Facebook Tips for Photographers (Part 1)

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.