Five Facebook Tips 12

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Fred van Schie

Here we go again. Five more Facebook tips for you and yours on this Friday.

So social media is NOT about ME (=you/your brand) or being the media (all the time), the focus is on being social. Having a conversation with someone (online or offline) creates a relationship. And since “people do business with people they know, like, and trust”, building a relationship with your past/current/future consumers is key. Otherwise each sale is just “buy”, or “goodbye”. Selling a product once to one consumer is nice, but wouldn’t it be much better if that consumer stays with you for a long(er) time?

1. Keep your Post By Others wall as open as possible
Seeing big (and small) brands turning the “Post By Others” wall off is something I can not comprehend. Ignoring your past/present/future customer, in public, isn’t good marketing in my eyes.
So open up the “Post By Others” wall and then open it up all the way (see screen shot below). You want your fans to be able to tag their friends in your photos, so your content gets spread whenever possible. Having your current fans telling their friends about you is super valuable. We all trust our friends more then anything, and social media is word of mouth on steroids. Why would you try to stop that?

2. Add other Facebook Pages to your Page (that you’d recommend)
As a Facebook Page you can “like” other Facebook Pages, which displays in the right colum on the top of your Page. This is basicly a list of other Pages that you think your fans should “like” as well. So you would add brands, retailers, and athletes on this list that you want to align yourself with. So don’t try to make this list endless. Less is more. I think anywhere from 5 to 50 could be a decent size list.
To add another Facebook Page to your list just go to the Facebook Page you want to add, and click on the “wheel” below the cover photo (on the right) and click “Like As Your Page”. If you handle multiple Facebook Pages you get the option to pick the Page you want to add it to.

3. Display 5 other Pages for people to Like (Featured Likes)
So now that you have a list of Pages added to your “Recommend Likes”, the “Likes” box will display up to 5 Pages that your Page likes. This list will change with every refresh, so each one on the list gets displayed at random. If you “like” more then 5 Pages you don’t control which Pages get shown. But you can set certain “Featured Likes”, so those will show up every time. I don’t recommend locking in all of the 5 spots, as then the others Pages will never show up. So maybe lock in the first 2-3 spots makes the most sense.
To set the Featured Likes go to “Edit Page” and “Edit Settings”. On the left click on “Featured” and then click on the box “Add Featured Likes”. Now the list pops up of all the Pages that you like with your page. Select the ones you want to lock in.

4. Who to make an admin of your Facebook page
For a while now there a 5 different degrees of admin roles. Only the “Manager” can add and delete others. Best is to have 2 people be an manager, in case something happens to one of the profiles from the admin. (Hacked, banned, etc) If someone has a fake (personal) profile you want to be extra carefull, as Facebook can at any time delete that profile. And if that’s the only admin of the Facebook Page you’re screwed. As far as adding any others admin, once again, less is more. If you add more people to your Facebook Page, to post (in specific territories) make sure they now how to post, respond, and tag right.

*Please note that any manager can hijack the page and kick everyone else out. It all comes down to trust, and maybe adding something in the contract of your social media employees.

5. Check the comments after you do a Facebook post
I see a lot of people just post stuff, and not interact. They turn their “Post By Others” wall off and just do one-way traffic. Being anti-social on social media, wtf!
When some people constantly question the ROI of social media, it blows my mind that most of them don’t interact. So when you post something, check back after a few minutes, a few hours, and the next day(s). See if people have questions about the product or anything else. And delete spam comments and approve the comments that were flagged as spam (incorrectly).
More then 60% of the time people check Facebook from a mobile device and most people having notifications turned on, they can and will respond quickly. Keep the momentum going and talk back to them, and more importantly, have a conversation with them. In the first 30-60 minutes you can really help increase the reach of your post by doing this. And you might be able to sell some extra product while being at it.
Are you ready for 1-on-1 marketing yet?

Hope this is once again helpfull.

Check out Facebook tips part 11 from last week for more tips and tricks. Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below! You can of course post them on my Facebook Page or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Five Twitter Tips Part 5

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Fred van Schie

It’s been too long since I’ve posted some Twitter tips, but I’m trying to get back into a weekly, or bi-weekly, post. Hope some of these are useful for you.

1. Link up your Instagram and Twitter
I don’t think you should feed your Instagram updates to Twitter every single time. 1-2 out of every 5 Instagram photos can go to your Twitter, if the text is short enough (max. 120 characters) and the tagged accounts have the same username on both platforms.
Even if you don’t feed Instagram to Twitter, which would the best option, other might do so. And if they do you want to make sure that if they tag you on Instagram, that the tag translates to Twitter. So if their friends so the tweet they can click on your username and look you up, and possibly follow you.
To link your Instagram account to Twitter open the Instagram app on your phone, click on the “wheel” in the upper right corner, and then click “Share Settings”. If you already are logged into the Twitter app on your phone, you can select the Twitter account. Otherwise you’d have to log in to Twitter and approve the setup.

(*If you have more then 9 Twitter accounts on your phone it only shows the last 9 accounts you have added to your phone. If the account you want to link is above the first 9 delete that account of the Twitter app and add it again.)

Ps. Even if you don’t have the same username on Twitter and Instagram you can link the accounts. If people then tag you on Instagram, it will automatically translate into the Twitter username once it gets posted on Twitter. I’m all about having the same username on ALL platforms, especially on Twitter and Instagram. It looks way better, it’s easier for people to find you (and know it’s you), and in the end it’s a huge part of your branding in 2013!

2. Don’t end a tweet with a URL if you also include an image.
When you add an image to a tweet (including an Instagram post), Twitter turns it into a URL at the end of the tweet. If you want to also include a(nother) URL in your tweet, it’s best to not end the tweet with that URL, as it would display 2 URLs in a row. Looks confusing for people, and they might only click on one of the URLs. If you really want/need to include a URL in the tweet, it’s best to put the URL earlier in the tweet. If needed you can always put 1 or more hashtags after the URL. That way both URLs aren’t right next to each other.

Or, especially if you’re trying to promote an event/product with a flyer, or post a YouTube/Vimeo video, focus on that and aim to have people interact and share that, rather then trying to have them do multiple things. You only have a few seconds of someone’s attention most of the time, so make the most of it. Realize what the goal of the tweet is….

3. Fill in your profile
A lot of times when I look up a person or brand on Twitter, they don’t really display any info. I understand in some cases you want to stay low-key, but then you might be in the wrong place anyway….
You have 160 characters for your bio, and make sure you put in a website URL where people can found out more information. If people take the time to look you up, make it worth their time. If your profile has no info, what does that say about you?

4. Upload a header
As most people look at Twitter from a mobile device (60%), I’m not to worried about the background image. It’s also hard to size it correctly since everyone has a different size screen.
The Twitter header, which was introduced in the fall of 2012, can be seen on both mobile and desktop, and you should upload one.
To upload a header just log in to your Twitter account on a computer. Once you are logged in hoover your mouse over your profile picture (you have that right?) and then click “EDIT”. The original image size for the Twitter header cannot exceed 1252×626 pixels (with a max file size of 5MB). Twitter does not specify a minimum size, but anything smaller than 640 pixels-wide will appear poor quality.

On mobile the header is shown separate. Swipe the profile picture to the left and you can see the header with the profile information.(On a desktop it’s all displayed at once)

5. Don’t link Twitter to Facebook
Different platforms, different languages. Twitter has a max of 140 characters (or 120 + an image), hashtags don’t work on Facebook (yet), and each platform has a different audience. And if you tag someone on Twitter, that tag won’t translate to Facebook. And tagging others is the best way to get seen by more people.
Go to facebook.com/Twitter to unlink your Twitter to Facebook feed. Spent 1 extra minute to update Twitter and Facebook (and Instagram) separate and increase the reach of each post. Unless you don’t want as many people as possible to see, and share, your updates….
I see a lot of brands post on Instagram and then feed that to their Twitter and Facebook page. Not only do all 3 platforms display the same content (boring), but most of the time they also display a broken message. And don’t tell me you don’t have 1-2 extra minutes to tell the world about your amazing content….

Hope these tips are useful. Let me know if you have any questions. Email me at [email protected] or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram @fredvanschie.
Hope to be back next week!

How to link Instagram to a Facebook Page

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Fred van Schie

156

The question I get asked the most is how to make sure your (brand’s) Instagram account can feed into your (brand’s) Facebook Page. While it’s pretty simply to have an Instagram account feed into a personal Facebook profile, it’s a little more complicated to have Instagram go to a Facebook Page. Just a little bit though….

A while back I made a tutorial email that I’ve been sending out a bunch, so I figured I put it up on here so everyone can see it. And save myself a couple emails, ha!

One more thing before I show the step-by-step tutorial, I do NOT recommend feeding your Instagram photos to a Facebook page. The main reason is that the Facebook edgerank (=algorithm) sees any link from outside of Facebook as a way to get people away from Facebook, and therefore it gets ranked lower. The result is that way less people will see an Instagram photo on a Facebook Page (in compare to a photo directly uploaded to a Facebook Page). And less views on a post means the Talking About This** number is going down, which will result in a lower post reach in the (near) future.
Another reason to not feed Instagram to a Facebook Page (or profile) is that the tagged accounts won’t translate into Facebook. And tagging others (on any social media platform) is the best way to grow your fan base and increase the reach of a post.

(**Talking About This number should be 10-15% of your total Facebook fans/likes)

Please make sure you are logged in to the Facebook and Facebook Pages (orange flag) apps before you start!

Step 1: Log in in to the Instagram app on your phone with the account you want to share on the Facebook Page. Then log into your personal Facebook profile on your smart phone. (And make sure you are an admin of the Facebook Page)

Step 2: Open the Instagram Instagram and click on the lower right tab (on the bottom). From there click on the wheel in the upper right corner.

Step 3: Click on the “Share Settings” button.

Step 4a: Click on the “Facebook” button. It will now ask you to sign in to your personal Facebook profile. Follow the steps. It might open up Facebook for a second and come back to Instagram. It might even do this twice. Don’t touch anything, just let it pull it up and wait for it to be completely done.

Step 4b: Click “No” so you’re not sharing your Instagram likes to your personal Facebook profile. Unless you want to display the sketchy stuff you like on Instagram to your Facebook friends. (You’re Instagram followers already can see that, so you’re already getting it out there, don’t worry)
Step 4c: You don’t really have to do anything, just making sure the “Facebook” button is now displaying the name of your personal Facebook profile.

Step 5: Click on the “Facebook” button and it should now show “Wall (Default)”

Step 6: Click on “Wall (Default)” and now you see a list of all the Facebook pages you are an admin off. Select the one you want and you’ll see the check mark behind the Facebook Page you’ve selected.

Step 7: Now go to the upper left corner and click on “Facebook”, “Sharing”, “Options”, and “Profile” and you’re back to your Instagram profile tab/page. Now it’s time to test it out!
If this doesn’t work sign out of the Instagram and Facebook app on your phone, uninstall both app and then re-install both apps. After you’ve re-installed both apps turn off your phone and turn it back on. Then log in to Instagram and Facebook again and repeat the steps.

Step 8: Please don’t be lazy and feed every single Instagram photo to you Facebook page. It’s boring when both platforms (and Twitter) show exactly the same content! Besides the fact that it decreases your Facebook Page (and Post) reach, as well as making your Facebook posts look like a mess with a bunch of “@” and “#” signs…. You’re better then that!
I’d suggest to feed 1-2 out of 10 Instagram photos to your Facebook Page.

Hope this helps. Feel free to leave a comment below or email me at [email protected] if you still have issues or questions. Or let me know on Instagram or Twitter if this worked (or not) for you. I’m @fredvanschie.

Five Facebook Tips 10

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Fred van Schie

Ok, here we are again. Due to major website issues (Lunar Pages sucks!) and a lot of work (which I’m so thankful for) it’s been a bit too long since I’ve done an update. It’s not that I ran out of tips, but this idea I had a year ago has become a reality quicker than I thought.

Anyway, with the news of Facebook hitting 1 billion users, I figured it was about damn time I did another update. So here’s 5 more tips and tricks.

1. Talking About This should be 10-15%
You can have all the fans/likes in the world, but if they don’t do anything it’s not worth shit. The “talking about this” number indicates the last 7 days that your fans have interacted with your page in some way. So people liking, commenting, sharing, tagging, etc. One of the main influencers of this number is by responding to everyone that posts on your way (“Post By Others”). Social media is all about being SOCIAL (interacting), not about being the MEDIA (spamming). So listen and respond to your fans, they are more than worth it.
If you need an example go to Corey Duffel’s Facebook page. The Duffman is all about interacting with his fans, in real life and with social media. Now if only brands would start taking their fans as serious as Corey, a lot more people would be stoked on your brand.

2. Use the new Facebook for Pages for app
Facebook is still not perfect on a mobile device, but they are slowly getting there. They still have too much options to squeeze in one app, but some of the main things are in this new app. I’m not a fan of adding another app to my home screen, but if it serves a purpose, I’m all about it. One of the things you still can’t do, and annoys the hell out of me, is taggin other fan pages.

Ps. Recently Facebook updated the regular Facebook app, and now you can’t post on a fan page from the app anymore. Get it!

3. Make sure your tabs work on a mobile device (otherwise don’t bother)
Yeah, those tabs (or apps/applications)…. They are not the magic you are looking for, and if you suck at social media they won’t help you suck less. But if you using Facebook right, they can be a big help. But people check Facebook 50% of the time from a mobile device (65% by the end of 2012?), and Timeline for Pages does not (yet) work on the mobile app, so if you post a link on your wall make sure the tab is mobile friendly. A frustrated fan, that can’t see what you want him to see, is not your goal.

This is what you see on a smart phone (iPhone) if you tab is not mobile friendly. And I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if it doesn’t work on mobile, don’t waste your time!

4. Tag others when you can, every time you can.
There’s not trick of getting a ton of new fans quickly. And if you think you know a trick, it’s has to be fake. Growing Facebook fans takes time, hard work, and patience, just like growing a business. The best way to grow is by tagging other fan pages when you have a chance. Since your page is growing fans every day (right?) you have to make sure you inform the newbies. So don’t just think people know where your brand is sold, who is on your team, and what other brands and retailers you align with. And leave out the hella in-crowd cool talk. Once in a while won’t hurt, but you want to make sure the newbies feel at home, not estranged. So they can be a consumer for years to come.

To tag another page it helps to have the admin be a fan (like) the page you plan to tag. Adding the page your page’s favorites will help too. Type the “@” symbol and start typing the page name of the page you want to tag. (Yes, that;s why you need a good page name too)

*Please note that the tagging won’t always work (99% of the time it will) and you can’t tag personal profiles. So you won’t spam personal profiles, cause I know you want to.

5. Call to action, don’t just post an update
People see your stuff in their feed. Whether their on a mobile device or computer, people don’t really came to your Facebook page. So you have to make sure that if you do an update, it’s stands out one way or another. Not every time of course, mix shit up! But when you scroll through your newsfeed, most of the things you see are just whatever. So when you ask them a question, it will get people talking. Remember people are on social media to interact with their friends. And the best way to get to know new people is to start interaction with them. Asking questions sparks interaction. And it’s direct feedback from your consumers!

Below an example of a post on the Facebook page of David Gonzalez (that I did) regarding his 3 signature Ricta wheels. A Facebook post gets seen by an average of 10-16% of your fans, this post was seen by more then 50% of David’s fans. And it got a lot of likes, comments and share. Ow, and Ricta gained twice as much fans as on any other day. (cause it was tagged)

Five Instagram Tips Part 7

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Fred van Schie

Last Sunday I skipped the Instagram tips, been busy with a lot of other cool social media stuff (more on that in the near future), but for today I have another batch of 5 tips for you.

1. Instagram is growing fast, but it’s nowhere near Facebook (or Twitter)
In my eyes Instagram is by far the coolest social media platform to date, but it’s still very small in compare to Facebook and Twitter. Recently Instagram past 25 million users, which is an insane number when you realize it started in October 2010. I’m assuming most of the users are active users, meaning they upload at least one photo every month. Right now Facebook has more than 845 million active users, of which 500 million log in every day. Twitter recently passed the 500 million users, but “only” 100 million are active users. Bottomline, as rad as Instagram is, it’s reach is still limited in compare to Facebook and Twitter. And sure, you can feed all your Instagram posts into Facebook and Twitter, and that will definitely increase it’s reach, but then you aren’t optimizing each platform to it’s full potential. And it looks rather messy and lazy to me.

2. Don’t feed Instagram posts with links into Facebook and Twitter
Numerous times I’ve told you not to feed your Instagram into Twitter and Facebook. Sometimes it works for Twitter, Facebook is pretty much a no go. Maybe once a month you feed it into your Facebook page to show your Facebook fans that you have an Instagram account. A lot of times when you feed Instagram into Twitter you use more than 140 tokens (160 minus 20 for the Instagram link), so you’re already blowing it.
The worst thing to do (at the moment) is put a URL in your Instagram post, and feed that to Twitter. Why? Cause a URL isn’t clickable in Instagram, and therefore it also won’t work in Twitter. All you do is show people a picture of the link (and text). Think people are gonna type in a YouTube URL in their web browser on their phone? Hell no!

3. Don’t like your own photos or ask (beg) for a follow
No need to like your own photos. I’m assuming you uploaded something you like right? Even worse is to leave the same comment on photos posted by others, asking for people to follow you. I will never follow people that want to tell the world how bad they want extra followers. And for what, just for the number? Relax, you will get more followers. Maybe not as many as Andrew Reynolds, and that’s fine. Post some cool photos (max 3 a day), add some text and a couple relevant hashtags and give it some time.

4. Post real photos, taking with your phone
I’m guilty of this a well, but the best photos on Instagram are the ones shot a few moments before it was posted, with you iPhone. Real time! I’m posting flyers and screen shots (of this post for example) too, but Instagram is really about photos that are shot right here right now. It’s cool to show off your huge photo collection you shot with your high tech digital camera last year, but I’m way more impressed if you took a cool iPhone photo. Like this Insta photo shot by Don Brown a little while ago in Laguna Beach, CA. Simply amazing!

5. Plain product is just fucking boring
This last tips is for any social media platform, and it’s by far way underrated by a lot of people and brands. The best thing about social media is that it’s 2-way traffic. So don’t treat it like a website. I strongly believe social media is mostly about interaction, and not so much about what YOU post, especially for brands. If your website (homepage) is filled with strictly product shots that’s one thing, but please be less “business minded” when it comes to social media. It’s all about creating an emotional connection with your fans and consumers.
I get it, you sell online and you want your stuff to sell. But pushing it down people’s throat is not gonna help you out. So stop posting plain product shots! Sneak peak your designers computer screen by giving away a little bit of a future graphic, show a teamrider wearing a new product, or repost a photo from a fan/follower rocking your stuff. The best way to thank someone for buying your shit is to give them a shout out on social media. They will be stoked out of their mind, and probably gain some of your followers. And buy your stuff again, and tag your and so forth.

Sharing is caring right? Humanize your brand before it’s too late!

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

For more Instagram tips see part 5 from last week.

Timeline For Facebook Pages

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Fred van Schie

Always nice waking up to some shocking news. We all knew it was coming sooner or later, as Facebook introduced the timeline for the personal profiles a few months ago, but as of today the timeline is also available for Facebook (fan) pages. Without a warning in the last few days.

You don’t have to change it right away, as it won’t be final until March 30th 2012. So that gives you 4 weeks to get you shit together. I think you should do it today or tomorrow, as you want to show your fans that you lead the way, not follow like a sheep.

How does it work?
If you’re admin just go the fan page that you have access too. You will see this message on the top of the page.

If you have played around with the timeline on your personal profile, and you know how easy it is to upgrade, I suggest clicking “preview” right away.

You then get to this page.

Example: Epidemic skateshop Facebook page

Your fans won’t see your new timeline unless you click “publish”. Your profile picture is already set, but if you want you can change that. Just hoover your mouse over the photo and click “edit”. The specs for the profile image are 180px by 180px. The profile picture will also be the thumbnail that people will see of you in their newsfeed. (image will then be 32px by 32px).

The most important (and best) thing about the timeline is the cover photo. Click on “add a cover” on the right to upload a photo or image, or pick an image you already uploaded. If you pick an existing image make sure it’s big enough! The cover photo should be AT LEAST 851px by 315px. Bigger is not too much of a problem, since you can move the image around. But to prevent things from being cut out of the frame it’s best to size you cover photo correctly before uploading it.

Facebook has guidelines for the cover photo, make sure you read them first before uploading an image. Here are the key points you can’t have in the cover image:
– Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
– Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your page’s about section
– References to user interface elements, such as “Like” or “Share”, or any other Facebook site features
– Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Once you have uploaded your timeline image click on “publish now” and your page will now show up to everyone. Yes, your cover photo is public, so anyone visiting your page will be able to see the image you choose.

Example: Garrett Hill Facebook page

Since you can now also “star” (and pin) certain photos and videos make sure the images are at least 851px wide, otherwise they could be blurry.

Specs Timeline:
Cover image: 851px by 315px
Profile image: 180px by 180px
Thumbnail of profile image: 32px by 32px

More on the timeline for pages this coming Friday.
Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Also check out “Five Facebook Tips #7” from last week.

You can educate yourself right now by watching some interactive tutorial videos on the Facebook About Pages site. Very useful!

Five Facebook Tips 7

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Fred van Schie

It’s late this Friday. Had a lot going on this past week, both personal and social media wise.
On the social media front, the main thing by far was the building of some custom tabs. Major thanks to my Dutch friend Jamy Vodegel for telling me about WP4FB, and helping me guide me through the whole process. Check out his website wooster.nl. It’s in Dutch so you might have to get some Rosetta Stones CDs before….
(More on the WP4FB Facebook tabs/apps in future blog posts)

Here are some more tips for your Facebook strategy. Read up and help yourself, and your brand!

1. Facebook still overrules any other social media platform
Right now Facebook has 845 million monthly active users, so it’s by far the biggest social media platform out there. YouTube is the only one that is coming close to this massive number, but it’s a different kind of interaction.
I firmly believe your brand should be active on Twitter, Instagram, and soon on Pinterest and Google Plus, but none of those are even coming close to the reach you can have on Facebook.
Your main marketing focus right now should be on Facebook! So be present on there more than anywhere else. I love Instagram, Twitter is rad, Google Plus is growing, Pinterest is gaining a lot of momentum recently, but you want to be where (the most) people are at. It’s that simple.

2. Leak future product
Want to get real feedback from (your) real fans and consumers? Want to tease them with what’s coming soon? Want to see what people are into? No better way to do this on social media, and Facebook in particular. Post a photo on Facebook and asked the fans what they like.
Want to take it a step further? Make your fans pick the color of a future product. Show them 2 shoes, one blue and one red, and have the fans pick which one you should produce. Once this shoe drops and a fan see this shoe at his local skateshop, you think he/she is gonna be stoked? You bet. He/she’ll even be more stoked if it is the colorway he/she voted for. Interaction that is driving sales!

3. Post with reasonable time intervals
There are a lot of different theories for how often you should (or can) post on Facebook. Bottom line, their are no set rules for this.
In early 2011 I read an article (can’t find anymore, sorry) that a Facebook post is valid for about 80 minutes. That’s 1 hour and 20 minutes. People have an average of 200-300 friends on their Facebook, so your post will move down the newsfeed pretty damn quick.
When I was handling the Altamont Facebook page (June 2010 – Dec 2011) I would post on average 3-6 times per 24 hours. And never more than once every 1-2 hours, with some exceptions (e.g. Wild in the Streets, Maloof Cup, Shakejunt premiere)
Per 24 hours, not just between 9am and 5pm. Some of the posts with the most interaction where early in the morning or late at night. Cause 6am in California is 9am in New York and 3pm in Amsterdam. Think global!

4. Convert your friends profile into a fan page
You’re a real business? You take your business serious? You want your brand to grow in the future? Then don’t open a friends profile but start a fan page.
Besides the fact that it goes against the Facebook Terms (4.4), and they can take down a friends profile at any time if you use it for your business or brand, you want to think bigger, and long term.
I know, you can befriend others with a friends profile, which gives you a quick(er) start, but if you’re good enough you will get there. It’s might take some time but most businesses take time to grow.
A friends profile can also have a max of 5,000 friends. And yes, you are bigger than that. And if not, that’s fine. Some smaller brands, or shops, or distributors can run more then fine with “just” a few thousand fans. If those are your consumers, and you interact with them, you’re good. And you will grow.
I can give a handful more of reasons, but I’ll mention one more. You can chat on a friends profile, but you have time to chat to 5,000 people? One on one chat sessions are way too private anyway. Have them post a comment or question or your wall so everyone can see your answer, and even join the conversation if they want!

PS. If you have a friends profile for your business, check the Facebook help section on how to convert it to a fan page.
Michiel Gaasterland has some great info too on his blog.

5. Use YouTube to promote your Facebook
Facebook is the biggest social media platform, YouTube is the 2nd largest one. So if you’re smart you use both of these.
I always put the Facebook, Twitter and website URL in the video description (as the only text). Make sure to post “http://facebook.com/xxx” and not just “facebook.com/xxx”. The “http” will make it a click-able link.
When you post the YouTube video on Facebook the description shows up. Forget writing a ton of info in the description. Less is more remember, and if people really want to find out more about your brand they will click the facebook (or twitter or website) URL.

FYI: The only reason I would add the website URL is because some people are afraid Facebook (or Twitter) might die soon, so people know what the website URL is.
Someone that will click the Facebook link will most likely become a fan so you can inform him “every day” for the rest of his/her life. And why do you think a (one-time) website visit might be better?

Most people see a YouTube video (fuck your own video player!) on Facebook so this is a good way to you grow your fanbase. They are only 2 clicks away from being a Facebook fan. And with other brands and people posting your YouTube video on their Facebook this can add a good amount of valuable fans pretty quickly.

Here’s is an example of how this will look on Facebook:

It works pretty much the same with Vimeo:

Vimeo is the only video player besides YouTube that you should/could use in my opinion. I like it better than YouTube. You can choose your own thumbnail and even make a custom URL for the video.
But YouTube is the Google for videos. How many times do you search a video on YouTube? How many times do you go to Vimeo to do that? Again, you want to be where the people are at!

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Also check out “Five Facebook Tips #6” from last week.

Five Facebook Tips #3

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Fred van Schie

Another Friday so that means some more Facebook tips.
Here are 5 more for this week.

1. Tag other brands and people when you can
When you tag another brand (or person), your post shows up on their wall. So if you’re fan page only has a small amount of fans it’s a great way to expose your brand to new fans. Make sure to do this right and don’t just tag to tag (spam!). Also tag them withing the sentence you’re writing, not at the end of your text by itself.
To tag another brand/person just type the “@” sign followed by the name of the brand/person you want to tag. Make sure you tag the right one since a lot of brands (and pro skateboarders) have fake pages.
Tagging is also an easy way to show the brands that you’re doing your job. Let’s say you run a skateshop and you just received new Toy Machine boards. By telling your fan base about this shipment (with a photo or link), and tagging Toy Machine, the people at Toy Machine will be thankful that you’re promoting their products. And since you are making your consumers aware of this you are gonna drive traffic (and sales!) to your store.

* Example of the Metro skateshop Facebook page tagging Venture trucks

2. Keep the text short, but not too short
Twitter only allows you 160 tokens (140 with a photo or link), which sometimes might not be enough to trigger someone to click the link or photo. I know I’d always like to type more.
I keep repeating myself (already), but less is more. My general rule with a Facebook post, when I post a photo or link, is to write maximum 2 lines of text. Try to stay away from just typing text! Get a photo or a link in your post.

3. Don’t send people to your blog in every post
Interaction happens on Facebook, like it or not. Sending people to your blog for every update you do won’t help. People don’t like to leave Facebook, so post the YouTube/Vimeo video on Facebook (and blog!), post the product (photo) on Facebook (and blog!) and ask questions and respond to them (interaction!) on Facebook. People know that they can go to your site anytime to look at product, your teamriders, contact info etc. Your website should be treated more as a homebase. People can always go back weeks or months later to find stuff on your blog. It’s easier to look stuff up than on Facebook.
Websites are becoming less important since people don’t really surf the web on their smartphone, so adapt to that. As a brand or shop you’re fine with doing 2-5 blog updates a week. But you should be posting on your Facebook page 2-5 times per 24 hours!

4. Stop posting mostly product
Don’t treat your Facebook page like a boring product page. Again, it’s less about your brand and more about the interaction. You want to create an emotional connection with your (future) consumer.
Asking your fans about their favorite pizza or plans for the weekend will get more interaction than most product posts. It also shows that you actually care about what your fans have to say. And caring is more than half the battle. Try it out and you’ll see.

5. Re-post good content
Some people might disagree with this but I think it’s totally fine to post a good video multiple times in the first 48-72 hours. Pretty much all your fans will see your updates in their newsfeed (and not on your page), so it’s only visible for a few hours, if that.
The average person has in between 200-300 friends, so their feed is filled with updates from their friends and (fan) pages they like. So if you post something in the morning and someone checks their Facebook feed in the afternoon, it’s most likely he or she won’t see your update.
You can post a video even after a few weeks, and it will still be seen by new people. The people that have already seen it might give it a like since they loved the video when they saw it the first time. This comment or like will show up on their feed so all their friends might be triggered to watch it too, and possible comment, like or even share it. The more people see your video the better right?
I was doing this with a lot of the Theotis Beasley sponsor me reviews on the Altamont Facebook page last year quite a bit, and every time I would post it I was amazed how many comments and likes it got, even after re-posting it for the third time after a few days it was posted for the first time.

Questions or comments? Drop ‘em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Also check out “Five Facebook Tips #2” from last week.

Mobile Is Taking Over In 2012

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Fred van Schie

If it doesn’t work on a mobile (smart) phone, forget about it.

2012 is gonna be the year that mobile will be dictating what is gonna reach the consumer. Social media is playing a huge part in this change.

On a daily basis, how often do you visit a website on your mobile device? Not very often huh? How often do you check Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on your phone? Five times a day? Five times an hour? Probably way more than you realize….

A few weeks ago I found out Chris Haslam was the newest rider for Bones wheels. How did I find out? Through the Bones wheels Instagram. I didn’t even see, hear or read it somewhere else. I actually still haven’t, and that’s fine. (Because I didn’t look at other news outlets). The different social media platforms on my iPhone are the tools that keep me up to date these days.

I’m 33 years old right now and I remember a time when there wasn’t any internet. But when the internet came up and took over I went along with it. If I still would have stuck with reading print magazines and watching skateboard videos/DVDs I would find out news way later than everyone else. And I would probably miss a lot of skateboarding clips/parts, since most of them only show up online. Social media is web 2.0, meaning it’s the next step, and guess what? If you’re not adapting to this, you’re gonna loose the game. It’s very simply.

The youth always is the future, so anyone over 20 isn’t really having an influence on where things are gonna go. The future is in the hands of the 15 year old skate rat that has some kind of smart phone. Maybe not the latest iPhone 4s, but more likely the hands me down iPhone 3s from one of his parents or his older brother.
And this kid, who is the main consumer for any skateboard brand out there, is getting his skateboard news through his Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account, on his phone. If it’s not posted on social media there is a very big chance he is gonna miss whatever you’re trying to get out. There is so much content being put out every day that’s it’s not easy to get it in front of the consumer. Of course, great content will reach your consumer, but wouldn’t it be great if it reached even more people? Meaning new consumers….

One of the key things for mobile is video. So make it easy for yourself and stop using your own video player. Even if it does work on a mobile device and plays withing Facebook. There are only 2 video platforms that will help you really get your video content out, YouTube and Vimeo. Everyone knows how to email, share (on social media) and embed a YouTube video. Also, do you want a ton of people see your video or you just want your own little group of regular website visitors to see it?
I personally like Vimeo better, but YouTube is the way to go. You need to go where the people are. With 4 billion views per day, YouTube videos are they way to go. I still think you need to upload the videos to your Vimeo account, but YouTube is the way to get the views.

To quote my friend, and etnies video head honcho, Dustin Aron; “If YouTube is good enough for Lady Gaga, it’s good enough for any brand in skateboarding”. “Nuff said!

Questions or comments? Drop ’em below!
Or shoot me an email at [email protected].

DGK Instagram Ad

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Fred van Schie

DGK starts off 2012 by setting the standards. Or should I say they start of by being smarter than everyone else? As if you weren’t convinced that social media took over in 2011, you surely know it will be your main focus for 2012 right?

I still can’t believe I keep seeing ad after ad in the various skateboard magazines that don’t have the URLs spelled out to their social media platforms. Don’t these brands want to communicate/interact with their fan base, their consumers, their brand ambassadors? Print ads are (nearly) dead and way too expensive, and I don’t think DGK gained a ton of followers from this ad, but at least they recognize the current state of consumer communication.

With more than 800 million people on Facebook (55% of the online world population), 300 million people on Twitter, and 15 million people on Instagram (iPhone only still) you would think you’d find your consumers there. Maybe, just maybe, not all of them, but most of them….

Check out DGK skateboards on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And more importantly, they actually care about what you have to say, so interact with them if you have a question or want to say something. Nice one guys!

Fred van Schie

Social Media consultant

Tag Archives: facebook