Have you Updated the new version of Facebook pages app?

This Facebook Page app helps you to manage your Facebook pages (not personal profiles) from your phone, iPad or tablet device.

Check your app and make sure it has the new icon which is the orange flag.

The newest version has lots of new features and lets you quickly see important data about the Facebook pages you manage.

In this article, I will show you the new features and how to navigate around your phone app, this makes it so much better to manage your page anywhere whilst you are on the go.

Reasons to install the Facebook Pages App

Some of you may be using the traditional Facebook app to manage your page but it does not have the features you’ll find in the Facebook Pages app. The basic Facebook app is designed to let you keep in contact with friends and social information but it doesn’t offer many features to managing your page.

I am rapped with the new version of Facebook Pages, the new clean look offer so much more functionally to really manage your page or pages whist on the go.

Mobile interface has been optimised.

When you open the Facebook page app, you’ll see your default screen. The cover photo is cropped and centred (responsive to your device) then below is number of people who like your page. FYI be aware this only counts number of people not other Facebook pages who like your page)

A great new feature of this app is it makes it easy for page admins to invite personal friend to like their business page.

Find other Pages and Settings

If you are the admin of more than one page, click (touch) on the three horizontal bars int he top right hand corner to see a list of all your pages. Scroll down further (past the pages) and you’ll find the Facebook Help Centre, TOS and App Settings, or you can report a problem. This updated app even allows you to create a new page.

Basic Page Functions

Across the bottom is the navigation toolbar offering 5 function buttons, the first one which looks like a page icon takes you back to your default page. The second button (lighting bolt) is the overview page where you can will find:

Notifications
Messages
New likes
Recent likes / Unlikes
Post Reach

and you can advertise your Page from here too.

The middle icon (paper and pencil) is where you can add posts (we’ll talk more about this function later).

The second last bar graph icon takes you to the page insights (see below for more details) and the last icon on the far right of the navigation tool bar (3 dots)

You can choose Photos (all of the photos you’ve uploaded to your page), Events (any events you’ve shared from your page) and Settings (access to basic page settings).

The Settings option lets you turn push notifications on or off. You can also update your page information and assign new managers as your page grows and changes. In the past you could only do these features on your Desktop.

Create Posts

The middle paper and pencil icon give you posting options. Now you can write a text-only update, upload a phone with or with out text, upload a photo or video and even create an event. Tap the type you want to share. A really exciting update is that you can now schedule your updates from this app. (example: release the post in two days time at 5:30pm)

Insights

The bar graph in the navigation tool par provides an overview of your page activity and insights. You can see:

Total page likes
New likes
Total reach
Post Reach
People engaged

View Posting Author

I love this new feature in Facebook, if you have multiple admins who manage your page, you can see the name of who published the post. (Public don’t see this detail, only admins)

Comments Reply

You now can reply to fan comments and have their responses appear under each comment. So now you can keep an eye on your community interactions even if you’re not at your desk.

Edit Posts

If you made a mistake on your old Facebook page app it was too bad. You could only edit it on the desktop version but now you can edit right from the app, Happy days 😉

To edit a post, just scroll to the post you want to update or change and tap the upside-down arrow in the upper-right corner to see the Post menu. You have four options here: edit post, pin to top, copy link to post or delete. Click Edit Post and make the changes you need.

If you want to re-share a link on Twitter or another platform, you’ll find the Copy Link to Post option is especially useful because you can copy the link and paste it wherever you want to share it. Great Feature.

This Facebook Page update app has heaps of new features and as a page admin of many pages it’s an absolute blessing being able to manage your pages from anywhere on any device.

Have you use the new Facebook Pages app yet? I would love to hear your feedback, Please leave your comments below!

Social Media Tips

There is so many things to consider if you’re in charge of Online marketing for your business, social media has become essential for all companies no matter what their size is. Social media is more than just random posting about your products or next big sale, here are a few tips to help you find a good social media strategy.

1. Test and Measure – Use analytics

Google analytics and web master tools are essential to finding out if your social media efforts are converting to traffic to your website. Each Social Media platform also has tools to help analyse your social media campaign success and failures. Collect the reports, read them and translate them into actions to tweak your campaign to gain better results.

2. Know the best times to post

Find out the best times to post for your industry or demographic. If your promoting to business the best time maybe from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. For consumers it may on weekends, later at night or early morning between 7am to 9am when people are commuting to work on public transport. Do your research and know who are targeting. Some social media platforms like Facebook allow you to schedule a particular time and date for the post to be released. There are also 3 partly software like Hoot Suite, Buffer or Sprout social which you can use to schedule posts on many different platforms, these sites generally have a monthly fee and be aware you may not want to despatch the same post on all platforms, for example a LinkedIn post should be more corporate and have a business aspect whereas Facebook would foster a more personal statement.

3. Build a relationship

It’s a two way street, Social media is all about engagement, asking your fans to get involved, it is not about preaching at your audience, but engage them,.

4. Choose the right Social Media platform

There are hundreds of social media platforms, it can become very daunting as to which ones to use. The most popular ones in Australia right now are Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Blogs. Take some time to see which platforms are best for your business and limit them to five max.

5. Make social media special

Your fans should get something out of being your fan or liking your page. Offer truly desirable things like discounts, competitions and giveaways solely to people who follow you on social media.

6. Use images and videos

Info-graphics and videos are what attracts people to your posts, just like the old saying “a picture is worth one thousand words”

7. Hire a social media manager

Find an expert to can get the job done quickly and professionally. They can work magic and in a fraction of the time anyone else can. It’s a real job (and deserves a real salary). You may think you can do it all yourself but in reality it’s another very daunting aspect of marketing your business which you would need to invest a lot of time researching to keeping up with the latest trends and technology for the online world and that takes you away from actually running your business.

8. Don’t spread yourself too thin

There is no point joining every new social media platform that is created. It really is all about quality, not quantity, don’t bit off more than you can chew. Choose your best social media matches and give them the attention they deserve.

9. Don’t treat it like a personal site

Business social media is very different to your personal social media. What you post on your own profile for friends and family is not the type of posts you would use for your business they need to be very specific for your industry or demographic.

10. Build business associations

Find other companies or business that are complimentary to yours but are not a direct competitor. Swap and share posts to get a greater reach.

11. Scared of Trolls? Don’t entertain them

Many business are scared of negative comments or trolls, it is a reality that once your social media following gets big enough, you’ll have a few trolls and baiters. Be professionally, and know when to publicly respond, when to let it go, and when to delete their comments. Each action has a time and place.

12. It’s not a 24hr a day job.

If your handing the social media for the business, don’t have Social Media notifications on your personal phone, as it can easily turn into a 24/7 project. Don’t let it.

13. Know when to call it quits

If you’re just not performing well on a particular site no matter who’s to blame, know when to end it. Just like any other bad relationship, nobody is benefiting from dragging it out. Fix it or quit it, but make a choice.

14. Yell out “BUY NOW”

At the end of the day all business set up social media to improve sales. However, this isn’t a direct sales platform. Think of this scenario, you are walking down the street and a shop owner starts yelling “you buy now” and attempt’s to drag you into their shop. Would you be keen to purchase anything, let alone let yourself be yanked into that store? Hell No, no one likes a pushy sales person. So don’t use your social media platforms it that way. Instead, foster relationships and provide information or entertainment for free, this will improve sales, whether directly or through building customer relationships.

15. Complete your profile

Fill out every possible corner of your profile info: about us, general information, site address, website, General information, categories, brand etc. This is where your business’ personality is developed and it’s important for brand reputation and management.

16. Develop Social media strategies into your business plan.

Whether you’re a startup or a solid corporation, you should still have a business plan in place for growth. Implement social media into it and set goals for different time periods. This is how you’ll see if social media is worth it for you.
Ever heard the saying “Failing to plan is planning to fail?” That old but wise adage often rings true when it comes to social-media marketing. Creating a detailed, goal-oriented social-media strategy is just as important as having a rock solid business plan.

17. Make fans want to see your posts

This seemingly simple advice is the toughest. What would you want to see as a fan or friend? Find “sticky” posts that have viral potential and people want to share.

18. Make it easy to share

Along with number 17, make it as easy to share your posts as possible. Link them to a landing page on your website, another social media site (Facebook and YouTube play together nicely) or your blog. If it’s easy for someone to just click and share, they’re more likely to do so.

19. Find the right tone between personal and professional

Find the right balance between personal / professional. You want to be approachable but don’t want to get too personal and not come across too severely professional either. This is a hard balance to hit, but when done well, makes fans think they “know you” in the right way. Don’t’ get emotional or reactive.

20. Grammar and punctuation matters

Don’t just let auto correct or spell check inspect your writing. You need to check, double check, and have someone else check each and every things you put on social media. An embarrassing typo can cause a world of hurt and is easily avoidable. Have you ever left the “L” out of “public service?” or used missed a comma “I like cooking my family…..” could save lives.

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