One of the aspects that I most enjoy about Inbound Marketing is that there is always something to learn. New tools are introduced every month (if not ever week), existing platforms are updated, and occasionally you discover, or re-discover, options that have been available to you all along. Although a little embarssing to admit - this was the case for me this past week.
Over the past couple of years I have spent a great deal of time reading about Facebook, talking about Facebook, and using Facebook. However, just in the past few days I have learned two new - at least to me - very easy and very effective, (and very obvious?) marketing options that are available to Facebook "Pages".
The trick however, is that these two options are not available to you if you are signed in as the page administrator - which is how I have always missed them.
Invite Your Friends to your Facebook "Page"
The first ah-ha moment actually came about late last week when one of my clients was trying to figure out how to invitie her "personal" friends to her company's business "Page". She discovered that the available "sharing" options were different depending on whether she was signed in as the page administrator or logged onto her personal account.
If you are signed in as your page administrator, your only real options for sharing your content from your "Page" with people that have not already "liked" your page are to:
1. Promote with an Ad:
which can be very effective, but costs money, or
2. To "Share" an update:
...which only posts an update onto the Status Feed of your personal account and to those that receive it from your personal Feed.
However, if instead of going to your "Page" as the "administrator", you simply "visit" it from your personal account by searching for it . . .
. . . you are given the option to "invite friends".
Clicking the "invite friends" link opens up a list of the people that have "friended" your personal account. You can select either "Recent Interactions" or "Search all Friends" to display the list that you want to work with. Your "friends" that have already "liked" your page will appear faded, while those that have not will appear normal. To invite one of your "friends" simply click on their picture - you can click on multiple pictures - and hit "submit".
Facebook "Recommendations"
The second tip appeared in a recent blog article from the good folks at SpinSucks:
"Recommendations: On the right-hand side of the company Facebook wall is a spot for recommendations. Ask friends to write something there. Not only does it live on that right-hand side for all to see, it hits the stream of the person who wrote it, expanding your network beyond the people who already know you."
I immediately switched over to my Facebook "Page" wondering how I had missed this great option - only to find . . .
I was quickly back to SpinSucks to read the post again - what had I missed? I finally found the answer in the "Comments" section. Again, this option is only available to people visiting your page - not to those administering it. Once I returned to my "personal" account and "visited" my "Page", the recommendation option was available.
A great opportunity for your "brand ambassadors" to share their views with your visitors!
Two very simple yet effective tools that I had overlooked for all of this time.
Your turn - what other options have you found to help with your ability to market from your Facebook Page?
Thanks for visiting. As always comments and questions are welcomed and appreciated.
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