Archive for Facebook
How to add a discussion board to your Facebook Fan Page
Posted by: | CommentsUpdated 14th May 2012
With the new Timeline For Pages – Facebook has discontinues their Discussion Board App however Forum For Pages have created something very similar. Here is how to install their app.
1. Go to https://apps.facebook.com/forumforpages/
2. Select the page you want to install the forum to and click on ‘add page tab’
3. The Forum for Pages App is now installed. You can click on “new topic” to start the discussion or “forum settings’ located in the bottom left to customise your forum settings.
Forum for Pages has a premium version starting at $5 per month. Some of the features include:
- Threaded discussions
- Deep linking
- Page owners can post as the page
- Embed images and YouTube videos in posts
- Moderators can delete or edit a post or the entire topic
- Users can edit their posts up to 2 hours after posting
- Moderators can lock a topic (preventing further replies) or make a topic sticky (always show on top)
- Moderators can ban a user and prevent him from further posting
- Moderators can block specific keywords
- Posting restriction to Fans only or Moderators only
- Automatically re-post new topics to the wall
- Liking a post
- Support for tagging topics into categories
- Topic search
- Addition of moderators who are not necessarily page admins
- Text Formatting: add titles, subtitles, bullet points, bold and italic
- Integration with Google Analytics (premium version)
- RSS Feed (premium version)
- Customizable Header (premium version)
- No advertising for all the visitors of your Forum (premium version)
- Migration of apps page to a new page
- Available in: Arabic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Using Social Media in your business is all about interacting with your clients and getting them involved with you, your business and industry. Adding a discussion board to your Facebook Fan Page is a great way to start the conversation. Here are the step by step instructions on how to add a discussion board to your Facebook Fan Page.
Generally the discussion board is already part of your Facebook Fan Page when you create it, however if it’s not, this is how you add it.
1. Using the search box at the top of Facebook, type in “discussion boards” In this list this should bring up “discussion boards app” Click on this.
2. You will be taken to the Discussion Board Fan Page.
3. Under their profile photo is a link “add to my page”
4. This will bring up a list of your pages.
5. Select which pages you want to add the discussion board on
6. Click on “add to page”
7. Navigate back to your page and the discussion board should be part of your page.
All my pages already have the discussion board, so I couldn’t test this correctly. Please let me know your feedback on if this works for you.
How to Set Up A Facebook Fan Page
Posted by: | CommentsI always recommend to business owners that they need to set up a Facebook Fan Page. Here are the step by step instructions on how to setup your own Facebook Fan Page.
1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
2. You are creating an “Official” page, so select if it’s a business (most people reading this blog), brand or product, public figure.
3. When you select this option, it brings up drop down box. From this box select your type of business. If you can’t find your business type – select professional service.
4. Now give the page a name – generally your business name ie Brilliant Web Design or Social Media For Your Biz
5. You then have select that you have the authority to create a page on behalf of this business.
6. Select the button “Create Official Page”
7. You have now created your Facebook Fan Page
8. You page looks like this:
There will be more postings coming soon on editing your page and making it search engine friendly, but the basics are:
Changing Your Profile Picture
1. Roll the mouse over the question mark – then click on “edit picture”. From here you can upload your new photo
Adding Your Info
1. Click on the Info tab and select “edit information” from the right and input your business details
Description
1. Under your profile picture is a small box with text that said “Write something about Your Page Name” click in this box and write a description. Remember this is one of the first things people look at – make it meaningful.
Post your new Facebook Fan Pages below.
YouTube for SEO?
Posted by: | CommentsSocial Media is fast becoming the new Search Engine Optimization. According to website ranking’s YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world. Google of course is number one, and many would think that Yahoo or Bing would take second place. But no, YouTube – a video site!! Who has only been around for 5 years has taken the number two position. Interestingly YouTube is owned by Google – which means Google is really competing with themselves for number one and number two position.
Many business owners don’t think of using Social Media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for increasing their search engines rankings however, often using these sites can not only be a quicker way to increase your rankings but often more cost effective and can return better results. If you think, all websites are trying to compete in the traditional Google rankings, why not stand out and compete in a market which isn’t as crowded and as the potential to return higher results quicker. With 20 mins, and a little knowledge you can create your own YouTube account and upload your first video and already be on your way to increased rankings.
Google search results now include Twitter and YouTube Video (often on the front page). Why not use these medias to increase your rankings?
This blog post was prompted by an article I saw on The Age – My Small Business Blog – How to impress the number-two search engine (and it’s not Yahoo!).
David Wilson, the author, gives you 6 steps on how to use YouTube to increase your rankings.
Let me know what you think of the article. I would also be interested to know, how you are using YouTube in your business and what results you are receiving. Please leave a comment below.
How to Claim Your Unique Facebook URL
Posted by: | CommentsOnce you have reached 25 fans you are able to claim your own unique Facebook URL.
The URL will be www.facebook.com/theusernameyoudecideon
There are a few things to consider before creating your username.
• Once created if can’t be changed
• Do you want to use your business name or the main keywords user are searching for ie brilliantwebdesign vs goldcoastwebdesign
• Facebook is indexed by search engines quicker than most website and hence your fan page could appear in the search results quicker than your website
• Make sure you follow their terms & conditions to ensure that you can keep your username.
As per Facebook Terms & Conditions
Usernames were created to make it easier for Facebook users to identify their profile and share with others. As a public figure, business or brand with a Page on Facebook, your username should be straightforward and easy to remember. Facebook encourages you to consider the following when creating a username for Pages:
- Create a username that is as close as possible to your public figure or business name (e.g. AshtonKutcher, PizzaHut).
- If you own the rights to a given name, make it your username so that others cannot obtain it.
- Usernames can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) or a period (“.”).
- Choose a username you will be happy with for the long term. Usernames are not transferable.
- Your username must adhere to Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.
Ok, so you have decided on your username, now claim it.
Once logged into Facebook
1. Go to www.facebook.com/username
2. Select “Select a Username” for your page
3. This brings up a drop down menu, select the page you want to create the username for.
4. If your page is eligible > 25 fans it will bring up a box
5. Enter your desired username and click on “check availablilty”
6. If it’s available, you will be shown some final terms – if you are happy click “confirm” otherwise select “cancel” to try another one.
7. You can now give out your new Facebook URL – www.facebook.com/username
Facebook Privacy Settings
Posted by: | CommentsFacebook allow users to change their privacy settings so you can control who can and can’t see what information on your profile. You may only want “friends” to be able to see certain photos compared to business associates who can only see other photos etc. I found this great article which shows you step by step how to change your privacy settings. And also explains the difference between each privacy settings. It’s written by Ann Liu who is a blogger and marketer. I hope you enjoy the article.
