aware that this section will look slightly different, depending on the category you choose when you create your page.

• For “Local Business” with a physical location, the About section will include: • Address, • Contact information and • Business hours.

#3: Complete Your About Section (2)

• If you don’t have a physical location or it’s not common for people to come to your place of business, select a category such as “Company” or “Brand” when you create your page.

Choosing either of these options lets Facebook show your short description under the profile pic on your timeline. And that description can include a hyperlink to your website!

#3: Complete Your About Section (3)Tips for Your Short Description• Regardless of the category you choose

during page setup, you should complete every field you can

• To edit the short description for company or brand pages, click on Edit Page in the admin panel, and then Update Page Info. From here, click on the pencil icon next to Short Description.

• Type in your URL at the beginning, so it’s the first thing people see.

• You get 155 characters to tell people who you are, but I recommend using no more than 100; be clear and concise, and don’t stuff in keywords.

#4: Optimize for Mobile Views

• Sometimes the About section shows differently on the Facebook mobile app than it does on the desktop.

• Make sure: Short Description, Mission and Company Overview ----- all begin with your URL so it shows first when someone visits your page on a mobile device.

#5: Leverage Third-Party Page Apps (1)Tips for Third-Party App Use• Let people sign up for your

newsletter without leaving Facebook.• Collect more email addresses by using a

contest app to give users an incentive to enter their email address in exchange for the chance to win a prize.

• Cross-promote your other social channels by using an app to include content from Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc., like Amy Porterfield does.

#5: Leverage Third-Party Page Apps (2)

• There are a wide variety of app providers to choose from and almost all offer free plans with pre-made templates, so even non-tech–oriented people can install them with ease.

• Here are a few for you to check out:• 1.ShortStack• 2.TabSite• 3.Heyo• 4.Antavo• 5.WooBox

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (1)

• The most important element of a successful Facebook page is a well-planned posting strategy.

• If your posting strategy lacks direction, you’re dead in the water!

• Recent changes to the news feed algorithm mean you need to post more often to stay top of mind with your followers and get the most engagement.

• I recommend that pages publish three types of posts every day on their pages:

• 1.Photo• 2.Text update• 3.Links

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (2)

Tips for Photo Posts• Stay relevant to your followers.

If you’re running a page about real estate, an image of Miley Cyrus makes no sense, but images of amazing homes, vacation spots and pictures of your town do make sense.

• Post funny images or memes once in a while.

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (3)

Tips for Text Update Posts• Due to the changes described in Facebook’s latest

announcement• text-only updates are reaching fewer people than before:“Through testing, we have found that when people see more text status updates on Facebook they write more status updates themselves. Over time, we noticed that this effect wasn’t true for text status updates from Pages…The latest update to News Feed ranking treats text status updates from Pages as a different category to text status updates from friends…posts from Pages behave differently to posts from friends and we are working to improve our ranking algorithms so that we do a better job of differentiating between the two types. This will help us show people more content they want to see. Page admins can expect a decrease in the distribution of their text status updates…”

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (4)

Skittles knows this doesn’t make text updates any less important.

• To increase text post engagement, use questions or fill-in-the blank updates that are easy for people to respond to.

• Mix in text updates that require a short response from users in the comments.

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (5)

Tips for Post Links• A business on Facebook should never put all of its stock in

getting lots of likes, comments and shares with text and photo posts.

• The real value is found in posts that drive traffic to your website that turns to sales or conversions. Once there, users can read your article, sign up for your newsletter or purchase a product.

• Make link posts the focus of your posting strategy and you’ll be highly successful.

• Include a well-crafted call to action that supports that goal to get people to click and go to your blog or website landing page, like TOMS does.

#6: Work From a Posting Strategy (6)

• Make sure your landing page has a great image, because link posts now show a full-width photo preview on the news feed, which makes them look like photo posts.

• Use a trackable URL from a service like bit.ly or Pretty Link so you can easily measure the click-through rate from Facebook.

In Conclusion

• On a scale of 1-10 (10 being awesome) how would you rate your page? Is there room for improvement?

• Use the tips above to make sure your page has the five elements of a successful Facebook page.

• Create a clear cover photo, • Design a profile pic that scales well visually, • Display your URL in your page’s About section, • Add tactical functionality to your page with third-party

apps • Guide your page posting with a defined strategy.