Facebook - a popular name among those who are so into it. Individuals who have an account in Facebook are now using more of their time to socialize with other people amidst the distance and lack of time. And even if a community like Facebook serves numerous advantages, it also proves to have certain disadvantages as well. There are now series of improvements in the system just to make up with the shortcomings. Arguments regarding the different advantages and disadvantages of Facebook are stated below.
Advantages
· Allows user search for new and old friends
· Accessible to chosen universities having a high level of security
· Makes it less awkward when communicating with strangers or people you are not familiar with
· Love attraction - can be used as a dating service system
· Makes it easier to join groups having similar likes and dislikes
· Allows members to check students who are taking the same class, living within the same area, or coming from the same academy
Disadvantages
· Overcrowding
· Weakening long distance relationship
· Unsupported by physical adjacency
· Contributes wide-range procrastination
· Rampant addiction
· Stalking is possible
· Acquaintances be labeled as friends
Surely, the disadvantages don't pose a threat to you just by merely looking at it. Someone else has to prove that what users do with their profile is directly in proportion with what can happen to them. A user must understand what he is trying to give out otherwise things might get messy and people will mistook them as someone else.
It is quite obvious that a trade off is happening between the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook. While it increases the communication and connection between friends and the online community it also increases the risk of procrastination and makes it easier for others to stalk a user. Worse, some are actually punished for what they put on their profile and would claim that it was there only for fun.
Despite the above mentioned advantages and disadvantages of an online networking service, it still is gaining demand and popularity among the young crowd. There are about 10,000 students (professionals and young professionals not yet included) who are joining into Facebook every day. This is regardless of the age, race and country. Some are now trying to criticize the status of professionalism of this site whether it's just another fad like other online networking services are.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lorna_H._Findlay
How To Use Facebook To Create Online Income
Facebook is quite simply massive. Last count there were 350 million registered users with 175 million of those logging on each day.
Do you think you can make money with that sort of traffic? Of course you can!
Below are several methods which people use successfully. All you need to do is add the all important ideas for the subject matter.
Create a popular Facebook page or group
First, create a page or a group in Facebook.
You need to make it interesting, popular and "viral worthy". Think outside the box, try and work out what is going to be popular. The hard bit is, you need lots and lots of followers (2000+). Start by inviting all your friends and asking them to invite their friends. If you've chosen your subject well, it has a unique (and popular) angle, it will go viral and hopefully snowball in numbers.
Once you have this following you can advertise in a number of ways but a favourite is too use the My Stuff Ap application to create an advertising box where you can promote affiliate products or sell advertising directly.
Using social ads to sell goods directly or through affiliate links.
Facebook Social ads allow advertising on Facebook by targeting. For example if you had a golf e-book to promote you would target people who had entered golf as one of their interests.
You can also use demographics such as age, gender and relationship status. If we take relationship status as an example if you were selling membership to a dating site you'd target people whose relationship status was single. If you were selling a 'how to organise the perfect wedding' ebook you'd target people that had a status of engaged.
The great thing is you don't need your own product, or your own website, you can direct your ad to an affiliate link and get commission from each sale.
Sell items on Facebook marketplace
You can sell a product directly through market place to your friends or, more excitingly from a money making perspective, to people on the same network as you. Using the golf eBook as an example you'd join as many golfing networks as possible to try and get the largest exposure for your product.
Create a popular game or application.
Facebook games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville have got millions of players. They are usually free to join but players pay to get upgrades and advance quicker.
To do this you either need to be a programmer with skills such as HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL API, FBML. If that is daunting....... you'll need to pay someone or more likely a group to do this for you.
Apps (short for applications) such as the 'my stuff' Ap can be sold for money or more often given away free to create massive traffic to your Facebook page. You then sell advertising on this page.
Paul Middleton is a successful Internet entrepreneur. He shares some of his secrets on his website where he shows how anyone can make money online.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Middleton
Do you think you can make money with that sort of traffic? Of course you can!
Below are several methods which people use successfully. All you need to do is add the all important ideas for the subject matter.
Create a popular Facebook page or group
First, create a page or a group in Facebook.
You need to make it interesting, popular and "viral worthy". Think outside the box, try and work out what is going to be popular. The hard bit is, you need lots and lots of followers (2000+). Start by inviting all your friends and asking them to invite their friends. If you've chosen your subject well, it has a unique (and popular) angle, it will go viral and hopefully snowball in numbers.
Once you have this following you can advertise in a number of ways but a favourite is too use the My Stuff Ap application to create an advertising box where you can promote affiliate products or sell advertising directly.
Using social ads to sell goods directly or through affiliate links.
Facebook Social ads allow advertising on Facebook by targeting. For example if you had a golf e-book to promote you would target people who had entered golf as one of their interests.
You can also use demographics such as age, gender and relationship status. If we take relationship status as an example if you were selling membership to a dating site you'd target people whose relationship status was single. If you were selling a 'how to organise the perfect wedding' ebook you'd target people that had a status of engaged.
The great thing is you don't need your own product, or your own website, you can direct your ad to an affiliate link and get commission from each sale.
Sell items on Facebook marketplace
You can sell a product directly through market place to your friends or, more excitingly from a money making perspective, to people on the same network as you. Using the golf eBook as an example you'd join as many golfing networks as possible to try and get the largest exposure for your product.
Create a popular game or application.
Facebook games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville have got millions of players. They are usually free to join but players pay to get upgrades and advance quicker.
To do this you either need to be a programmer with skills such as HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL API, FBML. If that is daunting....... you'll need to pay someone or more likely a group to do this for you.
Apps (short for applications) such as the 'my stuff' Ap can be sold for money or more often given away free to create massive traffic to your Facebook page. You then sell advertising on this page.
Paul Middleton is a successful Internet entrepreneur. He shares some of his secrets on his website where he shows how anyone can make money online.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Middleton
Ecommerce Facebook Integration
Facebook, once only known for social gatherings and connecting with friends on the web, is starting to look more and more like a huge online marketplace. Retailers are scrambling to reach the enormous audience that Facebook draws in daily and turn users into paying customers. It started with the Facebook Fan Pages, which allowed businesses to create a presence for their brand on the social media site. They are allowed an unlimited number of fans to follow their fan page, and many big name retailers have already successfully created a large following. Recently Facebook has been linked to e-commerce on an even bigger scale. Many of these businesses which were already well integrated with Facebook are beginning to create their own e-commerce apps, allowing them to sell their products to their fans directly through Facebook.
If you own an online business or are thinking of starting one and you have not tried Facebook marketing yet then you better get started. The first thing you must do is create a Facebook Fan Page. It's quick and easy, just look for the link on their site and fill out the information. Once you have done that, it's time to really begin customizing the page in a fun way that will draw people in and get them to become fans. Here is a list of features on the fan page and how you can use it to promote your business.
Wall - get your fans to leave comments in this area, share their thoughts, help make suggestions, ask a question, etc.
Info - write a description of your business, make it clever and remember to speak to your audience in a way that they will like
Notes - share the latest news on your e-commerce business, announce promotions, etc.
FBML - create up to 10 customized html display areas where you can add anything you can think of
Photos - add photos of your products and you can allow your fans to share theirs
Discussions - get the conversation started, have your fans give you feedback
Videos - add videos to promote your products and demonstrate how to use them, you can also allow your fans to share their videos
Events - announce special upcoming events or promotions
Reviews - have your fans rate your products or services
Others - add other applications created by third party developers that are meant for use on the fan page
Once you have your fan page set up you can start focusing on how to attract traffic. Your page does not have to be perfect, it's one of those things where the more participation you are able to get, the better the content. So start small and watch it grow and develop over time. Once you are able to reach the pulse of your fans, you can think more creatively about what to offer them on your Facebook fan page. You can create exclusive coupons just for them. You can also start a fun contest for your fans as part of a promotional campaign where the winner receives something for free. Try to think of as many creative and fun Facebook marketing ideas to increase the amount of interaction on your fan page.
Ads are another great Facebook marketing tactic to get people to take notice. However Facebook ads are in a lot of ways very different from other types of ads. The advertisements on Facebook cannot focus on direct sales like Google AdWords ads can. The reason for this is that they each have a completely different type of audience. The people on Facebook are there to socialize whereas the people on Google tend to already know what they want and actively search for it. When you are trying to reach a Facebook user, you cannot push your products on them. You must first give them a reason to become a fan and then build a relationship with them. Once the relationship is there, you can find interactive ways to keep your products and your brand fresh in their mind, and the chances of them becoming a customer is far greater. So apply to become an advertiser on the Facebook network and create banner ads that link to your Facebook Fan Page instead of your e-commerce site.
One of the more recent Facebook marketing techniques is direct selling. Since selling directly through Facebook is now all the rage, there is no reason for you not to do it too. The big name retailers are just starting to make their fan pages even more interactive by listing their products on there. The ones that have already built a large community are finding that merging e-commerce with Facebook can be very profitable.
How would you like to automatically list your products on your Facebook Fan Page? Sell your products directly to people who are clearly interested in what you have to offer. It can easily be done using integrated Facebook marketing, a feature that merges your e-commerce site with Facebook seamlessly.
Core Commerce is a full service all-in-one hosting, design, and marketing software made specifically for e-commerce businesses. You can set up your store in minutes, and with powerful tools to help with SEO, product marketing and mobile commerce, it's no wonder they are rated one of the best e-commerce solutions. Click here to try it absolutely free for 15 days, no credit card required!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_B_Xu
If you own an online business or are thinking of starting one and you have not tried Facebook marketing yet then you better get started. The first thing you must do is create a Facebook Fan Page. It's quick and easy, just look for the link on their site and fill out the information. Once you have done that, it's time to really begin customizing the page in a fun way that will draw people in and get them to become fans. Here is a list of features on the fan page and how you can use it to promote your business.
Wall - get your fans to leave comments in this area, share their thoughts, help make suggestions, ask a question, etc.
Info - write a description of your business, make it clever and remember to speak to your audience in a way that they will like
Notes - share the latest news on your e-commerce business, announce promotions, etc.
FBML - create up to 10 customized html display areas where you can add anything you can think of
Photos - add photos of your products and you can allow your fans to share theirs
Discussions - get the conversation started, have your fans give you feedback
Videos - add videos to promote your products and demonstrate how to use them, you can also allow your fans to share their videos
Events - announce special upcoming events or promotions
Reviews - have your fans rate your products or services
Others - add other applications created by third party developers that are meant for use on the fan page
Once you have your fan page set up you can start focusing on how to attract traffic. Your page does not have to be perfect, it's one of those things where the more participation you are able to get, the better the content. So start small and watch it grow and develop over time. Once you are able to reach the pulse of your fans, you can think more creatively about what to offer them on your Facebook fan page. You can create exclusive coupons just for them. You can also start a fun contest for your fans as part of a promotional campaign where the winner receives something for free. Try to think of as many creative and fun Facebook marketing ideas to increase the amount of interaction on your fan page.
Ads are another great Facebook marketing tactic to get people to take notice. However Facebook ads are in a lot of ways very different from other types of ads. The advertisements on Facebook cannot focus on direct sales like Google AdWords ads can. The reason for this is that they each have a completely different type of audience. The people on Facebook are there to socialize whereas the people on Google tend to already know what they want and actively search for it. When you are trying to reach a Facebook user, you cannot push your products on them. You must first give them a reason to become a fan and then build a relationship with them. Once the relationship is there, you can find interactive ways to keep your products and your brand fresh in their mind, and the chances of them becoming a customer is far greater. So apply to become an advertiser on the Facebook network and create banner ads that link to your Facebook Fan Page instead of your e-commerce site.
One of the more recent Facebook marketing techniques is direct selling. Since selling directly through Facebook is now all the rage, there is no reason for you not to do it too. The big name retailers are just starting to make their fan pages even more interactive by listing their products on there. The ones that have already built a large community are finding that merging e-commerce with Facebook can be very profitable.
How would you like to automatically list your products on your Facebook Fan Page? Sell your products directly to people who are clearly interested in what you have to offer. It can easily be done using integrated Facebook marketing, a feature that merges your e-commerce site with Facebook seamlessly.
Core Commerce is a full service all-in-one hosting, design, and marketing software made specifically for e-commerce businesses. You can set up your store in minutes, and with powerful tools to help with SEO, product marketing and mobile commerce, it's no wonder they are rated one of the best e-commerce solutions. Click here to try it absolutely free for 15 days, no credit card required!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_B_Xu
How Can You Capitalize on Facebook Traffic?
I want to talk to you a little bit about the importance of Facebook and capitalizing on the traffic that this site creates. This social network giant has some very incredible growth numbers, and there is a lot of free, and paid, traffic to capitalize on here. If you already have a personal Facebook page I strongly recommend creating a fan page. This separates your social site with your business, and it is a lot more professional. It also gives a better feel to your friends, because they don't feel like your always promoting your business on your personal Facebook site.
It's very easy to create a page if you don't already have one. Go to your Facebook page and scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the link labeled "advertising" and than click the middle icon that says "pages". The next page will ask you if you want to create a page. You than put in the name you want to be on this page and the rest of the info that they ask you for and your up and running!!
Once your page is created and you have uploaded a picture and the rest of your information, send an invitation to all your friends to "like your fan page. Also promote it on twitter. Use this url shortner. http://bit.ly/
If you have a blog than you can copy and paste the code of your like button to your blog as well. Make sure you also put your blog url on this page for backlinking.
Now just a little bit on the paid traffic of Facebook. It's called Facebook pay per click advertising.
If you are building your list and want to add more people to it this is a great way to do that.
Go to the Facebook applications and get the fbml application. Copy and paste your web form from your autoresponder here, and your logo or promotional text or video if you have them. Make this the landing page for your Facebook ppc campaign.
If you want to drive traffic to a site outside Facebook, like your blog, just put that URL as the landing page URL. Its really quite simple. Of course as with any ppc campaign you need to be testing your ads for better conversions.
Let me know if this helps.
Making money online is really simple if you just have the right strategies to follow; unfortunately many people never experience the success they desire because they don't have a guide to show them the way. Sign up for Jason Graber's FREE 7 Day "Online Marketing Video Boot Camp" to discover how to use the internet and turn your computer into a cash gushing machine - Go here: http://www.jasongraber.com/marketing-tips/facebook/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Graber
It's very easy to create a page if you don't already have one. Go to your Facebook page and scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the link labeled "advertising" and than click the middle icon that says "pages". The next page will ask you if you want to create a page. You than put in the name you want to be on this page and the rest of the info that they ask you for and your up and running!!
Once your page is created and you have uploaded a picture and the rest of your information, send an invitation to all your friends to "like your fan page. Also promote it on twitter. Use this url shortner. http://bit.ly/
If you have a blog than you can copy and paste the code of your like button to your blog as well. Make sure you also put your blog url on this page for backlinking.
Now just a little bit on the paid traffic of Facebook. It's called Facebook pay per click advertising.
If you are building your list and want to add more people to it this is a great way to do that.
Go to the Facebook applications and get the fbml application. Copy and paste your web form from your autoresponder here, and your logo or promotional text or video if you have them. Make this the landing page for your Facebook ppc campaign.
If you want to drive traffic to a site outside Facebook, like your blog, just put that URL as the landing page URL. Its really quite simple. Of course as with any ppc campaign you need to be testing your ads for better conversions.
Let me know if this helps.
Making money online is really simple if you just have the right strategies to follow; unfortunately many people never experience the success they desire because they don't have a guide to show them the way. Sign up for Jason Graber's FREE 7 Day "Online Marketing Video Boot Camp" to discover how to use the internet and turn your computer into a cash gushing machine - Go here: http://www.jasongraber.com/marketing-tips/facebook/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Graber
How to Make Your Facebook Business Page More Appealing
Facebook is the most popular social media site on the Internet, which makes having a page for your business a necessity. This is an ideal way to promote brand awareness and reach millions of potential consumers.
People tend to confuse Facebook groups and pages, so let's talk for a minute about the difference between Facebook Pages and Groups.
Facebook Groups vs Facebook Pages
A Facebook Group is like a club. Groups provide a way for people to communicate on common interests and can be created for just about any purpose from gaming strategy to an altruistic cause.
A Facebook Page is similar to a profile, but designed for a business, brand, celebrity, or other public entity. Anyone can become a fan of a page simply by clicking the "like" button. Pages are ideal for businesses because they allow for "updates" to be posted directly to fans, increasing visibility. Pages are also indexed by external search engines, allowing for greater accessibility and higher rankings for your business.
It is not enough to create a page for your business and then hope for fans to click the "like" button. Your page needs to stand out and be appealing. Once the "like" button has been clicked your page must stay relevant. Making your page engaging through applications is a sure fire way to generate and keep the interest of "fans".
The number of applications to make your Facebook Page more engaging grows daily, and some are better than others.
Application for Facebook Pages
Here are some applications that can enhance the appeal of your business page on Facebook:
• Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language) which allows you to customize tabs and content on your page, is one of the best applications for a business page. Customization is what will set your page apart and make it distinctive. Using this application, you can set the default tab for visitors to "land on" instead of the wall, which is the default tab. This is a great way to highlight a particular product, service, event, etc.
• Installing a Twitter application is a good way to allow people to keep up with your tweets via Facebook, and is another way to keep content fresh on your page.
• A Blog RSS Feed Reader is another way to beef-up the stream of your page feed by pulling from your blog. Again, this keeps content fresh and keeps your fans informed.
• Including Fan Appz is a good choice for social media marketing as it has features like polls, sweepstakes, promotions, coupons, and others that utilize viral engagement.
• Publicize events with apps like Eventbrite is a great way to generate awareness. This app also can handle ticket sales for your event.
Other features to consider are the use of creative and distinctive images. It is also increasingly more important to interact with fans. People like it when their comments are recognized. Engaging in the conversations that take place on the wall or in the discussions section of your page is a good way to keep interest.
A few business pages that have appeal utilizing applications are Victoria's Secret and Mont Blanc, both of which not only have nice images and customized tabs, but they both have visitors land on an interesting tab.
One not so great example is Walmart, which dumps visitors directly onto their wall, and does not have as engaging features or appealing images.
Veronica Ibarra is a freelance SEO writer. Perez-Simons Web Studios provides web design services in the Greensboro, NC area.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Veronica_Ibarra
People tend to confuse Facebook groups and pages, so let's talk for a minute about the difference between Facebook Pages and Groups.
Facebook Groups vs Facebook Pages
A Facebook Group is like a club. Groups provide a way for people to communicate on common interests and can be created for just about any purpose from gaming strategy to an altruistic cause.
A Facebook Page is similar to a profile, but designed for a business, brand, celebrity, or other public entity. Anyone can become a fan of a page simply by clicking the "like" button. Pages are ideal for businesses because they allow for "updates" to be posted directly to fans, increasing visibility. Pages are also indexed by external search engines, allowing for greater accessibility and higher rankings for your business.
It is not enough to create a page for your business and then hope for fans to click the "like" button. Your page needs to stand out and be appealing. Once the "like" button has been clicked your page must stay relevant. Making your page engaging through applications is a sure fire way to generate and keep the interest of "fans".
The number of applications to make your Facebook Page more engaging grows daily, and some are better than others.
Application for Facebook Pages
Here are some applications that can enhance the appeal of your business page on Facebook:
• Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language) which allows you to customize tabs and content on your page, is one of the best applications for a business page. Customization is what will set your page apart and make it distinctive. Using this application, you can set the default tab for visitors to "land on" instead of the wall, which is the default tab. This is a great way to highlight a particular product, service, event, etc.
• Installing a Twitter application is a good way to allow people to keep up with your tweets via Facebook, and is another way to keep content fresh on your page.
• A Blog RSS Feed Reader is another way to beef-up the stream of your page feed by pulling from your blog. Again, this keeps content fresh and keeps your fans informed.
• Including Fan Appz is a good choice for social media marketing as it has features like polls, sweepstakes, promotions, coupons, and others that utilize viral engagement.
• Publicize events with apps like Eventbrite is a great way to generate awareness. This app also can handle ticket sales for your event.
Other features to consider are the use of creative and distinctive images. It is also increasingly more important to interact with fans. People like it when their comments are recognized. Engaging in the conversations that take place on the wall or in the discussions section of your page is a good way to keep interest.
A few business pages that have appeal utilizing applications are Victoria's Secret and Mont Blanc, both of which not only have nice images and customized tabs, but they both have visitors land on an interesting tab.
One not so great example is Walmart, which dumps visitors directly onto their wall, and does not have as engaging features or appealing images.
Veronica Ibarra is a freelance SEO writer. Perez-Simons Web Studios provides web design services in the Greensboro, NC area.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Veronica_Ibarra
Social Media Setup - How to Optimize Your Profiles
What do you need to optimize your Social Media Profiles - a good foundation and a several accounts to help you manage your social networking more effectively. These are the main accounts and formats I follow when setting up social media profiles for clients and what I recommend to students in training classes as well.
PROFILE SETUP:
• Choose a keyword rich BIO - use terms people will think of when looking to search for someone like you online. Not your technical terms, words the average Joe or Jane would use when looking to find a solution to their problem online.
• Profile Picture - unless you are a major franchise do not use your business logo - want people to get to know you, they want to see your face.
• Website - if you have none yet, use Linked In or Fanpage, not personal facebook.
• Brand it - get a twitter background (quick and free at twitbacks.com)
• Facebook Page - Choose page type as local business, professional service to get hours and company info or if business hours are not important use Page type then use Brand, Organizations and professional service to get best info area possible.
• Facebook Page - Welcome tab. Use Static FBML App to create a landing tab and optin tab. This is not a simple task - it needs to be created in html and convert to Facebook's fbml to make work. If you cannot do this then add lots of info on your info tab and use the settings option on the wall to make this the default landing page for new visitors to your Facebook Page.
ACCOUNTS TO SETUP:
• Gmail or other email - and use different password here than on networks. Keeps your main email safe from hackers and phishing scams.
• Social Oomph for AUTO DM's to new followers. You can rotate your auto DM as well, just follow the format in their notes. Use this also to setup alerts to send a daily digest of topics of interest. You receive an email with people mentioning those words and you can respond to them. Social Oomph can now shorten and track urls as well.
• Bit.ly acct or other url shortener to use to shorten urls as well and to use when tracking targeted links you use on regular basis.
• Twitterfeed will help you auto post blogs as published to twitter, fanpage, facebook but can also do with hootsuite.
• Hootsuite (or Tweetdeck or Seesmic) to use to manage accounts and contacts as you grow.
- Create groups/lists - or import them from twitter - to easily keep tabs on everything.
- Schedule posts on all networks - twitter, fanpage, facebook, linked in, ping)
- Uses ow.ly / ht.ly url shortener and you can see stats on links even on each tweet.
- Can add RSS feeds to follow and automate
• Twellow is a great place to register your profile and then find new people to follow - especially when starting out. You can find contacts in your own area which makes it easier to kickstart some conversation if you have met the person in real life. Start local, then go global with followers.
I invite you to receive a free copy of my Social Media DO's and DOn'ts Guide - Perfect for Beginners! You can access this at Social Media VA Resources.
If you are new to Social Media, join our Facebook Page to network and learn tips and tricks to use on your Social Media networks.
From Kathy Colaiacovo, Social Media Virtual Assistant
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Colaiacovo
PROFILE SETUP:
• Choose a keyword rich BIO - use terms people will think of when looking to search for someone like you online. Not your technical terms, words the average Joe or Jane would use when looking to find a solution to their problem online.
• Profile Picture - unless you are a major franchise do not use your business logo - want people to get to know you, they want to see your face.
• Website - if you have none yet, use Linked In or Fanpage, not personal facebook.
• Brand it - get a twitter background (quick and free at twitbacks.com)
• Facebook Page - Choose page type as local business, professional service to get hours and company info or if business hours are not important use Page type then use Brand, Organizations and professional service to get best info area possible.
• Facebook Page - Welcome tab. Use Static FBML App to create a landing tab and optin tab. This is not a simple task - it needs to be created in html and convert to Facebook's fbml to make work. If you cannot do this then add lots of info on your info tab and use the settings option on the wall to make this the default landing page for new visitors to your Facebook Page.
ACCOUNTS TO SETUP:
• Gmail or other email - and use different password here than on networks. Keeps your main email safe from hackers and phishing scams.
• Social Oomph for AUTO DM's to new followers. You can rotate your auto DM as well, just follow the format in their notes. Use this also to setup alerts to send a daily digest of topics of interest. You receive an email with people mentioning those words and you can respond to them. Social Oomph can now shorten and track urls as well.
• Bit.ly acct or other url shortener to use to shorten urls as well and to use when tracking targeted links you use on regular basis.
• Twitterfeed will help you auto post blogs as published to twitter, fanpage, facebook but can also do with hootsuite.
• Hootsuite (or Tweetdeck or Seesmic) to use to manage accounts and contacts as you grow.
- Create groups/lists - or import them from twitter - to easily keep tabs on everything.
- Schedule posts on all networks - twitter, fanpage, facebook, linked in, ping)
- Uses ow.ly / ht.ly url shortener and you can see stats on links even on each tweet.
- Can add RSS feeds to follow and automate
• Twellow is a great place to register your profile and then find new people to follow - especially when starting out. You can find contacts in your own area which makes it easier to kickstart some conversation if you have met the person in real life. Start local, then go global with followers.
I invite you to receive a free copy of my Social Media DO's and DOn'ts Guide - Perfect for Beginners! You can access this at Social Media VA Resources.
If you are new to Social Media, join our Facebook Page to network and learn tips and tricks to use on your Social Media networks.
From Kathy Colaiacovo, Social Media Virtual Assistant
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Colaiacovo
Secret to Convert Facebook Friends to Fans With a Fan Badge on Your Profile Linking to Your Page
It is hard to underestimate the impact that social networking has had upon the music industry. The entire market is being reinvented with the demise of traditional record companies, and the ascendancy of direct band-to-fan marketing. While a successful marketing campaign would use multiple outlets, it seems clear that the most important social media site at this time is Facebook. With over 350 Million active users, and a six month growth of 70% in the first half of 2009, Facebook is destined to be the dominant social media site for some time.
Personal Profile vs. Band Page
Individuals register a personal profile with Facebook. Publicly-known brands, companies, figures, and most germanely musicians, can also register a Page. A Page is similar to a profile, but comes with some additional benefits. Among these benefits are the ability to advertise the page, and a relatively unrestricted number of fans (as opposed to the hard limit of the number of friends any given profile accommodates). Other benefits of the Page include:
info tab tailored to your business type
additional widgets such as a music player
review section
ability to share page administration tasks
analytics on page interactions
Making others aware
Most bands and musicians are probably aware of the value of pages as opposed to profiles. Accordingly, most musicians maintain pages in addition to their personal profiles. But Facebook does not automatically make others aware that a personal profile may also be related to a fan page. How does one create an awareness of a page's existence? A person can become a fan of a given page. In doing so, Facebook will by default display this linkage upon the Pages section of the Info tab of the profile. However, there is no way to force Facebook to display an artist's own page in preference to the other pages which are displayed therein. What is displayed there is a small random selection from all the pages of which one is a fan. As such, there is no guarantee that the artist's own page will be selected for display at all.
The process I describe herein will allow the artist to permanently and prominently display a link to a given page from your profile. Further, this link will appear in the profile's sidebar, so it can be seen whether the Wall tab or the Info tab is currently being displayed. Better yet, the link will also contain the page's 'profile' picture, leading to recognition for your page's graphical brand.
Two elements
There are two elements to pull together to obtain this benefit. The first is that we need the ability to place arbitrary content on our profile's sidebar. The second is to create the desired linkage to place in the sidebar. The former we will accomplish with an application called Custom Profile Box. The latter we will accomplish with a native Facebook tool called a Fan Badge. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on these objectives.
Custom Profile Box
Our first objective is to add the application 'Custom Profile Box'. This application will create an element that we can fill with arbitrary content. We will later fill this element with our page link Fan Badge, and then move it to our profile sidebar.
From your personal profile, on the lower left select 'Applications', then select 'Browse More Applications'.
In the 'Search Applications' field, enter "Custom Profile Box".
Click on the desired 'Custom Profile Box' application in the search results.
From the application's Fan page, click 'Go To Application'.
Click the 'Allow' button.
Go back to your profile wall.
Below your status entry box, click 'Options', then click 'Settings'.
Click the link 'applications settings page'.
On the list of apps, a drop down 'Show' menu select 'Authorized' to show all the apps authorised to access your profile data.
Click on 'Edit Settings' link next to 'Custom Profile Box'.
In the pop-up window, make sure the 'Profile' tab is highlighted. *
Next to the "Box" item is the word 'Add'. Click on this to add a box to your profile for this app.
Decide and modify the Privacy -- I suggest setting this to "Everyone".
You are done setting up the app.
* There have been reported cases where there is no 'Profile' tab on the popup at this point. Further reports indicate that this may be alleviated by editing the Box, and adding some content, then returning to this step of the process. More as it develops.
Generate a Fan Badge
We have so far installed the 'Custom Profile Box' into our profile. Next we need to generate a Fan Badge for our page. Later we will place this Fan Badge in our Custom Profile Box and move the Custom Profile Box to our profile sidebar. Oddly, to make a Page Badge, you need to travel through your (personal) Profile's Profile Badge link. The code for the Fan Badge will be copied and pasted into the Custom Profile Box's editor. Accordingly, it may be easiest if you open another browser tab for this next bit.
Go to your personal page's Info tab.
Near bottom left is a link entitled 'Create Profile Badge'. Click it to go to the Profile Badge page.
On the Profile Badge screen there is a column where you can choose what type of badge you want. Choose 'Fan Badges'. This will take you to the Fan Badges Widget screen.
On the Fan Badges Widget screen, find the dropdown entitled 'Select a Page'. From that dropdown, select the page for which you wish to create a badge. Note that you must first be a fan of that page.
From the 2nd field on the Fan Badges Widget screen, copy the HTML code for your Fan Badge.
Place the Fan Badge in the Custom Profile Box
At this point, we have installed the Custom Profile Box application, and created a Fan Badge for our destination page. The code for the Fan Badge is in out buffer. We next need to paste this into the Custom Profile Box. Later, we will move the Custom Profile Box to our profile's sidebar. Go back to your earlier browser tab.
Click on the 'Applications' status bar menu and select the app from the pop up window.
An editor will load, and takes 30 secs or so on busy connection.
On the editors toolbar, click the button named 'Source'. This allows you to enter raw FBML code.
In the editor window paste the (FBML) code for the Fan Badge, which should be in your buffer from the earlier objective.
To save your creation to the app box, click on the 'Update' button. If all is well your box should appear in the boxes section of your profile.
Click on your profile, and select the boxes tab. See your app box and your creation in it.
You can drag your box to any desired location on the page by left clicking the box and dragging around.
Move it to the profile sidebar
OK, we have added the Custom Profile Box application, generated a Fan Badge for our destination page, and placed the fan badge in the Custom Profile Box. The last step is to move our Custom Profile Box from our profile's Boxes tab to the sidebar.
Go to your profile
Select the Boxes tab
Locate the Custom Profile Box on the Boxes tab
There is a pencil at the upper right corner of the Custom Profile Box. Click it.
Select 'Move to Wall tab'.
Go to your wall. You should see the Custom Profile Box, with your Fan Badge linking to your artist page, in the sidebar. You can change the location of this sidebar element by left-clicking and dragging it where you want it. There is however, the restriction that it cannot appear higher in the sidebar than the standard Facebook sidebar elements.
Collect more fans!
That's it. Now all visitors to your personal profile will be met with a graphically branded link to your artist page. By making it easier for people to find your page, you should collect new legions of fans.
You can see an example of this on the left sidebar of my personal Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/JoeBear.net.
Got a facebook topic you would like to see covered? Let me know in the discussions section of my Facebook page!
Joe Bear has been making music for several decades on a commercially-successful basis. Bands and solo acts; live and in the studio; rock, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, pop, and others; guitar, voice, keys, bass, drums, mandolin, and other instruments; singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist, teacher, engineer. With the demise of the traditional recording industry, and the plethora of new outlets for enterprising musicians opened by new technologies, he has been focusing upon these new markets. Always a believer in extending a hand down to help the next person up, he is now sharing the knowledge he has gained in this uncharted territory.
Please visit his blog at http://MetaverseMusician.com/blog/about, and join in the conversation.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Bear
Personal Profile vs. Band Page
Individuals register a personal profile with Facebook. Publicly-known brands, companies, figures, and most germanely musicians, can also register a Page. A Page is similar to a profile, but comes with some additional benefits. Among these benefits are the ability to advertise the page, and a relatively unrestricted number of fans (as opposed to the hard limit of the number of friends any given profile accommodates). Other benefits of the Page include:
info tab tailored to your business type
additional widgets such as a music player
review section
ability to share page administration tasks
analytics on page interactions
Making others aware
Most bands and musicians are probably aware of the value of pages as opposed to profiles. Accordingly, most musicians maintain pages in addition to their personal profiles. But Facebook does not automatically make others aware that a personal profile may also be related to a fan page. How does one create an awareness of a page's existence? A person can become a fan of a given page. In doing so, Facebook will by default display this linkage upon the Pages section of the Info tab of the profile. However, there is no way to force Facebook to display an artist's own page in preference to the other pages which are displayed therein. What is displayed there is a small random selection from all the pages of which one is a fan. As such, there is no guarantee that the artist's own page will be selected for display at all.
The process I describe herein will allow the artist to permanently and prominently display a link to a given page from your profile. Further, this link will appear in the profile's sidebar, so it can be seen whether the Wall tab or the Info tab is currently being displayed. Better yet, the link will also contain the page's 'profile' picture, leading to recognition for your page's graphical brand.
Two elements
There are two elements to pull together to obtain this benefit. The first is that we need the ability to place arbitrary content on our profile's sidebar. The second is to create the desired linkage to place in the sidebar. The former we will accomplish with an application called Custom Profile Box. The latter we will accomplish with a native Facebook tool called a Fan Badge. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on these objectives.
Custom Profile Box
Our first objective is to add the application 'Custom Profile Box'. This application will create an element that we can fill with arbitrary content. We will later fill this element with our page link Fan Badge, and then move it to our profile sidebar.
From your personal profile, on the lower left select 'Applications', then select 'Browse More Applications'.
In the 'Search Applications' field, enter "Custom Profile Box".
Click on the desired 'Custom Profile Box' application in the search results.
From the application's Fan page, click 'Go To Application'.
Click the 'Allow' button.
Go back to your profile wall.
Below your status entry box, click 'Options', then click 'Settings'.
Click the link 'applications settings page'.
On the list of apps, a drop down 'Show' menu select 'Authorized' to show all the apps authorised to access your profile data.
Click on 'Edit Settings' link next to 'Custom Profile Box'.
In the pop-up window, make sure the 'Profile' tab is highlighted. *
Next to the "Box" item is the word 'Add'. Click on this to add a box to your profile for this app.
Decide and modify the Privacy -- I suggest setting this to "Everyone".
You are done setting up the app.
* There have been reported cases where there is no 'Profile' tab on the popup at this point. Further reports indicate that this may be alleviated by editing the Box, and adding some content, then returning to this step of the process. More as it develops.
Generate a Fan Badge
We have so far installed the 'Custom Profile Box' into our profile. Next we need to generate a Fan Badge for our page. Later we will place this Fan Badge in our Custom Profile Box and move the Custom Profile Box to our profile sidebar. Oddly, to make a Page Badge, you need to travel through your (personal) Profile's Profile Badge link. The code for the Fan Badge will be copied and pasted into the Custom Profile Box's editor. Accordingly, it may be easiest if you open another browser tab for this next bit.
Go to your personal page's Info tab.
Near bottom left is a link entitled 'Create Profile Badge'. Click it to go to the Profile Badge page.
On the Profile Badge screen there is a column where you can choose what type of badge you want. Choose 'Fan Badges'. This will take you to the Fan Badges Widget screen.
On the Fan Badges Widget screen, find the dropdown entitled 'Select a Page'. From that dropdown, select the page for which you wish to create a badge. Note that you must first be a fan of that page.
From the 2nd field on the Fan Badges Widget screen, copy the HTML code for your Fan Badge.
Place the Fan Badge in the Custom Profile Box
At this point, we have installed the Custom Profile Box application, and created a Fan Badge for our destination page. The code for the Fan Badge is in out buffer. We next need to paste this into the Custom Profile Box. Later, we will move the Custom Profile Box to our profile's sidebar. Go back to your earlier browser tab.
Click on the 'Applications' status bar menu and select the app from the pop up window.
An editor will load, and takes 30 secs or so on busy connection.
On the editors toolbar, click the button named 'Source'. This allows you to enter raw FBML code.
In the editor window paste the (FBML) code for the Fan Badge, which should be in your buffer from the earlier objective.
To save your creation to the app box, click on the 'Update' button. If all is well your box should appear in the boxes section of your profile.
Click on your profile, and select the boxes tab. See your app box and your creation in it.
You can drag your box to any desired location on the page by left clicking the box and dragging around.
Move it to the profile sidebar
OK, we have added the Custom Profile Box application, generated a Fan Badge for our destination page, and placed the fan badge in the Custom Profile Box. The last step is to move our Custom Profile Box from our profile's Boxes tab to the sidebar.
Go to your profile
Select the Boxes tab
Locate the Custom Profile Box on the Boxes tab
There is a pencil at the upper right corner of the Custom Profile Box. Click it.
Select 'Move to Wall tab'.
Go to your wall. You should see the Custom Profile Box, with your Fan Badge linking to your artist page, in the sidebar. You can change the location of this sidebar element by left-clicking and dragging it where you want it. There is however, the restriction that it cannot appear higher in the sidebar than the standard Facebook sidebar elements.
Collect more fans!
That's it. Now all visitors to your personal profile will be met with a graphically branded link to your artist page. By making it easier for people to find your page, you should collect new legions of fans.
You can see an example of this on the left sidebar of my personal Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/JoeBear.net.
Got a facebook topic you would like to see covered? Let me know in the discussions section of my Facebook page!
Joe Bear has been making music for several decades on a commercially-successful basis. Bands and solo acts; live and in the studio; rock, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, pop, and others; guitar, voice, keys, bass, drums, mandolin, and other instruments; singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist, teacher, engineer. With the demise of the traditional recording industry, and the plethora of new outlets for enterprising musicians opened by new technologies, he has been focusing upon these new markets. Always a believer in extending a hand down to help the next person up, he is now sharing the knowledge he has gained in this uncharted territory.
Please visit his blog at http://MetaverseMusician.com/blog/about, and join in the conversation.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Bear
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