WPblab EP98 – Social Media And Your Brand: Facebook

You have a brand but how are you handling it? Maybe you are self-taught and have a few gaps. In this episode, Jason and Bridget are going to cover the basics of using Facebook for your business. Bring your questions in the live chat.

What not to do:

Do not create a Facebook profile that is not you as a real person! If you create a false profile to manage your FB page and FB takes your fake profile down, you’ll no longer have access to your Facebook page.

A Facebook Profile or Timeline must represent a real person.

https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10151510422339065

 

The worst offenders in this area are churches.

The reason why you don’t want your profile to be your ‘page’ is because profiles have mutual ‘viewing’ privileges. Would you want a business page to see your personal details when all you want is to follow them on Facebook?  Bridget: It’s lazy, it violates the FB Terms and it compromises the privacy of your fans/users/customers.

Tagging accounts and people on facebook to let them know you are sharing info about their services / business /photos is great – tagging people just to get their attention on your random post is not great.  Think carefully before you tag!

Pages allow you to have insights, advertise, host events, and much more. There are 6 different types of pages available. Note, that you have the ability to use Facebook ‘as your page’ – allows you to interact with other pages and people as your page, instead of using your personal profile. This is a great way of getting exposure for your brand from other brands!

Create a Page here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ – you can make as many pages as you like!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/feed  – see a list of the pages you’ve liked as your page

 

You will need a Profile photo and a cover photo for your page. Profile should be 500 x 500 pixel square. It’s a good idea to have a square version of your logo for this reason. Cover photo should be 851 x 315 pixels.

You can create both in Canva.com for free.

You can also use Pablo from Buffer: https://pablo.buffer.com

Think about who you want as Page Roles, too. Bridget wrote a blog post on things to consider on that here:

https://bridgetwillard.com/how-to-setup-a-facebook-page/

When you create featured images on your blog (1200 x 628), make sure there is less than 20% text. Facebook will accept your ad dollars, but is kind of a jerk about this rule. Even your video thumbnails need to follow this rule.

One of the benefits provided to facebook pages is stats & analytics.  Very helpful for advertising.

“Data without context means nothing.” Looking at the stats content matters, but you need to understand what you are looking at it and what it means for you and your business.

Don’t spend more than 10 minutes looking at your data … it’s too easy to get distracted or lost in the weeds.  Glance at it, gather the information you need and move on.

There is no way to play a YouTube/Google Hangout live video directly on Facebook. If you want to do something like that, you could use something like Zoom/LiveStream. Live video to Facebook is easiest using Facebook Live – one really good method is using your phone. You can interact and respond to viewers live.

You can also schedule your video, allows you to set it all up ahead of time. It will notify the people who said they want to watch, so they’re able to tune in when it starts.

Facebook Live Video- https://live.fb.com/about/

Youtube has a similar feature and will notify users who have expressed interest in your video.

You’re also able to download your videos from YouTube, Facebook, etc. and then upload them to the other platforms that you use. That way it can natively play within that platform.

If you can create events, do so 2 weeks ahead.

 

Guide

https://www.facebook.com/help/116346471784004

 

You can embed your Facebook videos on your WordPress blog – DO share your other content on your WordPress blog!!  Facebook now also lets you record in landscape mode which is better for websites.

After you run your facebook live, Facebook will also give you an option to “Boost” your video post – this is a great way to advertise! Facebook has really powerful tools to help you ‘target’ your ads to the ideal audience.

When you choose send people to your website, you are able to set up targeting based upon:

  • Location
  • Interests
  • If they like your page

We are human beings and humans are ‘social animals’ – people will relate to your business better if you post actual images of you and your team. People want to know you and know about what you’re doing. Everyone has a sphere of influence and everyone’s an expert in something. Share that!

Don’t stream live, have a chatroom and then ignore your viewers and their comments – you might as well not even bother!  You’ll never get away from the fact that our brains are wired for social interaction.

When you post something on your facebook page, the very least you can do is like it and if you’re really trying hard, you’ll reply to them! If you react and interact with your fans, you’ll build loyalty!  Treat them well, be friendly, be kind. Stop chasing big “influencers” – go after the people who are already your super-fans and engage them. Be authentic – don’t say BS – say what you mean!

If you’re just broadcasting out and not looking at the live chat, then you’re wasting your time. People want interaction with you and your brand. You need to have someone managing these interactions.  This can easily be done from home or anywhere.

You can hire transcribers or use transcription services to transcribe your videos for you.


Tools/Tips of the Week:

  • Bridget – Freshbooks (30 days free trial): not just for accepting payments; awesome at tax time!
    • Jason used Gravity Forms with a Freshbooks add-on – can create auto-estimates based on what they fill out on the from and it will pre-populate Freshbooks for you.

Show notes contributed by:

In:

Weekly Watercooler Discussions about WordPress and it’s community.