What's the new Facebook 'Promote' Feature all about?

If you are a Page admin then you may have noticed that there are new icons on you business Facebook Page when you are writing a post that weren’t there before..? Does the word promote ring a bell as shown in Figure 1?

Figure 1

So what does this new 'promote' feature do?

Well, promoted posts are a simple way to reach more of the people who like your Page and their friends. Visit your Page to try promoting a post. Promoted posts are available to Pages with 400 to 100,000 likes.

When you promote a post, it will be shown in the news feeds of more of the people who like your Page than you would reach normally. Friends of the people who have interacted with your post will also be more likely to see the story in their news feeds for up to 3 days from when the post was first created.

What to know how it's done? Well here you go!

1. Go to the sharing tool to create a post and enter your post details.

2. Click on the Promote drop-down button and set your desired budget. Note: the budget you set is a lifetime budget and not a daily budget as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

3. Click save and away you go, it's that simple!

So you may be thinking, if I don’t promote my post, will the people who like my Page still see it?

Nothing has changed about how your posts are shared with the people who like your Page.

A lot of activity happens on Facebook and most people only see some of it in their news feeds. They may miss things when they’re not on Facebook, or they may have a lot of friends and Pages, which results in too much activity to show all of it in their news feed. 

If you don’t promote your post, many of the people connected to your Page will still see it. However, by promoting a post, you’re increasing its potential reach so an even larger percentage of your Page audience and the friends of those interacting with your post will see it.

All of the above information has been taken from the Facebook Help Page so if you get stuck please click here for more information or give Nutcracker a call on 01384 455 141 today.

Coming Soon to Facebook – Find and Share Offers!

Facebook will soon be allowing its users to get discounts from businesses when they post an offer onto their Facebook Page. In order for users to claim an offer, all they will need to do is click ‘Get Offer’ from the story anywhere that it appears on Facebook.

Pretty soon you will start to see offers by Pages that you like within your news feed. Upon clicking ‘Get Offer’, Facebook will send you an email that you can either print off or show on your mobile phone at the business to redeem your discount.

It sounds exciting doesn’t it?

These offers are a great way for organisations to engage with customers and to drive new people to their business. In creating offers suitable for the target audience of you business you are encouraging people to talk about your Page and share the offers between friends.

Offers are FREE for Page Admins to create! However currently they are only available to a small number of business Pages. Facebook do however plan to launch offers more broadly soon (Facebook, 2012).

Watch the below video for a greater insight into the future of Facebook Offers.



So how can Nutcracker help when offers are available?

To ensure that your offer is claimed and shared its value should be carefully considered along with the headline and imagery used. If people don’t notice or understand your offer or if it looks like spam then they may hide it from their news feed and unlike your Page – which would be disastrous!

We advise that your Page Admin and organisation track how many people claim, like, share, comment and bring each offer into your business. This will allow you to get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t for your customers (Facebook, 2012).

Top Tips - Things you really MUST know about your Facebook Business Page Timeline

If you have just logged onto your Facebook Business Page you may have had a bit of a shock. It's not quite as you remembered it is it?

Don't panic! Below are a few things you really MUST know about the new features available to you and the huge benefits and opportunities that are now available for your brand.

1. You now have a 'cover photo'. The cover photo dimensions are 851 x 315 pixels. The image that you choose for this section must represent your brand and be attractive to your target audience. You may be thinking that this is a little bit more complicated than you first imagined. So let us do the hard work for you. We can design a cover photo in line with your corporate identity and create a page truly representative of your brand. See our cover photo below or click here to visit our Page.

REMEMBER: Facebook's new policies state that a cover photo must not include price or purchase information, your company contact details, calls to action or references to Facebook features or actions. If you get stuck at any point or would like more information then give Nutcracker a call on 01384 455 141 or to send us an email click HERE.

2. Set your 'profile picture'. This picture is the image that will get shown next to each of your status updates on your wall and within other users' news feeds. The image that you use should be 180 x 180 pixels but remember that this image scales down to a thumbnail size of 32 x 32 pixels. Using a logo here really is a great choice! Below is our new profile picture.

3. Organise your 'Apps and Views' Facebook's new Timeline design features your photos, likes and apps at the top of the page just below the cover photo. Photos are set by Facebook to automatically feature as the first element. However page administrators can rearrange the following apps to feature as they please. A total of 12 apps can be shown on your page. Here is how ours appears below.

HINT: there are some amazing apps that can be created for organisations to showcase their services and expertise. To take a look at Nutcracker's click here or if you would like more information give us a call 01384 455 141 

4. New icons...'star, hide and pin'. You will notice that when you place the cursor over individual stories that you can make them wider or use the pencil icon to hide things from your Timeline. Important posts can be highlighted using the star icon - great for pointing out special offers or company successes. To 'pin' a specific story means that a chosen post can be placed at the top of your Timeline for up to 7 days. Specific posts which you feel are important wont therefore get lost amongst more recent updates.

5. Displaying your company 'Milestones'.  This new feature allows page administrators to display some of their organisations biggest accomplishments such as the year their company began, acquisitions, awards, product releases, etc. The milestone images are 843 x430 pixels. Milestones are created by using the status update box where you are prompted for information.

For more information on what packages are available from Nutcracker for the customisation of you Facebook Page click HERE.