You’ve heard it a thousand times—social media is about engagement and building relationships. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to build your business. In fact, if you’re not using social media to increase conversions and meet your business goals, well, you’re missing out. Big time. Brian Carter and Kate Buck will explain how to get into it, and what you can get out of it.
Moderator Joanna Lord first introduces Kate Buck, who she says often fills her Twitter stream with great information, so we’re in for a treat.
There’s a million things she could talk about, but she’s going to be nitpicky about optimizing profiles for driving traffic, search purposes, etc. She’s going to walk us through her new client setup process.
Six Key Elements for Consistency
These are the elements just about any social profile will have, regardless of platform:
- Usernames; branding keyword optmizied, easy to recall/find
- linking – channel specific
- photo/images – differing sizes
- bio – differing lengths
- backgrounds/graphics
To set up a client profile, she uses these steps:
- Design background image
- Design colors
- Avatar
- Bio (shortest)
- URL – usually sending people to a specific landing page from Twitter, not just a home page or about page; target the message to the user coming from Twitter
- Know your last four images display – last few people you followed is displayed on your profile, as are the last four images you linked to, retweeted, etc., so make sure they’re good
YouTube
Almost the exact same steps as on Twitter.
- Background image
- Design colors
- Avatar
- Bio (shortest)
- URL – again, something specific to the user coming from YouTube
- Latest video – something current, and a good representation of the client
YouTube Optimization
- title of video file
- description
- always include a URL
- surround with keywords
- tags
- metadata in video file
- Avatar
- Complete profile – keyword rich; acts like a search engine, much more than Facebook
- [There was one more item on this list, but I missed it. Sorry ’bout that.]
Five main sections of LinkedIn to concentrate on
- headline
- current work experience
- past work experience
- summary section
- specialties section
Tip: to rank higher do a search and add keywords
Google Plus
Has a significant impact on search.
Profile setup:
- name
- tagline
- bio
- relevant links
- photo strip
- vanity URL: gplus.to redirect
- directory submissions
Also focus on the most recent photos that are showing in your profile.
Anatomy of the perfect Facebook fan page
- Page name, category and vanity URL – no longer have to get 25 fans for a vanity URL; if you need a vanity URL, go to fiverr and buy 25 fans to get it; you’re not buying fans, you’re buying a vanity URL
- Profile banner – use all available real estate 540×180 pixels
like button image and arrow
logo for thumbnail
consitent branding - Information page and about:
keyword rich bio
KISS
contact information
link out to your other properties
call to action - Custom tabs:
objectives: more likes – use graphics, arrows; more leads – html form; if getting likes is your only objective, don’t require it to give them more information, or give them what they’re looking for; you’re losing people by doing that
reveal: fan-gating; reveal offer, deal or discount before you require the like so they know what they’re getting
VIDEO - Custom tabs:
set as the default tab for non-fans
be conscious of what appears above the fold
520 pixels wide
SSL security
Apps – Lujure, TabSite, PageModo, Fan Page Engine are all tools to build apps for your Facebook fan page - Social integraion and apps: YouTube, Twitter, RSS Graffiti
- Featured likes and page owners
- Photo Strip – random placement; she created an album called photo strip, and they appear in a random order, but they’re still connected in some way; when you click on them, you see the image description, and a link to go buy that product; analytics will show the sale came from Facebook
Kate wraps up by showing her own Facebook fan page, which looks great and shows cohesion between colors, and illustrates her point about the photo strip very well. Check it out!
Next up is Brian Carter. He asks, what is Facebook? Remember those e-mails you used to get from relatives with funny pictures of dogs? That’s dumb, right? But if you put it on Facebook and get 100 likes, it’s brilliant! Things on Facebook may be dumber than they appear.
Twitter vs. Facebook
Facebook has eight times the reach. A company called ChompOn enables daily deal sites, and they did a study, and discovered a Twitter follower is worth $2, whereas a Facebook like is worth $8. A tweet is worth $5; a Facebook share is $14. So Facebook wins.
He asks everyone to raise their hands if they like raising their hands. [Very meta.] He’s asking if anyone manages Facebook pages for clients, and if they know whether they’re visible to 50% of their fans. An average of 16% of fans see daily posts from a page they’ve liked.
How many have an ROI of 300% or above on their ad spend? Many have zero or dont’ know, but he’s seen 300% to 6000%.
Optimizing Facebook ROI
You need a revenue model and strategy that work. Use Facebook ads to get fans, they click the ad, get to your site, and buy. That’s the goal.
- Improve your prospect quality
- Lower your ad costs
- Lower fan acquisition cost
- Increase visibility to fans
- Improve conversion rate
He shows a screenshot from a company called Campalyst that has a cool application. The biggest problem with Facebook ROI is Facebook analytics are not connected to your Web analytics. Campalyst connects the two, and fixes bottenecks.
Optimizing Facebook Posts
Engagement translates into visibility. Page Lever is an advanced, paid Facebook analytics tool. They surveyed 400 million fans, and found about 7.5% of fans actually se your page’s posts. People don’t go back to a Facebook page after they like it. They see your posts in their News Feed. Maybe. So you need to ask for likes, comments, whatever action you want. Use the formula “Click Like if…” or “Tell me in the comments below.” You’ll see a change, he guarantees it.
How do you get more likes? Again using Page Lever, you can find out how often you need to post. It gives you a graph that shows you the life of a post. Once it levels off, no one is seeing it anymore, and you need to post something new.
Page Lever will also show you EdgeRank Optimization, Time/Day Optimization, Ideal Fan Sourcing (where new fans come from, but also where people who unlike your page came from), a lot of great information.
Content Problems
Problem: Can’t create enough unique content
Problem: Post good content at wrong time
Solution: Hypercuration
- Find the most viral content in your niche
- Post at the best day and time for your audience
- Repost the best posts at the optimal time
Optimizing Your Fan Base
Use demographics. It’s a huge part of Facebook’s ad targeting. If you don’t know your demographics, you can use clues.yahoo.com, alexa.com, quantcast.com, compete.com (paid).
Five Types of Fans
- Sycophants – maybe the fans you got for the custom URL
- Current Customers – repeat sales
- Potential Customers – new sales
- Media/bloggers – PR/SEO
- Mega fans – Brand protection
Optimizing Facebook Advertising
If you’re not using Facebook advertising, you’re missing out. We’ve never been able to reach 730+ million users before just by paying $20. So: use Facebook ads.
Likes decrease costs, and capture prospects. So how do you get 700% better Facebook ad results? With a tool called Optim.al.
Facebook Ad Test Tips
- Always create at least 5-10 ads
- Test 4-6 images
- Test several headlines
- Test several body copy rephrasings
- Test multiple demographics, precise interests, topics, and categories
When you use images in your ads, use faces. Why? Because it’s FACEbook! If your page/business is about animals, use animal faces.
So, are you ready to build or improve your Facebook page? Time to get more fans and likes!
