What is Content Curation?

Explained in simple terms, content curation is the research, sorting, selection and presentation of online information that is related to a specific topic. A content curator is the professional responsible for going through vast volumes of information and finding the very best inside a particular niche.

Content curation is often used as a part of a company’s social networking strategy. It has to be done on purpose, keeping a specific goal in mind. Merely going through volumes of information, collecting links, texts and pictures will be insufficient to deliver satisfactory results. Content curation has to be contextual, providing the type of information that will help a company or an entity meet its marketing goals.

When done properly, content curation can influence tastes and affect the audience in a specific way. This part of a content strategy can be exceptionally productive, when done properly. The content curator becomes an authority inside the particular niche and people start relying on that professional for the delivery of high quality, relevant content.

Benefits of Content Curation for Your Website or Blog

Branding today relies on a number of strategies. Content curation can be one of the highly effective ways used to establish the popularity of a brand.

We are living in a world where content is easily available. Thousands of articles are generated on an hourly basis. Content is valuable and it can be used to influence and to establish one’s reputation.

People are already tired of the traditional forms of promotion. They stopped paying attention to ads a long time ago. To affect the buyers and their purchasing decisions, companies today have to provide something valuable. Content is used to achieve that goal.

The advantages of content curation include the creation of a loyal audience, the classification of valuable information that can be used for company purposes, the ability to create a community around a brand, the increase of website traffic and the chance to share thoughts and ideas with an ever-growing audience.

How to do It Properly

Content creation and content curation are two very different concepts. While content creation is vital for the success of any web project, content curation can provide a number of additional benefits. It has to be done properly for the advantages to be experienced, however.

According to recent statistics, 76 percent of marketers share curated content on social networks. Curation helps for the diversification of the content and the provision of the audience with interesting information. Publishing links solely to your website will fail satisfying readers. Give them pieces of relevant information coming from different sources. This way, you will establish yourself as a source of high quality information.

Almost 30 percent of all marketers say that it has become difficult to find high quality content for curation purposes in 2012. This is extremely important. Sometimes, curators will spend hours trying to find the best articles, infographics and videos related to a specific topic. Focusing on high quality will create authority and the audience will keep coming back for more. Though time consuming, quality content curation is worth the effort.

Sharing content beyond the realms of social media will affect the promotional strategy, as well. Most marketers focus on websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. There are many other opportunities for the sharing of curated content. You can add links, images and other sources of information to your own blog or website posts. The audience will be happy to learn more about the topic and you will be experiencing all of the benefits related to social content curation.

Keep posts newsworthy and rely on reputable sources of information. Citations are the key to success. Fresh and contextual information will immediately capture the attention of your audience and get you on the road to marketing success.

Content curation is constantly increasing in popularity. Information exchange has become the heart and soul of corporate communication attempts, marketing efforts and online reputation establishment. Take your time to find the best, niche information to share with your audience. Give people something valuable to establish long-term relationships and your leading position inside a particular niche.

Violet Farah is a writer available for hire here at Need An Article™, become a client and start creating content with us today.

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends. Have something to say? Comment below, we’d love to hear from you!

This has created a culture of demand and instant gratification. The average person feels that their time is too precious to waste and they hurry along, demanding fast answers and making fast decisions.

Convincing Readers To Slow Down

Countless research studies and scientific polls have come to a generalized conclusion about the average Internet reader: They are impatient. Among the most commonly found research results is that the average reader decides in ten seconds whether your page is worth reading. They likewise suggest that those ten seconds will be spent scanning.

Scanning is when a reader glances over the page they’ve stumbled on. Their eyes flit about the screen, gathering information from headlines, subheadings, graphics, pictures, and highlighted or bold font print. They garner the basic gist of your page in ten seconds, and either settle in to read, or click back to the search engine to try again.

Studies have shown that image captions are some of the most read text on a page, further encouraging your readers to grab a snack and stick around for awhile.

What This Means For SEO

When someone finds your page using a search engine, that search engine gauges your site’s appropriateness and value to the reader based on how long the reader stays on your page. Known as the bounce rate, the search engine keeps tabs on the amount of time that elapses between a search engine link click and the user returning to the search engine.

The longer you can keep a reader on your site, and the more pages they visit within your site while they are there, the more value the search engine places on your website’s content. The more valuable your content, the higher your search engine results.

Keep Your Reader Longer

Use these tricks to capture your reader’s attention in those ten seconds.

• Break up your text, offering plenty of opportunities for subheadings. Capture your entire point in the subheading, expecting the reader to read these first. Let your actual text serve as a supplemental explanation.
• Include a few bold or highlighted words to make your points stand out from your text. These bold fonts will draw attention to important details, but only if you use them sparingly. If every paragraph contains multiple words that stand out, the desired effect will be lost.
• Employ plenty of white space on your page. One of the most intimidating factors a reader can encounter is a wall of text. These long paragraphs feel like work to your reader, encouraging them to bounce back to the search engine and try again.
• Don’t overdo the white space! While it is acceptable to let the occasional sentence stand as its own paragraph, the repeated use of this makes your website feel unorganized and chaotic.

Readers Enjoy Simple Concepts

The simple concepts are what coax a reader into staying on your page for longer. Bullets, internal links, and captions that stand out from the rest of the text are simple concepts that you can use to draw the reader in.

Make sure that each included bullet gets right to the point. Tell your reader the fact right after the bullet. Expand your discussion in the text that follows, but don’t overdo the bullets!

Links, both internal and external, give your reader a reason to keep on going. Unless you provide the reader with something else to do, they’re heading back to the search engine.

Captions and quotations can be used to draw attention to any part of your site. Proper examples of this concept can be found in modern magazines. When a quote has been removed from the text, enlarged, and colored, it captures your reader’s attention.

What Readers Like To See

Your content should employ the inverted pyramid writing style at all times. A popular journalistic tool, the inverted pyramid style is showcased by placing the most important information at the top of each section. As you work your way through the section, the information becomes increasingly less important.

Allow your reader to skip down the page, reading the information closest to the subheading. The inverted pyramid style allows the reader to quickly judge whether they should keep reading, or skip to the next subheading.

You have to remember to not overwhelm your reader. Complicated subjects should be broken into different pages. This permits the reader to take in one important part at a time without feeling like they’re inside an encyclopedia.

Consider using the numbered list idea. As mundane as it may seem, readers will often pay attention to a post that offers them “X Ways To Learn Blank”.

The Finishing Touches

When you are finished applying all of these designs to your website, don’t eagerly hit that publish button. Rather:

• Go back and read your post like a scanning visitor would.
• Determine if your headings and subheadings explain your premise by themselves.
• Judge the amount of bold or highlighted text to see if it is distracting due to high usage.
• Consider the amount of text and white space on your page. Make certain one doesn’t overwhelm the other.

Most importantly, make sure you are offering valuable content to your readers. Even with all of these tricks in play, your reader won’t stick around for weak content.

GretchenR is a writer available for hire here at Need An Article™, become a client and start creating content with us today.

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends. Have something to say? Comment below, we’d love to hear from you!

• Manually
• Using a software we recommend (See below)

To get an idea of just what spin syntax is, you might want to look at the manual process first. Once you feel you have a good grasp of this type of work, then we invite you to take the site’s exam for it, so you can show for hire. They actually pay rather well, but you really need to know what you are doing.

There are 3 levels of Spin Syntax that we do.

In short, Level 1 is word/phrase only, level 2 is sentence only and level 3 is both levels 1 & 2 combined. For this tutorial, we will cover the most advanced (Level 3)

Doing Level 3 Spin Syntax Manually

Below is the text that will be done in spin syntax for this tutorial.

How SEO can help you to sell books

Many writers who self-publish sit back after the book is published and wait for people to find and buy it. They may get a fair number of sales once people start finding it but there is no telling how long that could take. It could be weeks or even months before the first sale.

Step 1. Take each sentence one at a time so it does not seem overwhelming. Start with the title. Rewrite it twice.

How SEO can help you to sell books

Selling books with the help of SEO

SEO help in selling books

Step 2. Place an opening bracket, {, at the beginning of the original sentence, a closing bracket at the end of the second rewritten sentence and a separator ,| or ~,at the end of the original sentence and the first rewritten sentence.

{How SEO can help you to sell books|

Selling books with the help of SEO|

SEO help in selling books}

Step 3. In each sentence, original and both rewrites, choose words or phrases that have suitable synonyms or alternatives. Place an opening bracket, [, in front of the original word/phrase and a separator, |, after it. Then place the synonym or alternative after the separator. It is best to use two synonyms/alternatives for each word/phrase being spun. So place another | after the first synonym/alternative and put in another followed by a closing bracket, ]. Do this in each version of the sentence, preferable twice in each sentence.

{How SEO [can|could|might]
[help you to|assist you to|aide your effort to]
sell [books|ebooks|novels]|

Selling [books|fiction|ebools]
with the [help|assistance|aide] of SEO|

SEO [help|assistance|aide]
in selling [books|novels|ebooks}

Step 4. Now put them together in one long string.

{How SEO [can|could|might]
[help you to|assist you to|aide your effort to]
sell [books|ebooks|novels]|Selling [books|fiction|ebools]
with the [help|assistance|aide] of SEO|SEO
[help|assistance|aide] in selling [books|novels|ebooks}

Step 5. Repeat with each sentence, remembering to keep paragraphs separated by at least one empty line.

Doing Spin Syntax using a program we use and recommend Rapid Rewriter.

Obtain your very own copy of Rapid Rewriter here

Step 1.

Step 2.  Obtain your own copy of Rapid Rewriter here

Step 3.

Step 4.  Obtain your own copy of Rapid Rewriter here

Step 5.  Final Step

These are the exact set of training guidelines we offer to our our authors here at NAA. We also test them for proficiency prior to being allowed to show for hire in this area of work. We would like to thank Nancy Langston for the help in putting together this content.

 Obtain your own copy of Rapid Rewriter here

Mistake #1 – Failing to Spend Enough Time on Your Campaign

One big mistake many small businesses make is assuming that they can enjoy great results while spending minimal time working on their Facebook marketing campaign. Some businesses simply set up their page and then forget about it. To make Facebook work for you, you have to go beyond simply setting up a page and expecting it to provide you with results. This form of marketing needs regular updating and monitoring to be a success.

Mistake #2 – Broadcasting Instead of Interacting

Another of the top Facebook marketing mistakes made by small businesses is broadcasting on Facebook instead of interacting with fans. Fans are looking for engaging, relevant content. They don’t want content that seems like non-stop advertising and broadcasting.

People using Facebook want a sense of community – they like to make connections. Your job is to give them that community and to give them a place where they can connect with your business. Genuine, authentic interactions are far more effective than broadcasting information about your company.

Mistake #3 – Boring Content

Facebook is all about sharing things that are useful, interesting and funny. Boring, predictable content will quickly get you hidden from your fans’ newsfeeds. Vary your content and avoid using filler content. Focus on content that is personal, engaging and definitely avoid boring your fans.

Mistake #4 – TOS Violations

A huge mistake that small businesses often make is violating the Terms of Service of Facebook. When a Facebook business page is created, you’ll be asked to agree to Facebook’s terms. Some of the most common violations include failing to follow content rules and building business pages on personal pages. Take time to educate yourself on Facebook’s terms to ensure you avoid violating them. Remember, Facebook can ban you from the site without warning if you violate those terms.

Small businesses have the ability to enjoy excellent results with Facebook marketing. However, reaping these results requires hard work, being well informed and learning how to create personal connections with fans. Avoid these common Facebook marketing mistakes to enjoy better results and then focus on learning more about how you can maximize your efforts on Facebook.

DON’T Use Facebook as a Direct Sales Tool

Facebook marketing shouldn’t be used as a direct sales tool. Your goal should be to increase awareness of your brand and developing a community of fans that are interested in your brand. Avoid constantly selling with your business page. You’ll quickly turn off fans and you may even get labeled as spam.

DON’T Just Ignore Negative Comments

When you begin using Facebook for business purposes, you should expect some negative comments along with the good ones. It’s tempting to just delete or ignore those comments. However, instead of ignoring those comments use them as an opportunity to show that you care about customers. Respond to those comments and show fans that you’re willing to listen to criticism. It says a lot about you and your company.

DON’T Do All the Talking

Facebook marketing should be about a conversation, not doing all the talking yourself. One of the best Facebook etiquette tips to follow is to listen to your fans. Avoid constantly advertising, shouting and ranting about your company and products.

It’s great to say something different and new. It’s wonderful to share great content that speaks to you in some way. However, look for ways to get your fans talking. You want their opinions and their thoughts. Your goal is to open the conversation.

DON’T Forget That You’re Building a Reputation

Some marketers fail to remember that everything they do on Facebook and social media affects their reputation. When you make a move on Facebook, it becomes public knowledge. Remember that you’re building a reputation and run your Facebook marketing campaign accordingly. Focus on good etiquette that will only build up your reputation instead of tearing it down.

DON’T Post Anything That Fails to Have Value

You should never post just to post. Don’t comment just to comment. If it doesn’t have value, you shouldn’t be posting it on Facebook. Adding a valuable comment to someone else’s post can have great results. Jumping in with a post that is invaluable can give your fans the idea that your company has nothing new and of value to add to the conversation.

DON’T Make Your Responses Sound Canned

No one wants to interact with a Facebook business page that sounds automated. If you constantly respond to fans with responses that sound “canned,” it won’t set your business apart from the others. New and inventive responses can set you apart from your competition, so make sure you pay careful attention to your responses.

With a few helpful Facebook etiquette tips, you can avoid alienating fans and ensure your marketing efforts don’t come across as spam. For even more Facebook marketing tips, check back next time to learn about the top mistakes small businesses make on Facebook and how you can avoid them!

Facebook Marketing P14 – Mistakes Businesses Should Avoid

DO Respond to Fans

If you have thousands of fans, it’s probably not feasible to respond to every comment left on your Facebook business page. However, responding to fans is one of the essential Facebook etiquette tips to remember, especially if your fans are asking important questions. Failing to answer questions can cause your fans to lose faith in your company.

An easy way to make sure you see those questions is to visit the Manage Permissions settings, choosing to activate the “Show Message” button. This allows fans to send you direct messages, which is where most fans will choose to ask their questions.

DO Keep Your Page Active

Your Facebook marketing campaign will fall flat if you fail to be active. It’s only good etiquette to keep your page active, making sure you are actively engaged in conversations occurring on your page. While it’s best to keep your posts to all fans to only 2-3 per days, you still should be chiming in on comments made, fan posts and even on the business pages of your competition.

DO Share Fan Content

To make your fans feel important and like you really pay attention to what they write or share, make sure you share fan content that is uploaded to your page. Share photos from fans and encourage others to upload their photos too. You’ll show fans that your company really cares about them.

DO Watch Your Tone When Posting

Since it’s tough to judge tone of voice on the internet, watching your tone when posting is another of those important Facebook etiquette tips to remember. Make posts and responses sound like a human instead of like an autoresponder message.

Be careful about overusing punctuation as well. Overuse of question marks and exclamation points is not only annoying to fans, but it makes your posts look like spam.

Now that you have a few etiquette dos to follow, make sure you check back soon for some helpful Facebook etiquette don’ts.

Facebook Marketing P13 – Facebook Etiquette Dos & Don’ts 2

Once you have your Facebook business page set up, you’ll want to learn every strategy you can to make your marketing results a success. After you go through the basics of setting up your page, build a good list of fans and begin seeing results, it’s time to move on to some of the more advanced Facebook marketing strategies. Thousands of Facebook apps are available and many of them are specifically designed for marketing use. Make use of those apps and take your Facebook marketing campaign to the next level with the following advanced strategies.

Strategy #1 – Add Your Blog Content to Facebook

If you’re already using a blog for marketing purposes, consider adding your blog content to Facebook. You’ll make the most of every post, reaching out to fans on Facebook who may not actually visit your blog on a regular basis. One of the Facebook apps that can help is dlvr.it, which routes your blog’s RSS feed to Facebook, posting it as a wall post on your business page. It also includes a link back to your original post. Another app you can use to accomplish this is NetworkedBlogs. It offers more features, actually creating a replica of your blog’s index page right on your Facebook business page. New blog entries result in a wall post and a link to the actual entry.

Strategy #2 – Incorporate Your YouTube Channel

Another of the advanced Facebook marketing strategies that can boost your Facebook marketing results is incorporating your YouTube channel onto your Facebook business page. Maybe you showcase your products via online videos. Several Facebook apps allow you to incorporate your YouTube channel right to your page, adding it as a tab. Three top options to consider using include NorthSocial, Best YouTube Channel for Pages and Involver.

Strategy #3 – Build Your Mailing List

You may be surprised that you can build your email list with your Facebook business page as well. Constant Contact and MailChimp are two email providers that provide apps allowing your Facebook fans to sign up for your email list right from your business page. Even if you don’t use either of these email providers, you can use apps like Appbistro to help you gather email addresses with a contact form on your Facebook page.

This is only a small sampling of the advanced Facebook marketing strategies that can be used to make the most of your Facebook business page. With new Facebook apps being created all the time, you can find numerous apps that can help you increase the Facebook marketing results you enjoy.

Facebook Marketing P12 – Facebook Etiquette Dos & Don’ts 1

One such example is the inclusion of current health articles on clients’ websites.

One of the biggest challenges for new websites is trying to successfully attract a sizable flow of traffic.

Website owners can sometimes get bogged down if they try to accomplish this all by themselves, especially when you consider that they can literally invest years before they succeed at attracting higher traffic and getting higher rankings in the search engines.

This is where Need An Article™ (or ‘NAA’ for short) and its collection of writers can help website owners wanting to help boost their traffic as well as provide a constant stream of quality website content for its visitors.

Building traffic and building up a health website’s content is made possible with NAA’s capable writers who can provide current health articles with ease.

While NAA’s skilled writers offer your website quality content for current health articles, you are able to focus on other important parts of your website business, like that new modern layout upgrade or setting up that auto responder series you know you need to have.

Since NAA is a Content Writing Service, it understands all too well the need for specialized writers to offer a helping hand to your website content. Many website owners are simply swamped with other areas of their website to focus on writing their own quality content.

It does not matter if you require current health articles that range from concerns over common issues such as cold and fever to more serious health issues like vaccines.

NAA’s group of specialized writers is on hand to provide the precise kind of current health articles you are looking for. The benefits of using NAA’s writers for health articles are many.

Their use can result in your website experiencing many great benefits, here are just a few:

• An increase in search engine exposure
• An expert appeal
• A better social environment because of use of better quality and more helpful content
• Support from various blogs and websites through natural back-linking which you may receive if the content is worthy of citing.
• And more.

Current health articles are so versatile that they may be used in a number of situations.

For instance, if a section of your website deals with the sale of medicine, featuring some current health articles is an ideal way to tie into your business.

Similarly, if you distribute an e-mail newsletter to your customers, it would be ideal to have current health issues featured in a section of said newsletter. This will draw your customers in and also help you to establish a sense of authority with regards to health matters.

Have you got a beloved health website (or any other website) that’s
in danger of flat-lining?
Give it a new lease on life with Need An Article™!

Note: If you think your health website may be suffering from constant content fatigue, shortness of content, antisocial behavior, developmental delays, increased sensitivity to search engine changes, low self esteem, competitive weakness, slow growth, difficulty starting content stream, slow or weak content stream, constant content constipation (3C), painful content posts, straining with content posting, missed or late content periods, then please seek Need An Article’s™ attention immediately!

If you think YOU may be suffering from any medical condition you should probably seek immediate medical attention, and best wishes with all of that.

Editor’s Note:
This content costs me (Andrew) just $5.37 and took just a few min. to request and instruct an NAA Writer on what to write about. When it was ready I just downloaded it, tipped the writer and posted it
here to ‘The Need An Article™ Blog’, which is a WordPress blog, it was that easy!
Get Access To Our Team of Professional Writers Today!

]]> http://needanarticle.com/index2/current-health-articles-build-authority-health-niches/feed/ 1 http://needanarticle.com/index2/facebook-marketing-power-picture/ http://needanarticle.com/index2/facebook-marketing-power-picture/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:07:20 +0000 Joy http://needanarticle.com/index2/?p=3721 Visual orientation has only increased, making them very attractive to businesses involved in Facebook marketing. Not only do you have the ability to post a profile photo, but also you can post a cover photo, create photo albums and post photos along with status updates.
Learning to use Facebook photos to your advantage is important, so here are a few helpful tips and ideas to help ...]]> Since Facebook has switched to the Timeline format, images have become even more important.

Visual orientation has only increased, making them very attractive to businesses involved in Facebook marketing. Not only do you have the ability to post a profile photo, but also you can post a cover photo, create photo albums and post photos along with status updates.

Learning to use Facebook photos to your advantage is important, so here are a few helpful tips and ideas to help you maximize the power of a picture on Facebook.

Use Some Candid Photos

To make the most of a photo on Facebook, try using some candid photos instead of using photos that are too sales-oriented and cold. Remember, Facebook is a casual community. Staged photos may look out of place. Fun, candid photos look interesting and they help reach your Facebook fans on a more personal level. Candid photos look genuine and friendly, making them more appealing when added to your Facebook marketing campaign.

Focus on People in the Picture

Facebook is all about people so make sure your Facebook photos focus on people. Focus on taking pictures that focus on faces. For example, post pictures of business employees having fun or someone smiling while using your product or service. Adding people to your pictures helps show off the personal side of the business, really resonating with your fans.

Keep Text Brief

While it’s a good idea to add captions, questions or comments to your Facebook photos, you’ll want to keep that text brief. Since Facebook has a new, improved visual focus, too much text may become tedious for your business page fans. Keeping things concise and short will help you increase the appeal of each photo and you’ll probably enjoy better user response as well. Remember, pictures can say it for you. You don’t have to restate what your picture is saying for your business.

Post Sharable Photos

When focusing on pictures as a part of your Facebook marketing campaign, make sure you only post sharable photos. Pictures that are likeable, imaginative, unique and fun are more likely to be shared by your fans. They’ll offer your business better exposure and will increase user engagement as well. Use your images to creatively show how your brand can be enjoyed. Get fans involved by asking a question or adding a funny caption to the picture.

By using Facebook photos, you can make an engaging and exciting impression on Facebook while marketing your brand. Keep these tips and ideas in mind to make the most of every photo you post on your Facebook business page. Check back soon for even more helpful Facebook marketing strategies and tips.

Facebook Marketing P11 – Advanced Marketing Strategies

Maybe you’ve already been working to write status updates that focus on fans or you’ve made sure that everything on your business page is shareable. Now you can build on those actions with even more helpful strategies to increase fan engagement.

Strategy #4 – Play on Current News, Pop Culture and Popular Memes

Facebook is a fast-paced social environment, which means your fans won’t engage with old news. For this reason, it’s important to play on current news, pop culture and popular memes when posting. Fans love sharing content and engaging with content that is currently happening. News, pop culture and memes are constantly changing, but you can use them to grab the attention of fans. This helps you keep your content relevant when working on your Facebook marketing campaign. Need a crash course on memes? Here’s a helpful explanation and some examples of internet memes.

Strategy #5 – Combine Images and Questions

Questions offer an excellent way to draw out your fans and images are an excellent way to encourage Facebook fan engagement as well. Combine the two and you’ll really get your fans involved. Facebook users love sharing photos, so use a relevant image and add a question to the image.

Strategy #6 – Provide Coupon Offers (But Use the $ Sign)

Another important Facebook marketing strategy that can increase fan engagement is to provide coupon offers to fan. Fans engage extremely well with coupon offers. However, make sure your coupons use a “$ off” format instead of a specific “% off.” Fans don’t like having to do the math and are more likely to engage with a coupon that offers a dollar amount off. Seeing the tangible cash discount grabs the attention of fans, so use coupon offers in this format.

Strategy #7 – Simplicity is Key

Facebook allows you to post status messages, photo albums, single photos, videos, links, links that include thumbnails and more. However, simplicity is essential to increasing Facebook fan engagement. Fans are more likely to engage with simple status messages and single photos than they are with more complicated posts.

Strategy #8 – Take Advantage of Holidays

Have you ever noticed how Facebook users begin talking when holidays roll around? Take advantage of the chatter by taking part in holiday celebrations. Add a holiday themed cover photo, offer a special holiday deal or get your fans talking about their favorite holiday memories or celebrations.

With these strategies, you can begin increasing fan engagement. Keeping fans engaged with your brand will help you ensure success with your Facebook marketing campaign. Remember that, as with any other marketing activity, it’s important to test your approach and learn from it. Use some of these strategies and find out which ones work best for your unique Facebook audience.

Be sure to check back next week. We’ll be exploring the power of a picture on Facebook and how you can make photos work wonders for your Facebook marketing campaign.

Facebook Marketing P10 – The Power of a Picture

Once you’re able to increase fan activity and engagement, you’ll increase business page visibility, marketing opportunities and traffic to your business website. If you’re not sure how to begin fostering Facebook fan engagement, here are some exciting strategies to start using today.

Strategy #1 – Focus on Fans with Status Updates

Every status update you post should focus on fans and work to get them engaged. Many business pages make the mistake of simply posting a few updates repeatedly, which brings few results. Repetitive posting also becomes extremely annoying to fans and before you know it, your fans are ignoring all your posts.

It’s essential to focus on fans with status updates, paying attention to EdgeRank. What is EdgeRank? This is Facebook’s algorithm used to decide a status update’s importance. A status update that receives more comments has a higher EdgeRank. Obtaining a higher EdgeRank gets that update placed higher in Facebook news feeds, making it more likely to be seen by more people.

Work to tailor status updates to get fans commenting. Do this by asking for advice, asking questions, getting fans’ opinions or even asking for their stories. Comments will help your post show up higher on news feeds, increasing the likelihood that other fans will interact with your post as well.

Strategy #2 – Make Everything Shareable

Facebook is all about sharing and to successfully increase Facebook fan engagement, it’s important to make all your posted content shareable. You can include a share button with all content, encouraging page fans to repost that content. The ability to share content allows your fans to share it with their friends, giving your content even more exposure. If your content isn’t shareable, you’re doing your Facebook marketing campaign a big disservice.

Strategy #3 – Quality Posts Over Quantity

Posting to your business page regularly is important. However, studies show that quality wins over quantity every time on Facebook. Posting a couple times a day will help increase “like” and “comment” rates, but posting too much will lower your rates of fan interaction. Fans don’t like being bombarded with content – it feels like spam. Go with one or two quality posts each day and fans will be more likely to engage with yo

Increasing Facebook fan engagement is all about creating content that revolves around your fans. Begin using these strategies to help increase fan engagement, but be sure to check back next time. We’ll have even more great strategies to help increase engagement and boost Facebook marketing results.

Facebook Marketing P9 – Increase Fan Engagement 2

We already mentioned helpful tips like choosing the right page name and optimizing your “About” text box on your business page.

To continue working on Facebook SEO successfully, here are several more tips that can improve your Facebook marketing results.

Tip #3 – Optimize the Info Tab

When you create your Facebook business page, Facebook will create an “Info” tab that includes descriptive page metadata. Filling out the fields in this tab is important, since they offer you the opportunity to include important links, keywords and other prose. You can fill in location data, including zip code, state and city, which can give you a boost in local searches. Including information on your products, company mission and company overview can all help you optimize for better results in product searches. The ability to include links allows you to include direct links to your business website as well.

Tip #4 – Add Photos and Videos with Keyword Dense Descriptions

Adding multimedia like videos and photos is an excellent way to engage your followers. One of the important Facebook SEO tips to remember is to make sure you use keyword dense descriptions and titles when adding photos and videos. When you share this type of content, use all the available descriptive fields, adding important keywords to descriptions. Use keywords in filenames too.

Tip #5 – Contribute on a Regular Basis

Contributing on a regular basis is essential to a successful Facebook marketing campaign. Regular contributions are an important part of good Facebook SEO as well. Many of the search results displayed, especially on the Facebook search, are comprised of content from the last 30 days. Posting regularly is essential if you want to rank well in these results.

Tip #6 – Go Beyond Wall Posts

Go beyond simply adding optimized wall posts on your Facebook business page. Adding keyword optimized links, notes, status updates and other content can boost your rankings. Continuing to use important keywords across various types of content will make it easier for people to find you when searching for those keywords on Facebook. Don’t get stuck just using one type of content. Remember, users can select from links, notes, wall posts and status updates or all post types when searching through Facebook content.

Tip #7 – Keep Content on Topic

Last, keeping content on topic is one of the essential Facebook SEO tips to follow when working on your Facebook marketing campaign. Whenever you add content, make sure it’s on topic and relevant to your niche. This helps to improve the overall keyword density on your Facebook business page, helping you better rankings. It’s more difficult to achieve good rankings when you get off topic and continually share content that isn’t related to your business niche.

Good SEO is vital for boosting Facebook marketing success. Viral distribution may limit you to those who are fans of your page. However, making use of good Facebook SEO tips can help you expose your Facebook business page to the entire user base on Facebook.

Facebook Marketing P8 – Increase Fan Engagement 1

Google and other search engines continue to experiment, bringing in more social elements to their search results, increasing the need for good SEO as a part of your social media marketing plan. Although it’s important to keep your community first when running a social media campaign, you also need to be aware of the best SEO practices.

Why Facebook SEO is So Important

Before looking at some helpful Facebook SEO tips, it’s important to fully understand why SEO is so important to a successful Facebook marketing campaign. Although SEO can help you enjoy results on mainstream search engines, it’s important to consider the new internal search features offered by Facebook.

Facebook now has a search engine of its own working within the walls of Facebook. This search feature allows Facebook users to find content of friends and Facebook pages from the last 30 days. This can include links, photos, status updates, notes, videos and other shared content. Since Facebook has more than 100 million members logging in each day, marketers cannot afford to overlook the Facebook search option when engaged in Facebook marketing.

Since search engines rarely index actual Facebook activity, the Facebook search results definitely should be considered. Not only does the search option allow users to find the activity of friends, but they can also find results from any content that has been made available to everyone. Commercial results show up within these searches when optimized correctly, which offers a huge opportunity to Facebook marketers.

Top Facebook SEO Tips

Once you understand how important SEO is to your Facebook marketing campaign, you need to start implementing good SEO. Here are some helpful Facebook SEO tips you may want to begin using.

Tip #1 – Choose a Good Page Name

A good name for your Facebook business page needs balance. While you don’t want to stuff it with keywords, making it appear spammy, you also don’t want to choose a page name that is too generic. It’s a good idea to use your actual business name as the name of your page. You want a name that authentically represents your business.

After you achieve a specified number of fans, Facebook also allows you to choose your own vanity URL, referred to as a “username” by Facebook. Once again, it’s a good idea to use your business name instead of stuffing the URL with generic keywords. You want to get your business name out there. You’ll have other opportunities on Facebook to optimize with keywords.

Tip #2 – Optimize the “About” Text Box

Even if you have already entered text in the “About” box, you can go back and edit it, including keyword optimized prose. Since the “About” box offers one of the few places where you can place a large chunk of text on your default wall tab, it’s importance to make the most of this area. You’re offered 250 characters, so carefully compose your text to be informative while using important keywords.

These Facebook SEO tips can help you get started. Check back next time for even more SEO tips and strategies you can use to improve the success of your Facebook marketing campaign.

Facebook Marketing P7 – Helpful SEO Tips 2

Secret #4 – Invite Current Email Subscribers

If you already have an opt-in email list, consider inviting current subscribers to your Facebook business page. Use creative text to encourage subscribers to become Facebook fans, such as “Join our Facebook page” or “Write on our wall.” This is one more way to make use of that opt-in list you already have built. Don’t be afraid to invite subscribers several times. In fact, you may even want to offer them a good incentive to become fans.

Secret #5 – Include a Link in Your Email Signature

More than likely, you send out quite a few emails on a daily basis. Use those emails to help you build your number of Facebook fans, maximizing your Facebook marketing results. You can add a link to your Facebook business page in the signature block of your email. Set this up once and every email you send will offer this information at the end of your email.

Secret #6 – Hold a Contest

Contests are one of the most effective ways to increase the number of fans you have on Facebook. People are happy to “like” your page when they get an entrance to a competition, contents, free drawing or sweepstakes. Facebook apps are available to make holding a contest easy. Just make sure you’re aware of any Facebook guidelines surrounding contests before you decide to hold one.

Secret #7 – Create Targeted and Interesting Content

Creating targeted, interesting content on a regular basis is one of the best ways to bring in more Facebook fans. Not only can it help you build your fan base, but it can also provide you with great Facebook marketing results. You’re more likely to see good results from your Facebook campaign when you’re posting good content on a regular basis. Content is important, since readers will like content they find interesting.

When fans like something you posted on your Facebook business page, this becomes visible to all their friends, giving you more exposure and increasing the chance that others see your posts and decide to become fans. Current fans may also share your posts on their own walls or the wall of a friend, which may bring in more fans.

These secrets can help you start increasing your number of Facebook fans. Of course, with some research and hard work, you’ll find many other great methods for bringing in more fans to your business page. As you build a bigger fan base, your Facebook marketing campaign will reach more people and offer you even better results.

Facebook Marketing P6 – Maximizing Facebook Helpful SEO Tips

Fans won’t magically appear on your business page. Sometimes it takes a bit of work to get Facebook users to “like” your page. Increasing your Facebook fans helps you reach a broader audience with your marketing efforts.

To help you increase the number of fans on your page, try using these essential secrets.

Secret #1 – Add the Facebook Fan Box to Your Website

Adding the Facebook Fan Box to your business website is one of the best secrets to increasing your number of Facebook fans. When you begin focusing on your Facebook marketing campaign, make sure you use this Facebook plugin.

It offers you code that you can copy and insert on your website or even your business blog. This allows visitors to your website or blog to easily “like” your page on Facebook. It’s easy to get the code and insert it in just a few minutes.

Secret #2 – Consider Using Paid Facebook Ads

Another secret to increase your fans on Facebook is to begin using paid Facebook ads. These ads help you target the Facebook users that are likely to become a fan of your page. You can use Facebook’s advertising wizard to create an ad and get it up as quickly as possible.

Spend some time checking some of the high profile Facebook ads while you’re using Facebook. Check out the number of fans the advertiser has, which can give you some idea of how effective their ads are. Focus on creating a paid Facebook ad that will attract the target consumers you want to bring to your Facebook business page.

Secret #3 – Connect to Other Social Networking Sites

While Facebook marketing has a lot to offer, it’s important to include other social networking sites as a party of your social media marketing campaign. If you are working on other social networking sites as well, connect Facebook to those social networking sites to increase your number of fans. This allows you to convert followers on other sites to fans on Facebook.

Facebook can be connected easily to Twitter, Pinterest and other social media sites. It’s even possible to post on Facebook and have those posts go out on Twitter. If you’re working on your Pinterest marketing campaign, connecting accounts allows you to post Pinterest activity right to your Facebook account as well.

These Facebook marketing secrets will help you begin increasing your number of Facebook fans. Start implementing them and enjoy watching your fan base grow. For more helpful tips and ideas, check back next time for even more strategies you can use to bring in more fans to your business page.

Facebook Marketing P5 – Increasing Your Number of Facebook Fans

Having your own business page helps you to increase your visibility on Facebook and then you can begin using various marketing strategies to make your business page work for you.

If you’re not sure where to begin, the following step by step instructions can help you get started.

Create the Page

When you’re ready to create your Facebook business page, you’ll need to visit www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to begin. There you’ll find several page options, including the following:

-          Local Business or Place

-          Artist, Band or Public Figure

-          Company, Organization or Institution

-          Entertainment

-          Brand or Product

-          Cause or Community

Choose the option that offers the best match for your business. You’ll be asked to answer a few questions before you start building your page. Once you answer your questions, you’ll be sent to a page template where you can begin customizing your page. You can add a profile picture, set up other administrators and more.

Use the Info Tab

Once you’ve accomplished the basics, make sure you use the info tab. When creating your business page for a Facebook marketing campaign, you’ll be able to add an info tab, which is like an “About Page.” It allows you to offer details about your business, who you are and the products or services you offer. Once you’ve created the info tab, it’s a good idea to set it as the default page until you get your Facebook campaign going. This way people can quickly learn how you are and what your business offers when they visit your Facebook business pa

Check Privacy Settings

After creating the page, take the time to check your privacy settings. These settings allow you to decide on the information you share and who you share it with. Since your goal is to use the page for marketing, it’s a good idea to make as much information public as you can so information is shared with search engines.

Adding Tabs and Using Apps

As you’re setting up your Facebook business page, it’s possible to further customize your page with the addition of more tabs or by using apps that are available. For example, you can create a tab and add your Twitter feed to your Facebook page or you can create a tab that allows you to import blog posts from your company’s blog. In the applications directory, you can find a variety of apps to help with the customization of your page. With apps, you can offer coupons, create pools, add content and even add in videos on your page.

Suggest Your Page to Friends

When your page is complete and ready, you’ll want to begin asking friends to “like” the page you’ve created. Getting fans to “like” your page is an important part of your Facebook marketing campaign. After your page gets 25 fans, you can set up your own vanity URL for your page. As people begin liking your page, you can ask fans to help bring in even more fans to your page, increasing the reach of your new Facebook business page.

A good business page is an essential building block in a good Facebook marketing campaign. Use these steps to get your own business page created on Facebook. Check back soon for even more helpful tips on using Facebook to market your business.

Facebook Marketing P4 – Increasing Your Number of Facebook Fans

Previously, we discussed a few of the top benefits Facebook has to offer marketers. However, while it offers many excellent marketing benefits, there are some reasons to proceed with caution. The following are a few crucial reasons you should use Facebook cautiously as a part of your social media marketing campaign.

Reason #1 – Facebook Can Disable Accounts

One reason you should use caution when considering Facebook marketing is that Facebook has the power to disable accounts. In fact, your account could be disabled with no warning at all if the page activity is viewed as “suspicious” or they receive complaints about your account. While you may request that your account be re-enabled, you may never get your account back.

Reason #2 – Features Can Easily Change

The features on Facebook can easily change, which is another reason to use Facebook cautiously as a part of your social media marketing campaign. When the layout, setup or other features change, you will be required to simply deal with that change. This requires quite a bit of adaptability, since you may be required to learn to use new features as fast as Facebook throws them at you.

Reason #3 – No Protection for Your Content

When you put content on Facebook, there is no protection for your content. If you lose your account, that content is gone. If there is a problem or glitch on Facebook that results in the loss of your content, you have no means to retrieve it. This means you’ll lose all the time, hard work and money you have put into your Facebook marketing campaign. For this reason, it’s important to back up your content and avoid building your social media marketing campaign solely around Facebook.

Reason #4 – Continuous Changes to the Fine Print

If you’ve had any interaction with Facebook at all, you may have noticed that there are continuous changes to their fine print. They have the authority to change their codes of conduct, policies, terms of agreement and privacy statements whenever they want to. While you may be aware of your rights and privacy when you start your campaign, those rights can quickly change.

Facebook marketing has much to offer, but it’s important to approach this form of social media marketing with a healthy dose of caution. As you create your own marketing campaign for Facebook, you can do so with these potential problems in mind. It’s also a good idea to diversify your marketing investment in several strategies instead of relying on Facebook alone.

Facebook Marketing P3 – Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page

The following are several benefits that companies can enjoy when they begin using Facebook marketing as a part of their social media marketing campaign.

Benefit #1 – Generate Brand Awareness

Facebook marketing has the ability to help businesses generate brand awareness, which is a huge benefit. Once businesses establish a presence on Facebook, they are able to work on creating awareness among target customers. This can be done by creating a business page, using Facebook ads or using Facebook groups. Building a brand requires you to get your brand out there in front of people. With more than 600 million members and growing, Facebook offers you that opportunity.

Benefit #2 – Free Exposure

Free exposure is another of the top benefits of Facebook marketing. Every time someone new likes your page, reposts something from your business or recommends your business to their friends, it has the capacity to create healthy amounts of exposure. In some cases, a post can  spread beyond one’s expectation.  Some might refer to this as going ‘viral’.

Benefit #3 – Networking

Facebook marketing also offers you the benefit of networking, since it was originally built to help people create networks. You can search for other businesses of individuals that are involved in the same industry of your business, becoming a fan of their profile or page. As you network and connect with others, you’ll increase your own visibility among your target market.

Benefit #4 – Interaction with Customers

You’ll also find that Facebook marketing allows you to interact with customers. It allows you to build relationships with your target market. Facebook offers many methods you can use for customer interaction, such as creating events, communicating new promotions or even running contests. You can ask customers for new ideas, feedback and constructive criticism that can help you improve your services or products.

Benefit #5 – Increase Website Traffic

The ability to increase website traffic is one of the top Facebook marketing benefits. Driving traffic to your website is important and Facebook allows you to link your Facebook pages to your website. While you may be working to generate better brand awareness and you want to improve interaction with customers, driving target customers to your website is essential. As you leverage Facebook marketing to increase website traffic, the increase in traffic can increase sales and your profit margin.

Tapping into social media marketing is an essential part of any marketing plan. While many other social media platforms are available, Facebook is one of the largest and can offer marketers excellent results. Now that you’re aware of some of the benefits Facebook marketing has to offer, check back next time to learn how you can begin using this type of marketing with great results.

Facebook Marketing P2 – Reasons to Use Facebook Cautiously

Tip # 5 – Limit Your Self Promotion

While you’re using Pinterest as a promotional and marketing tool, it’s important to limit self promotion. Some of your pins should definitely promote your products, services or website. However, make sure that you pin other things as well. You want to keep pinboards interesting to followers, so don’t just post promotional things to your account. Pin from other sources too. For good Pinterest etiquette, keep your promotional pinning to only 30-40% of your pins.

Tip #6 – Never Spam on Pinterest

Another good etiquette tip to remember when involved in Pinterest marketing is to avoid spamming. Whether you’re marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or another social media site, spam will never be well accepted. If it appears like you are spamming, people will quickly write you off and they may even report you for spamming, which could sabotage your results with Pinterest.

Tip #7 – Ensure Images and Videos are High Quality

Ensuring that your images and videos are high quality is another of the top Pinterest etiquette tips to remember. Low quality images and videos have no place on Pinterest, since this site is all about visual marketing. When you pin low quality images and videos, it is a reflection of you and your company. Avoid making your company look bad and make sure you only pin high quality pins that look great.

Tip #8 – Follow Acquaintances, Family Members and Friends

Last, make sure you follow acquaintances, family members and friends on Pinterest if possible. You’ve probably asked people you know to follow you, so it’s definitely bad etiquette if you fail to follow them as well. When you gain followers on Pinterest, it’s a nice idea to follow them back as well. It’s all part of getting involved in the conversation.

By adding good Pinterest etiquette to your Pinterest marketing skills, you’ll avoid making any mistakes that could damage your marketing efforts. You’re probably working hard to enjoy all the marketing benefits that Pinterest has to offer. Don’t allow a social blunder to get in the way of those great results. Keep these tips in mind and start pinning. Be kind, polite and treat others on Pinterest the way you want to be treated.

Download the complete Pinterest Marketing series!
Pinterest Marketing FREE Download

Tip #1 – Credit the Source

One of the most important Pinterest etiquette tips to remember is to credit the source whenever you pin something. While you’ll be pinning many of your own content as a part of your Pinterest marketing campaign, you also need to pin from other sources as well. When you do so, make sure that you give the source credit. The photographer, designer, author, company or other individual deserves to get credit for their image. Remember, you want to make sure you get credit for things pinned from your website, so do the same for others. Also, if a website blocks visitors from pinning their images, respect that decision.

Tip #2 – Don’t Pin From Search Engines

Many people search for something in the search engines and pin straight from the search engine. For example, an individual may search for “sunsets on the beach” and find a beautiful photo taken on the beach at sunset. Instead of going to the source site to pin the image, many people simply pin right from a search engine. When you do this, the person who took the photo never gets the credit. Also, when fellow Pinterest users want to visit the site where the pin came from, they’ll only be taken to the search engine, which is frustrating.

Tip #3 – Keep Pinboards Organized

As you continue to pin as a part of your Pinterest marketing campaign, another Pinterest etiquette tip you should follow is to keep your pinboards organized. No one wants to visit your healthy recipes board to find pictures of wedding dresses. Give people what they want with your boards by organizing them with titles that accurately describe what the board contains.

Tip #4 – Get Involved in the Conversation

Make sure that you get involved in the conversation on Pinterest. When people comment on your pins or boards, make sure you respond to those comments. Comment on the boards or pins of others from time to time. This isn’t just good etiquette on a social media site, but it’s a great way to build a good following as well.

Start implementing these important Pinterest etiquette tips as you work to enjoy Pinterest marketing success. Of course, these are only a few of the important etiquette tips to remember. Check back next time to learn about even more important tips you should follow for good Pinterest etiquette.

Pinterest Marketing – Important Etiquette Tips Part 2