Monday, November 21, 2011

How & Why to Use Facebook's "Share" Feature

Facebook now includes a little blue "Share" link below status updates from pages you like and profiles you subscribe to. Next to the number of people who have liked or commented on a post, you may also see the number of shares from other fans. So what exactly is a share, and why should you share a post?


Using Facebook's share feature for a photo, link or status update posted by a page or public profile allows you to share it with your friends by posting it on your wall or theirs, with a friend via a private message, or on another page that you administrate. Instead of making a comment publicly, sharing a post allows you to comment on it privately and allow your friends to do so as well. If you'd like to promote a particular brand or cause, sharing a post on your wall, a friend's wall or your page's wall can help you spread the word.

Here's how to use the Share feature:

Beneath the post, you'll see the blue "Share" link - click on it.

Choose where you want to share the post - on your profile/timeline, on a friend's, in a private message or on a page that you administrate.

Remember to use the privacy dropdown to select whether you want the post to be Public, Friends only or a custom setting.

Write a message to go with the post (or don't - you don't have to) and then click "Share Link." If you're sharing a link or a photo and you don't want people to know where you found it, you can also click the "Remove" link.

Using "Share" on Facebook is a great way to maintain your privacy on Facebook and share new content with your friends, fans and subscribers.

Happy posting, and as usual please leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Facebook Photo Options for Pages: Pros and Cons



Facebook Page administrators have a few options and things to think about when posting photos, and they each have their pros and cons:
  1. Add a group of photos to a new album. Post will appear as "Your Page added six photos to the album Retreats." with a preview of one of the photos. PRO: This uploading method is concise and simple. CON: This method is a lost opportunity for fans to see each of the photos individually. 
  2. Add photos individually to an album over time. Post will appear as "Your Page added a photo to the album Retreats" with the photo attached. PRO: Individual exposure to each photo. CON: Each time, all of the comments and "likes" the album has received previously will show up. This can be confusing for some users, as the comments don't correspond to the images. (Because of this, the Disneyland page only uses option #1 when adding groups of photos to an album.)
  3. Post photos to the wall. The photos will be automatically added to the album "Wall Photos." The post can any desired text and the photo itself. The text will become the caption of the photo in the album. PRO: Posts can include any text you want and comments and likes are made to the individual photo, not the album. If you don't like the original text you post, you can actually change it on the wall by editing the photo caption in the album. This is the one type of Facebook post that can be edited instead of deleted and re-posted. CON: All photos go to the "Wall Photos" album and must be moved if you want them in specific albums. 



My recommendation is to use option #3: post photos to the wall and then reorganize them to different albums later (without publishing a wall post about it when prompted by Facebook.) 


Another thing to remember is that whenever you post photos, you should decide if they're worthy of being among of the top five featured photos at the top of your wall. These are always pulled from the most recently uploaded photos, but if you don't want a recently uploaded photo to appear up there, you can remove it. 


Happy posting!