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Facebook Timeline Do’s and Don’ts

May 4, 2012 in Media, Ministry, Online Publishing, Social Media with 0 Comments

In my post on Facebook Timeline Cheat Sheet, I gave you a basic overview of the dimensions to create cover and profile images on Facebook. I also gave you some examples of ministries doing an outstanding job with their images.

For this post, I want to talk about the Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook Timeline. I must admit, when Timeline first hit the scenes I thought the cover image would provide huge advertising and promotional opportunity. Unfortunately, both of these are banned on Facebook. Here are some techniques you want to either consider implementing or standing clear away from adopting.

1) No Call to Action

This means, no contact information, no arrows point to the Like Button, no website or buy now verbiage.

HyperArts Blog: http://goo.gl/YI92o

2) Get Creative with Your Cover Image

So, you can’t advertise or provide contact information in your header but you certainly can get very creative with the images you use. Each fan page gets a photo album named “Cover Image.” Change your cover image regularly and use the description to add your call to action. It doesn’t have to always tie to branding. See the image below from Compassion International.

3) Add Milestones

One of the cool new features of Timeline is Milestones. You can add a milestone for each major event that occurred in the history of your organization.

This is what I created for The 700 Club. This gives you an opportunity to tell the story of your organization. Each update appears in your newsfeed so be careful. Uploading all the milestones at once could crowd your audiences newsfeed and you run the risk of them hiding your page updates.

4) Make good use of apps and thumbnails

Here you see that Entertainment Tonight has sweepstakes apps, online mobile app, live chat, videos, and even their Twitter and Pinterest app. The only app here that is unnecessary to me is the like app. You already know how many people like the page because it is listed right under the name. This is great real estate for another app.

5) Use the Pin & Highlight Feature

Pinning a post allows you to keep a post you would like to see on top for 7 days. After 7 days, the post returns to its place within the timeline. Highlighting allows you to spread a post out across the timeline so it is more noticeable than the other posts on the page. I typically use this feature right before a big even or if I want to bring more attention to a particular post.

Other tips include:

Responding to wall posts and comments. Have an engagement strategy.
@ tag those you are responding to on a particular post.
Post photos and pictures. Even if they are not branded images, they generate interactions.
Don’t overuse third party apps (we will discuss this in more detail in a later post)

Most importantly…have fun!

Why Google+ is the Place to Be

May 2, 2012 in Internet Marketing, Social Media with 0 Comments

If you were creating a magazine, what would it look like?

With over a 100 Million users now, Google+ is becoming the place to be on the Web. So why does it seem slow to catch on? You’re Facebook friends aren’t doing it! I worked with a guy that closed his Facebook account once Google+ launched last year. Now, I’m not that bold but I do believe Google+ has great value in search marketing. Everything you post will be indexed quicker in the largest search engine in the world, Google.

Upload a YouTube video and post it to Google+. Over time, you will start to notice the quality of comments is better on Google+ than it is on YouTube. Why you ask? Because the audience on Google+ is different from the audience on YouTube. For a business, ministry, or non-profit, you will find a better gathering on Google+. These users are more serious about their interactions.

In this post, I including an infographic created by BlueGlass Media for Chris Brogran on Why Google+ is the Place to Be.

Google+ For Business InfoGraphic by BlueGlass Media

An infographic for a project at chrisbrogan.com, created by the smart team at BlueGlass.com

Don’t Get “Got” in a Social Media Crisis

May 1, 2012 in Crisis Management, Online Publishing, Social Media with 0 Comments

This is where Corporate Crisis meets Digital PR. Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific has launched the infographic Digital Media Crisis. In the age of social media, crisis matters and social media can ignite the fire or fan the flame.

Source: Burson-Marsteller

Becoming a Publishing Ministry

April 25, 2012 in Media, Ministry, Online Publishing, Social Media with 0 Comments

Whenever I consult with a ministry about content, the first question I always get is, “What if I don’t have any?” This is a huge misconception among churches and ministries. Many believe they don’t have content because they don’t have a blog. This thought could not be further from the truth. Ministries have tons on relevant content. If they didn’t have it, no one would be interested in them.

Each Sunday, thousands of people enter into a house of worship for various reasons. Some are coming for the purposes of praise and worship, others are expecting to hear the Word of God that will be delivered through their pastor, while many others are looking forward to the fellowship with other believers. How do the pastor and church leaders ensure their members are growing in their faith? How can they stay connected?

A content strategy…

I use to work for EQUIP International Ministries in Atlanta, GA. EQUIP was founded by leadership expert and guru John Maxwell. John just started an email series called “A Minute with John Maxwell.”

Each day, people who are subscribed to John’s emails receive an email that addresses a particular topic. John even goes as far allow his audience to submit topics they would like for him to address in one minute. This is an effective strategy because it allows the audience to get involved in creating relevant content. John’s team does not have to come up with content because they are giving the audience exactly what they are requesting. An excellent strategy!

Likewise, churches and ministries have this opportunity to creative relevant and engaging content to keep their audience returning. You don’t have to spend a lot of money of hiring someone to create content because it is in-house and you don’t have to waste money on advertising. You get more traffic from content than you will ever get from an ad placement. Ads will expire but content lives on forever.