Today I'm back for another "Fan Page Review" of a page submitted by one of our awesome Post Planner fans!
Check out the video below and then read on to get a summary of the most important tips from the video.
These tips are directed at the owners of the Sound Connections, Inc. fan page -- but they can definitely be applied to any Facebook page.
Video Review
The issues I identify on this page are common issues I see on many pages -- so watch the brief review below to get my advice on how to fix them:
5 Tips to Jump Start Your Facebook Page
1) Get your "vanity" url
This is super simple to-do -- and every Facebook Business page should claim their url ASAP.
Right now the page's URL is:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sound-Connection-Inc/80308204603
When it could be something like:
https://www.facebook.com/SoundConnectionInc
Having a custom URL for your page just gives you an easier way to tell people how to find it -- and it also looks slicker and more professional. To obtain your custom URL, just head to www.facebook.com/username and choose it.
2) Follow the new Cover Photo Guidelines
As you may know, Facebook updates its rules & guidelines often -- and a new rule many aren't yet familiar with is the 20% text rule on Cover Photos. I discussed the new guidelines for Facebook images in a previous post, but in a nutshell your cover photo cannot display more than 20% text or text logos.
The cover photo from Sound Connection is cutting it pretty close -- and is probably over the 20% text limit -- so I'd recommend changing it ASAP before Facebook removes it.
3) Get your Cover Photo ready for the new News Feed
Facebook is rolling out a new News Feed right now -- and along with the change is coming a new way for your cover photo to be visible in the News Feed. Here's how it works: when a new fan Likes a your page, Facebook creates a story that shows up in the News Feeds of that fan's friends and followers. The story shows a cut off version of your cover photo.
Here's an example I saw recently when my buddy Rosh Khan Liked a page for life coach Michael Santos:
As you can see, the story is a vertically cropped version of the page's cover photo -- together with the page's profile image. So for example, a cropped cover photo for Sound Connection would look like this:
If this story/image shows up in my News Feed, I'm going to have a pretty tough time knowing what the Sound Connection brand is all about.
Takeaway: make sure the bottom 30% of your cover photo is branded & nice -- it's a very important piece of real estate in the new News Feed.
4) Hide the "Like" app
I probably mention this every time I do a fan page review, but I'll say it again. Hide that stinking Like app on your page. It adds zero value to your page.
In fact, I think it can actually hurt your page because if a fan clicks on the thumbnail and views the insights on your fans, they may not Like your page at all. If your activity is low or engagement bad lately, it could turn off would-be fans.
Below is what you see when you click on the box for Sound Connection:
Now... do you really think it's going to do any good for would-be fans to see this information?
So hide it already!
5) Follow Facebook Guidelines for Contests and Promotions
I recently wrote a post about how you can get your page deleted by running an illegal contest on Facebook. The illegal contests I describe in that post are the ones I still see all the time -- including on the Sound Connection page!
This post looks harmless, right?
WRONG!
It violates the Facebook Terms of Service related to Promotions -- for a few reasons.
- To enter the drawing, you have to leave a comment. Facebook TOS state that you cannot use a Facebook function (such as Like, Comment or Share) to enter a contest
- The page owners are notifying the "winner" on their Facebook page. Facebook TOS state you cannot use Facebook messages or posts to notify a winner -- it has to be via email only.
My advice is to make sure you follow these rules when running a contest on your page. Do so and you won't have to worry about the heavy hand of Facebook deleting your page!
Apply these Tips to your page!
Your page may not have the exact same needs or "problems" as in the page above -- but hopefully you can still take some of these tips and apply them to your page to give it a quick jump start.
Did you enjoy this review and these tips? Then please click that "Like" and "Tweet" button, would ya?! :)
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