Moving Facebook Friends to Fans or “Likers” as some might say
— I had to include this line, as I have had too many laughs about it with friends who also specialize social media marketing. When Facebook changed to the “Like” button for Fan Pages, which they now call Business Pages we all made lots of wise cracks.
At the end of last year, I shared One of My Facebook Secrets and I feel the need to share another one today. Perhaps I should call this a Facebook Strategy verses a secret. I have many secrets still hidden away to share with you in my Facebook Training sessions.
I am inspired by the questions asked by my friends, fans, followers and well, you. It motivates me to help you solve your problems, answer your questions to help you and others grow their network and brand strategically via social networking sites.
Last week on Twitter, Angela Shelton, after reading my blog post Are you a RULE BREAKER? Know Your Facebook Rights and Wrongs she had lots of questions for me. She wanted to know how to convert Facebook Friends over to her Business Page (Fan Page). She said she had tried to move them over in the past, but they usually ignored her request, didn’t see it or were offended because she wanted to unfriend them of Facebook.
What they didn’t understand is she was not trying to unfriend them, she was wanting to follow Facebook’s Statement of Rights and keep her Facebook Profile for personal connections and her Business Page for professional connections. I had no quick answer to solve her problem in the 140 characters that Twitter allows. I decided to write a blog post giving suggestions how to entice them to “Like” her Business Page.
Here are the strategies:
- Post a status update on your Business Page that would get “Likes” and comments. Something about your business of course, not personal. Perhaps a new client you landed or recognition you received for your business. Go to your Facebook Profile and say “Just posted some exciting news on my Business Page (link to business page)”. Make sure and go check it out. Don’t forget to click “Like”.
- Post a status update on your Facebook Profile that says “Friends, I truly love connecting with each and everyone of you. I have recently been made aware of Facebook’s Statement of Rights regarding Facebook Profiles and Business Pages. I want to keep you updated on my business, but according to Facebook I must do this on a Business Page. Please go click “Like” (link to business page here) and let’s stay connected there also. We’ll still have some fun on my Facebook Profile, but it will be focused somewhat different.”
- Post a status update on your Facebook Profile saying “I am having so much fun connecting on my Business Page, if you haven’t already checked it out, please do (link to business page here)”
These are just a few strategies to get your friends moved across to your Facebook Business Page. I hope these ideas inspired a few other statements you can use to entice them. You can repeat these statements of course from time to time (maximum once per week) at different times to catch all your friends.
As your friends click “Like” on your Business Page, assign them to a list (Read how here) on your Facebook Profile that limits the status updates they see on our Facebook Profile. They will get use to not seeing your Facebook Profile status updates regularly and gradually been communicating with you on the Business Page. Eventually, (wait several months), you can unfriend them on your Facebook Profile if you want and they probably won’t even notice.
Another quick something to know …. at this point Facebook Business Pages cannot communicate with Facebook Profiles, only other Business Pages, so if you unfriend someone from your Facebook Profile, the only time you would be able to communicate with your them from your Business Pages is when they comment/”Like” something posted on your Business Page or as you from your Facebook Profile via messages, etc…. (This will be limited based on how they have their Facebook Privacy Settings established.)
It’s your turn! What tips did you come up with for moving friends to fans? How are you going to entice them to “Like” your Business Page? Look forward to hearing from you!
P.S. Special thanks Angela Shelton for the inspiration of this blog post! You should give her a follow on Twitter and check out her Facebook Business Page. Her background is quite interesting.
Is this photo of you? Are you protecting your digital footprint?
Is this photo of you? Are you protecting your digital footprint?
When you post a photograph online do you realize how easy it is for someone to save it to their own computer? Do you realize that in the Terms and Agreement of Services for many photo sites like Flickr and Picassa, you are giving your rights to the photograph to the site? Do you know that when you text someone a photo of you they can email it to themselves and then publish it online?
Yesterday I was researching a client’s online presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the other social networking sites, checking his completed social media profiles, photos, etc … I surprisingly came across a picture of him uploaded about two and half years ago. Wow, was I surprised! It was a very provocative photo, but not part of the image he wanted to portray online any longer.
I immediately removed the photo, and of course had several laughs about it with him! He was embarrassed and explained that it was uploaded as a joke several years ago and he had forgotten about it.
I couldn’t resist explaining the importance of your online presence and digital footprint. I saved the picture to my hard drive and emailed it to him. I wanted to show him how easy it was for someone to save and modify it; changing it to suit their needs. Jokingly, I said that we should keep an eye out for it on a future ad for getting rid of belly fat! LOL! I believe I got my point across and he probably won’t upload those type of photos again, even as a joke.
Ask yourself these questions about your online photos:
All photos of me must pass the above screening process before I upload or allow anyone to take my photo. You can’t control every photo or even know every time a photo is taken of you, but you can be aware of your surroundings and observe when others are taking photographs. Ask the person taking the photographs to please let you see them before posting online, try and put your back or side profile to the photographer, it will be a little harder for you to be recognized online.
Being seen at social events is an important part of branding and your online presence, but the photos need to be photos you would share with the world. Not a photograph you would regret later. Taking crazy photographs with your friends can be fun, but they can also have an impact later.
Try to limit being snapped in these photos:
These are all fun for now, but I promise there is a very strong possibility that those fun pictures can be damaging to you in the future. Your client might decide you are not serious enough, or perhaps drinking is a NO-NO in their book. I had a photo snapped of me where I was talking with my hands (as I often do) and it appeared from the angle of the photo I was grabbing the chest of the person next. Of course, I knew the photo was innocent, but everyone that would have seen it online would not have known that!
Here is your assignment, if you haven’t already done so:
Now, let us have some fun! Do you have a crazy photo story you want to share with the readers of this post? Tell us about a time when you had something happened to you online that you didn’t expect. Tell us how you resolved the situation. We all need to make sure our online presence is top quality, and sharing scenarios will help all of us!
As always, looking forward to your comments!