About Tessa:  I am a self-taught portrait artist specializing in capturing real-life, of the moment images of  children, families and your ever-after.

Just a little bit about me.  First and foremost, I am a mother.  My son is my life, and he was my inspiration to try my hand at photography.  He inspires me daily, and keeps me on my toes and and inspires me to try new things and see the little moments in real life.   I strive to connect with my subjects and capture emotion and connections that get lost in everyday life.  I specialize in natural light, modern, custom portraiture.  I love what I do, and It shows in every image that I capture for my clients.

My ultimate goal in my photography is to provide you with more than just a portrait, but a timeless creation of your family’s personality, style and love for one another, of your newborn’s sweetness and of the ultimate anticipation of welcoming new life.  I love to take photographs, and have a great time doing it!

Facebook: Making it your gold mine!

So, you have set up your Facebook fan page, and are probably wondering “what do I do now, besides suggest it to my friends?” I have over 1,500 unique fans, and in this article, I am going to tell you:

• How I got so many fans
• How it has positively impacted my business
• How to make Facebook work for YOUR business

So, let’s get started!

When I originally got my fan page, I was somewhat clueless as to how to use it in a beneficial way. The most important thing to consider about Facebook is that you have an unlimited audience (many of whom are most definitely in your target market) and it is FREE! The days of print advertisements and phone books are just about long gone. Which is fine by me, as I try to keep my studio as green as possible, and I hate the thought of a beautiful marketing piece, that cost me good money to design, print and mail, just being tossed in the trash.

Step 1: Before you even attempt to work some Facebook magic, it is VERY IMPORTANT to know your target market. Really, it should be built into your business plan. Don’t have a business plan? Get one! There are lots of awesome online resources to help you get started. I have included a few below that I have found helpful.

http://www.bplans.com/photography_studio_business_plan/executive_summary_fc.cfm

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/125/138

When thinking about your target market, think to yourself, “If I were my customer, what would I want?” Be sure to include things like:

- Product Offering: Keep it easy, yet unique
- Prices: Have you researched your area, included your COGS (costs of goods sold), insurance, time invested and general overhead? Are you priced appropriately (and charging enough?)
- Services: What do your competitors offer, and what are clients in your area looking for?

Once you have pondered awhile, done your market research and figured out more about your market and target clientele, it is time for…

Step 2: Create an offer to draw people to your page. The key here is to give people a reason to visit your page, fan you, and keep coming back.

For example, on my fan page, I ran a month-long “cutest kid” contest where I solicited everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) to enter their kids. This is not for the faint of heart. I canvassed everyone I knew, by word of mouth, by my personal Facebook page, etc. I had about 20 people enter, and during the month, I went from around 250 fans to over 1,500.

For me, there were two keys to this contest.

1. Getting people interested enough to sign up, and telling their friends to become my fan.
2. Taking advantage of my new audience, and posting posting posting! I posted new images, old images, etc. in order to keep the content fresh.

During my contest, the competition was FIERCE! I had some determined mommas wanting a discounted session with me!!

After the votes were counted, and the contest winner was announced, my fan pool has continually grown. I post fresh and fun content just about daily. I think that with Facebook, things move very quickly, so you must stay in people’s mind. If they see your awesome images and stories on a daily basis, chances are, they will visit your website and book you when they have photography needs.

Step 3- Continue to use your new audience to promote your business! I post images and information about my photography, specials, etc. constantly. I estimate that about 85% of my current bookings are Facebook referrals.

Connect w/ Tessa:  Website  ::  Facebook  ::  Blog

This article will walk you through creating a badge for your Twitter account.

Login to yourTwitter account.Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen and click on Goodies.

Next, click on Widgets.

On the Left side of the screen, click on My Website.

Now click on Profile Widget.

In the box, type in your Username.  The Username is what appears after www.twitter.com/username. Then click on Test Settings.

On the left side, click on Preferences to edit your settings.

Next, on the left side, click on Appearance to edit the colors of the badge.  Click on the color box to open a color picker.

Last, click on Dimensions.  You will want to leave the default settings for this section.

To retreive the embed code, click on Finish & Grab Code.  Highlight and copy the code.

In your PhotoBiz control panel, click on the External Link. 

Under the Page Settings you can change the name of the link as it shows in the navigation. 

Under the URL settings, choose Embedded Link beside Link Type. 

Paste the code from Twitter into the Embedded Content area. 

You can enter in a Link Caption.

To ensure the badge fits properly, set the Width as 250 and the Height to 387.

*Last, click on Update.  We recommend previewing the site before Publishing so you can view the changes.

We previously discussed a lot of quick tips on Building your Facebook Fan Page and managing it successfully. In this second part of the series, I want to switch gears a little and talk specifically about growth strategies for your Fan Page.

I Need Fans, FAST! –Growth Strategies:

1.  Send out an email to your entire email list letting them know about your Facebook Fan Page. This is very important because up until now, you have had somewhat of a soft launch of your page.

• Include: “Your Business Name” is now on FACEBOOK! Come Join Us! In the Subject Line.
• Make it a fun announcement with pictures; tell them “Why” they should come to be a part of your page.
• Make it easy for them to join. You can embed a “Become a Fan” button or a “Fan Page Badge” in your email. (*Described Below)

2.  Update your page frequently (2-3 times daily) with pictures, polls, questions, ask for feedback; let your fans know what is going on in your world. I would encourage more but if this is too much; set a goal and realize that the more you can do, the better.

3.  The most important part of you posting is to encourage your Fans to post. Encourage engagement by your Fans!

• Example: Post a photo on your page with a comment: Say a little something about the photo or who’s in the photo then mention “Click “LIKE” if you like this photo”
• Quick response time is key to an active page

4.  Suggest your page to all of your friends on Facebook

• Go to your Fan page and click on “Suggest to Friends” (this is located just under your profile picture to the left). Then it will pop up a box with all of your friends and have “ALL” highlighted. You then have to go through all of your friends and click on each one individually. Then click “Send Invitation”

5.  Ask Friends, Family, and Clients to “Share” your page.

• They can do this by going to your page, scroll down to the bottom of the left sidebar under your profile picture, and click “Share”. This will post a message on their personal page to come look at you.
• They can also do #4 described just above!

6.  Put the URL to your Facebook Page on Business Cards, Marketing Material, Workshop & Tradeshow Material, etc… Anywhere you can! Just put it right next to your website link.

7.  Network with other Platforms- Connect with other networks like Twitter, Linked In, Myspace & your Blog.

8.  Create a Resource - Offer pertinent information to users that may be interested and use your product.

9.  Create Contests that include participation - Encourage participation and community growth by having giveaways, coupons, discounts, etc…

10.  Link Facebook to your Website!! Here are a few different ways you can look at as an example:

http://MOYALARA.com :: http://LARRYPEREZ.com :: http://MATTANDREWS.biz

http://MICHELLEMOORESENIORS.com :: http://IMPACTMARKETINGPHOTOS.com

Notice that I didn’t mention Facebook Ads. These can be very effective but should be utilized as a last resort because they will cost you Marketing Dollars.

Additional Tips and How To’s:

Jason Stair’s Tip: The maximum size for your profile picture is 200×600 pixels. Use all of this real estate to maximize impact!

*Creating a Facebook Badge: Go to your Fan Page and click on “Add Fan Box to Your Site”. There are a lot of options here so spend some time customizing your badge. Again, you can post this on your blog, website (Splash Page Footer), and many more places so use it effectively.

*Creating a Vanity URL: This is an easy one that is absolutely necessary! If your Facebook Fan Page has over 25 fans, while you are logged into your Facebook account, go to http://facebook.com/username. Be sure to look below the names that it originally suggests and click on “Set a username for your Pages”. Here it will let you search for the availability of your chosen name and start using it immediately. *NOTE: Be sure to choose the right name as it CANNOT ever be changed! (as far as I know)

*Using the FBML Application: I might recommend this to be used only if you are comfortable using HTML coding or willing to learn.

• Adding the Application: Browse applications and search for “Static FBML”. It will allow you to add this application to any of the pages that you are an admin of.
• Editing the Application: Once you have added it to your page, go to “Edit Page” and find this under the “applications” section. Click on the modification button to the right of this FBML application and click on “Edit”. Here you can title the page, add FBML code (which is very similar to HTML) and save. *You can also add up to 10 boxes below where it says “Add another FBML box”.
• Creating a “Tab”: You can make this become a tab at the top by going to your page, click on the (+) sign to the right of your tabs, and select the FBML box that you wish.
• Landing Page: You can designate a particular tab to be the landing page like Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola) (They are using the Static FBML application)
• Linking to Tabs: Did you know that each Tab at the top of your Facebook Fan page has a unique URL that you can send people to? 1) Go to “Edit” your page, 2) Click on the Modify Button (Pencil), 3) Click “Link to this Tab”

*Getting Notifications: There are a few different ways to receive notifications. This is the single biggest improvement that Facebook needs to make in my mind. (Unless I am missing something too)

• You can subscribe to your page’s updates via SMS (text message), however, it does not send you all of the updates.
• Click on “Settings” on the very top bar, and then click on “Notifications”. You will be able to sign up for any email or SMS text messaging notifications that you would like. As I receive email to my phone, I choose to opt out of any text messages here to avoid double alerts for the same thing.

It is important to set goals for your social media efforts like you would with your business. Utilize your “Insights” that tell you all types of information. Set benchmarks for fan growth, Interactions, and much more as you can export this into Excel.

If you found this to be helpful, we would greatly appreciate you sharing the love with #4 & #5 of the growth section for PhotoBiz. Don’t keep us a secret!

Feel free to REPUBLISH this post on your own blog, SHARE a link to it on your Facebook Pages and RETWEET this on Twitter!

First of all, I am here to try and make things easier and more efficient for you.  We have a lot of great tips and tricks to share with you so this is Part 1 of our 2 part series.  As I manage social media for PhotoBiz, I often think of different ways that our customers can utilize these networks more efficiently and effectively; so let’s dive in!  Here is also a previous article we wrote on Facebook Tips for Business

First, some preliminary Musts!
You MUST:

• Create a vanity URL:  Any Fan page with more than 25 Fans can create a shortened URL for their page similar to PhotoBiz (i.e. http://facebook.com/photobiz)
• Remember that anytime you leave a link to your Facebook Fan Page (Or your Website for that matter) include the http:// of your domain so that it appears as a live “clickable” link rather that just text that you would have to copy and paste in the address bar. (i.e. photobiz.com  OR http://photobiz.com )
• Be sure to spend a majority of your time on Facebook engaging on your BUSINESS PAGE, not your personal page.
• Treat the Inbox at the top like it’s the inbox to your business email; respond appropriately and promptly.
• Accept and deny causes, groups, pages, etc… as you want your customer’s to perceive you and your business (Religious, Political, and Controversial)

*You can create a vanity URL by going to http://facebook.com/username.  *NOTE*-You must have at least 25 fans.  You will need to be logged in to Facebook and look toward the bottom.  Once you have chosen your name, it CANNOT be changed!

Don’t Waste Your Time! – Efficiency

• If you’re a mobile “data” user, download the Facebook App on your iPhone or Blackberry to help manage it.
• Don’t get caught up in spending too much time on here as it’ easy to do and can be more “Fun” than Effective…
• If you have a blog, use Social RSS to have your blog content automatically transferred to Facebook.
• If you are a Twitter user, there are a number of applications that allow you to automatically update both with the same message.  We choose “Selective Twitter Status”.

Be Human!

• Don’t be so business and promote your own products ALL of the time.  This will get annoying and spammy to your fans.  Mix it up a bit and throw some fun into it.
• Utilize your ability to “Send an Update to Fans” wisely.  DO NOT do this all the time or you will lose fans rather than gain.  Include incentives and a lot of resourceful information.

A Few Final Tips…

• Are you a part of Forums, groups, blogs, other Facebook pages, etc…?  Tell people to become a fan of your page and you will return the Favor.  There was a recent post on I Love Photography Forum with well over 100 posts and each person was cooperative in this.
• Use the “FBML Application” if you are familiar with HTML to build custom tabs to your site at the top.  You can designate a particular tab to be the landing page like Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola)
• Did you know that each Tab at the top of your Facebook Fan page has a unique URL that you can send people to?  1) Go to “Edit” your page, 2) Click on the Modify Button (Pencil), 3) Click “Link to this Tab”
• Use the “TAG” feature.  When creating a wall post, if you are mentioning someone, add @ before their name.  This will allow for anyone to click on that “tagged” name and visit their profile or page (whichever you tagged) Viral Marketing!

If you liked this, be sure to check back next week when we give you a bunch of tips on:

How to GROW your Fan base on Facebook!

I hope that this helps you manage your Facebook page and brings you in a bunch of referrals.  If it does, please leave us a comment with your success stories.

You’ve heard of Facebook, right?  You may have a personal profile but you need to realize that Facebook could be very powerful for your business too.  150,000,000 (150 MILLION) people is a huge market to tap in to, not to mention that it’s free!  Here are a few tips and tricks for creating your own business presence on Facebook!

Your Decision:  Once you have made the decision to introduce your business to Facebook, you need to decide whether a business group or business page will be the best fit.  We use a business page for PhotoBiz {http://photobizfanclub.com} because of the advantages described to the rightand strongly encourage you to do the same!

Web-Connection:  It is important as a small business to only market 1 domain name (your website) so linking everything together effectively is vital.  A splash page is one great way of doing this with your Website, Blog, Facebook, etc…  Here are a few great examples! 

DayDream Photography :: Photo Umbra :: Yray Marie :: Visio Photography

Frequency of Content:  You should get into a routine to post messages often. This should be multiple times a day and try to include content that will help your customers.  There are applications, explained later, that can really help you in this section.  Also, be sure to be swift on answering questions and responding to inquiries.  If you are not on your page, what makes you think others will want to be?

Type of Content:  There are all kinds of great ideas on relevant content that you can post on Facebook.  You could leave a coupon code, talk about specials or rave about sessions and fun events coming up.  Highlight a recent photo shoot posting some images.  Also, posting videos and other fun content on your Wall will all be a great way to encourage customers to come and engage!  When you post on your wall, many of your fans will see this on their “Mini-Feed” enticing them to come and interact with you on your page!

 
Developing a Fan Base:  You will want to invite all of your friends from Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Blogs, Forums, etc…  The more people that you invite, the more fans you will acquire.  You will want to link to your business page from everywhere that you can.  You want to announce to the world the grand opening of your Facebook business page just like you would a brand new business.  Offer coupons, prizes, and whatever else will entice your target market to become a fan in the first month.  PhotoBiz offered a free IPod to one lucky fan that joined our business page in the first month.  Once you develop a pretty strong fan base, you will want to influence them to interact on your page. 

Viral Customer Engaging Benefit:  Getting customers to come and interact with you on your page will result in the biggest benefit that Facebook has to offer you.  If you post on your Wall, your fans receive a notification on their Mini-Feed.  If your fans post on your wall, all of their friends see this on their Mini-Feed!  This is great because you are now spreading the word about your business through to thousands of people!  Check out your visitor statistics to get more information on your customer interactions!

Quick Tips:
1.  Always check spelling.  Using Internet Explorer, right click on the text and click “check spelling”.  This is quick and will be more professional than a bunch of misspelled words (it’s ok to misspell on a personal page, not with business)!
2.  Always display your links with the http:// in front!  Do you want your viewers to copy and paste www.photobizfanclub.com into their address bar?  OR Do you want them to be able to click on http://photobizfanclub.com???                   Make it easy for them!

My Favorite Applications:  Adding certain applications to your Facebook page, can really make your page more attractive and exciting for customers to come visit.  Here are some of my favorite applications and what they do: 

 1.  Selective Twitter Status Application- I prefer this application over some of the others because you can choose which status from Twitter will be transferred over to Facebook.  Your tweet must end with “#fb” and it comes right to Facebook!
2.  Social RSS- If you have a blog, this will transfer all of your content to Facebook! Better Content = More Readers!
3.  Static FBML- This will give you great flexibility!  You can add up to 10 different FBML Boxes.  Here are some examples of how we have used them!  Email, Twitter, Blog, Display Products, etc…
4.  Video- Search for Video and it should be the top app. created by Facebook.  Unbranded, very nice, gives an added touch.  Most people are more visual, so give them something to remember you by.

I hope that these tips on Facebook pages help your business and prepare you to take full advantage of Facebook.  Remember that there are many other great applications and tips out there to help you benefit on Facebook. 

Leave us a comment & A link to your Facebook Group or Page.