Morning, friends! Popping in on this sun-shiney Wednesday morning to talk Facebook and blogging with you all. But before we dive into that, if you live in the NYC area, can we just address this weather? It is truly making my life right now. Seventy five degree temps, please just stay with us all summer long!!
Now. Facebook. Truth be told, if I could do it all over again- meaning, if I could start this blog all over again, I would have handled Facebook much differently from the get go. I would have created a Facebook page for the blog a few weeks prior to the actual launch to build buzz and gain fans. So, word to the wise, if you’re just thinking about starting a blog, definitely create a fan page prior to your actual launch in order to jumpstart your traffic.
But if you’re like me, and up until last summer was feeling kind of ho hum about my blog’s Facebook page, here’s some food for thought:
Create a destination. Want to know one of my biggest pet peeves in life? The ugly box and small photo Facebook automatically pulls when you’re posting a link to exterior content. It ain’t pretty, and when you’re trying to create an attractive online experience, it does not work to your advantage. One of the biggest things I always emphasize with my clients is creating a destination through Facebook. As the most heavily used form of social media, many, if not the majority, of your readers are going to be on it each and everyday. Thus it’s important to create a positive experience for your blog or brand through Facebook in order to grow your page’s following and subsequently drive traffic back to your blog. Take the time to post full photos, swap out your banner each month, and always use the highest quality photos you can. Create a destination via your page.
Give people a reason… to visit your page outside of your blog. Which means, do not use it solely to post links back to your blog. When I first created the CC Facebook page, I struggled to build interaction. It didn’t really feel like anyone was visiting the page because there were few likes, comments, shares, etc on what we were posting. So I started to mix it up. I posted far fewer links to our blog content, and began focusing on posting other interesting content (with a CC brand focus), we found around the web. Recipes, gorgeous pinned images, and instagram pic or two- that became the bulk of our feed. The more content we posted that was entirely separate from the blog, there more traction we got. We gave people a reason to visit the page outside of the blog, because the content was largely different!
And lastly, always treat this page an an extension of your brand. I feel like I bombard you guys with that phrase endlessly, but I really find it to be so true. Any content you put out there should always be of the utmost quality, and directly reflective of the aesthetic of your brand. For some, your Facebook page may be the primary interaction they have with your brand, so you better make it count!
Now, do you all have any good Facebook tips? I’m sure we could talk endlessly about this subject, so let’s dish in the comments!
Photo by Daniel Peter of Jess Lively’s Apartment (one of my favorite places in the world!)
Great tips! I struggle with trying to make FB work for my new blog. It takes a lot more effort in comparison with Twitter.
These are great tips! Especially the “extension of your brand” part. It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t treat it like a personal Facebook pages, but rather a professional one!
If you’re going bright on the eyes then all that’s needed on the
lips is a slick of gloss or balm and youre good to go.
Braviary made his first appearance in White -
Victini and Zekrom and Black - Victini and Reshiram.
The intuitive feeling I had about the rainbow trend
must have been right.
Pingback: Let’s Talk Social Media for Bloggers | Pearl & the Oyster