Social Media and SEO; Making the Most Of Your Facebook Page
How Can Having A Facebook Page Benefit Your Business
The buzz around social media – even though it’s existed for many years – is still as strong as ever. More businesses are jumping on board to try and make the most of their SEO by developing a social media campaign and getting to know different elements by which they can attract potential business opportunities.
As with many things online, not everything is suitable for all businesses. Many companies see Facebook as more of a social tool before understanding what having an account can actually do for them. Yes, people know that by having a profile you can add many people and network easily, but for many, a Facebook page is far more beneficial, yet making the most of it to attract the same type of attention requires a little more understanding.
The Set Up:
Of course setting up your page is crucial to urging people to become a fan. A boring page that does not inform the user of your purpose or services is useless, so images and text are one of the most important aspects. Complete all the fields that are available to really impress the visitors to your page, after all, they don’t have to become a fan, they can simply move on elsewhere, maybe to a competitor.
Think carefully about your picture. Do you want a company logo? Or do you want something that is more eye catching, like a corporate day out? It’s a personal choice, but don’t forget, that this is the first image that people will view when scanning through results.
You can also add links which will help your SEO as they are from an authoritative source and could also increase your web site traffic. Make sure people can click through to your site in any way possible – without spamming – with ‘follow’ links and both your fans and the Search Engines will reward you.
Lastly, make sure that you announce your arrival, when the set up is complete, don’t leave it a few weeks before doing anything about it. Post something for people to see when they land on your page and get on with promoting your new arrival to Facebook with a blog post on your website and maybe even a Press Release.
Finding the right applications:
If you currently have RSS on your website then make sure this aggregates with your Facebook page. There are applications, specifically Twitterfeed, that you can add to your page to make sure that anything you post will then appear for all your fans to see. This is not only an ideal time saver, but looks like you are actively involved with updating your fans, something that new visitors are likely to find appealing.
In addition to the set up, make sure you have somewhere to put information about your company and testimonials. The most effective way of doing this is by adding tabs or boxes within your page via Static FBML applications. With a little design knowledge, you can also design these tabs and boxes to look presentable which can also fit in with the theme of your page set up.
Landing Page:
Unlike profiles, Facebook pages can actually have landing pages to really show off your talents and impress those that are looking for people within your industry. Whether you design this yourself or have someone do it for you, it’s a vital way of improving your page which will not only make you look more professional, but as it’s still a relatively new addition, not many people will have it.
The Aftermath:
Making more of your Facebook page means finding fans and suggesting to friends. Facebook knows how difficult it is to get off the ground initially with a page and therefore reward those pages with 100 or more fans with a vanity URL. This means you can set your profile to have your company name or keyphrase within the URL, which shows you as an authority.
Keep status updates fresh and interesting, engage with your fans. Answer and ask questions and discuss matters or projects perhaps that you are working on to really connect with those that have made the effort to become a fan.
In regards to SEO and social media, you can’t hold back and wait for the friends, fans and followers to come to you. Getting involved in your campaign and making the most of your page or profile is the only way to be above the rest. Initially a campaign is hard but it’s the only way of networking and then reaping the rewards.
April 22nd, 2010
The Facebook Landing page is a excellent method of providing a call to action for your users. Nissan have does an excellent page @ facebook.com/nissan.