It's been a while since our last Five for Friday, so we're bringing it back with a special Facebook edition. Here are four informative run-downs of the recent Facebook changes and how they will impact your small business Facebook page. And of course, one fun link. Happy Friday!
"Like" Is Not Enough"
Getting many followers to "like" your page is no longer enough. If you already have a Facebook business page, over the past couple weeks you've probably noticed that announcement telling you that as of October 31, key tab features as Blog, Discussion, and Review are going away. Users can also now click a little tab located to the right of each post, and mark it as a "top story", "hide it", report it as spam, or worst of all, "hide all." Users can now sort their Facebook friends and likes into groups, creating further need for engaging content to win their eyeballs. This means that what was a best practice just a few weeks ago - providing content that users actually want to communicate with - has now become the only way to remain relevant and have your marketing messages touch your consumers. This Mashable article, "What Facebook's Changes Mean for Marketers" is a great overview to what your business page will need to do to move ahead sucessfully on the "new" Facebook.
Contextual Sharing Is Key
Contextual sharing is the buzz phrase of the day, but go ahead try and find a (not so) concise definition of it. Simply put, in the terms of this Facebook discussion, it means that when a Facebook user is using a specific app, such as the digital music service Spotify, they can click a setting prompt once and then each time they listen to Spotify, it shares the title of each song they listen to in the new Ticker in real time. To find out what this can mean for your Facebook page and your followers, here are two great articles, "How Facebook's Features Will Affect Digital Marketers" and "Facebook Changes Again: Everything You Need to Know".
Timeline Will Change the Face of Facebook
Timeline is the new graphic interface/content layout that all Facebook profile pages will soon share. Upgrades include a great new "cover" image in addition to your little profile head shot, a two column content layout, and an actual timeline navigation tool that lets people see a chronological chart of all your Facebook posting.
I download
ed the beta version for my personal profile and think it holds a lot of potential for small businesses.The whole point of Facebook marketing is to build relationships with your Facebook followers, and the new Timeline offers a wide range of opportunities to do this. To get up to speed on Timeline, try reading "Tell Your Story With Timeline" , "Facebook Timeline" , and "Facebook Timeline Redefines User Profiles". As for the launch date, there is still some mystery around that ...
Subscribe Button, Confuses But Could Be Useful
Have you noticed the new Subscribe button or people complaining about it? Applied on your Facebook page in a strategic manner, it could be a useful way to share secondary content and like followers, in such a way as the "followers" and "following" users features work on Twitter. A great run down of this feature can be found at "Introducing the Subscribe Button" and "Facebook Launches Subscribe Button for Following Anyone's Public Updates".
And Finally, The Fun One!
No matter how Facebook changes, creative geniuses will find fresh and exciting ways to make the best use of those changes - and hopefully inspire you to find new ways to communicate visually through your own Facebook business page. To see the creativity in action, check out "10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away" and "Facebook Timeline: 10 Stunning Designs".
