5 Favorite Facebook Welcome Tabs
Anyone who has read my blog or spent much time talking with me about Facebook knows I am a big fan of Facebook Welcome tabs. Welcome tabs are a great way to give new visitors to your Facebook page a feel for what types of content they can expect on your page as well as a clear call to action to Like the page. I tend to like Welcome tabs that are clear, concise, and have a strong call to action. Five of my favorites are profiled below.
But first, for those that like stats, here are some numbers that support having a Welcome tab … Research from BrandGlue found that fans converted to Like a Facebook page at a rate of 47% with Welcome tab versus a conversion rate of 23% without a Welcome tab. I don’t think all brands can expect these results, but I would expect some lift, and think Welcome tabs are a good best practice.
So, here are some of my favorites..
1) Kampgrounds of America (KOA) – This is probably my favorite all time welcome tab. It’s cute, to the point, has a clear call to action, and matches the branding of the website.
2) Udi’s Gluten Free Foods – This one is welcoming, informative, and has a clear call to action.
3) St. Supery Vineyards and Winery – Beautiful image evoking peacefulness of Napa Valley and clear call to action.
4) Mint.com – Clear reasons to join the page as well as an extra incentive to click Like.
5) Sprouts Farmers Market – Explanation of what a person will find on the page, request to interact, and fun way of pointing to Like box.
As I mentioned, I tend to like simple graphic Welcome tabs and think these are often the best way to achieve the objective of an increased conversion to Like. There are lots of other things that can be done on a Welcome tab – fan-only content, contests, email opt-ins, videos, and more. I highlight some examples of Welcome tabs in this post, and will highlight more in upcoming posts.
Do you have any favorite Facebook Welcome tabs?
Top Social Media Tools For Consultants
There are so many social media tools available it can be overwhelming to choose which to use and how to allocate your time.
Here are my thoughts on which tools are the best choices.
The big four are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs.
Facebook is by far the largest with over 600 million users worldwide, and 51% of the US population using the site each day (Edison/Arbitron). LinkedIn and Twitter are much smaller, used by 9% and 8% of the US population, respectively (Ediston/Arbitron), but are highly relevant for business professionals.
Given its massive reach, Facebook is a great place to be, but not appropriate for everyone. For example, if your business model is to sell to many, Facebook might be appropriate, and if your model is to service only a few clients, then maintaining a Facebook page is most likely not worthwhile. Facebook is a great tool for maintaining and strengthening relationships, staying top of mind, increasing thought leadership, and ultimately selling a product or service (but this shouldn’t be your primary goal).
While LinkedIn isn’t as huge as Facebook, it’s a must do for most consultants. Many check LinkedIn profiles after meeting a person for the first time, and those hiring often check a person’s profile in the hiring process. So it’s important to have a robust profile with a good number of connections, complete information, and recommendations. Other ways to showcase your thought leadership and expertise are to link your blog and Twitter feed, as well as SlideShare account. Beyond having a LinkedIn profile, consultants can gain information and network on Groups, and highlight expertise by providing Answers. And of course there are many job opportunities on LinkedIn.
Twitter is similar in size to LinkedIn, and while not appropriate for everyone, can be highly useful to many. A recent Jay Baer article quoted Morgan Stewart of Trendline Interactive saying “Comparing Facebook and Twitter is like comparing shopping malls and fashion shows. Malls, like Facebook, have mass appeal and are an expression of larger culture. In contrast, while only a small subset of the population actually attend fashion shows, the interactions that happen there influence the larger culture. Twitter is where online influencers congregate and share new ideas, and that alone is significant.” I thought that was a great analogy. Influencers are on Twitter and are fairly accessible. This makes Twitter a great place to be if you want to get your message out to a broader audience. And, if you are in marketing or PR you should probably be on Twitter to show that you understand the marketing medium.
Blogs are also a great tool for consultants. Blog articles can be syndicated to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and showcase expertise and build thought leadership. People like to share valuable content, so creating quality articles will get your message to a larger audience. Lastly, it is totally appropriate to showcase your products and services on your blog or drive people to your site for that information, hopefully closing a sale.
What social media tools do you think are the most valuable for consultants?
*This article was originally posted on the Women In Consulting blog
Blogging Q&A With Ann Evanston
Recently Women In Consulting hosted Ann Evanston of Warrior-Preneur for a live Q&A on WIC’s Facebook wall. As WIC’s Online Marketing Director, I oversaw the event. Leilani Madrazo Yau, WIC’s Facebook Coordinator, did an amazing job planning and running the event.
Here are the questions and answers from the live Q&A. I have consolidated some answers a bit so they read better as an article (vs. many short comments on the Facebook wall). To see the entire Facebook Q&A go to the WIC Facebook page and look for the event that took place on March 17th from 10-11am.
Q: I own a travel and e-commerce website. On my blog I post about everything from our broken education system to “do kids need recess and exercise?” I also blog about travel - travel tips, my favorite places, etc. Is this OK or will people who visit my blog be unsure about what I actually “DO”? Is there some point in the future where my blog posts should only be about what I do or should I continue blogging about things I am passionate about?
A: Honestly it isn’t what you write about that’s the problem on your blog, it’s all the clutter that detracts from what you do. Write about what you are passionate about, but clean up the clutter and make it EASY for people to see your portals.
Q: If one knows nothing about SEO, how can they make sure they have keywords in their blogs to help them with page ranking?
A: Make this your best friend: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal First make a list of words you THINK are key – then look them up and see. Use keywords in titles, categories and anchor text on every post.
Q: Mine is not a question, but a blogging concern. My concern is with having enough content to post a lot because I know you’re supposed to post a lot to get up there in the rankings. And also, where do I get content that fits my niche?
A: I find when I really work with clients they have TONS to write about. So a few things to think about: Post 3 times a week until viral, then less because blogging comments keep you in search engine rankings. Consider the length of your posts, most are TOO long, aim for 250-400 words. Better to do more posts on the same subject matter than one long post to keep them coming back. Your blog should also be about more than what you do – it should also be about who you are.
Q: I am in the process of converting my personal blog to a .com site. My business blog has the .wordpress.com tail on it. I can’t change that to a .com site unless I rename it which then kind of messes with branding. Do you see it as a problem in the future to have the business blog as a WordPress site?
A: If you go buy your URL hosting takes care of naming it, so why not buy the URL for what comes before the WordPress? I only recommend WordPress blogs to my business clients – it’s the best. I 100% own warrior-preneur and it’s all on WordPress.
Q: Is there a best day of week/time of day to post new blog articles?
A: Tues-Weds-Thurs, and the SAME time of DAY, EVERYDAY, every TIME you post. It doesn’t matter the time of day, morning is relevant in a global economy, just consistency on when you post – readers come to expect it. As an fyi, Wednesday afternoon is the busiest on Facebook, Tuesday morning on Twitter.
Q: Is there a “perfect blog” that we can go look at to get an idea of what ours should look like for optimization?
A: No, no such thing really. It is best to know your brand and your target market and design for them. A 20 year old student is attracted to different things than a 45 year old mother of two small children.
Q: Whom do you recommend for hosting a blog?
A: Host monster. I have been using them for a year. It is reliable, has great customer service and affordable.
Q: What is the best way to attract people to reading my blog?
A: Things that impact readers on your blog: 1 – you moderate, 2 – no call to action. You should allow comments to post without moderation. Also I find that engaging in the blogging community is the FASTEST way to get readers and a consistent following of fans.
Q: What are the advantages of doing video blogging? Do you have any “best practices”?
A: Video allows you to “double dip” into the LARGEST website – YouTube – another social media site. Same rules apply – keep videos short (2-3 minutes) and packed full of great information. I had a client that did one that was 4 minutes long. We surveyed it and found most people did not finish it because they thought it was too long. Let’s face it – the social space is about great information in “sound bites”.
Q: Everyone I know who is an expert on building your own website says to buy the domain name from GoDaddy and then “marry it” to your hosting account. But host monster hosting comes with a free domain – should I still buy it from GoDaddy, and what are the advantages?
A: Well they are going to go buy it for you basically, which means they own the URL. I tell all my clients to buy and OWN their URLs. Don’t let anyone else own them. So buy from Go Daddy, then route to blog or website.
Q: Do you recommend creating some sort of content/editorial calendar for your blog?
A: I do! HUGE time saver actually, and it helps you prep your mind about “what” to write about. Mine is done for the year!
Q: What’s a good bounce rate? And what should you do if you have a high bounce rate?
A: This is a REALLY complicated issue. But typically a high bounce rate means what you have set up for SEO which leads to clicks, is not what those people are looking for, so they leave immediately. But many other factors can play a part, design, flash, clutter, etc…
If you have other blogging suggestions, feel free to share!
*This article was originally posted on the Women In Consulting blog and has been modified to run here.
How To Measure Your Social Media Efforts
You have likely dipped your feet in the social media waters. And maybe you have been at it for a while and are experiencing some success. The next step is to implement ongoing reporting. After all, what gets measured gets improved upon.
In this post I am going to focus on no-cost and low-cost reporting solutions that make sense for consultants and small businesses.
The first step is to decide what to measure. Here are some important metrics:
- Audience size – Facebook Likes, Twitter Followers, LinkedIn group Members, blog subscribers etc. This allows you to see the rate at which your properties grow organically and the rate at which they grow with various efforts.
- Interaction – Facebook Likes (Likes of articles), Comments and wall posts, Twitter Retweets and @Mentions, LinkedIn Likes and Comments, blog comments etc. This allows you to see how interaction is affected by the different types of content you post.
- Your activity – Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn Discussions, blog articles, etc. This allows you to correlate your level of activity with growth and interaction.
- Clicks – Use a free url shortener like bit.ly to track clicks from articles, blog posts, events, etc. that you post to social media properties. The number of clicks gives you an indication of the types of content that is appealing to your audience as well as number of people you are driving to registration forms, website content, email opt-ins, etc.
- Actions – You can track various actions like registrations, e-mail opt-ins, and revenue by using a pull-down menu in your form, or setting up tracking urls for each property. Use Google Analytics to track how many people come to your site from your social media properties.
- Unique visitors, visits, and page views – Track these metrics on your blog using Google Analytics.
The second step is to develop a template. Here is a sample template:
If you are a consultant and this looks like more than you want to do, then scale it down to the most important metrics of growth, interaction, and actions. If you have more resources to devote to measurement, you can dive deeper into other metrics available on Facebook Insights and Google Analytics. And, if you have a small budget and want to cut back on the manual labor you can use tools like Hootesuite’s Pro version that is only $6/mo and provides stats like link click-throughs, as well as integrates with Facebook Insights and Google Analytics.
The last step is to decide how often to measure. In my ad agency days, we pulled client reporting weekly. For consultants and most small businesses, I think monthly (or even less if time is an issue) is just fine.
Now you are ready to measure and improve upon your social media efforts.
If you have other metrics you measure or helpful social media measurement tools please share as a comment!
How to Promote (and Cross Promote) Your Social Media Properties
If your business has a social media presence, you likely want to grow your following. Here is a list of ways you can promote your social media properties using your existing channels as well as by cross promoting your properties. I focused on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as use of a blog, but many of these tactics are relevant for other social media properties as well.
Promote via your existing channels
1.Add links to your social media properties on your website – these can be simple square icons, larger logos that include the full name of the property, or links with text (for example “Join the conversation on Facebook”)
2.Add social media icons to email and newsletter templates
3.Send periodic dedicated emails letting people know about your properties
4.Add links to personal email signatures
5.Add urls to business cards
6.Add signage with icons or urls in physical businesses
7.Add icons or urls to presentations
8.If you do events, add social sharing to your registration form, if available
Cross Promote via your social media properties
1.Add urls to “Detailed Info” on Info Tab and to the text box on the left side of the Wall. You can also include urls in your Wall image (which can be up to 180×540 pixels).
2.Do periodic posts mentioning other social media properties (“If you like the conversation here, join us on Twitter”)
3.Post blog articles (automated or manual – I usually recommend manual)
1.Add urls to a custom background
2.Use Selective Tweets to send tweets to Facebook
3.Do periodic tweets mentioning other social media properties
4.Tweet about blog articles
1.Do periodic posts mentioning other social media properties
2.Post blog articles
Blog
1.Add social media icons
2.Add Facebook Like Box to increase Likes without leaving the blog
3.Add Facebook Like Button to articles to drive traffic to Facebook page
4.Add a Twitter stream
These are my favorite ways to promote social media properties through existing channels or via cross promoting. If you have other favorites, please share!
*This article was originally posted on the Women In Consulting blog.
Getting Started Using Facebook for Business
Is social media part of your business strategy? A recent study by Access Markets International reports nearly 70% of US small businesses use social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs. If you haven’t jumped in yet, you are at a competitive disadvantage. At around 500 million active users (60% larger than the entire US population), Facebook has the largest audience of the social media destinations and is a great place to do business.
There are a few ways you can use Facebook for business, so let’s look at the options. First, you can use your personal profile. Facebook makes it easy to set up lists within your list of friends, so you can set up a list for business and post information to this list.
Or, you can set up a Group or business Page. Pages have become much more popular than Groups. The benefits of a Page include: posts show up on the Walls of people that Like your page, posts appear with a business image versus an individual’s personal profile picture, and Pages show up in search engine results. You may want a Group if you want to limit membership to a select group (anyone can Like a Page).
For the majority of businesses, a Page is the way to go. Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Develop objectives. Is your goal to establish yourself as a thought leader within your field, increase leads, build community, sell product, provide customer support? It is important to create objectives so your strategies map back to business objectives.
2. Choose the Page name and set up the vanity URL. The vanity URL makes it easy for people to find your Page. When you have at least 25 fans you can set this up. For example, your vanity URL would be something like http://www.facebook.com/businessname. Be very careful about choosing your vanity URL as this cannot be changed.
3. Pick an image for the Wall. This image will show up on the top left of the Page and the entire image, or a portion, will be used for the thumbnail when you post. For ease, you can select a square image. The thumbnail uses a square image, so if you choose a square image, your thumbnail can be your entire image. Or, you can select an image up to 180×540 (but make sure there is a square portion that will be suitable for your thumbnail).
4.Develop a content strategy. A good rule of thumb is to post once a day. If you have more or less to share, you can post more or less frequently. The most important thing is to post content that is valuable to your subscribers. Mix up the posts. Posts can include links to blog posts, relevant articles, tips, special offers, new products or services, events, pictures, videos, etc. Mix it up and get creative.
5. Promote your Page. Users generally don’t find Pages from searches. Instead they learn about Pages from sites and other promotions. The best initial way to promote your Page is to use Facebook’s tool and suggest your friends Like the page. Some other ways to promote your Page include adding a Facebook icon on your website and blog, adding an URL (or link) on all marketing materials – business cards, email signatures, email and newsletters, presentations, direct mail, and adding your Page link to your LinkedIn profile. Advertising on Facebook can be very effective as Facebook offers highly targeted ads at often low rates.
6. Increase interaction. For your page to go viral you need people to comment and Like your posts, and write on your wall. Interaction is also important because you want to appear on the “Top News” tab versus the “Most Recent” tab, and Facebook favors Pages with higher interaction. Tips include posting highly relevant content, phrasing posts to entice interaction, and including images.
7. Develop a conversion strategy. If a primary goal is to increase Likes, you can add a Welcome tab where visitors 
land that tells them about the page and asks them to Like. Other conversion tactics might include adding an email sign up form and promoting live events. More advanced tactics might include providing a store front and running a contest. Facebook really is a game changer for small businesses. It offers free access to a huge population of active internet users. Many small businesses are benefiting. So why are you waiting? Jump in!
Rachel will be speaking about this topic at the Midpeninsula Professional Alliance 9/21 breakfast meeting at Scott’s Seafood in Town & Country Village in Palo Alto, CA. The meeting is open to all. Click here to register.
Get Creative with Facebook Landing Tabs (Pics)
*This article was originally posted on the Women In Consulting blog. It is posted here with a few modifications.
If you have a Facebook page for your business, you might want to consider adding a landing tab. A landing tab is a tab people land on if they have not “Liked” your page yet.
Most often, businesses use these as “Welcome” tabs. The intent is to give people more information about the business and what they will find on the Facebook page with the goal of an increased conversion rate to “Like”. A recent BrandGlue study found a 47% conversion rate to “Like” with a landing tab vs. a 23% conversion rate without a landing tab.
Here are some examples of “Welcome” tabs. Note that most ask the visitor to “Like” the page, offer some information about the business and the Facebook page, and many have short videos.
Texto Graphic Design – A graphic rich landing tab.
Social Media Examiner and EzineArticles – These are straight forward with simple messaging and videos.
Mari Smith – Tab of the Facebook guru Mari Smith. With the primary objective of an increased conversion rate, her
tab includes a video, letter about herself and her page, and more.
Businesses are using landing tabs in other creative ways as well..
Diet Coke has a simple and inviting entry way.
Dunkin Donuts and Papa Johns are promoting contests.
Threadless and Carters are selling products on their landing tabs.
Starbucks and Dominos are promoting Rewards programs.
And still other businesses use this tab as a social media hub. See Carnival’s “Carnival”
tab complete with email opt-in, videos, Twitter opt-in, photos, polls, and more.
Does your business have a Facebook landing tab? If so, share the link here. Of if you have any favorites, share those too!
5 Tips for More Effective Facebook Fan Pages
Whether you have an established Facebook business page or are planning to launch one soon, here are five tips to make your page more effective.
1. Provide content helpful to your audience
This sounds obvious, but I see many business pages that spew company messages that are not at all helpful to their fans. Don’t be one of those companies. Think about your audience. Are they coming to you as a resource? Do they want special offers/discounts? Put yourself in their shoes. Or better yet, ask a few fans/potential fans. Links to other’s relevant information are ok, but try to provide as much original content (blog posts, tips, videos, etc.) as possible.
2. Post regularly, but not too often
There is a fine line between posting enough to satisfy fans and achieve viral benefits, and posting too much and annoying fans. You want to post enough that users see your content regularly and come to view your page as a helpful resource. And, you want to give them plenty of opportunities to see your content and comment, thus sharing with their friends. If you post too often, or with irrelevant content, users may decide to stop being a fan of your page. For a very small business/consultancy, I think 1-2 posts/day is a good rule of thumb.
3. Use images whenever possible
In very informal tests, I have found that posts with images elicit more interaction than posts without images. Use your own images, or grab images online. Subscribe to sites including Shutterstock and iStockPhoto that offer free or low cost stock photos or search Google Images for images with Creative Common licenses (be sure to note that there are several licenses, and in some cases images can only be used in some circumstances, or require giving credit to the author). Try to use relevant and enticing images whenever possible.
4. Manually post blog feeds
A blog can be your best source of original content. There are several ways to automate blog posts to your Facebook wall, which is certainly handy, but I think it is better to post manually at this point. The reason is that in my opinion you want to post an accompanying image (see tip 3), include a short summary/teaser (tip 5), post at opportune times (sometimes blog articles are posted late at night, but it might be better to hit the Facebook page during the day), and attain SEO benefits. None of the current solutions I have researched (Facebook Notes application, Networked Blogs, or Social RSS), can do everything mentioned. Every case is different. It may make sense for you to automate, but in general I recommend manually posting blog feeds at this point.
5. Encourage fans to interact
Some audiences are very comfortable on Facebook, and to these audiences commenting and posting comes easily. Other audiences are not as used to interacting and need some prodding. If you are speaking to the latter, help them get more accustomed to interacting by posing questions, and letting the group know you value their thoughts and feedback. When you are just starting your page, it is also helpful to ask friends and colleagues to post to get the ball rolling.
I hope these tips are helpful. If you have comments or other tips, please share!
Rachel’s New Blog
Hello and welcome to my blog on digital marketing. Stay tuned for my thoughts on what’s new and exciting in the world of digital marketing.
-Rachel
