Tuesday Seminar Recap

Thanks to those that made it! Was a fun and informative session!

In case you need it, here is the handout: Timeline Cheat Sheet

Save a copy or pass it to your designer! This should be helpful as you start using the Facebook Timeline.

Customers Cocktails Handout Time Line Setup

Mobile Site vs. Mobile App

Local Twin Cities Stats

• 40% local residents own smartphones
• Search volume on mobile increases 300% per year
• 9 out of 10 smartphone searches result in a purchase or patronage

Which is best for you?

For any local business (and most national businesses to be honest), the answer, is You should have a Mobile Site! (view our option)


Why Site over App?  First, understand the difference between "Mobile App" and "Mobile Site" 


Of course, this really varies with the way you use a site and what you hope to get out of it.  Yes, I know iPhones are popular, millions of people have them... But should YOU have an app?

Before Investing in any Mobile Platform, understand it.
Mobile App
Is a specific piece of software created and custom-coded to work on various phone platforms (Android vs. iPhone, etc)

Mobile Site
Viewable when a user tries to go to your site on their phone. It will reroute them to a special site formatted to fit on a phone screen and work on all phones with internet.

Here are some interesting things we've been reading:

• 9 out of 10 smartphone searches result in an action, such as purchasing or visiting a business. (Clickz) 
• Mobile Internet use is set to overtake desktop use in the next four years. (Search Engine Land)
• Webmasters no longer need have to have a separate mobile site – they simply need to have mobile friendly pages that can be housed under the same URL. (Google)
• Mobile search is different from device to device and will present different search engine results.
• The most used mobile apps in the U.S. are games; news; maps; social networking and music. Facebook, Google Maps and The Weather Channel rule. (mobiThinking)
• M-commerce (mobile shopping) is predicted to reach $119 billion in 2015. (mobiThinking)
• HTML 5 can be incorporated into mobile SEO practices to enhance a mobile site’s usability and performance, resulting in higher page rankings in search engines. (Mashable)
• The level of search personalization in mobile browsers will be higher because mobile phones are personal. (Search Engine Land)

Naming your Social Media

One of the biggest problems I see when working with local businesses is just simple name confusion.  MAKE SURE YOU GET FOUND! You want to make this easy for people, so you want to make sure everything matches and lines up.

NEW FOR TIMELINE! For those of you stuck with the wrong page name before, you can now change it when you launch your Timeline page! We'll walk you through this at class next Tuesday at Demand Quest 



You should get the option to change your name when you launch the page.  

(note: you can always change your name from this form, HERE)

Although you cannot change the URL, you can at least set one up and correct anything you messed up with the titling.

TITLE: choose the full name of your business.  They only time I would suggest NOT doing this is if you're known as something else, which, is just ridiculous anyhow.

ie. Shouthouse Dueling Pianos - should be called - "Shout House Dueling Pianos"

Vanity URL: Url is how people will find you.  Best practice = match site domain and twitter name.  (http://facebook.com/Vanity_URL)

ie. ThriftyHipster.com = @thriftyhipster = facebook.com/thriftyhipster

Timeline's Full List of Creative Sizes

Here at ThriftyHipster, we were trying to figure out what would make fan gathering the best... It all starts with a complete listing and visually attractive fan page for your business.

And don't forget about the event on 3/27 where we'll be going over all of this and even having a designer on site to help you!

Here is a complete list of all creative sizes. Designing images to this size will ensure YOU have the best looking Facebook page for your business!

A few new policies/constraints to remember when making your images:
We've summarized for you, but if you want to read everything, here is the link on facebook (downloads a pdf)

1. Cover Photos Cannot include:
1. Price or purchase info. Facebook does not want this to be an ad space, so saying something like "download it at our site" or "reserve a table on our site" will not fly.
2. No Contact info, that should go in the "About" section
3. Calls to action (arrows to "like" or "buy" are out)

What TO include on your images (recommendations)

1. Cover Photos - Make them extremely cool. Big photos, colorful, clean, and highlighting your space.
2. Milestones - What image really represents your accomplishments?
3. Profile Picture - Logo? Or does something else make sense?

Suggested Facebook Timeline Apps

How many of you are using Facebook apps now?  With timeline, there are going to be a limited number that you can use.  Here are some of our favorites:

MENUS AND HAPPY HOURS
Of course we have to give ourselves a shoutout here. These were customized and designed specially for bars and restaurants.
Sync your happy hour info, menus, and events from ThriftyHipster.com to your Facebook page. This allows you to have a full menu, events, and happy hour in your page, easily accessible to everyone on Facebook, and the best part is, no extra work on your part!
This app is free for all ThriftyHipster clients.

EVENT CALENDAR
Sometimes I find that the facebook event list is tough to read.  That's why, we built an event calendar that lets a user see when friends are planning on coming and lets them "attend" and share multiple events at once.
This is a free app for all ThriftyHipster clients.

IFRAME APP
What is an iFrame app?  It allows you to put images, html, or other things in to a blank slate in facebook.  This is an app everyone should have.  In the simplest format, you can put a large poster or monthly flyer, some add, or otherwise.
I like the Wildfire Iframe App. It's easy to use and comes from a credible firm.  In this example, you can see we used a large image and had a custom form below.
Of course, with the switch to Timeline, this becomes less cool, but still something to use.  We'll be following this vs. the map.  The simple IFrame app is free from wildfire and also comes with a "friend gate" (ie. "like" page to see another page)... But again, this becomes less relevant in timeline.

RECOGNIZE FANS & REWARD THEM FOR COMING IN
People love to be rewarded.  Build regulars and reward them for coming in, leaving comments on your wall, and more.  Now, you can reward them!
I like Booshaka. Booshaka analyzes your Facebook page and surfaces the top contributors so that you can recognize them. Fans earn points for the quality of their participationand ability to engage the community.

Customers & Cocktails Event 3/27

On Tuesday, 3/27/12 6-8pm

We'll be hosting an event to give you the info you'll need for the Facebook Timeline switch.

The class will be 3 parts:

1. Walkthrough on Setting up timeline, including creative work, admins, new permissions, etc.
2.  New messaging platform, setting up and depolying new strategy consisten with Timeline
3. Open Discussion to help deal with any other issues that arise

ThriftyHipster.com will also have an optional designer on-site to help with this process, so we encourage everyone to bring their laptops and any design assets that they have and we will directly assist you in the switchover.  

Please use code HIPMAIL to receive a discount for all readers of the Customers & Cocktails Blog

Members, please email or call Matt for a different promo code

Anatomy of Facebook "Timeline" Page

As we said, the new timeline is here! Here is the creative direction you'll need to edit it.  We'll be discussing this and more 3/27/12 at Customers & Cocktails.

Here are some basics to get you started:

What's out?
Your old Fan Page.  After 3/30/12, your page will be no more!
Well, forget about the arrow that points to "like".
No more calls to action to try to get people to "like" your page.
No more linking direct to an app page. This is probably going to result in apps being less important...

Anatomy of the Timeline Fan Page

1. Cover Photo:  851x315 Pixels (Facebook Rules)
2. Logo: 180 pixels square
3. Timeline Apps Area: 112x74 - up to 12 (you can rearrange, but photos is always first)
4. Facepile: Friends see their friends and activity. Depending on number of fans, you will want to be cautious about this
5. About Area: Abridged area, keep your about line short and sweet
6. Message Options: New "Milestones" and more. (see below)
7. Posts:
1. Starred Post: After post is made, rollover and "star" it. This will display as the top message for 1 week on your wall.
2. Regular Post: like current... 
3. Milestone Post: Set important dates, like open, awards, etc.

Anatomy of the new Facebook Timeline Page