Platforms Archives - All Star Press

Understanding the new Facebook Timeline for Businesses

Part I

by Rich Nilsen

Well those us on Facebook know it all too well. Mark Zuckerberg and his crew have done it again. At least they warned us this time. The new Facebook Timeline debuted at the end of March, presenting regular Facebook users with some drastic changes. For those of us with business pages, the Facebook Timeline is critical to understand. On a positive note there are actually some nice benefits from the changes that help give our businesses added exposure.

As a businessman and marketing specialist, my first foray into social media marketing was many years ago with MySpace. I never got very far into MySpace because I found the overall concept and site design lacking. In a lot of ways, the new Facebook Timeline reminds me of MySpace. However, it is significantly better than MySpace and there is really no reason to go into the comparisons between Facebook and the once thriving social network. Instead, we will look at some of the changes presented to us by the Timeline and how we can best use them to our advantage.

DOCUMENT YOUR HISTORY

First, the new Facebook Timeline gives us the opportunity to tell the story about our business. When did it start? What were some of the important milestones? Anything important concerning the business history, such as an anniversary, can be documented on the Timeline. You can go back in time, before any of us were born, and that includes Mark Zuckerberg!

So, for example, you can go on your Timeline and enter the fact that your business started on May 1, 1978. This information will be archived and will also show up on your fans’ news feed. To do this, choose a year or date on the right-hand column of your business page, and this will jump you down to approximately that time frame. Click in the middle of the page, and a menu option (illustrated below) will pop up. From there, you can choose “milestone.” Facebook will then let you enter an event, the specific dates of the event, notes, and the option of adding pictures.

PHOTOGRAPHY

One of the biggest changes that I am sure most people have noticed is that the re-designed Facebook allows for significant more photo real estate. Needless to say, this is a big opportunity for many businesses. Anything you can do to put your business in visual terms should be done here. And done often.

On the same subject, the Timeline allows you to have a cover image. This is the 851 x 315 pixel-sized photo that appears at the top of the business page. It is important to note that this photo can not be used for advertising purposes. Business are not allowed to upload a picture that contains items such as contact information, website addresses, calls to action, etc. You can do that within the photos uploaded on the site, just not on the prominently-displayed cover image.

Get creative with your Facebook cover image. Place a photo in this spot that depicts your business and what it stands for. Keep in mind that every time you change this cover image, your fans will see this in their news feed. Talk about free advertising. Take advantage of the cover image by changing it frequently. If possible, I would do this bi-weekly.

MESSAGING

Your business fan page can now receive private messages. This is a one-way email. For obvious reasons the business page can not initiate a message. Facebook wants to protect its users from spamming, and at the same time, protect their advertising model.

Because your fan page can now receive messages, it is important that you or someone on your staff checks the inbox regularly. Doing so will alert you to any problems that customers might be experiencing, and it will help you stay on top of prospective clients. Most website visitors expect immediate responses, such as one hour or less. If they don’t get the response they are looking for, they often move on. The result is your competitor gets the business.

We’re just scratching the surface of the many enhancements from Facebook Timeline. Look for Part II to this piece within the next week at AllStarPress.com and feel free to follow us on a certain social network. In the meantime, start enjoying the benefits of Zuckerberg’s latest change.

Advertise Free on Facebook according to P&G

Fortune 500 company Proctor and Gamble has layed off over 1,600 employees because they realize how affordably they can reach consumers via the social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, among others.

CEO Robert McDonald told Wall Street analysts that he would have to “moderate” his ad budget because Facebook and Google can be “more efficient” than the traditional media that usually eats into P&G’s ad budget.

Every aspiring author needs to have a presence via social networking. If you haven’t set up a profile yet on Facebook, get on it!

Learn more about Proctor and Gamble’s decision

WordPress Plugins and how they affect your Author Site

Dev4press.com published an excellent analysis last month, looking at how many different, popular WP Plugins affect the load time and speed of your Word Press site. This is a very important for any author who is maintaining their own site using the popular Word Press platform. You do have an author site, right?

“For this article I have tested 35 plugins. This includes both free and commercial plugins, big and small plugins and all of them are tested on the admin side and on the website frontend. All tests are done with a single installation, and WordPress 3.3 RC1 was used. Tests are done on the local server with PHP 5.3.8.”

Authors, are you using Social Networking?

It is important in this day and age to be participating in the social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It is a necessary evil for all aspiring authors who want their name and their books known. The reach is simply too great to ignore.

#1: There are now more than 800 million active Facebook users, with over 200 million added in 2011.

#3: Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other U.S.website.

#8: More than half of Facebook users log in every day – that’s more than 400 million people.

#15: And get this: 98% of 18- to 24-year-olds access social accounts monthly.

Learn more

Authors: Tips for taking better Headshots

Some excellent advice here from Thomas Nelson publisher and star blogger Michael Hyatt. For example, tip #3 is…

Don’t shoot in a studio. I know some will disagree with this, but few things look more sterile than a studio. Instead, shoot the photos on your turf, in familiar surroundings. This is so much more interesting and adds more of your personality to the final result.

Learn the 9 tips he suggests for taking a better headshot.

Richard Branson gives Time Management Advice. Authors Listen Up!

Entrepreneur Richard Branson says that his best advice for managing your time effectively is to stay focused. Distraction is time lost. Manage your mobile device, Branson says. Don’t let it manage you. Check email in bursts and then put it away to concentrate on the task at hand. When it comes to managing others’ time, it’s better to give your employees space than micro managing. As long as you’ve hired people you trust, you will feel comfortable giving them the reins and letting them take responsibility for their actions.

“Many executives check their smartphones throughout meetings and during off-hours. This is not good for concentration, and has a negative impact on decision making. Use it only in bursts: check emails for an hour or so and then put it away…”

READ THE FULL PIECE

Can Authors Survive in the New Publishing World?

“With the era of digital publishing and digital distribution, the age of author advances is coming to an end,” explained Ewan Morrison at the Edinburgh international book festival. “Without advances from publishers, authors depend upon future sales; they sink themselves into debt on the chance of a future hit. But as mainstream publishers struggle to compete with digital competitors, they are moving increasingly towards maximising short-term profits, betting on the already-established, and away from nurturing talent.”

The Bookseller claimed in 2009 that “Publishers are cutting author advances by as much as 80% in the UK”. A popular catchphrase among agents, when discussing advances, meanwhile, is “10K is the new 50K”. And as one literary editor recently put it: “The days of publishing an author, as opposed to publishing a book, seem to be over.”

“Publishers are focusing on… READ THE FULL SPEECH

Discoverability – A Major Key for Authors

Perhaps the more than 200 authors gathered last month at the Hyatt Regency for the Writers’ League of Texas Agents Conference should have prepared themselves upon seeing the title of blogger and publishing strategist Jane Friedman’s keynote lunch speech, “Is the Book Dead? Who Cares!”

As Friedman got under way, she talked about “the state of the book” and then clicked to an image of a mushroom cloud. The room full of would-be authors sat aghast…

From creating a great blog to finding a following on Twitter, Friedman’s point was clear — authors need to create a direct line to their audience, a platform that they control. [READ THE FULL STORY]