Are you in or out? Are you leading or following?


With more than 250+ million users Facebook is packed full of conversations. With so much chatter it is critical for brands to see what consumers are saying about them and issues surrounding their products. Brands can take advantage of the opportunity to be a major part of a user’s conversation on Facebook. That means every time someone comments on your new status, a photo, a video, a discussion thread, or anything else, you need to jump in and comment on it.

We are in the midst of a conversational revolution and you and your company needs to be part of it. It is imperative that you actively participate.


Failure to jump in could cost you. Neglecting to engage your customers and potential customers means less revenue, and it also means you’ll be losing to your competition who is engaging with their customers on a regular basis. Whether you are a small business (dentist, physician, plumber, restaurant, etc) or a large corporation, you need to be talking to your client and the only way to do that is through a two way dialogue. They’ll ask you questions that you can reply to and you can ask questions as well. Ask about what would improve their experience with your company. Also, ask them about the world in general because at the end of the day, they’re humans just like you.

It takes extra effort to engage your clients and by taking advantage of the Facebook platform you will be going that extra mile to keep your clients coming back.

You want to promote an exceptional brand right? What's your Facebook branding challenge? How do you engage your customers in conversation?

This post was inspired by Nick O’Neill at allfacebook.com

Facebook Pages present an awesome opportunity for brands to directly engage with their existing and future customers, even the occasional passer-by. The latest release of Facebook Pages is so important for brands because it encompasses the power of all the other social media tools and a platform with a fan base of 250+ million users.

Below, are the top 5 tips for creating engaging Facebook Pages. These are only the top 5 and there are many other lessons to be learned but this should serve as the starter guide for any brand/company looking to make their entrance into Facebook.

1. Develop Custom Tabs for Custom Ads





Advertising your brand’s page is always extremely important. One of the greatest features of Facebook’s new pages product is that you can link directly to specific tabs. You can separate which pages a user views by default based on the ad that they clicked on. For example, if you’d like to target two groups of users in different geographic locations. You would display one advertisement for people in Des Moines, IA. and those users will land on a page which is specific to users from Des Moines. A different page would be displayed to users from Los Angeles.

This system can instantly increase the conversion of new visitors to fans by providing a relevant experience, however it isn’t necessarily the most scalable. Having 500 tabs would make for a cluttered Fan page. The customization of your Fan Page will take a bit more effort, but it is worth it as your conversion rates will increase.

2. Don’t Let New Users Land on the Wall




Why, have a different landing area? There is a huge opportunity to present users with engaging information and while the content provided by fans of your brand can be engaging, you have absolutely no control over it. It’s much better to have new visitors enter a controlled environment and then proceed to navigate through areas with less structure. Yes, the wall can be extremely valuable for user interaction and to talk to you and your brand, but unfiltered conversation is the last place you should force a new user to navigate through. You can provide your users with a safe entrance to your Fan Page.

3. Create a Unique Page Image
I honestly believe that this can have the greatest impact on your users. Within the 200 pixel wide box is a simple component, yet powerful engagement point of your page. Recently Rob Banagale, a guest author on AllFacebook, published an article entitled “5 Creative Ways to Hack Your Facebook Profile Photo“. It is an interesting and informative article. More impressive than the photos included in the tutorial are the photos that numerous users posted at the end.


4. Integrate Applications To Increase Engagement

The last thing you want is for users to land on your Facebook Page and leave immediately. The greatest opportunity you have to capture their attention is through engaging applications. The folks at BAM!apps provide Facebook Application Templates, the cost is less than a fully customized application and it takes much less time to launch. Also each application template is designed with five streams of revenue. So now your engaging application also makes money on Facebook.

For larger brands I highly recommend that you work with the BAM!apps team to develop a more robust experience for the user. Games, quizzes, and other types of dynamic content in general can help keep users on your Facebook Page for longer durations of time. As you know, we live in an attention economy and that means you want to get all the attention you can from consumers. To immediately engage your new users, make sure the application has a compelling call to action.

5. Join the Conversation

With the new Facebook pages, brands can take advantage of the opportunity to be a major part of a user’s conversation on Facebook. That means every time someone comments on your new status, a photo, a video, a discussion thread, or anything else, you need to comment on it. We are in the midst of a conversational revolution and your company needs to be part of it. It is imperative that you actively participate.
Failing to engage your customers and potential customers means less revenue, and it also means you’ll be losing to your competition who is engaging with their customers on a regular basis. Whether you are a small business (dentist, cupcake maker, restaurant, etc) or a large corporation, you need to be talking to your client and the only way to do that is through a two way dialogue. They’ll ask you questions that you can reply to and you can ask questions as well. Ask about what would improve their experience with your company. Also, ask them about the world in general because at the end of the day, they’re humans just like you.

It takes extra effort to engage your clients and going that extra mile will always keep clients coming back. You want to promote an exceptional brand right?

Are you using your Facebook to engage users? What is the most engaging area of your Facebook Page?

This post was inspired by a Nick O'Neill

A fellow blogger, Nick O'Neill posted a great entry about the benefits of a branded Facebook Page for your product or service.

Over the past few years Facebook has witnessed a dramatic rise in new user adoption and with that rise has come the opportunity for brands to interact directly with existing customers and engage new ones. There are many ways for brands to leverage Facebook but the overall branded experience is easily integrated into a single offering with a Facebook Page.


So, what are the benefits of a Facebook Profile Page?

1. Pages Are Profiles for Brands
The easiest way to understand a Facebook Page for your brand is to view it as a “Profile for Brands”. This means brand pages can essentially do everything that users can do but it is tied directly to your product/brand.

2. Pages Have Access to Users’ Feeds
This is probably the single most important feature within the new Facebook Pages product. Many in the press have described this as Twitter for Facebook. When Facebook users become a “fan” of your branded page, they will be notified of your status updates anytime you update the status on your brand page, via the primary news feed on the homepage.

3. The News Feed is Now Real Time
The news feed has been redesigned to stream stories instead displaying the automatically filtered stories as “Highlights” on the right hand side of the page.

4. Pages Can Integrate Multiple Applications
There is space to integrate applications that are just as robust as those with standalone canvas pages. Not sure of what “canvas pages” are? A canvas page is the space in Facebook below the Facebook header and to the left of Facebook’s sidebar ads. Essentially you can now post applications which take up the full width of the page. Below is an example of the canvas area. Contact BAM!apps.com for your fully customizable application templates - No coding or hosting. They do it all for you.

















5. Brands Can Join the Conversation
Social media has always been about joining the conversation and for the first time ever on Facebook, brands can now be a significant part of the conversation. These conversations can take place within a Facebook Page as well as in a user’s news feed. I can’t emphasize how important joining the conversation is. While your social media strategy should continue to include other outlets (blogs, Twitter, etc), Facebook should now attract much more attention because of the potential for conversation.

Congratulations on your decision to create a Facebook Page.

Your Facebook Page includes many benefits:
* Indexed in search engines, which increases the likelihood of folks finding you or your organization through a Google search.
* Can have multiple administrators. This lightens the workload of maintaining a page
* Captures data on visitors allowing you to analyze your traffic
* There are no limits to the number of fans you can have on a page.
* You can easily send messages and updates to all your fans.



Two decisions have to be made prior to setting up your Facebook Page:
1. The name of your Facebook Page (see prior post)
2. The Page Category – Think very carefully about what category you want to be listed in (check out all the dropdown boxes to see your options.
Now you are ready for the actual set up. If you log out of your personal account, you'll get the regular Facebook sign-up screen and below the text boxes is a link that says "Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business."

When you click that link, you're taken to the same screen shown in the previous section and the same caveats apply about choosing a Page category and name. (Note that when you enter your name in the box as your "Electronic Signature," it doesn't tie the page back to your personal profile in any way. You're simply acknowledging you have the authority to create this Page on behalf of the company/brand and it's never used for any purpose again later.) Next you'll be taken to a screen asking for a few more details.











The important thing here is to select the button that says, "I do not have a Facebook account." If you select the other one, you'll be prompted for your username and password and you'll end up tying this Page to your profile.

Tip: In some cases companies, non-profits, etc. employ a page administrator. It is best to have the company create a unique email address for the Facebook administrator. That way, if for any reason you are no longer available to administer the Page, they can simply give someone else access to that e-mail account and the Facebook Page.

Once you've finished signing up, you'll be sent a verification e-mail. When you've confirmed your identity and log back into Facebook, you'll be taken to this screen.









Congratulations, you are now the proud administrator of a Facebbook Page. This is where you'll be able to start adding content to bring your new Page to life. If you're still not sure about all this, please send me a note with your specific questions and I'll try to clarify it some more.
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Click here to join my Facebook Page - The One Million Hugs Challenge - Share your Hugs story. Remember to Hug somebody today!

Facebook is undoubtedly one of the most popular social media services used by individuals, businesses and non-profits to connect with people. Groups and Pages are excellent options to leverage the large network and extension of this popular platform. Businesses and associations are using Facebook to leverage the large network, show their presence and build engaging and long lasting relationships with customers, members and fans. Studies prove that an interactive Facebook page gives a reason to your fans to stay, interact and promote your business or cause.

Here are five tips to create an engaging Facebook Fan Page.
1. Use Great Graphics
Pictures say a thousand words and people visiting your Facebook Fan Page want to see some great visuals and eye candy. This is a chance to showcase your brand and make it visually stimulating.

2. Personalize The Visitor's Experience
Use the wall setting to create a custom landing page for fans and non fans alike full of content-rich multimedia.

3. Allow Visitor's To Engage And Comment On Your Page
Participation is the new black in social media and it's imperative that you allow visitors to contribute to your fan page. Set the permissions so that your fans can upload videos and photos, write comments or share links. If any fans misuse the permission, you can selectively block them from posting and you can delete their post. The more freedom you give to the fans, the more they will feel at home.

4. Create A Custom Facebook Fan Page URL
A typical Facebook Fan Page has a long, obscure and forgettable web address that makes it difficult for you to aggressively market and promote. Use the "Memorable Address Facebook Application" to create a short, memorable URL for your Facebook Fan Page.

5. Add Some Sizzle And Spice To Your Facebook Fan Page
There are hundreds of third-party applications that can add spicy, salty, sweet content that will make your visitors brain cells dance and add sizzle to your brand page. Here are just a few that you should consider.
* Blog RSS Feed Reader allows you to share your blog posts article with your fans and continually updates your page.
* Profile HTML allows you to add arbitrary pieces of HTML code to your page. Don't know HTML or why you should add it? Ask your kids, they'll help you.
* YouTube Box allows you to embed videos from Bebo, Dailymotion, Google, YouTube and many other video services.
* Develop an application that is engaging and entertaining – I’ll cover this in detail in a later post.

So what are you waiting for? Your fans await you…go out and create an awesome Facebook Page! What’s have you experienced as the biggest challenge in launching your Facebook Page?

Ever have one of those days when you just needed a hug?

Well today is one of them. After several discussions with friends and colleagues I decided to change the name of the Facebook Page from Hugs - One Million Hugs Club to Hugs- One Million Hugs Challenge. Well, this is easier said than done...as a matter of fact, it can't be done.

Once you name your Facebook Page you cannot rename the Page. Hmmm, so what to do? First give a hug! You know what they say; "It is better to give than receive".

Then I decided to post about this dilemma ...you know misery loves company! A decision has been made to resolve this sticky situation by creating a new page. A notification will be sent to all of the fans on the Hugs Club Fan Page with an explanation of the change and a personal invitation to join the One Million Hugs Challenge Fan Page. Are you a fan of the One Million Hugs Challenge? Did your foray into Facebook Page ownership start off this rocky?