HOW TO GET BLOG TRAFFIC WITH FACEBOOK

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1 HOW TO GET BLOG TRAFFIC WITH FACEBOOK Even though the Facebook algorithm can be somewhat tricky (in terms of who it shows your posts to and how to get your information in front of the people who already like your page, a generally legit concept is to design posts for humans, not for a Facebook robot. The reality is that Facebook will not show your posts to everyone who likes your page, but the more people who share, comment on, or like each of your statuses, the more people Facebook puts them in front of. So, create updates that humans will like and will feel compelled to interact with. CONSTANTLY TEST AND DELIVER BASED ON YOUR AUDIENCE S PREFERENCES Some Internet marketers will tell you that using Facebook s built-in link feature is the best way to get your blog posts seen by your audience. Whereas it s not a bad feature, this may not actually be true for each audience, so I recommend trying links both ways (as built-in Facebook links) and as big, bold images with text links. Test everything, whether links, or types of images, or types of content, or---everything. MAKE IT BOLD + ATTRACTIVE So, remember how you spent all that time making attractive pins with great imagery and on-brand fonts and other elements? Guess what? You get to do the same thing with Facebook images. Keep in mind that if you re going to boost your post (which is paying a fee to have it shown to more people), then your image can t be more than 20% text. Make your Facebook images bold + appealing, something that will stand out in a crowded home feed. PREVIEW THE VALUE OF CLICKING People get on Facebook to catch up with friends and family, update others on their lives, update their own brand pages, and occasionally check in on their favorite blogs and brands. To get meaningful traffic back to your website, preview the value your reader will get by clicking on your link. You ll hear this a lot in this book when it comes to social media updates. Will they learn 3 new ways to or be able to finally figure out or get a free spreadsheet, or hear a funny story of the one time you? Give them clear reasons to spend their valuable time on your links. POST IT AGAIN Whereas on Twitter you can tweet a link to the same blog post a day, a week, a month later, etc., on Facebook you ll want to wait a longer time (usually over a month). But, you can re-add the link to important posts on your site. 126

2 HOW TO GET BLOG TRAFFIC WITH FACEBOOK APPEAL TO PEOPLE S EMOTIONS As people scroll through their Facebook feed, they re seeing pictures of their friends kids and people getting married, they re hearing about job promotions and bad days at work, they re being exposed to a lot of emotions. Appeal to that with a moving, meaningful quote (that s pulled from one of your blog posts--with a link) or add a funny moment or meme from a recent post to make others laugh. Try not to ignore the context in which your readers will see your Facebook posts. INTERACT AS YOUR BRAND In Facebook, the top drop down arrow at the right of your screen allows you to use Facebook as your brand page. This is useful for when you like, comment on, and share posts---it will show up as your brand and people will naturally go check out your page in curiosity. ASK FOR SOMETHING Whether you need people s help deciding a specific direction to take your blog, or you want people to vote on what they d like to see/hear next from you, or your enlisting others help on which couch to purchase, people feel connected to the people they help. Bonus: It s actually beneficial for you. CONSIDER SOME FACEBOOK GROUPS Especially if you use Facebook often or enjoy using Facebook personally, consider joining or starting a Facebook Group that centers around a life or business topic/hobby that s at least loosely related to your blog. You ll often find that these communities are great places to grow your readership and connect with amazing people who you can learn a lot from. CONSIDER USING FACEBOOK A BIT LIKE PINTEREST Set up a photo album for your page that just contains blog post images (with a link to the post in the description). Whenever you add new photos to the album, people will potentially see the album and all the recent images in their feed, which can cause curiosity and clicks. BOOST POSTS THAT ARE SUPER IMPORTANT From the mobile Facebook Pages app, you can currently boost a post for as little as $5. Boosting a post extends its reach and makes it show up in the feeds of more people. As long as the topic is of interest to viewers, boosts usually result in traffic to your site, more likes, and more comments. BATCH IT Create images for your Facebook page (of short thoughts, sayings, snippets, and bulleted lists from your posts) in batches so you always have something ready to share. Don t forget a link to your blog. DON T FORGET POWER Make it part of your Facebook strategy to preview and promote the usefulness of your list so that you ll drive more signups. s are a great way to reach people where they re at (their inbox) when your Facebook posts aren t going out to the size audience you d like. 127

3 HOW TO SELL STUFF WITH FACEBOOK MAKE YOUR NEW ITEM THE STAR OF ITS OWN SHOW If you are selling a physical item from your blog, what about creating a Facebook album with images of the different angles of the item with its benefits and link in the description? If you re releasing a digital product, you can take screenshots of the pages or sections. If you have too many items to do this with each item, consider albums that are categories of items (printable art, shirts, mugs, etc.). Also if you use Etsy or Shopify, look into their Facebook app/extension so you can sell directly from Facebook. SOFT SELL, YET AGAIN You will hear this a lot in this book. I m a big fan of the soft sell. There are times to make very clear sales offers and use clear sales language, but there are also times to direct people to your site for free resources, free trials, and other benefits, then sell once those people like and trust you even more. HARD SELL WHEN NECESSARY, USE OFFERS Facebook Offers are types of posts that you can promote for a small budget that look like the post to the right. You can have preview sales-y text, a special offer (such as 25% off), and a unique Get Offer button that takes people directly to your sales page for your product or service. These limited time offers can create a sense of urgency for people and help reduce their decision time. INVOLVE YOUR CREW Make your audience, friends, and fans part of your product research, creation, release, and promotion process. Ask them what they want to see. Ask them what features they would want and appreciate out of type of item. Ask for help deciding between two covers or flyers. Ask for help sharing the item you ve created simply because you believe it will really help people. Preview images of your item and try to both gauge and build your audience s excitement. DON T FORGET TO CHANGE SOME OF YOUR STATIC ELEMENTS TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR PRODUCTS Keep in mind that your cover photo can and should change every so often. It s the biggest photo on your brand page (item #2 on page 117 of this book), and when you update it, the new image can pop up in people s feeds. If the new cover photo is a preview of your new release (and the description includes a link to the correct page on your blog), then you can potentially increase awareness and sales. CHEAT A LITTLE BIT, SORT OF Within the Facebook Ads platform, you can build Custom Audiences based on people who have visited your site. You install a small pixel (code) on your website that tracks visits. If any of those visitors subsequently log into their Facebook account from the same device, you can target ads specifically to them. That can help people who almost bought an item, then got distracted, head back to buy from you. 128

4 WHO TO WATCH ON FACEBOOK AND WHY WHO TO WATCH A fun brand with a knack for sharing inspiring stories, smart and bold images, generous tips, and selfless promotion Brilliant business blogger (Pat Flynn) who uses his Facebook page to share excellent insight, humor, and personal quirks with his audience. Pat is a genuine guy who does a wonderful job of coming across as a caring man on his Facebook page. A personable blogger who is amazing at showing her ideas, habits, and tips in a useful way---all while keeping a very consistent brand image. Jessica is constantly helping and encouraging others through her Facebook page. An extremely popular blogger who has done a good job of building a brand around his life. Whether he is posting pictures of family, business tips, pics of his pets, or an article about living a less complicated life, people love his quality and variety of content. Erika runs her Facebook page in a wise way. She shares other people s content, shares her best posts, shares beautifully-designed sayings as encouragement, and she holds weekly office hours on Facebook where people can come ask questions in her areas of expertise. 130

5 the FACEBOOK STYLE GUIDE Use the space on top and to the left to plan out what your original Facebook images will look like. Plan one for blog posts, quotes, and any other style of image you plan to post regularly. Sketch out the text, elements, shapes, and graphics into a template that you can create using Photoshop, Canva, or PicMonkey. Toward the bottom-right of the page, use the space to plan the words, tone, hashtags, abbreviations, punctation, and any other text you will use (or not use) on Facebook. 131

6 and now, some exercises to stretch you figure out your most popular post types use Facebook Insights for free to figure out which of your post types get the most engagement (links, images, text updates, videos, etc.) figure out which days and times your specific audience is most often online u s e F a c e b o o k I n s i g h t s t o determine this as it relates specifically to fans of your page explore the pages to watch feature select five inspiring or similar Facebook pages to watch in Facebook Insights---this will help you stay on top of trends and support other bloggers you want to collaborate with in the future test out different times post at different times of the day and night; pay attention to how engaged people are during those times, the quality and level of their engagement, and the actual stats on views and interaction (that you can find for free through Facebook Insights) build a library of quotes or other images you can share when you re running low on ideas try to create at least 10 images with your favorite image editing software; square images do well on Facebook, so you may be able to use what you create on Instagram or Google+ as well make a creative album either create an album for a product, or for all your blog posts, or for all your blog posts that come with free downloads, or whatever feels interesting to you that you think your audience will enjoy too get more smarter import your list from your newsletter software and create a Custom Audience in Facebook that you can target ads to; you can also build a Similar Audience from your list, which allows Facebook to identify people with Facebook habits similar to the habits/likes of your list people practice targeting set aside a budget of $10 to $50 and practice targeting people who seem to fit your ideal reader profile (in terms of gender, age, interests, location, etc.) and see how effective your ad is for traffic to your site, likes on your page, or whatever your goal is get crazy design a new cover photo to promote a blog series, product, new service, or something important to your brand; don t forget to add some applicable text and a link into the image s description once you upload it 132

7 QUICK TIPS TO GROW YOUR FACEBOOK FOLLOWING CREATE SOMETHING AWESOME FOR YOUR BRAND THAT IS SPECIFIC TO FACEBOOK Perhaps you do a small monthly giveaway, a weekly Q+A, a Thursday Tips post, a weekly discussion about a specific item/idea (TV show, topic, whatever is related to your brand), or something entirely different yet creative---whatever you decide on, having something valuable or fun that is specific to Facebook will drive blog readers, fans, and followers from your other social platforms to become fans of your page. You ll perhaps also notice your audience sharing these posts with others via Facebook or other channels, thus growing your following for you. CREATE A CONTEST, MAJOR GIVEAWAY, OR SWEEPSTAKES RUN THROUGH FACEBOOK You can use a service like Rafflecopter.com, Woobox.com, or you can host a contest/giveaway yourself through your page. Make sure your prize fits your brand so that those who join your giveaway are people who are likely to stay engaged with your brand afterward. BRING FACEBOOK TO YOUR BLOG Not only can/should you link to Facebook in your blog s sidebar and on your contact page, but you can also reference and/or link to meaningful Facebook posts, quotes, and images within your blog posts and on other social platforms. These are subtle reminders that you re on Facebook, and since many people will be logged into Facebook as they read blogs, they re more likely to hit the like button if you ve linked them to a particularly useful or engaging post. LINK IT FROM EVERYWHERE And for the duh moment of this page--sorry--make sure your Facebook page is linked from your blog, guest posts, and other social platforms (Google+ and YouTube allow for easy linkage). ASK FOR STUFF When you post a meaningful quote, valuable tip, or purposeful/humorous story on Facebook, ask your audience to share it with others they think might need/like it. I seriously think you might be surprised by how many people participate in whatever you ask of them. People want to help and people are happy to share information that will be popular with their friends. ENLIST THE HELP OF YOUR BIGGEST SUPPORTERS Before she launched her blog, one of my super smart friends sent out individual personal s and Facebook messages to let us all know what she was up to. She told her friends about her upcoming blog and her new Facebook page and Twitter account, then she explained why her brand and message was important to her, and finally she shared ways in which we could help--stressing how grateful she was for our time, and offering a hand if any of us needed similar help in the future. Her messages were genuine and it was impossible not to want to do everything I could for her. DON T FORGET ADS AND FACEBOOK GROUPS Some of the tools that you can use to increase your blog traffic (page ), will also naturally help increase your Facebook fan base as well. 134

8 GOAL SETTING FOR FACEBOOK After you determine that Facebook is a solid platform for your blog, and do some research inside and outside of your industry, as well as review the information in this section, it s time to make some solid plans + goals. WHY ARE YOU ON FACEBOOK? WHAT WILL IT DO FOR YOUR BRAND? HOW OFTEN WILL YOU USE FACEBOOK TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR BRAND GOALS? WHAT TYPES OF POSTS WILL YOU CREATE EACH WEEK? WILL YOU USE FACEBOOK ADS TO ATTRACT NEW PEOPLE TO YOUR BRAND OR PRODUCTS? WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL MONTHLY BUDGET FOR WHEN YOU FIRST START OUT? DO YOU KNOW OF (OR CAN YOU FIND) ANY FACEBOOK GROUPS YOU D LIKE TO JOIN THAT WILL HELP YOU SOCIALIZE WITH POTENTIAL READERS, GROW YOUR COMMUNITY, AND DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG WHEN APPLICABLE? HOW WILL YOU ENSURE THAT YOU KEEP UP WITH YOUR GOALS? WILL YOU SET REMINDERS? WILL YOU ADD THEM TO YOUR PLANNER? WILL YOU ENLIST AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER? HOW WILL YOU MEASURE FACEBOOK SUCCESS TO MAKE SURE IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME? HOW OFTEN WILL YOU CHECK FACEBOOK INSIGHTS? 135

9 PLANNING FOR YOUR FACEBOOK FUTURE After you do a bit of researching and testing to figure out the best times and days to post to your audience, it s a good idea to set some plans for your future daily + weekly use of the platform. Try to break down actions such as checking Insights (maybe weekly instead of daily), adding original content, liking and commenting on other content as your brand, targeting ads, and hosting Facebook events or specials on your page into two sets of five minutes each day. MORNING or AFTERNOON (five minutes): EVENING (five minutes): RESOURCES AND APPS FOR FACEBOOK Custom Facebook tabs/apps: Woobox.com Analytics and tracking: go to Insights once on your Facebook page (while logged in) Scheduling and management: BufferApp.com, Hootsuite.com Image design: Pixlr.com, Canva.com, PicMonkey.com 136