Make the Most of Your Facebook Business Page

Lots of changes have been happening behind the scenes at Facebook. The platform now has a lot more functionality for business and professional users. If you have a Facebook page for your business, now is a great time to try out some of these new tips and tricks for increasing your exposure and reach on the Facebook platform.

Use Facebook Photo Tags

The ability to “tag” people in photos has been around for a long time. Clicking on the tagged person’s name will take you straight to their personal profile. Now, Fast Company reports that Facebook users can tag photos with page identities as well as personal profiles.

What does this mean for business page owners? Imagine that someone posts a picture of you at a social event in your town. You want people to know it’s you there at the raffle booth, but you want that tag link to send people to your page, not your profile. Simple! Just click on your face, begin typing the name of your business page, and Facebook will add that tag to the picture. Note: this only works for pages in the Brand/Company or People categories at present. If your page is listed as a Local Business or other category, you may have to wait for implementation of this feature. But it’s worth the wait!

Create Effective Page Posts

The key to building a successful page is posting relevant content on a regular basis. If you’re a Realtor, this may mean posting links to local news items, or recommending shops and other resources for buyers and sellers. For a non-profit, you will want to publicize events you are sponsoring, and engage your readers in discussion of topics related to your mission.

Thanks to the analysts at Buddy Media, we now know more about how to structure those posts for maximum engagement. First, keep your post on the short side. Posts with 80 characters or less had 27% greater engagement rate than longer posts. Second, the hard-sell approach is the least effective. Posts using words like “events” and “winning” in garnered much more activity than those with words like “buy” and “shop.” Finally, keep in mind the best days and times to post updates to your page. Updates posted on Thursdays and Fridays were 18% more popular than on the other days, and posting after regular business hours increased engagement 20%!

Make the Most of Every Link You Post

Facebook likes it when users post links to outside content, and so do the people who “like” your Page. If you’ve ever posted a link before, you will recognize this picture of what you see after entering the URL for your link:

At the top is the title in bold, then a line for the URL, and below that an excerpt from that page. Underneath all of that is the “Say something” line where you can comment about the link.

If you don’t like how the link title and excerpt appear, you can (and should) edit them. Simply mouse-over the excerpt and it will appear with a yellow background, as in the picture. If you click anywhere in the yellow field, the entire field will turn into an editable window. You can then enter a better excerpt or title that will be more interesting for your readers.

Don’t Be Shy About Asking People to Like Your Page and Posts

Once your page is up comes the inevitable question of how to get people to “like” it. If you have hundreds or thousands of friends on Facebook, you can simply use the “Invite Friends” link on the right side of your page. But there are many other great ideas to try, like putting one of Facebook’s excellent social plug-ins on your website, including a link to your Facebook page in your email signature, and sending out a notice to your email list asking people to visit your page.

One great tip from this article is that simply asking people to “like” your wall posts increases the likelihood that they will do so by 216%! This kind of interaction on your page is one of the metrics Facebook uses to determine how popular your page is. The more popular the page, the more visible it will be on the News Feed of your friends and fans. So even if it feels awkward, make a point of asking directly for what you want: more visitors to your page, and more interaction with them once they’re there.

List Your Page as Employer on Your Personal Profile

A shout-out to social media maven Mari Smith for this very simple yet incredibly important tip! You may have a Facebook page for your business, but does your personal profile link to that page as your employer? To find out, go to your profile page and mouse-over the very first link under your name, the employment link. Because this is the first piece of information that friends and visitors to your profile see, you want to make sure if they click the link they will end up on your business Page.

To create that link, go to “Edit Profile” in the upper right hand side of the screen, then click on the Work and Education tab in the left-hand sidebar. For “Employer” start typing the name of your business page until the full name shows up. Then fill in the rest of the information, and voilà! Your Facebook page will have top billing on your personal profile, as it should.

There are many more great ways to expand the reach of your page, as Facebook rolls out more features and functionality for business users. In the meantime, take advantage of these tips and make the most of your professional presence on Facebook!

A version of this article was published at Creative Content Coaching. Subscribe to the CCC blog on Kindle.

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Tips to create and preserve back to school memories

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(ARA) – It’s back to school time again, which means new teachers, new classrooms and new routines. As the long summer days are coming to an end, fall schedules start and families get back into the swing of the school year. To help kids make the transition, it’s important to create a healthy balance of school duties and family time, while maintaining the summer energy and fun.

Here are some tips to help your family create and preserve cherished memories during this back to school season.

Digitally preserve school memories

School artwork, important documents and first day photos are special reminders of your child’s time spent in school. Keeping physical copies of these items can be cumbersome, with fragile pieces of artwork often ending up damaged or lost.

* Skip storing items in a dusty basement box and create a digital scrapbook the whole family can enjoy.

* Preserve special memories by taking photos of your kids’ artwork and uploading the images to a CD or flash drive with other important documents and photos.

* Create digital scrapbooks or online photo albums, a fun activity that makes these items easily accessible for out-of-town family.

* Involve the whole family to inspire imagination and create lasting memories.

Create musical moments

Master morning chores, homework assignments and after-school errands with the help of family-friendly playlists.

* Create an upbeat playlist to help get kids through the morning routine of brushing teeth, eating breakfast and getting out the door.

* Lullabies and classical music have been known to help people absorb more information and de-stress.

* Use music to support after-school study sessions and keep kids on task.

* Make car time fun by letting your kids pick the playlist.

* Let them include some favorite sing-along tunes to help travel time fly by.

Schedule time for family

It’s easy for family moments to get lost in the shuffle of everyday routines. Just as you would schedule a practice or work meeting, consider scheduling regular family time.

* Choose any type of game (video, board, sports) that is team-oriented to bring the family together.

* Turn daily chores into family fun by hosting a cooking competition or a high-speed room cleaning contest.

* Taking time to be together will improve communication, build a solid support system at home and create more meaningful family time.

Memorex offers a full line of products that help families create and preserve lasting memories. The Memorex Signature Audio Series offers six stylish iPod and iPhone compatible audio products to help families groove together at home or on the go. The Memorex line of video game accessories will reinvent your family game night with Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 3 compatible accessories.

For more information, visit the Memorex Facebook Page at www.Facebook.com/MemorexFans or Memorex.com.

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