How to Launch Your Product Using Facebook

By Andrea Vahl
Published June 22, 2015

Are you launching a new product or service?

Want to create buzz and get the word out to the right people?

Facebook is a great way to promote the launch of a product or service and generate excitement.

To be successful, you need to plan your content, write your posts and make good use of the tools Facebook has to offer.

In this article you'll discover how to launch a product or service using Facebook.

You'll want to map out your launch strategy at least two months ahead, and most likely even earlier than that. Plan what types of launch material you'll have available to share on social media to get the buzz going. You may also need to start designing some of these materials.

Discover how to launch your product using Facebook.

If you have an online product, you can use some great freebies to help get people onto your list. Some examples of great freebies or launch materials include:

Images and infographics: Think about designing several versions of your images so they're size-optimized for each social site. Also, if you'll be using them in a Facebook ad, make sure the images are 1200 x 628 pixels and comply with the 20% text rule.Free ebooks, reports or white papers: These freebies could be part of your final product or something valuable that will promote the final product.Free webinar or other educational content: If you're launching an online product, you may want to host a webinar, telesummit or some other type of live event. Plan when that event will occur and when you'll start promoting it.Sale or discount period: If you're offering an introductory price, figure out how long that will last and how many posts you might have around that promotion.Facebook contests: If you're having a contest to promote the launch or new product, plan the timing and determine what type of contest will work best for you.

When launching a course, for example, you might plan all of the content and decide when you'll communicate about it to people on your email list and in your social media posts.

Plan when each piece of content will be released to your email list and what posts will go out to Facebook.

If affiliates or promotion partners will be helping you get the word out about your product or service, start assembling that team and putting together resources for the team to use.

Be sure to make it easy for affiliates to build buzz on Facebook and other social media channels. Write a variety of Facebook posts and tweets so they can either cut and paste them or have a great starting place to add their own wording.

Social Media Examiner provided a variety of images to their affiliates to help promote Social Media Marketing World. Some of the images were appropriate for Facebook ads, while others were useful for tweets or blog posts.

Develop images to use for Facebook ads and share them with affiliates and partners.

They also provided a variety of tweets and Facebook updates that were ready to use, and people just had to add their affiliate link.

Write a variety of social media posts for you and your affiliates to use.

To start building buzz and generating excitement around your product or service, post teasers about it. If appropriate, use both your Facebook page and profile to let your Facebook fans and personal friends know that something is coming.

Add intrigue and consider using your personal profile to post about it.

Using video on Facebook to promote your launch will go further in the news feed. Make sure you're creating a variety of content. You can see that this video post reached nearly 39,000 people and had over 8,000 views.

Use video to build buzz.

You can also give people a sneak peek into your process. Bathers Beach House in Australia started posting about their restaurant months before it opened. They shared the building process, gained the interest of potential diners and grew to over 4,000 fans before they even opened their doors. This led to a successful opening of their restaurant, and they continue to have high engagement and interaction.

Show the process behind your product or service launch.

If you have affiliates or promotional partners, consider co-creating material to launch the product, such as a webinar or live Q&A session. Gena Shingle Jaffe launched a legal course for entrepreneurs, and Natalie MacNeil had a perfect audience for the course. They co-created a webinar to give the audience some good tips and promote the online course.

Consider co-creating promotional material with your affiliates.

Your launch phase may vary in length and never be truly over in terms of promotion, but you likely will have an end date for the biggest promotional push. Figure out what types of things you can do to keep the excitement going.

A Facebook contest is a perfect fit for continued promotion. Goorin Brothers, a boutique hat designer, launched a new hat and decided to involve their audience by naming the hat after one lucky winner. In addition they gave away five custom hats to the runner-ups. They spent $70 on Facebook ads and $30 on the Heyo app. The contest got 8,404 email entries and built up a lot of awareness around their hats and their brand.

Find creative ways to involve your audience in your promotion.

You also need to have a Facebook ad plan as part of your launch strategy. Consider focusing much of your ad budget on the pre-launch phase where you give away valuable content. But if you have a coupon or something special to offer, you can promote that with an ad campaign as well.

Use Facebook ads to get your message out to a wider audience.

After the launch is over, make sure you thank your audience and your affiliate and promotional partners, and tell people what's next. Let your audience know that they're appreciated even if they didn't buy from you.

Thank your audience after your launch.

You also want look at your analytics and do a little research on which techniques worked the best for you. Did the webinar you held convert the most sales, or was it something else? Where did your new subscribers come from and which social site drove the most sales? Learn from this launch so you can improve the next one.

Conclusion

Facebook can be a great place to get the word out about your new product or service. And affiliates can help you make it look like everyone is talking about your product. To do your launch right on Facebook and help your affiliates sell, keep the key points in this article in mind.

What do you think? Have you used a technique on Facebook that has helped you sell a product or service? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Tips for launching your product using Facebook.

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Andrea Vahl is co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies and also uses her improv comedy skills to blog as Grandma Mary, Social Media Edutainer. Connect with her at http://www.andreavahl.com/. Other posts by Andrea Vahl »

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Original source: How to Launch Your Product Using Facebook.
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11 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for More Exposure

By Kristi Hines
Published June 23, 2015

Are you getting the most out of your LinkedIn personal profile?

Interested in ways to drive traffic to your website?

LinkedIn offers many overlooked ways to optimize your profile, helping more people discover you and promote your business.

In this article you'll discover 11 tips you might not be using on your LinkedIn profile, but should.

Discover eleven ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile for more exposure.

If you haven't added skills to your LinkedIn profile, you're missing out on an opportunity to optimize your profile for specific keywords and get quick endorsements from your connections for those skills. LinkedIn showcases your top 10 skills based on endorsements so people know where you excel.

Emphasize your professional skills in the Skills section.

You can use the Projects section (originally created for students to share projects they completed at university) to highlight products, services or other projects, such as the podcasts listed on Jay Baer's LinkedIn profile. Directly link each project to your website and include team members when applicable.

Promote your products, services and projects in the Projects section.

The Publications section is perfect if you're a book author, regular contributor to top publications, or have ebooks, white papers and other content that you want to promote. You can directly link each publication to where visitors can buy your books (like Mari Smith does on her LinkedIn profile) to author profile pages and landing pages for your content.

Link to your books, author pages and company content in the Publications section.

Another section originally designed for students' scholastic achievements, the Honors & Awards section is where you can highlight notable lists and mentions you've received from recognized authorities and publications in your industry.

Share notable lists and mentions in the Honors & Awards section.

If you haven't completed a higher-education degree, the Certifications section allows you to showcase your specialized educational achievements within your industry. If your business boasts a certification for your industry, you can list it here and link to it so people can learn more about it.

Showcase specialized certifications in the Certifications section.

Not all courses come with a certification. If you've taken any courses that would apply to your business, you can list them in the Courses section. This includes coursework you completed at university, those you completed as part of your on-the-job training and those offered by recognized organizations in your industry.

Highlight industry-related coursework in the Courses section.

If you belong to professional organizations in your industry, use the Organizations section to highlight your membership and the position you hold beyond just being a member. It's also another great opportunity to optimize your profile for keywords. For example, professional photographers can include their membership to Professional Photographers of America.

Feature professional memberships in the Organizations section.

Demand for people who speak two or more languages is on the rise. Therefore, if you are fluent in multiple languages, include that information in the Languages section.

Demonstrate language proficiency in the Languages section.

When you join LinkedIn groups, you have the option of listing them on your profile, as shown in the Groups section below.

Highlight your LinkedIn group memberships in the Groups section.

This can benefit you in a few different ways. First, people who want to get to know you can do so by joining the groups you're in and engaging with you there.

Second, if you join groups related to your industry, such as groups for social media consultants, you can add more keywords to your profile. Finally, if you run groups for your business, you can display them on your profile to help increase membership.

When you follow specific news channels, publishers, influencers and companies found on LinkedIn Pulse, they will appear in the Following section of your profile. You can use this section to optimize your profile for specific keywords, highlight publications that you may contribute to and showcase your customers.

Publicize interests you follow in the Following section.

Did you know that one in five hiring managers has chosen a candidate based on his or her volunteer experience? Add the Volunteer section to your profile to show others that you also care about helping others. For nonprofits, this is a great way to promote your organization and cause.

Publicize interests you follow in the Following section.

Support your causes in the Volunteer section.

How to Add These Sections to Your Profile

To add these sections to your LinkedIn profile, open your profile (choose Profile and select Edit Profile from the drop-down menu) and look for the Add a Section to Your Profile Area beneath the section that contains your profile photo and headline. You may need to click the View More link to see all of the available sections.

Choose additional sections to add to your LinkedIn profile.

Click on the Add links for the sections you want to add and fill in the details for each listing as specified. Pay particular attention to opportunities to add a URL to an external website within the Projects, Publications, Certifications and other sections. This will allow people to go directly to your website from your profile.

Fill out each section's basic information.

Note that certain sections, like Projects and Organizations, allow you to select your occupation at the time you participated in the project or became a member of an organization.

Link specific job experiences to projects and organizations.

The project or organization is then linked to that listing in your Experience section.

Include links to projects and organizations in the Job Experience section.

You can remove a section you've added to your profile by removing all of the items you've added to that section, such as removing all publications or all projects.

Conclusion

Like most LinkedIn users, you're probably already taking advantage of the Summary, Experience and Education sections of your profile. But don't miss out on additional sections that will optimize your profile for keywords, highlight specific achievements and promote your business.

What do you think? Do you use any of these additional sections in your LinkedIn profile? If so, please share your results in the comments!

Tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile for more exposure.

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=167506593384213&version=v2.0″; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));About the Author, Kristi Hines

Kristi Hines is a contributing editor for Social Media Examiner, freelance writer, and HubSpot Inbound Certified Marketer. She specializes in analytics, blogging, and social media topics. Other posts by Kristi Hines »

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Original source: 11 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for More Exposure.
http://www.jretechnology.com

Facebook Algorithm Update – Actions Taken Within Videos Now Factored In

If you've ever found yourself thinking "Facebook aren't tracking, like, every single action on the platform, are they?" The answer is yes, and they've underlined this with their latest update – in yet another algorithmic tweak, Facebook has announced that actions taken while viewing a video will be taken into account and used as signals to indicate whether a user was interested in that content. Signals like:

Turning the sound onMaking the video full-screenTurning the volume upEnabling high-definition

Yes, every action you could possibly take while watching a video will be used as an indicative factor and taken into account in the algorithm when Facebook decides what other content might interest you.

The change goes hand-in-hand with another recent Facebook update which will take into account time spent reading as an indicator of interest in a Facebook post and adds a new layer of complexity to the wider Facebook News Feed algorithm. If you were pretty confident you had a good understanding of how News Feed works, the latest updates might have you re-assessing – while the common 'IPCTR' factors (Impact x Post x Creator x Type x Recency) remain significant, the detail within them is getting deeper with increasingly more variables to take into consideration.  

This latest update goes further towards underlining the importance of video content on Facebook, which is now in direct competition with YouTube for overall video views, hosting four billion video views per day at last check. The tweak will surface more video content likely to be of interest to individual users, which will result in more videos served up via your News Feed.

From the official announcement:

"Many people have told us that they enjoy watching videos in News Feed but don't always feel inclined to like, comment or share them. For example, you may have found a video from a nonprofit you follow on Facebook to be really informative and you're glad you saw it but it's not something you felt inclined to like, comment on or share more broadly.

We are now taking into account more interactions with videos that we have learned indicate whether someone found that video interesting, such as choosing to turn on sound, making the video full screen, and enabling high definition. So if you turn the volume up or make the video full screen, we have updated News Feed to infer you liked the video and will show you similar videos higher up in your News Feed. We have found that this helps us show people more videos that they are interested in."

The operative element here being "more videos", which seems to be the key motivator behind this update. This being the case, it's hard to see, definitively, who this tweak benefits more, the users or Facebook, which, as noted, is closing in on YouTube as the king of online video. And more people watching more video means more opportunities to serve video ads, a massive revenue opportunity, particularly with online video projected to grow 29% per year through to 2017.

What we can take, for certain, from this update is that Facebook is tracking everything. Every action you take – from explicit ones like clicking 'Like', to the more implicit, like writing a status update, then deleting it – Facebook's logging it all. This is what enables them to build a service that caters to your needs, but it's also what helps them build a company around that, to generate more revenue based on your actions and data. Serving you more video definitely helps Facebook, and probably doesn't hurt user experience, so it's a win-win, but it'd be interesting to analyse the influence Facebook might have over our overall habits and behaviours in this regards. For instance, the increased appearance of a video in News Feeds no doubt leads to more views – but does increasing the amount of times that video appears artificially inflate it's view count by exposure? It's something of a chicken and egg conundrum – what you can bet on is this: producing video content which prompts Facebook users to take action, using the autoplay functionality to tempt users to turn the volume up or interact with your content in some way, will help boost the reach of your posts on Facebook.

Clever use of autoplay functionality like this:

…is a great way to use Facebook video to your advantage.

The latest update is rolling out now and will be completed within coming weeks. Facebook says they don't expect Pages to see any significant changes in distribution as a result.

Main image via bilciu / Shutterstock

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Original source: Facebook Algorithm Update – Actions Taken Within Videos Now Factored In.
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How to Use Facebook Mobile Apps for Marketing

By Andrea Vahl
Published June 15, 2015

Want to make your Facebook marketing more mobile?

Curious about what you can and can't do from your phone with Facebook apps?

Facebook has a variety of mobile apps, from pages, to groups, to ads, that keep you connected while marketing on the go.

In this article you'll learn about the different capabilities of each of the mobile Facebook apps that are available today.

Discover how to use Facebook mobile apps for marketing.

First, install the basic Facebook mobile app on your phone. There are plenty of things you can do from this app, like access your personal information and pages and groups (just click on the three horizontal bars in the upper-right corner).

To access pages and groups from the regular Facebook app, click on the three bars in the upper-right corner.

Post to your page from there or comment on other posts as your page.

Access, post and comment on your page from the regular Facebook mobile app.

When you click on the activity or insights tab on your phone, you can also see the recent activity and scheduled posts, as well as limited stats.

Go to the Activity tab to view notifications on your page, see new likes and access scheduled posts.

Although the Facebook mobile app is primarily used for personal activity, there is so much more you can do with it.

To maximize your connection to your page on your mobile device, install the Facebook Pages app.

There are a few things that you can do with the Facebook Pages app that you can't do with the regular app, such as access the home feed of your Facebook page. Pages Feed shows the posts of the pages you've liked as your page, and you can comment as your page.

Click the three dots on the Pages app to get to your Events, Scheduled Posts, Pages Feed and more.

Also, view and respond to messages to your page through the app, if you have messages capability enabled in general settings. To access your page's messages, click the speech bubble. Then reply to messages that have been sent to your page.

The Facebook Messenger app originally sparked a lot of controversy about the required permissions. People have since discovered that because of the way Android's app permissions are worded, the app is forced to ask for a lot of permissions (and they're not any different than other messaging apps on Android devices).

Many people don't realize how powerful the Facebook Messenger app can be. You can make international calls for free to anyone else who has the app installed (data rates apply), leave a voice message for anyone with the app or make a free video call. Plus, send money for free to a contact (this feature is only available in some areas).

Go into the Messenger app to see what features are available. Start a conversation with someone or access previous conversations.

Use the Messenger app to make voice or video calls.

You can also install additional features to the app by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen with three dots.

Add apps within Facebook Messenger to enhance your communications.

Currently most of the bonus features involve things like additional images, GIFs, etc. However, there are some practical apps, such as a photo editor and sketch pad.

While you can access your groups within the regular Facebook app, one of the biggest benefits to the Facebook Group app is the ability to easily manage your groups and watch for updates. If you're an admin of a Facebook group, this app is a must.

Install the Groups app, and you can easily see which groups have new activity, indicated by the number in blue next to each group icon.

Move the Facebook groups you use the most to the top of the screen. Just hold down the icon of that group and move it with your finger to the top of the screen.

Drag and drop the groups you use most to the top of the screen.

Decide which Facebook groups need what notifications, and set them up the way you want them, so you don't get overwhelmed with notifications you don't need.

Manage your notifications in the Groups app and only get the notifications you want.

The Groups app is essential for admins or moderators to keep tabs on the activity of your groups.

If you run Facebook ads for yourself or for a client, watching them while you're away from your desk is a must. Luckily the Ads Manager in the Facebook mobile app has improved over the last year. You can easily switch between accounts, turn ads on and off and adjust the schedules.

To access the Ads Manager from your mobile device, click on the three lines and then select Ads Manager.

Once you select the Ads Manager, you will be taken into the most recent ads account you accessed. If you manage ads for multiple clients, scroll to the bottom of the page to select a different account.

If you manage ads for multiple clients, go to the bottom of the Ads Manager to switch between accounts.

Using the Ads Manager on a mobile phone, you can start and stop ads, ad sets and campaigns. Also, edit your ad set budget and schedule, as well as get details on performance such as reach, cost per conversion and frequency.

However, there are critical things that you can't do from the Facebook app, such as edit the ad itself, adjust the bidding, remove spam comments from the ad and see all of the performance stats.

In those cases you'll need to use a browser on your phone to access the full Facebook Ads Manager site instead. This also applies to the Facebook Power Editor. In this case you need to make sure to use the Chrome browser on your phone.

To access the full Ads Manager, just open up a browser on your phone and manually type http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage into the browser bar.

Access the full version of the Ads Manager from a browser on your phone to perform certain tasks. Image: Placeit.

The downside to using mobile web browsers for Facebook ad management is that the print is quite small when you view it on your phone. Double-tap the screen to zoom in and out and access the full features of the Facebook Ads Manager.

Over to You

In this mobile, fast-paced life it's nice to know that you can do Facebook marketing anytime, anywhere. Facebook apps improve your productivity and visibility. Plus, you don't have to worry about missing an important update or not turning your ads on or off when they need to be managed.

What do you think? How are you using Facebook mobile apps? Which app do you find most useful? Share your thoughts and recommendations with us in the comments below!

Tips for using Facebook mobile apps for marketing.

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=167506593384213&version=v2.0″; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));About the Author, Andrea Vahl

Andrea Vahl is co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies and also uses her improv comedy skills to blog as Grandma Mary, Social Media Edutainer. Connect with her at http://www.andreavahl.com/. Other posts by Andrea Vahl »

View the original article here

Original source: How to Use Facebook Mobile Apps for Marketing.
http://www.jretechnology.com