How To Use The New Facebook Timeline

3 Things You Should Be Trying On Facebook Now

Have a Facebook account? Not sure how to use it to gain more traffic and network with more people?

The great thing about Facebook is everything you need (and then some) is built right into the system. Most of its for free, you just have to know what’s out there and how to use it.

If you have an account, you probably understand how to friend new people, build a page, and post content to your newsfeed. But do you know about these:

Using Survey To Get Your Followers Involved

Are you Nikon or Canon? Do you prefer indoor portraits or on-location?

With both of those questions, you had an instant thought run through your head. That’s an automatic process – everybody loves giving his or her opinion.

And while you can ask questions in your newsfeed, with Facebook Survey, you can do more with it. Post it to your timeline or build it into your page. Even add images or YouTube videos to make it more in depth.

Then make it a regular part of your marketing and post surveys all the time. Your follower base will become more active – and you can learn more about who’s following you and what they want from your business.

Inject Your Personality Into Your Page

Too many photographers think people follow them to see their images. While that may be a big reason – they want to “test drive” you before booking you – they also want to learn more about who you are. What do you like? What do you do every day?

In no way should your Page be the common chatter you share with friends – your religious beliefs, your political beliefs, what you had for dinner last night – you can share your personality without going over the top.

Have a fantastic view of New York City sitting in your favorite restaurant? Post a picture. So much better than a daily picture of the food you’re about to consume (unless you’re a foodie photographer that is).

Photographing an engagement image? While sharing an image or two is great, take a quick image with you hugging your clients. Have your assistant take a picture of you at work with the couple. Those images are just as important because it allows potential clients to see you in action. It puts a “realness” to who you are.

Then get creative with your cover photo. Don’t make it one large image – instead use a panel with multiple images. Spend some time in Photoshop building something that makes you stand out from other photographers. And really says who you are and what you do.

Use Your Facebook Insights To Make Decisions

When was the last time you viewed your Insights? Or maybe I should ask, Did you know Facebook has Insights?

With each of your pages, you can access Insights to find out more about how well you’re leveraging your content. You can use the overview to find out how well your page is doing at a quick glance. Or dive in further and look at the details. Insights will show every post you create, how many people it reached out to, what your engagement rate is, how many are talking about it and sharing your content. You can use these numbers to help you evaluate what is successful – and what is not – and help give you direction for future posts.

Whenever you are stuck on what to write about next, your Insights can be a valuable tool to help you out.

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook, insights, marketing on Facebook, social media, Survey

How To Market Your Business After Facebook Goes Away

by Virtual Photography 4 Comments

“I’m looking for ways to bring in more clients to my studio. I started my business at the beginning of 2012 and currently use my Facebook page for promotion. I have around 500 followers and post regularly. I try and get everyone over to my page when I’m out networking by using a business card to let them know how to find me on Facebook. I can’t afford a lot for marketing now so I’m looking for cheap ways of doing things. Any ideas?”

I get questions and comments like this all the time.

Because you are starting out on a shoestring budget, you head to the one place that seems the most user friendly. If you already have a Facebook profile and understand how to use it, why not set up a free page and use that too?

Makes sense. Facebook is visual. Its easy to share your photographs. And with access to hundreds of millions of people, it seems like a great place to be.

Until they start changing direction.

When Facebook went public, their entire business model changed. They no longer are working for Mark’s desires; they are working for shareholders desires. Shareholders want profits – noting else. They don’t care about one user’s happiness; they want a return on their investment.

Which means the new goal of every person working in the Facebook offices is now focused on bringing in as much money as possible.

Nothing wrong with that – that’s what businesses do.

But if you were relying on Facebook and Facebook alone to help build your business, you are most likely in for a bumpy ride. A VERY bumpy ride. And it’s already coming through.

I wrote about one of their newest features a while back:

Dig Deeper: Using Facebook Promoted Posts For Your Photography Business

And if you have been relying on a page in any way, you are probably feeling the pain. Your Facebook page is probably receiving less traffic than before, and those numbers are continuing to head down every day, even if you are increasing your likes in the process. This has coincided with the release of the “promoted posts”, and while Facebook insists it isn’t artificially driving down traffic, hoping you’ll pay more for promoted posts, it is difficult not to put the two together.

No matter if it’s a coincidence or not, if you have a page, you’re not getting the same traffic you did a few months or even a few weeks ago.

So now its time for a lot of questions on both sides of the court.

Can Facebook strike a balance between keeping users happy with their newsfeeds, helping brands reach out to potential customers in an affordable way, all while making the profits they need to keep their shareholders happy? Only time will tell.

But one thing should be apparent to you:

If you are relying on Facebook as your sole marketing tool, its time to make a change.

Facebook may be here tomorrow … or not.

Facebook may offer brands easy ways to connect with potential buyers … or not.

Facebook may offer affordable ways to reach out to clients … or not.

Facebook may have tools to help you market your business … or not.

But one thing is for sure. Facebook won’t work the way it has in the past.

However you have been using it, however you have been relying on it, that’s changing. The only question now is are you willing to change now and see what’s really happening? Will you do something to make your marketing tools more permanent, more reliable for you? Or will you be a holdout waiting to see where this all ends?

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: How To Market Your Business After Facebook Goes Away, social media, the future of Facebook

Facebook Pages or Website – Which Is Best For Your Photography Business?

by Virtual Photography 2 Comments

You’re starting up a new photography business. You know you need to have something online.

Yet you really don’t have the money to spend on marketing. So you do what a lot of photographers do and you head on to Facebook and design a Page. You don’t need anything else, right?

Yes, designing a Facebook Page seems to be a growing trend. In 2011, US business owners spent more than $3 million designing Facebook brand pages. But are they getting their money’s worth?

According to a new study conducted by Incyte Group and Get Satisfaction, nearly 90 percent of respondents stated a company’s website – not their social network – is the preferred place to research products and services that will ultimately lead to a purchase decision. The study showed there is an extensive gap between the way consumers want to engage with companies via social media and the way companies are choosing to use those tools.

Consumers aren’t looking for a company with vast amounts of Likes, Pins or Tweets. They want relationships they can count on, personal referrals, and engagement from the company itself.

When customers are ready to buy, they want information that will help them lead to an informed decision. And that means they head right to a website.

And if you think about it for a moment and compare it to your own spending habits, you can see why that is true.

How Do You Search?

If I’m out on my social sites, I’m usually there for personal reasons. I have extra time and am looking for ways to communicate with friends and potential clients. Or I’m there sharing things to build up my own reputation. I’m usually not there to do research on whatever I may have plans of buying in the future.

When I’m doing research on what I need to buy – a new car, a new accountant, or a photographer for my daughter’s senior portraits – I don’t do my research on Facebook. Instead I start in Google and do a search to find potential companies that meet my needs. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: Facebook pages, online web presence, Photography Business, Website

How To Get More People To Your Facebook Page

by Virtual Photography 2 Comments

The only way to get more people to your Facebook Page is to tell more people it exists.

It may be easy to send people to it by providing a link in your email, or including a Facebook Badge on your blog, but what do you do if you are out networking face to face?

Why not try a Facebook Business Card?

I’ve always loved Moo – you can find a variety of posts on here talking about how to use Moo products in your marketing materials.

Now they are helping you market your Facebook page as well.

Earlier this year, they launched Facebook Timeline cards – which was great for getting people to your individual profile. Now they are offering the same for Facebook Pages. And the best part is you can try it out … for free.

Each business can now login to Moo and get one pack of 50 cards for free. And even when your first 50 are gone, additional packs run $15 a pack. Very reasonable for a great marketing tool.

Making your Moo Facebook Cards is easy. When you sign in, make sure you click the “yes” when they ask for your data. This allows them to connect up with your Facebook account to pull the data automatically in.

Once your card is set up with your Timeline photo, personalize it. Make sure all your data is correct and its easy for people to connect up with you. You can add a favorite quote or phrase to the back of the card as well.

Tip: I love quotes and used one on the back of my first free pack. But you don’t have to stick with quotes. Think about what you do on Facebook. Do you provide tips? Do you share photos? Are you running a contest? Use that info on the back of your cards. It’s a great way to drive traffic if you’re offering an ongoing promotion.

Then purchase your cards. They are now shipping all over the world, so know matter where you live, you will probably be able to add this to your list of marketing tools.

Once you have your cards in place, use them in addition to your business cards. Yes, its okay to hand out two cards if they are both sending you to different places. When you are talking with someone, what would you like them to see? If you really want to feed them info from your Facebook account, hand over that card. If you want them to see your site for more information, hoping to convert them to a client, hand over your business card. And if you can tell they aren’t quite ready to convert to a client, or they are a great referral source, hand over both. The key is to let them follow you in the manner most convenient to them.

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: Facebook cards, Facebook page, marketing tool, moo, social media

How To Make Your Facebook Page More Interesting

by Virtual Photography 4 Comments

“I’ve been on Facebook for awhile now, yet I really have no enthusiasm for it. I post sporadically because I feel like I have to. I only have a hundred fans. And I really don’t know how to keep them interested. There is zero communication on my page, yet everyone says it has great potential. What do I do?”

Have you ever felt like that? Don’t worry, many people do.

If you have no enthusiasm for it, you will fail. Its as simple as that. So at this point you have two choices.

1. Quit using Facebook altogether for you business.

2. Choose to use it to attract new business.

If something isn’t working for you, you don’t enjoy it, and you really have no desire to make it work, why put your focus there? Instead, choose another way of marketing your business and put your concentration there instead.

Facebook is just a marketing tool – its one of thousands that exist for a small business owner. Yes, it will work if you use it right. But if you don’t enjoy it, why spend the time on it.

Yet if you decide that Facebook is truly something you want to use to attract new business, then its time to treat it like a marketing tool, and gather all of your energy up to make it work.

Are you using Facebook correctly?

Before you begin building a Facebook presence, make sure you have your accounts set up correctly. When you originally set up your account, you should have set up a personal account under your personal name. Your business should have its own Page. Browse through one of the many Pages that already exist on Facebook to gain some ideas. Then set up your own. You can use it as your business name – ABC Photography – or try creating different pages for different niches. For instance, if you focus on corporate events and weddings, the two make great stand alone businesses, and would potentially be more attractable if you separated them and created a page for each. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook, marketing, pages

8 Ways To Gain More Followers On Facebook And Keep Them Interacting

by Virtual Photography 2 Comments

According to many of the top SEO companies that study social impact, the two things that matter most when using Facebook to gain authority within the search engines is:

1. The number of Facebook shares you have

2. The authority of your sharers

Which means if you want to rank well under your keywords and search terms, Facebook can help you do so… if you understand how to use Facebook. Its more than adding a few posts here and there. Facebook offers a wide array of tools that help you build your authority and get people interacting as well.

1. Implement the Facebook Like buttons

To make your blog posts more shareable, make sure you add the Facebook plugin to implement Like buttons both at the top and the bottom of each post. While the standard Facebook icon is acceptable, look into newer options as well. You can now incorporate other options into your Like options, including:

Versions that show thumbnails of friends

Widgets that allow people to add comments both to your blog and to Facebook

Make sure you put Like buttons both at the beginning and the end of your posts, and also include it next to highly visual content, such as videos and photographs. People are more likely to click the Like button if you give them a reason to do so.

2. Add a Facebook comments plugin

If you are a regular on any blog, you know one of the benefits of blogging is the ability to have comments at the end of each post. They allow interaction amongst your visitors and can really help you educate your readers just be carrying on normal conversations.

Blog comments are great to help you grow your blog, yet they do little for external growth. By incorporating a Facebook comments plugin into your blog, you can allow the interaction to flow between platforms. [Read more...]