Facebook Unveils Messenger Day

There is a battle going on between Facebook and Snapchat, the app Facebook tried unsuccessfully to purchase in 2013. Each is launching products that compete with each other.

As of March 9, 2017, Facebook rolled out a new feature called Messenger Day. This app works like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status where users share photo and video messages embellished with text, drawings, filters, and emojis that disappear after 24 hours.

Facebook’s new feature is being gradually rolled out to all Android and iOS Messenger apps.

What is Messenger Day?

Messenger Day allows users to create a slideshow of photos and videos that are visible to friends on Facebook Messenger for 24 hours before it disappears. This new feature is part of Messenger, Facebook’s standalone messaging app used by one billion people worldwide.

Messenger’s in-app camera lets users add text, stickers, drawings, emojis, filters and lenses to photos and videos before adding them to their Messenger Day or sending them to individual friends or groups.

How it’s different

Unlike Snapchat and Instagram stories which are focused on sharing what you’re doing at the moment, Facebook has positioned Messenger Day as a way to make plans with friends and talk about getting together.

Using it for business

Companies are starting to use messaging apps to communicate with customers. Using content created on Facebook Messenger could create a more unified communication approach to customers if you already are engaged with them on Facebook.

Check your Messenger app to see when your update comes through with Messenger Day and experiment with it. It’s a new and different way to communicate with your client base that you may want to try. 

What Customers Really Want from Your Facebook Page

When you researched your target audience, you learned what they need and what their pain points are. Then you tailored your marketing strategy to satisfy these needs.

Facebook is an important tool you can use to focus on your customers and their needs.

What are the top things your customers really want from your Facebook Page?

Why you need a Facebook Page

Having a Facebook Page is important to your marketing success. There are more than 60 million active business Facebook Pages and more than 1.02 billion active Facebook users that log into Facebook daily. Your customers are there!

You can check your analytics using Page Insights to see how your content is performing and how well (or not) you are interacting with your fans. Use this data to plan marketing campaigns and future social media content.

What do your customers expect to find on your business page?

Contact and business information

Sometimes your customers just want to find out some basic information about your business, such as where you’re located, what your hours are, or what your phone number is.

Be sure to complete the ‘About’ section of your Page with all this information. This section should have all your contact information as well as information about your company. Also include links to any other social media channels that you use.

Customer support

Have you ever had a problem with a product or service and want to talk to someone at the company for help or customer support? One of the primary reasons people look at a company’s Facebook Page is for customer support.

You can use Facebook Messenger for a private, one-to-one conversation with a customer to resolve any issues they may have. This can also help keep any negative conversations off your page.

Deals and contests

Everyone loves a good deal, and your Facebook Page fans are no different.

Many Facebook Page fans expect, and enjoy, participating in contests and receiving special discounts because they love your product. Use your Page to post coupons or discount codes exclusively for your fans. It makes them feel special and who doesn’t like to feel special. Run contests to promote a new product.

Post relevant content

Like all social media platforms, your Facebook Page is a great way to reach a large group of people an efficient way. Share content and information with your fans that is relevant to your business and industry.

And don’t make all your posts about your products or services. Post stories about happy customers. Post about things happening in your industry. Educate your fans. Don’t just sell. The purpose is to be social and engage your fans. 

Include photos with your content. Posts with images receive more interaction than post that are just text. Videos receive even more interaction so consider using Facebook Live.

Give your customers what they want from your Facebook page and you’ll have them coming back to visit more frequently.

How to Start a Conversation with Customers on Facebook

Most every business has a Facebook page. Do you? It’s a great way to let your customers know about your business, who you are and what you do.

But remember it’s social media and you have to be social. So, how do you start a conversation with customers on social media like Facebook?

Here are some foolproof ways to get that conversation started.

Ask questions

One of the best ways to start a conversation with your fans is to post a question.

Questions are a great way to promote your business and find out what your customers are thinking.

Asking a question can also give your social media a great boost. Every fan that engages with your post (likes, shares or comments on your post) boosts the number of people who also see your content because the engagement is shared in their newsfeed to all their friends.

What type of question should you post? Your question can be anything from asking for feedback on your latest product to a short survey.

Share tips and tricks

You’re the expert in your field, right? So share some of your knowledge with your fans. Post a short video or blog with some information that you think your readers would find helpful.

Are you a chef? Share a great recipe that you’ve found or a great kitchen shortcut that would save your readers time in the kitchen. Are you a hair stylist? Post a video of a great color that you just did for a customer. 

Be yourself

Your fans want to get to know you and your company. If they know you and trust you, they will do business with you.

Use your Facebook page to show the behind the scenes parts of your company. 

Highlight new (and old) employees. Post about charities that your business participates in.

Post testimonials from happy customers. Testimonials aren’t just for your website!

Inspire

Do you have some great quotes that inspire you? Share them with your fans. Sometimes a great quote will resonate with your fans and increase your engagement.

Remember the social part of social media. If your fans are commenting, you need to follow up and continue the conversation.

Are you ready to start having conversations with your customers?

3 New Facebook Features You Need to Try

Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform. But Facebook isn’t resting on its laurels. They are constantly keeping things fresh by adding new features.

If you are looking to promote your website or get more visitors to your Facebook business page, take a look at some of Facebook’s latest updates.

Save items to read later

Sometimes you just don’t have the time to read a post that catches your attention. And then when you get time to read it, you can’t find it! Don’t you hate that?

Well, now you can save and bookmark some of the things you see on Facebook to read later. Click here to see how to save and view a post later.

Instant Article

A recently introduced way to publish articles and blog posts right into the Facebook platform is Instant Articles. Once you’ve published a post, you can direct your readers to the full article within the Facebook platform. And the article loads 10X faster than other mobile web articles. The articles are published using your mobile device and the Facebook app.

Have your shop on Facebook

In beta trials now, Facebook is letting some lucky small business owners have the option of adding a store right on their Facebook page.  The ‘Shop’ section will be added to the top of your Facebook business page. Facebook has partnered with payment processor Stripe to let people buy and sell products from within Facebook pages.

Take a look at these new Facebook features to see if you can incorporate any of them into your small business social media plan. 

8 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Facebook Live

Facebook recently launched Facebook Live, Facebook Live is a video streaming service that lets anyone broadcast live videos from their mobile device straight to their Facebook Newsfeed.

This is an awesome way for small businesses to use the power of live video to communicate your stories and build genuine, personal relationships with your fans.

How can you make the most of this new service to promote your business? In this 

blog, we’ll walk you through 8 tips for getting the most out of Facebook Live.

Test it on ‘Only Me’ first

Before you hit the ‘Go Live’ button, practice making a video that only you can see. In your privacy settings, choose ‘Only Me’ so you will be the only person able to view your video. Make your mistakes here!

Keep reintroducing yourself

When you first start your video, you should introduce yourself and tell what your video is about. But keep in mind, you may not have anyone watching when you start. Your viewers will be joining your live video in progress, so you should reintroduce yourself a couple of times so your audience knows who you are.

Make your video visually engaging

Even though videos on Facebook autoplay in the Newsfeeds, viewers need to turn the sound on manually. This means your video needs to be visually engaging right from the start (for people who will watch it later) so that people will want to join in when they come across you live on their Newsfeeds.

What does visually engaging mean? Keep the camera moving. Don’t just sit in one place and talk to the camera.

Encourage viewer to like and share

The more people that like and share your video, the more it will show up in Newsfeeds. This is a Calls-to-Action – what action you want the viewer to take. So ask them to like and share your video.

Interact with your viewers

Use your viewers’ names, when possible. Call them out by name and interact with them over the video or answer their questions. They will certainly share a video that they are mentioned in!

Broadcast for at least 10 minutes

Because people will stop and watch your live video as they are scrolling through their Newsfeeds, it is recommended that you broadcast for at least 10 minutes so you more likely to be seen. You can broadcast for 90 minutes on Facebook Live.

Ask viewers to subscribe to live notifications

If your viewers are enjoying your video, you can ask them to subscribe to live notifications so they can be notified when you next go live.

Having them sign up for live notification is easy. All your viewers have to do is click on the small downward-facing arrow in the top right-hand corner of the live video post and choose ‘Turn On Notifications.’

Say goodbye

When you are finished broadcasting, be sure to wrap up the broadcast by thanking people for watching and saying goodbye. This is where you can ask people to share your video with their friends.