Monday, November 10, 2014

5 Facebook Pages You Should Follow to Become a Facebook Expert

I tend to fly solo a lot.
And I often get this urge to ignore what other people in my niche (Facebook marketing) are saying.
I get so busy writing blogposts or doing the work of Facebook marketing that I don’t make the time to always read what my comrades are saying.
But this is dangerous — and a poor way to run your business, regardless of the niche.

Why Input From Others Is Important

The great Jim Rohn once said:
Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.
Learning happens primarily by listening, reading or watching others.
And by watching them both fail & succeed.
In fact, it seems like I learn more from the mistakes of others than I do from their successes.
That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to what others in your niche are doing.

5 Facebook Pages You Should Follow to Become a Facebook Expert

Our blog & our product is 100% geared towards making you a better Facebook expert.
We even named our group “Post Planner Experts“!
Our goal there is to bounce ideas off one another — all in order to learn ways to use our tool & Facebook better.
You should join!
Sure, your business niche might be in real estate, jewelry, food or something else, but our goal remains the same:
To make you a Facebook Expert.
That’s why I want to share 5 pages that I always pay attention to keep on top of things.

1. Jon Loomer Digital


Jon’s website, blog & fan page — especially in the past year — have become THE resource when it comes to Facebook Ads.
I can’t think of anyone teaching about FB ads in as much detail as Jon.
Especially in a way that most of us can understand.
I’ll admit, I don’t always agree with everything Jon says — and that’s ok. His target market is more advanced marketers & larger companies.
Whereas I tend to target small business owners & those just starting out.
There’s a place for both — and Jon has definitely carved out his niche.
If you want to know about Facebook Ads, you definitely need to follow Jon’s page.

2. ShortStack


Not only are Jim Belosic & the rest of the crew at Shortstack highly knowledgeable, they also have a great sense of humor — as seen in one of their cover photos above.
Their product helps businesses build tab apps for fan pages — and in my opinion, they’re the best.
But they don’t just market, market, market on their page — like lots of their competitors.
In fact, most of their posts are there to educate their fans on how to better use Facebook.
This is done with a mix of their own research-based posts or by sharing posts from others.
You’ll learn a lot by following their page.

3. SocialMouths


Francisco Rosales & his gang are always creating & sharing great content about Facebook marketing.
Although they do share about other social networks as well.
What I like about them is that their posts & content are down to earth & easy to consume.
They don’t post a ton — and I’d actually encourage them to post more, since when they do they get great response.
Worth the follow — and please give them a shout out for me!

4. Ravi Shukle


Ravi reminds me of myself about 2 years ago — except with a British accent!
The dude never seems to sleep — and he’s consistently finding updates & breakingFacebook news before others do.
Which is a tough job in & of itself!
But in addition to just being on top of the latest happenings on Facebook, Ravi also gives great tips & advice — and he has a thriving community on his page.
You can learn a lot just by watching how, what & when he posts.

5. Razor Social


When I’m looking to find the latest apps & tools, I look to Ian Cleary & Razor Social.
Ian consistently provides top notch input on the latest tools for make using social media management easier & more efficient.
In addition to providing reviews of tools, Razor Social also offers great advice on using Facebook & other forms of social media.

Becoming a Facebook Expert

I’m confident that by following these experts you’ll quickly become a Facebook expert yourself — and learn how to better leverage Facebook for your own business.
Your turn:  What are your favorite pages to follow when it comes to Facebook Marketing?

6 Awesome Fan Page Features You’re Missing Out On

You’re a fan page PRO, right?
Right — but do you ever feel like you might be missing certain Facebook features or tricks?
No matter how long you’ve been running your Facebook page, my bet is you still have a few things to learn.
And even if you’ve learned everything — you still might have forgotten something.  ;)
So this blogpost is either going to be a refresher for you — or be full of things you never knew about.
Either way — I hope it helps!

6 Awesome Fan Page Features

1. Pinning a Post

When Timeline for pages came out, one of most popular new features was the ability to “Pin” a post to the top of your Timeline.
This is a great feature for page owners because it lets you keep an important update, sale, blog post, or photo at the top of your page for up to 7 days — so when people visit your page (especially new fans), they see the post.
For example, I’ve seen creative page owners pin a “Welcome” photo giving visitors instructions on where to find things on the page.
To pin a post to the top of your page, just click on the “pencil” icon on any post on your Timeline — and then click “Pin to top”.
pin1
Once you pin the post, you’ll notice a ribbon icon indicating the post has been pinned:
pin2

2. Adding a Featured Page Owner

This feature is great whether you’re a local small biz or a global behemoth brand.
It adds a personal touch to your page, while also helping build a following for the page owners.
To add a featured owner, click “Update Page Info” (above your cover) and then “Featured” and then “Edit Featured Page Owners”.
featured1
Once you choose which Page Owners to feature, their profile pics — linked to their profiles — will show up on your page’s “About” page.

3. Quickly Viewing How Many People Saw Your Post

Looking at Facebook Insights can be a pain in the butt sometimes — not to mention confusing.
But did you know Facebook lets you quickly see how many people have seen your post?
Just go to any post on your page and hover over “xxxx people saw this post”.
A pop-up will show you how many people saw it, broken down into:
  • “Organic” — which means your fans
  • “Viral” — which means friends of your fans
  • “Paid” — which means you Promoted the post & exposed it to other fans & non-fans
The pop-up will also give you a link to your most viewed post so you can quickly compare it.
stats

4. Managing “Posts by Others”

Other people posting on your fan page is usually a good thing — but sometimes it’s just spam.
As a small biz owner, it can be hard to keep up with fan posts — and to manage them in an easy way.
There are 2 quick ways to do this.
1)  Click dropdown arrow on “Highlights” (at top of Timeline) and select “Posts by Others”
Then you can like, comment, hide or ban as you wish.
postsbyothers
2)  Click “See All” on “Recent Posts by Others” box
If you’ve allowed the “Posts by Others” box to show on your Timeline, you can just click “See All” in the top right corner and see all the posts made by fans.
To me this is the quickest, most efficient way to manage posts on your page:
postbyothers2

5) Re-positioning Photos

When you upload an image to Facebook — whether on your profile Timeline or page Timeline — and the image is too large or of strange proportions, it can end up looking goofy on the Timeline.
Did you know Facebook allows you to Reposition your photo so it looks better on your Timeline?
Just find the photo on your Timeline and click the “pencil” icon.
Then choose “Reposition photo”.
reposition1
Hover over the image and you’ll see a 4 way arrow that lets you re-position it. Once you have the image positioned how you want it, click “Save”.
reposition2
As you can see, the bottom re-positioned image is much more appealing on our Timeline.

6) Adding Featured Likes

Did you know your fan page can actually “Like” other fan pages?
Yep.  All you have to do is click “Use Facebook as Your Page” and then visit other pages & click “Like”.
Once you do this, Facebook will start showing 5 of your Liked pages in the top right slot of your Timeline.
I recommend that you make sure the pages shown are ones that compliment your page.
You might even want to approach the page owners of pages that can compliment your page and agree to “Feature” each other.
Here’s how you do it:
  1. Click “Edit Page Info” (above your cover photo)
  2. Click “Featured”
  3. Click “Edit Featured Likes”:
featuredlike1
  1. Select the pages you want to Feature & click “Save”:
featuredlike2
Keep in mind a maximum of 5 Featured pages will be shown on your Timeline. If you’ve selected more than 5 to feature, then Facebook will rotate them randomly on your page:
featuredlike3

Did I Miss Anything?

Hopefully now you won’t be missing out on these “hidden” Facebook page features.
But please leave a comment and let me know any great tricks and features I didn’t mention here.

8 Links you MUST have, but probably don’t, to keep up with Facebook

1) These are the 9 public ad types on Facebook with how to use them, ad dimensions, and so forth.
The local awareness ads might not be showing for you yet.
2) Get certified on Facebook by taking their own interactive training.
Once you log in, you’ll have to hunt around for how to get the badges (//describe this in more detail)
3) Custom audiences are critical to your conversion.
4) Because Facebook is 60% mobile, you must measure traffic that crosses from mobile to desktop, especially if you’re in e-commerce.
This is one part of how Facebook lets you set attribution by view and click windows. Default is one day view-through and 7 day click, but you can change it.
5) And because you need to have an app (iOS or Android mainly), Facebook created a streamlined method for you to connect it Facebook.
Then you’ll be able to run app install ads and app engagement ads.
6) Facebook has great interviews with other ecosystem players.
7) If you can get into this group, you’ll get notice of the latest releases before everyone else, even if you live in New Zealand (the country that gets the updates first).
8) Or you can just search Google for the latest docs.
Do a query for site:https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference