Like Facebook Pages as Your Facebook Business Page - Social Media Basics

Liking other Facebook Pages with your Facebook Business Page is a simple business-to-business outreach and engagement technique. The Pages you like will receive a notification that your Business Page liked them, and hopefully they will like your Page in return and interact with your content.

The Pages you like will appear publicly on your Business Page under "Liked By This Page." 

The few featured Pages will rotate regularly, displaying up to five Pages. If you want certain Pages to always appear on that list, you can choose them in the Featured tab of your Settings page.

Clicking on the small "Liked By This Page" list will bring up the full list of Pages your Page likes. This list is also visible to the public. Clicking on the dropdown next to the Page name will allow you to get notifications from the Pages your Page likes, to see their posts in your personal News Feed, or to unlike them as your Page.

On the flipside, you can see the full list of Pages that like your Page under Settings - People and Other Pages - Pages That Like This Page. If you want to remove or ban a Page from liking your Page, click on the settings wheel to the right of that Page's name in the list.

When you like Pages as your Business Page, their content will appear in your Page's News Feed. To view that Feed, visit the Facebook Business Page bookmark page and click "Log In" next to the name of your Page. From there, you will navigate Facebook as your Page, and be able to like new Pages by looking them up in the search bar, and interact with content you see in the News Feed. The blue top navigation menu will show you that you are using Facebook as your Business Page. To switch back, click the dropdown arrow at the right of the top navigation bar, and click your Profile name.

You can also see the full list of Pages your Business Page likes, as well as the News Feed from those pages, anytime on your Pages Feed. To visit it, go to https://www.facebook.com/[your Page username]/pages_feed

Have fun exploring Facebook and liking Pages as your Business Page! If you have any questions about this process or need help managing your Facebook Business Page, please get in touch via my website.

A Quick & Simple Way to Generate Facebook Page Engagement

Because of the way Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm filters the News Feed, Page managers need to be creative to generate authentic engagement. One quick and easy technique, especially for smaller businesses and solopreneurs, is to send individual Facebook post links to family, friends and customers to ask for engagement. If you're annoyed that people who might particularly be interested in a certain post aren't seeing it, make it happen by sending them the direct link to that post. 

The timestamp to the post is the link. You can either right click on it and use your browser's dropdown menu to copy the link, or left click to open the individual post and copy the url from there. (Click here to see what that looks like.)

This technique works best when you choose a post that has particular meaning for the person or people you're sending the link to, and when you provide a specific call to action. For example, a skincare representative might send the link to a post about a particular product to a client who has used that product, and ask her to share her experience in a comment on the post. Or an auto mechanic might post a photo of a client's car and send him the link, asking him to like or share the post to his friends.

Since EdgeRank factors in a person's recent engagement with the Page to determine whether they should see more posts from it, this technique will also make the people you send post links to more likely to see your posts in the future. It's the engagement gift that keeps on giving!

Facebook Mythbusting - Copyright Disclaimers

Maybe it's because I'm a professional social media manager or maybe it's just because I find chain-letter posts incredibly annoying, but I often find myself playing the role of mythbuster on some friends' Facebook posts. One chain-letter type post stands out as a particularly frustrating repeat offender: copyright disclaimers. In this post, I will explain this myth and how you can help keep it from spreading.

(Disclaimer: While I am a social media consultant, I am not a lawyer and this post should not be construed as legal advice.)

Myth: By copying and pasting a legal-sounding disclaimer from a friend's post, you can claim and maintain copyright to your content. Here's one example (via Snopes):

In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). 

For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times! 

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws, By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook's direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law(UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute). 

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.


Mythbusting Proof: Here's the relevant excerpt from Facebook's terms that disproves this myth.

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

Why It's Bad: This type of post is harmful because it leads users to believe that by posting a privacy disclaimer they automatically have some right to the content they share on Facebook, which is absolutely incorrect. As much as it might bother you, by agreeing to Facebook's terms and conditions (which you do by using or even just logging into the site,) you automatically waive all rights to your content. Spreading this myth is particularly harmful to artists or others for whom copyright is literally valuable. Leading people who make money off of their content to believe that posting a disclaimer once gives them copyright can lead to financial consequences if their content is then used without their knowledge or consent and without generating royalties for them. An example might be a photographer who uploads an image to Facebook, thinking that because they posted this disclaimer, they maintain the copyright. Under Facebook's terms, Facebook can use the image on ads and elsewhere, or transfer rights to another entity, without paying the photographer any royalties or even giving credit. Knowing that Facebook has the rights to any content they upload might prevent the photographer from uploading valuable content. The more we can educate ourselves about Facebook's terms of service, the more careful we can be about what we share.

Do This Instead: If you are truly concerned about maintaining control of your content, delete your Facebook account and track down any content shared by your friends, or anyone else, and ask them to remove it from Facebook. If you, like me, can't imagine life without a Facebook account and you see a version of the copyright disclaimer in your Timeline, you can stop its spread by pointing out that it is a myth. Often simply posting a link to Snopes works just fine. And finally, the most important step you can take in being a Facebook mythbuster is to read Facebook's terms, a.k.a the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. If you're going to be a user of a site that owns your content copyright, you might as well be an informed user.

Alternate Meanings of a Facebook Post "Like"

15 people like chemical explosion injuries?

Chances are you understand the basic intended meaning of a Facebook post "like" when it's used to give a pat on the back, a thumbs up or a high five. Things can get tricky, however, when the original post is not something fun, funny, informative or interesting. Here are six common alternatives to the standard Facebook post like:

1. Agreement: Whether a post is positive or negative, sometimes a thumbs up is a form of agreement rather than an enthusiastic validation.
2. Saving for Later: People who are familiar with how their activity log works often like a post so that they can come back and see it later. 
3. Sarcasm: When a friend is vaguebooking or whining, likes can convey sarcasm or mockery.
4. Sympathy: For posts conveying bad news, a like can indicate sympathy.
5. Confused Page Like: Often when people post an update to ask their friends to like a Page, their friends who don't know better will like the post instead.
6. Call to Action Response: "Click like if you hate being asked to click like all the time!"

The trick to identifying these alternative meanings is to look at the context of the original post. What other meanings do you see in your Facebook News Feed? Leave a comment below.

Local TV Stations & Facebook Calls to Action

Local news agencies are making the most of their Facebook posts by using specific, targeted calls to action. This often takes the form of asking fans' opinions on controversial or positive topics. In many cases, however, this means benefiting from bad news by asking fans to share their condolences and sympathy in response to tragedies. Whether the topic is positive, controversial or tragic, these specific prompts serve two purposes: generating engagement, which boosts the Pages' EdgeRank, and reducing the likelihood of off-topic remarks and flame wars in the comments. Below are examples of calls to action from the four major TV news outlets in the Seattle area.

Among local news outlets in this area, CBS affiliate KIRO 7 seems most likely to prompt for responses to tragedies, such as this death in a car accident. Calls to action on tragic events like this draw an outpouring of support for those affected, but often a few negative comments towards the station for trying to benefit from a tragedy. In a formula that covers all the bases, KIRO's post uses a photo that appears to be pulled from the young man's Facebook profile, includes both a link to the story online and a prompt to watch the news story on TV, and closes with the call to action.

NBC affiliate KING 5 takes advantage here of a topic residents love to talk about - bad drivers! The photo they used is likely a screengrab from the news story. They lead the post with their excellent call to action that requests a specific type of feedback on a particular and popular topic.

ABC affiliate KOMO 4 taps into the popular throwback trend here. In a smart move that will increase their EdgeRank even further, KOMO's call to action requires users to engage with the photo they shared in order to answer the prompt. Like their friends at CBS, KOMO phrases their call to action as a statement rather than a question.

In their rather bland, cookie-cutter call to action, and accompanied by a stock photo, Fox affiliate Q13 comes across sounding like a psychologist. While people (dare I say Fox viewers in particular?) may have strong opinions about how the new Mayor is paying aides compared to the outgoing mayor, a clearer, more specific prompt would have been more effective here.

When crafting calls-to-action for your own Facebook Page, keep these examples in mind and strive to do the following: ask for responses to interesting, engaging topics, play with using statements vs. questions, tap into people's emotions, and ask for specific feedback.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Using Hashtags

It seems like hashtags are everywhere these days, from comedy sketches to commercials. Brands of all sizes are trying to cash in on the conversation tool, with mixed results. To make the most of your hashtags, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Are others using this hashtag?  It might seem basic, but if no one else is using the hashtag, what purpose does it serve? Fun or funny commentary style hashtags can make you seem clever and accessible, but excessive and unnecessary tags can lead to a decrease in engagement. Know your brand and what is appropriate for your audience. To stay professional and polished, leave it off unless you're creating a new conversation and have a concrete plan to promote it and get it to spread. 
2. Are you using the right hashtag?  For a sexual health writer, it might be tempting to use #ED, since it is the commonly used abbreviation for erectile dysfunction, but a little research will show that the education community uses #ed in their conversations.
3. Are you adding to the conversation?  When you use a hashtag, your post becomes part of the larger conversation on Facebook or Twitter. Consider what benefit you are providing to the community as a whole by participating in that conversation. 
4. Will your hashtag benefit you?  If you aren't adding to the conversation, ask yourself if your hashtag contribution will provide a benefit to your account through exposure to people who are following that topic.
5. If you're tagging a name, would an @mention be better?  If you are trying to get the attention of or acknowledge a particular account, an @mention may be more appropriate. On the other hand, multiple @mentions can seem spammy, so hashtags may be better. Hashtags will also help with searchability and cross-posting to Facebook.  

How have hashtags changed your conversation? What other hashtag-use questions or guidelines would you add? Leave a comment below.

What's in a name? Name Your Facebook Page Carefully

Business owners and Facebook Page administrators must choose their facebook page names wisely, or risk difficulty down the road. Facebook's Page Name Guidelines provide some direction for establishing a page name, including using proper grammar and avoiding superfluous descriptions. But often, and by the time page administrators realize their page needs to be renamed, it's too late. It used to be entirely impossible to change a page's name once it reached 100 fans. Facebook now allows page admins to submit a name change request form, but can only do so once.

What's in a name? Page names are the most visible representation of a brand on facebook. In addition to providing a physical title to the page, the name of a facebook page also impacts its visibility in the News Feed. It also reflects the ease with which a page can be tagged in posts by other people and pages.

So why would a page name need to be changed? The most common potential problem, besides the always annoying typo, is illustrated by event pages with sponsor names (think Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.) Fun Fact: The Fiesta Bowl has changed names, and sponsors, three times since it became the first bowl game to acquire a title sponsor in 1986. Events like the Fiesta Bowl are usually the pages most likely to include ‘superfluous descriptions’ like sponsor names, locations and dates.

For large events like the Fiesta Bowl, which has more than 13,700 fans, it may be easier to get through facebook's page name change process due to their visibility. On the other hand, for smaller events with less than a national presence, it can prove extremely difficult, if not impossible. 

Page admins should get involved in their organization's sponsor contract drafting process. This is to ensure that sponsor mentions happen only in the account's posts and in the ‘About’ section. Loyal sponsors like Tostitos may stick around for 18+ years. But if their contract ends, the admin may have a tough time renaming the page. Since page names can only be changed once, if a sponsor change takes place again, the page will become obsolete and the event will have to start with a brand new Page. 

When many admins try to change the name of their pages, they are unable to do so. In the official Pages Terms, Facebook provides a vague description of its page name policy, but does not outline it in detail. The process of approving name changes is left to the discretion of Facebook staff. As noted by hundreds of users in Facebook's community forums, that can be hit or miss.

While the Pages Terms naming section is vague, some further clarifications are provided in the Page Name Guidelines and noted again when an admin first initiates a name change request:

From there, the admin must select the type of page: a business or company, a person or public figure, an organization, a website or blog, an event, or other. The page type selected brings up a handy list of "things to keep in mind," giving the admin some further guidance on things to avoid this time when creating their new page name, such as specific dates, locations, corporate sponsors, taglines and other descriptions. Admins who find their page request declined may be in violation of these requirements. 

The final step in the process, which Facebook claims will help "expedite the process" is to "upload documentation that clearly shows the name and address of your business", such as a utility or phone bill. For pages without official documentation, this step can be the final insurmountable barrier.

Given the inherent difficulties in the complicated process of changing the name of a Facebook page, business owners and page administrators should study the Page Name Guidelines, choose their page name wisely and be willing to stick with it - or be stuck with it - forever.

This article is a repost of my article on SocialMediaClub.org

Timing is Everything - Using Facebook's Scheduling Tool Can Help

There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 

William Shakespeare

Companies like Hootsuite and Sprout Social have made a big business out of scheduling tweets and Facebook posts, and for good reason. Scheduling posts in advance allows admins to better manage their workflows and take advantage of high-traffic and high-engagement times of day. There are plenty of arguments out there why you should or shouldn't sign on with scheduling services like these, and what times of day and days of the week are best. The consistent thread through all these arguments is that carefully timing your posts is crucial to maximizing potential impressions and engagement. 

Earlier this year, Facebook took some of the power back from the scheduling services by launching its own post scheduling tool. If you manage a Facebook Page, congratulations! You already have access to it. This post will cover how to use Facebook's scheduling tool, and some of its pros and cons.

In order to use Facebook's post scheduling tool, your Page must first have a Start Date (this is different than the Joined Facebook date.) You can edit your Start Date in the Basic Information section of your Page, or by scrolling to the very bottom of your Timeline. You'll be asked to identify at least the year of your Start, and the type of start: Born, Founded, Started, Opened, Created, Launched. You also can fill out the Timeline story of your Start Date with photos and text.

Once you have designated a Start Date, you're ready to jump in and start scheduling your posts. You can backdate or preschedule posts by clicking the little clock at the bottom left corner of the sharing tool.

Write your post as you usually would, including adding photos or links and even tagging other Pages. The ability to tag and to more seamlessly upload photos are two main reasons why I prefer scheduling posts straight through the Facebook platform. Once you have everything set to go (if you're posting a link, remember to clean up the header and body text in your link preview box, select a thumbnail if one is available, and then remove the URL from your post text,) select a date and time for your post to go out, and click schedule. The post will be added to your Activity Log.

If you are backdating a post, clicking Post will automatically generate a News Feed story and add the post to your Timeline. If you would like to add the post to your Timeline without generating a story, click the box next to "Hide from news feed."

Prescheduled posts will appear in your Activity Log. From there, hover over the top right corner and click the arrow to change the time, publish the post now, or cancel the post. One of the current disadvantages of using Facebook's scheduling tool is that posts can't be edited - they can only be cancelled and prescheduled again. So if I wanted to change the post below and correct it to reflect the correct highest engagement time from the Bit.ly study, which is 3pm, I would have to cancel and repost it.

So there you have it - prescheduling and backdating posts in a nutshell. Once you give it a try, let me know what you think! If you've already been using this tool, or if you use other scheduling platforms, which do you prefer and why? What are some advantages or disadvantages? What are your Page's highest-engagement dates/times? As always, if you have questions or need help, leave a comment or send me an email. Happy posting!

How to Use Current Fans to Get New Facebook Fans

My parents always told me it's easier to get a job when you have a job, and I know from personal experience that it's unfortunately easier to find suitors when you're in a relationship than when you're single. That's because having a job or a partner shows people that you are a caring, competent individual with certain skills - someone they want to hire and be around. When you're employed or in a relationship, chances are you are focusing on those relationships instead of desperately marketing yourself in an attempt to get seen. The same goes for social media - in order to get new fans interested in you, you need to engage your current fans. 

Having a huge fan base is great, especialky in the eyes of executives, but if none of them are liking and commenting on posts or posting on your wall, that means diddly. If people aren't engaging with your page, chances are they aren't even seeing your posts in their News Feed either. In the battle for EdgeRank, a Page with 200 active fans is always going to win out over a Page with 2,000 inactive fans. An inactive Page not only suffers in terms of EdgeRank and viral reach - potential new fans who visit the Page see it as stagnant, not a community of fans they would like to join.  

One of the most important statistics in your Facebook Insights is "Friends of Fans." Think of that number as the potential reach of your posts, if your fans interact with them. It's also a pool of potential new fans. My Page, for example, has less than 100 fans, but they have a total of 48,171 friends. If I hit a grand slam and all 95 of my fans liked or commented on a post, that would be the total viral reach. Pretty huge, right?

So before you spend a single cent on Facebook advertising or bemoan your small number of fans, beef up your posting strategy. Post content that is designed for engagement and your EdgeRank and viral reach will increase, and eventually so will your fan base.

An Open Letter to Facebook Fans Everywhere

Photo by Ambro

Dear Fans,

On behalf of social media managers and Page administrators everywhere, thank you for being a fan! Now that you've clicked "Like," we have one small favor to ask of you: could you please (and we mean pretty please with your preferred delicious product on top) like and comment on posts from Pages in your News Feed? The more you do, the better we can make our Pages for you.

In return we promise to:

• Post more interesting things for you to click on, look at and read!
• Avoid super promotional language (eg "BUY OUR STUFF! CLICK ON ME FOR DISCOUNTS" etc.)
• Avoid spamming your news feed with posts at too-frequent intervals or, on the flipside, have long gaps of several days to several weeks between posts.
• Use your interactions to customize our posting schedule to fit your interests.
• Respond to your comments and wall posts, person to person (not marketer to person, robot to person or any other impersonal combination you can think of.)

You have no idea how happy it makes us to see our Admin Panels light up with notifications that YOU, our beloved fans, have liked and commented on our posts.

Sincerely,

Lauren

The Four Stages of Social Media Engagement

These days, every business has some sort of social media presence - whether they know it or not. Customers and potential consumers want to engage with the brands they are interested in online, and they will often do so regardless of whether or not that brand is willing or able to engage with them. It's in a company's best interest, therefore, to determine which social stage they are at and to become more engaging. Here's what I see as the four D's, or stages, of social media engagement (and no, I know you're thinking it, but they're not the same as the five D's of Dodgeball):

Dead    You have zero social media presence - that you know of. The problem is, you probably have several listings set up by social media users, usually on location-based platforms like Yelp or Foursquare. You probably have some old Places listings or Community Pages on Facebook, or both, and maybe even an impersonator or two on Twitter. The process of cleaning up and taking control of these listings, once you realize they're out there, is tedious and sometimes requires copyright infringement complaints and legal involvement.

Dormant    You, or more likely some intern you had two years ago, set up some social media accounts for you a few years ago, but nobody has posted anything since. Most of your Twitter followers are probably robots, and your Facebook wall is full of spam. You definitely don't have a cover photo on Facebook. You might not have a way to contact your old intern to get login information for these accounts, or to obtain administrative access, so you might have to submit a request to the social networks to force a claim. 

Dabbling    You post maybe once a month and respond to old comments, mentions and other interactions on that schedule as well. When you heard about the Timeline update on Facebook, you posted a cover photo, but you haven't posted since then (has it really been almost a month already?) Your fans are probably frustrated with your slow response rate, and your EdgeRank (the algorithm measure that Facebook uses to determine whether users see your updates or not) is almost nonexistent.

Dynamic    Congratulations! You're active on social media - posting on a regular schedule, keeping your accounts looking sharp and responding to user interactions quickly. You've probably even gone in and filled out your Facebook Timeline with significant milestones. As a result of your consistent approach to posting and community management, users are excited to interact with you and your EdgeRank is excellent.

Wherever you are on this spectrum, the important thing is to recognize it and work towards more dynamic engagement. If you don't have the time, energy or know-how to do so, it's in the best interest of your business to find someone who does. So which social stage describes your business? Is there another step or two you would add? Please let me know in the comments section below. I'd love to hear from you there, or on Facebook or Twitter.

Next Up: A how-to for claiming Places listing, Community Pages and other Facebook Page duplicates.

Why Business Owners Shouldn't Like & Comment on their Facebook Pages (& What They Should Do Instead)

Dear Business Owners - please stop "liking" and commenting on every post on your business page. It's a waste of your time and money and probably isn't doing a thing to drive business or engagement to your page.

Here's why:

1. Unless you're a "thought leader" on Facebook and have a massive following, filling your personal news feed with interactions with your business page isn't creating business for you. In fact, all it's probably doing is annoying your friends and making them hide you from their feeds. When something really exciting happens that you do want to share, they won't see it.
2. If you're paying someone to monitor your social channels, you're wasting their time and your money. When someone interacts with your page, they receive a notification, either via email or through a little icon next to your page name inside Facebook. If they're good at their job, they will go to the page to check out the activity and clear the notification. Nothing is more disappointing for a social media manager than thinking a fan interacted with a page and finding out it was a staff member instead.
3. You're bulking up your Facebook insights with meaningless engagement and skewing your demographic results. Wouldn't you rather know how fans are interacting with your page, who they are and what type of content excites and engages them? If you (and your other staff members) are driving up the "reach" and "talking about this" results with your own likes and comments, it will be harder to track those of your actual fans.

Instead you should:

1. Save the likes and comments for truly exciting and special announcements from your business page, or times when a personal note from the owner or staff are necessary & appropriate. That way your friends might actually see it and not tune it out. If you're a page admin, remember to change your page settings to allow you to post as yourself instead of as the page.
2. Interact with your customers and talk to them personally about Facebook: do they have it and oh by the way they can find you on Facebook!
3. Support your social media staff with the information & budget they need to make your page great: advertising budget, photos, information on your business and current specials & promotions, more photos, the names of your neighbors & partner businesses, and did I mention photos?

Ending the cycle of useless likes and comments and focusing instead on real ways to increase engagement will save you time and money, make Facebook the customer relationship tool you signed up for in the first place, and keep your social media team sane.

As usual, if you have any questions or comments please share them below, or find me on Twitter (@lpmikov).

Debug Your Links for Facebook

Are you trying to link to a webpage on Facebook, but your links aren't pulling the correct title, photo thumbnail or description, or any at all? The friendly folks at developers.facebook.com have a solution for you - Facebook Debugger: https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug

Although the terse description tells you to "Enter a URL to see some helpful feedback about your page markup," the tool actually pulls the info for you as well as debugging the link to pull the correct title, image and description when you put the link in a Facebook post or comment. This will also repair the links when they're posted in scheduling services like Hootsuite.

I discovered this handy tool when Facebook kept pulling old titles and descriptions for one of my clients' websites. I was pulling my hair out trying to update the links - working with the web guys to update the page's back end, checking and re-checking it, but to no avail. Facebook and Hootsuite both kept pulling the old cached version. Thanks to the Debugger, the pages are all updated and I still have all of my hair.

If you have any questions on debugging links for Facebook, or any social media management questions at all, I'd love to hear from you in the comments or via email.

Happy posting!

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!

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!

Anatomy of a Facebook Birthday

Since Facebook came out with the Wall, one of the best days in the average Facebook user’s year has been her birthday. Users that list their birthdays on their profile are delighted when their friends, seeing the convenient notice in the top right corner of their news feed, post best wishes on their walls. The phenomenon has become so popular that Facebook created a special news feed post reminding people of their friends’ birthdays and telling them how many mutual friends have written on the birthday girl’s wall. These days, Facebook often combines the notice of a friend’s birthday in the news feed with her most recent wall post.

As a Facebook aficionado (ok fine, addict), I enjoy analyzing the pattern of Facebook wall posts on my wall and my friends’. Birthday wall posts are generated a few ways:

Upcoming Events/Birthday Box Reminder

 

News Feed Reminder

Mutual Friend Wall Post Reminder

Belated (Seeing a Birthday Girl's Thank You Post and Commenting or Posting)

 

I celebrated a birthday last week, and decided to analyze the date and time I received wall posts, to determine how many posts were randomly generated (#1) and how many were generated because they saw friends’ wall posts or news feed reminders. 

The chart below shows the birthday wall posts I received organized by my various friend groups. There were only a few wall post groupings by mutual friends (shown in yellow). The analysis also demonstrated the more active times among my friends, which were especially interesting in relation to the friend groups. One grouping in particular highlighted in red, consisted of friends who were members of the same group (high school friends) but actually were not friends with each other. 

Most of the birthday wall posts I received appear to be randomly generated. I have noticed, however, that Facebook gives additional weight to birthday posts in the news feed, displaying the new special birthday notices in non-synchronous order even in "most recent" view. Therefore, the Birthday wall is a perfect demonstration of the power of edgerank, Facebook's ability to manipulate data for maximum engagement and the weight of the top right corner birthday event reminders. 

Happy Birthday everyone!

Use Facebook as Your Fan Page (Instead of Your Personal Profile)

Based on a comment on one of my earlier posts, I wanted to provide a simple walk through of how to use Facebook as your Fan Page instead of your Personal Profile. This will increase allow you to "like" other pages, see a news feed of their content and comment on and like their posts as your Page instead of yourself, and in doing so, increase exposure for your Page. Here's how:

From your Page, click "Use Facebook as (Page Name)"

OR

At the top of any page within Facebook, click "Account" then click "Use Facebook as Page" then click "Switch" next to the name of the Page you want to operate from.

You can then click on the Facebook Home button to view a news feed of content from the other Pages that your Page "likes", or you can find new Pages to "like" using Facebook Search.

You can also visit other Pages and write on their walls, and like and leave comments on their posts or posts by their fans.

When you're done using Facebook as your Page and want to switch back to your personal Profile, click "Account" then click "Switch Back to (Your Name)"

As always, if you have any questions please leave a comment or email me. Good luck taking advantage of this opportunity to increase exposure for your Page!

Can Facebook Page Administrators See My Profile Information?

As a Facebook user, you might be concerned about the amount of information you're sharing with the world, and rightly so! But do you need to worry about what the corporate big brother behind your favorite brand's Facebook page can see? That depends on your privacy settings. 

Most Facebook page administrators manage their pages from behind a regular Facebook account. That means that they can see the same information about you that other Facebook users see. How much they can see depends on what you allow the following groups to see: Friends, Friends of Friends, Networks and Everyone.

Facebook allows you to customize your profile info to show or not show to these groups. As I've mentioned before, you can further break this down to hide info and activity from certain groups of people. To do this, click Account>Privacy Settings>Custom>Customize Settings.

While you're at it, go ahead and customize the information that appears when users search for your name. 

Click Privacy Settings>View Settings and change the dropdown on each profile section that will show when a user looks you up in a search, depending on the category they fall in. Since I belong to fairly wide networks, I limit visibility of detailed information such as my friend list, hometown and activities to Friends Only. Since I want people outside of my Friends and Networks to be able to find me, I allow Everyone to search for me and send me direct messages and friend requests. People I have connections with may have an easier time recognizing me if they are able to see my education and work info, so I share that with Networks and Friends.

Customizing your privacy settings, especially since they usually default to "Everyone", will ensure that Facebook page administrators can only see the information you are willing to share with the general public.

Is Facebook the Next Floppy Disk?

I came across this floppy disk today, broken and discarded in a dirt parking lot and symbolic of the fate of irrelevant technology. I remember purchasing and using whole sleeves of them in fun, perky colors. Now I wonder how to dispose of them, while others turn them into art or put them to use in creative ways. Seeing this disk reminded me how far and fast technology has progressed and made me wonder - will Facebook soon share the floppy's fate, doomed to irrelevance by the next big thing? Or has it permeated our culture so thoroughly that it will be with us for a while?

What do you think?

Keeping it Clean: What to Do About Swearing and Undesirable Content on Your Facebook Page

Allowing fans to contribute wall posts and comments creates dialog, but fans are unpredictable creatures. Here are some simple steps for page administrators to keep their pages clean:

1. Profanity Filter - Facebook's profanity filter can be set to Medium or Strong to automatically disallow use of "the most commonly reported words and phrases marked as offensive by the broader community."
2. Moderation Blocklist - Additional undesirable words can be blocked through the moderation blocklist text box, separated by commas. 
3. Posting Policy - Page administrators can use a posting policy (in a Note or on the Info tab) to show fans and others that they are moderating content on the page. Policies should clearly state what type of content is discouraged (ie positive discussion) and what will be removed or reported (harassment). Such as policy can be as simple as City University of Seattle's: "City University of Seattle welcomes active participation on the CityU Facebook Page. However, we reserve the right to remove Spam or inappropriate posts."
4. Watchful Eye - Admins should keep an eye on the page to monitor uer posts and comments and respond accordingly. This is a good practice in general, but when it comes to moderating inflammatory or inappropriate posts or comments, it is essential. Such vigilance is especially important because users can get around the Moderation and Profanity Blocklists by tagging pages using the @ symbol.