Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category
6 Facebook Search Engine & Data Visualization Tools
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Facebook Marketing is a topic we’ve covered for several years and with the significant increase in Facebook users there’s even more interest in how to make sense of what people do there. I’ve seen a significant increase in referring traffic from Facebook to web pages over the past 6 months and while a lot of that lift comes from marketing activities, I don’t anticipate the trend in Facebook users leaving to visit websites slowing down any time soon.
Participation on Facebook has traditionally been behind the login or confined to your network. With increasing amounts of content available “to the entire internet”, it’s worth exploring. Here are a few tools that you can use to search and visualize what’s happening on Facebook.
Booshaka - Facebook search. While there are a number of tools to search public Facebook updates, most notably openbook, I like the design of the search results on Booshaka the most. In the way that you might use search.twitter.com, you can use this search to uncover what people are saying about your brand on Facebook among other things. The difference of course, is that on Twitter you know what you post goes out to the world. On Facebook, I don’t think a lot of people have a handle on where their updates are visible. As a result, any outreach efforts must be carefully considered.
Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Take Social Media for Granted
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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum.
It seems like social media is everywhere these days. But the 2010 Business Monitor United States report — commissioned by UPS — shows that when it comes to small- and medium-sized businesses, social media is still a missed opportunity. A mere 24% of respondents said they’ve received sales leads from social media, with just 1% citing it as a factor for business growth.
The data would appear to indicate that in spite of all the positive press that social media gets, and all the use cases we’ve seen emerge over the past few years, small business owners are taking social media for granted. When done right, social media can be a valuable source for customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction. Here a few reasons to help drive the value home.
Information is There for the Taking
Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the web. Ignoring, avoiding or just not looking at what people are sharing online about your small business or your competitors is just plain lazy.
10 Ways to Create a More Engaging Facebook Page
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Facebook pages can be a huge way to connect to audiences. Facebook statistics tell us that the average user (at the time of this writing) is connected to 60 pages, groups and events. This means that aside from all the other Facebook friend activity that goes on, your page is one of 60 trying to grab attention a fan’s attention.
So here are ten things that you can do to turn your Facebook page into a dynamic and engaging destination for your Facebook fans.
1. Be unique
There’s nothing worse than a bland Facebook page. Think long and hard about how your page can be different. Remember, your page is one of at least 60 things that an average Facebook user is giving attention to. It’s insanely important that your page is unique and stands out from the rest.
Design is a major part of being unique on Facebook. Check out these excellent examples of creative Facebook fan pages for inspiration. You can never go wrong investing time and resources into a great design for your Facebook page.
Thought Leadership on Social Media Strategy
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With more businesses realizing the power of digital channels to nurture relationships, rally fans and build customer affinity, opportunity abounds for savvy professionals.
But with execution all over the board how should those who are new get started?
To answer that question, we posted thoughts from a variety of marketing and web professionals on social media strategy before tactics.
It’s an ongoing debate, but the consensus among the marketing and PR crowd is clear: strategy before tactics is the logical approach for businesses to take when engaging in social media.
Sarah Evans provides a clever analogy:
Would you pick up a phone and randomly dial 10-digits? Unless you’re prank calling, probably not. The phone is a tool for communication, just like social media is a tool. Before making a phone call, sending a tweet or launching a blog, strategy is essential. It will guide the decisions you make, the platforms you use and how you interact.
Yet, in social media marketing and PR, it’s common for communications professionals to dive immediately into tactics without strategy “randomly dialing numbers” as Sarah notes above.