Creating content that your readers will share

Below are some tips on how you can create content that your readers will share with their network on social media.

1. Give helpful information.
Provide useful tips and information that people can pass on to their networks. For example, tips for management stress when on holiday, top tips for packing or best places to visit that no one knows about.

2. Connect with your network.
Post content, links or photos that will get your network connecting with you on a personal level. For example, if you are passionate about a particular charitable cause, let your fans know about it. Post news, photos, links and your supporters who will also promote your cause at the same time.

3. Entertain.
Have you ever read or watched something funny and shared this with your friends and family? No one wants to share boring content.

4. Get people talking.
Ask your fans questions and get them to post a reply. The aim of using social media is to interact and engage with your fans or followers and vice versa.

5. Give an incentive.
If you have any special offers or promotions, don't forget to add it to your social media pages and encourage your fans and followers to forward it to their friends and family.

6. Ask your fans to share.
It's as simple as just simply asking your fans to 'share'. Eg a message, photo or video. Ask them a question and ask them to share or like it if they agree.

If you would like more information on social media marketing or need assistance with TA Fastrack managing your social media pages, please call us on +61 7 3040 3588.

Using the new Facebook timeline for your business

As you will now be aware, on 31st March, Facebook changed all business pages to the new timeline layout. But if you're still a bit confused on how it all works, below are some key points you need to know about the new timeline layout.

Timeline banner image
You can now include a large banner image at the top of your Facebook page to showcase your brand. However, please note that there are some strict guidelines about what you can put in the banner image. Your cover image is 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels high and can your logo, but it can't contain any call to action, 'like' instructions and it can't promote or sell a product. Eg 'like' us now to win, 50% discount etc. The banner can't be used to market your Facebook page, increase likes or market/sell a product or service.

Profile picture
The profile picture is 125 pixels wide by 125 pixels high. You can use your logo or an image as your profile picture.

Tabs
The new Timeline layout means new visitors will automatically land on your timeline. They won't first arrive at your welcome or specific landing page, as was the case previously. The new timeline gives you the option to add more tabs or apps to appear under your cover photo. The photo tab is fixed and cannot be moved, but your other tabs/apps can show up here in this panel after the photo tab and the order can also be changed.

The width of the Timeline app page has also increased to 810 pixels. If you don't change the width of your design, the design will just appear centered on the page.

Highlights
You can now highlight a post and it will display over the whole Timeline (2 columns) rather than just on one side of the Timeline. This is great for photos.

Pinning a post
The new timeline allows you to pin a post to the top of your timeline. A pinned post will stay at the top of the timeline for 7 days before it goes back to its chronological place in the Timeline. A pinned post is great if you want to promote a particular promotion/offer.

Milestones
The Milestone feature allows you to paint the story of your business throughout the years. You can use the milestones feature to celebrate major achievements, changes to your brand, products or services or functions or events.


If you would like more information on Facebook marketing or would like a facebook app design, please speak with TA Fastrack on 1300 659 289 or visit www.tafastrack.com.

Developing a social media strategy that works

Social media is a long term strategy that is used to build brand awareness over time.

Below are some tips on what you need to know if you want to get started with social media marketing:

Where are your customers?
There are so many social networks out there, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg etc. If you want to get on social media, make sure you only use the networks that your target audience are using. Do some research. If your customers are using Facebook, but not LinkedIn, there is no point in setting up a LinkedIn account.

Be Active
Social media works if you dedicate some time to it. Merely setting up an account and having an “if I build it, they will come” mentality won’t get you far. Once you set up your account, make sure you go on the site every morning, or every couple of days to post comments and photos, answer customer questions etc.

Have a Conversation with your customers
Social media is about interacting and engaging with your customers. Your customers want to know you're listening to them.

Share relevant content
Include links in your posts to drive traffic to your website, add links to videos or photos or news articles that your fans will find interesting. Include call to actions and links to your special offers.

Encourage your fans to share
The more people that see your content, the better and if they find the content interesting, they will share it with their network of friends. This will help increase your visibility and reach far beyond your fan base.

For assistance with social media marketing, speak to one of our marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 1300 659 289 or visit www.tafastrack.com.

Top tips to get more 'likes' and fans on Facebook

Below are some tips for businesses who have a Facebook page and want to increase the number of fans.

Share great content
It’s important to keep the needs of your customers in mind – why are you on facebook and why should they like your page?

We recommend sharing relevant, informative and useful information. For example, links to interesting videos, articles, blog posts, news, photos etc. Content is central to driving likes and engagement and it's important to always have fresh and relevant content to get new customers and keep existing ones.

To keep fans interested, we recommend the 80/20 rule - 80% of all content on your page should be targeted at the customer and their interests (eg links to videos, photos, ask questions etc) and the other 20% can be sales focused updates about your products and latest promotions and specials.

Keeping your fans interested
The key to attracting more ‘likes’ and to keeping the attention of existing fans. We recommend building a lifestyle or concept around the brand. For example, posting photos of the view, or links to major events in the area to entice fans to visit your property again.

The new timeline look
Facebook recently changed the layout of business’ pages to display posts as branches on a timeline. The most recent content appear at the top of the page. The new timeline best suits photos and businesses can pin a special offer at the top of the page.

Run a competition
One of the easiest ways of getting more fans is running a competition with material incentives.

Research shows that 57% of consumers follow a business or brand's facebook page so they can enjoy a discount at that business. The second most popular was giveaways, with 45% of respondents indicating this as a motivator for engaging with a business or brand on social media, followed by invitations to events and product information (41% each).

Before you run a competition, make sure you adhere to Facebook's contest regulations and guidelines.

Facebook Ads
Another easy way of building fans is by using Facebook Ads. The ads work in a similar way to Google’s AdWords as they are priced on a pay-per-click basis that businesses bid for. The beauty of Facebook ads is that it can be targeted to your specific demographics or interest, for example, female aged 25-45, living in Sydney, who have expressed an interest in travel etc.

Facebook ads are very learn to set up and flexible.


If you need any further information about Facebook marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au for more details.

How to monitor your presence on social media

Below are some tips on what you should be tracking on social media.

Facebook
Facebook is a great way for you to jump right in and start interacting with past and potential customers. Your business page wall allows you and your fans to interact directly with your business. Fans can post comments, feedback, questions etc.

On Facebook, you should be monitoring:

1. The wall post - fans who post on your wall, provide feedback, reviews or who like your page.
2. Comments - fans who interact with you, answer your questions, polls, fun games etc
3. Likes - anyone who 'likes' your post, photos etc means they like the content of that post.

Twitter
Twitter lets you and your followers post short and sharp tweets, comments or links quickly. Because the tweets are limited to 140 characters, it may become overwhelming as the tweets will come through quickly, but the tweets and information you should be monitoring for on Twitter include:

1. Questions - be ready to respond quickly to anyone's questions about your business or products and services. Be helpful by answering anyone's questions about your industry too. It's a great way to build credibility and will showcase you as the expert in your field
2. Support - it's important to respond quickly to anyone asking for help. If you respond quickly to a person's question or request for help, it will show that you're listening and you care.
3. Feedback - be sure to acknowledge any complaints or negative feedback and resolve any issues as soon as possible. Acknowledge any positive feedback with a thank you or even retweet it to show your other followers what people think about your business!
4. Monitor any other conversations or 'mentions' about your competitors. Keep up-to-date with what they are doing, so you can keep ahead of the game.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great social media platform for networking, recruiting, promote relevant content written by you and for showcasing you as a thought leader in your industry.

Below are some items you should be monitoring on LinkedIn:

1. Use LinkedIn Answers - showcase your expertise and build your credibility as an expert in your field.
2. Group discussions - answer questions or link to other relevant resources.

Blogs
Blogs are a great way to create content that's relevant to your business and can be used to drive traffic to your website. Providing relevant and quality blog articles can also position you as a thought leader in your industry.

With blogs, you can track:

1. Comments - view what people are saying about your articles, your competitors or the industry. Provide your comments or feedback if relevant
2. Links - are there other websites or blogs linking back to your blog articles?

Monitor what is being said about your business - some simple tools include:

1. Check into Twitter and view any twitter mentions about your business. You can use the search function in Twitter to check for industry tweets or terms, mentions or @replies or hashtags
2. LinkedIn has a RSS function for question categories, which provides a feed to you when someone asks a question in that category.
3. Set up Google News or Google Blogs which are great tools for collecting and searching for articles that are important to your business
4. Set up Google Alerts, which tracks any relevant articles on a particular keyword (eg your business name or industry term etc). You can set it up to receive alerts in real-time or for it to send you an email once a day/week.
5. Log into your Facebook page and scan your wall for comments.

For assistance with social media monitoring, or if you would like more information about social media marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 1300 659 289 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Tips to encourage fan engagement with your Facebook business page

Below are some of our tips to boost fan interaction on your facebook business page.

• Encourage fans to post their questions or feedback on your page. Answer their questions, thank them for their reviews and feedback. Let them know that you're listening
• Share photos and videos on your page
• Ask for their feedback. For example, get your fans feedback on their thoughts on a colour scheme for your room renovations, or a menu change
• Celebrate company milestones, achievements or awards.
• Participate in seasonal celebrations/holidays. For example, post photos of the Christmas decorations in your office, or a Valentine's Day special etc
• Have fun - ask your fans questions, use polls etc or get fans to finish the sentence or fill in the blank. For example, When I'm travelling, my favourite song on my playlist is.......
• Play a game or post a puzzle on Facebook and get fans to respond with their answers. Eg guess where this photo was taken.
• Offer a contest
• Share interesting content with your fans. It doesn't need to be just specials. Offer other content of interest or relevance to your fans, such as tips, whitepaper downloads, links to interesting news articles etc.
• Offer content based on current news. Eg Did anyone watch Dancing with the stars last night? Who do you think will go?
• Leverage events and create buzz around upcoming events. Post photos or videos after the event

To get started on Facebook, or if you would like more information about facebook marketing and social media management, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Why should you use social media?

Here are some reasons why you need to get started with social media marketing today for your business.

• It's free! Yes, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs etc are all free to set up.
• It's popular. There are about 750 million active users on Facebook, with about 50% of them going online every day. In Australia and New Zealand, there are over 13 million users altogether. Research shows that nearly 2 in 5 Australians online are now interacting with companies via social networking sites.
• It's not just for the kids. Most facebook users are female and are aged between 18-24 (25%) and 25-35 (23%) years of age. The 25 years + segment accounts for approximately 30% of all online users and is according to Nielsen Online, the fastest growing segment.
• Social media allows you to be personal. It makes it feel like a customer is interacting with a real human and not a corporation.
• Social media lets you stay in front of your customers and remain top of mind with them.
• It's a two-way communication tool. Twitter and Facebook lets you interact and engage with your fans. You can answer their questions and respond personally to their feedback almost immediately.
• Facebook pages are now being searched and indexed by search engines - great for rankings
• You can use social media to cross-promote with other marketing channels and extend your reach far beyond what was possible previously. You can now reach friends of your online fans at little to no cost, where it was almost impossible to do so previously.
• Social media is everywhere. People can check their facebook page wherever they are with the help of their mobile phones

For help getting started on social media, speak to one of the social media marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Running a competition on Facebook - what you need to know

Before you decide to run a competition on your Facebook business page, it's important to understand what a contest can or cannot do for your brand.

A facebook contest can...

1. Help boost engagement between your brand and your fans
2. Help incentivise new users to like your facebook page
3. Be used to promote a new product and get the word out there about your brand
4. Build awareness of your brand and products and services.

On the other hand, a facebook competition cannot...

1. Make up for a poor product or customer service. A contest could potentially damage your brand further through negative comments, as was the case of the Qantas Twitter competition that backfired.
2. Create an instant, online community of fans that are loyal to your brand

Before you run a facebook competition ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you have the time, resources and budget to plan, manage, monitor and continue to engage with your fans when you run the competition?
2. Do you have the budget for a prize that everyone will find value in and which will encourage participation from your fans?
3. Do you have clear goals for this contest?
4. What is the purpose of running this contest? Will it support the rest of your marketing strategies?
5. Are you using a third party app provider to administer the contest? Note that this is required as per Facebook's guidelines.

Below are some points to take into consideration when running a contest on Facebook.

1. Set clear goals

• What do you aim to achieve from running this contest?
• What results do you want to see at the end of the contest? Eg increased engagement with fans, increased number of fans etc

2. Details of the competition

• How will you get your online community to participate in the competition? Eg photo competition where they have to upload a photo and write a caption and the best photo wins a prize, write a story or a line to say why they deserve the prize or will they simply enter email and contact details in a form and the winner will be selected randomly?
• It's important to keep the contest simply. If the entry forms are too long or complicated, it will deter the user from participating. Make it effortless and eliminate the chance of them becoming frustrated or having a negative experience.

3. The prize

• Take your target audience into consideration - what prize will attract them to participate in your competition?
• What does your budget look like? It doesn't need to break the bank as long as the prize is of value to the fan
• Choose a prize that will match the interest of your audience. This will help with participation and encourage them to share it with their friends

4. How will your winners be selected?

• Will your online community help to choose the winner? For example, the photos submitted with the most votes wins a prize, or will they simply enter their contact details and the winner selected randomly?
• Make sure rules are clearly defined

5. What personal information will you gather

• Only collect the information you need, for example, email and contact details to notify the winner
• Too much information required may deter participation
• Keep it simple. If it looks too long or too hard, it will only cause people to abandon your contest

6. Check that your contest is Facebook compliant

• Check the Facebook guidelines for more details: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php
• In summary, Facebook states that contests must be run through a third-party app, you cannot use Facebook features and functions as part of the contest mechanism, you can't use the Facebook 'like' button as a means of collecting votes on entries and you can't notify the winners on Facebook, such as a wall post, message or in chat.

7. Check the fine print with legal

• If need be, get your terms & conditions reviewed or drafted by a legal representative
• Your T & Cs should include entry regulations, selection of winners and how winners will be notified, restrictions on certain groups to participate (eg above 18 years only), how entries can be used by the company in the future (eg for marketing purposes), or alternative modes of entry
• Check to see if you need to get a license to run a competition if the prize is over a certain value amount. This will vary from state to state.

8. Promote your contest

• There are many ways to promote your contest on Facebook, for example, sending an email to your database advising them of the competition and encouraging them to participate, promote with facebook ads, add a competition banner on your website, make it shareable so fans can share with it their friends, send out a flyer or put an ad in a magazine etc.

9. Manage your contest

• When you've launched your competition, make sure you regularly check it to ensure that it's running smoothly. Monitor comments, feedback and other activity. Answer questions from fans and encourage them to participate.

10. After launch

• Monitor the results after launch - did you achieve the goals you set out to achieve? What are the topics, questions or conversations that were asked by your fans? These can be used for future marketing or to better your service
• After the competition has ended, make sure you continue to work on engaging with your fans to grow your online community. For example, provide them with unique content, specials, news, events etc that will keep them coming back to you.
• Keep a two-way conversation happening with your fans to ensure loyalty, brand awareness, trust in your brand and ultimately, increased sales

Facebook competitions are a beneficial way to create buzz around your brand, create fan interaction and generate long-term relationships with your customers online. It's also important that after a competition that you continue to engage with your fans by providing them with content that they will find of value, whether that is special offers, sneak peek previews, event updates or tips.

For help with facebook marketing and how you can get started, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

How to increase engagement with your fans on Facebook

According to research, you can increase your Facebook engagement with fans just be taking the following into consideration.

• Research found that 60% of posts analysed were published between 10am and 4pm
• Brands that posted before or after business hours recorded Facebook engagement rates that were 20% higher than the average
• Research also found that the shorter the Facebook post, the more likely fans will read it
• The research also found that the less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook
• The highest engagement rates on Facebook occurred on Thursday and Fridays for the travel and hospitality industries
• The lowest engagement rates occurred on weekends and Wednesdays
• To drive more 'likes' or comments on your posts, ask your fans directly to 'like', 'tell' or 'comment' and this will drive the best results
• 'Liking' a post or page requires the least amount of effort, so if you tell them to do it, they will
• Simple action words such as 'like', 'take', 'submit', 'watch', 'click', 'post', 'become a fan', 'share', or 'visit' worked best
• Posts that end with a question have a 15% higher engagement rate - engage with your fans!
• Questions that start with the word 'where', 'when' or 'should' have the highest engagement rates
• Questions that start with 'why' have the lowest engagement rates
• If you're running a contest on Facebook, use words like 'event', 'winner' or 'win' for best results. Direct words like 'contest', 'coupon' or 'promotion' don't work as well. Win/winning keywords give fans something to get excited about and they don't feel like they are being sold to.

If you would like to get started with Facebook marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack or call 1300 659 289.

Tips to encourage fan engagement with your Facebook business page

Below are some of our tips to boost fan interaction on your facebook business page.

• Encourage your fans to post their questions or feedback on your Facebook page. Answer their questions, thank them for their reviews and feedback. Let them know that you're listening
• Share photos and videos of your property on your page. Encourage fans to post their holiday snaps and videos on your wall.
• Ask for their feedback. For example, get your fans feedback on their thoughts on a new colour scheme for your hotel renovations, or their thoughts on a menu change for the season etc.
• Celebrate company milestones, achievements or awards. For example, the company's birthday, the 1000th guest who stayed at your hotel, staff birthdays or the total number of years employed at your company, industry awards etc
• Participate in seasonal celebrations/holidays. For example, post photos of the Christmas decorations in your office, or a Valentine's Day special etc. Add a post on your wall wishing all Mothers a Happy Mother's Day and so on
• Have fun! Ask your fans questions, use polls etc or get fans to finish the sentence or fill in the blank. For example, When I'm travelling, my favourite song on my playlist is....... 
• Play a game or post a puzzle on Facebook and get fans to respond with their answers. Eg guess where this photo was taken. 
• Runs contests, competitions, promotions 
• Share interesting content with your fans. It doesn't need to be just specials. Offer other content of interest or relevance to your fans, such as tips, whitepaper downloads, links to interesting news articles etc. 
• Offer content based on current news. Eg Did anyone watch Dancing with the stars last night? Who do you think will go? 
• Leverage events and create buzz around upcoming events. Post photos or videos after the event
• Champion a good cause. Let everyone know the charity your business supports. Post photos of your staff participating in a charity event, eg Movember
• Talk about other things besides your product. Mix it up with other content to interact with your fans and get them to talk to you.

To get started on Facebook, or if you would like more information about facebook marketing and social media management, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

10 things you should be doing on Facebook

1. Create a customised URL name for your Facebook page
If you haven't already created a customised URL for your Facebook page, make sure you do it now! To do this, just visit http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the instructions. Remember that once you confirm your URL, it cannot be changed, so make sure you choose it carefully. 


2. Embed videos 
Nothing sells your hotel, facilities, location and apartment rooms like video. Host them on Youtube and share them on your Facebook page, or upload them directly onto Facebook. Videos are also great for SEO as they will appear in search results.


3. Use Facebook insights
As an administrator of your business page, you will have access to Facebook insights, which is a powerful tool for tracking the fan growth of your facebook page. You can analyse which types of posts were the most popular and engaged fans to respond, you can also monitor fan growth and interaction, see page views and track impressions. Monitoring these key metrics will enable you to better adapt your posts and facebook marketing strategy.


4. Add your hotel on Facebook places
Encourage users to 'check-in' via Facebook places. Offer an incentive, like a free drink voucher, or discount when they check-in. Every time a facebook user checks-in, it gets promoted across their network, thus giving you extra exposure and boosting brand awareness. 


5. Use the reviews app
Facebook has a reviews app which you can add to your page and allows guests to leave their reviews of the hotel. These reviews can give new and potential clients what to expect when they stay at your property. You can also pull reviews from Tripadvisor into your page if you like.


6. Run a competition
A competition is a great way to increase fans and encourage engagement. Just remember that you will need to comply with Facebook's promotions guidelines.


7. Include a welcome page for new visitors
It's so much better for a new visitor to land on a customised welcome page instead of seeing your wall. Your Facebook welcome page can include links back to your website, photos, videos, a book now button and more.


8. Use Facebook questions
Create a poll and gather opinions about what your fans are interested in, or create a fun poll to encourage interaction. 


9. Facebook ads
You can fully customise your facebook ads to target a certain demographic, location or interest. 


10. Most importantly, allow your fans to book directly from Facebook
The average Facebook user spends over 15 hours a month on Facebook, so it makes sense for them to be able to book with your hotel directly from Facebook. You can include a book now button in your welcome page.


If you would like more information about Facebook marketing, or if you are interested in a Facebook welcome page design, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

How to improve Facebook fan engagement

Give your fans the opportunity to engage and comment
Enable the comments functionality on your wall so that fans can post content on your wall.

Ask questions
Ask your fans advice on a certain topic, get them to share their favourite tips, photos, videos, ask open ended questions, use polls and surveys and get them interacting with you!

Request feedback
Ask your fans to share their thoughts on a new product or service you are offering or about to launch. Listen to what they have to say and thank them for their feedback. Make them feel like a valued member of your community.

Start a discussion online
Use Facebook's discussions feature to get feedback on what your fans want, like or think, either about your business, a certain hot topic or industry issue. You might learn something new about your fan base, which you could use to bring your hotel to another level.

It's all about participation!
Don't just sit back and watch - get involved! You should be an active member on your page too! Join their conversations, thank them for their comments, feedback, ask questions etc.

Let us know if you have any other tips you would like to share or if there is something you tried and worked!

Learn the lingo for Facebook

Facebook provides businesses with a powerful one-to-many communication vehicle. When you update your status, the message appears on the profile of all other Facebook users who have 'liked' the business page. It's also easy to comment on fan posts, upload photos and videos and send messages directly to users to further establish relationships, answer their questions and drive loyalty.

If you are new to Facebook, we have provided some information below to help you familiarise yourself with some of the features and how it works.

• Like – a virtual thumbs-up you can give to Facebook content.
• Status –  answers the question “What’s on your mind?”- a brief update to your ‘friends’.
• Wall – shows all your latest activity including comments, photos, events, videos, and more.
• Wall Post – when people post comments to your wall.
• Friends – anyone you’re connected to on Facebook.
• Newsfeed – a stream of content that updates you on the status, likes, and posts of your friends and brands or causes you follow.
• Mobile Upload – content that comes directly from your mobile phone, like a photo.
• Tagging – identifying a person or brand in a photo or post.

Anatomy of  a personal page

1. Notifications – This bar will show the number of friends you need to approve, the number of unread messages and your unchecked notifications. Notifications let you know if someone has commented onto your Wall or commented and liked something that you’ve posted.
2. Your Post – You can post to your Wall or respond to posts that your friends have left. You are able to comment on these posts or click ‘Like’ to show that you like the comment.
3. Account Photo – Your account photo accompanies all your posts so make sure that it’s professional, identifies you and stands out.
4. Wall - The wall is the area where your friends can post questions, comments, photos and videos. The activity is public for anyone who you have approved as a friend.
5. Info Tab – Where people can find information about you. This can include everything from your education, employers and age to interests and activities.
6. Facebook Ads - Facebook sells advertising on the right side of the page. While you can’t determine what ads show up, you can purchase your own targeted ads that either drive people to your page or to any other site.
7. Friends – Facebook allows you to see how many friends you have. These are people who receive your statuses or updates in their news feed and have access to your page.
8. Post from Friend – People who you have approved to be your friend are able to post on your Wall.

TA Fastrack regularly holds marketing webinars on a range of topics, including website design, search engine optimisation, social media marketing and more, or if you would like more information on how Facebook can help your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.