Social Media Marketing: Starting Your First Facebook Group or Fan Page
As part two of our beginner’s guide on social media, we are following up with a focus on online promotion using Facebook. Like millions of other users, you probably found yourself initially using Facebook to connect with old classmates, or keep up with distant relatives. Over the past years, it has exploded into a major social network with lucrative opportunities for individuals to find a new job, and for businesses to find new talent.
If you desire a strong online presence, it’s a no-brainer that having a Facebook account is task number one. The real challenge is understanding how to stand out in a heavily trafficked platform, where everyone has something to say. So how can you get the exposure you need for your blog, your Web site, or your business? Here are a few proven tips in social media marketing you can put to use on Facebook.
- Pick between a Group or Fan Page
- Fire Up the Conversation
- Offer Something Unique and Valuable
- Make Smart Use of Your Members List
You’re not the only one who may be getting frustrated with Facebook and/or Twitter, wondering if you’re wasting your time, because it’s easy to spend hours updating your page or searching for connections. Should you use a Facebook Group, or should you spend your time creating a Fan Page? Facebook only permits you to have one private (individual) profile and one public (fan) profile.
A Group Page is useful for businesses, where you create brand awareness as well as an open forum for members to discuss relevant topics. The benefit of a Fan Page is that your profile is public – and it will show up on News Feeds and by keyword search in Facebook’s search engine.
The most powerful element of a Facebook Group or Fan Page is its interactivity. Give your readers a reason to keep checking back, and to also participate. You’re more likely to engage online friends when they’re doing more than scanning the page. You could accomplish this by adding an application or poll to your Fan Page, and finding other ways to elicit feedback.
What does your Facebook page give readers – which they can’t find anywhere else? It is important to give something for free, making your fans or friends feel like they’ve gained something from spending time on your profile. Some offer free tips or downloads related to their subject area. You could use this space to connect with users by having them sign up for free, online events. You could offer free how-to videos linked to YouTube, or even host mini giveaway contests to boost interest. Use your imagination.
One major difference between Facebook Group and Fan Pages is that only the Fan Page gives you an unlimited amount of fans. With a Group or Personal Profile, you are cut off at 5,000 friends. With a Fan Page, you’re more likely to grab up new visitors by popular search keywords, so be sure to fine tune your title and information sections to maximize your presence. With both types of pages, you have the benefit of contacting your friends and fans by private message anytime you want. However, use this feature wisely. The key is to send communications to remind friends to check on new page updates, or touch on upcoming events and issues that would interest to them.
5 Easy Ways to Start Building More Backlinks to Your Blog
Having other Web sites and blogs link their readers back to your blog is extremely essential to your presence online. Not only does this increase your page views and followers, but it also improves how high up Google ranks your blog over time.
If you’re new to backlinks, you should think of this as a well-planned strategy to get other people (besides yourself) talking about your blog, and in a good way. As your blog begins to gain traction in the enormous blogosphere, there will be times when your fellow bloggers find the completely organic desire to direct readers over to you. In the meantime, there are five practical tips for building backlinks to your Web site that will allow you to build long-term growth and page rankings.
- Add your URL to your signature – This is the most basic step you should take now to promote your blog through every interaction and conversation through the Web. You can create a unique signature, or just simply make sure that you’re including your Web site or brand name, the hyperlink, and possibly a meaningful tagline to pique some interest. Next, as you leave comments in forums, blog commenting, and guest books, your blog link will gain some prominence.
- Share your expertise with Google Knol — Recently, Google has launched a knowledge-sharing Web site called Google Knol. It’s free to write your own “knol” on what you know best, and it’s easy to import relevant documents to enhance your page’s content. Once you publish it, no one else can edit it (unlike Wikipedia), plus you have the opportunity to create backlinks to your blog.
- Start video marketing – Have you taken advantage of YouTube yet? Look out for potential ways to create informative or entertaining videos on your subject, and share it on YouTube for free. Once you submit it, you can post your blog link into the description box to generate new traffic. There are a number of other places you can promote your videos (and ultimately your site links). You can share it on Facebook, Twitter, and social bookmarking sites. Tumblr.com is another effective tool where you can share video and photos by computer or mobile phone.
- Write guest posts for other blogs – Instead of cold calling or e-mailing the owner of a related Web site, you might find it more beneficial to be a guest blogger for them. This way, both parties win. You get a backlink to your blog (and possibly a descriptive paragraph about you), and they get free and useful content for their audience.
- Trade services with similar bloggers – Take it up a step from guest blogging, and trade other valued services with bloggers or Web site owners in your niche. The possibilities are endless. For instance, you could exchange backlink for backlink, or highlight their business in a special interview or “top 50” list on your site. You may find there’s an opportunity in the future to connect on a similar issue or event, in which you could launch a campaign together – whether it’s fundraising for a similar cause, joining for a global blogging event online, spreading awareness, or hosting a contest for readers.
Social Media and You: A Beginner’s Guide to Building a Twitter Profile
Considering how huge social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are, it can be tricky to find the promotional techniques that really make an impact on attracting traffic to your blog or Web site. You’re not alone if you’ve found that you’ve spent hours in building your account, making new connections, and posting updates – with few noticeable results. Soon, using social media can seem unfruitful and become an undervalued tool for promoting your blog.
With the right approach, your social media presence can work for you with better ease. One of the reasons why your blog isn’t gaining any growth through Facebook and Twitter is because audiences gain no benefit from following you. It will take a little more effort than posting the title and link of each blog post. While this is one of the newest tools encouraged on OnTopList.com, it is intended to serve as a daily (or even hourly) update to your followers.
In order to make a bigger difference, you need to look at social media as a community effort. Therefore, to get retweets and backlinks, you will have to do the same for your followers. Think carefully about the free benefits that you offer readers. Social media sites can offer a great platform for giving away exclusive benefits, such as inside tips or giveaways. Become part of a larger conversation, and give your followers a reason to consider you a valuable source for knowledge or service in your topic.
Twitter-ific Tips – Build a Smart Profile and They Will Come
In recent years, Twitter has grown into an unusually popular phenomenon. Instead of a robust profile page like Facebook, Twitter confines you to posting messages to your followers in 140 characters or less. While in certain ways, this method is limiting, it also allows the opportunity for you to get creative.
To make sure you’re off to a solid start, here are some essential steps to building a Twitter presence:
- Use a unique label or the name of your blog as your profile title
- Include a hyperlink back to your blog home page
- Promote your Twitter profile via blog posts, e-mails, and other Web communications
- Consider the best SEO keywords to use in your Tweets to improve Google rankings
· Increase backlinks by encouraging retweets of your blog articles
Insider Tip #1: Using Lists
One of the latest features is all about Lists, making it easier to organize all of the large loads of information you receive in short waves. How does this help you? This level of content customization makes your updates more accessible to new viewers. Spend some time checking in with related Twitter lists, and start talking with others who share your interests. After you create a list for your blog, you can look and see how readers feel about your content.
Insider Tip #2: Liven Up the Conversation
The most successful Twitter promoters are able to build a valued presence simply because they can create “marketing” appeal without having to sound like it. Twitter is, above all, a conversational place. Uniform updates like “Check this out,” “make more money,” “US legislation passed today,” or “my technology review” can lose its appeal fast.
Try to change the way you push readers to click on your blog links. What is the main benefit of reading an article of yours, for example? Consider the emotional appeals, timely headlines, and top keywords on Twitter that day, which could speak louder than “please click on my link!” Your posts should be more than links. Take advantage of Twitter’s picture tool to add the visual element, and brainstorm new ways to add some spice to the online conversation on a hot topic.
Coming soon in March, we will be featuring strategies and quick tips on how to improve your Facebook profile to promote your blog.
The New Facebook & Twitter Tool: Blog Promotion Just Got Easier
Blog promotion is an ongoing, everyday effort. Our new distribution tool enables you to tap into the power of viral marketing by sharing blog entries in multiple places as soon as you publish them. Popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter connect you with thousands of people around the world, who perhaps you’ve met in person, or simply follow you because you share similar interests and experiences.
OnTopList.com offers a new, valuable way to boost promotion of every new blog post. In just a few easy steps, you can set up your account to instantly draw in new readership by sharing blog updates by the hour with your online network of friends, family members, colleagues, old classmates, and brief acquaintances.
You can synchronize your blog with your Facebook and Twitter accounts by doing the following:
- Click on the Feed Your Blog to Twitter and Facebook, either on your Dashboard or under the Distribute Content tab
- Submit your blog RSS feed to Twitter and/or Facebook accounts
- Manage publishing frequency through your social media sites
Once you add your RSS feed and update your settings, each new blog posting is published through your social media sites to maximize page views. You can conveniently manage publishing frequency on your Twitter and Facebook settings – choosing from 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours. You’ll be able to keep your friends posted on the latest blog stories you publish, and make it easy for them to comment and/or share the ones they like with their network of friends.
Show Off Your Expertise with the New Article Creation Tool
Are you the expert on technology? Do you have interesting (or horrific) travel stories that would be beneficial to readers? Do you have experience in online fundraising, and have some useful feedback for those who are new to it? Or maybe you have money-saving strategies that many don’t know?
The most valuable thing your blog can offer your readership is information that is authentic, useful, and trustworthy. If you want another way to attract new readers, OnTopList’s Article Creation Tool enables you to become known as an expert in your subject area.
In just a few clicks, you can share your opinions, useful tips, and experience with hundreds of other bloggers.
- After you log in, click the Create an Article link under the My Stuff tab
- Write the title and main body of your article
- Categorize, add tags, and click the Save button to publish your article
- Select the My Articles tab to manage your articles anytime you want
Do you have a success story about how you built your blog up to what it is today? This is the perfect opportunity to share advice with other bloggers – and promote your site at the same time. You can become a leader in the OnTopList.com blog community, offering unique knowledge that other bloggers are probably searching the Web for.
If you want to grab some attention, you can speak volumes through an original article on your latest thoughts on the economy, how to get started as an entrepreneur, homemade gift ideas, and much more.
Is Your Blog Digg or Del.icio.us Worthy? How Blog Entry Length Affects the Shareable Quality of Your Blog
Many new bloggers want to know how long to make each blog posting. Does the rule of “less is more” apply here? Or is it truly the size that matters in the blogosphere? The length of your blog posts may make a difference. So what can you do to make your blog more appealing in your niche, and to improve the sharing of your blog posts via Facebook and Twitter, social bookmarking sites (Digg and Delicious), and e-mail forwarding?
The truth is that there is no rule-of-thumb on blog word count. If you look at some of the most successful blogs, you’ll find a large variety of posting lengths. Often, the subject matter and audience shape the length and overall structure of blog content.
The Attention Span of Your Readership
According to one study, only 16% of online readers tend to read word for word, and the average user only comprehends 60% of what he or she reads. If you write in a specific niche (i.e. politics), your audience may have more patience and, more importantly, more interest in reading longer blog entries. For example, topics of great value could include expert interviews, profiles of businesses, or commentary on an upcoming election. Understanding the range of your audience is important, so that you can see if it’s appropriate to have long and content-rich posts or short daily posts (less than 400 words).
Research: Finding the Best Fit for You
Before you start slicing and dicing away at old blog entries, you can collect research through your blog statistics to determine your solution.
- Look at visitor interaction with your Web site. Do your shorter blog entries receive more feedback from your readers?
- If all of your blog entries have the same length, you should take this opportunity to alternate in length for a period of time. After the test period is completed, compare the number of visits and comments on the different blog entries.
- Also, make sure that your blog is equipped with some type of user rating tool – such as a 5-star or other ranking feature on every blog post – that will enable readers to let you know what they do and don’t like about your blog.
Making Your Blog Entry Scannable
What typically occurs is that the average online reader will scan the page for information – such as images, bulleted lists, or subheadings that catch their attention. Here are a few helpful hints to make your blog post:
- Use bullets or numbered lists to make your point. For instance, our blog frequently uses bullets to drive a central message, and it makes it easier for users to navigate in long blog entries.
- Use photos, bold subheadings, italicized text, and/or colored hyperlinks to emphasize important sections. If you’re able to use more than one image in a blog post, you could line them up with the related section, and help guide the reader through the end of the article. Rely on text formatting to allow easy scanning for keywords, catchy subtitles, or tips that appeal to the reader.
- Use shorter paragraphs online than you would in a Word document. Printed documents usually allow 5-7 sentences per paragraph, but on a blog or Web site, this is challenging to read. Try to keep paragraphs easy and digestible, and make your key message appear as early as possible.
5 Free Blog Features & Tools That Can Enhance Site Usability
Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, and similar blogging services offer you options to make your site appealing as well as easy for users to find information easily. How long does the average user spend on your blog now? If you’re not seeing a lot of click-throughs, or your home page gets all of your daily Web visits, then chances are that nothing is drawing readers to click on any titles, links, or side tools (this could include the top-rated entries, tag cloud, about me, blogroll, etc).
What do you need to make Web visitors click more blog stories, explore your Web site at greater length, and generally get more enjoyment? This brief article highlights 5 free features to jazz up your blog usability, making the user experience more appealing.
- PollDaddy & Vizu: These two blog widgets are compatible with various blogging platforms, and offer more options for polling your readership on key topics. PollDaddy is the most well-known source, and is used by popular media sites including Fox, PC World, Wired, and TechCrunch. Vizu is a simplified poll widget that works best with testing popular issues with 4 or fewer options, like “What is your favorite travel booking Web site” or “are you considering buying the new Google phone”.
- LibraryThing: What are you most passionate about – food, fashion, celebrity gossip, high-tech gadgets, books, etc? Use LibraryThing to show off the books you love, have read, or want to recommend right on your blog. They’ve also recently launched an application to work with mobile phones, so it’s easier to update your lists.
- IntenseDebate: This is a great blog add-on that will help keep conversations flowing between you and your followers. If you want to make your Web site more interactive, IntenseDebate is a recommended user feature that will give you more options for expanding user comments on blog entries. You can easily moderate comments via e-mail, and enable users to build their own profiles, contribute to message threads, and also use Facebook or Twitter to comment.
- Leafletter: The free widget from Leafletter is designed to increase the usability of other sections or pages of your Web site. You customize the layout and design, so that you can highlight specific parts of your blog that you want to put at the visitor’s fingertips. This includes any combination of audio, video, images, and text that will help encourage users to browse other sections hidden from plain sight.
- Mashable: If you’re unfamiliar with Mashable.com, it offers daily news and tips on social networking trends and software. They’ve developed a free widget, which will allow you to promote some of the latest stories on social media that may be useful for your readers.
Also, on the topic of useful blog tools and user features, OnTopList.com has launched a Twitter & Facebook RSS Feed tool, making it easier for you to distribute blog content every day. Now you can feed your blog to the most popular social networking sites, and increase your readership even more.
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Is It Time to Say Goodbye to an Old Blog Design?
When something works, it works – no matter how long you’ve stuck to it. Picking a blog template is often like your favorite pair of jeans. You put most of your effort into choosing one from a selection of other designs and fits. Then, as soon as it’s over, and you’re happy with your pick, you’re done. You’re comfortable, and perhaps don’t plan to buy again until your jeans have completely exhausted their use.
Check out Time Magazine’s recent review of the top 25 blogs of 2009. What makes a successful blog exactly? Maybe your blog design works for you. You’ve had it for years. However, times are changing fast, and staying up with the traffic of competing Web sites and emerging audience interests can be tough if you want to stay put.
By looking at some of the winners, there are a few things to be learned about the blog features that are great at generating buzz:
- Create more of a two-way conversation. The blog that tops that list is the Talking Points Memo, which was launched by journalist Josh Marshall during the Florida recount of the 2000 election. One of the top reasons that it generated a lively discussion is that he frequently took advantage of opportunities to get readers involved – he solicited news tips, asked readers to sift through government information, and opened up multiple participation features on the blog.
- Pictures speak louder than headlines. Earlier, I’ve mentioned the value of using videos and images to boost the visual appeal of your blog posts. Lifehacker is another blog that made the top 10, and I found their unusual blog layout and design quite appealing. It manages to use a whole lot of videos and pictures for full impact. Right at the top, there is a blog tool for readers to submit tips or comments in a few seconds. Although the home page is quite long (it’s usually recommended to keep the majority “above the fold”), there’s no doubt that it’s worth scrolling. Each blog posting is attractive, as it is paired with a large graphic and brief look at the content.
- Decide how far your message will travel. Are you speaking to people in your local community, your country, or the entire world? This depends on your blog subject. If you feel that the issues you blog about are significant enough to extend across every corner of the world, perhaps it’s not enough to assume all of your potential readers read or prefer content in English. You may want to consider enhancing your site’s accessibility. For instance, Generacion Y is an issue advocacy blog that provides a number of translations for an international audience.
- A one-stop site on a special topic. Slashfood is another “best blog of 2009,” and a favorite that I have consulted and exchanged links through personal blogging. This site successfully makes the best of colorful graphics to hook in readers. However, the ultimate feature I see is their capacity to become a one-stop source on everything related to their niche.
Consider, what would my readers want to know? Sometimes an interesting blog can make a reader desire to learn more about a person, place, news source, or product you have mentioned. Slashfood has effectively covered significant ground by providing a list of related Web resources found elsewhere, editor picks and reviews, recipes, cookbooks, timely news surrounding food, and expert interviews.
If you use blogging platforms like Blogger or WordPress, you’ve found a variety of options to change your blog’s navigation and user features. There are additional places online that offer blog templates, tools, and user features that can complement your blog. Next up, I’ll be posting about the 5 free blog features that may help make your site easier and more fun to navigate.
Blog Content Ideas: How You Can Generate New and Interesting Blog Posts
There are times when you may blog less frequently because you aren’t sure of what to blog about. You should definitely blog when you have something interesting or important to say, and not just for the sake of having something up on your site. If the topic is lukewarm, you can expect your blog audience to lose interest over time.
The quality of your blog’s content is a major factor influencing Web visibility, and writing great blog posts on a regular basis can be challenging. So what can you do to post weekly or daily, and offer something of value to your readers? Here are a few easy tips on how you can keep up with timely blog topics as well as create something worth talking about, commenting on, and forwarding to more people.
Sign up for Daily News Summaries
How do you keep up with the news surrounding your blogging subject? Many people favor a particular publication for the top headlines, such as The Washington Post (US) or The Guardian (UK). Or perhaps you use Google to search through the thousands of news stories published every day. You should consider subscribing to a news service, as there are several Web sites out there that compile stories from a variety of sources according to topic. This will save you a great deal of time, and are often free to use.
Here are a few examples:
SmartBrief: Receive a summary of the top headlines from a broad range of publications in your e-mail inbox every day. There’s one for over 25 different industries, including: restaurants and hospitality, social media, business management, tourism, sustainability, medicine, technology, education, and gaming.
Reuters: Find breaking news in politics, healthcare, technology, consumer products and much more through Reuter’s news wire service. You can customize your e-mails based on topic or keywords as well as by country.
CNN News Alerts: Similar to Google News Alerts, you can customize news summaries sent via e-mail according to the keywords that appeal to your blog subject. BBC also has the same free feature to make reading the news more convenient.
Interview People in Your Niche
Your take on a blogging topic (i.e. politics, entertainment, music, etc) is a large element drawing in readership. Perhaps it’s your unusual point of view or your quippy sense of humor. The one thing that can turn your blog into a trustworthy and timely place to find information is expert content. Find opportunities to interview people in your blog niche, so that you are providing other opinions which may come highly regarded. Look outside your area, and try to arrange a brief exchange over e-mail, Web chat, or phone.
Do More Offline
Sometimes the answer is to do more offline in order to generate interesting topics and discussions on your blog. For instance, if you blog about the latest consumer technology gadgets, when was the last time you shopped at an electronics store like Best Buy instead of shopped online? Test out the new features of a new Apple MP3 player or the Google Phone with your own two hands. If you blog about entertainment, fashion, music, politics, or sports, attend a local event. When you’re away from the computer, you’ll find there will be a lot of amusing things you’ll want to blog about.
Use Social Networking
Popular social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can become more useful for coming up with something new to blog about. What do you want to know that you can ask your community of online friends? Joining discussion boards through Facebook and LinkedIn can allow you to get valuable feedback quickly. You can get more from Twitter by subscribing to media members such as the New York Times or related magazines. Next time you’re there, check up on the topic trends to see if there are blog-worthy issues that you can use.
SEO Facts Straight from the Top Search Engine
Where better to learn about how to optimize your blog than Google, one of the top search giants? If you’re new to search engine optimization (SEO) or wish to improve your blog ranking, Google offers a great number of tips on the Web. By understanding how search engines like Google interpret and direct Web users towards your blog, you can become an advanced SEO blogger.
I’ve explored some of Google’s greatest tips and SEO strategies in a variety of places, including their official blog (www.google-success.com), a how-to video published by one of Google’s engineers, and related news sources. Take a brief glimpse at the most useful recommendations from the search experts.
Recognizing “Trustworthy” Information
According to the NY Times article on Google in 2007, Google has a unique search algorithm that ranks Web sites and blogs based on over 200 different signals. The Web search engine is able to pick out trustworthy news sources that will best benefit Web users in their keyword searches. For instance, Google News is able to rate sites based on click-through data on news stories. This calls for more interesting and catchy blog titles, and topic-specific terms that appeal to a targeted audience.
Also, Google identifies phrases like “according to the Washington Post” in wire stories. So, it is far to assume that if your story is mentioned in multiple places, your blog will gain a higher ranking. And a blog post about a popular news story will gain a stronger presence.
Don’t Spam Your Blog Articles
One of the things that will weaken your blog is weighing it down with too many external Web links. It’s not a good idea to rely too much on link building to draw in new readers or raise your Web ranking. Avoid using excessive links that aren’t related to the blog posting, and try not to list your blog page through other Web sites that aren’t related. The content of your blog should be, above everything, original, informative, and appealing to readers. Using too many links will likely harm your blog’s reputation in the long run.
Comment, Discuss, and Network Often
You can subtly draw readership to your blog by expanding your online network. Keep plugged into related blogs and Web sites that cover the topics you’re passionate about. Comment on other authors’ blogs, and also participate in discussion forums and chat rooms that interest you. Be careful that you don’t post your blog link forcefully at the end of every online conversation. Not only does this convey shameless self-promotion (and not a genuine interest in the topic), it could get you banned or kicked out of online conversations. Most forums allow you to create a signature, which is the ideal place to list your blog.
Video & Photo Blogging Tips
According to Maile Ohye, Google’s Developer Programs Team Lead, their search engine does favor certain types of formats. As you post SEO photos to your blog, keep in mind that Google particularly favors JPEGs over PNGs. Also, be certain that your images are tagged with your top keywords to boost your Web site’s overall search optimization. Videos hosted on YouTube, which is currently owned by Google, can significantly increase your Web ranking more so than videos hosted through other sites.