TIPS AND TRICKS TO GROW YOUR FOLLOWING

AND SKYROCKET YOUR SUCCESS ON FACEBOOK

Naomi J Johnson

www.purrfectlysocial.co.uk

www.facebook.com/PurrfectlySocial

TIMELINE COVER

Make the most of the space you have available. Your cover

is an image of 851 x 315 pixels - use it to promote your

website address and any current specials or promotions

you’re running. Use your branding colours and add a call to

action - what do you want people to do? Sign up for your

webinar, join your email list, book a ticket for your event?

Don’t be afraid to change your cover image regularly – in

fact make sure you do this. Every time you upload a new

cover, it creates an update that goes into the newsfeed,

giving your page more exposure. See below for an example

- this cover is promoting a contest.

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: Add a comment behind your cover

image. People often click on these images, so get your

website URL and current promotions in there with an

appropriate call to action.

PROFILE IMAGE

Make sure this is a clear, high definition image. It is a

square format – the size is 180 x 180 px. If the image you

upload is a different size, or is not square, it will be cropped

and could lose definition. If you’re using a business logo

and it’s not in square format, you’ll need to adjust it (or get

your graphic designer on the case). Don’t be content with a

profile pic that no-one can see – it’s your business page and

you need to look professional.

ABOUT SECTION

Make sure you include your website URL in the “short

description”. This is the bit that appears just under your

timeline cover. You have 155 characters to play with here –

make sure you also include relevant keywords. Use a link

shortener such as bit.ly to

reduce the link text if you

like (see example). In

most cases, visitors to

your page are unlikely to

click on “About” - so your

important information

needs to be clearly visible.

CLAIM YOUR PAGE USERNAME

When you set up a new page, Facebook allocates it a URL

containing the numerical page ID – this looks clumsy and is

not user-friendly. Make sure you claim a username

(sometimes called a vanity URL).

To do this, go to www.facebook.com/username or access

via your page admin panel.

Once you have your page URL it will be easier to add to

business cards, leaflets, email signatures etc. And it will be

far more memorable!

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: Use keywords in the URL that you

choose – this helps in a small way with SEO. If your

preferred URL is already taken, add your location or some

other distinguishing feature.

USE APPS TO CREATE ATTRACTIVE PAGE TABS

At the very least, add an email signup tab to your page. The

popular email software packages (e.g. MailChimp, Aweber,

MadMimi) give you instructions on how to do this. It’s also

possible to add tabs showcasing your other social media

accounts –and there are other possibilities too.

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: 12 tabs are permitted, but only the

first 4 display by default. Apart from the Photos tab, the

others can all be moved around, so you can display those

you consider most important in the top row. Customise the

tab cover images and names – why not use your brand

colours to give a consistent look to your page?

WHILE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT EMAIL SIGNUPS….

Your Facebook page isn’t a selling machine. People go to

Facebook to chat with friends and family, not to be

bombarded with promotional

messages. Focus on building

relationships, offering helpful

information, and always work towards

moving people on to your email list.

This is more likely to happen if you

offer a freebie that solves a problem

your target clients may be

experiencing. (eBook, webinar, video

tutorial etc)

Get people on to your list in order to continue building the

relationship, before you begin offering information about

your products and services. By this time your subscribers

will have got to know you and guess what, they’ll be ready

to buy!

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: Facebook should never be the hub

of your online marketing. You don’t own Facebook and for

all we know, it could disappear tomorrow. (Remember

MySpace?) If you’re not directing people towards your

email list and website, you’re taking a massive risk.

POSTING ON YOUR PAGE – THE BASICS

Post regularly and consistently. An inactive page is worse

than no page at all and gives a bad impression to visitors.

Ideally, aim to post 3-4 updates per day, at varying times.

Don’t ignore evenings and weekends – many Facebook

users are online at these times.

Mix up your posts - plain text, images, videos and web

links.

Studies have shown that shorter text updates (80

characters or less) get higher engagement; the same goes

for updates that include images. Remember that millions of

users access Facebook via a mobile device; scrolling

through a long piece of text will probably put them off.

Craft your updates with

the object of generating

engagement. Ask

questions, post appealing

images (choose something

relevant to your business)

– or ask your community

for advice.

Remember to check your

page Insights to learn what

is working best.

SCHEDULE YOUR POSTS

You can’t be on Facebook 24/7 (well, you can, but….)

Use the scheduling tool to have updates go out regularly

even when you’re not

around. It’s that little

clock icon – you did

know about it, didn’t

you?

You can edit your

scheduled posts if necessary by going to the Activity Log

(text and time of posting can be updated)

Use the Pin to Top and Highlight features. Pin to Top keeps

a post at the top of your page for 7 days. Highlight stretches

it across the full width of the timeline so it stands out

(especially useful if you include a beautiful image)

Don’t forget to add

Milestones (see left)

for important dates

such as your

business

anniversary,

appointment of new

staff members,

announcement of

new products,

significant numbers

of “likes” etc.

DRIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH IMAGES

Social media channels are increasingly visual. People have

very short attention spans when browsing online. You have

about 4 seconds to grab their attention.

Note that you must not download copyrighted images - it’s

easy to download via google for example, but lots of these

images are copyrighted and you could risk a fine of

£1000s…. yes it happens!

Stay safe, download via one of the many sites offering

copyright-free images. (See bonus section)

If you post “quote” images – good if relevant to your

business, or generally motivational / inspirational –

watermark them with your website URL so your visitors are

reminded of where to find more information.

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: You can tag images with your

Facebook page name, so if they are shared, they’ll always

lead back to you.

GET TO KNOW FACEBOOK ADS

Organic growth and engagement is essential for your page,

but due to Facebook’s algorithm, less than 5% of people

who’ve liked your page will see your updates.

If you’re serious about growing your business, you’ll want

to take things a step further. Learn about Facebook ads –

the most cost-effective online advertising solution.

Boosting posts is the simplest advertising choice on

Facebook, but it lacks the range of targeting and audience

options offered by the Ads Manager and/or Power Editor.

Does this look like an

ad? No, it looks like a

regular newsfeed

update, so is therefore

more likely to be

noticed / clicked by your

target audience.

LITTLE-KNOWN SECRET: You can target your website

visitors, follow them onto Facebook and show them your

ads using one of the “custom audience” tools within the

Facebook advertising platform. Want to learn more?

BONUSES

Useful tool for monitoring your Facebook page performance:

www.likealyzer.com

Copyright-free images:

www.pixabay.com

www.sxc.hu

www.freerangestock.com

Online image editing tools:

www.canva.com

www.ipiccy.com

www.picmonkey.com

www.pixlr.com

MY CONTACT DETAILS

Web: www.purrfectlysocial.co.uk

Email: naomi@purrfectlysocial.co.uk

Click the icons to follow me on social networks!

Join my Facebook Group

www.facebook.com/groups/onlinemarketingsupport