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Managing a Facebook Page can be a challenging task, especially as things tend to change on a pretty regular basis. As a Page owner, you want to make sure you are taking advantage of the features available to you.
As options and functionality change, we’ll update this information, but for now, here are 12 top features that will help you manage your Page on a daily basis.
1. Cover Photo and Its Description
Your Cover Photo gives Fans a first impression of your business. Use an image to show something about your brand, put a tagline or brief description on top of a graphic, or showcase an event or product.
It’s your brand’s online “billboard”, so spend some time creating it, and periodically change your Cover Photo to “re-fresh” your Page or market a special event/product.
You can outsource the design of your Cover Photo to a graphic designer or use one of several free tools available to make your own.
Canva and PicMonkey are two free editors that make this easy to do with perfectly-sized templates. If you don’t have a photo of your own, Canva has a database of images for as low as $1.00 each or you can search sites like Pixabay or Unsplash for free images.
Take advantage of the space available in a photo’s description to explain more about your business or product/service, give users a call-to-action or share a link to your website/landing page.
2. Call-to-Action Button
This relatively new feature places a call-to-action button on your Cover Photo. You’ll see it next to the Like box on a Page’s Cover on desktop and under the Cover Photo on mobile.
Once you click on your button to “Create a Call-to-Action”, you’ll be guided through a series of steps to connect the button to a website/link.
Choose from the following types of buttons: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, and Watch Video.
You can use this live button in conjunction with an image on your Cover Photo to entice Fans to take action. For example, if you’re offering a free eBook, put a picture of the eBook on your Cover Photo and choose the “Sign Up” button to encourage people to sign up for a copy of it.
3. Post Scheduling Tool
Facebook’s built-in scheduling tool is found in the status update box (in a drop-down menu of the Post button on desktop, and as an option in the … icon on mobile) and gives you options to schedule into the future, backdate a post, and save a draft.
Use this feature to save time and stay consistent in your posting schedule. You can spend one day scheduling posts for the upcoming week, and then go back (if necessary) to make any edits or schedule changes.
Once you’ve scheduled posts, just click on the Posts tab of your Page to see them all.
4. Pin a Post (to your Timeline)
Use the “Pin a Post” feature to make a post stay at the top of your Page’s Timeline for up to 7 days.
Use this feature to highlight events, announcements, calls-to-action or any post you want to draw attention to. Just click on the arrow in the upper right corner of your status box and choose “Pin to Top”.
This feature works especially well on mobile viewing, where most users don’t take the time to scroll through posts on your Timeline.
5. Video Options
Videos are getting some of the highest reach and engagement rates on Facebook right now, so it makes sense to include them in your content strategy.
Uploading videos directly to Facebook (as opposed to sharing them from YouTube) appears to result in better reach and engagement.
Shorter videos seem to work better, as users typically do not want to spend 20 minutes watching something, so start out with 1-5 minutes of footage.
What can you include in videos? Consider footage that showcases how to use your products, explains your services, shows the “human” side of your business or speaks to the lifestyle of your target audience.
The “featured” video option will place a video at the top of your Timeline to attract users’ attention. You can also set up video playlists to organize them for viewers.
6. Page Insights
Spend time on a regular basis analyzing your Page’s Fans and post results with your Page Insights (just click on the Insights tab of your Page).
Some easy tools to use:
(1) Best Time to Post
Find out when your Fans are online, so you know when to post updates. Then make adjustments to your post schedule as necessary for maximum visibility.
From your Page:
- Click on the Insights tab
- Click on the Posts tab
- Check the Times on the “When your Fans are Online” screen
(2) Post Performance
Which types of posts get the most reach and engagement? Use this data to determine what works for your Page.
- Click on the Insights tab
- Click on the Posts tab
- Click on the Post Types tab
- Check out the Reach and Engagement for each post
You can also export Post Data for a date range for deeper analysis.
(3) Pages to Watch
From your Page Insights (Overview) you can choose 5 or more Pages to “watch”, as Facebook explains: to “Compare the performance of your Page and posts with similar Pages on Facebook”.
Facebook will even make suggestions for Pages to watch if you don’t have any in mind right away. You’ll be able to see how your Page compares to the ones you’re watching in respect to Likes, Posts, and Engagement.
Tip: If you don’t know which Pages to watch, use Facebook Graph Search and find other Pages your Fans like. Go to Facebook’s Search bar and type in search parameters that go something like
Pages Liked by Fans of [Your FanPage]
By monitoring other Pages, you can see what’s working for them, get ideas on the types of posts that work best for your target audience, and get some inspiration for your own Page posts.
(4) People Who Like your Page
- Click on the Insights tab
- Click on the People tab
Learn more about your Fans (demographics, location), the People you’ve Reached, and the People who have Engaged with your posts.
(5) Admin Roles
While this feature is not part of Page Insights, it’s important to mention it.
- Click on the Settings tab
- Click on the Page Roles tab
It’s a good idea to have more than one Admin for your Facebook Page, just in case your Personal Profile is compromised and you lose access.
You can limit someone’s access by making them something other than a Page “Admin”; but note that Page Admins are the only ones with the ability to add other people.
Learn more about Page roles here: https://www.facebook.com/help/323502271070625
7. Tabs and Apps
Your Page Tabs are located directly under your Cover Photo (on desktop) and each Page automatically has a Tab for Photos, Videos, Notes, Reviews (if applicable), and Events. You can install Apps to additional Tabs for things like email sign-up, Instagram feed, blog post feed, Pinterest feed, and much more.
The only Tabs that show up on mobile are Videos, Reviews, and Photos. That is why it’s important to use custom Apps like Tabsite or Heyo that give you a “mobile-friendly” or smart mobile URL link that you can use in Page posts to send people to your custom App (this works well for Contests).
You can move the Tabs around (on desktop) and display two of your choosing across the top of your Page (the About Tab cannot be move). Three additional Tabs are displayed in the left column of your Timeline. Users can click on the More button to see all of your Tabs.
Because of their limited visibility, your best use of Tabs/Apps may be for very specific purposes: a contest, email sign-ups, etc.
8. Notifications
There are two types of Notifications discussed here: one for keeping an eye on other Pages of interest and the second for internal notifications when activity takes place on your Page.
(1) Other Pages’ Notifications
Once you’ve Liked a Page, you can click on the “Get Notifications” feature to be notified every time the Page adds a new post.
Go to a Page or Profile you’ve already Liked, Followed or Friended, and if you hover over the Like button, you’ll see an option for Get Notifications. Click on it and you’ll now receive a notification inside Facebook every time that Page or Person posts something new.
This is the best way to make sure you see every post from a Page or Profile of interest (industry leaders, competitors, related Pages, local Pages, etc.)
(2) Your Page’s Internal Notifications
Make sure you’ve turned on the options that apply to your Page management, so you can respond to activity in a timely manner.
- Click on the Settings tab
- Click on Notifications
- Turn on all options that apply.
9. Interest Lists
Interest Lists are set up from your Personal Profile, but are a great way to keep track of Pages/People for business-related acticity.
Here are two ways to use Interest Lists:
(1) As a Source of Content (Content Curation)
Part of your Facebook content strategy should be to share helpful content from sites other than yours. Whether it’s news, local community pages, or pages on a specific topic your Fans find interesting, you can build your own “curation” system with Interest Lists.
“Curation” in this context refers to finding, sorting, and then sharing valuable content.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/interests and you’ll see any Lists you’ve already created, as well as a button to “Add Interests”.
If you click on Add Interests, you will go to a new screen where you can create your own list or search for and follow Lists other users have already created.
You’ll see Suggestions for Lists to follow, based on your Profile information. If you scroll farther down, you’ll find top lists in a variety of categories.
You can also enter keywords/topics in the search bar to find Lists that way.
Then you simply Follow any List you want. After you’ve created or followed a List, it will appear at the bottom of your Left Navigation menu on your Home page. Once you click on it, you’ll see the stream of posts from that Interest List only.
Following a few Lists on topics that interest your target audience gives you an endless supply of content to share. Sometimes you may want to Share immediately from the Page on Facebook. Or you can use the SAVE tool (see Feature #10 below) share the content at a later date.
(2) As a Resource for your Fans
You can create Interest Lists that build up your reputation as a helpful resource for content that interests your Fans.
Once you’ve created a List of resources that you think your Fans will find helpful, periodically share the link in a Page post.
Each Interest List has a unique URL (it appears in your browser when you open the List) and as long as you’ve set the List to public viewing, then other users can click on the link and subscribe to the List.
For example, here is a List I created for motivational quotes and posts:
https://www.facebook.com/lists/3233604130217
I can share the List on my Page or Profile if I want to recommend resources for daily inspiration.
Note that since Interest Lists are connected to Personal Profiles, not Pages, you want to make sure that the Lists are created by a Page Admin that has a business-appropriate Personal Profile (and who doesn’t mind that their Profile is attached to the List).
10. SAVE Tool
Facebook rolled out a new feature several months ago that allows you to save content for later viewing: links, places, movies, TV and music.
If you see content you want to save, click on the arrow in upper right corner of that post to access the Save feature on the drop-down menu.
Then check your left navigation menu on desktop (or the More tab on mobile) for your Saved tab. Click on it to see all of your saved items, which are only visible to you. You are then able to share your Saved items to your Timeline or a Page you manage.
11. Hashtags and Trending Topics
(1) Hashtag basics: What is a hashtag?
It is simply a quick and easy way to follow topics or conversations. Place one or more words (with no spaces) behind a hashtag (the # sign) and this makes the “hashtag” a phrase that can be searched and tracked.
In Facebook, anything you type after the # becomes a “clickable, searchable” link. So you can make up your own hashtags or use popular/trending hashtags.
For example, a few hashtags for our Facebook Page are: #SocialMediaTips or #FacebookTips (notice how it makes the hashtag easier to read when you capitalize the first letter of each word).
Placing a few hashtags (usually 1-4 on Facebook) in your posts can increase the reach of your content, and possibly show up as a trending topic (if you include a trending hashtag).
To find appropriate hashtags, use Facebook’s Search Bar, type in the hashtag, and then you’ll get a new feed of posts containing that hashtag.
For example, if I search for #TwitterTips, the hashtag appears as the last item in the Search drop-down box, and I can click on it to view the feed of related posts.
Each hashtag has a unique url in Facebook, so you can also type the following URL into your browser, replacing TwitterTips with the hashtag you are searching for:
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/TwitterTips
Hashtag searches may give you some good content to share, as well as several Pages to add to your Interest Lists, or Pages to Watch list. You may also get a few ideas on how to better optimize hashtags on your own posts.
(2) Trending topics (hashtags)
Use this feature to keep up with current events, and find posts that may be of interest to your Fans.
Note: Trending topics show up in the News Feed of your Personal Profile and are customized based on your Facebook activity. As Facebook explains: “Trending shows you a list of topics and hashtags that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook. This list is personalized based on a number of factors, including Pages you’ve liked, your location and what’s trending across Facebook.”
If you want to further customize what shows up in your Trending topics, you can:
- Hover over a topic under the Trending feed (on the right side of your desktop News Feed)
- Click the x to the right of the topic
- Select the reason you’re hiding that topic
12. Boost Post Option / Paid Ads
While I encourage you to use as many no-cost ideas as you can, you may find that a small budget set aside for Ads is a very effective way to drive traffic to your Page.
The great thing about Facebook Ads is that they can be very targeted – your posts and Ads will show up for the audience as you’ve defined it. You can also set a very low daily budget (e.g. $1.00 maximum per day) to test out their effectiveness.
When you click on a post’s Boost button you’ll see a new window where you can define your audience (People who like your Page, People who like your Page and their friends or People you choose through targeting), your budget, and the Ad’s duration.
Note that Facebook has improved the targeting options on the Boost button, so you can target according to location, age, gender, and interests.
You still have more options available in Ads Manager or the Power Editor, but many Page owners find the Boost post option is a quick and easy way to get more traffic to their Page.
For more Ad and audience options you can use the Ads Manager or the Power Editor. Both of these tools require a more in-depth training and expalanation than just a few sentences. So if you have questions on them , just let me know!
So now that you’ve learned a little more about each of these built-in features for Facebook Pages, which ones will you put in place this week?
Are there any top features I’ve missed that you use on a regular basis? Let me know and I’ll update this list.
If you’d like to learn more about any of these features or how to set up a system that allows you to optimize them for your Page, contact me for a free social media consultation. We can determine the next best steps for your business, and how we may be able to help!
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