How to make the most out of Facebook Part-2

Tips for Publisher/Content makers

If you are a website owner, a blogger or just a page owner, you had always thought to maximize your traffic from Facebook. Here are ways to attract more users and retain them through Facebook.

Networked Blogs
You have been living underground(not with Julian) if you have not heard of  NetworkedBlogs. It’s a great blog network for readers and publishers. Once connected with your blog, it will automatically share your new posts on facebook page(can also be a profile) and your twitter account. That removes the half of the effort you put in sharing every new post. You can add authors, invite friends to follow your blog, add a widget to your site and more importantly gives some back-links.
You can also add it’s app as a tab on your Facebook page or profile, so that users can have look at your posts within Facebook. Visit http://www.networkedblogs.com to get started.
Note: Facebook has discontinued RSS import in Notes app. So this is app for you, if you need that functionality.

A story created by NetworkedBlogs

Facebook Comments Box
The comments box from Facebook is a social plug-in that enable user to comment on your site through their Facebook account. The viral thing happens when a user leaves the “Post to Facebook” box checked while commenting. A story appears on his friends’ News Feed (also on his timeline) indicating that he has made a comment on your website, which will also link back to your site. What’s more, if his friends comments on that story, it automatically gets added on your site’s comments. Happy already? But there’s more, comments are automatically ordered to show users the most relevant comments from friends, friends of friends, and the most liked.
Also, it includes all the moderation tools you find in custom plug-ins. Moreover, as the comments are placed in an iFrame object they doesn’t get indexed by search bots. So, that means less spamming by SEO experts.
But the plug-in has some downfall too as the comments doesn’t get indexed, many commentors will be demotivated hence decreasing the user engagement for your blog post. One more negative is that all the comments are hosted Facebook servers which means you may have problems in case of website failure, domain name change and switching between plug-ins. Although, Facebook allows a way to backup your comments, but that would add to the already existing backup pains. Learn more here.

Comment Box

Apps for pages
All apps are not spam. Here is a list of some useful apps that are targeted to fan building and engagement.

Booshaka
Booshaka tracks your fans and highlight the top fans who are participating on your page. It lets you see your fan’s activities that he/she had been engaged into with your page. Once created an account it automatically adds a tab called ‘Top Fans’ on your page. Visit www.booshaka.com to experience it.

YourTube for pages
Like me, if you are both a blogger and YouTube publisher, you may also want to show off your videos on the page. There are a few apps that can help you but ‘YourTube for pages’ by Involver does the best job. Easy to get through and even offers sharing. Get it from here http://www.facebook.com/YouTubeApp.

ContactMe
Receiving messages on your facebook page feels so unprofessional. And if you manage a page regarding freelancing or outsourcing, you must have thought for a way that allows your fans to reach you or allowed clients to contact you. ContactMe does all the job that a Contact page on blog/website will do.

Twitter/Pinterest/Google+ Tabs
Show off your other social network stuff on the Facebook page itself and let users follow you there. I really loved the Pinterest app tab from Woobox. No unnecessary tweaks, as simple as a pinterest user would like. For twitter you could either go with Woobox or AntzMedia depending on if you like simplicity or customization. You might not be regular on Google+, but you may become because of just two natural facts- it’s a Service by Google and secondly Google’s new Author Rank has your G+ on top preference. So, here’s a app to show off your G+ activity on your page.

Your own app
If still not been able to find the app you need, you can create your very own tab app. It’s not that difficult as it sounds. You can follow this simple Video tutorial from labnol.org.

If you hate hard work, then IFrame Apps can save some steps in setting up your own app page.

Important Tips
Don’t over post
Posting regularly is good or maybe must, but unless your business is related to news and events, don’t post more than twice a day. Over posting creates spammy environment and I must tell you that unlike button is not hard to reach.

Timing your posts
Studies reveal posting at the appropriate time results in remarkable increase in user engagement. The correct timing will depend upon the audience you target. Like if you target the service class, 8 – 11 PM on weekdays can be a good time to post. Students are thought to be in discovery mode late night, so you might want adjust your timing for updates accordingly. However, if you’re not the one you could be awake till late night then you may already know that you can schedule your posts on pages. No?

Schedule your facebook post

Length of the Post
Research reveals, posts less than 80 characters in length receive 66% higher engagement than longer posts. So try to keep your post short and to the point, and if you can’t, you can think of turning the text into a nice infographic. To increase user engagement you may also consider asking question in your updates or maybe something like a fill in the blanks (that works great). Also remember, that ‘Questions’ feature still works great!

Don’t forget that little things
The timeline gives you tools to show what you want. So keep using the ‘Pin to Top’, ‘Highlight’ and also the ‘Milestone’ feature. It makes the users believe that they are not scrolling for some spam stuff but instead are discovering more about your brand. Moreover, always keep in mind the cover photo. It should be simple yet catchy.

Social Plug-ins
Social plug-ins turn every page of your website to a Facebook page. They increase user engagement for both your website and Facebook page. Moreover, by implementing social plug-ins the content can be displayed based on their Facebook preferences and what their friends have liked. Also, it will allow them to engage with their Facebook friends regarding your content. In short, they help users go social without even logging into your site.
The most useful one’s are: Like Box, Comments Plugin (discussed above), Recommendation Bar which allows readers to get recommendation according to their friend’s liking and even the like/share the article they are currently reading, Activity Feed an another plugin allows users to see their friends engagement with your site.

Recommendation Bar

Disable Messaging
Recently, Facebook added the messaging feature to pages. But it may be irrelevant to you, or maybe you know you will not answer, or maybe you have installed a ContactMe app that you want your users to use instead. So to disable it head to Edit Page in the admin panel, select ‘Manage Permissions’ from the drop-down. Now uncheck the box which says “Show Message button on “. Disabling it also force the users to post on page thus further increasing user engagement.

Hiding Messages and other settings

Featured Likes
This is a feature from the pre-timeline times, it let’s you show off other pages as featured likes on the right side on your timeline. To do this you first click on the drop-down in the navigation bar and select ‘Use Facebook as yourpage ‘, then search for the page you want to show and like it. Now in the admin panel of your page Select Edit page > Update Info > Featured Tab > Edit Featured Likes and checkmark the page you want to show on your timeline. This is really helpful to show off other pages you own or the pages which are related to your product.

Featured Likes on Microsoft’s Page

Custom Tab Image
You can have custom image for an app, if you don’t like the default one. To have one, Go to Edit Page in the Admin Panel > Update Information > Apps. Now, select ‘Edit Settings’ for the desired app and click on ‘Change’ next to Custom Tab Image. Also, you can have Custom tab name, enter the desired title and make sure you click on ‘Save’ before clicking ‘Ok’.

Re-arrange featured Tabs
If you installed too many app tabs after reading this article, you may also want the visitors to see your hardwork. Users are only able to see first four tabs on your page’s timeline, rest are hidden until a user clicks on that small drop-down on the right. To fix, you can always re-arrange your hidden tabs with the shown one’s. The photos tab is an exception and can’t be re-arranged. When all tabs are expanded, click on the little pencil icon and select the tab which you want swap the position with.

Re-arranging Tabs

Hey! wait every publisher is a user first so, don’t forget to read How to make the most out of Facebook Part-1