The Maine SEO Blog

Trying and Succeeding

So, my friend Megan and I had lunch together today. She was telling me all about her new Facebook Ad Campaigns that she is running for her Facebook Business Pages. She’s had a lot of success lately so we were comparing notes on some of our processes and tricks. Below is a compilation of some of her tips and some of my own…

1. Have a goal: If you are going to start a Facebook Ad campaign you better know what you are trying to accomplish. Is it more likes? Brand awareness? Event registrations? Sales? What is your goal for the ad? This answer is going to determine what type of Facebook Ad Campaign you are going to run. For instance if it’s to get more likes or to build awareness you might want to just use the traditional marketplace ad, however if it’s an event you may want to promote you could do a sponsored story and promote a page post highlighting it.  Having a goal also gives you the ability to measure your success later on.

2. Testing: Many people create one version of an ad, pick one target, select their bid and just run the ad continuously. This is not best practice for running a successful Facebook ad campaign and can end up costing you quite a bit of money while providing mediocre results. Here are a few testing tips:

• Images: Test different images on the same ad and see if one gets more action than the others
• Verbiage: Once you’ve seen what image performs best, test out the language you use in your ad
• Target: Test the different targets using the same ads how are these working
• Ad Type Choice: Test the different types of ads offered by Facebook (standard market place ads, sponsored story ads, like ads, post ads, check in ads etc.)
• Targeting Your Audience: Create different ads for your different audiences, don’t lump all into one, sometimes a bigger audience isn’t better when it comes to Facebook ads

3. Landing Pages: Create landing pages that make sense. If you are advertising a coupon, bring your audience to a coupon page, if you are trying to get people to like your page bring them to your welcome page, if you are advertising an event bring them to an event page or landing page that promotes it. You get the picture; just make sure that your target makes sense for the person clicking on the ad.

4. Update Your Wall: Make sure that you are still consistently engaging your audience on your page, asking questions, posting video, posting photos, bringing in your blog posts, and offering valuable content. This makes the page look lived in, interesting and inviting for the newbie arriving on your wall.

5. Ad Copy: Don’t feel compelled to use all 135 characters available to you. Sometimes a short sentence does a better job of generating interest and attracting an audience.

6. Photos: We mentioned selecting different photos above for testing, but it’s important to state again, a great image can change the whole look, feel and meaning of your ad. Make sure that your image is attracting the audience that you want.

7. Play In Their Sandbox: Don’t create Facebook Ads that take your audience off of Facebook. Now I know that there is some differing opinions on this, but in my experience, when you lead someone off Facebook you risk the chance of that user becoming cranky. People who are on Facebook want to stay on Facebook. So, lead them to a landing page on Facebook talking about your product or service, have an ecommerce page on Facebook, offer them a downloadable coupon on Facebook, or have them like your page. Not only does this keep them in the place they want to be it also allows you the opportunity to gain the like, which means you now have the ability to market to them in the future, not just that one ad click.

8. Know Your Audience: Facebook has some amazing targeting abilities but it’s up to you first to know who your audience is. What they are interested in? Where they are located? What age range they are? etc.

9. Create Audience Specific Ads: Once you know whom your audience is you should segment them out. For instance, you may have one product that you sell to a wide range of demographics. Say you are selling an anti-aging skin care product, your message to a 25 year old woman is going to be much different than the message you would deliver to a 65 year old woman. And, how you sell a weight loss or fitness program to members of the opposite sex will be much different. Create demographic specific ads, and test different ads within that space as well.

10. Measure. This is the most important part. This is how you see if your Facebook Ad Campaign is successful or not. This is how you see which ad is performing better than the other. This is how you know if your targeting is correct, and so on. This may take some time and effort on your part, but it’s worth it in order to create more successful ads campaigns.

BONUS Tip: A recent study by Neilson said that Facebook ads get stale faster than traditional ads. Your audience is sick of the same ad after 2 – 5 days, so keep a close eye on how your ads are performing so they don’t get stale.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Fan of Facebook Advertising

Image By: AnnieGreenSprings

The following is a recap from recent webinar from Social Media Examiner. Speakers included Mike Stelzner, Founder of Social Media Examiner; Andrea Vahl, social media consultant; Rich Brooks, president of flyte new media; and Kristi Hines, founder of Kikolani. See more of the conversation by searching for #10ways on Twitter. 

1. Google+ business page

Create your G+ business page here, but know there are limitations:

• you can only have one admin
• and you can only follow fans back

Get a G+ badge and you can get more recommendations on your site in Google search and grow your audience on G+. Having a business page and the badge has also been shown to increase your website’s visibility on Google.

2. Getting leads on Facebook

What’s a lead?

• Not just any like
• Interest
• Authority to purchase
• Move along sales cycle and have need for your product/service

Facebook sales pyramid: Like > Engage (know, like, trust) > Buy

Build a deeper relationship. How do you get individual email addresses? By adding a Facebook email capture.

• Offer a freebie – value report, discount, coupon
• Require an iFrame application for a custom tab
• Can be set as default landing tab (first people land when they come to your page)
• Design your own or hire someone

3. Facebook and webinars

• Promote your webinar to your audience
• Use webinar service to capture emails
• Promote a product or service at the end
• Offer valuable content
• Continue to connect with audience through email

A while back I wrote a post about some of my favorite free online graders.  And, as an update to that, I wanted to point out the recent change to Hubspot’s Website grader, being updated to Marketing Grader. In the blogpost announcing the launch of the new grader, Hubspot explained the reasoning behind the change. Saying “In 2012, marketing is about more than just your website. It’s about social, mobile, blogging, email marketing, lead nurturing, and analytics”, and I couldn’t agree more.

Like with any other grader, the marketing grader isn’t perfect. For instance it didn’t recognize the Twitter accounts associated with flyte, nor did it recognize the sharing buttons on our blog, as they are not a plugin but rather hard coded.

Overall I like Marketing Grader, it’s definitely more comprehensive than the original website grader, measuring over 30 aspects of your marketing and web efforts and creating a grade based on a scale from 1 – 100. The incorporation of social platforms, analytics and sales funnels will prove to be very useful.

Great Job Hubspot! A+!

About two weeks ago, the second to last Twilight movie (Breaking Dawn, Part I) came out.

Women of all ages (and any men who were dragged) came out to the theater for the unveiling of the film. Regardless of what you think about the series – or about this movie in particular – like many series throughout history (Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Matrix, just to name a few), Twilight has an incredible following. And why wouldn’t it? You like it, you love it, you want some more of it. (Don’t worry, I’m not taking credit for that line.) Social media is very similar, even now. It’s bright, it’s shiny, and we want more of it.

We may not fully understand Twilight or social media, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try. I’ve seen women of all ages attempt to sort through the complexities of the characters that Stephenie Meyer dreamed up. (It certainly doesn’t hurt that the movies’ cast is easy on the eyes.)

The funny thing is…the same thing goes for social media. I’ve seen business after business try to understand the complexities of the social media world and how they can fit into it. And the truth is: sometimes you can’t.

Some social platforms simply aren’t going to work for your business. It’s not that your business isn’t interesting enough; it’s just that your audience doesn’t spend their time there or they wouldn’t want to connect with you there. Just as Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner appeal to screaming estrogen-filled beings everywhere, Hollywood knew they probably wouldn’t attract many men.

So, if you’ve seen the movies or read the books, can you see any similarities between them and social media?

I’ve started seeing all these new posts about how Facebook “Likes” are no longer important. It’s more important now to start measuring and tracking your engagement rather than number of Likes.

While I agree that it’s all about engagement and we need to learn how to engage people enough to share our content on Facebook, I believe there is still a need for gaining Facebook “Likes” otherwise the engagement just doesn’t come.

Mari Smith points out in her blogpost, “Ways to Craft Your Facebook Posts for Maximum Shares”, that anyone can share, comment,  and/or like your updates on your Facebook business page, they don’t HAVE to like it first. This is new to Facebook and it’s a good thing. Her post is amazing by the way, if you haven’t had a chance go check it out as there are excellent tips in there to get your content shared.

Engagement is gold. It is much easier to measure engagement and see the benefits, than to judge your success simply through your Facebook “Likes” going up in number. However, unless there is an audience there that is already fairly involved how are they going to see you in the first place to share those items?

So, I say while engagement is the new measurement, because it’s really all about getting seen and improving reach through shares of your content, you still have to get the “Likes” first, or at least a base of “Likers.”

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Facebook Business Pages

Photo credit: By Tela Chhe

I love Facebook Ads, in fact I think that they offer amazing opportunities for those with smaller budgets to get in front of the right audience.  With that said, if you are going to create an ad, you should take the time to make sure it’s going to be an effective one.

Take for instance this ad I saw yesterday on my wall for a pillow.

I loved the pillows so I actually clicked on the ad.  However, it takes me to a web page off Facebook.  Which is fine, because I expected that from the ad showing the url, however, it doesn’t bring me to the pillows at all.  It brings me to a pop up window that asks me to sing up for membership.

Now, because it didn’t lead me to what I wanted and I didn’t want to sign up for membership, I left the site immediately.  Which means, the advertiser was charged for my click, but I didn’t not make a purchase or become a member, which were probably two of their goals for the ad. DON’T run an ad like this!

Next ad… And this one is much better I admit, because it actually brings you to the image of what they are advertising for and a very quick form to fill out to purchase the item.

However, rather than bringing me off page to their website, they should have an ability to purchase from their Facebook page, keeping me where I want to be and possibly gaining a “Like” from me, so I see more of their updates for FREE!

And, the last Ad is a great example of what to do with your Facebook Ads. 

This ad keeps me on Facebook, asks me to “Like” the page which encourages further interaction/engagement down the road, tells me a friend of mine likes it and lets me know what I can expect to get from liking the Facebook page.

Now, not all Facebook ads HAVE to point back to a Facebook page.  However, in my experience the ones that do see better results.

So, how should you set up your Facebook ad?

- Don’t point them to external pages off of Facebook (keep your audience where they want to be)
- Don’t mislead if you are showing them an image that you are selling, lead them to that page
- Do ask for a like (you want your dollar to go further than that one click)
- Do have an eCommerce landing page on your Facebook page
- Do tell them what they will receive or can expect for becoming a fan
- Keep it social, people are more likely to “Like” a page a fan likes

So, get out there and create GOOD ads.  Good Luck!

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Facebook Advertiser

Recently, my friends and I have been hiking every weekend. It’s a great way to get some exercise in and it’s a fun activity to explore nature with friends. Not to mention it’s something that I can do with my dog on the weekend to give him a much needed energy release after being cooped up in the house all week. But, it wasn’t until I wrote a blog post for a client on Maine’s Waterfalls that I started to get really inspired.

Maine has a crazy amount of beauty and so many things to discover. But, the caveat to that is, in order to see a beautiful waterfall or awe inspiring mountain view, you first have to make the hike to do it. Hiking is NOT easy. In fact, many of the trails that are required to get to these Mountain Tops can cause you pain and exhaustion. However, once you hit that apex you get to stroll down and the endorphins kick in and it was all worth it.

But, the more you hike, the easier it gets. You develop your muscles, strengthen your heart and lungs and build endurance. In the end, it becomes more natural and more enjoyable.

SO, what does this have to do with web marketing success? EVERYTHING!

Social media doesn’t come naturally to everyone. I can’t count how many times we hear clients say that they didn’t know it was going to be so much work.  Blogging is work, creating content is work, posting updates takes time and imagination and it all has to be valuable and interesting information for your audience.

Waterfalls were my inspiration, what’s yours?  What is going to get you excited to put the work and effort in to get the web marketing and social media results that you want? You can look for inspiration for your posts in many places, did someone say something to you today that sparked an idea, did you hear something on the radio, did you read a blog or magazine article that got you thinking? Anything you hear, read or do can be used to spark an idea for a blog post or Twitter update.

Like with starting a workout or starting to hike, it takes time to adjust and adapt to your new activity until it becomes easier or a habit.  This also goes for web marketing.  Right now it may not seem like it fits in your schedule or it may not feel natural to you.  But, the more you do it the easier it becomes.  Create an editorial calendar for yourself and stick to it. Commit to posting one blog post a week or making 3 updates on Facebook a day. Do that until you master it and then add on the next phase of your web marketing plan.  Like with taking a hike, the first trail is the hardest and with every new trail (or marketing step you take) the easier it becomes.

Results! We all do this because we want the web marketing results.  With a hike it’s an amazing view, endorphins released from exercise, fresh air or a waterfall, with web marketing we want to get our message to the right people resulting in our end goal.  Whether that goal be more leads in the sales funnel, more people attending your event, more traffic to your website or better customer service web marketing and social media are just our tools to help us achieve those goals.

So, what are you waiting for? Find your inspiration, make the commitment, and take the first steps.

If you’d like help developing a social media plan for your business, or a personal trainer for your social media marketing to help you stay with it, flyte can help. Just contact us to get the ball rolling.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Hiking Web Everest

Something funny just happened. Did you tweet about it? 

You saw something strange. Did you take a picture of it and Facebook it?

You found a great article online. Did you share it with your social community?

It should be as easy as that right? But, it’s just not coming naturally for you.  You ask yourself why is it so easy for everyone else?

And, while it may not be easy for everyone else, Mashable just posted a blog talking about a new study that came out the may prove that it is more natural for others to participate in social media and use these tools for business than others.

Researchers at University College London published a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, based on MRIs of a group of 165 adults who were asked to report the number of Facebook friends they have. The research discovered that those with higher Facebook friend counts had more grey matter density in the amygdala, an area the study says was already known to be linked to real world social network size, as well as in other regions including the right entorhinal cortex, which is associated with memory.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to be more social, as according to the research study, they are not sure which came first, did these people have a more social brain before or after they started using these social tools? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

So, while getting started using these social tools isn’t always easy, you can take notes on what others are doing and learn from them.

For instance, pick the social network that comes easiest to you and makes the most business sense for you to use and then do it every day until you master it.

Take Facebook for instance, brainstorm ideas for updates, posts, pictures, and videos that you can share.  Look at what others like you are doing.  Pay attention to what the experts are doing. Is there anything they are doing that sparks inspiration for you? What are your competitors doing? What are you doing on a daily basis that can be re purposed for content? Are you taking video? Photos? Answering customer questions? Or, working on a new project?

My advice? Concentrate on one thing at a time, make a habit of it, and then move to the next item.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Maine SEO Blog

Photo Credit: By IsaacMao

Facebook releases new metrics for better measurement of how and where your Facebook content is being shared.

Facebook has released several new metrics, among those are Engaged Users, Virality, Reach and individual Post data.  While I think most of these will be very helpful and overall this is a fantastic addition to the Insights platform, the one I think is the most interesting is the new Facebook metric called “People Are Talking About This.”

This is the most comprehensive metric that Facebook has come out with yet.  This number represents an accounting of all user-initiated activity related to your company’s Page.

“The people talking about this” metric measures:

• Liking a page;
• Posting to a page’s wall;
• Liking, commenting, or sharing a page’s status update, photo, video, or other content;
• Answering a question posted by a page;
• RSVPing to an event hosted by the page;
• Mentioning the page (users must formally tag the page);
• Tagging a page in a photo;
• Liking or sharing a check-in deal, and
• Checking in at a place.

These metrics will help businesses measure the real reach and effectiveness of their Facebook Business Pages.  Until now, the information was really weak.  Now companies will be able to see how well items performed leading them to create more posts that people want to share and that have an affect on their audience.

In their press release, Facebook said “Research shows that word-of-mouth conversations among friends are the most influential for getting a brand’s message across,” this new metric is a perfect way to measure that.

The new insights tab will only be available to page administrators, according to Inside Facebook, but pages will display a counter of people talking about this just below their like counts.  Since the count is visible to everyone, this will allow for  competitive brands to take a peek at how their competition is doing in comparison.

Check out the new page insights by clicking on your Insights link on your Facebook Business Page or read the Page Insights Guide.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Measure Measure Measure

Thanks to Mashable’s instructions on how to enable Facebook’s Timeline Profile now, I am officially switched over to the new version of Facebook. I know there has been a lot of skepticism about this new design and people are always reticent to accept change, however I think most of you will find that it’s easy to use, looks great and is a lot of fun. As of right now you will not be able to see others timeline profiles unless you are a developer or have one yourself. The Mashable instructions show you how to get around waiting for it to be released to everyone by making yourself a developer.

Joan's New Profile

But, once you follow their steps and you get in, here is what to expect | The Facebook Timelines Tour

1. Cover

Your cover is the large image banner at the top of your profile. You can use any photo you want and you can change it as often as you like.  When you hover over the cover the ‘Change Cover’ editor button appears in the bottom right hand corner of the image.  From there you have the option to choose a photo from your already uploaded images, upload a photo, remove your cover photo, or you can reposition your cover image by simply dragging the image in the box to where it fits/looks best.  I think the new cover almost looks like a website banner and definitely is a way to share a larger photo that you like and expresses yourself with your Facebook friends.

2. View and View As

The views tab is where your name will appear, your ‘About’ info, an image box with the number of friends you have under it, photos, maps, and pages you like.  You can update your info from here very easily.  Also, you can ‘view activity’, meaning you can click on this button and see a log of sorts that is just a timeline of your most recent activity.  You can switch the date, month etc or just simply view your day’s activity.  You may also, click the down arrow next to the ‘view activity’ button, to view your profile as a particular friend would see your profile. See the View As photo below…

View

View As Option

3. Activity Log

Your activity log is essentially exactly like it’s name, it just shows you your recent activity.  You will be able to change any privacy settings on individuals stories, photos etc, right from this area as well.

4. Stories

This is essentially what your wall used to be, but now it’s called your timeline.  This is where people will see all the activity you’ve been up to, photos you’ve posted, updates, apps used, maps, check ins, pages you’ve liked, comments you’ve made etc.  However, what’s majorly different from the wall isn’t only the design, it’s the ability to see the past.  You can add more about yourself into the past section, like pictures from when you were born, and you can post major life events, and it will still have all the posts that you’ve done in the past.  This will create a thorough timeline of your whole life, rather than just the past few years you may have been of Facebook.

Timeline Dates

5. 5 Star or Hidden – Highlights

6. Getting Started

When you first finish the tour for the new Facebook Timeline profile it will give you a few tips of how to get started. But, the best way to really get to know how to use this new platform is by trial and error and exploring and poking around.  It might be a bit confusing at first, but some of the features are really cool. One of the best things to start out doing is to fill in your timeline and start hiding and highlighting stories to be sure your stories are showing how you would like them to.

To sum it all up:

Your Home page will still look fairly the same except for the new features Facebook released a couple weeks ago, like larger images.

Also, you will still be able to use your new Smart Lists that Facebook created by going to your homepage and grabbing the lists on the right hand column or by simply using the update feature and choosing which list to share with.

Also, business pages at this point still look the same, with a few additions like recommendations when you like something.

So, get on there and start trying it out and then share with us what you think.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Changing with the “Timelines”